Good evening. Let's all stand
and begin our evening service by singing 249 Just As I Am.
249. you Just as I am without one plea,
but that Thy blood was shed for me, and that Thou bidst me come
to Thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am and waiting
not to rid my soul of one dark blood, to thee whose blood can
cleanse each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, though
tossed about With many a conflict, many a doubt Fightings and fears
within, without O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, poor, wretched,
blind, Sigh, richest healing of the mind, Yea, all I need
in thee to find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come. Just as I am, thou wilt
receive, wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve. Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come. Thank you. I would like to read from Luke
5. Luke 5, starting at verse 1. And it came to pass that as the
people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by
the lake of Gennesaret and saw two ships standing by the lake. But the fishermen were gone out
of them and were washing their nets. And he entered into one
of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would
thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught
the people out of the ship Now when he had left speaking, he
said unto Simon, launch out into the deep, and let down your nets
for a draft. And Simon answering said unto
him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing.
Nevertheless, at thy word, I will let down the net. And when they
had this done, they enclosed a great multitude of fishes,
and their net break. And they beckoned unto their
partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and
help them. And they came and filled both
the ships so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw
it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I
am a sinful man, O Lord. For he was astonished. And all
that were with him at the draft of the fishes, which they had
taken, And so also, and so was also James and John and the sons
of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto
Simon, fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men. Our heavenly merciful father,
we thank you, Lord, for preserving our health and our lives and
allowing us, Lord, to assemble together. You have kept us safe
on the roads and brought us home once again. And Father, we have
much to be thankful for. We take much for granted. And
Lord, we thank you for allowing some of us to attend the Bible
conference. And Lord, we thank you for those
men that have declared the everlasting gospel to us. And Father, we
thank you once again where we can stand here and sit here tonight
again to hear the unsearchable riches of our Lord and Savior,
Jesus Christ. And Father, we think of Brother
Eric, where he hopes to stand again before us. Father, remember
him in mercy. Pour out your spirit upon him,
Lord, and loose his tongue, that he may speak the words which
you would have him to speak. Allow him, Lord, to separate. Rightly divide your word unto
us, and give us, Lord, hearing ears and understanding hearts.
Increase our rest for our souls in Christ Jesus. Father, you
know perfectly how we can so often be stressed and fretful,
and our minds are always on other things. But Lord, separate us
for a short time. And remember also those that
listen on the internet and the YouTube and Facebook. and perhaps are with us this
evening. Lord, remember them where they
are and comfort comfort them and give them strength. Remember
those Lord that assemble with us that struggle with health
difficulties. We think of Brother Ronnie, especially
Lord, who is faced with multiple radiation treatments. Father,
remember him and Claudia. Give him strength and that he
may once again be be able to assemble with us again. Father,
remember us also where we plan to have our Bible conference.
Oh, Lord, all things are perfectly in your hands. Give us wisdom
and all that we need, both financially and the strength and the wisdom
to set this up properly, that your name may be lifted up on
high. And will you call out the sheep, all these, the local people
from this community, Lord, incline their hearts that they may also
come here to hear the everlasting gospel. Lord, remember us in
mercy. We also think of our loved ones,
our Children, our parents are and relatives. Lord, you know
all things. And Lord, will you call them
out of nature's darkness? Give them a hunger and thirst.
All things are possible with you. For Jesus sake alone. Amen. Our second him will be. Turn
your eyes upon Jesus. Let's see. I think Can't remember
the number on the check, I think it's 204, but I thought I wrote
it down. 204. I don't know if we sang it to this
new music, but it sounds pretty good, so we'll see. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's life for a look at the
Savior, And life more abundant and free. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look
full in His wonderful face, And the things of earth will grow
strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace. Through death into life everlasting,
He pass'd, and we follow Him there. Over'st the sin no more
hath dominion, For more than conquerors we are. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. His word shall not fail you,
He promised. Believe Him and all will be well. Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look
full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow
strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. That was kind of nice to sing
to. It's a very nice arrangement. That piano has a nice full sound. Let's be going to Jeremiah 29. Jeremiah 29. The scriptures tell us that the
just shall live by his faith. And this text here in Jeremiah
29 confirms this very truth. that the Lord is teaching his
people that the just, those whom he has justified in his son Jesus
Christ, we are to walk by faith, we live by faith. And the Lord in this is teaching
us to trust him. You are to trust your God, because
faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. He fulfills his word to his people. And what he teaches you and shows
you in his word and gives you to experience in his grace is
what he provides for you against the day of adversity, against
the day of trial, against the day of temptation, against the
day of sorrow. And it reminds me of that verse
which says in Revelation 14, 12, here is the patience of the
saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. And it is your Lord who faithfully
provides and preserves you and prepares you for that day of
trial. Now I want to show you just four
things from this passage in Jeremiah 29. There's a lot of good things.
We're going to see four things that the Lord gives you, his
child, you that hope in him. and rest in the Lord Jesus Christ,
these four things are given to strengthen you and to encourage
you for that all those various trials and temptations and difficulties
that oppose you and will seem contrary to what you expected,
what you thought that the Lord would do as you faithfully look
to Him and believe Him. All these things that prove that
faith which the Lord gives you. Because He doesn't give you faith
for nothing. He gives you faith because He's
purposed to prove that faith to show you what He has done
for you faithfully in the Lord Jesus Christ. So here's the four
things. First, your God is sovereign. That means he's controlling everything
that comes to pass. Nothing is happening that is
outside of the will and the control of your God. Second, your God
is faithful. He's faithful. He is faithful
to keep all the promises which he makes to you in Christ. Third,
our God will be sought by his people in prayer. He's going
to move us to cry out to him, to see what he is doing and to
seek the face of our God. And fourth, our God punishes
all his enemies and ours. He will punish and deal with
them. I've titled this message, God's Thoughts on Captivity. God's Thoughts on Captivity.
So we're going to go through these four things now, one at
a time. First, your God is sovereign
over everything that comes to pass in this world. Turn over
to 1 Chronicles. Let's see this. 1 Chronicles.
This is a a great banner verse regarding the sovereignty of
God, regarding the thanksgiving and the awe which our God fills
the hearts of his child with. 1 Chronicles 29, verse 11. Here's a banner verse for you. Thine, O Lord, is the greatness
and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty. For all that is in the heaven
and in the earth is thine. Thine is the kingdom, O Lord,
and thou art exalted as head above all. Your God rules over
everything, the heaven and the earth. Paul, in writing to Timothy,
says that he is the blessed and only potentate, the king of kings
and lord of lords. That means every king, every
lord, every president, every prime minister, every governor,
Everyone that has some position of authority here on earth is
under the rule and dominion of God Almighty. Same goes for any
power in the heavens. They are all subject to the true
and living God who is sovereign, almighty, majestic, glorious. He is wonderful and he's over
all things. The psalmist assures us in Psalm
115, verse 3, saying that our God is in the heavens. He hath
done whatsoever he hath pleased. And just as he rules in heaven,
so he rules on the earth. Psalm 28, 28, For the kingdom
is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations. All are subject to your God.
After King Nebuchadnezzar, who ruled over one of the largest
and mightiest kingdoms in that day, Nebuchadnezzar was humbled
by God and brought to confess this, saying, all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. When you see the greatness and
the glory of God as Isaiah saw him in Isaiah 6, you see that,
what am I? What am I compared to the true
and living God? How small I am, how insignificant
I am in stature. And he said, we're all reputed
as nothing, and God doeth according to his will in the army of heaven
and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay
his hand or say unto him, what doest thou? We're not going to
challenge God. And God will see to it. You might
say something, but you will see that God is sovereign Lord over
all. And what he wills and purposes,
that's exactly what he does. That's true, not only in the
administration of things in heaven and earth, but even in the salvation
of his people. So that Paul wrote in Ephesians
1.5, that he has predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. And he adds in verse 11, in whom
also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according
to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel
of his own will." Meaning that the true and living God, who
is sovereign over all, does not consult or look to any outside
influence to determine what he will do. He does exactly what
he will do as it pleases him, consulting only himself. only
himself. He's God. He's God. He's able
to do that and that's exactly what we want him to do because
he's perfect and just in all his ways. Now, back in our text
in Jeremiah 29, let's go to verse 4, because it is this sovereignty
that's witnessed in a letter which Jeremiah the prophet wrote
concerning the captivity of those who were sent to Babylon. Verse 4. Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away
captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem
unto Babylon. So the Lord God is telling his
people, I'm the reason why you have been carried into Babylon. I'm the reason. God's power is
actually able to deliver his people from going into captivity
if that's what he purposes to do. He can deliver his people
and he can send his people into captivity so that even if he
gives his people a mighty victory. They still come into distressing
times where they're going to see that this victory is wrought
by the mighty hand of almighty, sovereign God. We're going to
know that. Now what do I mean by God is
able to deliver his people or to send them into captivity?
Well, turn over to Hebrews chapter 11. Let's go to Hebrews 11 and
we're going to pick up in verse 33. We have many examples in the
scriptures where the Lord gives glorious victories to his people.
We read of Abraham who delivered his nephew Lot when he was taken
captive by the armies of four kings. And Abraham took his servants
for an army to go against the armies of four kings and delivered
Lot and all the spoil from them. And we know that Gideon, was
used by the Lord with a small army, I think 300 men, to defeat
the Midianite army. And David, a smallish man, but
he was used by the Lord to slay a giant of a man, a warrior of
a man, and to slay that man, Goliath, and deliver his people. So all these were inferior in
some fleshly sense but they're examples of God's great victories
for his people. And it says in Hebrews 11.33,
who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained
promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the violence
of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were
made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies
of the aliens. Women received their dead, raised
to life again. So we see many great victories,
but we also see in this chapter that not everyone was delivered. Sometimes the Lord purposed to
bring them to an end at that time. Let's look at it in the
middle of verse 35, and others were tortured. not accepting
deliverance, that they might obtain a better resurrection.
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea,
moreover, of bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn
asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword, they wandered
about in sheepskins and goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented,
of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and
in mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. So we see
that God is sovereign. Sometimes he delivers his people.
Sometimes he gives his people faith to endure the captivity,
to endure what he's purposed to bring them through, to go
through, by faith, the persecution. But in every time, in every sense,
in every way, God's purpose is fulfilled. Look at Hebrews 11,
39 and 40. And these all, having obtained
a good report through faith, received not the promise. None
of them, not even Abraham, not David. They didn't come into
that promise. Why? Because God, having provided
some better thing for us, that they without us should not be
made perfect. And so the Lord is showing us
through the scriptures, all these accounts in the scriptures, to
assure us and to comfort us that we may trust our God fully. fully. He's good. He's righteous. He's just. He's perfect. He strengthens
and provides for his people according to his purpose. And he gives us a side of the
faith which he gives his child for the hour, depending on what
it is. So that in one sense, we see
that Stephen was stoned when he preached Christ to the Jews,
and yet Peter was delivered from the prison. Peter was delivered
from the prison and from Herod when he was put in prison for
preaching Christ to the people. But in every example, we see
that sovereign God is doing exactly as he pleases in heaven and in
earth. Second, having seen that your
God is sovereign, we are to see that he is faithful in that he
keeps all his promises. Your God is faithful to keep
all the promises which he makes to you that now believe him. The Israelites had been taken
captive to Babylon, and no doubt they were greatly affected by
this trial of adversity. And in times like these, the
people of God ask questions. They cry out to the Lord, Lord,
what's going on? Why are our enemies triumphing
over us? Why are we coming into these
difficult times and this adversity now, Lord? Why are we coming
into these things? What happened to all the promises
that we heard of? We saw this recently, actually,
when we were in Isaiah 63, verse 11 and 12, which God's people
were asking, where is he that brought up the people out of
Egypt? Where is he that we heard all
these wonderful things of, where he divided the sea, where he
destroyed the Egyptian army, and led his people forth out
of the wilderness into the promised land? We saw Gideon in Judges
chapter 6 asking the same things. If the Lord be with us, why then
is all this befallen us? And where be all his miracles
which our fathers told us of? Saying, did not the Lord bring
us up from Egypt? Has God forsaken us now? Why
are all these things happening to us? Why are we now subject
or delivered into the hands of the Midianites? And so here we
come to Jeremiah 29 and we see that God has led his people into
captivity at the hands, no less at the hands of the Babylonians,
the great enemy Babylon. And so This is what our Lord,
seeing all this going on, this is what our Lord tells his people
in Jeremiah's letter. Look down at verse 10 and 11.
Jeremiah 29, 10 and 11. For thus saith the Lord, that
after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word toward you. in causing you to return
to this place. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you. Sayeth the Lord thoughts of peace
and not of evil to give you an expected end." So God tells his
people three things. There's three things that we
see in God's faithfulness to his word of promise to his people. First, he tells us that the trial
is for a set amount of time. The trial has a set amount of
time. Here, for the people of God,
it was 70 years. And I think in that sense, we
all have the trial of this flesh being nothing but sin and ruin
and condemnation. So that this flesh is ruined. in itself. It doesn't have any
spiritual life. It's not free of the sin that
yet dwells in this flesh. And we're yet tempted by the
sin of this flesh. And 70 years is about a lifetime.
And so, for our lives, we will have this trial until the Lord
returns. till the Lord returns. And we
also see in smaller trials that we go through in life. There's
times where we are brought into difficult times and the Lord
says it's for a set time. I've given it to you for a set
time and when that time is up, that trial will be over. The
trial will be over. The other thing he shows us is
that the trial is for the good of his people. No, he is not
punishing you. No, he does not mean it to destroy
you or to bring evil upon you and bring you to nothing. It's
for your good. Every trial you go through is
for the good of God's people. And third, it fits God's eternal
purpose. which he purposed in the Lord
Jesus Christ. It fits God's eternal purpose
of which you are made a partaker of in the Lord Jesus Christ. So what is the Lord telling you
today when you're brought into a trial? He's saying, for one
thing, yes, when we come into trials, it's like going into
captivity. There's a sense in which trials
do bring us into captivity. They capture our thoughts. They
consume our time, our thinking, our energies, our problem solving. We get afraid by these things. We worry about these things.
We have doubts by the things that we go through. It's like
suddenly being picked up and brought into captivity. I wasn't
expecting this and then boom, all these things start happening
and away goes your thoughts and your time and your energies because
you've been taken captive by these things. And it makes us
to cry out to God. Honestly, Lord, what's going
on? Why have you done this, Lord?
Because our questions and our prayers, it betrays the thoughts
of our hearts and the worries that we have and the fears and
the doubts. but it causes us to pour out
our heart. to the Lord. It makes us to cry
out to Him and thinking through what's going on. You say in your
word this, that you provide for your people. Why now am I going
into captivity? Why am I now in this trial of
faith? But we cry out to Him because
we're made to see when our strength and abilities are being pushed
to the end, and they run out, but the trial hasn't yet expired,
we see that the only one that can help us in this time is the
true and living God. A trial is made to bring us to
nothing in ourselves, and it makes us to see the only one
that can help me now is the Lord. He's the only one that can help
me now. And so you know, what God teaches you is that, Lord,
you're sovereign. You can do anything, and you
can do anything, and you say in your word that the trial is
for a set time. If God is sovereign, then it's
given to you for a set time. It's given to you for a purpose. And he tells you that it's for
my good. He says to me, it's for my good. It's not to destroy me. It's
not to bring me to nothing in myself. And to drive me from
him, it's for my good. And he tells us that it's according
to his eternal purpose. that eternal purpose which which
he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord. And that means it's an
expected end. That means it was given according
to purpose in Christ before the world began. Do you believe that? That every trial you go through
is given to you by your Father's good hand, who purposed it before
the world began, and purposed it for your good. And it's going
to go exactly as He purposed it to go, to teach you, to show
you, to comfort you in Christ. Not in this world, but in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now this gets into the third
point, which I was gonna make, which is that the Lord is gonna
make you to pray, to cry out to him, to seek your God with
all your heart. And that's the purpose why these
trials are given to us. It's to cry out to him and to
keep walking in the faith which he has given to you. to keep
you looking to Him. I like how Paul words it this
way in Romans 8.23, he says, and not only they, not those
written about in the scriptures that we see here, but ourselves
also. which have the firstfruits of
the Spirit. What's the firstfruits of the
Spirit? Does that mean the first believers? No, all believers
who have received the earnest, the down payment of our inheritance,
being given the Holy Spirit. So all of us who have the Spirit
of God, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption to wit the redemption of our body. Your God brings
these trials because it works that in us so that we earnestly
desire and long for our Lord's return. And we have fellowship
with him in prayer, crying out to him, seeking his face through
the trial, through the captivity and the difficulty. And so in
that understanding, Peter tells us in 1 Peter 5, verse 6 and
7, humble yourselves. Therefore, under the mighty hand
of God, that he may exalt you in due time." It is a humbling
time. When you go into captivity, it
is a humbling time, especially when you see how captivity is
described. Sometimes the people were let
out naked and hurting. And in shame, that's a shameful
thing. And there are trials that do
very much humble us and bring us low in ourselves. That we should not trust in ourselves,
but in the true and living God. Because he's the one that raises
up and lifts up his people in that time appointed. And he's gonna make sure that
they are humbled and realize, I didn't do this. I didn't bring
the good. I didn't bring myself out of
the trial, I mean. I didn't do that. The Lord did that. All
the glory, all the praise is the Lord's. And so Peter added,
casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. Your God
does care for you. The trial does not mean that
he doesn't care for you. It means that he does care for
you, his child. In fact, if you go back to our
text there in Jeremiah 29, looking at verse 18, he speaks of those
who have not gone forth with you into captivity. And I'm just,
for time's sake, I'm just going to read verse 18. He says, I
will persecute them with the sword. with the famine and with
the pestilence. And he goes on, he says, those
that didn't go into captivity, I'm going to persecute them with
horrible things, with sword, famine, and pestilence, disease.
I'm going to persecute them with that. But you, that have gone
into captivity, I shall provide. In other words, they'll have
worse things done to them. And God spares you. He's brought
you into a trial, but He's sparing you. God tells us that we're
precious in His sight. Flip back over to Jeremiah 24.
Jeremiah 24. You know, I didn't read it in
our text. I think it was in verse 16 or
17. Let me just see it. He calls them rotten figs. Yeah, I'm sorry, so I cut it
out, but in verse 17, back in Jeremiah 29, 17, real fast, He
said, you know, I'm gonna bring the sword, famine, and pestilence,
and we'll make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten. They are so evil, right? So that's
how the wicked are described. But to his people in Jeremiah
24, five. Yeah, 24, five, right. They said,
turn ye again. Oh, I'm in the wrong chapter. Thus saith the Lord, the God
of Israel, like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that
are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this
place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. So you see that when the Lord
sends his child into captivity, into a trial, into that adversity,
which causes us to cry out to our God, to seek his face. Your Lord says it's for your
good. But those who don't go into that captivity, who are
partakers with you in that captivity, I'm going to bring on them the
sword, famine, and pestilence. They shall fall in their own
sin and iniquity. They're rotten figs, he tells
us. And so we see what the Lord is teaching us in his scriptures,
right? When Peter says in 2 Peter 2,
9, that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished. But it's a thing of faith. We
see it and we receive it and understand what our God is doing
walking in faith. trusting him, believing him,
that even in times of adversity, even in things we don't understand
or think should happen, God has a purpose in it for a set time,
for your good, and it's according to his eternal purpose in Christ. He gives us this, he tells us
this, and shows us this in the scriptures to encourage our hearts,
to strengthen our hearts. Look now at Jeremiah 29 in verse
12 and 13 where he says, And so The Lord makes His child, He
gives us that hope, that living hope, that living faith in the
true and living God so that we are made willing, made needful,
made to cry out to Him and to seek the true and living God
and to pour out our burdened heart to our gracious God. And we see how when we see this,
when you see what the Lord is doing, and you see his hand,
and you see his purpose in the work, he does turn our hearts
so that we do pray and thank God for it. And I want to show
you how Daniel saw that this very promise spoken of in Jeremiah,
the prophet, and Daniel, let's go over to Daniel chapter 9.
And Daniel did this very thing that the Lord just promised that
His people would do, to pray to Him. Daniel chapter 9. We're
going to pick up in verse 2. So Daniel is reading Jeremiah
and he's reading about the seventy years and how Israel would be
released from their captivity after seventy years. Daniel 9-2,
in the first year of his reign, this other king, I, Daniel, understood
by books the numbers of the years whereof the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish seventy
years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And look what he does. And I
set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications
with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. And I prayed unto the
Lord my God and made my confession and said, O Lord, the great and
dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him
and to them that keep his commandments. Daniel was encouraged to pray.
He read the scriptures and saw what the Lord does, the way of
the Lord, even in the captivity, how God had a purpose. It had
a set time, it was for the good of the people, and it was according
to his eternal purpose, and it encouraged Daniel's heart to
pray exactly as God said it would do for his people, to cause them
to pray. And so, as we see how the Lord
uses the fiery trials, which come to try that faith which
God has given to us, we are encouraged to pray and to seek the face
of our God, knowing that he's sovereign, he does whatsoever
he pleases, he's faithful to keep all his promises, and within
those promises, we see how that it's for time, it's for my good,
and it's according to his purpose, and we know that he's going to
take care of our enemies. He's going to do it all, and
so we're encouraged to pray. Don't be discouraged when you
go through trials. Keep looking to the Lord. Keep
calling out to Him to know His will and to have a heart that
is turned to the will of your God. that seeks him and thanks
him and trusts him through it all because he's faithful and
just and sovereign. And if you read more in Daniel
9, you'll see Daniel was humbled by it. He confessed his sin and
the sin of the people. He confessed in their departing
and that the judgments were right. And he confessed that we didn't
believe, we doubted, you Lord but he knows that God is righteous
and God is faithful to keep his word of promise and he's able
he is able brethren and so forth God punishes his enemies and
ours whatever needs to be made right your God will do it And
not only will you see the faithfulness of your God, but your enemies
are going to be put down and destroyed to never rise again.
And so not only were the inhabitants who didn't go into captivity
destroyed, but those people that gave word against the Lord's
people in Babylon, they were put to death before their eyes.
That's in Jeremiah 29, 21. where in that letter they were
writing letters back and trying to get Jeremiah thrown into jail
for writing this letter saying that the Lord told him to settle
in. You're going to be there for 70 years. Just get houses,
plant gardens, have kids, settle in because you're going to be
there for 70 years. Just live there because that's
where the Lord has put you. And it said there in verse 21,
at the end of the verse, that those men that were speaking
against the people of God and were lying to them, that the
Lord was going to slay them before their eyes. So remember this. I'll say this in summary. Your
God is sovereign. He's going to bring to pass whatsoever
pleases Him to bring to pass for you as people. Your God is
faithful to all His promises which He makes to you. The trials,
the captivities, the difficulties, each one is for a set time. Even this flesh, and the difficulties
because of our sin in this flesh, it's all for a set time. And
when the Lord comes, He's going to raise us anew in a body made
like unto His body. and we shall be like him for
we shall see him as he is." And all these trials are going to
go away. All these difficulties in this
flesh will be put away because we won't have that burden of
sin and death anymore, because Christ has accomplished the forgiveness
of our sins, the putting away of its dominion, so that we have
an inheritance in Him. We have life in Him. We have
His Spirit, which has given us life, that looks to the Lord
Jesus Christ and trusts Him. and trust Him. So everything,
every trial is for that purpose, to strengthen that new man, that
inner man, that creation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Each one is
for a set time. It's always for your good, and
it always glorifies the eternal purpose of your God in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He gives you the trial, not to
give you a stiff upper lip and to just muscle through it. No!
Get on your knees and cry out to the Lord. Pray to Him. That's
why He gives it to you. He breaks His people, the proud,
arrogant flesh of His people. It's to strip us down and to
make us to know our need of Him and to call out to Him. You have
that fellowship with Almighty God thanks to the Lord Jesus
Christ who reconciled us to the Father, removing that enmity
that's in this flesh. And your God will take care of
all your enemies. He fights against them. He destroys
them. He'll take care of them. He knows
exactly what he's doing. So trust him. I said at the beginning,
the just shall live by his faith. It is a walk of faith. God has purposed and designed
it to be so. Walk in that faith, in the light
which he has given you. The light is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look to him, believe him, trust him. He's done that for you.
I'll leave you with this word from Philippians 2, 13 through
16. For it is God which worketh in
you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Do all things
without murmurings and disputings, that ye may be blameless and
harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation. among whom ye shine as lights
in the world, holding forth the word of life, that I may rejoice
in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored
in vain. Amen. I pray the Lord bless that
word. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our gracious Lord, we thank you,
Father, for your grace. We thank you, Lord, for your
word of promise, for your spirit, the first fruits which you've
given to us, that we are indeed yours. And Lord, that you're
sovereign, almighty, you're the one that brings us into trials.
Lord, it's for a purpose, a set time, it's for our good, and
it glorifies your holy, righteous, wonderful, glorious name in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we thank you. your grace
we thank you for for your wisdom and power and might lord keep
us ever looking to you by faith not having any confidence in
this flesh but in the lord jesus christ alone lord we do pray
Concerning the next couple weeks with the difficulties of the
location and the schedule and with the conference on the 12th
and the 13th, we pray for the pastors, Lord, whom you're sending
to us. We pray for Brother Don. We pray
for Brother Darwin. We pray for Brother Larry, that,
Lord, you would bless them, lay on their hearts, the word that
you have purposed for this hour, for this people. We pray that
you would bring up other brethren who want to rejoice in fellowship
with us in this hope that we have in Christ. And Lord, we
ask that you would bring many people from the neighborhood,
Lord, other sheep, especially Lord lost sheep who, who, who
need to hear the gospel, who need to come out of the darkness
that they're in, and that they would see the light of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Help us, Lord, to think of others,
to invite them, and to encourage others to come. We pray that
you would bless it, Lord, and that you would bless your people
richly in that hour, on those days, Lord. It's in Christ's
name we pray and give thanks, amen. Our closing hymn will be 252.
Only trust him. 252. I apologize, I'm gonna slow it
down a little bit. Got a little spoiled with the other stuff.
I'm gonna start it again. A merry soul by sin oppressed,
there's mercy with the Lord. And He will surely give you rest
by trusting in His Word. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. For Jesus shed his precious blood,
rich blessings to bestow. Launch now into the crimson flood
that washes white as snow. Only trust him, only trust him,
only trust him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now. Yes, Jesus is the truth, the
way that leads you into rest. Believe in Him without delay
and you are fully blessed. Only trust Him, only trust Him,
only trust Him now. He will save you, He will save
you, He will save you now.