It is indeed good to be with
you all tonight. This is my first time at the
new church, and I have to say I'm quite impressed. I spent most of my adult life
in the construction industry, sometimes sitting in a computer,
but as someone who has built a couple of houses from literally
the foundation up, I know firsthand how much work there is looking
around this building, and I know that it doesn't get done by itself. I commend you all, the work that
you put in. You have a beautiful facility. earlier. Sometimes, you know,
you go into a church and the men of the church have done the
work, and you say, yeah, this is really nice, and it's really
not, but you all did just an incredible, outstanding job on
this, and I commend you for it. We've talked about this congregation
many times at home, how much that this church reminds us of
Grace Baptist Church in Danville about 35 or 40 years ago. A lot
of young people A lot of kids. And the Lord has indeed been
gracious to you all. Turn with me, please, to the
last four verses of the book of Jeremiah. Or find Lamentations,
first chapter, and you're there. The last four verses of the book
of Jeremiah. We'll begin reading in verse
31. And it came to pass in the seventh and thirtieth year of
the captivity of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, in the twelfth
month, in the five and twentieth day of the month, that Abel-Meradoc,
king of Babylon, in the first year of his reign, did lift up
the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, and brought him forth
out of prison. and spake kindly unto him, and
set his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him
in Babylon, and changed his prison garments. And he did continually
eat bread before him all the days of his life. And for his
diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon
every day a portion, until the day of his death, all the days
of his life. Now when we read this account,
think back of what you were doing in 1986. Some of you weren't
even born. But that's how long Jehoiachin
had sat in this prison, 37 years. And this account of Jehoiachin
being brought forth out of prison is also found almost word for
word in 2 Kings 25 and verses 27 through 30. And there are
only a few places in the Old Testament that a story is told
twice. So it would seem that the Holy
Spirit wants to teach us something in this lesson. And there are
many parallels, as we will see, between how this king treated
Jehoiachin and how our God deals with his elect. Before we look
at his recovery, we have to ask, how did Jehoiachin end up in
prison? We read about his father, whose
first name was Jehoiakim. After he died, it's written in
2 Chronicles 36.8, where we're told, now the rest of the acts
of Jehoiakim And his abominations which he did, and that which
was found in him, behold, they are written in the book of the
kings of Israel and Judah. And his son Jehoiachin, his son
reigned in his stead." So we have to ask ourselves, what events
took place that found a great king who was once powerful, held
in high esteem? What brought him to a place of
utter ruin? And in 2nd Kings 24 9 that Gabe
read earlier, it is stated that he did that which was evil in
the sight of the Lord. Just like his father Jehoiakim
and just like we and our father Adam, both he and his father
and we and our father Adam did that which was evil in the sight
of the Lord. Because Jehoiachin chose to do
evil, God sent one to take him captive along with all whom he
represented. Because we're told in that 24th
chapter of 2 Kings that Nebuchadnezzar, and Gabe has already read this,
but I'll read it again. Nebuchadnezzar carried away all
Jerusalem. and all the princes, and all
the mighty men of valor, even 10,000 captives, and all the
craftsmen and smiths. None remained, save the poorest
of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin
to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his
officers, and the mighty of the land. Those carried he into captivity
from Jerusalem to Babylon, And all the men of might, even 7,000,
and craftsmen and smiths 1,000, all that were strong and apt
for war, even them, the king of Babylon, brought captive to
Babylon. So all that Jehoiakim represented
paid the price. for him doing evil in the sight
of the Lord, which is exactly how we ended up in prison, in
the prison of sin and bondage to the law. Our father Adam did
that, which was evil in the sight of the Lord. He plunged all whom
he represented into captivity. Into the captivity of bondage
and despair. In Hebrews 2, 14 and 15, it tells
us that Christ delivered them who, through fear of death, were
all their lifetimes subject to bondage. All our lifetimes, since
the day we were born, we have been in bondage. As a child of
slaves, born into captivity, so were we born into bondage. And our Lord warned us in John
8, 34, He said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth
sin is the servant of sin. Sin was your master and you were
a slave to it. Paul bemoaned our condition in
Romans 7 when he said, but I see another law in my members warring
against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity to
the law of sin, which is in my members. O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? The fact
that we need deliverance is a clear indication that we are in bondage. Otherwise, there would be no
need for deliverance. We read in 2 Peter 2, verses
18 and 19, for when they speak great swelling words of vanity,
they allure through the lust of the flesh, through much wantonness,
those who were clean escaped from them who live in error.
While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants
of corruption. For of whom a man is overcome,
of the same is he brought into bondage. And how quickly, how
easily are we brought into bondage. Sin is in every strand of our
DNA. It is not simply what we do. It is what we are. But there is hope for those sold
under sin. For those of us who were under bondage to the law,
but have now been redeemed because Paul tells us in Romans 6, 14
through 18, for sin shall not have dominion over you. For you're
not under the law, but under grace. What then, shall we sin? Because we are not under the
law, but under grace? God forbid. Know ye not that
to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants are ye
to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience
unto righteousness. But God, we think that we were
the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form
of doctrine which was delivered to you. Being then made free
from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. What a blessed,
blessed servitude we have to be the servants of righteousness. In Romans 8, the first couple
of verses reads, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the spirit. For the law of the Spirit of
Christ hath made me free from the law of sin and death. It's
at Him we just sang, free from the law, oh happy condition. Now are we free, there's no condemnation. Jesus provides a perfect salvation,
no longer under bondage, completely free in Him. In freeing us from
bondage of sin and death, our God fulfills a promise that we
find in Isaiah, chapter 42, verses six and seven. He says, I, the
Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will hold thine hand and
will keep thee and give thee for a covenant of the people
for a light of the Gentiles to open the blind eyes to bring
out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness
out of the prison house. I took my title for this message
from that text, and it's entitled this, Out of the Prison House,
Into the King's House. David declared in Psalm 142,
seven, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. The
righteous shall come pass me about for thou shall deal bountifully
with me. And in Isaiah 61, we find that
text that the Lord, when he began his public ministry, read in
the synagogue, he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me. Because
the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the
meek, he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to
them that are bound." Now in verse 31 of our text here in
Jeremiah 52, it tells us that the king lifted up his head,
speaking of Jehoriachin. This would suggest that Jehoiachin
was in such a weakened condition that he could not so much as
hold up his head, literally at death's door, ready to perish. The conditions in which he had
lived in that prison over 37 years had taken their toll, and
he was completely helpless to do anything to improve his condition. The only thing he could do was
to lay in his filth and his corruption and wait to die. And it would
seem from what we read of this weakened condition that the time
of his death was near. And this was our state when our
Lord found us and had compassion on us. Psalm 3, verses 2 and
3 reads, many there be that say of my soul, there is no help
for him in God, but thou, O Lord, art my shield, my glory, and
the lifter up of my head. We see an example of this in
the story of the Good Samaritan, how that he found a certain man
stripped of raiment and wounded, and he had compassion on him.
Which is how our Lord found us, wounded unto death by sin, naked,
cast out, and left to die as that infant described in Ezekiel
16. Verse six of that text tells
us that the Lord passed by us and saw us polluted in our own
blood, But that's not the end of the story, because in verse
8 he tells us, Now when I passed by thee and looked upon thee,
behold, thy time was a time of love. And I spread my skirt over
thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swore unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord, and thou became mine. We went from death's door to
being joint heirs with Christ. Wonder of wonders. Next, we read
in Jeremiah that the king brought him forth out of prison. Now
we need to understand that the prisons of those days were nothing
like the prisons that we have in America today. These prisons
were breeding grounds for disease and usually filled with rats.
There were no showers. There were no bathrooms. Your
bathroom was in the corner of your cell. The prisoners lived
with a stench that was overwhelming. The cells reeked with the smell
of human waste, body odor, and the smell sometimes of rotting
corpses of prisoners who had died and had yet to be removed. And the prisoners, no doubt,
are infested with lice, probably suffered every sort of skin malady
imaginable. And most of these prisons were
places of complete darkness, no light at all, except maybe
when a guard came in with a torch. And this is a good description
of us when our Lord sought us out and found us. In 1 Peter
2, 9, we read, but ye are a chosen generation. a royal priesthood and holy nation,
a peculiar people that you should show forth the praise of him
who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Sin
is all we've ever known. It is all around us and within
us from the day that we're born. We lived in our own filth of
sin and our own self-righteousness, which is called a stench in God's
nostrils. We by nature and from birth were
so used to those conditions that we didn't even realize anything
was wrong until God sent a gospel preacher to awaken us and we
became aware that we were dead and rotting in sin. That's why
we read in Ephesians, and you hath he quickened who were dead
in trespasses and sins. Next, in verse 32 of our text
here in Jeremiah, tell us that the king spake kindly unto him,
speaking of Jehoiachin. In every instance that we find
in the four Gospels of Christ dealing with sinners, we never,
ever find him speaking to them with disdain or disgust. He reserved
that harshness and that hatred for the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and the self-righteous with whom he came in contact. And it's
just not how our Lord deals with his elect people as he brings
them into his fold. He gently woos his people and
treats them with kindness as a shepherd does his sheep. Romans
2, 4 tells us that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance,
not the harshness of God, not the judgments of God, but the
goodness of God. And notice that it says it leadeth
us to repentance as a shepherd leads his sheep That verse in
the 23rd Psalm that speaks of our good shepherd says, thy rod
and thy staff, they comfort me. This is a description of how
a shepherd used to use his rod to tap each of the sheep as he
gathered them out of the sheepfold. He would gently touch each of
the sheep as they passed under his rod, and no sheep would be
comforted by that touch. Never, ever was that rod used
to smite or punish the sheep, but always to comfort them, knowing
that their shepherd was there and that all was well. He was
getting ready to lead them to green pastures and to that still
water spoken of in Psalm 23. And this is why Christ described
himself as a good shepherd. A good shepherd leads his sheep,
protects his sheep, and if necessary, gives his life for the sheep
to save them from death and destruction. Turn with me to 1 Samuel, please. 1 Samuel chapter 17. 1 Samuel chapter 17. We begin reading in verse 31. This is an example of a good shepherd. Let me make sure I'm in the right
place here. First Samuel 17. And when the word were heard,
which David spake, they rehearsed them before Saul, and he sent
for him. And David said to Saul, let no
man's heart fail because of him. Thy servant will go and fight
with this Philistine. And Saul said to David, thou
art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him,
for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth. And David said unto Saul, thy
servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear
and took a lamb out of the flock. And I went out after him and
smote him and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose
up against me, I caught him by the beard and smote him and slew
him. Thy servant slew both the lion
and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of
the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion And out of the
paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine. And Saul said unto David, go
and the Lord be with thee. Now, David may have been a youth,
but apparently he was a fearless youth. He says he caught the
lion by its beard and slew him. Is it any wonder then that he
was not the least bit intimidated by this giant Goliath? He had
done hand-to-hand, or I guess more correctly, hand-to-paw combat
with a lion and a bear and had killed them both. So when he
volunteered to go toe-to-toe with Goliath, he was confident
that the same God who gave him the strength to slay a lion and
a bear would also give him the strength to slay this Philistine. That is what a good shepherd
does. He is not willing, I should say, to lose even one sheep,
but rather will put his life on the line in order to protect
all his sheep. And notice in verse 34 of our
text, it says that these sheep weren't actually David's sheep.
They belonged to his father. But he was responsible for those
sheep and was not going to let even one be taken. And much more
so, our Lord Jesus Christ is responsible for his father's
sheep. As he tells us in John 6, 39, we read, and this is the
Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath
given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again
at the last day. Next, in verse 32 of our text
in Jeremiah 52, It tells us that the king set
his throne above the throne of the kings that were with him,
speaking of Jehoiachin. Now, I have to admit that I'm
not sure what all of that means. But it certainly means that Jehoiachin
had a place of honor that the other kings did not. Back in
those days, men were given places of honor in the king's royal
dining hall. His family usually sat closest
to him, and men of honor and esteem sat next to the king and
his family. those who had the highest standing
in the kingdom. And when our God created man,
as detailed in Genesis 1, 26, he said, let us make man in our
image after our likeness and let him have dominion over the
fish of the sea and over the fowls of the air and over the
cattle and over all the earth and over every creeping thing
that creepeth upon the earth. So God gave dominion to the human
race in general when he created man, but there is a group of
people in that human race that he has elevated through the finished
work of Christ above the others. And those are, of course, the
saints of God, the elect. There was nothing in Jehoiachin
that made the king elevate him above the others. It was simply
the king's choice, his sovereign choice as king. And so it is
with our God. When he sets us over the rest
of the human race, he does it because it's his sovereign choice,
not because of any merit on our part. In 1 Corinthians, Paul
tells the Corinthians that the saints shall judge the world. And in verse 3, he tells us that
we shall judge angels. So clearly, our God has set our
throne above the throne of others. Now, in verse 33, it says that
after the king had brought Jehoiachin out of prison, he changed his
prison garments. Now you can just imagine or try
to imagine what these garments that this man had worn in prison,
maybe for the entire 37 years, what they looked and smelled
like. Probably mere rags stained with
the corruptions of the filth that surrounded him. And that
describes our righteousness perfectly. Isaiah 64, 6, that verse that
we're so familiar with. But we are all as an unclean
thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. The garments
that Jehoiachin had on in prison could not be washed enough. to remove the smell and the filth
that they had accumulated over time. They had to be changed. Now turn with me please to Zechariah
chapter 3. I want to read a couple of verses.
Zechariah chapter 3. Second to the last book in the
Old Testament. Zechariah chapter 3. starting in the first verse.
And he showed me Joshua, the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing in his right hand to
resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake
unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. This is such an apt description
of what our God does for lost sinners when he brings them into
his fold. He takes away their filthy garments
and clothes them with the righteousness of Christ. That robe of righteousness
that covers us to such a degree that the holy, all-seeing eye
of God himself cannot find fault in us. This robe is more fair
than the king's clothing of silk and purple. There is no beauty
as fair as that of the righteousness of Christ. Revelation 19 verses
7 and 8 speaking of the marriage of the lamb reads, Let us be
glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the
lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready and to her
was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and
white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints."
That righteousness imputed to us because of the finished work
of Christ on our behalf. Isaiah 61.10 reads, I will greatly
rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God, for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he
hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. As a bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself
with jewels. Now you think about it, if the
very hem of the garments which Christ wore when he walked this
earth could heal diseases, how much more does the robe of the
righteousness of the glorified Christ heal our plague of sin? When that prodigal son returned
to his father, his father commanded the servants and said, bring
forth the best robe and put it on him. Not just any robe, that
would never do. The Father commanded to bring
the best robe. And is there any better robe
to be had than the robe of the righteousness of Christ? Indeed,
it is the best robe. And pay close attention to the
wording here. He didn't say bring forth the best robe and give
it to him to put on. He didn't say, bring forth the
best robe and let's see if he's interested in putting it on.
He said, bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Our God
doesn't even expect us to put on the robe of Christ's righteousness.
He puts it on us himself. It isn't an offer. Here's the
robe of Christ's righteousness. If you'd be interested in wearing
it, he puts it on us himself. And some might ask, well, what
if we don't want him to put it on us? The only thing I can say to that,
if you ever see yourself naked, standing before a holy God, you
will be more than happy to be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. And notice in this story of the
prodigal that they didn't wait till he got home to weave him
a robe. That robe was already ready long before he got there.
And in that same way, when our God brings a lost sinner to the
feet of Christ, when that prodigal sinner comes to the Father's
house, the best robe is already prepared and waiting for him.
That robe of the righteousness of Christ that was prepared before
the foundation of the world. Now the last part of verse 33
and verse 34, back in our text in Jeremiah 52, It tells us, and he did continually
eat bread before him all the days of his life. And for his
diet, there was a continual diet given him of the king of Babylon,
every day a portion until the day of his death, all the days
of his life. The king didn't just release
Jehoiachin from prison, clean him up and tell him, well, I've
done my part. Now the rest is up to you. So
it is with us and our God. In Romans 8, he describes how
he foreknew us, how he predestinated us, how he called us, how he
justified us, how he glorified us. Everything that we need in
this life and that life which is to come is given to us by
our sovereign Lord. That scripture tells us we are
complete in him, lacking nothing. Our Lord prayed, give us this
day our daily bread. Our God provides our needs daily,
both earthly possessions and provisions, food, shelter, clothing.
But He also gives daily grace as that grace is needed. Someone
once came to Brother Henry Mahan and said, Brother Mahan, I don't
feel like I have dying grace. And Henry was somewhat surprised.
And he said, are you dying? And they said, no, I just don't
feel like I have dying grace. And he explained to them that
God gives grace as grace is needed. He doesn't just fill up your
bank account of grace and say, draw on it as you need it. He
gives grace as grace is needed. He provides us with daily grace
every day till the day of our death. Just as he provided manna
daily in the wilderness for the nation of Israel during their
wanderings there, so he provides us with all the necessary blessings
as we need them. Our Lord told us in Matthew 6,
8, that your father knoweth what things ye have need of before
you ask him. And David tells us in Psalm 37,
25, I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the
righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread." Many of us are
familiar with that account in 2 Samuel chapter 9 of David showing
kindness to Mephibosheth for Jonathan's sake. It's a story that we're quite
familiar with. Jonathan, of course, was Mephibosheth's father, and
Jonathan and David were best of friends. They loved each other.
And in verse seven of that chapter, David tells Mephibosheth, thou
shalt eat bread at my table continually. for the rest of your days." Now,
most times when I've heard this story, and I've heard men speak
about it, they say that he was seated at the king's table, and
as he was seated there, his damaged feet were under the king's table,
but that is not the case. If you read in the customs of
those days, they didn't sit in chairs as we do today. They reclined
with their head toward the table and their feet away from the
table. That's how you can explain how that text in Luke 7 makes
sense when it says that Christ, as he was dining at the Pharisee's
house, the woman came in and stood at his feet behind him
weeping. Now, if he had been in a chair,
as we sit today, she could not have been standing behind him
weeping. No, he was reclining. And that
being the case, the crippled feet of Mephibosheth were not
hidden from view, but were fully exposed for all to see. But it
didn't matter, because he was dining with the king at the king's
table. David did not care that he was
crippled. David was not ashamed to dine
with Mephibosheth, lame feet and all, because he loved him
for Jonathan's sake. And so it is with our blessed
Lord. We dine spiritually at the table
of the King of Kings with all our weaknesses fully exposed. Yet our Lord is not ashamed to
have us dining at his table. He tells us as much in Hebrews
2.11, where we read, for both he that sanctifyeth And they
who are sanctified are all one, and he is not ashamed to call
them brethren. The King of glory is not ashamed
of us, defects and all. Our Lord is indeed the friend
of sinners, unashamed to be seen in their company. In these four
verses here in Jeremiah 32, we have the complete picture of
God's grace and mercy towards sinners. He finds us in our filth,
dying in bondage. He lifts up our head. He speaks
kindly to us. He changes our filthy garments
and clothes us with the righteousness of Christ. And he provides all
of our needs, both physical and spiritual, for the rest of our
lives here on earth. But let us never forget that
God Almighty could have just as easily left us to perish as
He did another king whose story is told in this same 52nd chapter
of Jeremiah. Starting in verse 8 of this chapter,
52 of Jeremiah, we read, but the army of the Chaldeans pursued
after the king and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And
all his army was scattered from him. Then they took the king
and carried him up unto the king of Babylon." And skipping down
to verse 11. Then he put out the eyes of Zedekiah. The king of Babylon bound him
in chains and carried him to Babylon and put him in prison
till the day of his death. There was no deliverance to be
found for Zedekiah. Just like there was or as there
was for Jericho and he was left in his chains and his blindness
to perish and die. Just as we would have been were
it not for the mercy and grace of our God. Never forget. Never
forget, dear Saint. That you could have been born
in Esau. hated from eternity by the God
of heaven, set for destruction before you were ever born. But God, in his exceeding mercy
and his abundant grace, chose you in Christ, brought you forth
out of prison, and set you among princes. And that's why we will
never tire of giving him the praise that he so richly deserves
because of his goodness toward us in Christ. Now, perhaps there's
one sitting here tonight or listening over the streaming that sees
yourself in bondage, helpless to help yourself. If so, I have
good news for you. Christ stands ready to deliver.
Our God delights in mercy. So if you are able, plead with
him to show you mercy, beseech him to deliver you from the prison
of sin and despair. Take comfort in the promise of
Christ when he said, he that cometh unto me, I will in no
wise cast out. There is hope for hopeless sinners,
and that hope is found in the finished work of Christ. And
you don't have to clean yourself up before you come. You're not
able to anymore than Jehoiachin was able to. Come to Christ as
you are. He will change your prison garments. And He will provide you with
the robe of the righteousness of Christ. As that old hymn says,
all the fitness He requires is to feel your need of Him. I implore
you, flee to Him today. I pray that the Lord has blessed
that to your heart.