Jeanette and I were discussing
that hymn today over the phone, and, you know, it all so clearly
speaks of Christ, who is Immanuel, God with us. But His name is
not in that hymn, is it? And we were talking, you know,
the chorus says, Oh come, Immanuel. He did. He has come. And we were talking how that
we wonder if maybe if the Jews sing that song. I'd be very curious
to know if they sung that hymn. It certainly has a kind of a
Hebrew sound to it, doesn't it? Like, oh, God, the God of Abraham
prays. I don't know. If they do, boy,
their minds are blinded if they don't see Christ in that. Jeremiah
29. This, as is written, are the words
of a letter that Jeremiah, the prophet, sent to the people,
some of the people who were taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar, taken
to Babylon. All of them eventually will be
taken, and he'll destroy the temple. And I don't want you
to be caught up with all of these historical things. Nebuchadnezzar
and Nebuchadnezzar are the same person, okay? That confused you. Same person, just spelled different.
But don't be so much taken up with all these things as the
gospel story here. That's why this is written. All
these things are written for our learning. Now this was God's Word to the
prophet Jeremiah to God's people. Bless the Lord. Look at verse
1. He says, These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the
prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders, carried
away captives, the priests, the prophets, and all the people
whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away. Verse 4, Thus saith the Lord
of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away
captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem. This is God's Word to God's people. Bless the Lord for His Word. Where would we be without God's
Word? We live in Babylon. You know that? We're right in
here. That's what the Revelation talks about. The church is right
where Satan's seat is, right in the middle of a land, a world
that's held captive. by a powerful foe. Bless the
Lord for His Word. Where would we be? We'd be in
darkness as others. Isaiah 8 says they look to the
world in all its dimness and darkness and anguish of spirit
and vexation and they're troubled. We have hope, don't we? We're
not in darkness as others. We're not in despair. Cast down,
but not in despair. We're not without hope. People
are without hope, without God, without Christ in this world.
Not us. People have no light, have no understanding. We're
not us. The entrance of His Word gives
light. The Son of God, we know the Son of God has come and given
us an understanding. We're in Him. We're in Babylon,
but we're in Him. I want to show us how that we,
although we live in a land of captivity, and we feel somewhat
captive, we're not. The Son has made us free. I want
us to see that and rejoice. You know, we sang that hymn,
and the disciples on the road to Emmaus, remember that's why
we started preaching all these And they said, we trusted that
he would redeem Israel. He did. They didn't know it. But it wasn't Israel the nation. He didn't come to redeem everybody,
but he came to redeem a remnant, according to the election of
grace. And he did. He did just that. And he, after he finally
revealed himself, then their understanding, their eyes were
opened. So this story here is not a story
of Jewish history, but it's a story of, it's his story. Our Lord
came to deliver captive Israel. Oh, we'd be without hope, we'd
be without light, without understanding. We'd have no peace in this world.
We'd be trusting and hoping in vanity. We'd be hoping and trusting
in man, like everybody else right now. And that's a vain hoping. In Psalm 147, it says this. Again, I was reading through
the Psalms and came to this, almost one of the last Psalms,
and it says, After all the Lord did for Israel, God's people,
the last thing He says, He showed His Word to Jacob. He hath not dealt so with any
nation. They had not known His Word.
Praise the Lord. So we're not in darkness, not
without hope in this world. We're in it. Not of it. We're
not bound by it. Thank God. God has said His Word
through the prophets. Our Lord sent prophets and apostles
and evangelists and pastors and teachers for the perfected sake.
And that's God's Word through his preachers. All right? Now,
these were people, as said, in captivity. They were taken to
Babylon. Look at verse 4. Thus saith the
Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away
captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem. It says in verse 7, seek the
peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away
captive. Verse 14, I'm going to bring
you again to the place from which I caused you to be carried away
captive. It was the Lord that did this,
he said. God's book, God's Bible, Bible,
book, It's God's Word to God's people. It's not to the Word.
We're going to look at false prophets briefly tonight. And
this is one way you know false prophets. They apply the Word
of God to everybody. That's lying on God and lying
to people. God didn't say this to everybody. It's to God's people. And from Genesis, from Joseph,
to Malachi, God's people were in some kind of bondage, weren't
they? All through the Old Testament.
They were in bondage or getting ready to go back into bondage. And all the prophets prophesied
of this. All of them. Every one of them.
Every single prophet, major and minor, prophesied that you're
either going to go into bondage, God's going to bring you out,
or they were in bondage. Daniel was in bondage with them. Ezekiel, he was there in bondage
with them. When they were brought back to
build the temple, Ezra and Nehemiah, then they were helped by Haggai
and Zechariah. The people were helped by the
prophet. They actually helped them build the walls and then
were preaching to them the whole time. Gave them comfort. And if God's people know, Israel,
the Lord told them through the prophets why they were in captivity. Because of sin. Because of unbelief. Because of idolatry. Right? Go back to 1 Kings 12. Let's see where this all started. And I told you years ago that
we need to read Jeremiah maybe every year. Because it's so relevant. It's just so applicable
to right now in Jeremiah. Now, Israel, they were supposed
to be God's people. And yet they sinned against the
Lord. And idolatry. And they mixed
and they mingled with the people of the world. And for long they
were just like them. And so God sent adversaries and
took them captive. And it started right after Solomon. And the Lord split the kingdom,
remember? There's a man named Jeroboam.
Look at verse 25. 1 Kings 12, 25. There's a man
named Jeroboam. He was not a son of David. He
was a servant. He was not a son of David. But
God put him in there as king over Israel. And he was a wicked
man. He didn't know the Lord. But
God did this because of Israel's idolatry. All right, and look
what he did. This is where it all started.
Jeroboam built Shechem in Mount Ephraim and dwelt there. And
in verse 26, he said, the kingdom will return to the house of David.
If this people go up to sacrifice in the house of the Lord, the
temple at Jerusalem, the heart of the people will turn to their
Lord, to the King of Judah. They'll kill me. They go back
to the King of Judah. So he said, I'm going to make
it convenient for them. I'm going to just set up a couple
of calves wherever it's close and convenient and tell them
that, no, you don't have to go to one place and worship the
Lord one way. It's not that narrow. I'm going
to make it convenient. And you don't have to go to that
one place. It's not one way, not one truth,
not one place. He set up two calves, verse 28,
It says too much to go to Jerusalem. Here are your gods. Set one in
Bethlehem, one in Dan, convenient places. And it became sin. And verse 31, look at this. He
made a house of the high places and made priests of the lowest
of the people that weren't Levites. He made priests. And look at
verse 30. It says he made priests of the
lowest of the people. Low down, no good. priests that were not Levite.
They weren't called. Verse 33, after this thing, verse
chapter 13, Jeroboam returned not from his evil way. He made again. See, a prophet
had just denounced him, but he didn't listen. And it says he
made the lowest of the people priests. Whoever would, whosoever
wanted to be a priest, he let them be. And so the place was full of
these false priests. And they weren't worshipping
at the temple, with the sacrifice, and one high priest. No. And
that's where it all started. And if you keep reading, it says
over in chapter 25, it says all the people feared God. It said
they did. But worshipped idols. It was
mingled. It was a mess. It got to be a
mess. And God sent adversaries and
took them captive. And Jeremiah and all the prophets,
and the land was filled with false prophets, filled with them,
filled with false prophets. And Jeremiah and all the prophets
warned the people about these false prophets. That's what a
good shepherd does. He warns the people of wolves.
There are wolves in sheep's clothing. Look back at our text. It says
in verse 8, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst
of you deceive you. Verse 15, they said, The Lord
has raised us up prophets of Babylon. There's prophets here
too. They said, No, there weren't
either. All God's prophets came from Israel. They were God's
called, God's men. There were no true prophets in
Babylon until God sent Daniel and sent those men there to preach
to them. But these people said, oh, there's
some prophets here too. No, they're not. No, they're not. These were man-made
prophets. So Jeremiah said, don't listen
to them. And you know how many times Jeremiah
warned throughout Jeremiah? Chapter 23. He said, don't listen
to them. He said, this is what they say. They say, the Lord has said you
have peace. He says, they say unto them that
hate me. God says, they say unto them
that despise me, the Lord, you have peace. No evil shall befall
you. God loves you. That's it for me. And Jeremiah
over and over and over again. Isaiah and Ezekiel and name it. Name a prophet that didn't constantly
cry out against all the false prophets. And when of that prophet,
the Lord Jesus Christ came. Oh, the land was full of them.
They were everywhere. And our Lord said to them, He
said, Many false prophets in Christ shall reign. And He was
surrounded by them. And He denounced them all, didn't
He? He said, Beware of these scribes. These Pharisees are
hypocrites. They're hypocrites. John said,
They're snakes. Oh, you shouldn't say that. And she'd need to be warned of
that. I knew a man and his wife that they attended a place where
I know the preacher well, and he's a fine, wonderful, gracious
preacher. I love him dearly. And they got
put out with him for constantly decrying or denouncing false
prophets. And they told him, they were
critical of him for denouncing false prophets, a man and his
wife. Well, they moved to another place. And I know the pastor
there, fine preacher of the gospel. And they criticized him for doing
it, and they left there eventually. Now, who doesn't want to hear
false prophets denounced? The sheep need to. I guess you've
got to be a wolf in sheep's clothing if you don't want to hear it.
We need to know them. We sure do. Our Lord did. He warned. Brethren, we are in
Babylon. Never has a generation fit the
description of Babylon like it does now. We're in Babylon. This land is full of idolatry
and full of false prophets. And let me just say this. Let
me say these things. Let me tell you the difference
between The false and the true, okay? The true and the false.
And you know these things. Paul said to the Thessalonians,
seeing you know these things, I'm going to tell you anyway.
Just to confirm to you, okay? Here's the truth, and here's
true preachers, as opposed to the lie that's being told, false
prophet. Here's the truth. God is holy.
God is just. God is righteous. Above all else,
God is holy, holy, holy. Religion says God is one thing,
love. That's it. Right? All right? The truth is God will
By no means clear the guilty. God will punish sin. God is angry
with the wicked every time. Not was, is. False religion says
that's not true. God is not mad at you. There
is no sin anyway. God loves everybody and everybody
and everything just like the other. Isn't that what religion
says? Here's the truth. Man is evil. by nature. Man is sinful, evil, wicked,
depraved, dead in trespassing and sin. He's dead. False religion
says man is basically good. All right? He's a god. He created
the image of God, and you just need to pull it out of him. Just
give him a chance, and it'll come out. The truth is, salvation is of
the Lord. A hundred percent. It's all of
the Lord. Religion says it's up to man. God's done all he can do, now
it's up to you. Right? Across the board. Methodist, Baptist,
Presbyterian, you name it. Catholic, you all say it. God's
done all he can do. Jesus made a payment, and you
must make it effectual by accepting it. That is a lie out of hell. Anybody that says that is a false
prophet. I don't care how sweet they may
sound. I don't care what they may say
that sounds like the truth. If they say God loves everybody
without exception, and Jesus Christ died for everybody without
exception, and the blood of Christ did not put away God's people's
sin, and God didn't choose the people, that's a lie. That's
lying on God's Word. I guess God's Word. Here's the
truth. God in sovereign love. God chose whom he would love.
There's nobody worth loving. No, but religion says everybody
deserves a chance. Everybody's basically good and
lovely and, you know, God loves everybody. Shouldn't we? No,
God in sovereign love chose some of these despicable creatures.
Sent his love on them. Nothing hidden under love, but
he just He said, I love them freely, without any contribution
from them. Sovereign love, sovereign mercy.
He said, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. Not of
him that willeth or him that willeth, but of God that showeth
mercy. Right? Any deviation from this, that person is a false
prophet. Right? Brother Scott Richardson
once said that rat poison is 99% good food. It's the 1% that'll kill you.
That little bit of man's choice, man's will, little bit of error,
a little leaven will leaven the whole loaf. A little bit of man's
work ruins it. That means that salvation is
not of the Lord. That means it's a cooperative
effort. Man's dead. Ezekiel said, the
Lord told Ezekiel to do it. Let's go out here to this valley
of dry bones, Ezekiel. He taught Ezekiel to do it. Now
what are they? They're dead. Are they really
dead? Really dead. They're dry as dead.
Burned, you say, graveyard dead. Stinking dead. That's why he
let Lazarus stay in the tomb for a day, didn't he? Everybody
knew. He's dead dead. Stink it dead. Well, how's he going to live? Christ's not going to offer him
life. He's going to call him from death unto life. And somebody
said, if Christ hadn't called him by name, everybody in that
graveyard would have come out. Now people, this is fact. I'm not, we're not condemning
people just to be condemning people. The glory of God is at
stake here. The truth is at stake. Your salvation
is at stake. If salvation depends any and
all on us, we're goners. Salvation is by the sovereign
love, mercy, and grace of sovereign grace. Grace is not an offer,
it's an act. It's something God does to us,
for us, through Christ. One mediator between God and
men, the man, the man, the man, Christ Jesus. One man, his name
is Jesus Christ. No other saint, and certainly
not Mary. Anybody who prays to her is lost. Boy, you wouldn't dare stand
up and say that today, would you? A true preacher will. Jeremiah,
they hated Jeremiah. They put him in prison. One time
they put ropes around him and lowered him down in a dungeon
in the muck and the mire. He said he sunk in the mire.
He was lying in filth, excrement. Why? For telling the truth. And everything he said happened. He's trying to warn the people.
Mercy wasn't it that he was telling the truth. We don't like that. We won't hear it. All right,
then you're going to be taken captive and destroyed. God chose and elected a people
before the foundation of the world and made a covenant to
save those people in purpose, disorder, and in all things unsure,
and nothing could change that. That's salvation. But no, no,
religion says that you can write your name in the book or you
can take it out. It's all up to you now. It's all up to you. That God Almighty put all of
salvation in the hands of one person and his name is Jesus
Christ. And anybody that's saved on the
planet Earth is saved by Jesus Christ. Nobody's going to get
to God but by Jesus Christ. Now, stand up and tell the world
that. Tell the Muslims, tell the Buddhists,
tell the Hindus, tell the Jews, tell them all that. Tell them
what's going to happen to you. They're going to hate you. And
they killed every single prophet. for saying these things. And you know that false prophet
Billy Graham said that very thing. You saw it. You heard it with
your own ears one night in here. I played the tape for you how
he said, I believe God is merciful to everyone and even people who
have never heard the name of Jesus. I'm going to be saved. That's what he said. And he's
calling Jesus Christ a liar. He said, no man cometh unto the
Father but my men. They killed him for saying that.
It's true. But back then, now back then
there was a remnant. Back in that Jeremiah's day,
there was a remnant like there is now. They're called a remnant. They're called a residue. The
off-sky, those are escapes of the nations. And they worship God in the Spirit,
they rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the
flesh, anything. Many are called, but few are chosen. That's the
truth. And bless God. Those of you who
were amening to all of that, bless the Lord. You know how
few people believe the truth. And we not only believe, we love
it. That's such as love God's salvation say. The Lord be magnified. Love is salvation. All right.
So these were words to God's chosen few living in Babylon.
That's where we are. The word of the Lord. And he
tells us what to do while we're in Babylon. Didn't he? He told
them what to do while in captivity. Look at it. Jeremiah 29, verse
5. And you know, the Lord has put
us here. We live in this world. We're not of it. The Jews were
in Babylon. They weren't Babylonians. Where
are they? They were there. The Lord put
them there. What were they to do? What are
we to do? And look at it, verse 5, build
houses, dwell in them, plant gardens, eat the fruit thereof,
take wives, and wives for your sons and daughters, and husbands
for your daughters. And verse 7, seek the peace of
the city where I've caused you to be carried away captive. Pray
unto the Lord for it, the peace. If there's peace there, you'll
have peace. You know, the book of Ecclesiastes tells God's people
to live in this world and enjoy it. God has given us all things
richly to enjoy, right? There's nothing wrong with and
there's everything right with building houses and planting
a garden and eating the fruit thereof and all of that. Right? God made it up. God made a garden. God built us a house. and take
wives, marry, and seek the peace thereof. Now, Paul told us in
2 Timothy 2, he said, pray for all men everywhere, kings and
all in authority. Well, God will have all men be
saved, that is all sorts of kings, or men, high and low, kings. I believe maybe the Lord saved
Nebuchadnezzar. Don't we think that, don't we,
Melanie? It sure appears that he did.
What about Osiris? Osiris said, I make a decree. We're going to rebuild this temple.
He said, Daniel, with these men to Jerusalem, rebuild it. Whoever wants to go, he said,
go. I'll pay for it. Now, who put that in his heart?
God did. So he said, pray. But look at
this in a spiritual way. While we're here in this captivity,
build houses. Build houses. Unless the Lord
build a house, we labor in vain that build it. God's house. We're to support God's house.
And that's primarily the reason we have jobs to make money. Support
the preaching of the gospel. You know that? Not for ourselves.
Dwell in them. David said, oh, I want to dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I'm going
to build one and dwell there. And like Rahab, don't leave until
Joshua comes to get you. Don't get out of the house where
the blood is. Mary, you know, Paul said this. He said, you're free to marry
in the Lord. These people were not to marry
Babylonians. That's how it all started, Solomon,
right? That's where the trouble started.
They were to marry among themselves, God's people. But in marriages
of the Lord, only in the Lord, but we're married to another. Paul said, it's going to come
a time, a time is now, that is soon, that they that be married,
they that have wives, be as though they had none. If any man loved
a father, a mother, a husband, a wife more than me, not my son.
We need to realize we're married to our Lord. Okay? And we live for His honor and
glory. Verse 7, seek the peace of the city where I've caused
you to be carried away captive. Pray unto the Lord. Pray. Pray. Seek the peace of that
city. And down in verse 13, he says, you'll seek me and find
me. That's what we're to do while
we're here. Seek the Lord. Seek His will. Seek His way. Seek His word. I'll be found
of you. I'll turn away your captivity. David said in Psalm 122, don't
you love this Psalm? He said, let me sing it to you. He said, pray for the peace of
Jerusalem. They shall prosper and love thee.
What Jerusalem is he talking about? Church. Peace be within thy walls. Oh,
the fruit of peace is sown in them that make peace. The fruit
of righteousness is sown in them that make peace. Peace be within
thy walls. Prosperity within thy palaces.
This is Psalm 122. For my brethren, my companions'
sake, David said, I'm a companion of them that fear thee. These
are my brothers and my sisters. I will now say, peace be within
thee. Because of the house of the Lord
our God, I will seek thy good. Pray for the church. This is
God's house, God's family, God's wife, God's children. Pray for
the peace of it. In this peace, you'll find peace.
All right, back to our table. Now, let's look at this expected
end. These are the verses I gave you.
This is the final word from Jeremiah, from our Lord through him. Verse
10, after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon. After all the world,
after all is accomplished in Babylon. Does that sound sound
familiar? Peter wrote to the church. He
said, now, know this, that all the trials and all the afflictions
you're going through, the same thing are accomplished in your
brethren throughout the world. They're going through the same
thing. Every one of them, everywhere, every one of them live in the
world. And they feel just in bondage. They feel, you know, the world is bound by Satan,
held captive at his will. Our Lord came to lead captivity
captive. Who's he talking about? Us. So stronger than he came on Calvary's
tree, and broke that power of Satan that he had over us and
we see Christ through the gospel, see him crucified for us, breaks
our will, breaks our heart, breaks us and we look to cry and see
what he did for us on Calvary's tree and now we're his captives. We're held captive to him as
a good kind of captive. He said my yoke is easy, my burden
is light. He said, follow me. And he delivers
us from being under the law. Captive to the law. Like old
Boaz told Ruth, if somebody, I've got the face for you. Somebody
has a hold on you. I've got to take his shoe off. I've got to walk in his shoes.
According to love. And he did. And Christ Christ
did that for His people. Purchased our redemption and
set us free from the law. And you know, Paul was the one,
he was under that bondage. He was in that captivity under
the law. And he told all his Jewish brethren,
he kept calling them brothers, brothers, brethren, Pharisee.
That's why he had so much patience and compassion with the Pharisee,
because he was one. He said, you don't understand.
You desire to be under the law. You don't hear it. It's nothing
but bondage. Paul said, I was alive without
the law once. I thought I was righteous, but
it slew me. It killed me. But now I realize
I'm not under the law. Oh, happy. Free from the law.
Oh, happy condition. The Jews said to Christ, said,
we'll be Abraham's seed. We've never been in bondage to
anybody. Are you kidding? They were right then in bondage
to Rome. Scared to death of Herod. In
his pocket. Yeah. And people all over the
world, we're not in bondage. Mankind, we're not in bondage.
I'm free. That's what I thought when I
was growing up in the 60s and 70s. I'm free. You're doing exactly
what everybody else does. And what the God of this world
holds you captive to. And Christ came through the preaching
of the gospel by Jeremiah the prophet. Came through the preaching
of the gospel and made you free. He said, sin shall not have dominion
over you. Oh, it's going to harass you.
It's going to bombard you. Satan's going to go after you
like never before. But He can't have you. I only
let Him do what I let Him do. You're not under His captivity. You're not held by Him and His
will. You're held by me and my will,
Christ said. You're not under the law. You're
under grace now. Sins shall not have dominion
over you. You're not married to the law. You're married to
me. And I satisfy the law. Oh, but I feel like I'm bonded.
Well, just hang on. Wait. You'll see. He's coming
for us. Bring us out. Every one of these
said, 70 years. 70 years. Hang on. How long we
live in this world? Not 70 years. Some of you beyond
that. Oh, my. And you're thinking,
when's he coming? Just hang on. Hang on. Real soon now. He said, I will
visit you. Verse 10, I will perform my good
word towards you. I will do what I say. What I
said. I've spoken it. I'll do it. I've
purposed it. I'll bring it to pass. Yes, I
will. I'm going to cause you to return. I'm going to take
you to the promised land. Yes, I am. That's what Paul said. He that
hath begun a good work in you will perform it. The Lord shall
perfect that which concerneth us. Brother John read in the
psalm tonight. Verse 11, he says, For I know
the thoughts I think toward you. Thoughts of peace, not of evil. You know, all things work together
for good. God speaks all things. He said
in Psalm 91, no evil shall befall you. He said, I know the thoughts
I think toward my children. What are your thoughts toward
your loved one? What are your thoughts toward your husband,
toward your wife? What are your thoughts toward
your children? What are your thoughts toward your grandchildren?
Huh? You have to get them. You have to keep them. You have
to save them. You have thoughts, don't you,
Debra? You have thoughts of those beloved children. Just thoughts
of what? Peace. You want peace for them,
don't you? How much more? You know what
I'm saying? How much more? I know my thoughts
towards you. Yeah, but I'm, but I, but you're
what? But I'm sinful. Every single one of these people.
Find me one that's not a sinner. Find me an Israelite that wasn't
a sinner. A son of Jacob. Find me one. That's who he's talking to. It's
a faithful saying. He came to save sinners. Even
the chief, Paul said, I'm a chief. I know my thoughts of you, thoughts
of peace. God is, I can say this to God's
people. I can't say it to the world,
but I can say it to God's people. God is not angry with you. I
can say this to God's people. Like Noah, he stood up in that
ark one day, you know, and it's rocking and reeling and thunder
and lightning, and they're scared to death. And Noah stood up one
day in that ark, holding on, and he said, Smile! God loves
you! Yeah, but what? You see that
pitch? Do you remember what he said? Thoughts of peace, not of evil,
to give you an expected end. David said, you mark it down
in Psalm 37. Write it down, because God said
to. The perfect man, you mark the
perfect man. The end of that man is peace. Now are you perfect? Are you? Hold on now. Hold on now. You know, Christ
is able to present us faultless for the presence of the Father,
perfect, undefiled for the presence. He's the only one who can. He
has. He is. In Him, complete in Him. He's perfected. We're in Him. And we're complete
in Him. So you mark it down. The one
who trusts Christ, who looks to Christ, can expect to be in glory someday. The Lord expects it. He expects
it. It's expected in Him. The Lord
expects it. Everyone He died for, He expects
them to be there. He's going to stand up and say,
Behold, I and the children of the house given. Every single
person Christ died for, every single person given to him by
the Father will come to him and he'll raise him up in the last
day. Every single one who looks to Christ, who believes Christ,
who sees the Son, sees their need in Him, believes on Him,
he said, I will raise him up in the last day. He expects it
and you can expect it too. That's not presumption. That's
not taking it for granted. That's taking God in His Word.
You hear me? That's faith that honors God. Lord, You said it. You said,
He that believes on the Son hath life. I believe. Help my unbelief. You said, Lord, that none of
them that trust in Him will be left out. You said that. You
said it. And expect it in. The end's good. And he goes on to say, and you'll
call on me when you call. You pray unto me, I will hearken
you. I'll hear you. He might not answer
you immediately, but he hears you. He said, you'll seek me. You will seek me. Why? Because
he said, seek my face. And you'll search for me with
all your heart, you see, out of the heart of the issues of
life. God's people are not playing games. God's people don't just
go to church. They are the church. They come
to worship. That's what God's people do.
They go to worship the Lord. And He said, with all your heart,
and I will be found of you, and I will turn away your captivity.
One of these days, it's all going to be over. And I'll gather you
from all nations, from all places I've driven you, and I'll bring
you into the place And in the promised land. I promise. God
promised. He had His word on it. And I
was going to take you to... I had verses in chapter 30, chapter
31, chapter 32, chapter 33 to read. Read it for yourself. It doesn't get any better. Read
it for yourself. It talks about the Lord. Fear
not. The songs we sing are all there
in Jeremiah. You know, I love old country
sayings. I like country people and southern
people. I like Yankees that move south. But I like old country
and southern sayings. A lot of them come from the Bible,
you know. And country and southern people
say, you reckon it'll turn out all right? You reckon? Where'd they get
that? Paul said in Romans 6, Reckon
yourselves dead, crucified with Christ. Reckon it to be so. You
reckon it's so? I reckon. Well, you reckon it'll
end okay? I spec so. That's where that came from.
Expect. I expect it to be so. I spec so. Why? Because God promised it cannot
last. Okay, stand with me.