I'll never, no never, no never
forsake Go back with me to Jeremiah 30
now. Look at verse 7 again. Jeremiah 30 verse 7. Alas! That's always an exclamation
or a word like a great groan Alas, that day is great, so that
none is like it. It is even the time of Jacob's
trouble. But he shall be saved out of it. We've been looking at Jacob,
and we know what a sinner he is. And God's people are like
Jacob, sinful people, but elect according to the foreknowledge
of God. And they all go through trouble. constant trouble. From the day that the Lord reveals
Himself to them, they all go through trouble. A man that is
born of a woman who is an unclean thing, is a few days and full
of trouble. We go through, first of all,
every son of Jacob, everyone God loves, everyone God chose,
everyone that God saves gets in trouble with God. They first
realize, I'm in trouble with God. because of this trouble
within called sin. And that's a trouble you never
lose completely. this trouble with sin, this struggle. Jacob had it. All of God's people
do. They struggle with sin and often
feel in trouble with God again and again and again, as Jacob
was. They had trouble with this enemy,
an adversary that they can't see. But he's very real. The world doesn't go through
these troubles. David wrote that in Psalm 73, they're not in trouble
as other men. They don't have my troubles,
David said. Why? Because they're not God's sheep
or prey to the predator. And God's people are in a world
of trouble. This world is not their home. I hope you read the article by
Philpott. If not, read it, because this,
not his words, but our Lord, he said, of his people, they
are not of this world. He said, if you were of the world,
the world would love its own, but because you're not. He said,
they'll hate you, and you'll be a prey to the world, a prey
to the adversary, our devil, and filled with trouble because
of sin, because of the enemy within, and often feel like you're
in trouble with God, real deep soul troubles. In verse 5, it
describes these troubles as a woman in travail with a child. And
it says, even men, men, all men, all sons of Jacob, all of God's
people, every one of them, men and women, women and men, male
and female, are all going to go through this trouble in travail
with birth. And that's exactly what it is.
That's exactly what it is. When this new creature is being
created within a sinful son of Jacob, they are like Rebecca
of old who knew God was blessing her, and yet there were two manner
of men within her. And she said, if you're blessing
me, why do I have this constant struggle within? This warfare
within? Two men fighting all the time,
and it never ends in this life. And this is when the trouble
begins, and this is when the gospel begins to be good news. It's only good news to those
in trouble. or those who have been gotten out of trouble and
getting back in it, like Jacob. It says in verse 5, We have heard
a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace. That's the
triune God. The triune God. We have heard. Verse 6 asks,
have you ever heard of this? A man travails with child. Why
do we see men with their hands on their loin like a woman in
travail and blood drained out of their face and they're leaning
over like this? It's just a great day of trouble.
When the Word of God comes, when the seed of God is planted, in
that dead heart and brings forth life, a new creature created
in the image of Christ, then there's a struggle. A time of
trouble. But Israel will be saved out
of it. He'll be saved. And verse 8,
it says, I'm going to break his yoke. He's been under bondage. People have been using him. I'm
going to deliver him from all this. He's going to serve. He
served himself all these years. Now he's going to serve the Lord
his God. And he's going to have a king over him, reigning and
ruling. Even my king, David, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And verse 10, he says, I'll save
him. Oh, my servant Jacob, fear not. Fear thou not. Oh, my servant
Jacob, saith the Lord, neither be dismayed. We had to sing that
hymn, didn't we? Dismayed means to be so full
of fear and fright and worry and doubts that you lose all
courage and all hope and any hope whatsoever that you're a
child of God. He says, oh, be not dismayed.
Why? I will save thee. And he goes on down to talk about
how you can't save yourself. And he tells, verse 12, he says,
your bruise. See, here's the problem. Your
bruise is incurable. Your wound is grievous. You have
this thing in you called sin that you inherited, and you commit
it. And it's seemingly incurable.
It will never go away. That's what David said. My sin
is ever before me. It just will not go away. I am incurable. That's what David said. The wound
is grievous. The wounds that we incur that
are done to us and the wounds we cause to others are grievous,
aren't they? So grievous we hurt. People hurt
us and we hurt people. And it's going to go on. In verse 13, you know, you look
for help in various places, but there's none. Even your friends
leave you. David, they felt that, and all
of God's people do. And Thelma used to be bound up. There's no healing medicine.
All you lovers, you remember Gomer? She had all these friends
in the world, she thought. All these people she turned to
for help. And when she got in trouble with
God, He brought her down to see her true self. Like the prodigal
son brought him down so far to where even his old buddies would
have nothing to do with him. That's a good place to be, really.
And he goes on to say in verse 14, I have wounded men. God said this, I'm the one that
did this with the hand of an enemy, with the chastisement
of a cruel one. Everything that befalls God's
people, though it be people, that do it, though it be people
that are the means, though evil men and people hurt and things
hurt. God did it. God did it. He said, I, the Lord, do all
these things. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do
all these things. I wound and I heal. I, the Lord, do all these
things. I did this. I brought this upon you. Don't blame people and things.
Read on. It's because of the multitude
of thine iniquity, verse 14, because your sins were iniquity.
And this is chastisement, so to speak. If you'd be without
it, we're as bastards. We're not his sons. We've got
to have it. Why? Because we're sinners all
the days of our lives. We play the prodigal not once.
And I emphasized over and over every time we read, we said,
I'll bring Judah again. I kept emphasizing that. Again. Do you know how many times
Israel got in captivity? Over and over and over. It just didn't start in Exodus.
It went on all the way through, didn't it? They were in captivity
all the time. When our Lord Jesus Christ came,
they were in captivity. As are we, we are in this world
and captive to sin and Satan and the world and trouble because
of our sins. Lamentations chapter 3. Look
at verse 22. Just read a few verses with me.
See, it's of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. Lamentations 3, 22. It is of
the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed. In other words,
that we're not consumed by the world, that we're not consumed
by sin. That God, who is a consuming fire, doesn't consume us. It's
of His mercies. Because our sins testify against
Him. And because His compassions fail
not. He says, Fear not, Jacob. This is to Jacob. You'll not
be consumed. They're new every morning. Why?
Because we wake up sinners. We go to bed sinners. We wake
up sinners. But thank God, Mercies are new every morning in Christ.
The blood is always before the Lord. His compassions fail not. Great is thy faithfulness. And on down, it says in verse
26, it's good that a man should hope and quietly wait for the
salvation of the Lord. This Judah and Jacob or Israel
couldn't find it anywhere else because it is nowhere else. Neither
is there salvation in any other. There is none other name in heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved. Verse 20 says, It is
good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth. Oh, that the
Lord would save our children at an early age. That He would
put the yoke of Christ on them. That He would put them in trouble
early. I told you the other night, you
know, how I so fear and worry about those who sit under the
gospel year after year after year after year and not convicted
of sin and make no confession of faith in Christ. It's good to bear the yoke in
the youth. We were talking about one of
our real young girls in here that reads the Scriptures, and
I thought, oh, it's not beyond the Lord. The Lord is able to
save the youngest. He's done it before. Let's pray
that in. They bear the yoke in their youth.
Verse 28, he sits alone. This trouble begins. You sit
alone. You keep silence because the Lord is mourning upon you.
Put your mouth in the dust. That's where our mouths belong.
God's in heaven. We're on the earth. Let your
words be filled. Maybe there's hope. Verse 30,
"...he giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him." Why? Let the
righteous smite me, David said it. I mean it. It's filled full
with reproach because we've given enough reproach, we've caused
enough reproach, and we ought to be reproached. Christ said
the reproaches of them that reproach Thee, fell on me. The Lord will not cast off forever
though. You're going to feel like a cast
out. That's what he said there in Jeremiah 30 verse 17. He said, those that are called
cast outs. He's outcast. No, he ain't coming
back. They laughed. They said, this
is a believer. This is a Christian. This is
Zion. This is one of God's people.
Look at him now. Look at him. No. Yeah. Yeah. And watch what you say. Judge nothing for the time. Read
on. It says here in Lamentations
3, verse 32, "...though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercy. He doth not afflict willingly."
That is, he doesn't enjoy our pain and our suffering. nor grieve
the children of men." We bring grief on ourselves and others. He doesn't delight to crush under
his feet all the prisoners of the earth. No, that's not what
he delights in. He delights to show mercy, not
crush people. He could have crushed, should
have crushed all of us long ago. Down in verse 39, wherefore doth
the living man complain, a man, for the punishment of his sins?
He hath not dealt with us in our sin, has he? He hath not
rewarded us according to our iniquity, has he? Oh no, we have
received of the Lord's hand double for all our iniquity. He has
dealt with us, not as an enemy, but as sons, whom he loves and
he will chase. You have got to be brought low
if you get too high. chastened if you get too rebellious. Out of the Most High shall it
not proceed evil and good. Let us search verse 40. and try
our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our hearts
with our hands unto the heavens. We've transgressed and rebelled.
Thou hast not pardoned. You've covered us with anger.
But if you'll go on down, it says in verse 55, I call on thy
name, O Lord. You know, whoever shall call
on the name of the Lord. Whoever, whenever, it doesn't
matter. It's never too late. It's never too early. And it's
never too late to call on the name of the Lord, because He
said, Whosoever shall call... Have you ever called because you were lost? Have you
ever called because you were shut out of the house or something?
Have you? I've been shut out, whether intentionally
or accidentally, I don't know. But at any rate, The point is,
if you're outside and you want in, you will not quit calling.
That's what it means to call. And people, it's not a one-time
thing. And if somebody's not saved,
they have not called on the name of the Lord. They have not called. Because He said, Whosoever shall
call on the name of the Lord shall be saved. The name of the
Lord. Savior. Lord, our righteousness. I don't
have any. Mediator. I need help between
me and God. And on and on it go. Whosoever
shall call. And he said there in lamentations,
he said, he heard my cry. And he drew near and I called
and he said, verse 57, he drew near unto me when I called on
him and he said, No, be not dismayed. You know
how often he keeps telling Jacob to fear not. You know, we get
ourselves in such a mess, into captivity. The first three
verses, he says, the Word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. If
you're one of the Lord's, if you're one of His people, if
you're a son of Jacob, God will send his word through a preacher,
and you'll be so glad. And he'll preach all the counsel
of God. He'll start with the trouble we're in with God. That's
where he'll start. Look at you, Jacob. He's not
going to tell you what a good person you are. He's not going
to tell you how, you know, smile God loves you. No, he's angry. He has a right to be, doesn't
he? That's what he's going to say. until he finds out that
you're in trouble. And boy, Jeremiah, you know,
he wept and he wept and he wept because the people were just
going along in idolatry and in the world and didn't give a care.
They'd forsaken God and they were in captivity and actually
didn't know it until it got real bad. And Jeremiah did as a faithful
watchman. He kept telling them that Scripture
says, rising up early and telling them all the time. And they got
in deep trouble and then they started calling on the Lord.
And Jeremiah was glad when he heard that. You're in trouble,
huh? Good. Because whoever's in trouble,
here's what it says, he shall be saved out of it. He said, the days will come.
You know, before the trouble came, He says, they're going
to go into trouble. I'm going to bring them again. I'm going to
bring them out. Out of captivity. I'll cause them to return to
the land. They left, and I'm going to bring them back. And
they'll possess it. It's theirs by promise. It's
theirs by purchase by the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to them.
They didn't do anything to purchase it, but His Son did. And he'll
have what's his. Christ will have what's his.
Down in verse 10, he says, I'll save them from a fire. Oh, we like sheep have gone astray,
haven't we? Turned every man to his own way.
And we get so far off, don't we? We feel like we're so far
off. And we've done it again. And
we've done it again. Now look at it. Ain't no hope
for us now. If I come back, surely He's not
going to have me." When you get so far off, you think you can't
get back. But our Lord said, I will save
them from afar. No matter how far they go, the
great Shepherd of the sheep leaves the 99 and goes after one. Is one sheep worth it? Yes, He
is. His Word is at stake. His love
is at stake. His power is at stake. His promises are at stake, because
none of them that have ever trusted in Him, no matter how far off, there hasn't been one that He
hasn't gone back to get. He puts it on His shoulders again.
There you are, sheep. Look at you. Look at you. He picks it up on His shoulders
and takes it home again. Again and again. The wandering
sheep. In the story of the Samaritan,
we'll turn there in a minute, it says a certain man went down
from Jerusalem to Jericho. He shouldn't have left Jerusalem. Jericho is a bad place. You know
that? It represents the world. The
Lord cursed Jericho. He said, I'm going to tear it
down one day and I'll never build it again. It's a cursed place.
When the Lord was on this earth, He healed one man going in, Zacchaeus,
and healed a blind man going out. And He didn't heal one person
inside that city. He bypassed it because it was
such a wicked place. But He had a certain man going
in, and a certain man coming, and a certain man going. And
it says this prodigal son, this certain man, left Jerusalem and
went down to Jericho and fell in among thieves. Fell in among
thieves. He became just like them until
it was too late and they abused him and left him for dead until
he was as one that was half Half dead. Half dead. I'm here to tell you
folks, half dead is better than dead. Christ said, I would that
you were cold or hot. Cold is good. It means it's a
sign of life. It means you need warmth. Hot
is better, but cold is good. Lukewarm, when you don't have
a care. You know, when everything's just right, temperature's just
right in your room, what are you going to do? You're going
to go to sleep. But if it's too cold, you can't sleep. Too hot. Lukewarm is bad. It's a sign
of... I can't tell you, the Lord said
that. He said it's like warm drink. detestable to make, lukewarm.
How could anybody be lukewarm? And we do. We all become that
way. How could we be lukewarm to what
our Lord did for them? They're cold. He said, I'm going to bring them
again. I'm going to cause them to return. And I love this in
verse 4 and 5, verse 5, it says, We have heard The Father's heard. He hears
every voice. Every sinner that calls on Him,
the Father hears it. The Son hears it. The Holy Spirit
hears it. We've heard, all three of us, the triune God. That's
who's speaking here. We have heard, what? A voice
of trembling, fear, no peace. We've heard it. And you know
what the Father says? He says to the Son, go die for
them. Go live for them. Go speak to
them. He says to the Holy Spirit, round
them up. Bring them back. Convict them. Convince them. Make them feel
like they're lost. Make them feel like they're cast
out. Make them feel like they don't belong. Then show them
that they do. So maybe they won't run off again. Trouble. Trouble. It says our
wound is, our bruise is incurable. Our wound is grievous. No help
anywhere else. You look for it anywhere and
you can't find it. Why? Because there's only one
balm in Gilead. Only one. Only one to turn to. And in verse 11, he says, I'm
with thee to save thee. I'm going to make a full end
of all nations whether I have scattered thee, yet I will not
make a full end of thee. I'm not done with you. No, I
will correct thee though in measure. Oh, he hadn't dealt with us.
Hardly, but in mercy. But I will not leave thee altogether
unpunished. Why should a man complain for
the punishment of sin? And it goes on down to say in
verse 16, those that have devoured you, your adversaries, every
one of them, I'm going to come take them captive. I'm going
to leave captivity captive. Those that spoil you, be as foiled. I'm going to parade them down
the halls of glory and see what I've done. This is Christ speaking,
what He does for His people. They that pray upon thee, I will
give for a prey. I will restore health unto thee.
I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the Lord. Because they
thought you were an outcast, but no. Verse 18, I'll bring
you again. I'm going to have mercy. I'm
going to have mercy. And I'll build you up on your
own heap." You're going to get such a mess, such a broken down
mess, a heap of sin and corruption. And the Lord says, I'm going
to build you up again. Set you on a hill in the palace. You'll be put in a palace. Once
again, like a beggar off a dung heap, sit among princes, and
you'll remain there. You're going to remain there.
You're going to be afraid to leave the house. And he goes on to say,
thanksgiving and merriment after that, and I multiply you and
I glorify you and your children. You know, the Lord saves sinners,
and He often saves sinners, sinful sons of sinners. I know. I'm one. And I'm going to cause Him, whoever
engages his heart to approach unto Me, I'll bring them near because they're My people. I'm
your God. Look at Luke chapter 10 in closing.
Luke chapter 10. This is the whole story that
our Lord gave. of this one who is in deep trouble
and seemingly no hope. Luke chapter 10. This is the
story of our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Samaritan. Verse 30 says, Jesus said, a
certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among thieves. and stripped him of his raiment. He became naked. And he thought,
I have no covering now. I have no hope. I'm just a sinner
through and through. God knows it. Men know it. He was wounded, deeply wounded
it says. That wound is grievous. That
bruise is incurable. And they departed, these friends
so-called of his departed and left him half dead. And then as some people came
along, by chance, in his misery and trouble, there was a fellow
priest came by. And he saw him, and he just passed
by on the other side. And this speaks of those who,
you know, try the world's counselors and religion and likewise the
Levites. And he was at the place, came
and looked on him, this is a self-righteous Pharisee, looks at him and said,
boy, I just thank the Lord I'm not like him. And he passed by on the other
side. a certain Samaritan. Now, Samaritan
is a half-breed. Samaritan is both Jew and Gentile. Two men. That certain Samaritan
is the Lord Jesus Christ, the God-man. God and man. A certain one. As he journeyed
Our Lord Jesus Christ, the great Savior of sinners, came into
this earth for a while, a journey, on His journey to save His people
from their sin. And He came where He was. He
came where that fellow was. Where was that? Down in the ditch,
by the wayside. That's where He came. He came
where He was. And this man is so wounded and
half dead, he's unconscious, and he can't see the Samaritan.
But it says, he saw him. Like the child in the field,
I saw you and your corruption and your blood. Oh, it was a
time of love. Why did this Samaritan stop?
He had compassion on this fellow. He was a man full of love and
compassion. And he looked on this poor fellow
lying in a ditch, and he looked on him with mercy and compassion
and love. He felt love for him. And love
does something. Love doesn't wait. Love does
something. And it says he went where he
was. When he saw him, he had compassion
on him. He showed compassion to him.
He did what was needed for him. What did he do? He went to him.
See, the Lord doesn't wait on us to come. He says, I'll bring
them. I'll bring them. I'll go. They've
wandered afar, and I'm going to go after them. He leaves them
and goes after them until he finds it. And when he had found
it, He says, He went to him. What does He do? He bound up
his wounds. Oh, that that wound has grieved
us. It's deep. This position is able to bind
up the deepest wounds. You know, sin has left some deep,
deep scars in us, in our minds, in our hearts, haven't it? that
we feel like will never, ever be undone. But there's something
that will bind it up, close up that deep wound. By His wounds,
we're healed. By His stripes, He was wounded
for our transgression. And He pours in the oil and the
wine of the gospel of what Christ did for sinners. the oil of His
Spirit, the wine of His blood, binds up these wounds and says,
yes, you brought this upon yourself. Yes, you fell in among thieves. Yes, you were no different than
them, but I love you. But I will not let you go. Oh, I love that passage in Jeremiah.
The Lord says, How shall I give thee up, Nephilim? How shall I give thee up? I won't. How shall I give thee up? You
quit me, I will not quit you. Coming after you. Coming after
you. Coming to where you are. Lord,
send thy Spirit to round him up. Set him on his own beast. set him on his own beasts and
brought him to an end. He was lying in the ditch. That's
where he belonged. But no, this is one of the sons
of Jacob. And he brought him to an end,
a haven of rest, and took care of him. And on the morrow when he departed,
verse 35, he took out two pence. gave them to the host, the fellow
who was in charge of the inn. He said, this is what you need
to do. And I'm commanding you to do this. I've given you everything
needful for this fellow's restoration and healing. Here's what you
do. You take care of him. You feed him. You comfort him. You act like nothing ever happened. In fact, you tell him, But you've done the same. And the Lord did the same for
you. And you heard an innkeeper tell you, it's alright, I'm here
to take care of you. And whatever you spend, I'll
repay you when I come again. You take care of my own that
was lost but now is found. It was blind, but now sees. It
fell in with thieves. You know, Christ came to save
the thieves. Not all of them, but some of
them. To bring them into His paradise. And I'll pay you again. I'll
pay you again. Oh, bless the Lord. Are you in
trouble? If not, I hope the Lord will
put you in trouble. Let me ask you something. What happened to you when the
Lord revealed himself to you? What happened to you? How were
you saved? If you aren't, what happened? Can you tell me? Was there a time of trouble? You've never been in trouble
with God. They don't know God. Fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom. All men and women are in trouble with God, deep
trouble, deep trouble. And it's the mercy and grace
of God to reveal to us what we are. and the trouble we're in, and
reveal to us and put us low, bring us low to where we cry
out, save me. I'm in trouble. I've got this
sin trouble. And if that's never happened,
you don't know God. You don't know God. Never called on the name of the
Lord to deliver you from your sin, you don't know God. If you've
never felt the far off and an outcast and undeserving
and unworthy of His mercy, you don't know God. The Lord hasn't
revealed Himself to you. Because what the Lord says of
this man is true of every single son of Jacob that He loved. Every single one. What the Lord
said of that man that was in the ditch, He says of every single
one that the Lord Jesus Christ was sent to save. And if the oil and the wine of
the gospel is not a balm to you, then you've never been in trouble.
Never been in trouble. And if He's done that for you,
if you've really felt like you were lost and undone, and you saw
what the Lord Jesus Christ did for you, you will confess Him. You will get in that pool and
confess Him. You have to. That's what love does. That's
what love does. But if you haven't, our Lord
said, I'll spew you out of my mouth. I'll spew you out of my
mouth. I'm done with you. So I pray
that the Lord will put you in trouble, trouble, and not let
you out until you see Christ. All right, Brother John, come
and we'll sing number 267, 267. But stay in.