This chapter, as you noticed,
is a letter from Jeremiah, faithful prophet, true prophet, who is
at this time in Jerusalem. And he sent this letter to the
people who were taken captive by an evil king, Nebuchadnezzar,
and taken to Babylon, where they were now servants, and in bondage
in Babylon. Now, this letter is a letter
of great comfort and encouragement. This is a letter of good news.
When these people received this letter, I'm sure they rejoiced
to hear what Jeremiah had to say to them. It was good news
from a far country, living in a bad place. And this certainly is something
that we need, OK? This is a gospel story, and I
hope the Lord will show it to us. This is good news to all
of us from the heavenly homeland, from
God himself, though it's through a preacher. And the news is,
here's the basic news from Jeremiah. Here's it in a nutshell. Here's
the good news for the people. It's going to end good. It's got a good end. It's going
to be a tough 70 years. But it's going to end real good. As a matter of fact, the end
is going to so far exceed the rest of the time you won't even
remember. That's basically it. So if I don't get the story told,
that's it. It's going to end good for God's
people. You have God's Word on it. Well,
all right, now let's look at the story. Begin down in verse
4. Here's the letter. Here's the
letter. Thus saith the Lord, God of Israel,
unto all that are carried away captives. All carried away captives. Now, everyone in here, our sons and daughters, all of
us in here are born captives. You know that? We're born captives. By that I mean we are captives
to flesh We're bound by a body. We're bound by ignorance. We
can't see God. We can't see the heavens. We're
bound by flesh. We're bound by finite understanding. We're bound by sin. We're born
sinners. We're bound by the flesh. The
flesh haunts us. The flesh captivates us. We do
what the flesh dictates. That's the way we're born. We're
captives to it, we're servants of sin, that's where we're born. Right? Paul said this in one place,
this Nebuchadnezzar was an evil king, God raised him up, didn't
he? The king's heart's in the hands
of the Lord. Well, Paul said to the people, to young Timothy,
he said, Timothy, you preach to those. You help those who
are held captive by Satan and his will. They might deliver
themselves through your preaching. They're held captive. It seems
like we are, aren't we? Still, the believers I'm talking
to, it seems like sin still holds us captive. Satan has his bidding,
has his will, doesn't it, with us? It seems like the world doesn't
seem like we're too crucified to it at times, does it? And our ignorance, worries and
fears are our ignorance. It's blindness. We walk by faith. We see by faith that when things
bother us, that means We're blind, and we're bound by that. So we're
still sinners. We're still in bondage to sin,
living in a sinful world. Right? Yes, we are. But now look at this. Look at
this. Look at verse 4. "...Thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried
away captives." All right? a captive to sin, read on, whom I have caused to
be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. I'm the one who
caused you to be carried away captive. It's the Lord that did
it, doesn't it? So you see, if you, what I just
said to you about feeling bound by ignorance and sin and all
of that, If you were just of the world, you wouldn't feel
bound to talk. Right? You don't. The world doesn't
bother you. You love it. If you're of the
world, you love it. You don't want to leave it. This
is your place. But if your conversation's in
heaven, your home is there, and you're away from home, you're
sad. If, you know, sin reigneth and ruleth in you, you submit
to it. Yet Paul said it was a time you had pleasure in unrighteousness.
Remember that? In Romans he said you had pleasure
in unrighteousness. You didn't give it a thought.
Your conscience didn't bother you. That's what you enjoyed. But
now, being the Lord's captive, sin bothers you. You feel this bondage. You feel
this burden. You feel this away from home. You understand? It's the Lord's. We're the Lord's prisoner. We're
the Lord's prisoner. Paul even said that. I'm the
Lord's prisoner. He said, I have caused you to
be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon. Now, this is also
a picture of the fall. Man sinned. Man rebelled against
God. Man was living in paradise. heaven, a paradise on earth.
He was living in paradise, but he rebelled against God, didn't
he? God cast him out, and from that day forward, he's bound
by his flesh, by his ignorance. He's bound in sin, and he's in
darkness. He's cast out of God's presence. God did that to him, didn't he?
God barred the way. You can't come back again. And
you're going to live 930 years, Adam, ooh, under this horrible,
this chains. You see? That's the Lord's doing.
But here's the good news. Now here's the good news, though.
The good news to God's people, to those who know they're captive.
Do you feel what I'm talking about? You feel a captive. You wouldn't
be if you didn't. Well, here's the good news. It's going to be well with you. It's going to be well with you.
You're going to have freedom. I mean freedom like you've never
had before. You're going to have peace that passes your mere finite
understanding. It's going to be so good that
a lifetime of bad, you won't even remember. It's not even
going to come to mind. You think that the sorrows you're
going through, the burdens you're carrying, the sin you deal with,
the difficulty, you think, I'm not going to get through this.
The good in the end is going to be so good, you won't ever
even remember the bad. The time right now you think,
I'll never get over this, I'll never get through this. The good
is going to be so good, the end is so sure, that you will never
even remember the bad. That's the promise of the Lord.
You cry for days right now. The laughter is going to last
so long. As a matter of fact, you won't know what tears are. There won't be any more. ever
again. You'll never cry again. It's
going to be so good. Now he told them 70 years. I
bet they thought, 70 years? I can't make it. Did they? You know how long it's been since
this letter was written? About 3,000 years. 70? They made it, and a generation
after, and a generation after, and a generation after. These
all died in faith after 70, 80 some years of captivity, bondage
and all. Is it well with them? Is God
true to his word? Did God perform his good work?
We're going to see that. He said, I'm going to do it.
I'm going to do it. Yeah, I am. I said 70 years, and that's what
I meant. But I'm going to do it. The end's going to be good. This is good news. It will be
well. It's well with your soul. You're going to be brought home.
You're going home. Now, who's talking? J. Jeremiah. No, sir. There's a letter. They just read
a letter. Oh, no, it wasn't a letter. It
was God speaking. Did you catch that? You're looking
at a book, aren't you? Oh, no, you're not looking at
a book. This is God's Word. It's quick. It ain't no book. This is the living Word. God doesn't speak out loud to
anybody anymore. That's the reason you have a
book. But he does speak through this book. Yes, he does. All right. Now look down here.
Read on. Let's go on down to verse eight. Well, yeah, go on
down here to verse eight. We're going to get back to this,
these other verses in a minute. Verses five through seven. He
first gives a warning to them before he really gives the good
news. Verses five through seven are Verses five through seven
are instructions to them, how to act in the meantime, what
to do in the meantime. Now, God tells us what to do,
how to act, how to get through what we're going to get through.
It's not good counsel or advice, it's wisdom. Do what he says
and it'll be well. And we'll get back to that in
a minute, OK? In verse eight and nine, he says, he gives a
warning. As all do, as all true prophets
do, Jeremiah, people in every chapter, you will see a warning
from Jeremiah. Verse 8 and 9, 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, neither hearken
to your dreams which cause you to be dreamed. They prophesy
falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent them, saith the
Lord. Turn back with me. chapter 8,
Jeremiah chapter 8. Like I said, all through this
book, Jeremiah warns the people. Why? Why is there so much warning
about false prophets? Why? Because there's so many. So many. Didn't our Lord say
that? Many, many. That's why there are many warnings.
There's every trick in the book out there. There's every kind
of demon out there, and you need to be able to withstand the wild. Jeremiah 8, verse 6. Let's see. Jeremiah 8, verses, let's see.
Verse 6, he says, he says here, I hearkened and heard, but nobody
spoke aright. Jeremiah's listening to what
he's hearing. And that that he's listening
to what the preachers and prophets are saying. He said, I'm listening,
but I'm not I'm not hearing right. They're not speaking right. They're
not no man's repenting of his wickedness. You see that, Brother
Dan? I don't I don't see any repentance.
These fellows are just saying peace, peace all the time. That's all we're doing. telling
everybody so much how much God loves them and nobody's repenting.
They've got nothing to repent of. Did you see that? Jeremiah said, what I'm hearing
is not right because nobody's repenting. Nobody's afraid of
God. Nobody fears God. Everybody's
got on their shirts and cars. No fear. Read on. Verse 9. He says, the
wise men or shamed and dismayed and taken low, they've rejected
the word of the Lord. They don't have any wisdom. What
wisdom is in there? They don't have any. They've
rejected the word. That's where wisdom comes from. I told you one time I sat until
about 2 a.m. as a young man, about 25 or 6,
sat in my home. A fellow was sitting in my home,
in my living room. He had a master of divinity.
He was younger than me. Damn, he was about 23. But he
was a master of divinity. Anyway, he'd gone to some religious
school and got this degree. A master of divinity, OK? He
sat in my living room. You remember him. We sat there
talking about 2 a.m. He never quoted one verse of
Scripture. He tried, he butchered several,
and I had to finish them for him. Oh, you mean the... I'm
no master of the vintage, I workin' on a railroad. He couldn't, see, he couldn't
quote one verse of Scripture. He didn't know God's Word. They
don't know God's Word. If they really believed it, they'd
preach it. And like he said about these
fellows, they're hiding it from them. They know what it says.
They know something of what it says, and they know that people
won't like what it says, and they won't get paid much. They'll
get thrown in jail if they say it. Jeremiah did. But Jeremiah
was a true prophet. He said, I must say what the
Lord said. What'd they do? Put him in jail. Put him in a
pit. He's the one that keeps saying,
deliver him from going down in the pit. Jeremiah was in a pit
himself. They had jails back then. They
had an old well that was gone dry that put you down in a pit,
a hole. You couldn't get out. Lower you
down by roach. They did that to Jeremiah. It says he sunk
in the mud in the bottom of the pit, in the mire and the muck.
That's where he was, in a pit. Jeremiah's the one that said,
God said, deliver him from going down in the pit. He was in a
pit. He knows what he's talking about.
He was there for telling the truth. Chapter 23. Go over to chapter 23. Christ
said, You shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. And that
puts you in a pit. They'll kill you. Chapter 23. Jeremiah warns here. Chapter 23, verse 17. This is what these fellows are
saying. Here's what he says. what he observed in the false
prophets. They say, now Jeremiah's quoting these false prophets,
they say still, that is they complete, they continually say,
unto them that despise me. In other words, these fellows
are telling people that hate God. Read on. The Lord said, you shall
have peace, and that They say to everyone that walks at the
imagination of his own heart, that just believes any old thing
and rejects God's word, no evils will come upon you. God loves
you. They say to everyone, without
exception, even God-haters, God loves you. Jesus loves you. He died for you. And he loves
you, and so do I." That's exactly what Jeremiah
heard them saying. All right, now go back to the
text. Does that sound familiar? Did
you read that with your own two eyes? That's what they're saying.
Jeremiah said, don't listen to them. And they're telling people,
peace, peace. Peace, peace, when there is no
peace. Jeremiah's the one that They say, peace, peace, when
there is no peace. Read the book of Jeremiah for
yourself. That's why I came to this. I've been reading it. And
there were several fellows that confronted Jeremiah. All these
false prophets did. They confronted him. And Jeremiah
would tell the people, you're going to be taken captive because
you're sinners. Jeremiah kept telling everybody,
we're all sinners and we're getting what we deserve. We need to repent of our sin
and God will, perhaps God will have mercy on us, but these false
prophets weren't telling that. They were saying everything's
all right, God loves you, we're God's people. Jeremiah would
say, no, we're going to be in captivity for a long time, long
time. We're going to be held captive
by an evil king for a long time. And these other fellows would
say, no, that's not true, no, no. And one time Jeremiah said, to
the people. He said, you listen to me. These
fellows that are crying, peace, peace, if all you have is peace,
then they're true. Listen to them. If that's what
you get all the time, if you have peace from here on out,
then they're true prophets. But if not? And Jeremiah said,
Daniel, he said, all the old prophets before me prophesied
of war. battle, bloodshed, tough times
because we're sinners. Are you with me? Are you following
me? Jeremiah said, All the prophets before me. He's the one who said
that. All the rest of the prophets, true prophets, prophesied of
war and the sword and battle and captivity and trouble and
tribulation and trial and nothing but difficulty. That's what true
prophets tell you. You got coming to you. Why? Because
we're sinners. Because that's what we deserve,
and that's what we get. Paul said this. Here's what Paul
said. I find in me a law of warring. Do you have peace? Do you have
peace? After you've accepted Jesus, is everything all right
with you now? Are you living a victorious life? Are you living
above sin? Do you have no troubles now since
you've accepted Jesus your personal Savior? Can you just tell the
devil, get on out of here now? Nothing bothers you at all? That
you're just pie in the sky and fill the sweet vine by? Is that
how it is with you? You tell me. Do you have this
peace that these fellows are talking about? Peace in this
world? Or do you find a lot of warring
in your members? Bringing you into what? Captivity. Jeremiah said, got that 70 years. You have 70 years. It's not going
to let up. But it's the Lord's doings. It's
good. It's good. It'll make this place such a
miserable place, you'll want to get out of here. It makes paradise, paradise. Oh, my. Well, go back to our
text now. I've got to hurry. Go back to
our text. Paul said, I see a lot of worry
in my memories. Do you? You captives in Babylon,
huh? Do you feel like you're a captain?
I hope so. Because there's good news for
you it's only good news for captives that are on that side of the
gate and what they will buy people as good news you you you will
be set free. I'm not bound. You know what
the Pharisees said. You know what the Pharisees said.
We're not bound. We're the Lord. We're free. We've
never been. We're sons of Abraham. We're not. So if you commit one
sin you're you're a servant of sin. Let's see what's in it. Then
you're a man. It's good news percent of the
captives good real good. All right back to chapter twenty
nine so the gospels to a simple captive people now here's the
good news verse ten you can't hear any you got to hear the
bad news for the good. You got to hear the bad news
for you to get there's only seventy years. But look at what it says, 70
years, verse 10, after 70 years be what? Accomplished. Now that sounds like somebody's
doing something and in other words there's a purpose behind
it and he's working it out and he's, when it's all done, he
accomplished it. That's exactly what that says.
70 years be accomplished. Going through this life for 70
years and dying in faith, or 50 years, 60 years, and dying
in faith is an accomplishment. But not by us. Did these people
accomplish anything? You're going to accomplish this?
Gee, they were captives. They were passive. They were
waiting on the Lord. Who's accomplishing what? Who's working here? The
Holy Spirit's in there, I'm talking about. He's accomplishing this. Look at it. Read on. Verse 10,
I will visit you and perform my good word toward you. I will perform it. What? My good word toward you. Oh, if you don't see Christ in
that. Huh? I will visit you, and will perform
my good word toward you. Peace on earth, good will toward
men. Not unto all men, not peace. Christ said, I came to bring
a sword, but for God's people now, peace toward you. God has, I know my thoughts toward
you, he said. I know my thoughts toward you. Thoughts of peace. Who's it toward? His people. The people that God
gave to Christ for the foundation of the world to come down here
and make peace for them by the blood of his cross. Those who hated God. Those who hated God, didn't want
anything to do with God or religion or Christ. God said, I know my
thoughts toward you. Thoughts of peace. I will perform my good work toward
you." He sent his son, and God was manifest in the flesh. The
word, the good word, was made flesh and dwelt among us. Have
you beheld his glory? Full of grace and truth. Huh?
And he hath performed this. He's the one who hath performed
this delivering the captives and leading captivity captive
He's the one, Christ is the good word, who performed this thing
of salvation. We're just captives. We're just
passive. We didn't help the Lord do anything.
Huh? We didn't help the Lord do anything.
He made peace. And he, and look at this, read
on, verse ten. And I will cause you to return
to this place. What did our Lord say out of
his very mouth? He said, I go to prepare a place. I will visit you." God, the Word,
was made flesh and dwelt among us. And he performed all of this
for us. And he prepared a place by his
righteousness, by his death, and he went back there. And he
said, I'm coming again. It's going to be 70 years. It's
going to be 70 years. You see, that's the bad news.
You've got to live 70 years, perhaps, unless the Lord in mercy... You know, I don't think we realize
when death takes someone, we say early. It grieves us immeasurably. Oh, the Lord is so merciful to
them. That's what the scripture says.
This was Brother Joe Park's funeral message. The righteous perish,
and no man lays it to heart. Merciful men are taken away.
People don't consider the righteous are taken from the evil days
to come. They don't have to live 70 years.
They go with 42. Oh, how good God is to them. We stay behind. We got to live
suddenly. Missing men. Oh, he's good to
them. Wasn't he good to Joe Park? Wasn't
he good to George Ballard? Wasn't he so good to Lindus Doniger? So good. They're out of this. They're home. We're crying. Don't listen to our hippies. We're seeing them. They tell
me that again, preacher, I forgot it last week. They know. We're
trying to come on hard to see this. They're singing with all
their hearts. Wake up flesh! They don't have
the flesh to contend with. They've got a spiritual Oh, the Lord's good. It's good. It's good to them. Real good
to them. Seventy years. Maybe eighty. This world wants to live eighty,
ninety years old. A hundred. Not me. Seventy's going to be long enough,
I believe. Unless I have a bunch of grandchildren. You know, Ed
and some of you can tell me what that's like. Right now? And that's the only reason you
want to hang around with people you love. It's not sure about
this world. People you love. There's nothing
wrong with loving and wanting to hang on to people. But we have here no continuing
city in 70 years or so. Maybe. Maybe less, maybe more,
but not much more. That's it. Seventy years, I can't
make it. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. Why? Because God said, I will perform
it. I will accomplish it. Seventy
years. I will accomplish it. All things
are going to work out for your good, causing you to return to
my place I know my thoughts toward you. Thoughts I think. That's an ongoing. Thoughts I
think. Constant. God's thoughts are always good
toward us, Nancy. He's never angry with his children. Never. He never punishes his
children. God does not punish his children
for anything. You hear me? Listen to me. God
does not Don't let any of these pinhead
preachers tell you that. Whatever God does to his children,
it's good. It's teaching. It's chasing. It's the best thing that could
happen. It's not punishment. Don't punish yourself in thinking
that. You hear me? We think it's God
punishing, God doing this. Remember the blind man? They
said, Lord, who sinned that this man was born blind? His parents
must have done an awful thing. He must have been a real bad
sinner. Christ said, no, this is for the glory of God. He's
blind because I made him blind. God does not punish his people
for their sins. Is that good news? He punished Christ. What our
sins deserve is death, blood shed. Who did that? Christ did. And that's that. Well, he says,
I know my thoughts, I think toward you. And let me ask you, you parents,
you loving, true parents, do you ever get mad and angry? I mean, really? Or you want to
just kill your children? You want to punish him? I mean
really, do you now? Come on. If anybody, if there's any son
who a parent deserves to just take a sword out and walk, done
with him. I've had all, it was this one.
I never once saw my mother, never once saw my mother grit her teeth
in labor. I saw my dad a few times. That's what I'm thinking. But
he could kill me. Should have killed me. But he
didn't. I know my thoughts towards you.
Thoughts I think. Isn't that a good word? Towards
you. Thoughts of peace, not of evil.
There's nothing evil happens to God. Nothing evil. So I'm
forty-five-seven now. I of the Lord create peace, I
create evil. Whatever we think is the worst
thing that could happen, God did it and it's not evil. It's
not evil. It's not evil. I was just telling
you. It's good. It's good. And we're going to know. We're
going to find out. And here it is. I'm going to give you an
expected end. I'm going to give you an expected
end, something you can expect. That's what an expected end is,
something you can expect. You expect this message to end?
It will. An expected end. This expected
end, that means it's going to happen. There are some people
that work sitting right where you're sitting, literally. They got that answer. They're
there. Things we only dream about. Things we only hope for. Things
we just read the promises and say, well, it sounds good. I
hope it's true. I sure hope someday the experience... They are. They are. It's there. It's ended. It's
ended. They're there. It's all over. They've apprehended
that for which they've been apprehended. They have arrived. They're there.
Paul said, I'm not there yet. Virgie is. She's there. She doesn't have
to hear any bad preaching, ever. That was her one wish, wasn't
it? That was her dying wish. That was the one thing she thought
was needful. The blind man said, the Lord
said, what do you want? He said, I want to have my eyes
healed. The leper, what do you want?
I want to be clean. Virgie said, I don't want to
hear you all bad preaching. She didn't. The next preacher she heard was
Jesus Christ. Can you think about that? She didn't even have to hear
me. Bad preacher. She made it, didn't she? How
long? Eighty, how long? How many years, Virgie? Eighty-four.
She made it. Tough, long, tough years. Married
to, well, children that didn't love her gospel. So one lived
in a little tiny house. Tough, tough time. She's there. It's all over. Expect it in. You can expect it to happen. You trust the same Christ she
trusted. You listen to the Word of God here. Look at this. Here it is. You'll find, you'll
call on me. It's what you're going to do.
I'm going to cause you to do it. Verse 12. You're going to
call on me. You're going to go, you're going to pray unto me.
Not to a man, but to me. And I'm going to hear you. And
you'll seek me. Not religion. Me. And you're
going to find me. When? When you search for me
with all your heart. Not when you come to the knowledge
of the doctrines of grace, but when you When you're a sinner
and need a mercy at the hands of a sovereign God, you'll seek
me with all your heart and mercy, and it'll be done. You'll find
mercy. You'll find it with all your
heart. It's a heart thing. And I will
be fond of you, sayeth the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity in Christ. We're really not captives,
and I really can't explain that. I said we sound like it's a paradox
isn't it? It's a paradox. I just listened
to my pastor preach a message on the seventy men who came back
who were rejoicing that the devils were subject unto them. And maybe I ought not to go into
this because I don't want to preach that same message, but
I might not live to do it. So I'm going to tell you. what
he was saying. They came back rejoicing that
the devils were subject unto them. And Christ said, don't
rejoice in that. He said, I saw Satan as an angel
fall from heaven, cast down, Isaiah 14. Because I was there,
I'm the one that cast him down. Don't rejoice in something as
small as that. He said, because Satan hath no
power over you at all. You know that really? Satan has
no power over us at all. He can't touch us. Don't let
these preachers worry you. He can't touch us. Read the book
of Job for yourself. First two chapters, huh? Satan
came and appeared before God, and God said, where you been?
Mocking him. Where you been, Satan? I've been
running to and fro throughout the year trying to do something. And God mocked him, Brother John. He said, if you consider Job,
there's none like him. You better believe he considered
Job. He wanted that Job bad. Job was chief man, God's man
at the time. Satan said, I can't touch him. I can't touch him. He's got a
hedge around me. Just drop it for a minute. Let
me have him for a minute, and he'll curse you. Can't touch him, can you? You
can't touch any of my anointing. Satan doesn't do a thing to God's
people. That God Almighty doesn't do
that. Well, you think that isn't good news, huh? We're not captive
to Satan. I said deliver them who are held
captive by Him at His will and their will. They're delivered.
You're not under bondage. Christ led captivity captive. And what little bit you feel
is whatever God allows for you to keep calling on Him to make
you see how helpless you are. But He can't touch you, Dan.
He can't touch you. Is that good news? Don't worry,
go to sleep. Though the whole world is filled
full of demons and devils, they can't touch you. And I preach that message, y'all.
I want to preach it. Well, he says it. Verse 14, I
quit. I will gather you from all the
nations, from all the places where I've driven you. I will
bring you again to a place I'm going to bring you back to the
place of Adam, back in the fellowship of God, back in paradise, but
better. Much better. Much better. Those previous verses, I hadn't
forgotten. He said, 70 years, all right,
what are we going to do? Get married. Build you a house. Have your daughter. Your son. Your grand baby. He. For the city where you live. If it's not in war you're in
not in war. Right. Right for the president. Things are well there. You live
there and be well. Just good, good counsel in it,
huh? You got seventy years. Do what
men do in seventy years. Work, build, marry, give in marriage,
enjoy. That's what the whole book of
Ecclesiastes is about. Enjoy. Use the things God gave
you. Don't abuse them. Lay hold on him so tight that
you don't ever want to let go. He might start breaking your
finger. Don't do that. Whip, use it. Enjoy it. Smile. Have a good time. That's 70 years. Make the best
of it. Everybody say it. Everybody say it. But now remember this. There's
an end. these things happening you're
going to leave that house that you built you're going to leave
that husband that you married you're going to leave that wife
and those kids where are you going? home forever and it's going to
be good all right is that good? I hope that's good all right
let's say $3.55 That's a good news from a far country. A letter
to the captain, 350 pounds.