Now turn back with me to the
book of Jeremiah chapter 30. Jeremiah chapter 30. I began
in this chapter this past Wednesday. We dealt with the first section
of verses here in chapter 30, but remember that we're in that
section of Jeremiah's prophecy. From chapter 30 all the way over
to chapter 33, that is called the Book of Consolation. The Book of Consolation. It's
an amazing thing when we see the judgments of God without
being watered down, just set forth as they have been in the
Book of Jeremiah. God's judgment against sin. God's
wrath. As you know, Jeremiah was labeled
a prophet of doom. He's labeled the weeping prophet.
It seems that you read so many of these passages of his prophecy
and they seem so negative and so condemning and they are and
justly so. But in the middle of this prophecy
and throughout Jeremiah's prophecy we have the comforts and consolations. of the salvation that God freely
and fully provides by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ,
whom Jeremiah set forth as the promised Messiah, labeled him
and identified him as the Lord, our righteousness. We saw that back in chapter 23.
We'll see it again in chapter 33. But here, this is a book
of consolation and comfort. And what is speaking of That
which is ultimately eternally and finally fulfilled in the
new covenant the new covenant now you remember the new covenant
is the fulfillment in time of the everlasting covenant of grace
made before time it has to do with the actual coming of the
Messiah into the world and Jeremiah speaks more of it over in chapter
31 when he talks about the days coming that he will make a new
covenant and The things that are said here are things that
can apply ultimately and eternally Only to Christ and his church,
and I know there are many who say well You're spiritualizing
the scriptures and all of that But if you look at it and look
at the keys and we'll see that that what this this section is
This whole book of consolation, these few chapters he's speaking
of, is the new and better day of Christ. And that's what I've
entitled these messages. The first one, Wednesday, and
this is part two. The new and better day of Christ. And I think you can see that.
Let's just read the whole chapter, and then I'm gonna just make
a few more comments on one point. I have three points, basically.
I want you to see Christ, the great liberator. And then Christ,
the great physician, and then Christ, the great builder. Liberator,
physician, and builder. That's how he's prophesied in
this first chapter. I've already done the Liberator,
but I want us just to re-read it and make a few more comments
on that. And I'll just give you, just get a little bit ahead.
You turn to Romans chapter 6. Stay here at Jeremiah 30. I'm going to read these, but
we're going to go to Romans chapter 6. I want to show you something
about how the Lord Jesus Christ liberates his people. But let's
start reading in Jeremiah 30 here. He says, The word, verse
1, that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying, Thus speaketh
the Lord God of Israel saying, Write thee all the words that
I have spoken unto thee in a book. And for lo, the days come. Now
that's speaking of the future. Some say that's talking about
Israel or Judah being delivered out of Babylon 70 years later
and then coming back to their own land. But now there are things
that are said here in prophecy that don't apply to that and
I'll show you. And there was a fulfillment, that was a fulfillment
of prophecy. And that was God working all
things after the counsel of his own will to keep his people together
because the scepter was not going to depart from Judah until Shiloh
come, until Messiah comes. So he says, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will bring again the captivity of my people, Israel
and Judah. Notice he says Israel too, not
just Judah. And this is speaking of a united
kingdom now. Israel had been gone for about
a hundred years, the northern kingdom. They'd already been
destroyed and spread out by the Assyrian empire. And then he
says, saith the Lord, I will cause them to return to the land
that I gave to their fathers and they shall possess it. Now
they're gonna own this, whatever he's talking about. And when
they came back out of the Babylonian captivity, they came back to
the land, but they didn't own it. They were under the Medo-Persian
empire. And he says, and these are the
words that the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah.
For thus saith the Lord, we have heard the voice, a voice of trembling,
of fear, and a nod of peace. In other words, the people, there's
gonna be a time of restoration, but the people are gonna go through
the trouble now. Ask you now and see whether a man doth travail
with child. Isn't that interesting? A man
travailing with child. We spoke of that Wednesday and
remember I made a spiritual application of that to Christ, the travail
of his soul, which brings forth the salvation of his people.
Isaiah 53, he shall see of the travail of his soul. He says,
wherefore do I see every man with his hands on his loins,
a woman in travail, all faces are turned into paleness. Alas,
for 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.
In verse 8, for it shall come to pass in that day, saith the
Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck. That's
liberation. That's freedom. Christ said,
I'll set the captives free. I'll burst thy bonds, setting
his people free. And they were set free in a limited
sense, as Judah was set free to go back to their land and
rebuild the walls of Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. But they
were still under foreign domination. They remain so for the four to
500 years of darkness between the Old Testament and the New.
When the Lord appeared on the scene in his incarnation, they
were under foreign domination. And when they were destroyed
in AD 70, they were under foreign domination. But here he's talking
about they're going to be set free. And he says, and strangers
shall no more serve themselves of him. Foreigners will no longer
use them as servants. That's what that means. So that's
true freedom, that's not a limited freedom. And look at verse nine,
here's a key to it. But they shall serve the Lord
their God and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.
Now that's talking about Christ, that's not talking about a resurrection
of King David, the shepherd king. That's talking about Christ,
the greater son of David. And somebody, years ago when
I dealt with this passage, somebody told me, said, well, they're
in their land now, and they're free, and they're not under foreign
domination. That's true. But they're not serving the Lord
their God and David their king, are they? They don't serve Christ. This is talking about a united
kingdom under the headship of Christ. A united kingdom under
the headship of Christ. And that's the liberation. And
he says in verse 10, Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob,
saith the Lord. Neither be dismayed, O Israel,
for lo, I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land
of their captivity. See, it keeps liberation. And
Jacob shall return and shall be in rest. You're going to rest. Not under turmoil. Not under
a dictator. Christ said, Come unto me, all
ye that labor and heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. He said,
my yoke is easy. My burden is light. See, this
is not a captivity. It's not like bondage of sin
and bondage of Satan and bondage of the curse of the law. He said,
you'll be quiet. That's peaceable. And none shall
make him afraid. Remember we read in Isaiah 32
how the effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance and
peace. And where are you going to find
righteousness? Not in an earthly government, but in the government
of Christ. In Christ himself who is our peace. He's the Prince
of Peace. Verse 11, for I'm with thee,
saith the Lord, to save thee. Though I make a full end of all
nations, whether I've scattered thee, yet will I not make a full
end of thee, but I will correct thee in measure. Now that's indicative
of the chastisement of God's people. He lovingly chastises his people,
but he won't make an end of us. He saves us. And it says, and
I will not leave thee altogether unpunished. Our sins do not go
unpunished. They're punished in Christ and
dealt with. Now let me, that's Christ the
liberator. That's what he's talking about.
Look over at Romans chapter 6. Christ liberates his people in
two ways. In two ways. Actually we could
say three ways. There's one way in which we haven't
been liberated yet. And I'll show you what I'm talking
about. But here's the two ways that we can say we have actually
been liberated. The first one is Legally, we're
free from condemnation. That's what it's talking about.
We're free from condemnation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. Look at verse 3. That's Romans
6. That's what this is talking about.
Know you not that so many of us as we're baptized, that means
placed into. That's not talking about water
baptism now. The scripture does teach that
believers baptism. that every believer is to confess
Christ in believer's baptism. But what it means here, we were
placed into Christ, united to Jesus Christ. Now, when were
we united to Jesus Christ? Well, you could go all the way
back before the foundation of the world, couldn't you, in electing
grace. God chose us and gave us to Christ. Placed all of our salvation upon
his shoulders. He became our surety. He became
accountable for our sins. Alright? And so we were placed
into Christ then. But look on, it says those who
were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized, placed into His
death. United to Him in His death. When
He died, He died as a representative, a substitute, a sin-bearer, a
surety of His people. What, didn't he say that? John
10 for example. I laid down my life for the sheep. Not for himself. See, Daniel
even said that. He said, but not for himself,
but for his people. And so, we were placed into Christ
at the cross. And so in verse 4 it says, therefore
we're buried with him by baptism into death. When he died, I died.
Because he died for me. I didn't die personally. Experientially,
but I died in him and that's real now. That's not that's not
fake That's not fiction That's not a legal fiction. That's a
legal reality The death that I deserve the death that I earned
the death that I was born with in Adam He died he took it all
And so it says that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by
the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness
of life. That's the result. We were raised
with him and we'll walk in newness of life. Look at verse five,
for if we've been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall also be in the likeness of his resurrection, knowing
this, that our old man, that's our standing in Adam, condemned
according to the covenant of works, That's crucified with
him. That's dead. That's not dying
now. That's not in the process of dying. That's dead. That's
what that means. That's what the tense of the
verb there is. It's a past act. It's a done deal. The old man's
dead. What is that old man now? That
doesn't mean I'm a sinless person in myself. I still have sin in
me. I still have the flesh. The flesh
is not dead. The old man is. That's my former
standing in Adam. That's gone. It died with Him,
with Christ. My sin was imputed to Him, charged
to Him, and He died for those sins. And it says, We shall also
be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man
is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed,
that henceforth we should not serve sin. Now look at verse
7. For he that is dead is what? Freed from sin. Now you know
that word freed there also means justified. But that's okay, it's
a good translation of it. Liberated from condemnation.
Liberated from guilt. Cleared. Now, I'll tell you,
that ought to make you shout. Cleared from all guilt, not guilty. You mean me, a sinner? Yes, not
guilty. But not only just not guilty,
that's the negative part of it, and if that's not enough, righteous
in God's sight. Now that's what 2 Corinthians
5.21 means. For he was made sin, Christ who
knew no sin, for us that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. Our sin imputed to him, his righteousness charged,
accounted, imputed to us. That's liberation. The court
of God's law and justice cannot hold you accountable because
it held Christ accountable and he paid the debt in full. That's freedom. You see a picture
of that in the Passover. God said, when I see the blood,
I'll what? I'll pass over you. That's what
Calvary is all about, Joanne. Lead me to Calvary. Because that's
where my sins were dealt with. Under the justice of God. That's
where the righteousness that God has imputed to me, charged
to me, the righteousness that God imputed to Abel. That's where
that righteousness was worked out. For Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. To everyone that believe it.
Once the Passover lamb was slain and the blood was placed on the
door, and God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass over you,
it wasn't right that the Hebrew children reside in bondage anymore
in Egypt, right? What did they have to do? They
had to be brought out. Well, look across the page there at
verse 17, Romans 6, 17. Christ the Great, He liberated
us legally on the cross, no condemnation, no guilt, righteousness, that's
all God sees when he looks upon us in Christ. But God bethank
that you were the servants of sin, slaves to sin, that's an
unbeliever, that's an unregenerate person. But you have obeyed from
the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you, or literally
which you were delivered to. Being then made free, now the
word free there is liberated. being then made free from sin,
you became the servants of righteousness, servants of Christ. That's the
new birth. That's being born again by the
Holy Spirit. That's being rejuvenated. We were set free. So one, the
first one there, Romans 6, 7, that's freedom from condemnation. Christ liberated us from condemnation
and guilt. Well, this new birth, that's
Christ liberating us from spiritual death and darkness. And we're
set free. It's like the Hebrew children
being led out of Egypt, being brought out of Egypt. And I want
you to notice that Moses didn't stand outside the gate begging
them to make a decision for Jesus. No, they came out, didn't they? They really had no choice. They
really didn't. They really didn't. All right,
so that's Christ the liberator. All right, now go back to Jeremiah
30. Let's look at Christ the Great Physician. In Isaiah 61,
that's what he said. He's the heal the broken heart. He's the great healer. Look at
verse 12. He says in verse 12, For thus
saith the Lord, Thy bruise is incurable, and thy wound is grievous. Did you hear that? Your bruise
is incurable. What does that bruise? Well,
that's sin. My friends, sin is an incurable
disease. Isn't it? You can't cure it. Religion can't cure it. No amount
of good works that you try to do can cure it. You remember
the woman with the issue of blood? Had that how many years? 12 years,
I think, or more? And I think in the book of Mark,
the gospel of Mark, the way he wrote it, as inspired by the
Spirit, said she went to all these doctors and spent everything
she had and she was what? Remember what it says? She was
what? It doesn't say she was no better off. You know what
it says? It says she was worse. Worse off. And that's all man's
devised cures for this disease called sin can do for a sinner
make him worse. It may get him to where he appears
righteous unto men. It may get him reformed and fixed
up in the eyes of men. But he is worse off in the eyes
of God. Your bruise is incurable. And
your wound is grievous. My bruise is incurable. What's
our hope then? Well, what this does is it shows
you, it shows us that salvation which is the cure, is totally
100% by free sovereign grace. We need a miracle. Now we have
people in our congregation who are sick unto death. We always
have sick people, don't we? We're all sick in some way or
another, aren't we? But sometimes we find a cure,
we find a pill or a shot or a treatment. We have people who are sick unto
death. And whenever that time comes for all of us, we'll say,
well, it's in the hands of the Lord. Only He can cure us. Well,
I got news for you. It's always been in His hands.
Whether it's through a pill or a shot or a treatment, it's always
been in His hands. Somebody say, well, give it to
the Lord. He's always had it. He's always
been in control. He doesn't stop. But when it
comes to this thing of salvation, What do we need? We need a miracle
of God's grace and power. And where are you going to find
that? We'll look at verse 12 again. For thus saith the Lord,
thy bruise is incurable. Where's our hope then? Isaiah
53 speaks of Christ, the suffering servant, the Lamb, and says,
He was bruised for our iniquities. There's your hope. And that's
the only hope you've got, sinner. That's the only hope, sinner,
up here is God. one who is appointed of the Father, one who is willing
to take the punishment, and one who is able to cure the disease.
And what is the cure? It's the blood of the Lord Jesus
Christ. There's the cure. There's the ointment right there.
His blood for my sins. The Bible says without the shedding
of blood there is no forgiveness, remission, cure for sin. God set that forth in technicolor
right after Adam fell and tried to hide his shame with fig leaf
aprons. God took those aprons off and
he slew an animal and made coats of skin. And he showed right
there in establishing the sacrificial system of worship that there
is no cure for a sinner but a substitute who can die in his place and
bring forth a cure. It says here that our wound is
grievous. Isaiah 53 says he was wounded
for our transgressions. That's the miracle of God's power
and grace. It's Christ. That's the wisdom
of God right there. He says in verse 13, look, there's
none to plead thy cause. There's nobody who can step in
and provide a cure for you. That thou mayest be bound up,
that thou hast no healing medicines. Man has no healing medicines. Remember the rich young man,
when he walked away sorrowful, and the disciples said, if he's
not saved, who can be? And Christ said, well, with man
it's impossible. That's what he's saying. With
God, all things are possible. Salvations of the Lord in Christ. Salvation is by grace, not by
works. Verse 14, all thy lovers have
forgotten thee. They can't help you. They may
say, I love you, and they may be kind, and they may give you
the kisses of a lover, but they can't help you, they can't cure
your disease. They can hug you, they can hold you, they can smile
at you, but they can't cure you. They seek thee not. In other
words, there comes a point in time, they just give up on you.
For I have wounded thee with the wound of an enemy, with the
chastisement of a cruel one, for the multitude of thine iniquity,
because thy sins were increased. The reason you're going through
this is sin. Why is every, listen, every problem that we have is
a consequence of sin, isn't it? Verse 15, Why criest thou for
thine affliction? Thy sorrow is incurable. In other
words, crying in sorrow won't cure you either. It won't do
it. It's just not there. And he says, he says, Thy sorrow
is incurable for the multitude of thine iniquity, because thy
sins were increased. I have done these things unto
thee. God's the one who's inflicting this punishment. You see, God is just to punish
sin. So verse 16, he says, Therefore,
all they that devour thee shall be devoured, and all thine enemies,
every one of them, shall go into captivity. And they that spoil
thee shall be a spoil, and all that pray upon thee will I give
for a prey. And it was those who take advantage
of you, they're going to get worse. That's what he's saying.
You know back up there, he says in verse 13, there's none to
plead thy cause. What's my hope then? You remember
Job cried out. He said, I need a daysman. I
need an advocate. Somebody said, the literal word
there is umpire. I need somebody to make the right
call. I know all you Kentucky basketball
fans, you'll watch a game and that referee doesn't make the
right call, boy, you get mad, don't you? I know because I do
too. Well, I need somebody who can
make the right call without fail. And who's that? The Apostle John
write in 1 John 2, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus
Christ the righteous. That's who is our advocate. He's
the great physician. That woman with the issue of
blood, who suffered so many things of many physicians, spent all
she had, was nothing better but grew worse. What was the cure? She said, if I can just touch
the hem of his garment. That's indicative, that's not
teaching. some kind of a magical power
in his cloak. And you know there's people who
think that way. Oh, if we could just find that
cloak and just spread it and send it around all over and charge
a mission to get in to see it and get everybody, no. That cloak of his garment is
indicative of his person and his work. That's what it is. It's that which Christ was identified
by and distinguished as the Lord of glory who would work out a
perfect righteousness whereby a sinner could stand before a
holy God and be justified. That's what it was indicative
of. That blood that was shed that washes us clean from all
our sins, there's the cure. What can wash away my sins? Nothing
but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again?
That's Christ, the great physician. Christ is our cure. Christ is
our health. Look at verse 17. For I will
restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds,
saith the Lord. Because they called thee an outcast,
like a leper. A leper wasn't to live among
with other people. An outcast. Saying, this is Zion
whom no man seeketh after. We don't want to live there.
We don't want to be with those sinners. Remember the Pharisees,
they said to the disciples, what's wrong with your master? He eats
with publicans and sinners. Remember what Christ told them
when he overheard it? He said, well, fellas, the whole
need not a physician. But I came to call sinners to
repentance. That's what this church is. A
hospital for sick sinners. Send sick sinners. Isn't that
right? Somebody said, well, we don't want that, fellas. He's
a sinner. Well, come on in, fella. That's what we are. Sinners saved
by the grace of God. That's what we're all about.
Saved by the grace of God in Christ. And then lastly, look,
this last section, here's Christ the great builder. Here he's
represented as rebuilding the city. And you remember, 70 years
after their captivity, and we talked about why it was 70 years,
because of their forsaking the Sabbath, which is an emblem of
forsaking Christ and rest in Him. They did it for 490 years,
so they were 70 years in captivity. They were allowed by the providence
of God to come back into the land and rebuild the walls of
Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. They were very lax, they were
very negligent in even doing that. But the ultimate fulfillment
of that rebuilding is right here in the person and work of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Brother Bill read about it in
Matthew 16. That's why I had you read that passage. And I
will turn there in just a moment. But look here in verse 18. He
says, thus saith the Lord, behold, I will bring again the captivity
of Jacob's tents. The tent there represents the
family. That's the home. It'd be like
saying Jacob's house. The household of Jacob. And Jacob
being an emblem of sinners saved by the grace of God. Malachi
3.6, I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons of Jacob
are not consigned. And he says, and have mercy on
his dwelling places. So where he lives, see. We're
in this world, but we're, listen, we're not out of the world, we
live in Christ. And he says, and the city shall be builded
upon her own heap. And that's a hill. and the palace
shall remain after the manner thereof. There's a kingdom, you
see. There's a city, there's households,
there's a kingdom. That's what he's talking about.
And this whole thing, you see, is showing the glory and power
of God's grace in Christ. And he says, and out of them
shall proceed thanksgiving and the voice of them that make merry,
the joy that's in the Lord. Now you couldn't say that about
Israel of old now. Now some people say, well, it'll
come some later time in the future. Well, even if it does, as I told
you, that's even gonna be temporary because this world's gonna be
burned up now. And he says, and I will multiply them and they
shall not be few. There was just a few that came
out of Babylon 70 years later. These shall not be few. He said,
I will also glorify them and they shall not be small. God's
going to make them great, not by their own goodness and power
and wisdom and works, but because of their identification and union
with Christ who is great and powerful and wise. He says in
verse 20, their children also shall be as a four time. And their congregation shall
be established before me, and I will punish all them that oppress
thee." No enemy, you see. They're safe. That's what he's
talking about. They're secure. Who are our enemies? Well, the
world is our enemy. Christ said, I've overcome the
world. Satan is our enemy. He's the accuser of the brethren.
How do we turn him back? Plead the blood of the Lamb,
Revelation 12. And who is our enemy? The flesh. The flesh,
now remember I told you, there's one way in which we haven't been
liberated yet. And that's we haven't been glorified
yet. We haven't been freed yet from this body of death. We're
still in a warfare with the flesh, aren't we? We still have a daily
struggle with the flesh. It never ends. It never stops. Somebody told me one time, she
said, I get so tired of it. Well, that's because, listen,
the battle's not yours even there, it's the Lord's. What are we
to do? Continually look to Christ, rest
in Christ. And so even the enemy of the
flesh, we're going to be liberated from him when we come into the
Lord. When we die and go to be with
the Lord or when he comes back and glorifies us. But we're safe
and secure. You see, this is a kingdom of
priests under the Messiah. Now look at verse 21. I want
to show you something here. Now listen to how it reads here.
It says, And their nobles shall be of themselves, and their governor
shall proceed from the midst of them. And I will cause him
to draw near, and he shall approach unto me. For who is this that
engaged his heart to approach unto me, saith the Lord? Now
right there is one of the probably most neglected, but greatest
prophecies of the Lord Jesus Christ that you'll find in the
Bible. That little verse right there. Now, there's a little bit of
a difference between Hebrew scholars on this, about how that should
be translated. And I put in a lot of study on
this. Some say it should be translated
this way, and you see that again, look at verse 21. Their nobles
shall be of themselves. If that is the correct translation,
what that would be talking about, I believe, is those who have
been made kings and priests in the kingdom of God, by the grace
of God, sinners saved by grace. You can read about that in Revelation
1 and Revelation 5. And their governor shall proceed,
that governor there, that's their leader, that's their king, that's
Christ. So here we have the kingdom of
Christ and his subject. But some say it should be translated
this way, verse 21. Instead of their nobles, plural,
it should be translated their prince, singular, shall be one
of themselves. And their ruler, who is the same
person, shall come forth out of the midst of them." Which
means it's all talking about Christ who come out of the midst
of his people. He was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh. He was made like unto his brethren
without sin. He took not on him the nature
of angels, but the seed of Abraham. But what this is, is a prophecy
of the kingdom, the spiritual eternal kingdom of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the salvation of His people. And listen to what it
says about this governor that proceeds from the midst of them.
He's God and man in one person. That's what it means. Proceeding
from the midst of His people means His incarnation. He's the
Word made flesh dwelling among us. Emmanuel, God with us, alright? Listen, he said, I will cause
him to draw near and he shall approach unto me. He's going
to draw near to the Father, approach unto God. For who is this that
engaged his heart to approach unto me? That's Christ, the mediator. That's Christ, the substitute.
That's Christ, the Lord our righteousness, you see. And what's he doing
when he approaches unto the Father? What's he doing? He's building
his church. Turn to Matthew 16 now. Bill
read. He's building his church. How did he do that? Well, he
said, you know, he asked them, who do men say that I am? And
you notice there, one of them said Elijah, one of them said
some say, some of them even say Jeremiah. Jeremiah, resurrected
from the dead. But he said, who do you say I
am? And Peter, by revelation from God, said, you're the Messiah.
You're the Christ, the Son of the living God. You're our Savior.
And he said, blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah. Flesh and blood
didn't reveal that to you, but my Father which is in heaven,
verse 18, and I say it also unto thee, thou art Peter. That's
Petras. That means a little rock. That's
what Peter's name means. You're a little rock, just a
little stone. And upon this rock, that word
rock there is like a big giant rock of Gibraltar Boulder. See,
they're not one and the same. He's not looking at Peter and
saying, now Peter, you're the rock that I'm going to build
my church upon. Oh no, if that's the case, then the rock denied
him three times later on. Now I'm not doing that just to
get down on Peter because you and I would have done the same
thing. We're sinners saved by grace. So was Peter. Peter's
not the rock. What is the rock? Who is the
rock? The rock is Christ! And the work that he accomplished,
and he said, upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. Now, how is he going to build
his church? Well, look over in verse 21. From that time forth
began Jesus to show unto his disciples how that he must go
into Jerusalem, suffer many things of the elders, and of chief priests
and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.
What's he doing? He's building his church. You
know what that is there? That's the foundation of the
church. His death. His cross, His blood, His righteousness,
His redemptive work. Christ and Him crucified. There's
the foundation of the church. And Peter said later on in 1
Peter chapter 2, we're the little stones built upon that rock.
And under you therefore which believe, Christ is precious.
Is that what he said? And that's how the Jew and the
Gentile come together under the headship of Christ. Ephesians
chapter 2 teaches us. Isn't that right? We're brought
near to God through the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Christ,
who approached unto the Father. Look back at Jeremiah 30 now.
He says in verse 22, now based on this, listen to this, he says,
you shall be my people and I will be your God. Now that verse there
is in the form of a wedding vow. That's what that is. It is like
a man pledging his love to his bride and the bride pledging
her love to the husband. I am yours and you are mine.
It is not a forced conquering here. Like for example when it
says every knee is going to bow and every tongue is going to
confess, that is going to be a forced confession to the enemies
of Christ. This is the union of love. I
will be, you shall be my people. And I'll be your God. And where's
that said? Over in Jeremiah 31 when he's describing the new
covenant. I'll be your God and you'll be
my people. This is the union of Christ and his church. Now
in verses 23 and 24 he ends it with God's judgment upon all
who are found without Christ. Listen to this. Behold the whirlwind
of the Lord goeth forth with fury. A continuing whirlwind
it shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. Now who's
the wicked there? Any sinner, no matter how that
sinner appears, without Christ. That's right. My friend, unless
you're found washed in His blood and clothed in His righteousness,
submitted to Him in God-given faith, what is that? That's wickedness.
And he says in verse 24, the fierce anger of the Lord shall
not return until He had done it. In other words, it ain't
gonna stop until it's done. And he says, and until you have
performed the intents of his heart, in the latter days you
shall consider it. Some people will think about
it when it's too late. What our prayer is, is that God
will bring us all to think about it now and run to Christ. Turn to him for salvation, for
he is. our hope. Alright. Savior more
than life to me. What a hymn. Hymn number 304.
304 is our closing hymn.