All right, let's open our Bibles
to the book of Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah chapter 25. Now, the title of the message this
evening is The Need for Repentance. The Need for Repentance. The
passage of scripture that Brother Bill just read in 2 Chronicles
chapter 36 reflects the historical time period of these chapters
that we've been studying here of late in the book of Jeremiah.
This is the setting of Jeremiah's prophecy. And here in chapter
25, Jeremiah issues forth by the commission power, the word
of God, the warnings to repent. Warnings to Judah and the people
of Judah and the people of Jerusalem to repent. Repent. The issue of repentance, the
reality of repentance is no option for the people of God. It's a
necessity and we'll see that. But as we read through the first
few verses of this chapter, what we're going to see is that all
the warnings to repent that were issued by Jeremiah as the spokesman
of God, as the prophet of God, that they went unheeded. The
people would not listen. And what we have there is a picture
of the natural man. The natural man. What is the
natural man? That's the unregenerate man or
woman. That's man as he is born into
this world in sin, spiritually dead, totally depraved, without
any inclination or desire for the things of the true and living
God. Doesn't mean he can't be religious.
He is. Man by nature is religious, but
it's false religion. Man by nature is religious, but
it's religion that exalts man and lifts him up and gives him
room to boast. And that's what the problem is.
The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God.
Neither can he know them. They're spiritually discerned.
He's spiritually dead. And that's what we have here
in the first few verses. Listen to them. It says, the
word of the Lord, verse one, the word that came to Jeremiah
concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah. That was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar,
king of Babylon. There's your setting there. That
which Jeremiah, the prophet, spake unto all the people of
Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem. This puts it in
about the first attack, somewhere around the year of the first
attack of Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army upon Jerusalem
that was followed by them taking captives back into Babylon. Bill
read about that in 2 Chronicles 36. And Jeremiah, he preached
for about 23 years to all the people of Judah and then to the
inhabitants of Jerusalem, now that's everybody that lived in
Jerusalem, but specifically talking about the religious leaders,
the king, the prophets, the priest of the temple, all of them. And
those false prophets whose message was peace, peace, when there
was no peace, that could easily be proven wrong because Nebuchadnezzar
had already attacked, he was getting ready to attack Jerusalem.
And so they did not heed the Word of God. Look at verse 3,
it says, From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Ammon,
king of Judah, even unto this day, that is the three and twentieth
year, twenty-three years, the Word of the Lord hath come unto
me, and I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking. That
reflects an eagerness to preach the Word of God. Now we know
Jeremiah wasn't always eager. Remember we read in an earlier
chapter about he wanted to quit, and he couldn't. He said, rising
early and speaking, but you have not hearkened. You didn't listen. You didn't obey. Man left to
himself. Man left to his own will. That's
us by nature, isn't it? He goes on, he says, and the
Lord hath sent unto you all his servants the prophets. Jeremiah
wasn't the only true prophet of God. There were a few others,
but very few compared to the false prophets. And those prophets
rising early and sending them, but you have not hearkened. You
have not hearkened. Nor inclined your ear to hear.
You didn't even want to hear. Not only did you not obey what
you heard, but you didn't want to hear any more of it. That's
what he's saying. They said, turn ye again now
everyone from his evil way, whatever evil way that was, and from the
evil of your doings, even your religion, and dwell in the land
that the Lord hath given unto you and to your fathers forever
and ever. Now again, there's the terms of that conditional
covenant, which they break. Again, that's another testimony
that man placed under any conditional covenant whereby he is commanded
to earn or merit the blessings of God is an utter failure. Now,
another way of putting that is this, salvation is not by the
works of men. If you believe that salvation
at any time to any degree and any stages by works, then you
can forget the covenant of grace. You're under a covenant of works.
Paul said it this way. He said, if you'd be circumcised,
for example, in other words, if you think circumcision is
the condition you must meet in order to earn or deserve or merit
God's blessings, he said this, you're a debtor to do the whole
law. You're under a covenant of works. You've just denied
grace. You see, grace is salvation condition
not on me or you, but on Christ, who fulfilled those conditions
in His obedience unto death. That's why all the promises of
God, the covenant promises of salvation and glory and blessedness,
forgiveness, righteousness, justification, holiness, every one of them are
in Christ, yea, and in Christ, amen. Because He fulfilled the
conditions, you see. But go on verse six, he said,
listen and go not after other gods to serve them and to worship
them and provoke me not to anger with the works of your hands.
Now he's talking about idolatry there, but he's also talking
about the religion of Cain. Salvation by works, it's an affront
to God. It denies every attribute of
God's glory because what we see in salvation by grace is every
attribute of God's glory engaged in the salvation of sinners through
Christ. Now when a sinner comes before
God presenting anything but Christ and Him crucified, His blood,
His righteousness alone, that's an affront to God. Isn't that
right? Another way he puts it in the
Old Testament, it's a stench in his nostrils. Whereas when
we come to God pleading Christ, it's a sweet smelling savor.
You see the difference? And why is it such an affront
to God? Because it denies every attribute of His. It denies His
holiness. It denies His justice. It denies
His truth. But it also denies His mercy.
and His grace and His love, because all those are in Christ Jesus. Nowhere else. So he said, when
you anger God with the works of your hands, verse 6, I will
do you no hurt. In other words, if you will cease
to do that. Repentance. I'll do you no hurt. Well, they didn't listen. Remember
he said it in Jeremiah 31, which my covenant they break. Verse
7. He says, yet you have not hearkened
unto me, saith the Lord. You've not repented. that you
might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your
own hurt." So here he is, Jeremiah the prophet, preached for about
23 years to all these people. He preached a message of hope
for sinners by the grace of God through the promised Messiah
whom he identified as Jehovah Sid Canu, the Lord our righteousness.
And he preached a message of God's judgment and wrath against
all who would come before God or seek salvation or blessedness
from God in any other way. But did they heed God's word
and repent? And the answer is no. The answer
is no. What about this issue of repentance?
We read this morning in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9 about the
long suffering of God. The long-suffering, God is long-suffering
to us, word Peter said. That's His elect people. That's
His chosen people. That's the redeemed of the Lord. And he says, not willing that
any of them should perish, but that all should come to repentance. That's what God's goal for His
people. Repentance. What is this repentance? In the Old Testament, the word
actually indicated a change of direction. As one going in one
direction and turns around and goes the opposite, not just veering
off the path, but turning around and going the opposite way. In
the New Testament, the word repent or repentance indicates a change
of mind. It is not just simply an intellectual
thing though, but it's a change of mind because of a great, miraculous,
sovereign work of God, the Holy Spirit, in changing the heart
of a sinner. It involves conviction of sin. That's what it is. Holy Spirit
conviction of sin, therefore the Holy Spirit who imparts life,
spiritual life to dead sinners and gives them ears to hear and
eyes to see so that with the heart they turn from themselves,
from their idols, from their works and they turn to the Lord
Jesus Christ. In fact, Repentance is in reality
the goal of faith because it is in light of Christ that sinners
are brought to repentance. Without seeing the right way,
we cannot know the wrong way. Look at Philippians chapter 3.
This is a passage that I always read when we're talking about
repentance because it's one of the greatest examples. Paul,
I believe he's a pattern here for the people of God. And what
he virtually says here, Philippians chapter three and verse three,
he says, for we are the circumcision. Now he's talking to Jew and Gentile
here. So what does he mean, we are the circumcision? The circumcision
he's talking about, he defined it back in the book of Romans,
chapter two, verses 28 and 29, it's circumcision of the heart.
And that's just an emblem, a symbol of the new birth. That giving
of a new heart. That cutting away of the filth
of the flesh. That's what repentance is. And
we've been circumcised in heart and ears. That's what he said.
Well, how do you know? What's the evidence? Well, we
worship God in the spirit. We worship God from the heart.
We're not here just as a religious ceremony. We're not here just
because we want people to see that we go to church. We're not,
you know, somebody said, well, we got, we have to go to church
somewhere. I'm, you know, I'm, I'm sad that
people think that they have to go to church somewhere. I really
am. I would rather you say, I want
to go to church. That's my heart desire. I want
to worship God. I want to thank God tonight.
Think about that. Somebody says, well, I don't
want to go to church. Say it this way. I don't want to thank God
for the next breath I take. I don't want to thank God for
saving my soul. You see what I'm saying? I want
to express my gratitude to the Lord. I want to express my love
for God. My love for the brethren. That's
a heart thing. We worship God in the spirit.
And it also means this. It means we worship God not as
we think He is. God is spirit. But we worship
God as He reveals Himself to us through His word in Christ.
You can't worship God without lifting up Christ. You can't
worship God without preaching Christ. I don't care what you
say. You might come in here tonight
and get a moral pep talk, but you haven't worshipped God until
Christ is lifted up in the preaching of the gospel. There's a lot
of moral pep talks. And I'll be honest with you,
we need morality. We need a lot of it, more of
it. But that's not the gospel. The gospel is Christ and Him
crucified and risen again. And then he says here, here's
the next day. Alright, we worship God in the spirit. Here's the
next evidence of the circumcised heart. We rejoice in Christ Jesus. Now that word rejoice means to
boast. It doesn't mean to be happy.
Now there are other times in the scripture where joy and rejoice
means to be happy. Rejoice always and again. I say
that means to be happy But here the word rejoice is true. It's
the same word translated glory in Galatians 614 where Paul wrote
God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord
Jesus Christ it means to boast and I'm here to tell you that
I've got something to boast about and I've got something to brag
about. I've got someone to boast about
and brag about. And it's not me. And it's not
you. It's Jesus Christ, the Lord of
Glory. I'm going to brag on Him. I want
to tell you about Him who is our hope. So we boast in Christ. We have confidence in Christ,
you see. I have confidence in Christ for
my whole salvation. It's what Paul meant when he
wrote in 2 Timothy 1.12, for I know whom I have believed and
am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto him against that day. Well, what have I committed unto
him? Now ask yourself that question. What have you committed unto
him? Well, part of my salvation. Well, that's not good enough.
I've committed unto him my whole salvation. The forgiveness of
all my sins by His blood alone. That's what I've committed under
Christ. I don't look to myself. I don't look to you. I don't
look to the waters of baptism. I don't look to the church. I
don't look to anyone for the forgiveness of my sins. I look
to Christ and Him alone. His blood alone. What can wash
away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My complete acceptance before a holy God. My justification. That's being cleared of all guilt.
Being declared righteous. I committed unto Him. And Him
alone. His righteousness imputed. He's
the Lord, my righteousness. And I've got no other plea but
Him. Somebody says, well don't you plead your faith? No, because
it's not good enough. You see, my faith is in a Savior
who is good enough. You understand that? And then
I commit all of my final glory in heaven and all of my reward
to him and not to myself. God forbid. All right, so we
boast in Christ. All right, here's the third evidence
of the circumcised heart and have no confidence in the flesh. That's repentance right there.
There's faith in Christ and repentance of dead works right there. Now
how did Paul get there? You know what happened with Paul
the Apostle on the Damascus Road. What was his name? Saul of Tarsus.
He wasn't seeking the Lord. He was seeking what he thought
was an idol. What he considered to be heresy.
He was seeking out Christians to condemn him, have him judged,
arrest him. He wasn't going to a prayer meeting.
He wasn't on his knees in prayer. He had hatred in his heart. Saul
of Tarsus. And what happened? God stopped
him in his tracks on the Damascus road and revealed himself to
him and in him. And what happened to him? Well,
here's how he describes it. Look at verse 7. But what things
were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ. There's faith in Christ and repentance. Yea, doubtless I count all things
but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus
my Lord for whom I suffered the loss of all things and do count
them but dung that I may win Christ and be found in Him. Not having mine own righteousness
which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of
Christ, the righteousness of God, which is by faith. We receive
Him by faith. That's the issue. And then look
at Romans chapter 2. Turn to Romans chapter 2 with
me. Now faith and repentance are both the gift of God. They're
a gift of God's grace. They're not the product of a
sinner's goodness. They're not the product of a
sinner being less obstinate or less rebased. I'll give you an
example of what I'm talking about now. Now Jonah, the prophet of
God, was sent to Nineveh to preach. And you know he went reluctantly,
didn't he? That's an understatement, isn't it? But Jonah the prophet
was sent to a place called Nineveh. You know about Nineveh? You read
about it in the Old Testament. It's not one of the most religious
places on earth as they would say. But he was sent to Nineveh
and he went reluctantly and he got there and he preached and
what happened? The people of Nineveh repented. We've read
it in the book of Jonah. Here's Jeremiah the prophet.
He was sent to Jerusalem. to Jerusalem of all places, the
city of God, the city of David, where the temple of Solomon was. And he preached to them, it says
here, 23 years. But we know that there were other
prophets that were sent, Isaiah about a hundred years before,
Jeremiah, we could talk about all those others. They went to
Jerusalem and they didn't repent. Now my question What's the difference
between the people of Nineveh who repented and the people of
Jerusalem who would not? What will most preachers tell
you today? Well, those fellows in Nineveh, they were just a
little less rebellious, a little less obstinate. They exercised
their free will. Is that what happened? No. Not what the scripture says.
No, sir. I'll tell you the difference
was the sovereign grace and mercy of God in Christ. That was the
difference. But look here in Romans chapter
2. Look at verse 1. He says, therefore thou art inexcusable,
O man, whosoever thou art that judgest. What's he talking about? Well, he says, for wherein thou
judgest another, thou condemnest thyself, for thou judgest, thou
that judgest doest the same things. You know what he's talking about
there? He's talking about self-righteous judgment. It's like a religious
person looking at another person saying, I know that person is
under the judgment of God and condemned because they're sinners.
That person is a sinner. Now once you say that, you know
what you've done? You've just condemned yourself. And you don't
know why? Because you're a sinner too. I'm a sinner too. You're either a sinner lost in
your sins or a sinner saved by grace. What's the hope for any
sinner? God's grace in Christ. Mercy. That's what I need. But look
at verse 2, he says, but we're sure that the judgment of God
is according to truth against them which commit such things.
Now our judgments are not according to truth when we exercise that
self-righteous judgment. That's hypocrisy. That's like
saying, well that person over there, they deserve to go to
hell. But no, I don't. Well now, what does the scripture
teach us? If God ever gave me or you or
any of us what we deserve and what we've earned, what should
it be? Eternal damnation. I had a fellow, I preached that
one time, a fellow told me after the service down south, he said,
well, he said, I know I'm not perfect, but I've never done
anything bad enough to deserve hell. And I told him, I said,
sir, Without Christ, that's all you or me or any of us deserve
is hell. The best of us and the worst
of us. That's it. Lord, if thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? That's right. And I believe David could say
that. King David wrote that. I believe he could say that just
as much while he's writing the 23rd Psalm as in any time in
his life. You see, God don't give me what
I deserve. God be merciful to me, the sinner. And then look on, he says in
verse 3, And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which
do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape
the judgment of God? Or despisest thou the riches
of his goodness, and forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing
that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? It's not
the wrath of God. that leads sinners to repentance.
It's the goodness of God. Where we find the goodness of
God? In Christ. If there's any good, ultimate
good now. I know even lost people receive
good things, but all those good things, my friend, unless they
come to a saving knowledge of Christ, it ends up being a curse
to them, doesn't it? That's what the Bible says. They're
cursed when they sit down. It's a blessing to have a good
chair to sit in, isn't it? The Bible says they're cursed
when they're when they sit down. It's a blessing to be able to
get up on your own legs and stand up and walk, isn't it? That's
a blessing. They're cursed when they stand up. It's a blessing
to have good food to eat, isn't it? But those without Christ,
ultimately, they're cursed when they eat. You see what I'm saying? If there's any ultimate goodness
for any of us, where are we going to find it? In Christ. In Christ
and Him crucified and risen. Nowhere else. But it's the goodness
of God that leads thee to repentance. It's necessary in the salvation
of sinners that we come to repentance. And that repentance is the gift
of God. And the nature of this true godly
repentance, it's not outward reformation or legal fears that
bring us to make promises. drive us to work salvation. It's
a change of mind. It's a change of heart and the
power of the Holy Spirit to bring us out of ourselves and bring
us to Christ. Submit to Him. Bow to Him. How much more the apostle wrote,
shall the blood of Christ who through the eternal spirit offered
himself without spot to God purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God. Look back at Jeremiah 25. You
see, repentance is the goal of faith. When you see the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, you will not find any glory in
self. Is that right? When you see the
glory, the power of His blood, there's power in the blood. When
you see the power of the blood, you won't find any power in yourself.
You'll be like Daniel. He said, my comeliness melts
into corruption. When you see the glory and the
value of His righteousness, you won't find any glory or value
in your own. It'll be Him alone. He, unto
you therefore which believe, He's precious, nothing else is
as far as salvation is concerned. Is that right? Well look here,
now beginning at verse 8, there's something really interesting
here that you need to see. He talks about 70 years here. And I want you to see this. Therefore,
thus saith the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard my
words, you haven't repented, you haven't believed God, you
haven't repented. Behold, I will send and take
all the families of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar,
the king of Babylon, my servant, will bring them against this
land and against the inhabitants thereof and against all these
nations round about, that includes Egypt, I will utterly destroy
them and make them an astonishment, and in hissing, something that
people will hiss at, and perpetual desolations, continual destruction. Moreover, I will take from them
the voice of mirth, there'll be no happiness, the voice of
gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, I believe that's speaking of
the joy that people have at wedding ceremonies. The voice of the
bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle.
Now we could make a spiritual application there, couldn't we?
The voice of the bridegroom, that's Christ. He's the bridegroom. That's the preaching of the gospel.
There'll come a day when that won't be around. There'll be
no Jeremiah, he's saying, to tell the truth. What would it
be like to be without the word of God, the preaching of the
truth, the preaching of the gospel? That's what we feed on. What
would it be without the candle light of His truth? Verse 11, He says, And this whole
land shall be a desolation, all of it shall be a desolation and
an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the King of Babylon
seventy years. That's the first time that it's
been revealed in the book of Jeremiah. The prophet Jeremiah
that he revealed to the people, you're going into captivity and
it's going to be 70 years. Let's read on just a few more.
He says, and it shall come to pass when 70 years are accomplished
that I will punish the king of Babylon. You see that? Babylon
is called the instrument of God's judgment against Israel, against
Judah. And yet God is going to punish
Babylon. Well, that's one of those classic
examples that we read that truth all the way back to Genesis where
Joseph stood before his brethren and he told his brethren, he
said, you did evil, you meant it for evil but God meant it
for good and that's what's happening here. Sovereign God, the sovereign
God of providence who's working all things after the counsel
of his own will and who does what's right no matter how we
think. Babylon's gonna get what it deserves.
You say, but God used them to punish Israel. Yeah, but Babylon
meant it for evil. You see, we don't have the capacity
to do anything evil for good. But God, He works it all. All things work together. Because
why? Because God works them. And He
says, and I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, saith
the Lord, for their iniquity. The land of the Chaldeans, that's
another name from Babylon, will make it perpetual desolations,
just like Judah, continual destruction. I'll bring upon that land all
my words which I pronounced against it, even all that is written
in this book which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves, of them
also, and I will recompense them according to their deeds and
according to the works of their own hands. Now let me just say
a few words about this 70 years. You know there was much, much
disobedience in Judah. I suppose if you took a tablet
and a pen and you walked around and you said, now I'm going to
record the sins that I see, not counting sins of the heart, not
counting sins of omission, Let's say you were just going to say,
well, I'm going to record all the sins that I see. There will
be many, many sins, so many that you'd run out of ink and paper.
That's the way it is with us, isn't it? We are sin abounded.
And again, sins of the heart, sins of thought, sins of motive,
sins of omission, as well as sins of commission. You know
what I'm saying. There's no way you could write
them all down. where sin abounded, overflowed me like a flood, drowning
in a sea of sin. Sin within, sin without. So there was much disobedience
in Judah of which to repent. Not just one sin. Not just one
sin now. Now how many sins deserve death?
Two? Three? No, just one. Any sin,
all sin. James made a statement that ought
to startle all of us. He said to be guilty of breaking
one commandment is to be what? Guilty of all. Paul wrote that he that continueth
not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do
them. Huh? He's what? He's cursed. So this
thing about tallying sins, you know, people talk about, well,
when I get to the judgment, God's gonna weigh my good works against
my sin. Listen, let me tell you something. Without Christ, we
have no good works. Without Christ, all we are is
sin and can do nothing but sin in the eyes of God. Nothing we
do measures up. That's why it's called iniquity
or inequity. Even our best. That's why we
need grace. That's why we need Christ. That's
why we must have His blood and His righteousness alone. But
here there's one sin, one sin that sort of incorporates all
sin, showing forth man's wicked attitude toward an unbelief of
God. And this sin is set forth here
by the punishment of 70 years in captivity. Now why 70 years? Well, go back to 2 Chronicles
36. Remember what Bill read here. Here's this Jehoiachin, eight
years old. He did that which was evil. He
reigned about three months and 10 days, it says. Very short
reign. God removed him. You know who
he used to do it? Nebuchadnezzar. And then Nebuchadnezzar
put a man in his place, Zedekiah. Remember, Jeremiah mentions Zedekiah. Zedekiah, you know, he was the
one who sent the emissaries to Jeremiah and said, come and pray
for us. And Jeremiah said, it's too late. The judgment of God's
upon you. Now submit to God's wrath. That's what we deserve. Take
sides with God against yourself. And he was 21 years old when
he began to reign, and he rebelled against against Nebuchadnezzar. And that's when Nebuchadnezzar
came in and just stomped the whole city of Jerusalem, the
temple, the walls to nothing but dust. And look at verse 20
of 2 Chronicles 36. Listen to it. It says, And them
that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon. That's
one of the deportations. Where they were servants to him,
that is to Nebuchadnezzar and his sons until the reign of the
kingdom of Persia. Cyrus, remember Cyrus is called
God's anointed. Isaiah prophesied of Cyrus about
170 years before Cyrus. And Cyrus come in and he freed
up the people of Jerusalem and Judah. But how long did it take? Verse 21, to fulfill the word
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her
Sabbaths. For as long as she laid desolate
the land, She kept Sabbath. What does that mean? It means
she rested. Does that mean a parcel of land could keep the Sabbath?
No, it means that land rested. There was no work done on it.
There was no tilling of the land, of the soil, no breaking of the
soil. It rested. And it did it to fulfill three
score and 10 years, 70 years. Now, what happened? Why this 70 years? Why is all this happening? What
the scripture tells us is this, for 490 years, the people of
Judah and Jerusalem had ignored the Sabbath law concerning the
land. Now you can find it, we won't
turn there, but mark it down, Leviticus 25. That's where it
is. The Sabbath law, you know they
had many Sabbath laws, you know the seventh day Sabbath. They
had Sabbath weeks, but there was a Sabbath year for the land
which said simply this, that the people, Leviticus 25 verse
four is where this specifically said, but you look at the whole
chapter. The people were to rotate their crops and let the fields
lie fallow every seventh year. But apparently they had ignored
that law for 490 years. And as a result, God said, well,
I'm going to give the land a rest. And that equals 70 years. Every
seventh year. Now, what's the lesson there?
Well, the lesson is don't neglect the Sabbath. Right? Don't neglect the Sabbath. Now,
you know what the Seventh-day Adventists do with that, don't
you? Of course, they only talk about the seventh day, the weekly
Sabbath under the old covenant. I don't know what they do with
this every seventh year. I don't know. I guess they might
have some farmers who do that. I don't know. I don't know. But
they turned it into a legal system of works. You know that. But
what does it mean to us? Well, you know, Daniel, he knew
something about it. Look over in Daniel chapter 9.
Now Daniel, here he is, one of them who was carried away into
captivity for this 70 years. Listen in verse 1 of Daniel chapter
9. He knew something about this.
Daniel 9 in verse 1, it says, In the first year of Darius,
or Darius, the son of Ahazuresus, or Urius, of the seed of the
Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans. In
the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood by books
the number of the years, where of the word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years
in the desolation of Jerusalem." Daniel read Jeremiah. He said,
I understood it by books. How it's come. There's Daniel's
prayer of repentance there for himself and the people of Judah. And interesting enough, look
over there in verse 24 of chapter 9. It ends up with a prophecy
of the Messiah. Look at Daniel 9.24. Verse 24,
70 weeks. That's literally 70 weeks of
years which would equal what? 490 years. Interesting, isn't
it? God knows what He's doing. He's
a good mathematician. 70 weeks are determined. Who
determined that? God did. Upon thy people and
upon thy holy city. And you know what he's talking
about? What he's talking about here is from the time of the
rebuilding of the temple after, here they are 70 years in Babylon,
he gets them back into Jerusalem, they rebuild the temple, and
from the time that that temple's finished to the time that the
Lord Jesus Christ came into the world was about 490 years. And
that's what he's talking about. And what's the Messiah gonna
do? Listen, he's gonna finish the transgression. How's he gonna
do that? By his death on the cross. He's
going to make an end of sins by His death on the cross. If
He didn't make an end of sins, sin will make an end of us. He
made an end of sin by His death on the cross. Our sins imputed,
charged, accounted to Him. He paid the debt in full. That's
what it means when it says it behooved Him. He became under
obligation of the debt. and to make reconciliation for
iniquity. He's going to, listen, he's going
to reconcile God to his people and his people to God. God's
a just God and a Savior. And then it says he's going to
bring in everlasting righteousness. He's going to fulfill all conditions
of the covenant. He's going to satisfy the justice
of God. He's going to seal up the vision
and the prophecy. Everything in the Old Testament
that prophesied of him, typified or promised of him, fulfilled
right there. It's finished, he said, and to
anoint the most holy. He's gonna make a way into the
Holy of Holies. The veil was written too, from
top to bottom. When he said, when he gave up
the ghost. Now how does all that apply to this Sabbath thing?
Well, this, the year there, Daniel, he'd been taken captive and he
knew, he was preaching the Messiah just like just like Jeremiah. And here's this 70 weeks and
70 years, all of that. It's no arbitrary time set, but
it's a determined time set by God before the foundation of
the world concerning the Messiah and His great work. And that's
what corresponds to God's just punishment against sin. Punishment
must fit the crime. You know, all the Sabbaths that
were instituted and established and commanded by God under the
Old Covenant had one purpose. And that was to picture and typify
the believing sinner's spiritual and eternal rest in Christ, who
is our Sabbath. Turn to Hebrews 4. And we'll conclude with this. And listen, that's a lesson for
us today. We're sinners and we've committed
many, many sins. But the one sin that brings sinners
unto condemnation is what? Unbelief. Failing to rest in
Christ and His finished work. If we reject Christ, we fail
to rest in Him. If we plead anything but His
blood, we fail to rest in Him. If we fail to submit to His righteousness
as that which alone justifies us and entitles us to eternal
life and glory, we fail to rest in Him. If we choose our own
way, then all sin will end in death. But if we have Christ,
His blood cleanses us from all sin. His blood and righteousness. No sin has charged us. We have
righteousness in Him. Look at verse 1. Let us therefore
fear. Hebrews 4. Lest a promise be
left us of entering into His rest. And that's a good way to
put it. There is a sense once it becomes
our rest. But it is ultimately and by purchase
and by work His rest. And any of you should seem to
come short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. They didn't
believe it. For we which have believed do enter into rest. That's what faith is. Faith in
Christ is entering. He said, come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you what? Rest. For we which have believed do
enter into rest, as he said, as I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished
from the foundation of the world, this is no new thing. He spake
in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, God did rest
on the seventh day from all his works, that's the creation of
the world. And in this place again, if they shall enter into
my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter
therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not
in because of unbelief, Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying
in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Joshua,
that's the name Joshua, had given them rest, there's Joshua leading
the people of Israel, the Hebrew children over into the promised
land. Now if that had given them rest, the rest that he's talking
about here, then would he not afterward have spoken of another
day? But look at verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest,
a Sabbath to the people of God. Now, right now today, there remains
a Sabbath for the people of God. Now what is that? Well, it's
not Saturday. That was the old covenant law.
And my friend, it's not Sunday. What is the rest that remains
for the people of God now? Verse 10. For he that is entered
into his rest, He also hath ceased from His own works as God did
from His. Now whoever he is talking about
here ceases from His works just like God did from His in creation. Now who is he talking about here?
Is he talking about you? Or me? Is he talking about us
going out here and working a week and then resting on Sunday? No.
He is talking about Christ here. He did a work. And after he did the work, what
did he do? He rested. He sat down on the right hand
of the Father. No priest had ever done that
because the work was never finished under the Old Covenant. There
were no chairs in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, even in
the holy place. But Christ sat down. Having purged
our sins, the Scripture says, He sat down. He did a work. He
finished it. And He entered into His rest. The rest that He took from finishing
the work. From doing what work? Making
an end of sin. Finishing the transgression.
Bringing in everlasting righteousness. And then verse 11. Let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest. Enter into Christ. Rest
in Christ. Believe in Christ. Lest any man
fall after the same example of unbelief. And when they failed
to keep those sabbaths, any sabbath, sabbath day, sabbath week, sabbath
years, whatever, what they were doing, in essence, was thumbing
their nose at God's Messiah, who those things typified and
pointed to. You enter into his rest. You
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's all sin is put away
in him. All right, let's sing hymn number
328. Close to thee, 328.