While our pastor's out, our text this evening will be in Jeremiah chapter one. I'd like to turn to Jeremiah chapter one. And I'll apologize before I get started. probably got a lot of different passages of scripture for us to turn to, and you know, I know sometimes it can be difficult to keep up, but as far as crutches go, there's no better crutch than the Bible. So hopefully that'll prop me up here. We're just gonna have a very concise text. We're just gonna look at verse five.

I'll go ahead and read it. Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. And I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. This text is hopefully going to show us by the end of the message what's special about God's people. And spoiler alert, it's nothing in us. I'll leave it at that. But the context of this passage is Jeremiah was ordained a prophet of God.

At that time, the Assyrian kingdom was collapsing. The Babylonian empire was attacking them from the north. Judah was stuck between Babylon and Egypt. King Josiah was restoring temples, removing idols, and he was recentering the law. But even in reform, Judah is spiritually rotted. They were participating in idolatry, child sacrifice. There was plenty of moral corruption going on at this time.

And Jeremiah is ordained. basically of God to just interpret these events. And what I hope to do is use this scripture to point out that Well, this scripture really points out that God is sovereign in his appointing of Jeremiah unto this prophethood, this priesthood, or sorry, prophethood is the correct word there. that appointment was by God's sovereignty and not by the qualifications of the man himself. And it's personal to us because as believers, we're appointed to a salvation, not according to our works, not according to anything that we've done, but according to election, not on personal merits. So I have three points for this message. First is God knew us in election. He knew us in election. Second is that God sanctified us in eternity. We know that our eternity has no beginning, no end, and that he ordained us for his glory.

Couldn't help but think as I was reading this text that a little short story here. So when Casey was born, I remember she was, I don't know, three or four months old. And I remember having this ignorant thought to myself, oh, I can really see her personality starting to come through. And, you know, up to that point, she had just sort of been like this baby. And when we had the twins, it was very clear to me from the first night that we spent with those boys. these two boys have two different personalities. And it was clear to me that you're born with different personalities. And looking back on it, we probably could have detected some differences in personality before they were even born.

The way that they would sleep in the womb, kick in the womb, wrestle around in the womb. And so, In that same manner, God describes here for us that he knew us in the belly, before we were formed in the belly. The comfort here is that he, God knows us, he knows our hearts, he knows our motives, he knows our intentions, our bents, if you will.

I just want to read for you Psalm 139. O Lord, thou hast searched me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting and mine up rising. Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. for there's not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.

I often wonder if I know God, and yet as believers, a far more important question to ask is, does God know me? So we'll look at this first point that God knew us In election, he says there in verse five, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.

And the order is important here. He knew us before he formed us. If there's plans for a building to be built, before ground is ever broken between the architect and the builder, it's precisely known where the building will be built, the purpose of the building, the intent of each and every room in the building, who the owner of that building is going to be, what materials will be used, how the building goes together, and a general idea of when it's to be built. If any of those things is, you know, needing to be determined in the middle of the project, something has gone wildly wrong.

And in that manner, the Lord says, I formed thee. My Bible says mold into form, especially as a potter. So I know this is a familiar passage of scripture, but let's go to Romans 9 verse 21. Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor. What if God, willing to show his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction, and that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory?

Election in the spiritual sense is not like the elections that we have in world politics. In a US election, you've got candidates to choose from, you examine them, and then you choose the one that you like best. God didn't create all men and then determine which ones he liked and which ones he didn't like. For that in itself would be God evaluating each of us based on something in us. No. God, like the potter, knew before he created, this will be a vessel of mercy.

I'm gonna make this a vessel unto honor. And then he made it thus. When did all this happen? How do we know when this happened? Turn over to 2 Timothy 1.9, please.

Speaking of God, who hath saved us and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. So he did it before the world began, and how did he determine the elect, who the elect are? According to his own purpose and grace, it says, not depending on us or our works for anything. That's the sovereignty of God. It's completely independent of everything. He purposed it. And when he does something, it's right because he did it. He doesn't do it because it's right. It's right because he did it. Not only did God know us, he knows our need.

There's something that I was looking at when I was studying this verse in Jeremiah. He uses two different words, belly and womb. And these aren't just different translations, they're actually different words in the original language. The word translated here, belly, is betaine, I probably mispronounced that, but betaine. And it has really a more general usage for anything in this region of the body, the midsection of the body, where this word womb is a different word, rachem, and it is very specifically used when talking about the anatomical womb. belly is used 72 times, that word that's translated belly is used 72 times compared to the more specific rechem which is only used 26 times. So what is the significance of these words?

Well, as I'm sure you know, belly is a picture of our old nature and the belly that we seek to fill on this earth. And womb is really more a picture of God's compassion. It's a sacred space for creation. I'll just read a couple of examples to kind of illustrate this.

Proverbs 13.25 says, the righteous eateth to the satisfying of his soul, but the belly, that's the word, that's that word, beten, but the belly of the wicked shall want. The belly of the wicked's never content. It's not content with God's power. It's not content with God's will. The belly of the wicked is insatiable.

Matthew 15, 17 says, do not ye yet understand that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly and is cast out into the draft, that's a sewer, This is speaking very literally of the food that we eat. Earthly provisions go into our mouth and they end up as sewage. The use of this word belly has an earthly underpinning and God says that he knew us before we ever had this corrupt nature. He knew us before we were born into this world.

And then conversely, I'll read to you Psalm 110, verse three. It says, the people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauties of holiness from the womb. That's that word, rekem. From the womb of the morning, thou hast the dew of thy youth.

And here, David's speaking of the womb, and, the womb of mourning more specifically. That word mourning there is, well, the word mourning in general is used hundreds of times in the Bible, but there's only one time where the original language is this specific word. And that word is miskar, and it's interpreted as the first light or to seek early. So, when David says in the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, he's talking about the new birth.

And so in either case, in Jeremiah 1.5, when he's speaking about knowing us and having formed us in the belly, And then he also speaks about sanctifying us and ordaining us before we came forth out of the womb. This all happened before we had our old nature and it happened to us before Christ revealed to us our new nature. That old nature is the basis of our need.

Turn please to Philippians 3. And I'll read here in verse 18. For many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things. This is who we are in our old nature. The God of our old nature is our own belly, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. We mind the things of earth and have no interest in the things of God by our very nature. I'll show you this somewhere else. Let's go to Ezekiel 16.

And when I passed by thee, and saw thee polluted in thine own blood, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said unto thee, When thou wast in thy blood, live. When I passed by thee and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love, and I spread my skirt over thee and covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered into a covenant with thee, sayeth the Lord God, and thou becamest mine. So just as God covered Adam's nakedness in the garden, he sees us polluted in our own blood, our filthy, blood that's of this old nature.

And in his compassion for sinners, he provided a new covenant, one that's not of works, but of grace. I'd like to read Ephesians, from Ephesians chapter two. This is probably one of the longer passages I'll read here, but it's all so applicable to this. Ephesians two, starting in verse one. And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins, wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience. Among whom, also, we all had our conversation in times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship. There he is again, the potter, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. So he saw us children of wrath, fulfilling the desires of flesh.

It says right there, even as others, There's nothing special in and of ourselves as believers. There's nothing special to us. We're even as others. We by nature are just like all men, except for that part right there in verse four. But God, who's rich in mercy, has quickened us together. I'm thankful for that. My second point. God sanctified us in eternity. Going back to Jeremiah chapter one there. It says, before thou camest out of the womb, I sanctified thee. Now, sanctified means separated, set apart, holy, consecrated for God's purpose, well, How did he sanctify us? Let's go to 1 Peter. 1 Peter 2 9.

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, and holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." That word peculiar, that means a purchased possession. We are God's possession and we're happy to be God's possession. which he separated us, he purchased us unto himself. How did he purchase us? It's with his blood. He knew us and then he sanctified us. Let's go to 2 Thessalonians 2. picking up in verse 11 there.

And for this cause, God shall send them strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. But we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth. So God separated his elect to make them holy before the foundation of the world. He does this without respect to our actions, our will, certainly without respect to our own righteousness. In the same way that he sanctified Jeremiah in, in our text here, wasn't with respect to Jeremiah's position in this world or his merit. Let's go to Romans 8, verse 27.

And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good. To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose, for whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren, moreover whom he did predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. The order here again is important.

First he knew us, and then he predestinated us. It's a decree from God in eternity which came next in providence. We'll see in a moment that after predestination, we were given to Christ to be justified and glorified. So that'll bring me to my third point, which is that God ordained us for his glory. Oftentimes when we use this word ordained, we mean that something was given purpose. We don't use that word too much these days, but, When we do use it, it oftentimes is used to mean that someone was given purpose or a direction.

And certainly God does purpose his children. He purposes them for his glory. But I wanted to consider a couple other translations of this word, ordained. So there was three that stuck with me. First is put, P-U-T. The second translation is given, and the third translation is delivered. So we'll kind of think on these.

In Exodus chapter 11, it says, but against any of the children of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue, against man or beast, that you may know how that the Lord doth put, that's that same word that's translated ordained in our text, that the Lord doth put a difference between the Egyptians and Israel. God put that difference. It's a saving difference. He did that so that the Israelites, that all the firstborn in the land would die, but not those of God's people, just the Egyptians, because of that difference that he put. Turn to Leviticus chapter eight. I'm gonna read verse six through nine. And Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.

And he put upon him, put, that's that word ordained. He put upon him the coat and girded him with the girdle and clothed him with the robe and put, there it is again. He put the ephod upon him. And he girded him with the curious girdle of the ephod and bounded it onto him therewith. And again, he put the breastplate upon him. And he also put the breastplate, put in the breastplate Urim and the Thummim. And again, here it is. He put the mitre upon his head. And also upon the miter, even upon his forefront, did he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the Lord commanded Moses.

So every instance here where we see the word translated put, we see the righteousness of God. We see it in the robe that Aaron wore. We see his sovereignty. In the ephod, we see his strength. In the breastplate, we see God's holiness. and the miter, his sovereignty. All of these things are ordained for God's glory. That's the word put. The second translation that probably is the most common translation here that's given for the word ordained is the word given. Turn to John 6, verse 37.

All that the Father giveth me, that word giveth is ordained. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me. And him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out, for I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me, there it is again, I should lose nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. So the father gave his church to the son. And notice there at the top of verse 37, all that the father giveth me shall come to me. We come because we were given. We weren't given because we came. That doesn't make any sense. But we're not just simply given. He goes on to explain that we're secured in Christ. Turn over a couple pages to John 17. And look there in verse six.

I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they were, and thou gavest them me. And they have kept thy word. Now they have known that all things whatsoever thou hast, here it is again, given me are of thee. For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have surely known that I have come out from thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.

So this was an agreement, a covenant, between God the Father and God the Son. God elected us and then he gave us to his Holy Son. Let's go to... Well, I'll just read this because this was our call to worship. Ephesians 1 verse 4. according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. So, this idea of being given to Christ by God the Father is not that we were just handed over to some willing participant, not that we were a baby left on a doorstool or a doorstep. We've been adopted. Is there any love like the love of a parent toward their child? That's what we've been given to, and we can rejoice in that. The final translation of this word, ordained, is to deliver.

I'm gonna kind of do these more or less rapid fire, because this is found quite a lot in the Old Testament. And a lot of these are going to come from Joshua. Joshua 7, 7 says, and Joshua said, alas, oh Lord God, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us? Would to God we had been content and dwelt on the other side of the Jordan. Joshua 8, verse 7, Then ye shall rise up from the ambush and seize upon the city, for the Lord your God will deliver it into your hand. That's that word ordained.

Joshua 10, 8, Fear them not, for I have delivered them into thine hand. There shall not be a man of them stand before thee. Just a couple verses later in verse 19. Pursue after your enemies and smite the hindmost of them. Suffer them not to enter into the cities for the Lord your God hath delivered them into your hand, Israel. Sorry, delivered them into your hand.

Josh 10, 30, and the Lord delivered it also and the king thereof into the hand of Israel, and he smote it with the edge of the sword and all the souls that were therein. Joshua 11, and the Lord delivered them into the hand of Israel, who smote them. Joshua 21, 44, and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them. The Lord delivered all their enemies into their hand.

Now, when I first read some of the translations of where the word that was translated ordained in our text is here translated delivered. When I first read some of these, all I could think of was it was used in such a intimidating way. In all these examples, it's some people being delivered into the hands of somebody who wants them dead. And, but I had to ask at that point, well, to whom am I being delivered? And so many times in the Bible, you know, that word delivered is used to describe us being delivered from our sins.

It took me a minute to figure out what the Lord's saying here, but we are delivered into the Lord's hand but we're happy to be delivered into the Lord's hand. He led captivity captive. We're prisoners to Christ and we're happy to be prisoners to Christ. This picture of war and being delivered is a picture of us being captive to Christ. Go to Deuteronomy 3, And we'll read one through three. This will be really the same sort of context for that word there.

Then we turned and went up the way to Bashan. And Og, the king of Bashan, came out against us, he and all his people, to battle at Edre. And the Lord said unto me, fear him not, for I will deliver him, I will ordain him and all his people and his land into thy hand. And thou shalt do unto him as thou didst unto Sion, the king of the Amorites, which dwelt at Heshbon. So the Lord our God delivered into our hands Og also, the king of Bashan, and all of his people, and we smote him until none was left to him remaining.

So if God says that we're delivered, the good news is that we're being delivered into Christ's hands. We were his oppressors and now we're his captives, his prisoners. We're happy to be prisoners of Christ, but why did he do this? Psalm 68 tells us, thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also, that the Lord God might dwell among them.

These pictures, this word, God's word, says that we are known by the Father, known in the most intimate ways. He knows our condition. He knows our needs. He knows our hearts. We were known in election. This word says that we are set apart, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. We're a purchased possession. And there was never a time in existence when we were not God's purchased possession. The Church of God has never grown by one person. We've always been there. We were sanctified in eternity. And we were ordained by the Father, given by the Father to the Son, entrusted to him before we ever came to this world to die. I'm sorry, before he ever came to this world to die, that he might adopt us and love us as his children.

Why? To the praise of his glory and grace and our Savior's perfectly faithful He's faithful, most of all, to his father. And that's why we can rest in this, because he didn't come hoping to save or hoping to make an offer of salvation. He came to claim what was already his, what had already been given to him. And he said, just in that passage we just read, that of all that thou hast given me, that I should lose nothing. So, Child of God, rest. If he's given you a belief of the truth, then he's known you, and he's sanctified you, and he's ordained you.