Jeremiah chapter 32. Now, you
know that Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He wept
because so few people believed his message. So few people heard
Jeremiah preach and turned to Christ from their idols. He wept
when he saw Jerusalem destroyed. He wept because he saw the people
that he loved carried to captivity. The message of the book of Jeremiah
is that despite all this, God will be gracious to his chosen
people. Even though we go through times
of trial, times of correction, even though we, as God's children,
endure many things that are painful to this flesh, God's going to
be merciful to his people. God will never cast away his
people despite the circumstances that we find ourselves in. Now
hold your finger there in Jeremiah 32. Turn back a couple of pages
to Jeremiah 29. We'll read a couple of two verses in
Jeremiah 29, verse 10. For thus saith the Lord, that
after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good towards you in causing you to return to this
place. For I know the thoughts that
I think towards you, saith the Lord. thoughts of peace, not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Now, I love the scriptures
that remind me God knows what he's doing. God knows what he's
doing, and he's not doing anything evil to his people. Now, God
has ordained many things for his people, things that we would
never choose for ourselves. But even though it's painful
for me, even though it's something I would never choose for myself,
scripture assures us God's working it for good. This is something
that God is doing. Now, at this time, Jeremiah was
the prophet. The people of Israel were in
bondage in Babylon. And I promise you, they didn't
see any good in that. You imagine today, being carried
off captive by ISIS, and being under the control of those wicked
men for the next 70 years, we'd be so miserable. I mean, we just
can't think of anything hardly worse than that in this world,
can we? And we wouldn't see any good in it. In Jeremiah's day,
Israel was under the control of the exact same people. People
from that exact area, Iraq and Syria, that's who they were under
the control of. Now, God tells us, even though
this situation seems horrible to us, God is bringing his people
to an expected end. That's the end of every believer. In the end, we can expect it. Why? Because God promised it. Now, it'll probably come when
we least expect it, but you can still expect it because God promised
it. Now, Jeremiah 32, what is that expected end of the believer?
Jeremiah 32 verse 36. And now thus saith the Lord,
the God of Israel concerning this city, where have you say
it should be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon by
the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence is Jerusalem
is going to be delivered. And it was, it was destroyed
just exactly like Jeremiah prophesied that it would happen. And Israel
was carried to captivity in Babylon. Now Babylon is a picture of man's
religion. Remember the Tower of Babel? It was built by the people of
this Babylonian region. And what were they trying to
do with that tower? They were trying to reach God
by what they built. They were trying to come into
the presence of God by their own works. That's man's religion. And man's religion is trying
to do the exact same thing today. Come into God's presence by our
works. And God's elect are born into
captivity to that religion. That's the religion of this flesh
that's ingrained in this flesh, trying to come into God's presence,
accepted by what we do. And God's going to deliver his
people from that. This is, I'm going to give you
a word of comfort here from the weeping prophet. This religion
of works that man is so in bondage to God's going to deliver him
from it. Look at verse 37. God says, behold,
I will gather them out of all countries, whether I have driven
them in mine anger and in my fury and in great wrath. And
I will bring them again into this place and I will cause them
to dwell safely. Now, here's the first word of
comfort from the weeping prophet. God's in control of this thing.
Yes, his people are in bondage. Yes, they've gone to this time
of trouble and trial. But God's in control of it. God's
the one that brought this to pass. He says, they're gone into
these countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my
wrath, in my fury. They're there because I put them
there. God's elect are born in bondage.
We're in bondage to sin. We're in bondage to the law.
We're in bondage to that false religion of Babylon. Well, who's
responsible for this? horrible things happen, that's
the thing I want. Who's responsible for this? Who's going to answer
for this, you know? Well, our first response is Adam,
isn't it? And that's right. Adam's sin,
his rebellion, made every one of us guilty. Adam's sin put
all of us in this mess we're in and bondage to sin. And Adam,
by his sin, put us in bondage to Babylon, put us in bondage
to trying to bring ourselves back into God's presence. When
our father Adam sinned, we got our nature from Adam. When our
father Adam sinned, what did he do? Start his own fig leaves
together, didn't he? You and I have been doing the
same thing ever since. But really, Adam's only the second cause.
Who's the first cause of this? God is. God's the first cause
of everything. Who brought this to pass? God
did, for his will, for his purpose. We're driven from God's presence.
Who did that? God did. God drove Adam from
his presence. God thrust Adam from the garden. God's the one who scattered us
to the four corners of the globe. In his anger against our sin,
God's driven us from his presence and we've been driven into bondage.
God's in control of this thing now. He did it. And the Lord
allowed Adam to fall for this reason, to accomplish God's purpose
of salvation in his son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here's the
second word of comfort from the weeping prophet. The Lord's in
control of this thing. He will deliver his people. Isn't that what he says here?
And now thus sayeth the Lord, verse 37, behold, I will gather them out of all
the countries. Yeah, I've driven them there,
but I'm going to gather them again. I will bring them again
unto this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. Now he
says, behold, I will gather them. That word doesn't just mean I'm
going to collect them. I'm going to take them up. It
means I will surely gather them. I will surely take them up. The
Lord will surely gather his people up in his arms. Now, how can
he do that? He's driven us from his presence
and his anger against our sin, hasn't he? How can sinners like
you and me be brought into God's presence, to be brought close
to him, to be accepted? When you hug somebody, you accept
them into your presence, aren't you? How can God gather us up
in His arms, hold us in His bosom when He's driven us from Him
and His fierce anger against our sin? Look at Ephesians chapter
2. The answer is in Christ. The
only way God can accept sinners like you and me, surely gather
us up in His arms, is in Christ. We'll be accepted in the Beloved. Ephesians chapter 2 verse 11. Wherefore, remember that ye being
in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth
of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise, and having
no hope, and without God in the world. We've been scattered,
haven't we? Scattered from God, thrust from
his presence. But look at verse 13. But now,
in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by
the blood of Christ. That's how we're gathered into
His arms. That's how God can gather His
people together in His arms and accept them because we've been
washed in the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's going to
gather all of His sheep to Himself in love and to His bosom. Now,
they're scattered all over the world, aren't they? They're born
lost. They're lost. They don't know
where they are. They don't know where God is.
They don't know how to get back to Him. They don't know where
they are. But God does. You know why God knows where
all of His sheep are? He put them there. Wherever it
is they are, God's the one who put them there. And when it comes
time to gather them, they're not lost to Him. He knows right
where they are. And he'll surely go gather them to himself because
he knows where they are. So he says, I'll surely bring
them again into this place. Now, Jeremiah was the earthly
meaning of this is he's God's going to bring his people back
to Jerusalem. Yes, you're in bondage now and Jerusalem is
destroyed, but God's going to bring you back to this city.
Now, Jerusalem is the place where God dwelt. Look at first Peter
chapter three. Jerusalem is the place where
God dwells. Well, what's the spiritual picture
here? How can sinners be brought to God? How can sinners be brought
to the place where God dwells? Only in the Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 3 verse 18. For Christ also hath once suffered
for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God. Being put to death in the flesh,
but quickened by the Spirit. Sinners are brought into the
presence of God through the blood of the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The blood of Christ takes away
the sin that offends God and makes us accepted. And you'll
notice I didn't say acceptable. He makes us accepted, accepted
in the beloved. And God says, I'm going to bring
them back and they're going to dwell safely That word dwells
safely. It means what you think. It means
to be someplace safe. But it means more than that.
It means to remain. It means to stay in a safe place. It means to sit still in a safe
refuge. You're sitting still because
you're not leaving. You're going to abide there in that safe refuge. I read that the first thing I
thought of was Moses. God asked Moses, show me your
glory. God said, Moses, I will, but now no man can see my face
and live. So when I pass by, I'm going
to put you in a safe place. I'm going to put you in a cliff,
in the rock, and you'll be safe when I pass by. Well, that's
the believer. We're eternally in the rock,
Christ Jesus. Eternally. Christ is our place
of refuge and we'll never leave him. He'll never allow it. And
you know why Christ is the safe refuge for us? Now God's wrath
against our sin is coming. There is a day of reckoning coming. There's a day of judgment coming.
Well, is there a place to hide? A safe place to hide from the
wrath of almighty God? There's one. The place to hide
is where the place where the wrath has already fallen. Hide. Find refuge in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's a safe place of refuge because
he's already bore God's wrath against the sin of his people.
You hide in Christ. God's in control of this thing.
We have friends and loved ones who are lost just as much as
we were at one time. And we worry, we pray for them.
I encourage you to still pray for them. I encourage you to
still point them to Christ. I encourage you to give them
a message, to give them a bulletin. I encourage you to still do that.
But this is our comfort. God's in control of this thing.
He's going to bring his sheep to Christ. Here's the third word
of comfort from the weeping prophet. When God delivers his people,
he's going to give them life. They're going to have life through
union with Christ. Look what he says in verse 18
of Jeremiah, or 38 of Jeremiah 32. and they shall be my people and
I will be their God. Now back up here in verse 37,
to dwell, that word to dwell also has another meaning. It
means marriage. It means a union of marriage.
The believer dwells in a place of refuge through union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know why the believer stays
in Christ and will never leave? because he's one with Christ.
He has union with Christ. He can't be separated from him.
Now here is an amazing statement of God's grace. God says, I'll
be their God. Yes, they're sinners. They're
lost and they're undone. They're unworthy, they're wretched,
they're vile, but I will be their God. I will claim them as mine. Now this is talking about a special
relationship between God and his people. God's the God of
everyone, isn't he? He's our maker. God is the one
with whom we all have to do. But what he's saying here is
he's going to be the God of his people in a special way, in a
covenant way, in a way of grace and mercy. God's going to be
the God of his people in a way of protection. God's going to
be the God of His people in a way of everlasting love. He claims
His people. They're my people. And those
people will claim God to be their God. The God of sovereignty who
does all things after the counsel of His own will, that's my God. By God's grace, I claim Him to
be my God. I claim to be His child. And
people say, really? You claim that God is sovereign,
so that God sends people to hell? God loves everybody. Oh, no.
The God I claim is the God of this book, who's sovereign over
heaven and hell. If God sends me to hell, God
did it. If I wind up in hell, God did
it. It'll be my fault, but He did
it. This is His sovereign will. People say now, you say God's
sovereign, so that means that God sovereignly saves whom He
will and He passes everybody else by. That's exactly what
I mean. That's my God. A believer claims
the God of the Bible to be my God. I worship Him, even though
I don't understand everything there is about Him. Even though
I don't understand what He does, I worship Him. He's my God. Fourthly, fourth word of comfort
from the weeping prophet. When God delivers his people,
he causes them to be born again. Verse 39, he says, I'll give
them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for
the good of them and of their children after them. Now I want
you to listen very carefully. There's no salvation without
the new birth, none. When I say that, this is what
I mean. You're not saved. I'm not saved unless there's
been a new man born in you, a man who's holy and righteous. There
must be, if we're going to be saved, there must be a new man
born, born of new seed. We can't be born the way we were
born the first time because that was a mess. And if we were born
that way again, it'd still be a mess. We've got to be born
from new seed, the seed of the word of God, the incorruptible
seed. There's gotta be a new man born
with a new nature. Well, if he's gonna have a new
nature, it's gotta come from a new seed. You know, just like the
flesh, it's born from the sinful seed of Adam, so that's what
we get, more sinful seed of Adam. In the new birth, there's a man
born who cannot sin because he's born from a new seed. He's born
from the incorruptible, holy, perfect seed of the Word of God.
And he's got a new nature. So if there's not been a new
man born in you, you're not saved. And because what does God say
about this new heart? It's the new heart. He gives
all of his people. God gives his people one heart. It's always the same heart. It's
Christ formed in you. It's the heart of Christ. So
every believer, I don't care where you find them. Every believer
believes the same thing about how God saves sinners. Every
believer has the same heart. I don't care where you find them.
They believe Christ is the savior of sinners. Heed my hope. Every
believer is going the same way because every believer just has
one way. It's Christ. So they're not going
to take a wrong turn and end up in the wrong place because
they're all going in the same way. the way of Christ. Every
believer, I don't care where you find them, they fear God.
They reverence and worship Him, because that's the one art God
gives all of His elect. Now He says here, I'm doing this
for the good of my people, and I'm doing it for the good of
their children after them. Now that doesn't mean that if
God saves two parents, their children are automatically saved.
No, it doesn't mean that. Because that would make salvation
by human blood and human heritage, not by the blood of Christ and
the grace of God, right? But it's good for our children
if the Lord saved their parents. I want to say this about our
children. I understand I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm going to
say it anyway. It needs to be said. about our children, they're
a group that is near and dear to my heart. I pray for your
children by name every single day. Do you parents want good for
your children? Do you? Do you want to see the
Lord do good for your children? Then I'm telling you, the best
thing you can ever do for them is to have them here Sunday morning
in these three classes. Now I'm telling you the truth.
We've got three of the best teachers you'll find anywhere. Have them
in those classes. Have them here in the service.
Now I try to make where they can understand what I'm saying.
I really work on that now. Bob, you know something about
raising children. You know a lot about them. You back me up on
this. Don't ever Let your children
decide whether they're going to come service with you or not.
Don't ever. Isn't that right? Don't ever
do it. Do you love them? For goodness
sakes, the Lord does good for his people. How? Through the
preaching of his word. He ain't going to do it in bed.
Get them out of bed and get them here to the service and let them
hear. Be here to hear. Oh, what good
would do for our children if we teach them Christ. That's
kind of off the subject, but you get that for free because
I read that about our children. Like I said, they're near and
dear to my heart. Teach them Christ. Point them to Christ.
Oh, it's so important. Here's the fifth word of comfort
from the weeping prophet. God saves his people in covenant
mercies. Now this business is sure because
it's the promise of God. It's the promise that God made
before he created anything. Look here at verse 40. He says,
I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn
away from them, to do them good, that I'll put my fear in their
hearts, that they shall not depart from me. Now, the covenant of
grace is a contract. It's a covenant. That's a one-way
street. It's not a contract like a business
contract. A business contract says, well,
I'll do this if you do this. I'll give you this if you give
me this. That's a two-way street. The covenant of grace is one-way
street. It's God's promise to His people,
the promise of what He's going to do for them without them doing
anything at all. The covenant of grace is God's
promise to do good for His people. The covenant of grace is God
promising, I'm going to put away the sin of my people by killing
my son as your substitute. Covenant of grace is God's promise.
He's going to make His people righteous in His Son. Now, that's
good, isn't it? I mean, what more, what better
thing could anybody do for a sinner than that? To forgive our sin
and to make us righteous in Christ. And God promises, I'll not turn
away from my people. I will not turn away from them.
Well, how can He? Their sin's gone. He has no reason
to turn away from them because their sin has been put away in
the sacrifice of Christ, our substitute. The father turned
his back on our substitute, didn't he? So that he'll never turn
his back on his people because the sacrifice of Christ took
away what made God angry. He's not going to turn away from
his people. See, the covenant of grace is a one way street.
It's God's promise. What he'll do for his people.
He's going to save them. He's going to forgive them. He's
going to make them righteous. without them doing anything at all. But
the results of the covenant of grace is a two-way street. God's
not going to turn away from his people. And God said, I'm going
to put my fear in their heart. I'm going to give them a new
heart so they won't turn away from me either. They can't leave. They cannot leave him. Christ has washed them from their
sins. He made them righteous in Him. They've been joined to
Christ. They can't leave Him. They're
inseparable. The body's inseparable from the head. Now, I know, I
know this. We don't fall away from God.
We don't leave Him by the power of God, right? His saving, keeping
power, the power of His grace. We cannot leave God because He's
holding His people with His almighty hand. He said, no man can pluck
them out of my hand. Now that means the men of this
world, that means Satan, that means no man can pluck them out
of my hand. But you know the other man that that means? Me, my old flesh, even that old
man who would leave Christ in a heartbeat. I cannot leave him
because he's holding me in his hand. No man, even my own sin,
my own mistake, my own errors cannot make me leave Christ.
He won't let me. But God's given me a new heart.
And this is just as true. I'm hanging on to Him for all
I'm worth. I'm hanging on to my Savior for all I'm worth. That new man who's born of the
Spirit, he will not and he cannot leave God. He's a new man. He's got a new nature. And he
can't leave God any more than that old man who quit sinning,
because sinning is his nature. That's the result of the eternal
covenant of grace. God won't turn from you. and
you won't turn from Him. That's a word of comfort, isn't
it? Here's a sixth word of comfort from the weeping prophet. That
makes the people of God rejoice. And you know what makes God rejoice
too? Look at verse 41. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I'll plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and with my whole soul. God rejoices over the salvation
and the security of his people with his whole heart, with his
whole soul. We read about heaven rejoicing
when just one sinner repents. God himself joins in that rejoicing. He rejoices to see the salvation
and the security of the people that he loves. You know, God
loves the glory of his name. His glory depends upon His elect
being saved, doesn't it? Then they will be. And He's going
to rejoice in glory over them. That's a word of comfort for
God's people. Now that's the spiritual application
of what Jeremiah is teaching us here. It's a word of comfort,
the comfort and the salvation of God's elect. But now I want
to look at these verses again quickly and give you a word of
comfort for those who are in the time of trial. And some of
us are. Israel was in a very difficult
trial. Being in bondage in Babylon was
not an easy thing. It was a grievous thing. And
God promised to deliver them. He promised after 70 years were
accomplished to bring them back. You know, God promises to deliver
his people from every trial and every trouble that he sends them
through. Now, you rest assured we will go through trouble. and
we will go through trial. If we are a child of God, if
He's given us faith, that faith will be tried. But our comfort
is this, God's the one who sent it. God's in control of this
thing. Whatever trial it is you're going
through, it's the will of God for you. God brought this trial
to happen. And He didn't just be going through
time and suddenly decide, I'm going to do this. No, He determined
to do this. before creation was ever formed. Before he said, let there be
light, this was determined. It was determined by the will
of our father, by the will of our savior. The devil didn't
do it. Just, you know, don't go looking
for him, but you don't have to worry about him either. The devil
didn't do it. God did. Who drove Israel to
Babylon? God did. God's in control of
this thing. And the second word of comfort
is this. God's in control. He'll deliver you. He brought
the trial and He will deliver you. Those times of severe trial
hurt. They're painful. But if you belong
to God, you rest assured of this. He'll gather you in His arms
again. He talks about gathering my people. There's a tenderness
there. of the Savior for his people.
Yes, it hurts. He'll comfort you. He'll give
you grace for the hour. And thirdly, even though we're
in time of trouble and trial, I don't know if you're like me.
I imagine that you are. To my shame, I question God. Why did you do this? I hope I don't say things. It's
going through here as much as I do, but I'll say him and I
certainly think I'm and it's the same to God. Say things wrong,
think things wrong, have the wrong attitude, have the wrong
view of things. Your own word of comfort. In
those times of trouble and trial, God still claims his people.
He says, they're my children. Yes, they're hated by the world. They're in horrible circumstances. God still claims his people as
his. What more comfort can you have
to know you belong to God? And despite the believer's shortcomings,
despite the things we say and do wrong, we still claim him,
don't we? People say, you say God's suffering,
and yet we see all these wars and disasters and sufferings.
Where's God? He's on his throne. Let's make
it more personal. You say God's suffering, but
you've got a war going on in your heart. You've got personal
disaster in your life, pain and suffering. Where's God? He's
on the throne and he's my God. I say with Job, though he slay
me, yet will I trust him. And then last, I'll trust him
because he promised to save. I'll trust him because he promised
to deliver. In times of trial, you hang on
to this, God's promise, God's covenant. Your Savior had promised
to save you. Had he done it? Has he put your
sin away? The greatest problem you'll ever
have is the problem of your sin. Has he put it away? Then what
earthly problem do you have he can't take care of? He's already
done the heavy work. He'll take care of the light
work. Your Savior already took care of your greatest need. He
made you righteous. But what earthly need do you
have that Jehovah Jireh can't provide? He'll provide. He promised
He would. Now you hang on that promise.
Your Savior's already given you a new heart and a new birth.
That's such a great miracle, we can't even begin to comprehend
that. But He's given you a new heart.
You reckon He's able to comfort it? I think He is. So look to
Him. Wait on Him. He's rejoicing over
you. If you're His child, He's rejoicing
over you. He's not going to destroy you.
Wait on Him and rejoice in Him too. You know what God says here? You can go back and read this
this afternoon. It's in reply to Jeremiah's prayer
at the beginning of the chapter. At the beginning of this chapter,
Jeremiah prays. And this is God's answer to him. This is why Jeremiah has words
of comfort for God's people, because this is God's comfort
to him. Do you need comfort? Do you need
anything? Call on God in prayer. He'll
answer you. You keep calling. Just like he
answered Jeremiah, he'll answer you. And he'll comfort your heart
just like he did Jeremiah. All right. I hope the Lord will
bless that.