Let's open our Bibles together
to Jeremiah chapter 50. Mike, you asked me last night
what song I would have in mind, and I certainly couldn't have
picked anything better than that. That was beautiful. Jeremiah 50, verse 20. Here we read the promise of pardon,
and deliverance to God's people. Often we hear the word pardon
used in this world. Think of a governor or a presidential
pardon in which that man in that office, by virtue of the office,
grants pardon to a guilty man. And I thought that might be a
good illustration until I looked up what a presidential pardon
is. There's three things, there's
many things that deal with a presidential pardon, but a few of those that
immediately let me know that would not be a good illustration.
The first, to obtain a presidential pardon, one must demonstrate
some worthiness on their own. There's a waiting period of five
years. in which a person can demonstrate worthiness on their
own part. Whether it be five years or whether
it be 500 years, we'd never be able to demonstrate worthiness
on our part. Second, it does not erase the
conviction. The conviction stands for as
long as time lasts. The conviction is not taken away. And third, justice is never satisfied. The crime goes unpunished, but justice is not satisfied.
Can you see why that would not be a good illustration of pardon? Again, if I must demonstrate
my own unworthiness, I'm doomed. I'm absolutely doomed. I can
never be pardoned. If the pardon doesn't remove
the conviction, if it doesn't take it away, if it doesn't make
me perfectly clean in the sight of God, it's of no value to me. And thirdly, if justice is not
satisfied, if the crime goes unpunished, it is incomplete. A presidential pardon is at best
a partial pardon. But what I need and what every
sinner needs is a complete and perfect pardon. A pardon that's
not dependent upon anything in me, a pardon that has to be the
result of my sin being completely put away, and a pardon that is
a result of God's justice being completely satisfied. So look
with me in your Bible this evening to Jeremiah 50 here in verse
20. And the title of the message is Complete and Perfect Pardon. Here we read in verse 20, ìIn
those days and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought for there shall be none. And the
sins of Judah, they shall not be found, for I will pardon them
whom I reserve." Now, first, who is speaking in
this passage of Scripture? It says, In those days and in
that time saith the Lord, saith Jehovah, the ever-existing Though
written by Jeremiah the prophet, these are the words of God himself.
Jeremiah is not saying, this is what I think, or I once heard
a man say this and I thought it was clever. He's saying, thus
saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord. Thus saith
God Almighty. That's something that we definitely
need to get a hold of in our day and time. What does God's
word say? What does God's word say? The
inspired word of God, God who sees all things, knows all things,
orders and directs all things. What does he say? And we have
it right here, right here, right here in our hands. God's word,
the scriptures. Second. Who's he speaking of? He speaks of Israel. He speaks of Israel, the nation
Israel, a people chosen of God, chosen out of all the nations
of the world. Consider that. Out of all the
nations of the world, God chose Israel to be his people. Not chosen because of any goodness
in them. In fact, they were just the opposite.
They were a rebellious people. They were chosen because of God's Look at a few scriptures with
me. Exodus chapter 3 verse 10. Verse 10 of Exodus 3, come now
therefore I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring
forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." The
Lord says of Israel, these are my people, my people. Look over
a few pages at Exodus 11, verse 7. But against any of the children
of Israel shall not a dog move his tongue. Against man or beast,
that ye may know how that the Lord doth put a difference between
the Egyptians and Israel." Who made the difference? Almighty
God did. My message this evening, it's
concerning Israel. It's concerning spiritual Israel. God's people and all that the
Lord God did in Israel. All that he did for Israel is
a picture of his grace and mercy to sinners. All in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Back to our text, Jeremiah 50.
First thing we read in this text concerns Israel. It concerns their iniquity. their iniquity, it shall be their
sin, it shall be sought. Consider what had been revealed
to Israel over the years. Consider what they had witnessed,
what they had saw as a nation. They had been brought out of
Egypt by God's mighty hand. They had witnessed the slaying
of that Passover lamb, the blood applied to the door. That night
when those cries went out through the land of Egypt, There they
sat under the blood, safe and secure under the blood of the
Lamb. And later they were trapped there
at the Red Sea. Can you imagine the fear? Yet God parted that sea and they
walked through on dry ground. They saw that. They actually
saw that. They'd be fed quail and manna. They'd drink water from the rock.
They were given the ceremonial law which pictured Christ and
his redemptive work. They were given the sacrifices
and the Passover and the feast days and the atonement. Yet time
and time again they would turn to idols. They would turn from
God to worship idols. We read they grieved the Lord.
They doubted the Lord. They murmured against the Lord.
Turn with me to chapter Isaiah chapter 1. How Israel was blessed. Look
at Isaiah chapter 1 beginning with verse 2. Hear, O heavens, and give ear,
O earth, for the Lord hath spoken. I have nourished and brought
up children, and they have rebelled against me. The ox knoweth his
owner, and the ass his master's crib, but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider. Ah, sinful nation, a people laden
with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corruptors.
They have forsaken the Lord." They have provoked the Holy One
of Israel to anger. They are going away backward.
Why should you be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more.
The whole head is sick and the whole heart faint. From the sole
of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it but
wounds and bruises, putrefying sores. They have not been closed,
neither bound up, neither modified with ointment. Again, consider
all the blessings that had been showered upon Israel. Yet look
at this description in verses five and six. The whole head
sick, the whole heart faint, from the sole of the foot to
the top of the head, no soundness, nothing but wounds and bruises,
putrefying sores that haven't been closed up, neither bound
up, neither mollified with ointment. This is our condition before
Almighty God. This is Israel. This is our condition. This is how we stand in the presence
of Almighty God. Think of how terrifying that
statement is. The iniquity of Israel shall be sought. Let's go back in God's Word a
little further, back to the garden. God had created everything in
the garden. put Adam, he'd create Adam, put him there in the garden
with Eve. Everything he'd made, after he'd made it, he said,
behold, it's very good. It's very good. And he put Adam
and Eve there to dress and keep that garden with one command. Every tree of the garden thou
mayest freely eat. The tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, don't eat of it, for in the day that you do, You
shall surely die. One law, one commandment on either
the tree. How terrible is our condition?
We can't even keep one commandment, can we? One commandment. What did Adam do? He rebelled.
He rebelled against God. He disobeyed God. He took that
tree. He took that fruit and he ate
of it willingly. rebelling against God and he
died spiritually. Adam sinned against God and every
one of us with him. In Adam, all died. All died. Then he and Eve, they
did what we do by nature. They tried to knit those garments
together, those fig leaves. Then they went and hid. Thought
they could hide from God. Adam said, I was afraid. I was
afraid. Our condition, it's the same. It's the very same. Dead and
trespasses and sin. Turn to Isaiah 59, verse 2. But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from
you that he will not hear." That's a picture of each of us
by nature, by birth, and by practice. Sinners. Sinners of deserving
of hell and eternal punishment. sinners in the sight of God. And here we read, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought. If our message was to end right
there, we would be most miserable, wouldn't we? There would be no
encouragement, would there? There would be no hope, no comfort. Because sin, sin can only get
us one thing. That's death. The wages of sin
is death. Turn back to our text. Jeremiah
50 verse 20. In those days and in that time
the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, there shall be
none. There shall be none. The iniquity
of Israel shall be sought, but none found. None found. How is that possible? How is
that possible? I can tell you this. I can tell
you this about myself. I can tell you this about my
children. You can hide things from us fairly
easy. Every morning, I can't find a
tie or a belt or a pair of shoes. And Abby's quick to point out
where those things are. Or the kids will, one of the
boys will holler down the steps and say, where's my pants or
where's my socks? She immediately tells them, it's
easy to hide things from us. That's not what we're talking
about here. Is anything here from God? God
who sees all things? Think of how we read there where
Adam and Eve, where they tried to hide in the garden. How ridiculous
to try to hide from God. Yet, that's what we do by nature. We want to hide behind our works. We want to hide behind our self-righteousness. We want to hide behind our Sunday
attendance and any host of other things. There's no hiding from
God. God sees all things. And yet here we read, the iniquity
of Israel shall be sought, but none found. Why? How is that possible? Well, they've
been put away. They've been put away. They cannot
be found. There is no sin to be found because it's been put
away. Completely put away. Turn to
Hebrews 9. Hebrews chapter 9. Beginning with verse 24 of Hebrews
9. For Christ is not entered into
the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true,
but into heaven itself, now to appear into the presence of God
for us. Nor yet that he should offer
himself often as the high priest enters into holy places every
year with the blood of others. For then must he often have suffered
since the foundation of the world. But now, once in the end of the
world, hath he appeared. Why? To put away sin. How did he do that? By the sacrifice
of himself. The tabernacle, the mercy seat,
the written law, the priesthood, and the nation Israel were all
patterns of things which are in heaven. Christ, our great
high priest, he comes before the holy throne of God and he
represents He represents His people, and He satisfies the
law. He atones for our sins with His
blood, with His own blood. He prays for us. He's done all
things for His people, and He does that through a blood sacrifice,
through the sacrifice of Himself. He's not entered into the... He's not entered in. He's not entered in for his own sins. He's entered
in for our sins, for the sins of his people. He's not entered
into the holy place made with hands. He's entered into heaven
itself, standing in the presence of God on behalf of his people. Now, now to appear in the presence
of God on behalf of sinners like me and you. And it's not necessary
for him to offer those sacrifices over and over again. If he'd
have done that, he'd have done that a thousand times. But he
entered in once. He's appeared once. When he did
it, he bore our sins. He bore the sins of his people.
They're paid for and they're completely put away. The iniquity
of Israel shall be sought, but none found. None found. God just and holy law must be
satisfied. Sin must be punished. He does that in the place of
His people. It was the Lord Jesus Christ that was made sin for
us. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. All in the Lord Jesus Christ.
How can my iniquity be sought but not found? Only through the
blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back
a few pages to Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Verse 34, They shall teach no more every
man his neighbor, every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord,
but they shall all know me. From the least of them, even
to the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more, no more. That which had separated us from
God, our Original sin, actual sin, past sin, present sin, future
sin, sin, it's been paid for, put away. And not only has it
been put away, we have a perfect robe of righteousness. He clothes
us in a perfect robe of righteousness, the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ himself. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ Jesus. The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought, but there is none found." Well, we rejoice in that. Let's read on in our text. Verse 20, In those days, and
in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, and there shall be none, the sins of Judah, and
they shall not be found. For I will pardon them whom I
reserve." What a promise. I will pardon them whom I reserve. Full, complete, perfect pardon. You know, an innocent man does
not need pardon. A guilty man needs pardon. Pardon
is for the guilty. I use the example of the President
giving pardon someone guilty of a crime, well, again, even
though that man or woman goes free, that crime goes unpunished. God's justice would not be satisfied. It doesn't change the fact that
the crime has been committed. It just means their crime goes
unpunished. My sin, your sin, the sin of
God's people. It must be punished. It has to be punished. God's
law, God is holy and just. He can't wink at sin. He can't
just, like we do with our children, He can't just let that go. Sin
must be punished. But the sin of God's elect is
completely, completely pardoned. It's completely put away. There's
none to be found. Because Christ bore the sins
of his people. And maybe you're sitting here
thinking, that sounds good, but you don't know my sin. You don't
know how wicked I truly am. Well, over in Matthew 12, our
Lord said, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven. Turn with me to one more passage
of Scripture. Brother Frank read this. Psalm
25. Consider David. David was a king. David was the
man whom God said, I found David the son of Jesse, a man after
mine own heart. My friend David was a sinner. David was guilty of murder. David
was guilty of taking another man's wife. David, like you and
I, was a man interested in pardon. Look at verse 11 of Psalm 25. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. David sought the Lord, didn't
he? Listen to his prayer there. He says, for thy name's sake. Not for my work's sake. Not for
all the great things that I've done's sake. Not for my self-righteousness. David could say this, not even
for the fact that I'm the king. I'm your king. Not for anything
that's good in me, because there is none. for thy name's sake, for Christ's
sake." He's pleading the blood and righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He says, for thy name's sake.
For thy name's sake, O Lord. Who's he talking to here? He's
talking to the one whom he's offended. Almighty God. Over in Psalm 51, David says,
he says, And thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
He comes to the one whom he's offended. He comes to the one
who's able to save. He comes to the one who's mighty
to save. And what does he ask for? Pardon. David's request, pardon my iniquity. He says, it's my iniquity. Not
blaming anybody else here, he said, this is my iniquity. Paul said, Jesus Christ came
into the world to save sinners, of whom I'm the chief. That publican, he said, God be
merciful to me, to me the sinner. Again, David said over in Psalm
51, I acknowledge my transgression. and my sin is ever before me. Pardon mine iniquity, for it
is great. It is great. Thank God for sin
abounded. Grace did much more abound. Now back to our text. Jeremiah 50. In those days and
in that time, saith the Lord, The iniquity of Israel shall
be sought for, there shall be none. Sins of Judah, they shall
not be found, for I will pardon, I will spare, I will forgive
them whom I reserve." Pardon. Pardon for those whom God in
his mercy and grace has reserved. Pardon for the remnant. Aren't you thankful for God's
complete and perfect pardon? A pardon that's not dependent
upon my unworthiness. Nothing in me. A pardon in which
God's holy law is satisfied. My sin completely put away. Sought but not found. Completely
put away. Enrobed in that perfect robe
of righteousness. Complete and perfect pardon in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, that was mine.