Well we've been reading the last
few days the closing chapters of Jeremiah and then also at
the same time the two epistles of Paul to Timothy. And in reading
Jeremiah 50 and 51, it's clear he's talking about the destruction
of Babylon, which was physically the place where the Israelites,
those from Judea, had been sent away under Nebuchadnezzar into
captivity. And that place was a powerful
city, it was an opulent city. but it's going to be destroyed.
He says it's going to be destroyed, and God's people are going to
be saved out of it. God's people will be saved out
of it. It's a picture of the world, as we read in Revelation
18 at the start. When it talks about Babylon is
fallen, it means this world, its culture, its society, of
which Babylon, following on from Babel, the Tower of Babel in
Genesis 11, It's a picture of this world in its rebellion against
God, in its rejection of God's true and only way to the tree
of life, which is the salvation. which is in Christ alone. We
saw last week in Jeremiah 29 and verse 11 that our great God
thinks thoughts of peace and not of evil to his people for
the purpose of giving us an expected end, a glorious end, an end ordained
by the living God, an end in his kingdom, being saved out
of this world. And if you follow the theme of
Jeremiah chapter 50 you'll see in verse 4 and 5, in those days,
Jeremiah 50 verse 4, in those days and in that time saith the
Lord the children of Israel shall come and they and the children
of Judah together going and weeping and they shall go and seek the
Lord their God and you say well that's just talking about this
historical situation 500 years before Christ came into the world?
Well, yes, physically it is. It is talking about that. But,
spiritually, it's talking about the Church of God and God calling
his people out of this world of Babylon into the presence
of himself to seek the Lord their God. And they shall ask the way
to Zion with their faces thitherward. He's not talking about Jerusalem
in the Middle East. He's talking about the church
of God, the people of God, the kingdom of God. They'll come
with their faces pointing to Zion saying, come and let us
join ourselves to the Lord in a perpetual covenant that shall
not be forgotten. Seeking the Lord, seeking the
Lord, resolved to grasp that covenant of grace, resolved on
the basis of that which he promises in verse 20 of chapter 50 of
Jeremiah. In those days and in that time,
saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for,
and there shall be none, and the sins of Judah, and they shall
not be found, for I will pardon them whom I reserve. That's our
hope as believers, that's our hope. that the God of glory who
is our judge will look and will not find any sin on his people.
Why? Because Christ has taken it away,
has removed it as far as the east is from the west. He's redeemed
his people from the law's curse. Look at verse 34 of Jeremiah.
Chapter 50, their Redeemer is strong. The Lord of hosts is
his name. He shall throughly plead their
cause that he may give rest to the land and disquiet the inhabitants
of Babylon. There's that world again in verse
6 of chapter 51. We've got that verse which is
very similar to Revelation 18 and verse 4. It says this in
verse 6 of chapter 51, flee out of the midst of Babylon, get
out of this world and its culture, and deliver every man his soul. Be not cut off in her iniquity. Don't go down with her because
she's coming under judgment. This is the time of the Lord's
vengeance. He will render unto her a recompense,
called out of this world and its iniquity, because the sentence
of God in judgment is already passed upon it, and it was passed
upon physical Babylon in those days. That city which had been
such an oppressor of the people of God, taking them away into
captivity, and undeniably under the command of God for his purposes,
because of their idolatry. Nevertheless, it was brought
under his judgment. It was destroyed. Do you know
Babylon, that literal place with one of the seven wonders of the
world, the hanging gardens of Babylon, was destroyed? And it
remains so today. And Saddam Hussein, you remember
him, you know, the weapons of mass destruction and all that
sort of thing. Well, he was determined to rebuild Babylon, but you know,
it came to nothing. It's still a heap of dust, and
archaeology struggles to find much about it. It's still a heap
of dust, exactly as God said it would be. It pictures this
world and the destruction that is coming upon this world. That's
why in Revelation 18 we read, come out of this world. God is
going to pour down his judgments upon it. Read the whole of the
chapter and you will see the anguish of the people of this
world because their society will come to an end. The world, its
society, its civilization, its trade, its commerce, everything
that tickles the senses and attracts people's attention is going to
be destroyed because of rebellion against God. It's under judgment. Just observe the news today,
the days in which we live. You know, how much do you read
and you hear the talk of impending World War Three, and the tensions
are rising like they've never risen for a long time. And it's
there, it's all in the news today. God has decreed that this world
in which we live will be ended just as Babylon physically was
ended. There is the evidence that what
God says is true. God said it would happen, and
it happened exactly as he said. God said it would happen with
the flood, and it happened exactly as he said. God said it would
happen with Sodom and Gomorrah, and it happened exactly as he
said. He said this world is coming to an end. flee from it, flee
from the wrath to come. And you say, what a message of
doom and terror you're bringing us this morning. What a message,
have you got nothing more cheerful to say than this? Just doom and
gloom and the end of the world is nigh. Well, we've also been
reading 1 Timothy and hence today's message. What are we to do given
our situation in this world in which we live? You hear the warning.
You see its credibility. When I point you to the historical
record of Babylon, you see the signs all around us in world
politics, and the disagreements that there are, and the chasing
after ludicrous ideas that is in this world, and the social
disintegration that's all around, and how it's accelerating this
last 30, 40, 50 years. The global evil that is all around.
What does God's Spirit say via the Apostle in his word in 1st
Timothy? He gives us a message. He gives
us a message to believers, those of you who believe, and he gives
a message to non-believers. There are non-believers, you
know, I know, who listen to this, who are awakened to the truth
of God, but have not yet believed it, not yet committed to it.
What is that message? Well, it's what was read to us
earlier on in 1 Timothy and chapter 6. 1 Timothy and chapter 6, where
he's talking about how to live in this world. Godliness with
contentment, this is verse 6 of chapter 6. Godliness with contentment
is great gain. We didn't bring anything into
the world and we can't carry anything out, undeniable. We've
got food and raiment, we've got food and clothing, let's be content
with it. They're rich, they fall into
a snare. Verse 10, the love of money,
the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. The love
of money, it's not money itself, it's the love of money which
is the root of evil. which some have coveted after, and they've
erred from the faith, they've strayed, they've pierced themselves
through with many sorrows. But here's the message, but thou,
O man of God, you believer, flee from these things. Don't adopt
the world's philosophy and its culture. Flee from these things
and follow after righteousness, and follow after godliness, and
faith, and love, and patience, and meekness. And verse 12, fight
the good fight of faith. Lay hold on eternal life. whereunto
thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before
many witnesses. Fight the good fight of faith,
and lay hold on eternal life. We're in a spiritual warfare.
We're in a spiritual warfare. The kingdom of Satan, this world,
is a raid against the kingdom of God and his people. And it's
a warfare that has been fought right since the fall in the Garden
of Eden. World rejection of God's only
way to the tree of life, which is the salvation that is accomplished
by his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, by his shed blood. And God looked
down and saw in Genesis 6, in the days of Noah, His judgment
of mankind, of which there were many in those days, don't think
there were just a handful, I believe there were probably billions
or more of people on the planet, and God looked down and saw that
the intents of their hearts were only evil continually. He could
have been writing about today, couldn't he? evil continually,
and so God sent the flood and swept that whole generation away.
And then after it, again, the kingdom of Satan rises up in
rebellion. Babel, the tower of Babel, trying
to reach to heaven without that one and only way to the tree
of life. And so God raises up Abraham
and points to his seed that would come, who is the seed of the
woman, who is the Christ who will come. establish his kingdom,
and save his people from the curse of the law, and the empires
rise up, all in God's determined counsel and foreknowledge, but
nevertheless, all done with wicked hands, with Satan there amongst
it, in the empires of the Old Testament world, in Egypt, in
Assyria, in Babylonia, which is the Chaldean Empire, then
the Medes and the Persians, and then the Greeks, and then the
Romans, and then in the time of the Romans, the incarnation
of Christ. It's all in God's eternal plan,
when he accomplished redemption by the blood of Christ. And then
the church is left in this world, until the fullness of the sin
and rebellion of mankind is complete. And here we are, 2,000 years
or so later, and 2,000 years and counting. And the message
is this. Fight the good fight of faith.
We're in a spiritual warfare. Fight the good fight of faith.
Uphold the cause of God's kingdom in this fallen world. In face
of the world's opposition, which is really satanic, you know,
in Ephesians, Paul tells us in chapter 6 and verse 12, another
chapter 6, verse 12. In Ephesians 6, verse 12, Paul
tells us that we don't wrestle, we don't fight. The spiritual
warfare is not with physical weapons. The weapons of our warfare
are not, we wrestle not with flesh and blood, but with principalities
and powers and spiritual powers. In Ephesians 6, verse 12, In
the spiritual realm, it's that that we're fighting against,
not with physical weapons, not with the weapons of this world,
because as Jesus said, my kingdom is not of this world. Speaking
to Pontius Pilate, he said, my kingdom is not of this world.
If it were of this world, my servants would take up weapons
and fight, but they don't because it isn't. No, the weapons of
our warfare are not like that. They're what it says in 2 Corinthians
10 and verse 4. The weapons of our warfare are
not carnal, they're not fleshly, they're not of these bodies,
but they're mighty. The weapons of our warfare, spiritual
weapons, they're mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds. We have the shield of faith,
Ephesians 6, all about the armor, the armour of God, take on the
whole armour of God. It's the shield of faith that
quenches, that extinguishes the fiery darts of Satan. Satan fires
flaming darts at us to set us on fire and make us disbelieve.
But the shield of faith that we take puts out that fire, puts
out Satan's fiery darts. No, they're not physical weapons.
Not even good philosophy in the age in which we live. Not even
true science and all of those things. No, that's not what we're
to fight with. There's an awful lot which I
read myself, stuff that is good stuff about the errors and the
evils of the society and the world and the politics in which
we live and which we're subject to. But you know, don't strive
to put right the world's wrongs The message of Scripture is don't
strive to do it. It's a lost cause. It's an absolute
lost cause. We will never recover this world
to what people fondly think it used to be like when it was kind
of some sort of nice, pleasant, civilized utopia. No. But what
should we do? Pray that God will keep his people
from the evil and the effects of the world's evil. But don't
take up weapons against it. You know, some of us, I know
a lot of people, especially our friends in America, are very
much happier with the outcome of the recent presidential election
than they would have been had it gone the other way. But don't
think that in that is the kingdom of God come on earth, because
it isn't. It isn't. It's still this evil, fallen
world. What should we do? Believe God
and lay hold on eternal life. Look, he says it there, verse
12, fight the good fight of faith and lay hold on eternal life. What is eternal life? What is
he talking about? He's talking about the life of
God. You say I'm alive, I'm living,
breathing, I've got senses, I know I'm alive. Are there any vital
signs of life? If you watch those programs,
the ambulance program, the first question, is the patient breathing?
Are there signs of life? Is the patient breathing? I'm
talking about spiritual life. This is what this is talking
about. Lay hold on eternal life, spiritual life, the life of God
in the soul. Have you got it? grasp it, cling
on to it, be determined not to let it go. That's all that ultimately
matters. Nothing else. You say, oh, my
career, my possessions, my life, everything. No, it doesn't matter. Ultimately, it doesn't matter.
There's only one thing that matters, and that's this life of God in
your soul. For the wages of sin, Romans
6, 23, the wages of sin is death. That's what you earn from sin.
You earn what the justice of God pays you. The wages of sin
is death, but the gift of God. The gift of God is eternal life
through Christ Jesus, our Lord. Make your priority God's kingdom. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
said, seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness.
All these other things of this life that you need for life will
be added to you, but seek first the kingdom of God before all
other attainments in this world. You young people listening, before
all other attainments in this world, seek first the kingdom
of God and his righteousness. You see, all the things of this
world are destined to eternal destruction. They will all come
to nothing. Read Revelation 18. The society
that mankind all around us revels in, rejoices in, enjoys, puts
all its trust and its investment into, it's coming to an end.
And it's coming to an end in a day, in a day. The merchants
will be weeping. Who are those? The people of
power, the people with great money. It's all coming to an
end. Lay hold on eternal life. How do we lay hold on eternal
life? Think about these things. We
lay hold on it, firstly, by believing God's word. God, God who cannot
lie, God cannot lie. God is truth, God cannot lie,
and he has spoken, and he has committed it to print by those
that he has caused to write the Scriptures, he's committed it
to print, and it's been miraculously preserved. And you have in front
of you, if you've got a copy, especially the King James Version
of the Scriptures in the English language, you've got the nearest
thing we can have to the Word of God that he has spoken. and
committed to print. Feed your soul on it. Feed your
soul on good preaching that's based on it. Test what you hear. You know the Bereans in Acts,
when Paulie was badly treated in one place. I forget where
it was. probably should come to me, but anyway, they moved
on to the Bereans and the Bereans were more noble than the people
that had treated them so badly because when they heard Paul
preach, do you know what they did? They had copies of the Old
Testament scriptures and they compared what Paul had said with
what was in the scriptures. They tested what they heard against
the scriptures as noble Bereans. Believe it. Believe what God
has said. You have ideas that you think
something exists, but you don't know. A few years ago, I really
did believe that Australia existed. I'd seen lots of evidence that
it existed. But in 2019, I flew there and experienced it for
myself firsthand. And I believe it now in the same
way. I believe God regarding eternal
life. I believe him as much as I believe
and know that Australia is where it is. I believe and know that. I believe God concerning eternal
life. Lay hold on it. Lay hold on it. Believe it. Believe it. What
is the work that we must do to do the work of God? Believe on
him whom he has sent. Jesus asked Martha at the tomb
of her brother, Lazarus, if she believed. Look at John 11, or
just listen while I read it. He comes to the grave where Lazarus
has been dead for four days. Lazarus, whom he loved, and his
two sisters, Martha and Mary. And Jesus said to Martha, your
brother shall rise again. Because she said, oh, if only
you'd been here, he wouldn't have died. You would have done
a miracle and he wouldn't have died. And he says, your brother shall
rise again. And Martha said, I know he shall
rise in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her,
I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me,
though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth
and believeth in me shall never die. Do you believe this, Martha? Do you believe this, Martha?
Do you believe this, whoever you are? Do you believe in the
Son of God? The eternal life we must lay
hold of is the possession of true believers. You know some
texts so familiarly, they're so well-known. Probably the best-known
text in the Bible is John 3.16. God so loved the world that he
gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him, listen,
listen, whosoever believeth in him has chosen a very good opinion,
no, whosoever believeth in him should not perish eternally,
but have everlasting life, lay hold on eternal life, everlasting
life. Whosoever believeth on him should
have that life. Verse 36 of the same chapter,
John 3. He that believeth on the Son
has everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. Do you see how stark that is?
You believe on him, you have everlasting life. You refuse
to believe on him, you shall not see life. and the wrath of
God abides upon you. We must have it. This is the
record, says John in his first epistle, chapter five, verse
11. This is the record that God has given us. Who's us? His people. His people chosen in Christ before
the foundation of the world. This is the record that God has
given to us. Eternal life. Where is it? Where
is it? This life is in his son. His son. When Satan tempts you
to unbelief, resist him with God's word. Come back here, resist
him with God's. When he fires those fiery arrows
of unbelief to make you disbelief, look at this book, look at what
it says. Resist him with this word. The shield of faith will
quench, will extinguish those fiery arrows. Ask God to help. your unbelief by help, again,
extinguish your unbelief. Ask God, Lord, I believe, help
thou mine unbelief, extinguish my unbelief. And hear the testimony,
hear the testimony of witnesses who've gone before. You know,
do you read the accounts of saints of God who knew God before? And
as they get closer and closer to leaving this life, they testify
more and more to the light of that eternal life shining ever
more brightly the closer they get to leaving this life. And
it's the testimony of those that are around them at the time.
Lay hold on it, grasp it, possess it, count it as yours, take it
home with you. Christ took your death. So you
take his life, lay hold of his life, if you're in danger of
drowning. You know, we live close to the
sea, just less than a mile down the road here. There are days
when in summer, I don't go in when it's cold, but in summer
when it's not too bad. And there are some days when
it's a bit rough and it can be quite hard on the shingle. You
get in and suddenly you slip in and then you really struggle
to get out. And sometimes if you go in when it's too rough,
you're wondering, are you ever going to get out? And if somebody
throws a life buoy to you, you will grab that life buoy because
that's your hope of getting out and surviving. If you're in danger
of drowning, you lay hold of the lifebuoy that's thrown to
you. Well, lay hold of eternal life, the gospel of God, the
gospel of Christ, the gospel of eternal life. It's the only
lifebuoy that will save you from the impending just destruction
of this world, of this Babylon that we live in. Lay hold of
it. And here's the next thing, lay
hold of it by letting go of other things. Do you know, often, those
who profess to believe struggle to lay hold on eternal life and
grasp it because they're at the same time trying to keep hold
of too many other things. Don't let the things of the world
divert you from laying hold of eternal life. Don't let friends
and relatives and worldly pleasures and good things, good things
and money and ambition and skills, don't let them divert. It's not
wrong to have them, but just Jesus said, whoever puts those
things, husband, brother, sister, in front of me is not worthy
of me, cannot have me. See 1 Timothy chapter 6 and verses
6 to 10. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. We brought nothing into this
world, it's certain we can carry nothing out. Having food and
raiment, let's be content therewith. but they that will be rich fall
into temptation and are snatched. Let go of all of these things,
into which many foolish and hurtful lusts drown men in destruction
and perdition, for the love of money is the root of all kinds
of evil. Don't grasp it, let go of it. As Jesus said in Matthew 6, 33,
seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all
the other things you need will be added to you for this life.
The story is told of a rich man who had a lot of gold with him
on a sinking ship. And as the ship was about to
go down and they were getting into the lifeboats, he gathered
up from his cabin all of his gold and stuffed it into his
pockets. Have you ever picked up a lump
of gold? Pretty heavy. He stuffed it into his pockets
before jumping towards the lifeboat. But the weight of it dragged
him down to destruction. He drowned. And his treasure
was his eternal ruin. That's the idea. Think on that. Think on it carefully when worldly
things sparkle before your eyes. Godliness with contentment, it
says there. Godliness with contentment is
great gain. Godliness with contentment. All
we need will be added to us by God's good providence. And learn
to live increasingly with the ambience of heaven. the idea
of heaven in your soul. According to Ephesians chapter
two and verse six, God has already made us his people sit together
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Don't let anything distract
or loosen your grip on eternal life. So that's the message to
believers, lay hold on eternal life. But I said there was a
message for awakened unbelievers too. Seek the call of God. Look, it's in verse 12. Lay hold
on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called. Whereunto thou
art also called. You may not now believe, but
are you aware of God calling you? Are you aware of the influence
of believers close to you? Those whose lives are clearly
centered on God's word and his gospel. They believe it to be
true. They rest in it. They profess
eternal life in Christ. They have a hope of heaven. They're
not afraid of death. They confidently expect heaven
when life here ends. Well, wake up. There's no hope for you here
at all. If you're outside of Christ,
however much interest you have in it, and however close you
are to those who believe the truth, the fact is that according
to God's word, you're on the broad way to destruction. You
say, as so many do, oh, we'll all be all right, we'll all be
together, we'll be in the same unbelieving world together, in
the same unbelieving boat, it'll be okay, we don't have to go
along with this. No, you won't, you won't. According
to God's word, you will not be there. You will be, I'm going
to be very blunt, you will be in hell for eternity. You will
be separated from God and anything that is truly good. Don't believe
the delusions of this world and of Satan. You will be in hell
separated from God for eternity. The Lord had called Timothy to
the possession of eternal life. He calls all his people by his
spirit at the right time. Paul himself gave his testimony
of this in Galatians chapter one and verse 15. He said this,
but when he pleased God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by his grace to reveal his son in me. It pleased God to call me and
reveal his son in me. God called the young boy Samuel,
Samuel, Samuel. And Eli told him, go, and when
next time you hear it, say, here am I, Lord. Speak, for your servant
is listening. And he did that. He calls his
people. He calls his people, even when
there's no sign that they are his people. Even when they're
children of wrath, even as others, as it would seem, in the flesh,
because we're no better in the flesh at all. He calls his people
out of the world's spiritual darkness. He calls them into
his marvelous light. and it's when he determines.
He beckons. Sometimes he beckons gently. Other times with other people,
he beckons dramatically, like Paul on the Damascus road stopped
dead in his tracks, blinded by the shining light. Suddenly,
all of a sudden, like that Philippian jailer that I mentioned earlier,
that Philippian jailer who was a rough guy with no thought for
the things of God. And in a moment, God awakened
him. What must I do to be saved? He
encourages you to seek him. He encourages you to seek him. He says this, Isaiah 55 in verse
six. Seek ye the Lord while he may
be found, for the day is coming when you will not be able to
seek him, for he will not be found. Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Is he near? Paul said, to the
folk in Athens that he was near to each one of us. Look at Acts
17 and verse 23, Acts 17. He says this to them on Mars
Hill, where you can go to this day on Mars Hill in Athens. As I passed by and beheld your
devotions, I found an altar with this inscription to the unknown
God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all
things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth,
doesn't dwell in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped
with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he gives
life to all, and breath, and all things. And he is made of
one blood, all nations have meant to dwell on the face of the earth,
and has determined the times before appointed. and the bounds
of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, and happily,
perhaps, they will find him, feel after him, and find him,
though he be not far from each one of us. For in him we live
and move and have our being. Paul is telling them, seek, he's
there, seek and find. God has promised his people.
You say, what if I look and I can't find? He says in Isaiah 45 verse
19, I said not unto the seed of Jacob, and if you're among
his people from eternity, that's you. He said not seek me in vain. When he tells his people to seek
him, they will find him. I want to jump back, as I close,
just for a couple of minutes, back to what we looked at last
week in Jeremiah 29. In Jeremiah 29 and verse 11,
God says, I know the thoughts that I think toward you, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. If
you're numbered with the multitude chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world, if you're redeemed by the blood
of the lamb when he died on the cross of Calvary, You're destined
for eternal life. Now hear this promise. Verse
12 of Jeremiah 29. Then, then, this is God speaking
to you who are doubting and holding back. If you're amongst his people,
he's done everything for your salvation. And he says this in
verse 12. Then shall ye call upon me, and
ye shall go and pray unto me. and I will hearken unto you.
I'll hear you. I'll hear what you say. And you shall seek me
and you shall find me when you shall search for me with all
your heart. Lord, reveal yourself. I'm blind,
I cannot see. Lord, shine your light into my
heart. And verse 14, and I will be found
of you, saith the Lord. And I will turn away your captivity
in this world's sin. And I will gather you from all
the nations, out of all these nations that are Babylon that's
going to eternal destruction. And from all the places whither
I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you again
into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.
He's then talking about his heavenly Jerusalem. I'll bring you there.
He'll give you an expected end. How do you know if you're one
of his people? How do you know? Answer. Believe
him. Ask him to enable you to believe
him. And what Paul says to Timothy,
then lay hold on eternal life.