Okay, well, we finished Hebrews
a couple of weeks ago, and I said we would do some one-off messages
until it was clear what we should have as a next series. And I want to turn your attention
to a verse that I often quote, and seem to quote more and more
these days. It's Jeremiah chapter 29 and verse 11. It came to my
attention, it must be 20 years ago, I don't know why, it just
suddenly stood out of the page so clearly. And as I say, I often
quote it, but we've never, I think, delved deeply into it. But now
seems to be an apt time. We've finished thinking about
what Hebrews 12 said about running the race set before us. It's
the course of life determined by Almighty God. towards the
end and to run it by faith, looking unto Jesus. Now seems a very
apt time, whilst we're running this race of life in different
stages, in different conditions, but all as believers looking
to the end that God has determined for his people. In this world
of sin, and rebellion against God, this world that we live
in, the visible church in these days, especially in this country,
this United Kingdom that used to be such a bastion for the
truth of the gospel a couple of hundred years ago, but now
is so insignificant. The visible church, the true
visible church, those that believe the God of the Bible, the Christ
of the Bible, seems so insignificant compared with the past. There's
always a temptation to do what the people of God in their weakness
of their flesh have always tended to do. In the Old Testament,
God was constantly warning Israel, don't you go making alliances
with the heathen. Don't go down to Egypt. When
you feel oppressed and you feel lonely and you feel like things
are not going for you, the temptation is always, let's go to Assyria
and make an alliance with them. Let's go down to Egypt. No, no,
we don't do that. We don't do that. Here we have
a strong word of encouragement to faith, a strong word of encouragement
to believe God, here in this verse 11 of Jeremiah 29. So first
of all, What was the background to this
verse? Secondly, what is God's word
to his people that is contained in this verse? Because it wasn't
just to them in that day, it's to all his people. And what would
be our response? What should be our response as
believing people to that which he assures his people of? Well,
first of all, then, the background to this chapter 29. Jeremiah,
as along with other prophets, had prophesied that if Israel,
if Judah, had followed idols, that God would punish them, that
God would take them out of the promised land that he'd given
to their fathers, that he would send them into captivity for
their idolatry. And there was a lot of talk of
it. You can read it in the prophecy of Isaiah and others. And Jeremiah
prophesied about it. He had already said earlier that
you will go into exile for 70 years. And it's happened. They've
gone. Nebuchadnezzar, that great Babylonian
king, has come. And Jerusalem and the temple,
all of that's destroyed. And he's taken away. Daniel and
his friends were taken away to Babylon. It was for 70 years
of captivity. And it was the punishment on
that people for their idolatry. 70 years had been determined,
70 years, you know, a lifespan, three score years and 10, a lifespan
away from their home, longing to return. These are people who've
been uprooted and taken away and settled in a distant country. We might be able to get from
Jerusalem to the area that was Babylon very, very quickly by
air transport these days, but then it was a long, long way. And they were exiles away from
their home. And Psalm 137 says how it is
that they must have been feeling. It's virtually impossible to
read this if you're of a certain age without remembering that
popular song of 50 years or so ago. Psalm 137, verse one. By the rivers of Babylon, there
we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. we hanged
our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof for there they
carried us away captive there they that carried us away captive
required us of us a song come on sing us a song they said and
they that wasted us required of us mirth saying sing us one
of the songs of zion you're good singers sing us a song from zion
and their response How shall we sing the Lord's song in a
strange land? They're foreigners, they're exiles,
they're in punishment, they're under punishment. And they're
longing for home, and so Jeremiah 29 is a letter from Jeremiah
the prophet, who was still in Jerusalem, to the exiles. These are the words of the letter
that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem. That's how the
chapter starts. It's a letter from Jeremiah to
the exiles in Babylon. Jeremiah had faithfully proclaimed
God's word in the face of severe opposition. Christine and I have
been reading. through the book of Jeremiah,
and it's terrible the things that they did to Jeremiah, because
they didn't like the prophecy that he brought. He brought the
word of God, and they didn't like it. They threw him in a
pit of mire where he would have died were it not for people coming
and hoisting him out of that pit of mire. They did terrible
things to him. They wouldn't listen to him,
but God said, don't fear them, I will be with you. And he proclaimed
the message that God had given him. But they were false prophets. Look at verses 8 and 9 of this
chapter 29. For thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, Let not your prophets and your diviners that
be in the midst of you deceive you, neither hearken to your
dreams which ye have caused to be dreamed, for they prophesy
falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent them, saith the
Lord. False prophets. In every generation,
there are false prophets. There are false prophets today.
There are false prophets in so-called Christian religion, telling people
that this is what the message of the Christian gospel is, and
it's nothing of the sort, because it's not according to this word.
To the law and to the testimony, if they speak not according to
this word, said Isaiah, there is no light, there is no truth
in them. This is the acid test. Is it according to this word?
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your
faith in his excellent word. What more can he say? than to
you, he has said, you who unto Jesus for refuge have fled."
He said, no, don't listen to these false prophets. They brought
false messages of peace. He says elsewhere, they say,
what do they prophesy? They prophesy peace, peace. We
are not going into exile for 70 years. Peace, peace, when
there is no peace, there is no peace. So many today So many
in the name of religion, so many in the name of Christian religion,
so-called, cry peace, peace, when there is no peace. But God
is angry with the wicked every day. That's the message. That's
the message. And this world hates that message.
I remember years ago, in different situations, but something claiming
to be a religious presentation. You know, it was some sort of
a club with a little epilogue at the end. And the message,
generally speaking, each week was, oh, God loves you and God
has a wonderful plan for your life and When one of us stood
up and said, no, the message of the Bible is not that. The
message of the Bible is God is angry with the wicked every day.
Gosh, how that went down like the proverbial lead balloon.
What a shock, what a shock. But it's the truth. They say
peace, peace, when there is no peace. The only peace is the
peace of God found in Christ. God had said to them, he'd said
to them, go, go, with Nebuchadnezzar's army to Babylon. Leave your homes. Don't resist. Take your punishment. That's what he said. He said
to them, he said, don't rebel. He said, go to Babylon. You're
going for 70 years, which is a lifetime. Settle there. Look
at verse six. He says, take, marry, and have
sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, because
they're going to grow up, and they're going to be of an age
to marry, and take wives for them, and give daughters, your
daughters to husbands, that they too might have children and daughters,
and that when you're there in this 70 years of exile, rather
than being diminished, you might be increased. Go there. He said,
look at this, verse seven. This is quite remarkable, isn't
it? We're talking about Babylon, which in scripture is always
a picture of the world. And Jesus said, I pray not for
the world, but for those you've given me out of the world. And
yet here in this verse seven, Jeremiah's letter, which is from
God, via him to the people in exile, seek the peace of the
city, Babylon, where I have caused you to be carried away captives.
And look, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof,
ye shall have peace. In the peace for it, you shall
have peace. Seek Babylon's peace, pray for
it. Your peace as my people depends
on it. Is there a lesson for us there?
I'm sure there is. We ought to seek to live at peace
with all men. We saw that in Hebrews. We ought
to seek to live at peace with all. We shouldn't be, we shouldn't
be bolshie, we shouldn't be argumentative, we shouldn't be aggressive. We
should seek to live at peace with all men, neighborly, as
far as in you is, without compromising God's truth, without compromising
the gospel. You see, Like those people there,
we're aliens in a fallen world, where we live in this world today.
They heard a foreign language. They heard a language which was
not familiar. We, if you're a true child of
God, you hear the language of this world all around you. It's
a language of godlessness, of worldly things. It's a foreign
language. You're in alien territory. They
looked around and they saw the riches and the culture of Babylon.
You know, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was supposedly one
of the seven wonders of the world, of the ancient world. They saw
their riches, they saw their culture, and it was alien to
them. It was alien, like us here. We're
here for a limited time. As they were yearning for home,
when they remembered Zion, we, as true believers, are yearning
for home. What is home? It is that kingdom
of God. It is the eternal bliss of the
presence of God. We don't know what it shall be,
but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him,
for we shall see him as he is. So what is God's word to his
people? That was the background. What
is God's word to his people? Look at verse 10. Thus saith
the Lord. Jeremiah's writing his letter.
He said, this is what God has told me to tell you. Thus saith
the Lord, that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I
will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing
you to return to this place, causing you to return to Jerusalem. And he did. He did. He came about
exactly as he'd said. You're going to have a limited
time in Babylon. You're going to have a limited
time there. Heavenly Jerusalem, just as Zion and the real Jerusalem
is your true home, the heavenly Jerusalem is the true believer's
true home, eternal home. And God will take us there. There's
a promise to us. You say, how can an almighty
God be interested in me? I put a piece in the bulletin
thinking on these things. Who can comprehend God? How great
is our God. How immense is our God, beyond
our comprehension. His thoughts are higher than
our thoughts. His ways are higher than our
ways. We make the mistake as fallen
people in thinking that God is altogether like one of us, but
he isn't. He's almighty God. The God of the universe spoke,
let there be light and there was light. He created all things. He created life. That thing which
we think we understand, but the more we look into it, the more
complex it is. We think we understand the universe,
but the deeper we delve, the more we know that we don't know.
The deeper we delve into life, the more we know that we don't
know. For all things are fearfully and wonderfully made. He's almighty
God, and even now, Right now, right at this moment, it says
in Hebrews chapter 1 that he upholds all things by the word
of the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's his, God's, power,
his word, which constantly speaks and keeps all the laws of science
in their place. Vastly, infinitely, beyond our
comprehension, He's upholding all things in all places. You're
only aware of the 30 or 40 meters around you. He's controlling
everything, everywhere. He's got all things. There used
to be a song, I know it was glib. He's got the whole world in his
hands. He governs everything. How can
almighty God be interested in little, puny, worthless me? How can he be interested in me? He's got so many great things
to think about. How can he be interested in me?
You know, when it's the boss of a big company, and he might
be a very effective boss of a big company, but I tell you, There
are very, very, very few bosses of big companies that are interested
in the little people that work for them. Very, very few. But
not our God. Almighty God is interested in
his people. He thinks toward us. Look at
this, verse 11. He says this, I know the thoughts
that I think toward you. He doesn't say I know the thoughts
that I thought toward you. Yes, he thought toward us in
eternity. I have loved you with an everlasting
love. But he thinks towards us now.
How can he, how can almighty God be like that? He says, he
says, whilst he governs everything else, he thinks towards you and
me, believer, now. Yes, we're loved with an everlasting
love in eternity before the world was, but now he continues to
think. David, King David, said this
in Psalm 40 verse 17. He said, what we all are by nature,
I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh on me. God thinks on me. I'm poor and
needy, but God thinks on me. He says to his church, his people,
his bride, the ones he's redeemed from the law's curse, in Isaiah
27 verse 3 he said, I the Lord do keep it. I water it every
moment, lest any hurt it. I will keep it night and day.
This great God who rules all things above all else is concerned
for the welfare of his church, which is the apple of his eye,
the most tender spot in his eye. He won't let anybody touch it.
And of his exiled people in Babylon, he constantly thought of them
in their sorrow and their trials. Even though he had sent those
trials for their good, He thought about them. He said, in that
situation, you're there yearning for Zion, but I think towards
you. I think thoughts toward you.
They constitute the Lord's thoughtful purpose for your good, those
thoughts of God. For you know that he causes all
things to work together for good. to those that love God, who are
the called according to his purpose. This world doesn't just randomly
indiscriminately go on. He causes all things, all things
to work together for our eternal good to those who love God, who
are the called according to his purpose. Don't we, you know,
just in human relationships, don't we appreciate it when someone
is thoughtful towards our situation. You know, you say, oh, oh, look
at that. How thoughtful was that? Oh, you were thinking about me
in my difficulties. This is a token that you were
thinking about, and how much it warms our hearts when we see
that. Well, God thinks of his people
in their difficulties. How much more does God think
of his people than we are able to do? Nothing that happens to
us is bad luck. Nothing that happens to us is
fate. You know, have yourself a merry
little Christmas. Soon we'll all be together, if
the fates allow. No, no, no, no, no. If Almighty
God determines. He's the one who controls all
things. Often, we cannot understand why things are as they are. His
thoughts are too high for us. We can't understand Him. Who
can comprehend the incomprehensible God who dwells in unapproachable
light, but he knows them completely. He knows the thoughts that he
has towards his people. The Lord's thoughts towards his
people are not random. You know, our thoughts as fallen
human beings and with puny minds are so fickle. We think of one
thing one second, and we do something else the next second. We're so
fickle. We're random in our thoughts. but his thoughts are settled,
eternally settled, eternally purposed, unchangeably determined,
for he is our Lord Jesus Christ, our God, who is the same yesterday,
today, and forever. We can't decide from one minute
to the next, but he has for all eternity. We often foolishly,
quickly, glibly decide, but God's infinite mind is eternally settled,
In these thoughts that he thinks towards his people, these are
the thoughts of the infinite God, whose mind is eternally
settled in electing grace to all of his people. He knows each
and every one of the multitude that he gave to his son. It's
a multitude that no man can number, but he knows them all. He knows
every single one. He calls them in the prophecy
Malachi, He calls them his jewels, his jewels forever. You know
how you treasure jewels. If you have a diamond necklace
or something, or a pearl necklace, how you treasure it compared
with the other things that you have. He says of his people,
they are his jewels forever. He controls all things. When
Israel came out of Egypt in the Exodus, and went into the wilderness
wanderings. Moses, his servant, hadn't a
clue what route they would take. If it had been down to him, they
probably would have drawn a straight line and gone straight to the
promised land. But God ordained every turn of
their 40 years of wilderness wandering. Why? For their eternal
good, for the eternal good of those that he brought through
it at any rate. So what is the nature of God's thoughts toward
me and all of you who believe? I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace. Thoughts of
peace. What a comforting word, isn't
it? Peace. You know, give peace a
chance and glib silly things of the world like that. But this
is the peace of God. This is peace with God. From,
we saw a couple of weeks ago, Hebrews 13, 20, in that benediction,
the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord
Jesus Christ, that great shepherd of the sheep. He's the God of
peace. And how has he made peace? Because
by his very character, he cannot be at peace with sinners. He's
a purer eyes than to behold iniquity and cannot look upon sin. How
is it that he's made peace? His natural Godhead, his being
as God towards sin and those who are sinners is anger. with the wicked every day. He
is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, yet he has made peace with
sinners, that multitude that he loved. He's made peace with
sinners through the blood of the cross, through the blood
that Christ shed for his people to pay the penalty of their sin.
For the world outside of Christ, he is that consuming fire. He
is that angry God. He is that just judge. But as
manifested, as God manifested in Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ,
our God is our brother, our brother. There's one who sticks closer
than a brother. Our God is our brother. He's
our friend. I call you no longer servants,
I call you my friends, he said. He's a gentle master. I am your
master. Yes, you rightly say, I am your
master. His commandments, though, as
our master, they're not grievous, they're not grievous. If the
God of peace thinks thoughts of peace toward us, who can possibly
be against us? But it's not just that, look,
he underlines it. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil. God thinks towards you and me,
believer, if you trust him, thoughts of peace and not of evil. Why
does he say that? Because Satan loves to tell the
people of God when they're going through trials, Satan loves to
tell them, the Lord has evil thoughts toward you and will
cast you off from his presence forever because you are so evil.
The Lord can't stand you, you're not good enough to be the Lord's.
He loves... Satan loves to tell the people
of God that they're in that trial because of something they've
done, or something they are, or something they've said. The
Lord has evil thoughts toward you, but no, the Lord himself
says this, I have thoughts which are not of evil. They're of peace
and not of evil. No, he knows the end from the
beginning. because he determined all. He
determined the end from the beginning. He determined it for the peace
of his people and for the triumph of his kingdom. I saw an illustration,
I think it was Spurgeon that gave it, and it's this. You know, you look, if you go
to Florence and you look at the Statue of David, which is reckoned
to be one of the most beautiful sculptures ever produced, it's
absolutely magnificent, it's stunning, you just wonder how
anybody could, you know, if I hit a piece of stone with a hammer
and a chisel, it'll just go in all sorts of places, but you
look at this wonderful, wonderful statue, and you think well there's
the end and that that's the that's the final result. Do you know
that sculpture felt every hammer blow and every cut of the chisel
on the way to being like that and all the time it didn't know
what the final form would be. I don't know if you can grasp
that. But is that not what God is saying
to us here? That whilst we're going through
trials, we cannot understand or see what the end is, yet the
end is all in his hands. Because he, our God, thinks thoughts
of peace and not of evil toward us. You feel the burden of sin. He brings you to feel the burden
of sin and how dreadful it all is. Why? so that he'll show you
the liberty that you have in the Lord Jesus Christ, the way
in which Christ has lifted that burden of sin. You feel stripped
when you know God in heaven and his holiness and your own sinfulness,
you feel stripped, naked of your self-righteousness. Why? Because
he's bringing you to show you that you're clothed with the
righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. You are made as holy as
His Son in Him. Oh, it doesn't yet appear what
we shall be, but we know when we shall see Him we shall be
like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. Our God knows in every
detail, because He has determined it all, and He'll complete it
all. He will. Nothing that this world
tries to do, nothing that happens to cause grief, nothing that
happens to cause pain, can thwart God in his eternal purpose of
peace toward his people. What comfort. So how then, finally,
how then should we respond to this as believers? When we hear
God say this to us, that he has thoughts of peace and not of
evil, some religious folks might say, oh, well, I can be as irresponsible
as I like and God will keep me because he's got thoughts of
peace and not of evil towards me. That's foolishness. That's
not the faith of God's elect. God always acts in accordance
with his word. He will never tell his people
to do anything which compromises his word. Never to satisfy any
charismatic delusions of religion. So I'm thinking of, for example,
medical matters, you know. People who say, oh, God thinks
so I can do what I want. I can just not proceed with medical
treatment, et cetera. No, no, no. We do that which
seems, use your brain, but we do that which seems right in
the light of God's word. In financial dealings, we do
that which is right in accordance with God's word, which is a word
of prudence and of care and of responsibility and not irresponsibility. In relationships, we don't stray
from what God's word says. We stick to what God's word says. So let's give no place to such
delusions that we can live irresponsibly because God has thoughts of peace
and not of evil to us. But as we experience the afflictions
of the Christian life, let us learn to recognize them as the
stamp of the Lord's hand. good purpose for us. It's the
stamp of the Lord's election upon his people. The purpose
of which must be eternal good. It must be. Because he said earlier
in Jeremiah in chapter 24 and verse 5, he said of the exiles,
whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans,
that's Babylon, why do you do it? He says it there, for their
good. He did it for their good. The
right attitude to have is that we're in this situation in God's
all-wise purpose for our good. That's why we're there. Why was
Jacob brought to be terrified of Esau, his brother? Why was
he brought to that situation? Esau was coming with his great
big army and he absolutely was terrified of Esau, who would
get revenge for what Jacob did in stealing the birthright. What it did, what that trial,
what that terror did, was drove him, drove Jacob to wrestle with
Christ. In Genesis 32, you can read about
it. That's the time when he wrestled
with him. And the man, which was Christ, said, let me go.
And he said, I will not let you go except you bless me. And he
was blessed. He was blessed. His prayer was
answered. He thinks thoughts of peace and
not of evil, but look, There's a reason for it. To give you
an expected end. To give you an expected end. Some people like running, and
some people like running races. And even if you enjoy running
races, there comes a time when you long for its end. You long
for the race to end. Run the race that is set before,
set about by such a great cloud of witnesses, Hebrews chapter
12, verse 1. Let us run the race set before
us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Finisher.
There is an end to it. There is an end in sight. We
long for its end. And so believers desire the promised
end of this race, this course of life before us. You say, I've
got so much living to do. I've got so much that I want
to do. Yes, yes, yes. As you get older, it becomes
easier and easier, to the point where I am sure true believers,
lying on a death bed and knowing that the end is nigh, the testimony,
if you read the writings of the old writers about The saints
of God passing from this life, it's a longed-for situation.
It's an expected end. It's not a chance end. It's an
expected end because God has ordained it, and he will accomplish
it, and he cannot fail. It isn't an end to be feared.
It's an end to be longed for. Paul said this in Philippians
chapter one. He said, I need to stay to minister
to you, but I long to go. He said, I am in a straight betwixt
two. I'm in a difficult place between
two options. I've got a desire to depart and
to be with Christ, which is far better, but also I need to stay
for you for a while. Is that not the experience of
the believer? Is that not the experience of
the believer? Yes, there are people here that we want to stay
for, but a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far,
far better. It is everything He has promised. That end, that expected end,
is everything He has promised. Read again for yourself Revelation
21 and 22, the New Jerusalem, and what there was there. Let's
just glance at it quickly as we're closing. God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
neither crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the
former things are passed away. What a glorious prospect, the
presence of God in eternity, outside of time, never to end. God has thoughts of peace and
not of evil to give you an expected end, via trials and afflictions
on the way, but all to accomplish his people's eternal bliss to
make us each and every one, what it says in Colossians 1 verse
12, partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Amen.