Jeremiah chapter 29 verses 1
through 14. Now these are the words of the
letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem unto the
residue of the elders which were carried away captive. They were
carried away captive. And to the priests and the prophets
and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from
Jerusalem to Babylon. After that, Jeconoah the king
and the queen and the eunuchs and the princes of Judah and
Jerusalem and the carpenters and the smiths that were departed
from Jerusalem. In the hand of Elisha, the son of Seraphim,
Geraniah, the son of Helikiah, who was Zechariah's king of Judah,
sent unto Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, saying, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that
were carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away
from Jerusalem unto Babylon, Build ye houses, dwell in them,
plant gardens, eat the fruit thereof. Take ye wives, beget
sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give
your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters,
that ye may be increased there and not diminished. And seek
the peace of the city, whether I have caused you to be carried
away captive, and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace
thereof shall you have peace. 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 you caused to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely
unto you in my name. I have not sent them, saith the
Lord. For thus saith the Lord, that
after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you
and perform my good word 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 and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall you call upon
me, and you shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto
you. And you shall seek me and find
me, and you shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith
the Lord, and I will return away your captivity, and I will gather
you from all the nations, 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." Some nice promises sitting here,
isn't there? Actually, I got one of them dated June 1996. So it meant something to me at
the time, for sure. A few thoughts leading up to
our main text, which I'm not going to tell you what that is,
but let's just look at a few things. How did we, I guess we could
say this, with this current political situation in this country and
different things like that, where we are right now, the things
that have happened to you right now, the things in your life,
good, bad, indifferent, the things that you're dealing with, you're
struggling with. How did we get into this mess,
this situation that they were in? They were carried away captive.
What about us? How did we get here? Verse 4,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that
are carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away
from Jerusalem unto Babylon." You could say, and we do, we
beat ourselves up a lot, well my sin, this is, what's going
on in my life now is a product of my sin, and that could be
true. The unbeliever would say, it's
my lot, it's luck, chance. But what does the quickened and
awakened child of God say? God says, I have caused you to
be carried away. That's why we're here. Now we
always can blame ourselves and confess our sins, and when we
do so, He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins. Don't
blame Satan. Thank God. What does Philippians say? In everything,
give thanks. In everything, give thanks. The
Lord brought to my attention Now, you know, I got the sciatica
issue and I'm still waiting for the results. And it's frustrating.
It's aggravating. I can't do what I want to do.
But the Lord one day, a couple weeks ago, just brought me down
and I realized that the reason why I have the best route at
my job is because of my back. Because I have the gravy route. The most desirable route in the
company. because of my back. Oops. In everything, give thanks. The Lord said of hosts, I caused
you to be carried away. So what do we do? What do we
do when we're in a situation? What do we do when we're We're
under the gospel, by the grace of God, the Lord has raised up
a church here in Jackson, we're trying to be a part of it. We live our lives, right? Bruce
always says you live your lives. Like Enoch, you walk with God.
Verse five, live your lives while you're in this foreign land,
but remember, it's a foreign land. Carry on, pay taxes, raise
children, love your family, yet always remember, Build ye houses,
verse 5, dwell in them, plant gardens, eat the fruit, take
wives, beget sons and daughters, take wives for your sons, give
your daughters to husband, that they may bear sons and daughters,
that ye may be increased there and not diminished. But this
is not our land, this is not our, yeah, that's right, we're
sojourning. Live your life. Live your life. Always remember,
like Job, The Lord has given, the Lord can take away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. Be thankful. Be thankful. Thankful that there's a place,
and it ain't much of a place, the outside world says. But that's
what they said about the tabernacle. You remember the tabernacle on
the outside? Badger skins? It was this, it was repulsive. By the way, you match that tent,
the tabernacle, tent of meetings up to the church in Greece, Diana,
great is the God of Philip, great is the God of Diana. All these
pomp and circumstance. Didn't make any difference. The
Lord met his people there. The Lord. So we raise our children,
love our families, and yet we always remember that It's God's
grace that makes us different. I just thought this, build houses,
take wives. Now he's not talking about intermarriage.
He's not talking about marriage. He's talking to the Israelites
specifically. You marry within your group. Do not be unequally yoked with
unbelievers. Be very careful. If you find somebody that you're
attracted to, you bring them here. You tell them. Tell them about the truth. Tell
them the truth of the gospel. But bring them here. And if they're
inclined to stay, move to phase two. But if not, be warned. Be
warned. And look at verse 7. These are
just thoughts that I had leading up to our main text. And seek
the peace of the city, whether I have caused you to be carried
away. For in the peace thereof you shall have peace. Pray for
the city, the town, the county where we dwell in for peace that
we may be found as like Matthew says, blessed are the peacemakers
and not divisive people. Let the gospel divide, not our
attitude. But pray for your neighbors.
We've got some good neighbors. They're not believers. You've
got some good neighbors. They're not believers. So don't
pick a fight. Don't back down, don't compromise
the truth, but don't pick a fight. But tell them the truth. So here
are three things that this is what we should be doing. We're
in a world that's not ours, we're sojourning, but we live, pay
taxes, work. Now, we get to verse 11. And this is what will help you
and me while we are here. This is the Lord talking. I know
the thoughts. Who knows the mind of God? Scripture
says His ways and thoughts are not our thoughts. But here He
specifically tells us. He's prying back that that curtain
of that tent of medians, just this one time. For I know
the thoughts that I think toward you elect a child of grace. Thoughts of peace and not of
evil to give you an expected end. Do you mean to tell me that
during this whole battle and warfare of which I get weary,
I wake up in the morning with new aches and pains, I wake up
in the morning with new adversaries, and wake up in the morning with
the same old Satan, this and that, and people who hate the
gospel, and my neighbors? Yes, yes, yes. You're telling
me that the war is over, it's finished, it's won? To give you unexpected end. That's exactly
what he's telling us. He's telling us the end before
it ever comes about. Now, how many of us would love
to know that in this life? Well, here it is. And this is
the unerring Word of God. These are God's thoughts. And
his thoughts are more than mere thoughts. They produced themselves
in actions by sending the Lord Jesus Christ into this world. The world knew him not. He was
the light of men. The light shineth in darkness,
and the darkness comprehended it not. This is what he thought. He purposed in his providence,
in the fullness of time, Christ made of a woman, born under the
law, to redeem those that were under the law. And now he's seated
at the right hand of God, on the majesty on high. It's finished.
His thought became action and truth which cannot be disputed. Let me read you the amplified
version. For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you,
says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not
for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. What is our
final outcome? which maketh not ashamed." What
Paul says. Isn't that the truth? Oh, what is the believers expected
in? Happiness while here, right?
Always happy, always in a state of smiling. Nope. I know it's ease while we're
upon this earth. Nope. I know it's to make as
many friends with the world as we can. Nope. I know it's to
make as much money and being as well off as we can. It has
its privileges, but that's not it. I know it's being the top
of the class. Being able to go back to your
family, to the class reunion with a couple stars and stripes.
A couple things kind of unsuccessful. The saved sinner expected in
is to be seated with Christ. into heavenlies. To give you grace? Does that sound like grace? To give you something you do
not deserve and expect it in. Now, you talk to most people
in the world and you ask them about what is their expected
in? I mean, what do they think? I think I've done enough good
works, I've done, you know, I remember Aunt Lula and I took care, you
know, I think that'll be all, but they're not sure. They're
not sure about their end. The believer is certain. Here's the promise right here.
Here's the promise right here. So everything that is taking
place right now, and before now, and after now, is to bring this
one objective to pass. the salvation and separation
of all the elect by the foolishness of preaching, all to the glory
of God the Father. Isn't that true? For I know the thought, says
God, that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace
and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Matthew Henry
writes, we often do not know our own minds, but the Lord is
never at an uncertainty. We are sometimes ready to fear
that God's designs are all against us. But as to his own people,
even that which seems evil is for good. He will give them Not
the expectations of their fears, or the expectations of their
fancies, but the expectations of their faith. The end He has promised, which
will be the best for them. That's our expected end. That
is our expected end. I'm just gonna, let's just look
at a few different verses. Oh, I'd love this. I just enjoy
doing this. Turn with me to 2 Kings chapter
25. 2 Kings. This is the message
in itself right here. 2 Kings chapter 25. I believe it's
the last book in Kings. That last chapter, yep. Let's start reading verse 27.
2 Kings. Chapter 25. And it came to pass in the seventh
and thirteenth year of the captivity of Jehoiachin, the king of Judah,
in the twelfth month on the seventh and twentieth day of the month
that evil Merodach, king of Babylon, in the year that he began to
reign, did lift up the head of Jehoiachin, king of Judah, out
of prison. So it's already looking good.
And evil Merodach spake kindly to the king of Israel, king of Judah, And he set his
throne above the throne of the kings that were with him in Babylon. And he changed the king of Judah's
garment, and he did eat bread continually before him or with
him all the days of his life. Now look at this. This is us,
even though we don't think so. And our allowance was a continual
allowance given us of the king a daily rate for every day, all
the days of our lives. Isn't that the truth? I heard the phrase for the first
time, because I'm not much on quaint sayings and phrases, and
Melinda really introduced me, and then when I try to record
them, I mess them up. Enough is as good as a feast. I've never
heard that before. Here we are standing by order,
by purpose divine in front of the king who has quickened and
redeemed us, put new garments upon us and set us up with kings
and priests. And God's allowance to us is
a continual allowance given by him and his grace a daily rate,
give us this day our daily bread, a daily rate for every day, all
the days of our life. I would say those are thoughts
of kindness and peace and not of evil. Two, allowance. Grace for that day. It was a continual allowance.
Never-ending blessings are provisions. Given. Grace. I'm just kind of going over the
words in verse 30. Given. Daily. Sufficient. All that we could want and all
that we could ask for. Because if you've got more than
what's daily allowance, you've got to worry about the storage
of it, you've got to worry about fees coming and taking it, and
this and that. Every day. Every day. A daily rate for every day. Without
fail. Without fail. This is His promise. There's another promise. All
the days of our life. Will our God supply all our needs
in Christ Jesus? Yes. And what did we look at
this morning in Philippians? I am confident of this very thing. He which hath begun a good work
in you will finish it, is what that word is, perform it unto
the day of Christ Jesus. A reading stomped all over that
and it stomped all over us and it was just fantastic. And His allowance, the believer,
the believing sinner continue allowance, giving him of the
king a daily rate for every day, all the days of his life." That sounds like thoughts of
good and not evil. To bring us to an expected, not
unexpected, expected end. Romans 8 and 28. All things,
not some things. Not 98% of things. All things
work together for good to them that love God, to them who are
of the call according to His purpose. Not some things, but
all things. And isn't that just overwhelm
you with peace? And again, we've got to Raise
our gardens, raise our children's, marriage, giving in marriage,
buy our homes, pay taxes. We're doing all that that he's
saying because we're sojourning. We're in captivity. This is not
our land. But we're doing all these things
and we're praying for the peace. We're praying for peace that
they might know the God of all peace. But we pray for our nation. We pray for our leaders. We pray
for us that we may have peace. Nothing wrong with that. But
if peace doesn't come, our God who is over peace, peace can
still reign in your heart. It can still reign in righteousness.
Matthew chapter 6, we'll look at this one. This always steps
all over me, but I have nothing to fear in Christ.
That's the problem with myself. It's just hard. Matthew chapter
6 verse 25, therefore I say unto you, these are the words of Christ,
take no thought for your life, what you shall eat, or what you
shall drink, nor yet for your body, what you shall put on.
Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air,
for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns,
yet your heavenly Father thoughts towards you are thoughts of. good, not of evil. He feeds them. Are you not much better than
they? Which one of you, by taking thought, can add one cubic to
your statue? And why take ye thought for raiment?
Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow, and they toil
not, neither do they spin. And yet I say unto you that Solomon,
in all his glory, was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore,
if God so clothed the grass of the field, which today is, and
tomorrow is cast in the oven, Shall He not much more clothe
you? Has He not told us that His thoughts,
His very thoughts of us, are of good and not of evil, to bring
an expected end? Therefore take no thought, saying,
What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or where the wall shall
we be clothed? For after all these things do
unbelievers seek. Cars, houses, clothes upon clothes,
things upon things, access. For your Heavenly Father knows
that you have need of all these things. We're human beings. We have to be covered. We have
to be fed. Not only fed, but the fact that
the food is good, is palatable. But seek ye first the Kingdom
of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be
added unto you. Therefore take no thought for the morrow, for
the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof. Oh, it's evil. Tomorrow's gonna
be evil. The next day's gonna be evil.
But we're not of this world. And God's thoughts towards us
are not evil, but for our welfare. 2 Samuel chapter 9. 2 Samuel chapter 9. I'm familiar with this one too.
I love this passage. David verse 1 said, Is there
yet any that is left of the house of Saul that I may show him the
kindness for Jonathan's sake? And there was in the house of
Saul a servant whose name was Ziba, or Ziba, and he had called
unto David the king, and said unto him, Art thou Ziba? And
he said, Thy servant is he. And the king said, Is there yet
any of the household of Saul that I may show him the kindness
of God unto him? And Ziba said unto the king,
Jonathan has yet a son, which is laying on his feet. And the
king said unto him, Where is he? He's in the house of Micah,
of Amul, and Lodabar. And David said, Fetch him. Now, I had this thought. David
says, I had this thought. Is there any left of the household? I'm just thinking. Is there any
left of the household of Saul that I can show kindness for
Jonathan's sake? I said, yeah, there's one guy.
And in his thoughts, like God, it became actions. He doesn't
think and then not do. His thoughts towards us are of good, not evil. And so he
acts. And he fetches this one out of
the house of Micah, the son of Amul and from Lodabar. And what
is the response of one who was saved truly by the grace of God
and understands the grace of God? He was come to David, he
fell on his face and did reverence, and David said, Mephibosheth,
and he answered, Behold, thy servant. Paul and Timotheus,
the servants of God, the bond slaves. There it is again. There
it is again. Again. Thy servant. David said to him, fear not,
because I have thoughts to do you good, and I'm going to bring
you to an expected end. Fear not. I will surely show
thee kindness for Jonathan thy father's sake, and I will restore
thee all the land of Saul thy father, and thou shalt eat bread
at my table continually." And Mephibosheth bowed himself and
said, What is thy servant that ye should look upon such a dead
dog as I am? He still can't believe, he cannot believe that God's
grace has come to him. He cannot believe that this thing,
this truth that we understand and know of Christ and Him crucified,
that should find him out and set him apart. and tell us to
sin no more, and to love Christ, and to love his brethren, and
to love his worship, and to love his church. What am I? And that's what we constantly
ask ourselves. Or Job, I hate and abhor myself for repenting
dust and ashes. Oh, this is just amazing. Verse 11, then Ziba, the king
of And said unto the king, According to all that thy lord hath commanded
his servants, so shall he do. As for Mephibosheth, said the
king, He shall eat at my table as one of the king's sons. Verse
13, So Mephibosheth dwelt in Jerusalem, for he did eat continually
at the king's table, and was lame on both feet. Now doesn't
that sound like kings? He was given a daily allotment.
every day for the rest of his life. And you know how in the bulletin,
and I still threaten to preach this, about Mary, Martha, and
Lazarus, if you read the bulletin, these three are here, the three
qualities. Lazarus, he communed with the
Lord, he's worshipping, he fell at his feet and he's worshipping. Mary is anointing, He's commuting,
I'm saying he's commuting with the king. Mary anointed at the
feet of Christ, the sweet Savior. That's what he's doing. He fell
at his feet and he's worshipping the king. You say, well, where is
he serving? Well, later on in the story when
Ziba lies to David about Mephibosheth. So, you know, David had to flee
for his life and then Ziba, you remember the story. He hooks
up with David later on and David says, where's Mephibosheth? You
know, I did all this for him and he was so thankful. Where's
he at? Well, Ziba left him. He's laying
on both feet. He couldn't find him. So then
David comes back in. He goes to see Mephibosheth.
Mephibosheth served David and told him what happened. He said,
okay, I understand. Served. He served, and he loved, and
he worshipped David, and he communed with David. These three things. This then is our, by and through
the grace divine, our expected end. This is our expected end. To be with the king at the king's
table. And Melinda was looking at something
the other day, and she threw this one in. This is good too.
1 Samuel chapter 1. 1 Samuel. Boy, I hope I got this
written down right. I think it's chapter 2. I think
it's 1 Samuel chapter 2. I left that out. Yeah, it's a handless prayer. 1 Samuel chapter 2. And Hannah
prayed and said, my heart rejoices in the Lord. My horn is exalted
in the Lord. My mouth is enlarged over my
enemies because I rejoice in thy salvation. There is none
holy as the Lord, for there is none beside thee. Neither is
there any rock like our God. Talk no more of sinning proudly. Let not arrogance come out of
your mouth. For the Lord is a God of knowledge, and by him actions
are weighed. The bows of the mighty men are broken, and they
that stumble are girded with strength. They that were filled
have hired out themselves for bread, and they that were hungry
have ceased. So that the barren hath born
seven, and she that hath many children is wax feeble. The Lord
killeth, the Lord maketh alive. He bringeth down to the grave
and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor and maketh rich. He bringeth
low and lifteth up. This is the Lord who's shared
his thoughts. I have thoughts. of you, saith
the Lord." This is the God that shares His thoughts. He raises
up the poor out of the dust. He lifts up the beggar from the
dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the
throne of glory. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and
He has set the world upon them. And then you have this first
phrase in verse 9. He, this is our expected end,
will keep the feet of His saints. Wow. What an unexpected end. David said, my feet is well not
slipped. But he got his eyes off Christ. That's what we can
expect. Because we're in the land. This
is not our land. We're a soldier. Everything's
against us here for the most part. So when we get our eyes
off Christ, this guy's prospering. He's not in trouble. He's not
in trouble like other people. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Until
we go in the sanctuary, which the sanctuary is Christ, but
it also, when we go hear the gospel, they're all the same. We gather together, get our mind. That, I would say, is the heaviest
burden that a pastor or that somebody has is to speak of Christ,
but the greatest joy is when he sees the folks get their eyes
off of themselves and on to Christ. And that's what we're looking
at in Philippians. That's why it's gonna be a wonderful study.
There's, what is John, 1 John, there's no greater joy that he
said that his children still walk in the light. I think that's
about what he says. That's a wonderful thing, but
that's our expected end. I come up here and I'm a failed,
falling sinner. You expect for me to preach the
gospel and says, I believe Hebrews, it's your reasonable service
that you're here and that you pray for me and I pray for you,
but that you're here to hear of the gospel. That's what I
expect. We do such things because the
pastor browbeats. I'm sure I have and I apologize. That's not right. But if the
love of Christ constrains us, we're going to be here, we're
going to make sure our kids are here. This is what we desire. This is what
we desire. This word expected. I had to
look it up. This is our expected end by divine,
sovereign, free grace. It is a hope longed for. A hope longed for. I know the
thoughts that I have towards you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts
of peace and not of evil, to give you a hope longed for. Turn to Psalms chapter 9. Psalms chapter 9 and verse 18. For the needy shall not always
be forgotten. The expectation of the poor shall
not perish forever. Psalm 62. This is the same word
incidentally. Psalm 62. Psalm 62 and verse 5. My soul, wait thou only upon
God, for my expectation is from Him. It's a good expectation. It's going to be a good end.
And Psalm 71. Psalm 71 verse 5. For thou art my hope. That's the same word as expectation. A hope longed for. Thou art my
hope, O Lord God. Thou art my trust from my youth. Now, I'm not making this up.
I couldn't. But as I was closing, and I told
Melinda, I just kind of came out of my seat. Here's my closing
statement. Let us thank our Father for such
a great expectancy. And reality is this, Christ in
you, the hope of glory. It just came to my mind, that's
my closing, Colossians chapter 1 verse 27. I looked up the word
hope, you know what it is? Expectation. I didn't connect these dots.
And I don't know Greek, and I don't know Hebrew, but I just think,
What a blessed end. Verse 20 and 11 in chapter 29,
Jeremiah, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, sayeth
the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected
end, that our expected end is Christ in us, our hope, our expectation
of glory. Amen and amen. Truly, when I heard somebody
preach, I think it was Gary Shepard, 20, 20 something years ago at
Don Fortner's conference, he talked about the harmony in the
gospel. Everything's, it surely does. Everywhere you look, you
see Christ. Everywhere you look, you see
poor lost sinners. Everywhere you look, you see
these poor lost sinners having a good expected in, and that
is Christ. It's amazing. It's absolutely
amazing. Bruce, would you close us, please? I thank God for this morning. It's so wonderful, so beating.
We've walked in this valley of death. We've seen death all around
us. And we can hope for all those
who are dead that they might see life. But it's hard for us. There's trouble all about us.
This death produces so many things that create distrust and worry
amongst us. But all you've said this morning,
Lord, is that you have graced us. You have shown us a light.
We're protected from that. We're yours. We're shut off from
that. You've got all that we could
ever possibly