In these verses we've read here
in Jeremiah 1, it is very clearly taught, stated, that before Jeremiah
was ever conceived in his mother's womb, before he was ever thought
of in this world, it says here the Lord knew him and sanctified him. That is,
set him apart and ordained him a prophet. Not ordained him to
be a prophet, but ordained him a prophet. That is, from eternity
he's God's prophet unto the nations. Most Old Testament
prophets were given to Israel or to Judah But in this scripture,
Jeremiah projects the great prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, in that
he's a prophet unto the nations, both Jew and Gentile. I wanted to begin here and I
want to read three other verses in the course of the message
today, over in chapter, one verse in chapter 31, one in chapter
32, and one in chapter 33. And those three verses, Along with what we've read here
in chapter 1, we'll emphasize three thoughts as we consider
this for our subject today. Three special blessings given
to God's children. Three special blessings given
to God's children. Now, the Apostle Paul had said
in Ephesians chapter 1, verse 3, that God had blessed us with
all, not with some, but with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. Well, if all spiritual blessings
are in Christ, and they are, why should our message be anything
or anyone other than Christ? It shouldn't. It shouldn't. from
this great book of Jeremiah I want us to share and trust the Lord
will help us to properly value these three special blessing
and number one turning to chapter 31 and verse 3 Jeremiah 31 and
verse 3 we find the special affection the Lord has for His people,
the special affection He has for His people. A lot of times young folks courting, some of us have
been there, very immature and very plain spoken, will say,
well, boy, I really love so-and-so. I love him. I love her. And some little happen, something
happened. And the very next day, I hate his guts. I despise her. God's not like that. God's not
like that. He is immutable. He is unchangeable. And when God says something,
it's what he's always been saying and always will be saying. He's
God. He's God. And look what he says
in this verse, 31, 3. The Lord hath appeared of old
unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, with lovingkindness
have I drawn thee. This special affection or love
which the Lord has for His people has been expressed in His drawing
us to His Son. It says here, Therefore with
lovingkindness have I drawn thee. You remember Jesus said in John
6, 44, No man can come to Me except the Father which hath
sent Me draw him. That is exactly who comes to
Christ. That's not exactly who comes
to church. But that's exactly who comes to Christ, is those
whom the Father draws to Christ. Now, concerning this special
affection, the Lord here says to Jeremiah, yea, or yes, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Everlasting means without
end. It lasts forever. But that's
just one direction, future. The term eternal means without
end or beginning. And this is what we read about
in chapter 1 and verse 5. Before I formed thee in the belly. God did that in time. formed Jeremiah in the womb of
his mother. But since God himself is not
in time, this before is forever before. And he says, before I
formed thee, how far before? Forever before. Before I formed
thee, I knew thee. And the word knew here, I knew
thee, is something more than just God's omniscience. It's
something more than God just having a knowledge of Him. The term know, knew, knowledge
in the Scripture goes further than that. In that sense, God
knows all there is to know about everything and everybody. Acts
15, 18, known unto God are all his works from the beginning
of the world. And he knows all because he decrees
all, has decreed all. Isaiah 46, 9 and 10, he said,
remember the former things of old, for I am God and there is
none else. I am God and there is none like
me. declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times
the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand,
and I will do all my pleasure. Did you hear that line, declaring
the end from the beginning? So God knows all there is to
know about everything and everybody so far as knowledge. But the
term know and foreknow and knew here is so often connected with
God's affection, God's love, and that's what we're talking
about. In Genesis chapter 4 and verse 1, we read these words,
and Adam knew his wife and she conceived. Now that does not mean that Adam
knew her name and what she looked like and what color her eyes
were and what color her hair was and she conceived. Of course
not. That knowledge would not bring
about conception. But when it says, and Adam knew
his wife, it means he loved his wife. He expressed in an intimate relationship,
his affection for his wife, and she conceived. So when it says,
and Adam knew his wife, and she conceived, in short, it's saying
Adam made love to his wife, expressed his affection for her, and she
conceived. in the Old Testament book of
Amos chapter 3 and verse 2, God says to Israel these words, You
only have I known of all the families of the earth. Well,
did God not know anything about the other nations, other families
of the earth? Of course He did. He knew all
about them, more than they knew about themselves. So what is
he saying here? You only have I known of all
the families of the earth. He is saying, you only have I
loved of all the families of the earth. And of course, the
reference is not to fleshly Israel, but spiritual Israel, the children
of Abraham by faith. That's who God loves. John 10.27,
Jesus said, My sheep hear my voice, and I know them. Well, is He not acquainted with
unbelievers? Sure, He knows all about them.
But what He's saying there in John 10.27 is this, My sheep
hear my voice, and I love them. I know them affectionately. They
have this special blessing of my affection and they follow
me. Again in Matthew chapter 7, remember
Christ said, Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall
enter into the kingdom of heaven. Many will say to me in that day,
Lord, Lord, have we not done this and done that and done many
wonderful works? And the Lord said, Then will
I profess unto them, Never knew you. Depart from me, ye that
work iniquity." Well, he knew all about them. He knew they were not genuine. He knew they were distrusting
in their religious works and pretense. And he said to them,
depart from me, you're workers of iniquity. I never knew you.
Don't mean he didn't know about them. What he's saying is, I
never loved you. I never loved you. Depart from
me. Did Christ ever say to anyone
he loved, depart from me? No. Uh-uh. Get away from me? No. Romans 11.2, y'all are looking
at me crazy now. Romans 11.2, God hath not cast away his people
which he foreknew? God hath not cast away his people
which he foreloved from eternity? Oh, no. I Corinthians 8 verse
3, But if any man love God, the same is known of him. In other words, if any man love
God, The same is loved of God. That's what John said. We love
him because he first loved us. That's what it's saying. So the
Lord is saying to Jeremiah here, before I formed you in your mother's
womb, I knew you. I loved you. And he says here
in the 31st chapter, and this third verse, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love. That's the first special blessing
of God's children that I'm thrilled about this morning, a special
affection for His children. You say, well, I just believe
He loves everybody in the world. If He loved everybody in the
world, He would change their heart to love Him. See? He loves His own. He laid down
His life for His own. He corrects and chastens His
own. The book of Hebrews said, Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth. Now what does that say about
them he don't chase them? Clear. Thank God for this special
affection that he has for his children. I'm thrilled to be
in the number this morning. I really am. Secondly, in chapter
32 and verse 17, a special ability, a special
ability, The Lord is able, Paul said, to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think. And this verse, Jeremiah 32,
17, is the second of these special blessings. A special ability. He says, Ah, Lord God, behold,
Thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power
and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee." Did you catch that last line?
There is nothing too hard for thee. They used to sing an old
song, there's nothing, no nothing. that my God can't do. And how true that is. Jeremiah
reminds the Lord here. He's talking to the Lord. There
is nothing too hard for thee. That would be all right for you
to pray. Lord, there is nothing too hard for thee. And of course, most of us would
have to add, I don't believe you can do much. I don't act like you can do much,
but your word said there is nothing too hard for thee. So that being true, and it is
true, all our concern is with God's will, not God's ability. Not God's ability. Never. There
is nothing. Too hard for thee. I was reading
this morning in the Old Testament, back in the book of Chronicles,
about a man named Asa, king of Judah. He had an army of 580,000,
a little over half a million. But his enemy, the Ethiopians,
they had an army of 1,000,000. And they went out to battle. And Asa cried unto the Lord,
and here's what he said, Lord, it is nothing with thee to help. What was he saying? He was simply
saying, Lord, it won't strain you one little bit to step into
my little world and turn this battle in our favor. I want to say this morning to
us, it won't strain the Lord one bit to step into your little world and handle things. It may not
be His will to solve every problem overnight and remove every hindrance
and every hardship. No. But He does have grace. to carry
us through it, to help us lean on Him in it. Another time in
Scripture I thought about 1 Samuel 14. Jonathan, he said to the
young man that bare his armor, he said, come and let us go over
under the garrison of these uncircumcised crowd. It may be that the Lord
will work for us. It may be. Boy, he didn't have
much confidence. He had a pretty good bit. He wasn't questioning God's ability.
He was talking about God's will. It may be that the Lord will work for us. Now listen to what he said. For
there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few. The Lord will never come back
and say, I don't have that much power. I'm not equipped for anything
like that. No. He said, there is no restraint
to the Lord to save by many or by few. Whether we've got a 10
million man army or whether there's two of us, doesn't make a lick
of difference. with God. Jonathan was ten times the man
his father Saul was, because Jonathan believed in and relied
on the Lord. Saul always thought he could
handle things. And I want to tell you, it's
sad to say this, but I read in that Old Testament about Saul,
it looks too much like a mirror to me. He always thought he could handle
things. He thought he was in control. And that's a lot of
our trouble, thinking that we do a pretty good job with our
lives and we just need the Lord to
step in every now and again when we get off course. That's not the case. But for
the Lord, We'd never get on course. David said in the 139th Psalm,
Psalm 139. Psalm 139. I love this Psalm. This is one that everybody ought
to learn. This is one that I wish our children, you teachers, you
parents, this is one that I wish our children could quote. by memory and it'd be no big
deal. They can learn 10 times quicker
than we can and remember better by the way. Psalm 139, how blessed,
how blessed. Now I want to show you some things
here. Psalm 139 verse 6, David said, O Lord, thou hast searched
me and known me. Thou knowest my down sitting
and my up rising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. For there is
not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful
for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. He's talking about the omniscience
of God. He knows all. He sees all about
me. Then he goes on to talk about
the omnipresence of God, that God is everywhere. Whether shall
I go from thy spirit or whether shall I flee from thy presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in
hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there shall
thy hand lead me and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say,
surely the darkness shall cover me, even the night shall be light
about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not
from thee, but the night shineth as the day. The darkness and
the light are both alike to thee." Wow. You cannot get where God
is not. I'll tell you, that's blessed.
That's blessed. He promised, I'll never leave
you nor forsake you. Then the psalmist moves on to
talk about the power of God. the omnipotence of God. And this
is so blessed, just reading it is all we need to do. For thou
hast possessed my reins. Thou hast covered me in my mother's
womb. That's what Jeremiah talked about.
And that word covered here means thou hast woven me together,
knit me together. You've made me to be just what you wanted me
to be. I will praise thee for I am fearfully and wonderfully
made. Fearfully because I'm in control
of nothing. Wonderfully because you're in
control of everything. Marvelous are thy works and that
my soul knoweth right well. Now he says my substance was
not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously
wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. Thine eyes did see
my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members
were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there
was none of them." He's saying, Lord, You knew all about me before
there was anything about me. How precious also are thy thoughts
unto me, O God. How great is the sum of them. I just can't add it all up. If
I should count them, they are more in number than the sand.
When I awake, I am still with thee. Surely thou wilt slay the
wicked, O God, Depart from me, therefore, you bloody men, for
they speak against thee wickedly, and thy enemies take thy name
in vain. Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am
not I agreed with those that rise up against thee? I hate
them with perfect hatred. I count them mine enemies. Search
me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. and see if there be any wicked
way in me and lead me in the way everlasting. Oh, he's talking
about God being on top of everything, concerning our lives in every
way. I think about those three old
boys there in Babylon, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They are
facing a fiery furnace. because they will not bow to
the idol, will not bow to the image, under Nebuchadnezzar. They were staring death in the
face, it was obvious. But they had such belief in God,
such confidence in God, they were bold to say to that king
of Babylon, you may have the furnace plenty hot, and he did. And you may or may not give the
command to throw us in. But we want you to know, Mr.
King, you really are not in control here. Our God does as He wills. He can deliver us. We know He
can. His ability, His authority is
not the question. Then they went on and said, and
He will deliver us. He will. But whether He delivers us from
the furnace or in the furnace, that's His business. And you
know the story. God never delivered them from
the furnace, but He delivered them in it. He delivered them
in it. Think about a certain leper in
Matthew 8. He said, Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean. It's
never about God's ability. It's about His will. What a special
blessing to have this conviction in our hearts this morning that
nothing is too hard for God. A lot of people think, due to
the chaotic condition of this world, that somehow God has lost
control. I had a preacher tell me a few
years ago that the devil's in control of the world right now,
but the Lord's coming back and he's going to take it back over.
No, he never has let go of it. It's been in his control all
along. A lot of people don't think that.
He's very much in control. But sin is running its course. And when it runs its course,
it's going to end in death and hell for Adam's race in general. But oh, how God's power is keeping,
how God Himself is faithful in delivering His elect people day
by day. He always has and He will until
this world is history. So we have the special blessing
of God's affection, how He loves His own. We have the special
blessing of God's ability and the conviction of this in our
heart that there's nothing too hard for God. And then the third
thing in the 33rd chapter the special blessing that we
have of access to Him, our Heavenly Father, in prayer. Jeremiah 33 and verse 3, Call unto Me, and I will answer
thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest
not. It's a good verse to mark. The
Lord saying to Jeremiah and the Holy Spirit saying to
you and I, call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great
and mighty things which thou knowest not. He didn't say, I'll make you
feel so much better than you feel about all that's going on
in your life. He didn't say, I'll make you
so much more comfortable than you are with the way everybody's
treating you and the way everything's going. No, no. See, this is about a relationship.
He said, I'll make you know some things that'll help you. I will show thee great and mighty
things which thou knowest not. Call unto me what a blessed privilege,
the special blessing of access." Romans 5, 2, talking about Christ
by whom also we have access by faith. Hebrews 10, 19, and 20,
having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath
consecrated for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh. Through the rending of the veil
of his flesh, our great high priest has entered in. and secured for us access to
the Father, our Father, our Father. You remember after the resurrection,
he told Mary Magdalene, I send to my Father and your Father. That's why Jesus taught us, Luke
11 too, when you pray, say, Our father, our father. That's how we're supposed to
think and pray. And our Lord said, say, say,
our father. It's not, Oh God, a million miles
away who counts me as some distant failure. No, it's our father. caring, compassionate, and close
that we have access to. Our Lord said in the Gospel of
Matthew, if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their
children, how much more our heavenly Father knows how to give us what
we need. What a special blessing, access
to the Father. I think of Daniel in the Old
Testament. He's a young man who's a slave
in a foreign country, Babylon. And the king had a dream that
he wanted interpreted. He called in all his wise men
and they couldn't do it. And he's fixing to have them
all put to death simply because they can't tell him what he dreamed
about and what it meant. And he called a young Daniel
in. So he put Daniel in the same spot with those other supposed
to be interpreters. It was going to cost him his
life. His life is on the line. And he called Daniel in and he
said, I hear you can interpret dreams. And Daniel said, not me. You've
heard wrong. But he said, I will tell you
this, there is a God in heaven that reveals secrets. And I talked to him and he talks
to me. I will tell you, it just makes
good sense to be on speaking terms with our father. Sad to say, I know some family
relationships where children, even adult children,
are not on speaking terms with their earthly father or mother. But I want to tell you it ought
not be the case with God's children. We need to be on speaking terms
with our Father. Oh yes, because He cares. And
He has the ability. And He loves us. Oh yes. Oh yes. It makes good sense to be on speaking
terms with our Heavenly Father. Our Father would have us fellowship
with Him. A father is not one who just, you know, works His
magic, solves problems, He would have us consult with Him, share
with Him, lean on Him in all life's struggles, in our joys
and in our sorrows. He's our Father. We have access. We have access. There was another time in the
book of 2 Kings. Three kings went out to the battlefield.
They were united. King of Moab, king of Israel,
and king of Judah. And Jehoshaphat, the king of
Judah, was the only godly one of the three. Well, they got
out there and got in a mess and ran out of water. And the three determined to go
down to the prophet's house, who was Elisha, and ask him to inquire the Lord
and find out what we should do. Well, they went down there. And
I love reading about this. Elisha, he wasn't like the smiley-faced,
sissified preachers in our generation. He never greeted them without
stretched arms. He said, Oh, brethren, the Lord
so joyfully waits to accept all three of you." No, he didn't
do that. I think he might have whispered in Jehoshaphat's ear
and said, what are you doing running with them two devils? And he told them all, he said,
worry it not for the presence of Jehoshaphat, I wouldn't give
you other two the time of day. I wouldn't waste my breath. But
he inquired of the Lord. And he told them what to do.
He said, go back to your camp, to your men, and that valley
you're camped in, and make the whole valley full of ditches.
Dig ditches. Now, they're already out of water.
A little bit maybe they're rationing. They don't need to be exerting
energy, wearing themselves out with no water. But God said,
dig ditches. Not just two or three, but make
the valley full of ditches. And I can imagine him, King,
saying, well, that don't make sense. That don't make a lick
of sense. Well, Elisha would have said,
I didn't say it made sense. I said that's what the Lord said
for you to do. Well, they did with Jehoshaphat's
lead, I'm sure. And the next morning, the ditches
were full of water. The Bible says they didn't see
no wind, they didn't see no rain, but the ditches were full of
water. The Lord had supplied. And it was a double blessing.
You ought to read this. It's in 2 Kings 3. It's where
it's at. Not only did they have water,
and it solved that problem, but the enemy camped over the hill.
They looked. over, looked down there, and
the sun was shining just right, and the water was red, and it
looked like blood. And they said that bunch done
got in a fight. They done fell out with one another, and they
done killed each other, and the whole valley's full of blood. So they just come a-marching
on in over the hill and in there like they didn't have no enemy.
And guess what? Jehoshaphat and a whole bunch
rose up and slew the daylights out of them. God handled it. God handled it. Elisha was on speaking terms
with the Lord. And I'll repeat that. It makes
good sense to be on speaking terms with our Heavenly Father. You would have a fellowship with
Him, consult with Him. I thought of this story, and
I'll be finished. I told you this years ago. A
little boy lived beside the great Mississippi River. You children
like this story. This little boy lived by the
big river. And he'd go down every day and
play there in the grass, and he'd wave at the big ships as
they passed. And a man that came out there
every day got to watching him. And he was amused at the little
boy waving at all those big ships. And one day the little boy waved,
and then he started motioning for the ship to come over to
the side of the river. And the man just chuckled and
said, well, young man, that big ship is not going to pay any
attention to you. You're just wasting your energy. And the little boy said, I'm
not wasting my energy. He said, my father is the captain
of that ship. And sure enough, he started pulling
over toward the side and came real close. The captain walked
out on deck over the side waved at his son. The child had access
to the one at the controls. And so do we this morning. We
have access to the one at the controls. He's our father. He loves us. He has the ability. And we have the access. Peter
exhorted us, casting all your care upon him for he careth for
you. And as he told Jeremiah here,
call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and
mighty things which thou knowest not. So I wanted to remind us
this morning of these three special blessings for which we, as God's
children, should be especially grateful. A special affection. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. A special ability. There is nothing
too hard for the Lord. A special access. call unto me,
and I will answer thee." Three special blessings. Thanks be
unto our God. Let's stand together.