Thank you, Brother. It's a blessing
to be here. I'm so encouraged by the fellowship
here and by your pastor. Most of you know that the Lord
used your pastor to teach me the gospel, and I'm so grateful
for that. He's been a real, real dear friend
over the years. I told the folks at Williamsburg
this morning about Charlie, and the same thing is true about
you, Todd. Some people, the more you get
to know them, the more disappointed you are. I don't want you to
know too much about me, because you might find out some things
you don't like. But occasionally, there are a
few men that the more you get to know them, the more you esteem
them and respect them and love them. I guess it's that way with
believers across the board, but your pastor is very special to
me. I'm thankful for you and thankful for this pulpit and
this ministry. Let's open our Bibles together
to Jeremiah chapter 29. Jeremiah chapter 29. The title of this message is
found in verse 11. The last phrase of verse 11 in
Jeremiah chapter 29, an expected end. Jeremiah has been rightly called
the weeping prophet. Jeremiah ministered the gospel
during a time of great disobedience on the part of Israel and was
broken hearted over the condition of Israel. He was faithful. in preaching the gospel, and
particularly in pronouncing what the Lord was about to do in carrying
off the children of Israel into Babylonian captivity. And the
first thing I want you to see in our text, beginning in verse
10, is the mercy and the goodness of our God. For the Scripture
says in verse 10, for thus saith the Lord, that after 70 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." You see that phrase in verse 10, Thus saith the Lord?
That phrase can be found well over 300 times just in the book
of Jeremiah. And I've read it over the years
and sort of thought that was kind of a threat. You know, God
said it. You better believe it. You know,
it's kind of like a parent saying to a child, because I said so.
Thus sayeth the Lord. And after our study in the book
of Jeremiah and see in the heart of Jeremiah and the message of
mercy that God declares to sinful people, I've come to see this
a little differently. And one of the things that the
Lord's taught me is, and you know this, the word LORD here
in this verse. Anytime you see the word LORD
in all caps in the Old Testament, it's not His title. We use the
word LORD in English to describe the Lord's title. Jesus Christ
is our Lord. But here it's His name. It's
the translation of I will or I am Jehovah, his name and and
what the Lord's doing here is he's he's putting his name on
his covenant promises. He's saying that my the reputation
of my name is at stake. You know, it's kind of like when
you buy a house, you would think that they would just let you
sign the last sheet of the contract and be done with it. But they
don't do that. No, we've got 50 sheets in this
contract. We have to sign every page, don't
you, until you get writer's cramp. And then a lot of times in the
middle of the page, you'll have to initial certain paragraphs,
won't you? What is it that the mortgage company is making sure
of? That you are fully aware of all the detailed conditions
of this contract and fully committed to fulfill them. And they want
your signature on that page over and over and over again. That's
what they'll say if the Lord is. That's it's not a threat
of judgment against unbelief, although judgment will come against
unbelief. It's more a word of mercy and
encouragement to God's children, assuring them that he has put
his name. On every line of the contract
saying to us, I understand the conditions that have to be fulfilled
in this covenant, and I've committed myself to do them. What greater
hope can you have? than the fact that God has put
his name on it. I've saved you for my namesake.
And I change not. And that's the reason you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. His name is I Am. The infinite,
glorious, self-existent creator and sustainer of all of life.
I Am. I save in the manner in which
I save. I do what I do according to my own good pleasure and will.
And I always do it right. I Am. My name's on it. That's his promise. And what
an encouragement it is to the people of God to know that the
Lord has signed the contract. Again, all he'd have to do is
sign the last page, you know, and say, I've promised this,
and it is. But knowing how slow of heart
to believe we are, knowing how difficult it is for us to have
faith, remembering that we're made of dust. He tells us again,
and again, and again, and again. I Am has said this. I Am has
promised this. And what I Am says, He will do. It's done. It's done. By the authority of His name,
it's done. Now, he says here to Jeremiah,
Thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished. Accomplished at Babylon. It's important for us to think
for just a minute about Babylon. Babel is first mentioned in Genesis
chapter 11, and it certainly is a picture of man's attempt
to earn his way to heaven through the works of his own flesh, to
earn favor with God and get access into the presence of God. That
was what that tower was all about. And from Genesis 11 all the way
to the end of the book of Revelation, Babylon represents just that.
Everything that is contrary to the gospel of God's free and
sovereign grace accomplished in the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ is represented by Babylon. And those who make their home
in Babylon, those who deny the finished work of Christ, those
who seek to earn favor with God through the works of their own
flesh, will be destroyed with that harlot Babylon, mentioned
in the book of Revelation. And yet, the Lord didn't just
send the unbelieving Israelites to Babylon. Jeremiah, in this
book, cries out to the Lord, Lord, I spoke the truth. I was faithful to preach the
gospel. And yet, look what's happening to me. Jeremiah went
to Babylon. Daniel went to Babylon. Ezekiel
went to Babylon. Now, the question that I want
to ask is, why did God send the believers and the unbelievers
to Babylon? Now, the difference between the unbelievers that
were in Babylon is they made their home there. They settled
in. As a matter of fact, when they were delivered to come back
to Jerusalem, most of them stayed in Babylon. But there was a group
of God's people. that never fit in in Babylon.
They were always strangers. They were always sojourners.
They were always grieved to go back to Jerusalem. And when the
Lord opened the door for them to return, they came straight
back, didn't they? And listen to our text. For thus
saith the Lord. I put my name on this. I've made
this promise. You can be sure that I'm going
to keep it. After seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I
will visit you and perform my good work towards you in causing
you to return to this place. Turn to me, to 2 Chronicles. I tell you what, let's begin
in Leviticus chapter 25. I want to show you a couple of
verses in God's law. And I think you'll understand
why the Lord sent these people to Babylon. Leviticus chapter
25. Look at verse four. But in the seventh
year shall be a Sabbath of rest unto the land, a Sabbath for
the Lord, thou shalt neither sow thy field nor prune thy vineyard. Now look over in chapter 26 of
Leviticus. This was God's law. He told Moses,
when you get into this land that I'm going to give you, you work
the land for six years. On the seventh year, it is my
command that the land lay fallow, that you not plant your crops,
that you allow the land to rest. All right, look at Leviticus
chapter 26 at verse. And I will scatter you among
the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you, and your land
shall be desolate, and your cities waste. Then, this is what God
says then, if you don't obey the Sabbath law, if you don't
allow the land to rest, then I'm going to scatter you out
of the land. Then shall the land enjoy her Sabbaths as long as
it lies desolate, and you be in your enemy's land. Even then
shall the land rest and enjoy her Sabbaths. Now, this is written
in God's law a thousand years before Jeremiah. As long as it lieth desolate,
verse 35, it shall rest because it did not rest in your Sabbaths
when you dwelt upon it. All right, now turn to Second
Chronicles, chapter 36. Second Chronicles, chapter 36. Look at verse 20. "...them that had escaped from
the sword..." By the way, Jeremiah told the people in Jerusalem
when they were besieged by the Babylonians, if they would lay
down their weapons and beg for mercy, that their lives would
be spared. But as long as they fought against their captors,
they would die. And, you know, there's a gospel
picture there. gain life through surrender. Yielding to Christ and begging
for mercy is the only way to live. And as long as we hold
up the weapons of our warfare, as long as we hold up our words
and our defenses and seek to find favor with God through some
Babylonian means, then we'll die. So the Lord said those that
he spared the sword, he carried away to Babylon where they were
servants to him and his sons until the reign of the king of
Persia. Verse 21, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths as long
as she lay desolate. She kept Sabbaths to fulfill
three score and ten years. Now, you know what the Sabbath
is a picture of. I know your pastors taught you
well about the Sabbath. Most people in religion violate
the Sabbath in their attempt to keep it. They think it has
to do with a day of the week. They think it has to do with
activities that can be performed and must be abstained from on
that particular day. That's not the Sabbath. You don't
have to put the law on God's people to encourage them to worship
him when the when the house of God is open and the gospel of
God's grace is preached, they're going to be there. You don't
have to threaten them with Sabbath laws in order to get them to
act right on one day of the week. Now, Hebrews chapter four makes
it clear that the Lord Jesus Christ himself is our Sabbath
and all those Sabbath laws that God gave to his people in the
Old Testament were representative. They were figurative. They were
shadows of what would be fulfilled when the Lord Jesus Christ came
and satisfied all the demands of God's law. all the demands
of God's justice and gave the people of God a place where they
could rest and find acceptance into the presence of God. Christ
himself is our Sabbath. But what we find in the Old Testament
is that God's absolute intolerance of the violation of the Sabbath,
and I'll say this, that God's just as intolerant now as he
was then in violating the Sabbath. To not rest in Christ? to seek
to find favor with God through some works of the flesh, to look,
to babble, to find access into the presence of God or acceptance,
well, it will not be tolerated. The only hope of salvation, our
only acceptance with God is in Christ. We're accepted in the
beloved and God is pleased with him and him alone. And the Lord
is just as intolerant about the violation of the Sabbath now
as he ever was. But here we find, according to the Word of God,
why the Lord sent the children of Israel into Babylonian captivity. He was, God is going to see that
his Sabbath is observed. They didn't honor the seventh
year. They didn't even honor the seventh day. And the Lord
judged them for it and sent them into Babylon. He told them in
Jeremiah chapter seventeen that if they sought to come into the
city of Jerusalem, that place of peace and worship, carrying
a burden that he would send them into captivity. And that's that's
how that's that's the intolerance of God when it comes to the violation
of the Sabbath. If we seek to enter into presence
to his presence, carrying some work or some burden, then then
will be judged with this harlot is what the scripture calls her.
The Babylonian harlot will be destroyed in the end and all
those who find their home in Babylon. Now, I've already told you that Jeremiah
and Daniel and Ezekiel were exiled to Babylon along with everybody
else. Look back with me to our text. For thus saith Jehovah,
I am. I put my name on this promise.
After 70 years, be accomplished at Babylon. You and I live in Babylon. Spiritually,
we're not exiled to Babylon if we look to Christ. But we live
in a world that knows nothing but Babylonian religion. Confusing speech that makes no
sense and gives no honor to Christ. That's where we live. That's
where God sent his people. He sent them into Babylon. Why? Because he was insistent upon
the observance of the Sabbath. Now, God's people, they find
their rest in Christ. They look to Christ alone as
the hope of their salvation. By the grace of God, the Lord
has given them faith to say, I know whom I have believed,
and I am persuaded that He alone is able to keep that which I
have committed unto Him against that day. By faith, God's people
can say that in truth. And yet, even as they say that,
even as they say that, how often times, how often times they are
persuaded by the world and by their flesh, and by the presence
of their own sin, to look away from Christ and try to find their
satisfaction somewhere else. Try to find their happiness,
their contentment in the things that Babylon has to offer. And
yet, every time they do it, every time they do it, they come up
dissatisfied. They come up discontent. And
they're reminded by that dissatisfaction and that discontentment to come
back to Christ and to look to Christ and to find their hope
and their satisfaction, their joy and their peace in him. Why is the Lord exiled us to
Babylon? Why are we living in Babylon?
Because he is insistent that the Sabbath be observed. And
he is in the process of teaching his children how to do that,
how to find their hope and all their satisfaction and all their
desires. He's teaching his children how
to say what David said at the end of his life when he said,
though it be not so with my house, yet he has made with me an everlasting
covenant. And that covenant is ordered
in all things. And it's sure. It's sure, because
God's put his name on it. This is all my salvation. This is all my desire. God's people believe that. And
yet, look what he says. Look what he says in our text. Thus saith the Lord, that after
seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, there's something
I have to accomplish with you at Babylon. And that is that
I'm going to teach you. I'm going to teach you how to
rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ alone for your all in all. I'm going to teach you how to
observe the Sabbath. And I'm going to put you in Babylon
to teach you how to do that. And after it be accomplished,
I will visit you and perform my good towards you in causing
you to return to this place, the place of God's presence.
There will come a day. We look through a glass dimly
now, but there will come a day when we'll see Him in all of
His glory, in all of His splendor, stand before Him face to face
and be rid of this flesh and be made like Him. That's the
day. that He's going to return us
into that place of perfect peace. Perfect peace. Look what he says
in verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not
of evil, to give you an expected end. The Lord has ordained for
His children That's what Paul called him in 2 Corinthians chapter
12. He said, I glory in necessities. He was talking about the infirmities
and the inflictions that he suffered living in Babylon. Why did he
glory in those necessities? Because he said, when I am weak,
when I am unable to find in myself the strength and any peace in
my weakness than I made strong. Why? Because these things are
necessary. These afflictions are necessary
to humble me and cause me to see that all my dependence is
in Christ. God has ordained these things
for me in order to teach me by experience, how to observe the
Sabbath. That is what God wills, that's
what he's purposed, and that's what he's going to accomplish
with his people. He's going to teach them how
to observe the Sabbath. The Lord has ordained in the
process of that many things that we would not choose for ourselves. And yet as your pastor read at
the beginning of the service, you know, and that, you know,
that's, that may be the most important two words in that verse.
Oftentimes we quote Romans 8, 28, all things work together.
No, no, no, no. It doesn't start with all things work together
for good. It starts with, you know, you know, that all things
work together for good. for them that love God and are
called according to His purpose. You know what God's doing in
your life is good and necessary. You know that His thoughts are
higher than your thoughts and His ways are higher than your
ways. As the heavens are higher above the earth, so are His thoughts
above our thoughts. You know that though you wouldn't
have chose these things, He's chosen them for you. Why? To teach you how to observe the
Sabbath. Listen what David said in Psalm
40 verse 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works, and thy works which are to usward. These works are for us. They're
for us. They're for our good. 2 Peter
chapter 3. The Lord is not slack concerning
his promise, as some men count slackness, but is longsuffering. To us word. To us, we're not willing that
any should perish. But that all should come to repentance,
their expected end. And these acts, these these these
things that he's ordained for us word are in order to accomplish
that purpose. Here's the truth. Every single
act of providence, which is everything in our lives. is necessary to
get us to our expected end. It's necessary to get us to our
expected end. And for that reason, it's good. And for that reason, it's God's
mercy. He is determined to bring us
to that place where we find our full rest and satisfaction in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And just like with Jeremiah,
and Ezekiel and Daniel and many other believers, He's put us
in Babylon to bring us to that place. Let me show you that in
another passage. Turn with me in your Bibles.
You're there in Jeremiah 29. Did we read verse 11 in our text?
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. Look over now in Jeremiah chapter
31. Look at verse 17. And there is
hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall
come again to their own border. There's hope in thine end. Now,
what is that? promise attached to its attached
to the two previous verses. And the two previous verses tell
us much about God's providence and mercy toward his children.
Look what he says in verse 15. Thus saith the Lord, a voice
was heard in Ramah Lamentation and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping
for her children, refused to be comforted for her children
because they were not. Jacob had twelve sons. Two of
them were his favorites. Two of them were given to him
by his favorite wife, Rachel. You know who those two were.
Joseph and Benjamin. And you remember what happened
to both those boys. Jacob and Rachel had no reason to believe
anything else but that Joseph was dead. Joseph was gone. His brothers had brought the
bloody coats to them, torn by animals supposedly, and convinced
that Joseph was dead. Rachel and Jacob lamented. and grieved over the loss of
one that really wasn't lost at all. Not only was he not lost,
but the Lord had sent him ahead of time in order to prepare life
for them. At the end, after Jacob died,
you remember what the brother said, that he's going to get
his revenge on us now. And Joseph said, oh no, you men
are for evil. But God meant it for good in
order that I might bring to you life. Benjamin, you remember, was left
down in Egypt. And Jacob, again, was convinced
because of the money that was left in the satchel and the deceit
that took place. Jacob, again, grieved over the
loss of Benjamin. I've lost one son, now I've lost
the second. Were they gone? Were either one of the sons gone?
No. You see, we grieve over things
that really aren't lost. They really aren't lost. If it
is true that all things are necessary in order to bring us to our expected
end, then those things that we often consider to be lost are
in fact our gain. Just like Rachel grieving over
her children, She thought was to her loss, but in fact, it
was to her gain. Here's what the Lord is saying.
Look what He says. There is hope in thine end. There is hope in
thine end. Verse 16, thus saith the Lord,
refrain thy voice from weeping and thine eyes from tears, for
thy work shall be rewarded. You can't take thy work shall
be rewarded. One phrase out of the context
of scripture and make a work salvation would be in denial
of everything else. The scripture says what that
phrase means is this exactly what Paul said in Romans chapter
eight, verse 18. That's what this phrase means,
for I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not
worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in us. That's what that verse means. And though we use that
word reckon in the South to mean, well, I suppose so, that's not
at all what it means in scriptures. As a matter of fact, it means
just the opposite. It means just the opposite. The word reckon
is also translated to impute. Your pastor preached about imputed
righteousness this morning. That word reckon is also translated
to account. It doesn't mean I reckon so,
maybe it'll be so. It means it's sure. It's definite. And Paul said, I reckon, I am
convinced, I am thoroughly sure that the sufferings of this present
time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that shall be revealed
in me. God's left me in Babylon. He's
exposed me to so many things that are contrary to what he's
put in my heart. And my flesh is so prone to wander
and to try to find satisfaction somewhere else. And every time
he he brings me back and causes me to see that my only hope is
in Christ. My only hope is in Christ. That's
what he, thy works shall be rewarded, saith the Lord, and they shall
come again from the land of the enemy. Now, you know that this
prophecy is quoted in Matthew chapter two, don't you? You remember
what happened in Matthew chapter two? I can't think of any trial
in this life that is greater and more painful than to lose
a child. And yet, when we lose a child,
usually, the child is afflicted with some sort of illness and
we coddle that child and tenderly, affectionately love that child
until life slips out of that child's body. And we grieve,
rightfully so. Do you remember what happened
in Matthew chapter 2? Defenseless? I hate to even describe
this scene. It's so horrifying. And I hate
to leave these impressions in the mind of our children especially,
but this is what happened. How can any trial be greater
than this trial? Defenseless, innocent couples. Young families. Just going about
their business. And their homes are invaded. by Roman soldiers wielding a
sword and their children are violently ripped from their arms
and slaughtered, murdered right there in front of them and their
bodies are left. A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation
and bitter weeping. Rachel, weeping for her children,
refused to be comforted for her children because they were not.
Thus saith the Lord, refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine
eyes from tears. For you can be sure that this
was necessary. And it was necessary. For the
one child that Herod was after was spared. And that child, the
Christ child, the Son of God, well, he went down to Egypt to
fulfill prophecy. He came back. He lived out a righteousness,
satisfying all the demands of God's law. bore in his body the
sins of his people and offered himself up as a sacrifice once
and for all, putting away the sins of his people. The slaughter
of those children was necessary. It was a necessary act of God's
providence for the salvation of Israel. And the Lord has given
us this as an example to say to us, if this was necessary
in God's providence to save his people, can you not see? that everything that He's ordained
in your life is also necessary. Refrain thy voice from weeping,
and thine eyes from tears, for this cannot be compared to
what I have prepared for you. I have a hope in thine end, an
expected end. You know, in religion, all the
focus is on how to get by another day of life. You know, they preach
fix-it sermons, you know. We're going to make you a better
husband and a better wife and teach you how to get along with
your employees at work and teach you how to get over, how to defeat
this sin and that sin. It's not the gospel preacher's
responsibility to teach people how to live. It's to prepare
them to die. And you know, the truth is that
if you're prepared to die, you'll know how to live. The living
part's easy if you're prepared to die. Here's what Jeremiah
said. Jeremiah said, if you can't keep up with the footmen, how
are you going to run with the horses? And if you can't live
in this land of peace, what are you going to do in the rising
of the Jordan? Now translated, that means if you can't deal
with the acts of providence in your life daily, what are you
going to do when judgment comes? But if you're prepared, if you
run with a horseman, you keep up with the footman. If you're
prepared for the rising of the Jordan, then you can live in
this land of peace. If you know that you have an
expected end and your hope in your rest and your satisfaction
is in Christ, then you can live in Babylon. Look at verse 18. Here's what I hope that we're
all thinking and feeling right now. Here's what I hope we're
thinking and feeling. I hope we're thinking and feeling
this. Oh God, help Thou mine unbelief. Why can't I trust You in Your
good acts of mercy and providence in my life? How can I say I trust
Christ for the salvation of my soul and I can't trust you to
work out the details of my life to bring me to my expected end?
Lord, I do believe. I do believe. But Lord, help
now my unbelief. And you know what he says? I
am. And that's why I got you in Babylon. That's why I've got you there.
And that's what I'm doing. And every time you turn away
from me and look somewhere else, I'm going to create such a dissatisfaction
in your heart and such a hunger for me. You're going to come
back and you're going to keep coming. To whom coming? You're going to keep coming.
Look, here's what Jeremiah, here's what the Lord is saying in response
to everything we've said up to this point. I have earned Ephraim. You know what Ephraim means translated?
It means double ash heap. Double ash heap. A burned out
fire on top of a burned out fire. And it's a picture of God's people.
In and of ourselves, we have no good thing. Woe is me. And what does Ephraim say? I
have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself. Bemoaning himself. You know, the blame game does
go all the way back to the garden, and men love to justify themselves
and find someone else to blame for their own sin. When God teaches
us this truth, we bemoan ourselves. We say, Lord, I've met the enemy
and it's me. Lord, I'm the problem. Lord,
it's my inability to believe that causes my sin. Unbelief. It's my inability to
find my rest and my satisfaction and my all-in-all in Christ that
causes me so many problems. Lord, I don't know what to do
but moan myself. Turn with me over to Ezekiel
chapter 36. You see, the truth is that repenting
grace always lays the responsibility of unbelief on itself, on itself. Look what Ezekiel says in Ezekiel
chapter 36 and look with me at verse 31. After I've taught you
these things, then shall you remember your own evil ways and
your doings that were not good and shall loathe yourselves in
your own sight and for your iniquities and your for your abominations.
I love Jeremiah, chapter six, one of my favorite passages scriptures,
but if you go back a chapter, Jeremiah, chapter five. Jeremiah,
six times in Jeremiah, chapter five, Isaiah. I'm sorry, I said
Isaiah chapter. If you go back to Isaiah, chapter
five, you'll find that six times Isaiah says, woe unto them, woe
unto them, woe unto them, pronouncing the judgment of God, rightly
so, against the unbelief of Israel. And then in Isaiah, chapter six,
I saw the Lord. I saw him high and lifted up.
His train filled the temple and the seraphim hovered over him
and they cried, holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. You
remember what comes out of Isaiah's mouth? Woe is me. He loathed himself
in light of the glory of Christ. He bemoaned himself. He saw himself
as he was in Ephraim. And he cried out. for God to
have mercy upon him and teach him how to rest in Christ. The Apostle Paul. Towards the
end of his life. Oh, he knew what it meant to
rest. He knew what it meant to have Christ as his substitute.
And yet what can he say at the end of his life? He said, I've
not yet apprehended that which is apprehended me. He said, oh, but I might know
I might know The fellowship of his suffering and the power of
his resurrection. Now, Paul wasn't saying, I want
to suffer more for Jesus. That's not what he was saying.
He wasn't saying, I want to have resurrection power in my life,
he wasn't saying that. He was saying what your pastor
told you this morning, that God could teach me that my union
with Christ is so real and so sufficient that when Christ suffered
for my sin, I suffered. And when Christ was risen from
the dead, I was risen from the dead, that I could apprehend
that, that I could rest in Christ as my substitute, that I could
find him to be my all in all. I've not yet gotten there. I
bemoan myself. All wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me? Look at verse 18. chastened me, and I was chastened. Lord, you've taught me. You've
chastised me, and I'm so thankful for it. We're not chastised. We're illegitimate. We don't
belong to the Lord. If He's not doing a work of chastisement,
if He's not creating such a spirit of dissatisfaction in all of
our pursuits of Babylon, If he's not continuing to call us back
to Christ, if he's not causing us to see that our only hope
is in Christ, if he's not causing us to bemoan ourselves and see
that our problem is our unbelief, we're not being chastised. But
if we are, then we'll be chastised. What he does, he does right.
Now, we chastise our children as men, as Scripture says in
the book of Hebrews. Sometimes we don't chastise them
enough. Sometimes we chastise them too much. But that's never
the Lord's problem. He knows exactly what we need,
exactly when we need it, how much we need it, and he always
applies the exact amount of chastisement that we need in order to teach
us how to observe the Sabbath. That's his purpose. Thou hast chastised me, and I
was chastised. As a bullock unaccustomed to
the yoke, I don't see cows where I live. So this morning when
I got up at Charlie Pennington's house and went out on this front
porch, and there was these huge cows right there in the yard,
I thought, boy, that's pretty neat. And I thought, you know, apart from
the grace of God, we've got more in common. with those brute beasts
than we do with the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, like a beast, unaccustomed
to the yoke, like a bullock, like a cow or a bull. You go
out there and try to teach that cow or bull something. Lord,
if you don't chastise me, if you don't work in me, if you
don't turn me, Lord, if you don't turn me, I won't be turned. If
you don't save me, I won't be saved. If you don't teach me,
I won't be taught. Lord, you've got to do it. But
if you turn me, I shall be turned for thou art to the Lord my God. And after I was turned, I repented. And after that, I was instructed
and I smote upon my thigh. Where do we find another man
smoting himself? The publican did, didn't he?
Which one went home justified? The Pharisee, who said, Oh God,
I thank you that I'm not like other men, and in his self-righteousness,
tried to present himself to God? Babylon. Babylon. Lord, I tithe. I fast. I do many wonderful works. Depart from me, you workers of
iniquity, I never knew you. What men think is going to recommend
them to God, God calls iniquity. But what about the one that had
been taught this truth? What about the publican? What did
he do? He smote himself upon the breast,
didn't he? He would not so much as even look up. And he cried,
O God, have mercy upon me, the sinner. Lord, that's my problem. Sin
is my problem. Unbelief is my problem. Lord,
I need You to teach me how to believe. I need You to teach
me how to rest. And I know there's going to come
a day when You're going to deliver me from Babylon. You're going
to take me home. Lord, while I'm here, chastise
me, save me, instruct me, I was ashamed,
even confounded, because I did bear the reproach of my youth.
And here's what God says. Look at verse 20. Here's what
the Lord says. To those who can enter into what
we've been talking about, to what's been preached, if you
can identify with Ephraim, with Jeremiah, if you can say, yes,
Lord, that's me. Look what God says. Is Ephraim
my dear son? He is a pleasant child. For since
I spake against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore,
my vows are troubled for him. I will surely have mercy upon
him, saith the Lord." You think you hurt? We say to
our children, this hurts me more than it hurts you. And often
times, that's true. It's always true with the Lord.
Always true with Him. Whatever He does for us, He does
for our good. But He says right here, He says,
Ephraim is My child. He's My pleasant child. I love
him. I'm going to teach him. I'm going
to hold him by the hand. I'm going to get him where he needs to be. I'm
going to show him how to rest in Christ. I'll have mercy on him. My bowels
are troubled for him. I'll never leave him nor forsake
him. I'll do only that which is good for Him. I'm His God. He's mine.