The Future Holds Good News | Jeremiah 30 | Pastor William Hixson

you need to be for tonight.

I think some of you that are not from

this area may not have done this yet,

but a lot of us here have probably been

to Old Man's Cave.

I'll start out with that.

And if you go to Old Man's Cave, one of

my favorite places to be in this area,

you get past the parking lot, you go

down into the gorge that that is down

there and you see the beauty and you're

walking and you're walking. It's the

fall of the year. It's really pretty.

You pass old man's cave and then you

finally after you're a little bit worn

out after probably about 40 minutes of

walking or so, you get down where the

waterfall is at the end. Everybody knows

what I'm talking about that's been

there. And u certainly worth it. I I I

uh I've been going to that cave since

the 1950s

as a young man. We would come over from

Chilikath kids and we'd go over there.

But I never tire of it. And to me the

trip is always worth it.

Restful.

uh

peaceful,

but the stress really releases once you

get down there and you can you you've

walked and paid the price to be where

you are and you can just sit

and enjoy God's creation.

Trying to forget that you have to go up

those great big steps to get back. Just

put that out of your mind at that point.

But you just sit and rest.

Well, it's been a long journey through

the book of Jeremiah to this point

and it hasn't been an easy journey. It's

not really a pleasant journey. All these

messages of judgment

as were necessary to be given.

Uh but you know, you kind of get tired

of hearing about idolatry. You kind of

get tired of hearing about judgment on

idolattors and spiritual adultery and

the confrontations and the admonitions

and the exhortations.

You you'd say, "Pastor, I'm I'm kind of

tired of the book of Jeremiah. It's been

helpful to me, but 29 chapters of that

is about enough." And then we get to

chapter 30

and everything in those 29 chapters

were which are so laborious

is preparing us for where we are now.

And Jeremiah has been very

confrontational.

He's done his job. Nobody likes him.

He's been exposing the false teachers.

He's been proclaiming the truth in the

gospel. Uh they they arrested him at one

point. Uh they wanted to have him

executed at after that. But now

we're coming to another part of the

book.

Now we're right on the edge

of the exile.

In fact, if you do the math on all of

this, the Babylonians are at the door

and Jeremiah's prophecies have come true

and the false prophets are have been

exposed and people are now ready for

something different. And guess what?

They get

messages of comfort.

It's pretty obvious now that they're

going to go into captivity and they're

going to have to live a thousand miles

away from Jerusalem

in the in the Babylon in in northern

Iraq

and the center of idolatry. And they're

going to be there for a lifetime.

Not two years like the false prophet

said. Two years and we'll never bo.

If you get a 70year sentence, that's

almost the same as a life sentence,

isn't it? I mean,

probably.

And so 70 years in Babylon and it wants

70. It turned out to be 70.

But when we when we're we're dealing

with this particular section in

Jeremiah, chapter 29 is like an

Jeremiah 29 · chapter mention

escalator. It takes us from the floor of

judgment that this book has been all

about up to the comfort section.

And the faith the faithful prophet

Jeremiah has been given the bad news.

Bad news. Bad news. Bad news. Everybody

hates him for it. He's done it. He He

did it because God told him to do it.

But now he gets to give the good news.

Fact, the best possible news.

And there's no way we can possibly cover

this section the way we want to. And

there's no way I can tell you the

absolute significance of these chapters,

chapters 30 and 31,

32. They are incredibly important.

Every time we take the Lord's supper,

we remember the words of Jesus. This is

the New Testament in my blood. This do

in remembrance of me. And do you know

what that refers to? It refers to this

section. The new covenant and the New

Testament are one and the same.

And Jesus took Passover, they ate a

Passover meal, and then he took Passover

bread and Passover wine and introduced

the Lord's supper.

But the background of that is chapter 31

Isaiah 31 · chapter mention

of Jeremiah. And if you know the

background, you are going to enjoy the

Lord's supper so much more.

It's going to be deeper for you every

time you take it. It's going to be

richer for you every time you take it.

And the significance of these chapters

for the nation of Israel back in

Jeremiah's day or for ourselves in this

day

cannot be measured by the human mind.

prophetically, esqueologically,

sotiologically,

christoologgically.

There's not hardly an area of systematic

theology that is not touched by this

section of scripture,

but it's meant to be comfort.

Have you ever tried to comfort somebody

and I mean, they're really in their

darkest, darkest, darkest, darkest

time of trouble?

The kind of people that say, "I'm so far

down, I have to reach up to touch

bottom."

That kind of person, that kind of place.

That That's where they were when the

Babylonians are at the door.

It was going to happen. They were going

to go into exile.

And God's word was true. And they fought

it. And now they know that Jeremiah was

right. and and and they know these it's

going to be a lifechanging altering

thing and they not only is it going to

be tough but they were against it

and so here it is

and I remember in Isaiah 40:3 Isaiah

Isaiah 40:3

said through the ministry of those

sections comfort she comfort you my

people says the Lord after He He gave

them the bad news. He gives them the

good news.

So there's a comfort in these chapters

of the book after the first 29 passages

of exhortation and judgment and

exposure. That's amazing.

Let me quote what Warren Wearsby the

Bible teacher said about this section.

What life does to us depends largely on

what life finds in us. If we seek the

Lord and want, then circumstances will

build us and prepare us for what he has

planned. If we rebel or if we look for a

quick and easy shortcuts, then

circumstances will destroy us and rob us

of the future God wants us to enjoy. The

same sun that melts the ice also hardens

the clay.

God's thoughts and plans concerning us

come from his heart and lead us to his

peace.

Why look

for substitutes?

So very important stuff.

Now, um,

let me We all need comfort. We all need

consolation.

And I, there was a movie years ago was

very violent, some vile language in it.

But the one man, all I heard was he

said, "Life is hard and then you die."

Well, that's a pretty bleak outlook.

You know, life is hard and we know we're

going to die. But is that all there is?

How about this? Life is hard, then you

die, then you rule and reign forever.

You see that? That that's a tale on

there. That's different. That didn't

make the movie.

Life is hard. We will die if Jesus

terries and the rapture doesn't happen.

But there's more to it. Life is hard.

Then you die. Then you're raised and

reigned forever.

That's putting present sufferings in

perspective

of future blessings.

That's what we have to do.

That's what we must do. And this section

is going to help us do it and be

enabling us to do it. And so, let me

read it and then I'm going to read what

some people have said about it. Then

we're going to get started. Uh it takes

a big run because this is a long

section, 24 verses, and we won't get to

31, which is the heart of the heart of

the heart of it, the new covenant. But

I'll read a little bit of it for you

tonight. Jeremiah 30, the word that came

to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, "Thus

speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying,

write all the words that I've spoken

unto thee in a book.

For lo, the days come, says the Lord,

I'll bring again the captivity of my

people Israel and Judah, saeth the Lord.

Now, we read over those words and we

don't always stop and think about what

he's saying.

What's the difference between Israel and

Judah?

Judah is the name of the two southern

tribes.

Israel is the name of the 10 northern

tribes.

The 10 northern tribes were taken

captive into Assyria in 722 BC.

We're now down almost to when the two

southern tribes would be taken into

captivity in 586 BC. Now remember,

you're going backwards. The smaller the

number, the closer it is to the birth of

Jesus. The larger the number, the

farther away. The 722 BC was a lot long

was it happened a lot uh farther back

than 586 BC.

So,

think about what's going on here. I will

bring again the captive of my people

Israel and Judah, says the Lord. Wait,

you mean it's not just the tribe of

Judah

that's coming back?

It's not just the southern kingdom,

Judah and Benjamin. It's it's going to

be the others. They've been gone so

long.

We've half forgot about them. God

didn't.

They were scattered all through Assyria.

These people are going to go to Babylon.

The Assyrian Empire has ended. The

Babylonian Empire has begun. But the

Babylonian Empire is not going to last

very long. We got 70 years and it's

going to be gone.

So, it's don't don't miss that.

The 10 northern tribes make up Israel.

The 10 southern tribes make the two 10

the two southern tribes make up Judah.

Uh and

uh says the Lord. Just like you got

Athens County and Athens city. Sometimes

it refers to the family, sometimes the

person, sometimes the tribe and so

forth.

and I will cause them to return to the

land that I gave to their fathers and

they shall possess it.

So, we've seen that before in Jeremiah,

but every time I read it, it's like

people when they read it the first time,

they must have been shocked.

Everybody's coming back. I thought it

was just us,

but they were long gone.

And these are the words the Lord spoke

concerning Israel and concerning Judah.

Okay, there it is. Again,

the word Jacob refers to all the tribes

collectively, but it gets specific.

Israel is the is sometimes all of them,

but often it's northern tribes when it's

used for Judah and they're the southern.

For thus says the Lord, we have heard a

voice of trembling, of fear, and not of

peace. Ask now and see whether a man

doth travail with child. When the last

time you saw a pregnant man in labor?

Well, why are all these why are all

these uh Judeian soldiers bending over

in pain? Because the Babylonians are

coming.

Why do I see every man with his hands on

his loins like a woman in travail and

all faces turned into palenness? Alas,

for that day is great. So there's none

like it. It's even the time of Jacob's

trouble. but he'll be saved out of it.

Now,

when men men have the duty to go out and

fight foreign wars and risk their life

or maybe give their life so their family

can be protected.

The counterpart of that for women is

what?

Having babies.

wife risk her life to bring children in

and the pain she endures there is and

the potential death although thank God

we don't die as much in child birth as

we used to in this country

she's risking her life for her potential

family and for the baby in her womb

and the men endure pain in warfare the

women endure pain in childbirth it's a

fallen world. There's no way to get

around it. But here's that unusual,

strange illustration. What are the men

doing acting like women in travail?

It's because the Babylonians are coming

and they're losing it.

The men are losing it.

Just like the wife right before the

baby, I don't think I can do this. and

the men are kind of questioning

their ability to handle what's going to

happen. And and he said, "So that's the

illustration." And I think the women can

appreciate this better than the men.

They know what he's talking about.

The men

were melting

in emotional fear

and agony.

The Babylonians are coming. They're

circling the city. They're going to come

in. I can't protect my family.

We're not We're going to be defeated.

Alas, that day is great.

So that none is like it. It's even the

time of Jacob's trouble, but he shall be

saved out of it. Now, there's something

I'm going to say now.

that will be reinforced by what some

others have said on this chapter.

I definitely believe

that there there's two levels of this

in this prophecy. There's a near

fulfillment and there's a far

fulfillment.

The near fulfillment was the coming of

the Babylonians

and the encircling of Jerusalem and the

taking captive of the people. The far

fulfillment

is the seven-year tribulation yet to

come. That is the time of Jacob's

trouble, the ultimate time.

But he'll be saved out of it. And

remember verse 7 says, "For that day is

great, so there's none like it." There

was none like it up to 586 BC. But when

the time of Jacob's trouble comes at the

end of time, there'll be none like it in

all of history.

Everybody follow me there?

For it shall come to pass in that day,

says the Lord, that I'll break his yoke

from off thy neck, and will burst thy

bonds, and strangers shall no more

enslave them. For they shall serve the

Lord their God, and David their king,

whom I'll raise up unto them." Now,

whoa, here we go again. They're going to

serve their God, and David their king.

David has been dead for hundreds of

years. It's not David the king. He's

dead and in the grave. It's David's

descendant, the Messiah.

That's what this is all about.

Nobody said, "What? How's David going to

come back? David, their king, it's the

Davidic Messiah that the prophets have

all predicted whom I will raise up unto

them." That's not physical resurrection

of the dead. that there is talking about

historical reser historical providential

raising up in history.

Therefore, fear not, oh my servant

Jacob, says the Lord, neither be

dismayed, oh Israel, for lo, I will save

thee from afar and thy seed from the

land of their captivity. Jacob shall

return and be at rest and be quiet, and

none shall make him afraid. That's the

ultimate.

Again, there's a near fulfillment and

then a far fulfillment. This is not

unusual in prophecy. And I'm with thee,

says the Lord, to save thee, though I

make a full end of all the nations which

I've scattered thee, yet will I not make

a full end of thee, but I'll correct

thee in measure, and will not leave thee

altogether unpunished.

For thus says the Lord, thy bruise is

incurable, thy womb is grievious.

There's none to plead thy cause that you

may be bound up. Thou hast no he healing

medicines. All thy lovers, and that's

talking about the leaders of all the

nations around them, where they went for

help instead of going to God, the

Gentile nations, have forgotten thee.

They seek thee not. For I've wounded

thee with the wound of an enemy, with

the chastisement of a cruel one, with

the multitude of thine iniquity, because

thy sins were increased. Why cryst thou

over thy affliction? Thy sorrow is

incurable for the multitude of thy

iniquity. Because thy sins were

increased, I've done these things unto

thee. Therefore, all that devour thee

shall be devoured, and all thine

adversaries, every one of them shall go

into captivity, and they that spoil thee

shall be a spoil, and all that pray upon

thee, well, I give to pray. In other

words, all these Gentiles that are

mistreating you, I'm going to deal with

them, but I'm going to rescue you,

and I'll restore health to thee, and

I'll heal thee of thy womb, says the

Lord, because they called thee an

outcast, saying, This is Zion, whom no

man seeks after. Thus says the Lord,

behold, I will bring again the captivity

of Jacob's tents and have mercy on his

dwelling places, and the city, that's

Jerusalem, shall be built upon its own

heap, and the palace shall remain after

its own manner. Jerusalem is going to be

rebuilt. The palace is going to be

rebuilt. The temple is going to be

rebuilt. And out of them shall proceed

thanksgiving, and the voice of those who

make merry. and I'll multiply them and

they'll not be few and I'll glorify them

and they shall not be small. Their

children also shall be as they were

before. And their congregation shall be

established before me. And I will punish

all that oppress them. Their nobles

shall be of themselves. Their governor

shall proceed from the midst of them.

And I will cause them to draw near, and

he'll approach to me. For who is this

that engaged his heart to approach to

me, says the Lord, and you shall be my

people, and I will be your God. Behold,

the whirlwind

of the Lord goes forth with fury, a

continual whirlwind. It shall fall with

pain on the head of the wicked. The

fierce anger of the Lord shall not

return until he's done it, until he's

performed the intents of his heart.

Underline this.

Underline this

in the latter days

you'll consider.

So there's going to be a near

fulfillment 70 years from here

and then there'll be an ultimate

fulfillment yet to be done. So what's

done on a minor scale was a major scale

then but what's going to be done is will

be done on a a worldwide scale at the

end of history. Everybody following this

it's a fascinating prophecy. It's so

exact stunning. Now I I'm not going to

read all of till 31 today. I'd like to

but I want to read part of it to help

you see how precious it is.

Go down to 3131 and we'll get to this

next week. I can't really teach you

these chapters. It's just too long. You

just kind of got to

read through them and hit some

highlights and move on.

31:31. Behold, the days come, says the

Lord, that I will make a new covenant

with the house of Israel and with the

house of Judah. Who's that? 10 tribes in

the north, two tribes in the south.

What's it going to be? New covenant.

What's it? Why is this so important?

Because the whole first 29 chapters of

the book showed they couldn't keep the

old covenant.

The old covenant was if you obey, I'll

bless you.

They couldn't get it done. The old

covenant was made at Sinai with Moses in

the Ten Commandments.

That's the old covenant. Now he's going

to make a new covenant.

The old covenant will be replaced by a

new covenant.

And why do we call the New Testament the

New Testament?

Why do we say in communion this is the

New Testament in my blood? It's this

passage. Testament and covenant are

talking about the same thing.

Now, how do we get involved in it? Well,

we'll explain that when we get down the

road here,

but that's a little that's a little

farther down the road. Not according

verse 32 to the covenant I made with

their fathers in the day I took them by

the hands of bring them out of the land

of Egypt which my covenant they broke

although I was a husband to them says

the Lord but this shall be the covenant

that I'll make with the house of Israel

with the house of Israel. It doesn't say

with the church it says with the house

of Israel.

After those days, says the Lord, I will

put my law in their inward parts

and write it in their hearts

and will be their God, and they'll be my

people. And they shall teach no more

every man his neighbor, saying, "Know

the Lord, for they'll all know me, from

the least of them to the greatest of

them, says the Lord. For I'll forgive

their iniquity and I'll remember their

sin no more. Who are we talking about?

Israel, the Jewish people.

Thus says the Lord who gives the sun for

a light by day and the ordinances the

moon and the stars for a night light by

night. Who divides the sea when the his

waves war the Lord of hosts his name. If

those ordinances depart from before me,

in other words, if the sun stops shining

and stars start stop shining, then the

seed of Israel shall also cease from

being a nation before me forever, which

means not going to happen. Right

now, some people say they've already

ceased being a nation. God's doing the

church now. Well, that's this the stars

are still shining

and the moon's still shining.

So, you know,

the waves are still roaring. Thus says

the Lord, if heaven above can be

measured and the foundations of the

earth searched out beneath, I will cast

off all the seed of Israel for all that

they have done, says the Lord. Behold,

and that's another measurement. Who's

found the end of the universe yet?

Nobody. Who's gone to the end of outer

space? Nobody.

He says, if that can be done, I'll cast

him off. But if you can't do it, then

they're going to be around.

Behold, the day, says the Lord, the city

shall be built to the Lord from the

tower of Hanel to the gate and the

corner. Measuring line shall yet go

forth over against it upon the hillb and

shall compass about to go. The whole

valley of the dead bodies and the ashes

and all the fields under the brook of

Kiddran, under the corner of the horse

gate toward the east be holy unto the

Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor

thrown down anymore

forever.

This is talking about a future rescue of

the Jewish people.

Now, there's a near fulfillment when

they came back from Babylon, and there's

the future fulfillment. The near

fulfillment is a down payment on the

future fulfillment, which is the

ultimate fulfillment.

And the fact that God did the one is a

clear indication he's going to do the

other.

And so God help us to just uh soak that

in. Now you say, "Well, how do we get

in? We're not Jews." I'll explain that

next week.

We get in because our I'll just say it.

We get in this new covenant on the basis

of our relationship to the ultimate Jew,

Jesus Christ. So we get to enjoy it

ahead of time.

because of our relationship with him.

Now,

let's go back to Jeremiah in the little

bit of time we have left,

but let's remember that there's some

tremendous stuff here.

Comfort for those people, but there'll

be tremendous comfort for the end time

people as well.

And God is the God of all comfort. And

this is a fascinating thing. I am just

going to read just for just bear with me

on this different Bible teachers that I

have in my library that have commented

on this chapter. So you'll see there's a

unonymity

thinking on it.

Kylin Dich, the German commentators uh

on the Old Testament entitled this the

announcement of the deliverance for all

Israel.

In view of the impending fall of the

kingdom of Judah, Jeremiah seeks to

present the godly with a strong anchor

of hope in the realization of God's

gracious promises which were be were to

be fulfilled after the appointed season

of punishment.

uh was passed.

Charles Fineberg, Jewish Christian of my

youth. He was an old man when I was

young. He trained John MacArthur, by the

way. He in his commentary on Jeremiah

calls this chapters 30 to 36

to 33-26

as the book of consolation.

Derek Kitner who's a millennial but you

it's it's amazing what he says in spite

of that he says this is a book of hope

part one chapter 30 1-31

uh excuse me chapter 30 verses 1 to

chapters 31 to 40 so as all else where

in prophecy God had both an immediate

and a distant prospect to unfold using

the language which spoke to the

prophet's generation in the first place,

but which pointed by its very exuberance

to a greater fulfillment on a dis

different plane. Oh, that is great. Then

he went all millennial on the rest. I'm

not going to read that part, but uh but

but well, I won't read it. A secret

hidden for ages and generations to be

revealed only when its time arrived and

he puts it into the church, which I

don't think it is that. But in the

latter days, God says God to his people

in this very prophecy, you will

understand.

You're a mill showing, Derek, but I love

you anyway.

I do like him. He's a wonderful company.

And he says, "The subject is the great

homegoing,

and that is meant for Israel as well as

Judah, the north as well as the south."

Now, he said that. He's saying the very

things I'm saying except for his all.

RK Harrison said it's a message of

consolation.

Douglas Jones said it's prophecies of

hope.

John Grey Bill said it's a book of

consolation.

And so, you know, you just go on and on

and on. The Bible teachers are saying

the same thing. What's God doing? He's

putting his arms of love around the

nation that's in trouble. And he's

consulting them

with the future. Yes, it's going to be

bad.

There's there's hope coming. There's

comfort coming.

J. A. Thompson said it. It's the book of

cons consol consolation.

Chapters 30 to chapters 33. A

significant collection of four chapters

now begun.

uh are

half of them are poetical, half of them

are pros. And he says the the collection

has been called the book of consolation

because it gives expression to the hopes

of the future rather than the judgment

which characterized earlier chapters. In

the earlier parts of the book, there are

some references to future hope and he

quotes chapter 23 and 24 and 29 of

Jeremiah. But the theme is here

developed in some detail.

And then he says this, hope was entrical

to Jeremiah's preaching.

I want to say something

and I'm going to come back to this.

Beware of the ministry that's all

negative and no positive.

There are ministries where all they're

doing is criticizing other people. These

people are wrong. Those people are

wrong. This is sin. This is bad. Beware

of that. We need the negative, right?

Yes. This preaching needs to be

negative. Jeremiah spent a lot of time

being negative. Not because he was

negative, but because God told him

that's what he had to say.

I don't like preaching on hell, but it

when I get to it, I'll preach on it. If

I can avoid it, I do. I don't like

talking about judgment.

I don't do that because Oh, I just love

to watch people squirm.

I just love to make people

uncomfortable.

No, we're supposed to comfort the

afflicted and afflict the comfortable.

And Amos said that. I don't know where

he got it. Pretty good. That's what

preaching is.

Comfort the afflicted, afflict the

comfortable.

And all good preaching will do both. You

can't just do one. I'm I'm going to be

comfort everybody. No. Comfort the

afflicted.

Afflict comfort. If you're comfortable

in your sin, you need to be made

uncomfortable. If you're comfortable in

your unbelief, disobedience, you need to

be made uncomfortable.

And if you're beat down with life

because it's hard, even if you're

reaping what you sowed

and you're repenting and you see your

life differently, you need to be

comforted.

You don't need to be made to feel worse.

You need to be comforted.

And so it's all important. All these

things are so important. And so Jay

Thompson said hope was integral to

Jeremiah's preaching. And he said the

high point of these chapters lies in

chapter 31,31

and 34.

Then G. Campbell Morgan I got number

nine and number 10. And then I'll get

back and close. G. Campbell Morgan said

of this section, "We now have come to

four chapters, chapters 30, 31, and

following, which stand out in striking

contrast to the general tone of the

book.

We're not doing what we did before." You

know, I think Jeremiah loved this. I

mean, he God told him to be negative.

God told him to be confronted with their

idolatry. Now, he finally gets to be

positive. I think he was loving it

myself.

And EW Hankenberg was a German Old

Testament scholar. He calls it the

triumph triumphal hymn of Israel's

salvation.

These were Morgan said they were these

were dark days indeed. The army of

Nebuchadnezzar was outside the city

walls. It was in this hour and under

these circumstances that the prophetic

note rose to a high music of perfection

and perfect countenance and buoyant

hopefulness. Jacob's trouble is in me is

the means for ensuring Jacob's triumph.

I'm so glad somebody's dying. I can go

in with a positive message.

They're laying there knowing they're

dying.

Maybe they've been a sinner their whole

life. Maybe they've rejected God their

whole life.

They don't have much time in this world.

I'm glad I can come into that room with

good news even for them.

I'm glad I don't have to say too late

for you, buddy. You've blown it your

whole life. No last minute Louise. You

know, I'm glad I can say the one that

saved the thief on the cross can save

you.

But you have to repent and believe.

That's exactly what the thief on the

cross did beside Jesus. One of them.

I'm glad I I I can't I don't have to say

too late. Too late. Too bad. So sad.

So,

Philip Reichen, Presbyterian Philip Like

Reken said, "Most of Jeremiah's

messianic prophecies

come in chapters 30-33."

These chapters are filled with such hope

and joy they are sometimes called the

book of consolation or the book of

comfort.

They're the grand hymn

They're the grand hymn of Israel's

deliverance.

I I hope you like the singing. If you

don't like the singing, you're not going

to enjoy heaven very much.

A lot of singing going on. And that's

not all that's going on. We got we got

jobs to do. We got cities to reign over.

We got uh you know, exploration. We got

business. We got all that stuff. But

there's going to be a whole lot of

raising the Lord.

And

I hope you're looking forward to that.

And you know something, we got something

to sing about. We got something to thank

God for.

Why did I'm going where I don't deserve

to ever be.

And the marvelous thing, and Reichen

says it, history shows that God saved

his people Israel the way he promised.

He promised they'd come back in 70

years.

And guess what he did? They came back.

What do you think the book of Ezra and

Nehemiah and all that's all about?

You know what? That same God promises us

things too in eternity. You think he's

going to keep the lesser promise and not

keep the greater one? The one the whole

Bible's about.

You see, this is a big issue. This is

talking about God keeping his word.

Whether it's judgment and chastisement

and correction or encouragement and

forgiveness,

we all want to be part of something that

lasts, don't we?

Businesses don't always last. Jobs don't

always last.

Factories don't always last.

Local churches don't always last.

Families don't always last.

Some go on longer than others. All of

them have a purpose in the time that

they are here.

We all want to be a part of something

that lasts that goes on and on and on.

That's how we get our own

feelings and sense of significance. I'm

part of something bigger than myself. It

goes on beyond me.

Family, job, country, music, buildings.

Uh well, we're talking about eternity

here.

And we have a chance of being in on that

which is for eternity.

And that's why it's so precious. Life is

hard, then you die,

then you're raised and reigned.

No ministry should be exclusively

negative. No ministry should be

exclusively positive.

A biblical ministry knows that demands

both. Right?

A biblical ministry demands both.

You can't omit the negative because you

don't like it. You can't emit the

positive because you'd rather be

negative.

These are precious passages. And I know

Jeremiah was enjoying this a lot more

than preaching any of the others. I

think he was really loving this to

deliver this.

Uh, you've heard the old carrot and

stick. Well, that's what we got here.

The stick is the correction. The carrot

is the comfort.

Healthy biblical balance. The whole

council of God. And the timing was

perfect. The Babylonians are at the

door. And now they know that the false

prophets were false and Jeremiah

was genuine.

Well, all of this is so very very

helpful and beneficial.

And what interests me so much is that I

love this part of the Israel coming

back. It's like there's 136 years

difference between the Assyrian

captivity and the Babylonian captivity.

And so the northern kingdom was in

captivity a lot longer than the southern

captivity. And it'd be very easy for the

people say, "Well, they're gone. They're

done. The 10 tribes are over."

Nobody's done for till God's done with

them.

And the captivities had their purposes.

And according to Jeremiah, both will be

back.

And by the way, he says that in chapter

23:5.

He says it again in chapters 31 verse

27-36.

There both will be back.

So um

I hope this has been a little bit of a

blessing to you tonight as we begin to

look at this comfort section

and I hope that you are glad that we

have good news to give people.

The good news is Jesus died for us and

rose again.

And we can afflict the uncomfortable and

tell them, "You're a sinner. You need to

be saved." But we can comfort the

afflicted by saying, "No matter how bad

it is, the blood of Jesus Christ

cleanses from all sin." We can use

Israel as an example. Uh uh God promised

the permanence of this nation. He

promised the reuniting of this nation.

He promised their restoration from

captivity. That did happen already in

history on an initial fulfillment. It's

still going to happen. And that's why

there's still Jews in the world.

Hitler, the Russians, nobody can stop

it. And Jesus is going to reign. He's

the king. There's a new covenant. And

we're in on it. We're in on it already.

And this latter day thing is very, very

precious in this chapter. It's it's

going to happen in the latter days. It's

extremely extremely precious. It's it

it's uh

it's very clear, isn't it? In the last

section, in the latter days, you'll

consider it.

If you come to that term latter days,

I'm going to give you 17 times it

appears in the Old Testament.

No, I'm not going to do it. I'll just

read the passages to you. I'll just read

the verse numbers. Genesis 49:1, Numbers

Genesis 49:1 Numbers 24:14

24:14,

Deuteronomy 4:30, Deuteronomy 21:29,

Deuteronomy 4:30

Isaiah 2:2, Jeremiah 23:20, Jeremiah

Isaiah 2:2 Jeremiah 23:20 Jeremiah 30:24

30:24, the last verse of this chapter,

Jeremiah 48:47,

Jeremiah 48:47

Jeremiah 49:39,

Jeremiah 49:39

Ezekiel 38,

and Ezekiel 38:16,

Ezekiel 38:16

Daniel 2:28, Daniel 10:14, Hosea 3:5,

Daniel 2:28 Daniel 10:14 Hosea 3:5

and Micah 4:1.

Micah 4:1

Now, some of those you, "Oh, yeah, I

know what that one is." A lot of those

you say, "I don't know what that." Well,

it's a terminology

of the days that are going to come after

judgment has passed. Uh, so what your

appetite for that to think about the

days to come. Those are esqueological

times and some of that has been

fulfilled initially. All of it will be

fulfilled completely.

One last thing.

The Jews that went into captivity had to

face a lifetime of being where they

didn't want to be.

70 years is a lifetime. It's the normal

lifetime, right?

according to Psalm 90, three score and

10. And if it's four score, it's labor

and sorrow. So it's kind of like the

normal lifetime.

And uh so what he's saying is what these

people were hearing, I'm not coming

back.

I'll never see

my country again,

my part of the promised land again. I'll

never see Jerusalem again.

I'm going to be there the rest of my

life. I'm going to die. That's what they

were hearing.

70 years. Isn't that what you would

hear?

I mean, unless you're 10 years old, you

say, "I might I might be able to survive

70 years."

You know, that's what they were hearing.

70 years was a lifetime. That was a life

sentence for those that had all that

idolatry and wickedness. But your

children will come back.

And at the end of history, everybody's

coming back that knows the Lord. He's

going to turn the cap cap captivity.

There's going to be a new covenant. And

God's going to do a new work for Israel.

And he hasn't forgotten his people. And

all of it means is there's a life after

this life.

So if my troubles go the rest of my

life,

it's not a total disaster because there

is another life. There is life after

life.

You ever put it that way? We talk about

life after death. There there's life

after life. There's life in this world,

but you might have some trouble that

you're going to have the rest of your

life.

I'm never going to get rid of this. I'm

going to be

for the rest of my life. I got this

physical ailment or I have this

financial situation or I have this

family situation the rest of my life. Uh

but God is saying sooner or later it's

going to stop

and there is a life after life

and this is a this this is giving

wonderful hints to it giving wonderful

precious things to by the way the

talment mentions that David their king

that they're going to worship in the

future that the Messiah will be revealed

to them out of their own midst.

So even the rabbis knew that when he was

talking about David, when Jeremiah is

talking about David, he's not talking

about the David that lived before him

hundreds of years before him. He's

talking about the promised king after

him.

Okay, let's have a word of prayer. We'll

get

close out. Father, thank you for the

time that

we can uh be here tonight.

bless this word to our lives.

Encourage us to persevere

in the faith and in the labors that you

want us to do in the place you want us

to be with the life that we have left in

this world. Knowing that you're a

covenant God that doesn't forget his

promises. And if you didn't forget it to

if you didn't if you won't forget them

for the Jewish people, you won't forget

your promises to us either.

You're faithful even when we aren't.

You are true even when we're false and

fail. You will succeed when we fail.

And he that's begun a good work in us

will continue to perform it to the day

of Christ Jesus. in Jesus name we pray.

Amen.

>> Amen.

>> Thank you.

Lord, as we go from this place

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine well to a sin

darkened world as we go from this place.