Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast, making Theology Central. Good morning, everyone. It is Monday, August the 28th, 2023. It is currently 1048 a.m. Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. And I don't know about you, but I don't know if I'm ready yet. I think I need to do some stretches here. Oh yeah, I gotta do, I probably need to drink some water. Are you ready? Oh, you don't, you don't know what's going on. We're in the middle of a marathon, right? We're running a marathon. And that marathon is to get us to the finish line, which is the completion of the book of Jeremiah by the end of August. And did you hear the date? It is August the 28th. Do you know what chapter we're in? We're in chapter 31. That means we have a lot to cover between now and the end of August. But I know I'm using this running analogy, this running illustration, and you may say, OK, give it up. But hey, I don't know. We're running a marathon. But see, the only problem with this marathon We have to run it like a sprint, right? We can't pace ourselves. We just have to just run as fast as we can. But at the same time, I don't want to run too fast because it is the word of God. So we want to make sure we're trying to be covering it as much as possible, just so that you know, this is very important, right? Because you really have two things happening if you've been listening to our summer study of the book of Jeremiah. On one hand, you're hearing the messages that I'm preaching at the pulpit of Victory Baptist Church located in the middle of nowhere, Texas, right? You're hearing those messages and we're working through the book of Jeremiah. Obviously, what we're doing behind the pulpit is much more in-depth and at a much slower pace. What we're doing on the podcast is moving at a much faster rate, all right? In one sense, you're kind of getting this really kind of a very quick overview of certain chapters. And then when I get to the pulpit of Victory Baptist Church, you're getting a much more detailed study. of those same chapters. So I hope that somehow, I hope you're realizing how that is working and hopefully that is beneficial. So from here, right, from the studio, we're going to go from chapter 31 to chapter 52 before the end of August. That's a guarantee. We're going to get there in the studio. At the church, we're going to be working on it starting on chapter 26 and 27 and 28 and 29, 30. We may skip some chapters, but we're slowly, but surely we will make it all the way to the end of the book. It will just be after August. So I guess in one sense, I'm going to be like, we did it. And the other way, I'm going to be like, we didn't do it. I don't know. But for you, you really benefit from it. because you're kind of getting this more, a quicker overview. At the same time, you're getting the in-depth. And so hopefully between the two, it's really reinforcing the ideas, hopefully helping clarify things. And I cannot, look, it's August the 28th. I really do need you. Whatever, I don't know what you've done this summer. I don't know. But I really do need you to stop and ask yourself, how have you grown as a Christian? this summer? How have you moved forward in your spiritual life? And how has the book of Jeremiah played a part in it? Hopefully, the book of Jeremiah has shown you the holiness of God. Hopefully, it's convicted you of your own sin. Hopefully, it's driven you more and more to rely on the grace of God completely and fully. Hopefully, there's been some spiritual benefits that have arrived from it because that was kind of our original goal from the beginning, right? is I really, I didn't want this just to be, well, I now know the book of Jeremiah better than anyone else, so that we can walk away with more knowledge. I wanted you to get the knowledge, but I wanted it to also have spiritual benefit, all right? So, I hope all of that is, that everything we're attempting to do here is I hope it's beneficial. I mean all I can do, all I can do is turn on the microphone and put in hour after hour after hour after hour of work and whatever happens with it is really beyond my control. There's going to be people who like it. There's going to be people who love it. There's going to be people who dislike it and there's going to be people who absolutely hate it, all right? And there's really not much you can do about that. You try to take constructive criticism as much as you can, but sometimes you got to be just kind of committed to what you're trying to do. And if people get it, great. If they don't, they don't. But that's kind of my approach. But are you ready? The book of Jeremiah. We are in chapter 31. I cannot even begin to describe the importance of Jeremiah 31. In fact, I will argue that Jeremiah 31 may be not only one of the most important chapters in the book of Jeremiah, it may be one of the most important chapters in the entire Old Testament. Maybe I would put it in the top five. the entire Bible. Everyone should know Jeremiah 31. You should read it and read it and read it and reread it and read it and read it and reread it and read it and read it, because it's Jeremiah 31, verse 31, where we read these famous words, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. And for some weird reason, Many in the church today leave out Israel and Judah in that verse and make it about us and make it about the church. And they just forget Israel and Judah. Many were like, oh, oh, I know it says he made it with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, but that's actually spiritual Israel. That's actually the church. It's not the nation of Israel. God did not make a new covenant with the nation of Israel. He made it with the new, His spirit, well, some would not use the word new. He made it with his one spiritual body that has always existed, which is spiritual Israel, which is the church. And I will argue no. That covenant, it's, look, in the context of this book, it's been about Judah and it's been about Israel. It's been about Judah and about Israel. It's about the nation. No one can read the book of Jeremiah and come to any other conclusion. And that very nation, Judah, who went into Babylonian captivity, promises are given to them. promises to comfort them. And after all of the judgment, after all the condemnation, after all the death, after all the suffering, there's this beautiful promise that the days are going to come, said the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It's made with the nation. How do I know? Look at the very next verse. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers and the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. This is about Israel and Judah. This is about the divided kingdom being spoken of almost as a united kingdom. And for some weird reason, this gets forgotten. And it drives me crazy how this gets ripped out of the hands of the nation of Israel and put into the hands of the church. I think that's wrong. I think it's horrible hermeneutics. And I just think it's really unfair. We open our Bible, see a promise to someone else, we grab the promise and make it ours. Now, you say, well, but the new covenant has some application to us. I'm not saying it doesn't, but here the emphasis is on the house of Israel and the house of Judah. So we have to understand what it means for them. Not only what did it mean for them, what does it mean for them? And what will it mean for them? That's what we need to do. Now, we're utilizing the audio of Dr. J. Verna McGee through the Bible Ministries, gave us permission to use their content. What we are doing with it though, I could just turn it on and just play it. And I could go, I could be downstairs, you know, having a Coke and kicking back and just let you listen to Dr. J. Verna McGee and get all the way through the book of Jeremiah doing that. It's perfectly right for me to do that. They gave me permission. But instead of doing that, what I'm doing is I'm letting you hear him. I'm offering my own interpretation, my own critique, so you're getting really two perspectives. Then also, we're going back at church, going in a much more in-depth way. So, I mean, you've been handed everything you could possibly want or need for the book of Jeremiah. And also remember, you still have time to email me at newsifatyahoo.com. Newsifatyahoo.com. newsifatyahoo.com to ask questions or, you know, anything you're struggling with, and I will do my very best to answer them. All right? Are you ready? Here we go. We got a lot to do. It's Monday, August the 28th, and we've got to get to the end of the book of Jeremiah by midnight on August the 31st. Can we do it? All right, we're gonna be placing bets for an over and under. Will he do it? Will he not do it? What's the chances he will do it? Okay, will he come in under? I don't know if I can go really over. Okay, will he finish before August 31st? We'll figure a way to form the bet, but all the money just comes to me. So you just send your bet money to me, I'll hold it, and even if you win the bet, I'm just gonna keep it. All right, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking, I'm joking. All right, ladies and gentlemen. Book of Jeremiah. Chapter 31. Dr. J. Vernon McGee. How is he going to handle this covenant? Let's find out right now. With that kind of a background, let's begin now with chapter 31. And in chapter 31, we have, I've labeled it the I will chapter. I will occurs 15 times and the one who says that is none other than God. Oh, I cannot stress that enough. All right, the I will chapter. I love that. Please identify all the I wills in Jeremiah 31. I would challenge you to make a list of all the I wills, the I wills, because guess what? Throughout the book of Jeremiah, it's like, you do this, you do this. If you don't do this, you've been doing this. If you do this, you'll be blessed. If you don't, you're all going to die. Do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this, do this. And now God's like, nope, you know what? All of your doing, all of your trying to do and trying to stop doing has failed. Now it's time for God to step in and say, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. What are the 15 I wills in Jeremiah 31? Identify them. Write it out. Make it look nice. Create a, I don't know, you can create a file. I don't care how you want it. Make it look really nice. You can do it on paper. You can add artistic. expression all around it, but the I-wills of Jeremiah 31. Can we identify all 15, all right? Please make that a priority today. The 15 I-wills of Jeremiah 31. Please identify those today, all right? Now, he may help you with many of them, He may cover all of them. We're about to find out, but I want you on your own to identify the 15 I wills of Jeremiah 31, because I think it's very important to understand something's changing here. It's no longer, I need you to do this. And if you do this and do this, God's like, that's it. I'm going to take care of everything. I will, I will, I will. Because in the history of Israel, God has told them to do things over and over and over and over and over again. And they have failed, they have failed, they have failed, they have failed, they have failed, they have failed. It's been a continual history of failing. we can sit there and point our fingers at them, but I can tell you 2,000 years of the Christian church has been a history of failure, failure, failure, failure. And your entire Christian life, God tells you to be holy. You've never been holy as God is holy. God tells you to love him with all his heart, mind, body, and soul. You will do this, you will do this, you fail, fail, fail. That's why my salvation is not based on what I will do, can do, try to do, it's based on what Christ did. Because in Christ, he says, I will pay for your sins. I will obey the law for you. I will impute my righteousness to your account. I will, I will, I will. It's what God did that matters, not what we will try to do. It's a very important passage, the 15 I wills in Jeremiah 31. Identify them. Write them out. Spend time meditating on them. All right, let's see how Dr. J. Vernon McGee is gonna work through these 15 I wills. Is he going to identify them? What else is he going to say? Says 15 times I will, and it's what he's going to do. Now, will you notice verse one, chapter 31 of Jeremiah. At the same time saith the Lord, will I, and that's same as I will, will I be the God of all the families of Israel, and they shall be my people. Okay, God's going to step in and he's going to be, I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. He says now at the same time, I'm assuming the same time, it may have to go back to, if we go back to chapter 30. that there's going to be this time, where does it start? If you read the end, and you shall be my people and I will be your God, he kind of makes a promise. And then verse 23, behold, the whirlwind of the Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind. It shall fall with pain upon the head of the wicked. The fierce anger of the Lord shall not return until we have done it, until we have performed it. The intents of his heart in the latter days, he shall consider it. That there comes, that we believe in chapter 30, that it's pointing to an ultimate future time that hasn't even happened yet. Somewhere around that time, there's going to be a time. Now, maybe Dr. J. Vernon McGee is going to identify it maybe more specifically, but there's a time coming. where, guess what, Israel, everything that's gone wrong with, everything that has been wrong in Israel with Israel, it's all going to be fixed. And God is going to be the God of all Israel, and they are going to be his people. Now, I will argue this hasn't happened yet. It has to have a future fulfillment. Now, some will say, no, it happens in the church. I don't. This whole book has been about Israel and Judah. It has not been about the church. I think it's completely, it's hermeneutical malpractice to do that. But let's see if Dr. J. Vernon McGee, maybe he does, maybe he goes a different direction than I'm thinking. Let's see where he goes. Now that has not come, that part has not been fulfilled yet. The present return of Israel to that land cannot be interpreted at all as being the fulfillment of it, because they have not returned to God. I'm told, and I have an article that comes from that land, and I don't care to identify the folk that have sent it, because I wouldn't want them to get in trouble, but there's real persecution of Christians that go on in that land today. They talk about, of course, religious freedom. Well, actually they don't quite have it over there. And it's because of the fact that they have not really returned to the Lord. Okay, so he identifies it has not occurred yet. And I agree with Dr. J. Vernon McGee, it has not occurred yet. There are promises here that go way beyond the return from Babylonian captivity, because the Babylonian captivity was more focused on Judah. Over and over, these promises are going to be both for Israel and Judah. for both and all of the families. And they're all going to be back. And God's gonna be their God and they're gonna be his people. This has not occurred. And whatever you think happens in the coming out of the Babylonian captivity, again, just think about it from a historical perspective. It's relatively short-lived. They come out of Babylonian captivity, boom, great. Remember, they have some problems. Finally, they get the temple rebuilt. And then when you open up the New Testament, Rome is in charge. They're already under the boot of Rome. And then by 70 AD, they're wiped off the face of the earth. So these promises tend to be much greater than what occurred coming out of the Babylonian captivity. And they seem to have promises of lasting, of being permanent, which we know did not occur. So again, either you have to allegorize these promises and say it's the church when the church is not being anywhere mentioned here, Or you have to say, well, it's for the nation, both the North and the South, and they have not happened yet. Therefore, there has to be a future fulfillment. And you can say, oh, that makes you a dispensationalist. Oh, no, that's just me trying to be true to the text. I don't care the label you want to place upon it. I don't care the team you want to identify it with. It's about like, how do I handle the text? Now verse 2, Thus saith the Lord, The people which were left of the sword found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I went to cause him to rest. The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Now listen to this, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee. Now we come to the explanation. We come to the reason that God is going to restore them back to that land. I believe with all my heart that God intends to restore the nation Israel to that land in His own time and in His own plan and in His own purpose. And the basis for it is explained right here. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Now, there are many favorite statements in the Word of God, but I suppose that this one here is probably the most quoted of any with the exception of John 3.16. I have loved thee with an everlasting love. Now, there are those today that raise the question, of course, well, how can God love these people? And that's a good question, by the way. How can God love the nation Israel the way that actually they're doing over in that land today? Well, may I say to you, why not widen that question out just a little and ask it like this. How can God love us today? Because he says, God so loved the world. Not only these people, but God loves the world. And he loves you and me. And friends, you're not going to find a satisfactory answer to that in ourselves. Okay, now before he goes on, I want to make it very clear. The next time you hear someone quote, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee, would you immediately stop that individual and go, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Who are those words to? Who were those words spoken to immediately? First and foremost, this is for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. He has loved them with an everlasting love. It was God who chose the nation of Israel. It was the God who has worked in them, spoken to them, give them divine revelations, sent the prophets. It's been God who protected, preserved. It's been God who has disciplined, rebuked, chastised. It has been God working. I mean, the entire Old Testament is God working through this nation over and over and over and over. Their kings, their prophets, their priests, the entire worship system, Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel. You can't, if you read the Old Testament and miss Israel, you may want to question or challenge yourself to get some help in how you read, because your reading comprehension is seriously lacking. How people read the Old Testament and seem to see the church, the church, the church, the church, the church. You should be seeing Israel, Israel, Israel, Israel, because it's everywhere. And God has loved them with an everlasting love. That's how come God can't be done with the nation of Israel. If God is done with the nation of Israel, then I would be worried that God could be done with you. If God chose them, if God elected them, and he could just cast them aside, in a sense, replace them with us, then you can't even trust in God's election. You can't trust in God's love. He chose them, he elected them, and he loved them with an everlasting love. And that is comforting, Because if he's chosen and elected us and loves us, then there is something everlasting about it. But this is first and foremost, we have to understand how this applies to them. For the very simple reason that it's very easy to point your finger at those people, and some do. And I'd like to say this to any anti-Semite that's listening to me right now. May I say to you, you can criticize these people all you want to. God says, I love thee with an everlasting love. And I want to say to you, what are you going to do with that? God says that. What are you going to do with it? Now, instead of pointing your finger at these people, why don't you turn it around and point it to yourself today? In God's sight, you are as great a sinner as anyone on the outside. And it took the death of Christ to provide a redemption for you and me. And don't limit this to just a few people today and say, how can God love them? Well, my friend, how can God love me? How can God love you today? And we are amazed at it. Faber put it in a song that goes like this. I'm not going to sing it, understand. How thou canst think so well of us, yet be the God thou art, is darkness to my intellect, but sunshine to my heart." Well, there are two words here, and I want to say a word about them before I pass on. And the first word I want to say concerns the first word, everlasting. I know very little about that. I'm sorry to have to say it, but That's a word that, when you use it, I'm not sure you've told me everything. All I know is, is like that little boy I told you about, his answer was, when I ask him about how long is everlasting, or how long is the word never, and he says, I reckon it's a pretty long time. That's all I can say about everlasting. It's a pretty long time. And then love. What is that, by the way? Well, the explanation is that God loves us, and will you hear me very carefully now, because I'm not sure that this answer satisfies me or not, but this is the best I can do until some other comes along. God loves you and me, not because He sees anything in us, but because of who He is. and because he finds the explanation in himself. And the apostle put it like this, herein is love, not that we love God, but that he loved us. Now that's love. And Kramer made this comment on that text. He says, "...the love of God toward us comes from love, and has no other cause above or beside itself, but is in God, and it remains in God, so that Christ, who is God, is its center. He hath love, he hath love, and he loves you, and he loves me, and I can't tell you why, my friend." And I just have to interrupt. Beautiful sentiments, beautiful words. But let's make sure these words are first and foremost applied to Israel. God has loved Israel with an everlasting love, not because there was anything in them to make them worthy. They're not worthy of God's love. They're worthy of His condemnation. They're worthy of His wrath. They're worthy of His judgment. I can understand why some will say, well, they failed and God is done with them. I can see from a human perspective why you would be like, you should be done with them, but no, no, no, God loves them with an everlasting love. You don't decide when God stops loving. You don't make the determination when God is done with someone. God has loved that nation, he has a plan for that nation, he made promises to that nation, and he will fulfill those promises. And I think the church, holding to a correct understanding of God's plan for Israel, would be the loudest voice against anti-Semitism. We should condemn it outright because God loves them with an everlasting love. Now, for God so loved the world, we should be against any other type of bigotry. We should be against any other type of prejudice. But in this particular case, we're looking at God's love for Israel. And you can say, well, they don't deserve it. And you don't deserve it. That's why the story of Israel is so important. If God continues to love them, he elected them, chose them, and He will fulfill all of His promises to him, then you can rest assured that in God choosing, electing you, and loving you, that it is guaranteed to be eternal. Israel could not out sin the love of God. Israel could not out... Israel's unfaithfulness was not greater than God's faithfulness. Israel's sin was not greater than God's love and mercy. Israel's rebellion was not greater than God's desire to ultimately save them and fulfill his promises to them. It's a beautiful, beautiful passage, but let's keep it where the first and foremost, it needs to be focused on Israel and Judah. That's where it needs to be focused. Still can't tell you why. And let me just quote Faber again. Yet thou dost think so well of us because of what thou art, thy love illumines our intellect. yet fills with fear our heart, I'm overwhelmed by the love of God. I want to say this, that I'm so overwhelmed with it, and it's so wonderful, I'm afraid he might change his mind tomorrow about this thing, and if he does, I'm a goner, and you are too. But he says it's everlasting, and that's a pretty long time. So it makes this quite wonderful here, and if you want to know why God is going to restore these people back to the land, and I can't refrain from saying this, I must say it. I have a great many Amalemist friends that believe God is through with the nation Israel. May I say to you, if He's through with them, He's through with you, and He's through with me. That is so true. If you can honestly say, well, God was done with Israel because they failed, then he's done with you because you have failed. And if you can't see that, by throwing out Israel, you're throwing out yourself. There's no hope. There's no guarantee for anyone. Oh, that's so, that's so good. But he says, I've loved you with an everlasting love. And that's the reason he's not through with them. And I don't care what you think about them. And it doesn't make any difference what I think about them. God is not through with them. Now we're prepared to hear what he's going to say about these people. Drop down to verse 8. Okay, he's dropping to verse 8. I can't. I cannot drop to verse 8. I understand he's got an agenda because he was trying to teach the entire Bible in five years. I know I have an agenda. I'm supposed to finish Jeremiah by the end of August. But this chapter, I cannot stress to you enough. Please, I would challenge you, read the book, read Jeremiah chapter 31. Try to read it 10 times. Try to read it 10 times. Just make today the day of Jeremiah 31. Look, I know we've got to get finished the book, but make today the day of Jeremiah 31. Read it 10 times. If you can't read it 10 times, get an audio app and listen to it 10 times. Make it a priority. But remember the I wills? There's 15 I wills, 31 one. At the same time, sayeth the Lord, will I or I will be the God of all the families of Israel and they shall be my people. Look at verse four. Then again, I will build thee and thou shall be built, O virgin of Israel. Thou shall again be adorned with thy tabrets and shall go forth in the dances of them that make merry. He's going to build them again. Now, you may say, well, was that completely fulfilled in the Babylonian return from the Babylonian captivity? I don't think it was completely fulfilled. I think it was a partial fulfillment. And I know this, the return from Babylonian, the Babylonian captivity was literal. The return from it was literal and all of these other promises have to be literally fulfilled. So he's going to, I'm going to be a God of all the families of Israel. They should be my people and I will build thee again. All right. Verse five, thou shall yet plant vines upon the mountains of Samaria. The planter shall plant and shall eat them as common things. For there shall be a day that the watchman upon the Mount Ephraim shall cry, Arise ye and let us go up to Zion unto the Lord our God. For thus saith the Lord, sing with gladness for Jacob and shout among the chief of the nations. Publish ye, praise ye and say, O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel. All right, now let's continue. I will bring them from the north country, and gather them from the coasts of the earth, and with them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, and her that travaileth with child, together a great company shall return thither. Now, you would think that you could leave the blind and the lame aside, and if it's going to be a big undertaking to bring them, just bring the best ones, the best physical specimens. God says, nothing of the kind. I'm bringing them all. Now, he goes on, verse 9, "...they shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn." Now, God never said that of any individual Israelite. It's Moses, My servant. He never said it of David. It's David, My servant. But the whole nation, when he speaks of them as a corporate body, God says, I'm a father to Israel, to the nation, but not the individual Israelites. Now, verse 10, "...hear the word of the Lord, O ye nations, and declare it in the isles afar off, and say, He that scattered Israel will gather him, and keep him as a shepherd doth his flock." And I want to say to you today that I'm delighted to be able to be on radio stations actually that will go around the world, and I'm able to say today what God says. I want the isles of the earth to hear it, and I want all mankind to hear it, that I scattered Israel. It was a judgment upon them, but I've loved them with an everlasting love, and I'm going to bring them back to that land. He judged them, but He loved them, and He'll bring them to that land. That is what you'd call the bittersweet of this passage here. All through here you have the note of joy, but you also have a note of sorrow. There is a Chinese dish called sweet-sour. And that's what this passage is. You have the sweet and you have the sour. God says, I'm going to keep him, and I'm going to keep him like a shepherd doth his flock, and the shepherd really watches over his flock. Now, how will he do it? Verse 11, For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger than he. Now, God is not through saying what He will do. Verse 13, "...then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together, for I will turn their mourning into joy, and I will comfort them, and I will make them rejoice from their sorrow, and I will satiate," or satisfy, "...the soul of the priest with fatness, And my people shall be satisfied with my goodness, saith the Lord." And I don't know, I feel like saying, hallelujah, and throw my hat in the air. This is what God says He's going to do for them. And let's let Him say it, because that's what He wants to do. Now, their immediate condition is tragic. They rebelled against God. They are backsliding. Verse 22, "...How long wilt thou go about, O thou backsliding daughter? For the Lord hath created a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man." Now, there are those that believe that this verse here refers to the virgin birth of Jesus, and I see no reason to rule that out. Now here, beginning with verse 31, We have God's covenant, a new covenant that he intends to make with Israel, all twelve tribes, and if you think ten of them are lost, God doesn't. He's going to make it with all twelve tribes, and this is going to be different from the covenant given to Moses at Mount Sinai. And the grand distinction is that this covenant will be engraved upon their hearts and not upon cold tables of stone. Okay, I know we skipped a lot and I'm tempted to go back and read everything here. Oh, there's so much here. Yes, there's so much here, but I'm just gonna allow him to go, because I don't wanna try to back up and put this all back together, but let's do this. This is very, very important. So in verse 31, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, he himself acknowledged, and I'm glad he does, right? That this is a covenant made with Israel. Verse 31, man, I could read this a million times. Jeremiah 31, 31, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant. the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It is made with them. This is with them. It's with them. It's with them. I cannot stress it enough. Whenever we talk about the new covenant, we immediately want to talk about the church and talk about us, talk about Israel. And then we have to ask ourselves, okay, wait, when, okay, the covenant's been made. Has it been fulfilled yet? What is the marks of the fulfillment of the new covenant? Because I'm going to argue it hasn't been fulfilled yet. It has not been fulfilled yet. Now we are grafted in and we reap some of the benefits of the new covenant, but the new covenant is made with Israel. Let's see how Dr. J. Vernon McGee handles this. Their sins will be forgiven. This covenant will never be changed or abrogated. Will you listen? Verse 31, behold, the days come saith the Lord. that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, with the house of Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people." That's very clear-cut language. Verse 34, And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, for they shall all know me. From the least of them unto the greatest of them saith the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." God says that's in the past, and it's been put in the past. And now, notice how God confirms it. And before we look at how he confirms it, just make sure you read all of that, right? None of that has not happened yet to Israel. He has not put the law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. And they will teach no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother saying, know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them and to the greatest of them. sayeth the Lord, I will forgive their iniquity and I will remember their sins no more. That has not occurred yet to Israel. So what some do is say, see, see, see, this is in the church. No, this is not. If it's in the church, then we don't need to teach anymore because everyone knows God. But no, we still teach and we still try to get people to understand God because this has not been fulfilled. This is for the nation of Israel. It has not been fulfilled. So it has to have a future fulfillment. And the only place I know where to even try to put this would be during the millennial kingdom. I don't know where else to put it. And you can say, oh, that makes you a dispensationalist. Oh, that makes you this. Oh, that. You can label it all you want. The text gives a promise that has not been fulfilled. The promise is specifically for the house of Israel and the house of Judah. And it has to be specifically fulfilled because everything else in the book, all of the judgments, everything else has been literally and specifically fulfilled. So the promises have to be specifically and literally fulfilled as much as possible. Or the whole book falls apart from any interpretive practice, unless you just start spiritualizing everything. And it's funny, when Israel and Judah's being punished, it's the nation. When all of a sudden they get blessings, some step in and go, no, no, no, no, that's the church. Well, wait a minute, why? How did you just magically do that? All right, so let's now, what's the kind of the confirmation of these promises? us, saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar. The Lord of hosts is his name. If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.' God says, that if you can pull the moon out, we're doing a little something with it. The last trip up, they brought down 200 pounds of rock, and if they keep that up, a few million years, they'll have it all moved from up there, and there won't be any up there. But I don't think they're going to do it, because God says that this is going to be an everlasting covenant that he makes with them. Now, when we come to chapter 3, And what I always wanna say is when people try to remove this from Israel, I'm like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, before you move this from Israel, look at verse 35, right? Thus saith the Lord, which hath the, with, giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night, which divided the sea, when the waves therefore roar, the Lord of hosts is his name. If these ordinances depart, then before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation. A nation. As long as I see the sun, the moon, the stars, as long as I see all of that, I know God is not done with Israel. God is not done with Israel. He's not done with them. And he will fulfill his promises to them. 32 here, and it's another very wonderful chapter. Jeremiah's imprisoned. And even though he's in prison, he buys real estate. Now we are told here, and the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the 10th year of Zedekiah. Okay, he jumps to chapter 32, but let me read a couple of, let's read a little bit more here from chapter 31, because he skipped a lot here, all right? So, I'm going to just read from verse 37. All right, I'm gonna read verse 37, Jeremiah 31, 37. Thus saith the Lord, if heaven above can be measured and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all the day that they have done, saith the Lord. Meaning, hey, that he's made these promises and unless something, unless these extraordinary things can happen, no more sun, no more moon, no more stars, all of these things go away, God is not done with Israel. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord. from the tower of Hananel unto the gate of the corner and the measuring line shall go forth over against it into the hill of Gereb and shall come pass about to Goath. All right. And the whole valley of the dead bodies and of the ashes and all the fields under the brook of Kidron under the corner of the horse gate towards the east shall be holy unto the Lord. It shall not be plucked up nor thrown down anymore forever. Look at verse 40. He talks about the rebuilding of all of this. And if you talk about the rebuilding, here's the main thing, you can try to measure that and go from this location to this location. Most believe it's never been what is described here, but you can have that debate. It says it will never be plucked down again. That cannot be the rebuilding of the temple. That cannot be the rebuilding or doing anything with Jerusalem after the Babylonian captivity, because it's all torn down again and destroyed in 70 AD. Meaning, this promise has never been fulfilled because everything has to be rebuilt. Everything has to be restored. Israel has to be gathered. Israel has to actually be in control, right? They have to be back in the place. That's not happened. So therefore, this has never been fulfilled. Therefore, we have to look to a future fulfillment, right? Now he jumps to chapter 32. right? And it says in 32, the word of the Lord, the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the 10th year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. Now, he's given us a timestamp, Dr. J. Vernon McGee. We'll see if we can get at least through chapter 32 by the conclusion of this episode. We have to at least get through chapter 32. We're going to do our very best. So here we go. King of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar. You see how he pinpoints this now? This is in the 10th year of Zedekiah. This is the year that Nebuchadnezzar breached the walls of Jerusalem and destroyed it. For then the king of Babylon's army besieged Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison which was in the king of Judah's house." It's a dark day, you see. Here this man, Jeremiah, is in prison, and Nebuchadnezzar is about ready to get into the city and destroy it. Now, this man, Jeremiah, he had a relative by the name of Hannah Meal. And verse 7, Behold Hannah Meal, the son of Shalem, thine uncle, shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is thine to buy it. And the interesting thing is, verse 9, he says, And I bought the field. Now, this was the time to sell real estate. And I have a notion that the real estate dealers in Jerusalem and in that surrounding country were really dumping all the real estate they possibly could. But this man, Jeremiah, bought it. Now, at the darkest time, he buys real estate. Why does he do it? To let these people know that he believes. They're going to return back to that land, which they did return back to that land. And he bought this real estate. I think this is a remarkable passage of Scripture. And then you have the prayer of Jeremiah, beginning here in verse 16. I do think it's important, I know he's not emphasizing this, but I want you to realize Jeremiah 31 is this beautiful promise that goes beyond even the time in which we are living. These great promises to Israel, to the house of Israel and the house of Judah, to the entire nation. these glorious promises. But this is very important. God's glorious promises, they exist, they're unchangeable, and they are not moved by the circumstances we are currently experiencing. Never look at God's promises through the lens of your suffering, through the lens of your difficulty. God's promises are not touched by. God's promises do not become less. You should not question them. God's promises are there, like the moon, the sun, the stars. They are confirmed. They are there. In a sense, they're immovable, in a sense. You can trust them. What we have a tendency to do is, when we look to God's promises through the lens of our suffering and our circumstance, we start questioning the promise. We start doubting the promise. No, no, no. Look at your circumstances through the lens of God's promise. Because God's promise is like, you may be suffering, it may be horrible, but my promises stand sure. My promises are immovable. My promises are based off an everlasting love. My promises are based off my sovereign choice. They cannot be moved. They cannot be changed. In the midst of Jeremiah 31, after we read this, and immediately we go back to suffering and difficulty. 31 is like all of a sudden this beautiful light giving hope for well beyond their days all the way into the future. And then we get right back to the reality of life. God's promises, we read their promises, but then we have the reality of life around us. Do not ever question the promises of God because of your circumstances. Your circumstances may be bad, they may be horrible, they may be difficult. God's promises stand true. Even though sometimes we don't understand, well, why are you giving me this great promise? I want you to fix my current circumstance. Sometimes God doesn't do that, but it doesn't change the promise. He says, Now when I delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord God, behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee. Now, he's got a question that's too hard for him, and he's bringing it to the Lord. "...Thou showest lovingkindness unto thousands, recompenseth the iniquity of fathers unto the bosom of their children after them. The great, the mighty God, the Lord of hosts, is his name, great in counsel and mighty." Now, he says, "...and thou hast brought forth thy people," verse 21, now, "...out of Israel, out of the land of Egypt, with signs, oneness, strong arm, Verse 22, And is given them this land which thou didst swear to their fathers. Verse 23, And they came in and possessed it. Verse 24, Behold the mounts, they are coming to the city to take it, and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it. Verse 25, And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses, for the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans. And this man now has a question, and I mean a real question, and Jeremiah's no hypocrite. You know, there are a lot of Christians today that are hypocritical in their actions. You know, something comes to them, and they become very pious, and they say, oh, I just trust the Lord, and the Lord has let this come, and I accept it. And they don't accept it. They cry out to him, and they complain about it, you see. And they ask him why. Now, my friend, there's nothing wrong in asking why. Just don't try to cover up and say how pious you are. If you have a doubt or a question, go talk to the Lord about it. He wants you to. Don't give this front today that so many pious people do. Oh, I've committed this to the Lord. You haven't committed it to the Lord. You say, oh, I trust Him. You don't trust Him. You've got question marks as high as the moon, and you have no answer. Oh, my friend, God says now, and He comes in and speaks to this man, Jeremiah, and He says to him, Jeremiah, you can trust Me. I will bring these people back to this land. I'm carrying forth my purpose in the world. Oh, my friend, to be able to go to God and then have God encourage our hearts. Let Him know how you feel. Now in chapter 33. Okay, two practical lessons, and I really want to get this down. Okay, here, this is very important. We must always see the truth of God, the truth about God, the truth of who God is. God is holy. God is righteous. God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. Those truths of God, we must always see those truths of God, and we cannot allow circumstances to impact how we see God. In other words, we must see God as He is, and we do not see God through the lens of our circumstance. We see our circumstances through the lens of God. Now, sometimes that leads to questions, right? Because if I see my circumstances through the lens of God, I'm like, here's my circumstances, but God is all-powerful. God is all-knowing. That makes no sense. It's okay to express that doubt, but just do not question the truth of God because of your circumstances. God is who He is in spite of your circumstances. Your circumstances, your emotions, your feelings, your sufferings, your trials, your tribulations does not change the truth of God. We cannot look to who God is through the lens of our emotions, feelings, or circumstances. We must see our feelings, emotions, and circumstances through the lens of who God is. God is God, and he is not changed by our circumstances or feelings. My feelings and my emotions sometimes would question God's very existence. Looking to God through the lens of my emotions and feelings and my experiences would be like, God is not all-powerful, or God is not loving, or God is not caring, or God is not present, or God is not all-knowing. And look, there's times I do that. I'm gonna be the first to admit. I question almost the existence of God sometimes because I see it, I see God through the lens of my circumstance. But when I flip it around, I see then, no, God is who God is. and I look at my circumstances, I don't understand them. It makes no sense to me, and I may be frustrated by it, but I don't question the character and the attributes and the person of who God is because of what I experience. And at the same time, I do not look to God's promises through the lens of my circumstance. I do not, because if I do, I would call into question God's promises. God's character and God's promises are not changed or lessened or moved because of my emotions, feelings, or circumstances. Do not look to the character of God or to his promises through the lens of your emotions and feelings. Do not do that. All right, now he's come to chapter 33. I want to continue, but we're at 56 minutes. So instead of making this too long, I want to stop it right at an hour, and we'll stop. So the next time, We'll work on 33, 34, 35, 36. I think the next time we'll try to get all the way through 33 to 39. And the only reason I know we can do that is because I can look at the timestamp and the audio and obviously we can cover it all. We'll make ourselves, we'll have to, we have no choice. We have no choice, ladies and gentlemen. The next episode, we have to go from 33 to 39. We don't even have an option because we have to get, we have to be done with 39 by the end of tonight. We have to. So I don't know when, it may be 10 o'clock tonight. It may be 10 o'clock tonight. It may be sometime later this afternoon, but we will turn on the microphone and go from 33 to 39. But I want you to work on Jeremiah 31. I want you to find the 15 I wills. I want you to read Jeremiah chapter 31, like, I don't know, 10 times. And I want you to really, really, really dedicate the day to that. And then we will go from here. Now I've got to write down this timestamp. I gotta write it down. All right, there we go. I'm going to keep it paused. I'll have to back it up a little bit and try to make sure we have it ready to go. And then hopefully when we come back and hit play, it'll be in the right spot. But yeah, 58 minutes. If we go further than this goes, we'd probably go an hour. I could probably go an hour 30 minutes and finish it, but I don't want to do that. I want these episodes to try to be somewhat manageable. I know an hour is already a lot of time for people, but... I hope you're ready to go. So, hey, you can stop running now. You can sit down, get you a drink of water, rest, and then we'll be back at some point to work hard on the book of Jeremiah and see what we can do to finish it. We're gonna finish this one way or the other, all right? Okay, thanks for listening. Email me, newsifatyahoo.com. Newsifatyahoo.com. That's newsifatyahoo.com. As always, if you appreciate anything that we're doing, if you listen to us on the Apple Podcast app, please leave us a five-star review. Okay, please. You can go to TheologyCentral.net. You can leave a review there. You can obviously write comments. comments about what we're doing on the Sermons 2.0 app. We appreciate that. And of course, if you want to support anything we're doing in a financial way, you can go to TheologyCentral.net and hit the Donate tab, or you can hit the Give button on the Sermons 2.0 app or the Church One app, and we greatly appreciate that. right? And let other people know, hey, what are you doing? Well, I've been running a marathon through the book of Jeremiah. A marathon? What are you talking about? Well, yeah, we're trying to sprint to the end and we got a long ways to go. And get other people involved in this, all right? I know it's a little late now, but you can tell them to go back and listen to everything because I think it's been a long, detailed journey through the book of Jeremiah in a very compact way, but I think we've covered some very important issues and we've not been willing, listen, we have not hid from, in any way, shape or form, the difficulties and the philosophical problems this book brings forth. And I'm glad and I appreciate the fact that we have not hidden from those things, we have faced them head on. All right, thanks for listening. NewsIFYahoo.com. That's NewsIFYahoo.com. Thanks for listening. Everyone have a great day. Jeremiah 31, the 15 I wills. Read it 10 times. Everyone have a great day. God bless.