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Well, good morning. What a pleasure it is to be in
the house of the Lord with you all. What a lovely place and
I've really just enjoyed the accommodations and you guys can
sing. Well, let's go to the Lord in
prayer and we'll get started. Our gracious and heavenly Father,
we thank you for the privilege it is to come before your presence
this morning. How marvelous and weighty is
your word. Who can understand these things
and so We come and we ask for you to illumine your perfect
revelation, to renew our minds and warm our
hearts, to encourage us in the faith, to point us to Christ. Have your way with your word
by your spirit, In the name of Jesus, we pray. Amen. If your Bibles are already open
to Jeremiah 29, look down at verse 11 with me. I know that
many of you know this verse very well. In fact, most of you may
even have this verse memorized. It says, For I know the plans
I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans for welfare and not
for evil to give you a future and a hope. What an incredible
verse for your life. It's not difficult to memorize,
not too hard to understand. It's a powerful message with
a great promise. I mean, what's not to like about
this verse? Prosperity. protection, hope
for a great future. I mean, aren't these the things
that any of us would want to see become a reality? Isn't this
the American dream with God's endorsement behind it? Well,
borrowing from the Spanish theologian, Inago Montoya, I do not think
this verse means what you think it means. So the question is, is this an
appropriate use of this verse that is to put God on the hook
for a life of prosperity, for a life of blessing that fits
our definition? Well, the answer lies in a closer
look at the context of Jeremiah 29 as a whole. Make no mistake, brothers and
sisters, this verse is for God's people, but in a much deeper
and a much more profound way than many use it today. In fact, this chapter, this chapter
is a promise of hope for us in Christ as we live a life of exile
on this side of heaven. So Jeremiah. Jeremiah lived in the darkest
time of Israel's history, and our Lord called him to be a prophet
in such a time. He was a priest from the line
of Aaron, who lived in the southern kingdom of Judah, specifically
Jerusalem. As a prophet, He warned Israel
about the severe consequences of breaking their covenant with
God through their idolatry. He even prophesied to them of
the coming of Babylon, the coming of Babylon as God's servant to
bring forth judgment by taking the people into exile and listen
to me, later destroying Jerusalem. And sadly, because of Israel's
lack of repentance, this prophecy became reality. Our text this
morning picks up with a large group of Judeans being in exile
in Babylon. These exiles in Babylon were
not ready to accept the idea of a prolonged stay. They thought
that they were going to be away for just a brief moment, a brief
time. In fact, they essentially had
the mindset to not unpack their bags. They needed to be ready just
like their fathers were on the night of Passover. Keep your
shoes on, keep your clothes tucked in and your bags packed. We don't
want to miss our flight out of here. So while the exiles are
staying packed, They receive a letter in the mail. And this
letter changes absolutely everything. In fact, this letter is also
addressed to us, the Lord's Church. And just as it had a huge impact
on those exiles, so it should shape our lives as it tells us
of God's good plan for us in Christ. So this chapter opens
by telling us about a letter that Jeremiah sent to these exiles
in Babylon. Now, the date of this letter
is shortly after 597, when Nebuchadnezzar had taken
this large group of Judeans from Jerusalem to Babylon. This is
about 10 years before the final destruction of Jerusalem and
Judah. So Zedekiah was the king in Jerusalem
over the Judeans there, which is where Jeremiah is living. But there are this significant
community of exiles living in Babylon. And the Lord has a sermon
for Jeremiah to deliver to these exiles. And so Jeremiah sends
this letter, this sermon to them by way of letter. It's a lot
like Paul's letter to the churches. We could call this preaching
from afar. It's God's written word with
a stamp on it. So the letter begins in verse
four, where the Lord addresses all the exiles that he sent from
Jerusalem to Babylon. Brothers and sisters, The very
first words out of God's mouth through Jeremiah would have shaken
these exiles to their core. Look at it with me. Verses five
and six. Build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and
daughters. Take wives for your sons and
give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.
multiply there and do not decrease. He says then build houses, plant
gardens, have some babies. The Lord tells them, settle down
and settle in. You need to go ahead and make
a home for yourself. This would have been the very
last thing that they would have wanted to hear. You see, at the sharp edge of sword and
spear. They were just herded like cattle,
hundreds of miles away from home, and they were dumped in this
very strange place. The neighbors spoke a different
language. Strange smells permeated the
air. Weird food was in the marketplace. And at the end of it, they just
did not want to be there. They were homesick. And the Lord
tells them, build homes. I mean, this sounds really permanent,
doesn't it? This is putting down deep roots.
We would rather live in tents. We don't want to make a home
here. But the Lord instructs them,
settle down. because their stay is going to
be a while, a long while. And in fact, did you notice the
generations that we read in verse six? They're to get married,
have kids, they're to give their kids in marriage so that they
can have kids. Three generations. The Lord tells
these homesick exiles that they're going to see their grandchildren
in exile. They will bury their parents
in Babylon. They will retire there. This
is a good long stay, so you might as well get used to it. Get comfortable. Make a life for yourself. These
commands in verses five and six would not have made the exiles
very happy. Now these orders would have not
just been discouraging for those that are homesick, they would
have also had a strange and very bizarre ring to them. To build
a house and live in it, to plant a garden, to enjoy this luscious
ripe fruit of your garden, to have a big family. These are
blessings of the covenant. These are expressions of God's
favor. are blessings of the promised
land. In exile, exile was a curse.
Exile is God's punishment. Exile is God's disfavor. It's a picture of being God-forsaken. So the question would be, how
can God call us to blessing In the midst of a curse, in the
midst of exile, it's like mixing oil and water. Surely God is
doing something new here. Well, the shock of this letter
is about to be amped up. It's about to ramp up just a
little bit more. Look down at verse seven with
me. But seek the welfare of the city. where I have sent you into
exile. And pray to the Lord on its behalf. For in its welfare, you will
find your welfare. Now to seek the peace or welfare
of someone is to do what is good for them. It's part of loving
your neighbor. You promote their good name,
their health, their wealth, their peace. The Lord even instructs
them to pray on behalf of this pagan city. This is interceding
to the Lord for blessing. I want you to get a hold of the
gravity of this. The Israelite exiles are to ask
the Lord to bless the Babylonians. Now the sting of this command
only gets hotter for the order is to seek the welfare of the
city. The city is bigger than being
a good neighbor. The city represents the people,
the society, yes, even the government. The exiles are called to promote
the welfare of the state of Babylon. Ouch. How can God call us to
do this? Babylon just ripped me from my
homeland. Babylon killed my parents. They committed unspeakable atrocities
against my family. They confiscated everything that
we own, and now the Lord calls us to pray for them? Well, that's unthinkable. You
see, this command cuts against the grain of the Mosaic law. In Deuteronomy 23, the Lord labeled
Moab and the Ammonites enemies. And then he told Israel explicitly
in Deuteronomy 23, verse six, he says, do not seek their peace. or their welfare, talking about
Moab and the Ammonites. This is the complete opposite
then of what he says here in Jeremiah 29. Well, previous prophets
often put invaders of Israel into this enemy category. It would have been very natural
then to put Babylon in this category and to not seek her peace. They are, after all, pagan idolaters. As cruel and godless oppressors,
these people deserve to be punished, not blessed. We should pray for
Babylon's downfall, not their peace. And if we're going to
pray for them, let it be imprecatory prayers, not prayer of blessing. This would have been the thinking
of the exiles. But with these commands, God
indicates that he's doing something different. And listen to me,
if you're taking notes, get this down. He's doing something different
when they are not in the promised land. Everybody got that? When
God's People are not in the promised land. In fact, the entire thrust
of what he is calling the exiles to do in verses five through
seven is for them to live by common grace. Look at the command
at the end of verse six. Multiply there and do not decrease. This is actually not a command
of Israel under Moses. Sure, they multiplied, but this
was not a stipulation of Moses. It was a blessing. God told Israel
to obey the law and he would multiply them. But the command
to multiply comes in Genesis one to Adam and Eve. It appears somewhere else, I
bet you know. It also appears in Genesis chapter nine when
God speaks to Noah after the flood. And my point is this.
The call to multiply goes out to all people under the sun. The exiles are called to live
fruitful lives, building homes, making gardens, having children. They are called to pray for the
welfare of their pagan neighbors, for the peace of a corrupt government,
and for God's blessing to be upon them all. In the opening
exhortations of this letter, the Lord reminds the exiles that
the rainbow is still shining brightly and that the Noahic
common grace covenant is still in play. Well, as you can only
imagine, this pill is not easy for the exiles to swallow. In fact, it is the polar opposite
of the prevailing census. This becomes clear as the Lord
tells the exiles not to listen to their prophets. Note verses
eight and nine. Look it down with me. 8 and 9
says, for thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you
deceive you and do not listen to the dreams they dream. Verse
nine, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my
name. I did not send them, declares
the Lord. The exiles shouldn't be deceived
by these prophets' dreams or their messages. Now, this is
the question, why? Why? For the Lord did not send
them. The prophets are not speaking
God's word. In fact, an implicit nugget of
these prophets' message is this, a quick return home. Like Hananiah
in chapter 28, they announced that they would not be there
very long. A year, maybe two at the most. Don't unpack, don't put down
any roots, don't do anything to help Babylon. For soon Babylon
will crumble and you will get to go home. This was the number
one hit on iTunes during this time by the false prophets. But
the Lord's plan, The Lord's plan was very different. And he says,
when 70 years are completed for Babylon, false prophets, they
say soon. The Lord says 70 years, a long
time. There is no speedy return. Rather, you're going to be in
exile a good long while. So in the meantime, unpack, settle
in, get comfortable. Now, even though the Lord clarifies
that their exile will be long, he does assert something. And
this is important for us to remember that this exile is not forever. Yes, they will build houses and
they will have grandkids in Babylon, but it will not become their
new homeland. They are sojourners, they are
exiles. At the end of those 70 years,
the Lord will visit his people favorably, and he will bring
them back to the promised land. Now, the promised restoration
in verses 12 through 14 here is basically a rough paragraph
of Deuteronomy 30. God here is predicting the restoration
of his people. He foretells the people's repentance
and their seeking of God. He promises that he will hear
his people and will be found by them. As a father carries
his son, the Lord will bear his exiles back to the promised land. We need to consider how this
promise colors the exile. In verses five through seven,
God made it clear paradoxically that there were many blessings
to be found during exile. Obviously, those anybody garden
here. Fresh vegetables, I mean, if
you can pull a nice tomato right off the vine, oh, man. healthy kids, a new house. They were to prosper and they
were to do so as Babylon prospered. And yet with this promise to
return. The Lord gives them hope. A future,
a future to look forward to something better to hope for. This reflects
for us the hardship then of exile. The difficulty of being a foreigner,
a reminder that exile is indeed a curse. The blessing of living
in Babylon will never replace getting to go home. Yes, they
will live in Babylon, but it will not be their home. It will
never be their native land. And to encourage his people,
the Lord gives them this blessed hope. He lays out this good plan
for them so that they can live in exile and still be encouraged
by his word. Brothers and sisters, the fullness
of covenant life with God is not just being his people. It is being where God is. To
be in God's land. So the Lord tells the exiles,
I still have plans for you. My plan is to bring you back
to my land. You are now far from me, but
I will bring you back to my home. Yes, build a house in Babylon,
but know that one day you're going to leave that home and
you will return home to me." Well, as you can imagine, is there more a more beautiful
hope than this? Can there be a more encouraging
promise for those exiles? However, the exiles, the exiles
did not want to accept the message. They didn't want to be patient.
They didn't want to wait 70 years. And so they raise an objection
in verse 15. They essentially do this. Jeremiah,
you're writing letters to us. But we've got our own prophets. The Lord gave us prophets here
in Babylon, and they're saying the opposite of you. Why should
we listen to you, Jeremiah? You're way back in Jerusalem.
We got our guys. They're with us. They understand
our situation. They know what we're going through.
You see, the exiles prefer the message of a speedy return home
from their own prophets. But the Lord responds to this
objection by reminding them of what happens to those that do
not listen to him. He does this by telling the exiles
what's going to happen to those that are back in Judah. They
didn't listen to him. They ignored the constant flow
of prophets that the Lord actually sent. And what's going to happen
to those back in Judah? Nothing less than the full curse
will rain on them like fire. The sword, famine, the plague
will hunt them down like wolves after sheep. God sees these people
that refused to listen as vile figs that He is throwing away.
He is going to make them a hissing, a reproach among the nations. The Lord is going to make a full
end to those that refuse to listen to Him. So in verse 20, He tells
these exiles they better listen to these words through Jeremiah.
They must listen up and start settling in or they too will
meet their end. For the only way to have life,
the only way to live is for them to listen to this letter from
Jeremiah. Now the problem of lying prophets
who contradict the Lord's word through Jeremiah is actually
a huge issue. It's a huge issue. They are quite
a number of these prophets and they're winning the People's
Choice Award. So now the Lord has Jeremiah
address a few of these prophets. And he does so by naming names
first. In verses 21 through 23, the
Lord calls out Ahab and Zedekiah. Now, these are two prophets in
Babylon who are contradicting Jeremiah's letter. So the Lord
emphasizes that he did not send them. They are not his prophets. They speak a lie in the Lord's
name. The Lord even condemns Ahab and
Zedekiah for their mass adultery. Their rank immorality is a sign
of them being false prophets. And so the Lord is going to have
Ahab and Zedekiah executed, and he's going to do so through the
hands of the Babylonians. He's going to make them a curse
used by the exiles. Look at the curse that is recorded
as a reminder. Verse 22. Because of them, this
curse shall be used. Did you see that? Because of
them, this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah
in Babylon. And here it is. The Lord make
you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in
the fire. This curse describes the method
of execution used by Babylon. The king of Babylon had Ahab
and Zedekiah roasted in a fire. Now, does this story remind you
of another story? This is how Nebuchadnezzar attempted
to kill Daniel's three friends, right? You know, the fiery furnace. The story of the fiery furnace
is being roasted in a fire. Now, what was Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego's indictment? What were they charged with?
Well, as you recall, they were charged for not worshiping Nebuchadnezzar's
idol. But the effect of the charge
was essentially this. It made them enemies of the state. It made them rebels. So the execution
here means that Ahab and Zedekiah were convicted of sedition, inciting
revolt. This then reveals another aspect
of the false prophets lie. You see, in their hatred of Babylon,
they advocated anarchy. Mutiny over and against Jeremiah's
call to seek the peace of the city. They whispered terrorism,
insurrection. They wanted to undermine the
city's power, to speak ill of the city's authorities, to weaken
it economically, to frustrate its order. Kudetah was the dish
they served the people with their false message. And for this long,
the Lord judged them, leaving their names behind as a curse
for everyone to remember and to not forget their sin. Additionally, the Lord exposes
another lying prophet, Shemaiah in verses 24 through 32. It's
kind of a long section. And here we actually have a part
of the recorded letter that Shemaiah wrote against Jeremiah. Jeremiah
wrote a letter to the exile. So why can't Shemaiah write one
of those still living in Judah? In fact, in this letter, Shamaya
rebukes Zephaniah, the priest, for not punishing Jeremiah. As the high-ranking priest, Zephaniah
has the authority and the duty to punish bad prophets. Shamaya clearly identifies Jeremiah
as this rogue madman prophet. In fact, in verse 28, Shemaiah
cites Jeremiah's letter. Look at verse 28. It says, For
He has sent to us in Babylon, saying, Your exile will be long. Build houses and live in them,
and plant gardens and eat their produce. Shemaiah says this crazy
talk from a madman. And Zephaniah should put Jeremiah
in stocks and neck irons. in order to silence Him. My brothers
and sisters, make no mistake, speaking the truth of God's Word
comes at a cost. And false prophets will use whatever
means necessary to silence the truth of the Gospel. Yes, even
the use of legitimate means for sinister purposes. Men proclaiming the gospel will
go to prison because they're preaching God's Word faithfully.
This has and will happen. Well, the Lord will expose Shemaiah
as a liar and a false prophet. The Lord did not send Shemaiah.
And his message is not from the Lord. And so the Lord is going
to judge Shemya most severely. And he does so by cutting off
him and his descendants out from Israel. Neither him, listen to
me, and either him or his children will see the restoration of the
Lord's promise. Shemya and his entire family
will die in exile. Well, this is Jeremiah's letter
to the exiles in Babylon. This is his message to the exiles
describing what 70 years of exile will look like. And he talks
about these 70 years. He's also doing something else.
He's speaking to us, the church. You see the 70 years here. is
a picture for us as a church in exile. I want you to think
about this with me just for a moment. In the New Testament, Peter addresses
us as what? Do you recall the beginning of
Peter? As elect exiles. James refers to us as the 12
tribes of the dispersion. You see, brothers and sisters,
we too live under the rainbow, not under a theocracy. And so
for the question for us this morning is how do we please the
Lord as we live as exiles waiting for our promised land? How do
we live as we are scattered among pagan nations? Well, Your good
service is putting down roots. Build a house. Go ahead and put
that addition on. Find a career that works for
you. Plant yourself a garden. Enjoy
its fresh vegetables. Enjoy the life of your youth. Throw a wedding for your sons
and your daughters. This is my favorite one. It's
coming one day. Play with your grandbabies. Pray
for and serve your neighbors, your community, your church,
and the welfare of your city, for this is your lot in life
until the Lord returns. This is what the Lord has assigned
for us as we live in this common kingdom. And you should know
that there are many blessings to enjoy while we are here, and
we should indeed enjoy them. I know this, that as you do this
by faith, this does please the Lord. The Lord calls us as exiles
to seek the peace of the city in which we live. To say it another
way for you, pursue the peace and welfare of our society. Yes,
even pray that the Lord would bless our society. For in its
peace will be ours. Brothers and sisters, more than
likely. This would have been the hardest
pill for the Judean exiles to swallow and Babylon. And you
can hear the excuses in their head Babylon stole from us. They
oppressed us. They have ripped our families
apart. They have killed our loved ones. How can we seek prosperity
and peace? They are our enemies. They deserve to die. I want to
see their heads dashed against the rocks. And of course, as
you know, this would be strict justice. It would. That would
be strict justice. Without any pity, without any
mercy, and without the gospel. Kill those idolaters, those wicked
men. Yes, the revolt and insurrection
called for by Ahab and Zedekiah sounds forth loudly even in our
own day. And yet what we should learn
from Jeremiah's letter this morning to the exiles is how strong the
Lord is against this false message of imposing mosaic justice on
a common grace society. In fact, he even left us a curse
as a reminder. The Lord cursed those that revolted
instead of seeking peace. In fact, the authors of the New
Testament loudly echoes the call for peace. Paul said it this
way. Live peaceably with all. The writer of Hebrews says it.
Strive for peace with everyone. Pray for those that rule over
you. And just like those exiles in
Babylon, we may not find this command easy. I mean, we know
this all to be true. Doesn't the city in which we
live become our enemy? How are we to seek the welfare
of those that want to harm us as Christians or to harm the
church? Who want to pile up evil against
us? Yes, the theocratic tendencies
and messages are still alive and well within the church. Forget
peace, we're being told. Revolt, mobilize the church and
bring the mosaic wall down on the heads of those pagans in
the public square. But make no mistake. The message,
that message is the message of men like Ahab and Zedekiah and
Shemaiah. And that message has no inheritance
in God's plan. Rather, the Lord says this, seek
the peace of the city. Pray for it. For your peace is
tied to its peace. For Christ said this, he said,
love your enemies. Paul echoed this sentiment, he
says, If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. If
he's thirsty, give him something to drink. Our Lord calls us,
his exiles, to obey and to suffer. Yes, houses and gardens should
remind us of God's blessing. The difficulty of seeking peace
reminds us that as pilgrims, that we walk in exile. It belongs to the realm of common
grace in a sinful and a very cursed world. And yet this is
not our true home. And exile is not the end of God's
plan for us, his covenant people. Rather, God does have plans for
you. Good plans. He has given you
a blessed hope, a future to long for. In Christ Jesus, he has
given you the sure promise that he will bring you to his land,
a land that he has gone to prepare for you. The Lord will gather
us from every location under the sun. and being blood bought
by Christ, we will be gathered in His name. The Lord will bring
us to that land whose building and founder is our God. And so truly then, this promise
to you is nothing less than God's promise to bring you to glory. Listen. It is not a promise that in this
present life everything is going to be. Ice cream and cotton candy. Brothers and sisters, we know
all too well that to live a life faithful unto the Lord and faithful
to the gospel message will not be easy. The whole point of hope
is that it longs for and waits for something so much better.
Our exile on this side of heaven will have many difficulties. It will have many trials. Tragedies
and evil may befall us. But this is exactly why he gives
us this message of hope. This future to long for, to encourage
you, to comfort you along the way. A declaration of hope in
Christ that he is keeping you for heaven. And he gives you
the confidence. That when you pray. That when
you seek the Lord, he is listening to you. In Christ. His favor is found and he will
answer your prayer and he will bring you to heaven. Now, as Jeremiah paints for us
a picture of our lives in exile, there is one detail assumed and
it is this. How will the Lord gather his
people? How will the Lord gather his people? How can the Lord
bless his exiles in the midst of curse? How can the Lord bring
his people back from death to life? Well, the answer to this
crucial question comes in the fulfillment of another declaration
God gives through Jeremiah. Just a few chapters further,
the Lord declares, and if you want to go there, you can, Jeremiah
31, 31 through 34, And we're almost done. Jeremiah
31, beginning in 31, says, Behold, the days are coming, declares
the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with
their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt. My covenant that they broke,
though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares
the Lord. I will put my law within them
and I will write it on their hearts and I will be their God
and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one
teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord,
for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest,
declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity
and I will remember their sin no more. So what's the change? What caused the change? Brothers and sisters, quite simply this, Christ died
for you. While we were enemies, while
we were the pagan idolaters running in rebellion against the Lord,
Christ died in our place. God reconciled us to himself
through his son, not counting your trespasses against you,
but making you the very righteousness of God in Christ. This is why
God's plans for you are good. This is why God hears our prayers,
because Christ is your great high priest. This is why God
is found when you seek him. Because Christ died for you and
he united himself or you to himself. Think about this with me, what
makes the new covenant better than the old covenant? Well,
there are quite a few answers to this, but one major aspect
is that your redemption is up front. It's at the beginning. It's at the work of Christ. Your
hope is in the resurrection. But your redemption is already
finished in Christ. He bore your curse. He suffered
your punishment. He died in your place. Listen,
God's plan is truly good for you. Because in Christ, nothing
can separate you from his love. Yes. We build houses only to
leave them behind. God is with us and his love will
keep us for that ultimate hope that he has given to us. Resurrection
and life in the true promised land. It is because of Christ
and his grace that we can live by that grace and seek the peace
of our cities in which we live. His grace and all the benefits
is that it enables us to live as exiles, to show grace to others,
to love your neighbor, to love and pray for your enemy. Because
Christ first loved you even unto death. Yes, beloved, this is
your good hope. This is your life until Christ
brings you home. He has given us a certain hope
that he will take us to that heavenly promised land. May you
be comforted by it and rejoice in the Lord for what he has done. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you
once again for your word. And we would ask that it would
go far and deep into our minds and our hearts. That we would place our comfort
and our hope in the person of work of Christ. Apply these things
to us by the work of Your Spirit. Comfort Your people. This Lord's
Day and throughout the remainder of this week, we pray Your blessing
upon it in the name of Jesus. Amen.
A Promise of Hope in Exile
Series Selected Scripture
| Sermon ID | 62524214595428 |
| Duration | 49:12 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Jeremiah 29 |
| Language | English |
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