Andrew Bramhill - Class 5: Jeremiah and His Saviour

Automatically transcribed. Accuracy is good but not perfect, and words are sometimes wrong. Trust the audio over the text.

1. 0:00

   Good morning, brothers and sisters. Could I begin with a little digression to say, Susan and I have never been to Manitoulin before. We have been very pleased to be here. I think looking around the room, we hadn't met very many of you before, just a handful. I'd shaken hands with Brother Daniel in England, and that was about it.

2. 0:22

   A few of you I've met at Bible schools here. So it was lovely to come, and we go home, having made lots of new friends. And thank you for the warmth of your welcome and the kindness of your hospitality. We've appreciated being with you. And this final Friday is a nice touch, 17 degrees and cloudy.

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   That makes me feel right at home. That's the height of summer for a man from England. So thank you very much. We're going to finish our week together, brothers and sisters, by just drawing some final thoughts from this wonderful prophet Jeremiah. We've largely finished his life story now, but I just want to make sure we've appreciated his personality, his character, his type of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he is helping to bring us to our saviour.

4. 1:16

   And it might just help us appreciate how we should be responding in times of difficulty and in times of good, as we await for that great day when Israel is restored, and they have the Lord Jesus Christ, this righteous branch, reigning over them whilst sitting on the throne of his father David. He means, his name means, whom Yahweh has appointed.

5. 1:40

   And here was a man specifically appointed for the time to do this particular work. And, brothers and sisters, we are the same, you know. I know it might not be quite so dramatic, and it might not be quite so emphatic, but the Lord is calling out a people for his name, and he is calling you and me, and has placed us in a particular part of society, or a particular location, or a particular place in our community, and maybe he has some work for you to do.

6. 2:15

   And there are moments when we feel we could be better used somewhere else, or we might prefer to be somewhere else, or we could be doing something different, and yet maybe the Lord has just put us here, for this moment, for this work. And perhaps as we go back to our ecclesias, we'll have opportunities to think, well, I wonder what it is the Lord has in mind for me.

7. 2:36

   I wonder what the Lord is calling me to do here. And if I know what that call is, am I doing it faithfully? Am I doing it as he would want me to do it? Or am I kind of bristling a little bit, feeling uncomfortable and a bit dissatisfied that these are the circumstances in which we have been called?

8. 2:57

   We look very briefly at those middle chapters, didn't we, in this prophecy, 30 to 33. But it gives an insight there, doesn't it, in the centre of the book, as to what Jeremiah had in mind. I know he was receiving that under inspiration. I'm sure it meant something to him, as we'll see.

9. 3:17

   He wasn't just a man who was mechanically writing down text and passing it on. He was a man who was having to live through the inspired word that was given to him. It really meant something to him. This was part of his life. And similarly, the hope and the prospect that lay ahead was something that was very real.

10. 3:37

    So even in times of greatest distress, he could just lift his eyes a bit and see beyond the difficulties and the hardship. Even in those bleakest of moments when he's down in some muddy dungeon pit that was almost certainly a place of death, he would not give up hope. He was looking beyond to something that lay ahead.

11. 4:01

    And of course, in those middle chapters, we get a very clear sense, and in this little section of verses that Brother Peter has read for us, we get a very clear impression that Jeremiah could see his saviour. He could see the branch, the one who would be called, the one who would be, the Lord's righteousness to come and to reign.

12. 4:24

    Which is marvellous, really, isn't it? I don't know that we always give credit to these Old Testament faithful individuals about how much they could see the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd like to think it was more than we give them credit for. When Moses was making his decision, he was esteeming the riches of Christ to be greater than anything that Egypt could be offered, anything Egypt could offer to him.

13. 4:51

    Jeremiah, too, in all these difficulties, he could see his saviour clearly. He was looking for a new king priest who would bring salvation to his people. And in the words that we read in Jeremiah, we can see that this wasn't just a return in 70 years' time. This was something that was far greater.

14. 5:15

    We've made a mention, haven't we, in our classes this week of the impact that Daniel and Ezekiel and others were having in Babylon, we observed, didn't we, that when Mataniah came to the throne, it was Nebuchadnezzar who converted his name, who changed his name to Zedekiah, the righteousness of Yahweh, which we found quite peculiar for a Gentile king.

15. 5:40

    Come with me to Ezekiel chapter 17, please, would you? Just one or two other little insights about possibly Daniel's work, possibly Ezekiel's work, possibly the work of other faithful men as they influenced the higher echelons of Babylon. Ezekiel 17, and reading at verse 11, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Say now to the rebellious house, Know ye not what these things mean?

16. 6:16

    Tell them, Behold, the king of Babylon is come to Jerusalem, and hath taken the king thereof, and the princes thereof, and led them with him to Babylon, and hath taken of the king's seed, and made a covenant with him, and hath taken an oath of him. He hath also taken the mighty of the land, that the kingdom might be base, and it might not lift itself up.

17. 6:46

    So here is a picture in the prophecy of Nebuchadnezzar bringing the nation of Judah into subjection, and it's telling us very clearly that the king is taken in verse 13, and an oath is being made. And we can imagine what that oath is. The oath is one of loyalty and allegiance. You are now my subject nation.

18. 7:09

    You are now in subjection to me, and you will serve me as king of Babylon. And that's what the prophecy is setting out for us there. If you just come back to the historical record, though, in 2 Chronicles 36, when this actually occurs, 2 Chronicles 36, and again and again, verse 11, when Israel was 12 years old, when Israel began to reign and reign in the land in Israel in Jerusalem, and he did that which was evil in his sight as the Lord his God, and humbled not himself before Jeremiah the prophet, speaking from the mouth of the Lord.

19. 7:58

    And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who made him swear by God. but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning unto the Lord God of Israel. It's interesting there, isn't it? It might be an oath of allegiance in Ezekiel, but there's just a little hint there in Chronicles that that oath is going to be sworn by Almighty God.

20. 8:24

    That was the benchmark which Nebuchadnezzar wanted to make this oath with Zedekiah. And it could be some inference in there of an allegiance to God as well. Swear by God that you will be a nation that will behave in this way. So we've alluded to the conversion of Nebuchadnezzar through the work of Daniel, but little things like that.

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    Jeremiah must have felt so alone at times, looking around him. He was not surrounded by faithful men and women who were supporting him in his cause. Invariably, he was surrounded by individuals who were only seeking his harm and his hurt. And there might be times when your particular road of discipleship seems a rather lonely one.

22. 9:23

    There's only me doing this. There's only me trying to plough this particular furrow. And that might be true, but all around you there could be lots of other individuals who you don't know about, who are also trying to follow their lone furrow in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why our fellowship is such a lovely thing, isn't it?

23. 9:42

    When we can come together and particularly break bread and wine together and remind ourselves that this is a together thing. We're not on our own here in our discipleship, but we are doing this together. And maybe there were just little highlights through Jeremiah's life. Ebed-Milek would be one, wouldn't he? Where he comes across this faithful Gentile and is able to promise Ebed-Milek reward us accordingly.

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    But little things like that would have helped Jeremiah in his particular discipleship. Let's look at these verses in Jeremiah 23 then, please, brothers and sisters, while we just capture this idea of Jeremiah looking forward to the king to come.

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    Verses 1 and 2 of Jeremiah 23. We'll be unto the pastors. Revised version and other versions say, This is the position that the nation had found it in. And it was not helped by these unworthy princes who were ruling over the flock of Israel. They were shepherds. They were in positions of responsibility.

26. 11:22

    And instead of caring for the flock, they were abusing the flock. And the Almighty, through his prophet, was saying, This must stop. And you can get a sense of that in the way the people were being treated. We won't look at it, but if you went back to 2 Kings 23, when Egypt came up and the land of Judah was in subjection, tribute had to be paid to Pharaoh.

27. 11:48

    It's in verse 35. And where did they raise the money? I can tell you the princes didn't put their hands in their pockets. They didn't give their own personal wealth to pay the tribute. They just taxed the common people. It's in verse 35. They went out and they collected the money from the ordinary man in the street, rather than pay themselves.

28. 12:08

    So they were happy to abuse the flock who they should be caring for. And this is not good. We know that that's what Jehoiakim did. And certainly Zedekiah was not a man of strength who was able to stop any of that kind of activity. So in verse 3, God is planning to regather his flock, and he's planning to appoint new shepherds who will rule over them.

29. 12:37

    Verse 3, All the things that the shepherds should have provided, the Lord is now saying, these shepherds have just abused the flock, and they ought to be caring for the flock. It's a very interesting little prophecy in Zechariah, and I wonder if I can just take you to chapter 11, please, just while we pick up this idea of the flock being abused.

30. 13:23

    Remember, this is a prophecy which comes after the exile, a time of the exile. And we come across here just the same position. Rulers, shepherds, who should have been caring for the flock, and are actually mistreating the flock, and are not doing anything other than line their own pockets. So if you look, for example, in verse 3 of Zechariah 11, there is a voice of the howling of the shepherds, for their glory is spoiled, a voice of the roaring of young lions, for the pride of Jordan is spoiled.

31. 14:06

    Thus saith the Lord my God, feed the flock of the slaughter. And what that phrase is indicating is that these shepherds should be feeding the flock instead of slaughtering the flock, but they were abusing the flock so that it was now a flock that was being slaughtered and not being cared for. And of course, when anyone accused the shepherds of abuse of the flock, well, they respond, don't they?

32. 14:35

    Whose possessors, verse 5, slay them and hold themselves not guilty. And they say, well, we didn't do it. They were doing it, but they say they didn't. And of course, the evidence for them being not guilty is the fact that they are rich. They that seldom say, blessed be the Lord, for I am rich, and their own shepherds pity them not.

33. 14:57

    And they couldn't think that they were guilty of anything like this, because actually they were wealthy, and therefore they were being blessed by the Lord, so they must be doing the right things, they must be behaving properly, and the Almighty is furious in the way they are abusing his flock. So, in the end, verse 6, he will have no more pity.

34. 15:21

    And verse 7, I will feed the flock that's being slaughtered, says the Almighty. If these shepherds that I've appointed will not do it, I will appoint a shepherd, and I will feed, and I will make sure that this is done properly. And you can carry on down, and you know where this prophecy goes, because eventually it takes us to this great shepherd who does this work for the people.

35. 15:49

    And in verse 12, this new shepherd who has arrived, and has united, and has treated the flock well, he gives the flock an opportunity to respond and say, thanks for that, and the flock have an opportunity to express their appreciation. And what the shepherd says, if you think I've done a good job here, if you think I have done well, compared to all those shepherds who've abused you, give me my price, pay me my wages, give me what you think I'm due.

36. 16:28

    And of course they make assessments, and they calculate, and they come up with 30 pieces of silver, don't they? Which is well worth working through Scripture, because that was the minimum amount that had to be paid, the minimum amount that had to be paid, when a slave was killed by a wayward ox.

37. 16:52

    I think it's Exodus 24. And the people here had got opportunity to pay lots and lots if they wanted, but they thought they could get away with the 30 pieces of silver, and that was the amount. And Judah's the same, it's there in Matthew 27, isn't it? He comes up with 30 pieces of silver, that might have been a down payment of course.

38. 17:13

    But it's an interesting little thought, isn't it, that when the flock has been abused, and the Almighty intervenes by sending a new shepherd who will treat the flock fairly, you'd think the flock would be really appreciative. But they actually respond by just paying the minimum amount. And I'm looking out at all of you, and I'm looking at me now, because the Lord Jesus Christ has come and cared, and provided, and given, and made available everything that we possibly need.

39. 17:47

    And there's a moment now for us to show our appreciation. And the temptation is to think that, well, we give lots back. But the reality might be that we just give the minimum. We held him as one who was despised, and we esteemed him not. We didn't give more than we should. So in all these things, brothers and sisters, particularly with the life of Jeremiah, it's easy to kind of stand on the sidelines and look in, and we can see that Jeremiah had it really tough, and we can see that the flock, the people, were really bad, and the kings were really bad, and they deserved to go into captivity.

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    This whole scripture is saying to us, you just insert yourself. And we tend to insert ourselves as a Jeremiah, someone who's persecuted and hard done by. We don't insert ourselves as a wayward people. We don't insert ourselves in the text and think of individuals who need to repent and turn back to God and make sure that we have our priorities right.

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    We don't always think in that way, do we? So maybe in our reading of Jeremiah and the prophets and our assessment of the people of Israel, we ought to just reassess and say, well, where do I belong in this? Am I in need of personal reform? Am I in need of some change?

42. 19:14

    Rather than just being critical here of these people. Back in Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah, we've already mentioned, could see beyond the present difficulty. This is what's going to keep him going. This can be the only thing that would keep him going. Therefore, sorry, verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and the king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

43. 19:48

    In his days, Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely, and this is his name, whereby he shall be called the Lord our righteousness. So Jeremiah, under inspiration, is receiving this, but he must know something more as a consequence of this. And this cannot be just a regathering in 70 years' time, because this is a calling again, isn't it, of Judah and of Israel.

44. 20:19

    Not just the people who go into captivity under Babylon, but this is a real regathering, isn't it? And there's going to be a dwelling safely where the Lord reigns, and the individual who sits on the throne will be operating under this title, the Lord our righteousness. And Jeremiah is able to look beyond that.

45. 20:41

    And the final two verses talk about this prosperity and this regathering. So God's going to raise up a seed. This isn't going to be a Nebuchadnezzar or any other Gentile king. The word raise there is quite interesting. If you look at it in the Septuagint, it's about raising from the dead. There's a sense of that behind it.

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    So this is a particular raising up which is going on here. And he would be righteous in a way that Zedekiah and other kings have not been. And he's going to be called the branch. And there's lots of language that you know through the Old Testament in Isaiah 4 and Isaiah 11 and Isaiah 61.

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    All those cross-references that you can chase and connect this together. This root out of the stem of Jesse. And he will rule wondrously. Verse 6. And all this is happening when Israel and Judah are regathered. Looking ahead to the kingdom, to that promise of the kingdom is the thing that will keep us going.

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    I know it's a simple thing to say, brothers and sisters, and we repeat it often, don't we? We're trying to seek first the kingdom of God. But that will be our mainstay. That will be the thing that will keep us going. Whatever your challenge today, whatever your difficulty tomorrow, that's only temporary. That is only passing.

49. 22:11

    That is only a short-term thing. Lift your eyes and look beyond and there's eternity stretching out with this most marvelous blessing for all those who can see it. That's how Jeremiah operated. That's certainly how the Lord Jesus Christ operated. We know that who for the joy that was set before him could endure the cross.

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    Can I just show you one other little reference in John 13, please? And there are plenty of these. When you're reading the gospel records, look out for the occasions where Jesus is not bogged down in the difficulty of the day but has lifted his sights to something else. And it comes ever so many times.

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    Here's a really nice one. John chapter 13. You will know through the record of John we have this repetition. His hour had not yet come. It was not the time because his hour was not yet come. And we get that several times through the gospel of John. And if I ask you now what was the hour that was coming almost certainly you will have in mind well it was the hour of his arrest and trial and crucifixion and death.

52. 23:30

    That was the hour that was coming and that might be right. But look in 13 verse 1. Now before the feast of the Passover when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father. You see that was the way Jesus looked on the hour.

53. 23:52

    He wasn't looking on it as the hour of his difficulty where he would be cruelly treated and beaten and crucified. He was looking on it on the hour on which he would depart to the Father. He was seeing the positive side of it. That's what it would lead to. And so too for us brothers and sisters in all these things let's not be burdened by the challenge of the moment but let's lift our eyes and say this is taking us to the kingdom.

54. 24:21

    This is the road to the kingdom. And look at the glory and the prospect that lies ahead. That's such a lovely positive thing for us isn't it? When we think of Jeremiah as a prophecy for the Lord Jesus Christ Matthew in particular comes out particularly strongly always look at the cross references there we have Rachel weeping for her children in Matthew chapter 2 which is a quote out of Jeremiah 31 we have the reference to him coming from Nazareth which again is this link to Nazir the branch and in Matthew chapter 3 when we first meet the Lord Jesus Christ and he speaks in that gospel what does he say?

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    He says to John the Baptist we're going to do this to fulfill all righteousness this man who is going to be the Lord our righteousness he's saying this is where it starts John we need to get baptized now I need to get baptized I need to illustrate my commitment onto the task of death which lies ahead so that all righteousness can be fulfilled and the individual who is to be known as the Lord our righteousness will sit upon the throne let's do a little bit of Bible work if you feel like turning a few references brothers and sisters it's appropriate I think that we just pick up some of these similarities between the Lord Jesus Christ and Jeremiah the prophet and there are very many of them some of them we have looked at just to be clear Jeremiah witnessed for 40 years we've talked about that haven't we 18 years in Josiah's reign 11 years in Jehoiakim's reign 11 years in Zedekiah's time all adds up to 40 years and he's saying 40 years for 40 years the temple is going to be destroyed it was there in chapter 7 of Jeremiah let's just remind ourselves of that Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 4 trust ye not in lying words saying the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord are these for if you throughly amend your ways and your doings if you throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor if you oppress not the stranger and the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood in this place neither walk after other gods to hurt them

56. 26:52

    then will I cause you to dwell in this place but if you don't do that then the consequence is the opposite isn't it and this was Jeremiah's message of the temple being destroyed so for 40 years he's warning about the destruction of the temple and that's exactly what the Lord Jesus Christ was doing wasn't it he was predicting the destruction of the temple Matthew 24 let's just keep a finger in Jeremiah let's just remind ourselves of the New Testament occasion Matthew 24 verse 1 Jesus went out and departed from the temple and disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple and Jesus said unto them see ye not all these things verily I say unto you there shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down a very dramatic prophecy when they were showing him the wonders of Herod's temple as it had been built at the time and 40 years later in AD 70 of course that great destruction took place we mentioned briefly it's not on the screen this morning but we mentioned briefly yesterday didn't we about the temporary lifting of the siege of Jerusalem in the days of Jeremiah when Egypt came up and in chapter 38 the siege was temporarily lifted that's exactly what was going to happen of course in AD 70 wasn't it and maybe the Bible knowledgeable individuals of Christ's day not only would they be able to hear his words about not returning to the city when you see Jerusalem encompassed by armies don't bother going back into the city maybe they could pick upon

57. 28:45

    the real life example in Jeremiah's time when the siege was temporarily broken opportunity for individuals to flee if they wanted same in AD 70 so all these things have a lot of parallels we remember in Jeremiah chapter 11 let's have a look in Jeremiah chapter 11 that Jeremiah's message was to go throughout the land in verse 6 the Lord said unto me proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem saying hear ye the words of this covenant so there was Jeremiah with his instruction to travel around the whole province of Judah and witness to the cities and then return to Jerusalem and witness in the streets there I've put a reference there of Luke chapter 10 verse 1 of course there are plenty of examples where the Lord was going out and witnessing I think that occasion is where he sent out the 70 in pairs to go into all cities and he would then follow in order that he could preach the gospel of the kingdom of God the message of repentance was clear if you turn to me you shall find rest for your souls same kind of idea in Jeremiah chapter 6 verse 16 thus saith the Lord stand ye in the ways and see and ask for the old paths wherein is the good way and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your souls but they said we will not walk therein if only the Lord was standing before us and saying I've got a way that leads to rest I've got a way that's straightforward a way that I walk that is

58. 30:43

    going to be easy in terms of burdens why don't you walk that way why would anyone say actually I prefer this road over here why would anyone do that brothers and sisters and yet how many times do we wake each morning and decide to go down this road instead of that particular road and of course the Lord Jesus Christ Matthew 11 29 take my yoke upon you my burden is easy my way is light why don't you try that love a little similar message which the Lord is offering there Jeremiah 11 again we picked up on this didn't we where he comes to Anathoth in verse 21 and speaks to his own brethren and the response was they wanted to kill him and I'm sure on Tuesday was it we had a look at John chapter 7 verses 1 to 3 where the feast of tabernacles six months before the Lord Jesus Christ was to be arrested and crucified his brothers were saying why don't you go to Jerusalem why don't you go down into Jewry into Judea where all your enemies are because they too wanted to see him killed and we get the very extreme position in Jeremiah 12 and verses 5 and 6 where it says clearly there that even the brethren the house of thy father do not believe the things he said and neither did Christ's brethren so all these things were pointing towards similarities with the Lord Jesus Christ Jeremiah 11 at verse 19 we get reference to a lamb being led to the slaughter such a rich type of the Lord Jesus Christ whether you're looking in Isaiah 53

59. 32:28

    or John chapter 1 or revelation of the lamb slain before the foundation of the world all these types here and Jeremiah has it in this chapter as well in Jeremiah 19 and verse 7 and 8 just one example of the destruction Jerusalem being spoken about Jeremiah 19 verse 7 I will make void the council of Judah the Jerusalem in this place and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hands of them that seek them their lives and their carcasses will I give to be meat for the fowls of heaven and for the beasts of the air and I will make this city desolate and hissing everyone that passeth thereby shall be astonished and hiss because of all the plagues thereof and indeed the same kind of treading down of Jerusalem in Luke chapter 21 and verse 24 until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled we ought to remember though where both Jeremiah and Christ stood in this there was no gloating there was no celebration there was no delight in the destruction of this place when the Lord Jesus Christ spoke his lament over Jerusalem it's a very poignant bit of insight into the feeling of the Lord Jesus Christ isn't it he held this city dear he was so desolate that they would not listen to his words and Jeremiah was just the same he is weeping for them in chapter 13 and verse 17 but if ye will not hear my soul shall weep in secret places for your pride that's such a level of godliness isn't it brothers and sisters that we really struggle

60. 34:29

    to attain to that if you've been out preaching if you've been sticking with the message if you've been tenacious in what you've said and you've tried really hard and people have ignored and people have refused to respond I'd probably respond by saying when destruction comes or however that shows up I'd probably be saying well I warned you or I told you so or it's your own fault you didn't listen that would be the level of my kind of assessment here but Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus Christ aren't like that they desperately wanted to save these people and they were weeping over them when they couldn't get their message across do we feel like that about people in our company that we come into contact with are we desperate for them to be saved if so what are we doing to remedy that and that's a challenge for all of us isn't it Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus Christ had a different approach than ours and then there were some very telling similarities we won't look at these I'm sure we've looked at a lot of these Jeremiah was scourged chapter 20 just as the Lord Jesus Christ was he was mocked verse 7 of chapter 20 false accusations were leveled against him just as they brought false witnesses against the Lord Jesus Christ he Jeremiah was brought before a ruler and threatened with death even though he had done no wrong you remember how Zedekiah would not protect him as Pilate would not the Lord Jesus Christ but he was given to the people with the instruction do what you want with him and chapter

61. 36:21

    38 of Jeremiah has just this picture of the trial of the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't it Zedekiah saying over to you I want nothing to do with it you do what you want with him and what did they do with him they put him in a pit and he was raised out again after many days just so the same with the Lord Jesus Christ lovely symbols here and lovely parallels of of the Lord and his work and Jeremiah as we've been saying all week might have thought he was doing a lot of this in isolation but the Lord Jesus Christ here I wonder if he was able to take some encouragement from this I wonder if he's able to look back and say I can see what this servant Jeremiah went through I can see how he suffered I can see how he was abused I can see the difficulties that he had to go through and Jeremiah made it Jeremiah did it all and that could have been a real source of encouragement for the Lord Jesus Christ couldn't it he too could see that Jeremiah did it so he would also stick with the task and it could have been a source of great encouragement that's interesting then isn't it brothers and sisters when things are bad for us when things are bleak for us are not going well the first reaction is to start to feel sorry for ourselves why is this happening to me why have you chosen this for me Lord the second response is to pray about it but often that prayer is please will you remove the difficulty

62. 37:57

    please will you remove the burden I'd like it to be nice and easy again that's often where we get to the Lord Jesus Christ the Lord Jesus Christ of course was different to this and Jeremiah was different to this and they were learning from the experiences of others and it might just be brothers and sisters that you are suffering something or being asked to face something because a brother or sister over here needs to see an example of how to bear it it could just be that have a look with me at 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 please would you 2nd Corinthians chapter 1 and verse 3 blessed be God even the father of our Lord Jesus Christ the father of mercies and the God of all comfort who comforteth us in all our tribulation that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God for as the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ it might just be brothers and sisters that you are suffering something and you might not be able to work out why you're having to go through it but Corinthians is telling us here well it might be then because once you begin to experience the comfort of God you can share that comfort with others but this brother or sister over here might see the way you deal with that suffering and it could be a source of great encouragement and help to them so it might not have a direct purpose in your life but it could help someone else

63. 40:09

    so it would be less selfish of us to feel sorry when suffering comes but more spiritual of us to think the Lord has brought this into my life for some reason I wonder who can be helped by it I wonder what good can come of it and that was the spiritual level on which people like Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus Christ were operating and when we start to measure ourselves on that scale we all feel very inadequate and very lowly don't we but that's the kind of thing we should be aspiring for rather than just feeling sorry and hard done by that life isn't as good for us as we'd like it to be let's just think that the Lord has got some purpose and the purpose might not necessarily be with us it could be with others there are lots of other quotes of the prophet Jeremiah of course in the New Testament he that glorieth let him glory in the Lord from 1st Corinthians 1 comes from Jeremiah chapter 9 the great theme of Jeremiah which is the downfall of Jerusalem which then ultimately will lead to the downfall of Babylon Jeremiah prophesies at the end of his prophecy of course the downfall of different nations including the downfall of Babylon well that's exactly what's going to happen isn't it this great invasion from the north this great taking over as the city is taken into captivity then the intervention of the Lord Jesus Christ and the saints and the downfall of Babylon and all her associates that's the picture and Jeremiah has got there first and then this great promise that your

64. 41:59

    names are written in heaven that we have in Luke chapter 10 and contrasted with John chapter 8 where the Lord Jesus was writing names possibly in the earth that comes from Jeremiah chapter 17 so there's lots of links here with the Lord Jesus Christ and lots of lessons that are pointing forward for us to take away so we've worked our way carefully but rather superficially I have to confess and you will know that through the life of Jeremiah but there might just be something there which helps us to go away and look again at the text and try and appreciate what was happening in the life of this particular man he was a man who was devoted completely to the word of God even when delivery was difficult and he might not have wanted to do the task he stuck with it he was a man who had the vision he invested in his inheritance knowing that one day he would be able to collect it he knew that fields will one day again be bought and sold and he has his title deed ready for his plot in the promised land he was resolute he prepared he got going he delivered the message and if ever he was dismayed he just pressed on he just hung on and I'm sure his life would be one of encouragement to the Lord Jesus Christ but which means brothers and sisters we've completed that little study and we now we go away from here and it can either be a book which we've read and we've kind of looked at and we might have learnt one or two

65. 43:55

    things or it can be something which is going to make a difference for us we can either go away and we can be downcast about our lives our families our ecclesial situation whatever it is or we can go back and be encouraged perhaps as much as any of you if not more so than many of you I'm privileged to travel around our community and you come across little pockets where we're a bit down because numbers are shrinking and we're not holding on to the truth in the way that we used to and this isn't being done quite as we think it ought to have been and oh my grandfather would have been horrified if he could see this you get that little thing and then some some places you go and the truth is just alive and bursting and young people are keen on their scriptures and they're wanting to be involved and ecclesias are training and witnessing and caring and really good examples of Christ like following and service are going on if ever you hear of negative comments and the truth is about to die out and all that sort of doom mongering that you would get don't feel that trust me there are really good things happening in our community around the world that the truth is burning strongly it really is as we await the return of the Lord Jesus Christ now is a time for shoring that up now is a time for holding on to that the Lord could be back at any moment and we'll soon all be engaged in a much greater work which will be fantastic

66. 45:35

    won't it so if there is anything to take from Jeremiah it's this looking to the vision that lies ahead it's preparing ourselves for the work it's not to be downcast but to lift up our heads for our redemption draweth nigh thank you so