Sermon Tone Analysis

*JEREMIAH \\ AN ANCIENT MAN WITH A MODERN MESSAGE \\ JEREMIAH 29:10-23*

"*“For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.

You will seek me and find me.

When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

“Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten.

I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the Lord, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the Lord.’

Hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes.

Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: “The Lord make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire,” because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them.

I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the Lord.”

\\ (Jeremiah 29:10-23ESV) *

Many people have a fascination with the future.

For some it may be rather mild, you know the kind of person who reads their horoscope every day in the newspaper.

For others their fascination with the future is a little more intense and they choose to try and learn about the future by perhaps going to have their palm read, or they may even go so far as to go to someone who has a crystal ball and have them peer into the future.

The reality is you can’t discern the future by having your palm read or by peering into a crystal ball.

That does not mean that you can’t know what the future holds.

God has revealed the future to us in the Scriptures.

The future of mankind has been revealed to mankind in the pages of God’s Word.

This is a comforting thought for God’s children.

There are so many times in our lives when we wonder just what it is that God is up to.

Secretly or maybe not so secretly we ask the question ‘God what are you doing”.

We want to know what God is doing in our lives.

Let’s apply this to the church.

Many times we wonder just what it is that God is up too.

We wonder what does the future hold for our church.

I’m sure the people of Judah had many of these same thoughts as they found themselves captives in a strange land.

The predicted judgment of God that had been proclaimed through the prophet Jeremiah has finally come.

The land has been destroyed; the city of Jerusalem has been destroyed.

The Temple at Jerusalem has been dismantled.

Many of the people of the land have been killed as family and friends watched helplessly.

The best and the brightest of the people of Judah have been led to Babylon where they will spend the next seventy years in captivity.

As the realization of their situation begins to sink in the questions began to form in their minds “What are you doing God?”  “God, we are your chosen people, you are not going to throw us off for someone else are you?”

all reasonable and important questions.

God anticipates their questions and in another act of mercy and grace He shares with them the answers to their questions about the future.

What does God say to them concerning His plans for their future?

Before we get to the specifics of what God said, we need to understand to whom God said it to.

Many of us read the Scriptures through a self-centered lens.

What I mean by that is that God makes numerous promises to His people in the Scriptures, and many of those promises are made to His covenant community of people.

Such is the case here.

God’s promises for their future were not made primarily on an individual level.

These promises, this revelation of God’s plan was made to the community of exiles from Judah.

Yes, there are some personal implications that can be drawn from these Scriptures but first and foremost these promises were made to the group not the individual.

Therefore the primary emphasis for us this morning is concerning the future of God’s people as a whole.

We need to view these Scriptures in relation to God’s community of believers’ before we begin to apply them to ourselves individually.

What does God say to us this morning as a church first and then as individuals second.

*1.

WE MUST BE PATIENT WITH GOD’S PLAN*

 

First of all God lets them know that they are going to have to have patience while His plan for them is being worked out.

Where does God tell them that they are going to have to be patient?

He lets them know that part of His plans for them will not take place until their time of captivity was completed.

Part of God’s plan for His people would not happen for seventy years.

God as part of His plan for their future reveals that He is going to bring them back to their land, He is going to re-gather them from all the lands that He has driven them to.

But that was not going to happen for seventy years.

In light of the fact that they were going to be in Babylon for seventy years the Lord wanted them to settle down and live a normal life while they were waiting for God to work out the plan that He had for them.

Why do I mention this?

I mention it because as we practice patience that does not mean that the life of the church cannot be productive while we are waiting for God’s plan for us as a church to be worked out.

We know from God’s word that the future is promising, the future is hopeful therefore we operate based upon that knowledge.

We make progress even as we practice patience.

We continue to minister as we wait.

We continue to reach out as we wait for God’s plan for us to be worked out.

We need to be productive even when it seems like God is not doing much.

The implication for our lives is pretty clear.

The solution to our problem may not come tomorrow.

The answer to our prayers may not come today.

It may not come next week.

It may not come this year.

It may not come for years.

God wants us to have patience as He is working out His plan for our lives.

Young ladies if marriage is part of God’s plan for you please be patient while God brings your mate to you.

Don’t settle for the first ole boy that comes along.

Young men, the same applies to you, wait patiently while God implements His plan for your life.

How can impatient people practice patience?

Let me give you two ways.

First of all patience is produced in us as we are filled with the Holy Spirit.

"*But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law."

(Galatians 5:22-23ESV) *

Our impatience is a sign that we are not living a Spirit – filled life.

The primary way that we can be patient people is by being filled with the Holy Spirit.

One way that we as a church can be a patient church is by being filled with the Holy Spirit.

There is a second way that we can learn to be patient is by reminding ourselves of the promises that God has made to us about His plan for our future.

God said to the people of Judah "*For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for wholeness and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope."

(Jeremiah 29:11ESV) *

We can be patient as we continually remind ourselves of the kind of plan, as we remind ourselves of the kind of future that God has promised us.

God says my plan for you is one of wholeness and not evil.

My plan is for you to have a future, not a dead end; my plan for you is one of hope, not despair.

Not only must we be patient with God’s plan we must also…

*2.

WE MUST HAVE CONFIDENCE IN GOD’S PLAN*

The reality is confidence in God’s plan is confidence in God.

Notice what God says */“I know the plans that I have for you.”/*

God makes His plan and God knows His plan.

If you read verses 10 -14 the personal pronoun “I” is used repeatedly by the Lord.

God says “I know the plans I have for you.”

Although we may not know all the details of God’s plans for us, we can be confident in His plans because He knows His plans and He knows all the details.

He has told us that his plan for us is a good plan; He has told us that His plan for us is promising.

The God who knows His plan is also the God who is going to carryout His plan.

Again as we read the verses that follow verse 11 God lists everything that He is going to do.

God says when you pray I will hear you.

God says when you seek me I will be found by you.

God says I will restore your fortunes.

God says I will bring you back to the Land.