On obedience uses the example of the Rechabites from Jeremiah 35 to illustrate the importance of hearkening to God's commands. The Rechabites, a nomadic clan, faithfully followed their ancestor Jonadab's command not to drink wine or build houses for over two centuries, even when tested by Jeremiah in the temple. In contrast, the people of Judah, despite repeated warnings from God through His prophets, failed to obey. The sermon concludes that true obedience means responding to God's living word with our whole heart, drawing parallels to the good figs in Jeremiah 24 who returned to God, promising blessings for those who do.
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Good evening. Every night here has something special, but there are some nights that have something extra special, and the playing of the bells to me is one extra special musical addition to the program here. I'm sure we all appreciated that, ladies, very, very much indeed. You make it seem so easy, but I'm sure if the rest of us tried to do it, it would show up how difficult it really is. We appreciate the coordination and I'm sure the hours of practice that you put into it. That was beautiful. I enjoyed it and I'm sure we all did.
I'd like to express my appreciation to you all tonight. It's been great being with you. I've really enjoyed the fellowship and the conversations with you at the meetings and on the grounds. I've really enjoyed the time spent here. It's been wonderful to be here and I speak on behalf of my wife Margaret and myself. We've appreciated very much the privilege of being here. The facilities are excellent and the provision that has been made for our physical needs has been top. We appreciate it so much. Thank you very much for making us so welcome and for providing for all our needs while we've been here.
Tomorrow morning we leave from Gainesville Airport to go to Atlanta and then to Toronto. We hope to be in Toronto around about five o'clock or thereabouts and I hope to be speaking in Toronto on Sunday morning and evening. That is if I get through Atlanta Airport. The last time we were here there was a storm of the century and we were held here till Tuesday morning. We didn't get through Atlanta. airport till Tuesday and I was due to speak in Bermuda over the weekend and the series of meetings wasn't able to start till the Tuesday evening when we got there. However, the Lord is over all and we trust Him to fulfill His plans for us.
Well, this is our last study in the book of Jeremiah. We've only skimmed the surface, we've only touched down at one or two places and we are going to conclude our studies. as we look at possibly two more of the object lessons that Jeremiah was given to present to the people. I'd like to turn in the first instance to Jeremiah chapter thirty-five. The book of the prophet Jeremiah chapter thirty-five. Jeremiah thirty-five. The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink.
Then I took Jehazaniah, the son of Jeremiah. That's a different Jeremiah. There are more than one Jeremiah's in the Bible. Here's another one. The son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazaniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites. And I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hanun, the son of Egaliah, a man of God, which was by the chamber of the princes, which was above the chamber of Meaziah, the son of Shalom, the keeper of the door. If I've murdered the names of these dear men, I apologize to them.
I trust they'll forgive me. And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups. And I said unto them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine, for John Adab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye nor your sons forever. Neither shall ye build house, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyard, nor have any. but all your days ye shall dwell in tents that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of John Adab, the son of Rechab, our father, in all that he has charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we our wives, our sons, nor our daughters, nor to build houses for us to dwell in.
Neither have we vineyard nor field nor seed, but we have dwelt in tents and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass when Nebuchadnezzar and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up into the land that we said, Come and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans and for fear of the army of the Syrians. So we dwell at Jerusalem. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will you not receive instruction to hearken to my words, says the Lord?
The words of John Adab, the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed. For until this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment. Notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you, arising early and speaking. but ye hearken not unto me. I assent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them. And ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you, and to your fathers, but you have not inclined your ear, nor hearken unto me.
because the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the commandment of their fathers, which he commanded them. But this people hath not hearkened unto me. Therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard, and I have called unto them, but they have not answered. and Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, because ye have obeyed the commandments of John Adab, your fathers, and kept all his precepts, and then according unto all that ye have commanded you, therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, John Adab, the son of Rechab, shall not want an heir to stand before me forever.
The Lord will bless to us, I am sure, the public reading of his word. Now you'll understand how valuable and helpful that closing hymn was. It's about trust and obey. And this chapter is about obedience. And our lesson tonight is about obedience. Let's bow and ask the Lord to guide us in it. O God our Father, we thank thee for thy word. And as we open it, wherever we open it, we thank thee. that thou hast something there to teach us. We pray that thou wilt help us to learn tonight what thou wouldst have us to know, and not only to learn it, but to trust thee and to obey thee as we've been singing.
Guide us, we do pray thee, as we meditate upon thy word tonight. For we ask, in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. If you ask people in different parts of the world, in different parts of the community here, what they think of the Lord Jesus Christ, you would no doubt get many different answers. They would have different opinions of the person of the Lord. That, of course, as we saw this morning, is the vital question that confronts us today. What think ye of Christ? While he was in this world, there were different opinions of who he was.
He asked his disciples once a very interesting question. He said to them, What do people think I am? Whom do men say that I am? And the disciples gave an answer like this. Well, some think you're John the Baptist, risen from the dead. Some think you're Elijah, and some think you're Jeremiah the prophet. Well, it's not difficult to understand why many people thought he was maybe John the Baptist. After all, John the Baptist was his forerunner. John the Baptist predicted him his coming. And John the Baptist was really his contemporary.
And the message of the Lord Jesus was very similar to that of John the Baptist. Repent for the kingdom of God, if it had. was the message that both preached. And in addition, John the Baptist was taken by Herod and was killed. And even Herod wondered if the Lord Jesus was John the Baptist raised from the dead. So we can readily understand why they said John the Baptist. And if we think a little more, I think we can understand why they said he may be Elijah. Elijah, of course, was one of the few prophets of the Old Testament who did some remarkable miracles.
And the time of the Lord Jesus in this world was characterized by the miraculous performances. So it's not difficult that they would associate his miracles with those of Elijah way back in Old Testament times. But what about Jeremiah? Why did the name Jeremiah come to their attention? Well, I do think there were a number of reasons. I would suggest that Jeremiah took a stand against evil, a decisostat, that he was characterized by denunciation of sin, that he emphasized the seriousness of judgment, and that he presented the importance of repentance.
And if you look at the ministry and teaching of the Lord Jesus, that was characterized as his characteristic of his teaching as well. In addition, Jeremiah faced opposition and hostility from the people of his type, and who faced more opposition and hostility than the Lord Jesus. But the thing that stands out in my mind as I compare Jeremiah and the Lord Jesus is the use each of them made of objects to draw lessons from. Think of all the parables the Lord Jesus spoke. Think of the illustrations, he told, that may not be parables, but were parabolic illustrations that characterized his ministry.
And as we've seen, as we've read some of the object lessons of Jeremiah, that was a characteristic of the ministry of Jeremiah. Many of Jeremiah's object lessons were taken from things that were very common and frequent, such as the linen girdle. and the potter at his work. But here this evening we're going to think of something that's maybe a little different. His confrontation of the Reckabites as we have it presented in this chapter thirty-five of Jeremiah's prophecy. So let's think first of all of the object.
We've been studying these object lessons and we've noted that we should, when we are looking at the object lessons, Whether we think of them as the objects that Jeremiah chose, or the types of the Old Testament, or the parables of the Lord Jesus, we should think first of all of the object, of the picture that's presented. And then secondly we should think of what it meant to the people of the day, the immediate lesson. And then thirdly we should think of the lesson as we can apply it to our lives today. So let's think first of all of the object. This incident occurred, as we are told, in the reign of Jehoiachim. That was getting close to six hundred BC.
Jeremiah had already been ministering as a prophet for probably twenty-five years at this particular time. It was after Nebuchadnezzar had come and was attacking the cities of Judah and Jerusalem. We read that in the passage that we've read together in verse eleven. And so it was probably towards the latter half of Jehoiakim's way. And the Lord gave a message to Jeremiah and as usual Jeremiah obeyed that message. And we've noticed how often Jeremiah did that as an example to us to do what the Lord commands us to do.
God said, go unto the house of the Recovites. Now we have to pause there and point out that this wasn't a literal physical building. This wasn't a house because later on we were told that the Recovites didn't dwell in houses. They dwelt in tents. That was one of their characteristics. They didn't build houses. So this wasn't a material house, but it was the household or the family or the community of the Recovites. The Recovites were evidently a nomadic clan. that had recently moved to the city of Jerusalem for security because of the invasion of Nebuchadnezzar and other armies.
And they thought they would be more safe and secure in Jerusalem. But presumably they still lived in tents. I don't think they would live in a house in Jerusalem because that was against their principle. We are told about the story of the Rechabites and the patches that we have read. But it goes back about two hundred and fifty years. to their forefather, a man called Rehob, and followed by Rehob was the son of Rehob, a man called John Adab. And if you want to read more about John Adab, you can find him in the tenth chapter of the second book of Kings. And we're told there that the Jehob, the just appointed or just appointed himself king of Israel, called Rehob onto the chariot with him.
And he did so. King Jesus was out to exterminate the name of Baal, to eliminate it, and to exterminate also all the descendants of Ahab, which he did, as a matter of fact. And we're told about Rekab at that time. Now, that was two hundred and fifty years or thereabouts before the time that we're thinking of. Now, the important characteristic of John Adab is that he had left a charge. for his descendants to be carried on in perpetuity forever and ever. We've read about it in verses six and seven. He had said, first of all, you've not to drink any wine. You've not to drink any wine, neither ye nor your sons, forever in perpetuity.
And in addition, neither shall you build houses. You're not to sow seed. You're not to plant vineyards. You're not even to have any vineyards. These were characteristics that Rechab and John Adab insisted on their successors. And down through the centuries, the two and a half centuries, they were being carried out at that time. Well, Jeremiah's responsibility was to go and collect all the house of Rechab that he could find. Presumably that was all that were left, all the descendants of Rekal, all the Rekobites. And he used to bring them into the temple, one of the temple chambers, one of the side rooms that was used for storage and for meetings and for priests' residences, and one of these side chambers that was surrounded by other rooms of importance for various people.
Now the Rekobites were... We would call them in Scotland country yokels. I don't know if you know that term around here. Some of the Scots people here will recognize what it means. They were almost like gypsies in there. You can imagine. They were rough and tumble characters. They didn't have very... special clothes to wear. And here were they coming into the precincts of the temple. And they were being shown into one of the rooms belonging to one of the persons in the temple. And they were next door to some of the important characters in the temple. You can see these rather uncouth country tent dwellers coming into the temple.
And Jeremiah set before them some pots or some vessels, some bowls of wine, and give them each a cup. To pour these into, and he was about to pour these into their glasses or their cups. He didn't say, would you like a drink? No, he didn't say that. What he said was, drink this wine. Drink this wine. And the question is, would they drink it? Would they drink it? They hadn't drunk any wine before. Neither they, nor their parents, nor their grandparents, nor their great-grandparents, nor their ancestors are way back to Jonadab and Wicca.
None of them had done that. What would they do now in this situation? They refused. They refused to drink. They refused to participate. Even although it was in the temple, and even although it was a man like Jeremiah who presented it to them, a man of God, they wouldn't do what he commanded. They wouldn't drink. Well, they remained faithful. What would be the message for the people of their time? Well, we are told what the message is. God gives us very clearly what the message was. Why did the Lord tell Jeremiah to do this test?
It was partly to test them to see what they would do. It wasn't to tempt them. God doesn't tempt people. But it was to test them to see what to do. But primarily, it was to bring a lesson. God knew exactly what they were going to do. He knew they would refuse. But he wanted a point of a very important lesson to his people. And we've read that lesson. This was an object lesson. And it was presented by Jeremiah to the people of Judah. Here were a group of people. And they had the opportunity to drink wine in the very temple chambers.
In the presence of Jeremiah. But they had made a vow. that they wouldn't do it. And that vow was given to a person of their ancestors two hundred and fifty years before. Yet when they had this opportunity they hearkened to the words of their ancestor rather than even the voice of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah presented this message to them. The people of Israel had heard the voice of God. And God had repeatedly presented his voice.
Notice what we read in verse fifteen. I have sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising up early and sending. Or in the previous verse, notwithstanding, I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking. In other words, God was giving a message urgently to them. And a message repeatedly to them. And a message consistently to them. And yet they didn't hear it. And yet here was a group of people. And the person whose message they were listening to had been dead for over two centuries. And yet they kept faithful to his command. They obeyed it. They observed what he was doing.
What a sad commentary on the people of Israel, the people of Judah at that time. And God, at the conclusion of the chapter... gives us the great blessing that would come to Rehob because they obeyed the voice of God. They said, John Adab, the son of Rehob, shall not want a man to stand before me forever. God is looking for people who will be faithful, who will be consistent, who will do what God commands them to do. They were observing the words of a man that was dead. The words, the message that we have is from the God who is alive forevermore.
And that gives us a clue as to the continuing lesson for us. What is it? What lesson do we take out of this presentation, this object that Jeremiah presented to the people? You might say, well, does that mean that we should be teetotalers? That we should refuse to take any alcohol? No, it doesn't mean that at all. There are other scriptures that should be taken to indicate the Christian's attitude to the use of alcohol. And we're not going to do that tonight. That's not part of our study. But you can find it in the Word of God. But this isn't one of them.
No more than that we should take from the wreck of bikes that we shouldn't build a house. Or that we should never sow seed. Or that we should never have a vineyard. These are other things that characterize the Reckabites. The one message that God takes here is the message that we should be faithful to the authority of the person to whom we are responsible. And that person is not a man that has been dead, but it's the God who lives eternally. And he has left us in the pages of his book, Many Command. that it's our business and our responsibility to carry out and to obey.
These commands affect every aspect of our lives, and we have a responsibility to God, first of all to find out what these commands are, and then to carry them out in obedience to His will. How can we know them? Well, it's only one way to know them, and it is by reading them in the Word of God. I cannot too strongly emphasize the importance and insist on the great value of reading the Word of God. I hope it's your daily textbook for life, for this is the textbook that God has given to us for life. When we are studying any subject in the world, When we're studying finances or mechanics or medicine or engineering or whatever, we usually look for a textbook to guide us.
When we're studying living, living in this world, God has given us the textbook, and that is the Word of God. This is our guide for life. This is our guide and our direction. And it's important, indeed it's vital, it's essential that we read the book. that we make it our daily counsel. I trust you read the Bible daily. I trust you read it consecutively. I trust you read it systematically. I trust you read it prayerfully. I trust you read it obediently so that you can carry out what God says to us in the Word of God.
This is his book. It's not been with us two fifty years. It's been with us for two thousand years and more, this Word of God. and we should be reading it. But not only reading it, it's important for us to obey it. In this book there is guidance for our Christian lives, for our personal lives. When we want direction for our lives and what we should do in any circumstance, you'll find it in the pages of the inspired Word of God. More than that, this book is the guide for our family life, for the direction of our family. and our relationships with other people.
And in addition, this book is the guide for our church lives. I discovered in recent years, and I'm sure you have discovered it too, that so many people, like the children of Israel, are departing from the Word of God in their own lives, in their family lives, and in their church lives. It's sad. to go around the country and see where assemblies of God's people have been led astray from the principles that are written and recorded in the Word of God that have been held by our fathers dearly and that are here for us to carry out today.
We have a responsibility to carry out these biblical principles of church gatherings, as well as the biblical principles for our individual and family lives. My friends, let's stand by them. Let's be faithful to them. Let's obey God who has given them to us. Let's hold to the book and day by day, stay with it. Let's be faithful as these Reckobites were and do what our Father, our Heavenly Father, has commanded us to do. That to me would seem to be the lesson that we should take today from the story of the Reckabites.
Now let's turn back to Jeremiah chapter twenty-four. We're going to take a final object lesson here in Jeremiah chapter twenty-four. The incident that we are going to look at is something that happened after the incident that we looked at before. The incident of the Reckabites. This happened after that. We can tell that from the opening verse of the chapter. Verse one says, The Lord showed me, and behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of the Lord, after Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away captive. Jeconiah, son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and the princes of Judah were the carpenters and smiths from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon.
One basket had very good figs. even like the figs that are first ripe. And the other basket had very naughty things, which could not be eaten. They were so bad. Then said the Lord unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs, the good figs, very good, and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten. They are so evil. Again the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I sent out of this place into the land of the calledings for their good.
For I will set mine eyes upon them for good. And I will bring them again to this land. And I will build them and not pull them down. And I will plant them and not pluck them up. And I will give them in heart to know me that I am the Lord. And they shall be my people. And I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. And as the evil figs which cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Surely thus saith the Lord, so will I give Zedekai the king of Judah and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt. And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of there for their heart to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse.
in all places where I shall drive them, and I will send the sword, the famine, and the pestilence among them, till they be consumed from off the land that I gave unto them and to their fathers. The Lord will again bless the reading of his word. This incident occurred sometime after five hundred and ninety-seven BC. We're told that in the early verse of the chapter, although we're not given the exact time, but we know that's when it happened. It was after the second deportation. You see, there were three deportations to Babylon. One occurred in six hundred and five BC. That was the first one.
And that was the one in which Daniel was taken into Babylon. One occurred in five hundred and ninety-seven BC. And that that deportation ten thousand captives were taken, including the queen mother, all the craftsmen and artisans and officers and leading men of Judah. And that included Ezekiel. He was taken at that time into the land of Babylon. And the last deportation was in five hundred and eighty-six BC, when Jerusalem was destroyed and many were taken from Jerusalem to Babylon. At that time, Jeremiah had a vision. It's not certain, and we cannot be sure, and there are differences of opinion, as to whether this was something that he actually saw or a vision that God gave him.
I personally think that it was probably something that he actually saw. He saw two baskets of figs. They were in the temple. It's possible that they were brought there as the offerings of people to the Lord. But one of the baskets was of good figs, good figs. We're told that they were like the first ripe figs. I'm told that the fig trees in Israel produced figs three times a year. The first one was specially good, specially sweet, and specially good for eating. And these were some lovely good figs. But then there was another basket, and it's almost amusing to read what they were like in the King James Version.
They were naughty figs. I've been rather amused at this figure. We talk about naughty children. We don't usually talk about naughty things. But the word naughty is the same as the word that's used as bad things and evil things. They were bad. They were rotten. They were not worth eating. Word naughty, N-E-U-G-H-T-Y, means worth not. of no value, of no worth at all. So they were worthless. They were good for nothing. And if these were offerings that were made by the people of Judah, then it indicated the character of some of their offerings.
Some were bad. In the book of Malachi, in the first chapter, God speaks about people offering polluted bread, the blind, the lame, and sick. Is it not evil? God says, I'll not accept that kind of offering. Well, that applies to the naughty things. They're not the kind of offering that God wants. And God tells us who these two groups are. The ones that were good. Strangely enough, were those that were taken to Babylon already. They included Ezekiel. And they included Daniel. They included some of those friends of Jeremiah. There weren't many of them who had tried to support him and befriend him.
And now they were in Babylon. And possibly through the ministry of Ezekiel and Daniel and others of godly men, there were a number of these who became very godly. And they were the good things. And God has some very wonderful promises for them. They had been transported into exile. They had passed through hard times. You can imagine how it must have felt like going into the land of the Babylonians who weren't at all gracious and kind to their captives. And they found themselves there. But here, under the ministry of Ezekiel and Daniel, some of them were going to be prepared to come back to the land of Jerusalem and Judah.
They were going to come back. They were the good faith. The other ones like Zedekai and those with him who were against the Lord and against Jeremiah's message. And those who had gone to Egypt probably to thinking that that would be the best way when God told them not to, they were among the evil, wicked things. But I want you to notice very specially those who are called good things. Because we can find a lesson for ourselves. They were ones who were going to obey the voice of God. Let's notice what the God says about them at the end of verse seven. And all that is before it is based upon this.
The end of verse seven, They shall be my people and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. With their whole heart. And the whole of these verses are based upon that closing statement. they shall return unto me with their whole heart. And that's the message that I believe that the Lord would have get across to us today. This is a message here up to those who are prepared to return to the Lord with their whole heart. If some of you have never come to the Lord to know him as Savior and Lord, then the message that he calls us today is a message to repent.
Repent. Over and over again it occurs in the New Testament, repent. God has commanded a day in which you will judge the world in righteousness. So he commands all men everywhere to repent. He commands us to turn from our sins and to receive his mercy and salvation. And as some of us are Christians and we know that we wandered away from the Lord, he still calls us to repent. It's a message that comes to us in the Word of God. Repent. Return unto me with your whole heart. And let's notice the blessings that God has for those who return to him with all their heart. I want you to notice in the word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah in verses five to seven.
Seven I wills. Seven I wills. They apply to the people to whom Jeremiah is speaking or of whom he is speaking, those good figs that were now in the land of exile in Babylon. But they apply to us today when we turn to the Lord. Notice these seven I wills. First of all, in verse five, God says, Will I acknowledge them? And at the end of the verse, I have done this for their good. Are they being deported into a land of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, into exile? But God says it's for their good. And I will acknowledge them.
And the time of trial that they've had is going to turn out for their good. Now, sometimes we have to pass through times of trial. Sometimes on account of our own waywardness and failure, we are called to pass through times of trial like they. But God, if we acknowledge him and return to him, he will acknowledge us. What a wonderful promise that is. Here's the first I will. The second I will is in verse six. I will set mine eyes upon them for good. Or that means I'll watch over them. I'll make provision for them. I'll keep my eyes over them for safety and security.
That wouldn't be said about those who went to Egypt. but about those who are in Babylon, who were there in difficult circumstances. And yet they were going to be faithful to the Lord, and they would return to him. And as Ezekiel put it, I will be to them a little sanctuary in the countries where they shall come. That's exactly what God is. And he's willing to do that for us. And he is overruling the situations that we are in for our good. Notice again in verse six, I will bring them again to this land. And that prophecy was actually fulfilled to the very letter. Just about sixty years later, after this point, a little over sixty years later, this prophecy was fulfilled to the letter.
You see, God is true to his word. He will accomplish what he says he'll do. And he'll do the best for each one of us. Let's notice again in verse six, I will build them up and not pull them down. You'll notice the negative, not pull them down. That emphasizes the positive. God will do that and he will build up. God will build them up. And he'll do that with us too. We may be passing through times of trial, but God sends the times of trial and allows them to come into our lives so that we may ultimately be built up and not pulled down. Let's look into verse seven. And there he says at the end of verse six, I will plant them and not pluck them up.
I will plant them and not pluck them up. That's what God plans to do for his people. To plant them to make them grow so that they can be fruitful and flourishing for him. And then let's notice in verse seven, I will give them an heart to know me that I am the Lord. That's a privilege that God gives to his people and heart to know the Lord and to know him personally and he will know them. And as we know him, we know he's a God of infinite love and grace and compassion. And then finally he says again in verse seven, I will be their God and for they shall return, they shall be my people and I will be their God for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Not Baal, not Mollish, not Kimosh, not these gods of the nations round about, but Jehovah, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the Lord of eternity and of infinity. He's going to be their God. And that is our God. And as we return to him and trust him day by day, we can be sure that he'll accomplish his purposes. I'm sure it was difficult for some of these people in the land of exile in Babylon to appreciate that God was going to do all this for him. And sometimes it's difficult for us to believe that God is able to take the circumstances of our lives, whatever these circumstances may be, and bring good out of what may seem to be evil.
And all of us pass through trials from time to time. But my friend, the message I can learn from this is that no matter how difficult the trials, no matter how deep the problems, no matter how dark the circumstances, we have a God who is over all circumstances. And if we will return to Him with all our heart, this God is able to do exceedingly abundantly. Above all that we ask or think. And he worketh all things. After the counsel of his own will. May we trust this God. Whatever the circumstances and problems.
To do for us. What is best for us. And he alone knows. What is best. Let us bow together in prayer. Oh God our Father we thank thee. That thou art God. that thou art the same today as thou art in Jeremiah's day, thou art an unchanging God, thou art an eternal God. We thank thee that thou hast given us in thy word, thy commands, thy textbook for our lives. Help us, we pray thee, to obey thy commands, to be faithful to thee, and all our day to acknowledge thee in all our ways.
We pray that thou ought helpest to trust thee, however dark the days may be, and to give to thee glory and honor in our lives. If there is one here in this gathering tonight who has never come to know the Lord Jesus as personal Savior, we pray that they may return in repentance to thee with all their hearts and receive him, believe in him, and trust him for salvation. And may all of us give all that we have to thee and seek to carry out of thy commands in our lives. We pray thy blessing now as we separate.
We pray for those who will be traveling both here and away from here. We pray thy blessing on the next week of conference gatherings. We pray for thy servant David Adams as he comes here. We commend him to thee and pray thy blessing on his ministry. We ask thy guidance and help. In the name of the Lord Jesus.