Sermon Transcript
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Mon, May 19, 2024 10AM • 56:33SUMMARY KEYWORDSlord, Jeremiah, Jerusalem, god, king, suffering, Babylon, happen, read, verse, Jesus, bad, church, junk drawer, bible, chapter, children, talking, die, Paul
Summary, Key PointsIn this message, Pastor Gene discuss the concept of a 'junk drawer' in a kitchen, likening it to the way Christians typically read the bible, while providing insights into the chronology of the kings of Judah and the punishment of Judah for their idol worship. Jeremiah warns of the impending siege and captivity, while false prophets attempts to alleviate the people's fears with false prophecies. Pastor Gene highlights the misinterpretation of Bible verses, particularly Jeremiah 29:11, and its consequences. Pastor Gene emphasizes God's message of hope and restoration for the exiled Israelites, and discuss the significance of Romans 9-11 in understanding Paul's plea to & for the Jewish community. They also explore the theme of hope in the midst of suffering, drawing from Romans 8:16-39, and discuss the reason for suffering in life, emphasizing that it brings people closer to God and develops endurance, character, and hope.
Outline
Junk drawers, tools, and their uses.• Pastor Gene discusses junk drawers, including random parts and tools.• Little girl helps dad in kitchen, discovers garage surprise.• “Junk Drawer Theology” – Random Scriptures are like items in a junk drawer.
Misinterpretation of Bible verses in church culture.• Criticizes Christians for misusing Bible verses, particularly Jeremiah 2911, and encourages listeners to understand the context of the verse.• Christians often apply random Bible verses to any situation without considering the verse's original meaning, leading to misinterpretation and misuse of the Bible.• The history of Israel and Judah, highlighting the constant wars and idolatry among the kings.• The importance of understanding the context of the Bible, including the cultural and historical context of the time.
Kings and captives in ancient Israel.• King Josiah is killed by Neco, and Jehovah is placed in his place.• Babylon besieges Jerusalem, and Zedekiah becomes the last king after Jehovah.• Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem, takes King Jehoiachin and officials to Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:11 and its message to exiled Jews in Babylon.• The speaker discusses the siege of Jerusalem and its predicted outcome in Jeremiah 22:24.• Jeremiah writes a letter to exiled Jews in Babylon, warning of impending punishment (Jeremiah 29:11)• False prophets promise easy return to Jerusalem, but God says it won't happen (Jeremiah 29:21-23)• The Lord says to exiles in Babylon: build homes, marry, have children, and pray for the city's welfare (Jeremiah 29:4-7)• Do not listen to false prophets who promise return after 70 years, for the Lord will restore fortunes after that time (Jeremiah 29:10)The book of Lamentations and its themes of desolation and sorrow.• Speaker reflects on the siege of Jerusalem and its aftermath through sorrowful songs.
Jeremiah 29:11 and its misinterpretation as a prosperity verse.• Describes the suffering of the people of Jerusalem, including starvation and cannibalism, and notes that limitations are better for those killed by the sword than those who die of hunger.• The use of Nebuchadnezzar as a tool to punish the people of Jerusalem, and notes that Jeremiah 29:11 is not a prosperity verse.• Deuteronomy 28, predicting blessings and curses based on the people's actions.• Speaker 1 argues that Christians should not promise prosperity or blessings without acknowledging the potential for curses and negative outcomes.
Misusing Bible verses leads to warnings of eternal suffering.• Misusing Bible verses on prosperity is ignorant and insensitive.• Churches often ignore this issue and miss the mark.• The importance of Jesus Christ as the only true source of eternal prosperity.• God allows suffering to bring people back to Him, and eternal life with Him is more important than temporary earthly prosperity.
Paul's letter to Romans and its relevance to modern-day Christianity.• Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)• Jesus laments for people who reject him, Jerusalem kills prophets and stones messengers (Matthew 23:37-39)• Paul laments the division between Jewish and Gentile believers in Romans 9-11, hoping for their salvation.• Paul uses hyperbole to express his desire for the salvation of his fellow Israelites, despite their rejection of Jesus.God's promise of adoption and inheritance for believers.• Romans 8:16-17, emphasizing shared suffering and inheritance.• Creation eagerly awaits future glory, but groans in present suffering (Romans 8:22-23).
Why God allows suffering, using biblical examples and personal experiences.• Psalm 40:480, lamenting God's abandonment and their own suffering.• Why God allows suffering, citing Paul's writing on Aegis and pleading for his people.• The importance of relying on God instead of ourselves, using suffering as a means to bring people to their knees.God's discipline and inheritance.• God's love and grace are revealed through suffering, leading to endurance, character, and hope in salvation.• The importance of endurance in the face of suffering, drawing inspiration from Jesus' example.• Encourages listeners to submit to God's discipline, as it is a sign of love and leads to eternal life.
Suffering and eternal perspective, encouragement from God's Word.• The importance of understanding God's discipline and suffering, which refines and trains us for eternal life.• Suffering gives us perspective and trains us to have an eternal perspective, not just a focus on this life.• Troubles are small, but they produce eternal glory. Don't focus on present troubles, but on things unseen.• God prepares us for eternal life through His Holy Spirit, giving us hope and encouragement.
Sermon
Good morning. If you're new here among us, my name is Gene I serve here at C3 church as your pastor. And I wonder if anyone else here has a junk drawer in your kitchen, you're laughing already, the coffee's working, this is easy. I'll ruin it. Don't worry. Now, not a drunk drawer, if you heard that, that's a different conversation we can have in my office, a junk drawer is comprised of just extra random parts extra things like I don't know, just for example, maybe your wife bought you a piece of furniture that you had to make, right? So and then in the process, you got that and the process of making it right, they were kind enough to give you tools that aren't very good to put together, they say you have like a flat metal wrench or something like that, an Allen keys, you know what that is? So we could talk about that later, you have a ton of those in the junk drawer. And then maybe you have an extra screw or two in there, or 15. Because they were also kind enough to give you extra screws, or you didn't read the instructions. So and you know, something like that, right? So bad old batteries. Why? I don't know the zombie apocalypse recycling? What do we do with them? They're kind of the same thing when you think about it. Anyway, rubber bands, right. So maybe you're like my wife, and you have a rubber band ball. Why? Well unpredictable bounce trajectory. That's a lot of fun when you're playing with or torturing the dogs, things like that. So those are in your junk drawer. That's what that's for. So I heard a story. And this story was about a little girl trying to help her dad in the kitchen. And so he's unloading the dishwasher, she takes out a fork and she goes to put it in the junk drawer. And he goes no, like, Why? Why wouldn't I do that? Well, if it makes contact with a paperclip and a couple batteries, we don't know what's going to happen. But no, really. It just goes in with the forks. Well, what's this drawer for? So he explains it just like I did. Now she knows what the drawers for now. She does what little girls do right children? Do they start taking out like each part like What's this for? You know, what's this for? Of course, you know, he doesn't know. So he's like making things up. And after a while he's gives us I don't know, I don't know. So she takes out this piece that kind of looks like the valve that you have outside. turns on and off the garden hose looks like that. But it's plastic. And she pulls it out. And she says, What's this for? And he says, You know, I just don't know. Well, then she says what kids say Right?
Can I have it? Yes, you
can have it. It's much cheaper than the American Girl doll that you asked for. I'm a father. Daughter. I know about that, too. Right. So she takes it. A while later, she comes back, showed it to mom. Mom knew what it was for. She said it was for something in the garage that you really need to use. Since you fixed a lot more like Oh, no. So just takes me to the garage. Takes me like my wife laughs This is just made it a garage opens up the garage door to find now fully functional. exercise bike. There you go. Ah, all right. So listen, here's the thing. The jokes aren't always really funny, because it's church. And that limits the amount of bad words that I can say. So you know. I'm from New York, it's extremely difficult. Always spirits. So, junk drawer, theology, drunk theology, junk drawer theology, it's kind of like that. That's what we've been talking about the twisted scripture. So it's it is like that there are all these random parts. And that's kind of how the majority of Christians view the Bible. And if we're being really honest, right now necessarily read the instructions. So they have a lot of extra parts in that drawer. Not that the scriptures are junk. Yeah, we're not saying that. But it's just like random parts. And that's what happens, right? They're fed the scriptures. Like, what's this too? I don't know. But I know what it is. Right? So they'll look at the verse is kind of the same way, these random verses all kind of disjointed and all over the place. So what we're doing in this series is we're kind of like putting these random parts back together to kind of show you like, what it really is supposed to be handled the right way. So today's verse in question, I'm going to read it to you. So if you've never been to church, this might sound really weird. So if you've never been in church, I kind of always have to remind myself of this. Other people, maybe you've never been to church before, you don't understand the Christian culture. Like my job basically, is to make fun of the Christian culture. I got it, I really enjoy it. And the people here, enjoy it. But there are a lot of problems if we're being honest with it. One of the problems that Christians have is they don't read this book, like you would read any other book. That's not a good thing. So they don't start they're getting this read all the way through before drawing a conclusion. You know, they just read random lines all over the place and they claim they know about it. They don't. So what happens to kind doesn't make it worse as you get that verse of the day comes to the app or whatever it is. Again, it's just a random part. You don't even know what it's to. And so the verse in question today is Jeremiah 2911. Yeah, the old people laughing are the people who've been in church, they're like, oh, buckle up, here he goes, is going to be good. So, if you ever enter, it's going to get a little wild in here in a bit, but definitely going to offend everyone. So let's just look at the verse. Jeremiah 2911. For I know, the plans I have for you, says the Lord, there are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future, and I hope, okay, so if you've been injured, I don't have to go into this too much. But just crazy Christians will use this verse to just apply to everything, I just anything. So that plans for you is you so there's no context, they're just you, you is everyone and you're always going to prosper. That's it. So it's like that fortune cookie theology, right? You take it out, whatever it says, You just randomly applied to everything. And that's what they do. All right. going to ruin that for you today. So
the main point is, that's not what the Bible says. Just remember that. It's not what the Bible says, we're going to look at that today. So I'm going to do my very best to contextualize this for you, to give you some context without making it more confusing, confusing. So I'm going to use David as an anchor point, because a lot of people know about King David, if you've ever been to church, you heard about David and Goliath, and you have the basics of that story. We looked at David, there's a lot more to it than that. But so what happens is after David, you get Solomon, a lot of people know who Solomon is, right? And you think wisdom, wealth, kind of. You also happen to break every rule, like if you read Deuteronomy 17, set forth for a king like, Okay, if you decide to do something dumb and have a king and you reject God, well, here are all the rules, right? So you give them rules, and Solomon breaks basically, all of them. He's really not a great king. He like he imposes taxes, a labor force, like all kinds of really crazy bad things. And that leads to the downfall of the one like kind of, let's just call it like a united miss, think of it as a nation, right? Of Israel at that time. So God is going to punish me once upon him. But for David's sake, right? It's not going to happen to you, but it's going to happen to all the successive generations, they're going to be at war with one another, right? So happens during Ray bones time, he's not so wise, and the kingdom split. So you just think of it in simple terms of your Bible nerd, I'm making this really simple as a kind of a civil war. You have the 12 tribes of Israel, technically, you have like 11 in the north and the tribe of Judah in the South. That's it, right. So you have Jeroboam, and he's going to establish the Kingdom up there. But sometimes just nerding out, I can't help it. Levi and Benjamin are associated down there in the southern sea of the temple down there. That's where Jerusalem is. In Judas. I think this is kind of where Jewish people come from. in Judah in the south Jerusalem is there they have the worship there. So Israel, you kind of thinking of Israel's a little more naughty, so to speak, because they have like the golden calves up there. And they have all like the false worship up there. But Judas really kind of not a whole lot better as we keep reading the story. Now, what happens is, in the Bible, there are many, many kings. So just think of it as like, depending on who you're counting about, like 16. As generations go by 400 ish years, hundreds of years, just again, I'm using round numbers goes by, until finally in the north, Israel falls, and the South later, Judah falls. And so it's a constant war. They're warring with each other, they're warring with themselves, and especially in Israel, the Assyrians are attacking the Egyptians are attacking like the Babylonians. So all these things are happening. And so you're dealing with a lot of wars in there and king after king of the King just succeeding one another. But the main crime is idolatry, no matter where you are, so they're worshipping other gods. They're taking on these pagan practices. It's just really bad once in a while you have like Josiah Hezekiah, you'd have some good kings in there. They're doing good things, but even they do stupid things. And so that brings us to Josiah really good king. He gets killed by feral Nico like so. from Egypt. He gets killed by him. Then Jehovah has his he gets put in place. He gets taken away. And then Nico puts in Elia can becomes Jehovah cam in there, right? Then Babylon starts attacking the same thing, like they keep getting besieged, and like people taken away a new king put in his place. And that brings us to Jehovah chin. So it's like the second the last king after him is Zedekiah, Mattaniah. And then that's when Jerusalem falls. So Israel north I didn't say that has already fallen to the Assyrians during King O'Shea is right. Anyway, try to keep it simple. So we're in that period when you're looking at the book of Jeremiah. Now, a lot of things make this even more complicated, which is why people don't understand it. So the Bible is just not in chronologic recorder, right? So then you have like the Gospels, you may understand that there's four gospels, they account for the same things, just highlighting perspectives, not differences, but perspectives on those same events. Same thing happens in the Old Testament, but it's really all over the place. And so you can go to Second Kings for this or Second Chronicles for this song about English, the same things, giving different details, right, again, no differences. But to make it worse, and you can go back to the rest of the story, I put this together for you chronologically, if you remember the charts. They were fun. So. So chronologically into each of those, you have those profits in your Bible, they're weaving their way through, not all of them, but in this area, and Jeremiah is one of them. So to get the full story, you also have to read Jeremiah, to make that worse, Jeremiah itself is not in chronological order. So you have to understand these kings, and it's kind of all over the place, right? So I'm going to kind of try to simplify that for you and just give you the overall context of this section of Jeremiah. So it's during this time, like after Jehovah Qin got taken away, right? And then now Zedekiah is in there. So he's in Jerusalem. So there's certain captives that are taken away to Babylon, and then there are others who are allowed to stay right so it's in the midst of this is what's going on. So if you go to Second Chronicles 36 You'll see it just highlights it for you nicely, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem captured it, he bound Jehovah Chem and bronze chains and led him away to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the treasuries from the temple of the Lord and He placed in his palace in Babylon. If we hop over to Second Kings, this is what we see. Second Kings 24 Eight, Jehovah chin was 18 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Newsted, the daughter of Nathan from Jerusalem, so he had chin did what was evil in the Lord site just as his father had done. During Jehovah Chin's reign, the officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and besieged it. Then he can answer himself arrived to the city during the siege, then King chick King to Jolla, Qin, along with the queen mother, his advisors, his commanders and his officials surrendered to the Babylonians in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar his reign, he took giant and prisoner. As the Lord had said beforehand, Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the treasures from the Lord's temple in the royal palace. He stripped away all the gold objects that King Solomon was way back of Israel had placed in the temple, King Nebuchadnezzar took all of Jerusalem capital captive, including all the commanders, and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, artisans 10,000, until only the poorest people were left in the lamp. Nebuchadnezzar led King Jehoiachin always captured the Babylon along with the queen mother, his wives and officials, and all tourism's elite. He also exiled 7000 of the best troops in 1000 craftsmen and artisans, all of whom were strong and fit for war, see, see what he's doing here, right, they're not going to come and attack again. Then the king of Babylon installed Matteniah, Johoiachin’s Uncle to be the next king, and changed his name to do this twice, right. So from Matt Knight Zedekiah. So that will bring us to Zedekiah Jerusalem in the south, their fault, the final ball right there. So it's very, very horrible. I'll get that to that in a minute. So all these sieges to just depending on the picture in your head, you know, if you're like watching medieval movies, or old movies and things like that, the sieges would happen, and you're trying to hold out for as long as you can. You're going to run out of supplies, and you're going to run out of food. And so sometimes they stop up the water, so you're going to run out of water. So you're dealing with during a siege, like these starvation, not just the war. So it's like a lot of problems, a lot of logistic problems that we take for granted right here, but you know, you're starving to death, right? And you still have to fight and the people might rebel. There's all these different problems going on. So that that's what we're in the midst of now so you can see it clearly. Now, this was all predicted in Jeremiah just let's take a look at that backup a few chapters, Jeremiah 2224, and series as I live, says, The Lord I will abandon you Jehoiakim king of Judah, even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off, I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those who so desperately fear to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylon, Babylonian army, I will expel you and your mother from this land, you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land, you will never again return to the land you yearn for. So again, this is in that backdrop. So this is what's happening now. Now you notice the word I will I will in the Lord's talking. He's using Nebuchadnezzar right as His instruments as his tool. Again, it goes back to what I just told you. Why the idol worship, they've rejected God, right. So and this is their punishment. So during that time, interesting, I'm not going to get too much into this, although I want to, you have prophets, one of them's named Hannah nya. And they're like, basically false prosperity prophets going around telling them how it's going to be fine, like in just two years, and I'd say, like, we're going to be good. It's all right now, Jeremiah has been a really faithful Prophet and the offense specked out pretty weird and sometimes disgusting things. But in this scene, Jeremiah has like a yoke like, let's say, like an ox yoke on him, and he's walking around to symbolize this captivity that they're going to be under. And an idea comes along and he breaks it right? And so the Lord sends a message through to say, like, this isn't going to happen, we're good. sends a message to the Lord to say no, right now you've been so again, I, you broken the wooden yoke, and I'm going to replace it with the yoke of iron. So the God, the Lord is going to do this to them. And then he also lives in that he's going to die. It says Prophet dies in like, two months. So you have all this like chaos going on. Again, the Lord is doing this stuff. So this punishment is by the Lord's hand, he's just using these nations to make it all happen. And during the scene, you have like this, push and pull, like against like the rulers there. They don't say this stuff, you know, this isn't really going to happen and the false prophets, there's a lot of chaos going on. So now that brings us that was Jeremiah 20. Now that brings us to Jeremiah 29. And we're not going to start at verse 11. We're going to start at the beginning of the chapter, and take a look at what happened. So now with all this in mind, let's look at Jeremiah 2911. Again, Jeremiah 29. One, Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King together. So it's in in this letter, and is after King Jehovah chin, the Queen Mother and the court officials, the other officials of Judah and all the craftsmen, artisans had been deported from Jerusalem. Now keep in mind, we're reading Jeremiah Wright sounds a lot like second king, so some of the information will overlap a little bit. So he sends this letter to Ellis the son of Shaphan and memorize son of Hilkiah, when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah as ambassadors to navigate another so they're like going back and forth between the cities. This is what Jeremiah's letter said, This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel says to all the captives, he is exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem, build homes, and plan to stay, plant gardens and eat the food they produce, marry, and have children, then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren multiply, you're not dwindle away, and work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you to exile, pray for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel says, Do not let your profits and fortune tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you do not listen to their dreams because they are telling you lies in my name, I have not sent them says the Lord. This is what the Lord says, you will be in Babylon for 70 years. But then, after the seven years I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, there are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope in those days when you pray. In those days, when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me will be found by you says the Lord, and your captivity and restore your fortunes restore your fortune, I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land. So now let's examine some key contextual details that you probably caught. Just want to highlight right, so what are we dealing with now? So the first thing is, this verse is not about you.
Reading comprehension skills, that's what they're called. versus not about any of us. Right. It's an extremely specific time and context. That's the thing. So I know the plans I have not for you. For those people, right, who are in captivity and will be there for 70 years. Yeah, okay. During that captivity, right? plant gardens during that captivity, marry, right produce children be fruitful, right? You're going to be there for a while, for 70 years right then after that. Then after that, I will restore not your their fortunes. So I will restart after 70 years. I will hear you when you pray. That's what it says go back and read it for yourself if you don't believe me, right? So it's not about you. Now, here's an interesting thing just to ponder. Okay, so this letter arrives and you're one of these exiles? Let's say your seven year eight years old. It's not so some of them either. Think about it. I just pretty far removed from you. It's not even for some of the people hearing or reading the letter because they are going to die before that. 70 years. interesting to think about No, it make things worse, because I'm great at that. So to make things worse, if you're laughing because you know it If you're done with the book of Jeremiah ends with the siege of Jerusalem, chapter 52, and you get to lamentations and like categorically, Lamentations seems to be a little disjointed, because you think like for a minute, it's poetry. So it's like sorrowful songs. Just think of them as like sorrowful songs, make it simple. And you'll need these should be like near the Psalms or something like that. It's right after Jeremiah, because these are songs about what just happened. So just view them like as these like, some type of amends for everything and just have like five chapters. It's kind of crazy. So let's just take a look at lamentations with that in mind. So when you read limitations, you must if you want to get it right, have what I just told you in your brain, and then you'll get limitations right? limitations. One Jerusalem, once so full of people is now deserted. She calls it often like these places are called like a sheet. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave and it continues. So she has defiled herself with immorality. So they'll often like depict these things. You played the harlot against God. And so that's what's going on this comparison being made here, right? So the enemy's plunder, taking everything down. Even the foreigners allowed to invade the temple. It's just terrible limitations. 111 her people grown as they search for bread. Remember, I told you about the starvation? They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive? Oh, Lord, look, she mourns. And see how I'm despised, sent me nothing to you. All you pass by rates that she's being scored and things like that. Look around and see if there's any suffering, like mine, which the Lord brought on me when he erupted in his fierce anger, we must remember that. So the Lord is punishing them. That's another thing about the verse here, right? So people are applying and they're like, Yeah, Lord is going to give me know, the Lord can also punish you. We're looking at that in a minute. That's to say, Yes, I said that. So there's that fear of the Lord where he was supposed to have. So limitations to one, the Lord and His anger. The Lord has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem, the fairest of Israel cities lies in the dust thrown down from the heights of heaven. In his day of great anger, the Lord has shown no mercy, even to his temple, putting things in perspective. So the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar in this particular case as a tool to punish them. We must think of this when we read Jeremiah 2911. So not a prosperity verse. And here's the thing. It's so bad that limitations for nine those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, starting the waste away for lack of food from the fields, tender hearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege. I wrote everything with a joke. And so you will not see this as the verse of the day. Most likely, right? Yeah. I mean, like, it's not funny, but that is so. Okay. Yes. I think this is crazy. Are we seeing how off this versus right now the way it's used? This is crazy. And that's not the only place it's talked about. If you go to Deuteronomy 28. The Prophet Moses was told this by the Lord, criminals blessing I have somebody sent me once. They're like, God always blesses us just like that. And they did a little dance when they sent it. God always blesses us. Right. You know, I read Deuteronomy 28. And I was like, there's no that look I talked about in the record scratch I'm like, so be like, getting a prosperity verse out of lamentation, somebody will do it. Right. So it's like, Uh huh. Do you see the title of the book? But you know, like, we always get a bunch this I'm like, because here's the thing. It's like eval and garrison. And so it's predictive blessings and curses that they're giving like Josh was going to perform later, after Moses dies. And if you read it from Deuteronomy 27, or 28, you'll notice something. Yeah, there's a lot more curses and blessings. Because the Lord tells Moses, this is what the people are going to do. They're going to abandon your Lord and so they're going to get cursed. And within that, they're going to do all kinds of horrible things like the siege, and the women aren't even going to share the afterbirth with their families that they're eating.
It's horrific. It's really,
really bad so that you understand it. Again, limitations for 16 the Lord Himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. People show no respect to the priests and no longer honor the leaders. So these are the plans that are being talked about in Jeremiah 29. Yeah, and so when people come at me with these verses, and I'm like, that's why the stinkface right, because, like, really, like, you know, and I want to say terrible things. I usually don't. So this is the meaning of the verse, right? So when we use this, here's one thing that happens. I'm trying not to go off on a tear, but like, you see this and it was all what's the big deal? Pastor? Well, it was a very, very big deal. Because here's what happens. Right? So when you go around telling people, I see people do this, you're going to prosper all the time you get to prosper. I've seen people like in some pretty bad positions, and then these guys will run up and be like, I know, the Lord has plans for you, for us credit printing all this stuff, right? And then, so maybe the person believes it. Maybe they believe it. Maybe it happens in church, and maybe all the people they believe in. But what happens if you're a human being in this wicked world?
That's Earth, right? So
something bad will happen to you, I can, I can promise you that. At least this, you are all going to die. Is anyone surprised by that, but Christians walk around acting like they're surprised. They're going to damage what I've warned you about that too. And all these other shootings that are in there, it's going to happen. So when that person is, and let's call this what it is, in the church community,
a lie.
A lie when the person was lied to? Well, they feel the same way when they're lied to in any other right? So they quit. They're like, this. Christianity doesn't work. Because what they promised me did not happen. And they fall away from the faith. So then someone like me comes along. And I'm like it just like that. And that's how I run up to people who don't believe it works. Right, like disarming. Anyway, I'm trying to make this as easy as possible. You know, but then they're like, No, you know, I don't want that Christianity stuff. It's garbage. It doesn't work. Exactly what happens. It makes my job of evangelism, even harder than it already is. People fall away from the faith deprives them of what their salvation, the most important thing that we can have. It's a serious problem. Not to mention the word of God says the truth matters. There's that and that really shouldn't be it right, drop the mic walk away, it should be enough. truth matters. And we saw the beginning of the series, what happens to those who twist and misrepresent God's word?
It's bad. It's a horrible sin
with really bad consequences, especially for teachers. told one, don't be a teacher, James three, right? As teachers, those who teach will be judged more strictly. Right. So this is what happens. So if applying these verses to are short sighted luxuries, driving the people away from the face, lying about God, if that wasn't enough of a problem, here's another problem. The use of this verse is ignorance. It shows that you are ignorant you if you use the verse, yes. Or maybe you were but now you're not right. It shows that your ignorance, when people say this to me, I'm like, they have no idea. Anything about God's word at all, tells me everything I need to know. Wow, just read your Bible, man. Because you're a long way off. It's horrible. So there you go. It's self exposing. They're completely mishandling of God's word shows that they have no knowledge of the Bible. But here's the other thing. It's insensitive. It's insensitive. Now, these, to me, God's word is timeless. It's timeless. But to some, maybe it's not important to some people. And so it's like, easy just to kind of fictionalize maybe they don't believe it, I believe it. Maybe they don't believe it, right. So I am forced to bring this into a modern day context, because of that. So it would be like someone watching a movie about the Holocaust, or not watching it, and then grabbing a line from that movie, and then making like a prosperity claim over a line in a holocaust movie about your simple comforts and luxuries.
insensitive. It's insensitive. So it's ignorant and insensitive. That's the big deal. So a problem. Now,
I want to be clear here about something because I think a lot of churches really ignore this and they missed the mark here. So just the overlying thing here is that to be clear, on the subject of truly prospering. There is no true eternal prosperity in anything else except Jesus Christ.
That's it. You will
lose everything here. Everything you own here, you sell, it's going to be somebody else's house after you somebody else's watch after your car's not going to make it that long, you know. So other things is again another job. So if you understand what I'm saying, you grasp this, right? We should remember your jewelry, somebody else will be wearing it back on again, unless it's cubic zirconia. Right? Nobody wants it. The one they're like. So anyway, you get my point. Right? So the true prosperity that we're looking for is in Jesus Christ.
Periods. That's it? No, but no,
that's it. Regardless of our circumstances. We'll talk about that. Alright, so sometimes God allows this type of suffering so that we come back to him, right? Because God doesn't see things the way we see things, right. So this to him is like, you know, okay, I get it, guys. But it's eternity with me that really matters. Attorneys forever this is that long as you get older, you probably know that you're like, oh, my gosh, it's Friday again, like, it's Christmas again. It's going right, it's run out on us quick. And to God really gets that, like, if it takes us, you know, 50 to 80 years to get there. God gets it before you got it. And he knows that the eternal life is way more important. So a little suffering. Okay, if that gets in with Him for eternity, there will be in this is the point there will be eternal sufferings for those who reject Jesus. Worse than anything you can imagine here.
It will not stop.
So, like a deathless suffering, just knowing that this is why this is important, right? So my mind goes to examples like in the New Testament very quickly, like First Corinthians five, where there's guys sitting in the church. And the real big problem that Paul's hammering down is that other people may emulate the type of sin this guy's doing. And so it's like, gives an analogy like one bad apple, right? So one little bit 11, spoils a whole bunch of me accuses them of being prideful, so he kicks the guy to the trip for that reason, don't worry. So if you're spoiling other apples, yeah, we've done that too. We can happen. So, anyway, kicks him out of the church. But he makes an interesting statement, I handed him over to Satan. Right? The point is, so that he might hit a bottom and figure it out in this life so that he can be eternally saved. Think about the prodigal son. A lot of us know that story. But there are details we don't often think about within that story. What happens? Well, the son, right, he's very greedy. So he asked for his inheritance upfront, and then goes and squanders it. So that's another story begins, note the Father, let him go. You must remember that right? The Father, let them go. And then he came back repentant, Lee, Oh, father, I've sinned against heaven. And you I'm not even worthy to be your son. Please take me as your slave says it twice. Alright, so important to remember what the Father do? Well, clearly, he was starving, he wasn't even allowed to eat the pig food, the carob pods, right? So you hit a bottom, came back to the Father. And that's another point. In that illustration. People usually don't get that one. But that's an important one, the father will let you go, the father will sometimes cause suffering. I will read this from the text so that you come back, and so that it strengthens here, we'll look at that. So sometimes he allows it. So it's Jesus or nothing else matters. And so I just want you to note something to this is how Jesus laments for these people, obviously later, but it's the same people doing the same stuff over and over again, Matthew 2337. This is Jesus or Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones, God's messengers, how often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, you wouldn't let me and now look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. You will never see me again. Unless you accept me as your King, your Messiah, the Lord. That's it. Jesus drops the mic.
That's the crux of it right here. And that's the important part.
It's important to remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the same Lord and God He is the Word who existed from the beginning. And it is his hand that was stretched out over these people. Don't forget that one Bible all together. So it should be our prayers. Well, now, I want to take you and those of you been church for awhile know I'm going here. And I just want to kind of bring this in and bring it together for hits Romans, we go to the book of Romans. And the reason for writing Romans is and this is really important understand as you read Romans is that there are it's a Jewish phase in the beginning, Jesus, the Apostles, they're Jewish, right? So it comes from these people, right? But then they figure out, oh, it's going to go out to non Jewish people, the Gentiles like people like me to everyone, right? So they're going to be this blessing to all of them. And so it takes them a little while to figure out and so there's a lot of kind of like strife in these communities. So you have these Jewish believers, who had the laws still struggling with that they're doing it traditionally. But they have the all these things if you read the law of Moses, very complicated, so they live these very devout and strict lives and things like that. You know, the Gentiles they have their pagan gods on so it's a lot of this right? And so Paul writes to this community who is in disunity, so he starts off by saying, yeah, the Gentiles have said, they should have recognized God by nature, and make it simple, right? Chapter Two you do is it's almost like he's turning to them, like the Gentiles are here that you're Jews, you've sinned to know so much teach yourself, right? Chapter Three, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's why he levels the playing field like that, for an example of Abraham's faith. Why? Because what the Jewish people like we got the law, we got the one he's like, No, you're not saved by that. Right? So Abraham, right, he's made righteous by his faith, right? So he gives that example, there, five through seven, Adam and Christ, contrast it right. So Jesus, getting the Jesus, this is what you really need to superior. And then you get to chapter eight, a new life in the Spirit, and nine through 11 is really interesting and often decontextualized. The real context, right is not about making church, a country club, there's a lot of churches do Romans nine through 11. It's not about that. It's like, and this is the real problem, if everyone would just hear Paul's heart, if everyone just pray before they read their Bibles. And if everyone would just read the Bible, when we just read, they would understand what Paul's doing here. He is, like, his heart is just bleeding for his people. Because he understands and he uses hyperbole. He says, Oh, I'd rather be a curse separated from Christ. So these people can be saved. He doesn't mean that because there's nothing more important to Paul and Jesus. Right? But why is he saying this? Because he knows the fate of his fellow kinsmen. He's Israelites who have rejected Jesus, he knows what's going to happen. Right? And so he's like, I'm sure there's a way these people are getting in here to hear Paul's heart here, right. And a terrible irony with these chapters is that you have all these very country club ish type of Christians. Well, this is about, you know, Calvinism, right. You know, because that's what God was thinking about. He's singing about Calvin when he wrote the
Bible, right? No, no,
this is like a heartfelt lament a plea. This is Paul, like, again, like crying for his people. That's what this is. It's about the exact opposite, that people make it about. It's about Paul, think about it. Right? I'm getting in. Nobody else is one is like, it's crazy, right? You make it about that. But in reality, these three chapters are about Paul hoping that he everybody gets in. Think about it, the context is the exact opposite. So I just questioned the hearts of those who interpreted that way. So this is what you have in there. But in this, if we jump back a little bit, we see a verse that's used similarly to Jeremiah 2911. With this in mind, Romans 828. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them to stop. That's interesting, right? So everything, like the way Oh, but I'm working according to His purpose, right? So the uses again, all of you just work according to God's purposes high enough or something like that, you know, it's all going to be good. Okay, so let's just do what we did with Jeremiah 29. Right? Well, let's just look at the chapter again at the very beginning. So when he talks about as receiving God's Spirit, when he adopted you as his own children, that's you that's all of us. So if you're in Christ, Jesus, you are a child of God. This is where this kind of idea comes from. Right now you say of a father, Romans 816, for his spirit joins with our spirits who affirm that we are God's children, and since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we share His glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet Well, we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later did you catch the perspective for all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are? against its will all creation was subjected to God's curse, but with eager hope the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay later, For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also grown even though we have the Holy Spirit within us, as a foretaste of future glory. For we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering, we to wait with your hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as adopted children, including the new bodies, he has promised us. That's what we're hoping for. We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don't need the hope for it. But if we will look forward to something we don't yet have, we must patiently wait. Patiently, uncomfortably wait. And Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we all know what God wants us to pray for. But the holy spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the father knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work to get together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. There's the verse, but did you catch what it said before that? If we're heirs, we share in that we have to share in His suffering. There's your context. Now, if you didn't get that, let's read towards the end of the chapter, Romans 835. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Doesn't mean he no longer loves of us if we have trouble or calamity, or persecuted or hungry or destitute, that means poor or in danger, or threatened with death? As a Scripture say, for your sake, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us
that you get it now. All right.
It's book ended the same way and that poverty is the lack of wealth as Christ not love you if you're poor, hungry? No. Because what's the we're looking forward to the future kingdom? Correct. All right now? Well, you might not recognize there he was quoting Psalm 44. And this gets really interesting. So just really quick for you. It's the same type of circumstance as Jeremiah 29. It's kind of like that. So it's like a lament in here in the Psalms. And it's either during the fall of it depends where you're talking to Israel, or Jerusalem. So it could be during this very time, but it's the same situation nonetheless. And if you read the verse as Paul's drawing from, he's drawing from what let's say Jerusalem, Dean sieged, the same exact situation that Jeremiah is talking about, read this, Psalm 40 480. God, we give glory to you all day long. And then we constantly praise your name salah. But now you have tossed us aside and dishonor. You no longer lead armies in the battle. You make us retreat from our enemies and allow those who hate us to plunder our land. You have butchered notice the You, Lord, you have butchered us like sheep and scattered us among the nations. But for your sake, we are killed every day. Let cons concept to many people think about Christianity. For your sake, we are killed every day we are being slaughtered like sheep. Wake up. Oh, Lord. So there's the plague. It's in there while you sleep get up, do not reject us forever. Why do you look the other way? Why do we ignore our suffering and impression? This is what Paul has in mind when he's writing those verses. So Paul has this Aegis in mind here. And it all comes together and then immediately after he does what? He pleads for his people. Does it make sense now?
If so, so. Yet, still,
people get these concepts. I don't know if you've heard this one, too. God won't give you more than you can handle. Here hear that? And they pull it out of First Corinthians 10. And actually, interestingly, the subject there, the context is sin. He'll give you a way to escape your sin that's repulse talking about, like why you won't give me more than I can handle. Okay, all right. All right. But we've read what Paul and Timothy went through that fears within, right if we read Second Corinthians one, eight, this is Paul talking about him and Timothy, we think you ought to know your brothers and sisters about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. So they're like missionaries are traveling around. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure. And we thought we would never live there. We thought we're going to die, and I could be expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying ourselves and learn to rely on God who raises that they weren't God to give you more than you can handle, they want him to die. This is all for Jesus, for your sake. We're being slaughtered all day long.
They understood this.
So here's the thing. Question arises. Why does God allow suffering? For your sake, what does that mean? Well, look at can we go back one and look at the verse again. Notice what the verse says, look at the previous scripture, See, but we learned right so we thought we're going to die. Well, we learned to stop like we stopped relying on ourselves. And we learned to rely on God.
How many of us are relying on ourselves for everything many of us are doing that we do when we do that. We make ourselves Gods idolatry. You learn to just we really stop relying ourselves, we learn to rely on God. This is one point of suffering, no better way to bring a person to their knees, and a little suffering if needed.
It turns us to God gives us that much needed reminder. If we go back to Romans, if someone had read before that Romans eight, right, so you read Romans 5151. Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith. Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where now we stand, can we confidently joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory look where he's looking forward, we can rejoice too. When we run into problems and trials and tribulations. We can rejoice too we run into tribulation trials, For we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develop strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope and salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. Sufferings bring us closer to God. Sufferings help us develop endurance, sufferings, help us develop character.
And in this way, they give us hope, in the right thing, hoping the right thing, sometimes our hope is in the wrong thing. And God will take that wrong thing away from you if he loves you.
Remember that? If you have kids, it's like when your kids spoiled. Take it away, right? This is what happens when we act like spoiled children. So that we received the Holy Spirit when he adopted us as His own children, Romans 816, for his spirit, joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children, what affirms that we are God's children, the Holy Spirit, and since we are His children, we are His heirs. And in fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share his suffering.
That's just reality. So there's this all throughout the Bible.
There's this concept that we are like gods. He's a father, right? So our Father, we pray to the Father, Jesus talks about the father all the time, and then we're His children. And so it's a concept that goes all throughout the Bible. And I just want to, as I draw to a close today, bring your attention to Hebrews 12 is so important. So most people hang on Hebrews 11. That's the people of faith. So after you get through all the people of faith, the author preacher of Hebrews gets to this, Hebrews 12 One Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance. There's that word the race God has set before us. We do this how? By keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith, because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame, now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne, just think to see the perspective he's setting up here. Right, because the glory waiting because of the glory waiting us we endure suffering, like Jesus did. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, then you won't become weary and give up. He's our inspiration or motivation. After all, you have not yet given your lives and your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to his children. He said, My child, don't make light of Lord's discipline, don't give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves. And he punishes scourges in the Greek. Each one he accepts as His child as you endure this divine discipline. What does divine discipline look like? We just saw, remember that God is treating you as his own children who ever heard of a child who was never disciplined by his father? Read some rhetoric there. Perhaps I've seen it. And we know what happens to undisciplined children. If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate. And you're not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? What's the goal? I'll live forever. For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years during doing the best. They know how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it's happening, it's painful. But afterwards, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living. For those who are trained in this way, here is the godly perspective. This is the truth. These are not the verses of the day, I get it. But it's the rest of God's word. It's very important. And if you understand this, the fine print, you understand, you can live at peace with it. The Lord knows that sufferings refine us. Sufferings discipline us, He doesn't want us running around like a bunch of spoiled children. That's not the way God's children behave. We don't what does it say? Well, Sharon, His Holiness, Holly has to be set apart, set apart from God, set apart from the world set apart from sin, the righteous and holy, trying to be like Jesus are example. That's what it's for, there'll be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Suffering also gives us perspective. It trains us in this way, this eternal perspective. And I want to close with some verses here. Because again, the Lord knows that this life is not. That's not the focus, we can have some fun clearly along the way. We'll talk about that. You'll hear about that, and the announcements that we're going to get together and have some fun, right? We do it every Sunday after church. We like the jokes, right? So I kind of liken it to waiting in line, though, you can kind of have fun with a line, but eventually, you know, you got to get on the ride, right? So it's okay. And that's really what we're looking forward to. But a lot of Christians are not they have it backwards. I think this is like the lie, is not it. We're looking forward to something better than any of this. Even the best stuff we have. We're looking forward to something better than all the best stuff. So we can enjoy it. We can have fun. I tell jokes, right? And then I'd like fun for you, I understand. But you get it right. And so we can enjoy things. It's not to be depressing, it's to rightly align ourselves with perspective. So I want to give you a perspective, this morning from the scriptures. So just remember, there are no chapter breaks in the originals, so it doesn't exist. So I'm just going to read straight there Second Corinthians 417. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them, and will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we can see now. Rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen, for the things we see now will soon be gone. But the things we cannot see will last forever, no chapter break for we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, that is when we die and leave this earthly body, we will have a house in heaven and eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we only put on our heavenly bodies, like new clothing, for will put on heavenly bodies are going to be spirits without bodies. We will live in these earthly bodies while we live in these earthly bodies we grown inside. But it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies of clothes, it's rather we want to put on our new body so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. That is eternal life.
God Himself has prepared us for this, as a guarantee he has given us His Holy Spirit. There it is the comforter. That's what he does. God prepares us for this. This is the very definition of faith. The very definition of faith is the hope and things we cannot see. This is how the faithful believe this is the perspective of the faithful.
This is what we must hang on to in our sufferings in our trials. And whatever it is, you're going, everybody's going through something we pretend like we're not everyone's going through something. So whatever that something is for you. This is the best encouragement that I can give you. It gets no better than God's word, no better than people try.
But this is where I quit. God's word is where you need to get your encouragement from, not me, or anybody else. So remember these chapters. I'll send them to you if you want. look to them for your hope looked at them for your encouragement. And I hope that they were encouraging for you today. This morning as you go through life and they build you up. I pray for you, Lord. Thank you for everyone who came And for that, to hear Your word. Faithfully hear your words I pray that you fill them with your Holy Spirit and build them up this week. So that you can build that endurance or strength of character represent you well as your children are we love you we thank you these things Jesus name we pray
Summary, Key PointsIn this message, Pastor Gene discuss the concept of a 'junk drawer' in a kitchen, likening it to the way Christians typically read the bible, while providing insights into the chronology of the kings of Judah and the punishment of Judah for their idol worship. Jeremiah warns of the impending siege and captivity, while false prophets attempts to alleviate the people's fears with false prophecies. Pastor Gene highlights the misinterpretation of Bible verses, particularly Jeremiah 29:11, and its consequences. Pastor Gene emphasizes God's message of hope and restoration for the exiled Israelites, and discuss the significance of Romans 9-11 in understanding Paul's plea to & for the Jewish community. They also explore the theme of hope in the midst of suffering, drawing from Romans 8:16-39, and discuss the reason for suffering in life, emphasizing that it brings people closer to God and develops endurance, character, and hope.
Outline
Junk drawers, tools, and their uses.• Pastor Gene discusses junk drawers, including random parts and tools.• Little girl helps dad in kitchen, discovers garage surprise.• “Junk Drawer Theology” – Random Scriptures are like items in a junk drawer.
Misinterpretation of Bible verses in church culture.• Criticizes Christians for misusing Bible verses, particularly Jeremiah 2911, and encourages listeners to understand the context of the verse.• Christians often apply random Bible verses to any situation without considering the verse's original meaning, leading to misinterpretation and misuse of the Bible.• The history of Israel and Judah, highlighting the constant wars and idolatry among the kings.• The importance of understanding the context of the Bible, including the cultural and historical context of the time.
Kings and captives in ancient Israel.• King Josiah is killed by Neco, and Jehovah is placed in his place.• Babylon besieges Jerusalem, and Zedekiah becomes the last king after Jehovah.• Nebuchadnezzar captures Jerusalem, takes King Jehoiachin and officials to Babylon.
Jeremiah 29:11 and its message to exiled Jews in Babylon.• The speaker discusses the siege of Jerusalem and its predicted outcome in Jeremiah 22:24.• Jeremiah writes a letter to exiled Jews in Babylon, warning of impending punishment (Jeremiah 29:11)• False prophets promise easy return to Jerusalem, but God says it won't happen (Jeremiah 29:21-23)• The Lord says to exiles in Babylon: build homes, marry, have children, and pray for the city's welfare (Jeremiah 29:4-7)• Do not listen to false prophets who promise return after 70 years, for the Lord will restore fortunes after that time (Jeremiah 29:10)The book of Lamentations and its themes of desolation and sorrow.• Speaker reflects on the siege of Jerusalem and its aftermath through sorrowful songs.
Jeremiah 29:11 and its misinterpretation as a prosperity verse.• Describes the suffering of the people of Jerusalem, including starvation and cannibalism, and notes that limitations are better for those killed by the sword than those who die of hunger.• The use of Nebuchadnezzar as a tool to punish the people of Jerusalem, and notes that Jeremiah 29:11 is not a prosperity verse.• Deuteronomy 28, predicting blessings and curses based on the people's actions.• Speaker 1 argues that Christians should not promise prosperity or blessings without acknowledging the potential for curses and negative outcomes.
Misusing Bible verses leads to warnings of eternal suffering.• Misusing Bible verses on prosperity is ignorant and insensitive.• Churches often ignore this issue and miss the mark.• The importance of Jesus Christ as the only true source of eternal prosperity.• God allows suffering to bring people back to Him, and eternal life with Him is more important than temporary earthly prosperity.
Paul's letter to Romans and its relevance to modern-day Christianity.• Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8)• Jesus laments for people who reject him, Jerusalem kills prophets and stones messengers (Matthew 23:37-39)• Paul laments the division between Jewish and Gentile believers in Romans 9-11, hoping for their salvation.• Paul uses hyperbole to express his desire for the salvation of his fellow Israelites, despite their rejection of Jesus.God's promise of adoption and inheritance for believers.• Romans 8:16-17, emphasizing shared suffering and inheritance.• Creation eagerly awaits future glory, but groans in present suffering (Romans 8:22-23).
Why God allows suffering, using biblical examples and personal experiences.• Psalm 40:480, lamenting God's abandonment and their own suffering.• Why God allows suffering, citing Paul's writing on Aegis and pleading for his people.• The importance of relying on God instead of ourselves, using suffering as a means to bring people to their knees.God's discipline and inheritance.• God's love and grace are revealed through suffering, leading to endurance, character, and hope in salvation.• The importance of endurance in the face of suffering, drawing inspiration from Jesus' example.• Encourages listeners to submit to God's discipline, as it is a sign of love and leads to eternal life.
Suffering and eternal perspective, encouragement from God's Word.• The importance of understanding God's discipline and suffering, which refines and trains us for eternal life.• Suffering gives us perspective and trains us to have an eternal perspective, not just a focus on this life.• Troubles are small, but they produce eternal glory. Don't focus on present troubles, but on things unseen.• God prepares us for eternal life through His Holy Spirit, giving us hope and encouragement.
Sermon
Good morning. If you're new here among us, my name is Gene I serve here at C3 church as your pastor. And I wonder if anyone else here has a junk drawer in your kitchen, you're laughing already, the coffee's working, this is easy. I'll ruin it. Don't worry. Now, not a drunk drawer, if you heard that, that's a different conversation we can have in my office, a junk drawer is comprised of just extra random parts extra things like I don't know, just for example, maybe your wife bought you a piece of furniture that you had to make, right? So and then in the process, you got that and the process of making it right, they were kind enough to give you tools that aren't very good to put together, they say you have like a flat metal wrench or something like that, an Allen keys, you know what that is? So we could talk about that later, you have a ton of those in the junk drawer. And then maybe you have an extra screw or two in there, or 15. Because they were also kind enough to give you extra screws, or you didn't read the instructions. So and you know, something like that, right? So bad old batteries. Why? I don't know the zombie apocalypse recycling? What do we do with them? They're kind of the same thing when you think about it. Anyway, rubber bands, right. So maybe you're like my wife, and you have a rubber band ball. Why? Well unpredictable bounce trajectory. That's a lot of fun when you're playing with or torturing the dogs, things like that. So those are in your junk drawer. That's what that's for. So I heard a story. And this story was about a little girl trying to help her dad in the kitchen. And so he's unloading the dishwasher, she takes out a fork and she goes to put it in the junk drawer. And he goes no, like, Why? Why wouldn't I do that? Well, if it makes contact with a paperclip and a couple batteries, we don't know what's going to happen. But no, really. It just goes in with the forks. Well, what's this drawer for? So he explains it just like I did. Now she knows what the drawers for now. She does what little girls do right children? Do they start taking out like each part like What's this for? You know, what's this for? Of course, you know, he doesn't know. So he's like making things up. And after a while he's gives us I don't know, I don't know. So she takes out this piece that kind of looks like the valve that you have outside. turns on and off the garden hose looks like that. But it's plastic. And she pulls it out. And she says, What's this for? And he says, You know, I just don't know. Well, then she says what kids say Right?
Can I have it? Yes, you
can have it. It's much cheaper than the American Girl doll that you asked for. I'm a father. Daughter. I know about that, too. Right. So she takes it. A while later, she comes back, showed it to mom. Mom knew what it was for. She said it was for something in the garage that you really need to use. Since you fixed a lot more like Oh, no. So just takes me to the garage. Takes me like my wife laughs This is just made it a garage opens up the garage door to find now fully functional. exercise bike. There you go. Ah, all right. So listen, here's the thing. The jokes aren't always really funny, because it's church. And that limits the amount of bad words that I can say. So you know. I'm from New York, it's extremely difficult. Always spirits. So, junk drawer, theology, drunk theology, junk drawer theology, it's kind of like that. That's what we've been talking about the twisted scripture. So it's it is like that there are all these random parts. And that's kind of how the majority of Christians view the Bible. And if we're being really honest, right now necessarily read the instructions. So they have a lot of extra parts in that drawer. Not that the scriptures are junk. Yeah, we're not saying that. But it's just like random parts. And that's what happens, right? They're fed the scriptures. Like, what's this too? I don't know. But I know what it is. Right? So they'll look at the verse is kind of the same way, these random verses all kind of disjointed and all over the place. So what we're doing in this series is we're kind of like putting these random parts back together to kind of show you like, what it really is supposed to be handled the right way. So today's verse in question, I'm going to read it to you. So if you've never been to church, this might sound really weird. So if you've never been in church, I kind of always have to remind myself of this. Other people, maybe you've never been to church before, you don't understand the Christian culture. Like my job basically, is to make fun of the Christian culture. I got it, I really enjoy it. And the people here, enjoy it. But there are a lot of problems if we're being honest with it. One of the problems that Christians have is they don't read this book, like you would read any other book. That's not a good thing. So they don't start they're getting this read all the way through before drawing a conclusion. You know, they just read random lines all over the place and they claim they know about it. They don't. So what happens to kind doesn't make it worse as you get that verse of the day comes to the app or whatever it is. Again, it's just a random part. You don't even know what it's to. And so the verse in question today is Jeremiah 2911. Yeah, the old people laughing are the people who've been in church, they're like, oh, buckle up, here he goes, is going to be good. So, if you ever enter, it's going to get a little wild in here in a bit, but definitely going to offend everyone. So let's just look at the verse. Jeremiah 2911. For I know, the plans I have for you, says the Lord, there are plans for good and not for disaster to give you a future, and I hope, okay, so if you've been injured, I don't have to go into this too much. But just crazy Christians will use this verse to just apply to everything, I just anything. So that plans for you is you so there's no context, they're just you, you is everyone and you're always going to prosper. That's it. So it's like that fortune cookie theology, right? You take it out, whatever it says, You just randomly applied to everything. And that's what they do. All right. going to ruin that for you today. So
the main point is, that's not what the Bible says. Just remember that. It's not what the Bible says, we're going to look at that today. So I'm going to do my very best to contextualize this for you, to give you some context without making it more confusing, confusing. So I'm going to use David as an anchor point, because a lot of people know about King David, if you've ever been to church, you heard about David and Goliath, and you have the basics of that story. We looked at David, there's a lot more to it than that. But so what happens is after David, you get Solomon, a lot of people know who Solomon is, right? And you think wisdom, wealth, kind of. You also happen to break every rule, like if you read Deuteronomy 17, set forth for a king like, Okay, if you decide to do something dumb and have a king and you reject God, well, here are all the rules, right? So you give them rules, and Solomon breaks basically, all of them. He's really not a great king. He like he imposes taxes, a labor force, like all kinds of really crazy bad things. And that leads to the downfall of the one like kind of, let's just call it like a united miss, think of it as a nation, right? Of Israel at that time. So God is going to punish me once upon him. But for David's sake, right? It's not going to happen to you, but it's going to happen to all the successive generations, they're going to be at war with one another, right? So happens during Ray bones time, he's not so wise, and the kingdom split. So you just think of it in simple terms of your Bible nerd, I'm making this really simple as a kind of a civil war. You have the 12 tribes of Israel, technically, you have like 11 in the north and the tribe of Judah in the South. That's it, right. So you have Jeroboam, and he's going to establish the Kingdom up there. But sometimes just nerding out, I can't help it. Levi and Benjamin are associated down there in the southern sea of the temple down there. That's where Jerusalem is. In Judas. I think this is kind of where Jewish people come from. in Judah in the south Jerusalem is there they have the worship there. So Israel, you kind of thinking of Israel's a little more naughty, so to speak, because they have like the golden calves up there. And they have all like the false worship up there. But Judas really kind of not a whole lot better as we keep reading the story. Now, what happens is, in the Bible, there are many, many kings. So just think of it as like, depending on who you're counting about, like 16. As generations go by 400 ish years, hundreds of years, just again, I'm using round numbers goes by, until finally in the north, Israel falls, and the South later, Judah falls. And so it's a constant war. They're warring with each other, they're warring with themselves, and especially in Israel, the Assyrians are attacking the Egyptians are attacking like the Babylonians. So all these things are happening. And so you're dealing with a lot of wars in there and king after king of the King just succeeding one another. But the main crime is idolatry, no matter where you are, so they're worshipping other gods. They're taking on these pagan practices. It's just really bad once in a while you have like Josiah Hezekiah, you'd have some good kings in there. They're doing good things, but even they do stupid things. And so that brings us to Josiah really good king. He gets killed by feral Nico like so. from Egypt. He gets killed by him. Then Jehovah has his he gets put in place. He gets taken away. And then Nico puts in Elia can becomes Jehovah cam in there, right? Then Babylon starts attacking the same thing, like they keep getting besieged, and like people taken away a new king put in his place. And that brings us to Jehovah chin. So it's like the second the last king after him is Zedekiah, Mattaniah. And then that's when Jerusalem falls. So Israel north I didn't say that has already fallen to the Assyrians during King O'Shea is right. Anyway, try to keep it simple. So we're in that period when you're looking at the book of Jeremiah. Now, a lot of things make this even more complicated, which is why people don't understand it. So the Bible is just not in chronologic recorder, right? So then you have like the Gospels, you may understand that there's four gospels, they account for the same things, just highlighting perspectives, not differences, but perspectives on those same events. Same thing happens in the Old Testament, but it's really all over the place. And so you can go to Second Kings for this or Second Chronicles for this song about English, the same things, giving different details, right, again, no differences. But to make it worse, and you can go back to the rest of the story, I put this together for you chronologically, if you remember the charts. They were fun. So. So chronologically into each of those, you have those profits in your Bible, they're weaving their way through, not all of them, but in this area, and Jeremiah is one of them. So to get the full story, you also have to read Jeremiah, to make that worse, Jeremiah itself is not in chronological order. So you have to understand these kings, and it's kind of all over the place, right? So I'm going to kind of try to simplify that for you and just give you the overall context of this section of Jeremiah. So it's during this time, like after Jehovah Qin got taken away, right? And then now Zedekiah is in there. So he's in Jerusalem. So there's certain captives that are taken away to Babylon, and then there are others who are allowed to stay right so it's in the midst of this is what's going on. So if you go to Second Chronicles 36 You'll see it just highlights it for you nicely, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to Jerusalem captured it, he bound Jehovah Chem and bronze chains and led him away to Babylon. Nebuchadnezzar also took some of the treasuries from the temple of the Lord and He placed in his palace in Babylon. If we hop over to Second Kings, this is what we see. Second Kings 24 Eight, Jehovah chin was 18 years old when he became king and he reigned in Jerusalem for three months. His mother was Newsted, the daughter of Nathan from Jerusalem, so he had chin did what was evil in the Lord site just as his father had done. During Jehovah Chin's reign, the officers of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up against Jerusalem and besieged it. Then he can answer himself arrived to the city during the siege, then King chick King to Jolla, Qin, along with the queen mother, his advisors, his commanders and his officials surrendered to the Babylonians in the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar his reign, he took giant and prisoner. As the Lord had said beforehand, Nebuchadnezzar carried away all the treasures from the Lord's temple in the royal palace. He stripped away all the gold objects that King Solomon was way back of Israel had placed in the temple, King Nebuchadnezzar took all of Jerusalem capital captive, including all the commanders, and the best of the soldiers, craftsmen, artisans 10,000, until only the poorest people were left in the lamp. Nebuchadnezzar led King Jehoiachin always captured the Babylon along with the queen mother, his wives and officials, and all tourism's elite. He also exiled 7000 of the best troops in 1000 craftsmen and artisans, all of whom were strong and fit for war, see, see what he's doing here, right, they're not going to come and attack again. Then the king of Babylon installed Matteniah, Johoiachin’s Uncle to be the next king, and changed his name to do this twice, right. So from Matt Knight Zedekiah. So that will bring us to Zedekiah Jerusalem in the south, their fault, the final ball right there. So it's very, very horrible. I'll get that to that in a minute. So all these sieges to just depending on the picture in your head, you know, if you're like watching medieval movies, or old movies and things like that, the sieges would happen, and you're trying to hold out for as long as you can. You're going to run out of supplies, and you're going to run out of food. And so sometimes they stop up the water, so you're going to run out of water. So you're dealing with during a siege, like these starvation, not just the war. So it's like a lot of problems, a lot of logistic problems that we take for granted right here, but you know, you're starving to death, right? And you still have to fight and the people might rebel. There's all these different problems going on. So that that's what we're in the midst of now so you can see it clearly. Now, this was all predicted in Jeremiah just let's take a look at that backup a few chapters, Jeremiah 2224, and series as I live, says, The Lord I will abandon you Jehoiakim king of Judah, even if you were the signet ring on my right hand, I would pull you off, I will hand you over to those who seek to kill you, those who so desperately fear to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the mighty Babylon, Babylonian army, I will expel you and your mother from this land, you will die in a foreign country, not in your native land, you will never again return to the land you yearn for. So again, this is in that backdrop. So this is what's happening now. Now you notice the word I will I will in the Lord's talking. He's using Nebuchadnezzar right as His instruments as his tool. Again, it goes back to what I just told you. Why the idol worship, they've rejected God, right. So and this is their punishment. So during that time, interesting, I'm not going to get too much into this, although I want to, you have prophets, one of them's named Hannah nya. And they're like, basically false prosperity prophets going around telling them how it's going to be fine, like in just two years, and I'd say, like, we're going to be good. It's all right now, Jeremiah has been a really faithful Prophet and the offense specked out pretty weird and sometimes disgusting things. But in this scene, Jeremiah has like a yoke like, let's say, like an ox yoke on him, and he's walking around to symbolize this captivity that they're going to be under. And an idea comes along and he breaks it right? And so the Lord sends a message through to say, like, this isn't going to happen, we're good. sends a message to the Lord to say no, right now you've been so again, I, you broken the wooden yoke, and I'm going to replace it with the yoke of iron. So the God, the Lord is going to do this to them. And then he also lives in that he's going to die. It says Prophet dies in like, two months. So you have all this like chaos going on. Again, the Lord is doing this stuff. So this punishment is by the Lord's hand, he's just using these nations to make it all happen. And during the scene, you have like this, push and pull, like against like the rulers there. They don't say this stuff, you know, this isn't really going to happen and the false prophets, there's a lot of chaos going on. So now that brings us that was Jeremiah 20. Now that brings us to Jeremiah 29. And we're not going to start at verse 11. We're going to start at the beginning of the chapter, and take a look at what happened. So now with all this in mind, let's look at Jeremiah 2911. Again, Jeremiah 29. One, Jeremiah wrote a letter from Jerusalem to the elders, priests, prophets, and all the people who had been exiled to Babylon by King together. So it's in in this letter, and is after King Jehovah chin, the Queen Mother and the court officials, the other officials of Judah and all the craftsmen, artisans had been deported from Jerusalem. Now keep in mind, we're reading Jeremiah Wright sounds a lot like second king, so some of the information will overlap a little bit. So he sends this letter to Ellis the son of Shaphan and memorize son of Hilkiah, when they went to Babylon as King Zedekiah as ambassadors to navigate another so they're like going back and forth between the cities. This is what Jeremiah's letter said, This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel says to all the captives, he is exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem, build homes, and plan to stay, plant gardens and eat the food they produce, marry, and have children, then find spouses for them so that you may have many grandchildren multiply, you're not dwindle away, and work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you to exile, pray for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare. This is what the Lord of Heaven's Armies, the God of Israel says, Do not let your profits and fortune tellers who are with you in the land of Babylon trick you do not listen to their dreams because they are telling you lies in my name, I have not sent them says the Lord. This is what the Lord says, you will be in Babylon for 70 years. But then, after the seven years I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, there are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and hope in those days when you pray. In those days, when you pray, I will listen. If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me will be found by you says the Lord, and your captivity and restore your fortunes restore your fortune, I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and bring you home again to your own land. So now let's examine some key contextual details that you probably caught. Just want to highlight right, so what are we dealing with now? So the first thing is, this verse is not about you.
Reading comprehension skills, that's what they're called. versus not about any of us. Right. It's an extremely specific time and context. That's the thing. So I know the plans I have not for you. For those people, right, who are in captivity and will be there for 70 years. Yeah, okay. During that captivity, right? plant gardens during that captivity, marry, right produce children be fruitful, right? You're going to be there for a while, for 70 years right then after that. Then after that, I will restore not your their fortunes. So I will restart after 70 years. I will hear you when you pray. That's what it says go back and read it for yourself if you don't believe me, right? So it's not about you. Now, here's an interesting thing just to ponder. Okay, so this letter arrives and you're one of these exiles? Let's say your seven year eight years old. It's not so some of them either. Think about it. I just pretty far removed from you. It's not even for some of the people hearing or reading the letter because they are going to die before that. 70 years. interesting to think about No, it make things worse, because I'm great at that. So to make things worse, if you're laughing because you know it If you're done with the book of Jeremiah ends with the siege of Jerusalem, chapter 52, and you get to lamentations and like categorically, Lamentations seems to be a little disjointed, because you think like for a minute, it's poetry. So it's like sorrowful songs. Just think of them as like sorrowful songs, make it simple. And you'll need these should be like near the Psalms or something like that. It's right after Jeremiah, because these are songs about what just happened. So just view them like as these like, some type of amends for everything and just have like five chapters. It's kind of crazy. So let's just take a look at lamentations with that in mind. So when you read limitations, you must if you want to get it right, have what I just told you in your brain, and then you'll get limitations right? limitations. One Jerusalem, once so full of people is now deserted. She calls it often like these places are called like a sheet. She who was once great among the nations now sits alone like a widow. Once the queen of all the earth, she is now a slave and it continues. So she has defiled herself with immorality. So they'll often like depict these things. You played the harlot against God. And so that's what's going on this comparison being made here, right? So the enemy's plunder, taking everything down. Even the foreigners allowed to invade the temple. It's just terrible limitations. 111 her people grown as they search for bread. Remember, I told you about the starvation? They have sold their treasures for food to stay alive? Oh, Lord, look, she mourns. And see how I'm despised, sent me nothing to you. All you pass by rates that she's being scored and things like that. Look around and see if there's any suffering, like mine, which the Lord brought on me when he erupted in his fierce anger, we must remember that. So the Lord is punishing them. That's another thing about the verse here, right? So people are applying and they're like, Yeah, Lord is going to give me know, the Lord can also punish you. We're looking at that in a minute. That's to say, Yes, I said that. So there's that fear of the Lord where he was supposed to have. So limitations to one, the Lord and His anger. The Lord has cast a dark shadow over beautiful Jerusalem, the fairest of Israel cities lies in the dust thrown down from the heights of heaven. In his day of great anger, the Lord has shown no mercy, even to his temple, putting things in perspective. So the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar in this particular case as a tool to punish them. We must think of this when we read Jeremiah 2911. So not a prosperity verse. And here's the thing. It's so bad that limitations for nine those killed by the sword are better off than those who die of hunger, starting the waste away for lack of food from the fields, tender hearted women have cooked their own children. They have eaten them to survive the siege. I wrote everything with a joke. And so you will not see this as the verse of the day. Most likely, right? Yeah. I mean, like, it's not funny, but that is so. Okay. Yes. I think this is crazy. Are we seeing how off this versus right now the way it's used? This is crazy. And that's not the only place it's talked about. If you go to Deuteronomy 28. The Prophet Moses was told this by the Lord, criminals blessing I have somebody sent me once. They're like, God always blesses us just like that. And they did a little dance when they sent it. God always blesses us. Right. You know, I read Deuteronomy 28. And I was like, there's no that look I talked about in the record scratch I'm like, so be like, getting a prosperity verse out of lamentation, somebody will do it. Right. So it's like, Uh huh. Do you see the title of the book? But you know, like, we always get a bunch this I'm like, because here's the thing. It's like eval and garrison. And so it's predictive blessings and curses that they're giving like Josh was going to perform later, after Moses dies. And if you read it from Deuteronomy 27, or 28, you'll notice something. Yeah, there's a lot more curses and blessings. Because the Lord tells Moses, this is what the people are going to do. They're going to abandon your Lord and so they're going to get cursed. And within that, they're going to do all kinds of horrible things like the siege, and the women aren't even going to share the afterbirth with their families that they're eating.
It's horrific. It's really,
really bad so that you understand it. Again, limitations for 16 the Lord Himself has scattered them, and he no longer helps them. People show no respect to the priests and no longer honor the leaders. So these are the plans that are being talked about in Jeremiah 29. Yeah, and so when people come at me with these verses, and I'm like, that's why the stinkface right, because, like, really, like, you know, and I want to say terrible things. I usually don't. So this is the meaning of the verse, right? So when we use this, here's one thing that happens. I'm trying not to go off on a tear, but like, you see this and it was all what's the big deal? Pastor? Well, it was a very, very big deal. Because here's what happens. Right? So when you go around telling people, I see people do this, you're going to prosper all the time you get to prosper. I've seen people like in some pretty bad positions, and then these guys will run up and be like, I know, the Lord has plans for you, for us credit printing all this stuff, right? And then, so maybe the person believes it. Maybe they believe it. Maybe it happens in church, and maybe all the people they believe in. But what happens if you're a human being in this wicked world?
That's Earth, right? So
something bad will happen to you, I can, I can promise you that. At least this, you are all going to die. Is anyone surprised by that, but Christians walk around acting like they're surprised. They're going to damage what I've warned you about that too. And all these other shootings that are in there, it's going to happen. So when that person is, and let's call this what it is, in the church community,
a lie.
A lie when the person was lied to? Well, they feel the same way when they're lied to in any other right? So they quit. They're like, this. Christianity doesn't work. Because what they promised me did not happen. And they fall away from the faith. So then someone like me comes along. And I'm like it just like that. And that's how I run up to people who don't believe it works. Right, like disarming. Anyway, I'm trying to make this as easy as possible. You know, but then they're like, No, you know, I don't want that Christianity stuff. It's garbage. It doesn't work. Exactly what happens. It makes my job of evangelism, even harder than it already is. People fall away from the faith deprives them of what their salvation, the most important thing that we can have. It's a serious problem. Not to mention the word of God says the truth matters. There's that and that really shouldn't be it right, drop the mic walk away, it should be enough. truth matters. And we saw the beginning of the series, what happens to those who twist and misrepresent God's word?
It's bad. It's a horrible sin
with really bad consequences, especially for teachers. told one, don't be a teacher, James three, right? As teachers, those who teach will be judged more strictly. Right. So this is what happens. So if applying these verses to are short sighted luxuries, driving the people away from the face, lying about God, if that wasn't enough of a problem, here's another problem. The use of this verse is ignorance. It shows that you are ignorant you if you use the verse, yes. Or maybe you were but now you're not right. It shows that your ignorance, when people say this to me, I'm like, they have no idea. Anything about God's word at all, tells me everything I need to know. Wow, just read your Bible, man. Because you're a long way off. It's horrible. So there you go. It's self exposing. They're completely mishandling of God's word shows that they have no knowledge of the Bible. But here's the other thing. It's insensitive. It's insensitive. Now, these, to me, God's word is timeless. It's timeless. But to some, maybe it's not important to some people. And so it's like, easy just to kind of fictionalize maybe they don't believe it, I believe it. Maybe they don't believe it, right. So I am forced to bring this into a modern day context, because of that. So it would be like someone watching a movie about the Holocaust, or not watching it, and then grabbing a line from that movie, and then making like a prosperity claim over a line in a holocaust movie about your simple comforts and luxuries.
insensitive. It's insensitive. So it's ignorant and insensitive. That's the big deal. So a problem. Now,
I want to be clear here about something because I think a lot of churches really ignore this and they missed the mark here. So just the overlying thing here is that to be clear, on the subject of truly prospering. There is no true eternal prosperity in anything else except Jesus Christ.
That's it. You will
lose everything here. Everything you own here, you sell, it's going to be somebody else's house after you somebody else's watch after your car's not going to make it that long, you know. So other things is again another job. So if you understand what I'm saying, you grasp this, right? We should remember your jewelry, somebody else will be wearing it back on again, unless it's cubic zirconia. Right? Nobody wants it. The one they're like. So anyway, you get my point. Right? So the true prosperity that we're looking for is in Jesus Christ.
Periods. That's it? No, but no,
that's it. Regardless of our circumstances. We'll talk about that. Alright, so sometimes God allows this type of suffering so that we come back to him, right? Because God doesn't see things the way we see things, right. So this to him is like, you know, okay, I get it, guys. But it's eternity with me that really matters. Attorneys forever this is that long as you get older, you probably know that you're like, oh, my gosh, it's Friday again, like, it's Christmas again. It's going right, it's run out on us quick. And to God really gets that, like, if it takes us, you know, 50 to 80 years to get there. God gets it before you got it. And he knows that the eternal life is way more important. So a little suffering. Okay, if that gets in with Him for eternity, there will be in this is the point there will be eternal sufferings for those who reject Jesus. Worse than anything you can imagine here.
It will not stop.
So, like a deathless suffering, just knowing that this is why this is important, right? So my mind goes to examples like in the New Testament very quickly, like First Corinthians five, where there's guys sitting in the church. And the real big problem that Paul's hammering down is that other people may emulate the type of sin this guy's doing. And so it's like, gives an analogy like one bad apple, right? So one little bit 11, spoils a whole bunch of me accuses them of being prideful, so he kicks the guy to the trip for that reason, don't worry. So if you're spoiling other apples, yeah, we've done that too. We can happen. So, anyway, kicks him out of the church. But he makes an interesting statement, I handed him over to Satan. Right? The point is, so that he might hit a bottom and figure it out in this life so that he can be eternally saved. Think about the prodigal son. A lot of us know that story. But there are details we don't often think about within that story. What happens? Well, the son, right, he's very greedy. So he asked for his inheritance upfront, and then goes and squanders it. So that's another story begins, note the Father, let him go. You must remember that right? The Father, let them go. And then he came back repentant, Lee, Oh, father, I've sinned against heaven. And you I'm not even worthy to be your son. Please take me as your slave says it twice. Alright, so important to remember what the Father do? Well, clearly, he was starving, he wasn't even allowed to eat the pig food, the carob pods, right? So you hit a bottom, came back to the Father. And that's another point. In that illustration. People usually don't get that one. But that's an important one, the father will let you go, the father will sometimes cause suffering. I will read this from the text so that you come back, and so that it strengthens here, we'll look at that. So sometimes he allows it. So it's Jesus or nothing else matters. And so I just want you to note something to this is how Jesus laments for these people, obviously later, but it's the same people doing the same stuff over and over again, Matthew 2337. This is Jesus or Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones, God's messengers, how often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, you wouldn't let me and now look, your house is abandoned and desolate. For I tell you this, you will never see me again until you say blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord. You will never see me again. Unless you accept me as your King, your Messiah, the Lord. That's it. Jesus drops the mic.
That's the crux of it right here. And that's the important part.
It's important to remember that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is the same Lord and God He is the Word who existed from the beginning. And it is his hand that was stretched out over these people. Don't forget that one Bible all together. So it should be our prayers. Well, now, I want to take you and those of you been church for awhile know I'm going here. And I just want to kind of bring this in and bring it together for hits Romans, we go to the book of Romans. And the reason for writing Romans is and this is really important understand as you read Romans is that there are it's a Jewish phase in the beginning, Jesus, the Apostles, they're Jewish, right? So it comes from these people, right? But then they figure out, oh, it's going to go out to non Jewish people, the Gentiles like people like me to everyone, right? So they're going to be this blessing to all of them. And so it takes them a little while to figure out and so there's a lot of kind of like strife in these communities. So you have these Jewish believers, who had the laws still struggling with that they're doing it traditionally. But they have the all these things if you read the law of Moses, very complicated, so they live these very devout and strict lives and things like that. You know, the Gentiles they have their pagan gods on so it's a lot of this right? And so Paul writes to this community who is in disunity, so he starts off by saying, yeah, the Gentiles have said, they should have recognized God by nature, and make it simple, right? Chapter Two you do is it's almost like he's turning to them, like the Gentiles are here that you're Jews, you've sinned to know so much teach yourself, right? Chapter Three, we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That's why he levels the playing field like that, for an example of Abraham's faith. Why? Because what the Jewish people like we got the law, we got the one he's like, No, you're not saved by that. Right? So Abraham, right, he's made righteous by his faith, right? So he gives that example, there, five through seven, Adam and Christ, contrast it right. So Jesus, getting the Jesus, this is what you really need to superior. And then you get to chapter eight, a new life in the Spirit, and nine through 11 is really interesting and often decontextualized. The real context, right is not about making church, a country club, there's a lot of churches do Romans nine through 11. It's not about that. It's like, and this is the real problem, if everyone would just hear Paul's heart, if everyone just pray before they read their Bibles. And if everyone would just read the Bible, when we just read, they would understand what Paul's doing here. He is, like, his heart is just bleeding for his people. Because he understands and he uses hyperbole. He says, Oh, I'd rather be a curse separated from Christ. So these people can be saved. He doesn't mean that because there's nothing more important to Paul and Jesus. Right? But why is he saying this? Because he knows the fate of his fellow kinsmen. He's Israelites who have rejected Jesus, he knows what's going to happen. Right? And so he's like, I'm sure there's a way these people are getting in here to hear Paul's heart here, right. And a terrible irony with these chapters is that you have all these very country club ish type of Christians. Well, this is about, you know, Calvinism, right. You know, because that's what God was thinking about. He's singing about Calvin when he wrote the
Bible, right? No, no,
this is like a heartfelt lament a plea. This is Paul, like, again, like crying for his people. That's what this is. It's about the exact opposite, that people make it about. It's about Paul, think about it. Right? I'm getting in. Nobody else is one is like, it's crazy, right? You make it about that. But in reality, these three chapters are about Paul hoping that he everybody gets in. Think about it, the context is the exact opposite. So I just questioned the hearts of those who interpreted that way. So this is what you have in there. But in this, if we jump back a little bit, we see a verse that's used similarly to Jeremiah 2911. With this in mind, Romans 828. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them to stop. That's interesting, right? So everything, like the way Oh, but I'm working according to His purpose, right? So the uses again, all of you just work according to God's purposes high enough or something like that, you know, it's all going to be good. Okay, so let's just do what we did with Jeremiah 29. Right? Well, let's just look at the chapter again at the very beginning. So when he talks about as receiving God's Spirit, when he adopted you as his own children, that's you that's all of us. So if you're in Christ, Jesus, you are a child of God. This is where this kind of idea comes from. Right now you say of a father, Romans 816, for his spirit joins with our spirits who affirm that we are God's children, and since we are His children, we are His heirs. In fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we share His glory, we must also share his suffering. Yet Well, we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory He will reveal to us later did you catch the perspective for all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are? against its will all creation was subjected to God's curse, but with eager hope the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God's children in glorious freedom from death and decay later, For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. And we believers also grown even though we have the Holy Spirit within us, as a foretaste of future glory. For we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering, we to wait with your hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as adopted children, including the new bodies, he has promised us. That's what we're hoping for. We were given this hope when we were saved. If we already have something, we don't need the hope for it. But if we will look forward to something we don't yet have, we must patiently wait. Patiently, uncomfortably wait. And Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we all know what God wants us to pray for. But the holy spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the father knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, because the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God's own will. And we know that God causes everything to work to get together for the good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them. There's the verse, but did you catch what it said before that? If we're heirs, we share in that we have to share in His suffering. There's your context. Now, if you didn't get that, let's read towards the end of the chapter, Romans 835. Can anything ever separate us from Christ's love? Doesn't mean he no longer loves of us if we have trouble or calamity, or persecuted or hungry or destitute, that means poor or in danger, or threatened with death? As a Scripture say, for your sake, we are killed every day, we are being slaughtered like sheep. No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ who loved us
that you get it now. All right.
It's book ended the same way and that poverty is the lack of wealth as Christ not love you if you're poor, hungry? No. Because what's the we're looking forward to the future kingdom? Correct. All right now? Well, you might not recognize there he was quoting Psalm 44. And this gets really interesting. So just really quick for you. It's the same type of circumstance as Jeremiah 29. It's kind of like that. So it's like a lament in here in the Psalms. And it's either during the fall of it depends where you're talking to Israel, or Jerusalem. So it could be during this very time, but it's the same situation nonetheless. And if you read the verse as Paul's drawing from, he's drawing from what let's say Jerusalem, Dean sieged, the same exact situation that Jeremiah is talking about, read this, Psalm 40 480. God, we give glory to you all day long. And then we constantly praise your name salah. But now you have tossed us aside and dishonor. You no longer lead armies in the battle. You make us retreat from our enemies and allow those who hate us to plunder our land. You have butchered notice the You, Lord, you have butchered us like sheep and scattered us among the nations. But for your sake, we are killed every day. Let cons concept to many people think about Christianity. For your sake, we are killed every day we are being slaughtered like sheep. Wake up. Oh, Lord. So there's the plague. It's in there while you sleep get up, do not reject us forever. Why do you look the other way? Why do we ignore our suffering and impression? This is what Paul has in mind when he's writing those verses. So Paul has this Aegis in mind here. And it all comes together and then immediately after he does what? He pleads for his people. Does it make sense now?
If so, so. Yet, still,
people get these concepts. I don't know if you've heard this one, too. God won't give you more than you can handle. Here hear that? And they pull it out of First Corinthians 10. And actually, interestingly, the subject there, the context is sin. He'll give you a way to escape your sin that's repulse talking about, like why you won't give me more than I can handle. Okay, all right. All right. But we've read what Paul and Timothy went through that fears within, right if we read Second Corinthians one, eight, this is Paul talking about him and Timothy, we think you ought to know your brothers and sisters about the trouble we went through in the province of Asia. So they're like missionaries are traveling around. We were crushed and overwhelmed beyond our ability to endure. And we thought we would never live there. We thought we're going to die, and I could be expected to die. But as a result, we stopped relying ourselves and learn to rely on God who raises that they weren't God to give you more than you can handle, they want him to die. This is all for Jesus, for your sake. We're being slaughtered all day long.
They understood this.
So here's the thing. Question arises. Why does God allow suffering? For your sake, what does that mean? Well, look at can we go back one and look at the verse again. Notice what the verse says, look at the previous scripture, See, but we learned right so we thought we're going to die. Well, we learned to stop like we stopped relying on ourselves. And we learned to rely on God.
How many of us are relying on ourselves for everything many of us are doing that we do when we do that. We make ourselves Gods idolatry. You learn to just we really stop relying ourselves, we learn to rely on God. This is one point of suffering, no better way to bring a person to their knees, and a little suffering if needed.
It turns us to God gives us that much needed reminder. If we go back to Romans, if someone had read before that Romans eight, right, so you read Romans 5151. Therefore, since we have been made right in God's sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith. Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where now we stand, can we confidently joyfully look forward to sharing God's glory look where he's looking forward, we can rejoice too. When we run into problems and trials and tribulations. We can rejoice too we run into tribulation trials, For we know that they help us develop endurance, and endurance develop strength of character and character strengthens our confident hope and salvation. And this hope will not lead to disappointment, for we know how dearly God loves us, because He has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with His love. Sufferings bring us closer to God. Sufferings help us develop endurance, sufferings, help us develop character.
And in this way, they give us hope, in the right thing, hoping the right thing, sometimes our hope is in the wrong thing. And God will take that wrong thing away from you if he loves you.
Remember that? If you have kids, it's like when your kids spoiled. Take it away, right? This is what happens when we act like spoiled children. So that we received the Holy Spirit when he adopted us as His own children, Romans 816, for his spirit, joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children, what affirms that we are God's children, the Holy Spirit, and since we are His children, we are His heirs. And in fact, together with Christ, we are heirs of God's glory. But if we are to share His glory, we must also share his suffering.
That's just reality. So there's this all throughout the Bible.
There's this concept that we are like gods. He's a father, right? So our Father, we pray to the Father, Jesus talks about the father all the time, and then we're His children. And so it's a concept that goes all throughout the Bible. And I just want to, as I draw to a close today, bring your attention to Hebrews 12 is so important. So most people hang on Hebrews 11. That's the people of faith. So after you get through all the people of faith, the author preacher of Hebrews gets to this, Hebrews 12 One Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance. There's that word the race God has set before us. We do this how? By keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith, because of the joy awaiting him. He endured the cross disregarding its shame, now he is seated in the place of honor besides God's throne, just think to see the perspective he's setting up here. Right, because the glory waiting because of the glory waiting us we endure suffering, like Jesus did. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people, then you won't become weary and give up. He's our inspiration or motivation. After all, you have not yet given your lives and your struggle against sin. And have you forgotten the encouraging words God spoke to his children. He said, My child, don't make light of Lord's discipline, don't give up when he corrects you. For the Lord disciplines those he loves. And he punishes scourges in the Greek. Each one he accepts as His child as you endure this divine discipline. What does divine discipline look like? We just saw, remember that God is treating you as his own children who ever heard of a child who was never disciplined by his father? Read some rhetoric there. Perhaps I've seen it. And we know what happens to undisciplined children. If God doesn't discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate. And you're not really his children at all. Since we respected our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we submit even more to the discipline of the Father of our spirits and live forever? What's the goal? I'll live forever. For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years during doing the best. They know how. But God's discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in His holiness. No discipline is enjoyable while it's happening, it's painful. But afterwards, there will be a peaceful harvest of right living. For those who are trained in this way, here is the godly perspective. This is the truth. These are not the verses of the day, I get it. But it's the rest of God's word. It's very important. And if you understand this, the fine print, you understand, you can live at peace with it. The Lord knows that sufferings refine us. Sufferings discipline us, He doesn't want us running around like a bunch of spoiled children. That's not the way God's children behave. We don't what does it say? Well, Sharon, His Holiness, Holly has to be set apart, set apart from God, set apart from the world set apart from sin, the righteous and holy, trying to be like Jesus are example. That's what it's for, there'll be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. Suffering also gives us perspective. It trains us in this way, this eternal perspective. And I want to close with some verses here. Because again, the Lord knows that this life is not. That's not the focus, we can have some fun clearly along the way. We'll talk about that. You'll hear about that, and the announcements that we're going to get together and have some fun, right? We do it every Sunday after church. We like the jokes, right? So I kind of liken it to waiting in line, though, you can kind of have fun with a line, but eventually, you know, you got to get on the ride, right? So it's okay. And that's really what we're looking forward to. But a lot of Christians are not they have it backwards. I think this is like the lie, is not it. We're looking forward to something better than any of this. Even the best stuff we have. We're looking forward to something better than all the best stuff. So we can enjoy it. We can have fun. I tell jokes, right? And then I'd like fun for you, I understand. But you get it right. And so we can enjoy things. It's not to be depressing, it's to rightly align ourselves with perspective. So I want to give you a perspective, this morning from the scriptures. So just remember, there are no chapter breaks in the originals, so it doesn't exist. So I'm just going to read straight there Second Corinthians 417. For our present troubles are small and won't last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them, and will last forever. So we don't look at the troubles we can see now. Rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen, for the things we see now will soon be gone. But the things we cannot see will last forever, no chapter break for we know that when this earthly tent we live in is taken down, that is when we die and leave this earthly body, we will have a house in heaven and eternal body made for us by God himself and not by human hands. We grow weary in our present bodies, and we only put on our heavenly bodies, like new clothing, for will put on heavenly bodies are going to be spirits without bodies. We will live in these earthly bodies while we live in these earthly bodies we grown inside. But it's not that we want to die and get rid of these bodies of clothes, it's rather we want to put on our new body so that these dying bodies will be swallowed up by life. That is eternal life.
God Himself has prepared us for this, as a guarantee he has given us His Holy Spirit. There it is the comforter. That's what he does. God prepares us for this. This is the very definition of faith. The very definition of faith is the hope and things we cannot see. This is how the faithful believe this is the perspective of the faithful.
This is what we must hang on to in our sufferings in our trials. And whatever it is, you're going, everybody's going through something we pretend like we're not everyone's going through something. So whatever that something is for you. This is the best encouragement that I can give you. It gets no better than God's word, no better than people try.
But this is where I quit. God's word is where you need to get your encouragement from, not me, or anybody else. So remember these chapters. I'll send them to you if you want. look to them for your hope looked at them for your encouragement. And I hope that they were encouraging for you today. This morning as you go through life and they build you up. I pray for you, Lord. Thank you for everyone who came And for that, to hear Your word. Faithfully hear your words I pray that you fill them with your Holy Spirit and build them up this week. So that you can build that endurance or strength of character represent you well as your children are we love you we thank you these things Jesus name we pray