May 1st - The Attributes of God

Prayer Requests

Summit Sanctification

Whoever’s Preaching

Marietta Square Preaching

Tornado Results, Esp. in White

Pollock Car Accident

Grant and Greyson Football Starting

Cassandra's Broken Arm

Text – Nehemiah 9

This morning we're going to look at an absolutely amazing chapter in the Bible. In chapter 9 of Nehemiah we're coming out of chapter 8. What major events have just taken place in chapter 8? What major project has just been completed? They completed the walls and set the doors. What has made the people more attentive to the law of God? The reading of the Law. Which book was this? Deuteronomy. What was the response to the reading of the Law? Mourning. They weren't supposed to mourn because this was during a festival, the Feast of Tabernacles, why weren't they supposed to mourn? Because this festival pointed towards their salvation; how does it point towards Jesus? Because he came as God in the flesh to dwell with and in us forever.

As we come into chapter 9, the feast of Tabernacles is over and the people are in full mourning over their sin. In this chapter they go over a general history of Israel, and we'll see that the character of God is beautifully displayed in this list. So let's get started. We're going to move pretty quickly through this, hopefully, so we won't stop to look at the minor details, because we want to see this chapter as a whole and not just a collection of verses.

Nehemiah 9:1-5 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the LORD their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the LORD their God. On the stairs of the Levites stood Jeshua, Bani, Kadmiel, Shebaniah, Bunni, Sherebiah, Bani, and Chenani; and they cried with a loud voice to the LORD their God. Then the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabneiah, Sherebiah, Hodiah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said, "Stand up and bless the LORD your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise.

We see a continued effort of repentance and knowing God's Law. Why is it so important to know the Bible? Because here-in God has revealed himself to us. There is a massive movement today with people saying that God is too mysterious for man to know, that our finite minds can never understand an infinite God, but that utterly misses the fact that he has chosen to reveal himself through a book which he has perfectly preserved for millennia. The first thing we see is that God is worthy to be praised, that is the hermeneutic of this passage, or the way in which they are reading the Bible. This makes the point that everything God does is right, that his plans and purposes are perfect. The second important point is the beginning of verse 6.

Nehemiah 9:6 You are the LORD, you alone.

This is an identification that God is One, he is God and there is no other. It is an affirmation of what is called the "Shema", which is found in Deuteronomy 6. We're not going to read many other verses today, but let's be sure to read that one.

Deuteronomy 6:4-6 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

Next we'll see that God is Creator and creative:

Nehemiah 9:6 You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

This is a reminder how powerful God is, that he created everything there is with the power of his Word. Not just that he created something massive, and the universe is bigger than we can even measure, but also that the minute details are incredible. The universe is intricately interesting from the biggest galaxy to the tiniest cell; and it may go much bigger and smaller than we can see. The level of diversity is also incredible, no two stars are exactly alike, no two people are exactly alike, and no two snowflakes are exactly alike. God shows both his power and creativity in creation. I really like that it mentions the "seas and all that is in them" because this has really blossomed for us in the past half century or so as we are able to record and see what is in the seas. Some of the creatures I've seen look made up, but are real, living, amazing creations of God. See the website, I've included a link: http://www.godofwondersvideo.org/chapter12.htm

We'll come back to this verse in a bit to support another point, but let's move to God's sovereignty over man in election:

Nehemiah 9:7-8 You are the LORD, the God who chose Abram and brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and gave him the name Abraham. You found his heart faithful before you, and made with him the covenant to give to his offspring the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite. And you have kept your promise, for you are righteous.

God chose to take a man and his barren wife to make a people who would be in the spotlight of his grace for the next 1700 years, through whom the blessing of Christ would come to all people groups. God promised them the land of Israel, even when it was populated by many other wicked people, it seemed impossible, but because God is righteous, he kept his promise, and the people at this exact moment in Nehemiah 9 were living that promise fulfilled.

Here we see that God interacts with mankind, he is not a "deistic deity" which means he created the universe and then left it alone. This is seen prominently in verse 9, where God is involved and is a God of miracles:

Nehemiah 9:9-10 And you saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt and heard their cry at the Red Sea, and performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh and all his servants and all the people of his land, for you knew that they acted arrogantly against our fathers. And you made a name for yourself, as it is to this day.

Next we'll see that God is selective, and also able to avenge his people.

Nehemiah 9:11 And you divided the sea before them, so that they went through the midst of the sea on dry land, and you cast their pursuers into the depths, as a stone into mighty waters.

After the Israelites fled through the Red Sea, it opened up for God to do many other things. He led them:

Nehemiah 9:12 By a pillar of cloud you led them in the day, and by a pillar of fire in the night to light for them the way in which they should go.

God gave them light in the darkness, and led them where they should go. Besides a physical leading, God is able to communicate himself and his laws morally:

Nehemiah 9:13 You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven and gave them right rules and true laws, good statutes and commandments,

This law is not burdensome, it points to the coming Messiah, it shows us why God is God and we are not. It opens up the opportunity for God to be both our Creator and our Saviour. Most directly, it gives us a definitive moral law to discern right from wrong.

Contained in that Law is the Sabbath, which is directly concerned with mankind resting for the glory of God, especially now where we rest in Jesus Christ, and it shows that God is attentive to the welfare of his people.

Nehemiah 9:14 and you made known to them your holy Sabbath and commanded them commandments and statutes and a law by Moses your servant.

Let's read another verse:

Mark 2:27-28 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Next we see that God is sustainer:

Nehemiah 9:15 You gave them bread from heaven for their hunger and brought water for them out of the rock for their thirst, and you told them to go in to possess the land that you had sworn to give them.

If you jump back to verse 6 you see that God is preserving all of his creation, in the New Testament it says Christ holds it together by the power of his Word. I wasn't going to, but we have to read that one!

Hebrews 1:3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

We pray, "Give us this day our daily bread," and God always does, he could easily cut this planet off from sustenance just by causing it to stop raining, or for the crops to stop growing, and the Bible promises before it is all over, a famine so great will strike the world that a loaf of bread will cost over a $100. But through history until now, God has been sustaining his people.

But his people were not grateful, yet God is patient.

Nehemiah 9:16-17 But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them.

We've got several other attributes in there, don't we, merciful, gracious, forgiving, and full of love. It was almost as though the Israelites in the Sinai desert were trying to prove that God is rich in mercy:

Nehemiah 9:18-19 Even when they had made for themselves a golden calf and said, 'This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,' and had committed great blasphemies, you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go.

Here and in the next verse we see that God's grace is not contingent on men doing anything, in fact, if it was, then it wouldn't be grace. God continued to give them good things, even though they utterly rebelled. This went on for 40 years. Another attribute we'll see in this passage is that God also gave his Spirit to instruct.

Nehemiah 9:20-21 You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

After these 40 years, God proved himself to be faithful to his promises by giving them the land he had promised. Not only did he give them the land and multiply them, but it was already prepared for them to move right in. God plans things in advance, he has foreknowledge and the power to make it happen. He sees the end and the beginning, and he is working all things for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

Nehemiah 9:22-25 And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.

Right at the end of this passage we have another attribute of God, that he is good, which means perfect and complete, there is no darkness in him, he is the standard and highest measure of good. This is intensified by how mankind constantly reacts to him, even his own people. God does not abandon his people, but he also does not let them continue towards their destruction. Let's read another New Testament verse,

Revelation 3:19 Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.

God is a correcting God.

Nehemiah 9:26-27 Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer.

God's punishment is correctional not punitive towards his people. He is also saviour.

Nehemiah 9:27-31 And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.

At this point it gets a little tedious, God is good and his people rebel, over and over and over again. This is a great look at the fact that we cannot obey God on our own, but that we need an intercessor, we need someone to bear our sins for us, and someone to guide us. God has provided both for us in Jesus Christ and in the Holy Spirit. The Old Covenant was good, but God was making a definitive statement that it was not perfect and that the New is so much better than the Old. We are thereby warned by God to not fall back from his Son, and we also see that God sends prophets who proclaim his message.

All of this points us at the fact that when sin increases, grace abounds all the more. Therefore the Apostle Paul asks, "Should we then sin all the more so that grace abounds further?" No, this leads back to our very first point, that God is worthy to be praised. His faithfulness leads us to something else, let's read Romans 2:4:

Romans 2:4 Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

This is precisely where the Israelites in Nehemiah 9 go, let's read about their awesome repentance:

Nehemiah 9:32-38 Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress. "Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing; on the sealed document are the names of our princes, our Levites, and our priests.

We'll look at this covenant next week, but the main point is that the attributes of God led these people to strive for holiness, not to sin all the more so that God's patience and kindness and admonishing would be magnified. We long to be perfect as our Father in Heaven is perfect, to be so perfectly sanctified that we neither want to sin, and do not sin. This is, of course, impossible apart from the perfect work of God in us which he has accomplished through his Son who is the embodiment of all of God's attributes, an instructor to the foolish, a light in the darkness, the only God, gracious, merciful, patient, and the Saviour of all who believe. We know that when he appears, we will be like him, for we have such a great and lasting promise of God's faithfulness. He has been faithful with others, we trust he will be faithful with us, he has been faithful in the past, so we can trust that he will be faithful forever. Let's close with Philippians 1:6.

Philippians 1:6 I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

July 11th - Conclusion to Second Peter

Prayer Requests
Summit
Swift Cantrel Witnessing

Lake Acworth Witnessing
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Lucas in Indonesia
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Nelly's Family

Text –2 Peter 3:14-18

Here we arrive at the end of this glorious epistle. Before now I have refrained from telling you that some “scholars” believe Peter didn’t actually write this letter and they think it shouldn’t be in the Bible. The reasons for this are dumb and not worth mentioning, but now that we’ve spent several weeks on this epistle, I hope that you see that it is ingeniously written and is certainly written by God through Peter. If you have any doubt at all, the way in which Peter wraps this epistle up is so well written and powerful that it so thoroughly points to scriptural truths that it has to be scripture.

One of my facebook friends posted an awesome quote this week which said, “Man could not write a book like the Bible, but if man could write a book like the Bible, he wouldn’t write a book like the Bible.” The rhetorical, eternal, and grammatical truths which Peter shares in his short 61 verses are utterly amazing and they point so thoroughly to divine authorship that I am quite tempted to say Second Peter is my favorite book of the Bible.

What event was happening in Peter’s life that caused him to write this letter? He was awaiting execution under Nero. So knowing he is not long for this world, what does he tell us about? What would you tell someone if you were dying next week? Would you talk about movies you’ve seen or what you’re going to have for lunch, or would you make it count? Peter makes it count, what are the four major things he wants us to know?

1. How to be sure you’re saved.
2. The Bible is the sole authority in our faith and practice
3. False teachers will teach apart from the Bible
4. Christ will win and we will partake in his victory

These four things come together BEAUTIFULLY in Peter’s closing, it is a masterful bit of writing. Let’s read 2 Peter 1:1-3:13 though since this is the conclusion to the letter, and the passage we’re looking at starts with “therefore”, which points back to the whole letter, not just the last couple of sentences. This is just like Paul’s therefore in Romans 12:1, he’s not saying, “Therefore, from chapter 11,” he’s saying, “Therefore from everything that precedes.” Here is Peter doing the same thing. (2 Peter 1-3) So now let’s read the conclusion,

2 Peter 3:14-18 Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by him without spot or blemish, and at peace. And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability. But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

So Peter is going to make 4 major points in his conclusion, the same major points he’s made already in the letter. First of all we want to make sure we’re a Christian; how do we do that? Is it by praying a prayer or signing a card or dating the front page of our Bible? No, it is by growing in grace, by seeing fruit added to our faith. The way we know we are saved is that we are diligent in our waiting for Christ, growing in sanctification, grace, and knowledge. If we are growing in these things, we know we have faith in Christ, and this faith is a result of the grace by which we are saved.

Next is what? Read your Bible. Peter puts it AWESOMELY,

v.15 And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him…

First of all, which verse is he quoting? There is a huge debate on this, but I guarantee you it is,

Romans 2:4 Do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?

Why doesn’t Peter say, “In Romans 2:4”? Because our chapter/verse break-ups weren’t added until AD 1558, they are not scripture and they are not inspired, so we need to read complete thoughts and not verses. The Bible is not a collection of Bible verses; it is a collection of coherent thoughts all pointing at revealing one thing: Christ.

But check this out! Peter just called Paul’s writings scripture! This is the standard way of referencing a verse before the chapter/verse beak-ups.

Romans 15:12 And again Isaiah says, "The root of Jesse will come, even he who arises to rule the Gentiles; in him will the Gentiles hope."

Our Bible was pretty well complete by the end of the First Century, but there are rumors that the Bible wasn’t put together until the Council of Carthage in 397, but that is only when it was declared official…it had been together since the First Century, even as early as the late 60’s (save for John’s Epistles and Gospel which hadn’t been written yet).

Is Peter only saying that one of Paul’s verses was scripture, or the whole collection?

v.16 as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters.

Do you think Paul read this letter and was shocked that Peter was calling his writing scripture? Not in the least. Last year we went through First Thessalonians, do you remember what was special about that Epistle concerning scripture? It is the only New Testament book that doesn’t quote the Old Testament a single time. There is one major reason for that, that this church was heavily persecuted and all of the Jewish believers had either been killed or run out of town. In this, the Old Testament scrolls were either unobtainable or unreadable…so what does Paul say in that Epistle?

1 Thessalonians 5:27 I put you under oath before the Lord to have this letter read to all the brothers.

Paul knew as early as AD51 that he was writing scripture, since the standard practice was to read the scriptures in the synagogue/church. I wonder what it was like for him to be writing things like this. He wouldn’t be able to make a mistake or erase anything, and the words would have flowed out of his pen.

2 Peter 1:21 …men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Carried along by the Holy Spirit, like if you went swimming in a swift moving river, you’re going to end up where that river wants you to end up. But despite the truth of Paul’s writing, there is another force working in this, men who want to misinterpret this Word.

2 Peter 1:20 no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation.

Before we look at the next verse I need to preface it with an illustration. Would anyone in this class like to be taller? Ok, here’s what I want you to do, lay on this coffee table and I’m going to pull on your feet and someone else is going to pull on your hands and we’re going to stretch you out to be taller. What sort of effect is this going to have? At best no effect, and at worst we might break you. Look at what false teachers are doing to the Bible!

v.16 There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures.

The word for twist is torture, or stretch, it’s trying to make someone taller by pulling on their hands and feet, it’s not an effective way to change a person or the Bible! Who is in danger if we try to stretch you? You are. But look at who is in danger if they torture the Bible to make it say things it doesn’t? It is their own destruction. Peter is pretty harsh again in his description of false teachers, before he called them dogs and pigs, waterless springs, blots and blemishes, terrible sinners, and reprobate for Hell. We saw in chapter 3 that many of these people would claim to be smart, but here Peter calls them ignorant and unstable. The word for ignorant, or unlearned, is purposefully meant to contrast the believer, who adds knowledge to their faith through learning, where-as the false teacher has no faith and does not have knowledge of God. Peter is not alone in being harsh, Paul says,

Romans 1:22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools,

Literally Paul calls them morons here, simpletons; not by birth, but by choice.

And again Peter affirms that Paul’s writings are scripture, and should be paid attention to, which is important because it will keep us on solid ground.

v.17 You therefore, beloved, knowing this beforehand, take care that you are not carried away with the error of lawless people and lose your own stability.

I think you can make a solid argument here that Peter is elevating his own writing to scripture as well, he knows he couldn’t write such an amazingly God glorifying letter like this, but that the Holy Spirit is writing through him. Because remember in chapter 1,

2 Peter 1:15 I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

That’s this letter! He is giving us a reminder that will keep us holding to our confession, so that we follow Christ and not strange teachings of false-teachers who will preach apart from the scriptures. One of our great tests of scripture is that if it is all written by one person, the Holy Spirit, as it claims to be, then it will all agree and be without contradiction.

Peter can also be said to be quoting Paul in Ephesians 4:13-14 where Paul said through several things, namely unity in the church and the knowledge of the Son of God, we will not be unstable in strange doctrines, and later he says that we will have a steadfast anchor of our soul, the hope of Christ’s atoning death and saving resurrection.

This unity which Paul desired is totally amazing in that Peter is calling Paul his “beloved brother” because Paul was pretty harsh with Peter when Peter had fallen into error in Jerusalem, look at how Paul confronted Peter (Cephas),

Galatians 2:11-14 But when Cephas came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face, because he stood condemned. For before certain men came from James, he was eating with the Gentiles; but when they came he drew back and separated himself, fearing the circumcision party. And the rest of the Jews acted hypocritically along with him, so that even Barnabas was led astray by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that their conduct was not in step with the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas before them all, "If you, though a Jew, live like a Gentile and not like a Jew, how can you force the Gentiles to live like Jews?"

But one of the most loving things we can do is correct someone when they are going astray. Proverbs puts this exceedingly beautifully,

Proverbs 27:6-7 Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy.

All of this points us at holiness,

v.18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Once again this goes back to our first point, how to know you’re a Christian, and it is the summation of the entire letter basically; if we are growing in grace then we know we are in grace. For example, if I plant an apple tree in my front yard and water it and take care of it and it grows up and starts producing crunchy brown apples which taste terrible and have barbs on them and for all intents and purposes look like pine-cones, then do you think that tree is an apple tree?

An apple tree should produce apples, a Christian should produce fruit of the Spirit, summed up in grace. Peter is totally concerned with one of these fruits being knowledge of Christ. It’s not just knowledge, there are a lot of smart people who are totally separated from Christ, who though they know a lot of things are as Paul calls them, morons. Our knowledge needs to be in Christ, and that through our Bible. As our knowledge increases in Christ, our ability to discern liars and heretics will greatly increase;

Hebrews 5:14 Solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.

I heard a great quote on the radio this week, the host was putting forth a hypothetical situation of a Christian standing before God, and God asks, “I gave you 70 years and you couldn’t read one book?” We need to constantly be in our Bibles because it is the only way which God reveals himself in these latter days.

And our last point, of the surety of victory, comes in our benediction,

v.18 To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.

Christ is in control now, even though it looks out of control. Why doesn’t God wipe the world out? It’s because if he did he wouldn’t see every saint come to repentance, we see he is being glorified in his patience just as he will be glorified in Christ’s return, which Peter here calls the day of eternity, the day time ends; the day of his return and judgment of the world in righteousness.

So that is Second Peter, it is an awesome letter, I want to show you three more scriptures that will drive these points home. The first is in Exodus where Moses goes up on Mount Sinai, the people revolt, and God prepares to crush them,

Exodus 32:9-14 And the LORD said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." But Moses implored the LORD his God and said, "O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.'" And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

God was totally ready to crush Israel for their sins, but Moses interceded and lengthened God’s patience because if he had crushed Israel, his promises and his patience would have been doubted. He has promised Christ a certain number of saints and if he sent Christ back early then saints would perish outside of salvation. Today Christ, not Moses, is our intercessor.

(Time necessitated we end here, next week we will look at Psalm 62 which will continue the theme)

May 30th - No Lasting City

Prayer Requests
Praise - Cayden and Jacob Adoption/Foster Situation

Students Traveling

David preaching Next Wednesday
Pastor Aaron Preaching
Dave and Brooke First Day
Ben and Holly First Day

Kyle's Family

Text – Jeremiah 29:1-23, 1 Peter 1-5

Since we’ve got so many students out of class today and the importance of 2 Peter 2, especially verse 4, I’ve decided not to continue but take my one safety day to teach on something else. I hope that we will still be able to finish Second Peter by August, but if not we’ll have to deal with it.

Let’s look briefly today at Hermeneutics, this is a big cool theological word which means “The art and science of interpreting the Bible.” It is basically how to read the Bible and derive the Author’s intended meaning from it. The word Hermeneutics comes from Greek Mythology, a dude named Hermes whose job it was to deliver the messages of the gods. When we talk about Hermeneutics we are looking at how to discern the full meaning of what God is telling us.

Some hermeneutical principles are:

1. What is the plainest meaning of the text?
2. How would the original audience understand this text?
3. How does it apply to us today?
4. Which words are repeated?
5. How does this book relate to other books of the Bible?
6. What would we lose if this were not in the Bible?

And the one I want to look at today is which words are repeated across Bible books and something huge jumped out at me which is rather neat and will really open up our passage for us today. We’re going to look at the letter in Jeremiah 29 and compare it to First Peter. Jeremiah 29:11 is one of the most wickedly misquoted verses in the whole Bible, if I have a least favorite verse it is this one when it is taken out of context:

Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.

The reason I dislike it so much is because people try to make it say that God won’t let anything bad possibly ever happen to you, which is quite ironic because God is doing something quite painful to the original audience in the midst of this letter. But first lets look at how we got to this point.

I was looking at the end of First Peter and saw Babylon, which when coupled with the beginning of First Peter, which says exiles, draws a line straight back to Jeremiah 29,

1 Peter 1:1 To those who are elect exiles of the dispersion

1 Peter 5:13 She who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings

Look at how Jeremiah 29 starts,

Jeremiah 29:4 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon

This doesn’t automatically say that Peter was thinking of this letter when writing his letter, but it is interesting enough to look into it, and the more I researched it the more I feel that Peter used Jeremiah 29 as a basic outline for his letter.

So let’s look at the beginning of Jeremiah 29:

Jeremiah 29:1-3 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said:

The context is that God has given his people into captivity as punishment for their lawlessness. He sends everybody from the king and queen to the laborers; some stay back in Jerusalem but their lot is worse than those who go into captivity in Babylon, life in Jerusalem at this time was not nice.

The beginning of First Peter is very similar talking about all of the people groups who are God’s exiles: everybody from hoity toity Asia, to rural Cappadocia, to maritime Pontia. Truly God is no respecter of persons.

Let’s read the letter:

Jeremiah 29:4-23 Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD. "For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. "Because you have said, 'The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,' thus says the LORD concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.' Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"

The beginning of this letter is glorious and expanded in Peter. If Peter hadn’t talked about this we might have a hard time making this point from Jeremiah, we’d say, “This is just to the Jews, we ought not apply it to ourselves.” But Peter does apply it to us, and changes our exile to this world where we are away from Heaven, and the foreign land we are in is this world.

vv.5-7 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jeremiah says make yourself comfortable, and strive for the welfare of the city you are in. Even though whichever city the Jews were in, be it Susa or Babylon or Nipur or wherever, was not their city, they were called to seek the welfare of that city. Where is our city?

Hebrews 13:14 here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

But where is our exile? Kennesaw, Acworth, Atlanta…Here is what Peter says,

1 Peter 2:16-17 Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. Honor everyone. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honor the emperor.

Besides that Peter tells us how to treat our husbands and wives. What does a husband need in order to honor his wife? He needs a wife, so in the exile we get married, have children, get jobs, and live our life as a testament to God.

vv.8-9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the LORD.

These prophets, we learn in chapter 28, were telling the Jews not to unpack or get comfortable because they would be heading back to Jerusalem soon. God tells the people not to listen to these liars who say they are speaking for God. Our modern equivalent is people who think Jesus is coming back this afternoon, who are so caught up in eschatology that they don’t have any sort of plan for ministry and life. Baptists are bad at this, but Jehovah’s Witnesses are infinitely worse, they don’t build hospitals or orphanages because they’re sure Jesus will be here by noon and a hospital would be a waste of money.

But we’re in this exile for a while, we ought to build hospitals, orphanages, and ministries that address both felt needs and eternal needs. Any preacher who tells you anything different is a liar, according to God.

vv.10-13 For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.

God has a definitive plan for the Jews, and we know that they returned to Jerusalem right at 70 years. God likewise has a definitive plan for us, and we will not leave this earth a moment before or after he intends, neither will Christ return early or late, he will be exactly on time.

On that day we will be gathered to Heaven, when he returns or calls us home, and his ultimate plan is for our good, we will have unending health and overabundance of hope and an eternal future. On that day we will be perfect and seek God with all of our heart. Check how Peter puts it:

1 Peter 4:1 Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh (and died) has ceased from sin,

Here on earth we will never seek Christ with our whole heart, but if he has saved us then we have the assurance that in Heaven we will cease from sin and our whole undivided affection will be on Jesus Christ.

Look at what God is going to redeem us from:

v.14 I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

The Christian exile has an eternal hope, but those who refused to obey God (vv.15-16) have a much different future, because we’re running out time I’m just going to read it but I think it will speak for itself, these people followed men rather than God:

vv.16-19 concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your kinsmen who did not go out with you into exile: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, behold, I am sending on them sword, famine, and pestilence, and I will make them like vile figs that are so rotten they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with sword, famine, and pestilence, and will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, a terror, a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, because they did not pay attention to my words, declares the LORD, that I persistently sent to you by my servants the prophets, but you would not listen, declares the LORD.'

Peter puts it this way:

1 Peter 4:17 For it is time for judgment to begin at the household of God; and if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

Finally God turns the letter back to the exiles but points out the wicked false prophets who claim to be speaking for him, but really aren’t

vv.20-23 Hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon: 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying a lie to you in my name: Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he shall strike them down before your eyes. Because of them this curse shall be used by all the exiles from Judah in Babylon: "The LORD make you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire," because they have done an outrageous thing in Israel, they have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives, and they have spoken in my name lying words that I did not command them. I am the one who knows, and I am witness, declares the LORD.'"

This is basically your application, pay more attention to the Bible than to people, don’t listen to people who say that they are speaking for God unless they can back-up their point with an explicit Bible verse in context. More importantly, don’t misrepresent God.

We’ve touched on the major neat points of the link between Jeremiah and First Peter, but we’re out of time to look at more. The most important thing about this isn’t though that we’ve discovered a great parallel in the Bible, but that we take both letters seriously as God-breathed instructions from Heaven. There are many such parallels in the Bible, and finding them is cool, but if we don’t obey the most basic interpretation of the scriptures then our latter end is worse than if we didn’t even know.

The direct application for how to live your life is to first trust in Jesus Christ knowing that he is the one who wills that we be in exile, and he commands us to live this life representing him seeking the welfare of the city we live in.

We live in exile for a long time, approximately 70 years, which I don’t think at all is a coincidence that this is the average life expectancy;

Psalm 90:7 The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.

Not everyone is guaranteed 70, you might even get less than 20, but beloved the beauty of this passage is that for the one who obeys and trusts God for salvation is that God’s plan for us is health and an eternal future when we step out of this world we are present with the Lord, and we will never sin again.

So live your life with this in view, love widows and orphans and keep yourself unstained from the world, for this is religion pleasing in the sight of God.