Supported by sovereign grace? Always
Jeremiah 32. 36-42
- Now.
- Then.
- Has the Lord God of Israel said of this city.
- Of which you say: It has already been delivered in the hand of the king of Babylon by sword.
- By hunger.
- And by pestilence.
- 37 Behold.
- I will gather them together from all the lands where I cast them into my wrath.
- In my wrath.
- And in my great indignation; I’ll bring you back to this place and make you live there safely.
- 38 They shall be my people.
- And I will be their God.
- 39 I will give unto them one heart and one way.
- That they may fear me every day for their good and for their children.
- I will make an eternal covenant with them.
- Which I will not stop doing them good; and I will put my fear in your heart.
- So that they never depart from me.
- I will rejoice and do you good; I will plant them firmly on this earth with all my heart and with all my soul.
- For thus saith the Lord.
- As I have brought all this great evil upon this people.
- I will bring unto you all the good which I promise you.
What is lasting grace?
We celebrate 125 years of God’s grace of support in our church. What is lasting grace? Let me put this in a four-verse children’s song:
I emphasize this because celebrating a grace that does not exclude joy that is not true and that allows us to escape all affliction and does not command our suffering would be biblically false and experimentally unreal. See the situations below.
? In an almost fatal car accident
Our experience and the Bible teach us that grace does not prevent suffering, but commands, plans, and evaluates our suffering, and then, in the dark, is there to support us. For example, yesterday Bob Ricker, the president of General Baptist. Convention, referred to valuable reminders to support grace. Not more than ten years ago, Bob and Dee’s daughter had a serious car accident. Today she’s alive for one reason only. In the car behind her was a doctor who thought she had an endotracheal tube in her pocket, when she approached, she was already turning blue. He stuck the tube down his throat and saved his life. At his wedding, a few years later, Bob told him: these facial scars you have to live with are memorials of lasting grace.
Bob Ricker is not ignorant. He knows that if God can order that there be a doctor in the back car and that doctor has a breathing apparatus in his pocket, and that he has the presence of encouragement to use it to save someone’s life, then God is fully capable. prevent the accident in the first place. In fact, Bob previously quoted Ephesians 1:11: “We were predestined according to the plan of the one who does all things according to the counsel of his will. “He said: “All things mean all things, including, I suppose, the directions of cars and planes, arrows and bullets, and that’s what inspired my little poem:
? When the car is in trouble
On Saturday, two weeks ago, Noel, Abraham and Talitha were heading to Georgia, while on a solitary stretch, an hour from Indianapolis, the car was in trouble and the radiator exploded. A farmer in his 60s touches his car and offers help. Noel says they need a hotel by the road and hopes that on Monday morning, maybe he’ll have an open garage to repair the car. The farmer said, “Would you like to stay with me and my wife?”Noel hesitates and doesn’t want to embarrass the couple. The farmer says, “The Lord said that when we serve others, it is as if we serve him. “Noel said, “Well, could we go to church with you in the morning?”He said, “If you want, you can go to a Baptist church. “
Then they stayed with the farmer, who was also an aeronautical mechanic, diagnosed the problem and went to town on Monday morning, when he bought a new radiator, returned, put the radiator at no cost and sent the family to the road. Meanwhile, Barnabas pulled his fishing rod out of the car and caught a catfish nearly fifteen centimetres long to top it all off with a golden key.
The God who can make a farmer, who is also a mechanic, stops to help Noel, and who provides that he is Christian (even Baptist), that with his wife, offers a place for the family, and that the first thing you do on Monday morning is to look for a radiator, and are you ready to do all this as long as necessary and still have a small pond with catfish?This God is perfectly capable of preventing a radiator from exploding in the middle of Indiana.
? When healing doesn’t happen
But in this world corrupted by madness, this is not all that grace does.
One of the young men of our church is currently in a deep well, his faith is being tested almost to the limit, he recently told me that it would have been easier if Jesus had not healed, but that he had given the grace to endure the One of the things I said to him was: “Is that exactly what Jesus did?And indeed for this reason? In 2 Corinthians 12. 9, 10, God’s grace commands Paul to have a sting in his flesh so that he can be humble. And that thorn doesn’t take off. But the Lord exclaims to Paul, “My grace [of support] is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weaknesses. “
To which Paul responds
Therefore, I will gladly glor glory in more weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Wherefore, I am pleased with the weaknesses, the insults, the deficiencies, the persecutions, the anxieties, for the love of Christ. Because when I’m weak, I’m strong.
Neither grace excludes joy that is not true, nor grace excludes the escape from all suffering, but: The grace that commands our affliction and suffering, in darkness, is there to sustain us.
? When the church catches fire
On March 16, 1885, on a Monday, when the Baptist Church of Bethlehem (Igreja Batista Belém) was 14 years old and located on the corner of Avenue 12 and Rua 6 (where the Douglas Society is now located), the church captured It was destroyed without possibility of reform, but in this darkness there was a wonder of God’s grace , the part of the roof where the firefighter was was the only one that did not collapse and in seven weeks the church bought the building of the second church of the congregation, where we loved it for one hundred and six years until the current building was ready in 1991.
Now, the God who can save a firefighter’s life, keep part of a weakened roof, and plan a new and better building in seven weeks, could have prevented the fire in the first place.
I hope the fact is clear: we celebrate the grace that sustains the grace that commands our affliction and suffering In the dark, it is there to sustain us.
God doesn’t always avoid calamity
Jeremiah 32’s text speaks of this kind of grace of support, so the Baptist Church of Bethlehem is still alive in the city today, after 125 years of trials, Jerusalem and God’s chosen people are in darkness and torment. God Himself who commands this state. Examine verse 36: “Thus said the Lord, God of Israel, about this city, of which thou sayest, It has already been delivered into the hands of the king of Babylon, by sword, by hunger, and by plague. “That’s what they say about the city. And it is true, grace did not deliver them from this calamity, nor will God’s grace save you the calamity designed for you.
But what they say about God’s chosen is not the last word, God has the last word. And it’s a word of grace. Verse 37 – Behold, I will gather you from all the countries where I have cast you into my wrath, anger, and indignation; I’ll take you back to this place and make you live there safely?In this way, God declares that He has ordained affliction and suffering. “Did I throw them away? And he declares that he himself will deliver them and bring them back to Him and his lands. In other words, sovereign grace will finally triumph over calamity.
How can we be sure of the triumph of grace?
How can we be sure of the triumph of grace?If God is a God of righteousness who can send Israel into devastating exile, where many are lost because of their sins and disobedience, then how can we be sure that this will not happen to them?The chosen people of God today?The church, the wife of Christ, the true Israel, you and I, who have been called to be in communion with your Son?There is one question: why did Bethlehem last 125 years?Another urgent question: how can we be sure that grace will triumph for Bethlehem and in our lives in the future. How can we be sure that grace will support you to the end in faith and holiness, and take you to heaven?
That’s the subject of the rest of this passage. The answer is: to sustain grace in the name of God’s chosen people is a sovereign grace; In other words, maintaining grace is omnipotent grace; it is the grace that overcomes obstacles and preserves the faith and holiness that lead us from here to heaven. our only security for the future. You and I, in ourselves, are entirely inconstant and fallible; If we left ourselves to our own resources to persevere, we would shipwreck in our faith, that is for sure; that’s why the saints pray for centuries:
I have to do it every day!Let thy goodness, as a snever, retain my wandering heart: Lord, I feel that I am inclined to wander, inclined to abandon the God I love; This is my heart, O take and seal; Saddle for your cuts in the sky.
Is this how the Saints should pray?Is this the biblical way of praying?Overcome every rebellion that rises!Free me from all destructive temptation, cancel out all fatal seduction. Expose any demonic deceptions!Mold me! Bend me! Master me!Do whatever it takes to continue trusting and fearing the Lord until Jesus comes or calls you. Can we pray and sing like this?
The answer to this text is yes. This type of canticle and prayer is rooted in the promise of the new covenant of sovereign and solidarity grace, let us read it, let us keep in mind that this is one of the many promises made in the Old Testament, of the new covenant that Jesus said. He sealed with his blood all who are there, not only the Jews, but all those who are true Jews by virtue of union with Jesus, the descendants of Abraham (Galatians 3, 7, 16).
Jeremiah 32:38-41 states
They will be my people and I will be their God. 39 I will give unto them one heart and one way, that they may fear me every day, for them, and for their children. 40 I will make an eternal covenant with them, according to which I will not stop doing them good, and I will put my fear in their hearts, that they may never depart from me. 41 I will rejoice in them, and do them good, plant them firmly in this country, with all my heart and soul.
Four promises of sovereign and lasting grace
Write down four promises of sovereign and lasting grace
1. God will be our God
God promises to be our God. Verse 38: “They will be my people, and I will be their God. “All the promises made to your people can be summed up in this: “I will be your God. “In other words, will I use everything I am like God?all my wisdom, all my power and all my love?contemplating that you remain my people. Everything I am like God, I run for you.
2. God promises to change our hearts
God promises to change our hearts and make us love and fear Him. Verse 39: Will I give you a heart and a way to be afraid of me every day?Expressed otherwise, God will not just stop to see if we, by our own resources, fear Him; God, by his sovereignty, supremacy and mercy, gives us the heart we need and gives us the faith and fear of God, who will lead us to heaven, is sovereign and supportive grace. (see Deuteronomy 30. 6; Ezekiel 11. 19, 20; 36. 27).
3. God promises that we will not turn away from him.
God promises that He will not turn away from us and that we will not turn away from him. Verse 40: I will make an eternal covenant with them, according to which I will not stop doing them good, and I will put my fear. in their hearts, that they may never depart from me; In other words, the action of God’s heart is so powerful that it ensures that we will not turn away from Him. This is what is new in the new covenant: God’s promise to fulfill. , through his power, the conditions we must meet. We must fear him, love him, and trust him. And God declares that he will see this happen. “Will I put my fear in your heart? Not to see what they will do with this fear, but in such a way that they do not turn away from me. He’s sovereign and supportive, grace.
4. God promises to do this with infinite intensity
Finally, God promises to do this with the greatest intensity imaginable and expresses it in two ways, one at the beginning and one at the end of verse 41:?I will rejoice in them and do them good, plant them firmly in this country, with all my heart and with all my soul?First, he says that he will gladly exercise this sovereign and supportive grace: “I will rejoice in them and do them good. “Then he said (at the end of verse 41) to exercise his sovereign grace and support “with all my heart and soul. “
How great is God’s desire to do you good
He looks forward to supporting you and rejoices in your heart and soul. Now, I ask you, not with a lecture hype or rhetorical flourish or with a sense of hyperbolic reporting in some way? Can you conceive of the intensity of desire that is greater than the desire that is made possible by “all the heart of God and all the soul of God”? Suppose you accept all the desires for food, sex, fame, money, power, meaning in life, friends, security of heart and soul of every human being on earth. I say about six billion and put that wish in a container. How would you compare this human desire gathered in a container to God’s desire to do you good that is implicit in the words, “With all my heart and with all my soul? I would compare this wish to a thimble as opposed to the Pacific Ocean. Because the heart and soul of God are infinite. And the hearts and souls of men ended. There is no intensity greater than the intensity of “the whole heart of God and the whole soul of God. “
There is no intensity greater than the intensity “of the whole heart of God and of the whole soul of God”. And it is the intensity of the joy he feels in supporting you with sovereign grace: “I will rejoice in them and do them good. “with all my heart and soul. ” Some of you can try the goodness of this grace for the first time. It is the work of the Holy Spirit in his life and I urge you to abandon and be dominated by sovereign and supportive grace. .
Others of you have lived in this soft security for decades and simply join me today in rejoicing in this glorious reality in our lives. I invite you to sing with me, to bless the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit for the sovereign. . and supporting grace that preserves us as a Church for 125 years and will keep God’s elect in faith until Jesus comes or calls us.
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1? Symptom due to cyanosis which is lack of oxygenation in the blood.