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So we're up to Jeremiah chapter 29, and I want you to notice verse number 11 first. Jeremiah 29 verse number 11, these are the words of God. For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace. The title for the sermon this morning is thoughts of peace, thoughts of peace. Now this is I think a really important lesson that Jeremiah is teaching the people that have been taken into captivity. And again, as we read through these chapters, I want you to always apply to the now, apply to the here and now, and you know, as we've been studying the book of Jeremiah, we know that God has, you know, promised this great judgment to come. You know, this wicked nation will be taken into captivity by a foreign power, not a godly foreign power, but a very wicked, you know, ungodly foreign power. And people would lose their lives over swords and pestilences and famines and the like. And you know, it's a tough time for the nation of Judah here. And it's amazing that, you know, in the midst of these difficulties, God can say that I'm thinking thoughts of peace toward this people, okay? And so, you know, we know that they were taken into captivity for 70 years, 70 years. And the reaction might be, well, now that we're taken into captivity, and again, if you may remember, I told you that there were two major phases of the exile. We're looking at the first phase of the exile, not the total destruction of Judah at this point in time. And I'm sure the thoughts would go into the minds of the people that have been taken into captivity or losing their houses and losing their families and losing their freedoms, is, you know, we ought to rise up and fight against this power. We ought to rise up and protest on the streets. We ought to make our voices known and rebel against the authority that has been put in place because they are a wicked authority, aren't they? And so this chapter deals with this topic, okay? Thoughts of peace. You know, God wants us to be living in peace. You know, he wants us to enjoy peace even in a time of turmoil, even in a time when things are seemingly out of control and you're losing everything that you're familiar with. You know, we often, the phrase that gets thrown around these days is the new normal. They say this is the new normal, you know? And, you know, the natural reaction is to not accept the new normal. We want the old normal. What if this new normal continued, though? We've only been doing this for about a year, roughly a bit over a year, I guess, the whole COVID situation, right? And as you've probably heard, over the weekend, our perf has been in lockdown once again for three days, just started, just yesterday, I believe. So, you know, the unsettleness that occurs because of these changes, the frustration, you know, and I get frustrated sometimes, brethren, and then the thought comes to me, well, how does the Lord want me to react in times like this? You know, how have I reacted in my first year of a new normal when this is their first year of a 70-year unusual normal? I mean, you know, for us, the new normal, I bet you 90% of what you've done in your life, you're still doing it. Like, you still have your house, you still have your family, you still have your jobs. Like, you're probably 90%, you're still carrying on, you know, the same way you've always lived. These guys have been completely displaced. They're completely removed from their former land, from their former houses. They've got 70 years to look forward to these changes to their new normal, you know? And so, again, I want to look at this and apply it to our lives today, you know? What can we learn from God's Word? God, you know, you've got Jeremiah here for us to learn from. What are the things that we can learn? What are these thoughts of peace that you would like us to have, Lord? Well, let's start there in verse number one. It says, now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem and to the residue of the elders which were carried away captives. I'll just stop there for a minute. So, we know most of the book of Jeremiah so far has been Jeremiah basically preaching in Jerusalem or surrounding areas to the people that are on the land. Well, now these elders have been taken in that first phase of the exile. They've been taken into captivity to Babylon. And so, Jeremiah from Jerusalem is now writing a letter to them. So, these words are not being preached to Jeremiah by Jeremiah to them because he's in another country, okay? These are words in a letter that Jeremiah has written to those being taken away into captivity. So, it's not just the elders which were carried away captives, it says here, and to the priests, so the religious leaders, and to the prophets and to all the people who Nebuchadnezzar had carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon. After that, Jeconiah the king and the queen and the eunuchs and the princes of Judah and Jerusalem and the carpenters and the smiths were departed from Jerusalem. So, you can see there's quite a big chunk of people, people of the royal family, people that are serving the eunuchs here, serving the royal family, the princes, people in authority, carpenters and smiths, people that have trades, that have skills that can benefit the kingdom of Babylon. A whole bunch of people have been taken into captivity. And I want you to keep your finger there now and please go to 2 Kings chapter 24. 2 Kings chapter 24. And it gives us, what we're going to be looking at here in 2 Kings is just more historical context of this captivity that took place. So, please turn to 2 Kings 24 for me. 2 Kings 24. So, we saw that the king's been taken into captivity, so has the queen. Now, this queen is not actually his wife. The queen that was referred to in Jeremiah was his mother, okay? Because we learned this in 2 Kings 24 verse 8, it says, Jehoiachin, now you may remember Jehoiachin is the same as Jeconiah, okay? Different names for the same person. Jehoiachin was 18 years old when he began to reign and he reigned in Jerusalem three months. And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord according to all that his father had done. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came up against Jerusalem and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came against the city and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin, the king of Judah, went out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother and his servants, and his princes and his officers, and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign. Alright, so, I want you to notice that Jeremiah, you may remember, has been preaching, just surrender. Just give in to this foreign power. Just give in to this wicked power and things will be well with you. That's what he's been preaching, you know, for a long time. And so Jehoiachin, even though he's done wicked in the sight of the Lord, thank God he actually listens to what Jeremiah was saying, okay? Because here he realizes, man, this is a losing battle, we better surrender, okay? And so he surrenders to the king of Babylon and guess what? The king of Babylon doesn't kill him. He gets taken into captivity, alright? Now notice this, it says in verse number 13. And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of the Lord, as the Lord had said. Why is that relevant? Because it's not just the palace, it's not just the authorities that are losing their freedoms and losing their possessions, it's also the people of the house of the Lord. Don't forget the house of the Lord here is a temple and the king of Babylon is coming in and taking what he wants, okay? Now should he do that? Of course not, okay? But it's happening, and again, God is allowing these things to happen for his purposes. Verse number 14. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths, none remained save the poor people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried here into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that was strong and apt for war, even them, the king of Babylon, brought captive to Babylon. And so, you know, the good thing you can take away from here, if you can think of it as a good thing, is that all these mighty men, all these people, they followed Jehoiachin. They said, okay, Jehoiachin is surrendering to Nebuchadnezzar, you know, we realize the might is too powerful, we realize that God is allowing us, I suppose, for them to take over all these freedoms, let's all surrender. And all these people that surrendered, they were taken into captivity by the king of Babylon into that land. Again, just because it says that he did wicked in the sight of the Lord, don't forget this is exactly what Jeremiah's been preaching them to do this whole time. For many years, surrender to the king of Babylon. So now let's go back to Jeremiah 29, verse number 3. Jeremiah 29, verse number 3. The reason I wanted to read 2 Kings is so you could see the mass amount of people, literally thousands of people, being taken into captivity through this first exile. Verse number 3 now, in Jeremiah 29, verse number 3. It says, So these are the words of God now, for the people that have been taken into captivity. Jeremiah is writing them a letter. Now you could be forgiven for thinking, well, you know what, God's judgment fell, you're taken into captivity, God doesn't care about you anymore. You could think that. Oh, you know, you face the judgment of God, you're not sucked in, now what are you going to do? But you know what, even these people that have been taken into captivity, even those that did wicked things in God's eyes, because they obeyed the words of Jeremiah and surrendered to the king of Babylon, you know what, God now, through Jeremiah, is sending them a letter. This letter is supposed to be a letter of comfort. The point being, these people going through difficulties, God still cares about them. God's eyes are still on these people going through these hardships. What is it that the Lord God wants them to realize? In verse number 4, it says, Look what it says in verse number 5. Rebel against the king of Babylon. You know, start protesting the streets. Start writing right now. Start burning down the wicked temples of the gods. Is that what it says there? I bet you if I read that, no one read that, some people did not read the Bible, they'd go, Amen! That's not what God says. Verse number 5. Build ye houses, and dwell in them, and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Okay? So as I told you, the title for my sermon this morning is Thoughts of Peace. Thoughts of Peace. And we're living in a time of just weird, we're just living weird days. Okay, weird times. You know, there's a lot of fear, a lot of concerns, lots of frustration. You know what, God wants us to live peaceful lives, even in these days. Okay? Point number 1 that I have for you, brethren, in order for you to have peace in troubled days, is to number 1, get on with your life. Get on with your life. What's it say? Build your houses, dwell in them, plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them. He basically says, look, the same way you used to live in the old normal, okay, when you used to build houses and plant gardens and enjoy your life, the same thing in the old normal, guess what? In the new normal, just continue living your life. Get on with your life. Okay? Because this is going to be 70 years. I don't know how much COVID, how many years COVID, we're one year into it, brethren. I don't know. You know, you hear about when can we fly again freely, the way we used to fly internationally. They say maybe 2024. Who knows how many years we may face this new normal? Who knows how long this will continue? Well, my first thing for you, brethren, is just get on with your life. Just go and build your house, go and plant a garden, enjoy the fruits of the work of your hands, enjoy the life, enjoy the new situation you find yourself in. Instead of getting frustrated and upset, go build your houses, dwell in them, plant your gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Just enjoy your life. Okay? That ought to be your first response in these troubled times in order for you to have just a peaceful life. Get on with it, just get on with your life. Now let's keep going, verse number six. Take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. Wow. You know what? In this new normal, and let's say things get worse for us. Let's say more of our privileges, more of our rights, and more of our freedoms get removed from us. Let's say more of our privacy gets removed from us. Okay, whatever. You know what, brethren? God wants us to increase. That ye may be increased there, and not diminished. Well, how can I be increased, Lord, if everything that I have is being taken away from me? Well, here's what it is, brethren. What is it? Get married, have sons, have children, have a family. Point number two is prioritize your family in these difficult days. Prioritize your family in these difficult days. You know, husbands, you're going to live with your wife till the day you die, or the day she dies. Till death do us part, God willing. That's how it ought to be. You know what, that word divorce should not even enter your mind. I don't care how hard things get in your family, that word divorce, don't allow it to enter your mind, don't allow it to enter your heart, don't allow it to even come out of your mouth if you have an argument with your spouse, okay? You know what, God has given you family or, you know, for the singles, God wants you to have a family one day, be praying about that. You know what, that's going to help you. Just get through life, get through some difficulties. Having someone you can enjoy your time with, having children that you can play with, you know, being able to teach your family the truth of God's word and spending time with these people. Brethren, prioritize your family. You know, one of the great things, I personally think it's so great. During the whole lockdown situation, during last year, you know, so many people ended up having to work from home, okay? I mean, a lot of people. And for a lot of people that I know of when I speak to them, it's been like, yeah, it's great. You know, I've been praying that God will allow me to spend more time with my family. You know, I've been praying that I wouldn't have to travel so often to work and this and that. Guess what, God answered your prayers then. If you happen to be at home and work from home and spend more time with your family and not waste the hours of traveling back and forth, praise God, you know, God's given you an opportunity to prioritize your family. Or you could take the approach, well, you know, I'm just going to rebel. I'm still going to travel to work. You know, even though the office is not open, I'm going to drive my car into that car park and I'm going to work from there because I'm not going to allow this new normal to change my life. You know what, just get on with your life. Prioritize your family here. Family is so important, okay? And praise God, if you have more time with your family, that's awesome. You know, I want more and more time with my family. You know, I personally, you know, my kids are growing up, Isabelle's 15, you know, she could be married in another five years. You know, I'm going to lose that opportunity that I have with my daughter. My kids are growing up, you know, so quickly, even though I have a whole bunch of them, I'm looking at the time, I'm looking at how they grow and develop and I'm saying, wow, you know, the time I have with my children are less and less all the time and I want to make sure that I use this time wisely to train my children, use this time to love my wife, to comfort my wife, you know, use this time to train my children to love the Lord, you know, to think about their future, to think about their spouse, to think about their families, to think about their workplaces and the things they need to achieve. You know what, things are going to be worse for my family. Like things are going to be worse for the next generations. Things are going to be harder and harder. The world becomes more and more wicked. You know, more of their privacy and personal matters will be, you know, out in the open and there's going to be less, you know, like I said, privacy and all in the name of, you know, a more secure and healthy world or whatever, whatever the agenda is, things are going to be more difficult for my children. I understand that, but then God's given me more time to train my children, to raise them, for them to have a mindset, to care about the things of eternal matters rather than caring about, you know, building up riches upon this world. So point number two, brethren, is prioritize your family, prioritize your family. Verse number seven. Remember, these are the words of God to those that are in captivity. A lot of these people in captivity have lost their families, actually. And if you actually read about that, they've been pulled apart, you know, and God is basically saying, look, just go and start new families, you know. Find wives for your sons and find daughters for your sons, all right. Now, verse number seven says this, and seek the peace of the city. What city? That's Babylon. That's a wicked city, God. You want me to find peace in this wicked city? You know what's another wicked city? Sydney. You know what's another wicked suburb? Fairfield East, okay. You know how much wickedness goes on in this suburb? We don't even know about it. There is so much wickedness going on in this city, you know what God says to us? Seek peace. Find peace even in these wicked places and seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof ye shall have peace. So what is it that we're commanded to do here, brethren? Pray for peace. Point number three, brethren. Pray for peace. God wants us to have peace even in this wicked city, but he says pray for it. Pray unto the Lord for it. For in the peace thereof, so in the peace of this wicked city, you will have peace in this wicked city, okay. So should we pray for our own peace and safety? Yeah, absolutely. Should we pray that God will protect us from the wicked? Absolutely, but we also should be praying that this wicked city of Sydney, this wicked suburb of Fairfield East is also able to experience peace because if this place that we live in has peace for in the peace thereof, ye shall have peace. We will have peace as well. And so, you know, I love this about God because everything so far in the book of Jeremiah has been very negative, very negative, right? And this is as bad as you're gonna get. You're removed from your land, lost all your possessions, carried into a foreign world. You don't even know the language, right? They're using you for the skills that you have. You know, you're not working for yourself. You're working for the king of Babylon. It's basically communism for these people, you know, in a sense. And God says, you know what, you can have peace. Just pray for it. Get on with your life. Get married and prioritize your family. Enjoy this new situation. Enjoy the next 70 years because it's gonna be a long time. It's gonna be a long time. Can you please keep your finger there and go to 1 Timothy 2 and verse number one. 1 Timothy 2 and verse number one. I think I've already read this passage a few times while I've preached with Jeremiah, but it's a good reminder in 1 Timothy 2 and verse number one, it says, I exhort therefore that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and for all that are in authority, even the king of Babylon, God. Yes, okay. That we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this, what, what, what this? For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our savior, who will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of the truth. Brethren, you know what's good and acceptable in the sight of God? That you pray for your leaders. Even the wicked leader, even, you know, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his evil agenda to vaccinate all Australians. Yeah, pray for him. Pray for him that he doesn't enforce this or make it mandatory. Or you know what, if he's, you know, he's working against the will of God, you know, pray that the Lord will take him down and install a man that has a fear of God. You know, ask God to put men, people in authority and power in these places of government that have a fear of God that actually wants to look at God's word and say, well, God, what do we do in some troubled times? Pray for that, you know. So not just that we can have peace, but this wicked city can have some level of peace as well. You know, so we can just get on with our lives. Get on with our lives. Back to Jeremiah 29 and verse number eight. Oh, sorry, I forgot to read the last bit there. I think I did read it. Who will have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. So why is it that we want to live a life of peace? Well, who is it that's going to get all men saved? Who is it that's going to lead people into repentance to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Isn't that our job, Reverend? And isn't it much easier when we live a life of peace? Isn't it much easier when we can just open doors, knock on our neighbor's door without any concern of persecution and be able to give someone one-on-one the gospel and see people saved? It's a beautiful thing. It's my favorite thing to do, actually, Reverend. You know, giving someone the gospel. You know, I wish I could do it more often. I wish I could do it more, you know? But, you know, this is why we need to be praying for peace. You know, it gives more people an opportunity to turn to the Lord and be saved. Jeremiah 29, verse number eight. Jeremiah 29, verse number eight. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, let not your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you. So some people that have been carried away into this captivity also, you saw the priests and the prophets, or as we've been looking through Jeremiah, many of these people are corrupt. Many of these people, many of these prophets are false prophets, okay? And they deceive you. So what's the instruction here? Neither hearken to your dreams, which ye have caused, sorry, which ye have caused to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in my name. I have not sent them, saith the Lord, okay? The fourth point that I have for you, brethren, in order for you to find peace in these troubled days, is forsake ungodly influences. Forsake ungodly influences. Jeremiah's going around saying, hey guys, surrender, all right? Give honor to the authority, even these foreign powers, even these wicked powers. Jeremiah's going, look, surrender to them, all right? Put the yoke upon your neck and get on with life. You've got other preachers saying, hey, let's fight this wicked government, okay? Hey, we're gonna be delivered soon. Hey, soon, you know, all the vessels of God's house are gonna come back and we're gonna be back worshiping God in Jerusalem. These people are preaching lies. They're preaching falsehoods, okay? God says, you know what? Forsake these ungodly influences. You know, it surprises me how often Christians take advice and counsel from the ungodly. From the ungodly, from the wicked. You know, there is a lot, you know, go on YouTube. There is a lot of opinions of how people ought to behave. Go on Facebook. Look at my Facebook friends. There are a lot of opinions out there, brethren, of how we ought to react in these strange days. And you know what? A lot of the opinions that I read about and watch, my heart goes and says, you know what? Yeah, that sounds good. You know, let's go and fight it all, brethren, you know? Let's just, you know, set up a militia and take down these wicked governments. You know what? A lot of this stuff in my heart sounds awesome. I kind of almost wish people would do it, okay? But notice verse number five again. Neither hearken to your dreams, which you have cause to be dreams. You know, sometimes we can have dreams and desires and visions of what, how we hope things ought to be or how we want people to react. But God says don't hearken to those things. Don't listen to the ungodly influences that are in your life. You know, this is why, you know, when I look at COVID world and I just have to look at God's word and I just have to look at Jeremiah and say, what is it God, what message do you have for us from your prophets, from your word? What is it that you want us to teach? Even if it's against my dream, even if it's against my thoughts, even if it's my desire, Lord, what is it that you want me to do? Cause I just want to be a faithful servant of God. That's all I want to be. You know, who cares about this world? I've got a mansion in heaven, brethren. So do you, okay? If I lose my house, I'm going to be looking forward to living in that house for all eternity, okay? I've got streets of gold, okay? I mean, my pavement in front of my house is a few potholes. Man, the one in heaven, pure gold, perfect. I mean, that's where I'm going to live for all eternity, brethren. I don't care what I lose on this earth. I don't care what I lose on this earth. And it's hard to say that, but that's the new man that says it. The old man says, no, no, no, hold on to it. The new man says, who cares? Just lose it all. We've got a place in heaven. Look at verse number 10, Jeremiah 29, verse number 10. So point number four, brethren, was forsake ungodly influences. Be careful who you listen to. Be careful of the advice that you listen to, the opinions of men. Are they even saved? Are they preaching from God's word? Are they directing you from God's word? If they're not, brethren, they could just be ungodly, wicked influences, okay? Verse number 10. For thus saith the Lord, that after 70 years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you in causing you to return to this place. Pastor Kevin, how long is COVID world going to be? I don't know, but get ready for 70 years. Just get ready for it. I don't think it's going to be 70 years, but just get ready for it. These guys had to get ready for 70 years of a new normal. All right, 70 years. That means I'm going to die before, like if I was this person, I would die before things go back to normal, before people are returned to the land. But notice that God wants good toward these people that have been taken into captivity. God wants good toward these people that have lost their freedoms. Verse number 11. He says, look, for I know the thoughts that I think towards you, saith the Lord. Thoughts of peace and not of evil, and to give you an expected end. God says, you know what? I don't wish evil upon you. I don't want you harmed. Even though you've been taken into captivity, this is my judgment for you being a wicked nation, for turning your hearts against the Lord and turning your hearts toward false gods, all right? My judgment's going to fall, and now that you're taken into captivity, God says, look, now I just think good thoughts of peace toward you. I want good toward you. I don't want to continue this evil, this harm forever. You got 70 years, learn your lessons, get on with your life, and then at the end of 70 years, you're going to be brought back into the land. Things are going to be well with you for your children and your grandchildren. Praise God for that. Praise God that he actually wants the best for his people. Okay? Even if it's a time of difficulty. You know, if you're struggling in these days and, you know, concerned and worried, you know, God does not wish evil for you. He does not want you to be harmed. He wants you to be at peace, thoughts of peace. Point number five, brethren, is remember that the Lord has not forgotten you. Remember that the Lord has not forgotten you. This gives me a lot of comfort in my life. When I'm going through trials and difficulties, whatever they are, whatever difficulty it may be, I just think, well, God, you know, I'm your son, I'm your child, Lord, you know me, and you know the difficulty I'm going through, and Lord, you promise that you're not going to forget me. That you see me in this situation, and Lord, I just need you to help me find a way through this period, through this time. I need you to give me answers. I need you to help me overcome these difficulties in my life. Remember that the Lord has not forgotten you. Can you please turn to, keep your finger, then go to Jeremiah 15. You know, one of my favorite phrases in the Bible, because I've seen this over and over again as I read my Bible, and maybe you can pay attention next time you read your Bible, is the phrase, remember me. That phrase, remember me. Every time I read it in the Bible, I pause and I think about it. You know, that there are people, there are saints, there are human beings saying to God, bring me to remembrance. Please think about me, Lord. And that gives me a lot of comfort in my life, because, you know, sometimes we can go through life thinking that God has forgotten us. That we're going through some trial and hardship and think, well, God, where are you? Okay, but you know, God has not forgotten us. God has not forgotten us. I'm going to quickly read to you from Judges 16, verse 28. This is about Samson. You don't need to turn there, you stay in Jeremiah 15. But this is when Samson, you know, had his hair cut, you know, the story of Samson. He lost his strength, he lost his power. He was taken into captivity, or, you know, arrested by the Philistines. And then he was blinded. And man, it looked like for Samson, things were at an end. This is the worst place Samson had ever been in his life. And in verse number 28, it says, And Samson called unto the Lord and said, O Lord God, remember me. Again, every time I see that, just those two words together, for me, I just stop and think about, meditate. What is this, what is going on here? He says, Remember me, I pray thee, and strengthen me, I pray thee, only this once, O God, that I may be at once avenged of the Philistines for my two eyes. So he had his two eyes blinded, right? And he says to the Lord, Remember me. And you know what, the Lord allows Samson to regain that strength, the spirit of the Lord falls upon Samson one last time, and he's able to destroy the Philistines, as was what was prophesied at his birth. You know, but the Lord saw Samson in this difficult place, you know, under arrest, blinded, you know, weak, and God remembered Samson. Another person that says these words, Remember me, is Hannah. You may know Hannah, the mother of Samuel. Hannah was unable to bear children, she was barren for many, many years. It's a great burden on women when they can't fall pregnant. And in 1 Samuel 1, verse 11, it says, this is about Hannah, and she vowed a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if thou wilt indeed look on the affliction of thine handmaid, and remember me, and not forget thine handmaid, but wilt give unto thine handmaid a man-child, then I will give him unto the Lord all the days of his life, and there shall no razor come upon his head. So brethren, she was in anguish because she couldn't fall pregnant. She couldn't have children. And you know what, if there are any mothers listening in that are struggling to fall pregnant, maybe barren, you know, think about the words of Hannah here, you know, Remember me in her time of anguish. Remember me. You know, she's asking the Lord, bring me to remembrance. Don't forget me in this time of difficulty. You're in Jeremiah 15, verse 15. Jeremiah chapter 15, in verse number 15. And now we're looking at Jeremiah. You know what, this phrase, Remember me, was also said by Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was being persecuted by those that did not like his preaching, in Jeremiah 15, 15, he says, O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. So you know, if one day you're suffering because of your stand on the Bible, you know, preaching God's Word, believing God's Word, and you're being rebuked and maybe being persecuted for your beliefs, brethren, that's a time for you to cry out to the Lord and say, Remember me. Remember me in my times of difficulty. And again, just lastly, Luke 23, 42. This is my favorite Remember me. This is my favorite one. Okay, you don't need to turn there. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me, when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, verily I say unto thee, today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Remember me. That's essentially what we're saying when we call upon the Lord for salvation. You know, when we realize that we're a sinner and we're in need of a savior, say to God, Remember me. Think about me, Lord, I want to be in your kingdom with you when you reign forever and ever. Boy, what a phrase, Remember me. And I love that, there's so many times that he's quoted in the Bible. Maybe do your own Bible study one day. But that gives me a lot of comfort, that gives me a lot of joy when I think about these times of difficulties that God's eyes is upon his people. Point number five was remember that the Lord has not forgotten you. Back to Jeremiah 29, verse number 12. Jeremiah 29, verse number 12. God says, Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord. I want you to notice that the next thing that God wants us to do to have this time of peace and a time of turmoil is to seek the Lord, right? Seek the Lord. Seek and find the Lord is point number six. Verse number 14 says, And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord, and I will bring you again into the place where I caused you to be carried away captive. All right, so we see here that the people of Judah, the Jews here, were promised at the end of the 70 years that the Lord will, remember them, the Lord will bring them out of captivity and be brought back onto that land, okay? The land of promise that God had given them. Now again, some of these people would have perished in Babylon captivity, okay? Many of these people would not have seen, you know, the land once again, okay? And I don't know, I don't know whether we'll ever see the normal that we were used to in the last decades. I don't know, okay? So how do we apply this then to us? Well, you know, there's also a time when the Lord's going to come and turn away our captivity. There's also another time, there's going to come a time in verse number 14 where he says, and I will gather you from all the nations. So we're all going to experience this to some extent. You know, one day God's going to come back, Christ is coming back. You know, things are not going to continue like they are forever. Christ is going to come back and he's going to be in his clouds. The second coming of Christ, and you know what he's going to do? He's going to gather all of his saints, all of his believers from these wicked ungodly nations. And so shall we ever be with the Lord, right? And I'll see you there, we'll be there. Okay, we'll both, we'll all be there in the clouds. Instead of seated in these pews right now, all of us in the clouds, okay? That's going to be awesome. And if you've got a fear of heights, don't worry, you're going to have a new resurrected body. That new resurrected body doesn't have a fear of heights, don't worry about it, okay? But it's a wonderful thing to think about this. And we know that of course, you know, once that happens, God will pour out his wrath and his judgment and destroy this wicked world. But the sixth point that I had for you, brethren, is seek and find the Lord, seek and find the Lord. Keep your finger there and go to Matthew chapter 7, Matthew chapter 7. And while you're turning to Matthew 7, I'll read to you from Isaiah 55 verse 6. Isaiah 55 and verse number 6, which says, Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near. So it's quite interesting that it says, seek ye the Lord while he may be found. You know, I often think about the, you know, people that have the opportunity to grow up in church. You know, our children have the opportunity to grow up in church and hear the gospel from the preacher, hear the gospel from their parents. And it's a sad thing when some children grow up not calling upon the Lamb of the Lord, not believing on Christ, on his death, burial and resurrection. And then they're far from God. And they're out of church. And they're living like the world. And yes, many become reprobate, okay? Because you see, seeking the Lord, there's a limited time for you to seek the Lord. Okay? Seek the Lord while he may be found. You know, you can't think that, well, I'll just believe on Christ at my deathbed or something like that. Okay? No, God gives you time now, seek him while he may be found. Because listen, if you're given over to a reprobate mind, that time is over. You know, if you die, you know, we could die on the way home. You know, I mean, I hope not, you know, after church, car accident, that's the end of you. And if you've not called upon the name of the Lord, you've not believed on the Lord, that's it. He can't be found anymore. You know? And so use the time that God has given you. And you know what? God has given us 2021. And God has given us these difficulties to live through and to get on with our lives. And you know what? God is asking us to seek him now. Seek him while he may be found. Seek him for the peace that we need in our lives. Look at Matthew chapter seven, verse number seven. Matthew chapter seven, verse number seven, Jesus says, Brethren, do you need answer to prayer? Do you need God to step in and do something great for your life? Well, you know what? Go and seek the Lord, go and ask the Lord, seek him and go knock. No, you have to do something, brethren. You need to go to the Lord and say, Lord, I want to seek you with all my heart. Lord, I need an answer to these difficult times or the difficult situation that I find myself in. You know, and we need to use the time that God has. Don't waste your time, brethren. Don't waste your time. Seek the Lord now while he may be found. You know, God has given us his word. We can find the Lord through the word. You know, we may face a future where these Bibles get taken from us and burnt. You know, we can seek him now and find the truths of his word right now. We have that privilege. You know what, even if people take these Bibles and burn them and try to hide God's truth, we've always got technology these days, right? I don't think God's word's going anywhere, you know. It's become more accessible now than it ever has, you know, in any time. Anyway, back to Jeremiah 29, verse number 15. Jeremiah 29, verse number 15. Jeremiah 29, verse 15 says, Because ye have said the Lord have raised us a prophet in Babylon... Now, just, sorry, I should pause here. We sort of take a new direction in this chapter now. And so God has given them advice how to find peace and how to find comfort in these times of difficulties. Now God is again addressing these false prophets that are preaching otherwise, preaching the opposite thing. Verse number 15. Because ye have said the Lord have raised us a prophet in Babylon, Know that thou saith the Lord of the king that sitteth upon the throne of David, and of all the people that dwelleth in this city, and of your brethren that are not gone forth with you into captivity. Okay, let's stop there for a minute. So what God is about to say are about the brethren that have not gone forth with you into captivity. Okay, you can see that. So these are brethren that said, no, we're not going to give in to the king of Babylon. No, we're not going to accept this new normal. No, we're going to stay and keep things as they are. Well, this is the message to these people. Okay, verse number 17. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, behold, I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Man, I know that if I was living Jeremiah's day, and I heard that, I'd be offended. I know, I know if I heard that, that Jeremiah's preaching would be unpopular even to me. And he says, look, these people that are rebelling against this judgment, that are rebelling against this foreign wicked power, you know what, God says they're like vile figs to me. They cannot be eaten, they're not profitable, they are so evil. They're so harmful. They're harming themselves, they're harming the families, they're harming the people around them. And then it says in verse number 18, And I will persecute them with the sword and with the famine, with the pestilence, and will deliver them to be removed to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse, and an astonishment, and an hissing, and a reproach among all the nations, whither I have driven them, because they have not hearkened to my word, saith the Lord, which I sent unto them by my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, that ye would not hear, saith the Lord. All right, so, you know, again, this is just new normal, and I hate that phrase. But let's use it for now, okay? But, brethren, again, get on with your life, find the peace of God, okay? Just stop rebellion, stop being frustrated, stop being angry, okay? Because otherwise, it's gonna be worse for you. It's gonna be worse for you, okay? Harken to the, don't harken to my words, harken to the words of my servants the prophets. Harken unto them, harken unto Jeremiah, okay? Because I don't even like what I'm preaching today, brethren. I'm just being honest with you, you know? But it doesn't matter what I like, okay? It's not about what I like. I don't come to church to preach what I like, okay? Because that's not what you wanna hear. You wanna hear what God has to say, amen? I wanna hear what, I wanna preach what God has to say. I know things are gonna be well with me if I just preach what God says. If I preach what I like, if I preach my dreams and my imaginations, it's gonna end bad for me. It's gonna end bad for this church, okay? Now, keep your finger there, go to Jeremiah 24, please. Go to Jeremiah 24. I've already preached on this, but just very quickly, just to remind you, why is it that these people are called vile figs to God? Why is it, and you may remember Jeremiah 24 deals with this topic of the figs. So let me just remind you what this meant, okay? We're just gonna read a few verses here. Jeremiah 24 and verse number 5. Jeremiah 24, verse number 5. Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. So who are the good figs? Those that are surrendering to Babylon, surrendering to Nebuchadnezzar, okay? They're putting the yoke upon their necks, and they're just getting on with it, okay? They're the good figs. Verse number 6. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land, and I will build them, and not pull them down, and I will plant them, and not pluck them up. And I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, for they shall return unto me with their whole heart. And then it says this in verse number 8. And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil. So you can see the same language that's used in Jeremiah 29. They are so evil. Surely thus saith the Lord, so will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt. And I will deliver them to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth for their hurt, to be a reproach and a proverb, a taunt and a curse in all places, whither I shall drive them. So you can see Jeremiah's reminding the people that he'd taken to captivity about this prophecy that he preached about in Jeremiah 24. And of course the call for us, brethren, is to be the good figs. We don't want to be the viral figs. We don't want to be the evil figs. We don't want to be these naughty figs, these figs that are worthless to God. We want to be sweet figs. You know what? That means we have to lose some of our liberties. You know what? God can still use us. How many people in the Bible are in prison or being persecuted and they're losing their privileges, losing their rights, and they're still serving God. They're still serving God, all right? So don't have this mindset that I can only serve God if things are pleasant and perfect and I've got all my freedoms and I'm living life exactly how I want. No, you know what? God may allow you to lose a lot of what you have and still use you in a powerful way, okay? To be one of these good figs and not an evil fig. Back to Jeremiah 29, verse number 20. Jeremiah 29 and verse number 20. Once again, God is preaching against these false prophets that are preaching them otherwise. Verse number 20. The son of Coliah and of Zedekiah, the son of Maasaih. So Ahab here and Zedekiah, these prophets, these are false prophets, okay? So they're in captivity and they're not preaching to just get on with life. They're preaching the opposite. They're kind of preaching like, let's rebel. You know, let's get back to our land. Let's just fight this thing, okay? This is what these guys are preaching. You'll soon see this. King of Babylon and he shall slay them before your eyes. You know, some false prophets, they don't give up, okay? They've been preaching against Jeremiah this whole time. Now they're taken into captivity. They know what Jeremiah is saying is true but they just can't accept it. They're just full of pride. They can't accept, well, I was wrong. The right thing to do would be, I was wrong and now I'm going to get right on this. You know, I once believed the pre-trib rapture. You know what, I was wrong and now I've got to get right on that, okay? And that's just normal. All of us believe wrong things. All of us believe something. I'm sure I still believe some wrong things. But you know what? When God's word is proven to me and I see something clear as they, black and white in God's word, I usually just say, well, I was wrong, God and I want to get right. Because the last thing I want to do is be like one of these prophets that get taken to King Nebuchadnezzar and get slain. Verse number 22. That was their end. That's how they got slain. They got burnt up in fire. You know, that was their end. The King of Babylon killed them. Now, here's the thing about this brethren. Well, let me keep going. Verse number 23. So that's something they've been doing wrong. These false prophets, they've been hunting the wives of other men. But not only that, it says, So they're preaching things that God did not command. Okay? They're preaching things that are lies. Now, again, things, it seems like COVID world, people have reacted in a way that I did not expect. Okay? Now, you know, I was happy to comply with church being closed down for a period of time. Okay? And I don't keep going over these stories because like I have this like burden on my heart. I don't. Like my conscience is completely cleared. But again, I look at these things and I just, I kind of see, I can see Jeremiah playing out in the real world. Okay? You know, there are other pastors that defied it all. And they said, you know what? We're not going to listen to Nebuchadnezzar. We're not going to listen to spiritual Babylon. You know, we don't care about them coming into the house of the Lord and taken away. And we're just going to keep serving the Lord. We're just going to keep. Okay? And you know what? My heart, when I hear that, I'm just being honest with you. My heart rejoices. You know, to think, well, man, there are Christians that are really going to stand up and that's how much they love the Lord. And, but then I just, but we got to separate. Are these your dreams? Is this what God has commanded from you? Or, you know, is this a biblical position or is this just your heart? Is this your rebellious heart? You know, are you a good fig or are you an evil fig? Which one are you, brethren? You know? And I've got to think about these things, right? And the reason I say this is because, and I'm not here to attack other pastors. I don't, especially pastors that I know are saved and love the Lord and are trying to win souls. But sometimes I look at my Facebook feed and I've got pastors on my Facebook feed, right? And if you don't know that there's been a recent pastor in Canada that was arrested. He was arrested for 35 days and he's from a church called Grace Life Church, okay? Grace Life Church in Canada, okay? So they ran church services when apparently they weren't supposed to, right? Because of COVID, whatever. And he was arrested for 35 days, okay? And you say, Pastor Kevin, you know, he's faced persecution. Are you going to support him? Are you going to get behind him? Well, you know what? I kind of want to want to. I kind of want to be like, man, praise God for you. You know, I hope you succeed. I hope you take down wicked Babylon here. That's part of me, right? But then, and look, and again, these are pastor friends of mine. So if one of my pastor friends listens to this and you get offended, you know, I'm just preaching God's word here, okay? Here's the thing though. You know, I see some of these pastor friends post on Facebook, praise God for this man. Praise God that some Canadians are standing up against the wicked government or whatever like this, right? And I think, okay, who's this pastor's name? His pastor, James Coates. So, and I know some of these pastors are zealous for God's word. I know some of these pastors are zealous for the gospel. And you know what? I'm zealous for the gospel. I believe salvation is by grace through faith. It's by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, you know, just trusting Christ, his sacrifice alone for salvation, believing in him, calling upon Jesus Christ to save you. And it's a done deal. There's nothing you have to do besides that, brethren. And you know what? Other pastors that preach other things, other pastors say, well, you got to keep the commandments. You know, you got to repent of your sins. You know, you got to make Jesus the Lord of your life and obey him and follow him and become a disciple to be saved. You know what? Those are false prophets. Those are, it doesn't matter if they're doing something that in my heart thinks, wow, that's wonderful, that's great. If they're preaching a false gospel, they're false prophets. They're not saved. They're damning people to hell. You know what? Pastor James Coates of Grace Life Church in Canada, he's a false prophet, okay? I went to his church. This is what he teaches word for word about salvation. We teach that justification before God is an act of God by which he declares righteous those who, through faith in Christ, oh, that sounds awesome. Yeah, I believe in faith in Christ for salvation, repent of their sins. So two things you got to do, and confess him as sovereign Lord. If you don't know, that's a term used for lordship salvation. So you got to follow him all the days of your life to be saved, right? Lordship salvation, repent of your sins, clean up your life. This is another gospel. This gospel dares people to hell and there are pastors on Facebook promoting this guy saying what a wonderful pastor who's standing against the COVID restrictions. What in the world? What's happened? Because before COVID, these same pastors would be preaching against that wicked man. He was leading people to damnation. What has happened? It's like, but he's been persecuted for God. Yeah, same like these false prophets that got burnt by the fire, roasted in the fire by the King of Babylon. How is it that I can, before COVID, preach against these people and now in COVID, oh, what great men? What in the world is going on? I'm confused, brethren. By men of God that should know better, you're promoting a wicked man. Like what if it's a Muslim, what are Muslim leaders? Iman. What if it's a Muslim Iman that's rebelling against authority? Are you gonna praise him as well? Because they're both doing the same job. They're both leading people to hell. In fact, the Christian one is even worse because the gospel is so close it deceives even people that are seeking the Lord. Are you gonna praise some Buddhist monk? If he's, you know, put him on Facebook, well, what a great man of God. Okay, look, just because people agree with you politically doesn't mean they're great people. Okay, you know what? You and I can have completely separate positions on politics, on how we think the world needs to be governed and run, okay? We can have completely different ideas in that area, but at the same, you know, our commonality is Jesus Christ. It's the gospel, it's salvation. It's Jesus, it's the same spirit, it's the same Lord that we worship. How can I possibly use a platform as a religious leader, as someone that looks up to a pastor, right, for leadership and that pastor promoting some wicked man, a false prophet, okay? So be careful, be careful, because you know, my dreams, my heart, yeah, let's support these James Coates. But you're sending people to hell. Why would I promote such a man? Is that the guy I want? So my point being, brethren, is just because someone suffers persecution for the name of Christ doesn't mean they're doing what God wants them to do. Okay, it doesn't mean they're doing what God wants them to do. Yeah. Jeremiah 29, verse number 24. Jeremiah 29, verse number 24. Thus shalt thou also speak to Shemaiah the Nahalemite, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, saying, Because thou hast sent letters in thine name unto all the people that are at Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Masamiah the priest, and to all the priests saying, The Lord hath made thee priest in the stead of Jehoiada the priest, that ye should be officers in the house of the Lord, for every man that is mad and maketh himself a prophet, that thou shouldest put him in prison and in the stocks. All right, so Shemaiah, Shemaiah is basically setting himself up to be a prophet, and he's sending letters, okay? Shemaiah is one of these people in captivity. He's sending letters the other way. So Jeremiah's sending letters from Jerusalem to those in captivity. Well, this false prophet is sending letters from his captivity to Jerusalem, okay? And in his letter, what we just read is his letter. So when it says, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, this is not really God's words. This is what the false prophet is saying that God is saying. Okay? Now, what is this false prophet saying? In verse number 26, it says, For every man that is mad, mad means like insane, he's lost his sanity, he's gone crazy, okay? And maketh himself a prophet, thou shaltest put him in prison and in the stocks. What he's speaking about here is Jeremiah. He's saying to the priests and the preachers in the temple, hey, you know what? Jeremiah, he's setting himself up to be a prophet. He's insane, he's mad. You should put him in prison, okay? Because look at verse number 27. Now, therefore, why hast thou not reproved Jeremiah of Anathoth? Why haven't you not corrected him, which maketh himself a prophet to you? So say, look, Jeremiah, you ought to arrest this guy, all right? We're trying to preach these people. We got to get out of Babylon. Jeremiah's saying, hey, get comfortable, get used to it. Find some peace, okay? So you got to arrest this guy. We don't like his message, it's unpopular. Hey, maybe my sermon today is unpopular, I don't know. Okay, again, get mad at Jeremiah, it's his sermon. Okay, it's his sermon. It's his book, get mad at Jeremiah. I'm joking, by the way, don't get mad at Jeremiah. Verse number 28. For therefore he sent unto us in Babylon. So this is what Jeremiah is saying to us, saying, this captivity is long, build your houses and dwell in them and plant gardens and eat the fruit of them. And Zephaniah the priest read this letter in the ears of Jeremiah the prophet. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, sent to all them, sorry, sent to all them of the captivity, saying, thus saith the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nephthalamite, because that Shemaiah have prophesied to you and I sent him not, and he calls you to trust in a lie, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, I will punish Shemaiah the Nephthalamite and his seed. He shall not have a man to dwell among his people, neither shall he behold the good that I will do for my people, saith the Lord, because they have taught rebellion against the Lord. So can you just go back to the last chapter there in Jeremiah 28? This judgment is essentially the same judgment that we read about in Jeremiah 28, when Jeremiah was going up against the false prophet, Hananiah. Because in Jeremiah 28, verse number 15, it says, then said the prophet Jeremiah unto Hananiah the prophet, hear now Hananiah, the Lord hath not sent thee, but thou makest his people trust in a lie. So that's the same thing that was said about, what's the other guy's name? Forgot his name. Shemaiah, yeah. And then it says, therefore thus saith the Lord, behold, I will cast thee from off the face of the earth, this year shalt thou die, thou shalt die, because thou has taught rebellion against the Lord. Again, same words about this other prophet. So Hananiah the prophet died the same year in the seventh month. So here's the thing about this, right? Jeremiah's prophesying the same judgment, okay, that this guy's gonna perish. He's not gonna have a seed in the land. He's not gonna see the goodness of God. And so, you know, I assume the people of this land, you know, have seen, cause this was a very public rebuke of Jeremiah with Hananiah. They have seen when Jeremiah has preached these words, the guy died two months later. The first prophet died two months later, okay? And now Jeremiah's saying the same thing about Shemaiah, okay, and I assume now people have learned the lesson. And we better listen to Jeremiah. We better listen to what he has to say. All right, anyway, in conclusion brethren, as I said to you, the title of the sermon was Thoughts of Peace. Let me just summarize very quickly the six things for you to find peace in this COVID world. Okay, number one, get on with your life. Number two, prioritize your family. Number three, pray for peace. Number four, forsake ungodly influences. Number five, remember that the Lord has not forgotten you. And number six, seek and find the Lord. Let's pray.