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So Jeremiah 33, look at verse number 3. It says, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things. The title for the sermon this morning is Great and Mighty Things. Now the Lord wants to show us some great and mighty things. The Lord wants to do some great and mighty works through you and show you those great things. But what you can see there, just at the beginning, it says call unto me. We have to be people that want to desire to see those great and mighty things. And so what I believe we can take out of this chapter here is consider what God looks at and considers to be great and mighty things, how that applied to the Jews in this day of Jeremiah, how that it can apply to us today, and also how it will look like in the millennial reign of Jesus Christ. So let's start there in verse number 1, Jeremiah 33, verse number 1. Now this is a continuation of Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah 32, you may recall that Jeremiah was in prison. He was arrested, he was in prison, and basically he's in the same place here in Jeremiah 33, verse number 1. It says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah the second time, while he was yet shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the Maker thereof, the Lord that formed it, to establish it. The Lord is his name. Then he says those words, Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. Now Brevin, as I said, if you want to see some great and mighty things, you have to want it, you have to go to the Lord and call for it, and he will answer thee, the Bible says here. Now one thing you need to understand, your prayer life is so important. You know, sometimes as Christians we may feel, well God knows everything that I need, why should I ask him? You know, I seem to have everything that I need right now, and prayer can be something that in our Christian life we drop very easily. You know, it's not so easy to drop church attendance, because when you drop church attendance, everyone kind of notices. Like it's a bit of a public thing. You know, it's easy I guess to drop some places in your Christian life where it's not so noticeable, and one of those places can be your prayer life. One of those places can be the reading of the Word. But notice that you're not going to get the answers to your prayers. God's not going to step in and do great and mighty things if you don't go to him in prayer, if you don't call upon him, and not only will he do some great and mighty things, the end of verse number three says, which thou knowest not. He's saying, look, you don't even know how great, how, you know, what mighty works that I can do and show you and do through you unless you first go to the Lord. You know, God can use us and you may think, you know, I'm just, you know, I don't have that much knowledge of the Bible, you know. I haven't been saved all that long and, you know, my family's messed up, my relationships are messed up, my friends are, you know, I've got bad friends and, you know, the hymns, I'm not even a good singer to the Lord, how can God use me? Listen, God can do mighty things for anybody. Anybody that he's saved, anybody that has a heart toward God, any person that is calling upon the Lord, God can show you some great and mighty things. I never thought I'd be a pastor. Like, if I was just a regular church member back in the day, I'd look at being a pastor and go, that would never be able to do that. That's too great for me. Like, it's too much responsibility. Like, it requires too much knowledge. It requires the ability to get up and speak in front of people and not be embarrassed, not be ashamed. But then I used to think about that about soul winning. Some people go on soul winning and go, I can never do that. I can never go out to some random stranger, knock on their door, and try to give them the gospel. It's too great and mighty for me to do. Right? But here's the thing about, you know, the Lord. He works for us. He doesn't just unleash the great and mighty things all at once. He takes steps, you know, line upon line, precept upon precept. He allows us to go through little steps at a time and they are small steps, they are steps that we can take, steps that we can have faith in the Lord and trust in him and then he will eventually add more and more responsibility. He will show you more and more greater works as you go about life. Don't forget King David, before he took down Goliath, he took down the bear and the lion first that was attacking his sheep. Then he was able to take on the Goliath, take on the Philistines who was endangering the entire nation. Okay? Before David did great and mighty things, he was just focused on the job that he had, being a shepherd. Nobody even knew who the name of David was. When Samuel came looking for a king, he didn't even think of David. He looked at the brothers of David and said, surely these great men here, one of these will be king and David was just faithfully serving the Lord as a shepherd, you know, and just doing the small task that God had asked him of and then eventually King David became someone where God was able to do some great and mighty things for his life. So again, the which thou knowest not, you don't know how much God can do through you. You don't know until you put the Lord, you know, and you seek him and you ask him, Lord, can you work for me? Can you change me? Can you build me up? Can you make me someone great? Verse number four. And by the way, someone great in the kingdom of God. Just because you're great, you know, you can be great in the kingdom of God doesn't mean you're going to be great in this world. In fact, if you're going to be great in the kingdom of God, you're not going to be great in this world, considered in this world. Okay? So you can't have one or the other. You want to be great in this world, you're not going to be great for the Lord. Okay? Verse number four. For thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning the houses of this city, and concerning the houses of the kings of Judah, which are thrown down by the mounts and by the sword, they come to fight with the Chaldeans, but it is to fill them with the dead bodies of men, whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury, and for all whose wickedness I have hid my face from this city. And so don't forget that while Jeremiah, we saw this in chapter 32, as Jeremiah is in prison, the city of Jerusalem was already under siege. He was besieged by the Babylonians, the armies were already out there. And what we see here in verse number five is that there seems to be one final attempt, one final attempt by the kings, one final attempt by the armies of the city to go and fight against the Chaldeans or the Babylonians. And God is saying, look, you know, it's like you just, you haven't understood. This is my judgment. This is my judgment on the nation. This is my judgment on these people. And you go out and you fight against these Chaldeans, all you're doing is filling up the dead bodies of men. All you're doing is adding more dead bodies around the city. There's no point of fighting God's judgment. And when we're being judged by God in our life, you know, it might look like in the form of chastisement or correction, don't fight God about it. Just go, okay, Lord, you're correcting me. You know, stop being filled up with pride and say, I'm going to fight this. I'm not going to take this, Lord. Just accept the judgment of God. And listen, if you just accept God's judgment, you follow through with how He wants to work in you, yeah, He will make you that great and mighty person. But if you're rebelling against the Lord, rebelling against authorities, rebelling against those that God has put over you, you're never going to achieve great and mighty works for God. Okay? Verse number six. Now, again, this chapter, you know, is positive. A lot of the chapters that we've been looking at lately have been quite positive in the sense, yeah, even though the nation is very wicked, God is promising them. You know, chapter after chapter now, in these chapters of Jeremiah, there's that promise that they're going to be returned back into the land. You know, when we look at the first few chapters, I don't know, it was about 20 chapters of Jeremiah, the first 20, it's just judgment after judgment after judgment. It just looks horrible for the nation. But now God is focusing on their return back to the land. Okay? And so it's quite positive in the sense in verse number six, it says, Behold, I will bring it, that's bring the nation, health and cure, and I will cure them, and we will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. Hey, that's positive. God's judging this wicked nation, but it says, Look, I'm going to cure you. Now, again, we know that this generation that was taken into captivity is a reprobate nation. That nation will not be cured. That generation will not be cured. We know that subsequent generations, as they're there in 70 years, eventually they're going to get sick of the captivity, eventually they're going to learn the lesson, eventually they're going to accept the judgment of God, eventually they're going to be godly men that raise up in that next generation that will cause the children of Israel, the Jews, to return back into that land. And that's the health, that's the cure that God is speaking about. Verse number seven, because it says here, And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them as at the first. Now, if you can just keep your, actually no, I'll just read it to you. Just stay there. I'm going to read to you from 2 Chronicles 7, verse number 14. Because as we're looking at, and it's a very famous passage I'm going to read to you, you probably already know it, but as we're looking at this wicked nation of Judah, remember we keep drawing parallels to the wicked nation of Australia. And look, I don't take comfort in saying, well, yeah, Australia's wicked, but so is the rest of the world. Just because the rest of the world is wicked doesn't mean Australia has to be wicked. Just because churches in Australia are dropping their service for the Lord and dropping the soul winning doesn't mean we have to drop that. Just because other people are doing wicked things and not serving the Lord doesn't mean we have to follow suit. We don't need to compare ourselves to the wicked and say, well, we're doing okay. No, we need to compare ourselves to the Lord and His word. How well are we doing in accordance to His word? You know, the world gets worse and worse. You know, let's say 100 years ago this side of the pulpit represents the world, okay? The wickedness of the world, the sin of the world, you know? And here we are as Christians on this side trying to live a righteous life and we look at the world and say, well, we're not as wicked as the world, are we? Because we're over here. The world's over there. We're not as wicked. But then we have God's commands and God's will and God's, you know, instructions for life and they're over here and we're striving as God's people maybe 100 years ago to live in accordance to God's ways and yeah, you know, we come short, right? We're not perfect. We keep striving to live a godly life and we go, well, you know, at least we're not as bad as the world. But here's the thing. The world gets worse and worse and worse and here's what's happening to churches. They're getting worse and worse and worse and instead of seeing how far they are now from the will of God and the commandments of God, they're still going in 2021. Well, we're not as bad as the world, okay? And then we just get worse and worse and worse and worse and we're right here where the world is. In fact, churches are worse. Many churches are worse where the world was 100 years ago. You know, 100 years ago, homosexuality was not allowed in Australia. It was against the law. And you know what? In 2021, there are churches now appointing homosexuals as ordained leaders in churches. So they're doing worse than the world was 100 years ago. But hey, we're not as bad as the world though. I mean, that's a ridiculous way to measure your Christian life. We measure ourselves compared to the word of God, to His commandments, right? And so don't get comfortable and go, well, the whole world is, you know, messed up. Well, it is messed up, but you know what? It doesn't mean Sydney has to be messed up. It doesn't mean Fairfield East has to be messed up. It doesn't mean Blessed Hope Baptist Church has to be messed up, okay? Because God tells us in 2 Chronicles 7, 14, I'll just read it to you. He says, He says, What a promise by God. This is for Israel? Yeah, this is for Judah. It's for all the nations. You know, we're looking at the men, just the history of the Bible there. And you know, we have the book of Obadiah, which is written primarily to the Edomites. We have the book of Jonah that is primarily written to Nineveh, okay? So God, even though a lot of the Bible deals with the nation that he built a special covenant with, God still cared about what the other nations were doing, okay? And God was so close to destroying Nineveh, a wicked city, a wicked king, leading that nation down the toilet, Jonah comes in with a preaching of God's word, and that same king, instead of being taken out, that same king goes, Wow, man, you know, we're far from the Lord. God's going to destroy, we need to get right with the Lord. And they turn from their wicked way, they petition God, and God has mercy upon them, and they don't get destroyed the way God intended, okay? Listen, we serve the same God. God has not changed, okay? If we can fix this nation, hey, but it begins by fixing our own homes, it begins by fixing our own churches, it begins by fixing our own cities, our own nation, then there's no reason why God cannot do the same for Sydney or Australia. There's no reason why he cannot be merciful to us and pull back his judgment and turn the hearts of the people and heal our nation, but it begins with God's people. If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, remember, we have a big responsibility in our nation. Our nation depends on us in a sense, you know, from the judgment of God, from the wrath of God. And look, I don't know if things have gone so bad where it's just never going to recover, but one thing that we learned through history, you know, it's not the first time the world is wicked, exceedingly wicked, you know, either people get right with the Lord, okay, and there's a change in direction in the nation, or God just has to destroy the place like a Sodom and Gomorrah and just start all over again, or destroy Judah, you know, and then start all over again 70 years later. You know, at some point God says, all right, it's beyond fixing, I've got to destroy it, and then we'll fix it back up later, or we can turn the hearts of our nation, but we can only do that if we do what God has called us to do, okay? We pray to him, we call upon him, he will answer the, and I want to see the great and mighty things. I want to see our nation come back to the Lord, or just a fear of God. That would be a great and mighty thing, would it not be? Which they'll know it's not, because I kind of look at it and go, it's not going to happen. I can't see Australia getting right with God, but listen, God has his promises in his word. Maybe it can happen, okay, maybe it can happen, but it depends on us for everyone. Are we going to serve the Lord the way we've been called to serve him? And so we can see the wickedness of the nation of Judah plus the healing. Well, I believe we can apply that to Australia as well. I believe we can apply that to us just individually as well, okay? Because we all struggle with sin, don't we? We all have sins that we struggle with, and there are some sins that we find victory in, and maybe some sins where you have victory for a long time and then you go back to that sin, or there are just some sins that you just struggle on a daily basis and you just, it just distorts you, right? And you're just like, why can't I have victory in this area, okay? You need to understand, this is a struggle we all go through. You know, it might be different sins, but we all go through something similar, sins that we struggle with, and it may feel like we can't get the health, we can't get the cure, we can't seem to have victory over this sin, but look, when Christ resurrected from the dead, he had victory over sin. He's given us the ability to overcome this world and to overcome our sins, but it depends on us walking in the new man, okay? And look, if we just seek God's face, we call upon him, ask him to help us, and believe in God's hand and say, God, this is a sin that I just can't have victory over, and it tears me down, it upsets me, I feel like I can't serve you, I feel like I'm filthy. Well, Lord, you know, it's the Lord that can help you, it's the Lord that can heal you, it's the Lord that can cure you, it's the Lord that can do some great and mighty things for you. You know, in your spiritual life, I'm sure there are some things in your life that you can look back on after being saved and say, man, look where I was when I was lost, look where I am now, look where God has led me, look at the knowledge that I've gained, look at the victories that I've been able to have, look at the souls that I've been able to save for the Lord, you know? And again, why were you able to do that? Because God was able to do some great and mighty things in your life because you called upon him, you asked him for the help. And you need to remember, this is just our life forever. You will never become this super mature Christian, never needing the Lord, you will always need to continue calling upon the Lord to be able to help you do these great and mighty things, which thou knowest not. Verse number 8. Listen, we go to the Lord in prayer, asking for forgiveness. It says, and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me, and I will pardon all, I want you to focus on that word, all their iniquities, whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me. In 1 John 1.9, it says, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. This is not about salvation, this is about our walk with the Lord, our fellowship with the Lord, where we taint our fellowship with the Lord when we go and do the works of darkness, when we go and sin against the Lord, okay? We break that fellowship with the Lord, but God's, look, he's a forgiven God. It just requires humility. We go to the Lord, call upon him, ask him to forgive us our iniquities. The Bible says he'll forgive them all, all our iniquities. And then what we often forget is, well, God's forgiven me, but we don't forgive ourselves. Okay? And we just keep beating ourselves up about our sins, right? And say, oh, I'm a terrible person, I'm a hopeless person, how can God use me? God's already forgiven you. All of them. All your sins have been forgiven. In fact, all your sins have already been paid for in Jesus Christ. Okay? They've all been forgiven. And the reason why God forgives them all is so you can have that reset. Okay, okay, right now I'm clean with God. I've confessed my sins, right now I'm clean. Right now I can be the fellowship with God. I'd better pick up my Bible. Maybe if I have time, let's do some soul-willing, because I'm clean with the Lord right now. Amen? That's a good time to serve the Lord, when you've confessed your sins. Okay? Instead of beating yourself up, because then you're not going to do the great and mighty things. You know, if you're just downcast and upset all the time, just understand we're all sinners, you're a sinner, and we're going to sin till the day we die, and we need to just try to get those victories in our life. It can take time. Okay? It can take time. But again, it's just one thing after another. You know, when you get saved, God does not expect you to be this perfect, holy Christian with no problems. It's a little bit at a time. Get rid of a little bit of sin at a time, a little bit, a little bit, a little bit. If you find yourself struggling with some kind of sin that you just can't overcome, stop feeding the temptations of that sin, whatever that might look like. Okay? Get rid of feeding that sin, feeding that old man, get rid of those things, and eventually God will be able to give you the ability to overcome and do those great and mighty things. God can bring health and cure in our lives. Verse number nine. And it shall be to me a name of joy. That's about Jerusalem and Judah. A praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them. And they shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I procure unto it. And so you can see here that once we confess our sins to the Lord, once we walk in fellowship with Him, God wants us to have joy. God wants us to be happy as Christians. You know, I don't want a church full of sad, upset, depressed people. Okay? Now is there a time to mourn? Of course there is. Is there a time of sorrow? Of course there is. Okay? But really our life ought to look like a life of joy. Okay? And again, you know, we live in this time of COVID-19 and restrictions and frustrations and border closures and et cetera, et cetera. You know, vaccinations, right? And you can either get frustrated. You know, you can be like the rest of the world and just be in constant frustration. Or you can say, no, you know, God's given me joy. Who cares how wicked this world's going to get? I'm going to be happy. God's given me a day of life. He's given me another opportunity to serve Him. He's given me another opportunity to learn His word and to read His Bible and to praise the Lord and Sunday to be in church. I'm going to use it. I'm going to be happy. Because God has given me life. He's given me days to enjoy for Him. A praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth. You know what? That's what I want. You know, what I really want for Blessed Our Baptist Church is, again, I don't know if there's going to be further restrictions on churches once again. Mask and singing and all that. You know what? I don't want the world to see us leave church all upset. Oh, I've got to wear the mask. Oh, man, it would have been good to sing at church today. You know what? It doesn't matter what effect this world has on our church. I want us, as we leave the doors, to have big smiles on our faces and for the world to go, man, we're trying to make it hard for the church, but they're still happy. Because I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. I'm saved. I'm going to heaven. God's given me more days of my life. And listen, the harder the world makes it for us, the greater the blessings will be in heaven. The rejoicing, the greater the rejoicing will be. The greater the rewards will be in heaven. So it's all positive for God's people. Verse number 10. So God's saying when he brings judgment and they're all taken into exile, there's just, it's going to be, basically the land's going to be almost dead. There's not going to be man. There's not going to be beasts. There might be wild beasts. Like, it's all mainly about the fact that they were, like, farmers. They had their cattle and things like that. So there's not going to be that kind of production of the land. Verse number 11. Sorry. No, my mistake. Sorry. So what it's saying in verse number 10 is that when they return back to the land, then they're going to have the animals and the beasts and the people once again, right? All that production is going to return. So it's going to go away at the time of activity, sorry, captivity, but at the end of the 70 years, all of that is going to return, okay? People are going to be productive once again. Verse number 11. So what else returns to the land after 70 years? The voice of joy, the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride. By the way, that's marriage. The bridegroom, the groom, the man, and the bride, okay? It's not the voice of the bride and the bride, okay? It's not the voice of the groom and the groom. No, it's the voice of the bridegroom and his bride, okay? That's marriage, a man and a woman. I shouldn't have to say that, but 2021, okay? The voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts, for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth forever, and of them that shall bring the sacrifice of praise into the house of the Lord, for I will cause to return the captivity of the land as at the first saith the Lord. So you've got that return to the land and, you know, not only will they be productive, but there will be marriages back in the land, okay, during this time of judgment. Now, you know, I want to talk to the singles right now, you know, those that are unmarried or not, it doesn't seem like marriage is on the, you know, there in the future. Look, I think it would be hard, I know, I think it would be hard for me if I was single for an extended period of time, you know, and I couldn't see a wife in the future because, you know, God created man to have a wife, you know, to get married and to be fruitful and multiply and all those kinds of things. And I just want to pause here for a moment. I know we're talking about an entire nation here, okay, but you can see here that if the people of God just clean themselves up, right, they get right with God, right, that they become righteous, they stop comparing themselves to the world, they just take the judgment of God, they take the correction, that they work on themselves, all right, that one day God's going to bring back the voice of gladness, he's going to bring the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, okay. So I know this is to the nation but we want to apply this to us as well, okay. Listen, God wants us to get married. Unless you've been called and given that special gift to be a eunuch, but the vast majority of us have been called to get married and it may seem like for some singles that that may never happen in my life, okay, it may seem like that. But listen, while you're not married, just take the instructions that we see from God's word, all right, clean up your life, live more holy, do the works that God would ask us to do, call upon him. And listen, God can do some great and mighty things in your life. You know, it may not look like where's that wife or to the woman, where's that husband. Listen, okay, that's a great and mighty thing, okay, that I know it's not. To you it may look like it never happened. Look, God is just waiting for you to just get right with him, walk in his ways, do the best you can, just learn from the Bible, okay, and then just call upon him, ask him, and he'll answer thee. And yes, marriage is a great and mighty thing, okay. I don't know where that spouse may be, could be already in this church, who knows, could be out there when you knock doors, okay, could be someone that you get saved and you bring them to church, I don't know, I don't know where they are, brethren, but God knows where they are, okay. And I reckon, as a single person, you should be praying, you know, if you're a man, praying for your future wife, and if you're a woman, praying for your future husband. You know, you don't know who they are, thou knowest not, but God knows. God has the answer to your prayers. You know, let me encourage you, because even here, there's a point in time where the land of Israel, the land of Judah, was not having marriages, okay, but they get back right with God, they serve God, and then God opens the doors for that rejoicing, okay, of marriage. Verse number 12, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, again in this place, Sorry, Brother Rams, could you turn this one off? I think some warm air is coming out of that air con. Verse number 12, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, again in this place, which is desolate, without man and without beast, and in all the cities thereof, shall be inhabitation of shepherds, causing their flocks to lie down. So, God is saying, look, the shepherds are going to return back to the land as well, they're going to have flocks, things are going to get back to normal, right, there's going to be productivity, there's going to be a working economy for the Jews, return to farming, verse number 13, In the cities of the mountains, and in the cities of the vale, and in the cities of the south, and in the land of Benjamin, and in the places about Jerusalem, and in the cities of Judah, shall the flocks pass again under the hands of him, that telleth them, saith the Lord. The word telleth there is count. It's like if you go to a bank and you go to a bank teller, that's a person that counts, you know, that's the balance, if you're depositing or you're withdrawing, the teller is someone that counts. So, when it says the flocks shall pass again under the hands of him, that telleth them, it's basically talking about the shepherds once again having, you know, large lands and having sheep and having the flock that they're looking after. So, the first application of this passage here, verse number 12 and 13, is again that return to farming for the people of the land, that their, you know, their economy is not going to collapse, they're going to come back into the time and it's all, the economy is going to flourish once again, people back to their jobs. Application number two is again, you know, just the thought of, you know, jobs and skills and provision. And again, we want to apply this to us because I don't know where you are, you know, as far as your work and your income and these kinds of things. You know, sometimes we may suffer a little bit financially, we may feel like we don't have enough or, you know, the bills go up but our pay doesn't seem to go up, or you may be sometimes without work and you're unemployed and you're looking for work. Again, this is a great and mighty thing that God can do for you. You know, if you're unemployed or if you're just not earning enough to pay the bills, you know, what you need to do is just call upon the Lord once again and he will answer thee and he will do those great and mighty works, okay, in your life, he will do it. You know, I've seen several times where, you know, my wife falls pregnant and I'm like, how am I going to pay for the bills? Like, how am I going to pay for another mouth to feed? But then the Lord just steps in and gives me a pay rise or something, right, for a job or I get some type of promotion. Because the Lord knows what we need, right? We just do what God wants from us to do. We just be faithful with our families and be faithful with the children that God has given us to raise them to love the Lord and the Lord will take care of those financial needs, okay? So if you're unemployed or you need a pay increase, I mean, pray to the Lord about it. There's nothing wrong with praying to the Lord for your needs. God knows what you need, all right? But we can have a third application here. And as I said, you know, we live in a time where churches are just spiraling out of control. I mean, it's not a church anymore. It's essentially, to me, I kind of look at it as a synagogue of Satan, like a lot of these churches out there, okay? I know the Jews are the synagogue of Satan. I know the false religion of Judaism is a synagogue of Satan in Revelation chapter 3. But really, I mean, all these churches that claim the name of Jesus Christ, they've got another Jesus, they've got another gospel. They're leading people to hell. I mean, the ministers of Satan, there are so many ministers of Satan today, okay? And there's very few churches. Like, very few people that actually are saved. Like, they have at least the right gospel, at least preaching from the right Bible. Can we just start there? And we'd be okay, okay? We're doing all right as a church, okay? But what I can see here is if we want to take the application of the sheep and the shepherds, then we can look at this as the pastors and the churches. And again, we're seeing churches, I mean, again, I don't want to even call them churches. I don't know what a better name for it. Again, the synagogue of Satan. So many synagogues of Satan right now, and people leading, you know, ordained leadership leading people to hell, themselves going to hell, the blind leading the blind, right, falling into the ditch. And I want to see a revival of churches in Australia. I want to see a revival of, you know, a new generation as it is. Just like that old generation, that reparative generation, was taken into captivity and had to face the judgment of God, but 70 years later a new generation will arise, new godly people will arise. They'll learn the mistakes of the past. That's what I want to see in our nation. I want to start more churches. I'm not in a rush, you know, I'm not in a rush. But listen, wouldn't starting more churches like Blessed Up Baptist Church be a great and mighty thing, a great and mighty work of the Lord? And I don't know how that could look. I don't know how long that could take. I don't know which men would be willing to do that and step up and serve the Lord in this capacity. I don't know those things, but the Lord knows. We just need to call upon Him. We need to ask Him, petition Him, and He'll answer us. We can see there's a return back of the pastors or the shepherds and the sheep. And I like to think about that. You know what? We can start good churches once again, churches that are sowing, that are serving the Lord, that are doing what God wants, that are following His instructions regardless of how wicked this world becomes. Verse number 14. Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. Now I want to stop you for a moment. So when we read verse number 14, your Bible readers, your Bible students, you're trying to learn God's Word, everything that we've covered so far, again, what is it about? It's about the return from Babylon, the out of captivity into the land once again. So when we read verse number 14, Behold the days come, okay, what days are we talking about here? saith the Lord, that I will perform that good thing, what good thing? Don't you think that good thing is what we just read? Okay. Which I have promised unto the house of Israel and unto the house of Judah. Okay, so we stop there. And it's obvious, any reader, if you just want to know God's Word, you read that, okay, the days come, the days must be the return out of Babylon, 70 years later, the good things that he's speaking about are the things we just read about, okay, therefore, this already took place in our history. Okay, for Jeremiah, it's the future, yeah, right, but for us, it already took place. That shouldn't be complicated. But yet again, there are many churches that make this very complicated. They read, all right, the behold the days come. That's the millennium. Okay, oh, that's 1948. I don't know, I get mixed up sometimes what they believe, right? You know, I'll perform the good thing that I promised unto the house of Israel, and the house of Judah, and this is where they get confused, because in verse number 15, it says, in those days, so verse number 15 just says, in those days, what days? Well, verse 14 says, the days come, so we know again, that's our past, okay? But here's where they take the future approach. And look, don't get me wrong, there is an element of future here, okay? But let's just read verse number 15. In those days, and at that time, so what time? Our past or still our future? Will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David? Now let me just pause there. What is this branch of righteousness to grow up unto David? What is this branch? Does anyone know? Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, absolutely, okay? And he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. Okay, so when the Bible speaks about Christ executing judgment and righteousness in the land, he didn't do that when he came the first time. So when he ascended up to heaven, remember the question was asked to Jesus, are you going to establish a kingdom like now? And this is like, it's not time for you to know that, right? It's in my father's hand. I'm paraphrasing, okay? We know that Christ, when he comes, when he executes judgment and righteousness, we know that's his millennial reign, okay? So this is where they get confused. They say, well, we know that Christ is going to execute judgment and righteousness in the millennium, so therefore this, in those days, as we read, in those days, that must be the future. I can understand. I can understand. Like, if you're new to the Bible, you're new to the prophecies of Christ from the Old Testament, I can understand that you may get mixed up and think this is about the future. Because, yeah, the executing judgment and righteousness is about the future. Keep your finger there and please go to Isaiah chapter 11. Isaiah chapter 11, verse number 1. Isaiah chapter 11 and verse number 1. One thing I want you to understand about the Old Testament, there are numerous prophecies of Jesus Christ, but you'll find that those prophecies mix or merge his first coming and his second coming. It almost seems like there's no difference, okay? Now I just want to show you this in Isaiah 11, verse number 1. Now I just want to show you this in Isaiah 11, verse number 1. Isaiah 11, verse number 1, the Bible reads, So there's the branch once again, speaking about Jesus. So we know that this bringing forth is the first coming. Out of the branch of Jesse. And then it says, And he shall smite the earth with a rod out of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. So we start here with the first coming of Christ, and now he's slaying the wicked with this rod that's coming out of his mouth, okay? So what's that about? We know that verse number 4 is definitely about his second coming. He's going to rule with a rod of iron. In fact, when he comes on that white horse, out of his mouth proceeds a sword, a two-edged sword, and destroys the armies of the antichrist, okay? So we know that's about the second coming, but we also know the first part of it, where he comes out of the branch of Jesse. Jesse was David's father, so it's that lineage of King David, right? He would be born out of that lineage. So that's the first coming when he would be born into this earth. And so many times in the Bible, it just mixes, right, Christ's first coming with his second coming. This is why they ask that question, you know, are you going to establish your kingdom now? Because for them, they would read these passages, and it just sounds like, well, Christ is coming, he's establishing his kingdom. But no, there's a second coming, okay? Now, if you're in Isaiah, please go to Isaiah chapter 9, please. Isaiah chapter 9, verse number 6. Isaiah chapter 9, verse number 6. Let me just show you a very famous passage about Christ's first coming. And again, it's just merged with the second coming, right? Isaiah 9, 6 says, For unto us a child is born, so that's first coming, unto us a son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder. Oh, hold on. All of a sudden, when is Christ establishing his government? Second coming. So we've got a son being born, a little baby being born, now the government's on his shoulders. This is how the Bible is, right, in the Old Testament. It just merges these two things. And his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, of the increase of his government and peace. I want you to notice the next words. There shall be no end. Upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom. So again, there'll be no end of his government, and it's upon the throne of David. And upon his kingdom, I want you to remember that David and no end. To order it and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even forever. So it never ends. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. So again, I want to show you a very clear passage there. First coming, second coming, just all merged. So we go back to Jeremiah 33, and we see that's the pattern of the Bible. So when we go back to Jeremiah 33 in verse number 15, I hope this is interesting for you when I explain these kinds of things. I hope it's interesting. So verse number 15, it says, In those days, we know those days were our past. We know those days was the return from Babylon. At that time, I will cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. So we know they return back, and then maybe 500 years later after the return of captivity, Christ would come. He'd be born. The son would be given. So that's the first coming to grow up unto David. And then it says, and now we get to the next bit, this is the second coming, which has been combined, and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. So verse number 15 has the prophecy of Christ's first coming and has the prophecies of Christ's second coming combined all there in that one sentence. Let's keep going. Verse number 16. In those days, notice again the term, in those days, again, those that believe this is about future say, Oh, that's the millennium. No, no, those days, remember, God keeps repeating the same phrase, in those days, in that day, right? It's the same event that took place in the past after the captivity period. In those days shall Judah be saved and Jerusalem shall dwell safely, and this is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. Now Matthew mentioned this one not long ago, right? When it says wherewith she shall be called the she is referring to the city of Jerusalem. Many times in the Bible cities are referred to in a feminine form. We don't notice this so much in English, but like in Spanish, pretty much everything has either a female or a male sort of, what's the word I'm looking for, association. So when we talk about the sun in Spanish, we say el sol, so the sun is male, I guess, right? But then when we talk about the moon, it's la luna. Did I get that right, mum? La luna, la is female. El is male, la is female, okay? And there are other languages, I assume maybe Greek would be something like that. And so to get the right grammar, you've got to use the right, whether it's an object, you've got to use the feminine form or the masculine form. Well, it's the same idea a little bit, of course, here in the Bible, but then when it gets translated to English, it can sound a little bit weird because we're not really familiar with that kind of language in English, right? We don't really have that type of idea. But it is known in language. But anyway, the point being that Jerusalem will be called the Lord our righteousness. So Jerusalem is not the Lord God, okay? But this is where, if you can turn to Romans chapter 4, please, turn to Romans chapter 4 and verse number 9. Turn to Romans chapter 4, verse number 9. I have taught on this before, similar words were used, similar language were used in some previous chapters in Jeremiah. But let's go to Romans chapter 4 and verse number 9 because again, why am I addressing this? Why am I spending time on this? Because people try to apply this to the end times and say, well, see, at that point, they'll all believe, all the Jews will be saved. So in those days, shall Judah be saved? All the Jews will be saved in the end times, right? And they'll be called the Lord our righteousness. So what is this about? Well, go to Romans chapter 4, verse number 9. Romans chapter 4 and verse number 9. It says, cometh this blessedness then upon the circumcision only or upon the uncircumcision also. So let me explain to you what that is. Circumcision was a practice done by the Israelites, okay? Uncircumcision is something not done by the Gentiles. They don't really have that tradition. They don't have that ordinance, that agreement with God, right? So when you're talking about the circumcision, you're talking about the Jews and uncircumcision is talking about the Gentiles, okay? So who's going to be blessed? The Jews or also the Gentiles? Well, it keeps going by saying, for we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness, how was it then reckoned? When he was in circumcision? So was Abraham made righteous before God after he circumcised himself or before he circumcised himself? It says, or in uncircumcision. So was he symbolically a Jew or an Israelite or was he symbolically a Gentile when he was made righteous with God is basically what he's saying here, right? Not in circumcision, but in uncircumcision. So Abraham was made righteous with God even before he had that outward circumcision. Because circumcision does not save anybody. That physical element is a symbolism of putting away the flesh, which is salvation. We don't trust in our flesh to go to heaven. We don't trust in our fleshly works. No, it's without the flesh. We put aside the flesh, we realize we cannot save ourselves and then we are made, Barbara says, circumcised with our hearts. When we believe with our heart upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Let's keep going, verse number 11. And he received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had yet been uncircumcised. So the outward circumcision was outward symbolism that he was already a man of faith, that he was already made righteous, right? Before he got circumcised. That he might be the father of all them that believe. Though they be not circumcised. Look at this. That righteousness might be imputed unto them also. So he's the father of all who believe. Jews, Gentiles, anyone that believes. Physically circumcised or uncircumcised. It doesn't matter as long as you believe. Barbara says that Abraham is our father in the faith. And then that righteousness might be imputed unto them also. So when we believe in Jesus Christ, the righteousness of God is imputed upon us. The righteousness of the Lord is imputed upon us. When God the Father looks at us, he sees the righteousness of Jesus Christ. Verse number 12. And the father of circumcision to them who are not of the circumcision only, but who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham which he had been yet uncircumcised. For the promise that he should be the heir of the world not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. So if we have faith on Jesus Christ, we believe upon him, the righteousness of the Lord is imputed upon us. Go back to Jeremiah 33, verse number 16. And let's read it now. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is the name where if she shall be called the Lord our righteousness. So we know those of this land, circumcised, yes, that believe on Jesus Christ, they would have the righteousness of the Lord imputed upon them. But after reading that, we know the New Testament has come into effect. And so anybody that believes. In fact, even before the New Testament, anybody that believed. We look at Job. He wasn't a Jew. He was a Gentile. Even Job believed and he was made righteous. He had the imputed righteousness of the Lord upon him. So don't read verse number 16 and go, And then that's about the future. It's all who believe. Yes, to the Jews also, of course. That's the main audience that Jeremiah is writing to, you know, is preaching to. Verse number 17. Now notice the next words. David shall never want a man, this is about King David, shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel. Now what that means, you know when it says David shall never want, it basically means that David will never lack. There will never be a lack of a king sitting upon the house of David. It's going to continue forever. You say, Pastor Kevin, there's no king of Israel today. That's because Jesus came. Jesus is the fulfillment of that. We already saw in Isaiah 9-6 that his government will never end. It will never end. Jesus Christ is the king of kings. Even David said, you know, What did he say? I can't remember right now. It skipped my mind. Sorry guys. But again, we see this combination here. What days are we talking about? The return from captivity, which leads to the first coming of Christ. Yes, and then eventually, those that believe in Christ made righteous, Christ is going to rule and reign forever. The throne of David, the kingdom of David will continue forever. I know we talk about the thousand years, but at the end of the thousand years the Bible tells us that Jesus Christ gives the kingdom to the Father. The kingdom doesn't end. It just transfers from that thousand year reign on the earth to transfer it into the new heavens and the new earth and that kingdom is going to continue for all eternity. Verse number 18. Neither shall the priests, the Levites, want a man, so the same language. They're not going to lack in a man, before me to offer burnt offerings and to kindle meat offerings and to do sacrifice continually. This is where, again, applying this to the end times, you really mess it up. Because there are those dispensationalists that believe, well, they go, well, this must be all about the end times here. Therefore, even in the millennial reign of Christ, because it says they're never going to want a man, the Levites basically are going to continue offering sacrifices even in the millennium. That's what they believe. A lot of them believe that. And when I first heard that, I'm like, what in the world? The sacrifices were a type of Christ. They were to point us to Christ. But now Christ is here, why do we need the sacrifices? Christ is already here. Christ is going to be ruling the millennium. Why do you need sacrifices for? It's already all done. It's been completed in Christ. I remember when I first heard that, I was doing a Bible college course, not in Bible college, but through my church. And the pastor said this and then he goes, I know that sounds blasphemous. I'm like, yeah, because it is. It sounds blasphemous because it is blasphemous. So what is this about? Again, don't remove it from the context. It's so when they come back into the land from the capital in those days, then the priests and the Levites, and we see this as we keep reading from the Bible, in your Bible history, they're going to continue offering burnt offerings during that time. And then don't forget, they're going to do it continually. It's not going to stop. And then we have the New Testament. And then Christ fulfills it. So then it's done. So within the New Testament period, yeah, it's going to continue. The sacrifice will continue. But then we have Christ comes and He puts an end to it. Because we have a New Testament. The Old Testament is done away with. Okay? So it's not an error in the Bible or something. You just have to put it in the right place. Okay? The sacrifice will continue when they return back to the land and it's going to continue till the New Testament. It's not talking about the millennium offering sacrifice in the millennium. Okay, that's just crazy. It's ridiculous. Alright, verse number 19. And the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah saying, Thus saith the Lord, if He can break my covenant of the day and my covenant of the night, and that there should not be day and night in their season. So what is the covenant of the day and the covenant of the night? It's not complicated. It's basically, you know, and basically God has His laws. It's set in motion where we get day and night. Okay? And every day that we experience will be day and night. Okay? And so basically God has a covenant with His creation. Okay? He's got laws in place. You know, things operate the way God wants it to operate. And so that covenant with the sun and moon is just going to continue in a sense. Okay? But then verse number 21 says, Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant. So if I break my covenant with the sun and the moon, okay, night and day, if God changes all of that, then He will break the covenant that He has with David. Meaning that it won't be broken. Because we know that Christ is the fulfillment of that covenant with David that the kingdom will last forever. Alright. That He should not be, sorry, verse number 21, that He should not have a son to reign upon His throne and with the Levites the priests my ministers. As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand and the sea measured, so will I multiply the seed of David my servant and the Levites that minister unto me. Moreover the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, Consider as thou not what this people have spoken saying, The two families which the Lord have chosen, He have even cast them off. Thus they have despised my people that they should be no more a nation before them. Alright. Verse number 24, it mentions the two families which the Lord have chosen. I do believe, I know there are probably other opinions out there, I strongly believe though that the two families referred to here as simply the nation of Judah and the nation of Israel. Okay? Sometimes we combine them. Because there was a time in the Bible when they were a united nation. Okay? Under King Saul, under David, under Solomon. But don't forget at the time of Jeremiah these are two nations. They're separated nations. Okay? In fact the northern nation has already been taken into captivity by the Assyrians. So it's just the seven nations left. And so I do believe the two nations here, or two families, sorry, are referring to those two nations. But it's basically saying that God is not going to cast them off. Okay? And again I've really preached on this but I think it's worth covering again because people take this to mean, well that means even the Jews today that worship a false religion, that reject Jesus Christ, say God's not going to cast them off. There was a pastor that once preached this and I respect this pastor very much. I respect all my pastors very much. Honestly I do. Okay? Even if they're wrong on certain things. And I'm just thinking about this. What are you saying? So they don't believe in Jesus. You're saying they're God's chosen people. This was when I was like in my early 20s. Okay? And I went to him. I said, look, I don't want to sound rebellious or like I don't understand. Like I'm trying to learn here. So these people have a false religion. They reject Jesus. Okay? But you're calling them God's chosen people. You're telling me that God's not going to cast them off. So when they die, what happens to them? Because it sounds like if they die and go to hell, they definitely are cast off. And I said, are you saying they go to heaven? And my pastor looked at me and goes, I haven't figured that out yet. I was like, what? Because it is confusing. Oh, they're God's people. But then that means they're righteous, aren't they? But they're not righteous. They worship a false religion. They reject Christ. And I remember just being so confused and going, what? You're a pastor. You've gone to Bible college. And you're saying these words. So don't you think by saying these words, you're going to have people in church ask questions and seek clarification? And you don't have an answer to that? If you don't have an answer to that, why are you preaching this? Why are you saying these confusing words? I remember on my drive back, I was kind of disappointed. And I still respect him because I learned so much great things from him. I'm just thinking, no, Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father except by me. And that's it. Okay? Simple. Simple. Why should I be confused on such a thing? So if the Jews, they reject Christ and they die in their sins, they go to hell. Okay? There's no difference between the circumcision and circumcision. We see that they're both made righteous in faith. Okay? Following after the faith of Abraham, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Did I get to turn to Romans 11? Go to Romans 11. Romans 11, verse number 1. Romans 11, verse number 1. And I've covered these verses not long ago, but just as a reminder, because again, I feel like there are just big portions of Jeremiah ripped out and applied to the millennium and to make it look like the Jews today go to heaven or something, you know? And so we need to combat this error. Okay? You know, if you consider the Jews today who reject Christ, let's say they did die and they're just God's chosen people and they just go to heaven automatically. And then wouldn't it make, like, there'd be no point of preaching the gospel to them. They're going to heaven anyway. But then if we just take that view, well, don't point to preaching the gospel, then we're just damning them to hell, because we know the truth. Right? I mean, it's such a conflict. Right? It's such a conflict of interest. But Romans chapter 11, verse number 1. Just a reminder here. Paul is right in this. He was from the tribe of Benjamin. So he's a Jew. Or he's an Israelite. Romans 11, verse 1. He says, I say then, have God cast away his people? So that same language was used in Jeremiah. Has God cast him away? God forbid. So God has not cast away his people. Because he says, look, for I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham of the tribe of Benjamin. God have not cast away his people, which ye foreknew. What ye not that the scripture saith of Elias, how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying, Lord, they have cured thy prophets and digged down thine altars, and I am left alone, and they seek my life? But look, notice verse number 4. But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved. Okay. So if you reserve something, does that mean everything is reserved or just something is reserved? Like if you reserve a seat in the, don't go to the cinemas, but let's say you reserve a seat in the cinemas. Does that mean every seat is now yours? Or just the reserved seat? Just the reserved seat, right? It's going to be the minimal. It's going to be the few, all right? Now let's keep going. I have reserved to myself 7,000 men who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal. Listen, the nation of Israel, at this point in time of Elias, they were in the millions, in the millions, okay? But God says, no, I've still got 7,000 men who have not bowed their knee to Baal, okay? Now what does 7,000 sound like in comparison to millions of people? Doesn't that sound like a bit of a reservation, a small minority of people, okay? These are the people that God has not cast away. The people that are worshiping false gods, who have turned their back on God, yeah, God has cast them away, okay? Because then it says this in verse number five. Even so, then, at this present time, so at the time of Paul, at the time of the New Testament, also there is a remnant. Does that sound like everybody? All the Jews? When you say a remnant, doesn't that sound like a reservation, something in the minority, something small, okay? There's a remnant, according to what? According to the election of grace. People that have been saved by grace through faith, those are the remnants. It's the few. It's those that have not bowed their knee to Baal, okay? These are the people that God has not cast away, okay? And the fact that Paul spent so much time explaining that it's a select few, means that, yeah, the majority have been cast away. So when Paul writes this and says, has God cast away his people, he's not talking about those that are just physically of Abraham, but his people are those that have believed in Jesus Christ, those that are made according to the election of grace, okay? So when we go back to Jeremiah 33, let's go back to Jeremiah 33, sorry for the long-winded explanation, and in verse number 24, Jeremiah 23 verse number 24, Consider as thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the Lord have chosen, he hath even cast them off. Yeah, he hasn't cast them off, because within the two nations of Israel and Judah, there are saved people, okay? And so he's not going to cast away everybody, but those that have not believed in him will be cast off. Their branch will be broken off the tree, okay? The Gentiles will be grafted in. Anybody that has believed, that has been saved by grace, the election of grace, are the people of God, and God will not cast away his people, okay? That's the teaching. When you combine the Old Testament with the New Testament, it becomes very clear. Verse number 25, Jeremiah 33 verse number 25, Thus saith the Lord, If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then will I cast away the seed of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will cause their captivity to return and have mercy on them. Alright, so I hope that all kind of makes sense to you now, okay? So yeah, God did not cast away his people. Those that believed in him, those that were righteous, had the imputed righteousness of Christ, the Lord our righteousness as he was spoken about at Jerusalem, those are God's people, and God, because of that, because day and night continues, God's people will continue forever. Christianity will never come to an end. Never come to an end, okay? There will never come a point, it will never be 2030, where everybody has just stopped believing in God, stopped believing in the Bible, it will not happen, okay? God will not cast away his people. There will always be somebody representing the faith of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Okay, let's pray.