Sovereign Grace Baptist Church

Free Grace Media

Of Princeton, New Jersey

 

AuthorClay Curtis
TitleConsiderest Thou Not?
Bible TextJeremiah 33:23-24
Synopsis When we experience God’s chastening hand, in order to not be cast down, then there are four things we need to consider. Listen
Date14-Nov-2019
Series Sincere Questions
Article Type Sermon Notes
PDF Format pdf
Word Format doc
Audio HI-FI Listen: Considerest Thou Not? (32 kbps)
Audio CD Quality Listen: Considerest Thou Not? (128 kbps)
Length 37 min.
 
Title: Considerest Thou Not? 
Text: Jer 33: 24 
Date: November 17, 2019 
Place: SGBC, NJ 
  
Jeremiah 33: 23: Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24: Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
  
At this time Babylon had besieged Jerusalem.  The children of Judah and Israel were captive, starving, dying of disease—so they were very cast down.  Here is God’s question to Jeremiah, “Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off?”
  
Who was saying that God had cast off his chosen people?  One, reprobate unbelievers were saying this.  Two, God’s elect overcome with unbelief due to God’s chastening hand. 
 
Who are these two families that God chose?  In the verse before, the LORD says the house of David and the house of Levi.  Prior to that, God speaks of Judah and Israel.  But this prophecy is only for God’s spiritual Israel, not for the natural sons of Abraham 
  
Romans 11: 1: 2: God hath not cast away HIS people, WHICH HE FOREKNEW. 
 
God’s Israel are those “which he foreknew”—those God elected by grace and foreordained to eternal life from among Jew and Gentile.  God’s grace is keeping grace. 
  
Romans 9: 6: It is not as though the word of God hath taken none effect; for they are not all [God’s] Israel which are of Israel: 7: Neither, because they are the [natural children] of Abraham, are they all children [of God], 
  
Only those God foreordained to eternal life by his sovereign, electing, predestinating, adopting grace, are counted as “God’s Israel.”  
 
Title: Considerest Thou Not? 
  
Proposition: When we experience God’s chastening hand, in order to not be cast down, then there are four things we need to consider. 
  
CONSIDER GOD FORMED AND ESTABLISHED HIS CHURCH
  
Jeremiah 33: 1: 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, 2: Thus saith the LORD the maker thereof, the LORD that formed it, to establish it; the LORD is his name; 3: Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.
  
The LORD is the maker of his church, the LORD formed it, Christ established his church in righteousness  by his shed blood.  After Isaiah declared Christ’s victory at Calvary, the next chapter says, 
  
Isaiah 54:5: thy Maker is thine husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall he be called. 
  
In times of trial and chastening, our place is not to murmur against God, but to come to Christ in submission, crying for mercy"Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”
  
CONSIDER IT IS FOR OUR GOOD
  
Jeremiah 33: 4: 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; 5: 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.  6: Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth. 7: And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first. 8: And I will cleanse them from ALL their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon ALL their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me. 9: And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honour 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 for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.
 
 
Peter said, “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” (1 Pet 5:5)  The proud reprobate tries to fight his own battles but doing so he fights against God.  So God’s fierce anger and fury falls upon him.  King Zedekiah of Judah and a host of the children Israel went out to fight the king of Babylon when God warned them not to.  But as they had done from the beginning they disobeyed God.  God said, "whom I have slain in mine anger and in my fury.”
  
But by the same trial, our heavenly Father chastens and cures his elect church and delivers us from our sin—"Behold, I will bring it health and cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of peace and truth.”  Grace and peace came by Jesus Christ.  God cures his people of the diseases of sin through the blood of the Messiah, who arose with healing in his wings; that is, with remission of sin, which is often meant by healing in scripture. 
  
God says, And I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first.”  Our conquering Savior led captivity captive. 
  
So God says, “And I will cleanse them from ALL their iniquity, whereby they have sinned against me; and I will pardon ALL their iniquities, whereby they have sinned, and whereby they have transgressed against me.”   It is only God’s elect that the LORD cleanses and pardons of ALL iniquity.  John Gill said, “Mention being made of the return of the captivity of Israel,…as well as that of Judah, shows that this prophecy does not relate to the return of the Jews from their seventy years’ captivity in Babylon; but is to be understood spiritually, of a release of the mystical and spiritual Israel of God from the captivity of sin, Satan, and the law, by the Messiah”  Notice this is all of God’s grace because we sinned against God himself.  Amazing grace!  The very God we have sinned against, cleanses us of all our iniquity and forgives us of all our sin. 
  
God says, “and will build them as at the first.”  God did this at the beginning of the latter days, at the first times of the Gospel.  That is when the temple of the Lord was built by Christ; that is when Christ became the foundation of the apostles and prophets; being the chief corner stone; that is when the church was built up a habitation for God through the Spirit.  In the end of the latter days, God says the church will become cast down again.  But God promises to "build them as at the first" of the latter days.
  
By God’s great forgiveness of our many sins, God makes a name unto his people—"And it shall be to me a name of joy, a [name of] praise and an [name of] honour 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 for all the prosperity that I procure unto it.”  It is God’s forgiveness and goodness that makes his people repent and fear God. 
  
Psalm 130: 3  If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? 4: But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared. 
 
Brethren, I am preaching to myself because I fail in this.  But Christ teaches us to be children like our Father in forgiving one another’s sins, without limit and by being fervent in love for one another—"And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins” (1 Pet 4:8).  We are sinners.  Therefore, we will hurt one another at times.  It is no excuse, just fact!  Expect it and try not to be disappointed by it.  But consider how God says to us, “I remember your sins no more”—that is how we keep love fervent—forgive and forget the sins of our brethren. 
  
Someone might say, “Preacher, I’m not sure I can do that!  They offended me very badly!”  It will help if we think on how great our sins are against God. Then think on the everlasting love and tender mercies that God has shown you in cleansing and pardoning you of all your sins.  Do not dwell on the offenses.  It is these things Christ has done for us that Paul told us to think on. 
  
Philippians 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise [if you are truly a child of God], think on these things. 
  
These things make our hearts broken and contrite.  And “A broken and a contrite heart, God will not despise”—he will not regard us with contempt or disdain or scorn—instead if we confess our sins from a broken and contrite heart, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us of all unrighteousness.  So when brethren come with a broken and contrite heart, let us do as our Father in heaven—do not despise them but forgive and love fervently.
  
CONSIDER GOD SHALL RETURN JOY
 
Jeremiah 33: 10: Thus saith the LORD; Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, 11: The voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, [when Christ walked in this earth Christ said how can they mourn when the bridegroom is among them], the voice of them that shall say, Praise the LORD of hosts: for the LORD is good; for his mercy endureth for ever: 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. 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 an habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down. 13: In the cities of the mountains, 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 [Christ our chief Shepherd] that telleth [that counteth his elect], saith the LORD. 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. 15: In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. [on Calvary’s cross] 16: 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. 
 
Most are looking for a day at the end of the latter days when Christ will restore Israel as a nation.  But Christ began this work at his first advent, at the first of the latter days, by calling out his elect from among the Jews first.  Christ said, “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”   And Christ did not form them into an earthly nation but into his “holy nation.” (1 Pet 2: 9).  
  
God tells us the precise time Christ began this work—"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. IN THOSE DAYS, AND AT THAT TIME, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16: 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.”  This work of restoring the lost sheep of Israel began at the time Christ Jesus came forth as the righteous BranchThe latter days began at Christ’s first advent—God “hath in these LAST DAYS spoken unto us by his Son” (Heb 1:1-2). When Christ first came he “performed that good thing God promised” in our text.  He first gathered his lost sheep from among the Jews then began gathering his elect from among the Gentiles.  He executed judgment and righteousness on the cross.  Therefore, through faith his regenerated church is called “the LORD our righteousness.”
  
So, believer, when you are suffering under God’s chastening hand, remember, God shall return joy even as God returned his lost sheep in Israel to joy by turning them to Christ our Peace! 
  
CONSIDER GOD’S COVENANT CANNOT BE BROKEN
  
Jeremiah 33:17: For thus saith the LORD; David shall never want a man to sit upon the throne of the house of Israel; 18: Neither shall the priests the Levites want a man before me to offer burnt offerings, and to kindle meat offerings, and to do sacrifice continually. 19: And the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, saying, 20: Thus saith the LORD; If ye 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; 21: Then may also my covenant be broken with David my servant, that he should not have a son to reign upon his throne; and with the Levites the priests, my ministers. 22: As the host of heaven cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea measured: so will I multiply the seed of David my servant, and the Levites that minister unto me. 23  Moreover the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah, saying, 24  Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which the LORD hath chosen, he hath even cast them off? thus they have despised my people, that they should be no more a nation before them. 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; 26: 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.
 
Believer, when you think God has cast you off, consider that God’s covenant is everlasting.  It cannot be broken.  Christ is our eternal King and eternal High Priest after the order of Melchisedec—without beginning of days and without end of days!   By his precious blood, he made us kings and priests unto God 
  
Revelation 1:5:…Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6: And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
  
Therefore, there shall never be wanting a king upon the throne of David, nor priests to offer sacrifices of praise.  This means God’s covenant to us is as sure as God’s covenant with the climate.  God’s covenant with the days and seasons shall not change because God uses it to remind his people that God’s covenant with us is everlasting.  Christ made God’s elect Israel a holy nation.  Since before the world was made we have never and shall never cease being a holy nation before God for ever.  
  
1 Peter 2:9: But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: 
  
But who is this Seed of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and David?  If your Bible says “children” instead of “seed” then throw it away and get a King James translation that reads “seed.”  First, the seed is Christ.  Secondly, the seed is God’s elect who rest in Christ by faith. 
  
Galatians 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. 
  
Galatians 3:29  And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. 
  
Therefore, God promises us,  “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Ge 8:22).  Brethren, when you see the sun go down and the moon come up, when you feel the change in the seasons, remember God’s everlasting covenant toward us is sure and everlasting.  This was all King David’s salvation.  His last words were, “Although my house be not so with God; yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure: for this is all my salvation, and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.” (2Sa 23:5)  It is true because all God’s promises are in Christ and “all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us” (2Co 1:18-20). 
  
Therefore God commands us to never cease loving one another fervently nor cease forgiving one another because God our Father never ceases to do so.  The blood of Christ is too precious.  As brother Augustus Toplady wrote, 
  
"If Thou hast my discharge procured,
  And freely in my place endured
  The whole of wrath divine,
  Payment God will not twice demand,
  First at my bleeding Surety's hand,
  And then again at mine." 
  
Amen!