“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
This is the first sermon I have ever co-authored. The process was a pleasure as it turns out, because my partner in it was Jacquelynn Tanner. Her favorite Bible verse is Jeremiah 29:11, and when, in a moment of spontaneity, we discussed working on a sermon together, she said she’d like to have this as our text.
Now in the course of the discussion we had on the text verse and also the passages we needed to understand in order to stay in context, she reminded me of an incident that I probably never would have remembered otherwise; but it is forever etched into her memory.
She said it happened when she was about 4 or 5 years old. We were alone at the house for a while and her mom was at work. I needed to do some work out in the yard, so I told her to entertain herself for a while but instructed her to not answer the phone or the door if anyone came to it.
When I came back in the house later Jacq was in her bedroom playing and I noticed that the red light was blinking on the answering machine. I hit the button to check the message and heard both Lynn’s voice, and Jacquelynn’s.
Hearing her mother’s voice on the machine she had decided it was ok to disobey me, so she had picked it up but had not known how to stop the recording.
I went to her room and asked her why she had answered the telephone when she had been told not to and she denied answering it. So she got in trouble. Not for disobeying, but for lying.
She got a spanking and she was told to stay in her room for a while.
As I said, I don’t really remember this, but about 15 minutes later, (she says it seemed like forever but was probably only 15 minutes), I opened her door and asked her if she wanted ice cream. She said ‘no’, and when I asked why she said “Because I’m being punished”.
I told her that she had been punished already, but just because she had to be punished did not mean I didn’t still love her, and I wanted to give her ice cream.
Jacquelynn accepted the treat and while she ate she mulled over what had happened. I didn’t know it at the time, but I had inadvertently taught her a lesson that I had not learned until I was in my late 30’s. It was that through whatever lessons, testings, disciplinary measures the Lord has to take us, grace is there throughout and grace awaits us at the end.
Now let’s go to the prophetic book of Jeremiah and find out what that story about Jacq has to do with our text.
HISTORICAL SETTING
- The people’s apostasy
- False prophets, in Judea and in Babylon
We first need to know the historical context of what the prophet wrote. If we do not know that, then we can never know what it means for our present day world.
The first thing we have to know then, is that there were false prophets to contend with.
Not that the main or sole message of Jeremiah is that there are false prophets in the land; but he did contend with them throughout his ministry, as did Isaiah and other contemporaries of this prophet.
I make them a primary focus of this sermon though, because it is they the Lord was warning the people about in the very verses that precede our text verse. So we take a closer look.
First of all let’s make no mistake that the nation of Israel, split at this time into the Northern and Southern kingdoms, was in total rebellion against God.
In fact, the Northern kingdom of Israel had long since been taken away into captivity and while the Southern kingdom of Judah remained, so did their lewd sin and their idolatry and their rebellion.
Jeremiah’s ministry called them to repentance and worship of the true God of their fathers, but his message went unheeded.
What I want you to see for our purposes today is that through Jeremiah God warned the people against listening to the words of the false prophets, both while they were still in Judea, and even later after they too had been taken into captivity and carried away to Babylon.
In chapter 14 we find one example of what I’m saying. They were still in Judea at the time, but Jeremiah had been warning about the punishment God was going to bring down for their apostasy.
Let’s look at verses 10 through 15 of that chapter:
“Thus says the LORD to this people, “Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account.” 11 So the LORD said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. 12 “When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.” 13 But, “Ah, Lord GOD!” I said, “Look, the prophets are telling them, ‘You will not see the sword nor will you have famine, but I will give you lasting peace in this place.’ ” 14 Then the LORD said to me, “The prophets are prophesying falsehood in My name. I have neither sent them nor commanded them nor spoken to them; they are prophesying to you a false vision, divination, futility and the deception of their own minds. 15 “Therefore thus says the LORD concerning the prophets who are prophesying in My name, although it was not I who sent them—yet they keep saying, ‘There will be no sword or famine in this land’—by sword and famine those prophets shall meet their end!”
Now I don’t want to enter too much into speculation here, as to what was going on in the mind of Jeremiah. But in light of his initial response to what God is saying to him here it seems that even he, God’s minister, is a little confused about the disparity between the words of the self-proclaimed prophets and what God is now telling him. Again, verse 13. ‘But,“Ah, Lord God!” I said, “Look! The prophets are telling them…’
There is indication early in the book that Jeremiah was a reluctant prophet to begin with, and lacking in self confidence early on, needing assurances from God.
So I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch here to say that without revelation from God Jeremiah may not have, on his own, discerned any real problem with the message of the false prophets.
Remember, false prophets don’t go around wearing a t-shirt that says, “False Prophet” on the back. They sound authoritative and sincere, they loudly proclaim in pious sounding tones that God has spoken thus and such to them, and they wear the right clothes and insinuate themselves into the right locale and surroundings and it is just a fact in any time and age that apart from God’s revelation men will be deceived by them; mainly because they are saying what people would like to hear, and it’s very easy to believe someone who is saying things that make us feel good. That’s why con-artists and money-making schemers are so successful.
So God reveals first to His man that they are not sent by Him and that their message is therefore not from Him, and He commissions His true prophet to expose them and preach the truth, which by the way, will not be nearly so easy on the ears.
Interestingly, later on after they have suffered the famine and the sword promised and finally been carried away into captivity, the false prophets are there also!
Listen to these early verses of chapter 29.
This is from a letter sent to those in exile from Jeremiah still in Jerusalem.
4 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 7 ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’ 8 “For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD. 10 “For thus says the LORD, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.” (italics mine)
And what false dreams was God referring to here? What false counsel? We find it in chapter 23 verse 9 and again in verse 14.
9 “But as for you, do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your dreamers, your soothsayers or your sorcerers who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon.’
14 “So do not listen to the words of the prophets who speak to you, saying, ‘You will not serve the king of Babylon,’ for they prophesy a lie to you;”
God’s wisdom is not the wisdom of man. Therefore when received in the flesh the wisdom of man will always sound right.
It is only in the spirit, when the heart is right with God and truly seeking His will that His counsel will expose the folly of the false teachers and lead His hearers in the everlasting way.
Yes, they are under judgment for their idolatry and their disobedience. God had sent prophets to warn them and for decades He had waited for them to repent and turn to Him. They had not, and now they were going to suffer the consequences.
But remember what I said about grace being there throughout and grace waiting when it’s over?
Let’s go past our text verse and hear what God had to say to them, even in the midst of their punishment.
“ ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.”
What is He talking about? Repentance. A heart-felt desire for God.
In the meantime though, there is this verse 11, which I want to point out is given to them through the prophet while their hearts are still turned from God and while they are still in the midst of their punishment.
“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
See? Ice Cream!
The false prophets told them all was well when all was not well, and now that they are in captivity the false prophets give them worldly counsel. But God is truth. He says, all is not well, and you will be disciplined. But after you have passed through the discipline, I will be there to love you still, and to give you a future and hope.
Let’s give this,
21st CENTURY APPLICATION
- False prophets: secular and religious
- Biblical teaching vs worldly thinking
As Jacq and I researched this information and discussed it and then began to talk about what application it might have generally for our time and our society, I asked her if she thought the term ‘false prophets’ or ‘false teachers’ might apply to some outside of the confines of the church as well as within the church organization.
She said that she thought it could. Because even people not connected to the church in any way want us to believe that convenience abortion is ok, and blatant practice of homosexuality is ok, and that we should accept the theory of evolution as fact to the exclusion of the Word of God, and so on.
And folks, the sin of our modern day society is that we have gone and played the harlot with these lies; we’ve committed spiritual adultery against the God who loved us enough to send His only Son to die so that all who believe might not perish but have everlasting life.
Are there false prophets within the church? We know that there are. They are the ones who come saying they are speaking for God but the faithful Bible student who knows his scriptures can discern their lies when he holds them up to the truth of God’s Word.
He or she can recognize the false teachers when they say things that make being a Christian easy, calling for no sacrifice in the life; no discipline; no Godliness; no cross; and promising health and wealth and earthly pleasures, and seeking to become wealthy themselves by the poisonous message they preach.
Now Christians, the trouble is that many, many sincere Christians have believed the lies. They think these people speak for God even though He hasn’t sent them, and the ones who are being deceived are guilty of not pursuing God and His Word; not seeking to have Christ dwelling within them richly so they might recognize the difference between truth and deception.
It is the duty of every one of God’s children; everyone who is a Christian, to consistently seek a deeper relationship with God and to partner with the Holy Spirit through Bible Study and obedience in continuing to make him or her more like Jesus.
The Christian who is disobedient and the Christian who harbors sin in their life and will not repent of it when the Holy Spirit prompts them to will be disciplined by the Father. He will do this because He loves them, just like we as human parents discipline our children because we love them and want them to be people who can live productively and successfully in society.
Now if the church of Jesus Christ on a large scale in any society has drifted away from God and His truth and is being consistently disobedient, will God eventually discipline the church as a unit, just like He does the individual? I believe so. And it is quite possible that His church in our nation is already suffering under His disciplining hand.
But in the midst of it there is a promise. I want to read you that promise but first I want to make something clear.
In the 1970’s this verse was used widely and very publicly to encourage our nation to turn to God. I believe that was a misapplication of this passage. The promises of God’s Word are for His people, never for those who refuse to believe in Him.
Therefore, I do not believe it is proper to apply this promise to the United States of America as a nation. But although it was originally said to the nation of Israel, it is my belief that it is an exhortation today’s church should heed, and it is a promise that the church can stand on, if she repents and turns back to God.
Here it is:
“…if… My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”
God made this promise to King Solomon after he had rededicated the temple, and God was telling him that if he, God, had to bring drought or famine on the land for the people’s sins, this promise would apply when they turn again.
I believe this promise applies to the church in our time, if only she would turn in repentance. Because God’s Word shows us that He always has a great plan for the penitent; one that provides a future and hope.
Ice Cream.
Now let’s make:
PERSONAL APPLICATION
- Too many ‘voices’, from without and from within
- Man’s ruin vs God’s grace
I began by telling you a story about Jacquelynn. Now I’d like to tell you something about myself and how coming to understand the point that I am about to make for you today changed my life.
You see, from my youth I had always understood that Jesus died to pay for sin. I understood that if I believed in His death and resurrection I would be saved.
What I did not understand was that what He did for me covered all of my sins for all time.
I had been shown a God who was not accepting of one of His children who failed; a God who pardoned, but once that pardon was received I’d better tow the line or He was finished with me.
So for a period of about 6 years in my mid 30’s I went through a very sad time of thinking because of my sins God was finished with me and I had blown it forever.
No one told me otherwise, and this is what I want you to listen carefully to.
There are a lot of voices out there to listen to, and there may even be some voices within you telling you things that aren’t necessarily true; especially when those voices are speaking out of guilt and dread and condemnation.
You must learn about God and your relationship to Him from His Word, because there are some things that you just won’t get and that won’t be taught you outside of Biblical teaching and spiritual revelation.
Here is the truth. You weren’t just in poor standing with God and needing Him to forgive you. You were an enemy of God, destined for eternal Hell, and you needed Him to save you.
Your ruin was complete. What you need to realize is that His grace is also complete. His grace is sufficient to undo your ruin.
While you were His enemy Christ died for you. Now that you are His, you are completely His.
That’s what He had to show me from His Word, because no one else was saying it.
During that time I was out of the church and feeling that I had permanently failed God, I listened to sermons, I read books. Not once did I hear a preacher or read a book that assured me there was a future and a hope for me as a Christian who had sinned.
There were plenty to talk about God’s forgiveness for the person coming to Him for the first time, but I never heard anyone tell me that God’s grace was sufficient to love me after I had failed Him as one of His children.
It all seems so simple to me now; it just makes sense that if He purchased me at such a great price nothing could take me out of His hand.
But there were all those voices, within and without, and He had to break through them with His Word before I understood.
If you are a Christian, please listen to this today. Because there may come a time in your life when you will sin. I mean sin in a way that will bring an explosive crisis to your life. I hope not. I pray not for all of you. But we are still in the flesh and especially for you young people there is a lot of temptation out there; there is many a snare.
So just in case that day comes in your life that you find yourself in the place where I found myself, I want you to remember back to this day and what you are about to hear.
God has plans for the penitent.
Do you hear what that is saying? Plans are something that by definition are thought about and prepared for in advance.
Like the old saying goes, it’s too late to make plans to drain the swamp when you’re up to your elbows in alligators.
Plans have to be made in advance of what is expected to come.
So when you read Jeremiah 29:11, you need to realize that before grace was needed, God made plans to pour out His grace.
You need to understand that before the punishment was even begun, God had already made plans for a future and for hope, for the time when His children repented and began to seek Him with all their heart.
Christian children, I want you to know today and remember always that if and when you ever find yourself in the mud like the Prodigal son, wallowing with the pigs and realizing you have wronged God and those who love you, at that moment, maybe the worst moment of your life, God at that moment will be waiting for you to turn back to Him, say you’re sorry, start on the road back, knowing that He already has a plan for your welfare, not for calamity, to give you a future and a hope.
Listen to this wonderful promise He gave to the children of Israel in exile, still living in Babylon so far from the land He had given their fathers.
“’And I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord,’ and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile’.” (29:14)
Ice Cream. Discipline done, grace remains. Never forget.
“For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.”
