We come here today as people having great needs. There are several things that we can’t live without: food, water, air, love -- and hope. We are going to talk about maintaining hope even in the worst of times.
A group of behavioral Scientists once did a study and put some rats in a tank of water. The tank had smooth sides so they could not escape or rest. The scientists observed the rats to see how long they would survive before drowning. The average time was 17 minutes. When they had no hope the rats died quickly.
On May 23, 1939, the S-4 submarine Squalus sank off of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The entire crew was trapped in what appeared to be a prison house of death. Eventually though each of the thirty-three crewmen were rescued. When the rescue squad reached the stricken sub, one of the divers tapped with metal on the hull in an effort to locate the sailors. He then placed his helmet up against the side of the vessel and he heard the familiar tapping – the longs and the shorts – of the Morse Code. What was the message that was being spelled out from within? It was repeating the same question. The question was, "Is... there... any… hope?"
We need hope desperately. Without hope, we are ready to give up and die. We talked a month or two ago about Elijah, without hope, and he was ready for the Lord to let him die.
Some of you here this morning might associate with those rats or with the seamen in the sunken submarine. You look at your life, and you ask that same question, “Is there any hope?” And to find the answers, we need to come to the Word of God. Turn with me this morning to Jeremiah 29. We have come through the OT together this year, seeing God prepare a people to enjoy fellowship and community with. He led them to a land he had for them, gave them a godly king, set them up for success, but as we saw, they turned away from God, turned to following idols and all the sins of the nations around them, and wanted nothing to do with God. God sent them prophets to call the people to repentance. He divided the nation, and finally brought judgment. In 722 BC the Assyrians destroy completely the northern nation of Israel. In 586 BC the Babylonians overthrow the southern nation of Judah, and take the people away into exile.
Today, we want to look at God’s message for these people who have lost their kingdom, their land, their identity, their relationship to their God. This is a people without hope. And we want to see God’s message to them and apply the same lessons to our own lives. As we come to the word of God, let’s PRAY and ask God to speak to our hearts. PRAYER. READ Jeremiah 29:1-9.
Jeremiah writes to those Jews who are in exile. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, came down in three waves and took the people captive in three stages. Jeremiah is still in Jerusalem; he leaves after the 3rd wave of exiles. We talked about that last week. But Jeremiah is writing to the exiles from the first and second waves who are already in Babylon. What does he tell them? Continue on with life as normal. Don’t lose hope. So the first lesson we learn this morning is . . .
I. Don’t let life’s situations rob you of hope! Rather, embrace your situation in life. We spend so much of our time wishing our lives were different - wishing we had more money, weighed less, had a different job, a different spouse, lived in a bigger house, drove a faster car, wishing we had what the neighbors have. We spend so many of our days dissatisfied. The situation you are in today may be less than ideal. In fact it may be downright unpleasant. But don’t resent it. Don’t deny it. Rather accept it. You may not want to continue on the same way for the future, but see where you are at and accept it. Jeremiah tells the Jews that they may as well settle down and make the most of things in Babylon, because contrary to what their false prophets were saying, they weren’t going anywhere else soon. Sometimes we think if we just have faith, our situation will change. But it doesn’t always work that way. The “name it/claim it” teaching is heresy. God doesn’t work that way.
Bryce Winteregg, a pastor in IN from the church Glenn & Sharon’s daughter attends, told me a story about his daughter-in-law. She was in the delivery room, pushing, huffing, straining to give birth. Her husband was faithfully by her side, offering her encouragement. But she had had all she could take. She cried out, “Oh God, you’ve got to let that baby come out on the next push!” The nurse who was with her calmly said, “ma’am, I’m sure God hears you, but I assure you the baby is NOT coming out on the next push.
No matter how great our faith, there are some times faith alone is not enough. If you are in a difficult situation in life, maybe one that is robbing your hope, don’t just wish things were different, accept your situation and start trying to make the best of it.
Maybe your spouse is a slob - they were neat and tidy when you were dating, but now after a few years of marriage their true colors come out. Don’t try wishing them to change. Don’t just pray they will change. Yes, do pray for them to change, but also pray for God to change YOU - to be able to love them and encourage them in spite of their issues. Make the best of the problem situations you find yourself in.
II. Look for the Lessons that God wants to teach you by your situation in life.
This was one of the reminders that Jeremiah gives to those living in exile. Look in verses 10-13.
This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah reminds the people that . . .
A. God knows WHAT He is doing. Jeremiah reminds the people that God is not surprised by the Babylonian exile. Rather, He was the one behind it. God had a perfect timetable all worked out. The Jews were going to be in exile 70 years. It reminds me of the time God tells Abraham his descendants will be in slavery and Exodus 12 records, Now the length of time the Israelite people lived in Egypt was 430 years. At the end of the 430 years, to the very day, all the LORD’s divisions left Egypt.
God has everything under control. He knows what He is doing. And Jeremiah reminds the people of that truth. Whatever situation you’re facing right now is NO surprise to God. But what is even more encouraging
B. God knows WHY He is doing what He is doing. God has purpose. He acts on purpose. Many people think that the world is just ruled by fate, chance, luck. We know otherwise. God has a masterplan. He acts with intentionality.
So, Why would He put his chosen people into exile? Jeremiah also answers that question for us. Because of their sinfulness. God brings judgment upon his people for two main sins. First, for
1. Idolatry & sexual sins - look over in Jeremiah 30:11, 22
I am with you and will save you,’ declares the LORD. ‘Though I completely destroy all the nations among which I scatter you, I will not completely destroy you. I will discipline you but only with justice; I will not let you go entirely unpunished.’ Then in verse 22 - So you will be my people, and I will be your God.
The exile comes because the Jews worshiped Baal, Ashtoreth, Molech, and all the other idols of the peoples around them. God gives discipline so the Jews will return to worshiping Him, the ONE true God.
Exodus 34:14 - Do not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
God will not give His glory to another. God desires OBEDIENCE on the part of His people. And when they disobey, God brings punishment.
Next Sunday night, we’ll be having a baptism service at the Dennison’s house. A number of people are being baptized. And if you have trusted Christ as Savior, but have never been baptized, I’d love to talk with you more about baptism. Baptism is an act of Obedience as a Christian. It doesn’t make you any more saved. But it shows you want to walk in obedience to your God. It is an outward sign of an inward change. That’s why we don’t baptize babies. Because they haven’t yet placed their faith in Christ. Sometimes those who were baptized as infants trust Christ, and when they do, I encourage them to be baptized again as a believer. Baptism is a step of obedience. And God desires obedience. The people sinned by their idolatry. They also sinned by
2. Refusal to keep the sabbaths. In Leviticus 25, the Jews were called to have a Sabbath year every seven years. When you enter the land I am going to give you, the land itself must observe a sabbath to the LORD. For six years sow your fields, and for six years prune your vineyards and gather their crops. But in the seventh year the land is to have a sabbath of rest, a sabbath to the LORD. Do not sow your fields or prune your vineyards. Do not reap what grows of itself or harvest the grapes of your untended vines. The land is to have a year of rest.
But the Jews failed to honor the Sabbath year. And as a result, God found another way to give the land its sabbath rest. It’s like the old FRAM commercials, “You can pay me now, or you can pay me later.”
2 Chronicles 36:20-21 shows us this was true. He carried into exile to Babylon the remnant who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his sons until the kingdom of Persia came to power. The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah.
So, when God brought judgment and sent the Jews into exile, it was for a purpose. They had sinned over and over again. The people who were supposed to worship and be obedient were faithless and disobedient. You can’t worship God if you will not obey him. You can say the words and sing the songs, but it isn’t worship. Worship starts with obedience. You can’t worship God if you’re living a life of secret sins. You might think that no one knows, but God does. And He will bring discipline.
In Ezekiel 8:12, God gives Ezekiel a vision of what the leaders of the Jews were doing. “Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the darkness, each at the shrine of his own idol? They say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken the land.’”
When God brings Judgment, He has a reason. When you face a difficult situation in your life, God has a reason. Trust that God knows what He is doing, and start to look for what God wants you to learn in the process. Many times the greatest lessons we learn come not out of Bible study or worship times, but out of times of great despair, frustration, and trial. God refines us by letting us go through the fire. If you’re facing a difficult time right now, ask God what He can teach you through it.
Don’t let life’s situations rob you of Joy. Rather, look for the lessons God is teaching you. Also,
III. Look for the Hand of God at work in your situation. When you face difficult times, to maintain hope, look for visible ways you see God working. Try to find God-sightings. Usually, God doesn’t want to get you OUT of your situations, rather he desires to bring you THROUGH and to use you IN your situations. At the time of the exile, the Jews had many ways to see God at work - and that gave them hope.
*Daniel - a Jewish captive - was elevated to the 3rd in command in the kingdom, under the King and His co-regent son.
*Cyrus - the Persian King is mentioned by name in Isaiah as the one who would give a decree to send the Jews back to their land. Isaiah 45:13 - I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the LORD Almighty.” And in Ezra 1 we see that prophecy was fulfilled. Cyrus comes to reign and sends the Jews back home.
*Nehemiah - A Jew who functions as the King’s cupbearer - tasting food to make sure it isn’t poisoned - makes a request of the King, and the King grants it. Nehemiah 2:4-8 The king said to me, “What is it you want?” Then I prayed to the God of heaven, and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my fathers are buried so that I can rebuild it.” . . . It pleased the king to send me; . . . I also said to him, “If it pleases the king, may I have letters to the governors of Trans-Euphrates, so that they will provide me safe-conduct until I arrive in Judah? . . . And because the gracious hand of my God was upon me, the king granted my requests.
Throughout the exile, the Jews saw God at work. Even when we face difficult times, we can look for God working, and that will give us hope. The final lesson we’ll look at today is this:
IV. Allow God to instill HOPE in your situations in life. When we find our faith tested, God wants to bring hope. Jeremiah 31:17 - So there is hope for your future,” declares the LORD. When things look hopeless, we need to allow God to reinstill hope.
A. Through remembering - We look at how God has worked in the past, and that brings us hope. Throughout the Bible, especially in the Psalms, the Jews recite the works of God, the many times He rescued them, for remembering these times brings them hope.
B. Through His Word - At the time of the exile, God had his prophets strategically positioned. Jeremiah is left with the Jews in jerusalem, Ezekiel is with the exiles in the country of Babylon, and Daniel is in the capitol of the Babylonian empire helping steer the country. And to each of them, God reveals his word which brings them hope.
•Jeremiah - Jeremiah 29 God declares through Jeremiah that after 70 years the Jews will go back
•Ezekiel - In Ezekiel 37, God gives a message of hope. Ezekiel sees a valley of dry bones, and God miraculously brings them to life, giving the promise of HOPE to the Jews that they will return to their land.
•Daniel - God gives a prophecy in 9:25 of the exact timetable to the coming of the Messiah.
Over and over again, God instills hope through His word. But we don’t find hope when we’re just reading a verse or two to check off a list or to ease our conscience. We need time for devotional reading of Scripture, where we take an extended time to read and let God speak to us through His word. Because the word of God will instill Hope in us.
Remember the group of Scientists that put the rats in a tank of water. the rats died in 17 minutes. Then, they repeated the experiment, but this time they "rescued" the rats just before the point of drowning. They dried them off and returned them to their cages.... Fed them, let them play for a few days, and repeated the drowning experiment. This time, the average survival time for these rats increased from 17 minutes to 36 hours! The scientists explained that phenomenon by pointing out, that the second time around, the rats had HOPE. They believed that they could survive this, because they had been rescued before.
This morning, no matter what situations you may be facing, remember that our God is a God of HOPE. he wants to come alongside you and give you everything you need to face the situation He has you in. He doesn’t want to say the word and take away your problems, but He wants to use the problems to draw you closer to him. But will you continue to have hope in your God?
Let’s Pray.
Benediction: Psalm 115:1, 9-end in NLT
