Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - REPLAY： Most Misused： Jeremiah 29_11

00:00:00.000 Hey guys, welcome to Relatable.

00:00:11.840 I am super excited about today's episode.

00:00:14.460 We are doing a most misused about Jeremiah 29 11.

00:00:19.180 If you have not heard my previous most misused episode, what we do is we take a verse that

00:00:27.220 is used a lot and is often misapplied or misinterpreted to mean something that the context tells us

00:00:36.860 it doesn't actually mean, and in so doing, it waters it down.

00:00:41.860 And so we go through the context of verses like this and we ask ourselves not what do

00:00:48.500 we want this to mean or what does this mean to me in my specific situation, but what does

00:00:53.900 this actually mean?

00:00:54.960 And what we always find is that the true meaning, according to the context of not just the

00:01:00.460 chapter and book, but the entirety of the biblical canon is always so much better than the superficial

00:01:06.420 applications of the verse that are so often decontextualized and watered down.

00:01:13.180 So Jeremiah 29 11, for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord plans for welfare

00:01:21.180 and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

00:01:25.180 So that indeed is a very hopeful and a very positive verse, and it should be read like

00:01:32.420 that.

00:01:33.140 However, like I said, there are so often superficial applications of this verse that often manifest

00:01:40.260 itself like this.

00:01:41.820 God is going to spare me from suffering.

00:01:44.240 He's not going to let anything bad happen to me because of Jeremiah 29 11.

00:01:48.340 God is going to ensure that my dreams come true.

00:01:51.340 He's going to make sure that I get into the college that I want to get into.

00:01:55.160 He's going to make sure that a lot of people like me or that I will find my soulmate.

00:02:00.060 He'll make sure that I don't have to go through anything super hard.

00:02:03.180 This is also used in the same way that Psalm 37 4 is delight yourself in the Lord and he will

00:02:10.700 give you the desires of your heart.

00:02:12.340 If you're interested in the correct interpretation according to the Bible of that verse, I have

00:02:17.920 a most misused on Psalm 37 4 that you can listen to.

00:02:21.600 Jeremiah 29 11, Psalm 37 4.

00:02:24.680 These are verses that I call magic eight ball verses.

00:02:28.280 So a verse that someone flips open to and says, okay, this is God speaking to me about

00:02:33.980 my specific situation.

00:02:35.900 This is the answer that he is giving to me about my specific desire.

00:02:39.920 It fills us with a kind of affirmation of what God can do for us and what we believe he will

00:02:46.000 do for us.

00:02:46.840 It's also used as kind of this blessing verse or an affirmation of what we're doing.

00:02:53.060 So if we have material blessings in our life, so if we've made a lot of money off of something,

00:02:58.400 we take that as an affirmation of what we're doing as God's approval of what we are doing.

00:03:05.200 And we take something like Jeremiah 29 11 to mean, okay, well, if God is giving me prosperity

00:03:12.540 right now, then that must mean he likes what I am doing.

00:03:16.420 And we will talk about why these interpretations and applications of this verse simply are not

00:03:22.160 correct.

00:03:22.700 But in order to talk about this, we do have to back up just a little bit and ask ourselves,

00:03:27.680 why is it important to get these things right?

00:03:30.460 And who am I like, why do I get to say what verses actually mean?

00:03:35.520 Well, I don't, I am not the arbiter of what verses actually mean.

00:03:40.420 So what we do when we read the Bible is there is a systematic way to read the Bible.

00:03:45.460 And it's true that there are people who have a variety of interpretations of things.

00:03:51.140 But the truth is there's only one interpretation to the Bible.

00:03:54.220 There may be a variety of applications.

00:03:56.400 There might be a variety of ways to study a verse, but the systematic way that we study

00:04:02.140 the Bible is that we look at a verse and we say, okay, what is the context of this?

00:04:06.800 Not just the context of this chapter in the context of this particular book in the Bible,

00:04:10.860 but the context of the biblical canon, the context of history.

00:04:14.540 This is why I love the ESV study Bible, which actually provides you with all of this context

00:04:20.160 and the John MacArthur study Bible.

00:04:22.380 Well, there are a lot of good study Bibles, but those are two that I trust that I think 0.93

00:04:26.200 are just really, really good in their scholarship.

00:04:28.740 So that is one way that we can know the historical context and the biblical context of a particular

00:04:33.760 verse.

00:04:34.520 And we also need to know the authorship.

00:04:36.520 So who wrote this?

00:04:37.760 Why is he writing this?

00:04:39.200 To whom is he writing?

00:04:41.760 And again, a study Bible is really, really helpful in giving you that information.

00:04:46.840 The real meaning of verses based on the context, based on the author, based on the purpose of

00:04:55.960 the verse always has significance to us because the Bible is about Jesus and about his glory

00:05:04.400 and his glory is our good.

00:05:06.520 And the Bible tells us how to live in such a way that we can glorify God.

00:05:11.580 So when I say that when we look at a verse, we don't say, what do I want this to mean?

00:05:16.960 I'm not saying that the Bible isn't for us.

00:05:19.020 Of course it is.

00:05:19.700 By the grace of God, we have his written word that there are many people in the world today

00:05:25.040 and many people throughout history that didn't have access to his written word.

00:05:28.560 But we, by his sovereignty and according to his grace, have the privilege of being able

00:05:33.460 to read his written word.

00:05:35.520 And the Bible, the biblical canon is about Jesus.

00:05:39.080 Everything points to the gospel.

00:05:40.600 The gospel is the scarlet thread.

00:05:43.060 It is the driving force behind the biblical text in every single verse that we read.

00:05:48.100 We should be looking for the glory of God.

00:05:50.200 We should be looking for the characteristics of God.

00:05:52.500 We should be looking for how this betters our understanding of who he is, who the Messiah

00:05:58.240 is, and why God sent him and what the gospel is.

00:06:02.600 And then, of course, what that means for our lives.

00:06:05.240 So we ask ourselves, does this ask me to repent of a particular sin?

00:06:10.940 What does this say about God's character that should shift my perspective of what I think

00:06:16.300 about God?

00:06:17.400 So, yes, it changes not just our theology, but also our practical everyday obedience.

00:06:24.520 Jeremiah, who wrote this book, is known as the weeping prophet.

00:06:28.500 Most scholars think that he wrote Lamentations as well.

00:06:31.780 He was a prophet for over 40 years of his life.

00:06:34.320 He started out really young, as I will read in just a second.

00:06:37.640 He was a prophet to God's people, specifically those in the nation of Judah who lamented over

00:06:43.520 the people's sins and their need for repentance and warned them, warned the people about God's

00:06:48.780 impending judgment.

00:06:50.520 And Jeremiah comes on the scene after years and years of God telling his people to repent

00:06:56.420 from their wickedness and the people just outright refusing.

00:06:59.240 So God has called up Jeremiah.

00:07:02.860 He has given him the task of not just lamenting, but also warning his people about the impending

00:07:10.880 suffering that they will endure because of their rebellion and sin.

00:07:15.500 Here is what is said about Jeremiah and by Jeremiah in the first chapter of the book.

00:07:22.900 Now, the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you

00:07:28.740 and before you were born, I consecrated you.

00:07:31.680 I appointed you a prophet to the nations.

00:07:34.600 Then I said, all Lord God, behold, I do not know how to speak for I am only a youth.

00:07:40.200 But the Lord said to me, do not say I am only a youth for to all to whom I send you, you

00:07:46.680 shall go.

00:07:47.260 And whatever I command you, you shall speak.

00:07:50.440 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you.

00:07:55.480 So God consecrated or set aside Jeremiah for this task of weeping over and warning a rebellious

00:08:00.920 people.

00:08:01.900 Jeremiah did not believe that he was qualified.

00:08:04.880 And one thing that we know about God throughout scripture, we see it, for example, specifically

00:08:08.920 in the story of Moses, that Moses also said, look, you know, paraphrasing here, God, I've

00:08:14.920 got a stuttering problem, like I'm not the person that you want to lead Israel out of

00:08:20.320 Egypt.

00:08:20.980 And God answers in much the same way that, hang on here, I'm going to be with you.

00:08:26.780 I'm going to give you the words to speak.

00:08:28.460 I'm going to empower you.

00:08:29.740 And what we learn from this, that it is God's presence, not our talents that empower us

00:08:34.260 to do the things that he has called us to do.

00:08:36.260 Now, Jeremiah, in this calling to be a prophet of the people, to be this lamenting, weeping

00:08:41.000 prophet was a lonely, sorrowful guy.

00:08:44.920 He was bearing the cross of telling God's people to stop sinning, telling them of the 0.58

00:08:48.780 wrath that was to come through a Babylonian exile by King Nebuchadnezzar, something that

00:08:54.360 God orchestrated, not just allowed, but orchestrated to judge his people.

00:08:59.780 It is very similar, his attitude to Psalm 119, 36.

00:09:03.400 My eyes shed streams of tears because people do not keep your law.

00:09:08.440 So Jeremiah's heart was broken because of the sinfulness of God's people and knowing according 0.99

00:09:13.960 to God what was to come for them.

00:09:15.600 But Jeremiah was also tasked to bring news of God's impending mercy and restoration, as

00:09:22.480 we will discuss today in verse 11.

00:09:25.280 But the people didn't listen to Jeremiah.

00:09:27.520 He, his own hometown rejected him.

00:09:29.900 This is what Jesus talks about in Luke 4, 24.

00:09:32.980 Jesus says this, and he said, truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his own town.

00:09:39.240 We also see in the book of Acts in Stephen's monologue before he gets executed by the angry

00:09:46.920 Jewish people that he was trying to share the gospel with.

00:09:51.120 He talks about how their forefathers, how the Jewish forefathers rejected the prophets and

00:09:56.560 mistreated all of the prophets that God sent.

00:09:59.740 Jeremiah is certainly one of those people that was mistreated because he was sharing the truth

00:10:04.720 of God to a rebellious people who didn't want to hear it.

00:10:08.380 Interestingly, he only had two people recorded, at least, that listened to him and actually

00:10:13.440 converted Baruch and the Ethiopian eunuch.

00:10:16.360 And yet, even though we only read of two converts, two people who actually listened to him and

00:10:20.900 repented, Jeremiah was still seen as faithful, held faithful by God.

00:10:26.260 So not because of how many people followed him or listened to him, but because of his obedience

00:10:31.680 to God's voice, and even in his loneliness, God promised to be with him.

00:10:36.980 Even in his rejection, God promised to be with him.

00:10:40.180 Even in his sorrow, God promised to be with him and strengthen him, to give him words to

00:10:44.140 speak, to uphold him.

00:10:45.460 And as we see throughout the book of Jeremiah, God does just that.

00:10:49.160 So I often say, I often say that we are not the point in the Bible.

00:10:53.760 And I said that in the beginning of this episode as well, that we are not the stars of the show.

00:10:58.140 We are not Jeremiah, but from what we see about Jeremiah in God's word, we see the character

00:11:04.580 of God that does apply to us today, that God is faithful to equip those whom he has called.

00:11:11.220 And he does not judge faithfulness by our perceived fruit or the worldly definitions of what fruitfulness

00:11:17.480 is.

00:11:17.980 So number of followers, number of likes, or the number of people who agree with you or how

00:11:21.820 many downloads you have on a podcast episode, but whether or not you are obeying him in word

00:11:28.340 and in deed.

00:11:29.680 Hebrews 13, 20 through 21 says this about God's insistence upon equipping those whom he had

00:11:37.820 called and what kind of standards he holds his followers to.

00:11:41.700 Now, may the God of peace who brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd

00:11:46.580 of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant equip you with everything good that you may

00:11:53.500 do his will working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be

00:12:00.360 glory forever and ever.

00:12:02.280 So he equips us to obey him and that obedience brings glory to God, whether or not we see superficial

00:12:09.140 standards of success in our own lives.

00:12:12.400 It is obedience and adherence to his word that God is looking for and brings him glory.

00:12:17.340 And he graciously equips us to do just that as we see through the prophet Jeremiah and

00:12:22.300 his life.

00:12:23.140 God will equip you for his glory.

00:12:25.540 He will empower you to obey him.

00:12:27.440 And when the road is lonely, when the journey is hard, he is with you.

00:12:30.420 That is not inserting ourself into the biblical story where we don't belong.

00:12:34.000 That is looking at God's character that he exemplifies in the book of Jeremiah and throughout

00:12:38.680 the Bible, realizing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, as Hebrews 0.95

00:12:43.400 13, 8 tells us, and realizing that we benefit from that characteristic of God today.

00:12:48.860 So already we see how much we draw, how much good news we see in studying the context of

00:12:56.600 a verse.

00:12:57.520 Like how awesome is all of that that we've already learned?

00:13:00.600 We haven't even gotten into Jeremiah 29, 11 yet.

00:13:03.000 In looking at the whole picture, we see more of who God is and we see how that benefits us.

00:13:10.060 And it draws us into a true and right and humble worship before God.

00:13:15.600 Rejoicing in the faithfulness of God is so much better than demanding favors from God.

00:13:21.900 Now, that does not mean that we cannot pray for things that we want in accordance with his

00:13:27.120 will.

00:13:27.420 We do.

00:13:27.900 It does mean that our relationship with him isn't about what we can get out of him, but

00:13:34.440 is about us enjoying him for who he is and who he is, as we see in the book of Jeremiah,

00:13:41.840 is faithful and merciful and sovereign and good.

00:13:45.420 And we are going to talk about this idea a little bit more as we dig into Jeremiah 29,

00:13:51.060 verse 11.

00:13:51.800 So let's start then at the beginning of chapter 29 to see what this verse really means.

00:13:58.880 Jeremiah 29, 1.

00:14:00.540 And these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah, the prophet sent from Jerusalem to

00:14:04.600 the surviving elders of the exiles and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people

00:14:09.440 whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon.

00:14:13.940 To Israelites.

00:14:15.000 So this is to Israelites that were captured by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, exiled from

00:14:19.660 Jerusalem.

00:14:20.680 Babylon was used multiple times by God as an agent of judgment on Israel because of

00:14:26.440 sins like idolatry. 0.97

00:14:28.300 At the time, Jeremiah 29 is being written.

00:14:31.280 Nebuchadnezzar had already captured and exiled many Jews to Babylon, but the full destruction 0.84

00:14:35.920 of the temple of Israel in Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar hadn't happened yet.

00:14:41.100 So Jeremiah is writing to those that have survived the exile who are currently in Babylon.

00:14:46.440 He is telling them how to conduct themselves, uh, conduct themselves while they are in exile.

00:14:52.460 And he is assuring them that after they turn to God, God will restore them and will allow

00:14:57.860 them to return to Jerusalem after 70 years in exile.

00:15:01.340 So this is what the Bible says in 29 verses four through seven.

00:15:06.960 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile

00:15:12.600 from Jerusalem to Babylon.

00:15:14.920 So again, I just want to emphasize that God is actually the one who purposely orchestrated

00:15:21.240 the exile.

00:15:22.040 So many times we say, Oh God, just, he doesn't cause bad things to happen.

00:15:25.720 He just allows bad things to happen.

00:15:27.340 Well, the Bible over and over again, disproves, disproves that he does cause suffering to happen

00:15:34.420 at times.

00:15:35.180 So to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live 1.00

00:15:40.780 and then plant gardens and eat their produce, take wives and have sons and daughters, take

00:15:44.700 wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage and that they may bear sons and 0.84

00:15:49.020 daughters, multiply there and do not decrease, but seek the welfare of the city where I have

00:15:54.480 sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for in its welfare, you will find

00:16:00.420 your welfare.

00:16:01.320 Verses four through seven.

00:16:02.600 He tells them not to listen to false prophets or soothsayers, um, after that, and to make

00:16:08.720 sure that they are only listening to that, which is true.

00:16:12.240 And then we get to the verses surrounding verse 11, starting in verse 10 for thus says the

00:16:17.280 Lord, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my

00:16:23.300 promise and bring you back to this place for, I know the plans I have for you declares the

00:16:29.300 Lord plans for welfare and not for evil to give you a future and a hope.

00:16:33.720 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me and I will hear you.

00:16:38.080 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart or actually just with

00:16:43.080 your heart, I will be found by you declares the Lord and I will restore your fortunes and

00:16:48.400 gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you declares the

00:16:52.940 Lord and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

00:16:57.860 So Jeremiah is talking about the restoration and forgiveness of God's people after righteous

00:17:06.000 judgment for their persistent sin.

00:17:08.640 So even after God's people rebelled over and over again, they rejected God's prophets.

00:17:14.380 They rejected his warnings.

00:17:15.980 They continued to do what is right, what was right in their own eyes.

00:17:19.860 They continue to worship idols, taking on the customs and the religious traditions of the 0.90

00:17:24.980 surrounding areas and cultures and welcoming all kinds of impurity and immorality that God 1.00

00:17:31.420 had commanded them to resist.

00:17:33.140 Not just arbitrarily, not just because he wanted to, but because he desired and called them to

00:17:40.620 be holy, to be pure, to do that, which honors him in a way that also protects them, protects

00:17:46.640 them from the heartache that comes from sin, but also from the physical consequences of things

00:17:51.880 like murder and theft and sexual immorality and child sacrifice.

00:17:56.260 Jeremiah 4.22 says this, 1.00

00:17:58.320 For my people are foolish. 0.98

00:18:00.560 They know me not. 1.00

00:18:02.100 They are stupid children. 1.00

00:18:03.780 They have no understanding. 1.00

00:18:05.340 They are, quote, wise.

00:18:06.880 There's actually quotations around it.

00:18:08.340 They are, quote, wise in doing evil.

00:18:10.880 So they are wise in some ways, if you mean wise in foolishness, but how to do good, they know

00:18:18.600 not.

00:18:18.900 So they don't even know how to do good. 0.70

00:18:20.820 Their hearts are so depraved.

00:18:22.780 Jeremiah 5.1 says,

00:18:24.260 Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.

00:18:26.360 Look and take note.

00:18:27.580 Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one, who does justice and seeks truth,

00:18:33.120 that I may pardon her, her being Jerusalem. 1.00

00:18:36.640 Jeremiah 7.8-10,

00:18:38.720 Behold, you trust, this is God's people, you trust in deceptive words to no avail.

00:18:44.260 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after 0.93

00:18:51.020 other gods that you have not known, and then come and stand before me and this house, which

00:18:56.040 is called by my name, and say we are delivered, only to go on doing all of these abominations.

00:19:01.660 So we see hypocrisy.

00:19:03.220 We see double-mindedness.

00:19:04.400 We see idolatry, and them turning around and saying they still follow the Lord, but

00:19:08.260 God is saying, these people don't know me.

00:19:10.140 They don't know me at all.

00:19:10.940 There's not a single one of them who does justice.

00:19:13.340 There's not a single one of them who even knows what good is. 1.00

00:19:15.840 The only thing that they are wise about is being stupid. 1.00

00:19:18.580 That is what God says. 1.00

00:19:19.660 Please, don't tell the tome police, because they will be coming after God in the book of

00:19:24.260 Jeremiah.

00:19:25.440 Jeremiah 7.17-20 says this,

00:19:29.360 Do you not see that they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?

00:19:34.820 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women need dough to make cakes 0.97

00:19:40.420 for the queen of heaven.

00:19:42.160 And they pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.

00:19:46.340 Is it I whom they provoke, declares the Lord?

00:19:48.640 Is it not themselves?

00:19:50.340 To their own shame?

00:19:51.480 Therefore, thus says the Lord God, behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on

00:19:57.360 this place upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground.

00:20:02.100 It will burn and not be quenched.

00:20:05.180 So God is very angry, righteously angry at his chosen people because they continue to rebel

00:20:13.700 no matter how many times he has asked them, told them, warned them to please repent and

00:20:19.300 to return to him so that they can take part in all of the good promises that he has offered

00:20:24.120 them.

00:20:24.820 God sets the rules and gives the commands for his people out of goodness and compassion,

00:20:30.600 not greed or malice.

00:20:32.540 And the people refused to see the goodness in God's laws.

00:20:36.580 They turned away, doing whatever they pleased.

00:20:39.680 And God's judgment came out of, yes, anger and wrath, but also out of a relentless undying

00:20:45.860 love for his people rather than rejecting them forever, cutting ties with them and saying,

00:20:50.900 I'm done with you.

00:20:51.780 No more.

00:20:52.380 I'm not dealing with this.

00:20:53.720 He said, I am going to judge them.

00:20:55.840 I am going to cleanse them so that, so that they will repent and be restored and be reconciled

00:21:04.120 to me.

00:21:04.360 I am going to allow them and cause them to basically receive the natural consequences of

00:21:09.880 their rebellion, not for the sake of destruction, but actually for the sake of restoration and

00:21:15.160 redemption, that's how good and merciful God is.

00:21:18.600 That is how committed he is to keeping his promises that they may repent and stop doing

00:21:24.480 the things that they are doing that are not just dishonoring to him, but also harmful to

00:21:28.840 themselves and to worship him as their good and true God.

00:21:32.960 So in verse 11 of Jeremiah 29, when he says, I have plans to prosper you and not to harm you.

00:21:40.760 He's clearly not saying, I will never allow you to be hurt or to go through anything hard.

00:21:46.020 Actually, he is promising that they are going to suffer a lot for their rebellion.

00:21:50.320 The prosperity and hope that he is talking about is reconciliation to him, restoration in

00:21:56.620 their relationship with him.

00:21:58.200 And that is what biblical prosperity actually is.

00:22:01.360 Not the absence of suffering, but the presence of communion with our redeemer.

00:22:06.340 So first we need to understand that Jeremiah 29, 11 was not written about us, but we can

00:22:13.740 with proper contextual knowledge, draw something, something really good from this verse about

00:22:19.880 God's character that applies to us.

00:22:21.980 So what we learn about God from this book is that he hates sin, that sin must be dealt with.

00:22:29.500 He will go to any length, any length to rid people of it and to call his people to repentance. 0.94

00:22:37.360 We also learned that he has relentlessly committed to forgiveness, redemption and restoration, not

00:22:42.660 because he has to be, but because he is good and gracious.

00:22:46.120 And where do we see this reality, this characteristic of God proven most in the cross of Jesus Christ?

00:22:52.540 So this is what we get to draw from this as Christians, that you and I deserve the same

00:22:58.160 wrath poured out on Israel and Judah.

00:23:00.560 And then some, we deserve not just, uh, not just earthly exile, but eternal exile.

00:23:06.080 We deserve separation from God forever because we too are idolaters.

00:23:10.460 We too love the ways of the world.

00:23:12.660 We too are rebels.

00:23:14.260 So we are sinners and rebels like God's people in the old Testament. 0.82

00:23:18.500 And like God's people in the old Testament, we are deserving of his judgment and wrath. 0.92

00:23:24.080 But God, instead of pouring out that judgment on you and me, he poured it out on his son,

00:23:29.820 Jesus Christ, sending him to die a death.

00:23:33.100 He didn't deserve to die on a cross paying for all of our sins of wickedness so that we

00:23:37.380 could be redeemed, so that we could be restored, so that we could be reconciled.

00:23:42.380 But God, the two most hopeful words in the whole Bible, but God, but God being rich in mercy

00:23:47.780 because of the great love with which he loved us, made us alive together with Christ by

00:23:52.280 grace, we have been saved for those of us who were dead in our sin, which is all of

00:23:56.280 us.

00:23:56.760 Ephesians two goes on to say, following the course of this world, following the prince of

00:24:01.000 the power of the air, we were sons of disobedience.

00:24:04.200 This chapter says that we were children of wrath.

00:24:07.420 God, by his grace through our faith has made us alive in Christ, saved by God's goodness to

00:24:14.460 be his children, his heirs, his friends forever.

00:24:17.640 So the hope and the prosperity that God was promising to his people in Jeremiah 29, 11 was

00:24:23.000 restoration and reconciliation after judgment.

00:24:25.400 The hope and prosperity that God has promised to us is restoration and reconciliation after

00:24:30.860 a judgment that was poured out not on us, but on his only begotten son.

00:24:35.840 So when we read Jeremiah 29, 11, we know that God is not promising us an easy life.

00:24:41.380 He's not saying that we won't suffer actually.

00:24:43.240 Second Timothy 3, 12 says, indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus

00:24:47.780 will be persecuted.

00:24:49.720 He is saying that I have made a way for you to be with me, to be a relationship with me,

00:24:54.140 your creator, your good father, not because you deserve it, but because I'm gracious and

00:24:59.120 good, not because I need you, but because I want you.

00:25:02.020 That's how good God is.

00:25:03.800 And that is what this verse points to.

00:25:05.600 That's such a better meaning of the text.

00:25:07.580 That's such a better message.

00:25:09.220 That's such better news.

00:25:10.280 That's such a better God than the one who is promising you superficial satisfaction and

00:25:15.500 temporary happiness.

00:25:16.960 No, in this verse, he is offering rebellious people living water and bread of life.

00:25:22.840 And that is so much better news.

00:25:25.720 That is how Christians can read this verse and rejoice and be glad for a relationship with

00:25:30.640 a good and holy God.

00:25:31.840 Now, the judgment that is described in Jeremiah is still poured out on those who do not have

00:25:38.800 faith in Christ, and it will be poured out eternally for those who are not in Christ,

00:25:45.760 for those who have not had their slate wiped clean by the blood of Christ.

00:25:51.120 It shows us a picture of how God does and will deal with sin, not just with temporary suffering,

00:25:57.800 but also with eternal suffering.

00:25:59.440 But what we as Christians get the privilege of drawing out of this text is that the judgment

00:26:04.440 that you and I deserved as rebellious sinners was satisfied in Christ, in his death, in his

00:26:12.860 resurrection, and the defeat of death through his resurrection.

00:26:16.680 He is the propitiation for our sins.

00:26:18.460 He is our reconciliation to God.

00:26:20.640 He is the bridge.

00:26:21.920 He's also the one that carries us over the bridge to God so that you and I can stand before God

00:26:27.400 with confidence because of our faith in Christ.

00:26:31.600 Again, not because of anything that we have done, but because of what Christ has done for

00:26:35.080 us.

00:26:35.280 So what we read in this verse is gospel truth.

00:26:40.660 It's the best news ever.

00:26:42.540 It's so much better than the interpretation of this text, which means that God is not going

00:26:48.140 to allow you to suffer.

00:26:49.320 He's not going to allow you to go through hard things.

00:26:51.340 He's going to give you all of the things that you want in life.

00:26:54.880 Like how small of a God is that, that he is basically just the genie from Aladdin?

00:27:00.480 Like, is that the God that you want to rescue you?

00:27:03.160 Is that the God that you want to worship?

00:27:05.100 Is that the God that you want to, uh, that you want to bear your burdens?

00:27:10.020 Is that the kind of God that you see avenging evil and defeating Satan and death forever?

00:27:15.460 It's not the God that I want to worship.

00:27:17.540 I want to worship the God that promises, uh, that promises out of his own grace, not our

00:27:23.820 deservedness, um, eternal life with him and not just forgetting, um, that sin exists, but

00:27:32.520 actually paying for that sin with the sacrifice of his own son.

00:27:37.080 And that is what we can rejoice in when we read Jeremiah 29, 11.

00:27:41.640 Again, there is so much richness in studying the Bible in, in context.

00:27:48.440 I will recommend some resources for you.

00:27:50.660 Well, one, I did a podcast called reading the Bible.

00:27:52.940 So I recommend listening to that.

00:27:55.560 Now I will kind of change something I said.

00:27:57.520 So I do typically go verse to verse.

00:27:59.500 It's really hard for me to read entire chapters or a few chapters at once because I typically have

00:28:03.840 so many questions that it just takes me forever.

00:28:06.680 And so I typically read small chunks or verses at a time and I kind of break it down.

00:28:11.300 I've got a Greek and Hebrew, um, uh, Greek and Hebrew Bible.

00:28:15.620 So you can look at keywords and you can look up the original Greek or Hebrew and it tells

00:28:20.160 you the context and what they actually mean, how they show up in other places in the Bible.

00:28:24.100 I have all of this in an Instagram highlight.

00:28:26.120 I have my ESV study Bible that gives me context and historical analysis and things like, and things

00:28:31.160 like that.

00:28:31.680 However, I will say one caveat that I would give to my reading the Bible, my reading the

00:28:38.060 Bible episode is that, um, it is okay and good to read whole chunks of the Bible at once,

00:28:44.180 especially if you are trying to read the entire Bible.

00:28:46.800 Like I'm doing same page summer right now with, with Christ church and Rachel Jankovic, and we're

00:28:53.120 reading big chunks of the Bible at once.

00:28:55.080 That's not how I'm used to reading it, but there's a lot of benefit to that too, because

00:28:58.500 if you're trying to read as much of the Bible as possible, it would take you several lifetimes

00:29:03.100 to go through like one verse at a time.

00:29:07.140 So go, go listen to my podcast, reading the Bible, but also understand that's not, you 0.90

00:29:12.200 don't have to go only verse to verse in order to get something out of the biblical, out of

00:29:16.980 the biblical text.

00:29:17.800 So I've got my study Bible.

00:29:19.060 I've got my keyword Greek and Hebrew Bible.

00:29:22.900 I love systematic theology from, uh, Wayne Grudem.

00:29:27.580 I think it's a really helpful, uh, helpful resource.

00:29:30.740 Also politics according to the Bible by Wayne Grudem is something that just kind of helps

00:29:34.560 build your worldview.

00:29:36.380 But those are just some of the few resources that I like.

00:29:38.500 I also love got questions.org, like really good resource.

00:29:41.600 If you've got any questions about, you know, how the biblical canon came together, a systematic

00:29:47.000 theology is also good for that, but how different Bible verses are interpreted, different forms

00:29:51.480 of eschatology, and that means the end times and things like that.

00:29:54.840 And so those are all really good resources, but I hope that, I mean, we could talk about

00:29:58.760 this particular verse and the book of Jeremiah for weeks and weeks and weeks to come.

00:30:02.640 There are people who are a lot smarter than us who have done that, that we can draw a lot

00:30:05.800 of wisdom from, but I hope that this was a good dive into a verse that unfortunately I

00:30:11.240 think is not just misused, but, um, is, is misapplied in a way that misses the heart changing

00:30:19.020 and the life changing and perspective changing truth that it signifies.

00:30:22.540 So anyway, thank you guys so much for listening.

00:30:25.060 I will be back here on Wednesday.

Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - November 17, 2022

REPLAY： Most Misused： Jeremiah 29_11

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