The Lord has saved his people
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7 The Lord proclaims: Sing joyfully for the people of Jacob; shout for the leading nation. Raise your voices with praise and call out: “The Lord has saved his people, the remaining few in Israel!”
8 I’m going to bring them back from the north; I will gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the disabled, expectant mothers and those in labor; a great throng will return here.
9 With tears of joy they will come; while they pray, I will bring them back. I will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble. I will be Israel’s father, Ephraim will be my oldest child.
10 Listen to the Lord’s word, you nations, and announce it to the distant islands: The one who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them safe, as a shepherd his flock.
11 The Lord will rescue the people of Jacob and deliver them from the power of those stronger than they are.
12 They will come shouting for joy on the hills of Zion, jubilant over the Lord’s gifts: grain, wine, oil, flocks, and herds. Their lives will be like a lush garden; they will grieve no more.
13 Then the young women will dance for joy; the young and old men will join in. I will turn their mourning into laughter and their sadness into joy; I will comfort them.
14 I will lavish the priests with abundance and shower my people with my gifts, declares the Lord.
The Lord has saved his people
The Lord has saved his people
Have you ever waited a long time for something to happen? Did you ever order something and then wait a long time for it to come?
It seems in our culture we are an impatient people. We want instant this and instant that. Putting something in the microwave for a minute seems like an eternity.
This passage from Jeremiah is about the people of Israel and Judah waiting. They are waiting for God to rescue them from their exile from their nation. Chapters 30 and 31 are all about this waiting and God promising to restore them.
Israel, the northern tribes were conquered by the Assyrians. Judah was conquered by the Babylonians. They had been without hope that they would ever be able to return home. They had been in captivity for 50-70 years. Nearly an entire generation died in captivity.
It would have been easy to just give up, to think that God has totally forgotten about them. I think that the Church some times gets like that. About 1,989 years ago Jesus told his disciples that he would return. We’ve been waiting an awfully long time and we are still waiting.
I believe that the Jews felt that they had been forgotten about.
But, God is a keeper of His promises.
God has been having Jeremiah write these words. Here in our text it opens with:
Jeremiah 31:7 (CEB)
7 The Lord proclaims
It is important to take note of that. This is God speaking. The Israelites constantly got into trouble with God because they didn’t listen to God and follow His Law.
Is the American Church much different than what Israel was like as it was being hauled off into exile?
We lament the loss of influence that the Church has in the culture today. There are a lot of reasons for why the Church has lost that influence. One reason and it is the largest reason is the reason that Israel was punished by God. That reason is sin.
Israel and Judah had gone off doing their own thing. That split up Israel into Israel and Judah was the beginning of the end. Never again did they have the influence and power in the world.
Sin is the reason for the loss of influence of the church in general. Rather than looking to God a large percentage of the Church in the US has looked to the world.
The 7 historic Mainline Christian denominations have all wandered away from the historic Christian faith. They have all rejected the Bible as the source of truth for our faith. The Methodist Church is in the verge of unraveling within the next year when the conservatives say enough is enough and they split from the liberal branch.
When you look at the Bible, from beginning to the end it is God’s story of His action to redeem His creation. From the very first day that sin existed in God’s creation He has been active in redeeming humanity.
God says in this passage:
Jeremiah 31:7 (CEB)
Sing joyfully for the people of Jacob; shout for the leading nation. Raise your voices with praise and call out
Who was Jacob besides the son of Isaac? Jacob was the father of the 12 sons who became the 12 tribes of Israel.
God says to sing joyfully for the people of Jacob.
God says to shout for the leading nation. God is talking about the nation of Israel. Israel was God’s special chosen people.
I grew up in the church when people use to shout in church. They didn’t shout because they didn’t like what the preacher was saying. They shouted because they were excited about what God was doing.
I remember a camp meeting that I went to with my grandmother’s sister. Aunt Velma had a cottage at the campground. Every evening there was a service in the tabernacle. There was always lots of shouting happening. I remember people running the aisles in that old tabernacle. I remember ladies with their hankies out waving them. We sat on benches that had no backs on them. I remember one guy who got so excited and blessed that he started from the back of the tabernacle running those benches. He ran from one to the next to the next all the way to the front. He shouted praise to God as he ran.
Why do I encourage you all to share how you’ve served God this past week and how God has blessed you? God has blessed us with incredible blessings.
3 Bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven.
Shouldn’t we be able to Sing Joyfully and Shout in praise because of how God has blessed us?
He has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing that comes from heaven.
That tells me that God has not left anything out. He hasn’t held back. He has blessed us beyond imagination. To be blessed in Christ is:
to be envied, congratulated, and imitated.
That definition begs the question “are we envied, congratulated, and imitated” by the world?
I feel that sadly we the Church tend to envy, congratulate and imitate the world.
We have something that non-Christians do not have. They cannot understanding the blessings that we have. I want to encourage you to live like you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven because in fact you have!
God moves to the crux of this passage when he says:
Common English Bible (Chapter 31)
The LORD has saved his people
Other translations use wording of a future tense, more of a request that God will save his people.
I appreciate the translation in the version I read from because it points to what God has done. I feel that it ties in well with the passage from Paul’s letter to the Ephesians that was read to us earlier.
Paul wrote in that great letter these words
4 God chose us in Christ to be holy and blameless in God’s presence before the creation of the world.
5 God destined us to be his adopted children through Jesus Christ because of his love. This was according to his goodwill and plan
6 and to honor his glorious grace that he has given to us freely through the Son whom he loves.
7 We have been ransomed through his Son’s blood, and we have forgiveness for our failures based on his overflowing grace,
8 which he poured over us with wisdom and understanding.
9 God revealed his hidden design to us, which is according to his goodwill and the plan that he intended to accomplish through his Son.
10 This is what God planned for the climax of all times: to bring all things together in Christ, the things in heaven along with the things on earth.
11 We have also received an inheritance in Christ. We were destined by the plan of God, who accomplishes everything according to his design.
12 We are called to be an honor to God’s glory because we were the first to hope in Christ.
13 You too heard the word of truth in Christ, which is the good news of your salvation. You were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit because you believed in Christ.
14 The Holy Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance, which is applied toward our redemption as God’s own people, resulting in the honor of God’s glory.
This is all about what God has done for us. This passage is one of my favorite passages of Scripture. Paul in his unique way captures the full breadth of salvation.
Salvation is not something that we receive and hoard up for ourselves. It is meant to be given away, to be shared with others.
The Lord has saved his people is the the phrase that God is calling the people to raise their voices in praise, to shout out that the Lord has saved his people.
Notice in the Scripture who his people are.
8 I’m going to bring them back from the north; I will gather them from the ends of the earth. Among them will be the blind and the disabled, expectant mothers and those in labor; a great throng will return here.
Look at the ones that are included. God said those included will be “the blind, the disabled, expectant mothers, and those in labor.”
That points to the fact that no one was left out. The call for the Jews to return to Israel and to God was for every one. That thought reminded me of something that Jesus said:
16 God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him won’t perish but will have eternal life.
Everyone is invited to come into a relationship with God through belief, through faith in Jesus.
From the Gospel reading this morning we heard these words:
John 1:11–13 (CEB)
11 The light came to his own people, and his own people didn’t welcome him.
12 But those who did welcome him, those who believed in his name, he authorized to become God’s children,
13 born not from blood nor from human desire or passion, but born from God.
If you have welcomed Jesus into your life, if you have believed in his name you have become God’s children.
I said before that it troubles me when people make the claim that we are all God’s children. I’m troubled by that because it does not align with what Jesus says here. We become God’s children when we believe in Jesus.
How are the Jews going to come back to God? In verse 9 we read:
9 With tears of joy they will come; while they pray, I will bring them back. I will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble. I will be Israel’s father, Ephraim will be my oldest child.
First will be tears of joy. Those are happy tears. I remember when our Matt surprised us with a visit home for Christmas from one of his many deployments to the Middle East. I knew about the surprise but Darlene didn’t. There was a lot of whispering and secrets keeping from her. On that day he showed up Darlene had lots of happy tears, tears for joy when she saw his face.
They will have tears of joy because God is bringing them back from their exile.
The second will be while they pray. In the New American Standard Bible it is translated “And by supplication I will lead them”
Supplication is a specific prayer asking God for something. In this case they are praying for help and restoration. I think it can be implied a prayer for repentance.
It is sin that caused them to end up in exile. God did not overlook their sin, they had to come through repentance back to Him.
If there is known sin in our lives, God is not going to overlook it. Sin damages our relationship with God. They only way back to Him is by repentance.
God has prepared the way.
9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from everything we’ve done wrong.
He is just waiting on us. Jesus has provided the way of forgiveness through his shed blood on the cross.
God said they would come with tear of joy. He has laid out the way.
God said:
Jeremiah 31:9 (CEB)
I will lead them by quiet streams and on smooth paths so they don’t stumble.
That passage reminds me of Psalm 23
Psalm 23 (CEB)
1 The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing.
2 He lets me rest in grassy meadows; he leads me to restful waters;
3 he keeps me alive. He guides me in proper paths for the sake of his good name.
4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff— they protect me.
5 You set a table for me right in front of my enemies. You bathe my head in oil; my cup is so full it spills over!
6 Yes, goodness and faithful love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the Lord’s house as long as I live.
If you hear nothing else that I say this morning, please hear this. You lack for nothing in your relationship with God. God has provided you absolutely everything that you need.
Look at that Psalm. Psalm 23:4-5 “4 Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no danger because you are with me. Your rod and your staff— they protect me. 5 You set a table for me right in front of my enemies. You bathe my head in oil; my cup is so full it spills over!”
That is God providing for you in the darkest of times as well in the best of times. God is there with you.
If you feel like life is falling apart around you look to the Father who cares for you.
If you’ve wandered away, he is just waiting for you to turn around and come running back to him. God is not distant from us, he is right here.
John captured it well when he wrote
14 The Word became flesh and made his home among us. We have seen his glory, glory like that of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
Jesus, God Himself has made his home among us. We couldn’t go to Him, so He came to us.
He is here with us today.
I was listening to that song, He is here Hallelujah while I was preparing for today. We’ve sang the chorus before and I’ve only heard the verses of it a few times. The worlds of the second verse really stood out to me.
I searched for peace among the shadows, dark and lonely
Gave up on finding that strong and lasting love
I tasted all the things that sin could fear to offer me
But today I feast on manna from above
He is here, Hallelujah
He is here, Amen
He is here, Holy, Holy
I will bless His name again
He is here, listen closely
Hear Him calling out your name
He is here, you can touch Him
You will never be the same
He Is Here lyrics © Kirk Talley Music
That is singing for the joy over what God has done. That is knowing that God is with us this very moment.
People miss out on what God is doing and wanting to do in there lives because they are so tied up with worldly stuff.
If you feel like God is absent from your life, guess who moved?
God is here for us. Look at verse 10
Jeremiah 31:10 (CEB)
The one who scattered Israel will gather them and keep them safe, as a shepherd his flock.
That image of God as a shepherd is found throughout the Bible.
Isaiah wrote:
11 Like a shepherd, God will tend the flock; he will gather lambs in his arms and lift them onto his lap. He will gently guide the nursing ewes.
Jesus said:
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
Finally in Revelation we read
Revelation 7:14–17 (CEB)
14 “These people have come out of great hardship. They have washed their robes and made them white in the Lamb’s blood.
15 This is the reason they are before God’s throne. They worship him day and night in his temple, and the one seated on the throne will shelter them.
16 They won’t hunger or thirst anymore. No sun or scorching heat will beat down on them,
17 because the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them. He will lead them to the springs of life-giving water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”
In those three verses we see God portrayed as a shepherd gathering His flock, as a Shepherd gathering and being present with His flock, and Jesus being the good shepherd who lays down his life for his flock, and then finally the Lamb who will shepherd them.
These Scriptures this morning remind us of our responsibilities. We have a responsibility to those closest to us to show them Jesus.
God has never given up on us and we should never give up on those closest to us. If they don’t know Jesus you need to tell them about Him, you might even need to use words. The best words though are those unspoken through a life that has yield everything to follow Jesus.
We cannot just focus on those closest to us. There is a world out there that Satan has blinded to the truth of God. They are living in darkness.
4 through the Word was life, and the life was the light for all people.
5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness doesn’t extinguish the light.
It doesn’t matter how dark things may seem, the darkness can never overcome the light. Even a small match can cast light in a dark room.
We are not the light, but we carry the light of Christ. We are not to hold onto it, but we are to carry it to those living in darkness.
Nearly every day I share with someone the light of Christ. I do that through how I live and sometimes I have to use words.
Common English Bible Chapter 31
The LORD has saved his people
The Lord has saved His people through Jesus Christ. As we enter this new year with fresh challenges, I urge you to take this joy-filled message that Jesus Saves, that he has saved his people. They just need to know how to receive that salvation.