The Plans that I have for You

Text:  Jeremiah 29:11

Proposition:  What are the plans God has?

Introduction

Jeremiah wrote a letter to the Jews in captivity in Babylon.  It would seem that they were the ones who were cursed instead of the ones remaining in Judah.  They had been removed from there country and hauled over 700 miles to Babylon.  They were in a land full of idols and unclean meat.  God said they were the good figs, Jeremiah 24:1-7.  God had his eye on them for good.  This chapter is mainly for them.  Jeremiah wants them to know that the captivity will not be short.  It will be for 70 years.  The false prophets are telling them that their captivity will be short.  The people in captivity thought these prophets were from God.  Jeremiah is telling them that these men are not from God.  The captives should know by now that Jeremiah is speaking from God.  He told them Babylon was coming and they came.  He told them Jehoiakim’s dead body would be thrown out beyond the gates of Jerusalem and that he would have the burial of a donkey and that happened.  They should know by now that Jeremiah is speaking from the Lord and the prophets who are saying the opposite of him are liars speaking for the devil.

This week is the beginning of year.  We think about what the year will bring and what we plan to do in the next year.  What is more important is what God has planned for us for the years ahead.  We don’t know exactly what he has planned for our future, but there are a few things we know that he has planned for us.

I. Plans for welfare (peace)

II. A future and a hope

III. To roast in the fire

I. Plans for Welfare (peace)  (What are the plans for welfare that God has for us?)

A. God had plans for peace for the captives.  This would be good to hear when your nation has been invaded and taken over by a foreign army.  Babylon would be at war fighting other nations, but there would be peace for the Jews in Babylon.  God was going to protect them against there enemies.

1. He took care of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego when Nebuchadnezzar threw them in the fiery furnace. 

2. He took care of the Jews when the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon. 

3. Daniel was one of three commissioners that ruled the kingdom of the Medes and Persians.  Darius was going to appoint Daniel over the whole kingdom of Babylon, but some men got Daniel thrown in the lion’s den.  God sent his angel and shut the mouths of the lions’.  Then Darius threw those men in the lion’s den.

4. Esther, Mordecai were protected from the evil plans of Haman to annihilate all the Jews from the kingdom of Persia.  Haman and his sons were hanged on the gallows he had made for Mordecai.  Mordecai was exalted to the king’s right hand man.

5. God had plans of welfare and peace for them.  Opposing the Jews in captivity was opposing God.

B. To settle down and work

1. They were to build houses and plant gardens.

2. Jeremiah 29:5

3. If you build a house and plant a garden that means you are planning to stay awhile.  One man I know didn’t plant a garden because he said he didn’t know if he would be living here in Lexington very long.  He has been here longer than I have and is still here, but he is always talking about moving.  Jeremiah wanted the captives to know they won’t be moving anytime soon.  So settle down and work.  They don’t have to worry that someone else will live in their house.  They don’t have to worry that someone else will eat the produce of their garden.  They are going to be there for a while.

4. The people in whose land you are living will be happier to have you there if you are working and productive.  Some people come to the United States and they learn about “welfare.”  They learn how to get free medical care and free food from the government.

5. II Thessalonians 3:11-12

6. We are to live a quiet life and eat our own bread, not someone else’s bread.

C. Get married and have children

1. Jeremiah 29:6

2. God wanted the captives to multiply.  Many in Judah had been killed.  They needed to multiply so that they could increase.

3. Jeremiah was told not to marry.

4. Jeremiah 16:1-4

5. The captives were going to have God’s protection on them and their families.  They needed to get married and have children.

6. The first commandment God gave to man was to be fruitful and multiply.

7. It is good to have children.

8. Psalms127:4-5

9. If you are in war you want lots of arrows.  You don’t consider your arrows a curse.  Many people see children as a curse instead of a blessing.  I was at the Post Office Monday.  I had Ariel, Seth, and Josiah with me.  I was walking out the door and a lady walking in said, “You have your hands full.” 

I said, “I have two more at home.”

She said, “Oh, my.”

Then she said, “Good for you.”

10. We live in a peaceful area of the world.  It is a good place to settle down, get married, and have children.  Then watch your children get married and have children.

11. Bring your children up to serve the Lord.

12. Ephesians 6:4, don’t just reproduce train them and teach them.

D. Seek the welfare of the city where you are taken captive

1. Jeremiah 29:7

2. Seek the welfare of you town, state, and country.  Don’t join up with rebels and revolutionaries.

3. I Timothy 2:1-4

4. We aren’t to be troublemakers, but to live quiet lives.

5. I Thessalonians 4:11-12

II. To give us a future and a hope (What future and Hope has God given us?)

A. The Jews were going to be brought back to Judah in seventy years.

1. Jeremiah 29:10-14

2. They had the hope that they would return to the land they wanted to be in.  It would be depressing to know that you and your people were going to be forced to live in a foreign land forever, but Jeremiah tells them they won’t be there forever.

3. Psalms 137:1-6, they were sad that they weren’t in Jerusalem.

4. Jeremiah told them about the future that they would have.  They would be able to return after 70 years.

5. The Old Testament prophets always gave hope to the people they were prophesying to.  Jeremiah prophesied doom and destruction but he also prophesied about better days to come.  We have prophets of doom and destruction today.  They prophesy about global warming while they fly around the world in their green house gas emitting jets.  They prophesy about nuclear war and want to keep anyone from having nuclear weapons except them.  They prophesy about the economic disaster yet to come and we will all be back in the dark ages.  The power grids are going to go out and the dollar will be worthless, but none of them prophesies about when things will be prosperous again or gives any hope to those they are prophesying to.

6. We have a future and a hope also.  We will live on this earth an average of about 72 years.

7. Psalms 90:10

8. Titus 1:2, We have the hope of eternal life.

9. Titus 2:13, we have the hope of the return of Jesus Christ.

B. That if we seek him with our whole heart we will find him.

1. God is not far from us, if we seek him we will find Him

2. Proverbs 2:1-11

3. Seek the Lord like you seek money.  Seek him like you would seek hidden treasure. 

4. Acts 17:22-28

5. You won’t find God worshipping idols.  You won’t find God, in the love of money.  You won’t find God watching TV and movies.  You won’t find God in a college education.

6. You will find him in repentance

7. Acts 17:29-30

8. You will find Him in the hope of the resurrection

9. Acts 17:31-32

10. You will find Him in trusting his promises

11. Daniel 9:1-3

12. Daniel was one of the captives.  He is now an old man in his eighties or nineties.  He knows from what Jeremiah prophesied that the 70 years is up.  He hasn’t heard anything yet about the Jews returning to Jerusalem.  So he seeks God in prayer and fasting.  He asks God to forgive his people so that they can return to Jerusalem.  He got his answer while he was still praying.

13. Daniel 9:20-23

C. Heaven

1. Colossians 1:5

2. We have the hope of heaven. 

3. We have the New Jerusalem waiting for us.

4. Revelation 21:1-4

III. To roast in the fire  (Who will roast in the fire?)

A. Ahab and Zedekiah

1. Jeremiah 29:21-23

2. They prophesied lies and committed adultery.

3. False prophets like to tell lies.  They let the people they prophesy to stay in sin so that no one will say anything about their sin.

B. Liars

1. Revelation 21:8

2. Be honest.  Liars will roast in the fire.

C. Adulterers

1. Matthew 5:27-32

2. Those who commit adultery will be roasting in the fire of hell. 

Conclusion  

God has plans for all of us to be in the New Jerusalem with him forever.  If we repent of our sin He will bless us here on this earth also.  Living by the words of God is much more prosperous than living for the devil.  The only wages he will pay you is roasting in the fire with him forever.

The plans God has for us if we repent is to restore what we lost when we sinned.  God brought his people back to Jerusalem and blessed them he also blessed them while they were in Babylon.  God wants to bless us.  He wants to give us a hope and a future, but if we don’t repent we will roast in the fire.