(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

Jeremiah 42, I decided to call this sermon, Our God of Second Chances. Our God of Second Chances. I was gonna call it The God of Second Chances, but then I decided no, let's change it to Our God of Second Chances. And there's a reason why I've done that. If we have a look at this chapter, you'll see that the Jews did not wanna acknowledge God as their God. They were happy to acknowledge God as Jeremiah's God. Eventually they had to learn to accept, no, the God of Israel is their God. And we'll see this in this chapter. And I decided to call it Our God of Second Chances is because you'll see that God gives these people chance after chance after chance. Just to get you back up to speed, where in Jeremiah 42, obviously, the Babylonians have come, they defeated Judah, they've defeated Jerusalem. Jerusalem's been burnt up. They've taken into captivity the vast majority of all the Jews into Babylon. Otherwise, many of those Jews have perished in the war. And now you have a small remnant on the land, the poor of the land, and Nebuchadnezzar has allowed them to stay there, to grow their crops, and to pay tribute unto the kingdom of Babylon. And so if we look at verse number one there, Jeremiah 42, verse number one, it says, then all the captains of the forces and Johanan, the son of Korea, and Jezaniah, the son of Hoshea, and all the people from the least, even unto the greatest, came near. So you may recall that Ishmael, one of the captains, had killed Ghemaliah, who had been set as the governor of the land. He assassinated him, and then he took these people into captivity, and he was leading them into captivity. Then the rest of these captains come, deliver this great multitude, or this, not a great multitude, but a remnant of the Jews, and now they don't know what to do. They're worried about Nebuchadnezzar. They're worried about the governor that Nebuchadnezzar put in place. He's been assassinated. Other Chaldeans have been killed, and they're worried, what's King Nebuchadnezzar going to do to us when he finds out that the people he's put in charge have all been murdered? And so they're fearful. Ishmael has fled, and now they come to Jeremiah. They go to Jeremiah, and it's like, Jeremiah, what does God want us to do? So look at verse number two. It says, and said unto Jeremiah the prophet, let we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God. Now notice that. They don't recognize God as their God. They don't say the Lord our God, or, you know, no, or our, you know, no, it says the Lord thy God, your God, Jeremiah. Can you go and pray for us, Jeremiah? He says, even for all this remnant, for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us. And so what we can look at this passage here in verse number two, we can see that the Jews, this port of the land, you know, they're far from the Lord. They don't recognize God, and, you know, he is their God. He is their God. They are his people, but they recognize him as Jeremiah's God. The Lord thy God, Jeremiah, can you go and pray for us? So this tells us that they're far from God. We know they're far from God. This is why, of course, God had to bring judgment upon the land of Judah, upon the Jews, because they were far from the Lord. Verse number three. And then they keep saying that the Lord thy God, there it is again, the Lord thy God may show us the way wherein we may walk and the thing that we may do. Now, if we took this at face value, what they're asking for Jeremiah, they're saying, Jeremiah, can you go and pray to the Lord thy God? We want to hear from God. So we know which way we should walk. We want to know what we have to do. Now, when you take that alone, that's wonderful. That's a great request. You know, when we have church services or I'm preaching from God's word, even this evening, brethren, even though we're not having church, even for this live service, I pray that your heart is, you know what, Lord, please tell me, show me things from the Bible, tell me what I need to do so I can follow what God wants me to do. I hope that's your heart. I hope that's your desire. And at face value, this is a great request. Please go to the Lord, tell us which way to go. What do we do? But you'll see at the end of this chapter that they didn't really have that heart. They came to Jeremiah hoping to hear what they want to hear. But for now, let's just take them at face value. Let's just accept that that's what they want. And again, this is a great request, okay? You know, I'll quickly read to you from Psalm 119. Psalm 119, verse number one, which says, "'Aleph, blessed are the undefiled in the way "'who walk in the law of the Lord.'" So if we walk in the law of the Lord, if we walk in accordance to God's ways, we're gonna be blessed. And they're telling Jeremiah, you know, ask the Lord to show us wherein we may walk and do the thing that we may do. I hope that's your heart. I truly hope that's what you want. You know, you come to church or you listen to the online preaching and say, Lord, please tell me which way do I need to walk? What do I have to do? And I hope you mean it. Again, the Jews in this time, they don't mean it. It sounds like they mean it, but they don't mean it, okay? We'll see that at the end of the chapter. Look at verse number four. Then Jeremiah, the prophet said unto them, I have heard you. Now look what Jeremiah says. Behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God, okay? See how Jeremiah turns it around? They're like Jeremiah, he's your God, Jeremiah. He goes, Jeremiah, no, it's your God too. Oh yeah, but I will pray for you. But he's your God as well, okay? I will pray unto the Lord your God, according to your words, and it shall come to pass that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you. I will keep nothing back from you. Now, the thought that I get here, obviously the Jews are far from God. They don't feel like they can pray to the Lord, but they recognize that Jeremiah, well, he's a man of God. He can pray to God for us, okay? And you know, I love praying for the brethren. I love praying for you. Many times people come up to me as a pastor and say, can you pray for me about this situation, that situation, which is wonderful, it's fine, okay? It's what they're asking Jeremiah to do. But I want you to remember that I am still just a man, okay? In the New Testament, we've all been made kings and priests. In the New Testament, we all have access to God. You know, you don't need to find a Jeremiah, you know, to go and pray on your request, on your behalf, okay? We all ought to be people in the new covenant, children of God, saved believers, we're priests in the new covenant. We all have direct access to God. So I'm gonna quickly read to you from Hebrews 4.15. And if you can turn to Acts 20 for me, you can keep your finger there in Jeremiah 42, you go to Acts 20, I'm going to read to you from Hebrews 4.15, which reads, "'For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched "'with the feeling of our infirmities, "'but in all points tempted like as we are, "'yet without sin. "'Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, "'that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help "'in time of need.'" So what do we notice here? We notice, brethren, that we all have direct access to God. We can all go before God, right? Boldly at his throne and bring our request, our supplications before God. You know, we don't have to be like the Jews here under the old covenant, where they have to find some priests, where they have to find some preacher and say, preacher, can you pray for us? No, we can go directly to God. Let that be a reminder to you. I love praying for the brethren. As I said, many times people come to me, can you pray for me, pastor, can you pray for me? I'm in a tough situation, I'm in this situation. And sometimes people do it because they feel like somehow God's gonna hear me more, okay? That's not true, God hears you as well. You're his child as well, amen? You're a priest as well, amen? And so let's not forget that, you know, the Lord God is our God if you're saved. He's not just my God and I have some type of special, you know, access to him. No, we all have the same level of access through prayer. And the other thing that he says, Jeremiah, at the end of, if you go back, please, no, keep your finger there in Acts 20. But if you just look back at Jeremiah 42 and verse number four, Jeremiah 42, verse number four, at the end of verse number four, it says, I will declare it unto you, I will keep nothing back from you. So that's what a true prophet is, that's what a true preacher is. They go to the Lord, and of course now we have the Bible, we have the 66 books of the Bible, okay? And it's our job to make sure that we keep nothing back from you, okay? Now, the churches that have literally the thousands of people, the churches that have the feel-good messages, they've got thousands of people because they do hold back on what God's word says, right? They just preach what is lovely and good and what people are going to want to hear, whereas Jeremiah's not that kind of preacher. He says, I'm gonna keep nothing back from you. Meaning whatever God says, I'm going to preach. And whatever God has to say to you, I'm gonna tell you, I'm not gonna hold back. And you're there in Acts 20, verse number 26. Acts 20 and verse number 26. It's so important for me as a pastor to make sure that I hold nothing back. And if I'm gonna hold nothing back, that means I'm gonna offend you sometimes, okay? And again, I'm just a messenger. I'm gonna offend you because God's word is offensive sometimes. God's word can rip your face, can make you feel uncomfortable, right? But it's the preacher's job not to sugarcoat God's message, but to preach it, okay? Holding nothing back from you. And it's so important. If you one day wanna become a pastor, you wanna take on a full-time position in a church, as a teacher, as a preacher, you need to remember this truth because God's gonna hold you accountable if you don't preach the whole Bible, okay? Look at Acts chapter 20, verse number 26. Paul is able to say, Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. Why can Paul say that, that I'm pure from the blood of all men? Why? Verse number 27. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God, okay? So I recognize that there's blood on my hands, that I am guilty of my congregations' sins and wickedness if I'm not preaching against sin and wickedness, right? If I'm not preaching against fornication, and my church members are out fornicating, well, I can't say I'm pure from the blood of all men because I've contributed to them going out and doing that sin by not preaching God's truth. If you hold back God's truth, it affects God's people, and they go out in sin, they go and displease God, then there's blood on my hands. You know, people may very well destroy their lives in sin if I don't preach God's counsel, all the counsel of God. And so, you know, this is good and bad in a sense, or bad because now you're kind of, well, I've gotta preach God's word completely, and what are people gonna say about me? And you may have those concerns. But it's also very liberating when you've got a church of people that know my past is going to preach me all the counsel of God. He's not gonna hold anything back from me. And that makes it easy for me as a preacher because I know I can just preach whatever God's word says, whether it's popular, whether it's unpopular, whether you like it, whether you not like it, it doesn't matter, I know you come to hear God's word. And if I preach against a certain sin, and then you go out and commit that sin, well, I'm still pure from the blood of all men because I've done my job as a preacher to tell you the truth of God's word, okay? So that's Jeremiah's heart. That ought to be the heart of every preacher. That was Paul's heart to preach the whole counsel of God, all the counsel of God, and keep nothing back from you. Back to Jeremiah 42, verse number five. Jeremiah 42, verse number five. Then they said to Jeremiah, "'The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, "'if we do not even according to all things, "'for the which the Lord thy God "'shall send thee to us.'" Like, once again, you notice that? "'For the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.'" And so they're saying, look, yes, whatever you tell us, whatever you come and preach to us, Jeremiah, we're going to follow it. We're going to do all the things that you tell us to do, Jeremiah. And they say, look, the Lord is our true and faithful witness between us, okay? We promise we're gonna do what you tell us, Jeremiah. The Lord is our witness, they say. Now, I thought this would be a good place to just touch upon another topic. I have preached against oneness theology not long ago. But I want you to think about this concept as God as a true and faithful witness. God indeed is a true and faithful witness. You may say, well, of course he is, because he's God. And yeah, that's one way of looking at it. Absolutely, God is God. God cannot lie, okay? God is a true and faithful witness. But this also goes against oneness theology. And I'll show it to you why. Can you please keep your finger there and go to John chapter five. Go to John chapter five. Because God tells us that if you've got one witness, it's not sufficient to be a witness. If you've only got the one person. You go to John chapter five, and I'm going to read to you Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse number 15. One witness is not enough to convict someone who has done wrong. You need multiple witnesses. You turn to John chapter five, and I'm going to read to you from Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse number 15. Deuteronomy chapter 19, verse number 15 says, one witness shall not rise up against a man for any iniquity or for any sin. In any sin that is sinneth, at the mouth of two witnesses, or at the mouth of three witnesses, shall the matter be established. You know, if you did a crime in the times of the Bible, you know, look at God's laws here, and there's only one witness that you had done that crime, it's not enough to convict you, even if you did that crime, okay? You needed two or three witnesses to establish that you have done what is wrong. When they're asking God to be a true and faithful witness, well, if God turns around and says, no, they didn't do it, you know what, if God was, if they had, there's this oneness God, now we know there's one God, but you've got this oneness God that teaches God is one person. They teach that the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all one, we're in different caps, right? One day, he just sees the Father, some other time he's the Son, some other time he's the Holy Spirit, but it's just the one person. Well, if it's just the one person, the one witness, it's not sufficient to be a true and faithful witness. You say, but it's God. Yeah, it's God, but don't you know God is triune? God is a trinity, God is established by two or three, in fact, by three witnesses, okay? So if you look at John chapter five, verse number 31, John chapter five and verse number 31, I know this can sound a bit weird, okay? But in fact, the Bible is very consistent that our God is a true witness because there's more than one witness within God, okay? Look what Christ says about himself. John chapter five, verse number 31. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. This is Christ speaking. This is the sinless Lamb of God speaking. This is God speaking. This is the Son of God speaking. He says, boy, you know what? If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. He says, if I'm the only one that can witness of me being the Savior, being the Messiah, then my witness is not true. Now drop down to verse number 37. What is Christ teaching here? Look at verse number 37. It says, and the Father himself, which have sent me, have borne witness of me, ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape. So Christ says, if I'm coming as a single witness, it's not enough to be true. But he says, my Father is my witness as well. What is Christ saying? God is more than one witness. And if God is more than one witness, two or three witnesses, then we know that he can be a faithful and true witness. Now I want you to go to first John chapter five, verse number seven, first John chapter five and verse number seven. And this is a very famous passage on the Trinity, but I want you to notice what God has to say about himself. In first John chapter five, verse number seven, it says, for there are three that bear record in heaven. To bear record is to bear witness, is to be a witness in heaven. It says the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. See, we still have the one God that we love and worship. How can this one God be a faithful and true witness if the witness of one is insufficient? Well, the reason is because God is made up of three, Father, Son, Holy Ghost. Each one of these is its own independent witness. So we have the two or three witnesses that can be that true and faithful witness that the Jews are speaking about there in Jeremiah 42. So oneness theology is nonsense. Otherwise, you would ultimately turn around what Christ said. He said that if I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. If you've got God as one person, one witness, then we have to conclude his witness is not true. Okay, then what do you do as a Christian? If you've only got the one witness who is God, then his witness is not true. What can you trust? What can you believe? You know, the oneness God just destroys your faith in the Bible, destroys your faith in God. This is why we serve a triune God, you know, the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Back to Jeremiah 42, please. Jeremiah 42, verse number six. Jeremiah 42, verse number six. The Jews are still speaking here to Jeremiah. They say, whether it be good or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord. Now look what they say, our God. I love that, okay? They finally turn around and they acknowledge, yes, okay, this is our God, all right? Whatever God has to say to us, it can be good or it can be evil. Whether we like it or whether we don't like it, they say we're gonna obey God's voice and they acknowledge him as their God. Do you see that turnaround that's happened there, right? They were saying to Jeremiah, no, he's your God. He's thy God, thy God. Jeremiah turns around, no, he's your God. They're finding out, yes, he is the Lord our God, okay? There's a change there. It says, to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God, amen, okay? So they're finally seeing some sense here, all right? They realize, boy, you know, he's not just Jeremiah's God, he's our God. And, you know, again, what they're saying here is wonderful, okay? If they meant it. Whether it's good or whether it's evil. I hope you can be the same way, you know, when you hear preaching from God's word, you know, that you can say whether it's good, whether it's a sermon that I like, whether it's a sermon that I enjoy, or if it's a sermon that I didn't really like because, you know, it exposed my sins. I didn't really like it because I just, I don't know, I wish pastor didn't preach on that topic. You know, whether it's good or evil, you know, we ought to obey God's voice. So they have the right attitude. I truly believe they have the right attitude here. And again, they recognize that if we do whatever God wants us to do, whether it's good or evil, they say that he may be well with us. And again, that's true. Things will be well with you. God will make sure that his face shines upon you if you do what God says, whether it's good or evil, whether it's something you like or whether it's something you don't like. You do what God says and it'd be well with you. Look at verse number seven. And it came to pass after 10 days that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah. Now, I kind of was thinking, why didn't God just answer Jeremiah immediately? Why does the Bible, why does the Holy Spirit stop and say it took 10 days for Jeremiah to get an answer from the Lord? Now, we don't fully understand the reason behind that. But again, when we look at, you know, stories like this, I always want to take a practical application for us. Now, what's important here is that Jeremiah did not give his own opinion. You know, he could have just very quickly said, well, the Lord wants you to do X, Y, and Z, okay? But instead, he waited 10 days before the Lord spoke to him, right? He was waiting patiently on the Lord. He wanted to make sure whatever he preached was God's word and not his own opinions, not his own wisdom. And this reminds me as a preacher and any other man that gets up to preach behind this pulpit that, you know, we shouldn't rush to prepare our sermons. We shouldn't just rush and just give our opinions. Hey, if it takes 10 days searching God's word for God to reveal you his truths, let it be 10 days. 10 days to prepare a sermon, wonderful. You know, the worst thing, and look, there are pastors like this, I know. The worst thing are pastors that take 10 minutes rather than 10 days, right? 10 minutes before the service to put something together, all right, it's not gonna feed God's people. Yeah, you'll finish a service. Yeah, I guess you'll get paid or whatever, but it's not coming from God's word. It's coming from your opinions, your intellect, your wisdom, and you're never going to be able to feed God's people with a 10-minute preparation sermon. If you've got 10 days, take 10 days, all right? The other thing that I learned here is that Jeremiah's not downloading someone else's sermon online and preaching it himself, right? He's not finding some other preacher, regurgitating the sermon, and then telling the Jews, well, this is what you need to do. No, he went and spent time with God, okay? 10 days to get the message from God, finally comes upon him, and so again, we don't know exactly why God took 10 days in this passage, but I think the practical application is we need to be patient, you know? And we need to appreciate pastors that do spend time to study and take time to develop God's word, because you can have a preacher that takes 10 minutes if you want. I guess I could talk for an hour if I prepare for 10 minutes, or you want a preacher that spends hours, that spends days, that spends times in prayer, that spends time studying God's word, comparing God's word, and to give you something that is coming from God directly, okay? So I think that's a great lesson that we can learn there. You know, don't take 10 minutes to prepare a sermon. Verse number eight. Then called he, Johanan, the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest. And he said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him. If ye still abide in this land, then I will build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up, for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. And so I told you that the title for the sermon tonight is Our God, right? I didn't want to call it the God of second chances because we saw how the Jews, they didn't want to acknowledge God as their God, but no, he's our God, he's our God of second chances. What is God telling them to do? Stay on the land. You may recall that in the last chapter, after the people were delivered at the hand of Ishmael, because they were afraid of the Babylonians, they made decisions to go to Egypt. In fact, they're on their way to Egypt right now, and they stopped by Bethlehem where Jeremiah was, and then Jeremiah was able to tell them what God has to say. But they're already making their journey on their way to Egypt. So they had a choice. Do we stay on the land that God has given us here, that God has allowed us to stay in, or do we escape to Egypt because we're fearful of King Nebuchadnezzar? They have a choice. Well, God is telling them, stay on the land, abide in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down. I will plant you and not pluck you up. God says, for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you. What evil has God done? Of course it was God's judgment. God allowed the Babylonians to come and destroy that wicked nation. And God now, boy, you know, God wishes, you know, that that wasn't the case. And then it says, look, now it's time for me to rebuild you guys. Now we know that many of the Jews were taken into captivity, don't forget. They're gonna be there for 70 years, as has been prophesied. But again, these are the poor on the land. There's a very small remnant left on the land, and God has given them another opportunity. You know, God gave Judah opportunity after opportunity, chance after chance after chance. We've been going through Jeremiah. How many times did God say, hey, turn back to me, worship me, you know, get rid of those old idols and those, you know, the wicked practices that you have, and God would not allow the Babylonians to take them over, but they would not hearken to God's word. They would not, you know, God gave them chance after chance. Well, then what happens? Ultimately God's judgment falls, okay? The Jews are taken away into captivity, but these poor on the land, they now have another chance. You know, under Gedaliah, they were able to, you know, take up land and live in whichever cities they wanted. They were doing well. Gedaliah was saying, hey, just serve the king of Babylon, things will be fine. And then Ishmael comes and assassinates Gedaliah, okay? That's like the second chance. And now this is the third chance. God has given them another chance. Hey, just stay in the land. Things will be okay. I'll build you up. I'll help you. I'll be there with you. You don't have to flee into Egypt. You don't have to be afraid of the Babylonians. And so our God is a God of second chances, okay? He gives us chance after chance after chance. Now, they were fearful that their chances were over. They thought, man, we better flee to Egypt. And, you know, we need to remember that our Lord is a merciful God, right? He's a forgiving God. We can't forget that. Yes, he is an angry God. He's angry with the wicked every day. Yes, we know that his judgment can fall like a ton of bricks. And I do believe what we're seeing in this world, especially in Australia, especially in Sydney these days, the tightening of the restrictions. Well, I'm not surprised. You know, if our city wants to keep celebrating, you know, Mardi Gras and all this kind of stuff, we'll expect restrictions like this to come. You know, God's judgment, God allows these people to flex their muscles even though they're being abusive of their power. You know, yeah, I expect our judgment. You know, I used to say when I was in my 20s, when is God's judgment gonna fall in Sydney? You know, well, maybe it's come. Maybe it's come already, okay? But here's the thing, brethren, you know, God gives us chance after chance. And I want to quickly read to you from, actually, you turn to 1 John chapter one. Keep your finger there in Jeremiah 32, sorry, 42. Go to 1 John chapter one for me, please. 1 John chapter one. I'm going to read to you from Colossians 1.12. And this is about salvation, okay? Salvation is like a second chance in a way, okay? Because when we first came onto this earth, we came with that sinful nature, sinning against the Lord, you know, the wrath of God abiding on us. And we know that if we were to die, we would have gone to hell without believing in Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Colossians 1.12, Giving thanks unto the Father, which have made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness and have translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son. Salvation is like this second chance. We messed up before salvation. We sinned against the Lord. Well, we still sin against the Lord even after we're saved, amen? But, you know, when we got saved, the righteousness of Christ was placed upon us. Our sins, the curse of our sins were put upon Christ on the cross and he paid for all our sins, okay? And so now, you know, as a saved individual, we stand before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ. While in our walk, we can sin against the Lord and we can mess up, make mistakes still, yes, but positionally, eternally, we'll always be with the Lord in heaven. We've been translated into the kingdom of his dear Son, never more to be in the power of darkness, okay? So that's like, you know, salvation is like this second chance. Now that I can be sure of going to heaven. Before, I was not living for God, right? But now that I'm saved, I can live for God. Now that I'm saved, I know the righteous acts that I do, they're going to be rewarded for me in heaven because before you were saved, any kind of good acts you did, they were just filthy rags. They earned you no rewards. They didn't please the Lord. But now that you are saved, the good and righteous deeds that you do, God's gonna reward them in heaven. It's like we get this other chance. But again, you know, we can, even as Christians, we will continue to sin. Maybe you'll even do some of the same sins that you've done before you were saved. It doesn't mean that you're saved and not saved. Salvation is based on faith alone, on Jesus Christ, finished work. But, you know, I'm sure there are many of you maybe that have been saved later in life that you can look back in your life and say, boy, I made some horrible mistakes, you know? And unfortunately, I'm sure there are many Christians that got saved early in life, that they can say the same thing. Boy, I made a lot of mistakes. I really messed up. I really messed up. And the reason you're still able to serve the Lord and still be able to learn from His word is because God gives us second chances, third chances, fourth chances. He gives us chance after chance. You know, God is merciful. You're in 1 John 1, verse 9. 1 John 1, verse 9 says for, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So this is what's wonderful. We've got this reset button, even in salvation, even while we're saved, when we sin against the Lord, okay? And we ought to be ashamed. We ought to be embarrassed, right? There ought to be some level of disgust that you've done it, okay? And that humility, that disgust, that desire to get right and be clean before God should drive us to go before God and say, God, I'm sorry, please forgive me for committing this sin. It's a wonderful reset button. There's a great promise. It says He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So God gives us even as safe individuals a chance after chance, cleans us, cleans us, cleans us in our walk with Him so we can be in fellowship with Him, so we can live a happy and fulfilled Christian life without all the burdens or the sins that we do in our lives. You know, there are some people that have made, you know, major mistakes, as I said, in life. Maybe you've been divorced and, you know, even remarried. And, you know, being divorced and remarried in the Bible is not right. But many people have made these mistakes, you know? And here's the thing, you know, you may have missed out on an opportunity, for example, of being a pastor because one of the qualifications as a pastor is to be the husband of one wife, okay? If you've been divorced and remarried, had two wives, then you're no longer qualified to be a pastor. But just because you're not qualified to be a pastor doesn't mean God can't use you. You know, like I said, God is a God of second chances, okay? The greatest work we can do, brethren, is not be a pastor. The greatest work we can do is to preach the gospel to the lost, to see souls saved. How many pastors are there? Yeah, okay, they got the title, they got the office, but they don't even win a soul, okay? I'd rather be just the lowliest person in the church, okay, winning souls than being the pastor that has no desire to go out soul winning, you know, seeing the lost saved. You know, God gives us chance. God is not done with you, even if you've made major mistakes in your life. And I want you to remember that. As long as you're still breathing, okay, and living on this earth, and you know, you've got the Lord God, you know, and you're serving him and loving him and worshiping him, you are given chance after chance after chance. Now, there's one warning, though, there's one warning. God is a God of second chances, but he's not a God of unlimited chances. And we'll get to that in a moment, okay? He's not a God of unlimited chances. Why am I saying that? Because I don't want you to get into the, you know, into the, what's the mentality that I can just sin against God, just sin, sin, sin, ask for forgiveness, ask for forgiveness, and it'll all just be fine. Well, it'll be fine for a while because God is very merciful. But watch out, there's gonna come a time if you continue down that path where God's chances are done, okay? But we'll get to that soon, we'll keep going here. Go back to Jeremiah, please, 42. Jeremiah 42, verse number 11. Jeremiah 42, verse number 11. God says, be not afraid of the king of Babylon. Remember, they were afraid, that's why they're fleeing to Egypt. Of whom ye are afraid. Be not afraid of him, saith the Lord, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. And I will show mercies unto you, that ye may have mercy upon you and cause you to return to your own land. So God's second chances are built upon his mercy. I've told you that God is a merciful God. One of my favorite Bible verses, a very famous passage, is Lamentations 3.22. Now Lamentations is the book straight after Jeremiah, it's written by Jeremiah. Lamentations is kind of like Jeremiah part two, okay? But in Lamentations 3.22 it says, it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassion's fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. God's mercies are new every morning. It says it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed. Meaning that if God was not merciful, we would have been consumed by God a long time ago. What does that mean? We would have been destroyed by God a long time ago, if God was not a merciful God. Well, his mercies are new every morning, okay? Meaning that the sins that you've committed yesterday, God gave you mercy if you've gone to him for forgiveness. Well, the next day, this morning, if you sin against, God's mercies are new, once again, okay? He gives us those second chances. Jeremiah 42, verse number 13. But if you say, now God is saying, well, if you say, we will not dwell in this land. So if they're going against what God says, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God, saying no, but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread. And there will we dwell. And now, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, if ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go and sojourn there. Now, we'll keep going, but I just want you to remind you, yes, God is a God of second chances, he gives us a chance with a chance, but he's not a God of unlimited chances, okay? He says, look, if ye disobey me, and ye decide to go into Egypt, look at verse number 16. Then ye shall come to pass, that the sword which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there ye shall die, and there ye shall die. Again, God has given these remnant, these poor in the land, chance after chance, right? The Babylonians came, they've destroyed the cities, they've taken, you know, the wealthy, the rich, the skillful into captivity, and the poor in the land, they've been given a second chance to live in the land, under Gadalliah. Gadalliah gets assassinated, they're fearful now. God gives them another chance, stay in the land. But it says, but if you decide to go to Egypt, it's all over for you. You're going to be taken by the sword. You are going to die there. It's not going to end well for you. And so that's why I said to you, brethren, yes, he's a god of second chances, but not a god of unlimited chances. I don't know how many chances we have, okay? You know, I don't know how far we can make the same mistakes over and over and over again, when the Lord shuts us down. I'm not talking about the reprobate. You know, that's one thing, that's about the unbeliever. But even Christians can get to a point where God no longer has any use for that person, okay? Now, keep your finger there, and go to Jeremiah chapter eight. I just want to remind you of this. Jeremiah chapter eight, verse number five. Jeremiah chapter eight, verse number five. Jeremiah chapter eight, verse number five. Why then, is this people of Jerusalem slid on back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit. They refuse to return. Now, we know the topic of backsliding. We know that when we become unfaithful to the Lord, maybe in our prayer, in our Bible reading, in our faithfulness toward the Lord, you know, we often say that person is backsliding, okay? And I'm sure we've all experienced some level of backsliding in our Christian lives, okay? But when you find yourself backsliding, when you find yourself getting far from God, don't forget he's a god of second chances. You need to put a stop up to it, and say, no, I need to return back to the Lord. Lord, please forgive me for being far from you. Please forgive me for not coming to you in prayer, and bring me once again close to you, God, please forgive me. You know, we need to be reminded to do that on a regular basis. But if you don't turn back to the Lord, you can get to a point where you perpetually backslide, meaning there's no more getting up, okay? You're backsliding, you're backsliding, you're backsliding, and then all of a sudden, boom, the chances are over. You're going to continue on that downward spiral. Now you're saved, praise God, if you believed on Christ, nothing's gonna change that. You're going to heaven, but you're never going to be useful for God anymore in your life. If these people decide to go to Egypt, they're going to die in Egypt. God will not be able to use them anymore on the land that he promised them to have, okay? Now we're going to keep looking at that soon, but look at verse number 17. Sorry, Jeremiah 42, verse number 17. Jeremiah 42, verse number 17. Let this be a warning for us. We can perpetually backslide if we get that far from God, okay? Verse number 17. So shall my fury be poured forth upon you when ye shall enter into Egypt, and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach, and ye shall see this place no more. Okay, so they escaped. They were able to escape, you know, the destruction of Jerusalem. They escaped the sword, the famine, the pestilence, okay? God allowed these poor on the land to come back and be working there on the land, but if they run to Egypt, they're going to face the same wrath that God poured upon the rest of the inhabitants of Judah, okay? And they will be there far from God. They will never come back to their land. Now keep your finger there and please go to Luke 14. Luke 14, verse number 34. Luke 14, verse number 34. You know, I told you we can get to a point where God no longer gives us any more chances as a Christian, okay? Again, we're saved. You die, you go into heaven. Nothing's stopping that because salvation is based not on how faithful you are, but it's based on the faithfulness of Christ. Christ laying down his life for us, okay? And this is a topic that I've not, a lot of pastors don't preach this topic, okay? And I don't know why because it's so important, okay? It's a fearful thing to fall in the hands of an angry God, okay, to just take advantage of God's mercies, you know, and never think there's going to come a time where God is done with us on this earth, okay? Now look at Luke 14, verse number 34. Luke 14, verse number 34. You know, Christ calls us the salt of this earth, but then he says in verse number 34, salt is good, but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill, but men cast it out, he that have ears to hear, let him hear. Christ wants, if you've got ears, let him hear. Pay attention to this, that salt can lose its savour, salt can lose its saltiness, and then it's no longer good for nothing. God is speaking, Christ is speaking about his disciples, about his believers in this passage. He calls us his salt. We ought to be salty, we ought to be tasty, we ought to shine the light of Christ, but if we as Christians get backslidden, perpetually backslidden, we can lose our savour completely. You know, I'm reminded here of, you know, Brother Ramson sometimes, we go and have, you know those bubble teas from China? Okay, share tea, bubble tea, whatever they're called, right? And you can get, you can order your tea, and it's very sweet, right? That's 100% sugar. And then you can order, okay, look, that's a bit too sweet, I'll order the 80% sugar, meaning that there's a reduction, obviously, of less, there's 20% less sugar in that drink. You can get 50% sugar, you know, and then it's, you know, obviously a reduction of 50%. And so you're slowly losing its sweetness. You can get to the point of zero sugar, okay? Well, that's what I think, when I think about this saltiness here, that we as Christians, when we get saved, you know, we've got that 100% saltiness, but you know what, when you start living an unfaithful, backslidden life, all of a sudden, you're 10% less salty, you know, 20% less salty. At some point, you'll be 50% less salty. At some point, you know, brethren, you continue down this path, you get perpetually backslidden, okay, and you become 0% saltiness. You're no longer a saver that God can use on this earth. You can no longer be effective for God anymore. Then there's no point, okay? You know, again, God gives us chance. He gives us so many chances, brethren. Let's not take it for granted, okay? Let's not think we can just live a life, you know, as saved people, far from God, not serving Him, not loving Him, not worshiping Him, and think it's all gonna be fine with us. No, you're gonna lose your savor. You're in, Luke, actually, go to John now, go to John chapter 15. Go to John chapter 15, verse number five. John chapter 15, verse number five. Jesus Christ teaches this with another parable, another way of teaching this, in John chapter 15, verse number five. Again, very famous passage here, but it just doesn't get taught properly. Christ says, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bring forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing. We love that verse, that we're the branches, Christ is the vine, we're plugged into Christ, and we can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me, right? We can do all wonderful things, we can bring forth fruits, we can save people saved because of what Christ can do in our lives. And that's a wonderful verse, I don't wanna take away from that verse. But don't forget to read verse number six. This is about a believer, and we know believers cannot lose their salvation, okay? So anyone that takes these verses and say you can lose your salvation, listen, that's a heretic, they're preaching another gospel, they don't know the Bible. We're talking about a believer who has eternal life, okay? Look at verse number six. If a man abide not in me, so he was abiding in Christ, but he no longer abides in Christ, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. So the idea here is if you're a gardener, you're trying to grow, let's say an apple tree, and you've got branches that are just not fruitful, they're not bringing forth fruits. Well, what do you do? You're gonna cut down that branch that is unfruitful, so other branches can grow in its place. They can take up the nutrients from the, what do you call it? Anyway, from the rest of the tree, right? And be something fruitful. Well, God takes what is unfruitful, and will just cast into the fire. Again, this is not about hellfire. This is not about judgment in the lake of fire, no. But the Bible's saying here that we as Christians, if we're just unfruitful, if we lose our saltiness, you're no longer any use to God on this earth, okay? And like the Jews here that decided to, were looking to go into Egypt, yeah, you're gonna die. You're gonna face the famines and the pestilences. You're not gonna have God's blessings in your life, and God may very well take you home early, because he's got no further use for you on this earth. Let this be a warning to you, brethren. And we need to be careful in these days that we can't have church, all right? Five weeks without church so far, we know there's gonna be another four weeks like this that we don't get backslidden. Please pick up your Bibles. Please pray to the Lord. Please worship God. Please sing praises to God. Please tune into the live streaming as often as you can, or even preaching of other great preachers. I don't mind. I'm not that insecure. You know, there are other great preachers online. Listen, I just want you to be faithful to God. I want you to serve him. I want you to learn the Bible so you never become this withered branch or salt that loses its savor. Back to Jeremiah 42, please. Jeremiah 42. Jeremiah 42 and verse number 19. It reads, Now, why is God saying this? Don't go into Egypt. Didn't the Jews already say, whatever God says, we will do. Whether it's good or whether it's evil, we're gonna obey God's word. And say, God is our faithful and true witness, they said. Why is God telling them? Okay, well, because God knows their hearts. God knows what they meant, even though their words were right, but God knows that inwardly, they were far from God still. Look at verse number 20. So dissembled basically means that you're not showing your true intent. You've dissembled in your hearts. They said the right things, but the hearts were far from God. Okay, and be careful. We can come to church when church is on. We can say all the right things. We can sing praises to God at the hymns, but our hearts can be far from God. Okay, for you dissembled in your hearts when you sent me unto the Lord your God saying, pray for us unto the Lord our God. And according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us and we will do it. Okay, so they pretended to want to know what God has to say, but they dissembled. They did not show their true intent. You know why they went to Jeremiah? Because they went to Jeremiah, they wanted to hear what they wanted to hear. We'll find out later, they actually don't even listen to Jeremiah. They end up going to Egypt, even after they said, we'll do whatever God wants. Their intentions were not true, okay? And yeah, we have to be careful about this as well, brethren, that we don't come to church and we just do what we wanna do, that we just listen to what we wanna listen to, okay? There are people like this, there are people like this in Jeremiah's day. And it's like, well, I come to church because I just wanna hear what I wanna hear. I just wanna hear that I'm right with God. I don't wanna hear that I've gotta serve Him faithfully. I don't wanna hear that I'm supposed to be preaching the gospel, soul winning. I don't wanna hear that I've gotta pick up my Bible and read it. People just, they wanna be comfortable many times in church, or when they hear God's word. That's how the Jews were. They went to Jeremiah hoping that Jeremiah would basically tell them, yeah, if you wanna go to Egypt, well, God's happy with that. That's not what God was happy with. God wanted them to stay in the land, all right? Now, this reminds me of a friend of mine. He's no longer my friend, but I had a friend of mine who would call me up for advice. I wasn't a pastor yet, but he felt that I was mature, I guess, in the Lord, right? And he would ring me and say, well, I'm in this situation, what do I do? And I would say, well, the Bible says do this, okay? And then I wouldn't hear from him for a while. And then I'd find out that he did something else. He did not listen to me. And it's fine, people don't have to listen to my advice. People don't have to listen to my advice. But look, if it's coming from God's word, I hope that you would strive to at least be obedient to God's word, okay? But I find out later that this guy, my friend, he would call me, okay? Then he would call someone else. Then he'd call a pastor and call some other pastor. He'd call some other friend. He'd call some other person that's mature in the church. He'd call somebody after somebody after somebody, and they will all give advice to him that he did not wanna hear. He would just keep calling until he finds the one person that would tell him what he wants to hear. And then he would tell me, he'd ring him back up and say, oh, I spoke to so-and-so and they said I should do this. It's like, well, then why didn't you even ask me? Why did you have to ring five, six, seven people just to find that one person that agreed with you? Then why did you even ask? You should have just done what you wanted to do in the first place. Some people are like that, right? I think many of you are familiar with the name Kent Hovind. Kent Hovind is a creation scientist, and he's got some really great seminars that he did before he went to prison. He went to prison over a tax issue. I won't go into all of it right now. But after coming back out of prison, I think he was there for nine years. Things did not go well in his relationship with his wife, and they got divorced. And obviously the Bible teaches that if you get divorced, don't get remarried, okay? And Kent Hovind, and I don't remember the exact number, but he did eventually decide to get remarried with some other woman. And I think the other woman he remarried was divorced as well. I might be wrong about that, but I'm pretty sure that's correct. Anyway, I find out, as he's sort of talking about it, and people are criticizing him, why are you doing this, right? This guy's supposed to be an independent, fundamental Baptist, right? And people are very disappointed that he's done that. Well, he came out saying, well, I rang, I don't know if it was seven or eight pastors, okay, and seven out of eight said, don't get remarried, it's wrong. But one person said he could, so he did it. It's like, that's what people are like, okay? It's like, I wanna know what God has to say. But really, they're just looking for what they already wanna hear. Please don't be like this, brethren. Please don't be like, I'm just going to do, and I'm coming to church, and I'm gonna do what I wanna do. I wanna hear what I wanna hear. And when you hear something that you don't like, then you just shut off. Don't be like that, brethren, okay? It's going to hurt you, it's gonna hurt these people. They went to Egypt, they did get destroyed. We'll look at that in the next chapters. But please be careful not to dissemble in your hearts. When you come to church, ask God to give you a pure heart. Ask the Lord to give you open ears, and say, Lord, whatever you wanna teach me today, help me accept it, help me understand it, help me make the changes that I need to make in my life to be more godly. Look at verse number 21. And now I have this day declared it to you, but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for the which he have sent me unto you. Now, therefore, know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn. So God gives them one more warning there. You know what, you've disobeyed me. They haven't even gone to Egypt yet. God knows that in their hearts, they've already disobeyed him, okay? And they're going to die in the land. So brethren, that's chapter 42. In conclusion, we ought to rejoice to know that we serve a God, we love a God, the God of the Bible, the God that saved us is a God of second chances. You know, if you are far from God, you're not fellowshiping with him, you're living with unconfessed sin, take those chances, go to the Lord, seek his mercies, his mercies are new every morning. Press the reset button, say God, give me another opportunity here, help me to serve you, help me to love you, help me to do the works that you've called me to do. But don't forget, at the same time, you need to be warned, okay? Don't take your second chances, your third chances, your fourth chances, don't take them for granted, okay? Because God is a God of second chances, but he's not a God of unlimited chances, okay? If you continue backslidden, continue far from God, don't be surprised if you lose your savor and you're no longer effective for God. Okay, let's pray.