Message Notes

INTRODUCTION

1. Reviewing the sad history of ancient Israel

a) Book of Judges

b) Psalm 78

2. Reality of how a Chosen Nation

a) Could and did forget God and His deeds

b) Could and did forsake God and embrace idolatry

c) Ancient Israel was chastened severely as forewarned

THE REDEMPTIVE PLAN OF GOD

1 But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob,
And He who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have called you by your name;
You are Mine.

2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
And through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.
When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned,
Nor shall the flame scorch you.

Isaiah 43:1-2

1. God as Creator

a) Created

b) Formed

2. God as Redeemer

a) Called by the Lord

b) Called “Mine” (again)

3. Ramifications of Redemption

a) God’s Presence promised

b) God’s Protection also promised

REMEMBERING THE LORD

3 For I am the Lord your God,
The Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I gave Egypt for your ransom,
Ethiopia and Seba in your place.

4 Since you were precious in My sight,
You have been honored,
And I have loved you;
Therefore I will give men for you,
And people for your life.

Isaiah 43:3-4

1. Remembering who God is

a) He is the Lord your God

b) He is the Holy One of Israel

c) He is the Saviour

2. Remembering what God has done

a) What God did to Egypt in order to ransom Israel

b) What God did to Ethiopia and Seba to rescue Israel from their oppression

c) These were powerful adversaries of Israel in the past

3. Responding appropriately

a) Remembering that the Redeemed are precious in God’s sight

b) Remembering that God has honoured them in His Redemption

c) Remembering that God has loved them

d) Remembering that God goes to great lengths for His Redeemed people

THE MINISTRY OF THE PROPHETS OF GOD

1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon),

2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying:

3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, this is the twenty-third year in which the word of the Lord has come to me; and I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, but you have not listened.

4 And the Lord has sent to you all His servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear.

5 They said, ‘Repent now everyone of his evil way and his evil doings, and dwell in the land that the Lord has given to you and your fathers forever and ever.

6 Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands; and I will not harm you.’

7 Yet you have not listened to Me,” says the Lord, “that you might provoke Me to anger with the works of your hands to your own hurt.

Jeremiah 25:1-7

1. Many prophets were sent by God

2. They urged Judah to repent and to return to God

3. Their words fell on deaf ears

THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY FOREWARNED

8 “Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘Because you have not heard My words,

9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the Lord, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land, against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.

10 Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

11 And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

12 ‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the Lord; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.

13 So I will bring on that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

14 (For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also; and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.)’ ”

Jeremiah 25:8-14

1. The Babylonian Captivity was forewarned

2. This was chastisement for a nation that had forsaken its God

3. The Captivity period was to last 70 years

OUR CHALLENGE

1. To remember and to repent from our sinful ways

2. To return to God

3. To receive with deep gratitude God’s Redemptive mercy and Love