December 3, 2006am  Will the Lord Keep His Promise?  Jeremiah 33:14-16

By Ronald E. George Jr. at the Fayetteville Baptist Church

Jeremiah’s word of hope:  the days are coming ( hinnēh yāmîm bā’îm )

The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind."  The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much.   But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live."   Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?"  Bits & Pieces, July 1991.

A man approached a little league baseball game one afternoon. He asked a boy in the dugout what the score was. The boy responded, "Eighteen to nothing--we're behind."  "Boy," said the spectator, "I'll bet you're discouraged." 

"Why should I be discouraged?" replied the little boy. "We haven't even gotten up to bat yet!"  from web site: http://www.higherpraise.com/illustrations/hope.htm

One night at dinner a man, who had spent many summers in Maine , fascinated his companions by telling of his experiences in a little town named Flagstaff . The town was to be flooded, as part of a large lake for which a dam was being built. In the months before it was to be flooded, all improvements and repairs in the whole town were stopped. What was the use of painting a house if it were to be covered with water in six months? Why repair anything when the whole village was to be wiped out? So, week by week, the whole town became more and more bedraggled, more gone to seed, more woebegone. Then he added by way of explanation: "Where there is no faith in the future, there is no power in the present."  Halford E. Luccock, Unfinished Business.

 Scripture Text:  Jeremiah 33:14^ “‘The days are coming,’ declares the Lord , ‘when I will fulfill the gracious promise I made to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah .

^15 “‘In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David’s line; he will do what is just and right in the land. ^16 In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. This is the name by which it ^c will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness.’ ^[1]

Do we have hope? 

            Jeremiah the prophet had been arrested because he preached the truth to King Zedekiah.  While he prophesied the doom of the city of Jerusalem at the hands of the Babylonians, he was told by God to purchase a field.  This field was in the middle of the battle field.  Jeremiah was obedient to the Lord and bought the field.  But why?  God gave Jeremiah the field in the middle of sure disaster because there was hope.  The people had given up on God and began to worship other gods.  God had allowed the people to suffer to teach them to look to him for their help.  Their idols and gods were not real.  They had no power to help them and give them hope.  The days are coming Jeremiah said that the city would be taken and destroyed.  But, the days are coming when God will restore his people. 

1.      The Hopeless situation:  Death, disaster, and disease face all who live without God.  Without God we live in a hopeless and helpless world.  We are powerless to defeat the enemies we all face.  Sin is strong and often easily overcomes those who resist it’s power.  But the power of sin was broken when we realized that the Lord is our righteousness. 

2.      The promise of Hope: What is the promise of Christmas?  The Hope of Christmas is that Jesus came the first time in fulfillment to God’s promise.  He will come again to fulfill his promise. 

3.      The Source of our Hope: God’s people may be down but they will never be out.  We have hope.  We have read the end of the book.  We know that the Lord will come again. 

4.      The Proof of our Hope:  Why do you have hope if you have the Lord?  Who is the righteous branch?  If you have the Lord you have Hope? Because of the promise and God keeps his promise.  How do you know that God keeps his promises? There’s always hope with the Lord.  Why?  Can you trust the Lord? 

The city will be called “The Lord is our righteousness.”  Are we called the Lord is our Righteousness.  Do you have hope?  Do you have one of the gifts of Christmas?  It is hope for the future.