0:00:00 - 0:00:27 I had an exchange with a, a friend of mine that's been rattling around in my mind and heart all day. And I figured I just have a few more minutes before I have to cut this off for the day. And uh I want to share some scriptures. So in Isaiah 42 7, we read the part of the Lord's mission is to open the 0:00:27 - 0:00:56 blind eyes to bring out the prisoners from the prison and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house. Um This chapter Isaiah 42 it's actually, it's about the Lord's servant, but like I've said before, when we see descriptions of the Lord or his servants, those ought to be prescriptions for us 0:00:56 - 0:01:24 to follow. And it's our job to try to live up to what we see in terms of examples of what is good. Now, how do you go and bring out the prisoners from the prison? How do you rescue those that sit in the darkness in the prison house? Turns out you have to go into prison to do that. It's not something 0:01:24 - 0:01:54 you can do from afar in the end of the book of Jeremiah um it's really interesting to see the culmination of um this very righteous man's life and it's heartbreaking. But here he had warned the people for a very long time through great opposition about their sin. And the Lord, the Lord's concern for 0:01:54 - 0:02:20 them and attempts to call them back and prevent impending destruction which happened. And um right until the end, Jeremiah was trying to help. In fact, the king is that A K um he allowed his princes to throw Jeremiah into this really nasty dungeon. There was no food or water, there's just mire in the 0:02:20 - 0:02:47 bottom of it. It kind of sounds like a septic tank. And um he was in this dungeon just standing in this filth. And um a servant in the house of the king convinces the king to bring him out of there. He has to do it kind of in secret because those princes are really on his case. He didn't have to, he 0:02:47 - 0:03:10 was the king he chose to, he was more afraid of the princes than he was of doing what was wrong. So he meets in private with Jeremiah and promises to spare his life if Jeremiah will just tell him the truth, which he's been saying all along. It's really sad because Jeremiah tells this king, if basically 0:03:10 - 0:03:32 , if you just surrender to Nebuchadnezzar, when he comes, you will be spared, the city will be spared. Everything will be as good as it can be given the situation. And of course, that's not what Zedekiah does to his credit. He does not kill Jeremiah as he promised he wouldn't do. But until the very end 0:03:32 - 0:03:59 , so Jeremiah had just been thrown into a dungeon by this guy. And the second he comes out and, and he believes that the king will kill him for telling him the truth, but he tells him anyway, what a guy. So, um, in, in that case, it, it we don't read about anyone else that was in the dungeon with Jeremiah 0:03:58 - 0:04:27 . However, it's interesting to see uh that in the aftermath of all of this after the city is destroyed just as Jeremiah said, it would be just in the same way. Um Nebuchadnezzar puts Jeremiah in the charge of his captain and he says, take care of this guy, make sure nothing happens to him. And it's so 0:04:26 - 0:05:03 interesting because it says um I had it pulled up here. I'm not sure where it is now. Um Here you go. So this is from Jeremiah 39 verse we'll start at 13. Got some hard names here. So bear with me. So New Buzzer, a Aden, New Bazer Aiden. It's like Gatorade, the captain of the guard sent and neighbor 0:05:02 - 0:05:29 shes Ben Rab Cris and Nergal Sharier. There you go. There's a baby name for you. This is my son, Nergal Sharier and Rab Mag and all the king of Babylon's princes even they sent and took Jeremiah out of the court of the prison. Now think about this. So the king who just conquered this other kingdom. So 0:05:29 - 0:00:00 Nebuchadnezzar just conquered the kingdom of uh Israel. I guess you to um he sends his chief guy and all of his assistant chief guys, the cream of the crop, go all of them to take Jeremiah out of the court of the prison. Why did he send those people? This is a, an extreme inversion of circumstances, 0:00:00 - 0:06:31 isn't it? Jeremiah was in a pit, a dungeon of Meer. Um And they, you know, he had been pulled out of there by um the success of the servant of the king convincing him to get him into the court of the prison. But he went from there to receiving an envoy of the chief, most people of Nebuchadnezzar's court 0:06:31 - 0:07:03 . And that's quite a reception. And in the aftermath of this, he was given his freedom. He was allowed to go anywhere he wanted to go and he was even given a reward. And that's quite a shift. So the Lord will put us into prisons that we don't deserve to be in because it's a gift. It's a gift to be around 0:07:02 - 0:07:27 the prisoners because it's the only way you can help them. And then as you continuously live according to the Lord's purpose in accomplishing your mission, there will come a day where you are freed from that prison because it's not where you belong. It's not your home, your visitor, even if you're in 0:07:27 - 0:07:51 chains with them, you're a visitor. Those chains are just for show the like the chains that were on Peter when him and John, when he and John were preaching in Jerusalem and they arrested him and then the angel came and unlocked the chain and unlocked the doors. He said you're free to go. So you're there 0:07:50 - 0:08:09 for a time and a and a place and you have to take that opportunity and use it and use it. And don't worry about the fact that you're in a prison. And it, the only reason it matters is because you need to be around the prisoners. And here's the other reason it matters because all those people had said 0:08:09 - 0:08:32 he lived among the people. After that, they all knew that he had spent a very substantial part of his life warning them of exactly what was going to happen. And he became a living memorial of the glory of God to say the Lord knew about all this before it happened. And he did every single thing he could 0:08:32 - 0:09:00 to help you avoid all of this or even if it couldn't be avoided to be in the best situation you could. And that's a powerful, powerful blessing. So I'm gonna end this by reading uh Psalm 1 42 7. It says, bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me about for 0:08:59 - 0:09:26 thou shalt deal bountifully with me. So you can praise the name of the Lord anytime. But there's a special kind of praise that you can give. There's a special way that you can show the goodness of God as he takes you out of that prison in his name. Or according to your demonstration of his example, like 0:09:26 - 0:09:49 he did for Jeremiah, literally for Jeremiah. Maybe it's figuratively for you. Maybe you're out in the wilderness in one way or another. Many of you are for some of you that wilderness is gonna get a little darker before it gets lighter, but it will get lighter. If you, if you remain faithful to the Lord 0:09:49 - 0:10:32 and everything he's shown you about himself, it will get lighter. And then in that day, the light that comes from you that will be recognized by all those people who see it for where, where it comes from really, which is God and for what it is really, which is his faithfulness. The amount of light you 0:10:32 - 0:11:09 receive in your life will be determined by the depth of darkness you're willing to walk through. But if you allow him to the Lord will use you. He would use you to show his light to everyone who sees you and you'll be able to be a living testimony of just how bountiful bountifully he deals with his people 0:11:09 - 0:11:35 . So hang in there no matter how dark it gets, it will get lighter. And in that day, in that day, you will have eternal reasons to praise the Lord's name for the opportunity he gave you to show people his light.