The Plan of God in the Suffering We Experience

In this message, David Platt unpacks Jeremiah 29:11–13 in light of God's greater plan of redemption.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
You're listening to David Platt Messages a weekly
podcast of sermons and messagesof pastor, author and teacher
David Platt.
Today's episode is a rerun ofone of our most listened to
messages of all time.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
I love reading through the Bible with you.
This Bible reading plan westarted back in February going
through the story of Scripturethrough November.
A couple of chapters a day.
If you haven't been followingalong, we invite you to start
following along now.
Just jump in with us.
Or, if you've trailed off atsome point, pick back up.
This week.
All the information's on thefront page of our website.

(00:34):
Every day we have theopportunity to hear the same
word from God and then, eachSunday, to come together and
think about what God is sayingto us, not just individually,
but together as a church.
That leads to a chapter in ourBible reading from yesterday,
jeremiah 29, that includes oneof the most well-known, often

(00:58):
quoted, most misunderstood,taken out of context promises in
all the Bible.
So I've never preached on thispassage before, and when we came
to this week, I thought we needto think about what this means,
because what this means isincredible, particularly when we
wonder how suffering weexperience in this world relates

(01:22):
to the plan of God for ourlives.
This passage is so relevant toevery single one of our lives
and at the end of our timetogether, I want us to have some
concentrated time to pray forpeople in this gathering here
and other campuses who arewalking through challenging days
right now, like I.
Wanna encourage people likethat, particularly with God's

(01:46):
word today, and for those of youwho aren't walking through some
sort of suffering right now.
I want to give you truths tolodge away in your mind and your
heart for anything that mightbe coming around the corner.
So let's read these verses.
In fact, let's read them outloud together.
I'll put them up here on thescreen and then let's think
about what they mean.

(02:06):
So, jeremiah, chapter 29, verses11 through 13.
Let's read it together out loud, for I know the plans I have
for you declares the lord plansfor welfare and not for evil, to
give you a future and a hope.

(02:26):
Then you will call upon me andcome and pray to me, and I will
hear you.
You will seek me and find mewhen you seek me with all your
heart.
Now I mentioned these words arewell-known, often quoted.

(02:48):
People have them in framesaround their houses, on their
desks, in places where they canbe reminded of these words,
particularly verse 11, and thisis good.
The problem, though, is thatmany of us don't know when God
said this, who he was speakingto and what it meant at that
time.
And if we don't know what itmeant when God said these words,

(03:11):
then we can easily make themmean things today that they were
never intended by God to mean.
All kinds of people can findthemselves suffering when you
find out you have cancer, whenyour spouse decides to leave,
when you're a child or ateenager and one of your parents

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is suddenly absent from yourlife and you wonder I thought
God's plans for me were good.
Or even in the middle of toughtimes, people will quote this
verse and say I have faith thatmy suffering is about to end
because God promised it.
So is that what this passagemeans?

(03:55):
And this is why it's alwaysimportant that we read and
understand the Bible in context,why it's particularly helpful
to read the Bible like we'rereading it together right now,
because we understand when Godsays this in the story of
Scripture.
So just to catch everybody up tospeed in the Old Testament, the
first part of the Bible, as aresult of sin and division among

(04:19):
God's people, they were splitinto two kingdoms.
You had a northern kingdomcalled Israel and a southern
kingdom called Judah, and bothof these kingdoms were sinking
into deep idolatry andimmorality, worshiping all kinds
of different gods, indulging inall kinds of different sin.
So God sends prophets to bothIsrael and Judah saying the

(04:44):
judgment of God is coming uponyour sin.
Turn back to him.
Over a hundred times in thisbook, god, through Jeremiah,
causes people to repent andreturn to God, but they don't
listen, kind of like us.
Sometimes God's word calls usto live a certain way and over

(05:06):
and over again we still chooseour own way.
We don't listen.
So what happens we read aboutthis over the last week is
Assyria attacks Samaria, whichwas the capital of Israel in
northern kingdom.
And well, listen to what 2ndKings 6 says.
This is from our Bible reading.
This last week, in the ninthyear of Hosea, the king of

(05:30):
Assyria captured Samaria and hecarried the Israelites away to
Assyria and placed them in Hala,on the Hebor, the river of
Gozan, in the cities of theMedes.
So the people who lived inIsrael, the northern kingdom,
were taken away as exiles fromtheir homes, as their capital
and their kingdom was destroyed.
That then sets the stage forthe story to shift to Jeremiah,

(05:55):
who lived in Judah, the southernkingdom, for 40 years.
Jeremiah declares God's word,god's warnings, to the people of
Judah saying the same thingthat happened to Israel is going
to happen to you, but this timeit wouldn't be Assyria, it was
going to be Babylon.
So Jeremiah warns them theBabylonians are coming.
And just as Israel ignoredGod's warnings to the prophets,

(06:17):
so did Judah.
And in 587 BC, this is what weleft off with in our reading in
2 Kings.
This week, babylon overtakesJerusalem, the capital of Judah,
and takes God's people fromthere into exile, this time in
Babylon.
And that is the setting behindJeremiah 29.
God's people are now scatteredin Babylon experiencing all

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kinds of suffering.
Just imagine you and yourfamily being taken from your
home tomorrow by a foreigngovernment into a foreign
country where you have nothingand you know no one.
And don't miss this.
Here's what's happening atBabylon at this point.

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There were false prophets whowere trying to comfort God's
people by saying don't worry,this suffering is not gonna last
long, babylon's gonna fall soon.
God is going to bring us rightback home.
And Jeremiah writes this letterin Jeremiah 29 to the exiles in
Babylon.
And God says through Jeremiahdon't believe those prophets.

(07:26):
Look at Jeremiah 29, verses 8and 9, right before what we read
, for thus says the Lord ofhosts, the God of Israel.
Do not let your prophets andyour diviners who are among you,
deceive.
You Do not listen to the dreamsthat they dream, for it is a
lie that they are prophesying toyou in my name.
I did not send them, declaresthe lord.

(07:47):
In fact, you back up to verse 4and listen to what god says
there.
Thus says the lord of hosts,the god of israel, to all the
exile whom I have sent intoexile from jerusalem to babylon
build houses and live in them,plant, plant gardens and eat
their produce.
Take wives and have sons anddaughters.
Take wives for your sons andgive your daughters in marriage

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that they may bear sons anddaughters.
Multiply there and do notdecrease, but seek the welfare
of the city where I've sent youinto exile and pray to the Lord
on its behalf, for in itswelfare you will find welfare.
In other words, get comfortable.
You're going to be in exile fora while, and this was not

(08:35):
necessarily encouraging news.
Imagine suffering like this andinstead of God saying I'm going
to end this soon, god saysyou're going to be in this a
while.
In fact, you jump down to verse10, see how long God tells them
they'll be there For.
Thus says the Lord when 70years are completed for Babylon,
I will visit you and I willfulfill you to you my promise
and bring you back to this place.

(08:56):
So imagine that news 70 yearsfrom now.
God says I will bring you backhome.
Is that encouraging to you?
I will bring you back home.
Is that encouraging to you?
For most people, they would bedead by then.
Just put yourself in the shoesof these exiles for a moment.

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What thoughts and emotions gothrough your mind and your heart
when you hear that yoursuffering is going to last for
70 years?
For 70 years, basically therest of your life.
And that is the context, thesetup for Jeremiah 29, verse 11.
Now see why context is soimportant.

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We think these verses are apromise that we won't go through
suffering, when in reality,these verses are a promise given
to people who are walkingthrough suffering.
Or we think these verses are apromise that suffering won't
last long, that it'll end soon,when in reality, these verses
are saying that suffering isn'tending anytime soon, are saying

(10:08):
that suffering isn't endinganytime soon.
So is Jeremiah 29, 11 through13 good news or not?
Should we have these versesplastered on our walls and put
on our desks?
Absolutely, we should.
Let me show you why.
Think about three promises toGod's people, then.
So we fully understand thecontext here.
So one, god is promising hispeople and hopefully you
received some notes that you canfollow along about three
promises to god's people, then.
So we fully understand thecontext here.
So one, god is promising hispeople, and hopefully you
receive some notes that you canfollow along.
So we dive in here.

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So god is promising his people,which, as a side note, is
another important point.
These promises aren't justgiven to individuals.
They were given to god's peopletogether.
The you in these verses isplural.
This wasn't just aboutindividuals.
It's about God's peopletogether.
God was saying to them one Iwill bring you through your
suffering.
I will bring you through yoursuffering.

(10:50):
God's people are captives inBabylon and God promised them
there is a time limit on thesuffering and I'm going to bring
you through it and bring is theright word here because God
promises that he is going to dothis for them.
You jump down to verse 14 andnotice how God is the one doing
the action here.
I will be found by you,declares the Lord, and I will

(11:12):
restore your fortunes and gatheryou from all the nations and
all the places where I've drivenyou, declares the Lord, I will
bring you back to the place fromwhich I sent you into exile.
In other words, god's promisewasn't.
It's in your hands now.
Hopefully you can make it out.
God actually says the opposite.
God says you're still in myhands and I am going to bring

(11:35):
you out.
I will restore your fortunes.
I will gather you, I will bringyou back.
God says I will takeresponsibility for bringing you
through this.
That leads to the second promise, where God says I will hear
your prayers to me, I will hearyour prayers to me.
This is verse 12.
Then you will call upon me andcome and pray to me and I will

(11:58):
hear you.
Now the then at the beginningof that verse is somewhat
misleading, because the pictureis not that at the end of the
exile, 70 years from now, theywould call upon God.
The picture is they would callupon God now, pray to God now.
God would hear them now.
And this is beautiful when youread it in the context of the

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rest of Jeremiah, because overand, over and over again,
jeremiah talks about how God'speople had totally turned from
God.
They had completely forgottenGod, jeremiah 2.32, which we
read this week.
God said my people haveforgotten me days without number
.
But here in Jeremiah 29.12, godsays to his people I have not

(12:42):
forgotten you, I love you and myplans for you involve intimacy
with you, which is an amazingthing for the holy God of the
universe to say to sinners whowarrant his wrath.
God says I will hear yourprayers to me.
And third, god says I willreward your pursuit of me.

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I will reward your pursuit ofme.
Verse 13,.
You will seek me and find mewhen you seek me with all your
heart.
That takes us back to the memoryverses in our Bible reading
plan this week, so I'm going toput them on the screen so we can
say them out loud together.
Don't look at it if you'vememorized them.
So here we go Jeremiah 9, 23through 24.

(13:27):
Let's say it together.
Thus says the Lord let not thewise man boast in his wisdom.
Let not the mighty man boast inhis might.
Let not the rich man boast inhis riches, but let him who

(13:49):
boasts boast in this, that heunderstands and knows me, that I
am the Lord who practicessteadfast love, justice and
righteousness in the earth.
For in these things I delight,declares the Lord.

(14:11):
Let me translate it does notmatter how smart you are, it
does not matter how powerful youare, it does not matter how
much money you have.
The only thing that mattersright now, in your seat and

(14:35):
forever, the only thing thatmatters is if you know God.
Do you know God, right whereyou're sitting right now?
I ask you do you understand andknow?
I personally know God.

(14:57):
This is the one thing thatmatters most in your life.
And God tells his people inJeremiah 29, 13,.
This can be a reality for them.
They can know God, they canfind God.
The language is likediscovering hidden treasure, the
most valuable treasure in allthe world God himself.
God tells his people throughJeremiah I will reward your

(15:17):
pursuit of me.
So now, now that we understandwhat God was saying to them,
then we can ask the questionwhat is God saying to us now,
you and me as his people readinghis word this week?
Three implications for God'speople today that flow from
Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13.

(15:37):
One in the middle of suffering.
We can know God has good plansfor us.
In the middle of suffering, inthe middle of situations where
we wonder where God is or whatGod is doing.
God says I have good plans foryou, plans for your welfare.

(16:01):
Some translations it says plansto prosper you, but the word
that's translated prosper inthose translations is the same
word that's used for welfareback up in verse 7.
It's the Hebrew word shalom,which means all-encompassing
peace.
This is God saying amidst yourturmoil, I have plans for your
peace.
Amidst your heartache and hurtand pain, I know that I am

(16:26):
plotting for your good now.
The key for us here is the samething that was the key for
God's people in Jeremiah's day.
Don't believe in false hope.
Don't believe people who tellyou that God will keep you from
all suffering or that God willbring you out of suffering

(16:48):
really quickly.
That's false hope.
It abounded in Jeremiah's dayand it is abounding today, in
the mouths of prophets then andin the mouths of preachers today
all across our country.
Please hear me loud and clear.
Many of the fastest growingchurches in our country today

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are built on this false hope.
I was having a conversationrecently about one church that
draws tens of thousands ofpeople and they say explicitly I
quote it is God's will forevery believer to become whole,
healthy and successful in everyarea of life.

(17:30):
They claim that on the cross,jesus bought for us not just
spiritual provision but physicalprovision and financial
provision.
So this is not just out thereteaching.
This is mainstream, commonteaching that is drawing
supposedly Christian crowds, andnot just here.

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All around the world, many ofthe fastest supposedly Christian
churches and movements andsupposedly Christian books are
built on teaching that says Godwills for you to be healthy,
wealthy and prosperous in thisworld.
God wills to keep you from allsuffering.

(18:13):
If only you will trust in him,have faith in him and if, by
chance, for some reason, youfind yourself in suffering,
maybe even because of a lack offaith, if you will only return
to God in faith, your sufferingwill end in a short time.

(18:33):
Believe this Claim, this Trustthat prosperity is coming, tell
yourself this Power of positivethinking.
Even have faith In Jeremiah 2911.
God says I know the plans Ihave for you, plans to prosper
you.
God wills to prosper youfinancially, physically,
otherwise.
And if you're suffering rightnow, you need to believe that

(18:55):
prosperity is coming soonbecause that's what Jeremiah 29
11 teaches right, when inreality Jeremiah 29 11 teaches
the exact opposite.
God's people were in exileaccording to God's will and,
according to God's Word, theirsuffering in exile was not

(19:17):
coming to an end anytime soon.
Now you might think I like theother message better, which is
exactly what the people inJeremiah's day were thinking.
That's why they were believingthese false prophets.
And God is saying to us rightnow the exact same thing he was
saying to them then.

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Don't believe it.
Don't put your hope incrowd-pleasing words.
Why?
Because they're not from God.
Jeremiah, the prophet who isspeaking the word of God, says
here is true hope.
Follow this.
Your hope is not that God willsto keep you from all suffering.

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That's not at all what Jeremiah29 11 teaches.
Jeremiah 29 11 teaches that Godwills to keep you from all
suffering.
That's not at all what Jeremiah29, 11 teaches.
Jeremiah 29, 11 teaches thatGod wills to bring you through
all suffering.
We've seen this Context ofJeremiah 29 makes crystal clear
that suffering is a reality forGod's people in this fallen
world, and God's people will notescape it.

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But God says to his people inthe middle of suffering I
promise to enable you to endureit.
And God does not promise in hisword that suffering will end in
a short time.
That is a false hope that hasled all kinds of people astray

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Preachers or Christians sayingif you just believe, have faith,
you will be healed soon.
If you just have faith, believeyou will have financial health
soon.
If you just believe, yourmarriage will be reconciled soon

(21:09):
.
Name it, claim it, believe it,receive it.
And then, when it doesn'thappen, when the healing doesn't
come, when the finances aren'tthere, when the finances aren't
there, when the divorce becomesfinal, people are left wondering

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did I not have enough faith?
Or worse, is God actually there?
Or if he is there, can heactually be trusted when God
never in his word promised thatyour suffering would end in a

(21:51):
short time?
You might ask well, did Godpromise anything along these
lines?
And the answer, though not aspopular, is clear here in
Jeremiah 29 11.
True hope.
God promises your sufferingwill end in the long term.
Exile will not be the end foryou.
God tells his people.

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Your suffering will not havethe last word.
I have good plans for you, godsays, and my good plan is
guaranteed to prevail in the end.
You realize what this means,what it meant for God's people
in Jeremiah 29 and what it meansfor us as God's people today.
God's plan calls for patienttrust.

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70 years is a long time to wait.
Most of us would like God towork out our problems by the end
of the week, not the end of thecentury, which is why these
false prophets were so appealingthen and it's why prosperity
teaching is so popular today.
But it's not true.

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It's a lie, but it's not true.
It's a lie.
What's true is that God iscalling his people through his
word, through this word, topatient trust.
Is it possible that sufferingcould end soon in this or that
situation?
And healing, reconciliation,whatever might happen?

(23:17):
Absolutely, by the grace andpower of God it is, and we can
and should pray for that.
But is it guaranteed?
Absolutely?
It is not.
You can't bank your life onthat.
God hasn't said that.
No matter how good it sounds andI'm not gonna say it as your
pastor no matter how many crowdsit brings or doesn't bring,

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what God says is that whensuffering comes, sometimes
suffering stays for a while.
When a child has a special needthat isn't going away anytime
soon, no matter how much youname and claim, when you go to

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that next doctor's appointment,and the cancer is worse, not
better.
When that relational hurt isnot healing, when that grief
over loss is not going away.
Grief over loss is not goingaway when you see no light at
the end of that dark tunnel.

(24:24):
God says in the middle of areal world where these are
realities, god says trust in me,even when you can't see it.
I have good plans for you.
Light is coming In this fallen,hurting world.
Weeping may tarry for the night, but God guarantees joy is

(24:47):
coming in the morning.
And God not only guaranteesthat suffering will eventually
come to an end, god promises toget you to that end.
God's plan calls for patienttrust and God's plan comes with
persevering grace.

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Remember the language inJeremiah 29 here I will restore
you, I will gather you, I willbring you back from this place.
God doesn't say you're on yourown in your suffering.
Hopefully you can make itthrough this.
No, god says you're in my handsand I take responsibility for
bringing you through yoursuffering, which means I'm gonna

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give you all the grace, all thestrength, all the wisdom, all
the help you need.
Without going into details, Ithink about a challenge my
family is walking through rightnow and this week we found
ourselves literally in tears,physically crying to God In the
words of Psalm 121,.
I lift up my eyes to the hills.

(25:50):
From where does my help comefrom?
My help comes from the Lord,who's the maker of heaven and
earth.
We are just praying andpleading God.
We need your help and we knowbeyond the shadow of a doubt
that god will be faithful toanswer.
God's plan for our lives comeswith the guarantee of god's

(26:14):
grace in our lives.
And on a side note, here, as wethink about God's grace, just
think about this with me.
Jeremiah 29 is a powerfulpicture of God's good plans for
his people when they aresuffering.
Follow this as a result oftheir sin.
When God's people were whatthey were experiencing in,
jeremiah wasn't Job-likesuffering Like when Job suffered

(26:36):
in the Bible lost hispossessions, his children, his
health.
His wife is telling him tocurse god and the bible goes out
of the way to make sure we know.
Job did nothing specific todeserve this.
The story in jeremiah's day isthe opposite.
The men and women in jeremiah'sday had sinned against god, all
kinds of idolatry andimmorality.
That's why they were suffering,but even still, even though

(27:00):
they had been completelyunfaithful to God, god was still
faithful to them.
So when we think about our lives, there are times when we suffer
as a result of our sin.
When we sin, it leads to hurt,it leads to pain, it leads to
consequences, it leads tochallenges in our lives, in

(27:20):
others' lives.
Yet, even in the middle of that, god says to those who trust in
him, to his people despite yoursin, I still have good plans
for you and your sin will nothave the last word.
I will bring you through thisby my grace.
Isn't that good news?
And all the more so, then, whenwe suffer in ways that have

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nothing to do with specific sinin our lives, when we walk
through suffering that's notdirectly tied to sin in our
lives.
When someone sins against us, orwhen we get cancer, when a
child is born with this specialneed, or so many other
circumstances, we can know Godwill help us persevere by his
grace.
All this part of the truth weknow, based on Jeremiah 29, 11.

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In the middle of suffering, wecan know God has good plans for
us.
Second, we're gonna pick up thepace here.
In the middle of suffering, wecan know God hears all our cries
.
You will call upon me and comeand pray to me and I will listen
to you.
God says in Jeremiah 29, 12,verse 13.
You will seek me and find mewhen you seek me with all your

(28:25):
heart.
And if that was true inJeremiah 29, 12, and 13, it's
all the more true today.
Do you know why?
Because, context again, here, inthe old covenant, the old
testament, here and we've talkedabout this before there was
indirect access to God forparticular people, meaning, if
you'll remember, the temple hadbeen constructed in Jerusalem as

(28:46):
a picture of the glory of Goddwelling among his people.
The center of the temple wasthe Holy of Holies, symbolizing
the presence of God.
But only particular people.
The high priest could go intothe Holy of Holies, and even he
only at certain times to offersacrifices for the people's sin.
Then he had to get out.
Meanwhile the people wouldstand back, they could not go in
the presence of God.

(29:07):
But that was going to change.
Turn with me real quick, twochapters over to the right, to
Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31.
This is in our Bible readingtomorrow.
It's one of the most importantpassages in all of the Old
Testament.
Listen to what God promisesthrough Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, chapter 31, verse 31.
Behold, the days are coming,declares the Lord, when I will

(29:29):
make a new covenant with thehouse of Israel and the house of
Judah, not like the covenantthat I made with their fathers
on the day when I took them bythe hand to bring them out of
the land of Egypt, my covenantthat they broke, though I was
their husband, declares the Lord, for this is the covenant that
I will make with the house ofIsrael.
After those days, declares theLord, I will put my law within
them, I will write it on theirhearts and I will be their God.

(29:50):
They shall be my people.
No longer shall each one teachhis neighbor and each his
brother saying know the Lord,for they shall all know me, from
the least of them to thegreatest, declares the Lord, for
I will forgive their iniquityand I will remember their sin no
more.
Oh, there's so much here wedon't have time to dive into the

(30:10):
big picture.
Point is, god is saying a newcovenant is coming, a new way of
relationship to me, throughwhich I'm going to make it
possible for all people to knowme directly, through a sacrifice
, once and for all, for alltheir sins.
This is a promise of what Jesuswould do when he would come as

(30:32):
our great high priest and hewould offer his life as a
sacrifice for all of our sin.
So for non-Christian friendsespecially who are with us today
, visiting with us we are soglad that you are here.
Please listen particularlyclose at this point.
The Bible teaches clearly thatwe have all sinned against God
in all kinds of ways in ourlives and we are all separated

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from God by our sin.
And if we die in this state ofseparation from God, we will
spend eternity separated fromGod.
But God loves us and God hasmade a way for all of us to be
forgiven of all our sin.
God sent Jesus, God in theflesh, to live a life of perfect
obedience with no sin in himand then to die, not for his sin

(31:18):
, because he had no sin, but todie for our sin, for your sin,
for my sin.
Jesus died on a cross to paythe price for all of your sin
against God, so that anyoneanywhere, including anyone in
this gathering here, othercampuses right now, who turns
from their sin and puts theirtrust in Jesus will be saved

(31:39):
from all your sin and you willbe reconciled to relationship
with God forever.
It's the greatest news in allthe world you can have access to
God.
I was down with these studentsthis last week and looking out
over the horizon, over the ocean, and you see it go on as far as

(32:01):
your eye can see and you'respending time in prayer and
you're like I know the God whocreated this, the God who spoke.
He said one day he said oceanand boom, ocean, that water
stopping at the shoreline.
You know why it stops therebecause God says stop there.

(32:24):
If God didn't say stop there,he said stop a mile in.
Then where we were, we'd be amany miles out.
I God, the one who created,spoke the universe into
existence.
I know this god.
You, right where you're sitting, can know this god.
You have access to god.

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It's the great news of the newtestament, of the new covenant.
Direct access to god isavailable for all people through
jesus.
I urge you today, if you havenot turned from your sin and put
your trust in Jesus, do thattoday.
And then, for all who have knowthis, know this now, put it
together.
When you walk through suffering, in the middle of the

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challenges you face, I have goodnews for you.
You, in the middle of thosechallenges, have direct access
to the God of the universe.
God himself is saying to youright now through his word I
personally.
This is God speaking.
I personally hear every singleone of your cries.
I see all of your tears.

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I feel all of your struggles.
God is saying this to you andGod says I promised to help you
in every single way you need.
God has good plans for us andhe does not carry them out in
distance from us.
God carries out his good plansfor us through intimacy with us

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In suffering.
God is drawing us closer andcloser to himself, which means
third and final truth.
In the middle of suffering, godis drawing us closer and closer
to himself, which means thirdand final truth.
In the middle of suffering, wecan experience supernatural joy.
I'm gonna put the beginning ofRomans 5 on the screen up here.
We don't have time to turn toit, but I want us to connect

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these dots between the oldcovenant and the new covenant,
particularly when it comes toour suffering.
Watch this Romans chapter five,verse one.
It says, therefore since wehave been justified by faith, we
have peace with God through ourLord, jesus Christ, through
whom we have gained access byfaith into this grace in which
we stand.
This is the gospel, what wejust talked about how, through
Jesus, we have access to God.

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So what's the result of that?
Keep going in Romans 5.
To God.
So what's the result of that?
Keep going in Romans 5.
And we rejoice in the hope ofthe glory of God.
Not only that, but we rejoicein our sufferings.
This is a weird way to talk.
We rejoice in our sufferings.
Why?
Because we know that sufferingproduces endurance, and
endurance produces character,and character produces hope, and

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hope does not put us to shame.
There's all kinds of hope youcan have in this world that will
put you to shame.
You hope in your riches you'llbe put to shame.
You hope in your sports team,you will be put to shame.
You hope in your reputation,you'll be put to shame.
You hope in all kinds of thingsin this world you'll be put to
shame.
This kind of hope does not putus to shame.

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Why?
Because God's love has beenpoured out into our hearts
through the Holy Spirit whom hehas given to us.
Did you hear this?
For all who are in Christ, whohave access to God, we can
actually rejoice in the middleof suffering.
Why?
Because we know exactly whatJeremiah 29 is saying that God
has good plans for us, even insuffering plans for endurance

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and character and hope, all ofwhich are really good things.
And our hope is in God's lovefor us.
How much does he love us?
Keep going, romans 5, verse six.
While we were still weak, atthe right time, christ died for
the ungodly, for one willscarcely die for a righteous
person, no, perhaps for a goodperson one would dare even to
die.
But God shows his love for usin that, while we were still

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sinners, christ died for us.
Put it all together church forGod's people, for all who trust
in him, and specifically all whoput their trust in Jesus.
Our joy is not found in ourever-changing circumstances, and
isn't that good news?
If our joy is dependent on whathappens or doesn't happen

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tomorrow, on how that doctor'svisit goes on, how that
conversation with your boss goes, if your joy is dependent on
decisions that other people make, we will have no foundation for
joy in this life.
We will live our lives onsinking sand because our
circumstances are ever-changing,but God has not called us to

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live that way.
Our joy is not found in ourever-changing circumstances.
Our joy is found in God'snever-changing promises.
Oh, don't miss this, pleasedon't miss this.
When your foundation is God'snever-changing promises, when
your hope is built on the actualguarantees of God, not the

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nice-sounding lies of this world.
There is surprising joy to befound even in the midst of
suffering in this world.
I was preparing this week, justmeditating on this truth, I
immediately thought about CaseyBlack, a man in the first church
I pastored.
The epitome of health on theoutside muscular, fit, worked
out, ate well, wife and youngdaughter.

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One day his stomach startedhurting and it didn't stop for a
couple weeks.
So he went to the doctor andthey ran some tests and they
discovered cancer in his stomach.
So they planned a day tooperate really soon, opened up
his stomach and there the doctorsaw that cancer had spread
throughout his entire body, somuch that the doctor didn't do

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anything.
He closed Casey's stomach backup.
When Casey woke up, the doctortold him his wife and his little
girl it's too much, there'snothing we can do.
And within about two weeksCasey's life was gone.
I remember when I got the callthat Casey was in the hospital

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and likely wouldn't make itthrough the night.
So I went to the hospital witha member of his group.
As I rode to the hospital Ikept thinking to myself what am
I going to say?
What do you say?
I just feel like I'm sohelpless as a pastor.
I'm so sorry this is happeningto you, casey.

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I wish this wasn't the case.
The people who came to Casey'shospital room that day were
quite surprised by what they saw.
See, when you walked intoCasey's hospital room that day,
like I did that night, you saw aman sitting on his deathbed
with a genuine, authentic smileon his face.

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And as soon as you walked in,he'd do what he did to me.
He'd point up to heaven andhe'd say I'm going to be with
Jesus today.
And all of a sudden, I'm sorry,just didn't seem appropriate
anymore.
Neither did I wish this wasn'tthe case.

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You actually walked out of thathospital room that day a bit
jealous, thinking I want to gowith him.
You see, for Casey Black and forall who put their hope in Jesus
, you know, you've put your hopein the one who conquered the
ultimate suffering, death andself, which means there is

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nothing, absolutely nothing, noteven death itself, that can
ever steal your joy.
And this, this is the key.
Oh, don't miss the picture.
The whole picture in Jeremiah29, 11 through 13, hinges on one
person.
All of these promises, not onlyin Jeremiah 29, but all
throughout the Old Testament,they hinge on one person.

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They all point to one person.
In all of our Bible readingover these last few weeks, we've
seen all kinds of pictures.
Do you know who?
They all point to Jesus.
Oh, this is like 10 moresermons right here in your notes
, but I'm just gonna run throughthem.
Don't miss the picture.
Jesus is the resurrected prophetfrom Jonah.
Just as Jonah spent three daysin the belly of a fish before

(40:30):
proclaiming good news to Nineveh, in a much different and
greater way, jesus spent threedays in a grave before bringing
the greatest news of all to theworld Death itself has been
defeated.
Jesus is the faithful husbandfrom Hosea, who doesn't give up
on his people, even when theycommit adultery against him.
Jesus is the burden bearer fromAmos, who carries the

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consequences of our sin.
For us, jesus is the restorerof the lost from Joel.
He redeems the years that thelocusts have eaten from your
life.
Jesus is the prince of peaceand sacrifice for sinners.
In Isaiah he was pierced forour transgressions.

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He was bruised for ouriniquities, and by his stripes
we are healed iniquities, and byhis stripes we are healed.
Jesus is the everlasting rulerfrom Micah promised to come from
Bethlehem to be the shepherdsour souls need, and Jesus is the
covenant keeper from Jeremiah.
Jesus is the one who makes thehope of the new covenant a

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reality for you and me, whichmeans so please don't miss this.
This may be most important ofall.
We cannot claim Jeremiah 29, 11through 13 as promises for our
lives in this gathering today ifwe are not trusting in Jesus.
These are not just generalpromises to God for anyone.

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Think about it.
For people right now, allaround the world, and even in
this gathering, who arerejecting God, who have not
trusted in Jesus to save themfrom their sins, their, your
future at this moment is notfilled with hope.

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They you this is you are notguaranteed that sin and
suffering will end.
For if they die, if you die inyour sin, separated from God,
not having trusted in Jesus tobring you to God, then your sin

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and everlasting suffering willhave the last word.
Hope in suffering hinges on oneperson, and his name is Jesus.
You cannot cling to Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13 if you will not

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cling to Jesus.
But for all who cling to Jesus,these promises are yours.
In Jesus, you can know beyondthe shadow of a doubt that even
in the middle of suffering, godhas good plans for you.

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In Jesus, you can know thateven in the middle of suffering,
you have access to God, and allof his wisdom, all of his
strength, his grace, his love,his everything is at your
disposal.
And in Jesus, you can know thateven in the middle of suffering
, you have surprising joy,because your joy supersedes the

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ever-changing circumstances ofthis world.
Your joy is grounded in thenever-changing promises of God
that are yours in Jesus.
Second Corinthians.
All of God's promises to us areyes, in Christ.
Don't miss the point.
God keeps all of his promisesin Jeremiah 29, 11 through 13 to
all who are in Jesus, in Jesus.

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So here's, here's what I want todo, and lighted this truth from
God in a room, other campuses,where I know people are walking
through suffering and hurt andheartache and challenges in all
kinds of different ways.
I want us, as a body, to gatheraround and just pray for you.
So here's what I'm going toinvite us to do in just a moment
I'm going to invite people inthis room and in other campuses

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to stand where you are, if youwould just say in your standing.
I'm walking through somedifficulties right now and I
would love for some people justto pray for me and you don't
have to go into details,certainly not in front of
everybody else, or even if youdon't want to right around the
people around you, just what allthat involves If you would just

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, by your standing, say I'mwalking through some
difficulties, and you mightthink, well, I don't know if
mine is as bad as others, maybeI won't stand.
Like this is not aboutcomparison, this is just if you
would say I need some extragrace in my life right now.
I want us to have anopportunity Like this is a safe
place, like this is what thebody of Christ is designed to do

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.
And so what's going to happenafter you stand?
People are standing in this roomdifferent campuses and once
people have stood, then I willask others of us to then stand
and gather around.
Just put a hand on yourshoulder and we're just going to
pray for you.
Make sense, sound good, okay?
So, in this room, as well as atother campuses, if you would

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say, yeah, I'm walking throughsome suffering, some challenges
right now, and I wouldappreciate, I would like for
some people to pray for me.
Life, work, family, whatever itis.
Let me invite you just to standwhere you are, all around this
room.
Please feel freedom.
Feel free to do thisindividually, couples, families,

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other campuses doing the same.
Just say I just need some extragrace in my life right now.
Anybody else, all right.

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There's brothers and sistersstanding all around this room
right now.
Let's join, stand with them.
Other campuses do the same.
If there's not anybody aroundyou, you can stay where you are,
but if there's anywhere anybodyclose to you, then just gather
around, put your hand on theirshoulders and let's begin right
now.
Let's just begin to pray outloud.
We've done this before.
All the same time, even if youdon't have a hand on somebody's

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shoulder, we're going to prayout loud, all at the same time,
for God's grace, for God'sstrength, god's wisdom.
You say, well, I don't evenknow what this person's going
through.
God does.
Pray his word for them, prayfor his wisdom, his strength,
his grace, his help for them.
Just pray what you would wantsomebody to pray for you if you
were walking through somethinghard right now.
So let's just begin right now.

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Our voices, here and at othercampuses, lift it up before God,
all at the same time, everybodypraying and then, after a
couple of minutes, I'll pray forus all together.
So let's start praying togetherright now, interceding, crying

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out to God for each other.
Oh God, we lift up our brothersand sisters to you right now.
Oh God, we pray that they wouldfeel your presence with them as
we are praying over them.
They would know that you arenear to them, that they are not
alone, that there is a bodyaround them who cares for them,

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and that you are with them, thatwe're a reflection of you, that
, even with our hands onshoulders right now surrounding
them, it's a picture of yourlove for them.
God, we pray that they wouldknow that they are in your hands
.
We pray Psalm 37, 24 over them.
You would uphold them with yourrighteous right hand.
Psalm 31, 15.

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Their times are in your hands,oh God.
All our trust is in you.
So we look to you, we lift upour eyes to you.
Our help comes from you, theirhelp comes from you.
You're the maker of heaven andearth.
So please, oh God, we pray,please give them all the help
they need.
God, we pray for your strengthin their weakness.

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We pray for your peace, yourshalom, your peace in the middle
of turmoil, god, we pray foryour joy in the middle of
suffering.
Pray that you would produceendurance and character and hope
.
In this Lord, we pray for ahope.

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Lord, we pray for a hope.
God, we pray for a hope on dayswhen it seems like things are
hopeless.
God, we pray for faith on dayswhen faith is hard to come by.
We pray, oh God, that you woulduse even this journey through
trial to draw these men andwomen into greater intimacy with

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you, greater delight in you,greater trust in you, greater
experience, deeper experience ofyour love and your comfort.
God, we pray for your comfort.
We pray for your wisdom.
We pray for your direction.
We pray for your enablementthat you would bring them

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through.
You would do just what youpromised to do in Jeremiah 29,
that you would bring themthrough, no matter if this lasts
for another day or for the restof their lives.
God, we pray that you wouldbring them through.
And, jesus, we bow before youand give you glory, for you have
conquered sin and you havedefeated suffering.

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You have defeated death itself.
We praise you.
We know that, in the long term,suffering will not have the last
word.
In the long term, cancer willnot have the last word.
In the long term, hurt andheartache will not have the last
word and the long-term cancerwill not have the last word and
the long-term hurt and heartachewill not have the last word.
We long for the day when wewill see your face and you will
wipe every tear from our eyes.

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Oh, hasten the coming of thatday.
We pray.
Come Lord Jesus, come quicklyand please help us.
Please help these brothers andsisters specifically to
persevere until that day.
Please help us.
Please help these brothers andsisters specifically to
persevere until that day.
Please help us all.
Not one of us knows what'scoming this week.
No matter what comes, help usall to find our joy and your

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never-changing promises and yourcompletely certain hope.
We love you, god, we praise you, jesus, and we are so glad our
lives are in your hands.
We pray for our brothers andsisters right now in Jesus' name
, and all God's people said amen.

Speaker 1 (51:21):
We hope you've enjoyed this week's episode of
David Platt Messages.
For more resources from DavidPlatt, we invite you to visit
radicalnet.