A Light in the Darkness, A Heart for God Finding God in Enemy Territory

“My eyes are spent with weeping; my stomach churns; my bile is poured out to the ground because of the destruction of the daughter of my people, because infants and babies faint in the streets of the city” (Lam. 2:11)

I. Hearts, Not Buildings “For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to give strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward Him (2 Chron. 16:9)

“An Obituary for White Christian America” II. Arriving in Babylon A. Same Country, Different Culture “An Obituary for White Christian America” “it’s death was determined to be a combination of environmental and internal factors – complications stemming from major demographic changes in the country, along with religious disaffiliation as many of its younger members began to doubt WCA’s continued relevance in a shifting cultural environment.”

III. The Options the Jews Faced “affliction and hard servitude” (Lam. 1:3) A. The Option of Isolation By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion. On the willows there we hung up our lyres. For there our captors required of us songs, and our tormentors, mirth, saying, “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land? If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy! (Ps. 137:1-6)

III. The Options the Jews Faced “affliction and hard servitude” (Lam. 1:3) A. The Option of Isolation O daughter of Babylon, doomed to be destroyed, blessed shall he be who repays you with what you have done to us! Blessed shall he be who takes your little ones and dashes them against the rock! (Ps. 137:8-9)

III. The Options the Jews Faced “affliction and hard servitude” (Lam. 1:3) B. The Option of Assimilation

IV. A Word from God “As you sent Me into the world, so I have sent them into the world” (Jn. 17:18)

IV. A Word from God Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:4-7)

IV. A Word from God A. When in Babylon, Settle Down B. When in Babylon, Build Strong Families “Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease” (Jer. 29:6)

IV. A Word from God A. When in Babylon, Settle Down B. When in Babylon, Build Strong Families C. When in Babylon, Get Involved in Life

IV. A Word from God Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare” (Jer. 29:4-7)

IV. A Word from God A. When in Babylon, Settle Down B. When in Babylon, Build Strong Families C. When in Babylon, Get Involved in Life D. When in Babylon, Pray! “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf” (Jer. 29:7)

IV. A Word from God A. When in Babylon, Settle Down B. When in Babylon, Build Strong Families C. When in Babylon, Get Involved in Life D. When in Babylon, Pray! E. When in Babylon, Remember God’s Promises!

IV. A Word from God E. When in Babylon, Remember God’s Promises! For thus says the LORD: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you My promise and bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will hear you. You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart (Jer. 29:10-13)

IV. A Word from God E. When in Babylon, Remember God’s Promises! “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13)

V. Lessons for Us A. The Blessings of Desperation “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age” (Matt. 28:20)

A. The Blessings of Desperation V. Lessons for Us A. The Blessings of Desperation B. The Encouragement of Divine Sovereignty “I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together!” (Ps. 34:1-3)

“I have given them Your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. I do not ask that You take them out of the world, but that You keep them from the evil one” (Jn. 17:14-15)