“Oh that you had paid attention to my commandments!

Then your peace would have been like a river,

and your righteousness like the waves of the sea;

your offspring would have been like the sand,

and your descendants like its grains;

their name would never be cut off

or destroyed from before me.” vs18-19

We can sing this sad song of what could have been, but there is gospel in it. There is hope, if we failed yesterday but listen today: He has not shut the door of mercy. He calls you. Vs20, “Go forth from Babylon!”

First, He teaches us through pain. He is a God that uses hard lessons for hard heads. My mom used to say, “A hard head makes a soft behind,” and He will chasten us until He wins. He loves the one that He smites.

We thought God was lying, and we were a special case -that we could use God to serve ourselves. We thought that we didn’t have to obey, that we could live in our own strength, and we tried to promote our own righteousness.

Secondly, He forgives sin. If God said, “You should have listened,” but offered no mercy, then we’d be at the Judgment, and it is too late. However, if we hearken now, then He’ll hear. He loves to call the sinner from the pit, when we confess and acknowledge our need.

Look at Israel, in Babylon’s chain, but the Lord loves us out of it. Vs14, “All of you, assemble yourselves and hear! Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him; He shall do His pleasure on Babylon [in bringing us out], and His arm shall be against the Chaldeans.” Love is the reason that He saves us from sin.

He doesn’t wait for us to straighten up. He straightens us by His deliverance!

Thirdly, He is flashbacking to exhort us now! He’s using the past to say, “Get it together now! Come out of Babylon.” Vs20, “Go forth from Babylon! Flee from the Chaldeans! With a voice of singing, declare, proclaim this, utter it to the end of the earth; Say, ‘The Lord has redeemed His servant Jacob!” It’s time to come out of the pit of suffering and break the chains. It’s time to experience joy and peace in obedience; it’s time to do God’s will by the Spirit.

He’s paid for sin, and He’s come to give life. He’s seen us suffering, He’s seen the guilt and bondage, and He’s seen the wasted life. He’s seen how we ruined ourselves, lived for ourselves, and like cannibals, we ate away at our own life. He’s seen the years that the locusts have eaten, and the time that we have wasted. He’s seen in it, and He’s redeemed us. He’s seen us sinning, and He has come to save [Isa 57:17-19].

This is the unfathomableness of Christ: He saves sinners and gives us new life: He pardons, gives power, and He gives obedience!

Fourthly, let’s DO HIS WILL from the heart. Let’s give up on the old life: it profited us not. Isn’t the pain too much? Isn’t it too hard to bear? Do you want to let this good word slip? No, He will not budge or bargain! We can come out of suffering, or He can pass us by. Someone will hear the word, and the pit will lose a prisoner. Let it be us!

Live this new life and give glory unto God. Live to make Christ known in holiness, asking God and trusting Him for supernatural power. Live to do His will in thankfulness, instead of your own! Live by His Spirit in the fear of God and keep up close communion. You know what it’s like for Him to depart, so keep Him near now with pleading, trusting, and quick confessions of sin. Keep Him near with dependence, knowing that you have no life, joy, or pleasure without Him. Like Jacob, say, “I will not let You go unless You bless me!” Let’s humble ourselves and love others.

Fifthly, God is good and gracious. You may think by the painful years that His tender mercies are gone, that you’ve sinned too far, and His face is forever hidden. You may even think that His service is drudgery, because you have tried: It is NOT SO!

We served in the flesh, and that’s why we failed. We held Christ and the world, so He ripped us in pieces, until we let go of what hurts us and what dishonors Him. We lived in our own strength, instead of getting fresh mercies daily. We tried to go without the Spirit. That’s why life was bitter. Come back to Him and see for yourself: He’s as good as ever. You don’t have to look fondly back on glory days: He can restore your First Love, which is miraculous, and He can make you rejoice in escaping Babylon so much that you forget about Egypt.

“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.’ For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.” -- Jer 16:14-15

He can do a new thing for your soul, and show how tender and good He is. He can give you more joy than Satan, and make you serve Him lovingly from the heart. He can do it. Only trust Him.