Pastor John, as you know, Jeremiah 29-11 is a favorite passage for a lot of Christians.

It is one of the most popular verses in the Bible, and it reads like this, quote,

for I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans for a welfare and not for evil,

to give you a future and a hope, end quote. Pastor John, can a Christian legitimately

lay claim of an Old Testament promise like this one? Why or why not? Yes, Christians can lay claim

to this, and they do it because of Christ, and here's the way I see it fitting together. That

promise was spoken by God through Jeremiah in Jeremiah 29 explicitly. It says to the exiles

in Babylon, if you start reading at the beginning of the chapter, they're in Babylon.

70 years is going to pass, but a hope and a future are coming for them, and so we Christians,

we Gentiles, especially go to it, and we love it because it holds out the prospect of not

destruction for us, but life and hope and joy in the future. Now, the reason we can do it

is because at the last supper, Jesus lifted up the cop, which represented his blood, and he said,

this cop is the new covenant in my blood. And when he said that, he meant, when I die tomorrow

and shed my blood on behalf of my people, I am securing for them all the new covenant promises

that God has made. Everything that God meant to be fulfilled for his people, Israel now is going

to be fulfilled in his people of the new covenant, so that not only Jews, but also Gentiles

through faith in the Messiah, become part of the covenant people of God so that every promise

can be laid hold on by Gentiles who are in the Messiah, in Christ Jesus. And we know that

because in 2 Corinthians chapter 1 verse 20, Paul says all the promises of God are yes in Christ

Jesus. And I think that's what's behind Romans 8 32, he who did not spare his own son, but gave him

up for us. Will he not with him, because of that sacrifice, give us all things freely. And that

would include all the promises that God made to his covenant people. So there is an understanding

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