Jeremiah 34-39

Jeremiah 37:1-21 The Resolute Prophet

JEREMIAH 37:1-21 THE RESOLUTE PROPHET

INTRODUCTION:

In case you haven’t noticed, the Book of Jeremiah doesn’t follow a strict chronological order. What we have here in chapter 37, takes us back to chapter 34 with Zedekiah and Judah’s display of false repentance.

In chapter 34, we’re at the end of Zedekiah’s reign. But in chapters 35 and 36, we’re two decades earlier, near the beginning of King Jehoiakim’s reign.
And this disruption of chronology takes place more than a couple of times. Which should cause us to ask, “Why?”

The best I can come up with is that we’re given a series of vignettes meant to contrast that of the faithful and the unfaithful. In chapters 34 and 35 we have Covenant Breakers and Covenant Keepers. In chapter 36 we have the portrait of what makes for a Legacy and what leaves one Disinherited. In chapter 38 will be given the contrast between Faithful Outsiders and Unfaithful Insiders. Today, we’re looking at the contrast between the Resolute and the Irresolute.

READ: (Jeremiah 37:1-21)

PRAYER REQUESTS FROM REBELS

ILLUSTRATION:

Pray that I would know God’s will in my life…
I hear this request often
So, my next step is to probe a little.
Where do you go to church?
What does your prayer life look like? Your Bible reading?
If they are disobedient in the most basic things, then I’m going to pray for them to discern God’s will for them to be obedient in these things—that those who are faithful with little will be faithful with much, and those who are unfaithful with little will be unfaithful with much.

A DISCONNECTED REQUEST

I’m not too sure they notice the disconnect.
Lord, I don’t want to obey You in these basic things, but please just tell me what job to take, what guy to date, how to deal with this financial situation, what to do regarding this relationship.
Lord, I don’t want to listen to what You have to say, but could you please bless me anyway.

That’s what’s going on here.
Verse 2. Neither Zedekiah, his servants, nor the people of the land listened to the words of the Lord that He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah.

But guess what.
That didn’t keep them from requesting the Lord’s protection and provision
But the Lord’s favor isn’t found in disregarding Him, but in trusting Him,
which means listening to Him and heeding His word.

DADDY PLAY WITH ME

Zedekiah is like the child who refuses to clean her room
and in the very next breath asks, “Daddy, will you play with me.”
But there’s a problem.
Disobedience has stepped in between the sweet fellowship.
It’s not that Mommy or Daddy don’t want to play and spend time with little Suzie.
But so long as she’s in rebellion, the joy of communion is broken.

God wants nothing more than that sweet communion restored.
That’s why He calls for repentance.
But God cannot set aside justice and still be truly loving.
Genuine love never negates justice, because love cannot compromise truth.
To do so, leaves the wall of disobedience between the parties,
leaving communion impossible.

PLURALISM

The world has no problem requesting the prayers and blessing of God’s people.
But here’s the disconnect. They request the favor of every possible source of so-called “divine” help—asking for the favor and blessing of every so-called “god.”
The unbeliever is simply hedging his bet, playing both sides.
What’s to differentiate the answering of such requests?
They’ll simply attribute the outcome to which ever “god” they want.
It brings God no glory to play such a game.

MANIPULATIVE PRAYER

Such prayer requests, while in abject rebellion,
is nothing other than an attempt to manipulate the Sovereign of the universe.
It treats God as nothing more than a genie or a cosmic Santa Clause.

Jeremiah will not entertain such games, because God won’t play such games.
Any other time, Jeremiah’s words, his warnings, his exhortations, and even his prayers are despised.
But Jeremiah, we’re having a bit of trouble with this Babylonian army.
Could you possibly throw up a prayer to God on our behalf.

A BOLD AND HOLY RESPONSE

Verse 4. Jeremiah was not yet thrown in prison.
We’re given this information here to show that
Jeremiah is the same prophet
with the same message
on both sides of his prison sentence.

So, how should God’s messenger respond to such a request?
Or better, how does the Lord answer such requests?

A BRIEF REPREIVE

Verse 5. Well, Zedekiah, it might seem that there’s been a bit of reprieve, that your prayer request has been answered. The Chaldeans have withdrawn because Pharoah’s army had come out of Egypt, so they retreated.
This takes us back to the false repentance of chapter 34.
As soon as the Chaldeans retreated, Zedekiah and Judah turned right beack to their sin. They had released their fellow Hebrew slaves, and then they took them back.

Don’t be fooled by this brief respite.
The Chaldeans are coming back to finish the job.

Verse 10. Even should you defeat the whole Babylonian army, and there were left only wounded soldiers—literally, men who had been pierced through—
Those pierced soldiers would rise from their tent and burn this city with fire.
Which is exactly what Jesus, the pierced warrior will do!

The Lord’s execution of justice doesn’t depend on the strength of the Chaldean army, any more than Israel’s conquest of the promised land depended on the strength of Israel’s army.

COVENANT BLESSINGS AND CURSES

We haven’t visited it for a while, but this is simply the outworking of the covenant blessings and curses as pronounced in Leviticus 26 an Deuteronomy 28.

So long as Israel obeyed the covenant, five of you would be able to chase down a hundred, and a hundred would be able to chase down ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall by the sword. (Lev. 26:7-8)

But the Lord warned that covenant unfaithfulness would lead to the reverse.
How could one have chased a thousand, and two have put ten thousand to fligh, unless their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had given them up?(Deut 32:30)

Any reprieve, any patience concerning the Lord’s enacting justice is for the sake of the people’s repentance. This reprieve was not an answer to Zedekiah’s prayer at all!

DOES NOT ANSWER

While it’s an unpopular concept, the Bible is fairly clear that the Lord does not in general answer the prayers of the rebellious.
Psalm 66:18 – If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

Proverbs 1:24 – Because I have called and you refused to listen,
have stretched out my hand and no one has heeded,
because you have ignored all my counsel and would have none of my reproof,
Then they will call upon me, but I will not answer;
they will seek me diligently by will not find me.

Zechariah 7:13 – “”As I called, and they would not hear,
so they called, and I would not hear,” says the Lord of hosts.

O but someone might say, that’s the Old Testament. Okay, how about:
John 9:31 – We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him.

James 4:3 – You ask but do not receive because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

Or 1 Peter 5:5 – God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.

It’s not that the Lord’s arm is shortened to where He cannot save,
or that His ear is dull and He cannot hear, as He says in Isaiah 59:1.
The problem is that your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you so that he does not hear.
It’s not that He cannot, it’s that He does not listen to the prayers of the rebellious.

PRAYER OF REPENTANCE

But there is one prayer that the rebellious can make that will surely be heard by God, and that is the prayer of repentance.
When Ninevah repented at the preaching of Jonah, God heard; He saw; and He turned away His wrath.
When King Ahab repented and put on sackcloth, God heard; He saw; and He turned away His wrath.

What Zedekiah needed to pray for was pardon!
not for peace, not for protection, not for provision, not for prosperity, not for physical health!
Repentance must come first.
Prayer for pardon recognizes the need for forgiveness. It recognizes the wrong one has done, and turns from that wrong.
And guess what. God stands ready to forgive.
He's always ready to answer such prayer… when prayed in faith.
Such a prayer seeks first the kingdom of God.
And when we are realigned with God and His kingdom,
all our other prayer requests will fall in line with His will,
meaning, they will indeed be answered.

UNCOMFORTABLE PRAYER

More than once Jeremiah was told not to pray for the welfare of this
people due to their rebellious posture.
Why? Because their continued physical welfare
only served their wandering farther from the Lord.

It makes me wonder how we might pray for such requests from those who are in direct rebellion towards God.
Well, many of us were present Wednesday night for our time of prayer,
and if you weren’t there, one of our members offered up a truly remarkable prayer for a particular individual living in disobedience, praying for the individual to feel uncomfortable in their current situation.
Now, that’s a bold and godly prayer. One that few would pray, especially out loud before others. But it was the right prayer.
O how often we pray for comfort and the easing of burdens, when comfort is the absolute last thing someone needs so long as they are in rebellion.

When I think of the prayer requests that fill the average prayer gathering,
many of them deal with health, financial, and relational burdens.
And we pray God’s mercy over these situations.
But I wonder if there are times when, concerning our unbelieving friends, neighbors, and family members, that blanket prayers of relief and comfort for those in rebellion might not be the best prayers, because they miss the greatest mercy—a restored relationship with God Himself.

Perhaps there are times to pray:
Lord, if it takes this health issue, this financial struggle, this relational turmoil, or whatever hardship Johnny’s experiencing right now to drive him to his knees in repentance, then so long as he’s in rebellion against you, do just that.
Because obviously health and prosperity have done nothing to draw him closer to God. If anything, we see and read that it often has the opposite effect.

Lord, grant them a heart of brokenness… whatever the earthly cost.
Why? Because a broken and contrite heart, God will not despise.
Because, while as believers we care about all suffering,
we care infinitely more about eternal suffering.
Lord, don’t allow them to feel comfortable in their rebellion against you.

NO PEACE WITH SIN

And let me just say. If by chance that’s you… if you have a hard time making peace with your sin… with any of your ways that aren’t fully aligned to God’s revealed will… thank Him! Take that as a blessing. That’s likely the Holy Spirit convicting you so that you turn and repent.

Zedekiah, so long as you’re in rebellion, the prayer is, judgment is coming, be concerned, be gravely concerned, be so concerned that it drives you to your knees in repentance.

I don’t know. I don’t have the answers. I can just share with you what I see in this book. Your job is to test all things and hold fast what is good.

HOSTILITY TOWARDS THE FAITHFUL

When we seek to remain faithful—resolute in our message—which includes how we pray, we will make others uncomfortable, and we should expect hostility.

SPINNING TRUTH

One way hostility is often expressed is through the spinning of truth.

ILLUSTRATION:

IF you turn on your news feed. You’ll find no shortage of disinformation—
Political opponents with their war of words
seeking to tarnish the other party by spinning the truth just a little.
And this tactic has been around since the Garden.
“So, God said you can’t eat from any of the trees, did He?”

PORTION OF LAND

In verses 11-12, we have Jeremiah heading out of the city to receive his portion,
likely the field he was told to purchase in chapter 32 from his cousin Hanamel.
Chapter 32 chronologically takes place after our account here.
But Jeremiah never made it to purchase the property,
so Hanamel, his cousin, comes to Jeremiah while he’s imprisoned in the court of the guard.

TRAITOR

Now, it’s no surprise that the people thought Jeremiah was a traitor.
So, they looked for any excuse to accuse him of defection.
There idea of a traitor was anyone who wasn’t in full support of their practices.
In their eyes, Jeremiah was against his own nation.
But such couldn’t be further from the truth.

Jeremiah was not only faithful to the Lord,
such faithfulness made him resolute in his faithfulness to his people,

HANANIAH – FALSE PROPHET

Such was not the case with Irijah’s grandfather Hananiah.
We met Hananiah back in chapter 28.
He’s a false prophet who prophesies what the people want to hear.
Peace, peace, when there is no peace. Don’t worry about old Nebuchadnezzar.
The Lord will break his yoke and bring back all the vessels and exiles within two years.

As we saw with Shaphan’s legacy last week, well, it goes both ways.
Faithfulness often begets faithfulness, while unfaithfulness begets unfaithfulness. Genesis 5:3. Adam had a son in his own likeness.

Hananiah was a false prophet who spread lies.
It’s no wonder that his grandson Irijah does the same.
in fact, the lie is that these me are the complete opposite of their names.
Irijah – fear YH – Shelemiah – peace with YH – Hananiah – favor of YH

After 40 years of faithful ministry, pleading, weeping, calling the people to repent and receive forgiveness,
Jeremiah was considered an enemy of the state, a traitor.
But far from being a traitor, Jeremiah loves his people.
He’s willing to be imprisoned and even die for his people.
He loves them too much not to warn them of their greatest threat,
their greatest harm, their greatest suffering.
And as such, Jeremiah is will to suffer.

THE FAITHFUL’S CROSS

This is Jeremiah’s cross, his passion.
Verse 14. Irijah and the officials refuse to believe Jeremiah.
Instead, they struck him and threw him in the dungeon.

AVOIDING HOSTILITY

Listen loved ones, you have no need to concern yourself with any hostility towards you…none at all… so long as you’re willing to compromise the gospel.
Those willing to compromise the message,
will likely never suffer the persecution that Jeremiah faced.

There is no hostility where the gospel is compromised.
… where a half gospel is proclaimed
… a gospel that only makes promises and avoids warnings
… a gospel that offers peace, protection, prosperity, provision,
without any expectation attached to the recipients of such awesome promises.
… a gospel message that calls one to belong to the holy people of God
without calling anyone to be holy
… a gospel that offers forgiveness without calling for repentance.

HALF GOSPEL

And a half gospel will fill pews! But it won’t fill heaven.
A half gospel invites no harm, no cost to its messengers,
and no push back from society.
You can see why it’s so popular.

FAITHFUL SUFFER

But get this. Faithful messengers have suffered throughout history
and throughout the globe.
As Stephen proclaims to the Jews in Acts 7 right before they stoned him,
Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced before hand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.

What got Jeremiah in so much trouble?
Jeremiah, like the apostle Paul, preached on righteousness, self-control, and the coming judgment.
And because he did, he was beaten and thrown in prison.

END UP LIKE JEREMIAH

As Francis Shaeffer so aptly put it,
If one really preaches the Word of God to a post-Christian world, he must understand that he is likely to end up like Jeremiah.

Remain resolute in proclaiming the whole counsel of God’s truth like Jeremiah, like Paul, like Jesus… and you’ll likely end up like them.
But guess what? That puts you in some really good company.

THE LORD HIDES AND DELIVERS

In our last chapter, we saw that the Lord had hidden Jeremiah and Baruch from harm. Why? Because Jeremiah’s time had not yet come.
Just as we see the Lord Jesus slip away from his persecutors,
because his time had not yet come.

But there also comes the time when the Lord does deliver His faithful servants into the hands of their adversaries… to prove the resolve of their faithfulness.

So, does Jeremiah remain resolute in the face of such circumstances?
I think we already know the answer.

RESOLUTE UNDER EVERY CIRCUMSTANCE

Verse 16. (Read 16-21)

Notice the context in which Zedekiah calls Jeremiah.
Verse 16. After he’s in prison for many days.
And verse 17. He calls Jeremiah secretly.

A FICKLE KING

Zedekiah fears his own people, hence the secrecy.
And by leaving him in prison for many days,
he might just be more prone to giving a favorable word.

LIE TO ME

There’s a part of me that’s baffled by the fact that we seek to promote such an environment in which people will lie to us by telling us what we want to hear.
As if the lie can benefit anything other than our ego.
Wouldn’t you rather know the truth, even if it’s hard,
so you can at least respond accordingly?

Do you really want the doctor to lie about your health condition
just so you can feel better for the next few months
until it’s obvious that such was a lie,
and that such a lie sealed your death sentence
because you failed to get the treatment you so desperately needed?
But at least you had a few months of wishful thinking!

Now, I said, there’s a part of me that’s baffled by this.
But truth be known, I’m guilty of this very thing.
I don’t always want to hear the truth… and neither do you.
Why? Because the truth can prove painful and uncomfortable.
But only the truth can save, heal, and restore.

Zedekiah’s fickleness, his vacillating between wanting a word from the Lord and actually heeding the word of the Lord will lead to his destruction.
His fear of man keeps him from obedience to the Lord.

A RESOLUTE SERVANT

In contrast, even after many days in prison,
even with the prospect that the king could release him,
Jeremiah doesn’t compromise his calling.
He doesn’t compromise who it is he serves.
He faithfully delivers the message regardless of what it might cost him.

Jeremiah’s message didn’t change based on his circumstances.

WHO WRONGED YOU?

Zedekiah, you will be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.
Now, let me ask you a question.
Verse 18. What wrong have I done?
Verse 19. Where are the prophets who prophesied to you saying,
the king of Babylon won’t come against you or against this land?
They’re the ones who have actually wronged you and this people,
speaking peace, peace, when there is no peace.
How? Because there can be no peace so long as you’re in rebellion against the Lord.

In fact, Hananiah, Irijah’s grandfather, in no longer on the scene
precisely because he was a false prophet.
The Lord removed him because he had spoken rebellion against the Lord
with his lies.

The world has no shortage of prophets,
no shortage of those who will proclaim what you want to hear,
no shortage of those who will prophesy, “Peace,”
when there is no peace,
peace without the need for repentance.
But I assure you, when judgment comes, they won’t be found.

BREAD THAT IS NEEDFUL

Verse 20.
Only after boldly proclaiming the uncompromised message
does Jeremiah address his own case.
This is instructive to us… to first seek His kingdom.
Verse 21.
And as the Lord always does, He sustains His faithful for ministry
until their mission, their service is complete.
The Lord provides them with the bread that is needful
in order for them to carry out their assigned task.

And the same is true for you and me.
There is nothing the Lord won’t provide you that you need
in order to serve Him faithfully.

CONCLUSION

How about you?
Are you resolute like Jeremiah?
Or are you more fickle like Zedekiah?

Let me offer a word of encouragement,
for those of us whose resolve has come up short.

I’m not so convinced that at times, I might be more like Zedekiah.
O I like to think some days, for a fleeting moment,
I have faith to move mountains.
And then, in the very next breath,
I find myself grumbling over some petty thing,
or I snap at one of the kids, like I did this past Friday,
or I sulk in my discouragement that I’m not further along in my walk.
O the temptations to discontentment,
the fear of man, the worldly lusts, the boastful pride.
The model Jeremiah sets forth seems utterly out of reach.
How much more so conformity to Christ.

And the truth is, only the resolute will finish the race.
So what do we do when we fall short,
when we fail in our resolve?
ENEMY:

Well, the enemy wants you to despair.
Micah 7:8 – Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness,
the Lord shall be a light to me.
I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him,
… until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me.
He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication.

We don’t walk this walk alone.
We’ve been empowered by Christ’s very Spirit.

Perhaps it’s helpful to remind us that Jeremiah’s walk had some lapses.
He faced doubts and discouragement.
But God fashioned him into the resolute prophet he became.
Jeremiah, who I believe also penned Lamentations,
needed those same new morning mercies,
every bit as much as you and I do.

So when you come up short in your resolve,
you turn, you repent, and you resolve again,
leaning into the grace we have in the Lord Jesus,
who has already executed judgment for us.

CHRIST
No one is more resolute than our Lord Jesus
who set his face like flint to go to Jerusalem, to the cross,
in order to save his own—not partially, but completely.

We must be resolute to finish this race.
But where our resolve is insufficient,
Jesus’ is more than sufficient.
He resolved to save,
so you can rest assured that he most definitely will.
Our resolute Savior will not fail.

https://youtu.be/nmEeIE-K_4E

Jeremiah 36: Word on Fire

Jeremiah 36 Word on Fire

ADDED TO THEM:

Many of the chapters in this second half of Jeremiah, are not as much about giving a new word from the Lord, as much as giving the responses to the Word of the Lord, and the consequences that follow.

At the end of our chapter (verse 32), we’ll read:
Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim had burned in the fire.
And many similar words were added to them.

What we have here in chapter 36
are the words added to them.
We have the various responses to the Word.
We have the indifference of those
who chose not to respond,
as well as those who simply stood by
thinking that they could remain neutral.
We have the faithful response of those
who took the Word to heart,
who listened intently,
and then shared it with others.
And we have the hostility of one
who thought he could so easily dispose of the Word
by burning it in the fire.

As we read in several places in the New Testament: Whatever was written in former days
— that being the whole of the Old Testament —
was written for our instructions,
on whom the end of the ages has come.

My question for each of us,
those on whom the end of the ages have come,
what’s your response look like?
Before you answer that too quickly,
we’d do well to dig into these responses.

READ: (Jeremiah 36:1-8)

ILLUSTRATION:

Many roads were closed due to flooding
across several states earlier this week.
I believe Kentucky got hit the worst.
In some of these areas, signs were put up.
Bridge out due to flooding.

What’s the purpose of the sign?
It’s to warn you!
There’s a flood ahead.
Your current path isn’t safe.
Turn around so that
the flood doesn’t sweep you away.

The words the Lord has Jeremiah write
are just that — a bridge out sign.
The flood of God’s wrath
threatens to sweep you away.
But you don’t h{ave to drown.
You can turn around.
There’s still time.

INTENT OF GOD’S WORD

Notice the intent of God’s Word in verse 3.
It may be that the house of Judah will hear
all the disaster that I intend to do to them,
so that every one may turn from his evil way,
and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.

And like the Lord,
his prophet shares the Word with the same intent.
Verse 7.
It may be that their plea for mercy
will come before the Lord,
and that every one will turn from his evil way…

Now, it’s clear that the words are indeed
words of judgment.
But they aren’t given for the purpose of judgment. They are given as a warning
so that the people might turn.

REPENTANCE REQUIRED

The fact that God calls us to repent,
rather than immediately enacting judgment,
shows something of God’s heart.

Our God longs to forgive.
He wants to forgive.
He’s willing to forgive.
He’s waiting to forgive.
But… forgiveness
cannot take place
apart from repentance.
Forgiveness requires repentance.

GOAL OF RECONCILATION

But do we understand why?
Well. What’s the point of forgiveness?
Reconciliation. Reconciliation of what?
Reconciliation of a relationship.

Okay. So what’s the point of repentance?
The exact same thing. Reconciling a relationship.

It’s impossible to restore any relationship
where both sides of this equation,
haven’t taken place.
Yet… out of an overflow of grace and mercy,
the gospel message,
the offer of forgiveness
which stands behind all the warnings,
is extended first.
It’s here in out text.
The Lord offers forgiveness
to everyone who turns,
to everyone who repents.

The purpose of these words of warning
is not to bring the people crushing news
that leaves them in despair
but to crush their hearts and pride
that they might repent
and receive forgiveness.

WORDS ON THE SCROLL

Now let me be clear.
The dominant message on this scroll
that Jeremiah will dictate to Baruch,
is one of judgment and warning
The bridge is out! Turn around!
There’s a flood of judgment up ahead.
But it’s important that we don’t lose sight
of the purpose behind these words.

The message is intended to excite fear,
that leads to repentance,
that grants forgiveness,
that the people might be spared
the flood of judgment,
and be reconciled to God.

ALL THE WORDS

Verse 2.
The Lord commands Jeremiah to record
ALL THE WORDS.
Let me say that again. ALL THE WORDS.
that the Lord has spoken against Israel and Judah
from the day the Lord first spoke to him until now.

That is just over 20 years of ministry.
It includes all of chapters 1-20,
plus chapters 25 and 26.
and the bulk of chapters 46-49.

Now, listen. Just to read chapters 1-20 out loud
takes a good hour and a half.
And as I already noted,
these were predominantly words of judgment.

This phrase, ALL THE WORDS,
is used 11 times in our passage,
plus 5 times in which it’s implied,
each time referring to
writing, reading, hearing, or reporting,
the Word of God as recorded on this scroll.
20 some chapters!

NOT THE PROPHET’S

Verse 4.
Baruch writes at the dictation of Jeremiah
ALL THE WORDS!
not a mere selection
not a paraphrase
not the prophet’s views or commentary
but all the words the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah
over his thus far 20 year ministry.

Why?
Because Baruch’s nor Jeremiah’s
cleverly devised articulation
won’t save anyone.
Why?
Well, for one, God doesn’t share His glory.
And if it takes their eloquence or skill
to save people,
then guess who gets the glory?
Only the double-edge, soul-piercing Word of God
exposes the heart.
His Word alone can save.

Jeremiah and Baruch’s hope was not in their gifting
but in the power of God’s Word
to bring sinners to repentance.
This isn’t Jeremiah’s words
so much as it’s God’s Word.

Since Jeremiah is banned from the house of the Lord
—verse 6—
Jeremiah orders Baruch to go
and read from the scroll
which you have written from my mouth
the words of the Lord
in the ears of the people
in the house of the Lord
on a day of fasting.

And Baruch does all that Jeremiah ordered him.
About a year later, the people proclaim a fast,
and Baruch reads this rather large scroll.

OUTWARD ZEAL, INNER INDIFFERENCE

VERSES 9-10 (read 9-10)

Here you have a people that exalted
the external acts of piety,
flocking to the house of the Lord,
going through religious rituals,
But had little interest in God’s proclaimed Word.
They had outward zeal
but inwardly, they were indifferent.

All the people in Jerusalem and Judah who came
supposedly before the Lord
before the Lord’s house
were unaffected by Baruch’s reading…
all … but … one
a man named Micaiah

FAITHFUL RECEIVING OF GOD’S WORD

VERSES 11-12 (read 11-12)

Where most were indifferent to Baruch’s reading,
Micaiah demonstrates what a faithful response
to God’s Word looks like.
HEARING – FEARING - SHARING

HEARING

First, Micaiah hears the Word.
Notice in verse 11.
Micaiah heard ALL THE WORDS

I don’t often quote others,
but here’s what Philip Ryken,
President of Wheaten College,
had to say regarding these verses.
“Micaiah demonstrates the proper receiving of the Word of God. First comes the hearing of the Word… He listened to God’s Word in its entirety. He did not doze off in the middle of the reading… or leave before Baruch was finished. Micaiah listened to Jeremiah’s prophecies from beginning to end.”

And because Micaiah listened to the Word,
he was moved by the Word
to share the word
He immediately went to his father Gemariah
and the officials who were with him.
But Micaiah also had to listen intently to the Word
in order to fully and faithfully share it.
Which he did!

SHARING

Verse 13.
And Micaiah told them ALL THE WORDS
that he had heard,
when Baruch read the scroll
in the hearing of the people.

This was not a popular message.
As we have seen throughout our study in Jeremiah,
kings, priests, and prophets
have sought to silence this message.
Speak to us pleasant things!
Don’t speak to us about this Holy One of Israel!

And that is no less true today.
As we saw in 2 Timothy just a few weeks ago:
A time is coming when people
will accumulate teachers
to suit their own passions.

Why would Micaiah want to relay this message?
The same reason Jeremiah and Baruch did.
He believed the Word.
He saw the peril.
Now, he must warn others.
The bridge is out!

And honestly, what better place to begin
than with one’s own family.
That’s where Micaiah began.
Now, that doesn’t mean they’ll listen.
But I’ll tell you what won’t happen.

They will never respond to a message they never hear.
And there’s only one way to ensure that they do.
You tell them.
And tell them before it’s too late.

The faithful receiving of God’s Word
makes one an evangelist.

RETURN VOID?

Now, I mentioned,
out of all the people who were in earshot of Baruch
reading from the scroll earlier that morning,
it seemed the vast majority showed no concern.
(I believe that’s implied in the text,
and throughout the Book of Jeremiah.)

Does this mean that God’s Word had returned void?
Not at all!
God’s Word never promises to save every individual.
But consider this.
Because Jeremiah and Baruch put their lives
and reputations on the line,
If but a single person is moved to repentance
—saving repentance—
—repentance that leads to life—
then it was worth it… eternally worth it…
whatever the cost.

And now Micaiah is sharing with others…
his dad and the other officials.
What’s their response?

Verses 14-18 (read 14-18)

GOOD BEREANS

Micaiah passed along the message
as it was passed on to him.
And now, some were moved like good Bereans
to look closer at the message,
get back to the source.
Is the message authentic?
Tell us, Baruch. How did you write all these words?

Notice.
It’s not enough to accept the Word secondhand.
They have Baruch sit down and read
[guess what?]
ALL THE WORDS.
And they listened … to ALL THE WORDS.

And they were moved with fear.
We must report ALL THESE WORDS to the king.

But… verse 19.
Before we report to this king
Baruch, you and Jeremiah need to hide.
Why?
Because we know not everyone
is going to be receptive
to this word!
But just the opposite.
There will be those who are hostile,
those who will want to silence this word.

In fact, knowing this
we better seek to preserve this word.
So, we’ll put it in safe keeping
before we take the news to the king.

Verses 20.
So they went into the court to the king,
having put the scroll in the chamber
of Elishama the secretary,
and they reported ALL THE WORDS to the king.

EXPOSITION

Whatever these officials reported—notice—
it was sufficient for the inspired author to say:
They reported ALL THE WORDS.

I hope you understand,
that’s what we seek to do up here.
It’s what we call: expository preaching.
We seek to report ALL THE WORDS of the text.

Now, I know, it’s not very popular,
not when you consider
just how many churches there are
and what’s often proclaimed from the pulpits.

I’m very capable of standing up here,
and share a few brief nuggets of life application,
and then we could all move on
in our own merry way.
But that is not the preaching found in Scripture.

What application
could possibly be transformative
if we circumvent the text
by skipping over the exegesis, the exposition,
or to make is simpler,
the explanation of the text.

To do so, fails to do justice to God’s Word,
And it rids God’s Word of its power.
Why?
Because to do such isn’t to share God’s Word
but mine!

My task, is to proclaim this Word in such a way
that it can rightly be said,
I reported ALL THE WORDS.
Because my words have no power whatsoever.
God’s Word alone is able to save.
And only to the degree
I faithfully share His Word,
do I have any standing up here.
My job is to be a faithful messenger.

Verse 21.
Then the king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elishama the secretary.
And Jehudi read it to the king,
and all the officials who stood beside the king.

Now, it seems King Jehoiakim
is following the same response as the officials
who received the Word from Micaiah.
He hears the word as relayed through the officials.
And he immediately sends for the source file,
the written scroll.
But the king has other plans.

THE EDITS

Verses 22-23 (Read 22-23)

Rather than receive God’s Word as authoritative,
the king has some edits he would like to make.

As Jehudi reads,
Jehoiakim performs his own,
uninspired edits to God’s Word,
redacting and cutting as he sees fit,
removing the portions he doesn’t like,
leaving none of it, as far as he’s concerned,
as authoritative for him
or the people he was to shepherd.

How many, like Jehoiakim,
take upon themselves the same task
of editing God’s Word?
Now most won’t show their hostility
as crudely and guilelessly as Jehoiakim.
Most won’t be found burning the scroll in a firepot.

Some exact their edits with a scholars knife,
some by interpreting the Word to fit their fancy,
some by ripping the Word from its context,
some by avoiding certain portions as irrelevant,
some by promoting traditions and teachings
of men as equal in authority,
some by raising suspicions concerning the source.

Each of these edits are no less an attack
against God’s infallible Word
than the serpent who asked, “Did God really say?”

Each of these edits seek to diminish its authority,
calling into question whether God’s Word,
as passed down and delivered
once and all to the saints
can or should be trusted.

Anytime one seeks to explain away
any part of God’s Revelation,
it’s no different than Jehoiakim
Taking a knife to God’s Word
and casting it into the fire.

Why does this matter?
Because this is the only Word that can save.
It’s the only Word that can bring about repentance,
so that people might receive forgiveness.

Lord, you have exalted above all things,
your name and your Word.

Yes, much of this Book is hard,
It shares hard things that aren’t pleasant
to our fallen ears.

But this Word, the whole counsel of this Word,
is given with the intent of sparing people
from the coming flood of judgment.

[New Covenant Difference]

PLEADING

Verse 24-26 (Read 24-26)

While Jehudi and the king’s servants
sought to remain neutral
—and let’s be clear, there’s no such thing
as neutrality towards God’s Word—
A few faithful men
three to be precise
urged the king not to do such a blasphemous act
not to burn the scroll
that contained the Word of the Lord.
But their plea fell on deaf ears.

Loved ones, I don’t have to tell you,
but many of our pleas will fall on deaf ears.

While we plead with others,
O please don’t disregard God’s Word like this!
Heaven and Hell hang in the balance!
This Word is intended to save you!
Remember, their response
isn’t up to you. It isn’t up to me.
O let them hear your constant pleas.
Let them see you tears.
But it’s the Lord who softens hearts.
It’s the Lord who grants repentance.
So pray! Pray that the Lord would do just that!

Rather than being moved to fear,
rather than heeding the warning,
THE BRIDGE IS OUT and turning around,
rather than tearing his garments,
Jehoiakim tears down the sign,
and sets it on fire.
And then he seeks to arrest those
who would put up such a sign,
a sign intended to save lives.

But the Lord hid Baruch and Jeremiah.
And the same Lord
who preserves His faithful messengers
preserves His Word.

NAÏVE

Verses 26-31 (Read 26-31)

The world thinks us Christians naïve
to believe this book, to believe its Author,
to submit to the authority of God’s Word.

But what’s naïve are those like Jehoiakim
who think they can escape this living and active
razor sharp Word of the Lord
by slicing it up and casting into the fire,
as if this Word is somehow bound
to the scroll it’s penned on.

What’s naïve is that millennia after millennia
of trying to escape the authorityof God’s Word
—going all the way back to the Garden—
the authority of God’s Word still stands!

What’s naïve is that our society,
after 2000 years of trying
and coming up short time and again
continues to try to discredit this Book.
They enlist their brightest minds
with the largest budgets.
But they can’t quench
the purifying fire of the Word of the Lord.

Jehoiakim can set it on fire, and watch it burn.
But what he can’t do is quench it.

Jehoiakim's efforts to burn God's Word were futile,
because God's Word is fire.

NO LEGACY FOR JEHOIAKIM

Because Jehoiakim sought to cut off this Word
from the people’s hearing,
any hope of legacy will be cut off from him.
He will have none to sit on the throne of David.

For our New Testament reading,
I strongly considered either
Luke’s or Matthew’s genealogy.
Instead,
I’ll leave you to read through them on your own.
But I bet you can guess who isn’t there.
Jehoiakim. He’s not in either of them.
He’s been completely passed over.
He sought to erase God’s Word
So, he was erased
from the greatest genealogical record ever.
Jehoiakim was left without a legacy.

THE LEGACY OF SHAPHAN

But there’s another man who is mentioned
a few times in our text,
who, while he’s not an active participant
in this particular account,
his offspring are.
His name is Shaphan.

It was in the chamber of Gemariah,
the son of Shaphan,
that Baruch read this famous scroll.
It was Micaiah, the grandson of Shaphan (verse 11),
who listened intently to Baruch’s reading
of the scroll,
who afterwards,
went to share the news with his father, Gemariah.

Gemariah, Shaphan’s son, was one of the officials
who was moved with fear at the reading of the scroll,
who insisted on reporting ALL THESE WORDS
to the king,
who also pleaded with the king not to burn the scroll.

Whereas Jehoiakim tore up the scroll
rather than tearing his clothes,
Gemariah likely recalled the time
when the king in his father’s day
had an entirely different response.

King Josiah had sent Shaphan
to the house of the Lord.
And while Shaphan was there,
Hilkiah the high priest told him,
I have found the Book of the Law
in the house of the Lord.
And you know what Shaphan did?
He read it.
And after reading it, he reported it to the king.
And Shaphan read it before the king.
And upon hearing the words of the Book of the Law,
Shaphan witnessed a king who tore his clothes.

Shaphan’s legacy goes beyond
his son and grandson mentioned here.
A few years earlier
(you can read about it in chapter 26)
It was Shaphan’s son, Ahikam,
who saved Jeremiah from being put to death
when he gave his famous temple sermon.
A few years later, Shaphan’s son, Elasah,
would carry Jeremiah’s letter to the exiles in Babylon.
And after Jerusalem falls to Babylon,
another one of Shaphan’s grandsons, Gedaliah,
would rescue Jeremiah, take him into his house,
and eventually become governor
over the Jewish remnant.

YOUR LEGACY

What kind of legacy do you want to leave?
You know what led to Shaphan’s legacy?
It was his response to God’s Word.

O the world has its own idea
of what makes for a legacy.
But all of those legacies will one day be forgotten.
But a legacy like Shaphan’s
will be remembered for eternity.

Unlike Jehoiakim, Shaphan’s legacy continues.
O his name isn’t found in Jesus’ genealogical record,
at least not his physical or biological record.
It’s found in a far more important document:
The Book of Life of the Lamb Who Was Slain.

That legacy can be yours.
If you respond to this Word like Shaphan did,
If you instill this Word in your kids and grandkids
like Shaphan did.

JESUS DIDN’T TEAR HIS CLOTHES

Unlike King Josiah, Jesus didn’t tear his clothes.
But it wasn’t because he wasn’t grieved
over the judgment His people faced.
Rather, as our Great High Priest,
He was forbidden to tear his clothes.
So, he allowed his flesh to be torn open instead.

For so long, we had failed to heed
the Bridge Out! sign.
And get this.
The bridge was out
because we had burned the bridge.
We had burned our relationship with our Maker.
Rather than heed the sign, mankind has treated God’s warnings the same way Jehoiakim treated the scroll.
The flood of God’s judgment was all but certain.

Out of sheer mercy,
God laid down a New Bridge,
a wooden cross that spanned across the entire flood of God’s judgment.
0 to cross this bridge still requires no less repentance.
You see, the flood of God’s wrath had surrounded us.
But Jesus laid down His life as a bridge
that not only provides a way home,
but as a bridge laid down at such a cost
so as to display the immense love of God
and His desire for reconciliation.

Jesus came as the Word made flesh.
The Word that kings and priests, governors and the people sought to silence by destroying Him,
cutting Him off from the land of the living.
But just as God’s Word isn’t bound,
Neither was this Word bound to mere flesh and bone.
For He is the eternal Word.
Death could never hold Him.

This Word, whose eyes are like flames of fire,
seeing into the deepest recesses of every soul,
This Word is fire, and it cannot be quenched!

This Word that the Lord so faithfully preserves
it will preserve you…
… but only if you respond to it faithfully,
like the faithful men we read about today.

Will you be like Micaiah and Gemariah
who intently listened to all the words,
who responded with reverence to all the words,
who were moved to share all the words,
who pleaded with others concerning all the words?

Because ALL THESE WORDS are the Word of God.

https://youtu.be/h9G1wtPh2AU