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    Matthew 28:18-20 Commissioning Worship, part 2: All to Jesus

The church's mission, if it's not centered around Jesus, is not Jesus' mission. The whole of The Great Commission is to be focused on Jesus. Hence the 4 "ALL"s that encompass Jesus' commissioning of his disciples: All Authority, All Nations, All Jesus Commands, All the Days. All four of these focus on our Lord Jesus. All four of them point to discipleship in some sense, because Jesus is the one with all authority, and that includes all the nations. They all belong to him. And we are to teach all the nations all that Jesus has commanded. And his presence is the one that is with us all the days, to empower us to do this. So it's all about him. It's all about his glory. It's all about commissioning worship. In fact: The Great Commission is nothing less than Jesus commissioning worshipers to go and gather worshipers to be enthralled with His glory. This week we look at the first to ALL's: ALL AUTHORITY and ALL NATIONS.

https://youtu.be/10pC60rXG4M

  Matthew 28:16-17 Commissioning Worship: Completing and Perfecting the Eleven

       Transcript 

READ: Matthew 28:16-20
Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always to the end of the age. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF TWELVE

Thursday, for my day job, one of my customers gifted me some eggs. They had like 30 chickens in their little backyard. And they gave me this carton. This carton, it held a a specific number of eggs. You'd never guess how many. A dozen. A dozen eggs. And I was just thinking, Why a dozen? I looked it up and as the story goes, you used to be able to buy an egg for a penny and 12 pennies, (this is not American money), 12 pennies was a shilling. So you for one shilling you’d get a dozen eggs. And so in one sense it had something to do with commerce. 

Twelve seems like a somewhat arbitrary number, but at the same time, those numbers, they don't just come out of nowhere, right? And so , in our culture, we tend to use here in America, and I don't know if they still do in Great Britain even though that's where it came from. We tend to use the standard English measuring system, right? We don't use the metric system. Carmen, you and Sharif may have grown up more with the metric system. But we kind of like 12, we have 12 inches in a foot. We’ve kind of stuck with that. Why? 

Why is 12 so significant? Well, we see it all over creation, don't we? There's always 12 moons in a year. I mean, sometimes there's 13, but we've ordered our calendar, what, 12 months in a year. Our days, we have our clock divided by 12. Two sets of 12 hours equals 24 hours, so that you have a full day. If you live on the equator, it's always going to be consistent, 12 hours of daylight, 12 hours of nighttime regardless the time of year. 

Something else that I I thought about, you know, listening to Robert play the piano … between every octave, there's how many notes? There’re 12 semitones in every octave. Even your ribs, have you ever counted your ribs? How fascinating!  I would have never thought... You've got twelve ribs on both sides!  Just a little trivia. 

As you think about it, God has woven certain numbers into the created order. And twelve is one of those fascinating numbers that is woven through the entire fabric of creation by a masterful Creator. And we see that no clearer than in the people of God, the elect people of God. Starting with the twelve sons of Israel, the twelve tribes, and the church. How many disciples, apostles did Jesus call? He called twelve. So most significantly, twelve shows up in reference to the redeemed people of God, and that's not accidental. 12 tribes, 12 sons. 

So when Jesus comes to inaugurate his new covenant kingdom, he calls 12 disciples. Why? Well, in one sense, he's rejecting apostate Israel. Now I'm not saying he's rejecting Israel. God hasn't rejected his people. But he's rejecting the apostate system that had become Israel. And we saw that when we looked closer at Matthew 20 and 21. 

WHY ELEVEN

Which brings us to our text, verse 16. Now the eleven. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee. Where are the twelve? What happened to the twelve? Well, we know Judas is no more. Judas went and hung himself. He betrayed his Lord and hung himself. And in Acts, we're going to have Matthias, he's going to be added into the 12. But there's something very significant about 11 here on this mountain where Jesus is going to send the disciples out on the greatest mission ever. The mission to grow His church. 

IMPERFECT

So why eleven? Why not twelve? Well, in one sense, eleven, it represents an imperfect community, imperfect people. Remember, it was just a couple chapters ago, Jesus said, You will all fall away. These disciples weren't perfect. And most of us, look in the mirror, we'll find out we're not perfect either. We have an imperfect faith. Our faith is imperfect. Our lives are imperfect. Our walk is imperfect. I'd love to say my walk is a perfect path along the straight and narrow. That's what it's supposed to be. But it's not. Not always. Not usually. The only thing perfect is our Savior and the righteousness He supplies. 

INCOMPLETE

Something else about the number 11, it's not just imperfect, but it's incomplete. As I mentioned in Acts, they'll call someone to take Jesus's place. But I think Matthias points to something more. The covenant community, the new covenant community of God's people is not yet complete. And that's what the Great Commission seeks to fulfill. 

FULL NUMBER OF THE REDEEMED

The full number of the redeemed is represented by twelves. If you turn to Revelation chapter 7, you're going to see there's 12,000 from every tribe of Israel. Now those tribes, we got to be careful because there's a there's an imperfect listing of the names in those 12 tribes that are listed. And Revelation does this twice and they're not the same because there's something greater going on. And so the perfect number was 144,000. But that perfect number of 144,000 points to something so much more significant. Because just as in chapter 5, John, the apostle John, is told, Behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. And John turns around and he looks, and what does he see? He doesn't see a lion, he sees a lamb. In the same way, John is told a number, 144,000. And he turns around and he looks, and behold, what does he see? He sees a great multitude from every tribe, every people, every language, every nation that no one is able to count. 

So 12 is representative of the redeemed. in Revelation 14, The redeemed of the earth is144,000 — a multiple of 12. Actually 12 times 12 times 1,000. They both point to the same thing. The perfect and complete people of God, but not yet. We're still 11, only 11. Right here on this mountain, eleven disciples. 

REVIVING AND HEALING DAUGHTER ZION

Something else, and I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but in all three of the synoptics, right before Jesus sends out the twelve into all of Judea, there's an episode that takes place. with Jairus' daughter who's guess how old? Twelve years old. This twelve-year-old is dying. In fact, she's dead. And there's this woman placed right beside her, right in the middle of her story, who has been bleeding, dying for twelve years. I believe there's some correlation between the people of God and these two daughter of Israel. Israel is sometime referred to by God as a daughter — Daughter of Zion to be precise. 

What takes place. The woman is healed. The little girl is revived. And immediately after, Jesus calls the twelve, their names are listed, and then he sends them out. 

What do these two daughters have to do with this? Israel, Daughter of Zion, is sick and dying. She needs to be healed. She needs to be revived. Hence the sending out the 12 to announce the kingdom. Healing has come! 

So twelve is important. It’s a portrait. It represents both the perfection and completeness of God’s people, that will only come through Christ healing and reviving. And the means he uses is this group of apostles, this group of twelve he sends out… but there’s not twelve. There’s eleven. The eleven need to be made whole. The people of God need to be made a whole twelve — or at least some form of twelve.

THE TEMPLE CITY

Now, if I’m losing you, or you think this idea of twelve is a stretch, consider the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation 21. John is told to measure the city. Its wall 144 cubits. Its length 12,000 stadia. Its foundations, its gates, its gems all twelve. But what is the city? The city is the Bride. It's the people of God. Twelve is so foundational. 

GREAT COMMISSION TO COMPLETE AND PERFECT

So to have eleven, there's something amiss, hence the Great Commission. They're being sent out to complete this number. The Great Commission is the means to complete the twelve, the fullness of Jesus' new covenant community, both to complete and to perfect, which is why when we get to the end of this passage Jesus says, teaching them all that I've commanded you. There's a perfection that's needed as well as the completion. 

MOUNTAIN IN GALILEE

Alright, moving on. Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. To which Jesus had directed them. If we went back up to verse 10. Then Jesus said to them, this is to the women, Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee, and there they will see me. Jesus directs the women to tell, Go tell my brothers to go to Galilee. Well, the women, first of all, notice, the women get the Great Commission first. Their commission is to go tell the brothers, right? To go tell the brothers. But there's something very significant here. 

GO TELL MY BROTHERS

Think of the numerous nouns Jesus could have said, you know, go tell those betrayers, those deniers, those cowards, those failures, go to Galilee. They want to try again. Go tell my brothers. There's family. They are family and they're his family. And we notice just the use of that term. He holds out forgiveness. He's not holding this against them. The gospel, it restores, it reconciles. And that is going to be the aim of the whole Great Commission. calling in brothers and sisters into the family. 

RESTORING THE BROTHERS

But notice, it begins first with restoring the eleven. These guys, these brothers, must be restored before they can take the gospel to the nations. 

And notice, the eleven, they went. They went to Galilee, to the mountain Jesus had directed. There's that faithful act of obedience. The first act of obedience before they can go into all the world. They must go. They must come. They must see the risen Christ themselves. If you don't see Jesus, how can you proclaim Jesus? Now, we don't get to see him physically on this side of glory, but we do get to see him in his word. But you gotta see Jesus first. and be restored to Jesus yourself before you can join in this mission. And when they go and see Jesus, they worship. Worship is nothing less than the fuel of the Great Commission. 

WHY A MOUNTAIN IN GALILEE?

So why a mountain in Galilee, besides Jesus directing them there? And Jesus, he does so for a theological purpose. He's not just, you know, this random mountain in Galilee. Just go there. There's always something behind everything that Jesus says. He doesn't say anything accidentally. 

Well, I would say there's three bookends. Why this mountain in Galilee? Well, one, it bookends Jesus' ministry. Two, it bookends the Exodus. Three, it bookends the canon of Scripture. 

BOOKENDS JESUS’ EARTHLY MINISTRY

Let's start with it bookending Jesus' ministry, his earthly ministry. Where does Jesus begin his ministry? Well, he begins his ministry on a mountain in Galilee. And we back up to the Sermon on the Mount. It takes place on a mountain of Galilee. This is where Jesus has first given the Law as a new Moses. He's the new lawgiver, as it were. Jesus presents himself as the new Moses, the new lawgiver. And when he is finished, at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 7 verse 29 The crowds are astonished because Jesus spoke as one who had authority. 

Now let's look down at our verses that we read. Verse 18 All authority is Jesus's. It all belongs to him. Verse 20 Teach all that I have commanded. Jesus is the Teacher, the Great Teacher, the Lawgiver. So that's one aspect. It bookends Jesus' ministry. 

BOOKENDS THE EXODUS

But it also bookends the Exodus. So if we were to back up in the Exodus, why a mountain in Galilee? Well, Jesus is meeting them on a mountain. It echoes the giving of the Torah from the mountain. Moses was on the mountain of God when he was first commissioned at the burning bush. And coming out of Egypt to bring a nation, a people of Israel, he brings them out to worship on that mountain at the end of the Exodus. When they come out of Egypt, they worship on that exact same mountain. This will be a sign for you. You'll come and you'll worship me on the mountain. At the end of Exodus, it ends on that mountain where they fashioned the tabernacle on Mount Sinai. 

So Jesus is here bringing about a Greater Exodus, a Greater Moses who brings the people out of bondage to sin. Not out of one nation, but out of all the nations. 

And Galilee, if we think about Galilee, Galilee was representative of the nations. In Isaiah 9 (and we see this in Matthew's Gospel in chapter 4, Matthew's going to quote Isaiah 9). When he began his ministry, the inaugural fulfillment, the land of Zebulun, and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations, Galilee of the nations, They’ve seen a great light. People who walk in darkness have seen a great light. 

Why Galilee? Because it goes beyond Jerusalem, beyond Judea. It goes to all the nations. When Israel came out of Egypt, as Steve read for us, they came out with, my translation says a mixed multitude, a foreign multitude. A multitude of people. Not just from Israel, not just from native Israel. But there's a greater Exodus taking place. 

BOOKENDS THE CANON

Three, why a mountain in Galilee? Well, because it bookends not just Jesus' ministry or the Exodus, it bookends the whole of Scripture. When you think of Eden, and many theologians argue this well, Eden is presented as a mountain temple, a garden temple on a mountain, with the four rivers flowing down, watering all the land. Okay? How does Scripture end? It ends on a mountain, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, on the mountain of God, with the River of Life watering all the land, where the Tree of Life buds for what? the healing of just Israel? No. The healing of the nations. 

ARRANGED BY THE AUTHOR

To this mountain, in verse 16, Jesus has directed the eleven. That word directed can also mean, can also be translated, he arranged. or He appointed. Literally, it means to put in order. The author of history, the Incarnate Word, Jesus Christ Himself, He has arranged for His disciples to meet Him here on a mountain in Galilee. Just as He has arranged all of history from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation. He's arranged it all. We shouldn't be surprised at these connections. He's arranged for worshiping God on this mountain. But this mountain points to something more significant. That the mountain has been moved. We worship God not on some physical mountain but on Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem. 

So why a mountain in Galilee? Understanding God's sovereignty is crucial to getting the story right. Otherwise, we might read Israel and then the church as some kind of plan B and then maybe even a plan C. Just as the number twelve was woven into the fabric of creation, this idea of mountain in Galilee is woven into all redemption history. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF “GALILEE” – ROLL AWAY

And Galilee, we could camp out on just the word Galilee for a little while. I'm not going to do this. But Galilee is a Hebrew word and it comes from the word Galal, it means to roll or sometimes it's translated roll away. And it's not a very common word in the Old Testament. It only shows up 18 times. But it's significant because it's used of the stone rolled over the well. It's used for rolling stones over an entrance of caves as a prison or a grave. We can picture Jesus' burial and the stone being rolled in front and then rolled away. And it's used in what I think to be one of the most significant places in Joshua 5:9,  where God says, Today I've rolled away your reproach. You see, the resurrection, it rolls away the reproach of all the disciples, all their failures, where they failed their Messiah. It rolls away all of that. 

MOVING MOUNTAINS

It also takes us back a few weeks ago, to this mountain in Galilee, to Matthew 21, where Jesus, he talks about the faith to move mountains. If you have faith, just a tiny bit of faith, small as a mustard seed. You can say to this mountain, move from here to there. And we talked about it when we looked at Matthew 21, that there’s a correlation between this and John 4. Neither on this mountain nor in Samaria will you worship the Lord, but you will worship Him in spirit and in truth. 

And so the worship of God is no longer back there in Jerusalem, not physical Jerusalem. Again, it's part of the rejecting of apostate Israel. But you will worship Him in spirit and in truth. That whole system is over. Jerusalem is behind. This is why Mount in Galilee. Jerusalem is behind. Now we're looking ahead. Galilee of the nations and from here we're taking off to take the good news to the world. Yes, that good news is going to begin in Jerusalem and then Judea and Samaria and then to the ends of the earth. But Jesus is commissioning them not from Jerusalem. He's commissioning them from Galilee. There's new horizons ahead. No longer on any particular earthly mountain, but they will worship in spirit and truth. 

That's what the Great Commission does. It brings people not to a physical location, but to a spiritual location, to Mount Zion where they see Jesus, and where we see the risen Lord Jesus. And when they see him with their eyes opened by the Spirit, they see him in truth, and they worship him in truth. 

FAITH TO GO

Which takes us to verse 17, And when they saw him, they worshiped him, but some doubted. Like the women, they had great joy, but they also had fear. Well here, the eleven they worshiped. But that doesn't mean there's no doubts whatsoever. And some doubted. But notice, in faith, they went. Have you ever thought about the faith it must have taken for them to go to Galilee as directed? You know, even though Jesus had told them no less than three times what was going to happen, I’m going to be crucified. I'm going to be handed over to the gentiles, I'm going to be crucified, I'm going to die, but I'm going to rise again. He told them at least three times. They couldn't believe their Messiah, the Son of Man who would inherit an eternal kingdom would truly have to die first. 

HURDLE ONE: BELIEVING THE WOMEN

And now the women bring the news that he's alive. I trust my wife a lot in what she says. But I want to tell you there are some things I'd be like, are you serious? I mean, think about these guys hearing this news from the women. And back then, the women weren't considered credible witnesses. No doubt it must have sounded like a wild claim. Think of your unbelieving neighbors. You can tell them you worship a once dead man who's now been raised from the dead. How they look at you. 

HURDLE TWO: FACING THEIR PEERS

Second hurdle. that they had to overcome to go to Galilee is most of them were from Galilee. They were from Galilee. And they left everything to follow Jesus. Can you imagine some of the talk from their friends and relatives in Galilee? James and John, you're leaving your fishing business behind? You're a fool!  You're leaving it all behind to follow this guy here, this Jesus? And now they’re going to go back to Galilee after the person they were following was shown to be an imposter? A charlatan? I mean, he was condemned as guilty and put to death. Took a lot of faith to go back among their peers. The mocking from their acquaintances. To follow this guy, what credentials did he even have? Some of you, likely, you've experienced some pushback from your following Jesus. I know I did, still do. I remember my dad, when he was still around, he would ask, How long is this fad in your life going to last? The faith it had to take for them to go to Galilee. 

HURDLE THREE: WHAT SORT OF RECEPTION

But perhaps the greatest hurdle may have been, what if He did rise? We all deserted Him. What kind of reception can we expect? The fear of looking into the eyes of one you failed, that you let down, you denied, even knowing. I mean, just think of your close relationships that you already have when you've let them down. It's hard to look them in the eye. Matthew doesn't record it, but Luke does. Upon Peter's third denial, the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter ran off and wept bitterly. 

THE RESURRECTION ROLLS BACK ALL OUR FAILURES

Some doubted. Yet despite their doubts, they went. The resurrection, it pushes back doubt. Whatever doubt they had, they went. And the resurrection holds out hope. Perhaps the women actually did see the risen Lord. Perhaps He did rise. The resurrection, it silences the scoffers in your life. You're not a fool to leave everything and follow Jesus. As to quote Jim Elliot, He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose. And that includes any reputational capital you may have before the watching world. Let it all go. It's worth nothing. And the resurrection rolls away the shame of our every failure. That's what the word Galilee points to. Galilee, here on the mountain in Galilee, the reproach has been rolled away. 

EXPECT WELCOME

Remember, Peter, he ran when he heard the news. He ran to the tomb to see that the tomb was empty. He didn't let the shame of denying his Lord hold him back. And neither should we. What sort of reception should we expect? Well, go tell my brothers, expect the eyes of mercy and forgiveness. Think about Joseph from Genesis 45, when he reveals himself to his brothers. Do not be distressed that you sold me. It was God who sent me before you. And then he lays on or falls upon his brothers’ necks. He hugs them, he kisses them. Jesus is our brother. Go tell my brothers. That's the reception we should expect. 

SOME DOUBTED

Yes, some doubted. Perhaps even upon seeing the risen Lord Jesus. We likely think of Thomas, right? Unless I see the mark of the nails and placed my finger in the nail holes and my hand in the side. But consider how fast all these events must have taken place. How fast everything took place. When you first came to know the Lord, how much was a blur? I mean, not everything settled in right there. Not everything clicked immediately. Well, the same was true with these disciples. 

LITTLE FAITH

The word doubt, it really it literally means to waver or to hesitate. And it's only used twice in the whole of the the New Testament. And the one other time that it's used is used in Matthew's Gospel, what Caleb read for us earlier. When Jesus comes walking on the water and Peter says, Lord, if it's really you, call me to come to you, command me to come to you. He does. He gets out of the boat, and he walks in water, but he sees the wind and the waves and he. And he starts to sink and he cries out, Lord, help me!  And of course, Jesus saves him from drowning in his doubt. And he says these words, You of little faith, why did you doubt? That's our word. 

But notice, Peter stepped out in faith. And when they got into the boat, they all worshiped. They're not detached, this kind of doubting. Worship is right there beside it. And we give Peter a hard time sometimes, but I mean, how many of you have walked on water? I mean, I've never gotten out of the boat thinking I was going to do it. 

GROWING IN FAITH

There's also an authenticity here. that you won't find when people are trying to sell you on something. But more than that, there's an encouragement. Because I don't know about your faith, but my faith is not always as strong as I'd like it to be. Some doubt it, it wavered. I don't think there's a believer that hasn't experienced some level of doubt along their walk. One, it's a sign that we have not yet arrived. We're still that imperfect 11. Our faith hasn't been perfected just yet. And so along the way we might need our Lord to revive us like that little girl. 

TO WORSHIP OR NOT

Matthew doesn't give us the nature of the doubt, it's possible the doubting could have been how are we supposed to respond to this man who rose from the dead? I mean, is it really is it truly right that we should be worshiping him? Maybe that's what's behind this. I don't know. But I can answer the question. Are we truly supposed to be worshiping this man? Absolutely. Which is the last thing we're going to look at. 

WORSHIP IS THE GOAL

In fact, worship is the goal of all creation. We were created to worship. It's also what went wrong in the fall. Our worship had turned inward. We want to be like God. You know, I don't want to worship God. And then we end up worshiping everything. Worship, it's also the goal of all redemptive history. It's a restoration of worship. That's what's taking place with the Great Commission is we're sent out that worship might be restored. I think I think it might be John Piper who said, you know, missions exist because worship is absent, it's lacking. So we go into the world because God is seeking worshipers. As we sing, Now to the Lamb upon the throne, we are to worship this man, to whom all blessing, honor, glory, power is to be ascribed to. Worship is the goal of the Great Commission, which we're going to look at closer next week. We are commissioned, in a sense, to disciple the nations to worship the lamb upon the throne. 

GOD IS SPIRIT AND HAS FEET

The resurrection, it gives rise to worship. Like the women, when they met Jesus on the way, they worshiped. And here, the disciples on the mountain, they worshiped. Now remember, when the women met Jesus, they took hold of his feet. and worshiped Him. But there's a problem there. God doesn't have feet. Just to go back to John 4, which I've alluded to a few times. God is Spirit, and those who worship must worship in Spirit and Truth. But here, Jesus has feet. He's concrete. Jesus is truly man. And yet he's worshiped, not just by the women, but by all the disciples. If Jesus was merely a new Moses, we wouldn't worship him. If he was merely just another prophet, another priest, another king, we wouldn't worship him. If he was merely a messenger, or the term angel, if he was just, as some cults refer to him, if he was merely an angel, we would not worship him. At the, in the apocalypse, you all were talking about apocalypse today or apocalyptic today in your class. John bows down to worship the messenger who gives them the vision. The angel who gives them the vision. You must not do that. I'm a fellow messenger. I'm a fellow servant. Worship God only. Angels know to reject any kind of worship towards them. But Jesus never rejected worship. 

THE DIVINE CHRIST

Whether the women were here on the mountain with the disciples, or any other time throughout Jesus' ministry, Jesus never once turned away worshipers. Now, this would only be problematic except for one thing, if Jesus is God. And so, just to glance at that briefly, because God alone is to be worshiped. His glory he will not share with another. We could hit so many texts. And yet, Jesus, the text, this Great Commission text, even if we just looked at this one text, it claims nothing less than the full deity of Jesus Christ. So even though we're going to revisit these next week, let's just take a snapshot real quick. 

Verse 18, All authority. All authority is mine. Well, who has all authority but God alone? But Jesus here, All authority is mine. That's a pretty high claim. Disciple the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That's verse 19. Jesus is placing himself right in the middle of God the Father and the Holy Spirit, claiming nothing less than equal authority. He's setting himself right there with the Godhead. Putting himself on par with God himself. And then, verse 20, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded, That’s a pretty bold statement in the Pentateuch. Moses isn't, you know, it's not what Moses commanded, even though that's what the Pharisees turned it into. Well, Moses commanded us this. No, Moses commanded what the Lord commanded, as the Lord commanded Moses. That's the word you're going to read a time and again. throughout the giving of the law. As the Lord commanded Moses. As the Lord commanded Moses. Here Jesus is the one. All that I have commanded. He is the authority. And then at the very end, And I am with you always until the end of the age. Now even if it's only eleven, they send it out. Even if He's only going to be with the eleven until the end of the age, which we we know better, we know He's going to be with all His people. No person is able to be in 11 places at once. And that to the end of the age. So there's at least this idea of omnipresence going on. Who's omnipresent but God alone? 

CLAIMING DIVINITY

So when critics say Jesus never claimed to be God, that's not only a ridiculous claim, it's dishonest. You see, at every turn of the Gospels, Jesus is showcasing his divinity. But why do they peddle such dishonesty? Because they don't want to worship him. They don't want to worship the one and true living God. Everybody worships, but it's a misplaced worship. We want to worship anything but the one we are to be submissive to. 

COMMISSIONED TO GATHER WORSHIPERS

Hence, the Great Commission. First the disciples had to go as Jesus directed them through the women. Why? So they could exercise faith and meet Jesus on the mountain to worship. In turn, they will be sent out to make worshipers of the nations, bringing the nations to the new mountain of worship. Not a physical mountain, but spiritual, Mount Zion. As we read in Hebrews, you've not come to a place that can be touched. You’ve come to Mount Zion. 

PLUNDERING NATIONS

You and I, we are commissioned with this group of disciples, to borrow from our Old Testament reading from Exodus, we are commissioned to plunder, not just Egypt, we're commissioned to plunder the nations. But not plunder the nations of silver and gold and precious gems, but of living stones. in which just as the people of Israel they took all those materials that they plundered from the Egyptians and made the tabernacle, we are to plunder the nations to make a house in which God will dwell with his people. The church itself is the house in which God dwells with his people. The church itself is the temple. 

And one day, like the eleven disciples, we will all see the risen Lord. The question is, whether we'll see him in worship or not. 

MISSING RIB

Let me wrap up. I was just thinking about the dozen ribs, or the twenty-four ribs, yeah, twelve on both sides. Adam was put into a deep sleep. One of his ribs were removed. In order to what? To fashion his bride. A helpmate fit for him. There's a season in which Adam was incomplete. It's not good for man to be alone. Not until his bride was prepared for him. The body of Christ is somewhat incomplete. Not that Jesus is not... is needy, not that the Son of God is lacking in any way. I'm not saying that, so don't misunderstand. And yet the body is somewhat incomplete until the fullness of the bride is complete, until the imperfect eleven is complete. Not the calling of Mathias, but the full number of elect. 

PERFECTED AND COMPLETE

What's represented by the 144,000 is nothing less than the great multitude that no one can count from every tribe, people, language, and nation. Making the incomplete bride the new covenant community, making her a complete people. And the imperfect bride is perfected in Christ. Until Christ is formed in you, Paul will say. How? Teaching all that I have commanded. This new covenant community may at this time be incomplete. 

But through the means of the Great Commission, Jesus is completing his bride day by day, adding to her number until the fullness is saved. And this new covenant community, it may be right now imperfect. All we got to do is look at ourselves, look at this room. We've still got some growing to do. Right now we're imperfect, both individually and corporately. But we are being perfected for our bridegroom. 

PERFECTING WORSHIP

And that perfection, most significantly, involves our worship. You see, what needs to be perfected more than anything else is our worship. When our worship is corrected, when our worship is perfected, everything else falls into place. You see, everything else flows, including our holiness. It flows from our worship because what we've been set apart for is nothing less than worship. Come, see Jesus. Bow down and worship Him. 

PRAYER

Let's pray. Lord, if we're honest, our worship is nowhere near perfect. We have so many idols in our lives. Like Calvin said, our hearts are idol factories. Our Our worship wavers. We're like Peter, stepping out on the boat, out of the boat. And there are times we are sinking in our doubts. Revive our faith during those times. Perfect our worship in You by revealing to these hearts of ours the fullness of Your glory. I ask all this in Jesus' name, Amen.

https://youtu.be/KsiiVL8HFvk

  Matthew 21:1-46  The Fruit of Glory

(message transcript)

INTRODUCTION:

I want to thank everybody for who showed up for our workday and those who have been praying for our workday because it was such a blessing just to see how many people pitched in to to just serve this facility that the Lord has so graciously given us. Now I don't know how many looked at the list that we had, our list was a little bit ambitious. We did not accomplish everything we hoped to have accomplished yesterday. 

This morning, I'm going to be a little bit ambitious. I'm not sure I'm going to accomplish everything I would like to accomplish, but we are going to be looking at the whole of Matthew 21. Now, I'm attempting this because most of this should be familiar to almost everyone who is in here. Matthew 21 is a very familiar chapter. So we're going to look at this whole chapter not once, not twice, but three times. And we're going to look at it through three lenses. 

First, we're going to look at it through the idea of humble authority. Then we're going to look at it through the lens of clearing the way. And third, we're going to look at it through the fruit of faith. And so just so you have it on the front end to prepare you for what we're looking at is I'm going to give you my summary statement. Jesus comes as the humble authority who clears the way for the fruit of faith. 

READ (Matthew 21)

HUMBLE AUTHORITY

Over the past three months, you've likely noticed that the headlines have been saturated. with the latest findings and cuts from DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency. Likewise, a week has not gone by in which some appeals court hasn't issued a ruling as to the legitimacy of such cuts and layoffs. 

Well, to ease some of you as to where we're going, Jesus is not riding into Jerusalem to bring about better government efficiency. I don't think efficiency is ever on God's list of priorities. But Jesus is coming in to make some job cuts. Not for the sake of saving the taxpayers some dollars. Not to offer a reduction on your tithe. Jeremy will go through that this morning and he'll... no. Jesus has come to cut out the corruption. 

And as far as appeals court are concerned, Jesus comes as the final court of appeals. The religious leaders and elders have been in business for themselves rather than attending the needs of the people and rather than serving the Lord. And Jesus is riding into town to take care of it. 

Now, as one who bears such authority, we might expect Jesus to have commandeered a chariot with a team of stallions. I mean today, you're not going to see kings or presidents or prime ministers go anywhere, especially among a full capacity crowd, where they are not sitting in the backseat of a bulletproof, 500-horsepowered limousine of some sort. 

But here, this great military figure, the king of all the universe, doesn't climb in the back of a bulletproof limousine with however many hundred horsepower. He stoops down to a vehicle of but one, a lowly donkey. Why? 

Well, first, the Lord says he's in need of it. He recruits two of his disciples to round up this cult. Why? Because the Lord is in need of it. That's kind of ironic to think that the king, the Lord of all the universe, the God who made everything, is in need. But he is in need. He's in need to make a statement to the people. And it's going to take this donkey to do it. 

I picture Jesus here sending James and John, who we've looked at for the past couple weeks, sending maybe these two as the recruits, you know, those who were seeking positions of prestige and power. A donkey, Jesus? Are you certain that's what you want? Don't you want someone with a little bit more giddy-up? No, a donkey and its colt will do just fine. That's what I need. 

And so we have this full-grown man riding this lowly colt of a donkey. And the crowd is going wild. They are celebrating, they are rolling out the green carpet, as it were, proclaiming, Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. 

I just wondered, did the crowd miss it? Often the crowd does, often we do. With all the hype, all the stories, did they completely miss what Jesus was doing in this moment? Well, the crowd might have missed it, but Matthew records it so that hopefully you and I won't miss it. 

This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, verse 5. Now there's no doubt Jesus is riding in as a humble king. And yet, he's also making the boldest of statements. Jesus is doing exactly what the prophet Zechariah said the Messianic king would do. Here, in this act of coming in on the donkey, Jesus is proclaiming himself to be none less than the Messiah. And notice, He doesn't hush the crowd's acknowledgement that He is the Son of David. They pay homage to Him. Now, but for how long? 

Jesus may have rode in on a donkey, meek and mild. But the rest of this chapter, Jesus will appear anything but. 

Note, humble authority doesn't suggest that Jesus is a pushover. It doesn't mean denying one's rightful authority. Humility does not mean to think more lowly of oneself than what they truly are, but not to think more highly of oneself than what they truly are. Humility doesn't deny the truth of who one is. That is what we call false humility.

So when Jesus enters the temple and he overthrows the tables, he's not some arrogant glory seeker. I'll show you who's in charge. He comes with the full authority of heaven itself to execute justice and to set things right. He has authority over what takes place in the temple. 

He also has authority over the fig tree, verse 19. And if it fails to bear fruit, he has authority to wither that same fig tree. In fact, Jesus has authority even over the mountains (which we'll return to). 

He has authority over those who would question him. That's verse 23. So when the religious authorities press Jesus to explain himself as if God answers to man, Jesus turns the tables on them and tells them, Tell you what, I'll ask the questions. You answer me. 

So many people think that God owes them an explanation. That's not humility, that's arrogance. And yet, in incomprehensible humility, God condescends to our level and answers genuine questions asked in faith, questions asked from a pure heart. But get this, He has no obligation to do so. And yet He stoops, He kneels as before children. He doesn't turn them away. 

But as for the religious elite, with all their study, the seminary students of Jesus' day, they couldn't even answer Jesus' simple question. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man? So, rather than answer their question directly, Jesus tells them two parables. 

The first concerning two sons, verse 28. A father says to his first son, Go, work in the vineyard. And the son initially refuses, but later he repents and changes his mind and goes. The second son said he would go, and yet he never went. Which of the sons honored their father by doing what the father commanded? The existing authorities are like the son who promised to do the work of their father, yet never went. 

Where the first parable concerns the authority of a father over his two sons, the second concerns the authority of a landowner over the tenants. Verse 33. So when the owner sends emissaries to collect his fruit, the tenants disregard their authority as the owner's ambassadors. Mistreating some, killing others to the point where they even killed the landowner's own son. 

But that's what sin does. Sin rebels against authority. Like the two sons, sin rebels against God's loving, fatherly authority. Either by flat out telling him no, or by merely giving lip service to what the Father requests. And like the tenants, sin denies God's rightful authority as the owner of all things. Jeremy even made that clear in our prayer for the offering. All things belong to Him. We're but stewards. 

Like a loving Father, God makes no demands of His people that are not for our good. And as the owner of the vineyard, He didn't send ambassadors to collect the fruit because He was somehow in need of what they could give to Him. 

Rather, Israel was given dominion as stewards to expand the dominion of this vineyard for the good of the nations. Not to be inwardly focused, not to hoard everything for themselves, Israel was to be a replanting of Eden, as it were, where the people were to be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth with the reign of God's righteousness, God's righteous reign, but instead they became as corrupt as the nations around them. bearing thorns of idolatry, thorns that would soon crown this humble king's righteous brow. 

Listen, the owner of the vineyard has the authority to lease this vineyard to every he wants. He leased it to a people who refused to produce its fruits. This owner also has the authority to take it away, which is exactly what he is about to do. Verse 43, Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing its fruits. 

CLEARING THE WAY

Now the reason we're looking at this chapter as a whole is because it all comes together as one meaning, one message, one thing that's going on here. Each of these snippets point to the same thing. The old system has become corrupt to the point it's time to do away with it completely. 

Now, it's not like God didn't know that the old system was deficient from the beginning. It was always deficient, but not because of some failure on God's part, but because of our sin, because of the people's sin. It was never intended to be permanent. Rather, it was intended to point to what was to come. It was intended to point to the coming one. It was intended to expose our need for something better, something more glorious. 

But even though the system was intentionally temporary, that doesn't excuse man's responsibility. Man was still responsible to offer right sacrifices, acceptable worship, faithful obedience. To be a son who willingly works for his father. To be tenants who give the owner the fruit of the vineyard. 

But in himself, man is completely incapable. Not because what God demands is physically impossible or physically too hard, but because we're morally unwilling. Left to ourselves, we are unwilling to submit to the authority of others. including God. We're unwilling to work for another's joy or for another's glory. Our sinful bent refuses to be content as tenants, or as sons, as priests, or as doorkeepers. Whether we admit it or not, our natural fallen inclinations inward. We are self-focused. That's why we so desperately need God's Spirit in us. 

So what does this clearing the way look like? Well, the first step in clearing the way is found in the donkey passage, if I can call it that. The donkey passage. Jesus comes offering peace. That's what he's portraying coming in on a colt instead of a warhorse. The warhorse is going to come, but not now. 

First he comes to offer terms of peace. The reason a donkey and not a warhorse is because the greatest obstacle in our way is not Rome, it's not any enemies, but our sin. And our sin must be dealt with decisively. The crowd here is shouting, Hosanna!  meaning, Lord, save us!  Well, that's exactly what Jesus has come to do. But not in the way they expected. He's come to save us from our sin. I think of Charlotte's prayer, Lord, forgive us our sins. Thank you, Jesus, dying on the cross to forgive us our sins. 

Jesus has come fulfilling Zechariah's prophecy to bring peace. by satisfying the penalty of our rebellion in full, bringing peace not just to Israel but to the nations. This is the salvation Zechariah's humble king brings. 

And because Jesus himself is going to deal with our sin, there's no need to retain the old corrupt system any longer. It has served its purpose. 

Now when I say the whole system was corrupted, it's important to note that none of what was taking place that Jesus encountered in the temple, none of it was God's system, but man's perversion of what God had set up. This was not the system that God installed. 

When Jesus entered the temple complex, what did he see? He saw worship, but not the worship of God. He saw religion, but not the religion that is pure and undefiled. He saw a festival, I mean it was Passover, but not Passover as God had intended it. He saw trade, a first century stock exchange selling pigeons and doves. 

In fact, this stock exchange was part of the Great Exchange. where mankind had exchanged the glory of the immortal God for birds. That's what it says in Romans 1, for images of birds among other things. This pigeon, it can save me, right? I'll pay my own way, this little sacrifice, I'll give a little bit of money for a pigeon or a dove. And then I can go about my own merry way, doing whatever I want. As if a dove can save anyone. But there's only one who can save, and that is the one on whom the Spirit descended like a dove. 

For this people, there was no fruit of repentance. This is why Jesus quotes Isaiah and Jeremiah in verse 13. It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you make it a den of robbers.' 

We'll start with the second half of that. You make it a den of robbers. It comes from Jeremiah 7. And I know it's been a while since we looked at that. Where the people, they trusted that simply going through the motions of worship was sufficient. Going through the religious rituals. Somehow, supposedly made them right with God. “No repentance required!” at least in their minds. The temple had become nothing more than a hideout. So long as the temple was in their midst, we were fine. This is the temple of the Lord. This is the temple of the Lord. This is the temple of the Lord. Nothing to worry about. 

Well, the temple is going out of business. Why? Because the people have made a mockery of God's temple. And if we're not careful, we can be guilty of the same. We can go through religious motions thinking that such can somehow appease God. You know, doing your church thing on Sunday and then turn around Monday, you know, the rest of the week it belongs to me. 

But the temple was never intended for Israel alone. The first half of verse 13, it comes from Isaiah. Isaiah 56, I believe. The Gospel writers, they rarely quote the passages in full, but the readers are expected to know the passage. My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. In Mark's Gospel, Jesus makes clear the meaning. For all nations, for all ethnos. 

Where were these abominations taking place? If you read any commentary, they're going to tell you this exchanging, the money changers, and the exchanging money for doves and pigeons, it was taking place in what would be called the court of the Gentiles. The outermost court. This whole corrupted religious system that the people had set up, it squeezed out the nations, squeezed out any place for the nations. among God's people? Well, no longer. 

The Fig Tree. Now the Fig Tree goes hand in hand with the temple. The Fig Tree is representative of Israel as the stewards of God's promises. You can see it in several places throughout the Old Testament, but one good place to look at is Hosea 9. Like grapes in the wilderness, I found Israel. Like the first fruit on the fig tree, I saw your fathers. 

So when Jesus curses the fig tree, it's not due to some fit of rage because he is hangry. He didn't smell those resurrection rolls baking in the kitchen this morning. And I know it's pushing lunchtime and some of you are probably getting hangry too. Jesus wasn't abusing his divine authority. How dare this fig tree fail to you know offer fruit for me to eat and satisfy my appetite. 

Remember, Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness being tempted without eating a single crumb. resisting the temptation to turn a stone to bread. This is the same Jesus who fed the multitudes in the wilderness, multiplying fishes and loaves for the multitude, not once, but twice. So Jesus is certainly not venting his appetite disappointments over some barren fig tree. 

What we need is a lesson in horticulture. Now, I had heard of this, but I mean with our fig tree over the last few years that we've had it, I've never experienced it so I doubted it. And And you know reading commentaries, they talk about these little fruits that appear on a early spring fig tree when it first leaves, but I didn't really believe it. And then I had somebody like R.C. Sproul who doubted it too, so I felt like I was kind of in good company there. Well, I guess we were both wrong. 

In the spring, when the fig tree leaves, it also puts out these little unripe fruits that, well, I don't know how tasty they are, but they're edible. Jesus uses the fig tree here as an object lesson for Israel. Well, it wasn't the season for harvesting figs. There should have at least been these little tiny nubs of fruit on the tree. The sign of future fruit. 

The fig tree, though, it had all the signs of fruitfulness, but it was barren. That was a portrait of the temple. There was lots of activity going on. On the inside, Fig leaves were sprouting and covering the naked branches, but the whole thing was fruitless. And as we know from Genesis 3, you can't hide nakedness or barrenness with fig leaves. No fig leaves can provide sanctuary or a hiding place. And fig leaves, not fruit, was all that Israel had to show. 

Israel was to be the stewards of God's vineyard, entrusted with the oracles of God so to be a blessing to the nations. But they were fruitless, barren, providing no benefit to anyone. Yet they were using up God's good resources. So when Jesus curses the fig tree, the disciples are amazed that it withers at once. How does Jesus respond? Not only will He do to this fig tree, but even to this mountain. 

What mountain? Well, there's a couple possible answers, but most likely it either is the Temple Mount or Jerusalem, physical Jerusalem itself. I want to be careful here. But the whole of the New Testament points to this, and even our current chapter. 

You see, what's the point of the Parable of the Tenants? Well, I guess first we need to ask, who are the tenants? If you're not sure who the tenants are, the chief priests and the scribes, the Pharisees, they make it pretty clear Jesus was speaking about them. Now if they got it right, I hope we can at least get it right. The kingdom would be taken away from them, the current tenants, and given to those producing fruit. 

So back to the mountain. This mountain is earthly Jerusalem, and it is out of business. As Jesus states in John 4, no longer on this mountain, here in Jerusalem, or in Samaria, will you worship the Father. True worshippers will worship in spirit and in truth. And as Samuel read in Galatians 4, physical Jerusalem had become equivalent to Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. The true people of God belonged to the Jerusalem that is above the Mount Zion that is above the heavenly Jerusalem. 

So Jesus is here clearing the way, removing the authority of the priests and the elders who question His. Why? Because they're worthless shepherds. They're the blind leading the blind. And He's removing the sons who merely gave lip service to the Father's commands. He's removing the current tenants of the vineyard. 

And he's going to give it to those who produce its fruits. The question is, who would that be? And what does this fruit look like? Well, we're going to start at the end and we're going to go backwards. 

FRUIT OF FAITH

First, it's the fruit of faith. The faith of those who don't reject the cornerstone, but find their refuge. in this cornerstone. You see, Jesus is clearing the way by tearing down the old system due to its deficiency. But he's not leaving the whole thing void of nothing. He's building or setting up a new system in its place. Jesus is tearing down one temple and he is raising up another, laying himself down as the cornerstone, as the very foundation. 

Access to God is no longer through some religious system, but through Christ. When Jesus died and breathed his last, the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom, stating very loudly that the physical temple was closed for business permanently. Now access to God is through the torn curtain of Jesus's flesh. 

If you just back up to Psalm 18 that Josiah read, Open to me the gates of righteousness that I may enter through them and give thanks to the Lord. What's the gate? Well, Jesus is the gate. How is it opened? It's opened by his flesh being flayed open, paying for our sins. That is the gate of righteousness that we enter through. You enter through Christ, and only through Christ, where you don't enter the kingdom. And you enter by faith, and only by faith. You seek to come in any other way, this stone will crush you. 

The fruit of faith, it recognizes our rightful place as stewards, not as owners, in humility, not entitlement. That all is a gift of grace. And such changes the way how we think. It changes how we approach everything else in life. When you recognize that you're a steward, you can live with your hands open. It all belongs to God anyway. And with open hands, you'll bear fruit. You'll be a benefit to your neighbors, those God has placed along the roadside that you pass by. We work as unto the Lord, not man, and definitely not self. We work as for a loving father, not a demanding slave master. 

The fruit of faith is that of repentance. Like the parable of the two sons who told their father no, they later changed their mind. This included who? Tax collectors and prostitutes. How did they become obedient sons and daughters? Well, verse 32, they believed. When the message came to them, they believed. We've all been tax collectors and prostitutes. We've all turned against the kingdom of God and sought to serve the enemy. We've all prostituted ourselves to foreign gods, but God His mercy calls us. He calls prostitutes to be daughters, tax collectors to be sons. When they heard the message, they believed. What about you? Have you believed the message? Has it led you to repent of your old ways, your old rebellious habits, and obey your Heavenly Father as the loving Heavenly Father that He is? 

The fruit of faith, it recognizes Jesus' rightful authority over all things. Unlike the chief priests and the elders who challenged Jesus' authority, do you recognize Jesus as the supreme authority over all things, including you? Including your life? Do you trust His Word? Do you keep His commands? 

The fruit of faith, it worships Jesus. not on some particular mountain, but in spirit and truth. Those who have been grafted into a new tree, as it were. You see Jesus, he cursed the fig tree, Israel's fig tree, but a new shoot sprouted up. Unless a seed falls to the ground and dies, it will bear no fruit, Jesus says. But a new shoot from the stump of Jesse, has sprouted. And those grafted in are those who have the faith that moves mountains, not those who set up Pharisaical barriers, like the religious leaders of Jesus' day. 

The fruit of faith also it worships like a child, that's verse 16, who come to Jesus for healing, like the blind and the lame, recognizing that something much greater than the temple is now here. 

Lastly, the fruit of faith belongs to those who genuinely desire peace between them and God. While much of this current crowd would later shout Crucify Him, we would be wrong to assume that there was now no salvation available for them. Such would be to fail to recognize the Savior who is mighty to save. You see, in the opening chapters of Acts, Peter will declare, This Jesus whom you crucified. And to be honest, if we were there, we would be guilty of the same. This Jesus whom you crucified would certainly include many who were among the crowd that day when Jesus was put on the cross and the crowd was cut to the heart. Luke records in Acts. And three thousand souls were saved that day. And from there the number only grew. 

You see the fruit of faith that enters the kingdom through a humility that recognizes the humility of Christ. who overturned everyone's expectations of the kingdom by overturning tables and overturning hearts, displaying to all that his kingdom is a humble kingdom, established in humility by a humble king who rides in on a lowly donkey, who takes a seat on the throne of cross, who wears a crown laced with thorns, the thorns of our sin. 

All this to clear the way, to clear the way of our pride, so that our hearts would no longer be hardened, fallow, barren, ground, but broken, fertile soil. that bears not merely the fruit of faith and repentance, but the fruit of love for the one who came to save. 

Hosanna!  Blessed is He who came, and blessed is He who is coming again. 

Let's pray. Lord Jesus, thank you for stooping down in such utter humility. But we also thank you for your incredible authority as Lord over all. The Lord who has the authority. to forgive. Produce in us the fruit of faith. Tear down every stumbling block, every obstacle, every hindrance that lays in our way. Break up this hardened fallow ground around our hearts. And plant your seed of love, your seed of gospel love. And may it bear fruit, and may we be those who give you the fruits in their seasons. In Jesus' name, Amen.

https://youtu.be/D_8PJU-xxgE

   Matthew 20:29-34 Seeing Glory: Open Our Eyes 

As I was preparing for this week, I considered how often I take for granted basic realities such as light. I’m guessing the Lord wanted to hammer that home, because with yesterday’s storms, we spent our entire afternoon and evening without electricity. Thankfully, my lovely wife rounded up some candles and placed them throughout the house and around the kitchen table, so I could attempt to put my dozen pages of handwritten notes into some discernable format for you to digest. You can judge whether I succeeded.

Speaking of light, some of you have reached the point where it's not safe for you to drive at night anymore. Some of us take that for granted. We don’t often think about the gift of eyesight.

Others of us tend to take for granted, if I leave my vision assistance—my spectacles—on a table somewhere or in the car or wherever, I can still get by fairly well. If my wife leaves her visual assistance somewhere, she's not going to find her way through the house.

But what about more serious visual impairments? You know, most of us look around at all this beauty around us that others will never be able to fix their eyes on. You ever think about that? What God has so graciously gifted you the ability to see, others can only imagine.

A week ago last Friday, a few in here, they made a trip to Cheekwood. [And Haley, can you put up one of those pictures?] And they went and took some photos of the Cheekwood Manor and garden. What if this was the extent of what you could see? Just a blur of the manor, when the rest of the world sees this. [Go ahead with the next one, Haley.] Or, what about flowers? If you saw flowers and this is what they look like, instead of this. Or we have one more.

Now, the young lady responsible for these amazing photos, she has a vision impairment of her own. Haley, these pictures are quite stunning. But Haley only has one good eye. She sees the world a little bit differently than most of us, but I mean just look, look at that beauty.

We're in Matthew chapter 20. And we're going to be looking at two groups with a different sort of visual impairment. One is a crowd with perfectly good eyesight, but they're blind. Another is two blind men. Their eyes do not function at all, but they see what the rest of the crowd does not.

READ (Matthew 20:29-34)

Now Matthew’s narratives are often more concise than Mark’s. So while we could compare the two accounts, Matthew has penned his gospel to stand on its own. Matthew has particular theological empheses he is aiming at.

So, here, Matthew lumps the crowd into one people for a reason. In part, he does so to warn us about the crowd, to warn us about following the masses, to warn us about following that which is popular.

In the next chapter, we’ll see that this crow follows Jesus all the way into Jerusalem. They’ll shout, Hosanna to the Son of David. Hosanna meaning please save. Please save us Son of David. This is quite similar to the cry of the two blind men. Lord, have mercy on us Son of David.

So in one sense, the crowd and the blind men both recognize this man, Jesus, to be the promised Son of David. But the crowd only partially saw what that meant. They saw the Son of David to be the warrior king who would come crush their enemies — crush Rome — and reign forever. And that’s true in a sense. But that’s a partial truth. And partial truths are most often distorted truths. And that is the case with how the crowd sees Jesus.

Also, it’s important to note that this crowd doesn’t share the same the same merciful disposition of the One they are supposedly following. 

Later Matthew records what becomes of this crowd. If you turn a few pages to Matthew 27, we see that when it becomes apparent that this Jesus isn’t the warrior king they had hoped for, that this Son of David hasn’t come to crush the Roman empire, when this mighty king is displayed in the meekness and weakness of human flesh, the crowd will no longer find it fitting to follow Jesus.

When given the choice between releasing  Barabbas, a famous criminal, and Jesus, the King of the Jews, this crowd will call for the release of Barabbas, not Jesus. You see, in their eyes, Barabbas at least took a stand against the Roman empire, against their enemies. Where Jesus seemed to have surrendered himself to their enemies. He is not a king they wish to follow. 

So, Pilate asks, What then should I do with the King of the Jews?  And the crowd cries out, Let him be crucified. And Pilate asks, Why? What wrong has he done? But —now listen to these words — they cried out all the more! That’s the same thing these blind men did. They cried out all the more, Let him be crucified.

You see, in verse 31 of our text, the blind men, they cry out all the more for mercy. But this crowd will later cry out all the more to have the Merciful One crucified. 

What are some take aways? Not every following of Jesus is the same. Many follow Jesus; they follow the hype, the excitement, the crowd, what’s popular. And they’ll follow Jesus for a spell. But they won’t follow Jesus to the cross.

Being among the crowd that follows Jesus doesn’t make one a follower of Jesus. Crowds are filling pews this morning around the globe. But sitting in a church building isn’t following Jesus.

Following Jesus’ whereabouts isn’t the same as following Jesus with your heart. The reason Caleb read Numbers 9 for us is because it shows how a people can follow God in location without following with their heart. 

That first generation the came out of Egypt in the Exodus, they flowed the Shekinah glory, the fire cloud, God’s tabernacling presence. That’s what Shekinah means. It comes from the word for tabernacle. They followed God’s tabernacling presence among them. The cloud lifted, and the people set out and followed the cloud. The cloud settled down, and the people camped. However long the cloud remained, the people remained. They followed God in location, but they didn’t follow with their hearts. 

Later you can read about what happens to that first generation that came out of Egypt. You can read about it in Jude 5, or 1 Corinthians 10, or Hebrews 3, or Deuteronomy 1, or many places throughout God’s Word.  They all describe how God was not pleased with most of them. And all of them but Joshua and Caleb perished in the wilderness. They never entered the Promised Land. Following God’s Shekinah glory, His tabernacling presence saved none of them.  

In the same way, when the crowd followed Jesus, they were following God’s Shekinah glory, His tabernacling presence in the person of Jeus Christ. As Jeremy read for us from John 1: And the Word was God… and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. That word dwelt is tabernacled. He tabernacled among us. 

The crowd followed God’s Shekinah glory in the face of Jesus Christ. But for many, it wouldn’t save them. The crowd followed God’s Shekinah glory, but they followed only so long as they saw such as glorious. 

Following Jesus for a time is not the same as persevering to the end. Only those who persevere to the end will be saved. If you don’t persevere to the cross, you’re not following Jesus, at least not with saving faith. The occasional or temporary following of Jesus doesn’t make one crucified with Christ.

Last one. Waling on the road Jesus once walked doesn’t put you on the road to glory. I know many people who have taken trips to see the Holy Land. Perhaps some of you have visited the Holy Land, or hope to do so some day. Walking the roads Jesus once walked. Seeing the sights Jesus saw.  Listen. So did this crowd. They walked the same road as Jesus. They walked in Jesus’ very footsteps. But walking the road Jesus once walked doesn’t put you on the road to glory. 

The only legitimate following of Jesus is a cross-bearing following of Jesus. The crowd had no place in their theology for the cross. And many churches and denominations have no place in their theology for the cross. To them the cross is nothing more than an unfortunate tragedy at best. They refuse to define the cross biblically. Why? Because they don’t actually like what the cross stands for — Jesus’ substitutionary atonement — His death in the place of sinners, bearing God’s holy wrath in our stead, and His righteousness granted to us who have no righteousness of our own. 

Take care before jumping in with the crowd. For you just might find it leading you away from the Jesus who saves. And you might find yourself with countless others who follow an entirely different Jesus than the One portrayed in the Scriptures.

Well that’s the visually impaired crowd. What about the two blind men?

If we can say anything at all about these two blind men, it’s that they see before they see. The crowd failed to see Jesus for who he is. But these blind men see Jesus rightly. They see Jesus as the Son of David, the MERCIFUL SHEPHERD KING. 

You hear it in their plea. “Lord, have mercy on us, Son of David.” So simple yet so telling. Their plea demonstrated what they believed. Our faith, our pleas, will likewise reveal what we believe.

Their understanding of who the Son of David is was far better informed than the crowd’s. 

[Here’s the thing. We believe, not primarily what we see with our eyes but what we see with our hearts. We believe what the eyes of our hearts see regardless of what our physical eyes may see. If our hearts suppress the truth, we’ll believe our own version of the truth. But one’s version of the truth doesn’t make it true. 

Now, if we believe only what we see with our hearts, you and I have a serious problem. Because as Scripture makes clear in Jeremiah 17, the human heart is deceitful. So, if we are to believe rightly, we need God to open the eyes of our hearts. That’s what differentiates the seeing of the blind men from the seeing of the crowd.]

The crowd believed one thing about Jesus, they saw one thing about Jesus, that Jesus had no time to concern himself with the needs of the weak and infirmed, that Jesus was too high to deal directly with the poor and lowly, that Jesus’ mission was too big to involve himself with the trivial, such as what ever these two blind nobodies wanted from him.

But the blind saw something different. They believed something different. In Jesus, they saw a merciful shepherd like King David who not only cared about the destitution and pitiable state of others but that he cared about them! That he cared enough to enter their brokenness. And they saw that Jesus was powerful to help.

This is nothing less than the faith that calls on the name of the Lord and is saved! (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13.) “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord,” that’s exactly what these two blind men were doing. They were calling specifically on one of the many true names for Jesus of Nazareth: The Son of David.  

You see. Faith in Jesus believes Jesus can and that Jesus has a merciful disposition toward the meek. It’s not enough to have faith in some powerful Son of David (like the crowd did), if that Son of David has no inclination to care for your current welfare. It’s also not enough to have faith in some merciful shepherd king who is inclined to do good for you but has no power to help. These two blind men believed Jesus to be both Mighty and Merciful.

But where did such faith come from? The men may have been blind but their faith wasn’t. Genuine faith is never blind. 

Now, we know from reading our Bibles that faith is a gift from God. Yet, we also know that God uses means. 

First, He uses means to get the information to us. We need the truth revealed to us. That’s the Word—God’s Word proclaimed through God’s messengers. Right now, I want you to know that God’s Word is being proclaimed to you. 

I'm hoping to help you see just who the son of David is. So you may see the son of David as the blind men saw the son of David. 

But information alone, truth alone is not enough to save anyone. If it was, everyone would be saved. If truth was sufficient everyone would call upon the name of the Lord. 

But along with truth, the Spirit needs to illuminate that truth to the eyes of our heart,  not only so that we understand the truth rightly,  but that we would see that truth as glorious,  so that we would no longer suppress the truth.

Thes blind men (who likely weren’t always blind. Verse 34, they recovered their sight.) Their idea of the Son of David wasn’t fashioned out of whole cloth; it didn’t come from nowhere. They knew the Scriptures, either from reading them before they lost their sight or from hearing them read in synagogue Sabbath by Sabbath.

They likely recalled passages, not only from 2 Samuel 7 (where we read of the Davidic Covenant) but also from the Psalms and the Prophets. 

Take Psalm 72, penned by King Solomon. While Solomon was a Son of David, this psalm anticipated a greater king and a surpassing reign—a King before whom all other kings would fall and all nations serve. This idea of the Son of David, the crowd rallied behind. 

But Psalm 72 continues. This King delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy. In other words, this King would be both powerful and compassionate.

And in Isaiah 11, they’d have heard of the shoot from the stump of Jessee. Now who is that if not the Son of David? This shoot would not judge by what he sees or hears but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. 

They anticipated a time of restoration when, in Isaiah 35, the eyes of the blind shall be opened, the ears of the deaf unstopped. Yet, never before had the blind been healed of their blindness. Yes, there was a time in the days of Elisha when the Lord struck the Syrians with blindness, Elisha led them to Samaria, and then the Lord opened their eyes (2 Kings 6). But no prophet, priest, or king had ever healed the blind. And yet, these blind men believed that Jesus could do what no man had ever don in the history of the world!

They saw! The blind men saw that there must be some connection between the promised Son of David and Isaiah’s Servant of the Lord—the Servant who would no break a bruised reed or quench a fainting wick.

Yesterday, as our power was out, and I was working at the kitchen table surrounded by the candles Jenny spread around the table, one of these candles, its wick was fainting. It kept flickering in and out, barely holding on, barely putting out any light. It appeared utterly useless, unable to serve the purpose I thought needed to serve. That’s how the crowd viewed these blind men. Our Lord Jesus looks at the fainting wick differently than we tend to. He doesn’t quench the light that’s waning. Instead, He gives it light.

This servant would be given as a covenant for the people, as a light for the nations, to open the eyes of the blind, and to bring out of prison those who sit in darkness. You realize that was these two men. Being blind, they weren’t able to enjoy the light that you and I so often take for granted. They sat on the roadside in darkness … but not for long. Why? Because the Son of David had come!

So, when the crowd rebukes them and tells them to be silent, of course they cry out all the more! Wouldn’t you?

You will seek me and find me … when? When you seek me with all your heart, not your eyes! No one needs 2020 vision to see Jesus clearly. If anything, our physical eyes can distract and distort. You don’t even need functioning eyeballs to see truth! What you need, what we need, is a faith that cries out desperately to Jesus, “Lord, have mercy on us!”

And what did they want to see? They wanted to see Jesus. Where do I get that? Well, let’s back up.

If you recall last week, we looked at a request from another pair of men. And here, Matthew is juxtaposing the two pairs. Rather than a request to sit on thrones like the two sons of Zebedee who wanted to sit at Jesus’ right and left, these two blind men are sitting by the roadside as beggars. Rather than some secret request for places of honor, these two blind men cry out publicly for mercy. And just as Jesus asked the two sons of Zebedee, “What do you want?” here, Jesus asks the blindmen the same thing. But rather than a request for glory like the sons of Zebedee, the blind men ask to see glory! “Lord, let our eyes be opened!”

Now, I understand there were likely many reasons they would want their vision restored. I mean, who wants to remain blind? But I’m convinced, given the faith they exhibited in who Jesus is, the reason they wanted their sight restored more than any other reason was to see Jesus. This is their Moses moment. “Lord, show me your glory!”

They recognized Jesus without needing to see his shekinah glory … but that didn’t mean they didn’t long to see it!

And in pity, Jesus touched their eyes and immediately they recovered their sight and followed him. That phrase, “recovered their sight” is the Greek word “to look up.” The first thing they did when their eyes were opened was to look up into the face of God! O what a sight those merciful eyes of Jesus must have been!

And they followed him! These blind men had known suffering for who knows how long. Now they could run off to a “good life,” a care-free life in comparison to what they had endured. No more begging. No more missing out on all the beautiful sights this world has to offer. They could go see the world in all its beauty! Bucket List!

But instead, they chose to follow Jesus on His road to glory … where, perhaps, they didn’t know yet, but where they would witness the most beautiful sight of all: the Son of God dripping with blood, nailed to a splintery beam of wood, paying for their sins. Loved ones, what sights can the world offer compared to that!

This Jesus, who gives his life as a ransom for the many, is not too busy to stop for the two, to show compassion to the two. Is every infirmity healed in this age? No. But the Light of the World’s restoring sight to these two blind men points to the restoration to come. 

Understand, it was the two blind men, and not the crowd, who glorified this Son of David … who magnified His name. The Light of the World was glorified in these two blind men in a way that He wasn’t by the rest of the crowd. So, whatever your present weakness, disability, infirmity is, the Lord has divinely allowed and appointed such so that you might glorify Him in it.

You see, it’s a beautiful thing that our Lord doesn’t rush — that He allows time for us to seek Him desperately. Our desperate pursuit of Jesus only serves to further glorify Him. Now, some don’t like this idea of desperately pursuing the Son of God. But we may want to ask why? 

Listen. These two blind men, shamed by the crowd, could have given up their plea; they could have stopped crying out. And why might they have been tempted to do so? Because of pride and nothing else. And that pride could have sabotaged their faith. And listen. They would not have been healed. 

Scripture doesn’t portray such desperation to suggest, “Well, yeah, but there’s no expectation for you and me to be this desperate.” Their faith triumphed over their pride. Their hope triumphed over their shame. Let us look weak and helpless before the watching world. Why? Because we are! Why put up a front and pretend otherwise. That’s whom the gospel is for!

Cry out and receive the mercy you so desperately need from the only One who can give it! And by doing so, you will glorify the Deliverer. That’s Psalm 50:15. Call on me in the day of trouble, says the Lord. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me!

Jesus’ mission — His main mission — is not at odds with our daily needs. In fact, Jesus’ mission, atoning for sin to restore us to God, in turn restores EVERYTHING else. 

Jesus came to touch what was unwell, to make it whole. And touching their eyes, they were immediately healed of their physical blindness. What surgery have you ever had that went so smooth?

In pity. The word is “σπλαγχνίζομαι.” It comes from the word many guts, or innards, or we sometimes say heart. Out of the overflow of His heart, Jesus was moved to touch. His heart preceded His hands. But it’s important to recognize that Jesus’ hands followed. He didn’t respond from afar, though He could have. He came near and touched them in their infirmity.

And just so you know, God’s hands moved with pity to respond to our desperate condition. God’s hands followed His heart. That’s why He stretched them out on the cross!

By stopping, Jesus was not sidetracked from His mission. He was fulfilling His mission. Application: Don’t think that mercy ministry isn’t a part of the church’s mission to make and be disciples. We are to stop and show compassion for our neighbors, the near ones of you, those by the roadside, as we follow Jesus to the cross.

What the blind men immediately saw upon Jesus opening their eyes, we also look forward to seeing. When their eyes were opened, everything was suddenly new and fresh. When we receive our new resurrected eyes, it shall be even more glorious than that! Where now, we see Jesus through the pages of His Word, through a glass darkly, soon, like those blind men, we’ll see Him face-to-face — but in the fullness of His glory, no longer veiled in the likeness of our fallen flesh.

And that’s just the physical. We’ll also see Him in the fullness of all His attributes, perfectly and rightly. And we’ll worship like never before. 

Are you looking forward to that day? I hope so. It’s coming. The fullness of the glory of salvation in coming. But such will only be enjoyed — not by those who followed the crowd — but by those who have had the eyes of their hearts opened to see glory … those who in seeing Jesus, follow Jesus on His road to glory, to the cross.

Is your faith in the Jesus these blind men saw? The Jesus of Scripture? Or like the crowd, is your faith in a partial Jesus, a distorted version of Jesus? 

Have your physical eyes betrayed you as you look on the delights and wares of this world … those things that the crowd esteems? Or have the eyes of your heart been opened to see the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ?

Is your faith a faith that acknowledges your desperate need for mercy?

What if the blind men didn’t cry out when Jesus passed by? What if the shame they received from the crowd silenced them? Jesus passed that way from Jericho to Jerusalem but once as recorded in Scripture.

In the reading of this Word, in the proclamation of the gospel, Jesus is passing by right now. There’s no guarantee that He’s going to again. If you haven’t cried out in mercy to the Lord of Glory, today is the day. 

But if you delay, if you are somehow ashamed of this gospel, ashamed of this Jesus, you may miss your chance to see His unveiled glory. 

Today is the day of salvation. May the Lord open blind eyes and grant fresh sight to the eyes of our hearts that we may gaze upon His glory. Amen.

https://youtu.be/kS84tIasyx4

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    Jeremiah 39:1-18 Surrendered to the King, part 3 – Recompense!

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. (Proverbs 29:1)

For most, God’s promises never seem attractive enough, and His warnings always too severe to take seriously.

Why? We cover it often, but we never escape the context of Genesis 1-3, and what transpired in the Garden. 

Dissatisfied with the terms God set for our enjoying the Garden Paradise He so graciously provided, we forfeited our stay in the Garden. And ever since, mankind has sought to establish his own little Gardens without God.

But what’s the problem? There’s no such thing. God is what made the Garden paradise. Without God, the Garden is no paradise at all.

Why do I bring up Genesis? Our first parents failed to take God’s warning seriously, and then it was too late. Paradise was lost.

But with the call of Abraham, down through the people of Israel, God’s plan of redemption prepared a new people to dwell with Him in a new Paradise, a land flowing with milk and honey. 

But like our first parents, Israel and Judah failed to take God’s warnings seriously and forfeited their stay in the land the Lord had given them.

Like our first parents, they thought they could have paradise without God. So they forsook the Lord their God and worshiped the gods of the nations. Dissatisfied with God’s promises and casual about God’s warnings led to one of Israel’s lowest moments in all of redemption history — the Fall of Jerusalem.

READ (Jeremiah 39:1-18)

How lonely sits the city that was full of people!
How like a widow has she become, she who was great among the nations!
She who was a princess among the provinces has become a slave. (Lam 1:1)

That is the first verse of Lamentations… the first of 154 verses of lament that Jeremiah will pen concerning the Fall of Jerusalem.

The Fall of Jerusalem is tragic event in redemptive history. Historians recount the reason for the Fall to be Zedekiah’s rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar. Scripture, however, had long warned and prophesied of a more fundamental reason — not rebellion against Nebuchadnezzar, but rebellion against God.

The Fall of Jerusalem serves as a historical reminder that all of God’s promises prove true — both his promises of welfare and His promises of judgment.

For 18 months, with a brief respite, the Babylonian army laid siege to Jerusalem. Notice the precise dating. Verse 1. In the ninth year of Zedekiah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it. And in the eleventh year, on the ninth day of the fourth month, a breach was made in the city. 

For nearly 40 years Jeremiah prophesied about this coming destruction. And every word proved true. Disaster would come from the North. An ancient, enduring nation from afar, whose language you do not know, nor can you understand, will come against you. This nation would pitch its tents around the city, besiege it, and devour it until the city would was laid waste and torn down. 

Jeremiah even prophesied that kings would come and set their thrones at the entrance of the city’s gates. Listen to this from chapter 1. Behold, I am calling all the tribes of the kingdoms of the north, declares the Lord, and they shall come, and every one shall set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem.

Now look at verse 3 of our text four decades later. Then all the officials of the king of Babylon came and sat in the middle gate. These officials came and set up their thrones (as it were), at the epicenter of the city’s economy, where leaders would publicly perform official business. 

Jeremiah even records the strange names of three of these officials as a reminder of the truthfulness of God’s Word.
Because this people refused to heed God’s clear instruction as found in His Word, He sent a people that spoke a language they couldn’t understand.

Israel was to be a light and a blessing to the nations, but Israel had become just like the nations. They were to reflect God’s image. Instead, they reflected the nations around them. God’s Garden, this paradise, this land of milk and honey, had become anything but. 

The city and house God had chosen for His name to dwell, rather than being a haven of righteousness, it had become a den of robbers, a hideout for criminals. 

God could not turn a blind eye to such evil. God promised justice.
Now justice had come.

Why does this matter? Because the Fall of Jerusalem is a picture, a shadow, of God’s promised final judgment.

We don’t like to talk about it. And I get it. I seriously doubt that Jeremiah liked talking about it. As mentioned last week, Jeremiah probably would have preferred being wrong and thought to be a false prophet than for judgment to have finally come.

We don’t talk about this because we somehow enjoy the idea of final judgment. We talk about these things because they are true … we talk about God’s judgment because God has cared enough to warn us that we might flee from the wrath to come. We talk about it because countless millions are in danger of perishing if they don’t repent. We talk about it because it’s the judgment we rightly deserve. 

And we talk about it because, as believers, it’s the horror our Lord Jesus has saved us from by paying the ultimate price of enduring this judgment we deserve in our place. Without knowing this, we can’t know Christ’s love.

UNAWARES

Yet, this very morning, most people in Lebanon TN didn’t crawl out of bed with plans to worship this God who has given them life. Most of them woke up with little to no desire concerning the things of God at all. Some rose early so they might enjoy a morning walk or a brisk jog, breathing in the fresh air that God provides, the beautiful landscape God sculpted, listening to the melody of birds chirping, leaves rattling, all the sounds that God orchestrates. 

Some sat down to tasty breakfasts that grew from God’s gracious provision for our sustenance — and He even makes it flavorful. Some slept in, never acknowledging that rest is God’s design. O how kind and gracious He is … yet so seldom acknowledged. They just move about with their own plans and agendas. 

And most didn’t once consider the imminence of Jesus’ return, that the day is fast approaching when He comes to judge the world in righteousness. 

What does that day look like? Jesus refers to this day of judgment in many ways. In one place, Matthew 25, he compares it as a shepherd separating sheep from goats. The sheep, that is the righteous, will enter into eternal life. But the goats, the wicked, will enter everlasting punishment.

Regardless of where you stand on the timing of these events, we can all agree that the Bible expressly states that the Day is coming. Likewise, the Bible plainly answers the question of what will happen on that day. 

WHICH GROUP?

But there’s an equally important question that we each need to answer in addition to what will happen on that day.
And that is, “What will happen to me on that Day?” 

That question matters every bit as much. Why? Because not everyone will meet the same end. There are two very different destinies held out. There are sheep who hear Jesus’ voice and surrender to Him and His will. And there are goats. And just so you know, the goats in Jesus’ parable didn’t see any issue with their way of life. They failed to recognize any neglect on their part. They went about life thinking they were perfectly safe from judgment. 

Which group will you be in? What group will your loved ones, your neighbors, your co-workers be in? Have you warned them?

Are you among the group awaiting this Day that is fast approaching? having believed God’s Word heeded His voice, have sought mercy and refuge in the Lord Jesus Christ? 

Or are will you find yourself in the group that sought to downplay this judgment … if there even is one … believing such a day will never come. And if by chance it should come, you expect to somehow escape it. 

Let me ask. What are you basing that on? 

Zedekiah thought that he might escape judgment.

Verse 4. When Zedekiah and the soldiers saw them, they fled, going out of the city at night by way of the king’s garden, through the gate between the two walls; and they went toward the Arabah.

ESCAPE ROOM

How many of you have done one of those Escape Rooms? You know, the game where you gather with a group, and you go in your little room, and they give you a 60-minutes to solve the clues before the clock runs out. You succeed, you escape. You don’t succeed, I’m not too sure.

How many of you go in with the expectation you’re going to solve it? How many go in with the expectation that even if you don’t solve it, the game master isn’t going to keep you locked in there forever? I mean, whether you win or lose, you plan on escaping, the escape room.

Win or lose, Zedekiah was determined to escape.

Zedekiah was forced to flee his own little garden under cover of night. From Garden paradise to the Arabah, or desert.  It’s a sad reminder that whatever Eden we try to establish for ourselves will not only fail to provide the happiness we’re looking for apart from God, but it will fail to provide any security either. What good is a paradise that you have to flee from. And that… to a desert. 

And notice that the king fled with soldiers, not his family, not the people destined to perish. And why were they destined to perish? If you recall, from last week, Zedekiah’s surrender would have spared the entire city … including his own family. Instead, Zedekiah abandons even his own family. 

When it came down to it, Zedekiah followed the world’s number one rule: look out for number one. Forget that whole love your neighbor as yourself … self is what ultimately matters. Self-care has even become a big deal in the church. But here’s the thing. We have no problem loving ourselves. People might fail to love themselves well by not seeking their greatest good by surrendering to the King. But no one fails to love themselves. 

The issue is that we tend to love ourselves at the expense of others. That’s Zedekiah, and if we’re honest, that’s sometimes us.

Zedekiah refused to surrender, thinking that if judgment eve did come, he’d just escape through the Garden gate. But there’s only one gate of escape … one door … Jesus is the gate of the sheep; He is the gate of escape. If you want to escape judgment, you’ll do so through the walls of His ripped flesh.

You may seek to flee one Garden for another, but you can’t outrun God’s judgment. The only safe place from God’s judgment is not running from God but running to God. Flee to God Himself and find just how great His mercy is.

Verse 5. But the Chaldeans pursued and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And they brought him to Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah. And there, Nebuchadnezzar passed sentence on him, slaughtering the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, along with all the nobles of Judah. And then Nebuchadnezzar put out the eyes of Zedekiah and bound him in chains to take him to Babylon.

The Chaldeans burned the king’s house and the houses of the people, and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, carried into exile to Babylon the rest of the people who were left in the city, those who had deserted to him, and the people who remained.

For Zedekiah, the Day of Judgment was far worse than he could have imagined. The last thing he ever saw was the slaughtering of his sons, as well as all the nobles, some of his trusted advisors, likely many friends. Then his eyes were gouged out.

But Zedekiah wasn’t put to death. No. He was left to a living death, a nightmare, a perpetual hell of vivid horrific scenes to torment him day and night. He would never look on anything lovely or good or hopeful ever again. His life was sustained in endless suffering and grief.

AS A GAME

O how many tend to think that hell is at most an exaggeration … if there even is such a thing. 

The world treats life like a game – like an escape room game, with the hope of escape just before the clock runs out. But they will fail to escape, not because the clues aren’t sufficient enough, not because they don’t know the right answer in order win the victory, but because they don’t like the answer … because it’s an answer that rather than giving them the glory for figuring it out and conquering on their own, another gets the glory. 

So, in their pride, they’ll refuse to acknowledge the answer. They’d rather lose! O but it will come at such a horrifying price … a price they think they’re willing to pay. 

But the same people who refuse to give God the glory are the same people who presume on the riches of God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead them to repentance.

TRAGIC

You know what’s most tragic about this picture of Zedekiah? Judgment didn’t have to be the final word. O how many times did Jeremiah plead with Zedekiah to surrender and it would be well with him and his family and the city. God held out His mercy until that final hour. And even then, Zedekiah rejected it. He refused to surrender all the way up to the moment he was taken.

The most tragic thing about hell is that nobody need go there. I understand that for our gospel tenets Sherif read regarding the doctrine of election. And while we both wholeheartedly agree with the Canons of Dort on this matter, we also both firmly believe John 3:16. Whosoever believes in Him shall not perish! There is no contradiction! 

GOSPEL PROCLAMATION

And yet many will hear this message or a message like this preached around the globe this very morning and close their ears to the plea to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. 

Through the proclamation of the gospel, God gives everyone the same opportunity as Zedekiah. But how many will refuse to take it because they seek to hold on to their life’s as they know them rather than surrendering to the King.

And get this. In many cultures, surrendering to the King can cost you your life, your livelihood … the costs can be quite high. But Zedekiah is the perfect illustration that worldly security and physical safety are futile goals to live for. For Zedekiah it was fatal. He sought to retain his life and lost everything. But we’re not yet done with our chapter. There were those who surrendered their lives in this age to gain everything in the age to come. Not all was lost.

While Zedekiah and countless others didn’t escape the Judgment of this day, God’s mercy in saving a remnant is a beautiful reminder amid a horrific backdrop that God not only keeps His promises of judgment, He also keeps his promises of mercy. Throughout redemption history, God has promised to spare a remnant. And He does.

Verse 10. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah some of the poor who owned nothing and gave them vineyards and fields. 

Even when destruction came, and all seemed lost, God continued to spare a remnant. This is meant to be a picture of a new planting of the Lord’s people … a portrait of salvation … another chance to establish Eden. The poor were made rich. Those with nothing in this age were given fields and vineyards to tend to. 

God never forgets His promises. 

Which takes us to Jeremiah, who had been left in prison. God promised Jeremaih at his call to ministry that this people will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. Why? Because I am with you, declares the Lord, to deliver you.

Verse 11. Nebuchadnezzar gave command concerning Jeremiah through Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, saying, “Take Jeremaih and look after him well. Do him no harm but deal with him as he tells you.” So Nebuzaradan, Nebushazban, and Nergal-sar-ezer, and all the chief officers of Babylon sent and took Jeremiah from the court of the guard and entrusted him to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, to take him home. So, Jeremiah lived among the people.

The Lord hadn’t forgotten His word to Jeremiah. Jeremiah even received a royal escort from the Babylonian officials. What’s more, Jeremiah was entrusted into the care of a righteous ruler, Gedaliah. 

LEFT IN PRISON

You recall the story of Joseph. He was in prison for crimes he didn’t commit. After more than 2 years, it seemed as if God had forgotten him. But instead, God was sustaining him in prison because his work wasn’t finished. He had another assignment God was preparing for him. Save his family and the world from seven years of harsh famine.

It’s difficult to be certain how long Jeremiah spent in prison. With all the chaos, the fighting, tearing down the walls, burning houses, carting people off into exile, it’s easy to see how Jeremiah could have been forgotten or lost in the shuffle. Sorry Jeremiah. This kind of thing just happens! 

Well, from a human perspective it might seem that way at times.

OVERLOOKED

Think of how many people are overlooked every day. So and so was acknowledged but I wasn’t. Birthdays are forgotten, commitments aren’t kept, calls and messages aren’t returned or responded to. 

I know people have forgotten you. I know that so much of what you do will never be recognized or acknowledged by anyone. I know there are times you have felt forsaken. But in Christ, you are not forgotten! No one, not a single person who has surrendered to the king, will be misplaced, or unaccounted for, or left behind on the Day of Judgment. 

God did not forget Jeremiah on the Day of Judgment. Zedekiah sought to save his life, and he wound up losing everything on the Day of Judgment. Jeremiah let go of all he had, surrendered his life to the Lord, and when the Day of Judgment came, he was saved.

There is nothing you can give up to serve the Lord that will ever not be worth it. Sadly, most will cling to this life … cling to their own little paradise here, and when the Day comes, they will lose it all. Don’t let that be you. Surrender to Christ. Open your metaphorical hands and let it all go and give yourself to Him.

In fact, I’ll challenge you to go so far as to become a slave like Ebed-melech, a Servant of the King, a slave of Christ Jesus.… (Paul’s self-designation).

Final verses. Verse 15. The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was still shut up in the court of the guard. “Go, and say to Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will fulfill my words against this city for harm and not for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on that day. BUT! I will deliver you on that day, declares the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely save you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but you shall have your life as plunder because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.’”

Our friend, Ebed-melech, who rescued Jeremiah from the cistern receives the same glorious promise God’s prophet received. Ebed-melech … a foreigner … an outsider … a slave … one cut off from the covenant promises of God, or so, many seemed to think.

NOT ULTIMATE

But Ebed-melech’s status wasn’t ultimate … his skin color, his ancestry, his nationality wasn’t ultimate … his fear of those who would harm him, likely the men who threw Jeremiah into the cistern to die, before this foreigner rescued him … his fear wasn’t ultimate. Not even his works, his courage in rescuing Jeremiah, showing compassion and tenderness in how he handled the rescue operation … none of these things ultimately defined Ebed-melech. None of these things earned him favor before God on the Day of Judgment. 

The text makes explicit that there is one thing that ultimately defines Ebed-melech … there is ultimately one reason why Ebed-melech would be saved on the Day of Judgment. Do you see it? (It’s at the very end of verse 18.)
Because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.

Ebed-melech is saved by God’s grace through FAITH alone.
Not because he rescued Jeremiah.
Not because he interceded on Jeremiah’s behalf.
Not on account of his courage.
He was not saved due to a single good work … or even all of his good works.
All of these things are an overflow of something far more fundamental: FAITH. 

Faith is trusting in the Lord. That means believing who He is and believing His Word, which includes His severe promises of judgment and His precious promises of salvation.

Jeremiah 39 stands as a severe warning against every false hope.
But it also stands as an assurance of the sure hope of FAITH we have in the Lord — a faith that surrenders to the King.

WHERE THE BATTLE LIES

Ebed-melech received his life as plunder — a prize of war. That was the reward for his faith. This is a helpful reminder to us all as to where the battle ultimately lies. 

The battle isn’t in trying to gain or maintain or sustain your Garden here. Although that’s what most of the world fights for. That’s where the world pursues the battle. For them the battle is financial, physical, medical, relational, political.

Whatever financial struggle you may be experiencing, the battle isn’t financial.
Whatever health issue, the battle isn’t medical.
Are you struggling in a relationship? The battle isn’t relational.
Do you struggle with the political turmoil? The battle isn’t political.
Whatever physical struggle you may find yourself in, the battle isn’t physical.
Do you struggle with a lack of freedom? Remember, Ebed-melech was a slave! Listen. The battle isn’t primarily a battle for freedom.
The battlefield is spiritual, and the battle is the battle for faith — a battle to trust God and not allow the deceptive forces of the enemy, the world, and your own flesh trip you up.

Relentless marches the Day of Judgment. The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise. He’s patient, not willing that any should perish but that all should reach repentance. 

Jesus marched relentlessly to the cross to secure salvation for His people.

How do we escape from this coming Judgment? Well, in our tenets, Sherif read how the Sovereign Lord calls and draws people effectively into Christ’s fellowship through His Word — which is being proclaimed to you this morning — and through His Spirit who applies this Word to your heart — so that you heed His voice, trusting Him with a true faith.

All those who respond with a true faith will be justified, sanctified, and finally glorified on the Day of Christ. Is this you? Have you responded in faith?

You know, it’s not accidental that it was in a Garden where Jesus exuded the greatest example of faith, surrendering his will for the Father’s will.

Where there was a failure of faith in the Garden, a failure of faith that led to the Fall of Jerusalem, Jesus came as the true and better Adam, as the true Israel in perfect faith surrendering to His Father’s perfect will.

Where one king — Zedekiah — sought to escape through the Garden gate, another King — Jesus — laid down His life in surrender so that He might save His people … spare a city … He surrendered that He might save even you.

It’s not accidental that Jesus’ dead body was laid in a garden tomb … a tomb that wasn’t His but belonged to another.

It was in the Garden where we first died. That was our garden tomb. And every garden sanctuary we seek to establish for ourselves in this age is nothing more than a grave. 

It’s not accidental that the risen Jesus was first encountered in a Garden and mistaken for the Gardener. 

On the cross, it seemed as if the Son of God was forgotten. Buried in the garden tomb, it seemed the Son of God was forgotten. The entire Sabbath it seemed the Son of God was forgotten. But Sunday came! And the ground shook. And the stone rolled away from that Garden tomb. And Jesus rose.

He didn’t seek to save His life from death. He surrendered it and defeated death.

Seek to preserve your lives here … preserve your own personal gardens here … you will eventually perish.

But lose your life in this age, and you will gain life. 

Like Jesus you will be raised. You will not be forgotten. You will soon be ushered into the Garden City — the New Jerusalem — the place Jesus has gone to prepare for those who are His — those surrendered to Him.

https://youtu.be/XESsB70rPlY

   Jeremiah 38:14-28 Surrendered to the King, part 2, The Fear of Man

INTRODUCTION:

Last week we looked at the courageous example of Ebed-melech in confronting the king and rescuing Jeremiah from the cistern. This week, we’ll be looking closer at the cowardly example of King Zedekiah — and the fear of man that keeps us from surrendering to the Lord.

READ: Jeremiah 38:14-17

SECRET AUDIENCE: (v.14)

Not sure if you’ve ever been in a position where the job wasn’t going so well. So, you kind of want to test the water to see what’s up, without raising any unnecessary attention. So, maybe you go to that guy who has the bosses ear … privately… of course, and try to get him to disclose what he knows.
Tell me, just how bad is it? 

Now, you do it privately, of course, because, well, we don’t want others to hear. We want to try and save as much face as possible. Why? Because saving face is what’s important. If I’m getting fired, I want to at least preserve a little dignity while I’m still on the job… while I still need to look these people in the eye.

That’s where are text picks up. Zedekiah recognizes his position … his job performance hasn’t gone all that well. So, he seeks a private audience with Jeremaih. Look at verse 14.

Notice, when Zedekiah sends for Jeremiah, he receives him at the third entrance to the temple of the LORD. Not the main entrance… not even the second entrance. This third entrance reveals the secrecy behind the meeting.

Why another meeting with Jeremiah? Well, Jeremiah was just rescued. And the king did, even if somewhat forced to, have a hand in this rescue operation. I mean, look Jeremiah, I was the one who commanded Ebed-melech to take 30 men and lift you out of the muddy cistern. So, just maybe, the Lord will look on this good deed of mine and respond a bit more favorably than previously.
But what Zedekiah fails to grasp, and sometimes us too, is that Grace isn’t earned… ever!

In fact, secrecy of this meeting recalls the same cowardice that led to Jeremiah being cast in the cistern to begin with. Zedekiah was afraid to stand up for justice. So, he gave Jeremiah into the hands of those who sought his life.

Now that Jeremiah’s cleaned up and dry, perhaps even enjoyed a better night’s sleep than the night before, the king says to Jeremiah, “I will ask you a question; hide nothing from me.”

EXPOSING A KING’S HEART: (v. 15)

We’re never actually given the question. But Jeremiah clearly knew what the king was asking. Verse 15. Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, “If I tell you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me.”

Many suggest that after his stint in the cistern, Jeremiah is a little more fearful than previously. So, he’s holding out for some assurances before giving the king the LORD’s word on the matter.

That’s possible. But the same God who had just delivered Jeremiah from the miry bog can surely deliver him from whatever the king might threaten. 

What’s likely going on, and hopefully, you’ll be able to see it in light of the whole of our text, is that Jeremiah is exposing the king’s heart.

Jeremiah preps Zedekiah for what will no doubt be an unfavorable message in the king’s eyes, drawing attention to his heart issue. Listen, Zed, you won’t listen to me if I tell you. So, why do you want to hear it?

Jeremiah is also setting up Zedekiah to offer some assurances. But these assurances aren’t so much for Jeremiah’s sake. They are to expose Zedekiah’s irrational refusal to heed God’s word. 

How? Because Zedekiah is about to offer Jeremiah the same assurances that the LORD will give Zedekiah in verse 20. You will not be handed over to those who seek your life. Your life shall be spared!
If Zedekiah expects Jeremiah to trust this compromising king’s word, how much more should the king trust the Divine Word?

IRONIC ASSURANCE: (v. 16)

Verse 16. Then King Zedekiah swore secretly — notice the secrecy — “As the LORD lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.”

Zedekiah invokes the LORD’s name. He even acknowledges the LORD as Creator. But knowledge about God and some degree of belief in who He is, is not the same as trusting God and obeying Him. Invoking the LORD’s covenant name is not the same as submitting to the LORD of the covenant. Recognizing the Giver of life is not the same as entrusting oneself to the Sustainer of life.

TERMS OF SALVATION: (v.17)

Zedekiah has revealed — like the rest of us — that he is without excuse. As such, the terms of salvation don’t change. In fact, the king receives the same conditions of salvation that was offered to the people back in verse 2. Surrender and live. Resist and perish.

Verse 17. Thus says the LORD, the God of hosts, the God of Israel: If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared, and this city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand.

Even in this late hour … the city on the brink of destruction … Zedekiah’s fate seems all but sealed … mercy is still held out. Sadly, rather than being amazed at the mercy of God to even offer us salvation, we tend to find fault that the Almighty would demand the terms … that He would demand our surrender or submission to another.

SURRENDER AS SUBMISSION TO THE LORD

The thing is, and we need to grasp this, surrendering to the king of Babylon is not so much a surrender to Babylon as it is to the LORD. Submission to God’s chosen officials is submission to Him.

This does not mean that those who surrendered to Babylon are to heed the king of Babylon without question. All we need is to look at the examples of Daniel and his three friends: (What were their names?) Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego.

Heeding the voice of the LORD by surrendering to the Chaldeans would be to entrust oneself to the LORD’s sovereign care. This isn’t just an Old Testament idea. We see the same in New Testament texts like Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2. 

CONSEQUENCES FOR RESISTANCE: (v.18)

While the terms of salvation are the same for Zedekiah as they were for the people, the stakes, however, are somewhat higher being that Zedekiah was the head of the people. Not only would Zedekiah’s surrender spare his own life, but the city would also be spared. 

The reverse is also true. Zedekiah’s refusal to surrender would spell unnecessary doom for the city.

The reason for this is that the king is a type of federal head. Like Adam was the representative for the entire human race in the Garden, kings are the representative of the people. When kings go astray, often the nation follows suit.

Loved ones, regardless of your sphere of influence, though most of us are not kings over nations, our surrender, as well as our refusal to surrender bears consequences for others. Our surrender might not spare an entire city. But it just might spare an entire household. How often do we read in Acts, “you and your household.” 

READY TO LISTEN OR READY TO NEGOTIATE?

Just as we tend to find fault with God’s terms of salvation, our flesh tends to find His consequences too severe. I mean, instead of surrendering, can’t I just stay in the city and tidy up my behavior here? I’m ready to listen here!

Here’s the problem with that. If you’re truly ready to listen, if you’re truly ready to heed God’s word, then do so. Surrender to the king as you have been instructed.

We might think of conversations we sometimes have with our kids after they lose a special privilege. Suddenly, they’re ready to listen. I’ll listen, just let me… The problem is they aren’t ready to listen; they’re ready to negotiate.  And before we give the kids a hard time… that’s us! 

We think we can negotiate with God. But get this. God doesn’t negotiate. He’s the all-wise all-knowing One. He doesn’t need our input. His terms are always the best. Why? Because He’s merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. 

But for those who refuse His terms, He will not let the guilty go unpunished.

FEAR OF MAN:  (v.19)

Verse 19. Even with these elevated stakes, even with the additional extension of mercy, the fear of man wins out in Zedekiah’s life. I’m afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me.

Zedekiah is more anxious over the severity of those who had deserted to the Chaldeans — those who actually heeded Jeremiah’s word and surrendered — than he is the severity of God’s judgment.

How many will choose the severity of divine wrath because of the fear of man who can at most kill the body? As Samuel read for us, the fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. 

What lies at the heart of the fear of man? They might take something from me … something I love, something I value, something I enjoy … those things that we esteem most in life. 

We fear man because we fear the physical harm they might inflict on us. We fear man because we fear the financial harm they might cause. We fear man because of the relational harm and the reputational harm that could ensue.  

Listen loved ones. The fear of man is an awful burden to bear… a burden that you and I were never intended to carry.

There’s only one remedy for this fear of man and that’s the fear of the Lord.  Zedekiah lacked the fear of the LORD, which is simply another way of saying he lacked biblical faith. How? Well, the fear of the Lord is believing who God is — believing God as He has disclosed Himself — and believing what He has said.

A FINAL PLEA – TRUE ASSURANCE: (v.20)

But Jeremiah makes one final plea to this king. Verse 20. King Zedekiah, you shall not be given into their hands. Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.

That’s the plea of every faithful proclaimer of God’s Word. That’s the plea of biblical preaching. Obey NOW the voice of the Lord! As the text is exposited, as God’s Word is proclaimed, we appeal to every hearer, “Heed God’s voice, and it shall be well with you, and your life shall be spared.” Are you currently following the Lord? The proclamation for you is to do so more and more, and it shall be well with you. Are you caught up in some sinful pattern? The call for you is to surrender … repent … and it shall be well with you.

The proclamation of every message is a call for obedience to God’s voice, proclaimed through the lips of mere men, as they faithfully expound God’s Word. And for those who obey His voice, you have nothing at all to fear. No enemy’s threat need concern you. Though Satan should buffet, those trials may come, it shall be well with your soul. 

PLEADING WITH OUR ENEMIES

It shouldn’t be overlooked that Jeremiah here is pleading with one who initially gave him over to those who sought to kill him. Jeremiah is seeking the salvation of one who has proven his enemy.

Yet Jeremiah recognizes the good that will come from the king’s surrender… that the king’s salvation will lead to the salvation and good of others. Conversely, the king’s resistance will lead to great harm for not just him but for others also.

A VISION TO DREAD: (v.21)

But if you refuse… verse 21. This is the vision the Lord has shown me. Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon saying, ”Your trusted friends have deceived you and prevailed against you. Now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they turn away from you.” All your wives, Zedekiah, and all your sons shall be led out to the Chaldeans, and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon. And this city shall be burned with fire.

SUNK IN THE MUD AND DESERTED: (v. 22)

Where you, o king, had no problem allowing me to be cast into the cistern to sink in the mud, my God rescued me. But should you refuse this door of salvation that is currently open to you, you shall find yourself sunk in the mud. But there’ll be no Ebed-melech — no servant of the King — to rescue you.

Listen Zedekiah… listen, you who are given over to the fear of man (of which none of us are immune). Those people you’re seeking so desperately to gain and maintain the favor of — those who flatter you with their affirmations and agreeable counsel now — once your feet are sunk in the mud, and you have nothing to offer them, they will desert you. You won’t be able to find them.
So why fear them now?!

SACRIFICING OF OTHERS: (v.23)

What’s more… your refusal to surrender due to your fear of man, will not only bring harm to you. It will bear devastating consequences for countless others, including your own family. 

At the beginning, Jeremiah was accused of not seeking the welfare of his own people. Let me ask. Who do you think is seeking the greater welfare of the people? The one who calls for his people to surrender and live? Or those who keep sacrificing brothers, and fathers, and sons, and friends, and neighbors to the front line? 

Zedekiah sought to retain his crown as long as he could. He refused to relinquish his crown, even though it would cost the lives of his wives and children. But, if we’re honest, we do the same things. No, we might not be kings and queens of nations. But how often do we seek to retain the crown of our own puny kingdoms … our own tiny towers with their tops in the heavens. And that at the expense and sacrifice of others.

If you recall the words of Jesus, that Josiah read from Matthew 16. Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it. But whoever loses his life for my sake, Jesus says, will find it. If we seek to hold on to our lives in this age, seeking to retain our crowns here, we will ultimately lose them. Surrender, however, and you’ll receive your life as a prize of war.  And that prize is more glorious than any of us can begin to imagine.

DON’T TELL ON ME: (v. 24)

Sadly, even after this final plea, what Zedekiah cares about most at the moment is others finding out about their little conversation. Verse 24. Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, “Let no one know of these words, and you shall not die.”

The king pretty much says, “Don’t tell on me.” Zedekiah is still more concerned regarding his political standing … his reputation … than for the lives of his family, than for the welfare of the people, and more importantly than for obedience to God. He might as well be saying, I’ll concern myself with my spiritual condition sometime later. Right now, I have a reputation to maintain. 

Listen loved ones. The fear of man will only lead to an increase of sin and destruction that need not ever take place. How many will continue to allow their current trajectory of sin to play out because we fear others finding out.

HIDING SIN

I’m reminded of a fairly prominent pastor who was caught up in a grievous sin involving a woman who was not his wife. I wonder how that sin must have ate at him. But the fear of man, the fear of the immediate consequences that he’d have to face in confessing his sin, kept him from getting immediate help, and allowed the hurt and suffering to unnecessarily increase. 

Pain and heartache could have been minimized if only he had the courage to confess immediately and surrender himself to the King’s officials (as it were), the elders of the church, as a way of surrendering himself to the merciful judgment of Christ. Instead, there’s a wake of destruction that can’t be undone.

O but even in this hour, the gospel of grace calls! For while the gospel doesn’t undo the destruction, it does bring about restoration. This pastor recently publicly confessed his sin and grieved over the hurt it has caused. It’s a reminder, that though we are weak, though we fall short, God’s mercy is so much greater than our sins.

Loved ones — it’s better, eternally better that your sins are exposed now — one this side of judgment — that you might repent. And the sooner the better, so that the damage might be lessened and the bleeding stopped.

A CLEVER SCHEME: (v. 25-26)

Last few verses. Zedekiah concocts a clever scheme. Verse 25. If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say, “Tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you; hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death,” then you shall say to them, “I made a humble plea to the king not to send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.”

Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him, and he answered them as the king had instructed him. So, they stopped speaking with him, for the conversation had not been overheard. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

LITTLE WHITE LIE or DON’T GIVE TO DOGS? (v. 27)

Commentaries are divided on Jeremiah’s faithfulness at this point. Respectable theologians whom I often agree with will say, “There’s no way getting around the fact that Jeremiah lied. He had one more opportunity to share the gospel, and he blew it. Perhaps Zedekiah wasn’t the only one in this scene who caved to the fear of man.” But is that what’s going on here?

First, Jeremiah has no additional news he’s obligated to tell these officials that he hasn’t already told them. Surrender and live. Resist and perish. And they cast him into the cistern because of his message. 

Second, he’s not under any obligation to disclose the full account of his conversation with the king. Rules of warfare are not the same as rules of court.

While it doesn’t excuse us from sharing the gospel and our obligation as watchmen to warn others to flee the coming wrath, Scripture does free us from certain obligation to what it refers to as scoffers. Proverbs 9:8 – Do not reprove a scoffer, or he will hate you. Proverbs 23:9 - Do not speak to a fool, for he will despise the wisdom of your words. Or consider Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Do not give dogs what is holy; do not throw your pearls before swine. If you do, they may trample them under their feet and then turn and tear you to pieces. 

KEPT IN PRISON UNTIL THE CITY IS TAKEN (v. 28)

Jeremiah had already said what needed to be said. The overwhelming majority refused to heed his words. His ministry isn’t over, but for now, he has nothing more to say until after the city is taken. What’s more, the biblical narrative gives no hint of Jeremiah acting unfaithfully in this situation. If nothing else, the opposite is the case, as we’ll see in the next chapter.

Finally, the fact that the city was taken confirms Jeremiah’s words and his faithful proclamation. But it needs to be said that there is no joy in Jeremiah being right. Jeremiah himself will lament this fact. Sometimes it must have felt like it would be preferrable to be found a false prophet and to see the city spared. Proclaiming God’s full counsel is hard, it weighs on the heart, especially when we consider all those who refuse to surrender, knowing the judgment that awaits them. But… there are those who hear the voice of the Lord and heed His Word. And that helps strengthen us to press on.

CONCLUSION –

Where the fear of man is a snare, the fear of the Lord releases us from that snare. But you have to surrender to the King to know this freedom. 

I mentioned scoffers. Let me tell you, there’s hope for scoffers. I don’t have time to share my testimony, but less than 14 years ago, I was one who scoffed at the terms of God’s salvation. Trust the Son and you’ll be saved; otherwise perish. 

Well, in case there’s someone here, who like me questioned God’s terms of salvation, let me point you to the high-cost God Himself paid to even offer you these terms.

CHRIST –

You see, God doesn’t call us to anything He wasn’t willing to subject Himself to. I mentioned Romans 13 earlier. Let every person be subject — or we might say, surrender himself — to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.

Jesus surrendered himself to the governing authorities of his day. And he did so, even knowing they would take his life… knowing they would crucify him… knowing they would put him to open shame… beaten and stripped naked before the watching world… before those who would mock him and spit on him.

The governing authorities, however, weren’t able to arrest Jesus without Jesus giving himself over to them. When the soldiers came to arrest him, they drew back and fell to the ground before him. 

Now listen. In surrendering himself to the authorities, the Son of God knew he was entrusting himself to His Father’s loving care. When we surrender to the authorities, we are entrusting ourselves to our heavenly Father’s loving care.

Whereas Zedekiah failed to capitalize on the opportunity to save others by surrendering himself … Jesus actually did. We are saved only because Jesus surrendered his life rather than seeking to preserve it.
Does that not move you to surrender to this King.

APPLICATION / HOPE – 

Last point. Do you recall how Jesus ends the Sermon on the Mount? Everyone who hears my words and does them will be like the wise man who built his house on the rock. Those who don’t will be like the fool who built his house on the sand.

Many will suggest Jesus’ sermon was a call to a higher morality. While there’s some truth to that, Jesus is actually calling us to something infinitely more important than “do better.” He’s calling us to trust Him.

Every heart will be exposed by God’s soul piercing Word. Every king’s heart, who has set him or herself upon thrones of their own making. 

You see, we have all built castles for ourselves. Everyone of us, at some point in our lives, and some of us even now, continue to erect or maintain or salvage our own puny kingdoms. But the footing of these castles is on sand. 

The difference between castles that fall and houses that stand is whom our faith is in. Outside of Christ, your little castle in the sand will eventually fall. But in Christ, you are brought in as a fellow laborer to build upon the Rock. And upon this Rock, this one foundation, Jesus’ house, the church is built. And in this house, there is rest … rest for your souls… and rest from the fear of man. 

And the great church victorious shall be the church at rest. 

Surrender to the King and know this rest.

https://youtu.be/H5DAJDNMHig

   Jeremiah 38:1-13 Surrendered to the King, part 1

INTRODUCTION:

Resurrection Story – type, shadow? Parallels many.

READ: Jeremiah 38:1-13

     THE MESSAGE: SURRENDER TO THE KING

The Message: Surrender to the King The message doesn’t really change.

I attended a conference a handful of years back with some pastor friends of mine. John Piper was the keynote. On the drive back from Memphis they were discussing the different speakers, and when they got to Piper, one of the guys made the comment: “He only has one message.” Now, the comment wasn’t meant as a compliment, but I assure you, Piper would receive it as one. And I’ve heard enough Piper messages to know what this pastor meant. I’ve never heard a message from Piper where the focus wasn’t the glory of God. So, in that sense, he does have only one message. But that’s because the Bible only has one message. O it’s expressed in many ways, but the message of the Bible is one. One message from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Revelation.

And I do believe that Piper, along with countless other faithful theologians is right in recognizing the God’s glory is the central theme of this unifying message.
We might express the message of the Bible like this:
God’s glory publicly revealed in Creation; challenged in the Fall; defended in Redemption; and enjoyed in New Creation, with the climax of this glory displayed in the person and work of Jesus Christ.

The preacher of God’s Word will no doubt have many sermons, exhorting God’s people through the various implications of the texts, but ultimately he better have one message,  and that message is the glory of God in Jesus Christ. (Road to Emmaus.)

It's not that Jeremiah never offers variety in its expression. It’s not that history and circumstances don’t change, hence the particular implications and applications will necessarily change. But for those in rebellion against the Lord, the proclamation is a constant call to surrender (repentance) or face judgment… because God is a just God.

So, verse 2. He who stays in this city shall die by the sword, famine, and plague, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war (literally: plunder) and shall live. For this city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Surrender to God’s chosen king and you will live. Seek to retain your current way of life,—your own puny kingdom—perish.

Right now, for a time, God’s chosen king is the ruthless Nebuchadnezzar. Why? Because the people refused to submit to the Lord as their King. “Give us a king,” they demanded.
Well, after years of rebellion, God has appointed a ruthless king. Why? So that they’d know the difference between serving the Lord and serving the kingdoms of the nations. (See 2 Chronicles 12:8.)

No surprise… some of those who heard Jeremiah’s words, were not to pleased. Now, Jeremiah was already under guard, in the court of the guard. They could throw Jeremiah in prison and lock him up, But what they couldn’t do was shut him up.

The world may seek to silence you, but my prayer is that so long as the Lord puts breath in your lungs, you would continue proclaiming God’s Word regardless of your circumstances.

     FAITHLESS INSIDERS

So, the 4 officials in verse 1, Shephatiah, Gedaliah, Jucal, and Pashur, who heard Jeremiah’s message, which was going out to all the people, were going to see if they could silence him for good. So they take their concern to the king.

Verse 4.

Then the officials said to the king, (King Zedekiah), “Let this man be put to death, for he is weakening the hands of all the people, by speaking such words to them.
For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm.”

Now, it’s true that Jeremiah’s message — not encouraging —  but encouraging is not what’s needed. News of judgment – not good news! But what matters is not if the news is good or bad but true. If the news is God’s news it needs to be heard.

It’s not good news that a lion would be happy to eat you for dinner if he gets the chance, but it’s good that you know he’d be happy to do so. Bill, you’re a beekeeper. It’s not good news that bees sting! But I’m sure you’d agree that it’s good to know that they do. Why? So that you can approach the situation accordingly.  It’s not good news to be facing God’s judgment! BUT! It is good that you know! Why? So that you can respond accordingly. And the only correct response is, “Surrender and live.”

But to say Jeremiah only preached bad news / judgment dishonest Jeremiah was also proclaiming – way of salvation. SURRENDER!!!

SEEKING WELFARE

The accusation of these 4 officials was that Jeremiah not seeking welfare of this people. But that’s utterly false. He was the one actually doing so.

These officials weren’t seeking the welfare. They seemed content to deny reality and simply watch the last of the people perish rather than warning them that they could find life outside this city devoted to destruction.

Did they truly believe starvation, pestilence, and sword more acceptable than surrender? Problem not Babylonians God Himself fighting against!

Jeremiah’s words were discouraging! They did weaken hands! They were meant to! They were meant to discourage rebellion and sin. Meant to promote surrender. That’s what the gospel message is designed to do. Transfer one’s allegiance from the kingdom of destruction to the kingdom of God. Hence the need for the full gospel, not half.

These liberal theologians of Jeremiah’s day wanted a God of mercy, but not a God of justice: a God of victory, but not a God who allows suffering; a God of love, but not a God of discipline. They were willing to sacrifice the lives of God’s people for only half a god!

And not much has changed!  Countless books, articles, social media posts, university lecterns, and even pulpits content themselves with half a god. But half a god can’t save anyone, any more than half a gospel can.

What’s the verdict from these officials? Such a man deserves to die! (Paul, Stephen, Jesus) A prophet who refuses to divide God in two, so that people can pick the god they like, or the parts of God they like, will always be condemned by the world.

THE GOD OF AUTONOMY

But death, isn’t that a little harsh? Perhaps. But that’s to fail to realize what the world holds as its most treasured value. You see, in the world’s eyes, surrender, is the chief sin. Why?  Because fallen sinful man prizes nothing higher than personal autonomy. Autonomy is our god! It's the god the world worships more than anything else.
Don’t tell me what I can and can’t do with my body!
Don’t tell me what books should be in my kids school library!
Don’t tell me whether I’m a boy or a girl.
In fact, don’t tell me I have to go to the office if I want to keep my job!
Don’t tell me to report what I did this week! I’ll tell you… if I feel like it!

Whatever you do, don’t tell me to surrender my autonomy! Because it’s not going to happen. Okay. That’s fine. You don’t have to surrender. But understand,  it’s God’s grace that even offers you the opportunity to do so. But the world, rather than receiving God’s grace prefers to rail against such a patient God. But patience can only be extended for so long. Justice won’t be delayed indefinitely.

Verse 5.

King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands, for the king can do nothing against you.”

A KING WHO FEARS JUSTICE

What sort of response is this from a king? Well, for one, it’s the response of a king who has no claim to the throne. Zedekiah was installed by Nebuchadnezzar. He’s a puppet king. And he even rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar. Zedekiah was also a cowardly king. (Next week.) His fear of man far outweighed any supposed fear of the Lord.

In fact, Zedekiah is a lot like Pontius Pilate in this sense. He knows Jeremiah is innocent. Just as Pilate knew Jesus was innocent. Neither of them had done anything deserving of death. But due to their fear of man, they both seemed to think they could hand over the accused to their accusers and somehow keep their hands clean. So, Zedekiah seeks to wash his hands of the whole situation. We might say, Zedekiah didn’t want innocent blood on his hands.

But he wasn’t bold enough to demand justice either! Zedekiah pretty much gives Jeremiah over to these Jewish officials just as Pilate gave Jesus over to the will of the Jewish officials in his day.

Verse 6.

So, they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud, and Jeremiah sank in the mud.

HYPOCRISY EXPOSED

Just as Zedekiah didn’t want innocent blood on his hands, these Jewish officials didn’t want blood on their hands either. O they wanted Jeremiah silenced. They wanted him dead. But they didn’t want to be the direct cause of his death.

Much like the Jewish officials of Jesus’ day, who called for Jesus to be crucified; they figured, so long as they didn’t physically spill his blood, they liked to think they were somehow innocent of this man’s blood.

So, notice, they lower Jeremiah down into the cistern with ropes to die a slow painful death of hunger. The cistern had no standing water, so Jeremiah sank into the mud – literally, mire. He sank into a sure grave in a miry pit.  In other words, Jeremiah was left for dead.

These self-righteous Jews, who accused Jeremiah of not seeking the welfare of the people, demonstrated their true character.

The truth always reveals itself. Hypocrisy always reveals itself. For example: Climate advocates have no problem flying their private jets half way around the globe in order to express their outrage over a problem they seem happy enough to contribute to. The tolerance crowd will always show their intolerance towards those who don’t share their views. The Jews condemned Jesus of breaking the Law of Moses, through an unlawful trial that broke the Law of Moses.

Jeremiah had been unlawfully sentenced to a bloodless execution, through a sham trial, and the governing authority – the Pontius Pilate of the day – stood by allowing injustice to win the day.  Or so it seemed…
Enter Ebed-Melech, servant of the king.

     FAITHFUL OUTSIDERS

Verses 7-9

When Ebed-melech the Ethiopian (or your translation might say Cushite), a eunuch who was in the king’s house, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern—the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate— Ebed-melech went from the king’s house and said to the king, “My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger, for there is no bread left in the city.”

Now, Ebed-melech is one of those obscure figures with a very significant role, obscure in the sense that we likely don’t even know his name. Ebed-melech is likely a title that describes his lowly position. It literally means slave or servant of the king. He was King Zedekiah’s slave.

He was also a foreigner. Whether from Ethiopia or Cush or Sudan. The point is, he is not Jewish.  He’s an outsider. 

What’s more, he’s a eunuch – that’s the more literal term, one who has been castrated or emasculated. Some of your translations may simply say “court official,” which the term can mean such, such as Potiphar, captain of the guard, who Joseph was sold to as a slave, was an official of Pharaoh.  Same word.

We don’t tend to think of Potiphar as being a eunuch because, well, he was married! And I haven’t looked into it all that deeply, but one might wonder why Potiphar’s wife sought the attention of other men such as Joseph. Just a thought. Anyway, Ebed-melech was most likely a eunuch, not simply an official.

OUTSIDE THE PROMISES

So, this Ebed-melech is not just an outsider as a eunuch, he is doubly cut-off from the promises of God. He’s also a slave. And he’s without a name. In fact, he’s without a name twice over. He's without a specific name, and hence referred to by his position. But he’s also without a name in the sense that  as a eunuch he has nothing to pass on.  He will have no progeny, no posterity.

Yet this outsider more readily recognizes the injustice done to God’s prophet
than the insiders, those who claimed themselves to be the people of God.

Ebed-melech was also one of the few who seemed to have given heed to Jeremiah’s message. What does Jeremiah’s message have to do with a guy like Ebed-melech.

FOR THE NATIONS

Well, from the beginning of his ministry, at his calling in chapter 1, Jeremiah was appointed a prophet to the nations. Behold, says the Lord, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I have set you this day over nations and kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.

Jeremiah’s message was not just for the Jews. It was for the nations. It was for Ebed-melech! For the Ebed-melechs! You think your worldly status, your lowly position somehow disqualifies you from service to the King. Well, let this account of Ebed-melech encourage you this morning.

COURAGEOUS SLAVE

The text doesn’t tell us how Ebed-melech heard that Jeremiah was cast into the cistern. It only tells us where he was when he heard the news. Perhaps, (and I’m speculating), some of the officials or guards boasted, “That troubler of Israel” finally got what was coming to him!”

Regardless. What we do know is that Ebed-melech left his post in the king’s house, an act that could land himself in some serious trouble. And he went to the king at the Benjamin Gate. Why is this significant? Well the gate was where business affairs took place. It would have been a very public setting. 

This bold, courageous slave confronted the king, while he was conducting kingdom affairs, and he did so publicly before the citizens, an action the king could have sentenced Ebed-melech to death for. In other words, Ebed-melech puts Jeremaih’s life before his own.

WISE SERVANT

But not only was Ebed-melech bold in his actions; he was wise. The king couldn’t wash his hands of this as easily as he thought. For Ebed-melech put the issue right back into the king’s hands.

And he likely reckoned that the king, when the case was presented to him before the people, would be forced to execute justice. For there were likely many who recognized Jeremiah as a prophet,  and not only a prophet, but an innocent one at that. Jeremiah never committed any crime deserving of death.

When we consider our Lord Jesus, he didn’t have the same defense of the crowd when Pilate sentenced him to the cross. Why? Because the Jewish leaders stirred up the crowd against him.

Verse 10.

Then the king commanded Ebed-melech, the Ethiopian — (Zedekiah wants to show, he’s still in charge, who is still the master and who’s the slave) — “Take thirty men with you from here, and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”

GUARDING THE RESCUE

Well, why thirty men, King Zedekiah?  It’s doubtful that thirty men were needed to lift Jeremiah from the cistern. I mean, I don’t recall reading anywhere that Jeremiah was a particularly heavy man.

More likely, thirty men were needed to protect the rescue operation. It shows that Zedekiah’s fear of man wasn’t altogether unfounded. It recognizes that men can cause harm and often do. But the most they can do is harm the body. That doesn’t make it excusable by any means.  But it recognizes that there were likely hostile forces  that Zedekiah didn’t want to anger. But now that his hand’s forced, he has no choice.

Verse 11.

So, Ebed-melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king,
to a wardrobe in the storehouse, (literally, to a place below the treasury), and took from there old rags and worn-out clothes, which he let down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes. Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah,  “Put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.” Jeremiah did so. Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

[Treasury and Rags: There’s likely some irony here that you’ll have to tease out on your own.]

PADDING HARSHNESS

What’s fascinating about this account, is that the insiders, those who considered themselves Jews, those who accused Jeremiah of not seeking the welfare of the people, are being utterly shamed by this outsider, Ebed-melech. And the narrator wants us to notice! Three times in this brief paragraph, the narrator finds it necessary to remind us that he's an Ethiopian.

But notice, Ebed-melech doesn’t simply seek to spare Jeremiah’s life, he cares about the whole person! Rags from the king’s treasure room  used to pad the harshness of the ropes that will save his life.

Listen. Jesus’ torn flesh pads the harshness of the cross that saves our lives, the cross that you and I must bear if we are to follow Him.

Maybe you noticed. We have a couple girls with some shorter hair this morning. Why? Because brushing out the knots was unnecessarily painful.
I think of pulling my kids teeth. They are already anxious enough. So, I have a choice. I can seek to be gentle. Or I can just get the job done.

CARE FOR THE WHOLE PERSON

Last week, I mentioned, we care about all suffering. But we care infinitely more about eternal suffering.  And that is absolutely true. But that priority doesn’t excuse our neglect of the temporal, the physical.

Our care for the physical is a witness of our concern for the eternal. Why? Because we’re psychosomatic beings. We have a body and a soul. The physical is a shadow of the spiritual. We don’t excuse ourselves saying,  “Well, that’s not a spiritual need, so we need not concern ourselves.”
RUBBISH!!! If we don’t concern ourselves with the physical that we can see, we can’t fool ourselves thinking we’re concerned for the spiritual, which we can’t see. The whole person matters.

Ebed-melech concerned himself with Jeremiah’s entire well-being to the extent he was able. We don’t just care for the soul. We care for the body also.

Consider the care given to Jesus’ body for his burial, by Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus. And remember, Jesus was already dead!

LOVING NEIGHBOR

Jeremiah’s own people refused to obey either of the great commandments. Love the Lord your God, and love your neighbor as yourself.  Of course, these two go hand in hand. It’s impossible to truly separate them. Because they didn’t love God,  they failed to love Jeremiah, who was one of their own.

But this foreigner, this outsider, this man cut-off from the covenant promises, he sought to love his neighbor well, by seeking the welfare of his neighbor, even when he himself was a slave. That’s amazing.

But, Jesus himself speaks of his own kinsmen being put to shame by foreigners. When giving an illustration on what loving one’s neighbor looks like, and just who is my neighbor, it was a Samaritan, who showed kindness and compassion for his neighbor, while the Jews passed by their own on the other side.
Ebed-melech refused to pass by on the other side. 

INSIDE OUT

Earlier, back in Jeremiah 13:23, the question is raised. Can an Ethiopian change his skin, or a leopard his spots? If so, you also can do good who are accustomed to evil. Judah could no more do good than this Ethiopian eunuch could change his skin or beget offspring to carry on his name.

But here’s the thing. The outside wasn’t the issue! It never was. Externals are not unimportant. The God who made the inside made the outside too. And He made both for His glory. But the externals are not the main thing. 

The problem with Israel and Judah was the heart. They were physically circumcised on the outside, bearing the covenant sign, but their hearts were far from God. They needed their hearts circumcised. The dead, unfeeling, sinful flesh around their hearts needed to be cut away.

Ebed-melech didn’t need to change his skin. This faithful outsider had shown himself to be, what Paul refers to in Romans 2, a true Jew, while the unfaithful insiders proved themselves to be the ones who were far from God, and so long as their hearts remained calloused and uncircumcised, they would be the ones cut off from the promises.

SERVANT OF THE KING

We might say that Ebed-melech, in other words, was named perfectly. He was indeed a Servant of the King, the true King. Ebed-melech was surrendered to the King. And because Ebed-melech was surrendered to the King, listen to this promise from Isaish 56:3-5. (Read Isaiah 56:3-5.)

ARE YOU AN EBED-MELECH?

Are you an Ebed-melech, a servant of the one true King? Or have you found yourself a slave to other masters? As Paul writes in Romans 6, we are ultimately slaves to whatever we obey, either slaves of sin which death, or of obedience to God which leads to life. It's not a both and. We can’t serve two masters. Our Lord made that clear. You’ll love one and hate the other.

Perhaps, rather than serving the true King by living to His glory, standing for what this King stands for, which He has clearly revealed in His Word, you have found yourself caving to public opinion like Zedekiah.

Maybe like the four Jewish officials you have found yourself offended by God’s Word, because you have bought into the lies of the world, the lie that human autonomy, to just “follow your heart” is one’s greatest good, and to be surrendered to anyone is the greatest evil.

FREEDOM IN SURRENDER

I assure you, you will never find genuine freedom in pursuing autonomy.
You will only find slavery. Because such is a ruthless taskmaster like none other. We weren’t made to be our own gods. We make crummy gods that offer only slavery to our ideals that we can never manifest, never live up to. God wants so much more for you than that. Surrender to the King of kings, be a servant of the King, as you were created to be, and you’ll find true freedom.

O the world may place you behind bars like Jeremiah was for holding fast to the faith once for all delivered to the saints. You may find yourself subjected to forced servitude like Ebed-melech. But in Christ, you are free, and your deliverance is sure.

SURE DELIVERANCE

When the Lord first called Jeremiah, He told Jeremiah, Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you declares the Lord. Jeremiah may have found himself in a miry bog, due to the failure of a worldly king. You and I may find ourselves persecuted and put in harms way due to the failures of earthly kings. But Jeremiah’s hope wasn’t in any earthly king. Jeremiah waited for the deliverance that comes from the only true king, the King of kings. My hope is that you do too.

As Chase read for us in Psalm 40, Jeremiah waited patiently for the Lord. And the Lord inclined His ear to him. He drew Jeremiah up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set his feet upon a Rock.  Jeremiah might not have known it, but that Rock was Christ.

THE SURRENDERED KING

When Jeremiah found himself in the pit of destruction, God sent an Ebed-melech to deliver him. Well, God sent an Ebed-melech to deliver us. His name is Jesus.

You see, our Lord Jesus isn’t just foreshadowed through Jeremiah, but also Ebed-melech.  As Ebed-melech was surrendered to the King, Jesus surrendered Himself to the will of His Father. Not my will, but your will be done.

And that perfect surrender of the Lord Jesus strengthened Him to endure the cross, in order to deliver us out of the pit of destruction. As Christ was raised, as Jeremiah was raised, in Christ, you can be confident that our God will keep His promises, and you too will be raised.

One final point: You want to be an Ebed-melech, a servant of the King, useful to the Master as Paul writes? You first have to be surrendered to this King… in all areas of your life. Surrender to this King and live.

https://youtu.be/g-Z_s_luVhA

   JEREMIAH 37:1-21 THE RESOLUTE PROPHET

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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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