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   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

  Jeremiah 36 Word on Fire

ADDED TO THEM:

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

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

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

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

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

READ: (Jeremiah 36:1-8)

ILLUSTRATION:

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

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

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

INTENT OF GOD’S WORD

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

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

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

REPENTANCE REQUIRED

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

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

GOAL OF RECONCILATION

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

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

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

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

WORDS ON THE SCROLL

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

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

ALL THE WORDS

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

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

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

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

NOT THE PROPHET’S

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

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

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

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

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

OUTWARD ZEAL, INNER INDIFFERENCE

VERSES 9-10 (read 9-10)

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

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

FAITHFUL RECEIVING OF GOD’S WORD

VERSES 11-12 (read 11-12) 

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

HEARING

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

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

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

SHARING

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

RETURN VOID?

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

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

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

Verses 14-18 (read 14-18)

GOOD BEREANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXPOSITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE EDITS

Verses 22-23 (Read 22-23)

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

[New Covenant Difference]

PLEADING

Verse 24-26 (Read 24-26)

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

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

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

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

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

NAÏVE 

Verses 26-31 (Read 26-31)

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO LEGACY FOR JEHOIAKIM

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

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

THE LEGACY OF SHAPHAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOUR LEGACY

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

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

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

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

JESUS DIDN’T TEAR HIS CLOTHES

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

For so long, we had failed to heed
 the Bridge Out! sign.
 And get this.
The bridge was out
 because we had burned the bridge.
 We had burned our relationship with our Maker.
Rather than heed the sign, mankind has treated God’s warnings the same way Jehoiakim treated the scroll.
The flood of God’s judgment was all but certain.
 
Out of sheer mercy,
 God laid down a New Bridge,
 a wooden cross that spanned across the entire flood of God’s judgment.
0 to cross this bridge still requires no less repentance.
 You see, the flood of God’s wrath had surrounded us.
But Jesus laid down His life as a bridge
 that not only provides a way home,
 but as a bridge laid down at such a cost
 so as to display the immense love of God
 and His desire for reconciliation.

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

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

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

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

Because ALL THESE WORDS are the Word of God.
 

https://youtu.be/h9G1wtPh2AU  

ADDED TO THEM:

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

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

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

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

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

READ: (Jeremiah 36:1-8)

ILLUSTRATION:

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

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

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

INTENT OF GOD’S WORD

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

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

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

REPENTANCE REQUIRED

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

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

GOAL OF RECONCILATION

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

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

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

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

WORDS ON THE SCROLL

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

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

ALL THE WORDS

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

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

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

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

NOT THE PROPHET’S

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

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

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

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

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

OUTWARD ZEAL, INNER INDIFFERENCE

VERSES 9-10 (read 9-10)

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

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

FAITHFUL RECEIVING OF GOD’S WORD

VERSES 11-12 (read 11-12) 

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

HEARING

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

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

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

SHARING

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

RETURN VOID?

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

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

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

Verses 14-18 (read 14-18)

GOOD BEREANS

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

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

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

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

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

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

EXPOSITION

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

THE EDITS

Verses 22-23 (Read 22-23)

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

[New Covenant Difference]

PLEADING

Verse 24-26 (Read 24-26)

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

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

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

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

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

NAÏVE 

Verses 26-31 (Read 26-31)

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

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

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

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

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

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

NO LEGACY FOR JEHOIAKIM

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

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

THE LEGACY OF SHAPHAN

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

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

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

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

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

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

YOUR LEGACY

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

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

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

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

JESUS DIDN’T TEAR HIS CLOTHES

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

For so long, we had failed to heed
 the Bridge Out! sign.
 And get this.
The bridge was out
 because we had burned the bridge.
 We had burned our relationship with our Maker.
Rather than heed the sign, mankind has treated God’s warnings the same way Jehoiakim treated the scroll.
The flood of God’s judgment was all but certain.
 
Out of sheer mercy,
 God laid down a New Bridge,
 a wooden cross that spanned across the entire flood of God’s judgment.
0 to cross this bridge still requires no less repentance.
 You see, the flood of God’s wrath had surrounded us.
But Jesus laid down His life as a bridge
 that not only provides a way home,
 but as a bridge laid down at such a cost
 so as to display the immense love of God
 and His desire for reconciliation.

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

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

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

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

Because ALL THESE WORDS are the Word of God.
 

https://youtu.be/h9G1wtPh2AU

  Jeremiah 34:1-22 Covenant Breakers, Covenant Keepers, part 1

INTRODUCTION:

As we move back into Jeremiah, it’s important to note that we aren’t moving away from our January theme on the Word of God. If nothing else, we’re moving deeper into specific facets of this Word. 

A friend expressed to me recently how they really enjoy our conversations over the Word of God, but that when I start talking about certain books such as Jeremiah and Leviticus they tend to lose interest. I’m not sure this individual noticed the disconnect, but I hope you as a congregation does, because the Book of Jeremiah is the Word of God.

It’s one thing as a church for us to talk about the Bible and how we love the Bible, believe the Bible, heed the Bible. But if you recall from 2 Timothy 4, the Scriptures that Timothy was exhorted to preach were the Old Testament Scriptures. Because that’s what Timothy had!

Loved ones, I hope you understand. We need the whole of God’s Word to come to bear on our lives for us to mature in Christ. We need the razor-sharp edge of the Word of the Lord to prune us—to prune that which is diseased so that we might bear fruit in Christ.

Today, we begin looking at Covenant Breakers and Covenant Keepers. As for Covenant Breakers, we have the example of Zedekiah and the people of Judah. Next week, we’ll look at Covenant Keepers and the example of the Rechabites. 

To give a brief overview of our passage, King Zedekiah has made a covenant, along with the people of Jerusalem, to set their fellow Hebrew slaves free. But after setting them free, the people turned around and took back their slaves. No surprise, the Lord has a word concerning those who are Covenant Breakers.

We’ll be looking at 3 main themes this morning:
I. The Issue of Slavery
II. True and False Repentance
III. Covenant Faithfulness

READ (Jeremiah 34)

EMANCIPATION:

In 1619, a group of about 350 kidnapped Africans from Angola, were marched to the West-African slave-trading port of Luanda and forced aboard the Portuguese ship, the San Juan Bautista. 

20 or so of these kidnapped Africans eventually landed on the shores of colonial Virginia, where they were sold by privateers in exchange for provisions. While not the first people to be sold into slavery in the New World, this date marks the first known sale of kidnapped human beings in what would become the United States mainland.

244 years later, on January 1, 1863, the 16th President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that all persons held as slaves shall now and henceforward be free… and commended to faithfully labor for reasonable wages.

In our passage, King Zedekiah declares his own Emancipation Proclamation. In verses 8-10, we read that Zedekiah made a covenant with the people, to make a proclamation of liberty, that everyone should set free his Hebrew slaves, male and female, so that no one should enslave his fellow Jew. And the people obeyed and entered into this covenant to no longer enslave their fellow Hebrew.

SLAVERY LAWS:

Now, it’s important to note that the type of slavery that existed here in the States was expressly forbidden in Scripture. You can read about the slavery laws in books like Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. 

In Exodus 21, immediately following the Ten Commandments, God lays out His laws concerning slavery. This shows the extremely high priority this issue is to God. I mean, it’s at the very front end of the giving of the Law! Verse 16 of Exodus 21 expressly states that whoever steals a man and sells him, and anyone found in possession of him, shall be put to death. Forced subjugation of innocent civilians is strictly prohibited!

With that said, the law made allowances for slavery. Criminals and prisoners of war could be subjected to servitude, but we can discuss that another time. What concerns us for our passage today: if someone owed a debt he couldn’t pay, or if he simply fell on hard times, he could sell himself to work off that debt and receive basic provisions. 

But there was a limit to their servitude. After 6 years, the slave must be set free. In the 7th year, he was to go free for nothing. That’s it! Debt paid! 

We see that in verse 14 of our text. At the end of seven years each of you must set free your fellow Hebrew who has been sold to you and has served you six years.

In Leviticus 25 we read that slaves were to be treated as hired workers. They are not to be ruled over ruthlessly. 

Deuteronomy 15 further states that when you set your Hebrew slave free—whether man or woman—they shall not be sent away empty handed but be generously provided for.

In fact, let me read this to you from Deuteronomy 15, beginning at verse 13. When you let him go—that is your Hebrew slave—you shall not let him go empty-handed. You shall furnish him liberally out of your flock, out of your threshing floor, and out of your winepress. As the Lord your God has blessed you, you shall give to him. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God redeemed you.

What’s the basis for these slavery laws? Verse 13. I myself made a covenant with your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 

The basis for freeing others is because God Himself freed you! 

APPLICATION:

And the same is true for us. Jesus has released us from our slavery to sin by paying off the full penalty of our debt. We have not only been set free but liberally provided for. As such, we release others from their debts to us because our Lord has released us from ours. That’s part of what it means for us to be conformed to Christ’s likeness.

But rather than reflecting the grace and kindness God showed them, obeying God by releasing their fellow brothers from both bondage and debt… end of verse 14—your fathers did not listen.

REPENTANCE:

Along with the issue of slavery, we also have the issue of true versus false repentance.

FORD ESCORT:

As a teen, I was known for what we might call “heavy-foot-syndrome.” I’m not sure if it was due to calcium deposits or too much protein in my diet. What I do know, is that it seemed only to affect my right foot, and that, only when driving. So, after countless warnings and more than a few speeding tickets, I managed to lose my license, not once, but twice before I turned 18, after receiving my second reckless driving ticket, this time for doing 86 in a 55.

So, my dad kindly traded me my 5-speed Volkswagen Jetta—which I had paid $3800 for back in the 90s—and in exchange, he gave me his $500 4-speed, Ford Escort. Let me just say that the Escort may have been a small step up from those cars the Flintstones drove.

In addition to the fine, the judge required me to pay for and complete a driver’s improvement class in order to have my license reinstated. So, 3 months later, I was back on the road; this time in my clunker, and my foot was still every bit as heavy, even if the Escort couldn’t quite do 86… downhill… even if I pushed it.

Now listen. I went through the motions of repentance. I paid the fine. I paid for the class. I completed the class. I acknowledged what was expected of me. I promised to change. But I did so, only so I could have my license restored. And Once the consequence was behind me, I immediately return to my old habits.
Can any of you relate?

JUDGMENT PRONOUNCED

That’s similar to what Zedekiah and the people of Judah did. The Lord has warned His people again and again concerning their oppression and injustice—both of which were an outflow of their idolatry. Oppression and injustice are always the result of idolatry. When we fail to worship anything other than the God whose image we are fashioned after, we will naturally be inclined to mistreat God’s image-bearers in order to serve our idols. 

After countless warnings, the Judge has not only handed down His verdict, the judgment is knocking on the gates. Verses 1-2. The Lord is giving Zedekiah and the entire city into the hand of the king of Babylon. And the Lord follows that up in verse 3 with the certainty of this judgment. You shall not escape! You shall see the king of Babylon eye to eye and speak with him face to face. And you shall be taken to Babylon.

But… even in light of this judgment, the Lord offers a message of hope—a word of consolation—that even this judgment doesn’t have to be the end. 

Yes, Zedekiah, your license to reign over Judah has been revoked. But even though the Volkswagen Jetta has been taken away, you can at least finish out your days in a Ford Escort. 

Verse 4 and 5. Yet hear the word of the Lord, Zedekiah… You shall not die by the sword, but you shall die in peace and with honor, just as the former kings who were before you. And what’s more Zedekiah, you have my word on this matter. For I the Lord have spoken.

In other words, Zedekiah, you have my word on this.

But Zedekiah is aware, and I hope your are too, that both God’s judgments and His promises—His words of assurance and His words of warning—hinge on repentance. 

CONTINGENCY:

I know it’s been a while, but back in Jeremiah 18, we were reminded that there’s an understood contingency tied to God’s declarations. Listen to this from Jeremiah 18:7. 

If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended for it.
 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, if that nation does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good I had intended for it.
 Now, therefore, … men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, … Behold, I am shaping disaster against you, and devising a plan against you. Return, every one form his evil way, and amend your ways and your deeds.

That’s what repentance is; it’s turning around. Zedekiah, I’ve given you my word on this, that you will die in peace and with honor. But understand, you can forfeit with good I intend for you.

PARK EXAMPLE:

Think of it like this. I can tell my girls I’m taking them to the park later today. They get excited and ask, “Really!?” And I reply absolutely. You have my word. But as we’re getting ready to go to the park, they start fighting and misbehaving. Guess what. We’re not going to the park. Now let me ask. Did I lie when I said I would take them, and even more so confirmed that they had my word on the matter? No! They forfeited the promise.

Now of course, I’m not omniscient like God is. God knows those who will forfeit His promises and those who will not. That doesn’t make God unfaithful. It makes those who forfeit the promises unfaithful. Just as the warnings are meant to lead us to reform our lives to God’s ways, so also, the promises are to encourage us to reform our lives and continue to order our lives likewise.

God has no problem relenting from this good He has declared to Zedekiah,
if Zedekiah forfeits God’s good plans for him by continuing in his wickedness. And spoiler alert. Far from peace and honor, Scripture records that when Zedekiah was carted off to Babylon, he indeed saw the king face to face, and he watched his sons slaughtered before his eyes. Then Nebuchadnezzar gouge out his eyes, and we’re told that he died in prison.

APPLICATION:

Loved ones, we have glorious promises given to us in the gospel. But those promise are conditioned to those who are in Christ, those who are genuinely in Christ, meaning that they have repented and have submitted their lives to the lordship of Christ. 

These promises will not come to pass for those who get their license reinstated and continue to speed off into their former ways and former worldviews.

IMMEDIATE SITUATION:

Verses 6 and 7 give the immediate situation. Jeremiah spoke all these words to Zedekiah when Jerusalem was but one of three fortified cities of Judah that remained. The rest had fallen. And now, Babylon is knocking on the door with God’s promised judgment.

It’s with this backdrop, when judgment seems certain, that Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem repent by releasing their fellow Hebrew slaves. And guess what? That was a good thing! And it was good in the sight of the Lord.

Verse 15. You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before ME in the house that is called by MY name.

But sadly, their repentance didn’t last long. Verse 16. But then you turned around and profaned my name when each of you took back his male and female slaves, whom you had set free according to their desire, and you brought them back into subjection to be your slaves.

APPLICATION:

Have you ever noticed that when one’s life is threatened, when death comes near, that people suddenly develop a deeper awareness of their sin—whether or not they’d actually call it that? It’s a reminder of the truth that we all inwardly know—the fact that we will all give an account to our Creator. 

As the saying goes, there are no atheists in foxholes. In life and death circumstances, even the ungodly often seek to earn some sort of favor before God, sometimes in doing what they believe to be a good deed, at other times pledging undying devotion to God if He will just deliver them from this situation. But sadly, as soon as the threat is removed—at the first sign of relief—they turn back. They repent of their repentance. 

THREAT REMOVED

In verse 21 we learn that the king of Babylon had withdrawn. Later, in chapter 37, we find out that it was due to an opposing threat from Egypt. 

Zedekiah and company repented while death was knocking on their door, but as soon as the king of Babylon withdraws his army, the people went back on their word, showing that their repentance wasn’t grounded in the fear of the Lord but in the circumstances that threatened them.

Their repentance is what we might call a false repentance versus a genuine repentance, a worldly repentance versus a godly repentance. Or to put it in biblical terms (borrowing from 2 Corinthians 7), their repentance was not a repentance that leads to life and salvation, but to death. They went through the motions of repentance, but there was no change of heart. 

TRUE VERSUS FALSE REPENTANCE:

What are some of the differences between true and false repentance? 

1) False repentance is mostly concerned with consequences, and specifically adverse consequences to oneself. So, when the threat of judgment looms, we’ll reform our ways in order to avoid any adverse consequences for ourselves. That’s what Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem did. They went through the motions of repentance hoping to avert God’s justice. 

2) False repentance excuses oneself for his or her actions. Love ones, this is why we’re so quick to return to our former ways once the threat that led to our repentance is removed. We’ll justify our views and our actions. And when we do, we show that the only thing we’re sorry for is the fact that we got caught and it may cost us. 

Do you know why false repentance doesn’t last long? Because there’s no change of heart. If you find yourself returning to the same sins again and again, that’s because inside, you continue to justify your actions. You haven’t repented in here—in your heart and in your mind. You aren’t fully convinced that your actions were wrong, or at least not as not bad enough to land you in hell for an eternity, and certainly not bad enough for Jesus to have to pay for them on a gruesome bloody cross. 

The issue is that you haven’t found yourself in agreement with God. Rather, you’re still seeking to play God. You’re still seeking to determining what’s good and evil rather than submitting to God’s declaration as to what’s pleasing in His sight and what’s abhorrent. 

And because you have failed to see God’s Law, His commands, His ways as beautiful and glorious, you quickly return to old habits and patterns. 

But listen loved ones—in Christ—you don’t live there anymore! Quit speeding off down that same old dead-end street thinking you’ll find joy there, fulfillment there, satisfying your fleshly desires there. God alone can satisfy. Why? Because that’s how He has designed you. 

When we continue running back to the same sin, we show that there is little to no heart repentance—no true change of mind. 

The people took back their slaves because in their heart, they didn’t truly believe slavery was necessarily all that bad, so long as they weren’t the ones enslaved, and they were the ones who benefitted from the labor.
Ultimately, they refused to recognize their sin for what it was: sin.

3) False repentance calculates the situation. The same heart that excuses itself for its actions, calculates the situation, asking how little must I do to avert or lessen the judgment, and how might I repent in such a way that it actually benefits my unchanged desires. 

Do you not think that Zedekiah calculated the possible benefits of freeing the slaves? You know, freeing these slave just might encourage them to join the war effort. And hey, guess what! With the siege going on, we can’t exactly access our crops. By setting them free, we’ll have less mouths we’re responsible to feed. They can figure out how to feed themselves. 

But that same calculating heart that set the slaves free, is the same calculating heart that subjects them to slavery once again. It’s one thing to proclaim liberty, to announce emancipation, but if the slaves go from freedom right back into forced servitude, what kind of emancipation is that! 

Zedekiah might have proclaimed freedom. But now the threat from Babylon has been dismissed. And guess what? The dishes are piling up. Clothes need washed. Wood needs chopped. Who else is going to do all this work?

One of the reasons we return to our former sins, is because we calculate. We weigh the supposed benefit of temporary gains and worldly pleasures with the possibility or even likelihood that, you know, I can always repent later. And that my friends, if that’s you, it’s a very dangerous place to be. 

You know why I don’t do what many refer to as altar calls. First, I’m not convinced they’re biblical. Two, their focus, for the most part, tends to be on outward repentance, often leading to a false sense of security. 

I get nothing out of seeing people walk an aisle. You know why? Because God never calls anyone to walk an aisle, or raise a hand, or say a sinners prayer. Loved ones, those things don’t save you.

Rather, my desire is for your heart to be torn in two over your sin, and for it to bear the scars of love from where God Himself has sewn it back together making it altogether new. As Joel 2:13 says, rend your hearts and not your garments.If your heart is torn, the world will notice. You don’t have to do anything to parade it around; it will be obvious. But what’s far more important, is that the God who searches hearts, will see it.

If you think you’re safe living in sin, telling yourself you’ll have the opportunity to repent later, let me enlighten you with some hard facts. … You might… and you might not. It is possible, you may find yourself on your deathbed one day, and in that moment, if you haven’t already, genuinely repent. The thief on the cross did.

But realized, the thief on the cross didn’t go through some outward ritual. On the cross, he saw justice and mercy meet. 1) He recognized that he was getting the justice he very well deserved. He didn’t excuse his actions. 2) He looked at the sinless man on the middle cross, who, rather than being concern for his own fate, prayed, Father, forgive them! 3) He accepted the offer of forgiveness for which Jesus prayed and the promise that he would be with Jesus in paradise. 

O he didn’t have all his theology worked out just right. But what he did was repent… not with some outward show… but in here… from the heart.

But if you refuse to repent now, what makes you so confident your heart will be moved to repent later. Today is the day of salvation!

4) False repentance has no concern that their actions and attitudes dishonored the Lord. Going through the motions of repentance, whether that be raising a hand, saying a prayer, getting baptized, partaking of the Lord’s Supper… gain you no favor before God. Rather, if you’re heart isn’t transformed, and you continue living in rebellion to God and His Law, these outward displays only serve to further profane God’s name. 

How many churches, how many professing Christians bring dishonor on God’s name because they claim to be God’s people, but fail to reflect Him. They have no true desire to reflect Him.

The people made a covenant to set the slaves free, and they did so before the Lord in the house that is called by His name. Verse 16. But you turned around and took back your slaves, and in doing so, you profaned my name.

True repentance cares most about honoring the Lord who makes forgiveness even possible, and that at the highest possible price, not to the sinner, but to the Lord Himself, through his death on the cross.

COVENANT FAITHFULNESS

Along with the absence of genuine repentance, there’s the issue of covenant faithfulness, or lack thereof. God’s laws concerning slavery fell under the covenant stipulations given to Israel at Mt. Sinai. 

One thing that is absolutely clear concerning God’s covenant is that it’s conditioned by obedience. As Silas read for us from Exodus 19, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

You will be my people if you obey me… if you keep my covenant.

Now, don’t confuse the requirement for obedience as somehow making this a covenant of works. God freed the people from bondage first, before any covenant faithfulness on their part. But with freedom, comes the responsibility to live free. 

Here’s the thing with not keeping God’s covenant, not obeying His voice. It leaves one as a slave to something or someone else. They might as well still be in bondage in Egypt, because their physical location isn’t what makes one free.

The fact that they had failed to release their fellow Hebrews after 6 years was one of many ways they had been unfaithful to God’s covenant. And it was a sure sign that they themselves were still slaves to sin.

CUT OFF:

There’s also the issue of being cut off from the covenant. Through out the Law, we read numerous times that the person who breaks certain covenant stipulations shall be cut off from his people… which is another way of saying, cut off from the people of God… and more specifically, cut of from God’s covenant people, those who are to receive the covenant promises.
Many time the ultimate form of being cut off was death. 

CUT COVENANTS:

Now Covenants in the Bible—and we’ve covered this before—aren’t simply made; they’re cut. The literal phrase is the Lord cut a covenant, or as we read in verse 8 and verse 15, Zedekiah and the people cut a covenant. The Hebrew word is כָּרַת (karath), meaning to cut.

As such, there is often a sacrifice of sorts involved. We see this most explicitly in Genesis 15 with God’s covenant with Abraham to multiply his descendants and give them the land. Abraham asks, how shall I know. And the Lord has him bring a 3-year-old heifer, a goat, a ram, as well as a turtle dove and a pigeon. And Abraham cuts the innocent animals in half. 

To ratify the covenant, the covenant parties would walk between the divided carcasses as a way of expressing that if I fail to keep my end of the covenant, may I be like these slaughtered beasts.

Throughout the Old Testament you’ve probably run across the phrase, May the Lord do so to me and more also if (dot dot dot). That’s covenant language. Sometimes that phrase is spoken by covenant breakers like King Saul. Sometimes that phrase is spoken by covenant keepers like Ruth. 

Not only was Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem in danger of being cut off from the Lord’s covenant; they have also proven they aren’t even faithful to their own covenants that they initiate, such as the covenant they made to free their fellow Hebrews.

LIBERTY TO THE SWORD:

What’s God’s word to such covenant breakers? He will return to them the same liberty they gave to their fellow Hebrews.

Verse 17. Therefore, thus says the Lord: You have not obeyed me by proclaiming liberty to your brothers… behold, I proclaim to you liberty to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine…
 I will make you a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth. And the men who transgressed my covenant, and did not keep the terms of the covenant that they cut before me, I will make them like the calf that they cut in two and passed between its parts…
 How? Verse 20. By giving them into the hand of their enemies and those who seek their lives. Nebuchadnezzar may have withdrawn, but I will bring him back. 

Covenant breakers, those who are unfaithful to the Lord’s covenant will find themselves cut off from His covenant people, His covenant blessings, His covenant protections. Why? Not because the Lord is somehow unfaithful, but because He is faithful.

CONCLUSION:

So, how do we wrap this up?

Our God is an emancipating God. He liberates us from the harshest of all taskmasters, our sin. And He releases us from our debt of sin so as not to become slaves again. How? Because He Himself paid that debt in full on the cross.

Our God is a relenting God. (That’s simply another word for repent.) God doesn’t sin and He doesn’t err. But God repents in the sense that He relents from bringing disaster; He turns back His fierce wrath. And He does so ultimately because He poured it out in full upon His Son in our place.

And our God is a covenant keeping God. He satisfies every covenant stipulation including paying the penalty for our breaking the covenant. On the cross, Jesus became like the slaughtered calf that was cut in two. In fact, Jesus satisfied the terms of the Old Covenant with the very blood of the New.

You and I, we enter this New Covenant only through the curtain of Jesus’ severed flesh, but also only with genuine repentance, a repentance that turns from going our way and going His—a repentance that forgives others their debts as we have been forgiven ours—a repentance that keeps the New Covenant commands such as Jesus commanded us to … love one another as I have loved you.

Will you be a covenant breaker or a covenant keeper?

Our Lord kept the covenant by being broken. If you want to keep the covenant, you’ll be broken in here, in your heart, allowing Him to put you back together.

https://youtu.be/6cv2CIb2ZB4

  2 Timothy 4:1-5 Preach the Word

INTRODUCTION:

     Well, it’s orientation day. You’ve just been offered a new position, and, well, like any company, it’s important that you’re well briefed as to what’s involved. Eli, you’re likely the most recent to go through the orientation process for a new job. Now, I’m not sure what Chick-fil-a’s process is like. Nor do I know who much owner, Randy Atkins, is involved in the process. I’m guessing, like many companies today, you likely had to sit through a series of orientation videos, highlighting some of the perks you get for working at the company. They want you excited about your new position.

But they also, at least I hope so, lay out their expectations for you regarding your new position. They likely covered who you are to report to, who you’re accountable to. What you primary position is, the scope of that position. Of course, you’ll need to know your schedule, when you should be expected to be available. What your position consists of, and the way you are to carry it out. (With that customary Chick-fil-a smile, and the trademark phrase: “My pleasure.”) What about your work environment. What challenges are you likely to face. Are there any hazards to be aware of? What other responsibilities are involved?

TIMOTHY

     We’re in 2 Timothy. And for a bit of background, Timothy isn’t exactly what we’d call a new hire or a new recruit. He’s been mentored by Paul for some 20 years. Nevertheless, Timothy is indeed stepping into a new position, a position where he’s going to have to carry the torch now. Why? Because Paul’s at the end of his service. He’s finished the race. It’s time for Timothy and others to carry on the work.

Now, Paul didn’t have Timothy sit through a bunch of impersonal cookie-cutter videos. No. Paul sent him a letter, a couple letters actually. 

Like a position at Chick-fil-a, Timothy’s position would be one of service, one of providing food and nourishment, but a food and nourishment that far exceed any physical meal. Timothy, however, would not provide his services so much to those who are lining up at the drive-thru, those who by nature have a craving for the meal he’s called to serve. For many, this bread would be bitter and distasteful. 

      As far as Timothy’s ultimate supervisor, the One he will give account to isn’t one who could merely fire him, although fire isn’t altogether absent the consequences for failing to faithfully carry out his duties. Timothy would give account to none other than God Almighty and the Lord Jesus Christ who is to judge the living and the dead. 

    That’s somewhat an overview of what we’ll be looking at this morning. But before you check out, thinking, well, I’m certainly not Timothy, or called to Timothy’s position, so this obviously doesn’t apply to me, let me assure you, this matters greatly to all of us, regardless of your calling.

READ: 2 Timothy 4:1-5

ACCOUNTABILITY

     As already mentioned, the One to whom Timothy will ultimately answer is God. Look again at verse 1. I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom:

Before laying out the charge to Timothy to preach the Word, Paul reminds his young protégé that it’s not before Paul that Timothy will answer. Timothy, you will answer to God and Jesus Christ who took the nails of judgment in your place. Paul wants to make very clear the seriousness of this call by pointing Timothy to the authority that he will ultimately answer to. 

     Now, don’t think to yourself: well, I’m not Timothy. I’m not pastor Josh. I’m not even an adult male… so I’m somewhat exempt. Isn’t that what you complementarian reformed types teach. Well, there is certainly a high standard those who serve in the office of pastor and elder are expected to hold to. But if we were to walk through the qualifications, one thing you’d likely see is that most of the expectations, most of the standards are what every believer is called to. Let’s just take Paul’s first letter to Timothy as an example. An overseer is to be trustworthy, above reproach, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money, not puffed up with conceit. Let me ask. Which of these expectations is the follower of Jesus exempt from?

     But what’s more, while most of you will not have to worry about giving an account for what you proclaim from up here, we all have a calling to be faithful in whatever our service in the Lord might be. We are to glorify God in all things, not simply church related functions. We are all called to be faithful stewards of the gifts God has given us. And just so we’re clear, neglect lets none of us off the hook.

     Beyond that, as followers of Christ, called to sit under the authority of God’s Word, you will give an account for how you respond to the faithful proclamation of this Word. You won’t give an account to me or Sherif. You will give account to Jesus himself… this Jesus who is to judge.

     We don’t tend to like the idea of Jesus judging. Or perhaps I should put it this way, those who aren’t truly in Christ don’t tend to like the idea of Jesus judging. You see, for those truly in Christ, we are looking forward to that day when Jesus judges the living and the dead. Why? Because it is the day of final vindication, where all of Jesus’ faithful are vindicated before all their enemies, as our King sets the faithful on His right and pronounces blessing over them, giving them the reward of their inheritance before the rest of the watching world. 

     I can’t stress to you enough how important it is that all stand before the great white throne of judgment. Because it is here that God is glorified in the vindication of His servants. All of our persecution, the slandering, the mocking, the disregarding our words of warning, our sufferings, our denying ourselves, while the world watched on thinking, o what fools. Why don’t they just eat, drink, and live it up. Sin all that you can now. All of it will be vindicated. While the unfaithful will be placed on the Lord’s left, will receive justice, the justice that seemed to have been set aside, will finally come upon them in full.

     Why does this matter for Timothy? Because Timothy is about to hear the impossible challenge he faces in carrying out his position. And you and I, in whatever capacity we serve, if we truly serve faithfully, we will face some of the same challenges. Not only will we give an account, but all will… that includes those who oppose our Commander in Chief, the Lord Jesus, and His calling on our lives. And knowing that should encourage us to press on in our service faithfully, knowing that justice will prevail, when Jesus returns and brings the fullness of His kingdom.

PREACH THE WORD

     So, what is this call for Timothy? Beginning of verse 2. Preach the Word. The word preach, κηρύσσω, means to proclaim, to preach, to herald a message openly and publicly. So before moving on, let’s address what preaching is not. Preaching is not private counsel. Preaching is a private service hidden from view. Preaching is public proclamation, not just for the church but for all who will hear to hear. In that sense, our doors here are open. We do not hold a closed service for members or believers only. 

SCOPE:

     What’s the scope of what we are to preach? The Word. This Book, the Bible. Which parts? The New Testament? Well, the New Testament was still in the process of being written down and disseminated.  At the time of Paul writing to Timothy, it would have been well understood that Paul wasn’t so much focused on what was currently being penned as he was the sacred writings of what we call the Old Testament. So for those who stick to a primarily New Testament diet, you obviously don’t hold to the New Testament’s teaching, if you even know what it’s teaching. 

     Perhaps many of you have noticed 1) that the Old Testament is four times the size of the New Testament, and 2) that Sherif and I like to spend a lot of time in the Old Testament. Why? Well, three verses earlier Paul points out to Timothy that ALLScripture is breathed out by God and is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. 

     But if we back up one more verse, to 3:15, we see that it is this Word, again, Paul is referring primarily to the Old Testament Scriptures, which do what? They point to Jesus! That’s what Timothy grew up with. Those are the sacred writings that Timothy was acquainted with. And get this. Those are the Scriptures that are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.

     Sorry, Josh. I want to understand. But I’m just not sure I get it. How is the Old Testament able to make one wise for salvation through faith in Jesus? Well, that’s a good question and honest question. And one that the church has sadly neglected answering, and worse, set an example that seems to suggest that the Old Testament has little to do with Jesus other than a few prophecies here or there. Shame on us. Jesus himself says the whole of Scripture is about Him. Not a few select prophecies throughout. Even if we’re talking 500 prophecies throughout the whole Old Testament, that’s a very small percentage of this huge codex.

     The Old Testament is not primarily a book of stories from which we are to glean some sort of life lesson. We sat through the half-time devotions for Upwards Basketball, and as is most often the case, the pastor, I believe he was the youth pastor, misused Scripture to teach what amounted to an Aesop’s Fable. When Jesus was twelve, the age of some of you guys in here (pointing to the ball players), he asked good questions. Make sure you go through life asking good questions. It will help you go far. 

     My point is not to single this pastor out. This is the extent in which most of the American church read their Bibles, and especially the Old Testament. But do you know what the apostles did with the Old Testament. They used it to prove that Jesus was the long-awaited Messiah. They used it to show that the God who doesn’t change, hadn’t forgotten His promises. They revealed that Jesus is Yahweh, the Lord of the Old Covenant now come in the flesh to satisfy the law, pay the penalty of sin through the sacrifice of Himself, and to gather the lost sheep of the house of Israel, which includes every sheep who hear and listen to His voice.

     These are the Scriptures, Timothy, that you are to preach, because they are able to make people wise for salvation in Jesus Christ. And this is the preaching Jesus’ church is to sit under.

SCHEDULE:

     Okay. So I get it. Preach the whole Word, the whole counsel of God, as Paul says in Acts 20, which Josiah read for us. What are my hours? What’s this schedule look like? When do I get vacation time? Or, just tell me when I’m supposed to be available. Well, Timothy, stand ready in season and out of season… or more literally, in good times and bad times. Preach during those opportune moments, and during those inopportune moments. Don’t base when to preach on whether it’s the in thing or popular, or whether you’ll be commended or stoned, not just when you see fruit or flocks are showing up in mass. Not when it’s safe, not even when people are receptive to what you have to say. 

     The prophet Isaiah, He was called to preach and immediately told that God Himself was going to close the ears of his hearers. How long? Well, way passed Isaiah’s ministry and the Lord sent his people into exile and only a remnant remained. 

The point here Timothy is for you not to concern yourself with the results. God alone gives the growth. You are simply to faithfully proclaim His Word. 

Now, I get that Paul is exhorting Timothy here. But we can certainly apply this to ourselves. While we’re not all Watchmen, as we Sherif read for us in Ezekiel 3, at least not in the same way, don’t think you and I are welcome to keep silent while droves are marching straight to destruction. As a reminder of our Wednesday night class series, we are all to be ready to give a reason for our the hope that is in us, our hope in Jesus, our hope in His gospel. Well, when are we to be ready? ALWAYS!!! That’s another way of saying, in season and out of season. Not just when it’s politically or socially acceptable. 

     Society will tell you not to bring up politics or religion over Thanksgiving Dinner. Let me ask. Are you going to listen to society, or are you going to listen to God’s Word. If your faith isn’t demonstrated and expressed verbally regarding Thanksgiving, what kind of Thanksgiving are you celebrating? A worldly one with a generic thanks to no one? Thank the Lord of creation who makes all of these blessings possible, and even more so, give public thanks before the entire gathering for what Christ has accomplished. Because only in Jesus being the Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world makes it possible for any of the world to enjoy a single Thanksgiving. Because after Adam and Eve ate, that would have been the end of it. Christ was crucified in God’s mind before the first sin, and that’s the only reason why Adam and Eve were able to even walk out of the Garden to breath another day.

     What’s the schedule of the Christian? Always be ready, regardless of the season. So long as people are showing up at Grace, we’ll proclaim the Word here. But if a day comes when no one’s here, I’ll proclaim the Word somewhere else. It might be another church or in my family room or on a street corner. And I pray, you are somewhere either proclaiming or sitting under the proclamation of this Word.

MODE:

So, what does preaching consist of? Still in verse 2. Paul gives Timothy 3 rapid-fire imperatives: reprove, rebuke, and exhort. 

Reprove/Expose:

     The first: reprove, has to do with convicting or exposing sin. The preacher of God’s Word is to proclaim God’s Word in such a way that it exposes our sin. Now let me just say, there is nothing pleasant about this. As the author of Hebrews writes, For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. 

Trina just had open heart surgery, and she’ll tell you, it was painful. She wasn’t looking forward to the pain. She didn’t delight in the pain after the fact. But I’ll tell you what she is looking forward to: the restoration of physical health that surgery is intended to bring about. She wants to be able to walk the farm without being winded. She wants to care for her chicks and goats. But she’s been physically limited. 

     We don’t delight in the painful scalpel of God’s Word. We delight in the restoration the surgery is meant to bring about. And just so we’re clear, I have to work through these messages in my own heart before I ever get up here… and it’s hard. A lot of times, it’s really hard.

    Our neighbors just got married. And as a wedding gift, and I have found it to be a great wedding gift, we gave them a little book titled When Sinners Say I Do. It is by far the best counseling book I’ve yet to come across. You might ask, why on earth would anyone title a book, When Sinners Say I Do. But one of the things the author recognizes and doesn’t hold back on is the fact that we are all sinners. Even more so, he recognizes that like Paul, he is the chief of all sinners. In fact, you know who Paul wrote those words to? Paul wrote them to Timothy. 

     Harvey, the author of this book, points out the great blessing it is to come to terms with this reality. You see. So long as we fail to see our sin for what it is, 1) we can’t truly know the love of Christ, 2) we will never be able to love others well. Preaching is intended to expose our sin so that we repent and turn to Christ and receive His mercy. There is no transformation apart from our sin being exposed. And the God who saves, loves His people to much to leave them untransformed.

Rebuke/Warn:

     The second thing preaching does is rebuke or warn. The next step in the preaching of God’s Word, after exposing our sin is to warn us of sin’s consequences. 

     Now I get it. There is absolutely nothing popular about this. But again, this is meant to be good medicine. It’s one thing to have the MRI done and the cancer exposed. But if the doctor simply tells you what you have, alright Joe, it looks like you have cancer of the heart. Have a good day. But fails to tell you what needs to happen next and the consequences if you neglect suggested treatment, what good does that do? 

     Loved ones, we have cancer of the heart. That’s what sin is. But there’s a treatment regimen far stronger than the best chemotherapies. It’s called the gospel. But get this, one dose of chemotherapy isn’t going to do it. This cancer runs deep. It will take the rest of your life to rid yourself entirely of this disease. But with a steady dose of this gospel treatment, you’ll notice the cancer of sin gradually go into remission, to where it no longer reigns in your members.

     But if we fail to sit under the preaching of God’s Word, how do you expect to fight off the cancer of sin? Do you really think yourself wiser than the great Physician who prescribed this regimen of preaching? Don’t fool yourself.

Exhort:

     The last thing preaching must necessarily do is exhort. Now the word here translated exhortcan mean encourage or comfort. And in many texts it is used in that sense. And it is possible Paul is telling Timothy, after you’ve exposed their sin through the proclamation of God’s Word, and warned them of sin’s consequences through the proclamation of God’s Word, finally, encourage them through the proclamation of God’s Word. 

     While it’s true, the proclamation of God’s word should bring hope and encouragement, that’s likely not the context in which Paul is using exhort here. Rather, exhort here, after exposing and warning, is to plead with one’s hearers to act… respond. Repent and believe the good news. Certainly, there are words of comfort. But only so far as there is a positive response to the message of the gospel. Timothy, urge your hearers strongly and urgently, “Flee from the wrath of God, and flee to the stretched out bloody nail-pierced hands of Jesus that are ready to receive you.

     It's not enough to disclose the MRI results, and warn the patient, it looks terminal, and then walk away. We plead with the sick, “You don’t have to let this thing take you out. You don’t have to allow that cancer, that sin, that addiction, lead you to hell. There’s help. There’s hope. Don’t fight this thing on your own. You aren’t strong enough. But Jesus is.”

     That’s what preaching does. It exposes sin. It warns regarding sin’s consequences. And it pleads for sinners to repent and trust Jesus to heal them.

MANNER:

     But there’s a manner in which this is preaching thing is to be carried out. End of verse 2. With complete, or better, all patience and teaching. These words qualify the three preceding imperatives, with the “all” here applying to both the patience and the teaching. 

All Patience:

     The hard job of ministering this Word is that the fruit isn’t immediate. It’s not like building a custom shed, Josiah, and then you can step back and admire the accomplishment. Nor is it like finally passing a test, Carmen and our students here. 

It’s more like studying and preparing for a test that’s decades off. Or like raising kids. God knows how they’ll turn out, not us. The minister is to do the work, but in the end, he’s got to entrust that work to the Lord.

     Progress and signs of progress come slow. And this doesn’t just apply to preachers, but to parents raising there kids in the fear and admonition of the Lord. It also applies to those we are called to disciple. And just a reminder, who’s called to make disciples? The church. Not the pastor. Not Sherif. Although we certainly have a role and responsibility in the matter. But making disciples falls to the church. The process is often slow going. 

     Part of the issue is that we all have to start from guess what? Where we are. Were all at different points along the way. Be patient. Remember, you once had to start somewhere. Like a newborn infant there was a time you required milk. But there’s also a time when the child grows up and should be digesting solid food. 

   Patience and Warning aren’t at adds. You warn your child. But you also need to discern where she is. The same is true of God’s flock.

All Teaching:

     Not only does preaching require all patience, it also requires all teaching. Your translation might have the word “complete” or “great” before “patience.” It’s simply the word, “all,” and it applies to both the patience and the teaching.  Just as the apostle Paul, in Acts 20, which Josiah read for us, reminded the Ephesian elders that he didn’t shrink from declaring the whole counsel of God, so too the church is called to preach the whole counsel of God. 

     Which in turn means we are to sit under and receive the whole counsel of God, not just the pastor’s favorite themes or pet peeves, not just what’s in line with the times. Not even simply addresses the most prominent issues the church faces. Why does this matter? Because if we only focus on the current issues and avoid addressing those things that aren’t currently an issue, guess what? Soon enough they will be! 

     The whole counsel of God is required to make the man of God complete. The whole counsel of God is required to make one wise for salvation. That’s why, although we’ll do short series on this or that theme, such as our Word of God series we’re currently in, for the most part we teach and preach through books of the Bible and large sections of Scripture. 

     This is also why, Sherif and I try to make sure your diet at Grace doesn’t consist solely of the most familiar passages, but instead we include books and passages you may not be familiar with, such as Haggai and Leviticus, and yes, we’ll be returning to Jeremiah to finish that up this year. 

     So, while preaching is more than teaching, it’s not less. The Word must be taught and explained in order to truly proclaim its implications and exhort people to respond.

ENVIRONMENT:

     Okay, Timothy, you now know who you are accountable to, what you’re called to do, how you are to do it. Now, I think it’s important you understand the environment, the working conditions, you’re called to minister in. Verse 3.

     For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.

   Paul’s words in verse 2, be ready in season and out of season, presupposes that Timothy is going to be facing a time not only where false teaching runs rampant, which Paul addresses multiple times throughout his letters, but where people are actually seeking out these false teachers. And I don’t have to tell you that what was true in Timothy’s day, is every bit as true in ours. 

     There are entire denominations that profess to be the church that have completely rejected the sound doctrine. They have rejected to the point where they can’t stand to listen to God’s authoritative Word. They speak out against what God’s Word clearly commands. And instead they promote worldviews and ideologies that are completely opposed to God’s Word.

     The Episcopal church on Tuesday served as a modern-day example of this turning away from truth and wandering off into myths. Not to mention the supposed bishop who was herself in direct contradiction with the clear teaching of Scripture. Here we have a denomination professing to be the church, professing to proclaim the teachings of Jesus, and yet completely disregarding the teachings of Jesus. What’s more, this false teacher perpetuated the myth of the transgender child. 

     Now, for anyone who listened to her message, she began with Psalm 19, May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight O Lord my Rock and my Redeemer. 

     But I assure you that here words were anything but acceptable in God’s sight, for she completely distorted the truth of God’s Word, in order to promote her own agenda and tickling the ears of her flock who sought out such a false teacher to proclaim, not God’s Word, but their own fanciful desires. 

     Bishop  Mariann Budde, rather than exposing sin, warning of sin’s consequence, and exhorting people to flee from God’s just wrath against sin into the merciful arms of Jesus, instead, she affirmed people in their sin and called others to do the same. Rather than pointing people to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus, she is leading countless thousands to hell. And she will be called to account by the Lord Jesus who is to judge the living and the dead.

     Here's the thing. And I know there are many who would likely hear her message, and think, I don’t see the problem. I mean, she called for unity and asked everyone to be nice to each other. And this is exactly why we need to sit under the preaching of the whole counsel of God’s Word, so that we can be better discerning when false teachers arise using biblical words, while promoting something altogether contrary to the Bible. As J Gresham Machen, founder of Westminster Theological Seminary, argued, liberalism is not simply a different denomination of Christianity, it’s a different religion. 

     Budde stated in her message that “Jesus said unity is the solid rock upon which to build a nation” and that “unity teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect.” But get this. Unity isn’t the solid rock. Jesus is. And apart from following Jesus and submitting to Jesus as Lord, meaning submitting to His whole counsel, there is not unity, nor can there be unity. To suggest unity teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect, is to try to build unity on disunity. 

     Why do I bring this up and make such a big deal out of it? Because the text demands it. Scripture demands it. God demands it. People are heading for hell. And they are being led astray by false teachers who have blood on their hands. 

     Let me be clear. You can’t willfully disagree with Jesus, with His clear teaching, with His apostles’ clear teaching, and call Him Lord. Because He doesn’t simply demand outward obedience. He demands heart obedience, taking every thought captive and making it obedient to Christ. Don’t fool yourself, thinking it’s safe to hold an opinion different than Jesus. And just to be clear, Jesus affirmed the entirety of Scriptures’ teaching. So don’t think you are somehow safe holding an opinion on any issue that is contrary to Scripture. That is to reject Jesus as Lord. And to reject Jesus as Lord is to reject Him as Savior. If that’s you, the exhortation for you is to repent and receive mercy. 

     One more thing. And I’m pleading with some here. Don’t allow your bitterness towards an individual or a group keep you from submitting to Christ. Bitterness paves the road to hell. 

     A distorted gospel, where we’re all God’s children and He loves you just the way you are, saves no one! The pure unadulterated Word of God alone makes one wise for salvation because is exposes sin, it warns of sin’s consequence, and it pleads for sinners to repent and flee to Christ for refuge.

RESPONSIBILITIES:

     Timothy, rather than being like this false teacher, Verse 5. Always be sober-minded, endure suffering, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry.

Let’s look at these four last imperatives briefly. 

Sober minded:

     Being sober minded has to do with being free from influences and intoxicants, and it suggests being alert and watchful so as not to fall under such influences. Timothy, you must be alert so as not to fall into these same deceptive traps. You have one standard, one final source of authority: the Word. The same Word you are called to preach, make sure you are preaching it to yourself. 

Endure suffering:

     Furthermore, you are to endure all suffering. To stand here and proclaim this Word faithfully is to invite suffering, pain, hardship. The easy lifestyle preacher is foreign to biblical Christianity. When the truth of God’s Word is proclaimed, some people are going to be offended, some angry, some indifferent. Doing this Timothy, you’ll watch people wander from the truth. And it will be hard… painful. As much as you long for them to know life, they will choose the deadness of their sin. But your identity isn’t in your hearers. It’s in Jesus. 

Do the Work of an Evangelist:

     Timothy, you aren’t preaching this Word to no ends. You’re calling people to salvation. Remember, preaching isn’t about giving people life lessons on practical living. Preaching is to be gospel-centered with a focus on Jesus’ death for sins, his burial, and resurrection—our hope as believers. 

Fulfill Your Ministry:

     Finally, Timothy. Fulfill your ministry. Preaching is not the only thing Timothy was called to do. There are no doubt many other duties involved. Make preaching the priority, but do not neglect other responsibilities.

CONCLUSION:

     Church, I hope you understand, I can’t stand up here a proclaim to you fluffy messages. Pull up your pillows and relax. I wouldn’t be loving you if I did. I understand the average church wants everyone to feel comfortable, have a lot of laughs. But there’s an edge to God’s Word that’s there for a reason. That’s meant to prune us, removing those areas in our life that aren’t yet conformed to Christ. And there’s only one way you and I will be conformed to Christ, God’s prescribed means, through the faithful preaching of this Word and the Spirit opening our hearts to receive it.

     You see, this sharp double edge sword of God’s Word is what pruned Jesus. Jesus was the tender shoot from the stump of Jesse who came and bore the full penalty of God’s Law in order to fulfill all that was written, including being cut off from the land of the living, not for his transgressions but ours. And Jesus Himself is the Word, who not only prunes you, but prunes that which is dead in you, that you might have life in Him.

https://youtu.be/AFYaLbjA7EY

Psalm 119:169-176 The Word of God: The Word that Works

Words, in themselves, are passive things. Open a dictionary. You’ll see thousands of them. But they won’t do anything. They'll just lie there. But set them in motion with your lips or the strokes of a pen, and those passive objects become active agents, ambassadors sent out to accomplish the will of the one who communicates them.

Just think of the red octagon at the end of your street with the letters S-T-O-P. The officials who placed it there expect it to cause you to stop. "Wait a second, Josh. That sign doesn’t cause me to stop." Well, you tell that to the officer when he lights up the blues and starts writing that citation. "No, I mean, it's my foot that causes me to stop. You know, when I press on the brake pedal" Really? I don't think that's what the automotive engineer would say. He'd tell you it's the friction between the brake pads and the rotors that cause you to stop. You see, there are layers of secondary causes, but the initial cause is that stop sign communicating to you on behalf of the city who put it there.

What about those words that aren't commands? If I’m standing next to Steve, and he suddenly says, “Hey, you’re standing on my foot,” he's not simply giving the location of my shoe. He intends those words to cause me to move my foot.

Well, God’s Word does things. God’s Word acts. It may be an ancient text, but it’s living and active. And God intends for His Word to accomplish the purpose for which He sent it.

Psalm 119 isn’t just the longest Psalm in the Psalter, it's the longest chapter in the whole of Scripture. 176 verses, every single one of them, in some sense or another, devoted to this Word of God, in its varied forms, such as precepts, laws, testimonies. It's composed of 22 stanzas, each stanza set forth with a different letter of the Hebrew alphabet, in order to aid memorization so its readers might store up God's word in their hearts. 

We’re not going to look at its entirety this morning; just the final stanza, under the letter Taw, beginning at verse 169. And what we’ll see is that this Word invites prayer, it evokes praise, it exposes preferences, and it achieves preservation. 

READ: (Psalm 119:169-176)

INVITES PRAYER

In the opening pair of verses, we find that God’s Word invites prayer. Look at verses 169 and 170.

Let my cry come before you, O Lord; give me understanding according to your word
Let my plea come before you; deliver me according to your word.

The key phrase here is, “according to your word.” The picture is one of the psalmist bringing his plea before God’s face, grounding his petition in God’s Word. You see, it’s in the Word itself that the psalmist discovers this gracious God who grants understanding to the simple. Give me understanding according to your word.

It's in this Word that the psalmist comes to know this merciful God who rescues the powerless. Deliver me according to your word. Hence, when the psalmist makes his plea, he prays, Lord, do so according to your word.

Do you find yourself praying like the psalmist here? Do you ground your prayers in God’s Word, praying, Lord, answer this request according to your Word? Of course, you’ve got to know this Word if you’re going to pray accordingly.

While we rarely admit it, we sometimes approach our knowledge of God as if it comes primarily from sources other than Scripture. And it’s true that God has given us other sources that help us to know something about Him. 

Scripture itself affirms that God’s eternal power and divine nature have been clearly manifested ever since the creation of the world. Look around and you can’t help but see that there is some sense of order to creation, even in its now fallen state. Even in us fallen human beings, we see enough of the Imago Dei, the image of God, to learn something of God. 

But these sources are inadequate for us to know God rightly. Sadly, too often, we get our theology from the fallen world—its movies, television, social media, the news, books and articles other than the Bible, friends and neighbors—many of whom glean their view of God from these same subjective fallible sources. 

I can’t tell you how many “Christians” I know and meet, and it’s obvious that the Bible is not the primary source for their theology, nor is it the primary source for wherever or whoever they’re getting their theology from. But I’ll say this, it’s a very high percentage. The average professing believer doesn’t know this Book. 

Why don’t they know this book? Because they haven’t read this Book. At most, they get all of their knowledge of the Scriptures secondhand. But do you realize, God doesn’t want you to know Him secondhand. Jesus didn’t come for you to know Him secondhand. 

Jesus didn’t take the nails for you on the cross for you to be indifferent about knowing Him. And if you don’t pour over this Word, I’m just going to be honest with you, it’s not because you don’t have the time, rather, it’s because knowing Jesus is not a priority to you. 

His sacrifice on the cross was like that Christmas gift you received however long ago that either you never even took out of the box to begin with, or maybe you did open it, enjoyed it for a season, and then set it on the shelf and moved on to better things. 

Jesus tells a parable regarding those who treat the seed of His Word just like that. Some receive the word with joy at first but never develop any roots. Others allow the things of this world—Jesus calls them weeds—to choke out the seed of His Word. In either case, they never develop any fruit.

This psalmist, however, you can tell that he delights in this Word; he studies this Word; he wants God to respond according to this Word. You can tell he intimately knows God, not second hand, but rather, he gleans his view of God from God’s infallible revelation of Himself—Scripture.

So, the psalmist prays for understanding and deliverance—recognizing that such are in God’s power to grant. You see, it’s the all-wise God who doles out understanding; it’s the all-powerful God who alone is mighty to save. 

But there's another reason why the psalmist makes this plea to the Lord. In this same Word, the psalmist finds that this omniscient, omnipotent Being is approachable—not because He’s somehow safe—no, not at all—but rather because He’s good. The psalmist discovers in God’s revelation of Himself that the Creator has a beneficent, benevolent will towards His creatures.

For those of you familiar with the Chronicles of Narnia, do you recall the scene when Mr. Beaver first tells the children of Aslan?

“Who’s Aslan?” one of the girls asks. “Aslan?” said Mr. Beaver. “Why don’t you know? . . . He’s King of the wood, the son of the great Emperor-beyond-the-Sea. Don’t you know who is King of beasts? Aslan is a lion—the Lion, the great Lion!”

And the two girls ask if he’s safe. “Safe?” Mr. Beaver says. “Who said anything about safe?” ‘Course he isn’t safe. . .  But . . . he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

You see, the Psalmist doesn’t find the omnipotent King of the universe—who knows every intimate detail of his life, including his every sin—approachable because He’s safe—but because He’s good.

Jesus himself points us to this beneficence of his Father. “Which of you,” Jesus says, “if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

God is approachable, not because He’s safe, but because in His goodness, He has provided a way for us sinners to approach Him, by giving the greatest gift of all, His Son. We see God’s goodness displayed in full when we gaze at the cross. And only because of this gracious act of infinite goodness and mercy are any of us able to approach this Holy God. This Word, and this Word alone, tells us just what Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished for us—access to God. The psalmist, looking forward to the cross, prays. And as believers, looking back at the cross, we pray.

EVOKES PRAISE

In the first pair of verses, we see how God’s Word invites prayer. Next, we find that this Word evokes praise. Look at verses 171 and 172.

My lips will pour forth praise, for you teach me your statutes.
My tongue will sing of your word, for all your commandments are right.

The psalmist’s first request for understanding has, to some degree, been answered: “for, you teach me your statutes.” And what does the psalmist do? He praises God.

Do you ever consider what a great God we must have simply in the fact that He does teach us His ways? That He has disclosed His righteous law to us? That He didn’t leave the world to wander aimlessly for all eternity. 

There is a sense in which God has written His law on every human heart. But with the Fall, that law within is somewhat marred and blurred—or at least our understanding of that law. But realize, from the very beginning, God gave verbal witness to humanity as to what righteousness looks like. In the Garden, righteousness was found in not usurping God’s authority as God, that God alone would pronounce what is good and what is evil, and that mankind would not have a say so in such but rather have obligation to heed God’s law.

But even after the Garden, after mankind had gone its own way, God enacted His plan to lead His people back to righteousness, giving them His Law and His written Word. 

Do you realize that God was under no obligation to give us the gift of His Law? And it is indeed a gift. Do you realize that God could have forever given us over to our own destructive ways? What an awesome God we must have, just in the fact that He has made available His Torah, His instruction to humanity.

Moses reminded the people of this very thing. In Deuteronomy 4, he says, “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” This takes us back to our previous point regarding God’s being approachable. It’s not so much that we approach God, but that He first approached us. This God is near to His people. Thus, we bring our prayers before Him.

Moses continues, “And what great nation is there that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?”

The psalmist can’t help but ‘bubble up’—that’s the word in verse 171—The psalmist can’t help but bubble up praise for having such a gracious God who teaches His people His law. In contrast, the idols of the nations were dumb! They’re mute. They didn’t teach their people anything. They couldn’t teach them anything! They were but the work of human hands! What can a creator learn from its creation?!

The psalmist doesn’t just praise God for instructing him. The psalmist recognizes that all the commandments of the Lord are righteous. So, the psalmist can’t help but sing of them, relaying them to the world in song.

I remember as a kid, the first time I learned a game-changing secret for the original Super Mario Brothers. Yes, I once played video games. Long before there was Mario Kart or whatever the latest iteration is, we had the original Super Mario Brothers.

Now, try as I may, however many times I played, I couldn’t beat the game. I could never get passed Bowser, the demonic king who had kidnapped the princess and sought to take dominion of the entire Mushroom Kingdom, the world in which this game takes place.

But a friend taught me this thing he called the “turtle stomp.” If you stomp on a certain turtle shell over and over again, eventually, with each trample upon this turtle, it would start adding extra lives to your avatar—up to 99 lives! I’m just gonna tell you, with 99 lives, anybody can beat that game! 

Now, what do you think I did after the first time I tried this? You can’t contain that kind of excitement. That my lips poured forth some joyous shouts is an understatement, because nothing was going to keep me from victory now!
You know what else I did? I told all my friends! Why? So that together we could celebrate the victory of crushing the evil dragon-like reptile who stood in our way of completing the game.

Our walk in this world is certainly no video game. There’s nothing virtual about heaven and hell. Yet, God has given us His Word to teach us how we might have victory over sin, death, and the dragon-like enemy who seeks to keep us from finishing the race. 

God’s Word doesn’t teach us how to have some quantifiable number of lives that we earn for ourselves by stomping on others as we trek through this world. No, we learn that we don’t secure anything for ourselves. But that Jesus, allowing himself to be crushed on the cross, secures for us—not 99 lives—but eternal life!

And soon, Jesus will once and for all trample this tyrant king under his feet, and the final rescue of His Bride—His princess—will be complete.

Let me ask. When you consider God’s plan of salvation as taught in His Word—that Jesus has made a way, that he is the way, the only way—do your lips pour forth praise? Does this gift of salvation overwhelm you to the point that your tongue can’t help but proclaim to the world God’s righteous command to repent and believe this good news?

Or do you find God’s plan of salvation unpalatable? Intolerant? Something you’re ashamed to share with your friends, family, and neighbors? Because if you aren’t overwhelmed by this gift of salvation and the cost it took to purchase it for you, you likely don’t know this salvation. Because this righteous plan of salvation found in this Word should cause you to sing. It should cause you to pour forth praise, a praise you are unable to hide from the watching world.

To this salvation we turn next:

EXPOSES PREFERENCES

So far we have seen in this single stanza of the longest Psalm how God’s Word invites prayer because He’s an approachable giver of good gifts, and His Word evokes praise for He teaches us his righteous commands. Now, we’ll look at how this Word also exposes our preferences. Look with me at verses 173 and 174. 

Let your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen your precepts.
I long for your salvation, O Lord, and your law is my delight.

Receiving the understanding the psalmist previously asked for in verse 169, he now continues his prayer for deliverance, stressing why he longs for God’s salvation in particular.

At first glance, this Psalm may seem to have little coherence in the ideas presented in each individual verse, as if the psalmist haphazardly came up with lines about God's Word that just happened to begin with the designated letter for each stanza. But such is far from the case. We forget that the psalmist is penning this under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. There is no accident of order here.

It's only after God teaches the psalmist His statutes and the psalmist recognizes the righteousness of all God's commands that the psalmist expresses, in his continued appeal, how he has chosen the Lord's appointed ways, and that he delights in the Lord's instruction, His law.

Why is it important that the psalmist comes to terms with his preferences? Well, the psalmist, in learning the ways of God, has discovered that he's not just being saved from something, but that he's being saved to something. He’s being saved from the kingdom of darkness ruled by the prince of the power of the air—Satan himself. And he’s being saved to the kingdom of light where Jesus reigns as Lord.

You know, Jesus doesn't leave us the option of receiving him as Savior without also receiving him as Lord. Yet there are so many who try. Jesus refuses to allow himself to be just another deity on the mantle of our life, to have a place beside other gods—the other things you and I tend to worship.

Listen to some of Jesus’ words:
Not everyone who calls me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven…
Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me…
If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross and follow me…
Why do you call me Lord and not do what I say…

This was Israel's struggle. They wanted God as deliverer, but not as King. So, they demanded a king in their own likeness, so they could be like the rest of the nations. 

I can’t count the number of gospel conversations I've had, but I can count on one hand the few in which the individual was sincerely honest with themselves about what was at stake. I'll share one. 

When my wife, Jenny, and I first came to Christ, this individual, who was already a long-time friend, decided she’d join us for Sunday school, as well as ongoing Bible studies in our home, checking out what it was that drew us to our new relationship with Jesus. 

For well over a year, she regularly participated, until she decided to end this journey. We were in our kitchen, and she told me straight up, “Many here,” pointing to those gathered around the living room and dining area, “they only want Jesus as insurance from hell. Their life looks no different from mine… but it should.
Whatever it is they want to call it, they aren't following Jesus. But I know that if I decided to follow, my life is going to look very different, and there are a lot of things in my life that I'm just not willing to let go.”

She was right. She couldn’t continue worshiping the things she did and follow Jesus too. Without repentance, there’s no salvation… because there’s no genuine faith. Those who don't repent are ultimately saying to Jesus, "I don't truly trust you. My way is better for me." You can’t trust Jesus for salvation, if you can’t trust him with the rest of your life. It’s that simple.

Now, don't misunderstand what I'm saying. I'm not saying that those who follow Jesus will never sin. But I am saying that those who follow Jesus will agree with him as to what is sin and therefore do what Jesus commands — waging war against the sin in their life, and that, through drastic measures if need be.

As our Lord says, If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell.

Jesus is by no means suggesting that waging war against the sin in our lives will be easy. Far from it. It is nothing less than warfare against your old self. The only way you and I will take such drastic measures against our sin is if we delight in God’s instruction and have chosen His ways.

The psalmist longs for salvation from this King because he’s looking forward to dwelling in this King's kingdom under this King's rule. The psalmist prefers God’s ways over that of the world’s. 

How about you? Are you looking forward to a kingdom in which God’s righteous law is lived out by all, including you? Or do you even delight in God’s law? Because if you don’t delight in God’s law for yourself in the here and now, there will be absolutely nothing about heaven in which you’ll delight, for God’s kingdom will be a kingdom of righteousness. There will be nothing unsavory or unwholesome. There’ll be no place for gossip, or greed, or envy, or boasting. There’ll be no place for any of the idols you currently worship. What will be there is the Lamb who was slain in the place of those who now find their delight in Him, who delight in His law.

ACHIEVES PRESERVATION

So, God’s Word invites our prayers, it evokes our praise, it exposes our preferences, and all 3 of these come together in this final pair of verses for the psalmist’s preservation. We’ll look at them one at a time. Verse 175.

Let my soul live and praise you, and let your rules help me.

The psalmist continues his plea to the Lord, “Let my soul live!” But why does the psalmist long for the Lord to preserve his soul? So that he might live to God’s praise, His glory. 

Earlier, the psalmist spoke of praising God with his mouth, but here, his whole being. The Hebrew word literally means “shine,” though it’s most often translated: “to praise” or “to boast.” It carries the idea of shining forth. Jesus said, “You are the light of the world. . . So let your light shine before others that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” 

How are we to do this? The second half of the verse, “let your rules help me.”

We were made to reflect, to shine forth, God’s image. But since the Fall that image has been compromised. The serpent led Eve to think that God couldn’t be trusted, that He was withholding something good from her. And this distorted view of God has caused us to shine forth a distorted image. 

The psalmist recognizes the importance of this Word if he is to shine forth God’s image aright.
What about us? How are we supposed to shine forth the image of God when we don’t know what He looks like? When we fail to regularly open this Book to get a good look at Him? 

You do realize that there’s no conforming to the image of God apart from His Word.
I assure you. It is doubtful that you or I will become the holy men and women of God we are called to be if we neglect this Book. And the author of Hebrews makes it clear. Without holiness, no one… no one will see the Lord. There’s no finishing the race without holiness. Period.

This Book has been given to you that in seeing God’s glory in the face of Jesus Christ, you might long all the more to see Him in person. You see, this Word has been given to you, to see you to the end. 

O, but being in the Word is no guarantee that you or I won’t stray. Final verse.

I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant, for I do not forget your commandments.

This last verse seems so out of place. What a strange way for the psalm to end! How is this even possible? You know, we only looked at the last 8 verses. There are 168 before these. And if we were to read them, here’s some of what we’d find.

“I will keep your statutes.  
I have stored up your word in my heart.
I delight in your testimonies.
I will meditate on your precepts.
My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.
Your words are my counselors.  
I cling to your testimonies.
I will keep your law continually, forever and ever.
I have kept your precepts.
I promise to keep your word.
O how I love your law.
I do not turn aside from your rules.
Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path. 

And we could go on. . . After 175 verses of this, how is it that he’s gone astray? Did he take his eyes off the Word that’s a lamp to his feet and a light to his path?

John Bunyan, a Puritan, wrote an allegory of our Christian pilgrimage called, Pilgrim’s Progress. The main character, Christian, is on his way to the Celestial City.
But along the way, more than once, something causes him to veer from the straight and narrow path he was to follow.

Sometimes the path was too cumbersome, and he sought an easier way. Sometimes the path forked, and the false path looked an awful lot like the straight one. And sometimes he was deceived by those he met along the way. 

What’s interesting is how quickly Christian realized that he had strayed, that he was no longer on the right path and was in grave danger of not finishing his pilgrimage.

It’s because the psalmist has not forgotten the Lord’s commandments that he knows he’s off course and in desperate need of help. He’s in need of being sought.

In Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son, it’s both sons who are lost. The younger may have wandered physically, but the affections of both sons wandered from their father. The younger son, however, is brought back. “Brought back!? No, no, Josh, he walked back on his own.” Did he? The text says that the son was found.

You see, he was brought back by the remembrance of his Father’s good and gracious character, which the older brother despised. He was brought to repentance, finally realizing that he had sinned against his father and even heaven. He was brought low, recognizing that he no longer worthy to be called, “Son.”

And yet, the father was not content with his lost son being brought back part way. He wanted his son back in full. Even the son’s remembrance of his father’s kind character failed to match the fullness of the father’s grace, clothing his once rebellious son with the best robe.

In the same way, God draws His children back when we go astray. He seeks us with His Word that has been stored up in our hearts, this word that reveals how he first rescued us, by sending His own Son, the Word become flesh. It is this Word, the God-man, Jesus, who came to seek and save the lost.

Maybe you’re sitting here this morning, realizing that you have strayed. Perhaps, you’ve been straying just a bit here and there, in certain areas of your life. Maybe you’ve even fooled yourself into thinking it would be but a small little detour off the straight and narrow, and now you feel that you’ve gone too far off course. You’re not sure that there’s a path back. You’re not sure the Father would even have you back.

Hear this Word! God is sending out his Word right now, to seek you, and to bring you back to the fold. And He has the best of robes waiting for you, as He longs for nothing more than to clothe you with the righteousness of His Son. That is what Jesus purchased for you. Turn around. It’s not too late. May His grace lead you home.

CONCLUSION

Well, I guess this is a good place to end. It’s where the psalmist ended.
But I do have a question for you. What are you doing to store up this Word in your heart, in your family’s hearts, your children’s hearts, your grandkids’ hearts? 

If you’re not storing up this Word in your heart, how is it going to keep you and lead you back, or your children back should they start to drift? Are we really so naive to think that we are beyond this?

After 175 verses of praising God’s Word, delighting in God’s Word, storing up God’s Word, keeping God’s Word, the psalmist realizes that he isn’t immune from drifting. He needs this Word to keep him. And so do we.

This Word invites our prayers, it evokes our praise, it exposes our preferences, and it achieves our preservation. And that’s just a single stanza of a single Psalm. Go discover what else God’s Word does. May it be there, stored up in your heart for that hour when maybe you’ve wandered a little off course. And may God use it to seek you and lead you home, all the way to His celestial city.

https://youtu.be/frLvMSWJDPA

TITUS 2:11-14 LIVING BETWEEN THE ADVENTS: TRAINED BY GRACE

INTRODUCTION:

READ: Titus 2:11-14

ISSUE AT HAND

Let’s first get a context for our verses. Paul’s letter to Titus confronts the issue of false teaching and distorted doctrine that has led to a failure for many in the church to live godly lives in this present age. If you look back at chapter 1, verse 10: there are many who are rebellious, empty talkers and deceivers… who teach for shameful gain, teaching what they ought not to teach. They are upsetting whole families and causing divisions, and therefore, they must be silenced. 

QUALIFIED LEADERS

Hence, the first order of business in which Paul addresses is to appoint qualified leaders to teach sound doctrine and quell divisiveness. (1:9) Titus is to appoint those who hold firm the trustworthy word as taught so that they may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it. Now, it’s important to recognize that the lives of these men must reflect the doctrine they profess. So, Paul gives a list of qualification for those who would oversee God’s church. That’s verses 5-8.) Why? Verse 16. Because our lives will demonstrate whether we truly know God, or merely give lip service to the idea of knowing God. They profess to know God, but they deny Him by their works.

TEACHING COMMUNITY

Paul’s vision for the church, however, doesn’t end with appointing elders. In chapter 2, Paul lays out a vision for establishing the church as a teaching community that lives out sound doctrine in their day-to-day lives. Older men are to be sound in the faith; older women are to teach and train up younger women; slaves must live in such a way that they adorn the doctrine of God with their lives, in particularly, in their relationship with their earthly masters. Titus himself must not only teach but set an example for all in his life and his teaching.

EMPHASIS ON SOUND DOCTRINE

Now, why do we cover the context of the letter before just simply digging into our verses? Because this entire letter has a major emphasis on sound doctrine. But if we look no further than our 4 verses, they don’t raise the explicit issue of sound doctrine, but rather focus on how one should live between the Advents, the first and second coming of our Lord Jesus. But as far as Paul is concerned, these four verses have everything to do with sound doctrine.

SOUND DOCTRINE OR JESUS?

I’m still amazed at how many believers suggest that they don’t really care that much about doctrine, just give me Jesus. Well, on the surface that has a nice simple ring to it. It definitely seems to help guard us from becoming Pharisees. But do you realize that you can’t know Jesus in truth apart from sound doctrine. And if you’re not grounded in sound doctrine, you’re in danger of worshiping a different Jesus than the one presented in the Scriptures.

GOSPEL TENETS

Why do you think we make such a big deal about our tenets of the gospel? Because it’s a reminder of those core beliefs that the church universal has long held to. And they were recorded into creeds and confessions… you know why? To refute the errors that arose within the church. Like the creed we read from today, by Athanasius, regarding the doctrine of the Son of God­—or in theological circles, Christology. The first half of the creed which we didn’t read this morning has to do with the doctrine of the Trinity. 

ARIUS/ARIANS

Why do these matter? Because there was a grouped called the Arians, the followers of a man named Arius, who denied the divinity of the Son in the absolute sense. Sense the Son is begotten, the Arians insisted that He must not be eternal. These attacks not only impacted the church’s Christology, but it also attacked the doctrine of the trinity. 

IF JESUS IS NOT GOD

And here’s the thing, if Jesus is not God, if He is not divine, He is unable to pay the penalty for our sin, because if Jesus is not God, our sin is not first and foremost against Him, and therefore, we are still indebted to an infinite holy God, for trespasses deserving of infinite restitution, of which we as finite beings can pay none of it. It would take an eternity for any of us to pay the penalty of even our smallest act of treason against this eternal God. And thus, hell, is eternal. 

For Jesus to forgive our sins, our sins must somehow be against Him. For Jesus to make restitution/recompense for our sins against God, Jesus’ life must be of infinite value. Otherwise, he’d have to be crucified again and again for an eternity.

The Athanasius Creed is an example of what Paul addresses here in his letter to Titus to refute error and instruct in sound doctrine. “Sound doctrine” (1:9), “sound in faith” (1:13), “sound doctrine” (2:1), “sound in faith” (2:2), adorn doctrine (2:10).

FROM SOUND DOCTRINE FLOWS GODLINESS

Sound doctrine matters because from it flows godly lives zealous for good works. Only when our doctrine is sound can we rightly understand the grace of God for the amazing grace that it is.

TWO ADVENTS

The major doctrine presented here in our text is nothing less than the two Advents of Christ, which Paul records as two “appearings” Verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men.And verse 13. As we await our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

Everything we do in life, as believers, should flow out of these two comings. So, let’s consider the flow of Paul’s argument beginning with this first appearing.

GRACE APPEARED

Verse 11. For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.

CRADLE AND CROSS

At the very least, what we have here in this first appearing is the Christmas story. But as we have noted time and again this Advent season, if you fail to see the cross when gazing on the cradle, you aren’t truly seeing the Christmas story. 

This little babe whom Joseph would help wrap in strips of cloth and lay to rest in a stone feeding trough would one day be wrapped in a linen cloth and laid to rest in a stone tomb by another Joseph at the end of his life. 

FROM INCARNATION TO DEATH

The grace of God that has appeared includes the entirety of Christ’s first coming, from the miraculous virgin conception and God taking on human flesh, to the brutal Roman cross where God Himself is put to death for our sin, to the resurrection that guarantees the payment.

GRACE AND TRUTH MADE KNOWN

Indeed, the grace of God has appeared in the person of Jesus Christ. If you recall where we ended for our Christmas Eve service, we ended in John 1. Grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. No one has ever seen God, the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.

JESUS’ NAME

And what does Jesus’ name mean? Jesus’ name means: Yahweh saves. The angel of the Lord tells Joseph, You shall call him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. Notice, he doesn’t say, you shall call him Jesus for he will save God’s people, although that is certainly true. But rather, Jesus, Yahweh in the flesh, will save His people from their sins. 

SALVATION TO ALL?

Yahweh Himself had come, bringing salvation… but bringing salvation for who? Your verse 11 likely reads “all people” as the ESV records it. And that’s a good translation. Literally, it’s “all men” used in the plural, meaning men and women. The question is really how we understand this word “all.” 

How do we understand this text when we know that Jesus doesn’t actually save everyone? Not every individual will be saved. Jesus himself affirms such. So unless Scripture is okay with contradictions, we know that the text isn’t saying that the grace of God saves everyone.

TRANSLATION DIFFICULTIES

There’s a slight difficulty in this text, as there’s no immediate verb attached to salvation, so translators have to insert an implied verb. Literally the text would read, For the grace of God has appeared: salvation to all men. 

So most translators have opted to insert the word “bring,” bringing salvation for all people. The NIV: “offering salvation to all people” to try to capture the nuance that salvation is brought and made available, but not necessarily received.

BRINGING PIZZA

I can bring pizza. Buy pizza. Prepare a table and set pizza before our entire congregation. Not everyone is going to receive this pizza. Some, maybe, don’t even like pizza. It’s not my taste. Others, well… pizza sounds good, but I better not eat it because of the cheese. I’ll have my wife make me a vegan pizza instead. It’s just as good! Some might like the idea of pizza, but they just don’t like where the pizza came from, or who purchased the pizza—I’ll buy my own pizza, thank you—or who delivered the pizza, or who holds out the pizza. 

There are all sorts of reasons some won’t receive this pizza. And then, there are those who are hungry for it and thankful for it and will enjoy it to the full. 

FREELY OFFERED TO ALL

That’s one way we can understand verse 11. This grace of God has appeared for the purpose of offering, presenting salvation before all. And it’s true that the gospel is freely offered to all. God doesn’t stiff arm people to keep them from coming to Jesus and receiving this salvation. But neither does He allow anyone to come to Him on their own terms. He has set salvation before all. And He has set the terms for this salvation to be received. 

NON-NEGOTIABLE TERMS

And these terms are non-negotiable. Why? Because it is the only way anyone can be saved. Remember our discussion of the Athanasius Creed. One must pay the infinite debt we owe for our rebellion, or we can’t be saved. There was absolutely no other way for us to be saved than God coming and paying the penalty of our sin Himself. (Romans 3:25).

WITHOUT EXCEPTION OR DISCTINCTION?

While the gospel is freely offered to all without exception, there’s another way to understand Paul’s use of “all” in verse 11. Rather than “all” without exception, suggesting that every individual persons is presented with this salvation, it is more likely that Paul is using “all” in the sense of “all without distinction.” And here’s how I come to that conclusion.

CONTEXT: MALE, FEMALE, YOUNG, OLD, BOND, FREE

In the first half of chapter 2, Paul gives instructions for men, women, young women, young men, bondservants, and masters. There’s no sphere of life that the gospel doesn’t reach and speak into. This is likely the sense Paul has in mind, and it best fits contextually with the rest of Paul’s letter. Whether male or female, young or old, slave or free, salvation has been brought to all, regardless of the anyone’s background. 

NOT MERE COMMON GRACE

And this grace displays itself, not primarily in God’s common grace given to all, but in the salvation that is offered through the child-King who was born to save us from our sins by paying the penalty in our place.

TRAINED BY GRACE

This grace not only brings salvation. It trains us in godliness. For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age.

While we are passive recipients of God’s grace, we are passive in this salvation, meaning we do nothing on our end to contribute to it, the regenerative grace of this salvation doesn’t leave us passive agents. This salvation produces something within us. It trains us.

DISCIPLINING A CHILD

The word in verse 12 is that of training up a child, disciplining a child for the sake of maturity. That’s what God’s grace is working in us. As God’s children in Christ, we are being disciplined for maturity in Christ. 

Now, none of us find all discipline to be pleasant. Hebrews reminds us that for the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

We are being trained, disciplined, really to renounce our former ways of ungodliness and worldly desires. Jump down to chapter 3 verse 3. For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another. 

So, don’t think this is going to be an easy transformation! It’s not going to come automatically. Sanctification won’t happen if you are passive in the process. This training, this discipline, is nothing less than learning how to put to death your old self.

WHAT WE’RE UP AGAINST

It’s important that we understand the magnitude of what we’re up against. Sometimes, I’m not so sure we realize the formidability of the forces that stand against us. O, they’re not omnipotent like our Lord, but they are nonetheless foes not to take lightly. Which is why we need to stay suited up in our spiritual armor, which we looked at a couple weeks ago from 1 Thessalonians 5. We need to workout our spiritual muscles so that we are strengthened by grace. We need to be trained in military tactics, so we aren’t caught off guard by the devil and his schemes of deception. 

A BATTLE FOR SOUND DOCTRINE

Well, Josh, how do we do those things. Well, let me draw your attention back to just how much of this letter is about training and teaching sound doctrine. Why? Because our warfare isn’t primarily against flesh and blood. 

This is a spiritual war against enemies that can’t be seen or physically defended against. It’s a warfare against the forces of deception, against those who oppose a true and right knowledge of God. This is a battle of the heart and mind, a battle over ideas, over worldviews. It is a battle for sound doctrine, a battle for nothing less than truth.

ESSENCE OF UNGODLINESS

To renounce ungodliness, we need to know what the root of ungodliness is. Romans 1:18. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness (there’s our word) and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. Why? For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. . . Notice, ungodliness, in one sense has to do with suppressing the plain truth that God has made readily available to all. 

So what’s at the heart of ungodliness. Romans 1:25. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. The word used for worship in verse 25 and the word for ungodliness in verse 18 both come from the same root. Ungodliness is, at its essence, misplaced worship—any thought, word, or deed contrary to the worship of the One true God who alone is worthy of all worship. Ungodliness is all things opposed to true worship.

Renouncing all ungodliness is to renounce all our misplaced worship, which means denying ourselves of those worldly passions that draw our hearts away from God. 

In Titus 1, verse 16, Paul writes that unbelievers deny God by their deeds/works. Here, in verse 12, he is saying that because we know God and have received such grace, we are to deny those things that are contrary to God, those things that dishonor the One who formed us to image Him.

SELF-CONTROLLED, UPRIGHT, GODLY

Putting to death our old self, now we are to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives.

SELF-CONTROL

Now, self-control is an aspect of the fruit of the Spirit, which means, we don’t do this by our own strength, by our flesh. Rather, by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body.

UPRIGHT

Living upright or righteously…
Jesus has made us righteous in our union with Him. But now we must live out that righteousness that we have in Christ.

GODLY

And I already mentioned godly. As opposed to ungodliness, godliness has to do with everything that flows from a true worship of God in truth.

Jesus himself addresses this with the woman at the well. True worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth. 

HOW

How do we do any of these? Well, for one, we fix our eyes on the gift of grace that has appeared, meaning we fix our eyes on Jesus. We notice how our Lord lived out these traits perfectly in order to save us. 

PERFECT SELF-CONTROL IN MIDST OF TEMPTATION

Jesus practiced self-control. We might wonder if self-control is even an attribute which we would ascribe to Jesus, and that’s because we have a hard time truly believing that Jesus was tempted in every way we are. But that gets back to the issue of sound doctrine. If Jesus wasn’t truly tempted as we are in, then he is unable to save us. Jesus is able to serve as our great high priest only because he has been tempted in every way we are, yet without sin. 

Jesus lived out self-control perfectly, never caving to the flesh, as we often do, even when he was at his weakest and hungriest. Even when he was most disappointed, when others let him down, or wronged him, Jesus practiced self-control an responding in perfect righteousness and godliness.

PERFECT RIGHTEOUSNESS

Jesus was perfectly upright, even when mistreated and unjustly condemned, he never retaliated, but entrusted himself to His Father who judges justly. 

PERFECT GODLINESS

And Jesus lived out perfect godliness with his every breath, every word, every thought, every deed being an act of worship, honoring his Father in all things. 

JESUS WORSHIPED?

Some might hesitate to say Jesus worshiped. I mean if Jesus is God, can Jesus rightly worship. Well, remember our creedal confession. Jesus is truly God and truly man, without the blending of his essence, but by the unity of his person. As a man, Jesus fulfilled the law perfectly, including the first commandment, including all the commands to worship. Jesus’ whole life was an act of devotion to His Father. He prayed to his Father. He praised his Father. He relied completely on his Father. He did all things to the glory of his Father. 

IN THE PRESENT AGE

In the present age. It could be easy for us to gloss over this last phrase. And if we’re honest, we sometimes leave off this aspect of Paul’s instruction. You know, I can worry about denying my worldly passions sometime later. I can renounce my old ways when I’m older. In fact, I might even wait until I get to heaven. Then I’ll worry about godliness and righteousness and self-control. But for now…

Well, if you think like that, you won’t find yourself in the kingdom of heaven. We are being disciplined for life transformation in the here and now—in this present age. If you don’t participate in the sanctification process now on this side of glory, you won’t have an opportunity to participate in the sanctification process later.

CURRENT TRAINING GROUND

This fallen world is the training ground! Not heaven. When your Bridegroom comes to receive His Bride, He doesn’t want to find the Bride had no interest in preparing for His arrival. Jesus is returning for a Bride prepared, a Bride adorned for her Husband, a Bride adorned in righteous deeds. Listen to this from Revelation 19:8, concerning the Bride. It was granted to her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure… now listen to Johns next words… for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.

You fail to be a Bride prepared on this side, you won’t be at the marriage supper. Yes, Jesus’ righteousness covers his Bride. But he covers his Bride through transforming her to be righteous and pure.

GRACE TRANSFORMS

You see, this grace of God that has appeared, that brings salvation, not only removes our judgment; it also removes the power of sin. Jesus died, not only to secure our forgiveness but also our faithfulness. This is not just a grace that rescues; it’s a grace that renews. 

Grace trains us to renounce ungodliness by showing us how abhorrent and empty and undesirable and displeasing our former lives were in God’s sight—so much so, that He sent His only Son to die a gruesome death on a bloody cross! 

And yet, he did this for us, while we were yet enemies. That’s how God showed His love for us. And that grace moves a heart that knows that salvation to delight in self-control, to delight in uprightness, to delight in godliness… NOW!!!... here in this present age, out of an overflow of thanksgiving and love for this God would grant us undeserving rebels such a pardon… and yet… more… adoption as sons.

AWAITING HOPE

Verse 13. For the grace of God has appeared bringing salvation to all men, training us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, awaiting our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.

SUFFERING WITH CHRIST

Our hope isn’t in this age. This is the age of preparation. This is the age of suffering. This is the age of discipline. This isn’t the age we long for… not if we’re in Christ. No. We long for the age to come. But we recognize the necessity and the purpose of this age. Part of our union with Christ means that we get to experience, certainly to a lesser degree, but nonetheless a true participation in Christ’s sufferings. Without suffering with Christ, we can’t rightly know the love of Christ. 

Prosperity preachers, including what we might call “dime-store” prosperity preachers, those who are a bit more subtle, they like to leave out that the call to follow Jesus is the call to come and die. They don’t like to talk about suffering with Christ. But it’s all over the New Testament. And if you refuse to willingly suffer with Christ, you will have no inheritance with Him either. This is the age of our suffering. The age to come is the age of glory, when we will receive the consummation of our blessed hope, and see the appearing of the glory of this great God and Savior.

GOD AND SAVIOR

Now, who is Paul referring to here at the end of verse 13? Two people or one? While it is possible to translate this verse as “our great God and our Savior Jesus Christ,” it would be the exception to the rule in Greek grammer, meaning, based on the Greek in which the New Testament was written in—Koine Greek, to translate this phrase as referring to two people would be inconsistent with normal grammatical practices. 

This verse, here in Titus 2, is one of the clearest expressions of the Apostles referring to Jesus as God. 

Going back to the creed, the Athanasius Creed, Sherif read earlier for us in service, it’s a reminder that sound doctrine must entail the deity of Christ. If you don’t affirm the deity of Christ, you’re not saved, because your faith is misplaced; you’re faith is in another Jesus than the Jesus of the Scriptures; you’re faith is in a Jesus who can’t save. 

MODERN DAY ARIANS

I brought up the Arian controversy earlier, those who denied the eternal nature of the Son. That controversy is very much alive today. One such group that denies the full deity of the Son, as if you can be half divine, however that works, is modern day Jehovah Witnesses. They even came out with their own doctored up translation to try to remove any mention of Jesus as God.

But here’s the thing. They could never dismantle the New Testament enough to remove the Apostles’ stance on the deity of Christ.

AVALANCHE

To borrow from B. B. Warfield’s avalanche illustration:
The attempt to explain away the New Testament’s witness regarding the deity of Christ is like a man sitting at a computer analyzing the individual stones of an avalanche, and how one might navigate their way through such by mapping the pathway of each stone so that they are easily dodged, coming through the other side of the avalanche unscathed. But an avalanche doesn’t come down one stone at a time; but all at once. 

CRUSHING CORNERSTONE

One may think to pick apart the deity of Christ, by setting aside this verse or that with various challenges. But the verses of Scripture aren’t set in isolation, nor are they few in number. The weight of Christ’s deity comes down in one solid mass. 

This Cornerstone will crush you. Don’t think you can get around it by picking it apart. The only refuge from the crushing weight of this Cornerstone is by building your life on it. 

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. (Matt 21:42). The one who falls on this stone will be broken in pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.

But for those who hear Jesus’ words and does them, they will be like a wise man who built his house on the Rock.

A PEOPLE FOR HIS OWN POSSESSION

Verse 14. This God and Savior, Jesus Christ, gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

APPLIED TO JESUS

Even if we were to translate God and Savior as two distinct persons, verse 14, ascribes those things which belonged to God in the Old Testament now to Jesus in the New. Those things that belonged to Yahweh are now used of Jesus. You can’t escape the New Testament’s witness for the deity of Christ.

Exodus 19:6, after redeeming a people, namely Israel, from bondage in Egypt, the Lord, Yahweh says, “if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is mine.” 

Deuteronomy 7:6. Moses reminds the people, “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord God has chosen you to be a people for his own treasured possession.” 

Here, in our text, this is applied to Jesus, and those He redeemed—the true Israel, consisting of Jew and gentile alike, including those in Crete where Titus is—these redeemed are Jesus’ own treasured possession.

TOO MANY AVALANCHE STONES

I mean, follow the text. If God and Savior are two distinct persons in verse 13, then only one of them gave themselves up for this people to redeem them. The Father didn’t give Himself up; the Son did. And now, what was applied to Yahweh in the Old is now applied to Jesus is the New. Of course, as already mentioned, I don’t think verse 13 refers to the Father and the Son, but only the Son.

My point is, you think you avoided having to deal with the deity of Jesus in one verse, and then you have to deal with it in the next. But if Jesus isn’t God, the entire New Testament makes no sense whatsoever. 

LAWLESSNESS

Jesus didn’t give himself for us without purpose. He did so to redeem us from our lawlessness. It might be helpful for us to recall just what lawlessness is. Do you recall the first commandment? You shall have no other gods beside me. 

But what about the first commandment before the first commandment? The very first commandment? Do not eat. Which was really another way of expressing the first commandment of the big ten. Do not eat from this tree was the one way in which Adam and Eve would demonstrate whether they affirmed that God was God, or they were. 

Our greatest form of lawlessness, just like Adam and Eve’s, is exalting ourselves. Rather than living to the service of the glory of God, we seek to live to our own. And it has brought nothing but corruption and destruction and brokenness and heartache upon God’s creation. Jesus came to redeem us from ourselves.

But more than that, he gave himself up in order to purify us for Him, that He might take us as His Bride. And what does Jesus’ Bride look like? She’s zealous for good works, just like her groom.

GOOD WORKS

So, what are good works? Genuine good works?

LIMITED GOODNESS

Scripture acknowledges good works in two ways. It is right to acknowledge that the unbelieving world does those things that benefit others in a temporary sense. It is right to acknowledge those deeds as good. But all those deeds are limited in their goodness. They are limited to the fallen kingdom of man. And every such work will be short-lived, producing no lasting fruit. 

These works won’t carry over into eternity. At most, they display that we all know, the whole world knows, without exception, how we are to live, and yet, more often than not fail to, not because we are physically unable, but because we have no regular taste for doing such works.

BROCCOLI

It’s kind of like eating broccoli. If most of us have the options set before us, we’d choose the greasy pizza or burger or chocolate cake over the broccoli. Steve wouldn’t! But the rest of us would.

Yet, we’ll eat the broccoli because we know it’s good for us. We know it’s healthy. We know it’s the right thing for us to do. But eating broccoli saves no one. It won’t sae your neighbor in the long run, and it sure won’t save you. Eventually these decaying bodies will give way regardless of how much broccoli you eat, no matter how much broccoli you encourage your neighbor to eat. 

CHANGED TASTES

But in Christ, our tastes are changed to where we actually prefer the broccoli over our past indulgences of sugar and grease.

So while the unbeliever will do good works in a more limited sense, the believer will delight in doing good.

GENUINE GOOD WORKS

But Scripture also makes clear that there are no genuine good works done outside of Christ—outside of our union with Christ. Meaning, the unbeliever may feed the homeless, but such ultimately fails to be a good work in the ultimate sense of the word because it fails to do the ultimate good thing, which is to glorify God. Rather, the unbeliever does these things for their own glory, for corrupt motives, to either be thought well of by others, or to feel good about oneself. 

HARSH WARNING

Why does this matter? Because Matthew 7:21, not everyone who says to Jesus, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven. It’s not enough to call Jesus Lord! But only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 

If you are not zealous for good works, if the Christian life for you is nothing more than a head nod to Jesus on a Sunday morning, or at the dinner table, then you don’t truly know him as Lord. You only know him as fire insurance. 

O, but Jesus doesn’t stop there. On that day, many will claim to have spoken in Jesus’ name, casting out demons in Jesus’ name, doing many might works in Jesus’ name… and Jesus will declare, “I never knew you.”

FULL TIME CHRISTIANS

That, my friends, should cause us to tremble. Sadly, there’s this rampant belief in the church that thinks we can somehow merit our salvation by eating enough broccoli, doing enough good deeds here and there in Jesus’ name, and then turn and use the rest of our time living out our own godless agendas. If I eat enough broccoli it will compensate for all the junk I put into my system!

But such a mindset, doesn’t actually do any good deeds for Jesus. Those good deeds are ultimately a part of the godless agenda that ultimately make a name for oneself. 

JUDAS

You realize, Judas proclaimed the gospel, cast out demons, and walked with the twelve, doing many of the same works the others did? Indeed, Judas appeared to walk with Jesus, at least physically. But his heart was for himself.

His works—all of them—were works of lawlessness because at the heart of them all was the breaking of the most fundamental commandments, all of which are summed up under the two great commands: love God and love neighbor. How? Because everything Judas did ultimately flowed from a love of himself and a love for the things of this fallen world, which also is a form of loving oneself. 

PROSPERITY GOSPEL

I love myself so much, I’m going to deny myself nothing. I’m going to keep nothing from my grasps. Which means, I’ll even mix in a little religion here or there, because I want a bit of everything and anything so long as it doesn’t keep me from something else I like.

If following Jesus might give me health in this age of disease. I’ll follow… somewhat. If following Jesus will get me a nice shiny new car, I’ll go through the motions. If following Jesus will gain me some attention, I’m in.

The prosperity gospel wants no part in glorifying Christ by dying with Him, suffering with Him, being humiliated with Him, being an outcast with Him, being mocked and scorned and beaten with Him. Having no comfortable place to rest your head … with Him. Forsaking the pleasures and indulgences of this fallen world … with Him. 

BALANCE

Now, we need to be careful in seeking to be pious for our own glory. That’s just as much a danger. Titus 1:15. To the pure, all things are pure, but to the defiled and unbelieving, nothing is pure. They profess to know God, but they deny hi by their works.

PRESS ON

This is a hard word, I know. But with the warning comes the promise. Loved ones, our Bridegroom is coming back. This age of suffering and denying oneself is short in comparison to eternity. And if we keep our eyes fixed on the glory of Christ, the shininess of some of those desires will lose some of their luster. And if you fail, remember, you’re not seeking to earn your salvation; you’re seeking to live out your salvation in this fallen age so that you can enjoy the fullness of it in the age to come. Lean into the grace of God that has appeared and the promise of the appearing of Christ’s glory that is sure to come.

TWO ADVENTS

You see, the first Advent, our Savior came in veiled glory under the cover of night. But when Jesus returns it will be in unveiled glory for all to see. In his first appearing he came with no beauty that we should desire him, but in his second, we will see those eyes that are like flames of fire. In his first appearing, he came to lay down his life for his enemies. When he appears a second time it will be to rue with an iron fist and crush every opposition. 

If you have not fallen on the mercy of this Humble King, do so while His pardoning mercy is held out to you. For the grace of God has appeared… bringing salvation for all people. Come and know this King, this God, this Savior, Jesus Christ.

https://youtu.be/WDGvT0HyMO8