Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture - Jer 46-47, 13, 18, 36-7
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's good to see you today. Welcome to our journey through scripture. Again, my name is Philip, pastor of Journey here in Elgin, and this is our journey through scripture. We are taking a chronological look through the Bible. Today we're going to be in Jeremiah. We're gonna be in a few different areas of Jeremiah. We're gonna start off in chapters 46 and 47. Then we'll be in chapters 13 and 18, and then 36 and 37. Kind of in that area. The book of Jeremiah kind of jumps around in chronological order. So we're trying to keep it as close as we can. This starts off in chapters 46 and 47. ⁓ What has happened now is remember we talked a little bit about how all that's left now is the Southern Kingdom, the nation ⁓ of Judah. ⁓ There is the king now is Jehoiakim. And he has basically been put in position by ⁓ Egypt. Egypt tried to partner with Assyria to go and fight the Babylon. They went up and they were defeated. so as Egypt is coming back down, so that's kind of north, know, ⁓ north of Jerusalem. So as Egypt is coming back down, going back to Egypt, They actually attacked a couple of places in what used to be the Philistines, where, if you remember where David and Goliath, all of a sudden, couldn't think of who Goliath was, where he was from. So the land of Philistia, Egypt conquered them and kind of punished them. And then also Egypt was also punished by Babylon. so chapters 46 and 47 is Jeremiah kind of pronouncing that judgment on both Egypt and Philistia. Now remember, these countries have also been used by God to punish Judah and the Northern Kingdom at different times. But always remember, ultimately, everyone is held accountable. And that's kind of the thing that jumps out to me about this is that even these other countries who right at this moment may not be doing something directly to God's people. They have in the past and God has actually used them in the past, but eventually everyone does receive what they deserve, right? That God will hold people accountable. So you can read Jeremiah 46 and 47 there. 47 talks about the judgment on ⁓ Philistia, and 46 is judgment on Egypt. So then we get to chapter 13. So this is a continuing, the main message of Jeremiah is telling the people that Babylon is going to come and that the people of Judah are going... to experience a defeat that they are going to pay for their moving away from God, their attitude towards God, their actions that they have become ungodly. We've talked about some of those, even included all the way up to child sacrifice, partnering and allowing these other pagan influences ⁓ to start seeping into their culture. And because of that, They are a weaker nation and they are eventually going to be taken over by Babylon. So in chapter 13, ⁓ Jeremiah has some kind of object lessons. ⁓ He takes a linen sash and he puts it around his waist in chapter 13, Jeremiah chapter 13. ⁓ And then the Lord says, take the sash that you acquired around your waist, arise, go to the Euphrates, hide it there. in a hole in the rock, so he went and he hid it in the Euphrates. Now, after many days, he went back to take the sash from the place where it was hidden, and the sash was ruined. It was profitable for nothing. It says, then the word of the Lord came to me saying, thus says the Lord, in this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who follow the dictates of their own hearts and walk after other gods and serve and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord, that they may become my people for renown, for praise, and for glory, but they would not hear." So God gave them the opportunity. to be a profitable sash, a beautiful sash, if they would have remained and clung to Him, but they chose to go their own way. You see it as you continue there in chapter 13, the symbol of the wine bottles says, ⁓ every bottle shall be filled with wine. ⁓ then it says, thus says the Lord, behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, even the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets, all the inhabitants of Jerusalem with drunkenness. And I will dash them one against another, even their fathers and sons together, says the Lord. I will not pity nor spare nor have mercy, but will destroy them." So again, Jeremiah's message, not a popular one. People did not like hearing it. Chapter 18. It talks about the potter and the clay and the image of God being the potter over the clay. Verse 5 says, then the word of the Lord came to me and said, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter? says the Lord. Look as the clay is in the potter's hand, so you are in my hand, O house of Israel. The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom to pluck up or to pull down and to destroy it. destroy it. If that nation whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster and I thought to bring upon it. And the instant I speak concerning a nation or concerning the kingdom to build, to plant it, if it does evil in my sight so that it does not obey my voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I have said would benefit. Now therefore speak to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord, behold, I am fashioning a disaster and devising a plan against you. Return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good." ⁓ So it's kind of interesting, know, God can destroy and he can create. And if nations listen to him and turn from their evil ways, he will bring good upon them. But if they do not, he will not relent. And eventually he will. mold nations and fix the imperfections. ⁓ interesting what it says, says, return now, this is verse 11, return now everyone from his evil way and make your ways and your doings good. So that's a message for all of us, right? Even if the people around us, even if the country or the society around us does not return to God, we can. And then verse 12 says, and they said, that is hopeless. So we will walk according to our own plans and we will everyone obey the dictates of his evil heart." So ⁓ Jeremiah's warnings, using different analogies, all of it was pushed aside by the people. They chose to go their own way. Now, I want to look at Jeremiah chapter 36 will be in Jeremiah 36, 25, and a little bit in 45 and then finished with 15. I know it's all over the place, but it's trying to keep this kind of in order. So we're going to go 36, 25, 36 here in just a minute. These kind of fit together. So remember how Jeremiah we read either last Tuesday or Thursday. how he was removed from the temple, that he was going and preaching at the temple and they didn't like what he was saying, so they removed him from the temple. So now in chapter 36, Jeremiah is ⁓ writing down ⁓ the message that God has given him because they wouldn't let him speak it at the temple. So he is writing this down. He says, The Lord says, take a scroll of a book and write on it all the words that I've spoken to you against Israel, against Judah, against all the nations from the day I spoke to you, from the days of Josiah to this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the adversities which I propose to bring upon them, that everyone may turn from his evil way, that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. So God, again, here is again, God is... trying to give the people the opportunity to repent, to hear what is coming and to change their ways. But God also knows, He's already indicated that He knows that they will not, but that doesn't keep Him from trying. He is trying to reach out and to allow the people to turn back. And remember, this is the God in the Old Testament. This is the God that many times we kind of simplistically label, ⁓ the God of the Old Testament, that God that is... is only about judgment and justice and not mercy and grace, that Jesus is the graceful, merciful part of God. Well, newsflash, they're the same. The God of the Old Testament is the same as the God of the New Testament. Jesus is God. God is Jesus. They are one. ⁓ so you have to reconcile all of that. God is justice. He is also mercy. He is also grace. He is also loving. is... ⁓ extending that to the people over and over and over again, but the people keep rejecting that offer over and over and over again. So justice will happen. It will come. says in verse 4, we're introduced to a new character, Baruch, son of ⁓ Neriah, and ⁓ he is writing all of this down. So he kind of is the scribe for Jeremiah. And he said, And Jeremiah commanded Barak, saying, I am confined, I cannot go to the house of the Lord. You go therefore and read from the scroll which you have written at my instruction the words of the Lord in the hearing of the people of the Lord's house on this day of fasting, and you shall also read them in the hearing of Judah. It may come that they will present their supplication before the Lord and everyone will turn from his evil way for great is the anger and fury that the Lord pronounced against His people. In Barak, the son of Neriah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him." So this is not an easy thing that he's being asked to do. He's going, okay, read all these words. They've kicked me out because they don't like hearing what I said. So now I want you to read what God has given me. So Baruk does go, chapter 25 kind of is the extended part of of what he wrote or what he read in verse 6, again, familiar things. Do not go after other gods to serve them and worship them. Do not provoke me to anger with the works of your hands and I will not harm you. Yet you have not listened to me, says the Lord, that you might provoke me to anger with the works of your hands to your own heart. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, because you have not heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families of the North, says the Lord, the Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, my servant." will bring them against this land, against the inhabitants and against all the nations all around. I will utterly destroy them and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolation." So he's saying, I'm going to use Babylon. They're going to be the ones who ⁓ exact out this vengeance. In verse 12, it says, then it will come to pass when 70 years are complete that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity. says the Lord, and I will make it a perpetual desolation." So God is a very fair and a just God, but He will bring about punishment for sin. So in chapter 36, back to 36, starting in verse 11, the scroll is read in the presence of the king, in the presence of the temple. Verse 17, and they asked Baroque, saying, Tell us now, how did you write all these words at His instruction? So Baruch answered them, He proclaimed with His mouth all these words to me, and I wrote them with ink in the book. Go and hide, you and Jeremiah, and let no one know where you are." So they know it's going to be getting dangerous. They take it to the king. The king burns it. He burns the scroll. You can read that in chapter 36 starting in verse 20. And then in verse 27, Jeremiah rewrites the scroll, verse 28, sorry, take yet another scroll, write on it all the former words that were in the first scroll, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah is burned. And you shall say, thus says the Lord, you have burned this scroll. Why have you written in it? The king of Babylon will certainly come and destroy this land and cause man and beast to cease from here. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim king of Judah. He shall have no one to sit on the throne of David and his dead body shall be cast out into the heat of the day and the frost of the night. I will punish him, his family, his servants for their iniquity, and I will bring on them all the doom that I have pronounced against them. But they did not heed." So now, imagine he gives all the words that made the king mad the first time, but this time adds, okay, now you're going to be completely wiped out as well. ⁓ is a specific prophecy against the king. And so, can you imagine being Baruch that he has to go and read this to the king? ⁓ And this is now we're in Jeremiah 45. Again, sorry for the moving around, but Jeremiah 45 is a continuation of this. says that verse 2, "'Thus says the Lord the God of Israel to you, O Baruch, you said, Woe is me now, For the Lord has added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sign and I find no rest." Right? So Baruch is kind of like, oh, this is more than I bargained for it, right? This is signing up to, you know, to do something very simple. And now you're being shot at, right? You you thought you were delivering pizza and you actually were delivering something much more severe. And all of a sudden you're... fearing for your life. And so this ⁓ is much more than just a delivery person for Jeremiah. so God says, thus say to him, behold, what I have built, I will break down what I have planted, I will pluck up, that is this whole land. And do you seek great things for yourself? Do not seek them, for behold, I will bring adversity on all flesh, says the Lord, but I will give your life to you as a prize in all places, wherever you go. So he kind of promises Baruch, it's going to be okay. I will be with you. Now that we're going to end with Jeremiah chapter 15. And this is just a reflective, imagine Jeremiah constantly doing all of these things and no one's ever listening. And Jeremiah does get very dejected. Jeremiah 15, starting in verse 10, he says, woe is me, my mother, that you have borne me. a man of strife, a man of contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent for interest nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me." But then the Lord responds, He says, "'Surely it will be well with your remnant. Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you in the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. Can anyone break iron?' Then Jeremiah responds back, "'O Lord, you know.'" Remember me and visit me, take vengeance for me on my persecutors and your enduring patience do not take me away. Know that for your sake I have suffered rebukes. Your words were found and I ate them. Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart." So it's normal to go through these difficult times and experience this frustration. That's when we have to listen to the true words of God that he will sustain us, that he will give us strength. And then the Lord reassures Jeremiah, starting in verse 19, says, if you return, then I will bring you back. You shall stand before me. If you take out the precious form, the vial, you shall be as my mouth. Let them return to you, but you must not return to them. And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail against you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked." and I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible." So ⁓ God is reassuring Jeremiah and he will continue to reassure us, but we are going to have those moments where we question and where we wonder. But we need to redirect ourselves and remember his promises and make sure that we are following the word that God has given us. That is what we rely on even whenever it doesn't always feel that way. And maybe when the results aren't working out the way that we would like them to, we have to hold on to what God has called us to do. All right. So we're going to be in Jeremiah some more again, verses chapters 14 through 17, chapters 8 through 10 in Jeremiah. We'll go through all of them, get another section there of Jeremiah. And then, well, 2 Kings 24. And that'll probably be about where it ⁓ ends. That is getting us to the end of Judah. That Judah is going to be ⁓ overrun. So hope to see you all. Have a great week.