Matthew C. Mitchell's Blog, page 17

“I Know the Plans I Have for You” [Matt's Messages]

“I Know the Plans I Have for You”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchDecember 4, 2022 :: Jeremiah 29:1-32
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
There’s a reason why this verse is so famous and so favorite.  There’s a reason why this verse is so beloved by so many.  It’s because what this verse says is just so good!
“For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Doesn’t that just sound wonderful?!
That the LORD knows His plans. That means that they are already made. They are in the works. They are certain to be fulfilled. Remember how in chapter 1, the LORD said that He is watching to see that His word is fulfilled? The LORD knows His plans. He hasn’t forgotten them. He hasn’t abandoned them. He isn’t going to change them.
And His known plans are good plans. They are plans to prosper His people. The Hebrew word there for “prosper” is “shalom,” the word that we often translate “peace.” These are plans for peace.
And it’s not just peace as in the absence of conflict, but peace as in wholeness and happiness and goodness and well-being. That’s why the NIV has “prosper.”
The LORD plans to “shalom” His people. I don’t know about you, but I want to be shalomed!! “Shalom me, Lord!”
The LORD declares that these known plans are not for His people’s harm but for their peace and prosperity and well-being. They are plans for good!
And they are plans for the future. A future full of hope!
Doesn’t that just sound wonderful?!
There’s a reason why this verse is so beloved by so many. It’s because what it says is just so good!
However! This verse was not written in the first place to you and me. And it doesn’t just show up on its in own, devoid of context. It doesn’t just show up on a poster or a meme or a wall-hanging in a nice little living room. It shows up in the middle of a letter written by the prophet Jeremiah to the exiles of Judah living in enemy territory, Babylon.
To really understand Jeremiah 29:11, you have to understand the rest of Jeremiah 29. And when you do, then you really understand just how wonderful the promise of it is. So, let’s jump back up to verse 1 and see where this promise comes from.
Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 1.
“This is the text of the letter that the prophet Jeremiah sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders among the exiles and to the priests, the prophets and all the other people Nebuchadnezzar had carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. (This was after King Jehoiachin and the queen mother, the court officials and the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the artisans had gone into exile from Jerusalem.) He entrusted the letter to Elasah son of Shaphan and to Gemariah son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to King Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon. It said...” (vv.1-3). 
Jeremiah has pasted a copy of his prophetic letter into His prophetic book.
He wrote this letter sometimes after 597 BC. That’s when Nebuchadnezzar deported that first group of exiles including King Jehoiachin and his mother (whose name was Nehushta) and a bunch of other leaders. At least 3,000 of them. They had been drug off to Babylon against their will. 
And King Nebuchadnezzar had installed Jehoiachin’s uncle Zedekiah onto the throne as the king of Judah. King Zedekiah then had to send some kind of delegation to Babylon. A guy named Elasah and and a guy named Gemariah. And as they are headed out of town, Jeremiah said to them, “Hey, guys, can you take this letter while you’re going there and pass it on to any of the elders of the people who have survived the terrible journey to Babylon?” And they do.
It’s a lot like one of the Apostle Paul’s letters, isn’t it? A letter coming from afar with words from God through His spokesman to His people. An official letter from a prophet to these people who had been through so so much.
These people were not on a vacation!  They were in exile. 
What does the letter say?
Well, we know it’s going to say that LORD knows His plans for them. And they are good plans. They are shalom plans. And they are hopeful plans. Plans for a hope and future!
But that’s not the first thing that He says. The first thing He says is, “Don’t get excited, guys. You’re going to be there a while.” Look at verse 4. “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says to all those I carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: ‘Build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce. Marry and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage, so that they too may have sons and daughters. Increase in number there; do not decrease” (vv.4-6).
I’ve got three points of application that I want to draw out of this chapter this morning for us, and here’s the first one:
#1. INVEST WHILE YOU WAIT FOR HIS PLAN.
The LORD has good plans for His people, but they are future plans, and He has things He wants them to do while they wait for that hopeful future to come.
In the case of these exiles, he wants them to settle down as residents of Babylon! I almost titled this message, “Settle Down.” Like the British poster from World War Two, “Keep Calm and Carry On.”
This was not going to be just a short little exile. Like the late Prophet Hannaniah had predicted last week in chapter 28. He said 2 years, remember?
But the LORD says, “Build houses. Plant gardens. Plan to eat from those gardens. Get married. Don’t wait for the exile to end. Get married now. Have kids. Have them get married! Have them have kids! V.6 ‘Increase in number there.’”
Now that sounds good, and it is good. The LORD is promising to prosper them right where they are. The blessings of the Abrahamic Covenant are in still in place even in exile! They are to be fruitful and increase and not decrease.
But! They are still in exile. And it’s not going to be just two years. 
I’m certain that they were not that happy to read those words. “Oh, Jeremiah sent us a letter? What’s it say?” “Sit tight. It’s going to be a while. Maybe your grandkids will get to come home....Oh."
That’s the context that verse 11 shows up in. These refugees are being told that they are going to stay refugees. They are going to be semi-permanent residents in the land of their captors for three generations.
And then He says something that would have been even harder for them to receive. Look at verse 7.
“Also, seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper’” (v.7).
“Wait. You want me to what?! You’re not just telling me to endure the next 70 years living among these people who brought us here against our will? You’re asking me to seek their shalom?” That’s the Hebrew word under the words “peace and prosperity” in verse 7. The Israelites were supposed to seek the shalom of Babylon.
That’s a new one! Up until now, they were supposed to pray for the shalom of Jerusalem. [Read Psalm 122.] But now, the LORD wants them to pray for the shalom of Babylon. “Pray to the LORD for it, because if it shaloms, you too will shalom.”
Jeremiah is finally prophesying about peace. Up until now, it’s been the bad prophets who have had “peace, peace” on their lips. “Shalom, shalom” where there is no “shalom.”
But now, Jeremiah says that the exiles should seek the shalom of Babylon. To invest in their neighborhood while they are stuck there. We might say, “Bloom where you are planted, even in hostile soil.”
This is closest thing the Old Testament has to our Lord’s New Testament teaching to love, pray for, and bless our enemies. The LORD knows His good plans for His people in the future, but while they are waiting, they are supposed to invest in their hostile neighborhoods.
I think that this is a good model for you and me to think about how we live in modern day America.
Just like we learned a year ago in 1 Peter, we are exiles, too. We are refugees, citizens of the kingdom of heaven, living here as ongoing residents in the kingdoms of this world. This world is not our home, but right now it is where we have our homes.
So what should we do? Invest. Seek the shalom of the city where we are stuck right now. Don’t get too comfortable, but also dig in and be good residents and love our neighbors even if they are not very lovable.
Can you imagine how they must have felt getting these instructions from the LORD? “You want me to what?! Do you know what these people did to my family? And now you want me to seek their shalom? Their well-being, their peace and prosperity!? You want me to pray for Babylon?”
Some of you had a hard time praying for President Trump and America under his administration. Many of you are having a hard time praying for President Biden and American under his administration. You feel like he’s Nebuchadnezzar, and you’re living in Babylon.
Well, I think that’s not a bad way to think about it.
President Biden may not be a Nebuchadnezzar, but we are living in a Babylon. We are not home yet. We never have been. Not until King Jesus returns. But that does not mean that we throw up our hands and quit. It means that roll up our sleeves and dig in. We invest while we wait. We pray for the shalom of our neighborhood, even if it’s a hostile neighborhood.
Of course, we don’t pray that the evil things our neighbors plan will succeed. But we do pray that our neighborhood knows shalom.
Does that make sense? Does that give you ideas about how to live in the here and now? Jeremiah says that when we pray for shalom for our hostile neighbors, then we will experience shalom ourselves, as well. If Babylon is blessed, then the people who are forced to live in Babylon will be blessed along the way.
I think that’s the kind of logic that the Apostle Paul was using in 1 Timothy chapter 2 when he urged prayer for the oppressive Roman government. He wrote, “I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone–for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:1-4).
The LORD knows His good plans for us, and His good plans for us include our investing where we are while we wait for His good plans for us to come to fruition. Because it’s going to be a while.
Of course, that’s not what they wanted to hear, and they still had people around them ready to tell them what they did want to hear. They still had people ready to feed them lies. Look at verse 8.
“Yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Do not let the prophets and diviners among you deceive you. Do not listen to the dreams you encourage them to have. They are prophesying lies to you in my name. I have not sent them,’ declares the LORD” (vv.8-9).
There He goes again with “Do not listen,” right? Notice what they are not supposed to listen to. “The dreams you encourage them to have.” Remember what we said last week, “Do not listen to those who only tell you what you want to hear.” “The dreams you encourage them to have.”
He’s going to say more about that as the chapter ends, but now we’re getting back to the good stuff. Here’s what the LORD is saying to them. Whether they want to hear it or not, this is the truth (v.10):
“This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future” (vv.10-11).
Do you see what this verse is talking about in the first instance? It’s talking about the return of God’s people from their exile in Babylon. When seventy years are up (same seventy years he said back in chapter 25), the LORD is going to visit His people and bring them home again.
He knows this. He knows His plan. He hasn’t forgotten it. He hasn’t abandoned them.
It’s going to feel like it! Living in exile is hard. They are going to feel like they’ve been dropped into Siberia without a compass or a backpack or satellite phone. They are going to feel totally alone.
But the LORD knows His plans for them. And, He’s actually shared those plans with them! These are not the secret plans that He doesn’t tell anybody about. He’s straight up told them what to expect. Seventy years. And then home. “I know the plans I have for you, and now you do, too.”
You know who took that to the bank? The Prophet Daniel. Read chapter 9 of his book this afternoon and see how Daniel prayed about these seventy years!
Daniel believed that the LORD knew what He was planning. And he believed that what He was planning was good. It was for their shalom and not for their harm. And it was for a hopeful future in the land.
So how should the exiles respond to that? The LORD says how in Jeremiah’s letter. He says, in fact, how they will respond. Verse 12. “Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
#2. PURSUE THE PLANNER WITH ALL YOUR HEART.
He knows the plan. And it’s good. So seek Him.
The LORD told the exiles that they could pray to Him even in Babylon. That’s good news. You don’t have to be in Israel. You don’t have to be at the temple. You can seek Him anywhere. Anywhere in the world. Even in Babylon. And if you seek Him, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart.
Are you pursuing the Lord?Are you chasing after Him?Are you calling upon Him and praying to Him?
That’s what He wants.
Did you open your Bible this week and go looking for Him? Did you pray this week, calling upon His name?
The LORD loves to be pursued. The Planner loves to be pursued. 
And it’s so good for us when we do. He says that if we seek Him, we will find Him when we seek Him with all of our hearts.
Of course, that’s the exact opposite of what Judah has been doing. If they had been doing that, they wouldn’t have been exiled to Babylon in the first place!
This is going to take a change of heart. It’s going to take repentance. But the LORD says He’s going to effect that in their hearts, and when He does, they’ll be coming home again. Verse 14.
“I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.’”
Sounds to me like He knows the plans He has for them, doesn’t He?
#3. TRUST IN HIS PLAN AND NO-ONE ELSE’S.
Again, they, unlike us, were not all that excited about Jeremiah 29:11–mainly because it seemed so far off. They had other prophets around that had a more favorable time-table than Jeremiah did. And prophets who didn’t require so much repentance. Look at verse 15.
“You may say, ‘The LORD has raised up prophets for us in Babylon,’ but this is what the LORD says about the king who sits on David's throne and all the people who remain in this city, your countrymen who did not go with you into exile–yes, this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘I will send the sword, famine and plague against them and I will make them like poor figs that are so bad they cannot be eaten. I will pursue them with the sword, famine and plague and will make them abhorrent to all the kingdoms of the earth and an object of cursing and horror, of scorn and reproach, among all the nations where I drive them. For they have not listened to my words,’ declares the LORD, ‘words that I sent to them again and again by my servants the prophets. And you exiles have not listened either,’ declares the LORD” (vv.15-19).
Last Sunday, Katie H. told me the idea that comes into her mind when I talk about Jeremiah being a broken record about the broken covenant and how the people refused to listen. She said it’s like Jeremiah was an alarm clock saying it’s time to wake up and repent, and the people of Judah kept hitting the snooze button. 
“Don’t want to listen to that. Don’t want to listen to that. Don’t want to wake up. Don’t want to repent.” Snooze. Snooze. Snooze. That’s really good theology, Katie. Excellent. Good job.
But it’s a terrible way to live, isn’t it?
Not listening to the plan of the Lord but listening to someone else’s plan instead.
The LORD says that those who have been hitting the snooze button were the bad figs (remember that from chapter 24?) that were going to be thrown out.
“The sword, famine, and plague.”“The sword, famine, and plague.”“The sword, famine, and plague.”
And those who sold them this bag of lies will also be thrown out. That’s the point of verses 20 through 32. Verse 20. “Therefore, hear the word of the LORD, all you exiles whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about Ahab son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying lies to you in my name: ‘I will hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will put them to death before your very eyes. Because of them, all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon will use this curse: 'The LORD treat you like Zedekiah and Ahab, whom the king of Babylon burned in the fire.' For they have done outrageous things in Israel; they have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives and in my name have spoken lies, which I did not tell them to do. I know it and am a witness to it,’ declares the LORD” (vv.20-24).
These two men are not the kings, Ahab and Zedekiah, but two prophets Ahab and Zedekiah, and they were prophesying lies and living shameful lives. And the LORD knew it. Did you see that in verse 24? “I know it and am a witness to it.”
Just like He knows His good plans for His people, He also knows our wicked hearts and deeds. And the lies we believe and tell. He knows it and is a witness to it, and one day, He will fix it.
The people of Judah in exile should have executed this Ahab and Zedekiah for being false prophets under Deuteronomy chapter 13. But the LORD says that He’ll see to it Himself, and He’ll use Nebuchadnezzar to accomplish it! Nebuchadnezzar is the LORD’s unwitting servant after all.
Nebuchadnezzar likes to throw people into a fiery furnace. It didn’t work against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, but it will work against Ahab and Zedekiah. And rightfully so. And we should take a lesson. That’s where false prophets end up with their damnable lies that we are so tempted to believe.
And the chapter ends with another false prophet. Shemaiah. Just like Uriah and Hannaniah and Ahab and Zedekiah, this is another prophet who only makes one appearance in the Bible, and it’s right here in this chapter.
Shemaiah lives in Babylon right now. He’s an exile. Jeremiah lives in Jerusalem. He’s not yet in exile. Jeremiah sends letters to Babylon with prophecy in them–and notes about Shemaiah. Shemaiah sends letters to Jerusalem with prophecy in them–and notes about Jeremiah. Look at verse 24.
“Tell Shemaiah the Nehelamite, ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem, to Zephaniah son of Maaseiah the priest, and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, 'The LORD has appointed you priest in place of Jehoiada to be in charge of the house of the LORD; you should put any madman who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck-irons. So why have you not reprimanded Jeremiah from Anathoth, who poses as a prophet among you?
[He’s trying to get Jeremiah in trouble.] 
He has sent this message to us in Babylon: It will be a long time. Therefore build houses and settle down; plant gardens and eat what they produce.' [What is that? That’s verse 4. He’s giving a negative review of Jeremiah’s letter to the priest in charge of the temple, hoping to get Jeremiah up on charges of treason. V.29]
Zephaniah the priest, however, read the letter to Jeremiah the prophet. Then the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘Send this message to all the exiles: 'This is what the LORD says about Shemaiah the Nehelamite: Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, even though I did not send him, and has led you to believe a lie, this is what the LORD says: I will surely punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants. He will have no one left among this people, nor will he see the good things I will do for my people, declares the LORD, because he has preached rebellion against me.'”
Shemaiah was preaching the message everyone to hear. Even though he was in exile, he was preaching that the exile was going to be short and that they didn’t need a change of heart. They just needed a rescue. He was saying that Jeremiah was a crazy man in rebellion against Judah, but it was Shemaiah that was in rebellion against the LORD.
It sounded good, but it was all wrong. The LORD was saying that His people should trust in His plan and not anyone else’s. That’s hard when God’s plan seems to include so much tough stuff, right?
I mean, a lot of people take this one verse out of context and twist it to make it seem like God has a plan for you and it won’t include anything bad. If you belong to the Lord, then it’s all smooth sailing from here. 
But Jeremiah 29:11 teaches no such thing. This is not a prosperity gospel even though the word “prosper” is right there in it. The prospering is down the line.
The perfect shaloming is still to come. It’s in the future. 
These words were written to a people who were foreigners in a foreign land, there against their will. 
It didn’t seem like it was all shalom and no harm. So there are other voices that want to sneak in and tell us that God’s plan is no good. And their plan is “so much better.” They might even call it God’s plan!
Don’t listen to them.
The LORD knows His plans for His people.They are plans for shalom and not for harm.They are plans to give us a hope and future forever.
Shemaiah (v.32) was not going to see the “good things,” the good plans that the LORD had for His people because he was preaching his own way. You and I need to put our faith in God’s good plan and then wait to see it come to pass.
Invest in your neighborhood while you wait for His plan.Seek the Planner with your whole heart.And trust in His plans and no-one else’s.
There’s a reason why this verse is so beloved. 
It’s because the LORD’s plans for His people are just so good.

***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18
17. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:8
18. "I Did Not Send These Prophets" - Jeremiah 23:9-40
19. "“My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good” - Jeremiah 24:1-25:38
20. "This Man Should Be Sentenced to Death" - Jeremiah 26:1-24
21. “Under the Yoke” - Jeremiah 27:1-28:17
21.

Advent Candle #2: The Days of Peace Are Coming

LEFC Family Advent Readings: The Days Are ComingThe Advent of Christ in the Prophecy of JeremiahJeremiah 23:3-6 :: December 4, 2022Week #2: A Candle of Peace 
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.
Our Advent readings this season focus on the coming of the Messiah prophesied in the book of Jeremiah. Our first candle was a candle of hope.
[LIGHT FIRST CANDLE AGAIN.]
In the last dark decades before their exile, the nation of Judah was ruled by bad kings who scattered instead of shepherded the people of God. But God Himself promised to gather His flock once again under a new and good Shepherd.
[READ JEREMIAH 23:3-6.]
Our second candle is a candle of peace. 
[LIGHT SECOND CANDLE.]
The LORD declared that when the new and good Shepherd would come, His people would “no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing.” 
Peace will reign when the Messiah comes. God’s people will finally feel safe and secure. The flock will no longer be unsettled or skittish or feel lost. We will dwell in safety with no fear of any kind. 
What an unimaginable blessing it will be to dwell securely as the sheep of His pasture in the kingdom of the Messiah!
The days of peace are coming.

“Under the Yoke” [Matt's Messages]

“Under the Yoke”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 27, 2022 :: Jeremiah 27:1-28:17
Last week, we read about a time when Jeremiah almost died. He was almost executed for prophesying the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem. His colleague the Prophet Uriah did die for doing that. But Jeremiah was spared that day and walked out of court free to prophesy another day.
And chapter 27 is another day. This is actually about 16 years later than chapter 26. But Jeremiah is still going strong with the exact same message as he was preaching 16 years previously. Jeremiah was a broken record about the broken covenant and the judgment that was inevitably going to break upon Judah.
His message is basically the same in these two chapters, though there is a new twist and a new prophetic prop. Look at verses 1 and 2 to see what it is. 
“Early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the LORD: This is what the LORD said to me: ‘Make a yoke out of straps and crossbars and put it on your neck.” 
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Uncomfortable!
Over the last few months, we’ve been wondering together what it must have been like to be a faithful prophet in the days of Jeremiah.
Last week, we said that it was clearly dangerous. Jeremiah almost lost his life. Uriah surely did.
In previous weeks, we said that it must have been miserable. Because the faithful prophet was often the odd-man-out. He stood alone. He had to go against the flow. 
He often had a painful message to deliver that seemingly nobody wanted to hear. And he often had to do weird things. Like this one. Make a yoke and wear it around town.
Sounds uncomfortable to me. How about you?
Everybody here knows what is a yoke is, right? Like for a team of oxen? A Hebrew yoke in this time period was two wooden crossbars to go over and under the necks of the two oxen and then leather straps to bind them together. And Jeremiah was supposed to make one of those and then put it on himself.
And, apparently, wear it around town like had that linen belt. And we don’t know for how long he was supposed to do it. Sounds uncomfortable to me. Especially because he wasn’t married so he didn’t have someone on the other end of the yoke.
Why did he have to do this? Well, this is around 593 or 594 BC. It’s early in the reign of Zedekiah son of Josiah king of Judah. We know (even though they didn’t) that that’s the last king of Judah to reign in Jerusalem before the exile.
So the judgment that Jeremiah has been predicting has already begun. The king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, is the most powerful man in the world at this point, and he has already taken King Jehoichin and a bunch of other leaders to Babylon into exile. And Nebuchadnezzar was the one who placed King Zedekiah on the throne.
But Zedekiah, I think, is considering a rebellion. He’s got it into his mind that maybe Nebuchadnezzar is stretched a little too thin and his kingodm is weakening. So maybe if Zedekiah puts his head together with some neighboring nations and gets some strategic alliances going, he might be able to break free.
So Zedekiah hosts a summit in Jerusalem. A little confab of kings or their ambassadors. But the LORD does not want Zedekiah to break free from Nebuchadnezzar. Instead, he wants Zedekiah and his neighbors to surrender and to submit to Nebuchadnezzar. He wants them to bow their necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon. That’s why Jeremiah has to wear this yoke.
[I so badly wanted to name this sermon, “The Yoke’s On You!” But I didn’t. I refrained. I was good. And it’s really not funny.] Everywhere that Jeremiah went, he would get stares and pointed fingers and tilted heads and question marks.
Uncomfortable. That’s what it must have been like to be a faithful prophet in that day.
Verse 3 might indicate that Jeremiah was actually supposed to make 6 of these yokes and send 5 of them away in gift bags. Look at verse 3.
After you make and wear this yoke...“Then send word to the kings of Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre and Sidon through the envoys who have come to Jerusalem to Zedekiah king of Judah. Give them a message for their masters and say, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Tell this to your masters: With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please. Now I will hand all your countries over to my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon; I will make even the wild animals subject to him. All nations will serve him and his son and his grandson until the time for his land comes; then many nations and great kings will subjugate him. If, however, any nation or kingdom will not serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon or bow its neck under his yoke, I will punish that nation with the sword, famine and plague, declares the LORD, until I destroy it by his hand.” (vv.3-9). 
The word in verse 3 translated “send word” could be translated “send them” meaning send each of those kings their own personal homemade yoke. Send a yoke to every king considering rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar.
Whether or not Jeremiah was supposed to do that, he was supposed to tell them all to bend their necks under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar at this time.
Why? Was that because Nebuchadnezzar was such a good and godly man? No.
Was it because Nebuchadnezzar was so wise and compassionate? Also no.
It was just because the LORD is sovereign, and this is His plan. And He was going to use Nebuchadnezzar for His good and wise purposes. Nebuchadnezzar was the LORD’s servant. He was God’s instrument for that moment.
That didn’t make him good. But the LORD can use any instrument to achieve His sovereign purposes in the world. Do you believe that? If we believe that, it will help us to live more peaceful lives. 
I love verse 5. “With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.”
We need to be reminded of that on a regular basis, don’t we? I know I do.
And the LORD was going to use Babylon for a time. For three generations. Nebuchadnezzar, and then two more kings to come after him.
The nations were supposed to accept that. And if they didn’t, they would be destroyed.
So, we get to verse 9 and begin to hear the main thrust of these two chapters. A phrase that’s going to be repeated over and over again. More than he talks about the yoke, he says this (v.9):
“So do not listen to your prophets, your diviners, your interpreters of dreams, your mediums or your sorcerers who tell you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon.'” 
I almost titled this sermon, “Do Not Listen!”
Remember how much he said, “Listen!” in the last chapter? Listen to the LORD. Tune Him in.
Well, this is the flipside of that. “Do not listen” to those who are lying to you.
Or let me put it this way: 
#1. DO NOT LISTEN TO THOSE WHO ONLY TELL YOU WHAT YOU WANT TO HEAR.
That’s the big idea of these two chapters. And Jeremiah has been banging that drum for three decades. Do not listen to the people who only tell you what you want to hear.
In verse 9, it was all of the soothsayers of the foreign nations. The diviners, the mediums, the spiritists, the horoscope people, the sorcerers. We could add the bad counselors, the positivity experts, the politicians, the pundits, the smiling televangelists, the quack doctors, the bad friends–anyone who only tells us what we want to hear. 
“You will not serve the king of Babylon.”
Jeremiah was sent with a yoke around his neck to say, “That is a lie.” Look at verse 10. “They prophesy lies to you that will only serve to remove you far from your lands; I will banish you and you will perish. But if any nation will bow its neck under the yoke [there’s our sermon title! “Under the yoke”] of the king of Babylon and serve him, I will let that nation remain in its own land to till it and to live there, declares the LORD.’”
You don’t have to be uprooted.  You don’t have to be removed. You could remain. If you submit to the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Most of the time, submission is not fun. We saw that a year ago as we were reading in 1 Peter about how we should live as foreigners and exiles in this world today. We need to submit ourselves to others, often in uncomfortable ways. To the governing authorities, for example. Even the ones we didn’t vote for! Man, who wants to be told that? Submission is not popular. It doesn’t get “likes and shares.” Especially from Americans.
We like it when people tell us that we can do whatever we want to do. Freedom!
But do not listen to the people who only tell you what you want to hear.
Maybe this message was just for the other nations? Maybe this surrender and submission was just for Edom, Moab, Ammon, Tyre, and Sidon, but not Judah? Look at verse 12. 
“I gave the same message to Zedekiah king of Judah. I said, ‘Bow your neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon; serve him and his people, and you will live. Why will you and your people die by the sword, famine and plague with which the LORD has threatened any nation that will not serve the king of Babylon? [No, it’s for you, too.] Do not listen to the words of the prophets who say to you, 'You will not serve the king of Babylon,' for they are prophesying lies to you. ‘I have not sent them,' declares the LORD. 'They are prophesying lies in my name. Therefore, I will banish you and you will perish, both you and the prophets who prophesy to you.'” 
I don’t know if Jeremiah got to deliver this message in person, but I imagine him standing there in the throne room, actually offering for Zedekiah to join him in the yoke. In the other side of the yoke.
“Here. Join me. We need to put ourselves under the control of Nebuchadnezzar.”
That must have felt treasonous to the people of Judah. It must have felt “pro-Babylon” instead of “pro-Judah.” It was what they needed to hear, but it was not what they wanted to hear. \
What they wanted to hear was that their ordeal would soon be over and everything was going to go back to the way it was. Look at verse 16.
“Then I said to the priests and all these people, ‘This is what the LORD says: Do not listen to the prophets who say, 'Very soon now the articles from the LORD's house will be brought back from Babylon.' They are prophesying lies to you. Do not listen to them. Serve the king of Babylon, and you will live. Why should this city become a ruin? If they are prophets and have the word of the LORD, let them plead with the LORD Almighty that the furnishings remaining in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem not be taken to Babylon. For this is what the LORD Almighty says about the pillars, the Sea, the movable stands and the other furnishings that are left in this city, which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon did not take away when he carried Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, along with all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem–yes, this is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says about the things that are left in the house of the LORD and in the palace of the king of Judah and in Jerusalem: 'They will be taken to Babylon and there they will remain until the day I come for them,' declares the LORD. 'Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place.'” (vv.16-22).
Now, there is good news there at the end, isn’t there? There is hope in verse 22. There is restoration. There is re-planting what was uprooted. Even many of the articles from the temple will return to the land. It happened! The Book of Ezra recounts the return of more than 5,400 articles for the rebuilt temple (1:7-11)! 
There is hope there. But it comes in God’s way and in God’s timing. And, in God’s timing, it comes after they go under the yoke.
First, they get carted off, then they get restored.
Do not listen to anyone who tells you that you can just skip over the hard part.
Do not listen to the people who only tell you what you want to hear.
Like the prophet Hananiah.
Do you know this guy? Chapter 28. Like the Prophet Uriah from last week, this is the only place the prophet Hananiah shows up in the whole Bible.
Hananiah seems like a pretty nice guy. But he’s the just the kind of person that Jeremiah has been warning everybody about all along. And here the two of them have a confrontation. It’s the same year. 593 or 594 BC. Zedekiah is king. Verse 1.
“In the fifth month of that same year, the fourth year, early in the reign of Zedekiah king of Judah, the prophet Hananiah son of Azzur, who was from Gibeon, said to me [Jeremiah] in the house of the LORD in the presence of the priests and all the people: ‘This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: 'I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two years I will bring back to this place all the articles of the LORD's house that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon removed from here and took to Babylon. I will also bring back to this place Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and all the other exiles from Judah who went to Babylon,' declares the LORD, 'for I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon.'” (vv.1-4).
Whoop! That sounds good, doesn’t it? A prophet speaking with such confidence?  And what an encouraging word! He sounds just like Jeremiah, except I like what he says! Hananiah says two years and this whole thing is over. Two years! Not 70 like Jeremiah said. According to Jeremiah, we’ve got like 55 more years to go until this thing is over. Maybe more. This generation! Not two more generations from now. And King Jehoiachin will come home? Jeremiah said that he would die in exile (22:27). This sounds so much better. We keep the temple. We keep Jerusalem. We don’t have more exile. The LORD is going to break the yoke of the king of Babylon. #BreakTheYoke! All over social media.
What do you say if you’re Jeremiah at this moment?
You just heard Hananiah contradict everything you’ve been saying for thirtysome years, in the name of the LORD. But what he says is what you would rather happen. What do you say? Here’s what Jeremiah says. Verse 5.
“Then the prophet Jeremiah replied to the prophet Hananiah before the priests and all the people who were standing in the house of the LORD. He said, ‘Amen! May the LORD do so! May the LORD fulfill the words you have prophesied by bringing the articles of the LORD's house and all the exiles back to this place from Babylon. [I wish that were true. I wish that was the plan. Amen. But it’s not the plan. And we all know it. Verse 7.] Nevertheless, listen to what I have to say in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people: From early times the prophets who preceded you and me have prophesied war, disaster and plague against many countries and great kingdoms. But the prophet who prophesies peace will be recognized as one truly sent by the LORD only if his prediction comes true.’ [And I don’t think that’s what’s going to happen here.]”
Jeremiah would love for Hananiah to be right.
He has cried rivers of tears over what he knows is going to happen in about 7 years time. He will cry more rivers of tears and probably write a whole book called “Lamentations” over what is going to happen.
But he would love for Hananiah to be right.
He knows that he isn’t right. But he would love it if his people could be spared.
Hananiah doesn’t take no for an answer. And he decides it’s time for a little prophetic symbolism of his own. Look at verse 10!
“Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah and broke it, and he said before all the people, ‘This is what the LORD says: 'In the same way will I break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon off the neck of all the nations within two years.' At this, the prophet Jeremiah went on his way” (vv.10-12). What a dramatic moment!
I can hardly believe that Jeremiah was still wearing that yoke. How long did he have to wear that thing? And Hananiah comes up to him and dramatically grabs it off of his neck. What was that like?! And smashes it. Like the pottery? He “broke” it. Tore it apart? Cut it two? What did “breaking” it mean?
And he prophesied that the LORD would break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Nebuchadnezzar defeated. What a day that will be!
Except it’s not a day that will be. Not in two years. Hananiah was all wrong.
It’s very possible that he believed it. That he got this idea into his head and thought it was from the LORD. He might have been well-meaning. But he was only telling them what they wanted to hear.
Do not listen to the people who only tell you what you want to hear.
Several times in the last few months, I’ve asked you the application question, “What lies do you want to believe?” Don’t just say what lies other people around you are tempted to believe, but what lies are you tempted to believe because they would make your life easier? Or more pleasurable? Or soothe your worries? Or confirm your prior assumptions?
One of the big problems with social media is that when you like or share something, the social media algorithms give you more of the same. Did you ever notice that? So pretty soon, if we aren’t careful, it just feeds you more of what you already think and feel and believe. Including about how evil and bad those other people are out there who think differently than you do. No need to listen to them or treat them with respect as fellow bearers of the image of God.
It’s easy to surround ourselves with “yes-men” who tell us what our “itching ears” want to hear.
What do you want to hear, that isn’t necessarily true? And who is feeding you those lies? Do not listen to the people who only tell you what you want to hear.
#2. LISTEN TO WHAT THE LORD SAYS BECAUSE IT IS SURELY TRUE.
Did you see how Jeremiah just walked away in verse 11? I’ll bet that Hananiah thought that he had just won the “Great Israeli Prophet-Off” against Jeremiah. 
“I showed him!” 
And everybody was applauding. Everybody was so glad there was a new prophet on the scene. And finally one with a good message. Positive, encouraging Hananiah. Tune in! But Jeremiah walked off because he had said everything he needed to say, and the LORD had not given him anything else to say at that time. But later He did. Look at verse 12.
“Shortly after the prophet Hananiah had broken the yoke off the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah: ‘Go and tell Hananiah, 'This is what the LORD says: You have broken a wooden yoke, but in its place you will get a yoke of iron. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I will put an iron yoke on the necks of all these nations to make them serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they will serve him. I will even give him control over the wild animals'” (vv.12-14).
I hope that Jeremiah didn’t have to wear an iron yoke. But the point is clear.
What the LORD said would happen is what is going to happen. It doesn’t matter what Hananiah thought or said or did. The word of the LORD will come true. Including all of the hard parts that we’d all rather skip. It will happen, not because Jeremiah said it, but because Yahweh did.
And Hananiah will learn that lesson the hard way. Verse 15. “Then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, ‘Listen, Hananiah! The LORD has not sent you, yet you have persuaded this nation to trust in lies. [Ouch.] Therefore, this is what the LORD says: 'I am about to remove you from the face of the earth. This very year you are going to die, because you have preached rebellion against the LORD.' [By preaching rebellion against Babylon!] In the seventh month of that same year, Hananiah the prophet died” (vv.15-17).
In the Book of Deuteronomy, the LORD said that all false prophets in Israel should be put to death.  Some false prophets tried to lure them away to idols and foreign gods. But other false prophets might have been nice guys who prophesied in the name of the LORD and wanted good things for God’s people. But they only prophesied good things that the people wanted to hear and not the hard things that the people needed to hear. The hard things that the LORD Himself said which are surely true.
Do you know what the LORD has said? You can only listen to it and believe it and trust in it, if you know it.
This is a very somber ending. The LORD wins. Jeremiah wins. The truth wins. But it’s not a happy thing. Hananiah dies because he persuaded the nation to trust in lies. Instead of trying to persuade the nation to trust in the LORD’s truth.
I will admit that I am sorely tempted at times to only preach the things you all want to hear. Just yesterday as I was writing this message, I tried to come up with a list of things you might want not want to hear and then lay them all out. And then I chickened out. I heard the negative feedback in my mind and pulled back. I am tempted to become an Hananiah, and this is a cautionary tale for me. I want, instead, to become like Jeremiah and tell it like it like it is and like it will be, often with tears.
And even more than speaking it, I want to listen to what the LORD says because it will surely be true. His word is not wooden. It is iron. And so even if that makes us uncomfortable, we should listen in because that’s where the truth is and the life. The truth of the gospel starts with the bad news that we are sinners deserving of judgment. “The soul who sins will die.” We have to hear that, listen to that, and believe it to get to the good news.
The good news is that God so loved this exceedingly sinful world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life (cf. John 3:16). And those who put themselves in His hands, under His authority will find life and rest. Jesus Christ invites us to repent and trust and follow Him which will mean hard times. Following Jesus is hard! It’s uncomfortable. Repenting is uncomfortable. Following Jesus is uncomfortable.
But that’s where the hope actually is. And that’s where the rest actually lies. On the other side of the painful is the peace. Because Jesus Christ said, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take i upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:28-30).
Listen to Him.

***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18
17. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:8
18. "I Did Not Send These Prophets" - Jeremiah 23:9-40
19. "“My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good” - Jeremiah 24:1-25:38
20. "This Man Should Be Sentenced to Death" - Jeremiah 26:1-24

Advent Candle #1: The Days Of Hope Are Coming

Photo by Ruyan AytenLEFC Family Advent Readings: The Days Are ComingThe Advent of Christ in the Prophecy of Jeremiah Jeremiah 23:3-6 :: November 27, 2022Week #1: A Candle of Hope
“Advent” means “coming.” Christmas is coming. Jesus has come and is coming again.
During this year’s Advent Season, our readings will contemplate the coming of the Messiah predicted in the Prophecy of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah prophesied during some very dark days in the kingdom of Judah. All of the rulers of the nation were supposed to wisely shepherd God’s people. But, instead of caring for the flock, the kings had foolishly destroyed and scattered it.
However, the prophet Jeremiah also had a message of hope. The LORD Himself promised to come and shepherd His people. In Jeremiah chapter 23, the LORD says:
[READ JEREMIAH 23:3-6.]
Our first candle is a candle of hope.
[LIGHT FIRST CANDLE.]
The light shines brighter in the darkness. The sheep had been driven away, but the LORD will bring them safely back into pasture where they will flourish.
The Shepherd predicted in Jeremiah 23 is the Lord Jesus Christ who said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. I am the good shepherd” (John 10:10-11).
The days of hope are coming.

"This Man Should Be Sentenced To Death" [Matt's Messages]

"This Man Should Be Sentenced To Death"Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 20, 2022 :: Jeremiah 26:1-24 
Because Caleb Lucien from Vision of Hope in Haiti was here last Sunday, we skipped another week in our study of Jeremiah, but don’t worry, he will repeat himself again! Jeremiah was a broken record about a broken covenant. And chapter 26 is no different in its essential message from what he has said before.
However we will notice something different as we begin to make our way through this second half of the book of Jeremiah. There are going to be more stories. There will still be many prophecies written out in poetic form, the words of Jeremiah. But there are going to be increasingly stories about what Jeremiah did and what happened to him. We’re going to see that this morning as we get into Jeremiah chapter 26.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
In this chapter, Jeremiah almost dies.
It’s a close call. It’s touch or go. Jeremiah gets into such a mess of trouble that he is in grave danger of being executed.
Several times in the last few months we have wondered aloud what it must have been like to be a faithful prophet of the LORD in these days. We’ve said that it must have been miserable. There was a lot of weeping. There was a lot of loneliness. There was a lot of being called to be weird, strange, and different.
And it was also, apparently, very risky. We’ve seen that already back in chapter 11 when there was a conspiracy against Jeremiah. The people of Judah did not like what they heard Jeremiah constantly saying, and at times it put him in grave danger. And this is one of those times.
Do you remember the sermon I preached back in June with the longest title I’ve ever slapped onto a message, “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!”?
Well, I said back then that eventually we’d get to chapter 26 which is probably the story of the time that Jeremiah preached that particular message himself. (Or at least another one a lot like it.)
The focus of chapter 26 is less about what he said as much as it is more about what happened because he said it. Let me show you what I mean. Look with me at verse 1.
“Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: ‘This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD's house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word” (vv.1-2).
From the dating of the king, this is probably the year 609 BC. It’s actually from before the events of both of the last two chapters that we looked at last time. In 609 BC, the LORD sends Jeremiah to stand at the doorway to the temple and preach at the people coming into the temple for worship. They are on the way “into church,” so to speak, and Jeremiah is at the door, and he’s calling them to repent.
I have four points of application for us to consider this morning from this chapter. And they focus on our being like Jeremiah. Not being like rebellious Judah, but being like faithful Jeremiah. We are not prophets, but we can learn from their examples. Here’s point number one:
#1. SPEAK THE UNCUT TRUTH.
The LORD gives Jeremiah a message, and he’s supposed to deliver all of it. The truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth according to God. You see that in verse 2? “Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word.” The word for “omit” there could be translated “cut.” It was sometimes used for a haircut. Do not trim the truth.
The Lord has put a message in our mouths, hasn’t He? He has given us the gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. And He wants us to share it with our friends, neighbors, relatives, co-workers, and even strangers and enemies. But we are not authorized to cut out the parts of the story we don’t like that.
For example, the part about us being sinners. Or the part about the punishment for sin. Or the part about how there is no other way to be saved than Jesus.
Yesterday, I had the privilege of preaching the gospel here at the memorial service for Jeff Hummel. A delightful guy who used to work for CTMA here in our area. He was known as “Needle.” And I got to preach from John 14:6 where Jesus says that He is “the way, the truth, and the life.” And that’s such good news, isn’t it? And it would be tempting to just say that, but not finish the sentence. But Jesus went on to say, “No one comes to the Father except through” Him. And that’s pretty exclusive. That’s not as popular a thing to say. It’s inclusive in that anyone who comes through Jesus will get to the Father. Not just certain kinds of people—the rich or the religious or a certain ethnic group or race. Anyone who comes to Jesus will get to the Father, but only those who come through Jesus. “No one comes to the Father except through Him.” That’s the unedited, uncut truth.
And we are to be prophetic in our day, we must not cut out the difficult bits or we are not being faithful. I’m not saying that we need to rub the hard parts in people’s faces. We must speak the truth in love. But we must speak the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the uncut truth. 
That’s what Jeremiah was called to do in the hopes that Judah might listen and repent. Look at verse 3. 
“Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. [This is when they had not yet calcified into the brittle pottery that must be smashed. Jeremiah is sent with a warning which is also an invitation. Verse 4.] Say to them, 'This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.'’” (vv.4-6).
Do you hear the warning? If you do not listen, then the temple will become like Shiloh. What does that mean? What was Shiloh all about? Do you remember chapter 7 when we got the fuller transcript of this message? 
Shiloh was the first location for the tabernacle. It was actually in the North. But now Shiloh had become a ghost-town. There was no tabernacle there. There was nothing there. It was like Peale. Over by Grassflat? There’s no town there anymore. And Jeremiah is saying that the should not trust in the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of LORD. Like it was some kind of a magic shield that protected them from any disaster, like a cosmic get-out-of-jail card. The LORD had wiped out the house of the LORD before. And He was prepared to do it again if they did not listen.
And they did not listen.
Here’s point number two. Directed more at us as recipients of the uncut truth than speakers of it.
#2. LISTEN TO THE UNPOPULAR TRUTH.
Last time, we called it, “Tune it in instead of tuning it out.”
Do you see Jeremiah is emphasizing the idea of listening, once again? Look at verse 4 and 5.
“If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh…”
Listen!
Don’t put on your headphones. Don’t tune me out.Don’t change the channel.
The Lord wants us to listen to Him even if (especially if) what He says is not popular.
Remember there were other prophets at this time who prophesied what everybody wanted to hear. They were the prophets of “peace.” “Peace, peace.” “It’s all good.” “Live how you want.” “You do you.” “You only live once.” “It’ll be okay.” “You don’t have to repent. You don’t have to turn. You don’t have to change.”
That’s popular. But it’s not the truth. The truth is that the LORD desires our repentance. He wants us to change. He wants us to live life HIS way which is the best way. But it’s not the most popular way.
Listen!
What’s He been saying to you?
How do you think the people coming into the temple that day felt about Jeremiah’s message? They hated it. 1 star reviews. No star reviews. Frowny faces. And cancel culture came to get Jeremiah, to the point where the crowd demanded his death. V.7
“The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speak these words in the house of the LORD. But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, ‘You must die! Why do you prophesy in the LORD's name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?’ And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD” (vv.7-9).
Do you see it in your mind’s eye? The mob crowding around him? Demanding his death, “You must die!” Why are they like that? Because they feel threatened. Because he’s saying something they don’t want to hear. And because it sounded kind of treasonous. He’s speaking against their national symbol, and you know how patriotic people get about their national symbols.
“Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted? How dare you?!”
So, right then and there, they set up a court house in the temple courts. And Jeremiah goes on trial for his life. Look at verse 10.
“When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD's house. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, ‘This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!’” (vv.10-11).
Here's where it gets dicey for Jeremiah. He is one step away from either mob violence or judicial execution for blasphemy and false prophecy. It’s ironic, isn’t it? Jeremiah is not a false prophet, but he’s on trial for being one! And he might die as one.
Here’s the title of this sermon in verse 11, “This Man Should Be Sentenced To Death.”
“…because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!”
The Lord warned Jeremiah that there would be days like this.
If you remember chapter 1, the LORD told Jeremiah when he was just a young buck that he would face opposition from just about everyone. 
He said, “Get yourself ready! Stand up and say to them whatever I command you. Do not be terrified by them, or I will terrify you before them. Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land--against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests and the people of the land” (Jer. 1:17-18 NIVO).
There are going to be days like this. When nobody wants to hear the truth. And Jeremiah was called to be stand with the truth no matter what.
#3. STAND WITH THE UNCHANGING TRUTH.
Be a fortified city.Be an iron pillar.Be a bronze wall.
Even if you have stand against the whole wide world.
In the third century, many in the church had lost their way and fallen into heresy. A heresy we call the Arian heresy because the false teacher Arius. He taught that Jesus, the Son of God, was an exalted being, the greatest being ever created.
What’s wrong with that? The Son of God was not created. God the Son was not created. He was and is and is to come. He is eternally begotten of the Father. There was never a time when the Son was not.
“In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning….And the Word became flesh.”
He was not created. 
But so many had come to believe that. Most of the churches were full of pastors who taught that. But there were a handful who did not, including a church leader named Athanasius.  And Athanasius stood his ground. He said that even if every single person in the whole wide world believed heresy, he would still preach the truth. He called it, in Latin, “Athanasius Contra Mundum.” Athanasius Against the World.
And the LORD is calling you and me to stand with the truth of the gospel Contra Mundum. Even if the whole world thinks we’re crazy for believing in Jesus, we need to keep on believing in Jesus. 
Where are you tempted to just give in to what the world thinks and says? I’m not asking where other people are tempted to do that. That’s easier to see. We can all point fingers at other people’s compromises. Where are ours? Where are you tempted to just give in to what the world thinks and says? Do not change your message under pressure!
Jeremiah did not. He was a fortified city, an iron pillar, a bronze wall. Look at verse 12.
The prosecution has made their case. Now Jeremiah acts as his own defense attorney and makes his. V.12 
“Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people: ‘The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard. [Why did I prophesy that this house will be like Shiloh? Because the Yahweh sent me to say that to you! Because that’s the terms of the covenant! Because that’s the uncut unchanging truth. And you have to deal with that. V.13.] Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you. As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing’” (vv.12-16).
That little speech could very well be the last thing that Jeremiah ever said. That little speech could literally cost Jeremiah his life. And it wouldn’t have to. All he would have had to do is say, “I’m sorry. I got it wrong. Let me rephrase that. Let me hedge that a little bit. Let me spin it a different way. Let me change my tune.” And they probably would have let him live.
But Jeremiah stood for the unchanging truth. V. 16, “For IN TRUTH the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” Even if it means death.
Are you ready to risk death for speaking the truth of the gospel?
#4. RISK YOUR LIFE FOR THE UNDYING TRUTH.
Jeremiah says, “Do your worst if you have to. I am in your hands. But! Know that if you put me to death, you will be signing your death warrant, too. Because I’ve been telling you the truth all along.”
And that brought them all up short.
Look at how they back-pedal and change their tune in verse 16!
“Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, ‘This man should not be sentenced to death! He has spoken to us in the name of the LORD our God.’ [That was fast! Exact opposite of what they said in verse 11. They’ve changed their minds all of a sudden. Now they need a justification for it. Look at verse 17.] Some of the elders of the land stepped forward and said to the entire assembly of people, ‘Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah [a hundred years ago or so]. He told all the people of Judah, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘ 'Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem will become a heap of rubble, the temple hill a mound overgrown with thickets.'
‘Did Hezekiah king of Judah or anyone else in Judah put him to death? [No!] Did not Hezekiah fear the LORD and seek his favor? And did not the LORD relent, so that he did not bring the disaster he pronounced against them? We are about to bring a terrible disaster on ourselves!’” (vv.16-20).
Do you see what they’re saying?
They are bringing up the Prophet Micah. And they are actually quoting Micah 3:12 there in verse 18. I learned this week that this is the only place in the Old Testament where one prophetic book quotes another prophetic book and names the source of the quote. That’s pretty cool. The entire Bible is hypertexted together. Their point is that a hundred years ago the prophet Micah said something very similar to the prophet Jeremiah (now that we think about it), and King Hezekiah didn’t put Micah to death. 
So maybe we shouldn’t put Jeremiah to death? Ya think?
Jeremiah walks away from this one.
Sadly, the people didn’t repent like they did in days of Micah and Hezekiah. Or the LORD would have relented and brought blessing! But at least they didn’t kill Jeremiah this time. They pulled up short of that. Jeremiah walked home that day from the temple courts, alive to preach the dangerous truth again the next day.
And you might be tempted to think that it was never a close call. They weren’t really going to do that. They weren’t really going to kill the prophet, right? But Jeremiah includes verses 20 through 24 to show us that it very well could have gone down a different way.
It did for the prophet Uriah.
Do you know this story? Do you know this guy? The Prophet Uriah? This is the only place where he shows up in the whole Bible. Look at verse 20.
“(Now Uriah son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jearim was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD; he prophesied the same things against this city and this land as Jeremiah did. [Jeremiah was not alone! He wasn’t the only one who was an broken record about the broken covenant and the judgement to come. There was at least one other, the prophet Uriah. V.21] When King Jehoiakim and all his officers and officials heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard of it and fled in fear to Egypt. [Probably a tactical mistake. Operating out of fear. He ran instead of standing like Jeremiah did. But he didn’t change his message! V.22] King Jehoiakim, however, sent Elnathan son of Acbor to Egypt, along with some other men. [There was an extradition treaty in place between the two nations at the time.] They brought Uriah out of Egypt and took him to King Jehoiakim, who had him struck down with a sword and his body thrown into the burial place of the common people.) Furthermore, Ahikam son of Shaphan supported Jeremiah, and so he was not handed over to the people to be put to death” (vv.20-24).
Jeremiah almost died.
Uriah did.
And you and I need to be ready to be like either one of them.
Be ready to risk your life for the undying truth of the gospel.
I don’t want to die as a martyr for the gospel. But even more I don’t want to live as a traitor to the gospel. 
It would be a great honor to be a Uriah. Barely known but faithful unto death. Our Lord Jesus said, “Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you” (Matt. 5:10-12 NIVO).
The letter to the Hebrews talks about prophets like Uriah when it says in chapter 11
They “were tortured and refused to be released, so that they might gain a better resurrection. Some faced jeers and flogging, while still others were chained and put in prison. They were stoned; they were sawed in two; they were put to death by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated--the world was not worthy of them” (Heb. 11:35-38 NIVO).
I don’t want to die as a martyr for the gospel. But even more I don’t want to live as a traitor to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because He died for me.
I can’t read about this trial of Jeremiah without thinking about the trial of Jesus.
How about you? Did your mind go there as we read through chapter 26? When the crowd cried, “This man should be sentenced to death!” I heard, “Crucify Him! Crucify Him!”
Jesus spoke the uncut truth, and they didn’t want to listen to Him either.
Jesus stood for the unchanging truth even though it was unpopular. Jesus Contra Mundum!
And Jesus not only risked but gave His life for the undying truth of Who He was and to pay for our sins.
And as we go into this holiday week, there is nothing greater for us for which to give thanks.
“Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow—Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!”
(“Great Is Thy Faithfulness” Thomas O. Chisholm)

***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18
17. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:8
18. "I Did Not Send These Prophets" - Jeremiah 23:9-40
19. "“My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good” - Jeremiah 24:1-25:38

“My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good” [Matt's Messages]

“My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 6, 2022 :: Jeremiah 24:1-25:38
We’ve pretty much reached the halfway mark in this book, and the second half is going to be mostly similar but a little different than the first. If anything, it’s going to get both darker and brighter at the same time.
It’s been a few weeks, so you may not remember what Jeremiah has been saying, and so thankfully these two chapters are great ones for review. They are almost like one of those “recaps” at the midpoint of a television season, right before or after a break.
And, as usual, Jeremiah is a broken record so he will remind us what he’s been saying all along. In chapter 25, he says that he’s been saying the same thing already for 23 years.
And, also as usual, Jeremiah has some object lessons for us. Two very strong images. One in chapter 24 and one in chapter 25.
And the first image is that of a couple baskets of figs.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Have you ever noticed that the best of things often come from the worst of things?
The very best of things often come from the very worst things.
Life is full of surprises, and life with God is even more full of things you might never expect.
That’s the situation here in Jeremiah 24.
The year is 597 B.C. That’s the year that is dated in verse 1. 
“After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me [Jeremiah] two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.”
That’s 597 BC. Jeremiah has been prophesying for about 30 years. He’s on his fourth king (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoichin. He went through some of them almost as fast as the UK went through their last prime minister.)! And Nebuchadnezzar has shown up on the scene and carted off 10,000 citizens of Judah including a young prophet named Ezekiel. 597 BC. The exile has begun.
It’s a slow start, not so violent, but many of the leaders have been taken away.
And in 597 BC, the LORD shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs in front of the temple. I'm not sure if that’s a prophetic vision in his mind or if they are real figs and the LORD just uses them as a prophetic object lesson. If they were real figs, there was a real problem if they were supposed to be a firstfruits offering at the temple. Look at verse 2.
“One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten. Then the LORD asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ ‘Figs,’ I answered. ‘The good ones are very good, but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.’”
Do you get the picture in your mind? Two baskets, both full of figs. Good ones that are really good. Juicy, delicious, a delicacy. Mmm. Yum! And then a basket of bad ones that look like they belong in the compost bucket.
So what does that mean? 
Don’t tell me you don’t give a fig...It will make me a basket case.
Okay. I’ll try not to make any more fig jokes! Because what the LORD has to say through these figs is no joke. V.4
“Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
Oh, man, that sounds good, doesn’t it?!
The strange thing is that it’s the exact opposite of what the citizens of Judah might have thought.
Okay, we might have guessed that the two kinds of figs stand for two kinds of people.
And, we might have even guessed that the two kinds of people are those carted off into exile and those who have remained in the land.
But I don’t think anybody would have guessed which was which!
I mean, Jeremiah is preaching to the people in Jerusalem. And they were not in exile. It seemed like they might be safe. They might escape the exile. The judgment that he’s been talking about has come, and the bad figs have been drug off into the judgment of exile, right? 
Right! This was punishment. This was discipline. This was judgment on the nation.
But God often uses the worst of things to bring out the best.
Notice that He doesn’t actually say that those in exile were good and that’s why they were going to exile. He actually says (v.5), “I regard as good the exiles from Judah.” “I count them that way.” It’s like He’s choosing to see them that way. He’s set His goodness upon them. It’s not so much that He sees them as good, but that He has planned goodness for them. 
That’s why I took the first words of verse 6 to be our title for today, “My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good.” Their “tov.” The Lord has set His goodness on these exiles so that they are like a basket of good figs in His sight. They have a future, and it’s a good one.
Verses 6 and 7 are a lot like the most famous verse in all of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11. It’s right around the corner. Just a few more weeks, and we’ll get to study it in depth. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jer. 29:11).
Do you know whom He is talking to there? The exiles! Read chapter 29 to see what I’m talking about. He’s not talking to people whose lives are going smoothly with no bumps in their roads. He’s actually talking to people whose lives have been uprooted! And He’s talking to people who certainly don’t deserve anything good! And yet, He has good planned for them.
I have three points of personal application to suggest from these two chapters this morning, and here’s number one:
#1. TRUST IN THE LORD’S GRACIOUS PLAN.
It’s all of grace. This is all of grace. They do not deserve this goodness, but it is certainly coming to them.
I love all of the “I wills” in verses 6 and 7. Did you feel them when I read it to you? “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
How sweet and strong are those promises?! First off, He’s going to bring them back to the land. They can count on that. The exile, as awful as it will be (and it will be truly awful!) is not the end. There’s a future after the exile.
And do you see how he uses the language we first saw back in chapter 1 (v.10)? I just taught on this to the students at Miracle Mountain Ranch on Wednesday.
When He called Jeremiah to be a prophet, the LORD told Jeremiah that he was going to prophesy so that the nations were six things:
uprootedtorn downdestroyedoverthrownrebuiltand replanted.
And most of the book so far has been about the first four.
But now we get the promises of the last two: rebuilt and replanted! Back in the land. Back to the blessings.
But it gets even better than that!  God promises to give the people a new heart and a deep knowledge of Him. Look at verse 7 one more time.
“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
And not on their own strength. This is something God will do! All by His grace.
There is no greater blessing than to know God. This is personal knowledge. This is the language of relationship. This is the language of spiritual intimacy. This is the language of covenant.
In fact, it will take a New Covenant for these promises to be fully realized. Just wait till we get to chapters 31 and 33! God is promising transformation and unimaginable blessing. “My eyes will watch over them for their good.” And not because they deserve it. And, in fact, during the darkest time they could ever imagine.
Often the best of things come out of the worst of things.
The people you might think are cursed are actually the ones to receive the most blessing. And the ones you might think were getting away with something most definitely will not. That’s the bad figs of verse 8.
“'But like the poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. [Had run away.] I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of ridicule and cursing, wherever I banish them. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.'”
They are not getting away with anything. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, and all those with him who thought they were lucking out, are actually headed for the compost pile.
Here’s the truth though, for you and me who belong to Jesus, the LORD is watching over us for our good.
Do you believe that?  
It might not seem like it. For one, we don’t deserve it, and for two, it sometimes feels like we’re in exile.  Some of you are experiencing very dark days. But the light shines brighter in the dark, right?
Tuesday is Election Day, and half of our nation thinks if one party wins, it will get darker and if the other party wins it will get brighter. And the other half of the nation thinks the exact same thing but just switches which party is which. Who are the good figs and who are the bad?
But the message I have this morning for us is that no matter how dark it gets--and it probably will get darker regardless of the party that wins--the Lord has His eye on us for our good.
Because He has given us new hearts to know Him. Trust in the Lord’s gracious plan. It might not be anything like you would expect, but it will be good.
Now, in chapter 25, Jeremiah jumps back about 7 years before the vision of chapter 24. Two kings earlier. And he reminds the people of Judah how they got to this terrible point.
It was by tuning him out. Look at verse 1.
“The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
This is 605 BC, a pivotal year in ancient near eastern history.
This was the year of the Battle of Carchemish where the Egyptians and what was left of Assyria took on Babylon whose great general was a “Nebuchadnezzar” who then became king. And also that year, Jeremiah delivered this prophecy. V.2
“So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: For twenty-three years–from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day–the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.”
Twenty-three years. I have been preaching here for 24 and half. But you have (for most the part, I hope) been listening to me. Jeremiah was a broken record about a broken covenant. But the people of Judah had tuned him out. “You have not listened.” Verse 4.
“And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.’
‘But you did not listen to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.’ Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
That’s what Jeremiah has been saying for 23 years in a row, and it began 7 years later but then took another 10 more than that until it really came to its awful fulfillment.
#2. TUNE INTO THE LORD’S CALLS TO REPENT.
It might have been too late for Judah, but this book is here now for us to learn from their mistakes.
What has the Lord been trying to tell you to change? Maybe for 23 years?
Part of this is saying that the LORD is amazing patient. He’s not just amazing gracious (watching over those figs for good), but He’s amazing patient (sending message after message to urge His people to repent). God often keeps sending us the same message over and over again in the hopes that we will tune it IN and take it to heart. 
What has the Lord been trying to tell you to change? When you slow down and take a good look at your life, your habits, your relationships, your choices, what are the things that the Holy Spirit puts His finger on and says, “This here needs work. This needs to change”?
I know some of mine. Do you know yours?
Judah did not want to hear about theirs. They put on their noise-canceling headphones and turned up the volume on their streaming service. Anything to keep from listening to the word of the LORD calling them to repent. And, though the LORD is amazing gracious and amazing patient, He is also unerringly just. He is righteous and holy and is full of righteous wrath against sin. So He promises through Jeremiah to bring judgment that will last for 70 years.
Keep that number in mind. It will become important. It stands for a whole lifetime and covers two full generations. None of those who are being carted off into exile will return unless they were too young to remember it.
Seventy years is a long time. But it is also a limited time. As awful as the exile will be (and it was truly awful), it will one day be over.  And those whom God used to inflict the punishment will then be punished themselves. 
Did you notice what the LORD called Nebuchadnezzar in verse 9? It would have shocked the socks off the Israelites. He called him, “my servant Nebuchadnezzar.” He doesn’t normally talk that way about pagans! He doesn’t normally talk that way about just any Israelite! And He doesn’t mean that Nebuchadnezzar was a believer or a follower of Yahweh. He was not, at this time. And what He was doing was wrong and bad–attacking God’s people like that. 
But at the very same time the LORD was using Nebuchadnezzar to effect His will! The LORD has a way of bringing out the best of things from the worst of things–including people’s very own sin! Nebuchadnezzar was the LORD’s servant. But that doesn’t mean that he won’t be judged, as well. Look at verse 12.
“‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate forever. I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands’” (vv.12-15).
Babylon is not getting away with anything either. Remember, Jeremiah is a prophet to the nations. Not just to Judah. We’re going to see that especially when we get to chapters 46 through 51. Some ancient translations actually move up chapters 46 to 51 to this point in the book of Jeremiah!
Yes, the LORD is going to use the nations to bring judgment on Judah. But, no, they are not going to get away with anything and will one day reap that judgment themselves.
And that brings us the second strong image of these two chapters. The image of a cup of God’s holy wrath. Look with me at verse 15.
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.’” (vv.15-16).
This cup or a cup like this shows up again and again in our Bibles. God prepares the cup and it is the wine of His wrath against sin. The one who drinks it, receives the wrath of God. In verse 16, it says that they stagger and go mad, and I think that means that they are then defenseless against the sword that comes to kill them.
In verse 15, the LORD tells Jeremiah to take the this cup and make all the nations to whom he sends him to drink it.
I don’t think it’s a literal cup. I think it’s metaphorical, and the call here is for Jeremiah to prophetically pronounce judgment on these nations. To “make them drink it.” So he does. Verse 17.
“So I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today [at the time of the writing of Jeremiah]; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); Edom, Moab and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other–all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too” (vv.17-26).
“Sheshach” is a codename for Babylon. The one who brought the judgment to begin with will not escape it in the end. “Drink from this cup!”  Verse 27.
“‘Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.' But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it!
See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.' (vv.27-29).
Drink! And then he unleashes a torrent of words and images to describe this punishment. V.30
“‘Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: ‘ 'The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,' ‘ declares the LORD. [This is getting much bigger than just the middle east. This is getting eschatological.] This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.’ 
At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere–from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery. The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape. Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD. Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD's fierce anger” (vv.30-38).
Make no mistake–the LORD is holy. The guilty will not go unpunished. Justice will be done and will be seen to be done. In all the earth.
I’m sure there were true fulfillments of these promises in the Old Testament, but as I read it, it seems to go bigger and envelop all the judgment of all time.
One day the cup filled with the wine of God’s wrath will be drunk by all the nations. And it can’t be refused.
Except!
Except if someone else drinks the cup of God’s wrath for us. As much as this passage should chill our bones and move us to tune our hearts to repent before God’s unerring justice while there is still time, it also should warm our hearts as we think about what Jesus did for us at the Cross. When He drank the cup of God’s wrath in our place. 
Remember what Jesus prayed in the Garden? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Lk. 22:42). And He drank the cup for us.
#3. THANK THE LORD FOR DRINKING OUR CUP.
The Father said (v.28), to save them, “You must drink it!” And the Son said, “Not my will but yours be done.” And He went to the Cross absorbed the just wrath of God for our sins.
One of my kids said they had an encounter with a Muslim at work this week. And this man was trying to convince my kid that Christianity didn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense, he said, that Jesus would be punished for our sins. Why would you punish someone else and not the one who did the thing?
It’s a good question. And I’m not saying that I would do it like the Lord did, but I sure am glad He did! It may not make sense, but it sure is good news. Because God brings the best things out of the worst things!
And because Jesus drank from that terrible cup, we can drink from this wonderful one. Remember what happened in the Upper Room the night that Jesus was betrayed?
The Gospel of Matthew tells us, “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (Matt. 26:27-28).
This first Sunday of November, let us thank our Lord for drinking from our cup by drinking from His.

***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18
17. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:818. "I Did Not Send These Prophets" - Jeremiah 23:9-40

“I Will Watch Over Them For Their Good” [Matt's Messages]

“I Will Watch Over Them For Their Good”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchNovember 6, 2022 :: Jeremiah 24:1-25:38
We’ve pretty much reached the halfway mark in this book, and the second half is going to be mostly similar but a little different than the first. If anything, it’s going to get both darker and brighter at the same time.
It’s been a few weeks, so you may not remember what Jeremiah has been saying, and so thankfully these two chapters are great ones for review. They are almost like one of those “recaps” at the midpoint of a television season, right before or after a break.
And, as usual, Jeremiah is a broken record so he will remind us what he’s been saying all along. In chapter 25, he says that he’s been saying the same thing already for 23 years.
And, also as usual, Jeremiah has some object lessons for us. Two very strong images. One in chapter 24 and one in chapter 25.
And the first image is that of a couple baskets of figs.
[VIDEO WILL BE EMBEDDED HERE.]
Have you ever noticed that the best of things often come from the worst of things?
The very best of things often come from the very worst things.
Life is full of surprises, and life with God is even more full of things you might never expect.
That’s the situation here in Jeremiah 24.
The year is 597 B.C. That’s the year that is dated in verse 1. 
“After Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah and the officials, the craftsmen and the artisans of Judah were carried into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the LORD showed me [Jeremiah] two baskets of figs placed in front of the temple of the LORD.”
That’s 597 BC. Jeremiah has been prophesying for about 30 years. He’s on his fourth king (Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoichin. He went through some of them almost as fast as the UK went through their last prime minister.)! And Nebuchadnezzar has shown up on the scene and carted off 10,000 citizens of Judah including a young prophet named Ezekiel. 597 BC. The exile has begun.
It’s a slow start, not so violent, but many of the leaders have been taken away.
And in 597 BC, the LORD shows Jeremiah two baskets of figs in front of the temple. I'm not sure if that’s a prophetic vision in his mind or if they are real figs and the LORD just uses them as a prophetic object lesson. If they were real figs, there was a real problem if they were supposed to be a firstfruits offering at the temple. Look at verse 2.
“One basket had very good figs, like those that ripen early; the other basket had very poor figs, so bad they could not be eaten. Then the LORD asked me, ‘What do you see, Jeremiah?’ ‘Figs,’ I answered. ‘The good ones are very good, but the poor ones are so bad they cannot be eaten.’”
Do you get the picture in your mind? Two baskets, both full of figs. Good ones that are really good. Juicy, delicious, a delicacy. Mmm. Yum! And then a basket of bad ones that look like they belong in the compost bucket.
So what does that mean? 
Don’t tell me you don’t give a fig...It will make me a basket case.
Okay. I’ll try not to make any more fig jokes! Because what the LORD has to say through these figs is no joke. V.4
“Then the word of the LORD came to me: ‘This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Like these good figs, I regard as good the exiles from Judah, whom I sent away from this place to the land of the Babylonians. My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
Oh, man, that sounds good, doesn’t it?!
The strange thing is that it’s the exact opposite of what the citizens of Judah might have thought.
Okay, we might have guessed that the two kinds of figs stand for two kinds of people.
And, we might have even guessed that the two kinds of people are those carted off into exile and those who have remained in the land.
But I don’t think anybody would have guessed which was which!
I mean, Jeremiah is preaching to the people in Jerusalem. And they were not in exile. It seemed like they might be safe. They might escape the exile. The judgment that he’s been talking about has come, and the bad figs have been drug off into the judgment of exile, right? 
Right! This was punishment. This was discipline. This was judgment on the nation.
But God often uses the worst of things to bring out the best.
Notice that He doesn’t actually say that those in exile were good and that’s why they were going to exile. He actually says (v.5), “I regard as good the exiles from Judah.” “I count them that way.” It’s like He’s choosing to see them that way. He’s set His goodness upon them. It’s not so much that He sees them as good, but that He has planned goodness for them. 
That’s why I took the first words of verse 6 to be our title for today, “My Eyes Will Watch Over Them For Their Good.” Their “tov.” The Lord has set His goodness on these exiles so that they are like a basket of good figs in His sight. They have a future, and it’s a good one.
Verses 6 and 7 are a lot like the most famous verse in all of Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 11. It’s right around the corner. Just a few more weeks, and we’ll get to study it in depth. “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future’” (Jer. 29:11).
Do you know whom He is talking to there? The exiles! Read chapter 29 to see what I’m talking about. He’s not talking to people whose lives are going smoothly with no bumps in their roads. He’s actually talking to people whose lives have been uprooted! And He’s talking to people who certainly don’t deserve anything good! And yet, He has good planned for them.
I have three points of personal application to suggest from these two chapters this morning, and here’s number one:
#1. TRUST IN THE LORD’S GRACIOUS PLAN.
It’s all of grace. This is all of grace. They do not deserve this goodness, but it is certainly coming to them.
I love all of the “I wills” in verses 6 and 7. Did you feel them when I read it to you? “My eyes will watch over them for their good, and I will bring them back to this land. I will build them up and not tear them down; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
How sweet and strong are those promises?! First off, He’s going to bring them back to the land. They can count on that. The exile, as awful as it will be (and it will be truly awful!) is not the end. There’s a future after the exile.
And do you see how he uses the language we first saw back in chapter 1 (v.10)? I just taught on this to the students at Miracle Mountain Ranch on Wednesday.
When He called Jeremiah to be a prophet, the LORD told Jeremiah that he was going to prophesy so that the nations were six things:
uprootedtorn downdestroyedoverthrownrebuiltand replanted.
And most of the book so far has been about the first four.
But now we get the promises of the last two: rebuilt and replanted! Back in the land. Back to the blessings.
But it gets even better than that!  God promises to give the people a new heart and a deep knowledge of Him. Look at verse 7 one more time.
“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.”
And not on their own strength. This is something God will do! All by His grace.
There is no greater blessing than to know God. This is personal knowledge. This is the language of relationship. This is the language of spiritual intimacy. This is the language of covenant.
In fact, it will take a New Covenant for these promises to be fully realized. Just wait till we get to chapters 31 and 33! God is promising transformation and unimaginable blessing. “My eyes will watch over them for their good.” And not because they deserve it. And, in fact, during the darkest time they could ever imagine.
Often the best of things come out of the worst of things.
The people you might think are cursed are actually the ones to receive the most blessing. And the ones you might think were getting away with something most definitely will not. That’s the bad figs of verse 8.
“'But like the poor figs, which are so bad they cannot be eaten,' says the LORD, 'so will I deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the survivors from Jerusalem, whether they remain in this land or live in Egypt. [Had run away.] I will make them abhorrent and an offense to all the kingdoms of the earth, a reproach and a byword, an object of ridicule and cursing, wherever I banish them. I will send the sword, famine and plague against them until they are destroyed from the land I gave to them and their fathers.'”
They are not getting away with anything. Zedekiah, the last king of Judah, and all those with him who thought they were lucking out, are actually headed for the compost pile.
Here’s the truth though, for you and me who belong to Jesus, the LORD is watching over us for our good.
Do you believe that?  
It might not seem like it. For one, we don’t deserve it, and for two, it sometimes feels like we’re in exile.  Some of you are experiencing very dark days. But the light shines brighter in the dark, right?
Tuesday is Election Day, and half of our nation thinks if one party wins, it will get darker and if the other party wins it will get brighter. And the other half of the nation thinks the exact same thing but just switches which party is which. Who are the good figs and who are the bad?
But the message I have this morning for us is that no matter how dark it gets, and it probably will get darker regardless of the party that wins (no matter how dark it gets), the Lord has His eye on us for our good.
Because He has given us new hearts to know Him. Trust in the Lord’s gracious plan. It might not be anything like you would expect, but it will be good.
Now, in chapter 25, Jeremiah jumps back about 7 years before the vision of chapter 24. Two kings earlier. And he reminds the people of Judah how they got to this terrible point.
It was by tuning him out. Look at verse 1.
“The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.”
This is 605 BC, a pivotal year in ancient near eastern history.
This was the year of the Battle of Carchemish where the Egyptians and what was left of Assyria took on Babylon whose great general was a “Nebuchadnezzar” who then became king. And also that year, Jeremiah delivered this prophecy. V.2
“So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: For twenty-three years–from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day–the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened.”
Twenty-three years. I have been preaching here for 24 and half. But you have (for most the part, I hope) been listening to me. Jeremiah was a broken record about a broken covenant. But the people of Judah had tuned him out. “You have not listened.” Verse 4.
“And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.’
‘But you did not listen to me,’ declares the LORD, ‘and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.’ Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: ‘Because you have not listened to my words, I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”
That’s what Jeremiah has been saying for 23 years in a row, and it began 7 years later but then took another 10 more than that until it really came to its awful fulfillment.
#2. TUNE INTO THE LORD’S CALLS TO REPENT.
It might have been too late for Judah, but this book is here now for us to learn from their mistakes.
What has the Lord been trying to tell you to change? Maybe for 23 years?
Part of this is saying that the LORD is amazing patient. He’s not just amazing gracious (watching over those figs for good), but He’s amazing patient (sending message after message to urge His people to repent). God often keeps sending us the same message over and over again in the hopes that we will tune it IN and take it to heart. 
What has the Lord been trying to tell you to change? When you slow down and take a good look at your life, your habits, your relationships, your choices, what are the things that the Holy Spirit puts His finger on and says, “This here needs work. This needs to change”?
I know some of mine. Do you know yours?
Judah did not want to hear about theirs. They put on their noise-canceling headphones and turned up the volume on their streaming service. Anything to keep from listening to the word of the LORD calling them to repent. And, though the LORD is amazing gracious and amazing patient, He is also unerringly just. He is righteous and holy and is full of righteous wrath against sin. So He promises through Jeremiah to bring judgment that will last for 70 years.
Keep that number in mind. It will become important. It stands for a whole lifetime and covers two full generations. None of those who are being carted off into exile will return unless they were too young to remember it.
Seventy years is a long time. But it is also a limited time. As awful as the exile will be (and it was truly awful), it will one day be over.  And those whom God used to inflict the punishment will then be punished themselves. 
Did you notice what the LORD called Nebuchadnezzar in verse 9? It would have shocked the socks off the Israelites. He called him, “my servant Nebuchadnezzar.” He doesn’t normally talk that way about pagans! He doesn’t normally talk that way about just any Israelite! And He doesn’t mean that Nebuchadnezzar was a believer or a follower of Yahweh. He was not, at this time. And what He was doing was wrong and bad–attacking God’s people like that. 
But at the very same time the LORD was using Nebuchadnezzar to effect His will! The LORD has a way of bringing out the best of things from the worst of things–including people’s very own sin! Nebuchadnezzar was the LORD’s servant. But that doesn’t mean that he won’t be judged, as well. Look at verse 12.
“‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate forever. I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands’” (vv.12-15).
Babylon is not getting away with anything either. Remember, Jeremiah is a prophet to the nations. Not just to Judah. We’re going to see that especially when we get to chapters 46 through 51. Some ancient translations actually move up chapters 46 to 51 to this point in the book of Jeremiah!
Yes, the LORD is going to use the nations to bring judgment on Judah. But, no, they are not going to get away with anything and will one day reap that judgment themselves.
And that brings us the second strong image of these two chapters. The image of a cup of God’s holy wrath. Look with me at verse 15.
“This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, said to me: ‘Take from my hand this cup filled with the wine of my wrath and make all the nations to whom I send you drink it. When they drink it, they will stagger and go mad because of the sword I will send among them.’” (vv.15-16).
This cup or a cup like this shows up again and again in our Bibles. God prepares the cup and it is the wine of His wrath against sin. The one who drinks it, receives the wrath of God. In verse 16, it says that they stagger and go mad, and I think that means that they are then defenseless against the sword that comes to kill them.
In verse 15, the LORD tells Jeremiah to take the this cup and make all the nations to whom he sends him to drink it.
I don’t think it’s a literal cup. I think it’s metaphorical, and the call here is for Jeremiah to prophetically pronounce judgment on these nations. To “make them drink it.” So he does. Verse 17.
“So I took the cup from the LORD's hand and made all the nations to whom he sent me drink it: Jerusalem and the towns of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a ruin and an object of horror and scorn and cursing, as they are today [at the time of the writing of Jeremiah]; Pharaoh king of Egypt, his attendants, his officials and all his people, and all the foreign people there; all the kings of Uz; all the kings of the Philistines (those of Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the people left at Ashdod); Edom, Moab and Ammon; all the kings of Tyre and Sidon; the kings of the coastlands across the sea; Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who are in distant places; all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who live in the desert; all the kings of Zimri, Elam and Media; and all the kings of the north, near and far, one after the other–all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. And after all of them, the king of Sheshach will drink it too” (vv.17-26).
“Sheshach” is a codename for Babylon. The one who brought the judgment to begin with will not escape it in the end. “Drink from this cup!”  Verse 27.
“‘Then tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Drink, get drunk and vomit, and fall to rise no more because of the sword I will send among you.' But if they refuse to take the cup from your hand and drink, tell them, 'This is what the LORD Almighty says: You must drink it!
See, I am beginning to bring disaster on the city that bears my Name, and will you indeed go unpunished? You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty.' (vv.27-29).
Drink! And then he unleashes a torrent of words and images to describe this punishment. V.30
“‘Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: ‘ 'The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword,' ‘ declares the LORD. [This is getting much bigger than just the middle east. This is getting eschatological.] This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth.’ 
At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere–from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. Weep and wail, you shepherds; roll in the dust, you leaders of the flock. For your time to be slaughtered has come; you will fall and be shattered like fine pottery. The shepherds will have nowhere to flee, the leaders of the flock no place to escape. Hear the cry of the shepherds, the wailing of the leaders of the flock, for the LORD is destroying their pasture. The peaceful meadows will be laid waste because of the fierce anger of the LORD. Like a lion he will leave his lair, and their land will become desolate because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the LORD's fierce anger” (vv.30-38).
Make no mistake–the LORD is holy. The guilty will not go unpunished. Justice will be done and will be seen to be done. In all the earth.
I’m sure there were true fulfillments of these promises in the Old Testament, but as I read it, it seems to go bigger and envelop all the judgment of all time.
One day the cup filled with the wine of God’s wrath will be drunk by all the nations. And it can’t be refused.
Except!
Except if someone else drinks the cup of God’s wrath for us. As much as this passage should chill our bones and move us to tune our hearts to repent before God’s unerring justice while there is still time, it also should warm our hearts as we think about what Jesus did for us at the Cross. When He drank the cup of God’s wrath in our place. 
Remember what Jesus prayed in the Garden? “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” (Lk. 22:42). And He drank the cup for us.
#3. THANK THE LORD FOR DRINKING OUR CUP.
The Father said (v.28), to save them, “You must drink it!” And the Son said, “Not my will but yours be done.” And He went to the Cross absorbed the just wrath of God for our sins.
One of my kids said they had an encounter with a Muslim at work this week. And this man was trying to convince my kid that Christianity didn’t make sense. It doesn’t make sense, he said, that Jesus would be punished for our sins. Why would you punish someone else and not the one who did the thing?
It’s a good question. And I’m not saying that I would do it like the Lord did, but I sure am glad He did! It may not make sense, but it sure is good news. Because God brings the best things out of the worst things!
And because Jesus drank from that terrible cup, we can drink from this wonderful one. Remember what happened in the Upper Room the night that Jesus was betrayed?
The Gospel of Matthew tells us, “Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.’” (Matt. 26:27-28).
This first Sunday of November, let us thank our Lord for drinking from our cup by drinking from His.

***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18
17. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:818. "I Did Not Send These Prophets" - Jeremiah 23:9-40

“I Did Not Send These Prophets” [Matt's Messages]

“I Did Not Send These Prophets”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchOctober 16, 2022 :: Jeremiah 23:9-40 
Last time we were in Jeremiah, he was telling us what went wrong with the last 5 kings of Judah. He called them the “shepherds” of Judah, and he pronounced judgment upon them. “Woe to the Shepherds.”
Well, today, Jeremiah turns his attention from the bad kings who were dragging Judah down to the bad prophets that were dragging Judah down. This message could be entitled, “Woe to the Prophets.”
But I picked these words out of verse 21 to serve as our title for today, and they are just as scary: the LORD says, “I Did Not Send These Prophets.” 
]
Who are you listening to right now?
I know that you’re listening to me right now. Unless you’ve tuned me out already, or have settled into your mid-morning nap, or found something more interesting to do on your phone. But I don’t mean, just like, right now this instant. I mean “these days.” Who are you listening to?
There are a lot of voices out there trying to influence you and me. You and I are being bombarded all day long with messages. On our phones, on TV, on the radio, on the internet, at work, in the neighborhood, in our families. There are a lot of voices out there telling us who we are, what’s wrong with us, what we need, and what we need to do.
For example, this is political ad season, right? Anybody ready for that to stop? And who to believe? None of those ads are actually looking out for you. They all just want something from you, and they are willing to use your fear and outrage to get it from you.
But it’s not just political ads. It’s all the ads out there. And all of the stuff that isn’t an “ad,” but it’s still a voice trying to tell you what to believe. Who are you listening to? What voices are you letting in?
The voices out there don’t all say the same thing, do they? They are in competition for your faith. And a number of them are labeled, “Christian.” But just because it wears the label, doesn’t mean that the message is actually from Christ.
In his day, Jeremiah was not the only person who wore the label of “prophet.”
There were a number of people running around Judah in the forty years of the reigns of Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah who claimed to be prophets of the LORD.
But the LORD said that He sent Jeremiah (we saw that back in chapter 1), but He never sent these prophets. They were false. They were fake. And yet they still ran with their message.
And at first glance, it might have been hard to tell which ones were real and which ones were not. For example, most of Jeremiah’s prophecies took so long to be fulfilled. Were they the real ones? And I know which ones sounded better. I know which ones Judah probably wanted to be true. And don’t we always lean towards the option we want to be true?
But Jeremiah was true, and these other prophets were false. And that’s what this chapter is all about.
I have four bullet points of application this morning of what to do about all of these voices and messages out there that are coming at us (and even, sadly, sometimes from us) that are false. And here’s number one:
#1. WEEP.
Weep over the misuse of God’s holy words.
Look with me at verse 9.  “Concerning the prophets: My heart is broken within me; all my bones tremble. I am like a drunken man, like a man overcome by wine, because of the LORD and his holy words.”
As usual, Jeremiah is feeling it. Far from being detached from or ambivalent about this situation, he feels it in his bones. When he thinks about the so-called “prophets” of Judah, his heart is broken, his bones tremble. He gets almost out of control like a guy who is drunk.
Jeremiah, again, teaches us to lament. To weep over sin and its consequences. It would be easier to jus stop caring. To harden your heart when the people around you start listening to false prophets.
I have a lot of friends over the years who have let the wrong voices into their ears and into their hearts, and they have followed false teachers. I see it all the time on my Facebook feed. And it would be easier to just say, “Well, that’s their problem.” But Jeremiah doesn’t do that. He lets his heart be broken over the misuse of God’s holy words.
Because this is what happens when you believe the false prophets. Verse 10.
“The land is full of adulterers; because of the curse the land lies parched and the pastures in the desert are withered. The prophets follow an evil course and use their power unjustly. ‘Both prophet and priest are godless; even in my temple I find their wickedness,’ declares the LORD.”
When he says the land is “full of adulterers,” he probably means primarily idolatry which we know is spiritual adultery. The people of Judah have forsaken their first love and bowed down to false gods.
How come? Because the prophets have said it’s okay! And they are even doing it themselves. So this is what is coming–judgment. V.12.
“‘Therefore their path will become slippery; they will be banished to darkness and there they will fall. I will bring disaster on them in the year they are punished,’ declares the LORD.”
They will not escape. Jeremiah is not happy about it. He weeps over it. He feels it in his bones. Verse 13.
“‘Among the prophets of Samaria [up in the North] I saw this repulsive thing: They prophesied by Baal and led my people Israel astray. [That was terrible! Did you guys in the South see that? Did you see what happened to them?  They were carted off into exile in Assyria. Did you learn anything from that? Apparently not. Because I see the same thing happening here in Judah. Verse 14.] And among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen something horrible: They commit adultery and live a lie. They strengthen the hands of evildoers, so that no one turns from his wickedness. They are all like Sodom to me; the people of Jerusalem are like Gomorrah.’”
On second thought, it might not have been that hard to tell the difference between the true prophets and the false ones. The false ones were encouraging idolatry, the worship of other gods.
Moses wrote in Deuteronomy that any “prophet” that does that should be executed (see Deuteronomy 13 and 18). And these prophets not only allowed the people to get away with it, but they were doing it, too.
Perhaps the adultery here was literal, as well. Not just spiritual adultery but physical. These prophets were hypocrites. They said one thing but did another. They said they were from the LORD, but then they worshiped the Baals. And they slept around promiscuously.
They were as far gone as Sodom and Gomorrah. And we know what happened to those cities.
Notice how important it is that a prophet’s life and his message should match. Talk the talk and walk the walk, right? As you are discerning which voices to let into your ears, consider the character of the person to whom you are listening.
Is there a match or a mis-match between their talk and their walk?
Yes, you can speak the truth better than you live it. And true is true regardless. And some people can live it better than they can talk it. But there is supposed to be a congruence between life and doctrine. Look for that! That’s where the gold is. People who practice what they preach should be the ones to whom we listen the most. (That’s in every area of life, but especially those who are talking directly about spiritual things.)
Notice also the importance of repentance here. These prophets did not call for repentance, and that was their main error. They didn’t call for anyone to (v.14), turn “from his wickedness.” That’s the main way that they were like Sodom and Gomorrah. Not primarily because of sexual sin, but because of un-repentance.
Instead, these false prophets strengthened “the hands of evildoers.”  They encouraged their sin!
Do the voices you’re listening to encourage your sin or your sanctification? Your temptation or your holiness? Do the voices you’re listening to encourage you to repent? To live a life of repentance?
The prophets of Judah did not encourage repentance, and they were going to reap the consequences with the rest of the people. Verse 15.
“Therefore, this is what the LORD Almighty says concerning the prophets: ‘I will make them eat bitter food and drink poisoned water, because from the prophets of Jerusalem ungodliness has spread throughout the land.’”
Here’s point number two:
#2. REJECT.
Reject the lies you want to believe.
Look at verse 16. “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.”
That last part is really important. Not only do the lead bad lives, but they speak bad lies. And those lies come from their own minds. They make them up. They are not from the mouth of the LORD. And so we are supposed to reject them. “Do not listen...”
But that’s not so easy because we want to believe them. The LORD says “they fill you with false hopes.” The word for “hopes” there could be translated “emptiness.” They fill you with emptiness.
It’s just figments of their imagination, but it sounds so good. They are so positive and encouraging! These guys are not all doom and gloom like Jeremiah. They are the prophets of peace. Verse 17.
“They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The LORD says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.'”
You see what they’re doing? They are telling the people what they want to hear.
“You will have peace.”“No harm will come to you.”
Doesn’t that sound good?
I want somebody to say that over me!
That’s really positive. There are lots of smiles and soothing, reassuring words here. But notice what there isn’t. There is no call to change. “They keep saying to those who despise me [the LORD!]...and to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts.”  “Peace, peace!”
"You don’t need to change.You don’t need to repent.You don’t need to turn from your evil ways."
That’s the exactly kind of message that we need to reject. The LORD says, “Do not listen to what [these] prophets are prophesying to you...” (V.16). Reject the lies you want to believe.
Apply that to your life right now. What lies do you want to believe? What sins would you rather not repent of right now? Don’t think about somebody’s else’s sins. That’s too easy. Think about yours. I know some of mine. What about yours? Who is telling you to go ahead and just live however you want? Who are you listening to?
That was actually the problem with these prophets. They weren’t listening to the right voices either. Look at verse 18. “But which of them has stood in the council of the LORD to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word?”
The Book of Jeremiah is one of my wife Heather’s most favorite books in the whole Bible, and she especially loves this verse, 23:17. I wish she was here this morning to hear me preach it. I couldn’t count all of the times that she has prayed this one verse over me, praying that I would stand in the council of the LORD to listen to and hear His word so that I can deliver it to you on a Sunday morning. Very appropriate for a month focused on what pastors do.
Jeremiah implies that these so called “prophets” have not stood in the council of the LORD. They have not been “in the room where it happens.” They haven’t actually heard what God’s plans are. They are just making stuff up.
Jeremiah, however, was hearing from the LORD Himself. He was, so to speak, in the cabinet room hearing the LORD’s plans himself and then faithfully delivering the LORD’s message to the LORD’s people.
And, of course, I am not a prophet. And Joel is not a prophet. But we have the council of the LORD right here in this book. “We believe that God has spoken in the Scriptures, both Old and New Testaments, through the words of human authors. As the verbally inspired Word of God, the Bible is without error in the original writings, the complete revelation of His will for salvation, and the ultimate authority by which every realm of human knowledge and endeavor should be judged. Therefore, it is to be believed in all that it teaches, obeyed in all that it requires, and trusted in all that it promises” (EFCA Statement of Faith, Article 2).
And if Joel and I and anyone else that stands here and preaches to you explain and expound what is in this Word, then we are standing in the council of the LORD.
And that means that we will, at times, say things that make us all uncomfortable. That means that we will call for change, for repentance, for turning from sin and to holiness. And it means that we will warn everyone of the wrath to come. Look at verse 19.
“See, the storm of the LORD will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. The anger of the LORD will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly.”
He’s talking about the exile. The great “uprooting.” He’s always talking about the exile! Because it was sure to come. Jeremiah was a broken record about the broken covenant, which meant that God’s judgment was going to fall on the unrepentant.
And that’s a picture of what Hell is going to be. God’s wrath poured out on those who will not repent. “The storm of the LORD.” “In days to come you will understand it clearly.”
But these prophets did not understand it clearly and rejected it wholeheartedly. They had their own ideas. Verse 21.
“I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.”
Reject the lies you want to believe including the lie that you don’t have to repent and trust in Jesus Christ. You do. And so do I. It’s the only way. He is the only way. 
And if we do, THEN we’ll have peace. Ironically, those who say, “Peace, peace,” will not have peace in the end. But those who say, “Turn, turn,” will have peace if they do. 
So be careful whom you believe. Whom you listen to. And also be careful what you yourself proclaim.
#3. BEWARE.
Beware of faking God’s message yourself.
Look at verse 23. “‘Am I only a God nearby,’ declares the LORD, ‘and not a God far away? Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the LORD.”
What awesome questions!
The answers are obvious from the way He asks them, but they are awesome any way about.
"Am I only a God nearby, and not a God far away?” What’s the answer to that one? No. He’s both, right?!
“Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?” What’s the answer?  No!
“Do not I fill heaven and earth?' declares the LORD.” What’s the answer? Yes! That’s why He declares it!
God is not just a local deity that can’t see around corners and never leaves the area.
You can’t get away from Him. You can run, but you cannot hide.
How far did anyone travel this week? Did anybody here go out of Clearfield County? How about out of state? Anybody go out of Pennsylvania? How about out of the country? If Heather was here, she could say she had been to Canada this week. Anybody West of the Mississippi this week? Anybody see an ocean?
Wherever you were this week, the LORD was there. Any place. Any room. Anywhere. And that’s really encouraging so that we can “sing wherever we go,” but it’s also supposed to awaken in us the fear of the LORD. Because the LORD is saying that every single word that the fake prophets had uttered was like caught on a hot mic, and He heard it. V.25
“‘I have heard what the prophets say who prophesy lies in my name. They say, 'I had a dream! I had a dream!' How long will this continue in the hearts of these lying prophets, who prophesy the delusions of their own minds? They think the dreams they tell one another will make my people forget my name, just as their fathers forgot my name through Baal worship.”
eware of speaking like you’re talking for God when you are just talking for yourself.  Because you and I can find ourselves acting like these fake prophets ourselves. And people are listening to what we say. You are listening to me right now. How dangerous it would be for me to just start preaching my own ideas.
On Tuesday, the Elders met for our monthly meeting, and we started by studying James chapter 3, verse 1. “Not many of you should presume to be teachers, my brothers, because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.” And that doesn’t just go for those of us who stand in the pulpit, but whenever we give advice or counsel and say that it is biblical. That this is what God says. Let’s not throw in our own inventions.
#4. SPEAK.
Speak the word of God faithfully. 
Look at verse 28. “Let the prophet who has a dream tell his dream, but let the one who has my word speak it faithfully. For what has straw to do with grain?’ declares the LORD. ‘Is not my word like fire,’ declares the LORD, ‘and like a hammer that breaks a rock in pieces?”
Three more delicious rhetorical questions!
And they all point to how awesome is God’s holy Word.
“For what has straw to do with grain?” What’s He mean? He’s comparing the message of the fake prophets from the Word of God.  They’re message sounds great but has no nutritional value. The cereal box looks pretty, but it says, “0% of your recommended daily allowance” of nutrients. It’s straw.
But God’s words is GRAIN. And more than grain. It’s fire. And it’s a hammer.
It’s got power. It’s effective. It changes things. It breaks down hard hearts. It reveals what’s really real. It’s relentlessly effective. It’s the reason I am a preacher. Because this thing is fire. This thing is a hammer. That might mean that sometimes it hurts.
But my job is to give this fire to you. And your job is to give this fire to the people in your life. “Let the one who has my word speak it faithfully.”
Because the alternative is having God against you. Look at verse 30.
“‘Therefore,’ declares the LORD, ‘I am against the prophets who steal from one another words supposedly from me. Yes,’ declares the LORD, ‘I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, 'The LORD declares.' Indeed, I am against those who prophesy false dreams,’ declares the LORD. ‘They tell them and lead my people astray with their reckless lies, yet I did not send or appoint them. They do not benefit these people in the least,’ declares the LORD.”
That’s a lot of “declares the LORD!” Five times in three verses.
And three times, “I am against.” “I am against.” “I am against” these prophets.
Notice that in verse 30, he says that they plagiarize each other! They are not only lying, but they’re stealing the lies. Just repeating what they’ve heard that sounded good. That is so bad for people. 
So here’s the upshot. Look at verse 33. “‘When these people, or a prophet or a priest, ask you, 'What is the oracle of the LORD?' say to them, 'What oracle? I will forsake you, declares the LORD.'”
Now, there’s a play on words going on here. The Hebrew word for “oracle” could also be translated, “burden.” Which we kind of use both ways, too.
So it’s like “What the burden” from the LORD? What message has He laid on you your heart? And the answer back is, “What burden?! You’re the burden! And I’m going to unburden myself of you.” Verse 34.
“If a prophet or a priest or anyone else claims, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' I will punish that man and his household. This is what each of you keeps on saying to his friend or relative: 'What is the LORD's answer?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' But you must not mention 'the oracle of the LORD' again, because every man's own word becomes his oracle and so you distort the words of the living God, the LORD Almighty, our God. This is what you keep saying to a prophet: 'What is the LORD's answer to you?' or 'What has the LORD spoken?' Although you claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' this is what the LORD says: You used the words, 'This is the oracle of the LORD,' even though I told you that you must not claim, 'This is the oracle of the LORD.' Therefore, I will surely forget you and cast you out of my presence along with the city I gave to you and your fathers. I will bring upon you everlasting disgrace–everlasting shame that will not be forgotten.’” (vv.34-40).
The point is not just that they aren’t allowed to say the words, “the oracle of the LORD.” The point is that that phrase has been used as cover for stuff they just made up. That’s not being faithful with God’s Word. If you going to say, “This is the Word of LORD,” then it better be the Word of Lord. Because the LORD has already given His answer. They might not have liked it, but He’s already said what is coming. They are going to be uprooted–cast out of His presence along with Jerusalem.
Jeremiah didn’t have to like it. In fact, he hated it. And wept over it. But he faithfully delivered the message. Jeremiah stood in the council of the LORD and then faithfully spoke the Word of God to the people of God.
And you know Whom that reminds me of? The greatest Prophet there ever was. The Lord Jesus Christ.
Talk about standing in the council of the LORD?! Jesus is God the One and Only Who has come from the Father’s side (John 1:18)! If anyone can faithfully speak the Word of God, it’s Him. He is the Righteous Branch that we read about at the first part of this chapter. He is “the LORD our Righteousness!” (vv.5-6).
In fact, His Father said this on the Mount of Transfiguration. “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” (Matthew 17:5).
Who are you listening to right now?
The LORD did send Jesus. Listen to Him.

***

Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-1817. "Woe to the Shepherds" - Jeremiah 21:1-23:8

You Are Invited to Celebration Weekend 2022

Dear Church Family,

Our church was founded in 1892, so that means that this year, in 2022, our congregation has turned 130 years old. That’s a lot of candles on the birthday cake!

And this year, we have set aside an entire weekend to celebrate our 130th anniversary with some super special events, Saturday October 8th and Sunday October 9th. I want to tell you more about those events and how you and your family can participate.

My friend, Greg Strand, is coming all the way from the EFCA National Office in Minneapolis to be our special guest speaker for this celebration! Greg is the director of theology and credentialing for the EFCA, and many of our folks have sat under his teaching at Stay Sharp, our district theology conference, for the last 15 years. 

We’ve asked Greg to bring a “taste of Stay Sharp” to us at Lanse Free Church with two special anniversary seminars. On Saturday evening October 8th from 6:30-8:30, Greg is going to teach on theology. His Saturday seminar is entitled, “We Believe in One God: An Introduction to Trinitarian Theology.” So if you are wondering what we believe about Who God is as Father, Son, and Spirit and what God is up to in the world that He has made, then we’d love to see you at that seminar. It’s free, and there is no registration. Just come!

Then on Sunday morning, Greg will be back to teach us about church history. His seminar on Sunday October 9th will start at 8:30 and go to 9:30, and the topic is, “From Where Did the EFCA Come: A Brief History of the Evangelical Free Church of America.” I think it will be neat to see the connections between our church’s history and our association of churches’ history. Because we go back almost to the beginning with our Swedish roots! Again, it’s totally free, and there is no registration–unless you need childcare. We will arrange childcare for the history seminar on Sunday morning, if you let me know you need help with that by Monday October 3rd. But aside from that, there is no registration. Just come!

But wait, there’s more! On Celebration Sunday, we are going to praise God together for 130 years of His faithfulness to us. And the Celebration Choir is going to sing a special song. The choir is rehearsing on Thursday night October 6th at 7pm, and Amy Jo would love for you to participate. Anyone in the church! See Amy Jo if you have any questions, or just show up for the rehearsal. The song is easy and beautiful and was an old Swedish hymn that fits with our church history.

Also during church, Greg Strand is going to preach for us from God’s Word. And then afterward we’re going to take our annual church family photo. And this year, we get to have it inside once again! 

And then we’re going to cap everything off with a Fellowship Dinner that is being planned by the Hospitality Team. And this is the one thing we really need people to help with right now, we need to get a good idea of how many people are coming and what they are planning to bring. So if you haven’t already turned in a green RSVP sheet for the Hospitality Team, we need you to do that or go to that link in your email and sign up online so that we know how many to prepare for.

And if you are part of our new youth group (grades 7 through 12), you are invited on Sunday evening for a special pizza party at 6:30 where Greg is going to talk about “Why Theology Is Important” for youth! And parents of our youth are invited to listen in and eat pizza, as well.

I don’t know about you, but I’m excited to have this anniversary celebration of all of the things the Lord has done in our midst for the last 130 years. May He get all the glory.

See you at church!

-Pastor Matt

“Woe to the Shepherds” [Matt's Messages]

“Woe to the Shepherds”Uprooted - The Words of JeremiahLanse Evangelical Free ChurchOctober 2, 2022 :: Jeremiah 21:1-23:8
“Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!’ declares the LORD.”
Those are some scary words.  You don’t want the LORD to say to you, “Woe.” It means that you are in big trouble with Him. These shepherds were in dire straights. They were on dangerous ground.
Jeremiah delivers to them this word of “woe.” “‘Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,’ declares the LORD.” I do not want to be in their shoes.

Who are these bad shepherds? He’s not talking about literal shepherds, sheep-herders, like the ones that came to see baby Jesus. “Shepherd” here is a metaphor for the kings of the nation of Judah.
While Jeremiah has prophesied against the whole nation of Judah as they have forsaken their covenant with Yahweh, he has also focused on the bad leaders that have taken Judah down these wrong paths. Bad shepherds.
Prophets, priests, and kings.
Last time, we learned about the bad priest Passhur son of Immer. Next time, we’ll find out more about the bad prophets in chapter 23. But today in chapters 21 and 22, the LORD speaks directly to the evil failures of the last several kings of Judah.
We learned back in April that Jeremiah prophesied, before the exile, during the reigns of the last five kings of Judah. Extra credit if you can name them! Chapter 1 actually only names 3 of them, probably because 2 of them only reigned for 3 months each.
But their names were:
JosiahJehoahazJehoiakimJehoiachinZedekiah
They all actually had more than one name, but these were their royal names.
Now, do you remember thumbs up and thumbs down for the kings? There were no thumbs up kings for the northern kingdom of Israel. But there were some thumbs-up kings for the southern kingdom of Judah. How about these five guys? Does anybody remember their score card?
Well, let me give you a little hint. This sermon is entitled, “Woe to the Shepherds” meaning the kings of Judah.
Josiah is actually a thumbs up. He was actually two thumbs up. Josiah discovered the Book of the Law and tried to reform Judah according to it.
But how about these other guys? 
Jehoahaz?Jehoiakim?Jehoiachin?Zedekiah?
All thumbs down. And that’s what these few chapters are about. They are like an autopsy, a post-mortem examination of what went wrong with these kings. So that we can learn from their failures. 
I’ve only got two points to make this morning, of application, and here’s the first one. It’s pretty simple:
#1. DON’T BE LIKE THE BAD SHEPHERDS.
Don’t fall into the traps that got them the word “Woe” spoken over them by the LORD. Don’t be like the bad shepherds. So, let’s see what they did wrong. In chapter 21, we actually flash forward to the ending. We start with the last king to sit on the throne in Judah, King Zedekiah. His personal name was Mattaniah. And he ruled from 597 to 586 BC.
And this chapter appears to take place around 588 BC. Just about 2 years before the end of his reign and the end of the nation of Judah itself. And guess what Zedekiah is doing in 588BC?
He’s asking the Prophet Jeremiah for help. Look with me at chapter 21, verse 1.
“The word came to Jeremiah from the LORD when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. They said: ‘Inquire now of the LORD for us because Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon is attacking us. Perhaps the LORD will perform wonders for us as in times past so that he will withdraw from us’” (vv.1-2).
Stop there for a second. Do you get the picture? Do you get the time frame? This is some time later than the events we’ve been studying the last few weeks in chapters 18, 19, and 20. (Remember this book jumps around chronologically.)
It’s probably been several years, maybe more than a decade since then. This Passhur is not the same Passhur as last week’s. Different dads. And this Zephaniah is not the prophet but a priest. And this Passhur and Zephaniah are sent by King Zedekiah to ask the prophet Jeremiah if he would ask the LORD to do a miracle and save Jerusalem from Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon. 
By the way, this is the first time that he has been actually named so far in the this book. And it’s because he’s at the city gates. And they are under siege. Zedekiah had sworn loyalty to Nebuchadnezzar but made an secret alliance with Egypt and then betrayed Nebuchadnezzar and then rebelled against him, and it has not gone well for him.  Nebuchadnezzar is knocking on his door.
And Zedekiah is looking for a way out, and he thought of Jeremiah. It turns out that he loves to ask Jeremiah for advice. He just never takes it. But this time, he asks for Jeremiah for prayers. He asks him to inquire to see if the LORD might have another miracle up his sleeve. Like He used to.
There was a time not, too far back, when his ancestor King Hezekiah prayed, and the LORD performed a wonder–killing an entire attacking army in one night. Zedekiah asks if maybe the LORD would do that again?
And Jeremiah sends back this answer, “No.” No. It is too late. The clay was too hard, and it is now time to smash. V.3
“But Jeremiah answered them, ‘Tell Zedekiah, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am about to turn against you the weapons of war that are in your hands, which you are using to fight the king of Babylon and the Babylonians who are outside the wall besieging you. And I will gather them inside this city. I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath. I will strike down those who live in this city–both men and animals–and they will die of a terrible plague. After that, declares the LORD, I will hand over Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials and the people in this city who survive the plague, sword and famine, to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to their enemies who seek their lives. He will put them to the sword; he will show them no mercy or pity or compassion'” (vv.3-7). Stop there.
“It’s worse than you think, Zedekiah. Not only am I not going to fight for you, I’m going to fight against you. And you yourself are going to die.”  
Woe to the Shepherd, Zedekiah.
Jeremiah does have some advice, however, for the people of Judah. Verse 8. “‘Furthermore, tell the people, 'This is what the LORD says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. [Sound familiar?] Whoever stays in this city will die by the sword, famine or plague. But whoever goes out and surrenders to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live; he will escape with his life. I have determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the LORD. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.'”
Your only chance is to survive is surrender. Boy, did Pashhur and Zephaniah hate that advice! We’ll see how they reacted when we get up to chapters 37 and 38! They thought that this was treason. But it was actually just good sense and faithfulness! Because the LORD had decided that Jerusalem was going up in flames. 
And that’s exactly what happened. And we can’t really comprehend what that was like. Read the Book of Lamentations.
But the question is why. Why did Yahweh respond to Zedekiah in this way? Look at verse 11.
“‘Moreover, say to the royal house of Judah [say to Zedekiah], 'Hear the word of the LORD;O house of David, this is what the LORD says: 'Administer justice every morning; rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed, or my wrath will break out and burn like fire because of the evil you have done–burn with no one to quench it. I am against you, Jerusalem, you who live above this valley on the rocky plateau, declares the LORD–you who say, ‘Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?’ I will punish you as your deeds deserve, declares the LORD. I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.'”
Zedekiah failed to administer justice every morning. He had one job! "Keep the covenant! Lead the people to worship the LORD alone and follow His commandments. You’re the king! If you see someone is robbed, then rescue them from the hand of their oppressor. Administer justice every morning. That’s what you were supposed to do. And, Zedekiah, you were not doing it. 
Instead, you were trusting in how Jerusalem was situated so well for natural defense. And you were trusting in all of the wrong things. Like having the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of LORD." V.13
“Who can come against us? Who can enter our refuge?’”  We’re sitting pretty! Not if the LORD is against you, you aren’t. “I will kindle a fire in your forests that will consume everything around you.” So, woe to you, Shepherd Zedekiah. 
Now, in chapter 22, it jumps back again, in time. It jumps from Zedekiah the last king of Judah to just after the last good king of Judah. Josiah and then goes down from there through the others.
Look at chapter 22. Verse 1.
“This is what the LORD says: ‘Go down to the palace of the king of Judah and proclaim this message there: 'Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, you who sit on David's throne–you, your officials and your people who come through these gates.”
Now, just think about that for a second. How dangerous is this?!
The LORD tells Jeremiah not just to go to the Potter’s House or the Linen Belt Store or even to the Temple complex, but he sends Jeremiah down to the palace of the king of Judah and puts a fiery message in his mouth! This is a dangerous mission, but Jeremiah obeys. 
What message does he deliver to the Shepherds of Judah? What does God want to say to them? Verse 3.
“This is what the LORD says: Do what is just and right. [That’s so important. It’s so basic, but it’s so important. ‘Do what is just and right.’] Rescue from the hand of his oppressor the one who has been robbed. Do no wrong or violence to the alien, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place. For if you are careful to carry out these commands, then kings who sit on David's throne will come through the gates of this palace, riding in chariots and on horses, accompanied by their officials and their people. But if you do not obey these commands, declares the LORD, I swear by myself that this palace will become a ruin'” (vv.3-5).
Do you see what the LORD cares about? Do you see how much He cares about justice? “Do what is just and right.”
Because that’s Who the LORD is, right? Remember chapter 9? “[L]et him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," (Jer. 9:24 NIVO).
This is the LORD’s vision of leadership. It’s someone who does what just and right and watches out for the little guy. 
“Do no wrong or violence to the alien” meaning the immigrant. “The fatherless or the widow.” That’s the vulnerable. Those who don’t have many rights or money or power. “And do not shed innocent blood.”
The LORD loves justice and righteousness. And it was the king’s job to administer it. And if they did, then wonder of wonders, there would be blessing! But if they didn’t (and they didn’t), their palace would become a ruin. V.6
“For this is what the LORD says about the palace of the king of Judah: ‘Though you are like Gilead to me, like the summit of Lebanon [beautiful forest places like central Pennsylvania], I will surely make you like a desert, like towns not inhabited. I will send destroyers against you, each man with his weapons, and they will cut up your fine cedar beams and throw them into the fire” (vv.6-7).  Did you ever think about that?
Remember that palace that Solomon built for himself out of the cedars of Lebanon? I read about it in my morning Bible reading this week (1 Kings 7). It was this beautiful house built of cedar. Imagine what it looked like! Imagine what it smelled like. Not just a cedar-lined closet, but a cedar-built palace.
And the LORD said, that he was going to turn that fine house into firewood. V.8
“‘People from many nations will pass by this [burning] city and will ask one another, 'Why has the LORD done such a thing to this great city?' And the answer will be: 'Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and have worshiped and served other gods.'”
They only had one job, but they refused to do it. They only had to be faithful to one Lord, but they were unfaithful. They only had to administer justice, but they loved crookedness.
And now he gets personal. He proclaims woe on King Jehoahaz, also known as King Shallum, son of Josiah. Look at verse 10.
“Do not weep for the dead king or mourn his loss [meaning Josiah, who was killed in battle in 609 BC. Don’t weep for him]; rather, weep bitterly for him who is exiled, because he will never return nor see his native land again. For this is what the LORD says about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but has gone from this place: ‘He will never return. He will die in the place where they have led him captive; he will not see this land again.’”
Josiah’s son, Shallum, also known as Jehoahaz, was only king for 3 months before Nebuchadnezzar carted him off into exile (2 Kings 23:29-35).
And Jeremiah says that he is to be pitied more than his dead father. How come? Because his father died a two-thumbs-up-king. And Shallum was a two-thumbs down king, and exile was his judgment.
And then his brother took over. Elliakim, or more commonly known as King Jehoiakim. And who verse 13 is all about.
“‘Woe to him who builds his palace by unrighteousness, his upper rooms by injustice, making his countrymen work for nothing, not paying them for their labor [basically slavery]. He says, 'I will build myself a great palace with spacious upper rooms.' So he makes large windows in it, panels it with cedar and decorates it in red. [Improving on what Solomon had made with even more cedar and vermillion. This is the palace that Zedekiah was living in in chapter 21.] Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He did what was right and just, so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the LORD. But your eyes and your heart are set only on dishonest gain, on shedding innocent blood and on oppression and extortion.’
Therefore this is what the LORD says about Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah: ‘They will not mourn for him: 'Alas, my brother! Alas, my sister!' [Same Hebrew word for “Woe.”] They will not mourn for him: 'Alas, my master! Alas, his splendor!' He will have the burial of a donkey–dragged away and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.’” (vv.13-19).
Jehoiakim ruled for 11 years. And he was basically Jeremiah’s enemy. We will read a lot more about him over the next several months.  Jehoikakim wasn’t anything like his father Josiah. He was two thumbs down. And nobody[!] mourned when he died. Think about the whole former British Empire mourned the passing of Queen Elizabeth last month. Nobody mourned the death of King Jehoiakim.
Partially because of how different he was from his father. Look more closely at what his father did right. It really shows us what a king was supposed to be like.
What God really cares about. And how He wants you and me to live today. 
Look back up at verse 15. All Jehoiakim cared about was luxury. 
“Does it make you a king to have more and more cedar? [Is that’s what’s important? Doesn’t the LORD take care of our needs?] Did not your father [Josiah] have food and drink? He did what was right and just [sounds like verse 3], so all went well with him. He defended the cause of the poor and needy, and so all went well. Is that not what it means to know me?’ declares the LORD.”
These are important words. This is what it looks like to know God. If you truly know God, then you will love people. You will be committed to what right and just. And you will look out for the poor and the needy.
How are we doing at that? Are we committed to justice? Are we committed to the poor?
We can all have different ways of working towards justice and showing compassion. But we all need to be committed to it, at heart and with our hands and feet and wallets, if we call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ. “Is that not what it means to know me?”
It’s not just that we pray or read our Bibles, but we live out our faith.
I love that our EFCA Statement Faith directly addresses this in Article #8. It says, “God commands us to love Him supremely and others sacrificially, and to live out our faith with care for one another, compassion toward the poor and justice for the oppressed.” 
Because that’s the heart of God. That’s what it means to know Him.
Or here’s how the Prophet Micah said it, “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Mic. 6:8 NIVO) We walk humbly with our God by acting justly and loving mercy. By doing what is just and right and defending the cause of the poor and needy.
God says, “Is that not what it means to know me?”
Do you know God? We show it by how we treat the poor and needy.
How we treat the asylum-seeking migrants at our borders.How we treat the innocent unborn in our wombs.
Don’t be like Jehoiakim!
He wasn’t interested in knowing the LORD. He was only interested in how nice his house was. And so the LORD was against him. Woe to you, Shepherd Jehoiakim!
And woe to your son. Jeconiah or “Coniah” for short. Or his royal name, “King Jehoiachin.” 
That’s the next king to be mentioned by name. He was also thumbs down. The last four king were all thumbs down. And everybody suffered. V.20
“Go up to Lebanon and cry out, let your voice be heard in Bashan, cry out from Abarim, for all your allies are crushed. I warned you when you felt secure, but you said, 'I will not listen!' This has been your way from your youth; you have not obeyed me. The wind will drive all your shepherds away, and your allies will go into exile. Then you will be ashamed and disgraced because of all your wickedness. You who live in [quote-unquote] 'Lebanon,' who are nestled in cedar buildings, how you will groan when pangs come upon you, pain like that of a woman in labor!
‘As surely as I live,’ declares the LORD, ‘even if you, Jehoiachin son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, were a signet ring on my right hand, I would still pull you off. I will hand you over to those who seek your life, those you fear–to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and to the Babylonians. I will hurl you and the mother who gave you birth into another country, where neither of you was born, and there you both will die. You will never come back to the land you long to return to’” (vv.20-27).
Just like his uncle Shallum (or Jehoahaz), King Jehoiachin will only reign for three months and then be sent off into exile to die there (2 Kings 24:15). Probably in 597 BC at the same time that the Prophet Ezekiel was exiled, too. Uprooted, never to return. V.28
“Is this man Jehoiachin a despised, broken pot, an object no one wants? [Rejected from the potter’s house.] Why will he and his children be hurled out, cast into a land they do not know? O land, land, land, hear the word of the LORD! This is what the LORD says: ‘Record this man as if childless, a man who will not prosper in his lifetime, for none of his offspring will prosper, none will sit on the throne of David or rule anymore in Judah.’”
What a sad sad thing.
Jehoiachin actually had seven sons! But not one of them would sit on the throne in Judah. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar would make his uncle Mattaniah a puppet king which brings us back to Zedekiah. And we already saw what happened to him.
Woe to you, Shepherd Jehoiachin. A despised and broken pot, an object no one wants. How come? Why? Again, why? Chapter 23.
“‘Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of my pasture!’ declares the LORD. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says to the shepherds who tend my people: ‘Because you have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not bestowed care on them, I will bestow punishment on you for the evil you have done,’ declares the LORD.”
Do not be like the bad shepherds.
However, Jeremiah has also good news for us today. This next part is actually the best and brightest paragraph in the whole book of Jeremiah so far! Jeremiah has for us today a word of hope.
And that is that there is another Shepherd coming. And this Shepherd is a Good Shepherd!
#2. PUT YOUR HOPE IN THE GOOD SHEPHERD.
After all of that doom and gloom and darkness, verse 3 just beams with light! The LORD says, “‘I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and will bring them back to their pasture, where they will be fruitful and increase in number. I will place shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing,’ declares the LORD.”
Yahweh says, “I’ve had some bad shepherds who did a terrible job with the flock.
So I’m now going to come and shepherd the flock myself! I’m going to grab the flock from all the places where it’s been scattered and bring them back to the green grass and the still waters of my pasture. And they will be fruitful and increase in number. That’s Genesis language! Things are going to return to the way they were meant to be!
My flock will no longer be afraid or terrified, nor will any be missing.”
Doesn’t that sound good? When I was studying verses 3 through 8 of chapter 23, I just kept writing in the margin of my notes, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” That’s what we need! 
A day when we are not afraid or terrified.A day when nobody is lost.A day when everything is the way is was meant to be in the beginning and even better.
And what we need for that day to come is a Good Shepherd. And that’s exactly what Yahweh is promising here. Verse 5.
“‘The days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when I will raise up to David a righteous Branch, a King who will reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land [there it is again–justice!]. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will live in safety. This is the name by which he will be called: The LORD Our Righteousness” (vv.5-6).
In Hebrew that is, “Yahweh Tsidkenu.” It’s very close to Zedekiah’s name in Hebrew which is “Tsidqiyah.” Both are based on the word for righteousness or justice.
But unlike Zedekiah, this king will live up to his name!
He’s also going to come from the line of David. He’ll be a righteous branch. A new growth that shoots up out of the seemingly dead stump of Jesse (to use Isaiah’s language (chapter 11)).
And He will save His people. Do you know His name? I sure hope you do.
He’s talking about King Jesus. King Jesus is the Good Shepherd.
He’s everything these bad shepherds were supposed to be but were not. And His salvation rescue will be even better than the salvation rescue of the Exodus. Verse 7.
“‘So then, the days are coming,’ declares the LORD, ‘when people will no longer say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the Israelites up out of Egypt,' but they will say, 'As surely as the LORD lives, who brought the descendants of Israel up out of the land of the north and out of all the countries where he had banished them.'  Then they will live in their own land” (vv.7-8).
This is the Shepherd that we need (see Ezekiel 34 for more on this theme)! Put your hope in Him.
Interestingly, King Jesus is a descendent of these woeful kings. He is actually related to King Jehoiachin from the end of chapter 22. The one that had seven kids but none of them would be king.
Jehoiachin had a grandson named Zerubbabel. And he never was the king, but he got to come back from exile and help rebuild. He was the governor of Judah for a while. And the Gospel of Matthew (1:12) tells us that he was the great-great-great-great-great (and so forth) grandfather King Jesus. So that, though he died in exile, the Righteous Branch would shoot out of his stump. And be given to God’s people forever.
I love to think about what His kingdom will be like, don’t you?
Verse 5 says that He will “reign wisely and do what is just and right in the land.” That’s the language of chapter 21, verse 12 and chapter 22 verse 3 and verse 15. He will have the heart of God! Ge will love justice and righteousness. And He will love and serve the vulnerable, the oppressed.
There will be no ending to the blessing of His kingdom!
King Jesus said that He is the Good Shepherd, and He has come that we may “have life, and have it to the full” (Jn. 10:10 NIVO).
Put your hope in Him.
***
Previous Messages in This Series:

01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
05. "Ask for the Ancient Paths" - Jeremiah 6:1-30
06. “This Is the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!” - Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
07. "Is There No Balm in Gilead?" - Jeremiah 8:4-9:22
08. "Boast About This" - Jeremiah 9:23-24
09. "Like a Scarecrow in a Melon Patch" - Jeremiah 9:25-10:25
10. "Conspiracy" - Jeremiah 11:1-12:17
11. “My People For My Renown” - Jeremiah 13:1-27
12. "I Can No Longer Show Compassion" - Jeremiah 14:1-15:21
13. "I Have Withdrawn My Blessing, My Love and My Pity" - Jeremiah 16:1-21
14. "I the LORD Search the Heart" - Jeremiah 17:1-27
15. "Go Down to the Potter's House" - Jeremiah 18:1-19:15
16. “Insult and Reproach All Day Long” - Jeremiah 20:1-18