The Sentenced and the Saved - What's the Difference?

Let's pray together. Lord.

We have gathered here as sinners saved by the soon

returning King, and your justice and your love and your

mercy have joined with your love to crown you. You

are holy, holy, Holy, and we lift your name on high.

And we declare that is only by your grace, your

grace alone, that we can be made holy like you

are holy. Astonishingly, these sinners can be made holy in

your sight through the blood of Christ, your son. And

so Lord, as those made holy by your grace, we ask,

would you keep making us holy in our lives, in

our walk, in our conduct, in the way that we

love one another and a watching world. Lord, we know

we can't grow ourselves, we can't mature or sanctify ourselves,

and so we're asking.

That you would do that work.

Do that work in us, do it the way that

you promised by the power of your spirit through your word,

you will do your work in your people. And so

as we open up your word, Lord, would you open

up our hearts and do keep making us holy fit

us for heaven. Lord, we ask in Jesus name, Amen,

describ our bibles.

Man, it is good to see you.

I have if you didn't know, I've been gone for

three weeks in Chicago, Illinois, thank you, And I've been

in a class there. It was a man, it was brutal,

but you know, if you're gonna go burn three weeks,

you want to go burn them right. And that that

class has given me enough to think about when it

comes to preaching for the next five years. And I'll

be still getting my head around that. But to gather

together with you guys, and to get to to pray

and to worship and to proclaim God's word. This is

what I have been missing, this team and this wife

of mine. My goodness, it is good to be home.

Turn with me to Jeremiah chapter thirty nine. Jeremiah chapter

thirty nine. While you turn there, this is a good

opportunity for me to tell you if you're new here.

Right after the service, there's a spot we call Step one,

and that's where we meet to connect with people who

have questions. You have questions, maybe you have questions about

this past page, or about the gospel, or about what

it means to live as a part of a church body,

and we would welcome you there and invite you into

the discipleship life of this church. We would love to

do that. Also a good time for me to remind

you to fill out a connection card. We ask everybody

to do that every week, whether you're a member or

a guest, you come here a lotter or a little please,

if you would fill out a connection card, you got

the whole worship service to do that. That you're here

by name is an important thing for us in our

shepherding endeavors here. So we want to know that you're

here by name, and you can leave a prayer request.

We'd love to pray for you there too. All right,

we've got our bibles. We passed some out. I forgot

to say that if you need a Bible, just raise

your hand. We'll find you. We'll get you a Bible.

It's going to be really helpful because I am going

all over the place this morning, all right, starting in

Jeremiah thirty nine. But we're really we're tackling. We're going

to be really looking at thirty seven and thirty eight

and thirty nine. I'm just gonna read thirty nine because

that's kind of where the hammer drops, and I'm gonna

read it for us in a second. It's full of

tongue twisters. I mean Babylonian names. We got some pretty

wild Israelite names. Don't let any of that throw you.

What we have here in Jeremiah thirty nine is one

of the most consequential historical events in all of the

history of the nation of Israel, so much so that

at the end of the Book of Jeremiah that the

event is retold almost word for word, except except for

this little snippet that Jeremiah in this chapter intentionally picks

up from a different place in the timeline and puts

it at the end of this chapter. Why, because Jeremiah

is intentionally He's intentionally comparing and contrasting two people. He's

comparing and contrasting the sentenced and the saved.

What's the difference.

Take a look, Pay close attention to King Zedekiah and

a man named Ebad Melik. See told you it's already

started Jeremiah thirty nine. In the ninth year of Zedekiah,

King of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebukonnezar, king of Babylon,

and all his army came against Jerusalem and besieged it.

In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month,

on the ninth day of the month.

A breach was made in the city.

Then all the officials of the King of Babylon came

and sat in the middle gate. Nragaal saw Isser of Samgar,

Nebu sar seconm the Rab sarasngaal sar Azer, the Rab

mag with all of the rest of the officers of

the King of Babylon. I'm glad he just summarized that there.

When Zedekiah, King of Judah, and all the soldiers saw them,

they fled, going out of the city at night by

the way of the King's garden through the gate between

the two walls, and they went toward the Araba, that

is the desert. But the army of the Chaldeans, that's

the Babylonians, pursued them overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho.

And when they had taken him, they brought him up

to Nebeconezer, King of Babylon, at Ribla in the land

of Haymath, and he passed sentence on him. The King

of Babylon slaughtered the sons of Zedekiah at Ribla before

his eyes, and the King of Babylon slaughtered all the

nobles of Judah. He put out the eyes of Zedekiah.

How'd you like the last thing you see to be

the slaughter of your people? Bound him in chains to

take him to Babylon. Chaldeans burned the King's house and

the house of the people, broke down the walls of Jerusalem.

Then Nebu Zara'idan, the captain of the Guard, carried into

exile to Babylon. The rest of the people who were

left in the city, those who had deserted to him,

and the people who remained. Nebuzaradan, the captain of the Guard,

left in the land of Judas some of the poor

people who owned nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields.

At the same time, Nebuconezer, King of Babylon, gave command

concerning Jeremiah through Nebazaradan, the captain of the Guard, saying,

take him, look after him well, do him no harm,

deal with him as he tells you so, Nebazaradan, the

captain of the guard, Nebu Shahasban the rab seras Neragal

saw Azar the rab mag and all the chief officers

of the King of Babylon sent and took Jeremiah from

the court of the Guard. They entrusted him to get Eliah,

the son of a Hiakham, the son of Sheefthon, that

he should take him home.

So he lived among the people.

The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he

was shut up in the court of the guard. Go

and say to ebad Melik the Ethiopian. Thus says the

Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I will

fulfill my words against this city for harm and not

for good, and they shall be accomplished before you on

that day. But I will deliver you on that day,

declares the Lord. And you shall not be given into

the hand of men of whom you are afraid, for

I will surely save you, and.

You shall not fall by the sword.

But you shall have your life as a prize of war,

because you have put your trust in me, declares the Lord.

This is the word of the Lord, the sentenced and

the saved. What's the difference? What's the difference? This is

kind of like Monday morning on Sports Center and they're

looking back on the football game that happened on Sunday

and they're like, Okay, what was the difference. What made

the game? Let's analyze this thing, because we've got the

King of Zedeki. We've got the King of Judah on

this side. That we've got Zedekiah looks like this is

the one that the Lord should be pulling for. Then

we got this African over here. He knows very little.

He is not an Israelite, he is not one with

whom God has made an eternal covenant through the patriarchs,

and he's the one who's saved sports centers like, how

did this happen? What, at least at a human level,

made the difference? That's our main concern this morning. What

is the fundamental difference between the sentenced and the saved?

We're going to look at that with just two key questions,

two key questions. Here's the first, What was the fundamental

human difference between Zedekiah and Ebed Melick? What was the

difference then them? Then between the sentenced and the saved. Well,

that's our first question. We'll pick up the second key

question a little bit later. Let's consider that what was

the basic human difference. Let's compare we can compare this

what they were facing. Let's compare what they were facing.

Now.

I know I just read chapter thirty nine, and I

would encourage you to go back to thirty seven to

read thirty seven and thirty eight and thirty nine in

your pleasure reading. And I know those names are just

gonna make your eyes crossed, But if you follow the

gist of the story, you'll.

Get a lot out of it.

And I'm gonna be dipping into all of those chapters

as we go so that you can see what it is,

for instance, that they were facing. What were they facing

If you look at Ebed Melick and what he was facing,

it was intrigue and betrayal. If you look, for instance,

at verse seventeen, you notice the Lord says to Ebed Melick,

through Jeremiah the prophet, you shall not be given into

the hand of the men of whom you are afraid.

He was afraid of some people, and he had right

reason to be. Ebed Melick was considered a traitor. Let

me tell you how that happened. You can see this in.

Chapter thirty seven and thirty eight.

Jeremiah was prophesying by the Lord to the people of Jerusalem,

including the king and all the officials. You should surrender,

lay down your arms. The Babylonians have been sent here

by God. This is your discipline. You should take it

the army didn't like that message. They thought it was

weakening the soldiers. I mean, this is a real morale

problem when you've got the prophet of the Lord saying, hey,

you guys, I know your generals are saying fight on,

no surrender.

You guys should give up.

And so the official said, hey, we got to get

rid of Jeremiah. Zeddekaia is like, okay, do whatever you want.

And so they threw him in a well. Some of

you know this story. They threw him in an empty cistern.

There wasn't any water and there was just mud. So

they threw him into the cistern and he falls down,

he sticks in the mud. They're like, okay, that's the

end of the morale killer Jeremiah. He bet Melick goes

to the king and says, well, we'll just read his words.

I think they're in chapter thirty eight, verse nine, for example.

You get this, you kind of get the rest of it,

my lord the king. These men have done evil in

all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting

him into the cistern, and he will die there of hunger.

So you bet Melick. He goes with a bunch of guys,

some ropes and some rags, and he pulls Jeremiah out

of the cistern. And now, as far as the army

is concerned, I beed Melick.

He's a trader, right, because.

They got rid of Jeremiah the troublemaker, and now it's

Ebed Melick, the troublemaker who's getting rid of who was

rescuing the troublemaker, and he is on the run. He

is afraid of intrigue and betrayal. And this is a

time where the whole city is an upheaval, and there's

all kinds of people that are fighting against one another,

and they've all got their own different angles, and he

has got to watch his back, and he's afraid that

he's going to be given into the hands of those

who want to hurt him. That is what I bet

Melick is facing. What's Thatekaiah facing. Well, look at chapter

thirty eight, verse.

Nineteen thirty eight nineteen.

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the

Judeans who have deserted to the Chaldeans, lest I be

handed over to them and they.

Deal cruelly with me.

What's Edekiah afraid of? Betrayal and intrigue. What's he beat

Melicks facing and what Zedekiah is facing. They're the same thing.

It's all the same. What's the difference between the sentence

and the saved when it comes to what they're facing.

Not a thing. That's not the difference.

Same thing is true of us, same thing is true

of every person on the face of the earth. The

difference between the sentenced and the saved is not what

they're facing. If someone were to say to you, I

want you to just imagine this. Someone says to you,

I think your life is fundamentally easier than everybody else's.

I think you don't have to be afraid of the

things that most everybody else have to be afraid of.

I think you aren't facing the same temptations.

That everybody else is facing.

What would you say to that, y'all pretty much have

the same poker face that the first service had, except

for a couple of y'all. Couple y'all's showed me what

you think of that my life isn't easier than everybody else's.

In fact, you would say that's ridiculous. You would probably

quote First Corinthians ten thirteen. There is no temptation that

has befallen in you that is not common to man.

We're all facing the same thing. Yeah, break your poker face.

Now you know that you know that your life isn't

easier than everybody else's. If you do, then you know

that if you use the special thing that you're facing

as an excuse for distrust and disobedience, you're just fooling

yourself because we're all facing the same thing. That is

not the difference between the sentenced and the saved. Well,

we've compared with they're facing. Let's contrast what they're familiar with.

Let's contrast what they are familiar with. There, we're going

to see some big differences. Consider, for example, what they're

familiar with when it comes to the knowledge of the

people of God, the traditions that they've received, what they

know about God. I mean, if you look at Ebed Melick, well,

let's just look at how he's referred to in verse

sixteen of chapter thirty nine. I know we're dealing with

a few different chapters here. Just look at verse sixteen

of thirty nine. How is he referred to? Go and

say to Ebed Melick, the Ethiopian when it comes to

what Ebed Melick is familiar with. It's not much. He's

an African, he's not an Israelite. He doesn't have deep

knowledge of the traditions of the people of God. He

doesn't have deep knowledge of the Word. He's basically got

his general instructions and his conscience. He's an Ethiopian. Well,

what about the other guy, Zedekiah, how is he referred to? Sorry,

Chapter thirty eight, verse one, in the ninth year of Zedekiah,

who king of Judah? This is king of Judah. He

is in the line of all of the traditions of Israel.

He's familiar with all of the Word of God. He

is the son of Josiah. If you know who Josiah is,

he's one of the best kings Israel ever had, or

Judah ever had. Is Josiah the Reformer, and that's his dad.

So the saved wasn't saved because.

He was more familiar.

With the knowledge of God, and the sentence wasn't sentenced

because he was less familiar. Zedekiah is like the original

church kid. What about access and instructions?

You look at epic melic.

Verse you know, we looked at verse nine of chapter

thirty eight.

He's like, what.

They've done is evil. He's gonna die of hunger. Sort

of basic right and wrong. He's got his conscience, he

knows that Jerebiah is a prophet of the Lord. He's

got general instructions about what is right and what is

wrong from the word of God that's been revealed to everybody.

Iban Melick was not more familiar. He didn't have more

access to the instructions of the Lord. What about the

sentenced one? King Zedekiah. Hmm, Well, Chapter thirty seven, verse

sixteen and seventeen give you kind of an example of

the kind of access to instructions from the Lord.

The King Zedekiah had.

Thirty seven sixteen, when Jeremiah had come to the dungeon

cells and remained there for many days, kings Zedekiah sent

for him and just bring would you please bring the

prophet of the Lord to come and speak to me

specifically about what God has to say. He sent for

him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in

his house, is there any word from the Lord? And

Jeremiah said, there is. I'm gonna personally tell you what

God says you should do. And see this again In

Chapter thirty eight, good verses fourteen and fifteen, King Zedekiah

sent for Jeremiah the Prophet received him at the third

entrance to the Temple of the Lord. The king said

to Jeremiah, I'll ask you a question. Hide nothing from me.

And Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, if I tell you, will

you not surely put me to death. Man, I already

just did the well thing, and if I give you counsel,

you will not listen to me.

He goes on.

If you look at verse twenty, you'll get the gist.

Jeremiah says to the king, you shall not be given

to them. Obey now the voice of the Lord in

what I say to you, and it shall be well

with you, and your life shall be spared. I'm gonna

get real specific with you. I'm gonna tell you exactly

what God says to do. This is the way forward.

This is the way that you will have your life.

Lay down your arms, surrender to the Babylonians. This is

God's discipline. It's going to save your life. Chapter thirty nine,

verse four. When Zedekiah, king of Judah, and all the

soldiers saw them.

They fled.

Told you exactly what to do. You had complete access

to the word of the Lord, you got access to

his prophet, you got specific instructions. Here is the way

of salvation. The result distrust and disobedience. What was the

difference between the saved and the sentenced. Well, the saved

wasn't saved because he had more access and more instructions,

and the sentence wasn't The sentenced wasn't sentenced because he

had less access and less instructions.

It makes me think of us.

Walking around with six different versions of the Bible in

our pocket. Podcasts, listen to preaching on YouTube, Faithful preaching,

all kinds.

Of access.

And specific instructions. You can sit down with a biblical

counselor this month and ask that biblical counselor here's my situation, here's.

What I'm struggling with.

Show me from God's word what path I should take

to move forward in obedience. And you've got access to

very specific pastoral care and instructions. Luke twelve says to

whom much is given, much will be required. So one

is sentenced, the other is saved. What's the difference, Well,

maybe you already noticed the answer is in the last

verse of the chapter, verse eighteen thirty nine. For I

will surely save you, and you shall not fall by

the sword, but you shall have your life as a

prize of war, because you have put your trust in me,

and declares the Lord, because you have trusted in me.

One was saved, the other was sentenced. And the difference

was not what they were facing. They were facing the

same thing. We all face the same thing. The difference

wasn't in what they were familiar with. The one who

was saved was saved with less familiarity with the things

of God, and the one who was sentenced was sentenced

with more familiarity with the things of God. The difference

between the saved and the sentenced was trust.

Was faith.

Because you put your faith in me, that's the difference.

That's the answer to our first key question. What's the

difference trust? Here's the second key question, and then we're done.

We'll have the Lord's supper right after we answer this question.

Here's the question, how does the difference between them make

the difference for us? According to scripture, how does the

difference between the saved and the sentenced in this passage

make the difference for us? Because you know, Jeremiah was

written for future generations. I mean this was handed to

generations long after these events took place, so that they

would learn the lessons about trusting the Lord. It was

delivered to later generations. Look and see, read and learn.

And then Paul says to the church in Rome chapter twelve.

What was written in former days was written for.

Our instruction that through endurance and through the enc urgement

of the scriptures, we may have hope.

Throughout the New Testament.

The difference between the saved and the sentenced still is

putting trust in the Lord.

If you look in the Book of Acts.

Peter preaches to those who are gathered in Jerusalem after

Christ has been raised and the Holy Spirit has been given.

He says, you have crucified the Holy One of God.

But he was raised, and they were cut to the heart,

and they said, what should we do. How will we

be saved and not sentenced? And he said, believe in

the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized, every one of you,

and you will be saved. You'll be saved, not sentenced.

Put your trust in him. Put your faith in him.

Later on Acts, you see another Ethiopian eunuch. He's reading

the scroll of Isaiah, and he says to Philip, I.

Don't understand what's going on in here.

Philip from that point forward began to tell him about Jesus,

his death, his resurrection, and the Ethiopian Eunich wants to know,

how can I be saved and not sentenced? Do you believe?

Are you trusting him? Later on an Ax, Paul and

Silas they're in jail. They're singing praises to God. Earthquake

kicks to jail the Philippi and jailer comes in, and

what he wants to know is how can I be saved?

Paul and Silas explained to him the way of salvation

through Jesus Christ, the one who died for sins and

rose to welcome you win to the company of the

saved and avoid being sentenced. And in every instance throughout

the New Testament, the trust that makes the difference centers

on trusting this news that in Christ, God has done

everything that's needed for everyone to be saved and not sentenced. Everyone,

no matter what you're facing, no matter what you're familiar with,

how much or how little God has done everything that's

needed for everyone to be saved and not sentenced. But

in Christ, God is calling for you to trust him

with everything.

Everything.

Say I'm trusting Jesus, I'm amongst the saved, not the sentence.

I'm trusting Jesus. And Jesus is calling you forward. I

don't know who this is for this morning, but he's

calling you forward in forgiveness that you're resisting. You do

not want to forgive that person. You do not want

to let go of this resentment. You do not want

to communicate with them, You do not want to do

what God is calling you to do. But yet you say,

I'm trusting. He's calling you to trust. That looks like listening.

Faith looks like faithfulness. He's calling you forward to pure

See I'm trusting. Trust looks like listening. Faith looks like faithfulness.

He's calling you to trust him, and that means stepping

forward in the purity that you know that he's calling

you to.

He's calling you to love.

He's calling you to love. It just strikes me, Paul

says to the Galatians, here's the whole thing. Here's here's

what matters, is faith working itself out in you know

how this ends.

Love.

Here's what matters, Faith working itself out in love, and

we say we're trusting, we say we have faith, and

we never think about how we can love. I say never,

as sure as it on our minds very often, how

we can love that person, that family member, that brother

or sister, that coworker, faith working self out in love.

Paul says, that's this is the whole game, and we

hardly ever think about it. Say I'm trusting. Trust looks

like listening. Faith looks like faithfulness. He's calling you to

trust him with everything, all your conduct, with all its consequences.

You see the freeing news.

The freeing news is.

That the difference between the saved and the sentenced is

just trust. It's just trust, it's just faith. You look

at the thief on the cross. He says, Lord, remember me,

I'm trusting you. I'm just trusting the simplest words of trust.

And there was not a thing that thief could do

after that, There was not a way he could earn it.

And Jesus says, you're gonna be with me today in paradise.

The freeing news is that the only difference between the

saved and the sentence is trust. The so news is

that faith looks like faithfulness. The sobering news is to

those who aren't kept from any type of obedience. The

Lord says, why do you call me Lord? And do

not do what I say? Zeekiah claim to the Lord.

He said things like chapter thirty eight, verse sixteen. As

the Lord lives, who made our souls? He said things

like chapter thirty seven, verse seventeen. Is there any word

from the Lord? Give me the word. I want to

know the word, Preacher, give me the word. He said

things like verse three of chapter thirty thirty seven. Please

pray to us, Please pray for us, to the Lord,

our God, please please pray for us. But chapter thirty seven,

verse two. His life was marked this way. Neither he

nor his servants, nor the people of Judah listened to

the words of the Lord. Trust looks like listening. Faith

looks like faithfulness. And he is calling you forward to

trust him in the forgiveness that you're being called to extend.

He is calling you forward in the purity that he's

calling you to live in. He is asking you to

trust him in the repentance that he is bringing to

your conscience. The difference between the sentenced.

And the saved is trust.

I will surely save you because you've put your trust

in me.

Mhm. We're going to have a few moments to reflect

on our trust. I'm asked the.

Ushers to come forward with the elements of

Lord's sup