What Kings Should Be Doing | Jeremiah 22 | Pastor William Hixson

22.

And actually this particular chapter is

a long one, but it's even longer

than the chapter and verse dividers.

I have put they put it because chapter

22 really goes to chapter 23:es 1 to8

and it's all one section

and there's a very nice surprise for us

tonight. Very nice surprise in this

particular section. You came out on a

good evening

because we're going to

be confronted with something extremely

wonderful in the book of Jeremiah. And

we've had to we've had to come a long

way to get to this place.

There's a glorious prophecy here, major

prophecy in this book.

And uh we'll see that at the end of our

reading.

So bear with me as we read Jeremiah 22

and the first part of 23.

And this section deals with kings,

the various kings at the very end

when Nebuchadnezzar was knocking on the

door

uh and about ready to overrun the

country.

But he takes on the kings and then it

takes on the prophets. But we're going

to save the prophets for next time. The

bad kings were part of the problem. The

bad prophets were part of the problem.

And in any country, whether you're

talking about civil

uh rulers or spiritual uh leaders,

leaders can be part of the problem

instead of part of the answer.

And in this case, it was

it was it was the bad leaders that were

major whether it was the bad kings or

the bad prophets, the false prophets,

and the priests were in it too. But

those were the two groups that were

really responsible for the uh apostasy

and idolatry

in the nation as a whole.

So, let's um let's get reading in

chapter 22. And we're in that section

where the kings have names that are very

similar. So, it's really kind of hard to

follow. Uh but we'll do the best we can

and there's no way you're going to

retain everything because it's just kind

of complicated.

But we'll do what we can. Thus says the

Lord. Go down to the house of the king

of Judah, and speak there this word,

and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O

king of Judah, who sits on the throne of

David, thou and thy servants and thy

people that enter in by these gates.

Thus says the Lord. This is God's

statement to th these kings.

Execute justice and righteousness.

deliver the spoil out of the hand of the

oppressor, and do no wrong, do no

violence to the sojourer, nor

fatherless, or the widow, neither shed

innocent blood in this place. So

Jeremiah 22, Rob, uh, it it's it's um

what they're not to be doing and what

they are to be doing

as kings. If you do this thing indeed,

then shall there

then there enter in by the gates of this

house kings sitting on the throne of

David.

But what if you don't do it? Well, then

there's not going to be kings sitting on

the throne of David. There's not going

to be a country or a throne to sit on.

Babylon's at the gates.

Even at this last moment, there's an

opportunity to do the right thing.

The Babylonians have already invaded.

They just haven't gotten all the way to

the city yet in the temple.

But God says, "If you do this thing

indeed, then there shall enter in by the

gates of this house king sitting on the

throne of David, riding in chariots and

on horses, he and his servants and his

people. But if you will not hear these

words, I swear by myself, says the Lord,

that this house will become a

desolation. You want the temple

destroyed, just keep doing what you're

doing.

Just keep living like you're living in

your fantasy world of idolatry and

immorality.

For thus says the Lord to the king's

house of Judah, "Thou art Gilead to me

and the head of Lebanon. I really love

you people.

You mean a lot to me, but I'm not going

to put up with this.

Yet surely I will make thee a wilderness

and the cities which are not inhabited.

I will prepare destroyers against thee,

everyone with his weapons, and they'll

cut down thy choice cedars and cast them

into the fire.

the the the kings were really really

proud of the cedar on their palaces and

all everything was covered in cedar.

They just loved cover and it was

expensive. Got it from Lebanon and that

was the thing, you know, to show

extravagance having a panel house, a

panel palace and so forth.

Nothing wrong with that in itself,

but it was a bit of an extravagance in

that day the way they were using.

And many nations shall pass by this

city.

Excuse me, in verse 7. And I'll prepare

destroyers against thee, everyone with

his weapons, and they'll cut down thy

choice cedars and cast them into the

fire. You're going to lose your cedar

sighting. You're going to lose your

city. You're going to lose your palaces.

And many nations will pass by this city,

and they'll say, everyone to his

neighbor, "Why has the Lord done this to

this great city?" And they shall answer,

"Because they've forsaken the covenant

of the Lord their God and worshiped

other gods and served them."

So, they're going to be a witness

whether they are a witness of what

people should do or witness what you

shouldn't do.

God's going to use them to minister to

others.

Weep not for the dead, neither bemoone

him, but weep bitterly for him that goes

away, or he'll return no more, nor see

his native country. That's King Jaz or

also known as Shalom. He's gone and not

coming back. He's going into exile, not

coming back. For thus says the Lord,

touching Shalom, that's his personal

name. J Ahaz was his uh throne name, the

son of Josiah, king of Judah, who

reigned instead of Josiah, his father,

who went forth out of this place. He

shall not return there anymore.

He's gone and he's not coming back.

Hit the road, Jack. Don't come back. No

more. No more. Only this time, it's uh

Jahaz.

But he'll die in the place where there

he they've led him captive and shall see

this land no more.

So he won't be like the captives that

came back.

He's gone and he's not coming back. Woe

to him that builds his house by

unrighteousness

and his chambers by wrong. What this is

talking about is the kings would use

forced labor of the citizens to build

their palaces. They wouldn't pay them

for it.

They used their took their time, took

their labor, and didn't pay them for

their labor. This is part of being a

citizen. You got to build me a palace.

And they did that to cut the cost.

Well, God wasn't happy about that.

who uses his neighbor's service without

wages and gives him not for his work.

Day's pay for a day's work, right? And

you you can't get ahead by cheating

people financially.

You will, but it won't help you.

So, God's not impressed with a big

building that's built

uh with corruption,

political corruption, and domination and

slave labor. basically

who says I'll build myself a wide house

in large chambers and cuts out windows

and it's panled with cedar and painted

with vermillion nothing wrong with that

except that it's ostent totally

ostentatious not necessary and it would

have been okay except you build it with

on the backs of other people's labor

didn't even pay the work

shall you reign because You clothe clos

clo closet yourself in cedar. Did not

thy father that's good king Josiah.

Did not your father eat and drink and do

justice and righteousness? He had a good

life. He ate and drank. He knew the joys

of life. But he did justice.

He was a good king. He took out the

idols and all the rest.

And then it was well with him.

This is not father like son. This is not

grandson like father grandfather. The

they didn't follow their father or

grandfather these kings.

He that's uh that's uh good king Josiah.

He judged the cause of the poor and the

needy. Then it was well with him. Was

not this to know me? says the Lord,

thine eyes and thy heart are not but for

covetousness and for shedding innocent

blood and for oppression and for

violence to do it. These are Davidic

kings.

These are descendants of Josiah and

descendants of David ultimately, right?

Doing this stuff.

It it hurts when see see this kind of

corruption in the theocracy. But you see

it in churches, don't you? Pastor

stealing from pastors stealing from

churches.

Lyn and I were in Florida and we were in

two churches. It was two churches where

the pastor was caught stealing.

Can't both were Baptist churches.

Stunned. Not that I I've heard it before

and seen it before, but it's just like

people do that kind of stuff. They think

that's okay.

Where's the fear of God?

Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning

Jehoakim, the son of Josiah, king of

Judah, they shall not lament for him.

Nobody's going to cry at your grave.

Nobody's going to lament for you.

saying, "Oh my brother, all my sister."

They shall not lament for him, saying,

"Oh Lord, for all his glory, he'll be

buried with the burial of an ass," which

means you won't be buried at all.

You're just going to be thrown out for

the birds.

Birds got to eat, too, is one famous

western said.

He'll be buried with the burial of an

ass drawn and cast forth beyond the

gates of Jerusalem.

So you're going to the dump. Nobody

liked him. Everybody they just got rid

of take the body out. You didn't get to

bury it with the kings didn't bury it at

all. Just

now that's pretty brutal and that's

pretty rough. Here we go to another

king.

This is Kayiah whose other name was

Jeconiah. What makes these guys so hard?

They got a personal name. They got a a

royal name. It's the same guy, two

names.

And u

So go up to Lebanon and cry out. Lift up

your voice at Bashan. Cry out for the

passes or all thy lovers are destroyed.

I spoke unto you in your prosperity. And

you said, I'll not hear. This hast thou

hath been thy manner from your youth

that you obeyed not my voice. The wind

will eat up all the shepherds, and thy

lovers shall go into captivity. Surely

then thou shalt be ashamed and

confounded for all your wickedness. Oh

inhabitant of Lebanon, who make thy nest

in the cedars, how gracious shalt thou

be when pangs come upon thee, and the

pain of a woman in travail as I live,

says the Lord, though Kayiah the son of

Jehoakim, king of Judah, were the

signant upon my right hand, yet when I

pluck thee from there,

the signate on your right hand was a

ring you didn't want to lose. It's like

your credit card. It was your stamp

where you stamp the stamp the uh uh

clay.

And I'll give thee un into the hand of

those that seek your life, and into the

hand of those whose face you fear, even

to the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of

Babylon, and into the hand of the

Calaldanss.

And I will cast thee out and thy mother

who bore thee into another country,

where ye were not born. and there you

will die. But to the land to which they

desire to return, there shall not, they

shall not return.

Is this man Kayiah a despised, broken

idol? Is he a vessel in which is no

pleasure? Why are they cast out? He and

his seed, and are cast into a land which

they know not. Oh earth, earth, earth,

hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the

Lord, "Write this man childless.

A man shall not prosper in his days. For

no man of his seed shall prosper sitting

on the throne of David and ruling

anymore in Judah."

Now let's go to the first part of 23.

And this is this will be our section.

Woe to the shepherds, that's the kings,

who destroy and scatter the sheep of my

pasture, says the Lord. Therefore, thus

says the Lord of God of Israel against

the shepherds who feed my people. You've

scattered my flock and driven them away

and are not visited them. Behold, I'll

visit on you the evil of your doing,

says the Lord. I'll gather the remnant

of my flock out of all countries to

which I've driven them. Now, this is the

good news.

Bad news. You're going to Babylon.

You're going to get be uprooted and

taken to Babylon. Good news. I'm going

to get I'm going to gather people back.

I will gather the remnant of my flock

out of the c trees, not just Babylon, to

which I've driven them, and will bring

them again to holds, and they'll be

fruitful in increase. I'll set up

shepherds over them who will feed them,

and they shall fear no more, nor be

dismayed, neither shall they be lacking,

says the Lord. Well, when's that going

to happen? Has it happened already? No.

How do you know? The next verse.

This is the verse worth waiting for.

This is an incredible prophecy in the

book of Jeremiah. This is a major

prophecy, not a minor one or a middle

class one. This is major.

Behold, the days come, says the Lord,

that I will raise unto David a righteous

branch, and a king shall reign and

prosper, and shall execute justice and

righteousness in the earth. Who do you

think that is? That's Jesus Christ.

That's the Lord Jesus Christ at his

second coming.

In his days Judah shall be saved and

Israel will dwell be dwell safely and

this is the name wherein he shall be

called the Lord our righteousness.

Isn't that an incredible prophecy? Is it

is it worth the work to get to that?

I mean just think about what we just

read.

This is this prophecy is right up there

with Isaiah 53, Zechariah 9, Zechariah

12, other big prophet. This is a big

one.

And

it's a it's an absolutely marvelous

prophecy.

God's going to raise up a righteous

Davidic king. The branch is going to

come out, a sprout from the line of

David, and the line's corrupt. It went

corrupt, but now God's going to cause it

to grow like a tree.

And it talks about re reigning

righteously and salvation. This is a

loaded significant major old testament

prophecy.

And after the failure of all these

dividic kings at the end of the

theocratic kingdom in the old testament,

five failures,

no, excuse me, four failures. Josiah was

a good king, but then his three sons and

grandson that followed him in succession

were all terrible.

And so after the failure of the kings

comes this king.

This is just you know let me in a way of

application

God

has providential

purposes

when leaders fail.

God has providential purposes when

churches fail.

God has providential purposes when

Christians fail.

Now, Josiah was a good king. He was a

little dumb. He shouldn't have gone out

and fought the Egyptians. He got killed

in that battle and uh he should have

known better but he was trying to do the

right thing. He doing the wrong thing.

He was fighting the wrong enemy really

and he died in battle but he was a good

king. The Bible says he was and he was a

very good king but he died but his three

sons and his grandson

each one was a piece of work. You

couldn't get hardly worse people. And

you got four kings straight that are

bad.

Then the failure uh is is awful. Chapter

21, 22, and 20 are all about the failure

of these kings. And then in chapter 23,

we didn't read this. It's all about the

false prophets. So you got the failure

of the kings and you got the false

prophets put together.

That's a bad combination.

And so they had a leadership problem on

multiple uh places. They had a

leadership problem in the kings. They

had a leadership problem with these

false prophets. But God has a purpose

for that.

One, they're a foil to the good kings

and the good prophets. You know, one,

they prepare people. We're sick of this.

We've had enough of this. We need

something different.

And so we sometimes we wonder about, oh,

the church is doing great and no, the

church is doing terrible. Oh, things are

going great. Oh, things aren't doing so

great. Uh, God's got purposes in those

things.

He allows people to become thirsty for

the truth. He allows people to become

desirous of reality and not all this

fake goofy stuff and false stuff. So,

they had a leadership problem. They had

three decades. Three decades of godly

King Josiah when he was from a young man

to a boy to a boy king to a young man.

He was good.

But Jeremiah saying

and God is saying through him, I knew

Josiah. I lived uh with Josiah and you

know Josiah.

You remember the presidential debate

when Dan Quayle got it?

I knew John Kennedy. I served with John

Kennedy. And you're John Kennedy. Well,

God's saying, "Look,

I I know Josiah. You're no Josiah.

None of you, none of the four of you.

None of you. You're pitiful.

Three sons and grandson."

And so, and they were. They were.

Now, let's remind oursel Josiah wasn't

perfect. No king is except Jesus. So

even the perfect leaders

will have faults and failures, right?

They may not be major failures like

these, but everybody's going to have a

every leader, every undersheperd

is going to have some weak spots or even

some sinful things that people say, "I

can't believe they

can't believe they said that. I can't

believe they did that

or didn't do that.

You know why? Cuz people put too much

faith in pastors.

It's an old quote from George Whitfield,

but a woman came up to him. She says,

"Oh, Mr. Whitfield, I have such faith in

you." And George Whitfield said, "Don't

put faith in me. A minister's a poor

savior in a day of judgment. Put your

faith in God." Well, that was the right

thing to do. And so when good men mess

up, it reminds us we don't put our faith

in anybody. No matter how advanced, no

matter how far they are in their

sanctification, our faith has to be in

the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's what

this section's telling us. What's the

answer to all this leadership problem?

The coming of Jesus Christ. the coming

of the uh righteous Jesus Christ that he

predicts uh the righteous branch and so

forth in verse five and six.

So this is what's going on here. There's

two things.

Number one, the exposure of failed

leadership.

The exposure of the failed late

leadership of the last mediatoral kings

of the

theocracy in the Old Testament. The

exposure of the failed leadership in the

last kings of the theocracy in the Old

Testament. Number two, the expectation

of the perfect leader over that same

theocracy.

And we know who the perfect leader is.

It's the one that's mentioned in verse

five and six.

Now, we dealt a little bit about Ze Zet

Zedekiah last time in chapter 21. We're

going to come back to him again,

but in these we're not going to do it

tonight or even the next night, but

we'll get back there.

But I want you to think about my

outline. And I want you to think about

what I've just said. The exposure of

failed leadership of the last kings of

the Old Testament theocracy and the

expectation of the perfect leader over

that same theocracy.

I believe that's a good outline of what

this section is. And

when I like to read a lot of um

a lot of different writings by a lot of

different people when I I study the the

Bible and try to get things where I I

think oh check my check my thinking on

this. Am I looking at this right? Am I

dividing this up rightly? Let me quote a

couple of Bible teachers uh a few that

are saying basically same thing I'm

saying or similar things. Derek Kidner

on chapter 22. It says it's a sur it's a

sad parade of kings brought together in

one passage. These contemporary

these contemporary

uh

comments from God on each successor to

King Josiah in turn drive home to us the

necessity of the miracle of the perfect

king to come. He said the same thing I'm

saying

there kidney

Douglas Jones on this section. Thus we

have another impressive statement of the

ideal kingship. It is more it is it it

is more than an ideal statement. It's an

argument. He's making an argument here.

These kings have failed and there more

of them keep failing. I'm arguing for

the ultimate king.

And then Kylin Dich, the German

commentators uh on this section re it's

a rebuke of the ungodly kings Joy Kim

and Joy Chin and a promise of the

righteous branch of David

and John Grey Bill after the oracles

against wicked kings there's a promise

of a righteous one the the the one of

David the once glorious house of David

has become wholly degenerate. But this

woe, unlike many woes in this book, is

but a prelude to the pronouncement of a

better hope. They're all saying the same

thing I'm saying. Basically, why? It's

an encouragement when you read read

commentators. Read the Bible first.

Study it out. Try to figure it out.

What's the divisions here? What do we

do? And then go to the commentators

afterwards. Right. Oh, I I'm I'm looking

at this properly.

We we we're getting the they're the same

answers as these scholars or similar

ones. RK Harrison said bad leadership is

the ultimate at attributive cause to the

exile. It's bad leadership. The main

thing hope for the future is contained

in the messianic prophecy verses 5 to8

of chapter 23

and ja Thompson promise for the future

of the dynasty and the people. There's

there's uh there's kings and false

prophets that are uh

denounced and there's two significant

groups of people. the nation comes in

for a good deal of castigation from

Jeremiah and the many false prophets.

And one last one, Philip Reagan, he

entitles this chapter, "No king but

Christ."

No king but Christ.

He said, "God promises to shepherd the

lost sheep of Israel. He wants the job

done right, so he does it himself. he

becomes incarnate.

It's really interesting, isn't it? You

want a job, right? Do it yourself. But

God says, "All right, you guys are

messing up. I'm coming down there and

I'm going to do it."

And so, I hope that this kind of gives

you the gist of our chapter and what

we're doing here and what God is doing

here. And if we do that, we will have

accomplished what we needed to

accomplish tonight.

Now, a little bit of history lesson, a

little bit of chronology, and these

things are kind of boring. Uh, this

chronology, dates, and stuff, but if you

get a little bit of in your head, it's

okay. Uh, good King Josiah reigned from

640 BC to 609 BC, about 30 years. He had

three decades as king until he was

killed in battle. J Ahaz

who followed him the people put him in

power he reigned from 609 to 608 three

months

he didn't last long

Joakim

who followed him

blame it on the blame it on the

allergies

Joakim who reigned from 608 to 597

reigned 11 years you got good king

Josiah 30 years then you get three

months of disaster from Juaz and then 11

years of disaster from J Jehoakim and

then Jehoa Chen came to the throne in

597 he reigned three months

there's not a lot of stability there

and finally Zedekiah who we won't be

dealing with here he reigned from 597 to

587 and of course the fall of Jerusalem

was in 586 and Jedekiah was taken

captive when that happened.

So that's where we're at in this

section.

Let me just make some comments. Ju Ahaz,

the son of Josiah.

His other name is Shalom.

He's got that personal name, Shalom. And

he got the throne name Ju Ahaz. And you

find out about him in 2 Chronicles 36

and 2 Kings 23.

He was an evil king. He was an evil

king. Only reigned three months, but he

was evil.

And that's kind of shocking. How much

evil can you do in three months? Well,

he did his share.

And he's the first leader to die in

exile.

He was taken to Egypt where he died.

And so that's all in Jeremiah 22:10-12.

Jeremiah 22:10–12

You're leaving and you're not coming

back.

And so he dies in exile. Then there's

Jehoa Kim. He's mentioned in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 22:13–19

22:13-19.

He was 25 years old when he got to

reign. And he reigned 11 years, but it

was just 11 years that were

bad.

And the thing was he had two things

going for him that were bad that

especially are pointed out. One, he

built the palace and used more slaver

for it. and he was such a self-centered

egoomaniac. He wanted a big big palace

and uh and everybody he didn't care

about the people. Self-indulgent.

But that wasn't the worst thing for

this. When we get to chapter 36, he's

the one that burns the book of Jeremiah

in the fire.

Cuts it up and burns it.

Now, that's not that's not a good thing

to do when God with God's word

so disrespectful. People were begging

him not to do it and he did it. So, the

book of Jeremiah had to get rewritten.

That's chapter 36.

So this king was a this this Jehoakim

was a arrogant man and he was a man who

was blasphemous and he seemed to be

proud of his rebellion.

And so

there you go.

And uh then you get

then you get Jehoa Chin and Daniel was

taken to Ba Babylon under him. Uh excuse

me, I'm going back to Jehoa Chin. And um

Daniel was taken to

Babylon under him. And then you got this

Jehakim that's burning the scriptures.

What a pair. What a pair.

It's a bunch of losers.

And Zedekiah was a king that kind of

respected Jeremiah. He wanted to do the

right thing, but he was weak.

We will see that he's weak. He let

others dominate him. Weakness is not a

good thing when it comes to be a leader.

A leader has to have some backbone.

And he didn't have that.

But uh he he he had some sympathy for

Jeremiah, but he would let other people

abuse him. And what a pitiful bunch he

was.

So a bunch of losers. And RK Harrison

said bad leadership is the ultimate

attributive cause of the exile.

Bad leadership. Actually the other part

was an unregenerate citizens.

People weren't born again and the

leaders were bad. You get those two

combinations.

That's not a good combination.

So these leaders are guilty of gross

dereliction of duty. They weren't doing

what they should have been doing and

they were also

promoting apostasy at the same time.

Now turn with me to this prophecy in

Jeremiah 23

because this is the good part.

This is the good part.

Jeremiah 23,

I'm going to start in verse 4. God says,

"But I will set up shepherds over them

who will feed them, and they'll fear no

more nor be dismayed. Neither shall they

be lacking, says the Lord." And here's

the ultimate shepherd. Behold, the days

come, says the Lord.

I'll raise to David a righteous prayer.

It looks like the Davidic line is done.

God even told that one king back in 22,

"No man of your line's going to prosper

sitting on the throne of David." None of

them did. None of them sat on the throne

of David. They just a bunch of and and

they didn't get to do anything.

And of course that was the line that

brought in Joseph uh later but Jesus was

virgin born so he didn't come in with

that curse but this is mainly talking

about the immediate uh descendants of of

uh Jehoachin

but it's very fascinating. So then in

this in this prophecy, he says in verse

5,

"Behold, the days come, says the Lord,

I'll raise to David a righteous branch.

A king shall reign and prosper and shall

execute justice and righteous in the

earth. In his days, Judah will be saved

and Israel will dwell safely." Now, if

you read over that quickly,

you might not get the significance of

it.

Remember, remember your Old Testament

history.

You got the united monarchy. That's King

Saul, King David, and King Saul.

And then what happened? You got the

divided monarchy where the 10 northern

tribes split off from the two southern

tribes. Remember that

the 10 northern tribes are actually

called Israel.

The two southern tribes are called

Judah. I know Judah was the main tribe

in the south and Israel was the main

tribe in the north. His main name main

name for the north north. But they had

both remember they had the civil war and

they had kings. The north had their

kings. The south had their kings.

And there was that division in 7:22 when

Jeroboam and Rabbam got into it. But

notice what this prophecy says. It's

rather significant.

When Jesus comes back to reign, he's not

just going to reign over Judah.

Now, when this prophecy is written,

Israel's gone. They've been in captivity

for a long time.

There's only the two tribes left under

these kings. But when this king comes,

he's going to ru rule over all 12

tribes.

That hadn't happened yet.

That's something yet to happen.

God has not forgotten his program and

his promises to the Jewish people even

though they failed him. That's the

glorious thing. Yes, you failed. Yes,

you're going to be disciplined. You are

going to enjoy political death. When

Jews are off the land, it's political

death. That's the punishment. He

separates them for their from their

land, brings them back to the land. They

set up again. They got political life.

And so what what he is saying here about

the Messiah, the days come, says the

Lord, I'll raise unto David a righteous

branch. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.

And a king shall reign and prosper.

That's the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't

reign and prosper the first 33 years

when he came the first coming. There's a

second coming where he's going to reign

and he's going to prosper.

He came the first time to die so that he

could reign and prosper in the second

coming. And he'll execute justice and

righteousness in the earth. In his days,

this righteous branch from David.

In his days, Judah will be saved and

Israel will dwell safely. The 12 tribes

will be together.

And this is just like Ezekiel says, the

two sticks are going to become one.

And this is the name whereby you'll be

called the Lord

our righteousness.

We're going to see this again in

Jeremiah. So just stuck it stick it back

in your mind or it's going to come back

to us.

Now what a fascinating things the

leaders were guilty of. gross

dereliction of duty beating the nation

into sin. But God's got a king. And

here's a prophecy. It's a king, not

kings. No more kings. It's going to be a

king.

Okay? We're talking about a certain king

who's going to do it all. He's a

righteous branch.

A king, not kings. And his name is the

Lord our righteousness, and his rule

will be over a united 12 tribes. And

he'll bring salvation to his people and

peace and security. Even the Jewish

talum tarum says it's the Messiah.

Even they know this is the Messiah.

And his accomplishments are going to

surpass

the deliverance of two million Jews out

of Egypt under Moses.

You see, in all things he has

preeminence.

In all things he has preeminence.

And uh look look in verse seven.

Therefore behold the days come says the

Lord that they'll no more say the Lord

lives who brought the children of Israel

out of the land of Egypt.

That'll be a that'll that great miracle

is going to become a little miracle in

comparison. That great exodus out of

Egypt, 2 million Jews, is going to be

surpassed by an end time miracle at the

end of history.

Don't tell me God's done with the Jew.

What's this? What is this prophecy

saying?

But the Lord lives who they're going to

stop talking about the Lord brought the

children of out of land of Egypt because

they're going to talk about this. The

Lord lives who brought up and who led

the seed of the house of Israel out of

the north country and from all countries

to which I've driven them and they'll

dwell in their own land.

That's the real

Egypt was just a foreshadowing. The

Exodus out of Egypt was just a

foreshadowing of a greater reathering

from a greater scathering scattering.

And what amazing prophecy this is. I'm

going to end with this tonight

just on a practical note. Everything

stands or falls with leadership, right?

And you got the bad leaders and then you

got God, the Lord Jesus Christ as a good

lead leader. There's a Puritan Richard

Baxter and he he's written a lot of uh

on the subject of governance and what

makes good leaders and he's got uh seven

things here that I'm going to read to

you. Number one, remember your p from

leaders. Remember your powers from God

and therefore for God and not against

God. Remember your power or your

authority is from God and therefore for

God and not against God. That's true of

presidents, kings, mayors,

pastors, fathers,

parents.

You're in authority. It's you got an

authority from God and not against God.

Never. Number two, never own or espouse

any interest which is adverse to the

will of God or Christ.

Don't be doing that.

If God's against it, you be against it.

If God's for it, you be for it.

Three,

your end is the public good. Therefore,

desire nothing to yourselves. Desire

nothing to yourselves. Remember the king

bringing all the cedar paddling in

building the big ostentatious palace.

Not it's not wrong to have a nice house.

It's not even wrong to have a big house

if you can afford it. But he was

affording it by cheating people out of

their time, which is their money and all

that.

nor do anything to others which is

really against your end. Your end is the

public good. Therefore, desire nothing

to yourselves, nor do anything to others

which is really against your end. For

all your laws are to be but subservient

to the laws of God. All your laws are to

be but subservient to the laws of God.

The laws of man in your country, in your

home, in your church should be

subservient to the laws of God to

promote obedience of them with your

subjects and never to be in either

contrary to them or independent of them.

Number five, let none persuade you that

you are such

such terrestrial animals that have

nothing to do with the heavenly concerns

of your subject.

We're not animals. We are humans. We're

in the image of God and

we are and those we lead are. Number

six, encourage and strengthen a learned,

holy, self-denying, sacrificial,

laborious ministry.

We're not in it to rest. We're not in it

to relax. We're not in it for ourselves.

Number seven, remember that the people

that are seriously religious that love

and worship and obey the Lord are the

best of your subjects in the honor of

your dominion. See therefore

that serious godliness be everywhere

encouraged.

Well, those are pretty good rules that

the Puritan Richard Baxter wrote so many

years ago, but that's the very things

those those last four kings of the

theocracy weren't doing. That's the very

thing Jesus Christ will be doing, his

coming kingdom on the earth. Thank you,

Father, for the things we've looked at

tonight. Challenge us with these most

precious truths from your word.

And father uh let the disappointments in

our human leaders in the church or in

the government

or in our city

help help it cause us to long for that

one who has no disappointing

actions or activities or attitudes. He's

all that he should be and more. And we

want we long for his return in the

trumpet sound. We pray for that return.

We pray that many might know him. We

pray that our loved ones, our families,

our children, our grandchildren, our

neighbors, our friends,

fellow churchgoers would certainly know

the Lord. Jesus name. Amen.

Okay, we're going to pick it up with the

prophets next time. And if you think God

jumped the case of the kings, where do

you see what he says to the false

prophets?

And uh we'll pick that up next time.

Thank you.

As we go from this place,

loving you more,

trusting you more.

May the power of your love and the light

of your word shine to a sin darkened

world. As we go from this place,