Pray to God | Jeremiah 37 | Pastor William Hixson

Okay. Uh, we're going to we're going to

be in Jeremiah 37.

Jeremiah chapter 37.

Jeremiah 37 · chapter mention

Please everyone turn to Jeremiah

37. Now at some point we may change um

prayer meeting and Bible class for the

winter schedule

if you remember that because the older

people can't get home the dark.

If you notice, Linda left already

because she's been about 20 minutes

ahead of light left. So, we may even

move that up a little bit. We would

normally do it November, the first

weekend in November, but um see how that

we'll see what we do and uh

see how it goes

because once they make that move, it's

lighter longer. Am I right?

Yeah, I don't know what they're going to

do either.

>> Fall back.

>> Oh, fall back.

>> That's why we move the time up.

>> Okay. All right. Talk darker sooner.

Yeah. But the the older folks already

are nervous about it. And I know myself

things are a lot darker than they used

to be when the sun goes down.

>> It's part of our age, isn't it? Some of

us here.

>> Okay. We are in uh Jeremiah 37

and I'd like to have a word of prayer

and we'll get started. Thank you Lord

for the privilege of looking into this

precious part of your word. Again, it's

a hard book. It's a long book. It it's a

a book you can kind of get lost in as to

the flow of the thought because there's

so much material. But we thank you for

the preciousness of uh your word and we

ask your blessing on our time together

tonight in our savior's name. Amen.

>> Well, remember in chapter 36, King

Jehoakim burned the Bible, right? He

just burned it. He's not the last person

to do that. He cut it up and burned it.

And Zedekiah was not Zedekiah

uh was not uh Jehoakim,

but

he still had his serious problems. He

was the last king.

Zedekiah is the last king and he didn't

last long and the Babylonians came and

attacked and took over the country. But

when we come to chapter 37,

we're introduced again to Zedekiah. We

heard about him before and then there

was the flashback in history and now

we're back with him again.

And in chapter 37, something's going to

happen to the prophet Jeremiah. He's

going to be imprisoned.

And uh we see that

and not a very pleasant experience at

all.

And so, but actually we see there are

two prisoners in this chapter. One of

them is Jeremiah,

but the king himself is a prisoner even

though he's not in the pit. There's more

than one way to be a prisoner.

And so even though Jeremiah was a

prisoner

uh officially

in in the pit uh if I had a choice, I'd

rather be in the pit with Jeremiah than

to be in Zedekiah's sandals. He was a

prisoner

even though he was on the throne.

And so there's two prisoners in this

chapter. There's two paths. There's two

paths

uh in this chapter we're going to look

at and there's two providences we want

to note and there's two potentates we

want to look at. It's the four Ps for

this chapter and I use those years ago

and I kind of like it. So it contrasts

and compares things

uh here very well.

So let's look at the two prisoners.

Number one,

there's the prophet Jeremiah who is

falsely treated, falsely accused,

and extremely persecuted

and uh the man who does it, his

grandfather was Haniah, who was an old

enemy

and miserable conditions. And so, let's

just look at it. And King Zedekiah, the

son of Josiah. Now remember, Zedekiah

had a good father, right? Zedekiah was a

weak person

and a wicked person because he was weak,

a weak leader, a weak king or a weak

weak general or you know even a weak

father. That's no good. People in places

of authority have to have a backbone,

right? They have to be able to stand up

and stand for what's right. He was not

that. And Zedekiah, the son of Josiah,

reigned instead of Kaya, the son of

Jehoakim. Kanayiah really didn't reign.

He was just in office three months. The

ne the Babylonians are control. They're

in they're surrounding the city. Kayiah

could do nothing except try to help with

the defense of the city. He never really

got to reign.

and Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,

made king in the land of Judah. But

neither he nor his servants nor the

people of the land did hearken to the

words of the Lord which he spoke by the

prophet Jeremiah. So nobody's listening.

Jeremiah's speaking, but others aren't

listening. Have you ever tried to talk

to somebody and they're not listening?

I'm not talking about just absent-minded

or preoccupied. I'm talking about

hostility.

talking about hostility.

You you're not your words are bouncing

off. They're not penetrating.

And so Zedekiah the king sent Jehook the

son of Sheremiah and Zephaniah the son

of Messiah and the priest and the to the

prophet Jeremiah saying, "Pray now to

the Lord our God for us."

That's interesting. Here is a king that

threw Jeremiah in the pit is is going to

throw him into the pit. He was rest

arrested him before, but now he wants

prayer.

That's an odd combination.

He wants prayer for the man he not

listening to.

Jer Jeremiah came in and went among out

among the people for they'd not put him

into prison. Then Pharaoh's army was

come forth out of Egypt. And when the

Calaldanss had besieged Jerusalem, heard

tidings of them, they departed from

Jerusalem.

What does that mean? The Egyptians

uh uh army came out of Egypt and the

Calaldanss got wind of it and they got

nervous. So they went and started

dealing with the Egyptians and they left

Jerusalem for just a little bit. They

had it surrounded.

Then came the word of the Lord to the

prophet Jeremiah, "Thus says the Lord

God of Israel, thus shall you say to the

king of Judah, who sent you to me to

inquire of me." And basically the king

is thinking, "This is good news. The

Babylonians left. We're not going to be

destroyed."

He's getting his exercise by jumping to

conclusions, isn't he, that aren't

legitimate.

Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come

forth to help you, shall return to Egypt

into their own land. The Egyptians are

they're a weak reed to lean on, one of

the other prophets said. And uh they're

not going to be the ultimate help to

stand up against the Calaldanss, who are

also the Babylonians. and the Calaldian

shall come again and fight against this

city and take it and burn it with fire.

Now, don't miss this.

Don't miss this.

Zedekiah's nephew burned the Bible and

now God's going to burn the city.

Is that poetic justice?

Yeah. It's called providence.

And thus says the Lord, deceive not

yourselves, saying, the Calaldans shall

depart from us, for they'll not depart.

And though you'd smitten the whole army

of the Calaldanss that fight against

you, and there remain but wounded men

among them, yet they should rise up

every man in his tent and burn this city

with fire. If you

if there's casualties in every person in

the Calaldian army, they're still going

to whip you and they're going to burn

the city. Now, that's just an if. God's

basically saying it's a way poetically

of saying there's no way you're going to

win this battle.

God is in on his throne and he's using

the Calaldanss to judge his people. And

it came to pass when the army of the

Caldanss was broken up from Jerusalem

for fear of Pharaoh's army. Then

Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to

go into the land of Benjamin to separate

himself there in the midst of the

people. When he was in the gate of

Benjamin, the captain of the guard was

there, whose name was Aijah, the son of

Shemallayiah, the son of Haniah. He took

Jeremiah the prophet, saying, "You

you're fallen away to the Calaldanss.

You're a Benedict Arnold. You're you're

on the other side.

Now, that was his total fantasy. It was

evil imaginations, right? This evil

imaginations putting a bad construct

that Jeremiah was going to to see some

of his property. Maybe he was uh

thinking about buying it like because

some of this took place before he

actually bought it and or whatever he

was doing. It was family business. And

he put a false construct on everything.

You ever know anybody do that to you?

You're doing something perfectly normal,

perfectly innocent, and they have evil

imaginations and they put some bad

construct on. Well, that's what happened

to Jeremiah.

Then said Jeremiah, it's false. Verse

14, I fall not away to the Calaldanss,

but hearkened not to him. So Elijah took

Jeremiah and brought him to the princes.

Wherefore the princes were angry with

Jeremiah and smoteed him and put him in

prison in the house of Jonathan the

scribe, for they had made that the

prison. So he gets thrown in the tank

and um locked up.

Now Jeremiah's in a tight spot. Why?

Because the Babylonians are attacking.

And where is he? He's in prison.

So it's looking pretty dark for him,

right?

And when Jeremiah entered into the

dungeon and into the cells, and Jeremiah

remained there many days.

Then

Zedekiah the king sent and took him out.

Why'd he do that?

Watch.

The king asked him secretly in his house

and said, "Is there any word from the

Lord?"

I don't think he was sleeping too well.

Do you

is there any word from the Lord?

Well, Zedekiah was Mr. Facing both ways,

right? He's trying to please the princes

that were the real power. He was just a

a figurehead

uh a a king. The real power was with the

Jewish pre princes and uh he was

manipulative, manipulated by them. And

so he was hoping that Jeremiah would

give some good news so he'd probably

sleep at night. No doubt he was worried

about it.

And Jeremiah said, "There is there's a

word from the Lord." For said he, "You

will be delivered to the hand of the

king of Babylon." "You."

Moreover, Jeremiah said to King

Zedekiah, "What have I offended against

thee or against thy servants or against

thy this people that you put me in

prison? Where are now your prophets who

prophesied to you, saying, "The king of

Babylon shall not come against you, nor

against this land. Where are those

prophets you were listening to all these

years

that said the opposite of what I've

said? Why aren't you going to them?

Therefore, here now I pray thee, oh my

lord the king, let my supplication, I

pray thee, be accepted before thee, that

thou cause me not to return to the house

of Jonathan the scribe, lest I die

there.

This is this isn't a happy place, this

prison you put me in. I'd like you to

let me out."

Then King Zedekiah the king commanded

that they should commit Jeremiah into

the court of the prison and that they

should give him daily piece of bread out

of the baker's street until all the

bread in the city was spent. Thus

Jeremiah remained in the court of the

prison. So he took him out of one place

and put him in another place and started

feeding him. At least he got something

to eat.

That's our chapter.

Now when we come to this chapter, there

are two prisoners pictured in this

chapter. There's the prophet Jeremiah

who's been falsely treated, falsely

accused as a traitor and a deserter, as

a as a uh uh someone who's uh Benedict

Arnold kind of person, if you know him

from American history.

And he's in prison in miserable

conditions and he knows it. Then he

asked the king, "I let you're asking me

something. I'm asking you something.

Let me change places."

And uh so

Jeremiah is pretty passive here. He's

pretty gentle here. Matthew Henry said

he's a he was a lion in God's calls, but

a lamb for his own cause. He's being

very gentle with the king. uh just bas

basically asked for better conditions.

Now later it'll get worse for him, but

at this time he got you know he had

bread to eat at least for a while. Now

there there that's that's the two

prisoners. The first prisoner is

Jeremiah. The second prisoner is King

Zedekiah. He is a prisoner although he's

out walking around and he's in his pol

his palace. He's not a free man.

Nebuchadnezzar's on the throne and has

been attacking. Uh the Jewish princes

are pro- Egyptian and anti- Babylonian

and they're the ones that have the real

power.

So this Zedekiah is a king, but he's not

free. He's controlled by others.

He's a puppet king.

Boy, there's nothing new under the sun,

is there?

How many people get in office, but

they're not free to do what they want to

do? Somebody else is pulling the

strings. So, Zedekiah was outwardly the

king. He held a position, but he was

filled with fear and vacasillation.

And um so, which of the two prisoners

would you rather be?

Jeremiah who was doing what was right

and wasn't getting enough to eat

and yet and was imprisoned.

Imprisoned or Zedekiah who was a king.

He had a position.

He's responsible for everything but he's

not free to do anything.

I'd rather choose Jeremiah. Wouldn't

you? I mean really.

So, we have to remember uh some people

that we think are doing well are really

locked in to a situation where they're

not free

and that's not a good place to be.

So, uh two prisoners and I I really feel

Zedekiah was not a free man. He was a

man who was under constraint from other

people. Alexander McLaren said of to

Zedekiah the Baptist pastor of a 100

years ago. Zedekiah was a small man on a

great stage, a weakling set to face

circumstances that would have taxed the

strongest. The siege lasted 16 months.

And during it, Zedekiah miserably

vacasillated between listening to the

prophet's council uh of surrender and

that the prophet that's Jeremiah's and

the tculent nobles advice to resist to

the last gasp.

I kind of think some people in Iran are

in that situation, aren't they?

There's some people want to say, "Let's

quit before the whole country's

destroyed and there's this fight to the

last man.

That's just what was going on here.

But then McLaren said something very

interesting about Zedekiah. A weak

character is sure to be a wicked one.

A weak character is sure to be a wicked

one. Moral weakness and inability to

resist strong pressure was the keyynote

of Zedekiah's character. May it not be

our character, right? maybe not be the

people to do this.

It's way of the wind blowing.

You know what's going to be the popular

thing to do? We've got a decision to

make. Oh,

but there's pastors that do that.

There's presidents that do that. There's

politicians in our country that do that.

All they care about is

holding on to their office. They're a

prisoner to the mobs.

And um it's a sad business. So make he

was a weak character and and another

writer said of this a weak character is

sure to be a wicked one. Moral

wickedness and inability to resist

strong pressure was the keynote of

Zedekiah's character. He's a

marshmallow, right?

And so I would hate that to be in an

office and somebody else is making the

decisions.

I sure don't believe that in the church.

I had a problem once in a church and uh

uh I won't tell you where it was or when

it wasn't decades ago, but one person

was um upset with me and every time

people every everybody else on the elder

board voted yes, this person voted no.

And every time everybody voted no, this

person voted yes.

And finally, I confronted him. I said,

'What's going on? He said, 'You don't

want a yes man, do you? I said, I

certainly do not want a yes man. I need

people that'll stand up to me, but I

don't need a no man either, where it's

no everything is everything's on the

other side, every meeting. And I went

down where he'd done it.

And that was a that was a conflict. I

want to tell you when somebody gets like

that.

And so, uh, we had a church split over

that, the only one we've ever had.

And so, may God help us to

we we need to have a backbone. We need

to have have a ability to stand up to

people that want to

uh, and this person actually accused me

to he was stealing the church from him

and he was an elder. I was a pastor. was

like, "You got this backwards.

What what kind of what what's going on

inside there?"

And so, you know, but Zedekiah would not

stand up. He wanted to get along with

everybody. You can't do that in the

Christian life. You're going to make

somebody somewhere mad sometimes. I

don't care how gracious you are, how

good you are, how kind you are. there.

That happens. Am I right or am I wrong?

On the job, sometimes somebody gets in

for you and there's nothing you can do

is going to change it. They got their

minds made up. You got to go and they

got an agenda to get you out.

Those things happen. Not all the time,

thankfully.

Sometimes.

So, Zedekiah was really not a free man,

was he? He was a puppet king.

Don't be anybody's puppet.

We Christians have to think for oursel.

We have a responsibility.

And the best way to do that is to know

our Bibles and know him well

and know what God wants us to do. And

that will give us the strength to stand

up no matter what happens.

And not that we're always going to be

right. Who who's ever always right?

But God help us to always be put put

God's will before our will and not be a

sock puppet for somebody else. Well,

Satan will make you his sock puppet if

he can.

And you don't want to be in that

position. So, I agree with the statement

of this one writer. A weak character is

sure to be a wicked one. moral weakness

and inability to resist strong pressure

was the key note of Zedekiah's

character.

He just didn't have it.

And uh

so uh the sad thing was they turned him

against Zedekiah. And I think Zedekiah

knew Jeremiah was right, but he didn't

have the courage to stand with Jeremiah

against the pressure against him. So

better to be Jeremiah in prison than

Zedekiah on the phone. That's on the

throne. So there's two two kinds of

prisons, right? One's got bars and one

doesn't, but both are prisons.

Two, there's two paths pictured. There's

the path of Jeremiah. That's a hard

path. It's pictured in this chapter.

It's a hard path. He didn't get to

necessarily do easy things.

To say he's not appreciated is an

understatement. He was going with the

path of truth, the pra path of a true

prophet. And now he's in prison. That's

a hard path. There's a harder path. The

way of the transgressor is hard.

Disobedience is a harder path. Listening

to false prophets that tickle your ears

is a harder path. The false prophets

were the true traitors because they're

pedalling a false hope.

And so two two prisoners uh two paths

and uh

the king was very much more bound than

Jeremiah. Two paths, the paths of

falsehood and the paths of truth.

>> [clears throat]

>> two providences.

Two providences.

Um

there's

a precious thing in life.

There's the marvelous providence of

Jeremiah

prophesying in his own lifetime.

And it part of his prophecies came true

in his own lifetime.

He'd been saying for decades, "The

Babylonians are coming. The Babylonians

are coming. Nobody's believing him.

Everybody's blowing him off." And he got

to live to see the Babylonians surround

the city.

In fact, as we'll see in the next couple

of chapters, he got to live to see them

take over the city.

Now, as horrible as that must have been

for everybody, including Jeremiah,

Jeremiah learned that God means what he

says and he says what he means and God

will fulfill his word in his time.

As horrifying it and terrifying as it

must have been to see the Babylonians

come and then leave and come back

it was clear Jeremiah that

what God told

the way it is

and what a comfort that is is that God's

word can be trusted

and God will fulfill his word in his

time. Sometimes it's hundreds of years,

sometimes it's thousands of years. But

Jeremiah got to see some of it in his

lifetime.

And when God fulfilled some of it, it

was a down payment on the fact he would

he's going to fulfill the rest of it.

And you know, this is a long time

coming. We're going back to Abraham.

We're going back to the Exodus. uh we're

going back to all that stuff. And uh and

uh and Jeremiah was in on the end of the

theocratic kingdom in the Old Testament

history. He made the prophecy. The

prophecy came true.

The initial prophecy and that told him

all the rest of it's coming.

Often in the Bible, there's a near

fulfillment and a far fulfillment.

there's a part of a prophecy that comes

true immediately or close and then the

rest of it's going to come later. Um,

and that's a that's a precious things.

Now, there's so this is part of what's

going on in this chapter. There's two

two providences. The providence of uh

God fulfilling prophecy and the

providence of the uh 70 capy year

captivity starting and all of that

stuff. Uh what an interesting thing and

it's all in Jeremiah's favor.

Two potentates. There was King Zedekiah

who was weak and vacasillating

uh Mr. facing both ways.

Uh miserable man, a sad man, no power,

no character. And then there is King

Jesus that Jeremiah predicts in Jeremiah

Jeremiah 23:5

23:5 and 6. uh that is coming is going

to be a different kind of king. Not

wicked, not pro promoting idolatry, not

tolerating false prophecy, but the true

king. That king Jesus set his face like

a flint to go and die on the cross of

Calvary for us.

Sometimes we appreciate good leadership

by learning about bad leadership.

and you experience bad leadership in a

governor or a a mayor or a president or

a pastor or some other person as

leadership and then you think, "Yeah,

that was rough under that person. They

didn't know what they were doing and

they didn't care what they

now got somebody that really is

qualified."

So God has purposes even at times in

life where we have to suffer through bad

leadership.

Don't we love Jesus more? When we see

the best of men aren't even close to him

when the husband doesn't always love his

wife as Christ loved the church and gave

himself for it, we think, well, Jesus is

a standard. My husband won't meet that

perfectly, but he gets about this far,

but I know there's someone higher than

him and better than him that loves me

better than he does.

And so what a wonderful thing

[clears throat]

as we come there there's something else

and uh

a Bible teacher named Goddard said this

the sin of vacasillation

the sin of vacasillation I must facing

both ways no stability

just vacasillation

and instability and vacasillation are

Sisters, what is true of one is true of

the other. Vacasillation is bad in any

circumstance, but it's most serious and

deplorable when it's confronted by

directly by the word of God.

Don't be the person that's wetting their

finger, put putting it in the air and

seeing which way to go or taking a poll.

What does everybody want? I'll do that.

You've heard me quote this because

George Black

gave this quote to us when we had young

children

and our kids remember it

because he taught it to them. He was in

his 80s by then. He lived to be 102 I

think.

But he was the general director of Gosp

South America and a wonderful wonderful

friend and person.

But this is what he taught our kids. But

it's true of everybody. Do what you're

told to do. Do it right away. Don't stop

to think about it. hurry to obey. Well,

that's good for children, but that's

good for avoid adults, too, right? If

it's the right thing to do, just do it.

Leave consequences to God.

And I'm not sure there I'm not saying

there's not a room for um uh some

discretion and some grace and some

wisdom and what you do and when you do

it and how you do it. But that's good

advice for adults as well as children,

right?

>> [clears throat]

>> do what you're told to do. Especially if

it's God,

do it right away. Don't stop and think

about it. Hurry to obey. God said it.

That settles it.

And so,

but but the point of it here is there's

a cont a big contrast.

U King Zedekiah wasn't that kind of

person.

Jeremiah was.

Jeremiah was that kind of person.

Zedekiah was not. The real heroes of

life are the people who

suffer for doing the right thing.

I uh I was Linda and I were visiting

Anne Harper in her home a couple of

weeks ago and I noticed she had a

biography. She had two biographies of

Joshua Chamberlain. Now, many of you

don't know who that is, but Joshua

Chamberlain was one of the heroes of the

battle at the Gettysburg. He's the one

that stood up to the southern armies and

they didn't break through and he got a

medal of honor for that. He got another

Medal of Honor later and he became the

governor of Maine

and he became uh the president of a

college. He was he was a professing

Christian.

Uh, and um,

and so I always have been interested in

learning more about that man because he

seemed like he was a man that would do

what was right.

And so Linda and I and Andrea visited

his house when we were in Maine one

time. We had a great time there. His

house is still standing.

And I read other things I could read on

him. Anyway, I was enjoying this

biography on him

and I learned that he was so popular in

Maine and so popular in the country,

he could have been president if he

wanted to.

But his as a governor, he would always

do what was right no matter who he made

mad.

and he knew if I do this I'll never be

president. If I do this I'll never be

able to advance. He did it anyway.

And so that what a respectful individual

that didn't let an office or promotion

keep him from doing what he thought was

the right thing.

And Maine, this the state of Maine

almost had their own civil war

after the Civil

>> [clears throat]

>> and he was very much involved in keeping

the lid on. He did the right thing and

made a lot of people mad.

God God help us to be the kind of people

we we may never be at the the end of the

line at Gettysburg like Joshua

Chamberlain was, but may we be the kind

of people that stand for the right thing

no matter what.

Let consequence consequences are God's

business.

Our business is to do what's right. And

isn't that what Jesus is like? He knew

what was coming if he wrote into

Jerusalem. He knew what was coming. He

knew they were going to crucify him. He

did it anyway.

And so I I like this thought about

that this whole business of contrasting

Zedekiah and his weakness and his

wickedness.

If you have a position of leadership,

you got to you you need to lead.

And so that's what was going on. So all

of this is very interesting

in this particular section of holy

scripture.

Um

Philip Reichen writing on this section

called said Benedict Jeremiah with a

question mark. He said Jeremiah was

accused of a sim similar act of treason.

The real traitor was King Zedekiah.

The Babylonians put him on the throne

because he was willing to dance on the

strings like a marionette.

Zedekiah displayed

several characteristics of a spiritual

traitor. Number one, he did not listen

to the word of God.

He He did not listen to the word of God.

He didn't burn it. He didn't burn the

word of God, but he didn't listen to it

either. He kept asking Jeremiah, "You

got a word from the Lord?" He kept

wanting a secret meeting. He didn't

listen to any of it.

Zedekiah flirted with the word of God,

but he never he never subjected and

obeyed himself to it.

That's Philip Reichen. And he said like

Herod and Felix, Zedekiah enjoyed

dabbling in religion. He liked to hear

what the minister had to say,

but he never listened to it. He never

really, you know, in the Hebrew word

here and the Greek word here, both of

them, both the Hebrew word and the Greek

word are the same as obey.

And the point is if you don't obey, you

didn't hear

just going through the motions is not

the same.

Real hearing is obeying

and or or at least uh making an a

movement that in in response to what

you've heard. is not just sitting there

and playing it safe.

And Reagan makes another point.

Zedekiah was always asking Jeremiah to

pray for him.

Now, that's a good thing, I think,

but he could never pray for himself.

He wasn't a person who prayed.

And uh so Zedekiah was not a man of

prayer. He almost believed in the power

of prayer.

But he had an inability to pray for to

pray for himself was a sign of spiritual

weakness

because he rejected the means of grace.

I'm I'm quoting Philip Reiken.

I prayer is probably the hardest thing

we do.

I think talking to God about ourselves,

our church, our neighborhood, our

friends, what's happening in our life is

one of the hardest things we do because

Satan hates it when we pray. There is no

there's no more opposition to anything

you do than when you try to pray.

It is spiritual warfare.

And uh uh so when we try to pray whether

we're praying for somebody's salvation,

prayer is spiritual artillery. It

softens up the ground for the gospel to

come in. And you think the people in

artillery uh are are protected from

Satan? I mean from the not Satan, the

adversary, they're going to try to take

out the artillery.

Many of you read many of Dr. Whitam's

books and I didn't hear this when I was

in seminary. He never told us this. I

learned read volume one of hisography.

He was in the military and he was the

guy in World War II, he was in the

European theater. He was the guy who did

the math

to figure out where the artillery shells

would go.

They took these brilliant guys that were

good at anything and that was his job.

So, you know, he's such a he was such a

kind, gentle soul, it's hard to imagine

him in World War II.

And he was saved at that time.

And God saved him for a bigger war

because he mentioned this in in one time

when I heard him speak uh he mentioned

this. He was standing guard one night

and he was relieved. He was a sentry at

one someplace and just a minute after

the other person took over uh an enemy

shell hit that person and killed him. It

would have been Dr. Witkim. There had

been no Dr. Witkim.

The other fellow was standing right

where he had been standing.

But God preserved him to be a Bible

teacher.

and uh uh and preserved him to do

spiritual ministry and spiritual warfare

which is harder than any kind of warfare

on earth was we we are fighting an enemy

we don't see

and yet who's devious beyond

imagination.

Well, I hope this this chapter has been

a little bit of a a challenge to you. I

appreciate the resoluteness of Jeremiah

in contrast to the weakness of Zedekiah.

The strong man here was the guy in

prison. The strong man here was the one

everybody hated. The strong man was the

person everybody was misrepresenting.

The weak man was the goalong guy that

trying to make everybody happy.

And that's why Charles Fineberg, the

Jewish Christian scholar, one of the

great Hebrew scholars of our time, said

entitles this chapter, Resolute Jeremiah

and weak Zedekiah.

And he's absolutely right.

Okay. Um,

couple other thoughts and I'm going to

close.

The root

of Judah's trouble and Jerusalem's

trouble

was spiritual,

not political.

The heart of every problem is the

problem of the heart. You've heard that

one.

Their hearts were not right with God.

Therefore,

all this other stuff was coming in.

You cannot be strong if you're weak

spiritually. You you you're not going to

be able to be strong in the spiritual

war.

Um,

and there is a weakness that is a is a

bondage.

You're not free.

You're not free. You're you're uh man

pleasers.

Man [cough and clears throat] pleasers

never get anything done.

And so, may God help us to be God

pleasers. I really like the contrast

between Jeremiah and this man. Jeremiah

was not what you would look at and say

there's a man's man. Meaning he was a

youth. He was afraid. He's afraid.

He Jeremiah at the beginning of Jere I'm

a youth. I can't do this. I'm going to

make you I'm going to give you a

forehead of iron. You're going to stand

against the whole c country. You don't

have that in yourself. I'm going to give

it to you.

So may God help us to do that and not be

like the king who was weak and therefore

wicked. Warren Wesby said next to

Pontius Pilate no ruler in scripture

scripture reveals such indecision and

vacasillation as does King Zedeki.

If you stand for nothing, you fall for

everything.

You're a person like Pilot and say,

"What is truth?" Okay, you won't have

you won't have

courage or the strength to stand for

what is right. What was going on with

Pilate? He was worried. He was worried

about the Jews reporting him to Rome.

He was worried about getting in trouble.

He was worried about losing his

position. Well, he kept his position. He

was in office for 10 years. Only 10

years.

He kept his position. But look how look

what a pitiful thing.

Even after his wife's warning,

he did the wrong thing.

He was stubborn

because he was weak.

Sometimes we think stubborn people are

strong people. Well, they can be, but

they can also be weak people.

and their weakness actually makes them

stubborn stubborn in doing the wrong

thing.

Derek Kner said while the first place of

imprisonment was not as filthy as that

of the later one, it was a dungeon

nonetheless and such as to bring

Jeremiah near to dying. He almost died

for standing,

but he stood.

I would rather see a church die than

compromise. Wouldn't you?

I'd rather go down fighting

than compromise.

I want to tell you, there's a lot of

pastors, I'm not naming anybody in

particular. They just put their wet

their finger, put it in the air. Which

way is the wind blowing? whatever's

popular, that's what I'm going to do.

That's no way to That's no way to lead

sheep. That's no way to be a pastor.

If you stand for nothing, you'll fall

for everything.

So, may God help us as a local assembly,

as individuals,

and whoever's leading this church after

I'm gone and you're gone. May we stand

for the Lord and stand for his truth.

The church is the pillar and ground of

the truth. We can't afford to compromise

truth to keep people

to keep peace.

We have to do the right thing and let

God take care of the consequences.

Father, we thank you for what we've

looked at today. It's a challenging

chapter, uh kind of a hard chapter

really to work through and think

through. And uh we thank you for the

word of God revealing this. We don't

think Jeremiah was naturally

gifted in the way of just being a bold

person or a strong person, but God gave

him a forehead of iron. God enabled him

to stand up to a whole nation that was

embraced in in idolatry and all the

things in spiritual adultery from God.

uh cheating on God with idols. We pray,

Father, we would be we want to be

loving. We don't want to ever stop that.

We want to be a loving people. We want

to be a kind people. We want to be

gentle in a way that we aren't

naturally, but we want to be bold and we

want to be strong. We want to be strong

in the Lord in the power of his might.

We might be able to stand against the ws

of the devil.

Having done all to stand in Jesus name.

Amen.

Okay.

[music]

[singing]

>> Loving [singing] you more,

trusting [music]

you more.

May the power of your [singing] love

[music] and the light of your word shine

to a sin darkened [music]

world.

As we go from [singing] this place,