This morning if you will turn with me in your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 39. This book of Jeremiah has many truths in it that need to come to our attention. And they are told in no unmistakable terms, the acts of God, that is in judgment, his acts of recompense, that means paying back, and reward. That is that he rewards every man according to their works. And that's what we're going to be looking at here this morning. So let's bow together for prayer before we begin. Our Father, we come here today with our hearts laid open before you, realizing that you will reward each one of us who believes in you according to our works. And yet you have saved us, not according to our works, but according to your mercy. in Christ Jesus, Father. And so we glory in that. We realize that we fall short of Your glory in many ways. but we are thankful that you are the one who takes us by the hand spiritually speaking and you lead us and teach us your truth and you help us by your grace to walk in that truth and to make progress in holiness and so we pray that even as I preach to your people this morning that you will open their hearts to receive these things from your word and that we might all profit from them and grow in respect to our faith, even as we hear them. For we pray it and ask it in your dear name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Jeremiah chapter 39 verse 1. In the ninth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the tenth month Nebuchadnezzar, 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, the city was penetrated. Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the middle gate, Nergal, Sharizer, Shamgar-Nebo, Sarsekim, Rabsarus, Nergal-Sarizer, Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon. So it was when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them that they fled and went out of the city by night by way of the king's garden, by the gate between the two walls. and he went out by way of the plain. But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zadokai in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him. Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah. The king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover, he put out Zedekiah's eyes and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon. And the Chaldeans burned the king's house and the houses of the people with fire and broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Then Nebuchadnezzar Aden, the captain of the guard, carried away captive to Babylon the remnant of the people who remained in the city and those who defected to him with the rest of the people who remained. But Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, left in the land of Judah the poor people, the poor people who had nothing, and gave them vineyards and fields at the same time. Now Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, gave charge concerning Jeremiah to Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, saying, Take him, and look after him, and do him no harm, but do to him just as he says to you. So Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard, sent Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. But I will deliver you in that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men, of whom you are afraid, for I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be as a prize to you, because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord." Well, we've come this morning to the place where we clearly see the righteous acts of God in judgment and mercy in relation to all men here in the nation of Judah and Jerusalem and we're meant to apply it to ourselves because this is a chapter which shows God's recompense and his reward, God's judgments upon unrepentant people, they begin in this life, and they continue to all eternity. As terrible as the events of this chapter are, it is still worse after death for all those who do not repent. So to God's mercy and grace begin in this life, and they do not end forever for those who trust in the Lord Jesus. There is the reward of the righteous for their faith and there is the recompense of the wicked for their unbelief and their evil deeds. So we want to learn today what God is really like. We want to behold his righteous acts of justice and mercy. His righteous acts of rewarding people according to their works. Our God acts with a perfectly righteous and deliberate wisdom when he brings judgment upon unrepentant sinners, and he rewards the faith of those persons who are righteous. And so it is my prayer that you and I here today would regard God, that we would have regard for him as we learn about the way that he recompenses people and how he rewards them according to their works. He is a glorious God. whose work is perfect, whose mercy is sure. So there are three major acts of recompense and reward, which are pictured for us here in the lives of three men in this passage. First of all, the righteous act of judgment upon Zedekiah and the people of Jerusalem, verses one to 10. Why is it that people will not heed the warnings of God in the Scripture. Why did Zedekiah and the majority of the people wait until it was too late to repent? Why do people do the same thing today? It's because they really do not believe in the judgment of God. They believe that somehow God accepts them and their sin just as they are And Zedekiah was told by Jeremiah many times. I hope that you can remember this. We've studied this before. Jeremiah told him many times, even up until just shortly before the city was taken, that if he would repent, if he would surrender, that he would be spared further judgment. Finally, though all of God's words had their fulfillment, in a year, a year and a half after the siege of the city began, it says the city was penetrated. So let me say to begin with that judgment is like an armed warrior pounding on the door of your life. if you have not repented of your sins and put your trust in Jesus Christ. God's judgment is upon all, it says in the scriptures, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. All who hear God's word and they do nothing to heed it shall lose everything that is presently precious to them. And I want to see this more closely, and so I want you to turn over with me to Ezekiel chapter 12 and verses 1 to 13, because this passage of Ezekiel 12 comments on the passage that we are reading now. Ezekiel chapter 12 and verses 1 to 13. It says, Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house, which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear, for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for captivity. and go into captivity by day in their sight you shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight it may be that they will consider though they are a rebellious house by day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight as though going into captivity and at evening you shall go in their sight like those who go into captivity dig through the wall in their sight and carry your belongings out through it in their sight you shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight you shall cover your face so that you cannot see the ground for i have made you a sign to the house of israel so i did with what i was commanded and i brought out my belongings by day as though going into captivity And at evening I dug through the wall with my hand. I brought them out at twilight, and I bore them on my shoulder in their sight. And in the morning the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, has not the house of Israel, the rebellious house, said to you, what are you doing? Say to them, thus says the Lord God, this burden concerns the prince. in Jerusalem, and all the house of Israel who are among them, say, I am assigned to you, as I have done, so it shall be done to them. They shall be carried away into captivity, and the prince who is among them shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and go out. They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it, He shall cover his face, so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes. I will also spread my net over him, and he shall be caught in my snare. And I will bring him to Babylon, to the land of the Chaldeans. Yet he shall not see it, though he shall die there. All you can say when you hear verses like this is, wow, what exact details of prophecy are given here concerning Zedekiah and what would happen to him and the people in being taken away to captivity. Ezekiel's already in captivity. But the people of the captivity think that Zedekiah has it made, that he will escape judgment somehow. So Ezekiel is told to act out what would happen to Zedekiah. He's the great king of Israel, but he would be forced to flee Jerusalem at night and conceal his identity. He, the great king of Israel, would try to take all of his valuable possessions with him. But God says he would spread his net over him and he would be caught in God's snare. Now let me ask you this question. Do you see the futility of running from God? You see how sovereign God was in this situation? How he is sovereign over each of our lives so that we cannot run away from him if we try? We need to see the futility of this, running away from God, trusting in our own wisdom, trusting in our own strength. trusting in our own righteousness. The greatest of men will not escape judgment. The people who are the most rich will not be able to save themselves by their riches. All of their beloved possessions here, the means of transportation, their boats, everything that they had at that time that was valuable to them would be taken. and destroyed or lost. They would lose the whole city. And what is worse, because Zedekiah would not listen to God's words, he also, you see, lost his family. In chapter 38, verse 23 of our text in Jeremiah, it says, so they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Chaldeans. And I want you to see that God ordained this. This was not just something that just happened. This was something that God ordained and the reason that he ordained it was because they would not repent and more specifically because Zedekiah would not repent even though he had been shown so much mercy over so many incidents in his life and yet he still wouldn't repent. Zedekiah, by the way, is only 32 years old. at the time that this happened. He was forced to watch all of his sons die before his eyes. And then after he saw them all die, they gouged his eyes out so that he could not see, which was a fulfillment to that passage that I just read to you, that he would go into captivity, yet he would not see. All of these awful things happened to him because he would not listen and he would not heed Jeremiah's words to him from the Lord. He wouldn't repent of any of his unbelief. He wouldn't repent of any of his sins. He had many of them. He had every reason to repent because of the mercy that had been shown him. If he would have repented, even at that time, God would have shown him mercy even though he'd gone so long in sin. He and the nation would have been shown mercy. By the way, do you see the importance of the leader of a country in relation to the people that he governs? I know everyone will be judged for their own sins. It's most definitely the truth. But the leader of a country has a particular responsibility to be righteous in the decisions that he makes. and not to be foolish and not listen to the word of the Lord to him, or to think that he shouldn't read the Bible, that somehow he's wise enough in himself to make all these decisions without God's wisdom in the word of God. You think about Zedekiah's children. The oldest of them was probably no more than 14 years of age. If he was 32, can you imagine having to watch that horror story of their deaths? And I'm saying to you that we need to take heed to our own souls, to our own heart, to our own lives, because if we will not repent, we will most certainly perish. Jesus said that in Luke. The Gospel of Luke, unless you all repent, you will all likewise perish. You think that he says the people upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, they were worse sinners than all the rest? Oh no, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. You see, what Jesus is saying is that bad things do happen in this life, but there's a worse thing if you don't repent. If you don't repent, then you will perish in your sins, which is a much worse thing that even happened to Zedekiah when the city was taken. should be understood by us and we should preach it to others that when we destroy all good by our sins, we dishonor God who made us for his glory. We hurt, we ruin the lives of other people, our own children, our own wife, if we will not have dealings with God over our sins. Let me ask you, do you have dealings with God over your sins, the secret sins of your own heart, the motions of your heart which are not good, that we have all of us because of our flesh? I know some of us are better than others. in terms of our obedience, but I'm trying to say to you that all of us still have the flesh. We all still have a battle with sin each and every day. I'm trying to say to you that you need to repent of every single sin that you find in your heart and your mind, lest you come under the temporal judgment of the Lord, lest you need to be disciplined by him. And the Lord certainly is able to do that. But those who practice sin, those people will certainly not be able to see heaven in the final analysis, no matter what they say. They need to repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. You say, well, if I repent, I may lose many earthly things that I treasure. that I possess. No, God as Jeremiah told Zedekiah, you will enrich your life with the true riches if you repent. And you know God is well able to supply you with new vineyards and fields just like the poor people of the land in our text. Did you see that? Many people were carried away into captivity but the poor people in the land were given vineyards and they were given things that weren't theirs, but they took care of them. They were given good things. They had nothing, but they were given good things. I'm saying God knows He's well able to give you new things and better things if you repent. You're fearful of losing earthly possessions. You needn't fear that kind of thing. The Christian loses sinful things now. But they will gain righteous things when they repent. They will gain everything good and lasting in the future. It's only the unbelieving and the careless who will lose everything. Oh, we need to take notice of this. Because right now in this country there are many wealthy people who are living for this world and this country. And you and I need not envy them. We need not envy them. God is good to all. His mercies are over all his works. God knows how to give good things, better things, to all those who will repent so that you will know it in your heart and mind that the things that you pursued before of the world, they weren't worth it. You remember passion and patience in Pilgrim's Progress? Oh, that's a beautiful book. If you haven't read Pilgrim's Progress lately, you ought to do it once again. You know, Passion wanted all his good things now, but Patience was willing to wait. And so Passion, he got all these good things that he wanted, but when he got to the end of them, he didn't have anything lasting. But Patience, who was willing to wait, was given more and more of the good things by God and eventually had eternal life. There's a real lesson there, isn't there? To all of us who think that somehow living for the world is a good thing. Will you not try to think what it would mean 10,000 years from now to the person who hasn't repented? Where will all their earthly riches be then? or 10,000 years from now for the person who does repent? How good that that will be, how you will rejoice forevermore in the Lord because you did repent of all of your sins. Oh, my dear friends, Do not think that the world or your flesh or the devil can ever give you anything better than what God, through Jesus Christ, can give to you. But sometimes we need to learn that principle that Jesus taught, and the Lord is willing to teach you concerning this principle. In Matthew 16, 25 to 27, whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life For my sake will find it. For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world and loses his soul? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man will come in glory, the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will reward each one according to his works. I was reading John Bunyan's treatise, The Life and Death of Mr. Badman, last night. Really an interesting treatise that he wrote. But he was saying there, try to imagine that every time that you sinned that someone would come and they would take hot pincers and take your flesh and burn it off of you because you had committed a sin. You would repent then, wouldn't you? He was saying. But you see, we don't realize what hell is like, do we? We don't understand what it will mean for people to burn forever in the lake of fire, and so therefore, we need to repent ourselves, first of all, but then we also need to preach repentance, and Jesus went everywhere preaching repentance, it says in the Gospels. We need to preach repentance. Well, secondly, the righteous acts of God of recompense and reward are seen in God's mercy shown to Jeremiah in the time of judgment. I think that sometimes you must wonder why it is that I'm taking you through this book which has so much judgment in it, right? Well, it's not only that you might behold the desolations and the punishments that sin brings, but it is to show you the exceeding greatness of God's power towards his people in such times. I want to attempt to convey to you God's faithfulness to watch over you and to care for you in the midst of great difficulties and impossible situations. It's God's many mercies which are displayed in such times of calamity that we must come to understand, for we may go through such times. I know it's hard for you to believe this. But you just have to try to imagine, based upon the decline of our country in past years, what might happen in the future. Well, it could become much worse than it is now. God may withdraw more of his common grace, his blessings of peace, from our nation if we do not listen to his word. He may pour out his righteous wrath on the unrepentant, but God will never, I'm saying, cease to do good to those who belong to him. And you can take heart from that, dear Christian. You see, Jeremiah, you'll notice, was being held in the court. the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And when the city was taken, God saw to it through Nebuchadnezzar that Jeremiah was treated well. And he gave orders to this man, Nebuzah Radin, whose name means the prince of the killers, the prince of the executioners, to treat Jeremiah well. This horrible man who supervised the killing of Zedekiah's sons and had Zedekiah's eyes gouged out, now is instructed to take Jeremiah and look after him and do him no harm." Amazing, isn't it? He sends word to Rabsarus, to Nebuchadnezzar, and Rob Mag, to Nergal Sherezer and to all the chief officers, our text says, and they sent someone to take Jeremiah from the court of the prison and bring him to Gedaliah, the man whom Nebuchadnezzar had made governor over the cities of Judah. So Jeremiah gets to go free. He even gets to go back to his own home. He's free to live among the people left in the land. So we need to learn several things from this. I want you to remember Proverbs 21, one. The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like rivers of water, and he turns it wherever he wishes. So I want you to understand that no matter how many wicked men there are in authority, they are indeed at all times in the hand of the Lord. Do you see that? and he can turn them to favor you when he would have it to be so. So Jeremiah received better treatment at the hands of the Chaldean commanders than he did from the king and the princes in his own country. It was Jeremiah's righteous reward. from God who so worked in the heart of Nebuchadnezzar to be merciful to him. Now we will not always be allowed to be spared from wicked men or what they might do to us according to the permissive will of God. Conquering armies may indeed come into our own land someday if God would bring us into judgment. I pray not. But we can be certain that if we are not spared, that God is still looking out for your eternal welfare and your eternal good if you are putting your trust in Him. Do you see that, dear Christian, no matter what happens? as you trust in the Lord, that God is looking out for your eternal good and your eternal welfare. In Revelation 2.10, Jesus says, do not fear any of these things which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you in prison that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death." You see, that's the most important thing, that you not be hurt by the second death. And what does that mean? It means that if the Christian is faithful in choosing to die for the sake of the truth, that their reward will be that they will reign with Christ in the life to come. That person will not be hurt by dying, and they will be spared all the pains of eternal death and hell, most certainly. Having been given eternal life by grace through Christ, the Christian shall, in other words, by faithfulness, Based upon the spirits working in your life, overcome all the attacks and temptations of the world, the flesh, and the devil, and overcoming, you shall be seated on Christ's throne with Him." Wow, that is really quite the privilege, is it not? There will be a crown of life awaiting you when you die for Christ's cause of truth and righteousness, And if you die in this way, you shall reign with Christ in heaven as the spirit of a just person made perfect if you do die a martyr. And third, this leads to the last act of righteous recompense and reward, which is seen in God's preservation and deliverance of this man named Ebed-Melech. Verses 15 to 18. Now the word of the Lord had come to Jeremiah while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Abed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for adversity and not for good, and they shall be performed in that day before you. But I will deliver you in that day, says the Lord, and you shall not be given into the hand of the men of whom you are afraid. For I will surely deliver you, and you shall not fall by the sword, but your life shall be given you as a prize to you. Because you have put your trust in me, says the Lord. So this man is being singled out by God for this mercy. He sends a word through Jeremiah to him, this special encouraging word. What's he going to do? He's going to quell his fears. Do you see that? He's going to give him an assurance of his help and favor to him. And he tells him, through Jeremiah, that he, God, will be faithful to bring all of his words of judgment to pass upon the city for adversity and not for their good. And yet, he, Abed-Melech, would have to witness this judgment, yes, but God would deliver him. and he would not fall by the sword. So you see how perfectly God acts to reward the faith which men place in him. No mention is made of the works of Abed-Melech in these words that were spoken to him. Zedekiah is reproved. But here Jeremiah is pulled out of the mire, and Ebed-Melech was the man who was the one who was responsible for his being freed from the mire as the human instrument. But that's not what is remembered by God here. Do you notice that? It isn't his righteous works, although those were good and he was being rewarded according to his works, but it was because of his faith. in God. That's what he says there in the text. It's because of your faith in me, he says. Your life shall be given as a prize to you because you put your trust in me, says the Lord. So God does know how to preserve his people and protect them in the midst of his judgment. And they will still, even so, be blessed in life and in death. And what the Lord would have you to understand today is not that you will not suffer, or perhaps that you will not have to die at the hands of wicked men. Rather, he would have you understand that he will, by his great grace, give you the courage and the strength to endure. whatever it is that he would have you to go through in those times. It says in the book of 2 Timothy, if we suffer with him, we shall also reign with him. 2 Timothy 2, verse 12. In other words, he wants you to look up at such a time. He wants you to lift up your head for your redemption draws near. So our God, even now in our days, is judging the world in righteousness. Do you see that? All of the temporal judgments against nations and kingdoms and peoples that take place in the world, all those things come at God's righteous behest and judgment. It's He that determines those things. It's not just simply men who are craven for power. and domination, it's that God leads those awful men. And sometimes even against, as we see here, His ancient covenant people, the Jews. He could do the same thing in this country here. This great country, which has been so given to righteousness in past days and past times, now is not. He could bring us down. of which 9-11-2001 was just a prelude. Oh, dearly beloved, do you remember that day of 9-11-2001 when the trade towers came down and the Pentagon was struck? Who was it that let that happen to our country? That was done by the hands of wicked men. I grant you that. But our God would never allow such a thing to happen. unless we had great and mighty sins that we needed to repent of in his sight. And beloved, we need to repent of those sins as a nation, as a country, so that righteousness will be exalted, God will be glorified, and that we will be spared greater judgments than 9-11, but the greatest judgment, of course, as I've said, is hell. And so our message needs to be to people around us, oh, please, repent before it's too late. Don't think that you can go on forever. God is good. He gives many mercies and many blessings, even in common grace, but don't let that fool you. Common grace can all be removed, even it was in the flood back there in the days of Noah. They were all removed and God brought his judgments and they all died. We need to see these things, God's righteous acts of recompense and reward. I want you, in closing, I want you to remember what the Apostle Paul says in Romans chapter 8, that even in tribulation or distress, or persecution, or nakedness, in peril, or sword. All of those things, he says, you will be more than a conqueror through Him who loves you. If you are a Christian, nothing shall separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. So will you not rejoice, dear Christian? Will you not sing? that it is so, that the Lord watches over your life in such particular ways that you cannot count them all. Ways of blessing, ways of grace, ways of reward for all of the things that you have done that glorify him. You see, God is going to be perfect. When Christ returns, God is going to be seen as perfect in judgment, in the day in which Christ returns and judges his saints to reward them. Well, let's pray together. Father, we thank you for this passage of Scripture which teaches us so much of our need to repent and of people around us, their need to repent, and of our need as a church to preach repentance as well as faith. We know that a person can't be saved without repentance, but they're not saved by repentance. And so we pray that they would trust in you, people that we preach the gospel to, and that as they trust in you, that they would find that they are given the grace to repent of all their sins and turn away from them. May they turn away from all sins, the people that we preach to. May we be willing to share the truth with them. May you help us to do so. That your name might be glorified in us, and that the reality of our faith might be seen in you in the days to come. For we pray it in your dear name, Lord Jesus, amen. Well, let's close by singing hymn number 481, Am I a Soldier of the Cross? A Follower of the Lamb? Hymn number 481. Am I a soldier of the cross, a follower of the Lamb? And shall I fear to own his cause, or blush to speak his name? Must I be carried to the skies On flowery beds of ease, While others fought to win the prize And sailed through bloody seas? Are there no foes for me to face? Must I not stamp the flood? Is this vile world a friend to grace, To help me on to God? Sure I must fight if I would reign it, Increase my courage, Lord. I'll bear the toil and endure the pain supported by Thy word. Thy saints in all this glorious war shall conquer, though they die. They view the triumph from afar And seize it with their eye. When that illustrious day shall rise, And all thine armies shine, In robes of victory through the skies the glory shall be thine. Let your work appear to your servants and your glory to their children and let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands. Yes, establish the work of our hands. May it be so. You are dismissed and may the Lord go with you.