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Please take your copy of the Scriptures and turn in the book of Jeremiah to Jeremiah 26. That entire chapter is going to be our text this evening, and so let's begin by reading it together. And this is the word of the Lord. Jeremiah 26, beginning in verse 1. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. Thus says the Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that have come to worship in the house of the Lord. All the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not hold back a word. It may be they will listen and everyone turned from his evil way that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me to walk in my law that I have set before you and to listen to the words of my servants, the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house like Shiloh and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant? And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to the people, this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears. When Jeremiah spoke, then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words that you have heard. Now, therefore, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord, your God, and the Lord will relent of the disaster that he has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I'm in your hands. Do with me as you seems good and right to you. Only know for certain Then if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants. For in truth, the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears." Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. And certain of the elders of the land arose, and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion will be plowed like a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountains of the house of wooded height. Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord? And did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them?" But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves. There was another man who prophesied in the name of the Lord. Uriah, the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath Jerem. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, El Nathan, the son of Achbor, and others with him. And they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people. But the hand of Ahicham, the son of Shathan, was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given over to the people till he put to death." Amen. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we praise you as the God who has spoken to us in your word, the one true and living God. We thank you that you have given us your living word to actually work in our souls. to bring light and life and healing. We thank You, O Lord, that You sent Your Spirit to cause our souls to respond to the Word in faith and obedience. These are great gifts, Lord. You could have easily left us to go the way of destruction and hard-heartedness, rebellion. O Lord, we thank You that even tonight You are present with us. to open our hearts afresh to understand these things that we have read. And we pray that you would do that this evening, Lord, that we might be built up in our faith, that we might be convicted where we need to be, encouraged and strengthened where we need to be, instructed where we need to be. Oh, Lord, that we call upon You to do this work in us. In Jesus' name and for Your glory, Amen. If you have been with us through our study of Jeremiah going way back to the beginning, you may remember that chapter seven of Jeremiah opened with these words. You won't remember the specific words, but you may remember the scenario here. It says there. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah who enter these gates and worship the Lord. And then the rest of the chapter records the words that Jeremiah was given to proclaim to the people while standing in the gate of the temple. And that chapter has become widely known as Jeremiah's temple sermon. So you may remember that temple sermon. Well, now look at what it says in chapter 25, 6, verse 2. Thus says the Lord, Stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them. You see, it's the identical scenario as back in chapter 7. Jeremiah was given an oracle to proclaim to the people while standing in the gate of the temple. In fact, even though the Temple sermon recorded in Jeremiah 7 is much longer than the temple sermon that's recorded here in Jeremiah 26. Their contents are actually strikingly similar. For instance, they both, unlike many of Jeremiah's oracles, offered Judah a chance to relent from their evil ways so that they might receive mercy. They and they both warned Judah that if they do not do this, God would destroy the city. And notice both of them speak specifically about how God would make this temple, the gates of which Jeremiah was standing in. He would make this temple like Shiloh. Very striking similarity. Now, it's for this reason and others as well that it is actually widely held, and I think it is very likely the case. that the message of Jeremiah recorded in Jeremiah 26, one through six is simply an abbreviated version of Jeremiah's full temple sermon that's recorded back in Jeremiah chapter seven. And so. Why recap Jeremiah's temple sermon here in Jeremiah 26? Well, because if you remember anything about that sermon, And if you want to remember, go back and listen to it on Sermon Audio. If you remember anything about that sermon, you'll remember it was not a benign sermon at all. Rather, it was more like a bomb going off in the midst of Judah. So while chapter 7 gives us the content of the sermon in its entirety, it seems like what's happening here in chapter 26 is that we're being given a record of the aftermath of that sermon. Here in chapter 26, we see how the people reacted to Jeremiah's temple sermon after hearing it and what happened to Jeremiah after he preached that sermon. Now, let's take a closer look at these things by working our way through this narrative here in chapter 26. First, notice the setting in verse one. In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. Now, remember the chronology here, the kings of Judah, you had Josiah, who was the last righteous king who reigned for 20 plus years after Josiah fell in battle to the Egyptians, the people of Israel replaced Josiah with his son Jehoahaz. But the Egyptians who had just defeated Israel didn't like Jehoahaz. And so they removed him and took him away into exile in Egypt. And then they replaced Jehoahaz with another son. of Josiah named Jehoiakim because he was apparently more favorable to Egyptian rule. And they thought he'd basically be an easier puppet king for them to handle. Now, what's happening here, then, is that just like the last chapter that we looked at, chapter 25, this oracle is taking place or these events are taking place just after the death of Josiah at the beginning of the reign of his wicked son Jehoiakim in the years that would lead up to the first siege of Jerusalem at the hand of the Babylonians. Jeremiah had this at this time been ministering as a prophet in Jerusalem for over 20 years now, but mostly under the reign of Josiah at this point. But on this day. God called the prophet to go and stand in the entrance to the temple and to preach an oracle of unprecedented magnitude. And as I mentioned before, we have the full contents of that or of Jeremiah's temple sermon recorded back in chapter seven, if indeed it is the same. And I believe it is. But the gist of it, then, is here summarized in verses two through six. So first, the Lord appeals to Judah through the prophet Jeremiah to repent of their evil ways so that he might have mercy upon them and relent from his plan to judge them at the hands of the Babylonians. And so, Jeremiah says in verses two to three, thus says the Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord. All the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not hold back a word. It may well be they will listen and everyone turn from his evil way that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do them because of their evil deeds." Just think about it. Isn't that remarkable? Here we are in the last decades before the Lord finally did bring destruction upon Judah and upon Jerusalem. After almost 1000 years, of Israel's rebellion against them as a nation. Sure, they had seasons in which they were doing better under David for a time, under Solomon, under Hezekiah, under Josiah. But overall, from the time of the exodus to this time, they had been a wicked, stubborn, rebellious nation. And yet, even in these closing decades, Before he finally takes them away into exile, the Lord is still offering them mercy. He's still offering them a chance to be saved from the punishment which they deserve for their stubborn sin. If they would only repent, turn, forsake their sin and turn to God. We've seen in Jeremiah something of the awesome holiness of God and his fierce commitment to judging iniquity. But we have to also understand, don't we, that this is in no way negates the fact that he is also full of abundant mercy. And as we see here, even While he raises the sword of judgment over the heads of sinners, he is all the while extending the hand of mercy to them, offering them forgiveness if they will only repent. We see the same aspect of God's character in many other parts of Scripture as well. For instance, it's vividly portrayed in that familiar passage from Ezekiel, Ezekiel 18, 21 through 23, where the Lord says, But if a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live. He shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him. In other words, he shall be forgiven for the righteousness that he has done. He shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live. That's the heart of our God. I think of how we see this worked out so profoundly in the life of King Manasseh. Manasseh was arguably the most wicked king in the whole history of the nation of Israel. He practiced and promoted in Israel gross idolatry. He built up the high places to worship pagan idols on all the high places in the land. He erected altars to Baal and to Asherah and to all the hosts of heaven. He filled the promised land with altars. and shrines to idols. He even sacrificed his own children, it says, and the fires to Molech. And he built altars to worship idols right in the courts of the temple of the Lord. He indulged in all manner of abominable witchcraft, it says, using fortune-telling and omens and visiting mediums and necromancers. He filled the land, it says, with innocent blood from one end of the land to the other. He was a violent and cruel and wicked man, an idolater of idolaters, seemingly having no conscience, a virtual sociopath in office. And finally, God sent the Assyrians, remember, to capture him, it says explicitly with hooks. Can you imagine what that must have been? And to bind him in chains and essentially took him off to stuff him in a dungeon in exile. And yet, despite his appalling wickedness, Second Chronicles 33, 12-13 says this of Manasseh, that when he was in distress, he entreated the favor of the Lord, his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. He prayed to him and God was moved by his entreaty and heard his plea and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. See, God is a holy God. who throughout the scriptures you see him standing on the one hand over against sinners in righteous indignation because of their sin. And yet he is also a merciful God who was willing to extend forgiveness and restoration to even the most wicked sinner who would humble himself and turn from his evil ways and appeal to him for grace as Manasseh did. Maybe you're here tonight and you're not a Christian, but you're becoming more and more convicted through various means of your sin before God. Or maybe you know very well that you have lived a wicked life before God and you feel the weight of God's just condemnation upon you. Maybe some of you in that condition identify with King Manasseh because of the depths of depravity to which you've sunk in your life at various times. Let me encourage you that the God of the universe is a merciful God, and if you will humble yourself and turn from your evil way, as Manasseh did, and treat his favor, that he will be merciful to you and he will forgive you of your sins. Why? Because he has sent his son Jesus to make full atonement for the sins of all those who would repent and believe in him so that he might save them through the death of his own son on the cross in their place and so that they might be forgiven and reconciled to him. But after appealing to Judah to repent of their evil ways so that he might show them mercy, which was his desire. The Lord warns them that if they do not repent, then he will give them justice instead. In the form of destruction, as it was made very clear upon both Jerusalem, the city and the temple. Look at verses four through six. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me to walk in my law that I have set before you and to listen to the words of my servants, the prophets whom I send to you urgently, though you have not listened, then I will make this house the temple like Shiloh, and I will make this city Jerusalem a curse for all the nations of the earth. When the Lord says, I will make this house the temple like Shiloh, what is he referring to? Well, he's referring back to an incident that's recorded in First Samuel chapter four. See, throughout the judges period. The tent of meeting, which had been with the Israelites as they traveled through the desert, had been stationed, set up in a place, a particular place in the Promised Land called Shiloh. But at the very end of the Judges' period, during the priesthood of Eli and his sons, you remember that the sons of Eli were wicked priests, And they were, it says, actually stealing the sacrifices of God and sleeping with the women who came to worship at the temple. And Eli had done nothing about it. And so you remember that in 1 Samuel chapter 4, finally God allowed the Philistines to overrun Shiloh and to kill Eli's two sons in battle and to take the Ark of the Covenant captive back to the land of Philistia. And so now you see the Lord is announcing to Judah that if she refuses to repent, then he's going to allow the same thing to happen to the temple in Jerusalem as happened to Shiloh in the days of the judges. And he would allow the Babylonians this time to be the ones to do it, to sack Jerusalem, to destroy the temple and to carry off the articles of worship in the temple off into Babylon. So that's the gist of Jeremiah's message. Now, how did the people respond to it? Well, the answer comes in verses 79. Look again at those verses. The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, You shall die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house should be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without inhabitant and all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord? Remember, Jeremiah preached this explosive sermon right there standing in the temple courts. While the priests were there to minister in the temple and the prophets, the false prophets were hanging out there as well, and people were coming to the temple that day to worship the Lord there. And what verses seven through nine tells us is that those who were there to hear it, the priests, the false prophets and the people who had come to worship on that day, they responded with unified outrage at what they heard. The element of Jeremiah's sermon that really set them off was, as you see in verse 9, that he would dare to announce that God was going to destroy the city of Jerusalem and the temple. Now, it's easy for us to comprehend God doing that, because we have the end of the story, for instance. We have the theological commentary in the scriptures themselves. But you see, at this point in redemptive history, these people living at this time appear to have no category for understanding the notion that God himself would actually destroy his own city and his own temple. And I think what had been going on, and I think this comes out when you read the full temple sermon in Jeremiah, chapter seven, is that they had so domesticated God down that likely other nations thought of their pagan gods. They thought that God was somehow tied to these structures, the temple and this particular land in this particular city. And therefore, God could never let them be destroyed. This is where he lived. In fact, you might remember that in the full account of Jeremiah's temple sermon, in chapter 7, Jeremiah had actually denounced the people for trusting in the temple as if it was some kind of good luck charm. You remember that phrase where he said, don't say the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, as if just the fact that the temple was there somehow sort of assured their security regardless of how they lived their lives before God. And so for Jeremiah to tell them that the Lord himself was going to destroy Jerusalem and the temple was unthinkable to them. Jerusalem was the capital city of God's nation, where God's anointed king, the sons of David, ruled. To predict its downfall in their mind was basically tantamount to treason against the nation. And the temple was God's dwelling place to predict its destruction was basically tantamount to blasphemy. And you see, therefore, it says in verse eight that all those who were in the temple that day heard who heard Jeremiah's sermon, says the priests and the prophets and all the people of Israel laid hold of him, saying, You shall die for these outrageous words. In their mind, you see, Jeremiah had always been a nuisance, I think. He preached his negative messages one after another. But in the past, you know, things were going pretty well and he'd never done anything quite this audacious. And so they were able to ignore him. But now, you see, he'd gone too far. Standing in the temple, proclaiming these type of outrageous words against the city of God and against God's own house, this could not be ignored. The things that he said were worthy of death in their mind, and so they arrested Jeremiah, you see, with the intent of putting him to death, you shall die. This is always the way it goes, isn't it? The more godless people become, the more outrageous the word of God sounds to them. The more a society suppresses the truth about God and replaces him with a god of their own imagination, the more confidently they will condemn his word for violating their own standards. This is exactly what's happened in Jeremiah's case. It's exactly what's happened in our own society. You think about how with respect to issues like sexual standards and gender roles and marriage and divorce and disciplining children and the exclusivity of religious truth claims. When people in our society hear God's word on these issues, they are increasingly, don't we feel it, outraged. and denounce it as worthy of condemnation. Why? Because like the Israelites in Jeremiah's day, our society is becoming increasingly godless. They've rejected the one true God and rejected his will, and they've set themselves up as gods in his place, as those who have the right to determine between good and evil. Of course, this isn't new. I mean, in fact, because of human depravity, isn't it the case that we can expect this to happen, be the natural drift apart from God's common grace in every society? So when the people heard Jeremiah's sermon, they were outraged and they took him into custody and they ordered him, they were going to take him and put him to death. So what happened to the prophet then? Well, as you might expect, you know, when the government heard that there was a riot down in the temple and there was about to be an execution, they immediately intervened, I think, to bring order like government officials do. And the first thing they did was to move everything into the courtroom. which in that day was either in the city gates or, as we see here, in the gates of the temple. That was the gates, the entrance of major locations was often the place of judgment. And thus it says in verse 10, when the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and took their seat. In other words, as judges in the entry of the new gate of the house of the Lord. So here they could sit, they could listen to both sides of this case and render a more sober and orderly decision. And in this case, the priests and the prophets, you see, who had been there to hear Jeremiah, they were the prosecutors. They had heard his temple sermon firsthand. They were going to try to make the argument that he deserved to be put to death for the things that he said. Jeremiah himself was the defendant and he would make, as we see in this text, his own defense before the court. And then presiding over the deliberations were these royal officials who were to act as judges. And also present we see was a group of people identified as the elders, which is distinct from these royal officials. and an assembly of people from the community that had gathered to hear this case. And apparently, these other groups would not only observe the proceedings, but have some kind of input in it as well. So the prosecution lays out its case first. We see this in verse 11. Then the priest and the prophet said to the officials and to all the people, this man deserves the sentence of death because he's prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears. Nothing new there. But then the defendant, Jeremiah, he was given a chance to speak now. And notice what he says in verses 12 to 15. Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house in this city, all the words that you have heard. Now, therefore, mend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord, your God, and the Lord will relent from the disasters pronounced against you. But as for me, behold, I'm in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants. For in truth, the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears. See, Jeremiah's defense is very simply. He basically says, look, you may condemn me as guilty and you may put me to death. But the fact is that before God, it is actually you who are guilty and are about to be put to death unless you repent. I'm simply God's messenger sent to warn you, and therefore I am an innocent man, regardless of the decision of your court. If you put me to death, you only add to your guilt. a healthy perspective Jeremiah has about this frightening scenario. I mean, first of all, he knew that those who condemned him for faithfully proclaiming the word of God were actually condemning God himself. This condemnation was falling upon Jeremiah because he was God's messenger in this particular instance. It's interesting to think about the fact that this would be the very same experience that God's ultimate messenger, Jesus Christ, would have as well. Every word that Jesus spoke was exactly what the father told him to say. And yet men condemned him for his words, just like they condemned Jeremiah, the prophet before. Remember, Paul's comment on this in Romans 15, three says, For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, the reproaches of those who reproach you fell upon me. And as the churches of Christ now faithfully proclaim the word of God in our day, this same pattern will be replicated in our lives as well. People will condemn the church for proclaiming what is the truths of God's word. But what the church has to remember. Is that when people condemn them for proclaiming God's words, they're actually condemning God himself and that we are simply the messengers of God's truth in our generation. And in fact, when we are condemned for proclaiming the word of God, we're actually having the privilege of bearing the reproaches that people have against God himself. In God's behalf as his messengers. Just like our Lord Jesus did. And if we as Christians have this perspective about the opposition that we face, not for being idiots and saying things that really aren't representative of God's truth, but when we do experience that for actually proclaiming the truth of God's word and upholding it. When we realize that the beef that people have with us is actually a beef they have with God and that we actually have the privilege of saying with Christ the reproaches with which people reproach you have fallen upon us. That's actually going to enable us to persevere in gospel ministry through persecution with joy. In fact, I think of how this is embodied in the lives of the apostles in that great passage in Acts, chapter five, verse forty one to forty two, where it says, Then they left the presence of the council rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name. They told him, don't preach anymore what you're preaching. And then they beat them. And this is how they responded. Then guess what they did? And every day in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus. Because they had that perspective. But secondly, also see that Jeremiah understands something Profoundly important that he understands that man's judgment of him is not what is important, rather was only God's judgment of him that mattered. His contemporaries in Jerusalem might condemn him even to death for his preaching, but before God, he knew he'd done nothing wrong. And you see, he understood that God's judgment trumped man's judgment every time. In fact, we could say, can't we, that the only time that man's judgment is actually right is when it is in line with God's own judgment. So Jeremiah declares here in verses 14 and 15 that this human court could condemn him. They could put him to death. He says, I'm in your hands. Do whatever you think is right to do. But if you choose to do so. You will be bringing innocent blood upon yourself and upon this city. Because you see what he's saying, he's in God's court. He was innocent, regardless of whether or not they found him guilty. This truth is, I think, critical for us to understand if we are going to keep believing and keep proclaiming the word of God in our day. You know, the culture's condemnation of the word of God is going to be increasingly pervasive, and this is going to bring we already feel it, don't we? is going to bring incredible pressure upon the churches in America to compromise, to value man's judgment above God's judgment. In fact, I would say, wouldn't we say that we've already seen so many churches in America actually compromise already in this way on a whole host of issues? on theological issues like the whole notion of man's depravity or on the true holy character of God or on ethical issues, which, of course, are also theological issues in one sense. Issues like male headship in the home and in the church or the biblical standards of God regarding divorce. or ecclesiological issues like church discipline. Many evangelical churches have already compromised under the weight of cultural pressures. And what are they doing? They're accepting man's judgment upon these matters rather than God's judgment. You see, it is vital that the church cultivate and maintain the perspective that we see in Jeremiah, that man's judgment of us ultimately doesn't matter in comparison to God's judgment. I always think in this regard of Paul's words in first Corinthians, chapter four, when he himself was facing the condemnation of of his opponents in the Corinthian church. And what does he say? He says, but with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I don't even judge myself. I'm not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. That's the perspective that Jeremiah had. This is the perspective that the church must have in order to remain faithful to God. Under the pressure of the world's condemnation of God's word and of us for preaching, So far in this trial, the prosecution has presented its case. Jeremiah then has made his defense. And what we see next is that the officials who were presiding as judge in this case. Render a surprising decision. We read in verse 16, then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, this man does not deserve the sentence of death. for he spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Now, we don't exactly know who these officials are, but verse 10 tells us that they are from the king's house. Now, that means they're part of the administration of Jehoiakim, who, as you read about the life of Jehoiakim, he was a very wicked king. He was a scoundrel. We must remember That it says that this all happened at the very beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. So it could be that many of these officials have been holdovers from Josiah's administration. You remember you had Josiah, then you had Jehoiath who only reigned for three months. And then now you're in the beginning of Jehoiakim's reign. So it could be that you have some holdovers from Josiah's reign. And Josiah, of course, was a righteous king. Nevertheless, it is somewhat surprising to see these royal officials from the political establishment in Jerusalem come down on Jeremiah's side in their decision and against the priests and the prophets. I tend to think. That's it's likely that most of these royal officials are not actually all that worried about listening to the word of the Lord. I mean, and the reason I say that is because do you see them then enacting repentance in Jehoiakim's reign? I don't think so. They don't actually obey the message of Jeremiah. It seems more likely that what you have here is a bit more like, you know, in some kind of gangster movie that you might see how the gangsters have no problem just killing everybody. But when they come to sort of like the religious man, the priest, You know, there's sort of this superstition about killing a religious man, and it seems more likely that the people, these officials, and it even says, notice, that the, and the people, the same people that previously had been with the priests and the prophets apparently, were now switching. It seems like they had been rattled a little bit by Jeremiah's warning when he said that if they killed him, they would bring innocent blood upon themselves and the rest of the city. In other words, there's a bit of superstition going on here. They were uneasy about killing one who had been an established prophet of God for the last couple of decades in Israel. But although the royal response of the officials and the people may have been a bit more driven by superstition. And again, I'm guessing, but the fact that they don't actually repent, they don't actually listen to him, I think hints in that direction. Yet there does seem to be a few people present at the trial who oppose the execution of Jeremiah for the right reason. And notice it says in verse 17 that certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all of the assembled people. Now, these elders are not among the royal officials, but rather likely they're They're what elders were in those days in Jerusalem. They were prominent, respected citizens of the land who apparently, like often happens, were called to sit in on a high profile case, especially like this, and were then given an opportunity to comment on the decision. Now, look at what they said in verses 17 through 19. And certain of the elders of the land arose and spoke to all the assembled people, saying, Micah of Moresheth, that's the Micah from our Bibles, the Micah who wrote the Book of Micah. Micah of Moresheth prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and said to all the people of Judah, thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed as a field, Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins, and the mountain of the house a wooded height. That's actually a quote from the Book of Micah. Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all the people put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord and did not the Lord relent of the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster upon ourselves. You see the point the elders are making, it's actually quite striking. They're making the point that the reaction of the priests and of the prophets against Jeremiah's temple sermon was misguided. After all, Jeremiah wasn't the only prophet. or the first prophet to declare that God was going to destroy the temple and destroy Jerusalem. No, rather what they're pointing out, they actually quote established scripture at that time from the book of Micah to say that Micah had done the very same thing in Hezekiah's day. And then they make a further point that the proper response that the people should have to Jeremiah's sermon would be to listen to it and to appeal to the Lord to relent from his judgment, just like Hezekiah had done when he heard Micah's prophecy. It's a powerful argument. And finally, they close with this dire warning that if we refuse to listen to Jeremiah and to instead we put him to death, As the priests and the prophets want. And we will be bringing great disaster upon ourselves. See, it seems like and it's interesting that at the end of the chapter, there's actually a man named Ahikam. Ahikam was the son of Shafan. Both of those men were basically part of the administration of Josiah. It seems that there were some people in Israel who knew the true score. And that there were these these elders were some of them and that these elders stood up at this trial, a few believing men in Judah who were willing to listen to Jeremiah, the prophet, and to stand with him in the midst of the persecutions that he was suffering. So there is, as we see, as we go through this chapter, there's this diversity of responses to Jeremiah's temple sermon. Some were outraged by it and condemned him to death for daring to speak such outrageous things. And then others, though, believed his words and urged the people to obey his words. A diversity of responses. And in fact, it seems to me that this that what we're seeing emerging in all of this is the main theme of the chapter, how Will you respond to the words of the prophet? And if this question confronted the Jews who heard the words of Jeremiah, it most certainly confronts all of us in our day, because you see now, Jeremiah is not amongst us except for his words here. But you see now, a far greater prophet than Jeremiah has come among us. His name is Jesus and his word has gone out into the entire world. And he, too, like Jeremiah, is calling not just the nation of Judah, but all men everywhere, as Paul says in Acts 17, to repent of their sins. and to believe in Him as God's appointed Savior of the world. And so when Jesus went up on the Mount of Transfiguration, you remember that the voice of God was heard from heaven saying, This is my Son, my chosen one. Listen to Him. If you're not a Christian here tonight, you don't know the Lord Jesus. How will you respond to the words of God's greatest prophet, Jesus? He has spoken, he said, I am the bread of life, whoever comes to me shall not hunger and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. How will you respond to his words? He spoke and he said, I am the light of the world, whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life. How will you respond to his words? He said, I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me, though he die, yet shall he live. And everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. How will you respond to His words? And He offers these gifts of eternal light and life. to all who would believe in Him. Why? Because He willingly offered Himself up as an atoning sacrifice upon the cross, bearing the punishment for their sins and their place. And now He calls to you tonight. He says, repent and believe in Me so that you too might be forgiven of your sins and would receive the gift of eternal life. How will you respond to his words? I urge you. Like these elders. to obey the voice which spoke from heaven about this greatest of all prophets, Jesus saying, listen to him. I would urge you obey his message, repent of your sins, believe in Jesus Christ so that you might be saved from his judgment. Which is coming even tonight. But as for us as Christians, The main theme, then, of this text, how we respond to the words of the prophet, it challenges us in a bit different way, doesn't it? The question for us is, will we stand with the prophet? We watched in Jeremiah 26 as certain elders in Judah stood with Jeremiah at his trial and affirmed his words as being true and called people to obey them. And in doing so, they showed Didn't they? Their willingness to share in the prophet's suffering and shame before men. And so too, the greater prophet, Jesus. He was put on trial before men. Do you remember that? Just like Jeremiah. He too was dragged before the ruling council of Israel. He, too, was condemned by them actually for blasphemy because of their perception that he was claiming that he was going to destroy the temple in three days. And so all of those who would affirm his words as true, you see, must be willing then to share in his suffering and his shame before an unbelieving world. This is why Jesus. said that all who follow him must be willing to take up their own cross and follow him just as he took up his cross. If the words of Jesus are rejected by people in our day, you see, we must be willing to be rejected by people in our day as well in order that we might stand with him and affirm his message to be true and call people to obey it. Here are the words of the writer of Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 13, verses 12 and 13, he said, So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. So after Jeremiah preached his famous temple sermon, he was arrested. He was charged before the officials of the city with crimes worthy of death. And yet we do see in our text. In verses 17 through 19, that at his trial, some believing men, some elders stood with him and affirmed his message is true. And in the end, the city officials, the judges did acquit him of the charges. Now, you'd think that that would be the end of the story. But it isn't. Rather, the chapter ends on a very strange note in verses 20 to 24. And what it does, you almost think the first time you read it that this is still those elders still talking. I don't think it is. It tells us instead, all of a sudden switches immediately and tells us of another prophet, a prophet named Uriah. And verse 20 says of Uriah, he prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah. And guess what? Just like Jeremiah, the result of Uriah's prophecy was that those who heard his preaching, namely, in this case, King Jehoiakim himself, tried to put the prophet to death. But unlike Jeremiah, who stayed and faced the music, it tells us that Uriah tried to escape from Jehoiakim by fleeing down to Egypt. Now, I accept that there's some difficulty in interpreting how these events are being portrayed positively or negatively. Seems to me that the actions of Uriah in fleeing down to Egypt are actually being framed in a negative light. Phil Riken puts it this way in his comments on these verses. He says two things are wrong with what Uriah did. First, he ran away scared. He did not trust the Lord to deliver him from death. He feared man rather than God. Second. Whenever you see about a person fleeing down to Egypt in scripture, That's usually not a positive connotation, and so he says, Uriah was a fugitive in Egypt, and God warned his people against the temptation of turning to the Egyptians for salvation. And so, Rykin suggests that Uriah is being presented here as a foil to Jeremiah. In other words, Uriah's cowardly and faithless reaction to his persecution is standing in contrast to the courageous and trusting response of Jeremiah. of that same type of persecution. They're being paralleled, but contrasted. And this contrast, I think, seems to be confirmed by the different fates of the two prophets, which is revealed in the closing verses of the chapter. Uriah runs away, but he's eventually extradited by Jehoiakim and killed. Jeremiah stands his ground and is ultimately delivered out of their hands by this man Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. Now, what's the point of all that? That is a strange ending to the chapter. I don't think the point is that it's always wrong to flee persecution. I don't think that's what it's saying, but rather that those who proclaim the word of God positively are to stand firm without compromising in the face of persecution. And if they do, God will vindicate them in the end. This is exactly what Jesus told his disciples in Luke 21, verse 12. He speaks about these last days and tells them what they can expect, what we can expect, because we live in the same last days. He says, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons. You'll be brought before kings and governors for my name's sake. And again, in verses 16 through 17, he says, You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends. And some of you, they will put to death. You'll be hated by all for my name's sake. But then she just gives this glorious message of hope. For everyone who will remain faithful through all of that. He says in verses 18 through 19, but not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance, you will gain your lives. In other words, in the end, God's judgment will triumph over man's judgment of you. And those who stand firm in their faith through persecution, the persecution that will characterize these last days, just as Jeremiah himself stood fast. If you do that, you'll be preserved through it all. and finally vindicated through resurrection into glory. Now, even here, I don't think when he says that not a hair of your head will perish and by your endurance will gain your lives, I don't think he's saying you won't be killed because he actually says and some of you will be put to death. I think he's speaking of is the ultimate vindication of resurrection. Jeremiah 26 is all about the aftermath of Jeremiah's explosive temple sermon. It shows us how people reacted after hearing the sermon. It shows us what happened to the prophet after he preached the sermon. As we observe these things, let's learn from them. Let's not be like those who refuse to listen to the prophet. Rather, let's be like the prophet and those who stood with him. Who faithfully upheld the word of God and call people to obey, even though it would mean persecution, let's pray. Heavenly Father. Lord, we know that the days are evil. We know that Jesus told us it was going to be this way. It's not a surprise. Lord, we know that the fact that the world is going to condemn us like they condemned your son brings great pressure upon the church to compromise. To begin to say, well, maybe your word doesn't mean that. Maybe we could interpret it around so that it's more palatable to the culture. And Lord, we know that when we do that, we're placing man's judgment that's higher than your judgment. And Lord, we pray that you would strengthen us with that attitude that Paul had, where we would say it is a very small thing that I should be judged by any human court, but that God, it is the Lord who judges me. And that on that last day, as Paul says there, you will bring all things to light. And we will receive our commendation from you if we remain faithful to you. Lord, help us to be those who do remain faithful, like we see with Jeremiah here. And Father, we pray that in the midst of that, we would not become bitter or resentful or hostile in return to our opponents, but that we would maintain, even as we read this morning in 1 Thessalonians, that we would not return evil for evil, but we would do good to all men. Lord, we would pray that you would help us in these things. We need your grace, O Lord. We feel the pressure. We know that it's going to get worse, barring revival. We pray for that, too. And so, Lord, we ask that you be with us, even tonight, and use these words in Jeremiah 26 to strengthen us to face these things and be faithful to you through it. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
How Will You Respond to the Words of the Prophet?
Series The Book of Jeremiah
Sermon ID | 1014122152223 |
Duration | 1:00:06 |
Date | |
Category | Sunday Service |
Bible Text | Jeremiah 26 |
Language | English |
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