Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] I mean, I'm going to have the rest of us stand while the middle school youth are slipping out this morning. That even helps them get out, too. All right, so we're going to pray. Father, we just want to thank you this morning for just living in our country. We thank you for the 156 years we've been a nation. Lord, I thank you for your grace upon this nation. Thank you for those that sacrificed and gave so much to serve our nation and to give us the freedoms that we have experienced to this point. We give you thanks for that now. We pray today, Lord, as we open our hearts to you. Our desire is to hear your voice and to respond to you in a life changing way. So I pray, Lord, as we look at your word, as we open our hearts, that your holy spirit will speak right into the very essence of our being and that we will leave this place knowing that we have encountered you, the true and the living God. We thank you for that in Jesus name and God's people said, amen. You may be seated. I'm going to have you turn in your bibles to the book of Jeremiah. We've been doing a series. I've been kind of going chapter by chapter. I've given you some breaks, but we're in chapter 36. Is that amazing? It amazes me that we're rolling along. It's a long book, but there's a lot of good stuff inside of it. We're living in a time today with so much communication and information that we're getting a little confused as to what can we believe? This is the information age. How many know it's true? Just bombarded. I just jotted a thought down. We actually live in a society awash and lies posing as truth. There is a lot of things that are not true out there. They're usually wrapped in truth. How many know the enemy? That's how he operates. He always wraps a lie with truth. And it's one of those things when you remember when you were in school and you were taking a test, if there's a question, asked them. Sometimes you had these trick questions where there was a negative and a positive and therefore it made it all negative. Well, that's the nature of truth as well. So what is going wrong? What's happening in our society? Why is there. It just seems to be more confusion as we move along through this communication age. And maybe more importantly, what can we do about it? Because a lot of times we feel powerless or we feel frustrated. Some people get know. Jesus basically gives us an answer here when he was asked, what does it really mean to serve God? I think that's a good question, because he was in a culture. I mean, the jewish people were in covenant with God. He was in a culture that he was trying to help them reconnect to the father. Some of them were connected, but the vast majority were not. There was a lot of different ideas. I don't know if you realize this. In the first century, the jewish people were not unified. They had all kinds of different ideas, and there was tensions within their own culture. Jesus answered the question this way. When he was over, he kind of summarized the entire Old Testament with these words. He just said, love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.
[00:03:15] He's just basically saying, we need to learn to love God wholeheartedly. There needs to be a wholeheartedness to our commitment to God. And I believe that when we do that, it helps develop a comprehensive understanding of what God will require of us. Scriptures will teach us that.
[00:03:36] We need to develop a biblical worldview. Or say it this way, we need to look at life through a different lens. We're all looking at life through a lens. Some of us. We grew up in a home. We have a certain, maybe a cultural background. We're looking at life through those lenses. And then there's the pressure of society that forces us to look through life through that lens. But then there's also God's lens. I want to look at life through that lens. I want to see life the way God sees life. And how can I do that? Well, I have to get into the scriptures. I have to understand where God's coming from. I need to understand his viewpoint on things, and I need to align my thinking with his thinking. And that's why Paul writes to the Romans. He says, I beg of you, brothers and sisters, in light of God's mercy, to present your bodies as living sacrifices and don't be conformed to this world. Don't let the society, the culture in which you're living, and squeeze you into its mole, rather be transformed by the renewing of your mind. And so one of the most important aspects is that we need to understand life the way God is explaining it to us.
[00:04:45] A number of years ago, Charles Colson wrote a very interesting book called how shall we live? And he says, religion is not a reflection or a product of culture. It's quite the reverse. As the great 20th century historian Christopher Dawson argued, cult is at the root word of culture. That kind of makes sense, right? Can you see it culture. But I don't think most of us understand what a cult is.
[00:05:09] When we think of a cult, many times as christians, we see it in a negative term. We just say, well, that's the wrong understanding. But really, the basic fundamental meaning of the word cult is a system of religious worship. And so, you know, when I'm reading maybe a book on jewish religious life in whatever century, they'll say, the cult, what they're meaning is the way they worship God at that point. And so that's the meaning of the basic, fundamental meaning of the word cult. And he goes on to say there, the late political philosopher Russell Kirk agreed. It's from association. In a cult, a body of worshippers, that human community grows. In other words, community does not grow in isolation. It grows. As we are working together, we're creating community. This is a community.
[00:06:01] In one sense, we have a religious community. That's how people would describe it. Well, I'm not religious, pastor.
[00:06:10] Let's not be technical here.
[00:06:13] In a sense, we are religious. Every human being is religious. We're all religious. We're all spiritual. We're all worshippers. Human beings are designed by God to worship. And if we don't worship the true and the living God, we're worshipping something. Some people are worshipping themselves. We call that narcissism. Narcissistic. Right. There are people that worship themselves. There's people that worship all kinds of idols, all kinds of different expressions that really bring meaning in their minds to their lives, and they begin to worship that. They don't think of it as worship, but that's what we're doing. That's what human beings do. Now. He says the oyster kind of offers an amazing analogy. He says oysters make their own shells. I didn't know this. I learned something this week. Oysters make their own shells. So if the shell is badly formed, the problem is not the shell, it's the oyster. Okay, how many follow what I'm saying? So good oysters make good shells. If oyster's got a problem, he's not creating a good shell. We can't blame the shell because it's bad. We have to look at what's wrong with the oyster. And so then he goes on to say this. Likewise, when a culture deforms and decays, don't ask what went wrong with the culture. You need to ask what went wrong with the cult or the religious core. So what is Colson saying? He's basically saying this. If you don't like what's happening in society.
[00:07:41] That's just a reflection of something far more intrinsically deeper. It's what we as the church have not or have done one of the two. And so usually what happens in the church world, there's about three things we can do. First of all, what I'm seeing today, and I've seen it for a long time, is there's a great accommodation to culture. Tremendous accommodation. In other words, we're trying to be like the culture. And then you got people who say, I hate the culture. I read the Bible, I don't want anything to do with it. And so they withdraw from culture. And the church in the past has withdrawn from culture.
[00:08:18] That's what a monastic life is all about. But even evangelical christians have withdrawn from culture at times.
[00:08:26] But then I think we need to somehow engage with culture. And how did Jesus engage with culture? That's the real heart of the issue. That's the real question we're going to be looking at.
[00:08:37] And so I asked the question, what went wrong? Well, the simple answer is the church accommodated to the culture. And Jesus said it this way in his high priestly prayer. He said, we are to be in the world. So God's not saying withdrawal is the answer, but we're not to be of the world. That's accommodating.
[00:08:56] Okay, see, well, wait a minute. This seems like a little play on words, doesn't it? We're in the world, but not of the world. What does that mean? Well, it just means that you and I are not withdrawing, but we're going to engage culture. But we're not going to be culture.
[00:09:10] We're going to be something other than what the culture is propagating is espousing. There's going to be something different about what we're bringing to the equation. Jesus said, we are the salt and the light. It's very important. What does light do? It dispels darkness. What does salt do? Well, salt is actually, in the ancient world, was a preservative, and it helped diminish the decay of something that was going to spoil. And so when the church is doing its finest job, it's illuminating and it's preserving, and that's what we need to get back to. And that's what Jesus, his prayer for the church was all about. That. So you're saying, well, that sounds really good, but why is it that we have these problems? Well, it all comes down to our response to the word of God. This is the heart of the issue. If we're indifferent neglect, we're dismissive it's not going to diminish the message, but it diminishes our effectiveness. It diminishes our influence. God's word is eternal in nature, and what is being communicated is going to occur regardless of our response. How many know that's true? Regardless of what you and I say or do, God's going to do what he's going to do. But when you and I are not in step with God, we are not part of the solution to the problems in the culture. That's what I'm saying. How many can see that we're probably not a big solution to the problems in the culture because the culture has got more and more problems. So instead of cursing the darkness, which is the tendency that we want to do, I'm going to challenge us, that we need to reevaluate ourselves and say, we need to be more like Jesus. We need to be light in the world of darkness. We need to be salt in a society that's decaying. We need to take a look at ourselves and saying, how am I responding to God's word? That's the heart of the question this morning. That's what we're going to look at through this text that we're going to examine this morning. Now we're going to discover in Jeremiah 36, really two different responses to God's word. The first group, they're struck with fear. In other words, they have a reverence. They have a deep concern that God is saying something. He's warning them. And these people are responding to that warning. And it suggests to me that these individuals believe in and revere God, even though they realize that in the past, because of their indifference and disobedience, they're in trouble. So there's a response to God's message. The second group, which is led by the king, has no fear of God. He literally discards the words, burns the message in a firepot, heating his winter apartment, and the result is the king is left with no lasting family dynasty, and the nation utterly suffers famine, war, and eventual exile. Not a good outcome. So how do you and I respond to God's word? How is God's word influencing, directing, and determining our lives? Are we just hearers or are we doers? It's a big question. James brings that up very strongly in his epistle, and I think there's basically only two responses towards God in his message, and there's also God's actions that occur as a result of those responses. So we're going to learn a little bit about human nature and God's nature and an interaction from an interaction with his message. I think we learn a lot about who we are and who God is based on how we're going to respond or not respond to what he's saying. That's what I'm getting at. Okay, so let's take a look at these three things I think we need to look at. We're going to learn about God's revelation or his message to us. The first one is simply, if we respond in obedience, we receive God's mercy. Isn't that good? If we do what God says, we walk in mercy, we walk in grace, we walk in favor.
[00:12:56] That's the first response. And so in our lives, we're generally influenced by people who are communicating to us. How many know that's true? So the people that are the closest to us that are communicating are influencing us. But we're living in a different age now, and so a lot of other influences have joined in into our lives. Now, if you travel back in time, let's say we go back 150 years, do you know there would be no television, no radio, no social media, there'd be none of those things. And we would be on a totally different frequency. We'd have less connection with other people, less connection with information. There'd be no information. We're an information age, but there'd be none of that stuff. And so our influences would be far more limited how many go. That's true, but because today we have access to so much means of information, it's influencing us continuously, and we're not even aware of how deeply it's influencing our lives. It's a big deal, and I think we have to be aware of that.
[00:13:56] Some people actually get paid a lot of money to influence us.
[00:14:00] They do. People that are working in the advertising industry where they're doing everything they can to manipulate you to buy something you thought you didn't. They want you to buy something you don't really need. So how they're going to do that, they got to influence you emotionally to do something that you would rationally not do. And they're very good at it.
[00:14:18] Come on, let's be honest.
[00:14:24] We probably think we need more than we really do, but that's because of advertisement. They've influenced us, their communication abilities. So the other group is, if we ignore those people who are in authority, we'll also do that at our own expense. So God is not, I'm going to pick on God now for a minute. He's the ultimate authority. So if we trifle with, ignore, neglect or rebel against what God is saying.
[00:14:47] We're going to be in trouble with God. And here's one of the big problems. A denial of belief in God does not justify our behavior. I think a lot of people walk around, go, I'm an atheist, I'm an agnostic. Let me just stop right there and say this. As far as God is concerned, and he's revealed this to us in his book of Romans. He said, because he's the creator of the world, men are without excuse. Now you can go, oh, yeah, but science, don't throw that card in there. Doesn't work, because actually science does more to support who God is than any other idea. And I'll tell you why God, think about it.
[00:15:25] Actually, the more brilliant scientists are saying things like this today, there has to be an intelligent design to this whole planet.
[00:15:34] How many know that's true? And therefore that that thought means there has to be an intelligent designer. To have all of this happen randomly, that takes greater faith. Folks, I'm going to just tell you something. Our planet, just the location where it is in our solar system is unbelievable. Just the right amount of oxygen and all the rest, other stuff to just sustain life is amazing. And then when you study the human body, and now they've gotten into this dna stuff, we are very complicated.
[00:16:10] We are complex beings. Somebody designed us. You start studying that stuff and you're going, this is absolutely amazing stuff.
[00:16:19] So what I'm saying to us today is to walk around going, well, I don't know if there's a God. God said, you're without excuse. So one of the problems we have is we have made ourselves authorities and we have dethroned God as an authority. That's a big issue. And we're going to see that in this text. That's exactly what is happening now. The mercies of God are going to be extended through the message that he's giving through his prophet Jeremiah. And he's told to write down messages that God had given him for the past 23 years. How many go, wow, that's a lot. How many could remember stuff that you were talking about 23 years ago? God's just gone past my mind. But this gives us a little insight into the development of the written scriptures. This is giving us a little insight. This chapter of moving from an oral culture to a written culture. JEREMIah 36, verse one. It says, in the fourth year of Jeho Kim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the lord. Take a scroll and write on it. All the words I've spoken you concerning IsrAel and Judah and all the other nations, from the time I began to speak to you in the reign of JoSIAH till now, JeHOIAkiN Was. This was like in his fourth yEar. And actually for the previous 19 years, JEREMIah was prophesying in the reign of JoSiah. So this is like 23 years of remembering things, which tells me that the spirit of God was revealing to Jeremiah those ideas and messages that he was communicating to his people over that time. And let's face it, JEREMIah was living the message.
[00:18:00] If you've been with me on this series, you're going to find out he had to do all kinds of prophetic actions. And so Jeremiah's life was in trouble and he was jeopardized. He couldn't get married. There was a lot of messages that were part of who he was as a perSon. See, when you internalize God's word, you don't forget it when it's inside of you and God has shaped you and changed you because of his word, you've internalized it. ThAt's powerful. It's TherE.
[00:18:33] You may not remember all the details, but you know a number of things. You've learned Things over TimE. And so he's writing these things down. Then it says in verse three, perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, now, why would God plan to inflict disaster on them? Because they were in a covenant relationship with him. When you read the book of Deuteronomy in Leviticus, they were in violation of their covenant with God. And God said, if you do these things, these PositIVe things, I'm going to bless you with this. And if you do these negative things, this is what's going to happen to you. And they'd been doing these negative things for centuries, and God had continually warned them that this was about to happen. And now we're at the book of Jeremiah, and it is right on the doorstep of about to happen.
[00:19:18] And so Jeremiah says, they will each turn from their wicked ways and then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin. So God is saying, if you will listen to what I'm saying, I'm prepared to forgive you. Isn't that amazing? I'm prepared to show you grace. I'm prepared to show you mercy and not do all these terrible things, allow them to happen to you, because the wages of sin is always going to bring consequences. And God says, I'm going to step in and help you.
[00:19:48] So now we read here the fourth year of Jehokin it was interesting because this is the beginning of the rise of the Babylonians. And in that fourth year, there was a siege on the city of Jerusalem. And Trepper Longman writes this, this first siege was simply an initial sign of Babylonian's presence and power in the area. But it was significant enough that Jehoiakim, by the way, who was a pro egyptian ally, turned over to the Babylonians some of the temple vessels as well as a number of the young noblemen of the kingdom. So this is the time when people like Daniel go into exile into Babylon. This is the moment. And so because of that know, perhaps it was this that led Jeremiah to think that the king might listen to the warnings that were recorded in the scroll and that he had sent to the court through Baruch. In other words. Well, he had seemed to respond to some degree out of pressure. Maybe he would finally listen to what God was saying to him. And that's why Jeremiah had a little bit of hope that something might happen.
[00:20:59] But we see here in verse three God's desire. God wanted the people to repent and turn to know, I've said this to people. It doesn't matter to me if a person's a Christian or not. We're either moving in one of two directions in life. We're either moving towards God, or we've turned our back and we're moving away from God. Now, some people have never moved towards God. They've always walked in darkness. But I see sometimes people making decisions. So you're either moving in one direction or another, and only you, by the grace of God, can see maybe which direction you're going. And I think when we surrender to God's word and we begin to develop a biblical worldview, we get more of an idea which direction we're going in. So here's the challenges of bringing the truth in a hostile environment. How many know today? Sharing our faith is not easy. This has now become a hostile environment. Anybody know that? It's getting there. And part of it is because in the past, people have been inconsistent in their christian life. They've been nonauthentic in their christian life, or they've been very critical and condemning in their communication with people. And it's alienated a lot of people, so it makes the job even more difficult.
[00:22:12] But does that get us off the hook? No, because if you knew someone was about to die and you had the answer to help them not and didn't say anything, wouldn't you feel responsible for that person's death?
[00:22:29] You would now you think about it, God kind of describes us as watchmen over the society. And basically, our job is to give a warning if there's an impending threat coming against our city. And if I'm a watchman and I give no warning, and the enemy comes and destroys the city, who's responsible?
[00:22:46] I am. I didn't warn them. But if I stand there and warn the city of this impending threat, and the threat comes and they ignore the warning, who's responsible?
[00:22:57] They are. And I think we have to understand this, because sometimes as believers, we think it's our responsibility for people to have the right response. And it's not. Our responsibility is just to communicate with them what's happening so that they can make their own decision and they'll stand before God. Look at verse four. He says here, so Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Naraya. While Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, and he wrote them on the scroll, Jeremiah told Baruch, I am restricted. I'm not allowed to go to the Lord's temple. So you go to the house of the Lord on the day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. Perhaps they will bring their petition before the Lord and will each turn from their wicked ways. For the anger and wrath pronounced against this people by the Lord are great. So I think we got to read this and say, okay, listen.
[00:23:59] We have this attitude. If we're doing the wrong thing, God just looks the other way and doesn't do anything about it. No, God will address things. And even though God loves us, if we're a believer and we're doing the wrong thing, God will discipline you.
[00:24:14] You can just put that down. God will discipline me. Read the book of hebrews. Read the book of proverbs. It talks about that God disciplines those he loves. He's not going to just let us do our own thing to our own detriment. You're going to be fighting with God. But here we see that God was angry because of sin, because it always is destructive. It destroys things. And God was now calling the people to turn. And that's what repentance is. I don't think people understand it. They think repentance is just saying, well, I'm sorry, I did the wrong thing. Well, that's not repentance. You see, in the old Testament, the word repentance isn't even found there. The word in the Old Testament is just turn, and the idea is repentance. The idea is that I'm turning away from my sinful ways and I'm turning towards God. We need to understand that. So just feeling bad about doing the wrong thing is not repentance. It's turning away from what I'm doing wrong and turning towards God. That is true repentance.
[00:25:11] Now, it's interesting, he says that he couldn't go because he was restricted. Another Old Testament scholar, Fb Huey, says he was restricted, or zir, and unable to go HIMselF. The word can mean imprisoned, but that meaning in this context is highly unlikely BEcaUSe he had mobility to get around, he was restricted from going to the temple. The word can also MEAn that he was in danger and hiding and therefore was not allowed in the temple. It's possible that he was ceremonially unclean, a condition that would have barred him from the temple. However, the most plausible interpretation of the word here is that the temple authorities saw him as a troublemaker and would not permit him to speak there. Now, how many, if you've been with me for a number of weeks, you know that Jeremiah said a lot of things at the temple they didn't like. And after a while his name was etched by the temple to say, don't let him in here, he's not allowed to come here. So Jeremiah knew he couldn't go there. They wouldn't let him in. How many know, you cannot restrict God's message.
[00:26:11] There's ALways a way. So Jeremiah, God says, hey, dictate this message, give it to Baruch, he'll go in and read it.
[00:26:19] There's always a way. Always a way, folks. So Baruch goes in and does that.
[00:26:26] Then he says to him, know he's going to do it on a fast day. Now, in the old Testament, there was really one religious day of fasting. The day of atonement was a fast day, but they fasted in the Old Testament. And why would they do that? Well, GENERALLY BECAUSe there was a crisis. And Robert Davidson says a fast day was always a sign of some crisis in the community, a crisis in which an appeal was made to God for help. This particular fasting was probably caused by the deteriorating military situation.
[00:27:03] In the previous year, the Babylonians had soundly defeated Jehoiakim's Egyptian allies at the Battle of Karkamesh in Syria. News had probably reached the city now that Ashkelon in the coastal plain had just fallen to the Babylonians. In other words, they realized that there was a cris.
[00:27:20] So I think that there are MOments that we're called UPon to bring God's message to people, even THOUGH it can be difficult even in a hostile environment. Now, you may not know this, but I had a conversation with Dr. Thomas yesterday. Many of you in our church have been here for years. He's been serving in India for a long time, and he had a major heart attack, was in the United States. He's done so well that the doctor has now given him permission to travel internationally. Guess what he's doing? He's going back to India. But you and I don't realize this, but the intensity of what's happening there is really becoming difficult. They're burning churches and tremendous persecution, and he just plans to go right back there because that's what God's asking him to do. And so we need to understand that, you and I, we have to take a hard look at what's happening in our culture, and God is calling each one of us to somehow engage with people, even though at times, it's not easy. Obedience is required, and we need to bring God's word to people. And so in verse eight, it says, baruch, son of Naraya, did everything Jeremiah had told him to do at the Lord's temple. He read the words of the Lord from the scroll. So he's giving people the message. In the 9th month of the fifth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, a time of fasting before the Lord was proclaimed for all the people in Jerusalem and those who had come from the towns of Judah, from the room of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, the secretary, which was in the upper courtyard at the entrance of the new gate of the temple, Baruch read to all the people at the Lord's temple the words of Jeremiah from the scroll. So what was their response? Well, we have some of the leaders now are going to respond favorably. They're going to say, you know what?
[00:29:10] They receive it as God's word. Look at verse eleven, when Micaiah, son of Gamariah, the son of Shafan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll, he went down to the secretary's room in the royal palace, where all the officials were sitting. So he brings this now to these official leaders. I'm not going to read all their names. And then he says this. He told them everything he had heard Baruch read to the people from the scroll. And all the officials sent Jehudi, the son of Nathaniah, the son of Shelamiah, the son of Kushi, to say to Baruch, bring the scroll from which you have read to the people and come. So Baruch, son of Naraya, went to them with the scroll in his hand, and they said to him, sit down, please, and read it to us. So Baruch, read it to them. They want to know what God's got to say through this prophet Jeremiah. When they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear. Well, that's a powerful response. How many go, I have to say? That's an emotional response, right? It's an intellectual, but also an emotional response. It's captured them in their heart. They're hearing and they're concerned. And they said to Baruch, we must report all these words to the king. Now, why was it fearful? Well, first of all, it wasn't a message that they knew this message would not go over well with the king. They already knew that. They knew that this was a controversial message. This created a little bit of apprehension, because, first of all, they knew that Jeremiah was a legitimate prophet. He was saying God's word. The message wasn't good, and they knew that the people that could change things weren't going to be that open to it. How would you like to be in that spot? You say, that's how I feel. I'm living right now, pastor. I feel like I'm caught in that spot.
[00:30:50] I'm concerned about where we're at, and I know there's people above me that they're not concerned at all. This is really an intense situation, and it certainly was for these guys. And then they asked Baruch, tell us, how did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it? Yes, Baruch replied, he dictated all these words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll. Then the official said to Baruch, you and Jeremiah go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are. In other words, once we tell the king this message, your lives are going to be on the line. So you just better disappear for a while, because this is not a good situation.
[00:31:25] Does anybody get a sense that serving God can be a little dangerous?
[00:31:30] Are you getting that picture here?
[00:31:32] So these people are influenced by this. And the reason probably being Jehoiakim has been reigning for four years now and coming into his fifth year. And unlike his father, Josiah, Josiah was a very godly king. And when he heard what God's word said from a scroll in the temple, he repented and brought reformation in his nation. And these people were deeply influenced by that reformation. So they were believers and they feared. Not only they feared for the messenger and for Baruch. And you say, well, why would they be afraid for these guys? I'll tell you why. Because in the ancient world, people, you know that saying, don't shoot the messenger? Well, there was a thought in the ancient world that people that said something you didn't like, if you killed them, those words wouldn't come to pass.
[00:32:22] I know that's not true, but that's what they thought. And so you can see, when kings got words they didn't agree with, they just took people out so it wouldn't happen to them.
[00:32:33] There's some other biblical stories that I think will make a lot of sense when you know that little idea.
[00:32:38] Well, the second thing we need to learn is that rejecting God's word brings judgment. So if responding and obeying brings God's mercy, ignoring, neglecting and rejecting is going to bring God's judgment, God's just going to let the consequences of sin have its full sway. And the vast majority of people today, I would say, are just ignorant of God's word. How many say, it's probably true. Most people are clueless, have no idea what God's standards are, have no idea what God's about. That's our job. We need to tell people, right? Or there's a lot of people, they just neglect God's word. How many christians you say to them, well, do you spend time in the word of God? They go, I come to church. I read it once in a blue moon. There's a little bit of dust collecting on my book called the Bible. Listen, how are you going to get to know God if that's happening? You got to get to know God. You got to spend time with him.
[00:33:32] How is God going to communicate to you?
[00:33:35] I think a lot of christians think God is like them. And I'm going to tell you right now, God is unlike us. He's holy. And the word holy means other than God is other than us.
[00:33:49] See, he's telling us to be like him, but a lot of us are trying to make him like us.
[00:33:55] You see the difference? So if you think God agrees with you, I'm just going, he may or may not. Depends. It starts with, where is God coming from? I think we have to come in agreement with him. Where's he at?
[00:34:10] They're threatened by God's message, and the reason they act in a hostile fashion is that they do not fear God. A lot of people, that's true. Look at verse 20. After they put the scroll in the room of Elishama, the secretary, they went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. And the king sent Jehoudi to get the scroll, and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elisha Ma, the secretary, and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the 9th month, and the king was sitting in the winter apartment with a fire burning and a firepot in front of him. And whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut him off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot until the entire scroll was burnt to fire. Well, that's what he thinks about that. The king and all of his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes.
[00:34:58] Interesting. So what are we seeing? An opposite response. The others were afraid. No fear of God. And, you know, this idea of tearing your clothes, that's an expression of grief. And in the Old Testament, when they rended their garments, it was because they were in a state of repentance. They were grieving over their sin. No response like that. The king seemed to be indifferent. Actually, he was mad at the report because even though Elnathan, Delina, and Gemara urged the king not to burn the scroll, he would not listen to them. Instead, the king commanded Jeremiah, a son of the king, Shariah, son of Azarel, and Shelamiah, son of Abdel, to arrest Baruch and the scribe and Jeremiah, the prophet. But the lord had hidden them. So even though they'd gone off, God made sure they didn't get found. Robert Davidson says this incident is one of the earliest we have of an attempt to apply official censorship to unpopular views. Whether it is done by religious or political authorities, the attempt to silence opposition by banning or destroying the written word is an exercise in futility. Now, let me just say this. Alexander Solann Nitsen wrote regarding the censorship they found in Russia. Let me tell you what the problem with censorship is. One of the great problems here is the Nobel peace, the literature. Nobel Prize. He won a Nobel Prize for literature. This is what he wrote in his speech when he was giving it.
[00:36:36] He said, literature, together with language, protects the soul of a nation. But woe to the nation whose literature is disturbed by the intervention of power. What's he saying? When you have dissident voices, when you have people that disagree with you and you say to yourself, I don't want to hear them, and I'm going to silence them, you're in trouble.
[00:36:57] You're in deep trouble. As a matter of fact, he goes on to say, because this is not just a violation of the freedom of the press, it's the closing down of the heart of the nation, a slashing to pieces of the memory. Now, why is that so important?
[00:37:13] When you're in a role of leadership and people don't agree with you and they tell you, and instead of listening, it's okay to disagree. But if you say, I'm never going to hear another dissident, there's going to be a day when you're doing the wrong thing, and there's going to be nobody there to say you're wrong, and what you're doing is destructive and you're going to destroy yourself. And when nations don't want to hear where they're wrong, they're going to get destroyed. It happens throughout history. It'll happen. That's exactly what Solsa Nitsen is saying here. And so when we don't allow the voice of dissent to occur, we have become to a place in our lives where we're beyond correction.
[00:37:54] You know, one of the things I notice when I'm reading proverbs, the wise person listens to correction.
[00:38:01] Fools will not listen to correction. The fool in the Old Testament is not somebody who's stupid. It's a person who has no fear of God will not receive correction. Everyone in this room, including the pastor, needs to be corrected. We all need correction. And when we won't listen to it, we endanger our own souls. It's to our own detriment.
[00:38:28] Okay, final thing we learn here is that God's word is eternal and unchanging. We can be assured that all the attacks of various people over the ages against God's word has never prevailed nor will prevail.
[00:38:41] Ultimately, it's true, there have been many who have tried to attack God's word and destroy it, and they've totally failed. I mean, think of this example in the midst of the enlightenment, that's in the 18th century, 17 hundreds, when deism, which was a belief in a non personal God, a denial of a personal God, which is what we are, we believe in a personal God, a denial of a personal God, was spreading rapidly. Voltaire, he's a french atheist philosopher. He proclaimed that within 25 years, the Bible would be forgotten and Christianity would be a thing of the past.
[00:39:19] That's his declaration 40 years after his death in 1778. So now in the, what, early 19th century, 18 hundreds. The Bible and other christian literature were being printed in what had once been his very own home.
[00:39:36] Are we following this? So he's making a declaration. It's all coming to an end. And after he's dead, about 40 years later, one of the societies Bible societies had bought his house, and we're now printing bibles and christian literature in his very own home. Does anybody see the irony in this? You know what it says to me? God says, oh, so you think I'm not going to be communicating with people, hey, listen, you only have a shelf life of so long, Mr. Voltaire. And he came to an end. And then later on, I think God orchestrated it on purpose to make sure that they bought that house, to print that literature there, to make the point that you're not going to silence the voice of God. It's going to continue to come. As a matter of fact, the prophet Isaiah says about the enduring nature of God's word. Despite opposition to it, the grass withers and the flowers fail and human beings die, like Voltaire. But the word of our God endures forever. Jesus said it this way, I tell you truly, until heaven and earth disappeared, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. God has a purpose. This is not an aimless world, folks. God has an know. God has a purpose. We're coming to God to fulfill God's design and purposes. I love that.
[00:41:06] And until they come to pass, and they will come to pass, when God says it, it'll happen. After the king had burned the scroll containing the words that Baruch had written, at Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, I love this. This is what God says, oh, take another scroll. Write under all the words that were on the first scroll, which Jehoiak and king of Judah had burned up. Now, I don't know about you, this is such a strong argument for divine inspiration. Have you ever read written like, I've been in school for so long, I'm writing an essay, and you lose the essay on your computer. None of you have never had that experience, and now you're trying to recreate it and you're going, I got the essence of it, but I had so many good thoughts in there and I just can't recall it all. Anybody ever had that experience? Anybody relate to what I'm talking about? Listen, God says to Jeremiah, oh, no problem. Take another scroll and write on it all the words that were on the first scroll. If you don't have God's help, it is not going to happen. I can guarantee you right now it's not going to happen. Then also tell Jehovah and king of Judah, this is what the Lord says. You burnt that scroll and said, why did you write on it? That the king of Babylon would certainly come and destroy this land and wipe it from it, both man and beast. Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehovah, king of Judah. He'll have no one to sit on the throne of David. His body will be thrown out and exposed to the heat by day and the frost by night. Not a good thing.
[00:42:30] I will punish him and his children and his attendants for their wickedness. I will bring on them and those living in Jerusalem and the people of Judah, every disaster I pronounced against them, because they have not what listened. And now, when that word listen means not hearing words, listen means doing what I'm saying. That is the meaning of listen. Here goes on to say. So Jeremiah took another scroll, gave it to the scribe, Baruch, son of Naraya. And as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote all the words of the scroll that Jacob, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to it. So God said, I'm going to expand on this. Added a little more.
[00:43:13] Wow.
[00:43:14] Take that. Yeah.
[00:43:16] So what's the lesson for us here? Well, Walter Brugerman said, it's the book or scroll and not the presence of the prophet, which becomes decisive in resisting the king. The scroll is so much more difficult to resist because it cannot, like a person, be intimidated, banished or destroyed. It keeps reappearing.
[00:43:36] Robert Davidson said, in chapters 22, we have Jeremiah's savage attack upon Jehokim as a corrupt, unworthy son of a godly father, Josiah, which is true. Perhaps the story of the scroll that Jehokim destroyed is intended to underline a contrast, or the contrast between father and son.
[00:43:55] Both have dealings with the scroll in the temple.
[00:44:00] Josiah, according to two kings 22, has a scroll read to him. He listens. He leads the nation in a national revival. Isn't that amazing? So he hears the word of God, he repents, tears his clothes, and the whole nation goes into reformation mode. Jehoikin has a scroll read to him. He does not listen. He consigns it to the flames, and it leads to national disaster.
[00:44:23] What are we learning here? I think we better do what God says. I'd rather have reformation than disaster any day.
[00:44:31] So the different choices we take when faced with similar situations are fraught with consequences for good or for evil. What's he saying? He's saying, real simple. Every one of us in this room have a choice. God's word comes to us. How are we going to respond to it? Are we going to act on it? Are we going to ignore it?
[00:44:49] Right. It's real simple. How simple of a sermon is this? Well, the power of God's word, when embraced and acted upon in obedience, is amazing. Brugerman goes on to say, the purpose of the scroll, Morb, is to move Judah to hear. That's the word. Shema in Hebrew. Hero Israel, the Lord thy goddess. No, that's the Shema. Listen here. And to turn, that's repent, so as to avoid evil. How many know somebody is going towards danger, and you see it, and you should be going, watch out. Right. Danger. To avoid evil.
[00:45:25] That is. The scroll is not designed to give information, nor even to make an argument, but is authorized to energize and evoke a transformed life that will avoid and deter the coming evil. The scroll is intended to alter Judah's public existence. So I sat down to myself. I said, this is such a profound statement. Because you know what? You and I, when we hear God's word, this isn't about arguing it.
[00:45:53] This isn't about giving us information.
[00:46:01] No, we're not here to collect information, folks, and we're not here to argue with it. We're here to obey it. It's God's word. He's the ultimate authority. And this is what he's saying. We have a choice. What are we going to do with it?
[00:46:13] Worst thing in the world is to sit down and hear God's word. God's speaking to you, and you just get up, leave, and don't do anything about it. That's bad, not good stuff, right? That's the point he's trying to bring across.
[00:46:26] So the tragedy is that by cutting the scroll, the king refuses to allow the word of God to touch his life. And therefore the promise of grace is forfeited, while the outcome of the king's rebellion leads to death, not only for his own family, but for the entire nation that he's leading. Rather than render, cut his own garments as a sign of repentance, the king's heart is hostile to the scroll and those who create it. He sends attendants to fine in order to punish them. They're spared because God hides them from the king. But the king has no place to hide from God, and therefore is judged and destroyed. So how do we respond to God's word?
[00:47:06] Ignore it, read it, hear it. But are we acting on it? Will it touch our hearts and move us to respond, to obey what it's saying, our response to God's word? Determines our future destiny, which means the days before us and our eternity. And as we look at our society today, let's remember that cursing the darkness does not bring about transformation, but bringing about a transformed soul and letting us be light and salt will bring about transformation in those God brings into our lives. Let's stand.
[00:47:43] As I was praying in the first service, it was real simple to me. I said to the congregation, and I'll say it to you now, how many here want to experience God's grace?
[00:47:57] I want to experience God's grace.
[00:47:59] I don't want to forfeit it. I want to live in it. It's real simple. Then I need to respond to it. How many says that's true? I just need to hear it and I need to do it.
[00:48:13] I think the problem in our culture today is too much information.
[00:48:17] How many said it's true? Too much information. We got too much information out there, and it overwhelms us and it paralyzes us, and we rarely act on what we hear anymore. We're overloaded. We're in information overload, and then we don't know what to believe anymore.
[00:48:36] Somebody says, well, you know, that's how you interpret the Bible. Well, let me tell you something.
[00:48:43] How do you interpret the Bible? That's an important question, because, you know, we can rationalize it away. We can justify it. Some people just. I just believe it literally, pastor. I'm going, I don't. Not totally. Jesus said, pluck. If you. If your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. How many people are plucking out their eyeball?
[00:49:05] Well, I think we all understand that's figurative, right? That's not literally doing that. What is he trying to say? It's a figure of speech. It means that if you sin, it's of such a serious nature, you got to address it in a serious way. That's all he's saying. It's designed to get that point across.
[00:49:22] So what am I trying to say to us? I'm saying you got some people who are way over here are trying to be literalist, and they go into this weird understanding of scripture, and then that's dangerous. Extremes are dangerous. That's kind of extreme. Then you get to the other side, and basically what we're doing is we're nullifying the word of God because we're justifying us. Well, it doesn't really mean that. Doesn't really mean this. Well, how many? I just read it simply to hear you today. A whole chapter. And what is it basically saying? God's saying, do as I say. Don't neglect me. And if you will, you'll suffer. How many here say, I don't want to suffer. I want God's mercy. I want God's grace. You know what grace is? I want God's favor, even though I don't deserve it. How many want? I want grace. I want to have God give me his grace, even though I don't deserve it. I want to receive that grace.
[00:50:16] Amen. Amen. So I'm going to pray right now that we would open our hearts and say, okay, God, I am opening up my soul today for your grace. Which means that when I hear you tell me to do something, when I hear you tell me to do something, I'll obey you. If you're telling me to turn from my wicked ways, I'm going to turn from them. If you're telling me to do good to people, I'm going to do good to them. I'm going to obey you, God, because I want to experience the love and the grace of God. Now, I'm not saying you're saved by doing something. I think God saves you by his grace. But out of that grace, we respond to it by obeying.
[00:50:56] I think the fruit of faith is obedience. That's what I'm trying to tell you. So if people say I believe in God, but I don't do what he's telling me to do, I'm going, you don't really believe in God. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Obedience is the true measure of true faith. That's what I'm saying to you. So let's pray today. God, I thank you this morning. What a good God you are. You're a merciful God. You're kind, you're gracious. You don't give us what we deserve. You forgive us. You love us with an everlasting love. And I pray today, Lord, that we will not just be people who hear words, your words, and then not do anything about it. Help us to respond in obedience. That's the true nature of what real faith is. I do what you asked me to do. Help us to be obedient to your word.
[00:51:49] Help us to experience your amazing grace continuously happening in our lives. Because we're walking with you. We're walking towards you and not turning our backs on you and walking away from you. I pray for each one of us, help us to walk towards you. Help us to put our trust in you. Help us to believe that what you say is best.
[00:52:10] And we thank you for that. In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave today.
