JEREMIAH 222009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 22

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009.

God is speaking through Jeremiah, and in this chapter, he's speaking specifically to three kings of the nation of Judah. And they're three kings right at the tail end of the nation before they're going to be conquered by Babylon and led off into captivity.

Last week we saw in chapter 21 God's message through Jeremiah to King Zedekiah. And it was a very strong message that God had given to King Zedekiah, basically telling him that Babylon is going to come and is going to conquer the nation of Judah.

Zedekiah was the last king of Judah before these events took place. He was there as Babylon conquered, as Babylon demolished the city of Jerusalem and carried away all of the inhabitants that survived off Jerusalem.

to the nation of Babylon and were held in captivity there for 70 years. And so Zedekiah, we saw him last week. Well, this week as we look at chapter 22, God's message is to the kings of Judah leading right up to Zedekiah. It's the three kings just prior to Zedekiah and this is the message that God is speaking to them. And so we pick it up in verse 1 of Jeremiah chapter 22 which says this,

Thus says the Lord, Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and there speak this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah, you who sit on the throne of David, you and your servants and your people who enter these gates. Verse 3. Thus says the Lord, Execute judgment and righteousness, and deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor.

Verse 1.

Here as we begin in chapter 22, God is speaking through Jeremiah to the kings of Judah. He says to the house of the king of Judah. He's talking about the kings and the descendants of King David. And you've seen the progression as we've gone through the Old Testament of all of the different kings in the line of King David. And here towards the end, the guys that God is addressing are really nothing like

King David. King David is set up kind of as the example for all of the rest of the kings to follow. He was a man that pursued the heart of God and wanted to know God, wanted to have relationship with God and worship God. Yes, he stumbled. Yes, he messed up. Yes, he blew it.

David was repentant and turned from those things as God dealt with his heart and he sought after the things of God.

Well, as we look at the kings here this evening that are reigning now, they're in the line of David, but they're nothing like David at all. They're not really seeking after God. In fact, their hearts are far from him, and that is the reason for the judgment that is going to be coming upon them.

But even here in this last hour, as there's these last few kings leading up to the final destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon, God is still seeking an opportunity for them to turn back, to get right, to relent from the judgment, to relent from the disaster. And over and over throughout Jeremiah, we've seen this as God is extending here mercy to them.

He says, look, if you turn to me, I will spare you and you won't experience this judgment. And we see this again this evening. Here's what God is requiring. Here's what God is requesting from the kings of Judah.

Notice it's not some great, you know, substantial cost. It's not some expensive or elaborate ritual that God is calling them to partake in. He says, look, here's the message. He says in verse 2, Hear the word of the Lord, O king of Judah.

This is what I want you to hear. This is what I want you to listen to. This is what I want you to obey. Verse 3, Execute judgment and righteousness. Deliver the plundered out of the hand of the oppressor. Do no wrong and do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless or the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place. This is what God is requesting of the kings of Judah here in the final days of the nation before they're led into captivity.

He's asking for them to start doing what is right. He says, listen up, hear the word. Here's my word to you. Execute judgment in righteousness. Start doing what's right. Let justice take place. Deliver those who are victims out of the hands of the oppressor.

Stop doing wrong, He says to them. Stop being violent toward the widow and toward the innocent, towards the fatherless. God is just asking for them really to start doing what's right. Start doing what's right. This is God's Word to them. He says, Hear the Word of the Lord.

It doesn't sound like a difficult request or demand. It's not that God asked them to sacrifice their firstborn or to do some crazy, off-the-wall thing. Some really hard and difficult thing. He asked them to simply obey Him. You know, in the same way, that is what God is asking of us today.

He doesn't require of us some elaborate ritual or some costly thing that we have to go through. But He requires for us to simply hear His Word and respond. Here the kings of Judah, they don't respond, but God explains to them, He shares with them their options. Look as we go on in verse 4 and 5, He says, For if indeed you do this thing,

Verse 5. So God says, look, hear my word. Hear what I'm saying to you. Start doing what's right.

And he says in verse 4, look, if you do this, if you do this thing that I'm sharing with you, if you start to do justice and start to implement righteousness and stop doing what's wrong and stop oppressing the fatherless and the widow, listen, if you do this,

then I'm going to bring in, there's going to be coming in kings who will continue to sit on the throne. God's saying, I'm going to allow the nation to continue if you will simply begin now to be obedient to me.

They have a terrible history of being disobedient to God. But God says, right now you have an opportunity. If you will start right now to hear my word, and if you will start to be obedient to me, then this nation will continue, and kings will continue to sit on the throne of David. And there will be servants, there will be people, there will be a population. You're not going to be wiped out. You're not going to be destroyed.

But you will be preserved, God is saying. So that's one option. If you obey, if you hear the word of the Lord, then you'll be blessed and you'll be prospered, God tells the kings of Judah. But if you don't, he gives the other side then. He says, if you will not hear these words. So he says, hear my word. Now he says, if you will not hear my word, well then this house shall become a desolation. This house, that is this line,

will no longer prosper. This nation will be destroyed. God is still offering to save them from Babylon. Now, when God was speaking to King Zedekiah, what we saw last week in chapter 21, the events of that chapter actually take place later than the chapter we're looking at tonight. Zedekiah being the last king of Judah before the destruction of

They were in a different state at that point as we saw last week. God wasn't even offering to save the nation anymore. He was only offering to save the inhabitants. He says, look, you guys can surrender to Babylon and you'll be preserved.

But here at this point, they hadn't crossed that line. They're still in a place where God says, "Look, I want to redeem you. I want to preserve you. I want to protect you. I don't want this destruction to come upon you." And so in His mercy, He's giving them an opportunity. And I really believe that this is something that is significant for us as well. Because very often, we continue on ignoring what God is speaking to us,

counting upon the grace of God and thinking that nothing is going to happen because nothing has happened so far. We can be fooled or deceived to think that God doesn't really mind our sins so much, that He doesn't really, it doesn't really bother Him that much and there's good reasons why, you know, we're living this way and we're doing this way and it makes financial sense or whatever arguments and case that we build for ourselves.

But the reality is, God is saying, look, hear my word. This is what I'm saying. I want you to start to do what's right. And I want you to stop doing what is wrong. I want you to start being obedient to me and stop being disobedient to me. And as God is delivering that message to us, it's important that we respond so that we do not experience the consequences, the effects, the things that that

will bring as we continue to practice it. So God is extending to them. He's saying, look, if you'll turn, if you'll respond, all have mercy. This nation will be preserved. But if you don't, this house, the nation of Judah, will become a desolation. God again gives them the choice. He lays before them life and death, just like He does for us.

He lays before us life and death. The wages of sin is death, but believing in Jesus Christ brings everlasting life. So He lays before us the opportunity to believe in Him, to walk with Him, to be obedient to Him and experience the abundant life that He's promised to us. And He lays before us, He gives us the option, He allows us, we have a free will, we can choose death.

We can choose to continue to do our own thing, to follow our own ways, to disregard God and experience the consequences, the death and destruction that comes from that. And so God says, if you will not hear, then this is what's going to happen. Look at verse 6. For thus says the Lord to the house of the king of Judah.

He says,

And so God says, you are Gilead to me. Now, Gilead was there at the northern part of Israel, actually just north of Israel, there in Lebanon, which was a nation that was just above them. But it was a nation, the area of Gilead was a hilly nation, but it was very well forested. And so there was these

And so He says to the nation, look, you're well established, you're this beautiful area, you're this beautiful nation to Me, and yet I will make you a wilderness. So if you would chop down all those trees and turn that beautiful forest into a desert, God says, that's what's going to happen with you guys.

You were once this beautiful nation. You're dear to me, God is saying, and yet you're going to become a wilderness. All the trees are going to be cut down. Everything is going to be leveled. He says, I'm going to prepare destroyers against you. They're going to cut down your cedars and cast them into the fire. And then verse 8, And many nations will pass by this city, and everyone will say to his neighbor, Why has the Lord done so to this great city?

Then they will answer, because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them. Weep not for the dead, nor bemoan him. Weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more, nor see his native country. God says, look, this nation, this city, which was once a sight of beauty, is going to become a wilderness.

And people are going to walk by and wonder, what in the world happened here? What would cause this type of calamity to come upon this city? How could this happen? How could this take place? The interesting thing is people ask that question. God says, there's going to be those who know the answer. It's known. It's not a mystery. It's not some great mystery like, man, we really can't figure out why God is...

judging us. We can't figure out why we're having and experiencing this calamity. Why won't God tell us why He's dealing with us this way? It's not like that at all. God's been very clear throughout. So much so that when people walk by and wonder, they've not heard the story, they've not been around, they go and they look and they say, "Wow, what happened? It's just complete rubbish. It's just all destroyed. What happened?"

The people around know the answer. They say, well, it's because, there in verse 9, they've forsaken the covenant of the Lord their God and worshipped other gods and served them. They turned from God is the result. They knew the problem. They knew what the issue was. God has told them through Jeremiah as well as other prophets. And we've seen it very clearly. God has delivered to them the message.

Even the others around them, the nations around them, they knew what was going on. It wasn't some great mystery, some unknown reason that they were experiencing these things. But they knew, and they still refused to turn, to repent, and to get right with God. Now as we go on, God now begins to speak to specific kings in the nation of Judah. The first one we find is King Jehoahaz. Look at verse 11.

He says,

The last five kings of the nation of Judah are probably a little bit familiar to you. The fifth to the last king was Josiah. Some of you might be familiar with that. Maybe you've heard of children with the name Josiah. Josiah was a good king for the nation of Judah. He was a king who sought the Lord and he

opened up the temple and restored it. He reinstituted the Passover. He brought people back to worshiping God. He was a king. It was during his reign that they found the Word of God. It had been lost, but they found the Word of God. And he responded to it. He turned as a result of what the Word said. And he repented and he had a humble heart. He was a great king in that respect. But after him, his sons, they didn't do so well.

The rest of the kings for the nation's existence was not very much longer after Josiah's reign. But all the rest of the kings were bad. They were evil. They did not seek God. So Josiah's son, Jehoahaz, began to reign after him.

Jehoahaz, you can read all about this by the way in 2 Chronicles chapter 34 and 35 or 2 Kings, I think it's chapter 23 and 24 if you want to read a little bit more of the background. But Jehoahaz was king when the nation of Judah was conquered by the land of Egypt. Egypt takes Jehoahaz captive and

takes him back to Egypt and puts his brother as king in his place. And so it was Josiah, his son Jehoahaz becomes king. He's conquered by Egypt, taken captive, and Egypt then puts Jehoiakim, the brother of Jehoahaz, the son of Josiah. It's a lot of J's I know and hard names, but Jehoiakim now is king.

And Jehoiakim is not king for very long because the nation of Babylon comes against the nation of Judah. And they begin to experience the things that Jeremiah has been talking about. So Jehoiakim is king the first time that the nation of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, is conquered by Babylon. Babylon comes in, removes Jehoiakim, takes him away captive, and puts someone else on the throne.

his son Jehoiachin. So Josiah, his two sons Jehoiahaz, Jehoiahaz and Jehoiakim. And then you have now Jehoiachin. Jehoiachin, he only reigns for a few months. He's a young man. He rebels against Babylon. And so Babylon comes back to Jerusalem, conquers it a second time, gets rid of Jehoiachin, and puts the final guy,

as king of Judah. And that is Zedekiah, the guy we talked about last night. And Zedekiah was the last king. When he rebels against Babylon, Babylon comes, conquers Jerusalem for the third time, takes the whole nation away captive, and levels the entire city so that there's nothing left. So you have Josiah, who is a great king. Jehoahaz...

Jehoiakim and Jehoiachin. These are the three that we're talking about tonight. Zedekiah we talked about last week and saw the message to him. So the first one that we see tonight, the son of Josiah, he calls him Shalom in verse 11, but also he's known as Jehoahaz. And he says there, he went from this place at the end of verse 11, he shall not return. So God's saying he's gone, he

He's out of this place. And where did he go? He went to Egypt. He was taken captive by the Egyptian army. And it says in verse 12, He shall die in the place where they've led him captive, and he shall see this land no more. And so God's saying, He's prophesying ahead of time, He's going to die in Egypt. He will never come back to Judah or Jerusalem.

Now, why did this happen to him? Well, God explains a little bit more in verse 13. He says,

who says, "I will build myself a wide house with spacious chambers and cut out windows for it, paneling it with cedar and painting it with vermilion." So here we find a little bit of insight into the heart of Jehoiahaz, where he was saying, "Look, I'm going to reign, I'm going to build myself a nice palace, a big house, I'm going to line it with cedar, I'm going to set myself up nice." And God says, "Whoa!" to him because he built his house by unrighteousness.

He didn't do it by following God and walking with God. He did it by walking in wickedness and practicing injustice and ripping people off. He did it by trickery and cheating. And so God says, woe to him. As a result, he's taken captive and led off to Egypt. Well, it continues in verse 15. He says, Shall you reign because you enclose yourself in cedar? Did not your father eat and drink and do justice and righteousness?

Then it was well with him. So God is telling him, remember Josiah? He didn't reign because he had a nice cedar house, but he reigned and it went well with him because he humbled himself and he did what was right. He followed after me. Look at verse 16. God says, He, that's Josiah, judged the cause of the poor and needy. Then it was well. Was not this knowing me, says the Lord? Look at verse 17. We have insight here to his heart, Jehoahaz.

He says, And so God says to Jehoahaz, Look, Josiah was a good king. He sought after me. He took care of the poor and needy. He practiced justice. He was walking with me. But you, Jehoahaz, here's your problem. Your eyes and your heart are for nothing but your covetousness.

Your pursuit is not after me, but it's after everything that you want. And you're consumed with yourself and the things that you want, even to the point of shedding innocent blood and oppressing people and practicing violence. And so Jehoahaz was bad news. He didn't last very long. He didn't hear the word of the Lord. So he was conquered. He was led away captive, never to return. In his place, now his brother Jehoiakim reigns.

And so as we go on here, God now begins to speak to Jehoiakim. He says in verse 18, Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah.

So God has some good things to say about Jehoiakim, doesn't he? He's the brother of Jehoahaz. He's the son of Josiah.

He saw his dad's reign. He saw his brother's reign. He saw the results of both. Again, he had life and death set before him. But he also was a wicked king. And he did not seek after the things of God. And so God says, nobody is going to weep and mourn when you die. They're not going to lament for you. They're not going to say, oh no, how terrible is this? He says, you're going to be buried with the burial of a donkey where they just kind of drag you out

cast you outside of the city. And indeed, we find that this prophetic word of Jeremiah was fulfilled. Again, you can read the passages in 2 Chronicles and 2 Kings to see that. Verse 20, he's continuing his message to Jehoiakim. He says, Go up to Lebanon and cry out and lift up your voice in Bashan. Cry from Abiram, for all your lovers are destroyed. I spoke to you in your prosperity, but you said, I will not hear.

So now as God continues to speak to Jehoiakim, He says, look,

Here's the deal, Jehoiakim. I spoke to you in your prosperity. Now, again, consider Jehoiakim. He's the son of Josiah. He lived during the time of this great revival as Josiah brings the nation back to God. The nation turns back to God temporarily for a moment. He was prosperous. He had it pretty good during that time. God says, look, I spoke to you in your prosperity.

But you said, I will not hear. Here again we have some insight into the heart of Jehoiakim. He did not want to hear what God had to say. That's his problem. Jehoiachin was consumed with his covetousness. He was filled with his own lust, wanting to seek after his own things. Jehoiakim just basically says, I don't want to hear what God has to say. I don't care what God says, he would say.

God says, look, this has been the manner from your youth that you did not obey my voice. And as a result, the destruction that God proclaims upon Jehoiakim is going to come upon him. Because that's been his lifestyle. That has been the way that he has chosen to live, saying, I will not hear the voice of God. Finally, the last king we're dealing with tonight is Jeconiah, or Jehoiachin, or Jehoiachin.

He goes by a lot of different names. Look at verse 24. He says, As I live, says the Lord, though Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, were the signet on my right hand, yet I would pluck you off, and I will give you into the hand of those who seek your life, and into the hand of those whose face you fear, the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and the hand of the Chaldeans. Here we have Coniah.

also known as Jeconiah, also known as Jehoiachin. He is the second to the last king of Judah. After him will come Zedekiah, and then that will be the final destruction. Coniah rebels against Babylon, tries to defect and be his own authority, rebels against God as well, doesn't listen to God, doesn't pay attention to God, to the point that God says, look, if he were the signet,

He says, He says in verse 26, He says,

And there he dies. Verse 27, But to the land to which they desire to return, there they shall not return. Verse 28, Is this man, Keniah, a despised, broken idol? A vessel in which is no pleasure? Why are they cast out, he and his descendants, and cast into a land which they do not know? Verse 29, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Verse 28,

Verse 30, Thus says the Lord, Write this man down as childless, a man who shall not prosper in his days, for none of his descendants shall prosper sitting on the throne of David and ruling any more in Judah.

So here as God is speaking with Jeconiah, he says, look, I'm going to deliver you to Nebuchadnezzar. You're going to be taken off to Babylon. Even though you want to come back, even though you hope to come back, you will not return. You're going to die there in Babylon. But as God is dealing with this man, he also gives a very significant prophecy here at the end in verse 30.

where he says, write this man down as childless. Now, it's not that he was childless, but he tells Jeremiah, write him down as childless, because his children will not prosper, and none of his descendants will sit on the throne of David any longer. Now, you remember, this guy, Coniah, Jeconiah, Jehoiachin, he's in the line of David. That was the line of the kings. He's a descendant of David,

And it was that royal line that would continue to have authority and continue to reign as king in the nation of Judah. But God says, "No, that's it. I'm cutting it off here." None of his descendants will ever sit on David's throne again. Now it's a significant prophecy because we find that Jesus Christ is a descendant of David.

And Jesus is to sit on the throne of David when he returns to establish his kingdom for a thousand years. He will sit on the throne of David, have authority over the house of Israel and the whole earth. But he is able to sit on the throne of David even though he's in the line of David and God said that line was to be cut off, that none of those descendants would no longer sit on the throne of David. Jesus is able to

to sit on the throne of David even though he's from this line because, well, he was born of a virgin. If he was born of natural means, then Joseph would be his father and he would no longer, or he would not at that point, be able to be king because of what God says here in verse 30, that none of this man's descendants will sit on the throne of David. But because Jesus was not

born of natural means, because Jesus was born of a virgin, because he was not really Joseph's son. He's still of the line of David through Mary's side. That's a whole different thing. But he's still in the line of David. He then has the legal right as the adopted son of Joseph to sit on the throne of David without having this prophecy to prohibit him. Now, this is also significant because

Well, the Jews are looking for their Messiah. There's no other way to fulfill this, to be of the line of David, to have the right to sit on the throne of David, and not be of the bloodline of Jeconiah. It's impossible except by virgin birth. It's impossible except for as fulfilled by Jesus Christ.

And so we find this interesting passage where this guy, he's rebelling against God. God pronounces a curse on him. None of his descendants are going to ever rule on the throne of David. And yet, miraculously, God overcomes this through Jesus Christ, through the virgin birth. And Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. You can check it out for yourself. In Matthew chapter 1, you have the line of Joseph, his genealogy. And in there, you can find the name Jeconiah.

He was a descendant through Jeconiah. He was of this line. We also have the genealogy of Mary in Luke chapter 3, where you can trace back Mary and see that she also was of the line of David. And so Jesus Christ, being a descendant of David, having the legal right to the throne through Joseph, but not being of his blood, not being a direct descendant of Joseph, so he's able, he has the right to sit on the throne.

So we see these three kings here towards the end of the nation of Judah, all rebelling against God, God giving them messages, God giving them opportunities to repent. He started out saying, hear the word of the Lord. He's speaking to the kings in general, to the house of David, hear the word of the Lord. He tells them in verse 5, if you will not hear, this is what's going to happen. And yet,

Their response, as we see in verse 21 with Jehoiakim, their response was, I will not hear. They chose to refuse God's word. They chose to rebel against God, to deny Him. They refused to be obedient to Him. But notice the cry again in verse 29. He says, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. Hear the word of the Lord.

That was God's message to the nation of Judah, to the kings of Judah, there in their final days. He told them in verse 2, Hear the word of the Lord. But it's God's message to us as well. Oh earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. When Jesus was writing to the churches, through the prophet John in the book of Revelation chapters 2 and 3, each of the letters to the churches, each one had...

The saying where God spoke to them saying, He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. God is calling us to hear the word of the Lord. Think about for just a moment how many of Jesus' parables had to deal with hearing the word of the Lord.

How many of his discussions and things that he taught have to deal with hearing the word of the Lord? You're probably familiar with the parable of the sower. The sower went out to sow the seed. Later Jesus explains, as the seed fell on four different types of soil, Jesus explains in Matthew chapter 13 what those different types of soil means and that the seed was the word of God. And he explains that it's a parable demonstrating what happens...

to those who hear the Word of God and what happens based upon how they receive the Word of God that they have heard. In Matthew chapter 7, we have the parable of the wise man. He built his house upon the rock. Then there was the foolish man who built his house upon the sand. What is that parable illustrating? What is that parable teaching? Jesus says, hey, this is a parable about, this is in regards to those who hear my words and whether or not they do them.

The one who hears my words and does them, this is in Matthew chapter 7, he'll be like a wise man who built his house upon the rock. The one who hears my words but doesn't do them, he's like the one who builds his house upon the sand and that house is destroyed. You remember in Luke chapter 8, Jesus' mother and brothers come to him. There's a crowd of people around him and they say, Hey, your mom and your brothers are here to see you. And he says,

The ones who are my mother and my brothers are the ones who hear the word of God and do it. In Luke chapter 11, a woman was just overwhelmed as Jesus is teaching and sharing and she's just overwhelmed at what God is doing through him and she cries out, Oh, blessed, blessed is the one who nursed you. Blessed is the one from whom you came. Blessed is your mom, essentially is what she's saying. Blessed is Mary, she says.

And Jesus says there in Luke chapter 11 verse 28, more blessed is the one who hears God's word or hears my word and does it. Jesus, one of his emphases, one thing that he emphasized is the need to hear the word of God, to hear him. To hear it doesn't mean just to listen, but it connects with it the idea of obedience.

of then putting it into practice and doing it. You know, it's not like, okay, let me hear the Word of God and then let me decide whether or not I want to do what God's Word says. The idea is that we need to hear the Word of God and do it. Not just hear Him state His case and then I can decide if my way is better. But no, I need to hear God's Word and be obedient to Him. Again,

Jesus said in Revelation 2 and 3, He who has ears to hear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the church. There Jeremiah says in verse 29, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. I want to ask you and I would challenge you this evening, have you heard the word of the Lord? Are you hearing? Are you listening? Are you responding to God's word? Initially, of course, that means we're talking about salvation.

We're talking about believing in Jesus Christ and receiving Him as Lord and Savior, receiving that free gift that He offers to us where we can be forgiven because of what He did for us by bearing our sin upon the cross. We need to hear the Word of the Lord, to believe in Him, to repent, to be born again. But then we also have the Word of the Lord to us. We're the church. We're the body of Christ. We're walking with Him. We're growing with Him.

Jesus says in John 8, 47, He who is of God hears God's words. We have an opportunity, a responsibility to respond to God and His Word. What is God speaking to you? What is God speaking to your heart? What has He been sharing with you and ministering to you? What has He been bringing to your attention? Where has He been calling you to go? What has He been calling you to do?

What has He been showing you out of His Word? God is not mysterious in the sense that He holds Himself away from us so that we cannot know Him. But He calls us to draw close. He invites us. He commands us to enter into His presence, to spend time with Him. He desires to reveal Himself and His will to us. Hear the Word of the Lord. Draw close to Him.

And respond to what He's speaking to your heart. That's what God is calling us to do. Listen, if we refuse, if we like Jehoiakim say, I will not hear. I don't want to hear what you're saying, God. I don't want to hear. Sometimes we try to have selective hearing. Well, God, I want to know what you want to say about this situation, but I don't want to hear what you have to say about this over here. We don't have that right. We don't have that privilege. That's not our place.

Jeremiah says, O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord. This evening I ask you, I call you to hear the word. The worship team is going to come up and close this in a couple of last songs. And as they do, I want to encourage you to hear the word of the Lord and to respond. You know, if God's been speaking to your heart about something, don't keep putting it off. Don't keep explaining it away. Respond. Turn to Him. Surrender to Him. Stop fighting.

If it's dealing with sin, get rid of it. Cut it out of your life. If it's to step out in faith and to take this new direction, then go for it. Be obedient to God. That's what God desires. To refuse to hear God is to bring destruction upon ourselves. God lays before us. We have the choice. He doesn't force us. He gives us the opportunity.

So he lays before us this evening, life and death. You can have abundant life or you can experience the consequences of disobeying God. Hear the word of the Lord. Choose life, God would say, that you may live. Let's take some time to seek the Lord during this song. Consider what he's speaking to us. Let's hear the word of the Lord and respond to him. Let's worship.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.