JEREMIAH 35-43 PLEASE OBEY THE LORD2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 35-43 Please Obey The Lord

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 2013. We are here in the book of Jeremiah, and we're going to be looking at Jeremiah chapters 35 through 43.

Jeremiah is the second of the major prophetic books. We looked at Isaiah, got a lot of things from the Lord out of the book of Isaiah. Now we've been continuing to get a lot of good things out of the book of Jeremiah as well. Great strong call to repentance for sure.

And we'll continue that as we go through the book of Jeremiah. And then Lamentations we'll be jumping into not next week but the following week. And Jeremiah is the author of that as well. And then we'll be hitting Ezekiel and Daniel and covering some exciting things as we look forward to what's going to be happening in the future.

The book of Jeremiah is written by Jeremiah, or at least it's spoken by Jeremiah, perhaps written by Baruch, as we will see in our chapters this evening. He ministered from about 626 to 586 BC, during the last years of the nation of Judah, before it was conquered by Babylon. And so he ministered during the reigns of the last five kings of Judah.

And that was Josiah, Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin, and then Zedekiah. He ministered alongside his contemporaries were Zephaniah and Habakkuk, as well as Ezekiel and Daniel who were in Babylon while Jeremiah was in Jerusalem.

So as we look at the timeline here, the nation at one time was united, but it was divided around 933 BC. And from there on out, both nations were on a downward spiral of rebellion against God.

The northern kingdom went down faster because they never had a good king, never had a revival, never turned back to God. And so Assyria came and conquered Israel in about 722 BC. They tried to conquer Judah, but God prevented it by working miraculously for Hezekiah as Hezekiah sought the Lord. But the people continued to rebel.

And so God has warned them through Jeremiah and many other prophets that he would bring Babylon against Jerusalem to bring the same kind of destruction as a result of their rebellion. And so Jeremiah is really the last call to repentance for the nation of Judah. He's the one who's speaking and giving forth God's words right up until the time and then even after the time that Babylon conquers Jerusalem.

Here's a quick look at the geography. You see on the left here you have the divided kingdom. The nation of Israel is the green there. And that nation was...

by Assyria a couple hundred years before Jeremiah is speaking these things. And then the nation of Judah is where Jeremiah is ministering to. Now, so green, that's already conquered. That's, there's, you know, they've already been led away captive. Judah is

Although it has these borders, those were kind of the original borders when it was first divided. Judah is really reduced to pretty much the city of Jerusalem, you know, some of the surrounding villages and things. But as far as strongholds are concerned, there wasn't really anything left aside from Jerusalem. And so Babylon has come to conquer the city of Jerusalem and therefore conquering the nation of Judah.

Babylon actually conquers Judah three times, and that's what's recorded here. So first we have in 605 BC, while Jehoiakim is king, he is defeated by Babylon. And Jehoiakim, some of his young men, some of the family, the royal family, and then the temple articles are taken to Babylon at that time.

Jehoiachin is then set up upon the throne. And he doesn't last very long either. He does okay for a little bit. Then he rebels against Babylon. And in 597 BC, he surrenders. He and the temple treasures and the captains, the craftsmen, the majority of the strong people of the nation were taken to Babylon. And then Zedekiah was set up as king at that point by Babylon.

And Zedekiah was good and obedient to Babylon for a while, but then he rebelled.

And so 586 BC is the final attack and conquering of Jerusalem by the nation of Babylon. The temple, the city are completely destroyed and the whole population except for a few poor are taken to Babylon as captives. And so we're looking at really the last two as we go through our chapters this evening, mainly focusing on the last one, the final conquering of Jerusalem by Babylon. And we'll see that as we go through our chapters this evening.

But we pick it up in chapter 35 and verse 16 is the key verse. And here's what it says. Surely the sons of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them. But this people has not obeyed me.

God loves to use illustrations to bring forth his message through the prophet Jeremiah. And here in chapter 35, we have another illustration that God is giving through this family, the descendants of Rechab, also known as the Rechabites.

And he's using them as an illustration to the people to call out, to highlight their disobedience. Now disobedience and obedience is really a theme of the chapters we're looking at this evening. And you're going to see that as we go throughout. That there is a great need for us to be obedient to God. And there's a call to obedience that is going forth through the prophet Jeremiah. And so God tells him in verses 1 through 4, he says, hey...

Now this family was a family that were nomadic. That is, they lived in tents, they traveled around, they didn't normally stay within cities. They roamed the land, but they moved into Jerusalem when Babylon came against Judah.

So here's this clan, this family that is now in the midst of Jerusalem. Everybody is familiar with them. They've just moved in. And Jeremiah brings them into this room in the temple and sets wine before them just as God instructed. But then in verses 5 through 11, we see their response. They say, we will drink no wine as our father commanded.

In verse 6, they said, we will drink no wine for Jonadab, the son of Rechab, our father, commanded us, saying, you shall not drink no wine, you nor your sons, forever. So an ancestor of theirs said, don't drink any wine. And so when Jeremiah sets wine before them, they say, we're not going to drink. We were commanded by our ancestor not to drink wine. In verse 8, it says, thus we have obeyed.

And so they are faithful to obey this instruction that was given by their great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather. That's not a technical number of greats. It's just to illustrate the point. Someone early, early on in their family history gave this instruction and they say, we have obeyed this. We are faithful to not drink wine. And so God is using this as an illustration. He's highlighting their obedience.

In verses 12 through 17, he says, will you not obey my words? So he's painting this picture for the people. Look at how faithful these guys are. Now, will you not obey my words, God says? He says in verse 14, the words of Jonadab, the son of Rechab, which he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed.

For to this day they drink none and obey their father's command. But although I have spoken to you, rising early and speaking, you did not obey me. And so God is giving this picture of a contrast so that the people could understand the difference and really the problem that God was addressing. The nation of Judah versus the Rechabites. Now for the Rechabites, the command was given immediately.

Approximately 250 years earlier. So this guy, 250 years earlier said, don't drink any wine, you nor your children. And for 250 years, this family has been faithful to hold to that instruction, to this command that was given 250 years ago. But God says to them, hey, I've been rising up early. I've been sending prophets to you. I'm speaking to you every day.

And you're not being faithful to my word. It's not just that I spoke 250 years ago. I'm speaking to you every day. And you're not being faithful. The Rechabites they obey. But the contrast here is Judah does not obey.

And so God says in verse 17, I'm going to bring doom upon them because I've called to them and they have not answered. And you see what God has desired and as he's asking them to obey, he's really talking about the relationship with him that he desires and requires.

As he gives this command to obey, he's calling them and commanding them to walk in relationship with him. In the same way that God commands us to walk in relationship with him. Now there's a lot of examples that we could come up with in our own minds as well. How people are faithful to their false religion. Or faithful to their company policies. Or faithful to, you know, their family traditions. And we could look at those as an example of

And maybe as a shame to us if we are unfaithful to God's commands. That's the idea here. That God is setting this family as an illustration to say they are faithful to this construction. It's not even what God said. God never forbade his people from drinking wine. But this guy said it and their whole family has been affected. If only we would be as faithful to God's word is really the point.

Well, he says in verses 18 through 19 that Rechab shall not lack a man before him forever.

God promises now there will always be someone from this family because of their faithfulness to their father's command. He's rewarding them and blessing them because they are faithful to obey their father's instruction. And so as we are here today in 2013, we don't maybe know who they are, but there is a retribite somewhere today because God promised that there would be. So he's blessing them for their faithfulness to their father's command.

Well, chapter 36 now, verse 3 is the key verse. It says, Here in verses 1 through 4, God speaks to Jeremiah and he says, Now it tells us in verse 1 that this is the fourth year of Jehoiakim.

which puts this about 606 BC. And that's important because Babylon at that time had not yet conquered Judah at all. Babylon conquers Judah three times, but this is actually right before the first time that Babylon comes against the nation of Judah. And so when he says in verse 3, it may be that they will hear. You see, this is God's call to,

This is an opportunity. I'm about to bring judgment. Let me send Jeremiah with this announcement so that maybe they will hear. Maybe they'll respond and I won't have to bring Babylon against Jerusalem.

And so in verse 4 it tells us that Baruch, who was a scribe, he writes all the words of Jeremiah on a scroll. Then in verses 5 through 10, Baruch takes the scroll to the temple and he reads the words that Jeremiah had spoke. We find in verse 5 that Jeremiah is confined. He's imprisoned at this time. And so in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah being in prison, sends Baruch back.

And he reads the scroll in Jerusalem. Now at this time a fast has been proclaimed. And so the people are called to the temple. And so while the nation is gathering to the temple, Baruch is reading this scroll and calling out the word of the Lord and the call to repentance to the people. Then in verses 11 through 19, word gets around.

And so Baruch ends up reading the scroll to the princes. The rulers of Jerusalem, the rulers of Judah, hear about this message. And so they call him in for a private meeting and he reads the scroll to them. And they decide in verse 16, it tells us we got to tell the king. We got to let him know what this says.

But they're a little bit concerned about the king's response. And so in verse 19 he says, okay, you Baruch and Jeremiah, you guys hide yourselves because the king's probably not going to like this pronouncement of judgment, this call to surrender to Babylon. And so you guys better hide yourselves, but we got to get this to the king. In verses 20 through 26, we see the king does hear the scroll. He does not respond well. He actually burns the scroll, uh,

Right in the middle of them reading it. It says in verse 23. So.

So he did not like the words. He didn't like the announcement of judgment. He didn't like the call to repentance. And so he interrupts the reading, cuts up the scroll, and then throws it into the fireplace where it is consumed. He rejects the word of God. He thinks he destroys it, but it's interesting. Verses 27 through 32, we see that Baruch writes the scroll again. God says...

He can't get rid of it that easily. So Jeremiah, Baruch, get back to work. Write the scroll again. And then in verse 32, it's interesting. It says that many more words were added to it. So God added to the words that Jeremiah had originally spoken and Baruch had written. And so now the scroll is a little bit longer. And so part of, you know, what they were writing here is included here in the book of Jeremiah. And that's how we have the record of these things.

Now as they are reading this scroll to the king, it says that they read about three or four columns. And so I wanted to give you a quick picture of what the scrolls would look like for them. It would be this, you know, parchment or this material that would be rolled up from both sides and they would be written in columns. And so...

The Hebrew writing was from right to left. So it would be kind of like a page. We have the columns on our page. So they read a couple columns as they're unraveling the scroll. But they didn't get very far into the scroll before the king freaks out, cuts it up, and then throws it into the fire.

Now we don't know how long this was, but just to give you an idea of how long they would might, you know, sometimes be, the book of Isaiah found with the Dead Sea Scrolls, when you roll it out, it's 29 feet long. Now the book of Isaiah is a little bit longer than Jeremiah, so it wouldn't be that long, but you can get an idea. You know, there would be this big scroll that they would roll out, and as they began to read it, the king refuses to hear the word of God, cuts it up, and throws it into the fire.

Now as we go forward into chapter 37 and the rest of our chapters for this evening, we're moving forward about 10 years. So we were looking at the time, you know, right before Babylon first came against Israel.

And now we're jumping to the third attack, the final attack against Jerusalem under the reign of King Zedekiah. And so we're going to be looking at the time frame of about 586 BC for the remainder of our chapters this evening. So as we move into chapter 37, verse 10 is the key verse.

God says, In verses 1 through 5, we find that the Chaldeans depart from Judah.

Now the Chaldeans, that's referring to the Babylonians. Babylon is in the region of Chaldea. They're referred to as Babylonians or Chaldeans. And so at this time, Jerusalem is under siege. Babylon is camped around Jerusalem for the final attack upon Jerusalem for the third time while Zedekiah is king.

But we find in verses 1 through 5 that the Chaldeans, the Babylonian army, turns away from Jerusalem temporarily. Because Egypt has come up from the south. It explains there in verses 1 through 5. And so as Egypt comes up from the south, Babylon turns away from Jerusalem to deal with Egypt temporarily.

They don't have a final battle, but there's a little bit of a skirmish. And then Egypt retreats and turns and goes back home. And then Babylon is now going to come back to Jerusalem. And so that's what God is announcing in verses 6 through 10. He says that the Chaldeans shall come back and burn this city. So here's the people in Jerusalem, right? I mean, they're pretty freaked out because here's the nation of Babylon for the third time coming against them. They're camped around them.

It looks like there's no hope. There's a little bit of relief as Egypt comes up to help them. And Babylon turns away and there's probably some celebration going on within the city as they're watching their enemy turn away to go deal with Egypt. Now, if we cross-reference this, remember last week in chapter 34, we saw how the slaves of the people of Judah were set free from

And then the people of Judah turned around and enslaved them again. And it explained that it had to do with the leaving of Babylon's army. And then when they enslaved the people again, God said, I'm going to bring the army back. So we're talking about the same time frame, the same account of chapter 34. And so as the Chaldeans depart...

The people of Jerusalem are rejoicing and they just obeyed God and set the captives free, their Jewish brethren that they had enslaved. But then when they see the army depart, then they figure, well, the crisis is over. Let's go back to how it was. And they take their slaves back again and enslave their brethren once again. And so God is declaring to them now that they will come back. Babylon will come back and burn the city.

Because you are continuing to insist in rebelling against me. You're not being obedient. And so God says in verse 10, look, if you even had defeated the whole army and all that was left was a few sick, wounded men, they would rise up and they would defeat this city. God says there's no escaping this.

There's no getting around it. I'm going to bring them against this city and they're going to be victorious. Now as Jeremiah gives this message, it's not a popular one. And so in verses 11 through 15, Jeremiah is put into prison. As Jeremiah goes out, you know, the Babylonian army has left.

So there's a little bit of sigh of relief. We can go outside of the city walls now. The enemy is not encamped there. Jeremiah goes out to claim his property. Remember in chapter 32, he purchased that land that was in the region of Bethlehem. Not Bethlehem, but Benjamin. And so he purchased this field and he was going to go out there to claim his property, but

He's accused of defecting to Babylon in verse 13. And I like how he responds in verse 14. He says, false. It's not true. I'm not defecting to Babylon. Now, it's understandable that they would accuse him of this because that was Jeremiah's message. His message from the Lord was surrender to Babylon, defect to Babylon and live or stay within this city and die.

And so they didn't like his message. They accused him of defecting. And in verse 15, it tells them that they strike him and they put him in prison. Then in verses 16 through 21, Zedekiah comes and visits Jeremiah and he asks for a word from the Lord.

I like verse 17. I think it's interesting. You see Zedekiah come to Jeremiah. Is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah says, yes, there is. You shall be delivered to Babylon. It's not the word from the Lord that Zedekiah desires, I'm sure. But Jeremiah says, this is the word from the Lord. You will be delivered to Babylon. In verse 19, he asks a very good question.

He says to King Zedekiah, where now are your prophets who prophesied to you saying, the king of Babylon will not come against you or against this land? Now we dealt with a lot of the false prophets last week. We saw them in action. We saw their messages, their words to the people. Now when Babylon has actually come against Jerusalem, Jeremiah asks a really good question. Where are all those guys?

Those false prophets. We don't hear about them anymore. Because their word has been proven false. Where are those guys who said Babylon will not come against you? He's calling to mind the false prophets. That Zedekiah would recognize that Jeremiah is a true prophet of the Lord.

And so in verse 21, Zedekiah gives him a little bit of mercy and allows him to stay in the courts of the prison. So he gives him a little bit of freedom, a little bit of a more comfortable stay. He's still confined in prison, but he's in the court of the prison. Now chapter 38, verse 10 is the key verse. It says,

So we see the king give him a little bit of relief and grant him to be in the court of the prison. But then in verses 1 through 6, things get worse for Jeremiah and he's cast into the dungeon. Now again, the message that he was delivering recorded here in verses 1 through 6 is that the people should...

Well, you have two options. Stay in the city and die or to surrender to Babylon and live. So now Babylon is back attacking Jerusalem. They're laying siege to the city which...

You know, would bring terrible, terrible conditions within the city of Jerusalem. Because Babylon is camped all around. They can't get supplies in. They can't get anything out. They're just stuck with whatever provisions they had. Which puts them in a very desperate situation. And this siege will go on for some time. And so Jeremiah's message is, look, if you stay in the city, you're going to die. Babylon is going to be victorious. Right?

But you can surrender. You can defect. And so he was encouraging the people to surrender to Babylon and live because that's what God desired for them. In verse 6, they cast him into the dungeon. And the dungeon basically was just a muddy pit. And so they cast him and he sinks into the mire. And so he's just sunken into the floor of this pit that they've cast him into.

Then in verses 7 through 13, there's a guy named Ebed-Melech who pulls Jeremiah out. And so this guy, Ebed-Melech, he speaks up for Jeremiah and he goes before the king and he asks the king, hey, this isn't right what these guys did to Jeremiah, casting him into the dungeon.

Let's pull him out of there. And so Zedekiah, although Zedekiah granted them permission to throw him into the dungeon or even to put him to death, now Zedekiah grants permission to pull him out. Zedekiah, you can kind of see he's not very firm in his convictions. He's one way one day and another way another day.

So Eben-Melech goes, he says, hey, put these clothes under your arms because he's, remember, stuck in the mud in the bottom of this pit. So they're going to pull him up with ropes and if he doesn't have some cushion, it's going to rip apart his skin. So they put the clothes under, they pull Jeremiah up, they lift him out of the dungeon and again he's allowed to remain in the court of the prison. Still in the prison, but in the court of the prison.

Now verse 9 gives us a little bit of insight where they are in the siege because it says in verse 9 that there's no longer bread in the city. And so their resources are really running low. They're, you know, going to be starving to death very soon because they're running out of bread. Then in verses 14 through 23 we see that Jeremiah tells Zedekiah to surrender.

Zedekiah has another meeting with Jeremiah. This time it's an extra secret meeting. Verse 17, we have the message from Jeremiah to Zedekiah. He says, Thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, If you surely surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then your soul shall live. This city shall not be burned with fire, and you and your house shall live.

So Zedekiah once again goes to Jeremiah. What's the Lord saying, Jeremiah? And it's the same message that Jeremiah has been giving. You have two options. To obey the Lord or disobey the Lord.

To obey the Lord is to surrender. And we've been talking about this as brokenness. Be broken. Surrender. Give up the fight and surrender to Babylon. And you'll live. And your house will live. And the city will survive. It will not be burned. Now this is the third time that Babylon has come against Jerusalem.

This will be the final time Jerusalem will be completely destroyed because Zedekiah and the people refused to obey God. They refused to surrender. They refused to be broken and instead insisted on doing what they wanted to do. And so he warns them in verse 18, if you don't surrender, here's what's going to happen. They're going to burn the city with fire and you will not escape.

Jeremiah gives this message to Zedekiah the king. Now Jeremiah is in prison. You can imagine the difficulty that this would be to bring this message to the king who's already you know put you in prison, thrown you in the dungeon, pulled you out of the dungeon. Jeremiah is really risking his life but he's faithful to deliver the Lord's message because

In contrast to Zedekiah, he is obedient to the Lord. And he's going to bring forth the message that God has given to him. I think verse 19 is also very interesting. If you, you know, listen to some studies from the book of Jeremiah, and perhaps, you know, I may have said this as well, that we often say that there is no converts under the ministry of Jeremiah.

that he preached, he ministered, you know, for over 25 years and nobody repented, nobody got right with the Lord. Like, you know, we just don't see that revival take place. But verse 19 is interesting because it indicates that that's not actually true. That Jeremiah's message was received by some because what happens in verse 19 is Zedekiah saying, oh no, no, I can't surrender to Babylon because he

The Jews who have defected to Babylon, when I surrender, then they're going to gang up on me. They're going to beat me up and I'm going to be put to death by those who have defected to Babylon. But him saying that indicates there were Jews who defected to Babylon. Now we just read Jeremiah's message in verse 17 and 18. What was his message? Surrender to Babylon and you will live.

And so it seems that there were some who heard Jeremiah's message and they did surrender to Babylon. They did defect to Babylon as God instructed. They were obedient and God is going to take care of them and then one day bring their families back to the promised land with Ezra, Nehemiah, and so on and so forth. But verse 20, Jeremiah says to the king, please obey the voice of the Lord.

We always have these same two choices. Life, death. Surrender or do what you want to do. Obey God or disobey God. It's always the same two choices. Just like God presented through Moses to the people I set before you today. Life and death. Obey the commandments of God or disobey the commandments of God.

But then God says, choose life that you may live, right? In the same way, Jeremiah says, please obey the voice of the Lord. And I want to call us and remind us this evening, we need to obey the voice of the Lord. Things have not changed even though, you know, that we're now thousands of years later. The choices are the same, to obey God or to disobey God. And to obey God

brings reward and great blessings, and to disobey God brings great destruction. Please obey the voice of the Lord. As I speak to you this evening, I extend the same petition. Please, please obey God's voice. Satan wants to destroy your life. God wants to give you life. Please obey the voice of the Lord.

Whether that be the scriptures and the things that God has instructed in the scriptures. Or those things that God has been speaking to you personally. That maybe nobody else knows about. But you know. Please obey the voice of the Lord. Zedekiah refuses. And so he says in verse 23 to Zedekiah. Your wives and your children are going to be taken. Because you refuse to obey. Not only that Zedekiah but you're not going to escape.

Not only that, Zedekiah, but you will cause this city to be burned. It was in Zedekiah's hands. If he, as king, would surrender, the whole city would be saved, his family would be saved, and his own life would be saved. But he couldn't figure out how that made any sense. So he decided, I'm going to do what I think I should do, what I want to do. I'm going to do what I think is best. And Jeremiah says, you're going to bring this great destruction.

I like Warren Wiersbe's comments on Zedekiah. He says that Zedekiah wanted God to be his servant and deliver the city, but he was not willing to be God's servant and obey the word. He says, do you ask God for help only in emergencies or do you seek his direction each day? It's true. A lot of times we want God to be our servant to deliver us and to answer our prayers and to do what we want him to do.

But we're not willing to be his servant and do what he wants us to do. That's why these things are so important. That's why we spend time in the book of Jeremiah. Because it's not just these words that Jeremiah said, but not a whole lot has changed. We have a similar nature to Jeremiah, to Zedekiah, to the people of Judah. And these are great instructions and warnings for us to remind us to please obey the voice of the Lord.

Well, in verses 24 through 28 now, Zedekiah tells Jeremiah to not let the princes know about this.

You can see he's king, but he's real fearful of the other rulers within the city of Jerusalem. It's like, oh, don't tell them about this. I don't want them to hear about this. I don't want them to be, you know, speaking about this or to know about it. So let no one know about these words. And instead he tells Jeremiah to tell the princes that you requested not to be returned to prison.

And so in verse 27, when the princes come and find out, like, hey, what did you guys talk about? What was going on? Then Jeremiah tells the princes the words that Zedekiah instructed him that he requested not to be returned to prison. Some people struggle with this and think, well, did Jeremiah, you know, was he lying then?

but I kind of don't think so, or I don't really struggle with it, and I just figured Jeremiah probably did ask Zedekiah, please don't let me get put back into the dungeon where I'm going to die. You know, let me stay in the court of the prison, and so I think that's the most likely understanding of that passage.

Chapter 39, now verse 7 is the key verse. It says, So remember verse 20 from the previous chapter. Please obey the voice of the Lord. Zedekiah refuses and now we get to see the consequences. In verses 1 through 3, Babylon conquers Jerusalem. Now this takes place today.

in 586 BC. It's the third time Babylon has conquered Jerusalem and it's the final time. This siege has lasted for two and a half years. Picture that. They've been stuck in this city for about two and a half years starving people

Again, the things that happen in a siege are completely hideous. Don't look into it. You don't want to find out. You don't want to know. It's just horrendous. You think times of war are bad. Times of siege are horrendous. For two and a half years, they've been under siege. Finally, the city walls are broken through and Babylon now is going to completely demolish the city.

In verses 4 through 10, we see that Zedekiah is captured and then judged. As the walls are broken through, Zedekiah and his men of war, they flee. They run out the back door, but Babylon catches up to him, brings him captive. In verse 6, you see the judgment happen. Zedekiah's sons are killed before his eyes. And then, verse 7, Zedekiah's eyes are put out.

Can you put yourself there for just a moment? Can you picture the judgment here? For Zedekiah to see his own sons put to death. And then his eyes are put out. So that was the last thing that he saw. His son's heads being chopped off. That's pretty horrendous. So please obey the voice of the Lord. That's why Jeremiah says, please obey the voice of the Lord. Because Zedekiah, the alternative is,

is terrible. This is why God says don't sin. Not because he just made up some arbitrary things that you know I want to forbid you from doing these things. He says look these things are going to destroy you and it's going to be like watching your kids be put to death and then having your eyes gouged out. So don't sin. I'm setting before you life and death. Choose life. Please obey the voice of the Lord. It goes on in verse 8 to tell us that the walls of the city are broken down.

Verse 9 tells us that the remnant of the people that survived the siege and the previous two conquerings of Jerusalem, they're now carried away captive. And verse 10, only the poor people are left. And they're not going to be left there very long as we'll see in the following chapters. Well, verses 11 through 14, we see Jeremiah is released from prison. So he's set free. And Babylon actually deals gently with Jeremiah because Jeremiah's message to Jeremiah

The people was surrender to Babylon and submit to Babylon. They are God's instrument and Babylon agreed with Jeremiah's message. Then in verses 50 through 18, God announces that the Lord will deliver Ebed-Melech. Remember, that's the guy who was kind to Jeremiah and considered him and pulled him out of the dungeon. And so God says, I'm going to bless him. I'm going to take care of him because he was faithful to take care of my messenger.

So as Babylon conquers Jerusalem, here's the map of Babylon. And so Babylon came, they would go up the Euphrates River from Babylon and then come down from the north and attack not only Jerusalem, but all of the surrounding region and Egypt. And so they were doing all kinds of battles there in the area. And this is the final time. So again, Babylon conquered Jerusalem three times.

this is the final one zedekiah the final king he's defeated the city is destroyed the temple is dismantled and destroyed the treasures are taken away captive the whole population except for a small number of poor people are left in the land it's great destruction upon jerusalem because of their disobedience to god

Chapter 40, now verse 6 says, So verse 1 through 6, we see that Jeremiah is sent to Gedaliah. Now Gedaliah, he was the guy who Babylon left in charge. But he's not a king. There's no city. There's no stronghold any longer. And he's not a king.

He's what's called a governor. He's in charge, but there's only a few poor people left in the land, and he is the governor over them. And so Jeremiah is now sent back to Gedaliah, and he goes to be with the people there. Then in verses 7 through 12, the rest of the Jews gather to Gedaliah at Mizpah. So Gedaliah sets up camp at Mizpah, which was a city a little bit to the north. I'll show you that in a couple slides.

And so there he kind of gathers the people together. He says in verse 9 to not be afraid to serve Babylon, to serve the king. And he says, and if you do, then it will be well with you. We also see in verse 12 that at this time Jews return from the surrounding areas as well, from Moab, from Ammon, from Edom.

where they fled when Babylon came. Now they're kind of being regathered into the land. And it's kind of temporary though. It's not going to last very long because we see in verse 13 through 16, Johanan, who's one of the guys who's left behind, he warns Gedaliah about a guy named Ishmael. And he says, Ishmael was sent here from Ammon

To put you to death, Gedaliah. He doesn't like the work that's going on here. And so he's going to try to take your life. And so Johanan says, let me kill him. But Gedaliah says, no, it's not true. I don't believe it. So he doesn't allow him. Well, then we see it unfold in chapter 41, verse 2 is the key verse. Then Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, and the ten men who were with him, arose and struck Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan,

Verse 1.

So in verses 1 through 3, Ishmael strikes Gedaliah as well as the Jews who were there at Mizpah. And he puts Gedaliah to death as well as many of the Jews who were there. He puts them to death as well. Then in verses 4 through 10, there's a group of 80 guys who come. He puts 70 of them to death. These were guys from Shechem, from Shiloh, from Samaria. These areas north of Jerusalem.

Now 80 men came but only 70 were killed because 10 of them said, hey we've got some buried treasure. And Ishmael believed them so he let them live. Then in verses 11 through 15, Johanan hears about it. This was the guy who warned Gedaliah about this man. And he hears about it. He comes and he rescues the captives from Ishmael.

And then finally in verses 16 through 18, we see that the people head to Egypt. In verse 17, it says they went on their way to Egypt. They're in trouble. You know, think about it. They've just been destroyed because of the rebellion against Babylon. And now the person that Babylon put in charge has been assassinated. These guys are fearful of their lives. They think, what's Babylon going to do next except for come and just kill us all? So they decide we better go to Egypt because...

Babylon's not going to put up with this. And so they're making their way towards Egypt. Here's a quick look at the map of what's going on here. The people were gathered together at Mizpah. That's where Gedaliah was. That's where Ishmael comes. He puts him to death. There's some survivors from Mizpah. And so...

takes them and he's taking them back to Ammon but he gets as far as Gibeon and that's where Johanan rides in he comes in he delivers those captives Ishmael escapes and goes back to Ammon but Johanan takes the survivors down to this area right next to Bethlehem they camp there but they're intending to they're on their way to go down to the south to Egypt where they think that they will be safe

Now before they get there, we see chapter 42. And verse 17 is the key verse. It says, In verses 1 through 6, here they are camped. They're intending to go to Egypt.

But they stop and they say, let's ask God to show the way. Let's ask God what we should do. Now as you read through these verses, man, it sounds really good. But don't be fooled. God wasn't fooled. It sounds really good like the people really want to know what God wants.

Verse 5, it says, Man, it sounds really good.

The people are saying we want to hear from God. And whether we like what he has to say or not, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God. Even if we don't like it, we're going to be obedient. Sounds really good, but it's not where the hearts were really at. There's a great danger for us to have this kind of pattern. We can get really good at sounding great, saying the right things, but

But what's really important is, is your heart really there? Is your heart really there? The people said, we will obey. In verses 7 through 12, the Lord responds. He says, if you remain in the land, I will build you.

Now it tells us in verse 7 that the word of the Lord came after 10 days. So Jeremiah didn't have an immediate response from the Lord. It took 10 days, which is a good reminder that sometimes when you're seeking the Lord for direction, it takes some time and you have to give God time to be able to bring forth his word. Sometimes it's 10 days, sometimes it's 10 years, but you got to give him that time and he will speak again.

But his word, his message is, look, if you stay in this land, then you will live. And I will build you up and I'm going to take care of you. And he says in verse 10, I relent concerning the disaster that I've brought upon you. It's done. The judgment is done. I'm not going to bring Babylon back to destroy you. No, I'm going to build you if you will stay in the land of Israel. But remember, there's always two choices. So then verses 13 through 22 is the second choice.

So stay here and live, God says, or verse 13 through 22, if you enter Egypt, the sword will overtake you. Stay here and live or flee to Egypt and die. The choice is yours. Here's the instruction of the Lord. If you obey, you will live and you'll be built up. If you disobey, you will be destroyed.

You pick which one you want to choose. If you disobey the Lord, again in verse 17 it says, they shall die by the sword, by famine, by pestilence. None of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them. Disobedience to God brings disaster. And we have to choose. And so again I say, please obey the voice of the Lord. Obey the voice of the Lord.

God wants to preserve you, not destroy you. Now it doesn't mean that if you're obedient, you will never have difficult things happen. We always have the example of Job, right? To counter that thought, that idea. But to endure a trial or tribulation with God in support is way different than the destruction that comes from disobedience. Choose to obey. Choose life.

Well, we finish it off in chapter 43. Verse 7 is the key verse. Verses 1 through 4, we see that the people would not obey the word of the Lord. They would not obey. Instead, in verse 2, they accuse him of speaking falsely. Now, picture what's just gone on here.

they've seen this guy Jeremiah. Remember he said, where's all the false prophets? He said, Babylon's never going to come here. I was the only one who was saying, Babylon is coming. Repent. My word's been faithful. It's been proven true. The false prophets, they're long gone. My word has been fulfilled. And now you're asked again, what does the Lord want? And I'm bringing forth the message, but now you're accusing me of being a false prophet, speaking falsely?

Warren Wiersbe says, once you've decided to disobey the Lord, you can always find excuses for rejecting God's truth. That's what we see happening here. They had their minds made up. They already knew they wanted, remember we saw in the previous chapter, they were on their way to Egypt. Oh, wait, wait, wait, we should ask God what he wants. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty sure I've done that at least once in my life, maybe two or three hundred times.

Here's what I want to do. Oh, wait, wait. We're supposed to pray and ask God. God, is it okay? Because this is what I want to do. I'm going to do this. So bless it, Lord, because this is what I'm going to do. And when God brings a different message, it's like, am I going to be obedient to God or am I going to do what I want to do? It goes back to what we talked about a few weeks ago, the heart.

Which is deceitful and desperately wicked. And we follow the dictates of our own heart and what we want to do. And it brings destruction because it's disobedient to God. Our heart will always lead us to disobey God. That's why we can't trust our heart. That's why Proverbs says you're a fool if you trust your heart. No, you got to trust the word of God. And obey the voice of the Lord. Let him override you. They're not trying to

You know, think of ways, how can we really just make God irritated at us? I know, let's go to Egypt. That's not the way it was. They weren't trying to offend God. They were trying to figure out what's the best thing for my life here. I mean, I can't see any way out of this situation. This is going to be really tough because Babylon's going to come and just wipe us out. There's only one thing that makes sense. We got to go to Egypt. That's the only way we're going to survive this. They were coming to their conclusions. They were figuring out what seemed best to them.

And when God said something different, they could not let God's word override their thoughts. And that's the battle that we got to learn how to fight. When we let God's word override our ideas. But Lord, I had these plans. But Lord, I had these thoughts. But Lord, here's what I wanted to do. But Lord, but Lord, but Lord, this is what I think. This is what I feel. Sometimes, you know, you ask somebody, well, why did you do this when this is what the Bible says? Well, I just felt, I just thought,

that that's a good way to bring destruction upon yourself disobedience the people would not obey the lord in verses five through seven now it says the people went to egypt they said no you're speaking falsely we're going to do what we want to do and so they go to egypt it says in verse seven for they did not obey the voice of the lord they would not obey even though god had spoken

They refused because they thought, we have a better plan. God's way doesn't make sense. And listen, God's way is not going to make sense. Because as high as the heavens are above the earth, his ways are above our ways. God's way is not going to make sense. That's the battle we got to fight. That's why it's called brokenness and surrender. Because we kind of have to give up and say, this doesn't make sense to me, God.

But I'm going to trust you and do what you say. And so I'm going to forgive when you tell me to forgive. And I'm going to repent when you tell me to repent. And I'm going to go that direction when you tell me to go that direction. And I'm going to give when you tell me to give. Because it doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't add up. But your ways are higher than my ways. And I'm going to trust in you. And I'm going to obey your voice.

Well, God now gives another message with an illustration, verses 8 through 13. And he says, I will set Nebuchadnezzar's throne over Egypt. So now they're in Egypt. They've taken Jeremiah with them. And so God tells Jeremiah, all right, take some stones and hide them in front of everybody. Let everybody see you hide these stones. And then they say, Jeremiah, what are you doing hiding stones? And here's the message.

I'm going to set Babylon's throne over these stones. The people thought we've escaped. We're in Egypt now. We're safe. Babylon can't touch us. But the reality was, God was going to bring Babylon to bring judgment upon Egypt. And those who fled to Egypt would feel those consequences. It happens about 20 years later. Babylon comes to Egypt and battles. And God is faithful to his word. If they had stayed there,

In the land, God would have preserved them. But they fled to Egypt. Here's a quick look at what that looks like. So they were in the Jerusalem area. Then they were up a little bit north of Jerusalem. And then they flee down to Tappanese, which is over here in kind of the northeastern part of Egypt. And so they flee there thinking that, okay, we're good. We're safe. But God says, nope, you didn't get away from me. It's not going to work. The choices are the same for you and I this evening.

Please obey the voice of the Lord. And again, that could mean a variety of things depending on where you're at and where your heart's at this evening. There could be some clear scriptures that you are violating and you're disregarding what God says. This is sin. Stay away from it. And God's speaking to them tonight and he's saying, obey me. Repent of those sins. Stop living in those things. Stop practicing those things. Choose life.

That you may live. Or it might be that you're holding back. From things that God is instructing you to do. And God's saying. Obey me. Choose life. What is he asking you to do? Maybe it's something that he's speaking to your heart. Personally. That you know God's been moving. He's been speaking to you. But you've been fighting against it. Wanting to do it your way. Because God's way doesn't make sense. God says. Obey me. That you might live. Choose life.

What is it that God asks us to do? I mean, it can sound kind of difficult, right? To obey the Lord, like, whoa, there's a lot of commands in the scriptures that I got to do. But Jesus sums up the scriptures as he gives us the most important command in Matthew chapter 22. Remember when the scholar came to Jesus and said, what's the greatest commandment in the law? What's the most important commandment, Jesus? Remember what he said?

He said it's to love God. As I give this instruction, give this word from the Lord to obey God this evening, first and foremost, that means that God is commanding you to love Him with all of your heart and soul and mind and strength. God's command to you, God's command to me is to put Him first, to love Him most, to make sure that He is most important and

That's his command. Are you doing that? You can put God first and love him with all your heart and all your soul and all your strength and all your mind and put everything you have into loving God and seeking first the kingdom of God. You can do that or you can do whatever you want to do. You can choose life or you can choose disobedience. Those are the choices. And the call is to pursue God, to love God, to be passionate about God.

to choose to obey by loving him, putting him first in your life. Let's pray. God, I pray as we consider these things and we see the example of Judah insisting time after time after time to do what they thought was best and what they wanted to do. God, help us to learn that lesson that we would call into question our own hearts because it's deceitful and desperately wicked. That we would call into question our own motivations

Lord, that we would be submitted to your word. Submitted to you. Help us, Lord, to be broken, to be surrendered, to be obedient, to really sincerely put you first and not just know how to sound really good, but to, Lord, to really submit to you even when it's things that we don't like, even when it's things that we don't understand or that don't make sense to us. Help us, God, to obey you because we know you love us.

And we know you know all things. And you know what's best. And you want what's best for us. So Lord, help us to stop fighting against you, but to surrender and do what you've called us to do. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. 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.