Jeremiah 26 | Do Not Diminish a Word | 2.12 .1997

This passage actually in its date is probably can be pretty effectively dated somewhere around the year 609 608 before Christ. The reason we can set the date pretty easily is because we are given the date basically in verse one. So, let's begin reading at verse one, and I'll read the first six verses, and we'll get into our study today as we continue through the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 26, beginning at verse one. In the beginning of the reign of Jehakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord, saying, "Thus says the Lord, stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in the Lord's house, all the words that I command you to speak to them. Do not diminish a word. Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way. Then I may relent concerning the calamity which I which I purposed to bring on them because of the evil of their doings. And you shall say to them, thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me to walk in my law which I have set before you, to heed the words of my servants, the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them that you have not heeded. Then I will make this house like Shiloh and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth. So this is somewhere around the year 609 608 before Christ. And the place of this particular message is in the court of the temple. The reason he would have him speaking there in the court of the temple is obvious. It's because that's where the greatest amount of people would be congregating. So this is a message that God intends for the nation to hear and he chooses to have it spoken in a place where the greatest amount of people are. It's a public, in other words, declaration. And I want you to notice with me in verse two what the Lord says. The Lord says, "Stand in the court of the Lord's house. Speak to all the cities of Judah which come to worship in the Lord's house. All the words that I command you to speak to them do not diminish a word." Notice he says, "All the words that I command you to speak to them do not diminish a word." The word diminish speaks of restraining. It speaks of keeping something back. And what the Lord is doing at this point is he's commanding Jeremiah to give everything that he's receiving. To give everything and not hold back. It would be obvious why the Lord would have to say to Jeremiah, don't hold back or don't diminish a word. It's because the message that he has is not a popular message. And the response of the people can be very vicious. As a matter of fact, even as we go through chapter 26, you're going to see what the response is. The Lord throughout the Bible commands the minister of the gospel to not hold anything back. The Bible tells us that it's to be taught word for word. When the Lord, the Lord was speaking to Moses in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 4 and Moses was communicating the word of the Lord to the people. The Lord speaking in Deuteronomy 4:2 said this, "You shall not add unto the word which I command you, neither shall you diminish anything from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you." Notice he says, "Don't add to it and don't take away from it." In Deuteronomy 12:32, you see the same kind of thing. Whatever I command you, observe to do it. You shall not add to it, nor diminish from it. Now, I don't know about you. I don't know what your personal tastes are, what your preferences are, but for me, for myself, and what I've tried to encourage my children to is this. I I want to hear the whole council of God. I have I have sat in places where I've gotten topical studies. As a matter of fact, I've been topicalized to death. I've been in I was in one fellowship which was not a Calvary type uh chapel at all and I was there for four or five years and every Sunday I got a topical sermon and every Sunday I got you know some kind of evangelistic message and I was blessed to see people saved. As a matter of fact, that's the reason I was in that particular church. It's the excitement of being part of a place where people were being saved and I enjoyed that. It was more like a revival center than a church though. And every weekend I would go and every weekend I would hear a message and every weekend I would see people getting saved. But I wasn't being taught the word of God verse by verse, line upon line, precept upon precept. And so over the years in my own particular personal life, the Lord began to minister to me that I needed to not only be teaching it that way, I needed to be receiving it that way. And so here in this fellowship, I've made it my endeavor to make sure that when we get into the word of God, it's a line upon line kind of thing. And while it's true when you get through various chapters, there are sections that you can take and you can topicalize, if you will. You can speak about expand these things, yet the real key is going through the word of God verse upon verse, line upon line, because in that manner, you get the entire council of God. And as you've heard me say more than one time, when the Apostle Paul was speaking to the Ephesian elders, he said, "I haven't shunn to declare unto you the entire council of God." And when Jesus was commissioning the apostles to go out, he said to go out and they were to teach them all things that I have commanded you. And so when the Lord is ministering, he wants his whole word to be communicated. Now, some of you may be people who are having home fellowships. And if you have home fellowships and you have a Bible study at all, let me encourage you if you're getting into the word to take it line upon line to make sure that you're giving a full counsel kind of study because it safeguards you and it safeguards your hearer. And when Jeremiah was commissioned by God to go and speak, he said, "You make sure that you don't take anything away from my word." He said, "You make sure that you don't diminish it. you make sure that you give it completely as it is. Why? Because God wanted the children of Israel to have his complete counsel. He wanted them to know everything his heart had to say to them on any matter. And so that's what we have here. We have him going out speaking all that God has given to him. And God had commanded him not to diminish a word. Now, it's God's hope that the people who are listening will turn. And that's what he says when he says in verse three, "Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way that I may relent concerning the calamity which I I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings." In other words, there's a purpose here. And the purpose is for them to hear what I'm about to do, to have a completely unsullied account of what I'm about to do. And if they hear that and understand that this is going to take place, well, possibly they'll turn away from their wickedness and turn to the Lord. So if I'm speaking to anybody who has Bible studies or anybody who has a heart to minister the word, let me say to you that you always have to preach with hope. You always have to preach with a hope. Every time I come up to this pulpit and I've been coming up to different pulpits or sitting down in in living rooms for some 23 years now and every time I open up the word and every time I share, I need to come up with a hope that God wants to do a work. I don't want to go someplace thinking he's not going to move or he has nothing to do. So, I come up to the pulpit even as I did tonight or I'll go to whatever pulpit it is that the Lord opens to me to use with a hope that he's going to use that message. My responsibility is not to diminish the message, not to take away from it, not to try and be popular, not to try and make people laugh and become a favorite teacher. My responsibility is to proclaim the full council of God. I was sharing recently with some pastors that one of the problems I see in ministry today is pastors who want to be liked too much. There's a lot of pastors who don't want anybody to ever think ill of them at all. And so they become men pleasers and ear ticklers. They're afraid that people won't think that they're they're great teachers or wonderful men. And so they're afraid to speak the whole council of God. And even when they're speaking concerning judgment to come, they say it with a smile because they want people to like them so much. And I was sharing with this group of pastors that we have to be careful because it isn't the congregation that I'm preaching to necessarily. Though I am giving a message to them, in reality, what I'm trying to do is be approved. I'm trying to be approved not by that congregation, but by the God who gives the message. And you have to have a heart for that because ultimate approval isn't by the people. ultimate approval is the Lord Jesus Christ who's the one who says, "Well done, my good and my faithful servant." And so when you have a heart to please him, then you won't take away from his word. Not only that, you'll preach with hope because you know that that message is the most important message those people have ever heard. It's the most important message. Why? Because it's the only message that a man needs to hear to be saved. We can hear a lot of things and it doesn't make an awful lot of difference in our life. But the one thing that makes a difference is the word of God in our life. That's the one thing that can change your life is a knowledge of the word of God. That's the one thing that will change the direction of your life. It's a knowledge of the word of God. It's the one thing that changes your eternity and embracing of the word of God. And so when you go forth and you take this word and you may be on the job or you might be in school or you might have some excuse me, something taking place in the family. And as you're there sharing and you have a chance to open up, you do so with hope. You do so with hope that God will somehow take this message and will somehow take it to the people who are listening and that their lives might be radically and forever changed because of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. You have to preach with hope. Every time I open the book, every time I share, it's my hope and it's my desire to see us all changed one more notch into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so the Lord is saying to him, I want you to take all that I've given to you. And I don't want you to remove a single thing from it. And I want you to say it in a public place so that all the people have an opportunity of hearing this. And I want you to do this because perhaps they will hear. And if they hear, they will change. And if they change, I will not have to judge them. And so the Lord is speaking to Jeremiah and he's telling them, "This is how you're going to do this." Now, notice how the Lord works. Because true repentance will always be met with the Lord's mercy. True repentance will be met by the Lord's mercy. Do you remember what he said in chapter 18 of the book of Jeremiah? Let's turn there for just a moment and remind ourselves. Jeremiah 18 7 and 8. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down, and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. If they will hear, and if they will turn, I will spare them. Do you remember Jonah, the reluctant prophet? One of our favorite guys in the Bible. Part of the reason I like Jonah so much is because he's so much like I feel I am. You see, Jonah didn't like the Assyrians at all. The Assyrians were barbaric. They were monsters. And Israel hated the nation of Assyria. And yet the Lord gave to Jonah, this reluctant prophet, a message. And he said, 'I want you to go, and I want you to go to Nineveh, the mighty city that has 120,000 inhabitants, and I want you to preach to them because I'm planning on destroying them, but if they turn, I will spare them." You know the story of Jonah. He decided not to do that. He climbed on a boat and went in the opposite direction. He went to Spain. And as he was in this boat going in the opposite direction, we know the story. A storm came up, but he was sleeping there in the ship. He knew exactly what was taking place. And all the pagans were there crying out to their gods and everything. And they came rushing on down to where Jonah was asleep. And they said to him, "Get up and pray to your God. Perhaps he'll spare us." And Jonah says, "I already know why we have this storm. It has nothing to do with you guys. It's got everything to do with me. my God has told me to go preach and I'm not going to do it. They said, "Well, what are we going to do?" He says, "Well, throw me overboard." They said, "No, we don't want to do that." He said, "Well," they eventually did because the boat was going to go down. He says, "Listen, if you don't throw me overboard, this this ship is doomed." So, they said, "Well, all right." And they threw him overboard and here comes this giant fish. Everybody always argues whether it was a whale or not. Scripture says it was a fish. Here comes this giant fish. And gobbles them up. And for three days, he's in the stomach of this giant fish. And I when I was sharing the book of Jonah, I asked everybody to just think for just a moment what he'd look like when he got regurgitated because the digestive fluids are going and he's in this very hot condition. And he begins to cry out in chapter 2 and he says, "You know what? I tumbled down into the sea and seaweed was all around me and I was encased in in hell." And he's basically describing what it was like to be inside of this giant fish. And for three days, he's just three days, he's just resisting the will of the Lord. Now, can you imagine what kind of guy Jonah is? How would you have liked to have raised a kid like that? Clean your room. No. Then you can sit there until you will. He's there for three, four, five, six days. He's not going to do it. He was an obstinate man. And for three days, the Lord is wrestling with Jonah. And for three days, he's resisting till finally he says, "I give up." And then this giant fish just vomits him onto the shore. And now he comes rolling. Undoubtedly, he's got seaweed all around him. He smells like the fish that this fish has been eating. The digestive fluids probably has uh taken the hair off of his body. He his skin is more than likely orange, you know. And he jumps out and he goes into the city and says, "Repent." Now, who wouldn't you see something like that walking? Of course, anything you say, I'm sorry. In his message, his message was a message of destruction. In 40 days, that's his message. 40 days and the Lord will destroy you. And you can almost see a smile on his face as he says that because he doesn't want to see anybody spared. We know the story. Everybody from the king down to the animals is in dust and and is in uh sackcloth and they repent and the Lord spares this mighty city. Now, you would think the greatest revival that had ever hit the world, 120,000 plus people getting right with God at the same time would have caused this prophet some joy. But you don't see him happy. As a matter of fact, when you close the book, you see him arguing with the Lord. And the Lord is speaking to Jonah, the Lord says to him, "What? Why are you so upset?" And it's a classic. He says, "Because I knew you were merciful and I knew you would spare them." What are you saying, Jonah? Jonah's saying, "I wanted them to burn. I wanted them to die. The reluctant prophet. But what does the Lord illustrate there? His incredible grace. He said, "If you turn, then I will relent. If you turn, I will spare you." And so when Jeremiah is given this message, it's a message of hope. And the Lord is saying, "Perhaps," again, verse three, "Perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way that I may relent concerning the calamity which I purpose to bring on them because of the evil of their doings. If they would only listen, then I would spare them." How many times I, as a father, have told my children, especially when they were smaller, this doesn't occur anymore like it used to then. does still occasionally, more often when they were very small. I would say just do what I'm telling you. If you only got it into your head that it's wise to obey your father, then I would it would I would spare you the incredible whipping you're about to get if you would only listen to me. Because as a father, there have been many times that I've said just listen and just do it. If you would only listen and do, you'd be spared any pain. You know, the Lord in very many ways is very similar like that to us. As a father, he says, if you would turn, I will spare you. If you would obey, I will spare you. Why do you have to stay in that way and force my hand? Why do you have to push to the limit until I get to the point where I have to honor my word to deal with you? Why don't you turn while you can? And so here we have Jeremiah standing there in the court crying out to the people all that the Lord has said for him to say. And he's saying to them, you need to turn so that the Lord will spare you. Notice verse four. You shall say to them, "Thus says the Lord, if you will not listen to me to walk in my law, which I have set before you, to heed the words of my servants, the prophets whom I sent to you, both rising up early and sending them but you have not heeded, then I will make this house like Shiloh, and will make this city a curse to all the nations of the earth." So he cries out and says, "Thus sayith the Lord, if you will not listen to me." Now in these verses, verses 4-6, three basic things stand out. The first thing is the Lord is saying to them, "You need to listen to me." And the way that they would demonstrate that they were listening to the Lord isn't simply that they hear what Jeremiah is saying, but truly listening to him would be evidenced by obedience to the law and the prophets. And secondly, when Jeremiah is saying this, Jeremiah is aligning with the true prophets in contrast to the false prophets who are there in the nation. And then thirdly, they use the destruction of Shiloh and it stands out as a testimony to God's seriousness in this matter. Now, you need to know that Shiloh was the first resting place of the Ark of the Covenant. And so, that was where the ark used to rest originally in the nation's history. In Joshua 18:1, the Bible tells us the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh and set up the tent of meeting there. And when we go to Israel, we now go to this place called Shiloh. And you can actually go to the original area where the ark of the uh tabernacle was. And we have a Bible study there. But it was destroyed. Shiloh was destroyed about 1,50 when the Philistines came in against Israel. And it's recorded in its destruction in 1st Samuel 4. And it became a proverb amongst the people. And a psalmist in Psalm 78 actually wrote about this in Psalm 78 16-61. It says, "He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. And so Shiloh was destroyed. And it stands as a living legend amongst the people as to how the Lord will destroy them if they don't listen. In verses 7-9, he says, "So the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. Now it happened when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people that the priests and the prophets and all the people seized him, saying, "You will surely die. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, "This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant." And all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. As I was preparing this message, the Lord began to minister some things to me. And I want to share some things with you. Verses 7-9, I want you to notice the response of the people to the prophet Jeremiah. Now, let's think together for a moment. The words that Jeremiah is speaking, whose words are they? The word of the Lord. So, in spite of the fact that Jeremiah is speaking the word of the Lord, what are the people doing? They're refusing him. And in the refusal of listening to Jeremiah, what are they saying? They're saying, "You're a false prophet. We don't want to listen to a word that you have to say." As a matter of fact, they're charging him at this point with blasphemy. They're saying that you are saying things against the Lord and against this city. You're saying things against the Lord, and you're saying things against this temple. Now, I'm going to give to you something very practical that may may not apply to hardly any people here, but it's very true nonetheless. It's just a practical experience from a minister's heart to his congregation. And it's something that the Lord was giving to me as I was going through this. No matter how many people say they really want to know the Lord Jesus Christ, and some people can say that with such great sincerity. Over the years, I've discovered that very few people really want what the Lord has for them. I've discovered that the listeners to the word of God very often are quick to respond by saying yes. And then after saying yes, I want what God has. I've discovered that very often they're unable to really put all their heart into following the Lord. And so they have to find somebody that they get upset with because it doesn't work in their life, they say. So they get mad at the messenger rather than the message or even themselves. I've seen that happen in ministry quite often. I've seen people get upset at churches that they've come out of. They'll say, "Oh, the church, they didn't this and they didn't that." And then they begin to complain against the church. When you look at the message, the message was the gospel. The real problem wasn't the message. It wasn't even the pastor or the ministry. It was the person listening. They didn't want anything to do with it. So, they found something wrong with what they were hearing. And they found something wrong, if they could, in the person who was giving the message. And as a result of that, they had all kinds of ammunition as to why it was right for them to not be there any longer. And once they leave, they begin to speak badly about that person and that ministry when in reality, the real problem was them. In the book of Ezekiel, it's very interesting. There's a passage there in Ezekiel chapter 33. It's a passage where the Lord is speaking to the prophet Ezekiel, and he says that the people are beginning to speak concerning him. I can hear some of you turning your little Bibles, so I better turn with you. Ezekiel 33:30. And in Ezekiel 33:30, we read these very interesting words. As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses, and they speak to one another. Everyone saying to his brother, "Please come and hear what the word of word is that comes from the Lord." So they come to you as people do. They sit before you as my people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them. For with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. Indeed, you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument. For they hear your words, but they don't do them. And when this comes to pass, surely it will come. Then they will know that a prophet has been among them. There's a lot of ministries like this. I know quite a number of ministries like this. Ministries that are speaking the word of the Lord. Absolutely. They're teaching the Bible from A to Z. And people begin to flood into the doors and they want to hear and they'll even speak concerning that ministry. They'll say, "You ought to go to Calvary Coast to Mesa. You you really ought to make it up to hear John Cororus." And man, that guy can speak. And boy, do I enjoy. He's such a lovely guy. Or you ought to go off to Harvest and hear what they have to say there. Man, when you're in San Diego, make sure you go to Horizon. If you're out in this area here, you ought to go to Calvary Chapel, Golden Springs, and people will speak about that. And thousands of people do show up, and they'll sit in the church services. It happens here, too. They'll sit in the church services. And when the pastor gives a message, they'll listen as if he was singing a beautiful song and he was skillful in an instrument. They'll listen. They listen to listen and they'll listen even as God's people do, but they leave and they don't do. They hear a message that speaks to their heart and they know that it's true, but they don't put it into their practice. And so, we hear these messages over and over and over again, never practicing what God says. And then we get hard. And after a while, we begin to wonder what's happened in our life because it doesn't seem to be any fruit. So the first thing we do is they say, "Well, it must be Pastor Ra. Something's wrong with him." No, well, I love R so much. He's a dear friend. Wouldn't want to hurt his feelings. I just love to tease him. Do you know what I'm trying to say? Am I being clear? Do you hear to obey? Do you hear to obey? Do you hear to obey? Now, I want to say this very honest. I'll be honest with you, very honestly to you. There are times when I'm giving a message, then I don't really look at the people. You know, some of you may think that I see you. I really don't see you individually because I find spots to look at while I'm teaching. So, I'm not really looking. Because if I were to look at you really for more than two or three seconds, you'd begin to feel really odd. You know what I mean? You would. So, I make sure that I don't make you feel that way. Greg Lori does that. I've I've been in messages with Greg and Gre Greg will stare at you and he'll just keep looking at you and and then you start you're sitting there going, "Yeah, yeah." And then before you know it, you think, "Is he looking at me?" And he probably is because Marie writes some letters. Look at Dave, you know, and he's this and he's that. So when I'm teaching you, I normally will just kind of glance. See? So I really don't see you. I know that some people I recognize faces and a lot of you sit in the exact same place every time. So I get to know when you're there and when you're not there. It's kind of fun, too. But there are times when I'm teaching and I'll look out and I happen to see somebody that I know is having a problem that I know needs to get right with the Lord. That I know needs to get right with the Lord. And I'll give an invitation and I'm actually praying for that person. I'm praying for that person. Lord, I know they need to get right with you today. Father, in Jesus name, bring them that they might humble themselves and get right with you. So many times I open my eyes praying that the Lord has answered that and then I look out and they're still sitting there. They sit before you as my people do. They say, "Oh, great message." And walk up afterwards and shake your hand and say, "Oh, man, that really spoke to my heart." And they don't change. And they don't change. And they come the next week and the next week and the next week and the next and they never change. Then they walk up and say, "Well, that's just the way that I am. I don't understand. Are you happy with the way that you are?" No, maybe you are. I'm not saying you're bad. I'm not saying you're good. Are you me? I am not satisfied with who David Rosales is. I want to be more like Jesus Christ. I want to change. I want my life changed. I do. So, you're saying, "Oh my god, he's in sin." I'm a sinner like you, just like you. But I want to change. I want to be more like him. Now I realize that every invitation I could go forward in saying, "Lord, I'm rededicating my life." And that would be kind of fight uh uh it would get old very quickly. There are times when the Lord says, "No, you know what? It's time for you to really get right." And some of you do. You come up and some of you are weeping. And I bless the Lord for that. Be careful. Please be careful that you don't become hard to conviction. Be careful that you don't start becoming so familiar with the gospel and its call in your life that you start kind of blowing it off saying, "No, that's just one of his views." That's just the way Rosales is. That's the way David Rosales is. He's just that way. He exhorts. What I really need is I need more humor in my life. So, I'll go here. But be careful because what we need is to remain fresh and tender in the things of the Lord. We need to remain that way or we become hard. And it is not difficult to become hard to conviction. Just hear something more than a few times and don't respond. And before you know it, it just doesn't convict you anymore. It doesn't bother me anymore. One of the fellas was telling me about somebody who used to come here for years who said, 'Well, I left the church. I left uh Chino Valley. I had to go someplace else because I've heard every story David has to say. That's kind of a dumb reason to come to church. But that's how people think. I don't know that you'll ever hear everything the Lord has to say to you in this lifetime. And we need to be sensitive, don't we, to when the spirit is speaking because the Lord is saying to us, you need to hear and you need to obey what I have told you. And if you do, then I'll spare you. But if you don't, I will bring judgment. Now, in Jeremiah, back in Jeremiah, what is happening is those who are hearing the message against him are upset. And what are they going to do? They're going to bring charges against him. And they're going to say Jeremiah is a false teacher. And so this is exactly they're refusing to hear what he said. And so they're they're saying this is a false prophet and he's speaking blasphemy. And so they're crowding around him. The scripture says here because when it says in verse 9, why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. Now the Lord had said don't diminish a word. Why? Because the response was going to be incredible. They gathered around him and were pressing upon him is the picture here. and they want him dead. They're so angry at him that they want him dead. But notice what happens in verse 10. When the princes of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king's house to the house of the Lord and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. And the priests and the prophets spoke to the princes and all the people, saying, "This man deserves to die, for he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your ears." Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people, saying, "The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city with all the words that you have heard. Now therefore, amend your ways and your doings. Obey the voice of the Lord your God." Then the Lord will relent concerning the doom that he has pronounced against you. As for me, here I am in your hand. Do with me as seems good and proper to you. But know for certain that if you put me to death, you will surely bring innocent blood on yourselves on this city and on its inhabitants. For truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing. So the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, "This man does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God." Then certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah of Moreset prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest." Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah, ever put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and seek the Lord's favor? And the Lord relented concerning the doom which he had pronounced against him. But we are doing great evil against ourselves. When I was reading verse 16 today, I had to pause and pray and think it over for a few minutes. And I'm going to share something with you, and hopefully I'll make it clear. When it says the princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, this man does not deserve to die, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. The priests and the prophets during the time of Jeremiah were trying to sway the judgment of the people and the princes. The priests and the prophets represent the hypocritical religious system. The princes and the people represent the civil authority and the people of the nation. So let that sink. Priests and prophets trying to influence the civil authorities. I want you to notice with me when the priests and the prophets made their charge against Jeremiah that they didn't include that he had spoken against the temple. They simply said he spoke against this city. Now, the reason they did that is because they wanted to make it a civil charge. And so, in speaking to the judges or those princes, those who represent civil authority, they're trying to keep this on a level that they think they can get Jeremiah railroaded into a capital offense. Now, as the religious leaders, they're banking on the people and the princes respecting their religious authority. And so they're trying to force upon them a judgment. Notice with me when they said, "This man deserves to die. He was already prejudged." They were basically saying to them, "We've already determined what he deserves. All you need to do is carry it out." It's a very similar thought that occurs to Jesus when they came and said to Pontius Pilate, "He deserves to die. He made himself a king and he's creating an insurrection. We have a law. This man has stated that he's the son of God. He deserves to die. And so it's the same kind of concept here. Now what is happening and this is what the Lord really ministered to me. And it may not even mean anything to you like it did to me. But let me take the chance and share it with you. In ministry as a minister of the gospel, I do my very best and I'll be honest with you and say this to you truly. I do my best to give you what the word of God has to say. I also do my best to love this church. And as a minister of the gospel, I stand on the integrity of that desire. And over the years, there have been various times in my ministry life when people have said some very unkind things, sometimes frequently. And for several years, every week, I get one charge after another, and eventually what happens is your skin becomes pretty thick, and you get used to hearing things that are said that really aren't true or unkind. You get used to it and I don't complain about it. And it doesn't hurt very much anymore. It used to hurt a lot. And there were times in my ministry when I would come up and I would be hurting so much that I would cry out of the pain I was feeling and people didn't know. And I only time I get in when I get emotional before you know, it's because I'm like I'm sharing with my family and I get emotional when I share these things because I don't share these things. And one of the things the Lord really ministered to me and it was for my heart was this. Sometimes people sometimes people would prefer presenting themselves as being very religious and very loving and very caring. But the people that they're trying to present themselves in front of in that way will see through that. They will see through that. But then I was studying this passage and the passage said, "The princes and all the people said to the priests and the prophets," this man does not deserve to die. What are they saying? They're saying, "Jeremiah is speaking the truth." And you know, a man of God from a false prophet. Jeremiah is just preaching what the Lord says to preach. And those that he's speaking about that are convicted get upset. They drum up a charge against him, hoping to push it over on the princes and the people. But the princes and the people say, "No, you can't pull the wool over our eyes. We know a true prophet when we hear of Jeremiah being a true prophet and we know what he's saying is true." And then, as a matter of fact, they actually um refer to scripture to support why they know that Jeremiah is true. Because it says in verse 17 again, "Certain of the elders of the land rose up and spoke to all the assembly of the people, saying, Micah of Moreset prophesied in the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah, and spoke to all the people of Judah, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, Zion shall be plowed like a field. Jerusalem shall become heaps of ruins, and the mountain of the temple like the bare hills of the forest." Did Hezekiah, king of Judah, and all Judah, ever put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and seek the Lord's favor? And the Lord relented concerning the doom which he had pronounced against him, but we are doing great evil against ourselves. What did they do, guys? They went to the word of God. And they said, "Now wait a minute. We're testing the message that Jeremiah is speaking. And yes, it's a message of judgment. But we want to note that there was a man who prophesied in their lifetime about a hundred years before them during the days of Hezekiah, king of Judah. And he actually prophesied that God was going to bring judgment also. And it's recorded in the book of Micah in chapter 3:12. And so we're aware of that scripture states this. And thus they're saying we know that Jeremiah is a true prophet. And we also know that when he has made his statements as he is, that he has somebody who's gone on before him who did the same thing. And when the king Hezekiah heard it, being a righteous king, Hezekiah repented. And when Hezekiah repented, God spared them. And so the way that they were able to test this was through scripture, which is always the key. And they said, "No, we have a precedent here. This has happened before and it's happening now." Now in verse 20, there was also a man who prophesied in the name of the Lord Uriah the son of Shemeha of Kurat Garim who prophesied against this city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. And when Jehoakim the king with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard it, he was afraid and fled and went to Egypt. Then Jehoakim the the king sent men to Egypt. Al- Nathan the son of Akor and other men who went with him to Egypt. And they brought Uriah from Egypt and brought him to Yhoakim the king who killed him with the sword and cast his dead body into the graves of the common people. Nevertheless, the hand of Aikam, the son of Chiffon, was with Jeremiah, so that they should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. And so, there's another man who's prophesying a similar style of message that Jeremiah is. It's the same thing. He's prophesying against the same things that Jeremiah is. So, let's look at a couple things as we close and as we prepare. In just a moment, we're going to have communion together. But let's look at a couple things together in this one. I noted as I was going through this that the Lord on the one hand gave protection to uh Jeremiah that he did not afford to Uriah. There's no guarantee. There's no guarantee that just because you're preaching the same message, you're going to have the same protection. God has a different way of working with every man. One man is given protection by the Lord but the other man is not. And so because he was not protected, he was martyed. And as I was looking at that, I thought about that. The second thing is that Jeremiah was not alone. There are times when you may think you're the only person who has these convictions. You know, one of some some of the loneliest moments I've ever had once again. And this is just true. And this isn't to knock anybody or anything. It's been when I've been on the job with another Christian brother who didn't share the same kind of desire I had to see people get right with the Lord. And you feel pretty much alone. You almost feel crazy sometimes. I can remember being with a group of friends that were from the same church that I went to. and we were driving someplace together and I was in the back and I was talking to some young lady who had been invited to go with us and as I was speaking to her, this is many years ago now. As I was speaking to her, I asked her, "Are you a Christian?" And she said, "No, I'm not." I said, "Then what are you doing hanging around all these Christians?" She says, "Well, they invited me to go." And I began to share the gospel with her. And as I was sharing the gospel, the people in the car basically asked me to be quiet. They didn't like me witnessing to her because they thought it was making her uncomfortable. I've been there. I've seen this more than once where the church will tell a Christian, "Be quiet. You're making them uncomfortable." I would rather them become uncomfortable and get saved than to be left comfortable and and go into eternity without the Lord Jesus Christ. And there needs to be a heart to see people get right with the Lord. Well, it's true. There have been times that I've been very offensive with my personality. I know that surprises you, but there have been time there have been times in my personality that can be pretty rough. And I over the years, the Lord has done his very best to kind of tenderize me. Yet the same fire beats in my chest. It's still there. You still want to see people right with the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't want to see them perish without him. And it beats in your heart. And so you have the opportunity needs to share. And then sometimes you feel like you're the only person like this. It's not true. It's not true. Look around you because in this in this congregation here, the majority of people have that desire to see people right with Jesus Christ. To see people right, to see our families right with the Lord Jesus Christ. To see husbands or wives right with the Lord Jesus Christ. To see our children right the Lord. To see our parents right with the Lord. to see our co-workers, right? Or our student body of the school that we go to, our bosses. Look at there's something in us that beats that's so fiery, so desiring of this and you can't help it. And sometimes you may feel all by yourself and you're not. There are others just like you. I've shared this before. It bears repetition as I close. I was in a library, Rio Hondo College. I was 23 years old. And as I was in the library, I heard the name Jesus and it was said with reverence. That was kind of surprising. So I listened carefully and I heard somebody somewhere else in the library witnessing. And I heard him sharing what the Lord had done on the cross and how a person could be saved. And as I began to listen, I began to pray. And as I was praying, I was saying, "Father, just use this young man and may he have an opportunity to bring this person to faith in you. Lord, just give them the right words in Jesus' name, Lord. And then I heard somebody say, "Okay, it's nice talking to you. I'll see you later." So I I looked, I stood up and everybody was in these little booths. So I figured the guy standing up was the guy who had just been witnessed to. And so I looked around and here comes somebody stands up and I said, "Ah, so that's where this guy is who was sharing with him." So I saw him saying goodbye and everything. He turned and walked away. And I began to walk and I belineed to this guy. But somebody else from the other side of the library did the same thing. And this guy coming from one way, I came from the other. And we centered on this one guy. And both of us arrived at the same time. We looked at each other and I said to this guy seated there, "Are you a Christian?" And he says, "Yes, I am." And I said, "Well, so am I." And this other guy said, "So am I." And we go, "All right." And we're hugging each other in the library. And I told him, I said, "I just want you to know that while you were witnessing to that guy, I was praying for you." And this other fellow said, "I just want you to know I was praying for you, too." You're never alone. You're never alone. You never know who's overhearing your conversations. You never know who's seated right behind you. You never know where the Christians are. They're everywhere. We're invisible. We're like like salt. We're everywhere. We really are. I have had people from this church encounter me in places I never thought I would see them. St. Lucispo. I'm walking through the marketplace in San Lucisville. I'm there with my wife just to enjoy a weekend. And here come three people walking up. Hi, Pastor David. What are you doing here? I could ask you the same thing. What are you doing here? How'd you track me down? You know, I'm in a restaurant in in Pismo Beach and the waitress walks up and she's she's serving and she says, "How you doing, Pastor David?" And I look at her, I said, "Fine." She says, "Oh, you don't recognize me. I was in your church for a long time and it's just nice to see you and it's nice to wait on you." I have encountered people in places I would never have expected them. You know, in stores, different places, walking. You want to know what? God is really using us. And we're really everywhere. And when you're ministering the word, you're never alone. And you may be thinking, there you are sharing a little, whispering a little, and thinking nobody overhears you. And somebody that you don't even know yet is in a corner, and they hear the name Jesus, and they know when it's being said, right? And they're praying for you. and you've got a brother or you've got a sister right on that job site. You didn't even know it. I've seen it and I've seen the Lord do some marvelous things. So, one, God afforded protection for Jeremiah he did not afford for Uriah. But two, Jeremiah was not alone. The Lord was doing a work through other men. And sometimes you can feel like you're alone and you're not. There are people praying for you and adding to your witness. And it's like a relay race. You may have the baton for so long and you've handed it to somebody else and they're taking it further on in. So remain faithful. Don't diminish from the word of God. Share it with full conviction and trust and watch the Lord move. It may not be through you, but it will be with your help because God will use whatever you do and ultimately he gets all the glory. That's really the bottom line, isn't it? That he gets all the glory.