Jeremiah 38 | You Will Not Listen To Me | 6.25.1997

We have uh in verses 1 through3 we'll get into our study just by introducing those three verses. Jeremiah 38:1 Now Shapathia the son of Matan, Gdalia the son of Pashure, Chikaul the son of Chalemia and Pashir the son of Malchia heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken to all the people saying, "Thus says the Lord, he who remains in this city shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, but he who goes over to the Calaldanss shall live. His life shall be as a prize to him, and he shall live. Thus says the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. So we introduce our study by looking first at verses 1-3. And we have these individuals here who are named who are representing apparently a larger group just in the four names that we see mentioned here. And it would seem that they have been hearing the messages of the prophet Jeremiah. And as they have been hearing his messages, they obviously have become extremely upset with him. And now they have gathered together in order that they might oppose the word of the Lord. The message that he has been given, he will be designating to us as being from the Lord. And his prophetic message wasn't something that originated in his own heart, but rather was something that the Lord had given to him. And now they're gathering together and they are concerting their efforts in order that they might oppose the word of the Lord even though they are physically opposing Jeremiah. Now in the book of Proverbs in Proverbs chapter 16 in verse 5 the Bible says everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord and though they join forces he shall not be unpunished. The thought that people could actually gather and think that numbers actually will count in opposition to God is one of the I think extreme follys of humanity. We think that if we have a lot of people in opposition to God's word then we can be victorious. But the Bible says that's not true. Though they join hands, though they join forces, they shall not be unpunished. The Lord says so there's no way that you can oppose the word of the Lord. Now obviously as we see verses 2 and three, they hated Jeremiah. They hated him because he had been condemning their godlessness. They also hated him because he had been prophesying that the city was doomed to fall. And to them the message of Jeremiah where he was saying to the people to flee to the uh opposing army, the Babylonians who are also called the Calaldanss. Well, to them they felt that that message was a message of compromise and would dispirit those who were supposed to be protecting Jerusalem from falling. Notice what it says here in verse four. It says the prince said to the king, "Please let this man be put to death. For thus he weakens the hands of the men of war who remain in this city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them. For this man does not seek the welfare of this people, but their harm." And I think that's the way that the world normally does respond when the when the message of the gospel goes forth, when believers are attempting to help. I believe that the world has a tendency of saying that we're not trying to help but really we mean harm to them. And so they stood in opposition and began to cry out at saying that he's got to be a traitor because the message that he's been speaking is a message of of turning to the calaldanss of running to them of defecting to them. Now remember in chapter 21:es 8-10, remember as Jeremiah was explaining his message that God had given to him and preaching forth this message in Jeremiah 21:8 it says, "Furthermore, tell the people this is what the Lord says. See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death. Whoever stays in the city will die by the sword, famine, or plague. But whoever goes out and surreners to the Babylonians who are besieging you will live. He will escape with his life. I've determined to do this city harm and not good, declares the Lord. It will be given into the hands of the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire. And so Jeremiah has been saying to the people, just leave and go and defect and be with the Calaldanss because in doing so, they're not going to kill you. They're actually going to preserve your life. But the princes there in verse four say, we want this man to be put to death. And they're asking permission for him to die. Now they think that if he is left unpunished because he's preaching treason that in reality he's playing into the hands of the enemy. And so they're saying he's taking the fight out of the people by saying you need to defect. And they don't want to believe this word is from the Lord. So they grew angry at him. Now they grew angry at him because they don't agree with his message. And I've discovered this to be true with people in general. It doesn't have to be just here in this particular passage, but people in general will get angry if they don't agree with the message that's being proclaimed. People in general will get upset if they hear the gospel procla proclaimed the way that it truly is. A message that calls for repentance is not a popular message. A message that says to people that the Lord is a is a righteous and a very holy God and and he is displeased with the way humanity is going and the rejection of him and his son. His message of the gospel isn't something that people are running to hear normally. It's a message that most people are rejecting. But Jeremiah's message isn't originating with man. And his commission to go preach didn't come from them either. He was a man of God. And being a man of God, he knew where the message originated. And he knew what that message was to be uh spoken in terms of its him being faithful to it. And he wasn't afraid of what men had to say. Now, a messenger of the Lord. And I want to build this for just a moment. Receives a message, not from man, but from God. Remember with me for just a moment, if you'd like to turn to Exodus, the Old Testament book of Exodus, chapter 4, we'll look at this, but remember for just a moment with me, a man by the name of Moses. Moses. Moses was born in a time in the history of the nation of Israel where the people of Israel had been some four centuries residing in the nation of Egypt. And after four centuries of their residing there, a pharaoh arose who didn't remember the memory of a man who was very important to the nation's history, a man by the name of Joseph. And a pharaoh arose who knew not Joseph. In other words, he didn't honor his memory or his contributions to their society. And so when this pharaoh arose coming from a different dynasty, he hated the Jews because the Jews were shepherds and they had no dealings with did not desire to have any relationship with these shepherds. And so seeing that the uh the Jewish nation was growing and had a certain prosperity, the Pharaoh began to oppose the Jews. And we know the story where he gave the order for the Jewish children, the Jewish males who were born. He gave the order for them to be put to death. And there was a beautiful baby born to a Jewish couple. And the mother decided that she would do everything she could to preserve his life. And she took him and she placed him in a little basket, put him in the bull rushes, allowed him to float off. And his sister Miriam watched as the infant floated and ultimately came into the possession of Pharaoh's daughter. And we know that the Bible teaches that Moses was raised with all the learning of the Egyptians as the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But when he was of age, when he was 40 years old, he went to visit his people. And while he was there visiting his people, we know the story of how he saw an Egyptian taskmaster abusing one of his Hebrew people according to the flesh. And and how he got angry and he slew this man and he buried his body there in the sand. And the next day as he went back to visit again, he saw two Jewish men who were fighting amongst themselves. And he said, "Your brethren, why are you doing this?" And one of them, and this the Bible says, "The one who was in the wrong said,"Well, what are you going to do? Are you going to slay me the way you slew the Egyptian?" And the word got out. And as word got out, Pharaoh opposes Moses. And he leaves. And off Moses goes into the desert of Midian. And while he's there, he meets a woman and marries her and he becomes basically a shepherd for 40 more years. So for the first 40 years of Moses's life, he is learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Then he leaves at the age of 40 and remains in a wilderness for another 40 years. And then as chapter 3 tells us, he was walking in the backside there of the desert, he sees a bush that is burning but is not being consumed. And he turns aside to see this great sight. And as he approaches this burning bush there, a voice speaks to him and tells him to remove his sandals because he's trott in on holy ground, on heavenly ground. And as he does so, the voice begins to speak to him. And it's the Lord. And the Lord begins to speak to Moses, telling him that he has heard the cry of the children of Israel, and he has come to basically deliver them. And Moses says, "Oh, great. That's a wonderful plan. Go for it, Lord." And he says, "I I will, but I'm going to use you." Now, Moses at the age of 40 was certain he was the man that God was going to use. But at the age of 80, he said, "You know what? I've gotten out of the delivery business. I'm really not into that. It would be great." Anyway, he said to the Lord, "I can't I can't speak. I'm slow of speech. I I'm really not able to do that." But notice 4:es 10-2. Because as Moses is there arguing with the Lord, giving him every reason why he ought not to be used. In Exodus 4:10, it says, "Moses said to the Lord, "Oh Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I'm I'm slow of speech and tongue." And the Lord said to him, who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? who gives him sight, makes him blind. Is it not I, the Lord? Now go. Now notice this. I will help you speak and will teach you what to say. This is the making of a man of God. It wasn't the word of Moses. It was the word of the Lord. It wasn't something that originated with Moses. If you study the scriptures closely, you will see that he had no desire whatsoever any longer burning within him to be that deliverer. Now, according to Acts chapter 7, when Steven was speaking, he said that Moses knew that he was the deliverer of Israel. But the problem was is he tried in the flesh to accomplish a task that takes the spirit. And because of that, the Lord had to give him 40 years to earn his BD, his backside of the desert degree in order that he might learn to trust the Lord rather than himself and his own flesh. You know, I was I'm reading a book on Billy Graham, the autobiography of Billy Graham, and it's really a fascinating book. I was reading just yesterday how the Lord will use people when they don't necessarily covet that position. It's how he got on the radio. I became a radio minister and it's a it's a story that really fascinated me because there were a couple of gentlemen who wanted Billy Graham to go on the radio and he didn't want to go on the radio. He had too many things going at that time and he said I really don't want to go on the radio and these people were persistent and he was at a crusade and they would come constantly saying we want you to be on the radio Billy. we want you to be on the radio. And he said, I got to the point where I would take, you know, elevators in the back of the building so they couldn't get to me. I would avoid them and they would somehow find me. He said, I was just constantly saying no. He said, till the very last day that I was there doing this particular crusade. And he said, finally, they got me again. And so he said, I told them, listen, he said, if by midnight tonight I received $25,000, I will go on the radio. And he laughed and they laughed with him because back in the early 50s $25,000 in one night was unheard of. Unheard of. And so he went out to begin the crusade and he was introducing one of the men and he shared that joke with the people there at that crusade. He said, "You know what? I was just telling a couple guys, if I had $25,000, I'd go on the radio." and they all laughed with him and and he laughed and he introduced Grady and um the crusade went and then at the end of the crusade he was in a back room and people started coming in and people said you know what you said spoke to my heart and they started bringing checks and they started bringing cash and he said right in front of them cuz they didn't take an offer and he wasn't even intending to. He said, "Right in front of me, $24,000 basically appeared because these people walked in." And then he said, " $24,000?" And he turns to his men and he says, "You know what? I said $25,000." So he said, "This this he said, this may be Satan. This may be the devil trying to get me to go someplace else." He says, "No, I said $25,000 and there's 24,000. Well, well, I don't know what to do." So they went out to eat. He says, "So we went out to eat and we came back to our hotel. It was 11:30 at night when I came walking in and he said, uh, the person at the desk there when I walked in said, "Mr. Graham, we have two messages for you." And so he went and he got his mail, two letters. He went to his room and he opened up these letters that were dated two days previous. There were two checks for $500 each. And both of them said, "This is for radio ministry. We feel that you need to go on the radio." You know, I've been thinking about going on the radio, but we need a million dollars. You know, I really believe that the Lord is the one who gives the message and the anointing. Jeremiah was not running around trying to be God's man for the hour. He was a young man. Some say as as young as 14 when the Lord called him and gave him a message. The thing that I want to learn even as I study this passage is that the message is not from the man. The message is from God. And I apply that by the way to our studying the word of God. This book here, this Bible is inspired by God. It isn't of human origin. And when rightly divided, when the Holy Spirit is anointing the teaching, it's more than simply a pastor speaking to you, it's the voice of Almighty God. You'll see this in just a moment that the Lord is speaking to us. The Lord is speaking to us through his word. Now, these people in rejecting the message and the messenger are not simply rejecting something that originated in the heart of Jeremiah. And they're not simply rejecting Jeremiah. They're rejecting God. As God had given to Jeremiah this message for them in the same way that the Lord said, "I will help you speak and will teach you what to say to Moses," he was doing the same kind of thing for Jeremiah. So Jeremiah was called by God to deliver God's message. Remember in chapter 1 of Jeremiah, remember verses 4-9 in his original call. Remember how in Jeremiah 1:4 we read, "The word of the Lord came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." A sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak. I'm only a child. But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, I am only a child. You must go to everyone I send you, send you to, and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord." Then he says, "The Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, now I have put my words in your mouth." And so when Jeremiah was speaking, he knew that these were the words of the Lord. That's why he is so faithful. Now, back in chapter 38, their desire is to put him to death because they reject his message and they feel like if they can quiet him down, if they can shut his mouth, then they're going to be in peace once again. But that's not true. Now, in verses 5 and six, it says, "Zedekiah the king said, look, he's in your hand, for the king can do nothing against you." So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchia the king's son which was in the court of the prison. And they let Jeremiah down with ropes. And in the dungeon there was no water but meer. So Jeremiah sank in the mire. And so Zedekiah obviously is much too weak to withstand these officials. And though he didn't sign a death warrant against Jeremiah, he he at the same time does nothing to safeguard him. And so the scripture says they threw him into a dungeon. I was looking that word up dungeon in the original language just to see exactly what this was. The word dungeon really refers to a water sistern which gives you insight into why when they would lower him down because these sistns could be enormous holding thousands and thousands of gallons. And a lot of the homes there in the region would actually have you know like basements. And in the basement they would have an underground water storage system called a sistern. And what they did is they opened up the mouth of this sistern and they lower him down into this sistern and it's collected some muddy substance at the bottom called meer. And you see him as he's just abandoned in there. They're not going to feed him in order that he might simply starve to death. They don't want to in any way say we killed Jeremiah. They don't want to take the personal responsibility for that. So they basically just abandon him in this sistern that is called a dungeon. In verses 7-9 it says, "Now Ebedmelc the Ethiopian for one of the Unix who was in the king's house heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon when the king was sitting at the gate of Benjamin. Abed Melech went out to the king's house and spoke to the king, saying, "My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the dungeon, and he is likely to die from hunger in the place where he is. There's no more bread in the city." I can't imagine this. Can you? How many of you like think that you would like being placed into a dungeon like that? Your feet stuck in the mud and then they just close the lid on you and there you are with absolutely no way of getting out. Normally the sides of these sistns were rounded. So there's no way you're going to climb out. There's nobody who can hear you screaming for help. No matter how loudly you cry, there's no way anybody's going to get you out of this place. You're there. And you're there because you've been preaching the word of the Lord. Now wait a minute, Lord. You said you would be with me and protect me. Then what am I doing in here? Do you think for a moment you might be saying maybe I chose the wrong wrong occupation. I can't imagine what that would be like. It is so far beyond me what it must have been like to have been placed in this sistern to have the lid closed up to hear the people walking away and to know that unless the Lord does a tremendous work a miracle of some sort that I am going to die right here and there'll be nobody to mourn my death because nobody's even going to really know where I'm at. But there's a man, an Ethiopian unit. What is a unit? Well, the word is used in two ways. One, it's used as an officer. A unic could be an officer, like a political official of some sort. And normally, they were in charge of the king's herum. The king had multiple wives, obviously. And so, a unic often and normally was a castrated male because he would take care of the king's herum. And so, they did what they could to make sure that he just simply watched over them and didn't try to enter into the herum for any pleasures of his own. And so, this was an Ethiopian man who more than likely had been castrated. And the funny thing about it is only a foreigner cares about Jeremiah. His own people don't care at all about him, but this Ethiopian does. And he's concerned greatly. Now, this Ethiopian unic is an interesting man. And there's another one in scripture that I'd like to turn you to to see because it's interesting. In Acts chapter 8, we see another Ethiopian. I'd like to read a passage found in Acts chapter 8 about another man who's declared to be an Ethiopian. Chapter 8 26. In acts 8 it says an angel of the Lord spoke to Philillip saying arise and go toward the south along the road which goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza. He goes on to say this is desert. So he arose and went and behold a man of Ethiopia a unic of great authority under Candace the queen of the Ethiopians who had charge of all her treasury and had come to Jerusalem to worship was returning. And sitting in his chariot he was reading Isaiah the prophet. Then the spirit said to Philip, "Go near and overtake this chariot." So Philip ran to him and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah and said,"Do you understand what you're reading?" He said, "How can I unless someone guides me?" He asked Philillip to come up and sit with him. The place in the scripture which he read was this. He was led as a sheep to the slaughter like a lamb silent before iter. So he opened not his mouth. In his humiliation, his justice was taken away. And who will declare his generation? For his life is taken from the earth. So the unic answered Philillip and said, "I ask you, of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or some other man?" And Philip opened his mouth and beginning at this scripture preached Jesus to him. Now as they went down the road, they came to some water. And the unic said, "See here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?" And Philip said, "If you believe with all your heart, you may." And he answered and said, "I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God." So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the unic went down into the water and he baptized them. Ethiopian Unix. Interesting. Both of these men, turning back to Jeremiah 38, both of these men described as men who were faithful, men who were concerned. This particular man here cares a lot. And so he goes to the king and he says, "Listen," he says he's going to die if you leave him there. He's going to die of starvation. So in verse 10, the king commanded Abedmech the Ethiopian, saying, "Take from here 30 men with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he dies." So Abedmech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the treasury and took from there old clothes and old rags and let them down by ropes into the dungeon to Jeremiah. Then Abed the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, "Please put these old clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes." Jeremiah did so. They pulled Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the dungeon. Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. Zedekiah the king sent and had Jeremiah the prophet brought to him at the third entrance of the house of the Lord. And the king said to Jeremiah, "I will ask you something. Hide nothing from me." Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death? And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. Zedekiah the king swore secretly to Jeremiah, saying, "As the Lord lives, who made our very souls, I will not put you to death, nor will I give you give you into the hand of these men who seek your life." Notice with me though, he didn't say, "And I will obey what the word of the Lord is." When he says in verse 15, "If I declare it to you, will you not surely put me to death?" Look, look at And if I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. I understand what that means. As a matter of fact, I want to spend some time thinking about that out loud with you as we study our scriptures. There's a couple of passages that I'm going to rest on today. This is one of them. If I give you counsel, you will not listen to me. Do you know one of the besetting sins of the church of Jesus Christ is? I believe that one of the besetting sins, one of the sins that are like encroaching on people is the sin of unbelief. The sin of unbelief. There's an interesting story found in the Gospel of Mark in chapter nine about a man who has a son who is demonpossessed. Now Jesus has been with his disciples on what is called the mount of transfiguration. And while Jesus was there, his whole appearance was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. and Moses and Elijah appeared there on this mount with him speaking concerning his decease that would be accomplished in the city of Jerusalem. And that's when the apostle Peter seeing this event taking place and seeing the glory of the Lord revealed the shikina glory of God there in Jesus the glory of the Lord. That's when he said we need to build three tabernacles, three tents, three booths. One for you, one for Moses, one for Elijah. And Moses and Elijah represent the law and the prophets and Jesus the fulfillment of those. And Jesus of course doesn't give permission to him to build those tabernacles. And after the Lord ministers to them very effectively, they move on down the hill. And as they're moving on down the hill, there's a crowd of people who are surrounding Jesus's apostles. And Jesus looks to the scribes there and he says to them, "What are you what are you doing with my apostles? What are you asking them? Why are you bothering them? Is what he's asking them. And then a man cries out and said, "Master," he says, "I I have a son who is severely demonpossessed, and I brought him to your disciples so that they might cast the demon from him, but but they they were unable to." Jesus says, "Oh, how long will I suffer with you? You faithless people, bring him to me." And as they bring the kid there, the demon tears into him. And and instead of just immediately casting the demon out, Jesus looks at the father and he says, "How long has this been taking place since he was a small child from childhood?" And often times, you said the demon will will tear him and throw him into water or throw him into the fire to try and kill him. And then the father says to him this. He says, "But if you can do anything, help us." Now, how do you think you would feel if you had a child who from infancy, literally from infancy, could not be left alone ever. Ever. You could never leave that child alone. You couldn't be bathing the child and step out of the room for just a moment to answer the phone because the child could severely convulse under demonic possession and drown. So you never can leave that child alone. You can't have a campfire singing songs and roasting marshmallows and all of that because the child will dive right on into the flames there. It's happened since he was a baby. None of us can relate to that very well. None of us in this room, I'm certain, have ever had this exact experience. But some of us have children and some of us know what it would be like, what kind of torture that would be to never be able to go out because the minute you're out, who knows what that child's going to do. You never leave that child with anybody because if you leave that child with grandma or grandpa, they may not have their eyes on that child and that child might go out and before you know it, the demon may tear into it and that child may die. So your whole life is wrapped up in this one child. If you have others, they're neglected because there's no way that you can expend that kind of energy, that emotional energy on this child and have anything left over for the other kids. So they feel neglected, they feel left out, you feel guilty, and this child hasn't been going just for a week or a month since he was a baby. And there's no telling how old this child is at this point, but it's been several years. And so you're desperate and you hear about this man, Jesus Christ, who's walking through the towns and is actually casting demons out. And you bring your child, but he's not there. All that's there are these eight guys that have been following him, nine guys. And and and he's gone with three of them on he's up in some mountain. and I brought him. Well, he says to Jesus, I I brought them to your your your fellows here thinking that they might be able to do something and they were unable to do anything. Who can do anything? Help us. If you can, what was Jesus's response? If you can believe, all things are possible. What do you mean if I can do anything? Jesus was saying to this man, I can do it. It's not whether I can, it's whether you can believe I can. And so if you can believe, anything is possible to him who believe. And I think that the father's response is a classic one. Lord, I believe in the King James. I like the King James. Help thou mine unbelief. Unbelief. Unbelief. And that's the church today. unbelief. I believe I can come to Bible studies and I thank God that you do and I thank God that I get Bible studies from my pastor and those who teach me. I can go to a Bible study. But if I don't mix the word with faith, it doesn't do me any good. I simply am now more informed, but I'm not necessarily growing. You can go to church and hear all the right things, guys. all the right things. But you know what we have to do? We have to mix those words with faith. That's why recently I've been emphasizing this one thought. This is the very word of God. This is the very word of God. It's the word of God. This Bible is the word of God. And you can say to me as I have said to the Lord, I believe. You've got to help my unbelief. It's It's not that I don't believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of the living God. I do, but I don't seem to be able to put that into practice. I I can leave a Bible study and get mad the minute I get in the parking lot. I can get I can leave a Bible study and go home and have a fight all the way home. I can come home said, "Oh, hallelujah." and and I I I can walk it in to the door and the kids are having a problem and and before you know it, I can flush out just like anybody else and so can you. I've followed you home before. I have seen it. It's true, isn't it? It's true. I believe that what the church is dealing with here at the end of the 20th century is and we'll be looking at this in a few weeks in our study of the book of revelation. It's the church of Leadyia in many ways. What is the church of Leadyia? A church that cries out we are rich and we have no need of anything. And Jesus says but you are poor. You are blind. You are wretched. You are naked. He says to the Leadyian church, you may have all the outside, but you're not acting on it from the inside. And I believe that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in the last days is filled with unbelief. is filled with this. I used to ask my children, "How many times am I going to have to tell you this until you understand, till I realize they're not going to understand until they're ready. And some things may never be something they understand. And some things they understand won't be identical to the way I understand it. And so if I only used my understanding of what goodness is, then my children would say, "But I am good. Not by your standards and your understanding of what goodness is, but by my own standards." And so I need to appeal to something that's greater than my own understanding. And so I say the word of God says, "I am holy and therefore you be holy in all your manner of life." So I appeal to something greater than myself. And I say to my children, "Kids, this isn't daddy's idea of goodness. This is simply what God wants us to be." And I'm trying to model this to you. and you've watched me and you've seen the warts and you've seen the the ungodliness of my life like no other person can see but you see the consistency and the desire of my heart too which is to follow Jesus Christ and though I don't bat a thousand my batting average goes up every day because the spirit of God works in you every day conforming you into the image of Jesus Christ but listen I know what he's saying when he says if I give you counsel you'll not listen to me because many times when I have ministered to people and I've shared this is what the word of the Lord says they'll say to me I already know that and it doesn't work and I'll say no something's wrong here Jesus said if you know these things then blessed are you if you what if you do them if you do them. And so when God gives to you his word you have to ask yourself this. This is where the Lord has ministered to me over the years. This is where it's at with me now. I believe it's biblical as I'm sharing this with you. The Lord has asked me many times in different forms this one question. If I raised Jesus from the dead, and you say you believe that, then can't I give life to your body? If I was able to raise Jesus from the dead, the Lord has spoken to my heart. Then can't I give you victory over your temper? Can't I give you victory over any desires that are not from me? Can't I give you victory over your gossipy tongue? Can't I give you victory in that area? Because you want to know something, guys? The church in the last portion of the 20th century is living in unbelief. Absolutely. And so instead of going to the word of God, we go to men who will give us counsel we want to hear. And that's what Jeremiah is saying. Listen, if I tell you the truth, you're going to be mad at me. You're going to want to kill me. You will not listen to my counsel. And I can tell you, some of you have shared with your friends and your brothers and your sisters. You were driving home. You saw this girl's car parked in the front yard. You knew that she didn't live there. She's at your buddy's house. And so the next day, you speak to the buddy and you say, "Man, I saw your girlfriend's car there last night. And it just so happens that as I was driving to work this morning, it was still there. What's going on?" None of your business. Oh, yes it is. Well, who says it's your business? God does. Where? Well, you remember a man by the name of Cain? Yeah. He asked the Lord, "Am I my brother's keeper?" The answer was yes. Yes. We're accountable to one another. We love each other. And thus, if a friend tells you the truth, well, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And so, yeah, I'll tell you the truth because I'm concerned for your eternity. And you know what people will do? They'll say, "You know what, man? I've already heard that. I already know. You know what? Just back off, man. Let me just live my life right now. I'm enjoying it." And they will never understand your tears. There have been so many times when I've spoken to people as a friend and as a pastor, and I have said to them, "This is what the Lord says." And you know what they'll say? Yeah, I already know that. And Jeremiah is speaking to Zedekiah saying to him, I'll give you counsel, but you won't listen to me. Please, when God speaks to you, listen to him. Is your plan better than his for your life? Do you think you can control your own life and he can't? There's a tremendous wisdom in turning over the reigns of your life to the one who loves you the most. That's your God. And when the word of God speaks to you, stop making excuses about remaining in sin for just a little bit longer. Because that really reflects that you don't love Jesus. Because if you would only allow the Lord Jesus's death on that cross to find a home in your heart, how could you add to his suffering one iota to continuing in sin? How is that possible that I would enjoy seeing him die for me? I can't see. I grieve over the fact that he died for me. And that grief in my heart makes me tender to the love of the Lord, which causes me to grieve when I fail. And then I yield that to the Lord. I say, "God, forgive me. I am a sinner and I need your help." Jeremiah speaking to this man. This man saying, "Oh, tell me in confidence. Tell me in secret." But he says, "If I counsel you, you won't even listen." In verse 17, Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, "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 sons, rather, you and your house shall live. But if you do not surrender to the king of Babylon's princes, then this city shall be given into the hand of the Calaldanss. They shall burn it with fire, and you shall not escape from their hand. He doesn't alter the message whatsoever. So Zedekiah the king said to Jeremiah in verse 19, "I'm afraid of the Jews who have defected to the Calaldanss, lest they deliver me into their hand and they abuse me." So he fears men and he doesn't fear God. But notice verse 20. Jeremiah said, "They shall not deliver you. Please obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. So it shall be well with you, and your soul shall live. But if you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me." Now behold, behold, all the women who are left in the king of Judah's house shall be surrendered to the king of Babylon's princes. And those women shall say, "Your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you. Your feet have sunk in the mire, and they have turned away again. So they shall surrender all your wives and children to the Calaldanss. You shall not escape from their hand, but shall be taken by the hand of the king of Babylon, and you shall cause this city to be burned with fire. Notice verse 20. Please obey the voice of the Lord. Notice which I speak to you. What was he saying again, guys? He was saying, this is being spoken to you does not originate with me, Jeremiah. He said, this is the voice of the Lord. when you hear my voice," he said, "Those are the words God gave me to give to you." He's claiming inspiration. Again, using Billy Graham as an example, Billy Graham had a friend of his who moved off into intellectual circles. And as he began to pursue the intellectual things of of uh what he perceived to be Christian things, Christian studies and all, he began to move away from a belief in the inspiration of scripture. He began to believe that if you thought that the Bible was actually inspired by God, he began to believe that that was basically a very very um poor position to hold. He believed that there were certain elements in there that were from God and the rest were from man. And he was a very dear friend of Billy Graham and began to influence Billy Graham very early in his ministry. Now, Billy Graham, you need to know, used to, as a young man after getting saved and beginning to go to Bible college, Billy Graham used to go out and he used to stand on this kind of like a lake front, he used to go across this, there was a river with a small island, actually a lake with a small island and he would go across and he would stand on the shore there and he would preach towards the uh the major shore from the small island and he would preach across the water there so that he could learn to project his voice. he was saying and and the students in the colleges going to would stand on the other side and mock him. This was Christian college, but they'd say, "How many fish were converted today, Billy?" You know, and they would tease the message, go out there and learn to preach. He said the first message that he ever gave, he went out and he gave he stayed up all night. He prayed all night. He read the word of God all night. He said, "And then I did the same thing all day until I gave an evening service to 40 different to 40 people who showed up." And he said he had memorized I think some three three messages that he had basically stolen from somebody else. He said so I memorized these messages and I knew them from backwards and forwards. And he said so I knew that I could rely on giving this message. I prepared. I prayed. I had the message. He said and then I went out and I spoke to these 40 people. And he says and I gave the first message and I realized I still had some time. So I was just moved right on into the second message. He said and I gave the second message and I realized I still had some time. So, I thought I might as well just move on in and conclude with the third message. And he said, "And I'm all sweaty and I I sat down and and I looked at my watch and it took me eight minutes to give these three messages." He had a heart to preach the word of God and all. And yet, he has this friend of his as he's growing older and more mature in the things of the Lord. He's also growing intellectually challenged and all. And so, his friend begins to tell him that the word of God is not the word of God. And Billy Graham said, "I wrestled with that." And I wrestled with that. And finally one night, he said, "I couldn't take it any longer." And he said, "I went out into the woods and it was just the Lord in me." He said, "I can still remembering remember opening up my Bible and trying to read, but it was too dark. I couldn't even see the words on the pages." He says, "I don't remember by now my prayer. All I know is I prayed something like, God, if this isn't true, let me know. But if this is true, then may I preach it as if it is truly your word." He said and he cried out to the Lord and he prayed to the Lord and he said and in the midst of that struggle and that agony. He said I came to a peace and a knowledge that of course this is the word of God. God is able to preserve his word. He has done so and I will preach it with that authority. And you have seen the ministry of Billy Graham over the last 50 years. Billy Graham used to go and stand in front of bars and preach messages to guys coming out of the bar just preaching to them. And he had like five messages he would give and these drunks would come out and they'd come out to Billy Graham and he'd be pointing his long bony finger at them and preaching at them. And he used to do that. He preached like every day. Every day. Preach, preach, preach. This is a man God has truly used. But if he didn't believe these were the very words of God, there would be no impact in his ministry. He said, "I preach with authority because the word of God is my authority. The word of God is my authority." You know, we Calvary Chapel people, we say we believe the word of God and we teach verse by verse. Well, we can say we believe and we can teach verse by verse. My great concern is that I do believe and this congregation believes also. And when God speaks, we need to listen. And notice him in verse 20. Please obey the voice of the Lord which I speak to you. Please obey the voice of the Lord. Please don't allow unbelief to steal from you what God would give to you if you only opened in sincere and simple faith. Somebody says, "You Christians say that I can be a new creation, that all the old things will be passed away." Well, I just don't believe that. I feel so sorry for you because God can radically transform a life. And so like Jeremiah of old, I would say, please obey the voice of the Lord. When God speaks to you, listen to what he has to say. Please don't get in the habit of saying, "Oh, I'll consider this some other time." Please ask God, "Give me direction." Every time you come to church, Lord, what do you want to do in my life? See, we're not just exercising, you know, moving into the same room together and parking our We're here to know our God to have fellowship with him and to grow in the ways of the Lord and not to be actively disobedient to him when he speaks to us, but rather to yield our lives to him. So when Jeremiah cried out and said, "Obey the voice of the Lord, which I speak to you," that still rings through the thousands of years since he said that. Now he says it's the voice of the Lord. And so if you would believe, he says it will be well with you and your soul shall live. Now in verses 21- 23 when he says, "If you refuse to surrender, this is the word that the Lord has shown me." He goes on to say, "You have a choice. You have a choice to obey. You have a a choice to refuse. But there are always going to be consequences to disobedience. Worse than the ridicule of those who defected will be the ridicule of your own herm because your herm will become the herm of the conquering king and will actually sing songs against you shaming you. That's what they're referring to there in verse 22 when he says these women will be singing. Your close friends have set upon you and prevailed against you. In verse 24, Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, "Let no one know of these words and you shall not die. But if the princes hear that I have talked with you and they come to you and say to you, declare to us now what you have said to the king and also what the king said to you. Do not hide it from us and we will not put you to death. Then you shall say to them, I presented my request before the king that he would not make me return to Jonathan's house to die there. Then all the princes came to Jeremiah and asked him. And he told them according to all these words the king had commanded. They stopped speaking with him for the conversation had not been heard. Now Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken. And he was there when Jerusalem was taken. Which is another way of saying Zedekiah did not listen. He would not listen. There are consequences. There are consequences to disobedience. We who are parents know that we are very wise. If when our children have broken the rules that have been established, we are very very wise if we enforce those rules immediately because if we do not enforce them, then our children begin to realize that we aren't really sincere and thus they will never see consequences in their life. So the wisest thing to do is to teach our children that our word is firm because it gives to them trust and it also establishes our integrity. And beyond that, it makes them able to have a conscience because as they grow older, when they're younger, it's one thing to be able to discipline a young person. It's another thing when they're a teenager. When they're older and they have that big smile on their face and they say to you, "Oh yes, I'll obey." and then they go out and do whatever it is that they want to do. For those of us who have done our best to encourage a conscience to be formed in them, even if they do wrong, the conscience will cry out because it's been made tender by the spirit of the Lord. And so by putting into their lives the things that count, even when they fail to be obedient, they never fail to have consequences. and they realize that their disobedience has resulted in a breach, a breach of faith. And in that they have a tenderness that they're able to come back to dad or mom and say, "I failed." And how did they get that? They got that because rules were enforced. And when the Lord speaks and says to you, I have promises that I will keep both for good and for evil. Well, I rejoice in the good, but I do my best to avoid the evil. Because if I sow to the flesh, from the flesh I reap corruption. But if I sow to the spirit, from the spirit I reap everlasting life. So my desire is to sow things of the spirit so that I might live a spiritually fulfilled life. And when the Lord Jesus Christ died on that cross, it was that he might buy us back. And he says, if you hear my voice and come to me, I will give you everlasting life. So like Jeremiah of old, I would say please obey the voice of the Lord as he calls you. Come to him. And if you haven't come to him, come to him.