Perseverence in the Old Testament

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 2, 2021

00:04: Good morning, and it's great to see everyone Let's ask the Lord's blessing for this word Father God, thank you for this day.
00:19: You've given us This is a day that you have made and we will rejoice and be glad in it We thank you father that you have given us your word that can be studied and examined father to extract the truth We pray that you would be honored in your word today and that father We would be edified and equipped to better persevere for you in Christ's name Amen If you want to open your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah And I can tell you right now You're probably not going to want to try to keep up because we've got to cover 52 chapters and 52 minutes so But we are gonna do a survey of the prophet Jeremiah was a persevering prophet and he was a preserved prophet And I'm gonna read Jeremiah chapter 1 It says the words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah of the priest who were in Anathoth and the land of Benjamin to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon the king of Judah in the 13th year of his reign It came also in the days of Jehoiachin the son of Josiah king of Judah and to the end of the 11th year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah King of Judah until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month and the word of the Lord came to me saying before I Formed you in the womb.
01:46: I knew you and before you were born.
01:48: I consecrated you I have appointed you a prophet to the nations and I said alas Lord behold, I do did not know how to speak I am nothing but a youth but the Lord said to me do not say I am a youth Because everywhere I send you you shall go and all that I command you to speak you will speak and do not be afraid of Them for I am with you to deliver you declares the Lord Then the Lord stretched out his hand and he touched my lips my mouth and the Lord said to me behold I've put my words in your mouth See I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up and to break down to destroy and to overthrow to build and to plant Then the word of the Lord came to me saying what do you see Jeremiah? And I said I see a rod of an almond tree and the Lord said to me you have seen well For I am watching over my word to perform it and the Word of the Lord came to me a second time saying what do you? See now Jeremiah and I said I saw a boiling pot facing away from the north and the Lord said to me out of the north the evil will Break forth on all the inhabitants of this land for behold I am calling on all the families and the kingdoms of the north declares the Lord and they will come and they will set each one of his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem and against the walls round about and against the city of Judah and I will pronounce my judgments on them concerning all of their wickedness Whereby they have forsaken me and have offered sacrifices to other gods and worship the works of their own hands Now gird up your loins and arise and speak to them all which I command you and do not be dismayed before them Or I will dismay you before them Behold, I have made you today a fortified city as a pillar of iron as walls of bronze against the whole Land to the kings of Judah to the Providence to the priest and to the people of the land and they will fight against you But they will not overcome you for I am with you declares the Lord to deliver you This was the call and commission to Jeremiah If you have ever read through the book of Jeremiah, you would understand very quickly that that book is not written in chronological order So I mean the first time reading through this I'm going man.
04:02: This guy is Can't keeps his train of thought together.
04:06: Well, it's not written chronologically.
04:08: It's written thematically So if you were going to I out if I was going to outline this book for someone here's how I would have done it It would be chapter 1 which we just read would be the call and the commission of Jeremiah Then chapters 2 through 29 is Jeremiah's judgments exhortations and national call to repentance Chapter 30 through 33 would be the promise of deliverance from from the exile restoration to the land promise of the new covenant and messianic kingdom and then chapters 34 through 45 would be the coming destruction of Jerusalem its kings and the destruction of the temple the aftermath of Jerusalem and then chapters 46 through 51 would be his prophecies against judgment and destruction of the nations and all those surrounding including Egypt and Babylon and then chapter 52 would close out the summary of the destruction of Jerusalem and You would very quickly in reading through his sermons and his exhortations.
05:11: You would see that 48 chapters of his book is nothing but doom gloom destruction and devastation to four chapters of Exhortation I mean for exhortation and encouragement, so that's a ratio of 12 to 1 of doom to gloom So the book is not a happy book But Jeremiah is a prophet who persevered through a very tumultuous time Well one let's look at who was this prophet Well verse 1 says that this prophet Jeremiah was the son of Hilkiah of the priest who were from Anathoth in the land of Benjamin He was a the son of Hilkiah and he is not the the famous Hilkiah that when doing some temple rebuilding and Improvements with Josiah.
06:00: This was not the Hilkiah the priest that found the scroll He was just a regular old Hilkiah, and he was from the land of Anathoth Anathoth was on the north East Northeast from Jerusalem about a an hour hour and a half's walk everybody walked in that day, by the way And it was in land of Benjamin Benjamin was the land designated to the priest Anathoth was a Specific Levite city and Jeremiah was a Levite.
06:33: He was a priest Well, when did this man? Ministry begin and why well it tells us in Verse 2 the word of the Lord came to him under Josiah the son of Ammon the king of Judah Well, who was Josiah? Well, Josiah was the great reformer and he ruled from 640 to 609 and Jeremiah is a very important important figure.
06:59: I'm gonna read just a couple of things about him really quick Because he is very important.
07:06: He was the the great reformer He was the greatest king of Israel it says in 2nd Chronicles chapter 34 That Josiah was 8 years old when he became king and he he reigned for 31 years in Jerusalem And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord and he walked in all the ways of his father David He did not turn to the right nor to the left But it was in the eighth year of his reign that while he was still a youth he began to seek the Lord So you understand at the age of 16? Josiah was converted It says he was 8 years old when he became to the throne and it says 8 years after he was reigning As he was still a youth.
07:50: He began to seek the Lord's face It says and in his twelfth year of his reign He began to purge all of Judah and all of Jerusalem of the high places the ashram the Karsh images the molten images and he tore down all the bales and Tore down all the incense altars chopped him down It even goes on to say that in in his campaign to rid Judah and Jerusalem of all its Idolatry that he even went out and dug up the bones of the false prophet Ground them up and then burnt them on the false altars and we go.
08:25: Wow, that seems a little bit extreme Well, that's not how the scripture looks at it.
08:29: He was commended for doing so he actually went into the temple It says in second Kings.
08:35: He went into the temple where at this particular time there was set up male Prostitutes within the house of the Lord and he went in there and he cleaned it out.
08:43: So Josiah was a great reformer and This is the time in which Jeremiah began to prophesy and you go well that seems a little odd that he would prophesy at a time of what would be a long time of great revival Josiah Was a faithful follower of the Lord But the people followed Josiah, they didn't follow the Lord and we see that today we see Matter of fact, we could just not to point too many fingers, but we we've seen great quote pastors fall Who were supposedly great preachers, but when they fell where did their movement go? It went with it.
09:27: It fell and we see that today we see that's exactly what happens with Josiah Josiah is killed in battle and 609 Against the the Council of the Lord to not fight against the Egyptians.
09:41: He went out Anyway, he was killed in 609 and then it he is his reform stop Well who takes over after him? Well, it's in 609.
09:55: He dies in the Battle of Megiddo Against the Egyptians and Jehoiakim is put in his place in 609.
10:02: That's what it says and that was the successor Well, who was Jehoiakim? Well, he was the puppet king of Egypt He was installed by Egypt after they were overthrown And Judah is now a vassal state for Egypt It is under Jehoiakim and under Zedekiah that Jeremiah is persecuted more than any other time Nebuchadnezzar Making them a vassals gut goes in he he Nebuchadnezzar takes over and kills all the armies of Egypt and all the armies of the Assyrians in 605 he then Hauls off the first deportation of Judah off into captivity and he puts Jehoiakim under his vassal states understand that there's been two kings been kingdoms been conquered now Nebuchadnezzar makes Jehoiakim a puppet king Well, it's under Jehoiakim that he is then Persecuted his preaching is not is not adhered to he constantly calls him to repentance but then Jehoiakim he dies in 598 in 598 we have no indication how he died.
11:23: He's dies Then Nebuchadnezzar comes in and puts in another puppet king Zedekiah Zedekiah is now installed as the second king.
11:34: That is the younger brother of Zedekiah.
11:37: I mean of Jehoiakim so It is at this point that Jeremiah's preaching begins to be very heated His but his message begins to be turned because destruction is coming Well, this was his message if you look in in Jeremiah chapter 4 This is what his message was Verses 3 through 4 He says break up your file of ground and do not sow among the thorns Circumcise yourselves to the Lord remove the foreskins of your heart men of Judah and of the inhabitants of Jerusalem Or else the wrath will go out like a fire and it will burn and not be quenched because of your evil deeds That was his message.
12:30: Not only was that his message But this was his message that continued on and you can look in chapter 11 And it is the Lord of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying hear these words You have broken the covenant the people of Judah and Jerusalem and thus says the Lord Cursed is the man who does not keep the the words of this covenant for I've commanded your fathers in this day that brought you Out of the land of Egypt to obey me and you have not obeyed me and he goes on to say that the Lord said that there has been Among them a conspiracy in Judah among the inhabitants Jerusalem and they have turned back to their iniquities And just like their ancestors and will not heed my words Jeremiah's message was constantly doom and gloom and destruction for 41 years 41 years and what we do know of Jeremiah those 41 years there was not one convert so imagine Preaching sharing the gospel for 41 years and not seeing one person turn to the Lord That would be somewhat discouraging It is at this point That we in this part of the book that we see the a constant word being used It's called backsliding in the King James the word backsliding appears in chapters 2 3 14 49 and 22 Backsliding Now that has a lot of baggage in our day and time in the Hebrew time It did not have the baggage that we have Backsliding is looked at today as just being some hey a person has started to slide or they have failed That's not the word that's used the word that used in the Hebrew means apostasy and if you go back and you look at the how it is Translated and the Septuagint which is a very good translation with the Jewish people were trying to convey in Greek The word is apostasy.
14:37: Yeah, so don't think that Backsliding is just someone slipping into sin.
14:42: It was turning away from Yahweh and turning to the bales or turning to those false deities and trusting in them As a preacher of Jeremiah, I'm as a preacher you should love Jeremiah And I'm gonna tell you why he was an equal opportunity offender He had there was nobody that he did not offend If you look in chapter 7 He preaches a message in front of the entrance to the temple and he offends everybody in the place He preaches him saying this place will be destroyed if you don't turn from your false your false worship and your false Idolatry God's going to destroy you then he says in chapter 10 He then again, he preaches a sermon against their idols in front of the people He says you make these idols out of stone would you chisel them out? Then you we you sweep up all the refuse you throw it in a trash can and then you bow down and talk to it He he then goes on in chapter 25 and he preaches In verses 1 through 11 and all the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem He begins to call to national repentance But then he goes on and he blasts the false shepherds of the people and that would be the prophet the priests and the king and in chapter 23 He began saying this Woe to you the shepherds you destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture declares the Lord Therefore thus says the Lord God of Israel Concerning the shepherd to attending my flock you have scattered my flock and you have driven them away and you've not attended them and behold I'm about to attend to you with evil And then he goes on in chapter 23.
16:39: He speaks to the prophet and the priest He says and both prophet and priest are polluted even in my house I have found their wickedness declares the Lord therefore their way will be like a slippery path They will be driven away Into the gloom and to the doom and they will fall down in it and I will bring calamity on them in the year of Their punishment declares the Lord Then he goes on continually and verse 15 And he says this is what the Lord says to you the prophets behold I'm gonna feed you with wormwood and make them drink poisonous water For the prophets of Jerusalem have polluted my people and thus says the Lord don't listen to these prophets They're prophesying to you in vain and they lead you into futility They speak of visions of their own imagination and the words that they speak did not come from me from me they cry peace peace and there's no peace and then in chapter 28 he handles specifically a False prophet Jeremiah Jeremiah is told to put on a yoke like a oxen yoke and walk around the streets with it as a object lesson of what the people were supposed to do that were supposed to bring themselves under the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar and submit to his Authority because this was the chastening of the Lord Well a false prophet by the name of Hananiah comes out and he walks over there and he pops off the yoke off of his Neck, and he says God's not going to destroy this place.
18:17: He's not going to destroy his people He's not going to destroy the this holy place It says this and the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah And he said this to him you say this to Hananiah thus says the Lord you have broken the yoke of this wood And instead you have made these people come to with yokes of iron I will put a yoke of iron around their neck and they will serve Nebuchadnezzar the king and they will serve him and I will give them Like the beast of the field and Jeremiah said to the prophet listen now to what the Lord says to you I am about to remove you from the face of this earth and you are going to die because you have counseled the people to rebellion This was his message constantly Now not only did that the prophet and priest listen to what he says to the Kings Chapter 26 Thus says the Lord the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah says speak this to Joachim stand in accord of the people For Joachim and speak all these things to them and command them to do what I tell them to do do not omit one word Perhaps they will listen this time if and I will speak evil against them and Mabel they were they will repent of their calamity And he goes on calls Joachim to repentance Joachim then has him imprisoned and then in chapter 36 Joachim then Joachim has barred him from as barred Jeremiah from going in to the temple so He is says take my scroll read it in front of the people So Joachim goes Jeremiah goes to the people he reads his scroll it basically takes us the same thing He has said for the last 23 years and they the people did not listen they take it to Joachim Joachim then Says bring it to me He cuts it into pieces and he burns it in the fire as a disrespect to the Word of the Lord Then it goes on in chapter 36 and this is the condemnation that's given to that King It says that you will be You will be punished All of you and your descendants for your iniquity and I will bring and not only that on you I will bring it on to the cut this calamity onto Jerusalem and to all of Judah for what you have done by not Obeying my word This was his message This is the message of Jeremiah consistently and then you get it to where he he offends the the final king of Israel in chapter 34 where he says Zedekiah you need to put the yoke under your neck and submit to Nebuchadnezzar and he does not listen and And it doesn't stop there if you go on after the destruction of Jerusalem He goes on in chapter 42 the the city has been left devastated and He is told in chapter 42 to tell these people submit To Nebuchadnezzar and in 42 There's a group of people that want to take and they want to go to Egypt and they said we'll escape The word of the Lord will escape the sword of the Lord and we'll go to Egypt and Jeremiah says listen The Lord says stay here.
22:07: They come to him and say, you know what Jeremiah and treat it to the Lord And whatever he tells us to do we'll do whether it be good or bad He comes back to them in ten days and he says this is what the word of the Lord says Stay here.
22:20: Pray for the land pray for peace and all will be well and they said Jeremiah What you have said is against the Lord and we're going to Egypt And he said if you go to Egypt, you will die They wind up kidnapping him Taking him to Egypt and in chapter 43 through 44 his message to them is damning He says in chapter 43 and 44 because you have come to hear you and all of your family will die What you thought you escaped and he and in Jerusalem has now come to Egypt and Nebuchadnezzar is gonna come here and he's gonna kill you and all your family and all your kids And anybody that's left.
22:59: He's gonna haul them into slavery to it is at this point history tells us When he goes to Egypt that Jeremiah is beaten to death by his own people What a tough life Tough life to to proclaim destruction and doom for 41 years Jeremiah Then to continue his equal opportunity offense in chapters 46 through 41 He he proclaims judgment and condemnation and utter destruction to Egypt Philistia Moab Amen, and then finally he says Nebuchadnezzar is going to be wiped off the face of the planet as well The persecution Of Jeremiah has been like no other prophet we have ever seen in the Old Testament or even in the new He was persevered by the Word of the Lord He persevered because God said in his commission that you know what I'm going to preserve you These people are going to put their hands against you But I'm going to save you the word actually in Hebrew when it says I'm going to save you is the word to preserve and to persevere He says that he's going to make him persevere.
24:22: Hey, it was tough for him.
24:24: Listen to these listen to to the persecution In chapter 11 his hometown plots to kill him in chapter of 11 you can see that in verse 14 of chapter 11 and then because they persecuted the Prophet and verses 21 through 23 God says You know what when I come in and I take these people off into the land of Babylon I'm not even going to keep a remnant from this city.
24:47: I'm gonna kill all of them for what they've done to you in chapter 20, he is put in stocks and chains and he's beaten and 26 he is sentenced to death, but then he is has his death sentence stayed by someone saying hey this man may be speaking the truth and 32 he's put in prison again and 36.
25:06: He's banned from the temple and his words are burned 37 he is falsely accused of treason.
25:12: He is imprisoned and beaten again in 38 he is thrown into an empty well where he is to starve and die and Then it is at that point that Zedekiah has compassion on him and has him lifted up out of that empty cistern And in chapter 43, he is kidnapped.
25:29: He's taken to Egypt and eventually is beat to death by his own countrymen That was the people that he prophesied to his own countrymen But let's contrast that to how these quote enemies of God were supposed to be to him Listen after the the city is destroyed.
25:53: Listen to what happens Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon gives strict orders about Jeremiah He says his captain of guard Nebuchadnezzar, you take him you look after him and you don't do anything to harm him But rather you do whatever seems right.
26:10: He tells you This is the man that is supposed to be the enemy of God Nebuchadnezzar which he was God uses that wicked man to preserve him and then you take it in chapter 40 In yeah in chapter 42.
26:30: He goes on and Nebuchadnezzar dances.
26:33: Hey We're gonna give you provisions.
26:35: We're gonna take care of you Jeremiah We're gonna see to it that you're taken care of and Jeremiah says no.
26:40: I just want to be with my countrymen Jeremiah had it was absolutely broken beyond repair over his nation The whoredom the idolatry But he endured this persecution and he didn't do it with a stiff upper lip He does it walking around with a boat up chest one of the few one of the proud Semper Fi Want you to listen to some of the confessions of Jeremiah as he preached You write these down if you want to read them at another time Jeremiah chapter 9 Verses 1 through 2.
27:22: Oh That my head my eyes are like a fountain of tears That I weep day and night for the slaughter and the slain of the daughter of my people Oh that I would have had a desert for a way period wayfarers lodging that I could escape this place and he says chapter 11 verses 18 through 20 Moreover The Lord made it known to me that I Would show them their deeds and I was like a gentle lamb being led to the slaughter and did not know That they were had devised a plot against me to destroy me and to cut me off from my people Then he goes on to say Lord.
28:06: You are righteous and I plead my case with you Indeed I would discuss matters of justice with you.
28:13: Why has the way of the wicked seem prosperous? Why are all of those that deal treachery at ease and you have planted them and had they have taken root? They grow and they do not produce good fruit.
28:26: You are near to their lip But God you are far from their hearts, but you know me Oh Lord And you see me you examine my heart's attitude towards them and they drag me off like sheep to the slaughter Jeremiah was persecuted like no other But there is a little glimmer of hope in his book.
28:52: We go over to chapter 29 and As they are hauled off into exile We have these words Thus says the Lord of hosts of Israel to all the exiles that I have sent unto you Build houses in this land Live in them plant gardens eat their produce take wives Become fathers and sons sons and daughters in this land Multiply here and do not decrease but increase seek the welfare of this city Where I've sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf and it will be well with you For thus says the Lord of hosts do not let these prophets which are in your midst and these diviners deceive you Do not listen to these dreamers which they dream for they prophesy falsely to you in my name But I have not sent them When this 70 years is over I will return you into this place and it will be for good and not for calamity Then you will call upon me and I will listen to you and then he goes on in chapter 30 He says old Jacob my servant.
30:07: Don't be dismayed Behold I will save you from afar off and you're all spring in this land that are in captivity I will return and they will be at ease for I am with you declares the Lord and I will save you I will completely save you and I will completely destroy the nations that surround you and Then he says this Behold days are coming declares the Lord When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah Not like the covenant that was made with their fathers in the land and the day in which I took them out of the land Of Egypt my covenant which they broke although I was a husband of them declares the Lord But this will be a covenant which I will make with that house after those days declares the Lord I will put my law within their hearts I will put my law within their mind and I will write it on them and they I will be their God and they will Be my people They will teach again Each other their neighbor and each one his brother saying know the Lord for they will all know me and from the least to the greatest and I will forgive all of their iniquities and I will remember their sin no more and Then he goes on to to say this at the end of the book of consolation When I will fulfill the good word that I've spoken concerning the house of Israel And the house of Judah in those days.
31:33: I will raise up a righteous Branch of David to spring forth and will execute justice and righteousness in the earth in those days And it will I will save Jerusalem and they will dwell Safely, and this is the name that she will be called and this is the first time we hear this in the Old Testament The Lord is our righteousness That points to the Lord Jesus Christ Nobody blasted the false prophets More than Jeremiah Jeremiah was the weeping prophet and Jesus Christ sometimes they say he was he was like Jeremiah because he he weeped as well But if you go back and you look where it says in Matthew 16, it says in Jesus asked him who do men say that I am? And they say some say you're you're Elijah Some say you're John the Baptist and some say Jeremiah.
32:31: Well, if you go back and you look what each one of them men did They called every one of the false prophets to repentance They called every one of the the false shepherds and every one of the Kings to repentance Nobody blasted the false prophets more than Jeremiah other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself Jesus Christ Was the new covenant that? Jeremiah pointed to that one day There would be a covenant made not like the old one but like the new and That Jesus Christ the branch of David.
33:06: He would be our righteousness Jeremiah persevered a very very tumultuous time the political atmosphere was all of a Spiritual degradation just like we go through today.
33:23: Our political upheavals is a spiritual problem Jeremiah persevered and he persevered to the end and he didn't do it with a stiff upper lip He did it and he preached a message when it was not popular.
33:37: He preached a message when he was hated He preached a message when his own people disowned him but he was faithful and that's the message that Jeremiah gives to us that we're in a time of decay were to be light and Darkness and were to be salt into a decaying world and Jeremiah is our example Let's pray Father God, thank you for Jeremiah Thank you father for his boldness to proclaim your word Thank you Lord that he gives us an example to faithfully preach your word in a time when your words not popular Thank you Lord that he persevered and that God thank you that we have the examples of father where he did not do it So with a stiff upper lip, but father He did it suffering and he did it with great grief and he did it and at times where he seemed very weak But father he knew that Your word was put within him and it was strength to his bones and power to his heart and father I pray that it would be the same for us In Christ's name.
34:49: Amen We left a little bit of time for protests demonstrations questions comments, so if Anybody has any questions concerning Jeremiah, this would be the time to do it because Andy's not gonna answer any of them Okay Okay And I'll start When you were going through the Kings and Jehoiakim and talking about Egypt and the different things brother Mike I want to say at first I appreciate all the research you do.
35:36: It's always great your sermon back at Easter when you did the Temple sort of reminded me of that, you know going through all the research and everything the the incident with Jeremiah in the cistern.
35:53: Yep What passage is that again 34 can you describe just for a minute? Can you just sort of describe what they put him through and what the and I don't put you on the spot No What had happened is he he had preached the Word of the Lord and he they decided his countrymen said, you know What he needs to be put to death and a group of them said, you know What he just placed to put him is a cistern in the courtyard.
36:20: So they dropped him in there to die and an Ethiopian ebed Megalod I think says name how it's pronounced He says hey Jeremiah is gonna die there and he goes and he tells the king and the king says, you know What I can't let him starve to death.
36:37: So they let down ropes and pull him out of them the mud It was he was put there because I don't want to hear his word anymore But is this the king of Israel or is this the one of the Zedekiah? Okay.
36:47: Yeah Yeah, he was never persecuted by kings of Babylon That's what I was that's what I was clarifying they protected him Understand this is he's going he's preaching his message.
37:00: They would have liked him He Nebuchadnezzar wants them to submit to their authority and he's telling them look submit So if you're a nationalist, I'll just say this if I came in here today and said hey submit to Iran I don't think I'd be Y'all might want to throw me in a hole in the ground, you know, but understand that's what it was hey, you're telling us to submit to someone who's worse than we are and That they didn't want to do that Because the false prophet was constantly peace peace when there's no peace God's promise.
37:33: He's not gonna destroy his land We're gonna stay here forever and we'll constantly be profitable and God says no you won't And he was the only one that preached that Amen Who else has anything anybody have anything they want to ask about this message? We're encouraging questions today.
37:52: Yes, mr.
37:53: Zana here.
37:54: I want to give you the mic I remember reading in Jeremiah about a passage and he's telling the people the temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord the temple Of the Lord, what is he talking about there? No, this is the temple of the Lord saying this is the place where God dwells well God's did the dwelling of God had already gone if you go back and you even under the the times in which Josiah's Reforms were going if you continue on I would if you go back and you read 2nd Chronicles chapter 34 even in his Jeremiah Josiah's reforms you get to the end of 34 and it says although that Jeremiah did was right inside of the Lord For however long he was in I think it was 27 40 or something like that a long time It says that God's anger still burned against the people for the sins And if you go to Jeremiah Chapter 4 where he says you need to foreskin you need to foreskins off your hearts removed circumcise your hearts look all their worship was external and what Jeremiah is saying is look you can do all these external things and You're if your hearts wrong It's unacceptable to God and hey just as the temple was destroyed in 586 was a shock to those people It was not no less a shock in 70 AD When it went down as well Just a little side note Jeremiah preached for 40 years before the destruction of Jerusalem 40 years from the time that Jesus was crucified to the destruction of the the second temple the Apostles preached for 40 years Just a little parallels to kind of go.
39:41: Wow, that's interesting Just another little tidbit of historical It was on the ninth day of the month of Av and 586 that the temple was destroyed in 586 the ninth day of the month of Av in 70 AD the same temple was destroyed.
40:03: It's interesting how those parallels are We make that and go Wow 40 years of preaching and they would not repent gives God patient.
40:11: Sure 40 years of preaching All right.
40:19: Are there other questions? Anyone else have anything they want to ask for brother Mike on the question about Jeremiah or anything? Okay, I'm coming.
40:31: I'm making my rounds If we don't use the mic people at home if there is anybody at home was just gonna hear dead air So so I understand that when when we listen to this and we listen to what you're you're preaching today We can all take something from this from Just from our own personal experience and listening to you but is there anything specifically that you want us to understand in here when we leave here as far as Personal applications something you would use to personally apply what you're preaching today to for our own.
41:10: I guess How do we Use what you're saying today to kind of help us understand what how we're to persevere Because your message is going out into a world that hates it It was acceptable for a short time for Jeremiah, which would have seemed very odd in the third The first 23 years of his preaching and there is I can't remember which chapter it is But Jeremiah says hey for 23 years I have told you the same thing and y'all have not listened and they're basically going well It's because we've been following Josiah's good works, but he says no no But it's because what you're doing is wrong and the message I'm telling you is to turn to cry or in this case turn to Yahweh We're saying turn to Christ.
41:58: That message is not going to be acceptable, so as we're we're coming to a culture to where The gospel is coming in complete conflict with transgenderism homosexuality social justice all of this Nonsense and our messages continually point people to Christ Point them to turn to the true one that can provide true justice true righteousness true peace, and it's not going to be acceptable To persevere don't don't tweak the message you tweak the message the messenger is then Not It's not honored Yeah, I mean an ambassador goes and he we're ambassadors for Christ We go preach the message of Christ if we tweak that message.
42:48: Are we a good ambassador? No anyone else before Y'all go eat and drink Well, we're a little early.
43:02: Do anybody have anything else.
43:04: I want to ask brother Mike about this passage Okay, I just want to say that the point you had made At the beginning of your sermon was That really kind of blew me away still kind of has me Questioning a lot of things in my mind not not necessarily personally, but in general about how You made the distinction about they were following Josiah they weren't following God and and I couldn't help but think and I mean it's gonna sound kind of I don't know it's gonna sound dumb, but I Think about as a as a countryman, right talking about countrymen like Jeremiah He was pretty much patriot basically, yep, but I think about how I look Personally looked at Trump as this figurehead right and and not to make it political but My mind in more ways than one was focused on him rather than on God and where God was taking our country Just something to reflect on for me.
44:14: That was really kind of profound for me They're in you had your hand Okay, so my question was was Jeremiah like a Part he was a part of the tribe of Benjamin, right or was that no.
44:35: He was a Levite when they when they Part parceled out the land in Joshua.
44:40: He was in the land of Benjamin each tribe got its own well inside each land Been each tribe land There was the Levites were given a parcel of land because the Levites didn't get a land their land was just to serve the temple Okay, so he was just living in on basically borrowed property So was he I mean, so was he like a foreigner there? He wasn't a foreigner there.
45:03: He know he was He was an Israelite.
45:04: He was a Levite, but he was living in a priestly town called Anathoth That's all that was there was priests.
45:11: Okay, and then my other question was when did he? When did he prophesize like what years from? Well, we know for exactly 627 627 and a 13th year reign of King Josiah would have been 627.
45:28: I Think it's it's like confusing to me that his like the Israelites should have been worshiping God Was it part of their judgment to like? turn back from Yahweh They yeah, you're right they should have but they weren't and like he was saying a second He was making the statement that they were following Josiah.
45:49: They were following his reforms They were just following.
45:52: Hey, whatever was good and acceptable.
45:54: Hey, this is a cool thing to do.
45:56: This guy's young We're gonna follow him.
45:59: Well as soon as he died His reforms weren't real.
46:03: They were just external.
46:05: So they weren't following Yahweh.
46:07: They were following men And that is the danger in today and any other time is to follow a church leader Yeah, look we look to the church leaders for Shepherding our family shepherding our soul for teaching.
46:22: Hey, but don't follow me.
46:24: You follow me You're gonna fall down when I fall down.
46:26: I fall down a lot don't Don't follow you church leader follow the Lord I'm gonna make a statement about what he said And they're not saying you did this, okay, there is a danger when we take a patriotic zeal and Put that with Christianity.
46:56: There's a danger because then you make a you make the gospel and an Americanized political thing and Every president we've had been wicked I mean all of them It's not just because we agree with their conservative values Doesn't mean they're great We haven't had one that has stood up against Transgenderism and abolishment of abortion and all those things a Lot of promises are made but Yeah, the if you go and you read through general I wish that you would it is a difficult book to read if you know if you're trying to read it like it's chronologically You're gonna be man.
47:46: This guy's a schizophrenic Because it's just all over But there's a passage in there and I think it's in chapter 14 Where he says, you know, the reason why I'm bringing this judgment on your land is because you were following idolatry You were taking your babies out to the Valley of Ben-Himmel and burning them to Moloch God trampled on his covenant nation like mud in the streets For what they were doing in that land That is that doesn't look like roasting a hot dog to what we do every day with abortion The belly of Moloch doesn't hold a candle to what we're doing every day here And he actually says that very land where they're burning Babies to Moloch.
48:45: I'm gonna slaughter all of your family You read it and you just go man.
48:50: This guy here just never lets up He's probably down in a cistern hollering turn or burn or something We don't I mean it was just like oh you're reading you're just going man.
49:01: This guy just doesn't quit He just doesn't stop God gave him a message This is gonna be the message and I'm gonna do it till they kill me and he was immortal until God was done with him Tough life, I would not want to been Jeremiah tough He was you take men like Hosea who says hey, you're gonna go marry a prostitute.
49:28: She's gonna have a bunch of illegitimate kids and then you take Another prophet Ezekiel says hey your wife's gonna die and you're not gonna cry Well, he tells Jeremiah whose desire all Jewish men was to be easy.
49:40: You're not even married You're gonna mourn for that rest your life This is like man Good night So but the message Jeremiah is persevere and it's not gonna it may not be easy We don't know.
49:55: I mean you had some prophets who prophesied and they they weren't They weren't persecuted like that take Daniel Daniel was actually put in a place where he was in high authority in the government Daniel was thrown in a lion's den.
50:12: But other than that, that's about all we know No, he just sat down and read his Bible between the lines or whatever You take you take the prophets and you go through and He is by far the most persecuted prophet there is he is the one that we should look to for perseverance.
50:38: Yes, sir When Nebuchadnezzar sacked the temple, did he take everything out of the temple? It had already been taken in 597 There was three deportations 605 is when he first came in and set up his first puppet king and The was hopefully that was going to make them submit so he hauled up 605 would have been when Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego would have been hauled off into captivity the first time the second time Was when Zedekiah was put in power as his puppet king again, that would have been in 597 it would have been at that point where the instruments were taken and actually it tells you Jeremiah that the instruments were already gone The instruments from the temple were already gone.
51:25: Then they laid siege again Zedekiah rebelled in 589 and there was a three-year siege and once they broke the walls, then they set the temple on fire and they caught Zedekiah Escaping and the prophecy that Jeremiah said hey You're gonna see the king of Babylon face to face and you're gonna give an account for what you're doing He sure did he stood before him.
51:53: They took his sons.
51:55: They lined him up in front of him He killed every one of them and then he poked his eyes out So the last thing he saw was the killing of his nobles and the killing of his sons before he was had his eyes poked out and hauled off into captivity so hey Nebuchadnezzar what was he he was a he was a beneficial and very Benevolent to the man of God and that just seems very ironic and that you know He would be the chiefest villain in the story if it wasn't for that Yes, sir, no No, I thought you had another question.
52:39: No.
52:39: No, I'm Just coming up here to see does anyone else have anything? Oh I left over there and there you were brother hand was up.
52:47: I'm sorry Why did they I Didn't hear what he said.
53:02: Why did they get rid of the temple because it was a place of idolatry The message of Jeremiah is hey the God that we search bigger than that cube that's in there Even though this is gone.
53:18: That temple is destroyed.
53:19: You still worship the Lord.
53:21: You're gonna go off into captivity You're gonna worship him there.
53:23: You don't need a temple to worship now it was a type of where the dwelling place of God and its destruction was to prove that hey this place that we look to as being like she says second ago the temple the Lord temple the Lord as the the most sacred ground that there was well God says no it's not it's what it represents and he says I'll destroy it and he did and He did again in 70 AD And just understand that the prophets that prophesied in the time that That the temple was going to be destroyed always said it will be rebuilt There was not one Apostle that said after 70 AD they were going to rebuild a temple and Then institute Blasphemous sacrifices understand that is why the temple in 70 AD was destroyed Every time they went to that brazen altar and they cut a lamb's throat or Sacrificed a goat or a bull and they laid it on that on that altar after 30 AD when Jesus was crucified every one of them was an offense against a holy God and Demanded justice for a blasphemous idolatrous act and that's what he did in 70 AD That won't preach well either to Zionist.