WWUTT 2559 The Word of the Lord is Not Bound (Jeremiah 37:1-38:28)

The prophet Jeremiah had a word that the people just did not want to listen to.

So attempting to silence him, they tried to bind him and throw him in prison. But the word of God is not bound when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the word.

Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we are up to chapter 37, and we step back into the days of Zedekiah when he was made king over Judah.

If you'll recall the last two chapters we've looked at, chapters 35 and 36, we step back in time a little more than a decade to when

Jehoiakim was king of Judah. And the reason why these two stories are back to back like this, we step back in time with Jehoiakim, and now we come back to the days of Zedekiah.

Both kings regard the word of God in the same way. The word of the

Lord came to Jeremiah, who dictated it to Baruch, who wrote it down on a scroll.

And that scroll came to Jehoiakim, who took the scroll. He did not like what the Lord had to say, so he cuts the scroll with a knife.

He's literally cutting out the parts of God's word he doesn't like, and he throws the pieces into a fire.

Well now as we come back to the days of Zedekiah, it's going to be said here right at the beginning of chapter 37 that even

Zedekiah and the rest of his people also did not want to listen to the word of the

Lord. But while Jehoiakim, while he had the word of God burned, Zedekiah is going to have the word of God bound.

And the word of God cannot be bound, as said in 2 Timothy 2 .9, but it will accomplish that which the

Lord has sent it forth to do. And we'll consider that as we read these two chapters today.

We're going to cover both chapters 37 and 38. Let me begin by reading Jeremiah 37, 1 through 10.

Hear the word of the Lord. Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, whom

Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah, reigned instead of Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim.

But neither he nor his servants nor the people of the land listened to the words of the

Lord that he spoke through Jeremiah the prophet. King Zedekiah sent

Jehuchal, the son of Shalamiah, and Zephaniah, the priest, the son of Maaseah, to Jeremiah the prophet saying, please pray for us to the

Lord our God. Now Jeremiah was still going in and out among the people for he had not yet been put in prison.

The army of Pharaoh had come out of Egypt and when the Chaldeans who were besieging Jerusalem heard news about them, they withdrew from Jerusalem.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet. Thus says the Lord God of Israel, thus shall you say to the king of Judah who sent you to me to inquire of me, behold,

Pharaoh's army that came to help you is about to return to Egypt to its own land and the

Chaldeans shall come back and fight against this city. They shall capture it and burn it with fire.

Thus says the Lord, do not deceive yourselves saying the Chaldeans will surely go away from us for they will not go away.

For even if you should defeat the whole army of the Chaldeans who are fighting against you and there remained of them only wounded men, every man in his tent, they would rise up and burn this city with fire.

That's a judgment that the king of Judah had better listen to. So Zedekiah was made king in place of Coniah instead of Jehoiakim's son.

Remember the prophecy that we read at the end of chapter 36 last time was that there would not be an heir that would sit on the throne of David.

Jehoiakim would not continue his line on the throne. Instead, Nebuchadnezzar appoints

Zedekiah who like Jehoiakim is also a son of Josiah, but it's not going to be

Jehoiakim's son. It's rather his brother. So Nebuchadnezzar appoints Zedekiah, but as I mentioned,

Nebuchadnezzar is not happy with the way things are going and this suzerain vassal relationship that they have.

So remember that the ruling kingdom would be called the suzerain kingdom. That would be the Babylonians or Chaldeans as they're called here.

And then the subservient nation is the vassal state. And so Zedekiah as a vassal king, he's been appointed by the suzerain, is apparently not doing things the way that Nebuchadnezzar expected him to do things.

So now the Chaldeans have come against Jerusalem again, and this time they mean to destroy it.

Judah has made a deal with the Egyptians so that the Egyptians would come and fight on their behalf because Judah doesn't have enough army to beat back the

Chaldeans. We have these Egyptians though, who would be willing to come up and fight alongside us.

Astonishing that even though, what has it been 800 plus years since the

Jews had come out of slavery in Egypt. Now they're trying to make a deal with that nation that had previously enslaved them.

I've made the comparison before when we enter into certain presidential elections or even certain local elections might apply.

But you have two candidates in these elections, neither of whom are godly. And you look at one and you look at the other and it's like, okay, well we're picking between Egypt and Babylon, which one is better.

And that's what's going on right here. Zedekiah is deciding it would be better for us to partner with Egypt than to be obliterated by the

Babylonians, which they think is what's going to happen. So Zedekiah in a perilous situation, even though they have the

Egyptians on their side, they still want to hear some word from God. Pray for us, let us hear some good news from the

Lord. So he sends men to Jeremiah to say to him, please pray for us to the

Lord, our God. So at least these people acknowledge that Jeremiah is a prophet of God.

God speaks to him. This prophet speaks to us. They don't think that Jeremiah is just making it up.

So if Jeremiah is our go -between, maybe he will pray to the Lord for us and we will have victory out of this.

And so while this is going on, the Chaldeans withdraw from Jerusalem. They hear that Egypt is coming up and so they pull away.

Well, they're not going to focus on Jerusalem right now. They've got to focus on the Egyptians. And so the Lord says to Jeremiah, here's the word that you're going to deliver back to them.

You're still going to lose. The Chaldeans aren't gone. So don't be confident like, oh, okay, finally they're gone.

I guess that's it. We've won. We've succeeded. This partnership worked out. Don't think that because Egypt is going to turn around and go right back.

And then Nebuchadnezzar and the Chaldeans are going to come back to you and they will defeat you.

Even if you think that you have the upper hand in some sort of a way in which you're able to fight back the

Chaldeans. No, even if every man was wounded, they would still rise up and burn this place with fire.

That's the judgment that God means to bring upon this place because they had betrayed God. They had turned from the

Lord, their God, and had gone after false gods and lived in the ways of the pagans around them.

So this is the judgment that they are getting as a result. And so let's keep going.

Verse 11. Now, when the Chaldean army had withdrawn from Jerusalem at the approach of Pharaoh's army,

Jeremiah set out from Jerusalem to go to the land of Benjamin to receive his portion there among the people.

Now the Benjaminites and the Jews were basically considered one land.

The 10 northern kingdoms had already been driven out by the Assyrians. And so the two southern tribes now just made up the land of Judah.

But Benjamin still kind of occupied their own space. So that's where Jeremiah is going. And verse 13, when he was at the

Benjamin gate, a sentry there named Erijah, the son of Shalamiah, son of Hananiah, seized

Jeremiah the prophet saying, you are deserting to the Chaldeans. And Jeremiah said, it is a lie.

I am not deserting to the Chaldeans. But Erijah would not listen to him and seized

Jeremiah and brought him to the officials. And the officials were enraged at Jeremiah and they beat him and imprisoned him in the house of Jonathan, the secretary, for it had been made a prison.

Now apparently this was a pretty dank place for Jeremiah to be put up. It wasn't like he was under house arrest in some way, because as he's going to say to Zedekiah here in a moment, if I have to stay in this place,

I'm going to die. So it's not ideal conditions, but things will eventually even get worse for Jeremiah.

So we continue on into verse 16. When Jeremiah had come to the dungeon cells and remained there many days,

King Zedekiah sent for him and received him. The king questioned him secretly in his house and said, is there any word from the

Lord? Jeremiah said, there is. Then he said, you shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.

Jeremiah also said to King Zedekiah, what wrong have I done to you or your servants or this people that you have put me in prison?

Where are your prophets who prophesied to you saying the king of Babylon will not come against you and against this land?

See, Jeremiah is trying to demonstrate to Zedekiah here. I am telling you what

God says, and here's the way that you are treating me. Everything that I've said so far has been right.

What about your prophets? Your prophets said to you that the king of Babylon would not come against this land, and he did.

They've all been proven wrong. And I continue to demonstrate that it is truly the

Lord speaking to me and delivering this word to you. Yet you imprison me and have treated me in this way.

Rather, what should Zedekiah's response have been? Should be repenting and should be leading this people in repentance.

Instead, he attempts to have the word of God bound. And so Jeremiah continues in verse 20.

Now here, please, oh my Lord, the king, let my humble plea come before you and do not send me back to the house of Jonathan the secretary lest I die there.

So king Zedekiah gave orders and they committed Jeremiah to the court of the guard and a loaf of bread was given him daily from the baker's street until all the bread of the city was gone.

So Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard. All right, now let's pick up in chapter 38.

Now, Shephatiah, the son of Matan, Gedaliah, the son of Pasher, Jucal, the son of Shalamiah and Pasher, the son of Malachi, heard the words that Jeremiah was saying to all the people.

Thus says the Lord, he who stays in this city shall die by the sword, by famine and by pestilence.

But he who goes out to the Chaldeans shall live. He shall have his life as a prize of war and live.

Thus says the Lord, this city shall surely be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and be taken.

Now we've heard that over the course of this book for several chapters back. This is not a new word to us, but this is the word that these men had been hearing.

Here's what the Lord expects of you to do. Go into captivity into the

Chaldeans, go into their land and remain there. And remember the promise of God that has already come to the people in that land.

We read about it back in chapter 29 and then other places in the book of consolation.

That was from chapters 30 to 33. It was constant assurances of Judah.

Even though this judgment was coming upon them, God would deliver them and he would bring them back to this land. But this people is ignoring that.

And instead they think that they can hold their ground in Jerusalem. We are not going to give up this ground, but they're disobeying

God by doing that. God is saying, no, you're going to go out and you're going to go to the Chaldeans and you'll live.

But if you stay here, you are going to die. And these people continue to disobey

God, continue to doubt God and trust their own strength. Instead, they are not repentant.

They're not humble about their sins. And they're even prideful in the sense that they think that they can turn back the will of God.

And so verse four, then the officials said to the king, let this man, Jeremiah be put to death for he is weakening the hands of the soldiers who are left in the city and the hands of all the people by speaking such words to them.

For this man is not seeking the welfare of this people, but their harm. Now, even in these present days, in the wickedness that we see going on,

I'm talking about our own context. So present day in the 21st century, even in our present day, we see so many evils going on in the world that is around us.

Speaking as somebody who lives in the United States of America, this is an extremely depraved nation, a very depraved culture, and it's just getting worse.

As much as there are people who will say that, oh, you know, there's revival sweeping the land. There's more people going to church than ever.

More Bibles have been sold than ever before, though we do see glimmers like that. And we should be thankful whenever we see things like that.

That does not mean that America is turning course. There are people that are getting saved in the midst of this crooked and depraved generation that we can rejoice about.

But God's judgment will come upon this crooked and depraved generation. But there are many teachers out there.

I've encountered them. I encounter this on a regular basis. There are teachers out there who will say that this is a defeatist mentality.

It's like loser syndrome. And you can't speak that way. You can't black pill is another term that's used.

I don't even know what all the color pills are, but I know that that this one gets used and this is the way that it applies.

If you just have this doomsday concept, you black pilled and you think that everything is just going to come to ruin.

Well, then you're not going to help us. You're not helpful for us. That's exactly the way that these men of Zedekiah are speaking.

Put this man in prison. Shut him up because he's weakening the soldiers. We're never going to be able to defeat back the

Chaldeans as long as Jeremiah is allowed to talk. Listen, the Bible is very clear that the judgment of God is coming.

It is very clear. And as Becky and I had even talked about on the podcast this past Friday, the heavens are being stored up with fire to be poured out on the wicked on the day of judgment.

And there will be wicked in the earth, my friends. It will not be that the majority of the globe over the course of centuries has become

Christianized. It will still be that there is wickedness in the earth. There will be there will be more

Christians than there's ever been, but there will also be more wickedness than there's ever been. And the only way to be saved from that judgment that is to come is by faith in Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself is going to be the one who will come with his angels and flaming fire as talked about in second

Thessalonians chapter one. And they will pour out God's wrath on those who did not believe the truth, did not listen to the gospel, did not walk in righteousness.

How can you be saved from that judgment when it comes? Whether it comes by your death or Christ's return, whichever comes first, the only way to be saved is to believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. These men hate that Jeremiah is speaking a word of condemnation, a word of judgment to them.

How are we going to win if this guy keeps saying that we're going to lose? And so verse five,

King Zedekiah said, behold, he is in your hands for the king can do nothing against you. So they took

Jeremiah and that's just a cowardly way out. Zedekiah could have stood his ground against these people, but no, he feared men rather than God.

And so they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malkiah, the king's son, which was in the court of the guard, letting

Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mud. And Jeremiah sank in the mud.

Verse seven, when Ebed -Melech, the Ethiopian, a eunuch who was in the king's house, heard that they had put

Jeremiah into the cistern, the king was sitting in the Benjamin gate. Ebed -Melech went from the king's house and said to the king, my

Lord, the king, these men have done evil in all that they did to Jeremiah the prophet by casting him into the cistern and he will die there of hunger for there is no bread left in the city.

Then the king commanded Ebed -Melech, the Ethiopian, take 30 men with you from here and lift

Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies. So Ebed -Melech took the men with him and went to the house of the king to a wardrobe in the storehouse and took from there old rags and worn out clothes, which he led down to Jeremiah in the cistern by ropes.

Then Ebed -Melech, the Ethiopian, said to Jeremiah, put the rags and clothes between your armpits and the ropes.

Jeremiah did so. Then they drew Jeremiah up with ropes and lifted him out of the cistern. And Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard.

King Zedekiah sent for Jeremiah the prophet and received him at the third entrance of the temple of the Lord. The king said to Jeremiah, I will ask you a question.

Hide nothing from me. Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, if I tell you, will you not surely put me to death?

And if I give counsel, will you not listen to me? Then King Zedekiah swore secretly to Jeremiah, as the

Lord lives, who made our souls, I will not put you to death or deliver you into the hand of these men who seek your life.

Then Jeremiah said to Zedekiah, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, the

God of Israel. If you will surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then your life shall be spared and this city shall not be burned with fire and you and your house shall live.

But if you do not surrender to the officials of the king of Babylon, then this city shall be given into the hand of the

Chaldeans and they shall burn it with fire. And you shall not escape from their hand.

King Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Judeans who have deserted to the

Chaldeans, lest I be handed over to them and they deal cruelly with me. Jeremiah said, you shall not be given to them.

Obey now the voice of the Lord in what I say to you and it shall be well with you and your life shall be spared.

But if you refuse to surrender, this is the vision which the Lord has shown to me.

Behold, all the women left in the house of the king of Judah were being led out to the officials of the king of Babylon and were saying, your trusted friends have deceived you and prevailed against you.

Now that your feet are sunk in the mud, they turn away from you. All your wives and your sons shall be led out to the

Chaldeans and you yourself shall not escape from their hand, but shall be seized by the king of Babylon and this city shall be burned with fire.

Then Zedekiah said to Jeremiah, let no one know of these words and you shall not die.

If the officials hear that I have spoken with you and come to you and say to you, tell us what you said to the king and what the king said to you, hide nothing from us and we will not put you to death.

Then you shall say to them, I made a humble plea to the king that he would not send me back to the house of Jonathan to die there.

Then all the officials came to Jeremiah and asked him and he answered them as the king had instructed him.

So they stopped speaking with him for the conversation had not been overheard and Jeremiah remained in the court of the guard until the day that Jerusalem was taken.

And that's where we will come to an end at the conclusion of chapter 38 and pick up there again next week.

The apostle Paul said in second Timothy two verses eight and nine, remember

Jesus Christ risen from the dead, the offspring of David as preached in my gospel for which

I am suffering bound with chains as a criminal, but the word of God is not bound.

My friends, the word of God will accomplish exactly everything he has said.

It will accomplish even judgment that will come upon this crooked and twisted generation believe in Jesus Christ and live and tell others the gospel of Christ so that they too may turn to Christ and not perish, but have everlasting life.

Heavenly father, we thank you for your word. And I pray that no matter what story we read, we find it applicable to our lives.

These things really happen to your people in the past. These things really happen to us today that we may learn from them and may draw closer to you.

Our longing would be for Christ and we seek that day that he would return praying with the apostle

John come quickly, Lord Jesus, Lord deliver us from this twisted generation.

Let us not be taken in by the devil's schemes, but keep us steadfast in your word and walking in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.