Sunday Morning, March 24, 2019 AM Part 1

Jeremiah’s Trial and the Unstoppable Word of God

And when all his mighty men and all the officials heard his words, then the king sought to put him to death. But Uriah heard it, and he was afraid, and fled, and went to Egypt. Then King Jehoiakim sent men to Egypt.

El Nethan, the son of Achbor, and certain men with him, went into Egypt. And they brought Uriah from Egypt and led him to King Jehoiakim, who slew him with a sword and cast his dead body into the burial place of the common people.

But the hand of Jehoiakim, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, so that he was not given into the hands of the people who put him to death. And this is the word of the Lord, and you may be seated. If you were tasked with the job of reversing Niagara Falls, you would not be as pitiable as the person tasked with the job of turning off the Amazon.

But even that person would be considered fortunate compared to the one tasked with the job of stopping the entire water cycle. And all these things are far more devastatingly possible than stopping, reversing, or turning off God's word.

God's word is unstoppable. It is constant. What is true of Jesus Christ is true of his word. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. We need to know that about God's word. The courage of God's people depends on the constancy of God's word.

That's where we get our courage from. It doesn't change. It's the same. The same power, the same accuracy, the same truth, the same blessing. The courage of God's people depends on the constancy of God's word.

The enemy knows that. The enemy knows that, and so his goal is to either silence or spoil God's word. If he can silence God's word from being preached, if he can silence God's word from being spoken among the people of God, if he can silence God's word from ever being read aloud in the public square, he'll do it.

But if he can't do that, then he'll spoil it. He will twist the interpretation. He will poison the meanings. In other words, he will use lies and violence. He will use lies and violence to stop God's word.

We're going to take some time this morning to think about the experience of the early church, which is right along line, in the same lines as the experience of Jeremiah. That those who seek to faithfully follow the word of God, those who have the word of God and love God and want to speak that word and live according to that word, are going to find that they will be persecuted.

That is the common experience of the righteous prophets of the Old Testament. It is the experience of the early church in the book of Acts. We see that it is the experience of the early church and the apostle Paul throughout his.

Letters.

This is normal. And since it is normal in biblical history, since it is normal in most of world history, since it's becoming normalized in our current times, we need to spend some time understanding and equipping ourselves through the word of God to respond appropriately to persecution.

Lies and violence were as common against the early church as the bread and wine were to the communion within the church. Lies and violence without, bread and wine within. Opposition from without, communion within.

Accusations Will Not Silence the Word

But the persecution of the truth does not stop God's word. That's the first thing we see in our passage. The persecution of the truth does not stop God's word. Remember that Jeremiah has been put on trial.

He has preached the word of the Lord to the people of God. He has preached exactly what God has said. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and said, you're going to say everything that I tell you to say and don't omit a word.

Jeremiah didn't omit a word. He didn't hide a word. He didn't find a good euphemism to soften the word. He spoke the word of God. Exactly. And now he's been put on trial. And there are three things that we may wonder if they would silence God's word.

The first of these three things is accusations. We need to ask the question, will accusations silence God's word? Will that work? Will that happen? So let's notice in verses 9 through 11, the accusations, the people, all the people, the priests, and the prophets seize Jeremiah.

So when it says seize, it means they laid hands on him. A big angry mob grabs hold of Jeremiah and they're angry with him. Never had that experience. It would have to be terrifying. Absolutely terrifying.

And notice what they are saying to him. And I doubt they're saying it in a monotone voice. They're angry. They've seized him. They have him in their grasp. And this is what they say. Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, verse 9, saying this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate without inhabitant?

All the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. It's a big angry mob. They lay hold of him. So the officials hear that there's a ruckus up in the temple, so they come up from the king's house to the temple and they sit in the gate, the place that you have judgment.

Verse 11, then the priest and the prophet spoke to the officials and to all the people saying, here comes the accusation, here comes the charge, a death sentence for this man for he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.

So the accusation is that Jeremiah has preached against the city. Do you hear the accusation? He has preached against the city. For those in Jeremiah's day, this holds all kinds of inferences. Not only is he against his city, the capital city of his nation, not only has he called out the fact that there's going to be devastating judgment to the capital of his nation, think about that in our own context, what would happen if someone began preaching that Washington, D .C. and all those corrupt politicians there and everyone who lives there, man, woman, and child, the entire capital of our nation is going to be totally obliterated.

If someone preached like that, that would get your attention, it may raise your ire and you may say, well, I know, they've got some problems, but that's not very patriotic. So if someone was preaching against the capital of the nation, that's going to raise some.

Ire.

But the capital of Judah was not just the political capital, it was the religious capital of the nation, because in Jerusalem was the temple. In Jerusalem was the temple with all the holy artifacts, the altar, the Ark of the Covenant, the priesthood that was there.

Not only was the king's life in danger, but the high priest's life was in danger, according to Jeremiah. Their whole system of religion was at stake. So when Jeremiah preaches against the city, he's preaching against the government, he's preaching against the religion, and of course, if there's a single city that has all the government and the religion in one place, it's the defining icon for the whole culture, for the whole society.

And everything that it means to be a man or a woman of Judah was captured there in the glories of the capital city. So he's actually even preaching against the very culture of the people. So no wonder their ire is raised, no wonder that they are angry with Jeremiah, he is preaching against the city, they make this accusation against him.

So what does Jeremiah do? What's the response? Jeremiah has been accused of what we now call hate speech. You have preached against this city. You are against the religion, you are against the politics, you are against the culture.

They point at Jeremiah and say, you must die because you have spoken against the city. This hate speech deserves the death penalty. So in some sense, Jeremiah's society is more progressive than ours. No one yet has been put to death in our times for hate speech, though they're coming up with reasons why that wouldn't be a bad idea.

Namely, that when you say things that other people disagree with, if you speak in a way that makes the other person feel that they are not accepted and celebrated, this causes stress. Stress is a physical response that has an impact on a person's health.

Therefore, hate speech is violence and therefore punishable. This is the current argument that is being attempted to gain traction in our day. It is one particular missile being aimed at the First Amendment freedom of speech.

In Jeremiah's day, they had no such limits or compunctions. They just said, you made us angry, you must die.

Hate speech.

Notice what Jeremiah does. I think this is important to see Jeremiah's response. What does the prophet of the Lord do? He has been commissioned to preach. He has been given the words to say. He has the word of God in mind and in hand.

He is simply saying what God says. He is preaching the truth. And when he is accused of hate speech, does he go silent? Does he restate, in more friendly terms, his position? Actually, what they call hate speech, Jeremiah makes his stump speech.

He just repeats it. He just repeats it. What he said in the earlier part of chapter 26, he says again. He just repeats it. Verse 13. Now therefore, amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God.

And the Lord will change his mind about the misfortune which he has pronounced against you. He just said that. He just said, your ways are wrong, your deeds are wrong, you're disobedient, you need to repent.

Otherwise, the calamity is coming, the judgment is coming. You're angry with me because I prophesied against the city, but everything that I said is going to come true unless you repent. And notice what he does.

He's not saying, this is my idea. I'm preaching against the capital of the city, against the religion of my land and the culture in which I live. He's not preaching against these things because, well, he has indigestion.

And he hasn't slept well for a while. Notice what he says in verse 12. Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people saying, the Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city.

All the words that you have heard. Do you see what he does? They're angry with what he said and he responds, the Lord told me to say it. God told me to say it. We know Jeremiah would rather not have to do this.

We find that in other passages in Jeremiah. He's kind of wore out by this. He's kind of tired of having to do this. But he just says, the Lord told me to say it. So he just emphasizes that this is the Lord's declaration, the Lord's intention.

And by this, I think we are helped. By this, I think we are helped. Will accusations silence you? Do accusations silence you? Have they silenced you? And maybe not so much that perhaps it hasn't even occurred, but perhaps it's the fear of accusation, perhaps it's the example of others who have been accused and look what happened here and I don't want to put myself or my family through that.

And so silence is our response to the threat of accusations or to actual accusations. But beloved brethren, this is the norm. This is the norm. If the Christian church silenced themselves, omitted key words and responded in that way to accusations, the Christian church would have ended within the first few months after Pentecost.

This is not the way that the church has operated. This has not been the experience of the church that we grow silent when accusations are leveled or the threat of accusations comes to be. Examples are in the book of Acts.

When you have the time, I encourage you to read Acts 16, 17, 18, 19. Just kind of read them straight through, but I want you to notice particular moments in time where Paul and those with him get accused time and time again.

When Paul cast the demon out of the little girl who was being enslaved by her masters, they accused him in verses 20 and 21 of Acts 16, says, these men are throwing our city into confusion, being Jews, and are proclaiming customs which it is not lawful for us to accept or observe being Romans.

False accusation. Let's stir the people up. These guys are outsiders trying to make us conform to some other standard that we're not supposed to live by. They're causing confusion. Let's throw them in jail and beat them.

They did.

Acts 17, verse 6, others were dragged into the marketplace. Jason and some of the brethren before the city were dragged before the city authorities, shouting, these men who have upset the world have come here also, so on and so forth.

There's many, many false accusations all right in a row in this section of Acts. So what are we supposed to do? This is the norm for the church. What would Christ have us do? What would Jesus Christ have us do?

Matthew 10, verses 16 through 20. Jesus knew this was going to happen. He told us it was going to happen. He knew that his people would go forth, and they would say what he wanted them to say, and that things would not go swimmingly.

There would not be immediate rejoicing and acceptance of the message. Nonetheless, this message is so vitally important. It's the salvation of souls. It's eternal destiny at stake. He says this, verse 16 of chapter 10, Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.

I don't like those odds. That sounds like the teams have been unfairly picked. Sheep in the midst of wolves. But by this, Jesus is recognizing the nature of those who follow him, and the nature of those who reject him.

Reject him. So he says, So be shrewd as serpents and as innocent as doves. Shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. So we're going to have to have wisdom to know how to be as effective as we can, and as pure as we can, all at the same time.

But beware of men, for they will hand you over to the courts and scourge you in their synagogues, and you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake. You're being accused. They're guilty of hate speech.

Put them on trial. And if we are brought before the courts, the local courts, if we are brought before the synagogues, the legal proceedings of any denomination, of any religious organization, if you are brought before the governors of a region, of a state, kings, the ones with the highest authority, the ones with the highest authorities to judge, notice, you will even be brought before governors and kings for my sake as a martyrian testimony, where we get our word martyr, as a martyrian testimony to them and to the Gentiles, that when the accusations are laid, when we are brought up on charges, when the spotlight focuses upon this new hate group, because the Southern Poverty Law Center has declared, you are now a hate group.

We will sic the IRS on you. When that occurs, when the spotlight is upon the people of God, who are doing their best to lovingly say what the Bible says, here is our opportunity. We are a testimony. And when they hand you over, verse 19, do not worry about how or what you are to say.

That's my problem.

What am I going to do? How am I going to do this?

How am I going to say?

Don't worry about it. It will be given to you in that hour what you are to say, for it is not you who speak, but it is the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you. Jesus says this to those who will be his apostles, but listen, what does Jeremiah do?

He says what he's already been given to say. When we are put on trial in the public eye or in the civil sense, whatever it is, what do we do when we are accused of hate speech? It ain't hate speech. It's from the Word of God.

It's what God knows we need. He's the one who made us in his image. It is the supreme act of love that a holy God would condescend to our sinful level and say something to us that we may know his truth, repent, and be saved.

So when they call it hate speech, let's make it our stump speech and say what the Word of God says. The Holy Spirit has already given us what we need to say. We don't have to change it. Accusations should not silence.

Threats Cannot Stop the Word

We've been given what to say. The second question is this. Will threats silence? The accusation and the threat goes together, doesn't it? But will threats silence? Maybe it's not so much the accusation.

If the accusation doesn't work, then come the threats. The accusations were there. You have preached against the city. You're against our culture, against our religion, against our politics. And the threat is you must die.

Well, that should get Jeremiah's attention. That should signify to him that, you know, he's been doing things wrong. This hasn't worked out. I should change the way I talk, but he doesn't. In fact, I think it's interesting that when they have accused him of this, they've accused him of hate speech.

They threaten him with death. But notice how he handles that, verses 14 and 15. But as for me, behold, I am in your hands. Do with me as is good and right in your sight. Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on this inhabitants.

For truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing. Do you notice that Jeremiah did not have that particular point in his previous sermon? He adds it here. You see what he does?

When he's threatened with death, and it could be any other kind of threat, but when he's threatened with death, he makes it a point of the sermon. And, oh, I have a fourth point now. The thing is, when anyone threatens anybody else, you better stop such and such or I'm gonna.

That is a moral claim. They've just said, what you're doing is so wrong that you're forcing me to take some kind of action against you. That is a moral claim. And notice how Jeremiah handles that. He says, let's evaluate your moral claim.

Verse 14. As for me, behold, I am in your hands. Notice, he can't stop him from doing anything. He knows that. He's surrounded by a raging mob. But he makes them aware of their responsibility in this situation.

Then he says, do with me as is good and right in your sight. The implication is, just how accurate is your sight? Just how right is your conscience? Are you able to determine the difference between right and wrong to such a degree that you're gonna be able to effectively carry out this threat and you yourself are not guilty?

Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves and the city and the inhabitants. He says, you have no moral right. You have no moral basis from which to execute this threat.

You have made a moral claim, but you have no moral ground. And that is exactly what we find the early church doing. When Peter and John are preaching in early Acts, Acts 4 and 5, another place to go read, practical examples.

When they are accused, when they are then threatened to stop preaching in the name of Jesus Christ, they say more than once and in different ways, we must obey God rather than man. And they even pitch it to the Sanhedrin and say, if it's right to obey God or man, we'll leave it up to you to determine that.

You see, the threat came and they said, you've made a moral claim. Show me your moral ground from which to make that threat. Is this not also what Christ did when Pilate was frustrated? Jesus wasn't answering his questions and Pilate says to Christ, why do you not answer?

Do you not know that it is in my power either to release you or to crucify you? There's the threat. And Jesus says, you would have no authority if it were not given to you from above. And Jesus responds to the threat by reminding Pilate of the true moral ground.

These are the examples that we are given in scripture. We don't have to worry about accusations. They shouldn't silence us. It's just a signal for us to restate clearly what God has said. When the threats come, we don't have to be silent.

That's our opportunity to talk about what is right and wrong according to God, not to man. These are the ways that we are being led. Now, I hope you will come back next week because I want you, or next week you're going to hear Brother Ken preach because I'm going to be gone.

Come back and listen to Brother Ken preach, please. I hardly ever get to and I'm impoverished because of it. The following week, when we come back, Lord willing, here's some homework. Do you see this man in verse 24?

Ahiakam, son of Shaphan. Do you see how his hand was with Jeremiah so that Jeremiah was not given into the hands of the people and put to death? Go find out who he was. Go find out who his father was and his son.

That's going to be an important part of this chapter to understand what's going on there. Let's close in prayer. Father, I thank you for the time you've given us in your word. What a blessing it is. You know what we face in this world.

You have not left us without recourse. You've given us your spirit. You've given us your son. You've given us your word. And you show us clearly how we are to respond. Lord, help us to be as wise, as clever, insightful, as serpents, but as pure and as holy, as straight and true and righteous as doves.

For you have sent us into this world to be light and to be salt. And you've told us what to do when opposition arises. So let us not be afraid of man, but let us fear you and put into action the things you have called us to.

We pray these things for the sake of Jesus Christ.

Amen.