Sunday Morning, March 24, 2019 AM Part 1

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 Nathan 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 Ahiakim 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 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 of 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 and 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 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 said what 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 up on he's been put on trial and there are 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 notice in verses 9 through 11 the accusations the people all the people the priests and the prophets seized

Jeremiah so when they 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's 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 you have judgment verse 11 then the priests and the prophets 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 is 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 is 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 DC 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 would it would make you may raise your ire and you may say well

I know they've got some problems but that is 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 mean 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 matter 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 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 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 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 will 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 said he's not preaching against these things because well he's you know he has indigestion and it 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 keywords 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 out of the little girl who was being enslaved by 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 is not 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 others were dragged into the marketplace

Jason 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 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 this message is so vitally important 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 them 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 gonna 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 governor governors of a region of a state and kings the ones in 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

Marturian testimony where we get our word martyr as a

Marturian 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 sick 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 gonna do how am I gonna do this how I'm gonna 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 now

Jesus says this to his apart 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 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 were there you have 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 it 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 it that when they have accused him of this in verse and we see they've accused him of hate speech they threaten him with death but notice how he 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 in 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 going to 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 four and five 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 in in different ways we must obey

God rather than man and even pitch it to the

Sanhedrin and say if it's if it's right to obey God or a 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 I have 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 I hope you will come back next week because I want you or next week you're gonna hear brother

Ken preach because I'm gonna be gone come back and listen to brother

Ken preach please I know 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 a high come son of chiffon 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 because that's gonna be an important part of this chapter understand what's going on there okay 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 you know what we face in this world you have not left us without recourse you've given us your spirit you have given us your son you have given us your word and you show us clearly how we are to respond