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JUST ONE YEAR TO LIVE? -- Jeremiah 28:12-17
Jeremiah vs. Hananiah is the classic battle of truth vs. error, of those who preach God’s message vs. those who preach what people want to hear. Jeremiah was a man of God and a God-pleasing prophet. Hananiah was of the world, a false preacher who sought to please those who heard him. Hananiah sought to please the ego of the king. He was the type that would find out what the king wanted to hear, then preach that. He preferred to deliver a syrupy sermonette in order to boost the self-image of his hearers. Jeremiah sought to please God. He was prepared to tell the truth, regardless of what it might bring upon him. He preached a plain message that was not popular with the crowd. It was a message of God’s condemnation and coming judgment. These 2 approaches to preaching are still with us today. (I don't need to tell you which is preferred by the world.) I Timothy 4:1-2: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. . .” II Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Jeremiah 27:1-6, 9-10, 14-15 & 28:1-4, 10-11, and our text present this confrontation. We also see the culmination of this confrontation. Hananiah has sown to the wind, and he will reap the whirlwind. He will be called to give a personal account of his false word at the judgment bar of God. It is encouraging in this day of apostasy, to read of the ultimate triumph of good over evil, the triumph of truth over error. We need such encouragement. But Hananiah is at the center of our thoughts today as he is told by Jeremiah, “Within the year God will require your life of you.” How would you like to be told you were going to pass from this life within the next year? Do you think about it? Several of our members left this life in the past year, and we would not even have imagined at the start of the year they would do so? We don’t like to be reminded of death. The desire to survive is as natural as breathing. Most of us know to go and be with the Lord is far better, but we desire to live here, also. This was the dilemma Paul faced in Philippians 1:23-24. He said: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (24) Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” Why did the Lord include this account of Jeremiah and Hananiah in His Word? So we might reflect upon the brevity of life? -- James 4:14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” So we would not make the mistake of the rich man in Luke 12 and become prideful and presumptuous about life? Luke 12:17-19: “. . . he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” James 4:13-14: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (14) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.” Proverbs 27:1: “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” But what if God said to you or me, “This year, thou shalt die . . . ” What would our reaction be? Let us consider. . .
I. JUST ONE YEAR TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH GOD -- (SOLITUDE).
II. JUST ONE YEAR FOR DEEPER COMMITMENT -- (SURRENDER).
III. JUST ONE YEAR TO SERVE OTHERS -- (SERVICE).
IV. JUST ONE YEAR TO BE A BETTER STEWARD - (STEWARDSHIP).
V. JUST ONE YEAR TO WIN SOULS FOR JESUS -- (SOUL-WINNING ; WITNESSING).
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By JWHJeremiah vs. Hananiah is the classic battle of truth vs. error, of those who preach God’s message vs. those who preach what people want to hear. Jeremiah was a man of God and a God-pleasing prophet. Hananiah was of the world, a false preacher who sought to please those who heard him. Hananiah sought to please the ego of the king. He was the type that would find out what the king wanted to hear, then preach that. He preferred to deliver a syrupy sermonette in order to boost the self-image of his hearers. Jeremiah sought to please God. He was prepared to tell the truth, regardless of what it might bring upon him. He preached a plain message that was not popular with the crowd. It was a message of God’s condemnation and coming judgment. These 2 approaches to preaching are still with us today. (I don't need to tell you which is preferred by the world.) I Timothy 4:1-2: “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; (2) Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron. . .” II Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having having itching ears; (4) And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” Jeremiah 27:1-6, 9-10, 14-15 & 28:1-4, 10-11, and our text present this confrontation. We also see the culmination of this confrontation. Hananiah has sown to the wind, and he will reap the whirlwind. He will be called to give a personal account of his false word at the judgment bar of God. It is encouraging in this day of apostasy, to read of the ultimate triumph of good over evil, the triumph of truth over error. We need such encouragement. But Hananiah is at the center of our thoughts today as he is told by Jeremiah, “Within the year God will require your life of you.” How would you like to be told you were going to pass from this life within the next year? Do you think about it? Several of our members left this life in the past year, and we would not even have imagined at the start of the year they would do so? We don’t like to be reminded of death. The desire to survive is as natural as breathing. Most of us know to go and be with the Lord is far better, but we desire to live here, also. This was the dilemma Paul faced in Philippians 1:23-24. He said: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: (24) Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.” Why did the Lord include this account of Jeremiah and Hananiah in His Word? So we might reflect upon the brevity of life? -- James 4:14: “Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.” So we would not make the mistake of the rich man in Luke 12 and become prideful and presumptuous about life? Luke 12:17-19: “. . . he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.” James 4:13-14: “Go to now, ye that say, To day or to morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: (14) Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow.” Proverbs 27:1: “Boast not thyself of to morrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.” But what if God said to you or me, “This year, thou shalt die . . . ” What would our reaction be? Let us consider. . .
I. JUST ONE YEAR TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH GOD -- (SOLITUDE).
II. JUST ONE YEAR FOR DEEPER COMMITMENT -- (SURRENDER).
III. JUST ONE YEAR TO SERVE OTHERS -- (SERVICE).
IV. JUST ONE YEAR TO BE A BETTER STEWARD - (STEWARDSHIP).
V. JUST ONE YEAR TO WIN SOULS FOR JESUS -- (SOUL-WINNING ; WITNESSING).