Living Stones Church, Red Deer - Jeremiah Series

Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah Series

I’ve just finished reading an interesting biographical sketch on the life of Winston Church during his first 58 years before the Second World War and his first time in office as the Prime Minister. The book is entitled: ‘The Last Lion,’ by William Manchester. Churchill was never fooled by Hitler and his intentions before the War. While Britain was disarming following the First World War, Churchill, who initially agreed with that approach, realized the mistake and pointed out that two significant threats were rising, Communism and Nazism. Before Hitler’s ascent into German leadership, he had insisted that “he would never wage aggressive War, but Winston didn’t believe him. By his own admission, the man was untrustworthy; Churchill quoted Mein Kampf: ‘The great masses of people...will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one.”

In hindsight, we can see that is precisely what Hitler communicated to the German people and the world. We know the damage caused by spreading and embracing lies. It leads people into bondage and ultimately to death.

In Jeremiah 28, we have a confrontation of a false prophet toward Jeremiah’s message. What is at stake is the truth of God’s warning being negated, and the consequences for disobedience will be devastating. What happens when lies are being propagated? Why does God allow liars to operate? God actually uses them to reveal what is in the hearts of people.

"If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder spoken of takes place, and the prophet says, ‘Let us follow other gods (gods you have not known) ‘ and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD, your God, is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and soul.

It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve and hold fast to him. That prophet or dreamer must be put to death for inciting rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. That prophet or dreamer tried to turn you from the way of the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you." (Deuteronomy 13:1-5)

Moses explains that God is testing people regarding their commitment to God. It is not that God doesn’t know, but that we discover from our response to false teaching where we really are. If we think that this is just an Old Testament concept, notice Paul’s warning in 2 Thessalonians 2:9:

"The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie and all the ways wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved."

For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.

One of the problems with sin is that its very nature is deceptiveness, and it can suppress the truth.

"There have always been false prophets. Jesus speaks of them in the Sermon on the Mount. How we can identify them." (cf. Heb. 3:13, Rom. 1:18)

"Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit, you will recognize them. Do people use grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles?

Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit, you will recognize them." (Matthew 7:15-20)

So what is the actual cost of lies, and what happens when we embrace the lie or lies and suppress the truth? What happens to those who deceive and those who are deceived?

Jeremiah 27, Jeremiah Series

How do we live under unpopular political leadership? It is a question that we are constantly faced with in dealing with changing leaders and political philosophies. Where do we look for answers when society as we know it is faltering? The psalmist speaks of the hour when the 'wicked bend their bows, and they set their arrows against the strings to shoot from the shadows at the upright in heart. When the foundations are being destroyed, what can the righteous do?' (cf. Psalm 11:2-3).

The foundation spoken of here is the moral fibre and values of a people. The simple answer is to 'take refuge in the Lord' (Psalm 11:1).' To remember whose world this really is. 'The LORD is in his holy temple; the LORD is on his heavenly throne. He observes everyone on the earth; his eyes examine them (cf. Psalm 11:4-5). This is God's world, and He will ultimately act. While we are waiting, what should our response be? Revolt? Rebellion? Complaint and criticism? Compliance? Or is there a different response that is being called for? In Jeremiah 27, we are about to discover who is behind the unpopular political leadership. What we learn should help us respond to even the most oppressive governments. Oppressive governments are often God's tools of chastisement. These are moments that ought to cause us to consider. It is a time when we should humble ourselves and cause us to stop looking for human solutions and political leaders for answers and instead surrender our lives anew before God. God is ultimately in charge of our world. He appoints whoever He desires to rule over people.

Walter Brueggemann points out: "Yahweh may assign power to anyone Yahweh chooses. ...Yahweh does not need to give explanation or justification, does not need to give account to the nations." Who are we to call God to account for his actions, which are higher than our ways? We are accountable and answerable to God; this includes those God uses as His appointed leaders. God will ultimately judge every person, including every leader, for how they lived and served as leaders.

So how should we respond to unpopular political leaders? There are three things we need to consider from our text and how it applies to our current context.

Jeremiah 26, Jeremiah Series

We live in an hour when many people do not want to be corrected or warned. In Proverbs 1, we hear the call of wisdom to turn to her ways. However, we see that the foolish mock and refuse to listen to God's correction, resulting in calamity and distress.

"Repent at my rebuke! Then I will pour out my thoughts to you; I will make known to you my teachings. But since you refuse to listen when I call, and no one pays attention when I stretch out my hand, since you disregard all my advice and do not accept my rebuke, I, in turn, will laugh when disaster strikes you; I will mock when calamity overtakes you." (Proverbs 1:23-26)

God's word not only warns and rebukes us but also instructs, comforts, and encourages us. But if we won't listen to God's warnings, then all that is left is the consequences. The apostle Paul describes those who refuse to listen to God's instructions and warnings. "The Spirit clearly says that in the later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons." (1 Timothy 4:1)

Here in Jeremiah 26, we discover that when a culture moves toward apostasy, it will ultimately be judged by God. One of the distinguishing signs is that they refuse to hear the truth and will not only distort it but will persecute those who advocate for it. In other words, they will endeavour to silence the truth. Even as believers, we need to hear the voices of those who disagree with us. We must be careful not to shoot the messenger because sometimes they may carry God's word to us. As God's children, we are responsible for sharing God's message with our world. So, how do we do so when we realize our culture's growing level of hostility? In Jeremiah 26, we discover three specific courses of action that we must pursue despite the times we are living in.

Jeremiah 25, Jeremiah Series

What happens when God is talking, but we are not listening? Maybe even more critically, God warns us of impending danger, but we ignore what is being said? One aspect of God’s loving nature is that He does warn us when we are deviating from the right path. The problem begins when our deviation is about to destroy ourselves and others. What happens, then? What does God do, and how is this action ultimately the source of our restoration? As we turn once again to the book of Jeremiah, we will discover how God is finally heard.

Jeremiah 24, Jeremiah Series

How do we see tragedy in our lives? How do we move forward when our world comes crashing down around us? As we are about to discover, God has a plan for good even in times of trouble and despair. Robert Davison relates this powerful insight about the things we may consider sacred, but we have lost the true meaning of what faith is all about. “Sometimes the things we regard as essential to our faith and fight desperately to retain patterns of worship and congregational life may, and indeed sometimes must, be taken from us if we are to rediscover the meaning of discipleship.” People who are never challenged in their faith often grow weak and apathetic. Challenges have a way of causing us to reconsider our lives and see things in a different light.

Jeremiah 23, Jeremiah Series

Who is influencing and shaping your life? Who are the people that are knowingly or unknowingly influencing you? Some of the most significant influences in our lives are friends, media, and people who we respect and embrace what they are telling us. How do we know where we are headed unless we know the character and direction of those influencing us? We have been looking at the book of Jeremiah, where God has been warning His people that their direction in life was leading them to exile, which is simply being separated from God. We discover the importance of those who are leading or influencing us. One key reason for the exile was the leadership crisis in Judah. In the end, it became a carousel of ungodly leaders exploiting the people rather than empowering them and redirecting them toward God. Roland Harrison summarizes it: “Bad leadership is the ultimate attributive cause of the exile.”1 We may not always have a choice in our parents, teachers, and political leaders, but we do have a choice in listening to those who champion biblical values. So when and where we have a choice in who we will listen to, let’s choose the right kind of leaders to follow. Here we are about to see the difference between two leaders and the effects they had on the people being influenced by them. In Jeremiah 23, we find a contrast between godly and ungodly leaders and their impact on others. Then what can we learn about the kind of leaders we are following and shaping our lives. So, what kind of a leader are we going to follow? What are the qualities we should be looking for?

Jeremiah 22, Jeremiah Series

The passing of Queen Elizabeth II has caused us to pause and be amazed at her reign of seventy years. She had a very consistent moral influence on others. Her speeches pointed people to God. She brought honour to her position. So, what is it that God requires of those in leadership positions? God’s standard is the same for all those in positions of leadership. Leaders influence others. Here in Jeremiah 22, we find that God spoke to the Shepherds of His people, those kings and officials who were giving direction over the land. Tremper Longman relates regarding the role of the King: “It was the king’s duty to protect those who could not protect themselves and also create a society that was harmonious for law-abiding citizens.” But what happens when those in authority flaunt and abuse their positions? Will God address these abuses? Maybe the greater question is how does He go about it?

Jeremiah 21, Jeremiah Series

The most terrifying state of being is when we find ourselves in conflict with God. Is it possible for God to be against us rather than for us? Our decisions can move us in a direction that brings us into conflict with God. We are either moving toward God or away from God in our lives. Using the image of light and darkness within a moral context, we are either walking or living in the light of God’s word, or we allow our sinful desires to move us into the darkness away from God and ultimately face the greater terror of finding ourselves at war with God. James warns us that this is a very real possibility.

"You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God? Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God." (James 4:4)

What is James telling us? He is not speaking of befriending people but rather embracing the values system of a society that has turned its back on God and is, therefore, against God. Returning to the book of Jeremiah, we find a significant chronological movement in time. Years have elapsed from the previous chapter. Many of the things that Jeremiah had warned about were now happening. The king and the people had hardened their hearts, disregarded God’s word, and counsel through prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Babylon was now attacking the city. King Zedekiah, who had made a political alliance with Egypt to rebel against the Babylonian’s control over Judah, is now facing total destruction. So how do we become God’s enemy? What happens when we are in conflict with God? These are questions that Jeremiah 21 answers for us. What is it that God requires of us if we are to walk with God as our friend?

Jeremiah 20:7-18

As we journey through the Christian life, there come moments where it seems God is distant and the task at hand seems overwhelming. Things are not transpiring as we would hope or desire. Jesus had his Gethsemane experience, where the conflict between what He knew He needed to do and the difficulty of doing it collided and created conflict within His soul. The agony in the garden was knowing that He would be estranged from His father because he would become sin, who had never sinned. The abhorrence of being separated from the Father and the darkness that would assault His soul seems beyond Him. There are moments where we are treading on our journey of faith, where we come to our ‘dark night of the soul,’ where we feel the abandonment by God and the task before us seem beyond us.

Roland Harrison relates the intensity of the anguish that Jeremiah was experiencing from the hostility of those he was ministering to. “This powerful poetic section contains unusual psychological insights, not merely in relation to Jeremiah himself but for canonical prophecy as a whole because of the self-disclosure of profound emotional conflict. Jeremiah’s sensitive nature appears in his reaction to the sarcasm and ridicule with which his message was received.”

One of the expectations of a prophet was that their words would come to pass. However, in Jeremiah’s case, there seemed to be a delay, and as a result, Jeremiah was considered by many to be a false prophet and later a traitor to his people. For a person who cared about his people, Jeremiah was often heartbroken regarding their rebellion and wept over their soul’s condition. He has been called the ‘weeping prophet’ because of his intense intercession for God’s mercy upon the people. Yet there was also a great emotional and spiritual toll on this sensitive man’s life. He endured much sarcasm and ridicule. For the most part, his ministry was not well received, and at times he experienced hostility and physical abuse. His life was threatened and endangered even though God promised Jeremiah protection from death itself. We learn from this episode the challenges and difficulties that obedient ministry exposes a person to. Serving others is often painful and very difficult. People are often impossible in their expectations and demands. So while a part of Jeremiah wanted to quit and remain silent, there was another conflicting emotion within him that could not keep the passion of sharing the message of warning that needed to be expressed. In all of this, Jeremiah expresses his deepest angst to God. This is the final cry of Jeremiah to God regarding his ministry.

Jeremiah 20:1-6, Jeremiah Series

One of the repeated themes in the Scriptures is the imminent judgment about to occur because of human rebellion against God. Think back to Noah and the flood, Sodom and Gomorrah, the destruction of the Northern Kingdom under the Assyrians, and the destruction of Jerusalem first by the Babylonians and later by the Romans. We are now living in the hour of Christ's return. For the believer in the gospel of Jesus Christ, it will be a day of redemption, but for the lost, a day of judgment. One of the dangers of life is ignoring or recasting the past with the desire to create a different narrative in the future apart from past and even current realities. The problem is that what happened in the past is a tale that must be heard and understood in its context and learned from; otherwise, we will repeat its mistakes and suffer the consequences of unwise decisions. We have been going through the book of Jeremiah and hearing God’s indictment against His own people who are making tragic decisions that will ultimately lead to terrible consequences. In Jeremiah 19 through the first six verses of chapter 20, we see both the most challenging message and the response to that message by those who were in the establishment of both political and religious leadership. They were leading the nation further astray. How does this biblical truth impact the way we live? Or ought to live?