#161. When Following God Costs You + When Obeying God Means Standing Alone | Jeremiah 19-24

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This is The Dwelling Place

from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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As we glean from Jeremiah 19 through

24, we can't help but be reminded

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that although Jeremiah was speaking

to a different people in a different

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time, God's Word thoroughly applies

to our lives and our parenting today.

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In chapter 19, God gives

Jeremiah directions

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To provide yet another illustration of

his impending judgment upon Jerusalem

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God asks him to buy some pottery and to

go to the valley of the son of Hinnom

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And declare that disaster is coming

upon it because they have filled the

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place With the blood of innocence

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God said it would become known

as the Valley of Slaughter

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After all of these sacrifices,

the valley was full of bones

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and next God tells Jeremiah to break

the pottery, because he is about

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to break the people and the city

in a way that could never be mended

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God declares that their most beautiful

city of Jerusalem was going to become

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like this valley filled with bones

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When you think about the most beautiful

city in the world, what comes to mind?

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Is it Paris, New York,

Prague, Singapore, Florence?

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If someone told you that city was soon

going to look like a concentration camp,

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You'd be shocked as well Honestly, it

helps me to think about the most wicked

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influences that we know about in our time

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It's easy to understand God's judgment

when we're talking about the Nazi Party.

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But the Assyrians, the Phoenicians,

the Amorites, the Moabites, and these

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different groups of Canaanites not

only terrorized their enemies, they

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were sacrificing their own families.

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So when God says He wants to judge

them, we should rejoice in His

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redemptive justice instead of wonder

why God would wipe out a wicked people

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In chapter 20, we're introduced to Pashur.

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He's a priest and one of the chief

officers in the temple, and he's

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completely offended by Jeremiah's message

It seems odd because as a priest, he

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should understand that Jeremiah is

speaking in line with the judgments God

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told them would occur in Deuteronomy 28

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Then Pashur beat Jeremiah the

prophet and put him in the stocks

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that were in the Upper Benjamin

Gate of the house of the Lord.

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This was a very public punishment,

but Jeremiah didn't back down.

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The next day, when Pashur released

Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said

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to him, " The Lord does not call your

name Pashur, but Terror on Every Side."

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Peshor means freedom.

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But as God describes the judgment

that's going to come upon him, it is

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terrifying And it doesn't come about

only because he persecuted Jeremiah.

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It's also because he was filling

the people with lies, giving them

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comfort that judgment wasn't coming.

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A true messenger and priest

of the Lord should have

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encouraged the people to repent.

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There isn't much of a transition,

but all of a sudden in chapter 20,

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verse 7, we read a prayer of Jeremiah.

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It seems to be words of lament, which,

to quote Pastor Mark Vroegop, is a

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prayer made in pain that turns to praise.

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But Jeremiah's lament is a

little bit of a rollercoaster.

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Jeremiah processes a lot of different

emotions here, And maybe you'll find him

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more relatable after I read it O Lord,

you have deceived me, and I was deceived.

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You are stronger than I,

and you have prevailed.

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I have become a laughingstock all the day.

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Everyone mocks me, For

whenever I speak, I cry out, I

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shout violence and destruction.

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For the word of the Lord has become for

me a reproach and derision all day long.

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If I say, 'I will not mention Him

or speak anymore in His name,' there

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is in my heart as it were a burning

fire shut up in my bones, And I am

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weary with holding it in and I cannot.

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For I hear many whispering,

' Terror is on every side.'"

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" Denounce him, let us denounce him," say

all my close friends watching for my fall.

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" Perhaps he will be deceived.

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Then we can overcome him and

take our revenge on him."

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But the Lord is with me as

a dread warrior; therefore,

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my persecutors will stumble.

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They will not overcome me.

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They will be greatly shamed,

for they will not succeed.

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Their eternal dishonor

will never be forgotten.

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O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous,

who sees the heart and the mind,

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let me see your vengeance upon them.

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For to you have I commanded my cause.

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Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord,

for he has delivered the life of

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the needy from the hand of evildoers

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Yes, Jeremiah reached the point of praise.

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But next, he curses the

day that he was born

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Let's go back to verse seven.

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I really appreciate the

clarity that Charles Dyer and

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Eva Rydelnik provide to this.

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The NASB says Jeremiah felt

that God had deceived him.

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However, the word can mean to be

enticed, coerced, or persuaded.

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A more helpful translation would

be, " You coerced me into being a

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prophet, and I allowed you to do it.

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You overcame my resistance

and prevailed over me."

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God didn't trick Jeremiah.

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In fact, He told them from

the beginning that Jeremiah's

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message would not be successful

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but after decades of serving the Lord in

this way, Jeremiah's thinking, " As long

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as I speak for you, I get persecuted."

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he even considers the idea of

not saying God's name anymore

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But that thought is fleeting because there

is a burning fire in his heart to speak

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the word of the Lord Even his closest

friends are wanting him to be proved wrong

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And part of me understands this just

a little bit because Jeremiah was

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saying that awful things were going

to happen to all of them, but they

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forgot it was their own sin that

was bringing about the judgment

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Aren't you fascinated by that phrase, "But

the Lord is with me as a dread warrior"?

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This is a fierce description

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Of a ruthless, mighty hero,

champion, and defender.

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Jeremiah had full confidence that

his persecutors would stumble

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And I delight in how much God reveals

His character Throughout His Word.

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verse 12 we read that

God tests the righteous.

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It's encouraging because if He's

testing the righteous, He's giving

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them an opportunity to prove

themselves so He can reward them

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And at the conclusion, it's possible

that when Jeremiah cursed the day he

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was born, He may have been saying,

" God, the message you've given me

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to deliver is a really hard one.

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I know all that's going to come

about, and maybe it's better if

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I wasn't even born to deliver it

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But Jeremiah was chosen before he

was even born to be God's messenger

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at the exact right time

in the exact kingdom

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In chapters 21 through 23, God

confronts the wickedness of

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the kings through His prophet.

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He starts with the current king,

Zedekiah But after that, he goes

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back chronologically through

some of the most recent kings

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God tells Zedekiah, " I myself will

fight against you with outstretched

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hand and strong arm, in anger

and in fury and in great wrath.

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For I have set my face against

this city for harm and not

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for good," declares the Lord.

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For harm and not for good.

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It shall be given into the

hand of the king of Babylon,

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and he shall burn it with fire

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But as is consistent with

the Lord, He offers a choice.

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" Behold, I set before you the way

of life and the way of death."

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God encourages Zedekiah to surrender

to the Chaldeans And reveals that

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will actually be the place of

protection not resisting against them

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If you're confused about why all of

a sudden the Bible's talking about

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Chaldeans , when we thought the

Babylonians were coming against them, I

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get it, it's confusing, but scripture uses

Babylonians and Chaldeans interchangeably

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I think you'll appreciate

why God is rebuking the kings

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Jeremiah tells Zechariah, " Do justice

and righteousness, and deliver from

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the hand of the oppressor him who

has been robbed: and do no more wrong

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or violence to the resident alien,

the fatherless, and the widow, nor

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shed innocent blood in this place.

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And if he repents and stops oppressing

the innocent people God says he will

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use him to continue the throne of David

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The call to be a Davidic king was

to do justice and righteousness

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and to care for the oppressed.

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And we see that list once

again, the fatherless, the widow

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and the innocents, and the innocent

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Because our God is a God of

love, following Him should

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transform our treatment of others

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But these kings neither

love God nor love people

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Next, listen to the strong rebuke

toward Josiah's son Shallum.

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" Woe to him who builds his house by

unrighteousness, and his upper rooms

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by injustice; who makes his neighbor

serve him for nothing, and does not give

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him his wages; who says, ' I will build

myself a great house, with spacious upper

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rooms'; who cuts out windows for it,

paneling it with cedar and painting it

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with vermilion; " Do you think you are

a king because you can eat and sit here?

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Did not your father eat and drink

and do justice and righteousness?

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Then it was well with him.

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He judged the cause of the poor

and needy; then it was well.

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Is not this to know Me?"

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declares the Lord.

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But you have eyes and heart only

for your dishonest gain, for

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shedding innocent blood, and for

practicing oppression and violence

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Shalom was taxing the people

and profiting from it.

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They were frustrated because he was

thriving while they were struggling.

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And meanwhile, he was

painting his walls red.

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That's what vermilion means.

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This whole description makes me

think of Louis XIV of France,

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who also oppressed his people.

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They were starving to death while

he was throwing lavish balls at

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Versailles Truly, this son is far

from the example his father set

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I love that line that God

says, " Is not this to know me?"

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When we stand up for the cause of

the poor and needy That reveals

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that we know the Lord I was so

excited when we were studying Josiah

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and the reforms he brought about.

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But it's quite evident the more we

read through Jeremiah that Josiah's

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example wasn't truly embraced

in the hearts of the people.

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God used him for a time But as soon

as he was out of the picture, they

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continued their wicked practices.

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it seems that his reforms penetrated

deeply in his own heart, but

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not as much so in the people

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The last king rebuked is

Coniah, the son of Jehoiakim

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and there is a powerful yet extremely

negative prophecy written about him.

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Thus says the Lord, " Write this man down

as childless, a man who shall not succeed

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in his days, for none of his offspring

shall succeed in sitting on the throne

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of David and ruling again in Judah."

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You know what?

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This king had seven sons, and

we know all of their names,

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but none of them became king.

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This is an incredibly important prophecy

because it says that none of his

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offspring will sit on the throne of David.

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This is fascinating because the

person who rules after him is

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Zedekiah, not his son, his uncle

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and if you look to the genealogy

of Jesus in Matthew chapter 1

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Coniah, or Jeconiah as he's

also known, has a son listed.

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Now, did this prophecy not come true?

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What happened?

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Well, we'll talk more about this

later, but Matthew 1 records

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Joseph, Jesus' earthly guardian.

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But Jesus did not come through Joseph's

bloodline Luke records Mary's genealogy

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And it's this bloodline

through which Jesus comes

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If he hadn't, he would've

been disqualified from

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sitting on the throne of David

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We'll get into it more later,

but I hope you know by now that

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genealogies can be exciting too

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After God rebukes all of these

wicked kings for their oppressive

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deeds, God explains why the

coming king is so superior.

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" Then I will gather the remnant of

my flock out of all the countries

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where I have driven them, and I will

bring them back to their fold, and

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they shall be fruitful and multiply.

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I will set shepherds over them who

will care for them, and they shall

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fear no more, nor be dismayed.

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Neither shall any be

missing," declares the Lord.

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" Behold, the days are coming declares the

Lord, when I will raise up for David a

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righteous branch, and he shall reign as

king and deal wisely, and shall execute

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justice and righteousness in the land.

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In his days Judah will be saved,

and Israel will dwell securely.

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And this is the name by which he will be

called, ' The Lord is our righteousness.'

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Don't miss that that title shows that

Jesus will be the righteous king, that

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he is God, and that he is the Redeemer

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And after reading about the good shepherd

who is to come, rebukes the false

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prophets that have led their flock astray.

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They've deceived the people

saying all will be well

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And God is well aware In verse

23, " Am I a God at hand," declares

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the Lord, " and not a God far away?

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Can a man hide himself in secret

places so that I cannot see him?"

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declares the Lord.

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" Do I not fill heaven and earth?"

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declares the Lord.

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" I have heard what the prophets have

said, who prophesy lies in my name.

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and to further confirm that

surrendering to the Chaldeans

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will bring about a greater result.

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In chapter 24, God gives Jeremiah

a vision of two baskets of figs

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We have an abundance of historical

confirmation that these events really

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happened And we can rejoice in a God who

sees all things and hears all things,

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and whose word always comes to pass.

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there may be times our own kids are

tempted to not speak about their

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faith or speak about the Lord,

as Jeremiah himself was tempted.

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And we can remind them through

Jeremiah's example that even when

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there is persecution, following

God will always be worth it

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And we can train them that knowing

God often looks like standing up for

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the needy and the oppressed Just like

the Lord, we're to have eyes to see

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and we're to bless the

needs of those around us

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And finally, when we read about

the false prophets, we're reminded

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that we're called to be discerning,

to not believe all that we hear

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And this quote in the Moody

commentary was so on point the

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people were rejecting Jeremiah

because they didn't like his message.

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Similarly, people today must guard against

the tendency to become attached to a

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religious leader based solely on outward

appearances or their presentation of

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endlessly inspiring or engaging messages

that ignore sin and its consequences.

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God's people then and now must always

evaluate every teacher, message, and

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book by the contents of Scripture, which

means they must spend time digesting

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God's Word in order to know what it

says Heavenly Father We rejoice that

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you are the Lord our righteousness.

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though it feels somewhat uncomfortable

to call ourselves righteous, we thank you

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that we can cling to your faithfulness

because we know that when you promise

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something, you will bring it to pass

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And it's because of this that we can

confidently pray that you would help

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us become more and more like you

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We pray we would be discerning.

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Rather than getting caught up in

YouTube channels or podcasts with large

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followings or influencers or platforms

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Help us to be captivated by you alone.

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Lord, I pray once again for

myself that I would only speak

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the words that you call me to.

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And if anything I say is not in

line with the truth of your Word,

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I pray you would give the moms that

listen discernment to cast it off

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We pray you would give our children a

deep fire that they must speak your word

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regardless of persecution or consequences.

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Help them to be winsome and feel an

unshakable sense of justice and compassion

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for the oppressed Jesus, we thank

you that you are perfectly qualified

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to sit on the throne in the line of

David, and we long to see you worshiped

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for the righteous branch that you are.

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Amen