Jeremiah 21:1-7
The News
Outline:
I. \\#Jer 1:1-19\\ Jeremiah’s Calling
II. \\#2:1-37\\ God’s Case Against Judah
III. \\#3:1-25\\ Israel’s Three Time Zones
IV. \\#4:1-6:30\\ Sins and Judgments
V. \\#7:1-\\ Some Specific Messages
A. \\#Jer 7:1-34\\ A Message to the Religious
B. \\#Jer 8:1-22\\ A Message to the Continuous Backslider
C. \\#Jer 9:1-10:25\\ A Message to the Believer
D. \\#Jer 11:1-12:6\\ A Message About Jeremiah
E. \\#Jer 12:7-17\\ A Message to the Pastors
1. \\#Jer 12:7-9\\ An Astonishing Statement
2. \\#Jer 12:10-13\\ A Horrendous Failure
3. \\#Jer 12:14-17\\ A Strange Invitation
F. \\#Jer 13:1-7\\ A Message of Ruin
G. \\#Jer 15:15-21\\ Message to Self - Feet of Clay
H. \\#Jer 21:1-7\\ A Message to Zedekiah - The News
Setting:
1. Jeremiah was arrest in the last chapter. That appears to have
been Jeremiah’s first arrest, although it will not be his
last. This raised Jeremiah’s persecution level to a whole
new level. It’s one thing to have friends, neighbors, even
country men trying to kill, but one the priests and the
rulers set their site on you, things are bound to get worse.
2. Jeremiah was having some discouragement issues because of the
persecutions he was experiencing. That is not uncommon even
for those whom we think of "giants in the faith." We will
get to see more of how the persecution effected Jeremiah but
one thing we know. He will stay faithful no matter how he
felt.
We will do tonight what we have done on several occasions as we are
working our way through this book. We will cover more than one
chapter. I am not skipping over some verses because they are not
important, but because some of what Jeremiah said is repetitive. We
remember he spoke against sin for many years and there are only so
many different ways to say that sin is wrong and that judgment is
coming.
So let’s see what God reveals.
I. God had some bad news for the kings.
A. I say "kings" plural because in the next few chapters,
Jeremiah will mention the names of the last five kings to
rule over Judah.
1. In this section, Jeremiah will not record a message
for all of these kings but he will mention them.
2. You can read of this last four kings beginning in
\\#2Kings 23:31\\.
3. You need to remember that some of the kings had more
than one name.
a. Jehoahaz was also Shallum \\#Jer 21:11\\.
b. Jehoiakim (given by the Egyptians) was also
Eliakim \\#2Chron 36:4\\.
c. Jehoiachin was also Jeconiah \\#Jer 24:1\\ and
Coniah \\#Jer 22:24\\.
d. Zedekiah was also Mattaniah \\#2Kings 24:17\\.
B. Zedekiah was the last king of Judah.
1. He will reign for the last nine years and be ruling
when Nebuchadnezzar’s army attacks. (Since Jeremiah
speaks of Zedekiah here, we know this event took
place in that last nine years of Judah’s history.)
2. Nebuchadnezzar will be at war THROUGH Israel from
601 to 587 BC.
a. I say THROUGH because the Israel was just in the
way.
b. The real war was between Babylon and Egypt, and
Israel just kept getting caught in the middle.
c. However, to insure military security behind him,
Nebuchadnezzar laid siege against Jerusalem in
599 BC and the city fell on March 16, 597 BC.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Jerusalem_(597_BC)
C. On this occasion as Jeremiah sat in jail, Zedekiah sent to
inquire of the Lord by him.
1. Zedekiah was a man who actually believed in the Lord
and in Jeremiah but he was too afraid of the ungodly
politicians in the palace to think about serving him.
a. The book of Jeremiah will reveal that he was too
afraid to help Jeremiah, too afraid to repent,
and too afraid to even be seen talking to
Jeremiah.
b. All I can say is he was not too much of king and
leader.
2. Throughout Jeremiah’s jail ministry, God will
encourage Zedekiah to obey Him but he never will, in
part because of what he would have to do and what he
would have to lead Israel to do.
3. It is outlined in this text.
D. What was Zedekiah to do?
1. \\#Jer 21:2\\ - Nebuchadnezzar was coming and the king
wanted to know if God would do some "wondrous
works."
a. \\#Jer 21:4-7\\ The answer was "yes," but the
wondrous works would be AGAINST Israel and FOR
Babylon.
(1) \\#4\\ God would use their weapons against
Israel.
(2) \\#5\\ God would fight against Israel.
(3) \\#6\\ God would send diseases and
death against Israel.
(4) \\#7\\ God would give Zedekiah into
Babylon’s hand.
b. \\#Jer 21:9\\ In fact, those who stayed in the
city to fight would die.
c. But any who would leave the city and surrender to
Babylon would live.
2. So what did God expect Zedekiah to do? He expected
him to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.
a. That will be revealed to Zedekiah several times in
this book.
b. Of course, that would be a hard things for any
king or national leader to do without even
trying to fight.
c. It would not have been so bad if God had at least
allowed them to put up some kind of skirmish and
then surrender, but His command was not to fight.
(1) Why?
(2) Because the commands of God are not given for
our pride or esteem but for our obedience.
(3) When we get to the fall of Jerusalem, we will
see that the Jews did not put up much of a
fight at all, but neither did they surrender
so God will deal harshly with them.
E. So the news for Zedekiah was surrender or perish, obey or
rebel; God is not for you but against you.
II. \\#Jer 23:1\\ God had some news for the pastors.
A. The word "pastor" means "shepherd."
a. It can and often does refer to spiritual leaders.
b. In this case, it refers to the priests and prophets of
Israel.
B. There are multiple charges brought against this corrupt
spiritual leaders.
1. \\#Jer 23:2\\ They had scatter the flock.
(a) Notice the charge is not that they had allowed
the flock to be scattered but that they had
scattered it.
(b) If these religious leaders treated all of God’s
true sheep as they were treating Jeremiah, there
is not wonder!
2. \\#Jer 23:10\\ The land is full of adultery, swearing,
and generally following after evil, but the prophets
had allowed it to infiltrate the Lord’s house
\\#Jer 23:11\\.
(a) It is one thing when sin runs rampant among the
ungodly.
(b) I have said many times that the lost are going to
act lost. It is the only way for them to act.
(c) But when the sins of the ungodly come into God’s
house, that is a horse of a different color
all together.
(d) The sad thing about sin is that when the smallest
particle is allowed, it spreads.
Ga 5:9 A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump.
(e) Paul gave this council when confronting sexual
immorality in the church.
1Cor 5:4 In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
when ye are gathered together, and my spirit,
with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ,
5 To deliver such an one unto Satan for the
destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may
be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.
6 Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that
a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
7 Purge out therefore the old leaven, that
ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For
even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us:
3. \\#Jer 23:14\\ The prophets had compromised with sin
to the place that no one had repented.
(a) The prophets were doing wrong and not rebuking
the other wrong doers. Instead they were
strengthening their hand (encouraging them).
(b) By doing this, they squelched repentance.
"none doeth return from his wickedness"
(c) Without repentance, there can be no forgiveness.
(1) The blood of Jesus is and always has been
the means of forgiveness.
(2) However, repentance is the human mechanisms
which make forgiveness possible.
(3) Anytime someone speaks of forgiveness before
repentance, things are out of order.
(d) We are living in some difficult times.
(1) The sins of the ungodly are coming into the
church.
(2) If the church does not search out and obey
the Word of God in dealing with it, the
church will cease to be the holy church.
(3) Holiness is the only earthly resource we
have to convince the world of sin and to
help them.
(4) Once holiness is gone, so goes God’s help as
well.
(5) This is what Jeremiah was telling the
pastors.
C. For this offenses, God was about to judge the pastors.
Jer 23:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts
concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them
with wormwood, and make them drink the water of
gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is
profaneness gone forth into all the land.
III. \\#Jer 23:3-8\\ God has some news for the future.
A. This passage becomes an end time prophecy.
1. The reason this is an end time prophecy is because
Israel will not repent until the end time.
2. This is their choice not God’s design.
B. \\#3\\ As the pastors had scattered God’s flock, so God
will one day gather them.
C. They will be fruitful and increase in the land.
D. \\#4\\ God will set up shepherds (plural) over them.
1. The Lord will be THE Shepherd.
2. But He will appoint others to help lead Israel and
mankind through the millennium.
E. \\#5\\ And one day, God will send Messiah.
1. Messiah will be of David.
2. Messiah will be the Righteous Branch.
a. A branch is what grows at the end of the tree.
b. Jesus is the end of all that God has been doing
with Israel since before He called Abraham out of
Ur of the Chaldees!
3. Messiah will be THE King.
4. \\#6\\ When that King sits, Judah will be saved and
Israel will dwell safely in the eland.
5. That King will be so righteous that His nick name will
be, "The Lord of Righteousness."
6. \\#7-8\\ And in that day, people will cease to talk of
the day God gathered Israel from Egypt and will speak
of the day He gathered them from parts of the world!
a. The only bad thing is that before they can be
regathered from all over the world, they will
have to be scattered all over the world.
b. That has happened already but it is likely that
there will be another scattering.
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