I want to continue our study through the book of Jeremiah. And today we’re going to be looking at Jeremiah chapter 42. So if you have your Bibles, turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 42.
Jeremiah had been in Jerusalem when Jerusalem fell to Nebuchadnezzar. And the captain of Nebuchadnezzar had been told by Nebuchadnezzar to talk to Jeremiah and tell him that he was to be set free. And that he had the opportunity to go where he wanted to go. He could go with the captives to Babylon, if he wanted to do that. If he wanted to stay in Jerusalem with the people that were going to remain there, that the Babylonians were going to leave there, he could do that. Or he could go anywhere else that he wanted to go.
Jeremiah’s heart was for the people. And God had placed on his heart to minister to the people and to share with them the importance of the truth that God existed and cared about them and that they needed to look to the Lord. So Jeremiah chose to remain with those that were in Jerusalem.
Now last Wednesday night we saw that there was a Jewish man by the name of Ishmael who was actually of the royalty of Judea but who had gone to Ammon. And the king of Ammon had paid him to go and just create problems in Jerusalem. And that’s exactly what he had done.
And he was finally, after a series of events, he had ended up going back to Ammon but not before it had created quite a stir amongst those that were remaining and the people had to drive him away. And the people that were remaining were led by a man who was named Johanan the son of Kareah.
And he was kind of the leader of the group of people that were remaining. And we’re going to see tonight that simply because people want you to go to the Lord and find out what God’s will is, they always don’t want to do God’s will even though they’re asking to find out what it is. And that’s the case of those that are being left.
They didn’t know what to do. Do they go to Babylon with the rest of the Jews? Do they continue to remain in Jerusalem? Or the other alternative would be to go to Egypt. Now there’s been this love and hate relationship between Israel and Egypt, between Judah and Egypt for quite some time.
And the people of Judah have looked to Egypt as their deliverer instead of God. And if you remember just a few studies ago, they actually thought that the Egyptians were going to come up and defeat the Babylonians on their behalf and set them free. And this is after they’d gone to Jeremiah at that time and asked him, What’s the will of the Lord? Will you pray on behalf of us that God would deliver us? And we will do all of the things that we have not been doing. We’ll set the people free that are indentured servants to us that we have not been doing for the last 490 years. But we will do everything that God wants us to do. And then all of a sudden they heard the Egyptians are coming. So then, oh no, we’re going to take the indentured servants back again because the Egyptians are here. We don’t need to rely on God.
These are a lot of those same people. And if you can imagine how frustrating it is for Jeremiah because he intercedes before the Lord. The Lord tells him this will happen and this will happen. And if they do this, this will happen. And so he lays it out before them, but they never take his advice. They always do the exact opposite of what he says. Well, tonight we’re going to see nothing’s changed.
And their attitude hasn’t changed. Until people’s hearts are transformed, they act out of selfishness and self-will, and they try to reason things from the world’s perspective and man’s logic. And that’s why a lot of people never end up coming to Christ because they try to justify their sin, try to say that God will somehow be satisfied with my solution to my issue, and I really don’t have to rely on God and do it his way.
Let’s take a look at what Jeremiah 42 says this evening.
1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the Lord thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
And so they come and they ask him to pray for the remnant, and they also realize there aren’t a lot of them left. The majority of the people have been taken away to Babylon, and the ones that have been left have not been those that were the leaders per se. Nebuchadnezzar did not normally do that. He’d leave some people that had some authority. He did that with Gedaliah, but Gedaliah had been killed by Ishmael, so they didn’t have a leader, and also Ishmael had killed a number of the other men of Judah, and so they’re growing less in number all the time, and they go to Jeremiah and ask that he would intercede before the Lord, and I want you to see how they refer to it.
It’s not intercede before the Lord our God. No, it’s the Lord thy God. I want you to see they don’t even identify the Lord as their God, but rather it’s Jeremiah’s God, and would he please ask his God what they should do and what the solution to their problem should be.
3 That the Lord thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the Lord your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
I want you to see Jeremiah changes it and reminds them he’s your God, not just my God. He’s your God too,
He’s going to be honest with them like he’s always been. He will tell them exactly what God says, and he really expects them to do what God says, because that’s what they’re asking.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The Lord be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the Lord our God.
This time they’re going to do it. Our God, and you notice they changed the name from your God to our God here. We’re going to obey, and it’s going to be our God to whom we send thee, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord, our God, and so they say we are going to do whatever he says.
7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah.
8 Then called he Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest,
9 And said unto them, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto whom ye sent me to present your supplication before him;
10 If ye will still abide in this land, then will I build you, and not pull you down, and I will plant you, and not pluck you up: for I repent me of the evil that I have done unto you.
Now what God is telling them, I want you to stay in the land, and I’m going to bless you if you stay in the land, and when he says I’ll repent from the evil, it’s not that God had created evil for them, but rather God had orchestrated the circumstances that were not comfortable for them, so that they would repent, and this is what it means when it says that God when he refers to the Lord saying that I have done this evil, he is talking about the circumstances that he allowed to occur, so that they would come to the end of themselves and repent of their sin, and God does that in our lives sometimes too, he causes circumstances to come that aren’t pleasant, allows them to happen, so that we’ll look to him and trust in him and call on his name, and do what he knows what’s best for us, and what he desires for us, and that’s exactly what this circumstance was, these events had occurred, and these people are desperate, and they’re growing less in number all the time, and they know that they can’t do anything out of themselves, and so they’re calling on his name, and he’s saying okay just remain in the land, remain in Judah.
11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the Lord: for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the Lord your God,
14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
15 And now therefore hear the word of the Lord, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.
So that he makes a choice really evident, one trust in me and you’ll be blessed, trust in yourselves and your plan, because it appears, that there’s an abundance of food in Egypt, it appears that Pharaoh can protect you, it appears that he’s got armies, that will protect these bandits, like Ishmael from coming in, and swooping down and killing you, it looks like he will protect you, from further attacks from Babylon, and other people that would wipe you out, and the world, Satan often does that, he places things before us, that appear to be something, but they’re mere allusions to reality, God is telling them, the real thing is, I am the one that’s in control, this morning we were looking at Daniel, when he was taken away into captivity, about a little bit before this time, but he had known Jeremiah, and he was taken away into captivity, as a young man, and when they were taken away into captivity, they could trust in God, and his plan for their lives, even in captivity, or they could trust the Babylonians, who had the appearance, of having all the control and power, but the first thing we looked at this morning, and this morning’s message, was who allowed Judah to be taken, was it Nebuchadnezzar, that had the power to take it, because he had the greater army, the greater weapons, more power, he had the greatest empire, in the Middle East at this time, and Israel was still, almost the size of the state it is today, about the size of New Jersey, with very few people, who had the power, well from a worldly perspective, Nebuchadnezzar did, but the second verse it is, in 1st Daniel it says, the Lord allowed Jehoiakim, to be taken by Nebuchadnezzar, Jehoiakim wasn’t taken, by the power of Nebuchadnezzar, he was taken because God allowed it, these people, if they remained in the land, the Lord’s hand of protection, would be about them, and they would not have to face, death by the sword, death by a starvation, death by peril, of various sufferings, but rather God said, I’ll bless you, but you go to Egypt, and you trust in the way, what the world says is the way, and you’re going to meet, a horrible end, and the very things you fear, are going to happen to you, you’re going to experience famine, you’re going to experience the form, of the sword, and you’re going to experience death, the choice is yours, one is you walk by faith, as their father Abraham had done, or the other is you walk by sight, as his nephew Lot did, and what happened to Lot, well he lost most of his family, he only ended up with two daughters, that weren’t lost, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, his wife looked back longingly on Sodom, and she died because of that, but even in the two daughters, that were redeemed, they did not have faith, that God would make provision, for them to have husbands, that their father would have descendants, and so they committed incest, and their children became, the heads of the countries, of Ammon and Moab, which were constantly a thorn, in the side of Israel, and so even though Lot believed, he suffered horrendous consequences, because he didn’t put his faith, and trust in God, he allowed his eyes to do it, he looked on the plains of Sodom, and saw wonderful grass, places where his herds would grow, where he could become wealthy, and he chose Sodom, instead of the hills and the rocks, which were left for Abraham, and yet Abraham was the one, that was the one that was wealthy, and had a family, that descended and brought, the blessings of the Lord, to the whole world, and so we see that, it’s not always what we see, but it’s what God promises, and so are we going to walk by faith, or are we going to walk by sight, well the ones that were left in Jerusalem, and the ones that were left in Judah, told Jeremiah, we’re going to Egypt, let’s go, because they walked by sight, not by faith, they didn’t trust God, instead they trusted their own abilities, so shall it be with all the men, that set their faces to go into Egypt, to sojourn there, they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, and none of them shall remain, or escape from the evil, that will bring upon them, and this is real evil, because Egypt was a corrupt, and evil nation, and this is evil, that God didn’t create evil, this is wickedness and evil, because of their choices,
17 So shall it be with all the men that set their faces to go into Egypt to sojourn there; they shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: and none of them shall remain or escape from the evil that I will bring upon them.
18 For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; As mine anger and my fury hath been poured forth upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so shall my fury be poured forth upon you, when ye shall enter into Egypt: and ye shall be an execration, and an astonishment, and a curse, and a reproach; and ye shall see this place no more.
The very thing, that they had seen their fellow citizens, of Jerusalem and Judah, taken into Babylon for, and which Jeremiah had told them, why they were taken, now they’re going to do, they aren’t going to believe God, and they’re not going to do what God says, even though he says, on the one hand I have blessing, on the other hand curse, believe and you experience the blessing, way back at the time of, when they came into the land, under the leadership of Joshua, and they came into the land, the Lord had them go to two mountains, Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, and he had all the tribes of Israel, half the tribes go on Mount Gerizim, half the tribes go on Mount Ebal, and then he set below in the center, between the two mountains, the priest and the ark, and the people recited the law, and the curses and the blessings of the law, Mount Ebal was the mountain of cursings, Mount Gerizim was the mountain of blessings, if you walked in obedience, these are the blessings, if you walk in disobedience, these are the cursings that will come upon you, at the end of his life, Joshua once again reminded the people, who are you going to follow, and there are choices, choices, choices, choices, in our life are choices, do we believe God or don’t we believe God, and that’s exactly what they had here, it was a choice, God did not force them, to go one way or the other, but he laid before them a choice, and said choose, just as Joshua laid before all the people, before he died a choice, who will you serve, will you serve the gods of the Amalekites, the gods of the Canaanites, the gods from the other side of the flood, or will you serve the true and the living God, the choice is yours, who will you serve, and he says but as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, Joshua made a choice, and his family made a choice, these people didn’t, they made a choice too, and they chose not to follow God, and choices have consequences, one of the things that in our culture today, is we try to make choices have no consequence, and or minimize the consequence, for example, you have someone that’s doing drugs, they have a choice to do the drugs, or not do the drugs, and we try to minimize the consequence, of doing the drugs, and say continue to do the drugs, and we’ll help you do them, because we don’t want you to suffer, with the choice you’ve made, but choices have consequences, and until people realize, choices have consequences, and if we make a bad choice, the consequence will lead to a bad conclusion, but if we make a right choice, and a good choice, and believe in the things God leads us to do, it will have a good conclusion, and we’ll be walking with God, and not with the world, that’s the choice they’re faced with, what are you going to do,
19 The Lord hath said concerning you, O ye remnant of Judah; Go ye not into Egypt: know certainly that I have admonished you this day.
20 For ye dissembled in your hearts, when ye sent me unto the Lord your God, saying, Pray for us unto the Lord our God; and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us, and we will do it.
21 And now I have this day declared it to you; but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.
22 Now therefore know certainly that ye shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither ye desire to go and to sojourn.
Now remember way back at the beginning of this chapter, when they went to Jeremiah, what did they say, go to the Lord, and whatever he says, we will do, that was pretty emphatic, we will do, well he told them, pretty emphatic from God, don’t go to Egypt, what are they going to do, for you dissembled in your hearts, when you sent me unto the Lord your God, saying pray for us unto the Lord our God, and according unto all that the Lord our God shall say, so declare unto us that we will do it, and now I have this day declared it to you, but ye have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God, nor anything for which he hath sent me unto you, now therefore, the consequence, what is the consequence of that decision, now therefore know ye certainly, that ye shall die, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, in the place whither you desire to go, and to sojourn, the choice was yours, life and prosperity by the hand of God, or death and suffering, by the choice that you make of trusting in Egypt, that choice is evident all around us today, when it comes to walking with Christ, do you believe in the promises of God, that if we give our heart to Christ, and confess our sins, he’s faithful and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that he will make us his, that we are now an adopted son or daughter of Jesus Christ, that we can walk with him, and then be given a new heart, a new mind, a new soul, or if we choose the world, we’ll continue in the ways of the world, which will lead to destruction, Jesus said there are two paths, one is narrow and few find it, one is broad and many go that way, and the narrow way is to trust in Jesus, because most people will not, and the thing is most people are like, the men and women of Judah, that had the right choice, practically laid before them and made for them, but refused to do it, and suffered the consequences, which resulted in horrific, final days of their lives, as they went down to Egypt, let’s just close in prayer, Lord I pray that you just help us, to realize our consequences, to all of our decisions in life, and Lord I pray that you would help us, to walk according to your will, and do according to your purposes, Lord I pray that we would be able, to lay out the gospel messages, Jeremiah did for the people here, of are you going to believe God or not, when it comes to Jesus Christ, are you going to believe or not believe, and Father help them to understand, that there are real consequences to that decision, and if they believe in Christ, they shall have eternal life, they shall have a new life in this world, they shall have a new heart, they shall have walk with you, but if they choose to rebel against you, and to go the way of the world, it shall mean certain death, and the very thing that they fear, they will experience, Lord help us to realize that, if we fear the consequences, of an eternal separation from you, we need to make a choice believing, in your son Jesus Christ, go with us now we pray in Jesus name, Amen.