God sent messengers to Israel to get them
on the right path. He sends them again
and again and they refuse to listen to the voices of the prophets. God speaks to them. And God will speak to you. Most of the time God won’t speak audibly and this is discouraging to people. We want some voice like James Earl Jones or Morgan Freeman to boom down on us. More often than not.....that doesn't happen.
We have 3 parts of the body – the physical, the soul, the
spirit. The deepest part is the
spirit. God wants to speak to the
deepest part of you – the spirit. We have been studying The Story. It is a book compiled of the entire Bible but it takes the key moments, people and circumstances and condenses them into one book. We have to realize and recognize that we fit into God's story.
2 Chronicles 36:11-16
Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king,
and he reigned in Jerusalem eleven years. He did evil in the eyes of the
Lord his God and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke
the word of the Lord. He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had
made him take an oath in God’s name. He became stiff-necked and hardened his
heart and would not turn to the Lord, the God of Israel. Furthermore, all
the leaders of the priests and the people became more and more unfaithful,
following all the detestable practices of the nations and defiling the temple
of the Lord, which he had consecrated in Jerusalem. The Lord, the God of
their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again,
because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked
God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the
wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
No remedy – what sad words.
How many remember precisely where you were on 9/11? Do you remember the chaos of the moment? What about Katrina?
Remember the pictures, damages, horrible devastation? We remember those vividly. We remember traumatic events.
Jeremiah was a prophet and he saw a day of judgment coming to Jerusalem. Jeremiah was often referred to as the weeping prophet. He cries and weeps (he also wrote the book of Lamentations and
Jeremiah) for the destruction and what was about to fall on Jerusalem and Judah. If only God's people had turned from their sins,
God could have spared Jerusalem. For them
there was no remedy.
Look at v 12 – something about humility and pride.
He did evil in the eyes of the Lord his God and did not
humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke the word of the Lord
Pride tunes out the voice of
God. Pride says 'I don’t need to hear
God'. Humility turns towards the voice of God. God is good. God wants to bless his people. He desires it
because He is a good God. Humility tunes us
into the voice of God so that we can experience God’s blessing. He doesn’t bless us because we are special...He
does it because He is good. But if we are
prideful, we can’t get into that place where we can receive God's favor.
Humility is the key to God’s guidance and favor in our
lives. So often we think we are pretty
special and sometimes God has to come and pull us back down to earth.
Matt 23:12
For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those
who humble themselves will be exalted.
You put yourself in a place where you can receive the
blessing and promise of the Lord.
The key to obtaining blessing and favor of God is
humility! Humble yourselves before God. As you look at the scripture….Israel has already fallen in
the north and we are coming to the destruction of Judah in the south.
Some background – Zedekiah is the last king of
Judah. The northern kingdom had fallen
to the Syrians. But the southern is
still intact. During Judah’s reigns of 20 kings – 6 were good, 14 were bad. The average reign of a bad king was 12
years. When your reign ended in Judah,
no one gave you a going away party. When
you were finished, you were dead. That
is how we know your reign ended – you were assassinated, killed. The average reign of the good kings were 38
years – it pays to be good.
2 Chronicles 36:15
The Lord, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them
through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and
on his dwelling place.
God is gracious, God is good and He keeps
reaching out again and again. God is patient and He sends prophet after
prophet. Jeremiah was sent specifically to
warn Zedekiah. When you read Jeremiah, one of
his central imageries in his prophecies was water. He talks about drinking pure water or that
Judah is drinking from dirty water – symbolic of their idolatry. This world’s water will never satisfy.
Jeremiah finally says disaster is coming because of your
arrogance. But Zedekiah won’t heed his
warning. Zedekiah is fearful of Jeremiah because
of his anointing so he won’t kill Jeremiah.
So he puts him in prison. Back then, some prisons were just a large cage in the middle of the palace. The only trouble is, where the prison is
located, Zedekiah can still hear Jeremiah calling out of destruction and
judgment coming - humble and repent and Zedekiah did not want to hear it. So he
throws Jeremiah down in the dungeon so he can’t hear him. But word keeps coming back to Zedekiah and he
doesn't know what to do with Jeremiah. You
can run but the word of God will seek you out wherever you are at.
Zedekiah throws Jeremiah into a dry, empty well because he can’t take
it anymore (remember Jeremiah's central imagaries for his prophecies? Water). You may think your boss or
teacher is tough. But if you were a
prophet in Judah or Israel, that is a deadly profession – you die.
v. 16
But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and
scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord was aroused against his people
and there was no remedy.
Eventually the cup of God’s wrath is filled to the tipping
point and comes to a point there is no remedy. God says this is enough. That patient God who warned them again and
again he finally says that is enough!
Nebuchadnezzar and the armies come and lay siege to Jerusalem for 2
years. They starve them out. Ezekiel, another prophet, prophesied saying
fathers would eat their children and children would eat their fathers. This is a terribly time to live in Judah – a
time of pain and destruction.
God warns us – again and again. Eventually there will come a time you will reap
what you sow. If in your pride you don’t
listen to the voice of God and if you shut him out, there will come a time God
will say there is no remedy. If you go
to work, come in late don’t do your job, eventually the boss will say you are
fired. If you use illegal drugs – you
get hooked and addicted and the habit comes in and takes control and God warns
you again and again…..and you become addicted and there is no remedy – reap
what you sow.
God is warning us again and again and if our pride and
arrogance say we don’t need you, we will suffer the consequences. God gives us laws and the book, not for His
benefit – but for ours. Everything you will ever
need is in the Bible – marriage, finances, raising kids.
We can humble ourselves and heed God’s warnings, or in our
pride we can ignore them and go over the cliff.
Our nation has thumbed its nose at God – and we wonder why our families
are falling apart, our schools are in trouble, our nation is debt and we have a
major drug problem. If we, in our pride,
say to God we don’t need you anymore we will suffer the consequences.
Before it is too late, God has given us a remedy – for our
nation, our lives, and our families.
2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble
themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I
will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
There is a remedy today. Nebuchadnezzar comes in and destroys Jerusalem.
He takes the best and brightest to Babylon. It is possible to live holy lives into an
unholy world – look at Daniel. Nebuchadnezzar
leaves Jerusalem and leaves Zedekiah in charge.
To show how stupid Zedekiah is, he not only rebels against God but he
decides to rebel against the king. So Nebuchadnezzar comes back and he is angry. He takes Zedekiah's sons and drags them out and
kills them. Then he takes hot pokers and
burns out Zedekiah's eyes. Then he throws
him in prison to live with his regrets.
Sometimes we say God where are you in all this? Why am I going through this? My world is falling apart. But more often these are messes we brought on
ourselves. However, God reaches out again and again and He speaks to us but our pride
won’t allow us to listen. Then God says
– have it your way. Israel and Judah are
so scattered, they don’t become a nation again until 1948. Pride says do your own thing, you are in
charge. But we end up being controlled
by something else. Something will rule
over you (addiction). So when you say
you will be in charge of yourself, in reality you will be under slavery of the enemy. Pride is something we all deal with. How do we handle it?
Three things--
1. Repent of pride
How do we see pride in the world in relation to hearing the
voice of god?
A. There are those who don’t believe in God – atheists. There are very few true atheists in the world. Most are
agnostic - meaning there may or may not be a God, I don’t care. Not gonna listen to any warnings, I am my own
man. God is a crutch that I don’t need.
I am hoping you aren’t in that category.
Some of us are functional atheists – that means we believe in God, we
know there is a God but we live apart from god doing our own thing.
That’s pride – dangerous.
B. 911 Jesus – I will call him in my time of need. I do what I want, I am good, God I got it
covered, I am in control, life is good – but as soon as a tragedy hits we get
serious and pray.
D. Most fall into this – I believe in God and I love God but I
am just too busy. I got so much going
on. I am sorry I can’t pray, read the
word, tune in, go to church….I am too busy.
That is pride of self-importance.
It is the ‘world needs me’ syndrome.
How do we deal with this?
Repent and humble ourselves – saying I am wrong and God is right.
2. Listen and Surrender
Put God’s ways ahead of yours. Jeremiah knew that captivity was coming and even
knew how long – 70 yrs.
Jeremiah 29:10-14
This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are
completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring
you back to this place. For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the
Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen
to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from
captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have
banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from
which I carried you into exile.”
Jeremiah writes this when the people were at the very lowest and even
in the midst of that, God says 'I still have plans'. Even though Israel is scattered forever,
Judah rebuilds 70 yrs. later. Why? Because Judah is the tribe the messiah comes from
and God is going to keep his tribe intact.
And so God says 'I have plans for you'.
If the walls of your life seem to be crumbling – God says I
got some good plans for you. Don’t give
up, just stop and listen – turn to me. I
got something good for you.
James 4:6-7
But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Sometimes we blame the devil but most messes are created by
our own doing. Humility simply says –
you are God and I am not.
3. Give God the credit
Humility gives God all the credit. It isn’t about us, it is about God and His
glory. For very blessing and success
goes to God.
Jeremiah 9:23-24
This is what the Lord says: “Let not the wise boast of their wisdom or the strong
boast of their strength or the rich boast
of their riches, but let the one who boasts boast about this: that they have the
understanding to know me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice and
righteousness on earth, for in these I
delight,” declares the Lord.
Don’t be arrogant with God’s blessings. Give Him the credit. He is so good. There are so many times that if we don’t humble
ourselves, He will do it for us. As soon
as we start thinking we are all that – bam – we will fail just to put us in
check.
Often times, my failure is my fault because of my own pride – failure to trust
God. But ALL success is God’s
goodness.
God has a plan for your life.
Psalm 20:7-8
Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we trust in
the name of the Lord our God.
They are brought to their knees and fall,
but we rise up and
stand firm.
Incredible. Put your
trust in God – praise is about boasting in the Lord. Humility is the key to the favor of God. Let God readjust your altitude so you aren’t
so high in your own pride.
