Might please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the prophecy of
Jeremiah chapter 37 and we'll read verses 16 and 17. Verses
16 and 17 in the 37th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah. When Jeremiah was entered into
the dungeon and into the cabins, and Jeremiah had remained there
many days, then Zedekiah the king sent and took him out. And the king asked him secretly
in his house and said, is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah
said, there is. For, said he, thou shalt be delivered
into the hand of the king of Babylon. Generally speaking, in the days
of Jeremiah, there was much to mourn over and much to be sorry
for. Jeremiah, of course, had a very
difficult existence. But he was a faithful prophet.
Indeed, that's what God's servants are. They are to be faithful
in the ministry. And this man was indeed faithful
in the ministry. And we sometimes, in the Word
of God, we think of words and we recognize words which perhaps
we don't always appreciate at a time what the result of what
words are. And as I was pondering a few
days ago what to preach from this evening, and these words
came very clearly, which were, is there a word from the Lord? There is. I didn't know exactly
then where it came, but my thoughts were, well, that is a good question
and no doubt there's a good answer. Well, you know what the answer
is. The answer wasn't what the king wanted. He'd asked the question,
he got the answer, which Jeremiah said, thou shalt be delivered. into the hand of the king of
Babylon. Quite clearly in Zedekiah's life,
he knew what was right. His father was Josiah, a very
godly and gracious king who'd done much for the blessing of
Israel and now Zedekiah was on the throne and he was walking
contrary to the Lord and as we read together in the second verse
of this 32nd, 37th chapter, but neither he, that's the king,
nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto
the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. So we see they were not obedient
to what Jeremiah spoke to them, the word of the Lord. It didn't
meet what they fancied, what they required, and therefore
they were walking contrary to God. And so we have this case
then of the King Zedekiah, therefore really wanting a good word, something
suitable for his situation, an encouragement for him. As we
know, there were many wars in those days and the people were
coming against him, the Chaldeans and also Pharaoh's army. No doubt it was a difficult time,
but instead of obeying God's commands to them, he asked privately
that there might be a word for him. The king asked him. He took him. Remember, poor old
Jeremiah was in the dungeon and he'd been there for many days.
It wasn't a very pleasant experience. A number of times Jeremiah was
put in the dungeon, sometimes deep down in slough. Not easy
at all. And we need sometimes just to
remember these things, as we live today in a very easy environment,
generally speaking. And yet you see, here was Jeremiah,
faithful, and for his faithfulness, imprisoned. You still see that
today, don't we? Not so much in our nation, but
in other countries in the world, those people who speak out for
the things of God are hated and imprisoned for the words that
they've spoken. Well, here we have then, Jeremiah
was taken up out of the dungeon. Zedekiah said, asked that he
would become, and he came out, and the king asked him then,
secretly in his house. Obviously he wanted to have a
secret word which he can act on perhaps and therefore take
all the praise and encouragement for it. And so he comes and he
says, is there any word from the Lord? And Jeremiah said,
there is. I wonder what Zedekiah thought
with that response. There is. For, said he, thou
shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon. And if
you read on and come to the last chapter in Jeremiah 52, you will
find that Zedekiah was taken captive. Nebuchadnezzar came
and conquered Jerusalem and Zedekiah had to witness all his sons being
killed before him and then his own eyes put out so he couldn't
see anything and then he was put in chains and in a dungeon
until he died. So he had a very, very sad end
did Zedekiah. And yet you see here, he was
familiar with Jeremiah. He'd heard the word of the Lord
on a number of occasions. And yet you see, he turned his
back on the truth of God. He wanted something else. Well, it's a good example for
us to take heed to. Generally speaking, we like smooth
words. We don't like words which are
contrary. to what we want to do. We want
everything to be in agreement with our plan. No doubt we think
our plan is the best plan, but you know very often our plan
is not the best plan, because God's plan is far, far better
than our plan. And what a mercy it is to realise
the truth of that. We can read in an earlier chapter
in Jeremiah, in chapter 17, about people demanding to hear from
God. And we can read in the 17th chapter,
and we read this from verse 13, O LORD, the hope of Israel, all
that forsake Thee shall be ashamed. And they that depart from me
shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the
Lord, the fountain of living waters. And then we're told this
good desire, heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. Save me,
and I shall be saved, for Thou art my praise. That's a good
desire. And then he goes on to say, Behold,
they sound to me, where is the word of the Lord? Let it come
now. We read in another place, Your
time is always, but my time is not yet. See, we become impatient
because things aren't working out in accordance with our timetable. And we need to be shown that
God's ways are higher than our ways. And we are to submit to
His way and not to press on with our way. And that's really what
Zedekiah was doing here. Yes, he wanted his way. And he
wanted, therefore, a word from the Lord to confirm that. And yet you see, God is a sovereign
God and God will not be dictated to. And we should remember that
in our little lives. We should come to God seeking
for His will in our life, however difficult perhaps the path may
be. And so often we need to be reminded
of the gracious and glorious and wonderful example of the
Saviour the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came on that wonderful
occasion in the Garden of Gethsemane, he prayed to his Father, if it
be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my
will, but thine be done. You see, we are just insignificant
sinners of the earth. And may we have that desire,
To do God's will, not our will. Because God's will would be good
for us. We can be assured of that because we're told, David
tells us, as for God, His way is perfect. And you only have
to trace out David's life, and you can think, well, he didn't
have an easy life. And he didn't, but he was able
to make that wonderful statement. As for God, His way is perfect. And my friends, in our little
lives, if God is dealing with us as sons and daughters of the
Most High God, may we realize that the Lord in His sovereign
goodness and mercy is teaching us and instructing us and preparing
us for our eternal home. what a blessing it is then to
be in agreement with God's plan for us and not wriggle and not
try and change the conditions but be willing in a day of his
power to suffer for his sake and to do his will. As I often
say, our lives, as believers, are for the honour and glory
of God. And generally speaking, that
path will involve opposition, will involve persecution, will
involve difficult paths, but to think that as the hymn writer
says, the way I take cannot be wrong if Jesus be but there. And how true it is. And what
a comfort that should be. So when we think of, here we
have Zedekiah, wanting a word from the Lord, but wanting a
word from the Lord on his terms. Well, God has his terms. God has his terms with all of
us. And what a blessing it is to
realize that. And to realize, therefore, that God is dealing
with us as sons and daughters of the Most High God. And to
come back time and again to that realization that it is a preparation
our eternal home the last thing we want I'm sure is to come to
the gates of heaven and be turned away to hear those terrible words
depart from me I never knew you but what a blessing it is to
hear those glorious words come in Thou blessed of my Father. Yes, what a wonderful time that
will be. And that means then that we should
be concerned therefore to not state what we want and to take
heed to such a testimony, such a word as we have here. Is there
a word from the Lord? And perhaps we might say, well,
we might come in a right way. We might really be desiring to
know that there is a word of the Lord. There's nothing wrong
with that. But first of all, let's examine as to whether a
word of the Lord is required. You know, the word of God is
very comprehensive. And it does really meet all eventualities. And again, I think sometimes
we come ignoring God's Word because it doesn't quite suit us. What
we want to do isn't quite covered in the way that we want it to
operate. And so we come seeking for a
word from the Lord. I sometimes think of that example
of J.C. Philpott when he was in the Church
of England. You may remember he was a vicar
there in the Church of England and he wasn't happy with the
things he had to say in the various services and therefore he earnestly
prayed that God would give him a word. Is there a word from
the Lord? He went on praying for this for
some time. He didn't get any answer. And
then he pondered and he thought. In actual fact, he didn't need
a word from the Lord to leave the Church of England. It was
quite clear. And they weren't following a
right pattern. And therefore he was able to
leave on the word of the Lord in his word. That's a wonderful
blessing, isn't it? And we should be very careful,
therefore, of not seeking, we might think, extra words from
God to confirm us in a certain way, or that we might want something
different, something more suitable, something that will be perhaps
easier to perform. Well, the great danger is, in
that, is this. We're left to rebel against God. Rebelling against God is a very
terrible situation, and a very sad situation, and it's a very
painful situation. Yes, it's a wonderful blessing,
therefore, to be submissive to God's will. because that is the
best. And so here we have this question
from Zedekiah. Is there any word from the Lord? Yes, well you might ask that
and again just check yourself to make sure it is necessary. Have you gone through the Word
of God? Have you studied the Word of
God? Have you sought for an answer from the Word of God? Well, I
think you'll find that if you really do that, in all honesty,
you'll find there is an answer in the Word of God for every
eventuality. And you won't need a special
word. You know, I think sometimes people
want special words to impress people. to impress people. They've been blessed with this
personal word from God which in reality they never needed. Well, we don't want to find that
our prayers have been wrong, we've had a wrong motive. It's
very easy, you know, to have a wrong motive. The devil's very
clever and he will try and stir us up to ask for those things
which are not in accordance with the will of God. how better it
is to just be silent and to study God's Word and to come across
in His Word those wonderful testimonies and examples we have in the Word
of God. There are so many occasions,
you know, you can look at the life of David, you can look at
the life of the patriarchs, You can look at the life of Daniel
and those who were alive in his life, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
We have the examples, many examples, and it's good to realize that
God has given us these examples. When we think of that case of
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, what did they say when the king
told them what they should do and bow down to that idol he
set up? They said, we are not careful
to answer the king. They knew what the answer was
and they weren't afraid to give that answer. It's good, wonderful. And may you and I be found in
that position, not afraid to give the right answer. They knew
what was before them. They knew that they would be
cast into that burning, fiery furnace. And naturally speaking,
there appeared to be no deliverance in that furnace, which they'd
been told was going to be heated seven times hotter They really
thought it would be the end. And yet they did make the statement
that God was able to deliver them. And God did deliver them
in a very wonderful and remarkable way. So we should not forget
we have these testimonies and these gracious and glorious examples
of God delivering, of God hearing prayer when there was a real
time of need, but not when the solution was so obvious and simple. In David's case, there were many
times when he had to fight battles, and he asked the Lord what he
should do. Sometimes the Lord told him to
pursue, other times he told him not to pursue. You see, it's
good, isn't it, again, to come before God with an open mind. Sometimes we come with our plans. Well, David came often with an
open mind. And when the Lord said pursue,
he did. And when the Lord said, do not pursue, he did not. And again, just to follow that
pattern through, even when the Lord did tell him to pursue,
it wasn't always a victory without any personal loss. Sometimes
the Lord does direct us in a certain path. And it's not all plain
sailing. It's the right way, but the Lord
sometimes brings those adversities in our life, in pursuing the
right way, which just confirms to us that great truth that Jesus
spoke, it is through much tribulation we shall enter the kingdom. So let us not be disappointed. If things don't always go smoothly,
we should always come back to recognise and to realise This
is not our rest. This world is a foreign place. We should be aware that you and
I are strangers and pilgrims on this earth. It's a wilderness. We're told in the case of Jacob,
the Lord found him in a desert land, in a waste, howling wilderness. He led him about, he instructed
him, he kept him as the apple of his eye. It wasn't an easy
path, but it was a right path. So if perhaps we desire a word
from the Lord it may direct us perhaps in not quite the way
that you and I thought might be a more difficult path but
nonetheless to come back to remember the great and glorious path that
the Lord would have us to walk in. We have a good example in
the Acts of the Apostles and in chapter 16 where we're told
by the Apostle, in those days Paul was travelling and he was
told, and so were the churches established in the faith. and increased in number daily.
And when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia,
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia,
you see they had their own plan to go to Asia, but the Holy Ghost
forbid them. And they passing by Mycenae came
down to Troas, And the vision appeared to Paul in the night. There stood a man in Macedonia
and prayed him saying, come over into Macedonia and help us. And I expect you are. familiar
with the occasion, he went to Macedonia, he went to Philippi,
the capital of Macedonia, and there were two wonderful blessings
in that journey. He hadn't planned it. God instructed
him. His plan was to go to Asia. God's
plan was to save and call a woman called Lydia. God's plan was
to save Philippi and Jaina and his house. You see how wonderful
it was. Now, it's good to realise that
the Apostle Paul obeyed the word of the Lord on that occasion.
Naturally, it wouldn't have seemed the right way, but it was the
right way, and it brought salvation to those people. And therefore
it's good in our lives if we find that the Lord is directing
us. And again come back to the 107th
Psalm. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go to a city of habitation. So here we have
this example of Zelikiah not having a right motive desiring,
on the face of it, to have the Lord direct him, because he comes
and says, is there any word from the Lord? And you know, if somebody
came to us and perhaps asked that question, we could very
quickly be taken in by thinking, oh, this is a pious person. They obviously desire to follow
the path the Lord has laid down for them. Zedekiah had no desire
to follow the Lord's path. He'd already turned away from
it and the people. And so we can see this is a good
test of the reality of religion as to whether we are following
a false way, that way which seemeth right to a man. but the end thereof
are the ways of death. We read that word twice in the
Proverbs. No doubt Solomon knew what he
was writing. Yes, the way which seemed right. We need to walk the path that
is right. And there's a difference. Because
the way that is right is the Lord's way. The way that seems
right may just be our way. Well, it was a very solemn answer
that Zedekiah received. And again, Jeremiah, being that
faithful man that he was, he told the king fairly and squarely,
there is thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of
Babylon. And so it came to pass. How often in God's Word we can
read the truth of that Word and it came to pass. God's Word does
come to pass. What a good thing it is then
to hear the Word of the Lord to us. Yes, to search out the
Word of the Lord. You see, when we say, hear the
Word of the Lord, we hear it as we read His Word. And He speaks
to us from His Word. I wonder if we really know what
that is. Sometimes you may want a direction. You may want a direction. And
you may expect it to suddenly just float down. It may need labour, labour in
prayer, labour in searching. You may need to search the Word
of God. You may need to read the Word
of God. You may read it for some time
and not get an answer. Well, don't give up. Press on. Press on. Because we do believe and can
believe the Lord waits to be gracious. What is the Lord doing? He's testing our faith. Faith is tested. The reality of faith is tested. Sometimes we think we have faith. But it may be a false faith,
it may be our faith, it may not be a God-given faith. But a God-given
faith brings with it patience, brings with it willingness to
do the will of Almighty God, and brings with it a desire that
God's name will be honoured and glorified. Sometimes, I won't
say always, but sometimes the difficult path is the right path. The tried path, the tested path
is the right way. What a mercy then to be found
walking in the right way and not the wrong way. Poor old Zedekiah. And again, it's very sad, isn't
it, when you think he was the son of Josiah. He'd no doubt
seen his father, seen how his father operated, been very aware
of it, and yet turned his back upon God. We may have examples. godly examples and we should
note them and we should not desire to turn away from them. We should
desire to follow the right way, the God-given way and the right
way we can be sure of is the way that leads us to the Saviour. If our path leads us away from
Christ, If our path leads us into the things of the world,
we can be absolutely sure it's the wrong way. But if it leads
us to Christ, and it may be, as I've already hinted, not a
smooth path, the Apostle Paul reminds us again when he wrote
to the Philippians, because he knew what it was, When he was
in Philippi, he was faithful, he preached the gospel, and yet
he was arrested. And what happened, he was beaten
with many stripes. What a hard path. But God was
with him and Silas. And there was an amazing miracle
that night when they sang praises to God. Why? Because they had
the answer of a good conscience, and realized they were doing
the will of Almighty God. May God was with them in that
prison house to such an extent, they sang praises to God. My
friends, that's a wonderful blessing, isn't it? And a wonderful mercy. And the glorious outcome was
that the Lord sent an earthquake. Yes, the Lord can send earthquakes
The Lord can deliver. It may not be a physical earthquake. It may be a spiritual earthquake. Nonetheless, the Lord can bring
earthquakes. And so he did. And the prison
doors were opened. Deliverance was there. And the
wonder of it was the jailer and his household were converted
and then were baptized. It's a glorious little account,
isn't it? But he did suffer. He did suffer
greatly. He must have thought, perhaps,
well, why is this occurring? Even if he did, he still sang
praises to his God. It's a good example, isn't it?
for us today, when the way seems rough, when the way seems hard,
and we may think, have we mistaken the way? It may be, as the apostle
Paul proved, a blessing of fellowship with the sufferings of Christ. You see, poor Onzedekiah had
no appreciation of that. No, he wanted a way out. He wanted an easy solution. He thought if he called the prophet,
the prophet would therefore give a good answer. But he gave an
answer and it was a good answer, but no doubt it wasn't the answer
that he wanted. And so we have these testimonies
before us in the word of God to direct us. And we should take heed of them.
You should take them to heart. Sometimes we can so easily read
over accounts. I think I've said before, there
are many good words in Jeremiah. Good words of instruction, good
words of direction, and also to follow the actual example
of Jeremiah himself. You see, God graciously gives
us these examples. So none of us can say, well,
My path was so difficult. There are so many cases in the
Word of God of God's people who had exceedingly difficult paths,
but they had a good end, and they are now in glory. And that's
a blessing. Let's not forget that our life
on this earth is just a very, very short time. You may think it's a long time,
in comparison with eternity, it's a very, very short time. So therefore, to endure hardship
for a short time and then enjoy eternity with the Saviour, what
a difference, what a wonderful blessing. So let us not be found
complaining. But let us come and be able to
say, it is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good. See, that's the right attitude,
isn't it? That's the right attitude. To
come to our God like that. Let him do what seemeth him good. Because the Lord knows exactly
what you and I need in our little life on this earth. We think
perhaps we need this We think perhaps we need that. We don't
know precisely what Zedekiah wanted but he obviously wanted
something which would be suitable to his temperament and suitable
to his situation. He didn't want to obey the word
of the Lord. He didn't want to obey the direction
that Jeremiah had given to him and to the people. No, he wanted
to follow his own way. Well my friends these are Striking
instances, aren't they, of God's work and God's direction. And just remember what Jeremiah
said to Zelikiah came to pass. He was taken captive, delivered
into the hand of the king of Babylon. There was the solemn
result and he ended up in that prison house to die there in
chains. A very solemn outcome, really,
when we think of his beginning in the household of Josiah, the
man of God. Let us realise the necessity
of being found, made willing, in a day of his power and to
His will and to follow the blessed and glorious example of our Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, may God direct us perhaps
in these words in our little lives. Amen.