May God be pleased to be with
us this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter 38, and we'll read verses 17
and 18. The prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter
38, and reading verses 17 and 18. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah,
thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel,
if thou would assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes,
then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned
with fire, and thou shalt live and thine house. But if thou
would not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall
this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall
burn it with fire and thou shalt not escape out of their hand." We have a statement here in these
two verses which really is very black and white and Jeremiah
was able to go and tell King Zedekiah what they should do
because they were obviously concerned about the Chaldeans coming up
and conquering them and what would happen to them. And so
God spoke to Jeremiah and Jeremiah spoke to Zedekiah, that which
they needed to do. And if they followed the advice,
then they would live. and there would not be any effect
upon their houses, but if they did not, then their houses would
be burnt up and they would not escape. And also, the king would
not escape out of their hand. So, the remedy, the answer, would
seem to be quite simple. It seemed to be quite obvious
what to do. But that's only if they had faith
to believe in what God was saying. The word here is, then said Jeremiah
unto Zedok, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of
Israel. If the king was prepared and
the people were prepared to recognize that this was the word of God,
and if they complied with those words, then it would be well
with them, And if they did not, it would not be well with them.
So the situation was very simple. But of course, it was very contrary
to what man would think. It would seem very foolish for
the people really to come and give themselves up to the King
of Babylon without any fighting, without any war. Why should they
do such a thing as this? And why should they believe that
if this occurred, they would escape? and the houses will not
be burnt, etc. Well, we see the conflict here
between obeying the Word of God and listening to our own hearts,
our own conscience, as it were. And we know what happened on this occasion. Judah did not
believe the Word of God. Zedekiah did not believe the
word of God. And what happens to Zedekiah,
as you read on in these chapters, and you can read on next chapter
and so, and then right to the very last chapter, chapter 52,
and you will find out that Nebuchadnezzar came and took Jerusalem and conquered
them, and Zedekiah's sons were all killed before his very eyes. All his ten sons were killed
before him. And he was taken to Babylon. His eyes were put
out and he died in Babylon. A tragic end, was it not? And
yet, had he followed the words of the Lord God, he would have
lived and all would have been well. And especially when you
think of the words that Jeremiah said, then thy soul shall live
with that humble confidence of obeying the word of the Lord. And God had very graciously sent
Jeremiah as a prophet to speak these words, but of course they
weren't to the liking of the people, and neither were they
in actual fact to the liking of Zedekiah. And as we read in
this chapter, Jeremiah having told the people The king then
wanted a private word with him. And Jeremiah concurred with that
and he told the king privately, the same things really, what
was going to happen. And so the king had a double
take, as it were, on the situation. But it didn't have any effect. It's very solemn, isn't it? When
we are made aware of God's leading and God's direction for us. And
it may not always be that which appears to be right, appears
to be obvious, appears to be the way which will bring benefit. The contrary may seem to be the
case. And how needful it is, therefore,
for us to trust in the Lord at all times. We have the word of
God. which directs us. There's so
much in the Bible to guide us. We fail so often because we don't
perhaps read the Bible, seeking for direction and seeking for
guidance in our lives. Because the Lord is a God who
does hear and answer prayer. So how good it is that you and
I today have an account like this in Jeremiah, which is not
an easy prophecy to read. This is a relatively easy part,
but there are many parts which are not easy. But here it is
written, and it's not written by chance. It's written by the
ordaining of Almighty God. It's written for the Church of
God. It was written for the Church
of God then, and it was appropriate and applicable for them, and
it is still today, after so many years, therefore what a great
blessing and what a great favour to know the truth of these things. The Prophet Jeremiah, he spoke
and he said this, they shall not deliver thee, speaking about
the Chaldeans, obey I beseech thee the voice of the Lord which
I speak unto thee so it shall be well with thee and thy soul
shall live. couldn't have said it more clearly,
and couldn't have said it naturally with more power, but we recognise
that of course we need the power of the Holy Spirit to bring the
application of God's word to the hearts of people, to turn
them in that right direction, to hear the voice of God and
obey it. Because verse 21 tells us, but
if they'll refuse to go forth, this is the word the Lord hath
shown me. And as we read on, we read on
together, we know the sad state and the sad situation which would
develop. Well, let us take heed of the
Word of God, perhaps not specifically in regards to this wording, but
nonetheless with reality to the pattern that it sets before us. And the pattern is for you and
me to obey the word of God, to follow God's word, even if perhaps
our nature doesn't like it, even if we think it's perhaps foolishness,
if perhaps we think well how can such a situation prosper,
how can it be beneficial? Well sadly Judah didn't follow
of the word of the Lord. And we should always remember
that because Jeremiah wasn't speaking his own words. He tells
us, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel. He was the Lord's messenger in
the Lord's message. And it's a great blessing for
us if we hear God's message. God's message speaking directly
to us and not turning us away from the things of God. And so we conclude that sometimes
the things of God don't make sense to the natural man. We tend to lean to our own natural
understanding and therefore we rely on our own logic, we rely
on what we consider to be the best way and the best plan. and
we tend to sometimes forget that the Lord God Omnipotent reigns
and His plan is always best but His plan may not always be obvious
and His plan may not always be as clear as we would like and
that's why the Church of God walk by faith and not by sight. We have so many wonderful evidences
examples in the Word of God of the children of God who did walk
by faith. The outcome was not clear. The
outcome often seemed very hazy. Perhaps sometimes the outcome
seemed impossible. But God gave faith and the benefit
is this. When God gives us living faith,
the result will be for the glory of God. And the result will be
for our encouragement to realize that we do have a God who still
reigns today. God, it doesn't change. It's
a wonderful thought, a great consolation, isn't it? So often
we should ponder the words in Malachi, I am the Lord, I change
not. Therefore you sons of Jacob are
not consumed. We have a merciful God. We had
a gracious God. We have a merciful God. My friends,
there are so many things to encourage us with our God. He is so great. He is so high. He is so mighty. He is so powerful. And you and
I should be very concerned to do the will of God, to obey God's
will, to obey his purpose for us in our little lives. You and I are born you and I
live our life on this earth. It's only a short time, it's
only a few years, but I believe to the people of God, like it
was in Esther's day, with regard to Esther, she was queen for such a time
as this. And we in our lives today, to
recognise whatever little sphere we may be walking and operating
in, to recognise that small and insignificant we may feel to
be, yet it is for such a time as this. So the Lord might use
us, the Lord might bless us, the Lord might encourage us,
because surely we don't want to just wander on aimlessly through
this world and come to the hour of our death and to realise that
we've never been used by God. We've just been servants of the
devil, following his purposes and following his desires for
us. It's a great mercy then, isn't
it, to realise that the Lord has called us, he's seen fit
to bring us into this world at this time, for such a time as
this in our little lives, in the circle in which we move. You see, Zedekiah was in Jerusalem. There was a vast world still
at that time. But you see, he wasn't prepared
to follow the word of the Lord. And of course, if he had have
done, the word of God would have been fulfilled and would have
been a wonderful deliverance. But no, he followed his own thoughts. He could not believe in the Word
of God. And that's the solemn truth,
isn't it, today? So many people do not believe
in the Word of God. They may want to hear the Word
of God, but when they hear it, if it doesn't agree with their
little plan, they don't believe it, and they turn away from it. Well, may the Holy Spirit lead
us and direct us indeed in that right way, because we should
recognise we have a God who is so high and so mighty, and his
plan and his ways are far, far superior to ours. Isaiah was
very aware of this, and in the 55th chapter of Isaiah, we read
these words, verse 8 and 9, For my thoughts are not your thoughts. God's thoughts are far better
than ours. But my thoughts are not your thoughts. Neither are
your ways my ways, saith the Lord. And then he tells us, for
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. And it's
good if you and I ponder such statements as this, as we walk
on this earth, at this present time. And as the Lord may put
before us situations which we may not really properly understand,
well, the Church of God have not often been privileged to
appreciate the way ahead. Just think, Abraham commanded
to take his son and offer him up. Could he see the way ahead?
Did it look sensible? Not at all. But it was in the
divine purpose of God to bring forth that great and glorious
picture of substitution. What a wonderful account it was. And we see therefore faith given
to Abraham. And just like Moses as well.
There was Moses in that comfortable environment. And then you see
he had to flee from Pharaoh. The situation developed. which he probably didn't look
for, didn't expect. But there it was, he slew that Egyptian
and because of it he knew his life was at stake and he had
to flee. But God was with him. God didn't
forsake Moses, God was with him. And exactly the same as in the
life of Joseph. There was Joseph, you see, doing
the Lord's will, telling his father and his brethren the dreams
that he'd had, and of course he received opposition, and of
course he received persecution. They didn't want to accept and
to recognise that this, their youngest, not quite, but their
second youngest brother was going to be one who they were going
to bow down to. Well, there were many years for
the fulfilment of those dreams, and Joseph needed much faith
to believe. The dreams were tested, were
told in the Psalms that the word of the Lord tried him. So it
does today in our path. It doesn't mean to say that we
give up. It doesn't mean to say we reject
it, just because it doesn't come to pass when we think it should. It doesn't come to pass in the
way that we think it should. You see in this day in the life
of Judah the Lord could have brought about very simply a wonderful
victory indeed without Judah having to fight at all but it
wasn't God's purpose and we should recognize that the Lord has a
perfect right to govern us sinners of the earth in our little life
and to follow his wonderful and perfect way. Indeed there is
a way, as Solomon says in the Proverbs, there is a way that
seemeth right unto a man, but the ends thereof are the ways
of death. Let us not follow that way that
seems right. It might be attractive to us,
we may think this is going to be a pleasant path, well generally
speaking the path of the children of God is not a pleasant path. And the law tells us quite clearly
that it's through much tribulation that you and I shall enter the
kingdom. It's not a life of ease. We can look forward to a life
of ease and pleasantness and happiness, eternally in glory. But here on this earth, we as
His people, and I trust we may be numbered amongst those who
are His people, have a blessed obligation to do the will of
God, a blessed obligation to obey his word and not to ignore
it, and not to make excuses. See, when things don't perhaps
fall into our pattern, we make excuses, why we shouldn't follow
a certain way. Well, don't forget the Lord looks
at the heart. And the heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked." Don't rely on your heart's guidance. Rely on the Word of God, because
if you do that, you can be sure that you won't fail. And that's
a wonderful thing, isn't it? You see, the Lord is so gracious
and so merciful to his people. picture we have in this chapter
in Jeremiah is one of disobedience. One of disobedience. And it's
a great blessing to be given a heart and mind to hear God's
voice and to obey it. How often perhaps we fall under
the snare of not obeying His voice. It's a mercy when God
gives us that grace, which it is, grace to submit ourselves
under the mighty hand of God. You see that hand of God is upon
His people and you and I want to know that God's hand is upon
us and that He is leading us and that He is directing us and
he's round about us and he's not forsaking us. What a mercy
then it is if we follow God's way and God's command. In the days of Elijah, or was
it Elisha, who lived of course when Saul was made king and Saul
was commanded to do certain things, but Saul didn't always want to
obey what God had told him to do. And we have one occasion
when he was clearly directed as to what he should do, but
he didn't do it. In actual fact, he turned away
from it. And in the 15th chapter, I think
it is, of Samuel, we read these words. Saul said to Samuel, yea, I have
obeyed the voice of the Lord. This is Samuel, this is Saul
talking to Samuel. This is in the first book of
Samuel, chapter 15, and verse 20. And Saul said unto Samuel,
yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord. He was saying it,
not God. And I've gone the way which the
Lord sent me. and have brought Agag the king
of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people
took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things
which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto
the Lord thy God in Gilgal. Now you see, this situation would
seem to be very good and very sensible, and we could very easily
think, well, Saul, you're doing a good job here, and you're doing
absolutely right. But what does Samuel say? Hath
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices
as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better
than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams, for the
rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity
and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the
word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king."
That was a very powerful and very solemn word to Saul. He'd been instructed what to
do, and he hadn't followed out the word of God. He made excuses, he tried to
justify what he'd done, but it wasn't acceptable with God. It's very sanitary, really, for
all of us in the day and age in which we live, to recognise
a statement like this. Samuel very clearly says, Has
the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices? You see, so far I've got all
these animals and I'm going to sacrifice them, therefore God
is going to be really pleased. No, says Samuel. Does the Lord
have as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in
obeying the voice of the Lord? Now we know tonight, don't we,
I hope, but that we are indeed submitting ourselves to the voice
of the Lord. And as Samuel says, Behold, to
obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of
rams. He goes on this for rebellion. And perhaps we don't often recollect
such a word applicable to ourselves. Because if we are disobeying
God, we are rebelling against God that's a very solemn situation
isn't it? to rebel against God because the Lord said if you
walk contrary to me I will walk contrary to you God doesn't just
brush these things away of no importance you and I have a solemn
and yet a blessed obligation to follow the word of God, to
follow his commands and not be rebellious. For rebellion is
as the sin of witchcraft. That's one statement. And then
stubbornness. How many people today are stubborn? In reality, what are they saying?
I will not have this man to rule over me. I'm not going to follow.
what the word of God says, I'm going to follow my own path and
you raise up all manner of excuses which don't stack up before God
they may stack up in your mind, they don't stack up before God
stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry we don't want to hear
that because of these things God has rejected us, do we? God rejected Saul as king. And that was tragic. He seemed
to start off well. But he failed. Very solemnly. Very sadly. So God has graciously
given these words of direction, given these words to us to consider. And you may remember of course
that very well known case in the Word of God of Jonah. I'm
sure young people know about Jonah. And what did Jonah do? Did he obey his God? No he didn't. He didn't fancy going to preaching
to the Ninevites. He thought it was going to be
too hard a job. So he decided to run away. I'll be very clear of this. You can't,
we can't run away from God. because God knows where you're
running to. God knew where Jonah was running to. Poor old Jonah
thought everything was going well. He got some money in his
pocket, there was a boat to take him away, and he got on board
and was so content he went to sleep. Sometimes, you see, we can be
content with disobeying God, which is a very sad and tragic
thing. Well, God was merciful to Jonah,
and it would be very humbling if he's merciful to us, if we've
been running away from God. God dealt very lovingly with
Jonah, didn't he? Isn't it good that God deals
very lovingly with his people? He doesn't cast us off forever,
but it's not easy. to come back and Jonah didn't
find it easy my friend you and I won't find it easy if we're
walking contrary to Almighty God well sometimes we can get
completely the wrong end of the stick and that was really just
like Peter did when we we were speaking this morning in that
chapter of Matthew and Peter of course couldn't understand
the situation he couldn't understand the words that were being spoken
just because we can't always understand the words perhaps
that are being spoken to us all the words in the word of God
it doesn't mean to say that we are to dismiss them or to think
they're not true or to put our own interpretation upon them
because we're told in the 16th chapter of Matthew and the 21st
verse From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples
how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the
elders, and chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be
raised again the third day. Well, there were the disciples,
and there was Peter with the Lord, and he'd seen the wonderful
miracles, and he'd seen some wonderful words the Saviour and
now the Lord is telling him and the disciples what's going to
happen but he is going to Jerusalem and he is going to be killed
and he is going to be raised the third day so we've seen Peter
then in his natural self natural state taking this position and
And Peter took him and began to rebuke him, rebuking the Lord
of life and glory, saying, be it far from thee, Lord, this
shall not be unto thee. He didn't understand. And my
friends, sometimes you and I don't understand. We don't understand God's dealings
with us. We don't understand his plan
for us. It doesn't mean to say it's not
right. It doesn't mean to say it's not
going to come to pass. It just means that at the present
time we don't understand it. Well, if we don't understand
it, we should ponder it. We should pray over it. And it
may not be revealed in our time span. You see, the Lord says,
your time is always, but my time is not yet. perfect time scale
and so the Lord took Peter and he turned and said to Peter get
thee behind me Satan now Peter thought he was saying good things
he thought he was doing that which was right but he wasn't
he didn't have the mind of the Savior he didn't have the mind
of God he was looking to as he understood the situation He didn't
realise what was going to happen. He didn't realise the glory and
the wonder of the death of the Saviour and the resurrection
of the Saviour. He didn't appreciate how necessary
it was, how important it was and how wonderful it would be.
And so we see dear old Peter making this mistake and Satan,
the Lord coming to him and saying, Get thee behind me, Satan, thou
art an offence unto me. For thou savourest not the things
that be of God, but those that be of men. We may think the Lord
was being very harsh to Peter. Well, he was very gracious to
Peter, because dear Peter didn't understand the significance of
what was being said. And if we don't sometimes understand
fully the significance of what God is speaking to us. Let us
not grasp it and say, well, this must be wrong or the Lord's got
the wrong end of the stick and he doesn't understand really
what's happening. My friends, God has a perfect
path. Don't forget that. A perfect way. And as Moses had
to go into the wilderness for 40 years to bring him down in
estimation of himself, He was a great man in his own eyes when
he was with Pharaoh's palace. The Lord had to graciously humble
him, and he did. So that when the time came for
Moses to then lead the children of Israel, he said that he wasn't
able. He wasn't any good. He couldn't
speak well. He wasn't the man at all. God had graciously dealt with
Moses, and God graciously dealt with Peter. What a blessing it
is if we have the evidence that God graciously deals with us. God graciously dealt with David,
didn't he? David didn't walk in the right way sometimes, he
followed his own inclination. We're thankful that on many occasions
he did follow the Lord, and he did seek the guidance from the
Lord. And he was able to write those
wonderful words in the 18th Psalm and also in Samuel, as for God,
his way is perfect. And when you and I pass through
a situation, when the Lord perhaps draws near to us, draws near
to us, shows us something of ourself, and shows us something
of himself, then you see that will make all the difference.
It will put everything right. As the hymn writer says, to know
my Jesus crucified by far exceeds all things besides. We don't
come there easily. We come there by the grace of
God. And we come there so that we
are then able to say yes, as for God, His way is perfect. So if we think that we know better,
then God let us realize that God has the right way, and His
plan is right, and His plan is perfect. And then perhaps just
finally, to remember the wonderful words that the Apostle wrote
to the Romans, well known, I'm sure, to most of us, in the 8th
chapter and the 28th verse, those very beautiful words which are
so appropriate in our lives. When he said, and we know. How
do we know? Through experience. As God leads
us, and God directs us, and we look back and we see the good
hand of God has been upon us to lead us, to bring us to Christ,
to show us ourselves, unworthy as we are, and to recognize the
mercy of God, the love of God, and the grace of God. And that's
why the Apostle Paul could so fully write these words, and
we know, bless God if you and I know, that all things, he doesn't
say we're just this thing and that thing, he says all things,
our little things, the minutest things in our lives, things which
may be very aggravating to us the Lord knows the purposes of
it we should not think it is irrelevant and we know that all
things work together for good to them that love God and to
them who are called according to his purpose well you see very
sadly Zedekiah was not he wasn't called according to the purpose
of God Hence he disobeyed God. What a mercy, therefore, if you
and I are given that grace to submit ourselves to the mighty
hand of God, to realise that that path that we are being led
in is the right way. And then we can concur with the
psalmist where it's recorded, and he led them forth by the
right way that they might go to a city of habitation. Or may we be amongst those who
hear God's voice, obey God's voice and follow Him. Amen.