Now open your Bibles with me
to Jeremiah chapter 36. Jeremiah chapter 36. There are
32 verses in this chapter. Much of it is just a retelling
of a historical event, but a very significant one. And let me begin this way. You
know I often, I find it in my own life that Sometimes the way
I think of a certain thing changes my attitude towards it. The Bible basically tells us
that, so as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. And I know like with many of
you who come on Wednesday night, we go to church. That's the way
we think. That's the way we say it. I'm going to church. And
that's okay. You know, that's just a common
way of speaking. But I know a lot of times it
takes some effort to do that. You've worked all day. Especially
you have children. You've got to feed them. You've
got to get them ready. And it's not easy. And I really appreciate
when you make an effort to be here on a Wednesday night. And
I try to have something for you that's worth hearing, that you'll
be fed spiritually. But I always think about it this
way in my own case. when I wasn't a pastor or Wasn't
preaching that it's not going to church, but it's it's it's
going to worship number one That's what we're doing. We're worshiping
God. We're not just filling a pew or filling a space or Letting
other people see that we're here And it's not just going to church,
but it's taking an opportunity that otherwise I would not take.
And that is to open the word of God and to read it and study
it and feed upon it. Because you cannot overstate
the importance and the necessity of the word of God, first of
all, for salvation. Paul wrote to Timothy, he said
that the scriptures are able to make you wise unto salvation.
And we know what that's about. That's the scriptures and the
power of the Holy Spirit leading a sinner to see Christ in those
scriptures. And then we cannot overstate
the necessity of a believer living upon that word. We need to live
upon the word of God. We know the word of God. You
know the outline that I always repeat to you about the word,
that Christ himself is the word. When you study the word, you're
studying Christ. And it's easy to go around and
say, well, Christ is my life. Well, if you never study him,
how can you say he's your life? If something is your life, you're
going to make some sense. You're going to attend to it,
aren't you? It's something you need. And then we look at Christ
as the incarnate word. He's the word made flesh and
dwelt among us, the living word, the incarnate word. And then
we speak of the scriptures, that's the written word. And that's
what we have here before us in Genesis to Revelation, in this
particular chapter, Jeremiah 36. In fact, I've told you this
before, if you were to ask me what is the most fundamental
truth of real, genuine Christianity, here's what I would tell you.
The Bible is the inspired, inerrant word of God. You say, well, why
wouldn't you say that Christ is Lord or Christ is God? Well,
everything I tell you, everything I know about Christ, you know
where I get it from? Right here. I wouldn't know anything
about Christ were it not for this word. Christ told the Pharisees
in John 5 and verse 39, he says, search the scriptures for in
them you think you have eternal life. They are they which testify
of me. And then Christ is the subject or ought to be the subject
of the preached word. When you come here and I stand
before you, I preach Christ. I preach Christ crucified. So
you can't overstate the value of this word. And I know, you
know, I hope that you take some time during your busy week to
read and study and pray over the word. I hope you do. But
I'm not, I've been where you are and I know how tough it is. And I know that there were times
that I found it where I could sit down and read the Word of
God, but a lot of times it's a lot easier to sit down, turn
on the TV, or get a novel, or whatever, or take a nap, or whatever. Well, here's your opportunity.
This is my opportunity to sit here and open and read and study
the Word of God, and that's what we're doing tonight. That's what
we do on Sunday morning and Sunday evening, and each time we meet.
That which maybe you wouldn't do otherwise. But you need to
do it. I need it. We all do. I'm not
just saying that because I'm the one standing up here preaching.
If it's Ron, if it's Aaron, if it's Joe, or whoever stands behind
the pulpit, these men who are coming for our conference next
week, they're coming to feed us with the word of God. And
we need to be fed with the word of God. You say, well, I need
to rest and relax. Well, do it right now. Rest and
relax right now. I'm going to preach the gospel
to you. Just take a little time and rest here. Let this be your
relaxation, all right? Don't let it be other things
that will harm you and all that. But think about this. This is
what this is about. Let me read you a few scriptures
here. I'm just gonna read these to you because we don't have
time to turn to all of them. But over in the book of Luke,
chapter six and verse 46, The Lord speaking to the sermon on the mount is
really what he's speaking to. The multitudes, his disciples
while the multitudes listen. And he says, and why call ye
me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Now that's
sham religion, calling him Lord, but don't do what he says. Whosoever
cometh to me and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will show you
to whom he is like. Well, he's like a man which buildeth
a house and dig deep and laid the foundation on a rock. And
when the flood arose and stream beat vehemently upon that house
and could not shake it, it's founded on a rock. That's the
one who hears and does the word of God. And that's what you're
doing tonight. You're hearing and doing the
word of God. Now, I know what false religion says about doing
the word. They look to the law and trying
to keep the law. That's not doing the word of
God. Christ never commanded us to try to keep the law in order
to be saved. He forbid that. It says, by deeds
of law shall no flesh be justified in his sight. But we're to believe
on him. We're to read his word. We're
to feed upon and study. He says, he that heareth and
doeth not is like a man without a foundation built on house upon
the earth. And against which the stream
did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell, and the ruin of that
house was great." That's serious business, isn't it? That's why
I've entitled this message, God's Word, A Matter of Life and Death.
A matter of life and death. That's what we're dealing with
tonight. We're dealing with matters of life and death. In Christ
there's life, and without Christ there's death. And when men and
women refuse to hear and believe God's word, there's no hope for
them. Now there's not. And it's the greatest insult
to God to hear His Word and not believe it and not do it. That's
the greatest insult to God. 1 John 5.10, listen to this. He that believeth on the Son
of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath
made him a liar. In other words, to not believe
God is literally to call God a liar. And you say, well, what's
that talking about in the context of it? Well, listen to what it
says. It is because he believes not the record that God gave
of his son. Well, right here's the record.
This is the word of God. You see God's honor and glory
and reputation stand behind his word and to not believe his word
is awful. It's to call him a liar. Well,
that's what Jeremiah 36 is about. Look at verse one. It says, it
came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiachin, the son of Josiah,
king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord
saying, take thee a roll. Now that's a papyrus. Remember
you've heard of scrolls? That's how they wrote. So take
a scroll, a papyrus, of a book, several pages, and write therein
all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel. This
is the word of God against Israel and against Judah and against
all the nations. This is God's indictment, but
it's the word of God. It's not pleasant. It's not,
listen, this really isn't good news. This is against them. from the day I spake unto thee,
from the days of Josiah even unto this day." Write him down,
Jeremiah. Now look at verse three. He says,
it may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which
I purposed to do unto them. Now this is not evil in the sense
of sin by nature. God is not the author of sin.
What he's talking about is the calamities. and the disasters
that is coming upon Israel and Judah and the nations which are
the wrath of God against their sin. And in the Old Testament,
evil is sometimes spoken of in that way. God is no sinner. He doesn't commit sin. He doesn't
do any evil in the sense that we think about evil. But the
evil that comes upon man because of sin is the judgment of God
against sin. You see what he's saying? So
it's judgment. And he says, it may be that the house of Judah
will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them, that
they may return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive
their iniquity and their sin. Now what you have there is conditional
forgiveness. Conditional forgiveness. And
that's what the old covenant was all about. That nation. Somebody made a statement, well,
I don't really want to preach a lot from the Old Testament
because people think I'll believe salvation by works. Well, you
don't understand the Old Covenant. The Old Covenant was about works.
You see, that's why there was no salvation in the Old Covenant. Conditional forgiveness. That's
what he's talking about. Works based forgiveness. Now,
let me ask you this question. Did Judah hear? And did Judah
return every man from his evil way? Did they repent? And the answer is no. Would you
have? Do you think so? Well, you are
better than that bunch then, aren't you? If you would have,
and listen, if you would have and obtained forgiveness of your
sins based upon your repenting, Don't talk to me of salvation
or forgiveness by the grace and mercy of God. You met the conditions. Now what does the Old Covenant
teach us? Well, there's two times in the
New Testament that we're told why the law was given. The law
being the Old Covenant. Mosaic law. Ten Commandments,
ceremonial law, civil law, all the whole thing. It was the law
of the priesthood, everything. There's two times it tells us
why it was forgiven. And both times it basically says
this, the law was given to Israel to expose their sin and their
deservedness of judgment and wrath. And what you have there
is a It's kind of like a microcosm of all of us by nature. And so
the Old Covenant was set down on that nation to show that if
salvation or forgiveness of our sins were conditioned on us in
any way to any degree at any time, that it would fail. We'd be lost forever. There's
no hope for a sinner under a conditional covenant. And that's what God is showing
here. Sometimes the language that we read might get us confused,
but that's because we're so ensconced in our own self-righteous way
of thinking. You see, man by nature doesn't
know grace. He doesn't know real mercy. You
see, when old John Newton wrote that hymn, Amazing Grace, I remember
when God the Holy Spirit opened mine eyes to my sin and my depravity,
I really understood to some degree that song for the first time.
I've been singing it all my life from a child up. And I found
out that really it hadn't been so amazing up to that point. You see it's so amazing because
real grace cannot be earned It cannot be conditional towards
you. There are conditions, but they
are not on us. They are on Christ. He says, I will forgive their
iniquity and their sin. Now for God to do that, what
has to take place? What does the Bible teach us?
Somebody has got to die. Satisfaction to justice has to
be made. before God can do that. That's
why he sat down in Genesis chapter 3 when Adam and Eve fell. And
he was pronouncing the curse. What happened? He took the fig
leaf aprons off of Adam and Eve. That's representative of their
works. And he slew an animal. Killed an animal. I believe it
was a lamb. Shed blood and made coats of skin. Because without
the shedding of blood, there's no remission, forgiveness, pardon
of sin. Mark it down. God cannot save
me or forgive me apart from justice being satisfied. Grace cannot be conditioned on
me. If it is, it is not grace. It
is what God owes me. Romans 4 teaches that. What happened
to Abraham? Did he earn his standing before
God? No. No, it was of grace. And grace reigns through righteousness.
Where? In Christ. Christ met the conditions. Christ is the one who took my
death. My substitute and my surety.
You see that? So conditional forgiveness will
not help us. It didn't help them. You say,
well, I would have done better. Maybe you would have. But I want
to tell you something. If you're a sinner, which I believe
you are, and if I'm a sinner, which I know I am, Then conditional
forgiveness will do us no good. We need grace. We need mercy. So he tells Jeremiah to write
this down in a book. This is the word of God. Well,
what happens in the next few verses here is Jeremiah publishes
the word of God to the people through his, you might say, they
say his secretary, but it's his scribe, a man named Baruch or
Baruch, some people say. Verse four, then Jeremiah called
Barak, the son of Nariah. And Barak wrote these down, these
words down as Jeremiah dictated it to him. So Barak was like
the human instrument that wrote down the word of God as was delivered
to the prophet Jeremiah. And Barak went out to the temple
and he published the word of God. He read the book, verse
eight there tells us at the end, reading in the book, the words
of the Lord in the Lord's house in the temple. So here's a religious
setting saying the word of God's being read. And it's a word of
indictment. It's a word of charging against
Israel and against Judah and against the nation. And it says,
look at verse nine, here's publishing the word of God again. He says,
and it came to pass in the fifth year of Jehoiakim, the son of
Josiah, king of Judah in the ninth month, that they proclaimed
a fast. Now Baruch went out, Jeremiah
didn't do it because he was in prison, but Baruch, he came,
he went out for Jeremiah and he read the word of God at the
temple. And what happened is they proclaimed
a fast. before the Lord to all the people
in Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of
Judah unto Jerusalem. And it tells us about this all
the way down to verse 19. It says, look here, the Lord's
word was read to them. And look over at verse 16. Well, before I get there, let
me just say this. They proclaimed a fast, and what's
going on there is in the context, and the indication is this. Instead
of listening to the word of God, now I can tell you pretty much
what, we don't have in detail what Baruch actually read to
them, but I know what Jeremiah said to them before, and you
remember, Jeremiah told them to submit to God's punishment,
and don't fight against Nebuchadnezzar, just take it because you deserve
it. You remember that? You're just getting what you
deserve. This is the Word of God against them. It's what they
deserve. That's why we don't want what
we deserve. You see what I'm saying? We want
grace. We want mercy. If God were to give me what I
deserve, what would I get? I'd get death, hell. That's what
I've earned. Somebody says, well, I'm a sinner,
but I haven't earned that. You don't know what kind of a
sinner you are. And it's not your feelings, and
it's not your emotions, and it's not what other people tell you
or what you see in the mirror. It's what God's Word says. And
that's what God's Word said to these people. So the indication
here of what's going on is they heard this Word against them,
and instead of listening to God, hearing and doing the Word of
God, they said, well, let's just do it our way. Let's have a fast.
Now there was only one fast that was required of the nation under
the old covenant and that was on the day of atonement. And
you know what that fast was to picture in their minds? It was
to picture the fact that all we as sinners need is Christ. All we need is his blood. All
I need for my complete salvation is his righteousness. That's
what that fast on the day of atonement. This fast wasn't required.
There were other days of fasting but they weren't required. So
what they did is they heard this word against them and they said,
well I know what we'll do, we'll fast. Like people today, I know
what we'll do, we'll hold a revival. Or we'll have a prayer chain
or whatever, you know. There's nothing wrong with revivals
if the gospel is preached. Nothing wrong with prayer. I
don't like prayer chains, that means nothing. That's not even
scriptural, but you pray. You be people of prayer. Pray
to God. But that's not going to save
you. That's not going to remove God's wrath. That's not going
to gain God's favor. That's not going to wash away
your sins. That's not going to make you righteous. Only Christ
can do that. So they said, well, let's hold
a fast. So the point of this is in this second reading of
the word of God that Baruch gave them, this fast was proclaimed
because they knew they were in trouble. And the indication is
that the people trusted in their own works and ceremonies rather
than the word of God. But now from verse 11 on, Baruch is confronted with these
men, Micaiah of Gemariah and Shaphan. And listen to what they
say. Look at verse 16 now. It says,
now it came to pass when they had heard all the words, they
were afraid. This certain group of men, they're
all listed here from verse 11 all the way up to verse 15. And most of them were priests,
I believe. Priests of the temple. And it says, now it came to pass,
verse 16, when they heard all the words, they were afraid,
both one and another, all of them. And they said unto Barak,
we will surely tell the king of all these words. Surely tell the king. And it
says, and they asked Barak, saying, tell us how. Now, how didst thou
write all these words at his mouth? In other words, where'd
you get this from, Barak? Where'd this word come from?
And he says, then Barak answered them, and he pronounced all these
words unto me with his mouth. In other words, Barak is telling
Jeremiah, pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth.
And I wrote them with ink in the book. And then said the princes
unto Barak, go hide thee, thou and Jeremiah, and let no man
know where you be. Now what's the indication here? The indication here is that these
men believed the word of God. They were afraid. And they said,
we've got to tell the king these words. He's got to know about
this. This is life and death, you see.
This is no light matter. If we keep this from the king,
we'll be responsible. It's kind of like the opposite
of that. It would be like preachers today
who will tell you they believe this gospel, but they won't preach
it because they know people will get mad at them. or people will
leave the church. I had a preacher tell me one
time, he said, I'd empty out my church if I preached that.
Well, it's the word of God. And these men are saying, well,
I've got to tell the king. We've got to tell the king, you
see. You see, what did the Lord say? Blessed are they that hear
the word of God and keep it, guard it. He said of his disciples,
blessed are your ears for they hear and your eyes for they see. Those who hear the word of God
and do it. You realize hearing and believing
and doing the word of God is a gift of God's grace to his
people in and by Christ. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation to everyone that believe it, to the Jew first
and the Greek also, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed.
Has the righteousness of God been revealed to you, to me?
Has Christ been revealed to you, to me? For he is the righteousness
of God. Remember Romans 10, 4, Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, for
with the heart man believeth unto righteousness. How do you
believe unto righteousness? You look to Christ. You plead
his blood, his righteousness, you submit to him. Romans 10, 13, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. But how are you
going to believe? How are you going to call in whom you've not believed?
And how are you going to believe if you haven't heard? Faith cometh
by what? Hearing. And hearing by the word
of God, Romans 10, 17. God's people not only are saved
by that word, empowered by the Holy Spirit, but they live by
his word. And so they said, we've got to
go tell, and you notice they said there, you and Jeremiah,
now you go hide yourselves and don't let anybody know where
you are. Now, Jeremiah, at this time he was confined, but he
had some freedom. He's kind of like Paul in Rome. Paul had some freedom. But then
he says, they said, go hide yourself. They knew the king wasn't going
to like what he heard. And so then, here's the story,
beginning at verse 20 there, of someone rejecting the word
of God. Listen to what it says, verse
20. They went into the king, into the court, but they laid
up the row in the chamber of Elishamah, the scribe, and told
all the words in the ears of the king. So the king sent Jehudai
to fetch the roll, and he took it out of Elishamah's, the scribe's
chamber, and Jehudai read it in the ears of the king, reading
the word of the Lord to the king, and in the ears of all the princes
which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winter
house in the ninth month, and there was a fire on the hearth
burning before him, and it came to pass that when Jehudi had
read three or four leaves, three or four pages, the king cut it
with a pen knife. He cut up the word of God and
cast it into the fire. The king who cut the word of
God and burned And that was on the hearth. And until all the
roll was consumed in the fire and he was on the hearth, yet
they were not afraid nor rent their garments, neither the king
nor any of his servants that heard all the words. In other
words, there was no fear of God before their eyes. There was
no repentance. What he expressed in this action
was his abject hatred for what he heard. unbelief. What did Christ say about man
by nature? We love darkness and hate the
light because our deeds are evil. You see by nature we think so
highly of ourselves and so highly of our deeds when the Word of
God exposes the wickedness of our best efforts. By nature if
left to ourselves What this king did physically, we do mentally.
Cut it up and burn it. The moment you put it out of
your mind, the moment any sinner puts it out of their mind, they're
doing in their minds what this king did with his hands. Cutting
it up and burning it. Calling God a liar. That's how
serious this is. And you notice here, look at
verse 26. It says, but the king commanded
Jeramiel, the son of Hamilech, and Saraiah, the son of Azrael,
and Shalemiah, the son of Abdeel, to take Baruch the scribe and
Jeremiah the prophet. In other words, the king was
gonna go after the prophets, Baruch and the prophet Jeremiah.
And it says here, but the Lord hid them. Isn't that something? You see, we don't have to fear
men, not even the king. Christ is our hiding place. He's
our refuge and He's our safety. Now, in the last part of this
chapter, what is shown here is what we read in the book of 1
Peter. Everything on this earth is going to pass away, but the
word of the Lord abides forever. So really, now here's the thing
about it, as far as the power and the greatness, the eternity
of the Word of God, it doesn't matter how we react to it. Now it does matter, don't get
me wrong, I'm not saying it doesn't matter if you believe it or not,
because listen, it's life and death for us. Christ is life
without Him's death. This is Him. This is the Word
of Christ. But our reaction to it, whether
we believe it or not believe it, it's not going to affect
the Word. The Word's going to be the same. The Word's going
to be preserved. And that's what he's talking
about here. It says in verse 27, Then the word of the Lord
came to Jeremiah, after that the king had burned the row,
and the words of Barak wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah, saying,
Take thee again another row, write in it all the former words
that were in the first row, which Jehoiakim the king of Judah hath
burned. Write it down again, Jeremiah. Don't stop. Don't let it dissuade you. Men
may ignore it, they may disbelieve it, they may hate it, they may
go after you, but you preach the Word of God. It's preserved. It will never fade away. Man
cannot destroy it. I think they said it was the
old philosopher Voltaire, the French philosopher who was an
atheist. And he made some brash statements about Christianity
and the Bible that he said in a hundred years it would be extinct. And somebody said in a hundred
years the room that Voltaire occupied when he died, they were
printing Bibles there. That's amazing, isn't it? But
you see, it's written again, it's repeated, and there's an
addition here that he adds. Because God, you know, see only
God can add to His Word. This is revelation in progress
in the Old Testament, you know. We have the finished revelation
in our Bible. But it says here, verse 29, and
thou shalt say to Jehoiakim, king of Judah, the one who cut
up and burned the word of God, thus saith the Lord, thou hast
burned this rose, saying, why hast thou written therein, saying,
the king of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy this land and
shall cause to cease from thence man and beast. And therefore,
thus saith the Lord of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, he shall have
none to sit upon the throne of David, and his dead body shall
be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the
frost. In other words, His line, this
earthly line, is going to end. None to sit on his throne. His son, Jeconiah, reigned only
three months after him, and then came along Zedekiah, the last
king of Judah, and he really wasn't the lawful successor.
He was a cousin or an uncle to one of the children. So the earthly
line did cease. The spiritual line didn't. Thank
God, that's fulfilled in Christ. Isn't that right? Aren't you
glad the spiritual line didn't cease? Christ came and he occupies
the throne even now. But this earthly line did cease
and then Jehoiakim would die a dishonorable death. And he
says, I will punish him, verse 31, and his seed and his servants
for their iniquity. I will bring upon them and upon
the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all
the evil that I pronounced against them. that they hearkened not,
they heard not, they didn't hear and do the word of God. And then
it says, then took Jeremiah another roll and gave it to Barak the
scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote therein from the mouth
of Jeremiah, all the words of the book, which Jehoiakim king
of Judah had burned in the fire. And there were added besides
into them, many like words. Well, you know, I think when
I read all this, I thought about Jeremiah, what he cried out from
his very heart of hearts back in Jeremiah 22 and verse 29. He says, Oh earth, earth, earth,
hear the word of the Lord. This is the word of Christ. Christ
is the word. What we know of Christ and what
we love by the grace of God is right here in this word, isn't
it? This is the Word of God. Oh my soul, don't treat it lightly.
This is the Word of Truth. When it comes to salvation and
spiritual matters and a right relationship with God and living
unto God, where else would you go? The philosophy of men will
not do. This is the Word of His Grace.
I like to hear preaching about grace, haven't you? The preaching
of God's grace. God's grace in Christ. This is
the word of his gospel. This is the good news for a sinner.
This is like, if you had cancer, this is like the book that you
would open and there's the cure right there. Good news. Well, it's the cure for the cancer
of sin, isn't it? Leading us to Christ. This is
the word of promise. There are promises here that
cannot fail. For all the promises of God in
Christ are yea and in Him, Amen. It's the word of faith. It informs
us of the faith, what we are to believe, and it is to be believed,
whereby the Holy Spirit gives us the gift of faith so that
we might embrace it. It's the word of wisdom, for
Christ is our wisdom. It's the word of knowledge, for
we're taught of God and we know Him, whom to know is life eternal.
It's the word of reconciliation. We're no longer alienated from
God because Christ died on that cross and put away our sins and
established the only righteousness whereby God is just to justify
sinners. It's the word of salvation. It's
the word of life. That's the words of eternal life.
Peter said, where are we going to go? You have the words of
eternal life. Here they are. Same thing Peter
was hearing, and it's the word of Christ.