Jeremiah 40

Last week, my dad, Pastor Chuck, started in Jeremiah chapter 38, I think verse 12, if I remember right, and he pic picked up there where Micah had left off the week before., it wasn't last week. It was the week before. Brian Barlo was here last week., I'm not sure where he taught. Where did he teach out of past all over? All right. For what what was the theme or the come to the table? All right. Praise the Lord. All right. But the week before that, my dad was in Jeremiah 38 and then Micah was in Jeremiah before that. Praise the Lord.

We saw he picked up there where Jeremiah had been rescued out of the miry pit by Ebed-Melech the servant of the king, a willing servant. And Micah talked a lot about him being that willing servant and how God wants to use us as willing servants. My dad pointed out that the cloth was used there as a comfort to Jeremiah and plucking him out of that pit getting him out of the sister. Followed following his rescue from the pit, King Zedekiah arranged a secret meeting with him and brought him there to the king's special entrance into the court and asked advice from Jeremiah who gave him really gave him through the word of the Lord there one more chance to repent even though been so many prophecies about how there is no more chances you know he's not going to repent he's not going to turn back He there gave him one more chance.

He said, "If you would turn and if you would surrender, then this city will not be burned. But he did not, right? He listened to that advice and he chose not to obey." The king praise the Lord. Jeremiah spoke to Zedekiah there and he sent him out without listening to that advice. The king said that sorry I lost my place. Give me a second., amen.

After he left, he told Jeremiah to keep their conversation secret. Don't tell he said he thought that the princes were going to come and to ask him why he had this meeting, what he was talking about. But he told him to keep it secret. And indeed they did come and they did they did ask him what the meeting was about and Jeremiah did not tell them what the king had asked. And then we moved into chapter 39. Chapter 39 opens up there talking about the siege that was going on. It had been going on for 18 months. And finally there in the 11th year of Zedekiah the walls were breached and the Babylonians came into the city.

But Zedekiah the king and his household fled through the wall by night and they trying to get away from the city. I think their intention was to get down to Egypt. But the Babylonians overtook them and captured them in the field there and they brought them to Nebuchadnezzar in Riblah. There he killed many of the nobles and the princes. He took out the eyes of Zedekiah and placed him in fetters and took him to Babylon. The walls of Jerusalem were broken down. The king's house was burned with fire and many people were taken captive. A small remnant was left there in the city, mainly the poor and those that the Babylonians didn't desire as slaves.

They were given the city and the fields and the vineyards around there. Nebucha Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, was given charge over that area and over Jeremiah. And Nebuchadnezzar told him to do with Jeremiah what he wanted. And so he released Jeremiah from prison. And Jeremiah went and took a prophecy to Ebed-Melech, the guy that had helped him get out of the pit and told him that because he had placed his trust in the Lord and because he did not fear the consequences of helping him that the Lord would deliver him and that he would not fall by the sword.

And it reminded me of Matthew 16:25 where it says, "Whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.", and how Ebed-Melech could have figured that helping Jeremiah out would have caused him to die, would have caused the princes and everybody to come against him. But he did not fear man. Rather, he listened to the Lord. And then the consequence was he got saved from the siege. He did not die in the captivity., so praise the Lord. That was cool. All right, turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 40 as we continue on this morning.

And 40 is not a very long chapter, so we'll just get through chapter 40 today. These next couple chapters, there's not a lot of prophecy in them. It's more history. And so we're going to kind of be reading about what was going on there after the siege and some some of the history of like where people were moving around and what the government's changes are doing. So as we get into chapter 40 here, it's a lot of just telling us kind of what happened after the siege. Let's pray. Father, we thank you. We praise you this morning. Pray that as we dive into your word here, I pray that you would teach us, Lord, from this history we would see the consequences of trusting in you and not fearing man, not fearing what man can do to us, not fearing what armies or governments can do to us, not fearing what our peers can do to us,

But trusting in you and being bold for you. Pray that you would encourage us as your workers, as your witnesses, as your servants in Jesus name. Amen. Chapter 40:1. The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah from the Lord after Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had him or let him go from Rama when he had taken him bound in chains among all who were carried away captive from Jerusalem and Judah who were carried away captive to Babylon. So here it says that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. But as we get into the next couple of chapters or next couple verses and we see the word of the Lord being spoken to Jeremiah, we're going to see that it's being spoken to him by Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard.

So a you know a general or leader of the armies of Babylon by no means a believer. Nobody you know he's not a servant of the Lord. He doesn't even know the Lord. He's just a army leader. And here God is going to speak to him to Jeremiah. And so that kind of jumped out at me there as how the Lord can use anybody to speak. And we should know that we should also not accept anything unless it aligns with the word of God. And what he's going to say here aligns with what God had already told Jeremiah. And so he can accept this from him.

There are many people who may claim to have all kinds of knowledge. May have claim to have a word from the Lord who may claim to have a prophecy for us. But if it does not align with the word of God, it should be rejected. But we also can know that God can speak through a myriad of means and that we we do not need to reject everything if it aligns with the word of God. Amen. If that makes sense. I don't know. But it struck me that here it says specifically the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah.

But then we're going to read that it comes from Nebuzaradan. And so verse two it says, "And the captain of the guard took Jeremiah and said to him, the Lord your God has pronounced this doom on this place. Now the Lord has brought it and has done just as he has said because you people have sinned against the Lord and not obeyed his voice. Therefore this thing has come upon you. And now look, I free you this day from the chains that were on your hand. And if it seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come and I will look after you.

But if it seems wrong to you to come with me to Babylon, remain here. See, all the land is before you. Whatever it seems good and convenient for you to do, go there. So, I love this here. Again, this is a captain of the guard of the Babylonians. And he starts out here recognizing that the conqueror of Jerusalem is not because of their desire for conquest, not because they were wanting to expand their empire, but because God had pronounced it. I love that he recognizes that, that he understands that they were there to destroy Jerusalem, not because it was just some other colony that they were going to take, but because the Lord God had pronounced judgment against them because of their sin.

It was a consequence of their sin. Because they had disobeyed the Lord, the Lord allowed this army to come and to take them. And those words coming out of the mouth of this general of a pagan army is astounding to me. I love this. Now verse 5. While Jeremiah had not yet gone back, Nebuzaradan said, "Go to Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, whom the king of Babylon has made governor over the cities of Judah, and dwell with him among the people. Or go wherever it seems convenient for you to go. So he'd already told him, he says, "Whatever you want to do, you can do it.

Do you want to come back to Babylon? I'll take care of you there. You want to stay here in the land, you can stay here in the land. Whatever you want to do." But it seems like Jeremiah doesn't answer the question right away. And here Nebaran probably has to go back to Babylon. And so he notices that Jeremiah has not done anything yet. He hasn't gone to Babylon. He hasn't really moved out anywhere from where he was. And so Nebuzaradan here gives him some advice. Go to be with Gedaliah there because Gedaliah is going to be a governor over this area. He was one that the king of Babylon appointed to be governor of that region after he had conquered it.

And by going to be with Gedaliah, he would fall under the protection of Gedaliah and the Babylonian Empire. So this is advice that he's giving to him. So the captain of the guard gave him rations and a gift and let him go. Then Jeremiah went to Gedaliah the son of Ahikam to Mizpah and dwelt with him among the people who were left in the land. So Jeremiah does that. He listens to his advice. He does not go back to Babylon with him. But he receives these rations. Again, they're just coming out of a siege. So famine is probably there in the land.

And so he's providing for him. He's giving him food to eat, giving him a gift which is probably money that he can live on at this point. And then he does go to Mizpah and lives there underneath Gedaliah who's going to take care of him. Jeremiah's no spring chicken at this point. He's getting older and he's had a hard life, right? He's had 30 years of ministry here where nobody's listened to him and he's just been preaching people that that they need to repent and nobody's repented. And and so it's neat to kind of see here that God providing for him and protecting him after all of this that has gone on.

And when all of the captains of the armies who were in the field, they and their men heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land and had committed to him men, women, children, and the poorest of the land, who had not been carried away captive to Babylon. They came to Gedaliah at Mizpah. Ishmael the son of Nethaniah Jonathan and Jonathan's sons from or of Kya Sariah the son of Tanhumeth the sons of Ephiah the Neaphit and Jezaniah the son of Mahakathite they and their men and Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Chaan took an oath before them and their so here Gedaliah has now been set up as this governor.

He's there in Mizpah says that the poorest of the land are there and they start gathering to him. Remember again Babylon left the poorest of the land there to take care of the land while they're moving you know different peoples around and and such. And so they start gathering to Gedaliah here. And then also the word gets out that Gedaliah is now governor there. The siege has happened. Babylon is now their forces are moving out. And so then all the remnant who had you know run away and hidden themselves to try to not be a part of the battle or the captivity that was going on.

They all start gathering to get there. And Gedaliah says to them,"Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans." Right now, they're they're a conquered land. There there's no there shouldn't be any military holdouts anymore. They just understand that they're conquered. They're surrendered. And now they need to serve the Chaldeans. And so that's his advice to them. That was advice that Jeremiah gave them 30 years ago, right? But they didn't listen. And so now they've been humbled. They've lost Jerusalem. Their king has been enslaved. They have a governor that has been set up by Babylon. And so that governor is giving them this advice.

Let's just serve the Chaldeans at this point. Jeremiah had given them that advice that when they get taken, they need to just serve. And they're going to serve for 70 years. Before God allows some of them to return from Babylon. Ultimately, they're going to continue to serve even longer than that. Over 150 years or so. They're going to serve these foreign powers., amen. And so this advice here is just submit, dwell in the land, serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us.

But you, gather wine and summer fruits and oil, put them in your vessels and dwell in your cities that you have taken., so here he's telling them again because of the siege there's probably no fields that are planted. There's not much there in the land. So he's telling them go out, scavenge what you can find, go get some fruit, preserve it, make some oil get what you can, bring it into your cities, and let's not try to fight against the Chaldeans anymore. Let's submit and serve and just try to try to hold on to what we can.

So that's the advice of the governor. Likewise, all of the Jews who were in Moab among the Ammonites, verse 11, in Edom and who were in the countries heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant in Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan. Then all of the Jews returned out of all of the places where they had been driven, and they came to the land of Judah to Gedaliah at Mizpah, and they gathered wine and summer fruit in abundance. Moreover, Johanan, the son of Kareah, and all of the captains of the forces that were in the fields came to Gedaliah at Mizpah.

They said to him, "Do you certainly know that Bales, the king of the Ammonites, has sent Ishmael, the son of Nethaniah, to murder you? That Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, did not believe them." So, we had this Ishmael mentioned a couple verses back as one of the people who's still in the land at that point. And so, here there's this advice that's given to Gedaliah. Watch out for that guy. You know, he's a spy. He's working for the Ammonites. He's been dispatched here to kill you. But it says Gedaliah, the son of Ahikam, did not believe them. I've said before that if when people give us advice or prophecy from the Lord and they say that these things are from the Lord.

We ought to take those things with a grain of salt, right? We align them with the word of God and if it confirmed by the word of God, then it may be the word of the Lord. But ultimately the greatest test of prophecies and things like that is time. And so as time goes on, if we see them come true, then praise the Lord, it was true, right? If we see it not come true, then it reveals a false prophet. And so here this advice is given and it would be wise for Gedaliah to, I don't know, take it with a grain of salt.

You know, maybe it's true, maybe it's not true., but be cautious of his relationship with Ishmael at that point, right? He's been told, I think Ishmael is an assassin. He's here to kill you., it would not be then wise to go and hang out with Ishmael alone. Right? But Gedaliah doesn't listen to this advice. And then it says, "Then Jonathan the son of Kareah spoke secretly to Gedaliah in Mizpah, saying, 'Let me go, please, and I will kill Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no one will know it. Why should he murder you that all of the Jews who are gathered to you would be scattered, and the remnant of Judah perish?"

But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said to Jonathan the son of Kareah, "You shall not do this thing, for you speak falsely concerning Ishmael.", so when Johanan saw that Gedaliah wasn't going to listen to his advice, he's like, "Well, just let me let me go and take care of this. I'll I'll go and I'll kill him. He's an assassin. He's going to try to kill you. Let me take care of it." And again, Gedaliah says no. Here, whether that's wise or not, I don't know. It doesn't really give us much information about that. We do see in the next chapter that Ishmael does indeed kill Yatalia and so he did not heed this advice at all to the detriment of his own life.

And so whether he was supposed to send Johanan here on this mission to kill him, I don't know. But he should have taken some caution, I think, and watched out for this guy Ishmael. But he doesn't. Amen. But we'll talk about that next week. I don't know. Praise the Lord. So just a short chapter here today. I think talking about trusting in the Lord and looking for his advice and his leading trusting in him here for them that are in the wake of this devastation. Trusting God to lead them and really living in the consequences of the bad decisions of their forefathers.

Right? For 500 years, their forefathers have made unwise decisions for the country and now it has caused devastation there in the country and now these generations have to live in the consequences of that. And yet God is still there. God is still working. God is still speaking. Praise the Lord. Amen. I don't know, it seems very short, but it's already 11 o'clock. We'll pick up next week in Jeremiah chapter 41 as we continue on in this history of what's going on there in the latter part of Jeremiah's life and in the post captivity. Rachel's going to come up and we have some communion elements up here.

And so after during this song as Rachel closes us with a song you guys come up and get elements for yourselves and then return to your seats and after the song we'll take communion together. Amen. Father, we praise you and we thank you for just all that you're doing in our lives. I thank you for what you were doing in Jeremiah's life and having these these people take care of him. I pray that we would look to you to care for us. That we can trust in you. That you can send I don't know a general of an army to care for us or you can send a governor to care for us or by whatever means that you choose.

You could even have the birds of heaven bring us food if we praise you. I pray that we would trust in you and that we would be bold to do whatever you call us to do and not fear captivity, not fear arrest, not fear the consequences, not fear embarrassment, Lord, as so many Americans self-censor and are not bold about the gospel simply because they know that people are going to reject it and they're afraid of being embarrassed and rejected. I pray that we would overcome those things and trust in you and how foolish those things are. I praise you, Lord. I pray that as we take communion now that we would remember that you are Lord of our lives.

That you have provided for us. That you have provided the blood of your own son to save us and how these trivial worldly things do not matter and that we would put our trust in you completely in Jesus name. Amen.