[0:00] Take your Bibles if you would and join me to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 37 and verse 17. I'm always excited to see how God uses somebody.
[0:12] I met Brother Bridges roughly 35 years ago. And he has been faithful. And he was a faithful man in his church. I always knew him that way. Friendliest people in the church.
[0:23] Always nice to us. And you saw those people get saved. That's pretty good stuff. Amen. I think we ought to support him as a missionary back to Oregon. He's not going to get enough support. If you're in favor of that, say amen.
[0:35] Brother, you'll get $100 a month from Vision Baptist Church. Just be sure to take on a Vision missionary someday. Amen. It's called tit for tat. Amen.
[0:47] That part was a joke, brother. You don't have to take them on. They'll find their money somewhere. But they're mad at me now. Okay. Well, we're sending guys to New York City so we can get support for our guys too.
[0:58] You know that, right? Take your Bibles to go with me to Jeremiah chapter 37, verse 17. Whatever you read in the Bible, they're just verses that just jump out of the page, you know. And I just love this one.
[1:10] Now, we just finished. Well, it's been a while since we were back in Jeremiah 36. And the Word of God has been given to this country, to these people. And this wicked king, just before this guy here.
[1:23] But they've taken the Bible and Jehoiakim, if you remember, he cut it up with a penknife and burned it in the fire. They have rejected the Word of God. And then when you get to Jeremiah 37, there's some crazy things going on.
[1:37] The king is famous in this chapter. It'll be old Zedekiah. You'll see his name in verse 17. You'll see it in verse 1. And his name's going to show up all through it. I thought about just preaching about old Zedekiah because there's a biography and a half here.
[1:50] But right now, the Chaldeans are surrounding the city. And they're in great danger. And there's a guy named Jeremiah who is prophesying and preaching and telling them what's going to happen.
[2:04] But Zedekiah doesn't obey God. It doesn't matter what God says. Old Zedekiah, he knows more than God does. He'd make a good Baptist. Amen. And he knew more than God.
[2:16] He rejected what God said. And so in the verse that we're about to read, the Chaldeans have been out there. The Egyptians start heading their way. When the Egyptians head towards the city, the Chaldeans take off.
[2:30] And some false preachers in town, because there's always false preachers that won't make you feel good. They lie to you. Don't tell you the truth. They said, everything's going to be okay. Jeremiah said, it's not going to be okay.
[2:43] You're in trouble. And so that's the story. And in this verse right here, I just love this phrase. The fact is, I think that if you're in a good camp meeting church, you could have them hooping and hollering with this.
[2:56] Listen to this. And Jeremiah said, there is.
[3:07] Amen. Come on. Is there a word from the Lord? There is. Amen. You've got to admit, that's pretty powerful.
[3:19] Amen. Underline in your Bible there, is there any word from the Lord? Well, what old Zedekiah wants is to find out God's going to take care of him. What old Zedekiah wants is to know that the Chaldeans aren't going to destroy the city.
[3:33] Zedekiah wants to live in sin and still get rescued. Zedekiah wants to be a devil and still get delivered. And that doesn't work that way.
[3:43] And Jeremiah said, oh yeah, God's talking. You're not listening. And that's the story. So we won't get to it all. Well, I'm pretty sure I got Sunday night's message already ready because I'm not going to get through this.
[3:55] But look if you would with me at the first thing I want you to see. Zedekiah finds himself in horrible conditions. Look if you would at Jeremiah chapter 37 and verse 1.
[4:06] Now I want you to write this down if you do that kind of thing. He refused to listen to the word of God. Look at verse 1. And King Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, reigned in Sidokonai, the son of Jehoiakim, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, made king in the land of Judah.
[4:26] Now watch, this is the verse you want to underline things. But neither he nor. Now circle or underline, neither nor. Neither nor.
[4:36] Neither he nor his servants, nor the people of the land, did hearken unto the words of the Lord, which he spake by the prophet Jeremiah. Now you all know why we're in trouble.
[4:48] It's because when God speaks, God's people refuse to listen. When God speaks, God's people refuse to listen. This is Judah, and they should know better.
[4:59] Israel's a pretty wicked outfit. But oh, Judah, that's a pretty good outfit. I mean, they're not really that good, but they're at least the ones that didn't set up the two golden calves. And Jeremiah's preaching, and they're refusing to listen.
[5:11] Now before I go any further, you know, we don't get word like they got word. God doesn't speak from heaven and tell us stuff. God spoke and had it written down where you would have the opportunity to rewind anytime you want to.
[5:27] Fact is, you can watch the same video once a year or twice a year. Any number of times, you won't. You can reread any section, you won't. But the key lesson ought to be the first lesson in the chapter is, when God speaks, we ought to listen.
[5:44] Can I get an amen for real? When God speaks, we should listen. That's not the only horrible condition. I think that's the root cause of the horrible condition. The next thing is, look at verse five, if you would.
[5:57] Pharaoh's army was come forth out of Egypt. When the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. Now underline, Chaldeans besieged Jerusalem.
[6:11] So the Chaldeans have set up camp all around the city. And the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, they're going to take over the city. And bad stuff is happening.
[6:22] Now in the middle of all the bad stuff, you got some preachers we'll look at probably Sunday night, but you got some preachers that are going to be like, you ain't got to worry about everything's going to be okay.
[6:34] You ain't got to worry about everything's going to be okay. Don't get all stirred up. Don't get all worried. But Jeremiah is going to tell them in this chapter, now the Chaldeans are going to pull away.
[6:44] But when they pull away, as soon as Egypt goes home, they're coming back and they're going to destroy this city. They're going to burn it with fire and you're all going to be dead. You got to pick which preacher you like. I mean, you're looking for a church.
[6:55] You want one that makes you feel good and one that makes you feel bad. That's why Jeremiah's church is not a popular church. But the other guy in town is. The city is being besieged. It's under siege.
[7:08] Zedekiah, he's a worthless worm of a guy. And so here they are in all this trouble. You would think that Zedekiah would say, could I speak to Jeremiah?
[7:21] Call him and ask him. He'll give me an appointment. I'd like to talk to him and see if I can get some help. But look if you would at Jeremiah 37.3. At Zedekiah, the king sent Jehukai, all those guys, the son of that guy, the priest of the prophet Jeremiah saying, pray now unto the Lord our God for us.
[7:41] That verse just really aggravates me. You're in trouble. And you say, hey, go tell somebody for me. You go tell somebody, tell somebody. Make sure somebody, y'all go tell Jeremiah I need to pray for me.
[7:53] But I won't talk to him. I'll send an emissary. I don't want to get around the man of God. But I want to see him pray for me. He's too proud to talk to the man of God. He has totally resisted, respected him.
[8:06] He's preached message after message. Zedekiah knows what he says, but neither he nor the other guys have obeyed. Go tell him. Like government fiat. It's like the president of the United States saying, I don't want to talk to the preacher, but I'll send an emissary to tell the preacher he can talk to God for me, but I don't want to talk to him.
[8:24] I don't obey him anyway. Proud as king, but fearful with conferring with the man of God. Apparently God's people, Judah, they feel like God should protect them because of who they are.
[8:39] You read the chapter. It's a, it's a disappointing chapter because Zedekiah and the people are kind of like, you know, we're God's people. Nobody, nothing ever bad is going to happen to us. We're God's people.
[8:51] Nothing bad is going to happen to us. Jeremiah's over and said, oh yes, it is. You're going down. And the other preacher's on the other side saying, nothing could ever happen to the United States of America. We're God's. We're like special people.
[9:04] Other people may get in trouble, but we don't get in trouble. But Jeremiah said, oh yeah, you're in trouble. You're in trouble. Now, before I leave this, I wish you'd really pay attention here.
[9:15] Our world also finds itself in horrible conditions. Did you know the entire world is under a death sentence? Hell awaits nearly all of the world.
[9:34] Hell awaits nearly all of the world. And the majority have no idea of that truth. I have to ask you, and I know this is Vision Baptist Church, and I know the room is full of preachers, but I have to ask you, do you really believe the Bible is the word of God?
[9:51] If you do say amen. Amen. You see, if God really spoke, and if this is really true, and this Bible is like old Jeremiah over here preaching, but the majority of people don't believe that the majority of people don't believe the majority of people are going to go to hell.
[10:07] So, you know, over here, old Jeremiah is saying, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Your sins have separated you from God.
[10:19] On the other side of the room, there's other preachers saying, hey, this is your best life now, honey, enjoy it. Hey, there's nothing after death. We're evolved beings anyway. Where'd he get that?
[10:31] We're in horrible conditions. I ask you another question. Is there a literal hell where those that have not believed in Jesus Christ will suffer forever?
[10:48] Now, wait a minute. Don't answer that, because if you answer it, it gets us in trouble. Is the Bible the word of God? Is there a real hell? Does everyone that doesn't know Jesus Christ as their Savior go to an eternal hell where they will suffer forever?
[11:08] If you believe the Bible, that's true. If you believe the Bible, that's true. Are we responsible as a church and as individuals to get the good news of Jesus Christ to them?
[11:30] I find all kind of interesting comparisons when I think about the virus. I had my little run in with it seven months ago. But man, we're worried about getting a vaccine.
[11:43] And we're worried about how many people are going to give it out. And everybody's rushing to get it because we're going to save a few percentage of our people. And you and I have the vaccine.
[11:55] We don't even have to get it together. But we want to send one missionary to one place, and that'll be enough for a billion people. I would ask the question, have we been obedient to what we know the scriptures say?
[12:09] Is it possible that we live spiritual lives that are detached from biblical reality? I really wish you'd think on that one.
[12:20] Is it possible that we live spiritual lives? I mean that, religious lives. We come to church and all that, but we ignore biblical reality.
[12:32] There is a hell. And it's forever place. And they go to hell that do not know Jesus as their personal savior.
[12:45] And they go forever. 10,000 years from now, the worm dies not. And the fire is not quenched. And there's no solution.
[12:56] There's no salvation. There's nobody praying them out. And over two-thirds of the world does not know Jesus. Most of that two-thirds don't even know about him.
[13:13] They know more about Santa Claus than they know about Jesus. They know more about Donald Trump than they do about Jesus.
[13:26] They know more about anything than they do about Jesus. Horrible conditions.
[13:37] Either we are heavily responsible or all this is a sad joke. The Apostle Paul in Romans 9 and 10 basically says in Tennessee hillbilly language where I come from, heavy, heavy hangs over me.
[13:56] I never get away from it. They're dying and going to hell. I'd do anything. I'd about go to hell myself to save my people. I look at the city of God here surrounded by the Chaldeans.
[14:12] I see the armies of Egypt coming, the Chaldeans running, and the city beginning to think there's a reprieve and everything's okay. Like people in America, people in the world think that science is the answer.
[14:25] They think that education is the answer. They think that money is the answer. And they think there's a solution. But they will die. And they will face an almighty God. And they will have never come to the place that they know that they have sinned against the holy God till it's eternally too late.
[14:42] Horrible condition. I wish you'd see the city. And over here, over here in old Jeremiah with leather lungs is saying, you better listen to me. I know y'all won't listen.
[14:52] In this chapter, they're going to end up beating him up and putting him in jail. They're going to put him in prison and say, we don't like your message. They're actually going to say to him, you discourage people.
[15:04] They're going to say, Jeremiah, you make people feel bad. And that's not nice. People need to have a good day. And you ruin their day. Every time people see you, here you come. And you say to them, all have sinned.
[15:16] And all are going to die and go to hell if they don't trust Jesus. And you say that and people don't like it, buddy. And the city was in horrible condition. Now look, if you would, to chapter 37, verse 19.
[15:32] Zedekiah and God's chosen people have an honest choice to pick from. I want you to look at verse 19 with me. There are popular preachers with popular positive messages.
[15:46] Popular preachers, positive messages. Jeremiah, verse 19 says, where are now your prophets which prophesied unto you, saying, the king of Babylon shall not come up against you nor against this land.
[16:04] That's a rhetorical question, but it's also kind of a smarlic question. Because things are in trouble. The Chaldeans are out there. They're about to die.
[16:14] Jeremiah is going to end up giving the king hope. There's a way he can live. But they're out there and they're about to kill him. And Jeremiah goes, where's the popular preacher now?
[16:25] Did his message come true? You said it was all going to work out. Where are the boys that said that now? Where do they go? You see, there are popular preachers.
[16:37] But God has painful truth. Look, if you would, at verse 9. Thus saith the Lord, deceive not yourselves, saying the Chaldeans shall surely depart from us, for they shall not depart.
[16:53] Now they got that from a YouTube preacher. They got that from a YouTube preacher that said everything's going to be okay. Did you get baptized as a baby?
[17:05] Have you gone through catechism? Have you given something to the church? Everything's going to be okay. And Jeremiah backs up and says, oh no, it's not. They're lying to you.
[17:17] The Chaldeans are not going to march away. Verse 10. This is, I love. He, man, I'd like to meet him. I will one day. What a sense of humor.
[17:29] Look at verse 10. If you had beaten up the whole army of Chaldeans to fight against you, and all they had left was wounded men, they'd still rise up and burn this city with fire.
[17:42] He said, if you beat them all up, wounded them all, all you had out there was a bunch of guys half shot to death, they'd still win. You ain't winning. You are not getting out of this.
[17:54] You see, Jeremiah's preaching hurts the morale of the people who live in sin and rebellion. People typically don't like preachers that say to them, if you died without Jesus, you'll go to hell.
[18:07] They typically don't like to hear all have sinned and all have come short of the glory of God. They don't want to hear that. Look in chapter 38, verse 4. Therefore, the prince has said to the king, we ask you, we beg you, we beseech you, let this man be put to death.
[18:23] Let's kill Jeremiah. I love why, though. Look at it. For thus, this is why he weakens the hands of the men of war. We need the guys to think they can win.
[18:35] And Jeremiah keeps telling them they can't win. So they're not going to fight with all their heart because Jeremiah keeps telling them God said they're going to lose. Keep reading. That remaining that's in the hands of all the people and speaking such word to them, for this man seeks not the welfare of this people, but the hurt.
[18:56] This guy's causing division. This guy's hurting people's feelings. This guy's not saying what people want to hear. Another guy walks out and says, this is the way that the Lord has made.
[19:08] Let us rejoice and be glad in it. This is your good life now. I'll sell you a book about how wonderful everything is. And he won't talk about it. In fact, he's one of the most famous preachers named Shuler.
[19:20] He's dead now. And the younger people won't know who he was. But he said he thought saying the word sin was a horrible thing. You don't want to hurt people's psyche. You don't want to discourage people.
[19:33] You see, that's what they're accusing Jeremiah of. Weakening. Seeking not the welfare of the people, but the hurt.
[19:44] The reason is they wanted somebody to say, it's okay. Everything's going to be fine. You don't have to worry about anything. Everything's going to work out. And Jeremiah said, it's not going to work out.
[19:55] Y'all need to listen to God. God. Now, listen to this. Nobody gets kissed by an angel.
[20:09] Like when somebody in your family dies, somebody in your family dies and the wind blows on your face, that's them kissing you. You've seen so many TV shows that make you think death's not what it is.
[20:21] They're still with me. They're with me all the time. I feel them in the raindrops. That's their tears falling away. That is not true. That's false preaching.
[20:33] Everybody lives somewhere forever. Most people live forever in a place called hell where they'll suffer forever. And that may sound like I'm being ugly.
[20:43] And you might accuse me of hurting the people. But God says I'm helping the people. The popular preacher with his positive messages says you can and are living your best life now.
[20:58] The popular preacher makes the Bible a recipe for living the good life. The popular preacher says money management is about living my best life now.
[21:09] I might have to suffer now, but I'm just trying to take care of number one. The popular preacher says God wants you healthy, wealthy, and wise. But the painful truth that God presents in the Word is life's not about you.
[21:29] And this life right here is not the real life that matters. There's a long time to live after this one. It is a regular thing in my mind.
[21:39] I know I'm 66 years old. I know I won't live forever. I know that 20, 10, 20, 30 years from now, I probably will not be here. And you think that's morbid for me to say that because you bought into the world too much?
[21:52] And you think you're going to live to 200? But I doubt anybody in this room makes it to 200. I'm just willing to put money on it right now. In fact, I'll bet $10 million. I don't even have it.
[22:03] It's okay. I can't lose it. The wrath of God hangs right now over people who are already condemned.
[22:16] Did you know that in John chapter 3 and verse 18, they are condemned already? You're not going to get to heaven and find out if you're good outweighs your bad or you're bad outweighs your good.
[22:27] You're already on the way to hell. God's anger hangs over you. John 3, 36. If you believe, you have eternal life.
[22:38] But if you do not believe, if you refuse to believe, the wrath of God hangs over, abides, lives over you. But God doesn't want anybody to go to hell.
[22:50] He calls his people to take the gospel message to the world. God's up in heaven saying, look, I got a plan. I don't want anybody to die. I don't want anybody to go to hell. And God in heaven says, you know what?
[23:02] I put on human flesh. I became a man. I went down to the earth. I died on the cross. I paid for sinful men so that every man everywhere could go to heaven when they die. I paid the debt.
[23:14] Everybody can be saved. Then God turns to a church and says, announce that to everybody. Announce that to everybody. And so most churches think, we don't need to announce that.
[23:27] We don't need to be too anxious about missions. You know, you can be overbalanced and be too heavy on soul winning and missions and getting the gospel. You know, you can be too heavy on that. Well, not if you're a lost person, you wouldn't think that.
[23:39] Y'all are just too worried about giving me the vaccine, aren't you? No, they need it. He wants it taught. He wants it preached. We have an honest choice.
[23:51] We can believe popular preachers with positive messages or we can believe the Bible. We can choose to obey what God has commanded us to do as a church and as individuals, or we can ignore him and his word.
[24:08] Tonight, you gave $20,000 to help preachers carry the gospel message. Tonight, you took about another guy to go into a place in Oregon and you support, you give thousands of dollars, thousands of dollars, 17, 18 thousand dollars.
[24:22] Every month, you give away the missions. That's obeying God. But we work with people. And Maxine was just my waitress. And the other day, I was talking to the waiter.
[24:34] And I said, hold on, I need to give you a track. He said, I'm carrying the last one you gave me right here in my little book. He said, I'm going to come. We got to share the gospel. They're going to die and go to hell.
[24:46] We can live for ourselves or for God and eternity. So I'm going to stop right there. And I just want to remind everybody, I want you, if you're listening by the internet or you're hearing you've never trusted Christ, you need the painful truth.
[25:05] The painful truth is you're in a horrible, you're in a horrible place tonight. If you have never trusted Christ as your Savior, you are destined for hell.
[25:16] You're already on your way. It's not an if or maybe. You're there. The boarding pass is printed on your forehead. You are headed to hell.
[25:27] But God doesn't want you to go there. The God of heaven loves you. Jesus died for you. And he paid your sin debt so you could go to heaven. Jesus wants you to be saved.
[25:37] For God so loved the world, for God so loved you that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life. God wants you to be saved. He calls on you to be saved.
[25:48] He challenges you to be saved. You can be. Tonight, you can trust Christ as your Savior. Father God in heaven, I pray you'd deal with your people. I pray you'd draw us close to you. I pray you'd help us and work in our lives.
[26:01] God, I'll give you great honor and glory and praise for all that you do. I love you. And I thank you for the approach I have of serving you. God, there's some people that may not be saved.
[26:12] They may not be ready to go to heaven. But I want you to touch their hearts. I ask you, Holy Spirit, to show them their sin, to wake them up, to make them miserable in their condition until they come to you for help.
[26:26] Save people. And then God shuts the heart of our church that we would step forward and say, I want to do more than I've ever done to get the gospel out. With your heads bowed and your eyes closed.
[26:38] As a Christian, are you obeying what you know from the word of God? If you're not, you ought to make a decision now. As a Christian, are you involved in giving to missions here?
[26:50] Giving your tithe and giving your missions money? As a person who's not saved yet, are you ready now to go to heaven? Are you sure that your sins are forgiven? Do you know things are right with God?
[27:02] If they're not tonight, we love you. We want you to be saved. Somebody invited you. They'll be glad to talk to you about Jesus. And I challenge you to listen tonight. Father God in heaven, I love you and I give you praise and I magnify you for who you are and what you do.
[27:18] In Jesus' precious name, amen. Thank you very much.