LIFTING UP A SAINT OF GOD
Jer. 38:6-13
INTRODUCTION
A. HUMOR: CAJUN SPACE SHUTTLE
1. So Boudreaux started a project in his shop, and a month later he had a small scale model of the space shuttle in his back yard.
2. A concerned neighbor said, Boudreaux where you goin in dat? Boudreaux said, I am going to be the first man to go to the Sun!
3. The neighbor said, “You can't go to the Sun, dummy!! You just gonna burn all up!”
4. Boudreaux said, “NO problem. I already thought about that. I'm gonna go at night!!”
B. TEXT
4 Then the officials said to the king, “This man should be put to death. He is discouraging the soldiers who are left in this city, as well as all the people, by the things he is saying to them. This man is not seeking the good of these people but their ruin.” 5 “He is in your hands,” King Zedekiah answered. “The king can do nothing to oppose you.” 6 So they took Jeremiah and put him into the cistern of Malkijah….They lowered Jeremiah by ropes into the cistern; it had no water in it, only mud, and Jeremiah sank down into the mud.
7 But Ebed-Melek, a Cushite, an official in the royal palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. While the king was sitting in the Benjamin Gate, 8 Ebed-Melek went out of the palace and said to him, 9 “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all they have done to Jeremiah the prophet. They have thrown him into a cistern, where he will starve to death when there is no longer any bread in the city.” 10 Then the king commanded Ebed-Melek the Cushite, “Take thirty men from here with you and lift Jeremiah the prophet out of the cistern before he dies.”
11 So Ebed-Melek took the men with him and…took some old rags and worn-out clothes from there and let them down with ropes to Jeremiah in the cistern. 12 Ebed-Melek the Cushite said to Jeremiah, “Put these old rags and worn-out clothes under your arms to pad the ropes.” Jeremiah did so,
13 and they pulled him up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern.
C. THESIS
1. We find in our text that Jeremiah, through no fault of his own, was thrown into a mud pit, and began to sink in the mud pit.
2. And there came a man, by the name of Ebed-Melek who had compassion and literally lifted the man of God out of the mud pit.
3. We’re going to look at the parallel of our being stuck in a mud pit and the special kind of a person who will help us out of it.
4. The title of this message is, “Lifting Up a Saint Of God.”
I. FOR THE SAINT OF GOD, THERE ARE MANY MUD PITS:
A. THE MUD PIT OF PERSONAL LIFE
1. I was speaking one time to a person at another church and I asked them how did they like one of their former pastors. And that person’s response was, “All right, but he had his flaws.”
2. Oh, how true it is that the man of God has his flaws. Every Christian has their flaws.
3. Life is like a symphony that has both major and minor chords. Like a painting that has both bright colors and dark hues.
4. When we see God’s People in the proper light:
• Moses got angry
• Samuel wouldn't correct His children
• David committed adultery and murder
• Peter denied the Lord
• Paul was tempted to be high-minded
5. And yet, it was these flawed men, who moved their generations for God
6. Pastor Bill Hybels tells the story in his book, “The Contagious Christian” about how when they built their sanctuary and got ready for the final inspection, that one of his associates took a flash light and shined it in the ceiling and saw numerous flaws.
But the contract stipulated that in the final inspection, it was to be in normal room lighting only, and they couldn’t use flashlights to inspect.
B. THE MUD PIT OF MARRIAGE
1. HUMOR
a. Q - What is the Difference Between a Mother & a Wife? One Woman Brings you into this world crying... & the other ensures you continue to do so.
b. Girl: “When we get married, I want to share all your worries, troubles and lighten your burden.” Boy: “That's very kind of you, darling, but I don't have any worries or troubles.” Girl: “Well that’s because we aren't married yet.”
c. Son: “Is it true in ancient China a man didn't know his wife until he married her?” Father: “That's true everywhere, son.”
d. Sadie says love is one long sweet dream, and marriage is the alarm clock.
2. Marriages have many tests and strains. Familiarity, jobs, kids, other distractions, competing relationships, etc.
3. You may find your marriage in a mudpit.
C. THE MUD PIT OF DISAPPOINTING RESULTS
1. There are times when life deals you a bad hand. Someone in our church had their house burn and they lost everything. They finally replaced it all.
2. Recently they put their furniture in storage for a short time while moving. They returned for their furniture to find it moldy and ruined.
3. There are many difficulties in life. Jobs can be lost, finances can be severely hit, sickness can occur, death can strike.
4. According to Jer. 38:6, when they put poor Jeremiah into the dungeon of Malkijah, that was in the court of the prison, it was a deep dungeon, for they let him down into it with ropes; and a dirty one, for there was no water in it, but mud.
5. Josephus, the Jewish historian says that when they let him down in the mud, he sunk up to his neck! That’s how serious our mud pits can be.
D. THE MUD PIT OF LOST CHILDREN
1. It’s particularly tough for Christian parents to watch their kids make mistakes.
2. Many Christians watch for 10, 20, 30 years as their children keep going their own way.
3. Any advice from the parent is usually rejected or not wanted. Some kids, though suffering serious consequences for their wrong decisions, persist in their way.
4. The parent, meanwhile, suffers anguish, knowing their lives could be different, but having no means – but God – to get them to change.
5. With all these different circumstances, we find ourselves stuck in a mudpit.
II. THE EBED-MELEK’S WHO LIFT US
A. DANGERS OF HIS INVOLVEMENT
1. Ebed-Melek is an African Hero.
2. Jeremiah’s plight was really no concern of Ebed-Melek’s. Far from the upper Nile where he grew up, the Cushite had worked his way up in a foreign palace.
3. While he had influence, he had to be careful when and how he used it. Sticking out his neck for an unpopular prophet was a risk.
4. The king could have decided to kill both Jeremiah and Ebed-Melek. In the end, Zedekiah let the prophet live but ignored Jeremiah’s advice to surrender peacefully, Zedekiah put his entire court, including Ebed-Melek, in danger.
B. WHAT EBED-MELEK’S DO
1. Go to the defense of those unjustly attacked.
2. Risk their own reputations and welfare to help them.
3. Look to the details – compassion – of assisting them out of their trouble. Ebed-Melek even supplied old cloths to pad the ropes so Jeremiah’s arms wouldn’t be hurt.
4. He allowed no delay to rescuing Jeremiah and getting him to a place of safety.
5. The reward for Ebed-Meleks? God remembered what the Cushite had done for Jeremiah; “Go and tell Ebed-Melek the Cushite, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: I am about to fulfill my words against this city—words concerning disaster, not prosperity. At that time they will be fulfilled before your eyes. 17 But I will rescue you on that day, declares the Lord; you will not be given into the hands of those you fear. 18 I will save you; you will not fall by the sword but will escape with your life, because you trust in me, declares the Lord.’”.” Jer. 39:16-18.
III. 2 ROPES YOU CAN USE TO PULL THEM OUT
A. THE ROPE OF ENCOURAGEMENT
1. GOD WILL SUPPLY YOUR NEEDS. “But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus” Phip 4:19.
2. GOD IS WORKING FOR YOUR GOOD. “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation works patience; 4And patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5And hope makes not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us Rom. 5:3-5.
3. GRACE GREATER THAN ALL YOUR SIN. "Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” Rom. 5:20.
4. GOD’S EVERLASTING LOVE FOR YOU. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, ‘I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness’” Jer. 31:3.
B. THE ROPE OF PRAYER
1. JESUS IS INTERCEDING FOR YOU. “Wherefore He is able also to save to the uttermost them who come to God by Him, seeing he ever lives to make intercession for them” Heb. 7:25.
2. THE PEOPLE OF GOD ARE PRAYING FOR YOU!
3. EXAMPLE OF MOSES UPHELD BY AARON & HUR
In Exodus 17, the battle was raging on the field, but the prayers were going up to God by Moses. But his hands got weak, so 2 men, Aaron and Hur, held up Moses’ hands, so he wouldn’t fail.
4. One of the men was Aaron, the high priest, symbolic of Jesus our High Priest who is interceding for us.
5. The other man was “Hur,” means white linen, which is exactly what was used to lift Jeremiah.
CONCLUSION
A. ILLUSTRATION
1. such deep depression that his friends thought it best to keep all knives and razors out of his reach. He questioned his life’s calling and the prudence of even attempting to follow it through.
2. During this time he wrote, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I awfully forebode I shall not."
3. But somehow, from somewhere, Abraham Lincoln received the encouragement he needed, and the achievements of his life thoroughly vindicated his bout with discouragement.
B. THE CALL
1. Have you been dealing with discouragement? Are you stuck in one of the mud pits of life?
2. Tonight, 2 ropes are being thrown down to you: One of the Love of your Savior, and the other being the prayers of your church family.
3. You may feel forsaken, but you’re not. You have many who love you.
4. Do you need special prayer tonight? Let’s take it to God and see how He helps us out.
[A rewritten message by Ricky Nelms]
