The Lord Promises Judgment

THE LORD PROMISES JUDGMENT

Jeremiah 26:1-6 - November 14, 2004 - 3rd Sunday of End Time / Saints Triumphant

1Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: 2"This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4Say to them, `This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’ "

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Dearest Fellow Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

The witness comes to the front of the courtroom, and raises his right hand, and he promises to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God. And with that oath, a person makes a promise to God that he is going to tell the truth, nothing more and nothing less. In the Old Testament, and to this very day prophets have been sent to tell God’s truth -- nothing more and nothing less. In the Bible we find the absolute truth that leads sinners to salvation -- nothing more and nothing less. This is precisely what we are going to be reminded of today, that part of God’s truth isn’t just all good news. But part of God’s truth is also that he promises judgment. God promises judgment to bring an end to the wickedness of the world. Therefore we take God at his word. In the book of Numbers, Moses wrote these words: "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (NUMBERS 23:19). Now you and I know the answer to those questions. God does speak and He does act. Our God does promise and He fulfills. Today we look at these words of the prophet Jeremiah with the thought this morning:

OUR LORD GOD PROMISES JUDGMENT --

I. Those who reject will be lost, and II. Those who repent will be saved.

I. Those who reject will be lost

At the beginning of our text we may have heard some names we might not be familiar with. These were the names of the kings of the day. Jeremiah was a prophet for 42 years, during the time of history when the children of Israel wanted to follow kings rather than God. God let them follow kings. We are told now of a few of the Kings when Jeremiah was prophet. Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: Josiah was a good king, and he had a good long reign. But then after him came three of his sons, and they were very evil kings. In fact his next son who fol-lowed Josiah was Jehoahaz. He ruled only for 3 months he was so wicked. Jehoiakim is the 2nd son of Josiah, who rules for eleven years. Josiah is no friend of the Lord. And because of that he is no friend of Jeremiah, the Lord’s prophet.

Still, Jeremiah the prophet was sent to proclaim God’s judgment and the entire word of God. So we are told early in the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. This judgment of God wasn’t going to be Jeremiah’s words, it was going to be the Lord’s word. Our text states: this is what the LORD says. This is a very important point. Sometimes the people thought, well that is just what Jeremiah says. What do we care about the prophet Jeremiah? This wasn’t what Jeremiah said, and it wasn’t what Jeremiah thought. It wasn’t even what he felt. Jeremiah did not come to pro-nounce his own personal judgment against God’s people. But our text says this word came from the LORD: and this is what the LORD says. The Lord is giving these people an opportunity to repent. He is warning them about judgment that is coming.