Transcription
[Music] [Music] Great and marvelous is your name, oh God. You've done enough to prove how great you are. And God, today we gather in this place, realizing that we are on a journey called life. And somebody today needs you to say the right thing, to give them the strength to face Monday's agenda. God, I take it as an honor that you choose to speak through me. Humble my head and my heart, use my mind and my mouth, and speak life, oh Lord, in the midst of dying situations. Have your way and speak, Holy Spirit. In Jesus' precious name, we pray. Amen.
If you would journey with me for our lesson of life this morning to the Old Testament prophecy of Jeremiah, and today we navigate ourselves to the 29th chapter of the prophecy of Jeremiah. Invite you, when you found the fourth verse, to stand, that together we might reverence the reading of God's holy word. From Jeremiah chapter 29, beginning in verse number four. Today, I'll be reading out of the New King James Version of the Bible. The 29th chapter, the book of Jeremiah, beginning in verse number four. If they with me, would you just say amen? Amen.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all who were carried away captive, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem to Babylon: "Yeah, build houses and dwell in them; plant gardens and eat their fruit; take wives and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters, that you may be increased there and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive, pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace."
"For thus says the Lord of hosts, God of Israel: 'Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are in your midst deceive you, nor listen to your dreams which you cause to be dreamed, for they prophesy falsely to you in my name. Yeah, I have not sent them,' says the Lord."
"For thus says the Lord: 'After 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. For you see, I know the thoughts that I think toward you,' says the Lord, 'thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. Yeah, I will be found by you,' says the Lord, 'and I will bring you back from your captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I've driven you,' says the Lord, 'and I will bring you to the place from which I caused you to be carried away captive.'"
Right, do me a favor. Would you look at your neighbor and just help him share tonight's sermon title? Tell them, neighbor, neighbor, oh neighbor, oh neighbor, do you know, do you know what to do, what to do until you get through? You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. What to do until you get through.
As Bible students, I pray that you are fully aware that one of the great dangers of those who would teach and preach and try to interpret scripture, that you've got to be careful of those who would try to interpret any passage of God's word without giving due attention to the historical context in which that word is written. That, in essence, it is a crime of the academy and a violation of all that we learned in seminary to try to anesthetize a scripture and remove it from the historical context that caused its creation. In a way, it's kind of like trying to understand Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech without knowing anything about the Civil Rights that it's rooted in. Historicity that gives accurate interpretation to what God is trying to speak.
Professor Wesley Wildman of Boston University, of whom I studied, argued that within scripture, although there are many things that happen historically, there are three critical events that anchor all of scripture. Dr. Wildman suggests that 80% of scripture deals with, talks about, or tries to understand in some way, three critical moments, events that happen that really ground and anchor all of scripture. And if you're not familiar with these three events, you will always misinterpret what God is saying and what God is doing. Says whether it be the Psalms or the prophets, whether it be the law or the Gospels, whether it be history, reality is, is that all of scripture rotates and revolves around three critical movements and moments in history.
The first one should not surprise you. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. That you cannot correctly begin to understand God's word without an understanding of what God is doing on the cross of Calvary. That all of the prophets were making their way towards Calvary. The Gospels help us understand the life of the one who would die, and the remaining part of the New Testament gives us an explanation of what it means to walk in the resurrected light of Jesus Christ. Right.
The second event that anchors scripture, other than the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, is the event known as The Exodus. That great movement and freedom of God that comes to us in the second book of the Bible, where we encounter a God who hears the cries of His children, a God who moves upon political systems and ideology to bring deliverance and freedom from those who are enslaved. A God who shows up at the Red Sea to make a way out of no way, proving that He can do anything but fail. A God who forms a covenant with a body of people to let them know that they are His chosen, and then begins to move them to a place of promise, to show that even when we are not faithful, He is faithful to do what God said He would perform. The death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, The Exodus, and the third event that really anchors and grounds all of scripture is something that happens in 597 BC called the Babylonian exile.
Right, stay with me through this history lesson. It is in 597 that the Babylonians, under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar, come in and conquer the southern kingdom of Israel, known as Judah, and destroy the capital city known as Jerusalem. In this time, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroy the sovereignty of Israel in 597 BC, and Israel would not regain sovereignty over that land until 1948, some 65 years ago. From 597 to 1948, they have been a displaced people who did not have sovereign control over the land the Lord had given them. Right.
It's Nebuchadnezzar, they come in and they destroy Jerusalem, and the reason it's called the Exile is not only did Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians destroy the city of Jerusalem, but they destroyed, they, they lay hold on 4,600 Jews and expel or exile them to live in Babylon under the hand of the enemy that destroyed their homeland. You need to know that was per the custom of Babylonians. They went to a city, and when they conquered a nation, they didn't take just anybody. They took the cream of the crop, the talented, the intellectual, and the artistic, and the laborer, and the entrepreneur. They grabbed the best of the best from Jerusalem and left the remaining remnant in the city, while 4,600 Jews were exiled to Babylon to live as Babylonian citizens. Right.
In essence, they took from Jerusalem all the human resources necessary to rebuild the city. And although it was rough for the remnant of Jews who remained in Jerusalem, the reality is, is that it was even tougher for the exiles who now lived in Babylon. For you see, this was an era in which there was no CNN on the ground, there was no Twitter, there was no Facebook to post updates, there was no Instagram to give pictures. And so they had to wait for word of mouth to find out what happened in Jerusalem. And slowly, word began to trickle from Jerusalem all the way to Babylon that the city had been destroyed, the temple had been burned. And it left them with questions that were unanswered. What was the fate of loved ones still in Jerusalem? What happened to personal property and possessions? And so here is a people exiled in Babylon, who are worried and wondering about the fate of their homeland, who are saddened and sorrowful about the destruction of their city. And to make matters worse, they're now living in hostile enemy territory. Right.
They're living with the Babylonians, having to learn people they don't like, adjust to food they're not accustomed to, to wander through a city that they know not of, to work jobs they have no experience in, to learn a language that they do not speak, and to be in a religious system that does not worship the God of their fathers. A people saddened and sorrowful about the destruction of their city, wondering and worrying about the fate of their loved ones, adjusting and adapting to living in hostile territory. And mark, the only glimmer of hope that they had, the only thing that kept them going, the only thing that made them feel like they could endure, was that there were three prophets named Ahab, Zedekiah, and Hananiah. Right. And these three prophets gave the exiles some hope by telling them that the Lord says, "The exile will only last two years." My Lord, they filled these exiles with hope that in 24 months, the Lord will deliver you out of Babylon if you hold on to God for two years, you'll be back in Jerusalem. That God will break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar from around your neck, and God will destroy the Babylonians. It's only going to take two years. And so these exiles have some glimmer of hope that if they can just hold on for two years, everything will be all right.
That is until they get this letter from Jeremiah that is recorded to us in chapter 29. For it is here that Jeremiah, at the time, writes to the 3,23 Jews who've already been exiled. And Jeremiah writes them a letter, and the letter simply goes like this: "Y'all don't listen to Ahab and them. Yeah, Hananiah and Zedekiah are not speaking on behalf of the Lord. The Lord told me to write to you and tell you in exile that it won't be two years, but 70 years." Did, did you hear that? It's not going to be two years, it's going to be 70 years before the Lord brings you out. I need you to stand in their shoes. They are saddened and sorrowful about the destruction of Jerusalem. They are wondering and worried about the fate of loved ones. They are adjusting and adapting to living in hostile enemy territory. And the only hope they had was that it wouldn't last long. And now the word of the Lord that comes to them is that the season you're in, the struggle you're going through, the place you're in in life, will not pass quickly and easily. That this is not going to be a walk in the park. This will not change with one prayer and one praise. This is going to last 70 years.
What do you do when you find yourself in an exilic existence? That you are in a place of life you never thought you'd land in? That you find yourself believing that this season is not going to go away quickly? That this burden will not be lifted automatically? What do you do when you begin to realize that, baby, it may get worse before it gets better? That it's about to get dark, and no matter how much you pray and beg, this season that you're about to go through will be the worst one of your life, the heaviest one you've had to deal with, the most complicated you've ever faced? What do you do when you sense that God declares, "You've got to take this journey, you've got to go through this walk, and it won't be quick"? Believe it or not, life has a way of putting you in exile. You wind up in places you didn't think a saint like you should end up, living under the hand of folk you didn't like, and dealing with situations you didn't ask God to bring into your world. You ever been in a dark place of life and had a sense that it was going to be dark for a little while, and that God was carrying you through? What do you do when you're waiting on God to bring you out of the worst situation in life? What do you do when you're waiting on God to remove the yoke off of your neck? What do you do when you're begging God to just get you out of the mess that you're in? What do you do when the Lord is taking His sweet time to change the circumstances of your life? What do you do when God ain't answering your prayer after you say amen? What do you do when you're in exile? Somebody say, "That's a good question."
The Lord, the Lord gives us some advice on what to do when we wind up in exilic places, in dark seasons and struggles that are heavy, and burdens that don't go away easily. The Lord says there are a few things I need you to do when you find yourself in a place you didn't want to be in life. Says, number one, be productive in the midst of your predicament. I want you to learn to be productive, no matter what you're going through. Watch what the Lord tells him. What, what he said, said, "Look, it's going to be 70 years. It's going to be a long journey. It's not going to go away easily. So this is what I want y'all to do: build some houses and move in, buy some furniture and settle down. God, plant a garden and eat. Marry, have kids, make your kids have kids so you have grandkids, and keep on living life, even though you're in adverse situations." Can I preach this thing? He says, "Keep on doing what you've been doing. Don't get over in Babylon and decide you're just going to lay down and die because you're not in the environment that you want to live in. Keep on doing what you've been doing. Get your hair done, get your teeth fixed, clean up in the morning, get dressed and go to work, put a smile on your face, and keep on doing what you've been doing." Yes, sir. That's what he says. He says, "I command you to increase while you're in Babylon." I know it's a dark place. I know it's hostile territory. I know you don't want to be there, but I demand that you increase while you're there. Don't you diminish while you're there. Don't you just lay down and give up while you're there. Don't you get so depressed that you don't do what I've called you to do. Don't you become so sad and sorrowful that you just don't try anymore. When you're in a dark place, baby, give it the best you have and keep on multiplying.
Can I tell you why it's real? Because when we get in exilic existences, in places we don't want to be, in a season we didn't ask for, with the longevity we didn't pray about, the tendency is just to throw up your hand and be so frustrated by being in hostile territory that you no longer make an investment in your increase. Wow, wow. That, that's, that's what these exiles are about. Because this same group of folk that Jeremiah writes to are the folk who wrote Psalm 137. Yeah, in case you haven't read it, I'll give it to you. Psalm 137 is written by some exiles. Yeah, and the Babylonians came to them and said, "Sing us one of them good praise and worship songs." And the exiles said, "How can we sing the praises of our God in a foreign land?" They of the mindset that because they were no longer in Israel, that they could no longer praise God. And God's word to them is, although you're in a foreign land, I'm not a foreign God. That wherever you are, that's where I am, and you can praise me in hostile situations. Oh, God, you don't have to be in perfect conditions for me to show that I'm still God, and I'll still bless you, and I'll still multiply you. Don't you know we serve a God who can multiply you when you're in the enemy's presence? The Bible says He prepares a table in the presence of my enemies, that I can be feasting in the presence of those who hate me.
Says, "Be productive." Can I give it to you in the 11 o'clock version? Here it is: "Do you." All right, I know this ain't how you wanted it to be, but do you, baby. I know, I know that you got folk rising up against you, but do you, baby. I know that there are folk that think you ain't going to make it, but do you, baby. I know they speak evil about you and whisper in rooms, but do you, baby. You get up and you do what God has called you to do, and God will cause you to increase. Be productive despite your predicament.
I'm glad you shot it there, because it's about to get quiet on number two. Oh, he says, watch the text. Says, not only do I want you to build houses and live in them, and plant gardens and eat the fruit, and marry and have kids, and let your kids have kids, I want you to be productive despite your predicament. But number two, I want you to pray for your persecutors.
I got an issue with this. The Lord literally says in verse number seven, "I want y'all to have a prayer meeting for Babylon." Wow, wow. I want you to call to the Lord for your enemies. Now, now, I know you're more saved than I am, and your Bible's bigger, but, but, but this is, this is the tough part for me, because my instinct says when people have done me wrong, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You, you. There's a part of me that says that if you push me, I'll push you back. Someone said, "Pastor B, say if you get slapped on one cheek, you ought to turn." I said, "Depending on what day you slap me, you catch me on the wrong day, you might get slapped back." My instinct says, if you cuss me, don't let this robe fool you. And the Lord says, "I want you to pray for the folk that have done you wrong." Wow, wow.
Now, now, here, here's where the lesson becomes deep. Because what the exiles had difficulty understanding was that everything that happened in the destruction of Jerusalem and in the exile was by the divine design of God. Yeah, read the history. The conquest of Jerusalem did not happen because the Babylonians were stronger or had better military strategy. No, no. They conquered Jerusalem because God says, "These Babylonians were tools in My hand, and I used them to destroy Jerusalem to turn the Israelites back to Me. That I'm using them to get you right. I'm using your enemy to turn you right." Oh, God. So, Lisa, here's the struggle. If the destruction of Jerusalem was by the divine design of God, then so is the exile. That the divine design of God was for 4,600 Jews to have to live 70 years with their enemies. Here, here's what we don't like about God. God will sometimes call, command, and connect you to people you'd rather live without. Right. Come on, come on. You, you ever had people in your life you wish would just go away? I mean, can't you find another job? Job, don't, don't you want to move to Charlotte? I mean, you know, Ebenezer got room over there, you can go down there and worship. But yet, by divine design, the Lord will sometimes inextricably connect you to folk who aggravate you. Go. God says, "I'm going to make you work with somebody that gets on your nerves. I'm going to put you in relationship with someone that aggravates you. I'm going to put you in genetic relationship with a cousin who's crazy and deranged, and they ain't going nowhere." And that's messing us up because most of the time our prayer is, "Lord, make them go somewhere. Send them somewhere else, Lord. Let them do it over there." God, God says, "No, you're connected in this season because I need to get you to learn how to pray for your enemies."
Now, now, I know it's quiet right there because the extent of your prayer life goes like this: "Lord, fix me. Bless this. Give me this. Do this. Do that. I want that." And the Lord says, "Listen, you've got to start growing in prayer where you learn to now begin to pray to God for the welfare and the well-being of those who hate you and stand against you." Because until you learn to pray for them, you won't have peace yourself. Oh, God. Come on, this is big boy church now. Wow.
Lord says, "Listen, here's what He says. It's only when they're at peace, then you're going to be at peace." Wow. So, so here it is. Whatever you want for, for you, watch this. You got to pray for them. Come on, come on. You ain't got to clap. I ain't going nowhere. I got the mic now. You want them to be whole? You got to pray for them to be whole, for you to be whole. You got to pray for them to be well, for you to be well. Here it is, because the Lord understands is that most of the people who cause trouble in your life, they really don't have trouble with you. They've got trouble in some other area, and they take it out on you. So the Lord said, "Listen, if you want to be at peace with them, you got to pray that they can be at peace with whatever the real issue is, so that they'll come to you with a different attitude and disposition." You got to learn to pray for your enemies. That, that, that somebody that's your homework assignment tonight, that the next time you bow before the Lord in prayer, I double-dog dare you to ask God to be good to your enemies. I double-dog dare you to ask God to bless those who hate you. I double-dog dare you to ask God to forgive those who've done you wrong. And God says, "When you begin to pray like that for them, watch what I'm going to do in your life. Watch me be good unto you. Watch me open doors for you. Watch me forgive you of your stuff. That if you learn to pray for them, I'll deliver it to you." So He said, "Listen, be productive in the midst of your predicament. Pray for your persecutors."
Number three, watch this. Follow the text. Says, "And I want you to protect yourself from false prophets." This is what the Lord says. Look, look, I know you like what Hananiah, Ahab, and Zedekiah told you. I know that made you feel good, but I didn't tell them to say that. Wow. And here's the word of the Lord: You can't receive everything you hear. That everything that's said is not ordained. Everybody's thought and opinion and advice is not ordained of the Lord to settle in your spirit. So what the Lord's trying to get these exiles understand, it's a lesson I hope you got when you got your high school diploma. You got to weigh what you hear from whom you hear it. That there's some people not called of the Lord to speak into your exilic existence. Wow.
Now, the Lord calls them false prophets. And Judy, here's the issue. All three of them, Ahab, Zedekiah, Hananiah, here tofore have been bonafide prophets of the Lord in Israel. Which is to say, these aren't evil men. They aren't ugly. They don't have malice in their heart. They're not ill-intentioned. Because a false prophet doesn't always have to be a demon. Right. All right. A false prophet could be a friend. Wow. A false prophet could be someone that means you well. What makes him a false prophet? Keep on reading chapter 29. Here's what the Lord says: They're false prophets because they spoke, spoke without spending time with Me. So the clear definition of false prophecy is when you speak that which hasn't come through prayer. I appreciate your opinion. Your advice is well received. Thank you for your thoughts, but in this stage of my life, I need to be certain that whatever I take in my spirit is that which comes from a prayerful source. And you've got to be careful of receiving word that you know did not come from someone who spent time on their knees talking. Good sir. Come on, come on. We, we teaching now. So I'll suggest to you that there's some clear indicators of a false prophet versus a prayerful source. Prayerful sources don't communicate through social media, right? Prayerful sources don't dibble and dabble in, "Guess what I heard?" Yeah. Prayerful sources don't use vulgarity and violence to scare you. Wow. Prayerful sources, my brothers and my sisters, don't hide behind anonymity, sir. Did y'all record that up there? Prayerful sources that have talked to the Lord come to you and share with you personally what they believe the Lord is placing within their heart, and then allow it to rest between you and the Lord as to whether you receive it and what fruit it bears in your life. But I suggest to you that there are some clear indicators of some word being spoken that cannot have been bathed in prayer, simply because of the way it comes to you. Wow. That's right. And you've got to be careful of receiving what didn't come out of prayer.
Now, now, I'm going to tell you why these exiles fell forward. Here it is. The same problem, same problem that affects many folk today. These exiles were so distant from God themselves that they swallowed anything they heard from somebody else. That when you ain't close to God, when you don't pray your, when you don't study your word, when you don't devote with God, when you don't draw close to the Lord, you'll fall for anything somebody says if they put "The Lord told me" on the front of it. Wow. God says, "I'm looking for a generation that can grow so close to Me that when somebody comes to you saying, 'The Lord told me this,' you've got enough discernment to say, 'I don't receive that because that's not the voice I heard from God.' I know you're convicted. I know you think it's true. I know you're passionate, but if I don't receive it in my spirit, I don't care if you think the Lord told you it or not." Wow. Turn the page, Pastor. Turn the page. That's good teaching, sir. Good teaching.
Says, "Be productive in the midst of your predicament. Pray for your persecutors. Protect yourself from false prophets." And then finally, the Lord says, "In your exiles, be patient on My plan." Listen at the words of hope that God speaks to those in exile. Says, "Listen, I know it's going to be 70 years. I know this won't be quick and easy. I know this is not where you thought you'd wind up at this stage of your life. Says, but I know the thoughts that I think towards you. I know the plans I have for your life, and I know I'm trying to do good by you, to bring you to a future and a hope." God says, "You ought to say amen, because you know I've got a plan." That no matter how dark this looks, God's got a plan. No matter how bad it seems, God's got something up His sleeve. That God is still working something out. God is still fixing this. God has a plan. And my brothers and sisters, I just believe that all faith really is, is a belief that no matter how bad my situation gets, God's got a plan. Yeah, that God's up to something. That there's a purpose in all of this. If life were just random and all I had were the consequences of my decisions, then I would be the most miserable of all people. But deep down inside of me, I believe that no matter how badly I've messed up, no matter how much that pain is, no matter how dark my situation is, I serve a God who has a plan for me. And He says, "It's a plan to do you good."
Let me speak against every devil and demon that want you to believe that God's out to hurt you. Yeah, God's not trying to destroy you. He says, "I want to do My good word." Here's what it says: "I'm going to show up and perform the good word I spoke to you. That every word that I said, I'm still going to perform, even though you're in exile." Yeah, I'm still going to work all things together for your good. Right. I'm still going to make sure that no weapon formed against you shall prosper. I'm still going to take your weeping through the night and bring it as joy in the morning. I'm still going to take your sins that are as scarlet and make them white as snow. I'm still going to make all things new in Christ Jesus. I, I'm still going to do what I said I'm going to do. I've got a plan for your good. And the New King James Version says, "to bring you a future and a hope." But the more accurate translation from the original Hebrew is to bring you to an expected end. That it's going to end. Hear me. I, I want you, I want you to embrace that in the depth of your soul. Wow. That no matter what it is, the Lord says, "It will end." This is just a season, and it will have an end. I know you can't see it right now because you're in the middle of it, but there's an end coming. I know it doesn't feel like it right now because it just got started, but there's an end coming. Matter of fact, can I prove it to you beyond the shadow of a doubt? Out. Watch this. I'm going to prove to you that there's an end because there's someone on your pew right now who knows that there was a season of their life they went through that they never thought they would get out of. They never thought it would end. They never thought it would come to a conclusion. But is there a witness in Alpha Street that the Lord put a period on your season? The Lord turned the page of your life? The Lord moved you in a new direction? And you know that we serve a God who can bring all things to an end. If you've been there, will you just encourage somebody? Tell them, "There is an end. There is an end."
One of the most repeated phrases in the Bible that I'm so grateful for is the phrase, "and it came to pass." It didn't come to stay. It came. I like it. It didn't come forever. It came to pass. Wow. So while you're waiting for it to pass, do you be productive in your predicament? Learn to pray for your persecutors. Protect yourself from false prophets. And be patient on the fact that you have a God with a plan for your good, who will bring all things to an end.
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