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Well, I've been told just get up here and start.

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So here we go.

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You ready?

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Thank you for the opportunity to be here.

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I appreciate Aaron asking me to come.

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I think I am fifth or sixth on his list.

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Everybody else had something else going, and so you end up with me.

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I'm sorry about that.

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But your first pick is gone, and your second, and third, and fourth, maybe your fifth as
well.

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But here I am.

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Let's take a look at the book of Jeremiah for our Bible class.

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And we're going to be looking at this question, what will you do in the end?

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And that comes from Jeremiah chapter five.

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Let's take a look at the context there.

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Jeremiah chapter five.

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God has told Jeremiah, you go into the city of Jerusalem and you see if you can find
anybody that really wants to know the truth.

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See if you can find anybody that is really wanting

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to see true justice done.

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And then God tells him, now some people are going to say that they want to glorify God,
but he says, they're liars.

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They're not telling the truth.

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Let tell you how those people are in the city of Jerusalem.

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Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 30, an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in
the land.

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The prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people love
to have it so.

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But what will you do in the end?

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And really that's a great question.

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What will you do in the end?

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So here's the situation with Jeremiah the prophet.

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Jeremiah has been told by God at a very young age to begin preaching to the people of the
city of Jerusalem in the area of Judah.

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The ten northern tribes have already been destroyed by the Assyrian Empire and they're
long gone because of their wickedness.

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Now Judah has become worse than those people and so their destruction is imminent.

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their judgment is coming.

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God sends Jeremiah though to give those people some more opportunities to repent and to
come back to him so that they might avoid the condemnation that is coming upon them

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through the Chaldeans or the Babylonians.

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Now when Jeremiah is sent, Jeremiah chapter 1, to go and preach to these people, God tells
him they won't listen to you.

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But I'll be with you.

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Now God does not promise Jeremiah there will be no suffering for you, but he does promise
Jeremiah, will deliver you, and he does.

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And Jeremiah gets into so many difficult situations and God delivers him over and over and
over again.

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But Jeremiah suffered immensely.

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There's probably no prophet of God that suffered as much as Jeremiah did.

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And Jeremiah suffered probably as much as the Apostle Paul, perhaps more.

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These people that Jeremiah was sent to preach to hated God, hated him, and tormented him
for about 40 years.

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Jeremiah had to preach to those people.

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So here's an overview of what happens to Jeremiah.

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He begins to preach to these people.

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He doesn't actually like the message at first that he's preaching, and he pushes back
against God a little bit.

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the prophets that were popular were the ones that were saying you just go on and live like
you want to and there will be no punishment and so that's these prophets spoken of here

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Jeremiah five verse thirty an astonishing and horrible thing has been committed in the
land the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule by their own power and my people

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love to have it so they loved to hear the lies

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because the lying prophets were saying, can live the way you want to live, give yourself
over to wickedness, violence, lewdness, all kinds of nastiness, and you know what?

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You're going to be okay.

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God's fine with that.

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God will not destroy you.

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So that's the message from the false prophets, and that obviously was the popular message.

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Everybody loved those guys.

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Jeremiah comes along and says,

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What you're doing is sinful.

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What you're doing is wrong.

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You need to repent, come back to God, and if you don't, God is going to destroy you.

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Now that's not the popular message, is it?

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And so they hated Jeremiah for what he preached.

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As you go through the book of Jeremiah, you'll see that at some points it's not
necessarily in chronological order, but more in topical arrangement based on the kind of

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illustrations that he uses to show that God's judgment is coming upon the people.

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But you'll find that as time does go on, Jeremiah is persecuted more and more.

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You get to Jeremiah chapter 20 and you find Jeremiah is in a situation where he is
complaining to God.

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He's very upset about the way he has been treated.

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And God in essence tells him, look, if you can't contend with the footmen, how are you
gonna contend with the horses?

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If you can't fight with the infantry, how are you gonna fight against the cavalry?

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If you can't put up with this speed, how are you gonna put up with it when it gets worse?

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And God shows him it's getting worse.

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What had happened was the people of Jeremiah's own hometown, the city of Anathoth, the
town of Priests had turned against Jeremiah and they wanted to kill him.

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And so God tells Jeremiah, it's gonna get worse.

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Here's how it's going to get worse.

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The people behind the city of Anathoth turning against you are your own flesh and blood.

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It's your own brothers, the ones you grew up with, the sons of your father.

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They're the ones that are stirring all this up against you.

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And so even his own family turned against him.

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There were so many things that he suffered.

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He ended up at one point in a prison.

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It had been put into a house that had been converted.

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It was the house of Jonathan the scribe.

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It converted to a prison.

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That prison was so bad.

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When the king, King Zedekiah, asked Jeremiah to come out and talk to him, Jeremiah begged
the king, don't put me back in that one.

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Don't put me back in that prison.

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Jeremiah had suffered so much there.

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What is most well known about Jeremiah's suffering is the time that he was put into the
pit.

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It's a cistern or well, it's possibly, if you look at some of the words used and the way
it's used in other contexts, possibly the place where they put all the waste from the

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prisoners in the prison that was in the king's palace because that's where Jeremiah was
living at that time in the court of the prison in the king's palace and they lower him

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down in there in order to die.

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not just to torment him.

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but to make him suffer as he dies.

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You get sunk into a pit like that, you fall asleep, well, you're just going to suffocate
in the monk.

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And he was going to be starved and dehydrated and all of those things down in that pit.

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But there was an Ethiopian there by the name of Ebed Melek that came along, lifted him up
out of the pit and rescued him.

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There are so many examples like that, time when Jeremiah was put into the stocks overnight
after he had been hit by the governor of the temple of all

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people.

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Governor of the temple hits him, puts him in the stocks, leaves him there overnight.

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Well, if you're in stocks, you can't move.

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And they put him out by the gate of the city, the Benjamin gate, and he was left there for
people and animals to do whatever they wanted to to him, and there was nothing he could do

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about it.

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So the next day, Jeremiah was pretty mad at that governor, Basher, he was pretty upset.

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and he said, I'll tell you what, your name's no longer pasture, which means liberty, your
name now is going to be fear on every side.

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Meghra Masabib, fear on every side.

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Well, after he said that, then the people mocked him for saying that.

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And everywhere Jeremiah went, they'd make fun of him saying, fear on every side, fear on
every side.

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And they would just tease him and mock him and torment him.

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And he suffered immensely.

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It became evident after a while that basically everybody hated him.

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There were very few people.

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that had any interest in doing anything good for Jeremiah.

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The people that Jeremiah was preaching to, most of them anyway, were people who had gone
far beyond what any civilized society would do.

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They had been engaged in all kinds of vulgar nastiness that was associated with uh idol
worship, and they had decided to mix the idol worship in with worship to God.

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And so they had this hybrid religion that even involved bringing in some of the pagan
idolatry into the temple of God that was there in the city of Jerusalem in that day and

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time.

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Then they had also become very violent.

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The people of Jeremiah's day in the city of Jerusalem were always robbing each other and
attacking each other, lying in wait for one another.

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God says at one point, you can't trust anybody in the city of Jerusalem.

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Every single...

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one of them is a liar, every one.

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That's the kind of city it was back in Jeremiah's day, Jerusalem around the 6th century
BC.

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Terrible, terrible place to be.

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The worst thing though was this.

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They had decided to engage in the worship to Moloch.

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And down south of the city of Jerusalem on the southern side was a valley, the Valley of
the Sons of Hinnom, uh also known as Gehenna.

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Jesus Christ would use that in the New Testament as a picture of eternal punishment.

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But down there in the Valley of Hinnom in Jeremiah's day, they had built this metal idol
to the god Molok.

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and they would heat it up, set it on fire.

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There were different chambers in the god there, and you could fry your kids for a certain
amount of material wealth, or you could bake them in that idol.

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And if you put them further back in the chamber to be baked alive and killed, then you
were going to be blessed by that idol materially.

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So for the sake of material comforts in their minds, they were killing their children.

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That's how nasty those people were.

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So when you read about the people of Jeremiah's day in the city of Jerusalem, you can't
think for a moment there's anything nice about them.

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There are a few good people around, but not very many.

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As a whole, the people are as violent as you can imagine, probably more than you and I
could imagine, and more nasty and vulgar even than you and I could imagine, and Jeremiah

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had to live with that.

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At first he didn't like his own message and after a while he was right on board with God
and he wanted God to hurry up and punish them when they continued to persecute him and

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torment him.

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There was one time when Jeremiah quit and God was very patient with him.

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Jeremiah accused God of being an unreliable stream.

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You said that you would take care of me and look at all the suffering.

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No, no, God said I would deliver you.

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He didn't say he wouldn't let him suffer.

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Jeremiah comes back, preaches again.

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Jeremiah wants to quit again later, and he says, I couldn't.

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The word of God's like a fire burning in my bones.

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And he kept on going for 40 years.

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He put up with that mess.

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I tell the preacher students at school, as we study Jeremiah in the fourth quarter, don't
complain about being a preacher.

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If an elder is upset with you and is playing dirty games and is mean to you.

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Don't complain.

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Look at what they did to Jeremiah.

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You'll never have to face as much torment and suffering as Jeremiah had to face for
preaching the truth.

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Look what he put up with.

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40 years goes by, Jeremiah's prophecies all come true.

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The Babylonians come down, they destroy the city of Jerusalem, and the ones that survive
are either taken away into captivity or just a few are left behind with Jeremiah there.

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And even then, those that are left behind with Jeremiah are saying, Jeremiah, go ask God,
and we should go down into Egypt.

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And so Jeremiah does, and God says, don't go to Egypt.

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Babylon's going there next, you'll die down there.

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And the people had said to Jeremiah, whatever God says, that's what we're gonna do.

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And when Jeremiah says, God says stay here, they said, Jeremiah, you're a liar.

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We're not staying here, we're going down to Egypt.

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And then they kidnapped Jeremiah and Baruch, Jeremiah's coworker, and took them down into
Egypt with them.

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So Jeremiah just kept on suffering.

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read the book of Lamentations, you see Jeremiah suffering in the ruins of the city of
Jerusalem, hurt so much by what he sees.

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It was a horrible, horrible time.

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But this question, you're trusting in these lying prophets.

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What are you gonna do in the end?

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For 40 years, they had this period of long suffering when God was sending his prophet
Jeremiah to preach to them.

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But it really went far beyond that.

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If you go back about a hundred years before Jeremiah's day, have Isaiah preaching to
Jerusalem and the people of Judah, giving them an opportunity to repent.

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Isaiah chapter one, come now and let us reason together, though your sins be ascarred,
they shall be as white as snow.

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If you come back to me, God says, and over and over again, God sent his prophets for
decade after decade after decade.

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Come back to me, I love you.

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Come back to me, I love you.

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Come back to me, I don't want to punish you.

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Come back to me, I take no delight in punishing you.

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Come back, repent, and I will forgive you.

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Come back to me over and over and over and over again.

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So many times, so many prophets, so many years.

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God showed his long suffering on these nasty people.

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Wicked, vulgar, extremely violent people.

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God was so patient with them.

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You know what some people do, especially skeptics and such, they'll do this.

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They'll take a look at some of the history in the book or in the Old Testament, such as
what's said concerning the destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Babylonians in 587

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BC, and they'll say, look how cruel and vindictive God is.

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Oh, you missed it.

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you will find an abundance of grace and kindness and mercy and long-suffering in the Old
Testament.

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In fact, the Old Testament is a story of God's long-suffering over and over again.

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And these people, He didn't punish them immediately.

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He would be justly well within His rights because He is the perfect sovereign divine being
to have killed them immediately, and that would have been just.

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They didn't do that.

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He gives them

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so, so much time, so many opportunities to come back to him, but eventually the punishment
comes.

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So God is indeed long-suffering, and the book of Jeremiah shows that God is
long-suffering, but long-suffering always ends, and I want us to think in terms of this,

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and we'll show you the passages here in just a moment.

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You and I are now in a world that is evil.

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and you and I are in a period of long suffering.

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But this period of long suffering will end and there is a judgment day coming, not just on
one city or one nation, but on the entire world.

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And so the question that was posed to the people of Jeremiah's day, but what will you do
in the end?

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It's a really good question for people today, isn't it?

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What are you gonna do when the long suffering of God ends?

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What are you gonna do in the day of judgment?

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What good will it have done for you?

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Listen to those lies that made you feel good about your sin and your wickedness.

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So sixth century BC was a nasty, nasty place.

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The wickedness of Judah, let's look at a few passages that indicate that.

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The long suffering of God, we'll check out a few of those as well.

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And then the judgment that came upon them.

209
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Look at Jeremiah chapter three and verse 10.

210
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Now the first king,

211
00:16:19,467 --> 00:16:23,158
that Jeremiah served under was good King Josiah.

212
00:16:23,278 --> 00:16:25,619
And Josiah was a righteous king.

213
00:16:25,619 --> 00:16:30,240
When you put it all together, looks like Jeremiah and Josiah were probably about the same
age.

214
00:16:31,020 --> 00:16:34,121
Josiah had been writing a little while before Jeremiah came along.

215
00:16:34,221 --> 00:16:37,882
When Josiah died, Jeremiah mourned his death.

216
00:16:38,963 --> 00:16:44,824
They were two good men in a wicked city trying to do the right thing.

217
00:16:44,904 --> 00:16:47,605
And so Jeremiah lost a good ally at that time.

218
00:16:47,937 --> 00:16:52,059
While Josiah was king, Josiah wanted the people to repent and turn back to God.

219
00:16:52,059 --> 00:16:54,431
And so they did, but just in a superficial way.

220
00:16:54,431 --> 00:16:56,379
Look at Jeremiah chapter three and verse 10.

221
00:16:56,379 --> 00:17:06,807
And yet for all this, her treacherous sister Judah has not turned to me, God says, with
her whole heart, but in pretense, says the Lord.

222
00:17:07,068 --> 00:17:14,612
So they had started to put away the places of idol worship and things such as that,
because that's what the king wanted them to do, King Josiah.

223
00:17:14,712 --> 00:17:17,053
But God says, you didn't do that from the heart.

224
00:17:17,131 --> 00:17:18,841
You didn't do that with the whole heart.

225
00:17:18,922 --> 00:17:20,062
It was just a show.

226
00:17:20,062 --> 00:17:21,222
It was just pretense.

227
00:17:21,222 --> 00:17:22,362
It was fake.

228
00:17:23,363 --> 00:17:25,343
That's not acceptable, it?

229
00:17:25,443 --> 00:17:29,244
And so when they appeared to be righteous, it was just a lie.

230
00:17:30,265 --> 00:17:39,087
But later on, when Josiah was gone, there was no reason for them even to play around with
being righteous, and they became even more wicked.

231
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Jeremiah chapter 5 and verse 23, but this people has a defiant and rebellious heart.

232
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They have revolted and departed.

233
00:17:45,169 --> 00:17:46,413
They do not say in their heart,

234
00:17:46,413 --> 00:17:51,113
Let us now fear the Lord our God who gives rain, both the former and the latter, and its
season.

235
00:17:51,113 --> 00:17:53,853
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

236
00:17:53,853 --> 00:18:04,513
Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you."
They have a defiant and a rebellious heart.

237
00:18:04,553 --> 00:18:07,653
You know, there might be situations where that might be okay.

238
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For example, if there is peer pressure trying to steer you in the wrong direction.

239
00:18:14,391 --> 00:18:16,262
Well, you kind want to have a defiant heart, don't you?

240
00:18:16,262 --> 00:18:17,822
say, well, I'm not doing that.

241
00:18:18,922 --> 00:18:26,744
But if you have a defiant and rebellious heart toward God and His will, you're in really,
really big danger.

242
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That's a serious problem.

243
00:18:27,985 --> 00:18:29,345
And that's where these people were.

244
00:18:29,345 --> 00:18:31,506
So they had hearts that were rebellious.

245
00:18:31,506 --> 00:18:33,006
So keep that in mind.

246
00:18:33,006 --> 00:18:38,468
Jeremiah will emphasize how wicked and horrible the hearts of these people were.

247
00:18:38,468 --> 00:18:41,379
And so, you know, the way you are comes from the heart, doesn't it?

248
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The heart representing

249
00:18:43,239 --> 00:18:48,433
who you are deep down inside, what you truly believe, what you really, really want to do.

250
00:18:48,433 --> 00:18:51,705
And these people are very rebellious.

251
00:18:51,705 --> 00:18:55,398
They want to bring a revolution against God.

252
00:18:55,398 --> 00:18:58,020
They want to be rebellious toward God.

253
00:18:58,020 --> 00:19:02,123
They have a defiant heart toward the law of God.

254
00:19:02,123 --> 00:19:04,625
And God says, Jeremiah, now you go preach to those people.

255
00:19:04,625 --> 00:19:06,927
So it was not an easy task, was it?

256
00:19:06,927 --> 00:19:09,963
Jeremiah chapter 7 is an interesting chapter.

257
00:19:09,963 --> 00:19:19,989
because here you are introduced to some of the lies that the prophets were preaching in
that day and time and here's what it was they were saying this the temple of the Lord the

258
00:19:19,989 --> 00:19:30,825
temple of the Lord the temple of the Lord of these and they would make this point here we
are in city of Jerusalem and there's God's temple over there God's not going to destroy us

259
00:19:30,825 --> 00:19:37,909
he's not going to destroy his temple as long as we've got God's temple here there's no way
he's going to destroy the city of Jerusalem

260
00:19:37,961 --> 00:19:42,906
And so Jeremiah says, do not trust in lying words.

261
00:19:42,906 --> 00:19:45,338
Those are in fact lying words.

262
00:19:45,338 --> 00:19:49,271
eight, behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit.

263
00:19:49,271 --> 00:19:58,839
Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and walk
after other gods whom you do not know, and then come and stand before me in this house

264
00:19:58,839 --> 00:20:03,403
which is called by my name and say, we are delivered to do all these abominations?

265
00:20:03,794 --> 00:20:05,565
God's with us, here's the temple.

266
00:20:07,617 --> 00:20:09,972
God says, come in here and worship me.

267
00:20:11,807 --> 00:20:22,621
and say because of that you can do whatever you want to do you know what people will do
what they want to do won't they and you and I have to make up our mind that what we want

268
00:20:22,621 --> 00:20:33,016
to do is the will of God because if we don't make up our minds that what we want to do is
the will of God we will end up doing whatever it is we want to do in rebellion against God

269
00:20:33,016 --> 00:20:41,197
and we will be lost these people were looking for ways to justify their own wickedness

270
00:20:41,197 --> 00:20:44,177
and still say, oh, but we still believe in God.

271
00:20:44,717 --> 00:20:45,437
Here's his temple.

272
00:20:45,437 --> 00:20:47,057
We still go into the house of the Lord.

273
00:20:47,057 --> 00:20:57,297
They did on a regular basis go into the house of the Lord, but they were nasty, vulgar,
violent, filthy, rebellious, evil, evil people.

274
00:20:57,297 --> 00:20:58,377
Look at verse 23.

275
00:20:58,377 --> 00:21:09,517
But this is what I commanded them saying, obey my voice and I will be your God and you
shall be my people and walk in all, all the ways.

276
00:21:10,145 --> 00:21:21,848
that I have commended you, that it may be well with you." You see, what we have today in
our culture and really in so many of those that would call themselves to be, you know,

277
00:21:21,848 --> 00:21:31,009
call themselves religious and call themselves Christians is this very same attitude where
they want to do whatever it is their heart tells them to do, whatever they feel like

278
00:21:31,009 --> 00:21:31,859
doing.

279
00:21:34,157 --> 00:21:37,677
and try to find some way to excuse disobedience to God.

280
00:21:37,937 --> 00:21:50,597
God hasn't changed and just as he said to those people you must do all I command you so he
says to us today in passages such as 2nd Thessalonians 1 7 through 9, Hebrews 5, 8 and 9,

281
00:21:50,597 --> 00:21:53,357
Matthew 7, 21, 22, etc.

282
00:21:53,537 --> 00:22:03,615
But notice this verse 24, yet they did not obey or incline their ear but funneled the
counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts and went backward

283
00:22:03,615 --> 00:22:09,208
and not forward, some translations say the wicked imaginations of their hearts.

284
00:22:09,208 --> 00:22:11,809
It's the evil dictates of their hearts.

285
00:22:11,870 --> 00:22:13,410
Follow your heart.

286
00:22:13,911 --> 00:22:28,029
You know, if you and I go out here to the ice cream shop and you're looking at the ice
cream there and, know, here's the mint chocolate chip and here's the strawberry and here's

287
00:22:28,029 --> 00:22:31,941
the butterscotch and you don't know which one you're thinking, hmm.

288
00:22:32,621 --> 00:22:35,423
I'm just gonna follow my heart and go with strawberry today.

289
00:22:36,084 --> 00:22:37,445
Well, that's okay.

290
00:22:38,006 --> 00:22:39,687
Doesn't matter, does it?

291
00:22:40,308 --> 00:22:46,733
But if you want to take a look at the Word of God and then think in terms of what you'd
rather do in opposition to the Word of God and say, I'm not gonna follow God.

292
00:22:46,733 --> 00:22:56,011
Instead, I'm just gonna go with my heart, whatever I feel, whatever feels good to me, then
you would be a part of the postmodern culture, philosophical term, historical term.

293
00:22:56,011 --> 00:23:02,004
describing those who don't want there to be anything like absolute truth that comes from
God telling us how we need to live.

294
00:23:02,004 --> 00:23:04,676
We have got to do it God's way, not our way.

295
00:23:04,676 --> 00:23:09,948
We have no right to say, God, I'll just do what I want and you'll accept it.

296
00:23:10,449 --> 00:23:11,749
We have no right.

297
00:23:12,630 --> 00:23:18,273
He gives us the free will to do it, but there's a terrible price to pay if you do it.

298
00:23:18,834 --> 00:23:20,555
It's not about following your heart, it?

299
00:23:20,555 --> 00:23:25,357
When it comes to following God, it's about following His Word.

300
00:23:25,375 --> 00:23:28,809
and doing what he says and these people misunderstood that or actually didn't care.

301
00:23:28,809 --> 00:23:36,056
Verse 24, yet they did not obey or incline their ear but followed the counsels and the
dictates of their evil hearts and went backward and not forward.

302
00:23:36,056 --> 00:23:45,465
Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have even
sent to you all my servants the prophets daily rising up early and sending them over and

303
00:23:45,465 --> 00:23:45,845
over again.

304
00:23:45,845 --> 00:23:47,586
That's God's long suffering.

305
00:23:47,947 --> 00:23:49,759
Yet they did not obey me.

306
00:23:49,759 --> 00:23:54,212
or incline their ear, but stiffen their neck, they did worse than their fathers.

307
00:23:54,212 --> 00:23:58,115
Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you.

308
00:23:58,115 --> 00:24:01,217
You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

309
00:24:01,217 --> 00:24:03,098
Go ahead and preach the truth.

310
00:24:03,098 --> 00:24:05,219
Let's give them the opportunity.

311
00:24:05,260 --> 00:24:11,824
But they're stubborn people that rather follow the evil and wicked imaginations of their
hearts than to obey God.

312
00:24:11,824 --> 00:24:17,528
And that is a statement that will be made over and over and over again throughout the book
of Jeremiah.

313
00:24:17,528 --> 00:24:19,799
Look at Jeremiah chapter 17.

314
00:24:19,799 --> 00:24:21,500
for just a moment and consider their wickedness.

315
00:24:21,500 --> 00:24:25,994
The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with the point of a diamond it's engraved
on the table of their heart.

316
00:24:25,994 --> 00:24:29,456
It's dug down deep into their hearts.

317
00:24:29,797 --> 00:24:37,582
On the horns of their altars, while their children remember their altars and their wooden
images by the green trees on the high hills, on my mountain in the field I will give as

318
00:24:37,582 --> 00:24:39,254
plunder your wealth, et cetera.

319
00:24:39,254 --> 00:24:46,739
And he goes on to describe their wickedness, their idolatry, their vulgarity, and their
violence, and this, verse nine.

320
00:24:48,237 --> 00:24:51,717
The heart, this is Jeremiah 17, is deceitful.

321
00:24:53,417 --> 00:24:56,540
Above all things, oh, what was it that they wanted to funnel?

322
00:24:58,149 --> 00:24:59,309
their hearts.

323
00:24:59,669 --> 00:25:03,971
He says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked who can know it?

324
00:25:03,971 --> 00:25:07,092
uh Lord searched the heart.

325
00:25:07,092 --> 00:25:08,712
God's the one that knows it.

326
00:25:08,852 --> 00:25:10,352
I test the mind.

327
00:25:10,352 --> 00:25:14,874
Even to give every man according to his ways according to the fruit of his doings.

328
00:25:14,874 --> 00:25:16,114
You're following your hearts.

329
00:25:16,114 --> 00:25:17,675
That's your guiding standard.

330
00:25:17,675 --> 00:25:19,395
Your hearts are wicked, he says.

331
00:25:19,395 --> 00:25:20,515
And I can see that.

332
00:25:20,515 --> 00:25:21,916
I see your hearts.

333
00:25:21,916 --> 00:25:23,296
I know your hearts.

334
00:25:23,296 --> 00:25:26,879
And you will be judged according to who you are.

335
00:25:26,879 --> 00:25:28,450
and what you are doing.

336
00:25:28,450 --> 00:25:38,217
And so the people there are very wicked and so it's very appropriate in Jeremiah 5, 29 to
31 for God to say through Jeremiah, what are you going to do in the end?

337
00:25:39,018 --> 00:25:47,403
When the judgment does come, when the long suffering is over, what are you going to do in
the end?

338
00:25:47,403 --> 00:25:52,147
Look at God's long suffering to these people who have rebelled against him for so many
years.

339
00:25:52,147 --> 00:25:55,787
They have engaged in so much violence, shed so much innocent blood.

340
00:25:55,787 --> 00:25:58,019
killed their own children over and over again.

341
00:25:58,019 --> 00:25:59,400
These are nasty people.

342
00:25:59,400 --> 00:26:02,703
But God still says this, chapter three and verse one.

343
00:26:02,703 --> 00:26:10,869
say if a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man's, may he
return to her again.

344
00:26:11,410 --> 00:26:13,752
Would not that land be greatly polluted?

345
00:26:13,752 --> 00:26:19,616
But you have played the harlot with many lovers, yet return to me, says the Lord.

346
00:26:19,797 --> 00:26:25,461
And so he tried all kinds of illustrations to help these people to understand how wicked
they were.

347
00:26:25,591 --> 00:26:29,503
but how much he wanted them to come back to him so that he could forgive them.

348
00:26:29,503 --> 00:26:36,927
And here's one, here's a man that has a wife and he divorces her, and she goes out, she
plays the harlot and she's been with a whole lot of different men.

349
00:26:37,788 --> 00:26:40,959
He's saying, what man on earth would take her back?

350
00:26:43,053 --> 00:26:48,293
And God is saying, that's what you've done to me, but I'll take you back.

351
00:26:48,813 --> 00:26:54,653
So he wants them to see how much he loves them, even though they have become so very, very
wicked.

352
00:26:54,653 --> 00:26:56,273
He wants to bring them back.

353
00:26:56,273 --> 00:26:57,173
He wants to help them.

354
00:26:57,173 --> 00:26:58,453
He wants to take them back.

355
00:26:58,453 --> 00:27:07,153
Verse 12, go and proclaim these words toward the North and say, return backsliding Israel
says the Lord, I will not cause my anger to fall on you for I am merciful, says the Lord.

356
00:27:07,153 --> 00:27:10,153
I will not remain angry for ever.

357
00:27:10,153 --> 00:27:11,829
Verse 22, he says this.

358
00:27:11,829 --> 00:27:22,859
return you backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding indeed we do come to you
for you are the Lord our God chapter 4 and verse 1 if you return Israel says the Lord

359
00:27:22,859 --> 00:27:31,367
return to me and if you'll put away your abominations out of my sight then you shall not
be moved I'll keep you in the land you won't be moved from the land if you'll come back to

360
00:27:31,367 --> 00:27:38,349
me if you'll do the right thing and this rebellion seen here in Jeremiah chapter 6 and
verse 16

361
00:27:38,349 --> 00:27:42,589
is astounding as God is giving them the opportunity to do the right thing.

362
00:27:42,589 --> 00:27:58,909
Thus says the Lord, Jeremiah 6, 16, stand in the ways and see and ask for the, excuse me,
for the sniffing, ask for the old past where the good way is and walk in it.

363
00:27:59,609 --> 00:28:01,589
Then you will find rest for your souls.

364
00:28:01,589 --> 00:28:03,049
What does God want to give them?

365
00:28:03,049 --> 00:28:04,409
Rest for their soul.

366
00:28:05,623 --> 00:28:09,136
just go back to the old way, just go back to when you were doing the right thing.

367
00:28:10,017 --> 00:28:11,778
Then you'll find rest for your souls.

368
00:28:11,798 --> 00:28:18,564
But they said, we will not walk in it.

369
00:28:19,285 --> 00:28:28,423
And so you see a little bitty child standing before the child's father and the father
tells the child that that child is going to go do something and the child says, I will

370
00:28:28,423 --> 00:28:29,183
not.

371
00:28:32,442 --> 00:28:35,666
We know what that looks like, don't we?

372
00:28:35,666 --> 00:28:41,823
We understand that kind of rebellion, and we know that that little child needs to
understand that's not the way to do things.

373
00:28:43,469 --> 00:28:46,169
Well, this is what God's children were doing to him.

374
00:28:47,089 --> 00:28:58,509
He was telling them how to have peace, how to have a better way to live, how to have
forgiveness from him, how things could go so much better for He wanted to bless them and

375
00:28:58,509 --> 00:29:01,289
do so many great things for them.

376
00:29:01,289 --> 00:29:03,609
And he's telling them how they can have that.

377
00:29:03,649 --> 00:29:05,249
And they're saying, we will not.

378
00:29:05,749 --> 00:29:06,989
We're not going to do it.

379
00:29:06,989 --> 00:29:10,569
Jeremiah chapter seven, verse three there.

380
00:29:10,569 --> 00:29:13,333
Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways.

381
00:29:13,333 --> 00:29:16,285
and your doings, I will cause you to dwell in this place.

382
00:29:16,285 --> 00:29:21,037
Do not trust in these lying words, saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord,
the temple of the Lord of these.

383
00:29:21,037 --> 00:29:29,351
For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings, if you thoroughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbor, if you do not oppress the stranger, the fatherless, and

384
00:29:29,351 --> 00:29:37,226
the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, or walk after other gods to your
herd, then I will cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your

385
00:29:37,226 --> 00:29:38,887
fathers forever and ever.

386
00:29:38,887 --> 00:29:40,688
I want you to stay here.

387
00:29:40,768 --> 00:29:42,477
I want you to have the land.

388
00:29:42,477 --> 00:29:44,637
but you've got to serve me.

389
00:29:44,637 --> 00:29:46,677
Come back to me, and this land is yours.

390
00:29:46,677 --> 00:29:49,077
As long as you're serving me, it's yours.

391
00:29:52,331 --> 00:29:53,802
and they wouldn't come back.

392
00:29:54,162 --> 00:29:56,403
But don't you see God's long suffering?

393
00:29:56,444 --> 00:30:03,087
Decade after decade after decade, prophet after prophet after prophet, God begging,
pleading with people.

394
00:30:03,568 --> 00:30:05,809
And he doesn't have to do that, does he?

395
00:30:06,450 --> 00:30:08,861
Begging and pleading with people to come back to him.

396
00:30:08,861 --> 00:30:14,675
If you look over to Ezekiel's book, Ezekiel is preaching to some of the Jews who've
already been taken captive.

397
00:30:14,675 --> 00:30:18,507
So some of the Jews were taken captive around 606, 607 BC.

398
00:30:18,507 --> 00:30:19,928
and that would have included Daniel.

399
00:30:19,928 --> 00:30:22,899
So Daniel's over in the palace of the Babylonian kings.

400
00:30:23,340 --> 00:30:30,604
And then about 10 years later, somewhere around 596, 97 BC, Babylonians come back, take
some more captives.

401
00:30:30,844 --> 00:30:39,809
And so they're in Babylon as captives, and Ezekiel was taken with them, and so Ezekiel was
preaching among the captives in Babylon.

402
00:30:39,809 --> 00:30:43,531
There's still some people left in Jerusalem at that point in time.

403
00:30:43,591 --> 00:30:45,952
The final destruction wouldn't come until 587 BC.

404
00:30:47,021 --> 00:30:48,922
So Jeremiah is back there in Jerusalem.

405
00:30:48,922 --> 00:30:58,984
So you got Daniel in the Babylonian palaces and you got Ezekiel with the captives already
over there and you got Jeremiah with the people in the city of Jerusalem.

406
00:30:58,984 --> 00:31:02,465
So if you look at Ezekiel's message, it's very similar to Jeremiah's.

407
00:31:02,805 --> 00:31:08,527
Ezekiel chapter 18, God is telling these people, don't blame me and don't call me unfair.

408
00:31:09,587 --> 00:31:15,829
And let me tell you this, I take no delight in the death of the wicked.

409
00:31:16,457 --> 00:31:19,198
it does not make God happy to punish people.

410
00:31:19,458 --> 00:31:26,440
He does not find himself filled with some sort of sense of great joy over punishing
people.

411
00:31:26,620 --> 00:31:31,901
He would rather the people come to him, come back to him, repent, be saved.

412
00:31:31,901 --> 00:31:34,762
God is telling them, I want good things for you.

413
00:31:34,762 --> 00:31:37,363
I don't take any delight in punishing you.

414
00:31:37,363 --> 00:31:40,423
I would rather see you get yourself a new heart.

415
00:31:41,244 --> 00:31:42,484
Change yourselves.

416
00:31:42,484 --> 00:31:45,997
That's what I want you to do so that I can...

417
00:31:45,997 --> 00:31:47,737
bless you.

418
00:31:47,917 --> 00:31:52,137
And despite God's long suffering, the people continued to rebel against him.

419
00:31:52,137 --> 00:31:55,837
And so, what will you do in the end?

420
00:31:55,837 --> 00:31:57,277
It does end.

421
00:31:57,717 --> 00:32:02,297
The long suffering always comes to an end and judgment comes.

422
00:32:02,297 --> 00:32:07,457
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, judgment is promised against these people.

423
00:32:07,557 --> 00:32:10,357
I'm assuming 1015, is that right?

424
00:32:10,357 --> 00:32:11,697
Is that the last spell?

425
00:32:12,137 --> 00:32:15,373
Throughout the book of Jeremiah, this judgment is promised.

426
00:32:15,373 --> 00:32:18,673
If you don't come back to me the punishment will come.

427
00:32:18,673 --> 00:32:22,793
So think about it, Jeremiah is preaching that message for 40 years.

428
00:32:24,873 --> 00:32:28,671
It's not as though God said, tomorrow judgment's coming, you better repent now.

429
00:32:30,337 --> 00:32:33,599
He gives him so many opportunities and so much time, doesn't he?

430
00:32:33,780 --> 00:32:35,542
He's very kind and very patient.

431
00:32:35,542 --> 00:32:40,906
But he reminds them that there is a lion that has already come out of the thicket, and
that's Babylon.

432
00:32:40,906 --> 00:32:47,892
And this lion that's already come out of the thicket has gone on to attack the Gentiles
and is conquering the Gentile nations.

433
00:32:48,013 --> 00:32:52,496
And that lion, Babylon, that's come out of the thicket, it's conquering the Gentile
nations, is coming here.

434
00:32:53,077 --> 00:32:57,971
You look to the north, and so if you look at where Babylon was and Jerusalem was on the
map,

435
00:32:58,061 --> 00:33:07,041
Babylon is almost due east of the city of Jerusalem, 550 miles, but it's desert between
them.

436
00:33:07,121 --> 00:33:11,641
And so you don't want to take an army 550 miles across the desert.

437
00:33:11,881 --> 00:33:16,861
And so the Babylonian army will travel up northwest through what's called the Fertile
Crescent.

438
00:33:16,861 --> 00:33:22,641
A couple of historians in 1914, 1915 started calling it the Fertile Crescent, where the
water is.

439
00:33:22,641 --> 00:33:25,985
So you go up through the Tigris Euphrates area.

440
00:33:25,985 --> 00:33:36,805
plenty of water for your troops so you're going northeast and then uh you would come down
from the mountains and from the areas where the Jordan River would start you come down

441
00:33:36,805 --> 00:33:44,962
through the Jordan River Valley and that way you've got plenty of food and water for your
troops as you move and so even though the Babylonians were east of them they would always

442
00:33:44,962 --> 00:33:52,809
come out of the north and so God was promising them this punishment coming to them from
the north it will come he said

443
00:33:52,865 --> 00:33:58,888
He tries to describe, or he does describe the Babylonians in such a way that should have
caused fear into the hearts of the people.

444
00:33:58,888 --> 00:34:00,790
All of their men are mighty warriors.

445
00:34:00,790 --> 00:34:11,095
And in fact, he says, if you killed them all but just a few, and the few that were left
that were wounded were still attacking the city, they would win the city.

446
00:34:12,296 --> 00:34:14,377
When you go against God, you cannot win.

447
00:34:14,377 --> 00:34:15,858
And so he describes all of those things.

448
00:34:15,858 --> 00:34:19,480
He talks about a time when King Zedekiah says, well, what's going to happen?

449
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,451
The Babylonians are surrounding us now.

450
00:34:21,451 --> 00:34:25,104
What what Jeremiah asked God what's going to happen God says to Zedekiah.

451
00:34:25,104 --> 00:34:29,448
I'm gonna turn your own swords against you I'm against you.

452
00:34:29,448 --> 00:34:30,698
I'm gonna fight against you.

453
00:34:30,698 --> 00:34:35,241
I'm gonna fight for the Babylonians Well when God says that you don't have any chance do
you?

454
00:34:35,753 --> 00:34:48,863
But he promised them that he would forgive them if they would come back to him But they
didn't and he warned of judgment to come if they did not take his gracious merciful loving

455
00:34:48,863 --> 00:34:51,541
tender kind compassionate

456
00:34:51,541 --> 00:34:55,283
long-suffering offer of forgiveness.

457
00:34:55,283 --> 00:34:57,523
And so it's described in so many ways.

458
00:34:57,523 --> 00:35:06,507
One of the ways that he describes it is to tell them that some will die by the sword, some
will die by disease, some will die by famine.

459
00:35:06,507 --> 00:35:10,009
So the Babylonians would come and surround the city of Jerusalem.

460
00:35:10,009 --> 00:35:10,909
They would lay siege.

461
00:35:10,909 --> 00:35:16,051
At one point, then the Egyptians would start moving, and Babylon would pull back.

462
00:35:16,051 --> 00:35:18,792
The Egyptians would defeat Babylon for a time.

463
00:35:18,792 --> 00:35:21,205
Babylon would retreat, recover.

464
00:35:21,205 --> 00:35:23,206
Nebuchadnezzar would rebuild his troops.

465
00:35:23,206 --> 00:35:26,917
He would meet the Egyptians in the Battle of Carchemish, a very famous battle.

466
00:35:26,917 --> 00:35:29,127
You'll find it lot of historical writings.

467
00:35:29,507 --> 00:35:36,159
And once he defeated the Egyptians at the Battle of Carchemish, then he would just gain
more more strength.

468
00:35:36,159 --> 00:35:40,070
And that's when he would come back down to the city of Jerusalem, lay siege to it.

469
00:35:40,070 --> 00:35:44,011
About four months into the siege, the people of Jerusalem ran out of food.

470
00:35:44,672 --> 00:35:47,012
And so, as you can imagine, he got really desperate for them.

471
00:35:47,012 --> 00:35:48,759
This is Jeremiah chapter 39 now.

472
00:35:48,759 --> 00:35:50,333
He got really desperate for them.

473
00:35:50,951 --> 00:35:57,184
and then two years total, the wall would be broken down.

474
00:35:57,325 --> 00:35:59,846
The Babylonian army would come in.

475
00:35:59,846 --> 00:36:11,692
Zedekiah, who was the king of Judah at that time, who was very, very wicked, Zedekiah and
some of his best soldiers would run and leave the people, of course.

476
00:36:12,093 --> 00:36:20,607
But the Babylonian troops would catch up with Zedekiah and capture him and bring him
before Nebuchadnezzar there.

477
00:36:20,821 --> 00:36:22,582
And so the judgment came.

478
00:36:23,363 --> 00:36:28,347
Now, even in the judgment, God was showing long suffering in this way.

479
00:36:28,707 --> 00:36:34,672
God says concerning so many of other pagan nations, I will bring a final end to them
because of their wickedness.

480
00:36:34,772 --> 00:36:38,114
For you, Judah, I'm not going to bring a final end.

481
00:36:38,745 --> 00:36:40,216
you will be punished.

482
00:36:40,437 --> 00:36:42,439
You will be punished for your own good.

483
00:36:42,439 --> 00:36:44,110
You cannot be made righteous.

484
00:36:44,110 --> 00:36:49,584
You cannot come back with the idea in mind that you're going to serve me without the
punishment.

485
00:36:49,584 --> 00:36:51,005
You will be punished.

486
00:36:51,927 --> 00:36:55,659
but I won't make a full end of you." He says, I know what I want for you.

487
00:36:55,659 --> 00:36:56,950
I want good things for you.

488
00:36:56,950 --> 00:36:58,281
I want peace for you.

489
00:36:58,281 --> 00:36:59,840
I'm gonna bring you back.

490
00:36:59,840 --> 00:37:03,283
You're gonna go into captivity, but I'm gonna bring you back home.

491
00:37:03,323 --> 00:37:06,865
And I'm gonna resettle you in the land and I'm gonna bless you in the land.

492
00:37:06,865 --> 00:37:16,411
But you're going to have to be punished first for their own good and also because God is
just and perfect in his justice and justice had to be served.

493
00:37:16,411 --> 00:37:18,332
He had shown so much long suffering.

494
00:37:18,332 --> 00:37:20,875
But the time came when everything

495
00:37:20,875 --> 00:37:30,549
Jeremiah had said concerning the destruction of the city of Jerusalem came about and among
those that survived most were taken captive into Babylon.

496
00:37:30,790 --> 00:37:39,173
Now Nabopalassar, not Nabopalassar, Nebuchadnezzar's general found Jeremiah and said God's
told us to take care of you.

497
00:37:41,099 --> 00:37:42,591
So you have a choice.

498
00:37:42,591 --> 00:37:44,472
This is Jeremiah 40 now.

499
00:37:44,753 --> 00:37:50,978
You can come with us back to Babylon and we'll take really good care of you.

500
00:37:51,700 --> 00:37:58,387
Or you can stay here in the land and he says, look all around you, wherever you wanna go,
Jeremiah, you can go.

501
00:37:58,387 --> 00:38:02,670
So while all these Jews are being taken captive, they're telling Jeremiah, do what you
want.

502
00:38:02,911 --> 00:38:05,223
God delivered him just like he promised.

503
00:38:05,809 --> 00:38:13,061
And Jeremiah decides to say, and so the Babylonians say, go with Gedaliah, we're gonna set
Gedaliah up as governor over the area for a while and you'll be blessed, we'll take care

504
00:38:13,061 --> 00:38:14,592
of him there and you'll be taken care of.

505
00:38:14,592 --> 00:38:20,393
It got really bad from there for Jeremiah again, but Jeremiah was always delivered by God.

506
00:38:20,393 --> 00:38:24,574
But everything he said about the punishment came true.

507
00:38:24,995 --> 00:38:30,426
Now it is the case that we are in a period of long suffering now, isn't it?

508
00:38:33,168 --> 00:38:37,349
2nd Peter 3,9 why is it that the Lord has not yet returned?

509
00:38:37,489 --> 00:38:49,373
know some were saying in the first century even, well Jesus, you he hasn't come back yet
so obviously he's not going to and they made the mistake of arguing well you know the

510
00:38:49,373 --> 00:38:55,915
world's never changed so it's never going to change and uh Peter makes sure they
understand that's wrong.

511
00:38:55,915 --> 00:38:58,455
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise.

512
00:38:58,896 --> 00:39:00,596
As some count slackness.

513
00:39:01,110 --> 00:39:05,722
but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should
come to repentance.

514
00:39:06,143 --> 00:39:09,723
The Lord said, Matthew chapter 25 judgment will come.

515
00:39:09,925 --> 00:39:13,087
The Lord said, Acts chapter one, that he would return.

516
00:39:13,087 --> 00:39:16,909
The promise is there, John 14 even.

517
00:39:18,190 --> 00:39:19,430
So he will.

518
00:39:20,151 --> 00:39:21,832
Why hasn't he come back yet?

519
00:39:21,832 --> 00:39:23,002
Longsuffering.

520
00:39:23,818 --> 00:39:26,009
You and I right now are in a period of long suffering.

521
00:39:26,009 --> 00:39:32,413
As long as you live, it is God's long suffering giving you the opportunity to make sure
that you are devoted to God.

522
00:39:32,514 --> 00:39:42,701
And as long as this world stands, it's God's long suffering giving the world the
opportunity to come to God so that they can be ready when that day comes that God puts an

523
00:39:42,701 --> 00:39:45,303
end to it all and he will.

524
00:39:45,303 --> 00:39:53,664
Matthew 25, the judgment here in 2nd Peter chapter 3, a description of the smallest
particle of anything being completely dissolved.

525
00:39:53,664 --> 00:39:57,049
the whole thing being broken up with a great noise.

526
00:39:57,049 --> 00:39:58,791
It's all going to go away.

527
00:39:58,791 --> 00:40:04,559
Matthew 25, the judgment comes, there will be a separation on the day of judgment.

528
00:40:04,559 --> 00:40:11,208
And God is going to say to some people, depart from me, you're cursed into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.

529
00:40:15,756 --> 00:40:18,032
So we gotta ask ourselves, is that gonna be me?

530
00:40:18,032 --> 00:40:19,434
Do I want that to be me?

531
00:40:21,132 --> 00:40:29,950
and others who's going to say, you blast of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.

532
00:40:31,722 --> 00:40:43,797
You want God to say on the day when the long suffering ends, well done, good and faithful
servant, what will you do in the end?

533
00:40:43,797 --> 00:40:45,092
God bless you all.

534
00:40:45,092 --> 00:40:50,219
Let's think very carefully about Jeremiah and his powerful, powerful message.

535
00:40:50,219 --> 00:40:52,660
I think you got a minute, anybody want to say anything?

536
00:41:08,364 --> 00:41:19,939
says in 2 Timothy chapter 4 verse 3, for the time will come when they will not endure
sound doctrine, but after their own lusts, they shall heap to themselves teachers having

537
00:41:19,939 --> 00:41:25,711
itchy ears, and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned into
fables.

538
00:41:25,711 --> 00:41:27,392
This is no different now.

539
00:41:32,534 --> 00:41:34,616
put people in.

540
00:41:42,742 --> 00:41:45,995
Well, that's a very, very good point and very well made.

541
00:41:45,995 --> 00:41:47,776
You know, the reality is this.

542
00:41:48,537 --> 00:41:51,760
God's message is a beautiful message of peace and hope.

543
00:41:53,138 --> 00:42:01,925
And there are many, many times when preachers can preach sermons that are encouraging
people with the great hope that we have in Christ and the great and wonderful things God

544
00:42:01,925 --> 00:42:03,707
has done for us and will do for us.

545
00:42:03,707 --> 00:42:07,600
And you see how important you are to God, how much you are loved by God.

546
00:42:07,600 --> 00:42:13,845
And there are times when we should just go out of here just feeling so joyous over what
God wants to do for us.

547
00:42:13,845 --> 00:42:14,536
But you know what?

548
00:42:14,536 --> 00:42:17,028
There's another side to it too, isn't there?

549
00:42:17,162 --> 00:42:19,995
There is a reality that we must obey God.

550
00:42:19,995 --> 00:42:22,257
We must do it God's way.

551
00:42:22,257 --> 00:42:24,699
Sin must be identified as sin.

552
00:42:24,699 --> 00:42:27,422
False doctrine must be identified as such.

553
00:42:27,422 --> 00:42:31,425
God's word must be presented and we must make sure we're following God's word.

554
00:42:31,425 --> 00:42:35,729
And there may be times when we walk out of here feeling instead convicted.

555
00:42:36,070 --> 00:42:37,811
Like, oh, you know what?

556
00:42:38,832 --> 00:42:41,114
I don't feel so good about myself.

557
00:42:41,435 --> 00:42:43,156
I gotta make some changes.

558
00:42:43,743 --> 00:42:48,415
And so it's not always a feel-good situation, is it, when you're preaching the truth?

559
00:42:48,415 --> 00:42:57,465
But in the end, of course, if you will repent and come to God, eternal life in heaven,
well, that'd be another lesson, it?

560
00:42:57,465 --> 00:42:58,658
And it's beautiful.

561
00:42:58,658 --> 00:42:59,858
Anybody else?

562
00:43:00,239 --> 00:43:01,579
That's great point.

563
00:43:01,759 --> 00:43:02,979
All right, thank you.