Promises Are Meant To Be Kept
Jeremiah 42:5-6
Words come easy, often uttered without any thought or sincerity behind them. When we are faced with difficult situations or unknowns, we cry out to God saying, “God show me what I should do and no matter what I will do it.” “No matter what”? Do we really mean those words? Promises are not made to be broken. They are meant to be kept. God keeps His. He expects us to keep ours.
In Jeremiah find that after Nebuchadnezzar had taken the children of Israel into captivity, he left a remnant of people in the land, appointing Gedaliah as governor of the land. Ishmael, who was of royal blood, was offended by the appointment of Gedaliah, a noble not of the House of David. In Jeremiah 41, Ishmael conspires against and kills Gedaliah along with the Chaldean soldiers assigned to him. The remnant of the people become fearful of Babylon’s anger and retaliation for Ishmael’s treachery. They set out to flee to Egypt. As they are going, these fugitives of Judah asked advice of Jeremiah. We read in Jeremiah 42:1-3 “Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Kareah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people, from the least to the greatest, came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, "Please, let our petition be acceptable to you, and pray for us to the LORD your God, for all this remnant since we are left but a few of many, as you can see, that the LORD your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do."
I. A Promise Made
A. Jeremiah 42:5-6 “So they said to Jeremiah, ‘Let the LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not do according to everything which the LORD your God sends us by you. Whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we WILL obey the voice of the LORD our God to whom we send you, that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.’”
B. They came to the prophet Jeremiah asking counsel; while their minds were already decided on what they were going to do that is to seek refuge in Egypt. A person who asks advice should be honest and not have a predetermined course of action or agenda.
C. “Whether good or evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God”: as believers that ought to be our creed. Even though it may be contrary to our feelings or our desires, we ought always to embrace what God requires and commands.
D. Far too many serve God out of convenience as long as what God wants is what they want. We need to be willing to obey his voice no matter what.
E. Joshua 24:24 “And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey”
F. Deuteronomy 27:10 “Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes, which I command thee this day.”
G. It’s not always easy to smile and be nice,
When we are called to sacrifice.
It’s not always easy to put others first,
Especially when tired and feeling our worst.
It’s not always easy to do the Father’s will.
It wasn’t so easy to climb Calvary’s hill.
But we as His children, should learn to obey;
Not seeking our own but seeking His way.
It’s not always easy to fight the good fight.
But it is always good and it is always right! - Glenda Fulton Davis
H. Where our Captain bids us go,
‘Tis not ours to murmur no;
He that gives the sword and shield
Chooses too the battlefield.
Where we are to fight the foe - copied
I. Remember that promises are meant to be kept and not broken. God will hold you accountable for whatever you say.
J. Ecclesiastes 5:2 “Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thine heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few.”
Transition: Jeremiah returns with the message from God in which he lays out two options for the people
• (42:9-12) “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before Him: 'If you will still remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up. For I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid; do not be afraid of him,' says the LORD, 'for I am with you, to save you and deliver you from his hand. 'And I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you and cause you to return to your own land.'”
• (42:15-17) “If you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt, and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt; the famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there [in] Egypt; and there you shall die. So shall it be with all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there. They shall die by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them.”
• Jeremiah says that if they stay in the Land the Babylonians will have mercy on them. If however they flee to Egypt the sword, famine, and pestilence will pursue them. Obey God and be blessed or disobey and deal with God’s anger.
II. A Promise Broken
A. It is always amazing the reaction of people when the answers they seek do not come back the way they expect or they wanted.
B. Jeremiah 43:2-7a “Azariah the son of Hoshaiah, Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the PROUD men spoke, saying to Jeremiah, ‘You speak falsely! The LORD our God has not sent you to say, 'Do not go to Egypt to dwell there.' ‘But Baruch the son of Neriah has set you against us, to deliver us into the hand of the Chaldeans, that they may put us to death or carry us away captive to Babylon.’ So Johanan the son of Kareah, all the captains of the forces, and all the people would not obey the voice of the LORD, to remain in the land of Judah. But Johanan the son of Kareah and all the captains of the forces took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, from all nations where they had been driven -- men, women, children, the king's daughters, and every person whom Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, the son of Shaphan, and Jeremiah the prophet and Baruch the son of Neriah. So they went to the land of Egypt, for they DID NOT OBEY the voice of the LORD.
C. The people do not listen to Jeremiah. They were predetermined to follow their own will. They go down to Egypt taking Jeremiah, Baruch son of Neriah, and the daughters of King Zedekiah with them. There they blatantly reject the promises made to God and worshipped the idols of the world.
D. Judah conducted themselves just the way that men and women do today. We will serve God as long as everything goes my way. Note Jeremiah 44:16-18.
E. Jeremiah 44:16-18 “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the Lord, we will not listen to you. But we will do everything that we have vowed, make offerings to the queen of heaven and pour out drink offerings to her, as we did, both we and our fathers, our kings and our officials, in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then we had plenty of food, and prospered, and saw no disaster. But since we left off making offerings to the queen of heaven and pouring out drink offerings to her, we have lacked everything and have been consumed by the sword and by famine.”
F. 2 Timothy 4:2 “Be instant in season, out of season” - persist in it whether convenient or not – obey and keep your word to God whether He blesses or not.
G. Job 13:15 “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in him.”
H. Daniel 3:17-18 “If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God whom we serve is able to save us. He will rescue us from your power, Your Majesty. 18 But even if he doesn’t, we want to make it clear to you, Your Majesty that we will never serve your gods or worship the gold statue you have set up.”
I. The remnant said, “Whether good or evil, we will obey the voice of Jehovah our God” but they blasphemed God and took His name in vain by violating their promise.
J. When we give our word that we will do something, and then fail to do it, we dishonor God’s name. Promise-keeping honors God’s name. Not keeping our word takes God’s name in vain.
K. As the wealthy oil tycoon lay on his deathbed, his pastor talked of God's healing power. "Pastor," he gasped, "if God heals me, I'll give the church a million dollars." Miraculously, the man revived and within a few short weeks was out of the hospital. One day, several months later, he and the pastor chatted on the sidewalk in front of a hardware store. "You know," the pastor said, "when you were in the hospital dying, you promised to give the church a million dollars if you got well. We haven't got it yet." "Did I say that?" the tycoon asked. "I guess that goes to show how sick I really was!"
L. Many people like Israel make promises to God with absolutely no intention of keeping those promises unless it benefits them, fits in with their plans and ideas, or is to their liking.
M. We live in an era of unkept promises. Nations sign important treaties and then break them at will. And many couples show little regard for their wedding vows. In this kind of society, we who are God’s people should be known for keeping our promises. The brilliant Christian scholar and writer C. S. Lewis took that truth seriously. He was determined to pay what he had vowed. His biography tells of the suffering he endured because he kept a promise he had made to a buddy during World War I. This friend was worried about the care of his wife and small daughter if he should be killed in battle, so Lewis assured him that if that were to happen he would look after them. As the war dragged on, the man was killed. True to his word, Lewis took care of his friend’s family. Yet no matter how helpful he tried to be, the woman was ungrateful, rude, arrogant, and domineering. Through it all, Lewis kept forgiving her. He refused to let her actions become an excuse to renege on his promise. - copied
N. Ecclesiastes 5:4-6 (NLT) ‘When you make a promise to God, don’t delay in following through, for God takes no pleasure in fools. Keep all the promises you make to him. It is better to say nothing than to make a promise and not keep it. Don’t let your mouth make you sin. And don’t defend yourself by telling the Temple messenger that the promise you made was a mistake. That would make God angry, and he might wipe out everything you have achieved.”
III. The Result of a Broken Promise
A. The God’s of Egypt would provide no refuge –
1. Jeremiah 43:9-12 "Take large stones in your hand, and hide them in the sight of the men of Judah, in the clay in the brick courtyard which is at the entrance to Pharaoh's house in Tahpanhes; and say to them, 'Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Behold, I will send and bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will set his throne above these stones that I have hidden. And he will spread his royal pavilion over them. When he comes, he shall strike the land of Egypt and deliver to death those appointed for death, and to captivity those appointed for captivity, and to the sword those appointed for the sword. I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive. And he shall array himself with the land of Egypt, as a shepherd puts on his garment, and he shall go out from there in peace. He shall also break the sacred pillars of Beth Shemesh that are in the land of Egypt; and the houses of the gods of the Egyptians he shall burn with fire.' "
2. The world offers no lasting refuge.
3. Isaiah 31:1 “Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD!”
4. Mark 8:36 “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
B. The chastening hand of God comes with disobedience
1. Jeremiah 44:24-28 “Jeremiah said to all the people and all the women, “Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who are in the land of Egypt. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘You and your wives have declared with your mouths, and have fulfilled it with your hands, saying, ‘We will surely perform our vows that we have made, to make offerings to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings to her.’ Then confirm your vows and perform your vows!’ Therefore hear the word of the Lord, all you of Judah who dwell in the land of Egypt: ‘Behold, I have sworn by my great name’, says the Lord, ‘that my name shall no more be invoked by the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, ‘As the Lord God lives. Behold, I am watching over them for disaster and not for good. All the men of Judah who are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, until there is an end of them. And those who escape the sword shall return from the land of Egypt to the land of Judah, few in number; and all the remnant of Judah, who came to the land of Egypt to live, shall know whose word will stand, mine or theirs.’”
2. Hebrews 12:6, 11 “For whom the Lord loves he chasteneth, and scourges every son whom he receives…Now no chastening for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.”
3. As believers we should be motivated to keep our promises to God realizing that our He both blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience in His children.
IV. Have you broken your promises to God?
A. Realize what you have done was sin. " Hosea 4:6
B. Have genuine sorrow for breaking that vow enough – sorry enough to change your behavior; what God’s word calls godly sorrow. - II Corinthians 7:9-11
C. Humble yourself admitting your sin and ask for forgiveness. - I John 1:8-9
