TEXT: Jeremiah 37:3-9, 17
TITLE: DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR WHAT
GOD IS SAYING?
God wants to speak to us, but do you and I really want to hear what God has to say to us? Understand, this is not the president or the Pope or some other international celebrity, this is God and believe it or not He wants to speak to us if we will listen.
The Lord is getting His Bride ready. He wants to speak to the Church. I am afraid a lot of the visible Church isn’t ready. We have compromised; we have let the world in. God wants to speak to us and get us clean and ready for the marriage supper of the lamb. But do we really want to hear from God?
Jeremiah himself was everything a hungry congregation could ask for in a shepherd. He was shut in with God; he couldn’t be bought at any price; he wept over the sins of God’s people. He was ready to lay down his life for the church and indeed he was cast into jail and into a deadly mud pit for speaking the truth.
Time after time, Scripture says Jeremiah waited in the Lord’s presence until “the word of the Lord came to him.” (This phrase appears over 50 times in the book of Jeremiah!)
In those days, there was no shortage of a true word of God. Throughout history, the Lord had always had His true prophets and pastors, even in times of compromise and declension. Time after time your read: “And the word of the Lord came to Isaiah…to Jeremiah…to Ezekiel…” It came to Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos, Jonah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi. And guess what, God wants to send His word to us today.
God’s word was always a clear warning full of judgment against sin, yet full of hope for the repentant.
Usually there were three kinds of responses to the word of truth. And you see these same three responses among Christians today:
First, many people simply do not want to hear what God is saying! The Israelites had no intention of quitting their sinful ways. Instead, they wanted a soft, soothing word. If we really wanted to hear what God is saying to us today we would try to be at every service. We wouldn’t want to miss because we would be afraid that we might miss what He is saying. May the Lord help us to never get to the point we don’t want to hear what He has to say.
The prophet Isaiah said of them: “For this is a rebellious people, false sons, sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, you must not see visions; and to the prophets, you must not prophesy to us what is right, speak to us pleasant words, prophesy illusions” (Isaiah 30:9-10).
Are there children of God today who would actually demand of their pastors a deceiving message?
Yes, there are! You may not hear them say those words but you can see their response when the man of God brings a strong prophetic word. They leave church thinking, “I can’t take this kind of preaching, it unnerves me! I prefer simple Bible teaching on how to cope with my problems."”
They so despised any word exposing sin that they demanded any such message be stopped!
The reason many don’t want to hear from God is because it may expose the sin that is in their life, sin that they don’t want to get rid of.
These kind of people like to read the promises but not the “Thou shalt nots.”
Second, others say privately they want to hear what God is saying, but their pride hinders them from hearing! King Zedekiah best illustrates this kind of person. He was a man of great power, influence and authority. His father, Josiah, was a godly man so we know Zedekiah had a background in holiness and the things of God.
Yet when this man inherited the throne, he had no time for the Lord, that is, until a crisis struck.
Isn’t it strange how we need a crisis before we want to hear what God is saying? As long as things seem to be going along relatively smooth in our lives we don’t care nor have too much time for God. But let something happen and we are in church and wanting to hear a word from the Lord that will help us.
Jerusalem was suddenly besieged, surrounded by a ruthless Chaldean army, strong and powerful. Eventually there was a shortage of bread and water was running low. Zedekiah called for the prophet Jeremiah, asking him, “Please pray to the LORD our God on our behalf” (Jeremiah 37:3). He sounded so sincere, calling the nation to prayer!
But Jeremiah prophesied destruction to the king. About that time, word hit the surrounding Chaldeans that Pharaoh was approaching from the west with a huge army. Panic struck the Chaldean camp and they started to flee (verse 5).
Imagine the cheers atop Jerusalem’s walls as the Israelites watched their enemy flee! You can hear all the leaders, judges and magistrates: “Our walls are not cast down, our city is not burning. So much for old Jeremiah’s gloom and doom!”
I believe the wine flowed and food was plenteous that night as they threw open the gates, announcing a week of official celebration: “The crisis is over, let us celebrate!” True to human nature everyone put the crisis out of their minds and went back to daily business. King Zedekiah must have been embarrassed by his call for prayer, thinking, “How could I have been so alarmed and intimidated by that prophet?” How many times have we concluded that because the word from God didn’t happen immediately that the preacher must have missed it? The crisis is over so why worry now. But understand that God will fulfill his Word. Maybe not today or tomorrow but eventually every word from the Lord will be fulfilled.
Now, who do you think was the most mocked, ridiculed man in the city that night? Jeremiah must have thought: “Lord, you told me to prophesy judgment – but look at what’s happened! The Chaldeans are gone; the economic crisis is over. Was it all in my mind?”
Suddenly, the Bible says, “The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah”, again! He was told to go to King Zedekiah and prophesy that the Chaldeans would turn around and they would come back and finish the job!
Jeremiah must have cried, “No, Lord, not again! Who will believe me now?” But he went to the king’s courtyard and cried out: “Zedekiah! The Chaldeans are coming back, they’re going to burn down Jerusalem!”
Zedekiah must have shaken his head in disbelief; he’d heard it all before! So he simply turned Jeremiah off and went back to merry making with everyone else. But not much later, a scout rode up with the news: “The Chaldeans are back!” The siege continued and this time the Chaldeans didn’t leave.
Zedekiah summoned Jeremiah again, this time in secret and asked him, “Is there a word form the LORD?” (Jeremiah 37:17). In other words: “I really want to know what the Lord is saying this time!” Again, in desperation he wanted to hear from God. I want to assure you, the Lord does have a word for you today, and the question is do you want to hear it? It does us not good to hear what God says if we are not willing to obey it.
Jeremiah answered, “Yes there is a word. You are going to be captured by the king of Babylon!” But Zedekiah still didn’t receive it. He only hardened himself because it wasn’t what he wanted to hear!
God doesn’t always tell us what we want to hear. It’s a noble thing to say, “I want to hear from God” but that may mean doing something we don’t like. To surrender is not what Zedekiah wanted to do.
Eventually conditions in the besieged city grew worse. Starving mothers boiled and ate their babies. There was nothing left, the end was in sight. The king called on Jeremiah one more time. He brought the prophet into his chambers through a private entrance: “The king said to Jeremiah, I am going to ask you something; do not hide anything from me” (Jeremiah 38:14). In other words, “Give me the hard truth with no smooth words. I really want to hear what God is saying this time!”
Jeremiah told the king to surrender to the Chaldeans and that he his family and the people would live. Even the city would be spared. But if he didn’t surrender, it would all be destroyed and he would die!
But Zedekiah refused to heed the word from the Lord. He was afraid of being made fun of by all of his officials, pride got in the way. All he had to do was obey the word of the Lord. But because it was a hard word and not what he wanted to hear he refused to obey it.
Zedekiah ended up trying to escape in the middle of the night, but he was captured. His sons were killed before his eyes, his wives were ravaged, and his eyes were burned out in their sockets, all because of pride! Your not obeying God’s word will not only affect you but your whole family! What a terrible thought to think that because I wouldn’t heed what God was saying to me that something terrible happened to my family! Disobedience not only affects us as individuals but it affects those around us even our family at times.
We had better get self and pride out of the way. God wants to give us a word. We need to be willing to obey no matter what people say or think. We can’t afford to miss heaven. We can’t afford to miss what God is saying to us. It could affect us as well as our family.
Third, many cry and clamor for a pure word, but it is a cover up for longstanding, hidden sin in their heart! Oh how we need a strong, pure word from the Lord.
Many say they want to hear God speak; yet multitudes will not listen when the truth is brought forth! They will reject any message that touches their pet sins or idols!
How clearly this is illustrated in chapter 42. Only a remnant was left and Johanan was now the leader. They decided to run to Egypt so they camped out at Bethlehem and called on Jeremiah to try to get a word from the Lord: read 42:1-6. (This should be our prayer.)
Have you ever heard a people who sounded more serious about hearing a true word from God?
So Jeremiah shut himself in with God for 10 days. The Lord answered him, “They’re lying! They don’t want My word. They’re full of idolatry! They just say they want the truth but they’ve already made up their minds to do their own thing!”
Jeremiah came to them with God’s word: read 42:10-16.
The leaders accused Jeremiah of speaking falsely and just as God had told Jeremiah they decided to go their own way (v. 14).
I ask you, DO YOU REALLY WANT TO HEAR WHAT GOD IS SAYING TO YOU TODAY? It may not be what you want to hear, it may be a harsh word; it may require us to make some changes in our lives; but in order to be ready for His coming, and to receive all He has for us now we need to hear what He is saying to us today.
