Jeremiah 29 - The Lord or The Lies

Introduction

[CONTEXT] The Lord or the lies—that was the choice before the people of God in Jeremiah’s day.

As we saw last Wednesday night, there were liars like Hananiah who said it would only be two years before those who had been exiled to Babylon would return to Judah.

The Lord, however, said that believing the lies of false prophets would turn the Babylon’s grip on Judah’s neck like iron.

In Jeremiah 29, we see more lies from false prophets and more truth from the Lord. God’s people had to decide which they would follow.

We must decide which we will follow.

[READING - Jeremiah 29:1-4]

Jeremiah 29:1–4 NASB95

1 Now these are the words of the letter which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the rest of the elders of the exile, the priests, the prophets and all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 (This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the court officials, the princes of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen and the smiths had departed from Jerusalem.) 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan, and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, saying, 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon,

The Lord sent His word in the form of a letter from the pen of His prophet, Jeremiah.

Verse 1 tells us to whom the Lord’s letter was written.

Verse 2 tells us when the Lord’s letter was sent.

Verse 3 tells us how the Lord’s letter was delivered.

And the message of the Lord’s letter begins in v. 4.

That’s what we want to focus on tonight.

[INTER] How should God’s people live in light of their exile?

[TS] Notice what God says to them in vv. 4-7…

Exposition

<#1: Live your lives (vv. 4-7)>

Jeremiah 29:4–7 NASB95

4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 5 ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. 7 ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

[EXP] The Lord essentially said to the people in exile, “Live your lives in the exile.” The Lord tells them to do things that would fall into the category of what we might call “putting down roots.” They were to build houses, plant gardens, get married, have children, give those children away in marriage, and welcome grandchildren. They were to become good citizens, praying for their city, and working for its good because its good would mean their good for a long time to come.

[TS] Then notice what the Lord says to them in vv. 8-14...

<#2: Listen not to lies (vv. 8-14)>

Jeremiah 29:8–14 NASB95

8 “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream. 9 ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord. 10 “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place. 11 ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. 12 ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’

[EXP] There were liars in Judah promising that the exile would be over soon, but God’s people were to listen to the Lord and not the liars although they spoke in His Name. The Lord said the exile would last for 70 years and then He would bring them back to Judah. Seventy years of exile sounded awful, but the Lord reassured His people, “I know the plans that I have for you, plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jer. 29:11). Seventy years of exile might have confused the people. Was God abandoning them? No, even if they were confused, God knew His plans for them. He would bring them back, and they would call upon Him, pray to Him, and He would listen. They would seek Him and find Him, searching for Him with all their heart. He would restore them and gather back to Himself from all the distant lands of the exile.

If they listened to lies, they were setting themselves up for disappointment.

If they listened to the Lord, they had the comfort of certain hope.

[TS] Then in vv. 15-23, the Lord said that those still in Judah should have listened to Him, and that the folks in Babylon need to listen to Him.

#3: Listen to the Lord (vv. 15-23)

Jeremiah 29:15–23 NASB95

15 “Because you have said, ‘The Lord has raised up prophets for us in Babylon’— 16 for thus says the Lord concerning the king who sits on the throne of David, and concerning all the people who dwell in this city, your brothers who did not go with you into exile— 17 thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Behold, I am sending upon them the sword, famine and pestilence, and I will make them like split-open figs that cannot be eaten due to rottenness. 18 ‘I will pursue them with the sword, with famine and with pestilence; and I will make them a terror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a curse and a horror and a hissing, and a reproach among all the nations where I have driven them, 19 because they have not listened to My words,’ declares the Lord, ‘which I sent to them again and again by My servants the prophets; but you did not listen,’ declares the Lord. 20 “You, therefore, hear the word of the Lord, all you exiles, whom I have sent away from Jerusalem to Babylon. 21 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning Ahab the son of Kolaiah and concerning Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, who are prophesying to you falsely in My name, ‘Behold, I will deliver them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and he will slay them before your eyes. 22 ‘Because of them a curse will be used by all the exiles from Judah who are in Babylon, saying, “May the Lord make you like Zedekiah and like Ahab, whom the king of Babylon roasted in the fire, 23 because they have acted foolishly in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors’ wives and have spoken words in My name falsely, which I did not command them; and I am He who knows and am a witness,” declares the Lord.’ ”

[EXP] To the shock of the letter’s readers in Babylon, they weren’t the ones who had the worst of it coming their way. It was the folks back in Jerusalem! The people still in Judah would be pursued by sword, famine, and pestilence. They would be left scattered about like rotten, split-open figs. Other nations would see them and shudder. Why would this happen to them? Because they did not listen to the Lord! God sent His prophets to them, prophets like Jeremiah, but they didn’t listen. They chose instead to believe liars like Ahab the son of Kolaiah and Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah. These were false prophets who would be slain by the King of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, because their adulteries and false prophecies.

[TS] Then in His letter the Lord spoke to one false prophet specifically...

<#4: Lie not by letter (vv. 24-32)>

Jeremiah 29:24–32 NASB95

24 To Shemaiah the Nehelamite you shall speak, saying, 25 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Because you have sent letters in your own name to all the people who are in Jerusalem, and to Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah, the priest, and to all the priests, saying, 26 “The Lord has made you priest instead of Jehoiada the priest, to be the overseer in the house of the Lord over every madman who prophesies, to put him in the stocks and in the iron collar, 27 now then, why have you not rebuked Jeremiah of Anathoth who prophesies to you? 28 “For he has sent to us in Babylon, saying, ‘The exile will be long; build houses and live in them and plant gardens and eat their produce.’ ” ’ ” 29 Zephaniah the priest read this letter to Jeremiah the prophet. 30 Then came the word of the Lord to Jeremiah, saying, 31 “Send to all the exiles, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord concerning Shemaiah the Nehelamite, “Because Shemaiah has prophesied to you, although I did not send him, and he has made you trust in a lie,” 32 therefore thus says the Lord, “Behold, I am about to punish Shemaiah the Nehelamite and his descendants; he will not have anyone living among this people, and he will not see the good that I am about to do to My people,” declares the Lord, “because he has preached rebellion against the Lord.” ’ ”

[EXP] Shemaiah was another false prophet in Babylon who countered God’s letter as penned by Jeremiah with letters of his own. He wrote to Zephaniah, the priest in charge of the Temple courts in Jerusalem, asking why Jeremiah hadn’t been arrested. Zephaniah, however, read the letter to Jeremiah, but because the letter wasn’t just from Jeremiah, the Lord stepped in.

The Lord said because Shemaiah made the people believe trust a lie, he would die. He would have zero descendants.

He would not see all the good that God was about to do for His people.

[TS]...

Transition

The message of the Lord to the exiles was that the exile wouldn’t be over soon. In fact, it would last for seven decades. That might have been tough to hear, but the Lord counseled His people and comforted them.

He counseled them to live their lives faithfully as strangers in a strange land.

He counseled them to not believe the liars who said the time would be short.

He counseled them to listen Him.

He comforted them with the certain promise of eventual return to the Promised Land.

In the NT, Christians are described as God’s elect exiles scattered throughout the word (1 Pet. 1:1), elect exiles who living for the return of Christ Jesus (2 Pet. 2:12), that day when we will enter the ultimate Promised Land.

[INTER] Until then, how shall we live? What counsel and comfort can we take from Jeremiah 29?

Illustration: The Millerites

The Millerites were the followers of William Miller (1782—1849), a New England farmer who was largely self-educated. Through his own study of the Bible, he believed that he had put together clues from various passages that revealed that the world would end with the return of Christ sometime around 1843. Miller came to that conclusion in 1831.

Miller circulated his beliefs in books and pamphlets and held tent meetings with hundreds in attendance. Those that followed, the Millerites, also began to spread his message.

With the date of Jesus’ return drawing near, Miller’s prophecy continued to spread among the people and among the press, but when the day in 1843 came and went without Jesus returning, a new date, October 22, 1844, was set.

Hundreds of thousands took Miller’s prophecy seriously. One source said that it could’ve been as many as one million, but some took him so seriously that they quit work and gave away their possessions to be ready for the day of Christ’s return.

That’s when the press dubbed them “Millerites.”

When that day too came and went without Jesus returning, they disbanded in dismay, and the day became known as the “Great Disappointment.”

Miller retreated from the public eye.

His followers split into factions and then eventually regathered to form the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which is still around today.

[INTER] How does this relate to what we’ve read in Jeremiah 29?

Well, like many folks in Jeremiah’s day, the Millerites believed the lies of a man rather than the truth of God.

And like many folks in Jeremiah’s day, the Millerites were disappointed when the lie was proven to be false.

Application

As elect exiles, we await Christ’s return, but until He comes, let us not live by lies.

People today still lie about the coming of Christ. The Jehovah’s Witnesses predicted His coming in 1874 and the end of the world in 1914, 1918, 1925, and 1975. When it that didn’t happen in 1975, about 750,000 members left the organization. Praise the Lord! We should pray for more to leave and truly come to Christ! But we should also pray the Lord give us discernment to recognize those who still do this sort of thing.

I’m reminded of Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:23-27...

Matthew 24:23–27 NASB95

23 “Then if anyone says to you, ‘Behold, here is the Christ,’ or ‘There He is,’ do not believe him. 24 “For false Christs and false prophets will arise and will show great signs and wonders, so as to mislead, if possible, even the elect. 25 “Behold, I have told you in advance. 26 “So if they say to you, ‘Behold, He is in the wilderness,’ do not go out, or, ‘Behold, He is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe them. 27 “For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so will the coming of the Son of Man be.

As elect exiles, we await Christ’s return, but until He comes, let us listen to the Lord.

Jesus said in Mark 13:32-33...

Mark 13:32–33 NASB95

32 “But of that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone. 33 “Take heed, keep on the alert; for you do not know when the appointed time will come.

Liars will come predicting a certain time, but we must listen to the Lord Jesus. Just as He said it would be 70 years in exile for God’s people in Jeremiah’s day, He has said that know one knows the day or the hour of His return except the Father.

As elect exiles, we await Christ’s return, but until He comes, let us live our lives for the Lord.

Let us build houses for the Lord and plant gardens for the Lord! Let us enjoy the fruit of our labors to His glory! Let us love our husbands and wives, raise our children and grandchildren, and work for the good our city, our state, and our nation as God commands!

That is how we prepare for His coming, but faithfully living for His glory, according to His commands, until He comes.

For He has good plans for us. Plans for our welfare and not for calamity. Plans to give us eternity with Him and realized hope in His presence.

Conclusion

[PRAYER]