Hope Though We Don't Deserve It
Notes
Transcript
Last week we discussed more on the judgement that Israel endured, and we’ve talked quite a bit about that in Jeremiah
We discussed essentially how people got what they deserved
God kept punished His people for their great sin, but God tells us He has a plan in all of this
we get to know that it wasn’t all just pointless suffering inflicted upon them for no reason
just like it wasn’t pointless for them, judgement that God hands out today is not pointless
God, in His infinite mercy, has a plan for those He disciplines
we know that after God disciplined Israel in this story, they went on to get back into harmony with God, and were greatly rebuilt
and that’s the ultimate goal with us
we have one of two choices when God disciplines us: we can care about it and corerct our actions
or we can go on living according to the flesh and the things of this world
there is no escaping God’s eyes, and even the jews who fled to Egypt and were destroyed
We can also think about where Jeremiah was in the story
Jeremiah was a great and consistent man of God
think of all he went through simply to spread God’s message to a people who did not want to hear it
He went through multiple imprisonments, other punishments, mocking and scorn
but he stayed strong, and we see that ultimately, God protected him
he was freed from his bonds, he was not taken to babylon
We need to be a modern day Jeremiah, though God’s Word might be controversial and we might receive scorn, we need to BOLDLY and CONSISTENTLY proclaim the Word of God to a world lost
These people are on the path to hell, they are on the path to judgement and destroying their own life
we need a true burden for them, a burden which we are willing to suffer over, to be imprisoned over, to be mocked over
we might not be able to do this on our own, but we have the God of the universe with us, we have the savior of the world on our side
He will NEVER leave us nor forsake us, and we don’t have to fear, because He has overcome the world, and offers for us to overcome through Him
let us be brave, like the great men and women of God - like Moses, Joshua, David, Paul, Samuel, Jeremiah, Peter, Gideon, and many others
Now, let’s introduce Baruch - Jeremiah’s scribe, friend, and assistant
Baruch was from a well-placed family; his grandfather, Mahseiah (32:12) had been governor of Jerusalem under Josiah (2 Chr 34:8) and his brother was a high-ranking official in Zedekiah’s court (Jer 51:59).
interestingly, an archeological dig in the city of David found a seal which Baruch would seal letters with that had his name on it.
In chapter 36, we know that at Jeremiahs direction and dictation, Baruch wrote a scroll that was read to the king and eventually burned after a 3rd reading
so baruch pops up here and there in the book of Jeremiah as his scribe and assisntant, essentially
chapter 45 features baruch, who seems to be having a hard time
we talked about going through tough times, we talked about how well Jeremiah handled his problems and how dedicated he stayed
coming up we’ll see how baruch was doing and what God has to say to Him
1 The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying,
now, we don’t exactly know what Baruch was writing in this scroll, as the book of Jeremiah is not exactly in order chronologically
he wrote this scroll in the 4th year of Jehoiakim, which was roughly 15 or so years before Jerusalem fell
so we can see how in the previous chapter, God is pronouncing judgement upon those who fled to egypt, and here we are seeing an event that took place 15 or so years before that, even though it’s the next chapter in the book
2 Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch;
3 Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.
We talked earlier about Jeremiah and the way he responded to what he went through
he was strong, he was courageous, he leaned on God for his strength, he lived out his life worried about God’s message and not just himself...
we have to think about our reactions to the things going on in our lives, WHAT ARE WE MOSTLY WORRIED ABOUT?
are we worried about God’s plan? Are we worried about God’s will for our lives?
since we our believers we should be having new priorities
before, we might have lived a life of concern for our own fleshly desires - and where does this get us?
if we live a life revolving around ourself and our desires, what are the implications
how does this make us think about things?
how does this make us act in this world in this life?
if we live life revolving around ourself, we’re going to end up making decisions that benefit the self more than God’s plan and what He wants from our lives
think if some of the great Biblical heroes we talked about earlier just lived life more focused on themselves than God.
we wouldn’t have their great stories, we wouldn’t be able to read how they overcame adversity and changed the world
we’d just be reading about normal guys who did normal things and had no real world changing impact
take Jeremiah for example, had he just decided he’d look out for his self and not go near any danger, his story would be totally different
we may not have a book of Jeremiah
he wouldn’t have gotten the message of God out to the people
so what would his life have been truly about at that point?
it would have been a life revolving around the self and the flesh
and we know that this is a way that leads to death, both spiritually and physically
what would have been the meaning of his life? his legacy?
we are blessed enough with the opportunity to have a real mission with our life
we are blessed enough to have real purpose with our life
we are blessed with the opportunity to go out and help change the world with God’s message, and deliver a message of healing and peace
we could either be part of something great like this, that is about more than just the self and our desires
or we could just life a life of total selfishness, having no greater purpose
we look at the world around us, and we see the result of everyone being out for themselves
we see a dog deat dog world, we see people attacking each other, we see people neglecting to help each other
this is the end result of looking our for just ourselves
it’s very shortsighted, dull, and devoid of purpose
we need to lean in to the new purpose that God’s provided us
what is our life as a believer about if we don’t? is it really much different than those without God?
being a believer is about not only a change of whether or not we JUST go to church, or the state of where we go when we die, but WHAT WE DO ON THIS EARTH
Also, we see how baruch felt because he was only worried about himself and his feelings
it didn’t make him happier, even though that’s what He’s focused on here
it actually put him in MORE pain
we see that those who followed God and his direction and plan were strong, brave, tough, and world changing.
let’s see what God has to say to baruch and this attitude and way of thinking...
4 Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land.
5 And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.
God says, “are you looking for a great and easy life for yourself?”
are you just looking for your own happiness? are you just looking for success just for you?
what does God say - SEEK THEM NOT
now before looking at the rest of the verse - we must remember that baruch was a man who really had been living his life in a pretty good way, he’d been doing work with Jeremiah for a long time, he was pretty much trying to do right
even good men of God can slip in their attitudes from time to time
and even good men of God can get beat up and discouraged from hard times
So whlie baruch was a good man, that doesn’t mean he
but at this point when we read about how baruch was feeling, he seems to have had his attitude slip a little bit, he kind of started feeling too focused on himself
essentially, he had a slip in his attitude and perspective
but God is coming to him and saying, “hey, get back on track here, because I will take care of you”
God is reminding him that “hey, I’m what you need to be focused on, not your own life, but the mission that you are on with Jeremiah”
“prey” in this verse in the hebrew here means spoil, as in spoil of war.
so this 2nd half of the verse is saying - “thy life I will give unto thee as a spoil everywhere that you go”
God is saying, “I’m going to protect you wherever you go, you’re my people, you’re my sheep, stop worrying so much about yourself and your pain and focus on your mission and the purpose that I have for you”
So this is a message of hope, it’s a realignment from God
we know that as God’s people, He’s always with us, He’s not going to forsake us, and He’s here to protect His people
but it’s our responsibility to live the life that God wants us to live and to be doing what God wants us to do
He will protect us and be with us as we do His work
just like He was all through this book with Jeremiah, just like He was with Moses, and Joshua, and so many others throughout the Bible
this is a message of hope to baruch
baruch is talking about all this pain and all this suffering that He’s going through
but God tells Him, “hey focus on something greater here, there’s something much greater that you should be focusing on
and though you are feeling pain right now, I will protect you, I will bring you through this pain, I will be there for you as your God
this message of hope is available to us all, no matter our pain level
“for all things work together for good, to those who love God and are called according to His purpose”
that’s been God’s message ever since the beginning - hope for the people who believed in Him
healing from a tough life and a tough world
look at all the people who have been down in the lowest of lows that God gave life and hope to
in Luke 4 when Jesus went into the synagogue and opened up the scroll of Isaiah, that was His message
He came to bring sight to the blind, loosing of chains from the captives
If we are stuck in a life of worrying about just ourselves and how we feel, of course it’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel
but if we are focused on the right things, on the things of God, there is hope available to us
there was hope available to those in Babylon, which eventually came to pass
there was hope to the Israelites when they were enslaved in Egypt and wandering in the desert
remember when they murmured and said “You brought us out in the desert to kill us!” and some of them wanted to go back to Egypt?
imagine if they would have done that!
while they thought this would have made it easier on themselves, this would have been so much worse for them in the long run
they would have missed out on the hope of the promised land, they’d have missed out on all the times that God protected them and looked out for them
imagine the disciples, if they would have just stuck to their regular lives working and looking out for their own interests, they would have just been normal guys who lived and died without much legacy
but God protected them through their ministries
and they went out and laid the foundation for the gospel to spread for so many
if they would have just stayed concerned about themselves, imagine how different the world might be today
as believers, let us lean in to the mission that God has for us
let us serve Him and let us focus our energy there
Baruch in this chapter was focused on the self, and we see what God thought of that
usually focus on the self and the flesh gets us nowhere
God has offered us something much greater than that, something much more
and not only that, but He’s offered us hope
we can either grasp on to this hope and purpose with all our heart and soul, or we can grasp on to the self
let us have a TRUE BURDEN for God’s mission for us, let us have our priorities theere
let us BE WILLING to go through some hard times for this purpose
and we can know as we do this, that we would not be doing it alone
we are blessed to be able to be called the sons of God
this should be our whole identity, our whole philosophy, our everything
the way of man leads to death because it’s a focus on the self and the flesh
but God’s way leads to life, fulfilment, and inner peace
God gave Baruch this message of hope in a tough time, we and we all have that same message of hope today
so we don’t have to leave here feeling miserable, we can leave here feeling great