Listening to God: The Path to Restoration
Notes
Transcript
Jeremiah 42
Jeremiah 42
How many of us have been on a trip and taken a wrong turn? We stopped to ask for directions, but since we seemed unsure if they knew the right way, we decided to go our own way. On the way, we realize that they were right and we were wrong. Now, for us in that situation, we were able to turn around and follow their direction. For the remnant of Judah, their decisions would be life or death. As we have seen throughout the book of Jeremiah, God’s desire and plan is to restore His people. The same is true for us today. He desires to restore us to Him through His Son. We need to follow His directions and lean not on our own understanding.
There are three principles to the path of restoration through listening to God. First, we seek God’s guidance and not ours. The second principle is finding security in submission. The last principle is heeding the warning of wandering.
Seeking God's Guidance
Seeking God's Guidance
Jeremiah 42:1-6
One day, a young man told his friend that he felt God was speaking to him during his quiet time. His friend asked, 'Really? What did He say?' With a smile, the young man replied, 'I’m not sure, but He definitely told me to stop talking so much—maybe that’s why I can’t hear Him!' Sometimes, we need to learn to step back and truly listen to what God has to say amid our chatter!
The remnant of Judah is seeking guidance from God through the prophet Jeremiah. They desire to return to their homeland, but they are concerned about the next steps. They approach Jeremiah and ask him to seek God's direction for what they should do next. These men did not have true faith, or they would have been seeking God before the trouble that befell them.
But they knew that Jeremiah was a man who knew God intimately. We see this by the unanimity in approaching him. In verse two, we read that Jeremiah the prophet, meaning that Jeremiah is the true prophet sent by God. Who better to consult for God’s guidance than a prophet? Funny how they did not heed Jeremiah’s prophecy before the destruction, but now they are earnestly seeking him.
The same is true in our walk with Christ. We do not seek Him in each decision, but when trouble comes, we are earnestly seeking Him. How would our lives look if we sought Him in every decision before we made them?
Look at how they approached Jeremiah. “…please let our petition come before you, and pray to us the Lord your God….” They did not ask him to pray to our God but to your God. They are still not convinced that they are His people.
Listen Saints! Once we accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, it is no longer about Him only accepting us if we are in the right, but He accepts us because we are His. Listen to the Words of Christ, as found in John 6:39. They were His people; all they needed to do was humble themselves, repent, and listen to His voice, as stated in 2 Chronicles 7:14 and James 4:10.
“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day.
and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you.
I was at a fair once, and I saw a clown tossing balloons to the crowd. One balloon drifted away, and I watched it rise higher and higher until it was out of reach. It occurred to me that sometimes we miss God’s guidance because we’re looking down—distracted by life’s busyness. Like that balloon, His guidance is waiting for us to look up and listen. We need to lift our eyes to find it!
Once that is done, it is based on the principle of willingness to submit to His authority.
Security in Submission
Security in Submission
Jeremiah 42:7-12
Imagine a kid trying to hold onto a kite on a windy day. The more they struggle, the more the kite pulls away, until finally, they let go and surrender it to the wind. When they stop fighting and let the kite soar, they realize they’re actually free to enjoy the flight. Just like this kid, when we submit to God, we find that true security comes from surrendering control to Him, allowing Him to take us higher than we could go alone.
Listen to what GOD tells them. God provides us with conditional statements, and this is precisely how He uses them. If you stay in this land, I will build you up, plant you, and pull back the calamity I have brought upon you.
All they had to do was trust Him. If they were genuinely seeking restoration, then they would have trusted God’s wisdom and Words. The same is true for us in our trust in Christ, rebuilding and restoring us. If we trust Him, we are to live by His Word. Want a deeper relationship with the Father? Submit everything to Him and trust Him.
This leaves us with the second part of that conditional statement and our last principle of warning, doing it our way.
Warnings Against Wandering
Warnings Against Wandering
Jeremiah 42:13-22
A pastor once shared a story about his dog. Every time he’d settle down to pray, the dog would bring a toy and drop it at his feet, expecting to play. The pastor laughed, realizing that sometimes we approach God like his dog—distracted and more focused on what we want rather than listening to what He wants to say. It’s a reminder to pause and truly tune in!
Too many times, we take God’s patience as a sign of weakness. We even use the delay in rebuke and correction as an excuse to do what we want.
Verse thirteen starts the second part of the condition with “BUT.” If you decide against my guidance and wander in your ways, you will die. We, too, have the same choice when it comes to our submission to Christ. We either surrender to Him as our Lord and Savior and be restored, or keep wandering in our ways and die. Even when we confess and believe, many people continue to live the same old life. They keep walking and complaining about God's whereabouts. They do not have any desire to submit to Him, and we see it in their marriages, jobs, and even in the church. They do what the remnant of Judah is going to do.
Those who sought God’s guidance from Jeremiah were given a choice. There would be no surprise to God in what they would choose; He already knew their choice. Listen to the words from Jeremiah, verses 19-22. God told Jeremiah they would not listen but instead would wander in their demise.
We see this in Revelation 3:14-22 and the Church of Laodicea. He gave them a warning to stop wandering in their ways and return to their first true love, Him. We, too, need to stop wandering in our ways and return to Him for guidance.
The entire series can be wrapped up in one word: Restoration. To have complete restoration, you need to accept His ways and abandon your ways. This is accomplished by putting away this false god we have all made in the image of who we want God to be, and start to worship the true living God. Three steps:
1. Submit to Him and those in Authority: Hebrews 13:17;24
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.
Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
2. Test every spirit to make sure it is from God. 1 John 4:1-6
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;
and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.
You are from God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.
They are from the world; therefore they speak as from the world, and the world listens to them.
We are from God; he who knows God listens to us; he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
3. Do not lean on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5
Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding.
