Jeremiah 42 - 43 “The Foolishness of Pretending to Seek God”

“The Foolishness of Pretending to Seek God”

Fear ought to motivate us toward God not away from Him - .

Yet for the Israelites fear moved them to willfully try to solve their own problems without God.

I. Seeking God

A. The Jewish people asked Jeremiah for God’s guidance -

1. But they were hoping God would bless the plans they already had made. -

2. Such attempts to seek God are designed to pretend submission to but are really acts of self will -

but are really acts of self will -

B. God’s Answer -

1. Do not go to Egypt -

2. The consequences of disobedience

3. They refused to obey -

“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every part of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Him. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all battlefields besides is merely flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.” - Martin Luther

II. The Word of God is Questioned -

A. Calling God’s prophet a liar -

1. They blame Baruch for this message -

2. Fear motivates their rejection of God’s Word

3. They thought their word could overcome God’s Word -

B. These rebels force Jeremiah to go with them

1. They did not obey -

2. But they desire the righteous person to sin with them -

3. Those who do not want to submit to God’s thoughts -

III. The Suffering Servant -

A. Jeremiah persists in his faithfulness to God’s Word -

1. It is important that God’s prophets be faithful stewards of the Word of God -

2. God’s stewards are privileged to suffer - ,

3. It is a privilege to suffer for Christ - ;

B. Our Savior suffered for us -

1. So we are privileged to fellowship with Him in our suffering - ;

2. We will share both His suffering and His glory -

We live in a world where the majority scorn God’s Word.

Do not act out of fear. Trust His Word. -