Jeremiah 52.1-11 "Why Will You Die?”
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Why Will You Die?”
A young man goes into a movie theatre and shoots unarmed theatre goers knowing that
he will be killed himself. Why? Historically, murderers run away in an act of self-preservation.
Think of John Wilkes Booth who after assassinating Abraham Lincoln fled for twelve days before being killed by a Union soldier in Maryland. By contrast, the attack at the theatre could only be viewed as an intentional act of suicide. The focus is on gun control but the deeper issue was why had he so despaired of life? The number of suicides has increased particularly among the young. It is the second leading cause of death between those 18-25. More teens and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia, influenza, and chronic lung disease combined. Hope does not naturally spring eternal in the human breast.
I. Choose Life –
A. A choice was given to Zedekiah by Jeremiah the prophet –
1. Surrender to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
2. He would die in peace and be honored
3. But Zedekiah ignored the reality of the living God. This is the first step to choosing death.
B. But Zedekiah defied God and rebelled against Babylon –
1. Government is appointed by God and rulers are under His authority –
2. God removes kings and raises up kings –
3. Choosing to defy God-given authority and isolating yourself from others is the second step
the second step
II. Demoralized
A. The Czech sociologist Thomas Masaryk in the first scientific sociological study recorded these statistics in the bookSuicide and the Meaning of Civilization in 1881
1. Protestant nations such as England, Scotland, and the Netherlands in 1881 had the lowest suicide rates
2. He concluded, “Christianity became the true teaching of life; the gospels teach the love of life and not death. Thus new message rescued and saved the dying pagan world; Christianity nipped in the bud the morbid suicide tendency of ancient polytheism and returned life to man.”
3. The social mass phenomena of suicide are to be explained . . . as a tragic result of the prevalent irreligiosity of the masses . . . and the great tensions of the progressively growing moral anarchy . . . feeding a pessimistic world view.” On the other hand, Masaryk asserts, “Christians have a moral support, are happy, satisfied and reconciled to life, but only a few can find a support in life comparable to that found in Christian faith.”
B. The rise in suicide in the USA corresponds to the dismantling of the morals of the USA.
1. This is literally what is meant by a nation being de-moralized
2. God sets before His people hope in His moral law –
3. Choose life –
Zedekiah chose death –
C. God’s law is good –
1. Because the law defines the character of God which will never change –
2. To disobey even one command offends the person who gave the law –
3. God has made us in His image so we have an innate knowledge of God –
4. To violate the law of God damages who you are as an image because of God – ;
5. The result of guilt – anger alternately focused on others and on oneself – . Sin is like a wild animal that will leap on you and devour you
Sin is like a wild animal that will leap on you and devour you
6. Is this generation in the USA like the one described in ? Such a generation is guilt-ridden filled with envy and self-pity
is guilt-ridden filled with envy and self-pity
7. Such people are not helpless; the solution is to repent of sin and trust Christ –
D. Reality is what is left after vain imaginations evaporate into thin air
1. Abortion is considered health care
2. Changing laws to accommodate those who cannot accept their gender is to encourage suicide
3. Repentance to God and faith in Jesus Christ alone brings life – ;
III. God’s Grace –
A. For 45 years, God provided a shepherd after God’s own heart to call Zedekiah and Israel to repentance and life –
1. Christian discipline –
2. Lawlessness results in loneliness –
3. God’s plan for reconciliation in is essential to knowing the care of others
B. God provides a Savior –
1. God had promised a son of David to always rule on the throne of David –
2. The imprisonment of Jehoiachin –
3. Captive for 37 years –
4. He took him into the royal palace –
5. Jehoiachin had a son from which line the Messiah Jesus Christ was to be born –
The hope of the gospel is lived out in the community of Christ’s local church that seeks to love God by honoring His commandments –