Untitled Sermon (34)

2 Chronicles 36:11-16; Romans 2:1-11

2 Chronicles 36:11-16; Romans 2:1-11

Over the last few weeks we have been looking into the prophet Jeremiah. You may have noticed that I have not talked about many of the events in his life. I haven’t talked about him being persecuted by his hometown or being thrown into prison or into a cistern to rot. You may be wondering why I haven’t talked about those events. The truth of the matter is my purpose right now is to go through the history of the nations of Israel and Judah. Israel has been taken into captivity by the Assyrians and we will never hear of them again as a nation, they have for all intents and purposes been destroyed. Now we are looking at Judah and they are on the verge of destruction. One of these days I will most likely preach through the book of Jeremiah but right now I will mostly be using the book of Jeremiah to display God’s judgment on His people who have deserted Him.

With all of that said, last week in Jeremiah 23 we talked about how the leaders of Judah and specifically Jerusalem had led the people of God astray so that they would be taken into captivity. But God promised to raise up a shepherd, “The LORD our Righteousness” a descendant of David “a Branch of righteousness” to bring His people to Him from out of all the nations where they would be scattered. Then we noted that Jesus fulfilled that prophecy and in John 10 proclaimed Himself to be the Good Shepherd who will lead His people and His people would follow Him, they would hear His voice and believe Him and obey Him.

I have been saying this for the last few weeks but the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the people of Judah is a done deal so to speak. God has proclaimed that it would happen and there was no more call to repent and be delivered. They have been told by the prophet Jeremiah that if they would go out and surrender to the Babylonians they would live, even though it was in captivity in struggles and trials. But if they refused to obey God and go out they would be killed. If you will remember I likened that to the Gospel message. Trust God and obey Him and be saved even though you will live in this world with tribulations you will indeed be delivered. Disobey God and suffer the consequences of God’s judgment. So, what do you think Zedekiah, the king of Judah did? Did he obey God and go out and surrender to the Babylonians and live or did he disobey God and stay to fight against God by fighting against Nebuchadnezzar? In chapter 34 of Jeremiah the prophet goes to the king one more time with a warning but this time Zedekiah is told in somewhat obscure terms what was going to happen to him. We will talk about that possibly another time but what I want us to look at tonight is what we are told about the fall of Jerusalem in 2 Chronicles 36. This is the short version of the reign of Zedekiah but the shortness of this passage really brings out the patience of God and the rebellious nature of Zedekiah, the priests, the leaders and the people of Judah. 2 Chronicles 36:11-14 11Zedekiah was twenty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. 12He did evil in the sight of the Lord his God, and did not humble himself before Jeremiah the prophet, who spoke from the mouth of the Lord. 13And he also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear an oath by God; but he stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the Lord God of Israel. 14Moreover all the leaders of the priests and the people transgressed more and more, according to all the abominations of the nations, and defiled the house of the Lord which He had consecrated in Jerusalem. Like I said this is the short version of the reign of Zedekiah but in that short passage we can see that the corruption in Judah was from top to bottom. The king the leaders of the priests and the people all refused to listen to the prophets that were sent to them. They all wanted to follow their own evil hearts as we saw in Jeremiah 18:12 when the people said: 12And they said, “That is hopeless! So we will walk according to our own plans, and we will every one obey the dictates of his evil heart.” Because of that which we just read we see this in 2 Chronicles 36:15-16 15And the Lord God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the Lord arose against His people, till there was no remedy. Did you get that, because it is very important? The word ‘remedy’ literally means ‘a cure’. What we see here is that God in His mercy just kept on offering these people of His the only cure available for their disease of sin, and they kept refusing to take the medicine. Think about that. It would be like, not exactly, but it would be like some laboratory announcing that they had the cure for covid 19. It had been tested and there is a 100% effective cure rate with absolutely no ill side effects and the only side effect at all is that you are healthier than you were before you were infected. And you or I respond with; “I’ll just follow my own health regimen. I’ll just keep on wearing a mask and slathering myself with disinfectant gel and avoiding all of humanity.” God had offered them the sure cure for their sin over and over and over again and they mocked His messengers and despised His words and scoffed at His prophets. Finally His patience was compete and there was no more cure for their disease of rebellion against Him.

We will talk about the fall of Jerusalem and the fate of Zedekiah another time but I wonder does God still display the same patience? Did things change after the Old Testament? I think this passage from Paul’s letter to the Romans 2:1-11 pretty well describes what happened in Jerusalem and what is going on today. 1Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things. 3And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6who “will render to each one according to his deeds”:£ 7eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, 9tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11For there is no partiality with God. In chapter 1 of Romans Paul described in detail the condition of mankind outside of the work of God in their lives. I will leave that to you to go back and read if you don’t remember. But here in chapter 2 Paul makes it clear that we, mankind as a whole, is without excuse because God in His infinite mercy has shown us His goodness (kindness), His forbearance (tolerance), and His longsuffering (patient endurance) all for the purpose of leading us to repentance. Then he describes what happens if we do repent and what happens if we don’t. If we don’t we are storing up wrath (just like the wrath that God unleashed on Jerusalem) and we receive indignation, wrath, tribulation, and anguish. For those who do repent there is eternal life honor and immortality.

For Jerusalem there was no more cure, they had refused it too many times. I don’t know when too many is too many but I do know that His call to repentance does have its limits and I encourage you today to listen to that call, recognize His goodness, forbearance and longsuffering and repent while you are still hearing the call. Let’s pray.