Standing on the Word of God

[Jeremiah 36:1-32]

The Word of God is one of the things that hold Christians together. God’s word unifies its church with its teachings and doctrine. It tells us what’s important. It hasn’t changed or will it ever.

So why is it that there are so many polarizing issues in the church right now, not just between liberals and conservatives? Liberal churches are divided among themselves and so are conservative churches. I believe the reason for the polarization is a failure to fully stand upon the word of God, and I fear this failure is only going to get worse in the coming months and years.

For example, it’s an unnerving reality that evangelical, conservative Christians who believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the Trinity, the bodily resurrection of Jesus, a literal heaven and hell, salvation by faith alone, and all the other essential doctrines, are becoming more and more divided over issues of systemic racism, the abuse of authority, immigration, helping the poor, and even the qualities that make a good President.

So now we don’t just have different denominations of churches based upon essential doctrinal beliefs, we are starting to have, within the same denomination, pro-mask and anti-mask churches, woke and anti-woke churches, pro-trump and anti-trump churches.

On January 6th Christians marched on the capital in the name of Jesus carrying crosses and Christian flags. Some Christians praise them for being faithful while others condemn their actions—all within the same church.

I predict, and this isn’t much of a prophecy, that as our nation becomes more polarized, so will our churches. Except for the grace of God, it’s just inevitable. Another way to say it is the division is only going to be greater between those who want to make politics the main thing and those who want scripture be the main thing.

One thing is sure: we want to be on the side of scripture because God’s word will always win out in the end. God’s word will never be extinguished.

Chapter 36 of Jeremiah is an example of this. Jehoiakim tried to destroy God’s word but he failed. Chapter 36 is all about the writing, receiving, rejecting, and preserving of God’s Word. So let’s get into it.

Writing the Word (1-8)

Notice, first of all these are God’s Words. For 21 years God had been speaking to Jeremiah.

Jeremiah 36:2 CSB

“Take a scroll, and write on it all the words I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the nations from the time I first spoke to you during Josiah’s reign until today.

So the Bible is made up of God’s words.

2 Peter 1:20-21 says,

2 Peter 1:20–21 CSB

Above all, you know this: No prophecy of Scripture comes from the prophet’s own interpretation, because no prophecy ever came by the will of man; instead, men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

God uses the personality, experiences, and writing style of the Bible’s authors but the inspiration is ultimately his.

And that’s why God’s words are powerful. His words are the final authority. When we have disagreements about what is right or wrong, it’s God’s word that settles the argument.

Secondly, notice God’s primary purpose in having his words written down. Jeremiah 36:3 tells us,

Jeremiah 36:3 CSB

Perhaps when the house of Judah hears about all the disaster I am planning to bring on them, each one of them will turn from his evil way. Then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

The purpose was to convince his people to turn from their evil ways. His goal was for them to wake up and repent after hearing about all of the disaster God was planning to bring on them.

Are there hard times ahead for the church? Probably. So turn to God’s word and repent. The proper response to God’s word isn’t to further divide into factions but for us to unite in repentance.

All the horrible, prophetic words of coming judgment were meant to bring God’s people to their knees in prayer. Jeremiah 36:7 says,

Jeremiah 36:7 CSB

Perhaps their petition will come before the Lord, and each one will turn from his evil way, for the anger and fury that the Lord has pronounced against this people are intense.”

So, again, the purpose of the Bible isn’t primarily to confirm that we are right. It’s to bring us to our senses and to show us how desperately we all need the grace of God.

That’s why God had his words written down. The book of Jeremiah was written down by Jeremiah’s executive secretary, Baruch who then read them aloud.

For whatever reason, Jeremiah couldn’t read them aloud himself. Maybe he was confined to quarters or it just wasn’t safe to go out in public. Whatever the reason, Baruch went to the temple and read aloud God’s words, as delivered to Jeremiah.

Receiving the Word (9-18)

It was in the temple that the people received the word. But as we’ve seen in previous chapters, most people were too busy with life, or just didn’t care enough to give much importance to what God had to say.

There is one notable exception, however— Micaiah (Muh-kai-uh). Micaiah set a good example of how everyone should receive God’s word. First by hearing, then sharing, and last, fearing.

Hearing God’s word, of course, comes first. Jer 36: 11 says,

Jeremiah 36:11 (CSB)

Micaiah son of Gemariah, son of Shaphan, heard all the words of the Lord from the scroll,

Micaiah listened to all of God’s word. In other words, he didn’t walk out or doze off in the middle and miss the context.

Related to this, I’ll just say that’s why preaching through entire books of the Bible is so important. Some pastors prefer to preach about topics that matter to them and that’s not necessarily wrong but if that’s all they do it can become a problem. It becomes a problem because their congregations fail to hear the whole counsel of God and instead just get the pastor’s favorite parts.

In addition, it’s also why personally reading through the entire Bible is so important. The whole Bible is God’s word so we need to read it all not just our favorite parts.

When’s the last time you read the entire Bible from beginning to end? If it’s been more than a year it’s been too long.

OK, in regards to receiving God’s word the second part is sharing. Jer 36:13 says,

Jeremiah 36:13 CSB

Micaiah reported to them all the words he had heard when Baruch read from the scroll in the hearing of the people.

Micaiah wasn’t content to just hear God’s word for himself, he passed them on. He told the other officials and eventually told the king himself.

And, again, notice that he didn’t just summarize God’s word for them. Verse 13 and 16 say he reported all of the words to them.

So there’s hearing and sharing, and the last category of receiving God’s word is fearing. Jer 36:16 says,

Jeremiah 36:16 CSB

When they had heard all the words, they turned to each other in fear and said to Baruch, “We must surely tell the king all these things.”

When Baruch and the other officials heard God’s word, and that he was angry with their sinfulness, they responded with appropriate fear. It’s not enough to just hear God’s word, we must also fear it.

In other words, we must pay attention to all of the warnings and do something about them. We must repent!

Remember the purpose of Scripture is so that we will turn from our evil ways and trust in Jesus who died on the cross.

If we aren’t turning from our evil ways, then we aren’t reading scripture right.

Micaiah set a good example. He heard, shared, and feared God’s word, but the king did the opposite. He rejected it.

Rejecting the Word (19-26)

King Jehoiakim didn’t want to hear God’s word at all. He didn’t share it and he didn’t fear it. Jehoiakim tried to destroy God’s word.

Jeremiah 36:21-23 describes Jehoiakim’s rejection of God’s word with this vivid scene:

Jeremiah 36:22–23 CSB

Since it was the ninth month, the king was sitting in his winter quarters with a fire burning in front of him. As soon as Jehudi would read three or four columns, Jehoiakim would cut the scroll with a scribe’s knife and throw the columns into the fire in the hearth until the entire scroll was consumed by the fire in the hearth.

Here’s the scene: Jehudi would read a few words on the page but before he could finish Jehoiakim would cut the page off and throw it into the fire. Jehoiakim kept doing this until the whole scroll was burned.

Jehoiakim didn’t fear God Word. Jer 36:24 says he didn’t become terrified or tear his clothes. He was casual and nonchalant about it all.

Think about it: he had access to the very words of God and yet he threw them into the fire. He didn’t care what God had to say. He had his other sources of information that told him all he really needed to know.

Jehoiakim didn’t listen. Jer 36:25 says, even though many of his officials urged him not to burn the scroll, he didn’t listen to them. Jehoiakim was living in sin and content with that.

D.L. Moody once said “Either the Bible will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from the Bible.” Is sin keeping us from reading God’s word because we are content with what we think we already know?

Of course, it’s a sin to not read God’s word at all, but it also a sin to not let it change our hearts and I think that’s what Jehoiakim was most afraid of. He was afraid that he’d read it and find out he was wrong.

So, are we more like Micaiah or Jehoiakim? Are we hearing, sharing, and fearing God’s word or are we rejecting it, maybe not by burning it, but by neglecting to read and obey it?

J. I. Packer gives this warning: “The privilege of knowing God’s truth with certainty and precision carries with it the responsibility of obeying that truth with equal precision.”

Ok so we’ve talked about writing the word, receiving the word, rejecting the word, and now:

Preserving the Word (27-32)

The Bible has had many enemies over the years who attempted to destroy it. But none of them have been successful, nor will any of them ever be. The Word of God is indestructible and will always be preserved.

Jeremiah 36:27–28 CSB

After the king had burned the scroll and the words Baruch had written at Jeremiah’s dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Take another scroll, and once again write on it the original words that were on the original scroll that King Jehoiakim of Judah burned.

Men can’t destroy the words of God. God just had them written out again. And since these were the words of God, Jeremiah didn’t even have to worry about remembering every last detail. The Holy Spirit remembered everything and more:

Jeremiah 36:32 CSB

Then Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to Baruch son of Neriah, the scribe, and he wrote on it at Jeremiah’s dictation all the words of the scroll that Jehoiakim, Judah’s king, had burned in the fire. And many other words like them were added.

Version 2 had even more words in it than version 2. For one thing, it had the story of Jehoiakim and his rejection of God’s word along with this warning:

Jeremiah 36:30–31 CSB

Therefore, this is what the Lord says concerning King Jehoiakim of Judah: He will have no one to sit on David’s throne, and his corpse will be thrown out to be exposed to the heat of day and the frost of night. I will punish him, his descendants, and his officers for their iniquity. I will bring on them, on the residents of Jerusalem, and on the people of Judah all the disaster, which I warned them about but they did not listen.’ ”

The line of David didn’t come to an end but Jehoiakim’s son Jehoiachin didn’t rule very long. It was only about 3 months before his uncle took over.

See, nothing can destroy the word of God. It may be rejected or ignored but it will always be preserved.

And God’s church will never be destroyed either, although we may see it divided in the future.

What will it divide over? Again, I don’t think the issues will be primarily doctrinal, at least that’s not what we’re seeing now. Churches are dividing over partisan political issues which seem to be the most important issues at the moment.

For example, most Christians could probably make an argument, complete with sources, for why they are pro mask or anti mask. They’ve read numerous articles and had many discussions with their friends about the subject.

Many Christians could probably also tell you why they are for or against socialism, or why they are for or against vaccines. These are the kind of issues many Christians are most passionate about right now and it’s not that these aren’t important issues right now.

But I believe churches are splitting because Christians are becoming more passionate about these issues—whose opinions are more determined by what political party you belong to than by which church we attend. We’re more passionate about them than we are about what Jesus taught in scripture.

To be perfectly clear, it seems we care more about what Tucker Carlson or Candice Owens says on the news than we are with what Jesus’ taught on the sermon on the mount.

I’m speaking this way because I love you. If this church, or any church, is going to survive it will be because we care more about the truth of scripture than our partisan sources of information.

By God’s grace may we care more about what God has to say than the latest political pundit.

Of course, differences of opinions are inevitable but if are willing to learn and listen to each other we can grow closer, not farther apart.

When’s the last time you went up to someone in this congregation and respectfully, humbly asked them to explain their position to you on a controversial topic and then just listened without trying to interrupt and convince them they’re wrong?

I had this very thing happen to me the other day when one of you came up to me and asked my opinion, and I must say it gave me a lot of hope. We should do this more often!

I’m convinced, by scripture, that these kind of interactions must become more frequent if we are to grow as a congregation. Verses like the following are not in the Bible for us to just give lip service to:

Jas 1:19 “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger,”

Pro 12:15 “A fool’s way is right in his own eyes, but whoever listens to counsel is wise.”

Titus 3:2 speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.

Phil 2 3-4 “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.”

In the coming months we are going to have more opportunities to but these verses into practice.

Politicians on both sides are going to use fear as means to get us to vote a certain way. They’re going to use exaggerated, carefully selected facts and anecdotes to convince us that their view is the only correct view and any other view isn’t just mistaken but down-right evil and not even worth understanding.

Are we going to go along with them or will we do what scripture tells us to do?

I think it’s time for us to take a stand. We must take a stand. And here’s what we must stand upon:

1 Peter 1:24–25 (CSB)

The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord endures forever.

So let’s become more passionate about listening to, fearing, and sharing God’s word than ever before.