Sermon Tone Analysis

[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.

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

2 Peter 1:20-21 says,

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,

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,

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,

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,

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:

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.”