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The Bible Breakdown
Jeremiah 43: God Does Not Negotiate
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The More We Dig. The More We Find.
Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today, jeremiah, chapter 43, and today's title is God Does Not Negotiate. God Does Not Negotiate. We are going to see how these people had asked God for a word from him, but then, when it wasn't what they wanted, they just decided they weren't going to do it. And we're going to see if maybe there's a little conviction here, because maybe some of us walk into this sometimes, but God is still faithful either way and we're going to see that there's still hope, even when we're a little stubborn sometimes. So we're going to get all that in just a moment. But while you're getting your Bibles out and getting ready, make sure you like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast it really does help us out a lot and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook. Don't just go and read. If you don't mind, I'd also love for you to comment, reply to some different things. Share it on your own social media account, because, man, the more we dig, the more we find, and there are some great people doing some hard work over there and it's encouraging to hear you just go back and forth and reply and respond to a lot of their messages. Okay, all right, if you have your Bibles, I'm gonna open up with me to Jeremiah, chapter 43. Remember, as always, the overall goal of Jeremiah's message is God brings hope and a future. Even in difficult times. God gives us light in the darkness. And to kind of remind you what's going on, the nation of Judah is slowly heading toward destruction. It just is what it is. They're not listening to God. They're getting worse and worse and worse. They're taking things into their own hands and Babylon's on its way and bad things are on their way, and it's just about over. There's only a few chapters left in Jeremiah. The ministry of Jeremiah is slowly getting to an end and what happened yesterday is a bunch of people slaughtered, these invading folks, and it was the idea of not wanting enemies to be in charge of them. That's a good thing, but maybe slaughtering a whole bunch of folks not such a good thing. And so they went to Jeremiah and they were like hey, look, we need a message from God on what to do, and whatever you tell us is what we're going to do. Well, jeremiah comes back and he says okay, if you're going to follow God, stay here, don't flee, don't run away from Babylon. God will take care of you. But if you leave which spoiler alert, that's what they're going to want to do then God's not going to be with you, he's not going to help you. And so now we're going to see what their reply is to Jeremiah. So, if you're ready, jeremiah, chapter 43, verse one says this when Jeremiah had finished giving this message from the Lord, their God, to all the people, azariah, the son of Hoshiah, and Johanan, son of Kariah, and all the other proud men said to Jeremiah you are the one who is going to help. Why the Lord, your God, has forbidden us, hasn't forbidden us, to go to Egypt. Baruch, son of Neriah, has convinced you to say this because he wants you, wants us, to stay here and be killed by the Babylonians or be carried off into exile. And I'll pause. Remember Baruch was his assistant, but they're saying he had somehow manipulated Jeremiah. He had somehow manipulated Jeremiah, verse 4,.
Speaker 0:So Jehonan and the other military leaders and all the people refused to obey the Lord's commands and stay in Judah. Jehonan and the other leaders took with them all the people who had returned from the nearby countries to which they had fled, and the crowd of men, women and children, and the king's daughters and all those from Nebuchadnezzar, the captain of the guard they had all fled with Gadaliah. The prophet, jeremiah and Baruch were also included. The people refused to obey the voice of the Lord and went to Egypt, going as far as the city of Tephanas.
Speaker 0:Then, at Tephanas, the Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said while the people of Judah are watching, take some large rocks and bury them under the pavement stones at the entrance of Pharaoh's palace here in Tephanas. Then say to the people of Judah this is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says I will certainly bring my servant Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, here to Egypt. I will set his throne over these stones that I have hidden, so he will spread his royal canopy over them, and then, when he comes, he will destroy the land of Egypt. He will bring death to those destined for death, captivity for those for captivity and war for those destined for war. He will set fire to the temples of Egypt's gods and he will burn the temples and carry their idols away as plunder. He will pick clean the land of Egypt as a shepherd picks fleas from his coat and he himself will leave unharmed.
Speaker 0:Wow, this idea of they're going to go and instead of obeying God, they're going to go do their own thing, but yet still, somehow God is going to be with them. And God just tells Jeremiah no, that's not going to happen, that actually all the bad things I told them were going to happen, they're still going to happen, and God was going to allow Nebuchadnezzar to have this great victory over them. Because God doesn't negotiate. And the reality is, is some of us we think God negotiates, we think that we can barter with God back and forth and sometimes, unfortunately, that's what we think prayer is. We think prayer is where we are asking God to do things our way and negotiate back and forth.
Speaker 0:God, I know this is wrong, but I really want it. God, I know I shouldn't go here and go there and do this and do that, but I really, really want it. And so I'm going to pray this and maybe God will change his mind. The reality is he's not. If something is wrong today, it's always wrong. If it's disobeying God, it's always disobeying God.
Speaker 0:There's not a moment where we can do a bad thing for a good reason and somehow it becomes good. It's just not that way, and that's what the people of Judah are finding out. They're not wanting to go to Egypt because they purposely want to disobey God. They're wanting to go to Egypt because they didn't think God had the best idea. God is saying literally God is saying the bad guy is coming, you stay in his path, you stay right where you're in his path and I'm going to take care of you. Well, you know, what's easier than that is to run away, because it's hard to hit something, it's hard to run over something if they're not there right. And so, to their mind, it was. God doesn't know what he's doing. The better idea is to do this, and sometimes obeying God can seem like a bad idea.
Speaker 0:Let me give you an example. Let's say that you have an opportunity to kind of cheat a little bit at school. You're in school and God says have integrity. That means study, do your best, let the chips fall where they may. But you know, god, that's a great idea and all. But I really got to make a good grade on this and so I'm going to cheat, I'm going to find a way to get the answers, and I know that's probably not the best thing to do, but it's for a good reason.
Speaker 0:Well, unfortunately, god will not spare us from the consequences. Let's say, at work we have an opportunity. No one's really looking. The boss is really letting us have integrity. So the boss is really letting us have integrity.
Speaker 0:So he doesn't really keep up with what time we check in, what time we check out, and so what we can do is we can come into work 15 minutes, 30 minutes late, but just mark on our time sheet that we were there on time. No one really notices. And I'm. You know I'm late. You know why I'm late. I'm late because I'm having a little extra prayer time in the mornings. I'm late because I'm helping my spouse with getting the kids to school.
Speaker 0:It's for a good reason. Is it technically lying? Sure, it is, but it's for a good reason. Unfortunately, god will not spare us from the consequences if the boss finds out why? Because if it's wrong now, it's always wrong. So the lesson for us is God doesn't negotiate. Whatever is true is true. So we have to trust him and trust that he knows what he's doing, even if it seems wrong at the time. God always knows what he's doing, and that's not easy, that's hard, but when we trust him, we find out that his way is always the best way, even if it takes us longer to get there than what we would like.
Speaker 0:Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, for your wisdom, your faithfulness, your kindness. Lord, for who you are. I'm so thankful, god, that you are with us in more ways than we can imagine. I pray today, god, that we will know you, we will trust you and we will walk with you in every way. In Jesus' name, we pray Amen, amen, amen. Well, god's word says in Jeremiah, chapter 29, verse 13, if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for Jeremiah, chapter 44.
