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The Bible Breakdown
Jeremiah 44: God Sees It All
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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 44, and I really got to give it to a friend of mine. I was going to give this title something else, but instead we're going to title it. God Sees it All. I wanted to title it. Sometimes there's a Real Good Reason why we Stink. There's a real good reason why we stink. But we're going to say God sees it all and hopefully by the time we're finished reading this, it'll all make sense. But for right now, if you have your Bibles, open up with me to Jeremiah, chapter 44. While you're doing that, make sure you are taking the time to like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you leave us a five-star review on the podcast. And I want to know in the comments down below do you have any ideas for how we are doing the thing where you can see the text on the screen for all of our YouTube people? For podcasts, just get your Bibles, it's fine. But for the YouTube people I've had a couple of you tell me that you enjoy it because you can see the text as I'm reading it. But I just want to know do you have any other ideas, anything. I want this to be a resource so that we can learn God's word together, and another way to do that. By the way, as always, I got to plug my wonderful friends over at the Bible Breakdown Discussion. They're doing an amazing job. They're adding so much value to God's word as we are reading it together. So make sure you go there every single day, read their post and then share it with everyone you know, because the more we dig, the more we find.
Speaker 1:So if you have your Bibles, I want to open up with me to Jeremiah, chapter 44. Remember, the overall idea of Jeremiah is God gives us a future and a hope. He gives us light in the darkness. Many times when we think about that idea of the light and the darkness, we think about it as dark times that have happened. That's really got nothing to do with us. We're just having to make it through right. And yes, but sometimes when we walk into a room, it's us that turn the switch off. It's us that have brought darkness upon ourselves, and not always, but sometimes, if we're honest, sometimes there's a reason why we stink, that there's a reason. There's a reason why we stink. There's a reason and what we're going to see today is God is basically telling these people through Jeremiah, look, it stinks, what you're doing stinks. You're turning to all these false gods and you wonder why it doesn't work. And so, even at one point, he's going to say please don't stop turning to the false gods, see if they can help you, and which, of course, is going to be a big old. No, you know. And so let's read this and let's see what God's word has to say to us. You ready? Jeremiah, chapter 44.
Speaker 1:God's going to cook a little while when he says this in verse one. This is the message Jeremiah received concerning the Judeans living in the Northern Egypt, in the cities of Migdal, tephanis, memphis, and in southern Egypt as well. Pause Now remember. God had told them don't leave, stay in Judah. And they were like peace out, we're out anyway. And so they went, and now God's got some words for them. He says this in verse 2.
Speaker 1:This is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says you saw the calamity I brought on Jerusalem and all the towns of Judah. They now lie deserted and in ruins. They provoked my anger with all their wickedness. They burned incense and worshipped other gods, gods that neither they nor you, nor any of your ancestors had ever even known. Again and again, I sent my servant, the prophets, to plead with the people Don't do these horrible things that I hate so much. But my people would not listen or turn back from their wicked ways. They kept on burning incense to these gods, and so my fury boiled over and fell like fire on the towns of Judah and into the streets of Jerusalem, and they are still a desolate ruin today.
Speaker 1:And now the Lord, god of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, asks you why are you destroying yourselves? For not one of you will survive, not a man, a woman or child among you who has come here from Judah, not even the babies in your arms. Why provoke my anger by burning incense to the idols that you have made here in Egypt? You will only destroy yourselves and make yourselves an object of cursing and mockery for all the nations of the earth. Have you forgotten the sins of your ancestors, the sins of the kings and the queens of Judah and the sins that you and your wives committed in Judah and Jerusalem? To this very hour, you have shown no remorse or reverence. No one has chosen to follow my word and decrees that I have given you and your ancestors before you. Therefore, this is what the Lord of Heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says I am determined to destroy every one of you. I will take this remnant of Judah, those who were determined to come here and live in Egypt, and I will consume you. They will fall here in Egypt, killed by war and famine. All will die, from the least to the greatest. They will be an object of damnation, horror, cursing and mockery. I will punish them in Egypt, just as I punished them in Jerusalem, by war, famine and disease. Of that remnant who fled to Egypt, hoping someday to return to Judah, there will be no survivors, even though they long to return home. Only a handful will do so.
Speaker 1:Then, all the women present and all the men who knew that their wives had burned incense to idols, a great crowd of all the Judeans living in the northern Egypt and southern Egypt, answer Jeremiah. We will not listen to your message from the Lord. We will do whatever we want. Lord, help us. We will burn incense and pour out liquid offerings to the queen of heaven. We'll talk about her in just a minute, just as much as we like, just as we, our ancestors and our kings and officials have always done in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, for in those days we had plenty to eat and were well off and had no troubles. Sure, you did, verse 18. But ever since we quit burning incense to the queen of heaven and stopped worshiping her with liquid offerings, we have had great trouble and have been dying from war and famine. Now pause for just a moment.
Speaker 1:What they just said was is we've always been burning this, since we have rather been burning this incense to this queen of heaven, which, by the way, was a Babylonian goddess, most likely called Ishtar. She was a goddess of war and fertility. So you would worship this goddess by killing folks and by having sex. That's how you worship this goddess. And they were saying ever since we quit worshiping this goddess, we've had problems, but in all the days that we did worship her, we had no trouble. Really, oh really, do you notice that Judah has been destroyed? Do you notice all these bad things that are going on? But you're saying it's the grass is always greener kind of thing. Right, it's a selective memory. And so they're saying our problem is not that we don't serve Yahweh, our problem is that we haven't been sinning enough. And so they say this in verse 19,.
Speaker 1:Besides, the women added do you suppose that we were burning incense and pouring out liquid offerings to the queen of heaven and making cakes marked with her image without our husbands knowing it and helping us? Of course not. Pause. So your excuse is do you mean to tell me that you think that our husbands didn't know that we were sinning? Well, of course they did. They were sinning with us. That's your excuse. That actually more people were doing bad. Wow, that's terrible. That is horrible. Verse 20.
Speaker 1:Then Jeremiah said to all of them, men and women alike, who had given him that answer, of them, men and women alike, who had given him that answer do you think the lord did not know that you and your ancestors, your kings and officials and all the people were burning incense to idols in the towns of judah and in the streets of jerusalem? It is because the lord could no longer bear all your disgusting things that you were doing that he made you an object of cursing, a desolate ruin without inhabitants, as it is today. All these things happened to you because you burned incense to idols and sinned against the Lord. You have refused to obey him and have not followed his instructions, his decrees and his laws.
Speaker 1:Jeremiah said to all of them, including the women listen to this message from the Lord, all you citizens of Jerusalem who live in Egypt. This is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says. You and your wives have said we will keep our promises and burn incense and pour out our liquid offerings to the queen of heaven. Then you and you have proved by your actions that you meant it. So go ahead, carry out your promises and your vows to her, but listen to this message from the Lord, all you Judeans now living in Egypt. I have sworn by my great name, says the Lord, and my name will no longer be spoken by any of the Judeans in the land of Egypt. None of you may invoke my name or use this oath, as surely as the sovereign Lord lives, for I will watch over you and bring you disaster and not good. Over you, and bring you disaster and not good. Every one of you from Judah who is now living in Egypt will suffer war and famine until all of you are dead. Only a small number will escape death and return to Judah and Egypt. Then all those who came to Egypt will find out. Those words were true Mine. Whose words were true? Mine or theirs? And this is the proof that I give you. All that I have threatened will happen to you and I will punish you here. This is what the Lord says I will turn Pharaoh Hephora, king of Egypt, over to his enemies who will want to kill him, and just as I turned King Zedekiah of Judah over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Speaker 1:Wow, so, in other words, there's been a big old debate that just happened. And the debate was is these women, these particular women, came up and said you know what our problem is? Our problem isn't that we don't worship Yahweh. Our problem is that we have stopped worshiping the queen of heaven, asherah, this false god, and ever since we've stopped worshiping her, that's been our problem. And then Jeremiah says from the Lord. He says do you really think that God didn't know that you were worshiping this false god? And their reply was wait a minute. It wasn't just us worshiping this false god. Our husbands were with us. It's like, well, okay, so wasn't just us worshiping this false god? Our husbands were with us. I was like, well, okay, therefore, there's blame to go around. Great, here's the thing You're going to die.
Speaker 1:Sin has consequences. If you're unwilling to turn from God, there's consequences. That's why the title of today's chapter could very easily be God Sees it All, or the one I wanted to go with. Sometimes we're just stupid. Sometimes there's a reason why bad things are happening to us. Now I want to always make sure I nuance this, because sometimes bad things happen to good people. Sometimes you got sick and you did nothing wrong. You just live in a sin-cursed world and God wants to bring healing to you in one way or the other. So never think that because bad things happen to you, it's only because of sin. Sometimes bad things happen to good people. And then, with that said, some of us just got the stupid gene. You know what I'm saying and I'm going to be the first one to raise both my hands, and if you could see my feet, they're up. Okay, I am not innocent of this. Some of us just be dumb. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:We sin, we do all the things we know we're not supposed to do, and then we get mad at God when he lets us suffer the consequences of our sin. It's like if somebody robs a bank, and then they get mad at God when they get arrested and go to jail. God, how could you Dude, how could you go rob a stinking bank? And so it's like God is not a get out of jail free card. God loves us. God saves our soul from sin, death and hell, but if we are stupid, he will let us experience the penalties for our stupidity. And what he's going to say to us many of us, just like he said to these folks is let me put it to the test. You follow my word and watch what happens, or follow yourself and watch what happens. As the old phrase used to say, the proof is in the pudding. You do it. Let me know how it goes.
Speaker 1:Honestly, the truth of it is that many times that's exactly what happens in our life, isn't it? We get into this mode where we keep doing our thing and for a season, god lets it go. God gives us grace, but we think that because God is giving us grace, we think God is giving us permission, and that's not what's happening. Grace in a season does not mean permission, because if God's word says it's wrong, it's still wrong. Even if you don't experience the punishment of God in the moment, it doesn't mean that he doesn't see it. That was one of the things that stood out to this in me in my life excuse me, not in my life, but in reading this was how, when they were basically saying we've been doing this and Jeremiah came back and he said you really think God didn't see that? He's like, oh, oh you, you thought, because God didn't judge you immediately, that he was cool with it. No, he was giving you grace. No, he was giving you grace.
Speaker 1:And I would say that to all of us as a challenge Just because God has not immediately brought judgment because of the sin we find ourselves in, does not mean he doesn't know. God's grace is not always God's permission, and if you are looking for well, god didn't judge me, so he must be okay with it. That is so very dangerous Instead. That's why we're doing this every day, that's why we're reading God's word every single day, because I don't want to live by emotion. I want to live by what God's word says. I want to live by what he is letting me know, what is true and holy, because I want to be as close to him as possible. I want God to be able to move in my life and I don't want God to have to punish me because of my sin, and so, therefore, I'm always wanting to turn to him and say God, I don't want to live according to your delayed grace, your delayed judgment. Because of grace, I want to live in holiness.
Speaker 1:Now, that doesn't mean we get it right. We're going to fail all the time, but we're always going to fail forward. So I want to ask you this question Is there something in your life that you know is wrong? You know God's word says you shouldn't do it, but because God has not judged you for it yet, are you thinking that God's winking at you? God's saying, hey, we're just going to let that one slide. Can I tell you that's not what God's trying to do. He's trying to give you grace so that you can repent and remember.
Speaker 1:When we repent of our sin, it's not because God somehow needs that, it's because we need that. We need to get away from the sins so we can get close to him and we can be healed of that brokenness. God's fine either way. So when he tells us not to do something, it is for our own good that he does it. So what do you need to turn over to him today? Let's pray God. Thank you so much for today. Thank you for your word, thank you for your truth. I pray you'll reveal to us anything that we need to turn over to you In Jesus' name. We pray Amen. And what God's word says in Jeremiah 29, verse 13,. It says If you look for me, wholeheart.
