Jeremiah 28

Hey, hey, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. Maybe you've not been here before and I've realized it's been a while since I've talked about what we're doing here and why we're doing it. And so before we get into Jeremiah chapter 28, which is kind of like this Object lesson with a false prophet types of why are we even in Jeremiah? What's going on?
Well, my goal is to make it through the entire scriptures teaching devotionally going through not clickbaity not quickly, but giving time to every chapter of the Bible so going through all of scripture even the boring parts and the ugly parts and so this year what we're doing is we're going through a series of j's so we went through joshua and we went to james and then judges we're doing jeremiah now we're We'll do what we did first John as well, but we'll do second John third John Joel Jude And so what we'll just keep our way kind of this year.
It's kind of Old Testament New Testament Old Testament New Testament That's the way I designed it this year, but we've gone through the Gospels. We've gone through the poetic and wisdom literature. We've gone through a bunch of Pauline epistles before, right? And so that's my goal is to try to make it through all the scriptures eventually.
And so Monday through Friday, you and I, we get together, we have a cup of coffee, we pray, we get into God's word, and we grow in our love for the Lord together. So that's what this is about. That's why we're here. So let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into Jeremiah chapter 27. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much that you, the king and almighty maker and master of the universe, have given us your word. And Father, we pray that as we read your word this morning, you would help us to understand it. Give us wisdom, Lord. Give us insight, but give us hearts, that we might just not be filled with head knowledge, but that you would take that knowledge and soften our hearts and teach us to walk in your ways. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Here we go. Jeremiah, chapter 27. In the beginning of the reign of... Oh, nope, sorry. Chapter 28.
And it happened in the same year, at the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Azur, the prophet, who was from Gibeon, spoke to me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priest and of all the people, saying, Thus speaks Jehovah of Hos, the God of Israel, saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon.
Within two full years I will bring back to this place all the vessels of Jehovah's house that Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, took away from this place and carried to Babylon. And I will bring back to this place Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, and all the captives of Judah who went to Babylon, says the Lord. For I will break the yoke of the king of Babylon." And this is a direct response against what Jeremiah had said in chapter 27, where he had said that the king of Babylon was coming, it was like a yoke, you gotta bear under the yoke, and if you bared under Nebuchadnezzar's yoke, you would live and it'd be good.
But don't believe those who are saying that the articles that he had taken from the temple were gonna be brought back quickly. And so now here's this other guy. Here's this Hananiah dude whose coming is also a prophet, comes from Gibeon, and he says it's not true. It's going to come back in two years. And break the yoke of the king of Babylon.
And then the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the prophet Hananiah in the presence of the priests and in the presence of all the people who stood in the house of the Lord. And the prophet Jeremiah said, Amen. Yehovah do so. The Lord perform your word which you have prophesied to bring back the vessels of the Lord's house and all who were carried away captive from Babylon to this place. Nevertheless, hear now this word that I speak in your hearing and in the hearing of all the people. for the prophets who had been before me and before you of old prophesied against many countries and great kingdoms of war and disaster and pestilence. As for the prophet who prophesies of peace when the word of the prophet comes to pass, the prophet will be known as one whom the Lord has truly sent." And so he says, this is great. I'm hoping the same thing. May the Lord bless your word. But it's got to actually happen.
Then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke of the prophet Jeremiah's neck and broke it. And Hananiah spoke in the presence of all the people, saying, Thus says Jehovah, Even so I will break the yoke of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon from the neck of all nations within the space of two full years. And the prophet Jeremiah went his way, right? He takes the yoke that Jeremiah has been using as a subject lesson to show of the kingship of Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, and Hananiah breaks it.
And he said, No, two years from now, this is done. Jeremiah goes away. I'm not sure he knows what to think of this. He hopes it's true, but something may seem a little bit off. Verse 12. Now when the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, after Hananiah the prophet had broken the yoke from the neck of the prophet Jeremiah, saying, Go and tell Hananiah, saying, Thus says the Lord, You have broken the yokes of wood, but you have made in their place yokes of iron. For thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, I have put a yoke of iron on the neck of all these nations. that they may serve Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, and that they shall serve him. I have given him the beasts of the field also."
He says, no way, man. God comes to Jeremiah and says, no, not just a yoke made out of wood, something you could break, but a yoke of iron, heavy, oppressive. It's like you're captured in a bondage of slavery that you're not able to get out of. He says it's way worse than what he thinks it is. It's actually the opposite of his prophecy.
So what's Jeremiah do? Well, verse 15, then the prophet Jeremiah said to Hananiah the prophet, hear now Hananiah, Jehovah has not sent you, but you make this people trust a lie. Therefore, thus says Jehovah, behold, I will cast you from the face of the earth. This year you shall die because you have taught rebellion against Jehovah. That's a dangerous thing for Jeremiah to do.
Because if a prophet prophesies something in the future, And it doesn't come to pass that a false prophet should be killed. Jeremiah is really putting his neck out on the line, trusting the Lord that what the Lord has said to him is actually true, and that this guy is going to die within this time frame.
What happens last verse, verse 17? So Hananiah, the prophet, died the same year in the seventh month. It comes to pass. What does that show? Jeremiah is a true prophet. And so we need to ask ourselves to understand this, our A, B, C's. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So what is this about?
This is about this coming of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. God is the one who's bringing this pagan king and he's giving over his temple, he's giving over the city, he's told Jeremiah this is what's going to happen, he's given the people opportunities to repent and even opportunities to willingly submit to this king so they might not suffer. But this false prophet Hananiah comes, he prophesies a lie, and Jeremiah now knows the people won't listen to the Lord because they like the good news rather than the true news. And he prophesies that he's going to die, and Hananiah dies. So that's what this is about. God's purpose is still going forth. Jeremiah being a true prophet. King Nebuchadnezzar is going to come again. Heavy yoke. The articles aren't coming back quickly. The exiles aren't coming back quickly. It's going to take 70 years. So that's what this is about.
What's the best verse to summarize this? So B, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I have 15 and 16 underlined. Maybe you would underline something else. Feel free to let me know down in the comments if there's something else you would want to underline or highlight as the best verse that summarizes this section. Well, I see you calling. What are we called to do? How does this call us to action or how does this point us to Jesus Christ?
There are many people, even today, who will call themselves prophets. who say all sorts of wonderful things to people, talking about them getting better, being able to raise again from the dead in this life, like I'm talking about, like, oh, if you get sick and die, God will raise you from the dead. false prophet that, man, I'll never forget this.
It was so horrible. There is this charlatan, this false prophet, this pastor who was going around and he told this family when their child died that God would raise him again from the dead. And he didn't mean like at that last great day when Jesus comes back and there's a general resurrection of the dead. That's not what he's saying. He was saying God would at his funeral, raise him from the dead. And didn't raise him from the dead. And this spiritually abusive and horrible person, what did he do after that? He told his family it was because they didn't have enough faith. Where has God given that type of prophecy to any pastor today to be able to say those types of things? That's spiritually abusive. It's wrong. The guy was a liar. should have been ashamed and walked away with his head low and never show his face speaking for the Lord again. It's bogus.
And these types of things that even people call themselves Christians today, they may wear slick suits and they may make you feel like your life is just great and everything's going to be wonderful and you're never going to have pain in your life and you'll get the healing that you're praying for and that financial hardship you're dealing with, well, that could just go away. And they'll make big, huge grand promises and prophecies about, well, this war is going to end and this is going to happen and wealth is going to flow and all these things. And it's to line their own pockets Popularity Paul will talk about it like tickling people's ears But that's not what the scriptures do for us God tells us the truth.
And so we look into the mirror of God's Word. We see the world for who it is. We see our hearts for who we are. And we have to turn. We have to turn away from our own sins. We have to deal with who we are that God says we are. Look at the nations for how God evaluates the nations. And we have to walk in His ways. We have to trust in Him. Because there's going to be severe hardships, man. I mean, Jeremiah knows that he is the Lord of hosts. He is Jehovah, the God over all the armies. And yet God is giving over Jerusalem to King Nebuchadnezzar.
And yet he still trusts in Him. He still follows Him, even though it's hard. Because that's true faith. And so we trust in Him. We don't have to follow the charlatans who are just promising us a good life, just tickling our ears. We believe in even the hard things that God tells us because He tells us it, and so we believe it. So that's where we are. I think that's our call to action. I think we trust what Jesus says. If they hated Him, They'll also probably hate us. We're not greater than our Master. In this life there will be hardships and trials and tribulations. And so we trust in Him. We may be naked and poor. There may be famine and chaos. The poor will always be with us. And yet we await the day of our Lord's coming again. So we trust in Him. We trust that He went to go and prepare a better place for us. We trust His promises. We trust His Word, the good and the hard, because He is the Lord. He's not an idol of our own making.
Let's pray. Father, we pray that we would trust in You. We know that there are hard things You've said in Your Word. There are things that we emotionally, intellectually may not like. But yet we trust in you, Lord. And so we pray that those things that are difficult for us, that you would humble us.
Make us die to self and live unto you. Teach us to walk in your ways and trust you always. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Lord, bless you. May He protect you and preserve you from the charlatans and the wolves in sheep's clothing. May you go to His Word and be Bereans. May He fill you with His Holy Spirit. And may you grow more and more in sanctification and holiness and in love. I'll see you next time. Bye.