Jeremiah 42

Hey, good morning morning, welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We are at jeremiah chapter 42 Uh, this johannan guy has taken a bunch of people down to egypt Let's let's go to jeremiah. What's up with this? Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll figure out what's going on here Let's pray god you are good.
You're good always constantly Let me thank you for your word We pray as we read your word today that you would help us to understand it. Lord, we pray that you would apply it to our lives. We pray that we would know who you are, walk in your ways, your spirit would teach us. We need your help, Lord. In Jesus's name we pray. Amen.
We go to Jeremiah chapter 42. Now all the captains of the forces, Johanan the son of Korah, Jezaniah the son of Hoshahayim, and all the people from the least to the greatest came near and said to Jeremiah the prophet, please let our petition be accepted to you and pray for us to the Lord your God for all this remnant, since we are left but a few of many, as you can see. that Jehovah your God may show us the way in which we should walk and the thing we should do.
Then Jeremiah the prophet said to them, I have heard indeed. I will pray to Jehovah your God according to your words. And it shall be that whatever the Lord answers you, I will declare it to you. I will keep nothing back from you. So they said to Jeremiah, let the Lord be true and a faithful witness between us. If we do not do according to everything which Jehovah your God sends us by you, whether it is pleasing or displeasing, we will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send you.
That it may be well with us when we obey the voice of jehovah our god, right? So essentially the people are coming to jeremiah. They're saying hey, please pray to the lord for us We're going to do whatever he wants. We're just a few in number things are not going well Jeremiah says all right. I'll pray for you. They say great.
We'll do whatever jehovah says Well, verse seven, and it came, and it happened after 10 days that the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah. Then he called Johanan, the son of Korah, all the captains of the forces which were with him, and all the people from the least even to the greatest, and said to them, thus says Jehovah, the God of Israel, to whom you sent me to present your petition before him.
If you will remain in this land, then I will build you and not pull you down, and I will plant you and not pluck you up, for I relent concerning the disaster that I have brought upon you. Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom you are afraid. Do not be afraid of him, says Jehovah, for I am with you to save you and to deliver you from his hand. and I will show you mercy, that he may have mercy on you, and cause you to return to your own land.
But if you say, we will not dwell in this land, disobeying the voice of Jehovah your God, saying, no, but we will go to the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor be hungry for bread, and there we will dwell. Then hear now the word of Jehovah, O remnant of Judah, Thus says Jehovah of Hosts, the God of Israel, if you wholly set your faces to enter Egypt and go to dwell there, then it shall be that the sword which you feared shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt. The famine of which you were afraid shall follow close after you there in Egypt, and there you shall die. So it shall be when all the men who set their faces to go to Egypt to dwell there They shall die by the sword by famine and by pestilence And none of them shall remain or escape from the disaster that I will bring upon them All right.
So what's essentially Jeremiah say anything? Hey stay here. It's gonna go. Well, don't be afraid of the chaldeans God's got your back. This is going to be fine But if you go to Egypt all the things you think you're gonna find their peace and food well-being it's not gonna happen It's going to be the opposite. Don't disobey the Lord stay here For thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel My anger and my fury have been poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem so my so will my fury be poured out on you when you enter Egypt and you shall be an oath an Astonishment a curse and a reproach and you shall see this place. No more The Lord has said concerning you Oh Judah O remnant of Judah, do not go to Egypt.
Know certainly that I have admonished you this day. For you were hypocrites in your hearts when you sent me to Jehovah your God, saying, pray for us to Jehovah our God. And according to all that Jehovah your God says, so declare to us and we will do it. And I have this day declared it to you.
But you have not obeyed the voice of jehovah your god or anything which he has sent you by me Now therefore know certainly that you shall die by the sword by famine and by pestilence In the place where you desire to go to dwell All right, what's jeremiah saying? He's like look You're not gonna listen to me. You've never listened to me. You came under false pretense You said you would hear the lord, but you don't actually want to and so you're just gonna go And you're going to die and it's not going to go well with you. And that's where we end. So what's this whole section about?
Well, Johanan and the other people want to go to Egypt. They told Jeremiah to pray. Essentially, they want Jeremiah to give them a blessing, to be able to go and they'll get a blessing. And the Lord says, no, don't go, stay. And Jeremiah realizes they're not going to listen. So that's what this is about. They want to go to Egypt. They ask Jeremiah to pray. Jeremiah prays. God says stay. The people, he knows, won't.
So what's the best verse to summarize this in my Bible? Verses 19 through 22. I think that last paragraph really gets at the heart of things. And I think verse 21 probably. 21 is uh Is I think maybe at the heart of this but let's go ahead and talk about c calling What are we called to do and I want to ask you about your prayer life?
When you go to the lord in prayer And you bring your petitions when you come to the lord and you pray Do you pray because you want certain things And when the answer isn't what you want You listen Do you submit or do you turn away when you go to god's word because you want to find out what god wants to you Then turn away from what he says when it's not what you want I gotta say this one of the things that's heartbreaking as a pastor and even as just a christian friend to people i've seen people do this where They'll want something of the lord and so they'll pray they'll even fast some of them will go and they'll do bible studies and such and then there's something that they actually want that they know that God doesn't want them to have doesn't want them to do and What they end up doing is what they wanted to do anyways, and it's kind of like well, why do you even pray? Why do you even open up your bible right if you knew what you were about to do isn't godly isn't holy isn't biblical God's not gonna bless that That's I'm not trying to browbeat you here I'm saying we need to come humbly before God We come to the Lord.
He is the sovereign God And we thank him that all of his wrath has already been poured out on Jerusalem and they should have been able to rest in that and then keep his commands and trust him and love him and have a great life and Instead, they're desiring something else, comfort outside of the Lord's word, outside of his will. And that's us too. God's wrath has been poured out upon Jesus Christ.
And when we are in Christ and we are building each other up in Christ, when we are loving one another in Christ, when our life is hidden in Christ and Christ is our hope, when we're living our lives Based on what god has said about who we are in jesus and and how to live in jesus. Then there's blessing with that But so often if you're like me I just find myself Not living that way at times and every time it hurts it's not good So we rest in his son Do we repent of the ways in which we find ourselves doing undebatable and wrong things? And do we live in Christ? Do we walk in Christ? Do we listen to his word even when we don't like it and conform our lives and seek to do his will and not ours?
It's the only something the Holy Spirit can do in us to make us actually want that. Let's go ahead and pray. Father, you indeed have called us to walk in your ways. And so Father, we pray to you, please help us to do so. Help us to know you, to love you, to heed your word, and to follow in your ways. We pray this in Jesus's name. Amen. May the Lord bless you. May you find your life hidden in Christ, and may you love him and walk in his ways always. I'll see you next time. Bye.