Think about this with me and turn to Jeremiah 40. Jeremiah 40 as we look at the last stories about the prophet Jeremiah tonight.

We have A LOT of ground to cover tonight. These stories span from chapter 40 through chapter 44. Five long chapters.

When we last left off, Jerusalem had been completely destroyed by the Babylonians and just about everyone who was left was either killed or taken to Babylon. Of course, this is exactly what Jeremiah said was going to happen for over forty years.

But now what? Jerusalem is in ruins, almost everybody is gone, and Jeremiah is there with a small ragtag group of leftovers. When Babylon came in and destroyed Jerusalem, they took everybody who was anybody. Anybody that had any skill, any gifting, any background at all, was taken captive and dragged to Babylon. What was left was the absolute poorest of the land.

Babylon was done with the line of David. They were done with the royal family. So they picked a faithful guy by the name of Gedaliah to be the governor of Judah. And they left him in charge of all of these people that were the remnant there in Judah.

Jeremiah had the option to go to Babylon where he would be well taken care of or to stay in Judah with these poor people that were left over. And his heart was in Judah. So he stayed in Judah.

Now Judah was in ruins, Jerusalem was no more. All of the wealthy and gifted people were taken away. But that doesn't mean that God was finished with the people that were left over.

Are you in Jeremiah 40? Let's read verses 7 to 12.

7 Now when all the captains of the forces which were in the fields, even they and their men, heard that the king of Babylon had made Gedaliah the son of Ahikam governor in the land, and had committed unto him men, and women, and children, and of the poor of the land, of them that were not carried away captive to Babylon;
8 Then they came to Gedaliah to Mizpah, even Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and Johanan and Jonathan the sons of Kareah, and Seraiah the son of Tanhumeth, and the sons of Ephai the Netophathite, and Jezaniah the son of a Maachathite, they and their men.
9 And Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan sware unto them and to their men, saying, Fear not to serve the Chaldeans: dwell in the land, and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.
10 As for me, behold, I will dwell at Mizpah to serve the Chaldeans, which will come unto us: but ye, gather ye wine, and summer fruits, and oil, and put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that ye have taken. to serve: Heb. to stand before
11 Likewise when all the Jews that were in Moab, and among the Ammonites, and in Edom, and that were in all the countries, heard that the king of Babylon had left a remnant of Judah, and that he had set over them Gedaliah the son of Ahikam the son of Shaphan;
12 Even all the Jews returned out of all places whither they were driven, and came to the land of Judah, to Gedaliah, unto Mizpah, and gathered wine and summer fruits very much.
Jeremiah 40:7-12

You see, it turns out that while this battle with the Babylonians was going on, there were guerrilla forces that ran to the hills. And when they saw that the battle was over, that Gedaliah was the governor, they came back. They came out of their hiding places. There were also Jewish people that had run away to other lands, and when they saw the stability of the land under Gedaliah, they came back to Judah.

Now, notice the word of Gedaliah, what he said to these men. He said, dwell in the land, serve the king. It's going to be well with you. Go reap your harvest, reap your wine and your fruits and your oil. Dwell in the cities that you're at. And it's going to go well for you.

And that's exactly what some of the people did. Some of the Jews, despite this hard time, were doing okay.

You know, God had brought terrible judgment to Judah because of their sins. But it was the judgment of discipline. It was not the judgment of punishment. God was not trying to end Judah. He wanted His people to do well. Like a loving parent who has to bring discipline to his child. That loving parent doesn't rejoice to see his children suffer. And he wants to see the suffering over as quickly as possible. That was God. God wanted to bless these Jews, this remnant that was left behind. He wanted them to stay there and to be faithful and to be blessed, to show that God had not abandoned the land. That God had not abandoned His promises.

And what we're going to see is that the people messed it up. These people that were left over couldn't leave good enough alone.

Warren Wiersbe, commenting on these last four chapters of Jeremiah, said,

The one thing we learn from history is that no one learns from history.

And that's what we're going to see here. These people just saw God's words to Jeremiah come true. They just witnessed what judgment for idolatry looks like. Jeremiah had said over and over again, go to Babylon, don't fight against Babylon. If you fight against Babylon, the city is going to be completely destroyed. Your people are going to be killed. You're going to be taken captive. It will be much better for you if you just accept the judgment that God has brought to the land. And every word Jeremiah said came true. And Jeremiah is still there. You think people would listen to him. But they didn't.

So the first lesson I want us to take from this story tonight is this:

1. After judgment, God still wants to bless obedience.

Listen, our God is a gracious God. Our God is a forgiving God. He is not interested in continually punishing His people. He brings judgment to bring about His ends. He brings judgment in our life, discipline in our life, to make us holy. But He doesn't want to be this cosmic killjoy that just brings ruin on us over and over again.

Church, listen, God is out to bless you if you are in Christ, not to destroy you. The greatest lie the devil tells is the lie that God is out to get us somehow. It's the lie he told Eve in the Garden of Eden. That's the lie people have been following ever since. But that's just not true of our God. God is gracious. God wants good for us. And His discipline is a sign that He wants good for us.

God loves you enough to not let you continue in your sin without consequences. God loves you enough to correct your bad behavior. But he's not doing it to hurt you. He's doing it because he loves you.

Imagine a man being wheeled out of a hospital with an angry look on his face, saying, "Bad doctor. That doctor cut me. He took a knife and he cut me. He cut into me." Well, yeah? Why did he do that? "Well, there's cancer inside me and he cut me and he cut it out. That doctor cut me!"

God is like a wise doctor with a scalpel, trying to cut the sin out of our life in the least invasive way possible. He's not up to get us.

But when we fail to trust him, we can mess it up. We can sin against his grace. And that's what we're going to see in this story.

Look at verses 13 to 16.

13 Moreover Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were in the fields, came to Gedaliah to Mizpah,
14 And said unto him, Dost thou certainly know that Baalis the king of the Ammonites hath sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to slay thee? But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam believed them not. to slay...: Heb. to strike thee in soul?
15 Then Johanan the son of Kareah spake to Gedaliah in Mizpah secretly, saying, Let me go, I pray thee, and I will slay Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, and no man shall know it: wherefore should he slay thee, that all the Jews which are gathered unto thee should be scattered, and the remnant in Judah perish?
16 But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam said unto Johanan the son of Kareah, Thou shalt not do this thing: for thou speakest falsely of Ishmael.
Jeremiah 40:13-16

One of the relatives of the Davidic line, a guy named Ishmael, was part of the group that came back to Judah after Gedaliah had it settled. And Johanan goes to Gedaliah and says, you need to watch out for Ishmael. He's been sent to kill you. And Gedaliah says, no, don't worry about it. I've eaten with Ishmael. He's a good guy. He's not going to do this thing.

Look at verses 1-3 of chapter 41.

Just like this guy had warned Gedaliah, Ishmael takes ten guys with him and comes and murders Gedaliah. Ishmael then goes on a murderous rampage, killing everybody that he can. There are eighty people coming into the city to worship, and Ishmael kills seventy of them. Ten buy their lives with treasure they have in the field. He gathers everybody up. He's going to take them to Ammon.

When somebody realizes that there's more of them than there are of Ishmael, they rise up. The same guy that warned Gedaliah — Johanan — drives Ishmael off and becomes the leader of the people.

A second lesson we can take from this story is...

2. One treacherous man can ruin it for a whole remnant.

Why did Ishmael do this thing and murder Gedaliah? The Bible doesn't tell us, but it does give us a couple hints. We do know that he's a greedy man. He was paid by the king of Ammon to do this. That's probably one reason for his murder. It also could have been personal. Ishmael is a son of David, a relative of Zedekiah, who has just been horribly mistreated and taken to Babylon. It could be that Ishmael saw himself as a patriot trying to avenge the death of his relatives. It could be that he was jealous that he didn't get to be the next in line to lead.

Whatever the case, this one man with a chip on his shoulder did more of the devil's work than one man should be able to do. Children of Judah, even though they were living in ruins, were having it pretty good. And God wanted them to stay there, and God wanted them to be blessed. And this one guy taking things into his own hands really messed things up for them.

My pastor and mentor, Pastor Scallions, used to tell me all the time. I mean, he probably told me this dozens of times. He said, "Ryan, the biggest problems you're going to make are when you're trying to clean up other problems. You have to be wise."

Often, what happens is, people feel that they have a just cause. They see some problems, some perceived injustice, and they think they're the only person that can do anything about it, and they get just overwhelmed with the urge to act, and they end up doing something very hurtful and very damaging.

Let's keep reading and see what happens next. Let's read verses 16-18:

16 Then took Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces that were with him, all the remnant of the people whom he had recovered from Ishmael the son of Nethaniah, from Mizpah, after that he had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, even mighty men of war, and the women, and the children, and the eunuchs, whom he had brought again from Gibeon:
17 And they departed, and dwelt in the habitation of Chimham, which is by Bethlehem, to go to enter into Egypt,
18 Because of the Chaldeans: for they were afraid of them, because Ishmael the son of Nethaniah had slain Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, whom the king of Babylon made governor in the land.
Jeremiah 41:16-18

Johanan is the guy that tried to warn Gedaliah, and he becomes the leader of the people that are left. These verses kind of give us what happens. It says, he leads them to Egypt because they are afraid of the Chaldeans. They are afraid because Ishmael has killed Gedaliah that they can't stay. They think that Babylon is going to come and avenge them terribly. And so they make their way to Egypt.

But not before what happens in chapter 42. So let's look at chapter 42, the first six verses there.

1 Then all the captains of the forces, and Johanan the son of Kareah, and Jezaniah the son of Hoshaiah, and all the people from the least even unto the greatest, came near,
2 And said unto Jeremiah the prophet, Let, we beseech thee, our supplication be accepted before thee, and pray for us unto the LORD thy God, even for all this remnant; (for we are left but a few of many, as thine eyes do behold us:)
3 That the LORD thy God may shew us the way wherein we may walk, and the thing that we may do.
4 Then Jeremiah the prophet said unto them, I have heard you; behold, I will pray unto the LORD your God according to your words; and it shall come to pass, that whatsoever thing the LORD shall answer you, I will declare it unto you; I will keep nothing back from you.
5 Then they said to Jeremiah, The LORD be a true and faithful witness between us, if we do not even according to all things for the which the LORD thy God shall send thee to us.
6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the voice of the LORD our God.

This remnant led by Johanan comes to Jeremiah and says, please, Jeremiah, pray for us. Pray that God will tell us what to do. Whatever God tells us to do, we're going to do. If God tells us to stay, we'll stay. If God tells us to go, we'll go. But pray for us.

And so that's exactly what Jeremiah does. He says, okay, and he goes and he prays. And he waits for an answer from God, and it takes 10 days for him to get his answer from God. And he comes back to the people and he tells them what God said. And God's word was, stay. Do not go to Egypt, but stay here. If you stay here, God will protect you. God will bless you. But if you go, God will destroy you in Egypt.

And here's the sad thing. They didn't want to hear what God had to say. They were hoping that God would rubber stamp what they were already doing. God revealed to Jeremiah that they'd already made up their mind. When Jeremiah told them what God had said, they got angry at Jeremiah and they called him a liar. They accused him of having his secretary, Baruch, make all of this up.

So, a third lesson for us tonight is this.

3. Don't seek God's will as a rubber stamp.

A lot of Christians do this. You know, they'll go to a pastor and they'll say, Pray for us, pray that God will give us direction on what to do. But they've already made up their mind.

When people just want God to rubber stamp what they're already doing, that's not true religion. That's superstition. That's using God as a rabbit's foot, as a good luck charm. And that's not how God works.

When you come to God, come to Him for direction, not for a rubber stamp on what you're already doing. That's not how God works. God is God. He is the I Am. He is the rock. When you come into contact with Him, you break, not Him. He doesn't move aside His will for your desires.

In chapter 43, they go to Egypt, just like they were going to, and they take Jeremiah with them. Jeremiah is kind of a captive against what God wanted them to do.

Jeremiah is forced to go down to Egypt with them. This poor guy cannot even die in his own land.

But look what happens in 43 verses 8:

8 Then came the word of the LORD unto Jeremiah in Tahpanhes, saying,
Jeremiah 43:8

God gave a message to Jeremiah in Egypt. Listen, those people could run from what God told them to do, but they couldn't run from God's Word. Their geography didn't make what they were doing any less disobedient.

And Church, a fourth lesson for us tonight is that

4. You can't run from God's Word.

God's Word will find you however far you flee. You can get on a ship going to Tarshish and God's Word and God's will will catch up with you there. You cannot run from the Lord and from His will for you.

God's Word is God's Word. You can plug your ears. You can try to run away from it. You can try to drown it out with other voices. But it's still God's Word. And it will still judge what is right and wrong.

In chapter 44 Jeremiah is given one final revelation. One final message of warning for these people. He does what He has always done - He warns them with tears in his eye that if they don't repent and do what God says, that God will judge them. He reminds them of their history and how God has judged them in the past. He passionately preaches to them to go back to God's will and go back to Judah.

But I want you to look at verses 15-18 of chapter 44 with me. Look at what the remnant says:

15 Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying,
16 As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the LORD, we will not hearken unto thee.
17 But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. queen...: or, frame of heaven victuals: Heb. bread
18 But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine.
Jeremiah 44:15-18

They just come out and say it. We want to do what we want to do. They say "when we were worshipping the false goddess - things were good. It was only when we stoppepd that things got bad."

And look who is leading this rebellion here. It is the women. It was the women who were leading in much of the idolatry - and there husbands were just going along. And they straight up say "we are going to do out thing.

Church a final and sad lesson from this story is...

5. Even when God speaks clearly, most people cling to their idols.

That's what these folks did. Even after God brought discipline, after Jeremiah's words came true exactly as He had said - they still plugged their ears and said "we are doing our own thing."

Never underestimate people's willfullness to do their own thing. They might want to put Christian clothes on it, but people are so often just determined to do what they want to do.

The story ends with a question mark. We aren't told what happened to these exiles in Egypt. Whether they repented or not. I hope they did. We know that there was a faithful group of jewish exiles in Egypt in the time of Christ.

But we don't know. What we do know is that this group stiffened their necks in rebellion against God - when God only always wanted good and blessing for them.

Folks you can do your own thing - but the best blessings come from doing God's will. You can run to what seems safe to you - but the safest place to really be is where God wants you.

As we close out these stories about Jeremiah - its kind of ironic that Jeremiah's life ended like it always did. He was an unpopular preacher preaching a message faithfully that people didn't want to hear.

He did that for forty years.