Finding Hope in the Midst of a Prophecy of Judgment

This morning I finished my study on the Book of Jeremiah. The amazing thing about our God is that He is a God of hope. As one reads through Jeremiah it is easy to get bogged down by its continual prophecies that speak of the judgment that a life of sinful rebellion against God will bring. Jeremiah himself is known as “a man of sorrows”. It is easy to see a parallel of America today and its blatant rejection of God and wonder just how much longer God will allow us to be so blessed when as a nation we have turned our back on Him.

Yet the final words of Jeremiah take an incredible turn.  I offer them here.

Jeremiah 52:31-34
And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-fifth day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he became king, lifted up the head of Jehoiachin king of Judah and brought him out of prison. And he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king according to his daily need, until the day of his death as long as he lived.

God is a god of hope and in the final words of Jeremiah comes a picture of hope and that hope is Jesus Christ.  Though the name of this king of Babylon sounds ominous, Evil-merodach, the literal meaning of his name means servant of son of God. Go back over that passage and see the picture of Jesus in his actions toward Jehoiachin.

1. He lifted up the head of Jehoiachin. This first act of compassion we see reminds us that no matter how dark we fallen into the dungeon of sin, Jesus will lift us up.

2. Next we see he brought him out of prison. Jesus sets us free from the prison of sin. Jesus preached publically first from the Book of Isaiah as we read in Luke 4:18, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed.”

3. Next we see that Evil-merodach “spoke kindly to him.” Jesus always comes to us with kind words, even when He calls attention to our sinfulness.

4. Next we see that Evil-merodach “gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon.” Jesus gives His children a place of prominence as well, having made us ambassadors and saints in His kingdom.

5. Because of the prominence given Jehoiachin, he “put off his prison garments.” Jesus has done the same for us. He has given us His robe of righteousness so that we can stand before our holy God. Isaiah 61:10, “I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”

6.  And finally we see that Jehoiachin “dined regularly at the king's table” and he was given “a regular allowance… by the king according to his daily need, until the day of his death as long as he lived.” Jesus feeds us continually and as Christians we are invited to the great feast of communion where we remember the great things He has done for us as our king.

God is a God of hope and that hope is available to all who will call on the King of Kings, Lord Jesus. Seek Him today and let Him lift your head and free you from the chains of sin as He speaks kindly to you. Let Jesus raise you up to sit with Him, the King of all and rejoice as you receive the robe of righteousness He longs to place upon you. Then come and dine with Him at the table He has prepared for those who accept the invitation for if you do you shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever and mercy and goodness shall follow you all the days of your life.

Looking Back at the OT and How it Affects Us Today

This afternoon's scripture is very important to understand in terms of both our nation's moral demise and in our own walk with Jesus.

Romans 15:4
For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

Personally I have been studying the OT for a good while now and find myself currently in Jeremiah. The OT is filled with warnings about the dangers of sin and idolatry. No one believes more than I in the power of God's grace, being the sinner I am I have certainly been given more than most. But as Paul has written here in Romans 15:4, to think we can write off these warnings in the OT as not applicable to us today, is quite simply insane.

Galatians 6:7-8 is New Testament fellow Christians. I suggest it be a scripture we preach to our selves daily as we examine ourselves.
"Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life."

We must study the Bible in its entirety. People like to say "Don't judge me." Then I strongly suggest we judge ourselves and that we do it against God's Word.

Revival starts in our own hearts. We need to spend less time going on and on about the sins of the world and the sins of others and start looking inward. This does not mean we don't speak out against public evil. It means we become Christ-like so that the world can see His light and wants to be in that light.

The OT message is no different than the NT message. Repent and believe on the name of Jesus. Its our only true hope.

Helping Each Other Run the Race Called Life

Heard a great sermon today based on Hebrews 12:1-3, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."

Not only did our Pastor ​talk about the things that weigh us down as we serve God through our faith, he spoke about the need to come alongside each others as brothers and sisters in Christ to help us not grow weary and to help each of us run this race.

Looking back at the past several weeks in my own life and looking at the many struggles many of my fellow Christians are currently going through it is impossible not to see how hard this life is. Trying to fight through the temptations of this life which seek to distract us from being who we are supposed to be is a huge spiritual battle. We must watch out for each other and be the hands and feet of Christ. We must live out Galatians 6:2 which says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ."

This begins with prayer and no matter where we are this is something we can do for each other. But we must not stop there. We must do everything we can to help each other run this race. Even if it means we pick somebody up and carry them. And we have to stop with the "Well, it’s his own fault, he's getting what he deserves" attitude.

Romans 5:8 says this,”…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

There is no greater love than the love that dies for another. Let us die for each other even though we sin against each other. This is what it means to be Christ-like.

Remebering My Dad

Today were he still alive would be my dad's 92nd birthday. I think he's been gone for 21 years now and as anyone who has lost loved ones know you never stop missing them. In memory of my dad I thought I'd share a story about a small adventure we had one time that speaks as to the kind of man he was.

 
My memory has faded over the years but I think it was probably 1968 and I was 11 years old. My grandfather was living in a little town called Wittenberg, Mo in the south-east part of the state. It is just off the Mississippi river and prone to flooding. My dad had worked all day roofing and it was probably after 7 before he got home. He got a call from a relative that said that my grandfather had decided to stick out the flood and now was cutoff and isolated in his house by flood water. The phones were out, no such thing as cell phones in 1968, so no one knew if he was ok.  So my dad decided to head down to Wittenberg and check on him.

I have no idea how I ended up being in on this adventure. My dad was a man with no fear and believed his son should be raised with the same type of courage. No wonder my mom was a nervous wreck living with a man, who not only had no fear of anything and lived life that way, she had to worry if at any time he might get her only son killed in the process of getting himself killed.

So off we went on a mission of that in retrospect seemed crazy. The trip to Wittenberg was about 100 miles from our house so it was after 10 PM before we got down there. The roads were closed and we didn’t have a boat so the only way in was to walk. There are railroad tracks that run along the river, probably the same line that you can see from the JB Bridge and they are built up a little higher than the roads usually. Somehow dad found a place that we could get to the tracks and decided we would walk the tracks all the way into town and find my grandpa.

Imaging how dark it was in 1968 walking down a rail line in a rural area. Flashlights in 1968 were pretty basic and not real powerful. I remember that both of us carried only a basic two D-cell flashlight. I remember that it was pitch black. As we walked down those tracks the farther we walked the deeper the water started getting. I was always small for my size and was much shorter than my dad. As the walk progressed he told me to follow him and hold on to the back of his shirt so I didn’t get lost. So that’s what I did.

I remember being pretty scared during that journey but that wasn’t allowed so I kept my mouth shut. As the water got deeper and was now up to my chest all I could think of was the warnings I had heard on the news about how flood water is dangerous and you could get bad diseases like typhoid from being in it. But I trusted my dad and hung on to his shirt like my life depended on it. Actually it did.

I will never forget this until I die. I’m walking along in complete darkness, water up to my chest, when suddenly I stepped into what seemed like a hole the depth of the ocean. I didn’t see it coming and all of a sudden was completely submerged having lost my hold on his shirt. I was swallowing flood water and not being much of a swimmer I figured it was all over.

Isn’t it amazing how time seems to slow down in times of peril? But just when I was about out of hope this hand reached down and pulled me out of the water. And that is my dad, who he was. Though my dad did not allow his son to live life without danger, he was always there when I needed Him. I think one reason I am a man of strong faith in God is because I had a father who could be depended on to save you if you needed saving. Just like our Heavenly Father, my father was a man who you could trust.

So he carried me through the deep water until we got to a point where I could walk again. Somehow we made it to my grandpa’s house that night. I don’t remember much about the trip after I went under except that we got there and slept on the second floor of the house because I think there was water in the first floor.

When morning came we found and old boat and my dad rowed all three of us out, probably against the wishes of Grandpa who was as stubborn as a mule.

I am thankful for the memories of my dad on this July 5^th. He taught me how to be a man though I will never be half the man he was. So I try and be there for people like he was. By no means was my dad a perfect man but he loved people and was willing to do anything he had to help them. He loved unconditionally and like I tell my Christian brothers and sisters; I never heard my dad talk about Jesus but he lived his life more like Jesus did then any Christian I have ever met. We can talk all we want about our Christianity but if we aren’t willing to die for others in every way then we are not where we should be. I thank God for my dad and the great adventures we had.