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Life in the Midst of Death

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• Jeremiah chapter 45, verses 1 through 5. The title of the message is "Life in the Midst of Death." That is life in the middle of death. I do have a subtitle, and that is "A Survivor in Judgment." So life in the midst of death. Let's read Jeremiah chapter 45, beginning with verse 1: "The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch. Thou didst say, Woe is me now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow.

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• I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest. Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all the places that thou goest."

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• We're going to be looking at this verse and this passage in just a little while in a very particular way. But until we get to the passage, I want to give you several rather large introduction passages. It should be obvious to anyone that knows their Bible that America is under judgment. It should also be obvious to anyone who has the discernment to look around and see what is happening that we are under judgment as well. God is and has been judging our country in numerous ways, and as bad as it is now, I'm afraid it's going to get even worse.

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• You must remember the judgments that have been listed in Amos chapter 4 increased in their severity and in their intensity with each refusal to repent and return to the God of Scripture. God is immutable. He does not change. Therefore, as He has judged other nations in times past, He will likewise judge America. I have consistently repeated my dismay, disapproval, and contempt for meteorologists that attribute every type of foul and inclement weather to Mother Nature. In doing so, they take the weather out of the realm of the supernatural and place it in the realm of chance, fate, and fortune, and raw, uncontrolled nature.

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• We are given specific words concerning that. I want you to hold Jeremiah 45, but look in your Bibles to the book of Job chapter 37, and we'll begin reading there with verse 9. I want you to note this, Job chapter 37, beginning there with verse 9. Notice what the Bible says, Job 37 and verse 9. The Word of God says, "Out of the south cometh a whirlwind,

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• and cold out of the north. By the breath of God frost is given, and the breadth of the waters is straightened. Also by watering he wearieth the thick cloud, he scattereth his bright cloud, and it is turned round about by his counsels, that they may do whatsoever he commandeth them upon the face of the world and the earth." Now, note that the Bible says very clearly that it's God who commands the clouds, the rains, the frost, everything, that they may do what He commands.

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• And notice, if you would please, verse 13, "He causeth it to come," that is, the weather, "whether for correction, or for his land, or for mercy." So God, then, is in control of all the weather. Weather, like any other judgment, is under the hand of God. So when drought and tornadoes and hurricanes and floods and other destructive forces are attributed to nature rather than God, it is not only a denial of God and His sovereignty, it also causes people to disparage and deny the hand of God has been turned against them.

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• So instead of repenting or seeking the cause of destruction, they simply chalk it up to chance or fate or fortune and go right on their merry way in their sin and in their rebellion. I'll guarantee you, those people that have been affected by Sandy, very few of them have said, "Let me check and see why God sent this our way. Let me repent of my sins and let me understand the cause of God's judgment in this area." However, let me point this out: as much as people want to deny the hand of God in judgment, there comes a time when God makes it so clear that it is absolutely impossible to deny the hand of God. Let me show you.

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• I want you to turn to the book of Exodus chapter 10 and look at verse 7. I want you to note what the wise men said to Pharaoh. Look in Exodus chapter 10 and verse 7. Here it is very plainly stated, Exodus 10 and verse 7, "And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? Let the men go that they may serve the Lord their God.

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• Knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed?" They said, "What's wrong with you? Are you blind? Can't you see the hand of God has done all this, and Egypt is basically destroyed?" If you would turn over to the book of Ezekiel chapter 6. Ezekiel chapter 6. And look, if you would please, at verse 14. Ezekiel chapter 6 and verse 14. Here's another clear statement. I could go through the entire book of Ezekiel and show you this over and over. But in Ezekiel chapter 6 and verse 14, God says, "So will I stretch out my hand upon them, and make the land desolate, yea, more desolate than the wilderness toward Diblath, in all their habitations, and they shall know that I am the Lord." What did God say? "I'm going to stretch out my hand. I'm going to make their land desolate. It's going to be more desolate than the wilderness, and they shall know that I am the Lord."

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• Now, my point is, if necessary, regardless of the nation, God can indeed make it very painfully and clearly obvious that it is His hand that is turned against the people, and it cannot be attributed to chance, fate, or fortune. When you and I, or when anyone doubts and denigrates and denies His smaller and lighter judgments, He can always make Himself known in more severe judgments. It's just like when you were a child or when your children were young and you gave them fair warning and you may have given them a little pop or a little tap. But if they continue to overlook that and deny it and continue on their ways, it got rougher and it got harder and it got more severe as well. So as we try to ignore God's smaller warnings, they will always increase in intensity and severity.

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• That's why in Micah chapter 6 and verse 9, the scripture says, "Hear ye the rod, and him who hath appointed it." So if you won't listen to God's words, God said, "I've appointed my rod."

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• Now, the context of this message today is set in the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. He saw the fall and destruction of Jerusalem. He not only wept over the fall and destruction of Jerusalem, He also wept over the wickedness of the people and their rebellion against God and their refusal to listen to the Word of God and repent. I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of Jeremiah chapter 9. Let me just show you why he's known as the weeping prophet. Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 1 first. Jeremiah 9 and verse 1. Look what Jeremiah says.

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• "O that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." Notice how he's weeping over the people that are slain. Look in Jeremiah 14 and verse 17. Jeremiah 14 and verse 17. God says, "Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them, Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease. For the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach and with a very grievous blow." And then if you would turn right over to the book of Lamentations right after Jeremiah and look in Lamentations chapter 2 and verse 11. Only five chapters in Lamentations. Lamentations 2 and verse 11. Look what Jeremiah said, "Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured out upon the earth for the destruction of the daughter of my people, because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city." In other words, people were basically starving to death.

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• Now, here's the point. God had repeatedly warned Judah and Jerusalem over and over. He had sent His messengers, the prophets, yet they would not hear them, they would not receive them, and they would not repent. They refused His Word, and they would not receive instruction. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 6. I'm trying to set you up for the message to follow, but look in Jeremiah chapter 6, and let's begin reading there with verse 8 and read through verse 15. I want to show you how recalcitrant and stubborn and wicked the people were by not listening. Jeremiah chapter 6, beginning there in verse 8. We're going to read through verse 15. Jeremiah 6 and verse 8. God says, "Be thou instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate and a land not inhabited."

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• "Thus saith the Lord of hosts, They shall throughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine: turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets. To whom shall I speak, and give warning, that they may hear?"

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• Now look, "Behold, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach; they have no delight in it. Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of days. And their houses shall be turned unto others, with their fields and wives together: for I will stretch out mine hand upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely."

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• "They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord." Note, if you would, God is saying, "You wouldn't listen.

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• I sent instructors, you would not hear." Jeremiah himself warned the people. I want to tell you what God has done. I'm going to show it to you in the scripture from Jeremiah. God has sent Nebuchadnezzar against Judah and Jerusalem. But He didn't just send him against Judah and Jerusalem. He sent him against the entire area. All of those countries there. He basically gave all of those nations into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar so that Nebuchadnezzar might smite them and chastise them and judge them. So I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 27. And let's begin reading there at verse 5, Jeremiah 27, and verse 5. And I want you to look how God sovereignly gave all of these nations into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

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• Notice what he says specifically in regards to life and death. Jeremiah 27, verse 5. God said, "I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands," not just Judah and Jerusalem, but "now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord, with the sword, and with the famine, and with

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• the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: for they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and that ye should utterly perish. But the nation that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord;

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• and they shall till it, and dwell therein. I spake also unto Zedekiah king of Judah according to all these words, saying, Bring your necks under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him and his people, and live.

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• Now look, "Why will ye die, thou and thy people, by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, as the Lord hath spoken against the nation that will not serve the king of Babylon?" Why will you die?

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• Now here's what Jeremiah said, and you would have to read through the book of Jeremiah to understand this. God had given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. By the way, one of the reasons that Zedekiah said he did not want to surrender to Nebuchadnezzar was because there were some that were already in captivity. He was afraid that they would abuse him. So he's willing now to die and to let all of his people die. By the way, Zedekiah was captured and he watched Nebuchadnezzar slay his own sons.

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• And then he had his eyes put out. So the last thing that he saw was his sons being slain. And then he was carried away into captivity and chained and died in Babylon. God says, "Why would you die? Why would you not listen to me?" You know, it's interesting and it's amazing to me that people had rather die than to obey God. You know, we were told in the Bible that His yoke is easy and His burden is light. Yet somehow people get it into their heads that submission to God is servitude and slavery and that submission to sin and wickedness and rebellion is liberty and freedom. They get it just backwards. They think if they serve God, then they're a slave. The greatest freedom and the greatest liberty is in serving the one true and the living God that has revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Everybody tells me, "Well, you know, I'm not a slave to sin. I can stop anytime." Well, why don't you stop? You see, the truth is you can't stop because you are a slave.

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• And our Lord said, "Whosoever committeth sin is the servant" or the slave "of sin." You know, the Bible says in James 4 and verse 6, "But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble." Now, the Bible says that God resists the proud. That literally means that God fights against the proud, sets Himself in battle array against the proud. And here were these people who were very proud, very arrogant, very haughty. That doesn't remind you of any of our politicians, I know, or any people in our country. But here these people were, proud, haughty, arrogant, and God said, "All right, I'm going to bring you down."

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• I want to show you how determined God was to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. I want you to look, if you would please, to Jeremiah 21. Jeremiah 21. Let's begin reading there with verse 1. Jeremiah 21 and verse 1. Jeremiah 21, verse 1. The Bible says, "Then the word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, when king Zedekiah sent unto him Pashur the son of Melchiah, and Zephaniah the son of Maaseiah the priest, saying, Inquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us: if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all his wondrous works, that he," that is, the king of Nebuchadnezzar, "may go up from us. Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them in the midst of this city, and I myself will fight

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• against you with an outstretched hand, and with a strong arm, even in anger and in fury and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterwards, saith the Lord, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and his people, and such as are left in the city from the pestilence, and from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword.

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• He shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. But unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord.

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• It shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire." Now I want you to watch this. Zedekiah the king says, "You go to Jeremiah. You ask him to pray that it might be pleasing to the Lord. He'd send Nebuchadnezzar away. That he might not fight against this city." God said through Jeremiah, "You tell Zedekiah, I'm going to turn your weapons back.

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• You're the ones that are rebelling against me. You're the ones that are fighting when I told you to submit. Not only will I aid and help Nebuchadnezzar, I myself will fight against you. I'm going to bring his army right in the middle of Jerusalem. And you and all of your people are going to be destroyed."

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• Now, you can mark something down, folks. You can put it down. When God fights against the people, they will die. It's just that simple. When God sets Himself in battle array against the people, there is nothing to expect but sure and sudden destruction. Now, I want to show you something. To me, this is absolutely astounding. I want you to consider for a moment. How many Judahites were slain by Nebuchadnezzar or that died of disease, famine, starvation? You remember that Nebuchadnezzar had come against Jerusalem actually three times. He did leave just a few of the poor alive in the land.

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• The rest he either killed or took into captivity. Now I want you to listen. The people that he left in the land were so few that when Gedaliah had been murdered, who was the governor appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, Johanan the son of Kareah, and a few other men forced all that were left to go into Egypt. That's how few they were. I want to show you something. Turn in your Bibles, Jeremiah chapter 52. Jeremiah 52. This should astound you. This should show you the sure and sudden destruction that occurs when God fights against the people. Look in Jeremiah chapter 52.

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• And let's begin reading in verse 28. Jeremiah 52, verse 28. "This is the people whom Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive: in the seventh year three thousand Jews and three and twenty," so 3,023. "In the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar he carried away captive from Jerusalem eight hundred thirty and two persons," verse 30. "In the three and twentieth year of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuzaradan the captain of the guard carried away captive of the Jews seven hundred forty and five persons: all the persons were four thousand and six hundred." Now, I do not know how many people lived in Judah and Jerusalem. You've got to remember, Judah is a whole large area. Jerusalem just happened to be the capital. Benjamin also lived in that area.

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• So all I'm trying to show you is this. Only 4,600 lived. The rest were slain, except those few poor that were carried by Johanan into Egypt. Judah was known as the Southern Kingdom. Out of that, 4,600 lived. How did God wipe them out? I want you to turn to the book of Ezekiel chapter 14. Ezekiel 14. And look, if you would, at verse 21 first. Ezekiel 14, verse 21.

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• "For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast." God says, "Here's my four sore judgments that I'm going to use to decimate and destroy Judah and Jerusalem."

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• Now, let me ask you a question. How many people, how many people were required for God to be willing to spare Sodom and Gomorrah? What was it? If you can find how many righteous? Ten righteous. Ten righteous. God said, "If you can find ten righteous." As wicked, as vile as Sodom and Gomorrah were and the cities of the plain, there was more than those two destroyed. God said, "I'll spare them." I want to show you how determined God was to destroy Judah and Jerusalem. I want you to understand.

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• There comes a time when God's mercies cease. We're in Ezekiel 14, so let's go back up to verse 12 and read now through 21. Ezekiel 14, verse 12. "The word of the Lord came again to me, saying, Son of man, when the land sinneth against me by trespassing grievously, then will I stretch out my hand upon it, and will break the staff of the bread thereof, and will send famine upon it, and will cut off man and beast from it." Watch carefully.

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• "Though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God. If I cause noisome beasts to pass through the land, and they spoil it, so that it be desolate, that no man may pass through because of the beasts: though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall neither deliver sons nor daughters; they only shall be delivered, but the land shall be desolate. Or if I bring a sword upon that land, and say, Sword, go through the land; so that I cut off man and beast from it: though these three men were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither sons nor daughters, but they only shall be delivered themselves. Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast: though Noah, Daniel, and Job were in it, as I live, saith the Lord God, they shall deliver neither son nor daughters.

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• They shall but deliver their own souls by their own righteousness. For thus saith the Lord God; How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast." I want you to stop and think. Have you ever wondered how Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, Ezekiel got into Babylon? They were among the 4,600 spared.

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• Job is known for his patience as well as his purity. He is one of the few men in the Bible of whom nothing evil is said about. Noah was a man of faith. And he prepared an ark, the Bible says, to the saving of his house. But God said if those three men were alive in the land, they would spare only their own lives. Not their families. All I'm trying to show you is this, folks, when God determines to destroy a nation, He is unstoppable.

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• In the book of Zephaniah chapter 2 and verse 3, and I preached on this verse a good while back, but let me just quote it. Zephaniah 2 and verse 3, God says, "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." It may be you shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger.

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• Now, what I want to do for the rest of my time this morning is this. I want to show you three survivors in the midst of judgment. Two are individuals, one is a group. If you look back in your Bibles in Jeremiah chapter 45, that's where we're going to start, because the first survivor in the midst of judgment, the first one that was given life in the midst of death, was Baruch, the amanuensis, or the scribe of Jeremiah. Notice, if you would, verse 1, "The word that Jeremiah the prophet spake unto Baruch the son of Neriah, when he had written these words in a book at the mouth of Jeremiah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, unto thee, O Baruch." So God is speaking specifically to Baruch in Jeremiah chapter 45. Now, Baruch had the privilege of being cast in a time when God's judgment was over the entire known world at that time. The entire land was troubled and in turmoil because of Nebuchadnezzar's conquest.

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• So the point I'm trying to make is this. When this hit Baruch, there was no place to run. There was no place to hide. So if he went to another nation, well, Nebuchadnezzar was conquering it as well. And those few who thought they were getting out of Nebuchadnezzar's anger by fleeing to Egypt, when God told them not to go into Egypt, guess what? Nebuchadnezzar conquered Egypt and he destroyed the people who disobeyed him. Now, when Jeremiah was placed in the dungeon, when he was held prisoner in the court and he could not speak to the people, he called for Baruch. Baruch was his scribe, and Jeremiah transmitted the word of God orally to Baruch. Baruch wrote it down, word for word, and then he went and stood in the temple and read the words of Jeremiah to all the people. Consequently, Baruch was under the gun.

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• His life was threatened, and the king was now after him. You can read the entire scenario for yourself in Jeremiah chapter 36.

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• Now, Baruch's problem was the same problem that is prevalent today. Baruch was doing that which was right and holy. He was obeying the prophet Jeremiah and standing with him. And in standing with Jeremiah, he was also standing in obedience to God himself. Yet, Baruch now was persecuted, maligned, and vilified. And he seems to have fainted under all of the pressure. If you look in verse 3, look what Baruch said.

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• "Thou didst say," here's what he said, "Woe is me now, for the Lord hath added grief to my sorrow. I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest."

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• Now, let me just try to paraphrase that. Can you not hear Baruch now? He sounds almost like a modern day Christian when he says something like this: "I'm undone. I shall fall into the pursuers' hands and be imprisoned and put to death or banished. Lord, that grief to my sorrow has loaded me with one trouble after another, and the grief of writing and reading the prophecies of my country's ruin, I have the sorrow of being treated like a criminal for so doing. And though another might make nothing of this, yet for my part, I cannot bear it.

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• It is a burden so heavy. It is a burden so strong I just can't stand it. I find no rest. I find no satisfaction. The Lord has turned His hand against me. Everything is going wrong." I've heard that before. "Woe is me. It's just too much. I just cannot." Now, Baruch basically was what you and I would call a good man, but you might say that this was indeed his infirmity. The problem with Baruch was this: He loved himself too much.

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• And he wished to evade the dangers of the battle, even when God had ordered him into the battle. He valued his own safety, his own comfort, and his own consolation more than the will and the Word of God. He seemed to place himself above the nation. Look what God said. After Baruch says in verse 3, "Woe is me now, the Lord has added grief to my sorrow, I fainted in my sighing, I find no rest." Here's what God said to Jeremiah: "You tell this to Baruch.

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• Thus shalt thou say unto him, The Lord saith thus, Behold, that which I have built I will break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land." It is almost as if God asked Baruch this: "Do you expect me to withhold my just and righteous judgment just for your convenience and your comfort?" That's what most American Christians expect. We don't want to be uncomfortable. We don't want to be inconvenienced. We don't want to have to live without electricity. We don't want to have to live without plenty of food and plenty of recreational toys. No. God says, "Are you out of your mind? Do you expect me to withhold my righteous judgment for your convenience?" God said, "I'm not going to do that. That which I planted, I'm going to pluck up. That which I built, I'm going to break down. Even this whole land."

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• But look at verse 5. "And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not. For behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the Lord. But thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all the places whither thou goest." You know what God told Baruch? "You're going to be inconvenienced. You're going to be uncomfortable. You're going to be plagued. But one thing you can be assured of, I'm going to give you life in the midst of death. No one will take your life. You will live. The Babylonians you're afraid of, they won't touch you. The king you're afraid of, he won't touch you. I'm going to give you your life for a prey." Here was a survivor in the midst of judgment.

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• When you stop and think of all the people that died. And yet God gave Baruch life. I want you to turn, if you would, to Jeremiah chapter 35. We read this passage a few weeks ago. I'm going to read it again very quickly. Because here is a group that God basically promised life to. I will also review and tell you the prominent truth from the last message when I read this passage. But I will also emphasize the new truth today. So look, if you would, in Jeremiah chapter 35. This is where Jeremiah has been ordered to give wine to the Rechabites. Notice verse 1, "The word which came unto Jeremiah from the Lord in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, saying, Go unto the house of the Rechabites, and speak unto them, and bring them into the house of the Lord, into one of the chambers, and give them wine to drink. Then I took Jaazaniah the son of Jeremiah, the son of Habazziniah, and his brethren, and all his sons, and the whole house of the Rechabites; and I brought them into the house of the Lord, into the chamber of the sons of Hananiah, the son of Igdaliah, a man of God, which was by

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• the chamber of the princes, which was over the chamber of Maaseiah the son of Shallum, the keeper of the door. And I set before the sons of the house of the Rechabites pots full of wine and cups, and I said to them, Drink ye wine. But they said, We will drink no wine: for Jonadab the son of Rechab our father commanded us, saying, Ye shall drink no wine, neither ye, nor your sons for ever: neither shall ye build houses, nor sow seed, nor plant vineyards, nor have any.

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• But all your days ye shall dwell in tents; that ye may live many days in the land where ye be strangers. Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he charged us, to drink no wine all our days, we, our wives, our sons, our daughters; nor to build houses for us to dwell in: neither have we vineyard, nor field, nor seed: but we have dwelt in tents, and have obeyed and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us. But it came to pass, when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up into the land, that we said, Come, and let us go to Jerusalem for fear of the army of the Chaldeans, and for fear of the army of the Assyrians: so we dwell at Jerusalem. Then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Go and tell the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, Will ye not receive instruction to hearken to my words? saith the Lord.

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• The words of Jonadab the son of Rechab, that he commanded his sons not to drink wine, are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but obey their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising up early and speaking; but ye hearkened not unto me. I have sent also unto you all my servants the prophets, rising up early and sending them, saying, Return ye now every man from his evil way, and amend your doings, and go not after other gods to serve them.

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• And ye shall dwell in the land which I have given to you and to your fathers: but ye incline not your ear, nor hearken unto me. Because the sons of Jonadab the son of Rechab have performed the commandment of their father, which he commanded them; but this people hath not hearkened unto me: therefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon Judah and upon all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the evil that I have pronounced against them: because I have spoken unto them, but they have not heard.

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• I have called unto them, but they have not answered. And Jeremiah said unto the house of the Rechabites, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Because ye have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you: therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not want a man to stand before me for ever." Wow. Now, I want you to listen.

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• You remember, I told you the very first principle in this passage. Was it here these people obeyed their father? When he gave them what you and I would call illogical commands. Don't drink wine. Don't build a house. Don't have a garden. Don't have a vineyard. Just be nomads. Live in tents. Travel around. As inconvenient and as illogical as those commands were, the Rechabites obeyed their father. God said, "How is it that you will obey the word of men, but you won't obey my word?" So what God is doing here is showing a second principle. God says, "Because these people obeyed, as illogical as those commands were, because they obeyed their father.

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• By the way, what's the fifth commandment? "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the earth." So they were actually keeping the fifth commandment. God said, "Because of that, you people will never lack for a man to stand before me." He not only spared them. He promised that there would always be someone of their descendants who would be a godly, obedient Christian. Isn't that amazing? What did God do?

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• Why did they go to Jerusalem to begin with? They were afraid of Nebuchadnezzar. God said, "I'm going to give you life in the midst of death. You'll be spared. And you'll never lack for a man to stand before me." Wow. I want you to look at one more. I want you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 38. Jeremiah 38. And we're going to begin reading with verse 1. The third man that was given life in the midst of death was Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian. Notice verse 1, Jeremiah 38, "Then Shephatiah the son of Mattan, and Gedaliah the son of Pashur, and Jucal the son of Shelemiah, and Pashur the son of Malchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto

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• all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord, He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth forth to the Chaldeans shall live; for he shall have his life for a prey, and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, This city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army, which shall take it. Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech thee, let this man be put to death: for thus he weakeneth the hands of the men of war that remain in this city, and the hands of all the people, in speaking such words unto them: for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. Then Zedekiah the king said, Behold, he is in your hand: for the king is not he that can do any thing against you." What a wimpy excuse.

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• "Then they took Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hammelech, that was in the court of the prison: and they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon there was no water, but mire: so Jeremiah sunk in the mire. Now when Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, one of the eunuchs which was in the king's house, heard that they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon; the king then sitting in the gate of Benjamin; Ebed-Melech went forth out of the king's house, and spake to the king, saying, My lord the king, these men have done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet, whom they have cast into the dungeon; and he is like to die for

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• hunger in the place where he is: for there is no more bread in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon, before he die. So Ebed-Melech took the men with him, and went into the house of the king under the treasury, and took thence old cast clouts and old rotten rags, and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah, Put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags under thine armholes under the cords. And Jeremiah did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords, and took him up out of the dungeon: and Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison." Now watch. "Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord: and the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing; hide nothing from me. Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah, If I declare it unto thee, wilt thou not surely put me to death?

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• And if I give thee counsel, wilt thou not hearken unto me? So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, As the Lord liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life. Then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah, Thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel; If thou wilt assuredly go forth unto the king of Babylon's princes, then thy soul shall live, and this city shall not be burned with fire; and thou shalt live, and thine house: but if thou wilt not go forth to the king of Babylon's princes, then shall this city be given into the hand of the Chaldeans, and they shall burn it with fire, and thou shalt not escape out of their hand. And Zedekiah the king said unto Jeremiah, I am afraid of the Jews that are fallen to the Chaldeans, lest they deliver me into their hand, and they mock me." What a sorry excuse. "But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee.

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• Obey, I beseech thee, the voice of the Lord, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live. But if thou refuse to go forth, this is the word that the Lord hath shewed me: and, behold, all the women that are left in the king of Judah's house shall be brought forth to the king of Babylon's princes, and those women shall say, Thy friends have set thee on, and have prevailed against thee: thy feet are sunk in the mire, and they are turned away back." Now watch.

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• He tells him everything that's going to happen. Of course, Zedekiah does not obey. He does not listen. Let's skip down to, let's see, verse 26. So he asked Jeremiah not to tell that he's given him these words. So verse 28, "So Jeremiah abode in the court of the prison until the day that Jerusalem was taken: and he was there when Jerusalem was taken." Let's see, let's go to verse, chapter 39 and verse 15. Chapter 39, verse 15.

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• So Ebed-Melech has gotten him out. Watch verse 15.

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• "Now the word of the Lord came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying, Go and speak to Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring my words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day, saith the Lord: and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord."

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• Now, I want you to note something. Do you remember it was the Apostle Paul who wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1, verse 8, and he said, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner: but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God." It was Ebed-Melech who was not ashamed of Jeremiah. It was Ebed-Melech who risked his life to go to the king and appeal for Jeremiah. And what did God say in the end? "I'm giving you your life as a prey." Do you realize actually what Ebed-Melech was doing was obeying the sixth commandment? The sixth commandment, "Thou shalt not kill." The positive: "Thou shalt preserve life." He was risking his life to preserve Jeremiah's life. And God said, "I've given you your life for a prey."

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• Here was the severest judgment. And God allowed Baruch to live, the Rechabites to live, and Ebed-Melech to live.

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• Now, let me make just a couple of applications. I want you to think with me. I hope you will agree with this first one. The preservation and continuance of life are very great mercies, and we're bound to give thanks to God on a daily basis for preserving and prolonging our life.

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• The more trouble that we are in, and the thicker the arrows fly around us, the more thankful we ought to be for God preserving our lives. I know you can quote it, and I know you can probably say it with me, but Lamentations 3, 22 and 23: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Do you realize the only reason that you and I are alive today are because of the mercies, the compassions, and the faithfulness of God?

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• If our society collapses—I need to rephrase that. When our society collapses and we are spared, we need to praise Him more faithfully, more consistently, and more constantly for allowing us to live. Here's a second application. There is hope for the child of God in the severest judgment. You know, the wicked have no hope. But there is hope for the child of God in the severest judgment.

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• I want you to look at one last passage. I want you to turn to 2 Peter 2 and look at verse 9. 2 Peter 2 and verse 9. It doesn't really matter what comes upon us. There is always hope for the child of God. In 2 Peter 2, verse 9, look at this blessed, blessed truth. 2 Peter 2, verse 9, you need to see it. No matter how severe the judgment, the Bible says, "The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." God knows how to deliver His own. As Zephaniah 2 and verse 3 said, "Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord's anger." Did you notice? Did you notice?

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• The individuals that were spared were individuals who were obedient and submissive and humble. The quickest way out of any tribulation and out of any trouble is by submission to God, godly humility, and godly obedience. There is life in the midst of death. And we can be survivors in judgment by obedience and honoring Him in all that we say and do. Thank you, Father, for Jesus Christ today. Thank you for His so great salvation. And thank you for the great hope that we have, Lord, that there is indeed life in death. And no matter how bad, how severe, our judgment is, the way out, the way to live, is through obedience and faith and worship in Thee. We give Thee praise for life, and we say again, it is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed.

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• Because Thy compassions, they fail not. They're new every morning. Great is Thy faithfulness. And we give Thee this praise through Jesus Christ our Lord, in whose name we pray. Amen.

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• You may contact Dominion Ministry by mail at 7400 Abercorn Street, Suite 705, PMB 175, Savannah, Georgia, 31406. Or give us a call at 912-925-7000.

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• You can also visit our website at www.dominionministry.com.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T20:48:49Z