Jeremiah 38
Real Hope Sets You Free!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Monday, May 6.
Do you want people to tell you what you want to hear or what you need to hear? In Jeremiah 38, the military leaders of Jerusalem threw the prophet into a cistern; verses 4-5 explain why:
Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.” So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.”
Though the prophet was rescued from certain death at the muddy bottom of the cistern, he was kept under house arrest until his prophecy was fulfilled, as Jeremiah 38:28 explains, “So Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guardhouse until the day that Jerusalem was captured.” When the king went to the discarded prophet, Jeremiah confronted him with his conundrum (14-23). He gave the truth to the weak king like a surgeon utilizes a scalpel for good, in hopes of removing cancer from a sick person’s body.
Real hope is meant to set you free from the sin nature that seeks to grip you in its unbridled pursuit of making for itself a personal utopia on Earth. Jesus came to rescue you so that you can live for God as eternal citizens of Heaven. You need to hear this truth, so that you can surrender to a real hope for the future. Like He did for King Zedekiah, God is giving you a choice to make – live by fear of what could be or live by faith of what will be.
Seize the moment and surrender to God and you shall have rest for your soul. In Christ, your glory days are always ahead of you!
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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