Not Promised Great Things: Baruch

All right, well, again, welcome to Hope Lowertown and those of you who haven't met me, and my name is Brian, lead pastor here and excited to open God's Word with you together this morning, we've been in a summer series called Cloud of Witnesses. And we kind of been jumping all over the place, but this is kind of framed off of Hebrews chapter 12 where it talks about how we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses. Let us throw off everything that hinders. And we are surrounded by people who have gone before us, people who point us to Jesus. And we've been taking some pretty smaller, well, unknown characters or lesser known characters, and last week even looking at someone who is nameless, but just how they point us to Jesus. And so we're going to be doing that again this morning and ultimately in verse three, that we are going to consider him. And so even though these people didn't even know who Jesus was, especially as we even see this morning, just an Old Testament random dude, how they point us to Jesus and how they help us to consider him who endured such opposition from sinners that you will not grow weary and lose heart. So today's sermon is titled Not Promised Great Things. And this is by a guy named Baruch and from specifically Jeremiah 45 and a couple other places that I'll read. I'm reading from the niv, but I'll have all the scriptures up on the screen so you can follow along there. If you want to follow along the text, you're more than welcome to do that. All right, this is, let's see the first point here. Context, context. Context is always important. And that's where this is hard in this series because we are introducing someone new and the character and what's going on and who we talking about. And so it can be a little bit difficult. And so let me just fly through a lot of the history of the Old Testament nation of Israel. And so Israel is surrounded by other nations that have kings. And so they say, hey, we want a king. And God warns them, no, you don't want a king. And they say, no, we do want a king. And so they. They choose Saul from among them, not because he was a good leader, but because he was just a big dude. He was bigger than everybody else and he was a warrior king. And that's what they wanted. And so they chose Saul. But he quickly loses the favor of God for doing priestly duties that he was not allowed to do as a king. And we then see David, King David, who's anointed and then his line takes over. And he has a son, Solomon. And Solomon has two sons, Jeroboam and Rehoboam. And already the kingdom is going to split right there after four different kings. And so we have Jeroboam, who is the king of Judah. And so I want to read from First Kings to kind of set up where we're going to be in our sermon here. This is from First Kings, chapter 13 says this. By the word of the Lord, a man of God came from Judah to Bethel as Jeroboam was standing before the altar to make an offering. And by the word of the Lord, he cried out against the altars. This is just some unnamed prophet. Altar, altar. This is what the Lord says. A son named Josiah will be born to the house of David. On you will sacrifice the priests of the high places who make offerings here, and human bones will be burned on you. That same day, the man of God gave a sign. This is the sign the Lord has declared. The altar will be split apart and, and the ashes on it will be poured out. And this is a prophecy. 300 years before King Josiah takes the throne, he's gonna take the throne as a descendant of David. And this does happen. And so Josiah, he takes the throne when he was 8 years old, he becomes king. I have an 8 year old and I can't imagine my 8 year old being king. I can only imagine what would happen to a kingdom if that were the case. I'm sure he had help, as you would imagine. But as they're renovating the temple, he kind of rediscovers. What's the, what we, what we think is the book of Deuteronomy. And Deuteronomy has this, all these beautiful laws. And Josiah repents and the nation kind of reforms because they were worshiping false gods. And so he tears down idols and so thus fulfilling the prophecy about him in First Kings. And so there's a national repentance there. And Josiah has two sons. His younger son Jehoahaz is made king, but he's not going to be king for long. He's going to be deposed by Pharaoh Neco II from Egypt. And he's going to make Jehoiakim the king. And so we are introduced to this guy Jehoiakim, and he's not a good guy, he's not like his father. And in order to pay back his benefactor, the one who put him on the throne, he thinks it's a wise idea to go into the temple and take sacred items that were put Apart and set apart for service to the Lord that were holy, that were not to be touched by anyone other than washed priestly hands. And he says, we're going to take these items and we're going to give it to Pharaoh. So that would make him look on me with favor and keep me as king. And so not necessarily a wise guy in this story. And so then we're going to be then introduced in our story Jeremiah the prophet. And Baruch, who is the scribe prophet, is someone who's going to receive the word from the Lord and is going to relay that message to God's people. The superhero, if you will, of the story. And Beirut, kind of the sidekick. He's just kind of along for the ride, but lacks the supernatural power, if you will, of his counterpart, Jeremiah. So let me just read this text, and I'm going to go Back to Jeremiah 36, and I can probably summarize it, but let me just read it as a summary, if that makes any sense. Jeremiah 36 says this in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah. So we just kind of went through that history. King of Judah, this word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you concerning Israel, Judah, and all the other nations from the time I began speaking to you in the reign of Josiah until now, perhaps when the people of Judah hear about every disaster I plan to inflict on them, they will each turn from their wicked ways, and then I will forgive their wickedness and their sin. So Jeremiah called Baruch, son of Neriah. And while Jeremiah dictated all the words the Lord had spoken to him, Baruch wrote them on the scroll. Then Jeremiah told Baruch, I am restricted. I'm not allowed to go into the Lord's temple. This wouldn't have been a ceremonially unclean restriction. It would have made that use a different word for that within the Hebrew, that this is most likely a political rejection from Jehoiakim, that he's most likely under house arrest. In the next chapter, we're not going to read it, but he actually physically is arrested, but he's not allowed in the presence of Jehoiakim in Jerusalem, so he's restricted from going into the king's presence. So he says, hey, I want you to do this. Go to the Lord's temple. And so you go to the house of the Lord on the day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read Them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. And so I'm just gonna skip this. But he does this. He ends up reading this. And they say, there's this warning that's gonna go out to Israel and to Judah. It says. So Barak read it to them. And when they heard all these words, they looked at each other in fear and said to Baruch, we must report all these words to the king. And they asked beirut, tell us, did you. How did you come to write all this? Did Jeremiah dictate it? Yes, Baruch replied, he dictated all the words to me, and I wrote them in ink on the scroll. And the official said to beiruch, you and Jeremiah go and hide. Don't let anyone know where you are. So we don't know exactly what was written on the scroll, but we know that they believed the king would be upset, very upset. And so they said, you need to go hide. So they put the scroll in the room of Eliasham, the secretary. And he went to the king in the courtyard and reported everything to him. The king sent Jehudi. I love that name. To get the scroll. And Jehudi brought it from the room of Elisham. I'm probably not saying it right, but it's fun to read it that way. The secretary to read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. And it was the ninth month. The king was sitting in the winter apartment with a fire. Fire burning in a fire pot in front of him. And you're like, that's. That seems like a weird thing to add. Cool. He's. He's keeping himself warm. Why would they add that? Well, it makes sense when we keep reading. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with the scribe's knife and threw them into the fire pot until the entire scroll burned with fire. So all of his people are like, hey, you probably shouldn't do that. He does it anyway. And then it says, baruch, the scribe and Jeremiah. The prophet started to. He goes to. He says, arrest them. Arrest Baruch and Jeremiah. But the Lord had hidden them. After this, the king burned a scroll containing the words Baruch had written. At Jeremiah's dictation, the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, Take another scroll. So he goes and he does it again, and he writes another scroll and he says, go back to the king. And the exact same thing happens again. Therefore, this is what the Lord says about Jehoiakim, King of Judah, right? He's going to be punished. They have not listened. So Jeremiah took another scroll and gave it to the scribe Baruch, son of Nero. And as Jeremiah dictated, Baruch wrote on it all the words in the scroll that Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire. And many similar words were added to them. And again, the king gets that second scroll and destroys it. Okay, so what can we learn about. About Beirut? Beiruch is a partner in prophetic suffering. This is something that we've. In our history at Lowertown here over the past eight years, we've looked at a couple prophets in the Old Testament. There's some that's called prophetic performance art, where a prophet will physically reenact or live a certain way to demonstrate God's relationship with Israel. They're performing something physically to be observed and seen to show the relationship of God with Israel. And so prophets do this. And a lot of times it's not a good thing. It's, I want you to eat bread that's been cooked over dung. I want you to marry a woman who's gonna be unfaithful to you, and I want you to stay faithful to her because that's my relationship to you. And so we see this. But we see here that Beirut is kind of drawn into this, right? He's the sidekick along for the ride, even though he's not the main character. Because Beirut is just the sidekick. And it reminded me of the infamous. Well, probably one of the greatest movies of all time. That's a joke that you're like, it's not Batman and robin, right? From 1997, we've got Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze, and he's got all these obnoxious puns in the movie which now make it kind of a cult classic. But one of them is when he freezes Robin and says, stay cool, bird boy. Right? It's just this, right? Why he's just a sidekick, right? And I can imagine if you're Robin going, hold on a second. I'm just along for the ride. You should be freezing, Batman. And so we have Beirut kind of along for the ride in. In amidst the suffering of the prophet and what we can learn from this. And sorry if that's just ridiculous and derailed everything, but we're going to keep moving along. Is that obedience isn't hardly ever easy. Is that a double negative? That doesn't make. You know what I'm trying to say there. Obedience is hardly it. It's. It's rarely easy, okay? Is what I'm trying to say. Obedience is Rarely easy sometimes. And this is. I'm preaching to myself here, sometimes, I expect. We expect that faithfulness to God will lead to recognition. It will lead potentially to success. And in a lot of ways, I think. We think that faithfulness to God will lead to comfort, ease, peace, but it may lead to rejection, to invisibility and hardship. We see this very clearly in Baruch and what we're going to look at in this third point, warning and comfort. And the main kind of text for this morning, just a few verses, the entire chapter of Jeremiah 45, but it's just five verses. It says this. When Baruch son of Neriah, wrote on a scroll the words Jeremiah, the prophet dictated in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, Jeremiah said this to Beiruch. So now the prophet says, I have a word for you. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says to you. Baruch. This is rare. This is rare. This is Yahweh. This is the creator of the universe. Addressing Baruch by name, God shows his divine attentiveness to the suffering behind the scenes. Nobody knows who Baruch is other than Jeremiah and maybe a few other people. He's. He's. He's the sidekick, he's the minor player. And yet God shows attentiveness. He's not forgotten by God, even though he's not the main character. This is what God says to Beiruch. Baruch, you said, woe to me. The Lord has added sorrow to my pain. I am worn out with groaning and find no rest. Beiruc here is obviously weary. He's been cast out. He's been put out. He's been arrested. Why? Why is he weary for doing exactly what God told him to do? Baruch has been arrested and beaten and cast out for doing exactly what God asked him to do. Verse 4. But the Lord has told me to say this to you. This is what the Lord says. This is what Yahweh says. I will overthrow what I have built, and I will uproot what I have planted throughout the earth. Should you then seek great things for yourself, do not seek them, for I will bring disaster on all people, declares the Lord. But wherever you go, I will let you escape with your life. Like, hey, this is what a good message for today? This is. This is great. God is saying, I am tearing down the nation and you're asking for a promotion. Reminds me of John Hammond, right at Jurassic park, where he's like, to Nedry, hey, hey, hey. Our lives are in your Hands and you've got butterfingers, right? Everything is being destroyed and you want a promotion Right now there's tension here. God doesn't promise Baruch a great name or a large following, but he does promise his life, which is more than we are guaranteed. We serve a God who often says no to earthly comfort, but yes to eternal reward. I'm going to say that again. We serve a God who often says no to earthly comfort, but yes to eternal reward. A 1st century historian, Tacitus, says this about individuals who were new Christians, new followers of Jesus, who gave their lives, who were martyrs. The confessed members of this sect of Christianity were arrested next on their disclosures, where vast numbers were convicted and then derision accompanied their end. They were covered with wild beast skins and torn to death by dogs. They were fastened on crosses and when daylight failed, they were burned to serve as lamps by night. Nero had offered his gardeners for the spectacle. He gave exposition. Excuse me. Yeah. Exhibition in his circus, mixing with the crowd the habit of the charioteer or mounted on his car, basically mounted them as a hood ornament on his chariot. Hence, in spite of a guilt which had earned the most exemplary punishment, there arose a sentiment of pity due to the impression that they were being sacrificed not to the welfare of the state, but to the ferocity of a single man. Nero, one of my professors, in his book A Doubter's Guide to Jesus, which is a phenomenal book I'd encourage you to read it, says this. The words of Mark 8:34. If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Must have had special resonance for the first followers of Jesus. They had watched their king suffer and die, and now they were required to walk the same path. I want to share a story of this guy, R.C. sproul, who is featured on my my T shirt. It's a one of a kind custom made. He tells a story. He was a professor and he was teaching and he had very strict rules and forgive me if I've shared this before, but I think it's applicable this morning. He's sharing that. He says, hey, here's the syllabus. Here's when this paper's due. I don't take late papers. If your paper is two seconds late, it is a zero. You don't get a grade for that paper. That's it. That's the rules. You turn it in on time. Made it very clear everyone had to sign it. So what happens? First paper's due and what happens? Someone comes and says, hey, there was an emergency, couldn't get the paper in. Can you show me mercy? Can I turn this paper in? He says, class, I made it clear, what should I do? And they say, no, it's okay. Show him mercy. He says, okay. So he does, and he grades the paper for him. The second paper's due, and instead of one person being late, there's now 20 people that turn their papers in late. Why? Well, because he had shown mercy. He showed grace, and he said, hey, class, 20 of you turn your papers in late. What should I do? Show mercy. Okay, I'll show mercy and I'll grade their papers. This happens again and even more. You get the point of the story. But then he gets up there in front of his class and he said, I did this on purpose. Right? Why? Because he's a sadistic genius, I guess. But he says, I was trying to teach you a lesson. And that is a lot of times when God shows us grace and shows us mercy, we start to expect it and then we start to demand it. But when he shows justice, when he does what he said he was going to do, we get upset. Again, God often says no to comfort. And when we experience the unmerited grace and mercy of God, we get complacent and we start to expect it, even demand it. So when God is just, we get mad. We think we deserve more, but we don't. God often says no to comfort, but yes to eternal reward. Again, John Dixon says this. How can Christians possibly hope to convince Westerners that Jesus Christ came to serve, suffer and save them if they're thought of as bullying, grumbling and grasping for cultural ground? Only when the followers of Christ are known for denying themselves and taking up their public crosses will they begin to look like the one they claim to represent. So let's consider him the Christ Jesus. He was a man of sorrows, well acquainted with grief. Yet through his obedience, even to the point of death, not comfort. The King of Kings didn't even seek comfort. And yet he brought salvation through his suffering. Isaiah 53, 3:6 says this. Prophesying about the Messiah says this. He was depressed and rejected by mankind. A man of suffering, familiar with pain, like one from whom people hide their faces. He was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he will look on our pain and bore our suffering. Yet we considered him to be punished by God. Stricken by him and afflicted, he was pierced for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was placed on him. And by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray. He has turned to our own. We have each turned to our own way. And the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Jesus is the better Beiruch. He carried the ultimate burden of the Word of God. By being the Word of God, he faced rejection and was faithful to the end. And however, unlike Baruch, Jesus was not spared his life, but he gave his life so that we could have it for eternity. The cross proves that God's love is not measured by ease, but rather by eternal security. And let me just close with this that God sees you. Sorry, I'm not feeling so well right now. My heart rate's okay. Guess we'll keep going. I'm almost done. Let me just read this. For those serving in quiet roles, volunteers, caretakers, weary parents, God sees your faithfulness like Hagar, like Mephibosheth, like Josiah. Josiah, not Josiah, like Jonathan that we've seen in this series already. He might not reward it now, but he will. And the greatest of these rewards is hearing from the Father. Well done, my good and faithful servant. My question for us this morning is, is that enough? Most days it is enough for me. And yet some days, and this is a wild statement, some days I feel like I deserve more than just eternal salvation. Isn't that wild? Last night, a friend of mine texted me Psalm 73, 25 and 26 that says this. Whom have I in heaven but you and earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. So in Gospel application, do you demand or expect mercy and grace from God, who has given you rest for your souls through Christ, even in the midst of your faithfulness? And again, I know this might feel like a downer sermon. That wasn't my intention. My intention is that we would see Jesus, that we would consider him who endured suffering, that being a follower of Christ isn't always rainbows and sunshine and peace and blessing. It's not that. It is one of quiet faithfulness and maybe suffering, because that is what Jesus did. The cross proves that. That our. That the love of God is not given to us by reward. It's not measured by ease, but the love of God is rather measured by eternal security. We're going to have communion like we have every week at Hope Lowertown. And so we've got the body of Christ, the bread that represents his body. We've got the juice that represents his blood that was shed for us. And so as we take these elements we can remember, we could viscerally kind of this prophetic performance art of our own, where we get to viscerally taste and remember and see that he is good, that he was nailed to a cross and yelled out, it is finished. That we can't add anything to the finished work of Christ. I can't be good enough. I can't do something good enough and think I deserve something more than the finished work of Christ on the cross. You don't need to be a member of this church or any church, but if you're a follower of Jesus, like a genuine disciple of Christ, where you would say, yeah, sometimes it is hard, sometimes it is difficult, Sometimes I feel like I want more than eternal security. But if you say, yeah, that's the Jesus I follow, then I would love for you to partake of these elements with me. The worship team's gonna come back up, they're gonna sing two songs. And so take the elements as you see fit. Sing, pray, repent, confess, whatever you feel. Let me pray. Father, thank you for our time this morning. You are good. You're always good, even when we don't deserve it. The cross proves your love for us by giving us eternal security. Thank you for not being just. Because if you were just with us, I think that we would all cease to exist a long time ago. You are good. Thank you for Christ and his cross. We pray these things in his name. Amen.