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JEREMIAH: STAYING UPRIGHT AMIDST EVIL PRESSURES
Part VIII: Jeremiah's Personal Conflicts With Apostate Judah
A. Overcoming In Faith By Heroically Heralding God's Message
(Jeremiah 26:1-24 with 1:17)
  1. Introduction
    1. It is easy to hold to God's truth when we function among believers who sympathize with our beliefs; it is quite difficult, however, to hold to that truth when we are strongly resisted for it by an opposing throng!
    2. Jeremiah 26:1-24 with 1:17 thus provide us a strong reason to hold to the truth before such opposition:
  2. Overcoming In Faith By Heroically Heralding God's Message, Jeremiah 26:1-24 with 1:17:
    1. When God called Jeremiah to minister His Word, He told Jeremiah his hearers would reject it, Jer. 1:18f.
    2. However, God directed him not to be dismayed by this opposition or God would discipline him, Jer. 1:17! This order was necessary to protect the credibility of the truth, for if one buckles on his stand for the truth under pressure, he discredits that truth, something God can not tolerate!
    3. Well, in Jeremiah 26:1-24, we have two illustrations of how POWERFULLY this directive was fulfilled:
      1. Positively, Jeremiah stood to the truth before opponents and God kept him alive as promised (26:1-19):
        1. God directed Jeremiah to stand in the court of God's temple and tell all who were there ALL the words God had him to SAY without diminishing ANY of them, Jeremiah 26:1-2.
        2. God hoped the people would thus repent so God would not have to destroy them, Jeremiah 26:3.
        3. That message called the nation to repent at the preaching not only of Jeremiah, but at the ministry of past prophets that they repent from disobeying God's law or God would destroy the temple, 26:4-6.
        4. When the priests, prophets and people who came to the temple to worship heard this message, all of them, from priest to prophet to people, threatened Jeremiah with death, Jeremiah 26:7-9!
        5. Accordingly, court was held right on the temple grounds with the princes officiating to determine if Jeremiah should be executed for his message unto them, Jeremiah 26:10!
        6. After charges were brought against Jeremiah, he defended his cause by claiming God had sent him to proclaim all of the words the people opposed, so they were to amend their ways that God might relent from destroying them and the temple, Jer emiah 26:11-12. This defense revealed Jeremiah was not a sinful traitor who delighted in the temple's fall -- he merely warned of judgment for sin!
        7. In the process, Jeremiah refused to retract his message even if he was sentenced to death; he claimed that if they killed him, the people would kill an innocent man whom God had sent, Jer. 26:13-16.
        8. At that point, God worked to save Jeremiah in keeping with His promise of Jeremiah 1:17: (a) some of the elders were reminded via Jeremiah's message (cf. Jer. 26:5) (b) that his words matched those of an earlier prophet, Micah, Jer. 26:18. (c) Since Hezekiah had not put Micah to death (26:19a) and God treated Hezekiah and his generation well (Jer. 26:19b,c), the elders advised Jeremiah not be killed lest God punish them for harming an innocent, true prophet of God, Jeremiah 26:19d.
      2. Negatively, another prophet of God used Jeremiah's same message but fled when opposed only to be captured and slain by opponents from Judah sharp contrast to how God saved Jeremiah, 26:20-24:
        1. The prophet Urijah gave Jeremiah's same message in the name of the Lord, Jeremiah 26:20.
        2. However, when king Jehoiakim sought to put Urijah to death for doing so, he did not boldly take his stand, but fled into Egypt seeking protection under that kingdom's oversight, Jeremiah 26:21.
        3. Urijah did not enjoy God's help as his flight cast doubt on the credibility of his words, so he was summarily caught in Egypt by Jehoiakim's men, returned to Judah and executed, Jer. 26:22-23.
        4. However, God used a court official to protect Jeremiah when Urijah was slain, Jeremiah 26:24!
Lesson: Though the MESSAGE of BOTH men was IDENTICAL, God protected JEREMIAH but NOT URIJAH since Jeremiah STOOD HIS GROUND when OPPOSED versus FLEEING like Urijah!

Application: (1) If OPPOSED for the truth, we must HOLD our ground rather than BUCKLE under pressure, for only then are we assured of God's help! (2) In standing for the truth before opponents, we best assert ALL of that truth, for [as in Jeremiah's case] OFTEN embedded ONLY in the WHOLE truth does our message provide CREDIBILITY to the HEARERS, Jeremiah 26:5, 17-19!