 Men, all right, we're there. Jeremiah chapter number 36. And if I want you to notice there in verse number one, go ahead and read the first few verses. The Bible says, And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiachim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, take the role of the book and write there in all the words that I have spoken unto thee against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations from the day that I speak unto thee from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the evil which I purposed to do unto them, that they may return every man from Ziva way that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. So we're in a really busy time right now in the nation of Judah. There's a lot going on. So I think it'll be helpful if we look at the context of where we are right now in their history. Keep in place in Jeremiah 36 because we're gonna be here for the rest of the evening. But turn, if you will, to 2 Kings 23. If we want to get the context of where we are in their history, we're gonna wanna start with the king named Josiah. So Josiah was the king who was king when God first called Jeremiah. He's best known for leading Judah into the greatest revival that they had ever known. If you're familiar with 2 Kings 23, most of the chapter is just about his revival and what he did for God and the altars he tore down and all those great things he did for God. If you're there in 2 Kings 23, look at verse 25. The Bible says, in liken to him, talking about Josiah, was there no king before him that turned to the Lord with all his heart, with all his soul, and with all his might, according to all the law of Moses, neither after him arose there and he liked him. So Josiah was a great king. He did a lot of good things for God. And although he was a really good king, he made some mistakes in his life. 21 years after his revival he led, he decides to go fight against Pharaoh and the king of Egypt and God did not call him to go to this battle. He was actually warned not to go into this battle. He was told it has nothing to do with you, Josiah, stay out of this, but he decided to go fight it anyway and he ends up dying there. And it's really at this point when Josiah dies in battle, you can kind of mark where God's judgment began. God's judgment that had been building up for generations and generations, this is really the point where it kind of just, it all went downhill from here. After Josiah dies, they make Jehovah has his son king and about three months later, Pharaoh Niko, who Josiah died fighting against, decides to go invade Jerusalem. He's probably pretty annoyed that Josiah did that. So he goes, he invades Jerusalem, look at verse 34, see what happens next. 2 Kings 23, 34, and Pharaoh Niko made Eliakim, the son of Josiah king in the room of Josiah's father and turned his name to Jehoiakim. So this is our king and our story tonight. And took Jehoi has away and he came to Egypt and died there. So he comes, he invades Jerusalem, he takes Jehovah has captive into Egypt where he'll eventually die. And he makes another one of Josiah's sons who is most commonly referred to as Jehoiakim, the king. And then later he requires the nation to basically pay a tax or a fee. Jehoiakim pays that and Pharaoh Niko leaves Judah alone. And this is where our story begins tonight. We began when during the reign of Jehoiakim. And obviously this is what has recently happened is not good, but God's judgment has only just begun. If you're there and go back to Jeremiah 36, then we know a little bit of the context where we are. We'll go ahead and read real quick that again. And it came to pass in the fourth year of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah king of Judah, that this word came into Jeremiah from the Lord saying. So look what God's telling Jeremiah to do. Take the role of a book and write therein all the words that I've spoken to you against Israel and against Judah. And against all the nations from the day that I speak unto thee, from the days of Josiah, even unto this day. So he says, I want you to take a book. I want you to write in it all the words, all the judgments, all the terrible things I've told you so far. And we see the purpose here. The purpose is because God is still merciful. Verse number three says it may be that the hells of Judah will hear all the evil which I purpose to do unto them that they may return every man from his evil way that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin. So obviously God's going to certainly judge Judah if he has to, but he rather than just get right. He rather than just turn from their ways and get right. So let's see what happens next. Jeremiah 36 verse four. Then Jeremiah called Baruch, the son of Nariah. And Baruch wrote from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord she had spoken unto him upon her role of the book. Jeremiah commanded Baruch saying, I am shut up. I cannot go into the house of the Lord. Therefore go thou and read in the role which thou has written from my mouth the words of the Lord and the ears of the people and the Lord's house upon the fasting day and also thou shall read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities. And again we see the purpose. It may be that they will present their supplication before the Lord and will return everyone from his evil way for great is the anger and the fury of the Lord that the Lord has pronounced against this people. And Baruch the son of Nariah did according to all that Jeremiah the prophet commanded him reading in the book of the words of the Lord and the Lord's house. So for whatever reason, Jeremiah is not able to go into the temple to do this. So he tells Baruch who's a scribe. We kind of see Baruch with Jeremiah throughout his ministry and he says, all right, write the words and on a certain day you're gonna go into the temple and you're gonna read these words, these terrible judgments you're gonna go and you're gonna read these before all Judah. So the title of the sermon title is making intercession for God's word. And we're gonna look at some men who later in our story tonight who made intercession for the word of God. And I wanna talk about how we as Christians need to be making intercession for the word of God in the midst of a world that despises it and what it means to do so. So first tonight, to make intercession for God's word we must fear it. Let's continue our story, verse nine. It became to pass in the fifth year of Johoiakim the son of Josiah King of Judah in the ninth month that they proclaimed to fast before the Lord to all the people in Jerusalem and to all the people that came from the cities of Judah into Jerusalem. So it is the day that God appointed. This is the day Barrick's gonna go in the temple and read the book. Then Barrick, then read Barrick in the book, all the words of Jeremiah in the house of the Lord in the chamber of Gemini, the son of Shaphim, the scribe in the higher court at the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house in the ears of all the people. So Barrick is reading this book in the temple. He's specifically located in a chamber of a man of a scribe named Geminiah. Verse 11, when Micaiah the son of Geminiah, so this is the Geminiah's son, the son of Shaphim had heard out of the book all the words of the Lord. So his son hears all these terrible things. He hears all these judgments. Let's see what he does. Then he went down into the king's house and the scribe's chamber and lo, all the princes sat there, even Lai Shema the scribe and Lai the son of Shemaiah and Elnethin the son of Acbor and Geminiah the son of Shephan and Zedekai the son of Hanaiah and all the princes. Then Micaiah declared unto them all the words that he had heard when Barrick read the book in the ears of the people. So he goes and gets his dad and all the other scribes that are sitting there and he basically tells them all these terrible things, all these judgments that Barrick is reading. Verse 14, therefore all the princes sent Jehudiah the son of Nethiniah, the son of Shemamiah, the son of Kushai and to Barrick saying, take in thine hand the ruler and now it's read in the ears of the people and come. So Barrick, the son of Narayah took the role in his hand and came unto them. And they said unto him, sit down now and read it in our ears. So Barrick read it in their ears. Now came to pass, I want you to notice this. Now came to pass when they had heard all the words, when Barrick comes to them and he gives them the word of God and he shows them the judgments that God has, it says they were afraid. Both one and other and said to Barrick, we will surely tell the king of all these words. So if you've ever read the book of Jeremiah or the other prophets, you know this is true, but normally with the usual responses to somebody of importance, whether it's the king or a scribe or a governor, when somebody of importance usually hears the word of God being preached, usually what they do is they would throw Jeremiah in prison or whoever it was, they'd beat him, they'd threaten him. They normally did not take this very well, but not with these scribes. In fact, we're gonna see later in our sermon that it is these scribes who made intercession for God's word. He said, well, why? Why did they not respond in a negative way to God's message? The answer is in verse 16, because it says when they had heard all the words, they were afraid. So they were afraid of God's judgments. They were afraid of God. And in the same way, if we wanna successfully intercede for God's word, we have to actually fear him ourselves. Turn to Proverbs 1.7, Proverbs 1.7. While you're turning there, I'm gonna read you Proverbs 3.7 that says, be not wise in thine own eyes, fear the Lord and depart from evil. Proverbs 1.7, if you're there, the Bible says, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Turn to Proverbs 14.16, Proverbs 14.16. So here's what this verse is saying. If you fear God, you have knowledge, if you don't, you're a fool. And you say, well, why am I a fool if I don't fear God? What about not fearing God makes me a fool? Well, if you're there in Proverbs 14.16, we find the answer. It says, a wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageeth. Notice this and his confidence. One attribute of a fool is it says a fool is confident. Now, obviously there's a right way to be bold and confident, but when this says a fool rageeth and is confident, it's saying that in a negative way. Turn to Proverbs, I'm sorry, Exodus 9.13. Exodus 9.13. The thing about a fool that makes him a fool if they don't fear God is because if you're confident and you're bold against God, you don't fear God. You're not afraid of God's judgments on your life. You're confident. Whenever somebody does anything stupid and immature, it's probably because they have this mentality that they're confident, they're bold in obviously a negative way. And I love Exodus chapter nine if you're there because this is a perfect example we literally see played out of this, what we see in Proverbs 14.16. In verse 13, the Bible says, in the Lord said unto Moses, rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh and say unto him, thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, let my people go that they may serve me, for I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart and upon thine servants, and upon thy people that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the earth. So we're in Exodus here at the time of the plagues that God brought upon Egypt. Skip down to verse number 18 for sake of time. Bible says, behold, tomorrow about this time I will cause it to rain a very grievous hail. Such as have not been in Egypt since the foundation thereof even until now. So God's gonna bring a hail. It's a very grievous hail. We're gonna see how devastating it is here in the next verse. But God is still going to give the Egyptians a warning. He says, send therefore now and gather thy cattle and all that thou hast in the field for upon every man and beast which shall be found in the field and shall not be brought home, the hail shall come down upon them and they shall die. So God's saying, this hail is gonna be so bad that anything that is left outside is going to die. So he's warning them and he's saying, bring your servants, bring your cattle inside so they are not harmed by the hail. In verse 20 we kind of see this compare and contrast to people who fear God and the fools who don't. Says, hear that fear the word of the Lord among the servants of Pharaoh, made his servants and his cattle flee into the houses and he that regarded not the word of the Lord. So here's your fools, they're confident, they're bold. They don't care about what God says. When the man of God comes and says, God's gonna destroy your cattle, he's gonna bring a hail. You better listen and do what God says. They don't care. It says they regarded not the word of the Lord, left his servants and his cattle in the field. And of course we know what happens. Those who listened to God and brought their animals and their servants inside, everything was fine. But anybody who left their cattle, their servants outside, they died. And so you say, well how important is it that I fear God? You know, is it, I mean I get we're supposed to do it. Is it really something that's a fundamental of the faith? And turn to Jeremiah 5.23. Jeremiah 5.23, while you're turning there, read you Deuteronomy 5.29. It says, oh that there was such a heart in them that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always that it might be well with them and with their children forever. So here's what God's saying. He's saying, fear me and it'll go well with you. It'll bless you if you fear me. He said, what if I don't? What is the consequence of not fearing God? Jeremiah 5.23, the Bible says, but these people have to revolting in a rebellious heart. They are revolted and gone. Neither say they're in their hearts. Let us now fear the Lord our God. They give it the rain, both the former and the latter in a season. He reserved unto us the appointed weeks of harvest. Your iniquities have turned away these things and your sins have withholding good things from you. So here's the chain reaction, all right? You don't fear God and you fall into sin and then God judges you. That's what happens with the nation of Judah. The reason that God destroyed them, the reason that he brought his judgment upon them was because they didn't fear God and as a result of that they fell into sin and as a result of that God destroyed them. So we just need to make sure we keep in mind and we know that we fear God. Look, even from a completely selfish perspective, if you want yourself to be blessed and you want it to go well with you, you should fear God. You should fear God because God says fear me and he'll be well with you. If you don't, you're gonna get destroyed. You're gonna, I will judge you. So we see if we're gonna intercede for God in his word, we must fear him ourselves. So first tonight I said to make intercession for God's word, we must fear it. Second tonight, to make intercession for God's word, we must further it, to continue our story in verse 16. Now came to pass when they had heard all the words, they were afraid both one and the other. It said unto Barak, notice this, we will surely tell the king of all these words. And they asked Barak, saying, tell us now, how does thou write all these words at his mouth? Then Barak answered them. He pronounced all these words unto me with his mouth and I wrote them with ink in the book. Then it said to the princes unto Barak, go hide thee thou in Jeremiah and let no man know where ye be. So I just want you to notice again that they are on his side. They are agreeing with him, they are genuinely afraid of the word of God. But verse 20 says, and they went into the king into the court, but they laid up the role in the chamber of Elisha and the scribe and told all the words and the ears of the king. So at this point, because I said we must to make intercession for God's word, we must further it. And I wanna real quick just give three reasons we should do that. Why should we further God's word? Why should we promote God's word? World one, and I know this isn't really too deep but it's true, but we should further God's word because it's just common sense. Why you didn't notice these scribes here, that's why they did this. It wasn't, they weren't, Barak is not telling them you need to go tell other people is what happened is they heard this, they were afraid of it and they said we need to tell the king. We need to tell somebody about this, which makes sense because, you know, put yourself in their shoes. Your whole entire nation, you just learn from God that your entire nation is gonna be wiped out and destroyed soon and you find that out, you tell people, that's just what they did here. They heard this and the first thing they said is we will surely tell the king of all these words. They said we need to tell somebody about this, we need to make sure people know about this. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4-13. How about this, if you find out the entire planet is going to burn in hell if they don't hear the gospel of Jesus Christ, you tell people. This is what you do. It's not rocket science, it's just common sense. We're there in 2 Corinthians 4-13. I love this verse, it kind of gets this idea across that preaching the gospel, it's just, it's not a big special, it's just common sense. 2 Corinthians 4-13, Bible says we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written. So Paul's about to quote Psalm 116 verse 10 here. He says, I believed and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak. I mean, it's not rocket science, he's like, I believe, so I speak, it's that simple. I believe, I learned that I was saved from eternity burning in hell, so therefore, for that reason, I speak. It's just, it's something you do. You would think, if you see someone walking towards a cliff, I mean, it wouldn't be considered a super heroic thing if you went and told them hey, there's a cliff right there. It's just common sense, it's just what you would do. But, second, obviously we should further God's word because it's just common sense, but second, we should further God's word because we're disobeying Christ if we don't. Turn to 1 Corinthians 9-16. While you're turning there already, Mark 16-15, we all know it, I'm sure a lot of you haven't memorized. Says, and he said unto them, go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. That's not a suggestion, that's a command. Amen. It's a command, preaching the gospel is, it's a command for us to do in our life. There in 1 Corinthians 9-16. It says, for though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of, right? That's kind of what we just mentioned, right? It's just common sense. Even if you preach the gospel, you don't really have anything to brag about. It's not anything special. It's just, it's something that you do because obviously Christ commanded you but it's just common sense. Let's finish reading. It says, for necessity is laid upon me, notice this, ye, woe is unto me if I preach not the gospel. Here's what Paul's saying. He's saying, I better preach the gospel because if I don't, I'm in trouble. He's saying, woe is unto me. He's saying, I am in trouble if I ever would stop preaching the gospel. Curtis Hudson said this. He said, the only alternative to soul winning is disobedience to Christ. Turn to 1 Thessalonians 2-3. 1 Thessalonians 2-3. Gonna read you Matthew 12-30. The Bible says, he, this is something that Jesus said, he that is not with me is against me. And he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad. Look, you're either helping gather or you're scattering. If you're not helping further the gospel and further God's word, you're hindering it. That's just how it works. That's what Jesus said. So first, we should further God's word because it's just common sense. Second, we should further God's word because we're disobeying Christ if we don't. But third, we should further God's word because God trusts us with it. If you're there in 1 Thessalonians 2-3, the Bible says this. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor of guile. But look at this, but as we were, I love this phrase, I love this mentality that Paul the Apostle had. But as we were allowed of God to be put in trust with the gospel, even so we speak, not as pleasing men, but God which triath our hearts. You know, I think the reason, I do believe that one of the main reasons that Paul did so much for the gospel, the reason that Paul, just his whole life, he did so many great things for God and did so many great things for the gospel, is because of this mentality he had that the gospel, it's something I'm trusted with. It's not mine, it's something I'm trusted with by God. Because here's the thing, when you understand that you're trusted with something, you understand that it's not yours to do whatever you want with it. If God trusts you with something, you don't have the luxury of deciding to play it by your rules. When God trusts you with something, you do it his way. Turn to Matthew 25, 24. Matthew 25, 24. I turn there myself. You say, what happens if I'm not a good steward of what God gives me? What happens if you trust me with the gospel and I just really don't do anything with it? Well, let's look at, actually let's, if you're Matthew 25, let's start reading in verse 14, Matthew 25, 14. We're reading about the parable of the talents. Starting verse 14, the Bible says, for the kingdom of heaven is as a man traveling into a far country who called his own servants and delivered unto them his goods. And unto one he gave five talents, to another two and to another one, to every man according to his several ability and straight way took his journey. Then he that had received five talents went and traded with the same and made them other five talents. And likewise he that had received two, he also gained another two. But he that had received the one, went and digged in the earth and hid his Lord's money. After a long time, the Lord of those servants cometh and reckoned with them. And so he that received five talents came and the sought, brought other five talents saying, Lord deliverst unto me five talents, behold I have gained beside them five talents more. So we're not just skip down if you will to verse 24. But basically what happens now is the first two servants, all three servants were trusted with their Lord's money and the first two servants were wise with it. They did what their Lord wanted them to do with the money. But this third servant he, he what he did, the, that his Lord was not happy with. Let's look at verse 24. Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord I knew thee that thou art a hard man reaping where thou was not sown and gathering where thou was not strawed. And I was afraid. Isn't that the reason we ever don't serve God in our life or don't do something wants us to do? Isn't that why we do it? We're afraid of, we're afraid of people. We're afraid of our coworkers. We're afraid of money. We're afraid of whatever it is. This is why we, we do that. And I was afraid and went and hid thy talent in the earth and lo, here thou hast that is thine. So he gives those Lord the talent back. Verse 26, his Lord answered and said to him, thou wicked and slothful servant, thou newest that I reap where I sowed not and gather where I have not strawed. Now this makes thee seem a little extreme at first. I mean, if you think about it, he didn't lose the talent. It's not like he gave him the talent and then he lost it and he didn't give it back to him. He gave it back. He trusted him with something and he returned it to him in one piece. He said, lo, here thou hast that is thine. He said, why was he so mad? I mean, wicked and slothful, that's pretty serious, right? Well, let's look at verse 27. Thou oddest therefore to have. So here's what he wanted him to do. Put my money to the exchangers and then am I coming? I should have received my own with usury. Look, when God entrusts us with the gospel, he doesn't want us just returning the gospel back to him. He wants the gospel back with usury, with the souls that were saved along with it. And this is the mentality that we need to have. When we die, we need to make sure that we had the usury. We actually had the fruits of what God entrusted us with. Like I said, when we get this mentality that the gospel is something we're trusted with this and when we understand that, once we get that, we understand that the gospel is not ours to do whatever we want with it. We play by God's rules. So first tonight I said to make intercession for God's word, we must fear it. Second, I said to make intercession for God's word, we must further it. And we saw that the reasons we should is gives us common sense. We're disobeying Christ if we don't and God trusts us with it. But third tonight to make intercession for God's word, we must be faithful with it. Let's continue our story, verse 21. So basically they just heard the word of God, the scribes heard the word of God. They said, we're gonna tell the king, we gotta tell somebody about this. So they go and they tell the king, verse 21. So the king sent Jehudi to fetch the role and he took it out of Elisha in the scribe's chamber. And Jehudi read it in the ears of the king and in the ears of all the princes which stood beside the king. Now the king sat in the winter house in the ninth month and there was a fire on the hearth burning before him. So just to set the scene a little bit, you have the scribes here and barracks probably with them. They have the scroll that they're reading to the king and then you have the king and all his servants and there is a fire there. There's a hearth burning there. Verse 23. And it came to pass that when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he didn't even get to finish. He didn't even get to finish. And when Jehudi had read three or four leaves, he, referring to the king, cut it with the pen knife and cast it into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was consumed in the fire that was on the hearth. Can you imagine? I mean, you read this and you think, how can somebody do that? I mean, even just the average and safe person out there probably would feel a little weird burning a Bible. He said, how could somebody just go and just feel normally fine, just burning God's word? Well, the answer is in verse 24, here's why. Yet they were not afraid. Do you remember when Baruch went to the scribes and he read them the word of God? Remember their first reaction? It was what it says, they were afraid. But here's the thing, the world out there, they're not afraid. I'm not saying that every unsafe person out there is a wicked king, Jehoiak, and that's not what I'm getting at. But the world in general, they just don't fear God. That's why they live their lives contrary to God's word. That's why they don't care about God's word. That's why when you ask them, do you know for sure you died day to go to heaven? That's why most people say, no thanks, I'm not interested. Because most people just have no regard for God's word and it's because they're not afraid. They have no fear of God. Yet they were not afraid, no rent their garments, neither the king nor any of the servants heard all these words. I mean, how do you mean Baruch? I mean, the Bible says that Baruch was first told to do this in the fourth year of Jehoiakim and he read it in the fifth year, and I'm not saying it took him a whole year to write it, but can you imagine spending all this time writing this? I mean, there was no office pro printers back then. Everything was written by hand. He wrote the whole thing by hand. The Bible says here that Jehoi read three or four leaves. We don't even know what else. It was at least three or four pages long. That's a lot. Can you imagine just watching someone just burn that? Can you imagine someone walking up to you and taking your King James Bible and just ripping those words up? Rips up John, rips up Matthew, rips up Romans and just throwing it to a fire right in front of your eyes? Can you imagine how frustrating that would be? But I want you to notice verse 25. This is kind of our key verse for the sermon tonight. Nevertheless, the role was just burned, but it says, nevertheless, Elnathan and Delaea and Gemoriah had made intercession to the king. That he would not burn the role, but he would not hear them. You know, sometimes you can get a little disappointing or discouraging because, you know, we go to church three times a week. You know, we go to church Sunday morning, come back Sunday night, come back Thursday night, come back the next Sunday, the next Sunday night, the next Thursday, week after week, month after month, year after year. We try to read our Bibles every day and pray every day and, you know, week after week, month after month. We try to go soul winning. And we try so hard to fear God's word and just give our lives to make intercession for God's word, right? And sometimes it still seems figuratively speaking, of course, they still burn the role, right? The world still disrespects God's word. They still don't want to hear it. They still, they just don't regard it. They live contrary to God's word. I mean, the average person out there is involved in sins that they think are perfectly normal, but are actually serious sins in the light of the Bible, right, because they just don't fear God's word and they don't care about it. They say, well, what should we do, right? What's our response to that? Should we slow down, take it down a notch? I mean, serve God a little less. What should we do? Well, see what God said about all this. Verse 26, it gets even worse, by the way, with the King commanded, Jeremiah, the son of Hamalek, Sarah, the son of Azrael, and Jeremiah, the son of Abdeel, to take the scribe and Jeremiah the prophet, but the Lord hid them. So it gets even worse. He sends these guys to find Barak and find Jeremiah and basically arrest them. And, but look what God says in verse 28, or 27, I'm sorry. Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. After that, the King had burned the role. In all the words which Barak wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying, take the yet again, take the again another role and write in all the former words that were in the first role, which Chahoyekim, the King of Judah, had burned. Here's what God said. He said, do it all over again. Do it again, keep going, don't stop. God didn't say, take a break, give it a few months. He said, no, go back and rewrite the whole thing again. And this is what God's commandment is to us. And in fact, he actually had them do something else. He actually had them do even more. Verse 29, and thou shalt say, did Chahoyekim, King of Judah, let's sayeth the Lord, thou hast burned this rule saying, why hast thou written therein, saying the King of Babylon shall certainly come and destroy all this land and shall cause to cease from thence a man and beast. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Chahoyekim, King of Judah. I love how he phrased that. He's like, yeah, I know you burned the role, Chahoyekim, but I'm still the Lord of Chahoyekim, King of Judah. I'm still your Lord. I don't care if you're saved or not. I don't care if you're a reprobate or not. I am still Lord over you. I still am in charge. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of Chahoyekim, King of Judah. He shall have none to sit upon the throne of David and his dead body shall be cast out in the day to the heat and in the night to the frost and I will punish him in his seed and his servants for their iniquity and I will bring upon them and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem and upon the men of Judah all the evil that I have pronounced against them, but they harken not. Here's what God said. He said, rewrite the whole thing and on top of that, I want you to go back to the King. You know the King who just tried to arrest you? You know the King who probably wishes you were dead? I want you to go to him and I want you to tell him to his face that I'm gonna punish him, punish his nation, kill him and throw his dead body out to rot in the heat. I don't think he had any intentions of like having them slow down. Take a little bit of a break. God said, keep going and do you know what? And so much more. And here's why. I mean, think about it like this. Imagine like we're having a match of tug-of-war with the world, right? And we're over here pulling on this side and the world's pulling here on this side. What would we do? If you were playing tug-of-war with somebody and they started pulling a little harder than you, right? The world's hates God even more every day. The world disregards God even more. What would you do? Would you just like let go of the rope? Would you like slack off a little bit? No, that's the last thing you do. If the world starts pulling harder, you pull even harder than them. And that's what God was telling them. He's like, all right, you know, he's gonna come at me. He's gonna burn my role and disregard me even more. And then, you know what? We write the role and on top of that, go tell him this. Turn to Ezekiel 2-6, Ezekiel 2-6. Say, but the world won't listen to the word of God. The world doesn't care about the word of God. There's so few people out there who will even let us preach the gospel to them. Most people just, they just don't care. It's not that they're wicked, evil people. They just don't care. Say, what do we do? Ezekiel 2-6, I love these verses. In God talking to the prophet Ezekiel. And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them. Neither be afraid of their words, though briars and thorns be with me, and thou just dwell among scorpions. Today we dwell among scorpions. Briars and thorns are with us. He says, be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. He says, I know they don't want to listen. I know they're a rebellious house. Next verse, and thou shalt speak my words unto them. Notice this, whether they will hear or whether they will forbear, for they are most rebellious, but thou, son of man, hear what I say unto thee. Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house. He says, don't be rebellious like they are. Open thy mouth and eat that I give thee. And when I looked, behold, in hand, was sent unto me, and lo, a roll of a book was written therein. Sound familiar? And he spread it before me, and it was written within, without. And there was written there in lamentations, in mourning, in a woe. It's not a very pleasant message. Do you know what God says? He says, I know they don't care about my word. I know they've forgotten me. I know they're rebellious. But he said, whether they hear or not, I want you to intercede for my word anyway. And that's God's commandment to us. It's whether, see, look, what the world does and their response to this book has nothing to do with what we do with it. It doesn't matter whether they agree with the word of God or they disagree with it. That doesn't matter. We shouldn't change. We shouldn't back off. No matter what, whether it's just the world's reaction or discouragement or just, you know, obstacles in the Christian life, we should not slow down. Turn to 2 Corinthians 4-8. 2 Corinthians 4-8. Look, God's word doesn't lose his power just because people don't want to hear it. In fact, it seems that usually the way it goes is the more people don't like God's word, the more power it has. They're in 2 Corinthians 4-8. Oh, wait till you get there. It's like Corinthians 4-8. The Bible says this, we are troubled on every side, aren't we? Aren't we troubled on every side from just people who, like I said, aren't necessarily wicked, evil people, but just have forgotten God, really care about God? You know, sometimes you can get, you know, frustrating just being surrounded by a world of people like that. Notice this, yet not distressed. We are perplexed. Sometimes it can be just kind of perplexing to seeing all the sin and the wickedness out there, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken. Didn't someone tell us I will never leave thee nor forsaken thee? Right? Cast down, but not destroyed. Always bearing about the body, the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. Look, no matter the obstacle and no matter the discouragement, we are, we're expected to keep serving God. Not even just, not even just stop completely, but just slowing down. We're expected just to keep going and to keep serving God no matter what. You know, sometimes I think, you know, we're running, we're running the Christian race. We're, we're going, everything's going great. We're, we're doing good. We're fighting the good fight of faith. And sometimes I think God himself kind of puts an obstacle in their way. This is up that maybe would slow us down a little. And you say, well, why would God do that? Why would God put something in our way that would hinder us from serving him? You say, why would he do that? Because you know, sometimes I think God does just, he just wants to test us. He wants to test us and he puts something in our way and he says, I know this may slow him down. I know it's going to make it harder and they may get a little weary and they may have the temptation to slow down. And I'm going to put this here because I just want to watch and see if they're going to slow down a little, if they're going to stop or they're going to drag their feet a little bit. So look, when obstacles come our way, you know, we have to accept that as a challenge. You got to realize that when, when it gets a little harder to serve God because of things that come up, it just may be God is testing us. And look, that's not a test that we want to fail. There's a lot of Christians out there who they're doing, they're going great. They're serving God. Then the obstacle comes and God tests them and he says, I know they're serving me now. I just wanted to see if they're going to keep doing it. There's a lot of Christians out there who the obstacle comes or the discouragement comes and it slows them down. Suddenly they're not serving God like they were. Suddenly they're not doing what they were. And they're not fighting the good fight of faith. It's hard and as zealously as they were before. And look, if that happens to us, we failed. Like I said, it's not a test we want to fail. We got to realize when times like that come, because look, the two ways God tests people in the Bible are by blessing and by trials. By blessing to see if we're gonna kind of forget about God and forget about the God who originally gave us the blessings and just forget about God and let that hinder us from serving him. But sometimes by trials, what we just talked about where he puts those trials there and he wants to see if it's going to hinder us. Because look, if anybody had an excuse to slow down or be a little discouraged or upset, it was our scribes. It was Barak, it was Jeremiah. It was definitely Jeremiah if you are familiar with his life and his ministry. You know what, God, God expected them to keep going. God expected them to keep serving him. If you're there in Jeremiah 36, look down to verse 32. It's the last verse we'll look at tonight. Jeremiah 36, 32 kind of wraps the whole thing up here in this whole story we've spent the evening looking at. Verse 32, then took Jeremiah another role and gave it to Barak the scribe, the son of Nariah, who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah, all the words of the book, which Jehoiakim, King of Judah had burned in the fire. And I don't want, don't miss this, don't miss this. And they were added besides unto them many like words and only did God tell them to not stop and to rewrite the scroll and to keep going and don't slow down and on top of that, I want you to go back and bring this terrible message to Jehoiakim, but on top of that, they wrote even more. They served God even harder. They wrote even more in that book than was written in there in the first place. So what's the application tonight? What can I learn from the sermon tonight? Here's the application. No matter how the world responds or the obstacles that come or how weary it gets, worrying it gets or how discouraging it gets or the trials that come our way, no matter what stands between us and God's will, we need to keep serving God. We need to keep, we can't stop. No matter what stands in our way, we have to keep making intercession for the word of God. Look, the Bible says the world's waxing worse and worse, does it not? And the worse this world gets and the more they turn against God and the more they refuse to listen to God's word, the worse things get. The higher of a demand, the greater of a need is there, for people who are going to fear God's word, further God's word and remain faithful to God's word. There has never been a time when there's been a greater need for Christians to stand up and say, you know, I know it's gonna be hard, I know it's not gonna be easy, I know this obstacle is standing in my way, I know we're gonna get weary, but no matter what stands in our way, we need, there is a great need today for Christians who are going to put everything else aside and just give their lives to making intercession for the word of God. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you for this chapter in the Bible, Lord, thank you for these men. Thank you for Baruch and these scribes. Even though things probably didn't really turn out the way they expected, they still kept going. Thank you for Jeremiah, Lord. I know he's not really in this particular story as much, God, but thank you for a prophet who really just lived his life like this, God, no matter what people's response were, no matter how many times he was beaten or thrown in prison or his life was threatened, no matter what came his way, his whole life was just devoted to, thus say it, the Lord God. God, I pray you would help us to be like this, God. I pray you would help us tonight, these people right here, God, to stay focused on serving you. And even though things may not be super easy all the time and things may get hard, help us to stay focused on what you want us to do, God. God, if we don't make intercession for your word, God, if these people right here, Fresno, California, are not going to do what it takes to make intercession for your word, Lord, nobody else will. Nobody else will. Pray you'd be with us, God, pray you'd be with this church. God bless it. Pray you'd be with us tonight in the rest of our week. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.