Alliance Christian Church
March 30 2025
  • This is Our God
  • We Will Glorify
  • 10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord)

  • Christ is King

    Jeremiah 23 “The Lord says, “The leaders of my people are sure to be judged. They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered.” So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done. I, the Lord, affirm it! Then I myself will regather those of my people who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland. They will greatly increase in number. I will install rulers over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing. I, the Lord, promise it! “I, the Lord, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David. He will rule over them…”
    Exordium.
    Introduction, story about falling out of a tree…
    …the truth is, the moment I heard that crack, the wheels had already been set in motion, and there was absolutely nothing I could do that wasn’t going to end up with me getting hurt.
    I could have chosen not to climb trees with no shirt and shoes, I could have chosen not to climb trees at all. I could have chosen not to climb to the higher branch.
    But when gravity starts kicking in, the time for making choices is long gone.
    Narratio
    That’s kind of the situation that the nation of Judah is in at this point in the book of Jeremiah.
    At the point where we’re going to read now, we are so past the point of making choices it’s not even funny.
    For the first 20 chapters we’ve been reading Jeremiah’s warnings that IF they don’t change their ways, the empire of Babylon is going to invade Jerusalem and ransack everything to the ground.
    Now, we’re reading messages between Jeremiah and the kings while the Armies are literally at the gates. It’s too late.
    How did we get to this point?
    From the very beginning, God’s plan was to establish a kingdom of people set apart for him. With him as their king, and them as his people.
    Clear back in Genesis 2, God tells Adam and eve, rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, have dominion over the earth.
    It’s a lot like in the movie lion king—which by the way if you watch it with your kids or grandkids carefully, you’ll notice there are a lot of christian elements to—Mufasa, the king, tells Simba, “everything the light touches is our kingdom”
    And simba says “what about that shaddowy part over there?
    Mufasa says “never go there, be content with the vast kingdom I’m giving to you”
    But of course we’re never happy with what God gives us.
    Adam and Eve want more, they want to rule apart from God.
    And from that point, the entire story of the entire Bible is God re-establishing his kingdom on earth.
    He picks a guy named Abram, randomly out of the blue, and says “I’m going to make a great nation out of you and your descendants, kings will come from your line”
    A little later on, God takes those descendants, and he rescues them from an evil king in Egypt, and he tells them
    Exodus 19:5–6 “And now, if you will diligently listen to me10 and keep11 my covenant, then you will be my12 special possession13 out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine, and you will be to me14 a kingdom of priests15 and a holy nation.’
    But they don’t want that.
    God gives them everything he had promised them, and he warns them all the way,
    Stick with me, this kingdom thing is going to be great for you. Reject me, and it’s not going to be pretty.
    But the people want more.
    They want to have a human king. They start looking around at all the other nations, and they’re like “They have human kings” why do we have to have God as our king. Wouldn’t it be so much better if we had a human king.
    And God warns them, he goes
    1 Samuel 8:12–18 NET 2nd ed.
    He will appoint for himself leaders of thousands and leaders of fifties, as well as those who plow his ground, reap his harvest, and make his weapons of war and his chariot equipment. He will take your daughters to be ointment makers, cooks, and bakers. He will take your best fields, vineyards, and olive groves, and give them to his own servants. He will demand a tenth of your seed and of the produce of your vineyards and give it to his administrators and his servants. He will take your male and female servants, as well as your best cattle and your donkeys, and assign them for his own use. He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will be his servants. In that day you will cry out because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the Lord won’t answer you in that day.”
    But they say
    1 Samuel 8:20 NET 2nd ed.
    We will be like all the other nations. Our king will judge us and lead us and fight our battles.”
    And god basically says OK, suit yourself. Have it your way.
    And then pretty much the rest of the Bible is the story of the kingdom that Israel established circling the drain.
    42 Kings. At one point the nation splits in to two pieces, and between the two half countries there were 42 kings. And all but like 3 of them were absolute garbage.
    They led the people into worshipping other Gods. They were greedy and abused the people. They had prophets of God put to death rather than listen to what they said. They practice child sacrifice. They mistreated orphans and widows, and the poor.
    And all the while, God was there warning them.
    Clean up your act.
    Turn yourself around, seek after me, do what is right, because if you don’t things are going to go very bad for you.
    And what we are going to read in Jeremiah 21 are accounts of the last four kings as the wheels are falling off.
    Jehoaz, Jehoiakim,Jehoiachin, and Zedekiah
    For the sake of this message, it’s not important that you know all the details about these guys, or know much of what they did, other than you need to know
    They were the final four kings in Jerusalem
    They did not obey God
    The invasion and destruction of Jerusalem took place over the course of these four kings.
    It wasn’t like one day everything was sunshine and rainbows one day, and the next day Babylon came and overcame the city
    It was a war that took place over the course of these kings.
    Jeremiah 21:1–2 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord spoke to Jeremiah when King Zedekiah sent to him Pashhur son of Malkijah and the priest Zephaniah son of Maaseiah. Zedekiah sent them to Jeremiah to ask, “Please ask the Lord to come and help us, because King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is attacking us. Maybe the Lord will perform one of his miracles as in times past and make him stop attacking us and leave.”
    As I was prepping for today I read this verse so many times, in so many different translations.
    Because at first, I honestly could not believe that Zedekiah would have the nerve to say this. I was like, are you kidding me?
    I actually started to get mad at Zedekiah.
    I was like who do you think you are?
    All this time, Jeremiah has been warning you people God has been warning you people, and telling you what’s going to happen
    And now, the armies are at the gates and you’re just now like “oh, hey maybe we could try God, do you think he might help us?
    And honestly, God’s response is just top tier
    He’s like
    Jeremiah 21:3–7 NET 2nd ed.
    Jeremiah answered them, “Tell Zedekiah that the Lord, the God of Israel, says, ‘The forces at your disposal are now outside the walls fighting against King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and the Babylonians who have you under siege. I will gather those forces back inside the city. In anger, in fury, and in wrath I myself will fight against you with my mighty power and great strength! I will kill everything living in Jerusalem, people and animals alike. They will die from terrible diseases. Then I, the Lord, promise that I will hand over King Zedekiah of Judah, his officials, and any of the people who survive the war, starvation, and disease. I will hand them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and to their enemies who want to kill them. He will slaughter them with the sword. He will not show them any mercy, compassion, or pity.’
    Now, Let’s put the pause on this here, for a moment.
    This can be hard for us, I think ,because we don’t always like coming to terms with the judgement of god. It feels a little harsh.
    But I think for us to get a little bigger picture of what’s going on here.
    Read the next section, verse 8
    Jeremiah 21:8–10 NET 2nd ed.
    “But tell the people of Jerusalem that the Lord says, ‘I will give you a choice between two courses of action. One will result in life; the other will result in death. Those who stay in this city will die in battle or of starvation or disease. Those who leave the city and surrender to the Babylonians who are besieging it will live. They will escape with their lives. For I, the Lord, say that I am determined not to deliver this city but to bring disaster on it. It will be handed over to the king of Babylon, and he will destroy it with fire.’ ”
    So make no mistake, here, God’s plan never was to cause death and harm to his people.
    The plan was basically, an adult time out.
    God’s plan was, I’m taking away your stuff. Your fancy palace, the fancy temple that you use to worship other gods, your money, your homes.
    I don’t want to take your lives. And in fact, if you go outside right now, and surrender you will be inconvenienced and alive.
    but look, the ball’s in your court.
    And the time for negotiating is over.
    You’re not walking away with this with your city and your palace and your possessions. But you might walk away with this with your life, if you do what I tell you.
    Because here’s the thing. god is pretty patient. But he still expects us to give something.
    Especially when we’re talking about people set aside to lead people.
    There’s a higher responsibility that comes along with being a leader, in this case we’re talking about the kings.

    Jeremiah 22:1-9

    Jeremiah 22:1–9 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord told me, “Go down to the palace of the king of Judah. Give him a message from me there. Say: ‘Listen, O king of Judah who follows in David’s succession. You, your officials, and your subjects who pass through the gates of this palace must listen to the Lord’s message. The Lord says, “Do what is just and right. Deliver those who have been robbed from those who oppress them. Do not exploit or mistreat resident foreigners who live in your land, children who have no fathers, or widows. Do not kill innocent people in this land. If you are careful to obey these commands, then the kings who follow in David’s succession and ride in chariots or on horses will continue to come through the gates of this palace, as will their officials and their subjects. But, if you do not obey these commands, I solemnly swear that this palace will become a pile of rubble. I, the Lord, affirm it!’ ” “For the Lord says concerning the palace of the king of Judah, “ ‘This place looks like a veritable forest of Gilead to me. It is like the wooded heights of Lebanon in my eyes. But I swear that I will make it like a wilderness whose towns have all been deserted. I will send men against it to destroy it with their axes and hatchets. They will hack up its fine cedar panels and columns and throw them into the fire. “ ‘People from other nations will pass by this city. They will ask one another, “Why has the Lord done such a thing to this great city?” The answer will come back, “It is because they broke their covenant with the Lord their God and worshiped and served other gods.”
    And what we get in verses 10 and following are kind of just random rebukes against the four different kings. Not even really in order, just collected here and arranged thematically
    We have Jehoaz in verses 10-12
    Jeremiah 22:10–12 NET 2nd ed.
    “ ‘Do not weep for the king who was killed. Do not grieve for him. But weep mournfully for the king who has gone into exile. For he will never return to see his native land again. “ ‘For the Lord has spoken about Shallum son of Josiah, who succeeded his father as king of Judah but was carried off into exile. He has said, “He will never return to this land. For he will die in the country where they took him as a captive. He will never see this land again.”
    And then we have Jehoiakim in verses 13-19

    Jeremiah 22:13-19

    Jeremiah 22:13–19 NET 2nd ed.
    “ ‘Sure to be judged is the king who builds his palace using injustice and treats people unfairly while adding its upper rooms. He makes his countrymen work for him for nothing. He does not pay them for their labor. He says, “I will build myself a large palace with spacious upper rooms.” He cuts windows in its walls, panels it with cedar, and paints its rooms red. Does it make you any more of a king that you outstrip everyone else in building with cedar? Just think about your father. He was content that he had food and drink. He did what was just and right. So things went well with him. He upheld the cause of the poor and needy. So things went well for Judah.’ The Lord says, ‘That is a good example of what it means to know me. But you are always thinking and looking for ways to increase your wealth by dishonest means. Your eyes and your heart are set on killing some innocent person and committing fraud and oppression.’ ” So the Lord has this to say about Josiah’s son, King Jehoiakim of Judah: People will not mourn for him, saying, ‘This makes me sad, my brother! This makes me sad, my sister!’ They will not mourn for him, saying, ‘Poor, poor lord! Poor, poor majesty!’ He will be left unburied just like a dead donkey. His body will be dragged off and thrown outside the gates of Jerusalem.
    Verses 20-23 are a general warning to the people, and then verses 24-30 are about jehoiachin. He goes by the name jeconiah here

    Jeremiah 22:24-30

    Jeremiah 22:24–30 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord says, “As surely as I am the living God, you, Jeconiah, king of Judah, son of Jehoiakim, will not be the earthly representative of my authority. Indeed, I will take that right away from you. I will hand you over to those who want to take your life and of whom you are afraid. I will hand you over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon and his Babylonian soldiers. I will force you and your mother who gave you birth into exile. You will be exiled to a country where neither of you were born, and you will both die there. You will never come back to this land that you will long to return to! “This man, Jeconiah, will be like a broken pot someone threw away. He will be like a clay vessel that no one wants. Why will he and his children be forced into exile? Why will they be thrown out into a country they know nothing about? O Land, land, land of Judah! Listen to the Lord’s message. The Lord says, “Enroll this man in the register as though he were childless. Enroll him as a man who will not enjoy success during his lifetime. For none of his sons will succeed in occupying the throne of David or ever succeed in ruling over Judah.”
    God’s problem was with his people, yes.
    But at the core of it is beef was with the kings that the people chose to have over them.
    Partitio
    Confirmatio
    Classic “3 Point” Layout. Does not neccecarily need 3 points, but each point should directly back up the claim in the Partitio. The Sub level should directly back up the point, etc etc. Try to keep it within 3 layers deep, no more.
    And we need to understand that this tragedy that is the Old Testament it’s not just a story about Israel.
    It’s not JUST a story about a people who lived on the other side of the world 3,000 years ago.
    It’s a story about the human condition. It’s a story about US.
    I want to share with you three truths about the human condition that we see both throughout scripture, and through experience
    Left to our own devices
    1) We will choose a king over us every single time.
    This is true in the literal sense, as far as governments go
    Every single government that has ever existed in history eventually gets to the point where there are one or two extremely powerful people at the top.
    In fact there’s a cool example you can do with kids, or youth groups. You give kids skittles. And you tell them, the red ones represent Food, and the green ones represent military, and the yellow ones represent gold.
    And then you start introducing pressures, you come over and say, ok, there’s a drought, and half of the food is gone.
    And at first what they’ll do is they’ll try to pool their resources to survive, they’ll make alliances.
    But what happens over time, every single time
    There will be one, maybe two kids who have all the skittles.
    IN other words a king emerges, every single time.
    We will always choose a king over us. But this is also true when it comes to our every days lives
    You’re like, I live in America, I don’t serve a king
    And it’s like, really? You mean to tell me that money has never been ruler of your life at one point? you mean to tell me that your desire for people to like you has never gotten to the point that it reigns over your life?
    The sins in our life, our addictions, our need for the affection of other people, left to our own devices we will have a king over us every single time.
    2) We desire good kings, and choose bad kings.
    Deep down what we want so badly is to have a good king to rule over us
    We probably won’t admit it, but we just want someone or something to protect us and take care of us, and give us what we need
    We want a king over our lives, we just don’t want a bad king
    We want a good king.
    And yet time after time we choose kings who are bad for us
    We choose things like sin, and addiction
    We choose recognition
    We choose our own desires
    We choose kings over our lives who leave us feeling empty and ashamed, and we constantly walk around with a God-sized hole in us that we are just desperately trying to fill
    And if only, if ONLY I could just fill it with a good king, maybe I’d be ok.
    If only I could read the right books, or be with the right people, or vote for the right politician, or have the perfect job or the perfect family.
    If only I could find that one thing in my life that would make me happy, then I’d be ok
    Then, finally, I would have a good king to rule over my life
    3) On this earth, there are NO good kings
    Full stop.
    In the books of Kings and Chronicles there’s a cycle that happens
    A king will come to power and it will say “king so and so was 23 years old when he took the throne. He ruled for 40 years in Jerusalem. And he did evil in the sight of the lord.
    And then it will describe the evil things that king did, and then say he died and his son such and such became king
    And king such and such was 17 years old, and ruled for 22 years and he did evil in the sight of the Lord
    And every now and then, you can count it on one hand it will say
    King so and so did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, BUT, he didn’t stop people from committing child sacrifice, or worshipping idols
    And the cycle continues again and again and again, and even t he ones that were “good” and I’m putting quote around that, they weren't truly good, they just were less bad.
    And it’s the same for us, the kings we put on the throne over our lives, even the “good” ones
    We like good habits, we want to eat healthy, we want to exercise, whatever it is
    But anything we put on the throne in our life if it comes from this world it’s not Good. Not really. It’s just less bad than other idols in our lives.
    And it’s these three truths, the fact that we will always choose a king, we always choose a bad king, and that there are no good kings,
    Sums up the human problem.
    And unless we get some help we are doomed to repeat that same cycle.
    Peroratio
    In chapter 23, we get one last oracle against the kings
    Jeremiah 23:1–2 NET 2nd ed.
    The Lord says,1 “The leaders of my people are sure to be judged.2 They were supposed to watch over my people like shepherds watch over their sheep. But they are causing my people to be destroyed and scattered.”3 So the Lord God of Israel has this to say about the leaders who are ruling over his people: “You have caused my people4 to be dispersed and driven into exile. You have not taken care of them. So I will punish you for the evil that you have done.5 I, the Lord, affirm it!6
    These kings had a responsibility to be shepherds for the people.
    To care for them, to feed them, both physically and spiritually
    And they failed. They spent too much time thinking about themselves
    And God is fed up with seeing his people suffer.
    And God decides he’s going to do something about it
    Jeremiah 23:3–4 NET 2nd ed.
    Then I myself will regather those of my people7 who are still alive from all the countries where I have driven them. I will bring them back to their homeland.8 They will greatly increase in number. I will install rulers9 over them who will care for them. Then they will no longer need to fear or be terrified. None of them will turn up missing.10 I, the Lord, promise it!11
    Again, I know throughout this book, the tone has been pretty dark. Babylon is coming, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. There’s going to be destruction
    But the end goal of God is restoration.
    Jeremiah 23:5–8 NET 2nd ed.
    “I, the Lord, promise that a new time will certainly come when I will raise up for them a righteous branch, a descendant of David. He will rule over them with wisdom and understanding and will do what is just and right in the land. Under his rule Judah will enjoy safety and Israel will live in security. This is the name he will go by: ‘The Lord has provided us with justice.’ “So I, the Lord, say: ‘A new time will certainly come. People now affirm their oaths with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the people of Israel out of Egypt.” But at that time they will affirm them with “I swear as surely as the Lord lives who delivered the descendants of the former nation of Israel from the land of the north and from all the other lands where he had banished them.” At that time they will live in their own land.’ ”
    And I wish, if I had a Time Machine, I could go back and tell Jeremiah.
    Take heart. This king that God is promising
    One day there will be a good king.
    One day there will be a king who shepherds his people with justice and fairness
    One day there will be a king who comes from the line of king David who will sit on the throne forever, and he will be good
    And it’s not going to be the kind of king that we would choose.
    History shows we’re pretty lousy at choosing kings We pick the wrong qualities in kings every single time. But the king that God sends, he’ll be good, and he’ll be nothing like anything we could ever dream of.
    He’ll come into the world, not born in a royal palace, but in a manger
    He won’t spend his time with the rich and influential, but with the prostitutes and tax collectors and lepers
    He’s not going to be worried about collecting wealth, in fact he’s going to say Foxes have dens and bird’s have nests but the son of man has no place to lay his head
    He doesn’t ride into Jerusalem on a white war horse, prepped for battle, he comes humbly and lowly riding on a donkey
    He doesn’t call for his servants and court officials to tend on his every want and need
    He gets up from the table, wraps a towel around his waist and washes feet.
    That’s my king.
    My King
    Philippians 2:6–11 “who, though he existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death —even death on a cross! As a result God highly exalted him and gave him the name, that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow —in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”
    That’s my king.
  • Above All
  • He Won't (Firm Foundation)
  • God Be with You
Alliance Christian Church
churchinalliance@gmail.com
9707657196
https://www.alliancechristian.church
4 members