Sermon Tone Analysis
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Focus: Broken promises lead to greater judgment.
Introduction:
Remember making a promise and having your fingers crossed?
In 1492, Ferdinand granted Columbus great titles, vast privileges, and a tenth of the riches his explorations materialized.
By 1500, when the size and wealth of the new world actually dawned on Ferdinand, he broke the agreement, though he had promised it by solemn treaty.
In the early 1950s, the Russians opened sixty million acres in Kazakhstan to grain farmers.
They imported trainloads of Russians, Ukrainians, and Byelorussians to work the state-owned cooperatives, planning to be self-sufficient in grain by 1954.
The Communist Party promised to bring the future to its people.
The people believed … in vain.
Today, several millions of those acres have reverted to pasture.
The Party made promises and brought hope, one man said, then the Party vanished, leaving broken promises and ruined lives.
Has anyone ever broken a promise they made to you?
How did it make you feel?
Have you ever broken a promise to someone?
What were the consequences?
Broken promises produce emotional pain and have real consequences.
Our Destiny Rests in God’s Hands (34:1-7)
God gave weak King Zedekiah another opportunity to repent and save the city and the temple from ruin, but he refused to listen.
Jeremiah warned him that the royal family and the court officials would not escape judgment and that he would be taken captive to Babylon, where he would die in peace.
One act of faith and courage would have saved the city from ruin and the people from slaughter, but Zedekiah was afraid of his counselors (38:1–6) and was only a pawn in their hands.
He Heart of People (34:8-16)
At one point during the siege, Zedekiah and the people made a covenant with the Lord in the temple (34:15) to free all the Jewish slaves.
A calf was slain and then cut in half, and the priests, officers, and people walked between the halves as a sign that they would obey the terms of the covenant (vv.
18–19; Gen. 15:18).
In so doing, they were agreeing to free their Jewish slaves or be willing to suffer what the calf had suffered.
What is a covenant?
Bruce Shelley in Christian Theology in Plain Language, writes:
In modern times we define a host of relations by contracts.
These are usually for goods or services and for hard cash.
The contract, formal or informal, helps to specify failure in these relationships.
The Lord did not establish a contract with Israel or with the church.
He created a covenant.
There is a difference.
Contracts are broken when one of the parties fails to keep his promise.
If, let us say, a patient fails to keep an appointment with a doctor, the doctor is not obligated to call the house and inquire, “Where were you?
Why didn’t you show up for your appointment?”
He simply goes on to his next patient and has his appointment-secretary take note of the patient who failed to keep the appointment.
The patient may find it harder the next time to see the doctor.
He broke an informal contract.
According to the Bible, however, the Lord asks: “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget, I will not forget you!” (Isa.
49:15).
The Bible indicates the covenant is more like the ties of a parent to her child than it is a doctor’s appointment.
If a child fails to show up for dinner, the parent’s obligation, unlike the doctor’s, isn’t canceled.
The parent finds out where the child is and makes sure he’s cared for.
One member’s failure does not destroy the relationship.
A covenant puts no conditions on faithfulness.
It is the unconditional commitment to love and serve.
According to the Law of Moses, a Jewish master had to free his Jewish slaves at the end of seven years of service (Ex.
21:1–11; Deut.
15:12–18).
The Jews hadn’t done this for years, and now they decided it was a good thing to do.
Why?
Perhaps they felt that God would honor their obedience and defeat the enemy in some miraculous way, as He had done for Hezekiah (Isa.
36–37).
Instead of believing God’s Word and submitting to Babylon, the Jews tried to bargain with the Lord and “bribe” Him into helping their cause.
Of course, there were probably some practical considerations behind this covenant.
If the slaves were free, they’d have to care for themselves; their masters wouldn’t have to feed them or care for them.
Also freemen were more likely to want to fight the enemy and maintain their newfound freedom.
Whatever the reason, the effects of the covenant didn’t last very long, for when there was a lull in the siege and Nebuchadnezzar went off to confront the Egyptian army (Jer.
34:21–22; 37:5–11), the masters all forced their slaves back into servitude.
The solemn covenant made in the temple meant nothing.
There Are Consequences for our Actions (34:17-22)
Because they did not keep their word and did not obey God’s Word, the citizens of Jerusalem suffered a ghastly siege; the city was destroyed and remained uninhabited for the next fifty years.
A right relationship with God results in godly behavior.
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