Text: Jeremiah 38:1-13

Introduction. 

-Jeremiah had his soul  changed in the fire of affliction.

-Just like the Lord Jesus.Hebrews 5:8.

-Jeremiah wasn't heard,Jerusalem was destroyed and the people were captured.

-We can say that Jeremiah tried,but he failed. 

-Pastor Page Kelley points out the similarities between Jeremiah and Jesus.

    1. Both were born in small towns.Anathoth and Nazareth.

    2. Both were rejected by the people from their towns.

    3.Both were persecuted by the religious leaders in that time.

    4.Both had a lonely life,they didn't get married. 

    5.Both cried over Jerusalem.

    6.Both preached that the judgement wasn't the final word of a gracious God. 

-When Jesus began his ministry ,he was mistaken for Jeremiah.

(Matthew 16:13,14) . The greatest compliment Jeremiah could have received.

A)"And I got stuck in the mud."

    -In August 587 b.c the babylonians opened a hole in the wall of Jerusalem.

    -Before it happened, Jeremiah was sent to a cistern.  

    -It didn't rain from May to October.Those cisterns were used to store water.

    -If there was famine in the city,let's imagine in that cistern with mud. 

    -From the human point of view,it would be better to die.Jeremiah had God with him.

    -But Hebrews was also fulfilled in his life. 

  
B) Ebed-melech the Ethiopian.  

    -Jeremiah 38:7

    -Ebed-melech means "the king's slave."

    -He was a foreign in Jerusalem. 

    -Jeremiah 39:15-18.The reward.He wouldn't die during the invasion of Jerusalem.

    -Application:Have we been "the king's slaves?" 

C) The work of Ebed-melech.  

    Jeremiah 30:10 He took 30 men to save Jeremiah from death.

    Jeremiah 30:12 He took rags to protect Jeremiah's arms. 

    Illustration:Mark 2:1-5. Four friends who used ropes in the NT.  

Conclusion. 

Lessons from the text: 

    1.Have we truly been "the king Jesus' slaves?"

    2.What have we done to make this world better? 

    3.Jesus did a greater work than Ebed-melech.

-When he died on the cross,he saved all of us.

-"He lifted us out of the mud and the mire."

-He accomplished a greater salvation.He died for us on the cross.