Jeremiah 25

 Jeremiah chapter 25

Let’s pray…

Last week, Pastor Shane finished up chapter 23 and then all of chapter 24.  In a very real sense though chapter 25 goes along with chapter 24. Remember that parable given in chapter 24 by Jeremiah and oh by the way, the chapters in the book of Jeremiah are not laid out in strictly chronological order they’re kind of laid out by the lesson being taught.  So these chapters are grouped by the message.

But chapter 24, had a parable, an allegory where these two baskets of figs represented two groups of people of Israel. The good figs represented the people who willingly submitted to the  invasion and to being taken captive, and exiled to Babylon.  The bad figs were representative of the people who fought against the invasion and resisted the captivity and being carried away to Babylon (what would happen to them? Destroyed).    It’s a little bit counterintuitive, but I think there is an important lesson to be learned by that parable. That is the good figs; those who submitted and complied were representative of being humble and repentant (i.e. submitting to God’s discipline and his chastening).  The bad figs represented those who are prideful and arrogant and hard hearted and not willing to submit to God’s will, and in God’s correction. This is a lesson to us.

Deuteronomy chapter 8 verse 5 says that you should know in your heart that as a man chastens or disciplines his son so the Lord your God disciplines you.

This is one area, where Samuel looked ahead to Jesus was an example to us: 2 Samuel chapter 7, verses 13 and 14 says he shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father and he shall be my son if he commits an equity I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.  

Obviously, Jesus never did anything to deserve chastening or correction but again he was an example of willingly submitting to God.  Jesus was a stand in for us in that he received the discipline and the chastening that we deserved

Proverbs chapter 3 verse 11 my son do not despise the chastening of the Lord nor detest his correction

First Corinthians chapter 11, verse 32, but when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world

And, Hebrews chapter 12 verses 5 through 11 (NASB95) 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. 11 All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

Lastly, by way of review and setting the context for our chapter tonight; historically we are in a section of Jeremiah where his ministry is happening during the last four Kings of Judah. And to recount them there was Jehoahaz (also known as shallum), there was Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin (also known as Jeconiah), and the final king of Judah was Zedekiah.

None of these guys were righteous, but one of them, Jehoiachin, was especially wicked. Remember the prophecy about him that said not a man of his lineage would sit on the throne ever. There are some interesting genealogical twists that God used to bring Messiah into the world… for that reference the different genealogies listed in the gospel Matthew versus the one in Luke.

Jeremiah 25

Prophecy of the Captivity

Jeremiah 25:1-38 (NASB95) 1 The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah, in the fourth year of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah, king of Judah (that was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon), 2 which Jeremiah the prophet spoke to all the people of Judah and to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, 3 “From the thirteenth year of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, even to this day, these twenty-three years the word of the LORD has come to me, and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 

So Jeremiah is 23 years into his ministry.  23 years in itself, doing anything is quite an accomplishment but Jeremiah is really only halfway through his prophetic ministry. Jeremiah was faithful to God‘s call and he endured much persecution and resistance, even from his own brothers, his own friends, his own neighbors. Can you imagine 23 years and not having any fruit to speak of to show for those 23 years?

For us 2 Timothy 4:2 (NASB95)

preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.

I believe the lesson for us is to do the very same thing as Jeremiah. Preach the word; bring the word into your conversations. The response is not your responsibility. I was telling someone how I preached the gospel on the street corners in various cities nearby and they said well how many people do you think you’ve saved and I had to say none. And it’s not that I haven’t seen anyone come to the Lord, it’s that I, in and of myself, do not save anyone. My preaching doesn’t save anyone. The Bible says the gospel is the power of God to salvation to everyone who believes. So regardless of the response, whether good, bad or indifferent we need to be faithful in our situations, in our lives to share the message of the Gospel and preach the word rebuke, reprove, exhort in Jesus name and let the chips fall where they may.

There really is a difference between a person who has truly been converted, transformed by the spirit of God, born again versus someone who just attends Church. If you’ve been changed by the Lord Jesus Christ, you have new life, you have eternal life and you wanna tell someone. When I first committed my life to the Lord, I went back to the church I had attended before coming to the Lord and I was on fire for the Lord and I wanted to share various scriptures with people, and that was all well and good and I didn’t receive any pushback to that but what I felt like was the church group that I was attending was not much more than a social gathering. I kind of felt like the desire of most of the people there was hey what’s the next party? What’s the next event? What’s the next fun thing we’re gonna do?

It’s not always comfortable. It certainly is not easy. Persecution will come. Resistance will be given. You will be ignored.  You will not be popular.

Matthew 16:24-26 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me. 25 “For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. 26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul? 

Jeremiah was faithful!

4 “And the LORD has sent to you all His servants the prophets again and again, but you have not listened nor inclined your ear to hear, 5 saying, ‘Turn now everyone from his evil way and from the evil of your deeds, and dwell on the land which the LORD has given to you and your forefathers forever and ever; 6 and do not go after other gods to serve them and to worship them, and do not provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands, and I will do you no harm.’ 7 “Yet you have not listened to Me,” declares the LORD, “in order that you might provoke Me to anger with the work of your hands to your own harm. 8 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Because you have not obeyed My words, 9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will send to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land and against its inhabitants and against all these nations round about; and I will utterly destroy them and make them a horror and a hissing, and an everlasting desolation. 

All because the people of Judah did not listen. We all know there’s a big difference between hearing and listening. Listening implies paying attention. If you pay attention, you will heed the message. You will follow up; you will obey. But the people of Judah wouldn’t.  Do you ever just tune someone out? I’m not proud of it, but I can do that.

10 ‘Moreover, I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.

The lesson for me here in this verse verse 10 is don’t take the good times for granted.  Do you ever feel like you get so used to things the way they are that you kind of forget how pleasant things are.  Even work, productive work is a good thing. It should be something that we appreciate. Now I do have to say having been retired for five months. I don’t miss work and I’m not going back, at least not to work in a very stressful , demanding, taxing type of situation. I kinda like hard work, physical work, muscular work. I spent many months last year, digging up my front yard and replacing the lawn.  That was physical work. I lost a little bit of belly fat at that time. I like working out in the garage. I think a lot of you know, but about five years ago I took up blacksmithing and swinging the hammer is very therapeutic. I have my family car that my dad gave me a few years ago that I have been working on as a project.  Working on that car can be stressful. I need to learn to not take it so seriously.

Anyways, all these things were gone; Joy, singing, weddings, productive work.

 11 ‘This whole land will be a desolation and a horror, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 ‘Then it will be when seventy years are completed I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation,’ declares the LORD, ‘for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it an everlasting desolation. 13 ‘I will bring upon that land all My words which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book which Jeremiah has prophesied against all the nations. 14 ‘(For many nations and great kings will make slaves of them, even them; and I will recompense them according to their deeds and according to the work of their hands.)’” 15 For thus the LORD, the God of Israel, says to me, “Take this cup of the wine of wrath from My hand and cause all the nations to whom I send you to drink it. 16 “They will drink and stagger and go mad because of the sword that I will send among them.” 

There are various aspects of judgment being spoken about in this section:

1. The timeframe.  70 years from a human perspective is a long time.  It could easily be an entire lifetime.  Remember that Daniel understood from reading this book of Jeremiah, knew that their time in Babylon was almost over.  When you were young and you disobeyed your parents, did you get put on timeout? When I was a kid, it was called restriction.   If I think back and recall all the trouble I got into and all the times I got put on restriction.  I couldn’t go outside and play (I was stuck in my room) and that was for a week or even two weeks at a time. And I remember what I did to get put on restriction. I started out young as a troublemaker.
2. The locality. Babylon. That’s not nearby. The people were taken to a far off land.
3. The severity. It would be a desolation. 
4. The result. It would be as if the people were drunk. What does drunkenness do to you? It controls you. It causes you to be off-balance. It alters your thinking.
5. The reason.  Because of God‘s wrath or anger. We don’t talk about this aspect of God very much. We don’t like to hear the fact that God can be angry. You don’t see too many worship songs written about the wrath of God, but it is an aspect of his character, he is angry about sin.  He hates evil and that brings conviction to me.

17 Then I took the cup from the LORD’S hand and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and its kings and its princes, to make them a ruin, a horror, a hissing and a curse, as it is this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his princes and all his people; 20 and all the foreign people, all the kings of the land of Uz, all the kings of the land of the Philistines (even Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab and the sons of Ammon; 22 and all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon and the kings of the coastlands which are beyond the sea; 23 and Dedan, Tema, Buz and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24 and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the foreign people who dwell in the desert; 25 and all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam and all the kings of Media; 26 and all the kings of the north, near and far, one with another; and all the kingdoms of the earth which are upon the face of the ground, and the king of Sheshach shall drink after them. 27 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Drink, be drunk, vomit, fall and rise no more because of the sword which I will send among you.”’ 28 “And it will be, if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you will say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: “You shall surely drink! 29 “For behold, I am beginning to work calamity in this city which is called by My name, and shall you be completely free from punishment? You will not be free from punishment; for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth,” declares the LORD of hosts.’ 30 “Therefore you shall prophesy against them all these words, and you shall say to them, ‘The LORD will roar from on high And utter His voice from His holy habitation; He will roar mightily against His fold. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, Against all the inhabitants of the earth. 31 ‘A clamor has come to the end of the earth, Because the LORD has a controversy with the nations. He is entering into judgment with all flesh; As for the wicked, He has given them to the sword,’ declares the LORD.” 32 Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, evil is going forth From nation to nation, And a great storm is being stirred up From the remotest parts of the earth. 33 “Those slain by the LORD on that day will be from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be lamented, gathered or buried; they will be like dung on the face of the ground. 34 “Wail, you shepherds, and cry; And wallow in ashes, you masters of the flock; For the days of your slaughter and your dispersions have come, And you will fall like a choice vessel. 35 “Flight will perish from the shepherds, And escape from the masters of the flock. 36 “Hear the sound of the cry of the shepherds, And the wailing of the masters of the flock! For the LORD is destroying their pasture, 37 “And the peaceful folds are made silent Because of the fierce anger of the LORD. 38 “He has left His hiding place like the lion; For their land has become a horror Because of the fierceness of the oppressing sword And because of His fierce anger.”

This judgment that's being pronounced here is yet future.  This is complete and utter judgment to the ends of the Earth that will happen at the end of the tribulation.

Of particular note, though, is the severity of the judgment upon the shepherds, the leaders, the pastors of the church who have gone astray, who have left their first love.  Those who have abandoned the pure milk of the word of God and adopted a message of prosperity, health and wellness. 

I’m going to finish by reading James chapter 3. Let’s take a moment to think about it.

James 3:1Let not many of you become teachers, my brethren, knowing that as such we will incur a stricter judgment. 2For we all stumble in many ways. If anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able to bridle the whole body as well. 3Now if we put the bits into the horses’ mouths so that they will obey us, we direct their entire body as well. 4Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.5So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.

      See how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire! 6And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell. 7For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil andfull of deadly poison. 9With it we bless ourLord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God;10from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way. 11Does a fountain send out from the same opening both fresh and bitter water? 12Can a fig tree, my brethren, produce olives, or a vine produce figs? Nor can salt water produce fresh.

Jeremiah 2 & 3

 

Jeremiah Chapter 2

Remember, Jeremiah lived and ministered about 627 years before Christ.   Jeremiah is categorized as a‘Major Prophet', meaning the sheer volume of the content of his writings was greater than those of the minor prophets.  Jeremiah was called, early in life, to serve during King Josiah of Judah's 13th reigning year in 627 B.C. At the time of his calling he was young (possibly 20 years old) and initially protested to God that his youth prohibited him from doing his will. He was not allowed to have a wife or children (Jeremiah 1:1 - 2, 4 - 6, 16:2).

Jeremiah's ministry lasted through the rest of Josiah's reign and the reigns of the Kingdom of Judah's last four rulers (Jehoahaz, Jehoiakim, Jehoiachin and Zedekiah). He wrote the books of Lamentations, Psalm 89 and the last part of 2nd Kings.

Let’s pray…

Let’s read the chapter…

 V 1 Now the word of the LORD came to me saying, 

What makes this book any different from the Book of Mormon or the Bhagavad-gita?

“The Word of the LORD” - how do we know Jeremiah heard from God?

• What Jeremiah recorded is consistent with the rest of the Bible 
• By way of prophecy is what Jeremiah says, 100% accurate ( Deuteronomy 18:22 “When a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the LORD has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.  
• Prophecy is to be tested 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.)

V 2-3 “Go and proclaim in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD, “I remember concerning you the devotion of your youth, The love of your betrothals, Your following after Me in the wilderness, Through a land not sown. 3 “Israel was holy to the LORD, The first of His harvest. All who ate of it became guilty; Evil came upon them,” declares the LORD.’” 

The Lord tells Jeremiah to go. In other words, Jeremiah can’t just phone it in. He has to personally get up, put on his shoes and go the 3 miles from his hometown of Anathoth to Jerusalem.

Any examples where God called you to some endeavor outside of your home town?

Jeremiah has this heartfelt yet difficult, confrontational message to convey to the Jewish people in Jerusalem.  God is saying remember how our relationship started, remember how it was based on love and devotion. Remember how you followed me through the wilderness.  And when it says “through a land, not sown”, it’s talking about the trek the Israelites made through the wilderness when they came out of Egypt and how the desert was not a land that would have provided food and drink for them and yet God provided food and water and protection for them.

Israel was to be but the first fruit of the produce of the Lord. In other words, they were just the first of God’s endeavors to reach the nations. Israel was to be holy, and I like to think of holy as WHOLLY completely, totally, without reservation, devoted to the Lord.

In verse 3 it says, “All who ate of it”, other translations use the word ‘devoured’, instead of the word ‘ate’, so anyone that would come with evil intent and try to harm, or destroy, loot Israel would have been dealt with by the Lord. This is true to this very day.

V 4-8 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD, “What injustice did your fathers find in Me, That they went far from Me And walked after emptiness and became empty? 6 “They did not say, ‘Where is the LORD Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and of pits, Through a land of drought and of deep darkness, Through a land that no one crossed And where no man dwelt?’ 7 “I brought you into the fruitful land To eat its fruit and its good things. But you came and defiled My land, And My inheritance you made an abomination. 8 “The priests did not say, ‘Where is the LORD?’ And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me, And the prophets prophesied by Baal And walked after things that did not profit. 

In earthly relationships, you might be able to say someone let you down or someone left you high-and-dry that you felt betrayed and that caused a rift that led to adultery.  But God is saying what have I done? I did nothing to cause you to walk away from me and go after worthless, empty idols. Which is spiritual adultery. The concept of adultery has to do with pollution. Something that ought to be pure has been tainted, even poisoned.

The question has been raised. Why do you think people turn from the living God to idols?

• Maybe it’s about expediency.  Maybe it’s just easier.
• Maybe it’s a promise of prosperity. You will have good fortune if you just do obedience to this idol. kind of like the lottery or slot machines.   They make these promises.   It’s always just out of reach, next time, next time, next time.
• Maybe it’s about wanting to do things my way.  The true and living God requires we be accountable to him. He brings moral requirements to the conversation.   Idols don’t talk back.
• Some people get mad at God because He allowed something bad to happen to them. So they turn to an idol.
• One thing is that the true and living God is invisible. He is Spirit. It simply requires faith to know Him. Colossians 1:15 (NASB95) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.

V 9-13 “Therefore I will yet contend with you,” declares the LORD, “And with your sons’ sons I will contend. 10 “For cross to the coastlands of Kittim (which is Cyprus) and see, And send to Kedar (Arabia)  and observe closely And see if there has been such a thing as this! 11 “Has a nation changed gods When they were not gods? But My people have changed their glory For that which does not profit. 12 “Be appalled, O heavens, at this, And shudder, be very desolate,” declares the LORD. 13 “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, The fountain of living waters, To hew for themselves cisterns, Broken cisterns That can hold no water. 

God is saying, I want to argue with you.  Come let us reason together. God says, go out to the islands or go down to the Arabian Peninsula, and see if the people of those lands ever did what you have done . Has anyone ever turned from following their gods? Those pagan people are more faithful to their false gods than you are to the true and living God. You have exchanged the worship of the true and living God for false, dead idols. There are two sources of idols and idolatry I want us to understand:

• an idol represents the thoughts, attitudes and desires of the worshiper.  We can create an idol in our mind. Literally a figment of our imagination.
• An idol may be just made out of stone, metal or wood, but it may have a real, actual spiritual entity dwelling in the sculpture or image.     1 Corinthians 10:19-20 What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? 20 No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons.

This comparison here of an idol to a broken cistern is really profound and kinda the main point of this section.  You can drink water out of a cistern. A Cistern is basically a carved out reservoir in the rock to hold rainwater .You can get potable water from a cistern. It’s not gonna be the best water ever. Might not taste good. At some point, it goes bad and you might even get sick from it. Sometimes these reservoirs can crack and spring a leak, so when you really need it, there is no water.

You really want to go to the source for water. You wanna go to a mountain stream where the snow has just melted and the water flows down a stream through the rocks through the sand so the water gets filtered and cleaned. That is fresh, clear, clean water. It is refreshing. And it brings life. True life.

John 4:7-26 There came a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give Me a drink.” 8 For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. 9 Therefore the Samaritan woman said to Him, “How is it that You, being a Jew, ask me for a drink since I am a Samaritan woman?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.” 11 She said to Him, “Sir, You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep; where then do You get that living water? 12 “You are not greater than our father Jacob, are You, who gave us the well, and drank of it himself and his sons and his cattle?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to Him, “Sir, give me this water, so I will not be thirsty nor come all the way here to draw.” 16 He said to her, “Go, call your husband and come here.” 17 The woman answered and said, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You have correctly said, ‘I have no husband’; 18 for you have had five husbands, and the one whom you now have is not your husband; this you have said truly.” 19 The woman said to Him, “Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet. 20 “Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. 22 “You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. 24 “God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to Him, “I know that Messiah is coming (He who is called Christ); when that One comes, He will declare all things to us.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I who speak to you am He.”

V 14-19 “Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant? Why has he become a prey? 15 “The young lions have roared at him, They have roared loudly. And they have made his land a waste; His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant. 16 “Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes Have shaved the crown of your head. 17 “Have you not done this to yourself By your forsaking the LORD your God When He led you in the way? 18 “But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt, To drink the waters of the Nile? Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria, To drink the waters of the Euphrates? 19 “Your own wickedness will correct you, And your apostasies will reprove you; Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter For you to forsake the LORD your God, And the dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts. 

God actually brought Israel out of slavery. God took them from bondage and brought them to a land that was to be their own so that they could have freedom. And yet they submitted themselves to slavery of another kind, spiritual slavery, bondage to sin. If you look at the book of judges, there was this repetition of the people falling into sin, the land, and the nation being conquered by another people group where they would be submitted into slavery, and then God would send a rescuer a deliverer.

Does God treat us like slaves?

John 15:12-17 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are My friends if you do what I command you. 15 No longer do I call you slaves, for the slave does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard from My Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose Me but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain, so that whatever you ask of the Father in My name He may give to you. 17 This I command you, that you love one another.

Israel was the only nation of all the nations to receive God’s word to hear the oracles of God, and to be given the law of God. This was to be their crown, and yet their crown was shaven by the inhabitants from these Egyptian cities of Memphis and Tahpanhes.

When it says, “the dread of me is not in you”, in verse 19, I feel like we can be guilty of that. At least I can be guilty of that and that is of being so comfortable, so familiar, so buddy buddy with God that I lose that sense of his majesty and power and greatness and holiness.

V 20-25 “For long ago I broke your yoke And tore off your bonds; But you said, ‘I will not serve!’ For on every high hill And under every green tree You have lain down as a harlot. 21 “Yet I planted you a choice vine, A completely faithful seed. How then have you turned yourself before Me Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine? 22 “Although you wash yourself with lye And use much soap, The stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord GOD. 23 “How can you say, ‘I am not defiled, I have not gone after the Baals’? Look at your way in the valley! Know what you have done! You are a swift young camel entangling her ways, 24 A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness, That sniffs the wind in her passion. In the time of her heat who can turn her away? All who seek her will not become weary; In her month they will find her. 25 “Keep your feet from being unshod And your throat from thirst; But you said, ‘It is hopeless! No! For I have loved strangers, And after them I will walk.’ 

God uses three strong images to describe the sin and shame of Israel. They were like a prostitute, like a weed, and like someone so dirty that no lye or soap could make them clean. All I can say is the people then, as now, pursued sin with such reckless abandon that it is appalling and astonishing. Do we ever turn from God to the slavery of sin?

Galatians 5:1 (NASB95) It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery.

Further descriptions of Israel’s apostasy.

V 26-37 “As the thief is shamed when he is discovered, So the house of Israel is shamed; They, their kings, their princes And their priests and their prophets, 27 Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’ And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’ For they have turned their back to Me, And not their face; But in the time of their trouble they will say, ‘Arise and save us.’ 28 “But where are your gods Which you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you In the time of your trouble; For according to the number of your cities Are your gods, O Judah. 29 “Why do you contend with Me? You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the LORD. 30 “In vain I have struck your sons; They accepted no chastening. Your sword has devoured your prophets Like a destroying lion. 31 “O generation, heed the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of thick darkness? Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam; We will no longer come to You’? 32 “Can a virgin forget her ornaments, Or a bride her attire? Yet My people have forgotten Me Days without number. 33 “How well you prepare your way To seek love! Therefore even the wicked women You have taught your ways. 34 “Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor; You did not find them breaking in. But in spite of all these things, 35 Yet you said, ‘I am innocent; Surely His anger is turned away from me.’ Behold, I will enter into judgment with you Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’ 36 “Why do you go around so much Changing your way? Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt As you were put to shame by Assyria. 37 “From this place also you will go out With your hands on your head; For the LORD has rejected those in whom you trust, And you will not prosper with them.”

I’m not going to hit this subject hard again, but the people of Israel had fallen so deep into the Baal worship that they participated in the evil, heinous practice of child sacrifice, when it says, “Also on your skirts is found The lifeblood of the innocent poor”.  This goes on in our country and our world. This should horrify us.

Jeremiah 3

God withdraws His blessing from Israel

V1-5 God says, “If a husband divorces his wife And she goes from him And belongs to another man, Will he still return to her? Will not that land be completely polluted?
But you are a harlot with many lovers; Yet you turn to Me,” declares the Lord. 2 “Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see; Where have you not been violated? By the roads you have sat for them Like an Arab in the desert, And you have polluted a land
With your harlotry and with your wickedness. 3 “Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no spring rain. Yet you had a harlot’s forehead;
You refused to be ashamed. 4 “Have you not just now called to Me, ‘My Father, You are the friend of my youth? 5 ‘Will He be angry forever? Will He be indignant to the end?’
Behold, you have spoken And have done evil things, And you have had your way.”

As always, there’s a glimmer of hope, “will He be angry forever?”, “Will He be indignant to the end?”.   But in the meantime, things do not go well for a nation that rejects God and goes after idols. That can go for a nation as a whole or each one of us individually.   We know that following God does not guarantee us a life of comfort or prosperity.

Israel’s failure should have provided an object lesson that kept Judah from going down the same path.

V 6-10 Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there. 7 I thought, ‘After she has done all these things she will return to Me’; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. 8 And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. 9 Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. 10 Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,” declares the Lord.

Judah did not learn from Israel’s rebellion and subsequent chastisement.   I want to encourage us to try to learn our lesson before we have to go down the road of failure and heartbreak.

God Invites Repentance

V 11-25 And the Lord said to me, “Faithless Israel has proved herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say,

‘Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not look upon you in anger.
For I am gracious,’ declares the Lord;
‘I will not be angry forever.
13 ‘Only acknowledge your iniquity,
That you have transgressed against the Lord your God
And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree,
And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the Lord.
14 ‘Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the Lord;
‘For I am a master to you,
And I will take you one from a city and two from a family,
And I will bring you to Zion.’

*** 15 “Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. 16 It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land,” declares the Lord, “they will no longer say, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 At that time they will call Jerusalem ‘The Throne of the Lord,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the Lord; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance.

***

Here is an encouraging, forward looking prophecy not only of the messiah and the millennium, but of the church age specifically.  This tells how God would commission pastors and evangelists to be instrumental in building the church.

19 “Then I said,

‘How I would set you among My sons
And give you a pleasant land,
The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’
And I said, ‘You shall call Me, My Father,
And not turn away from following Me.’

Another forward looking prophecy about how we as the church would address God as our Father.  The Jews didn’t so much think of God in those terms.

20 “Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover,
So you have dealt treacherously with Me,
O house of Israel,” declares the Lord.

21 A voice is heard on the bare heights,
The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel;
Because they have perverted their way,
They have forgotten the Lord their God.
22 “Return, O faithless sons,
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to You;
For You are the Lord our God.
23 “Surely, the hills are a deception,
A tumult on the mountains.
Surely in the Lord our God
Is the salvation of Israel.

24 “But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

With regards to repentance…

2 Corinthians 7:10 For the sorrow that is according to the will of God produces a repentance without regret, leading to salvation, but the sorrow of the world produces death. 

Can I say, it is okay to just be honest and transparent (first) with God and then with each other about our weaknesses, failures and even our outright willful wrongs.   It’s okay to just tell each other we’re sorry.   What if we’ve really blown it with each other?   Say you’re sorry.   What if we’ve really let God down and done the thing we’ve said, “oh, I will never do that again LORD”.   Just turn to Him in humility and say, I am so sorry LORD, thank you for the forgiveness you provided on the cross.  

Romans 5:8 God demonstrated His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

If you’ve been wronged by someone, you better be open to forgiving them.  It isn’t natural.  It only comes by God’s Spirit working in your heart.   But you must forgive.

Matthew 6:12-15 ‘And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 ‘And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.’]

14 For if you forgive others for their transgressions, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others, then your Father will not forgive your transgressions.

But to wrap this up, I want to exhort us from 1 John 5:19-21

1 John 5:19-21 We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one. 20 And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.

21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.