Jeremiah 2:29-37
Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 19 viewsNotes
Transcript
Last week - how seriously God took the spiritual adultery that Israel committed
the fact that Israel looked to other things to save them
the fact they abandoned the God that had done so much for them for “gods” that they made for themselves
additionally, they had no shame about any of this
29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.
God asks the question, you have done all these things against me, you have left me, forgotten me, rejected and abandoned me, and then you come pleading to me?
when you look at all that the Israelites had done, God’s perspective is understandable - as He’s done so much for them and plead so much with them
from Israel’s perspective, it’s just that they sin but want forgiveness a lot, knowing that God is a merciful and helpful God
so one can see where God’s exasperation is coming from
30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
God speaking that He’s tried correcting them, but they’ve not only not listened, but they’ve lashed out at their own prophets and killed them
this really points out what can happen if we let our human nature take over, if we forsake God, fall away from Him and His glory and revert to our fallen self
They likely killed the prophets because they were telling the truth - the truth that made them uncomfortable, but the truth that came from God
this is what happened with Jesus, we have it recorded and all laid out for us in detail
we cannot allow ourselves to get to this point, because we can inadvertantly end up putting blinders on ourselves to where we end up not being able to see the signs that we need to see
if Israel can fall to the point where they end up killing their own prophets, then we are by no means immune to falling to the same kind of extent
31 O generation, see ye the word of the Lord. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? 32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
we think about how crucial God is to our life - to forget about our God and leave Him our of our life and decision making - how could we possibly leave Him out
and this is just talking about our life here on earth - the mercy that we receive from God, the patience, the goodness, the lovingkindness, the answered prayers, the fulfilment, the EVERYTHING that God gives us in this life
when we put the eternal into the mix, it starts to become absurd to forsake God and forget about Him
the thing about it is though is that it isn’t always so obvious when we forsake God, we can be sitting in church every Sunday but having forsaken God in our hearts and lives
so we may not be worshipping other Gods, or putting other things ahead of God in our life, but we may be just as far from God in our hearts as the Israelites were at this time
33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
this verse is essentially saying, “you are very good at seeking love (as in from other god’s as a harlot), you’ve even taught the other harlots your wicked ways”
so this is one of those verses where we see the real force with which God was speaking to them
if they had reached this low of a low, how would they be different than someone who wasn’t part of God’s people at all?
surely we’ve seen some who claim to be part of the “church” fall to such extents as well, whether it be someone on TV or someone in real life
we can never rest on our laurels thinking that we are safe and that we don’t have to try anymore, that’s such a dangerous place to be
many accidents happen in the real world due to this attitude, like car accidents and aviation accidents
and just like in car and plane crashes, these spiritual crashes can have just as bad or worse effects, just in different ways
34 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these.
a selection from Poole’s commentary on this verse
“i.e. in thee is found the murders expressed here by blood of innocent persons, meant here by souls, comprising both their sacrificing of their little children to their idols, Psal. 106:37, 38; Ezek. 16:20, 21, 36, murdering souls as well as bodies; and also all those cruelties, oppressions, and murders that they executed upon poor innocent persons, which were not a few in what Manasseh did, 2 Kings 21:16; Ezek. 7:23; 9:9, and in special the prophets, ver. 30, that came in God’s name to reclaim them; which notes their desperate malice as well as cruelty, to slay their physicians.”
the point of saying “I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these” and “in thy skirts is found the blood...” is that Israel was not even ashamed of what they did
since their perspective was so warped - they weren’t even trying to hide it - the evidence was there to see on their bloodstained clothing
they had gotten to the point to where they thought wrong was right and right was wrong
and this is the path of man which leads to death - the anti-God path
35 Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
what an inside out perspective! how far they had fallen, this is the perfect warning story, a perfect cautionary tale
God is not angry with her so much because she hath sinned, as because she will not acknowledge her sin.
He is angry with the sin, of course, but not as much as with them not seeing it - similar to how God mentioned earlier about them not even being ashamed of their sin
God can deal with someone truly repenting of their sin, He’s a merciful and gracious God, but it’s much harder if someone won’t acknowledge it
this is why it’s so important for us to not slowly slip into a state where we think we’re in the right, but we’re really far, far off the track, like the people in Christ’s days
addiction sort of works like this
36 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.
in this context, “gaddest” is talking about being rash or thoughtless
they had turned to Assyria for help, but it backfired on them, and now God is telling them if they turn to Egypt for help, then they will end up regretting that as well
this is God essentially saying that “Hey, I’m your only help and hope in this situation.”
their country was weak, it was getting encroached upon by neighboring powers, the northern kingdom had already been deported and dispersed all throughout Assyria
when Assyria invaded a nation, like they did the northern kingdom of Israel, they would deport the people who lived there and disperse them throughout other parts of Assyria. After they did that, they would import native Assyrians and have them live in the conquered territory
they did this in order to keep rebellions to a minimum
the intermingling of the native Israelites who managed to not get deported and the Assyrians that were imported to the northern kingdom produced what we now know as the Samaritans that are talked about in Christ’s day
37 Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
this verse essentially reinforced the previous verse, essentially saying they would soon be ashamed of their reliance on other countries, and the Lord rejects the fact that you are doing this and will not allow this to be successful
so God is sitting here telling them the truth, but they would not listen
the people in Christ’s day were being told the truth right to their faces, but they vehemently rejected it and would not listen
they slid from a place of glory and being God’s chosen people, to a place where they actively rejected God, killed the prophets He sent their way, killed His Son, and didn’t know God at all in their hearts
they had all the trappings of being a believer in God, they had the temple, they had their synagogues in Christ’s day, they followed all of these complicated sabbath rules and other rules
but they completely did not know God in their hearts
they allowed themselves to slip away from what was most important - loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength - the visual trappings do not matter as much as this
someone could put on a veneer their whole life but really not know God - and we have to make sure we don’t allow ourselves to slip into that place
it can happen to anyone, and we need to make sure that every day that with all our hearts we lean and rely upon God for everything, truly in our hearts
this falling away can be very subtle, happening by minute amounts every day, but it all eventually adds up and before you know it you’re a completely different person than you were months ago, years ago
and this is likely what would happen to Israel, they’d stay with God for a while, but sure enough after a while they’d be back to rejecting God - having their warped perspective and thinking what’s wrong is right and whats right is wrong
we can’t let ourselves get spiritually lazy after all God’s done for us - and we have to ask ourselves, is He pleading for us to come back to Him with our hearts and we’re not hearing it? we’re rejecting it or tuning it out?
it’s very important to think about this, and think about it consistently, so as to not slowly revert back to our fallen sinful nature
but we know that God will be there for us with open arms regardless, as He has said many times, if we turn to Him, He will turn to us