Unrepentant sin and treachery
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Handout
Introduction
Introduction
Main points we have seen thus far
Jeremiah called at young age and comes to be known as the weeping prophet.
Judah’s persistent rebellion and refusal to repent even after seeing Israel and the judgment that came on them.
The impending judgment because of their disobedience.
Our Passage
Our Passage
1 “At that time,” declares the Lord, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. 2 “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served, and which they have gone after and which they have sought, and which they have worshiped. They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground.
3 “And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the Lord of hosts. 4 “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent?
5 “Why then has this people, Jerusalem, Turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, They refuse to return. 6 “I have listened and heard, They have spoken what is not right; No man repented of his wickedness, Saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, Like a horse charging into the battle.
7 “Even the stork in the sky Knows her seasons; And the turtledove and the swift and the thrush Observe the time of their migration; But My people do not know The ordinance of the Lord. 8 “How can you say, ‘We are wise, And the law of the Lord is with us’? But behold, the lying pen of the scribes Has made it into a lie.
9 “The wise men are put to shame, They are dismayed and caught; Behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord, And what kind of wisdom do they have? 10 “Therefore I will give their wives to others, Their fields to new owners; Because from the least even to the greatest Everyone is greedy for gain; From the prophet even to the priest Everyone practices deceit.
11 “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, Saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ But there is no peace. 12 “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, And they did not know how to blush; Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time of their punishment they shall be brought down,” Says the Lord.
13 “I will surely snatch them away,” declares the Lord; “There will be no grapes on the vine And no figs on the fig tree, And the leaf will wither; And what I have given them will pass away.” ’ ” 14 Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities And let us perish there, Because the Lord our God has doomed us And given us poisoned water to drink, For we have sinned against the Lord.
15 We waited for peace, but no good came; For a time of healing, but behold, terror! 16 From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; At the sound of the neighing of his stallions The whole land quakes; For they come and devour the land and its fullness, The city and its inhabitants.
17 “For behold, I am sending serpents against you, Adders, for which there is no charm, And they will bite you,” declares the Lord. 18 My sorrow is beyond healing, My heart is faint within me!
19 Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the Lord not in Zion? Is her King not within her?” “Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?” 20 “Harvest is past, summer is ended, And we are not saved.”
21 For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn, dismay has taken hold of me. 22 Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored?
What do you notice in this passage, anything stick out to you?
What do you see as the mood in this chapter?
Key themes in this passage
Judgment and the consequences of being unrepentant.
Spiritual blindness, leaders are telling people what they want to hear, vs. hearing the truth and they are being deceived.
Jeremiah’s weeping, Jeremiah’s sorrow as he mourns for the people, and the heavy weight of his calling as a prophet.
A hope for healing, restoration and a rhetorical question.
Desecration of the dead
Desecration of the dead
The bones of the dead , kings, priest, prophets will be exposed. The ultimate sign of disgrace and judgment.
Death will be preferred over life by the survivors due to the impending judgment.
Judah’s stubbornness, persistent rebellion
Judah’s stubbornness, persistent rebellion
God questions why the people refuse to repent and return. They have had ample warnings and examples, yet they refuse to repent.
Even creation obeys a natural order of things, but God’s greatest creation do not. They are in rebellion.
Corrupt leadership; false wisdom
Corrupt leadership; false wisdom
The scribes and leaders twist the law
The spiritual leaders fail to lead the people, the people also feel no shame for their sin.
The harvest is past, no salvation
The harvest is past, no salvation
God declares there will be no fruit, no healing, only destruction (inferring to Babylon coming from the North).
Items representing judgment (snakes, serpents) will be sent upon them.
Jeremiah’s lament for the people
Jeremiah’s lament for the people
Jeremiah is heartbroken for his people.
Jeremiah has deep sorrow for the pending judgment
Jeremiah’s lament, “is there no balm in Gilead?”
Some lessons from Jeremiah 8
Some lessons from Jeremiah 8
Judah’s sin leads to inevitable judgment, sin always bears bitter fruit. So, sin has consequences.
False prophet’s mislead, claiming there is peace when there is no peace.
The people are spiritually blind, even after having the dire warnings, the example of Israel, they fail to repent.
God’s heart breaks when has to pass judgment. It is seen in this chapter through the prophets lament.
Need for true repentance. You cannot just go through the motions, external religious activities without true repentance is worthless.
Application/Take-aways
Application/Take-aways
Reflect, evaluate, your own response to sin.
Have true discernment in leaders so there will be no spiritual apathy.
There is still time to have hope, hope in Christ.
Even in the last days there are problems (2Tim4:3-4)
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4 and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
This is not an isolated lament, ever Isaiah had one similar (Isa1:4-6).
4 Alas, sinful nation, People weighed down with iniquity, Offspring of evildoers, Sons who act corruptly! They have abandoned the Lord, They have despised the Holy One of Israel, They have turned away from Him. 5 Where will you be stricken again, As you continue in your rebellion? The whole head is sick And the whole heart is faint. 6 From the sole of the foot even to the head There is nothing sound in it, Only bruises, welts and raw wounds, Not pressed out or bandaged, Nor softened with oil.
Also we can see the Lord’s lament over Jerusalem (Lk19:41-44)
41 When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, 42 saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes.
43 “For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, 44 and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.”
Are you like Jeremiah mourning over sin, or like Judah unaware of need for repentance? Is there an area where you need to repent tonight? God wants to heal you.
