A broken heart for broken world
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Background / Setting
Background / Setting
Background: Jeremiah will continue his lament over the moral and spiritual decay of Judah. Earlier reforms by King Josiah have been forgotten and the people are steeped in deceit, idolatry, and injustice. In our passage he is not only weeping as a prophet of God, but personally over his people that are rejecting God and have impending judgment on them coming. The threat from the north (Babylon) continues even closer now.
Aim: To look at how God longs for our hearts to break for the things that break His heart. A call to engage in genuine repentance and share His heart for the lost world.
General application: This chapter calls for a deeper cultivation for compassion for our communities and a deeper look at our own spiritual lives.
Our Passage
Our Passage
1 Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the desert A wayfarers’ lodging place; That I might leave my people And go from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.
3 “They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” declares the Lord. 4 “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.
5 “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. 6 “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.
7 Therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, I will refine them and assay them; For what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people? 8 “Their tongue is a deadly arrow; It speaks deceit; With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, But inwardly he sets an ambush for him.
9 “Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the Lord. “On a nation such as this Shall I not avenge Myself? 10 “For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, And for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, Because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, And the lowing of the cattle is not heard; Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.
11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, A haunt of jackals; And I will make the cities of Judah a desolation, without inhabitant.” 12 Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the Lord has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through?
13 The Lord said, “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, 14 but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,”
15 therefore thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, “behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. 16 “I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them.”
17 Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; And send for the wailing women, that they may come! 18 “Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, That our eyes may shed tears And our eyelids flow with water.
19 “For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, ‘How are we ruined! We are put to great shame, For we have left the land, Because they have cast down our dwellings.’ ” 20 Now hear the word of the Lord, O you women, And let your ear receive the word of His mouth; Teach your daughters wailing, And everyone her neighbor a dirge.
21 For death has come up through our windows; It has entered our palaces To cut off the children from the streets, The young men from the town squares. 22 Speak, “Thus says the Lord, ‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, And like the sheaf after the reaper, But no one will gather them.’ ”
23 Thus says the Lord, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; 24 but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the Lord.
25 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the Lord, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised— 26 Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.”
Outline
Outline
Jeremiah’s tearful lament (Jer9:1-3)
Jeremiah has profound sorrow, lament over the sins of the people
Expresses grief over the deceit and unfaithfulness of the people
Call for separation from the wicked (Jer9:4-6)
Jeremiah warns, no one can be trusted for there is betrayal and corruption everywhere
The culture is steeped in sin
We are to be a people that hearts break for a broken world.
God’s pronounced judgment (Jer9:7-11)
God will refine, test, and punish people due to their persistent sin.
The cause of the judgment (Jer9:12-16)
The people have rejected God’s law and are following false god’s like Baal.
Do you see this same problem in our society today?
Jesus is the light of the world and uses His children to bring light into the darkness, to lead people to genuine repentance.
A call to mourning (Jer9:17-22)
A call for mourners, women, to come and lament, to weep over sin.
Think of Jesus as he looked over Jerusalem (Luke 19:41–44) “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.””
Do you weep over what makes the Lord weep?
What should you boast about (Jer9:23-24)
Do not boast in wisdom, might or riches, boast in the Lord.
Maybe you will remember Paul using this phrase (1 Corinthians 1:31) “31 so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.””
Circumcision of the heart (Jer9:25-26)
God knows the heart, judgment on all who offer empty religion. Circumcision of the flesh is meaningless without circumcision of the hear.
Jesus embodies reconciliation through faith rather than works, he calls for people to come into a deeper relationship with Him vs. rituals.
Reflections / Application
Reflections / Application
Why was Jeremiah so deeply moved in lament, in sorrow over the sins of the people? Are we moved by blatant sin?
What is the only thing worth boasting about? What does that one thing look like in your life today?
Does this chapter have you looking within to see the sincerity of your own heart and your relationship with God?
Applications
Like Jeremiah we should grieve over sin, do not allow ourselves to become callus, or numb to sin, what breaks God’s heart should break ours.
Strive to be a person of integrity and of truth, guard yourself against lies and deception.
Treasure and obey God’s word daily, do not forsake God’s law.
Do a heart check regularly, outward religion does not make you inwardly right with God.
