Responding to God's Judgment

Introduction:

Nightmares

Orson Wells, War of the Worlds

Jeremiah 4:19-5:31

Pray

1. The Prophet’s Grief (4:19-31)

2. The Hardened People (5:1-13)

3. The Judgment of the Lord (5:14-31)

Conclusion:

How should we respond when God pronounces judgment.

There are three different responses we see in the passage.

We Can Ignore God’s Warning

They became deaf to the warnings

They put on eyeliner like a prostitute and think they can talk themselves out of this

They keep on doing what they were doing

Scoffers will come (1-2 Timothy)

We Can Lament and Weep

Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. Jeremiah’s response followed a 3-step plan

First Accusation

Second Frustration

Third Lamentation

He mourns for his people because he knows they deserve judgment and they are ignoring God’s warning

Phillip Graham Ryken in the Preaching the Word Commentary says,

Where are the Jeremiahs of the

evangelical church in these

postmodern times? Where are

the men and women who have

such awe for the justice of God.

such love for the church of Jesus

Christ. and such pity for the lost

souls of the world that they

weep over the sins of the

nation? Christians spend a great

deal of time wringing hands

about the state of the church,

bemoaning the ills Of pagan

society, and looking back with

nostalgia for a "Christian

America" that probably never

existed. But that is not

lamentation; it is just feeling

Sorry for ourselves.

We Can Escape It

Jeremiah 4:14 ESV

14 O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?

The reason that God is giving these warnings is to genuinely call the people to repentance

What about us? We need to repent and we can escape the coming judgment of God

The reason that we can escape the wrath of God is because Jesus came and took it for us.

For those of us in Christ, the nightmare has ended. We don’t have to fear the sleep of death.