Untitled Sermon (29)

Jeremiah 1-3

We have been looking at the life of Josiah and last week we looked into His death and how God had orchestrated events to do what He had planned to do as it relates to punishing Assyria for their mistreatment of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and bringing about the coming destruction of Judah because of their disobedience and the worship of foreign gods. We have not talked about this but in the last 40 years of the existence of Judah as a kingdom, beginning about half way through King Josiah’s reign until the fall of Jerusalem and a few years beyond, the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people of God the message God gave him. He prophesied during Josiah’s, through Zedekiah’s reign and the taking of the people of Judah into captivity. Over the next few weeks we will look at some of these prophecies and see what we can learn about our God and His work in the life of His people. Let’s pray then we will look at Jeremiah 1, 2 and 3. Don’t worry we won’t be reading all of it.

In chapter 1 of Jeremiah we get some of the history that I have already told you concerning when Jeremiah was prophesying. Then in verse 5 we find that verse that most of us know or recognize from this book. 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; Before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” From verse 5 we just read to the end of the chapter is often called “the call of Jeremiah”. It is the call of Jeremiah from the perspective that Jeremiah found out about it but we can see from verse 5 that God had a plan even before Jeremiah was conceived. Of course this is also a verse that is used to support that life begins at conception but more than that it gives us the truth that it is God who forms us in the womb. None of this really has that much to do with our lesson tonight except that it is the record of the designation of Jeremiah as a spokesperson for the Most High God. Of course Jeremiah like Moses before him came up with an excuse not to be God’s prophet stating that he was just too young to speak for God and no one would listen to him. God tells him that was not the way to look at things then God stretched out His hand and touched Jeremiah’s mouth and said (verse 9) Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.

The first prophecy that God gave Jeremiah was a message of the destruction of Judah from the north. Jeremiah 1:14b-16 “Out of the north calamity shall break forth On all the inhabitants of the land. 15For behold, I am calling All the families of the kingdoms of the north,” says the Lord; “They shall come and each one set his throne At the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, Against all its walls all around, And against all the cities of Judah. 16I will utter My judgments Against them concerning all their wickedness, Because they have forsaken Me, Burned incense to other gods, And worshiped the works of their own hands. Jeremiah is commissioned to tell the people this message then God tells him that they were going to hate him because of that message but that He would be with him and be his Deliverer.

In chapter 2 God begins laying out His charges against Judah and all of the people of Israel. He reminds them of when He first formed them and how He led them out of captivity and through the wilderness and how He brought them into the bountiful and they were in now. Jeremiah 2:7-8 7I brought you into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination. 8The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord? And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit. He gave them a wonderful land and all they did was squander it. This is exactly the same thing but a long time ago our younger daughter had a nice new camera. She was going on a school trip to New York City and wanted to take it with her to take pictures. We told her that it was too expensive of a camera to take on a trip, like that she would probably lose it. We got her some disposable cameras to take instead. Her older sister advised her to go ahead and take, mom and dad will never know. Guess what happened? She lost it. I can remember thinking and probably saying; “We give you something really nice and all you do is squander it”. She wanted to do what she wanted to do and she now had to live with the consequences. That is what has happened to Judah and all the people of Israel. God had given them a land flowing with milk and honey and they were going to lose it. God goes on to point out that other nations do not change gods but that His people have forsaken Him and changed gods and worshiped all the false gods of the nations around them. HE says this in verse 13: 13“For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water. You had living water that would never cease but you have forsaken that for water that will not last.

In verse 26 He talks about how thieves are ashamed when they are caught but that His people had no shame, they just keep on carving idols out of trees and chipping out new gods out of stone. He reminds them that He has brought troubles against them and delivered them from those troubles and still they received not correction and even killed the prophets that He sent to call them to repentance. There is whole lot more to this indictment than I have talked about tonight, you can go back and read it all in chapter 2 but then we come to chapter 3:1 1“They say, ‘If a man divorces his wife, And she goes from him And becomes another man’s, May he return to her again?’ Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers; Yet return to Me,” says the Lord. Do you hear that? He lays out an indictment of rebellion, of spiritual adultery, of seeking after what does not last when what is eternal is available and yet God desires these sullied people of His to return to Him; regardless of how spoiled and soiled and filthy they are. “Yet return to Me,” says the Lord.

There are a few things I want to point out before we go. First: If you are His He has a plan for you not at all unlike Jeremiah’s. He has called you as Ephesians 1 says; from the foundations of the world and Ephesians 2:10 says that He has works prepared for you just as He has prepared you for those works, so walk in them.

Second: If you are His and have sought after other “gods”, let yourself be lured away from obedience to Him, if you have ceased to walk in His good works then it is time for you to repent. I cannot tell you what your rebellion is but can tell you that you that if you are not heeding His call to repentance then you are in captivity to that sin and rebellion. It is time for His people to repent and return to Him.

Third: God laid out a horrible indictment against Judah and Israel. He attempted to call them back time and time again yet they chased after other gods that were not gods at all, they were like an unfaithful spouse. But He still wanted them to return to Him. No matter what you have done or how long you have done it, or how flagrant your rebellion and sin may have been god still says to you as He did the nation of Judah: “Yet return to Me,” says the Lord. Let’s pray.