What Will You Do at the End of It?
Jeremiah • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Have you ever ignored an alarm? Car alarms go off so often that people don’t pay much attention. One time I set off the door alarm at the library and the librarian told me not to worry about because it goes off all the time.
It seems the more we hear certain warnings the more we fail to respond.
Unresponsive People
Unresponsive People
This is the problem Jeremiah was having. The more he preached, the less it seemed people listened.
Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they will listen? Look, their ear is uncircumcised, so they cannot pay attention. See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them— they find no pleasure in it.
We, too, might feel like we’ve heard it all before...and we have. But that doesn’t give us an excuse to be unresponsive to the word of God. God repeats himself because His people need to hear it.
Verse one begins with another warning.
“Run for cover out of Jerusalem, Benjaminites. Sound the ram’s horn in Tekoa; raise a smoke signal over Beth-haccherem, for disaster threatens from the north, even a crushing blow.
Tekoa is a town south of Jerusalem where the prophet Amos is from and Beth-haccherem is hill near the town on which signal fires could be set.
Verses 2-5 go on to give good reasons to heed the warnings. Verse 2 describes Israel as “beautiful and delicate” in other words she doesn’t stand a chance against the armies that are coming. Verse 3 describes her as being completely surrounded, by “shepherds and flocks” but these aren’t peaceful shepherds because, as verses 4 and 5 say, they intend to attack and destroy first in broad daylight and then in the terror of night.
But Israel ignores the warnings and gets what she deserves.
For this is what the Lord of Armies says: Cut down the trees; raise a siege ramp against Jerusalem. This city must be punished. There is nothing but oppression within her. As a well gushes out its water, so she pours out her evil. Violence and destruction resound in her. Sickness and wounds keep coming to my attention.
The city, the people, must be punished because true justice doesn’t overlook sin. Sin must be punished by God because He is perfectly just and fair.
God is patient with his people but they just keep on sinning. And their sin just keeps pouring out of her like an overflowing well filled with disgusting, disease infested water.
And notice that it is God, himself, who punishes his people.
Be warned, Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you; I will make you a desolation, a land without inhabitants.
God does the punishing. He doesn’t just allow it to happen, He causes it to happen. God’s people are like a grape vine that He picks clean until they are completely decimated.
This is what the Lord of Armies says: Glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine. Pass your hand once more like a grape gatherer over the branches.
God, like we sometimes sing in the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” is “tramping out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.” Only this isn’t a wrath against his enemies, this is wrath against those He calls His people but have rejected Him.
And no one is excluded from the consequences of sin.
But I am full of the Lord’s wrath; I am tired of holding it back. Pour it out on the children in the street, on the gathering of young men as well. For both husband and wife will be captured, the old with the very old. Their houses will be turned over to others, their fields and wives as well, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land. This is the Lord’s declaration.
The children, the young men, the husband, the wife, even the very old, deserve God’s punishment.
Peter describes the future fulfillment of this verse in equally horrifying terms. He says, “But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed” (2 Pt. 3:10).
That’s how things turn out for those who reject God.
What will you do when the end comes? How will it turn out for you? That’s the all important question asked in verse 31. “What will you do at the end of it?”
The answer, according to Jeremiah, depends upon how you respond to God’s warning.
Foolish and Senseless People
Foolish and Senseless People
The first group of people don’t really respond at all so Jeremiah calls them foolish and senseless people.
“Declare this in the house of Jacob; proclaim it in Judah, saying: Hear this, you foolish and senseless people. They have eyes, but they don’t see. They have ears, but they don’t hear.
These people have eyes and ears but they don’t use them very well. You might say “They have a brain but they don’t use it.”
Their problem is that their hearts are closed to the Word of God. They hear it but they don’t believe it. They don’t think God is really going to judge them for their sins and this is extremely frustrating for Jeremiah.
Who can I speak to and give such a warning that they will listen? Look, their ear is uncircumcised, so they cannot pay attention. See, the word of the Lord has become contemptible to them— they find no pleasure in it.
Saying “their ear is uncircumcised” is a literal way of saying they are extremely stubborn. They have their fingers in their ears and they refuse to listen.
The prophet Isaiah was familiar with foolish, senseless people too.
And he replied: Go! Say to these people: Keep listening, but do not understand; keep looking, but do not perceive. Make the minds of these people dull; deafen their ears and blind their eyes; otherwise they might see with their eyes and hear with their ears, understand with their minds, turn back, and be healed.
It’s not so much that God makes them dull of hearing, it’s more that he just let’s them do what they want. And left to ourselves we too are free to keep sinning, that is our nature. But we are not free to chose Christ until He enables us to do so.
See, the reality is that it is only by the grace of God that anyone ever understands the gospel. It’s only when God gives the ability to understand that people “get it.”
Why doesn’t God give this ability to everyone? I don’t know, but I do know God isn’t unfair to punish people for their sins. No one forces us to sin. We do so because we want to.
So, these foolish and senseless people lacked the spiritual understanding necessary to comprehend God’s free gift of salvation and they also lack proper reverence for God.
Do you not fear me? This is the Lord’s declaration. Do you not tremble before me, the one who set the sand as the boundary of the sea, an enduring barrier that it cannot cross? The waves surge, but they cannot prevail. They roar but cannot pass over it.
We should show reverence to God because of His sovereignty. God rules over the sea and the waves. He controls the storms and can make things perfectly still in an instant. And yet His people didn’t reverence Him. They weren’t in awe of Him.
And these foolish, senseless people also lack gratitude.
They have not said to themselves, ‘Let’s fear the Lord our God, who gives the seasonal rains, both autumn and spring, who guarantees to us the fixed weeks of the harvest.’
Since they aren’t grateful for God’s gift of rain in due season so God takes the gift away. Now there is drought in Israel designed to teach them their are consequences for idolatry.
And we would be wise to think of the hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and droughts in this country as more than just natural occurrences but designed to warn of us God’s judgement against idolatry.
Fat and Sleek People
Fat and Sleek People
A second group of people that Jeremiah addresses are the fat and sleek people of verse 28. Verse 26 says they...
for wicked men live among my people. They watch like hunters lying in wait. They set a trap; they catch men. Like a cage full of birds, so their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have grown powerful and rich.
These people are good at what they do. They are very good hunters. They are able to catch or persuade people with their words and as a result they have grown fat, maybe not literally but they are fat with power and wealth.
It’s not that having power and wealth is wrong, but these people don’t trust in God for their salvation. They are trusting in themselves and, even worse, they have taken advantage of the poor to gain their wealth.
They have become fat and sleek. They have also excelled in evil matters. They have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.
These are important words for us to think about because there isn’t a day that goes by in this country that the poor are exploited.
We like to ease our consciences by saying everyone has the same opportunities but that’s just not true. Some are born into poverty or abusive situations with little chance of escaping. Many are completely at the mercy of others for their next meal.
And this verse is telling us it’s not good enough to just not personally take advantage of the poor but that it’s actually a sin not to proactively help them.
The problem is these fat, sleek people “have not taken up cases, such as the case of the fatherless, so they might prosper, and they have not defended the rights of the needy.”
The reason this is so bad is because God himself is a Father to the Fatherless and a Defender of the Poor. And He expects his children to care about what He cares about.
We tend to politicize this issue.
But it’s not that Democrats are better than Republicans for caring for the poor. Most liberals think more money is the answer. And it’s not that most conservatives do any better thinking the poor should take advantage of their opportunities and solve their own problems. Both sides are condemned for not showing any genuine compassion.
Our Father in Heaven has a higher standard that all of His children should pay attention to. He calls us to plead the case of the fatherless and to defend the rights of the poor. In other words we are supposed to get personally involved, not just try to fix things from the sidelines.
Should I not punish them for these things? This is the Lord’s declaration. Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
This is a rhetorical question with only one obvious answer. Yes, God should. If we aren’t doing anything to help the fatherless and the needy then we are just as bad as these fat and sleek people and deserve to be punished, too.
Lying Prophets
Lying Prophets
A third group of people Jeremiah is addressing are called lying prophets. Prophets are those who speak for God so lying prophets are those that say “God says” when He hasn’t said anything of the sort. They distort His message.
They have treated my people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace.
God’s message to His people was a message of warning yet these lying prophets said everything is fine.
It still happens today. Some of the biggest lies in some of the most popular churches is that God doesn’t punish sin, hell is just a state of mind, so try to be a good person and God will let you into heaven. They preach peace when there is no peace.
And they preach this with a big smile on their face, with no shame.
Were they ashamed when they acted so detestably? They weren’t at all ashamed. They can no longer feel humiliation. Therefore, they will fall among the fallen. When I punish them, they will collapse, says the Lord.
The only reason these lying prophets haven’t been punished yet is because God is patient and wants to give people more time to repent. But when God does finally punish them, the smile on their faces will fade and they along with their organizations will completely collapse.
Just like today, one of the reasons the lying prophets don’t adequately warn the people is greed.
For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely.
Google the term “greedy pastors” on your computer like I did and you’ll be confronted with hundreds of articles about pastors building multi-million dollar homes, buying $1000 shoes acquired by promising God’s blessing of prosperity or healing to those who will just send in one more gift of $100.
But, sadly, the people wouldn’t want it any other way.
The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule by their own authority. My people love it like this. But what will you do at the end of it?
These lying, greedy pastors often have the largest congregations because the people don’t want to be told truth. They think it’s cool their pastor drives a Bugatti sports car because they want to drive one, too. They want to be appeased and soothed more than they want to be convicted of sin.
What Richard Niebuhr said about the evangelical church in the 60’s seems to be just about right: “A God without wrath brings men without sin into a kingdom without judgment through the [ministries] of a Christ without a cross.”
Instead true prophets of God should be doing what Paul told Timothy to do:
Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; correct, rebuke, and encourage with great patience and teaching. For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, will multiply teachers for themselves because they have an itch to hear what they want to hear.
What Will You Do?
What Will You Do?
So, what are you going to do about it? All around us are the foolish and senseless, the fat and sleek, and the lying prophets. And if truth be known there is more of these kind of people in each one of us than their ought to be.
So, as Jeremiah asks at the end of chapter 5: “What will you do at the end of it?” Or, put another way, what will happen to you when the end finally comes?
Jeremiah’s answer is that depends on how we respond to God’s warning.
I pray that we will not be like the foolish and senseless people but will instead understand and believe the gospel and give God all of the fear and reverence he deserves.
I pray that we will not be like the fat and sleek people, but will instead be advocates for the fatherless, for the unborn, for the poor and needy.
And I pray that we will not be like the lying prophets refusing to believe that God will in fact punish sin, but will instead heed the warnings, embrace the righteousness of Christ, and encourage others to do so, too.