Jeremiah's Hope

Jeremiah 31-32

Introduction

Jeremiah comes onto the scene during the reign of Josiah (the last righteous king of Judah) and spanned the last 40 years and final 5 kings of Judah.

Jeremiah came from a family of priests (Jer. 1:1).

You will recall that Josiah was told that the outcome had been determined, all that remained was timing.

We are going to look at the work of Jeremiah this morning and hopefully see some helpful applications for us today.

The Original Jeremiad

A jeremiad is a long literary work, usually in prose, but sometimes in verse, in which the author bitterly laments the state of society and its morals in a serious tone of sustained invective, and always contains a prophecy of society's imminent downfall.

This was the primary message of Jeremiah. It isn’t going to “get better” it isn’t going to “work out”, the Babylonians are coming and there is nothing that will stop them (Jer. 20:4-5).

Modern jeremiads rarely hit the mark but for different reasons:

Jeremiah didn’t take any joy in his message (Jer. 9:1).

He wasn’t preaching against politically correct sins or for politically correct solutions (Jer. 2:9-13).

He wasn’t gaining popularity in any sector with his preaching (Jer. 11:18-23; 12:6).

When it was all over and proved that he was right, his message was rejected once more (Jer. 43:1-2).

Preaching Hope

There is a small measure of temporal hope (Jer. 31:15-17).

There is even greater hope at a greater distance (Jer. 31:31-34).

The hope of the law in our hearts (Heb. 8:8-12; 10:16-17).

This is not mere memorization, it is cherishing.

Simple reminders for profound truths (Jer. 31:35-36).

Acting with Hope

In the next chapter, Jeremiah is commanded to purchase land in a time of seige (Jer. 32:6-14).

This action was meant to represent hope for the future (Jer. 32:15, 44).

But, this also did not produce lasting temporal blessing and hope (Matt. 27:9).

This “investment” speaks to a greater hope than returned prosperity (Matt. 10:41-42).

Conclusion

So, things don’t look good. But that has been true for a while.

I heard a sermon about the state of America from the book of Jeremiah over 20 years ago. More of a rant than a sermon really. He didn’t really offer anything but evidence of moral decline.

Act here and now like you have hope in the there and then.