Untitled Sermon (3)

INTRODUCTION

As winter time rolls around and everyone starts getting sick, we’re all reminded of that person who refuses to go to the doctor (guilty). They insist that no matter how miserable they are feeling, they don’t need to go to the doctor. Which is fine when we have a cold or maybe even the flu, but can be incredibly dangerous when your body is trying to warn you of something much more serious occurring inside of you. For example, most people think that heart attacks are undetectable until moments before they happen, but medical research actually suggests that isn’t true. If you pay attention to your symptoms, heart attacks commonly start very slowly with observable signs that are meant to direct us to go and get treatment. If we pay attention to our symptoms and react by seeking the necessary treatment, we will likely be alright. However, if these symptoms are ignored and we remain ignorant to our condition, we place ourselves in a very dire situation. Much like a man who will suffer from a heart attack, Judah has a deadly disease that is producing many symptoms. Judah is diagnosed with an evil heart, and their disease has manifested itself into symptoms of sinful actions. This disease is a lethal one, but also a curable one if treatment is sought out.

SYMPTOMS OF AN EVIL HEART

Now this is an important distinction in this passage, that the sinful actions of any individual are not the primary issue in and of themselves, but they are merely symptoms of a far darker condition – the products of an evil heart. In Matthew 12:34 Jesus reminds of this profound truth when he said

“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.”

For if any sinful action was the primary problem itself, then we could simply modify behavior until we created a perfect individual that is obedient in every way. For example, if lying was the main issue in someone’s life, we could simply tell them that lying is bad and that they really ought to tell the truth, and they would respond “oh ok, thanks for sharing that with me. I will begin telling the truth now.” But we know that outward actions are not the root of anyone’s issue, but they are the symptoms of an evil heart that is producing evil, because that is all that it knows how to produce. God identifies the source of the problem in his people Judah when he links their refusal to listen or obey due to the evil hearts of the people. Jeremiah 11:8

Jeremiah 11:8 ESV

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

And although outward sinful actions are only symptoms of the more dangerous condition of an evil heart, we can certainly learn a lot about an individual by observing their symptoms. If someone had a horrible stomach pain, chills, nausea and body aches, we could probably do a pretty good job at diagnosing that person with the stomach flu. Of course our primary goal should not be to cure the symptoms, but rather observe the symptoms so that we can understand what the root issue is. When we can do that, we can really begin to get to work on curing the person rather than the symptom.

With that understanding, I believe we should begin to observe some symptoms.

1. A refusal to listen to God – Jeremiah 11:3 “Cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant”

a. The covenant is the one from Mount Sinai, but it more broadly references the covenant throughout Scripture

i. Since the Garden, God has specially communicated with his people

1. So that they might know him and

2. So that they might know how to obey him.

b. He has sent many prophets to his people over generations

i. To remind them how to obey him and

ii. To remind them of his love and patience towards them as he desires a relationship with them

c. The people do not have any interest in God, and are actually hostile towards him when he approaches them

i. Killed many prophets because of the message God had given them

ii. A plot later in this chapter to kill Jeremiah for the same reason

d. APPLICATION – We may look at these people and wonder at how stupid and ignorant they are to ignore such an invitation

i. Staring at eternal death on one side and God’s merciful hand on the other, yet they don’t care at all about God’s obvious love for them!

ii. We may look at them and wish that God had reached down so obviously into our lives

iii. Yet how often do we ignore Scripture?

1. Here God wrote a book for our reading by the breath of His mouth. A document both timeless and perfect in all its pages containing everything we could ever need to both know God and know His will for our lives, yet we think it more useful as a decoration on a coffee table than as a rule to live our lives by.

iv. If Judah could’ve looked forward into our lives, imagine what they would have said

v. Yet both we and Judah miss the direct revelation of God before our eyes. We both refuse to listen to God, which will lead us to observe a second symptom in this passage.

2. A refusal to obey God – Jeremiah 11:4, 8

a. For parents, it would be hard for your children to obey you if they didn’t listen.

i. When you tune someone out, it is impossible to do what they ask

b. Yet tuning someone out is no excuse for not obeying them

c. Therefore, Judah is left with no excuse for their disobedience.

d. Though they have the Word and the Covenant, they have covered their light and lost their godliness. They are indistinguishable from any other nation.

i. They bow down to false gods, live promiscuous lives, oppress the poor and fail to love their families.

e. APPLY - This forces us to ask ourselves the question – would someone be able to distinguish us from the rest of the world?

i. Do we live like practical atheists?

ii. In what ways are you seeking to actively apply the Scriptures to your life, or rather, what areas of life are you refusing to let the light of Scripture shine into?

iii. If Judah had no excuse not to obey, then we are certainly left with no excuse as our bibles collect coffee stains and dust

iv. We are just as guilty as Judah in refusing to obey, which leads us to observe a third and final symptom for this chapter

3. An abandonment of God in favor of idols – V. 10, 13 “They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, who refused to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them. “For your gods have become as many as your cities, O Judah, and as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal.

a. We shouldn’t be surprised that a people who refuse to listen to and obey God are living idol-filled lives.

b. Although Judah is considered the nation of the Lord, you couldn’t find a more pagan nation.

i. Walk 5 blocks and find 5 gods, none of them being the living and true.

c. Each city has claimed their own special god to bow down to, and the covenant has become ancient history

d. APPLY – As we read about this decline, it is hard not to feel your heart break over the sin of these people. Their symptoms are so obvious and their disease has become so clear, yet they are living as though nothing is wrong.

i. We might think the modern-world comparison is India and China with their little idols on shelves

ii. We forget we are a land full of many idols here at home

iii. We have as many gods as cities in that just about every major city has a professional or collegiate sports team

1. We champion them and defend them against the attacks of others

2. We tithe to them as we insist we cant give up cable and miss the game (or whatever show comes out each Friday) yet we also claim we aren’t in a financial position to tithe to the Lord

3. We are willing to pour hours of overtime and effort into making extra money, but two hours on Sunday to worship God with the church is asking too much of us.

4. Just like Judah, God has taken a backseat to our idols.

4. As we observe these symptoms, what diagnosis can we come to?

a. Symptoms are scary, point towards a lethal disease

i. Like a man coughing up dried blood it screams for immediate attention

b. They point us to an evil and sinful heart – both Judah and ourselves.

5. But what are the implication? What are the costs of an evil heart?

a. Certain death

i. We are incapable of obeying God and fulfilling what he requires of us.

ii. Spiritual death – eternal separation from God

b. Enjoy none of the blessings of keeping God’s covenant

i. Land

ii. Community

iii. Presence

iv. We forfeit them all.

c. Can only expect the punishment due for sinning against a holy and just God. Verse 15 What right has my beloved in my house, when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom? Can you then exult?

i. In a marriage where a woman is unfaithful, she cant expect continued communion

ii. We SHOULD expect nothing but divorce papers finalizing our eternal separation from God

d. And this is where our passage ends tonight, with a promise of destruction on Judah.

i. Judah doesn’t seek treatment

ii. They return to slavery because they fail to recognize their savior

iii. For many, the cost will be their lives

1. BUT THIS IS NOT INEVITABLE! The lethal disease that plagued Judah is not without a cure; there is a treatment for an evil heart.

6. What is the treatment?

a. In a sense, it’s a heart transplant.

b. We need a new heart, which is made possible by thew work of God through Jesus Christ

c. Ezekiel 36:24-28 shows God giving the prescription as well as the rehabilitation instructions. “I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries and bring you into your own land. 25 I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. 28 You shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you shall be my people, and I will be your God”

d. First, God gives us the presecription to save our lives

i. Heart surgery, washed with clean water, cleansed from our idols

ii. We will be made clean in the eyes of God

e. Hebrews 10 expands on this passage and explains in more detail exactly how God will do this “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.”

i. God provides our justification through the work of Jesus

1. Not by our own power or ability

2. Judged not by our ability to fulfill our end of the covenant, but on Jesus’ ability to do so.

3. The God-Man will bear the weight and pay the price, and God gives us assurance of this in verse 28 of the Ezekiel passage.

4. Not everyone with an evil heart will perish, but God will save those who place their faith in Jesus.

f. And as lovely as that is God doesn’t just prescribe life-saving surgery; He also gives us the rehabilitation instructions so we might be healthy again.

i. In verse 27 of Ezekiel, we see that our salvation is not purely future. God begins the healing process here and now.

ii. We are given the Spirit and invited to participate in a life of obedience to God because of what Jesus has done for us.

iii. Although we once found it impossible, along with Judah, to listen to God, obey God or keep God first in our lives, we now find the power to do so in the blood of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

7. Church, what is your response to that invitation?

a. Will you listen to him in the Scriptures?

b. Will you obey him by applying those Scriptures to your life as you are shaped more and more away from the old self and closer and closer to the new?

c. Will you keep God first in your life by destroying the idols you’ve propped up?

d. Do you long to follow after him? Will you stand up in the power that is given to you through Jesus, and will you follow after him to glory? Do you long for that day when your sin might be defeated and you are able to obey God? That day is closer than you think, and you possess the ability now. Although we will not ever be perfect here, God has absolutely given us the power to slay our sin and to walk in righteousness. He has given us the treatment, and we no longer have to suffer from our lethal disease.

8. What about you? Are you aware of the symptoms you’re showing? Do you know about the lethal disease that lives in you? Have you sought treatment for it, and if so, are you living in victory over this disease? Ours is eternal life in Christ; so let us draw near to God through the sacrifice of Christ as we live in victory over what threatened to be our end.