The Good Way, The Terrifying Enemy, & The Spiritual Metallurgist

Introduction

Before we read our passage for tonight, let’s remember that the destruction of Judah is at hand because Judah has not repented from the heart. Sure, Judah has pretended to repent; it has repented in word but not in deed and truth. God calls it repenting in deception. Judah has foolishly tried to lie to God about its repentance. So, God’s judgment is impending but Judah remains complacent, apathetic, unwilling to listen to the word of God coming from Jeremiah, a true prophet of God.

Now, we pick up with Jeremiah 6:16-21 thinking about The Good Way, The Terrifying Enemy, and The Spiritual Metallurgist.

[READING - Jeremiah 6:16-21]

Major Ideas

The Good Way (Jeremiah 6:16-21)

Q: Any questions about this passage?

Q: So, what’s the point of this passage?

[EXP] God called Judah to return to the ‘ancient paths’ or the ‘good way’ and walk in it. That good way is the way of blessing as outlined in God’s covenant with his people (cf. Deuteronomy 11:8-28). Judah had long walked the other way and was coming under God’s judgment as a result. Judah, however, refused to turn back to the ancient paths of repentance from sin. Judah refused to walk in that good way of obedience to God. The people of Judah said, “We will not walk in it.” Even when God sent watchmen, who were prophets like Jeremiah, the people said, “We will not listen.” The fruit of refusing to repent would be disaster. Judah attempted to appease God with high-end sacrifices—frankincense from Sheba, sweet can from some distant land—but these high-end sacrifices were no substitute for repentance from the heart and obedience to God. So, in response to their refusal to repent, God judged Judah by laying stumbling blocks before the people. Because of their own wickedness and pride—and because of the lies of the false prophets—the people of Judah would now be blind to their need for repentance. As a result, they would all perish together.

[ILLUS] Probably the most famous parable that Jesus ever told is The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. You know the story: A man has two sons. The younger son wants his inheritance now. The father reluctantly gives it and the younger son quickly squanders it all on sinful living. Broke and ashamed, he gets work feeding pigs and is so hungry that he longs to eat the pig foods. But Jesus said he came to his senses. Now, what does that mean? Well, listen to what the younger son said…

Luke 15:18–19 NASB95

18 ‘I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.” ’

He knew the way home was the way of repentance, so he walked that good way and found rest in the embrace of his father.

This is the way God desired the people of Judah to walk as well. This is the rest he offered to them along the ancient paths of repentance. This is how he desired to embrace his repentant people.

[APP] God embraces us as we walk the way of repentance. When we turn from sin and trust in Jesus and his righteousness, the Father wraps his arms around us and says, “Welcome home.”

But if we do not repent… if we say to him, “We will not walk in it” and “We will not listen,” then all that remains for us is the fearful expectation of judgment.

We must also beware too that we are not so long in refusing to repent that God hardens our hearts so that we are unable to repent. Romans 1 talks about some who experienced this. It says, “God gave them over” to their sins, and lost in their sin, all that remained for them was the wrath of God.

Q: Do you think we can tell when someone has been handed over to their sin? If so, what can we do when we think that’s happened?

[TS]…

The Terrifying Enemy (Jeremiah 6:22-26)

Q: Any questions here?

Q: So, what’s the message here?

[EXP] Babylon comes upon Judah with weapons drawn and cruelty in its heart. It comes quickly and with great numbers—an unstoppable force. Such is the judgment of God. Judah’s strength is gone. Babylon seizes its weapons of war, but Judah is seized by anguish. There’s nowhere to run. “Terror is on every side.” The only thing to do is lament with a lamentation most bitter as one would at the death of an only son. The people of God, it seems, are cutoff from all future hope.

[ILLUS] Jesus once met a woman who lamenting the loss of an only son. As he went entered a city called Nain, the dead son was being carried out. His widow mother was close behind weeping. She had lost her son and with him all hope of future blessing. Jesus had compassion on her. He went to her and said, “Do not weep.” Then he went to the body of her son and said, “Young man, I say to you, arise!” And the young man sat up and began to speak. (Don’t you wonder what he said? “Why am I in this coffin?” “I thought it was just allergies.”) In any event, Jesus gave the son back to his mother.

There’s always hope with Jesus. There’s always hope with God.

This judgment in Jeremiah’s day might seem like total and complete annihilation. It might seem as if any future hope for the people of God is erased, but we’ve already heard whispers of hope—whispers of a remnant, a people spared from the wrath of God by the grace of God.

Jeremiah 4:27 NASB95

27 For thus says the Lord, “The whole land shall be a desolation, Yet I will not execute a complete destruction.

Jeremiah 5:18 NASB95

18 “Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not make you a complete destruction.

Some will be saved from the wrath of God. Those saved will be saved because they are hidden in the grace of God.

[APP] When the great Day of Judgment comes, most will perish, but those who are saved will be those who are hidden in the grace of God—those hidden in Jesus.

Not only is there always hope with him, but there is always certain hope through faith in him.

Q: What do you think prevents people from placing their faith in Jesus?

[TS] …

The Spiritual Metallurgist (Jeremiah 6:27-30)

Q: Any questions about this passage?

Q: So, what’s the point in this passage?

[EXP] God said that Jeremiah had been made an assayer and tester of his people. The prophet would use the word of God to value the way or conduct of God’s people. In verses 28-30, Jeremiah gives his report: “Worthless.” Measured against the word of God, the people of Judah were rebellious, slanderous, and corrupt. In the refining heat of God’s Word, they would all be revealed as dross or slag. There was no silver among them.

[ILLUS] On Monday night my physical fitness was assayed in the refining heat of a workout routine that Cheryl put me through. It started out easy but then we started moving. Before long I was gasping for air and asking for a break. Her routine didn’t reveal that I was slag, but it did reveal that I might be a slug.

[APP] The truth is, however, that when anyone is measured against the refining fire of God’s Word, they are revealed to be slag, dross, or worthless. But God redeems his people through the pure silver of Jesus. The silver of Jesus—that is, his righteousness—must be deposited into our account if we are to be accepted by God.

Whatever we would try to pass off as silver is rejected. The only silver accepted—the only righteousness accepted is the righteousness of Jesus.

Q: What are some good works that people might try to pass off as silver?

[TS] …

Conclusion

We are all sinners. None of us measures up to the perfection in God. His word shows us that. Judgment hangs over us all (or at least it once did).

God has commanded us to walk the way of repentance by turning from sin and trusting in Jesus. This is the path of the remnant, the path of one like Jeremiah who looked forward in faith to the coming of Messiah. We have the privilege of looking back in faith to the Messiah already come in Jesus of Nazareth.

Through His perfect life, He earned the silver, the righteousness with God that we need.

Through His sacrificial death, He paid the silver, the righteousness to God that we owed.

In His resurrection, we have the guarantee that our debt to God has been paid our account with God has been fully funded.