Jeremiah 9:1-6
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Introduction
Introduction
Major Ideas
Major Ideas
1 Oh that my head were waters And my eyes a fountain of tears, That I might weep day and night For the slain of the daughter of my people! 2 Oh that I had in the desert A wayfarers’ lodging place; That I might leave my people And go from them! For all of them are adulterers, An assembly of treacherous men.
In v. 1, Jeremiah longs to weep for the slain in Judah.
In v. 2, Jeremiah longs to leave his people, to abandon them to their sin, because they are all adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.
Q: Are we ever caught between weeping and leaving when we look at sin and its effects in our country and in the church?
3 “They bend their tongue like their bow; Lies and not truth prevail in the land; For they proceed from evil to evil, And they do not know Me,” declares the Lord. 4 “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 5 “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity. 6 “Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me,” declares the Lord.
In these verses, God describes lying Judah.
Like an archer shoots arrows, the people of Judah shoot lies from their mouths (v. 3a).
Lies and not truth prevail in the land (v. 3b).
Q: Where do you see lies prevail in our land? Where do you think truth most needs to prevail in our land?
“They proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” declares the Lord (v. 3b).
We might think of the first part of this statement relating to the second part like this: They proceed from evil to evil because they do not know me.
While it does certainly seem to be true that many in Judah did not know the Lord, the two parts of this statement actually relate to one another more like this:
“They proceed from one evil to another, and they do not take me into account.” (CSB)
“They do one evil thing after another and do not pay attention to me.” (NET)
The point then is that as the people of Judah move from one evil to another, they fail to remember that they will have to answer to God.
[ILLUS] Osage Indians in Oklahoma being killed in the 1920s.
This was a group of people moving from one evil to another without considering God.
Greed made them do horrible things to people made in the image of God.
Greed made them forget God.
The same sort of thing happened in Judah.
This is why we have the warning in Jeremiah 9:4-5…
4 “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, And do not trust any brother; Because every brother deals craftily, And every neighbor goes about as a slanderer. 5 “Everyone deceives his neighbor And does not speak the truth, They have taught their tongue to speak lies; They weary themselves committing iniquity.
Q: What is most striking to you in these verses?
To live in a place where you had to fear your neighbors would be horrible.
To weary yourself committing iniquity is to do a whole lot of iniquity.
“Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; Through deceit they refuse to know Me, declares the Lord.” (v. 6)
Whereas in v. 3 they did not know God, here in v. 6 they refuse to know God.
Not only do they not take Him into account as they tell their lies and commit their evils, they refuse to take Him into account.
Let the Lord send as many prophets as He wants. They will not listen. They live in the land of deceit.
19 “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20 “For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Conclusion
Conclusion