Sermon Tone Analysis

Review of Jeremiah

Last week we looked at the backsliding of Judah, their refusal to repent, and then we looked at Jeremiah’s weeping over Jerusalem.

We asked the question of whether it was Jeremiah or Adonai weeping.

Today we continue that lament of Adonai crying through the prophet.

I will start by reading the last verse of chapter 8.

Can I run from the pain?

Have you ever tried to run away from emotional pain?

I know I have.

It is one of the first steps in Recovery is learning to face the emotional pain that we have gone through.

But as I read this passage, I see Jeremiah crying out to run into the wilderness and hide from the wickedness he sees.

Or is it Adonai wishing that there was a way to hide from the people who “go from evil to evil and do not know Me”?

The words of the prophet are interwoven with the heart cry of Adonai.

We can not truly tell where one ends and the other begins.

Is it Jeremiah whose heart is overwhelmed by the word of Adonai, or is it Adonai speaking through the broken heart of Jeremiah?

It is probably Jeremiah based upon editorial issues, but I don’t think it actually matters.

Sin of Deceit

Either way, Adonai acknowledges that there is no where to run, but states in Vs.6 that He is about to refine and test the people.

For what else can He do?

Shall I not punish them?

Adonai asks.

Should I not avenge Myself on a nation such as this?

To this point, Adonai has been waiting for hundreds of years for the nation of Judah to repent.

But now there is no more time.

It is within the next 2-3 years that Daniel and the first captives would be taken to Babylon.

Adonai focuses in on the sin of lying and deception.

Friend deceives friend and no one speaks the truth.

How can anyone trust anyone else, when lying is the norm.

David, after his sin with Bathsheba, writes Ps. 51:8,

He recognized that his deception was just as much a part of his sin as his adultery and murder.

But the people of Jerusalem and Judah did not value truth, and Adonai asks Jeremiah how he should deal with a people like this.

Adonai’s Response

Adonai now declares that he will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, but again it seems that Jeremiah asks why.

Concerning this passage, Michael Brown writes:

As in 8:21-9:3, there is again a merging of prophetic and divine speech.

Is it the prophet who will weep and lament as he envisions the coming of total destruction?

If so, then his “I” in v.10 merges with Yahweh’s “I” in v.11 …However, this could be another example of the weeping God who wails here over the intensity of the coming destruction but then, in the next breath, declares that he will bring that destruction to pass.

So what is Adonai’s reasoning?

Why is He destroying Judah, her towns and even the wasteland?

Jer.

9:12-13 “It is because they have forsaken My Torah that I set before them.

They have neither obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart, and after the Baalim that their fathers taught them.”

Oh, how great that fall will be!

There will not be enough people to weep and wail over all the dead.

Jer.

9:21 “The carcasses of men will lie like dung on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one gathering them.”

Boast in Adonai

In the middle of these laments and painful descriptions of judgement, there is a quick change in perspective.

This next section could be in response to Jeremiah’s question in Jer.

9:11 “Who is the one wise enough to understand this?

To whom has the mouth of Adonai spoken that he may explain it?”

Adonai explicitly declares to us that we should not brag about our wisdom, our strength or our wealth.

rather we should only boast in knowing and understanding Adonai.

Our focus, what we value, should be the experiential knowledge of Adonai!

Here in the middle of declaring the punishment over Judah, Adonai declares that He is the one who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth (not just in heaven)!

The focus then goes to the future, when Adonai will bring judgement not just on circumcised Israel who are uncircumcised in heart, but also upon the uncircumcised gentile nations.

Application

So how do we apply this passage to our lives today?

Running from Pain

We have often talked about the pain we feel over our beloved family members who do not follow the Lord.

It is an area of pain that most of us, at times, would rather run away from.

We would rather not think about it, and there might be times that we too wish that we could hide out in a cabin in the middle of nowhere to get away from it all.

I know that I have.

But there is also a time to weep for them, and a time to refrain from weeping just as Solomon wrote in Ecc.

3:4 “a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance;”

But one thing that we need to remember is that Adonai also weeps over the our family members.

Time after time, Yeshua was moved with compassion for the people who were lost.

Matt.

9:36

God understands the pain that we experience.

None of Yeshua’s siblings believed in him until after his resurrection.

The author of Hebrews puts it this way: Heb.

4:14-16

Adonai’s Judgement is Just

The Lord is completely fair in all of his judgements.

It is true that He is merciful, but Adonai’s mercy does not come at the expense of justice.

Rather God’s mercy comes through Yeshua paying the penalty that we deserve to pay.

Adonai is completely fair and will judge all people based upon His righteous standard.

Unfortunately a quick reading of Romans 1 through 3 show that none of us measure up to God’s standard of perfection, Jews or Gentiles.

But God out of His love provided a way for us to be made righteous.

Rom.

3:21-26

Boast in Adonai

For this reason, none of us can brag about how well we are doing.

Paul writes to the congregation in Corinth and discusses the passage we read in Jeremiah

God deliberately chose to work through the substitutionary atonement of Yeshua on the Cross.

The worldly mind cannot comprehend or understand this.

He chose to do it this way, to level the playing field, and make eternal life completely accessible to anyone who wants.

It is not based upon our good deeds, it is not based on understanding complex ideas.

God’s forgiveness comes by us simply trusting in Yeshua, the Jewish Messiah.

We are simply called to humble ourselves before God, repent and put our trust in His provision.

God’s way is not hard to understand, but sometimes simply hard to put into practice, because of the humility it requires.