August 1 - 11:00 AM Worship

leaves but he was asleep and they went and woke him saying say this lord we're perishing and he said to them why are you afraid oh you of little faith then he rose and rebuked the winds and the sea and there was a great calm and the men marveled saying what sort of man is this that even the winds and the sea obey him and when he came to the other side to the country of the gadarenes two demon-possessed men met him coming out of the tombs so fierce that no one could pass that way and behold they cried out what have you to do with us oh son of god have you come here to torment us before the time now i heard of many pigs was feeding at some distance from them and the demons begged him saying if you cast us out send us away into the herd of pigs and he said to them go so they came out and went into the pigs and behold the whole herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea and drowned in the waters the herdsmen fled and going into the city they told everything especially what had happened to the demon-possessed men and behold all the city came out to meet jesus and when they saw him they begged him to leave their region may god be praised through the reading and the hearing of his holy word amen let's pray together great god and our loving heavenly father we praise you we exalt you as the father of our lord jesus christ as we read the gospel accounts we marvel at the deity that breaks through his humanity that this is very god a very god this is the eternal god the son and yet lord out of love for us out of your love for us jesus was born in the bethlehem manger he was incarnate into this world and he lived and amidst the sin and the suffering and he himself experienced it indeed for our sakes he allowed himself he willed that he would be put to death on the cross redeeming us through the coin of his blood and father help us not to forget what this says about you that you love us that you have a sovereign purpose for the entire age of the world that what matters in this life we're not the things that we read about in the papers not the things that we tend to see on the internet and on television no it's the work of jesus it's his ongoing work as he reigns at your right hand he's been raised from the grave lord and there is power in his kingdom and he's working that power in and through us by the church in and through our lives and so father we pray that you would cause us to be aware of the presence of jesus that we would be attentive to your word that we would not come to church on sundays believe it sincerely and then sincerely forget it on monday living as if none of it was really true now father we confess we have that very tendency and so we pray lord that you would build us up in our faith now father help us to have the priorities for our lives that jesus speaks about in the gospel of matthew lord i think of the many times your your word tells us that what really matters is faith expressing itself in love and so father we pray that you would strengthen our faith that we would learn to trust you that we would learn more and more that we would gain the instinct of peace and calm because you our sovereign god has redeemed us through the son your son jesus christ and so father encourage us to grow in our faith and by the work of your spirit enable us to trust you more and more that we would grow strong in faith lord we also know that we're to grow in our in our ability to love other people faith expressing itself in love father would you enlarge our capacity for the love of one another love within our families but not just there within the church lord would you enable us to be more attentive to the needs of others rather than merely our own our own desires and ambitions would you cause us lord to practice love that we would grow in compassion in servanthood in in in ministry and in affection for all your people we pray these things for our church lord we do not pray that you would exalt this church in the eyes of the world we do not pray for greater numbers for money and all these things and lord they're all good we do pray that you bring people here of course and that you provide for us but lord what we really pray for is that we would grow in faith and that we would grow in our love our capacity of love for you and for others we know this is your will now father we want to pray for our congregation and we pray for the older members of the church help us to love them they've been our guides in faith they've walked the path before us they have served us help us to love and serve them particularly those who are suffering difficulties of various kinds infirmities some with loneliness some anxiety be with our older members and bless them but father how we love our youngest members too and in this very room there's men and women holding little babies little covenant children so precious to you now father we pray for them that you would redeem them that you would regenerate them by your word early in life and that they would walk with you all the days of their life and what a world they've been born into but lord it's really the same old world as the world that crucified your son it's the world in which we are privileged to glorify you and to serve you to be a church to bear testimony before the world that other sinners might be saved father this is a summer time is a time of transitions we have a number of families who are on the road vacationing visiting families watch over them protect them and bless them it's a time of transitions we pray for young people about to leave home for college but there's people moving into greenville and people moving out of our church to other places father for those in transition would you give them wisdom that they would walk carefully that they would be diligent to seek a church and christian fellowship that they would be careful with their use of the lord's day that they would be reading your bible and praying and father would you bless and provide for them father we pray for the mission and the work of this church we pray this morning for our missionary partnerships we pray for alonso ramirez and all of our friends in uh peru we pray for eduardo ramirez as he is seeking to come to the united states lord to to become trained to go to seminary here that he might lead the great work in cajon market and so i pray that he would work out the details lord i know that right now he needs to improve his use of english would you help eduard to do that and we look forward to him arriving with his wife in this church for some years as he prepares for further ministry father we pray for our partners in european countries we think of the evangelical presbyterian church of england and wales and the effect that covet has had on them far greater than on us would you provide for them would you sustain them would you bring people to church and back to church would you bless the work of your gospel through them my father we pray for our worship we pray for the ministry of the word in our church now father as we study jeremiah so much of what he's talking about is about the word what happens when we believe what happens when we don't well father enable us to believe help us to be attentive to not the easiest book in the bible but one of the most edifying do the work of your salvation by your word in our midst we know that you will we pray with thanks for your blessing and we ask this in jesus name amen let's prepare for the preaching of god's word we'll sing together hymn number 208. [Music] uh [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] uh [Music] [Applause] [Music] please be seated please open your bibles to jeremiah chapter five we're going to study from verse 10 to verse 31 beginning at verse 10 going to the end of the chapter listen now to god's holy inerrant and life-giving word beginning at jeremiah chapter 5 verse 10. go up through her vine rose and destroy but make not a full end strip away her branches for they are not the lords for the house of israel and the house of judah has been utterly treacherous to me declares the lord they have spoken falsely of the lord and have said he will do nothing no disaster will come upon us nor shall we see sword or famine the prophets will become wind the word is not in them thus shall it be done to them therefore thus says the lord the god of hosts because you have spoken this word behold i am making my words in your mouth a fire and this people would and the fire shall consume them behold i am bringing against you a nation from afar o house of israel declares the lord it is an enduring nation it is an ancient nation a nation whose language you do not know nor can you understand what they say their quiver is like an open tomb they are all mighty warriors they shall eat up your harvest and your food they shall eat up your sons and your daughters they shall eat up your flocks and your herds they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword but even in those days declares the lord i will not make a full end of you and when your people say why has the lord done all these things to us you shall say to them as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land so shall you serve foreigners in a land that is not your own declare this in the house of jacob proclaim it in judah hear this oh foolish and senseless people who have ears eyes but do not see who have ears but not here do you not fear me declares the lord do you not tremble before me i place the sand as the boundary for the sea a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass though the waves toss they cannot prevail though they roar they cannot pass over it but this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart they have turned aside and gone away they do not say in their hearts let us fear the lord our god who gives the rain in its season and the autumn rain and the spring rain and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest your iniquities have turned these away and your sins have kept good from you for wicked men are found among my people they lurk like fowlers lying in wait they set a trap they catch men like a cage full of birds their houses are full of deceit therefore they have become great and rich they have grown fat and sleek they know no bounds and deeds of evil they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless to make it prosper they do not defend the rights of the needy shall i not punish them for these things declares the lord shall not i not avenge myself on a nation such as this an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests rule at their at their direction my people love to have it so but what will you do when the end comes the grass withers the flowers fall and the word of our god abides forever amen let's pray together now father we thank you for your word we thank you for a difficult passage but one important for us to know and study so would you bless your word by the ministry of your spirit would you cause it to do the work you've given it particularly blessing us in the strengthening of our faith we pray this in jesus name amen now most christians today i think or many at least are very familiar with romans chapter one it provides a pretty good description of what's going on in our own culture in romans 1 paul denounces the idolatry of ungodly people and the sin and the judgment that comes but the problem for many christians is though we find romans 1 insightful we do not think about how equally insightful is romans 2. now paul's doing the business of proving that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god and so romans 1 is going to talk about the ungodly people who deny god but romans chapter 2 talks about the hypocritical sins of those who claim to know god who claim him now romans 2 with its highlighting on the sins of religious people fits very well with the emphasis of the prophet jeremiah as he spoke to the people of judah around the year 600 bc jeremiah's approach encourages christians today not merely to be fixated on the heinous sins of a pagan culture around us it's actually a challenge because right now the heinous sins of the bacon culture are really heinous it's a little staggering what the news brings virtually every day but the bible says don't become so fixated on that that you failed to see your own sins the sins of the church and its people michael wilcox points out that in jeremiah's long diatribe against judah it is the church not the world that's under scrutiny it is among god's people in god's city that jeremiah is discovering evil well starting in verse 10 of chapter 5 the prophet is going to be giving a warning therefore against false security that's our first point today we have a warning against false security and the disaster it will bring and this false security arises from false teaching about god's character look at verse 12 they have spoken falsely of the lord now the particular falsehood they've been harping on and emphasizing is one that's very common today keep reading he will do nothing no disaster will come upon us no sword we shall not see sword or famine and so they deny despite the enormity of their sins they denied that god would ever judge them they did not think that judge judge judge would ever fall it was a denial of god's holiness a denial of god's justice and of course on the one hand whenever people deny that there's a judgment from god the result is on the one hand an increase of sin but on the other hand there was an inability to face the deadly destruction that lay just around the corner they were hindered from repenting and being saved because of this lie that god does not judge now many if not most people today make the same mistake of assuming that there is no judgment from god atheists of course deny god's judgment having replaced a personal deity with an impersonal process called evolution yet even today genuine atheists are rather few instead it's people who fill out census forms with the answer protestant or roman catholic who then pass laws promoting abortion who engage in sexual indecency who take advantage of the weak and vulnerable and do all of it without the slightest anxiety that god will ever judge them i'm referring to the liberal church the nominal worldly church and it was the special project in the 20th century of the liberal theology to persuade people that there is no judgment from god the result is a church-going culture that is worshiping god in man's image in the image of a sin tolerant humanity well jeremiah shows that the lie that god will not judge arose among the people of judah for another reason and namely it was a false application of the doctrine of election israel was god's chosen people so it stood to reason they thought that god would never let them be destroyed look back at verse 12 no disaster will come upon us nor shall we see sword or famine and j.a thompson writes that jeremiah's generation stressing rather the privileges of covenant membership rather than its mem and its obligations has deluded themselves into thinking that the god of the covenant would overlook their covenant breaches it's very common today now we're going to emphasize the privileges of of salvation by grace but very little about the obligations now some people will say well what that you're it's because you're preaching the old testament back in the old testament god was was the kind of god who judged these sorts of things but we're living in the new testament my friends the book of revelation is in the new testament and read chapters two and three where jesus sends letters to the seven churches and what does it show that god cares very much about the doctrine in our churches about the godliness in our churches about spiritual vitality and integrity and he says i will remove your lampstands go visit turkey today and see that god did remove those lampstands this is not an old testament thing it is the same god what a mistake it is based on the bible's wonderful teaching of god's sovereign grace what a mistake it is to fail to realize that he is a god who judges peter said let judgment begin with the household of god it's the chastisement of god upon his people who bear him no fruit now it's not as though judah had not been warned about this god's servants had long been delivering his word the problem is that people kept rejecting the prophets and their message and we see this in verse 13. this is part of the false security that they rejected the word of god the prophets will become when this is the people saying this the word is not in them you see jeremiah and others like him were considered empty wind bags that would be one translation of it now now we need to realize too the hebrew word for wind also means spirit and they're saying that it's not the spirit of god speaking in them jeremiah is this this cranky person who's a downer by the way isn't that the cultural depiction of the prophets culturally marginalized people who commit the greatest of all sins today bad style and they're not they're dressed weird and they're on the margins and they're saying things you just just tune them out that's what jerusalem was saying they're not speaking words we should take seriously in fact they said thus shall it be done to them what they were saying is that jeremiah was the one who needed to be judged for the heinous sin of preaching god's judgment how much like our own times and yet how wrong they were my friends the atheists are wrong when they assume there is no god and no judgment despite all the evidence of design and sovereignty in the universe the liberals are wrong when they project their own lack of concern over sin onto god's character and the christians are wrong if they preach a doctrine of grace that removes the danger of god's chastisement against prevailing and unrepented sin now jeremiah is going to make this point by returning to what is now a familiar metaphor that of a vine that is going to be cut down verse 10 go up through her vine rose and destroy but make not a full end strip away her branches for they are not the lords now you remember the idea of israel as a vineyard it shows on the one hand that god owns them and god wants a harvest from his redemption you know god wants a harvest in your life you're saved by grace apart from works to works god wants a harvest of glory a harvest of of of of gospel vitality out of your and my life and the image of the vineyard is the way the old testament shows that the problem is the people of judah had not glorified god they had not lived according to his word they'd not been worshiping him and him alone from the heart and john mccain explains that the vine here is the nation the branches growing on it are the people who constitute the nation this is what he's getting at when he says not to cut it down completely he says don't cut the whole vine down what he's referring to is the kingdom the the people will remain the people as a nation but the individuals who were in rebellion against god we're going to suffer pruning by the scissors of his wrath verse 10 for they are not the lords you see god's true people are saved by faith but then are characterized by faithfulness in contrast look at verse 11 the lord complains the house of israel and the house of judah have been utterly treacherous to me that refers to their idolatry and all this bad growth was going to be pruned away now moving from the metaphor to the reality we are told again that the lord was going to bring disaster on the people by means of a deadly invasion of foreigners now jeremiah is writing this sometime around the year 600 it's hard to know exactly it's not even clear that he could have told you when he wrote it who he was talking about he might have said the assyrians but it's actually the babylonians and what an accurate description this is of what they will be like look at verse 15 behold i am bringing against you a nation from afar o house of israel well they were far away they were from their homeland in mesopotamia it is an enduring nation it is an ancient nation a nation whose language you do not know nor can you understand what they say so it's not going to be some johnny come lately no it's an ancient established people with strength and power and they're going to be alien now the idea that they're going to speak a language you don't know that's to incite special terror their ways could not be anticipated there would be no way to plead with them for mercy if they could not understand you now philip reichen notes another angle on this by citing a scene in the vietnam war movie platoon and in the scene an american outpost is suddenly attacked at night by the viet cong and they're on the radio with the headquarters and while the fight's going on the people back in headquarters they're hearing it they're hearing the shouting they're hearing the shooting but then the shooting dies down and all they hear is what to them is chattering in a foreign language it's the vietnamese soldiers who are the only ones left and then the alien voices incited increased terror that's what's going on here now by the way it's interesting that moses centuries earlier writing in deuteronomy 28 49-15 makes clear that this is in precise details this was the punishment designed should the people of judah and israel break god's covenant look what moses said centuries earlier deuteronomy 28 49-50 the lord will bring a nation against you from far away from the end of the earth swooping down like the eagle a nation whose language you do not understand a hard-faced nation who now shall not respect the old or show mercy to the young well as moses had foretold this will be a singularly deadly enemy verse 16 their quiver is like an open tomb they are almighty warriors now when a tomb is open it's expecting the bodies of the dead and that's exactly what the babylonians had in mind when they began shooting their arrows and war always brings destruction and misery your own army is bad enough in the times of the civil war it was bad enough to have your own country's army marched through your lands everything was going to be stripped all the pigs were going to be eaten all the fields were going to be harvested why they had to feed the army but that's nothing compared to when the enemy army comes because now there's fire and there's destruction there's slaughter there's wanton destruction and this is how it will be verse 17 they shall eat up your harvest and your food they shall eat up your sons and your daughters they shall eat up your flocks and your herds they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees your fortified cities in which you trust they shall beat down with the sword it's interesting that the emphasis is on the last one because they were trusting at their own strength and in their fortress cities and that trust that false security would be shown when the babylonian war machine ground them down now this graphic depiction of conquest and destruction was designed of course to shake the people out of a false security to awaken them that they need to be restored to god now you and i look back on these events and by the way one of the benefits of preaching the prophets is you learn the whole old testament you really can't understand the old testament if you don't know about the babylonian captivity and now you do we're going to learn more about it and we look back and we go wow that actually happened yes it did what a tragedy it was but you see the lesson is applicable today notice and all these good things that the lord is going to take away from them in such a violent way are things that he himself had given as a blessing things he himself had provided by his loving hand you see what happened is they were offered in service to idols and therefore they are lost that's the principle for us today today you say well i'm not worshiping ba'all or asherah what about fame fortune and pleasure they're the idols that win hearts today and and we they're the sources of a false security you see it's only when we trust the lord that we gain the true desire of our hearts the false security of money of position of beauty there's nothing wrong with saving money there's no reason nothing wrong with seeking to do well and and to advance into positions nothing wrong with with celebrating good things in life until we make them our god they become the object of our obsession our hearts are given to them our idle thoughts are going in their direction and it all becomes a false security and we thereby lose the very blessings that god would have been happy to give us if only we worshiped him if only we were trusting his name jesus made this point to a rich man who'd put all of his trust and all of his delight in his wealth and he pointed out to him how little it was going to do him when god came to claim his life jesus said luke 12 20-21 you fool this night your soul is required of you and the things you have prepared whose will they be so is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward god notice jesus did not say oh you're going to be judged if you have treasure no no no it's the poverty towards god it's the trust in things the false security apart from god and so it's not surprising that judah's idolatry led to such a devastating judgment but what's surprising is that the lord was so temperate look at verse 18 but even in those days declares the lord i will not make a full end of you and he's going to devastate them but it's not going to be a final end for judah they're not going to be erased from history although they certainly deserve that now why is that well the reason is god's purpose of redemption according to his word this is the house of judah there was there this was right about the covenant god's covenant promises must be kept they were the chosen people of god although as paul makes clear merely being jewish did not make you a chosen person of god the elect are the people of faith and holiness but the nation was that through which jesus was going to come and so there would again be fruit on the battered tree of judah there'd be a remnant to survive the disaster there'd be a return from the coming exile if you don't know the books of the bible you should read about daniel and ezekiel and then the days of the babylonian exile as esther that that was the time of the exile and god was with them and then esther ezra and nehemiah ii chronicles how god provided for him there would be a remnant god's mercy would prevail isaiah famously foretold how the stump of this fallen tree would yield the savior of the world and the people who would be saved through him isaiah 11 1 there shall come forth a fruit a shoot from the stump of jesse and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit and yet while judah awaited that day of redemption for now verse 19 the lord wants them to learn a lesson when your people say why has the lord our god done all these things to us you shall say to them as you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land so shall you serve foreigners in the land that is not yours now here's a vivid example of the biblical principle of reaping and sowing paul says this in galatians 6 do not be deceived god is not mocked what you reap you will sow and you say well i thought we were saved by grace we are saved by grace but when it comes to blessing or chastisement we reap what we sow and judah had polluted the lands with fallen gods false gods they had worshiped the abominations of the gentiles well if that's what you want to do the place to do that is babylon that's what lord's saying and so you want to serve the foreign gods i will give you the best opportunity to do so now we too should learn from judah's experience i think this especially applies if we have professed faith in jesus christ how many people in in america today in south carolina today in greenville today would click on the census christian evangelical christian and have professed faith in the lord jesus christ but what a false security there is if that assertion of belief is not evidenced by the manner of our life we are living in a time where the just as rife as the idolatry of judah in the time of jeremiah is today is the rifeness of a cultural christianity that does not bear the fruits of the grace of god and bear true proof of salvation listen to how jesus is going to take this very idea not just this passage it happens a lot in the old testament but jesus is going to pick up the whole vineyard analogy he's going to say this john 15 5-6 i am the vine you are the branches whoever abides in me and i in him he it is that bears much fruit from apart from me you can do nothing but then he says if anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers the branches are gathered thrown into the fire and burned that's a description of professing believers who are not abiding in the lord jesus who are not alive who are spiritually dead well let me ask you are you walking in sincere faith are you seeking to glorify god in your daily life and also in your life ambition i think a good test of our hearts is that when you lie awake at night and your mind begins to wander to what does it turn do we think do we dream of fame and glory and the accolades of the world or does our mind wander to the hopes and dreams of a godly life children grandchildren spiritual children who know the lord of an opportunity to serve the lord jesus oh how our idol thoughts betray us well the question is not whether or not you sin this passage is not saying if you profess faith in christ and you sin god's going to go to judge you it's not what it's saying solomon said there is no one who does not sin first kings 8 46 the bible tells us jesus understands our weakness he knows our mortal frame david's sin but he was beloved of the lord because he sought him with all of his heart there was sincere sincere fervor for the lord there was a life that not only professed him but that was sacrificed before him the lesson of judas that we must not cherish a false security by presuming that god will not judge that we must seek our only security in a humble repentant faith that worships the lord and him only here's how isaiah put it here's true security isaiah 26 3 you keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you well the remainder of jeremiah 5 is going to add to this warning against false security a second warning against spiritual complacency the rest of the chapter is devoted to that first is a warning against false security then against spiritual complacency look at the rebuke of verse 20. declare this in the house of jacob proclaim it in judah hear this o foolish and senseless people who have eyes but do not see who have ears but do not hear well god has shown his foolish people but they don't see the lord has spoken but the senseless have not heard and that charge is made because of their failure to benefit from the message that god had been giving them through his prophets we think of how that would happen in the time of jesus christ jesus would come to the same city the son of god would come and he would preach and he would teach and they would not believe him it's a great encouragement to preachers today you know the problem with unbelief is not the problem with the message we don't need to change the message the problems not even the messengers if they're faithful to the word of god no the problem lies in the total depravity of sinful men and women who do not and cannot believe god's word because they will not endure it and yet the lord would still have jeremiah speak again and what he's going to do is he's going to convict their spiritual complacency complacency in three terms in terms of their irreverence their ingratitude and their infidelity well first he assails their irreverence look at verse 22 do you not fear me declares the lord do you not tremble before me now psalm 110 verse 10 for 111 verse 10 says the fear of the lord is the beginning of wisdom but my friends the very heart of folly is to live as if god didn't matter and how easy it is to profess god but then to live as if he didn't even exist it didn't matter what he thought that the consequences of my actions and thoughts towards him don't even occur to us that's what he's talking about this irreverence now when we talk about fearing the lord we don't mean some cringing servile terror but it's a reverential awe by which the lord is held in the highest respect do you not hold me in reverential awe do you not respect me as the god of the universe and see the lack of that reference accounts for their inability to know his word well there are so many reasons why we should have reverence for god but verse 22 is going to turn the bible will often do this to his power over creation he's the god of creation he's the god who made everything is he not worthy of reverence and fear now in this case look at verse 22 i place the sand as a boundary for the sea a perpetual barrier that it cannot pass though the winds toss they cannot prevail though they roar they could not pass over it now there might have been other examples of god's majesty and authority but the point here is the way that nature stays within the boundaries that god set for it and yet his people do not look at verse 23 but this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart they have turned aside and gone away now god's referring to the worship of idols by which the people showed utter disrespect for god's glory and authority and the fact that the sea in the bible the sea is a symbol of chaos and yet even the sea stays within the boundaries god has given it but what does that say about the stubborn refusal of judah to live according to god's word their stubbornness exhibited a suicidal defiance against the ungod against the almighty philip reichen writes only a stubborn heart would refuse to revere the god of creation if even the seas obey him he ought to be praised and obeyed let us not be irreverent towards god now secondly their spiritual complacency is seen in ingratitude verse 24 they do not say in their hearts let us fear the lord our god who gives the rain in its season the autumn rain and the spring rain and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest you see the point is that they should be grateful to god because of the reins that he got the way he provided for them year in year out but of course the idea of harvest was a sore spot the canaanite false gods were fertility gods they had gone to the baal altars to hedge their bets because they weren't willing to trust the lord for the reigns and the harvests and yet he'd been faithful it's shown he makes reference to the way the feast weeks show this there's a seven week period between the feast of passover and the feast of pentecost at the end of passover the first sheaf of the barley harvest is waved before the lord and they're trusting him for the the for the rain that's going to be needed so that seven weeks later the wheat harvest would come in and the feast of weeks of pentecost began with the waving of the feast harvest uh the the the the the the wheat harvest that had come in and the lesson was to be we should be praising god because he keeps his promises he is faithful they should be saying let us fear the lord our god but they would not well my friends again we are not thankful for the lord's blessing so that we praise him so that we dedicate what he's given for his service we not only show this spiritual complacency we also threaten god's provision of those blessings look at verse 25 probably referring the famines that the lord gave them as punishment for idol worship your iniquities have turned these away these are harvests your sins have kept good from you and so much of our difficulty in life is explained by that statement your sins have kept good from you when we take god's good gifts and we use them sinfully we use them for our own pleasure with no idea of what he desires and how he intends how often we lose the very bounty our hearts foolishly worshipped in his place now this doesn't mean that every time disaster strikes that god's judging you for idolatry but it does mean that if you've been committing idolatry and how often we are if we've loved the lifestyle if that's where our heart has been if the things that we have and have lost were things that we loved in place of god it's a call for us to repent to confess our sins and seek his mercy well the final most dreadful sign of spiritual complacency is seen in the infidelity and the injustice within their culture verse 26 and 27 the lord assails the powerful for the way they exploited the poor and weak for wicked men are found among my people they look like fowlers lying in wait they set a trap they catch men like a cage full of birds their houses are full of deceit now the analogy is being made between the way a fowler a bird hunter did his hunting they would leave they would hide nets in shallow pools or in the brush and they'd be hiding nearby and when the flock of birds would land they would pull the the net and they would have them all inside and this is an analogy for how they were exploiting vulnerable men and women instead of feeling shame they reveled in their success look at verses 27 and 28 they became great and rich they have grown fat and sleek verse 28 suggests this was pervasive throughout the ruling class there was an exploitation of the poor by the rich why because they controlled the courts and they failed to do god's their duty to extend god's mercy to those in need here's what he says they know no bounds and deeds of evil they judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless to make it prosper they do not defend the rights of the needy now this accusation makes clear that there is a difference between fair and unfair business practices between godly and ungodly business practices let me let me do an easy example today but it's an important one the way that banks today are not making a fine industry but not when that college student that 21 year old with a low income gets that he didn't even apply for the credit card it comes him in the mail and telling him that he or she can live beyond their means and then that's the that's the net what's the trap the 25 interest rate it's a life that the whole business model is based upon enticement and entrapment why to be fat and sleek to have power and glory it is wicked when agreements are made they should be kept when advertisements are often they should be true here's the question are we enriching ourselves at the expense unfairly of others perhaps we say well no frankly i'm not but look he's going to push harder but have we taken cause with the fatherless are we showing mercy to the weak are we concerned by those who were structurally disadvantaged oh you think of the cause of single mothers today this is the importance of christian mercy ministries today god desires that we would care and show interest in the fatherless he is father of the fatherless he's protector of widows god in his holy habitation psalm 68 verse 5. well distressing as was the behavior of judah's ruling class what's interesting is how the lord describes the corruption of the religious class he actually shows more alarm about it look at verses 30 and 31 this is going to end the chapter an appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land now we just talked about the ruling class exporting the people devising traps just to to keep them poor and to siphon all their money but now he's appalled this is worse than that what's he going to say it is false teaching within the church to which he refers that is what he's going to say an appalling and horrible thing has happened the prophets prophesy falsely the priests rule at their direction and more terrible than the economic exploitation of the week is false teaching in the church and here's the logic what will happen to judah if those entrusted were proclaiming god's word instead were to teach lies what will happen today if the evangelical church stops preaching and teaching the truth of god's word but what happened to judah is the answer what will happen when the spiritual leaders in bible the values the success measures the techniques of the culture the very thing happening today the answer is seen in jeremiah 5. this is the appalling thing when the church will not be the church when the pulpit will not preach the word of god but as jeremiah so often does let's not forget the pew my people love to have it so now i'm reminded of what aaron said when a vexed moses came down from mount sinai to find the people of israel dancing around the golden calf and moses wanted to know why aaron thought this was a good thing to do i've loved his answer it's exodus 32 22. you know how the people are i'm trying to have a successful church here moses and they wanted a golden calf well so also today pastors turn away from god's word in order to get the big church the big salary and the big name and it's for this reason that the bible so highly lodged faithful pastors who go on preaching god's word and leading worship in a reverent god-honoring way despite the cross on which their churches will try to crucify them i have to say i'm getting old enough that i get phone calls from younger pastors and even this week i was on the phone with a weeping minister for the way his church is crucifying him his evangel his pca church is crucifying him for preaching god's word and for making the most obviously necessary changes to worship well paul explained he said that timothy preached the word rebuke reprove exhort for the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passion ii timothy 4 1-3 well jeremiah concludes with a sober question to the church like the people of judah for those who will not endure the sound teaching of god's word look at the very last verse of statement but what will you do when the end comes ha-ha that's the rub what will you do when the end comes the end was about to fall on judah and when the babylonians arrived there was nothing to do but suffer and die to experience the wrath of an offended god my friends how much better for us now to make room for god's word in our hearts to humble ourselves to reference god and to say what augustine said when the bible and i disagree i'm wrong and it's right when the bible upgrades us and says hey what are you doing let's open our hearts for that word let's just cultivate the reverence the gratitude the faithfulness which alone will attest that our faith is real and saving but if you do not the end will still come and what then will you do well as jeremiah concludes his prophecy in chapter 5 we're reminded as we will be so often reminded in this book of the essential role of the preaching of god's word and the believing the preaching and hearing the believing and obeying of god's word in so many ways it's central to the book of jeremiah in so many ways jeremiah is a commentary to this question what happens when the word is preached and you believe it versus what happens when the murder preached and you will not well with that emphasis in mind let me go back to verse 14. because in the midst of this diatribe there's a little aside between god and jeremiah that's going to provide us the point of emphasis remember in chapter 13 that the people were accusing the prophets of being windbags don't listen to jeremiah and people like him look at the way they're dressed they're out of style what he's saying is out of tune he's the one who needs to be judged there's a little conversation in verse 14 god answers he says because you have spoken this word now the you there is plural he's talking to judah okay because you've said that about my prophets but then it's in the singular he addresses jeremiah and he says behold i am making my words in your mouth it's a singular your okay prophet that's what they've said about my word i am making my words and your mouth of fire and this people would and the fire shall consume them well let me conclude our study today with two observation and the first is this when faithful ministers preach the words that god has given it is god himself who is speaking to the people it is my words he said in your mouth and so it is whenever the bible is faithfully preached and taught there was in this case a complete identity between jeremiah and his words and god and his words my words in your mouth and this by the way is why preachers need to preach the word my opinion has no authority at all but when i preach the word of god it is my friends it is not me the minister it is god who is speaking through the faithful proclamation of his word look at verse 14 therefore thus says the lord the god of hosts the sovereign and almighty god my friends to neglect or refuse what is preached from god's word is to neglect or refuse god with disastrous results then secondly god's word proclaimed by faithful servants is given power by god to accomplish his will behold i am making my words in your mouth a fire and this people would and the fire shall consume them you see when jeremiah was threatening god's destruction of judah god himself was going to make that word come true and likewise today when the preacher tells you the truth from the new testament things like romans 6 23 the wages of sin is death things like hebrews 9 27 it is given man wants to die and then comes judgment it not only is true god will make it true because he will cause his word to be to have power to be true it will be true in your life not because of the word of the preacher but because it is god's word in his mouth god through it will light his fire how wonderful the same is true when the gospel promises of jesus are faithfully preached when the preacher says from acts 16 31 believe in the lord jesus christ and you will be saved you will be saved not because of the preacher because god will cause his word to be true and if you will believe in jesus you'll be forgiven and be saved when the preacher promises that the blood of jesus god's son cleanses us of all our sins first john 1 7 god himself will keep that promise and he will forgive yours and so the lesson is clear when god speaks let's have reverence for his word let us listen he speaks to us today in his written word and so when you read it god is speaking to you oh listen he speaks to you in the preached word of the pulpit do not be foolish cannot be senseless like judah eyes that see in ears that do not hear now believe god when he speaks so that the fire of god's word will cleanse you remake you from the inside out believe his word and then go on and live a reverent grateful and godly life oh but a great thing is a reverent grateful and godly life father we pray for this for ourselves help us to profit from the preaching of your word this is not an easy passage again lord it's something we need to know and we thank you for the grace that you've given us but lord we also recognize that our salvation our justification is not an end in itself though the true end is your glory that you'd be glorified in the fruit of our lives and lord we know that we sin we know that we are always going to fall short we know that in this life as your own word says we will never be perfect but father give us the heart that seeks after you give us a humble and sincere religion let us not be spiritually complacent let us be reverent and grateful and help us to be godly and lord we are blessed by your word that we will we will have the smile of your favor and we will serve you in our time we pray for this in jesus name amen well let us respond to god's word by singing together hymn 271 [Music] oh [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] foreign now to him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood to him be glory and dominion both now and forever and may the grace of the lord jesus christ be with all of you and god's people said amen [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you

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Length: 62min 46sec (3766 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 01 2021