Jeremiah 15:1-21 "The Hard Truth"

[Music] let's turn together in our Bibles to Jeremiah 15 Jeremih 15 and we'll read the entirety of the chapter where it says then the Lord said to me though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my heart would not turn toward this people send them out of my sight and let them go and when they ask you where shall we go you shall say to them thus thus says the Lord those who are for pestilence to pestilence and those who are for the sword to the sword those who are for famine to famine and those who are for captivity to captivity I will appoint over them four kinds of Destroyers declares the Lord the sword to kill the dogs to tear and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy and I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah did in Jerusalem who will have pity on you O Jerusalem or who will grieve for you who will turn aside to ask about your welfare you have rejected me declares the Lord you keep going backwards so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you I am weary of relenting I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork and the gates of the land I have bereaved them I have destroyed my people they did not turn from their ways I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the Seas I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday I've made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly she who bore seven has grown feeble she has fainted away her son went down while it was yet day she has been shamed and disgraced and the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies declares the Lord woe is me my mother that you bore me a man of strife and contention to the whole land I have not Lent nor have I borrowed yet all of them curse me the Lord said have I not set you free for their good have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress can one break iron iron from the north and bronze your wealth and your treasures I will give us spoil without price for all your sins throughout all your territory I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever Oh Lord you know remember me and visit me and take vengeance on for me on my persecutors in your forbearance take me not away know that for your sake I bear reproach your words were found and I ate them and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart for I am called by your name O Lord God of hosts I did not sit in the company of revelers nor did I rejoice i sat alone because your hand was upon me for you had filled me with indignation why is my pain unceasing my wound incurable refusing to be healed will will you be to me like a deceitful Brook like waters that fail therefore thus says the Lord if you return I will restore you and you shall stand before me if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless you shall be as my mouth they shall turn to you but you shall not turn to them and I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze they will fight against you but they shall not prevail over you for I am with you to save you and deliver you declares the Lord I will deliver you out of the land of the wicked and redeem you from the grass of the ruthless so far the reading from God's Word this evening may he add its blessing to our hearts there's no easier way to offend somebody than to tell them that they're doing something wrong it doesn't matter what realm that may be in it could be in parenting it could be in marriage could be about their finances if you say to somebody that they're doing something wrong there can be an instant defensiveness maybe even anger that Wells up in a person it reminds me of a time when Lisa and I we were living in Canada and we had gotten in touch with a couple they had little children and they had been around our family and by God's grace they had seen some things in our family and so they said we're struggling with our children would you come to our house and give us some some feedback on what we're doing with our kids and we went to their house and they fed us a lovely meal and we watched their children and they asked us so what do you think do you see anything that we could do better some things that we could improve and and we shared some things that we saw and instantly they became hostile and angry even after they had invited us to come and speak to them about the topic telling the truth isn't always popular and yet the entirety of Jeremiah's ministry is exactly that speaking the truth to a rebellious and hostile nation telling Judah of their sinful choices and telling them with love in his heart seeking to bring them back to the Lord and even though they resist the message and even though they are hostile towards Jeremiah even though he speaks hard truth to God's people if they hear if they turn to God in repentance he will yet grant them deliverance and so we want to look today and see Jeremiah's message in the first nine verses we want to see Jeremiah's agony in verses 10 through 19 they want to see Jeremiah's hope in verses 20 through 21 so though Jeremiah speaks hard truth to God's people if they hear if they turn if they repent God will grant to them deliverance we're gonna see Jeremiah's message Jeremiah's agony and Jeremiah's hope so let's begin by looking at Jeremiah's message in the first 9 verses of this chapter the beginning of chapter 15 is really a continuation of Jeremiah's prophecy that started in chapter 14 that prophecy isn't finished shedding you remember the content of the prophecy of chapter 14 dealt with the drought that God had sent to the people of Judah the drought we saw last Lord's there was a covenant 'el warning that God graciously gives to his people warning them of the pending final judgment that would come to Judah and Jeremiah is presenting to them the solution to cure for this drought which is found in turning to the Lord and the end of chapter 14 it says there that there are none no other gods can bring rain as the Lord does and so so Jeremiah on behalf of the people of Israel at the end of chapter 14 has offered up a plea to the Lord he's asking the Lord on behalf of the people to be merciful to the people of Judah and the opening verses of this chapter of chapter 15 contained the Lord's response to this prayer of intercession that Jeremiah offers up and the opening sentences of God's response are not promising it says in in the beginning here as the Lord speaks to Jeremiah though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my heart would not turn towards these people Moses and Samuel who are unique in the old Tessa MO and it comes to God's relationship with them in Exodus 33 verse 11 it speaks or describes how God speaks to Moses face to face as he would with a friend or in 1st Samuel 3 verse 4 you have God calling to Samuel calling him by name as he rests in the tabernacle calling him by name as a little boy and and continues to speak to him throughout the time that he judges Israel Moses and Samuel both who interceded on behalf of the people of Israel with success the Lord heard their intercession during the time that they judged her during the time that they served the people but here at the beginning of this chapter God says even if those men who who were unique and special and who interceded successfully on behalf of my people even if they stood before me I would not hear them and if he wouldn't hear Moses and Samuel the implication is he certainly wouldn't hear Jeremiah either so not only will he not hear there it goes beyond that in verse one it says that he's going to send them out of his sight and let them go there's not anywhere Judah can go where God would not know their condition where where God wouldn't know their circumstances so when God says he wants to send them out of his sight it's not that God would be ignorant of what was happening to Judah instead what it is it's a description where God says I will no longer be attentive to them I will no longer work on their behalf I will no longer care for them in the same way that I have cared for them up to this point and so there is in this sending away a sense of judgment a judgment for the people of Judah one that is understood by those who get it if if the presence of God doesn't go with the people of God they cease to be the people of God there is a unique feature of the people of God which is the presence of God that's why God coming into the temple at the temple dedication is so significant that's why the the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire so significant when Israel's traveling through the desert after they've been led out of Egypt if he would cease to go with them if if he were to to leave them on their own they would surely perish and we have seen that in other places of Scripture where the people of Israel recognized the significance of what God saying when he says I'm going to leave you behind I will no longer go with you and you see it in Exodus 33 the first three verses of that chapter Exodus 32 that's a chapter you should know when somebody says Exodus 32 that's the chapter where the people of Israel a pasta sighs and build a golden calf and after the golden calf is built and Moses comes down from the mountain and and he he judges the people of Israel pass a sentence on them destroys the golden calf God sends Israel on their way in the beginning of chapter 33 and he says you will go on your way and I will send my angel with you but I myself will not go with you and the result is that Israel stops everything Israel Israel grieves Israel pleads with the Lord and their Moses intercedes Moses intercedes that the Lord would go with him and and and the Lord eventually promises to to accompany Israel but not so in Jeremiah's prophecy not so when God speaks to Israel in Jeremiah Sun God will not be with Judah and it's not so much that he will leave them it's not so much that God will remove himself from Israel so much it is that he will cast them out of his presence God will not remove himself but he will remove Judah he will send them away and so as he pronounces judgment of Exile he anticipates this question that the people of Israel will ask in verse 2 where shall we go if God is sending them away they must land somewhere where should they go but even in anticipating that question it shows that Judah has missing the severity of what God is saying and Jeremiah is given the task of helping them to see but to do so God gives him an unpopular message God gives him an unpopular answer in verses 2 through 4 you see this description of what of what Jeremiah is to say to the people of Israel when they say where should we go and it's a message of great destruction he gives them different pictures to portrayed their lot as he works through verses 2 through 4 he speaks of pestilence and sword and famine and captivity and destroyers and dogs to tear and beasts to devouring and turning the people of Judah into a horror and he says that's going to happen to them because of the sins of Manasseh Manasseh the wicked king of Judah the son of Hezekiah the righteous King Manasseh sin is in view here but there's more than just Manasseh see there's no doubt that Manasseh sin alone would be sufficient to condemn the nation of Israel in second chronicles 33 you see a description of some of the things that Manasseh did during his rule and reign in Judah he built all for idols in the middle of the Temple in Jerusalem he worshiped the bales and the Astra's he offered up his sons as sacrifices in the fire he used sorcerers he used necromancer's all of which were condemned by the Lord and and and God had forbidden it even before they entered into the promised land saying that tremendous judgment would come upon the people if they did any of these things in second Kings 24 verse verse 3 through 4 you see more of manassas description of what Manasseh did and it's even speaking of the judgment that came upon Judah and says surely this exile surely this exile came upon Judah at the command of the Lord to remove them out of his sight for the sins of Manasseh that's not unlike what Jeremiah is talking about according to all that he had done and also for the innocent blood that he had shed for he filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and the Lord would not pardon Manasseh had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood and they had they he had done so much evil that certainly the Lord would cast the nation out of his sight but it's more than just Manasses work that causes the judgment of God to fall on the people of Judah you see in in verses 5 through 9 it turns from a description of what Manasseh had done to a description of what Jerusalem had done will you have no pity well who will have pity on you O Jerusalem and in the following verses you see Jeremiah describing what Jerusalem had done and Jerusalem it says in verse 6 had rejected the Lord and so the Lord had warned them and he warned them by bereaving them he had taken from them what they had as is as it says in verse 7 the men of the land were slain and the number of widows increased to be like the sand on the seashore in verse 8 so that's a reference to the many men who died in battle and they anguish and and terror that that comes on the people because of that it speaks also in in verse 9 of the woman who bore seven who has grown feeble again a reference to the loss of men in battle this time a woman's sons losing her seven sons falling in battle and this is the message that Jeremiah has been given by the Lord to make clear to the people why they will be sent away from the promised land this is the essence of Jeremiah's message to Judah judgment destruction hostility from God removal from his sight and Jeremiah as you remember from Chapter one perhaps Jeremiah was told right at the beginning that this would be his ministry that this would be his work to set before the people of God their guilt and that they would not listen from chapter one we remember that Jeremiah is described as a fortified city an iron pillar a bronze wall as he declares all the Lord gives to him to say and so we see Jeremiah's message and it's not a popular message is not a feel-good message so to speak but we also see something of Jeremiah's agony in this chapter in God's response to the people of Israel to their failure to their continued rebellion it says in verse 1 that the Justice of God will be satisfied his heart will not turn towards his people it says and he will send them out of his sight and he will let them go all that's in in verse 1 it's almost inevitable that there will be payment for sin for the people of Judah Judah has become a nation of rebels a nation of murders a nation of adulterers they've been called to repentance so many times and every time they have refused and now God's justice will be satisfied in their condemnation no pleading on their behalf will help it says in verse 1 yet my heart would not turn toward this people that's not often how we think of the Lord is it even if they were to turn to him he says I would not hear them now as Jeremiah has given this task to declare and this this task of declaring the hardness of the Lord against his people in judgment it's easy to depersonalized the characters of scriptures easy to think well Jeremiah he was a prophet and so he went out and he did this this was part of his life and it was part of his life but these men who God calls to declare his word in Scripture are not machines they're they're not men without weaknesses they're not men without fears or emotions and you see that in Old and New Testament so for example in Colossians 4 and verse 4 you see Paul Paul who we think to be a super man Paul pleads with a collage in church that they would pray for him that he would speak clearly in acts 429 you see the Apostolic Church praying for boldness in the middle of persecution and so here also in this prophecy beginning in the tenth verse you see something of Jeremiah's personal side he is commanded to declare a message that is not not popular and there are times when he is extremely depressed by his calling it seems when Jeremiah sees the results of his declaration how does he describe himself he says he's a man of strife and contention to the whole land and he wishes that he had never been born this is Jeremiah's response to the task that God has given to him he he offers a lament to God as he comes to terms with the message he is charged to deliver he he wishes he had never been born because God is asking him to deliver a message which people will despise him for not just one or two people will despise him but the whole land will consider him a man of strife and contention and so he laments before the Lord even though he offers this message out of love the whole land will curse him but he delivered a message of certain exile he delivers a message of certain destruction and the people of Israel will hate him for it it's not only that the people don't like what he's saying is that they act on it they're actively seeking to persecute him and there's no one to help him it says in verse 15 he is forsaken in the land and Jeremiah's lament is that he sought after the Lord that he loved the Lord's wording in in fact he he gives it an example of how he follows the Lord he doesn't join in the revelry of the people but he remains faithful to live under the commandments of the Lord Jeremiah sought to live in obedience to God to the God that he loved he didn't follow his passions he didn't let them rule over him but he obeyed the Lord he obeyed God's Word and what's the result says in verse 17 that the result for for Jeremiah is loneliness i sat alone because your hand was upon me there was in cease unceasing pain for him it describes it as an incurable wound that's the human side of of Jeremiah he is an agony over the words that he has to speak to the people of Judah I want us to pause for a minute here and see the difference between what was going on this morning and what's going on in Jeremiah's life this morning when we spoke of the persecution of the church in Iconium that was a persecution that came from outside the body of believers it came from outside the people of God it's the world at war with the church so to speak but here when Jeremiah is speaking he's speaking as a prophet among God's people he's talking about what's happening within the boundaries of the people of God and so there has to be a lesson here for the church as it receives the Word of God consider the words of the prophets or the pastors that labor among you the task of a pastor is a is a great privilege I counted a great blessing to declare God's Word to his people but because the preacher and the congregation are sinful because we get sidetracked and we are distracted and we lose sight of Christ because we follow after the flesh from time to time there are places and times and moments of difficulty in the church and in these moments God's word is used to reprove his people in 2nd Timothy 3 verse 16 to 17 not that famous passage that speaks of the breathe out word of God Tim Eric Paul before sets before Timothy for main uses for God's inspired Word it says it's given for teaching for reproof for correction and for training in righteousness now teaching and training are our proactive applications of God's Word where we're trying to address something before the moment of crisis comes but when when you have when you have the other ones when you have reproof and and correction those are reactive applications of the Word of God that's when a moment of crisis has arrived or an error has cropped up and the Word of God is is spoken to - correct - to bring reversal to the direction of the people all of them are positive but some are proactive and some are reactive now my question for us today is what do we do when God's reproof and God's correction is given how will this congregation respond to being corrected to being reproved for sin will you see it as God's mercy to his servant will you see it as a blessing to be called to repentance will you or or the other alternative is especially in this part of the country will you see it as a man who is using the Bible to meddle in your life remember Jeremiah is speaking to the Old Testament church he's calling God's people to repentance and the response of the congregation will tell you about the spiritual health of that body in some cases when a gospel minister faithfully calls a church to repentance he experiences great revival of the Scottish kind where people pack up their bags and react in anger and either leave or try to get him to leave when truth is declared about sin those are the two choices you can either a hate the messenger and do wrong to him or you can love the God who sent him or you can welcome and repentant and repent and welcome the reproof in' and turn to Christ beloved I urge you tonight love those who reprove love those who correct if their correction is true if their correction is biblical it's a mercy from God to spare you from being sent from his sight it's God's discipline for you God church discipline begins with the declaration of God's Word every Lord's Day that's what disciplines it it teaches us it corrects us it's reproves us and it trains us all of these are true and from Hebrews 12:11 we know that discipline it's hard in the moment but it always yields righteousness and it's not righteousness it's not holiness the pursuit of the People of God are we not called to be holy as God is holy so pastor and congregation alike need the discipline of God and God gives it to us to sanctify us to make us holy and so we see in in Jeremiah's and the failure of the people - of Judah to respond to Jeremiah well you we see in their failure a warning to us the call from God is is one for humility for the people of Israel but then we also see in this chapter a call to faithfulness for Jeremiah Jeremiah is told by the Lord if you return in verse nineteen if you return I will restore you and usual stand before me if you utter what is precious and not what is worthless you shall be as my mouths they shall turn to you but you shall not turn to them the Lord commands Jeremiah to speak that which is true it's not that the congregation is simply to accept what the part of what the Prophet says that the congregation is to accept what the Prophet says when it is what the Lord says and that's the word that the Lord has for Jeremiah when he speaks what is true it is as if God's mouth is speaking and he is to pursue that that's what Jeremiah is to pursue so there's a lesson for the pastor as well in in this passage certainly there can be a congregation that refuses to hear the truth truth I have I have two colleagues right now that I know that I love who are going through exactly that thing they're not perfect men but there are men who's seeking who are seeking to faithfully set before the congregation the Word of God and the congregation's are abandoning them they have almost nobody left in their churches God's warns God warns churches such as those that they're to pay attention to repent and to turn but there is also the opposite end of the problem right there's also the pastor who doesn't declare the truth there's also the pastor who is declaring things from the pulpit for his own gain of Worth selfish ambition he doesn't call the church to repentance he doesn't declare the truth he's content to to get along so that there will not be any ripples in the congregation he may declare maybe even what God's Word doesn't say in order to be popular in the eyes of the world I want to give an illustration of a church that I just saw a video of it was a promotional video for this church Eastlake community churches in Washington State it seems like the church at one point was Orthodox and and faithful but as the church grew the pastor started openly saying that he disagreed with the Bible on many points including biblical marriage and now it seems like he's preaching heresy from the pulpit things that God would think are an abomination he is declaring them as good things and they reported that the members are leaving the church in droves and rightfully so rightfully so so for pastors this isn't a passage of a finger pointing this isn't a passage that says well you guys have to listen to what I say and if you don't you're going to be sent out of God's sight this is a warning for the congregation and a warning for the prophet a warning for the pastor it's a passage that calls us to introspection to cause us to self-examination and I declare to you tonight if I am not speaking the truth to you from this pulpit I should get a bunch of phone calls on Monday morning and the first one should be from the elders of this church saying what in the world are you doing because it's only in declaring the truth that God's people are offered the light that is needed to walk in the path of righteousness so there's Jeremiah's message there's Jeremiah's agony but we also see something of Jeremiah's hope the amazing thing when it comes to a passage like this which sounds a little heavy-handed to our sensitive ears sometimes the amazing thing about this passage and the message of Scripture is that it's not burdensome you know how I know that the message of Scripture is not burdensome because Jesus tells me it's not burdensome Jesus in in Matthew 11 verse 28 through 30 tells us invites us to come to him when we're when we're weak when were heavy laden when were burdened down and he says that he will give us rest that we were to take his yoke upon us because his yoke is easy and his burden is light the message of the scripture for the one who walks by faith filled with the holy spirit is it's not a message of a burden when we're warned by Scripture it's not a burden when we're castigated and chastised by God it's not a burden we recognize it as His grace to us we recognize it as his love for us his work in us to sanctify us so when people reject the truth when we as God's people when when the people of God even reject the truth those who declare the truth can be at rest when in the church setting we we declare the truth and and those who have hardened their hearts they turn in anger and wrath the one who declares the truth can be at a rest when the Exile of those who reject Christ comes when the church has become so apostate that it ceases to be a church and God casts us out of his sight those who are faithful and who remain can be at rest because the rest doesn't come because we love what we see around us the rest comes because we keep our eyes fixed on Christ because we fix our eyes on our Savior and we know he is with us you see in Christ there is the promise Jeremih only saw this promise in part God makes this prophet strong to be able to declare the truth he it says again in in verse 20 like it said in chapter 1 that that God would make him a fortified wall of bronze and as the Prophet comes to terms with the fact that though his mission is difficult though his calling is hard yet God will give him the strength we who live under the grace of Christ and who are filled with the holy spirit uniquely in the time of the New Testament half Philippians 4 would teach it which teaches us that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength it's the same promise that God gives to Jeremiah but it's given to us in greater measure in the book of Philippians Jesus will never depart from his people that's his promise he will never depart from his he will never abandon us and so we as God's people have hope and rest but more than simply the hope of strength there is the promise of deliverance that comes to Jeremiah see it in verse 21 God promises that he will deliver him out of the hand of the wicked and he will redeem him from the grass of the and those pricked by the message from the Lord will always hate the messenger who brings it but these men will not endure we see David King David making the same prediction in Psalm 37 verse 35 where he says I have seen a wicked ruthless man spreading himself like a green laurel tree but he passed away and behold he was no more though I sought him he could not be found you see the wicked and ruthless man may think he has the upper hand on Jeremiah or the wicked and ruthless men may think they have had the upper hand and Iconium but there will be a day when we won't even be able to find them and one against whom they they strove he will remain forever because when they strive against the prophet and when they strive against the church they're not striving against men they're striving against Lord Jesus Christ they're fighting against him there they're battling against the one who will be their judge the ruthless man is exactly that he's just a man one day he will disappear but in Christ there is no such limit never will Christ disappear he is eternal and he promises to those who put their faith in Him eternal life with him and that's a deliverance from sin and misery it's a deliverance from death it's a deliverance from the world the flesh and the devil none of these will touch the man of God because he is free in Christ Jeremiah has given a unique task and throughout all his ministry he's called to give extremely bad news to the people of Judah constantly rizzoli every once in a while he has a sliver of good news for them he's constantly calling God's people to repentance and though at times this message this mission is a disheartening job to him because people hate him for it nevertheless it's a task of love maybe not so much Jeremiah's love but God's love for his people to declare the glorious hope of eternal deliverance that's the job God gives to Jeremiah the Lord may chastise you but if you turn to him in repentance he will grant you such joyful deliverance as far surpasses the difficulties you face today and so we are called to hear God's Word I'm called to declare God's Word we're called to place ourselves under God's word to humble ourselves before him and walk in obedience and repent where we have sinned so that the Lord would not spit us out of his mouth so that the Lord would not not walk away from us or even worse that the Lord would not cast us out of his presence let's pray together

Channel: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church

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Keywords: Cliffwood Presbyterian Church, bible, sermon, reformed theology, family integrated worship, preaching, augusta, presbyterian, Theology (Field Of Study), Religion (TV Genre), Pastor, repentance, Old Testament (Religious Text), jeremiah, reformation, idolatry, God's covenant, the gospel

Id: UqROZPgOSxc

Length: 36min 38sec (2198 seconds)

Published: Tue May 15 2018