Through the Bible (Jeremiah 3-4)

turn with me to jeremiah chapter 3 as we study through the bible jeremiah 3. last night of course election night and the nation is still waiting with baited breath as we speak to find out uh you know who the president of the united states will be um you know it's interesting because uh the pollsters you know if there's one thing we've learned in the last couple of elections is the pollsters know nothing they should all be fired if they don't they're they don't they're not even close and that's an interesting thing because you know there used to be a day i'm old enough to remember remember several elections over the years there used to be a day where they were pretty close and they kind of had some legitimate predictions and prognostications but i love that you and i uh in a day where pollsters don't have a clue man i love that we have the prophets instead of the pollsters i'll go with the prophets over the pollsters any day and jeremiah was the prophet that was telling the people the truth and what was interesting about that it's almost like in some ways i i sense and maybe i'm wrong about this but um i sense that our pollsters are almost more wanting to tell people what they want to hear you know or what they think will be politically prudent to hear or even if there's god forbid a sinister agenda behind why pollsters are doing what they're doing i don't know about that but but i do know that it does shape things differently when the pollsters are saying this or that and the other thing and and i wonder you know i love that the bible gives us the prophets and the bible gives us prophecy don't forget when uh you know this is wednesday night uh we're gonna we're in the prophet jeremiah but on friday we're gonna look at bible prophecy and i have a lot more to say about the election uh probably more to say even to them tonight uh because we might know who the president is by that time but all that to say uh you know friday night prophecy update don't miss it seven o'clock right right here online um but as far as jeremiah the prophet you know the pollsters almost say what people want to hear jeremiah was the prophet who said things that people didn't want to hear and because they didn't like his message they plugged their ears and didn't listen to a word that he said jeremiah ministered for 42 years and not one person listen to a word he said although he was 100 accurate what he said what he foretold tonight he's going to tell us really a lot about what's going to going to happen to the people of israel what's going to come down in you know jerusalem and with the jews and people are not going to listen to a word he says he's the lone prophet during this time and so that's kind of where we pick it up in chapter three um we looked at some of chapter three on sunday and we saw that theme backsliding israel and we talked about backsliding it's perils its pitfalls the problems and backsliding is something that you need to fix and the fix is repentance and to turn back to the lord and you're going to see that kind of language in jeremiah chapter 3 of turning back to the lord something that our nation needs to do whether it's biden or trump we need to turn back and repent no matter how um you know holy some people might think our nation is it's not we we can learn so much from jeremiah's words here i feel like it's almost uncanny how jeremiah is going to nail down not only the jews and in judea but he's going to nail us down in the united states of america with with great precision here in jeremiah chapter 3. let's take a look it says in jeremiah 3 1 it says they say if a man put away his wife and she go from him and become another man's shall he return unto her again shall not that land be greatly polluted but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers yet return again to me saith the lord we start off with some hard-hitting things about marriage divorce and remarriage um now uh this this for a lot of you you know might be asking the question yeah what about that you know marriage and divorce and remarriage and and people always ask that question and um first i want to tell you that's not really what this verse is about you know this question that is plagues our culture um once a person is divorced can they ever be remarried jesus talked about this in matthew 19 by the way when he said moses this is matthew 19 8 moses because of the hardness of your heart suffered you to put away your wives divorce but from the beginning this was not so and i say unto you whosoever shall put away his wife except it be for fornication shall marry another committeth adultery and who so marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery and so from this word that jesus was saying um you know people say once you're divorced man you're locked out you're single for the rest of your life or you're going to be an adulterer if you get married again here's the thing about that is marriage and or i should say divorce the unpardonable sin uh the bible says there's only one unpardonable sin blasphemy of the holy spirit but divorce is not the unpardonable sin and so the thing is the idea is unrepentant sinner is still in their sins and that person is in that con condition of divorce with an unconfessed unrepentant heart then they should not get married again but if a person you know like here's an example some couple were married 20 years ago before they were even saved and they end up in a divorce situation and then years go by and the person becomes saved and they confess their sins and acknowledge their failure in their marriage before they were saved i believe the lord forgives that person old things are passed away all things become new that is not the one sin that god's gonna hold that person's feet to the fire uh for all of eternity that's not gonna happen so if you're a person who believes in forgiveness and that god wipes away our sins old things passed away all things become new if you believe that then i believe that there's a situation where the person can be remarried there's some kind of legalistic pastors i've met that say oh no if you ever get remarried you're an adulterer and and i think that's wrong now i do believe that's true if a person uh you know is it says yeah my other wife was kind of lame so i dumped her and i'm getting married to this this new model uh then that's jesus to talk about that that's that's just being adulterous now the reason i go through that is because there's a lot of marriage and divorce in our world and people talk about that all the time but jeremiah's talking about something that was happening during their day that was quite sinister and that is um people were sort of taking marriage vows lightly uh let's get a divorce and then go sleep with somebody else and then i'm tired of that let's go back to our oldest and they start sleeping again together and marriage just became non-important and they were sort of trivializing or minimizing the bond of marriage and and that's um the lord was saying that's what you guys are doing but the lord's just not not as much wanting to make a case for or against that other than it's evil what he's saying is in in a sort of a picture an analogy sort of way he's saying that's what you were doing israel to me i'm your husband and you have put up put me away and then you go and sleep with another and then you want to come back to me now there's an interesting thing depending on what translation of the bible you have that last phrase in verse 1. some translations make it sort of sound like the lord is asking people to return to him yeah you've divorced me and slept with another but some would say yet return again to me saith the lord like come back the lord inviting you to come back other newer translations say and you have the audacity it's almost like more like you have the audacity to come back to me are you kidding like like there's a question mark at the end and and so which one is it is it some of the newer translations that say you know yet you return again to me say the lord like are you kidding me or is it the lord saying even though you've adulterated yourself return to me well i think both could be true uh by the way i think that it is audacious for us to be you know uh like the jews let's just say that you know adulterating themselves with molag kimash asteroth bail all these gods and goddesses of the canaanites and the thing that they can just kind of you know on on you know you know sunday monday tuesday wednesday thursday friday they can party down with bail and then on the sabbath they go and do their passover in jerusalem on you know friday night to saturday through saturday they do the sabbath and they do the holy rituals we'll see that's what they were doing here in those times and and lord the lord could say are you kidding you're going to go sleep with all these other gods and goddesses and then you think you can just come back to me that could be true and it is audacious but at the same time the other is true as well i i do believe in fact the lord is going to woo them back and say please you know dump off your sins and break off your relationships with these gods and goddesses and and return again to me saith the lord i think both are true um but if i had to pin down linguistically in the original hebrew what what he's saying i think he's inviting it's not the one where he's are you kidding me no it's more like i think he's inviting saying you know even though you've married another and you've come back and and and the the law of the old testament by the way that that law that he's referring to here in verse 1 comes from deuteronomy chapter 24 verses three and four about how you don't get you know get divorced and then go sleep and marry another person and then divorce them and come back to your original marriage that was forbidden in jewish law uh deuteronomy 24 verses three through four that was the truth of the matter but so god is sort of using his old law to point out the craziness of their sins at the same time you might say well brett if god is wooing them back and saying yes please come back to me is that god breaking his own law and the analogy that's being used here because he's he's saying please come back to me even though deuteronomy 24 says you can't well this might just be a good illustration of how love always supersedes the law no man ever kept the law and it was made righteous by the keeping of the law the law kills the bible says and they're just rules that we cannot we fail i love how here god sort of implies that man the law does kill you but he supersedes the law and love supersedes the law and he's lovingly inviting them back uh to come back to himself that's the analogy by the way over and over that jeremiah is using of that of the husband and the wife that god is the husband the israel and judea they're the wife of god the jews and again i remind you that the new testament christian church we're called the bride of christ different relationships gentiles church bride of christ the jews of the old testament the wife of god and uh and that's why jeremiah constantly employs this imagery of marriage and divorce and um and all this stuff about them being unfaithful or the adulterous uh wife of god well i love this because this this sort of gives us that reminder of his mercy and we'll touch that again uh this evening as we go through this well he goes on in verse 2 lift up thine eyes and to the high places and see where thou has not been lined with in the ways that uh hast thou sat for them as the arabian in the wilderness and the house polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness therefore the showers have been withholden and there have been no latter rain and thou has a horror's forehead thou refuses to be ashamed will thou not from this time cry unto me my father thou art the guide of my youth will he reserve his anger forever will he keep it to the end behold thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest verse five is saying you've done the most evil things you could even imagine whatever you could think up you did it um you know you you've done as bad as you can and evil and that's the lord's acknowledging that um and he's he's uh calling him out really on their sins now there's a phrase here that's used that i find interesting and i remember you know last time i taught through this i was like wow what does that mean i just kind of read through it and just didn't even really acknowledge it because i didn't know what it was um but this this whole idea of the horror's forehead what are we talking about there uh some you're like brett let's not talk about that i think you should do what you did last time and just go right on to the next section well there is something about this that kind of caught my attention and especially as you read through the whole bible you start to realize the lord talks about a person's forehead a lot in the bible and as it turns out the forehead seems to be sort of something that god talks about and it seems to be in some ways a battleground your forehead a battleground yep um you know jeremiah 3 3 here talks about the forehead now what is that um before i couldn't tell you but uh as it turns out i did some deep research on this one and it's uh hard to find this but but actually what it means it's sort of an idiom of sort of a um a bold sinner who refuses to be ashamed by their sins it's almost like they become hardened uh toward uh the evil conscience or that conscious of knowing that man what i'm doing is wrong and a person can get to a place where their their uh their thinking is uh just like they don't even recognize that what they're doing is shameful um and that's this idea of the forehead it was associated with immorality and lack of shame that's the idea there now in ezekiel we'll read here in a few weeks when we get to ezekiel chapter 3 verses 8 and 9. listen to this the lord says behold i have made thy face strong against their faces and thy forehead strong against their foreheads as an adamant harder than flint i have made thy forehead fear them not neither be dismayed at their looks for they are rebellious as a house so there's a there's a idea of these two groups of people that are rebellious and ones the lord hardens in an armor type sense and forehead against forehead that's the idea um so god made the prophet ezekiel's forehead righteous and strong against the foreheads of backsliding israel that's what we're going to see in ezekiel chapter 3. now the forehead is seen all throughout the old testament but then you think about the new testament are foreheads ever mentioned or or talked about well as it turns out it becomes a big deal in the last days uh even in the tribulation period uh revelation chapter 7 verse 3 it says god seals his servants in their foreheads saying hurt not the earth neither the sea nor the trees until we have sealed the servants of our gods of our god in their foreheads you know and when you heard me talk about revelation in the forehead some of you are thinking the mark of the beast um that's true but isn't it interesting that before the mark of the beast really gets kicked into gear the lord says my people i'm going to do something to their forehead and he's going to put his seal um you know sealing the servants of god in their foreheads revelation 14 1 and i looked and lo a lamb stood on mount zion and with him 144 000 having his father's name written in their foreheads that's an interesting thing 144 000 by the way is not uh job's witness from you know the watchtower society has they will come to your door and tell you that that's totally whacked the 144 000 are listed there in the scriptures uh by the tribe they're jews not jehovah's witnesses um well brett i believe the jehovah's witnesses are the lost tribes of israel there are no lost tribes we'll talk about that in a second um so don't don't listen to that there are going to be jews during the tribulation are going to be um sealed by god uh in their foreheads with god's seal it's going to be something that's kind of amazing but isn't it interesting god's interested in their foreheads and then of course as you look at you know revelation 13 and the whole narrative of the mark of the beast and the antichrist and how he's going to try to get their his seal his mark in their forehead i think that there's this there's this battle of the foreheads of the bible so what does that all mean as it turns out the forehead you know um just neurologically is kind of interesting um according to the discover magazine writer robert sapolsky the pre-frontal cortex that's that front part of the brain right right between your eyes and up a little bit uh your forehead um it's the region that plays a critical and central role in things like this self-discipline gratif gratification postponement uh putting a rain on one's impulses again sapolsky reports this in discover when he says violent sociopaths appear to have an insufficient metabolic activity in the prefrontal region and damage to the prefrontal cortex such as that created by strokes or caused by disinhibited frontal personality the person may become apathetic or childish silly hypersexual or bellicose scatological or blasphemous that's that's what discover magazine says that happens to a person that has something an issue in their um you know prefrontal cortex according to g.c bosley in an article titled the effects of small quantities of alcohol he said among social drinkers alcohol causes shrinkage of the frontal lobes the center of moral discernment and that shouldn't be a shock if you kind of hang around people that drink a lot you kind of see that that they lose their inhibitions and that's this idea which is kind of interesting and and man um i don't know about you you know uh but one of the reasons of many why i don't drink alcohol it's not some legalistic reason from the bible um but it's it's more uh having to do with addiction and with helping my friends who are addicted to things you know not stumbling a brother but it also has to do with my brain i need as much brain as i can get um you know it's like uh solomon's mother said oh lemuel it's not uh for kings you know or princes to be given to wine or strong drink unless they you know uh forget the law and pervert good judgment that's that prefrontal cortex that gives you good judgment and that's why she said don't be given to wine you know and when you drink alcohol it destroys dendrites in your brain and i don't know about you i need all the dendrites i can get so um but but all that to say not it's not just an alcohol thing there seems to be something about a person's that part of their brain and thinking whether it's you know neurological physiological or just strictly spiritual i don't know but if you make a study of this we don't have time to go any further than this tonight but if you make a study of it it makes you wonder about the the forehead and and what is the lord doing with that and why is that such a big deal in the bible and it will be an issue uh in the end times as it turns out the mark of the beast versus the lord putting his seal upon his people during the tribulation period now but we won't be there for that uh we'll be in heaven as the rapture of the church will have taken place and we'll be with the lord but the people that you know follow the lord and serve jesus will uh during the the tribulation period they will have that seal of god uh put in their foreheads as it says there well anyway enough on horus forehead sorry to dive into that one but that's the idea kind of that unrestrained uh unashamed uh sort of boldness to sin that's the idea there so the lord's saying will he reserve his anger or hold back his anger forever the answer no there's gonna come a time where god's wrath will be poured out well that goes to verse 6 it says in verse 6 the lord said unto me in the days of josiah the king hast thou seen that which backsliding israel has done she has gone up every high mountain and under every green tree and there have then there have played the harlot and i said after she had done all these things turn thou into me but she returned not and her treacherous sister judah saw it and i saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding israel committed adultery i had put her away and given her a bill of divorce yet her treacherous sister judah feared not but went and played the harlot also interesting uh we have to remember that during this time period of jeremiah's prophecy you know years earlier uh you know centuries earlier uh israel and judah the nation israel split into two it's the ten northern tribes the two southern times uh benjamin and judah you know they were jerusalem the southern but then the northern ten tribes they were wicked exceedingly and they were called israel the other one's called judah so you know here jeremiah is saying you know backsliding israel look what happened to them and judah you're her sister you should have learned from her watching her do her thing and then the assyrians coming and putting hooks in their noses and drawing them up as captivities into assyria and really the northern tribes were really largely wiped out now this is by the way remember i mentioned the lost tribes of israel people like to claim that uh everybody from you know some of the mormon doctrine and jehovah's witness doctrine to um you know some people like the oh the da vinci code and a bunch of wacko stuff watch out for this thing of the lost tribes of israel no such thing it's not the british uh it's not the mor the mormons it's not the the incas or the mayans uh there's there's all kinds of funny things out there about the lost tribes but the reason it's it's dumb is because there aren't lost tribes did you know the bible tells us when the northern 10 tribes were taken off into captivity these groups that try to talk about the lost tribes they say we never heard from them ever again and they were lost the problem with that is the bible says that a bunch of them didn't they they stayed behind during the reign of jeroboam when he made the golden calf worship in the north when he was the king during that time do you remember a bunch of people said we can't do this we're jews and so those people from the northern 10 tribes came back down to the south and lived in uh you know the south with rehoboam and uh and so there were and also when the syrians dragged off the jews to the north with hooks in their noses they left behind according to the bible the sick the old and the lame so there was a bunch of people left behind it wasn't an entire dragging off of all the northern tribe people but there was a remnant left behind and those people were all parts of the 10 northern tribes they were not lost and so some of those people were you know killed or taken into captivity and they were assimilated into a syrian culture but there were many who stayed back and there were still you know people of the tribe of dan and naftali and reuben and god and all those they were all there um and and uh and that's a fallacy to think that that once that all they all were taken away and never to be seen again not true there are no lost tribes of israel i hope you're careful on that one now don't send me letters there's people even in our church who've written books on the lost tribes of israel i don't want to hear from you i've heard all those arguments it's too much too much time to talk about something like that but it's it's uh don't be sucked into somebody's convincing you that the israeli tribes were all lost and by the way people say well how are we going to know who the 12 tribes are in the book in the tribulation period you said there'd be 12 000 from each tribe and how are they going to know that because of the lost tribes and they don't even know who they are god can sort that out there's no problem sorting out who the tribes are god knows who's from what tribe there's a few tribes that people do know what they're from especially uh because of certain last names if you're of the if you're a jew of the name of cohen um we know that was a group that was from the tribe of levi so the cohens are the priests uh and what have you and so that's kind of interesting i have a buddy who's got the name of cohen and uh and we call him the rabbi you know and because he's he and he comes from that kind of you know priest order of the priest aaron he's a descendant of you know the priests but but all that to say um here the lord's comparing the north and the south and it's almost like the north and the ten tribes were the the the big sister of the of the south judah and god through jeremiah is saying man didn't you learn anything by watching your sister all of you that are the firstborn in the family i think the lord is going to give you a special reward in heaven i've noticed the firstborn they're usually the guinea pigs they're the ones that parents are just trying to learn how to be a parent and then by the time they're done raising that that child then the other kids there kind of know what to do and what not to do also the younger siblings which i was i was the youngest in the family i learned a ton of stuff by the you know things that i shouldn't do when when my sisters would do something and they get in trouble as little kids i'd go home i better not do that so i either learned not to do that or to do it more covertly than they did but all that to say uh yeah i i think that the firstborn is sometimes the tough one well it's like the 10 northern tribes the lord saying man you could have seen and learned from your sister that's what he calls that there you're backsliding israel's sister um and yet her treacherous sister verse eight last part judah feared not but went and played the harlot also they're making the same mistake that the jews of the north made and he's going to actually make it even worse we'll see that as we continue here verse 9 and it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with the stalks that's with with um you know the in the groves of the trees the stalks of the trees and in the um places of worship the the word lightness there could be translated fame it came to pass through the fame of her whoredom that she did all this uh you know adultery verse 10 and yet for all this her treacherous sister judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart but faintedly saith the lord this is where it gets really troubling and sad because this does speak to the day that we're talking about here we know uh right there you know from from verse six that where jeremiah is prophesying during the time of josiah and there was revival going on if you read the story of josiah there was real revival going on during this time where jeremiah is prophesying but it's a fake uh sort of revival uh and i believe josiah had a real revival in his heart and in the land of israel um i think he i think he did a real real thing in his own heart but it seems as jeremiah's speaking they were only doing sort of a fake pseudo you know revival and man i worry that we have become in modern day christianity good at uh sort of convenient christianity or or um you know uh stuff that looks really impressive and we're you know we're making sure people see that we're uh responsible socially and that we're checking all the boxes and you know uh but but i i do worry is it is it sort of a feigned faith that we have to really watch out for um man you know some some of you might be thinking well you're grouchy you're always talking about doctrine and you're always talking about churches that aren't sticking to doctrine and you know you're a grouch and all this well that's kind of what they thought of jeremiah honestly it's not fun being jeremiah sometimes but uh but you if you're going to go through the bible you've got to cover these things that that come up and and this fake faith is something that the jeremiah calls out the men of judah and says man you know you have not turned to me with your whole heart but faintedly or fake saith the lord there was a pretense of faith but not a real faith this reminds me a little bit of matthew chapter 15. remember when jesus was you know quoting from isaiah the prophet when he he called out to people he said this people draw off near this is matthew 15 8. this people draw up near unto me with their mouth and honors me with their lips but their heart is far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching for doctrines of the commandments of men jesus calls out the people of his day with something that i think some of us could be called out today for having sort of a fake faith um we we draw near the lord with our lips saying oh we worship you and we love the lord we're christians and we're also been doing this and this but man i i worry that um there's not a real repentance of sin not a real acknowledging of the bible and of doctrine because here he says it's in vain they do worship me teaching not doctrines of the bible but doctrines or teachings of the commandments of men and jesus calls them out for that it was a fake religious sort of behavior that they were doing in jesus day and they were doing in jeremiah's day and i think we see that also in our day and we have to be really careful about that um we need solid doctrine it needs to include the whole counsel of god all the scriptures of god not just one little notion or one little truth that's very important people can make up their own religion if they want by just using a few scriptures but if you're uh really wanting the full counsel of god you've got to look at the whole bible i think that's important so they came not with a whole heart but sort of half-heartedly is the idea and verse 11 the lord said unto me the backsliding israel hath justified herself more than treacherous judah in other words judah is going to be worse off than even israel the northern 10 drives because they've sort of justified themselves saying yeah we're good we're good we love the lord it's all good but but they're really walking in evil and it's not even like the northern ten times we're even pretending so it's it's like the lord is saying the person who's sort of pretending or play acting as a a follower of god and a lover of jesus if you would the play actor is more guilty than the person who's just saying no i'm a sinner and i acknowledge that it's almost like you're going to be held to a greater accountability there well he goes on in verse 12 and says go and proclaim these words toward the north and say return thou backsliding israel saith the lord and i will not cause my anger to fall upon you for i am merciful saith the lord and i will not keep anger forever only acknowledge thine iniquity the this transgressed against the lord thy god and has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree and you have not obeyed my voice saith the lord turn o backsliding children saith the lord for i am married unto you and i will not take you one of a city and pardon me and i will take you one of a city and two of a family and will bring you to zion and i will give you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with the knowledge and understanding now this is great this is what the lord in his mercy does i love this passage of verses 12 through 15 because this is god he comes on strong through jeremiah in verses 1 through 11. backsliding israel and you're going to be held accountable in your you're you've got the forehead that's pretty radical language right but i love that the lord says but if you turn backsliding israel return verse 12 and i will not cause mine anger to fall upon you for i am merciful saith the lord and i will not keep anger forever by the way that was our main text on sunday as we were talking about backsliding the answer is repentance now repentance is sort of defined here in our verse 13 only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the lord thy god and has scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree verse 14 turn o backsliding children saith the lord and this is what uh you know repentance is it's to turn you've heard us use the language like this repentance means to do an about face that means to turn 180 degree different direction so when you're sinning you're going this way i'm going to go sin and then repentance means that's sin acknowledge your sin and say that's sinful and then do an about face and go away from that and the backslider is is you know the one who thinks they can be put in neutral where the magnetism of sin is going to continue to drag them closer and closer to be a believer in jesus and a follower of christ you need to repent and turn and go the other direction without repentance there really can't be forgiveness or salvation you got to repent of your sins be careful when you share the gospel with people because sometimes i've noticed there's this propensity for people that love the gospel and we we do we love the gospel because man the lord will save the worst of sinners and forgive them for all their sins but if we neglect to talk about what repentance is we're leaving out a key element of the gospel message repentance you know um well brett i just think that we need to tell people uh that uh you know it's all good and the lord loves you just the way you are have you heard that um and there is a certain truth to that for god so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son even before they were even forgiven the lord the lord does love people but sometimes i think we we do it wrong when we say you know the lord loves you just the way you are and we forget to remind them but he doesn't want to keep you the way you are um he loves you uh in your sinful condition yes but he doesn't want you to remain in sin so he what he wants he loves you so much that he wants you to repent and do an about face and turn away from your sin without repentance you're still moving in a sinful direction and that's going to be uh bad you know you can't just keep doing your stuff now there there is a balance there you can't just say well if you're if you're going to be a christian you got to clean up your act and never sin again well then who could be saved um but the idea is that we need to preach repentance you know and so that's something you always hear us talk about here on sunday mornings you know when i'm inviting people to come to christ i'll say to repent of your sins and and and people take repentance and they do too much with it saying well repentance means you're gonna be perfect and never sin again well then nobody can do that and nobody can be saved so what does repentance mean it's defined right here i love what it says acknowledge vine iniquity turn oh backsliding children that's repentance you're acknowledging my lifestyle my direction the things i've done the things i'm doing i'm acknowledging that as sin and it goes against the lord so i'm going to do an about-face and i'm going to try to go get closer to the lord and what he wants from me and over time man the lord starts to work on us and chip away some of those old sinful habits and those sinful things that we are drawn to we're not perfect we're perfectly forgiven and repentance doesn't make you perfect the blood of jesus christ makes you perfect you're robed in righteousness your sins are forgiven but practically we're a working project you know we're his workmanship and it's a work in progress so don't mistake this idea of repentance as meaning that you've cleaned up your act 100 and i never have sinned again nobody can do that repentance means just what it says here acknowledge your sin lord i acknowledge that this thing that i've done these things that i'm doing that's sin i acknowledge it and then turn back to the lord and go his direction not the direction of sin that's what repentance is and don't forget to include that when you're sharing the good news the gospel with people well i love how he says oh if you turn you know if you repent backsliding israel verse 14 i will take you one of a city to a family and i will bring you to zion now you you get a sense that jeremiah's gaze is going past the local application excuse me and and more to a long-term fulfillment of prophecy and we'll nail that down even as we get further but he's going to talk about the millennial kingdom ultimately when the jews will be saved excuse me when there's a whole new deal and and that's where verse 15 we start talking about what the millennial kingdom is going to look like but that's not going to happen until the second coming of christ when the jews are going to be restored all of israel is going to be saved and that's where jeremiah and a good section coming up here this is all a section talking about that coming kingdom excuse me and he's going to draw people back to zion or jerusalem as it says here in verse 14. but verse 15 one of the things he's going to do is give them pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding i love that you know as a pastor this is an important verse but also i think as people who are told to have pastors excuse me and in the early church one of the things that the church was marked by is having pastors and the word pastor in the hebrew here is in the hebrew that's what the word is and it means feeder of the flock and that's what a good pastor will do in a church is to feed the flock of god and they feed with the word of god and that's what it says here i will give you pastors this will be in the millennial kingdom that will that are according to mine heart which will feed you with knowledge and understanding and that's what we need more of today i think the church of jesus christ could use more shepherds under shepherds you know jesus is the great shepherd but a pastor can be an under shepherd under the great shepherd that's supposed to be the feeder of the flock and we need to be feeding them a steady diet of the word of god for healthy sheep and the further away we get from that where we give man's understanding not the lord's heart and not knowledge and and understanding from god but we we feed them man's understanding man we're just feeding them cotton candy and it's just a total waste time and the sheep are hungry that's one of the things i think about our fellowship that i'm learning over the years is we're not flashy here um you're not seeing us you know with you know smoke and lights and me up here with a fancy suit sweating running back and forth on the stage and being really you know crazy and exciting um but you know some people say man you're sitting on a stool and you've got your bible open and you're just reading the bible expositionally like and people like that people are actually watching and it's it's kind of funny you know what i'm doing now is is sort of an anomaly which it wasn't you know back in the j vernon mcgee days and when people were teaching verse by verse through the bible people used to do that but it's funny to me uh it's not really funny it's actually kind of tragic but that people are acting like i'm doing something very novel wow this guy's teaching verse by verse through the bible that used to be a thing but now it's not but here's the thing that people say why why do people you know want to pile into the church you know pre-covid man this building was just packed and we were doing four packed services and our online presence was growing and then kovid came and then our online presence doubled um and uh like it's it's just weird to see how many uh the reach that athy creek is people say what what's the secret you know um there's no secret i think the sheep are hungry i think that's just that simple uh it's not flash it's not wow very interesting and amazing or my good looks might have something to do with it no i'm just that's a joke right there no in fact i think i have nothing to do with it what what actually it is is it's the word of god that people are hungry for and so you know after a steady diet of pollsters this last week i think that a lot of people are like you know on wednesday night i'm going to get into the word and there's something about that if you've been reading the news or seeing the news that's cotton candy and there's something about a wednesday night diving into scripture verse by verse chapter by chapter book by book there's something about that that just gives you like a nice big you know rib eye steak and people are hungry for that if you like ribeye steaks and if you don't you're probably not even saved but just kidding just a little joke there but anyway no um that's what's going to happen you know when the millennial kingdom comes it says that i will the lord is going to give shepherds pastors the um is the hebrew word the feeder of the flock and he's going to impart and feed them with knowledge and understanding oh lord may there be more of those guys in the modern day church well verse 16 it will come to pass when you be multiplied and increased in the land in those days saith the lord they shall say no more the ark of the covenant of the lord neither shall it come to mind neither shall they remember it neither shall they visit it neither shall that be done anymore now you got to understand like we read the ark of the covenant here for a minute and be like what what about the ark of the covenant and um and suddenly we're all into indiana jones you know where is the ark of the covenant will the ark of the covenant be found you're like yeah brett it's in some giant warehouse uh where they rolled it back after you know indiana jones found the ark well that was the movie but that's not true where is the ark of the covenant some of you say well brett the coptics have it there in egypt or ethiopia you know ethiopia has has the ark of the covenant or the jews there's rabbis that have deep under jerusalem they have stored the ark of the covenant and there's all these people that claim to have the ark of the covenant or know where it is but it's interesting to me that jeremiah the prophet during a time when they had the ark of the covenant in the temple in jerusalem he makes this prophetic statement about the ark of the covenant he says the ark will of a covenant of the lord neither shall come to mind neither shall they remember it this is like the most holy relic of all of israel why would jeremiah say such a thing you know this might almost be perceived as almost blasphemous to a jew in jeremiah's time to say the ark of the covenant will be remembered no more they won't even think about it it won't even come to mind and the jew would say are you kidding me we think about the ark of the covenant all the time um it was the centerpiece of worship if you would there in the holy of holies in the temple and you know it was at the mercy seat where the lord says there will i meet with you and the blood of the lamb that would be slain would be sprinkled on the mercy seat in the ten commandments inside and like the ark of the covenant is a big deal so what's jeremiah saying the context of this is the millennial kingdom i remember i told you the pastors and the lord is going to gather the jews back to zion the pastors of the lord's heart but the ark of the covenant during the millennial kingdom will be forgotten and some people might say well why the answer i think is simple the ark of the covenant what was it a symbol or a reminder or even a visible tangible representation of anybody if you said god's presence you were correct uh the presence of god it didn't represent by the way the power of god that was the mistake they made when they brought the ark of the covenant that day in the philistine battle uh the jews dragged the ark of the covenant out and said it will save us get the ark it will bring up victory over remember the philistines took it and that whole story the ark of the covenant as it turns out wasn't a representation of god's power it was a representation of god's presence and when the philistines took the ark of the covenant that woman she gave birth to a son and she named him ichabod why because the word ich abhad means no glory the glory or the presence of god had departed from israel now there the ark of the covenant came back after being in the land of the philistines for a while there's a story there but what what where is the ark of the covenant now um some tradition it's not in the bible but some you know religious tradition says that jeremiah um you know close to 586 bc when the babylonians came to conquer jerusalem they believed jeremiah and a small posse took the ark of the covenant down to ethiopia and that's why even today there's legends of the ark of the covenant floating around somewhere ethiopia and some church and what have you but we don't know that for sure and you can read all kinds of articles about where the ark of the covenant is thought to be now it's of my opinion that they're not going to find it because if they in modern days found the ark of the covenant not only would we protect it and preserve it and put it in some museum or the pope would grab it or something like that um we would put it somewhere where it'd be the most holy relic in all the world and there'd be a problem with that first the problem is people worship it i'm convinced of that um because we find junky stuff that's not even real and people worship it uh you can go to jerusalem and find pieces of wood that you can buy this is a piece of the original cross of christ and people buy them um it's been said that you know the amount of wood that's been sold little tiny pieces of wood that's been sold to tourism uh in israel in the last hundred years you could build the empire state building with the amount of wood that's been given that was the cross so i guess lacrosse was giant they just had little pieces no it's just stupid that's not real can you imagine what we do to the ark of the covenant if we found it we'd worship it as a god um but why will it not be seen or used in the millennial kingdom there's going to be ezekiel's temple in the kingdom there's a place even you can say there's going to be a holy of holies why would there not be an ark of the covenant the answer is simple the ark represents the presence of god in the ezekiel's temple guess who's in the temple jesus the messiah his presence will be there in the temple there's no need for a symbol of his presence because his presence is there now this brings up something that i think is worth consideration could it be and i'm going to word this maybe i don't mean to sound condescending uh but i i want to sort of make a point here and that is could it be the more mature believer the person who knows the lord the best if you didn't say that could it be that they need less relics and less symbols and less you know things that representations of of uh could it be the more mature believer actually doesn't need to have a cross in their church or a mary or a jesus statue or or even some of the other symbols that we think are so sacred and holy um that the bible says thou shalt not make into the any graven image isn't that funny that one of the ten commandments says don't make any images or shapes of things in heaven or earth or in below the sea and yet we we do that if you go to the vatican in rome it's got i would say tens of thousands of relics and shapes and representations of stuff as it turns out uh they're in colossians chapter two remember there were people saying you guys need to keep the sabbath and all the feasts and the festivals representations of things coming in the future and the sabbath and and all those things the lamb and the passover and all this the seder dinner all representation so the jews in the early church were saying you gentiles need to do this and then paul says oh you you know colossian people listen to this and colossians chapter 2 he says let no man judge you concerning new moons and feasts and festivals and sabbaths why is that because then he says those things were just a shadow of what was to come and that which was to come was jesus and we the church of jesus christ have jesus in the church and it's christ in you so you don't need the the seder dinner because jesus is with you you don't need to look at the shadow anymore because the real deal is there and and that's the problem i think the mature believer doesn't need shapes and relics and those kinds of things as much as maybe the the person who says i need to look at a cross to remember jesus just something to think about the ark of the covenant is going to be forgotten during the millennial kingdom that's kind of an interesting thing about a relic do you remember the relic of the pole with the brass serpent that moses had made that saved them from this fiery serpents during the wilderness wanderings if you remember that um it saved a lot of people's lives when they got bit by the deadly serpents they looked on it and lived remember that but about 500 years later king hezekiah they had that thing leaning up somewhere and people would worship it the pull that moses had made it'd be like our declaration of independence you know we a couple hundred year old document that uh is a relic for the united states and it's something that you know means something well that would be like this poll so hezekiah sees people kissing and worshiping it and so he takes moses brass serpent and he grinds it up and breaks it all up into pieces and he says nae hushtan gazoon type there hezekiah no nahushtan means it's just a thing of brass it's nothing yeah but moses made it in the wilderness it's a it's our most holy relic of all of israel yeah he smashed it into pieces and said it's just a thing of breath stop worshiping it worship the lord your god isn't it interesting that all those things tend to become things that people worship be careful christian we don't need relics and shapes we need one or maybe i would say two things that jesus told us to do something to remember something by one is the ordinance of communion when you eat dinner and you have the bread and you have the cup eat and drink and remember what jesus did for you that's one of the things we get to do uh isn't it funny that nobody's worshiping a piece of bread and a cup you know at least they shouldn't um but it is a great reminder of what jesus did for us so that's ordinance number one ordinance number two baptism going into a river and being dunked under the water is a ordinance of god that reminds us that our old sin nature is passed away and buried our old man is crucified with christ and we're resurrected to a new creature in christ jesus and our sins are washed away it's this beautiful outward sign of what's actually happened to you spiritually but other than that the lord really didn't encourage relics and images and shapes and stuff and i believe the mature believer needs jesus alone who's dwelling in their heart and filling their life that's all you need right there so interesting there's people to this day feverishly looking for the ark of the covenant jeremiah says nope nobody's going to find it and it's going to be forgotten in the millennial kingdom verse 17 at the at that time they shall call jerusalem the throne of the lord so this this is where you absolutely know we're talking about the millennial kingdom here right because that's the only time where it's official where jesus becomes the the king of kings sitting sitting on the throne in jerusalem that's what all verses 16 and 17 is really telling us so far so it's at that time the millennial kingdom millennium shall they call jerusalem the throne lord and all the nations shall be gathered unto it to the name of the lord to jerusalem neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart so again millennial kingdom there's an end of transgressions according to daniel chapter 9 so that's why they're not going to do evil stuff anymore and in those days verse 18 the house of judah shall walk with the house of israel and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that i've given for an inheritance and to your fathers the north and south that we started our study talking about israel and jerusalem and judah they're going to be joined back together during the millennial kingdom there'll be one nation under god but we're not talking about the united states we're talking about israel and judah that's going to be great verse 18. so they're going to come from the north of the land i've given inheritance to your fathers but verse 19 but i said how shall i put thee among the children and give thee a pleasant land a goodly heritage of the host of nations and i said thou shalt call me my father and shalt not turn away from me surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband so have you dealt treacherously with me o house of israel saith the lord now we're back to the lord saying but you've done all this stuff bad verse 21 a voice was heard upon the high places weeping and supplications for the children of israel for they have perverted their way and they have forgotten the lord their god return ye backsliding children and i will heal your backslidings behold we are come unto thee for thou art the lord our god truly in vain as salvation hoped for from the hills and from the multitude of mountains truly in the lord our god is the salvation of israel for shame hath devoured the labor of our fathers for our you from our youth their flocks and their herds their sons and their daughters we lie down in our shame and our confusion covereth us for we have sinned against the lord our god and we are fathers from our youth even unto this day have not obeyed the voice of the lord our god so this is just that imploring god imploring israel return repent come back to me but if you don't you're going to go through some real trials and you're going to be taken um and then but ultimately the millennial kingdom is coming where all of israel will ultimately be saved that's all there in chapter 3. but he continues in verse 1 of 4 if thou will return o israel saith the lord return unto me and if thou will put away thy abominations out of my sight then thou shalt not be removed and thou shalt swear the lord liveth in truth in judgment and in righteousness and the nation shall bless themselves in him and in him shall they glory you know basically this is going to happen when israel will turn back to the lord it hasn't happened yet by the way zachariah the prophet explains what this is going to look like when israel turns back to the lord let me read to you there in zechariah chapter 12 verse 10. the lord says through zechariah and i will pour upon the house of david and upon the inhabitants of jerusalem the spirit of grace and supplications and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced and they shall mourn for him as one borneth for his only son and shall be in bitterness for him as one that is in bitterness for his children in that day there should be great mourning in jerusalem then in zechariah 13 verse 1 in that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of david the inhabitants of jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness there's going to be a washing and a cleansing and a but but when when israel sees that they blew it and missed the messiah when they say who is this person we've pierced where did this guy get his wounds later on it says zachary he received that in the house of his friends and the jews will weep when they see jesus the crucified messiah and realize he was the one that they crucified but that's that's going to be the first mark of their returning to the lord that's being talked about here in zechariah chapter 3 and 4. so verse 3 for thus saith the lord to the men of judah and jerusalem break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns circumcise yourselves to the lord and take away the foreskins of your heart you men of judah and inhabitants of jerusalem lest my fury come forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of the evil of your doings here the lord's talking about it now do you remember in chapter three he said that you know they haven't returned to the lord with a whole heart but they faintedly said uh tried to act like they were having a revival but it was fake so here again in chapter four he's talking about the heart but he gives two sort of illustrations verse three and four illustration number one is the untilled heart he says i know to judah and jerusalem break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns now of course jesus in mark chapter 4 would talk about this whole um you know the sowing of the seed and the soil of your heart and the word of god penetrating your heart and taking root and bringing forth good fruit but some was sown among thorns some was on stony ground some the birds of the air came and plucked it away but some of it brought forth good fruit and here that that analogy really was brought up by jeremiah so what do you do you get your heart ready till the soil that's what it's saying here break up the fallow ground and don't sow among thorns so that was the first thing they needed to do is deal with their untilled heart but the second thing they need to do is deal with their uncircumcised heart verse four circumcise yourselves unto the lord and take away the foreskins of your heart of course circumcision was the cutting away of the male uh you know flesh um and it was um very uh you know symbolic for the jews to be a jew you'd be circumcised but the idea of uncircumcision was sin and so there was the spiritual circumcision that jeremiah talks about and as it turns out this would mean more for us as gentiles because as gentile church we're not told to be circumcised you know for religious reasons uh in the new testament but we are told to circumcise our hearts and i think paul in romans chapter 2 verse 29 borrows jeremiah's analogy of circumcising of the heart it's romans 2 29 but it says but he is a jew which is one inwardly and circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and not the letter of the law whose praise is not of men but of god you know paul's dealing with the romans who were gentiles saying man circumcision is not as much of the flesh but of the heart and he's borrowing that theme from jeremiah so you've got until the soil of the heart and uncircumcised heart and that's what jeremiah is telling the people this would have been radical for a jew to hear jeremiah talk like this by the way verse 5 declare ye and judah and publish in jerusalem and say blow ye the trumpet in the land cry gather together and say assemble yourselves and let us go into the defense cities set up the standard towards zion retire or strengthen is another way of stay not for i will bring evil from the north and great destruction the lion has come up from his thicket and the destroyer of the gentiles is on his way he has gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate and thy cities shall be laid waste without an inhabitant from for this gird you with sackcloth lament and howl for the fierce anger of the lord is not turned back from us and it shall come to pass at that day saith the lord that thine the heart of the king shall perish and the heart of the princes and the priests shall be astonished and the prophets shall wonder man this is a heavy word to the jews in that day run for your lives is what he's saying blow the horn but retreat get your weapons but they're not gonna help anyway you know it's like it's like they're all doomed that's what he's saying um the lion is coming does anybody know who the lion is being talked about here it's not the lion of the tribe of judah it's a little l here the lion did you know that nebuchadnezzar from babylon used that symbol of a lion for his own standard the babylonians they used the lion as their symbol daniel chapter 7 verse 4 kind of speaks of that as well so this is jeremiah's foretelling who's coming to destroy uh judah in jerusalem the babylonians are on their way the destroyer of the gentiles it's a very ominous section here verses 5 through 9 of doom that's coming but verse 10 then said i ah lord god surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and jerusalem saying you shall have peace whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul now what's going on here is this jeremiah and say lord but you said there was going to be peace and you've deceived us you've greatly deceived us is that what's going on here well this is a tricky uh thing to interpret uh what's interesting when you read the septuagint which is the greek translation of the old hebrew bible uh it was written before christ came the septuagint like 270 years before jesus came they had the greek translation of this and and the the translation of that in the greek was basically putting it that false prophets were saying this uh it's like the jeremiah was the true prophet saying man you guys are toast run for your lives it's going to be bad babylon's are coming and they're going to destroy and level israel and jerusalem and then the false prophets are saying oh but lord you've greatly deceived the people and jerusalem saying you have peace whereas the sword reaches to the soul and that's probably what's going on here jeremiah is saying oh these false prophets now uh by the way uh look at chapter five let's jump ahead for a second chapter five verse thirty and thirty one that says a wonderful and uh horrible thing is committed in the land the prophets prophesy falsely and the priests bear rule by their means that my people love to have it so that what will you do there in the end thereof the prophets were prophesying falsely and the people loved it we don't want to hear the truth we just want to hear good stuff itching ears tell us stuff we like to hear but not the stuff we don't want to hear and this verse 10 is probably those false prophets saying you the lord have deceived us and that's not really what happened the lord through jeremiah is telling the truth verse 11 at that time shall it be said to this people and to jerusalem a dry wind of the high places of the wilderness toward the daughter of my people not to fan nor to cleanse even a full wind from those places shall come unto me now also i will give sentence unto them or against them behold he shall come up as clouds and his chariot shall be as a whirlwind and his horses are swifter than eagles woe unto us for we are spoiled o jerusalem wash thine heart from wickedness that thou mayest be saved how long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee for the voice declareth from dan and publish affliction from mount ephraim make ye mentioned to the nations behold publish against jerusalem that watchers come from a far country and create and give out their voice against the cities of judah as keepers of a field are they against her round about because they have been rebellious against me saith the lord thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee this is thy wickedness because it is bitter because it reaches unto your own heart basically he's saying north to south it's been declared and you guys are toast that's really what he's saying um and then um verse 19 there's a question of who's speaking some would say it's jeremiah the prophet others would say the lord is speaking now about what's about to happen um i believe it's it's both because if jeremiah is saying it's probably god putting it in jeremiah and jeremiah's sort of representing the lord that could be or it could just be the lord saying this but in verse 19 he says my bowels my bowels uh now brett what does that have to do with anything well he's basically saying i have a stomachache like like you know you're you're it's like when you have that gut ache because something horrible is about to happen and you're you're sick to your stomach that's the idea so the lord's saying my bowels my bells i am pained at my very heart my heart maketh the noise in me i cannot hold my peace because thou hast heard o my soul the sound of the trumpet and the alarm of war destruction upon destruction is cried for the whole land is spoiled suddenly are my tents spoiled my curtains in a moment how long shall i see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet for my people is foolish they have not known me they are scottish scottish no no no satish the word satish is an old english word for silly or foolish he says they are foolish children and they have done they have nothing not understanding they are wise to do evil but to do good they have no knowledge i beheld the earth and lo it was without form and void and the heavens and they had no light see this kind of does sound like god's talking here because who is it that saw the earth before it was without form and void the language here should be familiar to you bible students genesis 1 1 and 1 2. in the beginning god created the heavenly earth and the earth verse 2 became tohu va bohu remember that without form and void so the lord's saying here in verse 23 i saw it where the earth had no light verse 24 and i beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills moved lightly i beheld and lo there was no man all the birds of the heavens were fled i beheld and lo the fruitful place was a wilderness and all the cities there were broken down at the presence of the lord and by his fierce anger for thus hath the lord said the whole land shall be desolate yet will i not make it a full end for this shall the earth mourn and the heavens above be black because i have spoken it i have purposed it and will not repent neither will i turn back from it the whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and the bowmen and they shall go into the thickets and climb upon the rocks every city shall be forsaken and not a man dwell therein and when thou art spoiled what will thou do thou closeth thyself with crimson though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold though thou rentest thy face with painting in vain shalt thou make thyself fair thy lovers will despise thee they will seek thy life for i have heard a voice as of a woman in travail and the anguish of her that bringeth forth her first child the voice of the daughter of zion that bewaileth herself that spreadeth her hands saying woe is me now for my soul is wearied because of murderers this is for sure talking about what's coming by the babylonians to a backslidden jerusalem and judah and it's pretty horrifying the imagery here is bad but it could be also a dual fulfillment in when uh the tribulation period and the antichrist is going to come and make war in jerusalem once again and some you know bible scholars and eschatology buffs see an end times application of some of this as well and it's not hard to see it if you read the book of revelation and you kind of see the correlation oftentimes you see dual fulfillments of prophecy in the bible so there you have it chapters 3 and 4 of jeremiah i didn't get to chapter five tonight as much as i hoped but uh at least we got through two amen let's pray together and so lord tonight as we close out this service i pray you'd bless your people i may this word be good seed fallen on good soil um lord all the things we talk about and these wednesday nights lord so much to think about and chew on um but lord we we need so much in these days we live to know you and to hear the truth and not be fooled by misinformation or disinformation so lord may we cling to your word may the seed of the word find good soil tonight and bring forth good fruit i pray blessing on these your people who've taken time to carve out some time in their schedules to to do a wednesday night bible study bless them lord we pray we thank you for reading your word is a blessing and we're blessed as people to have it and we thank you in jesus name amen amen well may the lord bless you may he keep you may cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you and give you peace in jesus name see you next time

Channel: Athey Creek

Views: 3,302

Rating: 4.860465 out of 5

Keywords: Brett Meador, Bible, Church, Teaching, Study, Christian, Jesus, Oregon, Through the Bible, Athey Creek, Athey Creek Church, Athey Creek Christian Fellowship

Id: _xdCkK-DK0s

Length: 71min 55sec (4315 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 05 2020