Jeremiah 2-6

If you've got a Bible, turn to Jeremiah.

If you haven't got a Bible, you're really going to need one.

And so our stewards are there.

Stick up a paw, stick up a hand, and they can hand you a Bible.

If you look at it on your phone, you'll probably struggle to follow it.

So if you need a paper Bible, don't be embarrassed.

Okay.

It's Paige.

What page is it?

Jeremiah 2.

Six to eight.

Every marriage goes through difficult times.

Every marriage goes through periods where you seem to be arguing all the time,

or periods where you seem to be arguing more.

And arguments reoccur.

Maybe you're in your marriage going through that right now.

In 23 years, I've only ever met one couple that told me that they never argued,

and they never had argued.

They were lying.

And if they weren't lying, there was something really, very seriously wrong.

Every marriage goes through difficult times.

Jeremiah 2 to six is a conversation between a married couple.

It's like a conversation between a married couple that have been arguing, fighting for years.

And the conversation is not complicated.

There's three, really, points to the argument.

One is, it's over.

Two, come back to me.

And three, enough is enough.

It's over.

Come back to me.

Enough is enough.

Chapter 2, verse 1 to chapter 3, verse 5.

It's over.

I should imagine a husband coming into his wife and saying,

there's something I need to say, and there's something I need to tell you.

Her heart sinks.

That's chapter 2, verses 1 to 13.

The word of the Lord came to me.

Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem.

Thus says the Lord, I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride,

how you followed me in the wilderness, in a land not so.

But even we know that in the story of God's marriage to Israel,

when it began, all was not sweetness and light.

But compared to what comes next, it was pure joy.

The metaphor switches, and the people of God are described as a toxic harvest.

And in a throwback to the Garden of Eden,

all who ate of it incurred guilt.

Disaster came upon them.

God's word becomes even more plain as he addresses them in verse 5.

What wrong did your fathers find in me?

That they went far from me,

and went after worthlessness, and became worthless.

Jeremiah uses the Ecclesiastes word.

Vanity of vanities.

This relationship is only going one way,

and he highlights their ingratitude, and their amnesia, and their stupidity.

Verse 6, they did not say,

where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt,

who led us in the wilderness?

Verse 7, and I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruit and its good things,

but when you came in, you defiled my land,

and made my heritage an abomination.

The priests, they don't seek God.

The Bible preachers don't know God.

The kings defy God.

The prophets don't speak for God.

And according to verse 9,

God has a significant problem with this.

Even on a basic level,

this is self-evidently wrong.

Verse 10,

he says,

And God's conclusion is cutting.

Verse 12,

I think there is no more helpful or damning analysis of sin in the whole of the Bible than that verse.

Sin is defying and abandoning God,

and it is choosing to be our own God in his place.

And the image highlights the utter foolishness of this.

So imagine,

and you're really thirsty,

and there is a gushing spring of fresh water that is beside you.

But you embark on the ultimately futile,

back-breaking project of digging out your own rainwater tank.

It's a rainwater tank which will never hold water,

and yet you keep digging it.

Can you see the utter stupidity of sin?

Many of us slip into an entirely kind of unreformed,

unbiblical, works-based way of living.

Each day, we don't have a problem.

Maybe you don't have a problem with thinking,

I'm not perfect.

I know that much.

And we may even reflect,

we give ourselves a score out of 100.

That was a 90% day.

Today was a shocker.

I only reached 63%.

The Bible does describe sin as falling short,

a shortfall.

And that is right,

but it can actually flatter you.

I would rather think of myself as doing well but falling short than an idiot.

An idiot who's broken faith with God

and set myself up at the heart of the universe.

At the heart of sin,

according to God through Jeremiah,

it is cosmically stupid.

And sometimes we flatter ourselves,

don't we?

I just fall short.

But actually, no, Jeremiah says,

sin is cosmically stupid.

And if we live with this moment to moment,

we will take our sin incredibly seriously.

And when confronted with our sin,

we won't minimize it.

When we become aware of our sins,

we won't take refuge that,

well, we did well,

just not well enough.

We won't say,

well, yeah,

I fall into sin,

but look at all the good I do.

Because when we do that,

we are not addressing the heart of the issue.

We won't face the fact

that we have been

distinctly,

catastrophically stupid.

Jeremiah

causes you and I

to embrace the fact

that we reject God

and we deify ourselves.

We are guilty of unbelief

on the one hand

and idolatry on the other hand.

And we do it again

and again

and again.

The painful conversation

goes on in verse 14.

Instead of seeking security

in God,

Israel have made alliances

with all kinds of nations.

They've pressed

the diplomatic

self-destruct button.

And it's got consequences.

Look at verse 15.

The lions,

they're metaphorical lions,

the lions have roared

against them.

They've roared

loudly.

And they've come in,

they've trashed your country.

And they've made

his land a waste,

his cities in ruins

without inhabitants.

Moreover,

the men of Memphis

and Tehaphanes

have shaved the crown

of your head,

they've humiliated you.

And you've brought this

upon yourself

by forsaking the Lord

your God

when he led you in the way.

And now,

what do you gain

by going to Egypt

to drink the waters

of the Nile?

Or what do you gain

by going to Assyria

to drink the waters

of the Euphrates?

Your evil will chastise you.

And your apostasy

will reprove you.

Know and see

that it is evil

and bitter

for you to forsake

the Lord your God.

The fear of me

is not in you.

And there are

very few of us

that enjoy

hard conversations.

There are fewer

still of us

that enjoy

our hearts

being ripped open

and torn

into tiny pieces.

But that is the kind

of thing

that's going on here.

God lays out

the reality

of Israel's

past and present

in a way that can be

neither denied

or ignored.

In chapter 2

in verse 20

to 37

there's a long section

and it's actually

quite easy

to pick your way

through it.

Jeremiah

builds this case

on seven statements

that Israel makes.

Verse 20

For long ago

I broke your yoke

and burst your bonds

but you said

I will not serve.

Yes,

on every hill

and under every green tree

you bowed down

like a whore.

And God's assertion

in verse 22

is despite all this

scrubbing

the stain of your guilt

is still before me.

Israel speaks again

and they say

I'm not unclean.

I haven't gone

after the bales

but God says

in verse 24

you're like a randy donkey.

And their third statement

in verse 25

confirms

that assessment.

It is hopeless

for I've loved foreigners

and after them

I will go.

It's just the way I am.

It's just the way I am.

And the people of God

continue to give themselves

away by their ideology.

Verse 26

they're kings

they're officials

they're priests

they're prophets

who say to a tree

you are my father

who say to a stone

you gave me birth.

And in the light of that

their plea to arise

and save

sounds well ridiculous

and presumptuous.

And they've repeatedly

asserted their independence.

The sixth statement

in verse 31

says

we are free

we will come

no more to you

the relationship

is well

and truly over.

There's no repentance

no self-awareness

no recognition

of reality

and finally

verse 34

in spite of all these things

you say

I'm innocent.

Surely his anger

has turned

from me.

God says

it is

over.

Chapter 3

verse 1 to 5

sums it up

not only is the honeymoon

over

the whole marriage

is over.

If a man divorces

his wife

she goes from him

and becomes

another man's wife

will he return to her?

Would not that land

be greatly polluted?

Again

for us

that's Deuteronomy 24

language.

God has prohibited

this kind of behavior.

This language

was there

to protect women

from becoming

like a kind of

marital football

getting kicked around

from one man

to the next

and Jeremiah

uses this text

to say

it's over.

You've played the

whore with many lovers

and would you

return to me

to declare to the Lord

lift up your eyes

to the bare heights

and see

where have you

not been ravished

by the wayside

you've sat

awaiting lovers

like an Arab

in the wilderness

you've polluted

the land

with your vile

whoredom

therefore the showers

have been withheld

and the spring rain

has not come

it's the curse

of the covenant.

You have the

forehead of a whore

you refuse

to be ashamed

have you

not just now

called to me

my father

you are the friend

of my youth

will he be angry

forever

will he be indignant

to the end

behold you've spoken

but you've done

all the evil

that you could.

And at this point

it's really

tempting

to rush

to the New Testament

and ease

the relentless

discomfort

of these chapters

but stop.

stop and let

the relentless

pain of these

words sink in.

God's marriage

has been difficult

for a very long time

God's marriage

to Israel

has been difficult

for a long

long time

they've been fighting

night after night

after night

there's no question

who is at fault

and the disbelief

how can it be over?

You've always

forgiven me

what's different

about this time?

Why can't we have

one more chance?

Another go

but God says

it's over

and what I think

is interesting

and quite disconcerting

is that there are

places in the New Testament

that pick up

on this kind

of language.

The idea

that our relationship

as a church

with God

is a fragile marriage

and so the Apostle John

in Revelation

applies it to the church

and Jesus speaks

to the church

in Ephesus

to the angel

of the church

in Ephesus

and he says

the words of him

who holds

the seven stars

in his right hand

who walks

among the seven

golden lampstands

I know your works

your toil

your patient endurance

and how you cannot

bear with those

who are evil

I know you are

endearingly patient

and bearing up

for my name's sake

and you've not

grown weary

but I've got this

against you

that you've abandoned

the love you had

at first.

Remember therefore

from where you've

fallen repent

and do the works

you did at first

if not

I will come to you

and I will remove

your lampstand

from its place

unless you repent.

And we mustn't

soften those words

by kind of doing

a theological

sleight of hand

about whether

or not

Jesus actually

really means

what he says

and we must

hear those words

as a real warning

against spiritual

adultery

but we must

also recognize

we are not

in the same place

because of

the Lord Jesus

Christ

things have

changed

and we are

his bride

and ultimately

he will not

let his people

go.

John goes on

to say in

Revelation 19

doesn't he

says

hallelujah

hallelujah

for the Lord

our God

the almighty

reigns

and let us

rejoice

and exalt

and give him

the glory

for the marriage

of the lamb

has come

and his bride

has made

herself ready

it was granted

to her

to clothe herself

with fine linen

bright and pure

for the fine linen

is the righteous

deeds of the saints

and the angel

said to me

write this

blessed are those

who are invited

to the marriage

supper of the lamb

and God

will never

say to us

because we are

in Christ

it is over

but the power

and the strange

dark beauty

of Jeremiah

is that it

encourages us

not to run

there too

quickly

it's not exactly

what we might

expect at this

point

in the narrative

but in the wake

of all these

passionate

outbursts

aimed at

convincing

the really

complacent

Judahites

that the writing

is on the wall

and so in chapter

3 and verse

6

God's prophet

calls the people

to repent

come back to me

come back to me

3 verse 6

to 4 verse 4

the word occurs

14 times

15 times

actually

in different forms

return

return

return

return

return

return

return

this drumbeat

of the call

to repentance

is silenced

only by the fact

that those reading

the final version

of Jeremiah's

work in exile

would know

only too well

that those 15

calls to repentance

were ignored

along with many

others

I don't know

whether you've

had this experience

you are given

a list

to go to the shop

you go to Lidl

and the list

isn't as clear

as you would like it

and so

there are a number

of options

you could

so you

ring your

wife

but she doesn't

answer

and so you ring

again

and she doesn't

answer

and you ring

a third time

and she doesn't

answer

so you ring

your son

and he doesn't

answer

and then you

ring your daughter

and she doesn't

answer

and finally

you ring your

wife again

and she does

pick up the phone

what do you say

oh it's lovely

to speak to you

don't you

the experience

of being ignored

drives me mad

drives you mad

time after time

time after time

you ring

and they don't

pick up the phone

well God

presents himself

as a God

who time

after time

after time

is calling

his people

he calls his people

again and again

and again

and they don't

answer

during

Josiah's reign

God

gives

Jeremiah

an insight

into this

what it was

like for him

from his

perspective

and he goes

back to the

days of the

northern kingdom

to Israel

and he says

do you remember

what happened

to the northern

kingdom

Israel

chapter 3

verse 6

have you seen

what she did

the faithless

one

as she went

up on every

hill

and every

under green

tree

she played

the horn

and I thought

after that

she'll come

back

but she didn't

and all the

while her

treacherous

sister

you

in

Judah

you saw

it

you saw

the adulteries

of the

faithless

one

Israel

you saw

that I

sent her

away

with a

decree

of divorce

yet her

treacherous

Judah

you

did not

fear

but she

too went

and played

the whore

because she

took her

whoredom

lightly

she polluted

the land

committing adultery

with stone

and tree

yet for

all this

her

treacherous

sister

Judah

did not

return

to me

with her

whole

heart

but in

pretense

declares

the Lord

do you

hear that

it's

Josiah's

day

great

king

Josiah

Judah

it seems

had learned

nothing

from

the destruction

of Israel

chapter 3

verse 11

faithless

Israel

has shown

herself

more

righteous

than

treacherous

Judah

you do

wonder

don't you

what it

would have

been like

to have

Jeremiah

come

as a

visiting

preacher

he doesn't

pull his

punches

does he

and this

is

Josiah's

day

not

evil

king

Manasseh's

day

it's

not the

reign of

any of

the

hopelessly

idolatrous

kings

these words

are spoken

in the

middle

of

good

king

Josiah's

reform

of the

nation

and God

says

you're

worse

than

Israel

he compares

his

people

with

Israel

I don't

know how

you fight

how that

works

in your

marriage

but I

think

comparing

people

unfavorably

seldom

gets a

positive

response

you are

just like

your

mother

do you

know who

you're

behaving

like

you're

behaving

like

your

dad

I

have

found

that

doesn't

diffuse

the

situation

it

doesn't

tend

to

think

of

course

that's

exactly

what I'm

like

thanks

for

pointing

that

out

I

really

appreciate

that

that's

not

how

I

respond

and so

comparing

Israel

to

Judah

must have

been

deeply

irritating

but it

leads to

an

outpouring

of God's

compassion

go and

proclaim

these

words

towards

the

north

and

say

I

will

not

look

on you

in

anger

for I

am

merciful

declares

the

Lord

I

will

not

be

angry

forever

only

acknowledge

your

guilt

that you

rebelled

against the

Lord

your

God

and you

scattered

your

favours

among foreigners

under every

green tree

that you've

not obeyed

my voice

declares

the Lord

return

oh

faithless

children

declares

the Lord

for I

am your

master

I will

take you

one from

a city

two from

a family

and I

will bring

you into

Zion

god

god

god

god

god

god

god

god

god

This is new covenant country.

Let the detail wash over you.

Hear God saying, come back to me and I will fix everything.

Verse 19, how would I set you among my sons and give you a pleasant land?

A heritage, most beautiful of all nations.

And I thought you would call me my father.

And would not turn from following me.

That's not what happened.

So he cries out again, verse 22, which is literally, turn, you turning away sons and I will heal your turnings.

Come back, a day is envisaged.

Behold, we come to you for you are the Lord our God, truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

But there's no softening.

Chapter 4, verse 1, he cries out again, if you return to me, if you just repent, the promise to Abraham will be fulfilled.

Nations will bless themselves in him and in him they shall glory.

God says in verse 3, break up your fallow ground.

And he's drawing on Deuteronomy 10.

Think about this.

Why does God give us all this to go through?

Couldn't Jeremiah have got to the point a bit more quickly?

Couldn't Jeremiah have just said, listen, it's over.

God loves you.

There's plenty of evidence of that.

But this is it.

You're toast.

You're done.

Well, he could accept the extent of his material.

The heightened emotional level.

The chapter after chapter after chapter of this is part of the point.

All of this is here to convey to you this is what God is really like.

And we need to be careful, don't we, reading these prophets.

Because we can never quite grasp what God is like.

John Calvin speaks about when God communicates with us, he lisps.

God lisps to us.

That means he condescends to us.

God lowers himself.

He accommodates himself.

He accommodates himself.

Where God actually gives us the categories to understand something of what he's like.

God is God.

And though we are made in his image, we must never repay the compliment and remake God in our image.

God is not exactly like us.

Westminster Confession of Faith makes this clear.

It says this.

There is but one only living and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts or passions, immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute, working all things according to the counsel of his will, his own immutable and most righteous will.

And so on.

God is like us.

But he's not like us.

God cannot be made to suffer or to change from the outside.

God cannot be overcome with passions.

God does not have strong desires that cause him to sort of lose it and behave in an ungodly way.

If you want the technical term, he is impassable.

But God is not dispassionate.

He cares deeply.

God may not have emotions in the way that we do, but God feels things in a higher, purer way.

But he feels things nonetheless.

To lose that is to rip the heart out of the revelation of God in the Bible.

Paul Helm, he's a theologian, he's just died.

He coined the term, themotions.

I think that's quite helpful.

Themotions.

God has themotions.

Like human emotions, but God's vision is higher and purer.

And that's what we see on full display here.

God longs for us in a way that is packed with themotion for his people.

He longs for his people to return to him, to come home to him.

To repent, to realign their lives to his agenda.

So that his great mission to the nations might move forward.

And I do wonder whether this evening we need to be confronted again with what we call the heart of God.

For his people.

Our God is the God who in the human nature of Jesus Christ, freely, willingly, sovereignly,

endued suffering.

Actively taking it to himself.

That ours might be put to an end.

And there is nothing other than the beautifully gratuitous outpouring of his invincible, unsurpassable,

endearing love for his creatures like you and I.

It's the foundation of grace itself.

This is how God is.

Our God is the God who says to people like us in Christ,

come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

My yoke is easy, my burden is light.

And yet our God is also the God who says enough is enough.

And so from chapter 4, verse 5, to chapter 6, verse 30, he brings this section to a close.

And God tells his people in no uncertain terms that even though life seems to be fine and rosy,

judgment is coming.

Chapter 4, blow the trumpet through the land.

Cry aloud and say assemble and let us go into the fortified cities.

Let's run and hide, raise a standard towards Zion.

Flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north and great destruction.

And remember, Jeremiah is saying this when things are going well,

and they are prosperous, stable, and safe.

But then there's Jeremiah, the harbinger of doom.

The end is near.

And he does it over and over and over again.

Disaster is coming.

He keeps saying the Babylonians are not only knocking on the door today,

well, they will be, they'll be through the door tomorrow.

If you just glance with me, let me show you this.

Chapter 4, verse 11, God is coming with swift chariots and horses in the form of a Babylonian army.

Chapter 4, verse 23, and following, the earth is about to be uncreated,

and the nation as a whole is going to be trashed.

By chapter 5, verse 10 and 11, the vineyards are going.

The whole nation is being eaten up in chapter 5, verse 15 to 17.

Chapter 6, verse 1 to 5, a siege is about to be led.

There's the sound of marching boots, can you hear them?

And clashing swords.

Chapter 6, verse 21 can be heard even now.

Jeremiah joins excerpts of his preaching over the years.

I don't think he did this in one hit, but he draws together his greatest hits,

and he draws them together to frightening effect.

Chapter 6, verse 23, terror on every side.

That's his nickname.

And what effect?

Nothing.

God's people are so complacent.

Chapter 5, verse 12, they've spoken falsely of the Lord,

and have said, he will do nothing.

No disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine.

The prophet will become wind.

The word is not in them.

Thus shall it be done to them.

It'll happen.

Chapter 5, verse 30.

An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land.

The prophets prophesy falsely.

The priests rule at their direction.

My people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

Chapter 6, verse 13.

For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain.

And from prophet to prophet, everyone deals falsely.

They've healed the wound by people lightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.

But all will be overthrown.

And what does Jeremiah have to do?

Well, he patiently explains why all this has happened.

And he piles up the reasons.

4.18.

Your words and your deeds have brought this upon you.

4.22.

For my people are foolish.

They know me not.

They are stupid children.

They have no understanding.

They are wise in doing evil.

5.3.

They refuse to take correction.

They've made their faces harder than rock.

They've refused to repent.

Verse 5.

They've broken the yoke.

Verse 6.

Their transgressions are many.

Verse 7.

When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores.

Verse 8.

They were well fed.

Lusty stallions.

Neighing for their neighbors' wives.

Verse 11.

The house of Israel.

The house of Judah has been utterly treacherous.

Verse 23.

These people are of a stubborn and rebellious heart.

Verse 28.

They've grown fat and sleek.

They know no bounds of evil.

Verse 30.

An appalling and horrible thing has happened.

And so it goes on and on.

Chapter 6.

Verse 6.

Cut down the trees.

Cast up a siege mound against Jerusalem.

This is the city that must be punished.

There's nothing but oppression within her.

Verse 10.

To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?

Behold, their ears are uncircumcised.

They cannot listen.

And so I hope you feel the relentlessness of these chapters.

Jeremiah wants you to feel like we were there.

Day after day after day after day.

As he announces, God has said enough is enough.

You see, these chapters do not so much explain sin to us,

but they batter us with a sense of seriousness.

With unceasing, unflinching persistence.

Do you feel assaulted by these chapters?

Drained by listening to them?

Do you want it to stop so that you can go to tea and coffee?

Amen.

If you feel like that, good.

Because you're getting it.

They are overwhelming chapters.

And they are designed to be overwhelming chapters.

And they are designed to bring Judah to its senses.

But amidst the warnings,

the declarations of judgment,

and amidst the pleas and the pain,

there's this scarcely perceptible

but persistent note which beeps away in the background.

I don't know whether you've ever had the experience

of having an alarm clock go off in your suitcase.

Do you know that feeling?

And you can hear the beep,

but it's imperceptible,

and you can't hear it,

and you don't know where it is.

But it's going off, isn't it?

You open your suitcase, and there it is.

You turn it off.

And throughout this little passage,

these passages,

and there's this scarcely perceptible

but persistent note

that keeps beeping away in the background.

Sometimes you hear it, sometimes you don't.

You don't know what you're hearing.

Are you hearing it in chapter 4, verse 27?

Can you see that?

The whole land shall be a desolation.

Yet I will not make a full end.

And if you listen carefully,

you can hear it in chapter 5, verse 10,

go up through her vine roads and destroy,

but make not a full end.

And chapter 5, verse 18,

but even in those days declares the Lord,

I will not make a full end of you.

This is not the end of the story.

A day is coming when God will say,

will not say it is over,

and enough is enough,

but God himself will say,

it is finished.

When Babylon herself is fallen and judged for her sin,

when there is no longer terror on every side,

when saying,

peace, peace,

is not wishful thinking,

but reality.

When because of what God has done for us

in the Lord Jesus Christ,

in his life and death and resurrection,

we face not judgment,

but salvation uninterrupted,

uninterrupted,

and ending life with God himself,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Do you remember how John finishes

the book of Revelation,

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

chapter 21?

And I saw the holy city,

the new Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God,

prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying,

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them,

and they will be his people.

And God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,

and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning,

nor crying,

nor pain anymore,

for the former things have passed away.

And that is the hope that the prophet

and preacher Jeremiah will hold out to his people.

But first, they and we must take seriously

the awesome reality of their God,

who is their rescuer,

but is also their judge.

Let's pray.