The Coming Judgement

Two years ago, in the Social, Psychological, and Personality Science Journal, researchers

Ben Tappan and Ryan McKay from University of London published an article entitled, The

Illusion of Moral Superiority.

According to the findings of their study, while people have a general tendency to overestimate

their positive qualities with regard to other people, and for example, their different abilities,

skills, their sociability, they tend to estimate that they're better than the average in general.

When it comes to the estimation of their morality, people's illusions were significantly more

pronounced and prevalent.

In other words, most people in the world consider themselves to be morally superior to the average

person.

The researchers concluded that this is a dangerous illusion because self-righteous people who

are convinced of their moral superiority are likely to escalate a conflict rather than

cooperate or compromise.

This self-righteousness, in fact, is at the root of much conflict in this world, including

relational strife, political discord, and even international warfare.

And in our court system, right, when a judge is personally interested in or implicated by a

case, he is required to recuse himself from the case due to the concern that he cannot render

judgment impartially.

Yet when it comes to judging our own morality, most of us are delusional.

And we think that we can be an accurate and objective judge.

And this is why it is important to set aside our own perception of how moral we are and let

God, who knows all and sees all, to be our judge.

And here in Jeremiah chapter 4 to 6, we see God's judgment of Judah and Israel.

Jeremiah 4 · chapter mention

And his verdict is devastating.

And God's verdict is a fitting description, not just of Judah and Israel in this time period,

but of all people and of all sinners, every single human being that has ever lived except

for one.

And no one likes to hear that he or she is a sinner.

But until you have an accurate assessment of the problem, you cannot search for an appropriate

solution to it.

And that's why this passage is included here in God's word.

Because it's only after accepting God's devastating verdict that we can appreciate his extravagant

mercy.

So the main point of my sermon this morning is that we must turn to Christ for salvation,

for we are all under God's judgment for our sins.

And I will talk about that in three parts.

First, the warning of judgment.

Second, the warrant for judgment.

And third, the withholding of judgment.

So at the beginning of chapter 4, God exhorted his people to repent, lest his wrath go forth like

fire.

But they did not respond by repenting.

And so here in the rest of this chapter 4, we find God's warning of impending judgment.

So look at verses 5 to 8, where God announces this in poetic form.

Read with me.

Verses 5 to 8.

Blow the trumpet through the land.

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

Raise a standard towards Zion.

Flee for safety.

Stay not.

For I bring disaster from the north and great destruction.

A lion has gone up from his thicket.

A destroyer of nations has set out.

He has gone out from his place to make your land a waste.

Your cities will be ruins without inhabitant.

For this, put on sackcloth, lament and wail.

For the fierce anger of the Lord has not turned back from us.

So the blowing a trumpet is announcing of an emergency, right?

And so it's prompting all the citizens to take, to hide in the fortified walls, behind

the fortified walls.

And the word translated standard can also mean a signal.

So it could either be a very large flag that they raise that people can see from other

cities to take warning.

Or it could be a signal like the fire signals that ancient kingdoms used to use.

I don't know if you've seen Lord of the Rings where, you know, it's maybe like the beacon

of Gondor, right?

And it's like the Lord of the Rings where they set fire and everybody sees and takes warning.

That's the kind of signal that's probably in view here.

And the Babylonians are coming.

They're compared to a lion.

And they will reduce Israel and Judah to ruins.

And so the fierce anger of the Lord, he says, has not turned back from them.

Remember that that's a key word in this book.

Return, turn back.

God's repeatedly telling his people to turn back to him, to return to him.

But because they have not turned back to him, he now says the Lord's anger also has not

turned back from you because of the absence of repentance.

In light of this impending judgment, Jeremiah expresses his indignation to God in verse 10.

Ah, Lord God, surely you have utterly deceived this people in Jerusalem saying,

it shall be well with you.

Whereas the sword has reached their very life.

Of course, Jeremiah doesn't really mean that God is deceiving his people.

It's a well-established truth that Old Testament believers knew that God never lies.

That Numbers 23 to 19 says, God is not man that he should lie or son of man that he should

change his mind.

But it sure seemed like God deceived his people.

And the reason for that is because the false prophets had repeatedly assured God's people

that it shall be well with them, that everything's going to be okay, that this is all temporary,

that everything's going to improve and things are going to get better and God is still with

them.

But because of these false prophets who had spoken to them and falsely assured them, it

seemed as if God himself was deceiving his people, even though judgment was right at

their doorsteps.

And with a series of kind of illustrative analogies, then God warns his people of this judgment

in verses 11 to 18.

First, in verses 11 to 13, this coming invasion from the north is described as a hot wind that

does not winnow or cleanse.

So what that means is that farmers in this era, right, they winnowed their grain by tossing

it into the air so that the wind blows upon it and all the chaff and the stuff that you

don't want along with your grain is blown away and they have the rest of the grain to take

with them, right?

So that's the idea.

So the wind in that sense was good for the farmers.

But here, the wind that is coming, this invasion that is coming from the north is not a wind.

It's a hot wind that does not winnow or cleanse.

It says in verse 12 that it's a wind that's too full for this.

It's like a storm, like a dust storm that comes, right?

It's wind that is too forceful.

So instead of winnowing the grain, it blows away all the grain along with the chaff.

That's the kind of wind that is coming and the judgment that is coming from the north will

not winnow.

It will not take away the evil people.

No, it will take away the good along with the bad.

It will bring total judgment on these people.

And verse 13 continues that powerful image of that powerful storm.

It says, behold, he comes up like clouds.

He's chariots like the whirlwind.

His horses are swifter than eagles.

Woe to us for we are ruined.

And upon learning of this, we see Jeremiah's anguish in verses 19 to 21.

Read with me.

My anguish, my anguish, I writhe in pain.

Oh, the walls of my heart, my heart is beating wildly.

I cannot keep silent.

For I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

Crash follows hard on crash.

The whole land is laid waste.

Suddenly my tents are laid waste.

My curtains in a moment.

How long must I see the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet?

So this is an invasion that hasn't taken place yet.

So Jeremiah is either seeing a vision here or he is seeing and hearing things in his mind's

eye and ear.

And he's so upset and so vexed by this impending invasion.

And his mind is so preoccupied with it.

It's as if the invasion is right at his tent, breaking down his tent and his heart's beating

wildly.

And then in verse 22, we break off from Jeremiah's panic-strickened monologue to hear God's commentary

on what is happening.

He says,

For my people are foolish.

They know me not.

They are stupid children.

They have no understanding.

They are wise in doing evil.

But how to do good, they know not.

People who should be wise in doing good and innocent in what is evil instead are wise in

doing evil and ignorant about how to do good.

And then verses 23 to 26, using these figurative descriptions, Jeremiah continues to describe

the frightful judgment that God has in store for them.

He says,

I looked on the earth and behold, it was without form and void and to the heavens and they had

no light.

I looked on the mountains and behold, they were quaking and all the hills moved to and

fro.

I looked and behold, there was no man and all the birds of the air had fled.

I looked and behold, the fruitful land was a desert and all its cities were laid in ruins

before the Lord, before his fierce anger.

So the doom that Jeremiah is announcing is of kind of cataclysmic proportions.

If you're familiar with the book of Genesis, which we went through not long ago, you probably

know where the expression without form and void comes from, right?

Because in Genesis 1-2, in the initial stage of God's creation, when before the Lord, the

before he brought everything into order by forming and filling the earth, the earth in

that initial stage was described as formless and void, without form and void.

And that's the exact expression that Jeremiah uses here to describe the aftermath of the

judgment that is coming.

And so similarly, the heavens initially did not have any light, right?

But then God says in Genesis 1-3,

let there be light, and there was light.

But Jeremiah says that after the judgment, there is no light.

Likely, the mountains and hills that God brings forth, they're a symbol of stability and immovability.

Yet these mountains and hills themselves are quaking.

They're moving to and fro.

And similarly, the birds that God created in Genesis 1-20 will have all fled.

There's no birds.

And then Genesis 1-26, finally, God created man in his own image.

Male and female, he created them.

And then now there is no man in the land.

So this is a systematic and systemic reversal of God's creation.

What Jeremiah is predicting here is that the judgment that is coming is so total that it

will be a form of uncreation.

It will decreate the universe that God created.

That's the kind of judgment that is coming.

It will reduce Judah to this primordial chaos.

And in the face of such a destructive army, everyone flees.

And it says in verse 29,

At the noise of horsemen and archers, every city takes to flight.

They enter thickets.

They climb among the rocks.

And all the cities are forsaken.

And no man dwells in them but God's people.

Right?

That's the sensible thing to do when something like that comes.

You flee.

But look at what God's people do in verses 30-31.

And you, oh desolate one, what do you mean that you dress in scarlet?

That you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold?

That you enlarge your eyes with paint?

In vain you beautify yourself.

Your lovers despise you.

They seek your life.

For I heard a cry as of a woman in labor,

anguished as one giving birth to her first child.

The cry of the daughter of Zion gasping for breath,

stretching out her hands,

Woe is me, I am fainting before murderers.

The daughter of Zion is referenced to Jerusalem.

Daughter that is Zion is likely what it means.

And unlike other cities and nations that fled before the Babylonian Empire's invasions,

Jerusalem will open itself to invaders,

like a prostitute who opens herself to any willing client.

Instead of fleeing,

Jerusalem will seek to seduce Babylon

and come to terms with them.

But God warns them that it will not work.

They are not seeking a truce.

They are not seeking tribute.

They are seeking your destruction.

And because,

at least days before the invention of epidural,

the greatest pain known to man is that of childbirth,

especially first child.

So that's the image that is used.

The kind of pain that will come upon you

is that of a woman giving birth to her first child.

So that's the warning.

The warning of judgment.

And after this,

in chapters 5 and 6,

we see God's warrant for judgment.

There will continue to be warnings of judgment here also,

but in this section,

God clearly explains why he is warranted to judge,

why he is justified to judge these people

and to Jerusalem in this way.

To demonstrate this,

God issues a challenge to anyone

who would be willing to take it up

in chapter 5, verse 1.

It's a key verse.

Read with me.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.

Look and take note.

Search her squares to see if you can find a man,

one who does justice and seeks truth,

that I may pardon her.

The word truth doesn't merely mean truthful.

Rather, it refers to someone who is true,

someone who is faithful and loyal.

And the word justice governs one's relationship to fellow men.

And the word truth governs one's relationship to God.

So those two words together,

when used together,

refer to our covenant faithfulness to God,

the relationship we have with him.

We are to be just to our neighbors

and true to our God.

That's what we are called to.

And yet, as people search the streets,

as Jeremiah looks and sees,

there is not one such man in the streets of Jerusalem.

If there were only one,

he promised that I would pardon her.

That's a reference to Jerusalem.

If there was one righteous person,

God would pardon the whole city.

But there is not one person

who can fit,

who meet that requirement.

Jerusalem was brazen.

Their faces are harder than rock,

it says in verse 3.

And Jeremiah was so confused

and really bewildered by their stubbornness,

he said this to himself in verses 4 to 5.

Well, these are only the poor.

They have no sense.

For they do not know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

I will go to the great and will speak to them.

For they know the way of the Lord

and the justice of their God.

So the poor here is contrasted with the great,

which usually refers to nobility

or to people of prominence.

So it's probably not referring to people

just who are economically poor

when he says poor,

but it's referring to the social class of people,

the people who are not of the nobility,

the higher social class.

He's referring to the uneducated masses,

basically, is what he's saying.

And so Jeremiah is trying to give

a charitable construction

and trying to give an excuse

for the people who are not following God

and saying,

oh, it's only the poor.

They don't know better.

They have no sense.

They don't know the way of the Lord,

the justice of their God.

And so he says to himself,

I'll go to the great

because they should know better.

They should know the way of the Lord.

But Jeremiah finds

that they all alike

had broken the yoke.

They had burst the bonds.

This image of breaking the yoke

is of an ox, right,

that is supposed to be under the yoke

that its master has placed on it

to labor and to do all the work

that it's called upon to do.

But instead, it breaks apart the yoke

and refuses to plow the ground

and roams on its own.

That's the kind of image.

That's what Israel,

that's what Judah is doing.

And of course,

an ox that bursts its bonds

and roams on its own,

then he thinks that it's free

and he thinks it's safe.

But of course,

that's exactly the moment

when it becomes vulnerable.

It's outside of the protection

of its master

and becomes vulnerable

to the predators.

And that's exactly

what we find in verse 6.

How apt is this

as a description of human sin

and sin in our own lives, right?

We think that we are freeing ourselves

from this heavy burden

and yoke that God's placed on us.

I don't want to labor for you, God.

I don't want to do these things.

I want to live for myself.

I want to do these things in freedom.

Do what?

Live it up.

That's what I want.

So you burst the bonds.

You break the yoke.

And you roam free

and think that you are having

the time of your life

only to realize

that that's the precise moment

when you are vulnerable

to the enemies

who are prowling all around you.

It's God's hedge around.

His protection is given for our good.

His boundaries that He set for us

to guide us in our lives

are given for our good

and Israel is breaking it.

And so God asks His people

in verses 7 to 9,

How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me

and have sworn by those

who are no gods.

When I fed them to the full,

they committed adultery

and trooped to the houses of whores.

They were well-fed,

lusty stallions,

each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

Shall I not punish them

for these things,

declares the Lord?

And shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

We see here both

a figurative adultery

of going after idols

and a literal adultery

of going after their neighbor's wives.

In short,

Judah was both untrue to God

and unjust toward their neighbors.

They broke their covenant

with God completely.

And considering these realities,

God asked,

Shall I not punish

for these things?

Shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

This is God's warrant.

Yes,

God is warranted.

He is justified.

It is fair

and right for Him to punish.

The false prophets, however,

are saying in verse 12,

He will do nothing.

No disaster will come upon us,

nor shall we see sword or famine.

We hear that a lot

in our time as well.

There's no judgment.

Love wins.

Only love from God.

There will be no judgment.

He does not hold us to account.

That's the voice

of the false prophet.

God says in verse 13,

The prophets will become wind.

The word is not in them.

Thus shall it be done to them.

This is a biting word play

because the word wind

is the same word

that means spirit.

The prophets are supposed

to speak by the Spirit of God,

but instead of having

the Spirit of God,

these false prophets

are just a bag of wind.

verse 14,

In contrast to these false prophets,

God speaks to Jeremiah,

Because you have spoken this word,

behold,

I am making my words

in your mouth

of fire.

And this people would,

and the fire shall

consume them.

The truth

that comes forth

from Jeremiah's mouth

will consume

the people

who refuse to repent.

because God's word

comes with power.

And in verse 15 to 17,

God speaks to all Israel

of their impending doom.

The nation that is coming

is so deadly

that their quiver

is like an open tomb.

When their quiver

is emptied of its arrows,

tombs in Judah and Israel

are filled with corpses.

And so once again,

and the warrant for judgment

is Israel's own sin.

Look with me at verse 19.

And when your people say,

Why has the Lord our God

done all these things to us?

You shall say to them,

As you have forsaken me

and served foreign gods

in your land,

so you shall serve foreigners

in a land that is not yours.

Poetic justice.

Those who reject God

to serve foreign gods

will themselves

end up serving foreigners.

And the foolishness

of Israel's sin

is fully exposed

in verses 20 to 25.

Read with me.

Hear this,

O foolish and senseless people,

who have eyes

but see not,

who have ears

but hear not.

Do you not fear me?

Declares the Lord.

Do you not tremble before me?

I place the sand

as the boundary for the sea,

a perpetual barrier

that it cannot pass.

Though the waves toss,

they cannot prevail.

Though they roar,

they cannot pass over it.

But this people

has a stubborn

and rebellious heart.

They have turned aside

and gone away.

They do not say

in their hearts,

Let us fear the Lord our God,

who gives the rain

in its season,

the autumn rain

and the spring rain

and keeps for us

the weeks appointed

for the harvest.

Your iniquities

have turned these away

and your sins

have kept good

from you.

This is God

basically taking his court

to defend his case

because in the ancient

Near Eastern world,

the sea

symbolizes chaos

and darkness.

They saw the world

in this dualistic battle

between good and evil

and the forces of evil

were symbolized

by the sea.

So all the ancient

Near Eastern mythologies

speak of the gods

constantly striving

and fighting

against this sea monster,

this god of chaos.

Yet,

in the description

of the sea

in these verses,

there is no struggle.

There is no contest.

The sea is just

merely one of his creatures.

And God says,

I set the boundary.

That's it.

He cannot come over it.

And contrary to

the idolatry of Israel

and Judah

who went after Baal,

the so-called

god of rain,

it is the Lord God

who brings rain

upon his people.

And God says,

and when this is all true,

you have not feared me.

Instead,

you have feared

these idols.

When God,

who is Lord over all,

who is enthroned

above all things,

when he should be feared

above all these

so-called gods,

instead,

you have turned away

from him.

How foolish

and senseless.

And so God says

once again,

in verses 26 to 30,

shall I not punish them

for these things?

Shall I not avenge myself

on a nation

such as this?

And look at the description.

So in chapters 2 and 3,

which we went over

last week,

right,

most of the sins

that Jeremiah described

had to do with

people's idolatry,

their sins against God,

the way they were

untrue to God.

But here in this chapter

and chapter 6 as well,

the focus is really on

the sins toward our neighbors,

sins toward other people,

and how that affects God also.

So it's how we were

unjust toward our neighbors.

And that's what's highlighted

here in verses 26 to 30.

Read with me.

For wicked men

are found among my people.

They lurk like fowlers

lying in wait.

They set a trap.

They catch men

like a cage full of birds.

Their houses

are full of deceit.

Therefore,

they have become

great and rich.

They have grown

fat and sleek.

They know no bounds

in deeds of evil.

They judge not

with justice

the cause of the fatherless

to make it prosper.

And they do not defend

the rights of the needy.

Shall I not punish them

for these things?

Shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

When they should have been

advocating for those

who have no voice in society.

When they should have defended

those who are weak

and powerless in society.

These people instead

have taken advantage

of the fatherless

and the needy.

Because they have been

unjust toward their neighbors.

God pronounces judgment

over them.

Then now moving on

to chapter 6.

God continues to find

more things to warn them about.

More warnings of judgment.

But he also continues

to describe his warrant.

Because in verses 6 to 7

he says why they deserve

this destruction.

This is the city

that must be punished.

There is nothing

but oppression within her.

As a well keeps its water fresh

so keeps fresh.

She keeps fresh her evil.

Violence and destruction

are heard within her.

Sickness and wounds

are ever before me.

And one of the things

that specific ways

in which they have done this

is verse 9.

They shall glean...

Actually that's...

Sorry that's the wrong part.

And because of this

judgment is coming

and the invaders will leave

no stone unturned.

And it says in verse 9

they shall...

These are the invaders

glean thoroughly as a vine

the remnant of Israel.

And then God commands

these invaders

and the rest of the verse

like a grape gatherer

pass your hand

again over its branches.

So you need to kind of

know the agricultural

I guess practices of this time

to understand this

because gleaning metaphor

kind of is signaling

the comprehensiveness

of this judgment

because according to

Mosaic law

Israelites were permitted

to harvest their fields

and harvest their vineyards

but they were not allowed

to glean.

So gleaning is what you do

after the harvest.

You go back and pick

the ones that are still left

and you pick up the fruits

that have been dropped.

You're basically finishing

the harvest.

That's what gleaning is.

And in Leviticus 19.10

this is what God says.

You shall not strip

your vineyard bare

neither shall you gather

the fallen grapes

of your vineyard.

You shall leave them

for the poor

and for the sojourner.

I am the Lord your God.

So there's poetic justice here also.

God cares for the poor.

He cares for the sojourners

those who are foreign

who have no say

in their society.

And yet

and so they abuse the poor.

They were unjust

toward the poor

and toward the fatherless.

And what God says

in turn will happen

is that your invaders

will come

and they will glean you.

Already in 722 BC

the Assyrian Empire

had gone through

the northern kingdom

of Israel

made them all exiles

and now the Babylonian kingdom

comes again

to clean up

what is left

to glean the rest of them.

There will be no fruit remaining.

That's the comprehensiveness

of the judgment

that is coming.

Because verse 13, 14 says

from the least

to the greatest

everyone

is greedy

for unjust gain.

And these false prophets

it says in verse 14

they have healed

the wound

of my people

lightly saying

peace, peace

when there is no peace.

They have treated

a heart defect

like a heart burn.

Giving people

antacids

when they really need

an open heart surgery.

They have treated

skin cancer

like a cut

putting a band-aid

over it

when what they need

is a surgery.

Don't believe

the false

the voice

of the false prophets

that say

you don't need

a radical transformation

in your life.

You're a pretty good person.

All you need to do

is change

and modify

little things

here and there

turn a new page

and you can be good

before God.

That is a lie.

You need

an open heart surgery.

You need

a total transformation.

You need

to become

a new creation

in Christ

and that's the message

here

that you must repent.

There is no peace

without Christ.

There is no peace

without returning

to God

completely and wholeheartedly

with all that you are.

Yet God's people

have abandoned

His ways

and lost

look at verses

16 to 21.

And stand

by the roads

and look

and ask

for the ancient

paths

where the good way

is

and walk in it

and find rest

for your souls.

But they said

we will not

walk in it.

I said

watchmen over you

saying pay attention

to the sound

of the trumpet.

But they said

we will not

pay attention.

Therefore hear

O nations

and know

O congregation

what will happen

to them.

Hear O earth

behold

I am bringing

disaster upon

this people

the fruit of

their devices

because they have

not paid attention

to my words

and as for my law

they have rejected it.

What used to me

is frankincense

that comes from Sheba

or sweet cane

from a distant land.

Your burnt offerings

are not acceptable

nor your sacrifice

is pleasing to me.

Therefore

thus says the Lord

behold

I will lay before

this people

stumbling blocks

against which

they shall stumble.

Fathers and sons

together

neighbor and friend

shall perish.

Some people

in our culture

value rugged

individualism

and they romanticize

about taking

the road

less traveled by.

Let's forge

a new path

and find

a new frontier

as we say.

Fascinated

with the rapid

events of technology

we are always

looking for

the next big thing.

But when it comes

to our faith

and life

in Jesus Christ

when it comes

to our walk

with God

it says

the ancient past

that's where

the good way is.

Our world

has changed

yes

but God

has not changed.

The way

our spiritual

problems

manifest themselves

have changed

yes

our vices

have changed

but the root

of all of those

sins

our rebellion

against God

has not

changed.

Our underlying

spiritual problem

is still the same

and therefore

the solution

is still the same

one suggested

all throughout

scripture.

Our problems

are not novel

and we can find

God's wisdom

for navigating

our ever-changing

world in God's

unchanging word.

God's people

have rejected

the ancient

paths

they've ignored

the watchmen

like Jeremiah

and so God

calls upon

the nations

of the earth

as witnesses

and announces

his judgment

over his

congregation

and these people

are not

you know

completely

abandoning God

they're still

paying lip service

to him

because we see

that they're

bringing offering

right?

they're bringing

frankincense

from Sheba

that's a

highly

coveted

commodity

exotic

they bring

sweet cane

from a distant

land

yet God

says their

offerings

are not

acceptable

it's not

pleasing

as 1 Samuel

15 22

says

has the

Lord

as great

delight

in burnt

offerings

and sacrifices

as in

obeying

the voice

of the

Lord

behold

to obey

is better

than sacrifice

and to

listen

than the

fat

of

rams

it's

easy

to

to

recognize

to wear

a badge

of respectability

as Christians

with certain

behavioral markers

that we

fulfill

like going

to church

praying

before meals

not swearing

out loud

in front

of people

coming

to Sunday

services

and

raising

our hands

in worship

if we do

all of those

things

yet when

we

are in

the

privacy

of our

homes

when we

are in

a different

compartmentalized

part of our

life

with friends

who don't

know our

life

as a

Christian

we live

in

disobedience

if we

disobey

what good

is our

sacrifice

what good

is it

to have

that fish

sticker on

your car

or wear a

cross

on your

neck

if you

are not

completely

submitted

to the

Lord

and living

in light

of what

he has

revealed

in his

word

at the

close of

this

chapter

God

reiterates

his

commission

to

Jeremiah

once again

verses

27 to

30

I have

made you

a tester

of metals

among my

people

that you

may know

and test

their ways

they are

all stubbornly

rebellious

going about

with slanders

they are

bronze and

iron

all of them

act

corruptly

the bellows

blow

fiercely

the lead

is consumed

by the

fire

in vain

the refining

goes on

for the

wicked

are not

removed

rejected

silver

they are

called

for the

Lord

has

rejected

them

Jeremiah

is to

test

God's

people

like a

metallurgist

who tests

metal

when they

test metal

they put

it in

the fire

to refine

it

to burn

away

all the

impurities

but if

the metal

has too

much

impurities

they discard

the affected

metal

altogether

because it's

useless

and such

was the

case with

God's

people

they are

all

stubbornly

rebellious

going about

with slanders

they are

bronze and

iron

all of them

act corruptly

right

so what

Jeremiah is

looking for

in the

refining process

is silver

silver

for it to

come

and yet

instead

all he

finds

is bronze

and iron

and what

an apt

image

because those

are two

of the

hardest

metals

known

to the

people

in the

ancient

world

stubborn

rebellious

bronze

iron

no silver

to show

for it

so God

has rejected

them all

you have

been very

patient

following along

through a whole

series of God's

judgments

and you

are

it's fair

for you to

ask the

question

why

does God's

rejection

of his

people

from

2600

years ago

matter

to

me

now

we're so

far

removed

from it

now

we

haven't

sinned

like

they

have

but is

that

really

true

as

we

have

seen

from

today's

assurance

of

pardon

God's

assurance

God's

assessment

of us

today

is no

different

from

God's

assessment

of his

people

in this

passage

Romans

3

23

said

all

have

sinned

and

fall

short

of

the

glory

of

God

all

of

us

without

exception

have

been

stubbornly

rebellious

like

Israel

and

Judah

remember

what I

said

in the

introduction

we

are

very

bad

judges

of

our

own

morality

far

worse

than

even

what

that

research

suggests

sin

like

a

drug

desensitizes

us

to

evil

so

that

we

must

reach

an

ever

higher

threshold

of

evil

in order

to

get

sin

always

begets

more

sin

and

not

only

that

sin

functions

as

its

own

defense

lawyer

affecting

our

consciences

and

coloring

our

perceptions

in order

to

justify

its

existence

in

our

lives

so

we

have

to

turn

to

God

for

an

accurate

diagnosis

of

our

condition

and

this

is

God's

assessment

that

we

are

all

stubbornly

rebellious

think

about

it

this

way

in

the

New

York

Times

bestseller

good

boss

bad

boss

the

Stanford

professor

of

management

science

Robert

Sutton

explores

how good

and bad

bosses

affect

their

employees

and

in

his

book

he

cites

a

study

or

survey

from

Florida

University

which

documents

the

stark

contrast

in

performance

between

employees

who

have

endured

abuse

from

their

bosses

and

employees

who

have

not

30%

of

those

who

reported

abuse

from

their

bosses

slowed

down

or

made

intentional

mistakes

compared

to

only

6%

of

those

who

never

endured

abuse

33%

confessed

to

not

putting

in

maximum

effort

compared

with

9%

of

those

not

abused

29%

took

sick

time

off

when

not

ill

compared

to

4%

of

those

not

abused

25%

took

more

or

longer

breaks

compared

with

7%

of

those

not

abused

I

mean

these

studies

are

really

funny

to

me

because

it's

kind

of

common

sense

right

you

would

expect

this

of

people

but

it

kind

of

proves

the

point

and

that's

not

surprising

and

if

we

see

the

statistics

and

we

look

at

these

employees

who

are

slacking

off

our

tendency

is to

cut

them

some

slack

right

because

hey

they have

a terrible

work

environment

and

they're

enduring

abuses

from

their

bosses

all

the

time

but

what

if

they

didn't

have

abusive

bosses

they

had

generous

bosses

that

lavished

them

with

bonuses

and

unlimited

personal

days

they

had

good

bosses

who

were

committed

to

them

awarded

them

for

their

good

work

and

gave

them

constructive

feedback

and

sent

them

to

professional

development

opportunities

so that

they

can

grow

and

progress

in

their

careers

what

if

they

had

gracious

bosses

who

did

not

berate

them

in

front

of

others

when

they

make

mistakes

instead

they

take

responsibility

for

your

mistakes

so

that

you

can

be

spared

the

punishment

and

penalty

what

if

they

had

those

kinds

of

bosses

and

they

still

slacked

off

and

eventually

left

their

bosses

complaining

and

grumbling

all the

way

out

the

door

we

would

be

right

to

judge

them

as

selfish

ingrates

who

should

have

been

fired

long

before

they

quit

that's

what

we

all

have

done

God

created

a

paradise

for us

to

dwell

in

with

the

world

of

joys

and

pleasures

to

lawfully

enjoy

yet

by

abusing

this

created

order

and

transgressing

the

boundaries

that

God

set

for

us

we

accuse

God

of

being

stingy

and

ungenerous

toward

us

God

has

been

a

benevolent

ruler

over

us

leading

us

with

wisdom

and

selfless

love

yet

we

begrudge

his

authority

and

seek

to

rule

ourselves

we

refuse

to

acknowledge

him

in our

lives

and live

for our

own

selfish

aims

we

are the

selfish

ingrates

who deserve

to be

fired

we

are the

adulteress

who has

cheated

on God

with many

lovers

we

are the

rebellious

children

who has

brought

unspeakable

shame

upon the

name

of our

father

so in

the same

way that

God's

warned of

his

judgment

and was

warranted

his

judgment

like here

in Jeremiah

God

issues

that

same

warning

to

all

of

us

today

I

want

you

to

get

that

God's

not

this

sucker

of a

boyfriend

or a

girlfriend

that lets

you do

whatever

you want

and takes

all kinds

of abuses

and still

whenever you

want

comes back

to you

because

they're

that

desperate

God

God is

the king

he is

holy

and we

treat him

we

mistreat

him

the

punishment

that God's

people

experienced

was to

be

exiled

cut off

from the

land

the land

this is

not just

a temporal

punishment

because the

promised

land

represents

the very

presence