An Offer We Can't Refuse

Sermon Title: AN OFFER WE CAN’T REFUSE

Sermon Text: Jeremiah 3:12-24

Sunday Evening, JULY 30, 2000

Scripture Introduction:

Can you imagine what it would be like to be a teenager and be called to a ministry such as the one that Jeremiah was called to? When I think back to my teen years, or as Jenny would call them, the dark ages, I can remember the difficulty that we all had fitting in, being part of the crowd. Now even though I wasn’t a Christian, I also wasn’t someone who lived in a constant state of trouble, at least not then, I saved that for later on in life, so I had many opportunities to practice saying NO! The after effects of going against what the majority was doing or supporting was chastisement and being ostracized from the group that you associated with whether they be popular kids or not. Now let’s take that scenario and complicate things by proclaiming a message that goes directly against what the group finds appealing. If this doesn’t cause the popularity to sink through the basement, then nothing will.

But this isn’t Jeremiah’s only problem. He’s not allowed to mourn at funerals, he is not allowed to have children, he is not allowed to marry, and he is not allowed to participate in any kind of merry-making celebration. All proclaiming and no play make Jeremiah a dull boy, at least in the eyes of those he was proclaiming the Lord’s Word to. They didn’t want to hear what Jeremiah was being told to proclaim to them.

What kind of things are we proclaiming to the world today? How does our present society accept the things that we are proclaiming? Adultery, theft, murder in the sense of abortion and mercy killings, and sexual orientation are all things that are directly against what the Word of God proclaims, and we proclaim it because this is what God has laid upon our hearts to proclaim and the world considers us Holy rolling goody two-shoe Bible thumping Jesus freaks, and to that I say AMEN! How about you?

Please Join me in the reading of God’s Holy Word!

Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 3:12-25

12 "Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, ’Return, faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD; ’I will not look upon you in anger. For I am gracious,’ declares the LORD; ’I will not be angry forever. 13 ’Only acknowledge your iniquity, That you have transgressed against the LORD your God And have scattered your favors to the strangers under every green tree, And you have not obeyed My voice,’ declares the LORD. 14 ’Return, O faithless sons,’ declares the LORD; ’For I am a master to you, And I will take you one from a city and two from a family, And I will bring you to Zion.’ 15 "Then I will give you shepherds after My own heart, who will feed you on knowledge and understanding. 16 "It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land," declares the LORD, "they will no longer say, ’The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again. 17 "At that time they will call Jerusalem ’The Throne of the LORD,’ and all the nations will be gathered to it, to Jerusalem, for the name of the LORD; nor will they walk anymore after the stubbornness of their evil heart. 18 "In those days the house of Judah will walk with the house of Israel, and they will come together from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers as an inheritance. 19 "Then I said, ’How I would set you among My sons And give you a pleasant land, The most beautiful inheritance of the nations!’ And I said, ’You shall call Me, My Father, And not turn away from following Me.’

20 "Surely, as a woman treacherously departs from her lover, So you have dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel," declares the LORD. 21 A voice is heard on the bare heights, The weeping and the supplications of the sons of Israel; Because they have perverted their way, They have forgotten the LORD their God. 22 "Return, O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness." "Behold, we come to You; For You are the LORD our God. 23 "Surely, the hills are a deception, A tumult on the mountains. Surely in the LORD our God Is the salvation of Israel. 24 "But the shameful thing has consumed the labor of our fathers since our youth, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 "Let us lie down in our shame, and let our humiliation cover us; for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day. And we have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God."