Lessons From Jeremiah – Part 31 – A Disobedient Nation Becomes The Generation Of God’s Wrath: Part 31 - Jeremiah 7:27-29 Series

LESSONS FROM JEREMIAH – PART 31 – A DISOBEDIENT NATION BECOMES THE GENERATION OF GOD’S WRATH: PART 31 - Jeremiah 7:27-29

CHAPTER 7

[A]. YOUR PART IS TO SPEAK FAITHFULLY; THEIR PART IS TO OBEY

{{Jeremiah 7:27 “You shall speak all these words to them, BUT THEY WILL NOT LISTEN TO YOU, and you shall call to them, BUT THEY WILL NOT ANSWER YOU,”}}

Verse 27 uses parallelism again. Speak – not listen; call – not answer. The LORD commanded Jeremiah to speak to the people and this is not the first time. This verse following is the first time the Lord commanded – {{Jeremiah 1:17 “Now, gird up your loins, and arise, AND SPEAK TO THEM ALL THAT I COMMAND YOU. Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them.”}} Previously God told Jeremiah the people would not listen to him, (listen to the LORD) but the longsuffering God sent message after message to the people.

We might reflect on this matter of unbelief found entrenched in human beings. Unbelief is one of the pivotal sins of people, and actually is the motivating factor for all other sins. If one does not believe in God, then you have made all absolutes void, and become a free agent to do what you like being subject only to the law of the land. With everything else you can apply the rule, “Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow you die.” (Luke 12:19)

Unbelief means rejection of any godly restraints because ultimate truth is rejected and the Lord said, “I am the TRUTH,” so it means rejection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every person ever born who is unsaved, will appear at the great white throne where unbelief will condemn every one of them. {{2 Thessalonians 2:12 “in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.”}}

The Lord encountered the same thing with the people and this is recorded – {{Matthew 13:14-15 “In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled which says, ‘You will keep on HEARING but will not understand, and you will keep on SEEING, but will not perceive, for the heart of this people has become dull and with their ears they scarcely hear, and they have closed their eyes lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart and return, and I should heal them,’”}}

It is a terrible thing when one does not hear the word of the Lord, and especially bad when he des not want to hear the words of the Lord. Such a one has blocked the ears as the unbelieving Jews did before they stoned Stephen, and they have shut their eyes so that redeeming words and the light of God can not enter. Deaf ears and blind eyes will condemn a person.

Who is responsible for this dullness of hearing and of sight? Has God done it so they can not be saved? Has Satan done it so they can not respond to the truth? Have the people themselves done this so that their consciences are not roused or their hearts convicted of the truth? Verse 15 just above suggests this comes from the people themselves as an active part of their will. Of course Satan is still active in trying to hide the word or destroy it or to confuse it.

God does not make their eyes blind nor their ears deaf. The Lord wants no one to perish. The following verse is recorded in the New Testament but this is the consistent God we are talking about – {{1 Timothy 2:3-4 “This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour who DESIRES ALL MEN TO BE SAVED and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”}}

There was no revival in Jeremiah’s time except what was surrounding King Josiah but that was very short lived and his sons continued the wickedness. Jeremiah preached without results, reminiscent of Noah. God instructed him many times to speak to the people and all the prophet had to do was to be faithfully committed to God’s word. On the other hand, the people had no excuse, and when they were carried away in judgement and killed, they could not blame God. they will stand alone in their own condemnation. Even in the time of Lamentations, the people blamed God for their predicament.

[B]. THE DISOBEDIENT NATION IS EXPOSED FOR THEIR ABUSE OF THE TRUTH

{{Jeremiah 7:28 “and you shall say to them, ‘THIS IS THE NATION THAT DID NOT OBEY the voice of the LORD their God or accept correction. Truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.’”}}

Jeremiah was told what message he had to deliver from the LORD to the nation, even though God prepared him that they would not believe or listen to him. Isaiah also faced that same problem from a sinful nation – {{Isaiah 59:12-15 “Our transgressions are multiplied before You, and our sins testify against us for our transgressions are with us and we know our iniquities: transgressing and denying the LORD, and turning away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words. JUSTICE IS TURNED BACK AND RIGHTEOUSNESS STANDS FAR AWAY FOR TRUTH HAS STUMBLED IN THE STREET, and uprightness cannot enter. Yes, TRUTH IS LACKING and he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey. Now the LORD saw, and it was displeasing in His sight that THERE WAS NO JUSTICE.”}}