THE LORD PROMISES JUDGMENT
Jeremiah 26:1-6 - November 14, 2004 - 3rd Sunday of End Time / Saints Triumphant
1Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: 2"This is what the LORD says: Stand in the courtyard of the LORD’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the LORD. Tell them everything I command you; do not omit a word. 3Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster I was planning because of the evil they have done. 4Say to them, `This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, 5and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), 6then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’ "
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Dearest Fellow Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
The witness comes to the front of the courtroom, and raises his right hand, and he promises to tell the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help me God. And with that oath, a person makes a promise to God that he is going to tell the truth, nothing more and nothing less. In the Old Testament, and to this very day prophets have been sent to tell God’s truth -- nothing more and nothing less. In the Bible we find the absolute truth that leads sinners to salvation -- nothing more and nothing less. This is precisely what we are going to be reminded of today, that part of God’s truth isn’t just all good news. But part of God’s truth is also that he promises judgment. God promises judgment to bring an end to the wickedness of the world. Therefore we take God at his word. In the book of Numbers, Moses wrote these words: "God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?" (NUMBERS 23:19). Now you and I know the answer to those questions. God does speak and He does act. Our God does promise and He fulfills. Today we look at these words of the prophet Jeremiah with the thought this morning:
OUR LORD GOD PROMISES JUDGMENT --
I. Those who reject will be lost, and II. Those who repent will be saved.
I. Those who reject will be lost
At the beginning of our text we may have heard some names we might not be familiar with. These were the names of the kings of the day. Jeremiah was a prophet for 42 years, during the time of history when the children of Israel wanted to follow kings rather than God. God let them follow kings. We are told now of a few of the Kings when Jeremiah was prophet. Early in the reign of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, this word came from the LORD: Josiah was a good king, and he had a good long reign. But then after him came three of his sons, and they were very evil kings. In fact his next son who fol-lowed Josiah was Jehoahaz. He ruled only for 3 months he was so wicked. Jehoiakim is the 2nd son of Josiah, who rules for eleven years. Josiah is no friend of the Lord. And because of that he is no friend of Jeremiah, the Lord’s prophet.
Still, Jeremiah the prophet was sent to proclaim God’s judgment and the entire word of God. So we are told early in the reign of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, this word came from the Lord. This judgment of God wasn’t going to be Jeremiah’s words, it was going to be the Lord’s word. Our text states: this is what the LORD says. This is a very important point. Sometimes the people thought, well that is just what Jeremiah says. What do we care about the prophet Jeremiah? This wasn’t what Jeremiah said, and it wasn’t what Jeremiah thought. It wasn’t even what he felt. Jeremiah did not come to pro-nounce his own personal judgment against God’s people. But our text says this word came from the LORD: and this is what the LORD says. The Lord is giving these people an opportunity to repent. He is warning them about judgment that is coming.
Again Jeremiah towards the end repeats: Say to them this is what the LORD says. So again re-minding them --picture Jeremiah in front of the people: This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me, and if you do not follow my laws which I have set before you… The Lord warns if the people about not doing these things. The Lord is giving them a chance to repent. The Lord is also giving them the chance (the bad choice of course) to reject him, to reject God and be lost. And the Lord knows what they are going to do already. But he still gives them a chance. Jeremiah writes: Then if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, reminding them that Jeremiah wasn’t there to cause trouble. Jeremiah wasn’t there by his own desire, but he was God’s servant, God’s prophet. The Lord says if you don’t lis-ten to the prophets whom I have sent you again and again… The original (Hebrew) said from the morn-ing to night--day in and day out--he says if you don’t listen to them again and again, and then he adds this: though you have not listened. And for a long time they did not listen. The Israelites didn’t listen to the prophets before Jeremiah. The kings liked to listen to their own counsel. The kings liked to listen to the people around them. The kings did not like to listen to God’s prophets and therefore did not like to listen to God himself. What is going to happen if they don’t listen? They are going to be forsaken. They are going to be rejected just as they reject the Lord. Jeremiah continues: If you do not listen…then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth. Now Shiloh had been a very important city. It was the important city in the northern kingdom, the kingdom of Israel. Shiloh had a temple. God’s people of the northern kingdom worshiped there. But remember from last week the people from the northern kingdom were completely conquered by their enemies. And they were taken and scattered to the ends of the earth. To this day these tribes are still lost. Shiloh then was an important city where there was a temple that was now left in ruins. Shiloh the city had the temple where no one worshiped anymore. The city was an object of cursing to the nations. The Lord sends Jeremiah and Jeremiah stands before the people and says: if you don’t want to listen fine. If you want to reject God, fine. But you are going to become like Shiloh, a place abandoned and forsaken. Thousands of years ago God sent the prophet Jeremiah to speak these words.
Today we can hear the same words spoken to us, spoken to our nation, spoken to the people of the world. Reject God and be lost. Today countless thousands still do that very thing. But we do not want to just point at others. Accusing fingers are pointed at ourselves also. For as we live in the society where peoples’ hearts have been hardened, sometimes maybe our hearts become a little bit hard. We might overlook different sins. We kind of forget about the wrongs that we do. We might also try to brush sin under the carpet. Our Lord says be careful. He promises judgment if we reject him in the hardness of our heart. Then we too can be lost. In the book of Hebrews we are told: “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expecta-tion of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God” (HEBREWS 10:26,27). The Lord warns us if we keep deliberately sinning, if we fall into the trap of one pet sin, and keep going down that path of destruction that is exactly what we will receive, eternal destruction. For Satan knows, he knows that one sin that can trap us. Whether it be the bad language we use, or the evil thoughts we think towards our neighbor, or even our wicked actions. The Lord warns us to be careful.
Jeremiah reminds us that God’s word is the truth. God speaks to us the whole truth, nothing more, nothing less. And yet we know in our day and age how that truth of God has become watered down. Sometimes we may even wonder to ourselves if it is worth holding on to the truth. Sometime our church body or maybe even we have been accused of being too strict. Biblical teaching is not too strict, it is sim-ply the whole truth. We are not to water down what God says. God’s word doesn’t always tell us the pleasant things, but reminds us we are sinners. God’s truth reminds us that our sins are serious and they can lead to eternal destruction. We have been studying creation in Genesis, and some like to dismiss that as just another story. But we can’t – creation is true, the Lord says so. We are not to add or subtract. Again the Lord warns--for if we subtract, then our names are subtracted. From Revelation we read: “And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book” (REVELATION 22:19). In this last book of the bible, the last chapter the Lord gives his warning -- he says: watch out, do not subtract from God’s word. He also says don’t add to it. The Lord speaks to us the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Again, it can be a challenge for us in this day and age to live as shining lights in a world that is so darkened by sin. It is a challenge for us in this day and age to be different. People don’t like people who are different, they want everybody to fit into their way of thinking. We also fall into the same snares, the same temptations, the same attractions and distractions of this world that everyone else does. We are tempted from day to day to measure everything just like the world does, with the standard and the value of money. We all to often ask: How much does it cost? How much is it going to cost me? How much do I have to spend, how much do I have to save? It is just the way our world is. Yet we also forget. We tend to forget day after day that we are rich and more blessed than any nation, than any country in the entire world. We have more food than some people see in a month just in the doors of our refrigerators. We have more change in our pocket than 92% of the rest of the world. And yet we forget--we act as if we have to struggle to make ends meet. We wonder if the Lord’s going to take care of us according to our every de-sire. The Lord says: be careful, don’t reject him and his gracious blessings. Or you could be lost.
In the New Testament Jesus ran into the same problem. He says: “Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” (MATTHEW 19:24).
Jeremiah reminds us again today: do not let the attractions of this world distract us from eternity. No-vember is our Thanksgiving month. It’s good to sit down and think of how rich we are. Blessed physi-cally, but then even more importantly, blessed spiritually.
Even though God does promise judgment, and he does say those who reject him are lost. Our Lord also says those who repent are saved. That too is God’s judgment, a judgment unto eternal life.
II. Those who repent will be saved.
We go back to Jeremiah. What a bold man he was. Jeremiah knew Josiah was gone. Josiah had supported Jeremiah and was very interested in what God’s word had to say to God’s people. Josiah’s next son Jehoahaz did not like Jeremiah. Following Jehoahaz, Jehoaikim would also rather see Jeremiah put to death. But he did not put Jeremiah to death because he still knew Jeremiah was God’s servant and God might be angry with him. And in the midst of all of that, knowing that his life was at stake, Jeremiah wasn’t quiet. Instead this word came from the Lord. This is what the Lord says: Stand in the courtyard of the Lord’s house and speak to all the people of the towns of Judah who come to worship in the house of the Lord. Thankfully there were still some that came to worship in the Lord’s temple. Jeremiah takes a stand there, and he waits for them to come and he speaks to them. This is what the Lord says.
This word is one of judgment. After all they should have known better already. They had seen the northern kingdom destroyed. They had seen Shiloh once great, now no longer a place of worship. No longer a center of spiritual activity. But still they did not listen. The Lord says to Jeremiah: Tell them everything I command you and do not omit a word. He was not to water down God’s message. Jeremiah wasn’t to take anything from the truth, the whole truth. Jeremiah wasn’t to add anything to the truth, the whole truth. Jeremiah says: The Lord will make you like Shiloh. But the Lord also says to Jeremiah per-haps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. There would still be hope that some would re-pent and they would turn from their evil ways. Now in the verses following (you may want to read that for yourself)--what do you think was their response? The people wanted to put Jeremiah to death. They didn’t want to listen. They didn’t repent until much, much later.
The Lord sent his enemies against them. The children of God in Judah were taken away as slaves. We heard this last week, but we will refresh our memories. Enemies took Judah away as slaves and then they realized everything was gone. They had lost Jerusalem, they had lost the Promised Land, they lost Solomon’s temple. Then they finally realized, it is time to repent. What a hard lesson to learn. Say to them this is what the Lord says. Perhaps they will listen and each will turn from his evil way. Then I will relent and not bring on them the disaster that I was planning, because of the evil they have done. You know that some point at God and ask how can he do this. But what does God say: It is because of the evil they have done, the wickedness they have done. And you know the Lord did save them. He did bring them back to the Promised Land eventually. After all, it was through the line of Judah that the Savior would be born. The Lord did all this for his people in spite of their great wickedness and sin. There were those who repented. They recognized their sinfulness and their sins were forgiven.
Today—again, you have heard me talk about it before--but it is worth repeating, that is a hard thing to do: To repent. In today’s society no one wants to admit that they are wrong. No one wants to admit, Look what I’ve done. We see trials that go on forever and we wonder if anyone really means to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And yet until we hear the whole truth and nothing but the truth, we find there is no reason to repent. We look back to the early church and the days after Pentecost. Peter came and preached to the people and he looked at them as they were gathered around and he said to them: You, you are the people who took Jesus of Nazareth and handed him over to the authori-ties and put him to death. He says, you are the ones who killed the Messiah , the Savior of the world. You are the guilty ones. And they listened. The crowd responded: What can we do to be saved? They recog-nized their sin. We also need to sit down and look at ourselves and say. I am the guilty one, I am the one that has turned away from God. Until we do that we cannot recognize our sin. When we recognize our sin the answer is easy. Just as Peter said to the crowd when they said what shall we do God says to us to-day, as repentant sinners: “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit’”(ACTS 2:38).
Yes, the Lord promises judgment, judgment against sin , but He has removed that judgment by providing his Son as the sacrifice for our sins. But the big step is looking at them, and recognizing them, and seeing the wretched sinfulness in our lives. It is just all too easy in our day and age to point at some-one else and say: Look at them, look at how wicked they are. It is just all too easy. Today the Lord re-minds each of us that repentance is not an outward show, it is a matter of the heart. Repentance is a mat-ter of the heart between each individual sinner and his Savior. Each one of us as individual sinners looks at our lives and soon realizes how often we do fall short of the glory of God. Each one of us as individual sinners looks at our life and realizes that there is not one of us who can do any good in the sight of God, because our entire lives are tainted by sin. But the Lord promises judgment. Not only judgment to eternal destruction, but also judgment to eternal life. It comes through repentance. Paul writes to the Corinthians in the 2nd letter: “Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death”(2 CORINTHIANS 7:10).
Scripture says as we sit alone with God, in our quiet time and listen to him, God listens to us. God’s word of truth reminds us of our sins. And we are sorrowful. We are also, especially reminded of the sacrifice of God’s Son, and there are no regrets, for we are saved, for time and eternity. Oh yes, the Lord promises judgment. That is the truth, the whole truth. BUT today the judgment for you and I as be-lievers is that our sins are forgiven. That is something to think about. Our sins are forgiven. We know how hard that is when someone does us wrong we like to hold a grudge. We like to remember that day last week or months or maybe even years ago when they did us wrong. But the Lord, our Lord is just the opposite, as he delights to show mercy. Listen to the Psalm writer: “If you, O LORD, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with you there is forgiveness; therefore you are feared” (PSALM 130:3,4). The Psalm writer declares therefore God is honored and respected.
The Lord promises judgment. He reminds us of that as we come to the end of the church year, and we look to the end of the days of this age. We are reminded of that as we study the flood in our Sunday morning Bible study. The Lord promised judgment and the people didn’t care. We are going to study that this morning. We are also going to find out that today looks much like the days of the flood. Many back then rejected God and were lost. Today the story is the same. Many reject God and will be lost. You and I rejoice that there are still many who also repent and will be saved. We rejoice that by his grace God has changed our cold hearts of stone and made them into the warm hearts of flesh to believe in him. Our Lord God has saved us. We haven’t done it on our own. We don’t deserve the credit. We cannot buy our way into heaven. God has done it all. Paul says in Colossians as he reminds us that the Lord promises judgment. There will be destruction for those who reject him but there will be salvation for those who repent. All of this is simply by God’s free and abundant grace. “For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemp-tion, the forgiveness of sins”(COLOSSIANS 1:13,14). We are thankful that God has done it all, that we will live with him forever. This is also the Lord’s promise of judgment. AMEN. Pastor Timm O. Meyer
