The Tragedy Of A Wasted Life

THE TRAGEDY OF A WASTED LIFE - Jer 13:1-11

 Ever stop to examine your life? What is it lived for? Am I placing priorities on things that really matter in the big picture?

YOUNG MAN had an accident while driving his car that was quite spectacular. When the policeman arrived he found the young man standing near his car mumbling. As the officer approached he overheard the young man saying, ’Oh, my BMW, oh my BMW, oh my BMW’.

Looking at the young man the policeman said, "Are you nut, look at the condition of your arm, your left are is all mangled’. The young man looked down and said, ’Oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex, oh my Rolex’. Where are your priorities? Did you do anything that really mattered this week? TV you watched? Money you spent? Time you wasted?

 Jer 13 teaches us about the judgment of God.

1) Illustration of it 2) Manner of it 3) Reason for it 4) Reason for God people

ILLUSTRATION OF GOD’S JUDGMENT

1. Go and purchase (1) Thus the Lord said to me, ’Go and buy yourself a linen waistband and put it around your waste, but do not put it in water. (2) So I bought the waistband in accordance with the word of the Lord and put it around my waist.

a. LYNNE’S FAVORITE VERSE: ’Go and buy’. She quotes it all the time. Sometimes God’s will just makes sense.

a. Sporting a brand new waistband: Get used to having it. Don’t think Jeremiah was gaining weight but God had a different purpose.

GIRDLE: used for different purpose(flatten tummy today). A belt made of leather, cloth or cord and was worn around the waist much like a belt of today. To bind up garments in order to prepare someone for service.

OT PRIEST: wore a girdle symbolizing a readiness to serve God.

JESUS: Luke 12:35 Spoke of His servants having, ’their loins girded about’. He girded Himself in order to prepare to wash the disciples feet.

ELIJAH: 1 Kings 18:46 girded up his loins in order to run

AGABUS: bound Paul’s hands and feet with his girdle Acts 21:11

PETER: urged early Christians to gird up the loins of your mind 1 Pet 1:13

a. Don’t wash it: Confusing but Jeremiah obeys

1. Go and Leave (3) Then the Word of the Lord came to me a second time, saying, (4) ’Take the waistband that you have bought, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphates and hide it there in a crevice of the rock.’ (5) So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord had commanded me.

a. Take to the riverside: not fearful of the lions & tigers near the Euphaties: They were all just a bunch of Euphratie cats.

a. Hid it in the rocks: Now God is not making sense

PASSOVER LAMB: Cute cuddly, spent days with family, killing the family pet.. Jeremiah had just learned to enjoy this new possession. Many compliments. Is that new? Wow? Looks good on you Jeremiah!

1. Go and see (6) After many days the Lord said to me, ’Arise go to the Euphrates and take from there the waistband which I commanded you to hide there.’ (7) Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the waistband from the place where I had hidden it; and lo, the waistband was ruined, it was totally worthless.

a. Jeremiah found the waistband that had been left to itself: ruined and worthless.

b. Not torn by animals or ripped by rocks but exposed to the elements.

DEMONSTRATION OF GOD’S JUDGMENT (8) Then the Word of the Lord came to me saying, (9) ’Thus says the Lord, Just so will I destroy the pride of Judah and will I destroy the great pride of Jerusalem.

1. Target of God’s judgment: PRIDE (city people more prideful than country)

a. PROPHETICALLY: Jeremiah is describing how God will deal with his people by putting them into captivity in Babylon for some time(70 years) and then to retrieve them back to the land.(Nehemiah/Ezra) The main target is pride: The more prideful we become as a people the larger a target we are for God’s judgment.

JAMESTOWN:First permanent settlement in the new world. Interesting attitude towards religious practices. 2 HOUR church services - EVERY DAY and 5 HOUR ones on Sunday. Attendance was mandatory. Missing church was considered a sin and dealt with in a criminal manner.

1 MISS: loss of food rations for an entire day.

Second: A public whipping

THIRD: placed in stocks daily for 6 months

Historians tells us that research has not revealed anyone in the Colony ever missing church 3 times. God’s judgment and man’s judgment can be quite different.