Good evening, please turn in your Bibles to Jeremiah six. Jeremiah, Chapter six. We will hope to be instructed and encouraged and taught by the Babylonian or Chaldean invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah this evening, and you might be asking, how can we be admonished and instructed and encouraged by the Babylonian or Chaldean invasion of the southern kingdom of Judah. And I believe, of course, that we can be because it is given to us within the pages of God's holy word.
And we do have the instruction or the declaration of the Apostle Paul that the history of Old Covenant Israel serves serves as an admonition to us as Christians in the New Covenant. We gain much. We learn much. We are edified by much that is revealed in the Old Testament, of course, as well as the New Testament.
So we will hope to be instructed again by the pages of Jeremiah six as we learn many things concerning the sovereignty of God and his upholding of divine justice. of the transgressions and the depravity of men, and of the need or the necessity of divine grace, and of a substitutionary sacrifice that comes in the person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll read Jeremiah 6, and I'll pick up reading at verse 1. We'll finish reading at verse 20.
Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 6:1-20
Oh, you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpet in Sukkot and set up a signal fire and Beth HaKarem. For disaster appears out of the north and great destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman.
The shepherds with their flock shall come to her. They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place. Prepare war against her.
Arise and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening. Arise and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces. For thus has the Lord of hosts said, cut down trees and build a mound against Jerusalem.
This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst. As a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her before me continually are grief and wounds.
Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnants of Israel as a great gatherer. Put your hand back into the branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear?
Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them. They have no delight in it.
The Universal Breadth of Divine Recompense
Therefore, I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside and on the assembly of young men together. For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days, and their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together.
For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. Because from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness. And from the prophet even to the priest, everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace.
Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord.
Thus says the Lord, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk in it. Also, I set watchmen over you saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet.
But they said, we will not listen. Therefore, here you nations and no congregation. What is among them here? Oh, Earth.
Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people, the fruit of their thoughts, because they have not heeded my words nor my law, but rejected it. For what purpose to me comes frankincense from Sheba and sweet, excuse me, and sweet cane from a far country. Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifice is sweet to me. Amen.
Well, let us pray.
Opening Prayer
Our Father, we thank you for your revealed Word. We thank you, Lord God, for the Scriptures that you have given to us. And we thank you, Lord God, that we can glean much and be well instructed in your God-breathed Word to us. And might we be that.
Might we be the recipients of instruction. Lord God, we ask for the ministry of the Holy Spirit for preacher and for hearer that we might engage in this act of worship and be lifted up and edified in the things of your Word. And Lord God, we would just ask that you be with us now. Help us to be instructed.
Help us to accord our lives, to align our lives unto your revealed word to us. And might we glorify you and extol and exalt the Lord Jesus Christ in all that we do. We pray in his most precious name. Amen.
Introduction
Well, Jeremiah's lifetime was, or Jeremiah's lifetime saw, world empires jockeying for territorial and military supremacy. The time of Jeremiah, a number of things were going on. The Assyrian Empire was on the decline in about 626 BC, in and around 626. The capital of Assyria, Nineveh, fell to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, or the Chaldeans, in 612 BC.
In 605 BC, Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians conquered Egypt at Carchemish, and it was Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians that were moving upon, with might and power, Judah, the southern kingdom. The Southern Kingdom were the witnesses of the Northern Kingdom being brought into captivity by Assyria. It had been about a hundred years since the Northern Kingdom had been brought into captivity. And we learn in Jeremiah 3, 7 that treacherous Judah witnessed her abominations, witnessed her backsliding and adultery, but nevertheless did not reform her ways.
And so now God, by divine justice, was coming by way of Babylon, by way of the Chaldeans to to bring or to enforce the terms of his covenant and his law because they had transgressed. And when we when we look at these things in all of these things, we are to be directed to the throne room of the high king of heaven. as the one who orchestrates from his divine position the affairs of men to the praise of his glory and for the zeal of his own name and for the good of his people. One thing that we need to do when we look upon the historical accounts of empires being brought as vessels of judgment upon Israel, upon Judah, We are to see the divine machinations or the providential movements of Yahweh, the covenant Lord, in bringing about his eternal decree. Even Nebuchadnezzar eventually recognized the sovereignty of God when he said he does according to his will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth.
Who can restrain his hand or say to him, what have you done? So getting now to Jeremiah chapter six,
Announcement of Judah's Destruction
we're going to notice, first of all, the announcement of the destruction of Judah, the announcement of the destruction of Judah. And actually, just before we get to Jeremiah six and verse one, if you can turn to the left to Jeremiah chapter one, just to see something of a good summary of what's going on and why it's going on in the book and in the pages of Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter one. Beginning at the end of verse 14, out of the north calamity shall break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. For behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north, says the Lord.
They shall come and each one set his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem against all its walls all around and against all the cities of Judah. I will utter my judgments against them concerning all their wickedness, because they have forsaken me. burned incense to other gods and worship the works of their own hands. And so, Jeremiah, that comes in the context of Jeremiah's commission to Judah. in order to prophesy of the inevitable doom of of that southern kingdom and that they should repent and return to God, return to the old house where the good way is. So first off, back in Jeremiah, chapter six, the announcement of the destruction of Judah, the prophecy of the inevitable destruction of Judah by way of Babylon, who was God's chosen vessel to bring divine recompense and retribution upon those who had gone contrary to him.
Verse 1,
The Invaders Summoned from the North
O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem, blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a signal fire in Beth HaKarem. For disaster appears out of the north, and great destruction. The Lord God, though he had sworn and would not relent concerning divine judgment, nevertheless gives something of instructions and warning to Judah that their invader was coming. that Babylon, that the Chaldeans under Nebuchadnezzar were coming and they were to bring disaster and great destruction. But this was something that would be in vain, of course, because notice the fact of verse two and verse three.
The fact was that Jerusalem would not be ready, yes, by divine movements, but because in her midst the prophets were declaring to them peace, peace and prosperity when there was none. They had gone away from their God. They had left the God of the old paths and they had worshipped the works of their own hands. They had gone after the gods of the Gentiles.
They had they had reproached and blasphemed the word of the Lord and they had gone away from him. And so notice verse two, I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman. The nation of Jerusalem or the southern the southern kingdom of Judah was to be something of a pushover for Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian invading armies. They were not or they did not have the face of gross opposition and readiness, but rather the shepherds with their flock shall come to her.
Verse three. That's a reference to the Babylonians. That's a reference to Nebuchadnezzar and his officers coming in and encamping among them. and taking over Judah and destroying her. The shepherds with their flock shall come to her.
They shall pitch their tents against her all around. Each one shall pasture in his own place. This is a prediction of Nebuchadnezzar again and his officers, his troops entering Jerusalem and camping inside of her with ease. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a lovely and a delicate woman.
And then God, by the prophet, again, takes up not again. God, by the prophet, takes up the dialogue of his appointed his appointed invaders versus four and five. Prepare war against her. Arise, let us go up at noon.
Woe to us for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening. Arise and let us go by night and let us destroy her palaces. So, again, God, by by the prophet, announces judgment upon Judah and we'll get to the particulars concerning the justice of that judgment as we move along. But notice now God gives instructions to the destroyers.
God's Instructions to the Destroyers
God gives instructions to the destroyers, to Babylon, his instrument of divine justice, to bring destruction to Judah for violating the terms of covenant and law, beginning in verse six. For thus has the Lord of hosts said, cut down trees and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst as a fountain wells up with water.
So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her before me continually are grief and wounds. Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. But beginning there in verse six or in verse six, we have the instructions given to the destroyers.
Thus says the Lord of hosts, cut down trees and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. Gil notes in his commentary that there was something of a ditch, an enclosure sort of around the city of Jerusalem. And this he sees as a command to the Chaldeans, to Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, to fill those things, to cut down trees and build a mound. against it so that they can adequately attack the city, the city of his affection, the city that was supposed to be a city that testified to the grace of God and his covenant faithfulness and to the glory of the living and true God.
And so, again, God is giving divine instructions to the invaders of Jerusalem in order that they might attack her effectively. And notice we have here the language of imposing penalty upon Jerusalem. The language of imposing penalty upon Jerusalem. The middle of verse six.
This is the city to be punished. I think we have two things here. This is the city to be punished. Not only do we certainly have here the guiltiness of Jerusalem, this is the city to be punished.
And there is good and solid divine reasons why this city is to be punished. And we also have, of course, the immediacy of the punishment. The day of vengeance was now. The day of vengeance was near.
The judge was standing at the door. And so Jerusalem was about to meet her end by way of the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar. And then we see, as is often repeated in Jeremiah and throughout the prophets, God provides the reasons for their punishment. God provides the reasons for their punishment.
There is justification. There is warrant. Notice the end of verse six and moving into verse seven. She is full of oppression in her midst as a fountain wells up with water.
So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard and are heard in her before me continually are grief and wounds.
The Reasons for Judgment
She is full of oppression in her midst. This isn't that Jerusalem was somehow the innocent and ill-fated recipients of tyranny, but rather that within the ranks, within the population of God's people, of the southern kingdom of Judah, there were those who were oppressors. And there were those, of course, who were oppressed. But nevertheless, oppression marked God's people and judgment was coming because of that.
She is full of oppression in her midst. And then notice beginning of verse seven, as a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. It wasn't the case that there was just an occasional and infrequent dripping of water that was the wickedness of Judah. It was the case that as a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness.
Jeremiah would say elsewhere, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then let you do good who are accustomed to doing evil. It was the custom of Judah, the custom of the southern kingdom, to be engrossed in wickedness, not just to occasionally somehow against their regular holy disposition, engage in wickedness, but rather as fountains well up with water. So she welled up with her wickedness.
And then also violence and plundering are heard in her. before me continually are grief and wounds. Yes, we are to see in this particular portion of the verse that more language of the sorry state of Jerusalem, more language of the sorry state of Judah. But I believe we are also to see here the fact of the divine and sovereign double edged sword of knowledge that is Yahweh's. The violence and plundering are heard in her before me continually, says the Lord, our grief and wounds and this double edged sword of intimate, divine and sovereign knowledge of all things is just that a double edged sword to the people of God, to those who walk in the way everlasting.
This is a boon to their walk in the way everlasting. that before our great God continually, our grief and wounds, or in other words, he looks upon us and he sees our trials. He sees our travails. He sees our tribulation. He sees and he hears and he acts accordingly.
But also the other edge of that sword for those who do not walk in the way everlasting, for those who walk in the perilous way, this is not a boon to their walk, but rather this reality is something that ever haunts their walk because God does see, because God does hear, because his eye is always on the good and the bad, observing them. That ought to be something that haunts those who do not walk in the way everlasting. And certainly this would be something this should have been something that haunted the southern kingdom for those who were full of oppression in their midst, for those who has water welled up from the fountain. So were they welled up with their wickedness and we worship rather.
And it is a joy. It is a delight that we worship and follow a God who does have all things before him. We worship and we serve and we fall before delightfully fall before a Lord Jesus Christ who has eyes as of a flame of fire piercing through the darkest veil, witnessing the good, witnessing the bad, commending those who are faithful and condemning those who are unrepentant. It is a beautiful thing that we can know and that we can serve and that we can follow that Christ.
And might we be faithful and might we be good as we follow and walk in the way everlasting.
God's Call to Be Instructed
Notice now that Yahweh, the Lord of hosts, gives instructions now to Judah. He had instructed the invaders, the Chaldean invaders, to come against Jerusalem because this is the city to be punished. And now he gives instruction to Jerusalem. Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited.
In other words, The Lord is saying to Judah, be the humble recipients of correction. Be instructed, O Judah, they were to exercise wisdom, they were to exercise discernment, and they were to be the humble recipients of correction from their divine and saving Lord. They were to return to God. They were to own their transgressions and repent instead of instead of furious anger for their continuing in spiritual stubbornness.
They were to be the humble recipients of fatherly displeasure. And they were they were to turn from their idolatry. They were to turn from their transgressions and they were to worship the God of the armies of Israel. These words be instructed. carry with them so many things.
Just this simple sentence to Jerusalem, be instructed. The simple phrase to Jerusalem, be instructed. Oh, Jerusalem carries with it so many things. They were to rehearse their transgressions.
They were to take their transgressions, their inequities, hold them under the shining light of covenant and law and see their ugliness and repent of that wickedness and of those transgressions. They were to consider the words of the prophet. They were to consider the words of the prophet Jeremiah concerning the coming Babylonians, concerning the coming invaders. They were to heed the warnings of God by the prophet concerning the coming invaders.
And they were to turn from their idolatries, to turn from their wickedness, to turn from their covenant breach and to embrace the covenant Lord and follow and walk in the ancient paths, in the old ways. But they did not do that. they were to stop listening to those worthless physicians. We noticed... We notice that it is these these worthless physicians that say to the people, peace, peace, verse 14.
They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly saying peace, peace. They were not to listen to those worthless physicians, those false prophets. They were to listen to the Lord God through the prophet Jeremiah, who was declaring calamity, who was declaring destruction because they had deviated far from their covenant Lord and they had embraced idolatry and had entertained all manner of wickedness. They were to take heed to the pleas and promises of the Lord and return to him.
Throughout Jeremiah and condensed even within just a span of verses in Jeremiah 3 and up to Jeremiah 4 verse 1, we have God saying, return to me and I will heal your backsliding. Jeremiah 3 at verse 7, Jeremiah three at verse seven, and I said after she had done these things, all these things returned to me, but she did not return. Jeremiah three in verse twelve return back sliding. Israel says the Lord.
I will not cause my anger to fall on you, for I am merciful, says the Lord. I will not remain angry forever. Verse 14 return. Oh, backsliding children, says the Lord, for I am married to you.
Verse 22, return you backsliding children and I will heal your backsliding. Jeremiah 4 and verse 1. If you will return, O Israel, says the Lord, return to me. And if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be moved.
Also, they were to recall God's gracious dealings in the past. Israel was to go about the exercise of historical retrospect. They were to remember God's gracious dealings with Noah, with Abraham, with Isaac, with Jacob, with Joseph, with David, with with Moses, with David, with Solomon. They were to look back upon the history of a gracious God and they were to repent of having turned away from him and gone off, gone after. the gods of the nations.
They were to look upon the past and see a gracious God of covenant faithfulness, keeping his people. And they were to look at the power of God in creation and in Providence. Jeremiah 5, 22 to 25. They were to look at the God, the power of God in creation and Providence.
Notice Jeremiah 5 at verse 22. Do you not fear me, says the Lord? Will you not tremble at my presence? who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree that it cannot pass beyond it. And though its waves toss to and fro, yet they cannot prevail.
Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it. But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart. They have revolted and departed. They do not say in their heart, let us now fear the Lord our God, who gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season.
He reserves for us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Your iniquities have turned these things away, and your sins have withheld good from you. They were to look upon the gracious and the powerful God of creation and providence, and they were to return unto him. And brethren, those in every generation who are contrary to God are to be well instructed by these examples of providential history.
Paul did write that these things were written for our admonition. Those who are contrary to the God of creation and providence and sustaining and redeeming are to be well instructed by those things that have been made clear to him. Yes, he is dead in his trespasses and in his sins. Yes, he is in bondage to sin.
Yes, all of these things that the Bible say regarding biblical anthropology and the depravity of man are true. But nevertheless, the instruction stands. Be instructed, be instructed. We know the necessity of grace, but it is not the case that anybody can argue that anybody can argue. that they have not been made known the ways of the Lord day after day, utter speech, night after night, reveals knowledge that the heavens declare the glory of God.
The firmament shows his handiwork. These in Judah were supposed to look back upon or look at those things, creation and providence. and to return unto their covenant Lord. And we'll get some more of every generation that is contrary to the Lord in a moment. But notice after.
Judah's Obstinacy and Pigheadedness
After we read of this instruction to Jerusalem, this instruction to Judah, we see that Jeremiah bemoans the obstinacy and the pig-headedness of Judah. The obstinacy and the pig-headedness of his people in verse 10 or just reading beginning at verse 9. Thus says the Lord of hosts, they shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnants of Israel as a great gatherer. Put your hand back into the branches.
To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may hear? Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised, and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them. They have no delight in it." Jeremiah here bemoans the pig-headedness of his people, spiritual deadness, disobedience, dishonoring and rejecting the word of God.
This is a common refrain of the prophets Throughout providential and redemptive history, you uncircumcised in hardened years. You always resist the Holy Spirit, Stephen said. Like your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute?
And they put to death those who foretold the coming of the just one, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers. It is the history of Israel that there are those that there are those who persecute God's messengers, God's heralds sent to them. We read that this morning when we were reading Mark chapter 12. And the parable of the vineyard, the parable of the vineyard owner and those to whom he leases the vineyard and every servant that is sent by the landowner, by the vineyard owner, is put to death or beaten and stoned.
And he finally, the landowner finally sends his son, who we know in this parable is the Lord Jesus Christ. And nevertheless, they take his inheritance and they put him to death. The history of Israel is marked by by those who have put to death the prophets, put to death those who foretold the coming of the just one. And this indictment of spiritual deadness, this indictment of being uncircumcised in heart and ears, is the declaration of God's heralds throughout the history of the church.
When they come against pig-headedness in the center, they will not hear. They will not give heed. They will not be well instructed. They will not exercise wisdom and discernment, but rather will stay in their state of bondage, will stay in their state of being dead in trespasses and in sins.
And
The Crossroads: Old Paths or Perilous Way
notice that verse 16. Notice that verse 16, a wonderful verse, and we probably won't have enough time to get back to this place, but notice what it says here. And in verse 16, thus says the Lord, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said we will not walk in it. God is reiterating here with more force Jeremiah by God or God by the prophet Jeremiah is reiterating with more force or giving that instruction here with more force. God does, if you will, God plants a crossroads before the nation of Judah and says, be instructed, choose well, exercise wisdom, because there is ultimately two paths before you. The way everlasting, the old paths, the ancient paths, those that are reliable, proven, well tried by your forefathers. or the perilous way, the way that ends in destruction, the way that ends in eternal hellfire, the way that ends in damnation, stand in the waves and see they were to come before an intersection before the crossroads.
And they were to be well instructed in which path to undertake. They were to ask directions. They were to ask to receive or to buy freely the compass from the redeeming Lord and to see which way to go. Ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it.
And it is it is with appeal to the exercise of wisdom that God has planted many crossroads before his people throughout redemptive history. We could look at Joshua before the nation of Israel. Choose this day whom you will serve. Are you going to serve the gods of the nations, the gods of the Egyptians and the Amorites, or will you serve the living and true God, Yahweh?
Choose now, this day, whom you will serve. Or in 1 Kings 18, Elijah and the prophets of Baal. There is that crossroads that is planted before the people. They were not to continue any longer faltering between two opinions.
They were to either choose Yahweh, the covenant Lord, the living and true God, or Baal, who was no God at all. Or we could think in the first century, Pilate, conscious Pilate to the Jews, God by divine providence plants that crossroads before his people, Barabbas or Jesus. But they chose Barabbas. Crucify Christ, give us Barabbas.
The first century Jews and the Gentiles before the preaching, before the heraldic declaration of God's prophets and messengers would be given that crossroads, would have the crossroads planted before them. You choose Caesar or you choose Christ. And we see the unbelieving Jewish declaration. We have no king but Caesar.
Planted before them were two ways, choose Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, or Caesar, a false claimant to that title. But they chose Caesar. We have no king but Caesar. And it really all boils down to the declaration of the Apostle John in John three thirty six regarding those crossroads.
John 3, 36, he who believes the sun has life, but he who does not believe the sun shall not see life. But the wrath of God abides on him. Those crossroads are planted before people. But the common refrain from those untouched by the grace, the amazing and victorious grace of God is we will not walk in it.
And it is against the force of revelation that they do this. The God in creation and providence and in special revelation declares loudly his presence, his existence and his glory. But it is with stopped up ears that unbelievers march forth in the perilous way. They are the unbeliever, the idolater, the professing atheist, the cultist.
All of those who follow after false religion do, in fact, have two full time jobs. If they are regularly employed in this lower world, they have a full time job wherein they go daily and they labor, they make money and they bring home food for the table. But they have a second full time job. And that second full time job is daily suppressing the truth in unrighteousness.
That's their second full-time job, and they spend much time at that throughout the day, daily trying to suppress, day after day uttering speech, night after night revealing knowledge, the heavens declaring the glory of God, the firmament showing His handiwork. They stop up the ears, they cover the eyes, and they say, there is no God, and they live according to that profession. It is the case that those who are unbelieving, those who do not embrace the Covenant Lord, Yahweh, those who are following after many a false religion, are like those dwelling in a chamber with Behemoth with the tail that swings as a cedar. Behemoth is in their chambers and his tail is swinging like the cedars of Lebanon, knocking over lamps and knocking over couch pillows and knocking over many things.
And the unbeliever walks around the chamber, picks them up, but all the while declaring that there is no beast in that chamber. That is the unbeliever. That is the one who is stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears. Those are the ones who say, we will not walk in it.
When trumpets are blown, when watchmen are set over them, verse 17, they say, we will not listen. It's an indictment upon man, and it stresses the comprehensiveness of sin, depravity, and the fact that they are in need of divine and saving and sovereign grace. And then notice, if we're still in Jeremiah 6, verses 11 and 12, verses 11 and 12, the the prophet, after declaring his weariness and trying to hold in the prophecy of the wrath of God, opens up the Lord speaking through him. Verse 11.
Therefore, I am full of the fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside and on the assembly of young men together. For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days, and their houses will be turned over to others, fields and wives together.
For I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. We should see here the universal breadth of the sin and the guilt of sin upon all men. God is not relenting. If there was any quarter to be asked or if anyone was to ask for quarter to be given and to argue based on age, to argue based on the fragility of their age, whether young or old, to argue for quarter to be given based on the fact that they were almost upon their deathbed or to argue for quarter to be given because they were in conjugal relations with their spouse.
God would say there is no quarter to be given, no quarter to be granted for even the husband shall be taken with the wife and on the assembly of the young men together before that the aged with him who is full of days. All will be the recipients of divine recompense because they had departed from the living and the true God. And we ought to see here that If you have not been granted repentance, if you have not faith in the Savior, then no argument for you will suffice on Judgment Day. There's no wiggle room out of divine judgment.
There is no argument for quarter to be given. If you face the Lord that day and you have not believed, you are not found in Christ, but rather daily and weekly and monthly and yearly unto your death. You were opposed to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. Again, the language of Jeremiah, the prophet, and on the assembly of the young men together, for even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the agent with him who is full of days and their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord.
The beautiful thing is that Christ in redemptive history reverses this particular sort of curse on a spiritual level. The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost went to all types of men, to the young and to the old, to maidservants and to manservants. So if now you are not found in the Lord, you are not found among the faithful. It is the case that you will on the day of judgment, if you do not bend and eat to Christ, be found before the judge of heaven and earth and no quarter given.
Nevertheless, now, while you are living, it is the acceptable time to repent. It is the acceptable time now. Right now is the time to bend a knee to the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, to bend to the ultimate and divine destroyer who looks upon with grace and mercy those who are of a humble and contrite heart, who do believe in his son that he sent into this world. But those who do not are accursed.
Those who do not will bet will be the recipients of the spiritual, the spiritual parallel to this example, that they will have the Lord stretch out his hand upon them and against the inhabitants of the land.
The Justice of No Quarter Given
The justice, brethren, of no quarter given versus 13 and 15, lest anyone think that there is somehow overreaction from the throne room. We get the divine evidence concerning those who have who will be the recipients of the Lord stretching out his hand against the inhabitants of the land. There is no overreaction from the divine throne room, but rather perfect justice flowing from it. Notice verses 13 beginning at verse 13, because from the least of them to the greatest of them, everyone is given to covetousness and from the prophet even to the priest.
Everyone deals falsely. They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush.
Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord. Again, the divine recompense is coming by way of Babylon, but it is not an injustice, but rather a justice because of the iniquities of his people. They had broken covenant.
We don't have enough time to get into everything concerning what God by Moses had given to his people in Leviticus and in Deuteronomy concerning their covenant allegiance to their covenant Lord. But we see here a reversal and overturning of covenant blessings. It's interesting how we see here in verse 12, their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together. One covenant blessing as God was bringing his people into the land of promise was that they would dwell in houses that were not built by their own hands.
They would be the recipients of crops and harvests and those things that they did not plant. Yet, because they went away serving other gods, because they departed from Yahweh, now they are the recipients of covenant cursings. They had breached their covenant with the covenant Lord, and now the cursings of the covenant. Leviticus 26.
And Deuteronomy 28 are coming upon the people. God, again, is using Babylon as his divine instrument of judgment for those who had broken covenant and law. The justice of no quarter given is because of the covetousness, the false prophecy, the lack of shame as they with wicked and open satisfaction committed all manner of idolatry and the immorality that follows. And then God reiterates the consequences for their disobedience.
We read it, but we'll read it again. God reiterates the consequences for their disobedience in verse 15, right in the middle. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall at the time I punish them. They shall be cast down, says the Lord.
Speaking here concerning most particularly the prophets and the priests, the prophets who cried out peace, peace when there is no peace. Jeremiah was the weary yet righteous prophet in declaring the actual will and the word of God, because they had broken covenant and law. There was not going to be peace, peace and prosperity, but rather God by Babylon was coming to judge them for transgressing the righteous precepts of the covenant Lord. And so the prophets were not to preach peace, peace.
It's easy to do that because then you receive the benefits of the king and everything is well in the kingdom for you. You know, if we realize this ethic or this, you know, this that sort of notion as Christians, as Christian preachers, but as Christians generally, it's very easy to preach peace, peace. We preach, you know, God loves you, has a wonderful plan for your life. Everything's going to be fine.
You know, let's just all, you know, sit around the campfire, sing kubaya, love, love, love. Very easy. But when we actually come with the Christian message that God is holy, you are not. You're depraved and you need Christ Jesus, the only savior for sinners.
Well, then that's when we've departed from the nice and welcoming peace, peace, and we've entered into the realm of Jeremiah, who would ultimately be put to death for his declaration of truth. So, brethren, we are not to be those worthless positions that say to a sinner, all is well, but rather your lot is not well. No, nothing is well for you unless you bend the knee to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, who will then believing it, are you believing he will place his hand upon you and say, be not afraid. But if you don't do that, if you don't bend any, he will be the one that you will hide from.
He will be the one who will bring his wrath and you will be calling upon the rocks and the trees to fall on you, to hide you from the wrath of the one who has ownership and sovereignty over the nations. So God reiterates his consequences for disobedience.
Covenant Faithfulness and the Need for Grace
The resolute severity of the covenant Lord is announced. And this is something that we ought to get from this passage is the resolute severity, the resolute faithfulness of God. God's covenant faithfulness does not only pertain to the blessings that he pours out upon his covenant people and redemptive history. The covenant faithfulness of God also pertains to the fact that he exercises justice, that he issues forth the curses of the covenant for disobedience, for having transgressed.
And brethren, if we get if we get anything from this declaration of the prophet Jeremiah to the southern kingdom of Judah, we should get the faithfulness of the covenant Lord. And we should get the necessity of grace because we look upon this and we see we will not walk in it. We see we will not listen. We see Judah not being instructed.
And what would that do if there was not amazing and sovereign and free grace? It would cause us to lament and it would cause us to moan and it would cause us to be cast down in great sorrow. But the reality is that as we advance through the pages of Jeremiah, there is a promise. There is a promise for a perfect Lord of righteousness, the just one who would come and who would be our great shepherd.
There is the announcement of the fact of the divine remedy for this malady, for the fact that people were obstinate, that they were pigheaded, that they were dead in their trespasses and in their sins, that they were wrapped up in all manner of bondage. to their father the devil, the announcement comes regarding new covenant reality and the divine remedy. Behold, I will gather them out of all countries where I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great wrath. I will bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely. They shall be my people and I will be their God.
Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and their children after them. And I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they will not depart from me. wonderful announcement of this covenant, Lord, who exercised the curses of the obedience and bringing Babylon upon Judah. But nevertheless, there is a promise for that remnant. He did not totally remove his eye.
He did not totally remove his ear. He did not totally remove his presence from the inhabitants of the land. But he does bless. He did bless a remnant.
And we are the blessed recipients of that new covenant reality. We are the blessed beneficiaries of that Lord of righteousness, the Lord, our righteousness, who came in the fullness of time to give himself upon the cross of Calvary for guilty sinners. And I brethren, the necessity of grace, the promise of the Savior King, One thing that we also ought to learn from this is that we need to follow after the wisdom of God and not after the wisdom of men. The instruction of the prophet, God through the prophet, be instructed, O Jerusalem, stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it.
And there you will find rest for your souls. We need to be well instructed and thank God by his grace. We have been well instructed. We'd always to hold on to the wisdom of God, the old paths where the good way is and not the wisdom of men.
This is the declaration of Paul in his ministry. He held forth always. the wisdom of God being being central in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You could bring before Paul, you could bring before Paul the rhetoric, the rhetoric of Tyranus. You could bring before him the reasonings of the Stoics and the ramblings of the Epicureans.
And he would plant in the middle of all of them the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. And he would say to all of them, tremble in the wake of this cross, which is the wisdom and the power of God. We need to seek after the old paths. And it's very interesting.
The old paths here always had a future trajectory. The old paths, the ancient paths, the eternal way, the way everlasting, always had that future trajectory, the movement of redemptive history to a bruised and battered savior upon the cross of Calvary, working out the salvation of sinners. And that is where I charge you to rest this day. If you believe in him, rest upon him as that surety, as that mediator of the covenant promised by God.
And if you don't believe again, it's the it's the charge of the preacher that you believe resting upon the preacher and the Christians in this audience resting upon a God of divine decree, a God who is accepted and appointed time raises sinners from deadness and life from deadness in sin rather to life in Christ. We do with propriety say to you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. And there you will find rest for your souls. There you will find the good path, the right way, the old path, the everlasting way, and walk therein and find that rest and be blessed by a covenant Lord who embraces his people and brings them into Emmanuel's land to sing the praises of Christ forever.
Let's pray.
Closing Prayer
Father, we thank you so much for what you have revealed to us in Jeremiah, what you do reveal to us throughout your entire revealed word, Lord God. We would pray that we would be well instructed by this divine judgment and that we would see, Lord God, knowing that we stand in Christ Jesus and nothing is able to pull us from out of his sovereign grasp. Nevertheless, might we be well instructed by the disobedience of a bygone generation? And might we walk in the way everlasting and seek to conduct ourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ?
We thank you that we can hold a Bible in our hands, that we can open it up and learn from it. And might we stand fast in that old path, in the reliable way, the way that you have given to us in your holy word. And might we never depart from it, Lord God. We ask that you would surround us with your sovereign and providential care, that you guard our hearts and you would guard our minds against those things that would get in the way of worshiping a triune God and following after his precepts.
So we pray that you would go with us, Lord God. We pray for your help, for your divine aid as we live out and work out our lives in this lower world, that you'd help us to be kept near the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and to follow the lamb wherever he goes. We pray in Christ's precious name. Amen.