Jeremiah 4:5-18 “Discipline, Not Destruction”

1:10But one thing is certain. Everyone agrees that discipline is essential to growth. It's essential to becoming a healthy adult member of society. The irony, of course, is that nobody likes discipline. Not those who administer it, and not those who receive it. Jeremiah chapters 4 and 5 are all about the need for God to discipline his people because of their sin. God did not want to do it, and his people didn't want to receive it, but it is what they needed.

1:54And friends, the discipline of the Lord is what we need from time to time as well as God's children. It is for our good that He disciplines us. And we forget that. All children do. Because we're covering so much scripture this morning, you're going to need to do quite a bit of flipping or scrolling in your Bible. So you need to stretch those fingers out. Try to stay with me here. We're going to be going back and forth a lot in chapter 4 and chapter 5. We're going to answer four questions this morning. What is God going to do?

2:33Why is he going to do it? How should his people respond? And how should we respond? We're going to learn in Jeremiah chapters 4 and 5 that because he loves us, God disciplines us for our eternal good. The first question is answered immediately in our text, which we heard in the scriptures. Reading. I want you to look back at chapter 4, verse 6. Raise a standard towards Zion, flee for safety, stay not, for I bring disaster from the north and great destruction.

3:18Now, that Hebrew word translated destruction can also be translated breaking or collapse. And I think that's actually closer to God's meaning through Jeremiah. Because what we're going to see in these chapters is God is not out to destroy his people, as we would understand destruction, to make a complete end of them. That's not what he's doing. But he is bringing disaster. And disaster is coming in the form of a conquering army from the north. Look at verse 13 in chapter 4.

3:53Behold, he comes up like clouds, his chariot like the whirlwind. His horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us, for we are ruined. You remember in verses 16 and 17, God spoke through Jeremiah that these besiegers were coming from a distant land, and they'd be so numerous that they would be like keepers of the field taking in the harvest at harvest time, as far as you could see, workers all over the land. If you flip ahead to chapter 5, verse 6, they are described as predators, a lion from the forest. Forest, a wolf from the desert, a leopard who is coming to tear them to pieces.

4:38And then in chapter 5, verses 15 through 17, God tells them that an enduring and ancient nation is coming, whose quiver is like an open tomb. They're going to come and eat up their harvest, eat up their children, eat up their flocks and herds, and even their fortified cities. So, friends, this is what God is going to do. He's going to bring disaster from the north in the form of a conquering army that God's people have absolutely no hope of defeating.

5:10And the disaster is going to be so great and so all-encompassing that it's going to seem to the people of Judah that the very creation itself is being undone. Go back to chapter 4 and look at verse 23. I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void, and to the heavens, and they had no light. I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.

5:46I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled. I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid. In ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. Ever since Joshua led the people into the promised land, they have enjoyed living in one of the most beautiful, fruitful, fertile places on the face of the earth. But through Jeremiah, God says he's going to bring such disaster, such breaking, such collapse, that they're going to feel like creation is coming undone, like it is going back to the chaos before God brought order to the universe, where there was no light, where the earth is bare, where the mountains and hills are quaking, you cannot find man or animal.

6:52The summary is there in verse 26. Look at that verse again. I looked and behold, the fruitful land, that is the promised land, was a desert. And all its cities were laid in ruins before the Lord, before his fierce anger. So, what Jeremiah reveals is that God is going to bring disaster from the north in the form of this conquering army that is going to leave the promised land a barren wasteland. That takes us to the second question: why?

7:25Why is God going to bring disaster on his own people? Well, he answers this repeatedly throughout these two chapters. Look at chapter 4, verse 18. Your ways and your deeds have brought this upon you. This is your doom, and it is bitter. It has reached your very heart. Look at verse 22. For my people are foolish. They know me not. They are stupid children. They have no understanding. They are wise in doing evil, but how to do good they know not.

8:08Go all the way to chapter 5, verse 6 at the very end. Because their transgressions are many, their apostasies are great. Well, just how bad is it really? I mean, are all of these kind of exaggerations, is this hyperbole, kind of just for effect? Go back to chapter 5, verse 1. Here's God's challenge to Jeremiah. Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note. Search her squares to see if you can find a man who does justice and seeks truth, that I may pardon her.

8:57That language is deliberately written. Reminiscent of the conversation that Abraham had with God when he was ready to bring judgment on the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And in Genesis 18, Abraham says, Will you indeed sweep away the righteous with the wicked? So he asks God to spare the city if 50 righteous people can be found in the whole place. And God says, Sure. Then Abraham asks, What about for 40? What about for 30? For 20, for 10. He gets all the way down to 10 righteous people, and God assures Abraham that he will not destroy Sodom and Gomorrah if he can find 10 righteous people in those cities.

9:48I want you to remember last week when we saw how God was provoking Judah by telling them, Faithless Israel has been more righteous than treacherous Judah. That's a total insult given the wickedness, the rampant sin and idolatry of the northern kingdom of Israel. God says that faithless Israel has been more righteous than treacherous Judah. Well, that is nothing compared to what we're reading here. God tells Jeremiah essentially, I was willing to spare Sodom if Abraham could find ten righteous people.

10:24I will spare Jerusalem, the capital city of my own people. If you can find one, one righteous person in the whole city. So Jeremiah takes to the streets and he starts looking for a righteous person. Surely he's going to find a righteous person among the religious leaders, right? Go to chapter 5, verse 11. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have been utterly treacherous to me, declares the Lord. They have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, He will do nothing. No disaster will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. The prophets will become wind. The word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them.

11:24Jeremiah finds that the very prophets and priests who should be leading the people to repent and obey are doing the exact opposite. They're telling people in their arrogance and pride that God is not going to do anything at all to them. There's no disaster coming. There's no sword. There's no famine. It is sinful and wicked to preach lies, to lead people astray through your ministry as these prophets and priests were doing. Today, faithful Christians come down hard on false teachers who do not. Don't preach the word of God. As we should, we should come down hard on false teachers who don't preach the word.

12:08But, friends, we must remember: there are people, often thousands of people, sitting at the feet of these false teachers, hanging on to every heresy that they preach, giving a platform from which to spout their lies. And that is just what Jeremiah finds in Jerusalem. Go all the way to the end of chapter 5 and look at verses 30 and 31. An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land. The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction. My people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?

12:59The prophets and the priests bore responsibility for the spiritual state of Jerusalem and Judah. There is no doubt about that. But, friends, do not miss this. He says, My people love to have it so. My people love to have it so. At the end of the day, false teaching only continues because there is a market for it. Economics 101, supply and demand. I want you to look on the screen at how Paul says it, 2 Timothy chapter 4.

13:42For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. Paul says that false teaching only continues because there are people out there with itching ears who accumulate for themselves teachers who suit their own passions, who tell them exactly what they want to hear. That was a problem in Jeremiah's day. It was a problem in Paul's day. And we know it's a problem in our day.

14:31And in our day, it's compounded by the fact that false teachers can now broadcast their false teaching to everyone on planet Earth 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for free. But never forget the principle of supply and demand. False teachers can only supply false teaching as long As people demand it. And that is why we say that at New Life we exist to preserve and proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ to make mature disciples of all nations for the glory of God.

15:17We exist to make mature disciples of all nations because when all disciples are mature disciples, the market for false teaching dries up. Mature disciples don't want to hear false teaching, they want to hear the truth from God's word. So why do the people want to hear false teaching in the first place? What created the demand for spiritual leaders who would not call them to repent? Well, back up to chapter 5, verse 26. For wicked men are found among my people. They lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set a trap. They catch men. Like a cage full of birds, their houses are full of deceit. Therefore, they have become great and rich. They have grown fat and sleek. They know no bounds in deeds of evil. They judge not with justice the cause of the fatherless to make it prosper. And they do not defend the rights of the needy.

16:31When Jeremiah runs to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem looking for a righteous person, what does he find? Every single person exploiting his neighbor, taking advantage of them. He finds rampant lying and deceit, corrupt judges accepting bribes and showing favoritism, oppressing the poor and refusing to defend the rights of the needy. You see, the reason that the people wanted false teaching from prophets and priests is because it supported the kind of lifestyle that they wanted to live.

17:14That is the explanation for why so many churches are filled to the brim with people because they have teachers and preachers who will tell them what they want to hear. That you are fine, that all you need is advice. You need four steps to a better marriage, seven steps to a better financial future. That's what you need. That's what we want to hear. We want to hear that we are fine. We just need to make our life a little bit more efficient, just a little bit better. We're looking for improvements.

17:47But, friends, what God says is that we need a complete overhaul. We need to be transformed from the inside out. We need to have our hearts of flesh, we need to have our hearts of stone rather. Taken out and replaced with hearts of flesh. We need to be made into new creations. We need an entire overhaul. You see, these people that Jeremiah is talking about, they did not want anybody holding them accountable. They did not want anybody calling out their lying and deceit and exploitation. They didn't want anybody bringing their sin into the light and calling them to repent. They wanted teachers, prophets, and priests who would tell them what they wanted to hear, just like many people today.

18:33So flip back now to chapter 5, verses 4 and 5, and take a look at Jeremiah's conclusion. Then I said, These are only the poor. They have no sense, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the justice of their God. But they all alike had broken the yoke, they had burst the bonds.

19:14After running all over town, looking for one righteous person among the religious leaders, among the poor, among the wealthy, he did not find a single one. His conclusion. Is, but they had all alike broken the yoke. They had burst the bonds. Again, here's how Paul says it in the New Testament. Take a look at Romans 3. What then? Are we Jews any better off? No, not at all. For we have already charged that all, both Jews and Greeks, are under sin, as it is written. None is righteous. No, not one.

20:00No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they have become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Here's Paul's conclusion in verse 23 of Romans chapter 3. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Everybody is under sin. No one is righteous. No one seeks for God. No one does good. We have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Or as Jeremiah says, they all alike had broken the yoke. They had burst the bonds.

20:49Unfortunately, the yoke that they had broken off was not the yoke of slavery, and it was not the bonds of sin. Instead, They had broken God's easy, light yoke and had thrown it off. Just like Adam and Eve in the garden, they thought that they'd find freedom outside of God and his law. But they were wrong. All they found was slavery and shame. If you think back to Israel's lament at the end of chapter 3 in Jeremiah, they say, But from our youth, the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers labored.

21:37Because as we learned, sin and idolatry do not lead to freedom and joy, it leads to slavery and shame. So that brings us to our third question: How should the people of Judah respond? Let's go back to chapter 4, verse 14. O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you? Here, as always, we see God pleading for his people to repent, to wash their hearts from evil, so that. That they may be saved. That is God's heart for his people. It is God's heart for you. He wants to save you. That is his heart. Despite their wickedness, despite our wickedness, God desires to save his people from their sin and its consequences. That is the whole reason that he's revealing these things through Jeremiah. He's telling them about the disaster that is coming for what purpose?

22:58To move them to repentance, to get them to turn from their sin and return to him before it's too late. That's why he's doing all of this. But the people won't do it. Move ahead to chapter 5, verse 3. O Lord, do not your eyes look for truth? You have struck them down, but they felt no anguish. You have consumed them, but they refused to take correction. They have made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to repent.

23:42It's not like this is the first time that God has ever announced consequences for sin and rebellion and then followed through on those consequences. He has done this with his people for thousands of years, revealing these things to them and then carrying out his word. For a thousand years, Every time God's people turned away from him, God disciplined them with famine, with drought, with plague, with a conquering army, and more. And every time God did exactly what he said that he was going to do, his people would say they were sorry, that they would turn from their sin, that they would not do that anymore. They would follow him wholeheartedly.

24:25And yet, every time, his people would go back into sin, back into idolatry, returning to the same practices and habits that brought the discipline of the Lord upon them in the first place. But you see, this time is different. This time, they don't even feel sorry for their sin. Look again at what it says. They felt no anguish. They refused to take correction. They've made their faces harder than rock. They have refused to repent. This time is different.

25:06At least in the past, they said the right things. At least in the past, they said they were sorry and they wouldn't do it again. But not anymore. And so throughout chapter 5, God asks a series of rhetorical questions designed to show his people that they have left him no choice but to discipline them. Take a look at chapter 5, verse 7. How can I pardon you? Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery and trooped to the houses of whores. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife. Shall I not punish them for these things? Declares the Lord. And shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

26:04Go ahead to verse 22 in chapter 5. Do you not fear me? Declares the Lord. Do you not tremble before me? He goes on to say that even the ocean, the symbol, the ancient symbol of rebellion and chaos, it does exactly what he says. It travels no further than he allows. It causes no more damage than what he allows. It obeys his every decree, but not his people. Look at verse 23, chapter 5. But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart. They have turned aside and gone away. They do not say in their hearts, Let us fear the Lord our God, who gives the rain in its season, the autumn rain and the spring rain, and keeps for us the weeks appointed for the harvest. Your iniquities have turned these away. And your sins have kept good from you.

27:05So after rehearsing all of the wickedness of the people that we read just a few minutes ago in 26 through 28, he ends with this question in verse 29. Take a look there. Shall I not punish them for these things, declares the Lord? And shall I not avenge myself on the nation such as this? Through Jeremiah, God is asking, What am I supposed to do with you? You have repaid all of my goodness, all of my love, all of my care, every good thing that I've ever done for you. You have repaid all of that by turning away from me, by going into a life of sin, by worshiping false gods in my place.

27:53What am I supposed to do with you? The situation is what we might call the sinner's conundrum. When you look at the facts, the answers to these questions are obvious. But the people of Jerusalem and Judah wanted to avoid them because they couldn't answer the questions without implicating themselves. And that is true for us as well. In our sin, we cannot answer these questions without implicating ourselves. When David sinned, By committing adultery with Bathsheba and having her righteous husband Uriah killed on the battlefield, Nathan the prophet went to him with a parable. And in the parable, there's a rich man who has massive flocks and herds, and there's a poor man who has one little lamb that he raised almost like a daughter. And in the parable, this traveler comes from out of town to the rich man's house, but he's so greedy that he won't slaughter one of his own animals to prepare for the traveler. And instead, he goes and takes the one man's little lamb and he kills it.

29:17David is outraged when he hears the parable. He says, As the Lord lives, the man who did this deserves to die. And Nathan the prophet looks at him and says, You are the man. You are the man. You, the king of Israel, living in your palace with all of your wives and your concubines, in your greed and pride and lust and selfishness, you had to have more. You had to have the wife of one. Of your most loyal soldiers.

30:05You see, when it comes to the sins of other people, we can see all of that perfectly clearly with 20-20 vision. But when it comes to our own sin, our own failures, our vision is blurry. It's distorted by all of our excuses and justifications and reasons. Just like the people of Israel, we've got an explanation for why it's acceptable when we lie or when we take advantage of other people, when we withhold our money and resources, when we sleep with our boyfriend or girlfriend or a perfect stranger that we just met.

30:51In our minds, our excuses and justifications and reasons are perfectly rational. Of course, God shouldn't hold us responsible for our choices. But then, just like David, somebody lies to us or to somebody that we love, somebody exploits us or somebody that we love, somebody withholds from us or breaks a promise to us, and we say, as the Lord lives, the person who did this deserves to die. But we are that person. We are that man. We are that woman.

31:35So God asks his people, How can I pardon you? Shall I not punish you for these things? The answer is that there is no reason that God should pardon us. We deserve to be punished for our sin. But, friends, here is the good news: God is merciful. And all throughout this passage, he promises over and over to show mercy to his wayward and rebellious people. Just look at all these examples. Flip back to chapter 4, verse 27.

32:16For thus says the Lord, the whole land shall be a desolation, yet I will not make a full end. Flip back to chapter 5, verse 10. Go up through her vine rows and destroy, but make not a full end. Go ahead to chapter 5, verse 18. But even in those days, declares the Lord, I will not make a full end of you. The message is as clear as it is merciful. I am going to be a mercy of the mercy. Going to discipline you for your sin, but I will never destroy you.

33:07After all, that is the purpose of discipline. It is to restore and not to destroy. And so God leaves his people with the question at the very end of chapter 5, verse 31: But what will you do when the end comes? Indeed, what will they do when the loving but firm hand of discipline comes down on them? That is the question that the people of Judah and Jerusalem had to answer. God's judgment was coming in the form of an invading nation. Their lack of repentance made it unavoidable.

33:45What would they do when it arrived? And friends, that is the question that every one of us must answer today as well. In his teaching, Jesus made it very clear that he was going to return one day to judge the living and the dead. The end is coming. What will we do when it comes? In Luke chapter 13, some people come up to Jesus and they ask him a question that had been troubling them for some time. It's a familiar question. It's a question that probably every person who's ever existed has asked at one point or another.

34:30The question that the people ask Jesus in Luke 13 is essentially this: Why do bad things happen? Why do bad things happen? So, the people in Luke 13 tell Jesus that recently Pontius Pilate, the wicked governor of Judea, had murdered some Jews who were on their way to sacrifice in the temple. And the language is really shocking. It says that he mingled their blood with the sacrifices, suggesting perhaps something even more grotesque than just killing them.

35:10But they share this with him, and here is how Jesus responds to that. Take a look on the screen. And he answered them: Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then he continues, or those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

35:58The people are asking Jesus the question. Question, why do bad things happen? Is it because of sin? The specific sins that these people committed? Jesus says no. Neither the people that Pilate killed nor the people on whom the Tower of Siloam fell were worse sinners than anybody else. So it's not like these people were put to death because they were worse offenders. Jesus takes advantage of this moment to teach a critical lesson, friends. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

36:38That is the takeaway. You see, every time tragedy strikes, and tragedy strikes all the time in this fallen world, every time tragedy strikes and we are devastated and we're trying to make sense of it or help others make sense of it, we are supposed to be reminded that sin is the reason. The reason people murder, the reason towers fall, the reason natural disasters like hurricanes cause catastrophic damage and loss of life is sin. Because of our sin, we ourselves and the world that we inhabit are under a curse. One day, we will all die because the wages of sin is death.

37:31So every time there is a tragedy with the resulting loss of human life, Jesus tells us that we are supposed to say to ourselves, the wages of sin is death. I deserve to die because of my sin. This is a reminder that one day, one way or another, I will die. So I need to be ready. I need to repent. Friends, we're reminded today in Jeremiah that the end is coming, and we have to answer the question: what will I do in the end?

38:11Your own goodness will not be enough to make up for your sin against a holy God. Your own goodness is not good enough to be counted righteous before a holy God. That is why God sent his Son Jesus the first time. When he came 2,000 years ago, he came not to judge the world, but to save it. And he saved it by obeying God perfectly every moment of every day in our place. He came to save us by laying his life down in our place on the cross. He came to save us by rising from the dead, victorious over sin and its consequence, death. You see, we do not deserve pardon. We deserve judgment.

39:01But for those who trust in Jesus Christ, there is no judgment. There is no condemnation, either today or in eternity, because Jesus took all of it on the cross. And so turn to him today in faith. Receive him this morning. Turn from your sin and place your faith in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus on your behalf. There is no other hope for standing in the end. If you've already trusted in Christ, our text today reminds us that God will never destroy us as his people, but he does discipline us for our good. And so I want to leave you with this great reminder from Hebrews 12. It's a familiar passage to a lot of us, but we need reminders, and that's exactly what the passage assumes.

39:58And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son whom he receives. It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? If you are left with Discipline in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons.

40:38Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, children. We're trying. But he disciplines us for our good that we may share his holiness. For the moment, all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant. But later, it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

41:19Friends, in the moment, discipline is painful. It is painful for everybody. Kids, I know you don't believe this, but it is painful for us as your parents to have to discipline you. That is the hardest part of our job. We know that you don't like being disciplined. And for God the Father, it is the same exact way. He does not long to discipline his children. He longs to show mercy and grace to us. But one of the primary ways he shows mercy and grace to us is by disciplining us so that. We may share in His holiness so that one day we can be with Him forever in eternity because we have learned to trust in Him and in Him alone. So, brothers and sisters, do not despise the discipline of the Lord, receive it as God's great love for you because He loves us. God disciplines us for our eternal good. Let's pray, Father, we confess to you that if we had it our way, you would just leave us alone.

42:58Every child has thought that many times. I wish my dad would just leave me alone. I wish my mom would just leave me alone. And we have thought that about you. But you love us too much to leave us where we are. Sin doesn't lead to joy and freedom, and so you discipline us so that we will learn that. So we can experience the abundant life that Jesus promised us and walked. For us through his life, death, and resurrection. We pray this morning that you would teach us continually to receive your discipline as a good thing, as evidence of your love for us.

43:44In Christ's name we pray. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.