Jeremiah 8:4-10:25 “Disobedience Results in Just Punishment”

1:30To the danger looming around them. If we were to make a movie of the book of Jeremiah at this moment, chapters 8, 9, and 10, we would hear a score-like jaws signaling the impending danger. But Judah would be oblivious to the danger around them. Our studies in Jeremiah to date have focused on God's looming displays of justice in punishing Judah and in the surrounding heathen nations. One might ask: do these looming displays of justice apply to us today?

2:24The question is relevant because for centuries, Christians have been comparing their nation to that of Judah leading up to Judah's destruction. I am not challenging such comparisons because they are actually valid. In Jeremiah 5:29, we read: Shall I not punish them for these things? Declares the Lord. And shall I not avenge myself on them? On a nation such as this, paraphrasing one famous pastor. Judah's ingratitude and obstinacy were so notorious, their sins so enormous and aggravated, God appeals to their own consciences and makes them judges in their own cause.

3:25But the form of the question in Jeremiah 5:29 will not permit us to confine the application to Judah. The words are not on this nation particularly, but on a nation such as this. The pastor continues: The Lord has provided in the history of Judah a lesson of instruction and warning to every nation under the sun. And the nearer the state and character of any people resemble the state and character of Judah, the more reason that nation must tremble under the apprehension of similar justice.

4:08The famous pastor continues: like Judah, we are a highly favored people and have long enjoyed privileges which excite the admiration and envy of surrounding nations. But like Judah, we are also a sinful, ungrateful people. When we compare the blessings and mercies we have received from the Lord with our conduct towards him, we should be no less concerned with the question in Jeremiah 5 than Judah was of old. You might ask, who is this famous pastor? These comments, paraphrased from his sermon on Jeremiah 5:29, came from John Newton's 1781 sermon, The Guilt and Danger of Such a Nation as This.

5:15If Newton thought that the book of Jeremiah and Jeremiah 5:29 applied to 18th century England, I think it is very fair to say it applies to 21st century America. So, before we dive into our sermon, let's review a little bit of background. First, the collection of prophecies making up the book of Jeremiah is arranged topically rather than chronologically, and that arrangement of material is not very neat or ordered. Second, Jeremiah's career of prophecy, his prophetic career, spanned the reigns of five cases. Kings.

6:02Jeremiah's 40-year career, children, began at the age of 12 in the 13th year of Josiah's reign and continued for an unspecified period beyond the fall of Jerusalem. Third, it should be noted that the reforms of Josiah failed to permeate the general population. During Josiah's reign, if you remember, he raised money to repair the temple. The book of the law was found during that construction. He called for a time of national repentance. He had the law read to the people of the land. He made a covenant between the people and the Lord. He cleansed the temple from all objects of pagan worship. He demolished the idolatrous places in the high places in the land. He restored the observance of the Passover and he removed mediums and witches from the land.

7:08Yet not one word of these reforms occupies the pages of Jeremiah. And Jeremiah was there during all of it. Thus, the book of Jeremiah must be understood against Judah's backdrop of Extreme apostasy. The Lord God had made a people for his name, but these people were full of impostors. He had sought a covenant relationship with his people, but they had no interest in the same. So, with that background behind us, you will see the outline of chapters 8, 9, and 10. Don't take any notes. Chapter 8:4 through 17 focuses on the factors about the coming judgment. 8, 18 through 9, 11 explains Jeremiah's sorrow over this coming calamity. 9, 12 through 26 gives wise counsel to the people about the coming calamity. 10, 1 through 16 sets out the vast differences between the Lord and the idols. And then 10, 17 through 25 presents exile as the only viable option for Judah. Obviously, given the length of this passage, let me allow us to narrow our scope to the focus on the central point of our sermon. Disobedience results in just punishment.

8:47We will look at Jeremiah's explanation of the factors leading to Judah's imminent just punishment, the wisdom in the face of Judah's imminent Just punishment and hope despite Judah's imminent just punishment. And along the way, we will consider how Jeremiah's explanation applies to us today. First, let us examine the factors leading to Judah's imminent just punishment and consider how those apply to us today. He sets forth three factors leading to Judah's imminent just punishment. Look at the first is unnatural conduct.

9:37Look at verse 8, chapter 8, verse 4. You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord, when men fall, do they not rise again? If one turns away, does he not return? All right, young people, what is the natural response if you slip and fall? You get back up. What's the natural response if you leave home to go on a journey? What are you going to do? Come back? What's the natural response of an individual who's on a path and gets lost? What do you try to do?

10:17Yes. You make every effort to get back. It's normal for humans to act in these manners. Yet, Judah acts differently. Applying this spiritually to Judah, look at verse 5. Why then has this people turned away in perpetual backsliding? They hold fast to deceit. They refuse to return. Judah has slipped and fallen. They've left their spiritual home. They've wandered from the path of righteousness, not once, but perpetually. They turn away and fail to do what is natural.

10:57Why have these people turned away in perpetual backsliding? It's because they cling to the deceit promised by the false prophets of peace, and they stubbornly refuse to return to the Lord and his commands. Jeremiah continues his accusation of Judah's unnatural conduct in verse 6. No man relents of his evil, saying, What have I done? Everyone turns to his own course, like a horse plunging headlong into battle. Jeremiah likens Judah's energetic determination to go their own way to a horse in battle that is oblivious to the danger around them as they charge towards their death.

11:53Jeremiah concludes his accusation of Judah's unnatural conduct by contrasting. Their refusal to obey the Lord with birds. Even the stork in the heavens knows her times, and the turtle dove, swallow, and crane keep the time of their coming. But my people know not the rules of the Lord. Young people are going to help us out here. What do birds do as winter approaches? They migrate to a warmer climate. And if spring comes, they do what? They migrate back.

12:32Jeremiah points out that even birds, the stork, the turtle dove, the swallow, and the crane, all understand the seasons of the year. It's the migratory patterns. And how they should respond to them. Yet the people of God don't. They know not the rules of the Lord. So the first factor leading to Judah's imminent just punishment is their unnatural conduct. The second factor is their unwise conduct. Look at verse 8a. Jeremiah speaking, How can you say, people of Judah, we are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us?

13:19As Judah did with the ark and the temple, Judah treats the possession of the law as a kind of talisman. Yet the mere possession of a scroll of law means nothing. Obedience does not derive from the number of the copies of Scripture one possesses. What matters is that one's life is responsive to its injunctions and shaped by its precepts. So the second factor leading to Judah's imminent just punishment is their unwise conduct. The third is their lack of fruitfulness. Look at verse 13. When I would gather them, declares the Lord, there are no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree. Even the leaves are withered, and what I gave them has passed away from them.

14:20Judah was tasked with bearing fruit of righteousness to glorify God, but they failed to do so. They produced no fruit, and worse, they are compared to leaves, excuse me, to vines and trees that have no leaves. And young people, if you walk across in the middle of summer a plant with no leaves and no fruit, what do you think about that? It's dead. You're absolutely right. Likewise, Jeremiah is implying that Judah is spiritually dead. The sad part of Judah's unfruitfulness.

15:01Is seen in their kind of belated recognition of two things. First, their unfruitfulness was due to their sin. Look at verse 14. For the Lord our God has doomed us to perish and has given us poisoned water to drink because we have sinned against the Lord. Their unfruitfulness was also due to their believing that message of the false prophets. Look at verse 15. We looked for peace. The prophets had said, peace is coming, peace is coming, peace is coming. But no good came. For a time of healing, but behold, terror. The false prophets and priests had tried to convince the people that they could find a way to maneuver around the threat of Babylon.

15:47And they proclaimed in chapter 8:11, peace, peace. But Judah looked for peace, but no good came. Unfortunately, their sin and belief in the message of the false prophets would result in their punishment. Look at verse 17. For behold, I am sending among you serpents, adders that cannot be charmed, and they will bite you, declares the Lord. How might Judah's imminent, just punishment apply to us today? Obviously, America is not Judah, and Americans are not the people of God.

16:30Yet, our nation collectively is committing many of the same sins committed by Judah. Our worship of secularism, materialism, gender identity, and climate change is akin to Judah's worship of Baals. Our allowance of abortion, particularly after viability, is akin to Judah's practice of child sacrifice. Our immorality, lack of concern for the poor, and a lack of godly leaders is akin to that of Judah. Brothers and sisters, would it be wrong if God chose to punish our national disobedience?

17:27Likewise, many who profess Christ are like the professing Jews of Jeremiah's day. Many Christians who profess to be Christians have turned away from the Lord and have backslidden. They've clung to false promises and false teaching that promises health and wealth, which makes no requirement to be distinct from the rest of the world, or that which elevates social justice above that of the gospel. They have clung to false teaching. And these types of Christians do not know the rules of the Lord. They possess a Bible, attend church once or twice a month, donate some money to charitable causes, nothing close to what they spend on vacations.

18:17But their lives are neither responsive to biblical injunctions nor shaped by biblical precepts. They bear little fruit consistent with biblical godliness. Brothers and sisters, would it be wrong if God chose to punish such disobedience? Those are the factors leading to Judah's imminent just punishment. Let us now examine the wisdom in the face of Judah's imminent just punishment and consider how that wisdom may apply to us today. After reiterating why devastation will come upon Judah in chapter 9, verses 12 through 16, Jeremiah provides three pieces of wisdom to Judah. First, get ready. Look at verse 17. Thus says the Lord of hosts: consider and call for the mourning women to come. Send for the skillful women to come. Let them make haste and raise a wailing over us, that our eyes may run down with tears and our eyelids flow with water. Verse 20, hear, O women, the word of the Lord, and let your ear receive the word. Word of his mouth, teach to your daughters a lament, and each to her neighbor a dirge.

19:39As Jeremiah thought about the great calamity that was to come upon disobedient and idolatrous Israel, he called for the mourning women to be ready to do their job. And since this upcoming funeral was not that of an individual, but a state funeral for the entire nation, the professional mourners are to teach their tragic refrain to their daughters and their neighbors. For the days will be such a catastrophe that it will demand a multitude of mourners. Judah must get ready. Second, Judah must avoid self-delusion. Look at verse 23. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me. For I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justices, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. To glory in something is to celebrate it and to proclaim it. As the source of one's happiness and satisfaction. The problem with man is not that man longs to glory in something.

21:10The problem is he likes to glory in the wrong things, which leads to his own hurt, the hurt of others, and most seriously, to offend his creator. Speaking on behalf of Yahweh, Jeremiah described the things that men normally glory in: wisdom, might, riches. This is a mistake. The only thing to boast in, according to God, is that he understands and knows me. Speaking again on behalf of Yahweh, Jeremiah also states the things in which God delights, verse 24. It makes God happy when people know him as he really is. It makes God happy when people understand how his attributes, such as love, justice, and righteousness, are practiced in the world. God delights in the display of his character when it is known and understood by humanity. Judah must avoid self-delusion. And third, Judah must avoid religious delusion. Look at verse 25. Behold, the days are coming. Declares the Lord, when I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh: Egypt, Judah, Edom, the sons of Ammon, Moab, and all who dwell in the desert, who cut the corners of their hair. For all these nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised in heart.

22:55Jeremiah states that the days are coming in which God will punish both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. But just like the ark, the temple, and the book of the law, the ritualistic notion that the right of circumcision saves is dismantled. The covenant people of God may have practiced the ritual of circumcision, but their circumcision was merely an outward ceremonial act. It did them no good because it was not accompanied by an inward consecration to the Lord. Just as all of these nations are uncircumcised in the flesh, the house of Judah is uncircumcised in their heart.

23:42So, how might this wisdom given to Judah in the face of their imminent punishment, just punishment, apply to us? First, we need to get ready. We should prepare for persecution from an ungodly government. It's already starting, and it may very well continue. And we may need to be prepared for a just punishment of our disobedient nation, absent a real biblical revival. Second, we need to be aware of elevating our truth above that of God's Word. We need to avoid embracing truth that makes us susceptible to erroneous spiritual trends and pressures around us: same-sex marriage, transgenderism, etc.

24:43And third, we need to distinguish between outward ceremonial acts like attending church and inward consecration to the Lord. That is the wisdom in the face of Judah's imminent just punishment. Let us now examine the hope for Judah, despite imminent just punishment, and maybe consider how that hope might apply to us today. After again announcing the impending destruction in chapter 10, verses 17 and 18, Jeremiah issues a cry of anguish that is filled with pain and distress on behalf of the people in verse 19. Woe is me because of my hurt. My wound is grievous, but I said, truly, this is an affliction and I must bear it.

25:38Next, Jeremiah sets forth the failure of Judah's leaders, spiritual and political, and their consequences in verse 21. For the shepherds are stupid and do not inquire of the Lord. Therefore, they have not prospered, and all their flock is scattered. And finally, Jeremiah begins a petition on behalf of the people in verse 23. But you will remember that Jeremiah's call restricted him from calling upon God to relent of God's plan to justly punish Judah. Jeremiah 7:16, as for you, God speaking to Jeremiah, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you.

26:38A little bit later in Jeremiah 11, therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call upon me in their time of trouble. Moses and others had interceded with the Lord on behalf of God's people to turn him away from judgment. Yet the Lord commands Jeremiah not to do this. Jeremiah was not to intercede for Judah because the Lord was not going to relent from the calamity he had planned.

27:15Nevertheless, Jeremiah still appeals to the Lord, not to avert punishment, but for moderating it, so that there might be some hope left. So, what does Jeremiah appeal to? He appeals to God's sovereignty in verse 23. I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself. Jeremiah may not know what God's going to do through Babylon, but he does know that every step of Judah's way is mapped out in God's eternal purposes. He knows that God will make it all work for his own glory and that the good of his chosen people will be achieved in the end. Everything's within God's control, but nothing is within man's control. Jeremiah also appeals to God's justice in verse 25. Pour out your wrath on the nations that know you not, and on the peoples that call not on your name, for they have devoured Jacob. They have devoured him and consumed him and laid waste his habitation. When Jeremiah learned, That God is going to use the Babylonians as the instrument of his correction against Judah. He does not ask that justice be stopped. He rather asks that God also judge the Babylonians.

28:44And finally, Jeremiah appeals to God's mercy in verse 24. Holding himself out as a representation of the godly portion of Judah, Jeremiah states, Correct me, O Lord, but in justice, not in your anger, least you bring me to nothing. He considers the troubles coming upon the nation as a correction and a chastisement of the Lord. He does not refuse it or desire that it may not come upon him because he knows that the chastisement of a father are good. Yet he entreats that the correction might be with judgment, not in strict justice.

29:31He entreats that it might be with a moderation and maybe a mixture of mercy, so that he and godly Judah would not be completely destroyed. That is, least you bring me to nothing. He's the representation of godly Judah. In effect, he's pleading for the godly remnant. So, how might Judah's hope in the face of imminent Justice and punishment apply to us. Brothers and sisters, like Jeremiah, we should cry out in anguish over our national and our individual sin.

30:15We should ask that God judge disobedient nations. We should ask God would be merciful in judging our nation. And we should not place our hope in a rapture as if America is any different than any other country in this world that disobeys God. Rather, we should place our hope solely in God's sovereignty, in his justice, and in his mercy. So, in closing, if you could do only one thing, what should you be doing in this life?

31:04It's knowing God. Look back at Jeremiah 9:23. Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this that he Understands and knows me. What does it mean to know God? In answering this question, I think it's important to make a distinction. There's a difference between knowing about God and knowing God.

31:51James 2:19 tells us that even the demons know about God and they have the sense enough to shudder. Instead, to know God is to be brought into a personal, intimate relationship with Him through Jesus Christ. It means knowing His character, knowing His voice, listening and obeying Him, exhibiting His characteristics, enjoying a personal relationship with Him. Knowing God is just not knowing about Him, we actually know Him. We've seen Him work in our lives. We've tried Him and tested Him, and we see that He is good. We've built our lives upon His promises, and we've seen time after time that He's faithful to those promises.

32:59However, There's a problem that conflicts with such a personal, intimate relationship with God and knowing Him. And the problem is called sin. Sin keeps us from knowing God. Isaiah 59:2 states, but your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God. So, if the one thing that we should be doing in life is to pursue knowing God and sin has separated us from our God, how in the world are we supposed to know him? The good news is that God has come to us. How has He done that? He is through His written word, and especially through the Word, made flesh. In other words, God reveals Himself through the Bible and through the Lord Jesus Christ.

34:02Do you know God? If you don't know God, He stands waiting to embrace you. Romans 10:13 states, Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. If you don't know God, recognize that you are a sinner. Repent of your sin and turn to Him in faith. Place your trust. In Christ's perfect work on the cross. Acknowledge that He and He is the only way that you can ever know God. God wants you to know Him.

34:47Come to Him now. If you do know God, know that God is at work in you to produce His character, to make you more like Jesus. So, if you look at your life and you don't see a whole lot of God's character, steadfast love, justice, righteousness, you need to get serious about spiritual transformation. The knowledge of God does not sit idly in the mind, but is living and active and insists upon a personal response. Knowing God matters because if you do not know God, you cannot glorify Him. And glorifying God is why we are here.

35:43Judah's disobedience results in a just punishment. Likewise, we in America and believers specifically need to know that any punishment of our country would also Be just. Thank God that He has given us wisdom to face such a just punishment and hope, despite such a just punishment, were it to occur in our lifetime. Let us pray. Father, we recognize that you are a God of justice. You hate sin, you will punish sin because sin is the antithesis of you and your character.

36:55Lord, we also thank you that you are a God of mercy and that you choose to save us through your Son, who, because of his sinlessness, can pay for our sin so that your justice may be met and yet we can become your children. Lord, we live in a very unusual time. There are many who are predicting the end of the world. That's been predicted for eons. I have no idea when that's going to happen. But I do know this: that if this nation continues on the path that it is, and the people of this nation continue on the path that they are choosing to follow, you would be just in punishing us.

38:14So, as believers, may we strive to exhibit your character. May we strive to tell others of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And may we strive to be distinct and different from a nation that is sliding into godlessness. And may we not do that out of our own strength, but may we depend upon the Holy Spirit who will not only guide but can empower. Us to be holy in an unholy world. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.

39:13Thank 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.