Alright, let's go back to Jeremiah
chapter 4. The title of the message this
evening is A Prophet's Sorrow. A Prophet's Sorrow. And titled
that because of the opening here in verse 19 where Jeremiah cries
out in his anguish and his pain, he says, my bowels, my bowels,
He said, I am pained at my very heart. I mentioned this this
morning when talking about our Lord's crying out over Jerusalem. How is much like the prophet
Jeremiah, who is commonly known as the weeping prophet. And he's
called the weeping prophet because of his great sorrow. is great
love and concern for his nation, that sinful, idolatrous nation
of Judah, to which he had a message, a message of God's power and
goodness and grace in Christ. And yet they would not listen.
And it brought him to such an emotional state that it affected
his physical body. And this is the way they spoke
back then. We talk like this too today when he said, my bowels,
my bowels. You know, when you get into such
an emotional state, pressure, anguish, it affects your digestion. It affects your stomach. It affects
your blood pressure. It affects your heartbeat. All
of these things. And that's the way they saw it. That's the way it is. And that's
why he uses this language. We see something. If you want
to know something of what I believe in the Bible is the greatest
expression of the anguish of the soul, it's not found in any
mere human being, it's found in our Savior, in the Garden
of Gethsemane. When our sins were put upon Him,
charged to Him, imputed to Him, And he suffered, as Isaiah described
it, the travail of his soul. And how did it affect him physically?
Well, it says there in, in the garden of Gethsemane that he
sweat great drops of blood. I've never heard of anybody doing
that or seeing anybody do it. I've, I've heard some commentators
try to liken that to particular diseases, but he didn't have
a disease there. He was suffering like no body
had ever suffered before under the weight of our sins imputed
to Him. And that's one of the reasons
I've told people, I said, if you want to see how real imputation
is, just look at our Savior in the Garden of Gethsemane. Suffering,
and that was soul suffering. His suffering there really wasn't
physical in the sense that he was being harmed in his body. Later on, he was going to go
through that. They were going to beat him with
the whip and the stripes and place the crown of thorns on
his head and nail him to the cross, all of that. But it was
a soul suffering that we can't really describe and define and
try to theologize. Don't do that. Just stand amazed
in the presence of our savior and understand that what he was
going through there was to fulfill all righteousness on behalf of
his people. Sinners, sinners who didn't deserve
one drop of his blood, let alone him sweating great drops of blood. And so we see that soul suffering. Well, Jeremiah is going through
a lighter degree of that, but a great degree for us human beings,
us mere humans. My bowels, my bowels. And he
wasn't grieving over his nation from a point or a viewpoint of
self-righteousness. But because he knew of man's
condition by nature. Jeremiah knew about that. And
you're going to see that as we continue through this great book
of God's word. Dead in trespasses and sins.
He knew our need of forgiveness by the blood of Christ. Oh Lord,
there is forgiveness with thee. That's what we need. I need forgiveness
every day. Don't you? He knew our need of
righteousness. For without it, there is no hope. Without it, there is no salvation.
For without it, there is no eternal life. He knew the only way of
salvation by God's grace in Christ, and he preached amongst a people
who rejected the God of grace, the God of the covenant, The
Christ of God rejected him for idols and for their own self-righteous,
self-fulfilling purposes. He saw the judgment of God against
sin coming upon his nation, and it grieved him. He knew that
if they didn't have Christ, that there was nothing but wrath for
his nation. And I put it to you that that's
the same state of our nation. And we ought to grieve over it.
Grieve that people are not interested. You know, that's the thing about
it. It's not just that people are ignorant of the true and
living God. Paul wrote about that. He said,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel. Paul grieved
just like Jeremiah, is that they might be saved. And he said,
I'll bear them record they have a zeal of God. They're religious,
but not according to knowledge. they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish a righteousness
of their own have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness
of God for Christ is the end of the law for righteousness
to everyone that believeth they wouldn't submit to Christ and
he grieved over that and he knew that without Christ there's nothing
but wrath for people for sinners and yet people are ignorant of
that But here's really, to me, the proof positive that men by
nature, all of us by nature, are totally depraved. And that
is this, not only are we ignorant of it, we're not even interested
in it. And yet we see the tragedy the sicknesses and the death
that this world has to offer all around us every day. We even
have a column in the paper called the obituaries. And we probably
look at it every day. I know I do. To see who passed
away. One day my name is going to be
there. One day your name is going to be there. You say, well preacher,
why do you want to be so morbid? I'm not trying to be morbid.
I'm trying to be real. This is reality. How many, how
many of our dear brethren have gone on to meet the Lord, but
that's a time of joy, isn't it? For the people of God. But Jeremiah
looked at his nation. He, he saw the state of his nation.
He brought the charges of God against the nation. And then
he says, my anguish, my anguish. And in Jeremiah's case, it gets
worse. Later on, we'll see where it
gets so bad that he decides he's just gonna quit. I'm not gonna
preach anymore, that's what he said. I'm not gonna say another
word to this bunch. I'm gonna wipe my hands of them
and go live the rest of my life out in peace. But what happens
to him, is he said, the word of God burns within me like a
fire and I could not stay quiet. It even affected him physically
then. These things do. Our Lord said, he that hath the
son hath life. He that hath not the son hath
not life. How many people do we know in
our families in our communities that are literally, spiritually
speaking, the walking dead. Think about it. And I know, I
mean, I know you can't go up and buttonhole people and force
them into the kingdom of heaven, force them into belief. Listen,
we can't even save ourselves. But we need to act as witnesses
of the truth. We need to stand for the truth.
We don't need to compromise, because it will do them no good.
To compromise the gospel of God's grace in Christ, which shows
us the only way of eternal life, is the equivalent of a doctor
giving you watered down medicine to cure your disease, and it'll
do you no good. And we call them quacks, don't
we? So Jeremiah wouldn't compromise.
And he knew that. Look at verse 20. He says, destruction
upon destruction is cried. That's what he's crying. Back
up there, he said in verse 19, he said, I cannot hold my peace.
I can't keep from telling you the truth. Destruction is coming. Because you've heard, O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. God's wrath is
coming upon this nation. There's no salvation for you
in this nation. There's only salvation in Christ. And he says, verse 20, destruction
upon destruction is Christ. For the whole land is spoiled.
There's no place in this land that you can go that is unspoiled
with sin and depravity and idolatry and darkness. There's no place
you can go. Somebody said, well, I want to
get out of the sinful city and get into the holy country. That
ain't going to help you. That's what he's saying here.
The whole land is spoiled from the woods to the buildings. You see, geography is not our
problem. Now, I admit to you, somebody
said this morning, let's just take up, I think it was Buddy
said, or somebody said this to me, I don't remember who it was,
but it may have been you, Buddy. He said, let's just take up the
whole church and move to Florida. And I said, I'm ready. I'm ready to go. I like warm
weather. I got it. But that's not going
to help us spiritually. Not at all. There's no, you can
make trips to the Holy Land and get baptized in the Jordan River
and it will not help you. Make your pilgrimage to Mecca
if that's what you want to do. Go stare at Buddha's belly button.
It will not help you. Geography is not our problem.
There is no holy place on this earth. And that's what Jeremiah
is telling his people, this whole nation, this whole land is spoiled.
He says in verse 20, now listen to this. He says, suddenly are
my tents spoiled and my curtains in a moment. Now there's two
views of this, of that phrase. One view is that they, he says
that Jeremiah is talking about their home. We think about the
home as a place of safety, a place of peace, and a place of comfort. And I hope that's what your home
is. That's what our home is. We want to go home. Nothing like
sleeping in your own bed, that kind of thing. But if that's
what Jeremiah's talking about, and it could very well be, then
he's saying that there's no salvation in your home. I love home, sweet
home. But that's not my salvation.
There's only salvation in Christ. And he is our eternal home. Heaven
is to be with Christ, isn't it? And then other commentators say
that this is a direct reference to the temple in Jerusalem. And
that could very well be because over in chapter 5 and on, he's
going to show them how the temple, the temple which was to be a
type and picture of Christ and His church and the way of salvation
by the grace of God in Him had actually become a stumbling block
to them. Isn't that the way that man is
by nature? And so the tent spoiled and the
curtains could refer to the temple. And if that's the case, then
he's simply saying that there's no salvation or safety or refuge
in that earthly temple. Look over at Isaiah chapter 1.
Isaiah speaks this way too. When he's speaking about the
religion of the people. Look at verse 10 of Isaiah chapter
1. Did I say 2? It's 1. Isaiah chapter
1, look at verse 10. And notice here, now Isaiah,
he preached in Jerusalem also. And this was about, some say
70, probably about 100 years before Jeremiah. And he says,
Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto
the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah. Now he didn't preach
in Sodom and Gomorrah, they were destroyed already. You know about
that. But he's saying that the spiritual
state of Israel, Judah, Jerusalem, in his day, was just as bad or
worse than Sodom and Gomorrah. And he says, and what was their
problem? Verse 11, to what purpose is
the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? Their sacrifice is at
the temple. And notice that to what purpose
is it. God commanded the sacrifices,
but for what purpose? It was to picture Christ. It
was to be an admission of guilt and depravity and to show forth
their need of the promised Messiah and righteousness in him. And
he said, well, what purpose is your sacrifices unto me, saith
the Lord? I'm full of the burnt offerings
of rams and the fat of fed beasts. What he's saying is I'm fed up
with you. I've had enough of it. He said, I delight not in
the blood of bullocks or of lambs or of he-goats. Now, you know,
when I read that, one of the things that comes to mind for
me, he says, I delight not in the blood of bullocks and of
lambs. There was a time God said, when I see the blood, I'll pass
over you. Now he's saying, I delight not
in the blood of lambs. What's the difference? Well,
it's not the animal blood, but it's who that animal blood pictured.
and typified the Lamb of God. This is all about Christ, you
see. And that's what Jeremiah keeps
telling them over and over again. This is not about you. It's about
the God of grace who saves sinners through His promised Messiah,
the Anointed One, the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it's all
about. And you've turned it into a self-righteous
system of legalism. That's what he's saying. And
I want to tell you something, folks. It's just as bad in our
generation today. He says in verse 12 of Isaiah
1, when you come to appear before me, who hath required this at
your hand to tread in my courts? That's talking about the temple.
So he says, bring no more vain oblations, offerings, vanity. incense is an abomination unto
me. That incense, you remember what
it represented? The prayers of Christ for his
people and the prayers of the people going up to Christ. He says the new moons and sabbaths,
those feast days. The sabbaths, what the sabbaths
represent? Our rest in Christ. But they
turned them into legalism. The calling of assemblies, that's
their worship assembly, I cannot away with. It's iniquity, he
says. It doesn't measure up. You see, the only righteousness
I have before God is Christ. Nothing I do and nothing you
do will measure up to Christ. Why is it so hard for us to get
that in our heads? I'll tell you why. Because we're
sinners. You know it's a miracle of God.
I see that and I'm not exaggerating. I see my standing here preaching
to you the gospel of Christ from this book as a miracle of God's
grace. I see that as a miracle. Because I can remember sitting
back there right in front of the place where Paul and Lisa
are sitting. Just opening this book for one purpose and that's
trying to prove the man who was up here wrong. And I thought about it. It's
a miracle that I'm up here preaching. But my preaching does not measure
up to Christ. I'm preaching Christ who does
measure up. He is my righteous. You see the
difference there? And that's what he's talking
about here. Now this is where the people under the old covenant
have come to under Jeremiah's preaching. They're no better
off. And he says, my anguish, my anguish.
Look at verse 21 back in Jeremiah 4. Listen to this. He says, how long shall I see
the standard and hear the sound of the trumpet? What he means
by that is how long am I going to speak to you and you don't
listen? Remember, Paul spoke of this in 1 Corinthians 14 when
he talked about the trumpet sounding a clear note. And what he was
talking about there is the clear preaching of the gospel. without
confusion and Jeremiah is saying right here I've held up the standard
I've blown the trumpet God's wrath is coming there's only
one way for a sinner to avoid this wrath and that's to run
to Christ who is our only refuge plead his blood and his righteousness
alone for all salvation well how long and then in verse 22
he says for my people foolish my people are foolish You see,
why are they foolish? He said, they have not known
me, they have not known God. They are soddish children, as
Brother Aaron told you, that's drunk, spiritual drunks. To be spiritually drunk is to
have no discernment of good and evil, right and wrong, what direction
to go and not to go. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Any way but him is spiritual
drunkenness. And he says, and they have none
understanding. They don't understand the way
of eternity. Isn't this, that verse there is kind of the same
as what Paul wrote in Romans 3. There's none righteous, no
not one. There's none that understandeth.
There's none that seeketh after God. There's none that doeth
good. He said they don't have that. You see, foolishness is
to be ignorant of the true and living God. Now these people
under Jeremiah's preaching are like people today. They think
they know God. There was a time I thought I
knew God, but I didn't know God at all. I went to a seminary to learn
about God. I didn't learn about God at all.
I learned about an idol. I went out and preached in evangelistic
meetings, preaching God. I wasn't preaching God at all.
I wasn't preaching Christ at all. They think they know God,
but they don't. And that's why all the prophets
had to deal with their willful ignorance and point them to God.
Look, look, you remember over there in Jeremiah 31, where he's
talking about the new covenant? And there in verse 34, Now, this
gives you an idea of what this means, all right? Remember, he
says they don't know God. I think it was Hosea or maybe
Amos, I can't remember. I think it was Hosea who said
it, though, who I believe was a contemporary with Isaiah. And he said, my people are destroyed
for lack of knowledge. Paul wrote it. I quoted that
earlier. He said, they have a zeal of
God, but not according to knowledge, this ignorance, you see. Remember
over here in Jeremiah 31 and verse 34, he said, under the
new covenant, it's not going to be that way. Look at verse
34. They shall teach no more every
man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying, know the
Lord. You see, that was Jeremiah's message. You're ignorant of God.
You need to know God. Now, how's a sinner going to
know God? Well, it comes by powerful, sovereign, invincible revelation
as God the Holy Spirit drives a sinner to Christ. in whom dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and wherein the glory
of God rests. And he says, for they shall all
know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith
the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity and will remember
their sin no more. That's the knowledge of God.
And then back here in Jeremiah 4, he says they have none understanding.
They don't understand the reality of who God is. And he's holy
and just and righteous and must punish sin. And that if sinners
are going to be accepted before him, they cannot come on their
own terms. They must come to him on his
terms. And his terms is the execution of judgment and justice. He says
that. In fact, when Jeremiah speaks
of the coming of the promised Messiah in Jeremiah 23 and Jeremiah
33 and in other places, he talks about the Messiah is going to
come to do this. He's going to come to execute
judgment and justice. Now why is the Messiah coming
to do that? Because that's God's terms. What does that mean? That means judgment has to be
passed, justice has to be fulfilled, righteousness has to be established,
and the only way God does that is through the person and the
finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He doesn't do it any
other way. Your religion won't do it. Your decisions won't do
it. Your baptism won't do it. Your
giving won't do it. Your church membership won't
do it. That's the work of one and one alone. By one offering,
he hath sanctified forever. He hath cleansed forever them
that are sanctified. Purge forever. They have no understanding
of the reality of their sinfulness. That's why they're steeped in
religion. They think that's good. They
think God accepts that. There was a time I thought that
too. You thought it too. But oh no, it won't happen. They
have no understanding of the reality of God's way of salvation
in Christ. But now here's what they do know.
Now look back here at verse 22. Now here's what man by nature
does know. Look at this. The second part
of verse 22. They are wise to do evil. He
has a wisdom to do evil. Now that's foolishness, but he's
making a play on words here. They're wise to do evil. They
know how to do evil. They, but to do good, they have
no knowledge. You remember over in a verse
that we quote all the time over in Jeremiah 13, verse 23, this
is where he says, can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard
his spots? That's man by nature. That's
how you're born. Fallen, ruined in Adam, spiritually
dead and trespasses. Then may you also do good that
are accustomed to doing evil. That's all we know how to do.
Now, that doesn't mean we don't know how to be religious. Man
knows how to be religious. It doesn't mean we know how to
keep out of jail. Now, man knows how to keep out
of jail. He's got a conscience. There's legal restraints. There's
social restraints that God has put. And there's the restraining
hand of God. And when God removes that restraint,
we've seen what happens. Oh, Lord, don't remove it from
me. So man knows how to be religious, he knows how to stay out of jail,
he knows certain things of human morality, but what does he not
know? He doesn't know how to do good
in the sight of God. There's none that doeth good,
no, not one. You say, well, I have a hard time believing that. I
know you do. I've been there. I've been there. What is it to
do good? Do you remember the rich young
man in Matthew chapter 19 who came to Christ? He said, good
master, what good thing must I do to inherit eternal life?
And Christ said, well, why do you call me good? There's none
good but God. What was he showing there? He
said, well, you don't believe that Jesus of Nazareth is God
in human flesh? Then don't call him good. That's
what Christ was teaching there. Don't call me good, there's none
good but God. Man's fallen, man's sinful, none
good but God. But he said, if you're going
to get it that way, then keep the law. Remember what the fellow
said, I've done that, kept that from my youth, even Christ related
to him the second table of the law. He said, I've done that
from my youth up. He said, well, let's put it to
the test. Go sell everything you have, give it to the poor
and come follow me. Couldn't do it. He didn't know how to
do good. All that time he thought he was
doing good and he went away sorrowful. Man doesn't know how to do it.
Look at verse 23. Now here's what he says. In these verses he starts off,
I beheld the earth. I beheld the earth. Now I want
you to notice this. When we look at this sinful fallen world,
what do we see? Now here's what Jeremiah saw.
Look at verse 23. He says, I beheld the earth,
and, lo, it was without form, and void, and the heavens, and
they had no light. Now, obviously, your mind goes
where when you read that? It goes back to Genesis 1. That
was the earth before creation. A lot of people try to read a
lot of theology into this. I'm not going to do that tonight.
I'm just going to let the Word speak. But here's what he's saying. that the spiritual condition
of Judah, the spiritual condition is likened to the physical condition
of this earth before God created it and brought all things to
its proper order and said, let there be light. It was without
form and void and in utter darkness. That's the spiritual condition
of Judah. My friend, that's the spiritual
condition of every sinner without Christ. That's man by nature
right there. That's the ruination. No light. And then in verse 24 he says,
I beheld the mountains and lo they trembled and all the hills
moved lightly. What that's speaking of is the
earth as an unsettled place without a firm foundation. You think,
you know, you think those mountains that they can't be moved? No,
no. He said they tremble and the hills are moved lightly.
In other words, the hills are moved like a feather. So the spiritual condition of
Judah was like an unsettled place without a firm foundation. You
see, only Christ is our settled place. Only Christ is our firm
foundation. We stand upon the rock Christ
Jesus, and if we don't have Christ, we're like the mountains that
are moved and the hills that are moved, mountains that tremble. Look at verse 25, he said, I
beheld, now same thing, I beheld there and lo, there was no man
and all the birds of the heavens were fled. What's he saying there?
No life. No population. No life there. It's a dead place. All were taken
captive or fled away. This is man's destiny without
Christ who is our life. Christ is our life. He is our
life. And sin demands eternal death. Righteousness demands life. Where
are we going to find righteousness? Only in Christ. Nowhere else. And then look at verse 26. He
said, I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all
the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord
and by his fierce anger there's no fruitfulness there that's
man's spiritual condition, that's the spiritual condition of Judah
no prosperity there no safety there you know cities back then
were considered to be a place of safety for the most part but
here's what he's saying, listen to it and listen he said they
were all broken down at the presence of the Lord now Think about it. The presence of the Lord should
be a comfort to us. But it's not here. And that's
the way it is without Christ. Without the grace of God. The
presence of the Lord should not be a comfort to people who don't
know Him, who don't know Christ. Because His presence is the presence
of wrath. He says, and by His fierce anger. You remember when he set up the
plans for the temple and the tabernacle and the holiest of
all, the holy of holies and how to make the ark of the covenant.
In Exodus 25, we read this a few messages back. He said, there
will I meet with thee and there will I commune with thee. That's
his presence of grace and mercy and love to his people based
on justice satisfied, the blood. And you see, that's the presence
of the Lord that I want to have for us. Moses said, Lord, if
you don't go with us, don't let us go. We want your presence,
but not his wrath. We want his presence in peace,
his presence in blessing. Where are you going to find that?
Only in Christ. But without Him, there's no fruitfulness,
there's no safety, there's no prosperity, there's no comfort,
only a righteous judge who must punish sin. That's the case of
all without Christ. If we don't have Christ to take
our judgment for our sins, then we're doomed. And I believe that's
exactly what John meant when he was inspired by the Spirit
to talk about conviction in John chapter 16. when he says the
spirit will come and convince the world of sin because they
believe not on me. In other words, that's what Christ
was saying to his disciples. In other words, our measure of
sin will be in line with Christ. In other words, without Christ,
all I am and all I do is sin in the sight of God. and then
he said of righteousness because I go unto the father in other
words Christ came to fulfill righteousness and he went to
the father ascended after his death burial and resurrection
he ascended unto the father as our advocate and intercessor
to plead the merits of his righteousness on our behalf so that we can
confidently say there is therefore now no condemnation to them who
are in Christ who shall lay anything to the charge of God's It's God
that justified. Who can condemn us? It's Christ
that died. Yea, rather He's risen again
and seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession
for us. And then He said to convince
the world of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged. And I believe that's what He's
talking about there. We, the Holy Spirit convicts, convinces
us in the gospel that our sins have already been judged and
put away by Christ on that cross. And the prince of this world
who's been judged openly at that time, he cannot accuse us anymore. We turn him back by the blood
of the Lamb. So without Christ, all there
is is judgment. Now look back and look at verse
27. He says, For thus hath the Lord said, The whole land shall
be desolate. Now this is not going to be any
partial judgment here on the land. The whole land is going
to be under judgment, desolate. But look at what he says next.
Yet will I not make a full end. So even though God's judgment
would fall upon all of Judah, the whole land, just like it
fell upon all Israel, the northern kingdom, He was not yet finished
with Judah. Now why is that? Well, you know
why, don't you? How many times have I referred
to it? Genesis 49 and verse 10. The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, until Shiloh come." Now, what's this saying? Well,
Judah is going to, the whole land is going to be desolate,
the whole nation is going to be taken into captivity. But
God is not going to utterly obliterate this place like He did in the
northern kingdom until Shiloh comes, until Christ. In other
words, He in His providence, in His power, and I want to tell
you something, if you read the history of it, it is an amazing,
an amazing work of the power and grace of God. in his providence
he kept this nation together even in their captivity even
in their subjection to foreign powers until he sent his son
into the world at the appointed time in the fullness of the time
God sent forth his son made of a woman made under the law to
redeem them that were under the law It's amazing. And all for
what? For the salvation of his elect
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. And here's
the way I think you and me, we should look at it. He did it
for me. Not that I'm the center of the
universe or anything like that, but I'm a point of his glory,
the glory of God and the salvation of a sinner. Look at verse 28. He says, For this shall the earth
mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken
it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn
back from it. He says, The whole city shall
flee for the noise of the horsemen and the bowmen, this is the enemy
coming down on them, the Babylonian army coming in. They shall go
into the thickets and climb up upon the rocks, and every city
shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. What he is saying
here is God's judgment is sure to all the wicked. There's nothing
can stop it. And the spiritual lesson for
us is this, all who are found when we go to meet God or God
comes the second time, when Christ comes the second time, all who
are found without Christ, this is the purpose of God, to bring
wrath. Verse 30, he says, and when thou
art spoiled, what wilt thou do? When this comes, what are you
going to do? Well, there's nothing you can do. But you know what
people do? You know when tragedy comes to
people's lives or some great devastation or they get close
to death. You know what people normally
do? What do they do? They get what? Get religion. Here's the
picture of man's religion. Look at it. Verse 30. Though
thou clothest thyself with crimson, gonna dress it up pretty. He
says, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, gonna
put on the best, though thou rentest thy face with painting,
that means that you cover it, in vain shalt thou make thyself
fair, thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life. A graphic description of the
vanity and worthlessness of man's works will religion. false religion. It will not save
you. It will not help you. In fact,
the description he gives here is like the description you find
in the scriptures normally of a harlot. That's really what
it is. Man's religion is nothing more
than spiritual harlotry. Now notice the difference. Let's
look at the opposite. Turn back to Isaiah 61, just
a few pages. When it comes to real salvation,
true salvation, eternal salvation, listen to this description now.
He says in verse 10 of Isaiah 61, And this is all in line with
the coming of Christ to do His great work to save His people
from our sins. And He says, I will greatly rejoice
in the Lord. My soul shall be joyful in my
God. Now that's how it starts. For
He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. Now over in Jeremiah
4, while they're clothing themselves, that's self-righteous works religion. But here it says, He hath clothed
me with the garments of salvation. God does it. This is the work
of God. Salvation is of the Lord. It
says, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. Gold
won't help you. But righteousness ensures and
secures your salvation. That's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. As a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as
a bride adorneth herself with her jewels, and for as the earth
bringeth forth her bud, and the garden calleth the things that
are sown it to spring forth, so the Lord will cause righteousness
and praise to spring forth before all the nations. Now there's
the opposite of Jeremiah 4 and verse 30 right there. That's
grace. That's Christ. You see the difference? He hath
clothed me. And then look back at verse 31.
He says, For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and
the anguishes of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice
of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth
her hands, saying, Woe is me now, for my soul is wearied because
of murderers. Their distress, Jeremiah is saying
this, when all this comes about, your distress will be like a
woman in labor, but without the fruit of the labor. without the
fruit of life, without the fruit of salvation that can only come
to a sinner by God's grace in Christ.