in Jeremiah chapter 14. I want to direct you this evening
for a while to verse 21. Jeremiah 14, 21. Do not abhor
us for thy name's sake. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory. Remember, break not Thy covenant
with us. Do not abhor us for Thy name's
sake. Do not disgrace the throne of
Thy glory. Remember, break not Thy covenant
with us." I want us to consider this particular part of the prayer
of Jeremiah. The chapter does contain his
prayer not only his prayer but the way
in which we see him communing with God as the Lord's prophet
as he speaks to his God so the Lord will answer him and speak
to him. In many ways we have a dialogue
between God and the prophets but surely this verse that I've
just read for a text is very much part of Jeremiah's prayer
and yet We see previously how the Lord tells him not to pray
for the people. Verse 11, Then said the Lord
unto me, Pray not for this people for their good. But surely we
have to recognize that what is being spoken of there is their
external good. He's not to pray that there might
be deliverance. from the famine. Evidently that
was the great problem at that time. There was a terrible dearth,
a want of rain in the lands. But he's not to pray that they
might be released from that famine or that they might be saved from
going into Babylon. He's not to pray with regards
to their external well-being But he is not wrong to pray for
their spiritual good. And isn't that what he is principally
concerned for? The matter of their sin, and
how the Lord must deal with them as sinners and chastise them
for their sins. And he's pleading with God that
he would not altogether disown them, that he break not his covenant
with them. And so we see how he uses this
great figure of the throne. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory or the throne of God's glory. was there of course in
the tabernacle that the Lord God said he would meet with them
back in Exodus chapter 25 where Moses is receiving all that instruction
concerning the furnishings of the tabernacle and amongst other
things we read of the mercy seat. There was the Ark of the Covenant
and on top of the Ark that covering with the cherubims on each end
with their wings outspread over the mercy seat and it was there
that God said He would meet with the children of Israel in Exodus
25, 22 there I will meet with thee and I will commune with
thee He says from above the mercy seat from between the two cherubims
and the psalmist on occasions, pleads concerning that promise
that God had given that He would not forsake His people, that
Psalm of Asaph, Psalm 80, Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, thou
that leadest Joseph like a flock, thou that dwellest between the
cherubims, shine forth. before Ephraim and Benjamin and
Manasseh, stir up thy strength and come and save us. Turn us
again, O God, and cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. Again in Psalm 99, we read these
words, O LORD, reigneth, let the people tremble, he sitteth
between the cherubims, let the earth be moved. O God was there,
that was his throne, there in the midst of his people, in the
Holy of Holies, which was the glory of the tabernacle. And it's spoken of later in chapter
17 and verse 12, a glorious high throne from the beginning is
the place of our sanctuary. Oh, no wonder the Prophet prays
as we have it here in our text. Disgrace not the throne of thy
glory, as it had been the glory of the tabernacle, so it was
also the glory of that temple that was built by Solomon, that
temple that replaced the tabernacle. There in 1 Kings chapter 6 we
see that God's throne was the promise of His presence, the
Shekinah glory, in the midst of the temple. But We see that
in Judah at that time there was a great deal of formalism. They
simply trusted these outward things, these external things. And again in that 7th chapter
we see how God rebukes them through the words of His servant, the
prophet. Chapter 7 verse 4, Trust ye not
in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, are these. They thought that
they were safe, that they were secure, because there in the
midst of Jerusalem there stood the temple of the Lord. there
is that in us all by nature I suppose
to trust in outward things to think that we're accepted simply
because we do the thing that is right because we come together
into a prayer meeting like this or because we gather together
and seek to worship God in In a formal way, there's nothing
wrong with the right and the proper form. Things will be done
decently and in order, and we meet together regularly, Lord's
Day by Lord's Day. And we often sing, don't we,
that hymn of Berridge, 884, with solemn weekly state, he says.
The worldling treads thy court, content to see thy gate, and
such as there is ought. but are what is the house to
me unless the master I can see. And aren't we all guilty in some
measure? We're content if we simply meet with those who resort
to the house of God. There's nothing wrong to enjoy
Christian fellowship, one with the other, but are we just satisfied
with that, with the social aspect of our religion? Or is it that
when we come together we do desire that we might know something
real, that we might be those who have a desire to meet with
the Lord God Himself and to discover something more of the wonders
of Christ, the glories of His person, and that great work that
He accomplished for sinners? Well, we need to be aware of
the dangers of a merely formal religion. Doesn't the Apostle
speak of some who have a form of godliness? but they deny the
power thereof. What do we know of the power?
The gracious power of those holy things that we're so blessed
to handle as we come together week by week, not only on the
Lord's Day, but also on these Thursday evenings. The formalists. Oh God, deliver us from formalism.
God, deliver us from all pretense, all hypocrisy, all play-acting.
What of the formalist? Well, what does the formalist
know of the ebb and flow of the life of faith? The formalist likes those things
that are pleasing. That word that is not very cutting. He doesn't want to be reproved
or rebuked by the word of God. He wants to hear pleasant things.
And we see here how that these people really love the words
of the false prophets. Interesting what we have later
in chapter 23 and there at verse 31 God says, Behold, I am against
the prophets, saith the Lord, that use their tongues, and say,
he saith. He's against those prophets who
use their tongues, and say, he saith. Now the margin is interesting
because he tells us that literally it is against those that smooth
their tongues. they smooth their tongues, and
say, He saith." He's against those who are simply speaking
smooth words. Smooth words. Again, we read of such in the
book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 13 verse 10, which say, to the
seers, Seenots unto the prophets, prophesied not unto us right
things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesied deceits. That's how they should treat
those false teachers. But they only want to hear smooth
things, these people. They want to hear peace, peace,
when there is no peace. as we have it here in verse 13.
Then said I, Our Lord God, behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye
shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine, but I will
give you assured peace in this place. This is what the false
prophets were saying. And here is Jeremiah, and you're
probably familiar with the content of the book. We read the book
and Jeremiah feels himself to be a man very much alone because
he's speaking of God's terrible judgments that are going to fall
upon the people. and they don't want this and they have no real fear, they
don't think God is ever going to forsake the nation but how
different is the Prophet and we plead with his God here at
verse 19, as thou utterly rejected Judah at thy soul loathes Zion,
why hast thou smitten us? and there is no healing for us,
we look for peace and there is no good, and for the time of
healing, and behold, trouble, we acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness
and the iniquity of our fathers, for we have sinned against them."
Now he is faithful, faithful in the way in which he speaks
to the people, but also faithful in the way in which he pleads
to his God. They want to hear smooth things,
they smooth with their tongues. But not this man. This man speaks
God's truth. Jeremiah 23 29 is not my word
like us a fire set the Lord and like a hammer the breaker of
the rocks in pieces that was the sort of ministry that this
man was seeking to to exercise. Oh Amos says woe to them that
are at ease in Zion. Oh the dead formalist he has
a false security It's a very dangerous and unprofitable situation
to be in, just to have that form, to have that life that knows
nothing of the ebb and flow, which is surely the life of faith. Trust ye not in lying words,
saying, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord are these. how he repeatedly rebukes the
people. Down there in verse 8 of chapter
7, Behold ye trust in lying words, he says, that cannot profit. There is no profit in a mere
external religion for of godliness, and yet knowing nothing at all
of the power of those things. It must come that real conviction
into the soul, that realization that we have sinned and God must
deal with us. Conviction will always come before any real comfort. What comfort can a Savior bring
to those who never felt their woe? A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so.
Strange words to some to read what Joseph Hart says there in
the hymn, but it's the truth, isn't it? That sin of his sacred
whom the Lord has dealt with and brought under the conviction
of his sin. It's a great favor of God when we come before him
as those who feel that we have a real need. It's not just salvation
at the beginning, is it? Not an experience of salvation
day after day after day. And what we see here in this
prophet is that real faith of those who are the election of
grace. What we have here in the text
tonight is really the prayer of faith. Do not abhor us for
thy name's sake. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us for that glorious high throne. that he speaks of later
there in chapter 17. The place of our sanctuary. The life of faith. And what is
the life of faith? Well, it's equivalent to the
good fight of faith. They're one and the same. And
that life involves many changes. And with regards to the ungodly,
we see that They have no changes, that's what we read there in
Psalm 55, because they have no changes. Therefore they fear
not God. Those changes, did they not cause
us to understand something of the strangeness of God's ways,
the mystery of His dealings? He's a God to be feared. Here we see Jeremiah in a sense,
he's almost overwhelmed because he is despairing of any help
that's how it seems here at verse 17 therefore thou
shalt say this word unto them let mine eyes run down with tears
night and day let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my
people is broken with a great breach with a very grievous blow
if I go forth into the field then behold the slain with the
sword. And if I enter into the city,
then behold them that are sick with famine. Yea, both the prophet
and the priest go about into a land that they know not. Hast
thou utterly rejected Judah? Hath thy soul loathed Zion? Why
art thou smittenest, and there is no healing for us? We look
for peace. and there is no good, and for
the time of healing and behold trouble." He beholds the situation,
he sees the scene all around him, the results of the famine,
the sufferings of the people. And it's that that breaks him,
overwhelms him, he cannot help it. We have that language previously
in chapter 9, or that my head, he says, were waters and my eyes
were a fountain of tears that I might weep nights, day and
nights, for the slain of the daughter of my people. He feels
for his people. And he weeps for them. Let mine
eyes run down with tears, he says, night and day. And of course,
we have that great lament that follows the prophecy. The book
of the Lamentations of Jeremiah. Time and again there we see him
as one who will weep for the people. That third chapter, that
great third chapter of the Lamentation. What does he say? Verse 48, Mine
eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction
of the daughter of my people. Mine eye trickleth down and ceaseth
not without intermission till the Lord look down and behold
from heaven. Oh, he wants the Lord God to
appear. almost overwhelmed, cannot abide
the scene, he weeps, he weeps over Jerusalem. Of course, we
know later there was a greater prophet than Jeremiah who also
wept over Jerusalem. The Lord Jesus Christ himself,
do we know what it is to weep? because we see the Lord's work
in such a low place. We see His name constantly blasphemed,
and His word trodden on the foot of men, how this man was brought
to weep. And yet, it's such a changeable
life, this life of faith, because on other occasions He seems to
be rejoicing in God, and in the unchangeableness of His God.
Isn't that what He is saying? We've referred to those words
in chapter 17. And there in verse 12, "...a
glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our
sanctuary. O Lord, the hope of Israel, all
that forsake Thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from Me
shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the
Lord, the fountain of living waters, Heal me, O Lord, and
I shall be healed. Save me, and I shall be saved,
for Thou art my praise. In the midst of it all is a man
who will be praising his God. Do not abhor us for Thy name's
sake. Do not disgrace the throne of
Thy glory. Remember, break not Thy covenant
with us. How he can continually encourage
himself then in the Lord. and in that throne of God, the
throne of His grace think of the words of the wise
man in Ecclesiastes in the day of prosperity he says be joyful
but in the day of adversity consider God also hath set one against
another days of prosperity, days of adversity this is the changeable
life of those who are not formalists, but those who know something
of the power of real religion in their souls. It's by these
means, isn't it, that God teaches his people. It's by these changes,
all these different experiences, that God sifts his children,
searches his children. "'Oh, the heart, it's deceitful
above all things,' says Jeremiah, "'desperately wicked! Who can
know it? I, the Lord!' search the heart, I try the race to
give to every man according to the fruit of his doings for which by these things that
men live is the testimony of that gracious king Hezekiah by
these things men live in all these things is the life of my
spirit that's the life of faith that
Jeremiah is having to live in the midst of these people In
the times he feels himself to be so very much alone. Swami
speaks of being like a sparrow alone upon the housetop. Notice two things here in the
text. Isn't this really the cry of
faith? Do not abhor us. For thy name's sake do not disgrace
the throne of thy glory. Remember break not thy covenant
with us." Or can God really disgrace His own throne? Can God ever break His covenant? Of course not. That's not the
God that we deal with. God is not a man that He should
lie or the son of man that He should repent. Has He said it? Shall He not do it? Has He spoken
it? Or shall He not make it good? He's a faithful God. I am the
Lord, He says. There in Malachi 3.6, I am the
Lord, and it's the covenant name. It's Jehovah. The great I am
that I am. I am the Lord therefore. Ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. Oh, He is faithful to His words.
He's true to His covenant. Why? He has confirmed he's promised
with his oath, he has sworn by himself there are two immutable
things the word, the promise of God and the oath of God oh how he has exalted his word
above all his nine but you see Jeremiah so cast down here strange
ways of God with him and the Lord says to him in verse 11
pray not for these people for their goods the Lord seems to
be saying strange things to him but this isn't the first time
we see it also don't we with the experience of Moses when
the children of Israel rebelled in the matter of the golden calf
Moses was there in the mount, he'd been gone so many days,
40 days and 40 nights, they wondered what had become of him and they
want Aaron, his brother, to make them a God really, or certainly
something to help them in their worship of God. they were to
make no graven images but he makes the golden calf and they
do as he were try to worship their God by means of the idol and God sends Moses down from
the mount and he has the tables of the law in his hand and he
breaks those tables as you know at the foot of the mount they've
broken the covenant And God speaks of disinheriting that people. Exodus 32, verse 10, God says
to Moses, well, verse nine, the Lord says to Moses, I have seen
this people and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore
leave me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them and
that I may consume them. and I will make of thee a great
nation. It's the same as he says to Jeremiah. Don't pray for these people.
Leave me alone. But what does Moses do? Moses
besought the Lord. Why dost thou wrath wax hot against
thy people which thou hast brought forth out of the land of Egypt
with great power and with a mighty hand? God has spoken as if they were
not his people they are stiff-necked people but Moses pleads for these people
and that's the very same thing as we find Jeremiah doing he
will pray for them he will pray for their spiritual good and
so what we have in our text is very much the cry of faith But not only that, here in this
man we also see something of the confidence of faith. The glorious high throne from
the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. It's the same
throne that he's speaking of in chapter 17 as he speaks of
here in chapter 14. He calls it the throne of thy
glory. And in chapter 17 he speaks of
it as a glorious high throne. It's the same throne. Now what is the throne? Well, as we said at the beginning,
we're to think in terms of what God had initially said to Moses
when he gave instruction concerning the tabernacle and the furnishings
and the mercy seat. That was the throne of God. What
is the Mercy Seat? It's a type. It's a type of the
Lord Jesus Christ. When we come to the New Testament
we read of the Mercy Seat of course there in Hebrews Hebrews
chapter 9 and verse 5 where Paul is describing the various furnishings
of the tabernacle and he speaks of the mercy seat and he uses
a particular word and he uses that word on just
one other occasion he uses it also in Romans chapter
3 and verse 25 where he's speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ whom
God has set forth he says to be a propitiation for our sins
because the mercy seat was the place where propitiation was
made. Propitiation speaks to us of
the wrath of God and how that wrath must be satisfied. God
will by no means clear the guilty. He's a just God. He's a holy
God. He cannot clear the guilty without sacrifice. There can
be no remission of sins without the shedding of blood. And it
was there at the mercy seat on the great day of atonement that
the high priest went into the holy place with the blood and
sprinkled it upon the mercy seat and makes propitiation, makes
atonement. It was the day of atonement.
He's making atonement for the sins of the people. And it's interesting, isn't it,
that that word that's used in Hebrews 9.5, Mercy Seat, is the
same word as we have there in Romans 3.25 concerning Christ,
whom God has set forth to be a propitiation. He set forth
Christ to be a Mercy Seat. Well, Christ is the Mercy Seat.
Christ is the throne of grace. The Lord Jesus Christ is so evident
here in our text. Thy namesake, it says. Do not
abhor us for thy namesake. Do not disgrace the throne of
thy glory. Remember, break not thy covenant
with us. Who is the one who is the mediator
of the covenant? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. What
is he pleading then? He's pleading Christ. And isn't
that what we do every time we come to pray? We plead that name,
we invoke that name, we always make our requests for the sake
of Jesus Christ. And how Paul speaks of him there
in Hebrews 4, We have not a high priest, he says, which cannot
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was tempted
in all points like us we are, therefore we are to come boldly. to the throne of grace that we
may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Oh, Christ is that one. And this
is where faith must always center. The thing that saves us is not
our faith, but the object of our faith. It's Christ, it's
looking onto the Lord Jesus himself. And this is what the prophet
is doing then here in the text when he makes mention of this
throne. Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory as if the Lord God
would ever disgrace his only begotten, his well-beloved son.
Oh the Lord help us then that we might find some encouragement
in the experience of this man even as he condemns all that
formal religion that religion that is satisfied with the mere
externals it was so prevalent there in Israel they thought
all was safe and secure because they had the temple of the Lord
but he saw that The temple really was nothing. It's all that that
temple represents. It's all that that temple and
all the furnishings is a type of it all set forth the Lord
Jesus Christ and it's in Christ that we must come and put all
our trust and all our confidence. May the Lord help us as we come
to Him with prayer but also as we come now to again show forth
His praises as we sing our second hymn. We're going to sing the
hymn 675 to the tune St. Matthew, 271. Come boldly to the throne of
grace, ye wretched sinners, come, and lay your load at Jesus' feet,
and plead what he has done. How can I come? Some soul may
say I am lame, and cannot walk. My guilt and sin have stopped
my mouth. I sigh, but dare not talk. Come boldly to the throne of
grace, though lost and blind and lame. Jehovah is the sinner's
friend and ever was the same." 675 and the tune 271.