Alright, let's delve into the
Word of God, the Word of the Lord, as was read by our brother
there in Jeremiah chapter 8. Jeremiah chapter 8. Now, understand
the setting of this portion of Jeremiah's prophecy. The preaching
of the truth of God. And here's this prophet. He's
called the weeping prophet. We've talked about that. Grieving
for the people of Judah and Jerusalem because of their sin. Because
of their unbelief and idolatry. Not grieving in a self-righteous
way. Jeremiah knows himself. He knows
his frame. Like we all who have been convicted
in our hearts by the Holy Spirit. We know that as we read these
descriptions of unbelievers, what he calls an evil, an evil
people here. We know that, but for the grace
of God calls them an evil family. He said, but for the grace of
God, we'd still be part of that evil family. We know this, that
God, by his sovereign, powerful grace delivered. We who are saved from that evil
family, didn't he? And it wasn't because of any
good in us. Wasn't because of any foreseen
faith or repentance or anything. So as I read these descriptions,
I see myself by nature. And I thank God every day that
he's delivered me from this wickedness, from my own wickedness, from
my own depravity. But understand the setting here.
Where's Jeremiah's pulpit? He's preaching this message at
the gate, or one of the gates, probably the main gate of the
Temple of Solomon, preaching to the people of Jerusalem and
Judah as they're entering into that temple to worship. And he
sets forth, and he has done this, and he continues to set forth
the awful, awful state of Judah and Jerusalem. and the judgment
of God upon them for their sin and their unbelief and idolatry,
he's made it clear that the only hope for the people, for all
people, lies in the future hope promised by God in the coming
of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the woman seed, the lamb,
And it's all by the grace of God in him. And there's no hope
for any of us apart from him. The last verse of this chapter,
we didn't read all the way through because I'm not going to try
to get through all of this, but I want to just direct your attention
to the last verse of Jeremiah 8, verse 22. This may be a verse
that's familiar to most of you where the question is posed.
It says, is there no balm? That's a healing ointment. A
resin that was a healing ointment. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is
there no physician there? Why then is not the health of
the daughter of my people recovered? And this question, you know,
Gilead was a region north of Jerusalem known for this balm,
this healing ointment, this resin. There were trees that grew there.
in abundance. It grew elsewhere but seemed
to grow in abundance there from which they get this resin and
they made a healing ointment and it was used to heal a lot
of things. Sicknesses, wounds. And so this
Gilead became a center of healing for the nation. And so the question
is posed here, why would people die? Think about this. Think
about it in the natural realm. Think about with physical diseases
or wounds. fatal wounds, fatal diseases. Why would people die when the
best doctors and the best medicine are readily available to them?
That's the question that's posed there. And I'll tell you why. Well, it's because they don't
know they're sick. It's because they think they're well. The
Pharisees thought they were well. Christ told them. He said, well,
the whole don't need a physician. He said, the sick need the physician. He said, I didn't come to seek
and to save the righteous, but the lost. And the point is this,
and this is where Jeremiah is leading to, that God Almighty,
in His sovereign mercy and grace, has promised a sure healing for
sinners. that sin disease, that sin death. He's promised a sure healing
for sinners in and by the great physician, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the balm, the ointment, the
healing ointment that he administers is the precious and powerful
blood to put away all our sins. And this cure, this sure cure,
is available to any sin sick, sin dead person who wants it,
so why will you perish? Now that's the point of this
message that Jeremiah preaches at the temple. But I want you
to see his introduction. Now I guarantee you if you went
to a Bible college or a place where they taught preachers,
that if they were going to teach you how to put together a message,
that this would be the last kind of introduction they would tell
you to start a message with. Some people say, well, it reads
like a horror story. But what he's doing is he's showing
the horror of judgment against sin. And I want to tell you something. These are physical descriptions.
These things actually physically happened in Jerusalem and Judah
when the Babylonian army came down and destroyed the temple,
destroyed Jerusalem. But what is described here is
nothing compared to the horror of eternal damnation, eternal
separation from God. But this is a description in
symbol and type of the state and condition and horror of every
sinner who dies in their sins, who dies without Christ. Listen
to it. He says, at that time, saith
the Lord, verse 1, they, that is the Babylonian army, shall
bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his
princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the
prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out
of their graves. They're going to dig up their
graves. And that happened. That was an expression of a conquering
army for contempt. not only for the nation they
conquered, but for their history, for their heritage. Dig them
up, open graves, and say in verse 2, and they shall spread them
before the sun and the moon and all the host of heaven whom they've
loved and whom they've served and after whom they've walked
and whom they have sought and whom they've worshipped. That's
what the people of Jerusalem were doing. They were worshipping
the creation rather than the creator. Romans 1 describes that,
doesn't it? That's man by nature. He worships
himself, he worships the creation, he worships anything but God.
There's none that seeketh after God. And he says, they shall
not be gathered nor buried, for they shall be for dung upon the
face of the earth. Just disease and deterioration,
corruption. And verse 3, it says, and death
shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that
remain of this evil family. Think about who he's talking
about here. Now, here they come to worship into the temple. And
he says this evil family, their worship was vain. Their worship
was without truth. It was out without grace. It
was without heart. It was without Christ. And what he's saying here, actually,
is that they're going to come to a point in their lives that
they're going to beg for death. They'll choose death over life.
It'll be better to die, they say. And he said, this evil family,
which remain in all the places whether I have driven them, sayeth
the Lord of hosts. Now that's Jeremiah's introduction.
Does that get your attention? Destruction, desolation, death. And the point is this, this evil
family, what is this evil family? It's all who reject God's way
of salvation. God's way in Christ. Do you know
that if you reject God's way of salvation in and by the Lord
Jesus Christ, what you are actually doing, whether you know it or
not, is choosing death. For there's life in no one and
nowhere but in Christ. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Unless we have righteousness
that equals the demands of God's law and justice, and that can
only be found in the person and finished work of Christ, who's
the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, unless
we have that, we're choosing death. Because that's what sin
brings. The wages of sin. Unless we can
say that God will not impute or charge our sins to us, we're
choosing death. And the only way that God cannot
charge them to us is to charge them to His Son. Unless we have Christ, we're
choosing death. And in this day of judgment,
that's how bad it'll be. Well, beginning at verse 4 now,
and all the way to the end of the chapter, what happens here
is Jeremiah poses five serious questions. Five very serious
questions that every one of us should consider. And I want you
to see these questions. Now I'm not going to answer,
I'm not going to go over all of them tonight, but let me show
you where the questions are. The first one is found in verse
5. Question number 1. Why then is this people of Jerusalem
slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? Why? Why have the people, why
are the people backslidden? That's question number 1. And
then the second question is found in verse 8. How do you say we
are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? How can you say that? That you're wise and the law
of the Lord is with you. And then the third question is
found in verse 14. Look at it. Why do we sit still? And what he's going to be talking
about there is man's false security. False security. And then the
third question is found over in verse 19. It's the last part
of verse 19 where he says, why have they provoked me to anger
with their graven images and with strange vanities? And then the last question is
what I introduced this with in verse 22. Is there no bomb in
Gilead? Is there no physician there?
Now let's let's go over these questions. Like I said, I'm not
going to get through all of them tonight, but let's get through
through just maybe one or two of them back over in verse. Look
back in verse four. Question number one. First question.
Why are the people backslidden? Now this question speaks to the
natural sin, spiritual death, and depravity of all men and
women by nature fallen in Adam, dead in trespasses and sins.
That's who he's describing here. He's not just describing one
segment of people, but this is all of us by nature is born in
Adam and is born in sin. And the thing about it is he's
talking about a group of people here who are religious. Now we
know this includes all classes of people, all walks of life,
all cultures, all by nature. He says in verse 4, look at it.
He says, moreover thou shalt say unto them, now this is what
God's telling Jeremiah to say, thus saith the Lord, shall they
fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem
slidding back and by perpetual backsliding? What he's saying
here is something that is so simple that if we don't understand,
we'll miss it. It's this, do people fall down
and not get up? Now, I know everybody laughs
about that commercial, the old woman who falls and says, I fall
and I can't get up. But what he's talking about there
is not that. It's not the pains of old age
or anything like that. What he's talking about here
is that it's just natural. You see a little kid run, and
he falls. What's he do? He gets up. A person falls, and
they get up. Or if they take the wrong road,
and then do they just keep going? Now, you women will say, we men
do that, because we won't stop and ask for directions. We'll
just keep on going the wrong way. But if we do, that's foolish. You know that. That's what he's
saying. Well, if they're going the wrong
way, and they find out they're going the wrong way, do they
just keep going the wrong way? Well, hopefully not. So why does
this people go backwards? And why do they just keep on
going backwards? You know what it is to be lost?
It means simply this, to not know the way. If I don't know
the way to my destination, that means I'm lost. If I don't know
where I am, that means I'm lost. Well, the Bible teaches us very
plainly that Christ is the only, the one and only way to God. There's no other way to God.
Christ is the only, the one and only way of forgiveness of all
my sins. His blood alone is the forgiveness
of sins. Nothing added, nothing taken
away. Nowhere else will you, a sinner,
or will I, a sinner, find the forgiveness and pardon of sin. You won't find it in the church.
You won't find it in confession. You won't find it in religion.
You won't find it in obedience. Nothing can put away sin but
the blood of the Lamb. Now, you know that. You've heard
that. Why would you go anywhere else? Some denominations say,
well, it's the blood of Christ plus baptism. That's the wrong
way. Why would you go that way? Why
would you keep going the wrong way? That's what he's asking.
What men do naturally, when they fall down, they get up. When
they find out they're going the wrong way, they turn around and
go another way. What they do naturally, men by
nature will not and cannot do spiritually. That's why Christ
said in John 6 and verse 44, that no man can come to me except
the Father which has sent me draw him. And then he talks about
backsliding. Here's the question. Why then
is this people of Jerusalem slidding back by perpetual backsliding?
Now you all hear a lot about backsliding today. But I want
you to know something and you'll hear a lot about what they call
backsliding Christians. He's not talking about Christians
here. Now however you define backsliding or whatever you think
that is, here he's not talking about Christians backsliding. Here he's speaking of unbelievers
who continually go backwards. He said it's a perpetual. Do
you see that word there in verse 5? It's a perpetual backsliding. This is all they do. This is
not just a one-time thing. This is the tenor and bent of
their lives. This is the mark of one who has
no faith in Christ but his life or her life is marked by unbelief
and disobedience. Now, we all know that true believers
can stumble, but we also know they can never totally fall away
from Christ. Look over at Hebrews chapter
10 with me. In verse 38. True believers can never and
will never quit. One of the old writers said,
true believers can stray, but they can never, never fall away.
And the reason is, is because by the grace of God, He holds
us. That's what Christ said in John chapter 10, no one can pluck
them out of my Father's hand. And also because He's given us
the unction of the Holy Spirit and the presence of the Holy
Spirit who drives us and keeps us. But look at verse 38, Paul
writes, now the just, or the justified, as a sinner saved
by grace, Hebrews 10, 38, the justified, the righteous, the
forgiven, he says, shall live by faith. What does that mean?
That means live looking to and resting in and abiding in Christ. That's what it is to live by
faith. It's not just to live believing. And I make that distinction
because it's important. There's a lot of people who live
believing a lie. They live their lives believing
a lie. Anyone who lives their lives
believing that God will save them, bless them, keep them,
reward them based on their works is living a lie. Because the
God of the Bible won't do that. The God that does that is an
idol. But all who live believing in, resting in, abiding in Christ,
they're living by faith because that's what God's word says.
But he says, but if any man draw back, if any man quits, he says,
my soul shall have no pleasure in him. There's no satisfaction
there. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition. That is damnation. But we are
of them that believe to the saving of the soul. Those whom God saves
by His grace, He keeps by His grace. And they live their lives
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith.
Now whatever you think about backsliding, back here in Jeremiah
8, he's talking about unbelievers, an evil family, lost in their
sins. And he asks this question, verse
5, why? Is this people of Jerusalem slidding
back by perpetual backsliding? Why are they slidding back? And
here's the answer. Look at verse 5. Look at the
last part. He says, here's why. They hold fast deceit. They hold
on to deception. They believe a lie. They refuse
to return. What's he talking about? They
stubbornly hold on to their illusions. They stubbornly refuse to change
direction. This is the nature of fallen
man. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them. In
the flesh, they're stubborn, proud, rebellious, in darkness,
dead in trespasses and sins. Who is that? That's me and you
by nature. And it'll continue to be so except
God intervene by His sovereign grace and turn our eyes toward
Christ, convict us of sin, Man by nature has no will to turn
to God and repent. You see, the promise of salvation
is not for a people who are better than these. The promise of salvation
is for a people whom God chose and gave to Christ and whom he
redeemed by his precious blood and whom he'll send his spirit
to give life and bring them to Christ. The deception that they
hold. Listen, they hold fast to see.
What is the deception they hold? The deception they hold on is
to their own self-righteousness, their own religious pride. They
think too highly of self and it's bound up in works religion. Man thinks that though he's not
perfect, he can do good enough. He can meet the standard. The
Bible says otherwise. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. The Bible says that righteousness
cannot be attained by sinners based on their works, but man
thinks he can do enough. But look at verse 6, now how
bad is it? Well, he says, I hearkened and heard, but they spake not
aright. No man repented him of his wickedness,
saying, What have I done? Nobody's even questioned themselves. What have I done? That's the
idea here. It's like Isaiah when he saw
the Lord high and lifted up and he, holy, holy, holy, his train
filled the temple and he said, oh, I'm a man of unclean lips. Oh, I thought, I thought that
what I was doing was pleasing to God but what have I done?
Like Saul of Tarsus on the Damascus road thinking he's doing God's
work but then God brings him down and shows him the glory,
the depravity of his own heart and his sin. and the fact that
he deserved damnation and showed him the glory of Christ and he
said I count everything but lost now for the excellency of the
knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord I have no righteousness
I thought I did but what have I done and he's saying here nobody
has done that everyone look at it verse six everyone turned
to his own course as the horse rusheth into battle in other
words they weren't even hesitating this like a horse like a war
horse rushing into battle think about that how bad is it man
by nature so proud and stubborn and deceived that he refuses
even to examine himself and put himself to the test his ground
what is my ground of salvation you ever think about you know
these are things that i really never thought about until god
brought me under the preaching of the gospel I never even thought
about anything like a ground of salvation until I heard the
gospel preached. What is my ground of salvation? Never even thought about that.
I just knew that there was a time in my life that I walked an aisle
and gave my heart to Jesus. Didn't have anything to do with
truth in me. I couldn't tell you what I heard
or what I believed back then. I couldn't even tell you what
the preacher preached on that morning. I'm telling you the truth. But
it never entered my mind. What is my ground of salvation?
What is my hope? Upon what basis do I expect God
to save me and to bless me? You see, man is so sure of himself
that he runs to it like a horse runs into battle, and it's all
religion. Turn over to Jeremiah 17. I've
referred to this passage quite often in our studies so far,
but it's so indicative of how the Lord draws the line. to make
us think. And he says there in verse 9
of Jeremiah 17. Now remember what Jeremiah said,
why are they backslidden perpetually? Well they hold on to deceit.
Well look at verse 9, it says the heart is deceitful above
all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? This is how
bad it is. Man by nature cannot even know
his own heart. So what is our hope? Well, look
at verse 10. I, the Lord, search the heart.
I try or test the reins, even to give every man according to
his ways and according to the fruit of his doings. Well, what
is the fruit of our doings? What do we get according to our
ways? Well, the wages of sin is death. Then what way is there? For me?
Well, look back up at verse 5. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, any man, even self, and maketh
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. You
know what flesh is? It's anything you can produce,
anything you can do. Whether it be religious or irreligious.
And he says, For he shall be like the heath in the desert,
and shall not see when good cometh. but shall inhabit the parched
places in the wilderness in a salt land and not inhabited much like
those open graves in desolation. Verse 7. Blessed is the man that
trusteth in the Lord. That's the God of all grace.
That's the God of the covenant. That's the God who saves sinners
not by their works but by the blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ and whose hope the Lord is. What is my
ground? My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. He says, For he shall be as a
tree planted by the waters and spreadeth out her roots by the
river and shall not see when heat cometh. In other words,
heat won't bother him. But her leaves shall be green
and shall not be careful and anxious in the year of drought,
neither shall cease from yielding fruit. That's the grace of God. You see the difference? The Bible
teaches us to pray unto the Lord. Lord, examine me. Lord, test
me, try me, prove me. Look at verse 7 of Jeremiah 8.
Listen to this. He says, yea, the stork in heaven
knows her appointed times. He says, the turtle and the crane
and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people
know not the judgment of the Lord. Think about that. Even the birds Somebody said
this is the one time in the Bible that it tells you that a bird
brain is good. Even the birds, by nature, according
to the instinct that God created them with, they know when to
migrate, they know the climates, they know the temperature change,
they know these things. And they do them naturally. But
the people here, huh? The people, they don't know.
the judgment of the Lord. You say we ought to be what he's
saying here is we ought to be convicted over the fact that
we don't know anything about divine instruction and divine
judgment. Anything at all. Though we were
created in the image of God we fail in Adam and we become less
than the animals with their natural instinct. Isaiah used an analogy
like that over in Isaiah chapter one. Remember there he said in
verse 3, he said, The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's
crib, but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
In other words, even the ass knows more than God's people
under that old covenant. My people know not the judgment
of the Lord. Well, what is the judgment of
the Lord? Turn to Isaiah 42. Now when he says my people know
not the judgment of the Lord, I want you to understand something. He's not simply saying that people
don't know anything about final judgment. Listen, most people know or believe
that there's going to be a final judgment in the end. Now there's
some people who deny that. They don't want to be held accountable.
But most people know there's going to be a final judgment,
a final reckoning. We'd say most religious people,
all religious people know that. But they don't know the judge
and they don't know the standard of judgment. They don't know
the standard upon which God is going to judge all people. Well,
what is the judgment of the Lord? Well, the judgment of the Lord
is against all sin and all unrighteousness. That where sin is imputed, where
sin is charged, God's judgment is going to pronounce damnation. That's the sentence, isn't it?
Guilty. Damnation. They don't know that
all we can earn or deserve based upon our best efforts to keep
the law is judgment. Damnation. They don't know that. What is the standard of judgment?
Look at verse 1 of Isaiah 42. You know what this is? This is
a prophecy of Christ. And he says, Behold my servant
whom I uphold, mine elect, that's talking about Christ and his
people in him, but Christ himself, in whom my soul delighteth. Remember
he said this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear
ye him. I put my spirit upon him and he shall bring forth
judgment to the Gentiles. Now do you hear that? Judgment
to the Gentiles. Now listen on. He said, He shall
not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the
street. A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking
flax shall he not quench. In other words, he's not going
to come as a warrior. Alright? Swinging a sword or
an axe. He says, He shall bring forth
judgment unto truth. You see that? Verse four, he
shall not fail nor be discouraged till he have set judgment in
the earth and the isles shall wait for his law. Now, what is
that judgment that he's going to perform? Well, I'll tell you
exactly what it is. It's the judgment of God against
all the sins of all his people laid upon Christ on that cross. If you want to know something
about judgment, look at the cross. Let me show you that. Turn to
Romans 2. Romans chapter 2. Now he's talking about judgment here
in Romans chapter 2. He says God's going to judge
all sin. And sin brings damnation. The wages of sin is death. Now
this judgment that God's going to bring is against anyone, anywhere
where sin is charged, where sin is imputed. And what he starts
off in Romans 2, he talks about how the Jews, in their self-righteous
judgment, that all they did was condemn themselves. You know,
think about it this way. If you look at any person, I
don't care who it is, And you judge them to be deserving of
God's wrath because they're sinners. Do you know what you've done?
You've just condemned yourself. And I'll tell you why. You say,
well, I'm not as bad as them. You may not be in your eyes. But you're still a sinner. You
judge anybody to be deserving of God's wrath because they're
sinners. You've just condemned yourself because you're a sinner
too. I'm a sinner. So what judgment is he talking
about here? Well, look at verse 15. He says, God judges according
to truth. And he talks about the Gentiles here who don't have
the law of Moses. And he said that the work of
the law is written in their hearts, their conscience. What's the
conscience? That's the seed of judgment in
the heart. Their conscience also bearing witness in their thoughts,
the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another. Look at
verse 16. in the day when God shall judge
the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel." Now
what's revealed in the gospel? The justice of God, the judgment
of God, the righteousness of God. What does that mean? It means that there's a day when
God will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained,
and that he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath
raised him from the dead. Now what does all that mean? Let me bring it to you. It means
this. Here's the judgment that the people don't know. That without
Christ, without His blood to wash away my sins, without His
righteousness to justify me and make me righteous before God,
that I am going to be judged unto damnation. That's the judgment
people don't know. Look back at Jeremiah 8. He says,
My people know not the judgment of the Lord. God's going to judge
all sin, either in you or in a substitute. That's right. And all sin will
be condemned and punished fully. God must be just when he justifies. Satisfaction must be made. Now
you think about it. You come before a holy God. You
say, well, I'm not as bad as some people. You come before
God, one sin or one million sins, all sin deserves damnation. That's the judgment of God. And
if you don't believe that, look to the cross. He judged His holy,
harmless, undefiled Son, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the God-man, was judged and condemned under the curse of the law for
the sins of His people imputed to Him, charged to Him. That's the judgment of God. That's
what people don't know. That's what they don't consider. That's what they don't believe.
As I said this morning, to most people, that's a legal fiction.
I've got to do something to make things right. That's what people
think by nature, isn't it? And that's sinful. That's an
evil family. So why do they backslide? Because
they hold on to that deception. Listen, I've had people tell
me, and you've probably heard it, say, you're not going to
question my salvation. You're not going to tear up my
hope. Had a lady tell me that one time.
She says, you're not going to tear up my hope. I said, listen,
if your hope can be torn up, it's best to have it done now.
If you can tear my hope up, start tearing. I'm telling you the
truth. I know you can't because it's
built on the rock, Christ Jesus. Nobody can tear him. If you could
listen, if you can bring any any smudge upon His character. He who is my righteousness. Or
if you can disqualify what He accomplished on Calvary, start
at it. You can't do it. He's the perfect
Son of God. You know how I know you can't
do it? Because He arose from the dead. That means He finished
His work. He ascended to the Father. He
ever lives to make intercession for us. Right now, the Lord of
glory is seated at the right hand of God, pleading the merits
of His blood. And you can't tear it up. I can't
tear it up. We can't destroy it. We can't
diminish it. We can't even devalue it. All
for whom Christ died are judged righteous in Him. That's right. Don't worry about
somebody destroying your hope if your hope is in Christ. And
if your hope is not in Christ, then I pray to God somebody comes
by and destroys it. I do. Don't you? Because without
Him, what are we? Read those first three verses
of Jeremiah 8 again. Without Him, that's where we
are. That's where we'll be. spiritually
and eternally, and there's no other way. There's no other hope
for a sinner. All right, let's sing as our
closing hymn, Abide With Me, hymn number 75, Abide With Me.