Alright, let's open our Bibles
back up to Jeremiah chapter 7. Jeremiah chapter 7. The portion
of Scripture that we're going to view tonight, Brother Bill
read beginning in verse 8, is an example of God's judgment,
His just judgment, His wrath against sin. I've entitled the
message, Sinners Under the Wrath of God. And it is one of the
most sad and tragic situations that you can ever read about
it. And as I was reading through
this and studying for it, I can't get away from the thought that,
but for the grace of God, this is my story. But for the grace
of God and the mercy of God in Christ, This is my story. Starts out in verse 8, you trust
in lying words that cannot profit. Not the words of salvation. Not
the words of eternal life. Not the words of our Savior and
our Lord Jesus Christ. And then it ends up with these
words. Think about this. He says, for
I will not hear thee. Isn't that something to shudder
at? But that's our story by nature, isn't it? But for the grace of
God, that would continue to be our story. And what we have here
is God's judgment upon this nation, Judah, for their unbelief. Jeremiah preached the gospel,
the good news of the promise of a coming Redeemer, the hope
of Israel, the hope of any and every sinner who comes to God
through Christ. And that's where Israel's hope
was in the promised Redeemer by the grace of God. And He called
them to repentance. He called them to reformation
and obedience. He's going to continue to do
that. But the people refused. They said, we will not hear you. We will not listen. We will not
heed. That's just a Another way of
saying there's none righteous, no not one. There's none that
seeketh after God. There's none that doeth good.
And that includes all of us by nature. And God is soon to bring
about a temporal judgment upon this nation. And that temporal
judgment is a picture of God's eternal wrath. that abides upon
all who live their lives and die in unbelief. That's what
the Apostle John was writing about when he recorded the words
of John the Baptist in John chapter 3. He that believeth not, the
wrath of God abides on him. Have you ever really thought
about that? The wrath of God. What is the wrath of God? You
know, some people kind of think, you know, if they go through
some trouble here in life, whether it's financial trouble or physical
trouble or family trouble, they kind of equate it with the wrath
of God. I know a man who often would
say, he'd say, he'd say, my hell's here on earth. Well, that's what
he's thinking, you see. The wrath of God. That's serious
business, isn't it? What is the wrath of God? Is
it God throwing a temper tantrum? Well, you know better than that.
What is it? It's God's justice, isn't it? The story is told of a preacher
who preached on this very subject. He made much in his message of
how we all, by nature and by practice based on our very best,
Now listen to this, deserve and have earned the wrath of God. Can you say that? Do you have any trouble saying
that? And a man came to him, a man
who claimed to be a Christian. And he said, preacher, he said,
now I know I'm a sinner. I know I'm not perfect. But he
said, I don't really believe I've ever done anything that
deserves the wrath of God. And the preacher looked at him
and he said, well, son, if that's the case, then you don't need
Christ. Because that's just what Christ
endured for his people on that cross. You realize that? What Christ endured on that cross
for my sins charged to him. What he endured in order to redeem
me, what he endured in order to give me a righteousness to
be charged to me, to justify me, what he did in order to give
me spiritual life from above was to endure what is the equivalent
of an eternal wrath for all whom he represented, all for whom
he died and was buried in rose the third day. He went under
the wrath of God and he did it justly. God was just in bringing
down his wrath upon Christ. All based upon our sins imputed
to him, charged to him, accounted to him. And he's just as just
and righteous to bring us into his fellowship and bless us. based upon his righteousness
imputed. You think that's important? I
believe it is, don't you? We all deserve and have earned
God's wrath, but God, the scripture says, but God, his great love,
wherein he loved us, his mercy, he chose a people before the
foundation of the world whom he intends to save from his wrath. And he's going to do it, he does
it by his grace. And he does it by his grace in
and through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the question that I think
is significant for each one of us to ask ourselves as we look
at a passage like this is this, am I under the wrath of God?
I know what I deserve now. That's not the question. I deserve
it. That's what David meant in Psalm 130 in verse 3 when he
said, Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, who would stand? That's why it was ever present
on his mind. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the
man to whom the Lord imputeth righteousness without works.
So the question is not, do I deserve it? Yes, I deserve it. Can you
say the same thing? That's what conviction of sin
is all about, really. In light of what I deserve. It's not have I earned it. I
know I've earned it. Even my best is not good enough
to gain or maintain or earn God's favor. But am I under the wrath
of God? The wrath of God is not something
you feel. You know a person, a person can
go through this life rich and healthy up until the point that
they die physically and still be under the wrath of God. You can't tell something like
that by feeling or by outward circumstance. Think about the
rich man in Luke chapter 12 that the Lord spoke of who accumulated
so much and And he had to build bigger barns. And I'm sure, you
know, the man had his troubles in life, but he was basically
on the high road in this world. And yet when he died, he died
under the wrath of God. Right? The rich man in hell,
rich man in Lazarus, remember him. So am I an object of his wrath
or am I an object of his mercy? I know Paul wrote about this
in Romans chapter 9. He talked about what if God,
the potter and the clay, we'll be talking about that in Jeremiah,
talked about it in Isaiah. Romans 9.22, listen to this,
what if God willing to show his wrath? Now you know, most preachers
today will tell you that God is not willing to show wrath.
Don't they? But here's what God the Holy
Spirit had Paul write. What if God willing to show his
wrath? Somebody says, well, that's awful
mean. No, it's not mean at all, friend. It's justice. Get that in our
heads. Lord, get that in our heads and
our hearts. It's justice. What if God, willing
to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with
much long sufferings the vessels of wrath, and it says fitted,
literally made up, to destruction? You say, well, that's not my
idea of God. Well, your idea of God doesn't matter in this
thing. My idea of God, what this book says, what God says about
himself. And I know this is not a pleasant
subject now. I know that. I know this is not
going to win friends and influence a lot of people. Jeremiah knew
it too. That's why they said, we don't
want to hear what you've got to say. You're the old burden.
Here comes the burden. That's what they called him.
old prophet of dune didn't have anything good to say about anybody
but look here he says in verse 23 of romans 9 he says and that
he might make known the riches of his glory and i like the this
this to me this is so instructive about the nature and character
of god god is a just god and in his wrath he shows forth his
power but look here and that he might make known the riches
of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had aforeprepared
unto glory even us whom he hath called not just of the jews only
but also of the gentiles his power in wrath his glory in mercy
isn't that something Well, the question that has to be settled,
if I'm going to properly examine myself on this subject now, so
that I can know whether or not I'm an object of His wrath or
an object of His mercy, go back here to Jeremiah 7 now, is this,
in what or in whom do I trust to save me from His wrath? Now, that's the question, isn't
it? And that's the question that runs all through the Bible. from
Genesis to Revelation. And listen to what he says. He
says in verse 8, Behold, you trust in lying words that cannot
profit. You believe a lie. Well, what
is that lie? Well, it's a false gospel. It's
a false hope. It's a false refuge. It's any
hope, any assurance, any imagination, any thoughts of being saved from
the wrath of God that is not totally, totally, totally, 100%
wrapped up and founded upon the Lord Jesus Christ and Him crucified
and risen. That's what it is. That's lying
words. I don't care what it is. I don't
care how good it looks. I don't care how religious it
is. I don't care how moral it is. And you can go to the decadence
of mankind, too. If it's decadence, whatever you
trust in, if it's money, if it's materials, if it's land, if it's
family, whatever it is, whatever it is, if it's anything but the
Lord Jesus Christ and His blood and righteousness alone, it's
lying words that cannot profit. Just like those false preachers
in Matthew 7. We prophesied in your name. Is
that what you're trusting in? Preacher, is that what you're
trusting in? We preach in His name, don't we? Amen. We preach
in His name. Is that what we're trusting in?
Cast out demons. Boy, wouldn't that be something.
Is that what you're trusting in? Done many wonderful works. that's if we're trusting in that
that's lying words that cannot profit this book teaches us that
the only thing that can profit a sinner who deserves and who
has earned wrath is the grace of God in the Lord Jesus Christ
that grace that reigns through righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord nothing else And listen to the presumption. He says, verse 9, will you steal
and murder and commit adultery and swear falsely and burn incense
unto Baal and walk after other gods whom you know not? What's
he talking about? He said, well, they're sinners. And you know, you read things
like this, people do, and I know I used to also. And you say,
well, man, he's talking about a really bad class of people
there. And we don't have any problem
looking at that list. There's thieves and murderers
and adulterers and liars and false witnesses and idolaters. And whoever he's talking about
here in verse 9, they deserve the wrath of God, don't they?
Don't you agree with that? It's what God says. You know,
an understanding of sin is essential to salvation. It's essential
to godly repentance and reformation. And all these lists that they
were doing, you say, well, that certainly doesn't include me,
but the Lord Jesus Christ said it did. Listen to him on the
Sermon on the Mount. He says here, will you steal
and murder? He says it's not just sin to commit the act of
murder, but to have the thought of murder. Adultery. He said it's not just sin to
commit the act, but to even lust. Swear falsely, all these things.
Burn incense under bail. I've never burned incense under
bail. Does that mean I've never been an idolater? Absolutely
not. I have been an idolater. That's
what I am by nature. But I never carved out an image
and burned incense to it. You ever do that? I don't know.
I never did. But I'm just as big an idolater by nature as
any of these who did that. When the Holy Spirit convinces
a sinner of sin, what does He convince that sinner? He convinces
that sinner that not only do I deserve God's wrath because
of the bad things that I've done, But I deserve God's wrath even
for the best things that I've done. Now can you say that? Can I say
that? Man at his best state is altogether
what? Vanity. Now you know what he
said up here? Behold you trust in lying words
that cannot profit. One of the words that we can
say is the opposite of prophet is vanity, worthless. You see, without Christ, what
are we? We're sinners under the wrath
of God without Christ. Thieves. You say, well, I've
never taken anything from somebody else. My friend, without Christ,
without knowing and believing and trusting and resting in Christ,
you've robbed God of His glory. That's a thief. You know that
when Cain, when Cain came to God, presenting his best efforts
and works to be accepted before God, he committed every sin and
every crime against God known to man. He was a thief. He was robbing
God of his glory. He was a murderer. That's right. That's right. And really, he
didn't have to wait to kill Abel to be a murderer. He committed
adultery, spiritual adultery. He swore falsely. He took that
oath unto himself that I know God will accept me based on this. That's false witness. He was
an idolater. He walked after gods whom he
knew not. He didn't know that the God he
was coming to was an idol. The God in his mind, that is. He was trying to come to the
true and living, but in his mind he had conceived of an idol. And then listen to this, verse
10. Now this gets to a little bit of an eye-opener here now. He says, and come and stand before
me in this house. Now, he said, this house which
is called by my name. Now there's another way of translating
that, and you may have that in your concordance. If you have
a center or an end concordance on the inverse, and it could
be read this way, and come and stand before me in this house
whereupon my name is called. In other words, you're coming
to this house to call upon the name of the Lord. It can go either
way. And it has just the same meaning
either way. What's he talking about? What
house? He's talking about the temple in Jerusalem. And they say, we're delivered
to do all these abominations. We're okay. Now it's kind of like in the
book of Isaiah chapter 28 there, you know, when he talks about
those who have that false confidence of salvation and they say, we
have made lies our refuge. They didn't actually state out
and say, well, we've made lies. You go to places where the gospel
is not preached and people are confident of their salvation,
they're not going to stand up and say, now let's make a lie
our refuge. But he's exposing them and I
believe that's what he's doing here. I don't believe they're
consciously saying that we're free to sin as much as we want
to, but you know people can have that attitude without stating
it. And what did he tell them over in verse 4? Look back in
verse 4. Trust ye not in lying words, saying the temple of the
Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. You know
what's happening here? The temple had become their idol. The temple had become their snare,
their trap. You know, the unbelieving Jews
had three things basically that they boasted of to have confidence
before God. The first thing that they would
always invoke is this, we be Abraham's seed. Physical connection
with Abraham. They trusted in that fleshly
line. And then the second thing was their circumcision. The third
thing was the law of Moses, which included the temple and its sacrifices. And that's what they're saying.
That's why in Psalm 69, the psalmist wrote, and that psalm there is
a messianic psalm speaking of the suffering of Christ. The
suffering of Christ under the wrath of God is a substitute
and surety of His people to put away that wrath completely and
fully by the shedding of His blood. And He says in Psalm 69
verse 22, let their table become a snare before them. Their table
means their religious table. Like the table of showbread.
Like the places where they come. You know, we have a table up
here. Now this table is not an altar. Don't trust in it. This
is not an altar. Christ is our altar. Trust in
Him. But he said, let their table
become a snare before them and that which should have been for
their welfare, let it become a trap. Paul quoted that over
in Romans chapter 11. And let me just read that to
you because I want you to see the context. What was the issue? in which Paul quoted the psalmist
there, let their table become a snare. And I'm connecting that
with this because the temple itself had become a snare to
these people. Because they missed the significance
of the temple. That temple, that glorious temple
was a picture, a type of something much more glorious, much greater. And that's Christ in His church.
The high priest, the mercy seat, the blood, all of that, the altar,
every bit of that, which should have led them to confess their
sins before God and run to Christ. Our hope is in the Messiah, the
Lord our righteousness. And it had become a trap because
now what they were actually saying is, Jeremiah, you can't say that
God is going to wipe us out. The temple's here. We've got
the temple. God wouldn't destroy us. God
wouldn't send us off into captivity. Look, look at it. There's the
temple. Solomon built that in honor of God. And what he's telling
them here is the temple will do you no good. But that had
become a snare. Well, over in Romans 11 at verse
5, Paul is quoting here from Isaiah
and from the psalmist. And it was the same problem.
The people had got wrapped up in false religion. And they were worshipping the
image of Baal. But he said, he refers here back
to Elijah's time in verse 5, he said, even so then at this
present time there is a remnant according to the election of
grace. God has a people. Those are the objects of his
mercy, not the vessels of wrath. Then he shows the issue. Now,
here's the issue. Verse 6 of Romans 11, if by grace,
then it's no more of works. See, that's the issue now. In
this true worship and false worship, true gospels and false gospel,
it's either all of grace, all of works. He says, otherwise,
grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it's no
more of grace. Otherwise, work is no more work.
You can't mix those two as to the ground of salvation. What
then, he says, Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh
for. What was Israel seeking for? Well, he said over in Romans
9, they were seeking for righteousness in the law, in their works. They
didn't find it. But he says, but the election
hath obtained it. That's God's elect. They obtained
it. And the rest were blinded. That's
God's judgment. According as it is written, God
hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should
not see, ears that they should not hear unto this day. And David
said, let their table be made a snare and a trap and a stumbling
block and a recompense unto them. Let them get what they deserve. That's what he's saying. Back over in Jeremiah, they were
using that temple as an idol. They missed the point of it. That temple couldn't save them.
That earthly priesthood couldn't save them. The blood of bulls
and goats could not take away sin. Only the blood of Christ
can take away sin. And that's it. Look back here
in Jeremiah 7. Verse 11, it says, is this house
which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Doesn't that remind you of when the Lord went into the temple
in his day and cleaned it out and recorded Mark 11. He said,
you've turned my house, my father's house into a den of thieves and
robbers. How had they done that back in
Jeremiah's day? They filled it with false prophets
and false priests. who sought to rob God of His
glory and give that glory to man. God will not share His glory.
He says, Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord. In whom do I trust? And whatever it is I trust, do
I use that to excuse my sin, even my religious sins? God forbid,
Paul said. Shall we sin that grace may abound?
God forbid. How shall we who are dead to
sin, how are we dead to sin in Christ? That means sin cannot
be charged to me because it was charged to him. The wrath of
God cannot be upon those for whom Christ died for that wrath
fell upon him in full. But now look at verse 12. Now
he says, he says, but go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh. What he's telling them is to
think back in your history. There's a place called Shiloh.
The first mention of it, I believe, is in Joshua 18. He said, where I set my name
at the first, that was the first place where the tabernacle was
planted when they went into the promised land. They had the Ark
of the Covenant there. And he says, and see what I did
to Shiloh for the wickedness of my people. What happened there? That was the first home of the
Ark of the Covenant. And the people, and this is recorded
in 1 Samuel 4 and 5, you can read about it. But the people
began to trust in the Ark of the Covenant rather than in Christ,
whom that Ark typified. You see the difference? trusting
in the object, trusting in the type, in the shadow, religion. The ark became their snare, just
like the temple here became their snare. Like David said, the table
became their snare, their trap. They began to trust in the ark
and God sent down the Philistines and wiped out Shiloh. And you
know what they did? They captured the ark and took
it away. And it remained with them, I
think, until David brought it back. So at that time, the people
were trusting in the ark. Just like here in Jeremiah's
day, they're trusting in the temple. And so God showed them,
that ark cannot save you. That ark was taken away, and
God allowed Shiloh to be wiped out. Don't we realize that nothing
can save us from the wrath of God but the Son of God incarnate
on the cross of Calvary? Shedding His blood is the full
payment for our sins. Look at verse 13. He says, And
now, because you have done all these works, saith the Lord,
and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but you
heard not, and I called you, but you answered not. Rising
up early, what God is saying to him there is this is no late
message. In other words, this is not just
at the last moment that I'm... He's saying that this was the
message from early on. This is the testimony of God
from the beginning. Listen, what was the testimony
of God in Genesis 3 after Adam and Eve, Adam fell? I'm going
to send the woman seed. He's going to shed blood and
give you coats of skin. That's how the wrath of God is
removed, through the blood of the Lamb, based on the righteousness
of the Lamb. Isn't that what He said? That's
from the beginning. That was His message all the
way through. It's always been. This is no new message. This
is no late message. I rose up early speaking. But
He said, but you heard not. And I called you, but you answered
not. You didn't answer in faith and
obedience and humility. Verse 14, Therefore will I do
unto this house, this temple, which is called by My name, wherein
you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your
fathers as I have done unto Shiloh." The same thing that happened
at Shiloh is going to happen right here in Jerusalem, he says. And my friend, that's a lesson
to us. If we're not trusting Christ alone for all salvation,
the forgiveness of all our sins, for righteousness, eternal life
and glory, Him alone, then the same thing is going to happen
to us eternally. That happens to all who die in
unbelief without Christ. The wrath of God. Sinners under
the wrath of God. Verse 15, he says, and I will
cast you out of my sight. Now think about this. He said,
I'll cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren,
even the whole seed of Ephraim. The seed of Ephraim refers to
the northern kingdom. And they were already wiped out
by this time. He said, I'm going to cast you
out. When I read that, I said to myself, thank God for
the new covenant. Thank God for his grace. These
people in a temporal ceremonial national way were under a conditional
covenant. They failed. That should never
ever enter our minds as a point of pride for us. Because I guarantee
you, if we had been there with them, we'd have failed too. And if we were under a conditional
covenant today, we would fail. That's God's testimony to mankind. When salvation or any part of
it is conditioned on sinners, the sinner fails. That's why
it's all of grace. He said, I'm going to cast you
out. That's that old covenant. Is that what you want? Remember
Paul told the Galatians, he said, you that desire to be under the
law, do you not hear the law? You hear what you're saying? Evidently not. That's what he
said here. You wouldn't hear me. Why was that law given? To show us our failures, our
sins, our depravity, our need of Christ. We can't be made righteous by
the law. It must be of God's grace. Do
you not hear the law? But thank God for the New Covenant,
because under the New Covenant, you know what He says. He said,
I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I'll never cast you out.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me and him that
cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Here's a cast out people. But not under the new covenant.
Because that new covenant is steadied and founded and met
and fulfilled by Christ Jesus our Lord. He said, I'll never
cast you out. Their sins and iniquities will
I remember what? No more. No more. No more. I can't forget them. You know that? I still remember
things that I've done and other people have done. He said their
sins and iniquities I'll remember no more. He'll never hold them
against us. Our sins cannot be charged to us. Get hold of that. Lord, teach me. Why can't they
be charged to me? Because they were charged to
cry. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. We'll never be cast out. Thank
God for the new covenant. Thank God for the new covenant.
Well, look at verse 16. Now, he says here, therefore,
and he's talking to Jeremiah here. He says, therefore pray
not thou for this people. Neither lift up cry, nor prayer
for them, neither make intercession to me, for I will not hear them. Now we know God will not hear
any sinner without Christ, but here he's talking to Jeremiah.
And he says, Jeremiah, don't pray for them. That seems strange,
doesn't it? And we hear things like that
because I read scriptures like in 1 Samuel 12 where the prophet
said, God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing
to pray for you. We are to pray for one another.
And then in 1 Timothy chapter 2, Paul writes there, we are
to pray for all men without exception, all sorts of men, kings and people
in authority, whether we agree with them or voted for them or
not, we're to pray for them. But here God says, Jeremiah,
don't pray for them. What does that teach us? It teaches
us that there comes a time when there is absolutely, from
our point of view now, absolutely no hope for the salvation of
a sinner. There comes a time when God gives
them completely over to themselves and there's no need to pray for
them because there's no mediator, there's no intercessor without
Christ. God gave them up to themselves
not because they had committed an unpardonable sin but because
they rejected the only one who can and will pardon all sin.
the one by whom all sin can be and is part, the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this was a revelation of
God to Jeremiah. He hasn't revealed anything like
that to me and I hope he never does. But I know this, if a man
or woman dies in unbelief, there's no use praying for them then,
isn't that right? That's right, isn't it? They
die in unbelief. Now you say, well I may not know
if they died, and we may not. But there's no use praying for
them. God won't hear you. There's no mediator. To die without
Christ. But oh Lord, you think about
what God has given us. He's given us His Son and freely
gives us all things in Christ. And that's our hope. The only
hope that any of us have to escape the wrath to come is to flee
to Christ. submit to him and rest in him
for all salvation. All right, let's sing hymn number
329 as our closing hymn, Sitting at the Feet of Jesus, 329.