All right, let's open our Bibles
to Jeremiah chapter 6. Now, I've entitled the message
tonight, Peace Where There Is No Peace. Peace Where There Is
No Peace. And I'm going to take us down
to about verse 15 of this prophecy, Jeremiah chapter 6. And then
the next time I'm going to pick up at verse 16 and the title
of the message then is going to be peace where there is peace. So tonight it's peace where there
is no peace. And then the next time beginning
at verse 16, peace where there is peace. And of course you know
that there's only peace between God and sinners in and by the
Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace. And that's what we'll
be talking about. We'll be talking about that tonight too. But as
you know, Jeremiah prophesying in the last days of Jerusalem
and Judah before the captivity, they're conquering and being
conquered and being taken captive by the Babylonian Empire. And
the first thing he opens up with in this chapter And of course,
as you know, the Bible wasn't originally written in chapters
and verses like this, but in this section of his prophecy,
this is part of the second prophecy of Jeremiah, God's word through
Jeremiah to Judah and to Jerusalem. And in this part of it, the first
thing that comes up is the certainty of God's judgment against sin. The absolute certainty of God's
judgment against sin. Now when God never punishes sin
without a just cause. God is always righteous when
he judges, and he's righteous when he saves, the scripture
says. He's both a just God and a savior.
But where sin is imputed, where sin is charged, God always punishes
sin. Shall not the judge of all the
earth do right? Listen to the words of Jeremiah
here. He says, this is God's message
to these people, this rebellious people. He says, O ye children
of Benjamin. Now, he mentions Benjamin because
Benjamin, as you know, was the tribe that went with Judah into
the southern kingdom when the kingdom split after Solomon.
There were two tribes. There were ten tribes in the
north. They were already gone by this time. And two tribes
in the south, Judah and Benjamin. Judah was the biggest tribe and
the main tribe, the kingly tribe, and so the country was called
Judah. But Benjamin was with them. In fact, Anathoth, where
Jeremiah was born and raised, was a city of Benjamin. It was
given to Benjamin. And so he mentions the children
of Benjamin. and he says gather yourselves to flee out of the
midst of jerusalem he's telling them to get away from jerusalem
because jerusalem is gone going to be spoiled going to be conquered
going to be destroyed and it's interesting you know what jerusalem
means it means city of peace that's what it means and we're
going to be looking at peace peace where there is no pieces
it's it's ironic you see it's it's uh... it's uh... that way
that god is exposing the reality of what is called the city of
peace, but there is no peace. So he says, and blow the trumpet
in Tekoa, that was a city south of Jerusalem, the birthplace
of the prophet Amos, you might remember. Set up a sign of fire
in Beth-asirim, Beth-hasirim, that's the house of vineyards,
that's what that is, is another city, and it was a city that
was a signal city, that's where they would set fires to signal
the oncoming attack of an enemy. And he says, for evil appeareth
out of the north and great destruction, the Babylonian army. That's what
he's talking about here is Nebuchadnezzar, the conquering enemy. And think
about this now, this, this, he says evil appeareth out of the
north. And what he's talking about,
you see, this is the judgment of God. This evil army is going
to be used as an instrument of judgment. and the instrument
of God's judgment against Judah. And yet he calls them evil. Why? Because they meant it for evil.
The Babylonian Empire, they weren't doing this in the name of the
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They weren't doing this for the
honor and glory of God. They were doing it because of
their greed and their lust for power. But he says it's going
to be great destruction. Verse 2, he says, I've likened
the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. In other
words, she's like a... Zion, that's Judah, that's Jerusalem. That's the territory, see. They're
like a beautiful woman who's going to be spoiled. And he says
in verse 3, the shepherds with their flock shall come unto her.
They shall pitch their tents against her round about. These
shepherds are the soldiers, the conquering army of Babylon. They
shall feed everyone in his place. Verse four, here's God's command. He says, prepare ye war against
her. This is God's command to Babylon.
prepare you war against her, this beautiful woman, this Jerusalem. Arise and let us go up at noon,
woe unto us. That's kind of like they're saying
it's too late. He says, for the day goeth away, for the shadows
of the evening are stretched out. What he's saying there in
those words is basically this, however long it takes to destroy
Judah and Jerusalem, that's what is going to happen. If even it
has to start at noon and go up into the night. But however long
it takes, it's still going to happen. There's nothing going
to stop it. The natural time that God has
set for day and night won't stop it. Nothing will stop it. Verse
5, he says, Arise and let us go by night and let us destroy
her palaces. We'll do it in the night if we
have to. Look at verse 6. He says, For thus hath the Lord
of hosts, the Lord of a great army, that's the invincibility
of God. Nothing can stop this, you see.
This is the omnipotent, invincible God as He stands against all
sin. The soul that sinneth must surely
die, Scripture says. And that's why in order for salvation
to come, this issue of sin, this matter of sin has to be dealt
with in a just way. And God had told him that. Of
course, their whole existence as a nation and their whole system
of government under the old covenant was a testimony of that. So he
says in verse 6, For thus hath the Lord of hosts said, Hew you
down trees and cast them out against Jerusalem. You have to
cut down trees and build things to go up against the walls. This
is the city to be visited. Now, this is not a good visitation.
This is the visitation of God's wrath. She is holy oppression
in the midst of her. That's what she is. She's nothing
but oppression. Verse 7, as a fountain casteth out her water, so she
casteth out her wickedness. Jerusalem, this religious nation,
and I'll tell you, the more I get into Jeremiah and read and study
it, the more I see that our nation is in the same shape. Religious
but lost. Now there's a lot of irreligion.
There's a lot of immorality and decadence. But there's a lot
of religion without truth, religion without grace, religion without
Christ. Even that which comes in the
name of Christianity, much of it. And that's what he's saying
about Jerusalem. She casteth out her wickedness.
Violence and spoil is heard in her. Before me continually is
grief and wounds. Kind of reminds you of Isaiah
chapter one, that she's full of wounds and putrefying sores
from the top of her head to the sole of her feet. There's no
soundness in her. And that's what Jeremiah is saying
about his day. Isaiah prophesied about a hundred
years before Isaiah. Or Isaiah prophesied about a
hundred years before Jeremiah. And now we see the nation is
no better off. He says in verse 8, Be thou instructed,
O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from thee, lest I make thee desolate,
a land not inhabited. What he's saying is take a lesson.
The prophet's saying take a lesson from this. Learn from this. But
they didn't learn. And so in verse 9, he begins
to show the reasons for this judgment. There's the certainty
of the judgment. Now here's the reasons for it. Verse 9, look at it. The first
thing he brings out is their willful unbelief. He says, Thus
saith the Lord of hosts, that same God, They shall thoroughly
glean the remnant of Israel as a vine, turn back thine hand
as a grape gatherer into the baskets. What he's saying here
is like a grape vine, and the person who comes to pick those
grapes, they pluck that vine clean. That's the way Jerusalem
is going to be plucked clean. Nothing left. And so he says
in verse 10, To whom shall I speak and give warning that they may
hear? Behold, their ear is uncircumcised. And they cannot hearken. They
cannot listen. Notice the language there. They
cannot listen. Why? Because their ear is uncircumcised. Now you know what that's talking
about. That's talking about spiritual circumcision. All right? You remember? The Apostle Paul
spoke of that in Romans chapter 2 when he said in verse 28, He
is not a Jew which is one outwardly, but he is a Jew which is one
inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart. That's the
new birth. And what it says, they're born
dead in trespasses and sins, their ear is uncircumcised, their
heart is uncircumcised. And they cannot listen, they
cannot heed, they cannot hearken. Behold, the word of the Lord
is unto them a reproach. They have no delight in it. That's
willful unbelief. This comes under the heading
of what Jeremiah spoke back in chapter 2. When he said in verse
13, my people have committed two evils. The first one he said,
they've forsaken me the fountain of living waters. Well, that's
what this is. The word of the Lord is unto
them a reproach. They have no delight in it. What
Jeremiah speak to them of, of their sin. Their sin. You know, people today, They
don't want you to talk about sin. They want you to speak what
they think is good things to them, pleasant things. Remember
we talked about it back up there in Jeremiah 5 in verse 31. Listen to it. The prophets prophesy
falsely and the priests bear rule by their means and my people
love to have it so. People want to be lied to. That's
man by nature. And think about, you know, I
heard a preacher talking about, he was being interviewed by a
reporter. And the reporter asked him, he
said, why don't you ever preach on sin, against sin? And he said, well, why would
I want to preach against sin? Why would I want to bring up
something so negative? Well, because it's our disease.
What do we need to be saved from? We need to be saved from sin.
His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His people
from their sins. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners. What is the church? It's a hospital
for sinners. It's not a country club for the
self-righteous. It's a hospital for sinners.
If you're not a sinner, you don't need what I have to say to you
tonight. You don't need the good news.
The good news is that there's a cure for sin. And that cure
is Jesus Christ and Him crucified and risen. It's His blood can
wash away those putrefying sores, that unsoundness, my sin. His
righteousness can give me a complete, eternal, right standing before
God. And people don't want to hear
about it. That's a reproach unto them. They have no delight in
it. You see, who has delight in this? In this word of grace? It's sinners who see their need
of grace. That's what he's talking about. See, this is man by nature
here. Right there. We dealt with that
last week a little bit. We talked about when Christ spoke
the parable of the soils. And the disciples asked him,
remember in Matthew 13, they said, why do you speak in parables?
And he said, because they seeing see not, they hearing hear not.
Remember he told them, he said, blessed are your eyes for they
see, blessed are your ears for they hear. Remember Stephen,
when he preached his message in Jerusalem, and they rejected
the gospel that he preached, he said, you stiff-necked, which
means they're unsubmissive, unbending, they're rebellious, and uncircumcised
in heart and ears. Think about it. And it's the
same in Paul's day. Look over at Romans chapter 10
with me. He says here in verse 13 of Romans
chapter 10, he says, Whosoever shall call upon the name of the
Lord shall be saved. Well, what's the problem then?
Well, men by nature will not call upon him. And he tells in
verse 14, How then shall they call on him in whom they've not
believed? How shall they believe in him of whom they've not heard?
How shall they hear without a preacher? How shall they preach except
they be sin as it is written? How beautiful are the feet of
them that preach the gospel of peace. Now there is a gospel
of peace, you see. What is that? It's the gospel
of Christ. It's the gospel of God's grace.
And bring glad tidings of good things. Who's it going to be
glad tidings to? Those who see their need of grace. You see, if you don't see your
need of grace, then the preaching of grace is not going to be such
good news to you. It'll be a reproach. But he says
in verse 16, but they've not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah
said, Lord, who hath believed our report? That's Isaiah 53,
1. So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
But I say, have they not all heard? Yes, verily, their sound
went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the world. But I say, did not Israel know?
First, Moses saith, I will provoke you to jealousy by them that
are no people, and by a foolish nation I will anger you. That's
the bringing in of the Gentiles. But Isaiah is very bold and saith,
I was found of them that sought me not. I was made manifest unto
them that asked not for me. Did you hear that? Who found him? He said, those
who sought me not. But he says in verse 21, but
to Israel he saith, all day long I have stretched forth my hands
unto a disobedient and gainsame people. Now think about this.
What does that teach us? Back here in Jeremiah 6, their
ear is uncircumcised. They cannot hearken. And I ask
myself this question, and I ask you, can you hearken? Can you
listen? Or is this word that exposes
us for what we are? Sinners who deserve nothing but
eternal damnation. And now what the Bible teaches?
That if God were to ever give us what we've earned or what
we deserve, it would be eternal death for all sin that comes
short of the glory of God. The wages of sin is death. We
quote those verses often, don't we? Yes, the gift of God is eternal
life through Jesus Christ our Lord. But you notice the difference
there. There's wages and then there's
the gift. What's the difference? You earn a wage. A gift is not
earned. It's grace, grace, grace. That means you don't earn it,
you don't deserve it. And so here, here's a man or
a woman who's been trying to please God all their life by
their efforts to keep the law, to be good, to do this. What
is their hope? What is their cry? What is their
foundation and ground of salvation? Well, they say, well, you know,
I'm not perfect, but I'm not as bad as some. I told you about
the man who said, well, I'm not perfect, but I've never done
anything to deserve to go to hell. Well, is that what the
Bible says? Is that what God's word says?
No. It says the wages of sin is death. What sin? All sin. Any sin. Isn't that
right? That's death. So here comes a
preacher and he says, listen, you never, you've never done
anything that's good enough to earn God's blessings and God's
favor and God's salvation. And all you've done, put together
the best you've ever done, by deeds of law shall no flesh be
justified in his sight. The best you've ever done is
enough to sink a world to hell. Now my question is, Is that a
reproach to me? Is that a reproach to you? Or
is that delight? Well, it's delight if you tell
me about Christ. For He is my delight. How can
a holy God be just and still justify an ungodly sinner like
me? Tell me that story. But you know
what all this teaches us here? It teaches us this, and why does
God even reveal these things to us? It's for humility. It's to bring us down and make
us realize what we are in His sight, by nature, and our need
of Christ. And here it is, that if any of
us hear, remember what He said here, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot hear. But if any of us hear and heed
the Word of God, Admit our sins and run to Christ for all salvation,
for all forgiveness, for all righteousness, for all life,
and for eternal glory. If any of us hear and listen
and heed and delight in God's Word, it's not the product of
our goodness. It's not because we're better
than these who refuse to hear. You see, the glorious future
that Jeremiah speaks of is not because God suddenly comes upon
a better group of people than these right here who will listen
to him, because by nature all our ears are uncircumcised. The
glorious future is totally wrapped up in the sending of the Messiah,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that God is going to circumcise the
ears of His people. spiritual Israel, His elect people.
It's not the product of our goodness. It's not even the product of
our humility because by nature we're not humble. If we're humble,
God humbles us, doesn't He? And it's not the product of our
will. It's the total sovereign mercy
and gift of God. That's what Christ said. That's
what He said. So there's their willful unbelief.
But look here, look at verse, look on verse 11. He says, therefore
I'm full of the fury of the Lord. I'm weary withholding in. I will
pour it out upon the children abroad and upon the assembly
of young men together for even the husband with the wife shall
be taken, the aged with him and that is full of days. There's
no, there's no station of life or state of this physical life
that will protect you from the wrath of God. Verse 12, their
houses shall be turned unto others. In other words, all that they've
worked for and owned will be given to somebody else with their
fields and wives together. For I will stretch out my hand
upon the inhabitants of the land, saith the Lord. And then look
at verse 13. Now here's the second reason
for the certainty of God's justice. The first one was their willful
unbelief. The second reason is arrogance and self-righteousness.
And notice how he starts out here. He says, for from the least
of them, even unto the greatest of them. The least, the greatest,
and everybody in between. That's what he's saying. Everyone
is given to covetousness. That's greed. Now when we think
about greed, we usually think about people who are trying to
gain material things like money and houses and land. And that
certainly is covetousness. Paul spoke of it to the church
at Colossae. He called it covetousness which
is idolatry. And what is that? Well, that's
such a thirst and greed for other things that it takes you away
from the worship of God and causes you to deny God. It's idolatry. You know, and people let that
happen. It's not that they worship those
things, but it does take them away from the worship of God.
But there's also a religious covetousness. It's a greed. And what is it a greed for? It's
a greed for God's blessings based upon not His grace, but your
works. In fact, you see, let me give
you an example. When Cain, you remember the story
of Cain and Abel? When Cain came to God seeking
God's blessings and favor, it was in covetousness. It was a
greed based upon his efforts. When Abel came, he came in humility,
having been brought down and convicted by God, to see his
sin and admitting the fact that he didn't deserve the least of
God's blessings, so he had no choice and no hope but to plead
the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Christ. That's grace. The people here given to covetousness,
sure, there are people here, I'm sure, in this nation, just
like there are in our nation, whose whole lives are spent gaining
things, working for things. You've heard me preach about
it, more stuff, we've got to have more stuff. You know, you've
got more stuff than I've got, so I've got to get some more
stuff, and that's the way it is. Like the reporter asked Howard
Hughes, he said, well, Mr. Hughes, why do you want so much
land? And Hughes answered him, he said,
well, I don't want that much, just whatever's next to mine.
And that was the way it was. And so there are people like
that. But my friend, there is a covetousness that man doesn't
recognize by nature, and that's desiring anything from God. apart
from his grace in Christ. And this was a religious nation.
We're going to see that. It's going to be described even
more later on. But he says, verse 13, for from
the least of them unto the greatest of them, everyone is given to
covetousness, and from the prophet even unto the priest, everyone
dealeth falsely. You know, it's interesting. There
he says, from the least to the greatest, they're given to covetousness. Over in chapter 31, when he's
prophesying of the new covenant, which is the establishment in
time of the everlasting covenant of grace through Christ, What
does he say about the least of them to the greatest of them
there? In verse 34, listen to it. He says, They shall teach
no more every man his neighbor and every man his brother, saying,
Know the Lord, for they shall all know me from the least of
them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. Now, man on his
own, by nature, under a conditional covenant, like back here in chapter
6, here's the way it is. From the least of them to the
greatest of them, they're all given to covetousness. You could
just as well say it this way, they're all sinners who have
no hope in themselves. But under the new covenant in
Christ by the grace and mercy of God, what does he say? From
the least of them to the greatest of them, they'll all know me.
They'll know God. They'll come to God through Christ.
But then he says in verse 14, of chapter six. Now listen to
the language here, because I think this is a great description of
modern religion, right here. They have healed also the hurt
of the daughter of my people slightly, saying peace, peace,
when there is no peace. Now that comes under the heading
of what Jeremiah called hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can hold no water. You know, when a person speaks
peace to themselves, or when they speak peace to others. Somebody
said, well, we're not to speak peace to anybody. Oh, you better
read your Bible. The moment you call anybody brother
or sister in Christ, that's exactly what we're doing. But think about
this. When anybody speaks peace to
themselves or to others, they've got to have some reason to do
so. Got to have some ground upon
which They say, well, I'm at peace with God. Many people,
they'll say stuff like this. They'll say, well, I've made
my peace with God. You've heard that. A lot of that
goes on at funerals, doesn't it? Well, they made their peace
with God. Somebody said, well, what's the
problem with that? Well, the problem is that man can't make
peace with God. It took somebody else to do that.
His name is Jesus Christ. The Bible says that peace is
made between God and sinners through the blood of what? The
cross. He was made sin, Christ who knew
no sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God
in Him. That's reconciliation based upon our sins charged to
Him and His righteousness charged to us. But people speak peace. These
false preachers, they said, peace, peace, when there's no peace.
What did they say? They said, well, we're all right. Jeremiah's lying to you. Jeremiah's
not telling the truth. We don't deserve the wrath of
God. We don't deserve to be punished. We're not going to be destroyed.
Don't listen to him. The same way when it comes to
false preachers preaching salvation by the works and the will of
men. They say, well, God's done everything He can do. The rest
is up to you. Now, if you do what's right, you'll be okay.
You'll be at peace. What is it that gives you peace?
You know who's the first one to preach that message, peace,
peace, when there is no peace? He used different words. It's
the same message. The name of Satan. Genesis chapter
3. He told Eve, I know what God
said, but He's not telling you the truth. Thou shalt not surely
die. You're okay. Go ahead and eat." And he says, they healed the
hurt of the daughter of my people slightly. Whenever Jeremiah preached
the wrath of God and stirred them up in their conscience,
what happened? Well, they ran and got a second
opinion. They find some preacher, some minister, some prophet,
some priest who will scratch that itching ear and tell them
what they want to hear. Don't listen to him. He's just
old doomsday. He's the old burden of the Word.
Here comes the burden. And they put a band-aid of man's
works or man's will or man's experiences or man's efforts
to try to cover a deadly cancer called sin. That's going to lead
to death. And then look at verse 15. He
says, were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No. Nay, he says. They were not at
all ashamed. Neither could they blush. They
weren't ashamed of their cry of peace and their ground of
peace, which was a false ground. They were proud of it. You hear that all the time in
what they call so-called testimonies. Neither could they blush, therefore
they shall fall among them that fall, as the time that I visit
them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord." They had a refuge,
but it was a refuge of lies. You remember that? Look over
at Isaiah 28. Let me show you this. I'll hurry
here. Look at Isaiah 28. Isaiah spoke
of this. It was the same kind of situation. In Isaiah 28, he talked about
those scornful men that ruled the people that were in Jerusalem.
Verse 15, it says, because you've said we've made a covenant with
death, and with hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge, that's God's wrath, shall pass through, it shall
not come unto us. We're fine. When I die, you know, I'll be
fine. And then he says, For we have
made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.
Now that's not what these false preachers are saying or these
false professors, but that's in essence what they are. And
look at verse 16. He says, Therefore thus saith
the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a tried stone, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure
foundation, And he that believeth not shall make haste. That means
he's going to be ashamed. Judgment also will I lay to the
line and righteousness to the plummet. You know what he's saying
here? You know that's a prophecy of Christ, don't you? Who is
that foundation stone, that tried stone, that precious cornerstone,
that sure foundation? That's Christ. He said that. Peter said it, Paul said it,
Romans chapter 9, and he says that this peace, this refuge
that you claim, if it is not founded upon righteousness, listen,
verse 17, judgment also while lying to the lion, righteousness
to the plumbing, and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of
lies, and the water shall overflow the hiding place. If this ground
of peace, if this peace that you claim, or that you speak
to yourself or to others. If it's not founded upon righteousness,
then it's a refuge of lies. And where are you going to find
righteousness? Huh? Well, I joined the church. Is
that going to give you righteousness? Well, this book says no. Or I
got baptized. Or I've been trying to live a
good life. Or I never miss a service. Is that what makes a sinner righteous
before God? You remember in Luke chapter
18 when Christ dealt with that? Those who claim to be righteous
and despised others, and how did they claim to be righteous?
I thank God I'm not like other men. You remember the Pharisee? Remember the false professors
in Matthew 7 verse 22 there? They said, haven't we preached
in your name? Haven't we cast out demons? Haven't
we done many wonderful works? Is that what makes a sinner righteous
before God? Is that the ground of peace?
That's a false refuge. That's peace, peace when there
is no peace. I've often told you, I've preached
this gospel for 30 years. But all those 30 years put together
and all the sermons, the gospel sermons put together cannot make
me righteous before God. For grace reigns through righteousness
unto eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Christ is my
righteousness. Now what does that mean? That
means Christ is my peace with God. He made that peace, not
me. He made it. And so he says back
here in Jeremiah chapter 6, he said, then they're going to fall.
Why is that? It's because pride goes before
destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. You see, this
is a good description of false religion today. If your soul
is troubled about your salvation, I'll tell you what right now,
you can go to any number of ministers in this very town who will do
exactly what's described here, cry peace, peace, when there's
no peace. You won't find a shortage of them. And they don't know the true
way of salvation. And I'm not just picking on others.
They'll give you formulas. They'll give you questions to
answer. They'll give you formulaic prayers to pray. They'll give
you something to do. It's called easy believism. It's
ritual, it's ceremony, it's works, it's will worship. But they won't
point you to Christ for all salvation, for all righteousness, for all
peace with God. They'll cry, peace, peace, when
there is no peace. You know, to many people, Christ,
Jesus Christ, is no more than a way to enable them to work
out a righteousness of their own. But now, to the true child
of God, he is all my righteousness. He is my righteousness. You see
the difference? I stand in him complete and worship
him. All right.