Alright, Jeremiah chapter 4. Now the title of the message
tonight is Return to the Lord. Return to the Lord. Jeremiah
the prophet of God has issued a call to repentance to Judah. And that's what this chapter
is about. He not only calls them to repentance, but he shows them
as he's inspired by God Almighty to show them the kind of repentance
that God requires. It's the kind of repentance that
man by nature does not have and cannot produce. It's the kind
of repentance that only God Almighty by His Spirit as He reveals Christ
to us and in us can produce. It's the repentance of a regenerate
heart, a new heart. And this is the kind of repentance
that God commands sinners to seek. You know, we've often said
we cannot change, we can't save ourselves and we cannot change
ourselves. But God manifests himself, reveals
himself in his word so that men are held accountable to seek
him. and to seek that faith which
only God gives and to seek that repentance which only God gives.
In fact, two times in the book of Acts, repentance is mentioned
specifically as a gift. Acts chapter 5 and I believe
it's Acts chapter 11. In Acts chapter 5, it's mentioned
as a gift that's given to the Jews. That is, God's elect people
among the Jews. and then in acts chapter eleven
it's mentioned as a gift to the gentiles that is god's elect
to the gentiles but either way we're all at the mercy of god
to receive this repentance and jeremiah knows that well he issues
a call to repentance to judah and jerusalem his own country
in light of the glorious future of jerusalem spiritual jerusalem
spiritual israel in the coming of the messiah and the establishment
of his kingdom in righteousness. This is the gift of God. And the repentance of Israel,
he described back here in chapter 3, remember the last verses of
chapter 3 beginning at verse 21 going on to the end. He described
the repentance there of Israel, but that was his desire for the
nation. It wasn't a reality because they
didn't come to repentance. The reality of this repentance
would only come in the future of the Messiah's kingdom. Now
that's not to say that God did not bring sinners to repentance
even in this day. He did. But it was a remnant,
a remnant according to the election of grace. You can look at Hebrews
chapter 11 and see the hall of faith that we call it, and you
can see how the Old Testament saints were brought to repentance.
Abel was a sinner saved by the grace of God. whom God, by the
power of His grace and the Holy Spirit, brought him to repentance.
And that's why Abel brought the blood of the Lamb. That's the
evidence that you've repented, that you've received this repentance
that God gives. You find no hope anywhere but
in Christ. You find no forgiveness of your
sins anywhere but in His blood. You plead nothing for your justification
before God but His righteousness imputed. That's why David came
to repentance. And all of God's children will
come to repentance. The Bible says in 2 Peter chapter
3 and verse 9, speaking of God's elect, that God's not willing
that any of them should perish, but that all of them, all of
his people, all whom he chose before the foundation of the
world, all for whom Christ died and whom he redeemed by his blood
on the cross, all whom he calls by the Holy Spirit, gives life
in the new birth and calls by the Spirit, that they would all
come to repentance. That's the goal of faith. Now,
look at verse 1 here. The first thing that he brings
forth is the reality of true repentance. And what is that
reality? Well, what he's going to do,
he's going to show them how much God hates and despises this surface,
ceremonial, heartless religion that they engage themselves in.
And you remember now that during this time, this was during the
time of King Josiah's reforms. After Josiah, after his priest
Hilkiah found the book of the law in the temple as they were
cleaning it up and getting it back in order. And you remember
how Josiah was brought to repentance. He rent his clothes and he showed
forth a heart repentance, not just shallow ceremonial religious
reformations, not just cleansing the outside of the cup. as Christ
accused the Pharisees, but leaving the inside just as filthy as
it ever was. And this is another thing too,
it shows us that this thing of salvation is a heart matter.
Sin reaches to the heart, doesn't it? It's not just what we do,
it's what we are by nature, fell in Adam. And we're born dead
in trespasses and sin. So salvation reaches to the heart. And that's what Jeremiah is going
to show. But he's showing the reality of godly repentance here. It's a sincere return to the
Lord. It's not just turning from this
type of behavior to that type of behavior. It's not just joining
a church or getting baptized or going through some motion. It's not repeating a sinner's
prayer. It's not answering a few questions. It's turning to the Lord. He says, return to me. Don't
just come back to the land. That's what he's talking about.
Look at verse 1. If thou wilt return, O Israel. Now, they're going to go into
captivity. They're gonna be there for 70 years. That's the length
of that captivity. In fact, Jeremiah is the prophet
who tells them that God informs Jeremiah. It's gonna be 70 years.
And after that 70 years, you're going to return to the land.
Now, not the whole nation, but one or two out of a household.
Remember we read that? One or two of a city, two of
a family, a remnant. But he said, and that's a type
or a symbol, you might say, or an illustration, may be a better
word, for returning in repentance. But just leaving Babylon geographically
and going back to Jerusalem geographically is not repentance. Listen to
what he says in verse one. If thou wilt return, O Israel,
saith the Lord, return unto me. Repentance has to do with turning
to God, returning unto the Lord, the Lord God Jehovah, the God
of all grace, the God who saves sinners by His grace through
Christ. See, this repentance is a sincere
heartfelt movement of the whole person, of the whole person,
not just outwardly, but inwardly. to the Lord, and it involves
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, because without seeing Christ
and His glory, who He is and what He accomplished on Calvary,
Christ the Lord God of Israel, the God-man, the Savior, the
Redeemer, you see, the Lord our righteousness, and without seeing
what He accomplished on Calvary to save us from our sins and
to make us righteous before God, we don't know what to repent
of. That's why the Apostle Paul, when he was describing his own
conversion, he described it as it was based upon the saving
view that God gave him of Christ. Remember he said, all those things
I thought were gain, those I counted loss, and what's the next two
words? For Christ. He said, I count all things but
loss. for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ Jesus my Lord. Now this repentance, it's an
act of the mind, it's an act of the affections, it's an act
of the will, it's the whole person. It's not done in ignorance. God
teaches his people who he is. He's the holy God who judges
according to truth. And He shows us our sins, that
if God were to judge any of us based upon our best, we would
all deserve nothing and get nothing but eternal damnation. And then
He shows us Christ, the Lord of glory, the only way of salvation,
the only way of forgiveness. And that's where He brings us
to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and what the Bible calls repentance
of dead works and idolatry. And that's an act of the regenerate
heart. That's an act of the new heart.
Return unto me, he says. Conversion and repentance unto
the Lord. Don't turn to self. Don't turn
to self-improvement. Don't turn to psychology or philosophy. It's not just joining a church.
You see, it's not just turning over a new leaf. It's not just
outward reformation in religion, but it's a turning to the Lord
for salvation. It's like that publican, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. It's like that one who cries
out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. That's what
repentance is all about. It's to the Lord. Paul wrote
to the Ephesian elders, And he spoke of his message to the church
there and how that he kept back nothing that was profitable for
them. And he said testifying both to
the Jews and also to the Greeks, remember that's a general name
for all Gentiles in that culture. Repentance and here's how here's
the way put it repentance Toward God you see we normally think
of repentance as just being away from something, but it's not
just away from some it's toward someone Repentance toward God
and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ repentant return unto
me look at verse 1 he says and if thou will put away thine abominations
out of my sight the abominations are their idolatry and their
dead works go back go back to the thinking about Saul of Tarsus
again there is recorded in Philippians chapter 3 Here's this man who
was a Hebrew of Hebrews, a Pharisee of Pharisees, one who was circumcised
the eighth day, who tried to keep the law, and he was an abomination
before God at that time. He was an idolater who brought
forth dead works. The God he had in his mind and
on his heart, his dead unregenerate heart, was an idol, is an idol. Because I want to tell you something,
any God, now listen to this, any God who will save, bless,
accept, reward, or receive, or commune with sinners based upon
anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ and Him crucified
is an idol. And all the efforts of sinners
to get that God to bless them or save them are dead works.
The Bible calls it trying to establish a righteousness of
their own. Now he says, if thou will put away thine abominations
out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove. That not remove means
to not wander, not stray as an unsettled, lost person. In other words, those who return
unto the Lord have a fixed, set habitation and cannot be moved. They rest in God. They're settled
in and upon the Lord Jesus Christ. He's their rock. This being removed
is similar to the way of Cain. And over in the book of Genesis
chapter 4, there's two times when God pronounced the curse
upon Cain, what he told Cain. And you know what Cain's problem
was? It was self-righteousness. It was religious pride. He didn't
believe God. He thought too highly of himself.
He brought his own works to be accepted before God. He refused
to bring the blood, the blood of the Lamb, the blood of Christ.
And God cursed him. God rejected him and God cursed
him, you see. That's the way of everyone who
comes the way of Cain. And two times in Genesis 4, he
said, Cain, you're going to be a fugitive and a vagabond. That's what this word remove
alludes to. A fugitive, that is almost like
a criminal on the run from God, you can't get away. And a vagabond,
no settled place, no resting place, you see. No city of refuge,
you might say it that way. Well, what does the Bible say
about all of us by nature? Isaiah 53 says, all we like sheep
have done what? We've gone astray. We've all
gone our own way. You see, without Christ, we have
no settled, firm, established home before a holy God. In and by Christ, we know the
way. He is the way. He's the way of
salvation. He's the way of forgiveness.
He's the way of righteousness. He's the way of eternal life
and glory. And in Christ and by Christ,
we rest in the way and we cannot be moved. Look at verse 2. He says, now again, that's what
he's doing. Now he's describing here the nature of true repentance.
It's all in this slide here now. He says in verse 2, and thou
shalt swear. Now this swearing here is an
act of worship. That's what that indicates. It's
swearing unto God, swearing our allegiance unto God, that's what
it means. And he says, and thou shalt swear,
and here's the oath, the Lord liveth. In other words, there's
only one true and living God, and there is no other. Isaiah
said it this way, when God was speaking through Isaiah, look
unto me and be ye saved, all the ends of it, for there is
none else. The Lord liveth. All other gods, or so-called
gods, are dead gods. Jehovah liveth. You see the name
there? Jehovah. The God of all grace,
He's it. He's the only God, you see. You know, people either say,
well, there's many gods or there's one God and many ways to the
one God. Neither one's true. There's not
many gods. There's one God. And there's
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. There's
one way to the one God. And that's the way of grace.
That's the way of Christ. It's the way of the blood or
the way of the cross. We sing at him, the way of the
cross leads home. It leads us to God. He says,
so the Lord liveth. And then he says, in truth, God
judges according to truth and we must worship him in spirit
and in truth. And if we're not, what do we
need to do? We need to repent. Repentance
is according to truth. And that's truth in the inward
parts. David cried that in Psalm 51. Thou desires truth in the
inward parts. In other words, God doesn't desire
us to just repeat words and phrases and have stickers and posters
and all that. He wants it on the heart. And
what does He say He's going to do for His people under the new
covenant? He's going to write it in their hearts. That's an
act of God. You see, this repentance is a
gift of God. We don't have this in us by nature. We don't. You can tell a sinner, dead sinner
to repent till you're blue in the face and he cannot do it. That doesn't relinquish our responsibility
to call sinners to repentance now. And it doesn't relinquish
their responsibility to seek it. But we know that it's the
gift of God just like faith. And then he says in verse two
there, he says, and in judgment, that is knowing the judgment
of God against all sin. taking sides with God against
ourselves. God, if you, Lord, should us
mark iniquities, who would stand? Not me. Oh, Lord, don't judge
me according to my works. Not even my best, because all
my best deserves damnation. And then, not only that, it's
knowing the judgment of God against our sins in Christ. If we're
brought to repentance, What will we see? Well, we'll see by the
Word of God and the power of the Holy Spirit that Christ has
taken all the judgment of God against my sins when he died
on that cross. That's what John was writing
in John chapter 16 when he was talking about conviction of the
Spirit. He will convince the world of sin, because they believe
not on me and of righteousness because I go unto the father
this Christ speaking to his disciples and of judgment because the prince
of this world is cast out he's judged you see judgment here
is judgment that God gives according to the truth and this judgment
includes what Paul wrote in Romans 8 who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect it's God that justify that's God's judgment
That's God's judgment of His people in Christ. Christ took
my sins. And my account is wiped clean
and clear of all sin and all iniquity because of the blood
of Christ. And I have righteousness accounted
to me, charged to me, credited to me. Really, under the judgment
of God, not in the eyes of men, And not under any pretense, but
in the reality of God's judgment, God who sees all, knows all,
and God who judges according to truth. I'm in Christ. How do you know you're in Christ?
Because I've got no place else to go. I thought about this when
I was reading this about thou shalt not remove. In other words,
you won't stray away or out of the way. And I can't remember
who it was, one of you men, I think you were talking to Brother Earl
Henderson. I can't remember who it was, somebody, you'll tell
me after the service maybe, or if they're here tonight, I don't
remember. And talking about assurance of salvation, because I believe
if you read the word of God and stick with the word of God and
not listen to the opinions of men, I believe that assurance
of salvation is not only necessary, but God commands it for his people. I really do. And I think the,
uh, her friend asked her brother, Earl Henderson, they said, uh,
uh, Earl, uh, uh, how do you know that you're, you're saved,
that you're not lost. And they'll just simply said,
well, I can't be lost cause I know the way. You know, if you know
where you're going, if you know the way, you're not lost. I've
been out driving places I've never been before and got lost
because I didn't know the way. But listen, I know the way. Christ
said, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. And so we climb into the word
of God and we find out what this book says about Christ and who
he is. So this is what we're talking about. Look at verse
2. He says, Thou shalt swear the
Lord liveth in truth, judgment, and in righteousness. That's
our righteousness in and by Christ. He's the Lord our righteousness.
Jeremiah talks a lot about that in his prophecies. Jehovah Sid
Canoe. I don't have to come to God quaking
in fear that He's going to accept me or not. Because I know that
in the Beloved, I'm what? I'm accepted. He said it. And that's not man's opinion.
You know, somebody said, well, you can't tell sinners that they're
sick. I can tell them what God says. Isn't that right? God says,
if Christ is my only hope, then I have a sure hope, a good hope. If Christ is, if I'm washed in
His blood, And my sins are all gone, they're taken away. That's
what God says. And that's the same way with
this. I stand before God in Christ and I have his righteousness.
And then he says, he said, now listen to this. He says, and
the nations shall bless themselves in him. The nations refers to
God's elect out of the Gentiles. So he's talking about another
covenant here, a covenant of grace, not the old covenant.
Because that didn't include Gentiles except those who would convert
to Judaism and be circumcised. And so he's talking about the
nations here, they shall bless themselves in him. In other words,
they're not going to attest to any blessedness to themselves
except which comes in Christ. I'm blessed in Christ. And the
Bible says in Ephesians 1, 3, we're blessed with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And then it
says, and in him that shall they glory. You see that? Now this
nations and this glorying goes all the way back to the promise
of God made to Abraham. And he said it twice. He said,
Abraham, in thee shall all nations be blessed. And not that nations
would become Jews, but become partakers of the salvation that's
from the Lord. Look over at Galatians chapter
3 with me just for a moment. The Holy Spirit inspired Paul
to comment on this very subject throughout when he was talking
about the blessings of Abraham. And he said, look at verse 7
of Galatians 3. He says, know ye therefore that
they which are of faith, now what does that mean? Those who
believe in Christ. The same are the children of
Abraham. Now who are the children of Abraham?
Those who believe in Christ. Those who rest in, those who
have been brought to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works. And he says in verse 8 in the
scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen. That's
a way of speaking of the non-Jews in the Old Testament, the Gentiles. through faith, that is, through
believing in Christ, preached before the gospel unto Abraham,
saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which
be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. And later on
there, he said, look at verse 14, we won't read this whole
thing. He says, All this took place, and it's all based upon
the fact, verse 13, that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, what it means when it
says he was made sin he was made a curse he became cursed under
the broken law for our sins charged to him for it is written cursed
is everyone that hangeth on a tree now look at verse 14 you could
read it this way that or in order that the blessing of Abraham
might come on the Gentiles through being circumcised or through
keeping the law No. Through Jesus Christ. You see
it there? That we might receive the promise
of the Spirit through faith. Now that's what he's talking
about here when he says the nations shall bless themselves in him
and in him shall they glory. They're going to glory in Christ.
They're going to glory in the Lord. That's what the scripture
teaches. They're going to say with Paul the Apostle, God forbid
that I should glory save in the cross, the finished work, the
blood, the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says
in verse 16, that's the Israel of God, that's spiritual Israel. And so first, the coming of Christ,
think about this. Now, the Jews were used greatly
in this matter by the power and providence of God. First of all,
the coming of Christ was through the Jewish nation. He was made
of the seed of David according to the flesh. The spiritual blessings
for God's elect, Jew and Gentile, being pardoned through the blood
of Christ, justified by His righteousness imputed, having peace and life
and salvation by Him. And then secondly, the conversion
of many Jews That remnant according to the election of grace would
be God's way of blessing his elect among the Gentiles. That's
why Paul said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. It's
the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth, to
the Jew first, that is in time, and to the Greek also. He told
the woman at the well, you remember, salvations of the Jews. What
does he mean by that? He means Christ would come according
to the flesh of the Jews. and He is our salvation. In Him
shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory.
You know, back here in Jeremiah 4, the main reason, and we could
talk about many reasons why God brought Israel under this old
covenant, this conditional covenant, but the main reason for God's
covenant with Israel as a nation was to bring salvation to the
world that is his elect all over the world God's elect out of
every tribe, kindred, tongue and nation by bringing Jesus
Christ into the world that's the main reason for it but another
reason was so that they would be a testimony of his grace to
the Gentiles and in that they failed miserably in fact Ezekiel
speaks a lot of that remember he says you have profaned my
name before the heathen And that's what they did. Now, in beginning
at verse 3, he starts now telling them God's method of repentance.
Now, there's the nature of repentance. It's turning from ourselves,
turning from our sin, our sins, and our own righteousness unto
the Lord, unto Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Pleading nothing
but His blood and righteousness. Turning from my dead works, my
efforts to save myself. and turning to Christ who is
my whole salvation, who is my all and in all. That's the nature
of it. Well, here's the method of it.
And there's a pronouncement in these verses of impending judgment. God's going to judge this nation.
We can liken that as it applies to us in this sense or the whole
world in this sense. God is going to judge all sin. He must punish sin. Shall not
the judge of all the earth do right? He will. He's holy. He
must punish sin. And that's a metaphor of God's
wrath against all sin and all righteousness. And what he shows
here is the need of repentance for every sin. We all need to
repent. There's no sinner who is not
in need of mercy. There's no sinner who's not in
need of grace. There's no sinner who's not in
need of repentance. And this call to repentance,
think about it. What is required of men in this
repentance men cannot and will not do? It must be an act of
God. But these are things that sinners
are to seek for by the grace of God. Look at it. The first
one, he talks about conviction of sin. What is conviction of
sin? It's God bringing a sinner, giving
him a broken and a contrite heart. Look at it. He says, for thus
saith the Lord, verse three, to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
break up your fallow ground and sow not among thorns. Now this
is the work of God. You know, this fallow ground,
it's ground that hasn't been worked, ground that hasn't been
prepared. ground that hasn't been fertilized,
prepared to receive the seed. He's referring here to the dead
heart. It's like in Proverbs chapter
16 and verse 1 where it says, the preparations of the heart
in man and the answer of the tongue is from the Lord. You
see this breaking up your fallow ground and sowing not among thorns. That sowing among thorns is a
metaphor for idolatry. People sowing their seed among
idols, putting their faith, their stock, putting their assurance
in idols. Remember Christ used this kind
of language in the parable of the soils. He talked about the
wayside here. The word was preached, but it
fell on the wayside. He talked about the thorny, the
stony ground here. Didn't take root. Talked about
the thorny ground here. That's that kind of fallow ground.
That's the heart of man by nature. And then lastly, he talked about
the good ground here. That's the heart that's been
broken up. The fallow ground that has been broken up by the
Holy Spirit in the Word of God. And what does he break it up?
He shows us our sinfulness and our depravity. This is the work
of God. He shows us that by nature we're
all idolaters. That all of our best efforts
to save ourselves are nothing but dead works. False works religion. That's what he shows us. And
then look in verse 4. He says, circumcise yourselves
to the Lord. And that's repentance. That's
what he's talking about. This is God's method. How does
God bring a sinner to repentance? It's circumcision of the heart.
Remember, Paul wrote about that in Romans 2 and verses 28 and
29. He said, He is not a Jew which
is one outwardly, and circumcision is not that of the flesh made
with hands, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart. That of the heart. Jeremiah later
on, he talks about the people's ears are not circumcised. You
know, Stephen said the same thing in Acts chapter 7 after he preached
the gospel in Jerusalem. He said, you uncircumcised in
heart and ears. And he's speaking of the heart.
But he says in verse 4, circumcise yourselves to the Lord and take
away the four skins of your heart. That represents the flesh, you
see. That represents the sins of the flesh. That represents
man's confidence in the flesh. Remember Paul in Philippians
chapter 3, he said in verse 3, we are the circumcision which
worship God in spirit and rejoice or glory in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. That's the circumcised heart.
The cutting of the filth of the flesh, the filth of the flesh
is cut away. I no longer, have any hope or
any confidence in my works." That's being cut away by the
Holy Spirit. My heart is no longer drawn out
trying to establish a righteousness of my own. I submit to Christ
who is the Lord my righteousness. That's the circumcision. That's
God's method. He breaks up that fallow ground
He causes us to turn from our idols, to sow not among thorns,
and he takes away the foreskin of our heart. He says in verse
four, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, let my fury come
forth like fire and burn that none can quench it because of
the evil of your doings. In other words, when God brings
a sinner repentance, he circumcises the foreskin of our hearts. And
what does that do? That brings us to see the evil
of our doings. It brings us to see the wretchedness
and the worthlessness and the vanity of our efforts. It brings us to see our depravity
and our sin and our deservedness of judgment and damnation. But
it also brings us to see the glory of God in Christ. You see,
if God breaks up that fallow ground, If God circumcises the
foreskin of our hearts, He doesn't leave us in despair. He drives
us to Christ. He shows us the beauty, the power
of His grace and His mercy in Christ. And that's what repentance
is all about. Look at verse 5. He says, Declare
ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem, and say, Blow ye the trumpet
in the land. This is the warning trumpet.
Judgment's coming cry gather together and say assemble yourselves
and let us go into the defense cities Impending judgment and
destruction. He's saying flee for refuge Verse
7 set up the standard towards Zion. In other words, in other
words Zion here, which is a symbol of the church and He says, retire,
that word you might have this in your concordance, means strengthen. And he says, stay not. That means
don't stand still. In other words, it's time to
repent. That's what he's saying. You
know, it's kind of interesting how at one point, the illusion,
the wording here is used to tell us that in salvation and repentance,
we're to stand still. Remember Exodus 13-14 when Moses
says, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. That's
repentance in the sense that we quit trying to save ourselves. We quit looking to ourselves.
We quit trying to find the solution in ourselves and in each other.
We look to Christ. But here what he's talking about
is this. Now is the time to run to Christ. Now is the time to get to him.
Sink or swim, I'll get to him. Go to him, you see. Now is the
time to flee from the wrath to come to the refuge that's been
set before us, Jesus Christ and him crucified. And he says in
verse six, for I will bring evil from the north and great destruction.
Judgment's coming. He says in verse seven, the lion
has come up from his thicket, this is Nebuchadnezzar and the
Babylonians, the destroyer of the Gentiles, he had already,
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed and conquered many Gentiles, many
Gentile nations, is on his way. He's gone forth, in other words,
and I think the direct reference here is that the Babylonian judgment
is going to consume Israel's allies, Egypt and Assyria. He's
gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate, And thy
city shall be laid waste without an inhabitant. Desolation. Flee, he says. Flee to Christ
for safety. That's what the message is here.
Look at verse 8. For this, gird you with sackcloth,
lament and howl. That's repentance, you see. What
does God do? He brings us to mourning. That's
what that lamenting is. That's what that howling is.
That's what that sackcloth represents. Blessed are those who mourn,
they shall be comforted. And he says here, he says, for
the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. God's
gonna punish sin. What is my only hope for salvation?
Verse 9, and it shall come to pass at that day, saith the Lord,
that the heart of the king shall perish, the heart of the princes,
and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
What's he saying? You'll get no help from your
kings, from your princes, from your priests, or from your prophets.
The prophets are telling a lie. Look at verse 10. Look at this,
he says, then said I, oh Lord, God, surely thou hast greatly
deceived this people. And Jerusalem saying, you shall
have peace, whereas the sword reaches unto the sword. Now Jeremiah
is not accusing God of deceiving the people, he's just showing
that the message of these false prophets was accusing God of
being a deceiver. What were they saying? Peace,
peace, when there was no peace. See, all the false preachers
that stood against Jeremiah, they were telling people that
everything was okay. They said, look, you're the children
of Abraham. You're the people of God. We've
got the temple. We've got the Ark of the Covenant. How could God bring judgment
upon you? That's what the false preachers
were saying. Remember, that's why Jeremiah said, there'll come
a time when you won't even think about the Ark of the Covenant.
And what did they say? You'll have peace. Jeremiah 6
and Jeremiah 8, he says that they cried, peace, peace, when
there was no peace. Satan's message, huh? What did Satan say to Eve? You
shall not surely die. Peace, peace, when there was
no peace. My friend, there's only peace
in Christ. There's no peace with God outside
of Christ. And then look at verse 11. He
says, at that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
a dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the
daughter of my people, not to fan nor to cleanse. In other
words, this is not going to be a good wind to do you good, but
it's going to be a wind of destruction. Even a full wind from those places
shall come unto me. Now also will I give sentence
against them. Behold, he shall come up as clouds
And his chariots shall be as a whirlwind, that's the enemy.
His horses are swifter than eagles, woe unto us for we're spoiled.
God's judgment. So what does he tell them? Look
here, here's the method now, verse 14. O Jerusalem, wash thine
heart from wickedness. Don't go through the religious
motions and ceremonies thinking that they're going to help you.
You need a change of heart. You need a cleansing of the heart.
Don't just clean the outside of the cup. Somebody said, well,
man can't do that. No, but God can. And he does. What's impossible with man is
definitely possible with God. God, give me a new heart. Pray that prayer. God, change
my heart. Cleanse my heart. Cleanse me
from within. That's what David prayed. He
was a believer. O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from
wickedness that thou mayest be saved. Seek salvation from God
who gives a new heart. How long shall thy vain thoughts
lodge within thee? You see, you need a change of
mind from within the cleansed conscience. Only God can do that.
How do our thoughts keep us from God here? He said the vain thoughts.
How do our thoughts keep us from God before He grants repentance? Well, the Bible says the carnal
mind is enmity against God. It says we who were alienated
in our minds by wicked works, you see, until God brings us
to repentance. He says, wash thine heart. What
can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
That's the blood sprinkled on the conscience, on the heart.
That's what God does. That's his method to bring sinners
to repent. He sprinkles our hearts with
the blood of Christ. And then look at verse 15. He
says, for a voice declareth from Dan and publisheth affliction
from Mount Ephraim. What that is, that's describing
the northern kingdom of Israel that had already been destroyed.
Dan was the most northern area of the tribe, and Ephraim went
on down, and that was the edge of it, the boundary of it. What
he's saying here is, you think God won't punish sin and idolatry? Well, there's a voice that declares
that he will. Comes from Dan and publishes
a fiction from Mount Ephraim. Think about what God did to the
northern kingdom. So he says in verse 16, make
you mention to the nations, behold, publish against Jerusalem that
watchers come from a far country and give out their voice against
the cities of Judah. You see, what he's saying here
is Israel has to come to admit, and this is the way God does
it. This is his method of repentance. He brings sinners to admit that
we deserve just exactly what we're getting in judgment. God's
glorified in judgment. There's no hope. Verse 17, as
keepers of a field, are they against her roundabout? Because
she hath been rebellious against me, saith the Lord. Thy way and
thy doings have procured these things unto thee. This is thy
wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine
heart. And that's why we say, Lord, Lord, Lord, if thou shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? You see, God, please do not give
me what I deserve. Give me grace. Give me Christ. For he is my only hope. All right.