Now let's turn back to Jeremiah
chapter 3. Jeremiah chapter 3. Last Sunday evening I preached
from this chapter. And the title of the message
was The Hope of Jerusalem. And tonight we're going to continue
that subject. The Hope of Jerusalem continued. I want us to make certain that
we cover this passage because I believe it is, as I said, one
of the most important passages in the whole Bible. And there
are others, but this is one of the most important passages that
teaches us today. You know, Paul said to the church
at Corinth, these things, these things of the Old Testament are
written for our learning. Well, let's learn. Let's learn
something. We're going to learn of Christ.
That's what we're here for. We're disciples of Christ. That's
what a disciple is, a learner. And so, this is one of the most
important passages, I believe, that teaches us today, the church
of the living God, how to think about this matter of the old
covenant and the new covenant, which directly affects our lives
and our living, our daily living. You know, people talk about practical
holiness, and most people who talk about that don't have any
idea what holiness really is. You understand that. I know that
too. And somebody says, well you preach doctrine one day and
you preach practical godliness. No, they all go together. Because
once we see the reality of God's grace in Christ and what we are
in Him, that's the way we live. We're to live out from our position,
our standing before God in Christ. And that's how our thinking is
to be managed and controlled by the Word of God, by the Holy
Spirit, all of this. You know, I don't want to give
unbelievers any false hope. But I don't want any true believer
here tonight leaving in despair. I don't want you to do that.
I want you to see. I want you to be strengthened
and encouraged in your salvation. Not based upon anything in you,
but based upon that blood that was shed on Calvary's cross to
put away our sins. And the righteousness that He
established that cannot be taken away from us, that cannot be
removed from us. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. And that's what these scriptures
are all about. That's how we live unto the Lord. And every
act of obedience, every act of worship, every effort that we
put forth in the warfare of the flesh and the spirit must come
out of that security that we don't earn and don't deserve.
But that which is in Christ and Him alone. And that's what this
is about. Well, beginning here at verse 12, let's back up just
a little bit, and I'll try my best to get to the end of the
chapter without going too long tonight. But if I have to continue
it again, I'll continue it again. It's that important to me, I
feel like anyway. But back here in verse 12, now
he brought charges against Judah. Judah was sinful. And in those
charges, I hope I made it clear, going through them in chapter
2 and the first of chapter 3 here, that what we have there is not
only an indictment of charges that stick to this people, this
sinful nation, but I hope that we've seen that that's a picture
of all of us by nature, what we are by nature, ruined in Adam. dead in trespasses and sins.
All of the descriptions and significations of sin that are attached to Judah
here, they apply to me by nature. They apply to you by nature.
That's what sin and depravity are all about. We've all sinned
and come short of the glory of God. And Jeremiah is leveling
these charges against Judah, and these charges stick. God
told him, he said, think about your sister Israel, the nation
in the north, the ten tribes in the north. And he said, I
wrote them a bill of divorcement. And you didn't take a lesson
from them. You see, man doesn't learn godliness and obedience
by nature. And he doesn't learn it by judgment. He has to be taught of God in
the power of the Holy Spirit. That's why we must be born again.
I was reading about a popular preacher today who is so adamant
in what he calls bringing Christians and Jews together. And he made
this statement, he wrote it, he said that the Jewish people
do not need the new birth because they're better than everybody
else. And you know the first passage that popped into my head?
John chapter 3, Christ speaking to a Jew named Nicodemus and
he said, you must be born again. Now you see, this is the way
people are thinking today, you know. Jeremiah brought an indictment
here that would stick to me if I didn't have a mediator. If
I didn't have Christ, I would deserve no better or no more
than what Israel got and what Judah is about to get. And that's
destruction. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? Not me and not you. And yet now,
beginning in verse 12, Jeremiah is going to... This is a call
to the people of his day for repentance. Now, that's true. And Jeremiah is going to be talking
about a glorious future for Israel, for Jerusalem, for Judah. And
he's calling them to repentance in light of this glorious future,
this future hope. And that future hope, I don't
believe, will be realized in an earthly Jerusalem, an earthly
kingdom. I believe that future hope is
realized in the kingdom that we read about in Isaiah 52, the
kingdom of Christ. Spiritual Israel. God's people
out of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, chosen of
God before the foundation of the world, fallen in Adam but
redeemed by the blood of Christ and regenerated by the Spirit.
But now there is an application to the physical nation here,
the people in Jeremiah's day. He's calling them to repentance
just like God calls all men everywhere to repentance because He's appointed
a day in the which He'll judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom He has ordained and that He's given assurance
unto all men and that He raised Him from the dead, Jesus Christ.
But man by nature will not repent. And that's the testimony of the
prophets. That's the testimony of Israel
under the old covenant. Left to ourselves, left to our
own wills, we will not repent. That's what spiritual death is
about. That's what total depravity is about. You see, if you want
to learn the real definition of total depravity, don't go
to the dregs of society which are totally depraved. I'm not
denying that. But answer this question. To me, this is the greatest gauge
of total depravity that there is. What think ye of Christ? What think ye of Christ? Is He
nothing to you? Remember it's said in Lamentations. That was from the prophet Jeremiah
too. They sat Him down there and they
looked upon Him who was suffering. Is it nothing to you? Why, it's
everything to me. It's my life. Christ is my life. He's my all and in all. But man
left to himself will not repent, he will not believe. And Judah
did not repent. Jeremiah is calling them to repentance,
but they didn't repent. And subsequently they were conquered,
they were taken captive, and Jerusalem was destroyed. Now
this call to repentance, look at verse 12. He says, go and
proclaim these words towards the north. And the north here,
I believe, is referring to Israel, Judah in Babylon. That's what
I think it's talking about. Because what this is, this is
a call to sinners who are in bondage. And that's what Babylon
represents. Egypt before represented bondage,
now Babylon does. They were in bondage. And he
says, say, return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord. You see,
that backsliding issue, that wasn't talking about believers.
That's talking about this rebellious nation under the old covenant.
They kept sliding backward. And there were a few times in
their history under that covenant that there was what you could
call a national reformation or repentance or obedience. I think
they're experiencing some of it here because Jeremiah, at
this point in time, I believe he's prophesying during the reign
of King Josiah. And there was a national reformation,
but it wasn't in the heart. It was only outward form. He
says that later on. In fact, he said because there
was no heart in it and no truth in it, no grace in it, no Christ
in it, he said the temple even becomes a stumbling block to
him. He's going to say that later on. the temple of God. So he
says, return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I
will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful,
saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger forever. Now here's
what I want us to see. The ultimate eternal fulfillment
of these promises is not in national Israel. It's not in this national,
physical nation under this covenant. It's in spiritual Israel under
the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the ultimate eternal
fulfillment of it. Now, some people will criticize
that view of these things because here's what they'll say, and
I want you to get this because if you talk to anybody about
these things, they may bring this accusation to you. They'll
say, well, you're spiritualizing it. You're spiritualizing it. What is it to spiritualize a
passage? Well, it means to show a spiritual
application or meaning to the events or the points that are
written. But let me tell you something.
Let me ask you this question, all right? First of all, I believe
the whole Bible is spiritual. That doesn't mean there's no
literal, historical, physical applications. This is a spiritual
book. And let me ask you this, if there
is no spiritual application to this, what good does it do you? What good does it do me? But
I want to show you something else in just a moment. Somebody
said, well, you can't say this symbolizes that or that symbolizes
this unless within the text there's an obvious symbol. Well, what about when there's
obvious statements made? Listen to what he says in verse
13. He says, only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast
transgressed against the Lord thy God, and has scattered thy
ways to the strangers under every green tree. And you have not
obeyed my voice, say thou, that's idolatry. And he says in verse
14, he says, turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord. Now,
he said, for I am married unto you. Now, as that applies to
the nation Israel under the old covenant, what that means is
that God joined himself to that nation in a civil ceremonial
covenant sense, according to the terms of that covenant, which
terms and conditions were upon the bride, were upon the nation
Israel. And they failed to meet those
conditions and he divorced them. Remember, we read that back up
in verse 8. He's talking about the northern kingdom there. When
he said, I saw when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel
committed adultery, I had put her away and given her a bill
of divorce. And then he says, Judah didn't
look at that and learn the lesson from it. And she did the same
thing Israel did. The marriage covenant was broken.
Well, God later on did divorce Judah. But you know what? He did according to a promise
that he had made years and years and years and years before. Keep
Judah together until he fulfilled his purpose. Now when was that
promise made? Well it was made back in Genesis
chapter 3 about the coming of the seed of woman. And it was
specified in Genesis 49 verse 10 when he said the scepter will
not depart from Judah until Shiloh come. Now Jeremiah later on,
he shows that to be true. Over in chapter 31, remember
we read this. This is a prophecy here of the
new covenant. He says in verse 31 of Jeremiah
31, he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with
the house of Judah. This is a new covenant. And he specifically
says in verse 32, This new covenant is not according to the covenant
that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by
the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. It's not like
that covenant at Sinai. This is a different covenant.
He says, which my covenant they break. I want you to think about
that. Can any who are members of the
new covenant break that covenant according to the Bible? Now I
know we're sinners. I know that, but can any who
are under that new covenant break it? The answer is no. Why? Because
it's not conditioned on them. It's conditioned on Christ. Christ
fulfilled that. What did he say when he instituted
the Lord's Supper? He said, this is the blood of
the New Testament, the new covenant. It's also called the blood of
the everlasting covenant. It's one and the same. What do
you mean? Well, the new covenant is the establishment in time
of the everlasting covenant of grace made before time. Christ
was the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. His blood has always
been the ratification of the new covenant. You see that? And so he tells them, he says,
which my covenant they break, although I wasn't husband unto
them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that I
will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord.
And he says, now, he doesn't say here, now, if you repent,
backsliding people, no, he says, I will put my law in their inward
parts. This isn't going to be an outward
reformation. This is going to be a new heart. He says, I will
write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall
be my people. So, Jeremiah specifies these
things. And look back at verse 14 of
Jeremiah 3. He says, I will take you, verse
14, he says, turn, O backsliding children, sayeth the Lord, for
I am married unto you and I will take you, one of a city and two
of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. I'm going to bring
you to Zion. Now let me ask you this question,
is Zion a literal place? And the answer is yes. Zion is,
sometimes people use it a little looser than at other times, but
it normally referred to a hill outside of Jerusalem. But sometimes
it's been used to show the whole of what they call Judaism, they
call it Zionism today. But he said, I'm going to take
you one of a city, two of a family, and I'll bring you to Zion. Is
Zion a literal place? Yes, it is. But is Zion ever
in the Bible a symbolic place? Well, let's go to Hebrews chapter
12. You say, well, now wait a minute,
that's New Testament. Well, where's the best commentary you
can buy on the Old Testament? It's in the New Testament. And
understand, now look at Hebrews 12. Understand here, now this is
the Holy Spirit who's inspiring these words to be written. This
is not just a man's opinion here. This is the inspired Word of
God. And here's what He's saying here in Hebrews chapter 12. He's
saying that when we're saved by the grace of God in Christ,
Christ does not take us to Mount Sinai. and put conditions on
us to be saved or to be kept. We're not under the law. That's
not where he takes us. So he says in verse 22, look
at it, Hebrews 12. He says, but you are come unto
Mount Zion. That's the same thing as Zion,
it's just from the Greek text, it's spelled a different way.
And unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
not the earthly now. the heavenly, and to an innumerable
company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn."
What's church mean? That means called out ones. That's
the same ones that he said, I'm going to put my law in their
inward parts. I'm going to write it in their
hearts. That's the new birth. And then he says, the assembly
of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, not on earth now but
in heaven and to God the judge of all and to the spirits of
just men made perfect and to Jesus the mediator of the new
covenant see this is all under the headship of Christ and to
the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than of
Abel turn back to Galatians chapter 4 let me show you this now if I'm going to be accused
of wrongfully spiritualizing back in Jeremiah 3, the same
logic would have to apply to the Apostle Paul in this passage
here. They'd have to say, Paul, you're spiritualizing back there. But again now, it's God the Holy
Spirit who inspired Paul to write these things. Paul's not just
spiritualizing or giving his opinion. But look at verse 21
of Galatians chapter 4. He says, tell me, ye that desire
to be under the law, do you not hear the law? Now, what was the
problem of the Jewish unbelievers? They wanted to keep people under
the law, tied to that law. Why? Because of their self-righteousness
and their pride. That's why they rejected the
Lord. That's why they called him a lawbreaker. Well, look
at verse 22. For it is written that Abraham
had two sons, the one by a bondmaid. Now, you know who that is. That's
Hagar. her son Ishmael, the other by a free woman. That's Sarah
who had Isaac. But he who was of the bondwoman
was born after the flesh. In other words, there was no
miracle there. That was man's works. That's
what that represents. But he of the free woman was
by promise. That was a miracle birth when
they were way past the age of childbearing. Now look at verse
24. Listen to what he says there.
Which things are a what? An allegory. What does that mean? That means they're a symbol.
They symbolize something. Now, you do this on your own. Go back and you read in the book
of Genesis the story about Abraham and Sarah and Hagar and Ishmael
and Isaac. And you won't find one word in
that historical record that says this is an allegory, or this
is symbolic. Yet God the Holy Spirit inspired
the Apostle Paul to say this, which things are an allegory? They symbolize something. Well,
what did they symbolize? Well, here it is, verse 24, for
these are the two covenants. the one from Mount Sinai, which
gendereth the bondage, which is Hagar. Now, let me tell you
something about Hagar. Hagar was born and lived and
had Ishmael before the covenant at Sinai, wasn't she? There was
no covenant at Sinai at that time. And yet, she symbolized
Sinai. Who said that? God did. Well,
preacher, you're spiritualizing. No, I'm not. God is. And what does he call that synodic
covenant? He calls it bondage. Why was
it bondage? Because the conditions were placed
upon those who were under the law. But look on, he says, verse
25, for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and answereth to Jerusalem
which now is and is in bondage with her children. Now, if you
want to see the physical nation of Israel and physical Jerusalem,
there it is in Paul's day. Now, is it any different today?
Well, any group, any religion that rejects Christ as the only
way of salvation, the only way of righteousness, this is a good
description of them. They're in bondage. My friend,
if you don't have Christ, you're not free. You're not at liberty. If you don't have Christ, you
better be trying to keep the law perfectly. You better be
under that bondage, you see. You better be working out a righteousness
of your own because you've rejected the righteousness of God. And
that's bondage. But now look at verse 26. But
Jerusalem which is above. Oh, you mean there's a Jerusalem
above us? He's not talking about geography
here or even altitude. He's talking about a spiritual
Jerusalem. And it's above in this sense.
This is the Jerusalem of God. This is the true spiritual eternal
city of peace. We read about it in Revelation
21. that comes down from heaven. This is the spiritual dwelling
place of God and his people in Christ. And he says, but Jerusalem
which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. All
who? All who believe. all who are
in Christ, all who are washed in His blood and clothed in His
righteousness. For it is written, Rejoice, thou
barren that bearest not, break forth in cry, thou that travailest
not, for the desolate hath many more children than she which
hath a husband. Who was that referring to? That
was referring to Rachel. You see? Well, are you going
to spiritualize that passage in Genesis 2? Oh, yes, I am.
Because right here I've got the proof of it in Galatians chapter
4. And he says in verse 28, Now
we brethren... Now who is he talking to here?
He is talking about believers in Galatia. What nationalities
made up believers in Galatia? Jew and Gentile. Circumcised
in the heart. Jeremiah is going to talk about
that in chapter 4. And he says, But we brethren, as Isaac was,
are the children of the promise. What promise? The promise God
made to Abraham. The promise God made to Abel.
The promise that God makes to every sinner whom He draws to
Himself by the power of the Spirit in Christ. Now, go back to Jeremiah
3. Is Zion a literal place? Yes. But it's also a spiritual place.
And there is an application to physical Zion here, physical
Jerusalem. And that physical application
has to do with the remnant that will be brought back 70 years
after the captivity back into the promised land, back into
Jerusalem. And we'll talk about that. But
look here in verse 14. He says, remember he said, I'll
take you one of a city and two of a family. What's that mean? That's a remnant. That's not
the whole nation. The whole nation did not return
from Babylon. You know why a lot of them stayed?
Because they wanted to. That's right. Natural man will
not, will not come to Christ. They wanted to stay in Babylon.
Some of them grew up there. That was their home. They were
quite comfortable there. So there is that literal historical
fulfillment in their return to Babylon. But look at verse 15
of Jeremiah 3. It says, And I will give you
pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding. Now, let's talk about the physical
fulfillment of that in national Israel coming out of Babylon.
Think about their leaders and their prophets. You remember
they had Zerubbabel. We studied about Zerubbabel.
He was a godly man. He was a type of Christ. Nehemiah,
same thing, Nehemiah. Remember the building of the
city walls. Ezra, the scribe and the prophet. Ezra, the scribe and I believe
he was a priest too, wasn't he? And he was a preacher. Joshua,
the high priest. Remember Zechariah records how
Joshua, the high priest, how Zechariah had that dream and
he saw Joshua standing before the bar of God's justice clothed
in the filthy rags. And the advocate, the Lord Jesus
Christ, was standing there with him and Satan was there to accuse
him. And the advocate said, take off those filthy rags and put
on him a new robe, a new garment, a new suit of clothes. That's
the imputed righteousness of Christ, he said. All that symbolized
that. Haggai, he was one that prophesied
then. Zechariah, and then later on,
later on Zechariah and later on Malachi. Now let me ask you
this question, these people that return, now those are the pastors
you might say in the physical realm that were according to
God's heart, they had the word of God, they had the commands
of God, and they fed the people with knowledge and understanding.
But do you remember reading through those minor prophets? Question, were the people of
the return obedient? Did they listen to the prophets?
Did they listen to Zechariah, Malachi, and Haggad? Were they
obedient? Well, there was a little short
period of time that they were. But it did not last. Why? Because man by nature will not
continue in obedience. You know, under the old covenant,
their obedience was always, for the majority, outward and not
in heart. It was always in half-truths
and intermixtures with idolatry and the ideas of man. And it
was always temporary. It was always incomplete. It
never lasted. And think about the nation after
Malachi. What happened to the nation?
Well, pick it up in Matthew. Where was the nation Israel then?
Well, they were under Roman rule. ruled by an Edomian king, an
offshoot of Esau, in the dregs of ignorance and idolatry, false
religion, works religion, guided by the Pharisees and the Sadducees
and the Essenes and the Zealots. They did not know God. That's
us by nature. Let me show you something that
will help you. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9 and 10. Turn over there
to Hebrews. And what I'm trying to get us
to see is, yes, there are physical applications to these things,
these promises to national Israel. But they're not eternal. And
they never lasted. They were temporary. They were
never meant to. The ultimate, eternal fulfillment of all these
promises are in Christ Jesus. All the promises of God in Him.
Yea and Amen. There was no eternal salvation
in that Old Covenant. There's only eternal salvation
in Christ. There was no righteousness before
God under that Old Covenant. There's only righteousness in
Christ. There's no forgiveness of sin.
Look over at Hebrews 10 and look at verse 4. Now, he says, for it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
That's not possible. But now, what did the blood of
bulls and goats accomplish? Well, look over at Hebrews 9
and verse 13. Listen to this. He says, for if the blood of
bulls and of goats and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean
sanctify to the purifying of the flesh. Now, what does that
mean? That means that that blood, that
animal blood, did set them apart, that's what that sanctify means,
and gave them a ceremonial purification before God in a temporary, civil,
ceremonial way. But it didn't last, did it? Look
back at chapter 10, verse 1. Didn't last, did it? For the
law, having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very
image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they
offered year by year, continually make the comers thereunto perfect,
complete. For then would they not have
ceased to be offered." You see, it didn't last. Because the worshipers
once purged should have had no more conscience of sin. What
does that mean? No more guilt. That's what that means. No more
guilt. He says, but in those sacrifices there's a remembrance
again made of sins. There were just a reminder. You're
a sinner. You deserve death. I think it
was Brother Tim James who said, if you want to put the Ten Commandments
on the wall, here's the way you should write it. You're a sinner
and you deserve death. You deserve to die. That's what
it means. Look back over at chapter 9,
verse 14. Now, if the blood of bulls and
goats could do that in a ceremonial, physical way, temporarily, verse
14, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the what? the eternal spirit not temporary
see offered himself without spot to God purge your conscience
remove that guilt from your conscience from dead works to serve the
living God how's the guilt of sin removed from the conscience
how's condemnation removed from the conscience of a child of
God by looking to Christ there is therefore now no condemnation
in Christ now go back to Jeremiah 3 I'll hurry and I'll pick back
up on it, but that's all right. I hope you see the importance
of this, though. You see, these things, they mean something to
us today. They're written for our learning.
They apply to Christ and his people and his church. And look
at verse 16 or verse 15. He said, I'll give you these
pastors. According to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge
and understanding, the ultimate fulfillment of that is in the
preachers of the gospel, those who point sinners to Christ.
And that's what these men like Zerubbabel and Nehemiah and Zechariah
and Haggai, that's what they did. They pointed sinners to
Christ. They show people a knowledge
of the glory of God in Christ. and understanding how God saves
sinners. John wrote, and we know that
the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding that
we may know Him that is true and we're in Him that is true.
Even His Son, Jesus Christ, this is the true God in eternal life.
And then look at verse 16. He said, and it shall come to
pass when you be multiplied and increased in the land in those
days, saith the Lord, they shall say no more the ark of the covenant
of the Lord. Neither shall it come to mind."
They're not even going to think about it. He says, neither shall
they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall
that be done anymore. At that time, they shall call
Jerusalem the throne of the Lord. And all the nations shall be
gathered into it. Now what is that? That's the
Gentiles. And he says, to the name of the Lord, under the headship
of Christ, to Jerusalem, the city of peace, neither shall
they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.
Now, when the nation Judah returned from the Babylonian captivity
70 years after their first being conquered, as I said, there was
a short period of time of national obedience, but it did not last. It didn't last. They began to
forget the things of God. Do you remember the first thing
they were to do? Do you remember what the first thing God told
them to do was rebuild that temple? And then they were to rebuild
the city walls. Remember how we studied the gates? And during
that process, they stopped and began to build their own houses. And boy, they built some luxurious
houses. And the prophets had to come along and say, you people
have forgotten God. And then another thing, they
began to receive help from the heathen, which they were not
to do. And they began to intermarry the heathen, which they were
not. It was all idolatry. All right? John Gill said this
about it, and I agree with it. He said, when the number of the
disciples and the followers of Christ and true believers in
him shall be multiplied and increased in the land of Judea and in the
Gentile world." That's what this refers to. In those days, he
said. You know, the term in those days
and the latter days under the teaching of the prophets who
pointed sinners to the Messiah, that was a way of talking about
the time of the coming of Christ. No, they didn't last. You see,
he says here in verse 17, he said, they shall no more walk
after the imagination of their evil heart. Did Israel, did the
physical nation walk after the imagination of their evil heart
anymore? Yes, they did. But under the
new covenant, spiritual Israel will not. Now again, that doesn't
mean we won't sin. We will. We are sinners. But
we will always look to Christ for salvation, for righteousness,
for forgiveness. for eternal life and glory. That's the new covenant. I want
to talk about the arc of the covenant there, but I'm going
to start that next time. So I gave it a try, but you know,
as they say, the best laid plans of mice and men, but we'll, we'll
get through it next time. All right.