Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] That's great. Why don't we stand this morning as we go to the Lord in prayer and we're going to go back to the book of Jeremiah, and then I'm going to give you a break from that book.
[00:00:11] As we are heading in the month of April, there's three weeks, there'll be the third, the 10th, and then the 17th is Easter. So I want to prepare our hearts for the Easter season. But let's pray today as God wants to speak into all of our lives. So Father, I thank you this morning that you are, Lord, so interested in every detail of our lives. You hear the cry of our hearts, you know the anguish of our souls, you know the challenges that we face with. You know when we rise, you know when we fall, you know when we mess up. And yet yout are consistent. And Lord, in our lives many times we've made promises that we've been unable to keep, but yout're not like that. You're a promise keeper. We just sang about that. But it's filled in your word, Lord. We just see it everywhere we read, Lord, that you are consistent, you are faithful. You're the one that never lets us down. And so I pray today as we hear this message today, Lord, that you would speak into our lives regarding our response to your amazing faithfulness. And we thank you for that. In Jesus name and God's people said, amen. You may be seated. So I'm going to have you turn again to the book of Jeremiah, beginning in chapter 11. And I was reading something that Phil Rykin wrote. He says, sometimes it's not just what you say that matters, but when you say it. Now take for example, the words I and do. Okay?
[00:01:40] Now these two simple words are used all the time, right? And they don't seem to matter very much.
[00:01:48] But there is a time when they really do matter, and that's when we're getting married. And then a wedding ceremony when we say I do, that changes the whole equation, doesn't it? With those two simple words, a husband and wife enter into a lifelong life or death covenant with one another, binding themselves together in poverty, in prosperity, in illness as well as health, in sorrow as well as joy. Isn't that interesting? Two words, words that we speak, words that create a covenant relationship. And I think there's quite a confusion today between two words. And often we use them interchangeably, the word covenant and contract.
[00:02:35] And I was kind of investigating this a little bit, and a little later on I'll explain to you the difference.
[00:02:40] What is amazing Is that when as human beings, we were unable to keep the old covenant, how many know that was the problem?
[00:02:50] The law was not a problem.
[00:02:52] The people on the side trying to keep the law, it became problematic.
[00:02:56] God, who is so loving and faithful, created a new covenant based upon better promises and provisions so that you and I could become empowered to actually keep the new covenant. And though here in Jeremiah 11 we find a formal charge or an indictment against the people because of their perpetual violation of their covenant with God, it was Jeremiah that revealed to them later on into the book this beautiful expression of love and God's promise of a new covenant. I think these verses are some of the most powerful verses in the Old Testament. When he said, the days are coming, declares the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. Because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord.
[00:03:57] This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel. After that time, I will put my law in their minds and write it.
[00:04:04] Their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people.
[00:04:09] No longer will they teach their neighbor or say to one another, know the Lord, because they will all know me. From the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their wickedness and I will remember their sins no more. Isn't that a beautiful expression? And that's the covenant that you and I enter into when we give our lives to Jesus Christ. We enter into the new covenant that Jeremiah here is explaining to us. And I love it.
[00:04:41] Now, how many know that God basically is saying here that he's going to help us internalize it? It's not going to be an external thing. It's going to be within the hearts. He says, I'm going to create it so that your heart desire will change. God says, I will give you a new heart.
[00:04:59] I will give you new desires. You will be born from above. You will be transformed by. By the power of God's spirit. And to me, that is so incredible.
[00:05:10] Now, in the context of the story we're going to look at this morning in Jeremiah 11, Judah is eminently waiting exile. God is now ready to move them off the land. And I think we have to understand, why did that happen? Well, they disregarded God's law and they embraced the idols of the people in the land in which they had occupied. And they didn't just do it for a short period of time. No, they came in and never heeded God's warnings, and they just immediately embraced the culture around them. And as a result of that, the very reason why God was displacing the Canaanites is the same reason why he's about to displace the people of God. Here, as most of the prophets proclaim the. The story of God's people, that really is a trail of broken promises. You know, God's faithful on his side. We make all kinds of promises, and we kind of let God down. We just don't follow through. But God is always faithful. That's the part we're going to see today, and I love that part. And how many know that there is a cost to neglecting our part of the covenant? It certainly was true for Israel.
[00:06:25] And it is to this that we're going to address, not just in the lives of those ancient Jewish people in Jeremiah's day, but in our lives as well. Because I also believe that when you are in a covenant relationship, there are some responsibilities on our side. And sometimes, as we've entered into the new covenant, I don't think we fully grasp what is our part. And sometimes as believers, we are also failing to fulfill the part of the covenant that we're obligated to keep. Even though God's faithful sometimes in this. We can say this. In all of our lives, we've been unfaithful to that covenant. We're going to look at that.
[00:07:04] We may be thinking, so what does this really have to do with us? Well, I think just like the old covenant believers, believers in Christ, we are in this covenant, and I don't think we think in those terms. You know, we've been approached. We come to hear the good news about Jesus and we repent and we give our lives to him. But I don't think we fully grasp that there are some things that we need to consider on our side. There's part of the relationship that we need to be involved in. And yet I think.
[00:07:36] And I think part of it is the way ministers bring it out. So I take responsibility for this as well. That we present Christianity often in such a way that God is responsible for everything and that we're. We're just recipients and get all the amazing blessings. You know, it's like, what a good deal. You know, I just tell God I'm bad and God makes me good and that's the end of it. Right. But I think there's a little more to it. And we're Going to zero in on that this morning.
[00:08:03] If we take a careful study of the New Testament, it'll reveal to us that we have certain conditions or responsibilities towards God and towards others that need to be fulfilled for us to fully receive, I think, what God intended for all of our lives. And I believe that. I think God wants to make our lives exciting and he wants to actually help us to become more like him, that we become very faithful and that we keep our promises, and we're going to learn to become more like him as we understand this covenant situation. Now, this is not designed this morning to negate God's grace. That's not what we're talking about here. And this is not to create a legalistic understanding of Christianity, that it all depends on me. Okay? We're going to move away from those two ideas, but I think there's some things we do need to understand, and I think that's important. So how often do we act as if we are allowed to serve God on our terms? This is the thing that I'm trying to strike at today. A lot of us as Christians, we come with a volunteer mentality.
[00:09:12] And we come into the life of the church like, you know, we're just a volunteer. We can choose to do what we want.
[00:09:17] And my prayer today is that will be shattered. Okay?
[00:09:22] I don't think you and I come to God on our terms.
[00:09:26] We need to come to God on His terms.
[00:09:28] And I believe that's a significant movement in our lives because when we act like it's on our terms, we've really embraced the culture around us and we've developed part of the consumer mentality so that we pick and choose what we want. You know, we go in the Bible and we're picking and choosing the verses we like. And those that we don't like, we just kind of move those aside or, you know, we make decisions in our life. Well, I would really like that, but I don't think I'd really enjoy that.
[00:09:56] Now, how many know that God's committed to helping you and I become more like Jesus? That's God's goal for our lives. That if you read Romans carefully, he says that he's trying to conform us into the image of his Son.
[00:10:08] So God allows a lot of different experiences to come into our lives. And some of them, you and I'd never pick how many of that's true? You know, if you've ever made a cake from scratch, how many know that there's certain ingredients you'd probably not eat raw? You know, I'm just being honest. Like flour and raw eggs. I mean, maybe some of you'd eat raw eggs, but for the most of us, we'd like them cooked. Thank you very much. But when you're going to fix a cake, you know, you add sugar and you know, how many go, you know, I like sugar, but I don't like it just by itself. You know, I like it mixed a little together with, you know, other ingredients and then put in the oven. And when it's cooked and when it comes out, it's this beautiful cake. Right? We like that part. And God says, that's exactly what I'm trying to do. But I'm the one that's adding the ingredients in your life. And many times we're. We're kind of sitting back here saying, I don't like this ingredient. And God goes, yeah, but it's necessary for the recipe.
[00:11:04] So God is working with you and me kind of creating this recipe to help us to become like Jesus. Now, we all want to be like that. We just don't want to have to go through the process to get there. But I believe we need to embrace the journey. We need to embrace the process and understand that God is actually for us and not against us.
[00:11:28] So we take often what we like from God's provisions and often leave the challenges as if they're optional. And I want to. I want to destroy that in your thinking. They're not optional. Guys, we need to embrace these things. In essence, I think we invert the role of God and others where we see God serving us rather than being called upon to serve God. Okay, now, I know God helps us. I get that. But really, we're called to serve him. He's not. He's not in existence to serve you and me. We were not made so that, you know, it's all about us. Actually. We were created for God's good pleasure. We were created for God's glory. And so you and I need to be saying, lord, what is it that you designed me to do and be and help me to do the things that you want me to do, regardless of how challenging it may be for me, so that you might be glorified, that that's the aim of my life, that you would be honored, that you would be glorified through my life and through your life.
[00:12:33] And so as I considered the text this week, I had one of those epiphany moments, you know, the aha moment. And it's always fun to me when you get them, because I've Been, I study this Bible a lot, and I was just telling the guys in the prayer meeting this morning, and I was coming up to a very familiar passage in my devotions this morning. And I said, lord, I've read this so many times, but I already know there's things I've never seen before. Could you please let me in on some of them? And, you know, this morning I had a great time, and God started opening up thoughts in my minds. But earlier in the week, I was thinking about a text that we're all very familiar with, but I began to see it in a new way. How many have ever looked at something and said, I've never seen it in that light before? And so here's a very familiar passage of scripture to many of us, and it's the Great Commission and how often people challenge us to make disciples. I think that's the part of. Part of our covenant responsibilities. That's why we're talking about Alpha here. It says, then Jesus came to them and said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations. So I would say that that's part of our responsibility in the covenant, that we're to go, we're to make disciples, we're to baptize people in the name of the Father and Son and the Holy Spirit. But I think so often we talk about the Great Commission. This is usually where it stops. Right, Right.
[00:13:56] But let me just point the next verse, because I think the next part is equally as critical and important. And listen what he says and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.
[00:14:09] And I started to think about that part and meditate on that. And I realized something.
[00:14:14] Do you and I obey everything Jesus has explained to us?
[00:14:21] Ah, there, see, now that's part of our covenant obligation. Am I living out the Sermon on the Mount? Am I living out the instructions on forgiveness? Am I following through on the Lord's Prayer? Am I fulfilling the Great Commission? These are all things that God is saying, this is your responsibility while you're on the planet. And then God, to encourage us, says, but, you know, I know you're going to have some struggles. Anybody here say, yes, I've had struggles.
[00:14:49] Sometimes these are challenges, and sometimes they seem beyond me. And God says, that's okay. I'll be with you. I'm going to help you. You're not on your own. I'll never send you out on an assignment. And you're all by yourself. I will be right there with you. Isn't that Beautiful. God says, I'm not going to let you down. I'll help you in that situation. So as I looked at this covenantal language, and I was thinking of other texts of Scripture, look at Ephesians 1, for example. It says, here's God's side, here's his part of the covenant. He said, number one, I'm going to forgive your sins. I'm going to give you eternal life. I'm going to adopt you into my family. I'm going to give you every spiritual blessing.
[00:15:30] And then we're told here in Matthew 28, I'll never leave you nor forsake you. I will be your help. Isn't that great? That's God says, I'm going to be there for you. I'm going to be faithful. I'm going to keep my side of the equation.
[00:15:42] And then I look at our side, and I've already suggested all of these things. Am I doing what God wants me to do? Am I listening to his commands? And I think there should be within each of our hearts a strong desire to do God's will. I believe that that tells us that we are really truly his children, because it says in the book of Philippians, for it is God who works in us both to will and to do his good pleasure. That's because we have a new heart. God's given us his new nature inside of us, and that should be what's motivating our lives, this new nature. And we're going to come back to how important it is to walk in this new nature and not to live and fulfill the old nature in our lives. So let's take a look here in this chapter of Jeremiah. Three results of a broken covenant. The first is the formal charge against violators.
[00:16:34] I think when we read the prophets, it's almost like we're walking into a courtroom and the prophet is really making a charge against the people who have broken their part of the covenant. So you and I are really on trial, or Jeremiah's people. The nation of Israel is on trial, and God's going to speak through the prophet Jeremiah to the people here, and he's addressing their indifference toward their covenant responsibilities. And I really believe this is a big thing even in our day. A lot of times there's a lot of indifference, apathy, and neglect. How many say that's probably true? And I think sometimes as Christians, we think we're doing really well because we're not outwardly sinning. We're not doing the bad stuff.
[00:17:17] Those are called the sins of Commission. But, you know, when I sit down and examine the sins of omission, the things I should be doing, then I'm in more trouble.
[00:17:26] You know what I'm saying? I get in trouble over there because God's telling me, maybe you should be doing this. And. And some of us go, I really don't want to do that. Like, by the way, you should forgive that person. Well, I really don't feel like forgiving that person. Or God says, I really want you to go do this for this person. I don't really feel like doing it for this person.
[00:17:44] You catching on? So sins of omission many times are creating problems in our lives, but we don't think of the indifference or the neglect that we're involved in. So let's take a look at the text here.
[00:17:57] In Jeremiah 11:1. It says, this is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. I want to stop and pause and just say this. Well, let me. I'll say it after this next verse. Listen to the terms of this covenant. So he's going to point out the agreement, he says, and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem. So I got to ask the question, who's bringing this stuff up?
[00:18:19] God is. Jeremiah is just telling people what God's telling him to tell them.
[00:18:25] Now, you know, if you're a preacher, your job isn't to impress anybody. My job is just to tell you what God wants you to hear. That's it. You know, I'm just the middle voice here. That's all.
[00:18:38] That's it.
[00:18:39] You know, Jeremiah is simply the messenger. Jeremiah goes on to God says to him, tell them that this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says. Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant. How many go? That's pretty strong language. Anybody think that's strong language? As a matter of fact, if you want to know about blessings and curses, you go to the book of Deuteronomy, the book of Leviticus. It's all outlined there. For, I think Leviticus 25, 27, or 28 talks about curses and blessings. That's part of the covenant arrangement. God says, if you do these things, I'm going to bless you. If you do those things, you're going to be cursed. And guess what? They did all the wrong stuff. And God says, you're under a curse. How many know that? When you and I sin, we're under the curse. When we break God's law, we're under a curse. And by the way, God's moral law is still in effect today.
[00:19:29] We're still obligated to keep God's moral law.
[00:19:32] He goes on the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt out of the iron smelting furnace.
[00:19:40] God says, you were being refined there in slavery. Obey me and do everything I command you and you will be my people and I will be your God. How many. See, this is a condition here. God says, I'm going to make you my people, but this condition on your obedience. So obedience is a big deal to God. Anybody figure that out? And how many here, as parents say, it's a big deal when your kids are obeying you. It's a big deal when they disobey you. And many times if you're a good parent, you want kids to do the right thing. So you're saying, just do what I'm telling you to do. It's for your best interest, right? It's for your good, you know, And God's saying, hey, we're all kids in this room as far as God's concerned, just do what I say.
[00:20:19] And some of us, you know, we think we're bright and we go, yeah, but I got a better idea. God says, well, go ahead. Go right ahead. Try that. Find out what it's like.
[00:20:27] I think God's smarter than that. So why don't we just listen to him? He's been around a lot longer. He's eternal and he knows outcomes and he knows the future. So why would I think that I'm smarter than God and just do my own thing? He goes, notice the covenant was conditioned on their response. Verse 5. He says, Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers to give. Give them a land flowing with milk and honey, the land you possess today.
[00:20:53] Basically, God says, if you do all these things, I'm going to bless you. Here's the blessing. You're going to have this beautiful land that's going to. You're going to prosper in how many like it. When you're being, you have God's favor and you're flowing in God's favor and God's blessing your life, and you're getting what you don't deserve. All kinds of good stuff. How many say, I really enjoy that. And that's what he was telling the people.
[00:21:17] And here's Jeremiah's response, Amen. Lord, he's going, let it be. So I agree with you, God. He's in agreement with God's covenant obligation here.
[00:21:31] Then he goes on here to say. Then the Lord said to me, proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. So he says, jeremiah, you're going on a little itinerant ministry. You're going to go through all the towns of Judah, and I want you to read my covenant agreement. Why would he do that? Well, first of all, you know, literature wasn't readily available in those days, number one. Number two, people didn't have access to all this material. So Jeremiah's walking around reading the scroll of the Torah, the law of God, to the people. So they'll all hear it. By the way, this was probably during a time like King Josiah was the king. It was a reformation time. They were returning back to the covenant. And we'll see. That's an important point in a few more verses. But it says, from the time I brought your forefathers up out of Egypt until today, I warned them.
[00:22:22] Not once, not twice, but again and again and again. I kept saying, just do what I say, right?
[00:22:32] And he said, but they did not listen or pay attention. Oh, not good.
[00:22:38] You know, I think we could avoid a lot of problems in life if we would just do as God says. We could just avoid a lot of heartache.
[00:22:47] He says, instead, they followed the stubbornness of their. What, evil hearts. They had a heart problem. You know, they wanted their thing over God's thing, so they went with what they wanted. And it wasn't what God wanted. And there was a consequence to that behavior.
[00:23:05] So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant. I had commanded them to follow, but they did not keep. Wow.
[00:23:13] Have you ever read the curses in the Old Testament? I want a hard pass on all of them. That's where I'm at. So just do what he says, right?
[00:23:26] God was faithful. They were living in the land.
[00:23:30] God told them very clearly that once they got in the land, they were to get rid of all the idols. Matter of fact, Moses said this before he left.
[00:23:37] The Lord spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan opposite Jericho, saying, speak to the Israelites and say to them, when you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out the inhabitants of the land. So God is saying, this land is.
[00:23:50] I don't want it defiled, I want it purified. I want these people who have perverted my moral law removed. That's what God was saying.
[00:24:01] Destroy all their carved images and their cast idols and demolish all their high places.
[00:24:09] Anybody confused on the instruction?
[00:24:11] I think it's quite clear, right? How many think this instruction is quite clear?
[00:24:17] I think it's perfectly clear.
[00:24:20] But if you don't drive out the inhabitants of the land from you, those you allow to remain will be like barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. And they're going to give you trouble in the land where you live.
[00:24:30] And then I will do to you what I plan to do to them.
[00:24:36] So you know what the deal was here? Israel goes, well, I'm one of God's kids. He's not going to do me harm. God says, no, if you sin like your predecessors in the land, I'm going to do the very same thing I purpose to do to them. To you, sin is not a respecter of persons. Folks, if you and I sin in a certain thing, it doesn't matter how wonderful you are, you're going to suffer the consequences of sin.
[00:25:01] That's the nature of it.
[00:25:02] Because the wages of sin has always been death, separation from God, broken relationships with people.
[00:25:12] So what's the difference then between a covenant and a contract? Well, the main difference is that when someone violates any of the agreements, a covenant stays intact even if one of the parties breaks the agreement.
[00:25:26] That's interesting.
[00:25:28] Isn't that beautiful that God doesn't break the agreement? So in a sense, the covenant is in effect. But when you have a contract, once you're in a contractual relationship, if one of the parties breaks the contract, really, they're making the contract null and void. Now, sometimes you got to go to court, but you're breaking that contract.
[00:25:47] While covenants are a form of a contract, they are not regarded in the same way as as a contract and are not based on the same principles it is. In its most basic sense, a covenant refers to the promise to participate in or refrain from performing a certain action.
[00:26:06] And a covenant was differentiable from an ordinary contract by the presence of a seal. You know, in the New Testament, you know what the seal is? The Holy Spirit, God's presence living inside of us. That's God's seal that we're in a covenant relationship with you. How many think that's an amazing seal? God goes, here I'll, you know, it's not a little bit of wax. I mean, it's the God's Spirit living inside of us. A covenant may be stated both negatively or positively. A negative covenant refers to a law that prohibits an individual from, you know, engaging in a particular act. Or on the other hand, an affirmative covenant refers to a law that allows permission to engage in specific action so it's interesting that the Hebrew word for covenant is bereith, and that word literally means to cut.
[00:26:57] And to give you an idea, God entered into a covenant. Remember, the first covenant I can think of that's really profound is the one with Abraham. And I want to just go all the way back to the book of Genesis. Well, let's just talk about, first of all, the new covenant, and I'll get back to the Old Testament. There it says, for this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant. Now, all of that means is that everybody under the first covenant receives the benefit of the new covenant because of what Christ did. Everything in the old covenant was actually just pointing to the work of Christ. That's what he's basically saying. And then he says, in the case of a will, it's necessary to prove the death of the law, one who made it. Because a will is enforced only when someone has died. We all know that it never takes effect while the one who made it is living.
[00:27:53] That is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood, without death, right?
[00:28:01] Then it says, in fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there's no forgiveness, there's no benefit to this covenant.
[00:28:11] Now let's go back to the Old Testament. Here, Genesis. So the Lord said to him to Abram, bring me a heifer, a goat, a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon. And Abram brought all of these to him, and he cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other. The birds, however, he did not cut in half.
[00:28:29] And when the sun had set and darkness had fallen, a smoking fire pot with a blazing torch.
[00:28:36] This is a symbol of the presence of God, it says, appeared and passed between the pieces.
[00:28:45] Interesting.
[00:28:47] How many have read this passage and thought, this is weird, you know, Abraham. Abraham is trying to chase away the birds because there's these dead carcasses. And then all of a sudden, he falls asleep and he wakes up, and all of a sudden he sees this torch, this light, this fire, walking right between the halves of these dead animals.
[00:29:07] And it says, and on that day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram. So what's going on here? Well, let me just summarize it. The covenantal ritual, Derek Kidner says, resembles that of Jeremiah 34:18 in its full form. Probably both parties would pass between the dismembered animals to invoke a light fate on themselves should they break their pledge. So a covenant is a pledge.
[00:29:31] Now think about what they're saying when they pass through the animals. What they're saying is, if I break this pledge, may it be to me as these animals, it's going to cost me my life. Okay? Now, in that particular situation, Abraham or Abram didn't walk between the two. He just set it up.
[00:29:56] Here's what I want you to know.
[00:29:58] God walked between the two and he said, I'll give my life if I break my promise.
[00:30:06] You know what happened?
[00:30:08] Humanity.
[00:30:09] Eventually, we made a covenant. The Old Testament, the law, Moses, they made this kind of agreement with God. Guess what happened? They failed. God didn't. And what does God do? I'm going to make a new covenant and God himself lays down his life rather than us.
[00:30:28] How many say, that's amazing.
[00:30:32] God keeps his part of the covenant and then he comes along and fulfills our broken part for us by dying for us. How many think this, this imagery is so profound and powerful. I think we need to understand that we serve a covenant keeping God. So what does that say? If I'm going to become like him, I. I need to be a covenant keeper.
[00:30:55] That has huge ramifications in life. You know, a lot of people today, we think nothing of saying things and then not following through.
[00:31:03] That's so unlike God. We need to stop talking, say less, make less promises, and when we make them, keep them.
[00:31:11] How's that?
[00:31:13] It says that in the Word. Let me move on to the second result of the covenants, the inescapable punishment that comes when we break it.
[00:31:22] Apart from genuine repentance, this is a very key concept. Apart from repentance, where we turn from our neglect, our indifference, or just our plain disobedience to God, we will suffer these terrible consequences.
[00:31:36] And yet God is so merciful, he keeps warning us over and over again. He's not. It shouldn't take us by surprise. We've been warned. How many in this room? You can honestly say that you were struggling with a temptation and God warned you?
[00:31:51] I got my hand up, God warned me. And then you have a choice. You either obey God or you don't obey God. And if you disobey God, it's because you're doing it in spite of the warning that happens in our lives.
[00:32:05] Well, let's take a look at the terms of the covenant.
[00:32:09] Here we see why they were under the curse because they had disobeyed their agreement. Think about the law this way. In Exodus, what's the first commandment? You shall have no other gods. Before me, what did the Israelites do? They had all kinds of gods before him. You see, they were worshiping God, but they were also worshiping all the gods of the nation in which they were displacing. So they were doing both. And God says, no, no, you can't do that. As a matter of fact, you shall not make for yourselves an image in the form of anything in heaven or above or on the earth beneath, or in the water, waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God.
[00:32:45] What that means, you know, we think of that. Oh, jealous, Terrible. No, no. God says, I want an exclusive relationship. This is not, you know, me sharing you with a whole bunch of people. No, this is. There's an intimacy and exclusivity that we have with God. It's a beautiful thing.
[00:33:02] He goes on to say here in Jeremiah. Then the Lord said to me, there's a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem.
[00:33:09] Well, what was that conspiracy? Well, during the reign of King Josiah, he was trying to get the people to renew their covenant with God. But there was a bunch of people that said, we don't want to do that. And look what it says in the next verse. And then they return. They have returned to the sins of their ancestors. So even though Josiah was enforcing them to destroy idols and stuff, as soon as Josiah died, they returned immediately back to worshiping idols. That was the conspiracy.
[00:33:37] They refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both Israel and Judah have broken the covenant I made with their ancestors. Therefore, this is what the Lord says. I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape.
[00:33:50] Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them.
[00:33:56] The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all. When destroyed, disaster strikes.
[00:34:05] You, Judah, have as many gods as you have towns. And the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful God BAAL are as many as of the streets in Jerusalem. In other words, he says, you're proliferating all this idolatry and it's terrible. You know, listen to what God's word says.
[00:34:26] God says, I'm not going to listen to you.
[00:34:28] That's a powerful statement.
[00:34:30] Think about what the psalmist says. If I have cherished sin in my heart, the Lord will not have listened.
[00:34:37] You and I cannot have idolatry. You can't be focusing in on something that's evil and then ask God to do something over here. God says, I'm not listening to you. You got to deal with this stuff.
[00:34:50] But God has surely listened and heard my prayer. In other words, the psalmist said, yeah, but I haven't done that. And God has heard my prayer.
[00:34:57] Praise be to the God who has not rejected my prayer, withheld his love from me.
[00:35:01] James also warns us regarding wavering between belief and unbelief. He says, when you ask, you must believe and not doubt. Because the one who doubts is like the wave of the sea blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double minded and unstable in all they do.
[00:35:19] Now, how many know that God wants us to be stable?
[00:35:23] He doesn't want us to be all over the map. He wants consistency from his people, right? How many think that's true? He wants us to be consistent. You know, so when God does not answer prayer, you know, always think about this, there are moments that God doesn't answer prayer. How many have probably recognize there are moments when God does not answer prayer. Some of you says, I've prayed some prayers that haven't been answered. Well, sometimes it's futuristic the answer. But there are moments when God says, no, I'm not going to answer that prayer.
[00:35:51] You say when people vacillate between serving God and serving self. God says, I don't feel obligated to answer your selfish prayers. How's that number one? Well, here's another avenue.
[00:36:05] He says to Jeremiah, he says, don't even pray for these people. Don't even offer a plea or petition for them for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress.
[00:36:18] How many say, that's a shocking statement. God says, okay, you're in trouble now, I'm not going to do anything about it.
[00:36:23] Why would God do that? I'm going to make a deep distinction here this morning and I think we need to hear it. How many recognize?
[00:36:31] Well, first of all, I think God recognizes their prayers were not about making changes in their lives, but delivering them from the consequences of their sin.
[00:36:40] Do you know there's a difference between remorse, repentance?
[00:36:45] You know, I'm around people and I listen to things over the years and a lot of people are, you know, they're sorry because they got caught, they're sorry because they're suffering the consequences of their sin, but they're not sorry that they sinned.
[00:37:00] You know, if you gave them the option, they go right back to it. And that happens over and over again.
[00:37:06] People feel sorry for themselves because of the pain that, that their sin has caused them. That's remorse.
[00:37:12] They're not sorry for the way sin has impacted God. They're not sorry for the way sin has impacted the lives of other people. They're not sorry about that. They're just sorry about the fact that they're suffering pain right now. That's remorse. God says, I'm not interested in delivering you so you can go back in your sin.
[00:37:30] Now if you want to get, you know, straight with God, you need to get to that place where you say, God, you get me to the place where I hate my sin.
[00:37:39] Get me to the place where I want deliverance from the sin. And I'm going to say this right now. A lot of Christians, sometimes we carry things in our lives that God goes, I want out of your life, but you don't want it out. And you carry and cherish this little thing and it's an idol. And God says, I want that out of your life.
[00:37:57] So Jeremiah continues, what is my beloved doing in my temple? As she with many others works out her evil schemes. Can consecrated meat avert your punishment? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice. What's he saying here? He's saying, look, don't think you can go through the motions of being religious and think that you're going to be spared. It's not going to work. God's not playing the game.
[00:38:21] See, God is looking inside and seeing our hard attitude. The Lord called you a thriving olive tree with beautiful in form, but with the roar of a mighty storm, he will set it on fire and its branches will be broken. What's he saying? He's saying, look, I'm the one that blessed you. I'm the one that allowed you to come into this beautiful promised land. I'm the one that's allowed you to be in my family. But you know, if you keep sinning, I'm going to allow sin to have its way in your life and it's going to destroy you. That's what he's talking about here. The Lord Almighty who planted you has decreed disaster for you because the people of Israel and Judah have done evil and have aroused my anger by burning incense to baal.
[00:39:00] Okay, I think we often.
[00:39:06] John Thompson says Jeremiah was certainly concerned with obedience to the ancient covenant demands. Which was more important than performance of rituals in the temple. And we can see that.
[00:39:16] I think we often reflect this depreciating attitude towards the goodness of God and others when we use the approach and attitude that will ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
[00:39:27] I want you to think about. I've heard people say this. It drives me crazy. Well, I'm just going to ask for.
[00:39:33] I'm going to ask for forgiveness rather than permission. Can I tell you what you're really doing? In other words, you're saying, I'm going to go ahead and do what I want to do and then assume that forgiveness is owed me.
[00:39:45] And when we act this way, we're presuming on the grace of God and we're presuming on the goodness of other people.
[00:39:52] And how many go, that's wrong. That's actually a sin. We're presuming something. Do not presume on the grace of God. It's a bad thing to be doing. See, I don't think we understand these things. Well, you know, I have another whole point here, but I don't have time to share it. So I'm going to close the service. We're done at quarter two, so why don't we stand.
[00:40:14] This is the good thing about being a pastor. I can always come back and. And share other thoughts later. But I want to just close with a verse that I don't have on an overhead here, a couple of verses. Number one, John, chapter 12, verse 26.
[00:40:35] This morning, as I was praying, I was reading this verse and it said, whoever serves me must follow me.
[00:40:42] Whoever serves me must follow me.
[00:40:49] It's not about making a prayer, a commitment.
[00:40:54] You know, God says, if you want to be married to me, we got to have a relationship. That's what he's saying. You know, how many times have I seen it in marriages where we make this covenant, this commitment, and then we, you know, we're not relating to it each other anymore. That's not a marriage.
[00:41:12] That's not what a healthy marriage looks like. No, we got to relate to each other.
[00:41:16] And then he says, my servant also, he says, and where I am, my servant also will be.
[00:41:23] So what does that mean? It just simply means this. If.
[00:41:27] If I serve him and I'm following him, I will be with him.
[00:41:32] That's powerful.
[00:41:35] But if I'm just doing my thing and saying I'm serving God and I'm not following him, I'm not where he is, I'm in a totally different place.
[00:41:44] And all of a sudden, you know, even though God hasn't abandoned us.
[00:41:50] In a sense, we've turned our back on God. That's the problem. And we're not doing what we should be doing. And that creates all kinds of difficulties in our lives.
[00:41:59] So I'm going to make this statement in closing from the book of Galatians or the book of Romans, you can choose the book you want to go to. But you and I are either a slave to God and his righteousness, or we're a slave to Satan and to our sin.
[00:42:17] We're a slave to someone.
[00:42:20] We have a choice this morning.
[00:42:22] And I'll tell you something. God is a very loving, caring person.
[00:42:29] Satan is a very dastardly, devious, lying, destructive personality out to destroy you. It's very simple. You have a choice.
[00:42:42] And so this morning, as we come to the Lord, we're just saying, you know, Lord, I don't want to live with remorse in my life where I feel bad about what I've done wrong. I think God wants to transform us. And listen to what the of Galatians says. If you and my brothers and sisters were called to be free, but don't use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature, rather serve one another humbly in love. Do you know how I know I'm serving God and how I can test it by the way I treat people?
[00:43:12] That's the key.
[00:43:14] If I love people, I'm actually loving God. If I'm not treating people properly, I'm not treating God properly. That's the test.
[00:43:23] That means I comply with all their thinking. No, it just means that I'm. I'm showing God's grace and favor and blessing and goodness into their lives as an act of worship and adoration to God, not letting them motivate me or manipulate me. That's not what's going on there. I'm doing this before the Lord.
[00:43:44] And so maybe here today, as we bow our heads right now, I just really feel like in our lives we can honestly look back and say, man, there are a trail of broken promises between myself and God. There's a trail of them where I have failed him and I have been unfaithful. I'm so glad that Jesus Christ took the curse on himself for me. We're going back to that covenant. I didn't keep my in, but. But he walked through the parts and said, okay, I'll die for you.
[00:44:16] How amazing is God's love for us is that it's hit me with such impact this week. God's love is so incredible.
[00:44:27] Even though I fail he's never failed, but he dies for my failure so that I can be right with him.
[00:44:35] Why would I want to live self agenda life?
[00:44:41] Why would I not say, lord, you are so loving and good, I want to serve you, I want to do your will, I want to follow you, I want to be where you are.
[00:44:52] Amen.
[00:44:54] And maybe you're here today and you say, you know, Pastor, this has been an awakening in my soul this morning.
[00:45:00] I haven't really thought about the fact that being a Christian means I'm in covenant with God.
[00:45:06] And it's not about serving God on my terms. And some of you in this room, you may have to reevaluate your life and say, you know what? I think I have been serving God on my terms and I'm challenging you this morning that you need to lay that down and say, okay, God, I want to serve you on your terms.
[00:45:23] I want to start doing your will. I want to do what you're asking me to do. I want to walk in obedience to you.
[00:45:30] I want to serve you in the right way.
[00:45:32] What you're calling me to do, not just my thing. And just with every head bowed right now, let's just ask God to come and forgive us and to cleanse us and to reveal himself to us so that we can do what he wants us to do, that we can be more like him. He wants to transform us. That's his desire.
[00:45:54] So Father, I pray this morning that your spirit right now is brooding over us as a congregation. And those that are listening over livestream or streaming, I just pray right now that the spirit of God would just brood over our hearts. And we just realized, you know what? I want to just walk with you, Lord. I want to just follow you. I want to serve you. I want to keep my end of the covenant in the right way. I want to do what you want me to do. I don't want to live in a different, apathetic, disobedient life. Deliver me from that, Father.
[00:46:28] Create within me such a passion, a longing, a hunger, a desire to do what pleases you. Help me to serve you in the way that would honor you at the greatest degree. Help me not to try to get out of things and serve you at a lower level, Lord. Help us to give ourselves fully to you and serve you at the highest possible level.
[00:46:51] And I thank you for working and speaking and addressing things in my hearts in this last little while. I know that you've been working, Father, in our hearts as a congregation. I pray that that work would continue today.
[00:47:05] In Jesus name, amen. God bless you as you leave this morning.
