WWUTT 2399 How Long Will You Not Listen (Jeremiah 13:1-27)

God has said to Jeremiah that He means to bring judgment upon the people of Judah.

And Jeremiah is not terribly crazy about it. He tries to warn the people anyway, but their hearts are dull and they will not listen when we understand the text.

This is When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the

Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday and our

Q &A on Friday. Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we are up to chapter 13 this week, which begins a new section that's going to go through chapter 15.

And in this section, it's mostly Jeremiah complaining against God in the way that God has chosen to deal with Judah.

If you'll remember, Judah has rebelled against God. They've worshiped false gods. They have practiced the ways of the pagans around them.

And so God is going to bring judgment upon them by the hand of the Chaldeans, the Babylonians, who will conquer

Jerusalem and even exile the Jews into captivity. Previously, God has said back in chapter seven, do not pray for this people.

Do not intercede for them because it was God's desire to bring this judgment against them for their rebellion.

And that same kind of exhortation is given again in this section. We won't read it this week, but next in Jeremiah 14, 11, the

Lord said to me, do not pray for the welfare of this people, though they fast, I will not hear their cry.

And though they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by famine and by pestilence.

And Jeremiah doesn't think that is the way that God should handle this situation. And so he's going to question

God's integrity. Of course, God will rebuke him for this. But let's begin with this illustration that God gives to Jeremiah.

That is to be a testimony against the people of Judah. I'm going to start out by reading chapter 13, verses one through 14.

Hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord to me, go and buy a linen loincloth and put it around your waist and do not dip it in water.

So I bought a loincloth according to the word of the Lord and I put it around my waist. And the word of the

Lord came to me a second time, take the loincloth that you have bought, which is around your waist and arise, go to the

Euphrates and hide it there in a cleft of the rock. So I went and hid it by the

Euphrates as the Lord commanded me. And after many days, the Lord said to me, arise, go to the

Euphrates and take from there the loincloth that I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the

Euphrates and dug, and I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it.

And behold, the loincloth was spoiled. It was good for nothing. Then the word of the

Lord came to me. Thus says the Lord, even so I will spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.

This evil people who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.

For as the loincloth clings to the waist of a man, so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, declares the

Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise and a glory, but they would not listen.

And that's verses one through 11. Did I say I was going to go through 14? Well, I'll get to 12 to 14 here in just a moment.

Let's talk first about this illustration that God gives to Jeremiah and what it's supposed to represent regarding the people of Judah.

So first of all, God tells Jeremiah to go and buy a linen loincloth.

This would also be called a linen girdle, okay? And he tells Jeremiah to buy it, not just use one that he already has, because Jeremiah would have had one himself, because again, the loincloth is supposed to represent

Judah. And so Jeremiah purchasing this loincloth is supposed to symbolize how

God purchased Judah or purchased the nation of Israel out of slavery in Egypt.

If you'll remember, I mean, there's numerous references to this, like in Exodus 6, 6, I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.

So God ransomed this people from captivity to himself that they would become his possession.

So hence, Jeremiah goes and buys a linen loincloth the way that God purchased

Israel. Now, also the loincloth is a part of a priestly garment, and that has to do with symbolizing

Judah as well, as they were supposed to be God's priests in the earth. You also recognize a loincloth as covering a certain part of the body.

You might even think of it as being something like underwear. It is an activity garment.

It does cover that part of a man's anatomy, and that's supposed to be symbolized in this as well, because God consecrated

Judah to himself. And remember, it is said that the firstborn are to be consecrated.

This is Exodus 13 to consecrate to me all the firstborn, whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast is mine.

And so as Israel is like a firstborn son to God, they are consecrated to himself.

There's also the sign of the covenant that is on the male anatomy circumcision so that this people would belong to God.

All of this is wrapped up in the symbolism of the loincloth that represents

Judah. So Jeremiah is supposed to take this loincloth and he's supposed to hide it.

And it says he's supposed to hide it at the Euphrates. I went to the Euphrates. I dug, I took the loincloth from the place where I had hidden it.

And behold, the loincloth was spoiled. It was good for nothing. OK, so he's hiding it there at the River Euphrates.

Now, first of all, God said, do not dip it in water. This was also in verse one. Put it around your waist.

Do not dip it in water. That was supposed to symbolize that it wasn't clean, because if it's dipped in water, it's been cleansed.

But Judah has not been clean. So the loincloth is not supposed to be clean. They have soiled themselves with the pagans and the false gods that they worshipped.

Now, the fact that Jeremiah was supposed to take this to the River Euphrates, that's kind of a source of debate, because the

Euphrates was a long way from Anathoth. That was where Jeremiah just was, remember, when he delivered the word of the

Lord to the men of Anathoth and they rejected him. The River Euphrates is like over 100 miles away.

So it seems unusual that God is now sending him on a journey of over 100 miles to the Euphrates to do this act.

So what could possibly be the other explanation for this? Either Jeremiah is experiencing this in a vision, or the other possibility is that there's a spelling error here, and there is a variation in the manuscripts regarding this reference to the

Euphrates. The Hebrew word that's used there is really, really close to another

Hebrew word that could be another river that would only be three miles from the place where Jeremiah last was located here, according to this book.

So it could be that. It could be that just over time with the transmission of the text, and Jeremiah is one of those extremely challenging books to translate and to even find preserved because this was written at the time of the exile.

So things that were written like right at the time of the exile, there's difficulty in keeping track of them since all of that was going on at a time of war, a time of upheaval when there was no peace.

Jeremiah is just one of those books that there was difficulty in preserving it because of everything that was going on at the same time.

So for that reason, there's some challenging Hebrew in this book, and it could be that this river that's being spelled out here is not the

Euphrates, but one that is much closer. That's another point.

It's not terribly relevant to this. I could have stuck with Euphrates and you probably wouldn't have asked any question about it.

But just to let you know that there's actually a lot of history regarding the translation of Jeremiah and how challenging it's been over the years, though what we're reading here is nearly 100 % accurate to what

Jeremiah actually wrote. There's just a few variations in there that raise some questions. So then, of course,

Jeremiah pulls up the loincloth and it's spoiled. And so what's happened there? Well, that's Judah.

They have spoiled themselves by uniting themselves with the pagans around them. And that could be another argument for the

Euphrates actually being the Euphrates, because that was definitely a river in another land that would have had more pagan connections to it.

The way that they worship their river gods and stuff like that, that would have had more pagan connections to it than the river that would have been nearer to Anathoth.

So you could argue that way as well. And some scholars do know this really was the river Euphrates and either

Jeremiah did it in a vision or he physically went there and did this thing according to the instruction of God.

And so God says this is this spoiled loincloth is like it's like Judah.

So I made the whole house of Israel, the whole house of Judah, a loincloth. That clung to me.

I provided for them. But they now have not listened.

I intended for them to be a people, a name, a praise and a glory. But they have rejected

God. And so God gives Jeremiah another illustration here, verses 12 to 14.

You shall speak to them this word, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, every jar shall be filled with wine.

And they will say to you, do we not indeed know that every jar will be filled with wine? And then you shall say to them, thus says the

Lord, behold, I will fill with drunkenness all the inhabitants of the land, the kings who sit on David's throne, the priests, the prophets and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

And I will dash them one against another fathers and sons together declares the Lord. I will not pity or spare or have compassion.

That I should not destroy them. So God is going to fill them up with drunkenness.

And this is to say that their mind and their hearts will be dull of hearing. Jeremiah is going to go to them and he is going to say that they should repent because the people should hear this word.

But God has said to Jeremiah not to pray for them, not to intercede for them because it is

God's intention to bring this judgment upon them. So even though Jeremiah goes to them, they won't listen because their hearts, their minds are spiritually drunk.

They're not going to listen to a prophet of God. They have already rejected God for the passions of their flesh and gone after these false gods that will give them the things that they want.

So as a consequence, God is bringing this judgment upon them. And here is the threat of that exile beginning here in verse 15, hear and give ear.

Be not proud for the Lord has spoken. Give glory to the

Lord your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains.

And while you look for light, he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.

But if you will not listen, my soul will weep in secret for your pride. My eyes will weep bitterly and run down with tears because the

Lord's flock has been taken captive. Now this is Jeremiah pouring out his heart here.

This is his care in this and his affection for this people. He does not want them to be destroyed.

He wants them to repent and come to believe in God and listen to his word and obey the things that God told them to do at the first.

But as the Lord said to Jeremiah, they're not going to listen to you. Jeremiah is taking it upon himself to warn these people anyway.

Verse 18, say to the king and the queen mother, take a lowly seat for your beautiful crown is come down from your head.

The cities of the Negev are shut up with none to open them. All Judah is taken into exile, wholly taken into exile.

Oftentimes the queen was the mother. The queen is not the wife of the king.

The queen is the mother of the king. So say to the king and the queen mother, take a lowly seat, be humble, humble yourselves before God and lead the rest of this people, this nation in humility before God, because judgment's coming upon you.

Jeremiah has seen it. He knows it's on the way. So verse 20, lift up your eyes and see those who come from the north.

Where is the flock that was given you your beautiful flock? So look and see those who come from the north.

That's a reference to the Babylonians coming against Judah. Verse 21, what will you say when they set as head over you, those whom you yourself have taught to be friends to you?

Will not pangs take a hold of you like those of a woman in labor? And if you say in your heart, why have these things come upon me?

It is for the greatness of your iniquity that your skirts are lifted up and you suffer violence.

Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard, his spots? Then also you can do good who are accustomed to do evil.

So the play on words there is that the Ethiopian cannot change the color of his skin.

The leopard cannot change his spots. And so you also cannot now decide to do good.

You who are so accustomed to do evil. I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.

This is your lot. The portion I have measured out to you declares the Lord, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

I myself will lift up your skirts over your face and your shame will be seen. I have seen your abominations, your adulteries and the names, your lewd whorings on the hills of the field.

Woe to you. Oh, Jerusalem. How long will it be before you are made clean?

So God has seen the gross, idolatrous, abominable deeds that the

Jews have done. They have had this attitude of God will not see. He won't bring judgment upon us.

We've seen that previously in Jeremiah. But this declaring I have seen those things, I myself will lift your skirts over your face and your shame will be seen.

There's something being implied here and pardon me for the crudeness, but it is said in the law that if a woman who is betrothed to a man marries him and then it is found that she's not actually a virgin, then she's supposed to be brought out in stone to death because she had defiled herself with another man having betrayed her husband, really committing adultery before she was even married.

Fornication is what that's called, of course. But in the context of one who is about to be married, it would have been regarded as being the same as adultery.

So she was supposed to be taken out in stone. So this statement here about I will lift up your skirts over your face and your shame will be seen, it's as though to say,

I already know you're not pure. I have already inspected you and know that I know you have been with because then you go on from there to say,

I've seen your abominations, your adulteries and nayings, your lewd whorings on the hills of the field.

Woe to you, oh Jerusalem. How long will it be before you are made clean?

You know, here in the United States of America, this is a nation that once again proclaims itself to be a nation under God.

We have in God, we trust on our currency. You will hear praises from star athletes and some of the biggest games nationwide that are saying

God was on our side tonight. I give all the praise and glory to God. You hear God on the lips of Americans, you even because like I said, you even see the name of God printed in our currency.

But you don't have to look too hard in America to see that our hearts are far from God. We might pay lip service.

I say we in the collective, we in the sense of the United States of America. So we pay lip service to God.

But meanwhile, the hearts of this nation are far from God and he will bring judgment upon us just because the more conservative presidential candidate won in the most recent election.

That does not mean that God's hand has been stayed. He's given us some time. He's given us another opportunity that this people might be able to accomplish something in the advancement of the gospel and spreading the news of the kingdom of God.

But it's just going to go back to liberal again. It does not take long for us to go back to the place that we just came from.

If you've been listening to the hear the word of the Lord broadcast, then having gone through first and second

Kings and now in Chronicles, you see how quickly things go even with kings of Israel.

Now, some of those kings would reign 20 or 30 years, but some of them just a few years and you'll have a righteous king that's there for a little while and then another wicked king comes along and things just go from bad to worse.

It just gets progressively worse. Even if a king does well, the next king comes along and it's like he undoes everything.

It's like there was never a good righteous time. They just go to doing these evil abominations before God.

And we're seeing that same kind of pattern even here in the United States, perhaps even even in your country as well.

But worse than this, like we can critique our nations, we can see how abominable the culture is, the sexual immorality, the violence, the blasphemies and all these other kinds of things.

Certainly that exists in the culture. But what's more applicable here than that is the fact that the church has whored itself with the pagans around them, with the culture, with the world, has turned from God and has wanted to be more like the world, looking at the world and envying those things that the world has, those pleasures, so on and so forth.

That which calls itself the church has turned from God, turned from his word, turned from the declaration of the gospel and instead has indulged itself in sin.

I've seen your abominations, God says, your adulteries, your names and your lewd whorings.

There are far more churches in the U .S. that look like the world than there are churches that are actually faithful to Christ and to his word.

Yeah, there are still good, faithful churches here. I'm part of one of them. It's a wonderful church family, one that fears

God, loves God, loves his words, sings praises, regular partaking of the Lord's table, the sacraments.

We do that week in and week out. But it's not easy to find. And I hear those testimonies all the time.

People that will even send me emails and say, I cannot find a good church in my community. They're all either like super Pentecostal and charismatic.

They're just after the feels, their name it and claim it. Their doctrine is so wretched. Or it's one of those pragmatism churches.

They'll put on the productions and things like that. They'll have all these gimmicks to try to win the world in. Or it will be just one of the denominations.

It's either extremely Arminian, very free will. They play fast and loose with the text.

There's not really a true declaration of the gospel. It's a very Americanized form of Christianity.

And I hear this time and time again, how few good churches there are out there that really fear

God, love his word and preach it and do what it says. And so many of the churches in the

United States have become like the rest of the world. And that's really where this warning cuts to the heart the most.

I've seen your abominations, your adulteries, because they've turned from God to whore themselves out with the world, your ne 'ings, your lewd whorings.

And so the church in the U .S., churches need to heed this warning and turn from their sin and their wickedness back to Christ and be cleansed.

How effective can the church be in the U .S. or any country, any nation in the world, sharing the gospel so that people will recognize their sin through the preaching of the law.

They understand their sin and need for a savior. And then through the preaching of the gospel, hear and understand that that savior is

Jesus Christ and turn to him and worship him. How effective can the church be in spreading that message when it's trying so hard to be like the rest of the world and going after the passions and pleasures of the world, trying to appease them instead of please

God. And so we must take these things very seriously and turn our hearts to the

Lord. You personally, as an individual, are there things in your life, you know, our sin might even be regarded as among these abominations that you need to turn from and turn to the

Lord Christ and live. Come to Jesus, confess your sins, and he will cleanse you from all unrighteousness.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the message of the gospel of Christ that has been given to us.

We know there is a day of judgment that is coming for, as the apostle Paul said in Acts 17, that such a day has been fixed on which

God will judge the world in righteousness. So that day is approaching, and every day that goes by, we're one day closer to that day of judgment that you have appointed.

Please forgive us our sins and bring us back to fellowship with you through our

Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, who died for us and rose again from the dead so that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life.

And help us to have courage even in these days that we would warn people about the judgment to come. We would call out sin, call to repentance, point to Jesus Christ, so that people might be saved and live.

We ask these things in Jesus' name, amen. This has been When We Understand the

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