WWUTT 2389 The People Turn Against Jeremiah (Jeremiah 11:1-23)

The Jews have rebelled against God, and now God is going to drive them off of their land, which he gave to the descendants of Abraham. It's not that God is breaking his promise to his people. They broke covenant with God.

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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, this week we are up to chapter 11. And this is going to start a new section of Jeremiah for the next 10 chapters, going through chapter 20. We just finished up 10.

We've got another section of 10. But before laying out the outline for these 10 chapters, let me briefly recap what we just finished up last week. So at the end of chapter 10, God has promised that he is going to send the Jews into exile.

They have continued to rebel against God by worshiping false gods. And they've even fallen into the sins of the pagans around them. There has been sexual immorality, theft, murder, strife, worshiping the Baals, making their own false gods.

God will send prophets to them. They don't listen to the prophets. And so because of this continued rebellion that's been going on for decades, if not hundreds of years, God is finally taking his hand off of them and giving them into the hands of the Chaldeans, of the Babylonians.

And so as we get into chapter 11 here, this next section that we're looking at, we're going to see Jeremiah, the prophet himself, struggling between the Jews and God. He is going to take this message of the Lord to the Jews, but they're going to hate him for it.

That seems to be the pattern. Whenever a prophet shows up and tells them what God has said, Jeremiah loves this people. He desires for them to turn from their sin. He recognizes they're wicked, but hoping that they will turn from their sins so that God will relent from this disaster that he has promised to bring upon them.

But when the Jews reject Jeremiah and with all the trials that he goes through concerning that, he then begins to question God even, and will feel betrayed by God. God will rebuke him for this, but that's where Jeremiah is at in his heart for a portion of this section.

God will eventually restore Jeremiah, and Jeremiah at the end, when we get to chapter 20, is committed to the faithful service of God as he is God's messenger. But through these 10 chapters, we'll see that constant struggle come up again between Jeremiah and the Jews and with God.

So how does this lay out? Well, first of all, in chapters 11 and 12, Jeremiah is surprised by the opposition that he faces. Then in chapters 13 through 15 is where Jeremiah is going to express feeling betrayed by God.

In chapter 16 and 17, he'll be renewed by God. And then once again, he faces the opposition of the Jews, chapters 17 and 18, and then he commits himself to serving the Lord fully in chapters 19 and 20.

Now as we start off here today in chapter 11, we're going to see some more recap. This is God recalling the covenants that he has made with Judah, all covenants that Judah has broken. So let me begin by reading verses 1 through 13.

Hear the word of the Lord. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, hear the words of this covenant and speak to the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. You shall say to them, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, cursed be the man who does not hear the words of this covenant that I commanded your fathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace saying, listen to my voice and do all that I command you.

So shall you be my people and I will be your God that I may confirm the oath that I swore to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey as at this day. Then I answered, so be it Lord.

And the Lord said to me, proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, hear the words of this covenant and do them. For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day saying, obey my voice.

Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.

Again the Lord said to me, a conspiracy exists among the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refuse to hear my words. They have gone after other gods to serve them.

The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant that I made with their fathers. Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I am bringing disaster upon them that they cannot escape. Though they cry to me, I will not listen to them.

Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry to the gods to whom they make offerings, but they cannot save them in the time of their trouble. For your gods have become as many as your cities, oh Judah.

And as many as the streets of Jerusalem are the altars you have set up to shame, altars to make offerings to Baal. Now having read those 13 verses, I'm not going to go back through them and read them line by line again, but rather giving a summary of everything that we've just read there.

So God made a covenant, an agreement, a contract with Israel and with Judah. And we read about this covenant that God had made with them back in Deuteronomy. Basically the sum of it was this. You keep my rules and my statutes, you get to keep the land, the land that is flowing with milk and honey, this promised land that God had given to the descendants of Abraham, to those whom he had called out of slavery in Egypt.

They wandered in the desert for 40 years as punishment, so that generation would die off. But then their children, when they were older, would inhabit the land and they saw that it was good. We see that in the book of Joshua, as Joshua led Israel into the promised land to drive out the pagans from their cities and then lived in and occupied those cities.

But it didn't take long for them, we see it right at the beginning of the book of Judges, for the people to turn from worshiping God. And they ended up falling into the pagan practices of the wicked people around them.

Now, God had warned them of this in the book of Deuteronomy. You're going to go after these false gods. But then there were also statements that were made about when that happens, repent, return to me and I will restore you.

But if they were going to worship these false gods and go after the ways of the Canaanites around them, then God would drive them off the land. That was said in Deuteronomy chapters 29 and 30. And so as you have this rebellion of Judah, who have they have not been keeping God's law, his statutes, they have been worshiping statues, the false gods that even they themselves have made.

And you heard that statement there toward the end. Jerusalem, you have more gods than there are cities in all of Judah and more gods than any of the streets and then the total number of streets in Jerusalem.

Now, the Canaanites or any pagan people will worship multiple false gods. So they're polytheistic, right? The people all around Judah are worshiping multiple false gods. So when God makes this indictment against Judah and he says to them that the number of your gods have become as many as your cities, no longer do they put trust in the one true God that is over all.

But they are worshiping multiple gods to feed them the passions that their flesh desires. It's just like what the apostle Paul said to Timothy, that we have itching ears. There are those that will turn away from the truth and wander off in the midst.

And they have itching ears storing up for themselves teachers to suit their own passions. So they're going after teachers that are telling them it's okay for you to indulge in this to go after this passion of the flesh.

That's all.

That's all good. And God is not mad at you for it. So these people will store up their own teachers to let them do what they want. And it's the same with Judah and their gods. They're going after these gods so that they can have these passions of the flesh.

And whereas Yahweh is one God over all, whether they believe in him or not, the Jews have instead gone after many gods and have even raised up altars to them to their shame, the Lord says. So let's pick up there and continue reading.

This is verse 14. Therefore, do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble. Now God has already said this to Jeremiah before.

Don't weep for this people. Don't pray for them because what I'm going to bring upon them, I have set my hand to do and I will not turn it back. So this judgment is coming upon Judah no matter what. And God is just in all of his ways.

But this, combined with the trials that Jeremiah is about to go through, is going to cause Jeremiah to question God. Verse 15, what right has my beloved in my house when she has done many vile deeds? Can even sacrificial flesh avert your doom?

Can you then exalt? So this is God saying, why should I let this nation into my house when this nation has whored herself out with all the other pagan nations that are around them? Verse 16, the Lord once called you a green olive tree, beautiful with good fruit, but with the roar of a great tempest, he will set fire to it and its branches will be consumed.

The Lord of hosts who planted you has decreed disaster against you because of the evil that the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done, provoking me to anger by making offerings to Baal. Now when God had cut this covenant with Israel, when we read about it in the book of Deuteronomy, and by the way, that book is written like a contract, like a peace treaty would be made between two kingdoms.

So that is the structure of the book of Deuteronomy as God makes this covenant with Israel. If they would keep his statutes, then God would bless them. But if they broke God's laws and continued in this persistently, and even when prophets are sent to them, they don't listen to the prophets, but they continue on, then God will drive them off the land.

Something that he said that I would not do, but because they have broken the covenant.

It's on them.

It's not on God. It's not like God is going back on his promises because this was part of the covenant. It was part of the agreement that he made with Israel. You have to be faithful. And if you're not faithful, if you're going to go after the false gods that are around you, well, then the covenant's broken and God didn't go back on his word.

He's not the one who broke the covenant, but Israel, Judah, they are the ones who have rebelled against the Lord. Verse 18, the Lord made it known to me and I knew, then you showed me their deeds, but I was like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter.

I did not know it was against me. They devised evil schemes saying, let us destroy the tree with its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living that his name may be remembered no more. So Jeremiah in questioning why God is doing this, God lays out Judah's sins before Jeremiah.

And then Jeremiah understands why this judgment needs to come. But when he brings the word of God to the Jews, well, then they hated him. I did not know that it was against me. They devised evil schemes.

Let us destroy the tree with its fruit. So they're talking about destroying Jeremiah. And this has echoes of Cain's plot to destroy Abel. If you'll remember his brother Abel, these are the first two sons of Adam and Eve.

Abel offered up a sacrifice to God that was acceptable to the Lord. But Cain's offering was not accepted. And Cain kind of got this idea in his head that if I off my brother, well, that takes care of this grading me on a curve.

And so God has to show me favor. I'm not doing anything wrong if I get rid of the righteous guy. And so that seems to be the mentality of the Jews around Jeremiah. We can cut him down. This one who is telling us to repent, the one who is giving us the word of God.

Well, if we take him out, then we're not doing anything wrong. Verse 20. But, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them. For to you have I committed my cause.

Now this is this is going to be like a bookend here. Within chapter 11, Jeremiah saying, I have committed my cause to the Lord. He'll say that again when we get to the end of the section in chapter 20.

But notice again, verse 20, O Lord of hosts, who judges righteously, who tests the heart and the mind. Remember, we just read in Luke this past week that Jesus knew the thoughts of the people who were around him and answered them according to the thoughts he knew that they were thinking.

This is a divine quality. God or Jesus, specifically being God, was able to know, he did know, the thoughts and intentions of the people around them. Wasn't just able to know. He did know.

He knew this.

And so God is the one who tests the heart and the mind. And knowing that it is Jesus who knows the heart and the mind, then the Lord of hosts to whom Jeremiah is praying is specifically the Son. He's praying to Jesus Christ.

Verse 21,. Therefore, thus says the Lord concerning the men of Anathoth, who seek your life and say, Do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hand. Therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts, Behold, I will punish them.

The young men shall die by the sword. Their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, and none of them shall be left. For I will bring disaster upon the men of Anathoth the year of their punishment.

So because these men had spoken up against a prophet of God and had even plotted to kill him, God is going to bring so much disaster upon them as a judgment. Now, by the way, Anathoth is Jeremiah's hometown.

So when he's receiving this opposition from the men of Anathoth, these are guys he's lived among, people that he's grown up with. But the very fact that he speaks the word of God, the people hate him for it.

Because he speaks righteousness, it exposes their wickedness. And so, again, our badness won't be so bad if we take out the guy that's making us feel bad or is pointing out our wrongs. And the world is constantly responded to God's message this way.

You go to Matthew chapter 5 at the end of the Beatitudes, Blessed are you who are persecuted for righteousness sake, for yours is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

Rejoice and be glad for your reward is great in heaven. And then Jesus tacks on this, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. So whenever we're hated for speaking the word of God, we're just falling right in line with the prophets who came before us.

And when people hate our message, when they come against us in this way, it is because they do not know God. They are not children of God. 1 John 3, 1, see what kind of love the father has lavished upon us, that we should be called the children of God.

And so we are. The reason why the world did not know us is because it did not know him. They do not accept our word. Whenever we tell them of their sin and need for a savior, who is Christ the Lord, they reject it because they don't know God.

That's why it is in their hearts to reject the goodness of the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus, who died on the cross for our sins, who rose again from the dead. And whoever believes in him will not perish under the judgment of God that we all deserve.

But we will have everlasting life. If you have sinned and you have rebelled against God, there's going to be consequences for your actions. But if you are in Christ, understand, brethren, Romans 8, 1.

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. But we should not be piddling around with sin, thinking that we have control over it, or I can indulge in this for a little while and it's not going to overtake me.

I have seen it too many times. I've lived enough life now to have seen this happen over and over again, where somebody knows that they're sinning. They know it's bad and they know that they need to stop, but they don't.

They think they have control over it. They convince themselves in their heads. I can stop any time. But I've watched it. I've seen it happen over and over. That eventually the sin consumes them. And the faith that they claim they have will become something that is other than what the Bible says our faith is.

Either they will outright apostatize altogether and they will leave the Christian faith. They won't even join any other religious cause. They're just atheists or agnostics. They just hate God, humanists, secular humanists.

But then there are also those who will still claim to follow Jesus, but their theology has morphed so much. It has become so liberal that it cannot pass as Christianity. They say they worship God, but they're still just worshiping a God of their own making.

And so don't trifle with sin. It will apprehend you faster than you think. It is playing with fire. And so we must resist that turn from all temptation by the power of the Holy Spirit that dwells within us.

Desire the righteousness of God and that his will would be done in the earth. Let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, as we've read this here today, I pray that it would serve as a warning against us, that we would not continue to tamper with, play with, flirt with sin, but we would turn from those things entirely and turn to our Lord Jesus Christ.

By faith in him, our sins are forgiven. And now clothe us in your righteousness that we may walk in the goodness of Christ and not return to our former ways any longer. What was written in former days was written for our instruction, as said in 1 Corinthians 10 and Romans 15 .4.

So let us heed these words, even as we have read them here, that we would not repent the same mistakes of those who had rebelled against God in the past. Lead us in paths of righteousness for your name's sake.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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