Introduction Jeremiah s sixth sermon continues. The sermon addresses the themes of Jehovah and Judah and Jehovah and Jeremiah. The sermon begins with a list of the suffering caused by the terrible draught (vv.1-3); a supplication as the people cry out to God because of their affliction and a description of their sin (v.10). It continues with a dialogue between Jehovah and Jeremiah. The Lord has asked Jeremiah do not pray for these people anymore (vv.11-12). The prophet describes a severe draught that effected the whole nation. The people cried out to God confessed their sin and their backsliding; but the Lord replied that He rejected their cry and their pleas; they were guilty of loving their sin and had no intention of turning from sin. At the end of chapter 14 Jeremiah prays; Jeremiah weeps night and day for his people; Jeremiah questioned if God had rejected the people completely; if they were beyond healing; Jeremiah acknowledged the wickedness and guilt of their fathers and urged the Lord to deliver them for His names sake; for the Temple s sake; for the covenant s sake; and acknowledged that only God could make the drought cease and send the rain and deliver them from the impending judgment. Chapter 15 is God s answer to Jeremiah s prayer. What is God s response? The Lord will not tolerate the people s sin; The Lord refuses to indulge the nation s fleshly desires; and refuses to give them a license to sin. The people were guilty of the worst kind of unrepentant persistent sin. And so they would bear the punishment for that sin. A Word To The Sinner Who Refuses To Turn (vv.1-9) Jeremiah 15:1 Then the Lord said to me, Even if Moses and Samuel stood before Me, My mind would not be favorable toward this people. Cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth. Intercessory prayer would not save them. Judgment was certain. Both Moses and Samuel were famous for their intercessory prayers. This was a shocking statement to Jeremiah. Over and over again we see examples of Moses praying for the people (Exodus 32:11-14; 30-34; Numbers 14:13-19; Deuteronomy 9:18-25). The Lord answered Samuel s prayers over and over again (1 Samuel 7:5-9; 12:19-25;). Samuel led the people to repent and then prayed for them! What is the difference between the intercessions of Moses, Samuel and Jeremiah? Moses and Samuel were willing to convince--persuade the people to repent--and then interceded for them. The Lord earlier told Jeremiah that the people offered back religion, ritual, external religious activities--but no change of heart. The people of Judea and Jerusalem had become a cesspool of corruption; a picture of pollution and degradation. What does it mean to cast them out of My sight? In a sense they would be removed from God s favor and God s promised land. In another sense--it may mean--if people try hard enough to escape God--run from God--they will succeed. 1
The people asked; Have you utterly rejected Judah? (14:19). God s answer. Yes. God expands the reason (more about that in verse 4). Jeremiah 15:2 And it shall be, if they say to you, Where should we go? then you shall tell them, Thus says the Lord: Such as are for death, to death; And such as are for the sword, to the sword; And such as are for the famine, to the famine; And such as are for the captivity, to the captivity. We continue the thought--you run from God--where will you go? Run hard--run fast--run long-- and you run right into judgment. As the people of Judah and Jerusalem run from God--they run towards destruction; this stark verse communicates an important truth; every road that leads away from God and Jesus Christ leads to destruction and death. The people were doomed--destined for judgment. What happens when the people ask; Where will God send us? Where shall we go? The answer Jeremiah is given is; Some of you will be executed in battle; some of you will die from starvation; some of you will be taken captive and transported to foreign nations. Do you remember in John s gospel when Jesus asks His disciples Will you leave too? And they respond Where shall we go? (John 6:68). Where indeed? Jeremiah 15:3 And I will appoint over them four forms of destruction, says the Lord: the sword to slay, the dogs to drag, the birds of the heavens and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. The dead would be desecrated. Unburied bodies would be dragged away by wild dogs; birds and other wild animals. The picture of wild animals dragging away dead bodies must have terrified some and disgusted the people listening to the prophet s sermon. Leaving a person to be eaten by wild animals was the most one of the most disgusting things imaginable. Jeremiah 15:4 I will hand them over to trouble, to all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, for what he did in Jerusalem. The Hebrew name Manasseh means one who causes to forget. In one sense Manasseh creates a form of spiritual dementia. The descendants of Jacob would be hated by all the nations. In addition to the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of the Jews they would be despised and hated by the nations. It s as if God is peering down through future centuries and seeing every hateful and hurtful rejection. The Jews would become the object of contempt and loathing. 2
Some people wrongly think that if God can see into the future--that God is responsible for that future. What exactly were the crimes of Manasseh? He was perhaps one of the most sinful kings of Judah. The sins committed by Manasseh included all the detestable practices by his neighbors; gross immorality; persistent idolatry; the worship of false gods and deep involvement in occult practices; searching for truth in the celestial bodies in the sky; worshipping the sun and the moon and the stars. The people sank so low they began to embrace human sacrifice. Manasseh burned his own son to death as an offering; he allowed and encouraged the people to completely disregard the God of Moses; completely ignore the commands of God and the commandments of God; they became stumbling blocks to one another; and what is most surprising the Jews of Jeremiah s day--were more wicked than the pagans who occupied the land before the Jews and were expelled for their sinful practices. Manasseh was deported to Babylon for a time. Upon His return he put away the idols and restored the worship of the Lord. Manasseh violated his father s reforms and then restored the worst pagan practices. Hezekiah as the son of Ahaz and he took over for his father in about 728 B.C. His reign lasted 25 years during the period of intense rivalry between Egypt and Assyria. He eventually got sucked into the life of conspiracy and counter conspiracy. He carried out significant religious reforms. Jeremiah 15:5 For who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem? Or who will bemoan you? Or who will turn aside to ask how you are doing? Three questions; all require the same answer--nobody--except God! The people had sinned past the point of pity. No reasonable, honest, moral person would have anything to do with them because of their wicked lifestyle. Not even the Lord. The people had made their choice and that choice was clear. The people were committed to living immoral, deceitful, wicked lives instead of living and loving and learning about the Lord. This indictment is from the Lord Himself. Jeremiah 15:6 You have forsaken Me, says the Lord, You have gone backward. Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you; I am weary of relenting! The people had completely forsaken God. What is the human situation when people forsake God? They go backwards instead of forwards. What is the Lord s situation? When God is compelled to enforce His moral law He does so with justice--and perhaps grief. 3
John MacArthur preached a message entitled When God abandons A Nation. In the sermon John quotes Romans chapter 1 and then describes what happens when people abandon God and embrace their own fleshly desires. The people have forsaken God (not the other way around). The people have gone backward instead of forward. On occasion the people may cry out to God in times of crises; but have never genuinely turned from sin; never turned wholly to the Lord. They did not want anything to do with God commands or the principles in the Bible or anything that might hinder their ability to completely indulge their flesh. Jeremiah 15:7 And I will winnow them with a winnowing fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children; I will destroy My people, Since they do not return from their ways. The word winnow contains a glimmer of hope. The winnowing is designed to get the people to turn (shub); from their ways--hence to God. What caused you turn to God? Gratitude for prosperity--or desperation from tragedy? Was your soul winnowed by adversity? Do you even know what winnowing is? It is the ancient practice of the throwing the grain in the air and allowing the wind to blow away the chaff--the heavy grain falls to the ground and all that has no value is blown away or swept away. What is valuable remains. What has no value is then gathered and burned. But what happens when the wind is violent and the storm rages? Even the grain is blown away. Here there seems to be a whole lot of chaff and very little grain! With a pitch fork I tossed them (not really Hebrew but a vivid picture we can understand). Now the Lord describes the suffering that his judgment will bring upon the people of Judah. They would be winnowed or blown away like chaff. The gates of the land are a reference to the whole land of Judah. The people would lose their hope and peace and security in the land of promise (see Preacher s Outline p. 165). I will destroy my people. What a burning double entendre. My people. What pain. Those who are destroyed are called My people. Please pay close attention to the reason: Since they do not return from their ways. Jeremiah 15:8 Their widows will be increased to Me more than the sand of the seas; I will bring against them, Against the mother of the young men, A plunderer at noonday; I will cause anguish and terror to fall on them suddenly. Here the mother of the young men may be a reference to the City of Jerusalem. 4
Jeremiah 15:9 She languishes who has borne seven; She has breathed her last; Her sun has gone down While it was yet day; She has been ashamed and confounded. And the remnant of them I will deliver to the sword Before their enemies, says the Lord. The mother of seven sons has lost every single boy to the war. The poet Jeremiah writes Her sun has gone down While it was yet day. The lights are out--yet the sun is still out--how is that possible? Because this is a poetic metaphor. The woman seem to represent Jerusalem. She is ashamed and confounded (or perhaps disgraced)--disgrace meaning unhappiness brought about through guilt! In the Jewish culture--it is more that just the tragic loss of all the boys in the family. There is no heir. There is no future. The survivors of the invasion face execution once they are captured. The day of Judgment is a day of sorrow and pain and devastation. But it is also a day of justice. The people deserve judgment because of a persistent commitment to rebellion and a life-style of wickedness. In this passage God is giving a picture of judgment in answer to Jeremiah s prayer. Jeremiah cried out for the people for mercy; to deliver the people from that day. Jeremiah s prayer is refused. God answers our prayers. But sometimes the answer is no. For the person who prays Save my mother and father. Save my son and daughter. Save my family and friends. And your family rejects God, rejects Christ, rejects salvation by faith alone in Christ alone; the answer is no. There is no other name given under heaven whereby men must be saved. God wants what is best for us and our loved ones. And what is best is faith and confidence in the Lord and in Jesus Christ. What is best is for us to believe the gospel and be saved. It is not best for us to try to theologically wiggle out of God s redemptive strategy apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. A pardon has been given. A way of escape outlined in the New Testament. We are given promises: Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: For everyone that asks receives; and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened (Matt. 7:7-8). If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done to you (John 15:7). And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it (John 14:13-14). The Lord will answer our prayers. The answer may be yes. The answer may be no. The answer may be wait. But He will answer. 5
A Window Into The Soul Of A Suffering Prophet Jeremiah 15:10 Woe is me, my mother, That you have borne me, A man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent for interest, Nor have men lent to me for interest. Every one of them curses me. Now Jeremiah reveals his inner struggles. Did Jeremiah ever wish that he had never been born? Here is your answer. Jeremiah struggles with loneliness, alienation, persecution and anguish for God s people. Here we find a personal confession. A lesser man might speak of his faithfulness and triumphs; here Jeremiah reveals something far more painful and personal--his failures. The experience of Jeremiah becomes a portal, a window into the heart of every true believer who is opposed, misunderstood or mistreated. What would cause a person to cry out; I wish I had never been born? Depression? Disillusionment? Severe Persecution? Suffering? Jeremiah stands alone. Everyone opposes him. Everyone curses him. The people will seek to shut him up, or shut him down. He is bold before men and broken before God. He condemns the peoples rebellion and sin without compromise and warns of God s judgment over and over and over again. He is faithful in his ministry. The result? People don t want to have anything to do with him. Jeremiah 15:11 The Lord said: Surely it will be well with your remnant; Surely I will cause the enemy to intercede with you In the time of adversity and in the time of affliction. Jeremiah 15:12 Can anyone break iron, The northern iron and the bronze? Jeremiah receives comfort and promise. The Lord will deliver him and allow him to complete his task and ministry. The day would come when the enemies of Jeremiah would seek his counsel and prayers. Jeremiah 15:13 Your wealth and your treasures I will give as plunder without price, Because of all your sins, Throughout your territories. You will loose your wealth. Jeremiah 15:14 And I will make you cross over with your enemies Into a land which you do not know; For a fire is kindled in My anger, Which shall burn upon you. 6
Jeremiah 15:15 O Lord, You know; Remember me and visit me, And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In Your enduring patience, do not take me away. Know that for Your sake I have suffered rebuke. O Lord, you know: the Lord is the judge. Jeremiah asks God to restrain the persecutors and not allow them to kill him so he can complete his ministry. Jeremiah declares his faithfulness. God called him to be a prophet. He lived in God s Word. And take vengeance for me on my persecutors. Vengeance is mine saith the Lord, I will repay. The word vengeance can man personal vengeance--but more likely in this context it is like the judgment or the verdict of a court; the penalty against a false witness-- whatever the consequences prescribed by the violation of the law. Jeremiah is encouraged by God s promises and faithfulness. Jeremiah 15:16 Your words were found, and I ate them, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah lives in God s Word. He delights in God s Word. Literally the text reads thy name was called upon me. Jeremiah 15:17 I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, Nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand, For You have filled me with indignation. Jeremiah lived a life of spiritual separation and self-denial. He refused to participate in the lifestyle of the wicked. Jeremiah chose to live a lonely and isolated life because he was filled with indignation over the people s sins. Jeremiah voluntarily separates himself from human companionship for intimacy with God! In the midst of persecution he experiences a feeling that God has abandoned him. Jeremiah 15:18 Why is my pain perpetual And my wound incurable, Which refuses to be healed? Will You surely be to me like an unreliable stream, As waters that fail? What else does Jeremiah do? He asks God--he wonders why the pain and loneliness seem unending! He wonders whether God will fail him! Will God be like an unreliable and seasonal brook; filled with water sometimes, dry as a bone other times? Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore thus says the Lord: If you return, Then I will bring you back; You shall stand before Me; If you take out the precious from the vile, You shall be as My mouth. Let them return to you, But you must not return to them. 7
The Lord s answer is a strong rebuke. Small seeds of doubt and distrust had taken root in Jeremiah s heart! He was about to cross a line. God warns Jeremiah. The constant persecution, the constant rejection, was taking its toll on Jeremiah s heart. The Lord gives Jeremiah the opportunity to repent of his distrust and doubt and self-pity. Jeremiah has bitterly complained instead of trusting God. Look at the expression you shall stand before me. The expression served for a servant who stands before his or her king. The word is used to describe Elijah and Elisha who stands before God in their prophetic ministry. These two prophets knew what it was like when the brook dried up and the stream ran dry! Jeremiah has to discern between what is precious and worthless (as a part of his return to God!!). The Lord is basically tell Jeremiah he must repent and return before he will once again return and be entrusted with the ministry. The prophet will continue to preach the truth but first he must repent. He must not turn to the people--but the people must turn to him. If Jeremiah does this God promises three wonderful things; Jeremiah 15:20 And I will make you to this people a fortified bronze wall; And they will fight against you, But they shall not prevail against you; For I am with you to save you And deliver you, says the Lord. Jeremiah is promised protection and power. The Lord would make the Prophet invincible, impregnable, like a fortified bronze wall. God promised to grant His presence and deliverance to Jeremiah. No matter the source of opposition, persecution. The opponents would not be able to defeat or conquer Jeremiah. the Lord would be with Jeremiah to rescue and deliver him. The Lord promised to save and redeem His servant from the wicked and the grasp of their cruel hands. Jeremiah 15:21 I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, And I will redeem you from the grip of the terrible. The prophet s repentance is not mentioned. But he apparently did just that--he repents and turns his heart and life completely over to the Lord. His major task was to preach against the sins of his people and warn them of the impending judgment of the people. The message Jeremiah preaches lasts over 50 years. The net result--most of Jeremiah s life was spent in isolation, rejection, pain, persecution, suffering. His own family turned against him. The other priests and prophets turned against him. It may be a stretch, it may be hypberbole, but in a real sense Jeremiah stands alone in his generation. The pain of rejection; the gnawing 8
emptiness that comes from being misunderstood and not believed; and the knowledge--the vision of the impending judgment and destruction--was bound to way heavy on the soul of the prophet. But he will remain firm--faithful--in spite of the opposition--in spite of the persecution--in spite of the rejection. He will faithfully proclaim the Word of God until the end of his life. The warning is repeated in the New Testament. Those who will live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be wise as serpents, and harmless or gentle like doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues; and you shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what you shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what you shall speak. For it is not you who speaks; but the Spirit of your Father which speaks in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child;and the children shall rise up against their parents and cause them to be put to death. And you shall be hated of all men for my name s sake: but he that endures to the end shall be saved. (Matt.10:16-22). Conclusion We will be persecuted. We must be faithful. 9