Jeremiah 17:19-27

Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to wrap up Jeremiah 17, talking about the Sabbath. Let's have some coffee, we'll pray, and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for the blessing it is to get to read your Word. We pray, Father, that as we read it, we would understand it. We pray that you would be our teacher. Lord, we know on this topic that there are many strong opinions and things that Christians disagree about. But Lord, we pray that you would please help us to hear your word, hear the admonition that you give us and walk in your ways. Please, Lord, let us know how this applies to us and teach us. God, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. All right, here we go. We are at Jeremiah chapter 17, beginning at verse 19.
Thus the Lord God said to me, Go and stand in the gate of the children of the people, by which the kings of Judah come in, and by which they go out. And in all the gates of Jerusalem say to them, Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem who enter by these gates. Thus says the Lord. take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the sabbath day nor bring it in by the gates of jerusalem nor carry a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day nor do any work but hallow the sabbath day as i commanded your fathers but they did not obey nor incline their ear but made their neck stiff that they might not hear nor receive instruction and it shall be if you heed me carefully says the lord to bring no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day but hallow the sabbath day to do no work in it Then shall enter the gates of this city, and princes sitting on the thrones of David, riding in chariots and on horses, they and their princes accompanied by the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And this city shall remain forever. and they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places around Jerusalem, and the land of Benjamin, and from the low land, from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt offerings and sacrifices, grain offerings and incense, bringing sacrifices of praise to the house of the Lord. But if ye will not heed me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as not carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.
Well, we have our three questions, our ABCs to ask us. A, what is this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what are we called to do? So, A, what's this about? Well, Jeremiah has prayed for deliverance, and now the Lord is telling him, hey, how about we start with repentance? Let's start with the fourth commandment.
Let's start with a day of rest that the people are just constantly ignoring. Go to the gates. And each of the gates preach a sermon. Tell the people to stop bringing in and out of the gates on the Sabbath day. Tell them to stop doing their commerce. Tell them to stop profaning the day. Tell them to rest. Tell them to stop doing work.
Right, verse 22, nor carry a burden of your houses on the Sabbath day, nor do any work but hallow the Sabbath day as I commanded your fathers. And he says, I told your fathers, but verse 23, they wouldn't listen. They were stiff-necked. They hardened their hearts. They wouldn't listen to God. They were going to work as many days as they wanted to work. They were going to buy as many days as they wanted to buy. They just wanted to do their stuff. He said, though, there was a promise with this, though.
If they would honor the Sabbath day, if they would hallow the Sabbath day, then do no work in it. What is he saying? He talks about Then shall enter the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the thrones of David." Right? He promises them that the city will last forever. Right? That he would bless them and he would see their prosperity. Interesting. They were wanting prosperity by doing all the work, but he says, if you would rest in me, you would have the prosperity. This is counterintuitive. Ironic, paradoxical, faith and trust.
But they wouldn't do it. But if you will not heed me to hallow the Sabbath day, such as carrying a burden when entering the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And then he talks about the destruction of Jerusalem. Which they wouldn't listen to Jeremiah. They wouldn't listen to the Lord. They kept doing their work and eventually the gates would be torn down. Eventually the city would be set on fire.
So what's this about? This is about them having an opportunity. God's calling them to repentance. and to honor the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, the fourth commandment. Sadly, they wouldn't listen. What's the best verse to summarize this section? Well, you could go with the preaching that he has in the first part, right, in verses 21 and 22. I could see somebody arguing for that. But in my Bible, I kind of like the positive side of it. I would like verse 24, 25, and 26.
So I know that's a big, that's a whole paragraph of it. But it's this promised blessing, if they would keep his day. The Last Seat Calling, what are we called to do? Well, I'm not going to hide it. I'm a Sabbatarian. I believe that the Fourth Commandment is still binding, but I think it has been fulfilled in a sense in Christ. Christ is our eternal Sabbath. We rest in Him. So what do we do? Well, on the Lord's Day, which I think is the Christian Sabbath, the first day of the week, we rest in Christ. We go and we worship. We put aside our normal work, and we go and we rest.
Now, Jesus is very clear that Pharisees took this too far in their legalism, right? Not even allowing people to be healed, or letting people eat, or doing the works of necessity that need to be done, right? A donkey falls in a ditch, you gotta go get your donkey out of it, man. There's certain common sense things. But the Lord's given us a day of rest. And so we don't need to nitpick all the different rules and set up a whole new legalistic system for what can and can't be done for the general principle of resting.
And I gotta tell you, I've worked in industries where I didn't get the Sabbath off. Some of these were industries that There were real needs. I was caring for human beings who were infirm, and they needed somebody 24-7 to care for them, and so I had to work on the Lord's Day. Sunday evenings, Sunday afternoon evenings, I was on second shift, and I had to work. But I'll tell you what, it sure was kind of sad for me when I would say goodbye to my family on Sunday afternoon, and I knew that they still got the rest of the day to take off to go to evening worship. And I had to go to work. And I have family members that would like to take the Lord's day off, but they work in industries where they would lose their job, right? It's one of those tough things.
So I think there's even this loving principle that Christians can have, not a legalistic principle, but I think giving our employees, giving the people we're supposed to be caring for a day off is a wonderful thing. I don't know who owns Hobby Lobby or Chick-fil-A anymore, but I'm actually encouraged that some businesses, Christian businesses, continue to say, you know what? We want to give our employees at least one day that they're able to go and be with their families and worship. I know they don't do that consistently across everybody, and sometimes there's training and stuff like that. I've heard those things. I'm not lifting anybody up to a perfect status other than Christ. Jesus was the perfect one.
He gave us this example of resting, of still preaching, of still caring for people, of still doing works of necessity on the Lord's day, knowing that people still needed to eat, people still needed to be healed. But what's our heart towards the Lord? To rejoice enough in Christ, to bless others to let them rejoice in Christ. Is it about just, well, we can't do this, we can't do this, we can't do this, and man, God's just so mean to us, or do we go, Lord, thank you. That at least one day a week I get to just hang out with people. I get to just rejoice and worship. I get to read my Bible and sing. I get to be reminded that there's a heavenly kingdom. I hope you'll enjoy that Lord's Day. I hope that you'll rest. You weren't made for 24-7 work. You weren't made for 7 days of work. You were made for 6. You serve a gracious Lord, a gracious Master, a gracious King, who redeemed you from the tyranny of productivity and work. has given you a day of rest. So I hope you'll rest in Him, and rest even on the Lord's day. Let's pray.
Father, we thank you so much that you are such a kind and wonderful God, to tell us that you will care for us, even if we only work six days a week. But the seventh can be taken up as a delight, to remember that you are good, and you are kind, and you provide for our needs. Lord, we pray that you would please bless us and care for us. Let us love you. Let us rest in you. As we look forward to that eternal Sabbath in Christ, when we will be with you forever, rest in you forever, even as we do the labor on the new heavens and new earth. God, please care for us. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Well, may you have the peace of Jesus Christ that surpasses all understanding as you rest in your Lord. I'll see you next time, bye.