Jeremiah 13:1-11

Hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're at Jeremiah 13. We're going to look at the first 11 verses about this fancy belt that God gives to Jeremiah. What's he going to do with it? What's it mean? Let's have some coffee. We'll pray. We'll talk about this special belt.
Father, we thank you so much for this day. What a blessing it is to get to be in your Word. And Father, we pray that as we read your Word, that you would indeed be with us. We need your Holy Spirit to teach us. Help us, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Here we go, Jeremiah chapter 13, the first 11 verses. Thus the Lord said to me, Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water. So I got a sash according to the word of the Lord, and I put it around my waist.
And the word of Jehovah came to me the second time, saying, Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and rise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock. So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me. Now it came to pass, after many days, that Jehovah said to me, Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there. Then I went to the Euphrates and dug. And I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it. And there was the sash.
Ruined. It was profitable for nothing. Then the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, Thus says the Lord, In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash, which is profitable for nothing. For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord, that they may become my people for renown, for praise, and for glory. But they would not hear. Well, we need to ask ourselves our ABCs. A, what's this about? B, what's the best verse to summarize this? And C, what do we call it to do? So, A, what's this about?
Well, God tells Jeremiah to go buy a fancy belt, right? A sash. This is going to be a larger piece of cloth. It's going to be tied around his waist. And this is ornate. It's supposed to be flashy, showy. It's meant to be something nice. And I'm sure Jeremiah was like, man, my calling just got a little bit better. and then after wearing a little while he's not allowed to wash it or anything after wearing a little while he says and now go on a long trip go to the Euphrates and bury it now the Euphrates is interesting right because as he's telling him to go to the Euphrates to Peroth he's telling him to bury it there it's by the Euphrates in Babylon that they would eventually be taken as exiles So he's taking this precious possession, and the sash represents Israel and Judah. It's supposed to be close to the Lord, tied around the Lord's waist. And he tells Jeremiah to take it. put in next to the rocks, he digs out, right?
You can imagine him pulling away all sorts of rocks from the bank of the river and hiding it in a hole and then putting all the rocks back on. And then after a while, he gets back home. I don't know how long he's home. But the Lord says, all right, go back on the next road trip. Get up there, go around the Fertile Crescent, go get to the Euphrates and find it again.
So he finds the place he had hidden the sash, he digs around all the rocks and he pulls it out and it's ruined. It's been sitting in water. It's waterlogged. It's probably ripped up and torn up. It's threadbare. It's not good for anything. It's not beautiful anymore. It's ruined. It's not good for nothing. The Lord says that's what he's going to do to the pride of Judah. That's what he said in verse 9. Thus says the Lord in this manner, I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem.
They're not listening to the Lord. They're not keeping His commands. They're not following after His ways. They've forsaken Him. And the Lord says that He had chosen them. That's what he said in verse 11. For as the sash clings to the waist of man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to me, says the Lord, that they may become my people for renown, for praise, for glory. They were meant to be this amazing, amazing testimony of God's goodness.
But they were not here. They became prideful in themselves. And so the Lord makes them useless, ruins the nation for their pride. They wouldn't listen to the Lord. And so He's not going to give them the glory. That's what this section is about. This is the Lord giving this picture of this fancy sash, this belt, that's supposed to be beautiful, supposed to be glorious. representing Israel, representing Judah, representing Jerusalem, and it turns into their own pride. And the Lord himself ruined some for it.
So, what's the best verse to summarize this? Well, in my Bible, I have verse 9 underlined, but I would probably really want to underline verse 11 as well. I really like verse 11, but maybe you would have something else to underline in your Bible. Alas, seek calling. What are we called to do? I think this is what Paul gets at in Romans chapter 11 when he's speaking to us Gentiles in the flesh about coming to faith. We can end up being filled with pride and even looking down our nose at ethnically Jewish people. And God says, you better not take pride.
You were a wild olive branch. The disobedient and the wrong olive branch was broken off, and you were that wild olive branch, and you were engrafted into the vine. And he says, what would be easier? What would be easier for you, the wild one, to be broken off and the natural one to be grafted back in?
And I'm seeing more and more, even in places on social media, a lot more anti-semitic type stuff and things that I'm a little bit concerned about. Not just a little bit concerned, but like for people's souls. Like guys, go read Romans chapter 11. Don't be prideful.
By grace we have been saved through faith. If not of ourselves, I'm not good enough to be saved. Will we listen to the Lord? Will we lean in and go, God, you saved me by your grace and you deserve all the glory. Now teach me to listen to you and follow you. Because if we get filled with pride, if we think we're so glorious, if we start depending on our own strength, our own might, we'll become nothing more than that sash.
We'll prove ourselves to not be God's people. I'm not saying that God's going to lose his elect or something like that, but I'm convinced that there are some people who are toying with some very, very dangerous ideas lately with ethno-superiority type stuff that's just wrong. When we listen to the Lord, when we hear Him, God has made His church glorious and beautiful. But every time a church seems to get prideful about their own glory, the demise comes quick. The Lord won't allow His glory to be stolen.
So may we keep our eyes on Him, and may we listen to Him. By this they will know that you are my disciples, if we have love for one another. If you love me, keep my commandments. May we love the Lord with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and love each other as ourselves.
Let's pray. Father, forgive us for how often we are even filled with pride ourselves. It's easy, Lord, for us to get tempted to stare at our own belly buttons, become filled with our own pride, But You, God, save us, even from ourselves. So God, please help us.
Turn us to You. You are our hope. You are our joy. You are our strength. You are our salvation. You are our all in all. And we thank You for who You are. God, please send Your Spirit into our hearts to teach us to hear You and to follow after You. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. May God bless you. May you hear the Lord. May you walk in His ways. May you glorify Him, always. I'll see you next time. Bye.