Jeremiah 6

All right. Well, good morning. Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to coffee and devotions this morning. We are at Jeremiah chapter 6 and talking about well, there's a North Israel South Judah What's God got to say about the north? Let's have some coffee. We'll pray. I'll get into God's Word No Just right away no, okay All right, let's pray.
Father, thank you so much for giving us time in your Word. Thank you for Nathan. Thank you for time together with him. Lord, we pray that you would please actually bless us. Lord, as we read your Word, as we spend time together, we pray that we would be an encouragement to each other and that you would teach us. We need your Holy Spirit, Lord, to help us to understand and to live these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright, so when we're going through Jeremiah with this, what we'll do is we'll kind of go paragraph by paragraph and we'll just talk about each paragraph as we go.
Alright, so do you want to start or do you want me to start? Uh, I can start. You can start? Okay. We're going from chapter 6 to... Through chapter 6, yeah. So, what verse would that be? We'll finish chapter 6. Which is... So chapter 6 in the verse 30. Okay, so I read verse 30. So it looks like, actually that's an interesting thing, it looks like it's a lot, but because it's poetry, it's only half page.
Alright, go ahead. All you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem. Blow the trumpets in Tekoa, and set up a single fire in Beth- Signal fire? A single fire in Beth-Hakarima? Hakarima, yep. For disaster appears out of the north, and greatest out of the north.
Great destruction. I have like in the daughter of Zion to a lovely and delicate woman The shepherds with their flocks shall come to her they shall pits Pitch their tents around against her all around each one shall pasture in his own race Okay I'm going to read the next section. Prepare war against her. Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, for the shadows of the evening are lengthening. Arise, let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
All right, so wait until this part's getting about. So I'm going to do with Jerusalem. Okay. Yeah. So like the daughter of Zion, right? There's going to be all these people that are going to come around and what are they going to do? They, they want to like adorn her like, Oh, this is so wonderful. Oh, pardon me. Oh, I'm so sorry. Oh, right in the microphone.
That's not good. for thus says the Lord of Hosts cut down trees, and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst. As a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before me continually are grief and wounds. Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited." What's it saying? It said he didn't go the way that he planned.
Well, yeah, right? Are they going along with the Lord's plan? Nope. No? What are they doing instead? It's becoming... Oh, what's... Instead, there's like a little part of the show in... You know, what's it called? Little House on the Prairie. And the big trains coming in and everybody's like, this is awesome. But then they start realizing with a big city. Big cities are not, there's other places in big cities that are not the best to live in. Oh, okay. Yeah. Yeah, right. And so he's interesting here when he's talking about building a mound against Jerusalem, right? Like that's like a siege ramp, right? So they're going to cut down the trees and build it up until they can essentially get over the walls.
The city is to be punished. It's full of oppression in the midst. You can read 9 through 13. 9 to 13. This is the word of hosts. They shall thoroughly glean, as a remnant of Israel, as a great gatherer, and put your hand back into the branches. To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear?
Indeed, their ear is uncircumcised. and they cannot give heed. Behold, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them. They have no delight in it. Therefore, I am full of fury of the Lord. I am weary of holding it in. I will pour it out on the children outside and on the assembly of young men together, for even the husband shall be taken with the wife, the aged with him who is full of days, and their houses shall be turned over to others, fields and wives together, for I will stretch out my hand against the inhabitants of the land, says the Lord. because from the least of them even to the greatest of them everyone is given to covetousness and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely they have also healed the hurt of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace were they ashamed when they had committed abomination No, they were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says the Lord."
And so what's that section about? He's not going to like it. Where was it? Normally war, at that time, when you would take a city, you'd kill all the men and then the wives and all the elderly people and the children would normally be kept. But he's saying, nope, they're all just going to be destroyed. Interesting, yeah.
And why is the Lord going to destroy them? Because everybody is given over to sin. Yeah, notice he says that their ear is uncircumcised. They cannot give heed. It's like they've got their fingers in their ears. They won't listen to the word of the Lord. And worse, they won't listen to the word of the Lord. They're saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. So they have lying prophets. Alright, you want to read 16 through 20? Says the Lord, stand with the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls.
But they said, we will not walk in it. But they said, also I set watchmen over you, saying, listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen. Therefore, hear, O nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them. O hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring calamity this people the fruit of their thoughts because they have not heeded my words nor my law but rejected it for what purpose to me comes frankincense from Sheba and sweet cane from a far country your offerings are not acceptable nor your sacrifice is sweet to me all right so what's he saying there he's like I'll give you a warning you better listen He's telling them go back to the old paths go back to the word go back to the way that you were supposed to be walking But if you won't it's useless Try to please me with things that They're not even from your hand. Yeah, and then Even if they go and they make sacrifices and burn incense is he going to pay attention? All right verse 21 Therefore, thus says the Lord, behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people and the fathers and the sons shall fall on them. The neighbor and his friend shall perish. Thus says the Lord, behold, the people comes from the north country and a great nation will be raised from the farthest parts of the earth.
They will lay a hold on bow and spear and they are cruel and have no mercy. Their voice roars Wars like the sea, and they ride on horses. As men of war set in array against you, O daughter of Zion, we have heard the report of it. Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us, pain of a woman in labor. Do not go out into the field, nor walk by the way, because of the sword of the enemy. Fear is on every side. O daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth and roll about in ashes. Make mourning, as for an only son, most bitter lamentation, for the plunderer shall surely come upon us.
I have set you as an ayesayer and a fortress among my people, that you may know and test their way. They are all stubborn and rebellious, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron. They are all corrupters. The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed by fire. The smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off. People will call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them."
What do you think those last nine verses are talking about? Still hope. You think so? Where do you see in the passage that there's still hope? Where is it? What I saw, it's like... I have sent you as an ACR and a fortress among my people, that you may know and test their way. They are stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron. They are all corrupt. The bellows will feel sleep. Okay, so how do you think that that gets hope? I don't think Jeremiah thought he was going to be destroyed. Yeah, okay. Yeah, so Jeremiah is standing as like a fortress in the midst of a falling city. Okay.
Why are they being destroyed? Why are they going to be like silver tossed out? To empty ourself of silver. Yeah, look at verse 30. Because people will call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them. Why would the Lord reject them? Because they didn't.
He told them what to do. He said, I'll even give you a warning if you're not doing what I do. He's not like the pimp. You didn't do what I'm going to do. I'm going to punish you. He said, I'll give you a warning. I'll tell you what to do. I'll even give you a few warnings. I'll give you a few hundred years. And if you don't listen, there's going to be a very real consequence. Yeah, right. Daniel and I talked about that last time.
The Lord had warned them and warned them and warned them. And some of them were being chastened as children. Others were being cast away as apostates. There are those who just hated God. loving their sin, and they didn't want anything to do with the Lord. There are others who are, no, no, we need to trust the Lord. This is hard, and they're repenting and they're turning to Him.
Okay, what would you underline as the best verse to summarize in this section? What would you underline? Interestingly, I don't have anything underlined. Can you hand me one of those pens over there? Or I've got, here, I've got one right here. What would you underline in your Bible? Um... One verse? Yeah, sure. Okay, I like this section because it's kind of... Probably 16 to 20, maybe? Oh, you like 16 through 20? Interesting. I was just going to... So I had underlined 15 and 16. 14, 15, and 16.
They have also healed the hurt of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No, they were not ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall.
And then stand in the ways and see and ask for the old paths where the good way is and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. So the first part of what the end is the first part of where I said, yeah So let's talk about see calling or where do you find the covenant of grace or Jesus Christ in this section?
This is where we take it out of just here and put it into our lives. I think it's I The time that He gives them warning is our whole lives. We put it into perspective. We have our whole lives. And even at the very end, God can still warn us and we can actually listen to Him.
And I think that, I think one of the things that I know is people are like, well, that's not fair. Like, why can't God give them just another chance? And I think one of the things that God does is He says, If you were to see my glory, it's just like telling, let's say you were talking to Ellie and you're like, if you climb up this wall, I'll give you a piece of candy.
And she might ask you, can I see the candy? But you say, no, you're just gonna have to trust me and climb up the wall to get the piece of candy. And now if you show her the piece of candy, She was definitely going to just be like, yeah, I'll climb the wall. When you don't show, you're going to have to trust, she's going to have to trust you. And maybe she gets like halfway up the wall and she's like, isn't that really candy?
And you might have to do it. But if she like- So encourage her as she keeps going? But if she runs out of time and she just is like, well, I don't, I don't believe you. You gave her chances. It wasn't, the wall wasn't impossible to climb. But she just decided on it.
So was it possible for the people to keep the law perfectly? Not perfectly, but it was possible. Not perfectly, but even just trying to keep the law. Because in it, it sounds like some people just didn't even care about the law. Yeah. Do you think that Jeremiah kept the law perfectly? No. I really tried to keep the law. Yeah, right. I think this is not just why though.
Why would he try to keep the law? Why would he go to these old ways? Why would he say these things to the people that God told him, don't be afraid. They're going to hate you for this, but don't be afraid. Why would he do that? Because God told him to. So what? God told the other people to do things and they didn't do them. But why would Jeremiah? Because he had faith in God. That God knew what he was doing. Bingo. Because he believed God. Because he trusted Him and he loved Him. And so he would obey even though it would be hard. Why were the other people walking away, going after their idols? Just they didn't trust them. They didn't trust them. They didn't love them, right? Hmm. Seems like there's not so much of a gap between the Old and the New Testament, huh? No. So I think the difference is now, Jesus has kept the law perfectly. We can trust in Him.
But you're right, in our whole lives, as we see our hearts wanting to get tugged and pulled and going in random, weird directions of idolatry, we're able to say, whoa, whoa, whoa, hold on, where are the old paths? What did God say in His Word? And where do I need to repent and turn back? Where do I need to turn from the right or from the left? And I need to go back to God's Word and go back on that path of righteousness.
One of the things I was thinking is, people say, well, it's not fair. Like, why don't you give them a chance? Like at the very end, I was thinking like, Judas saw Jesus. He didn't just like, well, yeah, I've heard of Jesus. He ate bread with him. He saw the miracles. He just, he didn't want to believe.
Yeah. Yeah, exactly. You ready to pray? Yep. You want to pray or you want me to? You pray. Okay. God, thank you so much for giving us time in your word. Father, we pray that we would believe. Help us in our disbelief. Lord, where we stray, we pray that you would lead us back. We thank you for Jesus Christ, our only hope. We can't keep your law perfectly. We cannot do it, Lord. But you have shown us your love in your Son, who perfectly kept the law for us. And in his resurrection, we are justified.
God, please, give us strength. Fill us with your Spirit to put to death the old man with his deeds. and to put on the new one, who is walking in light. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk by faith and not by sight. We'll see you next time. Bye. Bye.