These are some of the hardest words to deliver and to hear within Jeremiah. How do you feel when you believe the Lord does not seem to hear your prayers and ease your suffering? Jeremiah felt this pain also. But the end sees a restored Israel.
Jeremiah 15: The LORD Will Not Relent
1 Then the LORD said to me, "Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go!
2 And when they ask you, 'Where shall we go?' you shall say to them, 'Thus says the LORD: "'Those who are for pestilence, to pestilence, and those who are for the sword, to the sword; those who are for famine, to famine, and those who are for captivity, to captivity.'
3 I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers, declares the LORD: the sword to kill, the dogs to tear, and the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy.
4 And I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what Manasseh the son of Hezekiah, king of Judah, did in Jerusalem.
5 "Who will have pity on you, O Jerusalem, or who will grieve for you? Who will turn aside to ask about your welfare?
6 You have rejected me, declares the LORD; you keep going backward, so I have stretched out my hand against you and destroyed you--- I am weary of relenting.
7 I have winnowed them with a winnowing fork in the gates of the land; I have bereaved them; I have destroyed my people; they did not turn from their ways.
8 I have made their widows more in number than the sand of the seas; I have brought against the mothers of young men a destroyer at noonday; I have made anguish and terror fall upon them suddenly.
9 She who bore seven has grown feeble; she has fainted away; her sun went down while it was yet day; she has been shamed and disgraced. And the rest of them I will give to the sword before their enemies, declares the LORD."
Jeremiah's Complaint
10 Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land! I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.
11 The LORD said, "Have I not set you free for their good? Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy in the time of trouble and in the time of distress?
12 Can one break iron, iron from the north, and bronze?
13 "Your wealth and your treasures I will give as spoil, without price, for all your sins, throughout all your territory.
14 I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever."
15 O LORD, you know; remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance take me not away; know that for your sake I bear reproach.
16 Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart, for I am called by your name, O LORD, God of hosts.
17 I did not sit in the company of revellers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone, because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.
18 Why is my pain unceasing, my wound incurable, refusing to be healed? Will you be to me like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail?
19 Therefore thus says the LORD: "If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. If you utter what is precious, and not what is worthless, you shall be as my mouth. They shall turn to you, but you shall not turn to them.
20 And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze; they will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the LORD.
21 I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless."
Jeremiah 16: Famine, Sword, and Death
1 The word of the LORD came to me:
2 "You shall not take a wife, nor shall you have sons or daughters in this place.
3 For thus says the LORD concerning the sons and daughters who are born in this place, and concerning the mothers who bore them and the fathers who fathered them in this land:
4 They shall die of deadly diseases. They shall not be lamented, nor shall they be buried. They shall be as dung on the surface of the ground. They shall perish by the sword and by famine, and their dead bodies shall be food for the birds of the air and for the beasts of the earth.
5 "For thus says the LORD: Do not enter the house of mourning, or go to lament or grieve for them, for I have taken away my peace from this people, my steadfast love and mercy, declares the LORD.
6 Both great and small shall die in this land. They shall not be buried, and no one shall lament for them or cut himself or make himself bald for them.
7 No one shall break bread for the mourner, to comfort him for the dead, nor shall anyone give him the cup of consolation to drink for his father or his mother.
8 You shall not go into the house of feasting to sit with them, to eat and drink.
9 For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Behold, I will silence in this place, before your eyes and in your days, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.
10 "And when you tell this people all these words, and they say to you, 'Why has the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? What is our iniquity? What is the sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?'
11 then you shall say to them: 'Because your fathers have forsaken me, declares the LORD, and have gone after other gods and have served and worshiped them, and have forsaken me and have not kept my law,
12 and because you have done worse than your fathers, for behold, every one of you follows his stubborn, evil will, refusing to listen to me.
13 Therefore I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favour.'
The LORD Will Restore Israel
14 "Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when it shall no longer be said, 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,'
15 but 'As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where he had driven them.' For I will bring them back to their own land that I gave to their fathers.
16 "Behold, I am sending for many fishers, declares the LORD, and they shall catch them. And afterward I will send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain and every hill, and out of the clefts of the rocks.
17 For my eyes are on all their ways. They are not hidden from me, nor is their iniquity concealed from my eyes.
18 But first I will doubly repay their iniquity and their sin, because they have polluted my land with the carcasses of their detestable idols, and have filled my inheritance with their abominations."
19 O LORD, my strength and my stronghold, my refuge in the day of trouble, to you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth and say: "Our fathers have inherited nothing but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.
20 Can man make for himself gods? Such are not gods!"
21 "Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the LORD."
Things to think about…
1. In Jer 15:1 - The Lord says He would not relent regarding the judgement that would come upon Israel, even if Moses or Samuel prayed He would relent, He would not. This is important. We need to be praying within the Lord’s will and never against it. The only way we can do this with certainty is if we know the will He has revealed to us. The scriptures contain this revealed will. When you pray, do you pray with the understanding and guidance as outlined and described within the Word of God? Praying against His revealed will is pointless.
2. Jeremiah was struggling with continuing to share the Lord’s words with a nation that did not appreciate them in Jer 15:10-21. He says he loved the words of the Lord, but the people didn’t. It says Jeremiah would be as bronze to his countrymen and that he should turn the people’s hearts towards him, not him being turned towards the people. This is significant for the modern church. The church should influence the world, not the other way round. The main way the church does this is by accurately proclaiming the Word of God into our community. Pray we maintain this as our focus.
3. Jeremiah in Jer 16:1-13 was told that he should not make his life in Judah. He was told to not take a wife or have children there. Often the sin of the people affect the people of God in ways that don’t seem right. But this is part of both the burden and the message. God was leading the people into captivity and Judah was not going to be inhabited by the Jews. The false prophets were saying that Judah would not go into captivity. Jeremiah was saying the opposite message – IE that Judah would go to Babylon. This would have grated on the ears of the Jews, why? Because Jerusalem was the place of the Lord’s presence, the Davidic kingdom and had the Levitical priesthood. All of these things would be lost in Babylon. Yet they needed to listen to the Lord. The modern church is called to remain faithful to the gospel regardless of the outward cost or the external pressures to change the message.
4. Praise the Lord for His restoration of His people, Jer 16:14-21. Israel would be restored after it had a season of 70 years in captivity. The Lord knows those who are His. Just as He says He will send fishers and hunters to find His people and bring them back, Jesus says “I will make you fishers of men” Mt 4:19. This is the calling of all Christians individually and the church corporately. The end goal is as Jeremiah says that “they shall know that my name is the Lord”, Jer 16:21.
Vision Point for cell groups – Cell groups on break over the school holidays
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Prayer Points
1. People in the church and community who have Covid.
2. That we see Christ even as Covid goes through the community.
3. Praise, hope and Joy through this new year.
4. Pray for other building projects – café roof, the repair of the house roof.
5. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to remain and increase.
Praise Points
1. Internet sorted – Streaming can go ahead
2. More new folk on Sunday
3. Wonderful worship on Sunday – thankyou Paul, Zac, Gina as well as iMan and Tim – technical team.
4. Safety over the Christmas New Year’s season.
5. Joy in our service, great times in the cafe.
6. Word of God being blessed at CBC.
Announcements
1. All ministries on break until the end of January
2. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
