Healed and Saved Jeremiah 17:14-17
Healed and Saved Jeremiah 17:14-17
Well, I think we are getting to the point where we either know someone with Covid or we have had it or soon expect to get it. There are some promising signs that this variant is milder as it passes through to everyone, but it’s been a sea of changing rules, restrictions, isolations and mandates. Jeremiah has some words of hope for us this morning.
They are a shining point of hope and grace in the midst of a people who have rebelled against the Lord.
A recap. Jeremiah had been preaching for about 30 years to the people of Judah, but especially to the elite in Jerusalem - the false prophets, priests, princes. He had been telling them that the Babylonians were on their way. God had sent them and there would be no turning back.
Jeremiah had been threatened, he had been beaten. We know right towards the end of his ordeal, before the Babylonians finally took the city, that Jeremiah was lowered down into a well and left there by the ruling class to keep him quiet.
In fact, at one point, the opposition was so bad that he did make a decision to stop speaking on the Lord’s behalf. Nobody was listening anyway. They couldn’t stand the message; he was very unpopular. He said this only 3 chapters over, “For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, "Violence and destruction!" For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long. If I say, "I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name," there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.” (Jeremiah 20:8, 9) So he preached anyway.
He was not very popular, but here in these verses we read at the start, it’s as if he checked himself and this is important for all of us to do as believers in Christ. Not everything is going to be rosy and wonderful. And so, in the midst of life, especially in our current situation, where like Jeremiah we have been at it for a while, we need to refocus on some other truths.
Jeremiah acknowledged God’s temporal care of him. He boldly proclaimed 1. “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed.” In Exodus 15:26 He is called Jehovah Rapha, which says “I am the Lord who heals you.” This is simply an acknowledgement of the Lord’s heart, his compassion and willingness to do us good.
Jeremiah’s detractors who had heard his message of Babylonian captivity for many years said, “"Where is the word of the LORD? Let it come!" In their ignorance they had no idea what they were saying and the horror of what the nation was about to endure. But Jeremiah saw beyond the captivity. He saw beyond his own present circumstances. He saw beyond the taunts of His countrymen. His hope was in the Lord. Hence his next statement.
“Save me, and I shall be saved.” Jeremiah knew there is a God in heaven who is both willing and able to save; a God of compassion and mercy ready to show him mercy.
He did not run from the reality of his present situation. “I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness.” For years, he had faithfully given his message. He had not turned to the right or left but followed wholeheartedly after the Lord. He did not desire his own sickness or the sickness of his countrymen – whatever that looked like at the time. God had also been a witness to Jeremiah’s words. He said to the Lord, “You know what came out of my lips; it was before your face.”
Jeremiah saw the sin, he had said only a few verses earlier in Jeremiah 17:9, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” But the Lord forgave his sin. For us, our sin is covered in Christ. Jeremiah with all of that had still been faithful with his witness. He has seen your faithfulness. Recall it!
This is our God. Regarding our sin He says I cast it as far as the East is from the west. (Psalm 103:12) He is our Saviour from sin this morning.
By His stripes we are healed. He heals us from sin and promises that, regardless of our afflictions here this morning, we will have a new body where there is no more disease, no more sickness, no more sorrow, (1 Corinthians 15; Revelation 21:4) Jeremiah echoed David, who in Psalm 103:3 says, “who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases.” Psalm 30:2 says, “O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and You healed me.” Psalm 147:3 - “He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds.” Soul and body restored.
Some are no doubt. But these are general principles of life in Christ. Your day of death is appointed by God, but until then He has appointed for you to have life abundant, now and forever. (John 10:10) Until that time, Jesus says that it’s actually “the thief that comes to steal kill and destroy,” but we serve a God of Life.
Somebody might say – oh God has stopped all that. No. I would say don’t let your experience drive your theology. You see, that is a danger for those who say God has stopped healing today, as well as for those who say God heals all the time every time – both extremes are unbiblical. Truth must drive us, not our experience.
Jeremiah had a sea of bad news around him. That’s why in the same passage he said in verse 17, “Be not a terror to me; you are my refuge in the day of disaster.” He could see what was around him, he was asking the Lord to protect him where there was obvious danger. His country was against him; he wasn’t well at the point in writing, but his knowledge of the Lord, God’s character and God’s word drove his conviction saying, “Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved.” Sometimes, we also need to know that in weakness, God’s strength is shown. And it’s only then that we can say, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” C’mon Christian, get your hopes up.
On a practical note, James helps us with this as well. (James 5:13-15) “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church... The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.” This is something practical that the elders in this church are ready, willing and able to do for you. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain by coming to us for prayer. This of course involves a heart examination as well. Healing is honoured by the Lord when the heart is humble to His will. Our Lord hates hypocrisy and so should we. The prayers of the righteous avail much. Christ is our righteousness. James said, “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise.”
This is Jeremiah’s point. Even in Jeremiah’s situation (where the nation was at morally and spiritually) he acknowledged God the healer, God the Saviour and the tension of waiting out that reality in his life. He was living in hope and obedience. He finished his phrase with, “for you are my praise.” Get your praise on folks. Shout out to the Lord His goodness to you: your Healer, Saviour, Mighty God, your Prince of Peace.