God"s Sanctuary For Sabbath Rest ~ Kay Arthur

Jeremiah, Part 1 (Return To Me)

Program 34 – God‟s Sanctuary For Sabbath Rest

Are you one of those people that feel like your wealth has just been taken away from you? Whatever it was, a small amount or a large amount, it’s like it has fallen through your hands like sand. Are you one of those that say “My inheritance is gone? I have nothing left. Why has this happened? What am I going to do?” O Beloved, you need to lift up your eyes. You need to look at that throne of majesty high from the beginning and let it be your place of sanctuary. (See Jeremiah 17:12)

In Jeremiah chapter 16 He has told them great calamity is coming. Now we move to Jeremiah chapter 17 and what He’s going to do is, He’s going to focus on Israel’s heart. He’s going to talk about their heart in this chapter in very significant ways. Listen to Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 1: “The sin of Judah is written down with an iron stylus; with a diamond point it is engraved upon the tablet of their heart….” (Jeremiah 17:1) That sin is just written on their hearts and it is done with a diamond point. A diamond is very, very hard. That means that their hearts are exceedingly hard. Now we’ve read about their hearts. We’ve read about the fact that they don’t have a circumcised heart. They haven’t removed the old. They have stayed in this condition. So listen to what it says. “…It is engraved on the tablet of their heart…on the horns of their altars.” (Jeremiah 17:1)

You see when they made a sacrifice they would go, and you can read about this in Leviticus chapter 16, verse 18, and he talks about the blood on the horns of the altar. Their sin is so bad they keep having to make sacrifices. It says, “As they remember their children…they remember their altars and their Asherim by green trees on the high hills.” (Jeremiah 17:2)

Do you remember when we had Nita Tin? If you missed that session that we had with her last week and her talking about the idols that she worshipped in Burma. And that’s where they would put their idols under the green trees. And then He says this, “O mountain of Mine in the countryside, I will give over your wealth and all your treasures for booty….” (Jeremiah 17:3) Now this is what I do is, I take and put a green dollar sign in my Bible for every reference to “riches”, to “money”, to “wealth”, to “treasures”. This is what God is saying. Your sin is engraved on your hearts. It is so bad. And He says, “…Mountain of Mine in the countryside, I [am going to] give…your wealth…,”(Jeremiah 17:3) What you own and you possess, “…and…your treasures for booty….” (Jeremiah 17:3) Now if He’s talking about “O mountain of Mine,” as Mount Zion, when the children of Israel are besieged by Nebuchadnezzar in the first siege, in the second siege, in the third siege treasures and wealth are taken out of the temple and finally the temple is destroyed in 586 B.C. But they’re taken out and they’re carried to Babylon. You’re gonna read about it. It’s in the end of Kings. It’s in the end of Chronicles. It’s going to be at the end of Jeremiah also. “…Your high places for sin throughout your borders.” He says, “…You will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance….” (Jeremiah 17:3-4)

Now their inheritance is the land. And if you will remember the chart that you’ve downloaded, by going to “preceptsforlife.com”, He is going to take them into captivity into Babylon. And they are going to come out of their inheritance because their inheritance is the land of Israel. It includes some of Syria, some of Lebanon, some of Jordan. I mean, they don’t have it now, but they’re going to be driven out of their inheritance.

And see, what do we look at in the United States of America? What started happening at the first of the year 2009? I mean, people were losing their 401’s. They were losing what they had put up as their inheritance, their retirement, so to speak. And so He says, “You will, even of yourself, let go of your inheritance that I gave you; and I will make you serve your enemies in the land which you do not know; for you have kindled a fire in My anger which will burn forever.” (Jeremiah 17:4) “I am so angry at you. And you kindled it. You started the fire with your sin.” “Thus says the LORD, „Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength…whose heart turns away from the LORD. For he will be like a bush in the desert and will not see when prosperity comes….‟” Put a dollar sign over it. “…But will live in stony wastes in the wilderness, a land of salt without inhabitant.” (Jeremiah 17:5-6)

“The Chattanooga Times Free Press”, Saturday, February 21st, it says, “Value of banks plunges. Obama assurances don’t ease nationalization fears.” It says “Once again Wall Street is losing confidence in America’s beleaguered banks, and this time, experts say, in Washington’s ever changing plans.”

They talk about change. They keep changing. They keep changing. “To rescue them as well.” And I don’t like it when our President, and I want to esteem him, but I don’t like it when he says that it is a matter of politics when they will not agree with his plan. No, it is not a matter of politics. It’s a matter of integrity. And it says, “During somber assurances from the White House that the industry is sound, shares of bank company’s plunge to new lows on Friday on fears that some of the country’s largest banks including Citi Corp and Bank of America eventually would be nationalized.”

They heard a rumor. They heard Senator Christopher Dodd, the Democrat from Connecticut saying, for a while the government may have to take over the banks. And what happens? Fear struck their heart.

Listen, Precious One, when fear starts to strike your heart, when your inheritance goes, when your wealth is being taken away, you need to remember that there is majestic throne on high from the beginning. (See Jeremiah 17:12) God has not left His throne. He is sovereign. He creates good and He creates adversity. He is the Lord that does all these things. (See Isaiah 45:7) And then you need to run to Him ’cause it is the place of your sanctuary. Remember that time line that we have. Remember the throne above it all and listen and cling. He’s saying, “Don’t trust in mankind.”

You know this amazed me. February 18th, 2009 American thinker Clarice Feldman wrote this article, “What Is the World Coming To?” Pat Dollard links to Peter Goodman’s report. The Russian leader warned the U.S. against adopting socialism because it doesn’t work. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said that the U.S. should take a lesson from the pages of Russian history and not exercise excessive intervention in economic activity and blind faith in the states’ omnipotence.

At the same time, February 24th, 2009 the Harris Poll was taken and the Harris Poll showed that Obama was more popular than Jesus Christ. People were looking to Obama, so it was Obama. Then it was Jesus, then it was Gandhi and then it was Martin Luther King. We’re looking at the arm of flesh. You can’t trust in the arm of flesh. Flesh will fail you. Listen to what He says. You’ll “…be like a bush in the desert…you will not see when prosperity comes….” (Jeremiah 17:6) You’re not gonna get wealthy. You’re not gonna see prosperity. You’re gonna live in stony waste, “…a land of salt without inhabitant.” (Jeremiah 17:6)

Contrast: “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD….” (Jeremiah 17:7) You have a throne on high. That’s where your security is. That’s where your trust is. “…And whose trust is the LORD.” (Jeremiah 17:7) Not just in His sovereignty, but in His character, in who He is.

That’s the man that’s blessed. And what will this man be like? Now listen, listen carefully. Observe the text. “For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream and will not fear when the heat comes….” (Jeremiah 17:8) It doesn’t say that the heat’s not gonna come. But you will not fear. “…But its leaves will be green….” (Jeremiah 17:8) You can have green leaves in drought time. It says, “…Its leaves will be green, and it will not be anxious in the year of drought….” (Jeremiah 17:8)

People are afraid and they’re reacting on the basis of fear instead of stopping and being sober minded and looking at the throne and trusting in God and knowing that He is your sanctuary. He is the place where you can find strength. He is the place that is your stronghold. He is the place that is your sanity. He is the place that is your security. It says, and He will not “…cease to yield fruit.” (Jeremiah 17:8)

Oh Beloved, do you see what He’s saying? Cursed if you’re trusting in mankind and blessed if you are trusting in the Lord and your trust is the Lord. Yes, heat is going to come. Yes, drought was going on. We know that from last week. They were in the midst of drought and yet you could have green leaves in drought time if you would look at the Lord and trusts in Him. But why don’t they? “The heart is more deceitful than all else [it] is desperately [wicked]. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9) And see the heart and the mind are interchangeable. “I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind….” You see how He says that. “…Even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds.” (Jeremiah 17:10) Do you want God to reward you according to your deeds according to your ways? We’ll talk about it more in just a minute.

Welcome back, Beloved. I know what you’re thinking. I know you’re thinking: “Listen, I am suffering financially because of others that did us in.” And that is true. I mean our whole economy was shaken. And in the midst of the shaking we found out that a lot of people are getting paid a lot of money that they don’t deserve and they haven’t earned, but they think it’s their perk. And we hear about people that, that have ruined the lives of others because they have been full of corruption. As we look at this wealth, next to verse 3 of Jeremiah 17 when He says “…I will give…your wealth and…your treasures for booty….” (Jeremiah 17:3) I want you to write “15:13”, and I want you to go back and look at Jeremiah 15:13. He says “Your wealth and your treasures I will give for booty without cost, even for all your sins and within all your borders.” (Jeremiah 15:13)

Look at Jeremiah chapter 20 in verse 5, just jumping ahead. He says, “I will…give over all the wealth of this city, all its produce…all [of] its costly things; even all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give [them] to the hand of their enemies…they will plunder them, take them away and bring them to Babylon.” (Jeremiah 20:5) They’re going to plunder them. So if you’ve been plundered, I know it’s wrong, I know it’s unjust, but I want to tell you something, don’t ruin your life with an anger and a bitterness that will not go away. Instead lift your head to the throne above and to the One that sits on the throne and let God be your sanctuary and trust in Him.

You know the Bible says, “It[’s been] good for me that I[’ve] been afflicted; that I might learn Thy statutes. (Psalm 119:71, KJV) And so many times when we find ourselves in hard places is when we get to know God. Listen to what He says, “As a partridge…,” verse 11 of chapter 17, “…that hatches eggs which it has not laid, so is he who makes a fortune, but unjustly; in the midst of his days it [the fortune] will forsake him, and in the end he will be a fool.” (Jeremiah 17:11) Those people that got their gain unjustly are not going to get away with it.

And so then we come to our crowning verse that I’ve used all this week: “A glorious throne on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake You will be put to shame. Those who turn away on earth…,” listen, “…will be written down….” (Jeremiah 17:12-13) Your sins are written on your heart. You turn away on earth it’s going to be written down. Why? “…Because they have forsaken the fountain of living water….” (Jeremiah 17:13) “Here I was the fountain of living waters. You could have drunk of Me. You could have been satisfied, but instead you forsook Me.”

In Revelation chapter 20 at the end of the thousand year reign it talks about the great white throne judgment when the books will be opened and all the those who stand there are lost. They’re going to go to the lake of fire [where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched]. (PARAPHRASE, Mark 9:48) But the books will be opened and they will be judged according to their deeds. (See Revelation 20:12) They could have had salvation. Jesus died for them but they refused. And He says “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed….” (Jeremiah 17:14) Jeremiah is speaking. You colored that. I do it orange. “…Save me [O God] and I will be saved….” (Jeremiah 17:14) You’re the One that can heal me.

And so if you’re hurting because of all that’s been happening in your life, if you’re hurting and angry and bitter because of what others have done to you and, or you’re just walking around and we’re saying we’ve bailed them out. We paid the mortgages on their house. I restrained myself. I made sure I could pay my mortgage. Listen, do not go there. “Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed; save me [O LORD] and I will be saved, for You are my praise.

Look, they keep saying…„Where‟s the word of the LORD? Let it come now!‟” (Jeremiah 17:14-15) Hey, wait a minute. You’ve been talking about destruction, you’ve been saying it’s gonna come. Well bring it on.

It reminds me of 2 Peter when they say, “Oh, he’s talking about the promise of Jesus Christ coming. You’ve been talking about Him being King on the earth. You’ve been talking about His ruling over the face of this earth. But they say “Where is the promise of His coming…?” (2 Peter 3:4) Well they’re saying, “Okay, you’ve been saying this Jeremiah. Now where is God? Bring it on. Let’s see it.” And Jeremiah says, “But as for me, I have not hurried away from being a shepherd after You….” “God, I have done my shepherd duties.” “…Nor have I longed for the woeful day….” “You know that I haven’t longed for this day.” He says, “You Yourself know that the utterance of my lips was in Your presence.”(Jeremiah 17:16) “Oh God, „Do[n’t] be a terror to me; You are my refuge in the day of disaster.‟” (Jeremiah 17:17)

So what is he pointing us to again? He’s pointing us to that throne that we drew at the very top of the chart. “…You are my refuge in the day of [distress].” (Jeremiah 17:17) “You are my sanctuary. You are the One that I can run to.”

“Let those who persecute me be put to shame, but as for me, let me not be put to shame; let them be dismayed…let not [me]...be dismayed. Bring on them [the] day of disaster, and crush them with [a] twofold destruction! [Then the LORD said to me], „Go and stand in the public gate, through which the kings of Judah come in and go out, as well as in all the gates of Jerusalem.‟” (Jeremiah 17:18-19)

“I want you to go to every gate in Jerusalem and I want you to: „…Say to them, “Listen to the word of the LORD, kings of Judah, and [kings of] all Judah and all inhabitants of Jerusalem who come in [and out of ] these gates [the kings and the common man] (Jeremiah 17:20) „Thus says the LORD, “Take heed to yourselves…do not carry any load on the sabbath day or bring anything…through the gates of Jerusalem [on the Sabbath.] (Jeremiah 17:21) Do not “…bring a load out of your houses on the Sabbath… [don’t] do any work, but keep the sabbath [as] holy, as I commanded your forefathers.”‟ (Jeremiah 17:22)

Yet they did not listen [they did not] incline their ears, but [they] stiffened their necks [so as] not to listen or take correction. But it will come about, if you listen attentively to Me,‟ [says] the LORD, „to bring no load…through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, but to keep the sabbath day holy by doing no work on it, then there will come…through the gates of this city kings and princes sitting on the throne of David….‟” (Jeremiah 17:23-25)

“The ones that will come in will not be the enemy. They will be your own flesh and blood. They will be at the tribe of Judah. They will be of the house of David.” He says “[Then there] will come...riding on chariots and…horses, they and their princes, the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and this city will be inhabited forever.” (Jeremiah 17:25) All you have to do is keep the Sabbath.

Now what’s the Sabbath a picture of? We’re going to go into it more in our next program. But I want you to get the rest of this. Then “They will come…from the cities of Judah…from the environs of Jerusalem, from the land of Benjamin, from the lowland, from the hill country and from the Negev, bringing burnt offerings [and] sacrifices [and] grain offerings and incense, and bringing sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of the LORD. (Jeremiah 17:26)

“But if you do not listen to Me to keep the sabbath day holy by not carrying a load and coming in through the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in its gates and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and not be quenched.” (Jeremiah 17:27)

The choice is yours. Obey or disobey, be blessed or be cursed. What are you gonna do? Are you gonna obey God? Are you gonna trust Him? Are you gonna look to the throne that’s on high? Then you’ll be secure if you do.