Jeremiah, Part 1 (Return To Me)
Program 35 – Judgment And Restoration
Do you realize, Beloved, that a righteous holy God has to judge sin, and yet He doesn’t want to? He doesn’t want to bring that judgment. He doesn’t want to put you between a rock and a hard place. But whatever it takes to get you to turn around and not show Him your back, but show Him your face, then He will do it. He will do it for your good. He will also do it for His glory because He’s God.
There’s a Scripture that says [all day long I have stretched out My hands to a disobedient people]. (PARAPHRASE Isaiah 65:2) And if you look at the end of Jeremiah chapter 17 and you look at the beginning of Jeremiah chapter 18 what you see,Beloved, is God stretching out His hands, God trying to reach these people, God saying “If you will just do this.”
Remember in our last lesson we looked at the end of Jeremiah chapter 17 and you think, “Wait a minute, He’s talking about calamity and now He’s talking about the Sabbath and He’s telling them if you will honor the Sabbath then I’m not going to bring the enemy through the gates. The enemy’s not gonna be at your gate. Your own men from the tribe of Judah, from the house of David are gonna come riding through the gates. (See Jeremiah 17:24-27) I’m going to make you succeed if you will just keep My Sabbath.” It’s kind of strange, isn’t it?
Because all of a sudden God is talking about the Sabbath. Let’s go back to Jeremiah chapter 17, because I want you to see what He says here, I will read it to you. We talked about it. But He says in verse 21, “…Take heed for yourselves…do not carry any load on the sabbath day or [do not] bring anything…through the gates of Jerusalem.” (Jeremiah 17:21)
Now I mark every reference to the “sabbath” with a big “7”, and put a line through it like they do in Europe. But He’s telling them, He says “…it will come about…,” verse 24, “„…if you will listen attententively to Me‟ declares 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 17:24-25) Verse 26, “They will come from the cities of Judah and …the environs…,” the outlying regions, “…of Jerusalem…,” (Jeremiah 17:26) and then He tells all these places to bring “…sacrifices of thanksgiving to the house of [the LORD].” (Jeremiah 17:26)
Do you know what He’s saying? He’s saying this, and I want us to go full circle because we started this week with a timeline. We looked at the chart and we saw that God is saying that they are to obey Him, that there is “A…throne on high from the beginning [and it] is…our sanctuary.” (Jeremiah 17:12)
But they’re not listening. They won’t believe God. And what they end up saying, and you’re gonna see it, is: “It’s hopeless, it’s hopeless. We’ll just always be this way.” So He is trying to get their attention. So He reminds them of the Sabbath. Now when you study the Sabbath you’ve got to go back to Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 4. So let’s go there: Genesis chapter 2, verses 1-4. And it says, “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts.” (Genesis 2:1) Everything that needed to be done God had done in six days of creation. “By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done and…,” what did He do? “…He rested [on the Sabbath day] from all His work which He had done. (Genesis 2:2) Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which [He] had [done]....” (Genesis 2:3) All the work that He had created and made, it was done. It was finished and God rested.
So I want you to go back before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob on that chart. You say, “I don’t have that chart. I missed those days.” Go download it at “preceptsforlife.com” “preceptsforlife.com”. And before Abraham, Isaac and Jacob I want you to write “Genesis chapter 2, verses 1-4” and then put a big “7” with a line across it that represents the Sabbath. And what I want you to see is this Sabbath, this resting is the same thing that you’re doing when you come to God and make God your refuge. It’s the same thing when you make God and His throne your sanctuary. It means that you are acknowledging God. It means that you are trusting God. It means that you are depending on God. It means that you realize that God will keep His word.
Now when you go through the Scriptures on the Sabbath and you might want to write these down next to Jeremiah chapter 17 you might want to write down Exodus 20, verses 8-11, which is part of the Ten Commandments that you are to keep holy; the Sabbath.
And then in Exodus 31 in verses 12, this is what He says, then “The LORD spoke to Moses saying, „But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, „You shall surely observe My sabbaths…this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know…I am the LORD who sanctifies you.‟” (Exodus 31:12-13) “I’m the one that sets you apart. I’m the one that consecrates you.” He says, “Therefore you are to observe the sabbath…it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does…work on it, that person shall be cut off from…his people.” (Exodus 31:14) And He tells how “…The sons of Israel…,” verse 16, are to “…observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath [through] their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between Me and…Israel forever….” (Exodus 31:16-17) Then you write down Leviticus 23, verses 1-3 and Numbers 15, verse 32.
And what you see is in every one of those books He is telling them about the importance of the— you are to keep the Sabbath. It is part of God’s commandments. Now in Hebrews chapter 3 in verse 4, chapter 3 and chapter 4, it shows that God has granted to us rest and that we are to honor that rest. There remains a “Sabbath rest.” (See Hebrews 4:9) And that rest is when we rest from our works, when we say: “God, I am trusting You.” Now what does that have to do with this week’s lesson?
Well God put it in Jeremiah chapter 17, and God is using that to direct our eyes towards His sovereign throne so that we can obey Him. God wants us to make sure that we understand that He is God. And that’s why in Jeremiah chapter 18: “The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD saying, „Arise…go down to the potter‟s house, and [then] I will announce My words to you.” (Jeremiah 18:1-2) So get up and go to the potter’s house. And it says, “Then I went…to the potter‟s house,and there was something on the wheel. But the vessel that he was making of clay was spoiled in the hand of the potter….” (Jeremiah 18:3-4)
Now he would work that wheel and he would have it there, but it’s marred in the hands of the potter. So what is the potter going to do? Well listen to what he says, “…So he remade it into another vessel, as it pleased the potter to make.” (Jeremiah 18:4) He’s sovereign. His sovereignty rules over all. And when it says he remade it into another vessel. The word is “shuv” “shuv”; we’ve looked at that. The word means “repent”. It means that there was a change.
“Then the word of the LORD came to me [Jeremiah] saying, „Can I not, O house of Israel, deal with you as this potter does…?‟” (Jeremiah 18:5-6) “Can I not do that?” He says in verse 6, “…Behold, like the clay in the potter‟s hand, so you are in My hand, O…Israel.” (Jeremiah 18:6) I’m the potter. You’re the clay. I’m the one that formed you. He says, “At one moment I might speak concerning a nation or concerning a kingdom to uproot…pull [it] down, or…destroy it.” (Jeremiah 18:7)
Now listen carefully America. God says I’m the Potter. I’m the Sovereign. I can do anything I want with the clay. Now He’s a loving Sovereign. And He is fair and He is just in all of His ways. But He is the Potter and He says, if I look at a nation and I decide, “Hey, I’m going to uproot that nation or I’m gonna pull down that nation, or I’m going to destroy that nation I can do what I want because I’m a Potter.”
Now listen, nowhere is America mentioned in prophecy, nowhere. Could this be the beginning of the end for America as we move into the last of the last days? Could it be that this great power, this great nation that all the nations looked up to, that all the nations in a sense determine their currency value by, could it be that this great nation is going to disintegrate? Because God has said to America, “You,” Ezekiel 14, (See Ezekiel 14:13) “have been unfaithful to Me. I’ve had you at the crossroads. I’ve had you at the crossroads. You’ve made your choice. You chose to elect a government that is for gay rights and for abortion. You’ve chosen. You’re in trouble.” Could that be what God wants America to know? We’ll talk about it more in just a minute.
Welcome back, Precious One. You know on the break I said to the crew, “Well that should bring some hate mail”. But I want to tell you something. I don’t say that because I hate you. I don’t say that because I am just being a self-righteous prude. I don’t say it because I’m homophobic. I say it because that’s what God says. And what I can say to you if you’re an adulteress, which is just as bad as homosexuality, if you are a homosexual, if you are a lesbian, you’re marred. But you know what? God’s in the business of remaking you. God’s in the business of reshaping you. And all you have to do is come to the Potter and say, “You’re the Potter. I’m the clay. I want to be a vessel to honor,” as Romans says when He talks about the clay. (See Romans 9:21) There are vessels “…to honour and [there are vessels]to dishonour.” (Romans 9:21, KJV) He says it again in 2 Timothy in chapter 2, [vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor]. (PARAPHRASE, 2 Timothy 2:20)
Listen, you were born a sinner, but you were not born a homosexual. You were not born an adulteress. You were born a sinner and you so gravitate to those things. You might gravitate to the same sex. You might gravitate to the opposite sex. Either one is sin in God’s eyes. And God wants to save you from your sin. The Bible says [whosoever commits sin is a slave of sin], (PARAPHRASE John 8:34) [but if the Son shall set you free you shall be free indeed]. (PARAPHRASE John 8:36)
So what He’s showing him now is, “Listen, keep the Sabbath. I’m the Potter. I can stop the judgment or I can bring it on.” He says “If that nation against which I have spoken turns from its evil….” (Jeremiah 18:8) There is hope for America, if America will repent, if America will turn from its evil. “…I will relent…,” “nacham” “…concerning the calamity I planned to bring on it.” (Jeremiah 18:8) “N-a-h-u-m” what does that remind you of? Nahum the prophet who prophesies to Nineveh.
It reminds us of an earlier prophet by the name of Jonah that prophesies to Nineveh. When Jonah prophesies to Nineveh, there’s repentance. When Nahum prophesies to Nineveh, there’s not. He says “Or at another moment I might speak concerning a nation or…a kingdom to build [it] up or…plant it; [but] if it does evil in My sight by not obeying My voice, then I will think better of the good….” (Jeremiah 18:9-10) “Think better” is: “I will repent „…of the good with which I had promised to bless it.
So now then, speak to the men of Judah and against the inhabitants of Jerusalem saying, “Thus says the LORD, „Behold, I [God] am fashioning calamity….‟”‟ (Jeremiah 18:10-11) Remember Isaiah 45. [I’m the LORD. I create good, I create darkness. I create light; I create darkness; I create good; I create calamity.] (PARAPHRASE Isaiah 45:7) He says “…I am fashioning calamity against you and devising a plan [to] you….” (Jeremiah 18:11) And yet, what does He say? “…Oh turn back [turn back], each of you from his evil way….” (Jeremiah 18:11)
It doesn’t have to be the whole nation. It’s each of you, individually “…reform your ways and your deeds.” (Jeremiah 18:11) You see your deeds show what you are about. He says, “But they will say, „It‟s hopeless...!” (Jeremiah 18:12) “No, it’s hopeless.” “…We are going to follow our own plans, and each of us will act according to the stubbornness of [our] evil heart.‟” (Jeremiah 18:12) “I’m not coming back. It’s hopeless.” “„Therefore thus says the LORD, “Ask now among the nations, who ever heard [of a thing] like…this? The virgin of Israel has done a…appalling thing. Does the snow of Lebanon forsake the rock of the open country…?” No. “…Is the cold flowing water from a foreign land ever snatched away?” (Jeremiah 18:13-14) No. “„For My people have forgotten Me, they burn incense to worthless gods…they have stumbled from their ways, from the ancient paths, to walk in bypaths….‟” (Jeremiah 18:15)
Remember He’s talked about “Take the ancient ways, take the ancient paths.” America, go back to your days of morality. America, go back to your laws that punish crime and go back to your morality where you stop Hollywood from showing all these awful things. He says, “To make their land a desolation, an object of perpetual hissing….” (Jeremiah 18:16) “Ssssss”, listen to them. “…Everyone who passes it by will be astonished and shake his head. Like [the] east wind I will scatter them before the enemy; I will show them My back and not My face….” (Jeremiah 18:16-17)
It’s just the opposite of the blessing in Numbers 6, where He is saying: “Make Your face to shine upon us.” (See Numbers 6:25) “…„I will show them My back…in the day of...calamity.‟ Then they said, „Come on let[’s] devise [a] plan against Jeremiah….” (Jeremiah 18:17-18) And see this is what people are doing. The homosexuals, the abortionists are devising plans against those that are speaking the Word of God and speaking the truth of God. Things haven’t changed have they? They say, “…Surely the law is not going to be lost to the priest, nor counsel to the sage [to the wise], nor the divine word to the prophet! Come…and let us strike at him with our tongue, and let us give no heed to any of his words.” (Jeremiah 18:18)
And then he says, “Do give heed to me, O LORD…listen to what my opponents are saying! Should good be repaid with evil? …Remember how I stood before You to speak good on their behalf, so as to turn away Your wrath [on] them.” (Jeremiah 18:19-20) “I tried to stop.” “Therefore—” they didn’t listen. It doesn’t say they didn’t listen. But He says, “Therefore, give their children over to famine and deliver them up to the power of the sword…let their wives become childless and widowed. Let their men be smitten to death, their young men struck down by the sword in battle. May an outcry be heard from their houses, when You suddenly bring raiders upon them….” (Jeremiah 18:21-22) Ah! They’re crying. He says “…for they have dug a pit to capture me [they have] hidden snares for my feet.” (Jeremiah 18:22)
Do you feel like that, Beloved? Because you’ve stood for righteousness. Jeremiah understands. He says, “Yet You…LORD, know all their deadly designs against me; do not forgive their iniquity or blot out their sin from Your sight. But may they be overthrown before You; [and] deal with them in the time of Your anger!” (Jeremiah 18:23)
“This is what I’m asking You to do, Lord. You stretched out Your hands. You’ve bid them to come and they have not come. They’ve refused. They’ve dug in their heels. They have said it’s hopeless. It won’t do any good. So Lord, bring Your judgment on them. Let them scream when the raiders overtake their house. Let them mourn their children because they would not accept You. They, O God, would not come to Your majestic throne high. The one that’s been there from the beginning. They would not bow the knee. They would not repent. They would not relent of their evil deeds. And so God, Your righteousness, Your holiness, demand Your judgment on them.
And you know what God?” Jeremiah’s saying, “I agree with You. I’m before Your throne. I know You. I trust You. You’ll do what’s right.”
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