Jeremiah 2020

Flee for safety, people of Benjamin. Flee from Jerusalem, sound the trumpet into Coa, raise the signal over Beth Haccarim. For disaster looms out of the north, even terrible destruction. I will destroy daughter Zion, so beautiful and delicate.

Shepherds with their flocks will come against her. They will pitch their tents round her each tending his own portion. Prepare for battle against her. A rise led us attack at noon. But alas, the daylight is fading.

And the shadows of evening grow long. So arise, let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses. This is what the Lord Almighty says. Cut down the trees and build sea dramps against Jerusalem. This city must be punished It is filled with oppression as a well pours out its water so she pours out her wickedness.

Violence and destruction resounding her. Her sickness and wounds are ever before me. Take warning Jerusalem, or I will turn away from you and make your land desolate so that no 1 can live in it. This is what the Lord almighty says. Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine.

Pass your hand over the branches again. Like 1 gathering grapes. To whom can I speak and give warning, who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so that they cannot hear. The word of the lord is offensive to them, and they find no pleasure in it.

But I am full of the wrath of the lord, and I cannot hold it in. Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the young men gathered together both husband and wife will be caught in it, and the old, those weighed down with years. Their houses will be turned over to others. Together with their fields and their wives when I stretch out my hand against those who live in the land declares the lord. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain.

Profits and priests alike, all practiced deceit. They dressed the wound of my people as though it were not serious. Peace peace, they say. When there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?

No. They have no shame at all. They do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen. They will be brought down when I punished them, says the Lord.

This is what the Lord says. Stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, We will not walk in it. I appointed watchmen over you and said, listen to the sound of the trumpet, but you said we will not listen.

Therefore, here, you nations. You who are witnesses. Observe what will happen to them. Here you earth. I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words.

And have rejected my law. What do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calamus from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable. Your sacrifices do not please me. Therefore, this is what the Lord says.

I will put obstacles before these people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them. Neighbors and friends will perish. This is what the Lord says. Look, an army is coming from the land of the north.

A great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They are armed with bow and spear. They are cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses. They come like men in battle formation to attack you, daughter's eye.

We have heard reports about them, and our hands hang limp. Anguish has gripped us, pain like that of a woman in labor. Do not go out to the fields or walk on the roads for the enemy has a sword, and there is terror on every side. Put on sackcloth my people and roll in ashes, mourn with bitter wailing as for an only son. For suddenly, the destroyer will come upon us.

I have made you a tester of metals and my people the ore that you may observe and test their ways. They are all hardened rebels going about to slander. They are bronze and iron. They all act corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire.

But the refining goes on in vain. The wicked are not purged out. They are called rejected silver. Because the Lord has rejected them. Welcome.

My name's Phil. I'm 1 of the elders here, and I double welcome if you're new here this evening. I think you've asked some new people. And I used that phrase because a lady before the service came in And I went up and said, oh, hi, I don't think I've I think you're new. My name's Filler.

Welcome to Cornerstone. And apparently, I said the same thing this morning. So rather than admit that, I thought if we go with this double welcome, then it won't be embarrassing for me. So let's pray, and then we're gonna turn to this passage. Father help us now to put aside whatever we've come here with this evening, thinking about, you know, things of the day, things of tomorrow perhaps that are occupying our minds.

Help us to focus on you now that we might hear from you. By your spirit, take your word and put it in our hearts and our minds, and may we leave here changed people? In Jesus' name, our men. So we are jumping straight into chapter 6 of Jeremiah, because chapter 6 is actually the culmination of a sermon really by Jeremiah that started in chapter 4 verse 5. And we looked at a few verses of that way back.

Chris Badchell said it was actually before lockdown. So it's a couple of years ago. So none of us you remember, which is fine because we'll we'll get into it here. But he really gets to the heart of this sermon in to 6 as we saw when Tom was reading it to us. Jeremiah tells us at the end of the chapter exactly what's going on.

Exactly what he's doing and what God had planned for Israel. And we find it in verse 27. So if you just turn to the near the end of the chapter, verse 27, And God says to Jeremiah, I have made you a tester of metals, and my people, the awe. That you may observe and test their ways. Now, you see, it's the word tester, I just want to think about for a minute, The word tester here, a tester of metals, is the word Asaya.

It's a specialist word. It actually refers to the sort of process that you certainly in those days that have used fire, now I gather it's fire and sometimes chemicals, but fire's still the best way. Where you test, you heat up or or you heat up a mineral deposit, or you heat up a rock that's been drilled, to see if inside there was any, well, precious metals, gold, silver, copper, possibly battery metals today would also be very expensive. And that process, that heating separates the valuable metals from the rest. So if you are mining exploration company and you're looking for gold and silver, then the first thing you do is study geological structures, you know, sort of thing Tom did at university, which obviously has found very useful in what he's gone on to do.

You study those geological things and then you take test holes, you drill test holes, and you send that rock to an aasea. And the aasea tells you what percentage is precious metals in in those rocks. So in Nevada, the state that Las Vegas is in. There's also a lot of desert, if you've ever been there and there's a lot of mining. That goes on.

And the US assay laboratories in Nevada. So everybody sends their mining samples. They put fierce heat on them to see whether there's gold and silver inside. That's what he's talking about when he says a tester of metals. And God has made Jeremiah the Asayer of Israel.

He's testing Israel. The whole of the last 3 chapters, in fact, the whole of the book so far, he's testing Israel to see if there is anything valuable. There, any precious metal content to be found in God's people. That's what Jeremiah has been appointed to do. And so chapters 4 to 6 are basically his report.

That's what we're looking at. It's his report on his testing of Israel. And like any good report, which obviously isn't a government 1, you get a clear conclusion. Verse 28 to 30. They are all hardened rebels.

Going about to slander. They are bronze and iron. They all act corruptly. The bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, but the refining goes on in vain. The wicked are not purged out They are called rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them.

So that's the conclusion. The ASEA has been using the bellows to make the fire really hot to burn away the dross but nothing separated out. The refining is completely in vain because there's no silver. There's no gold, there's no precious metals, only fake silver, false silver, rejected silver as it says. Now, that doesn't mean you see that they found something but it's full of impurities.

It means there's nothing there. There's nothing good at all. And that is a shocking conclusion for Israel, isn't it? It would have been to the heroes. There is nothing of value to be found in Israel.

That's the conclusion of the report. So having looked at the conclusion at the beginning tonight, we're now gonna go back and look at the content. How did he reached that conclusion. How did he reach the conclusion that there's nothing of value? That's the first thing we're gonna look at.

Second thing, could it have turned out differently? So firstly, how did they reach the conclusion? There's nothing of value. Secondly, could it have turned out differently? And hopefully, we'll learn from that as we go along.

So first point, what causes the a sayer to decide there is nothing of value And the first reason is their behavior. Israel's behavior. Look at verse 6, second little bit of it. The city must be punished. It is filled with oppression as a well pours out its water so she's pours out her wickedness.

Violence and destruction resounding her, her sickness and wounds are ever before me. See Israel here is they're no longer acting as the lord's people. They're not generous. They're not kind. They're not holy.

They're not a lamp to the gentiles. They have instead become selfish and wicked violent and destructive. And even it says within their own society, They oppress the poor and the needy. They were supposed to be Beautiful and delicate. Look at verse 2.

I will destroy daughter Zion so beautiful and delicate. That's what they were supposed to be like. But and because of their sin, God is gonna bring a judgment upon the whole of Israel and Jerusalem, And he's gonna do it by using Babylon. That's what's going on in verse 1. Disaster, it says at the end of verse 1, looms out of the north, even terrible destruction.

Your major thing is, that's not just a warning, it is a warning, but it's also a fantastic picture for us of the sovereignty of God, isn't it? He's gonna use the pagans in Babylon to achieve his judgment. See, they might think the Babylonians, they might think they're doing it for themselves. You know, they've got some great battle strategy or a warrior leader. But God is actually in control.

He's using them to discipline, to punish his own people. That is a huge just a fantastic picture of God being in control. Even they are tools of God. And then verses 4 and 5 are amazing because he talks to the Babylonians. In this sermon, Prepare for battle against her, hers, Israel arise.

Let us attack at noon. But alas, the daylight is fading and the shadows of evening grow long, so arise let us attack at night and destroy her fortresses. See, those verses are telling us that this overarching judgment from the north that's coming is gonna be unrelenting. Because armies usually fought in the morning. In these days, before the heat of the day.

And they withdraw later in the day. Come again the next morning, that's what would happen. Certainly, they'd withdraw by dust You couldn't fight in the night. We we forget we have all our light pollution. What it's like.

When it's dark, it's dark there. So the idea of them attacking the walls of Jerusalem, for example, at night, you know, they'd have to hold flaming torches, I guess that makes them sitting ducks. But that's what it says. Because God's in control. And God's saying this war, there's gonna be no breathers where we all regroup.

There's gonna be no let up here. This is relentless judgment coming from the north. The second thing he tells us, just in these little verses, is prepare for battle. That phrase at the beginning of 4. Prepare for battle against her.

It's a very important little phrase because in the original language, it's really saying, prepare for a holy war. So remember, he's saying to the Babylonians, prepare for a holy war. How can their war be holy? They're not god's people. They're gentiles.

You see, the point of that language is to show us that it's god in control. It's a holy war because he's instigating it. He's bringing it. They are just instruments in God's hands. And that's a scary thought, isn't it?

That someone is coming against God's people, waging a holy war directed by God. In verse 6, he even gives them sort of detailed instructions of how to deal with the walls. Cut down the trees, build siege ramps against Jerusalem, and he was giving them quite a lot of information here. Just think about it for a moment. What would what would happen?

You know, when that happens, wouldn't Israel run to God? Wouldn't they look to be rescued? Wouldn't they fail to understand why their God isn't there in their hour of need? Do you think they would have understood at the time? No.

No. No. This is God bringing these this other nation against us, the God that normally rescues us. See, in the case of Israel, this overwhelming judgment, this holy war to be waged against them, links directly back to their behavior, which we were just talking their oppression of the poor and needy. So they're greed.

We get all that in the imagery here. Look at verse 9. Let them this is what the Lord almighty says. Let them glean the remnant of Israel as thoroughly as a vine, pass your hand over the branches again like 1 gathering grapes. Now, if you know the story of roof, we've done it here.

You'll know all about cleaning. It's a word you might be familiar with from roof. When it was harvest time, the Israelites would go through the fields, bringing in the harvest, but inevitably certainly in those days, no combine harvesters and stuff. They'd either miss some of the crop or it would drop to the ground. And God's law was that that was to be left That was to be left for the poor, for the needy who would come afterwards and glean.

I e, pick up what was left and live off that. It's it's the the image here is about grapes. It's talking about where you hold a bunch of grapes, and then you run your hand, and most of them come off. I I was gonna do it. I have to say, I thought, well, yeah, I could do this.

And I tried it at home, and most of them are supposed to come off, but I think it's because we keep them I wasn't quite sure. I could only get about 4 off doing it and I thought well I'm gonna look really weak. So I've scrapped it and I just thought I'd tell you about it. So but kids, the next time you have a bunch of grapes, Isaac, just run your hand down them and see how many you can get off. The purpose of the verse though, It's not that it's to say everyone then has to be picked.

That's the judgment that they're talking about here. You see, they're saying, God is so angry with his people with their greed, with their lack of compassion, that Babylon's army, once they've conquered Jerusalem, must go back through the city. It must go back over the grapes again, and glean. In other words, make sure there's no 1 left. Make sure there's no remnant.

Miss nobody. No 1 is to be left untouched by this judgment. Pretty bleak picture. The next element in their behavior that indicates also why they reach the conclusion they reach, that there's nothing of value is in verse 10. To whom can I speak and give warning?

Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed, so they cannot hear. The word of the lord is offensive to them. They find no pleasure in it. So it's Jeremiah's been warning Israel.

He's been urging them to repent, hasn't he? And he's saying here, nobody's listening. It's almost actually in the language as if thick skin has grown over there is. It's worse really than than just not paying attention It's saying the word of the lord has become offensive to them. They find no pleasure in it.

It exasperates them. It actually enrages them. They're so set on enjoying this world and they're so carried away by their love of it and enjoying, frankly, being oppressals. And violent. I think Ben actually touched on this this morning as well if you were there this morning.

He was saying, He was talking about the wife as the church, the bride of Christ, and then he was asking, but has she, has the bride of Christ, has the church, abandoned Jesus run off with the world. And here, the answer is yes, Israel had. It's a very good image for us. So their behavior towards each other and God is a big part of the reason why the a sayer reaches the conclusion he does. But before we move on, let's just apply it.

How do we react when God speaks to us through his word, but the message is uncomfortable. Do we stop listening like they did? You know, how do we feel when we come on a Sunday? And the sermon doesn't reinforce the positives we think about ourselves, but points out areas in our life that have got to change. Areas where we know we're going wrong.

You know, when the word of God cuts like a knife, which is a phrase we're pretty used to, How do we respond? See, Israel has become too comfortable here. It's enjoying life. Are we like that? We're enjoying our lives, we're enjoying our families, we're enjoying our friends, but a bit too much.

You see, it's worth remembering that Jeremiah is talking to a nation where things are going pretty well. Jerusalem is theirs. They're not in exile. They're there. They don't seem under immediate threat.

There was no evidence that Babylon were gonna move against them. They're well off, the middle class were doing okay, often at the expense of the poor, but they were fine. And Jeremiah steps into this, and he says you're gonna be invaded from the north, and I think they'd have scoffed. Are we in danger like that? You know, we're not in danger of a military invasion, I don't think.

But there's no doubt is there that here at Cornerstone, we're enjoying, I suppose is the phrase, a rather blessed season. There's no sign of any problems. Church is okay financially. We've got a good talented staff team. I struggled to buy that, actually.

But Anyway, there's loads of kids in Sunday school. There's new people all the time. Any chance of us growing complacent there, do you think? Because it's a small step, you see, from being too comfortable to being antagonistic to anything that upsets us. And that could be God's word.

Let's make sure we don't take God for granted. But Jeremiah then changes tack. And in verse 13, He blames or put some of the blame at the feet of the leaders, the priests and the prophets for the state of affairs that they're in. And that's a good segue into our second point, our second question. What's the conclusion at the end that there's nothing of value in Israel inevitable?

Or could something have been changed? Look at verse 13 with me. From the least to the greatest, all are greedy for gain, Profits and priests alike all practiced a seat. They dressed the wounds of my people as though it were not serious. Peace piece, they say, when there is no peace.

Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No. They have no shame at all. They do not even know how to blush. You see, I think things could have been different.

It's what it's saying, if the priests had done what they were supposed to do. If they hadn't been so interested in, I don't know, personal gain or or comfort, if you like, or nice life, that they told Israel what they wanted to hear rather than the truth. Instead of dealing with the underlying cause, it says they dressed the wounds of the people. There's an old commentator. I've heard Tom quoting before, Matthew Henry, and he writes a terrific little of a couple of lines on this.

He says this, the priests should have been their physicians, they're being Israel. The priests should have been their physicians, dealing with their injuries. Instead, they murdered their patience by letting them have their will. That's great, isn't it? It's not great, but it's great quote.

He murdered the patience by letting them have their will. This is a picture of of people here who needed surgery, who needed intrusive painful treatment. Because, effectively, they have a disease inside eating their insides. Yet, all the priests did was basically hand out opiates to dull the pain. Just in case, there might be a few people who were sitting there in Israel thinking, I don't know if this is right.

I'm not sure we're paying enough attention to God. The priest said, don't worry. Peace. Peace. Calm down, in other words.

Peace, peace, they say where there is no peace. They used smoothing, slightly patronizing words of comfort to people who needed to hear the opposite. Again, another direct application, isn't it? See, we're hurtling just like this nation, we're hurtling towards a judgment day. Do we want our leaders to point out where we're going wrong?

You know, in some area of our life, where we're moving away from God, rather than towards him. Or is that too uncomfortable? You know, after all we come to church, we wanna hang out with some friends, Yes, we wanna be in relationship with God, but we might need to ask ourselves, which God? Which God do you wanna be in relationship with? 1 that's just loving doesn't ever mention sin, Doesn't go on about truth and justice and holiness?

Do we just want encouragement and assurance because that's what the priest gave ishmael and it led the people to ruin. So I hope it isn't what you expect or get from the leaders here. If you're a preacher, or an elder, or home group leader here, or watching it online, Just keep in mind James 3 verse 1. Actually, we'll look at this in our home group on Friday night, and it said not many of you should become teachers, my fellow believers. Because you know that we who teach will be judged more strictly.

Now that's a verse. If you are a teacher or a home group leader, you're you're scared of, and we wanna keep We don't talk about it very much that first. But it's important. Not not because it's talking necessarily about your own sin. But it's talking about the fact that you're leading people.

Where are you leading them to? See, the priests in Jeremiah's Day wanted to be popular. And that led the people to disaster. So please pray for leaders and teachers and home group leaders you know, Sunday school leaders, teachers, all these people. Please pray for them that they'll be serious about the task, and they'll have the courage to say what needs to be said even if it means you're unpopular.

I was probably in my late twenties. I'm a surveyor, and I'd started work, and I was working with a particular client. And we were driving around London. In our chauffeur driven BMW, and him and I were in the back and there was a chauffeur driving us around, and we're looking at various buildings. And we got near the end of the day, and we'd be going most of the day.

And he said, oh, just something I wanna talk to you about, Phil. If I'm if I'm ever caught where, you know, a topic comes out and I need to go into a meeting at very short notice, and I need an advisor to come with me, you'd be top of my list. So I thought that's nice. That's good. He said, but I want to just say your attention to detail is absolutely terrible.

He he said there would be no point in giving you any more notice because you wouldn't do any more work or and he really had a go at me. And it was very, very painful, actually. Because we'd been going all day, and I thought we'd been going quite well. Clearly, he'd noticed I knew nothing about anything. But it was interesting because I had to change.

I had to change if I was gonna keep working for him, and I had to change for other clients. You know, I needed to work on attention for detail. And it was it stuck with me even though it's a long, long time ago now. 30 years ago or whatever. He stuck with me because he was saying something was very difficult but very necessary.

And I think we need to think like that. Now being kind speaking the truth, they're not mutually exclusive. You don't have to be horrible to speak the truth. But just beware of people who need to be liked. Just beware of people whose advice might be tainted with their own agenda.

They may not say what you need to hear. 1 of 1 of the things that also reminded me of when I was thinking about this was that's another work story. But when I was at university and and just coming to the end, In those days, I'm not sure what happens now. The big firms used to come up to the university, an interview all day at the university. And this it was a household name in terms of surveying, which probably means it isn't, but anyway, they came up big firm and there's load of us in the room and Chap got up and he spoke about the firm, very charming, and then another guy got up and he spoke about the graduate scheme.

He was very nice as well. And then the chairman stood up and was horrible. And we were listening to this guy and he was saying I have nothing to do with graduates, and I don't know why we bother and, you know, and he was really unpleasant. And we were sitting there thinking, wow, this is strange way of selling your firm to us. Anyway, we've got through that section.

The next section was, you were called 1 by 1 to go for an interview with them. So I was called, and we go into this room, and you go into this big room, and the first guy, quite a nice guy on the right, second guy, quite a nice guy on the left, nasty man straight ahead. And they said, pick who you want to be interviewed by. And I went to the nasty guy. I can't pretend he was genius or anything, but I just thought, well, I'll go to him because he's in charge.

And he said, find you're through. If you'd picked Eve of the other 2, You wouldn't you would we wouldn't interview again. That was an extraordinary test. That's obviously why he was so nasty in the interview. But the reason for telling you see that story, you see, is that if you always choose to go to the way of, you know, where it's gentle and soft and you like the person and they're lovely, that might be fine because they may be very wise.

But just like the interview, just make sure it's not because you lack courage. So I just want to finish on the topic of leaders with 1 more thing. Verse 15. And let's let's let this speak to us if we're a teacher or a leader here tonight. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct?

No. They have no shame at all. See, if you if you avoid saying something, because you don't want to risk falling out with somebody or you want to be liked, or And I think this is more where we might be, certainly me. You're too lazy, and you can't be bothered with the fuss and the further discussion, and the more meetings that you're gonna have if you actually address the issue. So you don't say it, then you should be ashamed.

Why? Because you're doing what the priests are doing. You're saying peace piece. Where there is no peace? He'll say, yeah, you're fine.

I don't wanna talk I don't I don't really wanna talk about that to you is what you're saying in your head. It's leading people in the wrong direction. It's leading people away from God. But there's 1 other section we need to look at that shows us how the report's conclusion could have been avoided, and it starts in verse 16. So let's have a look at verse 16.

Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls but you said we will not walk in it. I pointed watchman over you and said listen to the sound of the trumpet, but you said we will not listen See, the people had a choice. They stood at the crossroads. In fact, Jeremiah is saying really, right there and then, you still have a choice.

You still have a chance. Stand at the crossroads and look, ask for the ancient paths. If they had chosen the ancient paths the ways of the patriarchs, Abraham eyes at Jacob, they could have avoided the conclusion of the a sire. They should have gone back to Scripture. They should have found the old paths prescribed by the law of God, but they wouldn't do it.

They had better newer ideas. They had moved on in their heads. They were more sophisticated. Didn't wanna go back to the old ways of doing things. By the way, Jeremiah isn't saying here, that everything old is good.

That's what I think by him, by the way. But anyway, I'll leave that aside. He's not saying that everything old is good. He's saying, look, everything we do shouldn't be done the way it's always be done, it's always been done, he's saying, look for the good path. Ask where the good way is and walk in it.

Where the good way is is very important. It's not just old. He's not saying just saying look for the old path. He's saying look for the old path that's good. We know that because Job, in Job 22 verse 15, he says, will you keep to the old path that the wicked of trod, So there's some old paths that the wicked are on, there's some old paths that aren't good.

The point is, when you stand at the crossroads, yes, look at the past, Yes, learn from Scripture. Yes, look at the heroes of the faith, but seek the good way, not just the old way. So again, ask ourselves, do we seek the right way in our lives? Are we looking to be more Christlike Are we looking to the word of god as being a lamp to our feet? Or are we bored of the old ways?

You know, same old stuff, bored of Mark's gospel. How many times are we gonna do that? How is it even relevant to me in the modern world you might be thinking? Are we always looking for a new revelation from God? What we really want you to see is God speak to us direct without us having to bother to read the bible because that's much easier.

It's just an old book, isn't it? I was talking to a new person. Luckily, I hadn't spoken to them before. A couple of weeks ago, and I asked her why she'd left her previous church. And she said really simply actually, I wanted to go to a church where they preached the whole bible.

And I I was really shocked by that, and it was a very profound thing to say. Because it ties together really what we've been looking at in the last few minutes, just so just think for a moment, why might a church not preach the whole bible? See, 1 reason surely is because they don't want to go near the difficult bits, the bits you can't sell easily. The sections that people don't like They don't wanna talk about sin and judgment and hell. So what are they doing?

In effect, they're saying peace, peace. Or perhaps they skip bits because they don't think the passages have anything to say to today. They're defunct because society has moved on in their eyes. Both are wrong. Both those reasons for not preaching the whole bible are wrong.

So again, we must strive as a church, brothers and sisters in Christ, find the good way Keep looking at scripture. Walk in it. Walk in the word and that means reading it all. Learn from it all. Preach the whole bible.

That's what we have to do here. However, difficult sometimes unpalatable. I mean, tonight's full of judgment. Full of no way back. Israel didn't wanna listen, and so we get to the really scary bit verse 19, Here you worth, I'm bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.

God is holding up Israel. This is the frightening verse. He is holding up Israel to the whole earth. And saying, see what happens when my people don't walk in the ancient God given good ways. When their behavior is shocking, when they're so arrogant they ignore me.

When they don't care about me, when they ignore my warnings, he talks about the watchmen that he sent. He's saying disaster was gonna come on them, and I'm gonna bring it. But I think the scariest bit is verse 20, because verse 20, you see shows that Israel thought they were fine. What do I care about incense from Sheba? There's God.

Or sweet calamus from a distant land, your burnt offerings are not acceptable. Your sacrifices do not please me. Their hearts weren't with God, but they were still going through the motions. They were still conducting the sacrifices. When he talks about incense from sheep and sweet calamus from land.

He's referring effectively to their efforts that they made on the surface to get the most expensive, the sweetest smelling spices to use on the altar, to provide amazing costly expensive perfumes for the burnt offerings. And yet, God is saying, I don't care about that. That's all show. See, what Israel was doing when it was buying all these expensive things for the sacrifices is basically saying to the living God. See what we've done for you?

Are we like that? So much in here for us. Do we feel like that we've done God a favor? When we, I don't know, make an effort. Or when we go to home group for a few weeks in a row, Crikey, we think I must be due a break now to do something I want to do.

Oh, it's a prayer meeting. That's a nice week off. Isn't that how we think? If that's True. It's a very dangerous place to be because God sees straight through that.

He doesn't want token gestures. He wants our hearts. God has appointed Jeremiah as the ASEA of the nation Israel, and he's looking, and he's seeing through the sacrifices, and he's saying, there's nothing of value here, nothing worth keeping. A nation that doesn't love God, does listen to God and the people who've hardened their hearts, it says. So corrupt is it that the prophets and the priests are in it for themselves, saying just what the people wanna hear.

And so God is gonna bring judgment on them. So as we close, let's just think wider for a minute. Look at the world around us. Is there anything worth saving? What do you think?

Does the world ignore God? Does the world mock God? Does the world look back at the ancient paths? Does the world look for the good way? Or is it always looking for the next thing.

Judgment is coming. And just like in Jeremiah's Day, the world thinks it's doing okay. Even if some people don't, they're looking in the wrong places for a solution. History is effectively repeating itself in our lifetime. But there's 1 difference.

There's 1 difference. We're not in the same position as the world. See, this whole chapter shows us the need for a solution for our hearts. The need for a savior outside of ourselves. And this chapter should take you straight to Jesus in your thinking.

The sacrifices with the priests and the prophets and the people of Israel going through the motions, but not changing their hearts. Is not where we are in this church. Because God has dealt with that problem. You and I, however, similar to Israel in some aspects of this passage, need not suffer the destruction and the judgment brought upon them, because God has taken care of it. In Ezekiel, Chapter 36 verse 26, famous verse, the prophet says, this is what the sovereign lord says.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you. I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. Funny, actually, when I was reading that, that's a well known verse, and you've probably heard it in lots of churches. So many churches stop there. And I looked to the next verse and thought, why have they stopped?

Because the next verse says, and I will put my spirit in you. Most of them would quite like that that I'm talking about. And move you to follow my decrees. It's about obedience. You're getting a new heart of flesh to follow his decrees.

See, God in his mercy and his love sent the only sacrifice with no corruption. Who knew the law, fulfilled the law. He sent his son Jesus to be the 1 true sacrifice that does please God. Unlike the ones here, Jesus died on the cross, taking our sin and the punishment for it upon himself, as he rose from the grave defeating death, he became the acceptable sacrifice to God. And that allows us.

It's an amazing thing. That allows us to face the judgment day to come, knowing we've been made beautiful and pure by his blood. And so when we do stand before God on judgment day, but even now, as you sit here tonight, God sees something of great value. The assaila of the whole universe seize in us, and it's an amazing thing. The equivalent of gold and silver and precious metals.

We're no longer rejected silver. We're no longer dross. We're pure, and we've been refined, and we've been made beautiful in and by the person of Jesus. So again, as Ben said this morning, if you were there. Jesus wears us like a jewel.

Like an exquisite crown of diamonds and gold and silver. So, yes, we should learn, and I hope you have. We should learn from passages like this, and yes, we look for the good way and we try not to repeat the mistakes that Israel made. But we know that if we remain in Jesus, we are more precious than silver and gold because the a say of the universe finds great value in us. Let's pray.

Father God, it is an amazing thing that, however, similar to Israel in those days, we are However, often we fail you, however often we fall, however often we turn away from you. It is an amazing truth that because of Jesus, because of what he did on the cross, you look at us and see something of value. That you look at us and see purity and something very precious. And, lord, we thank you for that. We thank you that it is only by Jesus, only by grace as we've sung already tonight.

That we can be in that state, but we are in that state. We are not in the same position as Israel then. And, Lord, we know and and our hearts are changed by the fact that we know that although there's a judgment day to come, we will be found not guilty because of Jesus. Lord let us live in the light of that as we've seen with hearts of flesh. Let us now obey your decrees.

Help us to do that, Lord. It isn't in our natures. We have sinful natures, but your spirit is now working in us, working us. Or we want to be we want to have a closer walk with you and people that obey you more. In Jesus' name, amen.