Jeremiah

Chapters Four, Five & Six

Part Two

#2 Your Assay Report Assesses

The Reasons For God's Judgment

Begin in verse nine of Chapter Four:

Jeremiah 4:9 "And it shall come to pass in that day," says the LORD, "That the heart of the king shall perish, And the heart of the princes; The priests shall be astonished, And the prophets shall wonder."

Judah's political and religious leaders would be taken by surprise by God's judgment. Jeremiah's assay of them was that they were ignoring and excluding God. When a nation's political and moral leaders ignore and exclude God, it is a reason His judgment must come.

Skip down to verse twenty-two:

Jeremiah 4:22 "For My people are foolish, They have not known Me. They are silly children, And they have no understanding. They are wise to do evil, But to do good they have no knowledge."

Judah's citizens were unsaved. Not being children of God, they gave expression to their sin nature - like disobedient children who delight in doing evil while despising what is good.

America's citizens are largely unsaved. Not being children of God, they give expression to their sin nature.

In Chapter Five, assessments of the reasons for God's judgment continue in verses six:

Jeremiah 5:7 "How shall I pardon you for this? Your children have forsaken Me And sworn by those that are not gods. When I had fed them to the full, Then they committed adultery And assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

"Your children have forsaken Me..." Judah's children went after the world - like an army on leave that sought after prostitutes.

America is losing its children. I've quoted you these statistics before, but they bear repeating. According to the Children's Defense Fund, everyday in America:

202 children are arrested for drug offenses

307 children are arrested for crimes of violence

340 children are arrested for drinking or drunken driving

480 teenagers get syphilis or gonorrhea

1,115 teenagers have abortions

1,234 children run away from home

1,340 teenagers have babies

2,255 teenagers drop out of school

2,781 teenagers get pregnant

and ‚ 8,400 teenagers become sexually active

When a nation is apathetic toward God, its children are apostate; such a condition is a reason for God's judgment.

Look at verse eight:

Marriage was no longer honored in Judah. Husbands and wives were like animals in their heat and lust for one another.

Do we honor marriage in America? You know we don't...It's another reason God's judgment will come upon a nation.

Jeremiah 5:10 "Go up on her walls and destroy, But do not make a complete end. Take away her branches, For they are not the Lord's.

Jeremiah 5:11 For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 5:12 They have lied about the LORD, And said, "It is not He. Neither will evil come upon us, Nor shall we see sword or famine.

Jeremiah 5:13 And the prophets become wind, For the word is not in them. Thus shall it be done to them."

Jeremiah 5:14 Therefore thus says the LORD God of hosts: "Because you speak this word, Behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, And this people wood, And it shall devour them.

The prophets were not speaking God's Word. They were speaking; but it was just their own "wind," not God's Word.

Assay America on this point. America is dominated by the liberal churches. There is a lot of wind, but no Word. It is another reason for God's judgment.

Skip to verses eighteen:

Jeremiah 5:19 "And it will be when you say, 'Why does the LORD our God do all these things to us?' then you shall answer them, 'Just as you have forsaken Me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve aliens in a land that is not yours.'

Here is something I don't have ready statistics on, but you hear about all the time: In America non-Christian cults and false religions are adding members at much greater rate than Christianity. People are serving false and foreign gods in our land.

Jeremiah 5:21 'Hear this now, O foolish people, Without understanding, Who have eyes and see not, And who have ears and hear not:

Jeremiah 5:22 Do you not fear Me?' says the LORD. 'Will you not tremble at My presence, Who have placed the sand as the bound of the sea, By a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass beyond it? And though its waves toss to and fro, Yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot pass over it.

Jeremiah 5:23 But this people has a defiant and rebellious heart; They have revolted and departed.

Jeremiah 5:25 Your iniquities have turned these things away, And your sins have withheld good from you.

Spiritual decline is rarely suggested as the cause of our problems; yet you know that spiritual decline is behind our nation's decline.

Jeremiah 5:27 As a cage is full of birds, So their houses are full of deceit. Therefore they have become great and grown rich.

Jeremiah 5:28 They have grown fat, they are sleek; Yes, they surpass the deeds of the wicked; They do not plead the cause, The cause of the fatherless; Yet they prosper, And the right of the needy they do not defend.

Jeremiah 5:29 Shall I not punish them for these things?' says the LORD. 'Shall I not avenge Myself on such a nation as this?'

You are constantly reminded of the inequities in our justice system. Wealth often wins in America.

Jeremiah 5:31 The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule by their own power; And My people love to have it so. But what will you do in the end?

Again you look into the house of God. God's people are chided for having no spiritual discernment. They can't recognize a false prophet or a phony priest. The national scandals that plagued religious broadcasters over the past decade prove that in America there is little spiritual discernment!

Go to Chapter Six and verses six and seven:

Jeremiah 6:7 As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.

"Violence and plundering" are heard in America...

Skip to verses ten through twenty:

Jeremiah 6:11 Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding it in. "I will pour it out on the children outside, And on the assembly of young men together; For even the husband shall be taken with the wife, The aged with him who is full of days.

Jeremiah 6:12 And their houses shall be turned over to others, Fields and wives together; For I will stretch out My hand Against the inhabitants of the land," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 6:13 "Because from the least of them even to the greatest of them, Everyone is given to covetousness; And from the prophet even to the priest, Everyone deals falsely.

Jeremiah 6:14 They have also healed the hurt of My people slightly, Saying, 'Peace, peace!' When there is no peace.

Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No! They were not at all ashamed; Nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; At the time I punish them, They shall be cast down," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 6:16 Thus says the LORD: "Stand in the ways and see, And ask for the old paths, where the good way is, And walk in it; Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.'

Jeremiah 6:17 Also, I set watchmen over you, saying, 'Listen to the sound of the trumpet!' But they said, 'We will not listen.'

Jeremiah 6:18 Therefore hear, you nations, And know, O congregation, what is among them.

Jeremiah 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people; The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.

Jeremiah 6:20 For what purpose to Me Comes frankincense from Sheba, And sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me."

There are many assays in these verses of reasons for God's judgment; Jeremiah mentions "covetousness," for example. I am struck by verse eleven, " Therefore I am full of the fury of the LORD. I am weary of holding it in." There are many good reasons why God should judge our nation. Again, I am thankful that His longsuffering waits. He may be "weary" of holding-back His judgment; but He is holding it back!

His longsuffering waits for repentance.

#3 Your Assay Report Appeals For

Repentance From God's Judgment

We're thankful for God's longsuffering. He is "longsuffering toward us..." as a nation, "...not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." There are appeals for repentance throughout Jeremiah's assay report, beginning in Chapter Four, verses fourteen through eighteen:

Jeremiah 4:15 For a voice declares from Dan And proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim:

Jeremiah 4:16 "Make mention to the nations, Yes, proclaim against Jerusalem, That watchers come from a far country And raise their voice against the cities of Judah.

Jeremiah 4:17 Like keepers of a field they are against her all around, Because she has been rebellious against Me," says the LORD.

Jeremiah 4:18 "Your ways and your doings Have procured these things for you. This is your wickedness, Because it is bitter, Because it reaches to your heart."

If your "ways and your doings" are consistent with what brings God's judgment upon a nation, then your heart is "wicked." "Wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved" is God's call to repentance.

His call to repentance continues in verses one and two of Chapter Five:

Jeremiah 5:2 Though they say, 'As the LORD lives,' Surely they swear falsely."

God is ready to relent from His judgment. Here He tells Jeremiah that He would withhold judgment if Jeremiah could find even one righteous man! Whether or not this is poetic exaggeration, it reveals the true heart of God. He is always seeking a nation's repentance from His judgment.

Go to Chapter Six and verse eight:

God pleads with Judah to "be instructed" from His Word. Remorse at coming judgment is not enough; they must repent from sin, realizing they deserve judgment, by reading God's Word.

Drop down to verses twenty-four through twenty-six:

Jeremiah 6:25 Do not go out into the field, Nor walk by the way. Because of the sword of the enemy, Fear is on every side.

Jeremiah 6:26 O daughter of my people, Dress in sackcloth And roll about in ashes! Make mourning as for an only son, most bitter lamentation; For the plunderer will suddenly come upon us.

This is a sample response from a repentant heart. God is so good that He even suggests words and actions to His people. It's not unlike having people repeat the sinners prayer.

When talking about nations, remember that reform is a good thing, but repentance is what averts God's judgment. We want to work within the system for reform; but we want more to work for the Savior towards repentance.

Your assay of individual citizens is that "repentance toward God and faith toward Jesus Christ" brings personal salvation. Your assay of our nation, ripe as it is for God's judgment, is to appeal for repentance. God told Nineveh, capital of Assyria, "Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be [destroyed]." Yet Nineveh wasn't overthrown in forty days, or even in forty years! Nineveh's people repented,

Repentance is still possible in America. As assayers we appeal for repentance.

#4 Your Assay Report Affects You As

You Reflect On God's Judgment

Godly men and women are always affected by the announcement of God's judgment. Jeremiah was; and we should be affected in similar ways.

Turn back to Chapter Four, verse ten:

God's people sometimes accuse God of being unrighteous in judging nations. They forget that His promised blessings to nations are conditional on their obedience. If God sends judgment upon the United States it won't be because of any deception on His part, but on account of disobedience on our part.

In verses nineteen through twenty-one Jeremiah realizes God's judgment would be just and he has this reaction:

Jeremiah 4:20 Destruction upon destruction is cried, For the whole land is plundered. Suddenly my tents are plundered, And my curtains in a moment.

Jeremiah 4:21 How long will I see the standard, And hear the sound of the trumpet?

The images of God's judgment overwhelm him, as they should. He is affected in his very heart, so that he "cannot hold [his] peace." He must warn others. If you believe God's judgment must fall, then others must be warned; they must be called upon to repent.

Look at verses twenty-three through twenty-six:

Jeremiah 4:24 I beheld the mountains, and indeed they trembled, And all the hills moved back and forth.

Jeremiah 4:25 I beheld, and indeed there was no man, And all the birds of the heavens had fled.

Jeremiah 4:26 I beheld, and indeed the fruitful land was a wilderness, And all its cities were broken down At the presence of the LORD, By His fierce anger.

Jeremiah realized that God's creation is only a backdrop, a stage, for men and women to determine their eternal destinies. In the book of Acts you read,

Acts 17:27 "so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us;"

Nations are raised-up and blessed by God so that you will seek Him and find Him. When nations rebel, God tears them down so that you will seek Him and find Him.

Chapter Five, verses three through five, reveal how God's judgment affects you:

Jeremiah 5:4 Therefore I said, "Surely these are poor. They are foolish; For they do not know the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God.

Jeremiah 5:5 I will go to the great men and speak to them, For they have known the way of the LORD, The judgment of their God." But these have altogether broken the yoke And burst the bonds.

Jeremiah supposed that the leaders of his nation would heed God's warnings. He went to them, but with no success.

We must warn our leaders of God's judgment. Again, while we must contact them to try to help reform our laws and morals, our message must include a warning of God's judgment.

The God of the past is still God today, and He will judge. It is an old fashioned but up-to-date message.

Conclusion

God found nothing precious in the ore that was the nation of Judah. Jeremiah's assay report would say they were "rejected silver."

Beloved, you - the Church - are perhaps all that is precious in the ore of America. You are "chosen by God and precious, " according to First Peter 2:4.

God's ultimate judgment that is coming upon all the nations of the earth is the Great Tribulation. Your presence in the world is part of what restrains that judgment. At the Rapture of the Church that judgment will begin.

It is my hope that God's impending judgment against the United States is being averted by your presence as well. Like Lot in Sodom, perhaps you must be removed before judgment can come.

We are encouraged to know that we will not go through the Great Tribulation, and we are encouraged in the hope that we may be removed before our own nation is judged.

We must also be affected in such a way that we warn others that the God of the past is still God today. "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise [to judge]...but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."