Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Jeremiah 5:1. Run you to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof if you can find a man, if there is any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth; and I will pardon it I t was a very wonderful offer, on the part of God, to forgive the inhabitants of the whole city of Jerusalem for the sake of oneman! And it was all the more remarkable because He gave them time to make a thorough search to see whether such a person could be found—"if there is any that executes judgment, that seeks the truth." Into what a horrible state of guilt must the Jewish capital have fallen when there was not one man, even among the magistrates or the priests, who cared for that which was just and true! May God prevent London and England from becoming like Jerusalem and Judah! May truth and righteousness flourish in our land!

2. And though they say, The LORD lives; surely they swear falsely. Even those who assumed an appearance of being religious and who said, "Jehovah lives"—even they were false swearers. To what a terribly sad state had the age come when its very religion was a lie and its professedly holy things were thoroughly rotten!

3. OLORD, are not Your eyes upon the truth?If there is any truthful man anywhere, God sees him. His eyes are upon him, He regards him with attentive delight and He will take care of him with the utmost vigilance. But what was the real character of these people? Listen.

3. You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return. Nothing could make them act rightly! Whatever God did with them, they still persisted in their iniquity.

4, 5. Therefore I said, Surely these arepoor; they are foolish: for they know not the way of the Lord, nor the judgment of their God. I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of the LORD, and the judgment of their God. But Jeremiah found no improvement among them—they were even worse than the poor and ignorant, for he goes on to say—

5, 6. But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: everyone that goes out from there shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their backsliding are increased. Now let us continue our reading at verse 10, where we shall see that both the house of Israel and the house of Judah had turned aside from the Lord their God.

10-12. Go up upon her walls and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her battlements; for they are not the LORD'S. For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against Me, says the LORD. They have lied about the LORD—They have made it out as though God, Himself, were a liar! They have contradicted Him whose Word is Truth itself. They have despised His threats, they have refused His invitations, they have disbelieved His promises! "They have lied about the Lord"—

12-14. And said, It is not He; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: and the Prophets shall become wind, and the Word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them. 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. It is a dreadful state of things when God turns from pleading with men to threatening them! When He ceases to invite them to return to Him and denounces them as transgressors against His Laws! At such times He makes the words that come out of the mouths of His Prophets to be like fire and men are utterly consumed by them as the stubble in the field is destroyed by the devouring flames!

15-18. Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house ofIsrael, says the LORD: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language you know not, neither understand what they say. Their quiver is as an open sep-ulcher, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up your harvest, and your bread, which your sons and your daughters should eat: they shall eat up your flocks and your herds: they shall eat up your vines and your fig trees: they shall impoverish your fenced cities, wherein you trusted, with the sword. Nevertheless in those days, says the LORD, I will not make a full end of you. See how, in the midst of His wrath, God remembers mercy? He utters a terrible sentence concerning transgressors and then He pauses and says, "Nevertheless"—listen to the gentle note of pity in that word— "Nevertheless, in those days, says the Lord, I will not make a full end of you." Still does He spare the guilty and in His long-suffering He gives them further opportunities for repentance!

19. And it shall come to pass, when you shall say, Why does the LORD our God do all these things unto us? Then shall you answer them, Like as you have forsaken Me, and serve strange gods in your land, so shall you serve strangers in a land that is not yours. A man may often see his sin in its punishment. Because they had served strange gods, therefore the Lord sent them to serve strangers in a strange land! Remember, O transgressor, that your sin will come home to you in some form or other! If we sow the wind, we shall reap the whirlwind. "Whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap." Therefore let us beware of scattering seeds of sin, for they will produce a terrible harvest of woe!

20, 21. Declare this in the house of Jacob, and publish it in Judah, saying, Hear now this, O foolish people and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not. And, alas, there are far too many of such people still around! They hear God's Word, yet it never reaches their hearts. They see what God's hand is doing all around them, yet they do not and they will not really see it as they should.

22. Do you not fear Me? says the LORD. Willyou not tremble at My Presence, which, have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a perpetual decree, that it cannot pass it: and though the waves thereof toss themselves, yet can they not prevail; though they roar, yet can they not pass over it?There is a little belt of sand which checks the surging sea and says to it, "To here shall you come, but no further! And to here shall your proud waves be stayed." Now, if sand, which is so weak a thing, can, nevertheless, control the mighty ocean within bounds, how readily ought you and I to be governed by God and held in check even by the slightest intimations of His will?

23. But this people has a revolting and a rebellious heart; they are revolted and gone. God restrains the sea, but nothing seems to be able to restrain the sinfulness of man! Man breaks every barrier that should keep him back—he is like a desolating torrent when he gives way to iniquity!

24. Neither say they in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, that gives rain, both the former and the latter, in its season: He reserves unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest. Though God gives timely and suitable seasons for the growth and ingathering of the corn—rain when it is needed to aid the springing up of the blade and fine weather for garnering the harvest—yet many men see not the hand of God at all and they are, therefore, not moved by gratitude to bless His name and fear Him to whom they are indebted for all that they receive. Oh, what an ungrateful and blind creature is man!

25. Your iniquities have turned away these things, and your sins have withheld good things from you. Does any unconverted man here know what good things he has missed up to the present moment? Suppose you, my Friend, were to be saved tonight? Can you even imagine what joy you have lost through all the years of your past impenitence? Nothing can ever give back to you the years that have gone, or impart to you in the future, the joy you might have had, but which you have missed! And, mark you, if there were no Hell to be endured, it is enough of Hell to have missed Heaven! It will be grief enough to your heart, at the last, to find that "your sins have withheld good things from you."

26. For among My people are found wicked men. ' 'Among My people," says the Lord—in the very Church, itself, making as loud a profession as the most genuine Christian! "Among My people are found wicked men." Here, in this place, tonight, mingling with the godly in this congregation, are found wicked men! The Lord have mercy upon them and turn them from their evil ways!

26, They lay wait, as he that sets snares; they set a trap, they catch men. Beware of these man-catchers who entrap souls and ruin them forever, ensnaring them by leading them into evil habits and transgressions!

27, 28. As a cage is full of birds, so are their houses full of deceit: therefore they are become great, and waxen rich. They are waxen fat, they shine: yes, they exceed the deeds of the wicked. The manifestly wicked—

28, 29. They judge not the cause, the cause of the fatherless, yet they prosper; and the right of the needy do they not judge. Shall I not visit for these things? Angels in Heaven, God says to you, "Shall I not visit for these things?" And they answer, "Yes, Lord." Even to the devils in Hell, He may put the same question. They are already smarting under His wrath and He may say to them, "Shall I not visit for these things?" And they also answer, "Yes." He puts the question to all intelligent beings who know what is right and true, "Shall I not visit for these things?" And they, with one consent, reply, "Yes, Lord, it must be so!"

29-31. Says the LORD: shall not My soul be avenged on such a nation as this? A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land; the Prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so. I t is a most horrible thing that God's own people should ever be willing that error should be preached and that oppression and wrong-doing of any kind should be practiced! You know that if God's own people did not tolerate false doctrine, it would soon cease to be heard in many places. But it is when those who profess to know God's Word endorse that which is contrary to the Truth of God that error is kept in power in the land—"The Prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and My people love to have it so."

31. But what will you do in the end? That is a question which I would propose in God's name to all here. Is your religion of such a character that when you come to die, it will bear you up? Or have you taken up with some form of falsehood which will not stand the test of your dying hour? Are you living in neglect of God? Is your life such that He must be angry with you, for He is angry with the wicked every day! Then take home to yourself the question with which this chapter closes, "What will you do in the end?" I am going to speak to you presently about those who go forth with Christ, outside the camp, bearing His reproach, so let us read a few verses about the glory which awaits them, by-and-by. [Remember that the exposition was delivered before the sermon was preached.—EOD]

Revelation 22:1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Infinite sovereignty bestows Grace. The River of Grace flows from the Throne of God. It is the King who saves His people, yet the Atonement is always connected with the sovereignty. "He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb."

2. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. God will enrich His Church by giving her a great variety of good things—"twelve fruits." There shall also be a constant and perpetual supply of them, for this tree "yielded her fruit every month." And if there is anything of ill remaining anywhere in the world in those halcyon days, God shall supply a cure for it—"The leaves of the tree were for the healing of nations."

3. And there shall be no more curse. The curse shall be taken from the soil on which it fell when God said to Adam, "Cursed is the ground for your sake." There shall be no curse upon man's body—there shall be nothing but blessing. Blessing shall swallow up the cursing and God shall be manifest everywhere.

3. But the throne of Godand of the Lamb shall be in it; andHis servants shallserve Him. This is what we try to do, now, but we shall more fully accomplish the blessed task in those brighter days which every revolution of the wheel of time is hastening on.

4. And they shall see His face. Oh, that is glorious service—to serve the Lord and to see His face at the same time! Communion and service are always best when they are blended. There can be no fellowship better than that which serves, and no service sweeter than that of those who continue to see the face of their Master while they are serving Him.

4. And His name shall be on their foreheads. There will be no mistaking them—they shall bear on their foreheads the glorious name of God, just as the High Priest of old had the words, "Holiness unto the Lord" upon his brow.

5. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun. Even the sun is only worthy to be ranked with a candle in comparison with the Light of God, Himself! John puts the two things in one sentence. "They need no candle, neither light of the sun"—

5-7. For the Lord God gives them light: and they shall reign forever and ever. And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the LORD God of the holy Prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly! Blessed is he that keeps the sayings of the prophecy of this Book