Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, vols. 13–63

Let us read part of the 3rd Chapter of Jeremiah where God brings a solemn accusation against the two nations of Israel and Judah because they forsook the living God and went after idols—neglected His pure and holy worship—and followed after the abominable rites of the heathen.

Verse 6, 7. The LORD said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, Have you seen that which backsliding Israel has done? She is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the harlot Yet I said, after she had done all these things, Turn you unto Me. Depth of mercy that God should bid such a polluted one return to Him! "Yet I said, after she had done all these things, Turn you unto Me."

7, 8. But she returnednot. Andher treacherous sister Judah saw it AndIsaw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. Some cannot be kept back from sin by the punishment of others, but they run into the fire in which others have been burnt, and so they aggravate their sin.

9. And it came to past through the lightness of her whoredom that she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and with wood.That is to say, she gave her heart to false gods and worshipped stones and wood. And how it must anger the living God to see men turn away from Him to worship blocks of wood and stone, instead of Him, and especially a people who have been instructed concerning the living God, and so commit the grossest act of disloyalty to Him, and are rebellious to the last degree.

10, 11. And for this her treacherous sister Judah has not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly says the LORD. And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah. The one sinned openly and persevered in it. The other pretended to repent and did not, and that pretended repentance was more hateful in the sight of God than even the daring and open sin of Israel. What next?

12. Go and proclaim these words towards the north and say, Return, you backsliding Israel, says the LORD. And I willnot cause My anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, says the LORD, andI will not stay angry forever The offense was foul. It is such a one as stabs at the heart of man's honor. It is an offense which a man will scarcely ever forgive. But God bids His wandering Israel come back! And He proclaims mercy—free mercy—even to such gross transgressors!

13. Only acknowledge your iniquity. It is all He asks you to do. Confess that you have done wrong. "Only acknowledge your iniquity."

13. That you have transgressed against the Lord, your God, and have scattered your ways to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed My voice, says the LORD. It was under the trees that they set up their altars to worship there false gods, so that they turned the graves, which should be full of beauty and sweet with song, into the places of idolatry, whereby God was provoked. But He says, "Only confess it. Come and lament it. Acknowledge that you have been guilty, and I will put away the sin."

14-16. Turn, O backsliding children, says the LORD: for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you pastors according to My heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, says the LORD, they shall say no more, The Ark of the Covenant of the LORD, neither shall it come to mind neither shall they remember it Neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done anymore. Evangelical repentance, when it brings pardon with it, usually puts a slight upon mere legal ceremonies. We need not the symbol when we get the substance! We need no Ark of the Covenant nor holy place at Jerusalem when once the Lord appears in plenteous Grace to put away our sin!

17, 18. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; andall the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk anymore after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel. Nothing unites people like the Grace of God. Two men that have been pardoned by the same Savior ought to love one another, and they will!

18, 19. And they shall come together out of the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers. But I said After all this mercy, He seems to come to a pause, "But I said"—

19, How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant and a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? Is it possible? Can it be done? These harlot nations that have defiled and polluted themselves with unutterable filthi-ness—can they be put among the children—the children of God?

19-22. And I said, You shall call Me, my Father, and shall not turn away from Me. Surely as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so have you dealt treacherously with Me, O house of Israel, says the LORD. A voice was heard upon the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and theyhave forgotten the LORD their God. Return you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Do you hear it? Do you hear God's promise? Do you hear His command? "Return, you backsliding children. I will heal your backslid-ings." Now for the answer. God grant that it may well up in your hearts.

22, 23. Behold, we come unto You, for You are the LORD our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains. We leave all false confidences. We forsake our earthly joys.

23, 24. Truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel For shame has devoured the labor of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. They have not profited by worshipping idols. They have suffered through it.

25. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth, even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God. There you see the repentance which the Lord commanded at His people's hands, and wherever there is such a repentance as that, there are sure to be acceptance and salvation! God grant us that repentance and save us for His mercy's sake!

Verses 1, 2. If you will return, O Israel, says the LORD, return unto Me, and if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then shall you not be moved. And you shall swear, The LORD lives, in truth, in judgment and in righteousness. And the nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him shall they glory. So he sets before them life and death. First, He begins with these words of encouragement. He begs them to come, for God is willing to receive them, notwithstanding all.

3, 4. For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil ofyour doings. They had the outward religion, but the Lord's servant bids them know that they must have heartreligion. The heart must be purged—the inward must be cleansed. This they had no mind to. They would multiply their sacrifices and their outward performances, but as to cleanliness of heart, this they cared not for.

5-7. Declare you in Judah, andpublish in Jerusalem and say, Blow you the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves andlet us go into the fortified cities. Set up the standard towards Zion, retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north and a great destruction. The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way: he is gone forth from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant This was a terrible prophecy. The Chaldeans, who had broken to pieces so many other kingdoms and powers, were on their way! The enraged lion had leaped from his thicket and was about to tear, and rend, and do universal havoc! And if they did not turn to God, their whole land would be laid waste. One would think that such a heavy blow would have awakened them to a sense of their danger and their sin, but, alas, it was not so!

8, 9. For this girdyou with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us. And it shall come to pass at that day, says the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the Prophets shall wonder. Universal fear would take hold upon them. If they would not rightly fear the Lord and turn to Him, the time would come when, without exception, the greatest and the wisest of them should be taken with a sudden panic!

10. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! Surely You have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, You shall have peace; whereas the sword reaches unto the soul. God promised them peace, but it was upon a condition which they did not fulfill. There was peace while they gave up their sin, but, "There is no peace with God unto the wicked." And so they missed it.

11, 12. At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of My people, not to fan, nor to cleanse. Even a full wind from those places shall come unto Me: now also will'I give sentence against them. What an awful line that is. "Now also will I give sentence against them." They had been on their trial. They are found guilty. They will not repent. "Now will I proceed to pronounce their doom and give sentence against them."

13. Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us!For we are spoiled. They began to cry out when they began to smart. And the Prophet comes in, again.

14. O Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved. There is always that silver bell of mercy ringing out the note of invitation! "O Jerusalem, your sorrows, your destruction may yet be averted if you will turn from your darkness! Wash your heart from wickedness, that you may be saved."

14-18. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? For a voice declares from Dan, and publishes affliction from Mount Ephraim. Make you mention to the nations: behold, publish against Jerusalem that watchers come from a far country and give out their voice against the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field, are they against her round about because she has been rebellious against Me, says the LORD. Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you. This is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches unto your heart. When "great judgments are abroad," it is always on account of great sin. It was so in the case of Israel. "Your doings have procured these things unto you." Oh, when the ungodly man begins to reap the result of his life—when, in his own body and in his own home, he begins to see what sin will often bring the drunkard, let him hear these words—"This is your wickedness. Your way and your doings have procured these things unto you."

Now follows the lament of Jeremiah—one of the most amazing pieces of sorrowful writing that will ever be read in your hearing!

19-21. O my soul, my soul! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace because you have heard, O, my soul, the sound ofthe trumpet, the alarm of war! Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard and hear the sound ofthe trumpet? The dreadful blast of war, the blood-red flag of murder flying through the land while the Chaldeans slew right and left, young and old—we need to put ourselves into Jeremiah's position to be able to realize the horror of this case.

22, 23. 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. I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void: and the heavens, and they had no light. As if they had gone back to chaos—to the primeval darkness—to the first disorder before God began to create.

24-29. Ibeheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. Ibeheld, and lo, there was no man, and all the birds ofthe heavens were fled. I beheld, and lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness and all the cities thereof were broken down at the Presence ofthe LORD, and by His fierce anger. For thus has the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black, because I have spoken it, I have purposed it and I will not repent, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee from the noise ofthe horsemen and bowmen. They shall go into thickets and climb up upon the rocks. Every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein. Now all this did happen. It all came to pass. Palestine, the glorious Garden of God, was made as dreary as a wilderness! It is not much better now. It has scarcely recovered. God will re-gather them to the land one day, but oh, what a sight it was when God at last had ended His patience—poured out the vials of His wrath upon His once favored land!