#158. Jeremiah 1-5 : Seeking the Only Cistern that Can Satisfy Our Souls | The Chronological Bible Plan for Moms

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This is a Dwelling Place from Entrusted Ministries.

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I'm Stephanie Hickox.

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In today's episode, we're introduced

to the weeping prophet Jeremiah.

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He had the particular honor of being

the mouthpiece of the Lord, but with

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this privilege came deep sorrow and

persecution This episode will be best

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for mom ears alone because Jeremiah has

some powerful, piercing words for the

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way the nation has betrayed their God.

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Jeremiah was much like Moses in that he

questioned the Lord's call upon his life.

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But unlike Moses, it was because

he was so young at the time.

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His ministry spanned five

decades and covered the reign of

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five different kings in Judah.

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He began in 627 BC and

continued to after 586 BC.

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His name means Jehovah

establishes, appoints, or sends.

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And scripture lets us see behind

the curtain a little bit more with

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Jeremiah as we have the privilege of

reading personal information about

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him, and even being informed about

how God called him into ministry.

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He was from a small village

slightly north of Jerusalem

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named Anathoth

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His father was a priest named

Hilkiah, but this is not the same

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high priest that discovered the Book

of the Law during the days of Josiah.

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Jeremiah heavily relied upon

the assistance of a scribe

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named Baruch ben Naria.

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And even when circumstances got extremely

difficult, Baruch stood by him, recording

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Jeremiah's sermons, prophecies, and

words throughout his ministry You

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won't be surprised that the purpose of

Jeremiah is to encourage God's chosen

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people to repentance and to explain

why judgment has fallen upon them.

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As Jeremiah reveals God's heart for

them, He also reveals that God has

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been faithful to them the entire time.

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It's been their sin that

has required discipline.

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Because Jeremiah's words so piercingly

portray the impact of our sin and so

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tenderly exhibit God's intimate love

for us, Today, we're going to largely

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focus on God's words through him

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There's such an opportunity

for conviction when we hear God

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describe the impact of our sin.

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And I hope that as I read Jeremiah's

words, you ask yourself, " Am I

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deeply grieved by the sin around me?"

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Whether it's our own sin, the sin of those

we love, or the sin of the nation we call

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home, I pray these words encourage us to

evaluate our own devotion to the Lord.

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Are we attempting to follow

God and culture, or does God

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remain first in our hearts?

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This can be a really difficult thing

to teach our kids, and it's often

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the result of maturity in our faith.

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But as we continually pray, we want

our kids to be good soil, That they

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would receive the word of God with

joy and that the trials and pleasures

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of this world would not choke it out

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Jeremiah's life and message can

encourage us to stay true to the Lord

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in the midst of all circumstances

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In chapter one, we're invited

into God's call upon Jeremiah

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It begins with a powerful truth of

just how intimately God knows us.

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Now the word of the Lord came to

me, saying, " Before I formed you

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in the womb, I knew you, and before

you were born, I consecrated you.

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I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

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Then I said, "Ah, Lord God!

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Behold, I do not know how to

speak, for I am only a youth."

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But the Lord said to me, " Do not

say, 'I am only a youth,' for to all

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to whom I send you, you shall go, and

whatever I command you, you shall speak.

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Do not be afraid of them, for I am with

you to deliver you," declares the Lord.

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Then the Lord put out his hand and

touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me,

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" Behold, I have put my words in your mouth.

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See, I have set you this day over

nations and over kingdoms, to pluck

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up and to break down, to destroy and

to overthrow, to build and to plant."

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And the word of the Lord came to me

saying, " Jeremiah, what do you see?"

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And I said, "I see an almond branch."

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Then the Lord said to me, " You

have seen well, for I am watching

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over my word to perform it."

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The word of the Lord came to me a

second time saying, "What do you see?"

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And I said, " I see a boiling

pot facing away from the north."

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Then the Lord said to me, " Out of

the north, Disaster shall be let loose

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upon all the inhabitants of the land.

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For behold, I am calling all the tribes

of the kingdom of the north, declares

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the Lord, and they shall come, and

everyone shall set his throne at the

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entrance of the gates of Jerusalem

against all its walls all around

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and against all its cities of Judah.

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And I will declare my judgments against

them for all their evil and forsaking me.

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They have made offerings to other gods and

worshiped the works of their own hands.

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But you, dress yourself for work.

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Arise and say to them

everything that I command you.

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Do not be dismayed by them,

lest I dismay you before them.

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And I, behold, I make you this day

a fortified city, an iron pillar

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And bronze walls against the whole land,

against the kings of Judah, its officials,

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its priests, and the people of the land.

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They will fight against you, but

they shall not prevail against you.

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For I am with you, declares

the Lord, to deliver you

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When Jeremiah recognizes the almond

branch or the almond tree, the Hebrew word

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derives from the word Meaning to watch.

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And that's why the Lord responds,

"You have seen well, for I am

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watching over my word to perform it."

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Chapter 2 begins the second

section of Jeremiah, which will

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take us all the way to chapter 45.

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These are prophecies

concerning the nation of Judah.

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and chapters two and three recount

Jerusalem's faithlessness to the Lord.

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Like Isaiah 55, God rebukes the

nation for seeking water that

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will not quench their thirst

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chapter two begins, " The word of the

Lord came to me saying, ' Go and proclaim

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in the hearing of Jerusalem, thus

says the Lord, I remember the devotion

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of your youth, your love as a bride.

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How you followed me in the

wilderness, in a land not sown.'

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Israel was holy to the Lord,

the first fruits of his harvest.

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All who ate of it incurred guilt.

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Disaster came upon

them, declares the Lord.

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Hear the word of the Lord, O

house of Jacob, and all the

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clans of the house of Israel.

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Thus says the Lord: What wrong did

your fathers find in me that they

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went far from me and went after

worthlessness and became worthless?

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And in 2:11, " Has a nation changed

its gods, even though they are no gods?

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But my people have changed their

glory for that which does not profit.

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Be appalled, O heavens, at this.

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Be shocked.

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Be utterly desolate," declares the Lord,

" for my people have committed two evils

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they have forsaken me, the fountain

of living waters, and hewed out

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cisterns for themselves, broken

cisterns that can hold no water

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Beginning again In verse 17:

Have you not brought this upon

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yourself by forsaking the Lord your

God when He led you in the way?

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And now, what do you gain by going to

Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile?

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Or what do you gain by going to Assyria

to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

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Your evil will chastise you, and

your apostasy will reprove you.

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Know and see that it is evil and bitter

for you to forsake the Lord your God.

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The fear of Me is not in you,"

declares the Lord God of Hosts.

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How can you say I am not unclean?

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I have not gone after the baals.

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Look at your way in the valley.

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Know what you have done.

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A restless young camel running here

and there, a wild donkey used to

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the wilderness, in her heat sniffing

the wind Who can restrain her lust?

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In 28, God questions, " But where are

your gods that you made for yourself?

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Let them arise if they can save

you in your time of trouble.

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For as many as your cities

are your gods, O Judah."

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In chapter three, Jeremiah begins

calling Judah to repentance because

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God is about to rightfully judge them,

but their repentance could still change

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the course of the discipline required

and the extent to which it's required

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In chapter three, beginning in verse

six, " The Lord said to me in the days

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of King Josiah, ' Have you seen what

she did, that faithless one, Israel?

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How she went up on every high

hill and under every green tree,

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and there played the whore?'

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and I thought, ' After she has

done all this, she will return

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to me,' but she did not return.

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and her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

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She saw that for all the adulteries of

the faithless one, Israel, I had sent

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her away with a decree of divorce.

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Yet her treacherous sister

Judah did not fear, but she

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too went and played the whore."

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Because she took her whoredom lightly,

she polluted the land, committing

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adultery with stone and tree.

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Yet for all this, her treacherous

sister Judah did not return to

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me with her whole heart, but in

pretense," declares the Lord.

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And the Lord said to me, "Faithless

Israel has shown herself more

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righteous than treacherous Judah.

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Go and proclaim these words toward

the north and say, "Return, faithless

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Israel," declares the Lord, " I

will not look on you in anger, for

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I am merciful," declares the Lord.

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" I will not be angry forever.

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Only acknowledge your guilt that you

rebelled against the Lord your God, and

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scattered your favors among foreigners

under every green tree, and that you have

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not obeyed my voice," declares the Lord.

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" Return, O faithless children," declares

the Lord, " for I am your master.

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I will take you one from a

city and two from a family,

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and I will bring you to Zion.

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And I will give you shepherds after

My own heart, who will feed you

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with knowledge and understanding.

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And when you have multiplied and been

fruitful in the land, in those days,

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declares the Lord, they shall no more say,

' The ark of the covenant of the Lord.'

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It shall not come to mind or be remembered

or missed; it shall not be made again.

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At that time Jerusalem shall be called

the throne of the Lord, and all nations

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shall gather to it, to the presence of the

Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more

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stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

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In those days, the house of Judah

shall join the house of Israel, and

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together they shall come from the

land of the north to the land that

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I gave your fathers for a heritage.

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And Jeremiah cries out in 3:23

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"Return, O faithless sons.

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I will heal your faithlessness.

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Behold, we come to you, for

you are the Lord our God.

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As I mentioned, we want to be good

soil, and the analogy that God provides

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in chapter four aligns with that

picture of our hearts being like soil

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For thus says the Lord to the men of

Judah and Jerusalem, " Break up your

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fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

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Circumcise yourself to the Lord.

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Remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men

of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem.

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Lest my wrath go forth like fire,

and burn with none to quench it,

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because of the evil of your deeds."

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Then I said, 'Ah, Lord God, surely

you have utterly deceived this

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people and Jerusalem, saying, " It

shall be well with you," whereas the

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sword has reached their very life.'"

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But in God's response, he assures

that Israel and Judah brought this

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upon themselves Your ways and your

deeds have brought this upon you.

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This is your doom, and it is bitter.

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It has reached your very heart

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You might be surprised that it

seems Jeremiah questions the

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Lord's motives and his intentions.

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This is one of the most complex verses

to interpret in the Book of Jeremiah

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because God certainly does not deceive

and does not lie, but he has allowed

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false prophets to emerge in the

nation that were promising them peace.

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However, you and I have read over and over

that his true prophets were definitely

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warning of the impending judgment

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Now let's conclude with some

portions from chapter five where

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God explains exactly what the

nation has done to deserve judgment

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Oh Lord, do not your eyes look for truth?

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You have struck them down,

but they felt no anguish.

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You have consumed them, but

they refused to take correction.

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They have made their

faces harder than rock.

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They have refused to repent."

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Then I said, "These are only the poor.

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They have no sense, for they

do not know the way of the

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Lord, the justice of their God.

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I will go to the great and will speak

to them, for they know the way of

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the Lord, the justice of their God."

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But they all alike had broken the yoke.

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They had burst the bonds

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How can I pardon you?

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Your children have forsaken me and

have sworn by those who are no gods.

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When I fed them to the full,

they committed adultery and

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trooped to the houses of whores.

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They were well-fed, lusty stallions,

each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

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Shall I not punish them for those things?

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Declares the Lord.

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And shall I not avenge myself

on a nation such as this?

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And in eleven through fifteen, " For

the house of Israel and the

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house of Judah have been utterly

treacherous to me," declares the Lord.

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" They have spoken falsely of the Lord

and have said, 'He will do nothing.

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No disaster will come upon us,

nor shall we see sword or famine.

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the prophets will become wind.

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The word is not in them.'

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Thus shall it be done to them

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Therefore thus says the Lord, the God

of hosts: because you have spoken this

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word, behold, I am making my words in

your mouth of fire, and this people

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wood, and the fire shall consume them.

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behold, I am bringing against you a

nation from afar," declares the Lord, " O

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house of Israel," declares the Lord.

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" It is an enduring nation.

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It is an ancient nation, a nation

whose language you do not know, nor

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can you understand what they say.

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But even in those days, declares the

Lord, I will not make a full end of you.

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And when your people say, " Why has the

Lord our God Done all these things to us?"

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You shall say to them, " As you have

forsaken me and served foreign gods

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in your land, so shall you serve

foreigners in a land that is not yours."

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" Declare this in the house of

Jacob, proclaim it in Judah.

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Hear this, O foolish and senseless

people, who have eyes but see

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not, who have ears but hear not.

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Do you not fear me?"

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declares the Lord.

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" Do you not tremble before me

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I placed the sand as the

boundary for the sea, a perpetual

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barrier that it cannot pass.

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Though the waves toss,

they cannot prevail.

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Though they roar, they

cannot pass over it.

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But this people has a

stubborn and rebellious heart.

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They have turned aside and gone astray

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They do not say in their hearts, " Let

us fear the Lord our God, who gives

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the rain in its season, the autumn rain

and the spring rain, and keeps for us

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the weeks appointed for the harvest."

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Your iniquities have turned these away,

and your sins have kept good from you

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Heavenly Father, we come before you with

an awareness of the depth of our sin.

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We hear the way that our iniquities

grieve you, separate us from you, and

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prevent good from happening to us.

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We pray we would be quick to

repent and that our hearts

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would be tender toward you.

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Break up any fallow ground in our heart

that we would be quick to hear your

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call to repent We also plead that you

would bless our children with a desire

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to be faithful to you, and a maturity

and awareness that the pleasures of

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this world are like empty cisterns.

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They can only provide fleeting happiness

Help them to understand that you are the

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only source of true joy and satisfaction

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train them to seek you wholeheartedly.

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We pray against syncretism

in our own lives.

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We long for you to have first

place and to be our consistent

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source of wisdom and joy.

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Thank you for revealing your heart

to us in your Word, and we pray

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it moves us to stay steadfast

to our Savior, Jesus Christ.

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it's in His name that we pray.

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Amen