SAY IT WITH TEARS - JEREMIAH 7:29-8:3; & 8:18-9:26

JEREMIAH 7:29 - 8:3

Jeremiah 7:29 “‘Cut off your hair and cast it away; raise a lamentation on the bare heights, for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.’

30 “For the sons of Judah have done evil in my sight, declares the LORD. They have set their detestable things in the house that is called by my name, to defile it.

31 And they have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, nor did it come into my mind.

What evil had the people in Jeremiah's time done to cause the Lord to reject and forsake that generation?

[1] v30 - they have defiled the Temple.

[2] v31 They have sacrificed their own children: 2 Kings 16:3; 17:31; 21:6; Psalm 106:34.

A practice God had forbidden - Leviticus 18:21; 20:1-5. Deut 12:31, 18:10

How far does a society have to go before God gives them up? Read Romans 1:22-28.

Who would have thought that the Lord's people would engage in child sacrifice? What have we been doing to our children? They have been failed by parents, failed by social services, failed by the Police; failed by society.

God's wrath will fall on the people in the very place where they have sacrificed their children turning it into a grave yard - v32-33.

He will bring silence to the streets of the cities - v34.

Last century saw two World Wars and Spanish Flue that killed more than the 1st World War. How long before the Lord brings his next major judgement?

Even the bones did not escape - v1-2.

What of the living? They will prefer death - v3.

How would you answer the question: If offering children as a sacrifice then how can it be right for God to sacrifice his own Son?

See John 10v11,15, &17.

JEREMIAH 8:18- 9:26

1. LAMENT FOR A PEOPLE - 8:18-9:3

9v1: "Oh that my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night..."

Hetty Lalleman in the IVP commentary helpfully identifies the speakers in the lament as follows:

v18 Lament of Jeremiah

v19a Listen to Jeremiah

v19b Lament of the people

v19c God's answer

v20 Lament of the people

v21 Lament of the prophet

v22 Lament of the prophet and people

9v1-3 Lament of the prophet or maybe of God

in Gilead the balm from a tree was famous as a perfume and a medicine.

2. NEIGHBOURS, EVERYBODY HAS BAD NEIGHBOURS! 9:4-9

v4 "Let everyone beware of his neighbour"

Further evidence of a breakdown in society.

Lies, deceit, slander, oppression - at the bottom of it all v6 they refuse to know the Lord.

Such behaviour will bring punishment from the Lord - v8-9.

3. LAMENT FOR THE MOUNTAINS, PASTURES & CITIES v10-11

v10 “I will take up weeping and wailing ....and a lamentation..."

God's judgement will be upon the whole nation, nowhere will escape, country and city alike.

4. WHY, WHY, OH WHY - v12-16

v12 "Why is the land ruined and laid waste like a wilderness..."

Because they have forsaken God's law, not obeyed it, nor walked in accord with it and followed their own hearts after Baals - v13-14.

Judgement is coming - v15-16

5. SEND IN THE MOURNERS - v17-22

v17 “Consider, and call for the mourning women to come;

It is a time for mourning. Professional mourners, we meet some in the time of Jesus in Jairus's house. There will be death on a massive scale.

Jeremiah had a real message of judgement.

6. BOASTING IN THE LORD - v23-26

v24 but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me,

The apostle Paul took up these words - 1 Cor 1v26-31 & 2 Cor 10v12-18.

Gals 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Ephesians 2v8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.

Jeremiah is part of the 'Bible' that Jesus and Paul read.Knowing the context of the OT quotes that appear in the NT helps us to better understand them.