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Rev Graham Harrison           Sunday September 26th 2004 a.m.

Jeremiah 6

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein. Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken [Jer. 6:13-17].

These verses enable us to understand two things. First of all, why it was that Jeremiah was so hated. He did not pull any punches; he called a spade a spade. He said what he had to say plainly and directly, whether or not people liked it and whatever they did to him. He knew that he had this commission from God and, therefore, he faithfully declared the word of God. But there is another thing ó although the people did not want to listen, they found that they were fascinated by him.

His ministry is one of the longest ministries of all the Old Testament prophets; it is at least forty years. You can work out that his call to prophetic office took place in 627 BC and forty years later the city of Jerusalem finally fell to the Babylonians. It was a few years later that Jeremiah was taken down into Egypt. During all of that period he was prophesying what was essentially the same message. In one sense people might have been fed up with it, but they could not get away from it. And again and again they were constrained to listen to what he said, even though they had no intention whatsoever of doing what he was telling them they should do! Each of the last verses of my text ends in a very sad way. Jeremiah gives them instructions ëBut they said, We will not walk therein. Ö We will not hearkení [Jer. 6: 16-17]. He had spoken to them, they had heard and in one sense they had understood what he was saying as it was not complicated. On the contrary it was simple and straightforward, speaking very directly to their immediate experience and situation. There was nothing involved or tortuous about it. They understood well what he was saying, but they said, ëWe are not going in that direction! We will not walk therein! We will not hearken!í

So you have this peculiar ambivalence by way of reaction to the ministry of Jeremiah. First of all people are irritated by it ó but secondly, it is as if they cannot get away from it. They come back to it again and again ó not to succumb to it, not to yield in any sense ó to be yet more irritated and to set their faces, adamantly, against what God, through the prophet, is telling them to do. And these verses give us an insight into the condition of the nation that Jeremiah was called upon to preach to. We know that it comes right at the very end of the independence of Judah. It is the period of the last few kings on the throne of Judah ó Josiah, a very godly king, who was killed in 621 BC; and after him came a succession of his descendents each one of whom was a disaster! They were ungodly men. Jeremiah had dealings with them but they did not want to do what he was telling them to do.

So here is the nation going further and further away from God, hovering on the brink of judgment. Yet it is as if they will not see what God is saying to them. I do not think it would be unfair to say that God has virtually reached the point of exasperation with them! Earlier in the chapter the nation is described and then God says this: ëTherefore I am full of the fury of the LORD; I am weary with holding in: I will pour it out upon the children abroad, and upon the assembly of young men together: for even the husband with the wife shall be taken, the aged with him that is full of daysí [v.11]. So God is speaking plainly to the people. He is telling them that this is the last opportunity of amending their ways and obeying what He is calling upon them to do. But they will not listen so Jeremiah describes for us the condition of the land.

Perhaps we could summarise it like this ó there is a universal sin of covetousness amongst them. ëFor from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousnessí [v.13]. If you wanted to put it in modern terms you would not use the term ëcovetousnessí but would speak of ëmaterialismí ó people are living for the here and the now. Do you remember that phrase that was popularised by a prime minister almost fifty years ago ëYou have never had it so good!í In one sense that would have been true of these people in Judah at this time ó economic prosperity and so on; they had plenty but they wanted more. And ëfrom the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness.í Is it not remarkable how something written two thousand six hundred years ago leaps right across the centuries and speaks directly and immediately, without the need of interpretation, or somebody to explain its hidden meaning. It is so clear, so obvious, so direct; it speaks to us today with as every bit as much relevance as when Jeremiah first spoke it, more than six hundred years before the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world.

Then not only was there that universality of materialism but also a spirit of falsehood was abroad ó and that on the part of those who should never indulge in it: ëfrom the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falselyí [v.23]. Jeremiah is saying something like this: ëThe religious establishment ó the ones to whom instinctively you ought to be able to turn, and from whom you should have clear and authentic directions as to how you are to live ó they are speaking falsehood to you!í Again, I need hardly make the contemporary application. When did you last hear somebody on the radio or television, who is one of the eminent religious leaders of the day, coming out with words that are directly true and relevant f rom the word of God to our nation today? Anything but that! Dealing falsely ëfrom the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falselyí [v.23].

Or he puts it another way: ëThey have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peaceí [v.14]. In other words what they are coming up with is a sort of superficial answer. They realise that there is trouble, there is a need, people are in difficulties; so something has to be done to help them! So, out they come with their superficial diagnoses and corresponding remedies. Imagine, for example, that you were desperately ill. You had all sort of pains, you felt out of sorts and were apprehensive about the future and you went to your doctor. And what he did was to give you a heavy dose of painkillers so that you no longer felt the pain. In addition he gave you something that had the effect of making you feel a lot better ó some sort of tonic that boosted you psychologically and you went from the surgery and from the pharmacy exclaiming, ëWhat a marvellous doctor, he is! I have not felt as good as this for years!í But of course he had not dealt with the disease; all he had done was to palliate the symptoms! And that really is what Jeremiah is saying here; ëThey have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace!í Do not worry; things are not too bad. Do not listen to those rather gloomy, depressing men, like Jeremiah, who always warn you about sin and the judgment of God. It is not going to happen. Things are not quite right with you, but we will give you a little bit of medication that will sort that out! Peace, peace! But Jeremiah says, ëThere is no peaceí [v.14] and he knew that these people were betraying their calling before God. They were mouthing a lie and calling it truth.

What happens then is told us in the next verse: ëWere they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blushí [v.15]. Two chapters later, the very same words come again: ëWere they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blushí [Jer. 8:12]. What Jeremiah is doing is to say something like this, ëLook at the nation. Look at the things that are going on! And look at menís faces ó is there any evidence of shame? Are they blushing? Is there anything that gives away an indication that their conciences are smiting them? No!í he says, ëneither could they blush.í Now we all know what blushing is. You can blush for two reasons. First of all, and some of us might suffer from this, you blush because you are embarrassed, perhaps for no reason at all. Somebody has identified you in a crowd and the first thing that happens is that you feel your face getting a little bit hot. If you looked in the mirror you would see that your cheeks were red and you were blushing. Some people seem to be prone to that ó and there is nothing wrong with that. You might say that it is unfortunate but if that is why you blush there is no need to feel guilty.

But there is another reason why men should blush ó it is when they have done something shameful and it is pointed out to them. They are convicted and they feel ashamed, so ashamed that the same physiological process takes place, blood seems to flow to their cheeks and they look red. Oh, they are so ashamed of what they have done. What a terrible state it is when men can no longer blush! What they have done is shameful but they do not see it like that. Is that not a picture of our nation today? Turn on virtually any television programme; listen to the language that they use, see what you read in newspapers and magazines. Go into any newsagents and look at the pictures on the covers óthe nation has forgotten to blush! It was like that in Judah about six hundred years before the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ and Jeremiah is warning them. He says that what is going to happen is that the inevitable judgment of God is going to come down upon them. Now that was the assessment that Jeremiah made. He believed it, he spoke it; people heard it and understood it ó but then abominated him for daring to say things like that!

But I want particularly to set before you is what he said in verse sixteen: ëThus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see (or look) ó stand at the cross roads, I think some translate it, and look ëand ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.í Now do you remember the words which were spoken to God by Jeremiah when he was called? They are recorded for us in the opening chapter of this book and his task was described for him. It was a daunting task but this was what he was called to do: ëSee, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plantí [Jer. 1:10].

Notice the order in which these things are mentioned ó there was that work of destruction, but that was not the object ó the object was reconstruction. The object was not simply to smash down but to build up ó but he knew that unless there was that breaking down there would be no building up. This is the great story of the gospel. When it comes to us first of all, it does not flatter us. It does not tell us how good we are; it does not give us a big pat on the back and congratulate us assuring us that we are doing rather well. The opposite happens; it smashes us up and convicts us of our sin. It makes us see the mess that our lives are in before ever we come to God. It is only when a person is broken down and, you might say, his life lies in ruins about him, it is only then that he realises how much he needs God. Then God comes and builds up! There is a work of deconstruction in order that the positive work of construction might take place.

But, thank God, that is what Jeremiah is telling us here. He has moved on from the deconstructive aspect, as it were, to tell the people what they are to do. There is a common myth about Christianity that seems to abound in many areas ó they say, ëIt is all so negative! It is against this; it is against that! Go through the Ten Commandments and almost every one of them has the word not written into it. Ohí, men say, ëThat is typical! God is against you! God has not got anything good to say about you; God just wants to put you down!í So they tend to dismiss Christians and Christianity as something negative and destructive. And it is a total misrepresentation, of course. Yes, there is this message of deconstruction ó but it fits into this overall scheme. Why does God say that? Why is there that negative aspect? It is to bring home to men their need of the positive input of God; to bring them to an end of themselves; to convict them of their sin; to persuade them that they do not have what it takes ó and that therefore they need the grace of God and the mercy of God!

Now the Bible goes on to speak about that, which is what Jeremiah is doing here and that is what he is calling upon them to do! ëStand ye in the ways!í It is almost as if he is telling them, ëGet up to the cross-roads! Stand ye in the cross-roads and see! Look! Take a look around there! See what are the options; see what the signposts are saying. Where are you going? What it is that God wants you to do? What are the different possibilities that are before you? Earlier this summer my wife and I were on holiday in Barbados. We hired a vehicle ó I hesitate to call it a car because it did not have a door, or windows, apart from the windscreen. They called it a mini-moke. It was fine when the sun was shining, you did not get overheated because the wind came in. But if it rained there was trouble and it did rain sometimes. I got used to carrying a towel and sitting on the towel and throwing it over my lap! But the trouble with the road s in Barbados was this ó they did not have signposts. Or rather they had two signposts and a girl who was helping us the first day that we were there said, ëYou will always know where you are because there are two signposts. One says, TO THE CITY and the other says FROM THE CITY.í So you knew which side of the road to stand if you wanted to catch a bus that would take you from the city or to the city; the city being the main town on the island, Bridgetown. But where you were going from the city, well, your guess was as good as mine! And we wanted to go to different places; I had a basic map but when you came to a road junction which way should you go, left or right? It was even worse if there were three or four possibilities. You did not know what to do. The first thing I would do, were I the minister of transport in Barbados, would be to have a blitz on putting up signposts so that at least you knew where you were!

Jeremiah is saying: Go stand ó stand at the crossroads. Look at the various signs and see where each road is going. Think about it. ëStand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk thereiní. You see there are a number of possibilities when you stand at the crossroads; you are faced with different choices. There may be a road that seems very popular, everybody is going along it ó and that certainly is true today, isnít it! People just vote with the crowd, they go with the flow, as the saying is. But where? Oh they do not know, but everybody is going along it. I remember once we were in Toronto and we were walking back to the place where we were staying after the Sunday morning service. Suddenly a coach pulled up at the side of the road and people poured out of it and went into a hotel that was adjacent to the pavement. I looked up and read the notice on the bus, which said ëMystery Tourí. Then there was a smaller notice which said, ëWe Do Not Know Where We Are Going But We Are Having A Great Time!í I thought if ever there was a parable typical of men and women today that was it. ëMystery tour ó we do not know where we are going but we are having a great timeí. What is the destination? Surely that is the important question! Oh no, no! It is a mystery, ó we do not know where we are going but we are enjoying the journey. It is living for the here and the now and not looking on to the future and what is going to come.

So you need to stand at the crossroads, as it were. You need to do what we had to do when we were in Barbados. Eventually I got so frustrated that I decided that the only thing to do is to ask somebody. It is very humiliating to say, ëExcuse me, please could you tell me where we are?í Here is this great tourist, driving round the nation and he does not know where he is and he has to ask one of the local inhabitants, ëPlease tell me where we are!í Then the next question, ëWill you tell me how to get to Öí and I would point out somewhere on the map to him. Is that not exactly what Jeremiah is saying? ëStand ye in the ways, and see, and ask.í And ask what? ëAsk for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein and ye shall find rest for your soulsí. When you are faced with a choice, you need to ask certain questions. You need to ask first of all, ëWhat is the destination? Where is that road going? Secondly you need to ask, ëIs there anything true and authentic about that particular route? Not simply ëIs it new?í ó I think that would have been typical of Jeremiahís time. I think of those people of whom you read in Acts 17, the inhabitants of Athens, who were always after something new [Acts 17:21]. They wanted to listen to the apostle Paul, until they heard what he had to say; then they laughed at what he was preaching. But, ësomething newí, the latest fashion, the latest idea, that was what they were willing to listen to. No, you do not ask ëIs it new?í You ask ëIs it true! Is it right? Where does it lead?í So here Jeremiah is really applying that test: ëStand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old pathsí ó the paths that are tried, the paths that are trusted, the paths that you know lead to a destination that is worth arriving at ó that is what he is telling them. ëAnd walk thereiní ó when you have found that, be obedient, walk along it. And he adds this: ëand ye shall find rest for your soulsí.

You see, none of these other roads give you that. It is not very often that I am in other services in these days and listen to other preachers. You might say it is one of the disadvantages of being a preacher yourself. But whenever I go to a service, there is one thing I am looking for ó I am looking for somebody to speak to my soul. I am not looking for a crowd; I am not looking for excitement and eloquence. Good if you have those things as well, but the important thing is this ó is that man doing my soul any good? Is there the touch of the blessing of God that will get through to my soul? I am sad to say that on many an occasion I discover that does not happen. The man may say things that are true ó but somehow it does not touch your soul! That is the question that you need to ask of the route that you are on, What is it doing for my soul? Where is it leading? What peace, what joy ultimately, is it going to give me? You will have heard in the announcements here every week that there is a meeting for children, aged five to eleven. You notice what it is called? ëOne Wayí. It is a good name; it obviously goes back to the fourteenth chapter of Johnís gospel and the sixth verse: ëJesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by meí [John 14:6].

There is only one way óthat is what Jeremiah is saying: ëStand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.í Nobody but Jesus speaks truth and rest and peace ó but He does. The way that you have embarked upon, where is it leading? That is the question you must ask. Not ëHow do you feel about it at present?í but ëWhat is the destination?í Is it leading me to judgment and hell? Or is it leading me to heaven? Does it bring peace to my soul? What does it do for me at the deepest level? And that is what Jeremiah was seeking to put to the people six hundred years before Christ came from heaven to earth ó and it is what I seek to put to you today.

Amen
 
 

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