Our Beliefs : Sermons : Sermon Archive - 2004 : March 7, 2004
Those Are Strong Words, Prophet!
Lent 2
If you've ever watched classic Westerns, you know that every classic Western had to have certain scenes in it to make it any good. You couldn't call it a good Western if it didn't have at least one pistol duel at high noon on Main Street, at least one big shoot-out, and at least one huge brawl in a saloon in which every table and window were destroyed. You could almost tell when any of those scenes was coming as well. You knew that fight in the saloon was coming if the hero of the movie was at the bar minding his own business and a shady-looking character walked in, eyeing the good guy from head to foot, before he came over and said something to the effect of, "I don't think this town is big enough for the two of us, and I know that I'm not leaving." The good guy couldn't let that go, so he would reply with something like, "Those are some pretty strong words, stranger." Inevitably, one of the men would throw the first punch, and soon everyone in the saloon would be punching the guy who just happened to be sitting next to him.
Strong words always tend to get someone angry. That was the case in our text this morning. Except in this case, it was the good guy, the Prophet Jeremiah, who had the strong words to say, and it was the people of Judah who said, "Those are some pretty strong words, prophet." But Jeremiah didn't let that threat deter him from his task. He told them that the words he came to speak were words of judgment, but he also said that they were words of promise. We will do well to listen to these strong words from the Prophet Jeremiah ourselves and praise God that he spoke them to us as well.
Jeremiah spoke his strong words just before our text. He said, "This is what the LORD says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth." By this time in Israelite history, the Northern Ten Tribes of Israel had already been taken away and dispersed throughout the Assyrian empire, never to return again. They had rejected the Lord, so the Lord rejected them and gave them what they deserved. Now the southern tribes of Judah were soon to follow in their brothers' footsteps if they did not repent of their sins and turn to the Lord. Jeremiah was one of the prophets the Lord sent to turn his people back to him before it was too late. Shiloh had been the town where the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant had been placed after the Israelites entered Canaan, but because God’s people turned away from him, he had the Philistines destroy the city. If they didn't listen to Jeremiah's strong words of judgment, the same would happen to them. But no one was listening to him.
You know how annoying and upsetting it can be when you have a very important thing to say but no one listens to you. Suppose you find a cure for cancer and everyone just ignores you. Now imagine that you had the cure for cancer and you tried to tell the world of your great discovery for a whole lifetime, but still no one would listen. You would feel like a failure, and I'm sure you would not feel too warm toward your fellow human beings for rejecting your important words. Well maybe that gives you an idea of how Jeremiah felt during his entire lifetime. He was a prophet sent by God to declare God's anger at a people who had turned away from him in sin. But no one listened. They just continued as if this great prophet were not even there.
If you think of people who had the greatest effect on the world, you might think of great thinkers like Plato or Aristotle whose ideas have shaped Western civilization up to the present day; you might think of inventors like Alexander Graham Bell who invented the telephone which is such an integral part of society still years after he died; you might think of world leaders like Alexander the Great or Julius Caesar or Charlemagne all of whom founded great empires. They were successes at what they did. They are remembered even thousands of years after they lived. If Jeremiah were not remembered in Scripture, you never would know the name today because he was, for all practical purposes, a failure. He is even known as the weeping prophet because all the strong words he said during his whole difficult ministry went unheeded. The people of Israel continued in their sins and they were soon carried away into captivity and Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed, just as Jeremiah had foretold.
When you look at this portion of Scripture, you will notice that Jeremiah's worst enemies were the ones who should have known better and should have been listening to the Lord -- the priests and other prophets. They were the religious leaders of the people, yet they were the ones who said, "This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!" The people were more concerned about their city and their temple than they were about how their hearts were with God. Jeremiah responded, "If you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it."
Can you think of anyone later on who would be opposed by the same group of people and had the same response to his message? Jesus himself. Throughout Jesus' ministry, the Pharisees and priests and scribes -- those who should have known better because they were studying the Scriptures every day -- they were the same ones who rejected Jesus' words and so rejected him as their Savior. When Jesus was on trial in front of the Jewish people, "The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowd...to have Jesus executed...And all the people answered, 'Let his blood be on us and on our children!' " (Matthew 27:20,25) The Jewish people had God's word and the prophets to speak that word and Jesus himself who called them to repentance, but for the most part they rejected him.
We would have expected God's people in the Old Testament to know better. What about God's people in the New Testament? Are there times when we don't like what God's strong word has to tell us? Are there times when we say to ourselves, "I know God's word tells me not to do this thing, but I really don't see it as being all that sinful"? Are there times when we think, "I know it isn't God-pleasing what I'm doing right now, but I'll shape up next week or I'll go to church this upcoming Sunday and everything will be fine between God and me"? Think again. That's not the attitude of a believer. If we have thought such things, we need to think again, that's what the word, "repent" literally means: think again. We, as God's people in the New Testament, have to realize that we can fall prey and have fallen prey to the same kinds of sins as God's people did at Jeremiah's time and at Jesus' time. There are times when we just don't want to listen. And because of that, we deserve the same punishment as any sinner: we deserve to have God turn his back on us for an eternity. We deserve to hear strong words of judgment as well so that we realize that our sins are no trifling matter -- that those sins have separated us from God.
But the strong words that the prophet Jeremiah spoke to the people of God in the Old Testament didn't end with a strong word of judgment; they ended with a strong word of promise. Jeremiah said, "Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God. Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you." These were words from God himself promising that his word of judgment was not the last word. God's final word to a sinful world was that he took his own judgment upon himself and sent his own Son to pay for the sins of the world. The Apostle John wrote in his first epistle, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness." We are purified from our sins because Jesus, God's Son, looked on us despicable sinners and loved us. It's amazing that anyone could love something so ugly with sin. But it's even more amazing that he would give up his own life to save us from those sins. Jesus gave up his own perfection as God's own Son, and gave it to you and me. Jesus then took all the punishment that you and I deserved because of our sins, and said, "Let their punishment be upon me." One who was totally innocent gave up his lifeblood for those who were totally guilty.
Jeremiah could have done nothing if they wanted to kill him. He even told them that his life was in their hands. But with Jesus it was different. He could have struck down anyone who spit on him. With a thought he could have broken free from his bonds and taken revenge on all his captors and all his enemies who were trying to kill him. His life was in his own hands. He didn't retaliate. Even though he was completely innocent, he allowed his enemies to shed his blood so that he could pay for the sins of the world. The people shouted out, "Let his blood be on us and on our children." Unfortunately, they didn't see how much they needed that blood to be on them. As Paul told the Romans, "We are now justified through his blood." We rejoice that Jesus blood is on us because that is the only way that God can look on us sinners and declare us to be righteous.
The people in Jeremiah's day rejected his strong word. The people in Jesus' time rejected his strong word as well. People will reject our strong word when we call them to repentance as well. But even in the midst of people rejecting God's word of judgment, we know that he will lead some to repentance and faith in him as their Savior. We have his word of promise on that in Isaiah: "The word that comes from my mouth will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it."
When we tell people God's word of judgment and repentance today, people may say, "Those are some pretty strong words," but may the Lord also use his words spoken through us to turn hearts to him and trust his word of promise that tells them that their sins are forgiven. We can proclaim those strong words boldly because we know that word of promise and forgiveness ourselves. Amen.
