Preached at Bethel Free Presbyterian Church (Enniskillen) at a service marking the 50th anniversary of the opening of the church building.
“And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?” Jeremiah 16:10.
This morning as I looked over my notes, the Lord spoke to me and pointed out some fresh points which I will use as an introduction.
1. It occurred to me that the witness of Jeremiah was very like the witness of the Free Presbyterian Church. Just as he was raised up to protest against apostasy (Jeremiah 1:1-3) so too was the Free Presbyterian Church. God is a Protester! “For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice,” Jeremiah 11:7. Those who protest against apostasy are but following the Lord’s footsteps!
In Jeremiah’s day there was a measure of purging, reformation, restoration and revival. He lived and preached and protested in a day of turning away from God. In the 60s and 70s we saw a breath from heaven but there is nothing of it about today. So it was with Jeremiah. The turning unto God in the early days of his ministry was largely a sham! See Jeremiah 3:10.
2. From the initial stirring there set in a steady decline from God and His truth. Is that not so today? Jeremiah lived to see his country brought into bondage and slavery, chapter 1:3; 2 Kings 24:1-2, 25:1-7.
I. HERE IS THE DUTY OF A PREACHER IN A DAY OF APOSTASY
1. The plainness the preacher must exercise. The apostasy of Jeremiah’s day defined, 1:16. “Thou shalt shew”. The word ‘shew’ means ‘make very conspicuous’. There is to be a very clear displaying of God’s Word. It is the word used in Psalm 19:1. “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” Surely there is not a clearer declaration in all the universe than that displayed above our heads and seen and read of all men. As verse 3 of that Psalm states: “There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.”
Even so is the preacher to be in a day of rebellion against God.
2. Such plainness is called for because of the dullness of understanding amongst the people. I have often marvelled at the length of the sermons of the Puritan preachers, addressing ordinary country folk in sermons that often lasted for two or three hours and which comprised a large number of points in which there was an expounding to a great depth, the deep things of God. Week in and week out these discourses were given to churches filled to overflowing without the least complaint!
In days such as these, that would not be the case. The minds of men and women, bereft of the wonderful grace that was poured out in those days, are incapable of comprehending such preaching.
Consequently, great care is to be taken to set forth God’s truth simply and clearly.
3. Sadly, in a day of apostasy, even many of God’s servants may have little understanding of God’s message. Here God sets out what it is Jeremiah had to say to the people in response to their questions. “Then shalt thou say unto them . . ,” verse 11. How God’s servants need to listen closely to the Lord and fully grasp exactly what His Word for the people is in these days!
This was a fresh revelation to Jeremiah. He did not simply repeat something he had heard before. How many preachers are merely repeating what they learned years ago! They have ceased to hear what the Lord is saying regarding TODAY’S SINS! Consequently, in most pulpits there are but echoes of messages and truths which are not totally relevant to today’s situation. As I heard old Willie Mullan say over 50 years ago, when preaching on the verse: “Then spake Haggai the LORD’S messenger in the LORD’S message unto the people, saying, I am with you, saith the LORD,” Haggai 1:13, that there few preachers who are the LORD’S messengers in the LORD’S message. They may have the Lord’s truth but it is not the message the Lord would have preached today!
I never forgot that simple but wonderful truth.
II. PREACHERS SHOULD BE READY WITH AN ANSWER WHEN CHALLENGED BY DEFIANT CHRISTIANS
“Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law,” verse 11.
1. God’s servants must be acquainted with His mind. What is the mind of God today as He looks upon the activities of His people and the state of society? Few seem to be really aware of it, otherwise there would be much greater concern, much better attended prayer meetings and pulpits would be thundering out the clearest warnings of wrath to come because of the defiance of God seen all around!
2. In answer to the challenges of those who show defiance toward the Lord, boldness is required. Jeremiah was not to shy away and timidly mutter platitudes meant to please those displeased by God’s truth. NO! Jeremiah was to tell forth the truth plainly. “Your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law.”
Few can readily hear criticism of their fathers, even when it comes from the Lord! This criticism was of the most severe kind. The preacher was required to accuse their fathers of rebellion against the Lord and that of the worst form. “Your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law,” verse 11.
Men and women, this is what is taking place in Ulster today. We have the embracing and defending of that which God abominates and that by professing Christians, through their stubborn adherence to organisations and political parties which brazenly defy the Lord. I speak especially of the wickedness of the political and religious endorsement of the vileness of the perversions of the ‘LBGT+’ deviants. Their wickedness is even officially invading the classrooms of the state schools, where many children of Christians attend, and that with little by way of opposition from within the ranks of parents or the education system.
How bold the preacher must be to face these evils. Such boldness is in short measure, hence the silence in many pulpits regarding these matters.
3. This is a ‘doom-ladened’ message. It will not be a popular thing to say these things. Yet, faithfulness and concern for those facing the dreadful consequences of such national sins will open the preacher’s mouth. If, as the Lord here says, “your fathers have forsaken me”, then the consequences are most dreadful! The Bible teaches us the consequences of such actions. Here is one example of what follows such rebellion. “Because they have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, that they might provoke me to anger with all the works of their hands; therefore my wrath shall be kindled against this place, and shall not be quenched,” 2 Kings 22:17. These were the words of Huldah the prophetess. Paise God for godly, faithful women.
III. SUCH PREACHING WILL BRING REPROACH
See 17:15-18.
1. Jeremiah was persecuted. He was terrorised by his opponents
2. He was likely charged with a desire to see the judgment of God on the people. “Neither have I desired the woeful day,” 17:16. “And when he was in the gate of Benjamin, a captain of the ward was there, whose name was Irijah, the son of Shelemiah, the son of Hananiah; and he took Jeremiah the prophet, saying, Thou fallest away to the Chaldeans. Then said Jeremiah, It is false; I fall not away to the Chaldeans. But he hearkened not to him: so Irijah took Jeremiah, and brought him to the princes,” Jeremiah 37:13-14.
3. He did pray that his opponents be dealt with. “Bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction,” This was but just and right. The Lord Jesus pronounced judgments upon His enemies and opponents, Luke 19:43. He, unlike Jeremiah, did not have to pray, He was able to act in judgment.
IV. EVEN IN SUCH A DAY, THERE IS HOPE OFFERED
Verses 14-18.
1. Here is a prophetic truth. Though the Lord will judge His people for their sin, He will not utterly forsake them. Verses 14-15. This a promise of a future deliverance for Israel. It provides us with a pattern of the Lord’s mercy to His own elect. “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand,” Psalm 37:23-24.
Israel will one day be restored despite her great sin. There is hope for those that are the Lord’s people in these days.
2. Here is a pertinent truth. When He has dealt with our transgressions, then He will have mercy. “And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things,” verse 18.
There is a price to be paid for ignoring the Lord and casting aside His truth. Let all be assured of that, the sinner, the backslider, the careless saint.
Only when backsliding is dealt with can there be any hope of restoration and blessing!