Jeremiah’s Plea Jeremiah 3:1-5 Introduction

1 Jeremiah 's Plea Jeremiah 3:1-5 . Introduction We have been analyzing Jeremiah 's sermon (chapter 2:1- 3:1-5 ). In the closing section of Jeremiah 2:29-37 Jeremiah lists a series of reasons for God's discipline, God's chastisement, God's correction; and how Judah had rejected God's discipline. The people complained and rebelled; persecuted the prophets, desired to be free of the Lord and His commands or demands which they saw as restraints or limitations (Christianity is no fun!). They wanted to be free to roam the orchards and vineyards of false philosophies and man made religions. They forgot the Lord for days on end; imagine a woman who forgets her jewelry on her wedding day; their moral compass no longer pointed to true north; the nation became a cesspool of iniquity; the people exploited the poor and the weak; they justified their sinful behavior; they complained to be innocent in spite of all of the evidence; the people believed their sins were not severe enough to warrant rejection; they turned anywhere and everywhere except to the one place they needed to turn; to the Lord!

2 And since they people put their trust in idols, in political powers and in human beings; the frustration would only increase; because unbelievers and unbelief provide no help. Jeremiah 's sermon will take a different direction. The themes will include divorce, disobedience and destruction. Chapter 3 consists of an illustration and an invitation and a prediction. Jeremiah will use the analogy of God's relationship to Israel like an innocent husband who divorces his wife. The wife has been deeply involved in adultery. But the husband, because of his great love will seek to restore his fractured marriage. The people needed to repent. Jeremiah 's appeal takes the form of a series of reasons.

3 1. The Lord loved the people; and in spite of their wickedness and unfaithfulness; the Lord was willing to receive them back to Himself. 2. The people were guilting of defiling and polluting God's inheritance the land; prostitution was everywhere, adultery, fornication, both literal and spiritual (idolatry). The land and it's people were like defiled spiritual dumpsters; with people throwing their garbage out and their sinful behavior like piles of trash were reaching to the heavens. 3. The people refused to learn from God's spiritual discipline and correction; that spiritual discipline and correction took the form of weather phenomena; including the absence of rain; and the people would not take the hint and continued to sin; they were not ashamed or repentant.

4 4. The people's lives were marked by hypocrisy. They called God My Father ; they assumed God's discipline would be brief, superficial, and they continued to give to praise God with their lips but their hearts were far from Him. Divorce Jeremiah 3:1 (NKJV) They say, If a man divorces his wife, 1. Jeremiah 's Plea Jeremiah 3:1-5 . And she goes from him And becomes another man's, May he return to her again? Would not that land be greatly polluted? But you have played the harlot with many lovers;. Yet return to Me, says the Lord. Who are they ? Jeremiah was a priest who came from a family of priests. The Law of Moses forbade a man from divorcing his wife, marrying another, and then returning to the wife divorced.

5 Deuteronomy 24:1-4 (NKJV) 1 When a man takes a wife and marries her, and it happens that she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some uncleanness in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, 2when she has departed from his house, and goes and becomes another man's wife,3if the latter husband detests her and writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house, or if the latter husband dies who took her as his wife,4then her former husband who divorced her must not take her back to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord, and you shall not bring sin on the land which the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance.

6 A man who divorced his wife; who then remarried; according to the Law of Moses was not allowed to return to her. The Law of Moses condemned marriage partners from drifting from one failed relationship to the next; and then returning to the original partner; the Lord saw this as immoral and unacceptable. But what of God's people who have drifted from deity to failed deity? The Lord's love is great. The Lord's mercy is wide. The Lord has every right to put His unfaithful spouse away. Faults are thick where love is thin; and faults are thin where love is thick. Instead of rejecting His people; the Lord patiently called to them to return and be restored as His wife. Part of the point of this passage is to remind the reader of the great difficulty of restoring a relationship that has been marred by unfaithfulness.

7 Israel and Judea's actions made reconciliation very difficult. Confession of sin from a truly repentant heart can bring a flood of forgiveness for the wayward Christian. Jesus hates sin and loves sinners! The Bible speaks of perfect love casting out fear. Perfect love is.. Slow to suspect--quick to trust Slow to condemn--quick to justify Slow to offend--quick to defend 2. Jeremiah 's Plea Jeremiah 3:1-5 . Slow to expose--quick to shield Slow to reprimand--quick to forbear Slow to belittle--quick to appreciate Slow to demand--quick to give Slow to provoke--quick to conciliate Slow to hinder--quick to help Slow to resent--quick to forgive Jeremiah 3:2 (NKJV) 2 Lift up your eyes to the desolate heights and see: Where have you not lain with men?

8 By the road you have sat for them Like an Arabian in the wilderness;. And you have polluted the land With your harlotries and your wickedness. In the desolate heights were the temples and shrines and altars to the false gods. Even common prostitutes waited for lovers to come to them; but Judea actively sought out partners in crime. Judea pursued false gods and repeatedly committed adultery. The people of Israel and Judea have not abandoned the Lord for one other lover; but several lovers. The text also seems to incorporate the idea that there is no place in the land left untouched by Judea's wickedness. Adultery will do that. It touches and effects every part of the marriage.

9 Jeremiah likens Judea to wayside prostitute constantly soliciting clients. In New Orleans and Reno and Atlantic City it is easy to find people asking, Do you want to party? . Jeremiah uses the analogy or illustration of an Arabian pirate, lying in wait for some unsuspecting traveller to plunder the caravan. In the book of Genesis we find Tamar by the side of the road and Judea offering his inheritance to be held in trust for sexual favors with his own daughter-in-law. There were few prohibitions in the early church; but the prohibitions did include avoiding meats offered to idols and sexual immorality. Jeremiah 3:3 (NKJV) 3 Therefore the showers have been withheld, And there has been no latter rain.

10 You have had a harlot's forehead;. You refuse to be ashamed. Jeremiah reminds the people that God has gone so far as to altar weather patterns to try and get them to change. With no rain came no crop. No crop no food. The absence of rain brought the presence of pleadings; we have no food! How am I supposed to live? The people complained and pleaded for relief! 3. Jeremiah 's Plea Jeremiah 3:1-5 . The Lord warned Israel in two ways; outwardly by with-holding the rain; and inwardly by allowing her conscience to be seared--with no sense of shame. John Lennon and Yoko Ono released a picture of themselves naked in bed. Like we needed to see that! You have had a harlot's forehead!