1988 Issue 11 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XI - Counsel of Chalcedon
-
Upload
chalcedon-presbyterian-church -
Category
Documents
-
view
216 -
download
0
Transcript of 1988 Issue 11 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XI - Counsel of Chalcedon
-
8/12/2019 1988 Issue 11 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XI - Counsel of Chalcedon
1/3
ible tudy
I 11:1-17) The Preaching of
a
Broken Covenant
A. (11:1-5) TH BREAKING OF
TH
MOSAIC COVENANT
1.
The
charge Jehovah brings
against the church and sutte ofJudah is
that they have transgress,ed the Cove
nant He made with Moses, Exodus 19-
24. Therefore
God
will,' pour out on
Judah the curses of the covenant des
cribed in Leviticus 26 and Oeuteronomy
28.
2. See my study on Jeremiah
and the Covenants
o
Promise in a
previous issue.
3. The purpose of this Mosaic
Covenant
of
redemption by atonement,
reconstruction by law and reconciliation
by the Temple was
to
make Israel fully
aware that she is God's property, of
whom
he is creating a kingdom of
priests and a holy nation, Exod. 19:5-6;
I Pet. 2:5, 9.
4. This covenant has a central
emphasis in Jeremiah's preaching: 3:16;
11:2-10; 14:21; 22:9; 31:31-33; 32:40;
33:20-25; 34:8-18; 50:5. Jehovah will
judge Judah because she has disbelieved
the promises and disobeyed the Jaws of
this covenant.
B. (11:6-8) TH COMMAND TO
PREACH A BROKEN COVENANT
1. Jehovah commissions Jere
miah to preach to Judah that Judah's
basic sin
is
that she has transgressed
God's covenant; that God will judge her
unless she repents; and that God
through Jeremiah calls Judah back tore
newed faithfulness to that covenant. In
like manner America has broken her
covenant with Jehovah; and we must re
pent or suffer the covenant curses.
2. The thrust of biblical preach
ing is: Listen to and obey the voice
of
Jehovah or suffer the consequences. Pro
phetic preaching has two central empha
ses: judgment and mercy (hope), both
in a covenant context
3. Notice that although Judah
has transgressed the covenant, it re
mains in effect, in that the curses are
operative on disobedience, whereas
blessings would be operative on
obedience.
C. (11:9-13)
TH
CONSPIRACY
OF COVENANT BREAKING
1.
God considers covenant-break
ing as a revolt or mutiny against him -
the formal, self-conscious, and insidi
ous uniting
of
the people of a nation
against the God of the Bible. Psalm 2
brings out the international and politi
cal nature of this conspiracy against
Jehovah and his Christ. By means of a
carefully organized plot, apostate Judah
renounced Jehovah's lordship over the
church and state of that nation.
2. Judah followed its more re
cent anti-christian heritage, rather than
its more distant Christian heritage,
which lay right at the foundation of that
nation. National covenant breaking is
not only a change of gods, it is a re-
pudiation of a godly history and founda
tion. t is an all-out attempt to banish
God from a culture.
3. The inescapable consequence
of refusing to hear God's words (in
his
Spirit-inspired prophets and apostles,
and through faithful preaching) is
disaster and the abandonment
of
that
nation by God.
4. Notice the powerlessness and
emptiness of
all
other religions and
idols, vs. 12f. Power, truth, life and
salvation are to
be found in Christianity
alone.
5. See Gary North's
Conspiracy:
Biblical View Dominion Press,
1986, Ft. Worth, Texas.
D. (11:14-17) THE ABANDON
M NT OF COVENANT-BREAKERS
BY JEHOVAH
1. The stress here is on the emp
tiness of meaningless rituals and sacri
fices carried out day by day but divorced
from obedience to Jehovah. "The mere
offering of a sacrifice in the belief that
Yahweh thereby satisfied reduced
religion
to
little more than supersti
tion."--Thompson. Apply this
to
the
use of rosaries and the misuse of the
Lord's Supper.
2. Judah was once a beautiful
tree, but now its foliage is set on frre
and its branches burned up. Jehovah
himself, who planted this little tree,
ignites the fire because
of
her evil.
t is
a terrible thing to fall into the hands
of
an angry God.
II. 11:18-23) The Response of
Apostles
to
Prophetic Preach
ing
A.
(11:18-20)
TH
DISCOVERY
OF THE PLOT AGAINST JERE
MIAH'SLIFE
1. A plot
to
murder Jeremiah
was instigated by his own family at
Anathoth. This shocked Jeremiah. and
led him to some deep soul searching
about his own mission and the meaning
of
life in general.
2. For any man to be rejected by
his society like this, brings much grief.
And yet, often, this is the price we are
called upon to pay for being true to our
pivine calling.
Page12
The Counsel of Chalcedon, November, 1988
-
8/12/2019 1988 Issue 11 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XI - Counsel of Chalcedon
2/3
B. (11:21-23) THE RESPONSE OF
GOD TO
THE
RESPONSE OF
APOSTATES TO PROPHETIC
PREACIDNG
1.
(11:21) The powerful denun
ciation of Israel's past and present fail
ure to please God was quite incompre
hensible to the men of Anathoth; and
Jeremiah,
who
denounced the nation's
sin, had brought serious disgrace upon
the village which gave him birth and
shelter. Such a man was worthy of
death. -- Thompson. Such people
are
threats to the humanists today and are
viewed by them as the real terrorists of
the modem world. A book
has
been
written about us, the religious Right,
called
HOLY
TERROR.
2. God
vindicates his people.
His reaction
to
the plot
of
Anathoth
was decisive. He visited them with
terrible judgment. The town did not sur
vive. To this day the cite of Anathoth
has not been excavated.
i l l
(12:1-6) The Humble Com
plaint ,of Jeremiah
A (12:1-2) THE AGE-OLD
PROBLEM: WHY DO THE WICKED
PROSPER, WHILE THE RIGH
TEOUS ARE OPPRESSED? SEE
PSALM37.
1.
The context
of
the complaint:
Jehovah is righteous, i.e., he is always
just and he never acts out of accord with
his holy
character revealed in his law.
2.
The complication of the
situation: In verse 2, Jeremiah says
that God himself causes the wicked
to
prosper.
3.
Those whom God prospers
speak of God with great familiarity, yet
their knowledge of God goes no farther
than their mouths.
It
has not penetrated
their inner
life.
B. (12:3-4) THE SOURCE OF
JEREMIAH'S COMFORT: THE
SEARCHER OF ALL HEARTS
KNOWS
JEREMIAH'S HEART
(Jeremiah's question remained
unanswered; but where he does not
understand God he trusts him to act
justly.)
(Continued on page 24)
The Counsel of Chalcedon, November,
1988
\)(
~ e n -
THINI- -..
{1-lf.
O f M O U ~ T S
ARE: Gf:TitNG
THfiR fV\f:SSA0
AC.f\OSS?
P a g e 1 3
-
8/12/2019 1988 Issue 11 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part XI - Counsel of Chalcedon
3/3
War on Drugs
Continued from page
11
tions. What were those commands
which they were setting aside? Jesus
explains in the next verse: For Moses
said, 'Honor your father and mother,'
and, 'Anyone who curses
his
father
or
mother must be put
to
death.' Jesus
must have considered this penalty to be
valid still, otherwise, why would he
have rebUked the Pharisees for setting it
aside?
The child who curses his parents is
also referred to as a stubborn and rebel
lious son
....
[who] will not obey in
Deuteronomy 21:18, 20 (cf. Exodus
21:.17). Our founding fathers applied
this principle to any criminal who, be
ing stubborn and rebellious, consistent
ly refused to obey the laws of the land
(cf. Deut. 17:8-12). A similar applica
tion could be made to drug pushers who
refuse correction and continue pumping
their dope into the hands of both
children and adults.
n conclusion, America is in a crisis.
Drugs, violence and high recitivism
rates are plaguing our society. But until
we are willing to return to God's laws,
we
will continue facing the s ~ m
problems over and over again. Our
founding fathers affirmed in the
Declaration of Independence that our
American society was built upon the
Laws of Nature and of Nature's God.
As a result, they did not face the monu
mental problems we do today. By return
ing to God's wise principles, such as
citizen involvement and just civil penal
ties, we can help turn the tide
.in
the
War on Drugs.'' ]
Jeremiah
Continued from page
13
C. (12:5-6) THE ANSWER TO
JEHOVAH .TO JEREMIAH'S COM
PLAINT
L 1 2 : 5 ~ 6 ) Although Jeremiah's
and Judah's plight is a hard one, the
worst is yet to come. Jeremiah must
stay on guard, keep faith anc.l courage in
his present sufferings, and r p ~ him
self for far more severe trials to come.
2. (12:7-13) The reason for this
worsening calamity is the worsening de-
The
CCo1Ul ltil eli
o CClhlrul cedlom
Non-Profit Org.
U.S. Postage
PAID
BULK RATE
Pennit
No.
1553
Greenville, SC
.O. Box 888022
Dunwoody, GA 3035,6
29602
ADDRESS CORRECTION
Choose one
The Westminster Confession ofFaith
(The Original Standards)
n Exposition of
the Confession
of
Faith
by Robert Shaw
The Confession ofFaith
by A A Hodge
The Westminster Confession ofFaith
generation of the church and state of
thatday.
D
What
is
Calvinism?
Continued from page
16
at a small part of it. But from what has
been said, you can perceive the puerile
ignorance manifested by those who al
lege atat Presbyterianism was invented
by Calvin.
Con.--Were the Reformers Presbyter
ian in their sentiments and practice?
Min. All the ReformerS, of any
note, agreed upon all the essential
principles
of
Presbyterianism. But
as
Clbteck Yom
Mailing
uool
(above)
f the expiration code next to your
is . Ul or lower, or if there is no code
indicated after your name, we would very
much appreciate a check from you he
amount of $25.00 to cover your
scription for the coming 12 months.
(The stands for November and 88
is
the year) You may choose one of the
books at the left as a free gift with
annual subscription.
our conversation
has
been sufficiently
protracted at this time, we will on some
future occasion examine what history
says on that point.
*See a. very interesting History of the
Waldenses, . illustrated with beautiful. en
grav.ings, published by the Board
of
Pub
lication.
[To be continued)
When you move, please
send
your old and your new adc:h;ess
to The Counsel
of
Chalcedon
3032 Hacienda Ct.
Marietta, GA 30066
a ~ ~
The Counsel
of
Chalcedon, November, 1988