3426. A Severe Grievance

A Sermon Published On Thursday, October 1, 1914.

They have forgotten their resting-place. {Jer 50:6}

1. The people of Israel had been hunted so much that they forgot the place where they once rested. The same remark may be made of some congregations. There are Christian people who have the great misfortune of an unchristly pastor. The preaching is eloquent; they are constantly exhorted to do one thing and another; it may be the preaching is intellectual; they are encouraged to speculate on this and that doctrine; or it may happen that the preaching is rhetorical, the people are covered with flowers, the preacher seems to be constantly scattering from himself a display of fireworks, an explosion of dazzling words. There is no revealing of Christ—no opening up of the completeness of the atoning sacrifice—no uplifting of Jesus in his love for his people, in his union with them, in the covenant which he has made on their behalf. Often we have met good people who fretted because the ministry failed to supply them with food for their souls. They could have done without the eloquence; they could have been happy without the new theories, however intellectual; they could have survived if there had been less exhortation: what they wanted was a little food to strengthen them, a little repose to invigorate them, a little faith to encourage them in resting on the finished work of Jesus Christ. Oh! what an account will they have to give who, instead of being shepherds of God’s sending to feed his flock with discretion, and make them lie down in green pastures, come to them as legal taskmasters wielding the rod, but never using the pastoral staff to guide the flocks by still waters! However, I fear, there are some, who though no less troubled, nevertheless forget their resting-place. Let us talk familiarly with each other on this theme.

2. What is our resting-place, beloved? We have only one answer, I am sure. “We who have believed have entered into rest,” but our rest is in Jesus Christ himself. We believed in him, he took away our burden, and we found rest. We bowed our neck to his yoke, became his disciples, and we found even fuller rest for our souls. Not a particle of rest do we get from ourselves, neither does the world contribute to it, for “in the world you shall have tribulation.” All our rest is found in him, for he is our peace, who has said, “It is finished,” and in that finished work we confidently repose. It is possible for us to forget, however, to enjoy the rest which faith has made it our privilege to possess, and, if we do, it is not only a loss to our comfort, but it is a very serious loss to us in all respects. If sheep, under the charge of any, should lose their rest, besides the cruelty to the creatures, and the suffering it would involve them, it would be a serious loss to their owner. A sheep does, after it has been fed, lie down; it must naturally chew the cud. The food it has gathered it must digest in peace, or else it cannot grow fat. It cannot, in fact, be healthy at all. Imagine a field of sheep, in which some worrying dog constantly amused himself by hunting them from end to end. They would become lean and valueless. They would ultimately die. We must have rest. It is important, therefore, not partly and in measure, but to the uttermost degree, that when Christ has become our rest, we should continue to enjoy him and to rest in him. The sense of such need urges me at this time to endeavour to lead you, as God shall help me, to Christ Jesus our rest, by reminding you of some who forget their resting-place. If it should happen to come home to your own souls, may you have grace to escape from the calamity which the text describes.

3. Three things: here is, first, a sin of which to be convinced; secondly, the reason for it to be sought out; and thirdly, its cure to be brought about. “They have forgotten their resting-place.”

4. I. Our first point is:—THIS IS TO BE CONSIDERED A SIN FOR MANY REASONS.

5. Let us remember how dearly our resting-place was purchased for us. To give your soul rest, my brothers, Jesus Christ gave up his rest, and more, his heaven, his throne, his honour, his life. There could never have been any rest for you, a wandering sheep, if the Shepherd had not given himself up as a ransom for the flock. Did it cost him Gethsemane’s bloody sweat? Did it cost him Calvary’s wounds and death? And did you receive it and yet forget it? Have you not often thought that, whatever else might have passed away from your mind, never could the thought of that dying love depart? Yet it has faded on the tablet of your heart; for you have forgotten the priceless blessing which that dying love has procured for you. Oh! chide yourself that Emmanuel’s purchase should be lightly esteemed, that he, your rest, should ever slip away from your thought.

6. Remember, too, how graciously that rest was given to you. My own memories may help yours. I remember well—and did I live to twice the age of Methuselah, I never could forget—the time of my wearisome bondage under the law and under the slavery of sin. Oh! what I would have given then to have had rest, to have had my sins pardoned. I dare to say, I think a thousand deaths would have been cheaply endured by me, if I might have escaped the wrath to come. My burdened soul chose strangling rather than life, because my life had become weariness, and even like wormwood and gall the cup of life had been embittered. But as in a moment, rest came to my soul by a glance at that crucified Saviour. An act of simple faith exercised on Christ’s atonement brought me perfect rest. And shall I forget my resting-place? I am sure, if some spirit prophetic of the future could have whispered in my ear at the time of my conversion, “You will forget your resting-place,” I should quickly have answered, with Hazael, to the prophet, “Is your servant a dog, that he should do this thing?” and I might have said, “Is your servant a devil, that he should ever think of doing such a thing?” “Love so amazing, so divine”—shall this be cast behind my back? A gift so precious, brought to me when I did not deserve it, and just when I most required it, shall it ever be lightly esteemed or carelessly neglected? Oh! memory, let slip what you may, but retain, as with an iron grasp, the memory of that blessed day in which my soul found her resting-place.

7. Beloved, there are other reasons to make this forgetfulness of ours greatly sinful. Truly how sweetly we have enjoyed that rest since then! It was not one day a honeymoon, and then ever afterwards Christ and our souls strangers—oh! no, I speak to some of you who have had many high days and holidays since the time of your conversion; you have feasted on dying love. That banqueting house of Solomon’s Song is a place well known to you; the banner of love that waved over the spouse of old, its silken folds have waved over you also. It was only the other night when some of us were together in prayer and communion with Christ, and we could not help singing:—

 

   My willing soul would stay

      In such a frame as this,

   And sit and sing herself away

      To everlasting bliss.

 

Could we have such enjoyments and yet forget them? such rest in the resting-place, and yet make light of it! Such peace of God that surpasses all understanding, and yet be listless about it! Wretch that I am to wander like this in search of vain delights, to leave the flowing fountain for the broken cisterns, which, if they had been whole, would have been only stagnant reservoirs unworthy to be compared to the clear living stream that bursts from the fountain of fellowship with Christ. Let every sweet season of past spiritual enjoyment gently rebuke you, beloved, if you do at all forget your resting-place.

8. Further, does it not seem strange and incredible that any of us should forget our resting-place, when we so greatly need it? Oh! I think I speak for most of you, when I say it is a weary world after all the mercy that God has made to pass before us; it is a weary, weary world. Solomon, with all his wealth, with all the accessories of pleasure, with all the tastes to enjoy them, deliberately said, “Vanity of vanities; all is vanity.” And I am sure it is easy amid pains and toils, blunders and disappointments, for many of us to utter the same lament. When afflicted in body, distressed with severe labour, or reduced to poverty, we might as well try to find rest on the sea, or on a bed of thorns, or on a bed of flames, as find rest in the things of this world. What weariness of the flesh, what vexation of spirit we endure! Oh! then, why is it we forget our resting-place? Men, jaded and faint with the fatigue and drudgery of labour, are glad to throw themselves on the bed and fall asleep, and you who have much toil and travail under the sun, will you forget that couch that Christ has brought for you, on which your spirits may take delightful repose? With such need for rest, and such a rest so sweetly proven to be restful in the past,

 

   ’Tis strange,

   ’Tis passing strange,

   ’Tis wonderful,

 

that we should ever forget our resting-place.

9. Since our resting-place is so suitable to us, it becomes all the more strange that we should forget it. Suitable for a sinner is a finished salvation, suitable for a warrior is the great shield that covers his head in the day of battle; suitable for a fugitive is that castle and high tower of our defence, which is found in Christ the Lord’s anointed. “The coney goes to her place in the rock, and the stork has her nest among the fir trees.” Oh! you children of God, you have a resting-place suitable to your nature; how is it you can forget it? Touch on the things of nature, how they chide you! Bring to your memory the birds of the air, the beasts of the forest, the dumb, driven cattle accustomed to the yoke, and let them chide you, for they do not forget their resting-place. Carried away to the city the other day the dove was taken from its cage, and they let it loose, fastening to it the message. It mounted aloft, it circled around a while so that it might see where it was. It was far, far away from the dovecot; it was found hundreds of miles away, but where did it fly? Swift as an arrow from the bow, it sought its resting-place with infallibility of affection; it found its nearest way to the dovecot where it had been raised, and brought its message safely there. Will you let the pigeon outstrip you in affection for your resting-place? Look at the swift-winged dove and be ashamed. And even the dog which you despise, taken away from its master, carried many miles away, in darkness, too, so that it might not know its way, has been known to swim rivers, cross roads it could not have known, and there it is found barking for admission at its master’s door; oh! so happy when it heard its master’s voice again. It could not rest elsewhere. Oh! my heart, are you more doggish than a dog? Do you forget your Lord when dogs remember well their masters? Let us learn even from these creatures, I say, and from now on let us not forget our resting-place. Since all ingratitude is base, this sin cannot be light or venial.

10. II. Now, let us ask:—WHAT IS THE REASON FOR THE FORGETFULNESS which we sometimes have of Jesus Christ—our heart’s dear rest?

11. How frequently it arises from neglect of thought, a culpable remissness! So busy, up in the morning, at it, the whirl, the noise, and clatter of business in the ear—always in the ear, every nerve on the strain, right on until one falls asleep through sheer exhaustion! Oh! our times are hard for deep piety; they are hard and trying times for souls that would walk near to Christ. I know more grace can match the evil of the times; but still our Puritan forefathers with their quiet lives, calm and undistracted, with the time they could have for studying the Word of God, and for private prayer—no wonder they outstripped us! I am afraid some Christians neglect the reading of the Word of God, almost as a rule forget it. You do not get your daily text; you do not get your meditation. Ah! souls, if a thing never comes across the mind, it is not remarkable that you should forget it. If any of you are going on a journey, you do not forget your wives; no, they come often across your thoughts; you may forget some stranger whom you saw only once, you may never think of him again. Were the mind more occupied with Christ, there would be less likelihood of our forgetting him! You know, when the photographer takes a likeness, if he does it rapidly, it may be that, eventually, it will fade. If they want to take a picture that shall be definite, fixed, and permanent, they let the sensitive plate continue long exposed to the view so that there may be a good, thoroughly well-fixed impression. I wish that my soul had many opportunities of being like a sensitive plate fixed right in front of Jesus to take his portrait thoroughly, to have it on my soul so that it could never fade away. Oh! to have much more communion with Christ, to contemplate him with steady gaze and undistracted attention is the way to overcome our present forgetfulness. This is a flimsy age—a superficial age. It has its waves of religious excitement; but they are all on the surface. We do not have many of those great ground-swell waves where the ocean of manhood seems to heave up from the very bottom. These are the waves that work wonders for men and glorify God. May we have many such in our own souls.

12. Another reason why we forget our Saviour is our tendency to self-sufficiency. A poor man, who has nothing of his own, and who lives day by day a pensioner on some rich man’s bounty, cannot forget the man who helps him, because if he should forget him this morning, he will be sure to remember him tomorrow morning when he needs food; and he who receives his money weekly might forget his friend on the Tuesday, but he will remember him again on the Saturday, when he needs to go to him again. If we were always aware as we should be of our absolute dependence on Christ for everything, and going to him for everything, there would be no fear of our memories failing us; but we very soon set up a little independency of our own—poor worms as we are—as a brother said in prayer the other night, “Dust heaps”; that is all the very best of us are, poor “dust heaps.” We imagine we are kingdoms, and we talk such great things, and think such big things about our experience and our wisdom! Oh! away with it all! We might well not see the sun when we eclipse him with our self-sufficiency. You poor beggarly worm, naked, poor, and miserable, I counsel you to buy from Christ gold tried in the fire, so that you may be rich, and white robes so that you may be clothed, and go to him again, leaving your self-sufficiency behind you.

13. With others it is worldliness that keeps them from remembering their dear Saviour. They forget their resting-place because they are so worldly, grasping after so much. Enough is not enough for them; they must have more. The early rising and the sitting up late are right enough for industry, but wrong enough for avarice; these are the things that keep the soul from Christ—the acquiring of money rightly if you can, but, in any way, the getting of money. A man cannot live for this, and yet remain in Christ; when the heart gets the world into it, it eats like a canker does. If you will have the world, you shall have it; but you shall not have Christ. Oh! can you make an exchange of Christ for such poor stuff, for such heavy clay? Keep all the world outside your heart. If you keep all the sea outside the ship, it cannot sink. Is the world inside your heart? And a little water there will prove a leak that will sink your vessel—beware of worldliness. Those of you can be worldly that are poor, as well as those who are rich. You may have cares that worry and devour, and keep you from your Saviour. Strive against these; do not be cankered with this canker. Do not love the world, or you cannot walk with Jesus; lay your cares on him who cares for you, and you will come back to your resting-place.

14. I fear that some Christians forget their resting-place through idolatry. “Idolatry?” you say. “We are not idolaters; we are not, even as the Romanists are who will worship their crucifixes or their relics.” No idolatry? No idolatry? Was that not idolatry this afternoon with that boy of yours? Ah! what a boy! Your heart all but adores him, and if he were taken from you, you would feel you could not forgive God. Not idolatry? The other day, when you looked over your fair estate, and all the comforts of life with which God had surrounded you, did you not feel your heart go after these things? Not idolatry? “Little children, keep yourselves from idols,” was once an exhortation of John, and it is also my exhortation to you this evening. We so soon make idols. I am afraid, if an idol breaking were to take place tonight, many of you would go home broken-hearted; or if your idols are at home, you would go home to see them broken, and yourself be ready to despair. There is much idolatry; and if you love son or daughter more than Christ, you are not worthy of him. If you love husband or wife more than Christ, you are not worthy of him. Oh! so be it, that they take low seats, and Christ sits on the throne. Go down, beloved, go down; I love you there as I may and should; but come up, my Saviour, take the highest room, for there you must sit King of kings and Lord of lords.

15. Once more, I do think some genuine Christians forget their resting-place for a while through despondency of spirit. It is sometimes hard to remember our sweet rest in Jesus when we get oppressed. I can speak very feelingly here. There are some of us who carry about with us a constitution which elevates us at times up to the very heavens of delight, and sinks us down at other times very, very low. Those who have high tides must expect to have very dry ebbs. If you mount high, you will fall low sometimes, and then, when the liver will not act, when the spirits will not move, when the whole heart hangs its harp on the willows, it is hard then to come and rest in Jesus. And some feel grinding trouble, or a perpetual affliction of body, until at last they get into a chronic state of sadness. Dear brother, dear sister, before you get there, make a rally, if you can, to get away from it. It is to be escaped from. After all, Christ died for sinners, such as you are. Hang on him, cling to him, come and wash again in the fountain which is filled with his blood; he loves you; he gives himself for you; he never can forget you, or cast you away. Come and rejoice in him yet again, and lift up your heart once more by simple, confident faith in him, for “he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by him.” Do not let Satan triumph; do not let the world laugh because a Christian is in despair. “Return to your rest, oh my soul, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you.” Begone, you fears! Let the winds take them away. “Though he kills me, yet I will trust in him. His mercy is not completely gone for ever; he will be mindful of his covenant; he will not cast away his people whom he foreknew.”

16. These are the things that will sometimes bring us into the dilemma of forgetting our resting-place.

17. III. And now to close:—WHAT IS THE CURE FOR IT ALL?

18. I do not know what Charles the First meant when he gave his watch to Bishop Judson, and said, “Remember.” I do not care what he meant. But let the same be my word to you tonight, “Remember! Remember.” That is the cure for this distemper of the mind; this dereliction of the heart. “Remember what?” you say. Remember first the past.

 

   His love in time past forbids me to think,

   He’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink;

   Each sweet Ebenezer I have in review

   Confirms his good pleasure to help me quite through.

 

19. Remember the days of old, the everlasting covenant. Remember the sealing of the covenant with blood on the accursed tree. Remember the day of your sin, and the day of salvation; your severe bondage, and your great deliverance, when he brought you out of Egypt with a high hand and an outstretched arm. Remember this, and you will no more forget your resting-place.

20. Remember again the future. You say, “Can we remember what has not happened yet?” Let your faith substantiate the promise, and see it as though fulfilled, and remember it tonight. You will before long be where Jesus is. Your soul, white-robed, shall appear before him, and your poor body—vile body as it is—shall be formed like his glorious body, and you shall shine with the mighty host who day without night magnify the name of him who is, and was, and is to come. Remember this, and you shall not forget your resting-place. “All this comes to you through him; he has procured it for you, and is preparing it for you at this hour.”

21. Remember also something about the present. What is there that you have tonight of all your possessions that can afford you rest? Have the roots of your spirit begun to twist about the earth? Pray to have them unbound, for otherwise a painful time will happen to you. What do you have that you could rest on in the time of death? A Roman Catholic once said that the doctrine of justification by faith was a blessed supper doctrine—would do to end the day with; but he thought it was a bad breakfast doctrine to begin the day with. At least there is truth in the first observation, it is a blessed supper doctrine, and Christ makes a blessed supper for us in life’s end. There is no supper in life’s end—no supper that the soul can eat—but Jesus Christ, who shall give her any satisfaction and contentment as she goes out on her long journey. Well, since you have nothing that can satisfy you in dying, why do you try to satisfy yourself with it now? Have you been making an idol? Have you? Let it go; please do not forget your resting-place. Look at your friend’s house and read “mortal” written there; look in your child’s face, and know that before long your last act of kindness for that child will be to find a narrow home in the silent grave. What, are you immortal, and seeking to live on mortal food? You are eternal as God’s life, and yet seeking to satisfy yourself with the worm’s food that springs out of earth, and goes back again to it! Shame on you! When Christ gives you rest, and is all in all to you, do not turn away from the everything to try and fill yourself with the nothing.

22. Lastly remember, and this last memory will be a blessed cure—remember Christ himself. For this purpose come to his table. Though you have for a while forgotten your resting-place, he says, “Do this in remembrance of me.” Come and remember him again.

 

   Gethsemane can I forget?

      Or there thy conflict see?

   Thine agony and bloody sweat,

      And not remember thee?

   When to the Cross I turn mine eyes,

      And rest on Calvary;

   Oh Lamb of God, my sacrifice,

      I must, I must remember thee.

 

So may it be with you now.

23. There may be, however, in this congregation—indeed, I know there are some who have never yet enjoyed rest. They are going around to find it. Dear hearer, there is only one resting-place; do not look for another. Your works will never rest you; sacraments can never rest you; tears, and groans, and prayers can never rest you. “None but Jesus can do helpless sinners good.” “Believe in him and live”; trust in him, and you shall find rest for your soul for ever. Amen.

Exposition By C. H. Spurgeon {Jer 3:6-4:29}

Let us read part of the third chapter of Jeremiah, where God brings a solemn accusation against the two nations of Israel and Judah because they forsook the living God, and went after idols—neglected his pure and holy worship, and followed after the abominable rites of the heathen.

6, 7. The Lord said also to me in the days of Josiah the king, “Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She is gone up on every high mountain and under every green tree, and there has played the prostitute. And I said after she had done all these things. ‘Return to me.’

Oh the depth of mercy that God should ask such a polluted one to return to him. “Yet I said, after she had done all these things, ‘Return to me.’”

7, 8. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw, when for all the causes by which backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but went and played the prostitute also.

Some cannot be kept back from sin by the punishment of others, but they run into the fire in which others have been burned, and so they aggravate their sin.

9. And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom that she defiled the land, and committed adultery with stones and with trees.

That is to say, she gave her heart to false gods, and worshipped stones and trees. And how it must anger the living God to see men turn away from him to worship blocks of wood and stone, instead of him, and especially a people who have been instructed concerning the living God, and so commit the grossest act of disloyalty to him, and be rebellious to the nth degree.

10, 11. And for this her treacherous sister Judah has not returned to me with her whole heart, but in pretence,” says the Lord. And the Lord said to me, “The backsliding Israel has justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

The one sinned openly and persevered in it. The other pretended to repent and did not, and that pretended repentance was more hateful in the sight of God than even the daring and open sin of Israel. What next?

12. Go and proclaim these words towards the north, and say, ‘Return, you backsliding Israel,’ says the Lord. ‘And I will not cause my anger to fall on you: for I am merciful,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will not keep my anger for ever.

The offence was foul. It is such a one as stabs at the heart of man’s honour. It is an offence which a man will scarcely ever forgive. But God asks his wandering Israel to come back, and proclaims mercy—free mercy—even to such gross transgressors.

13. Only acknowledge your iniquity,

It is all he asks you to do. Confess that you have done wrong. “Only acknowledge your iniquity.”

13. That you have transgressed against the Lord your God, and have scattered your charms to the strangers under every green tree, and you have not obeyed my voice,’ says the Lord,

It was under the trees that they set up their altars to worship these false gods; so that they turned the groves, which should be full of beauty and sweet with song, into the places of idolatry, by which God was provoked. But he says, “Only confess it. Come and lament it. Admit that you have been guilty, and I will put away the sin.”

14-16. Turn, oh backsliding children,” says the Lord: “for I am married to you: and I will take one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion: And I will give you pastors according to my heart, who shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when you are multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” says the Lord, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the Lord,’ neither shall it come to mind; neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more.

Evangelical repentance, when it brings pardon with it, usually puts a slight on mere legal ceremonies. We do not need the symbol when we get the substance. We need no ark of the covenant nor holy place at Jerusalem when once the Lord appears in abundant grace to put away our sin.

17, 18. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord; and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel,

Nothing unites people like the grace of God. Two men who have been pardoned by the same Saviour ought to love each other, and they will.

18, 19. And they shall come together out of the land that I have given for an inheritance to your forefathers. But I said,

After all this mercy, he seems to come to a pause, “But I said”—

19. ‘How shall I put you among the children, and give you a pleasant land, a goodly inheritance of the hosts of nations?’

Is it possible? Can it be done? These prostitute nations that have defiled and polluted themselves with unutterable filthiness—can they be put among the children—the children of God?

19-22. And I said, ‘You shall call me, "My Father," and shall not turn away from me.’ Surely just as a wife treacherously departs from her husband, so you have dealt treacherously with me, oh house of Israel,” says the Lord. A voice was heard on the high places, weeping and supplications of the children of Israel: for they have perverted their way, and they have forgotten the Lord their God. “Return you backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings.”

Do you hear it? Do you hear God’s promise? Do you hear his command? “Return, you backsliding children. I will heal your backslidings.” Now for the answer. May God grant that it may well up in your hearts.

22, 23. “Behold, we come to you; for you are the Lord our God. Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains:

We leave all false confidences. We forsake our earthly joys.

23, 24. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. For shame has devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.

They have not profited by worshipping idols. They have suffered through it.

25. We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covers us: for we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.”

There you see the repentance which the Lord commanded from his people, and wherever there is such a repentance as that there are sure to be acceptance and salvation. May God grant us that repentance, and save us for his mercy’s sake.

4:1, 2. “If you will return, oh Israel,” says the Lord, “return to me: and if you will put away your abominations out of my sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and they shall glory in him.”

So he sets before them life and death. First, he begins with these words of encouragement. He begs them to come, for God is willing to receive them notwithstanding all they did.

3, 4 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, “Break up your fallow ground, and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, you men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come out like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”

They had the outward religion, but the Lord’s servant tells them to know that they must have heart religion. The heart must be purged: the inward must be cleansed. They had no desire to do this. They would multiply their sacrifices and their outward performances, but as for cleanliness of heart, they did not care for this.

5-7. Declare in Judah, and proclaim in Jerusalem; and say, “Blow the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, ‘Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.’ Set up the standard towards Zion: take refuge, do not delay: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.” The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way: he is gone out from his place to make your land desolate; and your cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.

This was a terrible prophecy. The Chaldeans, who had broken to pieces so many other kingdoms and powers, were on their way. The lion, enraged, had leaped from his thicket and was about to tear, and rend, and do universal havoc; and if they did not turn to God, their whole land would be laid waste. One would think that such a heavy blow should have awakened them to a sense of their danger and their sin, but, alas! it was not so.

8, 9. For this gird yourselves with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us. “And it shall come to pass at that day,” says the Lord, “that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.”

Universal fear would take hold on them. If they would not properly fear the Lord and turn to him, the time would come when, without exception, the greatest and the wisest of them, should be taken with a sudden panic.

10. Then I said, “Ah! Lord GOD! surely you have greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, ‘You shall have peace’; whereas the sword reaches to the soul.”

God promises them peace, but it was on a condition which they did not fulfil. There was peace while they gave up their sin, but “‘There is no peace,’ says God, ‘for the wicked’”: and so they missed it.

11, 12. At that time it shall be said to this people and to Jerusalem. “A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness towards the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse, even a full wind from those places shall come to me: now also I will give sentence against them.”

What an awful line that is. “Now also I will give sentence against them.” They had been on trial. They are found guilty. They will not repent. “Now I will proceed to pronounce their doom and give sentence against them.”

13. “Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe to us! for we are spoiled.”

They began to cry out when they began to smart, and the prophet comes in again.

14. Oh Jerusalem, wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved.

There is always that silver bell of mercy ringing out the note of invitation. “Oh Jerusalem, your sorrows, your destruction may yet be averted if you will turn from your darkness, wash your heart from wickedness, so that you may be saved.”

14-18. How long shall your vain thoughts lodge within you? For a voice declares from Dan, and proclaims affliction from Mount Ephraim. “Make mention to the nations: behold, proclaim against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country and raise their voice against the cities of Judah. As keepers of a field, they are against her all around; because she has been rebellious against me,” says the Lord, “Your way and your doings have procured these things for you; this is your wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reaches to your heart.”

When great judgments are abroad, it always is on account of great sin. It was so in the case of Israel. “Your doings have procured these things for you.” Oh! when the ungodly man begins to reap the result of his life—when, in his own body and in his own home, he begins to see what sin will often bring the drunkard to, let him hear these words: “This is your wickedness. Your way and your doings have procured these things for you.”

Now follows the lament of Jeremiah—one of the most wonderful pieces of sorrowful writing that will ever be read in your hearing.

19-21. My soul, my soul! I am pained at my very heart; my heart makes a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace, because you have heard, oh my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war. Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly my tents are spoiled, and my curtains in a moment. How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?

The dreadful blast of war, the blood-red flag of murder, flying through the land, while the Chaldeans killed right and left, young and old—we need to put ourselves into Jeremiah’s position to be able to understand the horror of this case.

22, 23. “For my people are foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have no understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.” I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void: and the heavens, and they had no light.

As if they had gone back to chaos—to the primeval darkness—to the first disorder before God began to create.

24-29. I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly. I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens had fled. I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all its cities were broken down at the presence of the Lord, and by his fierce anger, For thus the Lord has said, “The whole land shall be desolate; yet I will not make a full end. For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be black; because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and I will not relent, neither will I turn back from it. The whole city shall flee from the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up on the rocks; every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell in it.”

Now all this did happen. It all came to pass. Palestine, the glorious garden of God, was made as dreary as a wilderness. It is not much better now. It has scarcely recovered. God will regather them to the land one day, but oh! what a sight it was when God at last had ended his patience—poured out the vials of his wrath on his once favoured land.