Please open your copies of God’s word to Jeremiah 15 and I want to begin our lesson by listening to the startling words of Jeremiah 15:1.
Then the LORD said to me, “Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my heart would not turn toward this people. Send them out of my sight, and let them go! (Jeremiah 15:1 ESV)
The Lord proclaims that even if Moses and Samuel were standing before him, he would not be able to turn his heart back toward this people. You are supposed to hear those words and be totally shocked. Moses was one of the great intercessors on behalf of the people. There were many times where God was ready to rightly bring his wrath on the people but Moses intervenes and intercedes for the people. One of the most notable times where we see Moses interceding is in Exodus 32-33 where we see the sin of the golden calf. Moses intercedes with this terrible sin but then continues to intercede when God says that he would no longer go with the people to the promised land. Here is what I want us to observe. When God was done with the people, Moses was able to intercede on their behalf. Similarly, Samuel was also a great intercessor for the people of Israel. We see Samuel call upon the Lord on behalf of the people in 1 Samuel 12. Psalm 99:6-8 notes how Moses and Samuel were both able to call on the Lord and the Lord would listen to them. But now God says that even if these two men were standing before him now, God would not turn toward his people. So what has happened? What is going on that God says that he cannot turn toward this people even if great intercessors stood before him? What has happened to the relationship so that there cannot be grace any longer? We want to look carefully at this situation, learn from Israel’s situation, and make sure that we do not find ourselves in a similar situation before the Lord. Turn back to Jeremiah 14 and we will begin to see what has happened between God and his people.
Blaming God (Jeremiah 14:1-10)
Jeremiah 14 begins by telling us that God’s people are experiencing a severe drought in the land. They are searching all throughout the country but there is no water to be found anywhere (Jeremiah 14:3). The drought is so severe that there is no grass or vegetation (Jeremiah 14:5-6). Now it is important to remember that drought was one of the covenant curses God has proclaimed to the people. In Deuteronomy 11:16-17 God warned the people that if they turned away from the Lord, then God would shut up the sky so that it would not rain which would lead to the people suffering so that they would consider their ways and return to the Lord. If you grew up in the pews you might remember a notable drought occurred in the land of Israel in the days of Elijah because of the wicked reign of Ahab and Jezebel. So Jeremiah 14 begins by noting a terrible drought on the land and the people are in anguish.
Now it sounds like the people understand the problem as they cry out to God in verse 7. They state that their sins are testifying against them. They confess that they have often rebelled and have sinned against the Lord. They recognize that God alone is to be Israel’s hope (Jeremiah 14:8). But listen to how they describe God in the rest of verse 8 and also in verse 9. They describe God as acting like a stranger in the land. God is like a traveler passing by and does not stay with them. Why do you act like a confused and helpless warrior who is unable to save? We are your people so you should do something! It is a pretty crazy response. The people say that we know we have rebelled and our sins are many. But why isn’t God doing something? I need help and God should do something about it!
When life does not go right, who do you blame? When trouble comes into your life, who is responsible for that trouble? As humans, we seem to be conditioned to blame everyone else for our problems and troubles. But this tendency reaches all the way back to the days of Adam and Eve. When Adam was confronted about his sin, Adam points the finger to his wife, Eve. When Eve was confronted about her sin, Eve points the finger to the serpent. It is our tendency to point the finger at other people. Someone else made me do it. Someone else is to blame. Even our movies and tv shows have leaned into this idea. The evil villain must have a reason for his evil acts. Someone must have made him do it. Someone must have mistreated him. There must be someone to blame for what the person has done. At this point we see the temptation to blame God for our problems. God should fix our lives. God should make things better. God should not allow me to suffer. God should always be my genie in the lamp who grants my wishes whenever I ask. This appears to be the thinking of these people and can be how we think about God in hard times also.
God’s answer is very simple in verse 10. God confirms what the people themselves have confessed. The people love to wander away from him. They do not restrain themselves. They follow their desires. Their concern is not for the will of God but to follow their own will and desires. So God’s answer is that he will not accept them. Please listen to the terrifying words at the end of verse 10. “Now he will remember their iniquity and punish their sins.” Blaming God is not the solution. Often what we fail to do is look to ourselves. We often fail to look at our own sins. We often fail to think about the consequences we experience that come from our own sinful actions and the sinful actions of others. We certainly cannot blame God when we have refused to listen to God and follow what he has told us to do in our lives.
Blaming Deceivers (Jeremiah 14:11-22)
The Lord then continues with his message to Jeremiah, telling him to not pray for the welfare of this people. This is the third time God has said this to Jeremiah (cf. Jeremiah 7:16; Jeremiah 11:14). We had a separate lesson about what God tells us not to pray about earlier this year. God makes it clear that he will not listen the cry of the people, even if they fast or offer sacrifices (Jeremiah 14:12). Judgment is unavoidable at this point.
But now Jeremiah is going to try to intercede for the people. Notice what he claims in verse 13. Jeremiah proclaims that the problem is that the people are deceived. There are prophets who are running around telling the people that they will not suffer sword or famine. Rather, the prophets are proclaiming peace to the people. So is this a good excuse? Jeremiah blames the problem of all the false teaching that is happening in the land. What are the people supposed to do if everyone is lying to them about God’s will and God’s plan? Let’s look at how God answers Jeremiah in verses 14-18.
You will notice that God’s answer is not an apology. You will notice that God does not accept this as an excuse. God’s answer is very simple. God says he did not send those lying prophets. Everything those prophets are saying about God is false and God is actually going to do the opposite of what they are proclaiming. This is a weighty answer. Friends, we are not going to be able to blame our failures on other people. We are not going to be able to point the finger at preachers, teachers, or spiritual leaders as the reason for why we are condemned by God. We cannot point the finger at other people for our suffering and difficulties. God has always put the responsibility upon each one of us to truly seek the will and word of God. A great example of this is found in 1 Kings 13. I do not have time to go through the important details of that account. But in short a young prophet was given specific directions by the Lord on where to go and what to do. An old prophet encounters the young prophet and tells him that the Lord told him to tell the young prophet to do something different than the Lord commanded. So the young prophet listened to the words of the old prophet and died because he failed to listen to God. We think this is unfair but God’s message is to listen to him and him alone. You and I have a responsibility to not listen the speaker because he claims to speak God’s words. We only listen to the speaker if we confirm that the speaker’s words are God’s word. God told Israel to do this in Deuteronomy 13 and Deuteronomy 18. We do not have an excuse for our sins. We do not have an excuse for our suffering. We do not have any way to blame other people when we stand before God. Now this is not what God wants for us (Jeremiah 14:17-18). God has no desire to punish with judgment (cf. Ezekiel 18:23,32). God is grieved that we are deceived and we blame others for our sins or even blame God.
The Real Blame (Jeremiah 15:1-9)
This brings us to Jeremiah 15 where we began the lesson and where God says the shocking words that even Moses and Samuel would be unable to intercede on behalf of these people. So what is the problem? Why are the people such a mess that judgment is needed and there is nothing that can be done? I want us to notice what God says has happened. Look at Jeremiah 15:4. In verse 4 God says that judgment is coming because of what Manasseh the king of Judah did in Jerusalem. Manasseh’s reign concluded about 15 years before Jeremiah because his prophetic ministry. But we are told that Manasseh was the worst and most wicked king that the nation of Judah ever had. God says that it is because of him that judgment must fall and cannot be averted. Now this brings up a natural question. Did we not just notice that God said that we cannot blame other people for our sins? Did not Jeremiah point out that the false prophets are deceiving the people and that is why they are not listening? So how can God say that these people are condemned to judgment when the blame can be put on King Manasseh and his wickedness? We need to keep reading to answer this important question. Look at verse 6. In verse 6 God points out that the people have acted like the wicked king. They have rejected the Lord and keep going backward. In verse 7 we see that the people have not changed their ways but have continued the legacy set forward by Manasseh.
The people imitated the wickedness of Manasseh and then kept going backward. They never would listen and turn. This gives us a two-part warning regarding this judgment. First, we can set in motion a legacy of wickedness. What we do in our families and what we do in our communities and what we do in the local church can set in motion a snowball of wickedness. Our decisions as husbands and wives and as fathers and mothers will set the direction of the family. Our words and actions teach our families how much we care or do not care about God. We show if God is an afterthought or is our greatest treasure. We are setting a legacy of Bible study in the home, if we will worship with God’s people at all times, if we will be hospitable, if we will serve others, if we will be generous, and so many other important spiritual disciplines and acts of devotion. We set the legacy and the culture of the home. We also set the legacy and culture of the church. Will we be a place of love and care or a place of division and disharmony? I want us to think about our actions beyond the moment. Our decisions set a legacy in the relationships we have.
This leads to a very important second point. We can break negative legacy. God did not excuse the people because of the negative legacy that King Manasseh left. Rather, the people are condemned for continuing the legacy. You have the power to change the negative legacy. Don’t blame the legacy that was handed to you in your family. Change the legacy to godliness. Don’t blame the legacy in the church. Change the legacy to be what God wants the culture to be. This is the real solution that God proclaims at the end of Jeremiah 15.
The Real Solution (Jeremiah 15:10-21)
The solution is to living righteously and experience the pain of doing so. Jeremiah proclaims how he loves God and his word (Jeremiah 15:16). God’s word was a delight to his heart and became a joy to him. Jeremiah did not follow the legacy of sinfulness in the nation and he is experiencing all kinds of reproach and resistance (Jeremiah 15:15,18). He is suffering while serving. Breaking negative and sinful legacies is never easy. You are going to encounter pain and resistance for attempting to overthrow what has been made normal in your home. It is when we hit resistance that we are often unwilling to end the negative legacy, choosing to conform to it instead. I want to strongly encourage each of you to overthrow the sin that is in your home and in your relationships. I want you to overthrow the mediocrity of spirituality and general lethargy for God in your home and in your family. Be a Joshua who strongly proclaimed that he would serve the Lord even if the rest of his people and the rest of his tribe would not. It won’t be easy but it is the right decision to make every day.
The second solution is seen through what God says to Jeremiah. If you will return, God will restore you (Jeremiah 15:19). Stop blaming others and return to the Lord. Stop blaming God and come back to him. Stop continuing the habit of waywardness and renew your life with God. Jeremiah seems to have had doubts and self-pity for all he was going through as he tried to be righteous in the land of wickedness (Jeremiah 15:18). But God’s solution is that we would turn to him, not turn to the world (Jeremiah 15:19). When in the darkness, turn to the light of God. Do not fall back to blame or excuses. Turn to God for God has given us his Son who lives to make intercession for us (Hebrews 7:25).