1988 issue 8 - jeremiah: judgment and restoration, part viii - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1988 Issue 8 - Jeremiah: Judgment and Restoration, Part VIII - Counsel of Chalcedon

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themselves the lesson God is about toteach in the punishment of his people.The nations of the earth are expected byGod to obey his revealed law. f Godpuf ished his special nation for her lawlessness, what will he do to the othernations of the world because of theirlawlessness?

3. Rituals and ceremonies, howeverornate and correct, when divorced fromfaith and obedience, are worthless toGocl Isa. 1:11; Mic. 6:7,8.

4. As his judicial response to Jerusalem's sin, Jehovah himself placed obstacles in Judah's path, so she wouldstumble over them and be condemnedfor her sin. John Calvin gives this helpful comment on verse 21: "He meansby these words, that however they

might conspire together, they would yetbe. exposed to the same punishment.For when sons follow the examples oftheir fathers, they think themselvesinnocent; and also when any one hasmany associates, he thinks himself safein his licentiousness. As, then, consentor society hardens the ungodly, so thatthey fear not the . wrath of God theprophet on this account includes sonswith their fathers, and a neighbor withhis friend, as those who were to perishtogether, and without any difference." I f

anyone tries to escape judgment, GodWill cause them to stumble and be overtaken by judgment

D. (6:22-26) The Terror from theNorth Foretold

1. (6:22-23) Cruel and ruthlessBabylon will come relentlessly uponJerusalem, sounding like the roaring ofthe sea. A terrifying picture.

. 2. (6:24) Judah is as defenseless asa oman in labor against a fully equipped soldier.

.3. (6:25) There is no protection anywhere. Terror is everywhere.

4. (6:26) The only thing left forJudah to do is to mourn as one wouldmourn over the death of an only soil.Israelite families wanted sons to guarantee the perpetuation of the family. Nosons-no future.

E. (6:27-30) The Prophet as Assayerof Judah

1. God calls ieremiah, through hispreaching, to search for precious metalamong the dross of Jerusalem. He is tobe the assayer and tester o f Judah's conduct He was an "overseer" of the nations, 1:10, and "assayer" of Judah.This is how the church, through itsconfession of faith and its faithfulpreaching, uses "the keys of the kingdom," Matt 18. It applies the siftingjudgment of God revealed in his word tothe actions of men and nations, therebydetermining and manifesting and differentiating the wheat and the chaff, thegold and the dross, the Christian and theanti-christian.

2. "By preaching to them the Lawof God in its fullest implications, itsinexorable demands, its threats of des

truction, death, and damnation for alltransgressors, and by proclaiming theGospel of the coming Messiah, theLord our Righteousness, he was to purify, to renew the wicked nation, to causeit to return to God, to be re-establishedas the Lord's own. At the same time hewas to separate from this holy nationall those who would refuse to ~ c e p tHis Word, reject. the Law of the Lord ofunalterable justice and righteousness,and despise the Gospel of the Lord ofunchanging mercyand grace." -Laetsch

3. Jeremiah's assessment: All ofthem are stubbornly rebellious." "Theref'ming process might succeed in therealm of metallurgy, but among therebellious and corrupt men of Judah, whowere professional covenant-breakers, norefining process was adequate to dealwith their intractable wills. The peopleof Judah were hopelessly impure metal,altogether slag, and beyond the refiningprocess."-Thompson.

The Hopelessness o Orthodoxy Without hrist

(Jeremiah 7:1 - 8:3)

I (7: 1-15) TIIE TEMPLE SERMON: TIIE PROMISE OF REPENTANCE

A. (7:1-7) The Promise of Repentance

1. (7:1)Jeremiah is called by Godto stand in the door. of .the temple and

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preach a sermon to all who come toworship. The Hebrew and the Greekwords for worship both teach . us thatthe worshipper of Jehovah, as he worshipped, acknowledgedGod's supremacyand sovereignty over him, and he recognized his own dependence and personalneed for submission to his sovereignLord. Worship involved the willing acknowledgment of Jehovah's lordshipand glad acceptanceof his covenant promises and demands.Judah failed to worship in thjs way.

2. (7:2t) Jeremiah's message maybe summarized in this manner: Judah,amend your ways, turn from your sinsto Jehovah, and he will continue todwell with you in the Temple. God'scovenant promises belong only to ana

tion which keeps his commandmentsfaithfully, Deut. 7:12-15.3. n integral part of renewed faith

fulness to the Lord is a turning fromdeceptive preaching to faithful, prophetic preaching.

B. (7:8-11) TheFutility of Ritualism1. Judah had a misdirected faith. She

presumed that the very existence of theTemple in Jerusalem guaranteed Jerusalem's indestructibility. As a result therewas a wide-spread preoccupation withpurity and exactness of ritualistic worship, but no concern for the ethical demands of the covenant. Judah made themistake o separating covenant privi-leges from covenant responsibilitieswhich Judah also narrowed. To put it inNew Testament language: A person can

. not enjoy the benefits of Christ's crosswithout bowing before the claims ofChrist's crown.

2. When a nation neglects its dutiesto Jehovah, in truly obeying the f':lrstfour commandments, it will invariablyneglect the last s i ~ commandments,which represent our responsibilities toeach other. The profound concern forhuman welfare, so powerfully expressedin the Mosaic.legislation, Deut. 14:29;24:19-21, is ignored by a people whohas changedgods.

3. The source of all of Judah's socialsins was this change of gods, 7:9. Bybelieving in E aal, the people of Judahwere worshipping "The Lie;'' or "The

The Counsel of Chalcedon, August, 1988


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Sacrifice

1. The high place at Topheth, was aplace of pagan worship and of humansacrifices, II Kings 23:10.

2. How could God's people ever imagine that the sacrifice of their childrenon altars o f false gods was pleasing toJehovah? The children o f believers areto be consecrated to the Lord, to whomthey belong, Exod. 13:2; 22:29; 34:19;Numb. 3:13; 8:17. How can today'sprofessed Christian ever think it ispleasing to God to sacrifice their children to the gods of humanism on thealtars of public schools?

C. (7:32-34) The Holocaust and theDeath of Joy

1. Because the people of Judah dedicated themselves and their children tofalse gods, God would send an invadingarmy to slaughter them. In that day"Topheth would be. so full of corpsesthat many bodies would not be buried atall but would lie in the open for thescavengers of the air and the earth to dispose of. For the body to remain un-buried and to become food for carrionbirds and scavenging beasts was an unspeakable horror." ~ h o m p s o n

2. The place of Judah's illegal sanc

tuary was the place of their burial andof the desecration of their co:rpses.

V (8:1-3) THE WORSHIP OFASTRAL DEITIES: THE REIGN OFDEATH

A The Adding of Insult to InjuryBabylonian invaders in their defeat

of Judah opened the graves of thoseleaders who had been slain and scatteredtheir bones out before the sun, moon,planets and stars. Jeremiah makes clear

that these were viewed as astral deitieswhom the people of Judah "loved andserved," whom they "followed after,"whom they "consulted" and "worship;.ped." How far Judah had fallen Consider the pre-occupation of Americawith horoscopes, astrology, etc. Nohelp was received from them for Judahthen. And no help will be received fromthem for America today.

(Continued on page 24)

Teacher ApplicationsS o l i l i c l i t e d

Chalcedon Christian School, in northAUanta is seeking teacher applications

for th 1988-89 scfiool year. Pre-school.early later elementary middle high

school positions are available.

Applicants must be experienced,Reformed holding to the system odoctrine taught in the WestminsterConfession o[Faith 1 committed toChiist nd to Christzan education.

ChalcedonChristian School

P.O. Box 888022Dunwoody .GA 30338404) 3 ~ 6 0 9 6 0

Robert T. Lester Administrator

P ~ e 1 6 ~

Appalachian

Conferenceto Rebuild AmericaSeptember 23 24, 1988

Sheraton InnJohnson City, Tennessee

Theme: Economic Slavery o rEconomic Blessing?

Speakers:Joseph C. Morecraft, III

Joseph McAuliffeDavid Chilton

For further information writeACTRA P.O. Box 1473,Bristol, Tennessee 37 620

T Ie Counsel of Chalcedon, August, 1988


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Jeremiah- Cont. from page 16B. The Death-Wish of Judah.

The covenant family is now t h i ~evil family." In exile, they would preferdeath to life "either because circumstances were so bad in foreign lands, orbecause the memory of those last daysof Judah's downfall was too much tobear." -Thompson. Today in the UnitedStateS, a leading c use of death amongblack reen-agers is murder byblack teenagers; and a leading cause of deathamong white teen-agers is slrlcide.Godsaid in Proverbs 8: "those who hate 112love death." In most major c i t i e ~inAmerica there are more abortions thanJive births. D

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1988 issue 8 - jeremiah: judgment and restoration, part viii - counsel of chalcedon

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