LOVE TELLS THE TRUTH ~ JUDGMENT IS COMING ~ A study of Jeremiah

Jesus said in John 15:16: You did not choose Me, but I chose you, and appointed you that you would go and bear fruit. Because God chose you in Christ, you have a calling. There is a general call to all to believe. But the believer’s call is effectual. The effectual call results in salvation. Every believer has been set apart by God for God’s purposes. What circle of influence has God called you into ministry? God has work for you to do, and it is one of the main reasons you are left here after He saved you.

 

Jeremiah was told that he was to go wherever God sent him, to speak all that He commanded him to speak, and not to be afraid because He was with him. We look at a calling like Jeremiah’s and we tend to pull away from seeking how that same calling might apply to us. The majority of those who profess to follow Christ in this world, even those sitting in pews week after week, have an unspoken belief that we will leave the going and the speaking to others. Why? We have more important things to do. We would never say this out loud, but the reality of our lives speaks volumes in this regard. The excuses we use not to give people the gospel go something like this: “They won’t listen.” “They don’t want to hear it.” “I don’t have the gift of evangelism.” “I don’t know what to say.” “I try to share the gospel with my life, not my lips.” “I don’t want people to reject me.” “I’m scared I might say the wrong thing.” “The person isn’t ready.” “I don’t want to offend them.” “I don’t know how to answer their questions.” “God has called me to other priorities.” All lame excuses that will not fly with God. Has God called you to share the gospel or not? This is the question that must be answered in your heart…today. If He has, and you are not, you are being sinfully disobedient and must repent. If God has called all believers to go into the world with the Gospel message, then not to do so is unloving. It shows a lack of love for God and for our neighbor.

 

When someone makes an announcement that they have just been diagnosed with a disease, unsolicited advice abounds by concerned loved ones reaching out with well-meaning intentions. Why? Because that is what love does. While not minimizing the devastating disease or the agonies that come with it, people who love speak truth offering hope while keeping in mind the seriousness of the situation. If a smoker is diagnosed with lung cancer, those who love him would not hesitate to admonish, “You need to stop smoking!” Repent! You will die if you don’t! In many situations in life, we have no problem offering tough love. But do not get it twisted—tough love is love of the deepest, most sincere kind. Godly love is sacrificial love.

 

Jeremiah was called to speak God’s Word which He had put in Jeremiah’s mouth. What Jeremiah was commanded to speak as the mouthpiece of God to the nations was meant to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. The words Jeremiah spoke to the nations would have two different results. Some were going to know judgment. Some would be blessed. These are the same results every believer who goes to the people God has put in her life and speaks God’s message will realize. The words pluck up, break down, destroy and overthrow are all words that describe destruction. To build and to plant speak of positive results. Notice destruction always comes before building. Often in life when someone buys a property with a building situated thereon, he must decide whether the building has good bones which would be the only way it would make sense to remodel. If the building, however, would take more money to bring it up to code, it often makes more sense to tear it down and start from scratch.

 

When we give the gospel, we always begin with the bad news first. No one can truly appreciate the good news unless first understanding the magnitude of the bad news. Even in a believer’s life, sometimes we need to hear the bad news about our sin before we realize that what God intends to remove from our lives will be for our good. We must trust that if God breaks us down by removing those things from our lives that will destroy us, He will build back up again. Sometimes before the “good” that God intends for us to be done, He must root out the bad. I can relate this thinking to gardening. The beautiful flowers I hope to cultivate in my garden will be choked out by the strongholds of the root system of the most common weeds. They need to go! The plants nearby may be affected negatively for a short time, but they will flourish in the end.

 

Today, we hear so much about negativity versus positivity. People do not want to focus on the negative, so they root out as much negative thinking around them as possible. I get that to a point, although, for the most part, that thinking is distorted. Understanding the bad news of the gospel is going to devastate a person to his core, as it should. But there is good news! The good news is not good news apart from the bad news. Put into perspective: How does the believer give the Good News of the Gospel apart from sounding negative in our culture? The same way Jeremiah did—come what may. Here is the thing that is both so freeing yet so hard to deal with in our flesh. We are not responsible for what people do with the message. God, alone, saves. Only God can take the truth that we have spoken and apply it to a heart that has been prepared to receive it. What is hard to deal with is that most of the time—and this is backed up by Scripture and history—the people you are trying to love with the message of the Gospel will not only reject the message but the messenger, too. Often, we are not just rejected and ostracized, but persecuted for our beliefs. And, Beloved, it is going to get much worse in our country. But that does not lessen the urgency of our message; it should cause us to further our endeavors with increased fervency! The message Jeremiah preached is our message. Our world, our loved ones, need it as much as the people in his day who were heading at break-neck speed towards judgment. While people are putting their fingers in their ears crying, “Negativity! Foul!” we must increase the negative vibe! To do that, we must squarely face the fact first that this is the state of our nation. We are a nation under God’s judgment. This is reality. If you know your God at all, you cannot stick your head in the sand any longer. It is time to start speaking truth in love by dealing with the disease of sin first and foremost and not by overemphasizing a positive message of, “God has a wonderful plan for your life!”

 

Three parts to Jeremiah’s charge were given to him by way of illustration. I want us to look at the first one today.

 

Vss. 11-12 – The almond tree – His Word will blossom forth

       13-16 – A boiling pot – His judgment will be poured out

       17-19 – An iron pillar – His prophet will stand firm

 

The word of the LORD came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” Then the LORD said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.” (Jeremiah 1:11-12) Growing up we had a beautiful bush in our backyard that was the first to bloom each spring. I knew spring had sprung when I saw the buds on the flowering almond bush, as my mother called it. This bush was a real showstopper when it was in full bloom, especially after a long-cold winter.

 

It is no coincidence that God just happened to pick the almond tree as the first illustration. Almond is shaqed. The word sounds very much like shaqad which means to wake, watch, awake, or to be alert. So, there is a play on words here. The almond tree was named “the awake tree” because it was the first tree to bud and bear fruit each year in Palestine. Jeremiah saw a rod of an almond tree. The Lord responds, “I will hasten (shaqad – to wake, watch, awake, be alert) to perform it.” The almond tree was the first tree to wake up after a long winter. It was the tree people watched for in the spring.

 

What is God saying? A society may say that God is dead because it appears He is not actively judging sinful men. But He is watching. He is not asleep on the throne. God never goes into hibernation. God is wide awake, watching, and waiting for His perfect timing. Make no mistakes about it—judgment is coming! As it did in the days of Jeremiah, so it is coming for any nation who no longer honors the Lord as God. Everything God has promised in His Word will come to pass and no man can thwart God’s plan. God is watching that every jot and tittle of His Word comes to pass. The believer must realize that even God’s judgment is part of His glory.

 

Philip Graham Ryken in his commentary on Jeremiah has said: God is going to do everything He has promised to do. He is bringing His plans to fruition. Even when it seems dormant, God’s Word is waiting to burst into flower. It is not dead, it is alive. Like the almond tree, it is starting to blossom. One can no more prevent God’s promise from being fulfilled than one can keep the almond tree from blossoming in springtime.

 

There was unrest among the people of God. There was murmuring against the leaders. The people had just experienced a very vivid act of God’s judgment. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram insisted on trying to democratize the priesthood and claimed that any Israelite could be a priest. So, the Lord caused the earth to swallow them up. Priests had to be called or appointed by God! Instead of leading to repentance and fear of God, the people murmured against Moses and Aaron blaming them. God’s response? He wanted to annihilate the people on the spot. The plague of death immediately ensued, and Moses and Aaron quickly made atonement for the people. Aaron took the censer of incense and ran into the midst of the assembly, standing between the dead and the living, so that the plague would be checked. Those who died by the plague were 14,700, besides those who died on account of Korah.

 

Determined to put an end to the unrest, God commanded Moses to have the leader of each tribe of Israel bring his rod or staff to the tent of meeting. Aaron’s rod would represent the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe. The Lord told Moses that the rod of the man He chose would bud. He said, “Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.” (Numbers 17:5) We know the story. Did you guess what type of rod belonged to Aaron? His rod sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds. (verse 8) Bringing forth flowers and fruit was a demonstration of the power of God who gives life. And the Lord said to Moses: “Put back the rod of Aaron before the testimony (the Ark of the Covenant) to be kept as a sign against the rebels, that you may put an end to their grumblings against Me, so that they will not die.” (verse 10) Interestingly, to grumble against Moses and Aaron was to grumble against God.

 

Hebrews 9:4 reminds us that Aaron’s rod that budded remained in the Ark of the Covenant as a testimony of God’s choice of Aaron and Moses to lead His people. 1 Corinthians 10 reminds us that God does not put up with rebellion against Himself or His chosen representatives on earth. There are many today inside the church who are murmuring, complaining, and causing division regarding many social issues being fought in the world. James 5:9; 1 Timothy 5:20; and 2 Timothy 2:23 should remind us that those who do these things are to be rebuked. Our goal as a body is speak the truth in love, that message He has given His people for the salvation of the elect. In one accord, we are to obey Him, working together to reflect His glory.

 

Jeremiah was a priest and a prophet. He was God’s chosen man for that hour. Believers today, under the New Covenant, are: “A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR GOD’S OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; for you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.”  (1 Peter 2:9-10) Go! Open your mouth! Speak the truth boldly in love!