The Second Sunday in Lent
\nFebruary 21, 2016
\nJeremiah 26:8-15<\/p>\n
But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!\u00a0 Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?”\u00a0 And all the people crowded around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.\u00a0 When the officials of Judah heard about these things, they went up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD’s house.\u00a0 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and all the people, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city.\u00a0 You have heard it with your own ears!”\u00a0 Then Jeremiah said to all the officials and all the people:\u00a0 “The LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard.\u00a0 Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God.\u00a0 Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.\u00a0 As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right.\u00a0 Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the LORD has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.”\u00a0 (NIV1984)<\/p>\n
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.\u201d\u00a0 Have any of you ever heard someone speak those words?\u00a0 Have any of you ever been the person speaking those words?\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 If a child deliberately disobeys their parents that child may learn the hard way that the consequences of disobedience include some type of discipline.\u00a0 And while the child may not be able to comprehend this\u2014 it hurts parents to have to discipline their children.\u00a0 Whether it is coming to grips with the fact that your own child deliberately disobeyed you or whether it is having to tell your child that now they can\u2019t go someplace or now they can\u2019t do something as a consequence of their disobedience\u2014 that hurts deep down inside.\u00a0 At the same time parents understand the need for discipline.\u00a0 If a child is allowed to simply disobey their parents without any consequences whatsoever that disobedience will only get progressively worse as the child grows older.<\/p>\n
As you and I continue our sermon series entitled Holy! Holy! Holy! <\/em><\/strong>\u00a0we come to a truth that is difficult for many people\u2014perhaps even many of us\u2014 to understand.\u00a0 That truth centers on the consequences that come as a result of disobeying a holy God.\u00a0 As we stand in the presence of our holy God this morning let\u2019s see how His prophet Jeremiah places before us a picture of:\u00a0 Holy Destruction.<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 There are two things we need to remember today.\u00a0 First, we need to remember that Holy Destruction<\/em><\/strong> is always deserved<\/em> when one rebels against our holy God.\u00a0 Secondly, we need to remember that Holy Destruction<\/em><\/strong> is avoided only when one trusts in our holy God.<\/p>\n In order to understand our text and in order to understand our sermon theme for today we need to understand the larger context in which this particular portion of Scripture is found.\u00a0 The prophet Jeremiah lived during what was perhaps the lowest point ever in the history of God\u2019s Old Testament people.\u00a0 On a political level the once proud and powerful nation of Judah was nothing more than a petty pawn.\u00a0 Egypt to the south, Assyria to the north and Babylon to the east were the three great superpowers of Jeremiah\u2019s day and age.\u00a0 When Nabopolassar became ruler of the Babylonian Empire in 626 BC (the same year Jeremiah was called to be a prophet for the Lord) the political landscape quickly began to unravel around Judah.\u00a0 The Babylonians attacked the Assyrians and Nineveh fell in 612 BC. Egypt then marched north to help the Assyrians.\u00a0 King Josiah of Judah tried to stop Egypt and he was subsequently killed by Pharaoh Neco II at the Battle of Megiddo.\u00a0 Pharaoh Neco then set up Jehoiakim as a puppet king in Judah.\u00a0 Jehoiakim was extremely hostile towards Jeremiah.\u00a0 Shortly thereafter Egypt was crushed by the Babylonians under the leadership of Nebuchadnezzar at the Battle of Carchemish.\u00a0 Nebuchadnezzar then besieged Jerusalem and carried many of God\u2019s people into captivity\u2014 including Daniel.\u00a0 A few years later Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem again and ended up putting Zedekiah on the throne in Jerusalem.\u00a0 By this time the prophet Jeremiah was virtually under house arrest and remained so until the fall and complete destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC.<\/p>\n The spiritual condition of God\u2019s people was even more precarious than their political condition.\u00a0 We see the depth of the sins of God\u2019s people in Jeremiah 7:30-31.\u00a0 There we are told, \u201c\u2019The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes,\u2019 declares the LORD.\u00a0 \u2018They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it.\u00a0 They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire\u2014 something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind.\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Because of the terrible wickedness of God\u2019s people, because God\u2019s people had been unfaithful to Him and because God\u2019s people had broken the covenant the Lord had established with them, Jeremiah was sent by the Lord to stand in the courtyard of the Temple in Jerusalem and proclaim:\u00a0 Holy Destruction!<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0 Jeremiah proclaimed to the people that their persistent rebellion against the holy Lord God would result in not only the complete destruction of the beloved holy city of Jerusalem, but their persistent rebellion against the holy Lord God would result in the complete destruction of the holy Temple\u2014 the magnificent Temple designed by great King David and built by wise King Solomon.<\/p>\n Jeremiah\u2019s clear strong proclamation of God\u2019s holy Law led the people in the Temple to \u201ccrowd around Jeremiah in the house of the LORD.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 When the ruling officials of Judah heard about the commotion taking place in the Temple we are told they \u201ccame up from the royal palace to the house of the LORD and took their places at the entrance of the New Gate of the LORD\u2019s house.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 The prophet Jeremiah was being officially charged with treason\u2014 a crime that was punishable by death.\u00a0 Did Jeremiah back down from the message he was given to proclaim?\u00a0 Not at all!\u00a0 We hear Jeremiah say in our text, \u201cThe LORD sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the things you have heard.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Jeremiah made it crystal clear to God\u2019s people that holy destruction is deserved<\/strong> when one rebels against a holy God!\u00a0 At the very same time, however, Jeremiah made it just as clear that holy destruction is avoided<\/strong> when one repents and trusts in the grace and in the mercy and in the forgiveness of our holy God.\u00a0 Jeremiah says to God\u2019s people, \u201cNow reform your ways and your actions and obey the LORD your God.\u00a0 Then the LORD will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 Anytime anyone humbly bows before our holy God and says, \u201cGod, have mercy on me, a sinner!\u201d<\/em> (Luke 18:13)\u2014 He always does!\u00a0 Always!<\/p>\n I think it is highly appropriate, my friends that you and I are studying this portion of Jeremiah during the solemn season of Lent.\u00a0 In reality, there are a number of different ways in which we could apply this text to our lives and to our world today.\u00a0 For example, we could legitimately use this portion of God\u2019s holy Word to remind ourselves that if our nation continues its open rebellion against our holy God\u2014 and by that I am referring to things like Planned Parenthood lashing out at the Doritos company because their Super Bowl commercial \u201chumanized\u201d a \u201cfetus\u201d\u2014\u00a0 if our nation continues to openly rebel against our holy God the Lord could easily decide to use a modern-day Babylon to bring us to our knees just as He brought Judah and Jerusalem to her knees so many years ago.\u00a0 That would be a legitimate application of this text.\u00a0 But as I said, we are in the season of Lent\u2014 a season that so powerfully focuses our hearts on Jesus, a season that gives us the opportunity for personal<\/strong> reflection.<\/p>\n As I was studying our sermon text for today I could not help but see at least three powerful parallels between the ministry of the prophet Jeremiah and the ministry of our Lord Jesus.\u00a0 First, Jeremiah was sent to proclaim holy destruction because God\u2019s people had rebelled against their holy God.\u00a0 Jesus came to this earth to proclaim holy destruction\u2014 not only against rebellious unrepentant sinners, but also against the devil and his demons who were the first to rebel against our holy God.\u00a0 Second, the people\u2019s reaction to Jeremiah\u2019s message was one of anger and hatred\u2014 classic signs of a guilty conscience.\u00a0 In fact, the people\u2019s anger and hatred for Jeremiah led them to call for his death!\u00a0 In much the same way the anger and the hatred the spiritual leaders of Jerusalem had for Jesus led them to convince the crowd to chose Barabbas and have Jesus crucified.\u00a0 Third, Jeremiah clearly called God\u2019s people to repentance and told them that the only<\/strong> way to avoid holy destruction was to turn from their sins and to trust in the grace and in the mercy and in the forgiveness of our holy God.\u00a0 In our Gospel lesson for today (Luke 13:31-35) we heard our Savior express a similar sentiment when He said, \u201cO Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n While it would be very easy for us to look at God\u2019s people in the days of Jeremiah, shake our heads and say, \u201cHow could you!\u201d, while it would be very easy for us to look at God\u2019s people in the days of Jesus, shake our heads and say, \u201cHow could you!\u201d it would be far more beneficial for us to look at the child of God that we see in the mirror, shake our head\u00a0 and say, \u201cHow could you!\u201d<\/p>\n Just as the Lord graciously entered into a covenant relationship with His Old Testament children, so also the Lord has graciously entered into a covenant relationship with us, His New Testament children.\u00a0 For most of us the holy God entered into a covenant relationship with us at the time of our Christian Baptism.\u00a0 Since we will be focusing on the Sacrament of Baptism on the Fifth Sunday in Lent, we don\u2019t want to go into a great deal of detail now.\u00a0 Suffice it to say that when we were baptized with water in the name of the Triune God, our holy God \u201cadopted\u201d us to be His holy child!\u00a0 We then promised to remain faithful to our Baptismal Covenant at the time of our Confirmation.\u00a0 Do you remember the promises you made to your holy God when you stood before His holy altar?\u00a0 Let me refresh your memory.\u00a0 Some of the questions that we were asked on the day of our Confirmation, questions to which we answered \u201cI do\u201d include:\u00a0 \u201cDo you believe that the teaching of the historic Evangelical Lutheran Church and the Wisconsin\/ Evangelical Lutheran Synod, as you have learned to know it from Luther\u2019s Small Catechism, is faithful and true to the Word of God?\u00a0 Do you intend to continue steadfast in this teaching and to endure all things, even death, rather than fall away from it?\u00a0 Do you intend faithfully to conform all your life to the teachings of God\u2019s Word; to be faithful in the use of the Word and Sacrament; and in faith and action remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, as long as you live?\u201d\u00a0 How well have you kept those promises?\u00a0 How well have you stood up for the Truths reflected in those questions?<\/p>\n The other covenant our holy God has established with us is found in the Sacrament of Holy Communion.\u00a0 Jesus Himself says to us, \u201cTake and eat, this is my body, given for you\u2026Take and eat, this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 We promise our dear Lord and Savior that when we leave His holy altar after receiving His holy Supper it will be with a renewed zeal to live our life in a way that is holy and pleasing to Him.\u00a0 (Pointing to the cross)\u00a0 How well have we kept that promise?<\/p>\n Yes, my friends, because of our own sin and because of our own rebelliousness we deserve nothing but holy destruction from our holy God!\u00a0 But just as our holy God did not want to destroy Adam and Eve when they rebelled against Him, just as our holy God did not want to destroy the people of Judah when they rebelled against Him, and just as our holy God did not want to destroy the people of Jerusalem when they rebelled against Him so also our holy God does not want to destroy us even though we have rebelled against Him.\u00a0 (See Ezekiel 33:11; I Timothy 2:3; II Peter 3:8-9)\u00a0 In fact God Himself has given us an extremely powerful proof<\/em><\/strong> of just how much He doesn\u2019t<\/em><\/strong> want to destroy us!\u00a0 That proof is found right there\u2014 the cross of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 God\u2019s agape love for us is so unfathomable that He was willing to endure the \u201cdestruction\u201d that we deserved all so that we could be saved<\/em>!\u00a0 The apostle Paul highlighted that wonderful truth when he wrote to God\u2019s saints in Rome, \u201cBut God demonstrates his own love for us in this:\u00a0 While we were still sinners, Christ died for us\u201d<\/em> (Romans 5:8).<\/p>\n \u201cThis is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.\u201d\u00a0 Even as imperfect parents with all of our weaknesses we understand the where\u2019s and the when\u2019s and the why\u2019s of how true that statement is.\u00a0 (Turning to the cross)\u00a0 \u201cThis is going to hurt Me more than it hurts you.\u201d\u00a0 Imagine, my friends.\u00a0 Imagine how much more our holy God understood that very same truth as He not only planned out<\/em> but as He also carried out<\/em> our salvation!<\/p>\n To God be the glory!<\/p>\n Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Second Sunday in Lent February 21, 2016 Jeremiah 26:8-15 But as soon as Jeremiah finished telling all the people everything the LORD had commanded him to say, the priests, the prophets and all the people seized him and said, “You must die!\u00a0 Why do you prophesy in the LORD’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this 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