Suffering and Deliverance (Part 27) - Jeremiah (Part B)

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B. The nation of Judah had become entirely corrupt by the time Jeremiah prophesied to them. i. The LORD would have pardoned the city of Jerusalem if even one man executed judgment and sought the truth, but there was not even one (Jer 5:1). ii. They made a pretense of piety, but were full of deceit (Jer 5:2). iii. They refused correction and made their faces harder than rock (Jer 5:3). iv. They had forsaken God and were adulterers (Jer 5:7-8). v. They were proud and did not believe that the LORD would judge them (Jer 5:11-12). vi. They served strange gods (Jer 5:19). vii. They were a foolish people without understanding (Jer 5:21). viii. They were wicked and treacherous (Jer 5:26-28). ix. The land was full of false prophets and corrupt priests, and the people loved to have it so (Jer 5:31). x. They were given to covetousness including the religious leaders (Jer 6:13). xi. They were thieves, murderers, adulterers, liars, and idolaters who claimed they had no responsibility for their sins (Jer 7:9-10). xii. They had polluted the house of God (Jer 7:11). xiii. They were so far gone that Jeremiah was commanded to abstain from praying for them (Jer 7:16; Jer 11:14). xiv. They burned their children in the fire as a sacrifice to their false gods (Jer 7:31). xv. They were so wicked that God hated them (Jer 12:8). xvi. This was the condition of the people whom Jeremiah was sent to prophesy to. C. The people told Jeremiah to not prophesy in the name of the LORD to them and threatened to kill him (Jer 11:21). D. The LORD had promised Jeremiah that He would make the enemy treat him well in the time of evil and affliction (Jer 15:11). i. The LORD kept His promise, which we will see later in this study. ii. Remember that God can do the same for us. E. Jeremiah was all alone with only the LORD and His word to comfort him (Jer 15:15-16). i. Jeremiah would not sit with the assembly of the mockers, but rather sat alone (Jer 15:17). ii. He was in pain and felt like God had deceived him (Jer 15:18). iii. The LORD again comforted Jeremiah and promised him that He would defend him and deliver him from those who fought against him (Jer 15:19-21). iv. In the time of our distress and depression, the word of God is there to comfort and encourage us, just as it was for Jeremiah. F. The men of Judah conspired against Jeremiah to condemn and slander him (Jer 18:18). G. Jeremiah was smitten and put in the stocks because of his prophecy against Israel by Pashur the chief governor of the house of God (Jer 20:1-2). i. When Jeremiah was released from the stocks he prophesied that the people of Jerusalem would be slain by the Babylonians and carried away captive to Babylon (Jer 20:3-5). ii. He also told Pashur that he and his family would go into captivity in Babylon and die there alone with his friends to whom he had prophesied lies (Jer 20:6). iii. Jeremiah was fearless and continued to prophesy against Israel even after being persecuted. iv. Even when he felt deceived and betrayed by God and no longer wanted to preach to the nation, God's word was like a fire in his bones which he could not resist (Jer 20:7-9). H. The LORD commanded Jeremiah to stand in the court of the LORD's house and prophesy against all the cities of Judah (Jer 26:2). i. The priests, prophets, and people then took him saying that he would surely die (Jer 26:8). ii. They were angry at Jeremiah for his prophecy and were gathered against him (Jer 26:9). iii. They brought in the princes of Judah and told them that Jeremiah was worthy of death because he had prophesied against Jerusalem (Jer 26:10-11). iv. Jeremiah told them that the LORD sent him to prophesy against Jerusalem and the temple (Jer 26:12). v. He then told them to repent and obey God, and if they did that God would repent of the evil that He pronounced against them (Jer 26:13). vi. Jeremiah told them to do what they wanted to him, but warned them that if they killed him they would bring innocent blood upon themselves (Jer 26:14-15). vii. The princes decided that he was not worthy of death because he had spoken to them in the name of the LORD, and they delivered him out of the hand of the priests and prophets (Jer 26:16-19). viii. The LORD had delivered Jeremiah out of their hand just as He had promised to.