Jeremiah 3

CHAPTER 3THEME: Josiah begins reforms in the nationIn Jeremiah’s first message, begun in chapter 2, God has condemned Judah on two scores: they have rejected Jehovah, and they have reared their own gods. The first five verses of chapter 3 will continue on this theme. The messages found in chapters 2 through 6 were given during the first five years of Jeremiah’s ministry before the Book of the Law was found. During this time, however, Josiah, a young man like Jeremiah, was seeking the Lord and instituting certain reforms in the nation. Primarily, he was trying to clean up the idolatry in Judah. The nation had forsaken the living God and had gone over into idolatry. You can see that the combined efforts of this young king and the young prophet Jeremiah had a tremendous effect upon the nation. Judah had gone over to idolatry because it was the easy way and the popular way, but it was a pathway that led to the lowering of their standards and brought them down to a low moral level.

Jeremiah 3:1

Judah had sunk to a very low levelthere was gross immorality in the land. She had played the harlot; yet God asks her to return to Him.

Jeremiah 3:2

Idolatry is not simply making a little idol to worship. Anything that a man gives himself to wholeheartedly is idolatry. The Bible teaches that covetousness is idolatry, because when a man covets something, he gives his time, his energy to thathe is dedicated to it. Especially in these last days we see a great many people who are dedicated to sin, and the energy they put into sin is tremendous. But, you see, the minute a man turns away from the living God, he will turn to something else. It will be something he has made, and it becomes his god, his idol. Dr. G. Campbell Morgan has made this very fine statement about the nature of idolatry and the worship of the true God: …When a man makes a god according to the pattern of his own being, he makes a god like himself, an enlargement of his own imperfection. Moreover, the god which a man makes for himself will demand from him that which is according to his own nature. It is clearly evident in Mohammedanism. Great and wonderful and outstanding in his personality as Mohammed was, yet the blighting sensuality of the man curses the whole of Islam today. Men will be faithful to those gods who make no demands upon them which are out of harmony with the desires of their own hearts. When God calls men, it is the call of the God of holiness, the God of purity, the God of love; and He demands that they rise to His height. He cannot accommodate Himself to the depravity of their nature. He will not consent to the things of desire within them that are of impurity and evil. He calls men up, and even higher, until they reach the height of perfect conformity to His holiness. God’s call to humanity is always first pure, and then peaceable; first holy, and then happy; first righteous, and then rejoicing (Studies in the Prophecy of Jeremiah, p. 36). God said that Jeremiah’s generation in Judah had gone wholeheartedly into idolatry, and as a result there was gross immorality in the land. When He says, “Lift up thine eyes unto the high places,” you must understand how grossly immoral those high places were. A high place was a grove of trees where an idolatrous altar had been built. All kinds of sex orgies and drunken revelries were carried on there. Judah had sunk to a very low level. The comparison to our own nation today is obvious, is it not? America has forsaken the living and true God, which is evident in the moral condition of this country. What lawlessness, dishonesty, and corrupt speech we find everywhere! We have even taught our children the use of very foul language.

Jeremiah 3:3

God tells them that He has already begun to judge them by withholding rain. Even today that land is dry. Their greatest need is watereven more than oil. They didn’t find oil in the Negeb, but they found water, and that is much more precious to them. I believe that when the Jews return to Israel under the blessing of God, they are going to have all the water they need. God has said that He will supply it. I think that we can see God’s judgment upon our own nation in the many national calamities which we have suffered over the past several years. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to wake us up and bring us back to Him.

Jeremiah 3:6

CHARGE OF BACKSLIDING DURING THE REIGN OF JOSIAHWe come now to the second message of Jeremiah. It begins in verse Jer_3:6 of chapter 3 and extends all the way through chapter 6. In this message God charges the people with backsliding. The word backsliding is used seven times in this chapter, and that is more than half the number of times in the entire book. In Jeremiah we find this word more often than in the rest of the Bible put together. He and Hosea are the ones who use it. Backsliding does not simply mean “to slide backwards” as we usually think of it. God gives us a vivid picture of what He means by backsliding when He tells us, “For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer …” (Hos_4:16). Do you have any idea what it is like to try to load calves into a truck or wagon? When I was a boy, we lived next door to a southern Oklahoma rancher. He had two sons who were my friends. (They were mean boys, and I ran with thembut, of course, I was a good boy!) Sometimes we would go out to the ranch and help load the heifers. Do you know what they do when you try to get them up the ramp?

They set their front feet and make themselves as stiff as they can. They brace themselves so that you cannot move them at all. When we would try to move them, they would start slipping backwards. That is God’s picture of what it means to backslide. Backsliding is a refusal to go God’s way, a refusal to listen to Him. And when we do as the heifers do, when we set our wills against God’s will, we wind up going backwards every time. If we rebel against the Lord and His will, we only get farther and farther away from Him. God tells Judah to take a lesson from Israel which had already gone into captivity. He tells them to take notice of the fact that Israel had done exactly what they are doing. “Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer.” But God had tried to get Israel to return to Him, and they would not return. As a result they were taken off into captivity. What happened to Israel should serve as a lesson and should be a warning to Judah. In verse Jer_3:1 of this chapter God said, “Yet return again to me, saith the LORD.” He says, “Though you have played the harlot, you belong to Me. If you come back to Me, I’ll receive you.” That is the reason any prodigal son or any prodigal daughter or any prodigal family or any prodigal church or any prodigal nation can always come back to God. God will receive you. The prodigal son didn’t get any kicks when he came home. He had gotten those in the far country! He received kisses instead. He had nearly starved in the far country, but his father prepared a banquet for him when he came home. But Israel had not returned to God. They went into idolatry, and God sent them into captivity. Now He says to Judah, “Let this be a lesson to you.”

Jeremiah 3:7

God says, “I gave Israel an opportunity to turn to me. I would have taken her back, but she wouldn’t come. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.” The sin of Judah is compounded. I think her captivity was much worse than that of the ten northern tribes, and the reason is self-evident: Judah had Israel’s captivity as an example and refused to profit by it. The tragedy in this country is that we have a Bible, but very few are reading it. I get a little weary of hearing people say, “We live in a land where we have an open Bible, and we can read the Bible.” Well, thank God for that, but who is reading it? How many people are really reading it? Judah did not turn to God even though they had an example. You and I have the Word of God today, and therefore I believe God will judge this country more harshly than He will judge nations such as the Soviet Union. They don’t have Bibles over there, but you and I do. I believe God will judge us according to the opportunities He gives us.

Jeremiah 3:9

They made idols of sticks and stones.

Jeremiah 3:10

The revival under King Josiah was a revivalthere is no question about it. Many people turned to God. But it was so popular that for many it was nothing but a surface return to God. By and large, as far as the nation is concerned, it was a superficial experience with God. I believe that there is a renewed interest in the Word of God today, and I think more people are being saved than at any time during the years of my ministry. But let’s be very carefulit is not a revival. A great deal of it is quite surface. Don’t be deceived by the large crowds in places or by the number who are reported to have accepted Christ. Just divide that number by two, and you’ll probably get the number of those who have been genuinely converted. We see a great surface movement as well as that which is genuine.

Jeremiah 3:11

God is making it clear that the sin of Judah is worse than the sin of Israel. The northern tribes didn’t have the same opportunity as the southern tribes. They did not have the temple nor did they have a copy of the Word of God. Therefore the judgment on Judah was greater. I believe the judgment on us will be greater also.

Jeremiah 3:12

God tells Israel that He will bring them back into the land if they will turn to Him. How gracious God is! How wonderful He is!

Jeremiah 3:13

Today the big problem is a lack of confession of sin. I find that repentance is lacking in much of the so-called spiritual movement of today. An example is a book I read recently which disturbed me. The author constantly used the first person pronoun, and the Lord received none of the glory. He told what God had done for him, how He had made him a millionaire, a big success. But I didn’t find anywhere a statement that God had saved him from sin. We need to confess our iniquity. My friend, do you say that you are a Christian? What do you mean by that? Perhaps you say that you have trusted Christ. Trusted Him for what? You may say that you trust Him as your Savior. Fine! I’m glad to hear that. Did He save you from sin? Remember that He died on the Cross to save you from sin, not to give you a new personality or to make you a millionaire. He died to save us all from our sins. He was delivered for our offenseswe were all very offensive to God. The word of God through Jeremiah is “acknowledge thine iniquity,” and it is directed to us as well as to Judah.

Jeremiah 3:14

Oh how gracious God was!

Jeremiah 3:15

My friend, if you have a Bible-teaching pastor, you ought to run over and put your arm around him. You ought to protect him, because he is valuable. Such men are few and far between.

Jeremiah 3:16

“In those days” is a reference to the millennial Kingdom. All the way through the Book of Jeremiah we will find these rays of light. Have you ever been out on a cloudy day when all of a sudden the sun breaks through and you see a rainbow? This is how it will be throughout Jeremiahwe will have these glorious prophecies of the future.

Jeremiah 3:17

This is a glorious prophecy. It is like a little gem.

Jeremiah 3:19

“Thou shalt call me, My father.” No individual Israelite ever called God his Father. He was a Father to the nation of Israel, and He said “…Israel is my son …” (Exo_4:22). But he never called David His son; He said, “…David my servant” (Psa_89:3). He never called Moses His son; He called him, “Moses my servant …” (Jos_1:2). It is only in this day of grace that we are called the sons of God. How privileged we are today! “But as many as received him, to them gave he power [the right] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (Joh_1:12). Those who do no more and no less than simply trust in His name become the sons of God. Is He your Savior from sin? If He is, you are not only a saved sinner, you are a son of God. How wonderful that is!

Jeremiah 3:22

The Lord says that He will heal. I can tell you that you have a little sore in a very prominent place if you do a lot of backsliding my friend. God says, “I will heal you if you will come to Me.”

Jeremiah 3:23

In Psalms 121 David says, “I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psa_121:1-2). Help does not come from those high places on the hills. Salvation comes from the Lord.

Jeremiah 3:25

Judah did not confess their sins. Jeremiah confessed their sins for them and for himself, also. You know, it wouldn’t hurt for us to have a little confession of sin today. We hear so much about special gifts and about God’s blessing in special ways. That is wonderful. We should thank God because He has blessed us. But have you ever heard a confession that we come short of the glory of God? Have you gone to Him yourself and told Him how far you fall short of His glory? We need to be humble before Him. Judah was not humble before God, and God had to send them into captivity. I often wonder whether the Lord is getting ready to chastise us. We need to be humble before Him.