Jeremiah 27:8-15 - Do not listen to the words of the prophets

27:8-11

All the nations had various “mystics” saying Babylon would not conquer them. In the case of Judah it was prophets who were supposedly speaking the word of God. In truth they were doing no such thing. The other nations had their diviners, interpreters of dreams, and sorcerers. They were all speaking nonsense. If the peoples of these nations listened to their mystics then they would be destroyed. They would live only if they surrendered to Babylon. People have a natural inclination to listen to those who tell them “nice things”, tell them what they want to hear. The tendency also exists in us, so we need to be careful, even if the people we are listening to are prophets, preachers or teachers. The word of God is the only absolute test of reliability.

27:12-15

Jeremiah gave the same message to the king, Zedekiah. Everyone was without excuse. True servants of God will be prepared to tell both ordinary people and those in power the truth. Whether they like it or not. Whether it makes us popular or hated. God was judging Judah and the nations, but it was far better to submit to this punishment than to resist it or deny it. The prophets were prophesying lies. 

Matthew 12:41-45 - One greater then Jonah is here

12:41,42

Nineveh was where Job went when he finally decided he had no option but to obey the Lord. They did not know of the experience that Job had gone through. Jonah went there in a grump, he had no desire to be there, he had no heart for the people, he did not even want them to repent. Yet the whole city repented. Now Jerusalem had one among them who was far greater than Jonah. Not a messenger of God, but the Son of God, and someone who most certainly did have a heart for the people. The Queen of the South is the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:1). She recognised Solomon’s wisdom and travelled far to hear it. Yet one far wiser than Solomon was here, and Israel did not want to listen. Her judgement would be great.

10:43-45

Jesus then speaks very severe words to “this generation”, it included the leaders, but was not limited to them. Many healings had been performed, many evil spirits had been cast out. The people had benefited for a time from this. But Jesus says it will be like an evil spirit who is cast out of a house for a time and has to wander in the desert. Then it comes back and brings more evil spirits with it. So the final state of the house is actually worse than when it started.  For a time the kingdom of God had been near to Israel, when Jesus was among them. Its presence had been evidenced by the healings and casting out of demons. Israel had benefited from Jesus’ presence, but they had not believed in Him. So when He went away they would be prone to being ruled by evil once again. It is like people who may be healed by Jesus, or receive some other benefit, but they do not repent, they do not believe. So while they are “blessed” for a time, it is only for a time, they will eventually sink back into their previous state, or something even worse.

Jeremiah 27:1-7 - I made the earth and the people

27:1-3

Various envoys were in Jerusalem, and Jeremiah was to send a message back to the nations that they represented, namely Edom, Moab and Ammon. The message was to be presented in a dramatic fashion, with Jeremiah wearing a yoke. We see that God uses a variety of ways of communicating His word.

27:4-7

“With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and all its people and animals”. This is such an important and fundamental statement. We are created beings in a created universe. “And I give it to anyone I please”. God is God, and when we forget that our thinking becomes increasingly futile and distorted. So now He was going to give all the nations of verse3 to Nebuchadnezzar. All nations would be given to Babylon, but then Babylon would become subject to many nations and great kings. As a point of Biblical interpretation, in v7 when it says “all nations will serve him” it quite clearly means all nations in the region. It would be quite silly to claim this means literally all nations on earth. So when people make this sort of argument for claiming the flood literally covered the whole earth I think we need to be a little careful. The flood may well have been literally worldwide, but it is not obvious that it is not just a regional flooding.

Matthew 12:39,40 - The sign of the prophet Jonah

12:39

Jesus is not impressed with the demand for a sign. “A wicked and adulterous generation”. Israel committed sins, and she was unfaithful to God. If she had been a faithful nation then she would have recognised Jesus as the Son of God, and would have recognised the multiple signs already given to her. Jesus tells them that the only sign she will get is that of Jonah.

12:40

Jonah had been told to preach to Nineveh but initially refused, running away to sea to try and avoid God’s call. Under Jewish reckoning, parts of days counted as whole days, hence explaining, at least in part, why we think some of the time references do not fit. Jesus here is predicting His death and resurrection. 

Jeremiah 26:20-24 - Ahikam supported Jeremiah

26:20-24

We see now how things worked out for two different people, Jeremiah and Uriah. Shemiah had been preaching the same things as Jeremiah. Now he was, apparently, preaching faithfully, for it says he was prophesying as Jeremiah did, and did so in the name of the Lord. The king wanted to have Uriah put to death. Uriah heard about this and fled. So far things are very similar to what happened to Jeremiah, except that Jeremiah did not flee. Uriah did flee, and he was killed.

Now we might then take the lesson that we should always resist and refuse to move. However, Jesus told His disciples that if they were not welcome in a town, then they should leave. And there were times in Acts when the disciples were scattered. So things are not so simple. Ecclesiastes probably has the best advice. There is a time to stay and a time to flee. There are not rules about these things. What we can learn is that we need to walk in step with the Spirit. If this means we stay and fight, then it is God who decides whether or not we die. Jeremiah was not handed over to death.

Matthew 12:35-38 - People will have to give an account

12:35-37

Jesus reiterates the point, If someone is fundamentally good, then they will produce good things. People who are fundamentally evil will produce evil things. “But I tell you ...” Why does Jesus suddenly say that we will have to give an account for every empty word we have spoken? The words that the Pharisees had just spoken were “empty words”, they meant nothing, were worth nothing. They used them merely as a political tool. They weren’t bothered about whether Jesus was actually driving out demons by demonic or Godly power, they just wanted to do Jesus down, to stop people flocking to Him. They would have to give an account for these words on the Day of Judgement. Their words reflected what was in their hearts.

12:38

Then came the next attack. “Teacher, we want to see a sign from you.” Now at one level at least this was a ridiculous request. Jesus had been doing numerous miracles, there was no shortage of signs! It is possible that they wanted a sign “in the heavens”. If people do not want to believe they will not believe. There are, of course, “miracles” that are not actually miracles, but there are also genuine miracles. But people cal always find an excuse not to believe.

Jeremiah 26:17-19 - Did Hezekiah not fear the Lord?

26:17,18

They kept records of what previous prophets had said, and Micah was one of the prophets who was around at roughly the same time as Isaiah, in the reign of Hezekiah. He too had prophesied that the land would be destroyed (Mic 3:12). The elders pointed back to these words and used them to interpret the present situation. This was a very wise thing to do. The normal thing to do would be to look at things purely in terms of the present, in terms of what they wanted to happen or not happen, in terms of their own “wisdom”. The better thing to do, much better, is to interpret things in the light of God’s word.

26:19

Having looked at the word of Micah, they then looked at the reaction of the king at the time, Hezekiah. Hezekiah was one of the few kings who gets a good write up in the Bible! He did not have Micah put to death. Instead he “feared the Lord and sought His favour”. And the Lord did relent, Assyria was not allowed to destroy Jerusalem. So the elders argued that they should follow Hezekiah’s lead.

Matthew 12:33,34 - Make a tree good and its fruit will be good

12:33

“Make a tree good ...” Jesus is continuing to talk about the heart of man. If we reject the Holy Spirit we reject God’s working to change our hearts, and it is our hearts that need to be changed. Remember that in the Bible “heart” does not just mean emotions, but includes our mind and will, it is the centre of our being. The Pharisees were focused on externals, Jesus is concerned with what is on the inside. For it is the inside, our hearts, that ultimately determine what sort of fruit we will produce.

12:34

“You brood of vipers”. John the Baptist also used this phrase (Matt 3:7), and Jesus would use it again in Matt 23:33. Jesus was not afraid to speak directly! “How can you say anything good?” This is referring back to their accusation that He was casting out demons by Beelsebul. This accusation was the fruit of what was in their hearts. Words do matter, for they reflect what is in our hearts.

Jeremiah 26:14-16 - Do with me whatever you think is good and right

26:14,15

Jesus did not resist arrest, Jeremiah responds in a similar way. Why did Jeremiah react like this? And why did Jesus react as He did? It is because they knew that what they were doing and saying was the work and word of the Lord, and that God is in control. The religious leaders could indeed kill him, but if they did they would be bringing blood guilt upon themselves. Peter described the attitude we should have in these sorts of situations in 1 Peter 3:13-22 (and in chapter 4 of that book as well). We need to set apart Christ as Lord in our hearts. Peter had not done this when he denied Jesus three times, but later he did do this.  We need to prepare our minds for action.

26:16

The response of the leaders here is markedly different from that of the religious leaders in Jesus’ day. Jesus’ attackers hardened their hearts and went ahead with their evil actions. Here the leaders see sense, at least to some degree. First they recognise that Jeremiah had spoken to them “in the name of the Lord”, and they saw this as a credible claim. We need to recognise that sometimes we will be treated justly, sometimes we will be treated unjustly, but at all times God is the ultimate judge. So we entrust ourselves to Him alone.

Matthew 12:31,32 - Anyone who speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven

12:31

The “blasphemy against the Holy Spirit” is one of the most difficult phrases because Jesus says it is the unforgivable sin. So let’s try and take a careful look at the matter. What is the context? What has Jesus just been talking about? The context is the work of the Spirit being attributed to Satan. We should also note that this is not a casual attribution, it is the underlying presupposition of the Pharisees approach, not simply making a mistake. Now, what happens if we deliberately and firmly attribute the work of God as being the work of Satan? We will deny Christ, for the primary work of the Holy Spirit is to bear witness to Jesus. It has often been said that if we are worried that we might have committed the unforgivable sin then that is a sign that we haven’t, for it indicates that there is still some sensitivity in our hearts, we have not been hardened to the point of no hope.

12:32

Jesus now says that speaking against the Son of Man (i.e. speaking against Himself) can be forgiven, but speaking against the Holy Spirit will not. He even makes the point stronger by saying there will be no forgiveness in this life nor the next. Why is speaking against the Holy Spirit so important? Maybe it is something like this. When someone is presented with Jesus, or we hear some teaching about Jesus, we may reject it or react against it just out of the dullness or blindness of our minds. “Forgive them for they do not know what they are doing”. When the Holy Spirit works in our lives He opens our minds to the truth of God, so if we reject that we are deliberately and knowingly rejecting the truth. So in the one case we sin out of ignorance (it is still sin), in the other we sin knowing and seeing the truth.

Jeremiah 26:12,13 - The Lord sent me to prophesy

26:12,13

Jeremiah stuck to the Lord’s message, he did not waver. He proclaimed the same message he had always been preaching. When accused or attacked there is always a tendency to want to soften what we say. We must not do this, we need to speak the word of the Lord. They took Jeremiah’s message as a condemnatory word, an attacking word. In reality it was a word of salvation, if only they would believe it, for the message was that if they repented then God would not send judgement against them. We perhaps face a similar situation with LGBTQ matters. The LGBTQ “community” think the message is one of condemnation, when in reality it is one of salvation. Now there are some who will preach against LGBTQ out of hatred, that is not the message of the gospel. Then there are some (far too many) who make the opposite mistake and are sin-affirming, saying that LGBTQ is OK. That is not a Biblical position, it is not God’s “position”. But if we are true to the Bible we will clearly state the Biblical position on these matters, but our heart is a desire to see salvation, to see true joy and love come into people’s lives.

Matthew 12:29,30 - Whoever is not with me is against me

12:29

Jesus has been talking about the illogicality of the Pharisees’ position. He is now making the positive case. If someone wants to carry off the goods of a strong man, then first the strong man needs to be dealt with. There are a number of things underlying this. One is that Jesus came to make a radical transformation. Another is that the world is under the influence of a “strong man”, in this case Satan. Jesus has come to bring about regime change. So it makes perfect sense that driving out demons is part of what He will do.

12:30

Christianity and Jesus are so often presented as being just about unity. Jesus, and the Bible, does speak about unity, but He also speaks about division. We need to both sides on board. So if we are not with Jesus then we are against Him. If we do not gather with Him, then we are scattering. It is impossible to be neutral about Jesus, and it is impossible to be neutral in our effect on the world. Jesus either is the Son of God or He is not. The world is under the prince of darkness, unless we positively work for the kingdom of God then we are propping up the current regime.

Jeremiah 26:7-11 - Why do you prophesy in the Lord's name?

26:7-9

“The priests, the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah”, everyone was without excuse. They all heard the word of God, but they all rejected the word of God. “You must die!” The response was very similar to the response of the religious leaders to Jesus. The people did not hear the word of God. Sceptics and atheists are always seeking to put the blame on God (whom they don’t think exists!), but the guilt always lies with us, not God.

26:10,11

In some ways this is very similar to the way Jesus was treated, with the scribes, priests and teachers of the Law gathering to plot how they could kill Him. However, as we will see in the next section, the eventual outcome was very different. But at this stage, they just out to get Jeremiah. Why are they doing this? Because Jeremiah has prophesied the destruction of the temple and Jerusalem. The religious leaders thought that Jerusalem was God’s city, and the temple was His temple. Now, they were indeed God’s city and temple, but because they were His righteousness was demanded, and persistent  unrighteousness could not be tolerated. Things must be done God’s way. We need to remember this when we think about ourselves. God saved us through the righteousness of Christ, and saved us for righteousness.

Matthew 12:25-28 - The kingdom of God has come upon you

12:25,26

“Jesus knew their thoughts”. This is a phrase that crops up on a number of occasions. It might be through supernatural knowledge, or just insight into how people think, of sometimes one and sometimes the other. However, nothing is hidden from God. Jesus points out the absurdity of the Pharisees position. If satan is driving out satan, then the devil’s kingdom is divided, and a divided kingdom cannot stand. When people are refusing to accept the obvious truth they will quite happily come up with ridiculous ideas.

12:27,28

Moreover, the Pharisees were not against driving demons out. Josephus’s Antiquities refers to cases of “exorcism. So if others did it, were they doing it by demonic power? Again Jesus is highlighting the inconsistencies in what the Pharisees were asserting. Then He turns to the truth and its consequences. What does it mean if Jesus is driving demons out by the Spirit of God? (Which is what He was doing.) Then that means that the kingdom of God is among them, and they had better pay attention!

Jeremiah 26:4-6 - If you do not listen to me

26:4-6

A verse I have mentioned again and again is “judgement begins with the house of God”, and here is another example. Notice also “if you do not listen”. If the people had repented at this point the coming judgement would have been averted. Sometimes the concept of death-bed conversions is raised. If someone repents just before the end of their life will they be saved? The answer is yes. We have the examples like this in Jeremiah, then we have the supreme example of the thief who put his trust in Christ while on the cross. Some say this is unfair, think you can live a sinful life for many years, repent at the last moment and off to heaven you go! There are two answers to this, both important. One is that all of us are saved by grace, none of us deserve to be saved. So the thief on the cross did not deserve to be saved, the person who became a Christian at a young age did not deserve to be saved. The second is that it is a very risky approach to take. Acts of sin are symptomatic of a corrupt soul. Judah had had numerous warnings but had not responded. If you think “I’ll live a life of rebellion against God and then repent” you almost certainly won’t.

Matthew 12:22-24 - Coud this be the Son of David

12:22,23

“Then they brought Him ...” It doesn’t tell us who the “they” were, but the point Matthew is making is that anyone who came to Jesus, with whatever condition, could be healed. This man was blind and mute, and this was as a result of demon-possession. The Biblical position is that not all sickness and physical ailments are a result of demonic activity, but some are. Anyway, Jesus healed him so he could see and speak. The reaction of the crowds was to be delighted and amazed. They also wondered if Jesus was indeed the Messiah, the Son of David. There is a deliberate contrast repeatedly brought out in the synoptic gospels between the reaction of the religious leaders to Jesus and that of the common people. The common people are often more intelligent than the “elite”. We should not be cowed into submission by a dismissive or even hostile reaction of the elite. We should also see that the common people are impressed by reality.

12:24

The religious leaders could not deny the fact that the man was healed, so they had to come up with some other explanation. The one thing they refused to do was to acknowledge that it was the power of God at work, for that would have forced them to change their own position, their own way of looking at life, and indeed of living life. If people are determined to deny the truth then they will always find a way. These ways will become increasingly illogical, but that will not hinder them. TSo the Pharisees next tact was to say Jesus was casting out demons by Beelzebul, the prince of demons.

Jeremiah 26:1-3 - Do not omit a word

26:1,2

Jeremiah is commanded to stand in the courtyard of the temple and to give the word of the Lord to everyone who comes to worship there. Jeremiah is to give them everything the Lord says, nothing is to be omitted. It is important that we give the whole word of God. We need to understand that while we serve the people, we are not servants of the people. We are God’s servants. The people will not always want what God wants!

26:3

“Perhaps they will listen ...” This verse is very conditional. “Perhaps they will listen”, “Then I will relent”. There are debates between Calvinists and Arminians, and quite often they are utterly futile. If we read the Bible we can find plenty of evidence that the Lord is sovereign, He knows all things and His will is always done. Yet at the same time we find verses like this, and there are plenty others, that show that what we do and think matters. Indeed, we can find this on every page of the Bible. And there are a number, like this one, that read as though God changes His mind. What we then often do is that those on one side of the debate seeks to show that the other side’s interpretation is wrong. This is not very helpful. Two of the great truths of the Bible are (i) The Lord is absolutely sovereign; and (ii) what we do with our lives matters. A compatibilism approach seems by far the most sensible. I.e. in our limited understanding the sovereignty of God and human responsibility seem incompatible, but in God’s view they clearly are not!

Matthew 12:17-21 - In His name the nations will put their hope

12:17,18

Matthew again points back to the Old Testament, this time to the first servant song in Isaiah 42:1-4. Jesus is the servant whom God has chosen. It does not matter that the religious leaders did not regard Him as God’s servant, but as a threat. It does not matter that the “elite” of the world do not consider Him to be God’s chosen One. God has chosen Him, that is all that matters. God loves the Son and delights in Him. The Servant would be filled with the Spirit, which is why it is significant that the Spirit descended on Him like a dove at His baptism. He would proclaim justice to the nations. Justice involves God’s ways being enacted in a society, all of God’s ways. We have a habit of focusing on just one aspect and ignoring or even positively rejecting others. So some will focus on matters of sexual morality but ignore justice for the poor and oppressed. Others will focus on helping the poor and helpless, but even positively reject God’s ways with regard to sexual morality.

12:19-21

This justice would go out to all nations, but despite having this big mission, the servant would not be loud. He would not quarrel or cry out, “no one will hear his voice in the street”. This last bit seems a little odd, as we are told not to keep quiet, and Jesus did speak openly. However, given v20, the point seems to be that He will not be aggressive. He will treat the struggling with gentleness. There are times when we seem to be a smouldering wick, just about alive to God, but not exactly on fire. Jesus will not snuff us out, but will revive us. Jesus will lead justice to victory, and all nations will put their hope in Him. This is the destination of history.

Jeremiah 25:30-38 - Look! Disaster is spreading

25:30,31

Jeremiah is to proclaim this judgement in a loud and clear voice, there can be no mistaking the message. “He will bring judgement on all mankind”. Now notice how many “Christians” seek to soften or deny this message. Notice how you seek to soften or deny this message! We must not. Indeed, we are fools if we seek to do so. For where sin abounds, grace abounds all the more (Rom 5:20). If you seek to soften judgement, you diminish the glory, grace and love of the cross, of God’s great mercy to us in Christ.

25:32,33

Terrible destruction is coming, and it affects nation after nation. Note that in v33 it says “those slain by the Lord”. Now this does not mean men or women are not responsible, they clearly are, but this was all according to the Lord’s plan. We may find that hard to take. One solution is to say “God was not responsible, the people who wrote the Bible misunderstood things, they got it wrong”. This is not a good route to take. First, it means the Bible is wrong, so you cannot trust it, therefore you have no grounds for believing you are saved. Secondly it is taking a very man-centred approach. It is far better to accept what it says, knowing we do not understand everything, realising that God has a far better idea of the awfulness and destructiveness of sin than we do. Secondly, this is part of God’s truth, it is not all of it. So we need to take the whole Biblical picture.

25:34-38

All are guilty, but it is the shepherds of the flock who bear the greatest guilt. The priests were meant to direct the people in the way of the Lord. Every pastor, minister and church leader of any description should pay heed to this. Our role is to lead people in the way of the Lord, not in the way of the world. The Lord will come in judgement against the shepherds. The end of v38 sums up how things operate: “because of the sword of the oppressor and because of the Lord’s fierce anger”. The judgement would come through the invading Babylonian armies, but the Lord is the one who was behind it all.

Matthew 12:13-16 - Stretch out your hand

12:13,14

Having given the “theology” of the situation, and it genuinely was theology for Jesus demonstrated that the heart of God was to heal people, Jesus demonstrated the reality of this. He told the man to stretch out his hand. The man did so, and the hand was completely healed. It is interesting to note that Jesus actually did not do any “work” on any half-sensible definition. The reaction of the Pharisees was typical of what their reaction would be throughout the gospels, they tried to work out how they could kill Jesus. Sin can utterly blind a person, or group of people.

As an aside on healing. It is true that there are many charlatan “healers” today (and always have been). There are also many who are well-intentioned but perhaps over claim. However, we should note that the heart of God is to heal, God delights to heal. So the supposed sensible position of more or less saying the gift of healing does not exist has a hard job finding Biblical support, and needs to answer the question “how does this it in with the heart of God?” Sickness and healing is a complex matter, and there are no easy answers.

12:15,16

See how Jesus reacted in the previous incident. He tackled the matter head on, there was no beating about the bush. Now see how He reacts to the knowledge that the Pharisees are out to kill Him. Jesus withdrew. He took what we might call the pragmatic course. There is a time to tackle head on, there is a time to withdraw. If we always tackle head on we will do some foolish things, if we always withdraw or take the pragmatic option we will also do some equally foolish things. If we look at successful generals or politicians, one of their qualities was that they knew which battles to fight. And things started to go wrong for them when they started fighting every battle.

Jeremiah 25:17-29 - Drink, get drunk, and vomit

25:17-26

We now get a list of the nations the cup went to. First to Jerusalem and Judah, remember that Peter wrote about judgement beginning with the house of God. In the prophets we normally find much judgement against Israel, then judgement against other nations. The kings and officials are singled out, for they bore the heaviest responsibility.

Then we get a whole list of nations, covering all kinds. Coastal nations, small nations, large nations. No one will escape, all are subject to God’s judgement. Sheshak (v26) is a cryptogram for Babylon.

25:27-29

“Judgement begins with the house of God” (1 Pet 4:17). The nations mocked Israel and Judah, glorying in their downfall. But this was a badly mistaken reaction. For Israel was not a model of what would happen to the whole world. There is a sense in which Israel is no different from anyone else. The nature of the people is the same as all people. This is why we see sin raising its head again and again in Israel as recorded in the Old Testament. She could not reform herself. So judgement would come upon her. In the same way, all nations, all people are under judgement, unable to save themselves. That is the bad news. The good news is that we can all be saved through faith in Christ, both Jew and Gentile.

Matthew 12:9-12 - It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath

12:9,10

Jesus is now going to demonstrate His Lordship over the Sabbath, and show the difference between God’s intention for the Sabbath, and the Pharisees approach. Jesus went into a synagogue, the one that these Pharisees were connected with. In the synagogue was a man with a shrivelled hand. We see first the heart of the Pharisees, the darkened heart of the Pharisees. What did they see when they saw the man with the shrivelled hand? They saw this as an opportunity to further accuse Jesus. The man was a mere object, a pawn who could be used to further their ends. So they took the battle to Jesus and asked if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath.

12:11,12

Jesus’ answer exposed the sin that resided in the hearts of the Pharisees. What would they do if a sheep or goat had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath? There were some very strict sects, like the Essenes, who would indeed have left it till the next day, but the Pharisees would have rescued the animal. So Jesus then points out that a man is much more valuable than an animal. “Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” sums up the whole matter. God sees the Sabbath as a day of healing. Indeed, it is meant to be a day of healing and restoration for all of us, not just when we have a clear medical need. God meant it as a day of healing and restoration, the Pharisees had turned it into a nightmare, a day full of traps and pitfalls, when, in their eyes, it was so easy to offend God. We need to be very wary of setting rules and regulations, for we can so easily turn something that was meant to be good into a nightmare.

Jeremiah 25:13-16 - I will repay them according to their deeds

25:13,14

Babylon would receive her due punishment. She would be judged for all the wrong that she had done. And Jeremiah would prophesy against Babylon and other nations, we will come to this later on in the book.

25:15,16

Jeremiah is metaphorically given the cup of God’s wrath. The word he preaches to Judah and to all the nations declares judgement, and the judgement will cause enormous distress among the nations because of the death and destruction that would come. We must remember that Jesus spoke of drinking the cup, and that cup was the wrath of God that Jesus took upon Himself in our place.

Matthew 12:5-8 - I desire mercy, not sacrifice

12:5

Jesus then points to the Law, where the priests actually do work on the Sabbath when they are offering the sacrifices (Num 28:9). And the religious leaders agreed that if the eighth day fell on the Sabbath, a child must still be circumcised on that day (John 7:22). Jesus is pointing out the inconsistencies in the Pharisees application of their own rules. They were not concerned with righteousness, but only in using their rules to fulfil their own ends. Often it is good to look behind the argument.

12:6-8

Jesus now moves the argument on from the minutiae of the Law, to focus on Himself. There are two general points to glean from this. The first is that Jesus draws attention to Himself, He is always doing this. If He was “just a man” this would be an ungodly thing to do, but in reality is entirely consistent with His being the Son of God. The second is that in arguments we should always seek to draw the focus back to Jesus Himself. 

Jesus claims to be greater than the temple. The temple represented the presence of God. Jesus is the presence of God to an infinitely greater degree. He then corrects the Pharisees thinking, God desires mercy rather than sacrifice. Finally He declares Himself to be the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus, not the Pharisees, had the right, the qualifications, to interpret the Sabbath!

Jeremiah 25:8-12 - Because you have not listened to my words

25:8-11

So we have the theology, if you like, in verse 7. In these verses we have the practical outworking of it all. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, would invade, destroy and carry off into exile. Joy and gladness would be banished from the land. The place would become a desolate wasteland. However, Babylon’s power would not last forever, but only for seventy years.

25:12

In Jeremiah we have had extremely harsh word about Judah from the Lord. There is absolutely no mistaking the reality and seriousness of Judah’s sin and God’s anger against it. Yet the goal is salvation! We have both the condemnation and judgement of sin and salvation. In our human thinking we tend to go with one or the other, but not with God. On the cross sin received its due punishment, and we were saved through Christ. So here there is a limit to the time they will spend in Babylon. After seventy years the land would be left desolate.

Matthew 12:1-4 - Haven't you read what David did?

12:1,2

It was lawful to pick the heads of grains from the edges of the fields (Deut 23:25). However, under Pharisaical rules this was classified as work, and so forbidden. Preparation of food on the Sabbath was indeed forbidden by the Law (Ex 16:22-30; 35:3), but feasting was allowed. So the disciples were only breaking a man-made rule, not a God-given law. A teacher was held responsible for the actions of his followers to some extent, so the Pharisees went to Jesus, asking Him to explain this behaviour. The Sabbath was to be a battleground for many of the conflicts between Jesus and the religious leaders. 

12:3,4

“Haven’t you read ..” Jesus often used Scripture in His arguments with the Pharisees, and this would be particularly galling for them, as they prided themselves on their knowledge and adherence to the Scriptures. The incident referred to is recorded in 1 Sam 21:6. Jesus teaches, and presents, a whole different approach to the Law than the Pharisees had. Now one might think this gave licence to ignore God’s commands. This is not so, for we must remember that, especially in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus made the demands even stronger! Jesus got to the heart of the matter. He looked at things from a life-giving perspective, not a legalistic life-sapping perspective.

Jeremiah 25:4-7 - Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways

25:4-6

God had sent many servants, Jeremiah was just one. But the people ignored them all. The prophets told the people to turn from their evil ways and to repent. Then they could have stayed in the land forever. They were told not to follow other gods. But they ignored all these messengers, and all these warnings. If they had repented God would have forgiven them.

25:7

There are three charges against the people here: (i) they did not listen to God; (ii) they had aroused His anger with what their hands had made; (iii) they have brought harm upon themselves. First, if they had listened to God, had continued to worship Him, trust Him and obey Him, things would have gone well with them. Instead of doing this they had worshipped and trusted in things their hands had made, i.e they had trusted in idols. The result of this was to do themselves harm. In the second item we read that God was angry. Why was this? It was because instead of worshipping the living God who actually is able to save them, they had chosen to worship useless idols and to follow destructive ways. In the same way with western societies heading rapidly down LGBTQ routes we are rejecting God’s ways and choosing destructive paths instead.

Matthew 11:28-30 - My yoke is easy and my burden is ;ight

11:28-30

We then immediately get the positive! Jesus calls all the weary to come to Him, all those who are burdened. Jesus being the only way to the Father, our needing Jesus to reveal the truth to us, is not a limitation. Rather it is an invitation! For He has said He will reveal the truth to all who come to Him. He invites the weary and burdened to come to Him, and He will give us rest. We will find true rest for our souls. “Take my yoke upon you”. The world puts a yoke upon us. It is one of having to rely entirely upon ourselves, one living a life without God, where everything is down to my ability. One where we are at the mercy of others and at the mercy of events. We are called to swap that heavy yoke for the yoke of Jesus. The yoke of being cared for by the Lord, the yoke of having our sins forgiven. The yoke of being set free! The world can be cruel and demanding, overbearing. But Jesus is “gentle and humble in heart”. So we will find true rest. Let us accept the invitation of the only One who can reveal the Father and the Son to us.

Jeremiah 25:1-3 - You have not listened

25:1-3

The Lord had been warning Judah, through the words of Jeremiah, for twenty three years. “But you have not listened”. God had warned them “again and again”. People say that God has not made things clear enough. This is nonsense, and is not an argument that will stand up on the last day! The truth of God is evident to all. The fact that we were created is the most obvious explanation. The age of the earth and the mechanisms that God did or did not use can be debated, and really do not matter. Whether God created the universe a few thousand years ago, or several billion years ago is really not that relevant. Exactly how He created things is not that relevant. What is extremely relevant is that we were created on purpose and for a purpose. Currently western societies are desperately keen to celebrate LGBTQ stuff. A moment’s rational thought shows that this is a very bad idea. We are without excuse! As were the people of Judah.

Matthew 11:25-27 - All things have been committed to me by my Father

11:25,26

We now get “kinder” words, at least in part. Jesus praises His Father because He has hidden the truth of the kingdom from the “wise and learned” and revealed it to little children. Now Jesus does not mean that it is wrong to be “wise and learned”, there is a whole book in the Bible praising the virtues of wisdom, the book of Proverbs. The truth of the kingdom is hidden from the self-righteous and the proud, those who boast of their own cleverness. Conversely, it is revealed to little children, that is to the humble. To those who put their trust in God, recognising that He is the source of true wisdom and learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Prov 1:7). 

And this is God’s good pleasure. The world encourages us to be proud and boastful, we should not go along with this. It belittles us when we refuse to go along with its “wisdom”. We should not be cowed, for far better to be on God’s side than the world’s side!

11:27

This is a key verse in many ways. It quite clearly states the divinity of Jesus, and that He is the only way of salvation. Moreover, it places salvation directly in Jesus’ hands, for to know the Father the Son had to choose to reveal the Father to that person. “All things have been committed to Jesus”. Jesus has all power and authority, He will return to judge the whole world. Jesus is fully human, but He is not “just a man”.  No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son. Jesus is eternally the Son of God. There was never a time when He was not the Son of God. Our eyes are blinded by sin, sin utterly distorts our vision. But we are not without hope, for those whom Christ chooses to reveal the truth to can know the Father and the Son. Some see this as a limitation, and hence seek to deny the clear truth of these words. We are far wiser and better to see this as our only hope, to see it as a positive. We can know the Father and the Son, but only through Jesus Christ.

Jeremiah 24:3-10 - I will give them a heart to know me

24:3-7

As with 1:11, Jeremiah is asked what he sees, and he correctly describes the vision. God then explains the vision, starting with the good figs. In Jer 21:9 God said those who surrendered to the Babylonians would live. Here we have a very good prophecy for those in exile. Now remember they are in exile for their own sins and the sins of the nation. Those who submit to God’s discipline will prosper from it, those who resist will perish. They would come back as far better people. God would watch over them in exile. He would build them up and change their hearts. “They will be my people, and I will be their God.” This is the ultimate purpose of God, and it is those who are disciplined by God who receive it. (Heb 12:4-11).

24:8-10

The ones who fled to Egypt or stayed in the land, along with Zedekiah and his officials, are like the bad figs. They sought to save themselves by their own efforts, but they would become abhorrent to all peoples and nations. They will be “an offense, a byword, a curse, a reproach and an object of ridicule”. God could not make it clearer. Plague, famine and sword will get them. As the people of God we have a great privilege, but only if we trust in the Lord and obey Him.

Matthew 11:21-24 - Woe to you Chorazin

11:21,22

Various towns are mentioned by name. Chorazin was near the sea of Galilee. Bethsaida was on the northeast shore of the Sea of Galilee. Tyre and Sidon were on the Phoenician coast. Chorazin and Bethsaida were part of Israel. They would have considered themselves far superior to the non-Jewish people of Tyre and Sidon. Indeed, in Isaiah Tyre and Sidon are singled out for judgement in Isaiah 23. Yet Jesus is saying that if the people of Tyre and Sidon had seen the miracles they would have repented. Yet the Jewish towns had not repented.

11:23,24

Capernaum is now mentioned, and the words allude to the prophecy against Babylon in Isaiah 14:13-15. In fact, Capernaum gets the worst treatment here. Babylon is representative of Satan’s “kingdom” (see Revelation), then she is told that Sodom was better than her! This is about as damning a condemnation as you can get. Jesus tells them that on the day of judgement Sodom will fare better than Capernaum! It is like Jesus telling you or me that we are worse than Hitler.

Keeping Focused on Christ - A sermon on 1 Corinthians 3

A sermon preached at Gate Church International (virtually!) on Sunday 13th September 2020.

YouTube version:  Keeping Focused

Audio version can be found here.

Jeremiah 24:1,2 - Two baskets of figs

24:1,2

All the skilled workers had been carried off into exile. Then God gave Jeremiah a vision, remember he had visions very early on in his ministry. Things are now entering a new phase. It was only the “dregs” of society who were left in Jerusalem, all the rulers and “elite” were in exile, or dead. The vision was of two baskets of figs. One basket was very good. The earliest gifs that ripened in June were the tastiest ones. The other basket had bad figs that were inedible.

Matthew 11:16-20 - Wisdom is proved right by her deeds

11:16-19

Jesus then uses an analogy to describe the reaction of the people, using a well known ditty. Dance music was played, but nobody danced. Funeral music was played, but nobody mourned. In short, people are never happy! We have probably all encountered instances of this in our churches! So John the Baptist came, living in a very austere manner, and he was accused of having a demon. Jesus, the Son of Man, came, eating and drinking, and He was accused of being a glutton and a drunkard. He was accused of being a friend of tax collectors and sinners (presumably in the sense of approving of them, as He actually was a friend of tax collectors and sinners). “Wisdom is proved right by her actions”. Often there is no point trying to win a war of words, just let reality play out and true wisdom will become clear.

11:20

“Then Jesus began to denounce the towns to which most of His miracles had been performed, because they did not repent”. Oh dear me! How this offends our distorted picture of Jesus! First of all, if we think that people seeing miracles and healings will mean they come to believe, then this verse rides a coach and horses through that notion. Now this does not mean that there should not be miracles, that would be an equally wrong inference, but the idea that miracles will guarantee salvations is deeply flawed. But most of all, the idea of Jesus denouncing towns is abhorrent to most of us! Well, Jesus did denounce the towns.

Jeremiah 23:34-40 - I will bring on you everlasting disgrace

23:34-36

Claiming a message is from the Lord is not something to be done lightly, for if someone is making it up then God will punish that person, along with his household. The people were still using language that sounded devout enough, talking about messages from the Lord. God calls a halt to this nonsense. Today spokespeople for the sin-affirming churches will often use Biblical language, but in reality they are spouting the most unbiblical rubbish, and rubbish that is offensive to God and harmful to people.

23:37,38

The false prophets were forever asking of Jeremiah “What has the Lord spoken?”, though quite why they did this is something of a mystery, for they never paid any attention to his words. They claimed their own “prophecies” were messages from the Lord, when they were not. They did this even after God, through Jeremiah, had told them not to. The stubbornness of a sinful heart knows no limits.

23:39,40

The false prophets had forgotten God, therefore He would forget them. Likewise, Jesus said if we deny Him, then He will deny us. The false prophets would be cast out of God’s presence, along with Jerusalem. Everlasting shame would be their destiny.