The Sin and Folly of Judah
The Depth of Sin
- 17:1 “engraved with a diamond point” - evil habits are deeply cut into
their stony hearts.
- 17:2 “their children remember” - childhood memories of gross evil,
worse than drag queen story hour.
- 17:4 “enslave you to your enemies” - as they were enslaved to their sin.
And yet … this new enslavement helped set them free from their addictions.
Folly of trust in man
- 17:5 “Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind … and turns his heart
from the Lord” -
Deuteronomy 29:18-28
- 17:7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord” -
Psalm 1
- 17:9 “The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked” - an oft repeated
theme was also in the last chapter,
Jeremiah 16:12. “Wicked”
here is “sick and twisted”.
- 17:11 “who makes a fortune unjustly, in the middle of his day his riches will
desert him” - the folly of trusting in riches
- 17:12 “a glorious throne is our refuge” - who dares to hide behind the King’s
throne? Why a child of the King!
- 17:13 “all who abandon You will be put to shame” - an everlasting record
of shame, the ultimate Darwin award.
- 17:14 “heal me, O Lord” - Jeremiah is deeply hurt by the rejection
of his message and himself personally.
- 17:15 “Let it come now!” - you keep telling us this judgement is coming,
but it still hasn’t come. We don’t believe you, Jeremiah.
- 17:16 “I have not run away” - Jeremiah has refused to despair, and
continued to speak his prophecies in the presence of the Lord.
- 17:18 “Let my persecutors be put to shame, not me”
The Sabbath test
- 17:20 “hear the word of the Lord” - God offers a baby step out of their
addiction. Just keep this one simple aspect of your covenant.
- 17:21 “do not carry a load on the Sabbath day” - Nehemiah is the first
record of correcting this after the return.
Nehemiah 13:15-22
- 17:24 “if you … keep the Sabbath day holy” - God offers to avert
judgement on the nation if they will only obey in this one simple matter.
- 17:27 “but if you do not listen …” - one of many conditional prophesies in
Jeremiah.