Date: December 1, 2019
Text: Jeremiah 23:1-6
This week we are wrapping up our Welcome Home theme and we are also beginning the season of Advent. This works well since the themes we had for Welcome Home tie in closely with our preparation for the Lord’s coming. As we think about our family here at church, we recognize that our worship of God is getting us ready for the life we will experience in heaven. Our worship setting is a foretaste of heaven. Here we are gathered around God and his Word. Everyone is here, all ages, all abilities, with the purpose of focusing on the forgiveness from our Savior. We need this Christian family so that we can encourage one another in this sinful world. Christ is our glorious king who is ruling over all with the purpose of leading us home to heaven. Today we focus on the fact that Our King is Our Righteousness.
Part 1: We don’t always submit to our King
In certain ways, the nation of Israel at the time of Jeremiah was similar to what we see in our own country today. The Israelites were following their own path instead of God’s path. They had fallen into unrepentant sin and they thought there was no problem. Rather than obeying God’s commands they did what they felt was right in their own eyes. Rather than following God’s plan and his Word, they followed their own ideas about how to get to heaven. This led to ideas that said everything was fine and they had nothing to worry about. As long as they did some nice things in their life, they weren’t worried about the unrepentant sins that they had committed.
Through his prophet Jeremiah, God warned the people. He told them that if they did not repent, if they did not turn back to God, then they would face judgement. God used the Babylonian Empire to judge his people. At times during Jeremiah’s ministry, the Babylonian Army was encamped near Israel and ready to attack. But the people did not listen to Jeremiah’s warning. They followed false prophets. Jeremiah chapter 6 talks about the prophets and priests who deceived the people. Verse 14 says, “They dress the wound of my people as if it were not serious. ‘Peace, peace,’ they say, when there is no peace.” And many people listened because that is what they wanted to hear. They didn’t want the rebuke of the law. It is much easier to live in sinful ways than it is to repent and live for God.
God warns that he is not going to put up with false leaders. In verse 2 of our text, God says, “You have scattered my flock, banished them, and have not attended to them. I am about to attend to you because of your evil acts” (CSB). God is going to deal with the terrible leaders. It was both the rulers and the false prophets at that time. The terrible kings had led the people away from God. Those kings had introduced all kinds of idols. The people followed after them and worshipped false gods. The false prophets did not rebuke the people for their sin. The people did not turn back to the Lord.
The people couldn’t claim that they were innocent simply because they had bad leaders. The people still followed after these leaders. They did not listen to the truth that Jeremiah was proclaiming. There were many of their ancestors who had believed the truth from other true prophets. They were choosing to follow after a sinful path. They might have gone through the motions of their faith. They probably offered sacrificed at the temple. But their hearts were not following the Lord. Perhaps they were honoring God with their lips but their hearts were far from him.
Our sinful hearts want to do exactly what the people of Israel did. In many ways, people follow after similar paths today. We are tempted to reject Christian leaders who rebuke us for our sin. We think that perhaps they are old fashioned or that they don’t understand what life is like in our world today. Even if they show us from God’s word that we are sinning against God, we are tempted to dismiss what they are saying. We think that we know what is right. After all, we believe in Jesus and life is working out just fine. Do we really need to listen to that pesky voice that is rebuking us for our sin? It is so much easier to follow after religious ideas that tell us that we are doing nothing wrong.
Even those of us who are sitting in the pews on Sunday mornings can find ourselves harboring sins and not wanting to repent. Sure, we can repent of the easy ones. But do we really want to repent of all of them. Do we really want to honor God above all? Or do we only want to follow him when it is easy? Do we really want to spend time digging deep into his word and growing in our understanding or are we ok with an hour a week? Do we think that sin is really only something that other people struggle with and we are the good ones? When you think of Good Friday, do you look down on those who mocked Jesus or do you associate with those people?
There are actually times that we act like the people who mocked Jesus. If we cling to our sins, if we do not repent, then we are exactly like the people who mocked Jesus. That is what Hebrews 10 points out. It says that if we cling to our sin and do not repent, then there is no longer a sacrifice that will take care of our sins. Rather, there will be judgment for us. If we cling to our sins. We are the ones who mocked Jesus at the foot of the cross. The book of Hebrews says that being unrepentant is like trampling Jesus under foot and insulting the Holy Spirit. Being unrepentant means that particular sin is more important to us than how God wants us to live.
This isn’t just some of the big sins. It isn’t just someone that cheated on their wife and doesn’t think that they did anything wrong. It isn’t just the man and woman who are living together outside of marriage and doesn’t plan to change no matter what the pastor says. It can also be the person who enjoys gossiping and sees no reason to change their topics of conversation. It can also be the person who thinks that their own good deeds are earning them a place in heaven rather than clinging to Jesus as the only way to heaven. We need to flee from our sins. We need to flee from following our own ideas. We need to cling to our Savior.
Part 2: Our King’s righteousness motivates us
In spite of all the ways that people have turned against God, he still sent us a Savior. Even though the people at Jeremiah’s time were unrepentant, God gave them the promise of the descendant of David. Many are still unrepentant today, many of us are tempted to turn away from our faith, and God still points us to the Savior. As we start the season of Advent, we are reminded of the child who came many years ago to live perfectly on our behalf. It is important that we meditate on what he did because he will return one day to judge. When he comes back, we want to be ready.
Speaking about the coming Savior, Jeremiah writes, “Listen, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, who will reign wisely as king and establish justice and righteousness on earth. In his days Judah will be saved and Israel will dwell securely. This is his name by which he will be called: The Lord Our Righteousness” (Jeremiah 23:5-6). Nearly 600 years after these words were recorded, the Savior was born. He came to establish justice and righteousness but differently than people expected. He wasn’t making an earthly kingdom. He rules a spiritual kingdom. He lived perfectly. He was righteous for all the times that we have not been righteous.
Jesus obeyed his heavenly Father. He carried out the plan. He did not reject the leadership of his heavenly Father. He perfectly obeyed every command on our behalf. He prayed diligently. He shared the word regularly. He instructed many in the truths of God. He is the only way to heaven. He is the way and the truth and the life. He is the only way to the Father. After he had done everything perfectly on our behalf, he died in our place. He stayed on that cross when people were mocking him and telling him to come down. He stayed there because it was necessary to save us.
He stayed there to forgive sins of adultery. He stayed there to forgive sins of men and women living together outside of marriage. He stayed there to forgive sins of gossip. He stayed there to forgive times when we are tempted to trust in our works rather than trusting in him. He stayed there for all the times that we have not put God first in our lives. He stayed there for all the times that we think that our way is better than God’s way. He stayed there to save us and to encourage us to live in repentance.
When we are living in repentance we are motivated to serve our God correctly. We do good to others out of love for our Savior. We are not earning anything. We simply love our God and we are thankful for all that he has done for us. As part of our repentance, we submit ourselves to God’s Word. We study it diligently so that we know the truth and we do not go astray. We study it with fellow Christians and we are grateful that God has given us shepherds who know his Word very well and can instruct us in the truth. By being a student of God’s Word, we grow in our faith and we live in a God-pleasing way.
We understand the importance of following the Word. If we follow our own thoughts about religion and God, we are following the same path as unbelievers. If those thoughts are not based on the truth, they are wrong. Believers are willing learners. This means that we willingly submit ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We study the Word so that we can grow in our faith. We study the Word so that we can be prepared for the coming judgment. We study the word so that we can live in repentance. We reject our sin. We reject our incorrect thoughts about God that are based on this World rather than the truth. We cling to the truth that saves. We cling to our Savior.
Conclusion
Hopefully we always think of church as our home. Our time here is preparing us for our heavenly home. There are going to be times that we sin against each other. There are going to be times that we are uncomfortable because the message of God’s law tells us that we are doing something wrong. We might not always feel like we want to be here for worship. And yet, this is where we need to be. This is the place that gets us ready for heaven. This is the place where we focus on our Savior. Here we see that our King is truly our Righteousness. He helps us to overcome our temptations to focus on ourselves. He builds us up with the gospel and he prepares us for eternity.