Jeremiah 26: 1-6

(Sermon by Vicar Kelly Huet 11/11/07)

INTRODUCTION:

In our daily lives, we see or hear dozens of warning messages.  Some are on the side of the road, warning us of dangerous driving conditions.  Some are on the radio, warning us of traffic accidents.  Some are found on our computers, when Microsoft doesn’t like what we are trying to do.  Some of the warnings are issued by cars with lights on top with loud sirens.  Then there is the occasional storm warning that sets off the air-raid sirens warning of tornados or other dangerous weather.  When you see or hear these warning signs what is your first thought?  Do you heed the warning?  Do you acknowledge the danger and change course?  Or do you ignore the warning with the thought, “Eh, I’m OK.  I will make it through despite the warning”?  All of our lessons for this morning are words of warning from our Savior.  The LORD’s message for you this morning is -

Heed The Warnings!
1) Learn The Lesson Of History
2) Learn The Heart Of The Lord

The prophet Jeremiah had a daunting task.  His job was to stand in the temple and preach an unpopular message to those gathering.  This was not his first time preaching this message and unfortunately it wouldn’t be his last.  Does this sound familiar?  Gathering together and hearing the same message again and again?  Does it sink in?  Or does it need to continually be preached because the message hasn’t been heard?

Jeremiah’s message was straight from the lips of the LORD and he was to preach it and not omit a word!  His message was that of doom and gloom.   This is what the Lord says: If you do not listen to me and follow my law, which I have set before you, and if you do not listen to the words of my servants the prophets, whom I have sent to you again and again (though you have not listened), then I will make this house like Shiloh and this city an object of cursing among all the nations of the earth.’ ”  His basic message was, “Repent and turn to the LORD or he will make the Temple and Jerusalem like the town of Shiloh.”

Do you recall what happened at Shiloh?  Shiloh, in the time of Eli the High Priest, prior to David, prior to Saul, was the place where the tabernacle containing the ark of the covenant was stationed.  The people of Shiloh started to use the tabernacle and the ark as good luck charms.  They became complacent saying, “We have the ark and the tabernacle.  We will be saved.”  Their worship was not true worship, but merely going through the motions.  They would gather to worship, then go home to their household gods and worship them in despicable ways.  The LORD sent them prophet after prophet, warning them to heed his call to repentance.  They did not listen and the LORD wiped them out of existence.  He completely leveled the city.  This was a dark day in Israel’s history.  The LORD warned them, yet they did not heed his warning.

Jeremiah was living in a similar day.  The people of Judah had fallen away from the LORD.  They were a covetous, immoral, people who still came to worship, but not with the heart the Lord wanted them to have.  For over 150 years the LORD sent prophet after prophet to warn his people of Judah to repent.  In chapter 7 of his book, the prophet Jeremiah likens them to the people of Shiloh.  He issues the warning we see in today’s lesson to the people and unfortunately they don’t heed the warnings.  Jeremiah writes this message as one who delivered the message and then lived to see the LORD fulfill his promised judgment against his people.  In 586 BC, the LORD sent Nebuchadnezzar and his army to completely destroy the temple and the entire city of Jerusalem.  Jerusalem was destroyed, because the LORD’s people didn’t heed the warnings issued them.

Do you heed the same warnings the LORD issues to you week after week from this pulpit?  No, pastor and I don’t stand here and say, “Repent or Sola Fide will be destroyed and you will be a curse to all people!”  Or do we?  Each and every week when we gather here as children of the LORD, we gather to hear his word.  We hear of the LORD’s will for our lives.  We hear his will that we be perfect.  We are reminded of how we have fallen short of being perfect. We hear that we are sinners, people who deserve nothing but the eternal abyss of hell for our sins. What is your reaction to hearing this? Is it that of those in Jerusalem and Shiloh?  Speaking the words of confession emptily, by not being wholeheartedly sorry for the sins you have committed. Confess and say sorry and then as soon as you are out the doors go back to the very sins you confessed moments before?  That’s not heeding God’s warning.  Learn the lesson of history!  Look at what happened at Shiloh and Jerusalem when they didn’t heed the warnings, learn the lesson from history and heed the LORD’s warning!

Upon hearing the words of absolution, as a fruit of repentance, do you turn from the temptations that place themselves before you?  When tempted to gossip, do you turn away from the opportunity?  When tempted to lash out at someone, do you turn away from it?  When tempted to covet, do you turn away from the temptation?  When tempted to let yourself be number one in your life instead of Christ, do you do a one eighty and turn to the Lord in faith?  A “no” answer to any of these questions means we are not learning the lesson from history to heed the warnings!

These warnings are not pleasant.  This is not an easy message to hear, much less to preach.  Yet  it was the message Jeremiah, Isaiah, Paul, and every preacher of the word who is faithful to the LORD must proclaim.  They must preach this message because the LORD in love commands this message to be preached.

This message of doom and gloom is preached as the harshest warning, so that we in faith turn to the LORD and plead for forgiveness and be reminded that we are saved!  Never have I heard such glorious words as, “Your sins are forgiven, Christ has paid for them all!”  For as many times as we have ignored history and closed our ears to the LORD’s warnings, one event in history still stands: Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection.  It is the power to forgive sins.  Having heard the LORD’s warning and heeded its message.  Be assured your sins are forgiven you are at peace with the LORD.

You may or may not have noticed, but this entire time the name used for God in this sermon and lesson is, The LORD.  The name, The LORD, is used in the Old Testament when God refers to himself as the God of free and faithful love.  It is used at creation when the LORD came to walk with Adam and Eve in the Garden, when the LORD struck Egypt with plagues and then guided his people out of Egypt, and when the LORD goes to battle to protect his people throughout the Old Testament.  It is also the same name with which we close every service, “The LORD bless and keep you…”  It is the name for God to describe him protecting and keeping his people that they may be saved!

God’s love for his people runs deeper than anyone can ever understand or compare.  It was manifest when he sent his Son Jesus to live the perfect life we cannot live and to die that we might live.  His love is what drives his desire that all people be saved, and come to a knowledge of the truth.  This God who is driven by love for all people is the very same LORD who gives these stern warnings. 

When we (his children) wander from him, he issues us harsh warnings to bring us back to himself.  Heed the warning and learn the heart of the LORD.  He doesn’t want to lose even one of us!  That is why the warnings are continually issued.  Think for a moment about getting a traffic violation.  At first the officer who pulls you over might give you a warning saying, “You need to stop speeding.”  If the next week the officer pulls you over for speeding again he will give you a ticket and say, “I told you, you need to stop speeding!”  Two weeks after that he catches you again, and this time he arrests you.  He hauls you off to jail and the judge takes your license because you have been reckless, and not heeded the warnings given you!  The judge even tells you at the trial, “You didn’t heed the warnings given, the warnings issued for your safety.  Thus I must punish you!”

It is similar with our lesson for this morning; the warnings issued are not issued out of wrath, but out of love and concern.  The LORD wants to gather us to himself on the last day, not cast us to the abyss.  He is like the judge who says, “I issued you warnings, but you didn’t listen.  Now you have left me no choice but to punish you.”  This is not the will and heart of the LORD.  The heart of the LORD desires all to be saved.

This Sunday is “Last Judgment” Sunday in the church year.  It is the day set aside to focus on the Last Judgment, the time when Christ returns again in all his glory to judge the world.  The LORD on that day will gather all his saints to himself in heaven for the marriage feast of the Lamb.  In preparation for his return, he sends out this warning to us, that we may heed the warning and, in faith, repent and live our lives as his children.  

The LORD wishes to gather you and me on the last day.  He has paid for us, prepared a place for us and is waiting to take us there.  Until that day comes though, pay attention to the LORD’s loving warnings for he gives them to you from his loving heart. ~ Amen

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