Sermon notes from Sunday 8 October 2017
Harvest Service - Rev Tom Shaw
Jeremiah 8 verses 18 - 20
I don`t know how familiar you are with the things of God in the Old Testament. These words have a lot to say to us in our present time. In Jeremiah`s day the people of God were in Babylon, in captivity. There were 2 periods when they could have known redemption. In Israel there were 2 harvests - wheat harvest from April to June and the fruit harvest in the summer. If the wheat harvest turned out to be bad you could look forward to the fruit harvest and it would be good. Here Jeremiah was talking at the end of the 2 harvests - verse 20. Why were these people not saved at this time of harvest? Why did they not know a mighty deliverance? Maybe you have come to another harvest and you are not saved. There are some reasons from this passage why you are not saved.
They were not saved because they were deceived. "Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." verse 5 Chapter 9 verse 6 "Thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me, saith the Lord." They have been deceived about God, deceived about salvation, deceived about the gospel, deceived about sin, deceived about heaven and hell, deceived about the second coming of the Lord, deceived about everything that is meaningful to a soul in terms of redemption and pardon from sin. They have been deceived by the world, the flesh, false teachers, by a seared conscience. Many are not saved because they are deceived. Maybe you are part of that group. You don`t know where you stand. 2 Corinthians 4 verse 3 "In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image of God should shine unto them." Ephesians 4 verse 18 "Having the understanding darkened being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart." Galatians 6 verse 7 "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Maybe religious leaders have deceived you. Maybe one person has deceived you. Every year there are thousands of people who visit the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. They take home with them a piece of marble as a reminder of their time there. The real truth is this - the marble is not from there, all the original pieces have long since gone. Every day they bring lorries in and dump marble onto the site so that people can carry it away without realising. They are being deceived. There is a sadder deception though - people are being deceived about their soul`s salvation.
These people were not saved because they were unrepentant. "I hearkened and heard but they spake not aright; no man repented him of his wickedness; saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle." verse 6 They were unwilling to turn from sin, to give it up, to abandon sin. Repentence is to leave the sins I loved before and show that I earnestly grieve, to do them no more. Maybe there is something you are unwilling to part with for Jesus. These people are still not saved. One reason they are not saved is because of unrepentance. These people were not saved because they were unrepentant. Is that why you are not saved today? They are not ready to meet God yet come to another harvest. Our lives are a complex tangle of sins which make repentance expensive, embarressing and inconvenient. Repentance for many people is expensive, maybe embarressing and maybe very inconvenient. If you want to be saved that is what is involved. Martyn Lloyd Jones was a great medical doctor and was assistant to the Queen`s doctor. If he had remained in that profession he would have become the Queen`s doctor but he left it and became the minister of Westminster Chapel in London. He said "the first reason for leaving sin is that God demands us to do so, Christianity starts with repentance." Francis Ridley Havergael, the hymnwriter wrote "I bring my sins to thee, the sins I cannot count that all may be cleansed, in that once opened fount, I bring them Saviour all to thee, the burden is too great for me."
These people were not saved because they failed to see the coming judgment. Verse 7 "Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming but my people know not the judgment of the Lord." The birds are wiser than you are. They know their mating season, their migration period but you do not know the judgment of God. They have very little respect or knowledge of the judgment of God. We live in a world today where I believe men do not believe in a God of judgment. God is some airy fairy person who will pass over our sin. When God will come again he will come in judgment. Man the very crown of creation is so very foolish. He does not see that time is running out and judgment is coming. People do not see that today. Here we are one harvest less, one year nearer eternity. Another harvest of God`s provision yet we are not saved. William Hague, a previous Foreign Secretary and leader of the Conservative Party wrote a book on William Wilberforce who was responsible for the abolition of slavery. He said "But yet I do forsee a gathering storm and I cannot help fearing a country which like this has so long been blessed beyond all example with every spiritual and temporal good will incur those judgments of an incensed God which in the prophets are so often denounced against those who forget the Author of all mercies." How much nearer are we to that day than here in these days. People don`t recognise the coming judgment, they believe it is far away.
These people were not saved because they relied on religious benefits or privileges. Verse 8 "How do ye say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo certainly in vain made he it, the pen of the scribes is in vain." The people were saying we have got the oracles of God, by and large the Jewish people were alright. How can you say we are unwise we have the law of God? In this part of the world we have had great religious benefits beyond most places in the world. Here we are today, many are in the church for the worship of God as it is harvest time, we have had so many religious privileges but the sad thing is you are relying on them and them alone. The Protestant is relying on the Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Church is relying on their church practices. They are worth nothing if you want to be saved. These people are not saved at harvest time because they rely on religious benefits or privileges. Such a tragedy that people go out into eternity and have never been saved. Perhaps have sat in pews, perhaps have stood in pulpits. We have wonderful privileges, open bibles, the inspired word of God yet can go out into eternity unsaved at harvest.
These people were not saved at harvest time because they despised God`s word. Verse 8 "How do ye say, We are wise and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo certainly in vain made he it, the pen ofthe scribes is in vain." The Lord is saying you have rejected the law of God. Your scribes have been writing. You have despised the law of the Lord. Men and women this is God`s word to humanity, it is God breathed, every word of it. God has spken to us through his book yet we despise it and reject it. There is no difference between perverting the scriptures and disregarding the scriptures. Maybe you are here today and the word of God is meaningless to you. A tragedy to have the word of God and still be unsaved. There are places today where there is not one single word of scripture in their own language. Many are working day and night trying to achieve that translation. We have in our bookshops every version of the Bible possible. We have memorised verses in our mind yet rejected it in our hearts.
These people were not saved because of false teachers. Verses 10 and 11 "Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them; for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely. For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying Peace, peace when there is no peace." People are being taught falsely. Jeremiah was concerned about this. The prophets were teaching mistruths. Every preacher does not tell you the truth. Richard Wurmbrand was imprisoned in Romania before communism fell. He said that when he was put in prison some prisoners heard he was a pastor and those men told him "please don`t lead us astray." Don`t listen to teachers of the word of God who will lead you astray because if you do you will never be saved. W P Nicholson was the most blessed of preachers Ulster produced. He was present when 300 soldiers were preparing to go into battle. The padre told the soldiers "if you die in battle you will go straight to heaven, your blood will save you." Nicholson told them "this man is a liar". The 300 men cheered him, they knew the padre wasn`t right. C H Spurgeon said "it is better to abolish pulpits than fill them with men who have no experimental knowledge of what they preach."
These people were not saved because they refused to come. Verse 5 "Why then is this people of Jerusalm slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return." Jesus said "ye will not come that ye might have life and that ye might have it more abundantly."
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