Jeremiah 13

To us God may entrust a flock to look after. It could be your family, your church members, your employees etc. God uses human leaders to look after His people. He became flesh … Jesus … and lived among us to give us the human touch of care that we need and can relate to.

Jeremiah uses the word “entrusted” to describe the relationship of the shepherd to the flock. As a leader or parent or pastor, the souls in your care are entrusted to you. They belong to God but He amazingly entrusts their care TO YOU.

Jesus said, “Apart from Me you can do NOTHING.” Apart from the loving, caring Christ within us, we can’t properly care for people. We devote ourselves to Christ FIRST, and then we can be trustworthy to care for His flock.

Great leaders are CHRISTLIKE!

Jeremiah 10-12

Jeremiah describes the ups and downs of God’s people to include the Babylonian captivity. In all their fickle devotion, it was in God’s heart to redeem them and bring them back to the inheritance He had prepared.

God is not willing that any perish. [2 Pet. 3-9] He wants all men to come to repentance and acknowledge the Truth … Christ Jesus IS the Truth.

When we are tossed and sifted, it’s for our good. We should not despise God’s dealings, but take heart that He will complete His process to make us into mature saints. [Heb. 12:5-11]

Jeremiah 9

Evidently there were professional wailers in Israel who would lament over a target issue. The Lord instructed Jeremiah to gather the skillful wailing women to focus on the apparent sin issues of the day. As they wailed, it stirred a similar emotional response in the hearers. Point; there was evidence of repentance that could be seen and heard.

Obviously, the goal of repentance is to turn away from sin and strike a new, righteous direction in life. Here we consider an appropriate emotional, visible and audible response to accompany the heart’s change in direction. It must have been a good thing or else the LORD would not have requested it.

When disciplining children, it is necessary to elicit an emotional response from them … a breaking with evidence of tears and visible remorse. Then you know you’re getting through. They will press in and love and respect you for it.

Jeremiah 8

The prophet levied this accusation against the leaders of Israel that they were greedy for gain and practiced deceit. To me, this seems to sum up the evaluation of most of the politicians of our day. It’s sad.

Christ came not for himself, but for US. He laid down His life for those He loved and wanted to redeem from their greed and deceit. That was ALL of us. We all have much more self-interest than we admit. God’s process of refinement reveals our selfishness to us and then begins burning it out.

Ever notice how grandparents want to give it all away for the benefit of those they love? Life has processed them and they find their greatest joy in giving to those they love.

Jeremiah 7

One of a parent’s primary roles is to teach their children to be obedient. If not, the child will have a lifetime of trouble. Obey what or whom? We all need to obey traffic laws. We all need to obey law enforcement officers. We need to obey income tax rules and laws. We need to obey our employer etc. etc. etc.

Above all, parents should teach their children to obey God.

Jesus said, “He that has My commandments and keeps them, he is the one who loves Me. He that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself unto him.” [Jn. 14:21]

Jeremiah 6

The prophet warns of coming conflicts to God’s city.

Being a Christian has alot of warfare involved.

When I think about war, my heart goes out to all the mothers who have lost young sons in battle. Yesterday we empathized with the devastated parents of the children viciously murdered in the Texas elementary school. Also consider the Russian mothers who have lost sons (many more than Ukraine) in their recent conflict. They are experiencing unbearable grief just like the parents of the Texas children.

The Christian is hereby motivated to seek to please the Lord.

When the Lord takes pleasure in anyone’s way, He causes their enemies to make peace with them. [Prov. 16:7]

Jeremiah 5

The Lord challenged the prophet to run through Jerusalem and search for a man who dealt honestly and loved truth.

God is still looking today for that kind of man. Actually, not one of us can measure up apart from the grace of God through Jesus Christ. When we put on the character of Christ, we can be that man.

What a disappointment to God when we weasel around allowing dishonesty and deceit to characterize our demeanor. Run to Jesus and confess your depravity, be forgiven, and rise up in honesty, integrity, and truthfulness.

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.
    And what does the Lord require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
    and to walk humbly^[a] with your God. [Micah 6:8]

Jeremiah 4

I have NEVER heard a TV program encourage me to “circumcise” my heart. In fact, quite the opposite. Every program is encouraging same-sex relationships, materialism, popularity, alcohol abuse etc. It seems only the Bible or Christian preachers talk about controlling the lusts and urges of our sinful hearts.

The Bible is a lonely and often unpopular voice encouraging mankind to turn away from pleasing yourself and please God instead. After all, isn’t that really what it’s about.

Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: [Col. 3:5]

Jeremiah 3

Physical adultery is unfaithfulness to your mate. Spiritual adultery is unfaithfulness to God. Its roots are in the mind. If a man’s mind refuses to entertain impure thoughts, He won’t be tempted to commit adultery. His battlefield is his mind.

Adultery reveals that he allowed his thought life to be unfaithful to his wife. Jesus zeroed in on the issue when He declared, “If a man looks with lust upon a woman, he has already committed adultery in his heart.” Physical adultery is evidence that the man’s mind was dwelling on lustful thoughts.

James said, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed.  Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.” [James 1:14,15]

A man is wise to keep His mind stayed upon the Lord. [Isaiah 26:3]

Jeremiah 2

The young prophet, in chapter two, states one of his major messages … God’s people have turned their backs on Him. What a sad message and duty to call out. It must have been a very tough job.

Calling out sin is just that – a tough job. Yet how would the sinner know they are sinning? They must first know how lost they are before they can acknowledge the gap between themselves and God’s grace.

One very effective evangelist, Ray Comfort, uses this principle. He teaches that sinners must first know how their conduct has grieved God and violated His creation. Israel was Jeremiah’s target audience, but we learn what grieves God’s heart by hearing the prophet’s message.

We are not talking legalism here, but the author of Romans did say, “I would not have known what sin was had it not been for the law.” In effect, the law (Ten Commandments etc.) is the clearest way we can understand what grieves God. Christ’s shed blood is the ONLY way we can un-grieve God.