God declares His authority and power
» Hear the Word of the Lord!
» Do not act like other nations who try to read their future in the stars. Their ways are
futile and foolish. You have been set apart with the promise that God will direct your
life. He chose you and planned your life before you were born.) Their gods are like
helpless scarecrows in a garden. (powerless) Don’t be afraid of gods that can’t even
speak or walk. They can neither harm you nor do you good. (no authority)
» There is NO ONE like the Lord! He ALONE is great. His name is full of power.
» The title “King of Nations” belongs to God alone. He alone should be feared.
» Not even the wisest people in the world can be compared to God.
» The wisest people who worship idols are stupid and foolish. The things they
worship are made of wood. (spiritual blindness)
» The Lord is the only true God, the living God, the everlasting King! The whole
earth trembles at His anger. The nations hide before His wrath. (powerful)
» “Your so-called gods, who did not make the heavens and earth, will vanish
from the earth.” (The things we place before the one true God are usually fleeting
pleasures or useless material possessions.)
Jeremiah acknowledges God’s sovereignty and power
» God made the earth by His power and He preserves it by His wisdom. He has stretched
out the heavens by His understanding. When He speaks, there is thunder in the
heavens. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightening with the
rain and releases the wind from His storehouses.
» Compared to God, all people are foolish and have no knowledge at all!
» Idols will disgrace their makers for they are frauds. They have no life or power in them.
Idols are worthless...lies! They will all be destroyed.
» But, God is no idol! (Hallelujah) He is the Creator of everything that exists, including
His chosen people, His own special possession.
» The Lord Almighty is His name!
Destruction is coming
» The Lord says, “Pack your bag and prepare to leave. For suddenly, I will fling you
from this land and pour great troubles upon you. At last you will feel my anger.”
(God does not tolerate sin indefinitely. He knows when our heart has hardened in
rejection of His grace.)
Jeremiah’s grief
» My wound is desperate, and my grief is great. (Not unlike the grieving heart of a parent
in seeing their children reject the Lord) My sickness is incurable, but I must bear it.
» My home is gone, and no one is left to help me rebuild it.
» My children have been taken away, and I will never see them again. (Sin has far
reaching consequences.)
» The shepherds of my people (pastors/priests) have lost their senses. They no longer
follow the Lord or ask what He wants of them. Therefore, they fail completely, and
their flocks are scattered. (Sin renders us useless to God.)
Jeremiah’s prayer
» I know, Lord, that a person’s life is not his own. No one is able to plan his own course.
So, correct me, Lord, but please be gentle. Don’t correct me in anger, for I would die.
(a sincere desire to be pleasing to God)
» Pour out your wrath on the nations that refuse to recognize you…on nations that don’t
call upon your name. For they have utterly devoured your people, making the land a
desolate wilderness. (They have led your people astray…away from your protection
and provision.)
Jeremiah 11
God gave Jeremiah another message
» Remind the people about the terms of their covenant with me. Cursed is anyone who
does not obey the terms of my covenant! For I said, “If you obey me and do whatever
I commanded you, then you will be my people, and I will be your God.” I said this so
I could bless you.
» Go everywhere and tell the people to do everything they promised. I have repeatedly
told these people, “Obey Me!” But, they did not pay attention. They stubbornly
followed their own evil desires. Because they refused (choice) to obey, I, the Lord,
brought upon them curses. (God is in control.)
» I, the Lord, have discovered a conspiracy against Me among these people. (You are
either for God or against Him….no neutral ground.) They refuse to listen to Me and
are worshipping idols. (betrayal and rejection of God) I, the Lord, will bring calamity
upon them. They will not escape. Though they beg for mercy, I will not listen to their
cries (God knows the motives in our hearts.)
» Then, they will pray to their idols and offer incense before them. (dependence on self)
The idols will not save them when disaster strikes! (our efforts are useless)
» Don’t pray or weep for these people anymore, Jeremiah, for I will not listen to them
when they cry out to me in distress. They don’t have the right to come before me. (out
of fellowship with God)
» Their sacrifices will not avert their destruction. They actually rejoice in doing evil.
» I, the Lord, used to call these people a thriving olive tree, beautiful to see and full of
good fruit. But, now I have sent the fury of their enemies to burn them with fire,
leaving them charred and broken. (useless) I, who planted this olive tree (all comes
from God) have ordered it destroyed. (God is in control.) For the people have done
evil, provoking my anger. (These people did not recognize the sin in their lives as
grievous in God’s sight. They tried to live apart from His will and direction. Their
own ways led them to destruction. Our choices/actions DO reflect our heart. Who
do we love and desire to please most?)
A plot against Jeremiah
» The Lord told me (Jeremiah) about the plots my enemies were making against me.
(He was in fellowship with God and under God’s protection.) I had been as unaware
as a lamb on the way to its slaughter (human weakness…evil sneaks up on us).
» O Lord Almighty, you are just, and you examine the deepest thoughts of hearts and
minds. Let me see your vengeance against them, for I have committed my cause to
you. (trust in God…not self-reliance)
» The Lord said, “I will punish them!” (those who plot evil)
Next
Jeremiah 1-2
Jeremiah 3-4
Jeremiah 5
Jeremiah 6
Jeremiah 7
Jeremiah 8
Jeremiah 9
Jeremiah 10-11
Jeremiah 12-13
Jeremiah 14-15
Jeremiah 16-17
Jeremiah 18
