A Lamp Unto My Feet Bible Study Website
JEREMIAH 6
Lesson #07
THE UNCIRCUMCISED EAR: WARNING
- Memory Verse: Jer 6:16
- Review:
- Chapter six of Jeremiah concludes the message Jeremiah began in chapter three, verse 6.
- This is a message to Judah, a backsliding nation.
- We defined backsliding as a nation or individual that knowingly falls away from the truth (apostasy) AND into sin.
- We saw how Jeremiah listed the sins of Judah, the Southern Kingdom.
- =1= a failure to acknowledge God…unbelief with a failure to give God His rightful place in the nation.
- =2= replacing God with foreign gods…idolatry in one form or another.
- =3= sexual sins run rampant through society…immorality became the norm in society.
- We considered how Paul mentioned this progression of ungodliness in Rom 1:18-32.
- We discussed young King Josiah’s broad reformation against the idolatry and pagan religions and the difference between reformation and revival.
- God desires revival, not just reformation.
- Revival begins with the people of God in the house of God.
- Chapter six of Jeremiah concludes the message Jeremiah began in chapter three, verse 6.
- Read Jer 6:1-30 Jeremiah’s prophecy of God’s punishment on His people
- We have already learned that the people were not listening to Jeremiah’s warnings, but God never sends judgment without first sending a warning. Chapter 6 is God’s warning to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
- Notice that God said his people have “uncircumcised ears”. (10) What does that mean?
- Physical circumcision was an outward sign given to Israel that the Jews were God’s people and part of His covenant with Abraham. (Gen 17:10)
- Read Rom 2:28-29
- Physical circumcision is a cutting away of excess flesh of the male genitalia.
- Spiritual circumcision of the heart is a cutting away of the flesh nature of the heart so as not to indulge in the sins of the flesh.
- Read Gal 5:6
- Saving faith in the heart is spiritual circumcision of the heart.
- In other words, when a person is born again, he is circumcised spiritually. He is born again and does not have to follow the desires of the flesh nature. The bondage to the flesh nature is cut. He can now follow the Holy Spirit to live his life unto God.
- The uncircumcised ear
- Jeremiah tells his people that the messages they listen to and follow are worldly messages.
- The people have not distinguished between the truth of the Word of God and the messages from false prophets and false teachers that appeal to the sinful nature of the flesh.
- If they cut off the messages that appeal to the flesh nature, they would have circumcised ears to hear the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
- Therefore, the circumcised ear listens to the Holy Spirit.
- The warning to get out of Jerusalem (1)
- Jerusalem is described as a beautiful, delicately bred lady.
- The Babylonian nomads come to pitch their tents around Jerusalem to starve the city into submission. (3)
- The Babylonian army is disorganized and incompetent but brutal.
- They plan to attack at noon but it is night time before they get around to it. (4-5)
- This incompetence gives Israel time to heed God’s warning, to repent, and to trust in God.
- God is the organized mind behind the scene.
- God is in control of the whole situation.
- God is going to permit an evil pagan empire to totally destroy Jerusalem. Why would God do that?
- Read Lev 26:28
- Read Heb 12:5-11
- God punishes His people for their own good. He does this because He loves His people as His children.
- What good will come from the Babylonian captivity?
- They will be punished for their idolatry.
The Babylonian captivity will break the spiritual power of foreign gods in the Promised Land.
The Babylonian captivity will allow the cleansing of the Promised Land because the land belongs to God, not to men.
The gleaning of the land: (8-9) (Lev 19:9)
What is gleaning?
In the Law of Moses, the Israelites were supposed to leave the corners of their fields unharvested.
This was God’s welfare system for the poor , the orphans, the widows, and the foreign visitors to obtain food. The unharvested part of the crop was free for anyone to come and harvest for himself.
The Israelites did not follow this law established by God.
Therefore, God will permit Babylon to clean off the land of its crops and its people.
The first part of the harvest removed from the land was the Northern Kingdom taken into captivity by Assyria.
Judah will be the gleanings of the harvest. They are the part that is left that God will cause Babylon to remove.
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- God’s reason for the punishment of His people:
- “…your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.” (20)
- Worship and animal sacrifice are no substitute for obedience and morality.
- Read 1Sam 15:22-23
- Read Isa 1:12-20
- Why did God say the religious practices that He established are not acceptable to Him?
- God desires the heart of man and not the empty practices of man’s hands.
- Their internal faith in God would be evident if they took care of the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the stranger in the land. (23)
- Because they are not obedient to this practical part of God’s Law, they obviously do not have a heart for God.
- God’s furnace of affliction: (28-30)
- We have already determined that God chastises his people because He loves them.
- Jeremiah gives us a sobering image of God’s chastisement as a smelting furnace of affliction. This illustration appears in various places in the Bible. (Isa 48:10 Eze 22:18-22)
- Metals are placed in a smelting furnace of extreme heat. The purpose is to melt the metals so that the dross (the imperfections) can rise to the top and can be skimmed off.
- In this way the metal is purified.
- This illustration reminds us of the fiery furnace in the book of Daniel.
- The Babylonian captivity will be God’s smelting furnace to purify His people.
- God desires an obedient heart. He chastises believers today when they are disobedient so as to purify them. How does God chastise believers today?
- The Holy Spirit convicts of sin using the Word of God. (Joh 16:8)
- God frustrates the life of the rebellious believer. (Jam 4:6) The Christian’s walk as a carnal Christian is not filled with joy and peace. It is more like the furnace of affliction. (Pro 17:3)
- God permits adversity to drive a believer to his knees and to dependence on God.
- Notice that God calls Babylon “the spoiler”. (26)
- The spoiler takes away the blessings of God so that life is made more difficult.
- God permits the enemy to spoil the life of a rebellious believer.
- A Prophetic Note:
- Verses 22-26 are prophetically related to the Great Russian war yet to be in the future during the tribulation period of 7 years.
- See Ezekiel 38 – 39.
- God’s reason for the punishment of His people:
- Application:
- It is very easy to have uncircumcised ears to the truth of God if we let our relationship with God grow cold.
- A cold relationship with God is the first step into disobedience.
- A believer can still be attending church, doing all of the outward practices of religion, and yet have a heart distant from God.
- When the believer cuts himself off from the intimate conviction of the Holy Spirit, he begins to walk in the sins of the flesh.
- Then, when the believer’s life is worldly, he opens the door to God’s chastisement.
- His prayers are frustrated. He has stopped listening to God and God has stopped listening to him.
- His life is filled with problems and complications. God’s chastisements bring grief.
- This scenario is the pattern we see with Israel in the book of Jeremiah.
- This can also be the scenario of individual New Testament believers. While we live in an age of grace, let us not presume upon the grace of God to live unto ourselves so that we fall short of God’s full blessings.
HOMEWORK
Jeremiah 07
- Application of Jeremiah 6
- Do you know believers that have walked away from God in disobedience like Israel? Write their names here.
- Pray for them that they will hear the Holy Spirit’s conviction.
- In what ways do you maintain a close relationship with God so as not to become disobedient?
- How can you improve your personal relationship with God?
- Preparation for Jeremiah 7
- Read Jer 7:1-34
- What is repentance, its definition, and its characteristics?
- What is the ultimate abomination in God’s sight? (31)
- Read Jer 7:1-34
- Memory Verse: Jeremiah 7:28
