God Cannot Defend Evil Nor Wickedness

God's Judgment on Judah

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 16

We can say that "judgment" is the power of determining anything to be true or false. In fact, in every instance of memory or perception there is involved some judgment!

We do this even without realizing what we have done. Every act of the conscious mind involves judgment!

We should understand that in most cases "Judgment" simply means God removes His hand of blessing from us and allows Satan a little bit of control over our lives.

God must judge all things that are unholy, and this "Judgment" is a necessary expression of God's character!

However, God's "Judgment" will always be fair and according to His truth!

Rom 2:1 Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things.

Rom 2:2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.

Rom 2:3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

We must clearly understand this one thing!

Rom 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

Rom 1:19 Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

We must also understand that even this is not the final "Judgment" which comes later!

Heb 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Heb 9:28 So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.

Those that love the Lord will meet Him at the "Judgment Seat of Christ".

Those that reject the Lord will meet Him at the White Throne Judgment.

*****Jer 16:1 The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

Jer 16:2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

Jeremiah was to live his entire life separated unto the Lord.

Jeremiah was to be a sign to the people of Judah, a warning to the families of this nation and not just them but, a warning to all nations including those who are alive today!

The Holy Spirit did not include the Book of Jeremiah just, so we could ignore what God says here!

Jeremiah was a young man still but, unlike what the commentaries teach, a life dedicated to the Lord is a life of peace, but knowing that everyone experiences trials and tribulations and Jeremiah would have many of those days until the Lord gave him rest.

Jeremiah would certainly see the hardships of his nation, but he would not have to worry about his own family if he did not have one!

Sometimes when we think trouble is coming we will think of our family before we think of God and Jeremiah would not have these concerns because, he knew that serious trouble was in the near future for Judah and all her people.

Sometime later we will see that the Lord tells Jeremiah to buy a piece of land because those who had repented of idol worship would return in the 70 years allowed by the Lord and this land would always belong to Israel!

What did the Apostle Paul say to those who would dedicate themselves to the Lord?

1Co_7:1 Now concerning the things whereof ye wrote unto me: It is good for a man not to touch a woman.

Even when Paul said these things by the Holy Spirit it was during a time when Rome was trying to stamp out Christianity and those times were very hard on the family.

1Co 7:26 I suppose therefore that this is good for the present distress, I say, that it is good for a man so to be.

1Co 7:27 Art thou bound unto a wife? seek not to be loosed. Art thou loosed from a wife? seek not a wife.

It would be the same for Jeremiah!

*****Jer 16:3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;

Jer 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

Certainly, in the times of war it is just real hard to keep your family safe. When I was in Vietnam, we tried our very best to keep the families of South Vietnam safe. I cannot say this was the same for all units, but it was for my unit.

The Vietcong were made up of some volunteers but most of that rebel army was made up of men and children they kidnapped and by threats to other family members cause them to fight many of them no more than ten or twelve years old.

North Vietnam had an army of children also. Even the US was an army of young people because it is young people who fight wars! I turned 21 while I was preparing an ambush for the Vietcong.

When the army of Nebuchadnezzar laid siege to the cities of Judah and the city of Jerusalem, many would die for lack of food and water.

These were grievous deaths as friends and family looked on them with no way to make things better except to surrender to the enemy which the Lord told them to do.

There was no one to cry for them and there was no one to bury them and when the army of Babylon left for home with all the spoils of Jerusalem and the Temple, the bodies of the Jews would just lie in the fields to rot away or be eaten by animals.

Many would die in the battle.

Many would die by famine.

Many would die because of sickness from being near dead bodies.

War is just a nasty thing that needs to be avoided!

One of the most terrible things of war is that human beings are no longer seen as human beings but, no better than animals in need of destruction.

Amo 6:14 But, behold, I will raise up against you a nation, O house of Israel, saith the LORD the God of hosts; and they shall afflict you from the entering in of Hemath unto the river of the wilderness.

These people brought this upon themselves because they rejected Jehovah who could have kept them safe from any army!

These things happen when God removes His hand of blessings!

Times worse than these came when Titus destroyed Jerusalem and times even worse than this will happen when the Lord returns to deal with the Jews and set up His kingdom.

All for the same reason for all those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ.

When the God of peace removes His peace, this world will crumble under the rule of sin!

*****Jer 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.

Jeremiah was commanded not to comfort anyone who had lost a member of their family even before war came.

God said these people should be happy because they had received exactly what they asked for.

Sometimes what we ask for will be the beginning of our miseries!

They had pushed God out of their lives and out of their nation and worshipped false gods.

God would deprive these Jews of all His mercy and all His loving kindness.

God said, surely people must be happy when they receive exactly what they ask for!

We wonder why Jeremiah was known as the weeping prophet, it is easy to see why!

Some would even begin to wonder even before these things came upon them because they would remember what Jehovah had said to their forefathers!

Deu 31:17 Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us?

The Lord knows the ending and the beginning, and He repeatedly told these Jews what he would do because He knew what they would do.

Those that do not know the Lord will not understand that Jehovah had to do these things to remove the sin of Israel and he will do much to remove the sin in our world.

Isa 27:9 By this therefore shall the iniquity of Jacob be purged; and this is all the fruit to take away his sin; when he maketh all the stones of the altar as chalkstones that are beaten in sunder, the groves and images shall not stand up.

Isa 27:10 Yet the defenced city shall be desolate, and the habitation forsaken, and left like a wilderness: there shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down, and consume the branches thereof.

Isa 27:11 When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.

We wonder what will happen to America, maybe we should just look at Israel during the time they had left their first love! Our God never changes!

What else is very true? God is no respecter of persons!

*****Jer 16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

Jer 16:7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

We must clearly understand that sometimes it may seem very hard to be a Christian, but the Lord said we are to take our stand on the Word of God, even if we are the only one standing!

We can just imagine as some of these who would die were most certainly part of Jeremiah's own family.

If we remember the time Elijah had defended the Lord against pagan priests, cutting themselves and removing their hair was a part of pagan rituals when attempting to get the attention of false gods.

Those that know the Lord need only to obey the Lord and pray and the Lord will hear every word of that prayer!

The rich would die with the poor because in the end, we are all poor without Jesus Christ! When we stand on the Word of God we are building treasures in Heaven.

We can be sure that none of these false priests would dare to show up to celebrate the death of any believer because all of them were dying also, their gods of no use to them.

Amo 8:10 And I will turn your feasts into mourning, and all your songs into lamentation; and I will bring up sackcloth upon all loins, and baldness upon every head; and I will make it as the mourning of an only son, and the end thereof as a bitter day.

Amo 8:11 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:

Jeremiah was forbidden to attend funerals, mourn for the dead or show sympathy to any of those who would die, even his own family.

All those of the nation of Judah had to realize that God had moved His hand of protection.

God had withdrawn His Mercy.

God had withdrawn His Love.

God had withdrawn His peace.

God had withdrawn His comfort because He had been rejected.

It was a custom among the Jews, when they had any friend, that had lost his relations, to send them some meat (for among the Hebrews all things they ate were called bread) and then to go and sup with them and speak comfortably to them. They would also send wine, so they could drink away their sorrows; this is called, The cup of consolation.

Jeremiah was not only forbidden to go into the houses of mourning, he was also forbidden to the times of feasting!

*****Jer 16:8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

Jer 16:9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

Jeremiah could not participate in festive occasions!

The Lord has said that there may be pleasure in sin for a short period of time, but that time of joy would turn to a time of sorrow.

Jeremiah was in his person to reflect the "Judgment of God"!

We can see that God used Jeremiah to represent a complete loss of fellowship with our Creator.

These people desperately needed to repent, or they had better prepare to meet the God they had rejected.

The Lord does not ask us to live righteously, He demands that we live righteously!

As Christians we are never to mix and mingle with this lost world.

We are never to attend worldly events where sin has become a lifestyle!

Eph 5:10 Proving what is acceptable unto the Lord.

Eph 5:11 And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them.

Eph 5:12 For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret.

Eph 5:13 But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.

Eph 5:14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

We must remember God had been talking to Jeremiah while he was still in the womb of his mother.

Jeremiah had to not only speak the words God had given to him but, he was also to live as a picture of God's coming judgment!

The truth is, when the Lord is not the central part of our lives, then we will see the things around us change for the worse.

When we become self-righteous we will ask, why has the Lord pronounced all this evil toward us?

We will ask, what evil have we done?

We will ask what is our sin or what is our iniquity?

We will ask these things because we have become fools who have rejected our only means of righteousness!

We will never reach a point in our lives where we are righteous enough to get into Heaven.

Our Father in Heaven can only see the righteousness of His Dear Son.

1Co 1:30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

1Co 1:31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

Jesus said it very plainly:

Joh_15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: "for without me ye can do nothing".

We are nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ and we cannot be nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ!

It was the same with these Jews, they could be nothing without Jehovah!

We live in a nation today that is rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ, and many will be asking these same questions soon because God never changes His ways and until the end of the Church Age finally comes, "Repentance" will still be the key to stopping the judgment of God!

What is the truth?

Heb 1:1 God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets,

Heb 1:2 Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Heb 1:3 Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

So how will the Lord answer all these questions?

*****Jer 16:11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

Jer 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

This is not only the way of the world today but, is the way of our own nation today. Not many are listening to what God is saying.

Many because they are fooled by that word "God".

Many reject God but many who believe in an ultimate Creator, just do not know who He is!

The absolute truth is because our world exists then there must be a Creator.

Without any argument our Creator explains who He is in the Scriptures.

Because our world, some say cosmos exist in order and in a useful arrangement then, we know we have a Creator of order and arrangement.

Without a doubt we can see that our Creator is loaded with intelligence and purpose and His vast creation is in harmony with itself.

Psa 8:3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;

Psa 8:4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Psa 8:5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Psa 8:6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

Psa 8:7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts of the field;

Psa 8:8 The fowl of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas.

Psa 8:9 O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth!

All talk of accident and evolution are just a foolish denial of the truth.

Our creation had its beginning because Elohim, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, has a purpose for His creation!

Gen 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

One day after the Church, all the Born-Again Christians have been removed from this world and reside in the Glory World, this world will ask these same questions, why has God abandoned them when the truth is they have rejected the truth of Jehovah God, The Lord Jesus Christ!

My prayer is, that when I am gone and the many more of my age, I hope that there will still be many who follow in the ways of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What was Jeremiah's message?

These people of Judah had not only rejected Jehovah, they had done even more evil than their forefathers!

Anything or any object or any way of life we put in place of our Heavenly Father becomes an idol of worship, Apostasy!

Those who teach "to follow your own heart" are foolish teachers.

The heart that has not been given to the Lord Jesus Christ is an evil heart that is following its own path which is evil!

What was God's judgment on this day?

*****Jer 16:13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

We should remember Pharaoh of Egypt how he had hardened his heart against Jehovah well these people were doing the same thing, hardening their heart against the one who had brought them out of Pharaoh's bondage.

The days of our life are good or bad depending on the choices we make!

We should clearly understand God will honor the decisions we make right or wrong.

God will never force Himself on anyone!

God has given us His Word delivered to us by the Holy Ghost (Spirit) and it is our choice to believe or not to believe.

All the good things in the Word of God are true!

All the things God has judged as evil, then He will do as He says, and all these words are also true!

God never changes. God is the same God today as the God that created our world just over 6000 years ago!

The Jews of Judah would be cast out of the land they had lived on since the time of Joshua.

Remember "Joshua" in the Greek is "Jesus"!

To be in a favorable relationship with our Lord is to repent and obey all the Word of God! It's just that simple!

Job 4:6 Is not this thy fear, thy confidence, thy hope, and the uprightness of thy ways?

Job 4:7 Remember, I pray thee, who ever perished, being innocent? or where were the righteous cut off?

Job 4:8 Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

Job 4:9 By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

God is a God of promises and God never breaks a promise!

Amen

Let's Pray!