Am I As Sinful As Possible?

I have finished a two part series on the nature of the Atonement. My original plan was to examine the doctrine of limited atonement so that we could see how special God's plan really is for each of his children. However, it is hard to preach on Limited Atonement without first addressing some of the other points of the Reformed doctrine of Salvation and what the roles of God and man are in God's saving plan.

So to that end, I am continuing the series on the Atonement by first examining our total inability to embrace the promises of God without His regenerating work in our hearts. We will take a look at Jeremiah 17:9-10 this week.

Every week as I prepare for my sermon, I write my own commentary, usually very brief, on the passage I am preaching from. This week, I am taking Jeremiah 17:1-10 into account as I place the sermon's text in it's context. I am posting some of those notes here for your own reading if you would like to see what is going through my mind as I read this great passage of Scripture. Here is part 1...

Jeremiah was a prophet in the 7th to 6th century who had been given divine revelation from God concerning the sins of Judah. Judah had fallen into the same sins of their northern brothers who had been exiled, never to be heard from again, in the late 8th century. Why hadn’t Judah learned a lesson? Why were they still turning to false gods? Why wouldn’t they rely on God’s promises and live their lives according to faith in the Covenant of God?

Jeremiah is known as “the weeping prophet”. He cared greatly for Jerusalem. It was heart breaking to watch God’s people once again fall into treacherous sin to their own peril. Once, while prophesying, Jeremiah claimed that the temple of Jerusalem was vulnerable to destruction (Jer. 7:14) because his fellow countrymen had made the Lord’s house a “den of robbers” (Jer. 711). Jeremiah’s faithfulness almost cost him his life during this famous temple sermon just as Jesus Christ would eventually lose his life on the charge of making similar claims.

Eventually, in 586 B.C. while Jeremiah was still prophesying, Judah would feel the weight of God’s wrath upon their depravity and as a result were exiled by Babylon. No one would return to rebuild the temple until Ezra would lead God’s people back into Jerusalem in 538 B.C. Now Jeremiah’s task was different. Jeremiah is unique among the prophets in that his time of ministry was not only before the exile, but during as well. Jeremiah’s message went from one of warning to a promise of a New Covenant (Jer. 31-32) that would be unbreakable with God’s people.

But one of the messages throughout Jeremiah is the depravity of man. Jeremiah 17 gives a picture of the sin of Judah. Furthermore, it is a mirror in which mankind can see their own sin. This message of depravity was not unique to Judah. It is a message for all humankind for all time. Many Reformed Theologians have wrapped much of their theology around Jeremiah 17.

Look first at verse 1. The sin of Judah is engraved! The prophet goes to great lengths to demonstrate the depth to which Israel’s depravity falls. Their sin has not only invaded their personal lives, but their worship as well. The horns of an altar may not mean much to us today but if meant everything to the Jew in the 6th century who worshipped at the Temple.

What is interesting about verse 1 is the progression which Jeremiah uses. The sin has been written down, even cut into, the tablet of their hearts. It is a permanent fixture in their lives. Yet their sin did not stop in their practical every day life. No, their sin has pervaded their religious worship. Where they once worshipped Yahweh, they now worshipped false gods.

When the Christian sins and does not confess this sin before the Lord the depravity invades every part of their life. Judah would not repent of their sin. What does it mean to “repent”? When the Bible speaks of repentance it means to “turn about” or to have a “change in the mind”. Repentance is threefold. It is an apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, an understanding and sorrow of wickedness, and a turning toward new obedience.

Many apologize but never repent. Our knowledge, emotions and will are involved in repentance. In repentance we believe God’s promises of forgiveness and salvation, we believe it with all of heart and we act with our will to change towards God’s good purposes. Judah would not repent. They would not change and so their very heart of worship had been lost.

Not only had their sin infected their own worship but their children and the generations to follow had forsaken the Lord. All of Scripture speaks of the promises of God belonging not just to parents, but their children, and even their children after them (Deut. 6 etc). The sin of the parents had affected the following generations. Not only had Judah rejected Yahweh, but they had actively sought other gods and taught these gods to their children.

Don’t be too quick to judge! What has this current generation of “older” Christians taught the younger? Have we passed on the faith? Have we held firmly to the trustworthy message as it had been taught to us? Do our children know the promises of God and grace in Christ Jesus? In this day and age, when Christians think of their children, many think of their education, their marriage, the possibility of grandchildren, or success or happiness. Most parents only want their children to be happy even if it costs them all they have in Christ. Many Christians are perfectly content with tossing sound doctrine out the window if the answer of Jesus Christ doesn’t make our children happy. Judah had mistreated the doctrines of God and were about to face exile.