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Text: Jeremiah 25:15-26
Proposition: Why drink from the cup of wrath?
Introduction
Jeremiah had been preaching for 23 years, and he wasn’t successful in getting the people to repent of the their sins. They wouldn’t listen to him. They hadn’t listened to the other prophets that God had sent either. So on this 23rd anniversary of Jeremiah’s prophecy Jeremiah is celebrating by handing out a cup of wrath to Judah and Jerusalem and the nations around them.
I. You have not listened (Who had they not listened to?)
A. Jeremiah
1. Jeremiah 25:3
2. The people of Judah didn’t listen to Jeremiah. King Jehoiakim didn’t listen to Jeremiah at all.
3. Jeremiah 36:1-6, Jeremiah couldn’t go to the house of the LORD. Probably because Jehoiakim would kill him if he did. So he sends his scribe Baruch. He waits for a good opportunity. He waits for a day when the people are gathered together to fast. He wants the people to be gathered together when he reads the scroll and to have a softened attitude toward repentance.
4. Jeremiah 36:9-19
5. Some of the people did listen to Jeremiah’s writing, but he king and his servants didn’t listen.
6. Jeremiah 36:20-26.
7. The king thought he could get rid of Jeremiah’s prophecy by burning it in the fire. Jeremiah wrote another one, and told Jehoiakim his dead body would be throne out in the heat of the day and the frost by night.
8. Jeremiah 36:27-31
B. God’s prophets
1. Jeremiah 25:4
2. In Jeremiah 26 Jeremiah prophesied that God was going to make the temple like Shiloh.
3. Shiloh was where the tabernacle was during the days of Eli. Eli’s son’s slept with the women who served at the doorway of the tabernacle. They took meat from the people’s sacrifices that the fat had not been burned of by force. God let the Philistines capture the Ark of the Covenant. Hophni and Phinehas were killed. Eli fell backward off of his stool when he heard that the Ark had been captured. When Eli’s daughter-in-law heard the news she went into labor and she died giving birth to her son Ichabod.
4. God left Shiloh because of sin. Jeremiah told them God was going to leave Jerusalem.
5. Other prophets said the same thing.
6. Jeremiah 26:18-23
C. God himself
1. Jeremiah 25:7-8
2. God spoke through the prophets and he had given them the scriptures to read. They didn’t listen to any of them.
D. God has spoken to us.
1. Hebrews 1:1-2
2. We have a great advantage over the people of Judah. We have Jesus. He has spoken to us. We have his words written down in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
3. If we don’t listen to Him and repent of our sin he will leave us. Just like he left the tabernacle at Shiloh. Just like he left the temple at Jerusalem.
4. I Corinthians 6:19-20
5. The Holy Spirit will dwell with us, but if we don’t repent of our sin. He will leave.
6. Ephesians 4:29-32
7. I Thessalonians 5:19
II. They had not repented (What happens if I don’t repent?)
A. They are destroyed
1. Proverbs 1:22-33
2. God doesn’t feel sorry for the people that he tries to get to listen to wisdom. God had sent many prophets to His people. They didn’t listen. God laughs at those who think that they can go without his wisdom
3. Psalms 2:4
4. Psalms 37:12-13
B. God gives you into the hand of your enemies.
1. Jeremiah 25:9-11
2. Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant. Nebuchadnezzar didn’t know that He was God’s servant. He thought he did everything himself.
3. Daniel 4:29-37
4. Nebuchadnezzar thought he had done everything himself. God had warned him in a dream that this was going to happen to him. He repented for a year, but he went back to giving himself the credit instead of God.
5. Nebuchadnezzar was God’s servant, but he took all the gold utensils out of the temple. He tore the temple down and the walls of Jerusalem down. He burned the city with fire. That is what God wanted him to do.
6. Judah was given into the hands of her enemy, Babylon. They were wicked people, but they were doing what God wanted.
C. We will be given into the hand of our enemies if we don’t repent of our sin.
1. Judah was given over into the hand of their enemy. Nebuchadnezzar.
2. Jeremiah 25:9-11, There would be no more funerals, no more weddings, no more feasts
3. Jeremiah 25:12-13 and 26, Babylon would also be given into the hand of her enemies. They had not given honor to God. God said that they would be a perpetual desolation.
4. A “holy city” since 2300 BC totally in ruins by 141 BC in was in total ruin and obsurity (Wikipedia)
Saddam Hussein installed a huge portrait of himself and Nebuchadnezzar at the entrance to the ruins. He also had part of the ruins rebuilt, to the dismay of archaeologists, with his name inscribed on many of the bricks, in imitation of Nebuchadnezzar. One frequent inscription reads: "This was built by Saddam Hussein, son of Nebuchadnezzar, to glorify Iraq". This recalls the ziggurat at Ur, where each individual brick was stamped with "Ur-Nammu, king of Ur, who built the temple of Nanna". These bricks became sought after as collectors' items after the downfall of Saddam, and the ruins are no longer being restored to their original state. (WikiPedia)
The site of Babylon ruins after 2003 US invasion
US forces built a helicopter pad on the ancient ruins and filled their sandbags with archaeological material in the months following the 2003 invasion. Colonel Coleman was chief of staff at Babylon when it was occupied by the First Marine Expeditionary Force.
Col Coleman told the BBC that if the Iraqis wanted an apology for the destruction caused by his men he was willing to give one.
The 2,000 troops who were deployed there did immense damage as they set up camp amidst the ruins of old temples.
A helicopter pad was constructed at the site. The vibration from landings led the roof of one building to collapse.
The soldiers also filled their sandbags with archaeological artifacts, just because they were lying around and easy to pick up. Source BBC [4].(Wikipedia)
5. If nations don’t repent they are given over into the hand of their enemies. Islam has most of the western world worried. The Western world has rejected God for the most part. We are full of adultery. We slaughter babies before they are born. We accept homosexuality as normal behavior. Many of us are too busy to go to church. God may allow us to be disciplined by our enemies.
6. We will be given over to Satan.
7. I Timothy 1:19-20
8. Satan is a cruel master. He cares nothing for you. He will do his best to destroy your life.
9. If we don’t repent we will be given to him.
Conclusion
If we don’t repent we will be given the cup of wrath to drink. If we do repent Jesus has taken our place.
Matthew 26:39-42
Jesus drank the cup of wrath that we deserve. He paid for our sins on the cross. If I was to have the benefits of him drinking the cup of the wrath I must repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of my sins.
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