Text: Jeremiah 12:2
Proposition: Who has close lips and a distant mind?
Introduction
Jeremiah was contending with the Lord. He was upset that the wicked prospered. He knew that the wicked were pretending to honor God. They had close lips and a distant mind.
I. Those the Lord has planted
II. Those who deal treacherously and then say nice things
III. How can I have close lips and a close mind?
I. Those whom the Lord has planted. (Why do those who the Lord planted have close lips and distant minds?)
A. God had planted Israel in the Land they were in. He had blessed them. They had taken root and born fruit. They were prosperous and were doing well, but they had left God in the time of their prosperity and now they were going to be uprooted and taken to Babylon.
1. Jeremiah 12:14-17
2. Jeremiah 18:1-10, God is the nation planter, and the nation uprooter. When the heart of the people turns away from him. He begins a plan to uproot them from where they are.
B. At one time they were close to God with their mind also, but now their hearts are far away from him.
1. Jeremiah 12:2
2. Jeremiah 11:17
3. They claim to be the people of God
4. They claim to be a Christian nation
5. We honor God with our lips as a nation. “IN GOD WE TRUST” is our national motto. We say, “One nation under God.” Our politicians like to say “God bless America.” We sing “God bless America,” but if our hearts are not as close as our lips God is devising a plan to uproot us.
6. We see all the problems we have as a nation. Some think our borders need to be tighter. Some think our healthcare system needs to be fixed. Some are afraid of letting rogue nations have nuclear weapons. Some are worried about the bad financial situation we are in. We have lots of problems, but the main problem is our hearts are far from God.
a. Watch Television for a few minutes and you will see how far the people are from God.
b. Walk out the check out isle at Wal-Mart and look at all the headlines on the tabloid magazines. I don’t know why people even bother to buy those things.
c. Talk to a public school teacher about what they have to tolerate in school.
1) My aunt is a school teacher in Topeka. She is at probably one of the worst schools in Topeka. So not all schools are as bad as they are there. The parents don’t care about their children. Most of the parents don’t work. They get government checks. A lot of the children can’t do their schoolwork, but the principal tells the teachers to pass them anyway.
2) I don’t think the schools here are that bad.
d. Many people live together who aren’t married. Many who get married lived together first. They think you are strange if you are engaged, but you aren’t living with the person you are going to marry. When Alissa and I were engaged, some people she worked with told her we should live together to see if things were going to work before we got married. That is bad advice. People who live together first end up divorced more often than those who do things the way God says before they are married.
e. Homosexuality is becoming an accepted sin. Our politicians say, “God bless America,” and then they support gay marriage. And they put gay rights as a civil rights issue. How stupid is that?
C. God doesn’t water the plants who reject Him.
1. Jeremiah 12:4
2. Jeremiah 14
3. God sent a drought in the land of Judah. The land was cursed because their hearts were far from God.
4. When Jeremiah was cast into a cistern there was mud and no water. The drought was still on it chap. 38.
II. Those who deal treacherously and then say nice things to you (Why do those who deal treacherously and then say nice things have close lips and a distant mind?)
A. The people from Jeremiah’s hometown wanted to kill him.
1. Jeremiah 11:21
2. Now they are saying nice things to him
3. Jeremiah 12:5 and 6
4. Jeremiah felt bad that his own people wanted to kill him. He didn’t want to be rejected by his own people.
5. God asks Jeremiah, in verse 5, if your own people tire you out how are you going to do against horses meaning the kings, princes, and priests that are going to oppose you.
6. God tells Jeremiah don’t believe their flattery. They may say nice things to you, but they are planning your destruction.
7. The wicked said that Jeremiah wouldn’t see their end. (vs. 4) They said he would be dead before he could see the prophecies of God come true. Jeremiah made it to the end. He was there when Nebuchadnezzar broke down the walls of Jerusalem. Nebuchadnezzar’s bodyguard released him from confinement. Some of Jeremiah’s enemies were killed and some were taken into captivity.
8. These men wanted to discourage Jeremiah and see him fail. Sometimes there are people who discourage us, and they want to see us fail. But if we are like Jeremiah and put our trust in God then he will take care of us. It probably won’t be as fast as we want it to be, but eventually God will bring about justice to the wicked.
B. They are a lion in the forest and a bird of prey.
1. Jeremiah 12:8-9
2. The people of Judah roared against God. They didn’t want him around. They wanted to devour Him and his prophets, but pretend they were still the people of God. They were like a bird of prey waiting for the right moment to shred anything that had to do with God.
III. They don’t care for God’s people (Why don’t those who have close lips and a distant mind care for God’s people?)
A. They are pastors who destroy.
1. Ezekiel 34:3-6, the shepherds didn’t care for the sheep. These shepherds only cared for themselves. They didn’t care for the sheep. They only wanted an income from the sheep.
2. A shepherd that doesn’t care for his flock will soon have no flock. This is what happened to these shepherds, God fired them all and took over as shepherd himself.
3. Pastors who don’t correct their sheep don’t care about them.
B. Peter was a good shepherd
1. John 21:15-17
2. Peter cared for the sheep
3. Acts 20:17-28, Paul was a good shepherd
IV. How can I have close lips and a close mind
A. Have no guile
1. John 1:45-51
2. Jesus knew Nathaniel’s heart. He could see he had close lips and a close mind. Nathaniel was a genuine Israelite. Whatever he was doing under the fig tree. Jesus saw him and Nathaniel was sure no one else saw him because he new Jesus was the Son of God because Jesus new something no one else did.
3. We are to have no guile and no deceit in our life. Those with close lips and a distant mind are full of guile. They are trying to fool everyone into thinking they love God, but they hate him.
B. Don’t teach the doctrines of men
1. Matthew 15:1-13
2. Jesus didn’t bind himself to the traditions of men. There was nothing sinful about eating with unwashed hands. When we went on our hiking trip we washed our hands once in a while, but my hands were filthy when we stopped at Jack-in-the-Box to eat. They had worm slime and fish slime and dirt and whose knows what else. I was glad to be able to wash my hands in warm running water. I didn’t get sick from not washing my hands and I wasn’t in sin. Washing your hands is a good idea, but when you are hungry and there is no place to wash you can still eat and not sin.
3. Jesus pointed out to the Pharisees while they honor the tradition of men and think that is what makes them holy. Then they figure out how to get around the commandment of God. They have close lips and distant minds.
C. Listen to the message
1. Ezekiel 33:30-33
2. These people came and listened to Ezekiel’s message. They said, “That was a great sermon. Ezekiel is a great speaker. He speaks from God.” Then they went home and changed nothing in their life.
Conclusion
Many people are like the people in Ezekiel’s day. They hear the sermon. They read the word of God and they see that they need to change, but they do nothing. They continue to honor God with their lips, but their hearts are far from him.
God has planted us and caused us to bear fruit. Don’t have lips that honor Him, but a heart far from Him. We want to have close lips and a close mind.
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