Practice What You Preach

Text:  Jeremiah 16:1-9

Proposition: How did Jeremiah practice what he preached?

Introduction

Jeremiah preached that Babylon was coming to destroy Judah and Jerusalem.  People were going to die by the sword, by famine and by disease.  They were going to be taken captive.  They were going to be eaten by dogs, beasts, and birds of the air.  This still happens to people today. 

Most preachers perform weddings and funerals.  Jeremiah didn’t perform wedding ceremonies or funerals after this chapter. I don’t know if prophets did this anyway.

Jeremiah didn’t marry.  He didn’t go to funerals and he didn’t go to parties.  When Babylon came nobody would marry.  There would be so many dead people they wouldn’t even bury them.  There would be no parties.  Jeremiah’s life was an example of his preaching. 

I. He didn’t marry

II. He didn’t go to funerals

III. He didn’t go to feasts

I. He didn’t marry (Why didn’t he marry?)

A. He would be better off if he didn’t. 

1. Jeremiah 16:3-4

2. The children of the people were going to die.  Some would starve to death.  Dogs, beasts and birds would eat them.  They would not even be buried.

3. How would you like to have this be one of your children? 

(Sudanese girl being stalked by a vulture by Kevin Carter)

4. It seems harsh for God to tell Jeremiah that he can’t get married.  God wasn’t talking to an old bachelor.  Jeremiah was a young man.  He probably wanted to get married just like any other young man.  He probably wanted to have children, but the life of Jeremiah’s wife and children would have troublesome and dangerous.  He had to flee for his life many times. He was locked up in jail for long periods of time.  Probably his own relatives didn’t want anything to do with him.  It was God’s mercy commanding him not to marry.

5. His children may not have survived.  Jeremiah’s wife would have had to raise the children almost by herself.

B. Sometimes it is better not to marry.

1. I Corinthians 7:25-26, in times of distress (persecution) it is better not to marry.  A single person can run and flee easier than someone married with children.  The unmarried person is not responsible for the safety and care of anyone but himself or herself.

2. Luke 23:28-29, in another 40 years after Jesus said this Jerusalem would be destroyed a second time by the Roman armies.  Those who had no children would by glad they didn’t

3. Those who are divorced many times are better off if they don’t marry.

a. I Corinthians 7:20, Paul says it is best to remain as you are when you become a Christian.

b. I Corinthians 7:27-28, Paul says if you were married when you became a Christian don’t get divorced.  If you were divorced don’t get married, but if you marry you have not sinned.  But you are going to have trouble.  Sometimes second marriages work, but many times they end in divorce.  Some people just don’t know how to pick a good wife or husband.  They are like Samson.  He picked a wife from among the Philistines.  His parents tried to talk him out of it, but he said, “Get her for she looks good to me.”  That one didn’t work out so he found a prostitute in Gaza.  Then he found Delilah.  Delilah was the wickedest one.  She rewarded him with blindness.  One man I know is like Samson.  He picked a bad one the first time.  Fortunately they had no children.  She left him for another man and has had several since then.  He has never remarried, but once in a while he will find a woman he is interested in.  When I first meet the one he is interested in I want to yell in his ear, “Run, away as fast as you can,” but he thinks she is wonderful.

c. I Corinthians 7:10-11, those who are married and are in the Lord are to stay married.  If they are divorced they need to remain unmarried or be reconciled with their husband or wife.

d. Those who remarry are in adultery, and they are definitely not better off because they are on their way to hell.  There will be no adulterers in heaven.

II. Jeremiah didn’t go to funerals (Why didn’t he go to funerals?)

A. There weren’t going to be any funerals anymore. 

1. There were going to be so many dead people and the living would be in such distress that they wouldn’t even bury their dead loved ones.  Everyone would have someone dead in their family so they wouldn’t have time to console their friends who had someone dead in their family.

2. They would no longer practice the things that God forbid them to do when someone died.

a. Jeremiah 16:6

b. Deuteronomy 14:1

c. Leviticus 19:28, tattoos are a pagan practice.  Poking holes in your body and putting ink under the skin in no way pleases God.  Even if you tattoo a cross or the name of Christ on your skin it will not please him.

d. They would no longer have the pagan practices among them. 

3. Jeremiah 22:19, even the king didn’t escape Jeremiah’s prophecy.

4. Jeremiah 36:30

B. They were dying because they had forsaken God and his laws.

1. Jeremiah 16:11-13, they had forsaken God.  They were idolatrous and immoral.

2. Jeremiah 5:8

3. Jeremiah 2:24

4. Death is the result of ignoring God.  Immorality brings death.  In South Africa at least 50 percent of the people child bearing age have HIV-AIDS (Adriana Stuijt Jan 8, 2009http://digitaljournal.com/article/264771) The funeral home businesses in South Africa are making a killing there are so many people dying from AIDS and violence.

5. Sin brings suffering and death.  All of the suffering and death in the world today is the result of sin.  Adam and Eve ate from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Sin entered into the world and death entered through sin.

6. Romans 5:12

7. We die because of Adam’s sin.  All that Adam did was eat from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil.

8. We can blame the problems of the world on our ancestors Adam and Eve.  It is their entire fault.

9. Jeremiah 16:10-12, these people asked why all this calamity upon us.  Jeremiah said it is because of the sin of your fathers, but you have done worse than your fathers.

10. Adam’s sin doesn’t seem to be very bad.  He only ate some fruit from a forbidden tree.  His descendants have done much worse.  Cain killed his brother Abel.  By the time Noah was on the earth the thoughts and intentions of man’s heart was only evil continually.

11. Blaming your parents for your troubles will not release you from the consequences of your own sin.    

III. Jeremiah went to no feasts.  (Why didn’t Jeremiah go to feasts?)

A. There would be no feasts

1. Jeremiah 16:8-9

2. There would be so much sorrow, suffering and death no one would get married or have a reason to rejoice with a feast.

3. There would be no feasts required by the law.  The Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Booths would not be celebrated while they were in captivity for 70 years. It wouldn’t be until the temple was rebuilt that the Passover was celebrated again.  I think Jeremiah probably continued to keep the commanded feasts if he could.  The people were not keeping the Sabbath.

4. Jeremiah 17:19-23, if they didn’t bother to keep the Sabbath.  They probably were not observing the feasts either.

5. If they didn’t observe the feasts God had commanded them to they would have no feasts at all.

B. Feasts are for rejoicing and celebration

1. There would be no reason for rejoicing and celebration.

2. There would be only fasting and weeping, Zechariah 7:1-5.  The fifth month was when the temple was burned.  The seventh month was when Gedaliah, the governor Nebuchadnezzar left to govern the remnant, was murdered.  The temple was close to being finished so they wanted to know if they should still fast and mourn.

3. There would be no rejoicing or celebration until they returned from captivity in Babylon.

4. Their return from Babylon would be more memorable for them than their deliverance from Egypt.

5. Jeremiah 16:14-15

6. Israel’s deliverance from Egypt was miraculous, but her return from Babylon would be more memorable because her sins were forgiven.

7. Isaiah 40:2

8. Her sins had been paid for after 70 years in captivity Israel worshipped only the true God.  They no longer worshipped idols.

9. Their fasts would be turned into feasts

10. Zechariah 8:1-8 and 19,

• Fourth month – famine in Jerusalem and walls breached (II Kings 25:3-4)
• Fifth month – temple burned (Jeremiah 52:12-15)
• Seventh month – Gedaliah murdered (Jeremiah 41:1-3)
• Tenth month – Seige began (Jeremiah 52:4)

11. The only day God set aside for fasting was the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:29)

12. God had not commanded these fasts.  They were days of sorrow for the people of Judah.  When we have great distress and sorrow no one has to tell us to fast.  We want the Lord to see our affliction and have mercy on us.  It is not a time of rejoicing.  It is when we deny ourselves of one of the basic desires of the flesh, food.

13. Jeremiah went to no feasts because there was nothing to rejoice about.  The people of Judah were in sin and they couldn’t even see their sin.  They asked, “What have we done to deserve this?”

14. Their feasting would be turned to famine because of their sin.  It would be 70 years before God would turn their fasts into feasts.

Conclusion

Rom 12:15  Rejoice with them that rejoice; weep with them that weep.

We don’t have to do what Jeremiah did.  We can feast with those who feast.  We can mourn with those who mourn.  We can marry.  We can go to weddings and funerals.  If the people of the United States continue to forget God our feasting may turn to famine.  As for right now even when we are in a recession we have life better than most places in the world.  We have houses with heat and air conditioning, clean water, and plenty of good food.  We have the freedom to worship as Christ commanded us.

We have many spiritual blessings also.  We have the Word of God our own language that we can read and understand.   We have the gift of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  We have forgiveness of sins.  We have been given all that pertains to life and godliness.  We are waiting for the return of the bridegroom, Revelation 19:7-9.

We are to learn from Judah as individuals, families, cities, and states and as a nation.  As long as we serve god we can rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.  When we forget God and we are idolatrous and immoral that is when feasting is turned to famine and there will be no weddings.  There will be no funerals.  Famine, sword, and disease will come on our children and us and they will be food for the birds of the air, dogs, and beasts of the field.

Remember God and his commandments and rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep.