Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20041215.htm

JEREMIAH: STAYING UPRIGHT AMIDST EVIL PRESSURES
Part IV: Prophecies Concerning Judah
G. God's Requirement That We Repent From Willfully Illogically Misusing His Word
(Jeremiah 8:4-17)
  1. Introduction
    1. Rationalism, the belief that all one can know about spiritual truth comes only by way of man's reason, has been properly countered by conservative Christians; man can not know all he needs to know about God only by his reason, for God must reveal His saving truth by way of special revelation in the Scriptures.
    2. Yet, whatever God HAS revealed in His special revelation of written Scripture must make sense, for "Biblical truth is cognitive and rational like all truth," cf. Clark H. Pinnock, A Defense Of Biblical Infallibility, p. 17. (This book is recommended reading by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, cf. James Montgomery Boice, Does Inerrancy Matter? (Oakland, CA.: International Council on Biblical Inerrancy, 1979), p. 29, "A Select Bibliography".)
    3. God expects us to handle His Word in accord with our reason lest He judge us for outright, inexcusably sinful rebellion, a fact that is revealed in Jeremiah 8:4-17 (as follows):
  2. God's Requirement That We Repent From Willfully Illogically Misusing His Word, Jeremiah 8:4-17.
    1. God complained through the prophet, Jeremiah that the people of Judah had stubbornly refused to heed the logically discernible insight and lessons He had given her that she needed to repent, Jeremiah 8:4-7:
      1. God urged Jeremiah to give the people of Judah a certain message from Him, Jeremiah 8:4a.
      2. That message began with a divine complaint that is illustrated by examples of proper behavior in nature that countered the illogical activity of Judah in relation to God, Jeremiah 8:4b,c, 7:
        1. God noted that if men fell down they would logically want to get back up, Jeremiah 8:4b.
        2. He noted that if one sees he has turned off the road he will logically try to get back on it, Jer. 8:4c.
        3. God noted that even birds knew enough to migrate to other lands for their welfare, Jeremiah 8:7a,b.
        4. However, the people of Judah acted illogically with God, not repenting from their past sins, Jer. 8:5-6b, 7c. They acted like horses that were driven to plunge stupidly into battle and death, 8:6c.
    2. The explanation for this divine complaint is exposed as follows: God said the scribes refused to acknowledge they had willfully twisted God's Word versus what they claimed to have done, Jeremiah 8:8:
      1. The scribes claimed they were wise and that God's law was with them, leaving the impression they were reflecting the true teaching of Scripture, Jeremiah 8:8a.
      2. Yet, they had made the Law lie, Jer. 8:8b: they mishandled God's Word on judgment for idolatry (cf. Jer. 2:8b versus Ex. 20:2-3) and blatantly twisted it to preach "peace, peace" when there was no Biblical cause to hold they could escape judgment for thus logically violating the Law, 8:9b, 11-12a.
      3. Accordingly, God was appalled at how these leaders could dare twist His law to say the opposite of what it was meant to say, an illogical and, as this case proved to be, a rebellious thing to do, 8:8a, b.
    3. God then promised to send Judah into judgment via the Babylonian invasion, Jeremiah 8:9-13:
      1. For their stubborn rebellion, God promised specific, dreadful judgment upon such leaders, Jer. 8:9a.
      2. For falsely handling His Word, their wives, fields and harvest that God had given them would be taken by invaders, and that from the least to the greatest of them, and from prophet to priest, Jer. 8:10, 12-13.
    4. The fear and trouble that would then come on the people of Judah is described in Jeremiah 8:14-17:
      1. Jeremiah prophetically described the dismay and dread the wicked people of Judah would face in the coming invasion, troubles that were the opposite of their false promises, Jer. 8:14-15 with 8:11.
      2. Jeremiah described the terrible sights of the fierce, deadly invaders who would destroy Judah, 8:16-17.
Lesson: God held the people of Judah ACCOUNTABLE for SIN for ILLOGICALLY in REBELLION claiming to hold to the truth of Scripture when they actually illogically twisted it to say the opposite of its assertions; for such an abuse of the Word, they were ripe for divine judgment!

Application: We must handle Scripture in accord with STRAIGHTFORWARD COMMON SENSE, for GOD gave us the ABILITY to USE our REASON, and He EXPECTS us to APPLY it in how we handle and heed His Word; otherwise, we face certain, severe divine discipline for REBELLION!