March 13 2022

Lent 2 March 13 2022

Old Testament: Jeremiah 26:8-15

Psalm: Psalm 32

Epistle: Philippians 3:17-4:1

Gospel: Luke 13:31-35

Sermon Text: Jeremiah 26

Sermon Title: “You Must Die”

Grace to you and peace, from God the Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

God calls His prophets, pastors and preachers to continually call His people to repentance and faith in Christ, to fix their eyes on Jesus alone for their salvation. Yet, false prophets and preachers also arise to speak what itching ears want to hear, while those who are faithful are often mistreated and even killed. The Apostle Paul laments this in our Epistle today saying “many … live as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction … their mind is set on earthly things”. (Philippians 3:18-19)

Thus also, Jesus’ words in our Gospel text this morning, “it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem (for) Jerusalem is a city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it”. (Luke 13:33b-34a) Jesus Christ our Lord, who (would die) died to atone for the sins of all people laments; “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings (and their tragic response to His repeated invitation) and you would not”. (Luke 13:34b) Jesus also speaks a parable of a wedding banquet, which stands for the kingdom of God, and to which all are invited, “and they all alike began to make excuses”. (Luke 14:18a)

Despite the fact that most reject the universal grace of God that Christ accomplished for all people by His death on the cross and bodily resurrection, this truth still stands. Scripture is clear (and the teaching of our Confessions is clear), God’s gracious disposition in Christ is not limited to a part of mankind, but to all people without exception”. (Pieper vol. II, page 21) Scripture therefore rejects the Calvinistic idea that God chose some for salvation and others for damnation. The testimony of Scripture for the universal grace of God is so clear, that it seems incredible that anyone in the church would question it.

God’s Word declares through both the Apostles and the prophets, “The grace of God which brings salvation has appeared to all men”. (Titus 2:11) “God our Savior desires all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth”. (1st Timothy 2:4) “He (Christ Jesus) is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only our sins, but the sins of the whole world”. (1st John 2:2) Also, the Lord “does not wish any to perish, but all to reach repentance”. (2nd Peter 3:9b) “As I live declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his (evil) ways and live”. (Ezekiel 33:11a)

Scripture also testifies clearly that God’s saving will extends to every individual, even the openly wicked, even those who will ultimately reject Him and perish eternally in hell. The merits of Christ covers their sins too. The Apostle Peter speaks of false teachers who “deny the Master who bought them” (2nd Peter 2:1b) with His precious blood and innocent suffering and death. And we already heard that Jesus would “gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wing; but you would not”. (Luke 13:34b)

Sinful mankind can and most often does reject the Word (the law and Gospel of Christ) and our Lord forces no one to believe; “for very few accept the Word and obey it; the majority despise the Word and refuse to come to it” (Formula Article XI, “Election”; par. 41) and be saved. This is also taught clearly in the Scriptures. In the book of Acts, Stephen called his hearers “stiff necked people … always resisting the Holy Spirit”. (Acts 7:51a) and ”many are called but few are chosen” ( ) and Jesus’ word, “he who does not believe in Him is condemned already”. (John 3:18a)

Now, when someone stubbornly refuses to believe in/rejects Christ and His Word, it is their own fault. It is not the fault of the preacher or their parents or of bad influences of anyone else. The call to repentance and to faith in Christ, the promise of the Gospel, extends over all people, as you heard, but many harden their hearts and reject the drawing of the Holy Spirit through the Word. This is made clear in Jesus’ “Parable of the Sower”, where with some the Word of God has a good effect and with others it does not. Therefore, it was the fault of the people in how they responded to Jeremiah the prophet in our Old Testament/sermon text this morning.

Jeremiah is sometimes called “the weeping prophet” because he is constantly pleading with the people of Israel to repent and believe the Word of God. Their response is to say, “Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord that this house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant”? (Jeremiah 26:9a) This is what “the priests and the prophets and all the people” (Jeremiah 26:8b) accusingly asked of Jeremiah the prophet after he “had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak”. (Jeremiah 26:8a)

Shiloh was roughly 20 miles north of the city of Jerusalem. From roughly the time of Joshua to the time of Samuel, Shiloh was the city (before the temple was built in Jerusalem) where the people of Israel worshipped the Lord, the place of the tabernacle and where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. But now Shiloh was a deserted city, a city of only ruins, a silent testimony to God’s judgment against unbelief and idolatry; for you see the Lord God allowed the city of Shiloh to be destroyed by the Philistines due to the constant blasphemy and idolatry of the people. Like the people in Jesus’ day, they would not be gathered by God.

Now, once again, the people of Israel were in full blown rebellion and disobedience against the Lord God, and His prophet Jeremiah had been called to warn them of the coming desolation, unless they repent. Jeremiah had preached this sermon to them at least once before (likely more than once) saying “Thus says the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel; amend your ways and your deeds … do not trust in these deceptive words, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord …Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely … go after other gods, and then come and stand before Me in this house which is called by My name, and say, We are delivered … remember what I did to Shiloh … because of the evil of My people Israel”. (Jeremiah 7:3-4, 9-10a, 12)

Despite what had happened to Shiloh, the people naively believed that nothing too terrible could happen to them now. They took pride in their temple as if it would be there forever. They kept repeating the phrase, “the temple of the Lord” and in defiance of God and the word of His prophets; refused to repent of their many sins. The Temple itself had become an idol. So, Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, is here again, preaching/warning of God’s judgment and desperately urging them to turn from their sin.

Of course, people do not like having their idols taken away, and in response the priests, prophets and people say to Jeremiah, “you shall die … and all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the new gate in the house of the Lord”. (Jeremiah 26:9b-10) Even though Jeremiah had spoken nothing to them except “all that the Lord commanded him to speak”. (Jeremiah 26:8a) their response was literally “Kill the preacher”; You must die”; “kill the messenger”.

Jeremiah the prophet must die because the people and the religious leaders did not like what the Lord had to say through him. They said, “this man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears”. (Jeremiah 26:11) It made no difference to them that these were the Lord’s own words; they would rather hear a beautiful lie than believe the cold, hard truth about themselves and their city.

But why? Why wouldn’t they want to know the truth? Maybe they were living in uncertain, chaotic, turbulent times with threats of war and their way of life ending. Maybe they were beginning to sense the decline and fall of their nation and didn’t want to be reminded of it, or their own part in it. Maybe they were quite comfortable with their myriad of false gods and philosophies and were simply sick of hearing the prophet/preacher rail against them. Maybe, they just didn’t like Jeremiah’s abrasive personality.

Whatever the reason, the Lord still loves them. He loves them enough to send them a prophet to tell them the truth; for (again) Jeremiah is not speaking his own words, but rather the words of the Lord. And now, with the sentence of death hanging over him, “Jeremiah spoke to all the princes and all the people saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and this city, all the words that you have heard”. (Jeremiah 26:12) Jeremiah was faithful in his calling as a prophet, fearing the Lord more than man, and showing his love for the people by warning them.

Jeremiah basically tells them, “you don’t have a problem with me, you have a problem with the Lord. Its His word you don’t like”. “Now, therefore, amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will relent/repent of the evil which He has pronounced against you. But as for me, behold I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you”. (Jeremiah 26:13-14) Jeremiah had simply done what the Lord had called him to do and he was willing to accept the consequences. This account is a reminder that keeping God’s Word, doesn’t usually translate into success according to the standards of the world.

However, he does have a (perhaps) final word of warning for them. “Know for certain, that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon its inhabitants, for in truth, the Lord sent me to you, to speak all of these words in your ears”. (Jeremiah 26:15) We know from the rest of the chapter that cooler heads prevailed, at least for the time being, but …

Jeremiah would repeatedly be threatened by the people for his preaching the Word of the Lord, which they rarely took seriously, and 22 years later, he would see the people of Judah killed or carried away into exile by the Babylonians. The temple they thought would be with them forever was totally destroyed along with the rest of Jerusalem. We heard the horrible details of this in our study of the book of Lamentations in Bible class recently.

Yet, even in the midst of the terrible destruction they would have to endure, was a precious promise from the Lord, “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; His mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; Great is Thy faithfulness … for the Lord will not cast off forever; though He cause grief, He will have compassion”. (Lamentations 3:22-23, 31-32a) In the midst of difficult times and extreme hardships, we are to cling to these promises of God, who does not lie; “for it is impossible for God to lie”. (Hebrews 6:18)

For God has become man in the person of Jesus; who has atoned for our sins by His sacrificial death on the cross and glorious bodily resurrection from the dead. Jesus is our joy and treasure, our only hope. He is the one thing needful for forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Therefore, His people gladly hear the Word of God and receive His sacrament; daily repent of their sins; forgive those who have sinned against them; and do good for their neighbor.

Heavenly Father, grant that we would “stand firm” (Philippians 4:1b) continuing in His Word as we await the return of our Savior, “the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power which enables Him to subject all things to Himself”. (Philippians 3:20b-21) Amen.

The peace of God …