Bible Commentaries
Jeremiah 15

Verses 1-21

1. THE COMING CAPTIVITY! (15:1-21)
   1. God had judged them “in” the land(Judges), now “from” the land.
   2. THE LORD’S RESPONSE! (1-9)
   3. Vs.1 – At critical times in Jewish history Moses & Samuel interceded & God heard & answered.
      1. “I don’t care who is interceding for them…my mind is made up!”
      2. Q: Can we ever change God’s mind?
      3. Q: Is the sign along the freeway true, “Prayer changes things?”
   4. Q: What are 2 things you never want to here God say?
      1. “Get out of my sight!” & “Go away!”(1b)
      2. Q: Can you think of other times when God said basically the samething?
         1. Mt.15:14 “Let them alone{NIV, leave them}”/blind lead blind
         2. “Depart from me” (Mt.7)
         3. You can take all you want from this life…but plan on paying in the end.
         4. Or, loose your life & truly find it!
   5. Vs.3 – Why 4 things? 14:1(1 thing); 14:12(3 things); here 4!
   6. Vs.4 – The monster Manaseh found forgiveness, but his legacy remained! {The sins he taught his people to embrace.}
      1. "In those days they shall say no more: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge.'(31:29)
      2. Q: I wonder what sins we are teaching our kids, employees, friends, co-workers, to embrace?
         1. What happens when we turn from that sin & they don’t?
   7. Vs.6 – “I am weary of relenting” – For God to postpone judgment meant encouraging the nations sins even more.
      1. Sin’s effects & heavens judgments are but 2 sides of the same coin.
         1. “You have forsaken me” à “I will stretch out my hand against you”.
   8. Vs.7 – Coming judgment would be like separating the wheat from the chaff.
   9. JEREMIAH’S RESPONSE! (10-21)
   10. Vs.10 – Jeremiah’s now…“running with the horses” & it isn’t easy.
   11. Vs.15-18 – Here we see the turmoil in Jeremiah’s mind.
       1. One minute affirming the Lord’s Longsuffering & His faithfulness (15-17), the next minute crying out w/pain(18).
   12. Vs.16 – Great verse! – We here often the Bible is the most “popular book of all time” but if none were to read & recommend it would you read it? Would you Eat it?
       1. Eating God’s Word - One man said reading the Bible was like eating fish. “When I find a difficulty, I lay it aside, and call it a bone. Why should I choke over the bone when there is so much nutritious meat for me?”
       2. At a Gideon convention D. J. De Pree of Zeeland, Michigan said, “We must read it (1 Tim. 4:13); eat it -- that is, take it into our very being(Job 23:12; Jer. 15:16); bathe in it for spiritual cleansing (John 15:3); look into it as a mirror to see our true self (James 1:23-25); meditate on it (Psalm 1:2; 1 Tim. 4:15); memorize it (Deut. 11:18; Psalm 119:11); study it (2 Tim. 2:15; Heb. 5:12-14); teach it to others (Deut. 11:19; Col 3:16) ; talk about it (Josh. 1:8); and sow its seeds of truth in the field of the world (Matt. 13:3-9; Luke 8:11).
       3. Carl Sharsmith, an 81 year old guide in Yosemite National Park: A lady tourist had hit him with a question where it hurt: "I've only got an hour to spend at Yosemite," she declared. "What should I do? Where should I go?" The old naturalist-interpreter-ranger finally found voice to reply. "Ah, lady, only an hour." He repeated it slowly. "I suppose that if I had only an hour to spend at Yosemite, I'd just walk over there by the river and sit down and cry."
          1. A whole lifetime is not long enough to appreciate fully the beauty and learning and value of the Bible.
       4. “No body else ate…but I ate!” (says Jeremiah) & boy did it taste good!
          1. Job said, “I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.”
          2. Ps 19:7-10 “sweeter also than honey!”
   13. Vs.17 – “Sat alone” Q: Has God got you at a place where you’re made to sit alone? {maybe you feel outside “the group”?}
   14. Vs.19 – Shock therapy – God’s answer must have shocked him.
       1. Jeremiah you repent for questioning me.
   15. Vs.20,21 – The Lord usually balances Rebuke w/Reassurance.
       1. Lori R. saw rainbow, & lightening strike the center of where it touched the ground. {A good picture of God’s Rebuke & Reassurance)
   16. Q: Is it unusual for servants of God to become discouraged?
       1. No. - Human weakness is a battle.
          1. Monday is a hard way to spend one-seventh of your life!
          2. Many examples in scripture: Moses, Joshua, Elijah, David, even Jonah felt down in the mouth when the great fish swallowed him. All became discouraged in their ministries.
          3. Charles Spurgeon looked back upon dark hours in his own life and said: I bear willing witness that I owe more to the fire, and the hammer, and the file, than to anything else in my Lord's workshop.
          4. I was reading recently about a young lawyer who descended into the valley of despond. Things were going so poorly for him that his friends thought it best to keep all knives and razors away from him for fear of a suicide attempt. In fact, during this time he wrote in his memoirs, "I am now the most miserable man living. Whether I shall ever be better, I cannot tell. I fear I shall not." The young lawyer who unleashed these desperate feelings of utter hopelessness? His name was Abraham Lincoln.
          5. Be careful “Discouragement is faith in the devil.”
          6. God doesn’t want us to ignore our feelings, but He does want us to trust Him to change our feelings & start walking by faith!