Jeremiah 13:1-11 January 16, 2022 A.M.
You folks out there who have had the opportunity to teach children KNOW that one of the best ways to really get something into their heads is to use OBJECT LESSONS. I’m 55 and I can still remember things that were taught to me as a child when an OBJECT LESSON was used. And so if you really want something to stick in a person’s mind use an OBJECT or an EXAMPLE to get their attention.
ILLUS: Years ago at the Northside Free Will Baptist Church we ran a Bus Ministry. We would cover Sperry, Turley, and some of the really rough areas on the North Side of Tulsa. I think we had 4 or 5 buses going at a time. It was a great ministry and I still know some of those BUS KIDS. I really believe we made a difference in some of those kids lives. But one of the PROMOTIONS we did was an OBJECT LESSON. We had .... “Fight the Devil Sunday.” We would dress a guy up in a devil’s suit and he would challenge one of the BUS CAPTAINS to a BOXING MATCH. We would really PROMOTE it for several weeks. He would follow the different buses around in a CONVERTIBLE CAR and shake his fist at them. He would show up at church to tell the kids how he was going whoop the BUS CAPTAIN. And finally the day would come. We had hot dogs for the kids to eat and a Boxing Ring set up. The Bus Captain would come out and tell how he was gonna whoop the Devil. The Devil would come out and talk about how he was gonna win. And then the MATCH would begin.
The Bus Captain was ALL SHOW. Jumping around acting all tough UNTIL the devil started whooping on him. The devil got him down and it looked like he was gonna win until at the LAST MINUTE he was SAVED by the BELL. Setting there in his corner before the next round started someone would show him scriptures on TRUSTING the LORD. Let the LORD fight your battles. RESIST the DEVIL and he will FLEE FROM YOU!!! They got down on their knees in the CORNER of the RING and PRAYED. And then the NEXT ROUND everything turned around and the BUS CAPTAIN WON!!! Man it was quite a PRODUCTION. A lot of work but I think it got the point across. THAT WAS LIKE 35 YEARS AGO BUT I bet you most of those kids still remember that even though they are ADULTS today. It was an OBJECT LESSON. And that’s EXACTLY what God is doing here for the Nation of Judah. SO LET’S go ahead READ GOD’S OBJECT LESSON. Jeremiah 13:1-11.
“Thus saith the Lord unto me, Go and get thee a linen girdle, and put it upon thy loins, and put it not in water.
2 So I got a girdle according to the word of the Lord, and put it on my loins.
3 And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying,
4 Take the girdle that thou hast got, which is upon thy loins, and arise, go to Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole of the rock.
5 So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.
6 And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.
8 Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
9 Thus saith the Lord, After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.
10 This evil people, which refuse to hear my words, which walk in the imagination of their heart, and walk after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.
11 For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.”
Now some have said that this was just a VISION or an EXAMPLE that God didn’t really intend for Jeremiah to carry this out but I don’t agree. Verse 1 CLEARLY tells us that Jeremiah HEARD God speak to him and I believe he DID IT. If you notice it doesn’t start out too hard but gets more difficult. I mean, how hard is it to get a GIRDLE and wear it? It might be a little embarrassing but NOT too difficult. But this turned into something that I’m sure the people NEVER FORGOT. So this morning I want us to look at this OBJECT LESSON that God had JEREMIAH PERFORM for the PEOPLE of JUDAH. But before we do let’s go to the Lord in Prayer.
Brother ______, would you lead us?
In Verse 10 we see three things about the people of Judah and those are my THREE POINTS today.
I. The first thing it tells us there in Verse 10 was the fact that the PEOPLE of JUDAH had become EVIL and they REFUSED to HEAR God’s Word. That’s why God had to resort to this OBJECT LESSON of a LINEN GIRDLE to get their attention. Think about this for a minute. Old Jeremiah goes and picks out a LINEN GIRDLE and puts it on. Now it’s important to note that it’s a LINEN GIRDLE. Not WOOL or woven from any type of ANIMAL HAIR. Linen is woven from the FLAX PLANT. It is much finer and more difficult to use. But it’s what the PRIESTS wore in the temple. So God tells Jeremiah to go put on some PRIESTLY ATTIRE. Something that the people would recognize as FINE CLOTHING. Something VALUABLE and then ..... DON’T WASH IT. Let it get all dirty and marred. Keep on wearing each time he got up to MINISTER to the people. Look at what God says there in Verse 9. “After this manner will I mar the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem.”
The people who had become EVIL and had REFUSED TO HEAR what God was telling them. They were going to BE MARRED. Made DIRTY. They were going to be CORRUPTED. BAD THINGS WERE GOING TO HAPPEN TO THEM. WHY?
#1 They refused to LISTEN TO GOD. God had sent PROPHETS to warn the people. The Prophets Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah, Nahum, Zephaniah and of course Jeremiah here had all prophesied to the people BEFORE the Babylonian captivity but the people just wouldn’t listen.
And I look at the different people that God has used to SPEAK for Him. Pastors who LOVE and CARE about people. Preachers who truly PREACH the GOSPEL of Jesus Christ. Family members who worry about where their LOVED ONES will spend eternity and SPEAK UP.
You know what, to stick your head in the sand and act like everything’s OK when it’s NOT, is NOT REALLY LOVE.
HOPING a LOVED ONE is SAVED and will go to Heaven without knowing for sure isn’t really LOVE.
ILLUS: I preached a funeral a while back and the son of the person who had passed away came to me in TEARS NOT SURE where their LOVED ONE was at. I mean, they lived out of state so I can kind of understand but WHY wouldn’t you ask them? Why wouldn’t you make sure? It’s TIME to speak up.
The HOLY SPIRIT of GOD speaks to people. He DRAWS folks to Him.
The BIBLE, God’s Holy Word SPEAKS to us.
But here’s the SAD PART. Too many times people just won’t listen and so He does something to get their ATTENTION just like He did in the Days of Jeremiah. Oh, I doubt if He’s gonna have me put on a GIRDLE and stand up here to preach with it on but He has other ways of getting your attention.
A HEALTH SCARE.
A CLOSE CALL.
A PANDEMIC that stretches around the GLOBE.
A LOVED ONE passes away.
Maybe God sends a LOVED ONE to speak to you.
So now what are you gonna do? Listen or just ignore Him. The CHOICE is up to you just like it was up to the People of Judah.
II. The SECOND thing it tells us in Verse 10 about the people of Judah is, THEY “walk in the imagination of their heart.”
Do you know what that says to me? they had “PUSHED” God aside. They weren’t listening to Him anymore but instead, were listening to their own hearts. They weren’t TRUSTING in GOD but THEMSELVES. It’s the kind of thing people will often say “Just Trust your Heart”. Folks don’t do it.
Later on in Chapter 17, Verse 9 Jeremiah says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
DON’T TRUST YOUR OWN HEART.
DON’T TRUST YOUR BEST FRIEND’S HEART.
DON’T TRUST ANYONE ELSE’S HEART.
TRUST GOD’S HEART.
Our heart’s can be so DECEITFUL. We want what we want. We want our own way We want the things that will make us HAPPY. We want the things that will SATISFY US.
And you can’t trust yourself or anyone else. ONLY GOD. He’s the ONLY ONE who can see what’s ahead and truly knows what’s best.
Now in Verse 3 and 4, it tells us that God SPOKE to Jeremiah a 2nd time. “Now Jeremiah, you take that NASTY OLD DIRTY GIRDLE, wear it ALL THE WAY OVER to the River Euphrates, take it off and BURY IT in a HOLE of a ROCK alongside the Euphrates River.”
I can just hear Old Jeremiah. “Now that part about putting on a Linen Girdle is PRETTY CRAZY but now you want me to go to the River Euphrates. That’s 300 miles away. And then BURY the GIRDLE down in a HOLE. And then you want me to walk 300 miles back home. That’s what you want from me?”
Now look at Verse 5. “So I went, and hid it by Euphrates, as the Lord commanded me.”
We know that this GIRDLE was an OBJECT LESSON. It was SYMBOLIC of the Nation of Judah. It was CLEAN and WHITE. Symbolic of what the PRIESTS WORE. A CHOSEN PEOPLE. But it had become MARRED, DIRTY and SOILED while Jeremiah wore it. Just like the NATION of JUDAH.
So how does JEREMIAH TRAVELING to the Euphrates River to BURY a DIRTY GIRDLE tie in to the Nation of Judah? Well, Babylon was built on the BANKS of the Euphrates River. God is showing these people an OBJECT LESSON. This MARRED, DIRTY, DISOBEDIENT PEOPLE would be taken into captivity and forced into the Land of Babylon. They had at one time been PRECIOUS and CLEAN. But SOON they would be taken to Babylon and many of them would be BURIED THERE just like that old DIRTY GIRDLE.
I look at people’s lives today and it makes me sad. I talked a little about this last week. I see so much potential in folks. God could do a BEAUTIFUL THING in their lives. He’s calling them for a SPECIAL PURPOSE. He has a SPECIAL PLAN.
Young people, PLEASE LISTEN TO ME. You all are CLEAN and PURE. Nothing has MARRED your LIFE. Nothing has SOLIED YOU. Right now you have your WHOLE LIFE ahead of you. You have a CLEAN SLATE. SO MUCH POTENTIAL and God has a SPECIAL SOMEONE JUST for you. Please wait for God’s PLAN. Please put Him first. In Matthew 6:33 Jesus says, “ But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Later on in Jeremiah 29:11 he says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”
God has all of these wonderful things for you but the Devil has some plans for you too. He wants to give you an EXPECTED END. ALL MARRED and SCARRED UP, SOILED and NASTY, and finally, in the end he wants to take you to HELL. That’s his goal. That’s his goal for You and I. Everyone of us here. If you look at the world he’s pretty successful at it. Souls going off into eternity at an ALARMING RATE. And MOST not knowing God.
III. And then in Verse 10 he tells us one more thing that the Nation of Judah was involved in. They were a people who “walked after other gods, to serve them, and to worship them, shall even be as this girdle, which is good for nothing.”
Not only were they a people who wouldn’t LISTEN to God.
A people who listened to their OWN HEART and did their own thing.
But they were a people who SERVED OTHER GODS.
And listen, a NATION or an INDIVIDUAL who serves other GODS is WORTHLESS to the TRUE and LIVING GOD, just like an OLD, BATTERED, FILTHY, MARRED, GIRDLE. No use whatsoever.
Let me tell you something. If you’re NOT WILLING to put God first in your LIFE. If you’re not willing to put HIM above EVERYTHING ELSE, you’re wasting your time setting here this morning. He ain’t willing to TAKE the LEFTOVERS!!! God doesn’t want your worship if HE’S NOT THE ONLY ONE YOU WORSHIP!!! Jesus told us in Matthew 12:30
“He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.”
Look again at Verse 6 and 7.
“And it came to pass after many days, that the Lord said unto me, Arise, go to Euphrates, and take the girdle from thence, which I commanded thee to hide there.
7 Then I went to Euphrates, and digged, and took the girdle from the place where I had hid it: and, behold, the girdle was marred, it was profitable for nothing.”
For a 3RD TIME God speaks to Jeremiah. Now Jeremiah has already walked 600 miles to take the GIRDLE to the Euphrates River and BURY it and then to walk back home. Now God tells him to go back and get it. Another 600 miles. I can just imagine Jeremiah walking back into town after his long walk, with an OLD BATTERED piece of material. It tells us that it had been many days. The people probably thought he was crazy as he held it up to show the people how WORTHLESS it was now. And then he probably began to explain to them THE FUTILITY of serving other gods. How that they as a NATION would become WORTHLESS without the True and Living God.
There’s a lot of folks who serve other gods without even realizing it. When it comes down to it, they’re just playing a game. SUPER CHRISTIAN on SUNDAY MORNING and then they live like the DEVIL the rest of the week.
Some TALK a GOOD TALK but their LIFE is another story. You know what they are? They’re HYPOCRITES!!! And I think God gets tired of it.
If I was to quit right there it would be pretty sad wouldn’t it? No hope. But listen, GOD DID SEND Jeremiah back to the Euphrates River to get that GIRDLE back. He did it as an OBJECT LESSON for the Nation of Judah.
And God would go back and bring the Nation of Judah home. When the Jewish Captivity began somewhere around 600 B.C., the entire NATION could have been dissolved into the Babylonian Kingdom but that’s NOT what happened. Cyrus, the King of Persia, DEFEATED the Babylonians and released the people of Judah to go back home 70 years later.
Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon NEVER had it in his plans to allow them to return, BUT GOD DID. And though they came home ALL BATTERED, BROKEN, MARRED and SOILED after 70 years of CAPTIVITY, God used them to REBUILD the CITY and the TEMPLE.
Listen, God’s plan didn’t end there. 500 years later the Jesus came, born in Bethlehem. The PROMISED Messiah. The SAVIOR of the World. God’s plan of REDEMPTION.
And I don’t know what kind of life you’ve lived. What mistakes you’ve made. How SOILED and MARRED you may be. How WORTHLESS some may see you as. But NONE OF IT MATTERS to JESUS. Did you hear me? Are you listening? NONE OF IT MATTERS to JESUS.
We end our message this morning with Verse 11.
“For as the girdle cleaveth to the loins of a man, so have I caused to cleave unto me the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah, saith the Lord; that they might be unto me for a people, and for a name, and for a praise, and for a glory: but they would not hear.”
Do you see that first part there. Just like a GIRDLE is SNUG and CLINGS to your body, that what God still wants today. He wants to be close to you. James 4:8-10 tells us,
“Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.
9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.
10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.”
Listen you need to let God come into your life, PURIFY you and CLEAN you up. You’re not gonna do it on your own. He’ll do it for you. He will LIFT YOU UP!!!
Ray Angell, in his book “Baskets of Silver” tells the story about Lou Gehrig, the famous baseball player with the New York Yankees. Gehrig came to bat in the ninth inning with the winning runs on second and third. He ran the count full to three balls and two strikes. All that he needed to do was get a base hit and the game would be won. The stands were beside themselves with excitement. The opposing team was watching this last pitch anxiously in the dugout. They knew the skill of Lou Gehrig and how often he had won the game for the Yankees in situations just like this one.
The pitcher wound up and threw a fastball right across the plate. Lou Gehrig didn’t even take a swing at the pitch. The ump yelled, “Strike three, you’re out” Very slowly, Lou turned to the umpire and said something to him. At this the home crowd of Yankee fans went wild because Lou never argued with the umpire. Everybody wanted to know what Lou had said so they asked the UMP. He smiled and turned to Lou and said, “Go ahead Lou, tell them.” Lou Gehrig looked a little embarrassed but he answered, “I said, ‘Mr. Ump, I would give ten dollars to have that one back.”
That New York sportswriter wrote that evening in the paper, “There are people all over the world who would give ten dollars or ten thousand dollars to get just one minute back and for the privilege of changing something they said or did in that minute.”
Isaiah 1:18 tells us, “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
That OLD GIRDLE may be an OBJECT LESSON for your life. All SOILED and RUINED but you still have that minute. You’re here this morning and you’re still alive. You still have the chance to let Jesus WASH AWAY your SINS.
“What can wash away my sins?
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the Blood of Jesus.”
Let’s Pray
