Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit · Sermon No. 356
Jeremiah 2:18.
THE Jews had been chosen by God to be a special people separated to Himself forever. By various miracles, by many mercies, by strange deliverances, He had proved Himself to be to them a God worthy of their trust. Yet, strange to say— and yet not strange when we know that they were fallen men like ourselves—the Jews were constantly desirous to mix with the nations. They broke down the hedges with which God had enclosed them as a sacred garden; they desired to be laid like common lands, and to be joined with other peoples. No, more than this—they forsook their own true and loving God who had never deserted them, and they sometimes adopted the deities of Egypt, and at other times the false gods of Assyria! They seemed never to be content with even the gorgeous ceremonials of their own Temple; they must build altars after the fashion of Damascus; they must have Sitars on every high place, according to the custom of the accursed nations whom the Lord, their God, had driven out before them! And they seemed as if they had never reached the full desire of their hearts till they had mingled with the rites of God, all the filth and the abominations with which heathens adored their gods. Constantly did the Lord reprove them for this—for this infatuation of theirs which made them turn aside from Him, the Living Water, to hew out to themselves broken cisterns which could hold no water. They were “often reproved,” but they often “hardened their necks;” often were they chastened, and they were smitten so often that “the whole head was sick, and the whole heart was faint;” they had been chastened so sorely that from the soles of their feet even to their head, they were full of wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores! Yet they still went after evil; they still turned aside from the righteous and true God.
Our text contains one instance of God’s expostulating with His people. He says to them, “What have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the muddy river!”—for so it may be translated—and of course that term is applied to the Nile by way of contempt. “Why need you go to drink of that muddy river? What have you to do with Assyria, to drink the water of Euphrates? Why do you turn aside and leave your own cool streams of Lebanon? Why do you forsake Jerusalem to turn aside to Noph and to Tahapanes? Why are you so strangely set on mischief, that you cannot be content with the good and healthful, but would even follow after that which is evil and deceitful?”
Taking the text just as it stands, I intend, by God’s help, to make a question of it to you. To myself and to you may God the Holy Spirit apply it, and may this be a time for all God’s people, to every convinced soul, yes, and to the careless, too—a time of searching of heart. May God question us and may we be prepared to answer honestly. May the Holy Spirit push home the solemn enquiries, and may we with truthful hearts search and look and give earnest heed.
I shall apply the text to three characters—first to the Christian; secondly, to the awakened conscience; and, thirdly, to the careless sinner. My sermon is not intended to instruct your minds, but to stir up your hearts.
I. Addressing myself to the CHRISTIAN, I shall use the text in three senses while I expostulate with you in regard to sin, to worldly pleasure, and to carnal trust.
1. And first, O true Believer, called by Grace and washed in the precious blood of Christ, “What have you to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of the muddy river?” What have you to do with the sins which once delighted you, and which now find happy pastime for the world? What have you to do with your deceitful lusts, with the indulgence of your old passions? What have you to do to follow the multitude which do evil? Believer, answer these questions especially if you have lately fallen into sin, if you have backslidden in heart, and if you have been led to backslide in your ways. Answer me, what have you to do—what excuse have you for what you have done? Do you see yonder a gang of men, dragging, like so many beasts of burden, a tremendous load? Listen to the cracking of the whip of the overseer! Do you see how they pull and strain till it seems as if their every sinew would snap? Do you observe them as the hot sweat stands upon their brow? Look at them! Let the gang stay awhile, while we examine them. I can understand why all these are oppressed with sore labor, for I can see the brand of the slave owner upon their backs. Their flesh is scarred. But what does this mean? There is one among them who is not a slave—a man who is free! What does this mean? How is it that he does the slaves’ work—that he bends his back to the task master’s yoke, when he is a free man? Can you answer the question? Let me ask it in your own case. I see the sinner burdened in the ways of evil; I see him pulling iniquity as though it were with a cart rope, laying hold with both his hands on everything that is full of iniquity. But what have you to do there? The slaves of Satan are but acting out their condition; but what have you to do, to be his slave, since you have been redeemed with blood and set free by power? Why, Man, you are no slave now you are a son of God! You are an heir of all things! You are joint-heir with Christ! What have you to do, then, in the service of sin and of Satan? Why do you follow these menial tasks? You will become a man who is to wear a crown in Heaven and who, even now, can read his title to it! Answer, Christian, and be ashamed and be confounded, because you are demeaning yourself in thus sinning against your own soul!