Jeremiah 11:1-12:17 Comments by Stephen Ricker
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Do Not Pray For This People
Comments for Study 11

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Memory Verse: 11:14
Questions
Introduction
Outline
MAPS OF THE DIVIDED KINGDOM OF ISRAEL
A MAP OF ASSYRIA
A MAP OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE
ISRAEL'S HISTORY
A LIST OF ISRAEL'S KINGS AND PROPHETS
OLD TESTAMENT BOOKS TIMELINE
A LIST OF MAJOR EVENTS FROM JEREMIAH'S TIME TO ROMAN TIMES

I. The Covenant Broken (11:1-17)

>1. What did the Lord remind Judah of? (1-2)

* Jeremiah 11:1-2 "This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: "Listen to the terms of this covenant and tell them to the people of Judah and to those who live in Jerusalem."

old testament covenants

* See the Old Testament covenants to the right.

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>What kind of person did not obey everything in the covenant? (3-4; Galatians 3:10-14)

* Jeremiah 11:3-4 "Tell them that this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: 'Cursed is the man who does not obey the terms of this covenant-- the terms I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.' I said, 'Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my people, and I will be your God."

* Galatians 3:10-14 "All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because, "The righteous will live by faith." The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, "The man who does these things will live by them." Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit."

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>If they did obey everything in the covenant what was promised? (5)

* Jeremiah 11:5 "Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey'--the land you possess today." I answered, "Amen, LORD."

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>What kind of turmoil does the law create in us? (Romans 7:14-25)

* Romans 7:14-25 "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. And if I do what I do not want to do, I agree that the law is good. As it is, it is no longer I myself who do it, but it is sin living in me. I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do--this I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want to do, it is no longer I who do it, but it is sin living in me that does it. So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God's law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God's law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin."

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>2. What cause and consequences was Jeremiah to proclaim to all Judah? (6-8)

* Jeremiah 11:6-8 "The LORD said to me, "Proclaim all these words in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem: 'Listen to the terms of this covenant and follow them. From the time I brought your forefathers up from Egypt until today, I warned them again and again, saying, "Obey me." But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts. So I brought on them all the curses of the covenant I had commanded them to follow but that they did not keep.'"

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>What's the cause and result of a stubborn heart?

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>3. What's a conspiracy? (9)

* Jeremiah 11:9 "Then the LORD said to me, "There is a conspiracy among the people of Judah and those who live in Jerusalem."

* "conspiracy" -A conspiracy is an evil, unlawful, treacherous, or surreptitious plan formulated in secret by two or more persons.

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>What was Israel and Judah's conspiracy? (10)

* Jeremiah 11:10 "They have returned to the sins of their forefathers, who refused to listen to my words. They have followed other gods to serve them. Both the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken the covenant I made with their forefathers."

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>What was the result? (11-13)

* Jeremiah 11:11-13 "Therefore this is what the LORD says: 'I will bring on them a disaster they cannot escape. Although they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. The towns of Judah and the people of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they burn incense, but they will not help them at all when disaster strikes. You have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah; and the altars you have set up to burn incense to that shameful god Baal are as many as the streets of Jerusalem.'"

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>4. What did the Lord tell Jeremiah that he had told him before and would again? (14, 7:16, 14:11-12)

* Jeremiah 11:14 "Do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them, because I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their distress."

* Jeremiah 7:16 "So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you."

* Jeremiah 14:11-12 "Then the LORD said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague."

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>Were their meat sacrifices enough to take away sin? (15-16; Hebrews 10:1-7)

* Jeremiah 11:15-16 "What is my beloved doing in my temple as she works out her evil schemes with many? Can consecrated meat avert [your punishment]? When you engage in your wickedness, then you rejoice." The LORD called you a thriving olive tree with fruit beautiful in form. But with the roar of a mighty storm he will set it on fire, and its branches will be broken."

* Hebrews 10:1-7 "The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming--not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: "Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. Then I said, 'Here I am--it is written about me in the scroll-- I have come to do your will, O God.'"

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>What was the result of sin? (17; 2 Kings 21:10-12, 23:26-27, 24:3-4)

* Jeremiah 11:17 "The LORD Almighty, who planted you, has decreed disaster for you, because the house of Israel and the house of Judah have done evil and provoked me to anger by burning incense to Baal."

* 2 Kings 21:10-12 "The LORD said through his servants the prophets: "Manasseh king of Judah has committed these detestable sins. He has done more evil than the Amorites who preceded him and has led Judah into sin with his idols. Therefore this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: I am going to bring such disaster on Jerusalem and Judah that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle."

* 2 Kings 23:26-27 "Nevertheless, the LORD did not turn away from the heat of his fierce anger, which burned against Judah because of all that Manasseh had done to provoke him to anger. So the LORD said, "I will remove Judah also from my presence as I removed Israel, and I will reject Jerusalem, the city I chose, and this temple, about which I said, 'There shall my Name be.'"

* 2 Kings 24:3-4 "Surely these things happened to Judah according to the LORD's command, in order to remove them from his presence because of the sins of Manasseh and all he had done, including the shedding of innocent blood. For he had filled Jerusalem with innocent blood, and the LORD was not willing to forgive."

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II. Shut Up or Die Jeremiah (11:18-23)

>5. How did Judah receive Jeremiah's messages? (18-19)

* Jeremiah 11:18-19 "Because the LORD revealed their plot to me, I knew it, for at that time he showed me what they were doing. I had been like a gentle lamb led to the slaughter; I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, "Let us destroy the tree and its fruit; let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name be remembered no more."

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>What does this reveal about our fallen state? (John 3:19-21)

* John 3:19-21 "This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God."

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>How did Jeremiah respond? (20)

* Jeremiah 11:20 "But, O LORD Almighty, you who judge righteously and test the heart and mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause."

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>6. What threats were breathed out against Jeremiah? (21)

* Jeremiah 11:21 "Therefore this is what the LORD says about the men of Anathoth who are seeking your life and saying, 'Do not prophesy in the name of the LORD or you will die by our hands'"

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>How did the Lord respond? (22)

* Jeremiah 11:22 "therefore this is what the LORD Almighty says: 'I will punish them. Their young men will die by the sword, their sons and daughters by famine."

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>What is a remnant? (23)

* Jeremiah 11:23 "Not even a remnant will be left to them, because I will bring disaster on the men of Anathoth in the year of their punishment.'"

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III. Jeremiah's Complaint and the Lord's Answer (12:1-17)

>7. What question did Jeremiah have? (1-2)

* Jeremiah 12:1-2 "You are always righteous, O LORD, when I bring a case before you. Yet I would speak with you about your justice: Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them, and they have taken root; they grow and bear fruit. You are always on their lips but far from their hearts."

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>And what complaint? (3a; James 1:2-3, 12)

* Jeremiah 12:3-4 "Yet you know me, O LORD; you see me and test my thoughts about you."

* James 1:2-3 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance."

* James 1:12 "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him."

* Revelation 2:10-11 "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt at all by the second death."

* Revelation 3:19 "Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline. So be earnest, and repent."

>What did he ask the Lord to do? (3b-4)

* Jeremiah 12:3b-4 "Drag them off like sheep to be butchered! Set them apart for the day of slaughter! How long will the land lie parched and the grass in every field be withered? Because those who live in it are wicked, the animals and birds have perished. Moreover, the people are saying, "He will not see what happens to us.""

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>8. What did the Lord tell Jeremiah about the reason for his tests? (5-6; and 1 Corinthians 11:32; Hebrews 12:4-13)

* Jeremiah 12:5-6 "If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? Your brothers, your own family-- even they have betrayed you; they have raised a loud cry against you. Do not trust them, though they speak well of you."

* Deuteronomy 8:5 "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you."

* Job 5:17 "Blessed is the man whom God corrects; so do not despise the discipline of the Almighty."

* Psalm 94:12-13 "Blessed is the man you discipline, O LORD, the man you teach from your law; you grant him relief from days of trouble, till a pit is dug for the wicked."

* Proverbs 3:11-12 "My son, do not despise the LORD's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in."

* 1 Corinthians 11:32 "When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world."

* Hebrews 12:4-13 "In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: "My son, do not make light of the Lord's discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son." Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it. Therefore, strengthen your feeble arms and weak knees. "Make level paths for your feet," so that the lame may not be disabled, but rather healed."

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>9. Who does the Lord love and hate? (7-9)

* Jeremiah 12:7-9 "I will forsake my house, abandon my inheritance; I will give the one I love into the hands of her enemies. My inheritance has become to me like a lion in the forest. She roars at me; therefore I hate her. Has not my inheritance become to me like a speckled bird of prey that other birds of prey surround and attack? Go and gather all the wild beasts; bring them to devour."

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>Who was Judah's shepherds and what did they do? (10-11)

* Jeremiah 12:10-11 "Many shepherds will ruin my vineyard and trample down my field; they will turn my pleasant field into a desolate wasteland. It will be made a wasteland, parched and desolate before me; the whole land will be laid waste because there is no one who cares."

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>What will the Lord do to them? (12-13)

* Jeremiah 12:12-13 "Over all the barren heights in the desert destroyers will swarm, for the sword of the LORD will devour from one end of the land to the other; no one will be safe. They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. So bear the shame of your harvest because of the LORD's fierce anger."

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>10. What does the Lord promise Judah and its neighboring countries? (14-17)

* Jeremiah 12:14-17 "This is what the LORD says: "As for all my wicked neighbors who seize the inheritance I gave my people Israel, I will uproot them from their lands and I will uproot the house of Judah from among them. But after I uproot them, I will again have compassion and will bring each of them back to his own inheritance and his own country. And if they learn well the ways of my people and swear by my name, saying, 'As surely as the LORD lives'--even as they once taught my people to swear by Baal--then they will be established among my people. But if any nation does not listen, I will completely uproot and destroy it," declares the LORD."

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>How does this reveal God heart for all the earth? (John 3:16-18)

* John 3:16-18 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God's one and only Son."

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