Jeremiah 4:3,4

DISCOURSE: 1036
REPENTANCE THE MEANS OF PREVENTING RUIN

Jeremiah 4:3. Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

THE language of the prophets is highly figurative, and therefore sometimes difficult to be understood; but, when judiciously explained, it will always be found highly instructive. Of course, it will not be right to press a metaphorical expression too far; nor should an idea that may seem indelicate, be so touched as to offend the nicest ear [Note: This hint should be very strictly attended to, in preaching on such a text as this.]: but, when the general import of the metaphor is seen, the subject contained in it may be prosecuted to great advantage. It is obvious that some very important instruction is conveyed in the passage before us: and it will be found no less applicable to ourselves than to the Jews of old, if we consider,

I. The duties here enjoined—

These are set forth under two different images; the one taken from breaking up fallow ground, and the other from the Jewish rite of circumcision. To ascertain the import of those images, we need only refer to a parallel passage in the Prophet Ezekiel, where the same duties are inculcated in plain and simple terms; “Repent and turn from all your transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin [Note: Ezekiel 18:30.].” Two duties then are here enjoined;

1. Repentance—

[The heart of man by nature may justly be compared with uncultivated ground that is covered with thorns and briers; for it is obdurate, and altogether unfit for the reception of any good scud, till it has been “broken up,” and cleared of its noxious products. Let any one examine his own heart, and he will find this representation true. As to the outward acts of men, there certainly is a great difference, yea, and in their inward dispositions too; but in respect of love to God and delight in his service, all are on the same level; “the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [Note: Romans 8:7.].” It is full of “earthly, sensual, devilish” affections, which must be rooted up, before the graces of God’s Spirit can grow within it. But this cannot be done by a slight and superficial work: the plough must enter into the very soul, as it did on the day of Pentecost: we must be made to feel our desert and danger, and be brought to the condition of the poor repenting publican [Note: Luke 18:13.]. Let every child of man bear this in mind; for it is “the broken and contrite heart alone, which God will not despise;” and “except ye thus repent, ye must all inevitably perish.”]

2. Amendment—

[Circumcision was not only “a seal” on God’s part, marking Israel for his own peculiar people, but it was a sign also on the part of Israel, denoting their obligation to “put off the body of the sins of the flesh [Note: Colossians 2:11.]” and to love and serve God with all their hearts [Note: Deuteronomy 30:6.]. In this sense, though the rite itself is superseded by Baptism, the term may justly be applied to us. We must have “our hearts circumcised unto the Lord:” we must “mortify our earthly members [Note: Colossians 3:5.Galatians 5:24.],” and “put off the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts [Note: Ephesians 4:22.].” Whatever pain it may occasion us to part with “our besetting sins,” (for circumcision was a painful rite,) it must be submitted to, even as a man gladly parts with a diseased member for the preservation of his whole body. Our blessed Lord assures us, that if we wilfully retain one bosom lust, we must perish in that “fire that never shall be quenched [Note: Mark 9:43.].”]

This awful truth being so strongly marked in our text, we shall proceed to shew,

II.

The connexion between these duties and the Divine favour—

In its primary sense, the threatening in our text maybe considered as denouncing temporal judgments on the Jewish nation: but it must also be understood in reference to those eternal judgments which we all have merited by our iniquities. For the averting of those judgments, repentance and amendment are indispensably necessary:

1. Not, however, in a way of meritorious efficiency—

[It is not possible for man to merit any thing at God’s hands. As transgressors of his law, we are justly exposed to his everlasting displeasure [Note: Romans 3:19.]: and, if we could perfectly obey his law in future, our obedience would no more cancel our obligation to punishment for past disobedience, than our future abstinence from incurring debts would discharge the debts already incurred. But the truth is, that every thing we do is imperfect, and needs forgiveness on account of its imperfection: and therefore to dream of meriting pardon by deeds which themselves stand in need of pardon, must be folly in the extreme. There is but one way of obtaining deliverance from the punishment of sin, and that is through the blood and righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is his meritorious sacrifice which alone expiates the guilt of sin: and, if we look to any thing else, either in whole or in part, for pardon and acceptance, we effectually cut ourselves off from all hope of his salvation. However we may “plough up the fallow ground, and sow in righteousness, we must reap in mercy,” and in mercy alone [Note: Hosea 10:12.]. Salvation is altogether of grace, through faith [Note: Ephesians 2:8.]: and in point of dependence, we must renounce our best actions as much as our vilest sins.]

2. But in a way of suitable preparation—

[Repentance and amendment are necessary both to an honourable exercise of mercy on God’s part, and to a becoming reception of mercy on our part.

If God were not to require humiliation in us, and a mortification of our sins, what evidence would there be that He is holy; and in what light would he appear as the Moral Governor of the Universe? Surely he would be thought indifferent about the honour of his law, and regardless of the moral character of his creatures. But he will not so dishonour his own perfections: and therefore, even when most anxious to display his mercy, he requires an acknowledgment of sin on our part [Note: Jeremiah 3:12.], and declares, that, if we will not humble ourselves before him, he will proceed against us with deserved rigour [Note: Jeremiah 2:35.].

But if we could conceive that God should pardon an un-repenting sinner, the sinner himself would not value a pardon so offered: he would rather think it an insult than a favour: for, whilst he is unconscious that he deserves the wrath of God, he would account it an injustice even to be supposed to merit it. Again, suppose the pardon actually conferred, what gratitude would he feel for the gift bestowed? or what endeavours would he make to glorify God in future? Would he not account sin a light matter? Would he not readily return to it, even “as a dog to his vomit, or the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire?” We may ask once more; supposing him forgiven, how could he join in the songs of the redeemed above? They are prostrating themselves with profoundest adoration before the throne of God, and singing praises incessantly “to Him that loved them, and washed them from their sins in his own blood:” but he has no heart for such exercises: instead of magnifying his God and Saviour for the greatness of his mercy towards him, he would be congratulating himself that he had never merited any other portion.

Here then the connexion between these duties and our forgiveness is manifest: it is founded, not in any vain ideas of merit, but in the immutable decrees of God: God cannot dishonour himself; nor can man be saved in any other way, than by “confessing and forsaking his iniquities [Note: Proverbs 28:13.].”]

Address—
1.

Those who have never yet been awakened to a sense of their sins—

[Alas! how many amongst us are yet “uncircumcised in heart and ears?” How many have never yet wept and mourned in secret for their sins, and never adopted the resolution of the Prodigal, “I will arise and go to my father.” But God forbid that they should continue any longer in such fatal security. Hear, every one of you, the command of God: “Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep; let your laughter be turned into mourning, and your joy into heaviness: humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up [Note: James 4:9.].” this, this is the great business of life: in comparison of this, every pursuit is light and vain. “To flee from the wrath to come, and to lay hold on eternal life!” O who can paint in sufficiently glowing colours the importance and excellency of such an employment?

Some may perhaps reply, that they cannot do these things. True, we cannot of ourselves; but will not God enable us to do them, if we seek the aid of his Holy Spirit? Has he not expressly told us, that his “grace shall be sufficient for us?” I say then, “Plough up your fallow ground;” “make you a new heart, and a new spirit:” and when you find your own insufficiency, then plead with God the promises he has made, and cry, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me [Note: Compare the command, Ezekiel 18:31. with the promise, Ezekiel 36:26 and the petition, Psalms 51:10.]” That prayer, if offered in faith, shall surely be answered; and you shall find to your joy, that you “can do all things through Christ who strengthened you.”]

2. Those who make a profession of religion—

[Do not imagine that it is sufficient to break up the fallow ground once: the husbandman ploughs his ground often, especially if it be a soil that is full of noxious plants. Thus then must you do: there is no soil so bad as the heart of a carnal man: weeds are growing up continually: and it must be the labour of your life to pluck them up. How many professors of religion have the good seed choked and rendered unfruitful, through their negligence in pulling up the thorns and briers that grow up with it [Note: Matthew 13:7; Matthew 13:22.]! It is an awful truth, that no people are farther from the kingdom of God than they; because they are of all persons the most difficult to be brought to a sense of their danger. But St. Paul marks in very striking terms the difference between such persons and the true Christian: against those he cautions us, “Beware of dogs, beware of the concision: we are the circumcision, who worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh [Note: Philippians 3:2].” A profession of religion, however clear your knowledge of the Gospel may be, will not suffice: for “he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God [Note: Romans 2:25.].”]