Jeremiah 14:7-9

O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy name’s sake.

The prayer of contrite Israel

I. A mournful fact acknowledged.

1. Even in the case of God’s own people, sin does not pass away and die after it is committed, no, nor even after it is pardoned.

2. The sins of God’s people bear testimony against them, an open and public testimony.

(1) They witness against them before God.

(2) They witness against them to others. They proclaim them to the whole spiritual world to be vile, guilty creatures, undeserving of any one of the many blessings they are receiving; yea, deserving of nothing but Jehovah’s utmost abhorrence and displeasure.

(3) And our sins, the prophet intimates, testify against us at times to ourselves also. And this appears to be the leading idea in the prophet’s words.

3. Our sins are peculiarly apt to bear this secret testimony against us, when we attempt to draw near to God. A sense of guilt, shame, and self-loathing, takes possession of us, and sometimes well-nigh breaks our hearts.

II. A petition offered.

1. Its humble boldness. Under other circumstances there would be nothing remarkable in this, but we have here a prayer offered up while sin is accusing and conscience smiting. When our iniquities testify loudly against us, when we feel sin brought home powerfully by the Holy Spirit to our consciences, “There is an end to prayer,” we are tempted to say: “with all this guilt and pollution upon us, we must not attempt to go into God’s presence.” Now one of the hardest lessons we have to learn in Christ’s school, is to overcome this tendency in sin to drive us from the Lord. God, as He is revealed to us in the Gospel, is the sinner’s God, and what the sinner has to learn in the Gospel is, that as a sinner he may draw near to Him, and find favour with Him, and be accepted by Him, and pardoned, and loved. If your iniquities are testifying against you, do not aim to silence their voice; let no one ever make you believe that God does not hear the witness they bear, and that you need not heed it; but aim at this--to believe all that your sins say against you, and yet in spite of it all to seek God’s mercy and trust in it.

2. The lowly submission it manifests. It stands in the original simply, “Do Thou.” There can be no doubt but that next to the pardon of her sin, deliverance from her troubles was the blessing the afflicted Church most desired at this time; but she does not ask for it. Her mouth seems suddenly stopped as she is about to ask for it. She feels as though in her situation, with her enormous sins crying out so loudly against her, she must not dare to choose for herself any blessing. All she says is, “Do Thou. Do Thou something for us. Interfere for us. Give us not up. We will bless Thee for anything Thou doest, so that Thou wilt not abandon us.” And in a manner like this does every soul pray, that is deeply contrite. It has boldness enough amidst all its guilt to come to God’s throne and to keep there, but beyond this it has sometimes no boldness at all. It leaves God to show mercy to it in His own way, and to deal with it after His own will. All it desires is to be treated as His child, and then come what may, it will bless Him for it.

III. The plea the prophet urges in support of his prayer. It is the name or glory of God; “O Lord, though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy name’s sake.” This prayer then, you perceive, is more than a simple prayer for mercy. The publican’s prayer in the temple was that. Any really contrite sinner may offer it; he will offer it and offer it often even to his dying hour. But the prayer before us implies a considerable degree of spiritual knowledge, as well as deep contrition. No man will offer it, till he is become well acquainted with the Gospel of Jesus Christ; till he has discovered the wisdom and glory, as well as the grace, of it, and imbibed something of its spirit. (C. Bradley, M. A.)

Man’s iniquities testifying against him

I. What it is for a man to find his iniquities testify against him in his addresses to God.

1. Sin is not dead when it is committed. The act is transient, but the guilt is of a permanent nature.

2. When the man draws near to God in the exercise of His worship, sin meets him there; appears to him as a terrible ghost (Isaiah 59:11).

3. Sin testifies two things for God against the man.

(1) Their unworthiness of any favour from the Lord.

(2) Their liableness to punishment, yea, to a curse instead of a blessing, so that the soul is often made to fear some remarkable judgment.

4. This witness is convincing. So, in the text, we find the panel denies not the testimony, but pleads for mercy.

5. Upon this, the gracious soul is filled with holy shame and self-loathing.

6. He is damped, and his confidence before the Lord is marred as to any access to Him, or obtaining favour at His hand.

II. How comes it that sin is found thus testifying against men?

1. It flows from the nature of sin and guilt upon an enlightened conscience.

2. It is a punishment from the Lord for former backslidings and miscarriages.

3. God so orders it, that it may be a mean to humble them, and make them more watchful against sin for the time to come.

III. The plea. “For Thy name’s sake.”

1. We must plead with Him for His Christ’s sake; and when guilt stares us in the face, we must look to God through the veil of Christ’s flesh.

2. We must plead with Him for His glory’s sake. Punishing of sin glorifies God much, but pardoning of sin glorifies Him more. (T. Boston, D. D.)

Sin should be fully confessed

I warrant thee thou shalt never go beyond the truth in stating thy sin, for that were quite impossible. A man lying on the field of battle wounded, when the surgeon comes round, or the soldiers with the ambulance, does not say, “Oh, mine is a little wound,” for he knows that then they would let him lie; but he cries out, “I have been bleeding here for hours, and am nearly dead with a terrible wound,” for he thinks that then he will gain speedier relief; and when he gets into the hospital he does not say to the nurse, “Mine is a small affair; I shall soon get over it;” but he tells the truth to the surgeon in the hope that he may set the hone at once, and that double care may be taken. Ah, sinner, do thou so with God. The right way to plead is to plead thy misery, thine impotence, thy danger, thy sin. Lay bare thy wounds before the Lord, and as Hezekiah spread Sennacherib’s letter before the Lord, spread thy sins before Him with many a tear and many a cry, and say, “Lord, save me from all these; save me from these black and foul things, for Thy infinite mercy’s sake.” Confess thy sin; wisdom dictates that thou shouldest do so, since salvation is of grace. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Jeremiah a wrestler with the Lord in prayer

I. In what the Lord is strong against the prophet. The sin of the people.

II. In what the prophet is strong against the Lord. The name of the Lord.

1. In itself, God’s name compels Him to show He is not a desperate hero, a giant who cannot save.

2. In that His name is borne by Israel. (Heim.)

Prayer has within itself its own reward

I. Confession. This fitly begins. It is the testimony of iniquity, and that this iniquity is against God Himself. When we are to encounter any enemy or difficulty, it is sin weakens us. Now confession weakens it,--takes off the power of accusation.

II. Petition. “For Thy name’s sake.” This is the unfailing argument which abides always the same, and has always the same force. Though thou art not clear in thy interest as a believer, yet plead thy interest as a sinner, which thou art sure of. (T. Leighton.)

Pleas for mercy

How many there are who pray after a fashion in times of great distress. When they are brought to death’s door, then they say, “Send for someone that will come and pray at our side.” What a wretched position is this, that we should only be willing to think of God when we are in our direst need! At the same time, notice what a great mercy it is that God does hear real prayer even if it be presented to Him only because we are in distress. “He giveth liberally, and upbraideth not.”

I. I speak to the church of God at large wherever it has backslidden and to each believer in particular who may have departed from the living God in any measure. Note, there are here pleaders guilty. The pleaders seem to say, “Guilty, ay, guilty, for there is no denying it. Our iniquities testify against us.” I would that every child of God felt this whenever he has gone astray. In addition to there being no denying it there is no excusing it, for “our backslidings are many.” If we could have excused ourselves for our first faults, if possibly we might have offered some extenuation for the fickleness of our youth, yet what are we to say of the transgressions of our riper years? Not only is our guilt past denying and past excusing, but also it is past computation. We cannot measure how great have been our transgressions, and the next sentence may well imply it: “We have sinned against Thee.” Well, now, next to this plea of guilty, what do the culprits say? What plea do they make why they should obtain mercy? I observe, first, that they bring no plea whatever which has fallen from themselves in any degree. They do not plead before God, that if He will have mercy they will be better. But still, there is a plea. Oh, blessed plea l the master plea of all: “Though our iniquities testify against us, do Thou it for Thy name’s sake.” Now, here is a prayer which will avail for us when the night is darkest and not a star is to be seen. The first name which the backsliding Church here gives to God has a blessing--“O the hope of Israel.” Next, observe the Church of God pleads His next merit: “The Saviour thereof in time of trouble.” God has saved His people, and the name of God is the Saviour in the time of trouble. Then, next, she does not mention the name that is implied in the words. She says, “Why shouldest Thou be as a stranger in the land?”--one, that is, merely travelling through, who takes little notice of the trouble because He is not a citizen of the country; one that merely puts up for a night in the house, and therefore does not enter into the cares and trials of the family. She does as good as call Him the Master of the house, Lord of the house. But, then, she goes a little further than that, and the plea is this: that He was, whatever they might be, their God. “Thou, O Lord, art in the midst of us, and we are called by Thy name.” The Church says, “Lord, if Thou dost not help us now, the men of the world will say, ‘God could not help them, they were brought into such a condition at last that their faith was of no use to them.’ Why shouldest Thou be as a mighty man that cannot help?”

II. I want to speak to poor troubled hearts who do not know the Lord. I cannot take the whole of my text for them, but only a part, and say to them, I am right glad that you want to find peace with God; right glad that you are unhappy and distressed in soul. You say, “I want peace.” Well, take heed that you do not get a false peace. So begin by confessing your guilt. When you have done that, I charge you next, do not try to invent any kind of plea; do not sit down and try to make out that the case was not so bad, or that your bringings up might excuse you, or that your constitutional temperament might make some apology for you. No; have done with that and come with this one plea: “Do it for Thy name’s sake. Lord, I cannot blot out my sins; I cannot change my nature; do Thou it. I have no reason why I should hope that Thou wilt do it; but for Thy name’s sake.” This is the master key that unlocks every door. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Triumphant prayer

I. The mysterious contradiction between the ideal of Israel and the actual condition of things. The ancient charter of Israel’s existence was that God should dwell in their midst; but things are as if the perennial presence promised had been changed into visits, short and far between. Two ideas conveyed: the brief transitory visits, with long dreary stretches of absence between them; and the indifference of the visitant, as a man who pitches his tent for a night, caring little for the people among whom he tarries the while. More: instead of the perpetual energy of the Divine aid promised to Israel, it looks as if Thou art “a mighty man astonied,” etc.,--a Samson with locks shorn.

II. Our low and evil condition should lead to earnest inquiry as to its cause.

1. The reason is not in any variableness of that unalterable, uniform, ever-present, ever-full Divine gift of God’s Spirit to His Church.

2. Nor in the failure of adaptation in God’s Word and ordinances for the great work they had to do.

3. The fault lies here only: “O Lord, our iniquities testify against us,” etc. We have to prayerfully, patiently, and honestly search after this cause, and not to look to possible variations and improvements in order and machinery, etc.

III. This consciousness of our evil condition and knowledge of the cause lead on to lowly penitence and confession. We err in being more ready, when awakened to a sense of wrong, to originate new methods of work, to begin with new zeal to gather in the outcasts into the fold; instead of beginning with ourselves, deepening our own Christian character, purifying our own hearts, and getting more of the life of God into our own spirits. Begin with lowly abasement at His footstool.

IV. The triumphant confidence of believing prayer.

1. Look at the substance of His petition. He does not prescribe what should be done, nor ask that calamity be taken away, but simply for the continual Divine presence and power.

2. Look at these pleas with God as grounds of confidence for ourselves.

(1) The name: all the ancient manifestations of Thy character. Thy memorial with all generations.

(2) Israel’s hope: the confidence of the Church is fixed upon Thee; and Thou who hast given us Thy name hast become our hope.

(3) The perennial and essential relationship of God to His Church: we belong to Thee, and Thou hast not ceased Thy care for us. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The sinner’s plea

I. The sinner’s acknowledgment.

1. The prophet’s confession is precisely such as befits the world at large.

2. With too great reason, also, may it be adopted, even by the best of men.

II. The sinner’s plea.

1. Open to all. Never urged in vain.

Application--

1. What should be the effect of sin upon the soul? Conviction of sin should not keep us from, but bring us to God. Sin is a just ground for humiliation, but not for discouragement.

2. What shall surely be effectual to remove it from the soul? Prayer: penitential weeping; humble and contrite, fervent and persevering; offered in dependence on God’s promised mercies in Christ. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

The name of the Lord a plea for temporal blessings

I. We begin with temporal good things. None indeed are particularised by Jeremiah. All that he asks is comprised in these words, “Do Thou.” But anyone who observes the context may see what the prophet would have. He would have dew, and rain, and fruitful seasons, for the preservation of man and beast.

1. Temporal good things pertain to the present life. In heaven we shall neither hunger nor thirst, and since we look for a body without animal appetites, duty, interest, and honour call on us to keep these appetites of our present body under subjection.

2. In the present life temporal good things are necessary. Without a competent portion of these men cannot live. The body, which is the workmanship of God, must be fed and clothed; and how great is His goodness in providing for it things that are needful! Let heaven, and earth, and seas, praise the Lord.

3. Temporal good things are promised. Till the purpose of God be accomplished, the present frame of the world, in the riches of His goodness, and long-suffering, must be upheld; and promises of upholding, and of the means of upholding it, are made to Christ, for the sake of His body, the redeemed (Isaiah 49:8; Hosea 2:22).

4. Temporal good things are produced by the power and goodness of God, operating in material and secondary causes. The heavens and the earth, the sun, the rain, the dew, and the air, have not the power of vegetation and fertility in themselves. They are merely instruments by which the power of God is exerted.

5. Temporal good things are turned away by our iniquities (Jeremiah 3:2; Jeremiah 5:24).

6. Temporal good things are benefits for which intercession and prayer should be made. In the prayer which our Lord taught the disciples a petition for these appears: “Give us this day our daily bread.”

II. The plea which appears in the text for temporal good things. It is, you observe, the name of the Lord: “O Lord,--do Thou for Thy name’s sake.”

1. An honourable plea, and worthy of God, before whom and concerning whom it is used. The glory of His name is the end, and the motive, and the reason of His works; and in doing for it the works like Himself, and independent of considerations of worth in creatures. In the name of the Lord our God every ray of essential and revealed glory meets, and shines forth; and to make this glory the supreme end of His operations and communications, is a perfection which He cannot deny nor give away. This supreme motive He avows, and holds up to the adoration of His people, and jealousy for it is His praise and His honour (Ezekiel 36:22; Isaiah 48:9; Psalms 115:1).

2. A prevailing plea. For His name’s sake great and marvellous works have been wrought (Ezekiel 20:9; Ezekiel 20:14; Ezekiel 20:22; Ezekiel 20:44). When the motive in the heart of the Sovereign is the plea in the mouth of the supplicant, confidence of being accepted and heard, confidence modest, humble, reverential, and submissive, imparts joy to the heart of the petitioner, raises in his soul the expectation of hope, and makes his face to shine as if it were anointed with fresh oil.

3. A continual plea, and good throughout all generations, under all dispensations, among all nations, and in all extremities (1 Chronicles 17:21; Isaiah 63:11).

4. The supreme plea under which every other plea is subordinated. In the prayers and intercessions of holy men other considerations often appear. Poverty, reproach, affliction, persecution, necessity, and other things, have been pied at the throne of grace. But the name, or glory, of the Lord our God is the supreme and ruling consideration into which other pleas are to be resolved.

III. Our pleading the name of the Lord for temporal good things in the face of iniquity, or when it is testifying against us. In such discouraging circumstances Jeremiah pleaded. The whole body of national evil stood before him; and, with this monster appearing to his eye, and its voice roaring in his ear, he cried, “Do Thou for Thy name’s sake.”

1. A sense of sin strongly affects the heart and conscience before the Lord. Jeremiah is the mouth of the kingdom, and speaks like a man of feeling. He felt the weight of the public guilt, heard it crying for vengeance, and believed that the Lord was justly offended because the land was greatly defiled. This feeling is not common and natural to man. There were but few in Judah who were suitably affected with the national iniquities, and among ourselves the number of mourners is either diminished or else they are hid in corners and chambers, out of the sight of the public eye and the knowledge of one another.

2. The righteousness of the Lord, in turning away temporal good things because of iniquity, is believed and acknowledged. Of this Jeremiah was persuaded himself, and of this no mean was neglected to persuade the nation. In withering seasons, professions of the equity and justice of Providence are in every mouth; but in the lives of many who make these professions, fruit of the lips doth not appear. Fruit of this kind is found only on a few trees of righteousness, which are grafted in Christ, and raised and trained up by the spirit of holiness.

3. The iniquities which provoke the Most High to withhold, or turn away, temporal good things are acknowledged with humiliation and sorrow of heart. Concerning these Jeremiah is not silent. In his intercessory prayer confession holds a distinguished place. His exercise is exemplary, and in similar circumstances should be followed. Reigning and crying sins breaking out, whether in the higher or lower ranks of society, or in both, ought to be acknowledged to be what they are, provocations of wrath and causes of calamity. But to bring men to this reasonable duty is extremely difficult. Confession gives such a stab to self-righteousness, and such a blow to natural pride, that nothing can bring us effectually to submit to it, except the Spirit of God working by His Word in us mightily.

4. The covenant of grace is apprehended, truly and distinctly, in the light of the Word. To this covenant temporal good things are annexed, and in its administration, promises of these are performed. By the obedience, sufferings, and death of Christ, the condition is fulfilled; and in performing the promises and bestowing the blessings, both of the life which now is and of that which is to come, the justice and holiness of God glorify themselves in the highest.

5. Considerations of the obedience, blood, and intercession of Christ, are presented to the Lord, and opposed to prevailing iniquities.

6. Submission to the will and good pleasure of the Lord of all. Creatures, far less sinners, should never be peremptory in their supplications, nor prescribe to the Sovereign. Pleas for the removal of distress are furnished to us by the Word, and instructions given to use these with reverence and importunity. But beware of limiting the Sovereign, who, by calamity no less than by deliverance, can magnify Himself.

IV. Exhortation and instruction. Unto men of prayer we address ourselves in the hearing of all, and through the blessing of God and the working of His Spirit, all will be corrected and instructed.

1. In your exercise and practice let a true sense of sin appear. It is not calling sin names, or fixing upon it the epithets, bagful and abominable, but hating and abhorring it, which the Lord requires.

2. Acknowledge the righteousness of God in withholding some temporal good things, which in the ordinary course of His Providence we looked for at this season. Why doth the Sovereign send upon us hail for rain, and heaps of snow instead of clouds of dew? Why doth He draw out winter to an unusual length, and fill our ear with the howling of shepherds, instead of the singing of birds? Why do not applications to His goodness prevail? Hath He forgotten to be gracious? No. Doth His promise fail? No. Is His hand shortened, that it cannot save? No. Is His ear heavy, that it cannot hear? No. But our iniquities, let it be preached in the valleys, proclaimed in the mountains, and sounded in the dwelling places of atheism and irreligion--“Our iniquities have separated between us and our God, and our sins have hid His face from us, that He will not hear.”

3. Confess unto the Lord these trespasses which are committed against Him in the midst of the land, which provoke Him to withhold good things, and which cause Him to send upon us evil things. Acknowledgment of sin, and supplication for pardon, are always mixed with the prayers and intercessions of His people for temporal good things.

4. In pleading, when iniquities testify against you, keep before you the covenant of peace, to which temporal good things are added. Unless your eye be kept upon this covenant, it will be impossible to understand how God, whose right hand is full of righteousness, glorifies Himself in accepting your persons, sustaining your pleas, fulfilling your petitions, and blessing you with good things. But if the covenant, with its condition, promises, and administration, be considered, and the place which temporal good things possess observed, every seemingly interfering interest, with respect to the perfections and glory of God, will appear to be adjusted and consolidated upon the clearest and firmest principles.

5. With the plea, and every form of the plea, for the benefits of the covenant, introduce the name and office of the Lord Jesus Christ. Having fulfilled the condition, in His obedience unto death, He is constituted, by wisdom and grace, heir, administrator, and dispenser of the blessings.

6. Be submissive and modest in pleading for temporal good things. Of the ways of the Lord we are incompetent judges; and, in all applications upon the name, should submit ourselves to His wisdom and righteousness, and leave to His good pleasure what is to be done. (A. Shanks.)