The Bible Breakdown

Jeremiah 04: Take a U-turn, Anywhere

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 654

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Speaker 1:

Hello everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon. Today, jeremiah chapter 4, and today's title is Take a U-Turn Anywhere. Take a U-Turn Anywhere. That is what Jeremiah is talking about and he's really going to be saying in today's text. He's going to be saying hey, look, the train is coming. We should get off the tracks Pretty much anywhere. We're going to jump into that in just a moment. But, as always, if you like what we're doing here and you're new around here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure that you are going to the Bible Breakdown discussion, where we are doing devotions every day. And the more we dig, the more we find every day, and the more we dig, the more we find, and I love digging into the book of Jeremiah and so, if you have your Bibles, want to turn with me to Jeremiah, chapter 4.

Speaker 1:

Remember, the overall theme of Jeremiah is God's light in the darkness, and that it gives us a hope and a future, knowing that God is with us and he's moving in our lives, even though we sometimes are carrying judgment and hope at the same time, bad things are happening. Sometimes it's nothing that we could have caused and nothing, you know all that. Sometimes it is. But even with that there's hope and we see that today. And it reminds me of I remember one time, a long time ago, I was driving with my wife and it was back in the earlier days of GPS, where sometimes it was good, sometimes it wasn't good, and we were driving and it was obvious that I had missed the turn and she was telling me okay, well, you could turn here, you know, to turn around, and then I'd miss it. You could turn here and you could tell every time I would miss the turn, and I wasn't doing it on purpose, I just kept missing the turn offs. And you could tell more and more and more. She was just like, ok, there's another one, you know. Until finally I remember her saying something to the effect of basically, hey, listen, just just turn anywhere. Just at some point, make a U-turn anywhere. We just can't get there going this way. It's like we need to be going the other way. So at some point, just take a U-turn anywhere, and I feel like that's what God is telling the people of Israel or Judah in this chapter. And that is, man, you are going down a bad path. All right judgment is on its way, bad things are coming, judgment is coming, but the worst part is it doesn't have to be that way. Just take a U-turn anywhere, just turn around anywhere and this doesn't have to happen. And so we're going to read this and kind of once again I don't know if you can hear this with me, but at all these chapters we've been reading over the past few days, is that there's these judgments of warning coming and God is saying I want to avoid all of this, let's avoid this by turning around and coming back after me. And it's just like God is pleading with them because Babylon's on its way. But it doesn't have to be that way if they'll turn around. So let's read this together and let's see what God's word will say to us today.

Speaker 1:

Jeremiah, chapter 4, verse 1, says this O Israel, says the Lord, if you wanted to return to me, you could. You could throw away your detestable idols and stray away no more. Then, when you swear by my name, saying as surely as the Lord lives, you could do so with truth, justice and righteousness. Then you would be a blessing to the nations of the world and all the people would come and praise my name. So pause. He's saying if you wanted to turn back to me, like if you wanted to take a U-turn, you could See. He's saying this train that's coming, we could move it.

Speaker 1:

But notice what he says in verse 3. This is what the Lord says to the people of Judah and Jerusalem. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts. Do not waste your good seed among thorns. O people of Judah and Jerusalem, surrender your pride and power. Change your hearts before the Lord, or my anger will burn like an unquenchable fire because of all your sins. Shout to Judah and broadcast to Jerusalem. Tell them the sound, the alarm throughout the land. Run for your lives. Flee to the fortified cities. Raise a signal flag as a warning for Jerusalem.

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Flee now, do not delay, for I am bringing terrible destruction upon you from the north. A lion stalks from its den, a destroyer of nations. It has left its lair and is headed your way. It's going to devastate your land. Your towns will lie in ruins, with no one living in them anymore. So put on clothes of mourning and weep with broken hearts, for the fierce anger of the Lord is still upon us.

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And that day, the Lord says, the king and the officials will tremble in fear, the priests will be struck with horror and the prophets will be appalled. Then I said, o sovereign Lord, the people have been deceived by what you have said, for you promised peace for Jerusalem, but the sword is held at their throats. The time is coming when the Lord will say to the people of Jerusalem Our enemy rushes down on us like storm clouds, his chariots are like whirlwinds, His horses are swifter than eagles. How terrible it will be, for we are doomed. O Jerusalem, cleanse your heart that you may be saved. How long will you harbor your evil thoughts? Your destruction has been announced from Dan and the hill country of Ephraim. Warn the surrounding nations and announce this to Jerusalem.

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The enemy is coming from a distant land, raising a battle cry against the towns of Judah. They surround Jerusalem like watchmen around a field, for my people have rebelled against me, says the Lord. Your own actions have brought this upon you. A judgment around a field, blast of enemy trumpets and the roar of their battle cries. Waves of destruction roll over the land until it lies in complete desolation. Suddenly, my tents are destroyed. In a moment, my shelters are crushed. How long must I see the battle flags and hear the trumpets of war? My people are foolish and do not know me, says the Lord. They are stupid children and have no understanding. Thanks God, they are clever enough at doing wrong, but they have no idea how to do right.

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I looked at the earth and it was empty and formless. I looked at the heavens and there was no light. I looked at the mountains and hills and they trembled and shook. I looked at all the people and they were gone. All the birds of the sky had flown away. And I looked and the fertile fields have become a wilderness. The towns lay in ruins and they were crushed by the Lord's fierce anger.

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This is what the Lord says. The whole land will be ruined, but I will not destroy it completely. The earth will mourn and the heavens will be draped in black because of my decree against my people. I have made up my mind and I will not change it. At the noise of the charioteers and archers, the people will flee in terror. They hide in the bushes and run for the mountains. All the towns have been abandoned, but not a person remains.

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What are you doing, you who have been plundered? Why do you dress up in beautiful clothing and put on gold jewelry? Why do you brighten your eyes with mascara? Your primping will do you no good. The allies, who are your lovers, despise you and seek to kill you. I hear a cry like a woman in labor, the groans of a woman giving birth to her first child.

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It is Jerusalem, gasping for breath and crying out Help, I'm being murdered. Wow, ugh, it's just horrible. I mean, it's terrible. God is painting for them a very real reality. And here's the thing the people who would have read this in the original audience. The dust has barely even settled when the northern kingdom, israel, had been destroyed, so they know what it looks like for an entire country to be devastated. When Assyria came in, it was horrible. Like I said, there's basically smoke still coming up from the ruined city and they're doing all these things.

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And God is saying it's going to be terrible, it's going to be awful, like, literally, it's going to be like. You're crying out help, I'm being murdered. I don't want that for you. Take a U-turn anywhere, please Take a U-turn anywhere. And he's warning them over and over and over again and he's saying but listen, I've made up my mind. If you don't turn around. This is going to happen. This is where we've come to. You've sinned over and over and I have just given you more and more and more mercy, and none of it's reaching you. So I'm willing to go to extreme lengths to reach my extreme people, and sometimes, out of God's kindness, he lets us fall so that we will finally reach out for the only one who can truly save us, and that's him. That's hard, it's hard, but it's true.

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And can I tell you that's how much God loves you and that's how much he loves me is that he will tell us over and over and over again don't go that way. Take a U-turn anywhere. Bad things are coming. Please take a U-turn anywhere. You know what we do sometimes. We keep on going and even like he was saying, it's like and as, as the train is coming, we're acting like it's a great day. And then what happens? When that train hits us, then we're like god, where are you, where are you? You know the, the last verse help, I'm being murdered. God, where are you? And god's going. Uh, I told you over and over and over again. But you know, what I love Is even in that he still reaches back to us that's the great news of Jeremiah is, even though he is telling them for 40 years well, it's a little less than that he tells them bad things are coming. Bad things are coming and they're like, ah, it's fine. And even though they continue to spit in the face of God when it's all over with, he still reaches back for them. That's how much God loves me and God loves you.

Speaker 1:

So I want to ask you this question Is there anything in your life that God is saying take a U-turn from that anywhere. It's leading you further away from me and it's going to lead you in destruction. Is there anything? My prayer is today is that the Holy Spirit will open your eyes and show you. Maybe it's an attitude, maybe it's an addiction, maybe it's an ungodly relationship I don't know what it might be for you. The Holy Spirit is going to hopefully let you know what it is that is leading you down the wrong path, and you're going to hear the Holy Spirit say to you today take a U-turn anywhere, because it's going to destroy you, but I've got a big idea for you and if you'll turn it over to the Lord, there's freedom and peace and joy waiting for you today.

Speaker 1:

Let's pray, god. Thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, that you see us and that you know us and you are willing to tell us when we're going down the wrong path. Because you want good for us, I pray today, god, that as we turn to you, you'll have your way in our lives. In Jesus' name, we pray, amen, amen. Well, god's word says in Jeremiah 29, verse 13,. He says if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Jeremiah, chapter five.

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Brandon Cannon

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