Jeremiah 17:13
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who abandon You will be put to shame. All who turn away will be written in the dust, for they have abandoned the LORD, the fountain of living water.
Sermons
Two Lists of NamesAlexander MaclarenJeremiah 17:13
Written in the EarthD. Young Jeremiah 17:13
An Inspiring InvocationD. Young Jeremiah 17:12, 13
The Saint's RefugeA.F. Muir Jeremiah 17:12, 13
A Backslider Ashamed of His ConductJeremiah 17:12-14
Adoring Exclamations of a Soul Gazing on GodA. Maclaren, D. D.Jeremiah 17:12-14
God Our SanctuaryJames Foster, B. A.Jeremiah 17:12-14
Man's Refuge -- a Glorious High ThroneJ. Pulsford, D. D.Jeremiah 17:12-14
Our SanctuaryJeremiah 17:12-14
Where is Our Name Being WrittenJohn Trapp.Jeremiah 17:12-14














I. As INDICATION OF WHY MEN DEPART FROM GOD. "Those who depart from Jehovah," says the prophet, "shall be written in the earth" Therefore we conclude that their aim is to be written in some more durable and trustworthy substance. When they are spoken of as departing from God, the description is one accommodated to our thoughts rather than exactly correspondent with reality. The connection has been real so far as mere opportunity and privilege were concerned, but nominal also, because the opportunity and privilege were never seized. God has drawn near to the man; the man has not been inclined to draw near to God. It has seemed to him that in drawing near there would be such a subordination of self as would amount to self-effacement. The lusts of the natural man are everywhere checked and contradicted by the commandments of God. Hence man strives to get away from God and into such relations with his fellow-men as will, he thinks, cause his name to be counted for more. It may be that it is self-glory he is seeking for; to have his name deeply graven on the world's memorial tablets as one who has achieved much and stood out like a Hercules from the common crowd. It may be that he hopes for great power; to have his name written on the hearts of thousands whose interests will be bound up with his so that they cannot succeed if he fails. It is very gratifying to the pride of man to feel that others cannot do without him.

II. THE SURE RESULT OF DEPARTURE FROM GOD. Men go away from God expecting to have their names written in the marble, and a very short experience shows that they are written, as it were, on the most shifty of all materials. From a certain point of view, nothing seems more irregular than the preservation of what was written in ancient ages. Deep letters on hard stones are long faded away, whale characters written on parchment or even paper survive to this day, and are now watched with an attention which bids fair to preserve them for many a year to come. But every one can see that what is written in the earth must, in the very nature of things, be quickly obliterated. Such writing may be the amusement of a child; it could never be the serious occupation of a man. And yet it is just by this figure that the folly of apostates from God is set forth. They write their names on a spot exposed to the trampling crowd of their fellow-men; and in their own selfishness they forget of how little account they are to others as selfish as themselves. And yet, in spite of such a warning to those who depart from God, they go on complaining because men forget them. It is just the way in which they must expect to be treated. It is the way of the world. After all, we are but weak creatures, with very limited powers, and we may well be excused if we cannot keep constantly in our minds those who have some claim on our sympathy and help. It is no fault of earth that it is earth instead of adamant. The fault lies with those who allow their names to be written there instead of in the enduring place which God has provided for them.

III. THE EQUALLY SURE RESULT FROM CLEAVING TO GOD. Though not stated in so many words, it is cheeringly implied that those cleaving to God have their names written whence they can never be erased. For their names are indeed written, as it were, on the heart of God himself. He cannot either forget or forsake them. They are ever remembered in the wisdom of his thoughts and the resistless movements of his ways. The Best thing that can happen to us in purely human relations is to be written in the hearts of those who love us; when they remember us, not because it is their interest to do so, but out of an unselfish fullness of desire for our welfare and happiness. But how much Better is it to Be thus remembered by God, seeing that with him there abides a love inexpressibly deeper than any human affection, and, along with this love, a wisdom and power with which even the highest human wisdom and power are not for a moment to Be mentioned! - Y.

A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.
This book of Jeremiah is a very thorny one — it might be called, like his smaller work, "The Book of Lamentations." Our text is as a lily among thorns, as a rose in the wilderness; the solitary place shall be glad for it, and the desert shall rejoice. The words sound like sweet music amid the crash of tempest. The bitter tree yields us sweet fruit. The weeping prophet wipes away our tears.

I. THE TRUE PLACE OF OUR SANCTUARY. It is not at Jerusalem, nor yet at Samaria; it is not at Rome, nor yet at Canterbury. The place of our sanctuary is our God Himself. "God is our refuge and strength." "Lord. Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."

1. He is viewed under the aspect of a sovereign reigning in majesty — "A glorious high throne is the place of our sanctuary." Many refuse to worship God as reigning: they have not yet grasped the idea that the Lord is King, so that they cannot understand the song, "The Lord reigneth: let the earth rejoice." For that includes, first, Divine sovereignty, and some men grow black in the face with rage against that truth; they cannot endure it. He will make His own election, and He will distribute His mercy as seemeth good in His sight. Now this God whose sovereignty is so much disputed is our God; a glorious high throne for absolute dominion and sovereignty is the place of our sanctuary. To Him whose sovereign grace is the hope of the undeserving we fly for succour. Besides sovereignty, of course, His glorious high throne includes power. A throne without power would be but the pageantry of vanity. There should be power in the King who ruleth over all: and is there not? Who shall stay His hand, or say unto Him, "What doest Thou?"

2. Forget not that the Lord reigns in exceeding glory. The excellence of His dominion surpasses all other, for He is the blessed and only Potentate. Every act of His empire exhibits His glorious character, His justice, His goodness, His faithfulness, His holiness.

3. It says, "A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary." It is a very blessed thing to come back to the fact that the Lord has not newly assumed a throne, from which He has newly cast out some former king. As His is the most potent of empires, so is it the most ancient. God is never taken by surprise; He has foreseen all things, and worked them into His grand plan. God is working evermore for a glorious purpose, which shall one day make the universe and all eternity to sing with rapturous joy that ever God determined to do what He is now doing.

4. When the prophet alludes to the place of our sanctuary, our mind is naturally led to feel that there must be some kind of place where God especially reveals Himself. The place where He mainly revealed Himself among men was the temple, to which I have said Jeremiah somewhat alludes. Now, where was the temple built? It was built upon that mountain whereon Abraham took his son Isaac to offer him up as a sacrifice. A ram caught in the thicket was the substitute for Isaac; but there was no substitute for Jesus, the Son of God. He died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. But there, where the most instructive of all types of the heavenly Father's love was exhibited, there must be the temple wherein God would converse with men and make for men a place of sanctuary. The temple itself was built upon that site, and there it was that God dwelt visibly between the wings of the cherubim, above the ark of the covenant, over that golden lid which was called the mercy seat. What was that ark of the covenant, but a type of our Lord Jesus Christ in a most instructive way. The sacrifice of Isaac and the ark of the covenant were only types of that greater sacrifice, when He who is the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, went up to the Cross, and on Calvary "it pleased the Lord to bruise Him." It is natural that the Lord should meet with us in grace in the place where He put His Son to grief. There, where He made His soul an offering for sin, the Lord becomes well pleased with us. Now, then, the place where we worship is God Himself revealed in the person of His dear Son. I pray you, never try to worship anywhere else. Christ is the one altar, the one temple, the one sanctuary.

5. In addition, the Lord God is our refuge; for a sanctuary was a place to which men fled in the hour of peril Is not Jesus our refuge from present guilt and from the wrath to come?

II. I am to speak concerning WHOSE WHO DEPART FROM GOD. Alas, that there should be such! — men who leave the river for the desert, the living for the dead! Who are they? The text says, "All that forsake Thee," and "they that depart from Me." See, then, that this text has a bearing upon us, because these people of whom we are now going to speak were not an ignorant people who did not know God, or how could they be said to forsake Him? At one time, evidently, these people had something to do with the Lord, but after awhile they forsook Him. What did they do? They no longer sought unto the Lord as once they did, but ceased to be fervent in their service. At first they ceased to worship Him, they took no delight in His ways; they tried to be neutral, they were lukewarm, careless, indifferent, they forgot God. After thus declining in zeal, and refusing outward worship, they went further; for he says they had departed from Him — they could not endure the Lord, and therefore went into the far country. They said unto God, "Depart from us; we desire not the knowledge of Thy ways." They went into open sin; they disowned their God and broke His commands: some of them even dared to blaspheme Him. The course of sin is downhill. The man who once forgets his God soon forgets himself; and then he throws the reins on the neck of his lusts and goes from sin to sin, forgetting his God more and more. The most hardened of sinners will one day be ashamed, saying, "I acted unprofitably to myself." Such shame will come over you forgetful ones one of these days. It may not come upon you till you die, but it is very probable that it will assail you then. When in your dying hours, what a dreadful thing it will be to be filled with shame at the remembrance of the past, so as to be afraid to meet your God, ashamed to think that you have lived a whole life without caring for Him! What will it be to wake up in the next world and to see the glory of God around you — the glory of the God whom you despised! Oh, the shame that will come over the ungodly in judgment! "They shall wake up to shame and everlasting contempt." Great men and proud men will be small enough ere long; and careless and profane persons will be miserable enough when that word shall be fulfilled — "All that forsake Thee shall be ashamed." And then it is added that they "shall be written in the earth"; that is, if they turn away from God they may win a name for a while, but it will be merely from the earth, and of the earth. O worldlings, you have your riches in this poor country which is soon to be burned with fire. Your pleasures and treasures will melt in the fervent heat of the last days. Your life's pursuits are a short business, ending in eternal misery. The text tells us that there shall come something besides this: they that forsake God shall one day be sore athirst even unto death, "because they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living waters." There is for the soul but one fountain of water, flowing, cool, clear, ever refreshing. "All my springs are in Thee," said David; and so may we say, for our only source of supply is the Lord our God. If a man turns away from God, then he forsakes the cool fountain, he goes to broken cisterns that hold no water, and he will perish of thirst.

III. Let us look at THE COMERS TO GOD. Those who come to God — how do they come? They come away from all the world. O soul, if thou wouldst have peace, come away to your God. Never take your place with those who shall be written in the earth. How did believers come to God of old? Jeremiah came sick and needing to be saved, for he cried, "Heal me, O Jehovah, save me." That is the way to come. But come to God with faith. It was grand faith of Jeremiah which enabled him to say, "Heal me, and I shall be healed." Sick as I am, if Thou wilt act as physician to me I shall be cured: if Thou save me, lost as I am, I shall be saved. Come along, poor sinner. "Where, sir?" say you. To God in Christ Jesus. And come with this acknowledgment on your tongue, — "For Thou art my praise." We have a good God, a loving God, a tender God, a gracious God, a God full of long-suffering and mercy and faithfulness to us poor sinners. This is good argument in prayer — "I have made my boast in Thee, O God, I pray Thee let not my glorying be stopped. Be to me as I have declared Thou wilt be." But suppose you cannot say so much as that, then put it this way — "Heal me, O Lord; heal me this morning; save me, O Lord; save me at once, and Thou shalt be my praise. Lord, I promise that I will never rob Thee of the honour of my salvation; if Thou wilt but save me Thou shalt have all the glory of it."

( C. H. Spurgeon.)

The godly soul has a sure defence and aid in his living, loving Father and God. In every time of earthly need and trouble this is his chief consolation, and the source of serene and abiding joy

I. THY NECESSITY OF A DIVINE REFUGE. Times come when the hardiest and most self-reliant is made to feel that he is but feebleness, vanity, and dust. Protection, comfort, and settledness for the soul can alone be found in God.

1. We are victims of moral evil.

2. Of mental and physical sorrows.

II. THE NATURE OF THE REFUGE AFFORDED.

1. Lofty and glorious in position. There we may obtain —

(1)Mercy.

(2)Grace.

(3)Pardon.

(4)Strength.

2. All-sufficient in resources. Help for every circumstance, need, age.

3. Perpetual and abiding in duration.

(James Foster, B. A.)

The word sanctuary at first meant anything separated and set apart for a holy purpose; later it came to designate a place used exclusively for sacred services; and then we find it used to express one chief end of a sacred place — an asylum — a place of refuge to which the guilty may fly and be safe.

I. MAN'S REFUGE. No creature so much needs the shelter and defence of a safe hiding place as man. His sources of danger are more than can be numbered. Beset with foes, he is in constant need of shelter, and often cries out for deliverance. What so welcome to him as a refuge! Physically regarded, as possessed of a body over which disease and death reign, how often does he sigh for some asylum, which may furnish a defence against these invaders of life! How is he to escape the feeling of terrible desertion and unimaginable dangers, how help crying out for some refuge from "the fightings without, the fears within," and the foes on every side? And, looking still deeper, when we see that he is the subject of a disease deceitful above every other — a disease which pertains to his whole nature — an "incurable wickedness," and when we hear him cry out in anguish of soul, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver into from this body of sin and death," — who does not rejoice at the very idea of refuge? How hard it is not to complain against God, and to demand "wherefore He has made man in vain!" How still harder to believe that there is a refuge for man which has been set up from the beginning! But in all times of deepest trouble, when human helpers fail and the hour of extremity comes, the strange thing is that the universal instincts of man's nature do lead him to look for help, and though he passes away apparently unhelped, he does so looking for help. You may have stood among a crowd, upon the shore, watching some vessel tossed on the tempestuous billows which threatened to overwhelm her. until at length a mighty wave washed over her and swept her clean of every living soul. And as that sea overwhelmed her there arose from the breast of everyone of the gazing crowd, "God help them!" Was that prayer an unconscious self-delusion in that moment of agony, or is there help for man in all times of his need? Or you may have listened to a judge passing the awful sentence which doomed a fellow creature to death — and whilst telling him there was no longer mercy or hope for him on earth, pointing to heaven and assuring him of hope and help in God. Was that judge dishonouring his judicial robes, and deceiving that poor wretch by this solemn mockery of pretended mercy, or is there an open door of hope in heaven for the poor outcasts from earth? And we have all read of the poor thief upon the Cross, turning, whilst paying the last penalty of the law with his life, in penitence to the Saviour and praying, "Lord, remember me when Thou comest into Thy kingdom"; and we know the gracious answer he received, "This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise." Was our Lord deceived in this promise, or did He knowingly deceive the miserable victim of crime in the moment of his extremity? Oh no — there is help for the helpless, help for the hell-deserving, shelter for the defenceless, a refuge for the outcasts. "The just God," who is also a "Saviour" — oh, how I love that combination — hath said, "Look unto Me and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth; for I am God and there is none else."

II. MAN'S REFUGE IS A SANCTUARY. A place which is only a refuge furnishes but a temporary shelter. To the shipwrecked, a naked rock jutting out of the sea would be a glad refuge from the devouring waves; but it would not be a refuge long. But a refuge, which is also a sanctuary, a Divine house, affords not only shelter, but rest, repose, and satisfaction for all we need or can desire. The house of God may well be a home for man. And he who enters such a refuge soon discovers that it will be to him all his desire.

III. MAN'S REFUGE IS NOT ONLY SACRED, BUT ROYAL. "A glorious high throne is the place of our sanctuary." The house of God, "the dwelling place of the Most High" is also the seat and source of all rule, authority, and power. "Under the shadow of the Almighty," man finds a sure defence for the whole breadth of his nature, in the midst of every possible circumstance, throughout the whole course of his history. The security and defence vouchsafed to him are of the highest character, and inseparable from the nature of the throne, which has become his refuge. The sanctuary-refuge-throne is holy, and the holiness of the throne is its defence and security. The power of the throne is the defence of man's refuge. But the throne, which has become man's refuge, is not merely a symbol of power, but also of power surrounded with becoming glory. There is "the pomp which surrounds a throne." The throne gathers up and crowns every excellency.

IV. THIS SANCTUARY-REFUGE-THRONE IS SPOKEN OF AS AN EXALTED THRONE. It is high enough to embrace not merely man's individual nature, in all its integrity of body, soul, and sprat, but the whole race — the earliest sons in all the height and might of their experience, together with the latest born in the feebleness of beginning life. And not merely the race of man, for, under its exalted height is gathered together, in one unity of blessed life, all the elect, from the archangel before the throne to the weakest and meanest of the sons of men.

V. THIS EXALTED THRONE IS GLORIOUS IN THE HISTORY OF ITS EXALTATION. Its exaltation has not been by might but by right. Righteousness has been pleased and the law magnified throughout the holy pathway of ascent from a humble refuge to the glorious high throne. In becoming a refuge for the destitute, the abandoned, the lost, the throne has revealed the charms of the holy order and eternal righteousness by which triumphant conquests are made over every form of disorder and wickedness. Fugitives from the consequences of violated law, as they enter the refuge become obedient to law; the wicked become righteous; the sinful are made holy.

VI. IT HAS BEEN SET UP FROM THE BEGINNING. The provision for the requirements of man's fallen nature was no afterthought but a forethought. The refuge was ever latent in the unbroken depths of the throne, and, for the revelation of its fundamental glory, needed to be opened up. The history of man unfolds the eternal purpose, and will be no mean history when complete. It was the joy of the Eternal Wisdom, whose "delights were with the sons of men" "ere ever the earth was"; it will be His joy when the earth is no more. The discords of human history lie between two harmonies, the one in which they have no place, the other in which they have been resolved. In man's nature is struck the keynote of those pre-established harmonies, the melody of which is being written out in his history as a fitting song with which to celebrate the close of his earthly career, and the reconciliation of all things.

VII. THE PERSONALITY OF THIS REFUGE. An impersonal refuge could never afford shelter and defence for man against his personal foes. Moreover, the impersonal could never afford rest to, nor become a home for man. Man needs man, a human security, a human joy, a human home, a warm maternal bosom on which to rest; not even God as God, but God as man. Is there such a person? One who is a refuge for man and a sanctuary for God? One who is also a throne, a throne exalted by a glorious history, and yet set up from the beginning? Oh joy of all joys, that God has revealed to us One possessed of all these attributes! We make our first acquaintance with Christ as a refuge. We seek in Him deliverance, shelter, and safety. Having made the experience of Him as a refuge, we begin to find He is more than a refuge, that He is a Divine house, a blessed home, a home in the house of God. Then, as we enlarge our acquaintance with our home, we find it a house of many mansions, opening up out of each other height above height, until a very throne is displayed to us — the throne of God, rising out of the refuge for man — and that the refuge is lost in the throne. And then as we gaze upon the throne which has hidden the refuge in its glory, the humanity in the Divinity, we begin to discover the refuge again in its deeper depth, something human in the depths of the Divine, and that it gives its own lustre to the central glory of the throne. And we perceive that this eternal humanity in the depths of Deity which gives a lustre to the eternal glory is the humanity which is the Alpha and Omega of man's earthly history. And seeing this we refuse to it all dates and proclaim it to have been ever from of old, and that it "became" the eternal Son in the bosom of the Father, nay, "behoved Him to be in all things made like unto His brethren that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people"; nay, more, that it "must needs have been" that He might "enter into His glory"! Hallelujah! God has made Himself one with us in our necessities that we may partake of His glory.

(J. Pulsford, D. D.)

I. A WONDERFUL VISION OF WHAT GOD IS. There are three clauses. They all seem to have reference to the temple in Jerusalem, which is taken by a very natural figure of speech as a kind of suggestive description of Him who is worshipped there. "The Sublime Porte" is properly the name of a lofty gateway which belonged to the palace in Constantinople, and so has come to mean the Turkish Government — if government it can be called. So we talk of "the Papal see." Or, again, the decision of "the Chair" in the House of Commons. So the prophet takes outward facts of the temple building as symbolising great and blessed spiritual thoughts of the God that filled the temple with His own lustre.

1. "A glorious throne" — that is grand, but that is not what Jeremiah means — "A throne of glory" is the true rendering. In the Old Testament, where "glory" is ascribed to God, the word has a very specific meaning, namely, the light which was afterwards called the "Shekinah," that dwelt between the cherubim, and was the symbol of the Divine presence, and the assurance that that presence would be self-revealing, and would manifest Himself to His people. The throned glory, the glory that reigns and rules as King in Israel, is the idea of the words before us. It is the same throne that a later writer in the New Testament speaks of when he says, "Let us come boldly to the throne of grace." We all can draw near, through the rent veil, and walk rejoicingly in the light of the Lord; this glory is grace; this grace is glory. This, then, is the first of Jeremiah's great thoughts of God, and it means — "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth," there is none else but He, and His will runs authoritative and supreme into all corners of the universe.

2. "High from the beginning." It was a piece of the patriotic exaggeration of Israel's prophets and psalmists that they made much of the little hill upon which the temple was set. Jeremiah felt it to be a material type, both of the elevation, and of the stable duration, of the God whom he would commend to Israel's and to all men's trust. "High from the beginning," separated from all creatural limitation and lowness, He whose name is the Most High, and on whose level no other being can stand, towers above the lowness of the loftiest creature, and from that inaccessible height He sends down His voice, like the trumpet from amidst the darkness of Sinai, proclaiming, I am God and there is none besides Me. Yet while thus "holy" — that is, separate from creatures — He makes communion with Himself possible to us, and draws near to us in Christ, that we in Christ may be made nigh to Him.

3. He is "the place of our sanctuary." That is, as though the prophet would point as the wonderful climax of all, to the fact that He of whom the former things were true should yet be accessible to our worship; that, if I might so say, our feet could tread the courts of that great temple; and we draw near to Him who is so far above the loftiest, and separate from all the magnificences which Himself has made, and who yet is "our sanctuary," and accessible to our worship. Ay! and more than that — "Lord! Thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations." In old days the temple was more than a place of worship. It was a place where a man coming, had, according to ancient custom, guest rights with God. God Himself, like some ancestral dwelling place in which generation after Generation of fathers find children have abode, whence they have been carried, and where their children still live, is to all generations their home and their fortress.

II. THE SOUL RAPT IN MEDITATION OF THIS VISION OF GOD. To me, this long-drawn-out series of linked clauses without grammatical connection, this succession of adorning exclamations of rapture, wonder, and praise, is very striking. It suggests the manner in which we should vivify all our thoughts of God, by turning them into material for devout reverence; awestruck, considering meditation. We should be like ruminant animals who first crop the grass — which being interpreted means, get Scripture truth into our heads — and then chew the cud, which being interpreted is, then put these truths through a second process by meditation on them that may turn into nourishment and make flesh.

III. THE MEDITATIVE SOUL GOING OUT TO GRASP GOD THUS REVEALED, AS ITS PORTION AND HOPE. "O Lord! the hope of Israel." I must cast myself upon Him by faith as my only hope; and turn away from all other confidences which are vain and impotent. So we are back upon that familiar Christian ground, that the bond which knits a man to God, and by which all that God is becomes that man's personal property, and available for the security and the shaping of his life, is the simple flinging of himself into God's arms, in sure and certain trust. Then, every one of these characteristics of which I have been speaking will contribute its own special part to the serenity, the security, the Godlikeness, the blessedness, the righteousness, the strength of the man who thus trusts.

(A. Maclaren, D. D.)

All that forsake Thee shall be ashamed
A London City missionary writes: "One Sunday afternoon, when out visiting, I noticed a soldier. He was in a great hurry, but I soon caught him up, gave him a tract, and, walking with him, spoke to him about his soul. In reply he said, 'I only wish I was the same as I used to be. For four and a half years I was a Christian. I worked for Christ with all my heart, and was never so happy as when so engaged. I made up my mind to enlist. I thought I should get on all right, but when my companions knew I was a Christian, they made it so hot for me I could not stand it, and gave in.' 'But,' said I, 'what would your country think of you if you were a coward in the face of an enemy? And should you fear to face the foes of Jesus Christ? When the greatest danger surrounds you, then it is your duty to be most faithful, not only to King Edward, but to King Jesus.' The young soldier was deeply moved, and said, 'I do thank God for meeting you. I will give my heart to Jesus again, and by God's help I will be true to Him. I will not be a coward again, but will confess Him tonight in the barrack room.'"

Shall be written in the earth.
? — Prudentius rightly saith, that their names that are written in red letters of blood in the Church's calendar, are written in golden letters in Christ's register in the book of life; as on the contrary, these idolaters whose sin was with an iron pen engraven on tables of their hearts (ver. 1) are justly written in the earth.

(John Trapp.)

People
Benjamin, David, Jeremiah
Places
Jerusalem, Negeb, People's Gate, Shephelah
Topics
Apostates, Ashamed, Cut, Depart, Disappointed, Dust, Forsake, Forsaken, Forsaking, Fountain, Hope, O, Shame, Spring, Turn, Waters, Written
Outline
1. The captivity of Judah for her sin.
5. Trust in man is cursed;
7. in God is blessed.
9. The deceitful heart cannot deceive God.
12. The salvation of God.
15. The prophet complains of the mockers of his prophecy.
19. He is sent to renew the covenant in hallowing the Sabbath.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 17:13

     1205   God, titles of
     4278   spring of water
     4293   water
     4296   wells
     5770   abandonment
     8705   apostasy, in OT
     9613   hope, as confidence

Library
Sin's Writing and Its Erasure
'The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars.'--JER. xvii. 1. 'Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.'-2 COR. iii. 3. 'Blotting out the handwriting that was against us.'---COL .ii. 14. I have put these verses together because they
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Soul Gazing on God
'A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.'--JER. xvii. 12. I must begin by a word or two of explanation as to the language of this passage. The word 'is' is a supplement, and most probably it ought to be omitted, and the verse treated as being, not a statement, but a series of exclamations. The next verse runs thus, 'O Lord! the hope of Israel, all that forsake Thee shall be ashamed'; and the most natural and forcible understanding of the words of my text is reached
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Two Lists of Names
'They that depart from Me shall be written in the earth'--JER. xvii. 13. 'Rejoice that your names are written in heaven.'--LUKE x. 20. A name written on earth implies that the bearer of the name belongs to earth, and it also secondarily suggests that the inscription lasts but for a little while. Contrariwise, a name written in heaven implies that its bearer belongs to heaven, and that the inscription will abide. We find running throughout Scripture the metaphor of books in which men's names are
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Heath in the Desert and the Tree by the River
'He shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited...He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.'--JER. xvii. 6, 8. The prophet here puts before us two highly finished pictures. In the
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

A Nation's Duty in a War for Freedom.
(Preached March 28th, 1813.) TEXT: JEREMIAH xvii. 5-8, AND xviii. 7-10. MY devout hearers! Through an extraordinary occurrence we find the order of our discourses on the suffering Saviour interrupted, and our to-day's meeting devoted to a very different subject. How deeply have we all been moved by the events of the last weeks! We saw march forth from our gates the army of a people nominally allied to us, but our feeling was not that of parting with friends; with thankful joy did we feel at last
Friedrich Schleiermacher—Selected Sermons of Schleiermacher

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Severinus in Germany.
As the Lord ever sends his angels when there is most need of help, so in the midst of the desolation and destruction which ensued on that irruption of the barbarians by which the Roman empire was broken in pieces after the death of Attila, the great desolator and exterminator, (A. D. 453,) He sent to the aid of the oppressed people of Germany, on the banks of the Danube, in their sore need, a man endowed with an extraordinary energy of love. His whole appearance has in it something enigmatical. As
Augustus Neander—Light in the Dark Places

Trust of the Wicked, and the Righteous Compared. Jer 17:5-8

John Newton—Olney Hymns

But in Order that we Fall not Away from Continence...
10. But in order that we fall not away from Continence, we ought to watch specially against those snares of the suggestions of the devil, that we presume not of our own strength. For, "Cursed is every one that setteth his hope in man." [1838] And who is he, but man? We cannot therefore truly say that he setteth not his hope in man, who setteth it in himself. For this also, to "live after man," what is it but to "live after the flesh?" Whoso therefore is tempted by such a suggestion, let him hear,
St. Augustine—On Continence

Epistle i. To the Roman Citizens.
To the Roman Citizens. Gregory, servant of the servants of God, to his most beloved sons the Roman citizens. It has come to my ears that certain men of perverse spirit have sown among you some things that are wrong and opposed to the holy faith, so as to forbid any work being done on the Sabbath day. What else can I call these but preachers of Antichrist, who, when he comes, will cause the Sabbath day as well as the Lord's day to be kept free from all work. For, because he pretends to die and rise
Saint Gregory the Great—the Epistles of Saint Gregory the Great

"And if any Man Sin, we have an Advocate with the Father,",
1 John ii. 1.--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,", &c. There is here a sad supposition, but too certain, that any man may sin, yea, that all men will sin, even those who have most communion with God, and interest in the blood of Christ. Yet they are not altogether exempted from this fatal lot of mankind. It is incident even to them to sin, and too frequently incident, but yet we have a happy and sweet provision, for indemnity from the hazard of sin,--"we have an advocate
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

"For what the Law could not Do, in that it was Weak through the Flesh, God Sending his Own Son in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh,
Rom. viii. 3.--"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." For what purpose do we meet thus together? I would we knew it,--then it might be to some better purpose. In all other things we are rational, and do nothing of moment without some end and purpose. But, alas! in this matter of greatest moment, our going about divine ordinances, we have scarce any distinct or deliberate
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Appendix xvii. The Ordinances and Law of the Sabbath as Laid Down in the Mishnah and the Jerusalem Talmud.
The terribly exaggerated views of the Rabbis, and their endless, burdensome rules about the Sabbath may best be learned from a brief analysis of the Mishnah, as further explained and enlarged in the Jerusalem Talmud. [6476] For this purpose a brief analysis of what is, confessedly, one of the most difficult tractates may here be given. The Mishnic tractate Sabbath stands at the head of twelve tractates which together from the second of the six sections into which the Mishnah is divided, and which
Alfred Edersheim—The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah

The Fourth Commandment
Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God; in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maid-servant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day; wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath-day and hallowed it. Exod 20: 8-11. This
Thomas Watson—The Ten Commandments

The First Part
Of the Apocalyptical Commentaries, according to the Rule of the Apocalyptical Key, on the First Prophecy which is contained in the Seals and Trumpets; with an Introduction concerning the Scene of the Apocalypse. As it is my design to investigate the meaning of the Apocalyptical visions, it is requisite for me to treat, in the first place, of that celestial theatre to which John was called, in order to behold them, exhibited as on a stage, and afterwards of the prophecies in succession, examined by
Joseph Mede—A Key to the Apocalypse

Moral Depravity.
In discussing the subject of human depravity, I shall,-- I. Define the term depravity. The word is derived from the Latin de and pravus. Pravus means "crooked." De is intensive. Depravatus literally and primarily means "very crooked," not in the sense of original or constitutional crookedness, but in the sense of having become crooked. The term does not imply original mal-conformation, but lapsed, fallen, departed from right or straight. It always implies deterioration, or fall from a former state
Charles Grandison Finney—Systematic Theology

Inward Witness to the Truth of the Gospel.
"I have more understanding than my teachers, for Thy testimonies are my study; I am wiser than the aged, because I keep Thy commandments."--Psalm cxix. 99, 100. In these words the Psalmist declares, that in consequence of having obeyed God's commandments he had obtained more wisdom and understanding than those who had first enlightened his ignorance, and were once more enlightened than he. As if he said, "When I was a child, I was instructed in religious knowledge by kind and pious friends, who
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

The True Manner of Keeping Holy the Lord's Day.
Now the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things--First, In resting from all servile and common business pertaining to our natural life; Secondly, In consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God, and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. For the First. 1. The servile and common works from which we are to cease are, generally, all civil works, from the least to the greatest (Exod. xxxi. 12, 13, 15, &c.) More particularly-- First, From all the works of our
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety

But Concerning True Patience, Worthy of the Name of this virtue...
12. But concerning true patience, worthy of the name of this virtue, whence it is to be had, must now be inquired. For there are some [2650] who attribute it to the strength of the human will, not which it hath by Divine assistance, but which it hath of free-will. Now this error is a proud one: for it is the error of them which abound, of whom it is said in the Psalm, "A scornful reproof to them which abound, and a despising to the proud." [2651] It is not therefore that "patience of the poor" which
St. Augustine—On Patience

What the Scriptures Principally Teach: the Ruin and Recovery of Man. Faith and Love Towards Christ.
2 Tim. i. 13.--"Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou hast heard of me, in faith and love which is in Christ Jesus." Here is the sum of religion. Here you have a compend of the doctrine of the Scriptures. All divine truths may be reduced to these two heads,--faith and love; what we ought to believe, and what we ought to do. This is all the Scriptures teach, and this is all we have to learn. What have we to know, but what God hath revealed of himself to us? And what have we to do, but what
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jewish views on Trade, Tradesmen, and Trades' Guilds
We read in the Mishnah (Kidd. iv. 14) as follows: "Rabbi Meir said: Let a man always teach his son a cleanly and a light trade; and let him pray to Him whose are wealth and riches; for there is no trade which has not both poverty and riches, and neither does poverty come from the trade nor yet riches, but everything according to one's deserving (merit). Rabbi Simeon, the son of Eleazer, said: Hast thou all thy life long seen a beast or a bird which has a trade? Still they are nourished, and that
Alfred Edersheim—Sketches of Jewish Social Life

The Secret of Its Greatness
[Illustration: (drop cap G) The Great Pyramid] God always chooses the right kind of people to do His work. Not only so, He always gives to those whom He chooses just the sort of life which will best prepare them for the work He will one day call them to do. That is why God put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to bring up Moses as her own son in the Egyptian palace. The most important part of Moses' training was that his heart should be right with God, and therefore he was allowed to remain
Mildred Duff—The Bible in its Making

Division of Actual Grace
Actual grace may be divided according to: (1) the difference existing between the faculties of the human soul, and (2) in reference to the freedom of the will. Considered in its relation to the different faculties of the soul, actual grace is either of the intellect, or of the will, or of the sensitive faculties. With regard to the free consent of the will, it is either (1) prevenient, also called cooeperating, or (2) efficacious or merely sufficient. 1. THE ILLUMINATING GRACE OF THE INTELLECT.--Actual
Joseph Pohle—Grace, Actual and Habitual

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