They have turned their backs to Me and not their faces. Though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. Sermons
I. GOD'S ATTITUDE AS A TEACHER TOWARDS MAN. God's complaint is that man turns to him the back and not the face. Hence we are (o understand that God turns his face to us, full of meaning and very earnestly. Consider that expression, "I will guide thee with mine eye." Of course all such expressions are purely anthropomorphic, but behind them there is the truth that, when God speaks to us, it is in the same way as we do when we are most earnest and concerned in speaking. We speak then in every feature. II. GOD'S ASSIDUITY AS A TEACHER. Rising early and teaching them. The effort to make the people understand truth and duty is continuous and unremitting. Nothing was left undone that could be done, so far as the Teacher's side was concerned. Laws and symbols, great providences, great deliverances, great punitive visitations on other peoples, punishments of men like Korah and Achan and Saul, chastisements like those of David, - thus Israelite history abounded in lessons from God. Here is instruction from the great Teacher to all teachers. God was ready to seize on every opportunity to give a lesson, for opportunity is a great part of success. And seeing that God is thus declared among his people as a great Teacher, we should look on the Old Testament as a lesson book, and study how far it may be useful to us. For though we have our own peculiar lesson-book in the New Testament, yet even the New Testament becomes clearer the better we understand the Old. III. MAN'S ATTITUDE AS SCHOLAR TOWARDS GOD. His proper attitude is with the face, eyes looking on the Teacher, an expression of interest manifested, ready with the lip to ask further instruction and explanation. IV. THE FACES OF THESE PEOPLE WERE TURNED TO OTHER TEACHERS. The fact is, man must ever be learning from somebody; and Israel, with the hack to God, had its face towards the priests of idolatry, the ministers of cruelty, and was obedient to all their worst instructions. Let every one who has truth to teach and heavenly light to give remember that he is a rival of those who teach falsehood, error, cruelty, vice, superstition. If he is not successful in teaching the principles that liberate the spirit, then others will be successful in leading it into the worst of bondage. - Y.
They have turned unto Me the back, and not the face Homilist. I. AS CONDEMNING DIVINE AUTHORITY. To turn the back upon any one, not only indicates an utter lack of interest in him, but a dislike. To turn the back upon God means —1. An ignorement of His existence. The language of wickedness is, "Depart from me, I desire not a knowledge of Thy ways." The wicked are "without God in the world." They shut their eyes to the greatest fact of facts. God is not in all their thoughts. 2. A repugnance to His presence. What a monstrous sight is this, man turning his back on God. II. AS REGARDLESS OF DIVINE INSTRUCTION. God is constantly teaching men early and late — teaching them — 1. In the operations of nature. 2. In the events of their history. 3. In the monitions of their consciences. 4. In the declarations of His Word. (Homilist.) Though I taught them, rising up early and teaching them, yet they have not hearkened to receive instruction. I. GOD'S MERCIFUL INSTRUCTION is given to man according to man's capacity and present situation; and is of that special and particular nature that no one need mistake it; and is so simple and yet so full and impressive in itself that a child even may comprehend it.1. We have no cloudy pillar resting over our churches, no fire from heaven blazing forth upon an altar of sacrifice, no voice of prophecy attended with signs and wonders, no mysterious "Urim and Thummim" sparkling on the breastplate of a high priest, nor do we hear the voice of God speaking to us audibly from the summit of a mountain encircled with fire and with loud peals of thunder: but the Deity nevertheless teaches us by means equally potent. We have gathered into one source of Divine instruction the accumulated experience of many centuries — the Bible, and this carries with it the evidence of its own Divinity. We have the Church with her solemn sacraments, her public forms of worship, her large assemblies of believers, and her glorious history of martyrs and confessors of the faith. We have the Divine Spirit entering the hearts of the humble, and by the glory of His light piercing the darkest abodes of ignorance, and leading the teach. able disciple of Christ into all truth. We have the providence of God showing us in many ways how quickly the sands of life drop away, how uncertain and how frail it is, how like the flower of the field we look for an instant bright and joyous, but the next, droop from the blight of disease, and crumble away into the ashes of the grave God teaches us also through our own everyday feelings, and the very common concerns of our daily existence 2. The words of Jeremiah express an earnestness in the Divine teaching. God is spoken of as "rising up early and teaching them." He is the first among teachers. He is so desirous that His people should be guided by His counsels that He will be with them in the earliest dawn of their existence, both nationally as well as personally. II. MAN'S DISREGARD OF THE DIVINE INSTRUCTION. "They have turned unto Me," saith the Lord, "the back and not the face": and again, "they have not hearkened to receive instruction." The Jews stand not alone in this matter. We may see some such strange manifestations in our own day. The same spirit of practical infidelity is abroad now, and the same infatuation which makes the most sublime subjects of religion matters for scorn and mockery, may be witnessed in our own land of freedom and enlightenment. We are happy to say the good sense of society and the spread of intelligence keeps this spirit down within narrow boundaries; but nevertheless it may be observed publishing itself with the godless jest, with the boast of independence, and with the mocking contempt of all which bears the stamp of religious profession. (W. D. Horwood.) People Adam, Anathoth, Babylonians, Baruch, Ben, Benjamin, Hanameel, Jeremiah, Maaseiah, Molech, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Neriah, Shallum, ZedekiahPlaces Anathoth, Babylon, Egypt, Horse Gate, Jerusalem, Negeb, Shephelah, Valley of HinnomTopics Accept, Backs, Betimes, Discipline, Early, Ears, Face, Faces, Getting, Hearkened, Hearkening, Instruction, Listen, Listened, Neck, Often, Open, Persistently, Receive, Respond, Rising, Taught, Teacher, Teaching, Though, Turn, Turning, YetOutline 1. Jeremiah, being imprisoned by Zedekiah for his prophecy,6. buys Hanameel's field. 13. Baruch must preserve the evidences, as tokens of the people's return. 16. Jeremiah in his prayer complains to God. 26. God confirms the captivity for their sins; 36. and promises a gracious return. Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 32:33 5165 listening Library October 27. "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all Flesh; is There Anything Too Hard for Me?" (Jer. xxxii. 27. )"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jer. xxxii. 27.) Cyrus, the King, was compelled to fulfil the vision of Jeremiah, by making a decree, the instant the prophecy had foretold, declaring that Jehovah had bidden him rebuild Jerusalem and invite her captives to return to their native home. So Jeremiah's faith was vindicated and Jehovah's prophecy gloriously fulfilled, as faith ever will be honored. Oh, for the faith, that in the dark present and the darker … Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth Perseverance in Holiness The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit Why all Things Work for Good Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession. Fifteenth Day for Schools and Colleges The End Entering the Covenant: with all the Heart Sanctification. 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