Living Room Study

Jeremiah 5

“Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem; see now and know; and seek in her open places if you can find a man, if there is anyone who executes judgment, who seeks truth, and I will pardon her.  Though they say, ‘As the Lord lives,’ surely they swear falsely.  O Lord are not Your eyes on the truth?  You have stricken them, but they have not grieved; You have consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction.  They have made their faces harder than rock; they have refused to return.” Jeremiah 5:1-3 

If you want to compare a culture’s immorality, Sodom is pretty much the benchmark.  In the Lord’s indictment against Judah, Jeremiah evokes the image of Sodom and Gomorrah.  If you recall, Abraham pleaded with the Lord over sparing Sodom and Gomorrah, for his nephew Lot’s sake.  God’s response to Abraham’s requests teaches us that He is (at the same time) gracious, and the righteous Judge. 

“Then he (Abraham) said, ‘Let not the Lord be angry, and I will speak but once more: suppose ten (righteous people) should be found there?’  And He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.’ So the Lord went His way as soon as He had finished speaking with Abraham; and Abraham returned to his place.” Genesis 18 32-33

In today’s passage, the Lord challenges Jeremiah to find a righteous man in Jerusalem.  The city was too sinful to have even one man who, by truth and justice, could qualify to be an advocate to secure a pardon for Judah.  Refusal to repent was the norm for both Jerusalem’s the common people and the leaders.

“Therefore I said, ‘Surely these are the poor.  They are foolish; for they do not know the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.  I will go to the great men and speak to them, for they have known the way of the Lord, the judgment of their God.’  But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.  Therefore a lion of the forest shall slay them, a wolf of the deserts shall destroy them; a leopard will watch over their cities.  Everyone who goes out from there shall be torn to pieces, because their transgressions are many; their backslidings have increased.” Jeremiah 5:4-6

Sodom actually had MORE righteous people than Jerusalem.  Lot had his faults, but the Lord considered him righteous.

“…and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them to destruction, making them an example to those afterward who would live ungodly; and delivered righteous Lot, who was oppressed by the filthy conduct of the wicked (for that righteous man, dwelling among them, tormented his righteous soul from day to day by seeing and hearing their lawless deeds) then the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment, and especially those who walk according to the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise authority.” 2 Peter 2:6-10a

Even in Sodom, God has the power to save…and in Jerusalem, and in your town!

Blessings.

Steve Wiggins