Jeremiah 6:1-30

Warning labels are appearing on everything from cigarettes to plastic bags.  Manufactures fear being sued over harm that their products might directly or inadvertently cause so they warn the consumers of the dangers their products might present.  The Bible is a gigantic warning label that God places on sin.  Just as the numerous warning labels on the products we by go unread and unheeded; God’s warnings about our sin are often ignored.  Jeremiah is warning the city of Jerusalem of the impending invasion God is preparing because of her rebellion against Him.  But these words fall on deaf ears so the people just continue in their sin.

JERUSALEM IS WARNED THAT SHE WILL FALL: God warns the people to prepare to flee because he is calling a fierce Babylonian army to come and destroy the city of Jerusalem.  Even the most important and richest inhabitants are domed to destruction.  The warriors God is calling to destroy them are well organized and relentless.  God has determined that the city must fall because of the constant oppression, evil, violence and destruction that go unchecked within these walls.  God warns them that He will turn away from them and leave them desolate.  They will be stripped bare because God’s wrath against this city is great.  Children, young men, families both young and old are all doomed to see their homes destroyed, their fields burned and their women violated.  The greed and corruption of the common man as well as the political and religious leaders has evoked God’s wrath.  They have been warned over and over again just like all of us have been warned about the consequences our sins will have on us both now and in eternity.

JEREMIAHS WORDS OF WARNING ALL FAIL: God has called Jeremiah to be His voice of warning to the people.  His words fall on deaf ears because they are being contradicted by false prophets who go around saying that there will only be peace.  The people feel no shame for their abominable practices.  God calls the people to walk in His ways and to listen to His warnings but they simply refuse to pay attention to His repeated warnings.  This failure to heed the warnings of the Lord will only bring greater disaster upon the people.  Their failure to listen to God’s Word and rejection of the Law has made all of their religious efforts and half-hearted sacrifices null and void.  They will stumble over the Words of warning that God lays before them and perish in their sin.  God has called the armies of destruction to grasp their instruments of war and come down upon the nation to take their plunder.  The people have been warned but they will be helpless to stand against these attacks.  God has made every effort to refine and purify them but to no avail.  They refuse to repent or even pay attention to the words of warning He has sent.  We must always pay close attention to the warnings of Scripture and readily abandon our sin so we can avoid the destruction sin brings to our lives.