Jer 11:1-12 Though They Cry Unto Me I Will Not Listen

[Study Aired June 13, 2021]

Jer 11:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 11:2  Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;
Jer 11:3  And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Jer 11:4  Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:
Jer 11:5  That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.
Jer 11:6  Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
Jer 11:7  For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.
Jer 11:8  Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.
Jer 11:9  And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer 11:10  They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
Jer 11:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Jer 11:12  Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Throughout the prophets, each prophet reminds us to whom it is that “the Word of the Lord [comes]”:

Jer 11:1  The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 11:2  Hear ye the words of this covenant, and speak unto the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem;

“The Word that [comes] to Jeremiah” is the Word that comes to you and to me. Jeremiah, along with all the prophets of the Old Testament, typifies the Lord’s elect. They alone are given ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’:

Mat 13:9  Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Mat 13:10  And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables?
Mat 13:11  He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.

Jeremiah and all the Old Testament prophets typify those to whom the word of God comes in this age. The entire nation of Israel is typified by the multitudes who came to Christ to hear His parables, eat His loaves and fishes and be healed by Him. “But to them it is not given… to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God.” Those who are blessed with ‘eyes that see and ears that hear’ are called to be judged and purged of their sins and their false doctrines and rebellions against their Lord in this age (1Pe 4:17, Rev 1:3, Rev 14:6-13, Rev 15:8).

So what is ‘the Word of the Lord’ to Jeremiah and to you and me?

Jer 11:3  And say thou unto them, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel; Cursed be the man that obeyeth not the words of this covenant,
Jer 11:4  Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall ye be my people, and I will be your God:

In this study we will learn that “obey[ing]… the words of this covenant” and “obey[ing] not the words of this covenant” typifies and foreshadows obedience/disobedience to the new covenant. This phrase, “The words of this covenant” here in verse 13 referred originally to the old covenant. Our Reformer, Christ, has revealed that the entire economy of the ancient nation of Israel was a type and a shadow of His reforms and His new covenant, which  is “not according to the covenant

Jer 31:31  Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33  But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Heb 8:8  For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9  Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10  For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:

In the next chapter of Hebrews, Paul makes clear that the entire Old Testament economy was a type and shadow of Christ’s new covenant:

Heb 9:9  Which [the original tabernacle (vs 8)] was a figure for the time then present, in which were offered both gifts and sacrifices, that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience;
Heb 9:10  Which stood only in meats and drinks, and divers washings, and carnal ordinances, imposed on them until the time of reformation.
Heb 9:11  But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building;
Heb 9:12  Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.
Heb 9:13  For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh:
Heb 9:14  How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

Christ came to be a high priest of good things to come “by a greater and more perfect tabernacle”. Where is this “greater and more perfect tabernacle [by which] Christ [became] an high priest of good things to come?” Where is this ‘tabernacle’? “Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands” refers to us as the place of His dwelling, and the law of Moses and all the events in ancient Israel leading up to the giving of that law were mere types and shadows of Christ and His Christ, His ‘tabernacle’, through whom He has come to be our high priest.

Paul elsewhere puts this same message in these words:

Rom 4:25  Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Of course, Christ died for our sins and “all things are for [our] sakes”, but that is not what is being said in this verse. The two occurrences of the word ‘for’ in this verse are the Greek word ‘dia’, G1223. ‘Dia’ is the Greek word from which we derive our English word ‘diameter’. This is Strong’s definition for this word:

G1223
διά
dia
dee-ah’

A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through (in very wide applications, local, causal or occasional). In composition it retains the same general import: – after, always, among, at, to avoid, because of (that), briefly, by, for (cause) . . . fore, from, in, by occasion of, of, by reason of, for sake, that, thereby, therefore, X though, through (-out), to, wherefore, with (-in). In composition it retains the same general import.

Our heavenly Father saw us in Christ before He ever created Christ (Rev 3:14). Our heavenly Father does not think of Christ without us to the extent that He tells us that “all things are for our sakes”:

2Co 4:14  Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by [Greek: ‘dia’, through – G1223] Jesus, and shall present us with you.
2Co 4:15  For all things are for [Greek: ‘dia’, through – G1223] your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God.

If we put Romans 4:25 together with this verse, it is not at all adding to the scripture to read 1Co 4:14 in this way: “Knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus [through our justification] shall raise up us also [through] Jesus and shall present us with you.”

Romans 4:25 and 2Corinthians 4:14-15 are both telling us that Christ was “delivered through our offences and was raised again through our justification. What this tells us is that all of this was planned by our heavenly Father “before the world began” (2Ti 1:9 and Tit 1:2), and it was all prefigured through ancient Israel, through the law of Moses and through the entire economy of that time.

Heb 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.
Heb 10:2  For then would they not have ceased to be offered? because that the worshippers once purged should have had no more conscience of sins.
Heb 10:3  But in those sacrifices there is a remembrance again made of sins every year.
Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

The “body” being prepared for Christ and His Father is His church. It is you and me if we are granted ‘eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven’ (Mat 13:9-15).

Eph 1:22  And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23  Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Now, with this knowledge we can understand why Christ told us:

Luk 16:16  The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.

John’s ministry was the bridge between the old and new covenants, but John was under the law of Moses and did not partake of Christ’s new covenant. Therefore, Christ make this revolutionary statement which few believe even until this day:

Luk 7:28  For I say unto you, Among those that are born of women there is not a greater prophet than John the Baptist: but he that is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he.

Christ also told us that the physical manna of the Old Testament was merely a type of Himself and His doctrines.

In Hebrews 9 and 10 we are being told that the physical tabernacle and the physical temple were types of His true tabernacle and His true temple which we are:

1Co 3:16  Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17  If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

The most difficult type for us to see and grasp as a mere shadow of “the True” is that the law of Moses is just a type and shadow of the covenant Christ is making with us. As with all shadows and types, unless we are given eyes that see, we will inevitably mistake the shadow and type for the reality which it prefigures. Such spiritual blindness is God’s tool to keep the masses from seeing and perceiving His True Covenant, which the first covenant foreshadowed. So, the covenant the Lord made with Israel, the covenant of which Jeremiah speaks in this 11^th chapter, is not the covenant Christ is making with us. That old covenant, with its blessings and its curses, typifies the new covenant which Christ is bringing to us with its blessings and its curses:

Jer 11:5  That I may perform the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is this day. Then answered I, and said, So be it, O LORD.

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?
Luk 6:47  Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like:
Luk 6:48  He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.
Luk 6:49  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

That is to be our prayer… “So be it, O Lord… Not my will but Thine be done”.

We know that even our sins are an integral part of the work the Lord is doing to drag us to Himself:

Pro 16:4  The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

We are just as guilty of sinning against the new covenant as ancient Israel was of sinning against the old covenant. We cannot remain under that old covenant and expect to reap the benefits and blessings of being obedient to the words of the new covenant.

When the rich young ruler asked Christ:

Luk 18:18  And a certain ruler asked him, saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Christ’s answer was:

Luk 18:20  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother.
Luk 18:21  And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up.
Luk 18:22  Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me.
Luk 18:23  And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful:  for he was very rich [very self-righteous in ”the righteousness which is in the law”].

Matthew calls this “certain ruler” a “young man” (Mat 19:20). Christ told this young man that keeping the law outwardly was nowhere near enough to “inherit eternal life”. When Christ told this young ruler, “Yet lackest you one thing: sell all that thou hast…” He is not requiring him to forsake his wife and children. None of the apostles were required to forsake their responsibilities to their families to follow Christ. While we are not given the details, we are told that Christ healed Peter’s wife’s mother of a fever, and we are told:

1Ti 5:8  But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel.

What Christ is telling this young ruler, and what He is telling us, is that we, too, must divest ourselves of our own self-righteousness and give it to those who are destitute of the Truth. Give it “unto the poor and you shall have treasure in heaven…” When we give our own self-righteousness to those who are spiritually poor, we are giving up what we thought was ours to others who think they, too, are righteous “according to the law [of Moses]:

Job 27:6  My righteousness I hold fast, and will not let it go: my heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.

Deu 6:25  And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the LORD our God, as he hath commanded us.

Php 3:6  Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

The great lesson of the book of Job is that none of us is righteous of ourselves, rather we are all just naturally self-righteous, and like Job we must come to see ourselves as vile, and we must recognize that what makes us so very ‘vile’ is our insidious self-righteousness, which always leads us to condemn our own Creator and heavenly Father for our fiery trials with which He is in the process of humbling us:

Job 40:1  Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
Job 40:2  Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
Job 40:3  Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
Job 40:4  Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
Job 40:5  Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
Job 40:6  Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
Job 40:7  Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
Job 40:8  Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?

Like the rich young ruler and as Job, when we see ourselves as being righteous by our own will, then we see no need for God to judge and chasten and scourge us. When we see ourselves in that light, we are the “ninety and nine [who] need no repentance”:

Luk 15:4  What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
Luk 15:5  And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
Luk 15:6  And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.
Luk 15:7  I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which [self-righteously think they] need no repentance.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

When Christ told the rich young ruler to “come and follow me” what He was requiring of this man, and what He is requiring of each of us, is to believe and live our lives in accordance with His “…but I say unto you…” doctrines which directly contradict the law of Moses… “love thine enemies” versus “hate thine enemies”; “turn the other cheek” versus “eye for an eye, and tooth for a tooth”. These are just a couple of the beginning changes Christ made to the law of Moses which is later revealed to be merely “a carnal commandment… [with nothing more than] a shadow of good things to come”:

Heb 7:16  Who [Christ… “our high priest”] is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.

Heb 10:1  For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

It is this “shadow of good things to come” to which our next verses refer:

Jer 11:6  Then the LORD said unto me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear ye the words of this covenant, and do them.
Jer 11:7  For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice.

Yes, it is true that at this time Jeremiah is referring to the old covenant, but he and his prophecies are “a shadow of good things to come” and that “Good Thing” is Christ and His new covenant”, which we are to “hear… and do… and obey.” He is “even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey my voice”.

Act 20:27  For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Act 20:28  Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood.
Act 20:29  For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Act 20:30  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.
Act 20:31  Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Just as with our original parents, the Lord’s method of operation is to give us commandments which He knows we will not obey. The Truth is that He ‘makes us to err from His ways and He hardens our hearts from His fear’ so that we cannot even see or hear His words:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Rom 11:8  (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this day.

It is all summarized as “an experience of evil” for which He can judge us and destroy our rebellious old man who wants to remain under the first covenant and maintain his own righteousness. As we will see, the Lord reveals to us that we are in reality incapable of doing anything – good or evil – of ourselves.

Jer 11:8  Yet they obeyed not, nor inclined their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart: therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do; but they did them not.

These words are just as applicable to the new covenant and to us as they were to ancient Israel’s disobedience of the old covenant. The Lord will not give us His strength to be obedient to “the things that [He] says” until after He has demonstrated to us beyond any doubt that we do not have it within us to obey His Words. In and of ourselves this is what is within us:

Jer 11:9  And the LORD said unto me, A conspiracy is found among the men of Judah, and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Jer 11:10  They are turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers, which refused to hear my words; and they went after other gods to serve them: the house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.

We may well want to be obedient to the things Christ commands us to do, but the “one lawgiver” has “made us to err from His ways and has hardened our hearts from His fear” (Isa 63:17) by placing within our flesh, within “[our] members… the law of sin”, which brings us all, “to [our] wits’ end” (Psa 107:27).

This is what we are up against before the Lord “teaches [Greek: ‘paideuo’, chastens] us to forsake ungodliness and worldly lusts” (Tit 2:11-12):

Rom 7:7  What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law [the ten commandments] had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Rom 7:8  But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead.
Rom 7:9  For I was [considered myself to be] alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.
Rom 7:10  And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death.
Rom 7:11  For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me.
Rom 7:12  Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.
Rom 7:13  Was then that which is good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding sinful.
Rom 7:14  For we know that the law [of Christ] is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin [under the law of Moses].
Rom 7:15  For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I [No free will, but slaves to sin].
Rom 7:16  If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good.
Rom 7:17  Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:18  For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.
Rom 7:19  For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do [No free will].
Rom 7:20  Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.
Rom 7:21  I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.
Rom 7:22  For I delight in the law of God after the inward man:
Rom 7:23  But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members.

We have just twice been told “it is no more I that do it”, referring to our sins. That is how the Lord fulfills this next verse within each of us. He does so through a law which He has placed “in [our] members” from our mother’s womb, and there is but “one lawgiver”:

Isa 63:17  O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Jas 4:12  There is one lawgiver, who [through His laws] is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?

It is this “law of sin in [our] members [which brings us to] our wits’ end”:

Psa 107:24  These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.
Psa 107:25  For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof.
Psa 107:26  They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble.
Psa 107:27  They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end.

It is only at this point that we all, with the apostle Paul, are made to cry out in desperation to the Lord:

Rom 7:24  O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rom 7:25  I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself [my “new man] serve the law of God; but with the flesh [my old man] the law of sin.

1Jn 3:9  Whosoever is born of God [“I myself”, my new man] doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

This is all addressed to those who are given eyes that see and ears that hear the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 13:9-15). Paul had just clarified to whom he was speaking:

Rom 7:1  Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2  For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3  So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4  Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another [“another man”, with another law], even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Rom 7:5  For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death.
Rom 7:6  But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

Look at those words, “Ye also are become dead to the law by the [physical] body of Christ”. To what end? “That ye should be married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” There we have the mind of Christ on this subject. Christ’s flesh and our flesh is “another man” which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. These words here in Romans 7 are the basis for this statement from Paul in 2^nd Corinthians:

2Co 5:14  For the love of Christ constraineth us; because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead:
2Co 5:15  And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more [after the flesh].
2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Christ had His Father’s spirit ‘without measure… from His mother’s womb’. Yet the risen Christ is “another man”. Each of us who will be given “the purchased possession”, meaning a part in that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”, are becoming ‘another man’ which we are now in “earnest”, in down payment form:

Eph 1:5  Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
Eph 1:6  To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Eph 1:7  In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;
Eph 1:8  Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence;
Eph 1:9  Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself:
Eph 1:10  That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him:
Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest [Greek: ‘down payment’] of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession [that “blessed and holy… first resurrection”], unto the praise of his glory.

I must repeat that the Lord will not give us His strength to be obedient to “the things that [He] says” until after He has demonstrated to us beyond any doubt that we do not of ourselves have it within us to obey His Words. That is the meaning of our last verses of our study today:

Jer 11:11  Therefore thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will bring evil upon them, which they shall not be able to escape; and though they shall cry unto me, I will not hearken unto them.
Jer 11:12  Then shall the cities of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem go, and cry unto the gods unto whom they offer incense: but they shall not save them at all in the time of their trouble.

Yes indeed! That is exactly how it is when we are on the raging seas of our rebellious, carnal life, and being brought to our wits’ end. That storm is not our doing. It is a work of the Lord Himself. That God-ordained storm in our lives is what it takes to drag us to “[our] wits’ end], and make us to cry out to the Lord, “Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” At that time, the Lord Himself has forsaken us and does not hear us as we are brought to face the fact that our false doctrines, the idols of our hearts, are doing nothing to give us any relief from the desperate straits in which we find ourselves.

If we are blessed to be given eyes that see and ears that hear these mysteries of the kingdom of heaven in this age, then our calling is to be “hated of all men” including our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, families and friends, and our old man is just naturally repulsed by such a thought. Yet Christ was clear about what we should expect if we are given to be His witnesses in this age:

Mat 10:16  Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves.
Mat 10:17  But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their synagogues;
Mat 10:18  And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles [“all men”].
Mat 10:19  But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak.
Mat 10:20  For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.
Mat 10:21  And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death.
Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Every great leader among men recognizes the crisis of His time, and he challenges those he is given to lead to face that crisis and to overcome all obstacles which are in the way. Great leaders, such as Christ, do not promise their followers coffee and doughnuts while they are struggling to overcome the crisis they face. Rather, a great leader prepares those he leads for the challenges that lie ahead.

Christ is the greatest of all leaders, “the captain of [our] salvation”:

Heb 2:9  But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.
Heb 2:10  For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.

That is why He tells us right up front, “Ye shall be hated of all men for My name’s sake”, then goes on to be much more specific about what we can expect if we are blessed to be given to follow in His steps:

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 10:35  For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law.
Mat 10:36  And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
Mat 10:37  He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:38  And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
Mat 10:39  He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mat 10:40  He that receiveth you receiveth me, and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

Every great leader also gives those he challenges to follow Him an incentive to do so.

Mat 10:41  He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward.
Mat 10:42  And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name of a disciple, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward.

The apostle Peter later asked the Lord to be more specific about what rewards lay ahead for those who followed Him. Peter’s inquiry was after Christ invited the rich young ruler to follow Him, and after that young man refused Christ’s offer Peter wanted to know what exactly would those who give up all for Christ receive in return for their sacrifice:

Mat 19:27  Then answered Peter and said unto him, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee; what shall we have therefore?
Mat 19:28  And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the [first] regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Mat 19:29  And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Mat 19:30  But many that are first shall be last; and the last shall be first.

Christ promises us, “…he that endures to the end shall be saved [from the white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death, Rev 20:11-15], and in the beginning of the 20^th chapter of Revelation we are promised to be placed as the judges over the kingdoms of this world for a thousand years, followed by the judgment of Satan and all of his angels, including all of mankind in the “lake of fire”.

Rev 20:1  And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

“Judgment is given to them” only who have already been judged in this present time:

1Co 11:31  For if we would judge ourselves [in “this present time” – Rom 8:18], we should not be judged [In “the resurrection of damnation” G2920: ‘krisis’, judgment].

Joh 5:27  And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life [first resurrection]; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [G2920: ‘krisis’ same word translated as ‘judgment’ in verse 27].

Why is the first ‘resurrection’ here called “the resurrection of life”? The answer is that this is the one resurrection in which those being resurrected were already judged in “this present time”:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings [judgment] of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

1Pe 4:12  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you [in “this present time”, Rom 8:18], as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
1Pe 4:19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

There are great rewards awaiting those who love the Lord’s judgments. Those whose names are in the book of life will be given a crown of life, and they will be kings and priests who will rule with Christ a thousand years, after which they will judge those who are cast into the lake of fire.

That is why the Lord caused Isaiah to minister not to himself but to us (1Pe 1:12) these words:

Isa 26:8  Yea, in the way of thy judgments, O LORD, have we waited for thee; the desire of our soul is to thy name, and to the remembrance of thee.
Isa 26:9  With my soul have I desired thee in the night; yea, with my spirit within me will I seek thee early: for when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10  Of which salvation the prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11  Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12  Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

Thank the Lord for His judgments against our old man, “the way of [which] judgments” we will learn more in our next study, which will cover these last 11 verses of this 11^th chapter:

Jer 11:13  For according to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem have ye set up altars to that shameful thing, even altars to burn incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:14  Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up a cry or prayer for them: for I will not hear them in the time that they cry unto me for their trouble.
Jer 11:15  What hath my beloved to do in mine house, seeing she hath wrought lewdness with many, and the holy flesh is passed from thee? when thou doest evil, then thou rejoicest.
Jer 11:16  The LORD called thy name, A green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he hath kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken.
Jer 11:17  For the LORD of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
Jer 11:18  And the LORD hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
Jer 11:19  But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
Jer 11:20  But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
Jer 11:21  Therefore thus saith the LORD of the men of Anathoth, that seek thy life, saying, Prophesy not in the name of the LORD, that thou die not by our hand:
Jer 11:22  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, I will punish them: the young men shall die by the sword; their sons and their daughters shall die by famine:
Jer 11:23  And there shall be no remnant of them: for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth, even the year of their visitation.