Jeremiah 9

Jeremiah 9:23-24

THE GROUND OF Jeremiah 9:23-24IN reading the Book of Jeremiah, there is a certain amount of sameness in that much of the Book is a lament. Israel was walking away from God and the heart of the Prophet was grieved. He saw clearly the certain judgments that were coming upon his people and he did his utmost to delay and, if possible, to effect, for them, escape from the same; but, while thus engaged in a continuous pleading for penitence and reform, the Prophet employs, on occasion, scintillating sentences that voice the soundest philosophy. Our text is one such. As Joseph Parker, the great London preacher, once suggested, the Prophet here addresses three divisions of the human family—the wise, the powerful and the wealthy—“an inexhaustive classification of the human race.” For, whether men belong to one of these companies, they almost uniformly choose the basal idea as a sort of an idol of worship that which Parker justly called “Science, or Arms, or Wealth.”The text, interpreted in the light of the context, makes it clear that God is not necessarily honored by either class; and, in fact, if Science or Arms or Wealth are made idols, God is practically thereby dethroned, and the pagan worship will produce for its devotees disaster and final judgment.It might be well, therefore, for us, as students of life, and as responsible individuals, to reflect long and carefully upon this text. Our lines of thought might very justly follow these grooves— The Common Grounds, The Complete Grounds, and The Christian Grounds of Glorying.THE COMMON GROUNDSBeyond all dispute, the text does touch upon the common grounds, and men do worship either Science, or Arms, or Wealth.Many esteem wisdom above all else! In fact, this age, to which we belong, if it have one idol that it esteems above others, bows at the feet of that idol, often falsely called Science.The word science means knowledge, and knowledge is supposed to be a fair synonym of wisdom. To be sure, there is a distinction and a difference. A man may know a vast deal and yet be unwise, and a man may not be schooled at all and yet be possessed of the wisdom that is from above; but in the minds of most people the one is the other. Wisdom and learning are constantly employed as interchangeable terms, and the average man imagines that they are identical.Solomon knew and made this distinction.

He possessed a vast amount of knowledge. Speaking of his researches he said,“I gave my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under Heaven: this sore travail hath God given to the sons of man to be exercised therewith”. “I said, I will be wise; but it (wisdom) was far from me. That which is far off, and exceeding deep, who can find it out”? The modern man is not embarrassed by such modesty. Bettex, the great German scholar, quotes from one of these the statement,“There is nothing that science cannot search out”, and from a French savant, the exclamation, “There is no longer any mystery.”How sublime the claim; but how superficial the speech! The fact is that the more we know the more we realize how little we know. An unschooled man may count the heavens a simplicity; it is to him only a broad space with some stars in it. But the instructed astronomer is more and more amazed at its incomprehensibleness. To him there are not only some stars, there are millions of stars, and billions of stars, and trillions of stars.

In fact, the greatest of modern scientists, James Jeans says, “The total number of stars in the universe is probably something like the total number of the grains of sand on all the sea-shores of the world.”But the heavens are not filled with stars merely, but with stellar systems, unthinkable in number, incomprehensible in greatness. But that is not all.

The inter-stellar spaces are filled as well. The same Jeans tells us that in this solar system of ours there are hundreds of small worlds, asteroids, so to speak, driving with unthinkable velocity through the almost infinite space of the same, and the heavens, (the more they are studied), deepen in mystery and create astonishment on the part of the student. They literally stun him with their significance.That’s one reason why many men are ready to bow the knee to the astronomical discoverer. He knows so much more than they do; but just the same, the creation is not a worthy subject of worship, nor is some information about it an occasion of boastfulness—a ground of glorying, since, like the light of a candle, man’s information but deepens the darkness that lies beyond the reach of its rays.Where, then, is the place of understanding? In the language of the Prophet, “The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. * * Whence then cometh wisdom? and where is the place of understanding? * * God understandeth the way thereof, and He knoweth the place thereof. For He looketh to the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven. * * And unto man He said, Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom”.There are others who prefer personal might. The same text that says, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom”, said also, “Neither let the mighty man glory in his might”. It is a fact that this disposition to secure and exercise power keeps almost equal pace with that of attaining and employing wisdom or knowledge.The war element is still as regnant in the world as,is the practice of research. Twenty years ago Germany was famed for its scholarship. The students of the world wended their way to German universities; and to bring home degrees and titles from the same was the ambition of multitudes of students that would be scholars. But, at the same time, Germany’s schools hardly surpassed either in character or competence, Germany’s militarism. The former represented the quest for wisdom, and the latter the lust for power.One might imagine that these two had no kinship; possibly, that they were opponents. But, if so, a single book will suffice for such disillusionment; and that book is entitled “Hurrahs and Hallelujahs”, and was published while the war was on, by a Danish professor who knew whereof he wrote.

By copious quotations he proved the fraternal relations existing between wisdom, or Science, and might, or war. The former was not only the advocate of the latter, but the inspirer of the same.It was German wisdom, German scholarship, German science that bethought and created the aircraft of war, the land-craft of war, the sea-craft of war, the infamous gases, and that staked out the lines that looked to certain success.The demand for a larger place in the sun was not only the demand for more territory; it was also a proposal to increase light, for the scholar honestly believed that where the sword went, he could walk in its wake; and while it accomplished death for the millions, it would increase the light for the remaining living; and so Science and the Sword walked hand in hand, and the world, under their feet, weltered in blood.Strange to say, men’s consciences are not usually troubled on such account.

Doubtless, Alexander thought himself a world benefactor. Napoleon Bonaparte probably never questioned that his conquests were advantageous to men. In fact, the love of might is such and the disposition to worship at her throne is so persistent, that from Caesar’s day to the hour in which we dwell, its mightiest exponents have been a self-gratified and self-glorying company. However, the supremacy of the scientist, and the self-satisfaction of the swordsman, is not left in undisputed possession of the world-field.The third class must be reckoned with in the contest for greatness and self-glorying. And that, also, is named by the text.For many, riches hold the coveted scepter!Hence, Jeremiah’s additional word, “Let not the rich man glory in his riches”.The truth of the matter is that science—particularly that science of the present day, is not always sought for its own sake; and the sword, particularly the sword of the present, is not always unsheathed in behalf of righteousness. The sciences that relate to the acquisition of wisdom, for wisdom’s sake, and that have to do solely with the uplift and improvement of man, are not the most popular sciences of the present day.

On the contrary, a vast amount of the search and research of this hour, looks toward the creation of mechanical contrivances whereby wealth may be speedily and enormously secured; and the greatest single objective of modern wars has been the acquisition of more territory, which is simply wealth in another form.Possibly on no single subject has there been so much of unjustifiable, and even senseless, praise, as upon that of modern and mechanical inventions.A few years ago the propagandists of an improved age were pointing to the machinery that characterized the twentieth century. No other century ever saw anything akin to it.

No other century knew aught of harnessing electricity. No other century understood the enormous horsepower, of the multiplied waterfalls of the world. No other century was ever able to send the voice of man along the telephone lines the world around, or flash messages over electric wires with such dispatch or by radio eliminate time and space.No other century ever created such machinery with which to relieve the burdened muscles and strained backs of men.No other century ever conquered the sea, sailing its blue waters with beautiful palaces, and with a swiftness that almost does credit to a kite. No other century ever banded the continents with railroad rails, and sent its steam engines hauling cars filled with people and freight, at the rate of twenty-to sixty miles an hour as this one has done.No other century ever saw man move from point to point across the earth with a speed that reminds one of lightning.No other century ever saw the heavens filled with bird-men, flying whither they will; and one well-knows that all of this, which voices education, represents power and creates riches.In fact, each and every one of these three words has its unlimited circle of devotees, and from each and, the three combined, rise constant praises for their respective idols, wisdom, power, wealth!And yet, turn your eyes from them and look at society. Study men; listen to the sobs of sorrow, rising from all quarters. See the hovels of poverty, daily multiplied; consider the millions of unemployed and starving that now menace the world.

Consider the martial disturbance that, at this moment, is expressed in the civil strife of nations; and the uniform international complications that threaten us with another world war.Listen to the defiant shouts of infidelity, the threatened anarchy of atheism, and tell me whether the wise man has rightly gloried in his wisdom; whether the mighty man has occasion of glory in his might, and whether the rich man has reasonable ground of glorying in his riches.This morning’s newspaper was the best commentary on our text. It shows wisdom defeated in its own ways; might in the act of suicide, and riches ruining the souls of those that coveted and secured them.And whether one is a believer in the Bible or not, whether he makes any pretense of the Christian faith, he is compelled to admit that the gods of this world, like Dagon, have fallen from their pedestal and, with their faces flat in the dust, are as ignoble as impotent.And yet, that it is right for man to glory, no one questions.

The question is, In what shall he glory? The answer to that question turns our thought toTHE GROUNDSThe knowledge of God is the most superb reason!“Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth Me (God)”. Solomon, writing to his son, and doubtless repeating the very words which he had heard from the lips of his father, said, “Get wisdom, get understanding”. “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom”. “Exalt her, and she shall promote thee: she shall bring thee to honour, when thou dost embrace her. She shall give to thine head an ornamenti of grace: a crown of glory shall she deliver to thee” (Proverbs 4:8-9).But what is wisdom; wisdom of the highest sort; wisdom of the truest sort, except to know God?Goethe knew a vast deal. He was a man of scholarship; he was acquainted with books; he enjoyed a wide observation; he was possessed of a mighty intellect; but he was a fool, just the same, and suffered in life and in death the consequences of folly. He knew not God. When he came to die he begged them to open the shutters and let in the light, and his very soul cringed before the increasing darkness.A little child on the island down here in the Mississippi river, a few years since, was dying. She knew very little of books.

She was only in her sixth or seventh year. She had traveled very little —perhaps only five miles from home.

She knew only a few people and had been acquainted with them for but a short season. The heavens above her was a mystery; the earth about her an enigma. The river that separated and flowed around her home was only a body of water, a mile long. She had never seen more; but when diphtheria was stilling the little heart, her face was a sheen. It was lighted with the light of another world, and her last words were an effective plea with her father and brother to give their hearts to God, and with the last flutter of her little heart, she laid her own little head back on the pillow and with a smile, fell asleep in Christ.Oh, what would not the great poet and philosopher Goethe have given for a wisdom like that! She knew God!

She knew Him as the Lord which exercised lovingkindness. She gloried in Him, and with outstretched arms went to Him as lovingly as my grand-babies crawl to my knees and recline on my breast.That’s knowledge!

That’s the wisdom that cometh down from Above, that is first “pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated”.It involves an appreciation of His character. It sees in Him more than a Creator. It sees in Him a Father. It accepts Him as more than mighty; it accepts Him as loving. It approaches Him as One that is as patient, as powerful; as affectionate, as infinite.There are people who stumble at the stories of the Old Testament. They read the report of how God saved Noah and his family from a flood that swept all the world, simply because Noah and his family believed God and lived righteously, and the skeptics laugh at it as a fairy-tale.They read of how the three Hebrew Children were cast into the fiery furnace, and God, in the form of the Fourth, walked with them through the flame, and even the smell of the same was not found upon their garments.They read of how Daniel was cast into the lions’ den, and of how he slept there, the night through, with safety, surrounded by the hungry, but Divinely-withheld beasts, all about him.They read of how Jonah was swallowed by a great fish and after three days coughed up alive; and they laugh at the whole thing.To them it is only a series of fish-stories.

They take no stock in any of it! They say such things do not occur now, and they reason, that such things never did occur.But, we answer, the God of old-time is the God of the present time, and He who wrought miracles once, is still working, and that to know Him is to know the One with whom all things are possible.

And in proof of this position of faith, we cite our abundant, up-to-date illustrations.We remind men that when the Duke of Alva came to Holland and was ready to slaughter a host of Christians in that low land, a tide to which he trusted his boats, expecting them to carry him to vantage points, was strangely held back for twelve hours. His purpose was defeated and the Christians were preserved.It is a matter of undisputed history that a wind rose to scatter the Armada of Spain, and on the waters of the north sea so wrecked the Armada as to save protestant England from the purposed attack.We know that John Knox, sitting one night before a window, was strangely moved to get up and take another seat. A feeling within him that compelled this shift of resting places; he could not understand, but he was obedient to it. A few minutes after he was removed, a musket ball crashed through the glass, straight through the place where he had sat, and buried itself in the opposite wall.You know that the Sultan of Turkey declared that on a certain day every missionary should be banished from his land. Christians met for prayer, and the day before, the Sultan died and his threat was never executed.Dear Mrs. Joseph Clark is now in our city, and also in this church this morning.

Her sainted husband spent fifty years on the Congo, and only passed to his Heavenly Home a year ago. I have heard him tell many a time how one day the black men, that he had taught to know and love Christ, came running to his cabin, their faces frightful with fear, and said, “White man; the warriors are coming and they will kill us all.

Take the wife and the babe and flee to the woods and we will stay behind and fight.” Joseph Clark said, “No; God lives and we will pray.”When they entered his tent to pray, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. At the end of twenty minutes in prayer, they came out; and looked and lo, a storm cloud had risen, and the boats of the warriors were not making progress, but were being driven slowly back. A few minutes later the fury of the wind was such that those boats were not only driven to the side of the lake whence they came, but with such fury did they strike the land as to wreck them, and even drown some of their occupants, and the warriors were convinced that God was with the missionaries and the Christian blacks.So convinced, in fact, that they never attempted a fresh attack upon this Christian colony.It was true when the Prophet wrote it. It is true now. It is a great thing to know God and have some appreciation of His character, His power, His wisdom, His affection for men. In fact, it is the greatest of all things.As Parker said, “If you tremble at His power without knowing His mercy, you are a pagan; if you seek to please Him as a God of intelligence, without recognizing Him as a God of purity and justice and love, you are ignorant of Him, and your ignorance is crime.

Let him that glorieth, even glorieth in God, glory in knowing God as a moral Being, as the righteous Judge, as the loving Father.”“There must not be adoration of mere power. We must not be satisfied with utterances of amazement at His majesty, wisdom, and dominion; we must go farther, get nearer, see deeper; we must know God morally, we must feel the pulsations of His heart—His heart! that dread sanctuary of righteousness, that sempiternal fount of love.”“Dear Father, to Thy mercy-seat My soul for shelter flies: ’Tis here I find a safe retreat When storms and tempests rise.

“My cheerful hope can never die, If Thou, my God, art near; Thy grace can raise my comforts high, And banish every fear.

“My great Protector, and my Lord, Thy constant aid impart; O let Thy kind, Thy gracious Word Sustain my trembling heart.

“O never let my soul remove From this Divine retreat; Still let me trust Thy power and love, And dwell beneath Thy feet.” THE ’ GROUNDSTo know God, in Christ, is to know Him best. In fact, that is why Christ came to “manifest the Father”. That is why God “took upon Him the form of a servant”. That’s why Christ could say, “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father”.It is difficult, indeed, to approach a God of holiness who dwelleth in ineffable light,—a God of absolute justice; but in Christ we see the God of compassion, the God of love, the God of sympathy, who, having been tempted in all points, like as we are, knows how to succor us in our times of temptation.Sin is a shame-faced thing. Men are compelled to look upon it when it has stained their lives with embarrassment and fear, and men are afraid to expose it to God’s eye.The broken heart is not a thing that any want to parade. The stained soul hates the glare of day.

The people who can glibly confess their faults, never feel their depth or really grieve their existence. But, somehow, God in Christ encourages us to confession, excites the soul to an undeserved sympathy, and even rouses the hope of pardon and cleansing.There are some things that become the better for being broken. It is only the broken earth that produces harvest, and the broken cloud that sends rain, and the broken alabaster box that gives forth a sweet perfume.It is when God is known in Christ that we can approach Him. “Jesus, who knows full-well The heart of every saint, Invites us all our grief to tell, To pray and never faint.

“He bows His gracious ear; We never plead in vain; Then let us wait till He appear, And pray, and pray again.

“Jesus, the Lord, will hear His chosen when they cry; Yes, though He may awhile forbear, He’ll help them from on high.

“Then let us earnest cry, And never faint in prayer; He sees, He hears, and from on high Will make our cause His care.” To know God in Christ is to hope even to please Him.The will of Christ for us is conceded to be the best will; the will that is in our behalf; and consequently the will in which we can participate; and “if any man will to do His will, he shall know of the doctrine”, Yea, more; he shall know Divine help.Christ, who was. Himself Divine, could say, “Lord, I come to do Thy will”. His character was in consonance with God’s will.Man, of himself, cannot so speak. He does not come to God to do God’s will, but God comes to him to impress and empower him to that end. If we work out our salvation, it is only because God worketh in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure.