Charles Spurgeon

And the word of the LORD came to me, asking, “Jeremiah, what do you see?” “I see a branch of an almond tree,” I replied.

“OBSERVE, first, dear Friends, that before Jeremiah becomes a speaker for God, he must be a seer.”

“Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem that this is what the LORD says: ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride, how you followed…

“BRETHREN, we may forget the past, but God does not. He says, "I remember you, the kindness of your youth."”

Go, proclaim this message toward the north: ‘Return, O faithless Israel,’ declares the LORD. ‘I will no longer look on you with anger, for I am merciful,’ declares the LORD.

“BACKSLIDERS are very many. Departing from the living God is no strange thing. Every Church has to lament many that turn aside.”

“In those days, when you multiply and increase in the land,” declares the LORD, “they will no longer discuss the ark of the covenant of the LORD.

“THIS text speaks concerning the material ark. I should like to append to that another which speaks of the ark spiritually and tells us where its antitype is to be found— "And the temple of God was opened in Hea ven and there was seen…”

“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

“SIN is quite sure to cause sorrow—and the longer the sorrow is delayed, the heavier it will be when it comes. This ship may be long at sea, but it will come home, at last, with a heavy cargo.”

“Return, O faithless children, and I will heal your faithlessness.” “Here we are. We come to You, for You are the LORD our God.

“IT is, indeed, a horrible thing that a saved soul should ever wander from its Savior. After having had so much of past sin fully and freely forgiven and, after having then made to rejoice in perfect pardon, can it ever turn away from those…”

Wash the evil from your heart, O Jerusalem, so that you may be saved. How long will you harbor wicked thoughts within you?

“ONE notices, in reading such a chapter as this fourth of Jeremiah, that the change which God required in the Jewish people was a very deep and thorough one.”

Disaster after disaster is proclaimed, for the whole land is laid waste. My tents are destroyed in an instant, my curtains in a moment.

“THE sorrow of the weeping prophet was exceeding heavy when he uttered these words of bitter lamentation.”

O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth? You struck them, but they felt no pain. You finished them off, but they refused to accept discipline.

“THE allusion is not to doctrinal Truth of God, or truth in the abstract, but to practical truth as it should exist in the hearts and lives of men. It might be read, "Lord, are not Your eyes upon truthfulness?" Or, "upon faithfulness?"”

They have not said in their hearts, ‘Let us fear the LORD our God, who gives the rains, both autumn and spring, in season, who keeps for us the appointed…

“SUCH are the climate and soil of Palestine, that all agricultural operations are most manifestly dependent upon the periodical rainfall. Hence the people speak of the weather and the crops with a more immediate reference to God than is usual with us.”

They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.

“MINISTERS ARE FEARFULLY GUILTY if they intentionally build up men in a false peace. I cannot imagine any man more greatly guilty of blood than he who plays jackal to the lion of hell, by pandering to the depraved tastes of vain, rebellious man.”

Hear, O earth! I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their own schemes, because they have paid no attention to My word and have rejected My instruction.

“Do you observe here, my Brothers and Sisters, how God declares that He would not only punish Israel for gross overt acts of sin, but that He would also bring upon the nation terrible chastisements for their thoughts?”

The bellows blow fiercely, blasting away the lead with fire. The refining proceeds in vain, for the wicked are not purged.

“THE Prophets frequently spoke in parables. They did this partly to excite the attention of their hearers. Those to whom they spoke might not have listened to didactic truth expressed in abstract terms, but when they heard mention of common things, such as bellows and…”

“The harvest has passed, the summer has ended, but we have not been saved.”

“THIS is a very mournful chapter, especially if we include in it, as we rightly should, the first verse of the ninth chapter: "O that my head were waters."”

Therefore this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Behold, I will refine them and test them, for what else can I do because of the daughter of My people?

“OBSERVE, here, that God represents Himself as greatly concerned to know what to do with His people. Of course, He speaks after the manner of men, for, as the infinitely wise God, knowing all things from the beginning, Jehovah knew what He would do.”

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots? Neither are you able to do good—you who are accustomed to doing evil.

“Jeremiah had a friend who was a black man. Ebedmelech, the Ethiopian eunuch, had a great and tender concern for Jeremiah when he was shut up in the miry prison.”

Can the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies alone send showers? Is this not by You, O LORD our God?

“THIS is an instance of amazing yet holy boldness. The Prophet had received from the Lord the explicit command, "Pray not for this people: for their good," and yet, after reasoning with God, his heart grew so warm with sacred fervor and his spirit became…”

“The sin of Judah is written with an iron stylus, engraved with a diamond point on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars.

“IN traveling in the East, inscriptions upon the rocks are often met with, which have remained almost as sharp and clear as when they were first cut by the engraver's tool.”

I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD.

“WITH what blindness has sin struck the heart of man, for man does not know his own Maker! It is implied in the text that in his heart he is ignorant of Jehovah, though in Him he lives, and moves, and has his being.”

Their leader will be one of their own, and their ruler will arise from their midst.

“I MENTIONED in the reading that there is a very remarkable change of tone in the Book of Jeremiah, at the 30th chapter.”

The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have drawn you with loving devotion.

“From the context it is clear that this passage primarily refers to God's ancient people, the natural descendants of Abraham. He chose them from of old and separated them from the nations of the world.”

No longer will each man teach his neighbor or his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares…

“TRUE knowledge of God is a Covenant blessing. To know Jehovah as the only living and true God, to know Him personally and intimately, so as to say with David, "You are my God"—this is one of the choice blessings of the Covenant of Grace…”

“Behold, I am the LORD, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?

“A Truth of God may be sincerely believed by us and yet it may do us good to have it put in the form of a question.”

I will give them one heart and one way, so that they will always fear Me for their own good and for the good of their children after them.

“THOSE of you who were present last Lord's-Day morning will remember my sermon upon "Mongrel Religion," [Sermon #1622] in which I dealt with those who feared the Lord and served other gods. Their heart was divided and, therefore, they were found faulty.”

Yes, I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul.

“WE cannot help looking for the restoration of the scattered Israelites to the land which God has given to them by a covenant of salt—we also look for the time when they shall believe in the Messiah whom they have rejected, and shall rejoice in…”