Sharper Iron — A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build: Chiseled in Stone

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Rev. Peter Ill, pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Millstadt, IL, joins host Rev. Timothy Appel to study Jeremiah 17:1-13.

Judah’s sin is permanently engraved into their hearts. Though this writing is unseen to human eyes, their idolatrous sacrifices at numerous altars and high places shows the depth of their depravity. For this idolatry, the LORD will cast them out of the land. What hope is there for Judah? To trust in man and his strength is to look for life in the desert. Only those who trust in the LORD will be planted as a tree that survives heat and drought because of nourishment that comes from the LORD. Man’s heart is only sick and deceitful; the LORD sees this reality. Yet He remains the only hope of Israel. If they are to survive, the LORD’s people must look to His throne on high, for from Him flow streams of living water.

“A Time to Destroy and a Time to Build” is a mini-series on Sharper Iron that goes through the book of Jeremiah. The prophet calls the people of Judah and Jerusalem to repent of their faithless idolatry and warns them of the destruction that is coming in the Babylonian exile. Yet Jeremiah does not leave us without hope in the midst of such dark days. Jeremiah and all who believe the Word of God he preached survive because of hope that is found in the righteous Branch from the line of David, Jesus Christ.

Sharper Iron, hosted by Rev. Timothy Appel, looks at the text of Holy Scripture both in its broad context and its narrow detail, all for the sake of proclaiming Christ crucified and risen for sinners. Two pastors engage with God’s Word to sharpen not only their own faith and knowledge, but the faith and knowledge of all who listen.

Sharper Iron is underwritten by Lutheran Church Extension Fund, where your investments help support the work of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod. Visit lcef.org.

Jeremiah 17:1-13

The Sin of Judah

17 “The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron; with a point of diamond it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars, 2 while their children remember their altars and their Asherim, beside every green tree and on the high hills, 3 on the mountains in the open country. Your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 4 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.”

5 Thus says the Lord:
“Cursed is the man who trusts in man
and makes flesh his strength,[a]
whose heart turns away from the Lord.
6 He is like a shrub in the desert,
and shall not see any good come.
He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness,
in an uninhabited salt land.

7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
whose trust is the Lord.
8 He is like a tree planted by water,
that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

9 The heart is deceitful above all things,
and desperately sick;
who can understand it?
10 “I the Lord search the heart
and test the mind,[b]
to give every man according to his ways,
according to the fruit of his deeds.”

11 Like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch,
so is he who gets riches but not by justice;
in the midst of his days they will leave him,
and at his end he will be a fool.

12 A glorious throne set on high from the beginning
is the place of our sanctuary.
13 O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake you shall be put to shame;
those who turn away from you[c] shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.

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Footnotes

Jeremiah 17:5 Hebrew arm

Jeremiah 17:10 Hebrew kidneys

Jeremiah 17:13 Hebrew me