DISCOURSE: 1053
HOW TO PLEAD WITH GOD
Jeremiah 14:20-21. We acknowledge, O Lord, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee. Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake; do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.
“LORD, teach us to pray,” was the request of the Apostles to their Lord and Master: and may Almighty God teach us to pray, whilst we consider the passage we have just read. Here is prayer indeed, such as it becomes us all to offer; and such as we shall surely offer, if ever we be duly sensible of our state before God. It was offered by the prophet in a season of great affliction. The whole land was in the utmost distress by reason of a drought, which put a total stop to vegetation, and destroyed all the fruits of the earth: and the prophet was assured, that that distress would speedily become extreme by means of the Chaldeans, who would invade the country, and desolate Jerusalem with the sword and famine. Under these circumstances, he was commanded not to pray for the people, since the measure of their iniquities was full [Note: ver. 10, 11.], But, like Moses of old [Note: Exodus 32:10-11.], the prophet could not forbear: he first indeed warned the people of the judgments which God was about to inflict upon them [Note: ver. 15–18.], and then, in a most earnest and humble manner, pleaded with God in their behalf [Note: ver. 19–22.].
We propose,
I. To explain this prayer of the prophet—
His acknowledgments are plain and easy to be understood—
[He confesses, as he might well do, the sins of the whole nation; as well those contracted by their ancestors, as those which they had themselves committed: and he entreats God “not to abhor them” on account of their extreme wickedness. Now this expression, whilst it marked his sense of their vileness, had particular reference to what God himself had threatened by Moses, and to what he had promised also in the event of their humbling of themselves before him [Note: Leviticus 26:10-12, with 27–30; in both of which passages especial mention is made of famine as connected with God’s abhorrence.]. Hence, in the verse before the text, the prophet asks, “Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion?”]
His pleas require some explanation—
[Being exceedingly earnest in his petitions, he offers the most powerful pleas that could possibly be urged: he entreats God to have mercy on them for his own sake, and to shew regard to the honour of his name, the glory of his administration, and the sanctity of his engagements.
The first of these pleas, the honour of God name, is frequently urged in the Holy Scriptures [Note: Joshua 7:9; Psalms 79:9-10.], and is particularly acceptable to God; who “is jealous for his holy name [Note: Ezekiel 39:25.],” and delights to sanctify it” in the sight of an ungodly world [Note: Ezekiel 36:21-23.].
The second of these pleas involves in it somewhat of greater difficulty. The words, “Do not disgrace the throne of thy glory,” are generally interpreted as importing no more than this;” ‘Do not give up the city and temple into the hands of the enemy.’ The words will undoubtedly bear this sense: for both the city and the temple are represented as God’s throne [Note: Jeremiah 3:17; Jeremiah 17:12. See this latter in particular.]; and he threatens to give them up into the hands of his enemies to be polluted and defiled by them [Note: Ezekiel 7:21-22.]. But, if we attend to the manner in which this petition is introduced, we shall see that it is, like that which precedes, and that which follows it, a plea; in which view its sense will be, ‘Thou art our King, who art engaged to provide for and protect thy people; and if thou give up the city and the temple into the hands of our enemies, as thou hast threatened, thy government will be dishonoured; and they will say, that thou art not able to afford them the succour which thou hast promised them.’ In this view the passage exactly accords with the plea urged by Moses [Note: Numbers 14:13-16.], and with that also which Jeremiah himself has urged more fully, and in the very same connexion, in the preceding part of this chapter [Note: ver. 7–9.].
The last of these pleas reminds God of his covenant, which he cannot, and will not, break. This must doubtless refer to the covenant of grace, which God made with Abraham and with all his believing people to the end of time [Note: Galatians 3:16.]. The national covenant that was made with Moses was broken, and annulled; because all the conditions of it had been violated: but “the better covenant” which was made with God in Christ, is “ordered in all things and sure [Note: 2 Samuel 23:5.].” and by it “the promise is made sure to all the seed [Note: Romans 4:16.].” That covenant is “confirmed by the oath of Jehovah, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us [Note: Hebrews 6:17-18.].” This covenant God had engaged never to break [Note: Psalms 89:35.]; and therefore the prophet urged the inviolability of it as a motive with God to fulfil to his people, notwithstanding their unworthiness, all which of his own grace and mercy he had promised to them. In this view God himself had promised to regard his covenant [Note: Leviticus 26:41-42.]: and in this view the plea in our text may be considered as expressing what is more diffusely stated by the Prophet Isaiah [Note: Isaiah 63:15-19.]
Having stated what may be considered as the import of the prayer, we proceed,
II.
To point out some important lessons contained in it—
We shall confine ourselves to two;
1. The true nature of a sinner’s humiliation—
[Nothing can give us a more just idea of humiliation than the prophet’s expression of it in our text. It necessarily implies an ingenuous confession of our sins, and of our desert on account of them. Think of the expression, “Abhor us not:” what a sense of extreme unworthiness does it convey! Yet is it not at all too strong: we are all, both by nature and practice, exceeding vile [Note: Job 40:4.]; and ought, like Job, to “abhor ourselves in dust and ashes [Note: Job 42:6.]”. Indeed this will be the state of every one that is truly penitent: he will look upon himself as “filthy and abominable [Note: Psalms 14:3.],” and will “lothe himself for all his iniquities, and for all his abominations [Note: Ezekiel 36:31.].” Every attempt to cloke or palliate our offences argues a want of humility, and operates to the exclusion of our souls from the Divine favour. We must be like convicted lepers in our own estimation, and justify our God in whatever sentence he may denounce against us [Note: Psalms 51:4.]
2. The proper grounds of a sinner’s encouragement—
[Though we may justly acknowledge the work of Divine grace in us, and may give glory to God for whatever change he may have wrought in our hearts, yet we must not regard any thing of our own as a ground for our confidence in God: we must look for all our grounds of encouragement in God alone, even in his infinite perfections, and in the covenant which he has made with us in the Son of his love. When David was overwhelmed with trouble, we are told, “he encouraged himself in the Lord his God.” And this is what we are to do. In the prayer which the prophet offered, he drew all his pleasures from the honour and fidelity of his God. And what encouragement can we want, if we only contemplate God as he is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures? As a mighty Sovereign, his grace is his own, and he may grant it to whomsoever he will; yea, and his sovereignty will be the more displayed and glorified, in the communication of grace to the very chief of sinners, and in making “his grace to abound, where sin has most abounded.” The comfort to be derived from the contemplation of his love and mercy need not be stated; because that is obvious to the most inconsiderate mind. But even justice itself affords rich encouragement to a repenting sinner: for, has not an atonement been made for sin? and has not the Lord Jesus Christ discharged the debt of all those who trust in him? No doubt then, the justice of God, which has been satisfied by the ransom which his own Son has paid for us, will liberate us from our bondage, and restore us to all the privileges which his own Son has purchased for us. As he can be “a just God and yet a Saviour,” so he will be just to his own Son, in shewing mercy to us for Christ’s sake. Above all, his fidelity to his covenant-engagements leaves us no ground for fear; for never, since the foundation of the world, did one sinner perish who laid hold on his covenant, and rested in it as “all his salvation and all his desire.”]
Let me in conclusion be permitted to ask,
1.
Have you ever pleaded with God in this manner—
[Alas! if God were now to order those who have pleaded thus with him to be sealed on their foreheads, and all the rest to be smitten dead upon the spot [Note: Ezekiel 9:1-6.], what an awful spectacle would this place exhibit! Yet such a distinction will be made in the day of judgment. Beloved Brethren, consider this: and “judge yourselves, that ye be not judged of the Lord” — — — Shall it be said, that such pleadings are not necessary? What! were they judged necessary by the prophet for the averting of temporal judgments; and shall they not be for the averting of such as are eternal? Truly they are necessary for every child of man: nor can we hope to obtain mercy with God, unless we seek him thus with our whole hearts.]
2. Have you ever pleaded thus with God in vain—
[Never did God turn a deaf ear to one who sought him in this manner: “Never said he to any man, Seek ye my face in vain!” If any say that they have prayed, and yet not received an answer, we reply, that either they have never pleaded in this manner the perfections and the promises of God; or, an answer has been given, but has been overlooked. God cannot refuse an answer to a broken-hearted suppliant. He may answer in a way that we do not expect; or be may delay his answer with a view to our greater good: but as he has promised to grant such petitions as are offered up in faith, so will we affirm, in the presence of the whole universe, that “every one that asketh, receiveth; and he that seeketh, findeth; and to him that knocketh, it shall be opened [Note: Matthew 7:7-8.].”]