Jeremiah 23

1. It is the great end of the word preached, to bring us to a settlement in religion: (Ephesians 4:11, 13). And he gave some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the edifying of the body of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children. The word is called a hammer (J…

2. There is but one infinite being, therefore there is but one God. There cannot be two infinites (Jeremiah 23:24). Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord?

Response 1. Justification. In justification there are two things: 1. guilt is remitted, 2. righteousness is imputed (Jeremiah 23:6): The Lord our righteousness. We are reputed not only righteous, as the angels, but as Christ, having his robes put upon us (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The Cherubims were made with wings, to show the swiftness of the angels in discharge of their office: and if we cannot picture the soul, nor the persons of the angels, because they are spirits, much less can we make an image or picture of God, who is infinite, and the Father of…

Resp. But to answer, God who is infinite is in all places at once, not only by his influence, but his essence; for if his essence fills all places, then he must needs be there in person. But, Ergo, Minor in (Jeremiah 23:24). Do not I fill heaven and earth?

Quest. Wherein lies the formality or essence of our Justification? Resp. In the imputation of Christ's righteousness to us (Jeremiah 23:6). This is the name whereby you shall be called, Jehovah Tzidkennu, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.

Swearing may be called the unfruitful work of darkness; there is neither pleasure nor profit in it; it is like a hook the fish comes to without a bait. (Jeremiah 23:10). Because of swearing the land mourns. Some think it the grace of their speech; but will God reckon with men fo…

To whom then will you liken God? The Papists say, they worship God by the image; which has a great absurdity in it; for if it be absurd to bow down to the picture of the King, when the King himself is present, then much more to bow down to the image of God, when God himself is p…

Those therefore who usurp the work of the ministry without being solemnly set apart for it, discover more pride than zeal; and they can expect no blessing. Jeremiah 23:32: I sent them not, nor commanded them, therefore they shall not profit this people, says the Lord. So much fo…

The promise of healing is for them; (Isaiah 57:18). The promise of salvation, (Jeremiah 23:6). The promises are supports of faith, they are God's sealed deed, they are a Christian's cordial.

To do any treasonable action in the king's presence, is high impudence. Jeremiah 23:11. Indeed, in my house have I found their wickedness.

2. Contrition; as when ice is melted into water. This is done by the Gospel, which is as a fire to melt the heart (Jeremiah 23:9). It is the sense of abused kindness that causes contrition.

1. God's Providence reaches to all places, persons, and occurrences. 1. To all places (Jeremiah 23): Am I a God at hand, and not a God afar off? The diocese where Providence visits is very large, it reaches to heaven, to earth and sea (Psalm 107:23-24): They that go down to sea…

This second person in the Trinity, who is Jehovah, is become our Jesus. The Scripture calls him the Branch of David (Jeremiah 23:5), and I may call him the Flower of the Virgin, having assumed our nature. By him all that believe are justified (Acts 13:39).

1. Branch. It reproves such as do not God's Will; they have the knowledge of God's will, (knowledge they count an ornament) but though they know God's Will, yet they do it not. (1.) They know what God would have them avoid; they know they should not swear (Matthew 5:34), Swear n…

For the first, in Exodus 34:4-7 the Lord proclaimed his name: 'The Lord God, merciful, gracious, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin, and will by no means clear the impenitent.' For the second, I…

In which forlorn condition, what is there to be found to relieve and support this man? But only one thing, which is here held forth to him: the name of the Lord, for him to trust and stay himself upon — both that name of God (Exodus 34:6), 'The Lord God, gracious and merciful,'…

First, that God himself — who is the God of comfort — will be an abundant reward (Genesis 17:1-2). By faith we take him to be so and are divorced from all other comforts in comparison with him. Second, that Jesus Christ his Son is made the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6).…

If the head plot treason, all the body is guilty; but Christ is made to us righteousness (1 Corinthians 1:30). Indeed it is this righteousness only, in which we can stand before the justice of God (Jeremiah 23:6). This is the name whereby he shall be called, The Lord our righteo…

1. There is his universal presence, whereby he is in all places. Jer. 23. 23. Do not I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord? This is no priviledge at all; for this universal presence is with the damned, they have the presence of his power and justice.

I grant it was not that righteousness of God through faith (Philippians 3); yet it was a fruit and infallible sign of that righteousness, and such as did prove them to be in Christ. And 2. all our acts of sanctification are no acts, no infallible marks of justification to my sou…

Now he was made King, not on such terms, as he might destroy all his subjects, (for all mankind are his subjects to Arminians.) But he is made King (Psalm 72:11) that all nations may serve him; that he should deliver the poor, needy, and helpless; and redeem their souls from vio…

It is God's prerogative to know the inward motions and thoughts of the heart, whether they be sincere or no in their professions of dependence and subjection. So omnipresent, that he may be ready at hand to help us and relieve us (Jeremiah 23:23-24). Am I a God at hand, and not…

4. God sees in secret, therefore closet-prayer is a solemn acknowledgment of God's omniscience and omnipresence: When you pray in a corner you testify your faith in God's ubiquity, and look upon him as filling Heaven and Earth; and this God commands us to believe, indeed would h…

Sixthly, whereas Paul says, Every man must bear his own burden, he meets with the profaneness and Atheism of our time, when men make a mock at the day of judgment, and the strict account that every man is to give for himself. The Jews were used to feast at the threatenings of Go…

He also commanded the fathers to be often recording of it to their children, and to continue the remembrance of it to their successors. This therefore must be taken by way of comparison: as in Jeremiah; Behold the days come, says the Lord, that they shall say no more, The Lord w…

When a wise Man speaks in the Exercise of his Wisdom, there is something in every thing he says, that is very distinguishable from the Talk of a little Child. So, without doubt, and much more, is the Speech of GOD, (if there be any such Thing as the Speech of GOD,) to be disting…

Hence the word is used to express madness, because madness is the height of folly, being without any seasoning, without any temper, a thing that has no taste of wisdom or goodness in it. (Jeremiah 23:13): I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria — that is, they are unsavory,…

The Immensity of his essence, and his Omnipresence is of the same consideration. Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord, Jeremiah 23:24. The heavens, even the heavens of heavens, the supreme and most comprehensive created being cannot contain him, says Solomon.

2. From whom it comes, it's from him, her being his love, makes her like the lily. 3. The nearness of the mystical union, that is between Christ and his Bride; it is such, that thereby they some way share names (Jeremiah 23:6 and Jeremiah 33:16). 3. He intermixes her beauty and…

3. The arguments he uses for prevailing with her. By knocking is understood the inward touches of the Word upon the conscience, when the efficacy of the Spirit goes along, which raps at the Bride's heart, as knocking does at a door, and is the means of awaking her from spiritual…

In the exhortation or invitation, consider: 1. the party invited, or called. 2. The duty called for. 3. Its repetition. The party called, is a Shulamite: this word comes either from Solomon, as the husband's name is named over the wife (Isaiah 4:1), and it is from the same root…

For no man takes this honor to himself, but he that is called of God, as the Apostle subjoins (verse 4). And therefore God complains of those prophets whom he had not sent, and yet they ran; and to whom he had not spoken, and yet they prophesied (Jeremiah 23:21). Audacious, unde…

But now the righteousness that we are dependent on is not in ourselves, but in God. We are saved through the righteousness of Christ: he is made unto us righteousness; and therefore is prophesied of, Jeremiah 23:6, under that name of the Lord our Righteousness. In that the right…

Your Word has quickened me. If you find your hearts hard, the Word does liquefy and melt them; therefore is compared to fire for its mollifying power (Jeremiah 23:29). If you are poisoned with sin, here is an herb to expel it.

"And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots." Jeremiah 23:5, "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise up unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper." So chapter 33:15, "In those days…

1. He is exceeding excellent and desirable in his deity, and the glory thereof. He is Jehovah our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). In the rejoicing of Zion at his coming to her, this is the bottom, Behold your God (Isaiah 40:9).

Is he weak? Christ is the power of God, and the wisdom of God (1 Corinthians 1:24, 30). Has he the sense of guilt upon him? Christ is complete righteousness, the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). Many poor creatures are sensible of their wants, but know not where their rem…

Hence said the spouse, "My beloved is mine": in all that he is, he is mine. Because he is righteousness, he is the Lord our righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6). Because he is the wisdom of God, and the power of God, he is made unto us wisdom, and so on (1 Corinthians 1:30).

Something there is moreover to be done in respect of us, if after the slaying of the enmity and reconciliation made we shall enjoy life; being reconciled by his death: we are saved by that perfect obedience which in his life he yielded to the law of God. There is distinct mentio…

Section 10. But that he had, and has done so, he declares, Jeremiah 23. How long shall this be in the heart of the Prophets that Prophesy lies? that are Prophets of the deceit of their own heart; which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams, which they tell e…

In the Lord shall we have Righteousness and Strength: In the Lord shall all the Seed of Israel be justified and shall glory, Isaiah 45:24, 25. And the Prophet Jeremiah expressly calls Christ the Lord our Righteousness, Jeremiah 23:6. The Promise of Sanctification by the Spirit o…

Childish minds, we have been so often gulled, and yet never grow wiser, still bewitched and deluded with dreams, a deceived heart (a mocked or deluded heart) has turned him aside, etc., when we think we are surest, have that hand that holds fastest, our right hand upon some good…

In regard of his essence, he is in all places, being infinite and indivisible: He is not included within the heavens, nor excluded from earth, but fills all places alike. (Jeremiah 23:24) Do not I fill heaven and earth? says the Lord. But yet in an especial manner is God present…

4. They speak one to another in a bad sence, who instead of seasoning their words with Grace, mix them with Oaths. Swearers rend and tear Gods Name, and like mad Dogs fly in the face of Heaven, Jeremiah 23:10. Because of swearing the Land mourns.

Proverbs 4:23: Out of it are the issues of life; it is the forge of spirits. He dwells not in temples made with hands (Acts 7:48), and Jeremiah 23:24: Do not I fill heaven and earth, says the Lord? He will dwell in your heart and remain there, if you will give your heart to him.

If you do not consider, God will make you consider before he has done with you. (Jeremiah 23:20) The anger of the Lord shall not return, till he has performed all the thoughts of his heart: And then you shall consider it perfectly. God will follow blow after blow, till we do con…

[I do not forget.] That is, I do not decline from, or neglect my duty: as Hebrews 13:16, To distribute and communicate forget not; that is, neglect it not. As on God's part, when he will not perform what belongs to him, being hindered by our disobedience, he threatens to forget…

5. It proves sin the worst and greatest of evils, that Christ is the best and greatest of Saviors, and his salvation the best and greatest salvation: he came to save sinners, and to save them, not from the petty evils of sickness, affliction, and persecution, but from sin, the g…

So the Lord is said then to dwell in the soul, when he vouchsafes the constant expression of his peculiar presence and assistance to the soul. True it is that the Lord fills heaven and earth with his presence, indeed, the heaven of heavens is not able to contain him (Jeremiah 23…