Refusing to Be Ashamed of Sin

Topic: Confession

Passage: Jeremiah 3:1–10

July 23, 2022

Commentary

Jeremiah concludes his first message by exposing Judah’s spiritual unfaithfulness. God’s law taught that a wife who left her husband and joined herself to another should not return to her first husband. Yet God, in His great mercy, still invited Judah to return to Him. The people had turned away from God and followed many false gods. Scripture says they had played the harlot with many lovers (v. 1). Their sin affected not only their own lives, but also the land around them. Because of their wickedness, the land became polluted before God, bringing spiritual emptiness, brokenness, and separation from His truth and blessing for many generations. Their hearts hardened against God.

Even then, God showed patience and mercy toward them. Instead of bringing immediate destruction, He withheld the rain as a warning (vv. 3–5). God was correcting them gently so they would repent and return to Him. Yet the people refused to be ashamed of their sin. Though they spoke words about following God, their hearts still desired sinful ways. This reveals how people may appear outwardly religious while remaining unchanged inwardly, refusing to turn back to God with sincerity and humility. God desires truthful hearts.

God then compared Israel and Judah as two sisters (vv. 6–10). Israel had sinned greatly and refused to return to the Lord, so judgment came upon her. Judah saw what happened to Israel, yet she continued in the same sins. Judah added hypocrisy to her rebellion by pretending to return to God while still living in sin. This passage reminds us that God sees beyond outward actions and looks at the heart. He desires true repentance, honest confession, and a sincere relationship with Him, not empty words or false appearances before others today and always.

Application

On the condition of my heart today. Do my actions match my words? Am I ignoring sin while appearing faithful outwardly? Do I respond when God corrects me? Am I pursuing a sincere relationship with God instead of living with empty religion and false appearances? Do I allow God to change my heart completely each day?

Jeremiah 3:1–10 (NET)

¹ “If a man divorces his wife and she leaves him and becomes another man’s wife, he may not take her back again. Doing that would utterly defile the land. But you, Israel, have given yourself as a prostitute to many gods. So what makes you think you can return to me?” says the Lord.

² “Look up at the hilltops and consider this. Where have you not been ravished? You waited for those gods like a thief lying in wait in the wilderness. You defiled the land by your wicked prostitution to other gods.

³ That is why the rains have been withheld and the spring rains have not come. Yet in spite of this you are obstinate as a prostitute. You refuse to be ashamed of what you have done.

⁴ Even now you say to me, ‘You are my father! You have been my faithful companion ever since I was young.

⁵ You will not always be angry with me, will you? You will not be mad at me forever, will you?’ That is what you say, but you continually do all the evil that you can.”

⁶ When Josiah was king of Judah, the Lord said to me, “Jeremiah, you have no doubt seen what wayward Israel has done. You have seen how she went up to every high hill and under every green tree to give herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁷ Yet even after she had done all that, I thought that she might come back to me. But she did not. Her sister, unfaithful Judah, saw what she did. ⁸ She also saw that, because of wayward Israel’s adulterous worship of other gods, I sent her away and gave her divorce papers. But still her unfaithful sister Judah was not afraid, and she too went and gave herself like a prostitute to other gods. ⁹ Because she took her prostitution so lightly, she defiled the land through her adulterous worship of gods made of wood and stone. ¹⁰ In spite of all this, Israel’s sister, unfaithful Judah, has not turned back to me with any sincerity; she has only pretended to do so,” says the Lord.

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