In 591 BC there was terrible trouble in the Middle East. The Babylonians,
led by King Nebuchadnezzar, had attacked and occupied the land of Judah and the
city of Jerusalem. The people there were in great danger and as the months went
by things got no better. As they looked out on their beseiged city they summed
up the situation in some dramatic words, which the preacher, Jeremiah, records
for us in Jeremiah 8:20. They said, in effect, ‘Another year has come and gone,
another summer is past and over, another harvest has been gathered in, but still
we are not saved from our terrible plight at the hands of the Babylonians.’
This is also a perfect description of the spiritual state of so many
people who are not Christians.
A. What does it mean ‘not saved’ ?
1.
We are still not saved from the guilt of sin. All of us, without exception,
have done wrong against God and are guilty of sin. The Christian is a person
whose sin has been completely pardoned, but the non-Christian is still not saved
from it.
2. We are are still not saved from the grip of sin. Just
as these people in Jeremiah’s day were in the grip, in a physical sense, of the
hostile Babylonian army, so vast numbers today are in the grip of sin.
Christians have been set free from it, but many have not.
3.
Worst of all, this phrase ‘not saved’ means we are still in danger from the
punishment of sin. The teaching of the Bible is that God is perfectly just and
holy and hates sin. If we go on sinning against him in spite of all his warnings
then one day we will be judged by him and sent away to eternal punishment in
hell. The Christian is a person who has been saved from that, but if we are not
Christians then we are still in danger.
B. Why had another harvest
past, and summer come and gone and still no deliverance? Why are so many
thousands in Great Britain today still not saved?
1. Because
they refused to believe the plain Word of God (verse 9). The same is true today.
The Bible says very clearly that we’re all guilty sinners in urgent need of
forgiveness. The Word of God says that there’s only one way to be saved and
that’s through faith in Christ. But men and women will not accept the Bible’s
message.
2.
Because they’ve been deceived by
false teachers (verses 10-11). There were false religious leaders in Jerusalem
who deceived the people with a nice soothing, message. They told them there was
nothing to worry about when in fact they were in dire straits. That’s another
reason why many people today are still not saved. They have been deceived by
false teachers who say that sin is not serious, that hell is not real and all
will get to heaven in the end.
3. Because they thought it was
quite sufficient to have a formal attachment to Jerusalem and the temple (verse
19). Many today who are still unsaved for the very same reason. They think it’s
quite sufficient to have just an outward, formal attachment to some church. They
see no need to turn to Christ and plead with him for pardon.
4.
Because they are so taken up with doing their own thing that they could not
be bothered to think about God or their souls (verse 6). They just went on
blindly pursuing their own pleasures, like horses charging into battle. That’s a
perfect description of so many today. The judgment day is getting nearer. The
nation is on the verge of moral collapse. You would think that men and women
would begin to be serious about about their souls and how to get right with God,
before the end comes. We listen carefully, longing to hear people repenting of
their sin and turning to God, but sadly they go on living for self.
Have
we ever realised that we are unsaved? It’s one of the most important discoveries
we can ever make. It’s the first step in being saved.
C. How can we
be saved.
Is there anyone who can forgive ours sins, save us
from hell and put us right with God? That was the question that Jeremiah asked
in verse 22. Thank God there is and that is Lord Jesus Christ. How is he able to
save us? He was and is the Son of God, and from all eternity in the past he had
lived with God in heaven but two thousand years ago he left heaven and came to
this world as a man. He lived a perfect life, but when he was 33 years old he
was seized by jealous religious leaders and was put to death on a wooden cross
just outside Jerusalem. But when he died, he did something amazing. He actually
endured, the punishment which was due to our sin. That how and why the Lord
Jesus Christ can save us. Nobody else
can!