CoNOLUBioN. 1. Welcome the smart and pain of sorrow for sin. 2. Dread that apathy which it so common in the slaves of sin. 3. Remember that it is only as the Lord turn* us that our conversion is genuine and real. — C.
cH. XXXI. 1—40.^ THE Book OF THE PRO? HET JEREMIAH. 37
Ver. 18. — Our yokes. I. That which is hard and yoke-lilce is appointed for ug alL
II. The reason of this appointment is that thereby we may reuder service which otherwise we could not.
III. That to refaseor resist this yoke will bring down the chastisements of Ood.
IV. That until we are really turned to God by his grace we shall so resist.
V. We do not cease Irom such folly without great pain. " I have . . . heard Ephraim bemoaning himself."
YI. In that pain is our hope.— Oi
Ver. 19. — Oonversiim and repentaTice. L Both thesb abk told of hebb. Conver- sion is. It is spoken of as " being turned " and " instructed." Bepentance is. It is spoken of plainly, and again figuratively : " I smote upon my thigh." This is a common mode of expressing indignation and grief.
II. And bepentance is said to come aftbb conversion. And this is ever so. Not that there is no repentance prior to conversion. There is, and a genuine one. The "bemoaning" spoken of in the previous verse tells of that repentance which comes prior to conversion. But the true, deep, abiding repentance comes after. It consists, not so much in some passionate outburst of sorrow over sin, but in a settled hatred of it, and a remembrance ever with shame of the time when we allowed ourselves in it. In proportion as we see the love of God in Christ will this repentance deepen. It is in the light of that love that sin takes on its daikest hue. And if it be not so, then our conversion, our turning, our beinj instructed, has been apparent, not real. For —
III. Thbre may be bepentance without conversion. We find many instances in Scripture of transgressors saying, " I have sinned," and their words were true, and fflt to bo true by themselves. They were the utterance of grief and real distress ; but because such repentance never roused the energies of the will to resolve on tlie abandon- ment of the sin, therefore, thou<rh there was repentance, it led to no ci inversion. And even a true repentance in its initial stages, and until it has led the soul really to God, exists without conversion. It is a most solemn fact that there can be real distress about sin, and yet no forsaking of it. And if sin be not forsaken, then this distress, which is God's distinct call to turn unto him and live, grows fainter and fainter with every repetition of the sin.
IV. And there mat be the fruits of conversion without repentanok. There may be the hatred of sin, the love of goodness and of God, without the previous process of conversion. The gift of regeneration is essential to every soul, but some regenerate ones are kept by the grace of God from ever needing that deep repentance which is essential to conversion. It is possible to grow up in the kingdom of God, never to go away from the Father's house. 'I'hat does not mean to be faultless, but to live, as the settled tenor of one's life, in love, obedience, and trust. These are the most blessed ones, who are " kept from the evil that it should not hurt them," to whom the Father will say, " Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is ihine." But —
V. Generally there has deen both in God's saved ones. Tnerefore it is safer for the most of us to conclude that we need both, and to seek both from him who is "exalted to give repentaLice and remission of sins." And let us not be content witli repentance alone, unless it lead on to conversion, nor let us deem our conversion genuine unless it cause, as here in this verse, our repentance to deepen more and more.— 0.
Vers. 31 — 34. — The new covenant. The consideration of this new covenant will enable us to understand how it is that, whilst many Christian men are at peace and content in regard to their justification before God and their aoceijtance with him, they are very far from content in regard to their attainment in Christian character and their practical sanctification. The reason is that, whilst they are content simply to look in laith to Christ for the former, they forget that this is precisely the condition of the latter also. Hence they are for ever struggling and making good resolves, labouring earnestly to conquer this sin and that and to win one and another as yet unwon grace. But the new covenant is a promise, is the assurance indeed, that God has taken the matter of our salvation into his own hands. It is all of grace; he gives everything; DOtniug 1« left to our own solitary efiorc. If we read over the words of the covenant
88 THE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH, [oh. xxu. 1— 40.
as they are given here from first to last, theve is not a single word about anything to be done by us. The whole covenant is not so much between man and his Maker ai between Jehovah and man's Representative, the Lord Jesus Christ. The human Bide of the covenant has been already fulfilled by Jesus, and there remains nothing now but (he covenant of giving, not the covenant of requirements. The whole covenant with iTgard to us, the pfople of God, now stands tlius : " I will give this ; I u ill bestow that ; I will fulfil this promise; I will grant tliat favour." The old covenant said, "Do this, and thou shalt live." The new says, "I will do all." In considering this new covenant, note —
I. Its bKsemblanoeb to the old. 1. Both are based on the goodneu of another. The Jew in the old covenant knew that it was for Abraham's sake he had been chosen and called and privileged above all other nations. And that our privileges are all " for Christ's sake " is among the alphabet of the truths of the faith we hold. 2. Both dema/nd fitness and preparation for the enjoyment of the blessings they promise. For the Jew, obedience to the Law of God was tlje condition of his entering into and living happily in the land God had promised to his fathers. Because they failed in this obedience, the carcases of a whole generation of them ftU in the wilderness. And for the Christian, faith is the imperative condition. " He that believeth shall be saved, aud h(! that believeth not shall be damned." 3. Both gave help and direction for the ftdfilment of these conditions. To Israel was given an external Law ; to the Christian, an indwelling Spirit. Hence most fitly was the gift of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost; for that day commemorated the giving of the Law on Mount Sinai. It was fitting, therefore, that the giving of the new law of the new life should be on the day that told of the giving ot the law for the old life.