What would this inspire Jeremiah to preach? What would it illustrate as he preached to the people? It spoke to Jeremiah himself about the way he should work for the Lord. He must keep close to him. The girdle, the undergarment, represents Israel and Judah, and all who would depend on the Lord. The closeness of God’s people to the Lord. That was the privilege extended to the Jews. It is so close that wearer goes nowhere without it. If that undergarment goes anywhere near Assyria or Babylon or Egypt, to make a deal with them, it will result in their ruin. This is what Jeremiah condemns in chapter 2:18, 36. What are you doing? says God to the people, going to Egypt or to Assyria? I will surely judge you for this – compromising with the world, with other people, forsaking me and not trusting exclusively in me.
It is helpful to us also. The message and the meaning is this: in all we do for the Lord we must trust him. We don’t use worldly methods; we don't compromise with the world. We trust him! If you become detached from the Lord, and communion with him, you will soon be fit for nothing and, who knows, he may cast you off altogether, not as a child of God, but as an instrumental servant of God. The apostle Paul watched himself so closely so that after he had preached to others, he himself would not become a castaway, not lose his salvation, but castaway as an instrument or a servant of God. Therefore, every day we worship God. We commit our day to him in the morning, however briefly; we come to him at night. The first line of Watts’ hymn, based on Psalm 141 says: ‘O Lord, accept my prayers, my vows, earnest and sweet in morning hours. And let my nightly worship rise, fragrant as evening sacrifice.’ Every morning, even if your devotional time is in the evening, you must still have a few sentences of dedication and commitment and praise to the Lord, and dependence upon him. Every evening come and confess your sins. Thank him for the day. Stay close to him, give him your life. Carry out your ministry of intercession. Thank him, depend on him, trust him. Bring your needs before him. Don't detach yourself from him and plant yourself in the soil of Euphrates in Assyria, adopting anything from the world.
You look at our churches today, even many Bible believing churches. You open the doors, and what is the chief characteristic? Pride, showbiz pride, musicians proud of their compositions, proud of their instrumentality, proud of their performance. It is pride everywhere. Preachers in the latest designer clothing often, narcissists proud of their appearance, churches now designed to look like theatres, places of display rather than any kind of place of worship. It's all come in to the church. Here the fall of Judah and Jerusalem is due to the flesh coming in. They wanted things that they could do and boast of and admire, and they turned away from the Scriptures and their invisible God.
Sometimes we are foolish: ‘I cannot be backslidden. I am born again.’ Maybe we have had a dramatic conversion. It is strange how the devil plays tricks. It is not enough to pray each day of the same sins and never do anything about them. We cannot give up repenting. Is the word speaking constantly to us, so that we long to advance, or have I known that brother and he has always been short tempered? Some are very rude and if you say something, they answer, ‘That is my way.’ We have to consider ourselves.