Jeremiah 07 - Preaching at the Temple Gate - Jeremiah 7-8

[Music] let's open our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter seven please Jeremiah chapter seven father we thank you for your word and we pray if your blessing upon it tonight we pray that you would prepare our hearts to receive something that will be of eternal benefit to us do it Lord we pray in Jesus name Amen Jeremiah chapter 7 beginning at verse 1 the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord saying stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaimed there this word and say hear the word of the Lord all you of Judah who enter in at these gates to worship the Lord thus says the Lord God of Israel amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place do not trust in these lying words saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord are these Jeremiah the Prophet was called of God to speak to the southern kingdom of Judah after the Northern Kingdom of Israel had already been called away into captivity and with God told Jeremiah to speak to Judah he did it in a time beginning with which would seem to be a time of national revival under the King Josiah and there were some good things that happened in Judah under Josiah but it seems that much of the work that happened turned out to be superficial in its character and so much of what God had Jeremiah the Prophet do was confront this superficial faith this superficial religion and in confronting that superficial faith now God told me to do something pretty dramatic to stand at the temple gates and to cry out a sermon to the crowds who were coming in to worship at the temple so can you just picture that seed in your mind picture Jeremiah he's a relatively young man I don't think this is at the very start of his ministry but probably not too far along this 40-year career as a profit so a fairly young man standing near the gate of the temple and as the thousands of people who come many Bible scholars believe this must have happened at or near a feast time when many people were going up to the temple it's it's not proven in the text but it would make sense if that were the case and he's crying out to them confronting them with the superficiality of their faith in the Living God now what's very interesting is in Jeremiah chapter 26 he also preaches a sermon at the gates and what we don't exactly know is if that is a same sermon described here in chapter 7 or if it's a different sermon that he preached at the temple gates my inclination is to think that it's a different sermon but it might have been the same the one that's recorded in Jeremiah chapter 26 is given a particular time marker it's said to have happened in the first few years of the reign of Jehoiakim the successor to Josiah so I don't know exactly if this is the same sermon or just one repeated in the same place but the theme grabs us do you see what the theme was look at it there in verse 4 do not trust in these lying words saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord in other words the mentality of the people in Judah and Jerusalem at that time was simply this hey we're okay we got the temple God won't allow his temple to be destroyed I find it fascinating they had such a carnal confidence in the temple believing that because God had spared the temple before and he had spared the temple before more than a hundred years before this time a mighty a syrian army under the leadership of a general named Sennacherib came against Jerusalem and surrounded it and looked like he was about to destroy it and God sent an avenging angel who in one night slayed a hundred thousand Assyrian soldiers he miraculously delivered Jerusalem so maybe they look to the Past maybe they look to promises that said that God would set his name on his house and that God would protect it they said hey man we're good we're good we got the temple God will never allow his temple to be destroyed and God said no don't go around saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord friends I think this is a very strap challenging thing for us are we not tempted to put a trust in external things friends I hope nobody goes around saying I'm a Kerry Chapel I'm a Kerry Chapel I'm a Calvary Chapel thinking that that's somehow makes you right with God I'm an American I'm an American I'm an American I'm of this political party this political party this political party as of those things were to make you right with God no no I think somebody would have more merit saying the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord and God said forget about it look at what he says there in verse 3 amend your ways and your doings and I will cause you to dwell in this place I don't want you to say words I want you to dress your life you've been in sin you need to repent and look at the real repentance that God looks for them to do verse 5 for if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings if you thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor if you do not oppress the stranger the fatherless and the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place or walk after other gods to your hurt then I will cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your father's for ever and ever mend your ways now once you notice the things that he listed for them to do in a real demonstration of repentance execute judgment between a man in his neighbor do not oppress the stranger the fatherless and the widow don't shed innocent blood and then the next one the fourth one is or walk after other gods to your herd did you notice for accuse me three of the four have to do with how you treat your fellow man only one of them was primarily religious and character having to do with how you act towards God friends God cares very much how we treat one another you could almost find a corollary to this in first John we're in first John and I'll paraphrase some of the ideas from first John you can read through the book and read it easily for yourself but some of the ideas from first John runs something like this don't say you love God when you hate your brother nobody can really say they love God and hate their brother at the same time and sometimes we get this mentality don't going don't we oh man I really love the Lord it's just all those people I can't stand well friend who do you think is gonna be with you in heaven all those people that you said you couldn't get along with on earth you can be with them with all eternity hopefully you're gonna be with them for all of eternity if the work of God is real in your life and one of the demonstrations that the work of God is real in our life is that it just doesn't affect our vertical relationship with the Lord though that is wonderful and even primary but it has an effect on our horizontal relationships as well verse 11 8 rather behold you trust in lying words that cannot profit will you steal murder commit adultery false swear falsely burn incense to baal and walk after other gods whom you do not know and then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say we are delivered to do all these abominations has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in your eyes behold I even I have seen it says the Lord guns really laying it on him isn't he what are you doing Judah you run out you commit all these horrible sins and crimes and then you come back and you look to find refuge in the house of the Lord matter of fact that phrase caught you when he says there in verse 11 has this house which is called by my name become a den of thieves in yours you remember that right because Jesus quoted that same line for example in Matthew chapter 21 verse 13 it's also in mark and Luke but when Jesus spoke of the corruption of the temple service in his own days he referred to the concept of a den of thieves and you know what a den of thieves is it's a place where the thieves go out and do their dirty work but then they run back and find refuge at the den and then they go back out again they were doing the same thing in the temple they would go out and commit their sins of the whole variety that you read there but they would come back and find some kind of refuge in the ceremonialism of the temple and God says I don't want any of it God says verse 11 behold I even I have seen it friends see you catch that a den of thieves is supposed to be a hideout it's supposed to be a play where you're hidden from the law but what does God say I got my eyes on you I see it you're not escaping my justice you're not escaping my sight verse 12 but go now to my place which was in Shiloh where I have set my name at the first and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel and now because you've done all these work says Lord and I spoke to you rising up early and speaking but you did not hear and I called you but you did not answer therefore I will do to the house which is called by my name in which you trust and to this place in which I gave you and your father's as I have done to Shiloh and I will cast you out of my sight as I have cast out all your brethren the whole posterity of Ephraim friends is something very powerful there that he introduces in verse 12 did you catch that he says go now to my place which was in Shiloh where I set my name in first when the tabernacle of God which housed the Ark of the Covenant the tent that was sort of a portable temple when that tent first found a resting place in the promised land one of the first places it sat at for an extended period was a place called Shiloh that's where the tabernacle was that's where the Ark of the Covenant was that's where the altar of the Lord was and they said hey man where Shiloh we're cool we've got the altar we got the tabernacle we got the Ark of the Covenant because they trust in all those things God allowed Shiloh to be conquered by the Philistines and they captured the Ark of the Covenant matter of fact they killed the high priests or the high priests died they didn't directly kill him but he died in the attack and his two sons as well and then later on Shiloh was conquered again by the Assyrians when they came in conquer oh you think Jerusalem you're such a favored place because you have the Ark of the Covenant and God did such a great work there before no no no look at what happened to shiloh when they forgot about that it's gone and you're gonna be gone too if you don't repent friends sometimes there's a danger and let me speak to you just very heart to heart a pastor to his congregation sometimes there is a danger being in a place where God has moved mightily the presence of the Lord was at Shiloh the presence of the Lord was at Jerusalem and what did they do they had a carnal trust in those things and I thought man we're good we got the Ark of the Covenant we got the altar we're good we're the house of the Lord friends that happens by analogy among churches today when they have a confidence in what God did in the past they say hey we must be good look at all the great things God has done through our congregation and they trust in some prior standing with God instead of where they are at right now with the Lord you go look at Shiloh and what is it it's desolate friends and I could say it today you go look at Jerusalem right now and up on that Temple Mount it's desolate that temples gone the Ark of the Covenant is no longer there the judgment came to Jerusalem the judgment came to Shiloh and the judgment will come to any place where God is forgotten because they were so confident about what God did in the past does it make you sad sometimes when you're in a city I've experienced as a lot in Europe and there's this amazing church and you think man people worked maybe for hundreds of years to build this building to the glory of God and there is not a word of the Living God preached in that building anymore that's like a Shiloh the place still stands but it's devoid of the presence of God friends that can happen and it must be energetically avoided the lesson must be sealed in our hearts no much how much spiritual progress we've had or privilege in the past or glory that might be among a people it can all be turned to nothing if we stop listening to God and cultivating our own relationship with him going on now verse 16 talk about heavy how about this therefore do not pray for this people nor lift up a cry or prayer for them nor make intercession for me for or excuse me an intercession to me for I will not hear you do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem the children gathered would the father's Kindle Fire and the woman need dough to make cakes for the Queen of Heaven they pour out drink offerings to other gods that they may provoke me to anger do they provoke me to anger since the Lord do they not provoke themselves to the shame of their own faces since if God says listen don't pray for him Jeremiah they're so far gone do you want an example of how far gone they are their idolatry is a whole family affair did you see those words in verse 18 the children gather would the father's Kindle the fire and the women knead the dough to make quick cakes for the Queen of Heaven for Ishtar the Babylonian moon goddess or Venus as she was popularly known for asteroth or the other variants of the same Venus goddess that ruled over so much of the mentality of that part of the world at that time when they make it a family affair the children gather sticks the father makes the fire the mama whirls in tow and they stamp it all out just like they're making Christmas saying oh look our little cakes to the goddess of heaven they've made their idolatry a family affair instead of gathering around and coming to meet the Lord together as a family in prayer or a bit of the word know they gather together and they make their idolatry a family affair what does this do it provokes themselves verse 19 to the shame of their own faces now it was true that it provoked the Lord to anger but it was also true that their sins provoked themselves to open shame and so this is what God says in verse 20 therefore thus says the Lord God behold my anger and my fury will be poured out on this place on man and on beast on the trees of the field on the fruit of the ground and it will burn and not be quenched you can't provoke the Lord forever without getting a response friends one of the things I want you to see is it's easy to read the Book of Jeremiah come on let's be honest here it's reason to get easy read the book of your mind god man why are you so upset don't you seem to lay it on pretty thick and once you just chill out a little bit God I thought you loved these people that you're nice listen this needs to be put in the context of God's merciful warnings to them for decades upon decades and to remember that the judgment that he announced did not come for perhaps at this time maybe 30 or 25 years after God had announced it God gave them so much time to repent so much time to amend their ways but friends we mistake the mercy of God for softness against sin because God does not bring judgment immediately we think he's never gonna bring it at all now if God were to bring judgment immediately in each case we told God won't you be more merciful but because he's merciful we go ah he doesn't care much about sin my friends God does care about sin and he cannot be provoked forever without a response but please don't take the mercy of God to mean softness against sin that's not how God is he's giving you and me and each one of us time to amend our ways verse 21 thus says the Lord of hosts God of Israel add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat for I did not speak to your fathers or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt concerning berta offerings or sacrifices but this is what I commanded them saying obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people and walk in all the ways that I have commanded you that it may be well with you yet they did not obey or incline their ear but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts and went backwards not forward since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day I have sent even to you all my servants the prophets Dale rising up early and sending them yet they did not obey me or incline the ear but stiffened their neck they did worse than their fathers you see in the mentality of the people of Judah and Jerusalem it's also we're in said ok no no problem God words it will bring a sacrifice you know God says because I don't want your stinking sacrifices matter of fact notice what he says there in verse 21 and your burnt offerings to sacrifices and he mate the burnt offering was to be wholly burnt before God now many of the other Gulf rings a portion of the animal was given as meat to either the sacrifice or the priest God says you guys are so insincere so superficial about these sacrifices you bring you know the burnt offering once you just go ahead and eat a bit of it I don't care you're not bringing it sincerely anyway matter of fact God goes on to say look at it there in verse 22 for I did not speak to your father's or command them in the day that I brought them out of the age of concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices did you ever consider that when God gave the nation of Israel the law of God the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai there's not a word about sacrifice or offering in the Ten Commandments that only came later God said no no before I ever spoke a word to my people about the priesthood or sacrifice I called them to obey and God says I meant something very deliberately by that order yes there's a place for sacrifice yes it's God's ordained way of dealing with the sin problem but what God once addressed first is the issue of obedience a friends can you imagine an ancient Israelite joshan yeah I do this it's no problem man I got a burnt offering that'll cover that now and I know this is hard but are there not believers who say yeah I sin but Jesus forgives I'm trusting in the Lord man no but your low view of sin is actually a very low view of Jesus and his holiness and God wants to shake you up now and say yeah you're hiding things in the shadow of the cross God wants you to have a greater concern for obedience I mean don't you have any concern for obedience in your life we did say all the cross the cross the cross this was the problem with Israel in those days but their problem verse 24 they did not obey or incline the ear but followed the council and the dictates of their evil hearts whether that's today he's speaking to the modern age right there listen what is one of the dominant themes of every television show of every movie that Hollywood produces how about this follow your heart and friends let me tell you let me read verse 24 to you again yet they did not obey or incline their ear but follow the counsel and the dictates of their evil hearts friends that's what following your corrupt heart will get you how about this follow the Lord consider yourself less with following your heart and a little bit more with following Jesus and you know what you're gonna be happier I can guarantee you that now your life may not be as easy in some ways you will introduce difficulties in your life by following the Lord first I guarantee it but you will have something from God that cannot be replaced by anything in this world now you really want to find joy and peace and happiness in this world forget about following your heart and dedicate yourself to following Jesus now verse 27 this is a great verse for preachers to memorize a lifetime memory verse for a preacher here therefore you shall speak all these words to them but they will not obey you you shall also call to them but they will not answer you Jeremiah says thank you Lord for this ministry you've given me French can you imagine what a difficult ministry Jeremiah had there he is preaching at the temple now he's preaching at the temple gate these words and people are like what what are you saying this you're putting down sacrifice here a guy comes up with a sheep to come in sacrifice to the Lord and sure am i screaming at him about the the falseness of the sacrificial system and don't say the Temple of the Lord the temple Lord right there at the temple gate he's saying this and I imagine that verse 27 was almost a word that God spoke personally to Jeremiah's art Jeremiah none of them are listened to but don't worry I want you to speak it nevertheless I know they're not listening to you I know the angry look that they have in their eye but you be faithful in what I've given you to do but his servant didn't end verse 28 so you're so say to them again just picture Jeremiah at the temple gate shouting this out this is a nation that does not obey the voice of the Lord their God nor receive correction truth as perish and has been cut off from their mouth cut off your hair and cast it away and take up a lamentation on the desolate heights for the Lord has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath for the children of Judah have done evil in my sight says the Lord they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it and they built the high places of tuffet which is called sube which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire which I did not command nor did it come into my heart oh now he's really laying it on him now he cries out to the crowd again and he says verse 29 the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation of his wrath you don't obey the voice of the Lord you don't receive correction truth is perished from among you and they have even look at it in verse 30 they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name to pollute it France abominations there the idea in the ancient Hebrew is idolatry they were setting up idolatry at the temple itself now I don't believe that they put it in the holy place or the most holy place but probably in some side room you know that temple was a whole complex of rooms and somewhere off to the side somewhere they had abominations and I'd all idolatry and idols set up think of what it would be like there you are you're visiting a church Wow a nice Church you know boy the sanctuary Sunday School room you going to another and good and there's an adult bookstore right there how profane that's the idea you go to another room in the church there's a Buddhist shrine there in the church what oh this oh no no it's not in the sanctuary no we would never have it in the sanctuary no no it's off to the side you say well what are you talking about this whole area should be dedicated to God but they had allowed those kind of abominations in God's house and if it could get worse it does look at verse 31 they have built the high places of tuffet which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire worse yet in the Valley of Hinnom at a place called Tophet now Tophet may be a symbolic name because it comes from the Hebrew word for fireplace so it was a place of burning a place of fire at this place called Tophet in the valley of the son of Hinnom where the Valley of Hinnom was a place where they sacrificed their sons and daughters to the pagan gods you should know that among archaeologists and scholars there is debate as to how much child sacrifice was practiced by these ancient cultures some of them say not that much some one say it was only done in the worst kind of extremities and in the worst kind of crises they would offer a child I tend to think it was more than that because when I read of not one but two kings of ancient Israel who offered their children to the god Molech and if the kings are doing it and you better believe the people are doing it I don't know how common it was but I think it was more than just a rare occasion when they would come and send their children to the fire newborn alive babies burnt friends this displeases God so much don't you believe the children are precious to the Lord don't you believe that God honors the life of those little ones and when they would subject these little ones to such a horrible doom there it says in the valley of the son of Hinnom that's where they perform these abominations and God says in verse 31 which I did not command nor did it come into my heart matter of fact I think that one of the purposes in Genesis chapter 22 with the whole story of God commanding Abraham to go and sacrifice Isaac but then very demonstrably and pointedly stopping him the reason God did that was to show I do not want human sacrifice Abraham I am stopping you I am NOT like the Canaanite gods I'm not like those most raza T's I will not allow it do not sacrifice your children unto me I do not want human sacrifice God says this isn't me I cannot go on to verse 32 without saying at least a word about this you know that by analogy we can say that child sacrifice has not ended in our own culture that many many children perish in our own culture and they perish still in the womb now this is a difficult thing to bring up not because I'm ambivalent about it because the last thing I want to do is heap guilt upon already broken hearts for what they may have done in the past but I say it as a plea because friends do you know that it's Christian young women who are often ending their pregnancies and one of the reasons why they often do it is because they feel they cannot stand the embarrassment in the church I don't know how we change that but we've got to do everything we can to change that and to tell young women who may find themselves in that situation do not sacrifice your child do not let a sense of shame or embarrassment lead you to do something that you were gret for the rest of your life look at what God says was gonna come upon Israel for what they did verse 32 therefore behold the days are coming says the Lord when it will no more be called Tophet or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of slaughter for they will bury in tuffet until there is no room the corpses of this people will be food for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth and no one will frighten them away and then I will cause to seize from the cities of Judah from the streets of Jerusalem to the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride for the land shall be desolate listen jerusalem judah the prophet jeremiah says you're having a pretty good time right now and maybe even the sacrifice of your children is accompanied by a ceremonial festive meal or this thing or that deal let me tell you something Jerusalem and Judah the Prophet Jeremiah would say the party's gonna be over and God will very fittingly stack up the corpses of the slaughtered dead when the Babylonians come innovate and they'll be stacked up in that valley where you once sacrificed your children you want to know how bad it'll be they won't even be buried and scavengers and birds will eat them which by the way that's repulsive to anybody it was especially repulsive to the ancient Near Eastern mind there was actually a disgrace worse than just being killed it was being killed and having your body eaten by scavengers it was the utter most extreme disgrace a person could think of God says that's on the way continuing on into verse 1 of Jeremiah chapter 8 at that time says the Lord they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets and the bone the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of the graves they shall spread them before the Sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven which they have loved in which they've served and after which they walk which they have sought in which they have worship they shall not be gathered nor buried they shall be like refuse on the face of the earth you see not only where there be the bodies of the slaughtered dead which is grotesque enough but then these invaders will go and they'll break open the tombs either to be grave robbers or just to desecrate the bones of their ancestors and they'll take them and they'll spread them out before the sky and they'll say here are the bones of your exalted ancestors and there was a strange congruity there was a strange appropriateness where the bones of these people who had worshipped Venus are now lying out open before the sky with no dignity no burial verse 3 then death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of those who remain of this evil family who remain in all the places where I've driven them says the Lord of hosts this is an interesting reference in verse 3 it has reference to those who survived the Babylonian invasion and will be carried away captives as forced refugees as exiles from the land of Judah into the land of Babylon and these people were wish they were dead that's how agonizing it's going to be for those people who are carried off by force and look at their their their their stubborn folly beginning in verse 4 moreover you shall say to them thus says the Lord will they fall and not rise well 1 turn away and not return why is this people slidden back Jerusalem in a perpetual backsliding they hold fast to deceit they refuse to return I listened and heard but they do not speak a right no man repented of his wicked missing what have I done everyone turned to his own course as the horse rushes into the battle even the stork in the heavens knows were appointed times and the Turtledove this Swift in the observe the time of their coming but my people do not know the judgment of the Lord he brings that's amazing logic to the argument I love the Prophet Jeremiah look at what he says in verse 4 he said will they fall and not rise will one turn away and not return remember that old commercial I fallen and I can't get up well that's what God's saying o guy fell down and you walked by knees still on the ground Oh what's he doing oh I don't know I just thought I'd stay down here well once you get up now I won't get up or you're walking on the wrong way go oh I'm going the wrong way well I'll just keep going I want you to know I'll just keep going how crazy is that you followed but you won't get up you're on the wrong road but you won't turn around God says that spiritually is the condition of my people how spiritually insane can people be even as he says in verse 6 everyone has turned to his own horse as the horse rushes into the battle they were so determined to go their own way and so energetic they were like a horse rushing into the battle as fast as they could go that's how determined they were to go in the wrong way I mean because this is so stupid looking for seven even the stork in the heavens knows who appointed times he lists all these migratory birds the stork the Swift the swallow hey birdbrain the stuff that the migratory birds know when to go where to go how to go and when to come back you don't know a thing the birds are smarter than you and yet you don't consider that the Lord should be returned unto verse 8 how can you say we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us look the false pen of the scribes certainly works falsehood the wise men are ashamed they are dismayed and taken behold they have rejected the word of the Lord so what wisdom do they have friends I think we should make a bumper sticker out of verse 9 how about that in that a great statement they have rejected the word of the Lord so what wisdom do they have I think you could look at just about any problem of the world today and write that over it there's man's folly trying to get things done there's men's attempt trying to fix things through politics do this do that smart whatever you just write all over it they've rejected the word of the Lord what wisdom do they have you're going nowhere Judah and then verse 10 therefore this is the judgment that's going to come upon those who reject the word of the Lord therefore I will give their wives to others and their fields to those who will inherit them because from the least even to the greatest everyone has given to covetousness from the Prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely for they have healed the heard of the daughter of my people slightly saying peace peace when there is no peace were they ashamed when they had committed abominations no they were not at all ashamed nor did they know how to blush therefore they shall fall among those who fall in the time of their punishment they shall be cast down says the Lord I will surely consume them says the Lord no grapes shall be on the vine nor figs on the fig tree and the leaves shall fade and the things i have given them shall pass from them if some of this sounds familiar there's a few verses there that are repetitions from jeremiah chapter 6 verses 13 14 and 15 do you see why God's repeating the same things then because they are not listening verse 14 why do we sit still assemble yourselves and let us enter the fortified cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God has put us to silence and given us the water of gall to drink because we have sinned against the Lord friends I think that's a very interesting line in verse 14 it seems to be in the voice of those who are anticipating the coming Babylonian invasion what do they say in verse 14 let us enter the fortified cities and let us be silent there oh now the Babylonians have come now we see our doom coming let's escape we'll go into a fortified City and maybe we can wait out the invasion but look at what happens in verse 15 we looked for peace but no good came and for a time of health and there was trouble the snorting of his horses was heard from Dan the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones where they have come and devoured the land and all that is in it city and those who dwell in it for behold I will send serpents among you Vipers which cannot be charmed and they shall bite you says the Lord you can escape into your fortified cities all you want you're not going to escape this judgment that is to come now verse 18 begins a section where I think he has in mind Judah after the Babylonian vision Judah in exile listen to what Jeremiah says I would comfort myself and sorrow my heart is faint within me listen the voice the cry of the daughter by people from a far country from the place where they've been exiled he's not the Lord in Zion is not her King in her why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images with foreign idols you see it's as if Jeremiah he sees and he mourns because he sees his people in a distant land in a far place and from that distant land that people cry out where's the Lord is the Lord and Zion and God answers back to them why have they provoked me to anger with their carved images and their foreign idols you guys loved your foreign idols so much I sent you to a foreign land and now all you do is long for Zion once again now for the last couple verses of chapter 8 friends these are some of the most mournful verses that you'll find in a very mournful book verse 20 the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved most scholars believe that when it refers to the harvest it's talking about the earlier grain harvest that would happen like at the beginning of springtime or the beginning of summer then in late summer autumn you would have the harvest that would come from the vines fruit and all of that so it's like well the first harvest failed and then summer came and there was nothing on the vine we are finished think of what it would be like to be a farmer you're living off the land the first harvest fails the first harvest here you go it's okay we got a second harvest the year it's going to be tight but we can get by and then the second harvest comes there's nothing we are not saved this was probably a proverbial expression in ancient Israel for utter despair and hopelessness now verses 21 and 22 this is Jeremiah I think Jeremiah is telling us how he feels about all this for the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt I am warning astonishment has taken hold of me is there no balm in Gilead is there no physician there why then is there no recovery for the health of the daughter of my people friends I pray that our culture has a true repentance before judgment from the Lord comes and and I am hopeful I do I have hope of it I have hope I see stirrings of a great work of God and I am hopeful that there will be a great revival a Great Awakening among God's people in the culture at large but let me say this if there should not be and if judgment should come in some way to our culture in a greater measure than we've already seen I hope that we will have the heart of Jeremiah in the midst of it I hope that we won't be hurtful Christians with folded arms I told you so told you so isn't it far more important to have a broken heart over at all like Jeremiah to have a broken heart that says for the hurt of the daughter of my people I am hurt this is like a knife in my own soul because I want I don't want to be right I want people to repent I don't care about being right in that sense I care about hearts turn to the Living God friends Jeremiah despaired because he said is there no balm in Gilead Gilead was known for a balm they don't know exactly what it was like but it was some soothing lotion a lot of people think it might've been something like aloe vera which used to treat wounds and help healing good is there no balm in Gilead is there nothing that can help is there no physician you want to know something we have a categorical answer to Jeremiah's question do we not do we not have a much better message to bring to our culture and to needy people all around us you better believe there's a balm in Gilead it's called the blood of Jesus you better believe there's a physician it's Jesus the great physician because if you need the remedy from where the corruption of your heart has led you when you followed your heart friends there's a medicine in the sacrifice of Jesus on your behalf and there is a great physician who knows exactly how to apply it this is the message we need to bring to our world that will help avert judgement that let's be honest we deserve but God is rich in mercy and I pray that there will yet be a great turning to the Lord both among his people and in the culture at large that will forestall the judgment and bring great honor and glory to God it'll happen by receiving that balm of Gilead and receiving the work of the Great Physician [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 9,287

Rating: 4.9534883 out of 5

Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, jeremiah 7, jeremiah 8, temple gate, preaching at the temple gate, jeremiah preaching, judgement, chirldren of israel, israel

Id: 7XkbUm-Vl5s

Length: 44min 1sec (2641 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 28 2019