WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.720 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:28.640 Jeremiah chapter 7, starting in verse 1, the Lord of uh the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. 00:00:28.960 --> 00:00:39.119 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all you men of Judah, who enter these gates to worship the Lord. 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:50.399 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:58.799 Do not trust in these deceptive words, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. 00:00:59.679 --> 00:01:26.319 For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly execute justice one with another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm, then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave of old to your fathers forever. 00:01:27.040 --> 00:01:33.200 Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. 00:01:33.760 --> 00:01:42.640 Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known? 00:01:42.799 --> 00:01:53.280 And then come and stand before me in this house which is called by my name and say, We are delivered, only to go on doing all these abominations? 00:01:54.480 --> 00:02:00.799 Has this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:08.719 Behold, I myself have seen it, declares the Lord. 00:02:09.039 --> 00:02:17.120 Go now to my place that was in Shiloh, where I made my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel. 00:02:17.919 --> 00:02:29.680 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the Lord, and when I spoke to you persistently, you did not listen, and when I called you, you did not answer. 00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:40.719 Therefore, I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:48.400 I will cast you out of my sight as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim. 00:02:48.800 --> 00:02:50.159 Will you pray with me? 00:02:50.879 --> 00:02:52.800 Father God, this is your word. 00:02:54.479 --> 00:03:04.960 This is a declaration of you, both to your people Israel, during the time of Jeremiah, but also now here this morning as we are gathered in your name. 00:03:05.759 --> 00:03:11.199 I pray that our hearts would be softened to hear your words. 00:03:12.479 --> 00:03:16.400 Break the hard and stony ground of our pride. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:26.560 May your word be effective this morning in calling us to Christ and then also calling us to repent. 00:03:28.319 --> 00:03:31.520 May we not this morning just learn a lot of things. 00:03:31.759 --> 00:03:37.039 May we live as a result in a life more pleasing to you. 00:03:37.360 --> 00:03:39.520 We pray in Christ's name. 00:03:39.840 --> 00:03:40.479 Amen. 00:03:44.719 --> 00:03:49.280 Few years ago, there was a police who cited a woman for speeding. 00:03:50.159 --> 00:04:00.319 And with every speeding ticket, it's always in the hope of the police officer that it would serve as a warning that you would not continue speeding. 00:04:00.960 --> 00:04:06.960 As a frequent offender of multiple tickets, sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. 00:04:07.280 --> 00:04:09.759 They pulled this woman over, gave her a cite. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:11.360 I I don't speed anymore, okay? 00:04:11.520 --> 00:04:12.560 That lies behind me. 00:04:12.800 --> 00:04:18.319 Um they they gave this woman a citation, hoping it would slow her down, but those hopes were in vain. 00:04:18.879 --> 00:04:29.439 Uh deputies with the Lincoln County Sheriff's Department, they pulled over a woman named Chantel Wilson who was driving her yellow 2018 Ford Mustang. 00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:36.079 She was clocked at going 92 miles per hour in a 75 zone. 00:04:36.720 --> 00:04:40.720 For most of you driving down the highway, that's just Tuesday. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:54.399 Uh but issuing, after issuing the citation and letting after letting her go, the deputies were surprised when after everybody went to their cars, they gave her back her information and everything like that. 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:56.000 The citation was issued. 00:04:56.639 --> 00:04:57.759 Everything's done. 00:04:57.920 --> 00:05:04.879 She gets in her car and she speeds off going down the highway. 00:05:05.279 --> 00:05:15.040 The officers jump in their cars, they're driving after her, and they clock her again, going at a speed of 142 miles per hour, almost double the legal limits. 00:05:15.600 --> 00:05:28.240 After engaging her in a pursuit, this woman, she initially resisted but eventually relented, and she was eventually arrested and charged with willful, reckless driving. 00:05:28.399 --> 00:05:34.720 And police also discovered a small amount of marijuana, which resulted in further charges. 00:05:35.040 --> 00:05:38.160 The moral of that story is don't speed and don't do drugs. 00:05:38.399 --> 00:05:48.399 But for our purposes here this morning, I want to relate it to the situation that the people of God in Jeremiah find themselves in. 00:05:49.439 --> 00:05:59.360 You could say they are high on their own idolatry and driving recklessly down the highway of their own destruction. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:14.959 They're intoxicated with the Kool-Aid of worshiping false gods and worshiping statues and observing pagan religions that often involve grotesque and wicked practices. 00:06:16.720 --> 00:06:28.240 And you would naturally think, since the people of God are worshiping idols at this time, that they've given up their worship of the one true God, of Yahweh. 00:06:28.959 --> 00:06:30.720 That's not true. 00:06:31.040 --> 00:06:37.360 Believe it or not, they still show up to the temple and they act like true believers. 00:06:38.079 --> 00:06:42.639 So in our text, God sends Jeremiah to the temple in Jerusalem. 00:06:42.720 --> 00:06:50.560 If you're not familiar with the temple, the temple in Jerusalem was the central hub of religious life for God's people in the Old Testament. 00:06:50.800 --> 00:06:54.800 If you wanted to worship God properly, you came to the temple to do that. 00:06:55.279 --> 00:07:02.000 There were a number of sacrifices and rituals that had to be performed, but they could only be performed in the temple. 00:07:02.800 --> 00:07:12.560 God instructs Jeremiah to go to the temple, stand in the gate of the house of the Lord, and declare a message of warning to all the people of Judah. 00:07:12.720 --> 00:07:22.959 And the fact that this message is declared in the temple to all of Judah indicates that this was happening during a time where all of Judah might have been assembled in Jerusalem. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:34.800 It could have been one of the number of uh feasts where the people would all pilgrimage into Jerusalem to observe the Passover or the feast of booths or whatever. 00:07:35.040 --> 00:07:52.000 So God sends Jeremiah to the gathering of God's people to warn Judah of their unrepentant actions and not just to warn them of their unrepentant actions, but to warn them of the judgment that will come on account of them. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:08:02.399 We're going to find a similar message for us this morning, especially if you consider yourself to be a religious person. 00:08:03.519 --> 00:08:10.959 You see, Jeremiah was not sent to convert and evangelize the non-believers. 00:08:11.439 --> 00:08:13.519 He was not sent to the pagans. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:17.040 He was sent to the church. 00:08:17.839 --> 00:08:32.559 He was sent to speak to God's people, to those who have this veneer of religiosity, who practice and say and do all the right things, but something's off in their lives. 00:08:34.559 --> 00:08:42.000 Even for us, we're going to see that God wants to warn us of our unrepentant actions and the judgment that will come on account of them. 00:08:42.159 --> 00:08:44.879 So what is the warning that God is sending to his people? 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.559 If you're a note-taking type, here's my outline for this morning. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:52.720 God gives a warning for how we act, of how we act. 00:08:52.960 --> 00:08:58.879 It is a warning of what we trust in, and it is a warning to remember. 00:09:00.879 --> 00:09:03.120 So first, God's warning of how we act. 00:09:03.200 --> 00:09:04.799 It's a warning of correction. 00:09:04.960 --> 00:09:06.960 Look at verse 3 with me. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:24.559 As we've previously seen, if you if you've read anything in the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah is a book of a prophet sent to take an unpopular message to a people who are unwilling to hear what he has to say. 00:09:25.039 --> 00:09:34.799 This whole book is filled with Jeremiah calling out the idolatry of God's people and saying that judgment is coming on account of their idolatry. 00:09:35.039 --> 00:09:37.440 So Jeremiah is tasked with taking this message. 00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:43.440 God sends Jeremiah to tell the people of their guilt and worshiping idols and in their wicked actions. 00:09:43.919 --> 00:09:46.000 But God is not callous. 00:09:57.440 --> 00:10:06.960 In fact, in the warning, we have God indicting his people further because he keeps saying, I keep sending people to warn you, but you haven't listened. 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:09.679 And Jeremiah is given such a task. 00:10:09.840 --> 00:10:18.320 He is sent to warn his people because ultimately the desire of God is not to bring judgment, but that his people would repent. 00:10:18.480 --> 00:10:22.080 My wife and I were talking about this on a walk just the other day. 00:10:22.320 --> 00:10:23.919 About, isn't it interesting? 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:38.720 God already knows what the people are going to do and where their hearts are, and yet he sends Jeremiah, not on a fool's errand, with the full uh hope that his people would repent. 00:10:38.799 --> 00:10:41.200 And we can't quite make sense of all of this. 00:10:41.360 --> 00:10:45.840 We can't explain all the intricacies of how this all works, but we do know this to be true. 00:10:46.159 --> 00:10:52.879 God is gracious and merciful and does not desire or delight in bringing judgment. 00:10:53.200 --> 00:10:54.879 He wants his people to be warned. 00:10:55.039 --> 00:10:56.799 He wants his people to repent. 00:10:57.759 --> 00:11:03.600 The warning that Jeremiah is sent to the temple to deliver begins with a conditional statement. 00:11:03.840 --> 00:11:04.559 Verse 3. 00:11:04.799 --> 00:11:15.200 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 00:11:15.519 --> 00:11:23.200 If you correct your actions, then I will let you continue living in this land. 00:11:23.519 --> 00:11:30.559 And particularly, he's referring to Jerusalem, this place that the people take so much pride in, and in the temple. 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:34.240 But God is reiterating the terms of his promises to them. 00:11:34.559 --> 00:11:44.639 He is stating that he will honor the terms of the promise that he made to them if they are willing to return to the terms that they made to God. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:48.480 We see this summarized in Deuteronomy 30. 00:11:48.720 --> 00:12:12.399 In Deuteronomy 30, verse 16, God says, If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, by comm uh keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. 00:12:12.639 --> 00:12:14.159 That's the promise. 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:23.279 I will be your God, I will make you prosperous, I will cause you to be fruitful and to multiply and to have this place I'm giving you. 00:12:23.440 --> 00:12:30.480 It will be yours if you obey me, if you are faithful. 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:44.720 Verse 17 But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. 00:12:44.879 --> 00:12:49.600 You will not live long in the land that you were going over to the Jordan to enter and possess. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:57.919 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. 00:12:58.080 --> 00:12:59.919 Here's here's what here's a key. 00:13:00.159 --> 00:13:02.799 Therefore, choose life. 00:13:03.840 --> 00:13:05.279 Choose life. 00:13:06.000 --> 00:13:16.320 The call that God is making in Jeremiah to his people as he's recalling them to repentance is a call for them to choose life rather than death. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:32.159 And it's interesting in Deuteronomy 30, if you look at verse 19 where he says, Therefore choose life, what follows after that is this that you and your offspring may live, that you and your children may live. 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:42.240 As a side note, it's always interesting that the actions of parents always have implications for future generations. 00:13:44.159 --> 00:13:46.799 The people of God did not just end up here. 00:13:47.519 --> 00:13:51.360 They didn't just wake up one day and decide, hey, I want to worship idols. 00:13:51.440 --> 00:13:53.200 That sounds like a fun idea. 00:13:54.960 --> 00:14:07.279 The people of God are in this current state after repeated, deliberate intentions by people who should know better to indulge in idolatry. 00:14:07.840 --> 00:14:10.879 You have children raised up in a house full of idols. 00:14:11.039 --> 00:14:13.919 Guess what those children are going to raise up and worship? 00:14:14.159 --> 00:14:14.639 Idols. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:18.639 They're going to do what mom and dad have been doing all their lives. 00:14:19.200 --> 00:14:21.279 And then they're going to have children, and guess what? 00:14:21.360 --> 00:14:23.039 Those children are going to be raised up the same. 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:26.639 They're going to be raised up in a household that worships idols. 00:14:26.879 --> 00:14:29.039 And the cycle repeats itself. 00:14:31.200 --> 00:14:40.399 God in Deuteronomy 30, where he is laying out the simple terms of the covenant, he says, choose life, not just for you, but also for your children. 00:14:41.519 --> 00:14:50.320 And here in Jeremiah 7, God is making a callback to this covenant because God doesn't give up on his people and he doesn't give up on his promises. 00:14:51.279 --> 00:14:58.080 If God's people correct their ways and their actions, he will allow them to live in the land that he promised to them. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.840 There's more to this promise than just having a homeland. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:12.879 You see, the people of Israel were wanderers in the desert for so long, holding out to this promise that God was going to give them a land, but it was not just so that they would have a place to call home. 00:15:13.440 --> 00:15:19.840 This land was going to be the setting where God would come and meet with his people on a permanent basis. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:28.639 And not just that, it is through this land that God was giving them that God's people were going to be a blessing to the entire world. 00:15:30.000 --> 00:15:34.960 The problem is that his people have chosen not to meet with God. 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:39.039 God came to meet with them, they've chosen not to meet with him. 00:15:39.440 --> 00:15:43.600 God's relationship with his people was contingent on their obedience to him. 00:15:43.840 --> 00:15:52.080 If his people decided to disobey, they were effectively annulling the covenant and estranging themselves from the relationship with God. 00:15:53.679 --> 00:15:56.960 Those are the what kind of actions did they need to amend? 00:15:57.279 --> 00:15:59.840 What kind of things did they need to correct? 00:16:00.559 --> 00:16:04.000 To bring them back into obedience, to bring them back in line with the covenant. 00:16:04.159 --> 00:16:06.320 We see that in verse 5. 00:16:07.840 --> 00:16:35.759 Verse 5, Jeremiah says, For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly correct your actions, if you truly execute justice with one another, if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm. 00:16:37.840 --> 00:16:43.519 These are the actions that God's people are called to correct, and it's a very specific list. 00:16:44.399 --> 00:16:47.519 God could have said a lot more, but he also could have said a lot less. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:50.960 He focused in on these specific things. 00:16:51.120 --> 00:16:52.639 Here's what they needed to correct. 00:16:52.879 --> 00:16:56.080 First, how they treated one another. 00:16:56.480 --> 00:16:59.120 That's what it means to execute justice with one another. 00:16:59.279 --> 00:17:06.480 To act justly means to be free from favoritism, self-interest, bias, or deception. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:11.119 The culture of God's people at this time was very corrupt. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:16.079 The only motivation that they had was to look out for themselves, to look out for number one. 00:17:16.319 --> 00:17:20.880 If you couldn't benefit them in any way, they wanted nothing to do with you. 00:17:22.160 --> 00:17:24.880 They needed to correct how they treated one another. 00:17:25.119 --> 00:17:27.920 They needed to correct how they treated foreigners. 00:17:29.440 --> 00:17:35.759 Similar to the previous point, the people of Israel took advantage and mistreated foreigners who settled among them. 00:17:35.920 --> 00:17:54.000 It wasn't uncommon during biblical times for people in another land to be impacted by famine or political unrest, where mom and dad would say, you know what, let's let's go ahead and pick up and pack up and move the family to uh this land over here, which is uh this seems more peaceful. 00:17:54.079 --> 00:17:57.519 There hasn't been a war there in like two years, so it seems pretty good. 00:17:57.599 --> 00:18:01.440 Um, and you know, there's no famines there, so let's pick up and move there. 00:18:01.599 --> 00:18:08.559 But one of one of the expectations if you went and settled in another land is that you'd have to adopt some of their culture and customs. 00:18:08.720 --> 00:18:10.559 You'd have to become one with the people. 00:18:10.720 --> 00:18:12.319 That's how you would fit in. 00:18:13.039 --> 00:18:28.400 But what would happen is that as people are moving into the nation of Israel, the native population, the Israelites, would take advantage of foreigners since the foreigners didn't speak the language, they didn't have the right type of currency, and they had no job or home. 00:18:28.640 --> 00:18:39.519 They would typically have to purchase uh land, and what would happen is Israel, uh the corrupt Israelites would charge more than what the foreigners could afford. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:46.240 And it would put them in this situation where they would eventually sell themselves into slavery in order to purchase this land. 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:52.880 Practices like that, taking advantage of people who were settling among them. 00:18:54.640 --> 00:18:58.240 They were to correct how they treated the fatherless, the widows, and the innocent. 00:18:58.319 --> 00:19:05.519 These are three categories of people who didn't have much value in the culture of God's people: the fatherless, the widows, and the innocent. 00:19:05.680 --> 00:19:12.640 This last group, the innocent, is a reference in all likelihood to young children and infants. 00:19:13.759 --> 00:19:22.160 You see, one of the practices of idolatry that they were steeped in was the practice of child sacrifice. 00:19:22.640 --> 00:19:36.160 They worshiped gods such as Molech, and there were some practices with Baal where you would take a child and you would essentially murder this child in the hopes that this false God would offer you more fertility, more blessing. 00:19:36.880 --> 00:19:40.799 God's people were guilty of shedding innocent blood. 00:19:42.559 --> 00:19:48.559 The other two groups were vulnerable because men were the primary means of protection and financial security in ancient times. 00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:57.359 If your husband or father died, you had no way of being protected from evil people looking to take advantage of you, and you had no way of financially providing for yourself. 00:19:57.519 --> 00:19:59.839 You were on the fringes of society. 00:20:01.599 --> 00:20:03.119 And then finally, what they worship. 00:20:03.359 --> 00:20:08.880 They were worshiping statues and idols, false gods crafted from the imagination of men. 00:20:10.559 --> 00:20:13.039 I think it's interesting that God adds this phrase. 00:20:13.119 --> 00:20:15.359 He doesn't just say, stop worshiping false gods. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:20.319 He says, Stop worshiping false gods to your own harm. 00:20:21.599 --> 00:20:25.440 This informs us that idolatry is not a harmless practice. 00:20:26.400 --> 00:20:30.559 Simply choosing to worship something else is not a harmless practice. 00:20:32.640 --> 00:20:36.960 According to the Apostle Paul, idols are the personification of demons. 00:20:37.200 --> 00:20:41.119 Demons are not interested in your health and well-being. 00:20:41.920 --> 00:20:46.400 Demons have no interest in humanity flourishing. 00:20:48.000 --> 00:20:59.599 Demons would love to see humanity destroy itself, which is why idolatry often involves self-inflicted pain, abortion of children, adultery with prostitutes, and so on. 00:21:00.079 --> 00:21:10.960 Worshiping what is false ultimately destroys and tears away at our humanity, whereas worshiping what is true, the God of Scripture, actually restores our humanity. 00:21:11.119 --> 00:21:11.359 Why? 00:21:11.519 --> 00:21:13.440 Because we're made in his image. 00:21:14.960 --> 00:21:26.480 You'll also notice that the areas that God calls them to repent of has to do with who they worship, but notice that's only one area of what he calls them to correct. 00:21:29.279 --> 00:21:35.039 Most of the material provided here and what they needed to correct has to do with their interaction with other people. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:41.920 That's because you cannot truly worship God while also treating people like garbage. 00:21:43.200 --> 00:21:59.200 Worship of God is not just showing up to a religious place and offering a sacrifice and saying the right things, it is also in how you treat your neighbor, foreigners, and those who are the most vulnerable in society and have the least to offer you in return. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.759 True worship is not just loving the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength. 00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:09.680 It is also loving your neighbor as yourself. 00:22:11.759 --> 00:22:18.880 Nine months after SEAL team six took out the world's most wanted man, Osama bin Laden. 00:22:19.359 --> 00:22:21.440 I said that on Wednesday. 00:22:21.680 --> 00:22:24.480 And I asked the students, I was like, you guys remember that? 00:22:24.799 --> 00:22:25.920 Blank stairs. 00:22:26.240 --> 00:22:27.039 Blank stairs. 00:22:27.759 --> 00:22:28.559 We're all getting old. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:29.920 We're getting old. 00:22:31.039 --> 00:22:36.400 Nine months after SEAL Team 6 took out Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted man. 00:22:36.880 --> 00:22:47.519 They completed another dramatic and secret mission rescuing Jessica Buchanan, who was an American aid worker, who was captured by Somali pirates. 00:22:48.799 --> 00:22:55.200 And in response to her situation, two dozen SEALs parachuted into Somalia. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:05.200 They killed all nine heavily armed kidnappers with precision and liberated not just Buchanan, but also another aid worker. 00:23:06.240 --> 00:23:08.480 All without any American casualties. 00:23:09.119 --> 00:23:10.799 It's very impressive. 00:23:11.519 --> 00:23:20.000 The heroic acts in the final moments of this remarkable rescue revealed something of the culture and character of the Navy SEALs. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:23.920 Here's what Jessica Buchanan wrote of them. 00:23:24.640 --> 00:23:31.920 At one point, this group of men who have risked their lives for me already asked me to lie down on the ground. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:36.720 Because they were concerned there might be more terrorists out there. 00:23:37.039 --> 00:23:45.279 So they made a circle around me, and then one by one they began to lie down on top of me in that circle in order to protect her. 00:23:46.400 --> 00:23:50.400 And they lied like that until the helicopters came in. 00:23:52.000 --> 00:23:57.440 To the world, it might have seemed odd or extraordinary. 00:23:58.000 --> 00:24:01.920 But to the Navy SEALs, it was another day's work. 00:24:02.720 --> 00:24:05.279 Because that is what they were taught. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:07.359 That is what they had trained themselves in. 00:24:07.519 --> 00:24:17.359 That is who they were laying down their lives, willing to sacrifice themselves for another. 00:24:18.640 --> 00:24:31.039 God's people compartmentalized their faith so much that their professed beliefs in God had no bearing on their actions. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:40.240 They were fully convinced that belief in God was sufficient and that they could live however they want and treat people however they want. 00:24:40.640 --> 00:24:44.559 Yet the Bible paints a much different picture of what true faith looks like. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:50.319 1 John 3.15 says, Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer. 00:24:50.559 --> 00:24:54.720 And you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him. 00:24:54.960 --> 00:25:05.680 Hatred for your brother, according to the disciple whom Jesus loved, hatred for your brother is the equivalent of murder. 00:25:07.119 --> 00:25:16.720 You cannot make a claim to eternal life in Jesus Christ while also being characterized as a hateful person. 00:25:17.839 --> 00:25:21.440 And you might say, Pastor Jeremy, I am not a hateful person. 00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:23.279 I love everybody. 00:25:23.519 --> 00:25:25.359 I'm a very loving person. 00:25:25.839 --> 00:25:30.640 I always smile, I always wave, say good morning. 00:25:31.119 --> 00:25:32.799 I'm very friendly. 00:25:34.799 --> 00:25:42.319 I think our culture is actually dealing with the worst form of hatred at all, and that is apathy. 00:25:44.400 --> 00:25:54.799 Hatred, at least, is the emotional display that you care deeply about something, even if it's not for me. 00:25:56.880 --> 00:26:01.279 Apathy, on the other hand, says I don't care at all. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:04.079 I could care less about you. 00:26:04.640 --> 00:26:07.599 I could care less about what happens in your family. 00:26:07.759 --> 00:26:10.000 I could care less about how you're doing. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:13.839 I could care less about your employment situation or your grandchildren. 00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:16.960 I could care less if you are in financial difficulties. 00:26:17.039 --> 00:26:19.039 I could care less if I even say hi. 00:26:20.160 --> 00:26:25.279 I could care less about getting to know you because, frankly, that's a little too, it's going to take up too much of my time. 00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:41.200 It's interesting, Pastor Jason a few weeks ago was going through Matthew 24, talking about the last days, the time of tribulation, and he says, uh Jesus says that because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold. 00:26:41.759 --> 00:26:46.720 And what we see in the culture now is the multiplication of lawlessness. 00:26:46.799 --> 00:26:47.599 It's everywhere. 00:26:48.559 --> 00:26:50.400 We entertain ourselves with it. 00:26:52.240 --> 00:27:03.039 We have TikTok streaming incessantly into our kids' phones of people going and doing uh horrific things to innocent people, and we consider it forms of entertainment. 00:27:05.039 --> 00:27:09.680 We've completely disconnected ourselves from communities like the church. 00:27:12.000 --> 00:27:21.440 Lawlessness is just multiplying and multiplying and multiplying, and because of that, people don't have love for anybody. 00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:26.400 God's people are known for their love. 00:27:27.680 --> 00:27:36.720 The Apostle John would go on to say in his first letter, beloved, let us love one another, for God is from love, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:46.799 Anyone who does not love does not know God because, as Nick told us this morning, God is love. 00:27:51.359 --> 00:27:57.039 Matthew 5, 44, from Jesus I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. 00:27:57.200 --> 00:28:01.680 Oh, so now love is expanding beyond just the people we like and the people in the church. 00:28:01.759 --> 00:28:04.240 Now it's going to even people who hate you. 00:28:06.559 --> 00:28:22.240 Jesus famously gave the parable of the Good Samaritan to exemplify the principle that loving your neighbor is not just loving people who are like you or even believe similarly to you or live in the same area as you or have the same interests as you. 00:28:22.480 --> 00:28:29.440 Your neighbor can encompass anyone at any time, and you, as God's people, have an obligation to love them. 00:28:29.599 --> 00:28:30.000 Why? 00:28:30.160 --> 00:28:32.799 Because it is the nature of the God you worship. 00:28:33.039 --> 00:28:37.759 It is the nature of the God you love that you claim to follow. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:45.119 God's people have no love for their neighbor, revealing that they have no love for God. 00:28:46.000 --> 00:28:51.440 God's warning here is a warning of repentance, and he calls people to correct how they treat others. 00:28:51.920 --> 00:28:54.880 Is this a call of correction in your life? 00:28:55.839 --> 00:28:57.839 Let's do a quick inventory. 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:01.039 How do you treat your parents? 00:29:03.279 --> 00:29:05.200 How do you treat your siblings? 00:29:07.440 --> 00:29:09.440 How do you treat your boss? 00:29:10.400 --> 00:29:12.720 You talk poorly about him behind his back? 00:29:13.440 --> 00:29:14.799 The other co-workers? 00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:20.079 How do you treat the McDonald's cashier who messed up your order? 00:29:21.680 --> 00:29:24.480 You treat them with disdain because they're not doing their job? 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:26.240 You people should know. 00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:31.359 How do you treat people with different political views? 00:29:34.799 --> 00:29:39.599 We live in this time where, like, if you don't accept a certain view, then you must hate me. 00:29:39.759 --> 00:29:44.240 God's people are like, no, I I I reject your views, but I love you. 00:29:47.839 --> 00:29:49.440 Have you bought into that? 00:29:50.559 --> 00:29:55.359 How do you treat people who look different, talk different, act different, and think different than you do? 00:29:55.759 --> 00:30:01.359 I think right now uh we have the issue of the southern border in our minds a lot. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:12.559 And I'm not intending to make a statement on the border situation, but right now we have millions of people pouring into our nation. 00:30:14.400 --> 00:30:22.480 What happens when those people, those image bearers, end up in this church? 00:30:23.759 --> 00:30:29.839 Because you disagree with policies and what's happening down there, do you then treat them with disdain? 00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:41.119 The genuineness of our worship is evidenced not just in showing up for church, but in how we treat others. 00:30:41.359 --> 00:30:49.599 God wants to warn us that if we want to receive the promise of eternal life, we need to examine our posture, demeanor, and attitude towards others. 00:30:49.920 --> 00:30:54.079 How we treat others is the evidence of our salvation. 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:56.400 Evidence, not the means. 00:30:56.720 --> 00:31:00.400 You cannot love people and get yourself into heaven. 00:31:00.960 --> 00:31:04.880 You love people because you are going to heaven. 00:31:05.359 --> 00:31:11.599 You're not a Christian by loving others, but if you are a Christian, you will be loving towards others. 00:31:11.920 --> 00:31:19.599 God wants to warn his people about correcting their actions towards others, but he also wants to warn them about false assurances of what they trust in. 00:31:19.839 --> 00:31:25.680 The two go hand in hand, and I've kind of alluded to it already as I've talked through how they're acting, right? 00:31:25.759 --> 00:31:28.960 They're treating people like garbage, but they're showing up for worship. 00:31:29.200 --> 00:31:32.720 And in this, God wants to warn them about what they are trusting in. 00:31:32.880 --> 00:31:34.160 That's our second point this morning. 00:31:34.319 --> 00:31:35.519 Look at verse 4. 00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:41.680 Part of correcting their actions is correcting their false sense of security and what they're trusting in. 00:31:42.720 --> 00:31:45.759 Verse 4 says, Do not trust in these deceptive words. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:49.519 Literally, it's it's translated as these lying words. 00:31:49.680 --> 00:31:50.640 These are lying words. 00:31:50.720 --> 00:31:53.119 They bear no truth in them whatsoever. 00:31:53.440 --> 00:31:56.000 He says, Do not trust in these deceptive words. 00:31:56.160 --> 00:32:00.319 This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. 00:32:00.799 --> 00:32:13.839 Apparently, in the time of Jeremiah, God's people had adopted this practice of chanting this form of reassurance that nothing bad will happen to them so long as they come to the temple and worship. 00:32:14.480 --> 00:32:17.920 If you say it enough times, it must be true, right? 00:32:18.880 --> 00:32:23.920 They have nothing to worry about if this is a protected place watched over by God Himself. 00:32:24.079 --> 00:32:28.480 Therefore, they can continue to live however they want and still show up to worship. 00:32:28.640 --> 00:32:35.200 God won't let anything bad happen to them, since this is where the temple of the Lord is, and they're doing their religious duty. 00:32:35.680 --> 00:32:39.279 These words are, as I said, according to God, deceitful. 00:32:39.519 --> 00:32:48.160 They are deceitful in that God's wrath and anger towards their actions towards other people is not going to be withheld simply because they show up. 00:32:50.319 --> 00:32:53.440 If this is God's house, he can do with it as he pleases. 00:32:53.519 --> 00:33:01.039 And if he wants to destroy it because his people are making a mockery out of it, then he has every right and authority to do so. 00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:09.200 They are convincing themselves of a lie by simply repeating it over and over and over and over again. 00:33:09.519 --> 00:33:19.279 And despite God's call for them to stop believing in these deceitful words, to repent, he points to the fact that they just can't help themselves. 00:33:19.440 --> 00:33:20.799 Look at verse 8. 00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:27.039 Behold, you keep trusting in these deceitful words. 00:33:27.519 --> 00:33:30.880 You trust in these deceitful words to no avail. 00:33:32.480 --> 00:33:35.279 That's not just an empty accusation by God. 00:33:35.519 --> 00:33:42.880 He points back to their actions as evidence of the fact that they keep trusting in these deceitful words. 00:33:43.680 --> 00:33:46.880 He presents this as a question: Will you steal? 00:33:47.119 --> 00:33:54.640 Will you murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal and go after other gods that you have not known? 00:33:54.880 --> 00:34:02.880 And then come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered? 00:34:03.440 --> 00:34:08.159 Only to go on and go about doing all these abominations? 00:34:10.559 --> 00:34:17.519 God points back to the actions of his people as evidence of what they ultimately trust in. 00:34:18.400 --> 00:34:22.639 They live in sin and they're not bothered by it one bit. 00:34:23.679 --> 00:34:27.679 They show up to the temple and they think they're good. 00:34:27.920 --> 00:34:29.679 They're delivered from judgment. 00:34:30.000 --> 00:34:31.199 God's gonna rescue them. 00:34:31.280 --> 00:34:34.880 They're saying the right things, doing the right things, and so on. 00:34:35.280 --> 00:34:38.559 And if that's the case, they can go on living however they want. 00:34:39.440 --> 00:34:47.119 Their faith is not in the God of Scripture, their faith is in a God that they've made up in their heads and have confused for the God of the Bible. 00:34:47.519 --> 00:34:53.920 And what's more is that their worship indicted God as morally corrupt. 00:34:54.320 --> 00:35:08.719 If they invoked the temple of God as a safe haven for them, and yet they live in constant disobedience to him, they are turning his house into a den of robbers. 00:35:09.679 --> 00:35:14.400 The temple which bears God's name implicates God in sin. 00:35:14.480 --> 00:35:16.880 That's the point God is trying to get at there. 00:35:17.119 --> 00:35:21.920 He says, Has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers? 00:35:22.800 --> 00:35:24.400 Yes, I too have seen it. 00:35:24.559 --> 00:35:26.480 This is the Lord's declaration. 00:35:26.639 --> 00:35:37.679 One commentary noted that bandits often took refuge in the caves of the in the Judean hills for protection until their pursuers gave up searching for them. 00:35:37.920 --> 00:35:40.960 They would then emerge to commit other crimes. 00:35:41.039 --> 00:35:47.280 So they they'd uh do a quick snatch and grab and then go hide in the hills until the heat uh died down. 00:35:48.400 --> 00:35:50.719 The temple had become that kind of place. 00:35:50.880 --> 00:36:03.039 It had become the refuge for the people to perform the rituals they believed in, a safe place, a sanctuary, and it they believed that it freed them to continue their wicked practices. 00:36:04.079 --> 00:36:15.280 The people have become nothing more than wicked robbers who found temporary refuge in God's temple until they decide to wander out to satisfy their own sinful passions. 00:36:16.480 --> 00:36:20.800 Their deceptive words convince them of what wasn't true. 00:36:22.960 --> 00:36:29.199 And rather than turning back to God and repenting, they ended up heading for disaster. 00:36:31.119 --> 00:36:37.679 Because what is false will be proven when it is tested. 00:36:38.800 --> 00:36:40.960 What is false will be proven when it's tested. 00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:44.000 Here's what I mean by that. 00:36:44.159 --> 00:36:50.239 And there's a story in the Associated Press about a New Zealander. 00:36:50.639 --> 00:36:56.320 I just gotta say, when when I go trying to find illustrations, there's a lot of stuff happening in New Zealand. 00:36:56.400 --> 00:36:57.360 Pray for those people. 00:36:57.599 --> 00:37:00.400 I I get all these weird stories about people in New Zealand. 00:37:00.480 --> 00:37:02.400 I'm not sure what's happening down there. 00:37:02.639 --> 00:37:09.519 But this this guy, this New Zealander named Ivan Seginen, he didn't like wearing his seatbelt. 00:37:09.760 --> 00:37:12.880 I know some of you can maybe uh empathize with him. 00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:20.239 The police ticketed him over 32 times in the course of five years for failing to buckle up. 00:37:21.119 --> 00:37:23.360 He's obviously not married. 00:37:28.000 --> 00:37:34.400 Even though this was costing him big money, this man refused to buckle up. 00:37:35.199 --> 00:37:41.360 Finally, instead of obeying the law, the man decided to rely on a form of deception. 00:37:41.920 --> 00:37:45.280 He made himself a fake seatbelt. 00:37:45.760 --> 00:37:51.519 It would drape over his shoulder and make it appear that he was wearing his seatbelt when he actually wasn't. 00:37:51.920 --> 00:37:54.719 And this trick worked for a while. 00:37:55.519 --> 00:37:58.960 Didn't get pulled over by the police, completely fooled them. 00:38:00.719 --> 00:38:02.960 But then he had a head-on collision. 00:38:04.719 --> 00:38:09.840 He was thrown forward into the steering wheel and killed. 00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:19.280 When truly tested, what is fake will fail you. 00:38:23.199 --> 00:38:27.440 God's people were trusting in fake religion. 00:38:29.440 --> 00:38:34.159 And it was on a collision course to fail them. 00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:40.320 We can get trapped into the same false sense of security as they did. 00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:50.000 We feel secure in our faith because we we show up to church on Sundays, we volunteer in the children's ministry and in the nursery, we come to Bible studies. 00:38:50.320 --> 00:38:54.159 We even have big, thick Bibles with study notes in them. 00:38:54.480 --> 00:39:01.199 You prayed a prayer one day, you walked an aisle, whatever it is, you were baptized as an infant into the church. 00:39:01.519 --> 00:39:03.519 And so, of course, you're on the end, right? 00:39:03.679 --> 00:39:04.639 You do all the right things. 00:39:04.719 --> 00:39:06.880 You say the right things, you show up to the right places. 00:39:07.039 --> 00:39:08.400 So you're secure. 00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:14.400 But you're basing your security on your actions, not in Christ. 00:39:16.559 --> 00:39:23.840 Meanwhile, our lives often don't reflect anything remotely resembling the Savior who we claim saved us. 00:39:25.519 --> 00:39:38.159 James 1.22 tells us that we are to be doers of the word, not only hearers, because only being hearers deceives us. 00:39:38.800 --> 00:39:46.800 We deceive ourselves if we think we can simply just hear the word of God and not do it. 00:39:47.199 --> 00:39:55.599 He goes on to say in James 2, 14, what good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? 00:39:56.400 --> 00:40:03.280 If your faith is not actively being lived out in your life, can such a faith save you? 00:40:03.440 --> 00:40:05.199 Is the question that James poses. 00:40:05.360 --> 00:40:10.880 It's a rhetorical question to which the resounding answer that he goes on to elaborate on is no. 00:40:12.719 --> 00:40:14.880 It cannot save you. 00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:23.760 Simply believing the right things and doing the right things once a week does not save you. 00:40:25.840 --> 00:40:38.719 Rather, your salvation is evidenced, not just one day a week, not even just twice a week, but every single day. 00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:46.880 The applicational question here demands that we ask this question. 00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:50.880 Are you trusting in a false form of faith? 00:40:52.239 --> 00:40:55.039 Are you trusting in a false form of faith? 00:40:56.320 --> 00:41:02.400 That's hard for us to wrestle with because we believe in the security of the believer, right? 00:41:02.639 --> 00:41:04.880 Once God saves you, you're saved. 00:41:04.960 --> 00:41:07.679 There's nothing Jesus says that can take you out of his hand. 00:41:07.840 --> 00:41:10.079 To that we say yes and amen. 00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:20.239 Yet at the same time, some of us are not securely in the shepherd's hand because we have deceived ourselves. 00:41:21.039 --> 00:41:25.199 We simply think going through the motions is what Jesus wants. 00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:29.360 Well, all the all the while living for ourselves. 00:41:29.679 --> 00:41:38.800 Jesus tells us that many will tell uh many will claim on that day when they stand before him, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name? 00:41:39.039 --> 00:41:41.039 Did we not cast out demons in your name? 00:41:41.199 --> 00:41:44.239 Did we not do all these mighty works in your name? 00:41:44.400 --> 00:41:47.440 And Jesus will look at them and say, I never knew you. 00:41:47.599 --> 00:41:48.480 You know why? 00:41:48.800 --> 00:41:53.440 Because of how they conducted their lives, particularly towards other people. 00:41:56.320 --> 00:42:00.559 Are you trusting in a false form of faith? 00:42:04.639 --> 00:42:08.559 Is your faith evidenced in your repentance and love towards others? 00:42:13.360 --> 00:42:16.400 Jeremiah warns the people to change their actions. 00:42:17.039 --> 00:42:20.800 He warns them to be careful of what they trust in. 00:42:21.440 --> 00:42:26.880 Do not be deceived by these lying words as if you're safe. 00:42:27.440 --> 00:42:33.840 The purpose of the warning is so that they turn back from their ways because something awful is coming. 00:42:34.559 --> 00:42:44.000 They are speeding down the highway of God's judgment with their false form of religion, with their false sense of security, and it's going to end in disaster for them. 00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:47.679