Old Testament Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville Disaster Looms: The Temple Is Not the Answer Jeremiah 5-9 Introduction: Reading these chapters we see God giving Jeremiah a justification for the destruction of the nation. In the end, Jeremiah is totally appalled as God pulls back the curtain and reveals the utter sinfulness of the people and their refusal to listen to God. Chapter Five: Introductory Description of Israel’s Stubbornness 5:1 Search the city to see if you can find a man who does justice and seeks truth. God had promised Abraham that he would spare Sodom if just 10 righteous could be found in the city. With Jerusalem, God says, “Just find one!” 5:3 No punishment or severe consequences of their sin will change them. 5:7-8 “How can I pardon you?” They are full of adultery, as lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor’s wife. 5:12-13 The people mock God. “He will do nothing…the prophets will become wind…” 5:15-17 Description of the invasion 5:19 Why will God destroy them? “As you have forsaken me and served foreign gods in your land, so you shall serve foreigners in a land that is not yours.” 5:22-23 Even the powerful seas obey the command of the Lord, “but this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart.” 5:28 They do not give justice to the fatherless or defend the rights of the needy. 5:30-31 “The prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction; my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?” Chapter Six: Disaster Comes! 6:1-6 Description of the invasion. God is directing the attack! 6:7 illustrates the nature of sin. As a well continues to provide fresh water, so the people continue to come up with more evil. That is the way sin is. Sin pushes back on the idea of “just a little.” Sin says, “There’s more to see; there’s more to experience; don’t miss out!” (Like Facebook) 6:10 God tries to give a warning. But his word is an object of scorn. “They take no pleasure in it.” Good question: do we take pleasure in the word of the Lord? 6:13-15 “They [prophet & priest] have healed the wound of my people lightly, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is not peace.” Prophet and priest treats the people’s sins as if they are nothing; not a big deal. There won’t be consequences. That’s because they are making money from the sacrifices! They commit abominations before the Lord, but they are not at all ashamed nor to they blush. Such callousness is the reason sin is so dangerous! 6:16 “Ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is…” God doesn’t keep “revealing” his ways and his laws. They have been revealed long ago, and he has not changed. 6:20 We can’t pay God off with expensive gifts or sacrifices! This may have been the result of Josiah’s restoration. But the hearts of the people had not changed. 6:23 They are coming! They are cruel and have no mercy…against you, O daughter of Zion! 6:27-30 Jeremiah, a tester of metals. When Jeremiah preached God’s word to them, he was testing their hearts, exposing their character. God proclaimed that they are “bronze and iron,” that is, resistant and hardened, not like gold and silver that can be purified. The “fire bellows fiercely” against them and the lead is consumed, but these wicked are not affected. God has tried to purify the people, but they cannot be purified. Therefore, they all will be taken away. Chapter 7 The Temple Has Become an Idol (Jeremiah’s speech at the gate of the temple to those who enter to worship the Lord) “Worship” describes bowing down to someone higher and acknowledging total dependence on God. But the physical action of bowing and the words from the lips of proclaiming praise is not the true essence of worship. 7:3-4 Trusting in the “temple of the Lord.” How foolish and stubborn the Sanhedrin Council in the days of Stephen (Acts 7)! Do we today put our trust in, “we go to church and worship” while our ways and deeds have not changed? 7:3-4 “Amend your ways and your deeds”—now that is worship! 7:21-26 I didn’t ask for sacrifices. I commanded, “Obey my voice…” 7:25 “I have persistently sent my servants the prophets…yet they did not listen.” How persistent has God been with us? All 66 books! How many Christians have lived their whole lives only knowing a third of that? (NT is a third) Lesson: Are God’s laws and commandments something negative to you? Do you look at them as restrictions to the life you would like to live? Is seeking God in diligent study, praying and seeking his heart, and coming to worship to draw closer to him and to each other a burden? Do you evaluate serving God on the basis of finding the minimum you have to do? 7:30–8:3 They have put their detestable things in the house of the Lord and built high places of Topheth (“stove or oven”) in the Valley of Hinnom. It will soon be called the Valley of Slaughter! Chapter Eight: Sinfulness Makes No Sense 8:4-7 “when men fall, do they not rise again?” They do evil like a horse plunging into battle without considering the consequences. But even a stork knows her times. You people do not have the intelligence of a bird! 8:8 They call themselves wise, but “Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.” (KJV). Or, “the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely” (NIV. Or, “…those who teach it have used their writings to make it say what it does not say” (NET). 8:13 “…there are no grapes on the vine…” Mark 11:12-14 Jesus made the same accusation. “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.” John 15:8 “By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.” 8:14-15 A confession made too late. “We looked for peace, but no good came; for a time of healing, but behold, terror.” You looked in all the wrong places. 8:18—9:3 The weeping of Jeremiah over the coming destruction. Cf. Luke 19:41-44 Jesus wept over Jerusalem’s coming destruction. Chapter Nine: When Sin Is at Its Worst 9:4-9 Societal breakdown. When sin multiplies, no one can be trusted. 9:11 “I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins…without inhabitant.” Who could believe such a thing could happen? God has given us warning after warning in the NT. Are we lazy in our preparation? Do we think, “Well, it won’t happen today or even in the near future?” 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 “For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape.” 9:13-14 Why will God do this to them? “Because they have forsaken my law that I set before them, and have not obeyed my voice or walked in accord with it, but have stubbornly followed their own hearts and have gone after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” When we don’t change, God calls us stubborn! Let’s ask the question again: what is the problem with idolatry? Why is it there two commands out of ten that forbid it? Because out trust and hope is to only be in God! Anything else, and we are idolators! 9:23-24 “…let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me…” Our wisdom, strength, or wealth will not save us! Nothing we have or can do will save us from the coming judgment. There is only one hope. 9:25-26 “…I will punish all those who are circumcised merely in the flesh.” How about merely baptized? You are no better than the pagan nations! But you go into the temple of the Lord every week! Ha! Conclusion: Have you seen the mind and heart of God in these chapters? Have you felt his anger and wrath? Have you seen his determinations and his unfailing promise to justify himself by punishing those who do not fear him and obey him? Berry Kercheville The post Jeremiah 5 – 9: Disaster Looms – The Temple Is Not The Answer appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.
