JEREMIAH | Lesson 3 | Lesson Notes / Talking Points

Read Jeremiah 7.1-20

INTRODUCTION & MAKING THE CONNECTIONS

1/ When our autistic son, Jonathan, was probably 13-14 years old, he became displeased at some of the home’s rules we required him to observe. In his disordered ways of perceiving and thinking about things, he really could not understand and comprehend they were for his own good. So, one Sunday afternoon, he decided to escape. He was already used to walking everywhere he went. And he would walk long distances to occupy and entertain himself. And one-half mile from our home is a Kroger. He had been there many times. He had seen at this Kroger one of those yellow signs with embracing arms on it designating a ‘Safe Place.’ Anyone who was suffering from abuse of any kind could seek and find deliverance at a ‘Safe Place.’ So, on this Sunday afternoon, he walked himself to Kroger and turned himself in to the ‘Safe Place.’ Dutifully, they called Social Services, and they came, picked him up, and took him downtown Lexington. So here I am, downstairs in my study, preparing to preach that Sunday evening, totally unaware of what was going on, and I get a call from Social Services. “Mr. Parks?” “Yes, this is he.” “Mr. Parks, we have your son, Jonathan, here. He has turned himself into the Kroger ‘Safe Place,’ and he is here now.” Well, I could tell that the nice, courteous Social Services officer was addressing me respectfully, and that he had already figured out that Jonathan had not, in fact, been abused. So I called the Social Services officer by name, and said “I expect you have observed that Jonathan has a neurological disorder, and he doesn’t perceive and comprehend the difference between household rules and abuse. He has not been abused. I’m on my way there now, and I will pick him up and bring him back home with me.” And that was that. There was no objection from the Social Services officer. He did observe and see. And I might add, that Jonathan also was traumatized by what he had done. We have remembered and talked about that incident several times since then. Jonathan understands now what he did not understand then. But the bottom line was … and is: Seeking out a ‘Safe Place’ is no deliverance from having to abide by the rules of the home.

2/ ‘The Temple Sermon.’ Chapter 7 of Jeremiah is a pivotal marker in the book of Jeremiah. Bible scholars and teachers have come to call this word from Yahweh that came to Jeremiah ‘The Temple Sermon.’ [1] It was delivered at the main entrance to the Temple; and [2] the message focuses on their abuse of Yahweh’s Temple and His plans to destroy it.

3/ They were under the mistaken illusion that their beloved ‘Temple of Yahweh’ would be a ‘safe place’ from the holy wrath of a violated God. Yahweh is still trying to disabuse them of that foolish notion. Except, not like our Jonathan, they NOT will see or accept the proffered rebuke and correction. Their ‘safe place’ will be destroyed … and they along with it. / see vv 27-28

I / vv 1-4 / “This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh!”  

1/ v 1 / This is a new message that Yahweh gives Jeremiah to deliver / see ch 1.4; 2.1; 3.6.

2/ v 2 / Yahweh directs Jeremiah to go and Stand in the gate of Yahweh’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of Yahweh, all you men of Judah who enter these gates to worship Yahweh.’ It would be like Jesus commanding a prophet to come and stand as a greeter at the main entrance door of our church and proclaim this message to every one of us who is entering for a worship service. This is how God insists that His worship be conducted by those of us who are entering to worship Him. “But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” / John 4.23-24.  

3/ The purpose for this specific and strategic direction is because Yahweh wants to get the attention of all those who were hypocritically and insultingly pretending to worship Yahweh … yet all the while leaving their superficial exercises and activities of ‘worship’ only to go and pursue their own wicked and rebellious self-willed ways.

4/ v 3 / Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. The first instruction Yahweh gives the ‘worshipers’ through Jeremiah is that they must confess all their rebellious and idolatrous conduct and lifestyles, repent of them, and return to love Him with all their hearts – according to the First and Greatest Commandment He had given them centuries before when He first brought them out of slavery and bondage in Egypt. He will have more to say about this as He repeats it again through this message; but that is His opening keynote and theme.

5/ v 4 / Do not trust in these deceptive words: ‘This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’ This Temple Sermon chapter and message pivots around this mantra that the idolatrous people of Judah were chanting under the inspiration and leadership of the false prophets they were listening to and following.

• This mantra was intended to assure them that Yahweh wouldn’t allow anything bad to happen to them or their temple because it was ‘The temple of Yahweh.’ They were mistaken.
• But they had convinced themselves that the ‘Temple of Yahweh’ was for them a talisman or ‘good luck charm’ just by virtue of its being there and being called by His Name. They were wrong.
• Yahweh had promised through Moses, Solomon, and all the prophets that His blessing upon their temple and their very remaining in the Land He had given them was not unconditional; rather it was conditioned upon their faithfulness to Him, their Covenant God.

6/ False prophets. There is another expanded message in ch 23.9-40 similar to this one against the false prophets who had deceived them into believing there would be guaranteed ‘Peace, peace’ when there is no peace / see ch 6.13-15 & 8.11-12.

7/ ALSO, this same false security in their safety and the safety of their temple cycles back around during the ministry of Jesus. Note v 11: Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Where have we heard that also? It is quoted by Jesus in Matthew 21.13, Mark 11.17, and Luke 19.46. Under the exact same circumstances. Their Temple was marked for destruction again by the upcoming Roman invaders because of their rebellious disregard for Yahweh, whose House and Temple it was. But they were willfully oblivious to their danger they had brought on themselves at that time also.

II / vv 5-7 / ‘If you truly amend your ways and your deeds…’  

1/ vv 5-6 / For the second time, Yahweh repeats this: the only spiritual and moral prescription that can truly save them from the coming destruction that is coming upon them, their city, and their beloved Temple.

2/ Here are some of the social injustices and spiritual idolatries Yahweh convicts them of committing:

• if you truly execute justice with one another / God requires us to treat our neighbors with fairness, justice, and equity / see Micah 6.6-8
• if you do not oppress the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow / see Exodus 22.21-24. These three classes of people were to be protected and treated fairly. Yahweh repeated it often. Israel was always to remember that they, too, had been these classes of people in Egypt; but Yahweh had redeemed them. We must treat all others, especially the weakest and most defenseless, with the same mercy and grace God has treated us.
• or shed innocent blood in this place / Especially under the previous reign of King Manasseh, Judah had even adopted the practice of sacrificing their infant children to the god Molech of the Ammonites / see 2 Kings 23.10. There was a history even previous to this, going even back to Solomon [1 Kings 11.7] where Molech was enshrined in Jerusalem … which eventually led to the ultimate abomination of child sacrifice. Yahweh had specifically warned them not to go after Molech and the murderous rites of worship associated with him / see Leviticus 18.21.  
• and if you do not go after other gods to your own harm / see ch 2.20-27 / Judah had stubbornly, insolently told Yahweh they were addicted to their ‘other gods,’ and they would not give them up.

3/ We must never presume upon the grace of God – to think that if we just perform occasional and convenient religious works and attend worship services when we feel like it and maintain a respectable religious appearance, that God will be obligated to bless us. And certainly not if we ‘practice’ a religious front but then go back home to engage in a lifestyle that is sinful, wicked, and in transgression of holiness. God sees and knows. God demands, desires, and deserves the full-hearted love and commitment of our whole lives. We must repent of ‘thinking that occasional dwelling in a holy place can cancel out a pattern of unholy deeds’ / Jerry Hwang, ESV Expository Commentary.

III / vv 8-15 / ‘…as I did to Shiloh…’

1/ v 8 / Behold, you trust in deceptive words to no avail. Yahweh returns again to their infatuation and loyalty they gave to their false prophets. Their false prophets were countering Jeremiah with promises that nothing bad would ever happen to ‘The Temple of Yahweh, the Temple of Yahweh, the Temple of Yahweh’ because Yahweh would never let anything bad happen to His Temple … regardless of how they lived their lives otherwise.

2/ vv 9-11 / Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, make offerings to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known, 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? We can be sure that the false prophets were reminding them of how Yahweh had saved Jerusalem and their Temple back when the Northern Kingdom fell to the Assyrians / see 2 Kings 16-20 & Isaiah 36-37. AND how King Josiah, just a few years ago at that time, ‘cleansed’ the Temple from all the idolatrous abominations that were enshrined and practiced in it / 2 Kings 22-23. But those reforms had been immediately revoked with Josiah’s son and successor, Jehoiakim / see the parallel chapter to this one in ch 26.1-6. It was unthinkable that Yahweh would not deliver them now.

3/ v 12 / 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. So what is Shiloh, and what happened at Shiloh?

• Shiloh was where the Ark of the Covenant [where Yahweh said He would dwell with His people] was established and housed immediately after the people of Israel came into the Promised Land. This goes all the way back to the days of Eli and Samuel / see 1 Samuel 2.12 – ch 4.
• Except that Eli was old and feeble, and his sons were serving as priests. But they were wicked, unbelieving, and committed all sorts of desecrations against Yahweh’s laws of sacrifices [I Samuel 2.17] and immoral debaucheries with the women of Israel [1 Samuel 2.22].
• Eli would not confront and remove them. Yahweh was displeased. He would not permit this to continue.
• In chapter 4, the Philistines attacked the Israelites, and Yahweh delivered Israel over to their hands in a great slaughter.
• Somebody had a brilliant idea: And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has Yahweh defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the Ark of the Covenant of Yahweh here from Shiloh, that it [Yahweh] may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies [1 Samuel 4.3]. Exactly the same thing the people of Judah were saying in Jeremiah’s day.
• Never mind, that the people in Eli’s day were living in rebellion against Yahweh just like they were in Jeremiah’s day. ‘Yahweh is obligated to save us just by the presence of our religious exercises in His Name’ [or so they thought].
• Eli’s two sons, Hophni and Phineas, brought the Ark of the Covenant to the camp of the Israelites as a ‘good luck charm’ to work its ‘magic’ just by its presence. Do not be deceived; God is not mocked.
• The Philistines attacked again, slaughtered them some more – including Hophni and Phineas – and captured the Ark of the Covenant. Just kidnapped it and took it back to the house of their own gods.
• If you know the story, or if you’ll read it, Yahweh defended Himself admirably. But Shiloh was defeated and humiliated … and a few years later, was completely destroyed and desolated.

4/ vv 13-15 / [back to Jeremiah…] Now, Yahweh reminds them of this story and says: 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, ¹⁴ therefore I will do to the house that is called by my name, and in which you trust, and to the place that I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ And I will cast you out of my sight, as I cast out all your kinsmen, all the offspring of Ephraim [the Northern Kingdom Israel – just 100 years earlier].

5/ God’s past mercies and deliverances are no guarantee of His present and future similar deliverances if we are in rebellion against Him and not living up to the responsibility that His grace commits us to fulfill.

“But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. ⁵ Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent.”

IV / vv 16-20 / “As for you, do not pray for this people…”

1/ v 16 / “As for you, do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear you. This ought to terrify us – that God would ever command His servant NOT to pray for those over whom the prophet’s heart broke and wept. The judgment of Yahweh had been held at bay and restrained up until now precisely because Jeremiah had been weeping and praying for them!

2/ We must never disrespect or disregard the saving effect our Pastors’ prayers and faithful teaching has on our spiritual instruction and leading us into sanctification.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. / Hebrews 13.17

3/ vv 17-18 / Why would Yahweh forbid Jeremiah to pray and intercede for them any longer? When Jeremiah would protest and still attempt to pray for them, Yahweh responds: Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? It was because the people were defiantly, obstinately, and brazenly refusing to truly worship Yahweh … even though they were going through the motions of ‘worshiping’ Him, thinking it would appease Him, turn Him from any threats of wrath He may make against them, and obligate Him to deliver them from the looming, foreboding threats of the Babylonians.

4/ But all the while, they were engaging in ‘family worship’ alright – The children gather wood, the fathers kindle fire, and the women knead dough … except that the whole family was engaged to make cakes for the queen of heaven. And they pour out drink offerings to other gods, to provoke Me to anger. They were doing all this to Yahweh’s very Face. As He says back in v 11, Behold, I Myself have seen it, declares Yahweh.

5/ vv 19-20 / They have now reached the point of no return. Is it I whom they provoke? declares the LORD. Is it not themselves, to their own shame? ²⁰ Therefore thus says the LORD God: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched.”

THE ONLY ‘SAFE PLACE’ GOD PROVIDES IS IN OUR FAITH IN HIM!