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TO THOSE WHO ENTERED TO WORSHIP Preaching was central in the ministry of Jesus Christ. Although there is a great tendency to use other methods of approach but Jesus simply came preaching.
Luke 4:18-19 “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.”
When Jesus was in the synagogue at Nazareth, Jesus described Himself as having been divinely ordained to preach, so the Lord Jesus was a preacher.
Then the apostles came to the scene and the Lord Jesus gave to these apostles the same strategy.
Preaching was Jesus’ purpose for these apostles. At the end of Christ’s ministry before He ascended into heaven, Jesus gave them the Great Commission, a simple command to go everywhere preaching.
Mark 16:15 “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.”
We have the boldness of the preaching of the gospel by the apostles recorded in the book of Acts and in the Epistles of the New Testament. Therefore, the apostles were preachers.
Preaching is always a necessity, because preaching is connected to the life of the church. It was because of the preaching of the Gospel that brought the church into being, and only through preaching can maintain the fire in the church. Historically, it was recorded that the strength of the church is directly linked to the strength of the pulpit.
The church has been weak when the message from the pulpit has been uncertain, insufficient and
Faltering, on the other hand the church has been strong when the message from the pulpit has given a positive, declarative, and with an objective. There is always the need for effective preaching.
Every man who will enter the office of a Pastor was not ask primarily to administrate but ask to preach.
We assume that the Pastor will be preacher.
Preaching is an important element in pastoral responsibility. Pastoring is a sacred responsibility to stand ministering the Word of God before the people of God in the house of God. There is nothing greater job on the face of the earth than preaching the Word of God.
In our passage, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah and told Jeremiah to stand in the gate of the house of the Lord and proclaim in the gate this Word. People’s responsibility was that they were entering the gates of the Temple to worship the Lord, and it was Jeremiah responsibility to get these people hear the Word of the Lord.
Listen, God has called me to preach as God called Jeremiah to preach. Like Jeremiah I too must stand
in the house of God preaching the message to the people of God who entered to worship. Now, what does God want me to say to those who entered these doors to worship?
I – SUPERSTITIOUS THAT GOD CONDEMNED – v.4, 8-11, 21-24
We notice in our passage, that Jeremiah attacks the confidence these people had toward the temple and the functions of the temple. The people believed that God would never judge them because they were going to church and were involved in the worship. But for Jeremiah this people’s devotion, reverence, and adoration of the Temple was just a blind superstition.
God will not stay in the midst of a rebellious and idolatrous people of Israel in spite their having a building place and mechanical or routinary forms of worship.
A. A Place that is superstitious – v.4, 8-11
Jeremiah 7:4, 8-11 “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these. 8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit. 9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; 10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations? 11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the Lord.”
We have a summary of the way the people were thinking in verse 4.
Jeremiah 7:4 “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.”
God promised the people that David would have an everlasting dynasty. God had chosen Jerusalem as His abiding place.
II Samuel 7:12-13 “And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.”
God was going to dwell in Jerusalem forever.
Psalm 132:13- 14 “For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. 14 This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it.”
We therefore conclude though these verses, that the Jewish people thought that since David’s dynasty had to last forever, and since God was going to dwell in Jerusalem forever, there will be no possible harm could come to Jerusalem, if God the Most powerful One is to be true to His promises.
Many of these people fully believed that in a state of emergency God would intervene and save Zion,
God’s sacred mount. So, for these people the Temple worship was little better than a charm for avoiding trouble. In other words, these people forgetting that God wanted hearts that were devoted to God but in contrary they began to trust in the material buildings.
Jeremiah wants the people to know that their way of thinking about the Temple or the material buildings is nothing more than a lie, they deceived themselves (verse 4, 8). Their idea that the Temple can never be destroyed has no reality, it is a lie. Placing a person’s trust in God, is the only way that person can be safe and secured.
Isaiah 26:3 “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.”
All of us have no peace because of the building we happen to attend on Sunday’s worship gathering, but we have the peace of God because of a relationship with the God of peace. So, if we are not careful we can worship the house of the Lord instead of worshipping the Lord of the house. We cannot be guilty of superstitiously venerating a stone building, but we are guilty if we entered the building of the house of God with a wrong heart by trusting the house of God instead of trusting God as we entered to worship.
Jeremiah listed all the crimes committed in the lives of these people as they violated the Mosaic Law by transgressing most of the Ten Commandments (verses 9). Their wickedness manifests for they were stealing, murdering, committing adultery, and lying. They were idolatrous for they had other gods before the Lord. Noticeably, in spite of their gross wickedness the people still assumed and imagined that they would be delivered from destruction because of their attendance at the Temple (verse 10). The house of God became a place of retreat or place of rest for their crimes committed.
B. A Practices that is superstitious – v.21-24
Jeremiah 7:21-24 “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Put your burnt offerings unto your sacrifices, and eat flesh. 22 For I spake not unto your fathers, nor commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: 23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you. 24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.”
Not only these people had a superstition over the Temple but they have also a superstitious trust in the animal sacrifices. That superstitious was described in our passages in verses 21-24. Jeremiah is not repudiating or disrespecting or disregarding the value of their sacrifices, but these rituals that they are doing are purposely for their self-gain. These ritual of animal sacrifices are just useless unless they accompanied with repentance and faith. What God desires for these people, is that they must come only to God and to put their trust in God alone and nothing else. The sacrifices will only be counted, well pleasing and acceptable to God, when the heart attitude is right.
This truth is applicable to many of us, we can come to the house of God, we can come inside the house of God and even make sacrifices or give our offerings for God and yet we have a heart that is removed from God. We are guilty of the fact that sometimes we serve, but we have not repented from sins, and some people coming to the house of God with unrepented hidden sins. Sometimes we made almost a form of superstition about our service and sacrifice or offering once we entered in the house of God to worship with our own heart discretion apart from what God said (verse 22). Sometimes, we feel that we are immune, unaffected, or untouched from the chastisement of God simply because we attend church and are involved in some ministries in the church. Did you see that? Lot of people entered the church so misguided by these superstitions or mentality.
Now, Jeremiah’s heart was cuts and hurt of these misguided thoughts by condemning these people superstitions which say they will be protected from any troubles because they trust the place of the temple instead of trusting God with their heart, then another superstitious practice (verse 24) is that their services and sacrifices of animals will made them immune from any chastisement of God even their heart removed from God with unrepentant heart.
II – STIPULATIONS THAT GOD COMMANDED – v.1-3, 5-7, 25-28
After the accession of Jehoiakim about 608 BC, the Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah. At that time pagan Canaanite rituals were reappearing in Judah. But the Judeans felt that Canaanite pagan’s rituals practices because they were still attending the Temple and they were still involved in religious rituals, so they were impregnable to all attack. But Jeremiah decided to stays himself outside one of the Temple gate and with the burden he wants to let these Judeans to know differently. God will not honor these people superstitions, but God does command certain stipulations. What are the stipulations?
B. Stipulation of Repentance – v.1-3
Jeremiah 7:1-3 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord. 3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”
The preaching of the Prophet Jeremiah is very clear. The message of Jeremiah preaching is simple and direct, he urges his hearers to repent of their sins. Jeremiah point is clear telling these Judeans to mend their ways and their evil doings if they want to remain in the Promised Land (verse 3).
Deuteronomy 7:12-15 “Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep, and do them, that the Lord thy God shall keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he sware unto thy fathers: 13 And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee: he will also bless the fruit of thy womb, and the fruit of thy land, thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep, in the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee. 14 Thou shalt be blessed above all people: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee.”
Undoubtedly, these passages contained God’s promises that belong to a nation that will keep God’s commandments faithfully. The words of promises contained the blessings for those obedient to God’s commandments. If these people of God, want the blessings of God be upon them, they are going to have to repent from their wickedness and abominable practices against God.
C. Stipulation of Reformation – v.5-7, 25-28
Jeremiah 7:5-7, 25-28 “For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour; 6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: 7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever. 25 Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them: 26 Yet they hearkened not unto me, nor inclined their ear, but hardened their neck: they did worse than their fathers. 27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee. 28 But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.”
A full or complete reformation is necessary, before the people can lawfully, properly claims the blessings of God (verse 5). There must be an immediate remedy for the injustices toward community of people and giving now importance and concern to the humanitarian aspects of the law to be exercised for the welfare of the people which are ignored (verse 6). As John the Baptist preaches and said in Matthew 3:8 “We must bring forth fruit fitting with repentance” we must also read I John 3:17 in order for us to see the connection of repentance to reformation.
I John 3:17 “But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
The Apostle John is saying, how can you say you love God when you don’t even help the people around you? Then open I John 4:20 to help us see the connection of repentance to reformation.
I John 4:20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
What Jeremiah wants to drive out is that true repentance toward God will be evident and manifest itself in a reformed way of dealing with people, your attitude and cares toward people (verse 6)
When we say, the commanded stipulations, the point we want to emphasize is that God wants to lead us away from destruction and chastisement (verse 25). But Israel refused to follow the guidance of God because of their stubbornness (verse 26-28). Israel did not exercise faith in God that manifest through the works of righteousness. Israel lacks of repentance resulted to their lack of reformation. But repentance and reformation were exactly what God commanded stipulations.
III – SENTENCE THAT GOD COMMUNICATED – v.12-20, 29; 8:1-3
The judgment of God expectedly will fall when we function according to our superstitions rather than the commandments of God. If God does not punish evil, God is responsible for its proliferation. Thus, when these people of God persisted in their superstitious mentality and rejected the commandments of God, He had to communicate His divine sentence of judgment upon these people.
A. Precedent that is acknowledge– v.12-15
Jeremiah 7:12-15 “But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. 13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; 14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh. 15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.”
There is a reason that God can dispense with the Jerusalem Temple. God has established a precedent or a previous case example. God dispensed the Ark as Shiloh no longer becomes a godly center of worship. God has already let them know that He is independent of a given location of building and He is independent of the rituals of service and sacrifices of animals that have been practiced there. No matter how valuable and expensive the location building materials may be, no matter how important the objects and items used in their practices of animal sacrifices in their worship, all of these programs, props, that back up their worship can never be a substitute for the worship of God Himself. Nothing can compare to the highest worship we need to exalt the holy name of God. If our worship is not aim for God, everything we do is in vain.
Shiloh is not the last religious center to become historical object in the history because the mindset of these people was that the house of God meant more than the God of the house. This is true in today’s religious generation. People give more value to their beautiful, expensive, large congregation than having fear, devotion, and hunger and thirst of the presence of God of the house. Therefore, there is the precedent or an example of a previous case for God judging places where God ceases to be the number one when we entered to worship.
B. Prayer that is avoided– v.16-20
Jeremiah 7:16-20 “Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee. 17 Seest thou not what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger. 19 Do they provoke me to anger? saith the Lord: do they not provoke themselves to the confusion of their own faces? 20 Therefore thus saith the Lord God; Behold, mine anger and my fury shall be poured out upon this place, upon man, and upon beast, and upon the trees of the field, and upon the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.”
Notice in verses 16-20 that God stated a very strong word. The prophet should not even pray for the nation of Israel, according to what God had said to Jeremiah. It means that when stubborn people of Israel persist in idolatry, they do not even have a prayer. Both young people and old people of Israel were participating in cultic abominable practices of paganism. The nation of Israel was worshipping the Queen of Heaven, the Babylonians goddess Ishtar. No wonder, even in today’s generation of churches are deceitfully devoted to the Queen of Heaven. What God is saying here is that people who worship the Queen of Heaven do not even have a prayer because they have rejected the King of Kings, the Lord of lords of the Universe.
Do we need to pray for someone who has sinned away their day of grace and has sinned, a sin unto death? Take a look at I John 5:16
I John 5:16 “If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.”
The Bible is clear, when someone committed a sin unto death, God is saying “I do not say that you should pray for that situation.” Likewise, God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 7:16, “pray not thou for this people.” That is a very strong language that God has expresses. There must be a prayer that must be avoided on behalf of these people.
C. Punishment that is assured – v.29-8:3
Jeremiah 7:29-34 “Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath. 30 For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the Lord: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it. 31 And they have built the high places of Tophet, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I commanded them not, neither came it into my heart. 32 Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that it shall no more be called Tophet, nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter: for they shall bury in Tophet, till there be no place. 33 And the carcases of this people shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven, and for the beasts of the earth; and none shall fray them away. 34 Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, 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.”
Jeremiah 8:1-3 “At that time, saith the Lord, they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem, out of their graves: 2 And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped: they shall not be gathered, nor be buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth. 3 And death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts.”
These people must immediately mourn by cutting their hair (Jeremiah 7:29). What an abomination in the sight of God that these people had placed their hateful idols right in the house of God (Jeremiah 7:30). These people hath done a sacrilege, they don’t have reverence for the holy things of God.
Notice in verse 31, we have a very significant reference to Tophet. Tophet was just south of Jerusalem, and Tophet had witnessed sacrificial rituals of pagans during the time of Manasseh (Jeremiah 7:31). The name Tophet means “fireplace,” and the sons of Hinnom owned this valley (Jeremiah 7:31). The Ammonites and others sacrificed their own children to the god Molech, the pagan deity who had been worshipped in this valley (Jeremiah 7:31). Because of their wickedness and sinful idolatry, in return God would sacrifice His children in this very valley (Jeremiah 7:32). God was saying, “If you want to believe in sacrificing children, then I will sacrifice you there, because you are my children.”
We can see the horror scene of this outlined in verse 33 to 34. We can see that the bodies would remain unburied, and for the Jew this was a disgrace that is unimaginable. Their bodies would become food for preying birds and rodents (Jeremiah 7:33). The very place that they had used as a sanctuary now become a cemetery. These people would find no sanctuary in this sanctuary.
The bodies that had already been buried would be unearth by the invaders as God promises them (Jeremiah 8:1). These barbarous acts of the invaders were arranged purposely to insult the Jews. Apparently, all these false gods are not able to deliver and will not be able to prevent the severe humiliation and indignity described in this passage. The remains will be considered as dung for fertilizer (Jeremiah 8:2). And worse than their humiliating death is the fact that those who are alive are witnesses to their miserable condition (Jeremiah 8:3).
This valley of Hinnom eventually became the garbage dump for the city of Jerusalem. It was Tophet, a fireplace, even the dead people were cast unto it. The valley of Hinnom has an unquenchable fire with the maggots there never died. The Lord Jesus Christ, as we remember talked about a place that was called Gehenna, like Hinnom. Gehenna is a place where the fire is unquenchable, it is also a place where the worm never dies according to Jesus (Mark 9: 43-48). And all men who die without Christ will go this place of fire. All who are not saved, all who did not trust Christ as their Saviour, all who did not believe on the finished redemptive work of Christ will have their part in hell.
Like Jeremiah, every Pastor called to preach, has a job to stand at the gates of the house of the Lord to address the people who have come to worship there. Preacher must tell these people that this place of worship, this material building and the procedures inside of the house of God cannot save a sinner, can never take a person to Heaven. There must be repentance, there must be change of mind toward self, toward sins, toward the Saviour. True repentance results to a reformation of life, the manifestation of changed life. Without true repentance, people will perish in eternal damnation even those churchgoers. As we have learned, God already established the precedent (example of the previous case) that churchgoers have been judged by God. Also, we learned from this sermon that churchgoers without God do not even have a prayer. All they have is assured coming punishment in the hands of God.
God’s patience is at work, while it is called today repent, and harden not your heart!
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