the Temple of the LORD,
the Temple of the LORD!”
Uprooted - The Words of Jeremiah
Lanse Evangelical Free Church
June 5, 2022 :: Jeremiah 7:1-8:3
Last week, we looked at chapter 6 in which the LORD, through Jeremiah, told His people to stop and ask for directions. To take stock of the wrong ways in which they were traveling and ask, instead, for the ancient paths, the everlasting paths, to ask what was the good way and then to walk in it and “find rest for their souls.”
But He also sadly said that they refused to listen. They said, “We will not.”
And so judgment is coming on Judah.
By now you have might have sensed a theme in Words of Jeremiah.
Judgment is coming.
Jeremiah was told to say it again and again for 40 years.
Judgment is coming.
If Judah will not repent, then judgment is coming.
If Judah will reject the LORD, the LORD will reject them.
Judgment is coming. They are going to be “Uprooted.”
Believe it or not, chapter 7 has the exact same message.
Judgment is coming. The LORD is warning them and inviting them to repent.
And lamenting the fact that they will not repent.
And along the way, He not only explains more fully than ever why the judgment is coming but also how Judah could escape it.
And from those instructions, we can learn much about how to live for the Lord Jesus Christ today in 2022.
I’m pretty sure that this is the longest title that I have ever slapped onto a Sunday sermon in the last 24 years.
It’s 17 words. It’s a direct quote from verse 4, “This Is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!”
Man, that sounds good, doesn’t it? It sounds so confident. So strong. So declarative. And it builds. “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
There is only one problem. The LORD, through Jeremiah, says that these are “deceptive words.”
Listen the whole of verse 4: “Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’
Don’t say that. Don’t believe that. Don’t chant that. Don’t make this your slogan. And whatever you do, do not trust these words: “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
This is going going to take some thinking, isn’t it?
What do you think might be deceptive about these words? Why are they deceitful? Why are they are, in words of the King James, “lying words?” “Trust ye not in lying words saying ‘the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD are these.”
What’s so bad about these words? Was the temple bad? Was Solomon’s temple bad?
No! It was wonderful, and the LORD had blessed it with His own presence. He had put His own Name on it. He said, “This is MY house!” Remember when we read about its construction in 1 Kings? Glorious! Gold everywhere. And God’s holy presence filled it at its dedication (see 1 Kings 6-8).
The LORD loved that thing. He called it His own house. His earthly headquarters.
So maybe it’s the repetition? Is it bad to repeat something three times? Does that make it deceptive?
What about, “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD God Almighty.” No, it can’t be just the repetition. What do you think it might be?
It must not be the words themselves all by themselves but how they were using the words. Let’s back up and see how Jeremiah gets to verse 4. Look up at verse 1.
“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD: ‘Stand at the gate of the LORD's house and there proclaim this message: ‘'Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words and say, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!’”
It helps to get some of the context, doesn’t it?
The LORD has sent Jeremiah out with another message in his mouth, and this time he’s supposed to deliver it at the gate of the temple itself.
We’re not sure when this was. Remember, Jeremiah is not presented in chronological order. He jumps around between the reigns of Josiah, Jehoiakim, and Zedekiah (1:1-3).
It’s likely that this one came during the reign of Jehoiakim. We think that because of what we’re eventually going to read in chapter 26. You might want to look at it this afternoon. It’s a time when Jeremiah was supposed to prophesy in the temple during the reign of Jehoiakim, and he gets in a boatload of trouble for it!
It’s quite possible that this is exactly was what he said that day!
But even if we don’t know for sure when this was, we know for sure where this was. He was at the doors of the temple itself, and prophesying to the people who were streaming in for worship.
These folks were very religious. There were lots of people “coming to church,” so to speak. Big crowds.
And Jeremiah is at the door, and he’s saying, “Repent!”
“This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.”
Here’s the deal. It’s been the deal for Israel ever since Deuteronomy. If they love the LORD and keep the covenant, they get to stay in the land of blessing. If they forsake the LORD and break the covenant, they go into the curse of exile. That’s the deal.
They don’t deserve the blessings either way. It’s all of grace, but they don’t get the blessings if they forsake the LORD.
And they have forsaken the LORD.
But, catch this, they aren’t worried about it!
Because they think they have an ace in the hole.
They think they have a “get out of exile card.”
They’ve got the temple.
They think that Jeremiah is out to lunch. He’s going on and on about all of this “repentance stuff,” but it’s really no big deal. Because they’ve got the temple.
Yahweh is not going to let anything bad happen to His temple. He loves this place. Look at it. “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
“Don’t worry about holiness. We have the temple. And more than that, we have what goes on inside of the temple–the sacrifices. Don’t worry your pretty little head. We’re good. We’re safe. We’ll be fine. We’ll be okay. ‘Peace, peace!’ All is well.”
“This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
Do you see how those words can be deceptive? How those words have lulled them into a false sense of security?
Yes, this is the temple of the LORD, but it doesn’t work that way.
It’s not a good luck charm.
It’s not a magic talisman or totem.
It’s not a inviolable object that the LORD is sure to protect at all costs.
So you might want to retire that mantra.
You might want to find yourself another slogan.
You might want to reconsider your superstitions and re-check what exactly you are trusting in.
Because these are deceptive words: “This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
This morning, I have two questions for us to ask ourselves to apply this passage to our lives. Two questions to pray about all day long and ask the LORD to help us to answer truthfully for ours lives today. Here’s the first one:
#1. WHAT ARE WE TEMPTED TO TRUST IN THAT IS ACTUALLY DECEPTIVE?
What are you and I tempted to put our trust in that is actually deceiving us?
It probably sounds good.
This phrase sounds good. It’s very reassuring. We love to be reassured.
And it’s a slogan based on something good and true. But something can be good and true and misused so that it becomes a dangerous thing to trust in.
What might you and I be tempted to misplace our trust in?
Well, how about going to church? That would actually be a pretty close parallel.
“I go to church. I go to church. I go to church! I’m good.”
Or maybe it’s a certain church, “I go to Lanse Free Church, I go to Lanse Free Church, I go to Lanse Free Church! We’re EFCA. We’re safe.”
“I do my devotions. I do my devotions. I do my devotions! I’m fine.”
“I’m baptized. I’m baptized. I’m baptized!”
“I have the right theology. I have the right theology. I have the right theology!”
Or this thing down here, “This is the Table of the Lord. The Table of the Lord. The Table of the Lord!”
Yours might not be any of those. It might be something completely different.
Whatever your temptation might be, it’ll be something good that the Lord has given us, but we begin to put our trust in it instead of in Him.
It could even be our conversion experience. “Well, I prayed a prayer when I was younger. I prayed a prayer when I was younger. I prayed a sinner’s prayer when I was younger! So I don’t have repent now. I don’t have to live for Jesus now."
Do you see how deceptive those words can be?
What are you tempted to put your trust in that is actually deceiving you?
What do you want to be true so that you’re hiding behind it?
What are the conmen false teachers selling you these days, and you’re tempted to buy it?
What is for you, “the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”?
Jeremiah says that the LORD will have none of that. He cuts right through it. Verse 5.
“If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the alien [that is the resident foreigner], the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever.”
But it’s gotta be real! Judah needed to get real. They needed to enact justice. They needed to enact compassion. They needed to care for the most vulnerable people in the land. And they needed to put away their idols. Or they were going to be sent away.
Yes, the LORD had given them this land for ever and ever, but He had also told them that they were going to be exiled from it if they weren’t faithful to Him.
And look! They weren’t faithful to Him. Verse 8. “But look, you are trusting in deceptive words that are worthless [“The temple of the LORD!”]. 'Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known [that’s like breaking half of the Ten Commandments], and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, ‘We are safe’–safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? But I have been watching! declares the LORD.”
He sees what’s going on, and He is rightly indignant about it.
Yes, this is the temple of the LORD. And they ought to be shaking in their boots that they have acted this way in it!
It’s a lot like that question that the Apostle Paul asks in Romans chapter 6. When he has explained how amazing grace is and then brings up the common but nonsensical question, “What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? By no means!” (Rom. 6:1-2a NIVO).
We have grace! Lots of grace. Every time we sin, we experience more grace. So let’s sin some more so that we get even more grace!
We have the temple of the LORD and the sacrifices inside of it, so we’re safe to do all of these detestable things.
No. That’s not how it works.
Does verse 11 sound familiar to you? “Den of robbers?" Who used that phrase in the New Testament?
Yep. The Lord Jesus Himself quoted Jeremiah 7:11. And He meant there that they were literally stealing in the temple! Here, the point is that they were using the temple as a kind of hideout.
“We’ll do what we want, and then we’ll hide in the temple and nobody will be able to get to us. Not even God. We’re safe in here. He would never do anything against His earthly home.”
Well, I wouldn’t count on that if I were you. Look at verse 12.
“Go now to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my Name, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people Israel. While you were doing all these things, declares the LORD, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen; I called you, but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh I will now do to the house that bears my Name, the temple you trust in, the place I gave to you and your fathers.”
What did He do in Shiloh? What was that all about? Shiloh was the first place where the tabernacle was located. It was actually in the North. That’s where the LORD’s first house was! But now the LORD’s house was no longer there (read Psalm 78:60-64).
Now Shiloh is a ghost-town.
You think that LORD won’t abandon the Temple? He’s done it before. Don’t hide behind “the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!” When the LORD of the Temple is calling you, and you refuse to pick up. You keep swiping left. And so this is what’s going to happen. V.15
“I will thrust you from my presence, just as I did all your brothers, the people of Ephraim.'”
They are going to be uprooted. They are going to go into exile.
And Jeremiah isn’t allowed to ask for anything different. Listen to these shocking words. Verse 16.
“So do not pray [He’s talking to Jeremiah] for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.”
That’s scary, isn’t it? The prophet is not allowed to pray for his people?
I’m thankful that the Lord never says that to us in the New Testament!
At this moment, the LORD is saying that it’s too late, the verdict is in, there will not be any more clemency. They have passed the point of no return.
I wonder if He actually means that Jeremiah can’t pray that the LORD will go easy on them–not that he can’t pray that they repent and get restored, just that he can’t pray for more time, more patience, more leniency without their repentance.
Because it would be absolutely unjust if He did that. Just look! Verse 17.
“Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes of bread for the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to provoke me to anger.”
Do you get the picture? This is where Judah has gotten to. The whole Israelite family is involved in false worship. They are doing family ministry, but it doesn’t look at all like faithfulness to Yahweh.
The whole family is making little worship cakes in the kitchen for the goddess Ishtar of Babylon, also known as Anet or Ashtoreth or Astarte. Probably the planet Venus being worshiped as the goddess of war, of love, and of fertility.
“And, boy, are these little Queenie cakes good!”
They are either in the form of a woman or a star. And it’s something “the whole family does together!”
"And you want to pray that I go easy on them? I don’t think so. They are provoking me to wrath, and it’s hurting them, too." Verse 19.
“But am I the one they are provoking? declares the LORD. Are they not rather harming themselves, to their own shame? 'Therefore this is what the Sovereign LORD says: My anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground, and it will burn and not be quenched.”
“And you all want to say, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!' ? I don’t think so.”
“You want to keep bringing your sacrifices and pretending that that makes everything okay. Well, go ahead. Be my guest. In fact, tuck in. Eat the sacrifices yourself for as much good as it will do you!” Look at verse 21.
“'This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! [You might as well–even though that was totally against the Law of Moses!] For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you.”
Ask for the ancient paths. Ask what the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. “A life-changing relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Don’t just trust in the temple and the sacrifices in the temple. Repent of your sins and walk with the LORD. If you don’t, you are making a mockery of the temple and the sacrifices in the temple.
Here’s the second and last application question for you and me today. Number two.
#2. ARE WE REALLY WILLING TO CHANGE?
It’s not good enough to just mouth a religious slogan.
The LORD wants our hearts.
Are we really willing to change?
Remember what He said back in verse 5. “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the [immigrant], the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave your forefathers for ever and ever” (vv.5-7).
But it’s gotta be real! Not just going through the motions. Or trusting in the slogans.
I love our slogan here, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is the gospel.”
“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”
But woe to us if that is just words!
If we don’t actually keep the main thing the main thing.
If we say, “Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit!”
And go around living un-holy spiritual lives?
It’s gotta be real. Not perfect. Far from perfect! But genuine. Authentic. From the heart.
Are we really willing to change?
Judah was not willing to change. Verse 24.
“But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your forefathers left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again I sent you my servants the prophets. [From the Exodus to the end of 2 Kings! You can’t say I didn’t warn you!] But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and did more evil than their forefathers.'
[These are religious people! These are people streaming into church. They are headed into the Temple. But as they do, they have their hands over their ears. V.27] ‘When you tell them all this, they will not listen to you; when you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, 'This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips. [Mourn for them.] Cut off your hair and throw it away; take up a lament on the barren heights, for the LORD has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath."
Here’s how bad they’ve gotten. V.30
'The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the LORD. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my Name and have defiled it. [In ‘the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD, the Temple of the LORD!–they have set up idols to gods that are not the LORD! Of course, He’s going clean that temple out and have it torn down! Worse even than that, verse 31.]
They have built the high places of Topheth in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to burn their sons and daughters in the fire–something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. [This is unthinkable. To incinerate your own children in the name of worship? To sacrifice them to Molech?! Manasseh did this child sacrifice. And Josiah stopped it. But apparently it was back in the time of Jehoiakim. And it was an abomination to the LORD and bringing His hot anger. Verse 32.]
“So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call it Topheth [Shameful Fireplace] or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. [A cemetery for the guilty. The whole city will die and the bodies will pile up.] Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, for the land will become desolate. [There will be no more weddings. Just funerals. And more funerals. Until there is no one left to conduct the funerals. And then the enemy will dig up the graves! Chapter 8.] At that time, declares the LORD, the bones of the kings and officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and the moon and all the stars of the heavens, which they have loved and served and which they have followed and consulted and worshiped. [Laying there under the Queen of Heaven, the useless, powerless, helpless Queen of Heaven. What good is she now?!] They will not be gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. Wherever I banish them, all the survivors of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the LORD Almighty.'”
No more joy. Just gloom.
No more dignity. Just insult. Just shame.
And the people who survive the sacking of Jerusalem and the tearing down of their temple will wish they were dead.
So don’t say to yourselves, “Don’t worry! This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!”
Not for long.
Not for long.
Get real.
Not for long.
Judah was not willing to really change.
What about you and me?
Are we just pretending?
Are we just going through the motions?
Do we talk a good fight, but there is no reality underneath?
I don’t mean, “Do you have your act together?” Because I’m sure you don’t. I know I don’t.
But I do mean, “Are you hiding behind a religious veneer? Are you trusting in a good thing that cannot save you? Are you acting like you have a “get out of exile card” that excuses your unrepentant sin?
Or are you real before the Lord and really willing to change?
To allow Him by His grace and for His glory to make you like His Son?
Those are not deceptive words.
***
Previous Messages in This Series:
01. "The Word of the LORD Came to Me" - Jeremiah 1:1-19
02. "I Bring Charges Against You" - Jeremiah 2:1-3:5
03. "Return to Me" - Jeremiah 3:6-4:4
04. “Oh My Anguish, My Anguish!” - Jeremiah 4:6-5:31
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