"The Truth of God" - Jeremiah 7:1-29

Center of Passage:

Truth emunah (ay-moon-ah) vs. Lies seqer (shay-k-air)

All of this comes to a head in the difference between temple life and the actual lives of Judah

How do you see this tension in our world today?

Temple Sermon

Jeremiah stands at the temple gates in Jerusalem and speaks to those who are presenting false worship.

v.3a - “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says”

He’s hitting it home.

Do you not realize who you worship?

v.3b - “Reform your ways and your actions, and I will let you live in this place.”

Or “I will dwell with you in this place”

God doesn’t have to stay in the temple. His presence is conditional.

Is God’s presence still conditional?

v.4a - “Do not trust in deceptive words”

First mention of Lies

v.4b - “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord!”

A temple liturgy

v.5-6 - “If you really change your ways and your actions and deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the 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”

DO: Change your ways and deal with each other justly

DO NOT: Oppress the alien, kill, follow other gods (to your own harm)

If you do this ⬆️

Then you can stay and I will be with you.

v.9 - “‘Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known’”

What do you notice about v. 9?

First group of the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments

No other gods before me.

No graven images.

Do not use the name of LORD in vain.

Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Honor your father and mother.

Do not commit murder.

Do not commit adultery.

Do not steal.

Do not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Do not covet.

What v.5-6 as well as v.9 show us is that failure to follow the first group of commandments always leads to failure in following the second.

Loving God and Loving Others are connected

v.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’”

An illustration the people of Judah would have known well

Shiloh was a northern shrine that was destroyed because of the disobedience of God’s people

Used to hole the ark of the covenant

The people of Judah saw Shiloh as a place of “rejection” but Jerusalem was supposed to be “chosen” and “valued” by God.

v.16 - “So do not pray for this people nor offer any plea or petition for them; do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you.”

Why did God command Jeremiah not to pray for the people of Judah?

v.18 - “The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger”

The Queen of Heaven was the Babylonian goddess Astarte

People would build fired and bake cakes to worship her

Everyone was involved

An economy of idolatry

v.23 - “Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all I command you, that it may go well with you.”

The people of Judah needed to do just one thing

Obey

or “listen” (shema)

Why is this God’s only requirement?

How many times to they “not listen” in v.24-28?

v.28 - “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.”

What does God mean that “truth has perished”?

Has truth perished today?

List the Lies of the World vs. The Truth of God