The Bible Breakdown

Jeremiah 07: God Still Offers Hope

• Brandon Cannon • Episode 658

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Speaker 1:

Well, everybody, welcome back to the Bible Breakdown podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today. Jeremiah, chapter 7, today's title is God Still Offers Hope God Still Offers Hope. One of the things I love about God is he is a broken record in that he's always extending His hand of hope out, no matter how many times we slap it away. I mean, I'll be honest with you If I put my hand out for hope for you and you slap my hand away, I might put it back out there again. But the second time you slap I'm probably going to hit you back. But God doesn't do that. He continually offers hope while we see the train coming and he's like, hey, listen, that train's coming, it's going to hit you, but I'd love to get you out of the way and we're going to get into all that in just a moment. But if you like what we're doing here and you're new around here, make sure you like, share and subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast. Make sure you're leaving us a five-star review on the podcast. It really does help. We are on the podcast and we are going to get there in Jesus' name. And also make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion on Facebook, because the more we dig, the more we find, if you have your Bibles.

Speaker 1:

I want to open up with me to Jeremiah, chapter 7. Remember that the overall theme of Jeremiah is God's light in the darkness and that it gives us a future and a hope. And remember what I've been saying, and that is that Jeremiah was a prophet his entire life and it's this amazing story. Honestly, it'd be great if it was made into a movie at some point, because when Jeremiah first becomes a prophet, it is in the time of Josiah, when it is a season of spiritual reform, and not everything was perfect, but things had gotten a lot better under the reign of Josiah. When it is a season of spiritual reform, and not everything was perfect, but things had gotten a lot better under the reign of Josiah. But then, as the other kings started to take over and his son and all those start to come into power, they come into power, but the nation continues to decline and it's almost as if you ever seen this tug of war. You know, and you've got two teams and one team starts to win. You know, and they're getting excited because the momentum is on their side and you got the other side that they are just pulling with everything they have, but the ground under them is just not keeping them and it's slowly pushing them toward, you know, losing. Well, that's kind of what I see with Jeremiah the whole time, but he just will not give up continually reminding the people of God that there is a future and a hope, that, even though darkness is coming and they are just this bent on destruction, better days are coming.

Speaker 1:

And today I love how he is speaking at the temple. He goes to the temple and that's the other great thing is, most of Jeremiah's life is spent debating back and forth with these false prophets. They're saying everything is great, everything is wonderful Peace, prosperity. Jeremiah is like uh-uh, no, no, no, bad things are coming. We need to change our ways. And so, honestly, he was probably very unpopular, if you think about it. Who wants to hear bad news? Well, jeremiah was telling bad news because he's telling the true news, but there's a way back. And so here he is in the temple and he is going to speak to the people and listen to how he is saying bad things are coming, but man, god's got a better idea. We've got to get rid of all this other stuff and do the right thing for the right reason. Man already doesn't. That speak to all of us. Let's read this today and see what God's word will say you ready?

Speaker 1:

Jeremiah, chapter seven, verse one, says this the Lord remember Yahweh. Yahweh gave another message to Jeremiah. He said go to the entrance of the Lord's temple and give this message to the people. Oh Judah, listen to this message from the Lord, listen to it All of you who worship here. This is to the people. Oh, judah, listen to this message from the Lord, listen to it all of you who worship here. This is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says even now.

Speaker 1:

If you quit your evil ways, I will let you stay in your own land. But don't be fooled by those who promise you safety and simply because of the Lord's temple is here they chant. The Lord's temple is here. The Lord's temple is here. But I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice, only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans and widows, only if you stop your murdering and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols, then I will let you stay in this land that I gave to your ancestors to keep forever. Don't be fooled into thinking that you will never suffer because the temple is here. It's a lie. Do you really think that you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie and burn incense to Baal and all those other new gods of yours and then come here and stand before me in my temple and chant we are safe, only to go right back to all those evil things again? Don't you yourselves admit that this temple which bears my name has become a den of thieves? Surely I see all the evil.

Speaker 1:

Pause, if you remember, if the idea of calling the temple a den of thieves is familiar. This is what Jesus was saying when he threw out the evil money changers and collectors from the temple. He was saying just like you are saying, you are worshiping me, but you're really not same from the time of Jeremiah. So he was referring to this scripture. All right, let's keep going. Verse 12,.

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Go now to the place at Shiloh where I once put the tabernacle that bore my name. See what I did there because of all the wickedness of my people, the Israelites. While you were doing these wicked things, says the Lord, I spoke to you about it repeatedly, but you would not listen. I called out to you, but you refused to answer. So, just as I destroyed Shiloh, I will now destroy this temple that bears my name, this temple that you trust in for help, this place that I gave to you and your ancestors. I will send you out of my sight into exile, just as I did your relatives.

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The people of Israel. Pray no more for these people, jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them. Don't beg for me to help them, for I will not listen to you. Don't you see what they are doing throughout the towns of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? No wonder I am so angry. Watch how the children gather wood and the fathers build sacrificial fires. See how the women knead dough and make cakes to offer to the queen of heaven and they pour out liquid offerings to their idol gods. Am I the one they are hurting? Am I the one they are hurting? Ask the Lord. Most of all, they hurt themselves to show their shame. This is what the Lord, sovereign Lord, says. I will pour out my terrible fury on this place. Its people, animals, trees and crops will be consumed by the unquenchable fire of my anger. This is what the Lord of heaven's armies, the God of Israel, says take your burnt offerings and your sacrifices and eat them yourselves.

Speaker 1:

When I led your ancestors out of Egypt, it was not burnt offerings and sacrifices I wanted from them. This is what I told them Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people. Do everything I say and all will be well. But my people would not listen to me. They kept doing whatever they wanted, following the stubborn desires of their own hearts. They went backward instead of forward.

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From the day your ancestors left Egypt until now, I have continued to send my servants, the prophets, day in and day out, but my people have not listened to me or even tried to hear. They have been stubborn and sinful, even worse than their ancestors. Tell them all this, but do not expect them to listen. Shout your warnings, but do not expect them to respond. Say to them this is the nation whose people will not obey the Lord, their God, and refuse to be taught. Truth has vanished from among them. It is no longer heard on their lips.

Speaker 1:

Shave your heads in mourning, weep alone in the mountains, for the Lord has rejected and forsaken this generation that has provoked his fury. The people of Judah have sinned before my very eyes, says the Lord, they have set up their abominable that's a word, abominable abominable idols right in the temple that bears my name. Defiling it, they have built pagan shrines at Topeth, the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom I'm still messed up with the other word there, they burned their sons and daughters in the fire. I have never commanded such a horrible deed, and it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing. So beware, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when that garbage dump will no longer be called Topeth, the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter. They will bury the bodies in Topeth until there is no more room for them. The bodies of my people will be food for the vultures and wild animals. No one will be left to scare them away. I will put an end to the happy singing and laughter in the streets of Jerusalem. The joyful voices of bridegrooms and brides will no longer be heard in the towns of Judah.

Speaker 1:

Wow, god's just telling it like it is. And he's saying you can only turn away from me for so long. My hand is always out to you, but my hand is not out to you to just make your life great, as you're in sin. You've got to turn back to me, and if you're unwilling to turn back to me, I still got my hand out there for you, but I'm not going to stop what bad's coming, because if that's the only way to get you to turn back to me, then okay. Wow, that's a hard lesson for all of us, and here's the hard one. Here's the one we don't like to talk about, but here it is, and that is this that there are times and seasons when us or someone we know what they will do is is they use.

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Christianity is almost like a get out of jail free card. Some somebody once called it fire insurance, like I don't want to go to hell. So I'm going to say I'm a Christian and I'll go to church on Sunday, but then I'm going to go live my life however I see fit, monday through Saturday. And because I went to church on Sunday, god now owes me, he owes me. I went to church, I read my Bible today, so now it's almost like there's a barter system with God. I go to church, you give me the things. I give. On Sunday, you give me the things. This is how this works.

Speaker 1:

God is not like that. It's about relationship, and what he is saying is is he's saying that they will come to the temple and they say oh look, the temple is here, it's a symbol of God. Thank goodness, god is among us. Then they go live however they want to and they're surprised that God's not happy. Or they're surprised that God's not happy, or they're surprised that something bad is happening to them, when the point is, is God is saying I am not interested in a transactional relationship with you?

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Let's get really honest for just a moment. Do we think God needs our money? Do we think God needs our presence at a building on Sunday? Do we think that God needs anything from us? No, god was fine before he created the heavens and the earth, but he wanted a family. He wanted a creation that he could have fellowship with. That's why love can never be compelled.

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If love is required, it's not love, it's something else. Love is something that has to be freely given, and so that's why, within the complex matrix that is a calculus, that is God, he both has a sovereign will and within that will, we have free choice to choose him or not, because love cannot be compelled, it must be freely given, and in that freelyness, there has to be the opportunity to choose not to follow God. Otherwise there is no choice at all. And if that doesn't hurt your head a little bit, you're not thinking that hard about it. But the idea is that God says I don't need anything from you, I want a relationship with you. I've made you so that you best flourish in my presence. We are made to seek after something.

Speaker 1:

You ever notice that Even people who call themselves atheists they seek after something. They seek after prestige, they seek after money. We're all seeking something. We're reaching out for something that's bigger than us to fulfill us. A lot of people call that the God-sized void that only God can fulfill. And he's saying when you just try to treat us as a transactional relationship, it's never going to work. However, when we see that his hand is always out and saying I always want a relationship with you and we turn our hearts back over to him, then we begin to realize that is where we always belonged and we begin to see that not always. But some of the bad things that's going on in our life were our effort to try to fill that God-sized void with everything but him, and then we come home to him. Sometimes we still have to reap the benefit, not benefit reap the consequences of our bad decisions. But the great thing is, god is always with us. And then there are times when we didn't do anything. This storm just came up on us. The great thing is is God is with us even in those storms.

Speaker 1:

So the bottom line is this If God was finished with you, if he had given up on you, then you wouldn't be listening to this podcast, you wouldn't be hearing somebody tell you one more time you've never been more loved than you are right now. God is for you, god wants you, he wants a relationship with you. So that means just the very fact you hear this God is not finished with you. He hasn't given up on you. However, he will be patient and will wait until you are done suffering and doing it your own way and you decide to turn to him. The great news is is God has light in the middle of darkness. He never takes his hand away, but he's always reaching out and he's saying if you'll just do it my way, there's freedom. There's a reason, there's a reason why I'm telling you to do it that way. If you do it my way, there's freedom there.

Speaker 1:

So I want to ask you this question Is there an area of your life that you've been trying to do it your own way and you are suffering the consequences? Maybe not, maybe it is, maybe you don't know, and you would, after this podcast, you would take a moment and pray and say, god, am I, am I like the nation of Judah? Am I proclaiming that that I'm, I'm, must be doing good? God is with me. But really the only reason why I think that is because of the superficial things I'm doing. I don't really have a relationship with you, god, do I have a relationship with you? And just ask the Lord. And if the Holy Spirit begins to bring up some things in your life, realize he only reveals what he intends to heal. So give him the opportunity to bring healing to your life, freedom to your soul, because that's what he wants for us.

Speaker 1:

Let's pray together right now, god. Thank you so much that you see us and you know us and you're for us, lord. I'm thankful for the book of Jeremiah because, god, your word, reminds us that even when we're going in a bad direction, it's not what you want for us and you never retract your hand. You're always extended, always to help. I pray we will receive that help. Today, in Jesus' name, we pray Amen and amen. Well, god's word says in Jeremiah 29, verse 13,. He says if you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. I hope you find God in everything you do today. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow. For Jeremiah, chapter eight.

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Brandon Cannon

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