00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:29 Olympic Reflections and Life's True Purpose

05:09 Jeremiah's Third Message: The Temple Sermon

05:50 Call to Repentance and Israel's Stubbornness

07:28 False Security in the Temple

10:25 Judgment and Jeremiah's Lament

11:34 Examination of Israel's Current State

12:24 Jeremiah's Grief and the People's Deception

15:12 Judgment on a Nation: The Consequences of Sin

16:59 Conclusion and Prayer

Hey everybody.

2

Welcome back to another episode

of the daily Bible podcast.

3

It is Friday, August 9th, 2024,

and we are still in Jeremiah,

4

which just get used to it.

5

We're going to be in

Jeremiah for quite a while.

6

We don't read the whole thing

through straight, but we almost do.

7

There's a little bit of

a break towards the end.

8

Uh, where we do get into Kings and

Chronicles again, I believe just

9

briefly, but for the most part,

we're in this book for the long haul.

10

So get used to it, get used to waking up

each day and hearing from the podcast.

11

Hey, we're in Jeremiah for

at least the time being.

12

Uh, Jeremiah seven through

nine is our text today.

13

But before we get there, Uh, this this

morning, I happened to be watching some

14

replays from the Olympics and I was

watching the, uh, the speed climbers.

15

I don't know if you've seen this,

but it's, it's pretty amazing.

16

There's a climbing wall.

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Just like you would find at your gym.

18

And, uh, Uh, apparently people train on

this same course throughout the world.

19

Th there's, uh, an

architectural design for it.

20

And so everybody's climbing the same

course and training and everything else.

21

And then they get to the Olympics

and the goal is just to climate

22

as fast as you possibly can.

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And it's, it's amazing.

24

It's fascinating to watch.

25

And I was watching the, the women's

speed climbing championship.

26

And I think this is the first time

if I remember correctly that this has

27

been in the Olympics because they seem

to be making a big deal about that.

28

And this is going to be the

first metal ever awarded.

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Uh, and, and this woman from Poland,

I believe won the whole thing and

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she climbed this wall in under seven

seconds, under six and a half seconds.

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It was fascinating.

32

It is amazing to watch.

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But what I, I found myself just thinking

afterwards, as I watched her celebrate.

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And she's, you know, she's crying

her tears of joy and everything.

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I'm like, Okay.

36

Yeah, that was cool.

37

You climbed the wall super fast, but.

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I'm not going to remember this

from, from here on out, but yet

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for that woman, it was, this is the

pinnacle of her athletic career.

40

This is the peak.

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This is what she'd been training for.

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This is what she wanted.

43

This is the top.

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She couldn't think of anything

better than to win gold.

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In speed climbing now.

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Uh, I don't know if she's

a follower of Jesus.

47

Maybe she is.

48

I have no idea who she is.

49

But if she's not.

50

It's such a glimpse into the shallowness

of what the world lives for, right?

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Because for all of us, we watch

all of these athletes, whether it's

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speed climbing or speed walking or.

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Uh, synchronized swimming.

54

Right.

55

And we think.

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And you have devoted your whole life.

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To getting to this point

and winning a gold medal.

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And that's your goal and that's

what you've made your goal.

59

And now you're there.

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And I just think to myself and I, I

wonder, and I, I don't know any gold

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medal winning athletes, shocker.

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Uh, but I wonder if you were to talk

to this woman who this speed climber.

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And ask her a year from now and say to

her, is it still a satisfying as it was

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on that day or ask her 10 years from now?

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Is it still a satisfying.

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Uh, 10 years from now, a decade

later as it was on that day.

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And I'm willing to guess

that she's going to say.

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Uh, no, it, it wasn't everything.

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I thought it was going to be in.

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I think we're on solid footing there

because as we've already studied in the

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book of Ecclesiastes, these, when we

live for anything other than God in this

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world, the conclusion is it's vanity it's.

73

It's the steam from the cup, a cup of

coffee it's chasing after the wind.

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And it just was a kind of a bittersweet,

tragic moment for me as I'm watching the

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Olympics and watching her just exploded

emotion over winning the gold medal.

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And that's a big deal.

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I'm not saying it's not a big deal,

but, but that's it like that's, that's.

78

There you go.

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You've done it.

80

Congratulations.

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Now what.

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And, and Christian, we've got to be

careful to make sure that, that we

83

don't have our own versions of a gold

metal out there that we're living for.

84

That that we're not saying,

well, I'm going to be great.

85

Once my kids graduate and

get married and have a steady

86

family, I'm going to be great.

87

Once I'm able to retire,

I'm going to be great once.

88

You know, for you listening,

who are younger out there.

89

Once I graduate from high school, or once

I get married, then, then I'll be great.

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I love done it all.

91

I've gotten to the place that I want

to get, because if, if that's the way

92

that we're living this life, then we are

going to find ourselves like Solomon.

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Continually going from one

thing to the next thing, to the

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next thing to the next thing.

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And just realizing at the end

of the day, man, this is vanity.

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It doesn't satisfy me because we were

made for something more than this.

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And so there's just a, a reminder

for us as we watch something like

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the Olympics that man life is about

so much more than even being at the

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top of your game, the top of your

sport, the top of your, your career.

100

It's about more than that.

101

If you're not right with Christ.

102

If you don't know the one to get you over

the sun, as Solomon says that we are.

103

Uh, trapped by pursuing

things under the sun.

104

If you don't know Christ.

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Then any accomplishment that

you have this set of eternity?

106

It's going to end up being something that,

that really in the end, won't satisfy

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you in and you're going to be forgotten.

108

I already don't know the woman's name.

109

I just watched this like an hour ago.

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I could not even tell you

what her name starts with.

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And there she is.

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She's the gold medal

winner in speed climbing.

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Congratulations.

114

You've done it right.

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Anyways, all that to say.

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Christian make sure our focus

is where it needs to be.

117

The writer of Hebrews

says, let us run the race.

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That's set before us with our

eyes fixed on Jesus, the author

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and perfecter of our faith.

120

And so he's our goal.

121

He's the one that we

can't wait to be with.

122

And that is the only thing that

ultimately will satisfy us.

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Jeremiah seven through nine.

124

This begins the third message.

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Remember Jeremiah is broken

up into a series of messages.

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And so here we go with the third message

Jeremiah received, and it actually

127

continues on through chapter 10.

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Or reading today just goes.

129

Uh, chapter seven, eight and nine.

130

So Jeremiah chapter seven.

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Uh, the word of Lord came to

Jeremiah and it says stand in

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the gate of the Lord's house.

133

So Jeremiah is to go to the temple

and he's supposed to stand at the

134

gate there on the temple Mount and

proclaim something to the people.

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And so that's led a lot of people

to look at this and call this

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the temple sermon from Jeremiah.

137

So if you've ever heard anyone refer

to the temple sermon or you in the

138

future, hear somebody refer to that.

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That's this third message beginning in

Jeremiah, chapter seven and extending

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all the way through chapter 10.

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But as, as Jeremiah has told the stain in

the gate of the Lord's house, he calls out

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to the people verses three through seven.

143

He calls out to them and offers

them an opportunity to repent.

144

There's still time.

145

He's suggesting even still y'all we was

willing to stay his hand of judgment.

146

If his people would truly repent now.

147

This is going to happen over and over

again in the book of Jeremiah, you're

148

going to find instances, even as the city

is under siege, where Jeremiah eventually

149

is going to go to the Kings and in call

on the Kings to do justice and to repent.

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The king of Judah, the king of Jerusalem.

151

But there.

152

The thing that we got to keep in mind

is that they weren't going to repent.

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And so this was an offer.

154

If they had repented, God was going

to be true to his word, but really

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this is more of an indictment

on their stubbornness, on their

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hardheartedness than it is anything else.

157

This is more of, of removing that

opportunity for anyone to stand up

158

and say, yeah, but I didn't know,

or I didn't have a chance to repent

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or nobody warned me about this.

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God is, is making it abundantly

clear through all of this.

161

As he sending the profit to the

people over and over and over again.

162

And beckoning them and

calling them to repent.

163

He, he St look, come back

return, because that was part

164

of the old Testament covenant.

165

That was part of the covenant

that he made with the people

166

that was part of the mosaic.

167

Covenant was.

168

Blessing for obedience.

169

Cursings for disobedience.

170

And yet there was also the promise.

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If you repent, I will.

172

I will listen.

173

I will hear, I will bring you back.

174

And so the call to repentance is there.

175

And yet this is more about the

stubbornness and hardheartedness

176

of the people than it is really.

177

Are they going to do it?

178

Are they going to repent the answers note?

179

They're not, they're going to end

up in exile, but they're going

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to have been warned and they're

going to have been given every

181

opportunity to repent from their sins.

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Verses eight through 14.

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Instead the people at police their trust.

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In the temple and in their worship.

185

Thinking that it was going

to go well with them.

186

If they just gave lip service to God.

187

Uh, and, and so that's, that's such that

the danger that existed for Israel and

188

it's a danger that exists for us today.

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For Israel, it was extreme.

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Look at verses nine and 10.

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It says, will you steal murder,

committed adultery, swear, falsely,

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make offerings to bail and go after

other gods that you have not known.

193

And then come and stand before me

in this house, which is called by

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my name and say, we are delivered.

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Only to go on doing all these

abominations, there's a danger,

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uh, of, of self-deception.

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Wherein the, the person who thinks that

they're saved because of the proximity

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to Jesus, rather than a trust in Jesus.

199

They think that their say, because

they've grown up in the church.

200

They think that they're saved

because they, they are a good

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enough person in some areas.

202

And yet all the while really all

they're doing is giving lip service

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to God and then continuing to live in,

in willful disobedience on the side.

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And so it's a, it's a stark.

205

A reminder of the danger of

that force, the writer of Hebrew

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says we need to be careful less.

207

We go on sinning and trampled

under foot, the blood of Christ.

208

Eh, we can't think it doesn't matter.

209

Uh, Romans six one, should we continue

to send that Grace May abound.

210

May it never be a no uncertain terms.

211

Paul says, no, absolutely not.

212

And so here you have the indictment

on the people of God, because

213

that's what they were doing.

214

They were sinning and sinning rapidly

in, in sitting in horrific ways.

215

And then thinking that they could

just show up at the temple with

216

their offerings in their sacrifices

and God would be fine with them.

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Well, God's not having any of it.

218

And that's what his message is there

in verses eight through 14, he's

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saying, I know what you're doing.

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And because you've done all these things.

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Verse 13.

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When I spoke to you

persistently, you did not listen.

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When I called you.

224

You did not answer.

225

Therefore I will do to the house that

is called by my name in which you

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trust this temple, in which you show

up with your offerings, your vein

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offerings and sacrifices thinking.

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I'm good because I'm bringing.

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I'm doing what God wants

me to do on this front.

230

I'm going to do to this house.

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That's called by my name and what

you trust into the place that

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I gave you into your fathers.

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As I did to Shiloh.

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Shiloh was originally the place that

God was meeting with these people when

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they first came into the promised land.

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Well, Shiloh was part of the

Northern kingdom and it's

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completely gone at this point.

238

It's, it's been decimated in

God's presence is no longer there.

239

And so he's telling the people

in Judah, I'm going to do the

240

same thing here in Jerusalem.

241

And then what are you going to trust in?

242

It's a chilling.

243

Chilling reminder of the

fact that dot calls us to be.

244

Uh, people of integrity.

245

He calls us, he wants us fully.

246

He doesn't just want our lip service.

247

He doesn't just want our external

going through the motions.

248

He wants all of us.

249

In fact, we're going to be

talking about that on Sunday.

250

And the concept of Jesus as Cayman.

251

That Jesus is our king,

he's the king of our lives.

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And he wants our full subjection

in submissiveness to him as

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king, not just in some areas.

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But in every area of our life.

255

And that's a reminder that we find here

in Jeremiah seven verses 16 through

256

29, that God instructs, Jeremiah

says don't pray for the people don't

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intercede for them because their

sins have brought this upon them.

258

It was the refusal to listen to the

Lord, the refusal to obey his word, their

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rejection of the warnings of the prophets.

260

Then now brought them to

this time of judgment.

261

So God is telling Jeremiah, Hey,

Jeremiah, don't pray for them.

262

Don't intercede on their behalf.

263

Because it to put it in our modern

terms, they've made their bed and

264

now they're going to lie in it.

265

Uh, this is because of their

sinfulness and now judgment is coming.

266

Then as the chapter ends and then the

beginning of chapter eight, verses 30

267

through chapter eight, verse three here.

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Uh, the judgment was going to involve

a great slaughter integrate massacre.

269

And this is a repeated theme throughout

the book of, of, uh, of Jeremiah as well.

270

He's going to talk a lot about.

271

Uh, the slaughter that's coming in

the valley of the sun of Hinoki,

272

which is where they would do the,

the, uh, the child sacrifices,

273

the child offerings there.

274

Uh, that value was going to be

renamed as the valley of slaughter.

275

And that's again, he's going to

repeat that over and over and over

276

again in the book of Jeremiah.

277

And that's where the dead bodies

are gonna fall and it's going to

278

be a horrific, horrific scene.

279

And so that's Jeremiah seven 30

through chapter eight, verse three.

280

Well, then as we get into the rest

of chapter eight, verses four through

281

17, there's a bit of an examination

of the current state of the people.

282

Uh, and the conclusion is, look, they've

thrown off the Lord's authority and

283

intentions and turned it to themselves.

284

They'd convinced themselves that

everything was going to be fine.

285

Even as the judgment was approaching,

even as judgment was impending, they were

286

thinking to themselves we're God's people.

287

Surely surely nothing

is going to befall us.

288

That's going to happen to anything.

289

Uh, and yet God is, is

saying the opposite.

290

Uh, the, the prophets he says in

verse 11 have healed the wound of

291

my people lightly saying peace,

peace when there is no peace.

292

Uh, verse 12 where they ashamed when

they committed abomination the answer's.

293

No, they were not at all ashamed.

294

They didn't even know how to blush.

295

They weren't embarrassed by it.

296

And so you get this

indictment of the people.

297

This is who they are.

298

This is the problem.

299

And then in the rest of chapter

eight, verses 18 through 22.

300

Uh, what we find is the heart

of the prophet, Jeremiah.

301

He was not a conceited prophet.

302

He wasn't in.

303

I told you so prophet instead, what we

see in Jeremiah is a heart for the people.

304

He loved his people.

305

He was grieved at the

plight of his people.

306

Th th the judgment that was

coming because of their sin.

307

And so he's, he's, he's wounded over this.

308

He's he's grieved over this.

309

He's praying in verse 22.

310

Is there no balm in Gilead, Gilead

was known for producing, uh, uh,

311

Balsam wood that would, they would

use to make a bomb that would.

312

Um, help to heal.

313

Uh, flesh wounds.

314

And so he's asking, is

there nothing to heal?

315

Is there nothing to heal?

316

The people of Israel?

317

And he says, ah, there he is.

318

As he's praying he's he's grieved the

wound or the daughter of my people is.

319

My heart is.

320

Wounded I'm mourn and dismay has taken.

321

Hold on me.

322

And so Jeremiah is not a,

again, the conceited prophet.

323

He he's a prophet that,

that this is his people.

324

And he feels the, the, uh, the grief

over the fact that this is befalling

325

him and his people, uh, for their sense.

326

So.

327

Uh, Jeremiah chapter nine, then.

328

Verses one through two, uh, his

lament continues in chapter nine.

329

Again, he's lamenting at the

end of chapter eight, that

330

continues into chapter nine.

331

Uh, but it's, it's, it's,

there's a difference here.

332

He's grieving, but he's not

sympathetic for them in their sin.

333

And that comes out here in chapter nine.

334

Uh he's.

335

He's not.

336

Saying I'm okay with the sin.

337

In fact, here in chapter

nine, he wants to flee.

338

He says, oh, that I had in the

desert, a Traveler's lodging place.

339

That would have been just a

simple, hot, just a simple room.

340

Nothing, no luxury, no comfort.

341

Really at all, this is just a pit stop.

342

He says, oh, that there was something

like that, that I could run to and get

343

away from all the sin and brokenness

around me, all of the, the, the evilness

344

and the wickedness of this people.

345

So his grief that he feels at the

end of chapter eight, there is.

346

Is more for what was, and what could

have been than what is presently.

347

He's not sympathizing with the people

saying, oh man, I'm so my heart is broken.

348

That they're going to suffer

because they're innocent.

349

They're not innocent.

350

And that's what he's.

351

Uh, he understands that.

352

And that's why in chapter nine verses

one and two, he says, I wish I could run.

353

I wish I could get away

from all this wickedness.

354

Verses three through six of chapter

nine, deception and lies had been

355

chosen by the people over the truth

and they refuse to know the Lord.

356

And so the, the, the problem is not

just the external of the, the immorality

357

and the idolatry and everything else,

but they've, they've loved faulted.

358

And they, they.

359

Th look at how many times verse

three faults at verse four.

360

Uh, every brother's a deceiver verse

five, everyone deceives his neighbor.

361

No one speaks the truth.

362

They've all taught their

tongue to speak lies.

363

Verse six, keeping oppression on

oppression and deceit upon deceit.

364

And then the final charge they

refuse to know me declares the Lord.

365

God it is truth, right.

366

That is a God of truth.

367

We know that to be true.

368

And so that's why they refuse to

know him because they love lies.

369

They love deception and, and

even self-deception in that.

370

And so more of indictments against the

people there in verses three through

371

six, and then finally in chapter

nine, verses seven through 26, uh,

372

judgment is due to a nation like this.

373

Again, that repeated refrain that I talked

about, I think in yesterday's episode,

374

shall I not punish them in verse nine?

375

For these things declares the Lord, shall

I not avenge myself on a nation like this?

376

There's the repeated

refrain that shows up again.

377

Jerusalem is going to be completely

destroyed and left uninhabited verse 11.

378

I'm going to make Jerusalem a heap

of ruins and a layer of jackals.

379

I'm going to make the cities of Judah,

a desolation in without inhabitant.

380

Uh, the people who do survive are going

to be scattered among the nations.

381

We see that in verse 16 of chapter nine.

382

And so there's going to

be an exile verse 16.

383

I will scatter them among the

nations whom they neither, neither

384

they, nor their fathers have known.

385

And I will send the sword after

them until I've consumed them.

386

So they're going to be an exile and

some, if not, The majority of them are

387

going to die in exile, not all, but,

but a lot of them will die in exile.

388

I away from Jerusalem, away from Israel,

away from the presence of the Lord.

389

They had become like the Gentiles,

like the uncircumcised nations in

390

the uncircumcision of their hearts.

391

And so the Lord.

392

Again, his issuing his charges here.

393

So much of Jeremiah.

394

Th, this is why Jeremiah is

known as the weeping prophet.

395

Y'all.

396

As you read this, if you

feel like, okay, All right.

397

Here's a more judgment.

398

Oh, okay.

399

Here's more of an indictment

against the people of Israel.

400

Okay.

401

Here's more of the

charges of Israel's guilt.

402

Yes.

403

Then you get it.

404

That's why Jeremiah was known as the

weeping prophet is because of all of this.

405

And so, uh, yeah.

406

That's uh, I wish I had

better news than that.

407

Th there's there's glimpses of, of.

408

Of hope in the, in Jeremiah,

but so much of Jeremiah is.

409

Just the tragic.

410

State of Israel because as, as

Jeremiah prophesied, he was watching

411

their downfall and, uh, and that's

what we see so much in this book.

412

Let's pray and then we'll be

done with today's episode.

413

God, we thank you for who you are and that

you are a God of grace and mercy, slow to

414

anger, steadfast, and in steadfast love.

415

And.

416

And we are so grateful for

those things because we need it

417

because we sit on a daily basis.

418

And so God, I pray that we

would be quick to repent and

419

keep short accounts with you.

420

Unlike Israel, God, I pray that we would

not just go through the motions of church.

421

I pray that we would not.

422

I think that we're good.

423

Just because we show up at church

or read our Bible today or listen

424

to the daily Bible podcast and

think I'm I'm okay with God.

425

It doesn't matter if I've

got this scene over here.

426

God, give us a hatred for

our sin in a love for you.

427

That causes us to go after every

square inch of our lives to say, let

428

me root out sin anywhere it's found.

429

God, we want to be wholly devoted to you.

430

I trust that that's the heart of

everyone that's listening to this.

431

And if not, I pray that

it would become that.

432

I pray that you would soften

our hearts to your spirit.

433

If, if your spirit dwells within us as

believers, I pray that we would not.

434

Got quenched, the spirit or

become callous to the spirits.

435

Uh, leading in our lives and in, in

conviction over sin, God give us a soft

436

heart towards sin so that we would be

quick to keep short accounts with you.

437

So that we wouldn't find

ourselves like Israel.

438

Deceiving ourselves into thinking

that we're fine because we go

439

to church, we read our Bibles.

440

We're nice people.

441

We vote the right way.

442

When all the, while we've got sin that

we're not dealing with, that we're

443

not putting to death in our lives.

444

God give us a hatred for

sin and a zeal for you.

445

And we pray this in Jesus name.

446

Amen.

447

Keeping your Bibles and we will be

back again tomorrow for another episode

448

of the daily Bible podcast, bio.