When God Says It’s Too Late

Transcript

GR 455
9/05/1982
When God Says It is Too Late
Jeremiah 7:16-28
Gil Rugh

In chapter 7 Jeremiah has been centering on the futility of formal worship. There is nothing wrong with formality in and of itself, but Jeremiah is speaking of formality that has lost its meaning, of going through certain external rituals without a personal relationship of faith in Jesus Christ. Every service you go to has some kind of order. There is nothing wrong with a certain order. Even if we change the order of our service every week, there will be an order, a ritual if you will, for that week. But if that ritual or order replaces a true relationship with God, then we come under the condemnation that Jeremiah is addressing.

As we approach the Word of God, my goal is not to be offensive. Some of you think I go out of my way to be offensive, but I really restrain myself. Rather, my goal is to present the Word of God as clearly and as understandably as possible. I say that because we are going to look at some specifics of formal worship again that you may find offensive. Your responsibility is not to believe it because I preach it. Your responsibility is to evaluate it and find out if what I say is indeed biblical. If it is, you must accept it and submit to it whether you find it offensive or not. The Word of God is binding, not just when I like it but also when I would like to disagree with it. I am still obligated to submit to it.

In the first 15 verses, Jeremiah has addressed the matter of coming to the temple and going through the routines and rituals of worship--routines and rituals which indeed God had established. God had instructed them to come to the appointed place, the temple, at this appointed time in Israel’s history and offer appointed sacrifices at appointed times. Yet now He says it is all repulsive and unacceptable to Him. As Jeremiah will emphasize again, it was never intended that those routines of worship take the place of faith and obedience to God, but that they were to be the manifestation or result of that relationship.

In verse 16 God gives some instructions to Jeremiah which are rather startling because they go contrary to what our immediate thought is. What do people really need when they are living in sin? They need someone to pray for them. Someone to come and plead for God to intervene on their behalf. Yet note the command given in verse 16 to Jeremiah: “As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.” If Jeremiah, the prophet of God, does not pray for this people, who will? Yet God’s command is, do not pray for them. And He stresses it in several ways that will take in various aspects of prayer. Do not pray for these people, do not lift up a cry for them, do not intercede for them. In no way is Jeremiah to come before God on their behalf because God will not listen.

Note the same instructions in Jeremiah 11:14: “Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster.” Also, in chapter 14, “So the Lord said to me, ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.’” Jeremiah 14:11-12 God is telling Jeremiah that praying for them will do no good. He has set His mind on judgment, and no amount of prayer, intercession or crying on their behalf will be effective to bring about a change. It is too late. Israel is destined for judgment, so Jeremiah is not to waste his time praying for them.

You may be glad you did not live in Old Testament times! But you know, God’s basic way of dealing with people has not changed. The New Testament has a counterpart to this. The Apostle John wrote, “If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this.” 1 John 5:16. You can pray for a brother who is involved in a sin not leading to death, but when a person is involved in a sin leading to death, do not pray for him. The context here is a little different, but yet the connection is clear. There comes a time when prayer is of no avail. When it is clear that God has determined to take a life or to exercise judgment, then you ought not to waste your time in praying for that person or that situation.

You may wonder how you will know whether to pray or not. If you do not know, then continue to pray. First John even seems to make it clear that there is a recognition of this. There are times when I believe I have recognized this. God has not spoken to me, but the circumstances and situations have been clear. Basically, it is the same with Jeremiah. Where there is persistence and obstinacy in sin, then you cannot pray for those people to be spared from God’s judgment.

Why does God tell Jeremiah it will do no good to pray? The answer is in Jeremiah 7:17-19, “‘Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out libations to other gods in order to spite Me. Do they spite Me?’ declares the Lord. ‘Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?’” The home in Israel was to be a focal point of emphasis on God and His Word. The parents were to lead the children in the knowledge of God.

Deuteronomy 6 is a very familiar passage on this theme. “Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has commanded me to teach you, that you might do them in the land where you are going over to possess it, so that you and your son and your grandson might fear the Lord your God, to keep all His statutes and His commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life,” Deuteronomy 6:1-2. Verses 6-9 continue, “And these words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. And you shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” This passage shows that in the family life of Israel, the Word of God was to be the focal point.

What is the focal point of your family’s discussions? Fathers, what do you talk about with your children? Is it a natural thing in your home to talk to them about spiritual things? Or might your children say, My dad goes to church on Sunday, but my goodness, I would die if he talked about biblical things on Tuesday! What a tragedy. Fathers and mothers are to be setting a biblical atmosphere in the home where the Word of God is talked about and where it is prominent in the thinking, discussions and actions of the home.

Contrast that with Jeremiah 7:18 where the children are gathering wood and the fathers are kindling the fire and the mothers are making cakes--all joined together as a family in the pagan worship of other gods. You see how important the family relationship is, that the children are joined together following the pattern of the parents. If we have a reason for weakness as an evangelical church today, it is because children are following the pattern of the parents. The parents, even believers, are often so weak and so inconsistent, so biblically barren, that we raise children like ourselves.

Is it not amazing that when you get into false religions and cults, they go all out? Here are the father, mother and children going all out for the worship of this pagan deity. Oh that we had the same zeal and enthusiasm to worship the true and living God!

In chapter 44, Jeremiah describes a similar situation in Egypt. The Jews have fled there to get away from their enemies. But their activity has not changed. Note the prominence of women. This is not negative on women, but God has intended that men lead in the worship. And characteristic of false religions is the dominance of women in the leadership. Here you see that emphasized again. “Then all the men who were aware that their wives were burning sacrifices to other gods, along with all the women who were standing by, as a large assembly, including all the people who were living in Pathros in the land of Egypt, responded to Jeremiah, saying, ‘As for the message that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we are not going to listen to you!’” Jeremiah 44:15,16. That is clear and simple. You would think they would have learned a lesson. Everything Jeremiah has said has come true up to this point, and now here they are hiding in Egypt. But what is their response to Jeremiah? “We will not listen to what God says to you.”

The rebellion of these people continues in verse 17-19, “‘But rather we will certainly carry out every word that has proceeded from our mouths, by burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, just as we ourselves, our forefathers, our kings and our princes did in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem; for then we had plenty of food, and were well off, and saw no misfortune. But since we stopped burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pouring out libations to her, we have lacked everything and have met our end by the sword and by famine. And,’ said the women, ‘when we were burning sacrifices to the queen of heaven, and were pouring out libations to her, was it without our husbands that we made for her sacrificial cakes in her image and poured out libations to her?’” Jeremiah 44:17-19. Then skip down to verse 25, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, as follows: ‘As for you and your wives, you have spoken with your mouths and fulfilled it with your hands, saying, “We will certainly perform our vows that we have vowed, to burn sacrifices to the queen of heaven and pour out libations to her.” Go ahead and confirm your vows, and certainly perform your vows!’”

In the past we have discussed worship of the queen of heaven in detail. I want to just touch on this particular aspect again. It is worship of a mother goddess. The queen of heaven is one of the oldest forms of worship known to men. In our studies on other occasions we have traced it back to Babylon and to a variety of female deities worshiped under different names. In Babylon and Assyria they worshiped Ishtar; in Phoenicia, Ashtoreth; Egypt had Isis. This deity has been popularized in recent years on television and in cartoons. The Greeks had Aphrodite; in Italy, Venus; Diana for the Ephesians. This woman who is the center of worship is given different names in different cultures and in different parts of the world, but the same basic characteristics are found in the various settings. The focal point of that worship is on a mother goddess with all the immorality and pagan activities that go on with that kind of worship. This has occurred in Israel as Jeremiah writes. In chapter 44 the people say that they, their fathers and their kings have done this. This pagan worship had infiltrated Israel so that as Jeremiah speaks it is not a new thing, but it had been going on for generations.

In chapters 7 and 44, they make cakes for the queen of heaven. Here is a quote that goes back into Babylonian and Assyrian times regarding the baking of cakes. Ishtar, the queen of heaven, was represented by the star Venus. The statement refers to a cake that was baked for Ishtar. “Oh Ishtar, I prepared for you a pure oblation of milk and cake and salted toast; I placed a flagon for you. Hear me, and be gracious to me!”1 Israel had adopted the pagan worship emphasis of the peoples around them. This worship of the woman, the queen of heaven, is a key element in the Babylonian system condemned in Revelation 17. In that chapter John says this element will be in existence down to the very last days preceding the Second Coming of Jesus Christ to earth. Do not feel that worship of the queen of heaven and making cakes is so musty and ancient that there is no reason to consider it today. The Devil’s worship system has not changed. God’s plan and pattern for true worship has remained the same over all the centuries. It is true for Satan as well that his basic patterns in worship have remained the same. In the opening verses of Revelation 17, there is the condemnation of the whore. In verse 5, “And upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and of the abominations of the earth.’” Revelation 17:5. We have spent some time on different occasions looking at what Babylon the Great really is, what the characteristics are of this pagan system.

Let us pick up on the element of the worship of the woman, the queen of heaven, which continues down to today. It is most clearly personified today in the adoration and veneration of Mary in the Roman Catholic Church. I am not anti-Catholic or anti-Protestant, but I am anti-anything that is anti-biblical. The position accorded Mary in the Roman Catholic Church is nothing new. It was carried into the Roman Church in the days of Constantine when the pagans had their worship of the queen of heaven, the mother goddess. In order to placate them as Constantine attempted to Christianize everyone, Mary was accorded the pagan position as queen of heaven. You might be interested to note that Pope Pius XII officially designated Mary as “Queen of Heaven.”

Let me quote from some Roman Catholic literature regarding Mary. “‘And she is truly a mediatress of peace between sinners and God. Sinners receive pardon by . . . Mary alone’ pages 82-83. ‘Mary is our life . . . Mary in obtaining this grace for sinners by her intercession thus restores them to life’ page 80. ‘He fails and is lost who has not recourse to Mary’ page 94.”2 These quotes are from a Roman Catholic book, The Glories of Mary, written by Bishop Alphonse de Ligouri. Bishop Ligouri continues, “ ‘The Holy Church commands a worship peculiar to Mary’ page 130. ‘Many things . . . are asked from God and are not granted; they are asked from Mary and are obtained,’ for ‘She . . . is even Queen of Hell and Sovereign Mistress of the Devils’ pages 127, 141, 143. ‘Mary is called. . . the gate of heaven because no one can enter that blessed kingdom without passing through her’ page 160. ‘The way of salvation is open to none otherwise than through Mary,’ and since ‘Our salvation is in the hands of Mary . . . He who is protected by Mary will be saved, he who is not will be lost’ pages 169-170. ‘All power is given to thee in Heaven and on earth,’ so that ‘at the command of Mary all obey--even God . . . and thus . . .God has placed the whole Church . . . under the domination of Mary’ pages 180-181. Mary ‘is also the advocate of the whole human race . . . for she can do what she wills with God’ page 193.”3 Do you see the exalted position given to the mother goddess in this pagan system? There is no change from the days of Jeremiah and the worship of the queen of heaven.

Here are a few more quotes from Bishop Ligouri. “‘Mary is the peace-maker between sinners and God’ page 197. ‘We often more quickly obtain what we ask by calling on the name of Mary, than by invoking that of Jesus.’ ‘She . . . is our Salvation, our Life, our Hope, our Counsel, our Refuge, our Help’ pages 254, 257. ‘The whole Trinity, O Mary, gave thee a name . . . above every other name, that at Thy name, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, on earth, and under the earth’ page 260.”4 If you have been a believer very long or if you are very familiar with the Scripture, you will note that in a number of these passages they have simply taken what the Scripture says about God and Jesus Christ and attributed it to Mary. They have exalted her to the preeminent place.

Now a prayer from another Roman Catholic publication, a prayer book entitled Raccolta: “Hail, Queen Mother of Mercy, our Life. Sweetness, and Hope, all hail! To thee we cry, banished sons of Eve; to thee we sigh, groaning and weeping in this veil of tears. We fly beneath thy shelter, O holy Mother of God, despise not our petitions in our necessity, and deliver us always from all perils, O glorious and Blessed Virgin. Heart of Mary, Mother of God . . . Worthy of all the generation of angels and men . . . In thee let the Holy Church find safe shelter; protect it, and be its asylum, its tower, its strength. Sweetheart of Mary be my salvation. Leave me not, My Mother, in my own hands, or I am lost; let me but cling to thee. Save me, my hope; save me from hell.’”5

One or two of these quotes would have been sufficient to get the point across, but I shared more because many of us as Protestants perhaps are not as familiar with what the Roman Catholic dogma on Mary really is, and we play down the significance. We fail to realize the heresy there that must be condemned, similar to the heresy that Jeremiah had to speak so directly against.

Christ the Only Mediator

Mary was a woman blessed greatly by God, given the honor to be the virgin mother of Jesus Christ. In no way is she accorded the position of queen of heaven, as Savior, as mediator. “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” (1 Timothy 2:5). But in this pagan system of Satan which centers on the worship of the queen of heaven, this mother goddess has just continued down in an unbroken line to our day. There is a drastic and repulsive movement today where Protestants and Catholics move together, because what is the difference between them? Even among those who proclaim themselves to be evangelical, they see an allowance, an openness for such a system. Where would that fit in the condemnation, we see in the Scripture of those associated with such pagan activity? We need to be careful about zeroing in on things we agree about in these situations. What is most significant about the Roman Catholic system is what we disagree about. The center and heart of the whole system is different.

I have no more in common with the average Protestant than I do with the average Roman Catholic. Just because a person is a Protestant or a Catholic does not mean he is any closer to heaven. Salvation has nothing to do with being part of the Roman Catholic Church or of a Protestant church or of a Jewish synagogue. The issue in salvation is faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ alone. If your faith is in Jesus Christ plus Mary, you are lost for eternity! If your faith is in Jesus Christ plus the church, whether it is the Roman Catholic Church, Indian Hills Community Church or any other church, you are lost for eternity. So, salvation is an issue of personal faith in the finished work of the Son of God. The point is that the pagan system of Satan that is condemned by Jeremiah has continued unbroken down to our very day. No one who names the name of Jesus Christ ought to have anything to do with such a system. For this kind of activity God is going to judge the nation Israel very harshly. Should we dabble in it and say, “Let’s not make Mary an issue”? Do you know why you do not want to say anything about Mary? It will be offensive. Do you think Jeremiah was popular when he preached this?

Here is one more quote from the Rosary, which is the most popular ritual of prayer in the Roman Catholic Church. It contains 50 Hail Mary’s or Ave Marias. You are probably familiar with that, whether you are Catholic or Protestant. It is often recited too in connection with death or dying. “‘Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death, Amen.’”6 Would reciting that 50 times do anything?

It amazes me how things do not change. Yet people ignorant of the Word of God become more tolerant of these things with the passing of time. Someone may say their system is not so different from ours. You could say that about these people worshiping Ishtar, the queen of heaven, in Jeremiah’s day. At least they go to the temple, someone might say. We agree on the temple. They offer sacrifices. We agree on those sacrifices. It is what they did not agree on that Jeremiah is concerned about and which will necessitate the judgment of God. And that is true in the Roman Catholic system today.

I believe Roman Catholics can be saved. If they are saved, it is in spite of the system they are part of. For within that system they have heard and believed that the Son of God died to pay the penalty for their sins, and they have trusted in Him alone. But God knows that if they are going to grow, they need to be out of that system. It will stifle them and smother them. Unfortunately, the majority of those within that system are trusting the system for their salvation. The statement of the Roman Catholic Church teaches this--salvation is found only in the Holy Catholic Church, referring to the Roman Catholic Church and the dogma of their own teaching or doctrine.

In Jeremiah 7 God said, “They pour out libations to other gods in order to spite Me” verse 18. Then in verse 19, “‘Do they spite Me?’ declares the LORD. ‘Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?’” Are they doing this to aggravate God? They are just stirring themselves up to their own shame. God is not frustrated or confused like men are. He will be moved to anger. There is a controlled settled course that He is on. It is their own confusion and shame that they are causing. Have they put God into turmoil by their false worship? Do you think God is up there biting His fingernails because they have exalted Mary, the queen of heaven, as a goddess who will answer their requests when He will not? It is absurd and blasphemous! So, who is shamed by it all? The people who indulge in it.

God’s anger is described in verse 20: “Therefore thus says the Lord God, ‘Behold, My anger and My wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and on beast and on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground; and it will burn and not be quenched.’” Jeremiah 7:20. That is why Jeremiah is not to pray for them. It is already determined that they will be judged. Jeremiah is not to pray that God will spare them from judgment. He might pray that some will hear and believe, but he is not to pray for the sparing of judgment. That judgment is already determined and cannot be changed at this point.

Verse 21 continues, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.’” Here he picks up on the sacrificial system. Burnt offerings and the eating of flesh are in the context of the sacrifices. In the burnt offerings, all of the offering was to be consumed; and in the peace offerings, the worshiper was allowed to partake of the bulk of the sacrifice. God tells them to go ahead and continue their sacrifices. “For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices.” Jeremiah 7:22. In other words, God says go ahead and do it, but keep in mind that you are doing it on your own. God has already spoken about sacrifices and offerings. The issue is that this was not the purpose or goal in what He said. What was the thrust of what He had to say? Before there was any discussion about sacrifices and offerings, what was covered? Look back in Exodus 19:5-6 “Now then, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be My own possession among all the peoples, for all the earth is Mine; and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” The basic issue is, “If you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant” verse 5. Animal sacrifices and the formality of worship are not issues at this point. From God’s perspective the issue is; Will you submit to Me?

The people answered in verse 8, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do!” They agreed to be obedient and submissive to Him. That is a key point.

We see a similar emphasis in Deuteronomy 26, “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today declared the Lord to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. And the Lord has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He shall set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the Lord your God, as He has spoken.” Deuteronomy 26:16-19. Note that relationship which is based on a relationship of faith, of obedience and submission to God, not upon doing certain sacrifices at a given location. Israel had ignored the issue of obedience and faith. They thought, as long as we go on with the religious ritual, things will be all right with God. God says, “Go ahead and do your religious ritual, but keep in mind that it is not what I commanded you.” It only had significance as it was the result of their relationship. Without that relationship it means nothing. In fact, it is worse than nothing; it is repulsive.

Let us review a couple of passages where different prophets speak about this matter of formality of worship. They are a reminder that it is better not to worship at all than to worship in a pagan or unbiblical system.

Isaiah speaks to the Jews about Sodom and Gomorrah which had been destroyed long before. He tells the people that they are just like Sodom and Gomorrah so they should listen up! “Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom; give ear to the instruction of our God, you people of Gomorrah. ‘What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?’ says the Lord. ‘I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed cattle. And I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies--I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, they have become a burden to Me. I am weary of bearing them. So, when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you, yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood’” Isaiah 1:10-15. What does God want? Obedience; a relationship of faith; the transformation that comes with cleansing. Verse 18, “Come now, and let us reason together.”

Look in Hosea 6:6, “For I delight in loyalty rather than sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Let us get the order right, folks! Loyalty and the knowledge of God supersede the whole sacrificial system.

In Amos 5:21-24 God says, “I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; and I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” What does God want? A right relationship and obedience to Him, justice and righteousness.

Israel responds to God’s charges in Micah 6:6-8, “With what shall I come to the Lord and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the Lord take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my first-born for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” He requires a relationship of humility with God. Without that relationship with God, all the sacrifices that you could bring together in the world make no difference to Him. Does the Lord need ten thousand rivers of oil? No. It only had meaning as it flowed out of a right relationship with Him, an expression of that love and submission to Him. But apart from that, false religion is repulsive. Think how many people in this world today are aggravating God by their worship because it is not based upon a relationship with Him through the death and resurrection of His Son. If it is not founded in the revelation He has given of Himself in His Word, then it is unacceptable.

Samuel said to Saul in 1 Samuel 15:22-23, “Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being King.”

There is one other passage to look at in Psalm 51. After being guilty of immorality in his relationship with Bathsheba and murder in the execution of her husband, David speaks in Psalm 51:16 of the comparative value of sacrifices and obedience. “For Thou does not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it; Thou art not pleased with burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.” Psalm 51:16.

Do you see the heart of the matter? David offered sacrifices. Samuel offered sacrifices. But they drive home the point--the basic issue is a right relationship with God. Sacrifices must follow that. They cannot precede it or take its place.

In Jeremiah 7:23 he told the people what we read earlier in Exodus 19: “But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you will be My people; and you will walk in all the way which I command you, that it may be well with you’” Jeremiah 7:23. That promise was based upon a relationship of obedience and submissiveness to God with their faith placed in Him. He continues with the results: “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear but walked in their own counsels and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have sent you all My servants the prophets, daily rising early and sending them. Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear but stiffened their neck; they did evil more than their fathers.” Jeremiah 7:24-26. And now note verse 27 lest you be discouraged in the ministry God gives you. “And you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not listen to you; and you shall call to them, but they will not answer you.” That is amazing! God says, “Go preach this word, Jeremiah, but they will not listen. They will not respond.”

We need to be careful. Jeremiah could not measure the success of his ministry by the number of responses because he was going to proclaim the Word of God to a people who would not listen. The measure of success for Jeremiah’s ministry was whether he faithfully proclaimed the Word of God.

I sometimes ask God whether I tend to measure the success of my ministry by the number of people who come on Sunday morning? Would I proclaim the Word of God in the same way if each week there were 100 less people who came? Would my responsibility be any different? I need to be reminded that my responsibility is to proclaim the truth of God. In 2 Corinthians 2, Paul spoke concerning this ministry, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place. For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life. And who is adequate for these things?” 2 Corinthians 2:14-16. The extent of our ministry is not the same. What pleases God is when we make Jesus Christ known, and if I do that to one person or one thousand people, that is not the issue. The issue is my faithfulness in presenting the Word of God.

We get discouraged so easily. “Oh God, I told ten people about Christ today and they all spit on me! I guess I do not have the gift of evangelism. I guess I will pray and let somebody else talk.” That was not one of the options for Jeremiah, was it! By that criteria Jeremiah did not have the gift of teaching either. Apparently he should have shut up and prayed, but then God told him not to pray! Then He told him to preach but the people will not listen. Jeremiah lost on all counts! If I pray it will not do any good, if I preach they will not listen. What did he have to do? He had to be faithful to God. For Jeremiah the issue is obedience.

I may read this and say, what does this have to do with me? Much! God is saying the issue is obedience to Him. So, I back up and say, what do I have to do? “Preach the Word, be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction.” 2 Timothy 4:2. But Lord, they do not listen, you complain. Well, what does that have to do with your responsibility? Lord, they do not want to hear it! What does that have to do with your responsibility? Lord, I do not want to do it if they will not listen! Oh, you do not want to be obedient? Well then, you need to go back over these verses we just considered on obedience. Oh, I know what you said there, Lord, but this is different. No, it is not so different, is it? Obedience! So, Jeremiah is told to go and preach. He is also told they will not listen. Do you think Jeremiah liked to preach? Do you know why I love to preach to you? Because many of you come and you are all so responsive, and that is enjoyable. But with Jeremiah, it was just the opposite.

Verse 28 of Jeremiah 7 describes a great tragedy. “And you shall say to them, ‘This is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God or accept correction; truth has perished and has been cut off from their mouth.’” Jeremiah 7:28. We saw this revealed back in Jeremiah 5, “Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and look now, and take note. And seek in her open squares, if you can find a man, if there is one who does justice, who seeks truth . . . O Lord, do not Thine eyes look for truth?” verses 1-3. We looked at this word emuwnah, which is translated faith or faithfulness. It is the same word in Habakkuk 2:4, “But the righteous will live by his faith.”

What has happened in Israel? Faith has perished! Of all people, they are the most religious, but God says faith has perished! “And without faith it is impossible to please Him.” Hebrews 11:6. The just shall live by faith, but faith has perished. What did Israel have to hold on to? Their religious ritual, their worship of the queen of heaven, the temple that they go to so faithfully, the offering of sacrifices? Can any of that replace a relationship with God by faith? No! That is the point here.

Jeremiah uttered this 2500 years ago. Now would you not think that with 2500 years to study it, to meditate upon it, to think about it, we would have gotten the point? But we are exactly where Israel was. Form and externals have usurped the place of real worship. How many people are going through a religious service today in a context where faith has perished? Their whole hope of eternal salvation is based upon the rituals of that service. That can be true for Catholics, Protestants or Jews. For many people, their faith is in their religious ritual. God’s message is that religious ritual is not adequate. In fact, it is repulsive to Him.

What does God want if He does not want your religious ritual? He wants your faith. He wants you to believe in Him. He wants you to recognize your sinfulness, your hopeless, sinful condition. Cast yourself upon Him, believe that His Son Jesus Christ died to pay the penalty for your sins and was raised from the dead because He has paid that penalty. That is what God wants from you. If you do not start there, there is nothing else you can do to please Him. You must begin in faith. Our lives must also be lived in faith. When I came to believe in Jesus Christ, that was not the end. That was the beginning of a relationship which is eternal, a relationship that conditions and governs all my relationships and activities. As one who belongs to Him, I am to live a life of obedience to Him. I am to do that, not to gain salvation, but because of the salvation I have obtained in His Son, Jesus Christ.

NOTES

1 Theo. Laetsch, Bible Commentary, Jeremiah, Concordia Publishing House, St. Louis, 1952, p. 99.
2Loraine Boettner, Roman Catholicism, The Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing Company, Philadelphia, 1962, p. 138.
3Ibid., p. 139.
4Ibid., p. 139, 140.
5Ibid., p. 140.
6Ibid., p. 141.