Jeremiah 7:1-7 It’s Never Too Late 2/19/23 a.m.
Have you ever thought what the word “TOO” means? Now there are a lot of “TOO’S”
There’s the numeral “TWO”. 1, “2”, 3, 4, 5
There’s “TO” that means also. “I to like to eat candy.”
There’s “TO” that means approaching or nearing. “He’s been driving all day but now he’s close to home.”
There’s “TO” identifying a particular relationship. “Bill is married to Janet.”
There’s the adverb “TO”. It means to be closed or nearly closed. “He pulled the door to.”
Of course there’s a double “TO”. A “TUTU” is what a ballet dancer wears and most women shouldn’t.
But the “TO” that I want you to get this morning is “TOO T-O-O.” It means to a higher degree than is desirable, permissible, or possible; excessively. “That COSTS TOO much.” Or, “It’s TOO late.” Meaning it’s PAST TIME. It can’t happen.
Back in 2017, we had a little old lady that came to church here. Her name was Opal. She had been married 3 times and widowed three times. She was looking for the FOURTH one, but I think, with that track record, they were all TOO SCARED to marry her. She told me one time. “I just like men!!!” She was 94 and was still driving. She loved to play her organ. But Sister Opal came to me one day and said, “I’ve never been baptized. My brothers and sisters were all baptized but I was sick and I didn’t get to. Is it TOO LATE?” She had trusted the Lord as her Savior and she wanted to get BAPTIZED. I said, “No way, I’d LOVE to baptize you. It would be an honor.” She never had any children but her nephews and nieces were here to witness it. So at 94 years old, she made her way up those back stairs and down into the water. It was kind of cold but that didn’t matter. She was BAPTIZED. It was an OUTWARD SIGN of an INWARD WORK. And that’s what Sister Opal did that day. At 94 years old she showed the world that SHE HAD BEEN BORN AGAIN. It was late but not TOO LATE.
And that’s what I want to preach to you today. Let’s read Jeremiah 7:1-7 today.
“The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
2 Stand in the gate of the Lord's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the Lord, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the Lord.
3 Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.
5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:
7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”
Let’s go ahead and ask the Lord to bless us this morning as we study His Word.
Brother _____, would you lead us in Prayer.
In Jeremiah 1, Jeremiah is called by God to preach to the Nation of Judah. And in Verses 5 and 6 we see his response.
“Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
6 Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.”
But SPEAK HE DID!!! He started as a young man and he literally prophesied for 39 years and through the reign of FIVE different KINGS. He was the WEEPING PROPHET crying out to the people of Judah to REPENT and turn back to God.
And that’s what we’ve read here in the SEVENTH CHAPTER, he is crying out to the people.
I can see him getting up early in the morning. His wife asking him, “What are you going to do today honey?” “Well, I’m going down to the TEMPLE and I’m gonna stand in the GATEWAY and I’m gonna PREACH to the people. I’m gonna warn them that JUDGMENT is coming. I’m gonna tell them that it’s LATE but not TOO LATE to repent.”
I may be way off here but I can imagine her saying, “Ok, but they’re not gonna listen. You’re just wasting your breath.” And Old Jeremiah would say, “I know honey, but I have to tell them because RIGHT NOW it’s not too late.”
You know, I’ll bet most of you all have prayed for someone. I’ll bet most of you all have told someone of their need for Jesus. Most of you all have tried to INTERVENE in a LOVED ONE’S LIFE. And they just won’t listen!!! I know some of you have because I know your story. You’ve spent your time, your money, your effort and it was all just thrown back in your face.
Some of you parents and grandparents have tried your best to teach them younguns the WAYS of GOD, and some of them turned their backs on what they were taught. Listen, when the Bible tells us in Proverbs 22:6,
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
That’s a GENERAL PROMISE. That doesn’t take away a child’s FREE WILL to decide for themselves. Everyone of us has a choice to make.
Can I be honest with you this morning? There have been times when I felt like I was just wasting my breath. I’ll study for hours on a message that I truly believe God has given me to preach. I’ll pray about it. I’ll deliver it.
And do you know what happens? NOTHING!!! Yawning. People fall asleep on me. No one responds. And I’ll feel like I’ve wasted MY BREATH. But I’ll tell you what. NOTHING done for the Lord is done in VAIN.
Isaiah 55:10 and 11, “For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater:
11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.”
Nothing done to teach others about HIM is in VAIN.
Training up your CHILD in the ways of God is never in vain.
Telling others the GOOD NEWS of Jesus is never in Vain.
The PREACHING of the GOSPEL is NEVER a waste of time. Why? Because it’s never TOO LATE for a person to come to know Him. As long as there is still breath in them, Jesus stands waiting for them. The time may be growing short. You may not have the same influence you used to have. It MAY BE VERY LATE but it’s NEVER TOO LATE!!! DON’T QUIT!!!
2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”
And so what was it that Jeremiah was to PREACH to these people? What was it that he said as he stood there in the GATES of the temple?
I. First of all, it’s never too late to Amend your ways.
Look at Verse 3. “Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”
The first thing I want you to see is that the Nation of Judah had a HISTORY that they could look back on. They had HISTORY all the way back to Abraham the LITERAL FATHER of their nation. They had HISTORY of God’s deliverance from Egypt. They had HISTORY of God’s deliverance during the time of the Judges. But yet it seems that they just ignored ALL THE TIMES in the past when God had delivered them. Jeremiah was telling these people to AMEND or CHANGE their ways.
And as I look at America today, there seems to be such a parallel between Judah and the United States of America. One of the main things that was going on, there in Judah, was the CONFLICT between the RELIGIOUS groups of that day. In Jeremiah 6, he has prophesied of the coming judgment, but in Verses 13-15 it tells us,
“For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness; and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.
14 They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace.
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.”
The PRIESTS and PROPHETS were telling the people that everything was going to be alright, and that was nothing but a BIG FAT LIE. Things weren’t going to be OKAY.
In Jeremiah 8, Verses 10-12, he basically tells the people the same thing. These RELIGIOUS LEADERS were giving these people FALSE HOPE. Everything was OK. What a lie. JUDGMENT was COMING. But listen, it wasn’t TOO LATE. They could still AMEND their ways.
What a day we’re living in. Can I give you some truth? JUDGMENT is COMING. The Bible CLEARLY tells us that Jesus Christ is going to RETURN AND HE WILL JUDGE THIS WORLD. John 5:26-29,
“For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself;
27 And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
28 Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
It’s not a real popular subject in this day and age. People like to talk about REVIVAL. I do too. I would love for a REAL REVIVAL to break out in our community, our state, our NATION. And it’s never TOO LATE for that to happen.
But the truth of the matter is, RIGHT NOW, judgment is COMING. And for PREACHERS, PRIESTS, MINISTERS, PROPHETS, PROPHETESSES and so on to say that everything is FINE and DANDY is WRONG!!! It’s EVIL. Just as in Jeremiah’s days the PRIESTS and PROPHETS were giving a false sense of security. There’s people today giving a FALSE SENSE of SECURITY.
ILLUS: I went to a funeral several years back for a good friend of mine’s mother. It was at the All Souls Unitarian Church down in Tulsa. I left there ANGRY. There was NO TRUTH preached. God’s Word wasn’t even opened. There was NO HEAVEN to gain and NO HELL to SHUN. It was just a bunch of MUMBO JUMBO STUPID PSYCHOLOGY.
So many Tele-evangelists today are NOT preaching the whole truth. They’re just TICKLING people’s ears.
CULTS today preaching ANOTHER GOSPEL and ANOTHER Jesus. Paul was concerned about this when he wrote to the church at Corinth. This is what he warned them about in 2 Corinthians 11:3 and 4,
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.
4 For if he that cometh preacheth another Jesus, whom we have not preached, or if ye receive another spirit, which ye have not received, or another gospel, which ye have not accepted, ye might well bear with him.”
So what “Jesus” is being preached today? Well, a Jesus who never condemns, never judges, and would never send someone to Hell. That’s NOT the Jesus of the Bible. That’s a JESUS that’s been created to make people feel GOOD about themselves and the SINFUL LIFE they live. Listen folks, it’s NOT TOO LATE to tell others about Jesus and the NEW LIFE He wants to give.
II. It’s never TOO LATE to TRUST in the truth.
Verse 4 “Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, are these.”
As Jeremiah stood there in the Gates of the TEMPLE, I can HEAR HIM NOW, pleading with the people NOT to trust in those that were LYING to them. You see, the crowds EVIDENTLY had some trust in the temple and its service. The PRIESTS were still there. The SMOKE still rose up from the BURNING SACRIFICES. And much to the ANGER of these priests, Jeremiah stood at the gate and warned them that putting their trust in these RITUALS was DANGEROUS. Listen, if they DID NOT AMEND their ways, DESTRUCTION was coming.
The people would cry out, “The TEMPLE of the Lord, the TEMPLE of the Lord, the TEMPLE of the Lord!!!” You see, 100 years earlier the Assyrians had invaded the land and the temple had not been destroyed. They may have thought there was something MAGICAL about the Temple.
If they could have understood that God didn’t want ALL of their RITUALS or their SACRIFICES until they AMENDED their ways. It wasn’t TOO LATE but God wanted REPENTANCE. He wanted OBEDIENCE.
And that’s exactly where we are today. People don’t cry out “The Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord!!!” But they do cry out “I go to Church, I go to Church, I go to Church!!!” or “I’m a Good Person, I’m a Good Person!!!” How about this one. “My GRANDPA was a Preacher” “My DADDY was a Preacher”
I have to say this. In this Day and Age I hear it ALL the TIME. “I’m a Christian. I’m a Christian. I’m a Christian!!!” And there is NO WAY that their LIFE shows it. They LIVE like the DEVIL. They TALK like the DEVIL. I believe, THEY ARE OF THE DEVIL!!!
Jesus told us in Matthew 7, Verses 16-20
“Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
17 Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.
18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.
19 Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
20 Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.”
I didn’t say it, Jesus said it. Listen, if that’s you this morning, I’ve got good news. It’s LATE but NOT TOO LATE. Thank GOD it’s not too LATE. Amend your ways. Repent of your sins. Accept Jesus as your Savior.
III. Because it’s never too late to “Seek JUSTICE” and “Serve GOD and Him ALONE”. Look at Verses 5 and 6. “For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
6 If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:”
Notice the word there in Verse 5. “IF” If ye THROUGHLY AMEND your ways and your doings. THROUGHLY is where the word THOROUGHLY came from. It means- fully; wholly. 1. Without reserve; sincerely.
In other words, don’t hold anything back. They had a choice. God wanted the Nation of Judah to make a complete change. He wanted JUSTICE to prevail in the land. JUSTICE between neighbors who had a DISPUTE. JUSTICE for the IMMIGRANT who came into their land. JUSTICE for the ORPHANS and WIDOWS. God REQUIRED JUSTICE for the MOST WEAK IN SOCIETY. God is a JUST GOD therefore He requires JUSTICE. Evidently there was CORRUPTION in Judah. Probably those in charge were PAID OFF. BRIBERY and FRAUD was how you played the GAME. And God wasn’t going to have it. He demanded JUSTICE. And He demanded one more thing. The MOST IMPORTANT of all. “neither walk after other gods to your hurt:” Total commitment to the One, True, Living God. You know what I get by reading this? They were just playing a GAME.
They were still going to the TEMPLE. They were still OFFERING their SACRIFICES. But it was just a GAME. And it was a GAME that was going to HURT THEM. They were going to be INVADED and TAKEN into BONDAGE if they didn’t “AMEND THEIR WAYS.” It’s WASN’T TOO LATE. There was still time.
I mentioned earlier that there is such a PARALLEL between the Nation of Judah and the United States of America. Both countries SO BLESSED by God. Both countries PRESERVED by God. And both countries were full of people PLAYING a GAME instead of really serving God. We’re a LONG WAY from being the Godly Nation we once were. Why? Because the PEOPLE have followed the ways of the World. The other countries just as Judah did. They had begun worshipping the gods of the nations that surrounded them.
We as a nation have begun serving the god of money. The god of immorality. The god of SELF. We worship US. Whatever pleases our LUSTS we FULFILL. We give it to OURSELVES. Romans 1:20-25.
“For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:
21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,
23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things.
24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves:
25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen”
But here’s the GOOD NEWS. It’s LATE but NOT TOO LATE.
In Verse 7 God offered this Nation an ETERNAL HOME if they would just OBEY. If they would just AMEND their ways.
“Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”
Folks, it’s NOT TOO late. God has promised YOU and I an ETERNAL HOME if we’ll simply obey His Word.
ILLUS: I read about a businessman who was well known for his ruthless, sometimes crooked, business practices. He once announced to writer Mark Twain, “Before I die I’m going to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. I will climb Mount Sinai and there I will read the Ten Commandments aloud at the top.”
Mark Twain said, “I have a better idea, You could stay in Boston and actually keep them.”
And that’s the game people want to play today. They want to BE RELIGIOUS but at the same time live anyway they want. And it will be to THEIR OWN HURT.
But GOD has an eternal home for those who want more than just to play a GAME.
He has an ETERNAL HOME for those who want to really serve Him. Let me tell you something folks, it’s never too late. As long as you have breath, Jesus is waiting for you.
Remember Sister Opal? I can’t help but chuckle when I think about her. She was a FUNNY LITTLE LADY. She died on May 9, 2018. But what an example she was to you and I, that with God, as long as you’re still breathing, “It’s NEVER TOO LATE.”
Maybe there’s some folks that you need to make AMENDS with this morning. Maybe it’s family or friends. Maybe a wife or husband. A child or a parent. A brother or sister. Right now, it’s NOT too late, but tomorrow may be.
Maybe this morning you need to make AMENDS with God. You need to QUIT PLAYING a GAME and really turn your life over to Him. I’ll tell you, with the way the world’s going, it’s VERY LATE but, … it’s NOT TOO LATE. He stands waiting for you. Now what will you do?
Let’s Pray
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