False Religion is worthless
Jeremiah 7:1-29
Good morning everyone- so glad you chose to join us.
If you would turn to the Old Testament book of Jeremiah Chapter 7
We just finished a series on Abiding in Christ- being connected to God, connecting to others and being sensitive to those that do not know God…people say they know God and desire God but their lives most times don’t show it.
They don’t love God or want God bad enough to allow Him to change them. Willing for him to change others but not them.
The God they love is the God that does what they want…when they want it done.
A God that says okay to what they are doing.
Is that loving Almighty God or is that creating for yourself a God of your choosing?
Jesus talks in Matthew 7 about 2 kinds of people-
Wise person who built a house on a firm foundation (Jesus)
A Foolish person who built their house on sand.
When the storms come and they will, one will stand and one will fall apart.
One is wise and one is foolish.
Which one are you? Do you have to learn everything the hard way or would you like to learn from other peoples mistakes and not make them yourself?
The text this morning is the prophet Jeremiah warning and calling out the people of Israel.
Warnings that we need to hear.
Standing joke -How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time or it is overwhelming so let’s look at Jeremiah.
Jeremiah 7:1-8 read from Bible-
Jeremiah has a word from God-
Stand at the door of the Temple (church) and proclaim this message-
“Reform your ways and your actions.”
“Do not trust in deceptive words.”
False Religion is worthless- Title of the sermon- God is after a relationship with you.
The prophet is calling them out for putting their trust in the temple instead of a relationship with God- (4) “Do not trust in deceptive words and say “This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.”
He is not stuttering… he is intentional-
THEY MUST CHANGE THE WAY THEY ARE LIVING IN ORDER TO EXPERIENCE GOD’S PRESENCE
Amend your ways and let me dwell with you in this place.
They are to practice justice, cease oppression, especially to the underprivileged people in society.
True religion is practiced in the community and not just in a building. (Repeat)
John Wesley says of God “You cannot frequent my house, and yet retain your sins.”
The prophet Jeremiah calls them out-
(9) “Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my name, and say, WE ARE SAFE.”
(God calling Israel)
The Lord calling His church (today) His People (today) to repentance
Repentance is a word not used very much anymore-
Repentance is to do180 degree change- you were going that way and now you go this way.
You did this and it was not pleasing to God so you do not do that anymore because you want to please the Lord more than you want to please yourself.
History repeats itself. We think this world is getting worse and worse but there is nothing new under the sun as far as a heart that is far from God.
We say we want revival- bring revival Lord but revival has to start in each one of our hearts before we will see it start in a community, state, or a nation.
Why do we say we are too tired to go to church and then plan a whole day of activities that don’t include God? Because we are sinners in need of a savior and in need of a changed heart.
The weeping prophet of God loved his God, cared for God’s people and wanted them to see that what they were doing was not only not pleasing to God but had great consequences if their hearts were not changed.
Jeremiah describes the conditions found in the house of worship in Judah, just before God let Babylon invade them.
(4) We find an almost self-arrogant attitude that led to ungodly conduct, but since they were fellowshipping in “church”, they thought everything was fine.
Sometimes, we do the same thing. We cheat on our income taxes, we lie to our bosses, and think all is okay because we are just doing what everyone else is doing.
Membership in any local church does not put off punishment for ungodly actions.
(5-6) illustrate that their judgment of how to apply God’s Word in their lives was way off the mark. They were totally self-centered.
(10) Expresses the extent this delusion had permeated their lives. By ignoring God’s moral and ethical demands, they were in effect telling God that attending services released them from the guilt. It was as if God’s will did not apply to them. They were after all "in the church," right?
It is almost as if they felt they were doing God a favor.
Customize this sermon
Many church leaders want big churches, so they give congregations easy to swallow sermons.
I have heard it said that if the Apostle Paul were to be apply for the position of pastor in most churches today, he wouldn’t even be considered!
But all is okay, because after all, we are in church.
Now let me fast-forward to today.
If you knew something was about to hurt someone you cared for, would you try and warn them? Certainly, we would always try to help others, wouldn’t we?
The Apostle Paul gave some dire warnings to the church that we would be wise to heed today.
The devil never yells at you. He whispers to you. He whispers those lies that only have one purpose; robbing you of your relationship with Christ.
We believe them because they get us to take our focus off of Jesus and put it on ourselves.
Do you remember when Peter got out of the boat? As long as he was looking at Jesus, he was able to walk on the water, but the very moment he took his eyes off Jesus, he began to sink.
Satan can put thoughts in our minds that look so good and so wonderful we just don’t understand how we could be so wrong. But we have to be so careful.
Just as Paul was warning that they need to be keenly aware of false teachings and doctrines, I want to warn each of you this morning about the same thing.
I can never remember in my life, a time that is so filled with so many different types of religious teachings.
In the Old Testament, you had the Judaizers. They believed that all you needed to get to Heaven was to be a good person. Sounds like Today
We have a very dangerous mixture of Eastern religions, Middle-Eastern religions and many kinds of false Christian doctrines.
It doesn’t really matter how many there are, because no matter how you cut it, there is only one true belief. That belief is the one that proclaims Jesus as Savior.
Nobody wants to be offended, so many churches today go to extremes to take anything that offends out of their service, so their people will be happy.
There is the story of a young boy who lived in the hills of Kentucky. He went to his grandfather and told him that it was useless to read the Bible. The boy said he couldn’t understand it and as soon as he was finished reading, he forgot what he read anyway.
The old man told the boy to get the basket they used to carry coal into the house with. When the boy had fetched the basket, the grandfather told the boy to go down to the creek, fill the basket up with water and bring it back to him. The boy obeyed, but by the time he got back to his grandfather, the basket was empty.
The grandfather told the boy to do it again. Again it was empty. The old man told the boy a couple more times to do it and each time the basket was empty. Finally, the boy said it was no use to continue, that no matter how much he tried, the water would always leak out of the basket.
He told the boy to look at the basket. He said that even though the water never stayed in the basket, it had cleaned all the dirty coal dust out of it. He said that reading the Bible has the same affect on our hearts and souls. Even though we don’t think we are retaining anything, the truth of God cleanses our hearts.
It is all about your listening skills
Illustration
There was a man who came home from work and talking to his wife said “We have to keep Tom in our prayers he was in a bad accident last night”
Oh my! Was Carol and the kids in the car?- I don’t know, all I know is “We have to keep Tom in our prayers he was in a bad accident last night”
What hospital did they go too?- I don’t know, all I know is “We have to keep Tom in our prayers because he was in a bad accident.
Was the other driver okay?- I don’t know, all I know is “We have to keep Tom in our prayers he was in a bad accident last night.
You don’t know very much! What do you know? All I know is we have to keep Tom in our prayers he was in a bad accident last night.”
“Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God” Rom 10:7-
The power of the Word and the power of the Holy Spirit to be able to understand it and live it.
Preacher from the 60’s Rev Sidlow Baxter says there are ways to listen and ways not to listen.
Undiscerning listener- Can hear a sound preacher and unsound preacher and cannot tell the difference- Weren’t they both good?
Feverish listener- Listener wanting to find something new and exciting instead of desiring a sound understanding of God’s Word.
Gospel-hardened listener- is a listener who has built up a resistance. One like a soldier who has gradually developed the ability to sleep in a battle zone. One who can sleep right through God’s warnings and missing God’s love.
Preacher for lunch every Sunday
Souring kids to the Lord because they always have something against someone who is working for the Lord.
Constructive criticism is one thing but a criticizing attitude is another.
Faith comes by hearing… so does salvation! So does heaven… so does being obedient to the things of God! Be careful how you hear!
Think about this for a minute-
We live in a day and age where there are many voices-some good and some bad. You have to decide which voices you will listen to and respond too. The ones that distract, you block out of your life, you do not spend any time with. The ones that encourage, you meditate on and allow to dwell into your spirit.
No one wants to hear a bad report- no one wants to hear bad news. No one wants to hear they have to change things in their life. We cannot allow distractions, bad news, bad reports to cause us to move away. It is there in His Presence that we can find healing in the most difficult times.
Revelation-let Him (them, us) who hath an ear, let him hear…
Luke 8:18- “Therefore consider carefully how you listen.”
Jeremiah stood at the door of the temple and said listen! This is what the Lord says!
He was telling them to be selective in their hearing- out of the noise hear the Lord and His Word. Respond immediately.
Jesus has offered you the most precious gift of salvation wrapped up in Him- it is the most precious thing He gave us- (you decide if you accept His gift)
Some take the gift, they want to give back but they have nothing to give so they wrap an empty box in beautiful paper but it is still empty.
That is a false religion-False religion has nothing to give back- it is worthless.
The only gift that is acceptable back to God for what He has done for us is the giving of ourselves in acceptance of His gift- True religion is a relationship with Jesus.
Relationship, relationship, relationship
The problem is not the preaching of the word- but the way people heard it and responded.
A heart break to prophets and apostles and also to the pastors- it is the matter of how people hear the word of the Lord.
Let’s pray-
Father, what do we take away this morning? We take away that the prophet Jeremiah called Israel out for thinking that they were safe just because they were in the house of the Lord. You call each of us out this morning to make sure we are in a right relationship with you- one that calls us toward you not away from you. One that is growing not one that is dying. One that is in your strength and not only in ours. Then you also call us to be mindful of what and who we are listening too- making sure we are hearing your voice and your directions for our life- may we Lord be sensitive to hear your voice and only your voice to direct our lives for your honor and glory.
