Judah

Amaziah-The King Who Stopped Short of the Goal

/ Bobby Mayfield / Leave a comment

Amaziah-The King Who Stopped Short of the Goal

Book of 2 Chronicles Chapter 25

I think the greatest thing we can learn from the Old Testament is “what not to do”.

No matter how powerful we become upon this earth, we are very, very small compared to God!

Over and over, we read how people went against the Word of God, and God had to take away His hand of blessing.

You see God does not cause our problems; He just removes His hand of blessing that would have stopped most of our problems.

God wants us to allow Him to dictate how we live our lives to gain the greatest blessings while we are alive and even greater blessings when we join Him in Heaven.

God wants to deal with us as any good Father would.

We are foolish people when we do not realize that God wants to bless us and not take away our blessings.

People believe that God does so many things to them, when actually it’s the Devil who has more freedom when God removes His hand of blessing and protection.

We get a bird’s eye view of these things in the Books of the Kings and the Chroniclers, and in the divided nation, we see how leaders rebel against a loving God, and it did not go well for them.

None of us like discipline, but for all of us, a little discipline is necessary.

Throughout the Old Testament, God dispensed His theocratic kingdom through mediators, the prophets.

God appointed human leaders through whom He revealed His will and made Himself known. He still does this today.

The final ultimate form of God’s theocratic kingdom will be the Millennial Kingdom governed by Jesus Christ.

There is no more important subject in the Old Testament than the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ!

The Old Testament looks forward to all the things concerning the Lord Jesus Christ, and it gives us true history so we can better understand.

We must understand that God deals with Israel to bring her to a place of Spiritual blessing in which she will be the agent for God to bless the nations of the world.

We now know that this will not take place until after the Rapture of the Church and the Seven Years of Tribulation, which the Church will miss.

The Mosaic Covenant was conditional and a demonstration of God’s Holiness.

All those who would enter into fellowship with our Holy God would have to meet His Holy Standard.

Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

The Prophets of the Old Testament teach us how God will achieve this with Israel.

We know the Messiah will rule this earth from Jerusalem, but the Messiah first came as a suffering Messiah through whom God offers forgiveness of sins.

This forgiveness is for the whole world, but each individual must acknowledge it.

1Jn_2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.

The one thing we see in all the Bible is the continuation of sin in the human race, and there is only one race in all the Scriptures.

Red, yellow, black, and white, we are all sinners in His sight, but we are all forgiven if we trust what God has done for us.

Rom_3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

We know the Messiah to be a descendant of King David.

2Sa 7:12 And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom.
2Sa 7:13 He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
2Sa 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men:
2Sa 7:15 But my mercy shall not depart away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before thee.
2Sa 7:16 And thine house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee: thy throne shall be established for ever.

This is the purpose of God to gain as many as will accept Him into His Heavenly Kingdom.

The Old Testament gives us the history of Israel in the way God moved these people to fulfill His purpose for them.

Our lesson continues to show us how the divided nation of Israel and the kings in the line of David continued to fail God in His purpose, but the plan of God continued to move forward, as it still does today.

How many of us stop short of the goals God has set for us because we have slipped backwards from time to time?

I know I have. I am a work in progress.

I also know that God does not ever change. This is why we need to study the Old Testament to learn from the mistakes made then.

*2Ch 25:1 Amaziah was twenty and five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem.
2Ch 25:2 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, but not with a perfect heart.

After our salvation, God the Father gives us opportunities to earn rewards that will be in Heaven when we get there.

When an opportunity arises, we must grab it, or else we will lose that opportunity.

God gave opportunities to the Kings of Judah to become great kings, but most of them let pride and discipline be their downfall.

Pro_16:18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

In fact, God provides opportunities to every national leader because it is God who put them in place.

We know we just do not see great leaders anymore.
The leaders of today are poisoned by the wickedness of this world.
What did God say on the day of Noah?

Mat 24:38 For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,

God says the world keeps going as it always has, disregarding the sin that is in this world.

We here in America have great hope for the one who sits in the chair of the president today, but we do not know as of yet.
All we know is that he was the best choice to change the direction our nation was following, and he still is.

Opportunities are lost by God’s people because we just do not know how to discipline ourselves in the Word of God.

When we as Christians meet the Lord Jesus in the clouds, He will probably remind us of all those lost opportunities.

In the Books of the Kings and Chronicles, we see the lost opportunities of the leaders of Judah and Israel.

Judah had nineteen kings and one queen, and most of them were wicked rulers.

We must completely understand that God is not going to allow us to live like a bunch of pagans.

Amaziah was the son of Joash, also written Jehoash, and was the ninth King of Judah.

Joash was the son of Ahaziah, King of Judah, and the only one of his children who escaped from the wicked Queen Athaliah when she killed her own grandchildren.

At the age of seven, Joash became King of Judah, and for twenty-three years, he did right in the eyes of God because he was led by Jehoiada, the High Priest of Israel.

When Jehoiada died, Joash fell into the hands of bad advisors, and he revived the worship of Baal and Ashtaroth.

When he was rebuked by Zechariah, the son of the High Priest, he had Zechariah stoned to death in the Temple.

He had allowed the people to build worship centers on former pagan sites, and God was not pleased.

He failed to remove the High places where the worship of false gods took place.

False worship began to intermingle with the worship of Jehovah, and God was not pleased.

These same things still happen today, and some inside the Church.

People just never change from their wicked ways because they cannot without God in their lives.

Ecc_1:9 The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Not too much later, he was assassinated by two of his own servants.

Even though Amaziah was known as a mostly good king, we find that Amaziah was much like his father, King Joash, and never truly committed himself to the Lord.

From time to time, Amaziah would worship idols instead of the Lord.

We have a lot of our leaders who claim to be Christian, but the fact remains that any leader who only gives the Lord part of his heart is not really a leader at all and certainly does not belong to God.

God is an all-or-nothing God.

Amaziah did not close the “high places,” which were places where false worship took place.

Amaziah did not serve God with a perfect heart.

Once Amaziah returned from his captivity in Israel, he was not much good to the people of Judah, and a conspiracy was made, and he too was assassinated.

We cannot just be guided by the Preacher; we must be guided by the Word of God and the Holy Spirit.

Amaziah began his reign by punishing the murderers of his father but not their children in obedience to the Word of God, but this was about all he did in obedience to the Word of God

Amaziah was not going to be the new King David.

He actually helped to bring idol worship into Judah.

Amaziah numbered his army and became a foolish king.

*2Ch 25:5 Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together, and made them captains over thousands, and captains over hundreds, according to the houses of their fathers, throughout all Judah and Benjamin: and he numbered them from twenty years old and above, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, able to go forth to war, that could handle spear and shield.
2Ch 25:6 He hired also a hundred thousand mighty men of valour out of Israel for an hundred talents of silver.
2Ch 25:7 But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the LORD is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim.
2Ch 25:8 But if thou wilt go, do it, be strong for the battle: God shall make thee fall before the enemy: for God hath power to help, and to cast down.
2Ch 25:9 And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred talents which I have given to the army of Israel? And the man of God answered, The LORD is able to give thee much more than this.

Amaziah found that he had three hundred thousand men who were able to go to war.

Notice that a man had to be at least twenty years old to serve in the army and physically able.

Then Amaziah committed a no-no.

He hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of Israel.

If we are God’s people, then we must trust that God will provide for our victories in life.

If Amaziah had gone to war with the help of this mercenary army and won, then he could have bragged about how great he was instead of how great God is.

The man of God stepped in to warn him.

It is important to God that we turn away from evil associations with the enemies of God.

Our job is to witness to them the truth of God, but we are not to become a part of the lost crowd.

It was Edom who had refused to allow the nation of Israel to travel through their land in the exodus from Egypt.

It was Edom who had helped round up escaping Jews to give to Nebuchadnezzar.

We should remember Edom was established by Esau, the brother of Jacob.

We would think that one side of the family of brothers would help the other side in their time of need, but not Edom. Edom is Esau

What did God say? Rom_9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

Mal 1:2 I have loved you, saith the LORD. Yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us? Was not Esau Jacob’s brother? saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob,
Mal 1:3 And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

Eventually, Edom and Moab were taken over by the Nabateans.

King David had conquered the Edomites, and so would King Amaziah without the help of that mercenary army.

This would not have happened had he kept that army with him.

It is God who has the power to help, but He also has the power to take down, as many who have faced Israel have found out.

Amaziah gave this army a hundred talents of silver, which he had promised, and sent them away, but they were not satisfied with that.

King Amaziah had to choose between losing the hundred talents and losing the war with the Edomites. He chose to win.

As the servants of God, we cannot allow ourselves to be pushed into disobedience because of others, especially by those who do not know the Lord as their Savior.

Satan smiles every time this happens.

We must be led by the LORD and not by the circumstances we face in this world.

*2Ch 25:10 Then Amaziah separated them, to wit, the army that was come to him out of Ephraim, to go home again: wherefore their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned home in great anger.

One man wrote that this army was disgraced by this rejection and disappointed with the spoil they hoped to gain and sent home empty.

It is believed that a hundred talents were probably given to the officers who raised this army, and the soldiers themselves got nothing. This is the way greed works.

You cannot trust an angry army of a hundred thousand men!

They returned to Israel with great anger.

*2Ch 25:11 And Amaziah strengthened himself, and led forth his people, and went to the valley of salt, and smote of the children of Seir ten thousand.
2Ch 25:12 And other ten thousand left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive, and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, that they all were broken in pieces.
2Ch 25:13 But the soldiers of the army which Amaziah sent back, that they should not go with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even unto Bethhoron, and smote three thousand of them, and took much spoil

What did this man of God say? It may be okay to hire others who have the same hope in God and have an interest in Heaven, but God will never allow us to associate with those whom He has given over to the Devil.

We cannot expect godliness from those who are ungodly.

Amaziah was now convinced that he was stronger without the army of Israel than he was with them.

The Valley of Salt ֶwas a significant geographical and military location in the ancient Near East, mentioned in several Old Testament passages.

It is generally identified with the southern end of the Dead Sea, in the arid and salt-impregnated plain between Judah and Edom.

It is believed to be part of the Arabah, a broad plain at the Dead Sea’s southern end, bordered by salt mountains, salt marshes, and brackish water.

Twenty thousand men of Edom died in this war with Judah.

Ten thousand of them were just murdered, but we should understand what God said.

This place is now called Petra. Selah and Petra are the same.

2Ki 14:7 He slew of Edom in the valley of salt ten thousand, and took Selah by war, and called the name of it Joktheel unto this day.

The name Joktheel means subjugated of God.

Today, many liberals would scream bloody murder at such a thing, but God does not ever forget the cruelty of His enemies.

Eze 25:12 Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because that Edom hath dealt against the house of Judah by taking vengeance, and hath greatly offended, and revenged himself upon them;
Eze 25:13 Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; I will also stretch out mine hand upon Edom, and will cut off man and beast from it; and I will make it desolate from Teman; and they of Dedan shall fall by the sword.
Eze 25:14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel: and they shall do in Edom according to mine anger and according to my fury; and they shall know my vengeance, saith the Lord GOD.

Oba 1:10 For thy violence against thy brother Jacob shame shall cover thee, and thou shalt be cut off for ever.

Edom or Esau is a picture of sin, the old nature of the flesh.

Edom had always behaved as a merciless enemy of God’s people and was judged for it.

We cannot feel sorry for God’s judgment of sin!

When armies were victorious in those days, they would take plunder, which could include men, women, children, cattle, and any other wealth of the defeated army.

Since there were no prisons, the defeated army was often killed to keep them from seeking revenge.

We could feel sorrow for any people if we had the opportunity to lead them to the Lord, and we did not even try.

Col 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
Col 3:6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Col 3:7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.

While Amaziah was occupied with Edom, those soldiers from Israel showed just how foolish it was for Amaziah to associate with them.

We next see that Amaziah becomes a foolish king.

*2Ch 25:14 Now it came to pass, after that Amaziah was come from the slaughter of the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.

We might ask ourselves, “Why would Amaziah do such a thing”?

The only answer is that he was not completely sold out to Jehovah!

Of all the sins we commit, false worship is the worst besides rejecting the Lord Jesus, which has no forgiveness!

Exo_34:14 For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

What Amaziah should have destroyed, he began to worship.

He bowed down to these false gods on more than one occasion, and he became a fool.

If false gods cannot save us, why would we consider them gods?

America is full of people today who worship material things and figures of the imagination.

No one has ever seen God, so no one can make an idol that is in His likeness.

It’s the same for Jesus Christ. We do not know what Jesus looked like except to know He took on the resemblance of the Jews.

Jesus was likely a first-century Jewish man with olive-brown skin, short black hair, a beard, and a modest, stocky build, standing around 5 feet 5 inches tall.

Isa 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

We should not have objects of worship for either one, for they are no more than idols.

What had God said?

Deu 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire.
Deu 7:6 For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.

Even a picture of said Jesus Christ can become an idol if we see it as a thing to worship.

Another King of Judah had failed God’s people.

Amaziah had potential, but he became a failure.

Amaziah became boastful and arrogant because of his military victory, which he would not have had if he had not listened to the man of God.

This arrogance would cost Judah a great deal more!

We should realize that if the Kings of Judah had all lived by the Word of God, then God would never have allowed Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem, and the Middle East would be far different from what it is today.

It is the same for the Church today. If the Church is obedient to the Word of God, it will thrive because God’s plan works while our plans fail.

The truth is, at this moment, the Church is failing because it has allowed the world to get inside the Church, and man’s laws have overcome God’s laws.

Just because a judge can decide the fate of certain people, only God can decide the true fate of all people.

Amaziah challenged the king of the Northern Kingdom, King Joash.

*2Ch 25:18 And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife: and there passed by a wild beast that was in Lebanon, and trode down the thistle.
2Ch 25:19 Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten the Edomites; and thine heart lifteth thee up to boast: abide now at home; why shouldest thou meddle to thine hurt, that thou shouldest fall, even thou, and Judah with thee?
2Ch 25:20 But Amaziah would not hear; for it came of God, that he might deliver them into the hand of their enemies, because they sought after the gods of Edom.

We get a close-up view of what pride can do to us if we fall into its trap.

God may have allowed Amaziah to be victorious if he had not begun his worship of false idols.

Truth be known, it was probably Joash, King of Israel, who had sent that army back into the land of Judah.

We can see that the areas and the cities that are mentioned were once part of Israel, and Samaria was the chief city in the kingdom of the Ten Tribes of Israel.

God was on the side of Amaziah until he turned his back on God and began to worship idols.

One of our greatest problems we as humans has been that we think we are far more important than we really are

Many of us walk around thinking we are some great things, but we are nothing without the Lord Jesus Christ.

Without the love of God, we are nothing!

It is Okay to take a little pride in our accomplishments and our achievements, but we must never think we did those things under our own power.

We must never look upon others as being of less value than we are!

Self-pride and self-righteousness are enemies to our relationship with our Righteous and Holy God.

Psa 10:2 The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor: let them be taken in the devices that they have imagined.
Psa 10:3 For the wicked boasteth of his heart’s desire, and blesseth the covetous, whom the LORD abhorreth.
Psa 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.

When we go to others to solve our problems and not to God, we are just asking for failure.

When we say goodbye to God, He will say goodbye to us.

He will never force us to follow Him or His Words!

2Ch 25:22 And Judah was put to the worse before Israel, and they fled every man to his tent.
2Ch 25:23 And Joash the king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, the son of Joash, the son of Jehoahaz, at Bethshemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate, four hundred cubits.

The arrogance of Amaziah cost his nation dearly; even the House of God was plundered.

He was captured and was a prisoner to Israel until the death of Joash.
The wall of Jerusalem was broken down for about six hundred feet.
The treasures of the Temple were stolen.
The treasures of the king’s house were taken.
Many royal hostages were taken back to Samaria.

It should be very clear that God will judge us for our sins against Him and His Word.

*2Ch 25:24 And he took all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obededom, and the treasures of the king’s house, the hostages also, and returned to Samaria.
2Ch 25:27 Now after the time that Amaziah did turn away from following the LORD they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: but they sent to Lachish after him, and slew him there.

It should be easy to see that the Bible is always right. Pride does go before our destruction.

When we say goodbye to God, we begin walking on dangerous ground.

Our biggest problem from the beginning of time is that we just think too highly of ourselves.

Joash was even more wicked than Amaziah.

We see that wicked people can see through the motives of other wicked people much better than we can.

Almost all wicked people are driven by the same motives!

We would be wrong if we cannot see that God is using Joash to punish Amaziah.

Amaziah would enter his own home as a prisoner and see it plundered by Joash.

A section of the wall of Jerusalem is destroyed, and Joash goes too far when he plunders the House of God.

Joash takes hostages from the house of Amaziah to make sure Amaziah does not plan to retaliate.

Joash’s advantage was a surprise attack, but more importantly, God’s help. Other than God punishing Amaziah, Israel was no stronger than Judah.

God had already given Israel over to destruction.

After Amaziah’s exile, he ruled in Judah for fifteen more years, but he was never the same, and he accomplished nothing else during his reign.

He never returned to the Lord, and in a conspiracy, he fled Jerusalem and was assassinated, but he was still buried with his fathers in the city of Judah.

Amaziah had the potential to be a great king, but once he left the Lord and filled his heart with apostasy and self-pride, he was just a figurehead sitting upon the throne of Judah and never accomplished anything for God’s people.

We just must not squander the opportunities God gives us to fulfill the purpose He has for us.

If we just follow the Word that God has given us we live a good life here on earth and a much better life in Heaven.

1) Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2) Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

3) Mal 3:6  For I am the LORD, I change not

These are mine right now but what are yours.

Amen

The Destruction of Judah

/ Bobby Mayfield / 1 Comment

The Destruction of Judah

Book of Jeremiah Chapter 7

There is a phrase in our lesson manual that I really liked. One sign of “spiritual sickness” is that we keep committing the same sins over and over at the same time expecting a different outcome. What is the logic in doing such things!

God has made sure we have the Books of the Old Testament, so we can see the examples of what sins were done in the past with Israel and the reactions God had to those things, so we can know what God will do today because Jehovah God never changes.

If we cannot learn from all these examples, then what does that say about our “faith”?

God begins in a gentle fashion trying to remind us of our disobedience, but God will use harsher methods until we learn from our mistakes.

If we say we have “faith” in the Lord, then how can we believe the lies of this world?

We should clearly understand a Spiritual change will always have a physical result!

What we have seen with our own eyes is that when this world makes idols as God then we will see what we see today, immoral societies and this cannot be denied.

We must be clear as we witness to those who are lost. Real change can only happen from the inside out and not from outside in!

As we witness we offer, by the Word of God, an opportunity to make a choice. God will always accept the decisions we make. God offers eternal life! False gods offer eternal death and we must choose between these two. Does not seem to be a hard choice, does it?

People perish simply because they make the wrong choices!

We should also understand the true meaning of a hypocrite. Hypocrites are people who pretend to be something they are not. Something like actors.

We absolutely cannot be pretenders and say we love the Lord!

*****Jer 7:1 The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying,
Jer 7:2 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.

Jeremiah was a gentle man and we know that he cried a lot for his nation, but we see that Jeremiah was to be bold when he preached the Word of God! We are to do the same when we witness for the Lord, but the Pastor is to “preach” the Word of God!

Jeremiah was preaching to hypocrites and hypocrites already know what they are, and they need to understand who God is!

It was very important that these Jews understood what was going on in their lives but just as important, what was going on in the world.

As mighty as the Assyrians were who destroyed the Northern Tribes, they had just fell to the Babylonians who were an evil and wicked people.

It was a time when good King Josiah would find his death, getting involved in a war that he did not have to.

Josiah was replaced as Jehoahaz took his throne but even he was replaced 90 days later by Jehoiakim who was another of the evil rulers and he would only rule eleven years.

The threat of Babylon was always present, and Judah would never be able to defend themselves without the Lord God Jehovah, who had already delivered them so many times when they would repent of their evilness.

More important than all these things, attending a worship service in the House of God is useless without repentance and then obedience!

The truth of salvation is that those who can please God will be like God (Christlike)!

When we are not Christlike (Christian) we can never receive the blessings of God.

This is the message the Jeremiah was to preach as he stood in the gates at the entrance of the Temple in Jerusalem.

These people had no problem in attending the worship service at the Temple. Remember they were required by Moses’s Law to attend at least 3 times each year in the time of the festivals.

Their problem was that their hearts were not settled on the Lord and as soon as they left for home they would go back to their evil ways and their false gods. (Sounds a whole lot like happens today by many who attend church but are not sincere)

Eventually some false gods were moved into the Temple, which defiled the House of God!

It is an abomination to defile the House of the Lord!

These people are like those today. They are trusting that God will accept, bless, and protect them because they are faithful in their worship, but their worship extended to false gods and false doctrine.

The Lord will have no part of such a thing. There are those today that say there is more than one way to get to Heaven, but the Lord says they are all liars.

What is the truth?

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Joh 14:7 If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.

Those that believe differently are calling God a liar!

This is the same theme that Jeremiah preached in his day. There is only one who deserves our worship and it is Jehovah.

God will never accept our worship until there has been a repentance!!!!!!

In fact, for the Jews they had to repent their sin before Jehovah would allow them to continue living in the Promised Land!!!!!

They would soon realize just how important that this truth really was.

We may have the greatest church in the world and I believe we do, but this church cannot save us.

We may have the greatest preacher in the world and I believe we do, but Preacher Sam cannot save us.

He can only lead us to the one who can, Jesus Christ!

God the Holy Spirit may visit our Church, but He will never stay, because no building can house God!

Also, the Lord Jesus Christ may knock on the doors of every Church but until He is allowed to come in, that Church is not a house of God!

What was Jeremiah’s message?

*****Jer 7:3 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.

To amend our ways is another word for “repent” because we do not have to power to do anything ourselves!

Joh_15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: “for without me ye can do nothing”.

Every house of God in our entire nation can be full on Sunday and our nation would not be blessed unless we know the Lord Jesus Christ as our personal Savior!

We should understand that Jeremiah was not preaching that these people could dwell in the Temple, he was preaching that God was not going to allow them to dwell on the land that He had given them unless they repented of their evil and allowed God to dwell in their heart.

This does not ever mean that God would give this land to others. God will never give this land to others because of the promise He made to Abraham!

Gen 15:18 In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Gen 17:7 And I will establish my covenant between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee.
Gen 17:8 And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.

God will keep every covenant He has ever made, and He will also never break a promise that He has ever made!

What went wrong in the Temple of God? The priests were not preaching the truth of God!

*****Jer 7:4 Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.

Those priests were preaching that security is in the Temple, we would say the Church.

We simply cannot trust in religious principles, we must trust in the One who gave us “His” principles, Jehovah!

We must also understand it is each Saint of God who is a Temple of God who gather together to worship that form the Church.

Our job in the church is to be discipled and/or to disciple all others, and to worship the God of truth, whose name is Jehovah!

In fact, we are to worship our Savior “in Spirit and in Truth” because He does not like it in any other fashion!

Everyone is welcome to gather but “in Spirit and in Truth” means though the lost are welcomed, they should not take part in certain parts of the worship, such as Communion until they to have a personal relationship with the Lord.

1Co 11:27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord.
1Co 11:28 But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup.
1Co 11:29 For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, not discerning the Lord’s body.
1Co 11:30 For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep.

Baptism is only for those who have invited the Lord into their heart and be “Born Again”, then comes Baptism!

Do we come without any preparation of heart? Are we soon weary of the service?

Eze 14:3 Son of man, these men have set up their idols in their heart, and put the stumblingblock of their iniquity before their face: should I be enquired of at all by them?

We must know that everyone is welcomed into the church building who are seeking God and in the true Church you can find Him, not because He is present in the building, but He is present in the hearts of so many of those who are also there and there is a “preacher”.

Rom 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
Rom 10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!
Rom 10:16 But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
Rom 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

A heart that is prepared is a heart open to accepting the Lord Jesus Christ!

*****Jer 7:5 For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;
Jer 7:6 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:
Jer 7:7 Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.

Christianity has to do with being like Christ in His character and in His conduct!
Christianity is that which binds us to our Savior.
Christianity is holding onto to the robe of Christ and refusing to let go.
Christianity is not in emotion but is in knowledge, the knowledge of our Creator.

Jesus says it plainly:

Joh_14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
Joh_15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

The first step in becoming a Christian is having the right view of sin!

Sin is like a cancer that you will want to get rid of but only the Lord can wash you clean.

Psa_51:2 Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Joh_13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.

We must come out from the world and live a separated life from those still in the world.

2Co 6:17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,
2Co 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

When we are like Jesus Christ we will then hate sin without hating the sinner!
We will realize our battle is not with other humans, lost or saved, our battle is with principalities and powers and the rulers of darkness in this world we live in now!

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Eph 6:13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

The nation of Judah had left their first love and now, they oppressed the weak, they shed the blood of the innocent, and they were worshipping idols.

We simply cannot allow anything to come between us and our Lord Jesus Christ no matter what it is!

Had these Jews listened to the words of Jeremiah and applied them to their lives they would never have been removed from their land no matter how powerful Babylon was at this time.

What did they do? They ignored the Word of God given to Jeremiah and they continued to follow in the ways of sin by listening to false words.

We must understand that our salvation, our peace, and our security, come from a personal relationship with the Lord and not in some building or the land that we dwell in.

Neither was this true for these Jews and the Temple of God and the land promised to Abraham!

It is so easy to fall into this trap because lies can sometimes make you think you are about to win the lottery.

*****Jer 7:8 Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.

What is the truth of the Scriptures?

Psa 2:10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth.
Psa 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
Psa 2:12 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him.

We live in a world that has forgotten how to be wise.

We live in a world where almost every nation is in competition with every other nation, when they should be helping one another!

Then the Lord just ask them point blank.

*****Jer 7:9 Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;
Jer 7:10 And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?
Jer 7:11 Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.

We are fools to think that God operates by some universal law made up of how we feel about Him!

God does as He pleases with everything that He says or that He does. God does not make up new laws as time goes by.

God does just as He has written it down for us. Every Word is a Word of Truth!

1) We cannot trust anyone who goes against the Word of God!
2) We certainly cannot trust anyone who rejects the Word of God!
3) We must be aware that anything we place between ourselves and the One True God, has become an idol!

When a so-called Christian allows himself or herself to do any of these things listed in this passage, they have rebelled against God’s Commandments the most critical one being “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me”.

When we do these things, we have rejected our God who is also our Creator!

If you really want to get on the wrong side of God, then do all these things and then gather in the house of God saying you are what you “aint”!

We are not delivered from sin, to just sin at our will!

It is when we have left the building we call Church, or Temple, or by any other name, that we enter into our mission field to serve the Lord and not to serve sin!

If you are a Christian, then you need to look into your personal mirror every day to see for yourself if you are what you say you are.

When we make the house of God into a den of robbers we have defiled our place of worship!

God always has His eyes on His children not to see if we are doing wrong but to see if we deserve His blessings.

God’s House is not a sanctuary for robbers and murderers!

To be saved by the “Grace” of God is not so we can have a license to sin!

The house of God is not the place to seek impunity for our abominations, it is the House where we are to seek to gather so we can worship God in Spirit and Truth because this is the way we can please Him in our worship!

If we have served our abominations, then we need to get on our knees and beg forgiveness from the Lord and then do our best to not sin again.

God knows we are not perfect, but He also knows what we are capable of and He intends for us all to be fishers of men!

Isa 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men:

Going to Church to worship does us no good at all if we are not living for God the rest of the time.

God will not accept our worship if we are living in sin and you cannot get into Heaven without a good relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ!

We can never say that God has not warned us of those who would teach lies for the truth!

Then the Lord says, if you think the Temple, the House of God is more important to you than truth of God then just go down to Shiloh.

*****Jer 7:12 But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.

When Joshua brought the children of Israel into the promised land, the Tabernacle was set up in Shiloh.

Jos 18:1 And the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh, and set up the tabernacle of the congregation there. And the land was subdued before them.

In the time of Eli, the High Priest, God gave the Ark that was kept at Shiloh to the Philistines and it was not recovered until David brought it to Jerusalem.

We should remember the Ark contained the broken tablets of Moses to remind them it was best to honor the 10 Commandments.

1Sa 4:10 And the Philistines fought, and Israel was smitten, and they fled every man into his tent: and there was a very great slaughter; for there fell of Israel thirty thousand footmen.
1Sa 4:11 And the ark of God was taken; and the two sons of Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, were slain.

Psa 78:58 For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.
Psa 78:59 When God heard this, he was wroth, and greatly abhorred Israel:
Psa 78:60 So that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men;
Psa 78:61 And delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy’s hand.
Psa 78:62 He gave his people over also unto the sword; and was wroth with his inheritance.
Psa 78:63 The fire consumed their young men; and their maidens were not given to marriage.
Psa 78:64 Their priests fell by the sword; and their widows made no lamentation.

We should be able to see that God’s favor is not in some building or any place of worship.

In fact, God’s favor is not tied down to any location at this time.

We should understand that God will not spare His wrath to those that rebel against His Words!

What are we to do in the House of the Lord?

Deu 12:11 Then there shall be a place which the LORD your God shall choose to cause his name to dwell there; thither shall ye bring all that I command you; your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, your tithes, and the heave offering of your hand, and all your choice vows which ye vow unto the LORD:
Deu 12:12 And ye shall rejoice before the LORD your God, ye, and your sons, and your daughters, and your menservants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates; forasmuch as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.

Shiloh became a mass of shapeless ruins!

And what did the Lord say?

*****Jer 7:13 And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not;
Jer 7:14 Therefore will I do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.

God said He would do the same thing to the Temple that King Solomon built by the plans of King David which the Lord said Himself was worldly, which means there is no need for the beauty and worldly objects in any place of worship.

We know that King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the Temple in the days of Jeremiah.

Again, we see that we are undeserving of the “Grace of God” and God’s has limits to His mercy.

We know that the Lord Jesus said where two or three gathered in His name He would also be there, and this is the beginnings of the Church.

The place of this gathering is not important but the fact that we are to gather together is important.

Heb 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We are to gather more often and not less often as we can see the day of the Lord approaching!

Worship without true repentance and then obedience will be empty, useless, and worthless in the eyes of the Lord.

God would also remove Judah from of the Promised Land.

*****Jer 7:15 And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
Jer 7:16 Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

Once God has decided what He is going to do with a certain group of people, it is useless to pray for them.

These Jews were unwilling to repent and to obey the Lord, so it would do no good for Jeremiah to pray for their forgiveness.

There are times when it becomes useless to pray for certain people but now is not the time for the church to stop praying for our brothers and sisters in Christ and also for the lost.

God has told us to continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem, so it is not time to stop preaching for the Children of the Nation of Israel.

There will come the time when those who are evil are beyond repentance, but God has not told us to do so yet!

These are the type of things that would make Jeremiah cry and maybe we should do the same for those who refuse to repent, especially those on our own family!

When God says to quit praying for certain people, He will also pull back the Holy Spirit from the convicting work that He does.

Gen_6:3 And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man,

Today all those who have itchy ears and control the preaching of the Pastor should take note, because their prayers will become useless. There will be no benefit come from their prayers.

When you refuse to hear the truth of God then God will refuse to hear from you, it just that simple!

Jeremiah knew God always has remnant who remain solid in the Word of God, and he could pray for those!

The real truth is when the Lord commands His servant not to pray for sinners and He ceases to correct them, then we can be sure the wrath of God is very close!

Eze 16:42 So will I make my fury toward thee to rest, and my jealousy shall depart from thee, and I will be quiet, and will be no more angry.

Remember the wages of sin is death and these who refuse to repent are already sentenced to death and they will get nothing else from the Lord but will join the false trio in the burning lake of fire!

The Lord will simply say ” I never knew you”.

God is not angry with those who are lost He has already passed His judgment.

God will always be angry with those who sin and claim to know the Lord in a personal way.

The Lord will save all those who call upon His name, but the Lord will reject all those who refuse to call upon His name again it is just that simple!

Amen

Let’s Pray!