JEREMIAH SESSION 12 — AN ASSEMBLY OF THE TREACHEROUS

Text: Jeremiah 9:1-26

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be this — “An Assembly of the Treacherous.” That is what the LORD calls adulterous, idolatrous Judah, in Jeremiah 9! The Hebrew for “treacherous” is bagad, and it means “to act covertly” (so as to hide what you are doing). It is to deal deceitfully. Yet He had been faithful to them, and had openly and clearly exhorted them to repent and warned them of the consequences of their sin, again and again!

Jesus Christ also calls the infants in today’s so-called church an assembly of the treacherous, for they do what Judah did. They try to hide what they are doing from Him. They try to deceive Him, mechanically worshiping Him while their hearts are far from Him. 

They think He does not see their sin, but nothing is hidden from His eyes (Hebrews 4:13)! Again and again, Jesus has sent many to speak for Him, exhorting them to repent and warning them of the consequences of their sin. But the infants in the so-called church — from denominational leaders to those in the pews — scoff at and mock them.

Verses 1-2 —

Jeremiah says —

Oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! ² Oh that I had in the desert a wayfarers’ lodging place; that I might leave my people and go from them! 

For all of them are adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men.

Many famous false preachers who have megachurches have said to their congregations, “Look! Jeremiah had clinical depression,” or “Look, Jeremiah was bipolar! So do not feel bad that you have these things — even the Lord’s prophets suffered with them!” How foolish! Their words reveal that they do not know the Lord. He gladly sets free those who are sick, spiritually and in their bodies, if they will believe Him and come to Him!

Jeremiah wishes that he could weep day and night for the slain of his people, including the residents of Jerusalem. But he cannot. He wishes his head was filled with waters, and his eyes were a fountain of tears. But they are not. He is grieved by their actions, not grief-stricken. There is a difference! 

To be grieved is to be galled, irritated, exasperated, and vexed! They refuse to listen to the words the LORD gives him. He sees them running full-tilt toward a bitter end — death for some, captivity for those who do not resist the Babylonian invasion. 

Jeremiah would like to simply leave his people and travel to a lodging place in the desert — one that is built for those who are traveling from one point to another. Anything would be better than staying and watching them destroy themselves! But he will stay and speak the words the LORD gives him. And he will see them go into exile, and he will see them try to escape and be destroyed.

They continue to worship false gods, thereby committing adultery against the LORD who made them, and trying to hide what they are doing from the eyes of the LORD! They think He cannot see them, but as I have said, He sees everything!

I am greatly grieved about today’s so-called church full of infants. They do not listen, stubbornly continuing to follow and loving the words of false ones who lie to them and encourage them to worship the god of self. For the most part, the exhortations and warnings that the Lord gives me and others like me are ignored, mocked, and scoffed at. 

We see the coming destruction that they will bring upon themselves. We would love to step back, but we cannot. Jesus Christ commands us to continue to exhort and warn, even though they will not listen. We will speak until He commands us to stop speaking.

Verses 3-4 —

“They bend their tongue like their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know Me,” declares the LORD.

⁴ “Let everyone be on guard against his neighbor, and do not trust any brother; 

because every brother deals craftily, and every neighbor goes about as a slanderer.”

His peoples’ tongues are bent, crooked, and poised to unleash lies like a bow releases arrows. They do not see that their “bows” are pointed directly at themselves, so they mortally wound themselves! 

There is no truth in the land — just lies. They go from one wicked act to another, each act more wicked than the last. And they do not know the LORD! They only know about Him, and believe they can sin and still be saved, because they are His people.

No one is trustworthy, because they all lie. Everyone deals craftily, so as to overthrow their brothers. Every neighbor slanders their neighbor, making up false stories about them by which they falsely accuse them, in order to steal their neighbor’s reputation and property.

It is the same today, in the so-called church filled with infants. Their sin natures are alive and well, instead of crucified (Galatians 5:24). Therefore, their hearts are rebellious, instead of obedient. And they love the sin that they do, just as Jeremiah’s people loved their sin. 

Many infants say they love Jesus, but they say it with crooked tongues, for if they loved Him, they would obey Him. Remember the Father’s words — those who do not love Jesus Christ do not obey Him (John 14:24). 

So, rather than repenting and staying and waiting to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5), they speak with crooked tongues, release lying arrows at themselves, and mortally wound themselves. Jesus Christ does not trust such ones. They are not worthy of trust, because they lie. They falsely accuse their fellow infants, causing church wars that defame the name of Jesus Christ. I am grieved!

Verses 5-6 — 

“Everyone deceives (cheats, disparages, insults) his neighbor and does not speak the truth. They have taught their tongue to speak lies; they weary themselves committing iniquity. ⁶ Your dwelling is in the midst of deceit; through deceit (defrauding, cheating, trickery) they refuse to know Me (treat with scorn and protest the idea of knowing Me intimately, as a husband knows his wife),” declares the LORD.

Every brother, every neighbor, everyone! The wickedness of Judah is pervasive. It is present everywhere, widespread, and common. No one speaks the truth.

They have taught themselves to speak lies. They weary themselves as they commit one perverse sin after another. 

The LORD tells Jeremiah that he dwells in the midst of deceit. He is completely surrounded by lies told by liars. They attempt to trick the LORD, but He knows their hearts (Jeremiah 17:10). They scorn and protest at His command for them to know (yada) Him intimately, as a husband knows his wife — though He is their Maker and has always been their Husband (Isaiah 54:5)!

Today’s so-called church filled with infants is the same. They do not hesitate to lie about anyone, insult, disparage, cheat, defraud, and trick their fellow infants. They strike each other with evil fists (Isaiah 58:4). Those who come to church to seek to know Jesus quickly turn around and leave, exclaiming, “If this is Christianity, I do not want any part of it!” Shame on you, O infant church!

 Verses 7-8 —

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, I will refine (melt) them and assay (examine) them; for what else can I do, because of the daughter of My people? Their tongue is a deadly arrow; it speaks deceit. With his mouth one speaks peace to his neighbor, but inwardly he sets an ambush for him.”

Therefore, Judah leaves the LORD no choice. He will melt them in the fire of His judgment, and examine what is melted for impurities —

Malachi 3:2 “But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap.” 

Again, the LORD asks a rhetorical question. What else can He do, because of the evil upon evil that they do? Their tongue is like a deadly arrow, as He has said in Verse 3. They use it to kill one another with lies. They speak peace to their neighbors, but behind their neighbors’ backs, they set an ambush, waiting for the moment when they can attack!

O infants, Jesus Christ is poised to judge you — that is the meaning of His refining and assaying. He will find you to be impure, for you have not obeyed His commandment to be filled with His Spirit, so your hearts are purified (Acts 15:9)! What else can He do? You have chosen to sin against Him and refuse His cure for the impurity of your hearts!

Today’s infants slay each other with their tongues, saying, “I love you” to their fellow infants, and then killing them with the lies they speak about them, behind their backs. Those pastors who come to them and speak the truth that offends them are not exempt from their ambushes. Shame on you! Repent!

Verse 9 —

“Shall I not punish them for these things?” declares the LORD. “On a nation such as this, shall I not avenge Myself?”

He asks another rhetorical question. Of course He should punish them for rebelling against Him, worshiping false idols, and trying to trick Him. Of course He should return on them all that they have done to defame His name and commit adultery against Him. 

He will ensure that the names of all the inhabitants of Judah are defamed, as all the nations around them witness their murder or capture by Babylon. It is His righteous judgment, for they have defamed His name. 

As for the lying leaders and teachers in today’s so-called church, He will expose their lies, and the lies of their lying leaders who have cried, “Once saved, always saved! You are fine! Do not worry about your sin! Jesus Christ understands!” 

And He will pour His vengeance out upon them, because of what they and their followers have done to Him. He will cause their names to be defamed. It is His righteous judgment, for they incessantly defame His name by their words and actions!

Verse 10 —

“For the mountains I will take up a weeping and wailing, and for the pastures of the wilderness a dirge, because they are laid waste so that no one passes through, 

and the lowing of the cattle is not heard. Both the birds of the sky and the beasts have fled; they are gone.”

Jeremiah could not weep for his people. But he wept and wailed for the pastures and the wilderness, for he saw that they would be ruined to such a degree that they were impassible. 

The lowing of cattle was no longer heard, for they were killed or captured by Babylon. The birds and wild animals fled because the Babylonian army so thoroughly destroyed everything in its path. It had been the Beautiful Land (Daniel 8:9, etc.), a bountiful land, but now its beauty was obliterated. So, for the land and the animals, which were innocent, Jeremiah wept and mourned. 

It is the same for me, when I look at what the church has become! I look back at called-out ones of the Book of Acts, and mourn over what the church used to be! In his second letter to Timothy, Paul prophesied and warned him of the so-called church —

2Timothy 3:1 But realize this, that in the last days difficult (fierce, as in the demon-possessed man in the Gerasenes) times will come. ² For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, ³ unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, ⁴ treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, ⁵ holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these.

All such ones will stand before Jesus Christ in the day of judgment, and He will condemn them. Therefore, repent!

Verse 11 —

“I will make Jerusalem a heap of ruins, a haunt of jackals (serpents); and I will make the cities of Judah a desolation (an astonishment), without inhabitant.”

The LORD vowed that He would make Jerusalem a heap of ruins (dung). It would be so desolate and destroyed that its only inhabitants would be serpents, and I believe that demons are in view here.

All of Judah’s cities would become a desolation and uninhabited. Everyone would be killed or captured. Those who passed through would be astonished at the degree of ruin.

The so-called church and its infants will be the same. Because of  their rebellion against the Lord, they will become a desolation and an astonishment to all who look at them. The onlookers will be shocked and speechless as they survey the total destruction of those who have rejected the truth and yet called themselves Christians. None will be exempt from His judgment.

Verses 12-14 —

Who is the wise man that may understand this? And who is he to whom the mouth of the LORD has spoken, that he may declare it? Why is the land ruined, laid waste like a desert, so that no one passes through? ¹³ “Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, ¹⁴ but have walked after the stubbornness (twistedness, lust) of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them.” 

Again, this is a series of rhetorical questions. None were wise in Judah. They were stupid children who had no understanding, who were skillful at doing evil, but did not know how to do what was right in His eyes. 

None had any ability to perceive the LORD, for they did not know Him. The LORD did not speak to or through any of them, though many false prophets continually declared and decreed that they would not be killed or captured. 

But because Judah loved the words of the false prophets, they ignored the words of those He sent to exhort and warn them. The stripping and ruin of the land, and its utter destruction, was the result of their rebellion.

The LORD responds to the rhetorical question of Verse 12. The land would be ruined, like a desert wasteland that is destroyed so entirely that no one can travel through it, because they forsook Him and His law, and did not obey His voice or live according to what He spoke to them, through His prophets. 

Instead, they walked after the twistedness and lust of their own hearts. They walked after the family of false gods whose father was the false god, Baal, just as their fathers did. 

They learned nothing from those who were struck down in the wilderness in the days of Moses. They learned nothing from those who were struck down in northern Israel. 

So, they did just what their fathers did — they committed adultery against the LORD, enslaving themselves to false gods that are nothingness and empty. Therefore, their land became nothing and empty, and they became slaves in a land that was not theirs. As the LORD says later, through Jeremiah —

Jeremiah 25:14 “They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

It will be the same for today’s so-called church and its infants. They do not obey Jesus Christ’s voice. Why? They do not know His voice. How do I know that? They have gladly followed the voice of strangers who do not know Him! Jesus Christ says His sheep hear His voice (John 10:27), and they know Him, and follow (obey) Him! 

The hearts of todays infants are twisted. They lust, wanting what they want when they want it. They walk after the god of self, which springs from their sin nature. 

They refuse to come to Christ for its crucifixion, for they love their sin and the words of the liars who teach them. Both the liars and those who love their lies reveal they are not Christ’s, because they defy the truth that all who are in Christ have crucified the sin nature, with its lusts and desires!

They all reject Him and His truth, so He will reject them, when they stand before Him in the day of judgment. This is His righteous judgment. Therefore, repent!

Verses 15-17 —

Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink. ¹⁶ I will scatter them among the nations, whom neither they nor their fathers have known; and I will send the sword after them until I have annihilated them. Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Consider and call for the mourning women, that they may come; 

and send for the wailing women, that they may come!”

Now the LORD of hosts, the God of rebellious and adulterous Israel, issues His judgment. They have poisoned their hearts because they have chosen to enslave themselves to false gods and believe the lies of their false prophets. Therefore, they will drink poisoned water — they have chosen to do it. It is His righteous judgment.

They have chosen to scatter themselves away from Him. Therefore, He will scatter them away from the land, and they will be scattered throughout the Babylonian Empire. It is His righteous judgment. 

They have worshiped strange gods, so they will be captives in a strange land which neither they nor their fathers knew. It is His righteous judgment.

They have murdered each other with their tongues, and by their actions, they have destroyed His reputation, as if running it through with their swords. Therefore, He will send a sword — that is, Babylon — against them, until He has utterly destroyed them, by the murderous hands of the Babylonian army. It is His righteous judgment.

The LORD orders them to call the women who are professional mourners, to mourn and wail over the punishment of Judah, and to consider the truth that He will surely bring their destruction to pass! He says, “Prepare to mourn and wail!”

Today’s infants have chosen to scatter themselves away from the Lord, instead of obediently following Him. So, He will judge them, scattering them away from Him! He will hand them over to destruction, until there is no trace of them on the earth. You have two choices, O so-called church — repent, or prepare to mourn!

Verses 18-19 —

“Let them make haste and take up a wailing for us, that our eyes may shed tears 

and our eyelids flow with water. ¹⁹ For a voice of wailing is heard from Zion, ‘How are we ruined (destroyed)! We are put to great shame (are ashamed, disappointed), for we have left the land, because they have cast down our dwellings.’”

The people of Judah would quickly seek the professional mourners, telling them to hurry so they may all weep together. But still, they will refuse to repent! 

The voice of wailing from Jerusalem will be heard near and far. They will cry, “How we are destroyed! How we are shamed! We have left the land, because our homes are destroyed.” Note that there is not one word of repentance from His people!

The Babylonians would soon would destroy every home. Yet His people claimed that they had to leave the land because their homes were destroyed, not because it was the LORD’s judgment of them! Again, they refused to repent!

When the so-called church full of infants is judged by the Lord, their wailing will be heard across the earth.  He will cast down everything they have depended upon, and they will not find a dwelling place with the Lord, for they have refused to obey Him. They will be destroyed and ashamed, for they have refused to repent! Therefore, repent!

Verses 20-21 —

Now hear the word of the LORD, O you women, and let your ear receive the word of His mouth; teach your daughters wailing, and everyone her neighbor a dirge.

²¹ For death has come up through our windows; it has entered our palaces to cut off the children from the streets, the young men from the town squares.

The LORD commands them to teach their daughters to wail and sing a funeral song. There will not be enough professional mourners to supply their needs. They would need to enlist their own children to join in the mourning. 

Death would come, entering through windows of houses and even palaces. No one would escape it. All who try to escape Babylonian captivity would die — even children and young men in the streets and town squares. The younger generation, who the older generation trusted and relied upon for Judah’s future, would also be destroyed. 

Thus, their future would be cut off and destroyed. They had not trusted in and relied upon the LORD, so He would allow Babylon to destroy that which they trusted in and relied upon. It is His righteous judgment.

It is the same with today’s so-called church filled with infants. They trust and rely upon the next generation to carry forth the banner of the ways and wisdom of this world, which they have trusted in. They trust and rely upon the lies taught by their teachers and leaders, which they love. 

They have not trusted in and relied upon the Lord, but upon man. So, all that they trust in and rely upon will be destroyed. Unless they repent, they themselves will be destroyed in hell. It is His righteous judgment.

Verse 22 —

Speak, “Thus says the LORD, ‘The corpses of men will fall like dung on the open field, and like the sheaf after the reaper, but no one will gather them.’”

Judah will also mourn over the corpses of men. They will not be buried on the day they die, as the Law of Moses requires, but will lie like excrement in the open fields. They will lie like the sheaf of grain after the reaper has come through, but their reaper is Babylon. So, no one will gather them or bury them. Everyone who does not perish at the hands of Babylon will be taken into captivity in Babylon. 

In the day of judgment, many who think they stand will fall, in today’s so-called church. They will be judged by Him, and will perish. No one will gather their destroyed bodies. They will be eternally destroyed in hell, says Jesus Christ (Mark 9:44-48)! Therefore, repent!

Verses 23-24 —  

Thus says the LORD, “Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom, and let not the mighty man boast of his might, let not a rich man boast of his riches; ²⁴ but let him who boasts boast of this, that he understands (gives thought to) and knows Me (as intimately as in a marriage), that I am the LORD who exercises lovingkindness, justice and righteousness on earth; for I delight in these things,” declares the LORD.

Judah’s supposedly wise men have boasted of their wisdom. Judah’s strong warriors have boasted of their might. Judah’s rich men have boasted of their riches. These are the things they have trusted in and relied upon. 

On the contrary, the LORD says that His people should boast that they know (understand and wisely follow) Him. He is pleased to extend His lovingkindness (chesed), His justice, and His righteousness to such ones. NOTE: The New Testament equivalent is His agape, the same love the Father has for the Son!

O so-called church filled with infants, You boast of man’s wisdom — science and psychology, sociology, and business practices. In doing so, you worship the world system that defies God. You think you are strong, and boast of your buildings and the size of your congregations! You boast in your natural prosperity! 

You trust in and rely upon these things! But like the infant church at Laodicea, you are wretched and miserable and naked and blind and poor (Revelation 3:17)! No one boasts that they know and understand the Lord, because no one gives thought to and intimately knows Him by experiencing Him personally! 

But Jesus Christ would gladly heal them of their rebellion if they would repent and obey His commandment to be filled with the Holy Spirit! He commanded the Laodicean infants to repent (Revelation 3:19). Therefore, repent!

Verses 25-26 —

“Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised — ²⁶ Egypt and Judah, and Edom and the sons of Ammon, and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples; for all the nations are uncircumcised, and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart.” 

Judah went through the ritual of circumcision of male children on the eighth day of  life. But their hearts were uncircumcised. Instead of being responsive to the Lord, they were hardened by their sin. 

All the nations in Verse 26 practiced outward circumcision as a ritual. Judah had made circumcision an empty ritual, but that was not the purpose of His Law concerning circumcision. He had warned them that unless they circumcised the thick covering they had formed over their hearts so they no longer rebelled against Him, He would send them into exile. They had refused, so they were no different from the pagans in the nations that surrounded them. It is a stinging rebuke from the LORD!

It is the same with today’s so-called church filled with infants. He will punish you because you were set apart for Him, but your hearts are uncircumcised. They still have a thick covering over them, so His truth does not penetrate and convict you!

The Lord issues you a stinging rebuke! Though you have been baptized in water, you have not been baptized with the Holy Spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11)! Therefore, your heart remains hardened and you remain rebellious. How foolish! Do you not know that in His eyes, you are no different from the unbelieving world? Therefore, repent!

Lord Jesus, I have taught these truths just according to Your direction. Send them forth in Your power, that some might hear and repent! Amen.

REVEALING THE HIDDEN

[SW453] 10/17/2020 message notes by

Pastor Susan J. Wynn

 “Revealing the Hidden”

Text: Ezekiel 8

Jesus Christ opened Ezekiel 8 to me as never before. In past messages, I have seen that in the vision the LORD gives Ezekiel, each sin that He shows him is greater than the one He just showed him. 

But He has shown me something new. Ezekiel was in exile in Babylon. He spoke things to the elders sitting before him that he could not possibly see or know, apart from the LORD. He gave these things to Ezekiel in a vision. His words would be relayed to those who were still in Jerusalem. Why? There are three reasons —

— So they would know that the LORD sees all that they are doing, both their hidden and their open sin. 

— So they would know that Ezekiel is His prophet, for Ezekiel is in exile, and it would be impossible for him to see or know these things, apart from the LORD.

— So they would repent and return to the LORD.

Many in Judah thought that the LORD could not see the hidden sins they were committing, and they dismissed the sin they did openly, because they thought He did not care if they sinned. But they deceived themselves! The LORD saw all of their sin (Jeremiah 23:23, Hebrews 4:13, etc.), and judged them for it. 

How do I know that He also sees all of your sin, O infant in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1)? Jesus Christ reveals your hidden and open sin to His prophets, even though His prophets cannot see what is hidden, and are not physically present to see your open sin. The Lord shows it to them, for the same reasons I just described.

If His people refuse to heed the words of His prophets, even though it is undeniable that His prophets are speaking His words, He will judge them. Then they will see that they should have listened to and obeyed the exhortations and warnings that His prophets faithfully spoke! It is the same today.

Again, the LORD showed Ezekiel sins done in secret and open sin, though he was not there to see such things. Therefore, when they heard Ezekiel’s words, they would surely know two things: 1) that the LORD sees both hidden and open sin; and 2) that a prophet had been among them, because Ezekiel would have no way of knowing, unless the LORD had spoken to him.

It is the same, today. When infants who sin both secretly and openly hear the words Jesus Christ has given me, they know that He sees their hidden and open sin, because I would have no way of knowing, unless He had spoken to me. At the end of this message, I will describe two instances where Jesus Christ used me to reveal the hidden, and what resulted from my words. 

But first, I will show Ezekiel 8 to you.

Verses 1-2 —

It came about in the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, as I was sitting in my house (inside) with the elders of Judah sitting before me, that the hand of the Lord GOD fell on me there. ² Then I looked, and behold, a likeness as the appearance of a man; from His loins and downward there was the appearance of fire, and from His loins and upward the appearance of brightness, like the appearance of glowing metal. 

In the sixth year of Ezekiel’s exile in Babylon, he sat inside some kind of dwelling that he was assigned to by the Babylonians. The exiled elders were before him, and the hand of the Lord GOD fell on him — that is, the Spirit came upon him. Then He saw a heavenly vision of a so-called “man” whose description fits that of the glorified Jesus Christ (Revelation 1:14-15), who has been appointed Judge by His Father (John 5:22).

Verses 3-4 —

He stretched out the form of a hand and caught me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and heaven and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court, where the seat of the idol of jealousy, which provokes to jealousy, was located. ⁴ And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the appearance which I saw in the plain.

The man stretched out his hand, and caught him by one of the long locks of hair that dangled from his temples, per the Law of Moses (Leviticus 19:27). Today’s Orthodox Jews do likewise. Suddenly, he was “in the Spirit,” and the Spirit lifted him up and brought him to Jerusalem, for a series of visions from God. 

The Spirit brought him to the entrance of the north gate of the inner court of the temple. At that location stood an idol of jealousy which provokes the LORD to holy jealousy. Why is He jealous of false gods?

Judah had abandoned the LORD, who was their Husband (Isaiah 54:5), in order to worship metal and wood and pottery! Though they were urged by His prophets to repent, they refused! It is amazing that Judah and Jerusalem still cried out to false gods that had not saved them and could never save them, even while they were being invaded by Babylon, just as His prophets had prophesied!

In Verse, 4,  Ezekiel says that as he looked in the vision, he saw the glory of the LORD, in the same way He had appeared to Ezekiel by the river Chebar and in the plain (Ezekiel 1:28, 3:22-23). In those passages, the glory of the LORD is identified as a “Him.” It is His Son, the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of Him (Hebrews 1:3)!

Verse 5-6 —

Then He said to me, “Son of man, raise your eyes now toward the north.” So I raised my eyes toward the north, and behold, to the north of the altar gate was this idol of jealousy at the entrance. ⁶ And He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations which the house of Israel are committing here, so that I would be far from My sanctuary? But yet you will see still greater abominations.”

The LORD commanded him to look toward the north of the altar gate— the same gate He had just shown Ezekiel. Then the LORD asked him if he saw what the house of Israel (all 12 tribes residing in Judah) were doing — the great abominations they were committing in Jerusalem which were so abhorrent to the LORD that He removed His presence from the temple. 

The idol at the gate was one of the abominations they were committing. But the LORD would show Ezekiel even greater abominations. And I will show you greater abominations

Verses 7-8 —

Then He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸ He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” So I dug through the wall, and behold, an entrance. 

Ezekiel was not literally in the entrance of the court. But the LORD showed him a hole in the wall, and just as the LORD directed, Ezekiel dug through it and saw a door. Not only was there a wall, but also a door between Ezekiel, in this vision, and what the LORD would show him — something even greater than the idol of jealousy.

Verses 9-10 —

And He said to me, “Go in and see the wicked abominations that they are committing here.” ¹⁰ So I entered and looked, and behold, every form of creeping things and beasts and detestable things, with all the idols of the house of Israel, were carved on the wall all around. 

The LORD commanded Ezekiel to enter through the door, which led to rooms reserved for the priests’ personal worship of the LORD, per The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. 

Inside the rooms, Ezekiel saw that the priests were worshiping false gods who were represented by the many images of detestable things which the priests had engraved on every wall. These images were representations of false gods. 

All of this was hidden from everyone in Jerusalem, and hidden from Ezekiel for he was in Babylon. But it was not hidden from the LORD! 

Verses 11-13  — 

Standing in front of them were seventy elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them, each man with his censer in his hand and the fragrance of the cloud of incense rising. ¹² Then He said to me, “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel are committing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images? For they say, ‘The LORD does not see us; the LORD has forsaken (abandoned) the land.’” ¹³ And He said to me, “Yet you will see still greater abominations which they are committing.”

The LORD then showed him seventy elders in the rooms — priests of the house of Israel (the twelve tribes that resided in Judah, in those days). They all had censers filled with incense, which were to be used in temple worship. Ezekiel recognized one of the elders and named him — Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. Imagine his horror, when Jaazaniah would hear his own name! It further proved the authenticity of Ezekiel’s vision. 

Then the LORD said to Ezekiel, “Do you see what the elders are doing in the dark, each man in the room of his carved images?” Yet the priests declared that the LORD did not see them, because the LORD had forsaken (abandoned) the temple. He had abandoned them, they said. But it was His righteous judgment, for for they had abandoned Him and polluted the land with their idolatry and false teaching!

They hid their sin from the people, but they could not hide their sin from the LORD. And though Ezekiel was in Babylon, the LORD showed him their hidden sin. Therefore, when they received word of Ezekiel’s vision, they knew that the LORD saw them, and that a prophet of the LORD had seen them, too! But the LORD would show Ezekiel even greater abominations — brazen, defiant, open rebellion against Him! 

I see the same thing in today’s church. Among the many sins that false leaders, teachers and prophets commit in secret are these abominations — all the sins of 1Corinthians 6:9-10, as well as pedophilia and much more! Do not be deceived, for such ones will not enter the kingdom of heaven! They think the LORD does not see, but He sees it all, and calls them out, through His prophets! 

Verses 14-15 —

Then He brought me to the entrance of the gate of the LORD’S house which was toward the north; and behold, women were sitting there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Yet you will see still greater abominations than these.”

Tammuz was supposedly a shepherd god, later called Adonis. He died every autumn, and rose again every spring. So, this vision took place in the autumn, because women were weeping for Tammuz, who had died. They brazenly wept for him at the entrance of the gate of the temple. 

The women openly worshiped Tammuz. And they did so while Babylon was invading them! All that the LORD had spoken through His prophets was being fulfilled before their eyes, but Judah continued in their worship of false gods, even to the day when Babylon entered the city. They pleaded with their false gods to save them, but they had not yet saved them and could never save them — they are false, and nothingness and emptiness!

They paid no attention to the LORD’s exhortations and warnings to repent. They mocked those He sent to warn them, and continued to worship nothingness and emptiness, for these gods are not real — He is!

Verse 16 —

Then He brought me into the inner court of the LORD’S house. And behold, at the entrance to the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs to the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east; and they were prostrating themselves eastward toward the sun. 

The greatest abomination was the 25 men (probably priests) who turned their backs to the temple of the LORD, and openly worshiped the sun god, just outside the temple. It was an open act of utter rejection of the LORD, for they turned their backs away from Him and bowed before the sun god!

The sun god was supposed to be all-seeing. But when those who worshiped the sun god heard Ezekiel’s vision, knowing that Ezekiel could not see their open sin because he was in Babylon, they knew that only the LORD is all-seeing, and that they were already being judged!

Verses 17-18 —

He said to me, “Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. ¹⁸ “Therefore, I indeed will deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor will I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I will not listen to them.” 

Is it too light a thing? They thought little of the abominations they did. They filled the land with violence by offering their children in fires to false gods. By their idolatry, they provoked the LORD repeatedly. 

The twig to the nose is most likely a ritual associated with sun worship. Because of Judah’s utter rejection of Him — from religious leaders to kings to the people they ruled — the LORD would pour out His wrath upon them. He would have no pity, would not spare them, and even if they cried to Him loudly, He would not listen, for they had not listened to Him!

My own testimony of seeing what is hidden

I will share with you two of many instances when the LORD showed me what was hidden. Jeff and I were at a pastor’s conference. We were invited to join with other pastors to pray each morning, and ask the Lord to move powerfully each day. We gathered in chairs, with one chair up front, to serve as a makeshift altar. And we all closed our eyes and bowed our heads during the entire prayer meeting.

When I pray, I ask the Lord for a scripture to pray from, and then open my Bible. So, I opened my Bible to Jesus Christ’s exhortation about divorce, from Matthew 19:7. I said to the Lord, “This cannot be for this group — they are all pastors.” So I went to another passage, and prayed from that. 

The next day, I opened my Bible to the same passage about divorce. Then I knew I must pray from it, for it was surely from the Lord! When I prayed in the group, I spoke the scripture. Then the Holy Spirit spoke through me, saying, “Someone in this group is planning to divorce his wife. You need to repent and ask the Lord to forgive you.”

My eyes were closed, so I did not know what happened until later. Jeff and I were in the hall after the first session of that day’s conference. The prayer meeting leader came up to us and told me that at the word the Lord had given me, a pastor came forward, knelt at the makeshift “altar,” and repented for planning to divorce his wife. 

I did not know which pastor it was, but the Lord knew what was hidden in his heart, and showed me, and I spoke it! So when he heard it, the pastor knew that the Lord saw it, and that He had shown it to me. Therefore, he turned away from his sin and asked the Lord to forgive him.

As I have said, the Lord shows me the sin that you hide, and the sin that you do openly, even though I am not with you 24/7. I have called out many believers for what is in their hearts, and they know I have told them what is in their hearts. Though they often reject me, they know that a prophet has been with them, for I could not know what I know, unless the LORD had showed me.

In the second instance, the Lord showed me that a man I knew little about was a deceiver. But the Lord instructed me not to tell him immediately. So I waited and watched. 

When he became extremely ill and was hospitalized, the Lord said to my heart, “Go to him now, and tell him that he needs to get honest with Me!” So I did! Then I exhorted him to immediately get right with the Lord, and took his wife to get coffee. When I returned, he said the Lord had dealt with him.

Within a couple of months, his Spirit-filled wife told me that she heard him in the spare bedroom, crying out to the Lord to be filled with the Holy Spirit. And the Lord did it! Afterwards, he started coming to my Bible study. I told him that from the moment I met him, the Lord had shown me that he had been a deceiver. He then freely confessed that he had been a deceiver. But he was a deceiver no longer!

Exhortation to today’s infants

Now you know that Jesus Christ shows me your heart, tells me what to say, and I say it. Why does He show you this truth? So that you would no longer deceive yourself, thinking that the LORD cannot see the hidden sin you are committing, and dismissing the sin you do openly, because you think He does not care if you sin.

Now you know that nothing is hidden from the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13). And you know that if you dismiss and reject His words which He speaks through me and continue in your sin, He will judge you, and erase your name from the book of life (Revelation 3:5), just as He has already spoken, through me. 

And just as He has spoken through me, you will know that He has the cure for your sin! If you repent and obey His command to be filled with the Holy Spirit, He will crucify your sin nature and purify your heart  (Acts 4:1-5, Galatians 5:24, Acts 15:9). Then you will no longer sin against Him, for sin will no longer be in you. Instead, He and the Father and the Spirit will fully indwell you (John 14:23)!Therefore, repent and obey Him!

Lord Jesus, may infants hear and know that You see their hidden and open sin, and repent, and obey Your command to be filled. Let it be so, I pray. Amen!

JEREMIAH SESSION 11 — THEY CHOSE DEATH

Text: Jeremiah 8:1-22

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be this — “They Chose Death.” Rather than repent and live, Judah chose to continue to rebel against the LORD. Therefore, those who resisted the Babylonian invasion were killed. They chose death instead of life. 

And when today’s infants — from denominational headquarters to the pews —  rebel against the Lord by disobeying Jesus Christ’s commandments to stay and wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5), they reveal they do not love Him (John 14:24). 

They reject His cure for their rebellion — crucifixion of the sin nature and purification of their hearts (Galatians 5:24, Acts 15:9). If they continue to sin, they will not enter the kingdom of God (1Corinthians 6:10), for they have chosen death. 

Verses 1-2 —

“At that time,” declares the LORD, “they will bring out the bones of the kings of Judah and the bones of its princes, and the bones of the priests and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem from their graves. ² “They will spread them out to the sun, the moon and to all the host of heaven, which they have loved and which they have served (enslaved themselves to), and which they have gone after (followed) and which they have sought (pursued), and which they have worshiped (bowed down to). They will not be gathered or buried; they will be as dung on the face of the ground.”

“At that time” is the time when Babylon overruns Jerusalem. The ancient tombs of the kings of Israel would be desecrated by the Babylonians. Per Feinberg, from The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, the violating the graves of the leaders of the Jews was the ultimate insult to them.

Their bones, and the bones of all who had died would be spread out before all that Judah had worshiped — the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven. How ironic! They worshiped all that is in the universe, rather than the One who created the universe, and created them. 

They desecrated the LORD’s name because they sinned. So, He would allow the bones of their ancestors to be desecrated by Babylon. That is His righteous judgment.

They loved the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, instead of loving Him. They enslaved themselves to the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven,  instead of serving Him. 

They followed after the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, instead of following Him. They pursued the sun, the moon and all the host of heaven, instead of pursuing Him. They bowed down to the sun, the moon, and all the host of heaven, instead of bowing down to Him. 

By their teaching, today’s infant leaders and teachers desecrate God’s Word and Christ’s reputation. From denominational headquarters to the pulpit, infants teach lies, assuring their infant followers that the holy is no longer holy, that evil is good and good is evil, and that the Word of God is not the Word of God. And the infants in the pews love it so! Satan rubs his hands with glee!

What god does today’s infants love and enslave themselves to and follow after and pursue and bow down to? The god of self that loves the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God —man’s wisdom, man’s ways, man’s understanding of science, man’s business practices, man’s psychology, man’s psychiatry, man’s sociology, and man’s world view. 

They love the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God, instead of loving Jesus Christ and the Father.  They enslave themselves to the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God, rather than serving as bondservants to Jesus Christ and the Father. They follow after the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God. 

They pursue the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God, instead of pursuing Jesus Christ and the Father. They bow down to the wisdom and ways of the world system that defies God, instead of bowing down to Jesus Christ and the Father.

Verses 3-5 —

“And death will be chosen rather than life by all the remnant that remains of this evil family, that remains in all the places to which I have driven them,” declares the LORD of hosts. ⁴  “You shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD, “Do men fall and not get up again? Does one turn away and not repent? ⁵ Why then has this people, Jerusalem, turned away in continual apostasy? They hold fast to deceit, they refuse to return.”

As I said in the introduction, those who resisted Babylon would die. And those who submitted and were captured and cruelly enslaved would wish they were dead. Most suffered greatly in captivity. But the LORD appointed men such as Daniel and his friends. They were given high positions after He used such ones to show the Babylonians that their false gods were powerless against Him, for He alone is God!

The LORD calls Judah “this evil family!” What a stinging indictment by the God who made them, and who is their Father! They are no longer members of His family! He is not their God, for they have proven that they are not His people (Hosea 1:9).

In Verse 4, LORD asks Judah another rhetorical question, through Jeremiah. Feinberg says it well —

If a man falls down, he instinctively tries to rise as soon as possible. If he turns from the right way, he returns to it at the earliest opportunity But Judah is different from others (v.5); her misconduct is unique. Having fallen into idolatry and having strayed from the path of obedience, she manifests no desire to either rise or return. It is too late to repent. The nation is incorrigible (addicted, hardcore) in her apostasy. Judah shows no desire to correct her ways but holds tenaciously to her deceitful idolatry.

The infants in today’s so-called church are the same. They worship the god of self. Some have already been taken captive by Satan. While it is today, there is still time to repent. But they have no desire to repent, because they love their sin, just like Judah! Therefore, O infants, before Jesus Christ closes the door so you cannot enter His kingdom, repent (Matthew 25:11-12)!

Verse 6 —

^“I have listened and heard. They have spoken what is not right; no man repented of his wickedness, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turned to his course, like a horse charging into the battle.”

The LORD was listening to all that Judah said, and none of their words were right in His sight. Nothing is hidden from the eyes of Him with whom we have to do (Hebrews 4:13)! He heard all of their lies. He saw their hearts. He knew that they had not repented. None of them were horrified at their sin and rebellion against the LORD. None said,  “What have I done?” 

Therefore, all of them were like horses that foolishly charged into battle without a rider to guide them! They went their own way, instead of the LORD’s way. A riderless horse in battle is slain or captured. It would be the same for Judah.

And it will be the same for today’s so-called church filled with infants. He has heard all of the false teaching of infant leaders. He has heard infants repeat the lies of their teachers. No one says, “What am I doing? I will repent right now!” 

Instead, they continue to rebel, blindly following the blind. Jesus describes their end —

Luke 6:39   He also told them this parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit?” (NIV)

Everyone follows their own way, instead of submitting to the lordship of Jesus Christ. Therefore, like riderless horses in a battle, they are captured by Satan, and will be slain, unless they turn and repent.

Verses 7-8 —

“Even the stork in the sky knows her seasons; and the turtledove and the swift and the thrush observe the time of their migration. But My people do not know 

the ordinance of the LORD.” ⁸“How can you say, ‘We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us?’ But behold, the lying pen of the scribes has made it into a lie.”

The storks, turtledoves, swifts and thrushes returned to Judah every spring. Their ways were appointed by the LORD. He also appointed His ways for Judah, but they did not personally know the LORD — they simply knew about Him. 

How do I know that? Because they rejected His ways, and went their own way, directed by their own wisdom. They trusted in the lying pen of the scribes — lawyers who claimed to be experts at interpreting the Law of Moses. But with all that they wrote, they lied about the Word of God.

What is more, they boasted about their wisdom. But they were foolish. And they boasted that they possessed and perfectly followed the Law of Moses, but their hearts were far from the LORD, just as their hearts were far from the LORD 150 years prior, when the LORD spoke to them through Isaiah —

Isaiah 29:13 Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words 

and honor Me with their lip service, but they remove their hearts far from Me, 

and their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, ¹⁴ therefore behold, I will once again deal marvelously with this people, wondrously marvelous; and the wisdom of their wise men will perish, and the discernment of their discerning men (teachers) will be concealed (absent, i.e. it will disappear).”

It is the same in today’s so-called church filled with infants. Jesus Christ has appointed their ways, but they do not know Him at all (Matthew 7:23). Instead, they have chosen to reject Him and go their own way, mechanically worshiping Him with their lips instead of their hearts! 

The infants trust in false teachers who boast about their wisdom, and claim they perfectly understand the Word of God and follow it. But the hearts of both teachers and infants are far from the Father and His Son! Therefore, O infants, repent!

Verses 9-10 —

“The wise men are put to shame, they are dismayed (terrified) and caught. Behold, they have rejected the word of the LORD, and what kind of wisdom do they have? ¹⁰  Therefore I will give their wives to others, their fields to new owners; because from the least even to the greatest everyone is greedy for gain (dishonest profit); from the prophet even to the priest everyone practices deceit (lies).”

Because the false leaders and teachers of Judah thought they were wise, the LORD would shame them. Judah would be terrified, for everyone would suddenly realize that the sweet assurances of “Peace, peace” were lies. Those who loved the lies spoken by false leaders, teachers and prophets would suddenly realize that they had lied to them! They had been betrayed! But by loving those lies, they had betrayed the LORD!

Therefore, the wives of all the men of  Judah — the source of their offspring — would be given to Babylon. The Babylonians would own the fields that provided Judah with food. 

Why? All of the leaders and teachers were greedy for gain — from the prophet to the priest, everyone sought and received payment for the lies they spoke to the people of Judah. Because they valued things instead of the LORD, they would lose everything they valued.

It is the same in today’s so-called church. From denominational headquarters to the pulpits, flesh-pleasing lies are taught, and the infants love it so! From the leadership to the pews, they want what they want when they want it. Greed is a product of the sin nature, which remains alive and well in such ones. But those who are in Christ have crucified the sin nature, with its lusts and desires. Therefore, the greedy ones are not in Christ! 

Woe to you, O infant, when your destruction approaches and you realize that you have believed lies! Heed the exhortations and warnings the Lord has sent me to speak, and repent!

Verses 11-12 —

“They heal the brokenness (ruin) of the daughter of My people superficially (made light of them, as if they were inconsequential), saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace. ¹² Were they ashamed because of the abomination they had done? They certainly were not ashamed, and they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time of their punishment they shall be brought down (ruined),” says the LORD.

The LORD repeats His words from Jeremiah 6:14-15. The supposedly wise men told His people that they were at peace with Him, but they were rebelling against Him! Because they sinned against the LORD, Judah was spiritually ruined by their unfaithfulness to the LORD, but the false ones told them that the LORD would continue to be faithful to them!

The false leaders and teachers were not ashamed at the disgusting and abhorrent lies they told. They had hardened their hearts to such a degree that they no longer remembered how to be ashamed. Their consciences were seared, unable to be pricked by the exhortations and warnings of the LORD’s prophets.

All of the inhabitants of Judah would fall because they believed the lies spoken by the false leaders and teachers and prophets. The LORD would punish the liars as well — they would fall with all of Judah! He would send Babylon to destroy them. They would be reduced to spiritual ruins, just like Babylon would reduce Jerusalem and the temple to uninhabitable ruins. But even then, they would not repent!

The infant leaders and teachers in today’s church lie about the spiritual brokenness of infant believers, sweeping it to the side and saying they and their fellow infants are not sick. The liars are unashamed. They have hardened their hearts to such a degree that their consciences are seared. They feel no shame. 

Their listeners go away feeling better about themselves, after hearing the reassuring words of those who lie to them about their spiritual poverty. But their poverty remains! They rebel and reject the truth, refusing to hear it. Therefore, Jesus Christ will reduce to ruins both those who lead by lies and teach lies, and those who love to hear their lies! O infants! Do not be like stiff-necked Judah — repent!

Verse 13 — 

“I will surely snatch them away (terminate them, consume them, make them perish),” declares the LORD. “There will be no grapes on the vine and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf will wither; and what I have given them will pass away (perish).”

The LORD promises that He will terminate them. He will consume them as their fires to false gods consumed their infants. Just as their infants perished, He will make them perish. He gave them their children, but they gave them to false gods in the fire. So, all He has given them will perish — all their prized fruits, and the land itself. That is His righteous judgment. 

Today’s infants, taught and encouraged by false leaders and teachers whose words they love, offer their own lives on altar fires to the god of self. Jesus Christ gave them life, but they have chosen to devote their lives to the god of self. They treat carelessly the salvation and reconciliation they received at such great cost, and refuse and mock His commandments to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

They continue to sin, disbelieving Jesus Christ’s warning that they must be set free from sin, in order to enter the kingdom of God (1Corinthians 6:10). They disbelieve His promise that He will set them free from slavery to sin (John 8:31-36), and crucify their sin nature.  

Unless they repent, Jesus Christ says the Father will cut them off and throw them to the side until it is time for the them to be gathered and thrown into the fire (John 15:2, 6)! They have cut Him off, so He will cut them off. That is His righteous judgment.

Verse 14-16 —

Those in the rural towns of Judah say —

Why are we sitting still? Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the fortified cities and let us perish there, because the LORD our God has doomed us and given us poisoned water to drink, for we have sinned against the LORD. ¹⁵ We waited for peace, but no good came; (we waited) for a time of healing, but behold, terror! 

¹⁶ From Dan is heard the snorting of his horses; at the sound of the neighing of his stallions the whole land quakes; for they come and devour the land and its fullness, the city and its inhabitants.

In those days, Judah’s rural towns were not fortified — that is, there were no walls and gates to keep out enemy attackers. As the inhabitants of the rural towns saw Babylon’s armies approach, they asked each other why they had not gone to the fortified cities. Perhaps they would have been safe there.

Too late, they saw that they were doomed by the LORD (sentenced to perish). Even the fortified cities could not have protected them from the LORD’s punishment. 

Yet even when they saw that the promise of “peace, peace,” was a lie, they did not repent! Instead, they complained that the LORD had given them poisoned water, a symbol of death. But they poisoned their own water with their sin, and then drank it to the dregs! They chose death!

Too late, they saw that they would suffer the consequences of their sin! Too late, they saw they were not at peace with the LORD. Instead of peace, terror, fear and trouble loomed before them!

Judah’s scouts had traveled toward the North, only to find that Babylon had already entered Dan, in northern Israel. The Babylonian armies were so vast that the scouts could already hear the snorts of their horses, and the neighing of their stallions made the whole land quake. They were coming to devour the land and all that was in it, including the people of Judah!

Feinberg says —

The people find to their dismay that the opposite of what they looked for has come on them (v.15). The false prophets had purveyed (sold, peddled) only false hopes.

Too late! Too late! Do not let it be too late for you, O infants! Do not believe the lie that God understands you cannot help but sin!  Do not believe the lies of the false leaders and teachers who say, “Once saved, always saved!” Repent while it is still today! Already, I hear Satan’s vast armies approaching!

Verse 17 —

“For behold, I am sending serpents against you, adders, for which there is no charm, and they will bite you,” declares the LORD.

The LORD would send serpents upon His people — the Babylonian army! They would not be like cobras, which can be charmed so they do not bite and lethally poison a person. Judah would not be able to charm Babylon to keep them from overrunning the land. 

They would be bitten by Babylon, and poisoned! Just as they poisoned themselves by listening to and loving the poisonous words of the false leaders and teachers and prophets, they would be poisoned and perish! It was His righteous judgment.

It is the same with the sinning infants in today’s so-called church. Jesus Christ has warned them that they will destroy themselves if they keep sinning. They think it will not happen. Most do not think Satan is real. Therefore, they mock those who say Satan seeks to devour them. If they do not repent, Satan will kill, steal and destroy them (see John 10:10a)! 

But if you will repent, O infant, Jesus will come to give you His life in you, abundantly, to the full, until it overflows (see John 10:10b)! Repent and obey His commandments to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and Satan will have nothing on you, for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit will fully and permanently indwell you, your sin nature will be crucified, and your heart will be purified!

Verses 18-20  —

My sorrow is beyond healing, my heart is faint within me! ¹⁹ Behold, listen! The cry of the daughter of my people from a distant land: “Is the LORD not in Zion? Is her King not within her?” “Why have they provoked Me with their graven images, with foreign idols?” ²⁰ “Harvest is past, summer is ended, and we are not saved.”

Jeremiah could not comfort himself. He grieved over the impending punishment of Judah! He hears them cry from Babylon. Feinberg says —

Forlorn and distraught, the exiles wonder why they have been conquered and degraded. How could this happen when the Lord their King was surely in Zion?Why have they not been delivered? 

They would complain, asking, “Where is God? Why is this happening to me?” How often I have heard that from unrepentant infants! 

I answer them as the LORD answered Judah — with a rhetorical question for them! Why have they continued to defy Him with their idolatries, when they were warned again and again of His coming judgment of them? 

The Lord has shown me why they have continued to defy Him. Just as with Judah, they preferr to believe the lies of the false teachers, leaders, and prophets, instead of the truth of the Word of God

I cannot comfort myself, when I see your coming punishment, O infants. I know that I will hear you complain that you do not deserve His punishment. But I know that your punishment is righteous, for you have loved your sin instead of Him, and have loved the lies of your false leaders, teachers and prophets, instead of His truth, and have obeyed them instead of Him!  

Verses 21-22 —

For the brokenness of the daughter of my people I am broken; I mourn (am blackened with ashes of mourning), dismay has taken hold of me. ²² Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has not the health of the daughter of my people been restored? 

Jeremiah mourns and is sick over the spiritual sickness of his people. He asks why Judah’s health has not been restored, but it is a rhetorical question. He knows why, for the LORD has shown him and he has spoken what the LORD showed him. The LORD has not healed them, because they have not returned to Him. 

And I surely mourn, when I see the pervasive spiritual sickness of today’s infants, for there is no need for you to be sick, O infants! Jesus Christ has the remedy! He is the Restorer, the Balm that will heal you. He is not far away from you, but is right next to you. Repent and reach out to Him! 

I was a rebellious infant, like you. But I reached out to Him, and obeyed Him, and I testify that He filled me with His Spirit, freed me from slavery to sin, and purified my heart. If you repent, He will do in you what He did in me! 

Lord Jesus, may the words You have given me prick the hearts of many, so they repent and reach out to You and obey You. Let it be so, I pray. Amen.

WALKING BEFORE HIM

[SW452] 10/10/2020 message notes by

Pastor Susan J. Wynn

 “Walking Before Him”

Text: Psalm 116:9, Genesis 12:1-4, 17:1, etc.

What does it mean to walk before the Lord? Recently, I was meditating on Psalm 116:9, “I will walk before the Lord (before His face, in His presence) in the land of the living.” I could not move on from that verse. I could only rejoice greatly at the words, “I will walk before the Lord.” Why did I rejoice?

I will show you, through Abraham’s experience with the LORD. His actions were a foreshadowing of what Jesus Christ does today, in believers who obey His command to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:4-5).

Abraham heard the voice of the LORD, and then obeyed Him and walked in obedience to Him. Because he obeyed, the LORD appeared to him. In response, Abraham worshiped the LORD, and walked rightly before the LORD’s presence. And the whole earth was blessed because Abraham obeyed the LORD.

Today, when you hear His voice and obey His command and walk toward Him in obedience, He appears to you, making Himself clearly seen by you. I tell you the truth, you will worship Him when you see Him, offering yourself entirely to Him!

But here is the difference between Abraham and you. Abraham walked rightly before the LORD. But you walk in His righteousness because He is in you, for when you are filled with the Spirit, He will permanently and fully indwell you! 

That is why I rejoiced when I read, “I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.” When you walk with the Lord in you, the whole earth is blessed, for they see Him in you, and believe that the Father sent the Son!

How wonder-full! And how essential, in order for you to be in a state of readiness, so you are ready for Him when He comes! He has said  the time is now to show these things to you, so you are ready!

Abraham’s walk with the LORD

Genesis 12:1-4 Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go forth (walk) from your country, and from your relatives and from your father’s house, to the land which I will show you. ² And I will make you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and so you shall be a blessing, ³ And I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse. And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” 

Genesis 12:4 So Abram went forth as the LORD had spoken to him; and Lot went with him. Now Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.

At the age of 75, Abraham heard the voice of the LORD. Though He did not tell Abrahamwhere He would lead him, Abraham obeyed and went forth, leaving his life in Ur of the Chaldeans, and most of his relatives. He had heard the voice and the command of the LORD — how could he do otherwise? 

It is the same today. When you hear His voice, someone will say, “Why did you obey and go forth to be filled with the Holy Spirit?” And you will say, “I heard His voice and His command to be filled— how could I do otherwise?”

Abraham believed the LORD’s promise that through his family, the whole earth would be blessed. He did not know how it would happen. But he believed, because he heard His voice and His command — how could he do otherwise?

It is the same today. You do not know how the whole earth will be blessed by your obedience to Jesus Christ. But you believe because you have heard His voice and His command — how could you do otherwise?

Because Abraham obeyed the LORD and immediately began to go forth, the LORD appeared before Him — 

Genesis 12:7 The LORD appeared to Abram and said, “To your descendants I will give this land.” So he built an altar there to the LORD who had appeared to him.

When Abraham saw the LORD, and again heard His promise, he immediately built an altar to the LORD, where the LORD had appeared to Him, and worshiped Him. He had seen the LORD — how could he do otherwise?

It is the same today. When you hear His voice and immediately obey His command to stay and wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49), He will appear to you —

John 14:21 “He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself (appear) to him.”

And you will worship Him! The Lord Jesus Christ has appeared to you — how could you do otherwise?

In what way will you worship Him? Paul says — 

Romans 12:1   Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.

What does He mean when He says He will appear?

John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to (into) him and make Our abode with him.” 

The Greek tense for  “come into him and make Our abode” indicates a permanent indwelling of the Father and the Son, which happens when you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Then you walk with Him in His righteousness, for the Father, the Son and the Spirit are inside of you!

And the world will believe, and those who believe will be blessed  —

John 17:21, 23, 26 . . . “that they may all be one; even as You, Father, are in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me. ²³ . . . I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me . . . ²⁶ and I have made Your name known to them, and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”

Exhortation to today’s infants in Christ (1Corinthians 3:1)

But have you heard? Have you obeyed? Have you begun to walk in obedience to His command? Has He then appeared to you? Has He come into you? Do you walk in His righteousness, with Him in you? Does the world believe the Father sent the Son, because of what the Son has done in you?

The first step is to hear His voice. He says —

John 10:4 “When he (the Good Shepherd) puts forth all his own, he goes ahead of them, and the sheep follow him because they know his voice. ⁵ “A stranger they simply will not follow, but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”

If you are one of Jesus Christ’s sheep, you hear His voice and immediately obey Him. You know His voice — when you first hear it, you know it is His. If you are one of His sheep, you have heard His voice, and you will You never follow the voice of strangers, but run from them.

But if you do not hear His voice, you are not His sheep, O infant! I tell you the truth, from my own experience, as an infant —

You do not hear His voice, you do not obey Him, you do not walk with Him, you do not see Him, you do not worship Him, and He has not come into you, so you do not walk blamelessly before Him. 

Why? It is because you are listening to the voice of strangers — the false leaders, teachers and prophets who abound in today’s so-called church!

Many false ones in today’s so-called church teach infants that once  you are saved from God’s wrath and reconciled to Him, there is nothing more for you to do. They teach you that you do not need to be filled with the Spirit, or they teach you that you are filled with the Spirit when you are baptized in water. 

But I know that when I was an infant, I continued to sin even though I was baptized. And I know many others who do the same today! I needed to be filled, so my sin nature would be crucified and my heart would be purified, and so do they!

Many false ones teach you that you cannot help but sin. But Jesus Christ says He has come to set you free from slavery to sin (John 8:31-36). And Jesus Christ says if you obey His command to be filled with the Holy Spirit, Paul testifies that your sin nature will be crucified and Peter testifies that your heart will be purified —

Galatians 5:24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus (are His) have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Acts 15:9 and He made no distinction between us and them (Cornelius and his house), cleansing (purifying) their hearts by faith.

Whose voice will you listen to, O infant? Stop listening to the voice of strangers, and hear the voice of Jesus Christ, in this message! I tell you the truth, if you repent and turn away from the voices of the strangers who have falsely taught you, He will open your ears to hear His voice. 

Once you hear, you will obey and walk toward Him. You have heard His voice! How could you do otherwise?

Then He will appear to you, and you will worship Him as I have described. You have seen Him! How could you do otherwise?

And He will keep His promise to come into you. He and the Father and the Spirit will permanently and fully indwell you. And He will make you a blessing to all the earth, for you will becomethe “Amen” to all of His promises, so He is glorified —

2Corinthians 1:20 For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God.

God is glorified because there is no way that you could walk as He did in this world, in your own strength. Thus, He makes you one through whom the world will believe that the Father sent the Son (John 17:21). The world is blessed, just as He promised!

But there are dire consequences for you, if you disobey what He has asked me to say, and disobey His own words from this message — 

— You will not be in a state of readiness, so you will not be ready for Him when He comes (Matthew 24:42). 

— Therefore, you will not enter His kingdom (Matthew 25:10-11, 1Corinthians 6:10). 

— When you stand before Him in the day of judgment, you will be judged for your disobedience to His voice, and will be cast into hell (Matthew 25:30). 

Therefore repent!

Lord Jesus, open the ears of the infants who hear Your words and all that you have asked me to speak. Let it be so, I pray. Amen.

JEREMIAH SESSION 10 — AMEND YOUR WAYS AND YOUR DEEDS

Text: Jeremiah 7:1-34

If I were going to give today’s teaching a title, it would be this — “Amend Your Ways and Your Deeds.” It was then and is now a warning from the LORD. To amend is to make sound, to make well. Judah had made herself sick in the Lord’s eyes, by all that they did — the way they lived (their ways) and the sin they did (deeds). He will show them that He knows what they do, and will call out their specific acts of rebellion.

Today’s so-called church is the same. She is sin-sick, in Jesus Christ’s eyes, just as with five of the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, just as with the infants who Paul exhorts and warns, in much of the New Testament. The way today’s infants in Christ live, and the sin that they do are continually before Him. So, I will show you what He knows you are doing, and call out your specific acts of rebellion. 

Verses 1-3 —

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 you of Judah, who enter by these gates to worship the LORD!’” ³ Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend (make well) your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. 

NOTE: The LORD of hosts, is the captain of the LORD’s angelic armies. From the scriptures, He is identified as YHWH (Yahweh), the I AM. And Jesus Christ identifies Himself as the I AM (John 8:58). So, He is the I AM, the LORD of hosts.

The gate in this passage led to the temple. Thus it was constantly crowded with His rebellious people, who worshiped false gods in wicked ways, but then went to the temple to give rote, heartless worship to God. 

He emphatically commanded Jeremiah to go to the gate of the temple and proclaim His commands to them! What were His commands? “Make yourself well by turning from the way you are living and stop rebelling against Me!” If they obeyed His commands, He would not send Babylon to destroy Judah. If they refused to obey His commands, He would surely send Babylon to destroy them.

Jesus Christ commands me to speak the same to the so-called church! You are sick! Amend your ways and your deeds! You rebel against Him, you worship the god of self by making Him into your own image, so He is pleasing to you. O infants, you worship by rote. Your heart is not His. 

Therefore, make yourself well by repenting and obeying His commandments to stay and wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49, Acts 1:4-5), so your rebellious sin nature is crucified and your heart is purified (Galatians 5:24, Acts 15:9)! If you will do it, you will enter the kingdom of God. If you reject His commands and rebel, He will reject you and in the day of judgment, will sentence you to destruction. You will not enter the kingdom of God (1Corinthians 6:10).

Verses 4-8 — 

 “Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.’ ⁵ For if you truly amend your ways and your deeds, if you truly practice justice between a man and his neighbor, ⁶ if you do not oppress (defraud, deceive) the alien, the orphan, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, nor walk after other gods to your own ruin, ⁷ then I will let you dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers forever and ever. ⁸ Behold, you are trusting in deceptive words to no avail.”

Judah trusted in the deceptive words of false prophets, leaders and teachers. They taught this lie — the temple of the LORD is here; therefore, no one will overrun us. The LORD had prevented Assyria from destroying Jerusalem and the temple in the days of faithful King Hezekiah (2Kings 19:35), who reformed Judah and destroyed its idols. Now, Judah had again become idolatrous, yet they reasoned that He would keep Babylon from destroying it. But they were not repentant — they were sinning against Him and mocking Him!

Not only did they trust in the temple itself, but they saw it as a powerful talisman. If they invoked its name three times, as with a magical incantation, Jerusalem and the temple would not be destroyed. The temple would save them. Thus, they revealed that they did not love and obey the God of the temple. The temple would not save them. He is the only One with the power to save them, but He would not save them if they refused to repent.

The Lord said, “If you truly amend your ways and deeds . . . ” What ways and deeds did they need to amend, in order for them to be made well and delivered by Him from destruction by Babylon. What did they need to do, in order to continue to live in Judah, which He had given to their fathers forever and ever? (NOTE: He always had a remnant there, and brought Judah back from captivity after 70 years.)

— Practicing injustice between a man and his neighbor (not judging rightly, in the LORD’s eyes).

— Oppressing (defrauding, deceiving) the alien (stranger who lives in Judah), the orphan, or the widow. Because they were greedy, they often robbed strangers, widows, and orphans of their homes, money and land.

—  Shedding innocent blood in Judah (infant sacrifice to false gods in view).

— Walking after false gods, to their own ruin.

But behold! They trusted in the deceptive (lying) words of their false leaders and teachers. 

And I say, behold! Sinning infants in today’s so-called church trust in the lying words of their false leaders and teachers. They say their godless churches, which they trust in and rely upon, will not be destroyed. They invoke like a magical chant the name of Jesus Christ (“in the name of Jesus, it shall not happen”). He is the One they say they love, but they do not love Him because they do not obey Him (John 14:24). 

They do all that Judah did, as I have noted above. Many are robbed of money and of the truth of Jesus Christ by greedy false leaders and false teachers. Many infants are sacrificed to the god of self, even at the point of live birth. The truth is considered to be inconvenient and inapplicable “for today,” and therefore is done away with. 

Their offspring grow up to be as rebellious as their parents. Many children of such ones are spiritual orphans, for they have never been taught about their true Father. 

Today’s infants walk after the god of self, trusting the lying words of their false leaders and teachers. But if they will turn from these things and return to the Lord, and ask Him to fill them with the Holy Spirit, He will heal them of their sin, crucifying their sin nature (Galatians 5:24) and purifying their hearts (Acts 15:9), and they will never again rebel against Him.

Verses 9-11 —

“Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear falsely, and offer sacrifices to Baal and walk after other gods that you have not known, ¹⁰ then come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My name, and say, ‘We are delivered!’ — that you may do all these abominations? ¹¹ “Has this house, which is called by My name, become a den of robbers in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares the LORD.

So, the people of Judah robbed each other, murdered each other, and committed adultery against the LORD (by their idolatry). They lied to Him and each other. They offered sacrifices to false gods, instead of the LORD who they knew about but had mocked and rejected. They followed after false gods, instead of following after Him.

Then they had the audacity to come and stand in His house and say, “We are saved!” After the “church service,” they went back to their sins that were abominations to the LORD (disgusting and abhorrent things). 

So He says, You have made My house a robbers den! Behold, I, even I, have seen it, He declares! Behold, the LORD of hosts, Jesus Christ, declared the same thing to the Jews who did the same —

Matthew 21:13 “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves.” (KJV)

It is the same in today’s so-called church. Infants rob each other of the truth, kill each other with their tongues, and commit adultery against Christ by worshiping the god of self. They commit abominations — things which are repulsive to Him!Then they come to church and say, “Thank God I’m saved!” 

“Once saved, always saved” is the lie repeated over and over by their false teachers and leaders. But no one who sins will enter the kingdom of God (again, 1Corinthians 6:10)! Therefore, repent while it is still today, O infant, or He will judge you and sentence you to hell, on the day of judgment!

Verse 12 —

“But go now to My place which was in Shiloh, where I made My name dwell at the first, and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of My people Israel.”

The LORD commands them to go and see what He did to Shiloh, where the ark of the LORD was placed after Joshua led Israel to conquer the land. But sinning, rebellious Israel took the ark of the LORD into battle, and lost the battle and the ark to the Philistines. It was His judgment upon Israel. And in His righteous judgment, the LORD also allowed the Philistines to completely destroy Shiloh. 

Feinberg says their trust in the ark in those days, and in the temple in the days of Jeremiah, “was wrong-headed.” The ark did not save Israel! The temple would not save Judah! Only the LORD had the power to save them, and He would have done it, if they had repented!

Today’s so-called church and its infants trust that His presence is with them, but He has left the building because they worship the god of self and preach another Jesus (2Corinthians 11:4)! They do not learn from what happened to those who rebelled in the desert, nor from what happened to Shiloh, nor from what happened to northern Israel, nor from what happened to Judah. But these things were written for your instruction, O infants (1Corinthians 10:11)!

Verses 13-15 — 

And now, because you have done all these things,” declares the LORD, “and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you did not hear, and I called you but you did not answer, ¹⁴ therefore, I will do to the house which is called by My name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers, as I did to Shiloh. ¹⁵ I will cast you out of My sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, all the offspring of Ephraim.”

He called them and they chose not to hear. He called them, and they chose not to answer. They did all the abominations of Verses 5-7, but did not repent, though He rose up early, warning them again and again, through His prophets!

Therefore, He would allow Babylon to destroy Judah and Jerusalem and the temple! All they had trusted in  — all that He had given to their fathers — would be destroyed, just as He destroyed Shiloh. He would cast them out of His sight, just as He did with their brothers, the Jews who had lived in northern Israel before they were overrun by Assyria and exiled. 

Jesus Christ rises up early and has spoken again and again through those He sends to exhort and warn the infants in today’s so-called church. But they mock those He sends, and continue in their abominations against Jesus Christ. So, He has abandoned them. Unless they repent, He will cast them out of His sight in the day of judgment, declaring that He never in any way knew them, saying, “Away from Me, you who sin!” (See Matthew 7:23.)

Verse 16  —

“As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up (your) cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you.”

He commands Jeremiah not to pray for Judah, not to cry out on their behalf, and not to meet with Him on their behalf. If Jeremiah disobeys the LORD, then the LORD will not hear Jeremiah’s prayers for Judah. 

Feinberg, the commentator on Jeremiah for The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, says, “Now the Lord explicitly forbids the prophet to intercede for his people (cf. 11:14; 14:11-12). They were so obdurately (stubbornly) sinful that praying for them was futile.”

I do not pray for your peace, O so-called church filled with infants. I do not plead with Jesus Christ so that He would have mercy on you, despite your stubborn rebellion against Him. That would be futile — pointless. But I pray for you to repent and return to Him, and obey His commandments to stay and wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit!

Verses 17-19 —

Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? ¹⁸ “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 drink offerings to other gods in order to spite (be hateful toward, wound) Me?

¹⁹ Do they spite Me?” declares the LORD. “Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?” 

He asks Jeremiah a rhetorical question. Jeremiah and the whole known world saw what His people were doing in the cities of Judah and brazenly doing in the streets of Jerusalem. Whole families were involved in idol worship!

The children gathered wood for an altar fire to a false god. Their fathers lit the fire. Their mothers put dough in the oven, to make cakes for the queen of heaven — likely Ishtar, a fertility goddess also called Ashtoreth in the areas around Judah. Part of her worship involved prostitution in the temple. To further be hateful toward and wound the LORD, they poured out drink offerings to many other false gods.

He asks, “Do they wound Me? ” They think they do, but they are really wounding and are hateful toward themselves! Unless they repent, they will mortally wound themselves, because they have chosen to worship false gods, and have rejected the LORD! They will bring eternal shame upon themselves, in the fires of hell. How foolish!

Infants in today’s so-called church do the same. Whole families are involved in the worship of self, from little children who are taught this lie in Sunday school, all the way up to their parents. They all worship the god of self together! 

They mock Jesus Christ’s warnings and disobey Him, thereby revealing that they do not love Him, but hate Him. But they do not realize that they are mortally wounding themselves, for He will call them to account for their rebellion, in the day of judgment. Then they will be greatly shamed, and will perish. Therefore, repent!

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.”

The LORD God vowed that His anger and wrath would be poured out on Jerusalem and Judah, and all would suffer from it — His people who would be slaughtered or exiled by Babylon, their animals that would be slaughtered by Babylon, and their trees that would be cut down by Babylon, in order to construct siege ramps. Even their crops would be destroyed. The city would burn, and no one would put out the fire.

Jesus Christ’s anger and wrath will be poured out on infants in today’s so-called church. They are on fire — already judged — and do not know it (Isaiah 42:25). Many infants have already been overrun by Satan, and will be destroyed in the day of judgment, unless they repent. If they do not repent, they and all they have trusted in and relied upon will be destroyed in eternal destruction. 

Verses 21-23 —

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh. ²² “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. ²³ “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.’”

The LORD said they may as well eat all of the offerings that they offer to the LORD. Why? He does not accept offerings from rebellious believers — His wrath and anger against them is great! 

Many have misinterpreted Verse 22, saying that it proves Moses did not receive the sacrificial portion of the Law from the LORD, and that the sacrificial system was created hundreds of years later. 

The LORD told Judah their sacrifices were worthless because of  their warped view of the purpose of sacrifices and their heartless worship. He corrects them, because the whole point of the Law, then and now, is obedience to Him. 

Feinberg says — 

The most controversy centers around this verse because it appears to invalidate the whole sacrificial system. Certain critics have understood it to mean that the law of sacrifices was not given by Moses but was introduced centuries later—a position that is part of the elaborate system that denies the Mosaic authorship of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Bible, the Torah). Actually, God had not spoken at Sinai of sacrifices but only of obedience (v.23)—and this even before the law was given (Exodus 19:3-6).

He did not say, “Just offer Me offerings and sacrifices. That is all you need to do. Just go through the motions of worshiping Me. Dot your i’s and cross your t’s, and I will be pleased.” Not at all! He  commanded them to obey His voice. If they did, they would walk in the way He commanded them, and it would be well with them, for He would be their God, and they would be His people.

It is the same for today’s infants in the so-called church. They go through the motions, but their hearts are not in it. They go to church on Sunday, then continue sinning, Monday through Saturday. They do not obey His voice, thus revealing that they are their own god. They do not walk in His ways, but their own ways, just as with Judah. Therefore, it will not go well with them, because He will judge them. Why? He is not their God! Therefore, they are not His people! 

Verses 24-26 — 

“Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels (desires) and in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward and not forward. ²⁵ “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. ²⁶ “Yet they did not listen to Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck; they did more evil than their fathers.”

When He called them to obey His voice, they did not bend their ear in submission to His commands. They walked according to their own desires, and in the rebellion of their own hearts. Thus, instead of going forward with Him, they went backwards and away from Him! From the beginning, He rose early every day — a repetition of His words from Verse 13 — and sent His prophets to exhort and warn them. 

Again, He repeats that they did not listen to His words spoken through His prophets. He repeats Himself, saying they did not bend their ear in submission to His commands. Instead of bending to His will, they stiffened their necks so as not to bow down to Him. And Judah did more evil than their fathers.

The infants in today’s so-called church have chosen to walk in their own desires. They have chosen to rebel against Jesus Christ. They have chosen to refuse His commandments to stay and wait to be filled with the Holy Spirit. 

He has sent many called-out, Spirit-filled ones to them, to exhort and warn them. But they have not listened. They have stiffened their necks so they do not bow down to Him and the truth of His Word. Thus, the infants in today’s so-called church have done greater evil than at any other time in the history of the church.

Verses 27-28 —

“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. ²⁸ 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.”

The LORD told Jeremiah that Judah would not listen to his exhortations and warnings. They would not heed the LORD’s call to repentance. They would be silent and unmoved. Yet the LORD did not tell Jeremiah to stop speaking! He continued to give Jeremiah His words, His exhortations, and His warnings. Jeremiah’s words would be a testimony against rebellious Judah!

And when the exile happened, Jeremiah was to tell Judah that it happened because they had not obeyed the voice of the LORD their God. They had not accepted correction. It was a testimony against them!

Truth had died inside of them, so truth no longer came out of their mouths. Instead, their mouths reflected the contents of their hearts — rebellion, lies and deception. Jesus said of the Jewish leaders who hated Him —

Matthew 12:34 “You brood of vipers, how can you who are evil say anything good? For out of the overflow of the heart the mouthspeaks.” (NIV)

It is the same among infants in today’s so-called church. They do not listen to me, though my words come from Jesus Christ. They are silent and unmoved. Therefore, I tell them that they have not obeyed the voice of their God. They have not accepted correction. 

But Jesus has not told me to stop speaking. He continues to give me His words, so I continue to exhort and warn.

Their rejection of His truth reveals that there is no truth in them. All that comes out of their mouths is that which is in their hearts — rebellion, lies, and deception. When they stand before the Lord in the day of judgment, the words He has given me to speak will be a witness against them, if they do not repent.

Verses 29-31 —

^“Cut off your hair and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for the LORD has rejected and forsaken the generation of His wrath. ³⁰ For the sons of Judah have done that which is evil in My sight,” declares the LORD, “they have set their detestable things in the house which is called by My name, to defile it. ³¹ They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I did not command, and it did not come into My mind.”

Cutting off the hair or shaving the head was a sign of mourning in those days, as was lamentation (a funeral song). The LORD commanded them to do these acts, on the high places they had made in order to commit adultery against Him by worshiping false gods. 

Why should they mourn? Because He rejected and forsook them. Why? The entire generation’s rebellious acts of evil caused His wrath to be upon them. They rejected and forsook Him, so He rejected and forsook them!

They set their idols in the temple, which is His house. They did so in order to pollute it. They were brazenly defiant against their God! 

They built places for worship of false gods. Topheth (fireplace) was in the valley of Ben Hinnom. It was the center of cult sacrifice of their children to false gods, and where the people of the city dumped their rubbish for burning. Feinberg says —

Here the idolatrous nation burned their children to appease the fire god, Molech. This passage reveals that the children were not merely made to pass through an ordeal by fire; they actually burned up. God disclaims any connection with this hideous practice (v.31b). Now their pagan sanctuary was to become their cemetery (v.32).

Mourn, O infants in today’s so-called church who murder their children by teaching them the deadly lies that they themselves have chosen to believe — the lies that they love to hear! The Lord has rejected and forsaken you, because of your rebellion against Him.

Mourn, O infants in today’s so-called church who mock the words He speaks through His sent ones who exhort you to repent and warn you of the consequences of your sin. He does not want you to perish, but to repent (2Peter 3:7). But if you refuse, you will perish!

Verses 32-34 —

“Therefore, behold, days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when it will no longer be called Topheth, or the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of the Slaughter; for they will bury in Topheth because there is no other place. ³³ “The dead bodies of this people will be food for the birds of the sky and for the beasts of the earth; and no one will frighten them away. ³⁴ “Then I will make to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land will become a ruin.”

The LORD reveals the reason Judah should sing a funeral song. The place they had used to worship idols would no longer be called “Fireplace.” The valley in which they burned their children to death would no longer be used by His people for idolatrous sacrifice. It would be used as a burial place for His rebellious people! Multitudes would be slain by the Babylonian army. 

The valley of Ben Hinnom would become so full of graves that there would come a time where there would be no place to bury. Dead bodies would pile up — food for vultures and other carrion-eating birds, and for animals who ate dead creatures. No one would be there to drive the birds away from the corpses. 

The LORD would silence the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of those who were marrying, for the land would become a ruin. And indeed, it did. 

Seventy years later, when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem to oversee the rebuilding of the wall of Jerusalem, he went to inspect the damage.  He rode a horse, but still he could not get through all of the piles of rubble (Nehemiah 2:11-14). 

Jesus Christ will do the same, unless the infants in the so-called church repent. Their bodies should be temples of the Holy Spirit, but they have refused to be filled. So, they are dead in His sight. Therefore, when they stand before the Lord in the day of judgment, He will reduce to ruins their bodies which should have been His temple.

I have seen a vision of dead bodies stacked neatly around pulpits where spiritually dead false leaders and teachers speak lies that are loved by their spiritually dead infant followers. Both the speakers of lies and those who love their words will have to answer the Lord, for what they have done. Therefore, O infants, repent while it is still today! The day of your judgment is coming!

Lord Jesus, I pray only that the infants in the so-called church repent, just as You have commanded. Let these words prick their hearts, and be a witness against them if they refuse to heed them. Amen!