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Jeremiah 7:4 Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘This is the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.’ … 8 “Behold, you are trusting in lying words to no avail. 9 Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery and swear while lying, and burn incense 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 robbers’ den in your sight? Behold, I, even I, have seen it,” declares Yahweh. (LSB)

God warns His people about trusting in lying words, that is, believing false slogans. The slogan here is given in verse 4 and it is repeated in verse 8. “Do not trust in lying words, saying, ‘The temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh, the temple of Yahweh.'” What is meant by that phrase that is repeated three times would be the equivalent to someone that you meet on the street and begin to witness to them about Christ, to begin to talk to them about the things of God, and they say, “I go to church, I go to church, I go to church.” As if they don’t need to hear anything about Jesus or God’s plan or purpose because they go to church.

What is happening here is that people are trusting that it is enough just to go to the temple, that it is enough just to go to church. People believe that today, they do, and anymore they believe that you don’t even have to go that often or regularly. The number, the percentage of people in the United States of America that claim to attend worship regularly (weekly or almost weekly), is 30% according to a Gallup poll March 25, 2024. Most people aren’t going to church at all, much less on a regular basis.

For those who do attend church regularly, this is a warning not to think that attendance/participation is enough. “Religious attendance is not a substitute for a real meeting with God.“(1) When we gather to worship God, we should expect and desire a real meeting with Him. There are those who will say sometimes, “I really felt the presence of God this morning.” I hope you feel the presence of God when gathered with the church. I hope you are aware of the presence of God. Whether you do or not, God is present. He is there especially in the midst of His people. He is everywhere, but as we gather, we understand not only is He there, not only are we able to worship because of the Holy Spirit that dwells inside of us because of the work that Christ has finished for us, but even the angels are looking in (1 Cor. 11:10). Have you ever worshipped and felt like somebody was watching? Yes, they are because they are enamored with this concept of beings who have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb. They are in awe of what God has done to redeem us so that He might have fellowship with us. Such was His love for us and for His Son.

We need to strive then to be prepared internally and externally to meet with God when we meet with His people. To know that He is here, that we are worshipping Him, that He is the audience. We must understand that. Yes, we are there, singing and teaching each other, but ultimately that singing, and even the preaching is to/for Him. That is signified in the ministry of the priest in the Old Testament. The priest did not minister to the people before the Lord, he ministered to the Lord before the people (Ezek. 44:15). That is the role that we serve in ministry. We are serving the Lord before His people, and the people get the benefit of His Word being sung and read and prayed and preached as they hear. Listening to a sermon they are worshiping God and learning more and more about Him.

God shows that this is the reality, that religious attendance is not a substitute for a real meeting with Him, and a real meeting with Him is evidenced by changes in us – growth, transformation, repentance, renewal, etc. Look at the fruit that meeting with God and His people leads to in our lives. If there is no good fruit, then we have not met with God! This is the challenge. We see that the peoples’ response in verse 9 is to say, “Will you steal murder and commit adultery and swear while lying and burning sins to Baal and walk after other gods that you’ve not known and then come and stand before me in this house?” He says, yes, you say you go to church. Yes, you say you go to the temple, but look at what you do before you get there. How many of the commandments did He list? Can you imagine making a pit stop on the way to church to steal murder, commit adultery, swear while lying and burning incense to Baal?

Our minds were elsewhere as we go to gather with the people of God. On ourself and on our fleshly desire and on struggles and temptations, but God asks, “Are you going to do that, and then come stand before Me, which is called by My name, and you’re going to say ‘We’re delivered?'” The phrase delivered there is “we are saved!” “I’m going to sin, sin, sin, and sin some more, and then I’m going to sin again, and after I’ve sinned, I’m going to sin again, but guess what? It’s okay. It’s okay. I’m saved!”

There is more to it than that. If our salvation is not progressing us in holiness, we are deceived – we have a false assurance. We are coming in to His house and we are saying we are saved, so we can do all these abominations. This is Romans 6:1-2, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? May it never be.” God forbid. “How shall we who died to sin still live in it?” That’s the question. How? That’s a good question. We need to ask ourselves. when we find ourselves falling into temptation and sin, we need to ask ourselves, “If I have been crucified with Christ, how can I live like this?” That’s a valid question. We should not be able to do it with a clear conscience or without being convicted by the Holy Spirit.

He continues in verse 11, “Has this house which is called by my name become a robbers den in your sight? Behold, even I have seen it, declares Yahweh.” My house a robbers den. Does that sound familiar? Remember what Jesus said when He cleansed the temple? “It is written, My house should be called a house of prayer,” quoting from Isaiah and then quoting right here from Jeremiah, “but you are making it a robbers den.” (Matt. 21:13). How are they’re making God’s house a robbers den? It’s the point that if they can go do all of those sins and then come stand before God and say, “I’m right because I’m saved by your grace.” We are robbing God of His glory. We are robbing God of His kingship. We are robbing God of His Godhood because we are making a god out of ourselves and what we want and we are using His grace as a license to sin.

The reality here is that the people are serving themselves. Verse 21 in Jeremiah 7 says, “Thus says Yahweh, the God of Israel, add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat flesh.” He’s saying, “Go ahead and do your burnt offerings because then you get to eat.” They would offer the sacrifices and some of it was given to the Lord, but the rest of it was divided up. Some of them went to the priest and some of it went back to the family that offered the sacrifice. So the best part about offering sacrifices was barbecue! Hallelujah. This is providence. I get to go and give something to God and the result is I get tasty smoked meat back. Add some sauce. So what do we worship for? For what we get out of it! And that is feeding the flesh. This is his point – “Yes, you are coming to offer something to Me, but you’re offering something to Me for what you get out of it.” Who then is truly being worshipped?

What we understand here is God is telling them about sacrifices and He tells them it is more important that they listen to Him than sacrifice to Him. And by listen to Him, He does not mean just to hear Him. And this reiterated multiple places in the scripture. What does God prefer over sacrifice? Obedience. You see, God always regards the giver before the gift. We think the other way around. We think God will regard us in a certain way because of the gift that we give. “Look at this great gift I’m giving God. Look at the sacrificial gift I’m giving God.” No, God always regards the giver before the gift. He does that from the very start in Genesis chapter four. “Abel on his part also brought the first port of his flock and their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering. But for Cain and for his offering, he had no regard. So Cain became very angry at his countenance fell.” God looked at the hearts, and one was a heart of obedience, but the other was a different offering, coming from a heart of disobedience. Cain wanted to give God what he wanted to give God, not what God wanted. God regards the giver before the gift. That means that God is desiring sacrifice that comes from a right heart, from a heart of obedience.

That is First Samuel 15:22, “Has Yahweh as much delight and burnt offering as a sacrifice as it obeying the voice of Yahweh? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice and to heed than the fat of rams.” Why is that true? Because if we’re listening to Him and being obedient to Him, guess what we are giving as a sacrifice to Him? Ourselves. That is Romans 12:1-2, isn’t it? Offer yourself a living sacrifice. How do you do that? Listen to Him and be obedient.

We know God always inspects the heart of the offeror. Psalm 51:16-19, “You do not delight in sacrifice, otherwise I would give it. You are not pleased with burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart, oh God, you will not despise. But your favor, by your favor, do good design, build the walls of Jerusalem. Then you will delight in righteous sacrifices, in burnt offerings and whole burnt offerings. The young bulls will be offered on your altar.”

Yes, God wants sacrifice, but He wants sacrifice coming from an obedient heart. That is the theme here behind these paragraphs of text in Jeremiah 7. It is not enough to go to church. It is not enough to associate with the people of God. It is not enough to proclaim, “I’m saved, I’m saved, I’m saved.” It is not enough. We have to have a right heart, a heart for holiness and for justice. Micah sums it up prophesying to the same people, “With what shall I come before Yahweh and bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come before Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Is Yahweh pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I get my first born for my transgression? The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; and what the Lord requires of you but to do justice, to love loving kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:6-8).

That starts on the inside and works its way out in a life that is daily worshiping God everywhere that we are in everything that we do. When we do gather with the church, may we gather prepared and expecting an encounter with God that will change us to be more and more like His Son. Go to meet with God!

(1) Walter C Kaiser, Jr., Walking the Ancient Paths: A Commentary on Jeremiah, pg. 119