JEREMIAH 62009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 6

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009. All right, Jeremiah chapter 6 this evening.

We're continuing the study through Jeremiah. And remember, Jeremiah was a prophet that was given a very difficult task. I don't know how many of you think you would be up to this task. I don't know if you would volunteer for this task. He had the task, the ministry that God called him to, was to proclaim the judgment that was to come upon Jerusalem and the nation of Judah.

even though the people would not listen. He was to proclaim this judgment that was coming, this judgment of God as a result of their sin and rebellion, knowing that they would not respond, watching them continue in their corruption, and then seeing their ultimate demise as Babylon does come and conquer in his own lifetime. This would not...

things that he was prophesying about way far away in a long time. You know, it's going to happen. In Isaiah, we saw much of that. He was prophesying about the same things, but it didn't happen in his lifetime. Be very different. To proclaim these things to people that you love, that you want to see repent and turn and get right with the Lord, and then have to watch them

Rebel and continue to rebel and refuse and persecute you and then experience the judgment of God with the nation of Babylon coming upon the nation of Judah and conquering it completely and carrying everyone away captive.

That is the ministry that Jeremiah was called to. And in a lot of ways, it's similar to the ministry that we have been called to because you and I are in a lost and dying world and there's people around us, all around us, who refuse to hear the Word of God and perhaps there's even people among us who refuse to hear the Word of God and God still judges sin. He still judges rebellion.

There's so many parallels to the nation of Judah, to our nation today, to the people of Judah, to the people of our nation today. There's so many parallels that, well, I'll get tired of mentioning them if I mention them and bring them up every week. And yet, you and I have been called to such a similar ministry as Jeremiah. There's a world around us that is walking farther and farther away from God. And God has called us. He's given us the message.

The message is the gospel, the good news that Jesus Christ has died upon the cross for our sins. He took our place so that we, by believing in him, by faith in his name, we can have everlasting life. But along with that good news is the bad news. And that is that he is the only way, the only truth and the only life. And if you refuse Jesus Christ, the judgment is eternal separation from God in hell.

And so you and I, we've been given a message, a proclamation, the gospel message, and we're called to proclaim it to people who don't want to receive it. Like Jeremiah, we're called to proclaim it to a people that are rebellious, that are against God, and yet we're called to make a stand. On Sunday, as we closed out the book of Hebrews, we talked about bearing the reproach of Christ.

Bearing the reproach because this world hated Jesus in the same way it's going to hate us as well as we are obedient to Him and His disciples. As we walk and follow our Master, the world will hate us. And yet we're called to walk the path that He has set before us, to run the race that He has set before us. And these are good things to consider as we go through the book of Jeremiah. You have been given a similar ministry, a similar calling today.

to Jeremiah, and that you've been called to proclaim the Word of God, the truth of God, the holiness of God, the gospel of Jesus Christ, to a people that do not receive it in a time when it is not popular. And so Jeremiah begins here in chapter 6, continuing on with the proclamations that the Lord has been speaking through him, and he says there in verse 1, O you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem, and

Verse 2, Here as we begin chapter 6,

The Lord brings forth a proclamation to flee. He says, you children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee from the midst of Jerusalem. Why flee from the midst of Jerusalem? Well, because judgment is coming. Babylon, the nation of Babylon, the armies of Babylon, they're coming.

And so he's giving them an opportunity to escape. He's giving them an opportunity to take heed to what he says and get out of there. He says, flee from the midst of Jerusalem. He says, blow the trumpet in Tekoa.

And set up a signal fire. These two cities are cities that were within eyesight of Jerusalem. They were cities a little bit farther off, but you could see them. And they were used to sound the alarm. There's an army coming. They're like guard posts that are on the outskirts so that they could give advance warning to the city of Jerusalem.

And so he says, hey, blow the trumpet in Tekoa. Light the signal fire. The enemy is coming. The attack is on its way. Judgment is coming to the nation of Judah. And he says, the nation of Judah, I've likened to a lovely and delicate woman. It sounds wonderful and nice, but the idea here is she's not going to be able to defend herself.

Well, she's going to be overrun by shepherds. It won't even take mighty warriors to defeat her. The shepherds, they can camp against her. They can pasture wherever they desire. They set up camp wherever they want. And the people of Judah, the nation of Judah, will not be able to do anything to retaliate, to defend themselves. They're weak like a delicate woman when it comes to matters of war. Verse 4 says,

He says, And so she is weak, but here comes the battle. And God says, Notice, this is not something that is apart from or separate from the work of God.

This battle that is coming against Jerusalem, that is coming against the nation of Judah, it's the command of God. Look at verse 6. For thus has the Lord of hosts said, cut down the trees and build a mound against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished. She is full of oppression in her midst.

Going on in verse 7, As a fountain wells up with water, so she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before me continually are grief and wounds. Verse 8, Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. This is a proclamation, a prophecy of this judgment that is going to come.

But it's also with the understanding that it's the Lord who is bringing this judgment. It's the Lord who has commanded this attack. God said, cut down the trees. Build a mound against Jerusalem. God is giving the instruction, make war against Jerusalem. Why? God's giving the command. The attack is something He has commanded. He has required. Why? Well, He says...

It's because as a fountain wells up with water, in the same way, she wells up with wickedness. She continues to bring forth sin. As a fountain brings forth water, she bursts forth with sin, with iniquity, with rebellion against God. This is a proclamation of the judgment of God. The instrument of judgment, the nation of Babylon, they are coming at the command of God, and yet, and yet here we can see

Even in this proclamation of judgment, even in this command of destruction, we can see the mercy of God. Do you see the mercy of God here? As we look at the judgments of God, it's easy to get confused or caught up and say, man, God is mean and wrathful. And that is true when you get to a certain point.

But look at the mercy of God in verse 8 again. He says, Be instructed, O Jerusalem, lest my soul depart from you, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. See, with the judgment, with the proclamation of judgment, there's always an opportunity to repent. This is the mercy of God because Jerusalem and the nation of Judah, they started out really good.

They had the Word of God. They walked with God. They had kings that led them into worship of God. They had an awesome place of worship, reminders of God continually. I mean, they had everything that they needed in order to have right relationship with God. But they turned and rebelled. And so God would send them a messenger, a prophet. He would send them a reminder. And time and time again, He sent them reminders.

Opportunity after opportunity after opportunity. This is several hundred years of rebellion that they've been going through to bring them to this point that judgment is about to happen in their lifetime. This is the mercy of God.

that even though He's reminded them, even though the prophet Isaiah ministered to them and they still are in the same spot, they're still in a hard-hearted rebellion against God, even though all of the prophets before Jeremiah had come, even though they'd have plenty of opportunities, God still gives them with this proclamation of judgment the opportunity to repent. He says, "...be instructed, O Jerusalem." He wants them to hear, to know, to obey, to turn and listen to Him.

He says, lest my soul depart from you. God is not anxious. He's not excited about bringing the judgment. But he is bringing the judgment. At the same time, he is mercifully giving them an opportunity to repent. Know that it's not God's will that any should perish. Scriptures tell us in 2 Peter 3.9. It's not God's will that anyone should perish. God's not looking for reasons to.

He's not looking for an excuse to judge. He's looking for an excuse to show mercy. And many times we can get caught up and think that God is out to get us when God is saying, look, be instructed, lest my soul depart from you. Just give me a reason. Give me an excuse to show mercy to you, God is saying. Don't continue in your rebellion.

Listen to me. Hear what I'm saying. Respond to my word. God says, lest I make you desolate, a land not inhabited. The choice is yours. You can be instructed. You can respond to God and receive his mercy. Or you can choose not to and God will make you desolate.

The choice is ours. But God here, He still gives them this chance. And we'll see this again next week in chapter 7. Again, He says, Look, I want to give you an opportunity to repent. I want to give you a chance. If you'll get right with Me, if you'll respond to Me, then I'll preserve you. Verse 9, Thus says the Lord of hosts, They shall thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel. As a grape gatherer, put your hand back into the branches.

Here he says, look, this judgment that is coming, this nation of Babylon that's coming, they are going to thoroughly glean as a vine the remnant of Israel. This idea of gleaning comes from this picture of a harvest. Now when they're harvesting a vineyard, God gave them instructions in Leviticus chapter 19 that they were not to take every grape off the vine. But when they would go through and gather the grapes...

They were to leave some. And some of the ones, you know, they're a little bit harder to get, you know, those ones. Don't get everything. Don't, you know...

Get all the scratches in your face and everything, trying to get every last scrape. But just gather what you can. Gather what you got, what's readily available, and leave the rest. That was God's plan. That's how He provided for the poor. The leftovers that were there was the provision for the poor. They would be able to go in after the owners of the field had gone through and harvested their grapes. The poor and those who were in need could go through and gather what was left.

It was part of God's provision for them. This idea of gleaning is taking every last one. They weren't to do that. They were to leave some. You remember the story of Ruth. And that's how she was providing for herself and Naomi. She would go in the fields after the workers and whatever was left she was able to gather. Well this is the opposite of that. Babylon when they come...

They're going to thoroughly glean. They're not going to leave some leftovers and, oh, you know, we don't want to check out that house, you know, because it's a little bit farther. It's around the corner, you know, it might be difficult. No, they're going to take everyone away. No one is going to escape. They're going to thoroughly glean. He says, as a grape gatherer, put your hand back into the branches. Reach in there. Get scratched up. Get those last grapes. Well, that's what's going to happen with those who are in rebellion.

You cannot escape from the judgment of God. There's going to be a thorough gleaning for those who rebel against Him. Verse 10, God says,

Again, God says...

I want to give them an opportunity to repent, but who am I going to give the warning? Who am I going to speak to? Who am I going to give this message, this opportunity to repent to? He says, look, their ear is uncircumcised. They're full of the flesh and they cannot hear. They're not able to hear the warnings. They cannot give heed. He says, look, the word of the Lord is a reproach to them. They have no delight in the word of the Lord.

So God says, therefore, my fury, it's, well, it's filled to the max. And so it's going to be poured out. The problem was that they could not hear the warning. God gave the warnings through many prophets, but they would not hear. They would not heed. The word of the Lord was a reproach to them. You ever had those times where the word of God is a reproach to you? You ever not read the Bible because it's too convicting? You have those seasons in your life. That's kind of where they're at.

Whenever they heard the word of the Lord, it was always a rebuke. It was always a correction. It was, you need to get this right. And so what they did was they kept themselves away from the word of the Lord. And they stopped up their ears. They refused to hear. They refused to heed because, well, every time it was convicting. But I would share with you, hey, if you don't like reading the Bible because it's convicting, well, you need to respond to the message then. You need to respond to the conviction and repent.

You need to turn from that sin. You need to turn from the flesh. And you need to obey God. The Word of God was a reproach to them. They had no delight in it. And as a result, they couldn't hear the warning of God when it was brought. Where we know, the Scripture tells us, delight yourself in the law of the Lord. Let it be your meditation. Let it just fill you and consume you. And if it's convicting, well then respond to it. Repent. Let God change you. Let God do that work.

Because if you don't take heed to the word of God, you won't hear the warning until his wrath is stored up and the judgment is brought upon you. Verse 13. He says,

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? No. They were not at all ashamed, nor did they know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall. At the time I punish them, they shall be cast down, says...

Here's God continuing to explain why His wrath is going to be poured out, why there's going to be every last one gleaned. Every last one is going to experience the judgment of God. He says, "...because the least of them, even to the greatest of them, even the priests and the prophets, they deal falsely." They're pretending. They don't really have relationship with me, God is saying. They don't really want to follow me. They're just covering up their wickedness with religiosity.

Not only that, but in verse 14 he says, look, they've healed the hurt of my people slightly or could also be translated superficially. They have this huge deadly wound and they've put a little band-aid on it and say, oh, peace, now you'll feel better. When it's that wound that is killing them, that is destroying them, that is bringing this destruction upon them.

They've tried to cover it with a little band-aid and said, oh no, peace, peace. It's not going to happen. God's not going to judge us. Everything's going to be okay. The leaders of the people, well, they're prophesying falsely. They're saying peace. When God says there is no peace, they haven't dealt with the sin. They haven't repented. They haven't turned. They haven't responded. Were they ashamed when they did this? Were they ashamed when they committed their abominations? No, they didn't even know how to blush, God said. They didn't know how to blush.

It's important that we know what it is to be ashamed. It's important that we have a heart that is sensitive, that is not so calloused that, well, we don't know shame. We need to learn to be ashamed, to not be so comfortable and used to sin that it doesn't make us blush. Here, God's people, these people that had started out so well and had so much for them, they're at the point that they're continuing on in their abominations.

out and out wickedness, but they're not ashamed. They're justifying it. They're explaining it. They've got all their reasons. They've got all of their excuses, just as we often do when confronted with sin. Instead of being ashamed, we explain it. We give all the reasons. Instead of being ashamed, we have all of our excuses. Instead of being ashamed, we have all of the justification for why we did what we did or do what we do. God says at that time, I'm going to punish them.

Because they've not learned to be ashamed. They've not learned to be convicted, to respond to my word. Instead, they just say, peace, you know, everything's going to be okay. And, you know, the prophets and priests, they weren't doing this

in the sense that they were trying to bring destruction on the people and trying to deceive them. Ezekiel chapter 13 verse 6 I think gives us a little bit of insight there. Where Ezekiel there is dealing with the false prophets and he says they're bringing forth these messages and they're saying they're from the Lord and they're hoping that they come to pass. They're saying, you know, peace and safety and everything's going to be okay and God's going to restore us and we're not going to experience the judgment of God and

They're hoping that it is fulfilled. They're hoping that the word that they give is confirmed. It's not that they were intending ill will upon the people, but they were just hoping. They wanted what they said would come to pass. They wanted it to be fulfilled. They were hoping that that's what God would do. But they spoke on behalf of God when He was not speaking that. Saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. I think it's an important reminder for us. You know, we have...

this, I don't know if we could call it some kind of need or tendency that, well, we don't like to make people uncomfortable and we don't like to be uncomfortable. And often when we're talking to people, you know, we have a saying, oh, it's going to be okay. But I think it's a good reminder to not just spit out, it's going to be okay. In the eternal perspective, God works all things together for good to those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

All things do not work together for good for every person in every situation. It's only to those who love God and to those who are called according to His purpose that that promise is given. I think we need to be careful. Don't just put a band-aid and say, Peace, peace, and avoid an uncomfortable situation. Be a Jeremiah. Proclaim the truth when it needs to be proclaimed so that the people have an opportunity to repent.

But God's people here, they didn't know how to be ashamed. They're involved in this iniquity. And so the judgment of God is coming. Verse 16, Thus says the Lord, Stand in the ways and see, and ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk in it. You see the heart of the people here? God says, Look, go back. Repent. Do the things that you did at first.

Revelation chapter 2. You remember the old ways? Back when you had right relationship with me? Back when you and I were close? Back when you were passionate about me and you loved me and I was the center of your life? Remember those days? Go back and walk in those ways and live in those days and you'll find rest for your souls. You're looking for rest. You're thirsty for rest. You're trying to satisfy that need that you have with all of these idols, with all of these wickedness.

God says, look, go back to a right relationship with me. Go back to the good way. The things that you used to do as you walked with me. And there you'll find rest for your souls. But what did the people respond? We will not walk in it. God is once again giving them opportunity to repent. And they make a deliberate choice. We're not going to walk in it. We refuse. We choose not to.

To have right relationship with God. Verse 17. God says, Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Listen to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not listen. God says, I set up watchmen. I set up prophets. I set up messengers. I set up people who would blow the trumpet, sound the warning. Judgment's coming. Repent. God's not happy with the way that you've been living. You're violating God.

God's Word. Just as God has set forth a trumpet for you by you being here this evening and hearing the Word of God and being reminded that sin is serious and that you need to repent and turn. God had set up the watchmen for them. They were reminded. The messengers were coming to them. But they said, we will not listen. They chose not to listen. This was the state of God's people

And this was why the judgment of God is coming. Verse 18,

nor your sacrifices sweet to me. They say, no, we're not going to listen. We're not going to walk in the old ways. We're not going to get right with you. We're not going to worship you. We're not going to do those things that we did at first. And so God says, okay, listen up. All of you nations, the whole earth, God's calling everybody's attention. He says, look, I want you to see what's about to take place. I'm going to bring calamity on this people because I've given them blessing and

I've given them everything that they need, and yet they refuse. They have not heeded my words, but instead they have rejected my words. The people of God here reject the word of God. Tragic state to be in, but that is the state that they were in. So he asked the question in verse 20, what's the point of all of your sacrifices? All these things that you're importing in order to offer burnt offerings, you're

See, the people of God rejected the Word of God and yet still they were there at the temple offering sacrifices. Is there any kind of problem with this? Do we see any kind of thing that doesn't belong here? They reject the Word of God. They say, no, we're not going to follow God. But they still go to the temple and offer sacrifices. What are they trying to do? Well, they're trying to have salvation without the relationship with the Lord. They're trying to say...

I'm not going to give away. I'm not going to turn from this sin. I'm not going to turn from my lifestyle that I want. I'm not going to surrender my will. But I still want to be saved. And I still want God to be pleased with me and bless me. And so what I'm going to do then is I'm going to offer these sacrifices. And I'm going to offer these sacrifices to make up for the sin in my life. It didn't work then. And it still doesn't work today. God told...

Remember in 1 Samuel chapter 15, King Saul comes back. He disobeyed God, brought back livestock and things that he wasn't supposed to bring back from battle. God had told him specifically not to, but he brought it back anyways. Samuel says, what in the world are you doing? He says, well, I brought it back so I could offer it to the Lord. And God, through Samuel, tells Saul, obedience is better than sacrifice. To obey is more important than to sacrifice.

You cannot compensate for disobedience by sacrifice. You can't compensate for sin by doing good deeds, by being religious, by spending extra time praying or reading or going to church or doing some extra work around the church or helping some old person across the road or buying someone groceries. You can't compensate for sin, for rebellion, by offering sacrifices.

God says, here's what I want. I want you to get right with me. I want you to repent, to turn from sin. It's what's best for you anyways. That sin is destroying your life. You need to let it go. You need to turn from it. Don't dwell in it. Don't continue in that path. God is pronouncing this judgment upon them. But again, we see the mercy of God in that He's saying, look...

I want you to get right with me. I don't want your sacrifices. I don't want you to pretend to be religious and try to appease me and then continue in the self-destruction that you're involved in. No, what I really want is for you to get right with me. What I really want is for you to finally deal with that area of your life. What I really want is for you to finally address that relationship, that activity. What I really want is for you to finally repent. That's what I want, God says.

That's His desire. Not sacrifices. You can't make up for it. Obedience is better than sacrifice. Verse 21, Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will lay stumbling blocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall on them, the neighbor and his friend.

Verse 1.

Again, God says, therefore, this is the reason why. Because they're rebellious, because they continue in wickedness, but cover it over, they mask it with their sacrifices and their religious rituals. God says, I'm going to lay stumbling blocks before them. They're going to trip and fall. Again, God's mercy. He's laying stumbling blocks before them, so they trip and fall and have an opportunity to repent.

Thus says the Lord, verse 22, I'm bringing Babylon. In Hebrews, it told us that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. God is a just and holy God. And he will not compromise with sin. He won't negotiate. You can't work up an exchange. Sin must be dealt with. And it can't be dealt with on your terms or my terms. It must be dealt with on his terms. Because he is a just and holy God,

And because He loves us so much and He's not willing that any should perish, He made a way of salvation. He made a way for us to get right with Him. For us to have these sins taken care of. For us to deal with these things. He made a way for us to repent because He loves us. We cannot take a different road and take a different path and come up with our own way and still get to God. We must go through Jesus Christ. We must repent. We must turn. We must...

Stop living a sinful lifestyle. We must. It's the only way. And so God puts stumbling blocks before them so that they have an opportunity. You fall, you hit your head, it hurts. Ow, what in the world is going on? And God's saying, did you hear it? Did you get it? I'm trying to get your attention. I want you to know, sin is destroying you. And you're storing up wrath. And sin will be judged. And you can't get away with it. And you can't deal with it any other way.

I'm giving you an opportunity because Babylon's coming. And you don't want to experience that judgment. You don't want to experience this nation. They're cruel. They have no mercy. God says, come to me. I have mercy. I'm merciful. I'll deal with you graciously and mercifully. They have no mercy. The nation of Judah did not respond. They continued in their sin. They continued in their rebellion against God. Verse 24 says,

They say, "...we have heard the report of it. Our hands grow feeble. Anguish has taken hold of us. Pain as of a woman in labor. Do not go out into the field nor walk by the way because of the sword of the enemy." Fear is on every side. The people, they've heard of the fierceness of Babylon. And it brings them anguish. It brings them fear. It's making them grow feeble. But notice, they still don't repent.

They still don't turn. God gives them another opportunity. Verse 26, O daughter of my people, dress in sackcloth and roll about in ashes. Make mourning as for an only son. Most bitter lamentation for the plunderer will suddenly come upon us. See, they've heard the report. They're freaked out. Oh my goodness, Babylon's coming. What are we going to do? Fear's on every side. They're in anguish. They're stressed out. They're worried. What's going to happen? Overwhelmed with this fear.

And so God says, oh, totter of my people, why won't you respond appropriately? Dress in sackcloth. Sackcloth was the clothing of mourning. Why won't you repent? It was the clothing of repentance. And roll about in ashes. Again, the sign, the symbol of mourning, of repentance. Make mourning as for an only son. Most bitter lamentation. Make mourning as for an only son. Please forgive me if...

You have experienced that. But consider for a moment, what would it be like to lose your only son? How would you mourn? How would that affect you? God says, respond like that to your sin, to your rebellion. Mourn. Weep. Wail. Be torn up over your sin. Don't gloss over it. Oh, no big deal. Candy coat it. No. Mourn over it. Repent from it. Turn from it. Mourn as if you had lost something.

Your only son, the most bitter lamentation, for the plunder will come suddenly upon us. It's not time to mess around, to play around with sin. It's time to mourn as if you had lost an only child, the most precious thing to you. Verse 27, God speaks to Jeremiah. He says, I've set you as an assayer in a fortress among my people that you may know and test their way.

They are all stubborn rebels, walking as slanderers. They are bronze and iron. They are all corruptors. The bellows blow fiercely. The lead is consumed by the fire. The smelter refines in vain, for the wicked are not drawn off. People will call them rejected silver, because the Lord has rejected them. God uses these pictures that paint these powerful images in our minds so that we can understand what he's saying. He says, Jeremiah...

I'm setting you like a fortress. You're going to test their way, Jeremiah, because my word is going to come forth from you and it's going to demonstrate that when God says repent and they say no. God says, here's my way, walk in it. And they say, we will not walk in it. God says, here's the warning. The trumpet's blowing. And they say, we will not listen. He then goes on to use the picture of a metalsmith.

It's a familiar picture to us because we see this type of terminology often pictured in the Scriptures, often used throughout the Word of God. This idea of melting metal and then you can form it and it brings the impurities to the top and you can make it clean and stronger and so on and so forth. They're in the melting pot. They're in the refining process. The lead is consumed by fire, but notice it says there in verse 29, the smelter refines in vain. God has them in the furnace.

He's seeking to refine them, to purify them, to make them the type of metal that they need to be. But the smelter refines in vain. The smelter refines in vain. They refuse. God is putting them in the furnace. He's set up stumbling blocks. He's given them opportunity after opportunity. He's allowed difficulties. He's allowed the furnace to be heated up.

He's giving them opportunity. He's doing His best. He's doing everything that He can. Giving them every opportunity because He's not willing that any should perish. But the smelter refines in vain. They are stubborn. They are hard-hearted. And they refuse to repent. But keep in mind, all the while they're practicing the sacrifices. They're keeping the feasts. They're going through the outward motions. But the reality of their heart was that they refused.

They refused to turn. They refused to repent. And that is the reason for the judgment of God coming upon them. He says in verse 30, People will call them rejected silver. They were God's people. His nation. His people. He called them out of Egypt. He paved the way. He provided for them in the wilderness. Brought them into the land. Drove out the other nations before them. His presence was among them. He manifested Himself. His glory was known. He was known.

Now people will call them rejected silver. They were cast off by the Lord. They'll call them rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them. The nation of Judah came to a point where the Lord rejected them. Why did the Lord reject them? Very simply, because they rejected Him. They rejected Him. God gave them opportunity to repent. He gave them chance. Not just one, not just two,

but hundreds, thousands of opportunities. And they refused. God says, ask for the old paths, where the good way is, and walk in it. Then you will find rest for your souls. God wants what's best for His people. He wants what's best for you and for me. And what's best is not that we have our own life and our own wills and our own plans.

and we do whatever we want to but we try to appease him by being religious and being at church a couple times a week what's best for us is a full surrender to him what's best for us is that we finally come to the point where we say Lord it's all yours I don't care what it is I don't care if it's my driving that you want to work on I don't care if it cost me my cable connection I don't care if it cost me my internet connection

I don't care if it costs me that relationship. I don't care what it costs me. I only want to do your will. I want to be fully surrendered to you. That's what's best for us. And this evening, God has us here for a reason. He has us right here in chapter 6 with these very clear warnings.

He's called us to repentance for a reason. He was calling out to his people, listen, he's saying, won't you hear? I want to bring my message. I want to bring my warning. But nobody would hear. Their ears were stopped up. They were uncircumcised. The word of God was a reproach to them. They took no joy in it because it called them to turn from sin and they didn't want to turn from sin. But God has us here this evening because he needs to remind us that we need to turn from sin.

And not be comfortable with compromise. And not be comfortable with unsurrendered areas. And then try to cover it over and mask it over with being religious. It's time to mourn over sin. To weep. To deal with it. To take care of it. By taking it to the cross. By agreeing with God. And turning away from it.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.