Amen.
Jeremiah chapter 44 pretty much wraps up the story of the book of Jeremiah.
After Jeremiah 44, the remaining chapters are just a lot of preaching that Jeremiah
does and prophecies against various geographic areas, against Egypt, against the Moabites,
against the Ammonites, and against Babylon itself.
And then chapter 52 pretty much just goes back over again and talks about the story
of the destruction of Jerusalem that we saw several chapters ago.
So in Jeremiah 44, we wrap up the story that we've pretty much been looking at ever since
Jeremiah chapter 1 when the children of Judah were wicked in the sight of the Lord.
He kept warning them that they were going to get destroyed, Jerusalem was destroyed,
and then there was a remnant, God wiped out the remnant, there's a little bit of a remnant
of the remnant.
They're told, don't go to Egypt.
If you do, I'll wipe all of you out.
They go to Egypt.
They're all going to get wiped out.
Okay.
The end.
But anyway, it's a very negative book because it's at a time when the people are disobeying
the word of the Lord.
And if you disobey God, he's going to punish.
He's going to judge any nation.
Even if it's his own chosen people, he still wiped them out.
And in Egypt now, in chapter 44, Jeremiah is preaching to them about their doom for
having gone down there.
And not only are they down in Egypt when they're not supposed to be, they are even worshiping
false gods while they're down there.
Let's look at verse number 1.
It says, the word that came to Jeremiah concerning which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell
in Migdal and at Tophenes and at Noth and in the country of Pathros saying, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ye have seen all the evil that I've brought upon
Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah.
And behold, this day there are desolation and no man dwelleth therein.
Just to show how God so completely fulfilled his word, he said it will be without an inhabitant
and all of the Jews were taken away captive or killed or fled, all of them.
And he talked about how it would remain desolate for 70 years and then after 70 years, there
would be Jews that would come out of all the nations that God had driven them.
And of course, they came back in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, rebuilt the wall, rebuilt
the temple, et cetera.
But this time, God's word has been fulfilled that the nation has been decimated.
There's nothing left.
There's no one left there.
Why?
Verse 3, because of their wickedness which they have committed to provoke me to anger
and that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither
they ye nor your fathers.
Now, why is God upset that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods?
Well, if you study the Bible on incense, God had them burning incense at his house only
at the tabernacle or the temple.
And actually, there were specific instructions about how to burn that incense and it was
not supposed to be done anywhere else.
They weren't supposed to try to make that incense and burn it somewhere else.
It was just a certain incense burned at a certain place and that's it.
It was very strict.
And if you remember, the two sons of Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, they tried to do their own
incense offering, this extracurricular offering where they took a sensor and they put fire
and then they offered strange fire on the Lord and God slew them.
God was angry about that.
He did not allow for that.
And throughout the Old Testament, we see that when they're worshiping false gods, when they're
worshiping other gods, they burn incense under those false gods.
A lot of pagan deities are worshiped through incense.
We even see this today, the thing that comes to my mind is in India, they burn a lot of
incense and the idols and false gods.
And also in the Roman Catholic Church, you'll see them burn incense under their idolatry.
And we'll get to that a little bit later in the chapter here.
Says in verse number four, how be it I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets rising
early and sending them saying, oh, do not this abominable thing that I hate.
That's a pretty good definition of what an abomination is.
The abominable thing is that which God hates.
The abominable person is a person whom God hates.
Abomination, abominable has to do with hating, something that is hated or hateful.
Says in verse number five, hateful in the sense of the biblical sense, not the modern
sense.
Verse number five, but they harken not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness
to burn no incense unto other gods.
Wherefore my fury and my anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah
and in the streets of Jerusalem and they are wasted and desolate as at this day.
Therefore now thus sayeth the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit
ye this great evil against your souls.
Wherefore means why, why he's saying wherefore commit you this great evil against your souls
to cut off from you man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah to leave you none to
remain.
You know what he's saying, you did this to yourself.
Why are you committing this great evil against your souls to cut off from you man and woman,
child and suckling out of Judah to leave you none to remain.
You know when you disobey God, you're not hurting him, you're hurting yourself.
People have this attitude sometimes, well I'll show him, I'll show God, or I'll show
the church and then they go out and live a wicked life, but the only person that they're
hurting is themselves.
It doesn't hurt God.
Obviously God is grieved when he sees his children go astray, but you're not really
harming him.
The person that you're really harming and doing evil to is yourself.
You know when you quit the church, the church will still go on without you, but you're hurting
yourself.
Your life will be ruined, the church will continue to serve God.
Those who are still planted in the house of God will continue flourishing in the courts
of our God.
But he said here, you've done this to yourself, you've hurt not only yourself, but you've
hurt your wives and your children and your babies.
All these people have been harmed because of your wickedness.
Why did you do this to yourself?
Verse 8, and that you provoke me unto wrath with the works of your hands.
He's saying you made me angry.
You provoked me unto wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other
gods in the land of Egypt, wither you be gone to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off.
He's saying you're shooting yourself in the foot here.
You're cutting yourself off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations
of the earth.
Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of
Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickedness and the wickedness of
your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem.
They're not humbled even unto this day, neither have they feared nor walked in my law nor
in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers.
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold I will set my face against
you for evil and to cut off all Judah.
He's saying haven't you been through enough?
Haven't you suffered enough?
You've seen all the destruction and the death and the carnage and you're still not humbled.
You still don't want to get right with God?
Verse 12 and I'll take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land
of Egypt to sojourn there and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt.
They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine.
They shall die from the least even unto the greatest by the sword and by the famine and
they shall be an execration which means a curse and an astonishment and a curse and
a reproach for I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt as I have punished Jerusalem
by the sword, by the famine and by the pestilence so that none of the remnant of Judah which
are gone in the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain that they should return
in the land of Judah to the which they have a desire to return to dwell there for none
shall return but such as shall escape.
Then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods and all
the women that stood by a great multitude even all the people that dwelt in the land
of Egypt in Pathros answered Jeremiah saying as for the word that thou has spoken unto
us in the name of the Lord we will not hearken unto thee but we will certainly do whatsoever
thing goeth forth out of our own mouth to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and
to pour out drink offerings unto her as we have done we and our fathers our kings and
our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem and then had we plenty
of vittles and were well and saw no evil.
Okay there's a lot in this verse here.
First of all the false deity that they're worshipping is known as the queen of heaven.
Well this deity is still worshiped today in a few different manifestations.
First of all the Roman Catholic Church worships the queen of heaven.
In fact I've even seen Catholic churches known as queen of heaven Catholic Church.
I saw a cemetery that said queen of heaven cemetery.
I believe that was locally here in Phoenix.
I've seen many Catholic institutions that had queen of heaven in the name even though
the Bible only has one thing to say about the so called queen of heaven that it's a
false deity that pagans are worshipping that the Egyptians or the Babylonians would worship
not God's people.
Also in India today the queen of heaven is worshiped in southern India giant idols of
a female goddess the great mother goddess.
This goddess is worshiped all over the world and today it's creeping into the United States
through the new age movement worshipping of mother earth and Gaia and things of that nature.
So we see here that they're worshipping the queen of heaven.
They're burning incense under her.
They're pouring out drink offerings and then they also mention that they baked cakes under
the queen of heaven.
In verse 19 it talks about them making cakes for the queen of heaven.
Listen if you go into a Roman Catholic Church here's what you're doing.
They're participating in incense being offered under the queen of heaven a drink offering
under the queen of heaven the so called sacrament the so called Eucharist and a cake baked under
the queen of heaven.
It's not the Lord Jesus Christ that they're worshipping.
It's not the God of the Bible that they're worshipping.
It's another Jesus.
It's a false long haired hippie Jesus that does not save you by your faith but he saves
you by your adherence to the church the seven sacraments of the church confessing unto
the priest getting sprinkled by the priest taking the Eucharist at the hand of the priest
and going there and performing these rites and sacraments of paganism that have their
origin before Jesus even walked on this earth.
Hinduism goes back before Jesus even walked on this earth and even in this chapter hundreds
of years before Christ walked on the earth we see the Catholic Church in full swing worshipping
the queen of heaven burning the incense making the cake.
Look all the Catholic Church is a continuation of that pagan religion with just a Christian
label on it repackaged as Christianity.
You say well no Pastor Anderson Catholicism is the true Christianity.
Well that's funny because when I go out soul winning I ask people this question every single
week of my life are you a Christian?
And virtually every single week of my life this is the answer I get from many people.
I got it a couple times today.
No I'm Catholic.
Who's had that answer given to you out soul winning?
Yeah.
Hey are you a Christian?
No I'm Catholic.
More than half the time they'll say no I'm Catholic.
Well you know what that's an honest answer because Catholicism is paganism it's superstition
it's hocus pocus it's mystery Babylon it's ancient Egypt it's all that is a pagan female
deity.
God never teaches us in the Bible to worship a female deity he's God the Father and God
the Son and no the Holy Spirit's not female the Holy Spirit's male he's called he him
his.
This female goddess is a pagan throwback that's carried over into the Roman Catholic Church
now they say well no no we just we don't worship Mary we just venerate hey you say
tomato I say tomato when you're bowing down to a statue that's worship the Bible defines
bowing down before someone as worshiping them study the Bible and not only that but Mary
is a minimal character in the Bible very you know the Lord's mentioned about 8,000 times
Jesus mentioned hundreds of times okay Mary I believe is mentioned 19 times in the whole
She's mentioned more in the Quran than she even is in the Bible she's not a main character
and if you look up the mentions of Mary one of the things that she says to Jesus is whatever
or she says about Jesus whatever he says unto you do it and she tries to tell Jesus what
to do and he says woman what have I to do with thee woman my now is not yet come and
then she backs off and says well hey whatever he says to you do it.
What about when somebody tries to worship Mary in Jesus's presence they try to actually
they don't even try to worship Mary they just try to venerate Mary somebody comes to Jesus
in the book of Luke and says blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou
has sucked is an early Catholic and you know what Jesus looks at her and says yea rather
is he that heareth the word of God and doeth it more blessed you'll be more blessed I'm
more blessed than Mary as long as I hear the word of God and do it. What about when Mary
wanted to interrupt one of Jesus's sermons and she shows up with his brothers and somebody
taps him on the shoulder while he's speaking while he's preaching somebody gets it hey
behold your mother and brethren stand without desiring to speak with thee and you know what
he said oh well here let me drop everything the mother of God's out there right according
to the Catholics no no actually here's what he said he said who is my mother and who are
my brethren and he stretched forth his hands to his disciples and said behold my mother
and my brethren for so ever do it the will of my father which is in heaven the same is
my mother and sister and brother hey if there's a lady here an older lady here that does the
will of God you're his mother you're just as much as Mary you're his mother should we
worship you should we venerate you why don't we make a statue of you tonight and I'm not
going to point you out because of course we don't have any ladies that are old enough
to be that mother I don't want you to get the wrong idea or anything but if we did it'd
be just as silly to make a statue of them as it would be a statue of Jesus's earthly
mother and you know what it'd be it'd be actually less silly because at least we know what you
look like we don't even know what Mary even looked like just average white woman statue
it makes no sense folks it's not biblical over and over again the Bible is letting us
know not to worship or even venerate Mary yeah but the angel told her blessed art thou
among women okay he well jail was told that she was blessed above women or should we worship
jail some people don't even know who jail is they think that's where you go if you get
drunk and and and drive under the influence no there's a person in the Bible named jail
and she was blessed above women Mary was blessed among women there's nothing in this book that
even comes close to insinuating the worship of Mary yet if we were to drive just two miles
from here to the town of Guadalupe house after house after house would have a statue and
a shrine under Mary and you know what it looks just like in India where they have a little
shrine and a little idol and a little incense it's identical thing and then the the Hindus
look at that and you know what they say well you're copying us we're the oldest religion
that's what they say and you try to give Hindus the gospel and they say no no we're the oldest
religion Christianity copied from us why because the Catholics have had that testimony of yeah
copying the Hindus literally copying the Buddhist copying the pagans why all the Hindus they
love to brag about how old their religion yeah because it goes all the way back to the
Tower of Babel yeah because it goes back to the devil and the devil's been around since
the Garden of Eden that's why your religion so old but the Roman Catholic Church repackages
these pagan traditions that we find all throughout the world not just India but all throughout
the world and and puts a Christian label or it's a mixture of Christianity and paganism
but when you mix that which is godly and that which is righteous it ends up being unrighteous
because you cannot mix true righteousness with godliness they can't mix the two can't
mix because as soon as you mix them it's no longer righteous it's no longer godly you
know be like if we had a clean glass of water and a dirty glass of water there can be no
mixing because as soon as we mix it it's all dirty it's all ruined okay and the Bible says
that Christ doesn't have any agreement with Belial there's no agreement between the temple
of God with there can't be any fellowship between light and darkness they cannot coexist
I mean as soon as the light comes in the darkness is gone if darkness is there light is absent
they are not compatible and that's what the Bible tells us over and over again so that's
the kind of false religion that they're mixed up in in this chapter where they're burning
incense unto the queen of heaven pouring out drink offerings unto her as we've done they
say halfway through verse 17 we and our fathers our kings and our princes in the cities of
Judah and the streets of Jerusalem now here's another interesting point from this verse
they're basically saying well this is a tradition that we've done for a really long time Jeremiah
is telling them you're worshiping a false god and what did he say at the end of verse
three he said to serve other gods whom they knew not neither they ye nor your fathers
he's saying look you're worshiping strange gods that your fathers didn't worship these
are not your inherited traditional beliefs that were passed down from your fathers this
is some new fangled religion that you're that you're into it's foreign to Judah it's coming
out of Egypt it's coming out of Babylon it's coming out of these other places they turn
around and say well no actually actually our fathers and our kings and our princes historically
have worshiped these these false gods they come back with that argument so there's there's
a contradiction there between those two things and we see the same type of thing today where
a weird doctrine will come out right some strange new doctrine some false belief or
doctrine and and we'll look at it and say whoa wait a minute the bible says not to be
carried about with divers and strange doctrines you know what why are you coming out with
this new doctrine we need to stick with the old paths we need to stick with the bible
and the the doctrines that it teaches that have been the same from generation to generation
right and hey your fathers didn't believe this your grandfather didn't teach this he
didn't have an niv you know he didn't think that a sodomites a eunuch or whatever you
know whatever the weird doctrine we've never heard of that but then what will happen is
this is what they'll come at you with they'll they'll retort with well no no this is actually
a historical view and what they'll do they'll dig out some weirdo false prophet or some
total heretic or some catholic or whatever and that'll be their proof some church father
who castrated himself or or they'll pull out some you know heretic that was you know teaching
all kinds of crazy stuff and they'll basically say well look no this is a historical view this
is the truth to try to justify it and to try to rewrite history see if we actually look at the
history of judah righteous kings worship the lord all the way through right and they you know they
did that which was right in the side of the lord and they they got rid of idolatry they
got rid of the sodomites out of the land and they did all the right things and god bless now there
were periods in the history of judo where they would do evil on the side lord and worship other
gods but it wasn't the same god every time you know it could be bail could be the gods of the
phyllistines the gods of the mobites the gods of the ammonites you see there's one true god and
there's a multitude of false gods so you see they're looking back and saying well we worshiped
pagan gods we burned incense in the street to pagan gods because remember and then they're
basically looking back at the bad kings and acting like those were the real good gods so they're
basically just taking an exact opposite view of history where the good kings are bad and the bad
kings are good and then they're saying well they're worse but what Jeremiah is basically saying is
these aren't even the same pagan gods this is a different set of pagan gods that you're
worshiping this queen of heaven thing is different than the other bail or whatever you guys worshiping
over here so the point is that the historical argument it's not really gonna prove one way or
the other we just need to go with what the word of God says you know we can sit there and say hey
this is a weird new doctrine that you're coming out with and then they can sit there and pull out
their weirdo false teachers that they claim and here's the thing they don't even they'll take a
guy that just believed something similar or something and then try to say well he's teaching
the same thing that we're teaching but when the Bible says not to be carried about with divers
and strange doctrines what the Bible is telling us is we need to get grounded in the Word of God
and when someone comes at us with something that we've never heard before that's just this brand
new thing that we've never heard of it it better have a clear scripture because look if somebody
comes at you with a doctrine that you've never heard before and they have a clear scripture
well then you need to receive clear scripture of course anybody who comes at you with a clear
scripture that's worth taking note of that's worth believing and or you know at least examining it
and comparing scripture with scripture when somebody comes out with some newfangled doctrine
or some divers doctrine strange doctrine and they don't have a clear clear scripture rejected out of
hand should be rejected out of hand why because there's no new thing under the Sun so when people
are coming at you with a brand new doctrine and here we are we've been serving the Lord for years
soul-winning for years worshiping God for years our parents in many cases if we grew up in a
Christian home you know if you're gonna come out with some crazy doctrine that we've never heard
of you better have a crystal-clear scripture and you know what 99% of the time they're not going to
and so it should be rejected out of hand but that's kind of the the the argument that they're
trying to make is that well no no our fathers did worship these false gods and Jeremiah's thinking
all the bad Kings all the bad you know stories in the Bible and then look at what they say at
the end of verse 17 this is interesting also for then had we plenty of vittles that's food and
were well and saw no evil now this is a classic mistake that people make where they determine
what's right and wrong by how well things go in their life this is like a prosperity type gospel
where hey if you're doing what's right things will go well if you're doing wrong things will
go bad well the problem with that is that often when people are doing wrong they're prospering and
then often when they get right with God there's opposition the devil might bring opposition or
wicked people might bring opposition and the thing about God's punishment is that it's a delayed
reaction God doesn't just punish us the same hour and the same day that we sin if you study the
Bible people get punished a little bit later the Bible talks about sowing and reaping well
you don't just put a seed in the ground and then it's just like Boeing whoa I'm reaping same day
no you put it in and you wait and it seems like nothing's happening and then slowly over time you
get the increase you get the reaping that's the same way it is with rewards from God and it's the
same way it is with punishments from God so if I go out and do a bunch of great works for the Lord
tomorrow I'm not gonna get rewarded tomorrow probably not and if I go out tomorrow and
a bunch of wickedness I'm probably not gonna get punished tomorrow but whatever I do tomorrow
eventually is gonna catch up to me so what happens is these people are getting a little off on their
timing their timings just a little off they do right for a while and then you know nothing good
is happening for them then they start worshipping false gods and then the good starts to catch up
and then they're like whoa things are going good now that we're worshiping false gods and then all
of a sudden the bad happens and then they're like whoa we stopped worshipping false gods in the
back the whole thing makes no sense you can't base right and wrong on your circumstances it's
a mistake every time you say well how do I know if I'm doing what's right then if what you're
doing lines up with the Bible you're doing right and if what you're doing doesn't line up with the
Bible you're doing wrong and you cannot gauge it by how things are going in your life that's a huge
mistake and people make this mistake all the time and you say well I don't like that I want to get
some confirmation well then you lack faith and without faith it's impossible to please him for
he that cometh to God must believe that he is and must believe that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him why do you have to believe that because it doesn't happen immediately because
you don't just see the fruit of it immediately you have to believe that now I'm not saying that
you have to wait till heaven to find out because you will see over time the reaping in your life
of good seeds that you've shown and you will see the reaping in your life of bad seeds that you've
shown even on the earth you know the Bible talks about you don't have to turn there but in Proverbs
chapter 11 30 the famous soul winning verse where it says the fruit of the righteous is a tree of
life and he that winneth souls is wise the very next verse says behold the righteous shall be
recompensed in the earth much more the wicked in the center so things do come back at you in this
lifetime in this earth but it's a delayed reaction so you're not going to be able to match up the
rewards with the deal like oh this reward just came in because I did that six and a half years
ago remember remember that good thing I did I'm pretty sure that's why I just got this windfall
you know or something bad happens oh I knew I shouldn't have I know I shouldn't have done that
three and a half years ago oh it just got up with me you're not gonna know you have to have faith
you have to believe see people just always want everything to be that which is seen and that which
is understood with the carnal mind but we need to just by faith do right today why should we do
right today because it's the right thing to do because we love the Lord not just because well
what's in it for me now in the long run good things are in it for you and there's nothing
wrong with it being mindful of that but if you're looking for instant gratification you've come to
the wrong place because it's gonna be a slow process of reaping it's not gonna happen immediately
so that's a mistake they're making because look what they say in verse 18 but since we left off
to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings under her we've wanted
all things and have been consumed by the sword by the famine and when we burned incense to the queen
of heaven and poured out drink offerings under her did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out
drink offerings under her without our men so it's kind of interesting here how the women are running
the show clearly because it starts out in verse 15 then all the men which knew that their wives
had burned incense unto other gods and all the women that stood by that's who's talking so it's
men and women that are talking men that knew that their wives had done it and the women themselves
who'd done it and then that's why at the end we have the statement from the women well did we do
it without our men what we see here is that the women in this story were clearly the instigator
they're the ones whose idea it was to worship the queen of heaven but what we see here are weak men
because it's kind of strange don't you think this is kind of a strange statement because there's an
infinite number of things that we don't do in life I don't go around just telling everybody
constantly I don't do this I don't do this I don't do this so what'd you do today well let me just
tell you what I didn't do I didn't do any plumbing I didn't do any electrical I didn't do any
landscaping I didn't do any dry walling I didn't do any carpentry I didn't do that wouldn't really
make sense for me to just go through everything I didn't do wouldn't it make more sense to just
tell you what I did do so when people are telling you what they did not do and you didn't ask them
about that you never brought that up it's sort of like if I walked into my house and one of my
small children said I didn't break a glass you know I didn't take a cookie I didn't need any
chocolates like whoa I didn't bring anything up about that or what if I said something like hey
did you you know did you guys break something while I was gone no we didn't break a glass
like whoa I didn't bring up a glass so the point is that when people are talking about what they
don't do and it's unsolicited nobody brought that up there's kind of no reason to bring that up it's
kind of not relevant sometimes that can be a point of sensitivity with them that they it's
on their mind so they're bringing it up just to to deny it because they know that they're
actually guilty of it so what they're saying what I believe is going on in this story when they say
well I mean we didn't do it did we do it without our men I mean we didn't do it without them what's
going on here is that basically the men weren't for it the men weren't into it okay but the man
didn't put a stop to it they kind of just stood by and let it happen and you know I'm not I don't
think there was any resistance from the men because that's why these women are able to blow
off their mouths and say well I mean it's not like we did it without our husbands right Oswald
and he's kind of like yes dear when in reality he's like oh honey I'm not sure shut up we're
doing it okay honey no problem see weak men weak men stand by and let their wives and children do
whatever they want even if it's contrary to the Lord instead of being like Joshua who said as for
me and my house we will serve the Lord see we as men need to be the spiritual leader in our home
and we need to lay down a law that says we're gonna worship the Lord we're not gonna have pagan
deities we're not gonna have idolatry we're not gonna skip church to go party we're not gonna
bring in that DVD or that CD or that book or that teaching or what you know whatever it is that's
offensive to the Lord we're not gonna do that and they need to lay down the law not where their wife
brings in that which is wicked and they just say well I mean it's in my husband never told me not
to I mean I didn't do it without him see and look obviously it could be the other way around in
certain situations too it could be a godly wife and Anna and there could be an ungodly husband
that does things but of course there's a difference there because the man is the God ordained leader
it's not it's it's not a thing where you figure out which spouse is more spiritual and put them
in charge that is that what the Bible teaches figure out whether the husband or the wife's
more spiritual and put the more spiritual one in charge that's not what the Bible says the
Bible says the husband's the head of the wife end of story even if the husband's a babe in Christ
and if the wife is a spiritual giant if she's a spiritual giant she'll obey the Bible and submit
herself to her own husband and you know what ladies think about that when you get married
better marry somebody that you want to follow marry somebody that you that you think can lead
you and not be a drag on you spiritually not slow you down spiritually but rather
one that would help lead you to greater spiritual Heights now some people weren't saved when they
got married and so that you know they're they're in that position but they need to just make the
best of it submit to their husband do what's right but what I'm focusing on is the situation
in the story here where the men could have leaned toward maybe listening to Jeremiah's preaching
possibly getting right with God the wives seemed to clearly be the force that wants to drive them
to worship the Queen of Heaven and and and become pagans and well I mean we didn't do it without
them they were involved too but funny they're kind of just sitting back while these women speak
up and and well they knew their wives had done it so they kind of had to defend it at that point
right because you know otherwise egg on their face for not controlling their their home and
controlling their family so we see here men standing by and letting whatever go on in their
house and it's not right but you know what another principle that I want to lay out is that silence
is agreement by the way you know when you hold your peace the Bible says that if your wife makes
a vow or if your child makes a vow if you hold your peace all together in the day that you heard
it you confirmed the vow by holding your peace by saying nothing you confirmed it or what about
when David said you know I held my peace and now thought us that I was all together such a one as
thyself you know when you don't say anything people around you they assume that you agree with them so
if your wife says hey I'm gonna go do this and so or your child says hey I'm gonna go to this and so
and you just don't say anything you know they're they're probably gonna assume that you agree with
what they're doing it and then later you can say well I never said that was okay but you never said
it was wrong either so we need to send a clear message to our wives and a clear message to our
children that our house is gonna serve the Lord look down at your Bible there it says in verse 20
then Jeremiah said unto all the people to the men and to the women and to all the people which had
given him that answer saying the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and in the cities of
Jerusalem ye and your fathers your kings and your princes and the people of the land did not the
Lord remember them and came and not into his mind so that the Lord could no longer bear because of
the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you've committed therefore
is your land of desolation and an astonishment and a curse without an inhabitant as at this day
he's saying yeah you're right there were some fathers and grandfathers and kings who did that
stuff and that's what made God so mad that's why he wiped you out because you burned incense verse
23 and God seems to really be hung up on this incense thing just keeps bringing quit burning
incense so maybe we should all stay away from hippie gypsy and buying a bunch of incense down
there and you know burn a bunch of incense in our house you know it doesn't seem like God's into it
right get a get a citronella candle for crying out loud or something but anyway it says the Lord
could no longer bear because the evil of your doings verse 23 because you burn incense and
because you've sinned against the Lord and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord nor walked in
his law nor in his statutes nor in his testimonies therefore this evil has happened unto you as at
this day moreover Jeremiah said unto all the people unto all the women hear the word of the
Lord all Judah that are in the land of Egypt thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel saying
ye and your wives have both spoken with your mouths and fulfilled with your hands saying we
will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour
out drink offerings unto her ye will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your
vows therefore hear ye the word of the Lord all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt behold I
have sworn by my great name sayeth the Lord that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of
any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt saying the Lord God liveth behold I will watch over them
for evil and not for good and all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed
by the sword and by the famine until there be an end of them yet a small number that escaped the
sword shall return out of the land of Egypt into the land of Judah and all the remnant of Judah
that are gone into the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose words shall stand mine or
theirs and this shall be a sign unto you sayeth the Lord that I'll punish you in this place that you
may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil thus saith the Lord behold I will
give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and at the hand of them that seek
his life as I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon his
enemy and that sought his life and so God's very clear here these people are doomed the only reason
he's gonna let some of them survive is just long enough to tell the story just to make sure that
everybody knows that everybody got wiped out and then they can get wiped out too through famine or
pestilence or sword no blessing they're all going to hell in a handbasket they're all going to the
devil nothing good is look this is a story of doom it started in chapter one and all the way
to this point we see it carried through that God carried out what he said he would do and a lot of
people they think that when God makes these kind of threats that it's just an idle threat or that
God is just always gonna say all right I changed my mind I forgive you God's the God of the second
chance but he's not always the God of the third chance and sometimes there is no fifth chance or
ninth chance or tenth chance God is merciful he's slow to anger and of great mercy he sent his
prophets over and over again rising up early and sending them ultimately he sent Jeremiah but when
they refused to hear the voice of Jeremiah the Prophet eventually his patience runs out and once
you cross that line once you go off that cliff God says you're done God said oh you made vows
to that false God well I got I've sworn to I can swear to he said I've sworn that you're all gonna
die you're all gonna be doomed you're all gonna be destroyed and once God swears that in his wrath
it's game over at that point let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer father we thank you so
much for the book of Jeremiah Lord and and father I pray that Christians across America and across
the world would read the book of Jeremiah Lord we live in a day where people just selectively
read the parts of the Bible that make them feel good and preach the parts of the Bible that make
people feel good but Lord God thank you for a study in the book of Jeremiah that can remind us
that it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God and help us to take these
warnings and understand that we need to do right in your sight and that we need to stay away from
the snares of the devil we need to stay away from false gods false religion idols incense
paganism idolatry Lord help us to steer clear of these things and help us to love you with
all of our heart mind and soul and strength and help us to work for you Lord and do good
works and good deeds and keep your commandments in Jesus name we pray amen