LESSON TITLE: MEND YOUR WAYS

LESSON TEXT: JEREMIAH 7:1-15

Introduction:
Jeremiah, who served as both a priest and a prophet, was the son of a priest named
Hilkiah. He was from the small village of Anathoth (Jeremiah 1:1), today called Anata, about
3 miles northeast of Jerusalem. As an object lesson to Judah, Jeremiah remained unmarried
(Jeremiah 16:1–4). He was assisted in ministry by a scribe, named Baruch, to whom Jeremiah
dictated and who copied and had custody over the writings compiled from the prophet’s
messages (Jeremiah 36:4, 32; 45:1). Jeremiah has been known as “the weeping prophet”
(Jeremiah 9:1; 13:17; 14:17), living a life of conflict and burden because of his preaching
of judgment by the invading Babylonians. He was threatened, tried for his life, put in stocks,
forced to flee from Jehoiakim, publicly humiliated by a false prophet, and thrown into a pit.
God called Jeremiah to be a prophet when he was quite young, possibly around the age of
twenty. He began his work in the thirteenth year of King Josiah of Judah and prophesied for
more than forty years (Jeremiah 1:2-3). In the forty years preceding Judah’s exile to Babylon,
Jeremiah was a lone voice in the administrations of five kings. Judah’s religious and political
leaders were all corrupt. The prophets no longer proclaimed the word of God and the political
leaders no longer defended the cause of justice. It was almost impossible to find one righteous
God-fearing person in the land.
The first chapter of Jeremiah details Jeremiah’s call and commission to declare God’s
Word (Jeremiah 1:4-5, 7-8). His call was divine and his commission was dangerous. Chapter two
through twenty include his prophecies to Judah which consist of a series of messages. Our lesson
text from Jeremiah 7:1-15 is the third in that series. This third message is considered one of the
greatest, if not the greatest, in the Old Testament. It contains the heart of the message of
Jeremiah, who was himself all heart. This passage in Jeremiah 7 is the foundation for Jesus’
words when he cleansed the Temple (cf. Jeremiah 7:11 with Matthew 21:13).
In the early part of King Jehoiakim’s reign, when the people had gathered at the Temple
for a special feast day, Jeremiah delivered these convicting words. No doubt large numbers of
people were there presenting their offerings to the Lord along with the choirs singing and the
spiritual leaders chanting their religious words. In spite of all this spiritual activity, something
was tragically wrong.

I. HEAR GOD’S WORD (JEREMIAH 7:1-2)

Verse 1-2

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 “The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Stand in the gate of the
LORD'S house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of
Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.”
Three times a year, the Jewish men were required to go up to the temple in Jerusalem to
celebrate the feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16). This may have been the occasion for Jeremiah’s third
message. The temple was probably crowded, but there were not many true worshipers there. The
prophet stood at one of the gates that led into the temple courts, there he preached to the people
as they came in through the gate.
“Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the
LORD.” Jeremiah said the words he was speaking came to him “from the LORD.” He cried unto
the people and admonished them to “Hear the word of the LORD.” It was for “all Judah” as they
entered in through the gates to “worship the LORD.” The people were gathering for the purpose
of “worshipping,” yet they were in no spiritual condition to worship. The word “worship” is a
powerful word meaning “to prostrate yourself on the floor before a sovereign.” He is saying, “As
you enter the Temple you are acknowledging God’s complete and absolute Lordship over every
area of your life (Philippians 3:3).
Jeremiah had no doubt that he was delivering God’s message to the people. What he was
about to preach was not a product of his thinking, speculation, or conclusion about the spiritual
condition of the nation. It was God’s message that needed delivered if any change was going to
occur. The same holds true today (2 Timothy 4:2).
Question: Who speaks the most authoritative words in your life? Who should be heard
and heeded first? What one voice should always be heard above all others? Of course, it is the
word of the Lord. His words supersede all others.

II. CHANGE YOUR WAYS (JEREMIAH 7:3-7)

Verse 3
“Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and
I will cause you to dwell in this place.”
Jeremiah knew that God’s word had to be delivered in a practical and understandable
language. There was nothing angelic or phenomenal about his message. It was spoken directly to
the people in a way they could grasp and understand. Jeremiah was speaking in the name of “the
LORD of hosts, the God of Israel.” His Source was the “LORD of armies,” the King of the whole
universe. But more particularly, He was “the God of Israel.” His chosen people were the
recipients of His covenant and they are now being called upon to change their attitudes
and actions, conforming to what God demanded of them.

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 “Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.”
Jeremiah’s message was specific. The word “amend” means “to make well.” The people of Judah
were going to the Temple to worship. Outwardly they appear to be right with God but inwardly
there has been no change. They are living in sin and presuming they can worship God without
repentance and holiness. If they will make things right with God, He would “cause them to
dwell in this place.” The thought is, God would make it possible for them to continue living in
Palestine and enjoy God’s favor and blessing. The implication was clear that, if they refused,
they would be uprooted and deported elsewhere (Matthew 3:8-9).

Verse 4
“Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD,
The temple of the LORD, are these.”

The Jews were believing the “lying words” of the false prophets who had told them that
the presence of the temple in Jerusalem would protect them against the Babylonian threat.
Underlying this was the concept that God dwelt in the temple and that He would never allow it to
be destroyed. The chanting of the people, “The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD,
The temple of the LORD” must have sounded beautiful to the people, but it irritated Jeremiah’s
ears. It was not in tune with the word of God.
Just because the temple was the “LORD’S,” that did not guarantee the people from being
overtaken. The people failed to see that God was not obligated to remain there nor to protect the
city once they had abandoned Him in their hearts and in their actions.
We often hear politicians says, “God bless Philippines” Should any Filipino ask for God
to bless a nation that sanctions the murder of innocent babies in their mother’s womb and
desecrates the sanctity of marriage with unashamed adultery, cheap divorce, and approval of
sodomy? Are we to assume that we are protected from judgment because we attend a worship
service on Sunday morning? Do singing hymns and carrying our Bible to church give us a “get
out of jail card?”

Verse 5-7
“For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment
between a man and his neighbour; If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow,
and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: Then will I
cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”

“For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings” Jeremiah is about to tell them the
meaning of being right with God and properly worshipping Him. First, when our ways are

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amended we will “thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour.” We tend to
think of justice as belonging to the courtroom, the lawyers and the judges. But when Jeremiah
told the people to “thoroughly execute judgment,” he is calling upon each one to individually
make wrongs right between each other. A result of biblically worshipping the Lord is that
you do whatever is necessary to make things right in every relationship you have. Second, when
our ways are amended we will be in a right relationship with “the stranger, the fatherless, and
the widow.” True worship will be reflected in our conduct toward the weak and less fortunate.
Conduct changes when we “amend our ways and doings.” Third, when our ways are amended
we are secure and stabilized. For the second time in this section, the Lord says, “Then will I
cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.”
Note: We have a great deal to learn about true repentance, true worship and the affect it
has upon our conduct. Worship is not simply a passive activity of the mind. Jeremiah says it is a
righteous activity of the will. If the word of God heard and understood produces anything less
than a change in the hearer, worship will never be real.

III. DO NOT BE DECEIVED (JEREMIAH 7:8-11)

Verse 8

“Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.”

“Behold” means “be confident or sure.” Jeremiah wanted the people to be sure they were
trusting “in lying words, that cannot profit.” They were believing the false prophets and their
own conclusions that they could go through the form of worship and be right with God.
Believing that way “cannot profit.” It is time to abandon the “lying words” and admit the truth.

Verse 9-10
“Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto
Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not; And come and stand before me in this house,
which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?”

False worship, failure to repent and make amendments to our lives results in self-
deception. The people of Jeremiah’s day came and “stood before” the Lord in the temple and
said, “We are delivered to do all these abominations.” The word “delivered” means, “escaped.”
When they got inside the temple they felt like they were safe regardless of their conduct.

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 “Will” literally means, “What!” God is saying, “What? Do you steal, murder, commit
adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods and then
presume to come into my house and think you are safe?” The people were breaking
commandment after commandment and ignoring the need to repent and amend their ways.
Question: Is it good to come to church, to God’s house? The answer is yes if coming to
God’s house results in worship and commitment of your life to live according to God’s Word and
to do His will. But look at the other side of this question. Church can be the most dangerous place
you can be if you come in self-deception and refusal to amend your ways. Every time the word of
God is heard and the hearer refuses to amend their ways there is a layer of hardness that forms on
the heart that makes repentance and renewal increasingly difficult.
Teacher’s Note: After forty years of preaching and pastoring churches, I have watched as
people have been able to come and sit comfortably in church while their whole life is a
contradiction to the word of God.

Verse 11
“Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes?
Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.”
In a powerful metaphor, God said, “You have made my house a place where thieves store
their stolen merchandise and hide from justice.” If the words of this verse sound familiar it is
because the One who most often quoted Jeremiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, at the same place in
Jerusalem, six centuries later, encountered the same thing (Matthew 21:13). God’s “house” had
“become a den of robbers.” A “den of robbers” was a place where thieves met and stored their
spoils. It is a place where thieves hid to avoid justice. They leave the “den” to steal and return
with more spoils.
As sad as the reality of the people’s actions were, the sobering reality of this verse is
“…even I have seen it, saith the LORD.” Sin cannot be hid! God sees everything we do.

IV. LEARN FROM THE PAST (JEREMIAH 7:12-15)

Verse 12
“But go ye now unto my place which was in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and
see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.”
Jeremiah’s preaching must have caused the people to question what God was going to do
because of their actions. Jeremiah reached back into Israel’s history and used an illustration of
the tabernacle when it was located “in Shiloh.” “In Samuel’s time, over 400 years before the
days of Jeremiah, the sons of the high priest Eli turned their ministry at the tabernacle into a
personal
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racket, extracting bribes and sexual favors from worshippers there (1 Samuel 2:12-17, 22-25). To
make matters worse, some Israelites decided to treat the tabernacle’s ark of the covenant like a
magical object by taking it into battle (4:3-5). But Israel lost the battle, the ark was captured, and
Eli’s wicked sons were killed (4:6-11). Therefore God ‘forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent
which he placed among men’ (Psalm 78:60). Jeremiah’s audience need only take a trip to God’s
place which was in Shiloh to understand what He can do to Jerusalem as well. The ark of the
covenant did not serve as an object of magical protection, and neither will the temple.” (Standard
Lesson Commentary 2014-2015 (KJV).

Verse 13-14
“And now, because ye have done all these works, saith the LORD, and I spake unto you, rising
up early and speaking, but ye heard not; and I called you, but ye answered not; Therefore will I
do unto this house, which is called by my name, wherein ye trust, and unto the place which I
gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to Shiloh.”
Jeremiah's purpose in the history lesson was what God did to Shiloh He would also “do
unto this house,” or, the temple. The temple was “called by God's name” (Jeremiah 7:10, 12, 14)
in the sense that it was a symbol of God's presence. His "name" refers to His revealed attributes.
God had spoken to the people “rising up early” but they “heard not.” When God “called” them to
repent through the message of the prophets, they “answered not.”
If Judah did not change her ways God would thrust her from His presence just as He had
done with the Northern Kingdom (Ephraim) in 722 B.C. (2 Kings 17:5-20). “Therefore,” because
they refused all of God’s admonitions, God “will do unto this house…as He did to Shiloh.” The
temple was “called by God's name” (Jeremiah 7:10, 12, 14) in the sense that it was a symbol of
God's presence. His "name" refers to His revealed attributes.

Verse 15
“And I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brethren, even the whole
seed of Ephraim.”
God’s second history lesson was the story of “Ephraim.” “Ephraim” represents the
northern kingdom of Israel, since it was the leading tribe (2 Kings 17:23). The people of Judah
know their “brethren” to the north had been taken captive to Assyria by God’s design (2 Kings
17:1-23). God told Judah He would “cast them out of His sight” just as He did the northern
kingdom.
God wanted Judah to know that she should not expect any preferential treatment. He
would deal with her sin just as He did with Ephraim. The message is applicable to us as well.
Where there is unconfessed sin and indifference judgment is sure to follow. God help us to
learn from the lessons of Israel and Judah.

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Conclusion:
Jeremiah’s message to Judah was bold and to the point. They were to “mend their ways
and doings.” They should not expect to avoid judgment because they had a temple and the
outward appearance of being right with God. They were “churchgoers” with their scrolls tucked
under their arms. But they were a people in desperate need of repentance and revival.
The message of Jeremiah is needed today among God’s people. We have become a people
proud of our tradition, fundamental beliefs, and conservative values. We know how to talk the
talk and walk the walk. We assume because we are saved by grace, no judgment or punishment
for unconfessed sin will ever come to us. If you are unrepentant about any sin, you are
presuming upon God’s grace. Heed Jeremiah’s message today. “Mend your ways and doings.”
Amen.

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