Oh, Lord, how blessed we are to be able to come into your presence, to be able to sing our praises loudly and with our whole hearts. We pray, Lord, that as we worship you, we would submit ourselves to you, for the world surely is trying to drag us in every other direction but into your truth. So please today, Lord, as we come to your word, would you encourage our thoughts and our hearts that we might glorify you in all that we do. May we regard your word as the precious treasure that it is and strive to live according to it. For we pray in your mighty name. Amen. Last week we looked at chapter 5 of the Old Testament prophetic book of Jeremiah as God continued to present His case against the people of Judah for their unfaithfulness and their rebellion against Him. And in that message, God's just judgments, we said that those who do not fear the Lord are doomed to be judged by Him. We pointed out that the depravity of humankind was and still is total. Verses one, God said to his prophet, if you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I'll forgive this city. And we know that God would proceed to judge the people of Judah just a few years later, so it's clear that Jeremiah's search for a single righteous individual was actually fruitless. And we find that God's corrective measures are often ignored across all classes of people. Jeremiah laments that God had struck them, but they felt no pain. He crushed them, but they refused correction, and they had made their faces harder than stone, refusing to repent. And this was true of the poor and ignorant as well as the rich and educated alike. We further saw that idolatry is closely associated with sexual immorality. Pagan religious practices often involve ritualistic prostitution that supposedly promoted fertility. We saw that people misunderstand God's long suffering as indifference about sin. Fundamental misunderstanding of his merciful choice not to immediately destroy people for their transgressions. But as we've seen so far in this book, at his appointed time, he was about to judge his people. Once again, though, he promised undeserved mercy to them. And we further saw that God judges people for their failure to fear him as he should, as they should. Sorry. And God also judges people for the way they treat others. And that theme we'll carry over into today's message as well. Finally, we saw that the religious leaders were actually, instead of leading the people in the way of righteousness, they were leading the people astray. Our message title today is Rejecting the Truth. Today we're going to begin to move a little bit faster through the book of Jeremiah. We're going to explore the key themes. And we'll bounce back and forth a little bit amongst the chapters we're going to look at. We'll be considering similar material that is repeated. And so if you have your Bible, please turn to Jeremiah chapter 6, where we'll begin today. And I want to explain why we can sort of safely skip over some of the recurring descriptions of the judgments to come and the armies of Babylon that will inflict them. And I say this because this punishment that was to come was for that time and for that people. God was giving every opportunity for his people to repent. These messages were preached again and again by Jeremiah, and God had been pointing out the judgments that had been poured out on the northern kingdom of Israel, taking them into captivity by Assyria some hundred years before, and the devastations to come upon Judah were mentioned again and again trying to get the people of Judah to repent. So we want to continue to study those things that the Word of God says will cause him to bring judgment on people and nations in order that we will hopefully heed and avoid those judgments ourselves. But even though every single word of God's scripture is valuable, once we've gained a good sense of how the Lord was planning to chastise Judah, we don't necessarily need to examine and discuss every single description of the impending judgments on them because If God is going to judge somebody else, He may do it in a totally different way, okay? Once you get the picture, you don't need to examine more and more and more and more copies of the same picture. Does that make sense? Okay. Key issue we do need to understand and even repeat, however, is that rejecting the truth of God's Word is the first step in falling under His judgment. We need to understand that. Rejecting the truth of God's word is the first step always in falling under his judgment. We see in both chapters six and eight that rejection of God's word will bring judgment. So if you're in chapter six of Jeremiah, look at verse 10. The prophet writes, to whom can I speak and give warning? Who will listen to me? Their ears are closed so that they cannot hear and the word of the Lord is offensive to them. They find no pleasure in it. Literally here it says in the original Hebrew that their ears are uncircumcised. They're unable to hear the word of the Lord. Both the scriptures that God had already given them and the oracles that were being given by the prophets that God had sent to warn them were offensive to the people. And is that not the case in our day as well? The word of God is offensive to people because it calls them to be aware of their sin. And I believe that the day is very quickly coming when preaching the truth of God's word is going to be considered hate speech, and I believe in all likelihood it's gonna be criminalized, merely because it offends someone or another by pointing out their sin and their danger in continuing in it. Now, contrast that with the heartfelt words of the psalmist in Psalm 119. This is a little later. Oh, how I love your law. I meditate on it all day long. Your commands are always with me and make me wiser than my enemies. I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes. I have more understanding than the elders, for I obey your precepts. I've kept my feet from every evil path so that I might obey your word. I've not departed from your laws, for you yourself have taught me. How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your precepts, and therefore I hate every wrong path." Now jump ahead to verse 16 of chapter 6. This is what the Lord says. Stand at the crossroads and look. Ask for the ancient paths. Ask where the good way is and walk in it. And then you will find rest for your souls. The ancient paths, the good way is the way of the Lord. Walking in harmony with him and his word. Knowing and obeying the dictates of the scriptures and God's commands, the net Bible renders this, ask where the path that leads to blessing is and follow it. If you do, you'll find rest for your souls. The last part of verse 16 though, but you said, we will not walk in it. God goes on, I appointed watchmen over you and said listen to the sound of the trumpet, but you said we will not listen. The watchmen here are the true prophets of God sent to warn the people and their words were meant to be a trumpet of warning to people in danger. They were in danger because of their many sins. But the people refused to walk in the way of the Lord and they refused to listen to the warnings of the prophets. And is, again, that not precisely what is happening in our day? The term progressive is a euphemism. It suggests progress, but in reality, the goal of that progress is a rejection of the old ways, the ways of God. an embracing and celebration of behaviors that God calls not only sin, but sins that will disqualify a person from heaven and eternal life. In fact, the very goal of the progressive agenda is to rid the world of the very idea that there is a God and to rid themselves of any sort of inhibition on their behaviors. They, in concert with Satan, want to see the world walk in the way of the devil. Walk in the way of, if it feels good, do it. So God says to Judah and doubtless to us as well, verse 18, therefore, hear you nations, you who are witnesses, observe what will happen to them. Hear you earth, I'm bringing disaster on this people. The fruit of their schemes because they have not listened to my words and they have rejected my law. God continues this theme in chapter 8. Turn forward. Chapter 8 and verse 8. How can you say we are wise for we have the law of the Lord when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? This is a sad truth about the Jewish people of that day. They were proud of their status as God's chosen people and the fact that the Lord had given them his word. The problem was they did not value or obey that word. And as we saw last time, the religious leaders were neither teaching the word accurately nor were they setting the appropriate example. That's why New Testament believers are warned in James, do not merely listen to the word and so deceive yourselves. Don't think that just by hearing someone preach, you've accomplished something. Anyone who listens to the word, James goes on, and does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and after looking at himself, he goes away but immediately forgets what he looks like. But whoever looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom and continues in it, not forgetting what they have heard, but doing it, they will be blessed in what they do. See, progressives think that getting rid of God and his word will give them freedom. God says that true freedom is found only in me. And God goes on in verse nine of chapter eight, the wise will be put to shame. They will be dismayed and trapped since they've rejected the word of the Lord. What kind of wisdom do they have? See, if you reject the wisdom of God, the inerrant and authoritative source of life and goodness that it is, you're left sadly with just the world's wisdom. Wisdom that's infected with Satan's lies. Paul was inspired to write of the contrast between God's wisdom and the world's in 1 Corinthians 1, 18 and following. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved, it's the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate. Where is the wise person? Where's the teacher of the law? Where's the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since the wisdom of God, the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs, Greeks look for wisdom, but we, we preach Christ crucified. A stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called both Jews and Greeks, Christ is the power of God and the wisdom of God. Rejection of God's word brings judgment because doing so is the first step in falling into sin. Second theme we find here is that lack of shame over sin will also bring judgment. Go back to chapter six and verse 15. Chapter six, verse 15. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, God says, they have no shame at all. They do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen and they will be brought down when I punish them. And that same statement, that exact same statement is repeated in chapter eight and verse 12 with the addition of the resulting punishment to come in verse 13. Are they ashamed of their detestable conduct? No, they have no shame at all. This is chapter 8 in verse 13. They don't even know how to blush, so they'll fall among the fallen. They will be brought down when they are punished, says the Lord. I will take away their harvest, declares the Lord. There will be no grapes on the vine, there will be no figs on the trees, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them. See, shame is a tool that God uses to help us identify when we are in sin. That's the purpose of shame. You could say that shame is an adjunct to our conscience. That's why Paul would say as he gave his defense before his governor Felix, however, I admit that I had worshiped the God of our ancestors as a follower of the way, as a follower of Christ, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the law and written in the prophets, the Old Testament, and I have the same hope in God as these men, his accusers, have. That there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. So, Paul says, I always strive to keep my conscience clear before God and men. That should be our goal. Keep your conscience clear before God and men. The problem is the conscience can be deceived, causing it and the sense of shame not to function properly. It's the old computer programmer's axiom, garbage in, garbage out. If people are consuming and ultimately being deceived by worldly wisdom and ideals coming from the devil, Instead of being informed by the truth of God's word, well, we quickly stop feeling guilt. We quickly stop feeling shame over behaviors that the Lord calls sin. And in that worldly wisdom, they're encouraged to think that they're okay, when in reality, they're storing up wrath in God's eyes. That's why the psalmist wrote, pleading with God, keep me from deceitful ways. Be gracious to me and teach me your law. I have chosen the way of faithfulness and I've set my heart on your laws. I hold fast to your statutes, Lord. Do not let me be put to shame. I run in the path of your commands for you have broadened my understanding. Paul was inspired to tell Timothy that it was quite possible by embracing falsehood rather than God's truth to have one's conscience become utterly insensitive. 1 Timothy 4 and verse 2, such teachings come through hypocritical liars whose consciences have been seared as though with a hot iron. It's like being cauterized. You stop feeling. In the book of the Proverbs we're warned, the righteous hate what is false, but the wicked make themselves a stench and they bring shame on themselves. Shame is a good and a useful tool that the Lord would use both to save people and to transform their behaviors. But what's tragic and dangerous in our day now is it's considered more shameful to tell someone that they're doing wrong than to actually do the wrong. Warning someone that they are committing sin is considered a sin worse than the sin itself. destroys a key element of the refining process that God uses to redeem and purify people. The Lord told Jeremiah in chapter six and verse 27, I've made you a tester of metals and my people are the ore that you may observe and test their ways. They're all hardened rebels going about to slander. They're bronze and iron and they all act corruptly. Though the bellows blow fiercely to burn away the lead with fire, the refining goes on in vain. The wicked are not purged out. They are called rejected silver because the Lord has rejected them. It's a sad state of affairs for them and for us. Third issue related to chapters, are related in chapter six and seven, and that is that merely going through the motions of religious ritual will bring judgment. Merely going through the motions of religious ritual will bring judgment. Back up now to chapter 6 and verse 20 where God says, what do I care about incense from Sheba or sweet calmness from a distant land? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable. Your sacrifices, God says, do not please me. And what God is saying here is that the people of Judah were merely going through the motions of religious ritual. They were burning incense as though that somehow pleased God rather than living an obedient life. Jump forward again. Now to chapter seven and verse 21, God elaborates on this same subject. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat your meat yourselves. For when I brought your ancestors out of Egypt and I spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, but I gave them this command, obey me. Obey me and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in obedience to all that I command you that it may go well with you. But God says they did not listen or pay attention. Instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward. From the time your ancestors left Egypt until now, day after day, again and again, I sent you, my servants, the prophets. But they did not listen to me or pay attention. They were stiff-necked and they did more evil than all their ancestors. So when you tell them all this, they will not listen to you, God says to Jeremiah. When you call to them, they will not answer. Therefore say to them, this is the nation that has not obeyed the Lord its God or responded to correction. Truth is perished, it is vanished from their lips. Cut off your hair and throw it away and take up a lament on the barren heights for the Lord has rejected and abandoned this generation that is under his wrath. Bounce back to chapter six again and we'll see what God promises to do because the people's worship was not sincere. Pretense. It was for show rather than worship given because of a broken and contrite heart. Verse 21 of chapter 6. Therefore, this is what the Lord says, I will put obstacles before this people. Parents and children alike will stumble over them. Neighbors and friends will perish. This is what the Lord says. Look, an army is coming from the land of the north. A great nation is being stirred up from the ends of the earth. They're armed with bow and spear. They're cruel and show no mercy. They sound like the roaring sea as they ride on their horses. They come like men in battle formation to attack you, oh daughter Zion. Now chapter seven actually begins a new oracle, but it continues this theme of hypocritical worship. Chapter seven and verse one. This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Stand at the gate of the Lord's house and there proclaim this message. Hear the word of the Lord, all you people of Judah who come through these gates to worship the Lord. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. Reform your ways and your actions and I'll let you live in this place. Do not trust deceptive words and say, this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Again, we see God calling through the prophet Jeremiah, repent and reform. God says, if you do, I won't force you into captivity. The next phrase in verse four tells us the people were believing the fact that because they had Solomon's temple, the temple of the Lord, and because it was there in Jerusalem, God would not allow the city to be attacked or desecrated. And so God again gives the people opportunity to repent and not see these judgments poured out. Verse 5, he says, if you really change your ways and your actions and you deal with each other justly, if you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place, if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place. In the land I gave your ancestors forever and ever. But look, you're trusting in words that are deceptive and are worthless. Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods you've not known and then come and stand before me in this house which bears my name and say, we're safe? Safe to do all these detestable things. Has this house which bears my name become a den of robbers to you? No, I've been watching, declares the Lord. Think about this. Five of the 10 commandments are being broken here, it says. They were likely guilty of breaking the others as well, yet they arrogantly assumed that God would do nothing about their behavior because the temple was in the middle of their capital city. One commentator puts it this way, thieves and robbers flee to the safety of their caves and their hangouts after a heist. And in like manner, the people of Judah, after acting all week like gross sinners, resorted to attending Yahweh's temple without any thought of sorrow or repentance. And thus God's temple became a den of robbers and thieves. Jesus used that very same denunciation for those who were using the temple in his day in a similar fashion. They pretended as if no one cared. The mere attendance at the house of God, coming to church, was enough. But God says in verse 12 of chapter seven, now go to the place in Shiloh where I first made a dwelling for my name and see what I did to it because of the wickedness of my people. God's point here is just because you have the temple in Jerusalem, don't assume that you're safe from the coming wrath. He says go 19 miles to the north to the place where my sanctuary was located in the day of Samuel. Shiloh was destroyed when God allowed the Philistines to burn it to the ground in 1050 BC, and it was not rebuilt at all until several hundred years after Jeremiah's time, and then only to a limited extent. The people of Judah needed only go to kick around in the ashes of Shiloh to dispel the idea that having the sanctuary of God would provide protection when God was determined to judge. Indeed, he says in verse 13, while you were doing all these things, declares the Lord, I spoke to you again and again, but you did not listen. I called to you, but you did not answer. Therefore, what I did to Shiloh, I will now do to the house that bears my name, the temple that you trust in, the place I gave to you and your ancestors. and I will thrust you from my presence just as I did all your fellow Israelites, O people of Ephraim." God once again reminds the people of Judah of the destruction that he had sent upon the northern kingdom just a hundred years before. The question for us today Do we come to church just to do our religious duty? Pay no heed to what we've heard as we live like hell for the rest of the week. As we've seen throughout the early chapters, Jeremiah, God also says that worship of other gods, that is, idolatry, will bring judgment. Worship of other gods will bring judgment. Chapter 7 and verse 16. So do not pray, he says to Jeremiah, for these people, nor offer any plea or petition for them. Do not plead with me, for I will not listen to you. Do you not see what they are doing in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, the fathers light the fire, and the women knead the dough and make cakes to offer to the Queen of Heaven. They pour out drink offerings to other gods to arouse my anger. But am I the one they are provoking, declares the Lord? Are they not rather harming themselves to their own shame? Obviously, idolatry and God's broken heart over his people's spiritual adultery has been a huge theme in these early chapters of Jeremiah. But I reiterate this once again and go through this passage because there's an interesting title that's used here that actually has contemporary significance. That title, The Queen of Heaven, referred to Ishtar, an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess, also called Ashtoreth and Asarte by various other groups. She was understood to be the wife of the false god Baal, also known as Moloch. And the motivation for women to worship Ashtoreth stemmed from her reputation as a fertility goddess. And the bearing of children in that day was a big deal. Worship of this queen of heaven then was rampant in pagan civilizations and sadly it became popular among the Israelites as well. The only other time the title is used in scripture is later here in Jeremiah in chapter 44 where the people say they are going to continue to worship her because they credit her with being the one who gives them prosperity and fertility rather than Yahweh. So I include this discussion of this title, the Queen of Heaven, because it has been given to Mary by the Catholic Church. One commentator explains there is no Queen of Heaven. There never has been a queen of heaven. There is most certainly a king of heaven, the Lord of hosts, and he alone rules in heaven. He does not share his rule or his throne or his authority with anyone. The idea that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is the queen of heaven has no scriptural basis whatsoever. Instead, the idea of Mary as the Queen of Heaven stems from proclamations of priests and popes in the Roman Catholic Church. Mary was certainly a godly young woman, greatly blessed in that she was chosen to bear the Savior of the world. She was not in any way divine, nor was she sinless, nor is she to be worshipped. revered, venerated, or prayed to. All the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ in scripture except the Lord himself refused to be worshipped. Peter and the apostles refused to be worshipped. The holy angels refused to be worshipped. And the response is always the same when people tried to do so, worship God. So to offer worship, veneration, reverence to anyone but God is nothing short of idolatry. Mary's own words in her Magnificat, that's in Luke 1, 46 to 55, reveal that she never thought of herself as immaculate or deserving of veneration. On the contrary, she was relying on the grace of God for salvation. Verses 46 and 47 of Luke 1, my soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in what? God, my Savior. Only sinners need a Savior. If Mary was immaculate, she didn't need a Savior. And in fact, the Catholic Church has called her a co-redemptrix with Christ. And Jesus himself issued a mild rebuke to a woman who cried out to him, blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you. And he replied, blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it. And so in saying this, Jesus curtailed any tendency to elevate Mary to an object of worship or veneration. He certainly could have said, yes, blessed is the queen of heaven. But he didn't. He was affirming the same truth that the Bible affirms. There is no queen of heaven, and the only biblical references to the queen of heaven refer to the goddess of an idolatrous false religion. God directed in the giving of the Ten Commandments, he spoke all these words, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven or above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sins of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commands. So as a result of this spiritual infidelity that Judah continued to display, including that described here in chapter 7 of Jeremiah with the so-called Queen of Heaven, verse 20, therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, on man and beast, on the trees of the field and on the crops of your land, and it will burn and not be quenched. So we touched on the final theme that we need to mention today a month ago when we studied chapter two, and that is the fact that child sacrifice will bring judgment. Child sacrifice will bring judgment. Chapter seven and verse 30. The people of Judah have done evil in my eyes, declares the Lord. They have set up their detestable idols in the house that bears my name and have defiled it. And they have built the high places of Topeth in the valley of Ben-Himnon to do what? To burn their sons and daughters in the fire, something I did not command, nor did it enter my mind. In fact, the people of Israel were warned explicitly against joining into such detestable practices in the re-giving of his law just prior to the entrance into the promised land. When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire. who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, casts spells, anyone who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead, anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. And because of these detestable practices, the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you, he said to Israel. Notice there the close association between child sacrifice and occult practices that is really ultimately the worship of Satan. Child sacrifice is a satanic ritual. God hates child sacrifice and the shedding of innocent blood. And some might say, well, that doesn't have anything to do with us. We don't sacrifice our children to idols. Yes, we do. We sacrifice them on the altar of greedy abortion providers, and on the altar of freedom from the consequences of our sexual activities, and we sacrifice them on the altar of women's rights. Our idol is ourselves and the very freedoms that make our nation so great. Now most people will say they personally are opposed to abortion and they certainly wouldn't get one, but they're uncomfortable with the idea of telling others what to do with their bodies. The problem is there's always two bodies involved in an abortion. And the tiny unseen ones never have the opportunity to express how they feel about what's going on. Abortion has been framed as a women's rights issue, yet the fact remains that half the aborted babies would grow up to be women if given the chance. And the argument for abortion used to be that it should be legal so that it would be safe and rare. But every time that common sense safety regulations are proposed, like having an abortion center meet the same medical standards as any other ambulatory surgical center, abortion advocates immediately set up a great howl, because this would limit access for women. Understand, friends, what they're saying when they say that. It would limit access because they don't meet the standards. They're not that safe. The pro-baby killing cultists in many cases don't even believe that it's necessary to have a doctor perform the procedure. All of that is clear admission that they don't really care about safety at all. They just want to keep the dollars flowing. And that is exactly the reason why abortion proponents now never suggest that abortion should be rare. A few years ago, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton stood on the stage. Abortion needs to be legal, safe, and rare, extremely rare. That's been thrown out of the platform, friends, in just a matter of about a decade. It's now simply a health care procedure, like having a mole or an ingrown toenail removed. to say that abortion should be rare is to admit that there is something inherently undesirable, dare I say, wrong with it, and that too restricts the flow of cash. The most compelling argument for abortion used to be because of cases of rape or incest, they would say. And many otherwise very compassionate people to the pro-life side are very uncomfortable telling women what they should do in those situations. You know what the reality is? According to the USA Today article from 2019, abortion for reasons of rape or incest account for only 1.5 out of every 100 decisions to abort. One and a half out of 100. And abortion to save the life of the mother is another fallacy. As far back as 1981, the former Surgeon General of the United States, C. Everett Koop, said, the fact of the matter is that abortion as a necessity to save the life of the mother is so rare as to be non-existent. And advances in medical science have rendered the killing of the unborn child medically unnecessary. You simply deliver the baby. albeit prematurely, means in reality that 98 of 100 abortions performed are on the sacrificial altar of convenience. Limiting of access to abortion, rape, incest, the life of the mother would all but cut off the cash flow that these clinics profit handsomely. from their baby killing. Arguments have now devolved to the point that people are saying the unborn child is a parasite, that the woman shouldn't have to host if she doesn't want to, rather than the blessing that God's word says that a child is. Time to decide not to have a child is before it's conceived, not afterwards. And make no mistake, it's those who control the language that is used in these arguments, the media and the politicians, those are the people who have the upper hand in this because they'll claim it's a fetus, not a baby. That's a meaningless semantic argument. We have all kinds of words for all kinds of stages of human life. babies, toddlers, teens, adults, seniors, and so on. Fetus is merely the word we use according to Webster's Dictionary to describe a developing human from usually two months after conception to birth. And those who want to be able to kill babies at any time for any reason are described as champions of a woman's right to choose. And those of us who would prefer to be called pro-life get labeled as abortion foes. These words are very deliberately used by those in thrall to Satan, and these words carry connotations. Champions are good, foes are evil. Another argument used in favor of abortion is that there's nothing wrong with it until the baby reaches some arbitrary point of viability, that is, ability to survive on its own outside the womb or has somehow become a person. The problem with that argument is the so-called product of conception doesn't become a human at some point. They exist at every point in their life. from conception on to its end at the appropriate level of growth. And in addition, the time that a child can actually survive on its own is not immediately after birth. Might not be until 5, 6, 7, 8, maybe 15 years after the baby's been born. And it's grown up and it can feed itself and go and find something to eat. Add this to the fact that many pro-baby-clearing legislatures have increasingly authorized and endorsed the extermination of pre-born babies far beyond medical science's ability to keep them alive outside the womb. In many cases, these pro-death advocates want to keep this so-called right available right up to the moment of birth. And why stop there? Think about it. Why shouldn't we just be able to euthanize our child if we lose our job? Or we just find that it's too hard getting up in the middle of the night to feed them. Having a baby's hard. And I need to say, as we talk about this always, The shame is not so much with the women who've often been conjoled and pressured to make this choice. They are typically naive. They're often poorly informed. They're frightened and alone. It's why doing ultrasounds is so important that people be able to see what it is that they are actually destroying. But it's the wicked, the greedy, the people that prey on these women who want to keep them in the dark so that they can profit from the destruction of human life. These are the ones that we should scorn. And so, ladies, if any of you have gone through this and never dealt with it, I encourage you, find support services that are out there. A ministry like Pregnancy Aid Illinois used to be PIC just down the street. They've now moved out Lake Street just beyond the freeway on the right out there. It's near Harner's Restaurant now. Caring Net, find a Christian counselor to help you find forgiveness and healing in Christ. Abortion is a sin, but it is not an unforgivable sin for a woman who has been duped if one repents. Christians have to be wise as serpents and innocent of doves. And we must, as Christians, friends, vote as a matter of public policy for those who say that they are committed to protecting innocent lives. Because God blesses those who acknowledge him and obey him, and he will judge those who do not. Deuteronomy, as we saw, said that he had judged the pagan nations before Israel, and here in Jeremiah we are told just how severe his judgments were going to be on the people of Judah because of all this wickedness. Chapter 7 and verse 32. So beware, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when the people will no longer call it Topeth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, the place where they were sacrificing children in the fire, but the Valley of Slaughter, for they will bury the dead in Topeth until there is no more room. Then the carcasses of this people will become food for the birds and the wild animals, and there will be no one to frighten them away. I will bring an end to the sounds of joy and gladness and to the voices of the bride and bridegroom in the towns of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem, and the land will become desolate. And he continues, the rest of this is actually in chapter eight, verses one to three. At that time, declares the Lord, the bones of the kings and the officials of Judah, the bones of the priests and the prophets, and the bones of the people of Jerusalem will be removed from their graves. They will be exposed to the sun and to the moon and all the stars in the heavens, which they have loved and served, and they've followed and consulted and worshiped They will not be gathered up or buried, but they will be like dung lying on the ground. And wherever I banish them, Lord, says all the survivals of this evil nation will prefer death to life, declares the Lord Almighty. Let's pray. Lord, these things are desperately concerning when we think of all the wickedness that is going on in our nation these days. We are surely under your impending wrath just as Judah was in Jeremiah's day. Lord, we cry out to you for mercy and forgiveness. We pray that you would send revival through our country. Lord, that people would turn back to the truth of your word, that they would not want to progress past it, but would indeed desire to live in the way of blessing, which is the way of the Lord. Lord, help us to believe these truths, to accept them and live by them, for we ask it in your mighty inmost...