28th chapter of Jeremiah. I hope the Lord will give good utterance, sound, bright, Christ-honoring, and give you a good heart in hearing. I want to speak to you on the Lord's house being empty. The reason that's so is because Israel now is in bondage to Nebuchadnezzar. He's already taken all the vessels out of the house of the Lord. I could title it, The Lies of a False Prophet. The devil could have convinced him that he was telling the truth. I do not know that. Or he could have had a dream or a premonition that within two years the vessels would be brought back. Whatever it was, he lied, as do false prophets. Jeremiah 28, I'll read, well you read with me from verse 1 through verse 4, and then commenting on a couple of other verses in this chapter and else place. Would you bow with me? Lord, there was a a silence. Sound, if that can be said, when we sang about the sweetness, how sweet is the place, with Christ indoors. Maybe we've tasted that, but we're missing so much of Him in our services. The one plea of our hearts is return, Lord Jesus, to your house by thy Spirit. revealing Thee, making us aware that Thou art nigh. Lord, would You grant a good understanding in these, a right declaration that it all might be truth, and that our appetites for spiritual things might be whetted to a degree. And we begin searching, looking, and longing for him. We're like the prodigal son's father. He had a watch on the road that his son would be on. Are we watching? Do we have an interest in Christ being manifest and drawing nigh to our hearts here? My Father, help. Do that work within which is needful, both in the hearer and in the speaker. And do that which all of us will be glad of when we stand before you. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Jeremiah 28, and it came to pass the same year, in the beginning of the reign of Zedekiah, king of Judah, in the fourth year and in the fifth month, that Hananiah, the son of Ezra, the prophet, which was of Gibeon, spake unto me in the house of the Lord, in the presence of the priest and of all the people saying, now get that, in the presence of the priest there and all the people. And here's what he had to say, thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel saying, I have broken the yoke of the king of Babylon. Within two full years will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house that Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, took away from this place and carried them to Babylon. And I will bring again to this place Jeconiah, the son of Jehoiakim, king of Judah, with all the captives of Judah that went into Babylon, saith the Lord, for I will break the yoke of Babylon." You will find later on that Jeremiah is in this crowd, and he's in there with a wooden yoke around his neck. God, many times throughout the Old Testament, would have prophets do such things. for a lesson. Jeremiah had to go, I think, almost a hundred miles to bury the outer garment, the girdle, down there in Euphrates, down in damp land, swamp land, on the bank of the Euphrates. He wasn't back home long before God said, and put it on and wear it. A sign to Israel. Ezekiel had to lay on his right side for so many days, over a year, then on his left side for the number of years that Israel would be in bondage. So this was nothing new. for Jeremiah to come into the midst of the congregation, people and priests, wearing a yoke. Now the one thing that you can rest assured of is Satan has never, ever liked for a voice among men or even in the professing church. But it is only in the chosen nation of God that the false prophets spring up and go forth declaring, this is what God said, this is what God will do. The spokesman for God. are very few compared to the demonic men speaking lies today. The rest of the world. I started, thought I would be finished with this on Wednesday, then I thought I'd be finished with it on Thursday, but I never did. But I want to get out the thousand-year reign of Christ, which also is the time that Satan is bound. Christ is in charge that beginning at Calvary, especially that resurrection morning. Then when the disciples went forth from Judea, Samaria, to the uttermost parts of the world, under the preaching and unction of the Holy Spirit, declaring the gospel, Satan was bound. His dominion in the world was taken from him. for that thousand-year reign. Prior to that, even here where we are looking at this, there was but one nation that had the light and had the voice of God. Satan had every other nation on the face of the earth under his domain. He ruled. He had them all in darkness. Oh, there were a few occasions. The Gentile widow, where Elijah stayed, Naaman the leper that came down to see the prophet, he was brought in. And from time to time a Gentile would be brought in, but the world as a whole lay in darkness. Israel only had light. And it is here in this nation that the devil needed false prophets. Elijah was raised up, well, anytime you read about a prophet coming on the scene, it was because the judgment of God was in the land, and God was sending warning. So Elijah is raised up in the time that Israel had that wicked king Ahab. From his marriage, to that woman, he had adopted Baal as his God, he had cast off the living, the true God, and Elijah was the only public voice that Jehovah had at that time. It goes on in chapter 18 of 1 Kings where Elijah goes and hides himself, and God said, Elijah, why are you here? Why are you hiding? He said, I only am left in Israel. God said, no, I've got 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal. The only thing was that they were hidden. They were kept in quietness as far as being out in the public. Elijah only had the message of Jehovah to that nation. Now here Jeremiah is in the house of the Lord in the presence of the priest and all the people. And he sits there with a wooden yoke. around his neck, symbolizing that this king and Israel is going into captivity and bondage. And the king of Babylon already has taken away many and taken away the vessels out of the house of the Lord. He's going to take away more. symbolizing a voice to the people. Well, that's not a pleasing message. But not to worry. Satan's going to always come along. And you're going to always hear from a false prophet. Never mind. God told me that he would break the yoke of the king of Babylon within two years. And the empty house where the vessels of God has been taken away, he's gonna bring them all back. And later on we'll see Jeremiah says, amen. So be it. Hannah and I had a very pleasing message. Jeremiah did not contradict him there, but he later caught him by himself. He said, you lied. It's not going to be as you said, and you will be dead within the space of this year. But you never answer a fool according to his folly. They've got a way of twisting words, even taking scripture, and they will confound even the wise if God leaves you alone, if you start an argument with any of them. There's no need. You can't accomplish anything. So Satan has a thousand voices, probably more than that, to the Lord's one. And when Paul was getting ready to leave, he knows his time is at an end. He writes that last letter to Timothy, 2 Timothy, and he said, Timothy, I charge thee before God, I'm the Lord Jesus Christ. Timothy, these two, The Lord Jesus Christ and God will be the one that you will stand before one day. And in that charge, Paul said to the young minister, preach the gospel, reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering, for the time will come when they will not endear sound doctrine, but they will all heap to themselves teachers having itching ears." That is, the teachers will have words that will be pleasing to the ears of those around. Turn on your television, your radio, do whatever. You can find one quickly. Now Jeremiah had previously warned Israel what's going to happen. Turn back with me to the seventh chapter here. In chapter seven, In verse number 11, is this house which is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eyes? You remember Christ walking into the temple as his ministry began, and he threw them all out, the money changers, the traders. He let the animals go free. He said, you've made what was the house of prayer. It's no more than a den of thieves. You are robbers. 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. Now this is God warning Israel. This is way before Hananiah stands up, verse 12, but go ye now to my place, which is in Shiloh, where I set my name at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. Now because you've done all these works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you rising up early and speaking, but you heard not, and I called you, but you answered not. I had a word for you, but you acted as though you did not hear me when I called." Verse 14, therefore, will I do unto this house which is called by my name, wherein you trust, and unto the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I've done to Shiloh. Shiloh was the first place where the tent or the tabernacle was set up. It's where God first met with Israel as a people. Go to my house down there. Look at Shiloh. Folk are going to be walking by and wondering what happened here. and even people not belonging to the family of God, they're going to say these departed from God, therefore that's why Shiloh is in the condition that it's in right now. Now go with me if you would and I'll try to limit the places for you to look to Psalm 78. Psalm 78 verse 58. When God heard this, he was wroth and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men, and delivered his strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand. He gave his people over also unto the sword and was wroth with this inheritance. God had sent him word. They did not heed. Jeremiah goes into the house of God, walking around the streets there. with a yoke, saying that what God did at Shiloh, and all of you know, is going to destroy this place. Now, folks, here in Jeremiah 28, Jeremiah, all of it, is the temple of God. Now this is the heart of what I want you to take away with you when you leave today. I don't believe that there ever could have been a more beautiful building, a more stately structure than was the temple of God. Solomon was in charge of building it. At the end of seven years, 70,000 men bearing burdens, 80,000 men hewing timber and getting it down to Jerusalem, 10,000 a month, The work was so great he had 3,300 overseers to make sure it was done. It was built without a sound ever being heard there in the temple. They brought in rocks that had been shaped out in the field and they fitted them together, hewn rocks. The carved works on the wall, the two tall cherubims carved out, flowers, knobs, vessels carved out, palm trees, cedar beams. When all this was completed, I King VI said, and the house was overlaid with gold. within pure gold. I get a picture of that in your mind. You've never been into this, and you walk into this structure. There's a golden floor, every bit of it. Golden walls, all of A sight, I don't know what, that it might do for men and women. People could try to describe what that was, taking into account all the detailed work, the carving that was done in that temple. And they could for months upon end speak to you about the structure and the beauty of it. But they couldn't come to an end. And even if an unconverted Gentile might come inside, I just said if they might, they would be struck with awe. But to a Jew, given a new heart and eyes to see that you would stand speechless. It would not be because of a golden floor or because of the carved works of the cherubim and other things. It wouldn't be because of that. It would be because of what the walls and the floor represented and what the pieces of furniture, every piece of furniture, all the vessels in that temple, God in the person of the Lord Jesus was represented. They didn't see how much gold I saw one time estimate of over 200 billion in gold, over 30 billion in silver, that's not counting the brass, and all the other metal. It's indescribable. I would be as good in describing Christ as trying to tell you what all was in this building and what all, everything represented. Everything. There was upon these seven vessels, it was relevant. Everything in it had a purpose, even the temple itself. But before entering the temple, on the outside, you would have to pass this large molten brass, large brass with water in it and mirror. You would see yourself. Once you got past that, you would next go to a brazen altar. The sea, molten sea, is of brass. The altar that you go to is brass. Brass speaks of judgment. You remember God told Moses, you make a serpent of brass. And by them looking at that serpent, I will stay my wrath and they will not die. Jesus was not only the altar, but the sacrifice, not only the vessels, the floor, and the ceiling, and the candlesticks, lamps giving light. That's why he told the Jews, destroy this temple. talking about his body. He said, in three days, I'll raise it up. They didn't know what he was talking about. You crazy. Our fathers were 40 and six years building this thing, the second one. But see how everything represents our Lord Jesus? A golden altar of incense, a golden table for the showbread, our Lord. ten golden lampstands, everything pointing to our Lord. Now go back with me to Jeremiah. Folks, if that has not If that has not begun to sink in, and by which I had such a heart to do, was in vain. I hope it was not. So you got Jeremiah. in a temple that once represented the person of Christ. But all the vessels are gone. It's missing that. It's missing that which testified before of the Lord Jesus. Now in verse three, I read again, within two full years, will I bring again into this place all the vessels of the Lord's house, all gone because of their sin and their rebellion. God has brought their enemy in and emptied this house that stood so, so impressive and had so much to represent. Jeremiah's inside, the people are inside, the priests are inside, but Jeremiah doesn't see anything. There's nothing now in that place that would speak of Christ. As long as God's people belonging to that chosen nation, as long as God's people belonging to the true church of God are obedient, and maintain a God-centered worship, the temple with its vessels representing Christ would have remained, they would be in this place. What happened? A familiarity with the holy vessels. A familiarity with the magnificence of the building. I mean, they see it every time they go in. They've been in, going in and out for some years now. So it's just a building. A piece of brass on the outside. It's just a pool of water with mirrors in it. or that altar. Well, we have to offer our sacrifices. Had nothing. Table of showbreads gone. Golden lampstands been taken. Everything. And these pieces of furniture had become like furniture in their home or furniture in your home. It's just there. Oh, it had a meaning when first you bought it, but it's just a couch. It's just a dining table. And that happened to the house of God. Now their time of worship is only a troubling, troubling chore. that they gotta do, and they go in reluctantly. When will the Sabbath be gone that we can go away, buy and sell and get and gain? Very similar to the gatherings across the land. We gather, we perform our duties, but there's no reality within the walls anymore. We look around anxiously wanting something, But there's an emptiness about the place. Am I too hard, children? Why is the Spirit of God so silent among us? Why did you not tremble a little, at least a little, when you sang, how awful is this place with Christ indoors? And yet, for the most part, we're missing him. But we went on and we sang, and the words, they were just words. And the temple here, no reality within those walls. Just a duty. How about here? Is there a divine presence in this place? Is your heart silenced? As God through His Spirit has brought reality within. There's an awful, awful presence. I don't mean awful in a negative sense, but in a good sense. When a church is right with God, worship is right as it should be, there's such an awful, awful presence. of the one for whom the house was built. Now here at 1045, thereabout, the room will go silent. The devotion begins. We sing the hymn. We hear the prayer. We give the appearance, hopefully not the appearance only of paying attention, but paying attention. The sermon's over. It has served its purpose. We pat ourselves on the back and walk away thanking the Lord that we have been faithful one more Sunday. And what, children, we're failing to recognize is the fact that God is not brought near to bear upon our hearts. I hear from others out there, we heard a good sermon today, it was accurate. But I didn't see any internal workings in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. It's just a good sermon. There was little if we had any motions of the Spirit of God within our own heart. How long would you go if your spouse or your child didn't come home? How long would it be that their chairs had been emptied at the table. How long would it be? You let them be an hour late and you begin wondering, but what if they didn't show up? Can't we at least begin to petition the Christ of the church come within our walls again. For that which is most troubling and most grieving is a program, a ritual has taken the place of a person, the God-man. We look around and our building's empty for every piece of furniture that spoke of Christ has been taken. The ruler of this world has come in. The gold-covered walls and floor, they've all lost their meaning. When you took the furniture out, we knew God was gone. But never mind. False prophet will stand up and say, everybody be of good cheer. I have a good word of God to bring to you today. Within two full years, everything be returned." I've quoted parts of Samuel Rutherford, the old Puritan, parts of a devotion where he said, it is the crooked love of harlots that love their bracelets, their earrings, and their rings better than the lover that sent them. God will not be loved as such. The bride, he continues, taketh not by a thousand degrees so much delight in her wedding garment as she does in her bridegroom. So we in the life to come, this is him, how be it clothed with glory as a robe, we shall not be so affected with that as with the glory about us from our bridegroom's joyful face and presence. You've sang before the sands of time, and your cousins wrote that, and probably inspired by Rutherford's devotion. The last stanza in that hymn, the bride has not her garments, but her dear bridegroom's face. What of you, my children? What of you? Now you're back, let's go on in Jeremiah 28, down to verse number six. Even the prophet Jeremiah said, amen, the Lord do so. The Lord performed thy words which thou hast prophesied to bring again the vessels of the Lord's house and all that is carried away captive from Babylon into this place. He had to be 100% certain that this was God talking through him. Nevertheless, hear thou now this word that I speak in thine ears and the ears of all the people. The prophets that have been before me and before thee of old prophesied, both against many countries and against great kingdoms of war, of evil, and of pestilence. The prophet that prophesieth of peace, which prophesied of peace, when the word of the prophet shall come to pass, then shall the prophet be known that the Lord hath truly sent him. Well, Hananiah's got to spice up his word with actions. In verse 10, then Hananiah the prophet took the yoke from off the prophet Jeremiah's neck and break it. In the last sentence of verse 11, after Hananiah has done this, after Hananiah has spoken to all the people, and the prophet Jeremiah went his way. Nothing else for me to say to this people. God has emptied his house. In Nebuchadnezzar, is going to bring Israel into bondage and captivity. And an eye that loved the praise of men more than the glory of God lied. Jeremiah told him privately, verse 16, you're going to die. This year came to pass. What happened that the Lord of the Church, the very person we say saved us, has all but departed us? I don't know about you and in your devotions and your private time, but I'll ask you the question, is He missed in your life? Where is our first love? Would there not be evidence in your behavior, in your deeds, if you loved him? Wouldn't that show you love your children? There is evidence given that you do. You go to work, you don't feel like it. Now they don't understand the discipline growing up, but one day they will appreciate it. But you put your feelings aside and you train them in admonition and the fear of the Lord. That is what you do for your children. And the reason you do it is because of love. For the good of their well-being. Even that which is hard for you to do, you do. You go to work. Or you pass a sentence of judgment upon them. Be it a week or ten days or two weeks, whatever you take from them, however you deal with them. When in America is the true Church of Christ going to once again be looking within her walls wondering what happened to us? Everything that taught us of Him is gone. Our building is empty. The furniture that spoke of Him, it's gone. Oh, we still have our outward ordinances. But nothing says anything to us about the Lord and the church. Anyway, we don't need to worry or concern ourselves with this. And Anais has told us, within two years, everything will be restored. And America's got a lot of lying prophets out there saying similar things. But I can only be interested in you and the other few that I've met and some that I haven't that have an interest here. When you get through with your routine today, will there be a word in your heart as to your bridegroom being missing? When last did you see him in the pages of scripture? When last did you hear Him in the service, talking to you, in the preaching, in the devotion, in the hymns? You come in right, God's got a word for you in all of them, everything we do. What will you ask yourself when the last words of the last anta flow out of your mouth today? Did my beloved come near to me? Did you see him? Did you hear him? Was there that faint voice, still small voice, in your soul, or you got a little devil. Oh, everything will be all right in two years. Everything will be all right in two weeks. We're going to get the right people in. We can put the right people in from the president down to every person connected with government. We can put the right people, good men, godly You can't change the direction in which this land is going. The only thing you can do is you draw nigh God and you be prepared when the overflowing flood sweeps through our country. You're going to have a place of refuge in that day, in that flood? No, everything will be all right. We'll just get through the election. We'll get another man in the White House that we're going to change. We'll keep praying for revival. Dear folks, I don't want to be negative all the time, but the only people that's going to be revived is the people of God. It always begins in the local church. Sometimes it spreads out into the community, in the neighboring town, but that's been so long in America. It's getting close to 100 years now, 80 at least, that that's happened. Everything will be all right in two years. Nebuchadnezzar is going to free everybody. Our children will come home. Our spouse will be back. But it never would. We kill this man, Jesus, and we get him out of the way. We're going to be freed from Roman bondage. So we'll destroy his body. God says, okay. Every stone in the temple was broken down. The temple of God destroyed completely. And here, Jeremiah's day, the magnificence. I wish somehow that my words could have at least got you interested in such the magnificence and majestic buildings. from entering, and God had to fix that Jew's eye. God had to fix that Jew's mind. And if they were a true Jew, a true Israelite, how their soul must have rejoiced when they looked. And everything there relayed to and related to The spiritually minded Jew at Christ, the great temple of God, has been set before us. You know, this is the truth, children. The magnificence, the majesty, and the glory of our Lord is all but gone. Hang on to the little bit that you have. The walls that years ago reverberated with the sound of hearts in unison singing, singing to the praise of His grace. There's a dead tone, a dead ring today across our land. Whether this is lost to you or not, if you're a child of God, you don't rest or let God have rest until you've gotten it back in your own heart. And that the temple of God once again would display, I know you're the temple, but collectively when all you little temples gather together, that the temple of God would magnify and have a great manifestation of the majesty and glory of our beloved. And that we could walk out saying Christ was once again in our midst.