All right, so in Jeremiah chapter eight, before we even dig into the first verse there, we're gonna have to just back up a little bit to get the context, because of course, eight just starts off at that time, saith the Lord. Well, at what time, right? Let's go back and look. at the end of chapter seven. In fact, before we even just look at the end of chapter seven, the beginning of chapter seven, if you weren't here last week, or even if you were, just remember, this is still kind of all the same word of the Lord that's coming to Jeremiah that he needs to preach to the children of Israel, to Judah. But at the beginning of chapter seven, it said, stand in the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim there this word and say hear you the word of the lord all ye of judah that enter in at these gates to worship the lord so this is the message that was really specific towards who are supposed to be his people people are coming in to to worship the lord and serve the lord this message even though it's very similar to Much of the other messages that have been, that the Lord has given to Jeremiah, it's still specifically being preached to the people who are coming in to worship the Lord. So this is still a continuation of kind of that whole broader context. So I just wanna just bring that up and make you aware of that. And there's, of course, a lot of judgment brought in because of the evil and the wickedness of The children of Israel, the children of Judah, and all the sins of Jerusalem are being warned about judgments to come. At the end of chapter 7, there are these references to Tophet and the Valley of the Son of Hinnom. which is the place where child sacrifice was being done. So this is where a lot of innocent blood is being shed. People are letting their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire unto Baal, basically unto Satan. And of course, they thought that they were being really holy and righteous and religious and, you know, like that that was somehow a good thing when in fact it was, it is. Extremely wicked and horrible, right? So let's just let's just pick up now in verse number 32 I think that's probably a good verse to start reading in chapter 7 to bring us into the context of chapter 8 Therefore behold the days come said the Lord that it shall no more be called Tophet nor the valley of the son of Hinnom, but the valley of slaughter For they shall bury in Tophet till there be no place and the carcasses of this people Shall be meat for the fowls of the heaven and for the beasts of the earth, and none shall fray them away. Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah and from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, for the land shall be desolate. Chapter 8, At that time, saith the Lord, They shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, and the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets, and the bones of the inhabitants of Jerusalem out of their graves. And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the hosts of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, whom they have sought and whom they have worshipped they shall not be gathered nor buried they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth so this is the continuation of this judgment against Jerusalem against Judah for these sins that the the valley of the son of Hinnom and Tophet here is is receiving this judgment from God And part of that judgment, as we see in chapter 8, is that bodies and the bones are going to be dug up of people who had already been buried. It's these priests and the prophets and the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Now, why does it even bring this up? Why is this a thing? Well, they're basically defiling the grave, right? There ought to be some level of sanctity of people who are buried and grave sites, cemeteries should just be set aside and ought to have some type of reverence or respect towards people who have passed on. But this is going to defile their grave. Obviously, if they're gone, they're gone. But this is making a point. It's to prove a point. It's to cast shame and just kind of do everything possible to make them, you know, receive of the judgment of God's hands. So not only Are there going to be so many people dying, which was the end of Chapter 7? We're like they're not even going to be able. There's no place to bury them. That may even be some of the reasons why these bodies were even dug up was so that they had room to bury more people. I don't know. I mean, that's just conjecture. It seems like it makes sense for for that, even though this is a judgment of God that that they're just going man. There's all these people dying. What we're going to do with them. Let's let's pull out some bodies out of these other graves. But in so doing, of course, Not a good thing to have to dig up all the all the bones and stuff like that But there's gonna be so bad you have people just So many dead bodies the the birds are gonna come down and be chewing on the dead bodies and stuff like this What it says and no one's gonna even be able to to shoo them away, and it's just a really really serious Judgment But notice here in chapter eight and verse number two, it says, they shall spread them before the sun and the moon and all the hosts of heaven, whom they have loved and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked. and whom they have sought and whom they have worshiped. So basically they worship the whole host of heaven. And you see this reference in other places as well, where they're worshiping the sun and the moon and the stars, and they're not worshiping the Lord. And even if you're gonna say, oh, well, these are references to angels or whatever, it doesn't matter. I mean, they're worshiping anything other than the Lord. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's literally worshiping the creation, or they're worshiping something that's symbolic of the creation. It doesn't matter. It's clearly not worshiping the Lord. So they're worshiping devils, right? We know that when they're sacrificing their children, the Bible says that never entered into the heart of God. But this is the judgment that's coming. Look at verse number three. and death shall be chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have driven them, saith the Lord of hosts." That's how serious God's judgment is going to be. It's just another way of describing it. People are going to rather be dead. They're just going to kind of wish they were dead because of how bad things are going to be. That they're going to despair even of life. That they'd rather just be dead than be alive. And that's a pretty low place for anybody to be. Obviously some people have gone through this. Some people have serious depression and kind of feel that way sometimes. This is gonna be the case for all of the people here. And this is the warning, right? This sermon, this preaching of Jeremiah is a warning. And man, would to God people could just take heed and listen, especially God's people. Let's keep reading here. Verse number four, moreover thou shalt say unto them, thus saith the Lord, shall they fall and not arise? Shall he turn away and not return? Why then is this people of Jerusalem slid in back by a perpetual backsliding? They hold fast deceit. They refuse to return. And this is still kind of describing the reprobate nature of the children of Jerusalem, the children of Judah, that have already been described in Jeremiah chapter six, because it's still, nothing good has really been said since then, right? Chapter six really is the first few chapters that had the hope, that had some silver linings and some positivity in it. But then once you just keep getting further and further where we're at now, the past few chapters have all been just really, really negative. And why? Because of their heart. Because their impenitent heart. Because they are not willing to accept of anything that they've done wrong. They're refusing to return. It says they have a perpetual backsliding. Look, we all may backslide from time to time. Make sure it's not a perpetual backsliding. You don't want it to just be this continual thing. You need to stop that backslide and start moving forward again. And hopefully you're not backsliding right now. Hopefully you're continuing to move forward. Man, a perpetual backsliding, it's just like, you don't even care. And that's how they were, they hold fast deceit, like the lies, they're holding to the lies and they refuse to come back to the Lord. Verse six, I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright. No man repented him of his wickedness, saying, what have I done? Everyone turned to his course as the horse rusheth into the battle. Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times, and the turtle in the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming, but my people know not the judgment of the Lord. And this is kind of the theme to this whole chapter here, is that the people of God are ignorant to God's judgment. that this is one of the reasons why, you know, they have this perpetual backsliding, but they're not changing. They're not repenting. They're not doing anything. They're not going, like you said, what have I done? Oh no, what have I done? And they're hearing about the coming of the Lord's judgment. And even when God starts to judge them, they're still just kind of want to have nothing to do with it. And this reminds me of the same heart that the people have in the book of Revelation. But before we turn there, I want you to turn to Haggai Keep your place here in Jeremiah 8 and turn to Haggai chapter 1. This is important to understand. Just as, you know, as being described here, the birds, the stork, the crane, when it says turtle, it's talking about the turtle, dove, the swallow. These are all birds. These are all types of birds that are saying, you know, they know their appointed times. They know what they're supposed to be doing. They can see the seasons. They can identify the changes in the weather and when it's time for them to move and all the things that they're supposed to do as the birds. And when they need to migrate and everything else, they know what they're supposed to do. But he's saying like, but my people, they don't know the judgment of God. They can't look around them and be like, oh man, there's a lot of wickedness going on. Maybe we should do something about this. Oh man, God's judgment is about to come because of how bad things are. They don't see that at all. They don't see the judgment of God. They're just ignorant to what is gonna happen. And also, The people have the same mindset that aren't seeing how wicked things are, also have a hard time identifying when God does judge, that it is God's judgment, right? Because if you don't think there's much wrong, like that you're not wrong with God, then you're kind of going to be blinded when God does chase in you, when God does bring judgment. If you're not already thinking that, hey, there's things going on that are wrong, why are you going to attribute bad things to possibly being the judgment of God? You see what I'm saying? So this ignorance of who God is, the ignorance of God's law, or just a total rejection of it, either way, is really bad. We need to make sure that we're softened to the word of the Lord, to his laws, that we understand and say, hey, look, God, we're trying, we're not gonna be perpetual backsliders. We're gonna we're gonna we're gonna serve you and we're gonna Sincerely look to your word so that we don't catch ourselves as someone who is ignorant to even the judgment of God Coming down upon us and remember this was the continuation of the message to his people the people were coming in to worship and serve in the house of the Lord My people and he calls them my people my people know not the judgment of the Lord This reminded me of a couple places Haggai 1 is one of those a good verse number 4 The Bible says is it time for you? Oh ye to dwell in your sealed houses and this house lie waste Now therefore thus said the Lord of hosts consider your ways and this is consider your ways isn't this what he was saying in Jeremiah chapter 8 when he says no one is saying what have I done and He's expecting them to consider their ways and think about what they're doing. Hey, think about what's going on. Think about what you're doing. Consider your ways. Look at verse number six. Ye have sown much, and bring in little. Ye eat, but ye have not enough. Ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink. Ye clothe you, but there is none warm. And he that earneth wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Now, And then verse seven, thus said the Lord of hosts, consider your ways. This is what people need to understand about the judgment of God, especially among his people, how God can chasten and chastise and discipline and punish his people. Because while we are very strong against a work salvation, while we are very clear and wholeheartedly believe that our salvation is not of works and that there is, you know, no matter how much sin you do, You're salvation secure. You will go to heaven when you die, no matter what, once you've received eternal life. However, as a child of God, God disciplines. However, be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. However, God is a God that judges. However, God is angry with his people when they backslide, when they get away from him, when they turn the back, okay? When they have stiff necks and hard hearts, right? Just because you're saved doesn't mean God's not going to punish. And what we see in Haggai is an example of how God's punishment may play out in your life. of him trying to get all you say look look at all the things that you're doing and and specifically in haggard it's not putting the things of the lord first right that's that's one of the big things that are doing here that they're not they're not considering the house of the Lord and the primacy, the importance of the Lord first, and they're going off and doing all their own thing, they're like, oh yeah, you're in your sealed houses, you're in your nice comfortable setting, you're out sewing, you're out eating and drinking and getting clothes and stuff, but what's happening? Nothing, you're not being blessed at all. He says, and this is a great illustration, you're earning wages to put it into a bag with holes. So you're going out and you're working real hard, but you're basically just spinning your wheels. And this is what you do. If you think that you could just say, well, I'm going to, as a child of God, mind you, not as a child of the world or the child of the devil, as a child of God, if you're going to just set your face to just earn a bunch of money, God can easily make it so that all that money and all that hard work you're doing is going to come to nothing. It's like you're making all this money. It's all coming in. It's all just going right back out. And you're not getting anywhere because you're not doing what God would have you to do. And if you don't kind of consider your ways, it could end up in a situation where you just keep going through this cycle like a hamster on a hamster wheel. You're not making any progress ever. until you just stop and wake up and be like, oh man, what have I been doing? I need to just stop this nonsense and the vanity of going after this money and start serving the Lord and put the things in order and put the things in its proper place and make sure that I put God first. And yeah, and then this other stuff. And then you know what? When my heart is right and when I'm serving the Lord, then he can bless me. Because here's what happens. People think that they're just going to focus on the money. You think God's not able to, no matter how much money you make, to have other needs come up in your life that require that money? Oh, all of a sudden this breaks and that breaks. Now all of a sudden you need to go to a doctor. Now all of a sudden you need to do this and this and this. All of these various things that can just be all the wealth that you're bringing in, just right back out. And you feel like you can't get ahead at all. Well, maybe you're focused too hard. on trying to get ahead financially instead of trying to get ahead spiritually. Because the more you focus on the right things, God takes care of your needs. He's there to supply your need. So we don't have to worry so much on those other things. And look, we're all susceptible to this. And to some degree, I'm sure, we're all probably going too far in a direction. the important part is with the heart, but what I want you to understand with all of this is looking at how God works and his judgment and that we all need to consider our own ways. Look at verse number eight in Haggai 1. Go up to the mountain and bring wood and build the house and I will take pleasure in it and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much and lo, it came to little. And when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. So he's saying he's scattering it, he's getting rid of it. God is the one getting rid of it. You brought it home and I went. And then it's just all gone and it's like what happened to it all? Why, why, why saith the Lord of hosts? Because of my house that is waste. And ye run every man unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew and the earth is stayed from her fruit. Yeah, God controls that. And he says, well, yeah, that's why. You want to go run to the field and do all the labor, but you're not taking care at all for my house and for the things of God. Well, guess what? I'm going to make it that much harder on you. And then what people do is they get the wrong idea and say, well, then we're just going to work that much harder. And then we're going to have even less time dedicated for the things of God and for the house of God. And God makes it even harder. And then they go, well, now I'm going to work even harder. Instead of just going, well, hold on a second. Let's just reprioritize and get right with God, and then just allow God then to bring the blessing on us so that we could acknowledge and say, OK, God, I get it. I'm sorry. I get it. I'm going to do things in the right order. But when people are hard-hearted and stiff-necked, I mean, sometimes they never really get it. And this is just like the people are being described in Jeremiah 8, hey, my people know not the judgment of the Lord. They don't know it. Verse 11 there in Haggai 1 says, and I called for a drought upon the land, and upon the mountains, and upon the corn, and upon the new wine, and upon the oil, and upon that which the ground bringeth forth, and upon men, and upon cattle, and upon all the labor of the hands. I mean, that's the power of God. Lift up or bring down. He can cause these things to be blessed or he could cause them to be cursed. Your livelihood. And it doesn't matter if it's the fruit of the ground specifically for you. I mean, it could even be the whole company that you're working at. If God wants to. He could cause the whole place to be kind of cursed where you're at, if he wanted to, if he wanted to get your attention and just make sure that you're ultimately just spinning your wheels on the things that don't really matter. Turning to Revelation chapter 9, this is an even more extreme example, because this isn't Revelation 9 is not talking about saved people, so that's the only difference here. Or Haggai is referring to God's people, but Revelation 9 is not. Revelation 9 though is probably closer to where the people end up that get judged in Jeremiah's day. Revelation 9, 18, and this is how blind people can get to the judgment of God. Revelation 9, 18, by these three, and all of chapter nine is just all this destruction and stuff, this doom. Verse 18 says, by these three was the third part of men killed by the fire and by the smoke and by the brimstone which issued out of their mouths. For their power is in their mouth and in their tails. For their tails were like unto serpents and had heads, and with them they do hurt. My point for these two verses is the third part of men was killed. That's a lot of people dying. It's a lot of people dying. Verse 20, and the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands. I mean, a third of people are dying and the rest of the people are just like, I'm just gonna keep on here. That they should not worship devils. Yeah, I'm gonna keep on going out with my devil worship. Idols of gold and silver and brass and stone of wood, which neither can see nor hear nor walk. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. It's like a third of people are dying and you're still just living like the devil. and just no shame, no thought to even think, like, hey, maybe we should do something different. Maybe God might be a little bit angry as he's pouring out his wrath, and they're just going like, oh, no, he's gonna keep on doing this stuff. That's a reprobate mind, which is exactly how Pharaoh was, right? I mean, no matter how bad the plagues got, because God hardened his heart, He just, nope, not gonna do it. It doesn't even matter. Nothing's getting through to him. And that's why Jeremiah six was talking about the children of Jerusalem, the children of Judah being as reprobate silver. They're rejected because they've got this mindset because they're not paying attention to themselves and to what they ought to be doing and to God's judgment. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter eight And it really is interesting how people can be so wrong. about their own, even just their own self-view or understanding God and what they should be doing and God's judgment and all of that. You know, people freak out. And this is another weird thing too. I don't know why people get so upset when there's a big disaster that happens in the world and you say, hey, look, that's probably the judgment of God. It probably is a judgment of God. I don't know why people get upset when you say that it is. You know, if it happens against some other country or here or whatever, you know, massive fires or earthquakes or tsunamis or whatever, you know, God is the one who is able to control the weather and everything. So he brings judgment a variety of ways, but using stuff like that is one of the ways that he brings judgment upon people. And I'll tell you what, We may not always be certain of every single time that there is a judgment of God coming forth, but you know what we ought to have is an attitude that says, oh man, something bad's happened, we better make sure we're right with God as like the first thing, right? When bad things are happening in your life, Even though it may not be your fault, what we ought to do and what I think everyone ought to do is treat it as if it's your fault and say, oh man, what am I doing? What am I missing? What am I doing wrong? Some major things happening, some things are going on. You know what? It's time to clean house. I need to make sure I'm right with God. Because why would you want to just pretend like everything's OK if it's not? And what's the worst case scenario in that? If you're wrong about it being about you or something you've done, worst case scenario is you're still just getting some sin and some stuff out of your life that you don't need anyways. You know what I'm saying? It's only gonna be a good thing in the end. And what we don't wanna do is just automatically always assume it's someone else and just kind of shift the blame instead of being ready to accept blame ourselves. And again, this is just so, And it's so fundamental to just how we ought to live our lives day in and day out anyways, of being way more ready to just be the one who says, I screwed up. I did wrong. I'm going to try to get that right in all aspects of our lives, as opposed to being more self-righteous and saying, I didn't do anything wrong. It's you, it's you, it's you, it's you, it's you, and kind of pointing the finger at everyone else instead of just pointing the finger back at yourself, right? Generally speaking, we ought to be the first ones to be able to point to ourselves and say, you know what, I did this wrong, and I did this wrong, and I did this wrong. That is a humble heart. And that is one that's going to stand and stand the test of time, especially in the Christian faith, because you're not gonna be so full of yourself and lifted up the pride that you'll be able to receive correction. You'll be able to see, oh man, I'm doing something wrong, I better fix that. and have that good attitude that will help you to improve over time and get the sins out of your life and start living more righteously for real, but then never just having this attitude that just says, no, I'm just good no matter what, like just, it's gotta be someone else, gotta be something else. Because here's the thing, what if it's not? What if it's not someone else, right? Then you're not gonna fix it if you're not looking internally. And this is what you also ought never do while we're talking on this subject. when someone else, okay, so when you are having problems, you look to yourself in any area where you might be, you know, out of God's grace, so to speak. And obviously I'm not talking about your salvation, but just where you might have a rift, you might have a problem with God because of how you're living, because of something that you're doing. But when it comes to somebody else, you always assume it's something else and not that person. You treat that person not as if it's, oh, well, you must be doing something, like Job's friends. Well, you must be hiding some sin. You've got all these bad things happening to you. Oh, it must be you, Job. It must be your children. It must be you. It must be something wicked that you've done. You're hiding something from us. Don't have that attitude. It's the exact opposite. When it's us, we go, hey, what did I do? I'm trying to figure out what am I doing wrong, right? And it may not be you, but still, it's the first thing you do is look to yourself. But when it's someone else, you don't just be like, so what are you doing wrong? Oh, I bet I know what it is. You don't have that attitude. It's, oh man, I'm sorry this is happening to you. You're probably just being attacked. Maybe Satan, you know, whatever. And you comfort people. Let's go back to Jeremiah chapter eight. But these people are so backwards in their understanding. They don't know the judgment of the Lord, verse eight. How do we say, how do you, how do we, how do ye, ye say, we are wise and the law of the Lord is with us. They don't even know the judgment of God, yet they're the one saying, oh, we're, we're so wise and the law of the Lord is with us. The law of the Lord's going to judge you, buddy. You don't even know what it is. God's judgment literally is coming and they're just saying, the law of the Lord's with us. How blind can you be? This is a position, like I said, we don't ever want to find ourselves in as being so blind as to just thinking that, nope, God's with us when he's really not. false sense of security. Lo, certainly in vain made he it. The pen of the scribes is in vain. The wise men are ashamed. They are dismayed and taken. Lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord. And what wisdom is in them?" These same people that are saying, the law of the Lord is with us, have rejected the word of the Lord. Which is why, like chapter 6 says, they're reprobate. Because God's rejected them, because they rejected the word of the Lord, yet these very same people are the ones saying, nope, God's with us. Crazy, crazy. Verse 10, therefore will I get, so therefore, because this, because they've rejected the word of the Lord, because they're saying these things, because they're just so ignorant and they don't even know God's judgment, God says, you know what, I'm gonna bring my judgment. Therefore will I give their wives unto others in their fields to them that shall inherit them. For everyone from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness. From the prophet even unto the priest, everyone dealeth falsely. This is the condition of things. When things get so out of control, excuse me, when you read how God just judges so forcefully and massively, It's not just on a whim, okay? Because God has a lot of long-suffering and mercy. So when you read about, when we see like these, the judgment of, you know, the Babylon Empire coming in and just taking them all captive, uprooting them, killing Pete, you know, all this stuff, destroying the temple, doing everything they're doing. It's not because God wasn't long-suffering and merciful. It's because the people had just grown so wicked and just completely refused to listen that God's just like, okay, well, I guess this is just what we have to do now. You think I'm with you. You think you're right. You're not listening to what I say. I send my prophets to you early and you reject them. You reject the word of the Lord. You're rejecting all of it. So, okay, now nothing is getting through to you. Now it's stamping you out. Now it's the heavy fist coming down. I mean, everyone's dealing falsely. Verse 11, for they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, peace, peace, when there is no peace. And we talked about that already. I'm gonna just keep going here as long as verse number 12. Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush. Therefore shall they fall among them that fall. In the time of their visitation, they shall be cast down. Seth the Lord. So again, I've covered this in the past, this attitude, just not being ashamed, this kind of reprobate mind of committing abomination and not even caring about it. Like it's just not a thing. And it's being brought up here again in chapter eight, just to remind you of where they're at in their hearts and in their minds. when all this judgment is being brought up that's going to come down on them. It's because of that attitude. Verse 13, I will surely consume them, saith the Lord. There shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade, and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them. So this is just utter destruction. He's saying there's gonna be no fruit left, there's gonna be nothing left for them. I'm gonna completely consume them, destroy them. Verse 14, why do we sit still? Assemble yourselves and let us enter into the defense cities and let us be silent there for the Lord our God hath put us to silence and given us water of gall to drink because we have sinned against the Lord. And that water of gall, it's often, Gaul and Wormwood kind of go together. It's like poison. It's like Gaul would be like bile, be just just a really, a really kind of nasty, bad thing, bitter, you know. Water of Gaul to drink is just, is, is. Even though they're really thirsty, it would be like just this really bad drink. I mean, that's what Jesus received, was the vinegar and garlic when he was up on the cross, and then he didn't receive it, right? They tried to give it to him, and he didn't receive it. It's just this, you know, just a really bad drink. And why is that? Because we have sinned against the Lord. So, verse 15, we looked for peace, but no good came, and for a time of health, and behold, trouble. Yeah, they're looking for peace, they're looking for health, but it's not there. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan. And this is of the people who are coming to bring the judgment, right? In this case, the Babylonians. The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan. The whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones. For they are come and have devoured the land and all that is in it, the city and those that dwell therein. For behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices among you. which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the Lord. So even besides the armies that are coming to destroy, even the snakes, I mean, God's just cursing them with these other things. And think about how easy that could happen too. Think about how easy it is, I mean, think about how easy it is for God to do anything, because nothing is too hard for the Lord. But also, I mean, just think about those, you know those Joro spiders that got here a few years ago or whatever? And I mean, you just, I remember when they first got here, it was just like, you just see them everywhere. But just one of those things that just, it just happens. Now, those things are relatively harmless. I mean, I don't know, I don't want to say that necessarily for the ecosystem or everything else, but just for us as human beings, It's kind of annoying because they just, I mean, they make their webs everywhere and there's these huge webs and everything. There's big old spiders, whatever. But overall, they don't really do anything to us, right? But on a similar topic, we say, okay, that's pretty benign, that's pretty simple. But what about if God wants to bring his judgment? those could just as easily, he could just as easily raise up these spiders that are gonna like be aggressive towards humans and be real poisonous and just cause this plague just in, not here today, here tomorrow, right? And just springing up overnight. God can easily just make sure that that happens. And that's just one thing, right? I mean, all of these things, we gotta understand how, fragile we are and and and kind of our our state of being at any moment you know we think we're so safe and so protected and everything is so you know good around us and we have all the protection we got our house we got all this other stuff and we got all these tools and we got all this you know the power tools all those other stuff bring bring it on whatever like no you know you don't you know no I mean I It doesn't matter. If God's going to bring a judgment in, everyone's going to be impacted by it. I think about the frogs that came up. Who cares how big of a plague is frogs? It's a pretty big plague. We had a lot of frogs in my yard at the beginning of the season this year, because we opened up the pool and didn't put any chemicals in it. And we just had this huge pond in my backyard. And I was just thinking like, oh, man, this is such a plague, because I didn't have time to deal with it. And then all of a sudden, it was just like, I was like, the neighbors had to hate us, because they were so loud. It was like, rah, rah, rah, just like all right outside our house. But that wasn't a judgment of God. That was just me not being smart with my property. But I say that because, OK, one little small example, and it's a big nuisance and a big annoyance and everything else, but when God brings that stuff in, I mean, there's just nothing you can do about it. There's nothing they could do about all the frogs that came out, and then they stank and died everywhere, and it was just like nasty. It's the judgment of God. And people need to wake up to what God can do. Where did we leave off here in Jeremiah chapter eight? Eight, 18? Yeah, yeah, because we were just, we were looking at the serpents, right? So I was bringing up the spiders. It could just as easily be snakes, right? I mean, whatever, right? Like it is here, he's sending snakes. And it could just be, okay, this is what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna curse you this way. And this is the type of thing that I, as believers, as God's people, we wanna be, you know, in tune to. We don't wanna be just going like, oh, well, that's a weird coincidence, or oh, you know, this is kind of a weird thing, when there's a judgment type of a thing happening. You know what I'm saying? Because here's the other thing, is when God brought his plagues on Pharaoh, Who was kept safe? His people, right? And they were plagues that should have, if it was not supernatural, impacted everyone equally. Like when there was darkness, oh, but the children of Israel had light. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's darkness everywhere so that, you know, the darkness that could be felt is how it was described. And like, you couldn't even see your hand in front of your face, but like, oh, but there's light in Israel. Those types of things. So if we are softened to understanding these things and getting our hearts right and being willing to repent and get right with God, hey, God's able to keep us from any of these judgments. And we know obviously when he pours out his wrath on his earth, he'll definitely keep us from that. But even through great tribulation, he's able to keep us through the real difficult times. Verse 18, when I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country. Is not the Lord in Zion? Is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images and with strange vanities? So the cry of the daughter of my people Because of them that dwell in a far country, the people who are coming to attack and take him over, is not the Lord's eye? No, he's not. When God brings a judgment, he's clearly not there. Because if he was there, he'd be defending him. He's not there. He's letting all of this happen. He's causing all of this stuff to happen. And then he's like, well, hey, they provoked me to anger with their graven images. Because that's the reason he's bringing the judgment, is because they turned on the Lord. The harvest is past, the summer has ended, and we are not saved. Talk about a bad place to be. It's over. Like, hey, before the summer ends, you got a lot of time to still go out there and plow and work, right? Before it's time of harvest, you still got some hope because you can try to right the wrongs, you can still go out there and still do some work and still put in as much effort as you can to try to get something. But hey, once it's time for harvest, once the summer's ended, okay, we're out of time, that's it, man. And in this condition, it's, hey, the harvest is past, summer's ended, and we're not saved. We got nothing. Then what do you do after that? Well, there's not much you can do. For the hurt of the daughter of my people, my hurt, I am black. Astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered? And this ends in a question, but look, is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Yeah, there's a physician. Yeah, there's balm, but it's not doing them any good because God's bringing the judgment against them. You can have the things that you need. You got the physician, but then why is there not health? of the daughter of my people, because God's bringing the judgment on them, because nothing they have is gonna help. Now, turn if you would to one last place here is in Leviticus chapter 26, and I wanna point this out. This will come up later in the book of Jeremiah, but I wanna just go through it a little bit now, because God, promises to bring the curses in Leviticus 26 when his people, his people aren't doing what they're supposed to do. When they're not taking heed, when they're not listening to his commandments, when they're just not caring about the word of the Lord, he's already told them what's gonna happen. And I wanna cover this tonight because it's like this whole theme of Jeremiah 8 has to do with his people just not knowing about his judgment. They're just so ignorant to God's devices and to how God's bringing his judgment on them and they just don't seem to care and they're not repentant and everything else. But God already warned them. See, God's not trying to trick people and cause people to be like, well, I don't even know what God wants me. I don't even know what the will of the Lord is, so how can he get angry with me? He can get angry with you because you already should know because he's already told you what he expects out of you. And as a people of God, what does he expect you to do? Well, he's laid it all out. And this is why even New Testament believers ought to be looking to the law of the Lord, looking to the law to guide them just as well as the New Testament to guide them, right? There's a lot there. Leviticus 26, verse number 14 is where we're gonna start reading. And we're gonna jump around just a little bit because there's a lot here and I don't wanna just take too much time going over it all. There's a point we'll get to, so just follow along with me quickly here. Verse number 14. But, because of the first part's talking about God's blessings, if you listen to what I command you to do. Verse 14, but if you will not hearken unto me, and will not do all these commandments, and if you shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that ye will not do all my commandments, but that ye break my covenant, I also will do this thing unto you. Excuse me, do this unto you. I will even appoint over you terror, consumption, and the burning ague that shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And ye shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemy shall eat it. So he's saying, okay, if you're not gonna listen, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna be terrorized, you're gonna be living in fear, and you're gonna have this consumption and burning ague and sorrow of heart. And when you go out and sow your seed and you try to get the crops, everything, he says, it's just going to be in vain because other people are going to eat it. Because you're going to be brought under bondage. Verse 17, and I will set my face against you and you shall be slain before your enemies. They that hate you shall reign over you and ye shall flee when none pursue with you. And if you will not yet for all this hearken unto me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. And this is what I'm talking about. I'm not going to go through all of his punishments because they just keep on progressively getting worse. And this is why it's important to take heed when the punishments are on a smaller scale to go, hey, maybe we ought to get right with God. Because if God's sending These plagues and these problems and you're not listening and you're not changing and you're not doing anything about it He's gonna keep sending more and more and more and more and look Don't think that you're gonna be more stubborn and more set in your ways then God will be in his resilience and in his steadfastness and bringing forth that judgment It's like, you know, in parenting, oftentimes, you need to make sure that you don't give in to your children. Like, if they're being real bratty and stubborn on something, like, you need to outlast them. You need to make sure that you are like this brick wall that, like, you will not move me. You have to set the boundaries, and then just make sure, because they're gonna test you, and they're gonna try you, and they're gonna try to annoy you, and they're gonna try to do everything they can to get you to back down. And when you set up those rules and those boundaries, you just need to make sure that they get it through their head that'd be like, man, I'm not even gonna try. That's the type of dad that I drive, he's like, look. You can keep on going, going, going, but guess what? I am not budging here, and it's going to be really uncomfortable for you when you are going to be the one that is not having a good time at all, right? You just keep it up. But it's important because when you've got established authority, like parents in the household, hey, the kids can't just think that they can do whatever they want. There's rules. There's boundaries. You've got to set the tone. And they ought to just already have in their heads, like, man, I'm not even going to try this. That's good. And similarly, spiritually, right, God has rules for us, and we need to have the attitude that says, I'm not even gonna try to get away with this stuff. I'm not even gonna try to do anything contrary to his word, contrary to his law. But here's the thing, because God is not going to back up on his commandments and his rules. He's just gonna be like, no, this is the law. No, no, this is my word. No, it's not gonna change. No, I'm not gonna change it for you. This is what it is. And in fact, if you're not going to listen to me, and if you're just going to keep on being stubborn and disobedient, here's how it's going to get uncomfortable for you. And then he goes, oh, and you're still not listening? Well, that's what he says. And if for all this, after I've already started meeting out the punishment, if you still aren't going to listen? Well, now I'm gonna punish you seven times more. So the factor just goes up like, okay, now we're jumping up to the next level. Seven times worse. And notice this in Leviticus 26. So that was verse 18. And he says, now I'm gonna punish you seven times more for your sins. And he lists off some more things you can do, verse 21. And if you walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me, I will bring seven times more plagues upon you according to your sins. Jump down to verse 23. And if you will not be reformed by me, by these things, but will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you and will punish you yet seven times for your sins. I mean, seven times, seven times, seven times. That's a lot of times of exponentially just growing, okay, seven times more, now seven times more, now seven times more. How far do you wanna press it? This is God's mindset and this is what he's showing them in the law. You wanna keep on breaking my laws and breaking my commandments and not listening to me? This is how it's gonna go. And here's the judgments. And then they're gonna get worse and worse and worse and worse until you get to the point to where Judah got to where now you're just all being wiped out. Everything's being destroyed. The temple's getting destroyed. You're getting carried captive. You're going to another land and you're gonna be in bondage. I'm done working with you on this, right? It's like the kids. Okay, now we're just locking you under the stairs. No, I'm just kidding. And we're going to keep you there for 70 years. But seriously, though, you know, God's not playing with his people. And this isn't individually, obviously, it's collectively. He's talking about a nation. He's talking about his people as a group and what's going to happen. And the judgments are going to come. And we're going to start reading again in verse 27, and we'll close on this. We need to and we ought to, and you can go ahead and read this chapter later and just see the judgments that God brings and be able to recognize them and say, God said he's gonna do these things. Now you say, yeah, but Israel isn't around today and God's, you know, this whole Levitical priesthood and everything. It doesn't matter because there's a nation that exists that has made God the Lord their God. which are the people of God, which in times past weren't a people, but now are a people. And you know what? God's just as easily to take and replace any group of people, any nation that has chosen to serve the Lord, when they turn their back on Him, when they walk contrary to Him, for Him to start bringing His judgment down. Hey, you chose the Lord, now you're gonna turn your back on Him? Well, here's what's gonna happen. Right? So, verse 27. And if ye will not for all this hearken unto me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury. Fury is extreme anger. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins, and ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat. That's pretty bad. when things have gotten so bad, and you know what? All of this happens, and this happens in the book of Jeremiah, actually. These are all the warnings. God says, this is what's going to happen, and guess what? It does happen. These aren't empty threats. This isn't just like, oh, it's just gonna be really bad, so don't even think about doing it. Sometimes as parents, we might do that, but God follows through. He says, when he's telling them this is what's going to happen, it really is what's going to happen. And this happens when they get besieged, right? And they can't have any food going in or out, and they can't have any supplies or anything like that. And they get so hungry that they're literally starting to eat their children. And you know what that is? That's a curse of God. It's not just because, oh, the other army is just so much more powerful. It's because God brought that judgment on you. Because it didn't have to come. If the people were serving the Lord as they ought to have been, God would protect them forever. If a people just forever just was being obedient to the law of the Lord and the word of God, God would continue to defend them and protect them. He promised it. He'd bless them. They'd be the most blessed nation and they would just keep getting blessed, but you know what? Couldn't handle it. People can't do it. And inevitably they end up turning from the Lord. And then when they keep turning and turning and turning away, this is the condition you get in. Verse number 30, and I will destroy your high places and cut down your images and cast your carcasses. upon the carcasses of your idols, and my soul shall abhor you. And I will make your cities waste and bring your sanctuaries unto desolation, and I will not smell the savor of your sweet odors. And I will bring the land into desolation, and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it. And I will scatter you among the heathen and will draw out a sword after you, and your land shall be desolate and your cities waste. Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemy's land. Even then shall the land rest and enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate it shall rest, because it did not rest in your sabbaths when you dwelt upon it. And upon them that are left alive of you, I will send a faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a shaken leaf shall chase them. And they shall flee as fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when none pursueth. I'm going to bring you down so bad that a leaf is going to make you run. You won't even have anyone chasing you, but you're going to be so terrified that any little thing is just going to cause you to freak out. And they shall fall one upon another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth. And ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies. And ye shall perish among the heathen, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up. This was delivered to Moses. This was delivered before they ever even made it into the promised land. And it's the law delivered unto them. And then they finally get in there and get established. and have all those hundreds of years of all this time, and then Jeremiah's day, at the end of the king's reign, when this all comes to pass, and all of these things, all of these curses actually literally happen, all of them. There's nothing left undone that didn't happen to the children of Israel and children of Judah because of them turning on the law of the Lord. and not doing the things that they were supposed to be doing. And we see this, we'll continue to see this throughout this book, but man, let's be sensitive to the judgment of God, whether it be on a micro scale, just for you personally in your own house, in your own life, and, you know, looking at things that happen or whatever, and being able to gauge and say, like, I think it's the best attitude to have is to just say, hey, when something bad's happening, I'm gonna look inwardly. and C, is it me? And it may not be you, right? I'm not trying to make you feel horrible all the time or something, but it ought to be the first place we look is ourself instead of the first thing being, oh, it's someone else, it's always someone else. No, first look at yourself. What can I do? What have I been doing? What can I change? What is it that I might need to do different? If it's not you, great, right? Remain faithful. Look for yourself first. And when it's other people, don't be the first one to be pointing a finger at them. Be there to comfort them and to help them in their time of need.