They turned God’s grace into something gross when they sacrificed for their sins and then sinned sacrificially.

Jeremiah 7:16
Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them, nor make intercession to Me; for I will not hear you. Jeremiah 7:16

Continue to judge righteously while recognizing the signs of judgment nationally.

Jeremiah 7:17-18
17 Do you not see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? 18 The children gather wood, the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough, to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke Me to anger.

If worship isn’t tied to Christ than it’s antichrist.

There is no Queen of Heaven to the King of Heaven.

Jeremiah 7:19-20
19 “Do they provoke Me to anger?” says the Lord. “Do they not provoke themselves, to the shame of their own faces?” 20 Therefore thus says the Lord God: “Behold, My anger and My fury will be poured out on this place—on man and on beast, on the trees of the field and on the fruit of the ground. And it will burn and not be quenched.”

Continue to live righteously while being under judgment nationally.

Jeremiah 7:21-23
21 Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: “Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices and eat meat. 22 For I did not speak to your fathers, or command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices. 23 But this is what I commanded them, saying, ‘Obey My voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be My people. And walk in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well with you.’

Sacrifice that stresses DO keeps you from obedience that confesses DONE.

Jeremiah 7:24-26
24 Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but followed the counsels and the dictates of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward. 25 Since the day that your fathers came out of the land of Egypt until this day, I have even sent to you all My servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. 26 Yet they did not obey Me or incline their ear, but stiffened their neck. They did worse than their fathers.

From the moment the Lord took them from slavery to liberty, they were slowly giving up their liberty for slavery.

Jeremiah 7:27
27 Therefore you shall speak all these words to them, but they will not obey you. You shall also call to them, but they will not answer you.

Continue to speak righteously regardless of being judged wrongly.

Discussion Questions

1. According to Jeremiah 7:8-11, how did the people turn God’s grace into something gross? What does it mean to call the Temple a “den of thieves?”

2. Jeremiah 7:17-18 tells us that it was a family affair to worship the Queen of Heaven. Who was this goddess and where is the origin of its existence? Why is this title alarming today? (Discuss Luke 11:27-28)

3. After God delivered His people from Egypt, what were the first instructions He gave them? Why do we so easily gravitate toward sacrifice over obedience? (See Matthew 23:23)

4. What is the “sequence of governance” as described in the sermon? How does this cycle apply to Israel? To the Christian? To the nation? How can we counteract it? (See Hebrews 10:23-25)