Breaking God's Covenant

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we're going to be talking about what happens when the covenant is broken. Yeah, you're going to have some coffee? We'll pray and we'll get into God's word? Okay. If I give you some of my coffee, are you going to drink all of it?
No, just a sip. Just a sip. It's too hot. It's too hot. Okay, good. Ah, that's how I keep you out of my coffee, huh? Just make it hot. All right, let's have some. Let's pray. God, we thank you for this day. We thank you for time together. We thank you for your word. Please help us. Please give us your word to understand in Jesus' name. Amen. You ready? Mm-hmm. All right.
Jeremiah chapter 11. the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, which I commanded your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do according to all that I commanded you. And so you shall be my people, and I will be your God. that I may establish the oath which I have sworn to your fathers to give them a land flowing with milk and honey as it is this day." And I answered and said, so be it, Lord.
Alright, so there was a... what's that section talking about? Did God make a covenant? He redeemed them out of Egypt, right? Do you know what an iron furnace is? Yeah, it's hot. Hot enough to like melt steel and metal, right? Yeah, that's what God redeemed them, he bought them out of. That he would be their God and they would be his people, right? If they didn't follow the covenant, what would they be? Cursed. Yeah. Then the Lord said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear their words. Uh oh, you okay? Okay, hear the words of this covenant and do them.
For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, obey my voice. Yet they did not incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart. Therefore, I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.
Let's keep our feet off of there. What do you think that that was talking about? He made a covenant and there were things they were supposed to do, but would they do them? Let's keep our feet down. Nope. Nope, they wouldn't do it. Why? Because they kept wanting to follow the evil dictates of their own... That's not a heart. Their own evil heart.
My heart is right here. No, your heart's not down here. Your heart's right here. I can feel your heart. In it. Mm-hmm. Right there. I can feel it. You can? Mm-hmm. Yeah, it goes bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu-bu. Yeah, your heart is here. Detroit small. Well, your heart is small, but it will get bigger and bigger as you grow. But it's not actually talking about the physical heart anyways. It's talking about your inner person. Make sure you need something to drink. You keep coughing like that. Do you need something? Okay.
And the Lord said to me, A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers and refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant which I made with their fathers.
There's a conspiracy. Do you know what a conspiracy is? They made a plan to go against God. We don't want to go with God's ways. We want to do our ways. We want to be in charge. We want to do these things. Yeah. Verse 11, Therefore thus says the Lord, Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them, which they will not be able to escape. And though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offered incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. for according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah, and according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal." What's he saying they did there?
They gave altars to Baal? Yeah, altars to Baal, an idol. What's an altar? That's like where they would burn incense and sacrifices and such. Baal was like the god of the thunder and the lightning and stuff. It was a Canaanite god. What's a Canaanite? The god of the people. The Canaanites were the people they were supposed to expel. The people, when they came into the Promised Land, they were supposed to push them out.
But guess what they didn't do? They didn't push them out. And instead, they married their daughters. And their daughters married their sons. And guess what happened? They also kept their gods. Yeah. Yeah, they're breaking God's covenant, aren't they? Yeah.
It says, he can't even hear you. It's just a dumb piece of wood. You've got to nail him to a table so the piece of wood doesn't fall over. That's what he had said in a previous chapter. And yet here they are, worshiping this Baal idol. Yeah. He says it's a shameful thing. So he says, so do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them for I will not hear them in the time that they cry out to me because of their trouble. What has my beloved to do in my house, having done lewd deeds with many? And the Holy Flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice.
The Lord called your name Green Olive Tree, lovely and good of fruit. With the noise of a great torment, he has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. So it's almost like, imagine if we planted a tree and we said, man, this tree is beautiful. But then the tree got a disease and got all ugly and shriveled up and started being gross and we tried to eat its olives and they were nasty and like worms inside of them and stuff and it's like, ugh, this is horrible. What would you have to do to the tree?
Cut. Yeah, cut it down and light it on fire. See, that's what he has to do with Israel. But the Lord of hosts, who planted you, has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves.
They provoke me to anger in offering incense to Baal." Wait, so how do they know that... Wait, so... So, how do they give incense to Baal if he's not even alive? That's the point. They're doing something to their imagination. They're doing it in real life, but it's just their imagination. They're make-believing that Baal is real. But he's not real. That's what God is telling them. He's not real, but you keep doing this. And so that's why judgment is coming. So you're going to walk out of here and maybe grandma or mommy ask, what did you learn in the Bible with daddy? And what are you going to tell them? What was this about?
That Baal was not a real prophet. Well, yeah, Baal was not a real prophet, but not a real God. Baal was not a real God. But what were the people doing? Worshipping him? How do they worship him if they're in his mind? for what they thought maybe Baal would want.
That's what Jeremiah is saying. You're coming up with this out of your own heart. It's your own inner person. You're making up this God. It's not the real God. I'm the God who redeemed you out of Egypt. I'm the one who's given you the signs and wonders. I'm the one. But you've left me to serve after your own hearts. What do you think you're supposed to do? Why do you keep doing that? I think it's a tick almost now. What do you think you're called to do? How do you think this applies to your life? Nothing. What do you mean nothing?
I mean, I did the skull. Yeah, well, maybe should you not worship Baal? Yeah, but you can worship other idols, right? You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters that are under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or worship them. For I the Lord your God am a jealous God.
Right? What does jealous mean? It means that he loves his people like daddy loves mommy and mommy loves daddy. Well you could be you could be covetous of other people's stuff But jealous this is a righteous jealousy. This is a jealousy That's like if mommy started going on dates with other men.
Do you think daddy would be jealous oh? Yeah, cuz she's she's my beloved I If daddy started looking at other ladies and wanting to go on dates with them, maybe go living in their house, do you think your mommy would be jealous? Oh yeah, she'd get really mad, wouldn't she? And would she be right for getting mad?
Yeah. Oh yeah. That's how God feels about his people. He says, you're my people, and I'm your God. That's why he says, love me with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength. Yeah, so I think we should try to love him. Because he's a good God. He's a good father, isn't he? Has he given us yummy food? Yeah. Has he given us a cool house? No. Oh yeah. Our house is called the weird house. It's not the weird house. I don't know what you're talking about. It's a great house.
Has he given you kitty cats? Yeah. Has he given you fields to play in and creeks to play in? Yeah, but we can't go in the field because you yell at us. Well, I'm saying if there's like a grass field, but yeah, you're not supposed to go into the into the corn or beans, are you? Mm-hmm. Has he given you bikes to ride? Mm-hmm. Has he given you toys to play with?
No, because then we can't play with them because we have to go to school. The point is, has God given you school? No. Yeah. Yeah, it's a good thing, isn't it? Yeah, so we can thank him for all the good things he's given us. Wait, school is good. School is very good. It does teach you something. It does teach you something that's very good. It teaches you how to read and write and do math and think. Yeah. All right, you ready to pray? Yeah. Okay.
God, we thank you so much for all your good gifts. Lord, we pray that we would Please remember who you are and all your goodness to us. You have redeemed us. You have bought us by the blood of Jesus. And so, Father, we pray that we would serve you and you only all of our lives in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, may God bless you. May you love the Lord with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, because He has poured out His love for you in Jesus. And I'll see you next time. Can I say bye-bye? We're just gonna do this. Is that how we're saying bye today? Bye.