Prepare
Opening Prayer
God, thank you for this day, time together, and your Word. Help us understand it. In Jesus' name, amen.
Read
Scripture Passage
The Broken Covenant
11 The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, 2 “Hear the words of this covenant, and speak to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem; 3 and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: “Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant 4 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 command you; so shall you be My people, and I will be your God,’ 5 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.”
6 Then the Lord said to me, “Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying: ‘Hear the words of this covenant and do them. 7 For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” 8 Yet they did not obey or 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.’ ”
9 And the Lord said to me, “A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 10 They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who 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.”
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. 12 Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all in the time of their trouble. 13 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.
14 “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.
15 “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.
16 The Lord called your name,
Green Olive Tree, Lovely and of Good Fruit.
With the noise of a great tumult
He has kindled fire on it,
And its branches are broken.
17 “For 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 to provoke Me to anger in offering incense to Baal.”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), Jeremiah 11:1-17.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
The Lord redeemed Israel from Egypt to be his covenant people, but Judah refuses his voice, follows evil hearts, and conspires in idolatry. Therefore the covenant curses and unavoidable judgment will fall.
B — Best Verse
A Verse That Summarizes the Passage
Jeremiah 11:4-5
Distilled from the devotional exposition; the speaker did not explicitly name a best verse.
The transcript works paragraph by paragraph without a formal Best Verse segment. These verses distill the covenant's redemptive origin, command to obey, and promise that Israel would be God's people.
C — Called or Christ
C — Christ Connection
Reject every rival god and remember the Lord's redeeming goodness. Because you were bought by Jesus' blood, serve the jealous and loving covenant God alone with your whole heart.
Additional Notes
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
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 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's name. Amen. You ready? >> Mhm. >> All right. Jeremiah 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." All right. So there was a What's that section talking about? Um, >> did God make a covenant? >> He redeemed them out of Egypt, right? Do you want Do you know what an iron furnace is? So like >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a hot >> Yeah. 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? But 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, 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 dictate of his evil part. 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? >> Uh, that he made a covenant and there were things they were supposed to do, but would they do them? No. 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. >> A heart is right here. >> No, your heart's not down here. Your heart's right here. I can feel your heart in it. >> Mhm. Right there. I can feel it. >> Mhm. Yeah. It goes boop b. Yeah, your heart is here. >> It's right small. >> Well, your heart is small, but it'll get bigger and bigger as you grow. Mhm. But it's not actually talking about the physical heart anyways. It's talking about your inner person. Make sure Hey, do 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? like 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. Here we go. 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 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, oh 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 ba. What's he saying they did there? They gave altars to Baal. >> Yeah. Altars to Baal. An idol. >> Altar. >> That's like where they would burn incense and sacrifices and such. >> Who's Ba? >> Baal was like the god of the thunder and the and the lightning and stuff. It was it was a a Canaanite god. >> What's this Canaanite? >> The god 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 they took their 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. says, "He can't even hear you. He's just a dumb piece of wood. You got to nail him to a table so he doesn't the piece of wood doesn't fall over." That's what he had said in the previous chapter. And yet here they are worshiping this ba 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 a fruit with the noise of a great tomet he has kindled fire on it and its branches are broken right so it says 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 you tried to eat its olives and they were nasty and like worms inside of them and stuff And it's like gh this is horrible. What would you have to do to the tree? >> Cut. >> Yeah. Cut it down and light it on fire. He's saying that's what he has to do with Israel. For 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 provoked me to anger in offering incense to Baal. Wait, so how do they know that? Wait, so so how do they give incense to B? He's not even alive. >> Oh, that's the point. They're doing something to to their imagination, right? They're doing it in real life, but it's just their imagination. They're they're make believing that that Bale is real, but he's not real. Oh, >> that's what God is telling them. He's not real, but you're 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 and mommy ask, "What did you learn in the Bible with daddy?" And what are you going to tell them? What was this about? >> That be not a real prophet. >> Well, yeah. Baal was not a real not a real prophet, but not a real god. Right. Baal was not a real god. But what were the people doing? >> Worshiping him. >> How do how do they worship him instead in his mind? >> Because they would make offerings and burn incense. They would they came up with all sorts of ceremonies for what they thought maybe Baal would want. That's what Jeremiah is saying. He said, "You're coming up with this out of your own heart. It's your it's your own inner person. You are 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. >> Yeah. So, what do you think you're supposed to do? Oh, why do you keep doing that? H 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 live through 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 do jealous mean? >> Means that he loves his people like daddy loves mommy and mommy loves daddy. >> Jealous mean you're jealous of other things. Well, you could be you could be covetous of other people's stuff, but jealous, this is a 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. >> If daddy started looking at other ladies and wanting to go out on 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. Yeah. That's how God feels about his people. Yeah. He says, "You're 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 guy. He's a good father, isn't he? Has he given us yummy food? >> Yeah. >> Mhm. 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. >> Giving you kitty cats? >> Yeah. >> Have they given you uh fields to play in and creeks to to play in? >> Yeah, but we can't go in the field because you Yeah. >> Well, I'm saying if there's like a grass field. But yeah, you're not supposed to go into the into the corner beans, are you? Mm-m. Has he given you bikes to ride? Mhm. Has he given you uh toys to play with? >> No, because then we can't play with them because we have to do our school. >> The point is, has God given you school? >> No. >> Yeah. Yeah. It is 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. >> I said, how does this teach us something? >> It does teach you something that's very good. 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's 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 we'll see you next time. Can I say bye-bye? You just going to do this? Is that how we're saying bye today? Bye.