Jeremiah 7:1-34

Memory Verse: Jeremiah 7:14

Commentary

Introduction

Outline

I. The Temple a Den of Robbers (7:1-11)

1. What did the Lord tell Jeremiah to do? (1-2) What conditional promise did the Lord give them? (3) Was this a new promise? (Exodus 19:3-6)

2. Instead of keeping the conditional promise what did they trust in? (4, 8) What did the Lord remind them of? (5-6) If they acted in love would he allow them to continue to worship in the temple in Jerusalem?

3. What hypocritical practices did they live? (9-10) What did the Lord equate this to? (11) How did Jesus encounter the same thing in his time? (Matthew 21:12-13; John 2:13-22) Is it possible to sin this way now? (Luke 6:46-49)

II. They Did Not Listen (7:12-29)

4. Where had there been a temple and the ark of the covenant before the one in Jerusalem? (12; Joshua 18:1; Judges 20:26-28a; and 1 Samuel 2:9-10, 2:22, 4:10-11, 14:2-3; and 2 Samuel 7:4-7; and 2 Chron. 6:18) What was the Lord about to repeat concerning the temple? (14) And concerning the people? (15)

5. What amazing thing was Jeremiah told not to do? (16) Why? (17-18) Who does idol worship harm? (19)

6. What would the Lord do because of their hypocritical lifestyle? (20) What similar thing does Jesus teach us in Matthew 6:24?

7. What outward religious activities did they keep? (21) What practical life activities did they not keep? (22-24) What does it mean to go backward, not forward?

8. Who did the Lord send to his people? What does it mean to be stiff-necked?

9. Would Jeremiah have a successful ministry? (27-28) What does it mean to be under God's wrath? (29) Is this possible today? (Romans 1:18-22)

III. The Valley of Slaughter (7:30-34)

10. Why does the Lord find idols so detestable? (30-31) What became of Judah's false religious sites? (32-33) And the people? (34) What can be learned about the Lord?