Wake Up Call From Jeremiah

What if the place you rely on for spiritual safety has become the very thing hiding your need to change? We walk through Jeremiah’s temple sermon with the urgency it deserves, tracing a straight line from ancient Jerusalem to our modern routines and the quiet assumptions that keep us asleep. The message is sharp but hopeful: worship without ethics is worthless, yet God confronts us to restore us.

We start at the temple gate, where Jeremiah interrupts festival crowds who believe the building guarantees their security. He calls out the contradiction of public devotion and private compromise—stealing, cheating, idolatry—and warns with history: Shiloh fell, and Jerusalem did too when people refused to repent. We connect that to Jesus flipping tables and invoking the same prophetic charge, exposing how sacred spaces can become dens of robbers when we use them as cover rather than catalysts for change.

From there, we turn to what transformation looks like in 2025. Rituals still matter, but they must lead to a changed life: caring for immigrants, orphans, and widows; refusing exploitation; guarding our words; honoring truth in contracts and relationships. Grace cannot be earned, but real faith bears fruit. As the Spirit makes us living temples, the divide between Sunday and Monday collapses—emails, budgets, and conversations become places of worship where justice and mercy take root. We share practical steps for honest self-examination, repentance without shame, and daily practices that rebuild integrity from the inside out.

If you’ve ever felt the uneasy gap between what you sing and how you live, this is a wake-up call and an invitation. Let’s trade false security for real transformation and let the house—our hearts, our homes, our churches—be a house of prayer, justice, and love. If this resonates, subscribe, share the episode with a friend, and leave a review telling us one habit you’re ready to rethink.

Chapters

• 1:07 Cold Open: Sabbath And Law
• 2:17 Host Welcome And Setup
• 3:29 The Temple Sermon Context
• 5:16 Ritual Versus Heart-Level Change
• 8:53 Den Of Robbers And False Security
• 10:13 Shiloh’s Warning And Coming Judgment
• 11:32 Repentance And Modern Application
• 13:05 Grace, Fruit, And Living Temples
• 15:58 Closing Exhortation To Guard The House

Transcript

SPEAKER_02: 0:36

We don't know this person. He could be a shovel. Is it lawful on Sabbath? To do good or to do harm? To save life. Or to kill. This affliction does not threaten his life. It does not even affect his health. Interesting point.

SPEAKER_01: 1:46

Hey guys, it's B Rob. It's your host, and it is the Food for Thought Faithcast. And it is a wonderful day. Another wonderful day. And we are going to talk. We're going to read a little bit out of the book of Jeremiah today and talk about the book of Jeremiah. And um, I told you I would talk about this. So uh this is gonna be called a wake up call from Jeremiah. So good morning, fam. Just want you to do this for me, real quick. Imagine you're heading to church. It's a beautiful Sunday morning. You're excited to worship, maybe even feeling a little proud that you you're here while others are not. You park, you walk in, you sing the songs, you drop a little in the offering plate, and you leave feeling like everything's okay between you and God. Now I want you to imagine a prophet standing right at the door, blocking your way on the way out, shouting, Don't trust in these lying words, this is the temple of the Lord. Don't trust in these lying words, this is the temple of the Lord. Well, guys, that's exactly what happened in Jerusalem around 608 BC. The people thought the temple itself was a magic shield. God's presence guaranteed their safety no matter how they lived on the outside of the temple. The prophet Jeremiah was sent to shatter that illusion. So today, guys, we're going to dive into Jeremiah 7, chapter 7, the famous temple sermon. It's a tough in-your-face message, but it's one we need to hear. Because that same temptation Jeremiah confronted lives in our modern day churches, relying on religion instead of relationship. So if we dive in to chapter one, God calls Jeremiah to confront the crowd. So the word came to Jeremiah, stand at the gate of the Lord's house and proclaim this word. Hear the word of the Lord. All you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the Lord. Jeremiah isn't preaching in some back alley. I mean, this isn't like um, he's right at the temple entrance, and it's probably a major festival like Passover, it's probably a lot of crowds pouring in and out, but God sends Jeremiah to interrupt their routine. And why? Because true worship is not about location, it's about the heart. Jesus did the same thing centuries later when he cleansed the temple. Guys, I don't know if you know this or not, but church is not a building. It's people when two or more come together. But we can absolutely fall right into the same trap. That same trap. I go to church every Sunday, so I'm good. I I pay my tithes, so I'm good. I read my Bible, so I'm good. God says, Don't trust in that. Examine your life. He says in chapters 7, 3 through 7, he says, Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will cause you to dwell in this place. Only if you thoroughly amend your ways, if you no longer oppress the alien, the orphan, the widow. Only then will I let you remain in this place. God doesn't say just keep coming to the temple, just keep coming on back, just just you know, stop on by when you can, that sort of thing. You're good as long as you keep coming to the temple. No, it ain't like that at all. He demands a total life change, justice, mercy, compassion, stop oppressing the vulnerable, stop the adultery, stop the idolatry, stop shedding innocent blood. This echoes the heart of the law. Love God and love your neighbor. Worship without ethics is absolutely worthless. I'm gonna say that again. Worship without ethics is absolutely worthless. I mean, come on now. Imagine a family who goes to church every week but cheats on their taxes, gossips about their neighbor, or ignores a homeless person on the corner. But yet they're in every church building on Sunday. But yet their heart is far away from God.

SPEAKER_00: 8:08

It's a false security. Temple of the Lord, false security.

SPEAKER_01: 8:22

Moving along to verses eight through eleven. Behold, you trust in lying words, saying, This is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord. Has this house become a den of robbers in your eyes? I mean, they committed theft, murder, adultery, perjury, idolatry, then walk into the temple like nothing happened. Like God's house is just a a sanctuary city or something like that, right? Just a hideout for sinners. It ain't no place for transformation, right? Just just a just a place where we can go, we we good. We good, right? Yeah. Well Jesus later quoted the exact same phrase when he flipped tables in the temple, which is Matthew 21, 13.

SPEAKER_00: 9:28

Quoted the prophet Jeremiah.

SPEAKER_01: 9:42

Yep. And then you've got uh Jeremiah 7, 12 through 15, which is uh the warning. Go now to my place in Shiloh and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel. I will do this to the house, as I did to Shiloh. Shiloh was Israel's first major worship center. God's name dwelt there. But when the people sinned, God let it be destroyed. The same could happen to Jerusalem and it did. Babylon destroyed the temple in 586 BC. Judgment came because they refused to do what? Repent. They refused to repent. Judgment came on them because they refused to repent. God's patient, but he won't be mocked. So if you keep relying on rituals without repentance, we risk spiritual ruin. But there's always good news. God always offers a way back. God always offers a way back through true repentance. True repentance. So what does that mean for us now in modern times in 2025? Well. First of all we gotta examine our heart. Are we trusting in church attendance, good deeds, or a Christian label? Or are we living a real relationship with Jesus? Are we caring for the vulnerable? The immigrant, the orphan, the widow, your neighbor, other people, we worship in spirit and we worship in truth. John chapter 4, 23 through 24. It's not about the building, it's about the transformed life. Because remember how grace works? You can't earn God's favor, you can't work for God's favor, you can't go to church for God's favor or go to a temple for God's favor. But true faith produces fruit. James chapter 2, verse 14 and 17. If you're here today, if you're listening right now, and your life really don't match your worship. I get it. I have those days too. God calls me to repent and return to him all the time. Friends, Jeremiah's sermon was not meant to condemn anyone, it was meant to save. God loves his people too much to let them stay in deception. I truly honestly believe that our father is a great father. He truly loves us that much. Guys, today the temple is in us. The Holy Spirit dwells in believers like you and me. Keep your guard. Don't let his house become a den of robbers. Let it be a house of prayer, justice, and love.

SPEAKER_02: 13:53

Well, what do you have to say for yourself? My house should be called a house of prayer for only when you make it a dense.