Church Order: Worship, Sacraments, and the Lord's Supper

So, You Wish To Challenge God - Part 2 of 2

Transcript: AI Transcript

Professor: John Weaver

Subject: Church Government

Genre: Sermon

Dictation Name:

Date: 2021-01-27

Synopsis: In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his exposition of Jeremiah 44, focusing on how the remnant of Judah challenged God not only in His will (as covered in Part 1) but also in His worship and His word. He explains that challenging God is insane given His infinite attributes, yet fallen man persists. The Judahites challenged God's worship by offering hypocritical, half-hearted worship and by giving glory to false gods like the Queen of Heaven. They challenged God's word by rejecting Jeremiah's prophecy and asserting their own plans. Weaver emphasizes that God's counsel will stand, and those who challenge Him will face judgment. Applications include staying in God's will, loving Christ more deeply, and submitting to His authority.

[John Weaver] Open our Bible's day to Jeremiah chapter 44, Jeremiah chapter 44. This is the second part. So you wish to challenge God? Notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, and I'm only going to read The first six verses, because ultimately we're going to be reading the entire chapter only in sections. So notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, beginning there with verse one, the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews, which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdal and at Taffanis and Noph and in the country of Pathros saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,

[John Weaver] you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem. and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye nor your fathers. How be it I send unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing, which I hate. But they hearkened not nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and desolate as at this day.

[John Weaver] There are many individuals who challenge others, some challenge themselves, and sadly a great number end up challenging God. I pointed out last week in our introduction how you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger, more flexible, has more ability, and no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that. because obviously there is no hope of winning in any kind of contest. But yet, many people always challenge someone who is greater, stronger, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, immutable, and sovereign. That is, they challenge God Himself. And the interesting thing is that fallen man oftentimes thinks that he's not only capable of challenging God, that somehow, ultimately, he is going to win. Obviously, such is deceived.

[John Weaver] You remember that passage in Psalm 2, where the Bible says, the kings of the earth and the rulers have gathered themselves together, saying, come, let us break his bands and cast his courts from us. But when you get to verse 4, the Bible says, he that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision. So you have to be absolutely insane to challenge God.

[John Weaver] So when you stop and think about it like this, man is finite. God is infinite. Man may be powerful, but God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. Men may have knowledge, but God is omniscient. He knows absolutely everything. You may have an end, man does have an end, but God is endless because he is eternal. Man is mutable, but God is immutable. Man can change from strong to weak, but God never changes. You are confined to space and time, but God is not confined to space and time because God is not only omnipresent, He is also transcendent. So it's absolutely impossible in one sense of the word for someone in a right mind to challenge God.

[John Weaver] So whatever one's plans, Whatever his moves, whatever his schemes, whatever his devices, whatever his plan of action happens to be, everything is destined to fail. Why? Because Job 21 verse 27, God says, Behold, I know your thoughts and the devices which you wrongfully imagined against me.

[John Weaver] Now stop and think about that. I know your thoughts. In fact, he said in the book of Ezekiel, I know your thoughts even before they come into your mind. When you look at Isaiah 66 in verse 18, he says, for I know their works and their thoughts. And when you get to Proverbs 15 in verse 26, the Bible says the thoughts of the wicked or an abomination to God. God has to know them to declare them an abomination. But the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. So, since God then knows our thoughts, He knows your thoughts, it is impossible to trick Him. It's impossible to surprise Him. It's impossible to deceive Him. And it's certainly impossible to ambush Him.

[John Weaver] There's no way that you can slip up on God's blind side for God does not have a blind side. You remember in the New Testament, our Lord, in Matthew chapter 9 in verse 4, the Bible says this, And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Why think ye evil in your hearts? Notice, He knew their thoughts. Then when you get to Luke chapter 5 in verse 22, the Bible said that when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said to them, why reason ye in your hearts? So obviously our Lord knows our thoughts.

[John Weaver] Now God has made an absolute sovereign declaration in Isaiah 46 and verse 10 and he said this, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. So all of the fighting, feuding, fussing against God will ultimately fail. In light of this truth, there are still people who wickedly and deceitfully imagine somehow they're going to pull the wool over God's eyes and it's just not going to happen.

[John Weaver] Now, last week when we looked at Jeremiah 42 and 43, we saw how the Judahites challenged God in His will. They came to Jeremiah and said, pray for us. We want to know God's will for our lives. And we're willing to do whatever God says, whether it's good or whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we not, we're going to obey God. So after 10 days, God said to Jeremiah, you tell them, I said, it's my will for them to stay in the land.

[John Weaver] Do not go into Egypt. Well, after Jeremiah told them that they basically said to Jeremiah, you're lying. God didn't say that. God didn't tell you to tell us that. Why? Well, we're afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, and we don't want him to come and kill us for something that Ishmael has done, and no, we're not going to stay here, and we're not going to go through this famine, and we're not going to go through all this pestilence. No, we're going to Egypt. And so, obviously, they kidnapped Jeremiah and Baruch and went down into Egypt. And guess what? God sent Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt.

[John Weaver] So the married man they were running from, they ran into. And of course, there was famine and pestilence. And when they got there, God told Jeremiah to spread these stones out and said, Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and put his throne right over these stones right here. So whenever you begin to challenge God's will, you're going to ultimately find out that you're going to lose. Today I'm going to show you, in Jeremiah chapter 44, there are two other areas in which people challenge God very seriously and very greatly. And just like they did so in the days of Jeremiah, you will find that people are doing exactly the same today. So how in the world do they challenge God? Well, we saw last week they challenged God in His will. Today, the second point I want to cover is this. They challenge God in his worship. Now, if you will give me just a little while, I'm going to show you this from the scripture.

[John Weaver] But let me answer a question first. How in the world does one challenge God when it comes to worship? And the answer, first of all, is one may challenge God by giving his worship to a false god or to an idol that is nothing more than an invention of one's imagination. You see, God said in Isaiah 42 in verse 8, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to raven images. Now listen to what he said, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another.

[John Weaver] Doesn't matter who it is. Neither, he said, I'm going to give my praise to graven images.

[John Weaver] Now, I want you to listen to one quick quote. I'm going to stop. It's only just two sentences long, but I'm going to stop at the first sentence. J.A. Alexander said this, the general doctrine of this verse talking about Isaiah 42, verse eight, the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religion cannot coexist. Now just stop and think about this. There are three major monotheistic religions in the world. Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. What is Islam seeking to do to destroy Judaism and Christianity? What is Judaism seeking to do to destroy Christianity and Islam? What is Christianity's ultimate goal? To destroy Islam and Judaism and every other false religion. Why? Because the true religion, Christianity, cannot coexist with false religions. Now let me finish. He says the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religions cannot coexist.

[John Weaver] Because, however tolerant idolatry may be, It is essential to the worship of Jehovah to be perfectly exclusive of all gods. So that means Christianity is an exclusive religion. That's why God said, I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to raving images. So the worship of God has to be absolutely exclusive. So when you begin then to worship some false god, or anyone or anything other than the one true and the living God who's revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, in essence you are challenging God. What you're saying to God is this, you're not the true God. The God that I'm worshiping, the God that I'm imagining, the God that I'm making is the true God and therefore you are the false God. And so you're challenging God in that sense of the word to prove that he is indeed God.

[John Weaver] Now, the remnant of Judah did exactly this. So, let's begin reading in Jeremiah 44, and let's read from verse 1 to verse 12, and I want you to think about this, the exclusivity of the worship of the one true and the living God. He said, the word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdal, at Tephanes, at Naph, in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah.

[John Weaver] And behold, this day they are desolate. They are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger. In that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods. whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I send unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I ate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, And they're wasted and desolate as at this day. Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you, man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain.

[John Weaver] Just stop and think about that. God is saying, why in the world are you murdering yourself? Why aren't you committing suicide? Why are you doing this? I've already told you. Watch verse eight. In that you provoke me into wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whether you be going to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth.

[John Weaver] Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickednesses? and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. They are not humbled even in this day. Neither have they feared nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt and sojourn there. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even to the greatest by the sword and by the famine.

[John Weaver] And they shall be in execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach." Now, God is condemning them because of their idolatry. They were worshipping a false god.

[John Weaver] Now, one of the false gods that they worshipped was the Queen of Heaven. If you'll hold Jeremiah 44, but go back to Jeremiah chapter 7 and look at verse 18. Jeremiah 7 verse 18. The scripture says, The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." So these women then were making cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods. you have to ask yourself who was this Queen of Heaven? The Queen of Heaven was a Persian or an Assyrian deity who was supposed to symbolize a quality possessed by moonlight in giving nature its receptive power as the Sun was represented as a quickening power.

[John Weaver] The moon therefore became the symbol of female productiveness and was worshipped at Babylon. Usually women who worshipped the Queen of Heaven were usually either adulteresses or prostitutes because that's basically how they worshipped the Queen of Heaven in one sense of the word. This title, the Queen of Heaven, was given to Ishtar Assyrian and Babylonian goddess who is also called Ashtoreth or Astarte. You'll find them mentioned in the Bible. She was thought to be the wife of Baal, another false god, who also went under the name of Molech as well. So the motivation for the women in worshiping Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, however you want to pronounce her name because she's called different names in the Bible, was the fact that she was the goddess of fertility.

[John Weaver] And back in those days, for a woman not to have a child, it was a disgraceful thing. Very humiliating. That is why, of course, Rachel pled with Jacob, you know, give me children or I die. And of course, Rebecca had to pray for children herself. And even Hannah, Went to the temple to pray because she was childless. And so it was an embarrassment. It was a disgrace not to be able to have children.

[John Weaver] And so it was a worshipping then of this, this estarte. Now, what the Roman Catholics did is they took this title and applied it to Mary. So Mary is often called under Roman Catholicism, the Queen of Heaven. May I point something out to you and may I be blunt. Mary is not now, never has been, and never will be the Queen of Heaven. There is no Queen of Heaven. Our Lord Himself disavowed any special recognition of Mary. Let me show you.

[John Weaver] Hold Jeremiah 44, but look in your Bibles to Luke 11. Luke 11. And note if you would, beginning there with verse 27. Luke 11. and verse 27. Our Lord was teaching and a woman kind of broke in and said something. Watch if you would. Luke 11 verse 27. And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to him, blessed is the womb that bear thee and the paps which thou has sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it. The woman says, Oh, the mother that gave you birth and the mother whose breasts you suck may bless me, she now, he said, Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.

[John Weaver] So Mary certainly is not the queen of heaven, never has been and never will be. There is no queen of heaven. And by the way, there's another title given to Mary, which she does not deserve. In Roman Catholicism, you will hear Mary referred to as the mother of God. She is not the mother of God. If you read the scripture, especially in Luke 1 in verse 35, the angel told Mary, that holy thing which is conceived of thee, That holy thing, what thing was conceived in Mary? The body. You remember in the Psalms, our Lord said, a body that has prepared for me. And the same thing in the book of Hebrews. Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body that has prepared for me. Mary was the mother of the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who was God already assumed that body. So she was not the mother of God, although she was the mother of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the difference. But so they took this and called Mary then the queen of heaven.

[John Weaver] The queen of heaven in the Old Testament was Astarte. Ashtaroth. You know, so Ishtar. Obviously, there's no relation there whatsoever.

[John Weaver] Now, if you're going to worship some other god, If you're going to worship any other God other than the one true and the living God who's revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a thief. Why can I say that? Because you're stealing the honor and glory that goes to God and giving it to someone else. So you're not only a thief, you're an idolater and you're not only an idolater, you're a blasphemer. So you can challenge God, the one true and the living God, by stealing his glory and giving it to another. Now there's a second way that you may challenge God in His worship. How is that? You may challenge God by giving Him what you and I would call hypocritical or half-hearted worship.

[John Weaver] So let me show you. I want you to hold Jeremiah 44, but turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want you to note, if you would, to whom this chapter, this book, is actually directed. So if you'll look in Isaiah 1 and verse 1. The Bible says, the vision of Isaiah, the son of Amos, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And then it lists the days of the kings in which he saw these truths. But note, if you would, it applies to Judah and Jerusalem. Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, look what he says to Judah and Jerusalem.

[John Weaver] Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." Who are Solomon and Gomorrah in this chapter? Judah and Jerusalem. And so he's talking to his people and he's calling them Solomon and Gomorrah.

[John Weaver] Now look at what he asks. Look at what he says. "'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?' said the Lord." Why are you sacrificing to me? I'm full of the burnt offerings of rams. and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of eagles. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts? Now look what he says.

[John Weaver] Bring no more vain, that is, useless, worthless oblations. Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meetings. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me, I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil."

[John Weaver] And then he goes on. So, why is God calling these people Solomon and Gomorrah? Because They were in rebellion to him. They continued with their offerings. They continued with their sacrifices, but it was all hypocritical. It was all in vain. It was, they didn't really care anything about God, his law, his directives. It was nothing more than a ceremony. It was nothing more than a ritual. They were going through it the way most average Christians go through church every Sunday.

[John Weaver] It's just, you're there, you sing a few songs, you put something in the offering, you hear a little sermon in it, and you go home. It's just that simple. Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Amos chapter 5. You see, God knows our hearts. Amos chapter 5, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Look at it if you would. Amos chapter five, God knows our hearts and God knows our genuineness or our hypocrisy. We cannot deceive him. Amos chapter five, beginning there verse 21. Look what God tells them.

[John Weaver] He says, I hate, I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beast. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs. Ha, their singing was nothing but noise. For I will not hear the melody of thy vows, but let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?

[John Weaver] Watch, but you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and shewn your images, the star of your God, which you made to yourselves. Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, said the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts."

[John Weaver] Now God said, I hate, I despise your feast days. Did not God appoint those feast days? Yes. He said, I will not have your sacrifices. Did not God appoint the sacrifices? And the answer is yes. Did not God appoint music? Yes, but God says, I hate it. I'm not going to have it. Why? It was all hypocritical. It was all half-hearted. No, God said, I will not accept it. You want to challenge God.

[John Weaver] Do not give him the worship that he demands. You see, God has appointed his own worship. He knows what is acceptable and he knows what is unacceptable and what he demands from you. is that which he has deemed acceptable. And when you come along and you say, well, I don't think he deserves to be worshipped like that. Or I think I'll just do it my way. You're challenging God. You're saying to yourself, he doesn't deserve what he's asking for. I will give him what I want to give him. Thus, you're actually elevating yourself above God. You're becoming an idolater because you are now determining the worship of God.

[John Weaver] You know, our Lord said to the woman of Samaria in John 4 verses 23 and 24, he said, but the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Listen to this, for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Then he says, God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth. So God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth. So when we worship God in spirit, it must be in the Holy Spirit. It must be in our spirits. And on the other side, it's bounded by the truth of God. In other words, everything that we give God has to be biblical because his word is truth. And as we give him what he demands in truth, we do so in the Holy Spirit and in our spirits. I cannot help but think of that, which David said in Psalm 103, when he said, bless the Lord, oh my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

[John Weaver] So unless we are giving him the worship that he demands in the way that he demands, we are devaluing him. And we are indicating that he is not worthy of the worship that he demands. And thus we're challenging God to prove us wrong. Wow. You know, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter six and verse 16, the Bible says, you shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him.

[John Weaver] Massa, you shall not tempting. Well, the Hebrew word for temp is the word Nassau. which literally means to test, to try, to prove, to tempt, and to challenge. Our Lord, when He was being tempted of the devil in Matthew chapter 4, took this passage and quoted it and said this, it is written again, thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt. because the word is used several times.

[John Weaver] I'm going to give you another illustration of it. It's also found in Acts chapter five and verse nine. In that passage, Ananias and Sapphira had sold a certain piece of land and they sold it for a certain amount of money. But what they did, they kept back part of that money and then went up and pretended that they were giving all of the money to the apostles to distribute to the poor. You see, Barnabas had a certain piece of land. He sold it and gave everything to the apostles. And evidently Barnabas was honored and recognized.

[John Weaver] And so they thought that, boy, we'll do that, too. But we're not going to quite give it all. We're going to hold back some of it. So when Ananias went and appeared before the apostle Peter and gave him the money, Peter said, tell me. Did you sell the land for so much? Oh yes. That's exactly what we sold it for and we're giving it all to you. Peter said, let me ask you a few questions. When you had the land, was it not your own? And when you sold it, was it not your own? In other words, you didn't have to give a dime.

[John Weaver] But, he said, you have not lied to man. But you lied to the Holy Ghost. And immediately God killed Ananias. Young men came and drug him out and buried him. A little while later, Ananias walks in and she hadn't heard what happened to her husband. And Peter just said, tell me, did you sell the land for so much? Oh, yes. Yes, that's exactly what we sold it for. And then Peter says this.

[John Weaver] He asked, how is it that you have agreed together to tempt The Spirit of the Lord. Behold the feet of the young men who drug out your husband, they shall bear thee out. He knew if God had killed her husband, he was going to kill her and she fell over dead. Now, the word tempt is the same word that our Lord used in Matthew 4. Thou shalt not tempt the Lord by God. It's the Greek word paratso, which means to test, to try, to tempt, and to challenge. When you are challenging God, when you are tempting God, it is to tempt one maliciously, craftily, deceitfully.

[John Weaver] Strong explains it like this. He says, it is by impious or wicked conduct where one tests God's justice and patience and to challenge Him as it were to give proof of His perfections. So you can challenge God in His worship by not rendering to Him that worship which He demands. Here's the third way these people challenge God. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 44. They not only challenge God in His will, they not only challenge God in His worship, they challenge God in His Word.

[John Weaver] Now, I'm going to point this out again before I close. When you challenge God's will, inevitably, you're going to challenge God's worship. And when you challenge His will and His worship, it all comes down to one final thing. You will challenge His Word. So, let's begin with verse 11. And I want to read all the way through verse 30. So watch carefully. Verse 11, therefore, thus said the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be in execration, and in astonishment, and in curse, and in reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

[John Weaver] So that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone in the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain, that they should return in the land of Egypt to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, for none shall return, but such as shall escape. That is, a few will make it back. Then all the men which knew, now watch, then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word, that thou

[John Weaver] hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour our drink offerings unto her, as we have done we and our fathers, our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of vittles and were well and saw no evil. But since we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings under her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and poured our drink offerings under her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings under her without our men? Then Jeremiah said unto the people, And to the men and to the women and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying the incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes and the people of

[John Weaver] the land did not the Lord remember them and came it not into his mind so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore, is your land a desolation? and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil happened unto you, as it is this day. Moreover, Jeremiah said, And all the people, and all the women, hear the word of the Lord, all Judah, that are in the land of Egypt.

[John Weaver] Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel saying, you and your wives have both spoken with your mouth and fulfilled with your hand saying, we will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out our drink offerings under her. You shall, you will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. Therefore here you order the Lord all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by my great name, said the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah and all the land of Egypt, saying, the Lord God limit. Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there'll be an end to them. Yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt and to the land of Judah.

[John Weaver] All the remnant of Judah that are going to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose word shall stand mine or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words would surely my word shall surely stand against you for evil. Thus said the Lord, behold, I will give Pharaoh Hathorah king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and at the hand of them that seek his life. As I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life. Now, I want you to know if you would have these people challenge God's word. They said, you know, here's what our problem really is to show you How people totally, completely misinterpret God's providence. They say, here's what our problem is.

[John Weaver] When we were worshipping the Queen of Heaven, we had plenty to eat. And we didn't have these problems. We only got this pestilence and this famine and this destruction when we ceased worshipping. Jeremiah said, you're not thinking straight. You disobeyed God. You left His law, you left His commandments, and you began your idolatry. The judgment that came upon Judah and Jerusalem was because of your idolatry. You lost all of those things because of your idolatry. You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself. You're going to die.

[John Weaver] Let me ask you a question. Did these people go into Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they die there? The answer is yes. Did Nebuchadnezzar conquer Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they suffer as God said? The answer is yes. Did God's word stand? Yes. Did their word fail? Yes. God said, we'll see whose word is going to stand. We'll see Who can accomplish His counsel and His purpose and His will? Wow! You speak against God. You decry Him. You discredit Him. You deny Him. You blaspheme Him.

[John Weaver] You rant and rave all you please and all you desire. Still, God said in Isaiah 46 and verse 10, my counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure. We will find out whose word will stand. And when you challenge God's word inevitably, you're saying that your word is superior, greater and more powerful and you will be engulfed in the anger and the righteous wrath of God. God's Word will stand.

[John Weaver] Let me give you a quick quote by Matthew Henry. Listen to what Henry said. So perversely did they misconstrue providence, though God by His prophets had so often explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke the direct contrary. Since we forsook our idolatries, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword, the true reason of which was because they still retained their idols in their heart and an affection to their old sins, but they would have thought it was because they had forsaken the acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should have been for their welfare to separate them between them and their sins being misinterpreted did but confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public calamities for opposing Christians and persecuting them, they, the nations, put a contrary sense upon the calamities, as if they were sent to punish the Christians or sent to punish them for conniving at the Christians and tolerating them, And hence they cried, Christianos Adleanos, that is, throw the Christians to the lions.

[John Weaver] Yet, if it had been true, as they said, that since they returned to the service of the true God, the God of Israel, they had been in want and trouble. Was that a reason why they should revolt from him again?

[John Weaver] Now listen to what he says. That was as much to say that they served not him, but their own bellies. Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them, though they never see a good day with Him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by Him in the end." And that's true. Do not challenge God. You cannot win. You always lose. Because God is sovereign, God is omnipotent.

[John Weaver] Do you remember what Job said in Job chapter 13 in verse 15? This is the attitude that we must take. Job said, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. You're never, ever going to lose by trusting God.

[John Weaver] Now, let me make a couple of applications. I want you to think with me. First of all, When one begins to challenge the will of God, inevitably he will end up challenging the worship of God. Most of you have been around in churches long enough to know when someone gets angry with God, usually they'll take it out on the preacher, but sometimes other Christians. And when they get angry with God or the preacher or some other Christians, what do they do?

[John Weaver] They stop coming to church. They will. They'll stop going to church. So once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word. There is always a progression in sin and it does not get better. It gets worse and it gets deeper. When you end up challenging the will, you end up challenging the word as well as the worship of God.

[John Weaver] The safest place to be is right smack dab in the middle of God's will. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Those of you who know me know that I hate large cities. I despise them. I really do. I don't want to be around them. I especially dislike Atlanta, Georgia. I don't like to go through it. I don't like to go around it. I don't like to go near it. I don't want to be anywhere near Atlanta. But you know, I've said this innumerable times as much as I hate and despise Atlanta. If God told me that I had to go to Atlanta and pastor and minister I would say, Lord, I'm more than willing to go. I want to go. But Lord, you don't have to make it plain to me. This is your will. Would you please write that in this stone over here so I would know for sure.

[John Weaver] But now the truth of the matter is this. If God wanted me to go to Atlanta, he would change my heart. He'd change my mind. He'd change my thinking. And if I really genuinely believed he wanted me into Atlanta, I'd be there before the night was over. But I'm so thankful right now. He doesn't want me in Atlanta and he wants me right where I am. But I'm just simply saying the safest place, no matter how much you might dislike the place. It's still right smack dab in the middle of God's will. That's where the protection of God will be. That's where the blessings of God and the prosperity of God will be.

[John Weaver] Now, here's the second application. I want you to listen very carefully to this. If we really wish to serve our Lord more, we must learn to love Him more. Have you ever stopped to think, outside of the plain command of God, one reason that a wife submits to her husband is she really loves him. One reason the children submit to their parents is because they love them. And do you understand then, actually, the more love that you possess toward God, the more willing you are to submit to him. Here's a quote that came from Spurgeon. I want you to listen very carefully.

[John Weaver] I'm going to stop at the first sentence and then I'll pick back up. He states, One who has been reconciled to God by the blood of his son, Jesus Christ, finds it difficult to believe his devotion to the Lord is adequate. Now just stop and think about that. Those of us who have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ with great difficulty finds that our devotion is adequate. In other words, we really do not think that we can adequately serve him because of the great price that he gave for us.

[John Weaver] Now, let me go forward. He says the true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough. Have you ever stopped to think about that? Have you ever realized that even your prayer is mixed with sin? Your worship is mixed with sin. What you understand is mixed with sin. And it's difficult at time when someone really truly wants to honor God and they realize our devotion is not only adequate. It's not pure enough either. He goes on. A soul under special manifestations of love weeps that it cannot love Christ anymore. Mr. Welch, a Suffolk minister, weeping at the table and being asked the reason for it, answered it was because he could love Christ no more. In other words, he could not gather an additional love for him. The true lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to Christ. Now, listen. They count a little love to be no love. A great love to be but little. Strong love to be but weak.

[John Weaver] And the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of Christ. The beauty and the glory of Christ. The fullness, sweetness, and goodness of Christ. The top of their misery in this life. is that they love so little, though they have been loved so much. If you truly want to be humbled, think of how you love the Lord Jesus Christ and compare that with his so great love that he loves you.

[John Weaver] Once you begin to realize the vast chasm in comparisons, it should make you want even more to submit to His will, to give Him the worship that He demands, and believe His Word and rely upon Him. It's the love of God that constrains us so that we may give Him the glory that's due unto His name. So we come away with this, do not challenge God. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Bow submissively and worship and honor Him and ask Him to increase your love for Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, help us to never, ever attempt to challenge thee. But may we always willingly submit to thee, to love thee, to understand thee, to glorify thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen. ♪ ♪ ♪ you

So, You Wish To Challenge God - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	aLW5LqvZm5M
Subject	Church Government
Course	Church Order: Worship, Sacraments, and the Lord's Supper
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-01-27
Dictation Name
Book	Book 122: So, You Wish To Challenge God — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	69

Formatted Transcript

Opening

Open our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 44, Jeremiah chapter 44. This is the second part. So you wish to challenge God? Notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, and I'm only going to read the first six verses, because ultimately we're going to be reading the entire chapter only in sections. So notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, beginning there with verse one,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-6

"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol and at Tahpanhes and Noph and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel," "You have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing, which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and desolate as at this day."

Introduction: The Insanity of Challenging God

Weaver reviews the folly of challenging an infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God, referencing Psalm 2 and God's knowledge of human thoughts.

There are many individuals who challenge others, some challenge themselves, and sadly a great number end up challenging God. I pointed out last week in our introduction how you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger, more flexible, has more ability, and no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that, because obviously there is no hope of winning in any kind of contest. But yet, many people always challenge someone who is greater, stronger, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, immutable, and sovereign. That is, they challenge God Himself. And the interesting thing is that fallen man oftentimes thinks that he's not only capable of challenging God, that somehow, ultimately, he is going to win. Obviously, such is deceived. You remember that passage in Psalm 2, where the Bible says, "The kings of the earth and the rulers have gathered themselves together, saying, Come, let us break his bands and cast his cords from us." But when you get to verse 4, the Bible says, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision." So you have to be absolutely insane to challenge God.

So when you stop and think about it like this, man is finite. God is infinite. Man may be powerful, but God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. Men may have knowledge, but God is omniscient. He knows absolutely everything. You may have an end, man does have an end, but God is endless because He is eternal. Man is mutable, but God is immutable. Man can change from strong to weak, but God never changes. You are confined to space and time, but God is not confined to space and time because God is not only omnipresent, He is also transcendent. So it's absolutely impossible in one sense of the word for someone in a right mind to challenge God.

So whatever one's plans, whatever his moves, whatever his schemes, whatever his devices, whatever his plan of action happens to be, everything is destined to fail. Why? Because Job 21:27, God says, "Behold, I know your thoughts and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me." Now stop and think about that. "I know your thoughts." In fact, He said in the book of Ezekiel, "I know your thoughts even before they come into your mind." When you look at Isaiah 66:18, He says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 66:18

"For I know their works and their thoughts."

And when you get to Proverbs 15:26, the Bible says, "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord." God has to know them to declare them an abomination. But the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. So, since God then knows our thoughts, He knows your thoughts, it is impossible to trick Him. It's impossible to surprise Him. It's impossible to deceive Him. And it's certainly impossible to ambush Him.

There's no way that you can slip up on God's blind side, for God does not have a blind side. You remember in the New Testament, our Lord, in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 4, the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 9:4

"And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Why think ye evil in your hearts?"

Notice, He knew their thoughts. Then when you get to Luke chapter 5 and verse 22, the Bible said that when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said to them, "Why reason ye in your hearts?" So obviously our Lord knows our thoughts. Now God has made an absolute sovereign declaration in Isaiah 46:10 and He said this, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." So all of the fighting, feuding, fussing against God will ultimately fail. In light of this truth, there are still people who wickedly and deceitfully imagine somehow they're going to pull the wool over God's eyes and it's just not going to happen.

Review: Challenging God's Will (Jeremiah 42-43)

The Judahites challenged God's will by refusing to stay in Judah and fleeing to Egypt, only to encounter the very judgment they feared.

Now, last week when we looked at Jeremiah 42 and 43, we saw how the Judahites challenged God in His will. They came to Jeremiah and said, "Pray for us. We want to know God's will for our lives. And we're willing to do whatever God says, whether it's good or whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we not, we're going to obey God." So after 10 days, God said to Jeremiah, "You tell them, I said, it's my will for them to stay in the land." "Do not go into Egypt." Well, after Jeremiah told them that, they basically said to Jeremiah, "You're lying. God didn't say that. God didn't tell you to tell us that." Why? Well, we're afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, and we don't want him to come and kill us for something that Ishmael has done, and no, we're not going to stay here, and we're not going to go through this famine, and we're not going to go through all this pestilence. No, we're going to Egypt. And so, obviously, they kidnapped Jeremiah and Baruch and went down into Egypt. And guess what? God sent Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt.

So the very man they were running from, they ran into. And of course, there was famine and pestilence. And when they got there, God told Jeremiah to spread these stones out and said, "Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and put his throne right over these stones right here." So whenever you begin to challenge God's will, you're going to ultimately find out that you're going to lose. Today I'm going to show you, in Jeremiah chapter 44, there are two other areas in which people challenge God very seriously and very greatly. And just like they did so in the days of Jeremiah, you will find that people are doing exactly the same today. So how in the world do they challenge God? Well, we saw last week they challenged God in His will. Today, the second point I want to cover is this: They challenge God in His worship. Now, if you will give me just a little while, I'm going to show you this from the scripture.

Challenging God in His Worship: False Gods

Worshiping false gods like the Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte) steals God's glory and challenges His exclusivity.

But let me answer a question first. How in the world does one challenge God when it comes to worship? And the answer, first of all, is one may challenge God by giving his worship to a false god or to an idol that is nothing more than an invention of one's imagination. You see, God said in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Now listen to what He said, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another." Doesn't matter who it is. "Neither," He said, "will I give my praise to graven images."

Now, I want you to listen to one quick quote. I'm going to stop. It's only just two sentences long, but I'm going to stop at the first sentence. J.A. Alexander said this, "The general doctrine of this verse," talking about Isaiah 42:8, "the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religion cannot coexist." Now just stop and think about this. There are three major monotheistic religions in the world: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. What is Islam seeking to do? To destroy Judaism and Christianity. What is Judaism seeking to do? To destroy Christianity and Islam. What is Christianity's ultimate goal? To destroy Islam and Judaism and every other false religion. Why? Because the true religion, Christianity, cannot coexist with false religions. Now let me finish. He says, "The general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religions cannot coexist.

Because, however tolerant idolatry may be, it is essential to the worship of Jehovah to be perfectly exclusive of all gods." So that means Christianity is an exclusive religion. That's why God said, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." So the worship of God has to be absolutely exclusive. So when you begin then to worship some false god, or anyone or anything other than the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, in essence you are challenging God. What you're saying to God is this, "You're not the true God. The God that I'm worshiping, the God that I'm imagining, the God that I'm making is the true God and therefore you are the false God." And so you're challenging God in that sense of the word to prove that He is indeed God.

Now, the remnant of Judah did exactly this. So, let's begin reading in Jeremiah 44, and let's read from verse 1 to verse 12, and I want you to think about this, the exclusivity of the worship of the one true and the living God. He said,

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-12

"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are desolate. They are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger. In that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they're wasted and desolate as at this day. Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you, man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain."

Just stop and think about that. God is saying, "Why in the world are you murdering yourself? Why are you committing suicide? Why are you doing this? I've already told you." Watch verse eight.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-12

"In that you provoke me into wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be going to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth." "Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickednesses and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even in this day. Neither have they feared nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt and sojourn there. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even to the greatest by the sword and by the famine.

And they shall be in execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:18

" Now, God is condemning them because of their idolatry. They were worshipping a false god. Now, one of the false gods that they worshipped was the Queen of Heaven. If you'll hold Jeremiah 44, but go back to Jeremiah chapter 7 and look at verse 18. Jeremiah 7:18. The scripture says, "

The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:18

" So these women then were making cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods. You have to ask yourself, who was this Queen of Heaven? The Queen of Heaven was a Persian or an Assyrian deity who was supposed to symbolize a quality possessed by moonlight in giving nature its receptive power as the Sun was represented as a quickening power.

The moon therefore became the symbol of female productiveness and was worshipped at Babylon. Usually women who worshipped the Queen of Heaven were usually either adulteresses or prostitutes because that's basically how they worshipped the Queen of Heaven in one sense of the word. This title, the Queen of Heaven, was given to Ishtar, Assyrian and Babylonian goddess who is also called Ashtoreth or Astarte. You'll find them mentioned in the Bible. She was thought to be the wife of Baal, another false god, who also went under the name of Molech as well. So the motivation for the women in worshiping Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, however you want to pronounce her name because she's called different names in the Bible, was the fact that she was the goddess of fertility. And back in those days, for a woman not to have a child, it was a disgraceful thing. Very humiliating. That is why, of course, Rachel pled with Jacob, you know, "Give me children or I die." And of course, Rebecca had to pray for children herself. And even Hannah went to the temple to pray because she was childless. And so it was an embarrassment. It was a disgrace not to be able to have children.

And so it was a worshipping then of this Astarte. Now, what the Roman Catholics did is they took this title and applied it to Mary. So Mary is often called under Roman Catholicism, the Queen of Heaven. May I point something out to you and may I be blunt. Mary is not now, never has been, and never will be the Queen of Heaven. There is no Queen of Heaven. Our Lord Himself disavowed any special recognition of Mary. Let me show you.

Hold Jeremiah 44, but look in your Bibles to Luke 11. Luke 11. And note if you would, beginning there with verse 27. Luke 11:27. Our Lord was teaching and a woman kind of broke in and said something. Watch if you would. Luke 11:27.

Scripture Reading — Luke 11:27-28

"And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it."

The woman says, "Oh, the mother that gave you birth and the mother whose breasts you suck may bless me," and He said,

Scripture Reading — Luke 11:27-28

"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it."

So Mary certainly is not the queen of heaven, never has been and never will be. There is no queen of heaven. And by the way, there's another title given to Mary, which she does not deserve. In Roman Catholicism, you will hear Mary referred to as the mother of God. She is not the mother of God. If you read the scripture, especially in Luke 1:35, the angel told Mary, "That holy thing which is conceived of thee," that holy thing, what thing was conceived in Mary? The body. You remember in the Psalms, our Lord said, "A body hast thou prepared for me." And the same thing in the book of Hebrews. "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me." Mary was the mother of the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who was God already, assumed that body. So she was not the mother of God, although she was the mother of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the difference. But so they took this and called Mary then the queen of heaven.

The queen of heaven in the Old Testament was Astarte, Ashtaroth, you know, Ishtar. Obviously, there's no relation there whatsoever. Now, if you're going to worship some other god, if you're going to worship any other God other than the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a thief. Why can I say that? Because you're stealing the honor and glory that goes to God and giving it to someone else. So you're not only a thief, you're an idolater and you're not only an idolater, you're a blasphemer. So you can challenge God, the one true and the living God, by stealing His glory and giving it to another. Now there's a second way that you may challenge God in His worship. How is that? You may challenge God by giving Him what you and I would call hypocritical or half-hearted worship.

Challenging God in His Worship: Hypocritical Worship

God rejects half-hearted, ritualistic worship that lacks spirit and truth, as seen in Isaiah 1 and Amos 5.

So let me show you. I want you to hold Jeremiah 44, but turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want you to note, if you would, to whom this chapter, this book, is actually directed. So if you'll look in Isaiah 1:1. The Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:1, 10-16

"The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem."

And then it lists the days of the kings in which he saw these truths. But note, if you would, it applies to Judah and Jerusalem. Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, look what he says to Judah and Jerusalem.

"Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." Who are Sodom and Gomorrah in this chapter? Judah and Jerusalem. And so he's talking to his people and he's calling them Sodom and Gomorrah. Now look at what he asks. Look at what he says. "'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?' saith the Lord." Why are you sacrificing to me? "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?" Now look what he says.

"Bring no more vain," that is, useless, worthless oblations. "Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meetings. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me, I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil."

And then he goes on. So, why is God calling these people Sodom and Gomorrah? Because they were in rebellion to Him. They continued with their offerings. They continued with their sacrifices, but it was all hypocritical. It was all in vain. It was, they didn't really care anything about God, His law, His directives. It was nothing more than a ceremony. It was nothing more than a ritual. They were going through it the way most average Christians go through church every Sunday.

It's just, you're there, you sing a few songs, you put something in the offering, you hear a little sermon, and you go home. It's just that simple. Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Amos chapter 5. You see, God knows our hearts. Amos chapter 5, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Look at it if you would. Amos chapter 5, God knows our hearts and God knows our genuineness or our hypocrisy. We cannot deceive Him. Amos chapter 5, beginning there verse 21. Look what God tells them.

He says, "I hate, I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beast. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs." Ha, their singing was nothing but noise. "For I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?" Watch, "But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves. Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts."

Now God said, "I hate, I despise your feast days." Did not God appoint those feast days? Yes. He said, "I will not have your sacrifices." Did not God appoint the sacrifices? And the answer is yes. Did not God appoint music? Yes, but God says, "I hate it. I'm not going to have it." Why? It was all hypocritical. It was all half-hearted. No, God said, "I will not accept it." You want to challenge God.

Do not give Him the worship that He demands. You see, God has appointed His own worship. He knows what is acceptable and He knows what is unacceptable and what He demands from you is that which He has deemed acceptable. And when you come along and you say, "Well, I don't think He deserves to be worshipped like that. Or I think I'll just do it my way." You're challenging God. You're saying to yourself, "He doesn't deserve what He's asking for. I will give Him what I want to give Him." Thus, you're actually elevating yourself above God. You're becoming an idolater because you are now determining the worship of God.

You know, our Lord said to the woman of Samaria in John 4:23-24, He said, "But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Listen to this, "for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Then He says, "God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth." So God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth. So when we worship God in spirit, it must be in the Holy Spirit. It must be in our spirits. And on the other side, it's bounded by the truth of God. In other words, everything that we give God has to be biblical because His word is truth. And as we give Him what He demands in truth, we do so in the Holy Spirit and in our spirits. I cannot help but think of that which David said in Psalm 103, when he said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name."

So unless we are giving Him the worship that He demands in the way that He demands, we are devaluing Him. And we are indicating that He is not worthy of the worship that He demands. And thus we're challenging God to prove us wrong. Wow. You know, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16, the Bible says,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah."

"You shall not tempt." Well, the Hebrew word for tempt is the word nasah, which literally means to test, to try, to prove, to tempt, and to challenge. Our Lord, when He was being tempted of the devil in Matthew chapter 4, took this passage and quoted it and said this,

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt, because the word is used several times.

The Meaning of Tempting/Challenging God

The Hebrew and Greek words for 'tempt' mean to test or challenge God, as illustrated by Ananias and Sapphira.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt, because the word is used several times.

I'm going to give you another illustration of it. It's also found in Acts chapter 5 and verse 9. In that passage, Ananias and Sapphira had sold a certain piece of land and they sold it for a certain amount of money. But what they did, they kept back part of that money and then went up and pretended that they were giving all of the money to the apostles to distribute to the poor. You see, Barnabas had a certain piece of land. He sold it and gave everything to the apostles. And evidently Barnabas was honored and recognized.

And so they thought that, boy, we'll do that, too. But we're not going to quite give it all. We're going to hold back some of it. So when Ananias went and appeared before the apostle Peter and gave him the money, Peter said, "Tell me. Did you sell the land for so much?" "Oh yes. That's exactly what we sold it for and we're giving it all to you." Peter said, "Let me ask you a few questions. When you had the land, was it not your own? And when you sold it, was it not your own?" In other words, you didn't have to give a dime.

"But," he said, "you have not lied to man. But you lied to the Holy Ghost." And immediately God killed Ananias. Young men came and drug him out and buried him. A little while later, Sapphira walks in and she hadn't heard what happened to her husband. And Peter just said, "Tell me, did you sell the land for so much?" "Oh, yes. Yes, that's exactly what we sold it for." And then Peter says this. He asked, "How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of the young men who drug out your husband, they shall bear thee out." He knew if God had killed her husband, he was going to kill her and she fell over dead. Now, the word tempt is the same word that our Lord used in Matthew 4. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." It's the Greek word peirazō, which means to test, to try, to tempt, and to challenge. When you are challenging God, when you are tempting God, it is to tempt one maliciously, craftily, deceitfully.

Strong explains it like this. He says, it is by impious or wicked conduct where one tests God's justice and patience and to challenge Him as it were to give proof of His perfections. So you can challenge God in His worship by not rendering to Him that worship which He demands. Here's the third way these people challenge God. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 44. They not only challenge God in His will, they not only challenge God in His worship, they challenge God in His Word.

Challenging God in His Word (Jeremiah 44:11-30)

The people openly rejected Jeremiah's word, claiming prosperity came from idolatry, but God declared His word would stand.

Now, I'm going to point this out again before I close. When you challenge God's will, inevitably, you're going to challenge God's worship. And when you challenge His will and His worship, it all comes down to one final thing. You will challenge His Word. So, let's begin with verse 11. And I want to read all the way through verse 30. So watch carefully. Verse 11, "Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be in execration, and in astonishment, and in curse, and in reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.

So that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone in the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain, that they should return in the land of Egypt to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, for none shall return, but such as shall escape." That is, a few will make it back. "Then all the men which knew," now watch, "then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour our drink offerings unto her, as we have done we and our fathers, our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil. But since we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and poured our drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?" Then Jeremiah said unto the people, and to the men and to the women and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes and the people of

the land did not the Lord remember them and came it not into his mind so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore, is your land a desolation, and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil happened unto you, as it is this day." Moreover, Jeremiah said, "And all the people, and all the women, hear the word of the Lord, all Judah, that are in the land of Egypt. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel saying, you and your wives have both spoken with your mouth and fulfilled with your hand saying, we will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out our drink offerings unto her. You shall, you will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there be an end to them. Yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt and to the land of Judah.

All the remnant of Judah that are going to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil. Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life. As I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life." Now, I want you to note if you would, these people challenge God's word. They said, you know, here's what our problem really is to show you how people totally, completely misinterpret God's providence. They say, "Here's what our problem is.

When we were worshipping the Queen of Heaven, we had plenty to eat. And we didn't have these problems. We only got this pestilence and this famine and this destruction when we ceased worshipping." Jeremiah said, "You're not thinking straight. You disobeyed God. You left His law, you left His commandments, and you began your idolatry. The judgment that came upon Judah and Jerusalem was because of your idolatry. You lost all of those things because of your idolatry. You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself. You're going to die."

Let me ask you a question. Did these people go into Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they die there? The answer is yes. Did Nebuchadnezzar conquer Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they suffer as God said? The answer is yes. Did God's word stand? Yes. Did their word fail? Yes. God said, "We'll see whose word is going to stand. We'll see who can accomplish His counsel and His purpose and His will." Wow! You speak against God. You decry Him. You discredit Him. You deny Him. You blaspheme Him.

You rant and rave all you please and all you desire. Still, God said in Isaiah 46:10, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." We will find out whose word will stand. And when you challenge God's word inevitably, you're saying that your word is superior, greater and more powerful and you will be engulfed in the anger and the righteous wrath of God. God's Word will stand.

Misinterpreting Providence

Matthew Henry's quote explains how the Judahites and early pagans misread calamities, hardening themselves in sin.

Let me give you a quick quote by Matthew Henry. Listen to what Henry said. "So perversely did they misconstrue providence, though God by His prophets had so often explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke the direct contrary. Since we forsook our idolatries, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword, the true reason of which was because they still retained their idols in their heart and an affection to their old sins, but they would have thought it was because they had forsaken the acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should have been for their welfare to separate them between them and their sins being misinterpreted did but confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public calamities for opposing Christians and persecuting them, they, the nations, put a contrary sense upon the calamities, as if they were sent to punish the Christians or sent to punish them for conniving at the Christians and tolerating them, And hence they cried, Christianos ad leones, that is, throw the Christians to the lions.

Yet, if it had been true, as they said, that since they returned to the service of the true God, the God of Israel, they had been in want and trouble. Was that a reason why they should revolt from him again? Now listen to what he says. "That was as much to say that they served not him, but their own bellies. Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them, though they never see a good day with Him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by Him in the end." And that's true. Do not challenge God. You cannot win. You always lose. Because God is sovereign, God is omnipotent.

Applications: Progression of Sin and Love for God

Challenging God's will leads to challenging worship and word; the safest place is in God's will. Love for Christ constrains submission.

Do you remember what Job said in Job chapter 13 and verse 15? This is the attitude that we must take. Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. You're never, ever going to lose by trusting God.

Now, let me make a couple of applications. I want you to think with me. First of all, when one begins to challenge the will of God, inevitably he will end up challenging the worship of God. Most of you have been around in churches long enough to know when someone gets angry with God, usually they'll take it out on the preacher, but sometimes other Christians. And when they get angry with God or the preacher or some other Christians, what do they do? They stop coming to church. They will. They'll stop going to church. So once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word. There is always a progression in sin and it does not get better. It gets worse and it gets deeper. When you end up challenging the will, you end up challenging the word as well as the worship of God.

The safest place to be is right smack dab in the middle of God's will. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Those of you who know me know that I hate large cities. I despise them. I really do. I don't want to be around them. I especially dislike Atlanta, Georgia. I don't like to go through it. I don't like to go around it. I don't like to go near it. I don't want to be anywhere near Atlanta. But you know, I've said this innumerable times, as much as I hate and despise Atlanta, if God told me that I had to go to Atlanta and pastor and minister, I would say, "Lord, I'm more than willing to go. I want to go. But Lord, you don't have to make it plain to me. This is your will. Would you please write that in this stone over here so I would know for sure."

But now the truth of the matter is this. If God wanted me to go to Atlanta, He would change my heart. He'd change my mind. He'd change my thinking. And if I really genuinely believed He wanted me in Atlanta, I'd be there before the night was over. But I'm so thankful right now. He doesn't want me in Atlanta and He wants me right where I am. But I'm just simply saying the safest place, no matter how much you might dislike the place, it's still right smack dab in the middle of God's will. That's where the protection of God will be. That's where the blessings of God and the prosperity of God will be.

Now, here's the second application. I want you to listen very carefully to this. If we really wish to serve our Lord more, we must learn to love Him more. Have you ever stopped to think, outside of the plain command of God, one reason that a wife submits to her husband is she really loves him. One reason the children submit to their parents is because they love them. And do you understand then, actually, the more love that you possess toward God, the more willing you are to submit to Him. Here's a quote that came from Spurgeon. I want you to listen very carefully.

I'm going to stop at the first sentence and then I'll pick back up. He states, "One who has been reconciled to God by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, finds it difficult to believe his devotion to the Lord is adequate." Now just stop and think about that. Those of us who have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ with great difficulty finds that our devotion is adequate. In other words, we really do not think that we can adequately serve Him because of the great price that He gave for us.

Now, let me go forward. He says, "The true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough." Have you ever stopped to think about that? Have you ever realized that even your prayer is mixed with sin? Your worship is mixed with sin. What you understand is mixed with sin. And it's difficult at times when someone really truly wants to honor God and they realize our devotion is not only adequate, it's not pure enough either. He goes on. "A soul under special manifestations of love weeps that it cannot love Christ anymore. Mr. Welch, a Suffolk minister, weeping at the table and being asked the reason for it, answered it was because he could love Christ no more." In other words, he could not gather an additional love for Him. "The true lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to Christ." Now, listen. "They count a little love to be no love. A great love to be but little. Strong love to be but weak.

And the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of Christ. The beauty and the glory of Christ. The fullness, sweetness, and goodness of Christ. The top of their misery in this life is that they love so little, though they have been loved so much." If you truly want to be humbled, think of how you love the Lord Jesus Christ and compare that with His so great love that He loves you. Once you begin to realize the vast chasm in comparisons, it should make you want even more to submit to His will, to give Him the worship that He demands, and believe His Word and rely upon Him. It's the love of God that constrains us so that we may give Him the glory that's due unto His name. So we come away with this, do not challenge God. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Bow submissively and worship and honor Him and ask Him to increase your love for Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, help us to never, ever attempt to challenge thee. But may we always willingly submit to thee, to love thee, to understand thee, to glorify thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.

Study Guide

Major Themes

The Folly of Challenging God

Summary: It is insane for finite, mutable man to challenge the infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God, who knows all thoughts and whose counsel will stand.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger... no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that' and cites Psalm 2:4.

Exclusive Worship of the True God

Summary: God demands exclusive worship; giving glory to false gods or idols is stealing from God and constitutes idolatry and blasphemy.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 42:8, 'I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another,' and explains the Queen of Heaven idolatry.

Hypocritical Worship Rejected by God

Summary: God despises worship that is merely external ritual without genuine heart devotion; He demands worship in spirit and truth.

Evidence: Weaver reads Isaiah 1:11-15 and Amos 5:21-23, where God says He hates their feasts and will not accept their offerings.

The Progression of Sin: Will, Worship, Word

Summary: Challenging God's will inevitably leads to challenging His worship and ultimately His word, as seen in the Judahites' rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'When you challenge God's will, inevitably, you're going to challenge God's worship. And when you challenge His will and His worship, it all comes down to one final thing. You will challenge His Word.'

God's Word Will Stand

Summary: Despite human defiance, God's sovereign declaration in Isaiah 46:10 guarantees that His counsel and pleasure will be accomplished.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Isaiah 46:10, 'My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure,' and applies it to the judgment on the remnant.

Love for Christ as Motivation for Submission

Summary: A deeper love for Christ, recognizing His great love for us, constrains believers to submit to God's will, worship, and word.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Spurgeon on the believer's inadequate love and says, 'It's the love of God that constrains us so that we may give Him the glory.'

Key Arguments

God's attributes make challenging Him irrational

Summary: Because God is infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and knows our thoughts, it is impossible to deceive or defeat Him.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'God knows our thoughts... it is impossible to trick Him. It's impossible to surprise Him.'

Worship of false gods is a direct challenge to God's glory

Summary: By worshiping idols like the Queen of Heaven, people steal the honor due to God alone and set themselves against Him.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'if you're going to worship any other God... you're a thief... you're an idolater and you're a blasphemer.'

God rejects worship not offered in spirit and truth

Summary: Ritualistic, hypocritical worship is an abomination to God; He demands worship that is biblical and from the heart.

Evidence: Weaver cites John 4:23-24 and says, 'God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth.'

Tempting God is testing His justice and patience

Summary: The biblical concept of tempting God involves maliciously challenging Him to prove His perfections, as Ananias and Sapphira did.

Evidence: Weaver explains the Greek word peirazō and quotes Strong's definition: 'to test God's justice and patience and to challenge Him.'

The Judahites misinterpreted providence to justify sin

Summary: They attributed past prosperity to idolatry and present calamity to abandoning it, when the opposite was true.

Evidence: Weaver reads Jeremiah 44:17-18 and explains, 'You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself.'

God's word will ultimately prevail over human words

Summary: God declared through Jeremiah that the remnant would know whose word stands, and history confirmed His judgment.

Evidence: Weaver reads Jeremiah 44:28-29 and asks, 'Did God's word stand? Yes. Did their word fail? Yes.'

Challenging God's will leads to a downward spiral

Summary: When people get angry with God, they often stop attending church and eventually reject His word entirely.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word.'

Love for Christ is the antidote to challenging God

Summary: The more we love Christ, the more we willingly submit to His will, worship, and word, even in suffering.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Job 13:15, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust him,' and Spurgeon on the believer's desire to love Christ more.

Scripture References

Jeremiah 44:1-6

Context: Introduction to the chapter, read at the beginning of the sermon.

Psalm 2:2-4

Context: Cited to show God laughs at those who challenge Him.

Job 21:27

Context: God knows the thoughts and devices imagined against Him.

Isaiah 66:18

Context: God knows their works and thoughts.

Proverbs 15:26

Context: The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord.

Matthew 9:4

Context: Jesus knowing their thoughts.

Luke 5:22

Context: Jesus perceived their thoughts.

Isaiah 46:10

Context: God's counsel shall stand and He will do all His pleasure.

Isaiah 42:8

Context: God will not give His glory to another or praise to graven images.

Jeremiah 44:1-12

Context: Read to show God's condemnation of idolatry.

Jeremiah 7:18

Context: The people made cakes to the Queen of Heaven.

Luke 11:27-28

Context: Jesus disavows special recognition of Mary.

Luke 1:35

Context: Mary conceived the holy thing, the body of Christ.

Isaiah 1:1, 10-16

Context: God rejects the hypocritical worship of Judah, calling them Sodom and Gomorrah.

Amos 5:21-27

Context: God hates their feast days and will not accept their offerings.

John 4:23-24

Context: True worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.

Deuteronomy 6:16

Context: You shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Matthew 4:7

Context: Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 during temptation.

Acts 5:9

Context: Peter asks Sapphira why they agreed to tempt the Spirit.

Jeremiah 44:11-30

Context: The people reject God's word and God pronounces judgment.

Historical References

Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte/Ashtoreth)

Context: A Persian/Assyrian deity of fertility, worshipped by women making cakes; later applied to Mary in Roman Catholicism.

Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt

Context: God sent Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt to judge the remnant, fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy.

Roman Catholic titles for Mary

Context: The title 'Queen of Heaven' and 'Mother of God' are unbiblical applications to Mary, derived from pagan sources.

Pharaoh Hophra

Context: God gave Pharaoh Hophra into the hand of his enemies as a sign of judgment, paralleling Zedekiah's fate.

Early Christian persecutions

Context: Matthew Henry's quote references how pagans misinterpreted calamities and cried 'Christianos ad leones' (Christians to the lions).

Important Quotes

you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger, more flexible, has more ability, and no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that, because obviously there is no hope of winning in any kind of contest.

Significance: Establishes the central premise that challenging God is irrational given His infinite superiority.

I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Significance: Key verse emphasizing God's demand for exclusive worship, foundational to the argument against idolatry.

the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religion cannot coexist.

Significance: Quote from J.A. Alexander underscoring the exclusivity of true worship.

God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth.

Significance: Summarizes the biblical requirements for acceptable worship.

My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

Significance: God's sovereign declaration that His purposes cannot be thwarted, a recurring theme.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Significance: Job's statement of unwavering faith, presented as the proper attitude toward God.

The true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough.

Significance: Spurgeon quote highlighting the believer's sense of inadequacy in devotion.

Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them, though they never see a good day with Him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by Him in the end.

Significance: Matthew Henry quote emphasizing faithful service regardless of circumstances.

Discussion Questions

In what ways do people today challenge God's will, worship, and word, similar to the remnant of Judah?

Context: Application of the sermon's main points to contemporary life.

How can we ensure our worship is in 'spirit and truth' and not merely hypocritical ritual?

Context: Based on the discussion of John 4:23-24 and the rejection of vain offerings.

Why is it dangerous to misinterpret God's providence, and how can we avoid the mistake of the Judahites?

Context: The people thought prosperity came from idolatry; we may misread blessings and trials.

What does it mean to 'tempt' or 'challenge' God today, and how can we guard against it?

Context: Exploring the concept of peirazō and modern examples of testing God's patience.

How does a deeper love for Christ motivate greater submission to God's will, even in difficult circumstances?

Context: Reflecting on the Spurgeon quote and the application to love Christ more.

In what areas of your life are you most tempted to challenge God's word by prioritizing your own plans or reasoning?

Context: Personal application of the Judahites' rejection of Jeremiah's message.

How should the church respond to the exclusivity of Christian worship in a pluralistic society?

Context: Based on the quote from J.A. Alexander that true and false religion cannot coexist.

What practical steps can we take to stay 'right smack dab in the middle of God's will'?

Context: Weaver's personal illustration about willingness to go to Atlanta if it were God's will.

Applications

Stay in the center of God's will

Summary: The safest place is in God's will, even if it leads to uncomfortable or undesirable locations; we must be willing to go wherever He leads.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'the safest place, no matter how much you might dislike the place, it's still right smack dab in the middle of God's will.'

Examine your worship for hypocrisy

Summary: Ensure that worship is not mere external ritual but flows from a heart that loves God and adheres to His truth.

Evidence: Weaver warns against worship that is 'nothing more than a ceremony... going through it the way most average Christians go through church every Sunday.'

Do not misinterpret providence to justify sin

Summary: Avoid the error of attributing blessings to sinful practices or hardships to obedience; trust God's revealed word over personal experience.

Evidence: Weaver explains the Judahites' faulty reasoning: 'You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself.'

Cultivate a deeper love for Christ

Summary: Recognize the inadequacy of our love and devotion, and ask God to increase our love for Him, which will constrain us to submit to His will.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Spurgeon: 'The true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough.'

Trust God's word over human reasoning

Summary: When God's commands conflict with our logic or desires, we must submit to His word, knowing His counsel will stand.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'God's Word will stand... you're saying that your word is superior, greater and more powerful and you will be engulfed in the anger and the righteous wrath of God.'

Avoid the progression of sin

Summary: Recognize that challenging God's will often leads to abandoning worship and rejecting His word; guard against the first step of rebellion.

Evidence: Weaver says, 'once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word.'

Serve God regardless of circumstances

Summary: Like Job, maintain trust in God even when He allows suffering, knowing that we will not lose by Him in the end.

Evidence: Weaver quotes Job 13:15 and Matthew Henry: 'Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them.'

Give God exclusive worship

Summary: Reject all forms of idolatry, whether overt false gods or subtle idols of the heart, and give glory to God alone.

Evidence: Weaver states, 'if you're going to worship any other God... you're a thief... you're an idolater and you're a blasphemer.'

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T14:59:27Z

deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T03:52:35Z

Clean Transcript

So, You Wish To Challenge God - Part 2 of 2

Clean readable transcript. This view follows the Commentary.net cleaned segment text while preserving timestamps for audio follow-along.

Open our Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 44, Jeremiah chapter 44. This is the second part. So you wish to challenge God? Notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, and I'm only going to read the first six verses, because ultimately we're going to be reading the entire chapter only in sections. So notice if you would, Jeremiah 44, beginning there with verse one, "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol and at Tahpanhes and Noph and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,"
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"You have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing, which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and desolate as at this day."
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There are many individuals who challenge others, some challenge themselves, and sadly a great number end up challenging God. I pointed out last week in our introduction how you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger, more flexible, has more ability, and no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that, because obviously there is no hope of winning in any kind of contest. But yet, many people always challenge someone who is greater, stronger, infinite, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent, eternal, immutable, and sovereign. That is, they challenge God Himself. And the interesting thing is that fallen man oftentimes thinks that he's not only capable of challenging God, that somehow, ultimately, he is going to win. Obviously, such is deceived.
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You remember that passage in Psalm 2, where the Bible says, "The kings of the earth and the rulers have gathered themselves together, saying, Come, let us break his bands and cast his cords from us." But when you get to verse 4, the Bible says, "He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh, the Lord shall have them in derision." So you have to be absolutely insane to challenge God.
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So when you stop and think about it like this, man is finite. God is infinite. Man may be powerful, but God is omnipotent. He is all powerful. Men may have knowledge, but God is omniscient. He knows absolutely everything. You may have an end, man does have an end, but God is endless because He is eternal. Man is mutable, but God is immutable. Man can change from strong to weak, but God never changes. You are confined to space and time, but God is not confined to space and time because God is not only omnipresent, He is also transcendent. So it's absolutely impossible in one sense of the word for someone in a right mind to challenge God.
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So whatever one's plans, whatever his moves, whatever his schemes, whatever his devices, whatever his plan of action happens to be, everything is destined to fail. Why? Because Job 21:27, God says, "Behold, I know your thoughts and the devices which you wrongfully imagine against me."
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Now stop and think about that. "I know your thoughts." In fact, He said in the book of Ezekiel, "I know your thoughts even before they come into your mind." When you look at Isaiah 66:18, He says, "For I know their works and their thoughts." And when you get to Proverbs 15:26, the Bible says, "The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord." God has to know them to declare them an abomination. But the thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord. So, since God then knows our thoughts, He knows your thoughts, it is impossible to trick Him. It's impossible to surprise Him. It's impossible to deceive Him. And it's certainly impossible to ambush Him.
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There's no way that you can slip up on God's blind side, for God does not have a blind side. You remember in the New Testament, our Lord, in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 4, the Bible says this, "And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Why think ye evil in your hearts?" Notice, He knew their thoughts. Then when you get to Luke chapter 5 and verse 22, the Bible said that when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answering said to them, "Why reason ye in your hearts?" So obviously our Lord knows our thoughts.
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Now God has made an absolute sovereign declaration in Isaiah 46:10 and He said this, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." So all of the fighting, feuding, fussing against God will ultimately fail. In light of this truth, there are still people who wickedly and deceitfully imagine somehow they're going to pull the wool over God's eyes and it's just not going to happen.
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Now, last week when we looked at Jeremiah 42 and 43, we saw how the Judahites challenged God in His will. They came to Jeremiah and said, "Pray for us. We want to know God's will for our lives. And we're willing to do whatever God says, whether it's good or whether it's evil, whether we like it, whether we not, we're going to obey God." So after 10 days, God said to Jeremiah, "You tell them, I said, it's my will for them to stay in the land."
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"Do not go into Egypt." Well, after Jeremiah told them that, they basically said to Jeremiah, "You're lying. God didn't say that. God didn't tell you to tell us that." Why? Well, we're afraid of Nebuchadnezzar, and we don't want him to come and kill us for something that Ishmael has done, and no, we're not going to stay here, and we're not going to go through this famine, and we're not going to go through all this pestilence. No, we're going to Egypt. And so, obviously, they kidnapped Jeremiah and Baruch and went down into Egypt. And guess what? God sent Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt.
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So the very man they were running from, they ran into. And of course, there was famine and pestilence. And when they got there, God told Jeremiah to spread these stones out and said, "Nebuchadnezzar is going to come and put his throne right over these stones right here." So whenever you begin to challenge God's will, you're going to ultimately find out that you're going to lose. Today I'm going to show you, in Jeremiah chapter 44, there are two other areas in which people challenge God very seriously and very greatly. And just like they did so in the days of Jeremiah, you will find that people are doing exactly the same today. So how in the world do they challenge God? Well, we saw last week they challenged God in His will. Today, the second point I want to cover is this: They challenge God in His worship. Now, if you will give me just a little while, I'm going to show you this from the scripture.
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But let me answer a question first. How in the world does one challenge God when it comes to worship? And the answer, first of all, is one may challenge God by giving his worship to a false god or to an idol that is nothing more than an invention of one's imagination. You see, God said in Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." Now listen to what He said, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another."
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Doesn't matter who it is. "Neither," He said, "will I give my praise to graven images."
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Now, I want you to listen to one quick quote. I'm going to stop. It's only just two sentences long, but I'm going to stop at the first sentence. J.A. Alexander said this, "The general doctrine of this verse," talking about Isaiah 42:8, "the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religion cannot coexist." Now just stop and think about this. There are three major monotheistic religions in the world: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. What is Islam seeking to do? To destroy Judaism and Christianity. What is Judaism seeking to do? To destroy Christianity and Islam. What is Christianity's ultimate goal? To destroy Islam and Judaism and every other false religion. Why? Because the true religion, Christianity, cannot coexist with false religions. Now let me finish. He says, "The general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religions cannot coexist.
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Because, however tolerant idolatry may be, it is essential to the worship of Jehovah to be perfectly exclusive of all gods." So that means Christianity is an exclusive religion. That's why God said, "I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images." So the worship of God has to be absolutely exclusive. So when you begin then to worship some false god, or anyone or anything other than the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, in essence you are challenging God. What you're saying to God is this, "You're not the true God. The God that I'm worshiping, the God that I'm imagining, the God that I'm making is the true God and therefore you are the false God." And so you're challenging God in that sense of the word to prove that He is indeed God.
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Now, the remnant of Judah did exactly this. So, let's begin reading in Jeremiah 44, and let's read from verse 1 to verse 12, and I want you to think about this, the exclusivity of the worship of the one true and the living God. He said, "The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah.
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And behold, this day they are desolate. They are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger. In that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they're wasted and desolate as at this day. Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you, man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain."
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Just stop and think about that. God is saying, "Why in the world are you murdering yourself? Why are you committing suicide? Why are you doing this? I've already told you." Watch verse eight. "In that you provoke me into wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be going to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth."
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"Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickednesses and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even in this day. Neither have they feared nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt and sojourn there. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even to the greatest by the sword and by the famine.
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And they shall be in execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach." Now, God is condemning them because of their idolatry. They were worshipping a false god.
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Now, one of the false gods that they worshipped was the Queen of Heaven. If you'll hold Jeremiah 44, but go back to Jeremiah chapter 7 and look at verse 18. Jeremiah 7:18. The scripture says, "The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough to make cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger." So these women then were making cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods. You have to ask yourself, who was this Queen of Heaven? The Queen of Heaven was a Persian or an Assyrian deity who was supposed to symbolize a quality possessed by moonlight in giving nature its receptive power as the Sun was represented as a quickening power.
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The moon therefore became the symbol of female productiveness and was worshipped at Babylon. Usually women who worshipped the Queen of Heaven were usually either adulteresses or prostitutes because that's basically how they worshipped the Queen of Heaven in one sense of the word. This title, the Queen of Heaven, was given to Ishtar, Assyrian and Babylonian goddess who is also called Ashtoreth or Astarte. You'll find them mentioned in the Bible. She was thought to be the wife of Baal, another false god, who also went under the name of Molech as well. So the motivation for the women in worshiping Ashtoreth, Astarte, Ishtar, however you want to pronounce her name because she's called different names in the Bible, was the fact that she was the goddess of fertility.
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And back in those days, for a woman not to have a child, it was a disgraceful thing. Very humiliating. That is why, of course, Rachel pled with Jacob, you know, "Give me children or I die." And of course, Rebecca had to pray for children herself. And even Hannah went to the temple to pray because she was childless. And so it was an embarrassment. It was a disgrace not to be able to have children.
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And so it was a worshipping then of this Astarte. Now, what the Roman Catholics did is they took this title and applied it to Mary. So Mary is often called under Roman Catholicism, the Queen of Heaven. May I point something out to you and may I be blunt. Mary is not now, never has been, and never will be the Queen of Heaven. There is no Queen of Heaven. Our Lord Himself disavowed any special recognition of Mary. Let me show you.
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Hold Jeremiah 44, but look in your Bibles to Luke 11. Luke 11. And note if you would, beginning there with verse 27. Luke 11:27. Our Lord was teaching and a woman kind of broke in and said something. Watch if you would. Luke 11:27. "And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it." The woman says, "Oh, the mother that gave you birth and the mother whose breasts you suck may bless me," and He said, "Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it."
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So Mary certainly is not the queen of heaven, never has been and never will be. There is no queen of heaven. And by the way, there's another title given to Mary, which she does not deserve. In Roman Catholicism, you will hear Mary referred to as the mother of God. She is not the mother of God. If you read the scripture, especially in Luke 1:35, the angel told Mary, "That holy thing which is conceived of thee," that holy thing, what thing was conceived in Mary? The body. You remember in the Psalms, our Lord said, "A body hast thou prepared for me." And the same thing in the book of Hebrews. "Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared for me." Mary was the mother of the body of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ, who was God already, assumed that body. So she was not the mother of God, although she was the mother of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ. You see the difference. But so they took this and called Mary then the queen of heaven.
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The queen of heaven in the Old Testament was Astarte, Ashtaroth, you know, Ishtar. Obviously, there's no relation there whatsoever.
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Now, if you're going to worship some other god, if you're going to worship any other God other than the one true and the living God who's revealed Himself in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are a thief. Why can I say that? Because you're stealing the honor and glory that goes to God and giving it to someone else. So you're not only a thief, you're an idolater and you're not only an idolater, you're a blasphemer. So you can challenge God, the one true and the living God, by stealing His glory and giving it to another. Now there's a second way that you may challenge God in His worship. How is that? You may challenge God by giving Him what you and I would call hypocritical or half-hearted worship.
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So let me show you. I want you to hold Jeremiah 44, but turn in your Bibles to Isaiah chapter 1. Isaiah chapter 1. And I want you to note, if you would, to whom this chapter, this book, is actually directed. So if you'll look in Isaiah 1:1. The Bible says, "The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem." And then it lists the days of the kings in which he saw these truths. But note, if you would, it applies to Judah and Jerusalem. Now, if you'll skip down to verse 10, look what he says to Judah and Jerusalem.
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"Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom, Give ear to the law of our God, you people of Gomorrah." Who are Sodom and Gomorrah in this chapter? Judah and Jerusalem. And so he's talking to his people and he's calling them Sodom and Gomorrah.
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Now look at what he asks. Look at what he says. "'To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me?' saith the Lord." Why are you sacrificing to me? "I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?" Now look what he says.
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"Bring no more vain," that is, useless, worthless oblations. "Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even the solemn meetings. Your new moons and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are trouble unto me, I'm weary to bear them. And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean. Put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes. Cease to do evil."
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And then he goes on. So, why is God calling these people Sodom and Gomorrah? Because they were in rebellion to Him. They continued with their offerings. They continued with their sacrifices, but it was all hypocritical. It was all in vain. It was, they didn't really care anything about God, His law, His directives. It was nothing more than a ceremony. It was nothing more than a ritual. They were going through it the way most average Christians go through church every Sunday.
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It's just, you're there, you sing a few songs, you put something in the offering, you hear a little sermon, and you go home. It's just that simple. Look in your Bibles, if you would, please, to the book of Amos chapter 5. You see, God knows our hearts. Amos chapter 5, Daniel, Hosea, Joel, Amos. Look at it if you would. Amos chapter 5, God knows our hearts and God knows our genuineness or our hypocrisy. We cannot deceive Him. Amos chapter 5, beginning there verse 21. Look what God tells them.
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He says, "I hate, I despise your feast days and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though you offer me burnt offerings, and your meat offerings, I will not accept them, neither will I regard the peace offerings of your fat beast. Take thou away from me the noise of thy songs." Ha, their singing was nothing but noise. "For I will not hear the melody of thy viols. But let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. Have you offered unto me sacrifices and offerings in the wilderness forty years, O house of Israel?"
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Watch, "But you have borne the tabernacle of your Moloch and Chiun your images, the star of your god, which you made to yourselves. Therefore, will I cause you to go into captivity beyond Damascus, saith the Lord, whose name is the God of hosts."
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Now God said, "I hate, I despise your feast days." Did not God appoint those feast days? Yes. He said, "I will not have your sacrifices." Did not God appoint the sacrifices? And the answer is yes. Did not God appoint music? Yes, but God says, "I hate it. I'm not going to have it." Why? It was all hypocritical. It was all half-hearted. No, God said, "I will not accept it." You want to challenge God.
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Do not give Him the worship that He demands. You see, God has appointed His own worship. He knows what is acceptable and He knows what is unacceptable and what He demands from you is that which He has deemed acceptable. And when you come along and you say, "Well, I don't think He deserves to be worshipped like that. Or I think I'll just do it my way." You're challenging God. You're saying to yourself, "He doesn't deserve what He's asking for. I will give Him what I want to give Him." Thus, you're actually elevating yourself above God. You're becoming an idolater because you are now determining the worship of God.
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You know, our Lord said to the woman of Samaria in John 4:23-24, He said, "But the hour cometh and now is when the true worshipers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." Listen to this, "for the Father seeketh such to worship him." Then He says, "God is spirit and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and truth." So God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth. So when we worship God in spirit, it must be in the Holy Spirit. It must be in our spirits. And on the other side, it's bounded by the truth of God. In other words, everything that we give God has to be biblical because His word is truth. And as we give Him what He demands in truth, we do so in the Holy Spirit and in our spirits. I cannot help but think of that which David said in Psalm 103, when he said, "Bless the Lord, O my soul and all that is within me, bless his holy name."
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So unless we are giving Him the worship that He demands in the way that He demands, we are devaluing Him. And we are indicating that He is not worthy of the worship that He demands. And thus we're challenging God to prove us wrong. Wow. You know, in the book of Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse 16, the Bible says, "You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah."
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"You shall not tempt." Well, the Hebrew word for tempt is the word nasah, which literally means to test, to try, to prove, to tempt, and to challenge. Our Lord, when He was being tempted of the devil in Matthew chapter 4, took this passage and quoted it and said this, "It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt, because the word is used several times.
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I'm going to give you another illustration of it. It's also found in Acts chapter 5 and verse 9. In that passage, Ananias and Sapphira had sold a certain piece of land and they sold it for a certain amount of money. But what they did, they kept back part of that money and then went up and pretended that they were giving all of the money to the apostles to distribute to the poor. You see, Barnabas had a certain piece of land. He sold it and gave everything to the apostles. And evidently Barnabas was honored and recognized.
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And so they thought that, boy, we'll do that, too. But we're not going to quite give it all. We're going to hold back some of it. So when Ananias went and appeared before the apostle Peter and gave him the money, Peter said, "Tell me. Did you sell the land for so much?" "Oh yes. That's exactly what we sold it for and we're giving it all to you." Peter said, "Let me ask you a few questions. When you had the land, was it not your own? And when you sold it, was it not your own?" In other words, you didn't have to give a dime.
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"But," he said, "you have not lied to man. But you lied to the Holy Ghost." And immediately God killed Ananias. Young men came and drug him out and buried him. A little while later, Sapphira walks in and she hadn't heard what happened to her husband. And Peter just said, "Tell me, did you sell the land for so much?" "Oh, yes. Yes, that's exactly what we sold it for." And then Peter says this.
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He asked, "How is it that you have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? Behold the feet of the young men who drug out your husband, they shall bear thee out." He knew if God had killed her husband, he was going to kill her and she fell over dead. Now, the word tempt is the same word that our Lord used in Matthew 4. "Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God." It's the Greek word peirazō, which means to test, to try, to tempt, and to challenge. When you are challenging God, when you are tempting God, it is to tempt one maliciously, craftily, deceitfully.
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Strong explains it like this. He says, it is by impious or wicked conduct where one tests God's justice and patience and to challenge Him as it were to give proof of His perfections. So you can challenge God in His worship by not rendering to Him that worship which He demands. Here's the third way these people challenge God. I want you to go back to Jeremiah chapter 44. They not only challenge God in His will, they not only challenge God in His worship, they challenge God in His Word.
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Now, I'm going to point this out again before I close. When you challenge God's will, inevitably, you're going to challenge God's worship. And when you challenge His will and His worship, it all comes down to one final thing. You will challenge His Word. So, let's begin with verse 11. And I want to read all the way through verse 30. So watch carefully. Verse 11, "Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt to sojourn there, and they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even unto the greatest, by the sword and by the famine, and they shall be in execration, and in astonishment, and in curse, and in reproach. For I will punish them that dwell in the land of Egypt, as I have punished Jerusalem by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence.
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So that none of the remnant of Judah which are gone in the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall escape or remain, that they should return in the land of Egypt to which they have a desire to return to dwell there, for none shall return, but such as shall escape." That is, a few will make it back. "Then all the men which knew," now watch, "then all the men which knew that their wives had burned incense unto other gods, and all the women that stood by, a great multitude, even all the people that dwelt in the land of Egypt, in Pathros, answered Jeremiah, saying, As for the word that thou
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hast spoken unto us in the name of the Lord, we will not hearken unto thee. But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven and to pour our drink offerings unto her, as we have done we and our fathers, our kings and our princes in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. For then had we plenty of victuals and were well and saw no evil. But since we have left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine. And when we burn incense to the queen of heaven and poured our drink offerings unto her, did we make her cakes to worship her and pour out drink offerings unto her without our men?" Then Jeremiah said unto the people, and to the men and to the women and to all the people which had given him that answer, saying, "The incense that you burned in the cities of Judah and on the streets of Jerusalem, you and your fathers, your kings and your princes and the people of
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the land did not the Lord remember them and came it not into his mind so that the Lord could no longer bear because of the evil of your doings and because of the abominations which you have committed. Therefore, is your land a desolation, and an astonishment and a curse, without an inhabitant, as it is this day. Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the Lord, and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord, nor walked in His law, nor in His statutes, nor in His testimonies, therefore this evil happened unto you, as it is this day." Moreover, Jeremiah said, "And all the people, and all the women, hear the word of the Lord, all Judah, that are in the land of Egypt.
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Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel saying, you and your wives have both spoken with your mouth and fulfilled with your hand saying, we will surely perform our vows that we have vowed to burn incense to the queen of heaven and to pour out our drink offerings unto her. You shall, you will surely accomplish your vows and surely perform your vows. Therefore hear ye the word of the Lord, all Judah that dwell in the land of Egypt. Behold, I have sworn by my great name, saith the Lord, that my name shall no more be named in the mouth of any man of Judah in all the land of Egypt, saying, The Lord God liveth. Behold, I will watch over them for evil and not for good. And all the men of Judah that are in the land of Egypt shall be consumed by the sword and by the famine until there be an end to them. Yet a small number that escaped the sword shall return out of the land of Egypt and to the land of Judah.
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All the remnant of Judah that are going to the land of Egypt to sojourn there shall know whose word shall stand, mine or theirs. And this shall be a sign unto you, saith the Lord, that I will punish you in this place, that you may know that my words shall surely stand against you for evil. Thus saith the Lord, behold, I will give Pharaoh Hophra king of Egypt into the hand of his enemies and into the hand of them that seek his life. As I gave Zedekiah king of Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, his enemy, and that sought his life." Now, I want you to note if you would, these people challenge God's word. They said, you know, here's what our problem really is to show you how people totally, completely misinterpret God's providence. They say, "Here's what our problem is.
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When we were worshipping the Queen of Heaven, we had plenty to eat. And we didn't have these problems. We only got this pestilence and this famine and this destruction when we ceased worshipping." Jeremiah said, "You're not thinking straight. You disobeyed God. You left His law, you left His commandments, and you began your idolatry. The judgment that came upon Judah and Jerusalem was because of your idolatry. You lost all of those things because of your idolatry. You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself. You're going to die."
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Let me ask you a question. Did these people go into Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they die there? The answer is yes. Did Nebuchadnezzar conquer Egypt? The answer is yes. Did they suffer as God said? The answer is yes. Did God's word stand? Yes. Did their word fail? Yes. God said, "We'll see whose word is going to stand. We'll see who can accomplish His counsel and His purpose and His will." Wow! You speak against God. You decry Him. You discredit Him. You deny Him. You blaspheme Him.
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You rant and rave all you please and all you desire. Still, God said in Isaiah 46:10, "My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure." We will find out whose word will stand. And when you challenge God's word inevitably, you're saying that your word is superior, greater and more powerful and you will be engulfed in the anger and the righteous wrath of God. God's Word will stand.
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Let me give you a quick quote by Matthew Henry. Listen to what Henry said. "So perversely did they misconstrue providence, though God by His prophets had so often explained it to them, and the thing itself spoke the direct contrary. Since we forsook our idolatries, we have wanted all things and have been consumed by the sword, the true reason of which was because they still retained their idols in their heart and an affection to their old sins, but they would have thought it was because they had forsaken the acts of sin. Thus the afflictions which should have been for their welfare to separate them between them and their sins being misinterpreted did but confirm them in their sins. Thus, in the first ages of Christianity, when God chastised the nations by any public calamities for opposing Christians and persecuting them, they, the nations, put a contrary sense upon the calamities, as if they were sent to punish the Christians or sent to punish them for conniving at the Christians and tolerating them, And hence they cried, Christianos ad leones, that is, throw the Christians to the lions.
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Yet, if it had been true, as they said, that since they returned to the service of the true God, the God of Israel, they had been in want and trouble. Was that a reason why they should revolt from him again?
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Now listen to what he says. "That was as much to say that they served not him, but their own bellies. Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them, though they never see a good day with Him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by Him in the end." And that's true. Do not challenge God. You cannot win. You always lose. Because God is sovereign, God is omnipotent.
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Do you remember what Job said in Job chapter 13 and verse 15? This is the attitude that we must take. Job said, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust him." Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. You're never, ever going to lose by trusting God.
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Now, let me make a couple of applications. I want you to think with me. First of all, when one begins to challenge the will of God, inevitably he will end up challenging the worship of God. Most of you have been around in churches long enough to know when someone gets angry with God, usually they'll take it out on the preacher, but sometimes other Christians. And when they get angry with God or the preacher or some other Christians, what do they do?
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They stop coming to church. They will. They'll stop going to church. So once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word. There is always a progression in sin and it does not get better. It gets worse and it gets deeper. When you end up challenging the will, you end up challenging the word as well as the worship of God.
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The safest place to be is right smack dab in the middle of God's will. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Those of you who know me know that I hate large cities. I despise them. I really do. I don't want to be around them. I especially dislike Atlanta, Georgia. I don't like to go through it. I don't like to go around it. I don't like to go near it. I don't want to be anywhere near Atlanta. But you know, I've said this innumerable times, as much as I hate and despise Atlanta, if God told me that I had to go to Atlanta and pastor and minister, I would say, "Lord, I'm more than willing to go. I want to go. But Lord, you don't have to make it plain to me. This is your will. Would you please write that in this stone over here so I would know for sure."
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But now the truth of the matter is this. If God wanted me to go to Atlanta, He would change my heart. He'd change my mind. He'd change my thinking. And if I really genuinely believed He wanted me in Atlanta, I'd be there before the night was over. But I'm so thankful right now. He doesn't want me in Atlanta and He wants me right where I am. But I'm just simply saying the safest place, no matter how much you might dislike the place, it's still right smack dab in the middle of God's will. That's where the protection of God will be. That's where the blessings of God and the prosperity of God will be.
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Now, here's the second application. I want you to listen very carefully to this. If we really wish to serve our Lord more, we must learn to love Him more. Have you ever stopped to think, outside of the plain command of God, one reason that a wife submits to her husband is she really loves him. One reason the children submit to their parents is because they love them. And do you understand then, actually, the more love that you possess toward God, the more willing you are to submit to Him. Here's a quote that came from Spurgeon. I want you to listen very carefully.
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I'm going to stop at the first sentence and then I'll pick back up. He states, "One who has been reconciled to God by the blood of his Son, Jesus Christ, finds it difficult to believe his devotion to the Lord is adequate." Now just stop and think about that. Those of us who have been reconciled to God through the blood of Jesus Christ with great difficulty finds that our devotion is adequate. In other words, we really do not think that we can adequately serve Him because of the great price that He gave for us.
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Now, let me go forward. He says, "The true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough." Have you ever stopped to think about that? Have you ever realized that even your prayer is mixed with sin? Your worship is mixed with sin. What you understand is mixed with sin. And it's difficult at times when someone really truly wants to honor God and they realize our devotion is not only adequate, it's not pure enough either. He goes on. "A soul under special manifestations of love weeps that it cannot love Christ anymore. Mr. Welch, a Suffolk minister, weeping at the table and being asked the reason for it, answered it was because he could love Christ no more." In other words, he could not gather an additional love for Him. "The true lovers of Christ can never rise high enough in their love to Christ." Now, listen. "They count a little love to be no love. A great love to be but little. Strong love to be but weak.
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And the highest love to be infinitely below the worth of Christ. The beauty and the glory of Christ. The fullness, sweetness, and goodness of Christ. The top of their misery in this life is that they love so little, though they have been loved so much." If you truly want to be humbled, think of how you love the Lord Jesus Christ and compare that with His so great love that He loves you.
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Once you begin to realize the vast chasm in comparisons, it should make you want even more to submit to His will, to give Him the worship that He demands, and believe His Word and rely upon Him. It's the love of God that constrains us so that we may give Him the glory that's due unto His name. So we come away with this, do not challenge God. Do not challenge His will. Do not challenge His worship. Do not challenge His word. Bow submissively and worship and honor Him and ask Him to increase your love for Him. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow before thee. We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. And Lord, help us to never, ever attempt to challenge thee. But may we always willingly submit to thee, to love thee, to understand thee, to glorify thee. In the name of Jesus Christ, we ask and pray. Amen.
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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T14:59:27Z

So, You Wish To Challenge God - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | Freedom Ministries

In this sermon, Pastor John Weaver continues his exposition of Jeremiah 44, focusing on how the remnant of Judah challenged God not only in His will (as covered in Part 1) but also in His worship and His word. He explains that challenging God is insane given His infinite attributes, yet fallen man persists. The Judahites challenged God's worship by offering hypocritical, half-hearted worship and by giving glory to false gods like the Queen of Heaven. They challenged God's word by rejecting Jeremiah's prophecy and asserting their own plans. Weaver emphasizes that God's counsel will stand, and those who challenge Him will face judgment. Applications include staying in God's will, loving Christ more deeply, and submitting to His authority.

Opening

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-6

"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol and at Tahpanhes and Noph and in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel," "You have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger in that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit I sent unto you all my servants, the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, Oh, do not this abominable thing, which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth and was kindled in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem. And they are wasted and desolate as at this day."

Introduction: The Insanity of Challenging God

Weaver reviews the folly of challenging an infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God, referencing Psalm 2 and God's knowledge of human thoughts.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 66:18

"For I know their works and their thoughts."

There's no way that you can slip up on God's blind side, for God does not have a blind side. You remember in the New Testament, our Lord, in Matthew chapter 9 and verse 4, the Bible says this,

Scripture Reading — Matthew 9:4

"And Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Why think ye evil in your hearts?"

Review: Challenging God's Will (Jeremiah 42-43)

The Judahites challenged God's will by refusing to stay in Judah and fleeing to Egypt, only to encounter the very judgment they feared.

Challenging God in His Worship: False Gods

Worshiping false gods like the Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte) steals God's glory and challenges His exclusivity.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-12

"The word that came to Jeremiah concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt, which dwell at Migdol, at Tahpanhes, at Noph, in the country of Pathros, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, you have seen all the evil that I've brought upon Jerusalem and upon all the cities of Judah. And behold, this day they are desolate. They are a desolation and no man dwelleth therein because of their wickedness, which they have committed to provoke me to anger. In that they went to burn incense and to serve other gods, whom they knew not, neither they, ye, nor your fathers. Howbeit, I sent unto you all my servants the prophets, rising early and sending them, saying, O do not this abominable thing which I hate. But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear to turn from their wickedness, to burn no incense unto other gods. Wherefore, my fury and mine anger was poured forth, and was kindled in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, and they're wasted and desolate as at this day. Therefore now, thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, the God of Israel, wherefore commit ye this great evil against your souls, to cut off from you, man and woman, child and suckling out of Judah, to leave you none to remain."

Just stop and think about that. God is saying, "Why in the world are you murdering yourself? Why are you committing suicide? Why are you doing this? I've already told you." Watch verse eight.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 44:1-12

"In that you provoke me into wrath with the works of your hands, burning incense unto other gods in the land of Egypt, whither ye be going to dwell, that you might cut yourselves off and that you might be a curse and a reproach among all the nations of the earth." "Have you forgotten the wickedness of your fathers and the wickedness of the kings of Judah and the wickedness of their wives and your own wickednesses and the wickedness of your wives, which they have committed in the land of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? They are not humbled even in this day. Neither have they feared nor walked in my law, nor in my statutes that I set before you and before your fathers. Therefore, thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I will set my face against you for evil and to cut off all Judah. And I will take the remnant of Judah that have set their faces to go into the land of Egypt and sojourn there. And they shall all be consumed and fall in the land of Egypt. They shall even be consumed by the sword and by the famine. They shall die from the least even to the greatest by the sword and by the famine.

And they shall be in execration and an astonishment and a curse and a reproach.

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:18

" Now, God is condemning them because of their idolatry. They were worshipping a false god. Now, one of the false gods that they worshipped was the Queen of Heaven. If you'll hold Jeremiah 44, but go back to Jeremiah chapter 7 and look at verse 18. Jeremiah 7:18. The scripture says, "

Scripture Reading — Jeremiah 7:18

" So these women then were making cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods. You have to ask yourself, who was this Queen of Heaven? The Queen of Heaven was a Persian or an Assyrian deity who was supposed to symbolize a quality possessed by moonlight in giving nature its receptive power as the Sun was represented as a quickening power.

Scripture Reading — Luke 11:27-28

"And it came to pass as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice and said to him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God and keep it."

The woman says, "Oh, the mother that gave you birth and the mother whose breasts you suck may bless me," and He said,

Scripture Reading — Luke 11:27-28

"Blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it."

Challenging God in His Worship: Hypocritical Worship

God rejects half-hearted, ritualistic worship that lacks spirit and truth, as seen in Isaiah 1 and Amos 5.

Scripture Reading — Isaiah 1:1, 10-16

"The vision of Isaiah, the son of Amoz, which he saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt, because the word is used several times.

The Meaning of Tempting/Challenging God

The Hebrew and Greek words for 'tempt' mean to test or challenge God, as illustrated by Ananias and Sapphira.

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"You shall not tempt the Lord your God as you tempted him in Massah."

Scripture Reading — Deuteronomy 6:16

"It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."

Now, I want you to listen to the word tempt, because the word is used several times.

Challenging God in His Word (Jeremiah 44:11-30)

The people openly rejected Jeremiah's word, claiming prosperity came from idolatry, but God declared His word would stand.

Misinterpreting Providence

Matthew Henry's quote explains how the Judahites and early pagans misread calamities, hardening themselves in sin.

Applications: Progression of Sin and Love for God

Challenging God's will leads to challenging worship and word; the safest place is in God's will. Love for Christ constrains submission.

So, You Wish To Challenge God - Part 2 of 2

John Weaver | YouTube

Lecture Metadata	Details
Speaker	John Weaver
Source	YouTube
Media ID	aLW5LqvZm5M
Subject	Church Government
Course	Church Order: Worship, Sacraments, and the Lord's Supper
Genre	Sermon
Date	2021-01-27
Dictation Name
Book	Book 122: So, You Wish To Challenge God — Chapter 2
Source Timed Segments	69

Lecture Guide

Outline

Introduction: The Insanity of Challenging God: Weaver reviews the folly of challenging an infinite, omniscient, omnipotent God, referencing Psalm 2 and God's knowledge of human thoughts.
Review: Challenging God's Will (Jeremiah 42-43): The Judahites challenged God's will by refusing to stay in Judah and fleeing to Egypt, only to encounter the very judgment they feared.
Challenging God in His Worship: False Gods: Worshiping false gods like the Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte) steals God's glory and challenges His exclusivity.
Challenging God in His Worship: Hypocritical Worship: God rejects half-hearted, ritualistic worship that lacks spirit and truth, as seen in Isaiah 1 and Amos 5.
The Meaning of Tempting/Challenging God: The Hebrew and Greek words for 'tempt' mean to test or challenge God, as illustrated by Ananias and Sapphira.
Challenging God in His Word (Jeremiah 44:11-30): The people openly rejected Jeremiah's word, claiming prosperity came from idolatry, but God declared His word would stand.
Misinterpreting Providence: Matthew Henry's quote explains how the Judahites and early pagans misread calamities, hardening themselves in sin.
Applications: Progression of Sin and Love for God: Challenging God's will leads to challenging worship and word; the safest place is in God's will. Love for Christ constrains submission.

Major Themes

Key Arguments

God's attributes make challenging Him irrational

Because God is infinite, omniscient, omnipotent, and knows our thoughts, it is impossible to deceive or defeat Him.

Weaver says, 'God knows our thoughts... it is impossible to trick Him. It's impossible to surprise Him.'

Worship of false gods is a direct challenge to God's glory

By worshiping idols like the Queen of Heaven, people steal the honor due to God alone and set themselves against Him.

Weaver states, 'if you're going to worship any other God... you're a thief... you're an idolater and you're a blasphemer.'

God rejects worship not offered in spirit and truth

Ritualistic, hypocritical worship is an abomination to God; He demands worship that is biblical and from the heart.

Weaver cites John 4:23-24 and says, 'God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth.'

Tempting God is testing His justice and patience

The biblical concept of tempting God involves maliciously challenging Him to prove His perfections, as Ananias and Sapphira did.

Weaver explains the Greek word peirazō and quotes Strong's definition: 'to test God's justice and patience and to challenge Him.'

The Judahites misinterpreted providence to justify sin

They attributed past prosperity to idolatry and present calamity to abandoning it, when the opposite was true.

Weaver reads Jeremiah 44:17-18 and explains, 'You think now, if you go back into idolatry, that you're going to get everything back, that you're just deceiving yourself.'

God's word will ultimately prevail over human words

God declared through Jeremiah that the remnant would know whose word stands, and history confirmed His judgment.

Weaver reads Jeremiah 44:28-29 and asks, 'Did God's word stand? Yes. Did their word fail? Yes.'

Challenging God's will leads to a downward spiral

When people get angry with God, they often stop attending church and eventually reject His word entirely.

Weaver says, 'once they challenge the will, they end up challenge the worship. And the next thing you know, they end up challenging the word.'

Love for Christ is the antidote to challenging God

The more we love Christ, the more we willingly submit to His will, worship, and word, even in suffering.

Weaver quotes Job 13:15, 'Though he slay me, yet will I trust him,' and Spurgeon on the believer's desire to love Christ more.

Scripture References

Jeremiah 44:1-6: Introduction to the chapter, read at the beginning of the sermon.
Psalm 2:2-4: Cited to show God laughs at those who challenge Him.
Job 21:27: God knows the thoughts and devices imagined against Him.
Isaiah 66:18: God knows their works and thoughts.
Proverbs 15:26: The thoughts of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord.
Matthew 9:4: Jesus knowing their thoughts.
Luke 5:22: Jesus perceived their thoughts.
Isaiah 46:10: God's counsel shall stand and He will do all His pleasure.
Isaiah 42:8: God will not give His glory to another or praise to graven images.
Jeremiah 44:1-12: Read to show God's condemnation of idolatry.
Jeremiah 7:18: The people made cakes to the Queen of Heaven.
Luke 11:27-28: Jesus disavows special recognition of Mary.
Luke 1:35: Mary conceived the holy thing, the body of Christ.
Isaiah 1:1, 10-16: God rejects the hypocritical worship of Judah, calling them Sodom and Gomorrah.
Amos 5:21-27: God hates their feast days and will not accept their offerings.
John 4:23-24: True worshipers must worship in spirit and truth.
Deuteronomy 6:16: You shall not tempt the Lord your God.
Matthew 4:7: Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:16 during temptation.
Acts 5:9: Peter asks Sapphira why they agreed to tempt the Spirit.
Jeremiah 44:11-30: The people reject God's word and God pronounces judgment.

Historical References

Queen of Heaven (Ishtar/Astarte/Ashtoreth): A Persian/Assyrian deity of fertility, worshipped by women making cakes; later applied to Mary in Roman Catholicism.
Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Egypt: God sent Nebuchadnezzar into Egypt to judge the remnant, fulfilling Jeremiah's prophecy.
Roman Catholic titles for Mary: The title 'Queen of Heaven' and 'Mother of God' are unbiblical applications to Mary, derived from pagan sources.
Pharaoh Hophra: God gave Pharaoh Hophra into the hand of his enemies as a sign of judgment, paralleling Zedekiah's fate.
Early Christian persecutions: Matthew Henry's quote references how pagans misinterpreted calamities and cried 'Christianos ad leones' (Christians to the lions).

Important Quotes

you have to be absolutely insane to challenge someone who is greater, stronger, more flexible, has more ability, and no one in their right mind is going to challenge anyone like that, because obviously there is no hope of winning in any kind of contest.

Establishes the central premise that challenging God is irrational given His infinite superiority.

I am the Lord, that is my name, my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images.

Key verse emphasizing God's demand for exclusive worship, foundational to the argument against idolatry.

the general doctrine of this verse is that true and false religion cannot coexist.

Quote from J.A. Alexander underscoring the exclusivity of true worship.

God's worship is bounded on the one side with spirit and it's bounded on the other side with truth.

Summarizes the biblical requirements for acceptable worship.

My counsel shall stand and I will do all my pleasure.

God's sovereign declaration that His purposes cannot be thwarted, a recurring theme.

Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.

Job's statement of unwavering faith, presented as the proper attitude toward God.

The true child of God does not believe his worship of God or his love for God is pure enough.

Spurgeon quote highlighting the believer's sense of inadequacy in devotion.

Those who know God and put their trust in Him will serve Him, though He starve them, though He slay them, though they never see a good day with Him in this world, being well assured that they shall not lose by Him in the end.

Matthew Henry quote emphasizing faithful service regardless of circumstances.

Discussion Questions

[Question]

In what ways do people today challenge God's will, worship, and word, similar to the remnant of Judah?

[Context]

Application of the sermon's main points to contemporary life.

[Question]

How can we ensure our worship is in 'spirit and truth' and not merely hypocritical ritual?

[Context]

Based on the discussion of John 4:23-24 and the rejection of vain offerings.

[Question]

Why is it dangerous to misinterpret God's providence, and how can we avoid the mistake of the Judahites?

[Context]

The people thought prosperity came from idolatry; we may misread blessings and trials.

[Question]

What does it mean to 'tempt' or 'challenge' God today, and how can we guard against it?

[Context]

Exploring the concept of peirazō and modern examples of testing God's patience.

[Question]

How does a deeper love for Christ motivate greater submission to God's will, even in difficult circumstances?

[Context]

Reflecting on the Spurgeon quote and the application to love Christ more.

[Question]

In what areas of your life are you most tempted to challenge God's word by prioritizing your own plans or reasoning?

[Context]

Personal application of the Judahites' rejection of Jeremiah's message.

[Question]

How should the church respond to the exclusivity of Christian worship in a pluralistic society?

[Context]

Based on the quote from J.A. Alexander that true and false religion cannot coexist.

[Question]

What practical steps can we take to stay 'right smack dab in the middle of God's will'?

[Context]

Weaver's personal illustration about willingness to go to Atlanta if it were God's will.

Applications

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | weaver_study | 2026-06-06T03:52:35Z