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"Your burnt offerings are not acceptable"

Text: Jeremiah 6:20

JUDAH’S IDEA OF RELIGION

The Lord continued to reach out to Jerusalem and Judah, though His words fell on deaf ears! In this word, God dealt with the practice of making sacrifices to Him.

“Therefore hear, you nations,
And know, O congregation, what is among them.
Hear, O earth!
Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people—
The fruit of their thoughts,
Because they have not heeded My words
Nor My law, but rejected it.
For what purpose to Me
Comes frankincense from Sheba,
And sweet cane from a far country?
Your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
Nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”
Jeremiah 6:18-20

1. “Therefore hear, you nations, and know, O congregation, what is among them.”

a) Nations

i) God’s word was relevant to all nations.

ii) It was not confined to Judah.

b) Congregation

i) God’s word was even more relevant to His congregation in Jerusalem.

ii) Judah was just one of many nations in the world.

2. “Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people — The fruit of their thoughts”

a) This message was for the whole earth to hear.

b) He would bring judgment to Judah.

c) This judgment was one of calamity.

d) This calamity was their “fruit”.

i) They had evil thoughts and had sown the seed of evil.

ii) The fruit of evil was “calamity!”

3. “Because they have not heeded My words nor My law, but rejected it.”

a) God’s word could have brought deliverance.

b) But Judah

i) Had not heeded.

ii) Had in fact reject God’s law.

4. “For what purpose to Me comes frankincense from Sheba, and sweet cane from a far country? Your burnt offerings are not acceptable, nor your sacrifices sweet to Me.”

a) Jerusalem’s idea of religion was largely ritualistic.

i) They brought in frankincense from Sheba.

ii) Sweet cane from a country far away.

iii) Giving burnt offerings.

iv) Offering sweet sacrifices.

b) God’s response was not something that was easily comprehended.

i) God saw no purpose in these religious ceremonies.

ii) None of the sacrifices made would be accepted by Him.

c) The Word of God and Offering sacrifices:

i) The former was to be the central focus of Israel’s faith.

ii) The latter cannot be a substitute for the word of God.

iii) This was what God sought to communicate.

iv) Jerusalem chose the part of offering sacrifices instead.