Jeremiah 7:1

 Jeremiah 7:1 says, The word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD, saying, Verse two adds, Stand in the gate of the LORD’s house, and proclaim there this word, and say, Hear the word of the LORD, all ye of Judah, that enter in at these gates to worship the LORD.  God told Jeremiah to stand in the gates of the LORD's house and proclaim His word, telling all who entered to hear what He said.  We should always go to God's house expecting to hear what He has to say, even if it is not what we want to hear, and what is preached there should always be God's word.  Verse three declares, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.  God called on the people of Israel to amend their ways.  They had turned away from following Him, and needed to return to Him.  God said if they did that He would cause them to dwell in this place.  Verse four adds, Trust ye not in lying words, saying, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these.  God called on the people of Israel to not trust in lying words that proclaimed His temple to be something other than what it was.  Today, the church should be a place where we gather and worship God and learn about Him, and if we make it anything else, we are promoting a lie.  Verse five proclaims, For if ye throughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye throughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbour;   Verse six adds, If ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt:  God then pointed out several things that the people of Israel were doing that they should not have been doing, and called on them to thoroughly amend their ways.  They were not dealing justly with their neighbors and were oppressing strangers, the fatherless, and widows.  They were shedding innocent blood and were following after other gods.  When we begin to stray away from God as Christians, He will let us know and call us to repent and follow His guidance in our lives.  Verse seven states, Then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever.  God again gave them the promise that if they would return to Him, He would cause them to live in this land that He had promised to their fathers forever.  This promise was always based on the people of Israel being obedient to God.  Though we are saved through faith in Christ alone, after we are saved God expects us to be obedient to His word.  If we are not, we do not lose our salvation, but we lose the joy of our salvation.  God will always let us know when we are not being obedient to Him and will always call us to repentance.  Verse eight adds,  Behold, ye trust in lying words, that cannot profit.  God said that the people of Israel trusted lying words, and if we put our trust in anything other than God's word today, we are doing the same thing.  Verse nine asks, Will ye steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and walk after other gods whom ye know not;  This was another indictment against the people of Israel.  God asked if they would do these things because they were.  We need to make sure that God does not have a long list of sins that we are still committing as followers of Christ, His people, just as the people of Israel were supposed to be His people then.  If He does, then something is wrong with our obedience, and we need to change it.  Verse ten adds, And come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered to do all these abominations?  God asked if they would come before Him in His house and claim that they were delivered to commit all these abominations.  The house was called by God's name, but the people were proclaiming the ways of the world to be God's way.  Verse eleven then asks, Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, even I have seen it, saith the LORD.  God said that His house had become a den of robbers, and that He had seen it.  We need to be certain that God knows what is going on in the world today, especially with those who are His people.