The passage

1“Go up and down the streets of Jerusalem, look around and consider, search through her squares. If you can find but one person who deals honestly and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city. 18“Yet even in those days,” declares the Lord, “I will not destroy you completely. 31The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

Also referenced today

The shape of the message

1. A city searched for one honest person, and the weight of personal witness
2. Religious words without sincerity, and the necessity of truth before God
3. The poor and the great men alike: moral rebellion across the whole city
4. False freedom and coming invasion, plus the danger of presuming on God’s patience
5. Judgement with a “Nevertheless”: mercy, chastening, and the irony of sin’s punishment
6. Deafness to God’s message, social injustice, corrupt religion, and the question of the end

Questions to hold while you listen

• Where might you be the only witness for God in your city or community, and what would faithfulness look like there?
• What are some ways religious language can become hypocrisy, and what does it mean to be honest with God instead of pretending?
• Why is it a mistake to hold “great men” or spiritual leaders in undue esteem, and how does Isaiah 2:22 correct that tendency?
• How does Jeremiah 5 connect turning from God to injustice toward orphans, the poor, the homeless, and the lonely, and who is within your reach?
• What would it look like to stop mistaking God’s patience for apathy, and to take seriously the question, “what will you do in the end?”

Notes

This week

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you get rid of repeated sin by doing honest self-examination about specific behaviours (gossip, criticism, lust, cheating, wasting time at work). Pray Psalm 139:23–24 as a personal request for God to search you and lead you in the way everlasting.