Stop Playing the Harlot

There are some parallels’ between Israel in Jeremiah’s time and the church today. In Jeremiah 3:1-5 we see that Israel had gone and prostituted herself. The church today has prostituted herself as well. What do you mean the church has prostituted herself? You got to be kidding! No I’m not, and yes the church has! When I say the church, I am speaking of every single person who says that they are a Christian. When I say that we have, nay, we are playing the harlot, I do not mean physically playing the harlot, – though some are also doing it physically – I mean spiritually playing the harlot.

As Israel and Judah were in their whoredoms, so is the church today. Turn to Jeremiah 3:1-3, we see that God called out Israel and Judah concerning their adulterous ways, I might add, very blatant adulterous ways. Israel and Judah committed spiritual adultery with other gods. This is called idolatry.

In verse 1, we see the example of a man who divorces his wife and she goes and marries another, who then divorces her. The first man is prohibited from marring her again since she is defiled, as it is an abomination to God and would cause the land to sin. (Deuteronomy 24:4) God said that they have played the harlot with many lovers (idols). Even with Israel doing this, the Lord was still willing to take her back!

The church is playing the harlot with many lovers today. We see churches going after the mighty dollar. We see pastors preaching to keep their job. We see messages coming out of the pulpit that only make people feel good about themselves instead of messages that will convict people of their sin. We see messages coming out of the pulpit that have a world view instead of biblical view. Charles Spurgeon says it best “The motto of all true servants of God must be, ‘We preach Christ; and Him crucified.’ A sermon without Christ in it is like a loaf of bread without any flour in it. No Christ in your sermon, sir? Then go home, and never preach again until you have something worth preaching.”

In verse 2, God is telling Israel to look to the heights to try and see if there isn’t anything they haven’t been lovers of. The word lain has strong sexual connotations. Just like the Arabian who ambushed caravans, Israel has lusted after other gods, thereby polluting the land with their wickedness.

What have churches today not been lovers of? Churches are lovers of themselves, proclaiming, Look what we have done for the Kingdom. Look at our church building that we have so tirelessly worked for! Look at all the programs we have for the Kingdom! It seems that everything is Look at what WE, not look what God has done.

The church has gone and brought in the things of this world to appeal to those who are on the outside of the church. They use 1 Corinthians 9:20-22 as a guide, all the while totally misinterpreting the passage. They preach that we must become all things to reach the lost! Sorry, but Paul wasn’t saying to become like them, Paul was saying he went to where they were to preach the gospel, so that one may come to the saving grace of Jesus Christ! We are to go to them, not bring their worldly ways and things into the church.

In verse 3, God had withheld the rains from falling. Today God is withholding His blessings from the church because of her unfaithfulness to Him. God is allowing the church to slide further down the slippery slope of spiritual adultery only to hit rock bottom to bring us back to Him. “…and thou hadst a whore’s forehead, thou refusedst to be ashamed.” God is saying that Israel and Judah had refused to be ashamed of their acts, in that they openly committed them in full view of the world. Some churches are openly supporting those things God has called sin such as gay marriage, abortions, lying, adultery, making graven images both physical and mental, praying to dead people to receive blessings and so on.

We see that the church which is supposed to impact the world, has instead, been impacted by the world. In other words, the church which is supposed to go out into the world, has let the world come into the church. Churches have become ritualistic instead of relationship orientated. To put it plainly in the words of A.W. Tozer “The weakness of so many Christians is that they feel too much at home in the world” We cannot feel at home in the world, if we do we will lose our saltiness. When we let the world impact us, we end up thinking too lightly of sin. “When we think too lightly of sin, we think too lightly of the Saviour” Charles Spurgeon. Let that sink in for a moment. When we think of sin as “It’s okay, it’s just a small little sin, God will understand.”, we make Christs death and resurrection mean nothing to us.

The church has ignored Gods commandments, and called evil good and good evil! Woe to the church that calls evil good, and good evil, darkness for light and bitter for sweet! Isaiah 5:20. Through the churches idolatrous ways, the church has broken the first 3 commandments.

Exodus 20:3 – Thou shalt have no other gods before me. When the church puts other things before God, the church has committed idolatry. Example, if you put Facebook before God, you are breaking the first commandment. Now hear me, I’m not saying not to go on Facebook, just don’t spend all your time on it. If you have all day to be on Facebook, you can spend a good portion of the day with your Bible open studying it and reading it! If you can be watching the idiot tube all day, you can spend a good portion of the day in God’s Word! Don’t get me wrong here. You can enjoy watching the idiot tube as long as you are not filling your mind and heart with all of the sex, murder, lying, adulteries, fornication, swearing and so on. How can we as a Christians sit there and watch that filth and not even blush. If you are not feeling convicted, you may need to get on your knees and start praying. What you fill your heart and mind with WILL eventually come out in how you live. We need to serve God with our whole being all day long in everything we do, where He has placed us. Are you filling your heart with things of the world, or things of God? If you continually fill your heart with the things of this world, eventually your speech will reveal where your heart is. Matthew 15:18-20 and Mark 7:15-23. When you speak what is in your heart, you defile yourself and God will destroy you! 1 Corinthians 3:16,17

What things are you putting before God? Are you placing your paycheck before God? Are you putting your job before God? How about your family before God?

Exodus 20:4 – Thou shalt not make any graven image. In the spirit of the law as Jesus did in Matthew 5:27,28 when anyone has put anything before God, that person has made a graven image in his/her mind.

Exodus 5:7 – Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. As an application, anything that we do to put shame on the name of God, is breaking this commandment. Example, if you say you are a Christian, but don’t live how HE wants you to live, you are putting shame on the name of God.

God is telling us today to be separate from the world (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) because what fellowship does light have with darkness, “and what agreement hath the temple of God with idols?” (verse 16). When we separate ourselves from the worldly things – and people – God will receive us!

James tells us in 4:4 – telling the people who are committing spiritual adultery – that being friends of the world makes you an enemy of God. He then goes on to tell us to “Draw nigh unto God, and He will draw nigh unto us” (v8).

God will bring us closer to Him if we will just repent of our adultery, and ask for forgiveness of our sins because He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. 1 John 1:9.

So return unto the Lord your God, follow His precepts, follow His commandments, and write them on the tablet of your heart (memorize scripture). Grow in the wisdom of the Lord. Fear Him who is able to save you from the father of lies who only wants to destroy you.

Return, thou backsliding church, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, I will not stay angry with you. Only acknowledge your sins, repent, and I will return unto you! I will heal your spirit, I will heal your families, I will heal your churches saith the Lord. I will bring you up out of the miry clay and raise you up above all peoples, and they will know I am the Lord thy God! Humble yourselves, for I love a humble spirit, but a proud spirit I detest and will not hear.