In Jeremiah, chapter eight, verse twelve, “Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? Nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD.” The people had reached a stage of apostasy where they would never repent; all shame and remorse for sin was gone. Their impending judgment awaited only a day of God’s visitation.
Church members today reach this same stage of apostasy when they reject God’s Word and commit the sort of abominable sins. Believing the lie of the devil. “Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.
The people of God did not take the first step towards repentance: true repentance begins in serious inquiry as to what we have done, from conviction that we have done amiss. They know not how to improve the seasons of grace, which God affords. Many boast of their religious knowledge, yet, unless taught by the Spirit of God, the instinct of brutes is a more sure guide than their supposed wisdom. They would not attend to the written word. Many enjoy an abundance of the means of grace, have Bibles and ministers, but they have them in vain. They will soon be ashamed of their devices.
The pretenders to wisdom were the priests and the false prophets. They flattered people in sin, and so flattered them into destruction, silencing their fears and complaints with, All is well. Selfish teachers may promise peace when there is no peace, and the men encourage each other in committing evil; but in the day of visitation, they will have no refuge to flee unto.