Having put his finger on their unholy inconsistency, their desire to appear better before men than they were before God, our Lord pronounces three grievous woes against the Pharisees for their hypocrisy- for their lack of perception and proportion and priority, esteeming the regulations of men above the law of God- for their appetite for human praise and applause- for their deceptive spiritual contamination of others. God's attitude toward hypocrisy has not changed, and so we need to be on our guard, cultivating a consciousness of grace that keeps us humble and grateful to a saving God.

These words of Jeremiah tell us what people should be saying when the Lord brings judgments and desolations upon them- there should be a sense of the thirst of souls, an acknowledgement of the vanity of idols, a recognition of the name of the Lord, and a genuine hope for men who call upon his name from a penitent heart.