Jeremiah |
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Jeremiah Chapter 42
Here we see people going to Jeremiah to ask him to seek the Lord, for they desired to know what to do at this point. They feared the Babylonians and didn't know what to do. As we shall see as we study later, some of us seek to find the word of God but if it doesn't line up with what we want, we dismiss it as nothing. Some of us wait until we are desperate instead of seeking Him when things are going great.
We are so quick to make promises to obey God if He will answer us, but if God requires something we don't like, how quick are we ready to turn on the one who brings us the word and accuse him of false prophecy.
Notice that the word of God didn't come for ten days. This may be where many of us in this modern instant quick fix generation may fail. We do not wait on God. We are so quick to want instant answers and then we go about doing things our own way and getting into messes that we have to cry to God to get us out of. If we would only wait on God and seek Him first, we might avoid a lot of trouble. I'm not talking about sitting around and waiting on God as an excuse for laziness and not doing nothing. I'm talking about really seeking God for direction instead of jumping into the first solution that we or some one else thinks of without first consulting God and waiting upon Him.
God's message to them was the same as He instructed before. Stay put. Abide here. They were not to flee in fear and go to Egypt for help thinking they would be safer there. This reminds me of something I saw on the weather channel once. A family fled their home for fear of a tornado. They took refuge in a place that was unsafe and nearly lost their lives because of it. After they returned home, they noticed that the house was untouched. They would have been safer to abide at home.
God promised to make sure the king of Babylon would not harm them. I might add here that the king of Babylon would have had no power at all over Judah if they had of repented at the first warning and turned back to God when Jeremiah gave his first prophecy. .
If they did not believe the word of God and fled to Egypt, what they feared would come upon them there.
God knew their hearts. He knew they had no intention of obeying His voice if He gave it. Maybe this may be why some of our prayers are not answered. Perhaps we have no intention of doing what God says if He did answer them. Many of us want to seek God hoping He will give assent and justify what we already desire to do.
God knew that in their heart that was their intention all along to go to Egypt. I think they just wanted Jeremiah to agree with them make them feel better about what they were about to do. How many of us, when we need advice, actually go to those to whom we know will say what we want to hear? Do we really want God's will? Do we really care about what God has to say? Many wanted the Messiah to come back in the days when Christ walked the earth. They were tired of being ruled by the Roman Empire and they wanted the Messiah to come and destroy the Roman army and bring in a new world order where Israel would be free. They did not want someone to come and tell them they had to repent of sin. This is why the Messiah, Jesus Christ, was rejected. He came preaching the gospel, not setting up an earthly kingdom. He told them they must repent and be born again to enter the kingdom of Heaven. They did not want to hear that so they rejected His message and had Him crucified. Little did they realize that the crucifixion ushered in salvation for all the human race. That was the payment for sin that the human race needed to be saved and inherit eternal life. The message Christ came to give is not much different than Jeremiah's message. REPENT. CHANGE. Turn back to God. Some people want God to heal their sick, make life better and come into their lives but not if they first have to repent of sin. The repentance message is the one rejected because they do not want to admit they have sinned much less get rid of sin. The Jews stumbled at the message of the gospel because they were looking for an earthly conqueror, not a savior from sin. We see many today that want earthly things and are not interested in saving their souls and getting rid of sin. We see sin even invading the church because we have stopped warning and preaching against sin and repentance. Why do many religions cause more trouble and hatred than love and peace? Because those who practice those religions whether it is Christian or non-Christian is still a slave to sin. A religion that does not free from sin, is just a religion. If we hate anyone, we are not free from sin. If we kill people who disagree with our religion, political views or whatever, we are not free from sin. Jesus Christ is not another religion. At least not the Jesus Christ the bible speaks of. This Jesus Christ came to save us from our sins. When we come to Christ, repenting of sin, we are made free from sin. If you see someone molest a child and call himself a Christian, he is not free from sin. He needs to repent and get victory over sin. Sin kills and destroys. There is power in the gospel of Jesus to set us free from sin. This power is called the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit. He comes into our lives to teach, comfort, correct and give us power to witness. We can be free from sin. We don't have to be in bondage to sin after coming to Jesus Christ. We can't receive Christ without repenting of sin. Repent means more than just saying, I'm sorry. Repentance means to change. To be different. To hate sin and desire to be free from sin. If one sins after receiving Christ, go back to our knees and repent until we get victory over sin. We must not allow it to take root and grow again. That is what Jesus Christ came to take away and we must not allow Satan to plant any seed of sin within our hearts again. Resist the devil and He will flee, draw close to God and He will draw close to you. Repent and be born again is the message we are failing to preach. Jesus came to take away sin, not save us in our sin. Jesus came to give us a new life, a new beginning and a new way. We are to live in holiness and godliness. We must not listen to those who say that we are only human and we can't help sinning. That is why Jesus came, to help us stop sinning. Sin cannot inherit the kingdom of God so sin has to be cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ. He came that we can be free from sin.
If we are to receive Christ and still sin then why was the bible written to teach us the ways of God? Why would Jesus die on the cross to pay for our sins if we were to continue in them after we are saved. This should not be. What were we saved from if we continue in sin?
"Born again, free from sin, I'm happy night and day. Makes me shout, there's not doubt, I know I've been born again." Taken from a old song by the Everly Brothers. Definition of sin - Transgression of the law. Be not as those men who were seeking Jeremiah to agree with them, not because they really desired to know the will of God. They were not really seeking God's will and God knew that. If you really desire to be free from sin you can and you can be filled with God's Spirit now and have eternal life later. .If you are seeking God to justify your sinful lifestyle then you won't be free from that sin and you won't inherit eternal life. Christ makes us free from the law of sin and death. Come to Christ, yield to Christ and sin will not reign over you. This is not religion, this is salvation, Eternal Life, and everlasting joy. |
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