The Sad Story of God and his People
"You have rejected me," declares the Lord."You keep on backsliding.
So I will lay hands on you and destroy you;
I can no longer shown compassion." (Jer 15:6)
"My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes." (Jer 16:17)
"Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" (Jer 18:11-12)
I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath. (Jer 21:5)
I warned you when you felt secure,
but you said, 'I will not listen!'
This has been your way from your youth;
you have not obeyed me. (Jer 22:21)
Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord. (Jer 23:24)
--
I have been captivated by the love story of God in the book of Jeremiah for the past few weeks.
I felt so sad. God's heart is absolutely shattered in pieces.
Through his servant Jeremiah, he pursued his ever-sinning covenant people relentlessly, desiring them to return to his embrace to enjoy him. Yet time and time again, they chose lifeless idols over him, stubbornly choosing to live a sin-bounded life than to live within the boundaries of a blessed life. God used Jeremiah to persuade them to repent, even to the extent of warning them of the imminent destruction if they do not repent. Yet, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts, deceiving themselves that nothing will happen to them. They lived sinfully, as if God could not see their wicked ways. Eventually, grace period was over. The most dreadful thing that could happen happened: God himself fought against his people, bringing death and destruction to these arrogant people who think that they could escape the fury judgment of God!
The same applies exactly to us today. Even if we have already become the adopted children of God, many times we still choose temporary pleasures over him, stubbornly choosing to live under the bondage of sin than to live under the freedom of Christ. We deceive ourselves that God will not take action against us, because he will forgive us the moment we confess our sins. This is true, but by doing so again and again, we are abusing God's grace. We lived sinfully, and even if the whole world does not know it, God knows it.
The book of Jeremiah is a stark reminder to us that God is holy and just, and if we think that we can keep abusing the grace that is given to us through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are either too naive or we are trying to deceive ourselves. I would not want to wait until God's wrath reaches the level that he decides to wage his war against me. I do not think anyone will want to end up there either!
Stop deceiving ourselves, pretending that it is OK to keep sinning and confessing. Quit our habit and addiction to sin and return to God!
Choose God over sin.
So I will lay hands on you and destroy you;
I can no longer shown compassion." (Jer 15:6)
"My eyes are on all their ways; they are not hidden from me, nor is their sin concealed from my eyes." (Jer 16:17)
"Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, 'This is what the LORD says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.' But they will reply, 'It's no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart.'" (Jer 18:11-12)
I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and a mighty arm in anger and fury and great wrath. (Jer 21:5)
I warned you when you felt secure,
but you said, 'I will not listen!'
This has been your way from your youth;
you have not obeyed me. (Jer 22:21)
Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?" declares the Lord.
Do I not fill heaven and earth?" declares the Lord. (Jer 23:24)
--
I have been captivated by the love story of God in the book of Jeremiah for the past few weeks.
I felt so sad. God's heart is absolutely shattered in pieces.
Through his servant Jeremiah, he pursued his ever-sinning covenant people relentlessly, desiring them to return to his embrace to enjoy him. Yet time and time again, they chose lifeless idols over him, stubbornly choosing to live a sin-bounded life than to live within the boundaries of a blessed life. God used Jeremiah to persuade them to repent, even to the extent of warning them of the imminent destruction if they do not repent. Yet, they followed the stubbornness of their evil hearts, deceiving themselves that nothing will happen to them. They lived sinfully, as if God could not see their wicked ways. Eventually, grace period was over. The most dreadful thing that could happen happened: God himself fought against his people, bringing death and destruction to these arrogant people who think that they could escape the fury judgment of God!
The same applies exactly to us today. Even if we have already become the adopted children of God, many times we still choose temporary pleasures over him, stubbornly choosing to live under the bondage of sin than to live under the freedom of Christ. We deceive ourselves that God will not take action against us, because he will forgive us the moment we confess our sins. This is true, but by doing so again and again, we are abusing God's grace. We lived sinfully, and even if the whole world does not know it, God knows it.
The book of Jeremiah is a stark reminder to us that God is holy and just, and if we think that we can keep abusing the grace that is given to us through the death and resurrection of Christ, we are either too naive or we are trying to deceive ourselves. I would not want to wait until God's wrath reaches the level that he decides to wage his war against me. I do not think anyone will want to end up there either!
Stop deceiving ourselves, pretending that it is OK to keep sinning and confessing. Quit our habit and addiction to sin and return to God!
Choose God over sin.
posted by Dan at 7/08/2009 10:06:00 am
1 Comments:
Hi Daniel, your blog post was very encouraging. We need to live for God with all our heart!!
Btw, I saw your name at the alumni column on the STM blog. Hope you don't mind but I thought u might find this interesting and I wanted to let you know about a biblical theology conference on Wisdom (Speaker: Barry Webb), as posted by Anthony Loke on the STM blog.
~ http://e-stm.blogspot.com/2011/06/barry-webbs-wisdom-and-biblical.html?showComment=1309255783261#c8750169130451068049 ~
Hope you can visit the website of the organizing fellowship and may God's teaching on wisdom be beneficial for your ministry and your church.
In Christ's service,
Daniel
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