June 18, 2008

• Jeremiah 3:22-4:31

  Jer 3:22  Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings. Behold, we come unto thee; for thou art the LORD our God.

  Return … God says return.
  
  Jer 3:23  Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God is the salvation of Israel.

  In God is Salvation.

  Jer 3:24  For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth; their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters.
  Jer 3:25  We lie down in our shame, and our confusion covereth us: for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

  The chicken’s came home to roost. They learned the sinful behavior from their parents.
  
  Jer 4:1  If thou wilt return, O Israel, saith the LORD, return unto me: and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight, then shalt thou not remove.

  Return to me God says. Repent.
  
  Jer 4:2  And thou shalt swear, The LORD liveth, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; and the nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.

  Open your heart.

  Jer 4:3  For thus saith the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns.

  If you are going to plant a field you need to turn the soil over. It can’t stay hard flat and rocky. If it does it wont grow anything. If you don’t open your heart the word of God can’t take root.

  Jer 4:4  Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.

  Cut away hardness of the heart. If you don’t receive Him the God has to judge you.

  Jer 4:5  Declare ye in Judah, and publish in Jerusalem; and say, Blow ye the trumpet in the land: cry, gather together, and say, Assemble yourselves, and let us go into the defenced cities.
  Jer 4:6  Set up the standard toward Zion: retire, stay not: for I will bring evil from the north, and a great destruction.
  Jer 4:7  The lion is come up from his thicket, and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way; he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate; and thy cities shall be laid waste, without an inhabitant.
  Jer 4:8  For this gird you with sackcloth, lament and howl: for the fierce anger of the LORD is not turned back from us.
  
  Repent

  Jer 4:9  And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.

  Jeremiah warned them.

  Jer 4:10  Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem, saying, Ye shall have peace; whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.
  Jer 4:11  At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem, A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people, not to fan, nor to cleanse,
  Jer 4:12  Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me: now also will I give sentence against them.
  Jer 4:13  Behold, he shall come up as clouds, and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind: his horses are swifter than eagles. Woe unto us! for we are spoiled.
  Jer 4:14  O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

  God is calling them. Repent. God sees our thoughts. He is willing to help us with our thoughts.

  Phi 4:8  Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
  
  Jer 4:15  For a voice declareth from Dan, and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.
  Jer 4:16  Make ye mention to the nations; behold, publish against Jerusalem, that watchers come from a far country, and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.
  Jer 4:17  As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
  Jer 4:18  Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.

  You are reaping what you sowed. Sin is pleasurable for a season. If it wasn’t attractive people wouldn’t do it. But you reap what you sow. People get angry with God when they reap what they sow but it is their own doing.

  Jer 4:19  My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.

  Jeremiah is seeing their destruction.

  Jer 4:20  Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.

  Remember September 10th 2001? If  you had said on September 10th that this is the last day those towers will stand, people would have said you are crazy. Yet it happened. That is what those people were thinking.

  Be wise as a serpent but innocent as a dove.

  Jer 4:21  How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
  Jer 4:22  For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
  Jer 4:23  I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
  Jer 4:24  I beheld the mountains, and, lo, they trembled, and all the hills moved lightly.
  Jer 4:25  I beheld, and, lo, there was no man, and all the birds of the heavens were fled.
  Jer 4:26  I beheld, and, lo, the fruitful place was a wilderness, and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the LORD, and by his fierce anger.
  Jer 4:27  For thus hath the LORD said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end.
  Jer 4:28  For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent, neither will I turn back from it.

  If God says it, it happens.

  Jer 4:29  The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen; they shall go into thickets, and climb up upon the rocks: every city shall be forsaken, and not a man dwell therein.
  Jer 4:30  And when thou art spoiled, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself with crimson, though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold, though thou rentest thy face with painting, in vain shalt thou make thyself fair; thy lovers will despise thee, they will seek thy life.

  Satan loves to dupe us, use us, and destroy us.

  Jer 4:31  For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail, and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child, the voice of the daughter of Zion, that bewaileth herself, that spreadeth her hands, saying, Woe is me now! for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

  God doesn’t want you to have to suffer.

  Luke 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
  Luke 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,
  Luke 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
  Luke 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
  Luke 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
  Luke 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
  Luke 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
  Luke 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
  Luke 16:27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
  Luke 16:28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
  Luke 16:29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
  Luke 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.
  Luke 16:31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

  Repent and God will receive you. God is calling will you answer?
  
  May God bless you and draw you close to him

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