- Jeremiah 2 – 1st message to Judah who has backslidden and committed wickedness against God
- Jeremiah 3- 2nd message Encourages backsliders to return and to repent
- Jeremiah 4 – 2nd message continued warning Israel of the consequences of sin and exhorts them to return to God
- Jeremiah 5 – 2nd message continued, judgments threatened, Jerusalem refuses to repent
- Jeremiah 6 – 2nd message continued, terrors that should come because of Sin
- Jeremiah 7 – Message in the gate of the Lords House, coming desolations because of Sin
Many time’s as men of God, people (including us Christians) base our success upon:
- our converts….
- our bank account….
- our popularity….
- our abilities…. (Sing, preach, etc.)
God does not measure a man’s success based upon the tangible things that we can see and touch but rather the intangible things that we cannot measure on a scoreboard. The Bible says that God looks upon the heart of man, He looks on the inward parts of man just as He did with David.
Rom_8:24 For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
David didn’t look like a king by worldly standards but he was a man after God’s own heart the Bible says. He had the intangibles that the world could not see. His own family could not see what kind of a man he was because they simply looked upon his outward appearance. He had the anointing of God upon his life.
God will hold us accountable not for how many congregants we have nor how often we attended our church, although church attendance is vital,
…..but for our obedience and faithfulness to His Word. The anointing of God on our lives is what matters most.
Eph_2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Grace and Faith are two things that we cannot measure on a piece of paper. Faith is what we have when we enter into a relationship with Jesus Christ. Faith is what we have when we trust God each and every single day, even through the storms. Grace is what we get to sustain our faith through those storms. Grace is something that we get but do not deserve. Salvation is a gift from God that was purchased with the blood of Jesus Christ. The blood that He shed at the Cross of Calvary. That gift is something that we receive once we have received and accepted what Christ did on that Cross.
Jeremiah was a man who by todays standards that have been set by the church would probably be considered a failure. He preached for 40 years, never had any formal training, never recorded one convert, and despite his love for his people, they despised and hated him. He was chosen by God to deliver a message and a warning to His people that God knew they would reject. Jeremiah’s message was not for the world, was not for the gentiles, but it was to Israel, God’s people.
Although God knew that His people would reject the preacher’s message that still did not mean that it was ok for Jeremiah to get out of delivering the message. His job was to deliver a message that the people would fully reject.
Much like us today, we are not called to convert the world, but we are called to proclaim the gospel to all the world whether they accept it or not. We are to get the world to Jesus and let Him clean them up.
The sad reality of the message that Jeremiah was called to deliver was not a message to the world but rather a message the backslidden people of Israel. His message was for the people of God.
The people of God had gotten so far away from God that they refused to hear or head anything that this prophet had to say. Jeremiah even went into the gates of the temple and preached the word with warnings to repent and turn from their ways and he was despised and rejected for it.
I’m sure Jeremiah thought that maybe once he made his way to the Temple, their place of worship, surely someone there would heed his warnings?!……..Nope. As a nation they were so far gone, they were so filled with arrogance and pride that they figured just because they were God’s chosen people they could live how ever they wanted with absolutely no consequences for their actions.
At this point there was no turning back….God’s message was delivered, God’s message was rejected therefore God’s judgements were coming and there was no stopping the destruction coming Israel’s way. Jeremiah delivered the word with conviction, boldness, power, compassion, and love for his people. He loved his people even though they hated him for what he stood for. The sad part is, these same people once stood for the very God that Jeremiah was proclaiming to them.
The Book of Jude speaks of “ungodly men” in the last days creeping into the church, denying the Lord Jesus Christ. They turned that same free grace that God gives us today into lasciviousness, meaning they gave into their own lust and pleasures.
Jud_1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I ask this question: Is America following the same path as Israel? When you look at how the two nations they almost mirror each other. We know that God does not have a special covenant with America as He does with Israel but are the churches here in America in danger of becoming indifferent, lukewarm, and downright accepting of the sin and wickedness that has corrupted our great nation all in the name of tolerance? There are ungodly men walking right in through the front doors of our churches here in America turning the grace of God into lasciviousness. These men who once stood firm upon the word of God have compromised the word with world. These men have accepted what was once condemned by God Himself. The longer the church age goes on here in America we see the church starting to accept sin in the pulpit. What was once evil is now considered good.
A lukewarm, come as you are, sin tolerating, standardless “gospel” is being preached and proclaimed throughout our land and thousands are being drawn to it. The claim is that this gospel is preached and proclaimed all in the name of “love.”
Im sure that the people of Jeremiah’s day would have said the same thing that some of our Christians are saying today. These Christian’s would say that Jeremiah wasn’t loving enough, or he was too hard on the people, or his message was too pessimistic and that he would need to be more compassionate.
I can tell you as a preacher there is nothing more compassionate and loving than telling the very people that you love and care about that their own wickedness and sin is going to be their demise if they do not repent!
Is it love if I tell my own children that they can do and say whatever they want? Is it love if I let my kids go play in the middle of the street because they want to? Like us as parents, God has rules and guidelines to follow and He lets us know when we break the rules. My wife and I have rules in place for our children for a reason and if they break those rules there are consequences.
Today, Christians included, want to live a life with no consequences for their actions. I will take that a step further and say that many today do not want to live by any rules at all!? No rules. No consequences. No authority.
The devil hates authority. It wasn’t good enough that Satan was initially an angel called Lucifer and was cast out of Heaven along with a group of other fallen angels who went along with him. They were in Heaven with the King of Kings and it was not good enough because Lucifer, the devil, Satan, wanted the throne.
When you see a lack of respect for authority you can trace this hatred for authority back to the beginning. You can go back to the garden when the serpent said….
Gen_3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
Did God really say that Adam? Did God really say that Eve? Did God really say that people of Israel? America, did God really say that? Satan has been deceiving people from the beginning into questioning God and His grace. The devil hates us as much as he hates God.
It’s a hatred for the preacher because of what the preacher represents. Jeremiah represented authority. He represented the Word of God and because of where they were at in life Israel hated the man of God for telling them the truth. The pulpit represents authority. The Word of God represents authority.
Much like backslidden Israel, there are many today who once stood firm upon the Word of God who now live in the bondage and bitterness of their wickedness and sin. What is worse they have once experienced the love of Christ and have tossed Him aside for the pleasures of this world.
Israel had experienced personally God work in their own lives. Jeremiahs message was personal. The message today from the preacher is personal. When Christ left all the glories of Heaven He made it personal with us. What we have today is more than just religion. What we have today is more than just tradition. What we have today is more than just an old book with what the world calls outdated philosophies. We have something greater than anything the world has to offer. We have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ that is possible because of the blood, sweat, humiliation, suffering, and agony that He bore on the Cross for the sins of humanity past, present, and future.
The message of the Cross is the message of Hope that the preacher delivers today that is constantly rejected by not only the world but now we are seeing the Churches cast Christ right out of the pulpits all in the name of “love” and “tolerance.”
Jeremiah was trying to bring his people Hope and they rejected him, despised him, and ultimately rebuked him.
Christ came to this world to bring the people Hope and his own people rejected Him, despised Him, and ultimately rebuked Him.
Where will you stand when times of testing come? Will you compromise with world? Will compromise your faith out of fear of what might come against you? When the time comes, and I do believe that we will see a time come where they will have to send missionaries to America because the politicians and lawmakers and churches will give into that same fear that dominates the lives of so many and the Word of God will become outlawed. It is already hated and politically incorrect. It always has been and it always will but thank God that over 200 years ago we had a few brave souls who stood up in the face of persecution and tyranny wanting a free nation to worship Christ.
Our founding fathers risked their lives to worship Christ freely? Are you willing to obedient unto death as Christ was? As our founders were? As Jeremiah was?
What does the message of the Cross mean to you?
Restoring Faith, Family, and Freedom in America 