…3 The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying:My Understanding: God loves us so much that he sent his only Son, Jesus Christ, to take on human flesh, to suffer as we suffer, to be tempted as we are tempted, yet without sin, and then to die on a cross as a common criminal, although he had done no wrong. Jesus Christ did all this so that he could take upon himself all our sins, crucifying and burying them with him, and then so he could triumph over them through his resurrection back to life so that we could go free.
“I have loved you with an everlasting love;
I have drawn you with loving-kindness.
4 I will build you up again
and you will be rebuilt, O Virgin Israel.
…6 There will be a day when watchmen cry out
on the hills of Ephraim,
‘Come, let us go up to Zion,
to the LORD our God.’”
7 This is what the LORD says:
“Sing with joy for Jacob;
shout for the foremost of the nations.
Make your praises heard, and say,
‘O LORD, save your people,
the remnant of Israel.’
…a great throng will return.
9 They will come with weeping;
they will pray as I bring them back.
I will lead them beside streams of water
on a level path where they will not stumble,
because I am Israel’s father,
and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
10 “Hear the word of the LORD, O nations;
proclaim it in distant coastlands:
‘He who scattered Israel will gather them
and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’
11 For the LORD will ransom Jacob
and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.
12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;
…and they will sorrow no more.
13 Then maidens will dance and be glad,
young men and old as well.
I will turn their mourning into gladness;
I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.
…17 So there is hope for your future,”
declares the LORD…
19 After I strayed,
I repented;
after I came to understand,
I beat my breast.
I was ashamed and humiliated
because I bore the disgrace of my youth.’
… 21 “Set up road signs;
put up guideposts.
Take note of the highway,
the road that you take.
Return, O Virgin Israel,
return to your towns.
22 How long will you wander,
O unfaithful daughter?
…31 “The time is coming,” declares the LORD,
“when I will make a new covenant
with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah.
32 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their forefathers
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the LORD.
33 “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel
after that time,” declares the LORD.
“I will put my law in their minds
and write it on their hearts.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.
34 No longer will a man teach his neighbor,
or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’
because they will all know me,
from the least of them to the greatest,”
declares the LORD.
“For I will forgive their wickedness
and will remember their sins no more.”
He died on the cross for our sins to provide salvation from sin to all who will believe in Jesus Christ as Lord (master) and Savior of their lives, via repentance (turning from sin) and obedience (walking in the ways God would have us go), by God’s grace working in and through us in regeneration via his Holy Spirit. God sent his Son to die on the cross for our sins so that we could be free, not only from the ultimate penalty of sin, which is eternal separation from God and eternal punishment in hell, but God set us free from bondage to and the control of sin over our day-to-day lives so that we no longer have to live according to the desires of our flesh, but so we could be free to walk in fellowship and obedience to our Lord Jesus Christ.
Yet, many who proclaim belief in Jesus Christ are still living in bondage to sin, and sin is still controlling their lives and determining their steps, as though Christ had not set them free. They are unfaithful to God. They love to wander away from the Lord and to follow their own selfish desires. They worship and obey their man-made idols in place of or more than they worship Almighty God. So, God is calling out to his lukewarm church and is asking them, “How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter?” He is asking his daughter, the church, to take note of the road she is on, i.e. the path of life she is taking, and to return to her God and to Jesus Christ, her first love.
He has given us his Word, Jesus Christ, and his written Word, as well, and he has placed his Holy Spirit within us to teach us, lead, guide, counsel, and convict of sin, etc. So, his law is in our minds and in our hearts because the presence of God in the person of the Holy Spirit lives within us. He forgave our sins and he set us free from them, so we don’t have to live according to them any longer. So, we are without excuse.
Still, if we will come to him in humility and repentance, in awestruck grief, turning from our sin and turning to walk in faith and obedience to Jesus Christ, our Lord, he will restore us. He will discipline us, because he loves us so much, and because he has great compassion for those he loves, in order that we will return to him. Yet, when those who are presently wandering away from God return to their Lord Jesus Christ in faith and obedience, he will then comfort them with joy in place of the sorrow that resulted from the divine discipline they had to endure and/or that resulted from their sorrow and grief over their sin.
God used watchmen to herald his messages in the Old Testament, and he still calls men and women to be his watchmen today to say and to cry out to his church, “Come, let us return to the Lord your God and to Jesus Christ, God the Son.” His watchmen (and women) also call upon God/Jesus Christ in prayer and say, “O Lord, save your people! Bring a revival to your church in this nation, we pray.”
And, just as God promised then that his people would return, I believe he is promising now that a revival of his church will come. They will come with weeping, i.e. with awestruck grief over their sins. When they return to the Lord, their God, he will bring them back and restore them to a right relationship with himself, and he will lead them in the way they should go on a level path where they will not stumble. Being revived does not mean we live in sinless perfection, but what it does mean is that we are no longer living in willful sin and rebellion against God or in lukewarm faith, which is unproductive, lifeless, and absent of the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives working in and through us. When we do sin, we repent and we turn from our sin, and we make a conscious decision to walk in faith and obedience in the power of the working of the Holy Spirit within us, as we cooperate with him and his work.
So, if you are living a lukewarm Christian life, absent of the power of God in your life due to unrepentant sin and apathy toward the things of God; if God is barely a thought in your mind or he is only thought of occasionally when you need something or when you are attending a church service; if you are living for your own pleasures and are not concerned about whether or not God approves of your lifestyle; and/or if you are taking God’s grace for granted and/or you see his grace as a free license to live however you want while still claiming your ticket into heaven, then my prayer for you today is that you will hear God calling out to you to come back to him in repentance and obedience and that you will give the Lord Jesus Christ your all today, holding nothing back.
Awestruck Grief / An Original Work / April 21, 2011
When in awestruck grief o’er my sins, Lord, I bow,
Will You hear me, Lord, and forgive me just now?
I am so amazed that You could love me so.
Yet, Your love and kindness ever fill my soul.
Lord, You are amazing, and gracious and kind
To have offered Yourself for us when we’re blind.
You were crucified on that hill, Calvary,
When they hung Your body to die on a tree.
Now that You’ve redeemed us and, thus, set us free,
I pray, Lord, for all on this earth to believe
In Your sacrifice, Lord, cleansing all our sin,
So that we can live for You, and die within.
Song Lyrics @ Public Domain
Song
No comments:
Post a Comment