Jeremiah 6:10 ESV
“To whom shall I speak and give warning,
that they may hear?
Behold, their ears are uncircumcised,
they cannot listen;
behold, the word of the Lord is to them an object of scorn;
they take no pleasure in it.”
In America today, it appears that this describes the majority
of those professing faith in Jesus Christ who have bought into a diluted and
altered gospel message intended to tickle itching ears and to appease human
flesh. For they are content with their professions of faith in Jesus Christ,
believing that they secure for themselves forgiveness of all sins and heaven as
their eternal destiny, regardless of how they live their lives on this earth.
And if you try to show them the truth of the gospel, so many
of them have now been programmed to reject the truth of the gospel as “works salvation,”
and something that they should discard and disregard. So, it doesn’t matter how
many Scriptures you try to point them to, they will automatically reject them,
for they do not agree with what they have been taught is the truth, and with
what they have come to accept as the truth.
And I don’t know exactly how far back this all began, but I
still recall a man telling me 18 years ago that he doesn’t have to repent of
his sins. He just has to “believe,” which is left open to the “believer’s” own
interpretation of what that means, which usually means just making an
acknowledgment of who Jesus is and of what he did for us in dying on the cross
for our sins, but even that is not usually a complete picture with regard to
why Jesus died.
But so many people have been brainwashed to believe that they
do not have to repent of (turn from) their sins, and that they do not have to
obey the Lord, and that God requires absolutely no works from us at all. But if
they read Ephesians 2:10, which follows directly after verses 8-9, which they seem
to all quote, pretty much, they will read that we are God’s workmanship,
created in Christ Jesus FOR GOOD WORKS, which God prepared in advance that we
should WALK IN THEM (put them into practice).
Jeremiah 6:13-14 ESV
“For from the least to the greatest of them,
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
and from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.”
When I read these verses, I can’t help but think of all
these institutional market-driven “churches” we have here in America where they
have turned the gatherings of the church into businesses to be marketed to the
people of the world. And so they have altered the meaning of “church,” and the
gatherings of what is called “church,” and the gospel message – all to attract
the people of the world to their gatherings so that the world will feel at home
in the gatherings of “the church.” Something is wrong with that picture.
So what they are building is not God’s eternal kingdom but
their own earthly kingdoms. And they are all about “drawing in large crowds of
people from the world” to their gatherings via marketing schemes and entertainment
and fun activities for the family and a non-threatening easy going friendly
atmosphere where they will feel comfortable and at home. And this requires the
diluting of the gospel in order to not offend the people of the world with the
truth, but to make the gospel more attractive to human flesh.
And so they have indeed healed the wound of God’s people
lightly by denying the truth of the gospel in favor of the lies which tickle
itching ears. For they are telling them that a mere profession of faith in
Jesus Christ seals the deal for them, regardless of how they live. And they are
not teaching that we must deny self, die daily to sin and to self, and follow
Jesus in obedience to his commands. For they are not teaching that Jesus died
to deliver us from our addiction to sin, but only that he forgives our sins.
And so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ have
continued on living in deliberate and habitual sin, making sin their practice,
and righteousness and holiness and walks of obedience to our Lord are not their
practice, but yet they are convinced heaven is their eternal destiny. But Jesus
said that not everyone who says to him, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of
heaven, but only the one DOING the will of God the Father (Matthew 7:21-23).
Jeremiah 6:16 ESV
“Thus says the Lord:
‘Stand by the roads, and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.’
But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’”
I happen to be very fond of this verse. It says a lot,
really. We are to stand at the crossroads and look and ask for the ancient
paths. And crossroads is “a point at which a crucial decision must be made that
will have far-reaching consequences” (Oxford Languages). So it is a point at
which we must decide, essentially, if we are going to follow Jesus with our
lives, or if we are going to follow the flesh, instead.
And to ask for the ancient paths has to do with us asking
for the way of repentance and of dying with Christ to sin and of walks of righteousness
and holiness and of obedience to our Lord, where the good way is. And then we
are to walk in them, in practice. We are to forsake our lives of living in sin
and for self to follow Jesus in obedience and in surrender to his will for our
lives, for this is the essence of the gospel of our salvation.
And there we will find rest for our souls, for it is only
there that we will find genuine salvation from sin and eternal life with God.
Only there can we be at peace with God and at rest in knowing that we are
living lives which are pleasing him, and that we are doing what he commands under
the New Covenant. Only there can we have true assurance of salvation from sin
and eternal life with God and heaven as our eternal destiny.
But so many professers of faith in Jesus Christ are telling
the Lord that they will not walk in the ancient paths, for they have convinced
themselves that they do not have to. But if they would read the Scriptures in
their context they would soon learn that they teach that if we walk in sin, we
will die in sin. If sin is what we practice, and if righteousness and obedience
to our Lord are not what we practice, then we do not have eternal life with
God, and we will not enter into God’s eternal kingdom, regardless of what faith
in Jesus Christ we have professed with our lips.
My
Heart’s Desire
An
Original Work / June 29, 2013
Based
off Rm. 10; Lu. 9:23-26; Ep. 4:20-24
Loved Ones, Oh, my heart’s desire
Is that you might come to Jesus.
Many appear zealous for God,
But they do not trust in Him.
They have not submitted to the One
Who saved them from their sins;
Not forsaken their sins,
Nor have they obeyed their King.
The word of the Lord is near you:
The word of faith we’re proclaiming:
That you must confess your faith
In Jesus as your Lord and King:
Believe in Him as your Lord,
And follow Him where’er He leads.
Share the gospel; be a witness,
And meet others’ needs.
Beautiful are the feet of those
Who bring the good news of Jesus:
Anyone who would come to Him
Must deny himself today;
Die to sin and self, and
Let the Spirit transform you in heart;
Put on your new self in Jesus,
Yielding to the cross.
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