Jeremiah 2:1-3 NIV
The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem:
“This is what the Lord says:
“‘I remember the devotion of your youth,
how as a bride you loved me
and followed me through the wilderness,
through a land not sown.
Israel was holy to the Lord,
the firstfruits of his harvest;
all who devoured her were held guilty,
and disaster overtook them,’”
declares the Lord.
Now this doesn’t apply to everyone who has ever professed faith in Jesus Christ, for not all professers of faith in Christ are or were, at least at one time in their lives, devoted to the Lord Jesus, desirous to do his will, truly in love with the Lord Jesus Christ as a new bride is with her new husband. But some of us were or presently are what this describes here, by the grace of God, and in the power, wisdom, and strength of God, and not of ourselves.
But this doesn’t make us perfect. But lack of perfection is never to be used as an excuse for continued and deliberate and habitual and often premeditated sin against the Lord Jesus. For, as followers of Jesus Christ we are to be those who are walking (in conduct, in practice) according to the Spirit and no longer according to the flesh. And daily we are to be dying to sin and to self and following our Lord Jesus in obedience to his ways.
So, if we are devoted to the Lord Jesus, it is a lot like a new bride being devoted to her new husband, wanting to please him, wanting to do what he likes to do, sharing with him in the things that bring him pleasure and joy, and in the things which are spiritually, morally, and mentally healthy for them both. It is a desire to want to be with him and to talk with him and to be in fellowship with him and not to be separate from him in any way.
And just as a new bride now has committed herself to being faithful to her new husband and to not wander after other lovers, but to be intimate with him alone, we as the bride of Christ are to be holy unto our Lord. We are to be separate (unlike, different) from the world because we are being conformed by God to the likeness of Jesus Christ (if indeed we are). And we are to live lives which are morally pure, honest, upright, and faithful to God.
And God is against all those who come against his true bride, i.e. he is against all those who are opposed to her walk of faith and her testimony for Jesus Christ, and who are against God and his gospel. And God will one day judge them for how they have treated God and his word, and for how they have treated his holy bride, who are his faithful ones, unless they repent and turn and follow Jesus with their lives and they relent from persecuting his bride, and they now treat God and his holy ones with love and kindness.
Jeremiah 2:4-8 NIV
Hear the word of the Lord, you descendants of Jacob,
all you clans of Israel.
This is what the Lord says:
“What fault did your ancestors find in me,
that they strayed so far from me?
They followed worthless idols
and became worthless themselves.
They did not ask, ‘Where is the Lord,
who brought us up out of Egypt
and led us through the barren wilderness,
through a land of deserts and ravines,
a land of drought and utter darkness,
a land where no one travels and no one lives?’
I brought you into a fertile land
to eat its fruit and rich produce.
But you came and defiled my land
and made my inheritance detestable.
The priests did not ask,
‘Where is the Lord?’
Those who deal with the law did not know me;
the leaders rebelled against me.
The prophets prophesied by Baal,
following worthless idols.
(Keep reading through the end of the chapter to get the full picture.)
But what happened to their faith? How did they go from being holy unto the Lord to this? How is that even possible? Some people believe it is not possible for one who is of genuine faith in Jesus Christ to desert the faith and to go back into sin. Others go so far as to say that every time you sin that you lose your salvation, while still others believe that if you fall back into sin, and you remain there, that you were never born of God to begin with. So, how do we reconcile this against the Scriptures?
Well, if we have a clear biblical picture of our salvation from sin and our faith in Christ Jesus, it will bring this into focus. For we don’t “get saved” one time in our lives and now all our sins are forgiven (past, present, and future), and now heaven is guaranteed us when we die, and it can never be taken away from us, regardless of how we live. For how we live matters for eternity.
Rather we are saved (past), we are being saved (present) and we will be saved (future) when Jesus returns provided that we have died with Christ to sin, and daily we are dying to sin, and we are now walking in obedience to his commands, and we are living holy lives, and we are not walking in sin, and that we continue in these walks of faith and obedience unto the very end. For our faith is something we must put into practice every day, and our salvation is progressive sanctification which won’t be complete until the end.
And this is why we have so many warnings to the church throughout the New Testament for us to guard against falling back into sin and/or thinking that our sins don’t matter to God anymore. All throughout the NT we read instructions and warnings to the church by the NT apostles letting them know that they can’t live in sin and have heaven as their eternal destiny. And this is why we are to exhort one another daily so we don’t fall back into sin.
Therefore, since our salvation is progressive, and not a one-time deal, it is also dependent on us walking according to the Spirit and not according to the flesh. And this is why we are told that we are not to be deceived into thinking our sins no longer matter to God, for we are all going to reap what we sow. If we sow to the flesh, we will reap destruction and death. But if we sow to the Spirit, from the Spirit we will reap eternal life. So, we are not to get this idea that we can be saved and still walk in sin. We can’t!
[Matt 7:21-23; Matt 24:9-14; Lu 9:23-26; Rom 1:18-32; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14,24; Rom 12:1-2; Rom 13:11; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; 1 Co 1:18; 1 Co 15:1-2; 2 Tim 1:8-9; Heb 9:28; 1 Pet 1:5; Gal 5:16-21; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:5-17; 1 Pet 2:24; Tit 2:11-14; 1 Jn 1:5-9; 1 Jn 2:3-6,24-25; 1 Jn 3:4-10; Heb 3:6,14-15; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; Rev 21:8,27; Rev 22:14-15]
Seek the Lord
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Based off Isaiah 55
“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”
Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.
“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”
https://vimeo.com/379408296
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