Jeremiah 50:6-7 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“6My people are lost sheep;
their shepherds have led them astray,
causing them to roam the mountains.
They have wandered from mountain to hill;
they have forgotten their resting place.
7All who found them devoured them,
and their enemies said,
‘We are not guilty,
for they have sinned against the LORD, their true pasture,
the LORD, the hope of their fathers.’”
God’s Chosen People
Under the Old Covenant, God’s people were the Jews. They
were Israel. They were God’s chosen people by physical lineage, whether or not
they obeyed the Lord and did what He said. But that did not mean that God
approved of them or that they had salvation from sin and eternal life with God
just because they were Jews by physical birth. They still had to surrender
their lives to God, to obey His commands, and to live holy lives, pleasing to
Him, in the power of God, by faith in their Lord God.
Under the New Covenant, God’s people are all who are of genuine
biblical faith in Jesus Christ, whether they are Jew or Gentile by physical
birth. And by faith in Jesus Christ we deny self, die with Christ to sin, and
we are raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in Him, no longer to live as
slaves to sin, but now as servants of righteousness in walks of obedience to
our Lord and to His commands. This does not make us perfect, but if sin remains
our practice, and not obedience to God, we do not have eternal life with God.
Their Shepherds
Who are the shepherds of God’s people today? And God’s
people today are only those who are of genuine biblical faith in Christ Jesus
in denying self, dying to sin, and in walking in obedience to our Lord’s
commands as a matter of life practice. Our main shepherd is Jesus Christ, but
our human shepherds are typically pastors and elders of church fellowships. And
church fellowships are all gatherings of the body of Christ for prayer,
fellowship, the teaching of God’s word, sharing of meals, and for mutual
encouragement.
Sadly, many of these “shepherds” of God’s people are not
following in the ways of the Lord, but they are following in the ways of the
flesh, and they are teaching lies to the people, thus leading them astray to
follow after what is not of God but what is of human flesh, instead. And many
people who profess faith in Jesus Christ are following the ways of these
shepherds, and they are continuing in deliberate and habitual sin, many not
realizing that this will lead them straight to hell and not to heaven if they
do not repent.
Jeremiah 50:4-5 BSB (Berean Standard Bible)
“4In those days and at that time,
declares the LORD,
the children of Israel and the children of Judah
will come together, weeping as they come,
and will seek the LORD their God.
5They will ask the way to Zion
and turn their faces toward it.
They will come and join themselves to the LORD
in an everlasting covenant
that will never be forgotten.”
The Truly Repentant
Now, this is what we hope for, for the salvation of human
lives from the pit of hell, who by faith in Jesus Christ will now deny self, die
to sin, and obey God and His commands (New Covenant) in the power of God, as a
matter of life practice, in the power of God at work within them. And this
includes both Jews and Gentiles by physical birth. For in Jesus’ death on that
cross He destroyed the barrier that stood between Jew and Gentile and He made
us both one people by biblical faith in Jesus Christ. We are now biblical
Israel.
For no one is biblical Israel by human descent. And not all
are children of Abraham just because they are his physical descendants. For it
is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but only the
children of the promise, a promise that God made with Abraham and his seed, his
seed being Jesus Christ. So, if we belong to Christ, by biblical faith in Jesus
Christ, then we are Abraham’s seed, and we are heirs according to the promise.
But all who deny Jesus as the Christ, God regards as being the antichrist. See:
Israel Today: [Matthew 21:43; John 8:18-19,38-47; John
10:16; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 9:4-8,25-28; Romans
11:1-36; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2
Corinthians 6:14-18; Galatians 3:16,26-29; Galatians 4:22-31; Ephesians
2:11-22; Ephesians 3:1-6; Colossians 3:12-15; Titus 2:14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews
4:1-16; Hebrews 8:6-13; 1 Peter 2:9-10,24; 1 John 2:22; Jude
1:5; Revelation 2:9; Revelation 3:9; see also Genesis 17:7-9; Genesis 18:19]
Are You a Lost Sheep?
An Original Work / August 22, 2026
Christ’s
Free Servant, Sue J Love
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah
Hymn lyrics by William Williams,
pub.1745
tr. by Peter Williams, pub.1771
Music by John Hughes, 1907
Guide
me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim
through this barren land.
I
am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold
me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread
of Heaven, Bread of Heaven,
Feed
me till I want no more (2X).
Open
now the crystal fountain,
Whence
the healing stream doth flow;
Let
the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead
me all my journey through.
Strong
Deliverer, strong Deliverer,
Be
Thou still my Strength and Shield (2X).
Lord,
I trust Thy mighty power,
Wondrous
are Thy works of old;
Thou
deliver’st thine from thralldom,
Who
for naught themselves had sold.
Thou
didst conquer, Thou didst conquer
Sin
and Satan and the grave (2X).
When
I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid
my anxious fears subside;
Death
of deaths, and hell’s destruction,
Land
me safe on Canaan’s side.
Songs
of praises, songs of praises,
I
will ever give to Thee. Amen (2X).
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