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Jeremiah 8:4-7 ESV
Now the children of Israel of old were in a unique situation. They were the children of God by physical birth as physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah. They were God’s covenant people up until the time that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life on that cross for our sins. Now God’s covenant people are those believing in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him (Romans 6:1-23).
But being physical descendants of Abraham did not save them from their sins, and it did not guarantee them eternal life with God, which is evidenced when we read Hebrews 3 and 4. They had to believe in God and in the promised seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ their Messiah, and they had to forsake their sins and obey God. For God sees obedience as faith and disobedience as unbelief, both then and now. And that is why we have these warnings in 1 Corinthians 10 and in Hebrews 3 and 4 to not be like most of them who wandered in the wilderness but who did not enter into God’s eternal rest because of disobedience – because of unbelief.
Now today we are God’s people by faith in Jesus Christ, but there are many false sheep among the true sheep, too, who profess to be God’s children. And there are many true sheep who have fallen back into sin and who are in need to repent of their sins and to begin following Jesus in obedience again. And so this passage of Scripture could be applied to both the false sheep and the wandering sheep, too. For we can take this as a lament against all who profess the name of Jesus but who by their actions deny him.
For this is a true picture of the majority of those calling themselves Christians here in America. So many are living just like the world, doing and watching the same things that the ungodly of the world do and view. And they are not repenting of their sins, for the most part, and they are not turning to or returning to obedient walks of faith in Jesus Christ. But they are living in perpetual backsliding, making sin their practice. And righteousness and obedience to the Lord Jesus are not their practice.
And, yes, many are holding to their deceit, and they are refusing to surrender their lives completely to Jesus Christ, and they are holding on to their pet sins and are not willing to let them go. And so many of them seem to have no conscience about how they are living, either, as though they think that God’s grace will just cover it all. They have no fear of God before their eyes. And they ignore the Lord’s commands (New Covenant), for they don’t want to have to obey them. And many are convinced they don’t have to obey them, but they aren’t totally ignorant of them.
Jeremiah 8:8-11 ESV
There are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are proud of their biblical knowledge and/or of their positions of leadership in institutional churches and of their commitments to those ICs and to their church attendance. But they are not followers of the truth of the gospel. They are followers of the lies of humans who are telling them what their itching ears want to hear. For they like those smooth-talking preachers who are telling them that they can pray a prayer or make some public acknowledgement of Christ as Savior and Lord, and now all their sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, regardless of how they live.
They want to believe the lying pens and preachers who are telling them that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t have to follow Jesus in obedience, and that God requires nothing of them other than to “believe” in Jesus, which is rarely defined as to what “belief” means. They like the lies that tell them that God can no longer see their sin, and that when he looks at them all he sees is Jesus. And so if they are engrossed in sin, and they begin to feel guilt or shame, they are being told to just claim who they are in Christ, and then they won’t feel guilty for their sin.
But so many preachers are lying to their people, and they are giving them assurances of God’s love and grace and of heaven when they die but while they are not telling them that if they continue living in sinful rebellion against the Lord that they will die in their sins. They will not have eternal life with God. For we must walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh but now according to the Spirit, and we must daily die to sin and to self and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. But they don’t want to tell them the truth, because they may stop going to their “churches.”
So, if you are believing the lies, and you are convinced that you can go to heaven one day on a mere one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but that you don’t have to repent of your sins, and that you don’t have to obey the Lord, then please read the following Scriptures in their context. For one day you may stand before God convinced he is going to let you into his heaven, and Jesus’ words to you will be, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 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]
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
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P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as musicians
“You shall say to them, Thus says the Lord:
When men fall, do they not rise again?
If one turns away, does he not return?
Why then has this people turned away
in perpetual backsliding?
They hold fast to deceit;
they refuse to return.
I have paid attention and listened,
but they have not spoken rightly;
no man relents of his evil,
saying, ‘What have I done?’
Everyone turns to his own course,
like a horse plunging headlong into battle.
Even the stork in the heavens
knows her times,
and the turtledove, swallow, and crane
keep the time of their coming,
but my people know not
the rules of the Lord.”
Now the children of Israel of old were in a unique situation. They were the children of God by physical birth as physical descendants of Abraham and Sarah. They were God’s covenant people up until the time that Jesus Christ sacrificed his life on that cross for our sins. Now God’s covenant people are those believing in Jesus Christ to be Lord and Savior of their lives, who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin and who have been raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him (Romans 6:1-23).
But being physical descendants of Abraham did not save them from their sins, and it did not guarantee them eternal life with God, which is evidenced when we read Hebrews 3 and 4. They had to believe in God and in the promised seed of Abraham, Jesus Christ their Messiah, and they had to forsake their sins and obey God. For God sees obedience as faith and disobedience as unbelief, both then and now. And that is why we have these warnings in 1 Corinthians 10 and in Hebrews 3 and 4 to not be like most of them who wandered in the wilderness but who did not enter into God’s eternal rest because of disobedience – because of unbelief.
Now today we are God’s people by faith in Jesus Christ, but there are many false sheep among the true sheep, too, who profess to be God’s children. And there are many true sheep who have fallen back into sin and who are in need to repent of their sins and to begin following Jesus in obedience again. And so this passage of Scripture could be applied to both the false sheep and the wandering sheep, too. For we can take this as a lament against all who profess the name of Jesus but who by their actions deny him.
For this is a true picture of the majority of those calling themselves Christians here in America. So many are living just like the world, doing and watching the same things that the ungodly of the world do and view. And they are not repenting of their sins, for the most part, and they are not turning to or returning to obedient walks of faith in Jesus Christ. But they are living in perpetual backsliding, making sin their practice. And righteousness and obedience to the Lord Jesus are not their practice.
And, yes, many are holding to their deceit, and they are refusing to surrender their lives completely to Jesus Christ, and they are holding on to their pet sins and are not willing to let them go. And so many of them seem to have no conscience about how they are living, either, as though they think that God’s grace will just cover it all. They have no fear of God before their eyes. And they ignore the Lord’s commands (New Covenant), for they don’t want to have to obey them. And many are convinced they don’t have to obey them, but they aren’t totally ignorant of them.
Jeremiah 8:8-11 ESV
“How can you say, ‘We are wise,
and the law of the Lord is with us’?
But behold, the lying pen of the scribes
has made it into a lie.
The wise men shall be put to shame;
they shall be dismayed and taken;
behold, they have rejected the word of the Lord,
so what wisdom is in them?
Therefore I will give their wives to others
and their fields to conquerors,
because from the least to the greatest
everyone is greedy for unjust gain;
from prophet to priest,
everyone deals falsely.
They have healed the wound of my people lightly,
saying, ‘Peace, peace,’
when there is no peace.”
There are many people professing faith in Jesus Christ who are proud of their biblical knowledge and/or of their positions of leadership in institutional churches and of their commitments to those ICs and to their church attendance. But they are not followers of the truth of the gospel. They are followers of the lies of humans who are telling them what their itching ears want to hear. For they like those smooth-talking preachers who are telling them that they can pray a prayer or make some public acknowledgement of Christ as Savior and Lord, and now all their sins are forgiven and heaven is guaranteed them when they die, regardless of how they live.
They want to believe the lying pens and preachers who are telling them that they don’t have to repent of their sins, and that they don’t have to follow Jesus in obedience, and that God requires nothing of them other than to “believe” in Jesus, which is rarely defined as to what “belief” means. They like the lies that tell them that God can no longer see their sin, and that when he looks at them all he sees is Jesus. And so if they are engrossed in sin, and they begin to feel guilt or shame, they are being told to just claim who they are in Christ, and then they won’t feel guilty for their sin.
But so many preachers are lying to their people, and they are giving them assurances of God’s love and grace and of heaven when they die but while they are not telling them that if they continue living in sinful rebellion against the Lord that they will die in their sins. They will not have eternal life with God. For we must walk (in conduct, in practice) no longer according to the flesh but now according to the Spirit, and we must daily die to sin and to self and follow Jesus in obedience to his commands. But they don’t want to tell them the truth, because they may stop going to their “churches.”
So, if you are believing the lies, and you are convinced that you can go to heaven one day on a mere one-time profession of faith in Jesus Christ, but that you don’t have to repent of your sins, and that you don’t have to obey the Lord, then please read the following Scriptures in their context. For one day you may stand before God convinced he is going to let you into his heaven, and Jesus’ words to you will be, “I never knew you. Depart from me you workers of iniquity” (Matthew 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]
The Prayer
Written by David Foster, Carole Bayer Sager,
Alberto Testa and Tony Renis
I pray you'll be our eyes
And watch us where we go
And help us to be wise
In times when we don't know
Let this be our prayer
When we lose our way
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
I pray we'll find your light
And hold it in our hearts
When the stars go out each night
Remind us where you are.
Let this be our prayer
When shadows fill our day
Lead us to a place
Guide us with your grace
To a place where we'll be safe.
P.S. This is not an endorsement of the singers other than as musicians
