King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Monday, August 12, 2019
Chapters: Jeremiah 18-21
Message: Not Ashamed To Suffer
Hello My Friend,
Saved, born again Christians are confident in the fact that they know they are saved by the grace of God through their faith and trust in the LORD, Jesus Christ alone. Amen! And not just until the next time they mess up, but for eternity. And Amen! What many saved, born again Christians are not confident in is the fact that we are told one minute, nothing we do matters, and the next, everything we do matters, whether we are obedient to God or not. Let me tell you, anyone can pull out verses from Scripture to make their point come across as truth, but that does not mean that it is. We are never let an obscure passage take away the whole truth of the Bible. While there is absolutely nothing we can do to merit salvation as our righteousness is as filthy rags compared to the pain and anguish Jesus went through to save us, there is something we can do to merit respect and honor, not only from God, but from those of the world as well, and that is to fear God. When we fear God we are more likely to avoid the evils of the world, or Christ will give us the strength to endure and overcome them. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil. When a man’s ways please the LORD, he maketh even his enemies to be at peace with him.” – Proverbs 16:6-7.
“and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil.” To fear God means to be in awe of Him, to love, honor, and respect Him at all times, regardless of our circumstances. If we are in distress, being chastened, in mourning, or if we are being blessed beyond measure, we are to fear Him always. Let me tell you, we are also to be the same way with people, we do not have to like our enemies, but we do have to love them, as Christ does that is. Yes, that is very difficult to do in our own flesh, but when we love them as Christ loves them, we can do all things, through His strength. Jeremiah had a very difficult task from God, he had to tell the people of Judah that all the evil taking place in their land was judgment from God, and if they did not repent, He will repent of the good.
“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it; If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them. And at what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; If it do evil in my sight, that it obey not my voice, then I will repent of the good, wherewith I said I would benefit them. Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good. And they said, There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart. Then said they, Come, and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.” – Jeremiah 18:7-12,18.
“but we will walk after our own devices,” Rather than listen to God they found no hope at all, set in their ways, they refused to remove the evils from their lives. We must understand that this was not the result of one or two people rebelling against God, this was priests, workers, rulers, princes, laymen. And the sad truth, this is the majority of “Christians” today. Look at how the world is acting today, they are attacking the faithful Christian, taunting words like hypocrite, bigot, racist, homophobe, even terrorist. These are people who think they are saved, they pray, go to church, give tithes and offerings, yet are drinking, smoking, partying in bars and clubs, sleeping around, and not one bit ashamed of it. Through Jeremiah, God points our their evils.
“And say, Hear ye the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah, and inhabitants of Jerusalem; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring evil upon this place, the which whosoever heareth, his ears shall tingle. Because they have forsaken me, and have estranged this place, and have burned incense in it unto other gods, whom neither they nor their fathers have known, nor the kings of Judah, and have filled this place with the blood of innocents; They have built also the high places of Baal, to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings unto Baal, which I commanded not, nor spake it, neither came it into my mind: Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that this place shall no more be called Tophet, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of slaughter.” – Jeremiah 19:3-6.
“neither came it into my mind:” People love to twist Scripture, and when they do, they are actually changing God’s truth into lies, and the sad thing, many believe their lies over the truth. I believe that the one thing that infuriates God the most is not the unbeliever, but the believer that creates Him in their own image, the one who proclaims His name, and yet is the complete opposite of everything He stands for. And any saved, born again Christian who tells them otherwise will face opposition, and attacks. After years of quandaries from God similar to what Jeremiah was expressing, I have come to the conclusion that if you serve God you literally become an enemy to the world, and will face many hardships. However, great blessings do come in spite of those attacks.
“And it came to pass on the morrow, that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The LORD hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magormissabib. For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself, and to all thy friends: and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it: and I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive into Babylon, and shall slay them with the sword. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried violence and spoil; because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, and we will report it. All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.” – Jeremiah 20:3-4,8-11.
“But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire” When you belong to Christ, His Word gets in you and it does burn a fire in you, and when God has something for us to say, He will not stop nudging at us until we do. There are times when I tire of all the unjust treatment, and do not want to talk about Jesus, but He always has a way of reminding me that I cannot stop because He lives in me. Let me tell you, persecution is often one of the elements that God uses to mold and shape us, He does not do it to punish us, but to form us into vessels of honor. “Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.” – II Timothy 2:19-21.
“The Lord knoweth them that are his.” God knows who we are, and He uses us to reach the lost as we tell them of the Gospel during times of distress. Some of the most tragic times bring people to Christ, and while we cannot avoid distress in life, we can endure them as long as we are one with Christ. After they arrested Jeremiah, things got worse, the Babylonians were attacking, and that was when they started calling on God for help. And while He was still going to allow them to destroy the land and take them into captivity to Babylon. He assured them that they were better off being captives in Babylon than staying where they were, including the king.
“And I myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the LORD, I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set my face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the LORD: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” – Jeremiah 21:5-10.
“and his life shall be unto him for a prey.” We must understand that Jesus Christ has the keys to life and death, if we want to endure the evils that come our way, and see life beyond this we must come to Him. Those who refuse to come to Him will die not only by the evils of this world, they will be burned in the fire forever. Saved, born again Christians have narrowly escaped the depths of hell, and for this reason, and will remain prey for the world until the day they go home to be with Christ. Why? They despise Jesus. Nevertheless, we need to have the mindset of Peter. “If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf.” – I Peter 4:14-16.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death.” – Jeremiah 21:8.
Today’s Prayer: God, I realize that every thing I go through is not always a punishment, but simply You molding and shaping me into the image of Your Son. I know that there is no way I will ever be perfect, but I have Your perfect Son in me to help me be the vessel You want me to be. Lord, give me Your power to endure the struggles I face, Your strength to stand with You through them all, mold me and shape me so I can be used of You for what purpose You need me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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