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: Friday, August 07, 2020
Chapters: Jeremiah 1-3
Message: The Just Keep Repenting
Hello My Friend,
We definitely are in strange times these days, with all that is going on you would think there would be thousands of revivals taking place in churches all over the world, leading souls to Christ. Instead, churches are being forced to close their doors as thousands of people gather to destroy landmarks and peoples lives. As I was praying this morning I begged God to restore the joy of my salvation, a time when I fear Him so much that no one could convince me to do anything to compromise my faith. Then God reminded me of this, [Luke 17:3-4 Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. 4 And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.]
You see, as much as we fail God, He never fails us, and will always forgive our sin when we come to with confession and repentance until He brings us home. Of course, He wants obedience, but He knows we have this flesh that gets in the way sometimes, he rather have us coming to Him repenting all day long than walking away from His completely. The Book of Jeremiah contains fifty-two chapters, approximately between 629BC – 588BC, about 70 years after Isaiah prophesied about the same thing. The author of the book is Jeremiah and it was written to Judah to warn them of their coming judgment, and a call for repentance. This book is actually directed to backsliders. What we are to learn from the book is that national disasters and deterioration of the world is often due to disobedience to God, as we return to God things will be restored. Jeremiah was only about seventeen when God called on him to speak to the people, this was when Josiah was king.
[Jeremiah 1:1-8 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin: 2 To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. 3 It came also in the days of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 4 Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. 6 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7 But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. 8 Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.]
[Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee;] Do you think that God did not know that you would be at this point in your life? Do you think He did not know that you were going to serve Him, and fail time and time again? Oh yes, you would, and He knew, and yet, He still continues to use you. Why? You belong to Him. Those whom have received Jesus Christ as their Saviour are, in fact, children of God, and when we allow Christ to live in and through us, He keeps us repentant so that we do not fall over that edge, and away from Him completely. God has already touched our mouths and put His words in them, all we have to do is have faith, and speak them.
[Jeremiah 1:9-10,15-17 Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth. 10 See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. 15 For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. 16 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.]
[who have forsaken me,] Do you see how the judgment is upon each individual? All the chaos we are seeing today, the pandemic, the storms, the riots, the destruction, the persecution of morality, and the proclamation of immorality, these are all the things that God is using to bring conviction to His people so they would come to repentance. Revivals do not start from churches that are already proclaiming Christ, they start by each saved, born again person understanding that they need to repent, and start fearing Him as they did when they first got saved. People all over the world are proclaiming Christ, the sad thing, very few know Him as their Saviour and are living sinful lives as if He is pleased with them. Let me tell you, Christianity is the complete opposite of what the world sees as being moral and right, I have often thought that as long as I am not cheating, stealing, or lying that I am not sinning, but sin goes beyond that. Through Jeremiah, God explains what their sin is.
[Jeremiah 2:7-9,13,19 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination. 8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit. 9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead. 13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water. 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.]
[they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,] Jesus is the fountain of living waters, and we need to be ashamed of ourselves if we believe that just receiving Christ as our Saviour is enough to get us through this time in our life without judgment. Since we will not be a part of those who will be judged for our sin when He returns, our judgment will be while we are yet in the flesh, [II Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.]
[hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns,] This is exactly what Jesus was referring to when He said you cannot put new wine in old bottles, once we are saved, we are new creatures, if we return to the world, it is going to cost us dearly, [Matthew 9:17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved.]
[Thine own wickedness shall correct thee,] It is not our salvation that will cost us as once we are saved we cannot lose that, it is our livelihood and freedoms that will cost us. People get this notion that God is the one who actually brings the evil. It is man, whom, by the way, is corrupted by the devil himself, and they are oblivious to that. Yes, God allows the evil, He will place these pandemics, and even allow all the fighting in the world in an attempt to get His people to repent and fear Him as they did when they first got saved, and bring others with Him, [II Corinthians 7:10-11 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. 11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.]
[In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.] God would rather us come to Him confessing and repenting of sin all day long than walking away from Him. Israel had already faced judgment for turning their backs on God, now, Judah, who were the Christians of that day, were about to face judgment, the sad thing, their sins were more abominable than Israel’s. God illustrates their backsliding as an adulterous wife, and pleas with them one more time to repent before the entire land is destroyed.
[Jeremiah 3:1,8,11-13 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD. 8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also. 11 And the LORD said unto me, The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah. 12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.]
[Only acknowledge thine iniquity,] While God does care how many times we sin, what is more important to Him is that we be repentant, confessing our sin. Remember, God formed us before we were in our mother’s belly, He already knew what our shortcomings would be, He already knew that we what would befall us, and how we would handle all of it. And yet, He still brought us into this world, had mercy on us to show us His Son, and given us a heart that would believe in and accept Him so that we would not face an eternity in the lake of fire, [I John 1:7-10 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You for making it simple for us to be saved from judgment. All we have to do to be saved is believe in the finished work of Your Son, and receive Him as our Saviour. As undeserving as we are, and as much as we sin, You never give up on us, You are always encouraging us to live according to Your Word, and it really does save us from some unnecessary suffering when we do. Nevertheless. Your mercies and grace are endless, and whenever we come to You confessing our sin, You are faithful and just to cleanse us of all our unrighteousness. Thank You for loving me, not leaving me, and for Your mercies, grace, forgiveness, and patience with me. I praise You for showing me Your truths, and using me to teach them to others. I pray this in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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