Jeremiah 4:1-31

God has determined how He will respond to the actions and attitudes of men.  Too often men believe they can continue to live in a sinful way without any repercussions from the Lord.  This is foolish and wrong thinking.  God may be patient in His responses to our sinfulness, but He will never ignore it.  The only way we can avoid God’s judgment on our sin is through repentance and faith in Christ.  If we will turn to the Lord and follow Him with our lives He will forgive our sin.  Remorse because of the consequences of our sin is often confused with repentance.  God is not moved by our remorse but by our repentance.

REPENTANCE RESULTS IN RESTORATION: God loves to forgive sins and the longs to have men restored to fellowship with Him.  The reason God created an in the first place was for the purpose of sharing the joy of His fellowship with others.  Even though Israel and Judah had turned away from that fellowship, God still stand ready to restore them in response to their repentance.  He invites men to return to Him but to do so they must turn from their sin.  The must soften their hard hearts before the Lord remove the thistles from the soil of their lives and circumcise their hearts.  When God’s children truly repent God delights in restoring them and then He uses them to call other rebellious nations back into fellowship with Him.

DISOBEDIENCE DELIVERS DESTRUCTION: Unfortunately, God’s children did not choose to follow the path of repentance.  Instead, they chose the path of disobedience the led to destruction.  The trumpets of war would sound throughout the land.  Flags of invading armies would fly over the land God had promised to the children of Israel.  God has stirred up the invading armies of Babylon to come and bring destruction upon the disobedient descendants of Abraham.  The people will cry out and the most courageous of leaders will tremble before the armies of foreign nations.  Jeremiah cries out in hope that the people will hear of the coming disaster and turn to the Lord for salvation but their hearts are hardened before the Lord.  Therefore they are doomed to destruction because of their disobedience.


ANGUISH WILL NOT ALTER GOD’S ANGER: The consequences of God’s judgment cause the people to cry out in anguish over the pain and suffering they face.  The misery and destruction brought on by war after war has taken its toll on the people.  Their hearts are broken and they have grown weary by the seemingly endless war.  Unfortunately, they still do not understand that they must repent and turn from evil in order to escape the wrath of God.  Their anguish and cries of pain do not move the heart of God to mercy.  The entire land will be made desolate because that is what God has determined to do when men refuse to repent and continue to live in defiance of Him.  It is dangerous to confuse sorrow over the consequences of sin with true repentance.  Sin will always provoke the wrath of God no matter how we might try to dress it up and no matter how much we cry out in pain because of His judgment.  The only solution to our problem of sin and its consequences is true repentace.

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