Oct. 30.2012

Jeremiah 17

verses 1-18 are a clear message to Judah - Blessing comes if you trust the Lord, curses come if you trust in mankind.  They chose to trust in men and the curse came.  They gave up their inheritance and clung to their idols. Those who forsake the Lord are put to shame. Those who look to Him are not.
Jeremiah prays a humble prayer " Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; Save me and I will be saved; For thou art my praise"  God is our only Hope!  In every trial and problem. Trust in Him alone.
V. 19-27  It seems as if the Lord gives a lifeline to Judah in this message.  One commandment - can they keep just ONE?   A fairly easy one - Keep the Sabbath Day.   Not to difficult, not a lot to ask?
Just stop doing business as usual on the Sabbath.  Stop doing business and God will bless the whole city of Jerusalem and all the people of Judah.  But, ignore this final offer and there will be devastation and loss.  A fire will destroy Jerusalem.
Seems like a no brainer! But, they refused to listen.  Destruction comes. 

What would we do in this situation?  Would we give up 1 day of business for the Lord?  We used to do that in our country, but things have changed here too.  Sunday has become a day of recreation instead of a day of rest.  We are told in Hebrews that Jesus is our Rest, our Sabbath.  Heb. 4: 9-10 "There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the  people of God. For the one who had entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His. "
So, what does this mean? There is one requirement for salvation.  Do this ONE thing and you will be saved.  Enter into Jesus!

Jer. 17: 10 " I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind, Even to give to each man according to his ways, according to the results of his deeds."  and compare Heb. 4: 12-13 " For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bared to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

Hebrews lays out the consequences of disobedience , specifically unbelief.  They did not enter His Rest.  Heb. 3:12 " Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of you and evil, unbelieving heart..." v15 " do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked me"  Because of hard hearts they did not believe God's Word.  They did not trust Him to bring them into His Rest. So they never were allowed to enter.  It was GOOD NEWS - entry was guaranteed!  But they wouldn't believe.   We also have GOOD NEWS - entry in to our REST, our SABBATH - eternal LIFE is guaranteed when we believe in JESUS.   But if we harden our hearts and refuse to believe - we are in the same situation that Israel was in - shut out from the one place where we can find what we need the most - REST.

God sees our hearts and judges our intentions. We cannot hide what we are thinking and doing.  HE knows everything about us, including our weaknesses and temptations.  Heb. 4;15-16 tells us that Jesus can sympathize with us in those, for He was also tempted.  Because of Him, we have Hope.  For He has opened the way for us to come to God, to the Throne of GRACE, to receive mercy and to find grace to help in time of need.  So like Jeremiah we can pray " Heal me and I will be healed, Save me and I will be saved For thou art my praise."