True Repentance (2)
Notes
Transcript
True Repentance
True Repentance
18 In those days the house of Judah shall join the house of Israel, and together they shall come from the land of the north to the land that I gave your fathers for a heritage.
19 “ ‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. 20 Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to me, O house of Israel, declares the Lord.’ ” 21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God. 22 “Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness.” “Behold, we come to you, for you are the Lord our God. 23 Truly the hills are a delusion, the orgies on the mountains. Truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel. 24 “But from our youth the shameful thing has devoured all for which our fathers laboured, their flocks and their herds, their sons and their daughters. 25 Let us lie down in our shame, and let our dishonour cover us. For we have sinned against the Lord our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even to this day, and we have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.” 1 “If you return, O Israel, declares the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your detestable things from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” 3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord; remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your deeds.”
From last two weeks passages, Jeremiah 1, what we have discovered is that God himself, personally, speaks to His own child, people. And that Jeremiah repeatedly, over and over again have heard the WORD OF THE LORD.
Again, beginning of chapter two starts with:
1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying,
Commanding Jeremiah to go and speak/proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. The promises and faithful following of God, metaphorically comparing it to the love young man would have for his bride, yet to quickly turning away from God. And to the rest of the chapter it is God one by one God outlining all the things God done and provided to his people, how people have committed to follow Him, yet was to quick to break their own oath to stay faithful to Yahweh. And written with such detailed description and metaphorically.
Now, coming to todays bible reading.
19 “ ‘I said, How I would set you among my sons, and give you a pleasant land, a heritage most beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me.
Disappointed Father
Disappointed Father
calling his people, SONS, whom the Father, the Lord Yahweh, have called the very people to himself. Not only to calling him to his own presence even adopting, and receiving and accepting them as His own children.
To his own children, Yahweh also gave them a PLEASANT LAND. Not just a piece of land, but a pleasant one. Planned picked and plowed ready to be sow and harvest. Not only was it fertile it also was beautiful. The most beautiful of all nations. Best piece of land for his chosen and beloved sons and daughters. This not as a bribe to keep the people with him and to him, but that people would respond with gratitude, calling on the Yahweh as their Father.
Abandonment of Yahweh is pictured as a treacherous wife leaving her husband. Saying that not remembering God, not calling on the father, not following Yahweh is like having wife or husband who cheats on their husband or wife and end up parting ways, because there no longer is joy, trust, and most of all, RELATIONSHIP
21 A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel’s sons because they have perverted their way; they have forgotten the Lord their God.
The Bitterness of Sin
The Bitterness of Sin
The bitterness in the heart, the bitterness in God’s heard, bitterness a FATHER experiences seeing a child turn away from him is indescribable.
The bitterness in wife or husbands heart parting their ways because one had cheated on other is indescribable.
Yet Yahweh, God the Father, still calls the sinful, the cheater to return to him.
22 “Return, O faithless sons;
I will heal your faithlessness.”
“Behold, we come to you,
for you are the Lord our God.
Come back home
Come back home
Not only does God calls one to listen he promises to HEAL one’s faithlessness. This means that God will do the hard work of transforming and changing your heart. And one would confess, knowing that the Lord changes heart and minds and forgives, and come to GOD for God is the only one who can accept and forgive such traitors and sinners.
A prayer of repentance
A prayer of repentance
1 “If you return, O Israel,
declares the Lord,
to me you should return.
If you remove your detestable things from my presence,
and do not waver,
Repentance by one will be accepted. Repentance also meant to returning to God. Not to anything else, it is not about TICKET TO HEAVENS, but repentance means RETURNING TO GOD, NOT JUST ABOUT ENTERING HEAVENS. As God declares, returning to God, not anything else or other gods. It also means one would not only return to God but would return and REMOVE ALL FILTHINESS in their lives leading to removing all the filthiness in the presence of God. And as God demands, key to repentance is that those who have repented DO NOT WAVER in remaining in the presence of God.
What this means is that repentance more than just words you spill out.
More than just WORDS
More than just WORDS
2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’
in truth, in justice, and in righteousness,
then nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.”
3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem:
“Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.
4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord;
remove the foreskin of your hearts,
O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my wrath go forth like fire,
and burn with none to quench it,
because of the evil of your deeds.”
Repentance comes with hard labour. Breaking up fallow ground and sowing seeds in the right places. Circumcising foreskins, specifically foreskin of your heart. Literal and metaphorical call to be followed with repentance. One cannot simply say “I AM SORRY” and think they they’re all good. For all their evil deeds, which may have seeped into their lifestyle and own or social culture need to break it up, need to cutting off and burn off what ever that hinders one’s UNSHAKABLE IRREMOVABLE AND INDESTRUCTIBLE RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FATHER. All for the EVIL of the deeds.
Application
Application
Socially and culturally, many point fingers and in most cases will not forgive those who cheat on their husband or wife. Even among the friends, cheating, lying, betraying are some things that people often really struggle to forgive.
What are some thing you know you find it extremely hard to forgive?
What are some things you know that God has forgiven that you’re still holding tightly?
And have you truly repented? have you truly turned away from those sins, particularly areas unforgiveness?
What are some things you need to CARVE out from your that you have already repented on?
CONCLUSION
CONCLUSION
