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be drifting towards a judgment from God by reason of its denial of His Word and making light of His words of warn ing, so terrific in their import concern ing the-last days? The Word of God is “ quick and powerful.” It is a “ savor of life'unto life, and of death unto death.” Truth has never been popular. Prophecies of evil have always been rejected by the people. It was so in Sodom. It was so with the antediluvians. Human na ture has never changed. (Isa. 30:9, 10 ) “ T his is a rebellion s p eople, ly in g ch il dren, ch ild ren that w ill n o t hear the la w o f the L ord. W h ich sa y to th e seers* See n o t; and to the prophets* P rop h esy n o t nn to us rig h t things* sp eak u n to us sm ooth things* p rop h esy deceits.” Listen to the words of our Lord in John 7:7: . “ T h e w o rld can n ot hate y o n ; bu t m e it hateth, becau se I te s tify o f it, th at the w o rk s th e re o f are evil.” People will believe a lie and follow error a great deal more readily than they will believe and follow the truth. Woe unto the ecclesiasts that deny the Word of God, that belittle the proph ecies of His holy Word, and that de light in smooth, soft sayings! They must pay the penalty. (3) JEREMIAH’S DEFENCE, vs. 12- 15. Jeremiah’s defence is bold and un changing in its message. “ The Lord sent me. The Lord gave me His mes sage.” He was fearless. He was faithful. They might slay him but they could not stifle him otherwise. He had no message of his own. He was God’s servant. He must be true to his Mas ter. Their controversy was not with him but with Jehovah. He was simply God’s courier, giving God’s message. He was in their hands. They had the power to put him to death, but they would have to settle accounts with Je hovah. They were wrong. Their sins were great. They must amend their ways (7:3-7). Slaying him would not
Think what it meant to be obliged to tell Judah that Jerusalem would be come like ShilohL (7:14) That the city of God would be swept with a dev astating curse! How could Judah be lieve it? (2) JEREMIAH’S DEATH DEMAND ED, vs. 8-11. His message stirred the gathering. Prophets and people, with one accord, laid hold on him. He had pronounced an awful, doom upon Jerusalem. They did not say that he was a false prophet but that he was “ worthy of death.” It has always been the same (Acts 5:33). Opposition and persecution from the church leaders comes today as it did then. They do not say to the man who has a message from God, “ You do not speak the words of God,” but they say, “ The Bible is not the Word of God. It does not mean what it says. We have a new Bible— a Shorter Bible. We have eliminated all of those objectionable statements. We do not believe that God would curse a people. We believe in a. God of love. He is too good to punish . evil. You must interpret the Bible in the light of the scientific truth and findings of today." The people who heard Jeremiah’s message would not believe that Jerusa lem would be destroyed. They believed that there was some charm about the city that would save it, (Ch. 10:18-21) just as the people did in the closing days of Christ’s ministry. None of the Pharisees and Sadducees believed that Jerusalem would be destroyed. When Stephen was before the council, facing death, he charged the Jewish leaders with resisting the Holy Ghost, in direct line with their fathers (Acts 7:51) “ Y e stiffn eck ed and u n circum clsed in heart an d ears, y e d o a lw a ys resist the H oly G h ost; as y o n r fa th e rs did, so do ye.” We-must not forget that history re peats itself, and there are the same ten dencies in our own land today. Who is there that believes that America might
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