Jeremiah 5:5
The Bible says in Jeremiah 5:5-9, I will get
me unto the great men, and will speak unto them; for they have known the way of
the LORD, and the judgment of their God: but these have altogether broken the
yoke, and burst the bonds. Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them,
and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a leopard shall watch over their
cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces: because their
transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased. How shall I
pardon thee for this? thy children have forsaken me, and sworn by them that are
no gods: when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and
assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses. They were as fed horses
in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's wife. Shall I not visit
for these things? saith the LORD: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a
nation as this? Either Jeremiah or the Lord is speaking in verse 5 when he
says, I will get me unto the great men, and will speak unto them. Surely the
leaders of the country will know and will understand the truth and will listen
to reason. Surely they have risen to a position of power for a good reason, and
therefore they are motivated by the desire for fairness and righteousness.
Unfortunately, that was not the case. Even the leaders had turned away from
God. If the leaders of a country do not know God, that country is in big
trouble. Of course, that means that almost every country in the world is in
trouble. They are all heading towards the Great Tribulation, and the domination
of the anti-christ over them. It says in Psalms 9:17, The wicked
shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
And it says in Jeremiah 5:6, Wherefore a
lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil
them, a leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence
shall be torn in pieces: because their transgressions are many, and their
backslidings are increased. A nation is being
led by its leaders, but if the leaders do not know and follow Jesus Christ,
where are they leading the nation? They are leading it to hell.
But not only were the leaders guilty
in Israel in the day of Jeremiah, all of the people were guilty; and the fact
that they had turned away from God was especially evident by the degree to
which they had become involved in sexual immorality. It mentions adultery in Jeremiah
5:7 and harlots houses in the same verse. And it says in Jeremiah 5:8,
They
were as fed horses in the morning: every one neighed after his neighbour's
wife. That sounds like
The Bible says in Jeremiah 5:10-13, Go ye up
upon her walls, and destroy; but make not a full end: take away her
battlements; for they are not the LORD's. For the house of Israel and the house
of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me, saith the LORD. They have
belied the LORD, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us;
neither shall we see sword nor famine: And the prophets shall become wind, and
the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them.
In these verses we find a statement made by the Lord that describes some of the
reasons that the Israelites became so evil. The Lord said three things about
the Israelites in Jeremiah 5:12 and 13. First the Israelites said about God, It is not he. Secondly,
the Israelites denied the moral law of reaping and sowing when they said, neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see
sword nor famine. Thirdly, the Israelites
denied the Word God and the prophets that were sent unto them when the
Israelites said, And the prophets shall
become wind, and the word is not in them.
Jeremiah 5:12 says that the Israelites
belied the Lord and
said, It is not he. The word that is translated belied means that
they denied the Lord and they did not value Him. That is why they said, It is not he. God came to
them with a message of warning about the judgment that would come if they did
not repent and change their ways, but the Israelites did not want that message,
so they denied that the Lord brought it. In effect, they were saying, It could
not be the Lord saying that, because that is not want we want to hear.
The moral and spiritual law of sowing
and reaping is taught throughout the Bible. It is taught in the Old Testament
and in the New Testament. It was true for the Israelites and it is true for
Christians. One of the reasons to be careful what you do and what you get
involved with is because there will be consequences if you do the wrong thing.
It says in Galatians 6:7-8, Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for
whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his
flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit
shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. Yes, the Lord Jesus
will forgive you, no matter what you do; but His forgiveness does not mean that
there will be no consequences to what you have done. Even though I believe
strongly that the scripture clearly teaches eternal security (the truth that no
one can lose their salvation, also known as once-saved-always-saved), some
people who try to defend the concept of eternal security, do so with improper
examples. For example, they might try to describe eternal security by making up
an example of someone who gets saved through faith in Jesus, and then that
person goes out and commits a serious of terrible sins, and the that person
eventually dies and goes to heaven and lives in eternal happiness like everyone
else who is in heaven. They make it sound like there are no consequences for
the sinful deeds that are done. But that is not true. There will always be
serious consequences to sin, and the worse the sin, the greater the
consequences. There are consequences to sin because God is holy. Even with the
truth of eternal security, there are consequences to sin in this life and in
the next life. Be not deceived; God is not
mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Be careful about what you do, what you say, and what you
think. What has happened to you in your life up to this point, and why has it
happened? There are many causes and many explanations for what has happened in
any persons life. Some of the things that happen to us are simply the will of
God. Some of the things that happen to us are simply the result of good choices
that we have made to do one thing or another. But we must all admit that some
of the things that happen to us are also the negative results of our own sinful
deeds. If you want to have a brighter future, then live a more holy life.
But not only will we suffer the
consequences of sinful deeds in this life, we will also experience them in the
next life. Once we become a Christian, God has a plan for each of us to
accomplish good works for the glory of Jesus Christ our Savior. There will be
challenges, and stumbling-blocks, and temptations that can keep us from
accomplishing the will of God as Christians. But for those who do accomplish
Gods will, there are promises of great rewards in heaven. These rewards are
called crowns in the New Testament. The Apostle spoke of being relieved that
he made it to the end of his life without losing his reward. Paul wrote in
Second Timothy 4:7-8, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have
kept the faith: Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of
righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and
not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.
Paul was not concerned about losing his salvation, but he was concerned about
losing his rewards. Evidently, there will be degrees of authority, opportunity,
and position in heaven. Paul spoke of what motivated him in First Corinthians
9:23-25, And this I do for the gospel's
sake, that I might be partaker thereof with you. Know ye not that they which
run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.
And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things. Now
they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible. Even though you cannot lose your salvation because of the
truth of eternal-security, there is still a lot to lose. The Bible says in
First Corinthians 3:11-15, For other
foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any
man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay,
stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it,
because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work
of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he
shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer
loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
The Bible says in Jeremiah 5:14-18, Wherefore
thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make
my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. Lo,
I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the LORD: it
is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou
knowest not, neither understandest what they say. Their quiver is as an open
sepulchre, they are all mighty men. And they shall eat up thine harvest, and
thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat: they shall eat up thy
flocks and thine herds: they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees: they
shall impoverish thy fenced cities, wherein thou trustedst, with the sword.
Nevertheless in those days, saith the LORD, I will not make a full end with you.
In verses 14 through 17 the Lord is telling the Israelites one more time how
great their punishments were that were coming upon them. It is important to
notice the message that the Lord gave to them in verse 18. It is the message of
Gods unfailing love, and the message of eternal security. Jesus never faileth.
If you have been saved through faith in Christ, no matter how far you fall, you
can never fall out of Gods love for you. He might chastise you when you need
it, but He is not done with you yet. This has not changed since the beginning
of time: Gods faithfulness to His plan and to His purpose for you. What the
Lord said to the Israelites, He will always say to you, I will not make a full end with you.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2012 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved