God speaks to His people about their sin - "The people of Jerusalem turned away from Me without ever returning ..." (Jeremiah 8:5). He is not pleased with them. He is calling them to return to Him - "Change the way you live ..." (Jeremiah 7:3).
The life of Israel is “like the desert” (Jeremiah 9:12). This moral and
spiritual desert is described in Jeremiah 9:13-14 - “The Lord answered,
They’ve abandoned My teachings that I placed in front of them. They
didn’t obey Me, and they didn’t follow them, They followed their own
stubborn ways and other gods ...” This was a serious situation. These
words are very relevant to today’s Church and world. God is not being
taken seriously. His Word is being ignored. The situation goes from bad
to worse. God is speaking. Few people are listening. He speaks through
His Word. Few people are reading His Word. We must listen to what God
says and do what He tells us to do.
"The Son of Man came to save the lost" (Matthew 18:11). In Matthew 18:12-13, Jesus speaks about sheep. He's really speaking about us. He is the Shepherd. We are His sheep. Sheep wander away from the shepherd. We wander away from the Lord. The shepherd looks for the lost sheep. Jesus has come to seek for us and find us. He brings us home to God, our Father. Through His saving grace, we receive new life - a life in which we rejoice in our great Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. He delivers us from the condemnation, which our sin has brought upon us. He brings us into the knowledge of His forgiveness. This Gospel of salvation changes us. It teaches us to live in the power of God's love. Jesus speaks about "the Kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19:12,23), "the Kingdom of God" (Matthew 19:14,24) and "eternal life" (Matthew 19:29). Jesus' way of thinking and living is so very different from the world's way of thinking and living. He chall...
Comments
Post a Comment