TOPIC: Return To God Thursday 25, September 2014 TEXT: JEREMIAH 30:1-14 Key verse: “For, lo, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will bring again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the LORD: and I will cause them to return to the land that I gave to their fathers, and they shall possess it” (Jeremiah 30:3). Charles Hodge said: “The sure test of the quality of any supposed change of heart will be found in its permanent effects. Whatever, therefore, may have been our inward experience, whatever joy or sorrow we may have felt, unless we bring forth fruits meet for repentance, our experience will profit us nothing. Repentance is incomplete unless it leads to confession and restitution in cases of injury; unless it causes us to forsake not merely outward sins, which others notice, but those which lie concealed in the heart; unless it makes us choose the service of God and live not for ourselves but for Him. There is no duty, which is either more obvious in itself, or more frequently asserted in the Word of God, than that of repentance.” That was what God needed from the children of Israel. Jeremiah, from our text, promised the children of Israel that after completing their prescribed 70 years of captivity in the land of Babylon, they would be restored to their homeland. As a God of righteousness, of justice and of love, He wanted them to repent of their sin. He had spelt out His laws and commandments, which they needed to follow. As a God of justice, He punished them because of their infractions against His laws. In His love, He would forgive and restore them to His fellowship. The lesson for us to learn here is that, when God punishes because of sin, He does so severely, so that we can realise our wrongdoing and return to Him in repentance. It helps us to grow deeper in our relationship with Him. God’s discipline is rewarding at the end. As children of God, we are expected to yield in obedience to Him. Have you wandered away from His fold and lost your first estate in the Lord? Are you currently under his chastisement as a result of your sin? You can be free today. You can reclaim your lost inheritance. What you need to do is to go to Him in humble prayer and repent of your sins. He forgives, forgets and forbears. Though for the day: True repentance is no light matter; it is a thorough change of heart.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 04:04:43 +0000
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