JEREMIAH 6
15 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down, saith the Lord.
16 Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.
THE OLD PATHS
The tale of the nation of Judah is our story. It is the story of today’s church, surely not! Have we been carried to Babylon?
Obviously, we haven’t been physically been taken away, but we have in a spiritual sense.
Have we also been taken into captivity by some sin and carried off to be far from God?
Why were the children of Israel/Judah taken into captivity?
The first thing is that they weren’t ashamed of their sin, their sin did not make them blush. When sin dulls your mind and you start making excuses for it, then you need to beware, you are on a slippery slope to being taken captive.
Secondly, they were told by Jeremiah how to avoid this, but they refused to respond to rebuke. So many times, they had been told to repent and ask for the old paths; they were presented with the right way; they knew that these paths were good, but they refused to walk in the right path.
Do we know the right path, but still refuse to take it and walk on it?
There is the sound of the trumpet, you think people would listen to it, but again they refused to listen.
You hear the sound of the trumpet every Sunday Morning and Evening, but your mind is so numb that it has little or no effect. Millions and millions of so called Christians go to church every Sunday, but they leave the church no different to the time they entered it. They are one of two things, spiritually dead or spiritually dormant; which are you?
The nation of Israel/Judah had plenty of chances to repent and to turn back to God, but they refused, so they were taken into captivity. This will happen to us, if we don’t return to the Old paths.
It’s like the church in Ephesus in Revelation, we have to return to our first love.
Jesus says let him who has ears to hear to all seven churches, we have not just to listen but to act in repentance and obedience.
God bless you,
KK
JEREMIAH 4
19 My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
THE SOUNDS OF WAR
I love Jeremiah! He was a watchman on the wall. He saw and heard the sound of the invading armies.
The church is fighting a desperate battle, and in many cases, it is being invaded. What you say, and we are losing the battle.
Well, the armies that we are facing today are not soldiers, but they are the ideas and ways of the world.
What were the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day saying, “Peace, peace,” and there was no peace. What are many pastors and church leaders saying today?
They are saying, it’s ok to behave like the world; it’s ok to bring worldly music, or worldly entertainment into the church; it’s ok to bring the prosperity gospel into the church.
There is a sound of war church, and what are we doing?
Have we a heart like Jeremiah?
His heart was stirred and so were his lips. He couldn’t keep silent. This is a war situation church, we are not at peace, one day we will have true peace, but until then, we are on a war footing.
Have we heard the sound of the trumpet? This is warning the church! Jeremiah had heard it, and he couldn’t keep silent.
To all the pastors: you are the principal watchmen on the walls. You are to sound the trumpet, the warning signal, if you aren’t doing it, you must question why you are in the ministry.
As ministers of the gospel, we are not here to tickle ears, we are not here to make people comfortable.
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions,
So many preachers can’t or won’t speak the truth, they won’t sound the alarm.
Many churches are so dead, that even if a preacher, came in and sounded the alarm, the church would remain dead.
Is there a sound of war in your life?
You are in a war, a daily battle with the world, the flesh and the devil.
Are you responding to the sound of the trumpet?
Are you as a pastor sounding the trumpet?
Are you calling your church members to war?
The church is being invaded; the enemy is seeking to break down the wall of the church. We are to defend the gospel and fight back and take action.
Oh, for a heart like Jeremiah’s… amen
God bless you