Turn and Live
Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 17 – 19 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – Galatians 1 – 3; Psalms 16 – 20; Proverbs 4)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 47:1
Read the “0904 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” – (Ezekiel 18:4)
“For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye.” – (Ezekiel 18:32)
“For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” – (Romans 10:13)
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” – (2 Peter 3:9)
I have enjoyed reading these chapters in the Book of Ezekiel, though I must confess that this book, more than any other, I have trouble understanding at times. In chapter 18, God is telling the people of Israel that the son will not die for the sins of the father. In other words, every man will stand before God by himself. I will not have to answer to God for the sins of anyone else. The confusing thing about this passage is that there are particular sins listed here that have been committed by each and every person that has ever inhabited the earth, save, of course, the Lord Jesus Christ. So, while we will not have to answer for our father’s sins, we will have to answer for our own, and we are all guilty. Of course, the New Testament reveals that Jesus Christ died on the cross, and by so doing, He took all of our sins upon Him. If we will turn from our sin and trust Him, He will forgive our sins and save us.
I think, however, the principle taught in this passage is very important to develop. I am not bound by anything that my father has done before me. No matter what my parents may have done, I can still live before God on my own. I can reverse the trend that may have been started, or continued, by my parents. The same applies to my children. They can choose to live for God, or they can choose to do their own thing, but they will one day answer to God for their choices. I hope they choose to yield to the Lord more than I have. I hope they take the good things that I have done and build upon them. I also hope that they not follow any bad example that they have seen in me, and they have seen many.
Another important principle that we can see in chapter 18 is the fact that God does not want to punish people. He wants to bless them. God takes no pleasure in sending anyone to Hell. God wants all men to be saved, and has provided a way for all men to come to Him. Unfortunately, most will choose not to turn to Him. If you have not yet turned to God for forgiveness of your sin, please do not wait any longer. It matters not what your family has chosen in the past. It doesn’t even matter what you have done in the past. It only matters that you are willing to repent – to turn from your sin and rejection of the Word of God, and turn to the Lord Jesus Christ. He desires to save you and make you one of His children.
Posted in Thoughts from Ezekiel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Estranged Through Their Idols
Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 14 – 16 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 9 – 13; Psalms 11 – 15; Proverbs 3)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:6
Read the “0903 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“4 Therefore speak unto them, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Every man of the house of Israel that setteth up his idols in his heart, and putteth the stumblingblock of his iniquity before his face, and cometh to the prophet; I the LORD will answer him that cometh according to the multitude of his idols; 5 That I may take the house of Israel in their own heart, because they are all estranged from me through their idols.” (Ezekiel 14:4-5)
Ezekiel is writing at the time when the Babylonians were invading Jerusalem and taking her inhabitants into captivity. There were actually three deportations. Daniel was taken captive along with others in 605 BC, Ezekiel was part of the group that was deported in 597 BC, and the final deportation and destruction of the City of Jerusalem took place in 586 BC. Ezekiel was ministering to captives who were already in Babylonian exile, but his messages from God were applicable to the people who still remained in Jerusalem. These earlier chapters (1 – 24) were written before the final destruction of Jerusalem. Though Ezekiel prophesied much about God’s judgment, he also gave them hope through his prophecies of a future restoration of Israel.
The English word, “estranged,” carries the idea of severed relationship. We say that a child is estranged from his parents if they have broken off communication and no longer have any kind of connection. The Hebrew word (נָזֹרוּ – zûr) translated “estranged” here is used 77 times in the Old Testament in its various forms, but most of the time it is translated into the words, “strange,” or “stranger.” God is saying that the people of Judah and Jerusalem had become distant from Him because they had strayed into idolatry. They were close to idols but distant from God. They were unfamiliar with God because they had wandered away from him, searching for something else.
The practical application that I saw in these verses is that many people today who claim to be Christians are estranged from God. They are completely unfamiliar with who He is and what He expects from His children. In the news today there are many in our nation who are advocating for abortion rights. Many of these folks say they are believers, yet they are supporting a position that is completely against the heart of God, whose desire is to protect the innocent. This is just one example. Another illustration is the way many Christians have sided with the Palestinian people who are supporting Hamas in their quest to exterminate the Jewish people. How can a Christian side with people who hate Israel and want to see them wiped off the face of the earth? These so-called Christians think the way they do because they are estranged from God; they do not know Him, they are unfamiliar with His Word, and they have no clue what He wants.
The people referred to in the illustrations from the previous paragraph are predominantly unbelievers, even though they may claim to be Christians. However, there are also many true believers who can become estranged from God simply because they do not spend the time to get to know Him. This is why it is so important for Christians to daily spend time in the Word of God and also to be united with a good, Bible preaching church. The world, the flesh, and the devil are consistently pushing us in a direction away from the Lord, but a good church and daily fellowship with the Savior will keep us close.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
Foxes in the Deserts
Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 10 – 13 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 5 – 8; Psalms 6 – 10; Proverbs 2)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:1 – 4
Read the “0902 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“O Israel, thy prophets are like the foxes in the deserts. Ye have not gone up into the gaps, neither made up the hedge for the house of Israel to stand in the battle in the day of the LORD. They have seen vanity and lying divination, saying, The LORD saith: and the LORD hath not sent them: and they have made others to hope that they would confirm the word.” – (Ezekiel 13:4-6)
In Ezekiel 13, God tells the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy against the prophets. At this time in Israel’s history there were many false prophets who were telling the people that everything is going to be OK, and that there is no need to fear. The Bible calls them prophets of peace. The problem was that they were wrong; they were lying to the people and deceiving the people into a false sense of security. They preached much on the love and mercy of God, without speaking of God’s holiness and justice. The truth of the matter is that judgment was on its way, and God wanted the people to be warned of that judgment so that they would have an opportunity to repent and turn back to him. The reason for the judgment was because the people of Israel had forsaken the Lord and had become idolatrous as well as immoral.
We have many prophets of peace today also. They preach about a god that doesn’t seem to care about sin when the truth of the matter is that our God hates the sin that is running rampant in our land today. America has thrown God and the Bible under the bus, and He cannot possibly be pleased. I am not a prophet. I have no special revelation from God, but I do know what the Bible teaches. Yes, God loves people, and He wants to see them saved. He sent His only Son to die on the cross for their sins. But, for people to be spared the coming judgment, they must turn to God in repentance and faith. As a nation, America has almost completely turned her back on God, but that does not mean that I must join in. I stand for God. I will preach the message of God’s love for sinners like me, but I will also declare God’s hatred for their sin. Judgment is coming to all who reject God and His message of salvation through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Have you trusted Christ as your Saviour? If you haven’t, I beg you to trust Him today before it is eternally too late. For more information about salvation read “Are You Saved?”
Be careful who you listen to regarding what God says:
“Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.” – (Matthew 7:15)
“Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” – (Jude 1:3-4)
“But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.” – (2 Peter 2:1)
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” – (1 John 4:1)
Posted in Thoughts from Ezekiel by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
What Do You Do in the Dark?
Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 5 – 9 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 2 Corinthians 1 – 4; Psalms 1 – 5; Proverbs 1)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 25
Read the “0901 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Then said he unto me, Son of man, hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in the chambers of his imagery? for they say, The LORD seeth us not; the LORD hath forsaken the earth.” (Ezekiel 8:12)
“Then said he unto me, The iniquity of the house of Israel and Judah is exceeding great, and the land is full of blood, and the city full of perverseness: for they say, The LORD hath forsaken the earth, and the LORD seeth not.” – (Ezekiel 9:9)
In our passage today Ezekiel is sitting in his house in Babylon along with the elders of Israel, when suddenly God appears to Him and reveals to him the extent of the idolatry among the people of God. God shows Ezekiel what the people were doing when they thought that no one else was looking. The people didn’t think that even God could see them when they were in their own little wicked world.
There were two phrases from today’s reading that caught my attention. The first one is found in Ezekiel 8:12, “hast thou seen what the ancients of the house of Israel do in the dark“. The second is also found in that verse, and is found again in Ezekiel 9:9, “the Lord seeth not“. Man sometimes convinces himself that if his sin is done in private (“in the dark”), that God somehow is unable to see it. Nothing could be further from the truth. There is nothing that can be hidden from the eyes of God: He sees all that we do, and hears all that we say; and He even knows our thoughts. Scary.
Did you ever think about how much of our sin is done “in the dark”. To be sure there is also a lot of sin that is done in the open, especially among those who are not in the family of God. The lost world does not seem to care as much if their sin is exposed, and they would certainly not even consider much of what they do as sin in the first place. However, my thought this morning does not concern unbelievers. I am thinking today about Christians. People who go to church every week. People who look sparkly clean on the outside. People who appear to have their spiritual house in order. People like you and me. We wouldn’t dare take our sins into the public arena, out there for everybody to see; but how much sin is going on “in the dark”? What do we talk about privately? What are we participating in with one other person, or perhaps even a discreet few other people? What do we look at, listen to, or think about when nobody is watching? Oh, but there is Someone watching, isn’t there? God sees it all. Christians somehow think that because their sin is hidden from most people, that it doesn’t really matter; but it does matter to God.
I think it is time for us within the church to be honest with ourselves. There is an awful lot of junk going on “in the dark”. You can’t see it at our services. You won’t spot too much of it when we all get together for fellowship, but it’s there. Most people can’t see it, but God does. The public doesn’t get wind of it until the sin finally blows up our lives. When will we learn?
Posted in Thoughts from Ezekiel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
The Watchman
Today’s Passage – Ezekiel 1 – 4 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 13 – 16; Psalms 146 – 150; Proverbs 31)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 18:3 & 46
Read the “0831 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me. When I say unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.” – (Ezekiel 3:17-19)
The Book of Ezekiel is a very fascinating portion of Scripture, containing many mysterious creatures and visions. I must confess that there is much about this particular potion of the Bible that I do not understand; but the verses that are given above are pretty clear to me. God made Ezekiel a watchman to the house of Israel. The watchman’s job is not difficult. He must stay alert, keeping his eyes open to any possible dangers, and if any do appear he is then to sound the alarm in order to warn the people. Ezekiel’s job was to warn the people of Israel regarding the judgment that will come if they continue in their rebellion to God. God reassured Ezekiel that he was not responsible for what the people did with the warning. God was only going to hold Ezekiel accountable if he didn’t warn the people.
We can certainly make application of this passage to our lives today. As Christians, we possess the greatest Truth that the world has ever known. We have the knowledge of the Saviour, and we have the ability, through our words as well as our lives, to share the wonderful news of redemption and salvation to the world around us. As it was with Ezekiel, we are not responsible for what people do with the message; we are only commanded to deliver the warning. We are to warn people about the impending judgment that awaits them if they do not repent and believe the gospel. Whether they accept that truth or reject it is on them. Of course, we should not be like Jonah who reluctantly delivered the message to the Ninevites. We should be eager to do all that we can do in order to adorn the gospel, and convince people of the wonderful love of the Saviour.
We can also make application of this passage of Scripture to those of us who have been given the special responsibility of preaching or teaching the Truth of the Word of God. Sometimes I get very frustrated when saved people do not apply the clear teaching of Scripture to their lives; but I must remember that my responsibility is only to be the right example before them, pray for them, and then teach them. It is their decision whether or not they will apply the principles or heed the warnings from the Scripture. Again, I hope that they will but the truth is that many will not, at least not all the time. In fact, if I could be perfectly honest with myself, I would have to admit that there are many times that I do not listen to my own advice very well. But that does not change the Truth. The Truth is still the Truth whether I follow it or not, and it is still right to preach and teach the Truth even though, in the flesh, we all fall short of it at times.
I guess the conclusion of the matter is that we are all watchman in some respects. We all have the obligation to warn the world around us of the judgment that is surely coming, and share with them the salvation that can only come through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Then, we must realize that we also should be heeding the warnings and applying the life principles that we receive from the watchman that God has placed in our lives to bless and protect us.
Posted in Thoughts from Ezekiel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Was It Worth It?
Today’s Passage – Lamentations 1 – 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 5 – 8; Psalms 136 – 140; Proverbs 29)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Deuteronomy 32:4
Read the “0829 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “Great Is Thy Faithfulness.“
“1 How doth the city sit solitary, that was full of people! how is she become as a widow! she that was great among the nations, and princess among the provinces, how is she become tributary! 2 She weepeth sore in the night, and her tears are on her cheeks: among all her lovers she hath none to comfort her: all her friends have dealt treacherously with her, they are become her enemies. 3 Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude: she dwelleth among the heathen, she findeth no rest: all her persecutors overtook her between the straits. 4 The ways of Zion do mourn, because none come to the solemn feasts: all her gates are desolate: her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness. 5 Her adversaries are the chief, her enemies prosper; for the LORD hath afflicted her for the multitude of her transgressions: her children are gone into captivity before the enemy. 6 And from the daughter of Zion all her beauty is departed: her princes are become like harts that find no pasture, and they are gone without strength before the pursuer. 7 Jerusalem remembered in the days of her affliction and of her miseries all her pleasant things that she had in the days of old, when her people fell into the hand of the enemy, and none did help her: the adversaries saw her, and did mock at her sabbaths. 8 Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore she is removed: all that honoured her despise her, because they have seen her nakedness: yea, she sigheth, and turneth backward.” (Lamentations 1:1-8)
“All that pass by clap their hands at thee; they hiss and wag their head at the daughter of Jerusalem, saying, Is this the city that men call The perfection of beauty, The joy of the whole earth?” (Lamentations 2:15)
As the name implies, the Book of Lamentations is a very sad book. Though the book is anonymous, it contains many similarities to Jeremiah and was likely written by him after the city of Jerusalem was completely destroyed by the Babylonians, and many of its citizens were either dead or taken into captivity. It was a very sad time and the people were certainly lamenting and morning over all that was lost (Lamentations 2:5). Each of the five chapters are poems and according to Charles Ryrie: “The first four chapters are written in what is called “limping meter,” a cadence used in funeral dirges, and thus most appropriate for this lament over the destruction of Jerusalem.”[1] These first four chapters are also Hebrew acrostics where each verse successively begins with a word whose first letter is one of the twenty-two letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Chapter three contains sections of three verses with each of the twenty-two letters, thus it has sixty-six verses total.
Jerusalem had been destroyed, but not without warning from God. The prophets, including Jeremiah, had all foretold of a day that would come when God would judge His people for their wickedness if they did not repent. The Book of Jeremiah is full of examples where the people of Judah ignored the warnings of Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 7 and 26). They were content to continue to do their thing. Idolatry was everywhere and the people were given over to drunkenness and immorality.
My question is this: was it worth it? The people refused to heed the warnings, and calamity eventually came. God was very patient with them and warned them repeatedly but they would not listen. Maybe the people thought that God did not mean it, sort of like the parent that warns his child repeatedly by saying, “if you do that one more time,” but after many more infractions there is still no penalty. God is not like a human parent, however, and judgement finally came, just as God had warned them.
But was the crime worth the penalty? I would be willing to bet that those that survived the calamity and subsequent captivity would all agree that it was not.
This passage is about Judah and the captivity that came because of their sin and continued rejection of the Lord, but let’s make application to today. Maybe you are dabbling with some sin, and maybe you are doing your thing, ignoring what you know God wants you to do. Perhaps judgement (God’s correction) is on its way for you as well. When calamity comes into your life, you will probably be like the Israelites of old who regretted the fact that they did not listen to God.
Maybe you are reading this blog and you have never trusted Christ as your Savior. Here is your warning. You need to turn to Christ in repentance and faith before it is eternally too late. Note – See the “Are You Saved” tab at the top of this website for more information about salvation.
Maybe you are already saved but you are not living your life in submission to the will of God. Well, you don’t have to worry about going to Hell because your sins are all forgiven as far as eternity is concerned, and praise God for that. However, you can expect correction from the Lord if you do not yield to what He wants for you (Job 5:17; Proverbs 3:12; Hebrews 12:7 – 11). Believe me, the pain of the correction will outweigh the fun of doing your own thing. God took away just about everything from the people of Judah. What will he have to take away from you to get your attention?
[1] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Ryrie Study Bible: King James Version, Expanded ed. (Chicago: Moody Press, 1994), 1173.
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 1 comment.
I Will Pardon Them Whom I Reserve
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 51 – 52 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 1 – 4; Psalms 131 – 135; Proverbs 28)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 4:7 & 8
Read the “0828 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “Are You Still in Prison”
“18 Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. 19 And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. 20 In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.” (Jeremiah 50:18-20)
Beginning in chapter 47, God is pronouncing judgment through the prophet Jeremiah on all the nations that had been an enemy to God’s people: Philistia (ch. 47), Moab (ch. 48), Ammon, Edom, Damascus, Cedar, Hamon, and Elam (ch. 49). In chapters 50 – 51, the focus of God’s judgment is on Babylon. Again, the judgment described in these chapters seems to surpass the conquering of the Babylonians by the Medes and Persians, which seemed to have happened without much of a fight (see Daniel 5). The description given in these chapters depict the future destruction of Antichrist’s kingdom in Revelation 17 and 18.
Interestingly, chapter 52 goes back in time and discusses the Babylonian siege against Jerusalem, which culminated in 586 BC. It is another historic interlude similar to one we saw in chapter 39. This one reads almost identically to 2 Kings 24:18 – 25:30.
My thought this morning is that though God used Babylon as an instrument of judgment against Israel, which is what the majority of this Book of Jeremiah has been focused on, He will still judge Babylon for what she did to God’s people. God allows and even uses evil people to accomplish His will in the lives of those that belong to Him, but we must not ever make the mistake of confusing God’s chastisement of His own with His ultimate wrath upon those who do not belong to Him.
I remember when I was a boy, my brothers and I used to fight like cats and dogs, but there was never a time when anybody outside of my family could ever attack me without experiencing the wrath of my older brothers. My brothers felt like they could whip up on me all they wanted, but they were not about to let anybody else touch me. That may be a weak illustration but it somewhat pictures God’s dealings with Israel. God would allow a certain measure of punishment to come Israel’s way but He would never allow them to be completely destroyed. However, the nations, like those listed above and in chapters 47 – 51, had no such guarantee. God ultimately destroyed (or will destroy) these nations that had oppressed Israel.
What is the application for us today? If you belong to God, you are in His hands and no-one can pluck you out of God’s hands. Absolutely nothing bad can happen to you unless God for some very good reason wills it to happen. Nothing gets past the desk of God. He sees everything that is happening in your life. I am reminded of what Satan told God in the Book of Job: “10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land” (Job 1:10). How did Satan know that God had hedged Job in on every side? He must have been trying to get in, but God wouldn’t let him. It is the same way with us. Satan can only do what God permits him to do to us, and the same principle applies to all our enemies. Israel had to be chastised for their rebellion against God, but God never forsook them, and He still has a wonderful plan for them. He has a wonderful plan for you as well. Notice Jeremiah 50:20 above. God sees Israel without iniquity and completely pardoned; and if you belong to God, that is how He sees you as well.
Notice what Spurgeon said about v. 20: “Those sins were of no common order. The Israelites were always a stiff-necked and rebellious race. Israel’s sins were of the most heinous character because of the greatness of their privileges and the peculiar and special love the Lord had lavished on them. They were positively unmatched in guilt by any nation under heaven. For all of that, the Israelites cast away their God. They who had worshiped the Lord turned aside from him and bowed down before Baal and went after other gods and worshiped idols. But their provocations, their idolatries, their lusts were all to be swept away and to be forgotten.” (Spurgeon. 2017. The Spurgeon Study Bible: Notes. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers).
We all deserve the judgment and destruction that Babylon received (and will receive in the future), but God in His marvelous grace has pardoned those who have placed their faith in Him. What an awesome God we serve!
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
A Word to the Shepherds
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 49 – 50 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – Romans 13 – 16; Psalms 126 – 130; Proverbs 27)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 4:7 & 8
Read the “0827 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.” – (Jeremiah 50:6)
“Son of man, prophesy against the shepherds of Israel, prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto the shepherds; Woe be to the shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves! should not the shepherds feed the flocks? Ye eat the fat, and ye clothe you with the wool, ye kill them that are fed: but ye feed not the flock. The diseased have ye not strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick, neither have ye bound up that which was broken, neither have ye brought again that which was driven away, neither have ye sought that which was lost; but with force and with cruelty have ye ruled them. … Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against the shepherds; and I will require my flock at their hand, and cause them to cease from feeding the flock; neither shall the shepherds feed themselves any more; for I will deliver my flock from their mouth, that they may not be meat for them.” – (Ezekiel 34:2-4, 10)
“The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.” – (1 Peter 5:1-4)
“I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.” – (John 10:11)
“I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.” – (John 10:14)
In our Bible reading passage today from the Book of Jeremiah, God is sending His warning of judgment to the nation of Babylon because of their treatment of the nation of Israel. The interesting thing about this is that God actually allowed the Babylonians to conquer His people because the Israelites had turned their backs on Him. Notice the statement in Jeremiah 50:6: “My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray”. Notice that God states very clearly here that the reason His people had gone astray was because the shepherds were not doing their jobs. The shepherds of Israel were the spiritual and political leaders who had lead the people of God into apostasy and immorality.
Our nation today is also failing due to the fact that the shepherds are not doing their jobs. Our political leaders are leading people in a godless path, and the spiritual leaders are not much better. There is little that I can do to influence the political direction of our country, but as one of God’s “under-shepherds”, I can do my part to see that the flock that God has entrusted to my care is healthy. But, what is the job of the “under-shepherd” (pastor) of a New Testament church?
1 Provide for the flock – “feed the flock of God which is among you” – It is the job of the pastor to make sure the people of the church are getting the whole counsel of the Word of God. The pastor should be making sure that the people are getting a healthy diet of sound Bible doctrine. Too many churches are limiting the tie that is spent in teaching and preaching, and are replacing it with forms of entertainment. I am not opposed to some of the other things that we do in our church services, but they should not replace the time spent in the Word. The further away our nation gets from God, the more we will need to be strengthened by the Word.
2 Protect the flock – There are a lot of things out there that will hurt God’s people. It is the job of the pastor to warn the people against false teachers who lead them astray doctrinally. We also have the obligation to stand strong and hold the line in the area of morality. The world, the flesh, and the devil are all pushing our churches into immodesty and immorality. It is the pastor’s job to see to it that carnality and worldliness are kept as far away from the church as possible. The pastor should also be the first one to offer help to the hurting and even the straying Christian.
3 Pattern for the flock – This is perhaps the area where we fail the most. Many times we do not practice what we preach. We are to be “enamples” to the flock. It seems that there has been a tsunami lately of moral failure in the pulpits of many of America’s leading churches. This both grieves me, and scares me. It grieves me because it has cause some of “the enemies of God to blaspheme”. In other words it has given strength to the crowd that opposes God. It scares me because I know that some of these men were far better Christians than I. I don’t want to fall. I must do whatever I can to stay humble, because moral destruction cannot come unless there is pride because pride always precedes destruction.
America is failing today. God’s people, for the most part are failing today, and it is all my fault because I am one of those “under-shepherds” that have been entrusted by God to watch out for the flock. Pray for the shepherds.
Posted in Thoughts from Jeremiah by Phil Erickson with 3 comments.
Forgiveness
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 46 – 48 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – Romans 9 – 12; Psalms 120 – 125; Proverbs 26)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 John 3:1
Read the “0826 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Fear thou not, O Jacob my servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.” (Jeremiah 46 – 48)
The Book of Jeremiah is a book of judgment, most of it dealing with the coming captivity for the people of Judah in the land of Babylon. However, these three chapters that we have read today deal with the judgment that God had prepared for three nations: Egypt, the land of the Philistines, and Moab. All three of these nations have had a bad history with God’s people, Israel. For much of Israel’s Bible history these nations have been bitter enemies of the people of God. God would not spare these nations when he judged them, they would not receive the mercy that Judah would receive. Notice in the above verse that God says regarding His people that He would correct them “in measure,” but he would not make a full end. Israel was God’s chosen nation, they were His children, and even though they were at times no better than any other nation, they were in a covenant relationship with God.
Fast forward now to today. Individuals who have received the Lord Jesus Christ and His gift of salvation are also children of God:
“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:” (John 1:12)
I thank God that He loves me unconditionally and that, even though there are times when He needs to correct me and chasten me, He never stops loving me. We know that there is a principle throughout the Bible of reaping and sowing, but I know that God has not caused me to reap in judgment to the same degree what I sowed in disobedience. On the other hand, I have reaped far more blessing than I deserve. God has been very good to me. He loves me, and I am not very lovable most of the time. I am His child. I came in through the door, Jesus Christ, and God will never kick me out of the house. It’s mind boggling but I am not complaining. People who do not know God misunderstand this unconditional love. They claim that it sounds like a license to sin. However, his unconditional love for me has constrained me, and His grace is teaching me to deny ungodliness. When I think about His love, I want to sin less and serve Him more.
I thank God for His loving correction, but even more, I thank God that no matter how bad I get, He never stops loving me!
Posted in Thoughts from Jeremiah by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Seekest Thou Great Things for Thyself?
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 41 – 45 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – Romans 5 – 8; Psalm 119; Proverbs 25)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – *James 4:10*
Read the “0825 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – The Safest Place on Earth
“Thus shalt thou say unto him, The LORD saith thus; Behold, that which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” (Jeremiah 45:4-5)
Baruch was Jeremiah’s assistant. We find him assisting Jeremiah in the purchasing of land in chapter thirty-two, and again in chapter thirty-six we see Baruch performing the role of an amanuensis, recording the words of Jeremiah, which he then read before the king to warn him of the judgment that God had pronounced upon Judah. Baruch was a faithful servant of the Lord and helper to Jeremiah, but in chapter forty-five, Baruch is complaining about the hardships that he is facing in life because of all of the bad stuff that is happening in the kingdom:
“Thou didst say, Woe is me now! for the LORD hath added grief to my sorrow; I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest.” (Jeremiah 45:3)
God tells him through the prophet Jeremiah that a lot of horrible stuff is about to happen to the people of God and a great number of people are going to die, and this is not the time for Baruch to be looking for some great reward or a life of ease. God tells him to just be thankful that he was going to escape the judgment with his life intact. Baruch should have been more concerned about how much his nation had fallen from God and how their sin grieved the Lord. Baruch was looking for an “attaboy” because he was still holding the line and being faithful, but it was not a time for pleasure and rejoicing; it was a time of great calamity for his nation. Baruch was going to get to live and he should be content with that.
Here’s an application that I think can made from this passage. We all have certain expectations about how life could (and maybe should) be. We have this idea that if we do right we can expect to live an easy life, be blessed with a loving family and good friends, have a house with a white picket fence, enjoy good health, and live a long time on the earth. However, as God’s people, our purpose for living here does not surround us and our desires, it surrounds the will of God. We are here on this earth to glorify Him, communicate the gospel to the lost world around us, and to serve other people. God may and will bless us with many good things, and if we are faithful, we will certainly receive many rewards in Heaven. However, we need to learn to be content with whatever God wills and allows for us in this life, and sometimes God permits some “bad” stuff to happen to His children.
The apostle Paul was one of the greatest servants of God in the first century, but he didn’t enjoy here on earth many of the things that the average American Christian expects today. He was beaten often for his faith and put in prison countless times, but he was content with whatever the Lord allowed in His life:
“Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound: every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)
As Christians, we do not live for ourselves, we live for the Lord. We serve Him. Will He take care of us and supply our needs? Yes. Will he even bless us with many good things that we will be able to enjoy while we are here on earth? Yes. But, he may also allow, or even ordain, some hardship that we must endure according to His will, and we must be content with that. Really, we must learn to be content with Him and with whatever He puts into our lives.
“For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” (Philippians 1:21)
“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content. But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.” (1 Timothy 6:6-9)
Posted in Devotions by Phil Erickson with 4 comments.