Turn Back ( Jeremiah 2 )

In Jeremiah 6 v 16  we read ,'Stand at the crossroads and look ; ask for the ancient paths,ask where the good way is, and walk in it'.Jeremiah  lived through dramatic times,awful times,his ministry lasted about 40 years.They were bad times,what was left of the nation, mainly Judah,had learned no lessons from what had happened to to the other ten tribes of Israel,because of their sinful ways.God had to Judge them,removing from the land.It was Jeremiahs task to call them back to God whom they had forsaken. Jeremiah 6 v 16 is a cry for the nation to return the old paths, devotion to  God and to his ways ,a way of holiness,  faithfulness ,to the way of justice, to the way of obedience,to the way of love.We live in times when many of Gods  are turning away from Gods  ways.,and that is very serious,and sadly it is not an exaggeration . We will consider this in relation to our present times, we will do this with the help  of a devotional by the late Selwyn Hughes,and of course with the help of the Holy Spirit.

Building . ( Matthew 7 v 24 - 27 )

We have been considering the importance of  hearing and doing,as regards the word of God, as opposed to hearing and not doing. In James 1 v 22 ,we read,'Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves'. We are often quick to judge the preacher, for their ineffectiveness ,a certain well known preacher,preached a sermon that was full of  elegance,people praised him, his reply was ,'but did it accomplished'?.It could it be that it accomplished little because the people were not really listening. All preachers want their sermons to accomplish  something,consider the prophets they preached wonderful sermons,but the people refused to listen. And as for obeying the word of God ,that's something else,the greatest preacher ever Jesus, stressed the hearing and the doing. William  Hendriksen wrote the following  ,''The sensible man ,who shows by his deeds that he has taken  to heart the words of Christ, and is therefore building upon the Rock ( Christ) will never be put to shame, he quotes from a well known hymn'The soul  that on Jesus has leaned for repose,I will not,I will not desert to his foes; That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never forsake. '( Words by John Rippon )

Hear and Do.. ( Matthew 7 v 13 - 14 )

So what else can we learn from the parable of the two people and the two houses in Matthew 7 v 24 ff ,what was the purpose  of  this parable Jesus told.Kenneth  Bailey,sums it up ,''hear and do '', Jesus had just finished His sermon on the Mount,the sad commentary on the Jewish nation was one of hearing and not doing,they never appeared to really grasp the importance of doing what God  said,and when the trials came they suffered .Disobedience always has a price tag on it, always.How safe Israel would have been, by simply doing what God told them.The safest thing in all the world is obeying God and.the most serious thing for Christians is to  ignore Gods word ,and of course it is even more serious for the non Christian who hears the Gospel and does nothing about it.no matter how prosperous they are as to this life, their doom awaits  in eternity (  Hebrews 9 v 27 )

Face Reality. ( Job 1 - 2 )

Continuing to consider the parable of the two houses in Matthew 7 v 24,we mentioned that both houses experienced a storm. I have already pointed previously why  we have so many wrong things happen in life, because of the fall,when mankind sinned. It was Oswald Chambers who said,'Life is more tragic than orderly',commenting on this Selwyn Hughes said,'Chambers knew that unless we are willing to grapple with this truth and accept it, we will be plagued by inner oughts and shoulds  that  lead us down the road of illusion. We can find ourselves sayings,'It ought not be like this or'Things should be different'- and sadly the only the only thing this kind of demandingness  produces is frustration and anger.......This is reality-  and the sooner we face it, the better. True faith is not  built upon illusion but upon reality'.

Not Yet. ( 2 Corinthians 11 v 2 1 ff )

In the parable of the two builders in Matthew 7 v  24 - 27, we have two  two builders,who built houses, one built on rock, the other on sand, Jesus said that a storm hits both houses,,Kenneth Bailey ,points out that ,'Faith in Jesus does not provide magical protection from the storms of life'.So many Christians are seeking to be free from suffering,,the late  Selwyn  Hughes,wrote the following,''The fall has turned this fair universe of God's into a shambles much about the world is still beautiful,accidents,disasters. And will continue until the time when God brings all things to a conclusion''.Much of the New Testament is full of people who suffered ,why? this a fallen world as Selwyn Hughes  pointed out. We will consider more on this next time.

Be Careful .( 2 Corinthians 6 v 14 )

When I was young we used to sing a little chorus,about a wise man building his house upon a rock, and a foolish man who built his house upon the sand,and how when the rain came the house built on rock stood firm ,but the house on the sand fell down. It ended with the words ,''So build your life on the Lord Jesus Christ''. A little chorus relegated to a children's chorus,I wonder if we children understood what that little chorus meant .The words of that chorus were spoken by our Jesus Christ ,we have it recorded in Matthew 7 v 24 ff, and Luke 6 v 46 - 49.There is a connection to these words in Isaiah 28 v 14 - 18.there Israel had made a covenant with Egypt ,Isaiah called it a covenant with death.As one writer points out,'The Egyptians' entire worldview  centered on death and the worship of the gods that governed death. This covenant was a foundation built on sand ,and would result  in disaster. Isaiah declares that the Lord would lay a foundation a stone a tested stone,and whoever believes ,( in it- L X X )will not be shaken. We will continue this the next time,I will end by saying be careful who you join hands with, and who you put your confidence in.

Mistakes ( Matthew 27 v 3 - 5 )

The fact is this we all make mistakes, I am a  football fan, and  everyone on the football field makes mistakes,but the one who receives the most blame for a making a mistakes is the poor goal keeper.Here is a few saying as regards making mistakes,'He who never made a mistake never made a discovery'. 'Show me a man who has never made a mistake, and I will show you one who has never tried anything'.Mistakes like success are part of life,they come in all shapes and sizes, some are serious,some are not so serious. It is a fascinating subject Some people make the same mistake over and over again,and it is ruining their lives.So if that is you, is it not time you stopped making the same mistakes.That may sound simple but it makes a lot of sense, why not face the way you are,ah you may say,I can't help it,then turn to God and ask Him to help you. Of course the biggest mistake in life is keeping Christ out of ones life,because it has severe consequences,for time and for eternity.