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Jeremiah 34

Zedekiah was to go to Babylon                                     verse 1- 3 

The word which came to Jeremiah from the LORD

            when Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon – and his army

                        and all the kingdoms of the earth of his dominion

                                    and all the people fought against Jerusalem

                        and against all the cities thereof – saying

Thus says the LORD – the God of Israel

            Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah – and tell him

Thus says the LORD

BEHOLD – I will give this city into the hand

of the king of Babylon and he shall burn it with fire

                                    and you shall not escape out of his hand

but shall surely be taken

                                                            and delivered into his hand

                                    and your eyes shall behold the eyes of the

king of Babylon

                                    and he shall speak with you mouth to mouth

                                                and you shall go to Babylon 

Zedekiah to die in Babylon                                           verse 4- 5 

YET hear the word of the LORD

O Zedekiah king of Judah

Thus says the LORD of you

            You shall not die by the sword

            BUT you shall die in peace

                        and with the burnings of your fathers

                                    the former kings which were before you

                                                so shall they burn odors to you

            And they will lament you – saying

                        Ah lord! for I have pronounced the word

says the LORD 

Jeremiah delivered this message to Zedekiah               verse 6- 7 

THEN Jeremiah the prophet spoke all these words to

            Zedekiah king of Judah in Jerusalem

WHEN the king of Babylon’s army fought against Jerusalem

            against all the cities of Judah that were left

                        against Lachish – against Azekah

For these defensed cities remained of the cities of Judah 

False hope given to Hebrew slaves in Jerusalem           verse 8- 11 

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD

after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all

the people which were at Jerusalem

            to proclaim LIBERTY to them

that every man should let his manservant

and every man his maid servant

            being a Hebrew or a Hebrewess –  go free

that none should serve himself of them

to wit – of a Jew his brother

Now when all the princes – and all the people

which had entered into the covenant

heard that everyone should let his manservant

            and every his maidservant – go free

that none should serve themselves of them any more

            THEN they OBEYED and let them go

BUT afterward they turned

and caused the servants and the handmaids

whom they had let go free – to return

            and brought them into subjection

for servants and for handmaids 

Jeremiah delivers message regarding covenant            verse 12- 16 

THEREFORE the word of the LORD came

to Jeremiah from the LORD

saying

Thus says the LORD

the God of Israel

I made a covenant with your fathers in the day that

I brought them forth out of the land of Egypt 

Out of the house of bondmen

saying

At the end of SEVEN years let ye go every man

his brother a Hebrew which hath been sold to you

And when he hath served you SIX years

            you shall let him go free from you

                        BUT your fathers hearkened not unto ME

                                    neither inclined their ear

And you were now turned – and had done right in MY sight

            in proclaiming LIBERTY every man to his neighbor

And you had made a covenant before ME in the house

which is called by MY name

BUT you turned and polluted MY name

and caused every man his servant

and every man his handmaid

                        whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure

                                    TO RETURN

            and brought them into subjection to be unto you

for servants and for handmaids 

LORD judges for broken covenant                              verse 17- 20 

THEREFORE thus

says the LORD

You have not hearkened to ME – in proclaiming LIBERTY

every man to his brother every man to his neighbor

BEHOLD – I proclaim LIBERTY for you – says the LORD

            to the sword – to the pestilence – to the famine

And I will make you to be removed into all the

            kingdoms of the earth

And I will give the men that have transgressed MY covenant

            which have not performed the words of the covenant

                        which they had made before ME

                                    when they cut the calf in twain

                                                and passed between the parts thereof

The princes of Judah – and the princes of Jerusalem – the eunuchs

            and the priest  – and all the people of the land

                        which passed between the parts of the calf   

I will even give them into the hand of their enemies

            and into the hand of them that seek their life

                        and their dead bodies shall be for meat unto the

fowls of the heaven and unto the beasts of the earth 

Total destruction promised by the LORD                    verse 21- 22

And Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes will I give into the

hand of their enemies and into the hand of them

that seek their life

            and into the hand of the king of Babylon’s army

                        which are gone up from you

BEHOLD I will command – says the LORD

            and cause them to return to this city

and they shall fight against it

and take it and burn it with fire

            and I will make the cities of Judah

a desolation without an inhabitant

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COMMENTARY: 

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers 

: 2        “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘Go and speak to Zedekiah king of Judah and tell him, “Thus says                           the LORD: ‘Behold, I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with                                 fire. The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982).

DEVOTION: I remember when I was a freshman student at Moody Bible Institute I was selected to speak to the student body concerning a mission’s trip we had taken during Spring break. I can remember stepping out onto the stage and being struck by the magnitude of the auditorium.  As I approached the podium I began to sweat. This was the biggest event of my Christian life. I will probably always remember that day and yet it pales in comparison to being in the presence of the Almighty God. When He commands us to go and to speak, we need to be very attentive and prompt to do His wishes. Jeremiah had become accustomed to speaking before the king of Israel, he had also spoken before the priests and officials on numerous occasions. Yet, when the Lord spoke it took on a new urgency. “Go and speak” that is the command! When He says the same to us are we obedient and prepared to go no matter who it is that He leads us to speak to? So often we can say “Here am I, send me!” but then never respond when He asks us to move out. It is one thing to say we are ready it is another to actually do it!  Jeremiah stepped up and out for the Lord!

CHALLENGE: The old saying is words are cheap, action is costly is appropriate here! Let’s not talk but act when the Lord calls us to go and speak today. (Dr. Brian Miller – board member) 

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers 

: 8        This is the word that came unto Jeremiah from the LORD, after that the king Zedekiah had made a covenant with all the people which were at Jerusalem, to proclaim liberty unto them. (1865 “liberty” [darowr] means release, run free, emancipation, release of prisoners, or freedom.)

DEVOTION:  The city of Jerusalem was under siege by the king of Babylon. Zedekiah was king. Jeremiah brought him a message from the LORD regarding his status in the future.

Zedekiah was going to be taken captive by the king of Babylon. He was going to live in Babylon and die in peace. His future was assured by the LORD.

He proclaimed that all those who had Hebrew slaves were to set them free. The command of the LORD was that after six years the slaves were to be given their freedom. In the past, the children of Israel had not kept the covenant God had established in the wilderness. They were being disobedient.

Now with the threat of conquest, Zedekiah told everyone who owned Hebrew slaves to set them free but after they realized what they had done they took them back. They gave the slaves false hope.

God sent Jeremiah to the king and proclaimed that HE was going to judge them for their actions. They were obedient for a short time but then they didn’t care about the LORD’S command. HE gave a command that the slave owners were not to live.

We are to live under the law of liberty according to the New Testament. There is in our human nature to go to extremes. We can either be too strict or too liberal. There is a balance that we need to work for in our lives.

The nation of Israel was not being obedient and so they were too liberal in their actions. God had to judge them for these actions.

Why? The children of Israel were to care for their own. If they were not obedient regarding their fellow Hebrew citizens, what were they doing to others?

CHALLENGE: The LORD wants obedience. HE doesn’t give false hope, so HE doesn’t want others to give false hope, especially those who claim to be followers of HIM.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers 

: 9        That every man should let his manservant, and every man his maidservant being an Hebrew or an Hebrewess, go free; that none should serve himself of them, to wit, of a Jew his brother. (2670 “free” [chophshiy] means liberty, no longer or not under the ownership, authority, or in the servitude of another, or to make him a freed man)

DEVOTION: The children of Israel were given instructions regarding their relationship to each other. They were not to keep their fellow Hebrews in slavery for long periods of time but they were to set them free.

The LORD made a distinction between those who were Jews and those who are not Jews regarding the length of their time of serving as slaves to fellow Jews. This was a rule that they were to follow, so that, they could set their fellow Hebrew or Jew free.

However, this was a law of the LORD but it was not followed by the Jews because they wanted to keep those who were servants, slaves all of their lives. This was a sin in the eyes of the LORD and HE had to judge them for their mistreatment of their fellow Jews.

There was to be forgiveness of debt after a certain time period.

Obedience to the LORD was something they didn’t think was important and because of this attitude the LORD sent them into slavery in Babylon.

God wants us to be obedient to HIS commands even today or their can come judgment even while we are still alive, as well as, when we die and go into eternity. Judgment doesn’t have to wait for death.

Our responsibility is to be obedient NOW, so that, we can be given the blessings of the LORD now and into eternity.

CHALLENGE: As a believer are you and I being obedient in our relationship to fellow believers today? Are we treating them as we would like to be treated? Remember the LORD judged Israel for their mistreatment of fellow Israelites. HE can do the same now to us.

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: 16      But ye turned and polluted my name, and caused every man his servant, and every man his handmaid, whom he had set at liberty at their pleasure, to return, and brought them into subjection, to be unto you for servants and for handmaids. (2490 “polluted” [chalal] means to wound, to dissolve, to profane, to break ones’ word, prostitute, or stain. 

DEVOTION:  This chapter is about partial obedience. The LORD gave Jeremiah instructions regarding setting the Jewish slaves free. These instructions were part of the law the LORD gave in the wilderness before they entered the Promised Land.

However once they had entered the Promised Land their fathers had disobeyed the LORD and not set the Jewish slaves free after they had served them six years. On the seventh year they were to be released.

This had not been happening in Judah and Jerusalem. The LORD commended them to obey this ancient law HE had given them. They renewed their covenant to the LORD to let the Hebrew servants go free. They let them go free but then turned around and put them into subjection again. This displeased the LORD.

When the LORD is displeased, HE has to pass judgment. In this judgment those who had rescinded their actions were to be cursed with dead. Their dead bodies were going to be food for the fowl of the heavens and to the beasts of the earth.

The New Testament gives special instructions to those who are employers concerning those they employ. The LORD gives us special instructions regarding our relationship with other Christians. If we mistreat those who are employees under us – will the LORD be pleased? If we mistreat those who are working for us in the local church – will the LORD be pleased? Remember that those who are believers under us are under the protection of the LORD. We will not be blessed if we mistreat the people of God who are in our service. Remember that God wants us to help all those who are in serve for one reason or another.

Let us not profane the name of the LORD by our actions toward those who need our help. Let us obey the LORD’S commands regarding our treatment of those around us.

CHALLENGE: It is a stain on the LORD if we mistreat others. We are HIS representatives to the world.

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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group) 

House of the LORD                                                  verse 15 

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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible) 

Word of the LORD                                                   verse 4, 5, 12 

God the Father (First person of the Godhead) 

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal)     verse 1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 12, 13, 17, 22

                      God – Elohim (Creator, Sovereign, Plural name)   verse 2, 13

                      God of Israel                                                           verse 2, 13

                      LORD says through Jeremiah to Zedekiah             verse 2

                                    Behold I will give Jerusalem into the

                                                hand of the king of Babylon and

                                                he shall burn it with fire

                        Word of the LORD                                                verse 4, 8

                        LORD, God of Israel                                              verse 13- 22

                                    I made a covenant with your fathers in

                                                the day that I brought them out

                                                of the land of Egypt- out of the

                                                house of bondmen

                                    At the end of seven years let you go every man

his brother an Hebrew- but your fathers

hearkened not

                                    I proclaim a liberty for you, says the LORD

                                                everyone to his brother, neighbor

                                    I will make you to be removed into all

the kingdoms of the earth

                                    I will give the men that have transgressed

MY covenant -which have not performed

The words of the covenant which they

  had made before ME when they

cut the calf in twain, and passed

between the parts thereof

                                    I will even give them into the hand of their

enemies and into the hand of them

that seek their life and their dead bodies

shall be for meat to the fowls of the heaven,

to the beasts of the earth

                                    I will give Zedekiah king of Judah and his princes

                                                into the hand of their enemies                                  

              God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)    

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation) 

Nebuchadnezzar – king of Babylon                       verse 1- 3, 7, 21

            they will fight against Jerusalem and burn it           

His army                                                                  verse 1

Kingdoms of the earth                                           verse 1

Fought again Jerusalem and cities of Judah         verse 1, 7

Land of Egypt                                                         verse 13

All the kingdoms of the earth                               verse 17

Enemies                                                                  verse 20, 21 

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels) 

False hope                                                              verse 8- 11

Broke the covenant                                               verse 11, 16

Disobedience to the LORD                                    verse 14

Not listening to the LORD                                     verse 14, 17

Polluted God’s name                                             verse 16

Transgressed God’s covenant                                verse 18 

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins) 

Liberty                                                                    verse 8, 15- 17

Covenant                                                                verse 8, 10, 13, 15, 18

                        Obeyed                                                                verse 10

                        Do right in God’s sight                                        verse 15 

Israel (Old Testament people of God) 

Jeremiah – prophet                                                verse 1, 6, 8, 12

            Sent to speak to Zedekiah

Jerusalem                                                               verse 1, 7, 8, 19

All the cities of Judah                                            verse 1

Israel                                                                      verse 2

Zedekiah – king of Judah                                      verse 2- 6, 8, 9, 21

            Not escape from Babylon

            He shall go to Babylon

            Needed to hear word of the LORD

                        “You shall not die by the sword”

            Made a covenant with people at Jerusalem

                        let manservant and maidservant

                                    that are Hebrew go free

Judah                                                                     verse 2, 6, 7, 19, 21, 22

                        Cities of Judah: Lachish and Azekah                  verse 7

Hebrew or Hebrewess                                          verse 9, 14

Jew                                                                        verse 9

Entered into a covenant                                        verse 10

            princes and people

Manservant and maidservant – go free               verse 10

            obeyed           

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events)

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QUOTES regarding passage

34:17–20 In one of the most stinging rebukes of the people found in the book, the Lord announced the fate of the rebellious people. They had not given freedom to the slaves, so, by use of irony, God was now going to give them freedom. It was not a freedom they would desire but freedom to fall by the sword, plague, and famine (a frequently repeated triad in Jeremiah, e.g., 21:7). The severity of his punishment would be interpreted by other nations as the deity’s wrath on his own people and would make Judah abhorrent to them (see 15:1–4).

The punishment of those who violated their covenant would be more severe than a slap on the wrist. God announced that he would treat them like a calf they cut in two by making them walk between its pieces. The threat is based on the practice described in Gen 15:9–17 (cf. Judg 19:29; 1 Sam 11:7, where the cutting of the animal in pieces served a different purpose). In the ANE various ceremonies were used to seal a covenant once an agreement had been reached. It could be a shared meal between the covenanting parties, each one licking a piece of salt (Num 18:19), giving an article of clothing to the other (1 Sam 18:1–4), sprinkling blood (Exod 24:6, 8), or walking between the cut up pieces of an animal. The latter practice symbolized that each of the contracting parties was pronouncing a curse on himself that he would be cut up in pieces if he violated his part of the covenant.

All the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem and “court officials” would be handed over to their enemies. They would not be given honorable burial, an omission that was considered a horrible fate by the Hebrews (cf. 7:33). Their unburied corpses would become food for birds and wild animals.

Whatever other lessons and warnings may be gleaned from God’s angry announcement of punishment, it reminds us that he takes covenants seriously. He does not require that we make them. It is better not to enter a covenant than to enter it and not keep it (cf. Num 30:2; Deut 23:21–23; Josh 9:15–18; Eccl 5:4–5; Matt 21:28–32). (Huey, F. B. (1993). Jeremiah, Lamentations (Vol. 16, pp. 310–311). Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers.)

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17–22 In v.17 there is pungent play on the Hebrew word derôr (“liberty” or “release”). NIV puts it most effectively: “freedom.” Since they had not actually given the slaves freedom, God ironically declares that the people themselves would be freed—freed from his protecting hand. The guilty would be freed for doom and destruction. Because they had enslaved their brothers and sisters, they were to be subjected to their enemies. The ancient method of making a covenant is indicated in v.18 (cf. Gen 15:9–17). As in the Assyrian inscriptions, the intention was that, as they passed through the pieces of the divided sacrifice, they invoked on themselves a curse that, if they broke the covenant, they would be cut in pieces like the sacrificial calf (so Driver et al.). The Hebrew way of referring to making a covenant by saying “cut a covenant” obviously goes back to Genesis 15:9–17. Notice how large a number of the people (v.19) had contracted to release slaves. The heinousness of their sin is underlined by the punishment decreed for them (v.20). The Babylonians had only temporarily lifted the siege to meet Pharaoh Hophra (v.21, cf. 37:5, 7–10). The Lord assured Zedekiah and the people that the destruction would finally be consummated (v.22), and the Babylonians did return and destroy the city. (Feinberg, C. L. (1986). Jeremiah. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel (Vol. 6, p. 598). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)

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34:17–20. God’s punishment matched their sin. By revoking their covenant the people had not proclaimed freedom for those Israelites who were wrongfully enslaved. Therefore ironically God would give them freedom to die by the sword, plague, and famine (cf. comments on 14:12).

In making their covenant in the temple (cf. l) the people had slaughtered a calf … cut it in two, and walked between its pieces to signify their commitment to the bargain. By walking through the parts of the animal they were symbolizing the judgment that should befall them if they violated the agreement. They were to be hacked to pieces like the calf. Significantly when God made His covenant with Abraham, the patriarch did not pass between the parts of the animal. Only God did; apparently the blazing torch symbolized Him (Gen. 15:4–18, esp. v. 17). The Abrahamic Covenant rested on God’s character, not on man’s obedience.

God promised to treat those who broke the covenant like the calf they had slaughtered. All who made the agreement would be handed over to their enemies. Like the parts of the calf, their dead bodies would lie on the ground as food for both birds and beasts (cf. Jer. 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7). (Dyer, C. H. (1985). Jeremiah. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 1178). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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Jeremiah took advantage of this event to preach a sermon about Judah’s treachery against the Lord (34:12–22). God had set the Israelites free from Egyptian bondage and had made a covenant with them to be their God, but they broke the covenant and returned to idolatry. Now they broke the Law by enslaving their own people unjustly. By what they did in the temple and the way they treated their fellow Jews, they profaned the name of the Lord. They hadn’t really proclaimed freedom to their slaves, but God would proclaim “freedom” to the nation—“ ‘freedom’ to fall by the sword, plague, and famine” (v. 17, NIV). The prophet predicted a terrible death for all the treacherous people who had participated in the covenant, and his predictions came true (vv. 19–20). (Wiersbe, W. W. (1996). Be Decisive (pp. 141–142). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)

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In the most solemn manner had Judah’s princes and people sealed the covenant which their cupidity caused them so readily to violate. They had “cut the calf in twain and passed between the parts thereof” (ver. 18). From of old this seems to have been a customary form for the contracting parties to a solemn covenant. A sacrifice was offered, and the pieces or parts thereof arranged in order on the altar; then the persons pledging themselves passed between the pieces. We see God pledging Himself thus in Abraham’s day. The patriarch was instructed to take “a heifer of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle-dove and a young pigeon” (Gen. 15:9). All these were typical of the one true sacrifice—the Lord Jesus Christ—each representing Him in some special aspect. The young ox speaks of Him as the patient Servant, providing food for others. The goat is, in Matt. 25, used to picture the sinner, and points, therefore, to Him whom God made sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. The ram is the consecration offering, and tells of His submissive obedience unto death. The turtle-dove, as others have suggested, is the bird of love and sorrow; and never was either love or sorrow so great as His. The pigeon, of course, is similar; and both being from the heavens, they pointed to the One who came from heaven to die on earth for our redemption. (Ironside, H. A. (1906). Notes on the prophecy and Lamentations of Jeremiah (pp. 179–180). Neptune, NJ: Loizeaux Brothers.)

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Ver. 17. Therefore thus saith the Lord, &c.] This being the case, and this their crime, which was provoking to the Lord; ye have not hearkened unto me in proclaiming liberty every one to his brother, and every one to his neighbour; for though they did proclaim liberty, they did not act according to it; they did not give the liberty they proclaimed, at least they did not continue so to do; as soon almost as they had granted the favour, they took it away again; and because they did not persevere in well doing, it is reckoned by the Lord as not done at all: behold, I proclaim liberty for you, saith the Lord; or rather against them; he dismissed them from his service, care, and protection, and consigned them to other lords and masters: he gave them up to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; to rule over them; and gave them liberty to make havoc of them, and destroy them, that what was left by the one might be seized on by the other: and I will make you to be removed into all the kingdoms of the earth; or, for a commotion; to be moved, and wander from place to place in great fear and terror, not knowing where to settle or live comfortably. This was a liberty to go about in foreign countries where they could, for relief and shelter, being banished from their own land; but this was a liberty very miserable and uncomfortable; and indeed no other than captivity and bondage; and so it is threatened that what remained of them, who were not destroyed with the sword of the Chaldeans, or perished not by pestilence and famine, should be carried captive, and be miserable vagabonds in several kingdoms and nations of the world. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 5, p. 600). London: Mathews and Leigh.)

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FROM MY READING: 

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)

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Matthew 26

Jesus is betrayed and arrested.

INSIGHT

Peter is living and reassuring proof that “grace is greater than all our sin.” We struggle, at one time or another, with things in our lives that ought to be corrected but aren’t. We fear that our lives bring a stench to God’s nostrils because we have failed Him so often. But Peter began to curse and swear and deny that he ever knew Jesus. What a colossal sin! Yet, just a few days later (in John 21), Peter is eating with the Lord in perfect fellowship and harmony. For the Christian, there is no sin so great that God will not forgive. (Quiet Walk)

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Filthy Dreamers

“Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.” (Jude 1:8)
The King James translators supplied the term “filthy” for the dreamers that Jude denounces because of the “likewise” that introduces their condemnation. The prior verses had condemned certain angels and the populations of Sodom and Gomorrha because of their perversion of God’s sexual design.
These dreamers not only “stain” the flesh but have become so arrogant that they give “no standing” to any authority and “blaspheme” those who have any “glory.” Not even Michael the archangel had that kind of attitude; Jude notes in the next verse that Michael didn’t rebuke Lucifer when he was carrying out God’s mission for Moses’ body. Some people are way out of line!
Jude’s whole message is focused on those who are attempting to resist, undo, damage, distort, or otherwise disrupt the work of God’s people. In the context, these dreamers are not merely inattentive fools who wander in and out of churches seeking some personal “fulfillment,” they are enemies within—those who may have positions of influence and who are actively seeking to hurt the ministry and mission of God’s Kingdom.
Peter calls them “presumptuous” and “selfwilled,” no better than “natural brute beasts” who mouth off about “things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption” (2 Peter 2:10-12). Strong words, but a fitting description of those who would dare to set themselves against the omnipotent and omniscient Creator. As David so aptly says: “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God” (Psalm 14:1).
Dialogue with these dreamers is futile. The solution is: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Timothy 4:2). (HMM III, The Institute for Creation Research)

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THE OFFENSE OF THE CROSS

But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. 1 Corinthians 1:23

The test of whether someone is teaching the cross rightly or wrongly is whether it is an offense to the natural man or not. If my preaching of this cross is not an offense to the natural man, I am misrepresenting it. If it is something that makes him say “how beautiful,” “how wonderful,” “what a tragedy,” “what a shame,” I have not been preaching the cross truly. The preaching of the cross is an offense to the natural man. So it becomes the test of any man’s preaching.

Or let me put it in terms of the congregation. If this element of offense in the cross has never appeared to you, or if you have never felt it, then I say that you likewise have never known the truth about the cross of Christ. If you have never reacted against it and felt that it is an offense for you, I say you have never known it. It is always an offense to the natural man. Invariably, there is no exception. So if you have never felt it, you have never seen it because you are a natural man. Nobody is born a Christian into this world. We have to be born again to become Christians, and as long as we are natural men and women, the cross is an offense.

So if we have never known this element of offense, either we have not seen it or we have had some misrepresentation of it. The cross is an offense to the mind of the natural man. It cuts across all his preconceived notions and ideas. It was a stumbling block to the Jews for this reason. They were expecting a Messiah to destroy the Roman conquerors. So when they found the One who claimed to be the Messiah dying in apparent weakness upon the cross, they were deeply wounded and offended.

A Thought to Ponder:  As long as we are natural men and women, the cross is an offense. (From The Cross, pp. 45-46, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)

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Seeing Parents as People 

Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it. PROVERBS 16:22 

Not everyone has fond memories of their relationship with their parents. Perhaps even now, the relationship you share with your parents is strained and distant. You may even find yourself avoiding them, weary of being hurt by the things they say or do . . . or don’t do. 

But one of the great opportunities of being an adult is to step back and look at your parents in a fresh way—as real people, with needs and challenges. By looking at your parents more objectively—by seeing them through the eyes of Christ— you may be able to understand them and your relationship with them. And you may also experience what happens when His grace transforms the hard edges of a strained relationship into something that bears His redemptive fingerprints. Consider taking a fresh, careful look at your parents today. What do you see? Do you see people who experience worry, insecurity, fear, disappointment and anger—just like you? People who’ve made wrong and unwise choices in life— just like you? People who struggle—just like you? I remember how, when my parents were alive, I had to grow out of my childish self-centeredness and my desire for them to meet my needs. As I began to understand what their needs were, I was prompted to move toward them and want to help meet those needs.

Most adult children do not know their parents as well as they think they do. By seeking to understand them, you also honor them in obedience to God’s clear command (see Exodus20:12). You can tell when it’s happening, too, because even though their behavior toward you may not change, you find that you don’t react to them like before. You find it easier to extend grace and patience. You don’t always agree with them, but at least you understand them. (Moments with YOU by Dennis and Barbara Rainey)

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