Humble Reminders
(Part 2 of Three)
Repentance is a matter of the heart. Unless the heart is circumcised in humility, confession is mere emptiness. There must be a diametric change of focus—a sincere exchange of our ways for YAH’s ways. Such was not the case for these in Jeremiah 14. They did what most do in our day. They use words of repentance, expect God to remember His covenant, all the while they resist turning from their own way.
There is convicting terminology in the opening statement of our Lord. He says “they LOVE to wander”. This is their heart-set. There is no changing it. Mercy would make a mockery of our Lord’s justice. For these people, and those like them in our day, punishment will be swift and sure when it comes—for all to see just as for these.
Jeremiah records in vv. 11-12 a curious statement from our Lord, one that appears to parallel a divinely inspired statement by John in his first epistle concerning the “sin unto death”. God says through Jeremiah, “Do not pray for this people, for their good. When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I will not accept them. But I will consume them by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence”.
There is a point beyond which any person can go in regards to rejection of God’s ways in favor of their ways. It is what has been termed as “a point of no return”. In his first epistle, John put is this way in 5: 16, “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask, and He will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that”—the same verbiage used in Jeremiah 14: 11.
It is a sin against the Holy Spirit. It is a “heart-set” that willingly presumes our ways against our Lord’s ways—a sin against the work and will of the Holy Spirit that calls evil good and good evil. The future of this person or people is described by the writer of Hebrews in 10: 27. He says “There no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries.”
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