How‟s your walk with God?
You say, “What do you mean?”
I mean this, has it gotten any better?
Have you gotten any closer?
Do you find a real change in your life, a real transformation?
Do people look at you and say, “Hey, you are not what you used to be.”
If that‟s not happening, I want to ask you another question, have you possibly veered from the way that you‟re supposed to walk? Have you, in a sense, felt like this is too much bondage, and you tear it off, and you put it off, and you don‟t want that? We‟ll talk about that today as we look at God‟s precepts for life.
Remember our theme for this week is: “O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth…?” (Jeremiah 5:3) And as we have seen when he talks about truth, he‟s not just talking about the statement of truth, the fact of truth; he‟s talking about truth that permeates our being that comes from the inside out.
He‟s talking about a faithfulness.
He‟s talking about fidelity to who God is, to what truth is.
It means that you are an expression of truth. Well, as we look at Jeremiah chapter 5, what we see is God‟s looking for truth and He cannot find truth. And He can‟t find truth because [they have broken their bonds, they have burst forth from the yoke.] (PARAPHRASE, Jeremiah 5:5) They do not want God ruling over them. Or they, they want to know about Him. They want to say, “Hey, the Lord lives.” But they are speaking falsely because they‟re not living as the Lord lives. And this is what we want to talk about today. Let me read it to you. It says, “„…Although they say, “As the LORD lives”…,‟” and this is verse 2, “„…surely they swear falsely.‟ O LORD, do not Your eyes look for truth…?” (Jeremiah 5:2-3)
Yes, You‟re looking for truth. And so he goes to the poor, and he says, [“Oh well, the reason they don‟t know is because they‟re poor.] (PARAPHRASE, Jeremiah 5:4) And then he says, “[„I‟ll] go to the great and [I‟ll] speak to them….”
And it says, “„[Surely] …they know the….ordinance of [the Lord]….‟” But verse 5, the last two lines says this, “[And] …they too, with one accord, have broken the yoke and burst the bonds. Therefore a lion from the forest will slay them, a wolf [from] the deserts will destroy them, a leopard is watching their cities. Everyone who [gets] out of them [out of the city] will be torn [to] pieces….” It says, “…because their transgressions are many, [and] their apostasies are numerous.” (Jeremiah 5:5-6)
Now do you know what apostasy means? Apostasy means that you once held to something. You once said it was truth, and you lived accordingly. But now you‟re saying, “Well, maybe it‟s not true. Maybe that‟s not the way it should be.” And so what you once held as a belief, you now turn from. And that‟s why he‟s talking about breaking the yoke and bursting the bonds. I said it crooked before. But this is what he‟s talking about here.
All right, now he says, “Because you‟re doing this; therefore, the animals are getting you.” Now they debate, are these animals, pictures of the kingdoms that are coming against them? Well, you know, I kind of think from Ezekiel, who is a contemporary prophet, that this could be literal, literal attacks by the animals.
And let me show you why. In Ezekiel chapter 14, in verse 13 it says, “„Son of man, if a country sins against Me by committing…,‟” now watch, “„…unfaithfulness…,‟” they‟re not faithful, “„…and I stretch out My hand against it, destroy its supply of bread, send famine against it and cut off from it both man and beast…,‟” then he says, “„…even though these three men, Noah, Daniel and Job were in [it]....‟” (Ezekiel 14:13-14)
They could not deliver anybody else only themselves. So then He goes and He talks about what‟s going to happen in His judgments that He is going to send on the land. And when you look at His judgments, one of His judgments is verse 15, “„If I were to cause wild beasts to pass through the land and they depopulated it….‟” (Ezekiel 14:15)
In other words, the beasts would come in and devour the people. When does this happen? It usually happens in famine. So when I look at this, I think, OK, I think personally that He‟s judging them with these aggressive, aggressive animals. Why? That‟s the question. Well, it says, “…because….” look at verse 6, “…[because] their transgressions are many, [and] their apostasies are numerous.” (Jeremiah 5:6)
I want to share with you something that was published on the internet on “WorldNet Daily.” It came out January the 17th in the year 2009. And these were the stats for this time. And what he‟s sharing is a report from George Barna, who was a pollster. And listen to what he says because this describes us. Our transgressions are many. Our apostasies are numerous.
He says, “Half of Americans who call themselves „Christian‟ don‟t believe that Satan exists and fully one-third are confident that [when] Jesus [was here on the earth] He sinned.” Now these are people that call themselves Christians. Now, in this article that “WorldNet Daily” presents to us, he tells Barna‟s qualifications for “born-again.”
They “were defined as people who said they had made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that was still important in their life today.” They “also indicated that [when] they believed that when they die they would go to heaven because they had confessed their sins, and had accepted Christ as their Savior.” So that is Barna‟s definition for born-again.
Now if George and I sat down, and we had the opportunity to talk, I would ask him, what if he put one more qualification in there to describe whether they truly were born-again?
And that qualification that I would put in there is that there has been a change in their life. A change that has lasted, not a temporary change, and then all of a sudden they are back to their old way of life. Because you see the Bible teaches that if you are truly born-again, if you‟re truly a child of God, then what‟s going to happen is you‟re going to become a new creature, a new creation in Christ Jesus. [Old things are going to pass away. All things are going to become new.] (PARAPHRASE, 2 Corinthians 5:17) That‟s 2 Corinthians chapter 5, verse 17.
The whole book of 1 John, shows you the difference between true Christianity and false Christianity.
And he‟s saying, “If you‟re saying that you are a follower of Jesus Christ and you are not walking the way Jesus walked, hey, you didn‟t get it! You didn‟t get saved. You‟re not truly born-again. You‟re not truly a child of God. So I would add that. But according to his definition, Barna‟s definition, a third of them say that Jesus sinned when He was here on earth.
That means they do not understand sin, the wages of sin. They don‟t understand the incarnation of Jesus Christ. (See Colossians 2:9) They don‟t understand that He was born of a virgin. (See Matthew 1:23)
He was born without sin.
They don‟t understand the primary doctrines of the Christian faith. It goes on to say that “Another 40 percent [of these people] say [that] they do not have a responsibility to share their Christian faith with others, and 25 percent „dismiss the…Bible [as being] accurate in all of the principles that it teaches.‟”
This is what they‟re saying, a quarter of all these that identified themselves as born-again, that is 25 percent of those people are saying, “Hey, hey, it is not true. It‟s not accurate.” So if it‟s not accurate then where do we go? Are we left to our own reasoning? Are we left to our own education? Are we left to our own experience? Are we left to the teaching of others who are mere men like we are?
No, the Bible is accurate. Now just stop and think about this. These are apostasies that are numerous. These are transgressions that are many because it is a sin not to believe in Jesus Christ. This is the sin that takes people to hell.
And you see that as Jesus teaches that in John chapter 6. Now he goes on to say this, “„Growing numbers of people now serve as their own theologians-in-residence. One consequence is that Americans are embracing an unpredictable and contradictory body of beliefs.”
Because they‟re their own theologian-in-residence, because, you‟re not going to tell me what to believe.
The purpose of this program is for you to discover truth for yourself so that you have a plumb line by which you measure everything that you hear.
Our motto is that we want to help you discover truth, to go deeper and then to disciple others. But what do we want you to discover for yourself? What do we want you to go deeper in? It‟s the Word of God. Why? Because it is the Word of God from cover to cover, it‟s 66 books.
God expects you to know 66 books.
That‟s why He gave them to you, but these have become their own theologians. “The results are a dramatic departure from the nation‟s foundings, when leaders held prayer meetings in the halls of congress and attributed to Almighty God the victory in the Revolutionary War.” We are in trouble. 50 percent of Americans believe that Christianity has no longer a lock on people‟s hearts. If you‟ve departed from the Lord, if you aren‟t what you used to be, and you‟re going down hill have you locked your heart against God? We‟ll talk about it more in just a minute. You don‟t want to miss it.
Welcome back. When I left you remember I was telling you that according to Barna‟s study, 50 percent believe that Christianity no longer has a lock on their hearts.
Do you realize what that‟s saying?
That means half of all of those that declare themselves to be born-again, that believe that Jesus Christ is relevant in their lives today, and that they are going to heaven, half of them say, “Christianity does not have a lock on my heart.” Christianity is to have a lock on your heart because true Christianity is obeying God, believing God. It is faithfulness to God. So have there been changes in your life? This is what I asked you when we opened this program.
Are they seeing more and more and more that you‟re becoming like Jesus, that more, and more, and more you‟re in love with God, that more, and more, and more you‟re walking in the spirit etc.? And having a fruitful life and serving God and sharing the gospel? If that‟s not happening then Christianity no longer has a lock on your heart.
Listen to what he said, “Two-thirds of evangelical Christians (64 percent) and three out of every five Hispanics (60 percent) embracde that position, making them the groups more convinced of the shift in America‟s default faith.” Default faith. That means that we are just like what we read in Jeremiah chapter 5. “…Everyone [that] goes out of [the city] will be torn [to] pieces….”
They will be devoured by the judgment of God. Why? “…Because their transgressions are many, [and] their apostasies are numerous.” Have you turned from what you once held dear? Have you turned from that absolute consecration to God? He says, “„Why should I pardon you [why should I pardon you]…?‟” (Jeremiah 5:6-7)
Listen to what He says, “„…Your sons have forsaken Me and sworn by those who are not gods when I…,‟” God, “„…[had] fed them to the full….‟” What did they do? “„…They committed adultery….‟” Now He‟s not talking about spiritual adultery; He‟s talking about physical adultery. He says, “„…[They] trooped [they trooped and they got] to the harlot‟s house.‟” (Jeremiah 5:6-7) They sat down in the harlot‟s house. Now how did they get here? They turned away from God. They went after other gods. And then they trooped to the harlot‟s house where they are going to commit adultery.
So He says, “„They were well-fed lusty horses, each one neighing after his neighbor‟s wife.‟” Now doesn‟t that sound like America today? I mean, doesn‟t that sound like us today fornicating all over the place? “„Shall I not punish these people,‟ declares the LORD „…on a nation such as this shall I not avenge Myself?‟” (Jeremiah 5:8-9)
“I‟ve got to judge. I‟ve got to judge because of their apostasy, because of their sin, because of their transgression. I have to judge them. I can‟t, I can‟t tolerate them. My justice demands it. My character commands it, My righteousness, My holiness commands it. I‟ve got to do it.” I want you to see exactly what‟s happening here because I want you to understand what happens to you when you have a knowledge of God, and you turn away from that knowledge of God.
Now I believe that what I‟m going to show you is that these people never were saved. But I believe even in this, if you‟ll go to Romans chapter 1, that even in this that what you‟re going to see is the danger of turning away from God. In Romans chapter 1 it‟s talking about the gospel and its power to save us. It‟s power; I want you to understand that. And it says, “For in it [in the gospel] the righteousness of God is revealed…,” now listen carefully, “…from faith to faith; as it is written…,” And then he‟s quoting what I shared with you in the last program.
It‟s written that, “„…THE RIGHTEOUS…SHALL LIVE BY FAITH .‟” Let me read it again. “For in it [in the gospel,] the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, „BUT THE RIGHTEOUSE…SHALL LIVE BY FAITH.‟” (Romans 1:17)
Well, He‟s just quoted Habakkuk 2:4 that we looked at. “E-m-u-n-a” He‟s talking about faithfulness. “…„BUT THE RIGHTEOUS [one] SHALL LIVE BY [his faithfulness].‟” (Romans 1:17) And this is what God is calling us to. This is the eyes of the Lord seeking truth. (See Jeremiah 5:3)
As you know, that word for truth means “faith.” You say, “I don‟t know. I missed that.” You missed the last program. You want to go online to “preceptsforlife.com.” You want to download our study guide. This is vital, crucial. A life and death kind of teaching. You‟ve got to know where you are. You‟ve got to know if you‟re inviting the blessing of God or the judgment of God, and I‟m not talking about God making you prosperous, I‟m not talking about prosperity teaching. I‟m talking about the genuine blessing of God in your life.
And so as you look at this, he‟s saying, “… „THE RIGHTEOUS…SHALL LIVE BY [his] FAITH.‟” His faithfulness this is what God‟s looking for. It says, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…,” now watch, “…who suppress the truth [and] unrighteousness.” (Romans 1:17-18)
What are they doing? They are holding down the truth. The truth of what God intends for men. The truth about who God is. The truth about the way God changes a life. Do you know how they are suppressing the truth of God? It‟s in their unrighteousness. It‟s because they are not living the way that God says live. Is it no wonder that Jeremiah quotes and tells us, “O LORD, do not Your eyes search for truth [for faithfulness]…?” (Jeremiah 5:3)
So what you see in Romans chapter 1, and just these verses, and we‟re going to continue this in our next lesson because it is absolutely vital that you understand this, but what you see is there is the righteousness of God that leads to salvation. There is an unrighteousness, an ungodliness that leads to the wrath of God.
And you have a choice of whether to follow God or not to follow God.
You have a choice whether you are going to hear truth, you‟ve got a Bible. There‟s Bibles all over this country. I mean, you go to a hotel room they wouldn‟t mind sharing that with you.
The Gideon‟s put it in there for you to have.
You can have the Word of God. You can study the Word of God. Or you can reject the Word of God. Or you can know it and turn from it like the stats in Barna. It is no wonder that God‟s eyes are searching for truth, Precious One, searching for truth, searching for faithfulness. Will His eyes fall on you? I pray, you say, “Oh, yes. Yes! Yes, I want them to.”
