fierce anger – Praying Pint

43.o. “Wilderness” – 7.v. Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the Lord alone

Exodus 22:20  “Whoever sacrifices to any god, other than the LORD alone, shall be devoted to destruction.

Numbers 25:2-4   These invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.  So Israel yoked himself to Baal of Peor. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.  And the LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people and hang them in the sun before the LORD, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”

Deuteronomy 13:1-15    “If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder,  and the sign or wonder that he tells you comes to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’  you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.  You shall walk after the LORD your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.  But that prophet or that dreamer of dreams shall be put to death, because he has taught rebellion against the LORD your God

Deuteronomy 17:2-5   “If there is found among you, within any of your towns that the LORD your God is giving you, a man or woman who does what is evil in the sight of the LORD your God, in transgressing his covenant,  and has gone and served other gods and worshiped them, or the sun or the moon or any of the host of heaven, which I have forbidden,  and it is told you and you hear of it, then you shall inquire diligently, and if it is true and certain that such an abomination has been done in Israel,  then you shall bring out to your gates that man or woman who has done this evil thing, and you shall stone that man or woman to death with stones.

Deuteronomy 18:20   But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in my name that I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.’

Joshua 23:15-16 But just as all the good things that the LORD your God promised concerning you have been fulfilled for you, so the LORD will bring upon you all the evil things, until he has destroyed you from off this good land that the LORD your God has given you, if you transgress the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them. Then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you, and you shall perish quickly from off the good land that he has given to you.”

Unto the Lord only; the true and living God; Jehovah, the self-existent, immutable, and eternal Being; the Creator of all things, the possessor of heaven and earth, the most high God, and the only one: sacrificing takes in all the acts of service performed to an idol as to the true God, as offering incense, pouring out a libation, as well as slaying and burning an animal as Jarchi observes: he shall be utterly destroyed; be accursed, anathematized, devoted to destruction, as the word used signifies. (Gill)

Man is wired to seek and worship the Creator. Denying and rejecting God, this inward yearning will turn to almost anything as a substitute and will become their act of worship and sacrifice. Look at the world around us. It is full of the lost who need to hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and acts of love, grace, mercy, kindness, gentleness, and generosity of the redeemed. Let it be our goal, commitment, and intentional choice to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do.

34.h. “A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish”

Matthew 24:29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

Isaiah 13:10   For the stars of the heavens and their constellations will not give their light; the sun will be dark at its rising, and the moon will not shed its light.

Jeremiah 4:23-28    I looked on the earth, and behold, it was without form and void; and to the heavens, and they had no light.  I looked on the mountains, and behold, they were quaking, and all the hills moved to and fro.  I looked, and behold, there was no man, and all the birds of the air had fled.  I looked, and behold, the fruitful land was a desert, and all its cities were laid in ruins before the LORD, before his fierce anger.  For thus says the LORD, “The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end.  “For this the earth shall mourn, and the heavens above be dark; for I have spoken; I have purposed; I have not relented, nor will I turn back.”

Ezekiel 32:7-8   When I blot you out, I will cover the heavens and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give its light.  All the bright lights of heaven will I make dark over you, and put darkness on your land, declares the Lord GOD.

Joel 2:10    The earth quakes before them; the heavens tremble. The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining.

Joel 2:30-31   “And I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke.  The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.

Amos 5:20     Is not the day of the LORD darkness, and not light, and gloom with no brightness in it?

Zephaniah 1:14-15    The great day of the LORD is near, near and hastening fast; the sound of the day of the LORD is bitter; the mighty man cries aloud there.  A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

Acts 2:19-20    And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke;  the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day.

Revelation 6:12-17    When he opened the sixth seal, I looked, and behold, there was a great earthquake, and the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood,  and the stars of the sky fell to the earth as the fig tree sheds its winter fruit when shaken by a gale.  The sky vanished like a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place.  Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains,  calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,  for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

Several prophetic passages describe the cosmic disturbances that will precede and surround the glorious return of Jesus. All these signs are figures of great and terrible calamities. The roaring of the waves of the sea denotes great tumult and affliction among the people. “Perplexity” means doubt, anxiety; not knowing what to do to escape. “Men’s hearts should fail them for fear,” or by reason of fear. Their fears would be so great as to take away their courage and strength. Barnes)

But I am more inclinable to interpret them of the last judgment, and to think that our Saviour is now passed to satisfy the disciples about their other question, concerning the end of the world; for although Christ’s coming may sometimes signify that remarkable act of his providence in the destruction of his enemies, yet the next verses speaking of his coming with great power and glory, and of his coming with his angels, and with the sound of a trumpet, and gathering his elect from the four winds, the phrases are so like the phrases by which the Scripture expresses Christ’s coming to the last judgment, and Christ speaking to his disciples asking of him as well about that as the destruction of Jerusalem, I should rather interpret this verse with reference to the last judgment, than the destruction of Jerusalem before spoken of, or at least that these signs should be understood common both to the one and the other, as divers of the other signs mentioned in this chapter are. Some think that the darkening of the sun and the moon here, the falling of the stars, and the shaking of the powers of heaven, are to be taken metaphorically, as signifying the great change there should be in the ecclesiastical and civil state of the Jews; and it is true that such kind of expressions do often in Scripture so signify. But without doubt the literal sense is not to be excluded, whether we understand the text of the destruction of Jerusalem, or of his coming to his last judgment; for as historians tell of great prodigies seen before the former, so the apostle confirms us that there will be such things seen before the day of judgment. (Poole)

There is no valid reason why the physical phenomena mentioned in this verso are not to be taken literally, even if we see also in them a spiritual significance. It is only reasonable to expect that the end of this world should be accompanied by stupendous changes in the realm of nature. The sun was miraculously darkened when Jesus hung on the cross. What wonder if similar catastrophes signal his coming to judgment? (unknown)

Men of the world scheme and plan for generation upon generation here, but they plan not with reference to the overwhelming, approaching, and most certain event of Christ’s second coming, which shall do away every human scheme, and set aside for ever all that God forbids. Christ here shows the state of the old world when the deluge came. They were secure and careless; they knew not, until the flood came; and they believed not. Did we know aright that all earthly things must shortly pass away, we should not set our eyes and hearts so much upon them as we do. The evil day is not the further off for men’s putting it far from them. What words can more strongly describe the suddenness of our Saviour’s coming! Men will be at their respective businesses, and suddenly the Lord of glory will appear. Women will be in their house employments, but in that moment every other work will be laid aside, and every heart will turn inward and say, It is the Lord! Am I prepared to meet him? Can I stand before him? And what, in fact, is the day of judgment to the whole world, but the day of death to every one who is not prepared for the return of Jesus Christ? (Henry)

19.o. “So as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.”

Romans 6:13 Do not let any part of your body become an instrument of evil to serve sin. Instead, give yourselves completely to God, for you were dead, but now you have new life. So use your whole body as an instrument to do what is right for the glory of God.

Colossians 3:5    Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

James 4:1   What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you?

Romans 7:5 When we were controlled by our old nature, sinful desires were at work within us, and the law aroused these evil desires that produced a harvest of sinful deeds, resulting in death.

Isaiah 55:7   let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

2 Peter 2:13-15   suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.  They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!  Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing,

2 Chronicles 30:8    Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

1 Corinthians 6:20     for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.

1 Peter 4:2     so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God.

A person can be “officially” set free, yet still imprisoned. If a person lives in prison for years, and then is set free, they often still think and act like a prisoner. The habits of freedom aren’t ingrained in their life yet. In the fourteenth century two brothers fought for the right to rule over a dukedom in what is now Belgium. The elder brother’s name was Raynald, but he was commonly called “Crassus,” a Latin nickname meaning “fat,” for he was horribly obese. After a heated battle, Raynald’s younger brother Edward led a successful revolt against him and assumed the title of Duke over his lands. But instead of killing Raynald, Edward devised a curious imprisonment. He had a room in the castle built around “Crassus,” a room with only one door. The door was not locked, the windows were not barred, and Edward promised Raynald that he could regain his land and his title any time that he wanted to. All he would have to do is leave the room. The obstacle to freedom was not in the doors or the windows, but with Raynald himself. Being grossly overweight, he could not fit through the door, even though it was of near-normal size. All Raynald needed to do was diet down to a smaller size, then walk out a free man, with all he had before his fall. However, his younger brother kept sending him an assortment of tasty foods, and Raynald’s desire to be free never won out over his desire to eat. Some would accuse Duke Edward of being cruel to his older brother, but he would simply reply, “My brother is not a prisoner. He may leave when he so wills.” But Raynald stayed in that room for ten years.

This accurately illustrates the experience of many Christians. Jesus set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement, and imprisonment. This accurately illustrates the experience of many Christians. Jesus set them forever free legally, and they may walk in that freedom from sin whenever they choose. But since they keep yielding their bodily appetites to the service of sin, they live a life of defeat, discouragement, and imprisonment. Your members are the parts of your body – your ears, lips, eyes, hands, mind, and so forth. The idea is very practical: “You have eyes. Do not put them in the service of sin. You have ears. Do not put them in the service of sin.” The parts of our body are weapons in the battle for right living. When the parts of our body are given over to righteousness, they are weapons for good. When they are given over to sin, they are weapons for evil. (Guzik)

It is a test of our claim to be Christians. Does anger have dominion over you? Does murmuring and complaining? Does covetousness have dominion over you? Does pride? Does laziness have dominion over you? If sin has dominion over us, we should seriously ask if we are really converted. It is a promise of victory. It doesn’t say that “sin will not be present in us,” because that will only be fulfilled when we are resurrected in glory. But it does promise that sin will not have dominion over us because of the great work Jesus did in us when we were born again. It is an encouragement for hope and strength in the battle against sin. God has set you free in Jesus. This is encouragement for the Christian struggling against sin, for the new Christian, and for the backslider. (Spurgeon)

12.v. ” I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents”

Zephaniah 3:6 “I have destroyed nations; their strongholds are demolished. I have left their streets deserted, with no one passing through. Their cities are laid waste; they are deserted and empty. Of Jerusalem I thought, ‘Surely you will fear me and accept correction!’ Then her place of refuge would not be destroyed, nor all my punishments come upon her. But they were still eager to act corruptly in all they did. Therefore wait for me,” declares the Lord, “for the day I will stand up to testify. I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger.

Isaiah 5:4     What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?

Jeremiah 8:6    I have paid attention and listened, but they have not spoken rightly; no man relents of his evil, saying, ‘What have I done?’ Everyone turns to his own course,

Jeremiah 36:3    It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin.”

Luke 19:42-44    saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.  For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side  and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation.”

2 Peter 3:9    The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.

God brought His justice to the nations around Judah, and it should have warned Judah what would happen if they rejected God. Instead of learning from the surrounding nations, they dedicated themselves to ungodliness all the more. Being blind to things of God comes as a consequence of an intentional choice to neglect Him and His Word. Hearts are somehow easily turned away from God. Some blatantly, some casually, but they both defy and deny God. One says surely there is no God and because of this I can do what I want without consequences. The other says I am a good enough person and does not give any more thought to the consequences. God shows His hand over nations, toppling them down and people are blind to the fact that it was at His hand they fell. Rulers, Dictators, and Presidents have been removed from their lofty positions of wealth and power and yet people are still blind to the hand of God directing the course of nations and the paths of man. When eyes are blinded to things of God, both the promises of blessings and judgments are lost from their vision. When God is denied and defied eyes and ears are blind and deaf to Him, and yet there is still hope. Perhaps their heart will soften and their eyes will open and their ears will hear of the Good News of Jesus Christ. It happened for each of us who were once lost but now are found. It is not as though we can claim any part of this as our effort other than to say somehow the Word of God pierced my heart and I fell on my knees and surrendered to Jesus Christ. The scales were taken off the eyes to my heart and mind and I saw a glimpse of the Holiness of Jesus Christ and my sinfulness. There was no personal effort in this as it was all of Jesus Christ and our believing, yielding, surrendering, repenting, turning away, and trusting. Somehow there is given to man the free will choice to choose to surrender/yield to God or to defy and deny Him and His grace, mercy, and love. We get to intentionally choose whom we serve, honor, glorify, follow, obey, and trust. Sad to say but millions upon millions choose to serve self, honor self, glorify self, obey self, and trust in self. This is an intentional choice. Every single moment of every day we are given this choice to make – honor Jesus Christ or self, glorify Jesus Christ or self, follow Jesus Christ or self, obey Jesus Christ or self, trust Jesus Christ or self, or rely on Jesus Christ or self. We do well to ask God to show us each day to whom we have surrendered our lives, actions, and thoughts to, Jesus Christ or themself.

12.r. “Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Zephaniah 2:1 Gather together, gather yourselves together, you shameful nation, before the decree takes effect and that day passes like windblown chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s wrath comes upon you. Seek the Lord, all you humble of the land, you who do what he commands. Seek righteousness, seek humility; perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the Lord’s anger.

Psalms 105:4    Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Isaiah 55:6-7    “Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near;  let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.

Jeremiah 3:13-14    Only acknowledge your guilt, that you rebelled against the LORD your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the LORD.  Return, O faithless children, declares the LORD; for I am your master; I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion.

Hosea 7:10    The pride of Israel testifies to his face; yet they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him, for all this.

1 Thessalonians 4:1    Finally, then, brothers, we ask and urge you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us how you ought to walk and to please God,

2 Peter 3:18    But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity.

The announcement of judgment in chapter 1 is understood as a warning and as an invitation to repentance. Gather together as a demonstration of national mourning and repentance. Zephaniah proclaimed; “this is what will happen to you if you do not repent.” There was a sense of urgency and a call to repent before it was too late. There is nothing worth showing for all we accomplish in a day if we neglect what is most important: getting right and staying right before God. It is a seemingly easy life to let days pass away day after day without giving much of a thought to living for and humbly serving, honoring, following, obeying, and trusting God. One of Satans most powerful lies isn’t that there is no God, or no bible, or no truth – often the most powerful lie that affects and entices so many is that there is no hurry or urgency to humbly, repent, seek, desire, serve, follow, and grow in understanding and knowledge of Jesus Christ. Warnings from God to a nation needs to be heeded by both the humble and the proud. It would be easy to think this warning does not concern me. Rest assured that at times of national danger and crisis even the meek and humble must urgently seek the Lord.

When we look around at what is happening in our country it is clear God is sending a strong message to return to Him. How much more confusion, chaos, disease, rioting, hate, and division need to take place before our hearts humbly seek and call out to Jesus Christ. In times of prosperity, many fall away from seeking and desiring Jesus Christ. Their hearts and minds get consumed with things of this world. Ease of life has led them astray and down paths of neglect and complacency. Tell me it is not true. Tell me you have not neglected or been complacent in your walk with Jesus Christ. Look around and tell me all that has happened in the last 6 months. This did not happen by chance it is the Hand of Jesus Christ at work. These are more than subtle warnings. They are actual judgments upon the world and our nation. Through this many hearts will turn to Him but a greater number will harden their hearts and minds even more. Many will just see this bad luck and not even give Jesus Christ a second thought. May Jesus Christ open our eyes to the work of His hands and give us a clear vision of our need to repent and seek Him.

10.p. “For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish”

Jonah 3:1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.”

When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Luke 15:18-20 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Deuteronomy 8:20 “Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.

Proverbs 1:32 “For the waywardness of the naive will kill them, And the complacency of fools will destroy them.

Isaiah 60:12 “For the nation and the kingdom which will not serve you will perish, And the nations will be utterly ruined.

Jonah repented and went back to Nineveh to speak the word of the Lord. He called out against that great city as the Lord commanded. Nineveh listened and acted upon what they heard. They repented as a whole city, from the king down to every citizen, or at least most of them. They heard the word spoke against their current way of living, they believed it to be a true understanding of their sinful ways. They believed God. They had to know something of God and both His promises of destruction and His gracious acts that turned away from anger when those condemned repent. They believed in 40 days they would be destroyed because the word of God proclaimed to them. Do you ever wonder what people would do if they were told in 40 days they would die because of their sin? Some believe and some do not. Some think all of this talk about God and sin is foolishness. Others believe it to be true but will wait until later in life. And, still, others take immediate action and believe. They understand the eternal consequence of dying in their sin. They understand the frailty of life and that they could die at any moment for a host of reasons. We have not been given a 40-day notice, but we have been given notice. We can deny it, wait, or take repentant action. It all depends on what you believe to be the truth. Nowhere is it more clear than in John 3:16-19 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil.

3.a. That he may turn again to the remnant of you

2 Chronicles 30:1 Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the Lord at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly. So they decreed to make a proclamation throughout all Israel, from Beersheba to Dan, that the people should come and keep the Passover to the Lord, the God of Israel, at Jerusalem, for they had not kept it as often as prescribed. So couriers went throughout all Israel and Judah with letters from the king and his princes, as the king had commanded, saying, “O people of Israel, return to the Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, that he may turn again to the remnant of you who have escaped from the hand of the kings of Assyria. Do not be like your fathers and your brothers, who were faithless to the Lord God of their fathers, so that he made them a desolation, as you see. Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the Lord and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the Lord your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you. For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land. For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away his face from you, if you return to him.”

Zechariah 1:3-4    Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts. Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Jeremiah 11:7    For I solemnly warned your fathers when I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, warning them persistently, even to this day, saying, Obey my voice.  Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not.”

Jeremiah 44:16    “As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.

When you read God’s word do you look for warnings or just promises of blessings? They both go hand in hand. We are blessed when we commit to God with our whole heart, mind, soul, and strength. We are blessed when we commit to honor, serve, glorify, worship, praise, follow, trust and obey Jesus Christ. God’s word speaks warnings and blessings but requires us to read it and want to hear it speak into our heart and mind. We get to choose if we hear it and allow it to permeate our heart and mind.

Time and time again we read of a generation of people and nations that either no longer seek God or they commit anew to seek and serve Him with humble heart and mind. Hezekiah saw the evil actions of Ahaz and what power the King had in leading people toward or away from God. He chose to commit to lead the people back to true worship of and commitment to God.

We need to be mindful of how easy it is to be lead away from God when our commitment is lukewarm. When we are lukewarm we seem to have an outward appearance of commitment but our ears are closed and our hunger and thirst for His speaking into and leading our lives is only with our lips and not with our heart and mind.

God knows and as well we know if our heart is being filled with an appetite and hunger for Him. We do well to examine our heart and what is residing in it. Commitment to honoring and living for Jesus Christ requires us to place Him first and always be mindful of our sinful nature and wandering away from Him. Staying in His word with a desire to be blameless and holy for the single purpose of honoring and glorifying Jesus Christ will keep the door to our heart and mind open to hear Him speak and lead.

3. And all the people joined in the covenant.

2 Chronicles 29:1 Hezekiah began to reign when he was twenty-five years old, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Abijah the daughter of Zechariah. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. In the first year of his reign, in the first month, he opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. He brought in the priests and the Levites and assembled them in the square on the east and said to them, “Hear me, Levites! Now consecrate yourselves, and consecrate the house of the Lord, the God of your fathers, and carry out the filth from the Holy Place. For our fathers have been unfaithful and have done what was evil in the sight of the Lord our God. They have forsaken him and have turned away their faces from the habitation of the Lord and turned their backs. They also shut the doors of the vestibule and put out the lamps and have not burned incense or offered burnt offerings in the Holy Place to the God of Israel. Therefore the wrath of the Lord came on Judah and Jerusalem, and he has made them an object of horror, of astonishment, and of hissing, as you see with your own eyes. For behold, our fathers have fallen by the sword, and our sons and our daughters and our wives are in captivity for this. Now it is in my heart to make a covenant with the Lord, the God of Israel, in order that his fierce anger may turn away from us. My sons, do not now be negligent, for the Lord has chosen you to stand in his presence, to minister to him and to be his ministers and make offerings to him.”

Ezra 10:3     Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.

Nehemiah 9:38    “Because of all this we make a firm covenant in writing

Jeremiah 34:15   You recently repented and did what was right in my eyes by proclaiming liberty, each to his neighbor, and you made a covenant before me in the house that is called by my name,

Jeremiah 50:5    They shall ask the way to Zion, with faces turned toward it, saying, ‘Come, let us join ourselves to the LORD in an everlasting covenant that will never be forgotten.’

2 Kings 23:3    And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the LORD, to walk after the LORD and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.

2 Chronicles 6:8    But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

Fathers do not determine the walk of their children when they are grown. Fathers can do everything right and their child, when an adult, can take paths in their life that totally contrary to God and how they were raised. Likewise, the fatter can do absolutely everything wrong and their child, when an adult, can take paths totally in line with God and now how they were raised. Of course, the child can follow in their father’s footsteps as well for good or evil.

We see this over and over again throughout scripture. We wonder why or how this happens. We don’t have to look far to see it all around us and in our family or the family of friends. Individually we make an intentional choice to honor, serve, follow, glorify, trust and obey Jesus Christ or we make an intentional choice not too. We choose to seek God and His word or not. We choose to deny self or not. We choose to grow and mature in the gospel of Jesus Christ or not. We choose how much activity we allow into our life that may interfere with our walk with Jesus Christ. We choose how generous we will be. We choose if we will allow ourself to be wronged and if we will forgive, and if we will be united with our body of believers. We choose how we will spend our time. We choose what we allow ourselves to think about. We choose what we will say and how we will say it. We choose every moment of every day whom we will follow.

We read scripture today on those who chose and committed to desire, seek and follow after God. Be one who intentionally chooses to place God first and subject everything else to that commitment.

46. Can a Christian life can be lived without any binding obligation?

Deuteronomy 9:13 “Furthermore, the Lord said to me, ‘I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stubborn people. Let me alone, that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they.’ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tablets of the covenant were in my two hands. And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God. You had made yourselves a golden calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way that the Lord had commanded you. So I took hold of the two tablets and threw them out of my two hands and broke them before your eyes. Then I lay prostrate before the Lord as before, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all the sin that you had committed, in doing what was evil in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure that the Lord bore against you, so that he was ready to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also. And the Lord was so angry with Aaron that he was ready to destroy him. And I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. Then I took the sinful thing, the calf that you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust. And I threw the dust of it into the brook that ran down from the mountain.

Romans 2:5 But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

Joshua 11:20     For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should come against Israel in battle, in order that they should be devoted to destruction and should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses.

1 Samuel 6:6     Why should you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts?

2 Chronicles 30:8    Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

Proverbs 29:1    He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.

Isaiah 48:4    Because I know that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew and your forehead brass,

Ezekiel 3:7     But the house of Israel will not be willing to listen to you, for they are not willing to listen to me: because all the house of Israel have a hard forehead and a stubborn heart.

Hebrews 3:13    But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

Do you ever think about the wrath of God? Do you think there is a time of unleashing His wrath? Do you ever wonder on whom His wrath will fall? God’s silence does not mean indifference, but the desire to give an opportunity to repent. We hear of the grace, mercy, and love of God. We speak of joy, peace, hope, comfort, strength, courage, and refuge but, are they taken the light that though our redemption is through Christ alone and without His sacrifice every last one of us would be separated from God and certainly in a direct path of His wrath. We can do nothing to deserve this redemption from our sin and sacrifice for our sin. This is a gift of God. “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.”

I think we make a hard stop on grace and mercy and give no thought to obedience.

Here are a couple of excerpts from Steve Lawson: “Many who profess Christ today emphasize a wrong view of grace that makes it a free pass to do whatever they please. Tragically, they have convinced themselves that the Christian life can be lived without any binding obligation to the moral law of God. In this hyper-grace distortion, the need for obedience has been neutered. The commandments of God are no longer in the driver’s seat of Christian living but have been relegated to the backseat, if not the trunk—like a spare tire—to be used only in case of an emergency. With such a spirit of antinomianism, what needs to be reinforced again is the necessity of obedience.

For all true followers of Christ, obedience is never peripheral. At the heart of what it means to be a disciple of our Lord is living in loving devotion to God. But if such love is real, the acid test is obedience. Jesus maintained, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). Genuine love for Christ will always manifest itself in obedience.

And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules. (Ezek. 36:26–27)

In this heart transplant, God causes the believer to pursue Spirit-energized obedience.

When John says believers “keep” the commandments, this pictures a guard or watchman watching over a priceless treasure. In like manner, the one who knows God will keep a sharp watch over all that His Word requires. “And his commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3), but they are a blessing (Ps. 1:1). Every step of heart-prompted obedience leads to experiencing abundant life in Christ. Conversely, every step of disobedience takes us away from the joy of divine goodness. Far from being optional, grace-fueled obedience is absolutely necessary for Christlikeness.”

45. For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are.

Deuteronomy 9:6 “Know, therefore, that the Lord your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the Lord.

Deuteronomy 31:27     For I know how rebellious and stubborn you are. Behold, even today while I am yet alive with you, you have been rebellious against the LORD. How much more after my death!

Exodus 32:9    And the LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.

2 Chronicles 30:8    Do not now be stiff-necked as your fathers were, but yield yourselves to the LORD and come to his sanctuary, which he has consecrated forever, and serve the LORD your God, that his fierce anger may turn away from you.

Psalms 78:8    and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Zechariah 7:11-12     But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.  They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by his Spirit through the former prophets. Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.

Acts 7:51    “You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you.

Moses called the people to remember. He wanted them to remember their rebellion, stubbornness, folly, and how they provoked the Lord. He called them out time and time again about their lack of reverence, love, trust, faith, and hope in the Lord. They so easily forgot the great things God did with His mighty hand and chose to mock Him with their disbelief, even though they saw with their own eyes all that He did and said.

Jesus called the religious ones, hypocrites, stiff-necked, self-righteous, prideful, blind, deaf, without understanding and true knowledge of God. Note He spent little time with them but did spend much of His time with the lost who had no hope. Jesus died for sinners. He had little time for those who thought they could earn their righteousness before God by what they did.

Be mindful of your heart. How do you know if you are provoking God or if your heart has grown stone hard to Him? How do you know if you are faithful if God’s word is not leading you to a deeper faith? If God’s word is not feeding your heart, mind, and soul something else will and that something else always turns our heart, mind, and soul, away from God. Our ears soon resist hearing what God is speaking into our life. Our resolve to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey is soon lost and replaced with that which seems right in our own eyes.