They came in and possessed it, but they did not obey Your voice or walk in Your law. They failed to perform all that You commanded them to do, and so You have brought upon them all this disaster. Sermons
I. HE HAS LAID DOWN LAWS TO REGULATE AND GOVERN THE WAYS OF MEN. He has done this not only for those that are open and manifest, but those that are most secret as well. He is a "discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart" (cf. Psalm 139.). "God looketh at the heart." Now, he could not thus largely and minutely lay down these laws if he did not know completely the ways which they concern. II. HE DISCOVERS THEM. If we have been engaged in some secret way, or such as we thought was secret, where no eye was upon us as we imagined; if afterwards some one meets us and tells us all that we did, we know that, unseen to us, he must by himself or by others have been present at that secret hour. Now, thus we know that God has been ever present. For: 1. He tells us all about them. What is memory? what, especially, is conscience, but God telling us that he is perfectly acquainted with all that we thought unknown? 2. He tells others of them. He told David (1 Samuel 23:12) that the men of Keilah would deliver him up into the hand of Saul. He told Joseph of Herod's purpose to kill the infant Saviour. He warned the wise men from whom Herod hoped to have acquired the knowledge he needed. And again, he warned Joseph about Archelaus. And many such instances there are. Now, they all show that God knows all the ways of men. III. HE TURNS THEM WHICH WAY HE WILL. Sometimes he gives men their heart's desire, satisfying the longing soul. Sometimes he overrules them for ends far other than the doers of them designed. As when they crucified our Lord (Acts 2:23), God ordered which way their sin should issue, which was quite other than they thought (cf. history of Joseph). Sometimes he baffles and denies them altogether. If he did not, this world would be hell. What if all the sin men conceive of they were to commit! Hence (Genesis 20:6) God says he withheld Abimelech from sinning against Abraham, and suffered him not to touch Sarah. And God is forever graciously strangling sin in its very birth. But all this shows that "his eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men." IV. HE RECOMPENSES THEM. 1. When our secret ways have been evil, cannot we tell in the darkening of the face of God that he knows all? And when they have been such as the Lord delighteth to see in secret, do not our hearts know when we come to him that there is the answering smile? 2. And he recompenses them in his present outward dealings with us. The sinner's most secret sin finds him out not seldom in this world. And the patient continuance in well doing, however humble and obscure, rarely fails to meet with its reward. 3. And God will judge them in the last great day. Then the thoughts of all hearts shall be revealed. "God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good or whether it be evil." Again is it made evident that he knows all. He is "the Father who seeth in secret." CONCLUSION. Understand what is the right use of this great doctrine. Not that we should be trying every hour of the day to be thinking of the all-seeing eye of God. We cannot, and God does not intend that we should, be ever thus conscious of his presence. Children are not of the presence of their parents. They are utterly unconstrained. But should need arise for their parents' help, should they be tempted to do what they know their parents would forbid, then in a moment they become conscious of their presence, and the needed aid is asked for, and the tempting sin is resisted. Now, thus should we remember the continual presence of God. "The right state of mind plainly is to have the thought of God's presence so perpetually at hand that, as with Joseph in his great temptation, it shall always start before us whenever it is wanted." This is living with God and communion with Christ; and it is won by prayer and close walking with him, and blessed are they who win. - C.
They have done nothing of all that Thou commandedst them to do. Omissions cannot be trivial, if we only reflect what an influence they would have upon an ordinary commonwealth, if they were perpetrated as they are in God's commonwealth. If one person has a right to omit his duty, another has and all have. Then the watchman would omit to guard the house, the policeman would omit to arrest the thief, the judge would omit to sentence the offender, the sheriff would omit to punish the culprit, the government would omit to carry out its laws; then every occupation would cease, and the world die of stagnation; the merchant would omit to attend to his calling, the husband-man would omit to plough his land: where would the commonwealth be? The kingdom would be out of joint; the machine would break down, for no cog of the wheel would act upon its fellow. How would societies exist at all? And surely if this is not to be tolerated in a society of men, much less in that great commonwealth of which God is king.( C. H. Spurgeon.) People Adam, Anathoth, Babylonians, Baruch, Ben, Benjamin, Hanameel, Jeremiah, Maaseiah, Molech, Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadrezzar, Neriah, Shallum, ZedekiahPlaces Anathoth, Babylon, Egypt, Horse Gate, Jerusalem, Negeb, Shephelah, Valley of HinnomTopics Befall, Calamity, Caused, Charge, Command, Commanded, Commandedst, Didn't, Disaster, Ear, Entered, Evil, Follow, Hast, Hearkened, Heritage, Law, Lay, Nothing, Obey, Obeyed, Orders, Possess, Possessed, Possession, Proclaim, Ruled, Voice, Walk, WalkedOutline 1. Jeremiah, being imprisoned by Zedekiah for his prophecy,6. buys Hanameel's field. 13. Baruch must preserve the evidences, as tokens of the people's return. 16. Jeremiah in his prayer complains to God. 26. God confirms the captivity for their sins; 36. and promises a gracious return. Dictionary of Bible Themes Jeremiah 32:22 4404 food Library October 27. "Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all Flesh; is There Anything Too Hard for Me?" (Jer. xxxii. 27. )"Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for Me?" (Jer. xxxii. 27.) Cyrus, the King, was compelled to fulfil the vision of Jeremiah, by making a decree, the instant the prophecy had foretold, declaring that Jehovah had bidden him rebuild Jerusalem and invite her captives to return to their native home. So Jeremiah's faith was vindicated and Jehovah's prophecy gloriously fulfilled, as faith ever will be honored. Oh, for the faith, that in the dark present and the darker … Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth Perseverance in Holiness The Everlasting Covenant of the Spirit Why all Things Work for Good Discourse on Spiritual Food and True Discipleship. Peter's Confession. Fifteenth Day for Schools and Colleges The End Entering the Covenant: with all the Heart Sanctification. Concerning Peaceableness Perseverance Jeremiah Links Jeremiah 32:23 NIVJeremiah 32:23 NLT Jeremiah 32:23 ESV Jeremiah 32:23 NASB Jeremiah 32:23 KJV Jeremiah 32:23 Bible Apps Jeremiah 32:23 Parallel Jeremiah 32:23 Biblia Paralela Jeremiah 32:23 Chinese Bible Jeremiah 32:23 French Bible Jeremiah 32:23 German Bible Jeremiah 32:23 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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