- Do you not fear Me?’ says the LORD. ‘Will you not tremble at My presence, even I Who have placed the sand for the boundary of the sea by a never-ending decree, so that it cannot pass it?
- But these people have stubborn and rebellious hearts. They have turned aside and gone their own way
- And they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God, who gives both the former and the latter rain in its season;
- For wicked men are found among My people,
- They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, that they may prosper
- And they do not defend the rights of the poor.
- The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so! But what will you do at the end of it?
- And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,
Rebellious heart
Jesus said (Matthew 4:4): “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.‘ ” Today, many are deceived very badly, if God’s people would simply obey His word and read the whole Bible more often, then they will understand a lot of basic things such as what it means to fear the LORD and what is wicked man. Now look at a few verses in Jeremiah chapter 5.
(Jeremiah 5:20-24 NASB) “Declare this in the house of Jacob And proclaim it in Judah, saying,
‘Now hear this, O foolish and senseless people, Who have eyes but do not see; Who have ears but do not hear.
‘Do you not fear Me?’ declares the LORD. ‘Do you not tremble in My presence? For I have placed the sand as a boundary for the sea, An eternal decree, so it cannot cross over it. Though the waves toss, yet they cannot prevail; Though they roar, yet they cannot cross over it.
‘But this people has a stubborn and rebellious heart; They have turned aside and departed.
‘They do not say in their heart, “Let us now fear the LORD our God, Who gives rain in its season, Both the autumn rain and the spring rain, Who keeps for us The appointed weeks of the harvest.”
According to this word, those who do not fear God have eyes but do not see, have ears but do not hear. They have stubborn and rebellious heart, because they turned away from following the word of God. And “they do not say in their heart, Let us now fear the LORD our God’. Does these words describe what we are doing today? Did we obey our Savior’s teaching, (Matthew 6:33) But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Did we obey what is written: (James 5:16) Therefore, confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another so that you may be healed. The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. Even just look at these passages we all know from deep inside, we didn’t obey. But somehow we still wish it would be acceptable to God. Why, because we simply do not fear God. Are we any better than those foolish and senseless people in Jeremiah 5:21? Maybe not, now severe testing is coming, some will abandon their faith, we better get real before it’s too late.
Wicked men among My people
Before knowing Christ, we all behave more or less like a wicked one. We need to know what type of behavior is considered wicked by God, so we can repent properly. (Jeremiah 5:26-29 NIV) “Among my people are wicked men who lie in wait like men who snare birds and like those who set traps to catch men. Like cages full of birds, their houses are full of deceit; they have become rich and powerful and have grown fat and sleek. Their evil deeds have no limit; they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor. Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?
Verse 27 teach us to identify the wicked men, “their houses are full of deceit”. John told us something similar: (1 John 2:3-6 NIV) We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. the man who says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God a is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.
Verse 28 says, “they do not plead the case of the fatherless to win it, they do not defend the rights of the poor”. They know the commands, (Exodus 22:22-24 NIV) “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless. And they refused to “love your neighbor as yourself”. The same is written: (James 1:27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.. But in our day to day life, we don’t usually “look after orphans and widows in their distress”, and we may not think it’s a big deal. But listen to verse 29; “Should I not punish them for this?” declares the Lord. “Should I not avenge myself on such a nation as this?” Now, should we not fear and tremble at His Word even today?
Therefore, examine ourselves so that we don’t become one of them. As it is written: (1 Corinthians 11:28-31ISV) A person must examine himself and then eat the bread and drink from the cup. For the one who eats and drinks without recognizing the body eats and drinks judgment on himself. That’s why so many of you are weak and sick and a considerable number are dying. But if we judged ourselves correctly, we would not be judged. To judged ourselves correctly, we need to check whether we live in him, as (1 John 2:6) “walk as Jesus did”. I have to confess I have been trying, but still without much success.
Priests rule on their own authority
(Jeremiah 5:31 NIV) “The prophets prophesy falsely, And the priests rule on their own authority; And My people love it so!“. This is totally unacceptable. Listen to what God said in Zephaniah 1:3-6 (NIV) “I will sweep away both men and animals; I will sweep away the birds of the air and the fish of the sea. The wicked will have only heaps of rubble when I cut off man from the face of the earth,” declares the Lord. Against Judah “I will stretch out my hand against Judah and against all who live in Jerusalem. I will cut off from this place every remnant of Baal, the names of the pagan and the idolatrous priests ” those who bow down on the roofs to worship the starry host, those who bow down and swear by the Lord and who also swear by Molech, those who turn back from following the Lord and neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him. There is no doubt those priests rule on their own authority will neither seek the Lord nor inquire of him.
These type of priests are everywhere today, it is very rare to see someone remember 1st Peter4:11 and wanted to speak the oracles of God. As majority do not seek the Lord with all their heart, they have no way to know the oracles of God. Some of them are wicked. We are warned explicitly for wicked men by Jesus, (Revelation 2:2 NIV) I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked men, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. There three warnings in this verse;
- First is hard work, without spending lots of time on studying the scripture, almost no way to find out who is false and who is true. That is why so many are deceived due to the lack of knowledge. As the scripture said, (Hosea 4:6) My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Here Jesus instructed us to work hard, not to wast time on worldly things, those who refuse to listen will find out the truth eventually, but it could be too late.
- Next is perseverance. Jesus called us to feed the spiritual food “daily bread” everyday, without perseverance one can easily become dead spiritually. Don’t think it’s good enough that we have already red the Bible several times, we have to keep reading, To feed on the word and obeying it is a daily thing, we have to keep doing so.
- “You cannot tolerate wicked men”, this is clearly a call for discernment, call for God’s people to test the leadership, to see if they are doing God’s will. As Jesus made it very clear, “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother“. Many prayer examples of how to know God’s will were written in the book of Psalms, such as psalm 143:10, Teach me to do your will; for you are my God: your spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness. Anyone who doesn’t seek the Lord will find it difficult to know the will of God. People usually read the scripture and apply it according to their own will.
- In order to get answer for psalm 143:10, one have to listen to God’s voice (rhema) speaking to his heart from time to time, for Jesus said (John 10:27) My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. But it is not easy, for it is written, (Jeremiah 29:13) You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. This is the cost of being Jesus’ disciple (Luke 14:26-27, 33) “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. …… In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple. Our Savior’s word are very clear, we have to let go everything to follow Jesus. Without daily fighting against sin and denying the old-self, we can’t find God, nor hear anything from Him. The halfhearted and lukewarm will always be deceived.
Some of God’s servants may have yet to pick up their cross or surrendered their life, their spiritual conditions are weak. We may not call them false, for it is written: (1 Corinthians 4:6) … “Do not go beyond what is written.” We have to always seek the Lord’s direction first, seek to do His will, not our own will. When Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ ” Here the word is from Greek “rhema“, it means the spoken word right now, not what was written before (“logos”). This spoken word of God is the instruction of our everyday life. Jesus said (John 8:47) He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God.” Here the “word of God” is the rhema, spoken word of God. I don’t have a habit to seek the Lord before I say or do anything, but we all have to repent and learn.
And My people love it so
This is a serious warning. God’s children do not really like to obey Jesus’ word, “Repent, for the kingdom of of heaven is at hand.” Only few seek God daily for what to repent and how to do His will. Many prefer their “priests rule on their own authority”, teaching them just repeat sinner’s prayer and their name will be written in the book of life. False teacher have no intention to accept the authority from Jesus, they don’t know how to listen to the Holy Spirit. We are warned (2 Timothy 4:3 NIV) For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. The time is now, we need to take the warning more seriously than ever.
Our Savior warned us (Matthew 7:15-20) “Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them. One of their fruit is in Jeremiah 5:28 “They do not plead the cause, The cause of the orphan, … And they do not defend the rights of the poor“. Those who failed to recognize these ferocious wolves may have forgotten or even dislike the scripture: (James 1:27) Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Because so much deception everywhere, if anyone do not know how to listen to the Holy Spirit, the only option left is to rely on the flesh, then he will be misled over and over again.
Rejecting the will of God
For quite a long time, I rarely think about what to repent or how to repent, maybe this is quite common among believers, we preferred an “easy salvation”, with limited dying to the old-self. We are unaware this means rejecting the will of God, like the Pharisees. See (Luke 7:30 NKJV) But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptized by him (John). They rejected it by refusing to obey John’s teaching about repentance. (Luke 3:8,10-11) Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, … So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.”
Our conscience knows that teaching is from God. But due to the love for wealth and worldly things, we are tempted and still struggling. And this can be easily forgotten over time because no one teaches repentance. Seeking the Lord still remain largely as a concept, many of us don’t know how to practice listening or waiting on the Lord yet. May we all take heed the warnings, remember to pick up our own cross, now let’s practice the Word by praying psalm 86; (keep in mind, we need lots of practice to make any difference, as it takes time to purify the heart and mind.)
Incline Your ear, O LORD, and answer me; For I am afflicted and needy.
Preserve my soul, for I am a godly man; O You my God, save Your servant who trusts in You.
Be gracious to me, O Lord, For to You I cry all day long.
Make glad the soul of Your servant, For to You, O Lord, I lift up my soul.
For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in lovingkindness to all who call upon You.
Give ear, O LORD, to my prayer; And give heed to the voice of my supplications!
In the day of my trouble I shall call upon You, For You will answer me.
There is no one like You among the gods, O Lord, Nor are there any works like Yours.
All nations whom You have made shall come and worship before You, O Lord, And they shall glorify Your name.
For You are great and do wondrous deeds; You alone are God.
Teach me Your way, O LORD; I will walk in Your truth; Unite my heart to fear Your name.
I will give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, And will glorify Your name forever.
For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, And You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol.
O God, arrogant men have risen up against me, And a band of violent men have sought my life, And they have not set You before them.
But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Turn to me, and be gracious to me; Oh grant Your strength to Your servant, And save the son of Your handmaid.
Show me a sign for good, That those who hate me may see it and be ashamed, Because You, O LORD, have helped me and comforted me.
Amen.