FWD: Morning Manna (Sept. 7); BP: Jer. 21; RBTTY: I Cor. 16; Prov. 1-2

 
Samuel D. High
sdhigh@aristotle.net

 

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-----Original Message-----
From: Apostle Tom <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Sent: Sat, 6 Sep 2008 15:03:22 -0500
To: <pressingon@hotmail.com>
Subject: Morning Manna (Sept. 7); BP: Jer. 21; RBTTY: I Cor. 16; Prov. 1-2
 

September 7                                                                                                                    “The Wrath of God”

 

“And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury and in great wrath. . .For I have set My Face against this city for evil and not good, says the Lord. . .Behold, I am against you. . .I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings, says the Lord . . .”

                                                                                                                              Jeremiah 21:5, 10a, 13a, 14a

     Woe to him/her that thinks otherwise.

     Somewhere along the line down through the years since Jesus’ time on earth we’ve become one-sided or lopsided in our view of Who He is.  We’ve camped out on John 3:16 and Romans 8:28-39, while forgetting that God hates sin. . . “the wages of sin is still death” (Rom. 6:23a). . .and those who reject Jesus as “the Way, the Truth and the Life” will perish forever in a devil’s hell (Jn. 14:6; 3:16b; Rev. 21:11-15).

 

     Jeremiah’s calling and commissioning were designed by God (1:5-10, 17-19).  Even though his stiff-necked, hard-hearted countrymen would continually refuse to hear and heed his message. . .and even though the Lord God told him to quit praying for them (7:16; 14:11; 15:1). . .He still commanded Jeremiah to warn them of coming judgment via Nebuchadrezzar and the Babylonian army.

 

     And, in today’s Manna we read the sobering words that the One really orchestrating all of this was God Himself.  Again, it’s not wrong for us to woo people by pointing them to Jesus, His life, death, burial and resurrection.  However, that’s just one side of the two-edged “sword of the Spirit” (Heb. 4:12; Eph. 6:17b).

 

     The other side is God’s wrath and judgment.

     Jesus was very clear when He said “When the Comforter comes He will convict the world of sin, the need of righteousness and judgment to come” (Jn. 16:8-11).  Likewise, Jesus said He came to “bring a sword” (Mt. 10:35-39), which shows the clear demarcation and division that will exist between His “children of light” and the devil’s “children of darkness.”

 

     Years ago right before the Great Awakening here in the United States, Jonathan Edwards stood and preached on “Sinners In the Hands of An Angry God.”  His parishoners trembled as he read that two-hour sermon—some of them running down the aisle, begging him to quit, crying that they felt like they were “suspended over the open pits of hell as one suspended by the single thread of a spider’s web.”

 

     Oh, dear Pilgrim, “It’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31) and pity those who don’t believe it or don’t care.  Assuredly, He is a loving and merciful God—and “it’s by His mercies that we’re not consumed” (Lam. 3:21-23).  However, the time is coming when He will judge the world and it will first come to His House and on those who profess to be His children (I Pet. 4:17-18).

 

     Therefore, we must do all we can to warn and woo others, Pilgrim.  The hour is late and soon the door of salvation will be closed (II Cor. 6:2).  May the Holy Spirit use us even today to lead someone to Jesus before it’s eternally too late.