Jeremiah 3: Wonderful Forgiveness

Happy Sabbath and welcome once again to Grace Outpost.  This week I have been reading in the book of Jeremiah and God impressed upon me his unchanging nature.  What do I mean by this you might ask?  Often it is argued that in the Old Testament God is a God of wrath and judgment and in the New Testament he is all about love and forgiveness.  At a cursory glance one could certainly make that assumption without taking the time to understand that the Bible is one story that records the unfolding story of redemption of man to God by God.  In chapter 3 of Jeremiah I found a wonderful picture of God's forgiveness and mercy.  

Keep in mind that Jeremiah is speaking to Judah (the southern kingdom), Israel has already fallen, and Jeremiah is the last prophet to Judah prior to the fall of Jerusalem and the captivity.  God through the prophet paints the picture of Judah and Israel (the southern and northern kingdoms) as a harlot who has ran out on her husband and whored themselves out with many people (Jer. 3:1-5, 13, 20, 23).  Only Judah remains, to which Jeremiah says Judah should have taken notice of what happened to Israel, but instead Judah followed in Judah’s footsteps of rampant and unashamed idolatry. 

In the midst of this damning accusation against Israel as a whole, God still pleads for Israel to return and repent (Jer. 3:11-14).  God often uses the image of marriage to represent the church as the bride of Christ.  For each of us as part of that body we are redeemed from whoredom.  Having myself been an unbeliever who did not grow up in the church I can relate to this realization.  I gave myself over to the “god” of nature and science through evolution and atheism, I gave myself to the “god” of the American dream, and the “god” of materialism.  The truth is I was searching for truth in all the wrong places.  When I finally understood what God had done for me and that I could be reconciled in the midst of my waywardness I remember sobbing uncontrollably.  God offers us amazing grace indeed, no matter who we are or what we have done.  The truth is that all of humanity falls short, but God loves us even when we are still sinners (Rom. 3:23, 5:7-8).    Jesus came and died upon the cross that we can be reconciled to God and resurrected in new life (John 3:16, Hebrews 10:10). 

God calls us to not only return to him, but to repent.  Repent means to turn around completely and go in a different direction than we were previously headed.  God desires to be our God and for us to be his people.  We must come to him willing to cast aside any hindrance that will keep us from him (Heb. 12:1-2).  God offers us wonderful forgiveness and will accept us as sons and daughters!

Maybe you are not a follower of Jesus Christ, perhaps you find yourself here today wondering if there is forgiveness for the things you have done, for the way you have lived, for ignoring the God.  Perhaps you call yourself a follower of Jesus, but you don’t live it out in your daily life, perhaps you have become a wayward son or daughter like Israel.  Take heart, Christ is for you as he is for all of us!  God will accept each of us with open arms, if we come to him in true repentance.  If want to know more about becoming a follower of Jesus please feel free to email me Crgalarenau@gmail.com.  If you already a follower of Jesus, then remember the wonderful gift of awesome forgiveness we have been given, let that truth drive you to your knees in thanks and to your feet and out the door in service.


“Lord I thank you for everyone who has been brought here to read this today.  God I ask you touch each person reading this today, Lord may they respond to you!  God we thank you for your awesome gift and your wonderful love for us.  God remind each of us of where we have been redeemed from and for those who don’t know you Lord, let them see what they can be redeemed to!  Amen.”

Popular posts from this blog

When Later is not Good Enough

Hello and welcome to Grace Outpost!   I am delighted to have you join me today.   This past week has been a tough and discouraging week.   I honestly thought about skipping today's message altogether and just have a stress free day.   However, I ran across the passage that we will look at today.   I kept running into this message throughout the week from more than one angle and place, it became obvious to me this morning that God was speaking to me and my discouragement today.   Before we can jump into Haggai we have to understand the scene upon which Haggai chapter 1 begins.   For this background we need to look in the book of Ezra, chapters 3 & 4, which give us the backstory of what Haggai will speak into.   These books cover a return to Jerusalem after the 70-year exile in Babylon.   King Cyrus who was king of the Persians sent out a decree allowing those from Jerusalem to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.   Zerruba...
Read more

Acts 3: Thanksgiving

Welcome again once again to Grace Outpost.   This past week I cut my finger bad enough to warrant a trip to the Emergency Room, where they promptly Derma bonded my finger back together.   Needless to say this has made for a tough week of getting anything done, as I have not been able to use my index finger for much.   This past week was Thanksgiving and I hope that all of you had a great holiday.   At my house it didn’t feel much like a holiday as my wife had to work and we decided not to cook the traditional Thanksgiving meal.   Normally I have a swell of feelings of thankfulness for family and provision.   This year that didn’t happen, perhaps it is because we chose not to partake in the normal festivities.   However, in the midst of this I came across Acts 3, which reminded me that all I need is Jesus and he is at the center of everything I give thanks for.   So we are going to put the Romans study on hold for this week. As we turn to chap...
Read more