Study-Grow-Know Ministries - Rev. Dr. Fred DeRuvo

The warning signs for the people of Judah are signs for us as well. They continually failed to obey God. Instead they embraced the lies of the false prophets. The people of Judah fell away because they embraced lies that pulled them away from God and they had no interest in repentance and returning to God since they convinced themselves they were doing nothing wrong. They didn't care how often God gave them chances.

Ultimately, God looks upon individual believers through the eyes of pity or compassion. He certainly understands our frame and remembers we are simply dust. At the same time, He will do what is needed in our life to bring us back to the narrow road that leads to life eternal when we fail to stay on that road. This is the difference between Israel and the Church. With Israel, God often dealt with those people as one nation. If the leaders were corrupt, He would bring judgment eventually onto the entire nation. Though some within that nation might be spared from the true harshness of His judgment because of their individual loyalty to God, ultimately, He was judging that nation. Where the Church is concerned, God deals with individual Christians within the Church who go astray or require judgment for sins undealt with that keep them from fellowship with God.

In spite of how bad things looked for Israel during Hosea's time as a prophet to that nation, God continued to hold out hope. He always pointed them to the day when Israel, as a nation, would return to Him, embrace Him wholly and live for Him as well as they had lived apart from Him prior.

In Jeremiah 9-10, we learn that God is not at all pleased with how low the Judahites had sunk. They had learned a great deal from Gentile nations and none of it was good. If they weren't trying to depend upon help from these nations in fighting their enemies, they adopted many of the standards and protocols of those neighboring nations and empires. The biggest problem Judah had was it's tendency to worship idols. The prophet Jeremiah loved his people so much, he wished he had more tears to shed (v1) for them. His tears is what earned him the nickname "the weeping prophet."

Reading through the Old Testament and even the New, it is clear that Satan hates those who stand with God against malice, hatred and all manner of sinful corruption that plagues much of humanity. The apostles did not die quietly from old age. Many were brutally murdered. The prophets of old did not retire and draw from their pensions while living in relative ease. They were often treated brutally and even martyred for daring to speak God's Words to people, words that those people found offensive.

God reminds the people to go find Shiloh where the Tabernacle stood because Shiloh had been destroyed due to Israel's evil. The LORD was ready to cast the Judahites out of the land to the north as He had done with Israel. God would send them into captivity by Babylon because of their continued disobedience and flagrant idolatry. God appears to have made up His mind with finality (v16) and tells Jeremiah to not pray for them. In essence, Jeremiah's prayers would not help at all.

Some people enjoy going onto their social media accounts simply to create problems because they can do so often anonymously. They then sit back and watch the fireworks as it gives them a sense of power. In fact, it seems clear only a few years ago that people would say on their social media accounts what they'd never say to another person face-to-face. Now? Seems as though anything goes. People are divided today by political and ideological lines and the resentment one to the other is often very deep and visceral. Because of social media, some of my friends and I often started butting heads figuratively speaking because of politics and then eventually went our own ways, never to talk again. This seems to have been the goal too.

So once leaders turn their backs on truth, advocating lies, this results in that society exhibiting and experiencing far more wickedness, bitterness and hatred ending in a growing callousness toward one another. Eventually, sin ceases to be called sin. It is embraced as good and that society begins living a  Romans 1 life. Even while doing that, it still often sees itself as "innocent" of being evil in spite of the many examples from that society that exist on a daily basis. These become actually willfully indulged in by many to most within that populace. Once the rejection of God's morality is complete, there is little left except for God to judge that nation.

One thing this has taught me is that Babylon and its proponents play for keeps. It appears to be coming to a point where Babylon is not going to put up with pesky conservatives/Christians much longer because there is too much for them to lose. Babylon isn't playing to lose. Of course, the Bible tells us that at one point, during the coming Tribulation, that the system of Babylon will be killed, as it will no longer be needed (Revelation 18). Of course, God is allowing all of this for His purposes and glory regardless of how difficult that is for us to accept. The momentum is building, giving Babylon its growing power. That power will attempt take down anyone who stands in its way.

Jeremiah is made up of 52 chapters and represents one of, if not, the longest book in the Bible regarding text. Below are some facts surrounding the prophet Jeremiah and the book he is known for writing. In the coming weeks, as we go through the book of Jeremiah, we will most likely cover a number of chapters together, rather than go over one chapter per week since it would take a year to do so. This look at Jeremiah will be a bit cursory but will cover major aspects of the book and we'll find out how it applies not only to the nation of Israel but to believers today as well.

But in hell and eventually the Lake of Fire, which burns into perpetuity, the constantly burning fire will torment, but not purify. The reason it cannot purify the souls housed there is due to the fact that those individuals will continue sinning in eternity. The unrighteous person does not stop sinning once this physical life is over. They will continue sinning even after they arrive to eternity. The fires of the Lake of Fire/hell, will never be able to refine or purify those sinners there because of their continued sinning throughout all eternity.

Here's what I'm saying...we actually can see the character of our Lord in other believers to a small or great degree (depending on the person), if we will look for it. Sometimes, it stares us in the face for 40 years without us knowing it. While I've always loved my wife and will continue to love her, I've simply not noticed that Jesus lives within her and is expressing His character through her to other people and me. I've always seen her as pleasant, sweet, loving and attractive. Yes, she is those things and some of those things may be due to her own innate personality. However, it seems ultimately very clear to me that since she is a believer and Jesus does live within her because of the Holy Spirit, He is clearly expressing His character through her personality. He wants to do that with every believer. Some of us offer more roadblocks to Him unfortunately.

There were also numerous times when God said that things would happen "soon." Isaiah is filled with words from our Lord that appear to indicate things will occur "soon," and yet, in some cases, hundreds of years if not a few thousand years passed before His Words were fulfilled. When we hear "soon" from someone, we think not long in coming. Yet, from God's perspective, "soon" may not mean that. He talks about the Millennial Kingdom and the blessings for the nation of Israel as happening "soon," but we are still waiting. From His perspective, the timing is His and His alone to determine and it is compared to eternity not time as we understand and live it.

There's something happening that most cannot see because it is hidden under the surface. Artificial Intelligence (AI), is  more and more included in the design of too many things: cars, appliances, telephones, TVs and too many other things to list. People are using AI to help write their papers or books. AI is being used as part of company coding that unfortunately, has had some very negative effects, which we'll get to in a minute. We are losing freedom in huge steps due to the Internet, which can be hacked. Yet most of us are completely unaware that this is the case. The reason? Because we do not see any real physical signs of the digital prison being built. Oh sure, when we go to stores, we see those cameras, but we tell ourselves those are to stop shoplifters. They do work for that purpose, but they go well beyond that purpose too. Maybe we no longer see the cameras.

Certainly, to be clear, things are ramping up and each day brings us one day closer to the Rapture and/or the start of the Tribulation (if you do not believe the Rapture precedes the Tribulation). However, we cannot know the day or hour of those events. We can know the times and the seasons but that is all. That still should not pull us away from the God-given task at hand, which is to live lives that glorify Him and we do that by dying to our own self will and reaching out to the lost.

If God is love (He is), we who call ourselves believers, Christians and followers of Jesus must also live lives of love. It all starts and ends with forgiveness. If we cannot truly forgive, we are simply not loving others. God did not have to, but He chose a way to forgive those who come to Him in faith through His Son's sacrificial life, death and resurrection. That forgiveness granted to us is permanent, unfailing and results in our true justification before Him. How can we call ourselves believers and followers of Jesus if we cannot forgive (love), as He forgives us?

If God literally lives within us, then why aren't we living a life of power that enables and compels us to be imitators of Jesus in the way He lived, by loving God and loving others? Doing the Father's will was what He loved and He considered it food (John 4:34). What does that mean except that He was so filled with the desire to fulfill every aspect of the Father's will, even when it meant sorrow, pain, discomfort and ultimately, death?

Today, we spend a good deal of time seeking things that have some value, but compared to God and eternity, have little to no value really. God tells us we should not glory in any wisdom we might have. We should not glory or praise ourselves because of any strength or might we believe is ours. We should also not glory in any riches we have acquired. None of these things have any real staying power, no real eternal worth. We can lose them in a moment. Of course, this does not mean that if the Lord has given us wisdom, might and even riches, that these are necessarily bad things. They are not, but when we focus on just those things, we are missing something very large and very eternal.

Jesus continually expresses His love for us. It wasn't a one time deal at the cross, though clearly that action as He hung on Calvary's cross was the expression of His love like no other. However, just because He has gone into the heavenly realms and now sits at the right hand of the Father until His enemies are made His footstool (Psalm 110; Luke 20; Hebrews 10), does not mean that His love for His own is no longer seen in the way He cares for His own. He didn't change His demeanor toward us because He is now again exalted in heaven. He. Loves. Us.

Jesus' heart of unrestrained compassion knew what people needed and in effect, knew what they were seeking even if they did not fully comprehend it themselves. He was angry at what sin had done to their hearts and minds as well as the world in general. He was angry that this world was under the sway of the evil one. Yet, what overwhelmed Him was His deep sense of compassion that literally rose up from His bowels and yet, was met with resistance, complacency and even rebellion leading to outright rejection. He knew they were spiritually blind and He so desperately wanted them to see the truth...but they were unwilling.