June 8, 2020 at 1:01 pm | Posted in Jeremiah | 3 Comments
Tags: circumcised in heart, clean heart, commentary on Jeremiah, Ephesians 5, heart problems, Jeremiah 4, Josiah, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 4 deals with the question of what we would expect to see in the lives of people who are truly repentant. Jeremiah attacked their hearts and he got extreme about it.
Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem: lest my fury come forth like fire, and burn that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings.
Jeremiah 4:4
These were men who were all circumcised outwardly, but God told them to go deeper. Don’t just do the external. Make the external symbolic of the internal reality. Cut your heart away from its own excess. Cut your heart off from outside sinful, worldly influences, and separate yourself unto the Lord. The way to escape real wrath is to acknowledge and separate from real evil – the evil of your “doings.” God is not fooled by our “sayings.” Unless we have a cut heart, we will wind up with a conquered heart.
For the people of Judah, they would be literally conquered by their enemies. For you and I, we will be conquered by whatever we love more than God. Our idols may be vanity when it comes to real deliverance, but they can really turn on us viciously once we have totally given ourselves over to them.
And it shall come to pass at that day, saith the LORD, that the heart of the king shall perish, and the heart of the princes; and the priests shall be astonished, and the prophets shall wonder.
Jeremiah 4:9
A heart conquered by God will be set free to flourish and will be given new life. A heart conquered by vanity shall perish: a cut heart or a conquered heart.
The other expectation of someone who is truly repentant is a desire to have a clean heart.
O Jerusalem, wash thine heart from wickedness, that thou mayest be saved. How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?
Jeremiah 4:14
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Ephesians 5:25-26
The Word of God is a cleansing agent for the heart. Josiah had found the scroll of the Law of God in the Temple, and had instituted some reforms, but, as we’ve seen, outward reforms can sometimes mask inward hypocrisy. It’s good to read the Word of God. It’s better to memorize it. It’s even better to study it. But it has to get past the ears and the surface of the brain, and down into the heart where the real scrubbing needs to occur. Our hearts are not just a little dusty. They are inwardly filthy – apart from Christ.
As keepers of a field, are they against her round about; because she hath been rebellious against me, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 4:17
The people had rebelled against God – very intentionally, and very personally.
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
Jeremiah 4:18
They had done this to themselves. It was wickedness. And it had corrupted their hearts.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Jeremiah 4:19
Sin is not going to be painless. It can hurt us in the conviction, or it can hurt us in the consequences. Jeremiah himself, in a foreshadowing of Christ, felt empathetically the pain which the figuratively corrupt heart inflicts on the literal heart. His internal organs hurt. His heart actually hurt. What kind of noise does a heart make? Thumping! The end was not just near, it was here. Will we have cut hearts? It might hurt, but not as much as a conquered heart. Will we have cleansed hearts? Again, it might hurt, but not as much as the attack, pain, and failure of a corrupted heart.
The Deep End 
Heart Conditions: Cut and Clean, or Corrupted and Conquered
June 8, 2020 at 1:01 pm | Posted in Jeremiah | 3 CommentsTags: circumcised in heart, clean heart, commentary on Jeremiah, Ephesians 5, heart problems, Jeremiah 4, Josiah, Sunday School lessons on Jeremiah
Jeremiah 4 deals with the question of what we would expect to see in the lives of people who are truly repentant. Jeremiah attacked their hearts and he got extreme about it.
Jeremiah 4:4
These were men who were all circumcised outwardly, but God told them to go deeper. Don’t just do the external. Make the external symbolic of the internal reality. Cut your heart away from its own excess. Cut your heart off from outside sinful, worldly influences, and separate yourself unto the Lord. The way to escape real wrath is to acknowledge and separate from real evil – the evil of your “doings.” God is not fooled by our “sayings.” Unless we have a cut heart, we will wind up with a conquered heart.
For the people of Judah, they would be literally conquered by their enemies. For you and I, we will be conquered by whatever we love more than God. Our idols may be vanity when it comes to real deliverance, but they can really turn on us viciously once we have totally given ourselves over to them.
Jeremiah 4:9
A heart conquered by God will be set free to flourish and will be given new life. A heart conquered by vanity shall perish: a cut heart or a conquered heart.
The other expectation of someone who is truly repentant is a desire to have a clean heart.
Jeremiah 4:14
Ephesians 5:25-26
The Word of God is a cleansing agent for the heart. Josiah had found the scroll of the Law of God in the Temple, and had instituted some reforms, but, as we’ve seen, outward reforms can sometimes mask inward hypocrisy. It’s good to read the Word of God. It’s better to memorize it. It’s even better to study it. But it has to get past the ears and the surface of the brain, and down into the heart where the real scrubbing needs to occur. Our hearts are not just a little dusty. They are inwardly filthy – apart from Christ.
Jeremiah 4:17
The people had rebelled against God – very intentionally, and very personally.
Jeremiah 4:18
They had done this to themselves. It was wickedness. And it had corrupted their hearts.
Jeremiah 4:19
Sin is not going to be painless. It can hurt us in the conviction, or it can hurt us in the consequences. Jeremiah himself, in a foreshadowing of Christ, felt empathetically the pain which the figuratively corrupt heart inflicts on the literal heart. His internal organs hurt. His heart actually hurt. What kind of noise does a heart make? Thumping! The end was not just near, it was here. Will we have cut hearts? It might hurt, but not as much as a conquered heart. Will we have cleansed hearts? Again, it might hurt, but not as much as the attack, pain, and failure of a corrupted heart.