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Jeremiah (1-31) 7:25
Comments
‘Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt unto this day I have even sent unto you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them.’ Again the Lord shows how inexcusable they were. God had constantly sent his prophets to one generation after another, yet it was largely to no avail. Only a remnant listened each time, and the next generation learnt nothing from the judgments that came on their parents’ generation. The prophets had carried out their work diligently, and no blame for this situation attached to them. They were like diligent workers who rose early to get into the fields and begin their work. They were men of faith who preached feelingfully, and preached the message with all their hearts.‘Yet they hearkened not unto me,’ – they wouldn't listen; they didn't even want to listen – ‘nor inclined their ear,’ as if they heard a sound some way off, and said, ‘I'm interested in knowing what that sound is.’ They didn't even want to know what the sound was, let alone process the words. ‘But hardened their neck.’ – they heard, as it were, the preacher over there, and they wouldn't even turn their head to listen. They knew they didn’t want to hear this. ‘They did worse than their fathers’ – things grew progressively worse.‘Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.’ How wilful it all is! And Jeremiah is pointing this out in these words. The Lord has told him, ‘Whatever you do, they will not listen’, and he relates to them what God has told him will happen. Do they imagine he is pleading with them? He is. Do they think that they are able to successfully resist his pleas? They are able. But the terrifying truth is that God is hardening their hearts so that they cannot believe, and therefore they can never be saved. If they understood this properly, they would realise it was the most awful message they could hear.‘But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.’ Sin has gone into the centre of their being. It has done its damage, and like a worm, it has eaten the heart out of them, so that they are no longer capable of responding with integrity or speaking truth. What a terrible state to be in!
Application
Some people misunderstand the bondage of the will in the sinner. They say, the sinner cannot repent; total depravity teaches that he lacks the ability to do so. But the Bible doesn't say that. It says the sinner will not repent, and when you come through Jeremiah, you see the theological ‘T’s are all carefully crossed, and the theological ‘I’s are carefully dotted, and all the way through God gives these words to Jeremiah: it is wilful; it is wilful; it is wilful. It is not they cannot; but they will not turn. That is the picture of human sin, and that is why man is held responsible for his unbelief.
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