JULY 20, 2023
“Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.” (Jeremiah 2:19)
It should not be a foreign concept that our own sins bring upon us our own destruction, but not all have this knowledge. Even though it is written on their hearts and their experience declares this constantly, their understanding is darkened, and they stand utterly deceived. Many cast the blame on God, as if God somehow takes delight in the death of men. But we have come to know better because we have been instructed by God Himself through His Word!
Notice two words that God declared unto apostate Israel in our text: “know and see.” While there may be pleasure in sin for a moment, the apostate is always in need to “know and see” the evil and bitterness that flows out of sin. He has momentary knowledge of some pleasure while he is sinning, but immediately following there is a deeper knowledge of sin’s bite. This “knowing” and “seeing” is the intimate knowledge that the sinner receives. It is the friend he chooses and this friend bites and devours. When one apostatizes, he makes himself an enemy of God and chooses the enemy of his own soul as his dearest friend. He does not come to know a friend that is closer than a brother, but a monster masquerading as a friend.
This is not God’s choice for any sinner. Rather, God reveals Himself unto us through His Word so that He may be our intimate knowledge. He has revealed Himself through the incarnated Word and declares that He is the God of redemption. Everlasting life is to know the True and Living God and His Holy Son that He has sent. It is God alone who promises everlasting life, which He gives to all who repent of their sins and casts themselves upon God. He delights in showing mercy over judgment. If one does not come to this intimate knowledge of God, and find himself growing in this knowledge, it is because he prefers sin’s friendship over the Lord’s.
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