Scripture
“King Manasseh of Judah has done many detestable things. He is even more wicked than the Amorites, who lived in this land before Israel.
~2 Kings 21:11, NLT
Quote
Christ died for men precisely because men are not worth dying for; to make them worth it.
~C.S. Lewis
I am grateful to the late Dr. George Twenty. He gave me a book many, many years ago entitled THE SEARCH FOR SIGNIFICANCE by Robert S. McGee. I learned from this book that my significance is wrapped up in the death of Christ on the cross. It was His life and sacrifice that determined my significance. If He being God, died for me, that gives me worth; that in itself makes me important. So it really does not matter what others think of me; it is what Christ thinks of me that gives me a sense of self-worth.
I am reading through Jeremiah and Ezekiel in the TLB. Ezekiel tells the rebellious Israelites {Jews}, “If Noah, Daniel and Job were living today and interceding for you, I would not save you.” These three men were great intercessors and we have two who are even greater… Christ is our High Priest in heaven {Heb. 9:11} and the Holy Spirit our High Priest in our heart {Rom. 8:26}. Our prayers begin with the Spirit’s help and they end with Jesus intercession there at the throne of God. I share this point and the one above as an extra but the text today is a different matter; it is about the exceeding wickedness of the Jews. Morally, they became more degenerate than the Amorites who occupied the land of Canaan before them. The Amorites were vile and godless people. They worshiped idols and practiced human sacrifice. It is so hard to believe that the Israelites got lured into this abhorrent practice but they did and Solomon is the very person who got the ball rolling. The sad fact is– the Israelites refused to change. There were some REVIVALS under Hezekiah and Josiah but it was superficial. They continued to worship idols and commit the atrocious sins of the Amorites. In Jeremiah’s day, on the eve of God’s judgment, the Jews found it hard to believe that God would use the Babylonians to judge anyone because they were arrogant heathens. They too were idol worshipers; just more educated and refined than the Amorites. The Amorites were savages. But the Jews were still sacrificing babies and worshiping idols themselves.
No one can accuse God of being unfair or unjust: He warned these hard headed Jews over and over but they refused to listen and they refused to change. The next time you read the major prophets, underline the oft repeated phrase, they refused to listen. Just go to BLB and type in “not listen,” and see how many entries pop up from Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. This is why Ezekiel told them: it doesn’t matter who you get to pray for you…God’s judgment will not be averted. It is easy to see the faults of the Jews since they are recorded in the sacred scriptures but what about our sins? Do you think we can brutally murder and sacrifice almost 50,000,000 innocent babies and not be held accountable? What about Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore: all professing Christians and members of a SBC church {I am certainly not proud to confess this fact} and what about all the dupes who have voted for men like them? Do you really think God will give them a free pass because they were afraid they would lose their government entitlement if they voted pro-life? I tell you “Nay, but except we all repent, we likewise will perish.”
A beautiful day yesterday and I got pressured into doing something I had not intended to do; not just yet anyway. I am running out of time. I have more projects than I have days of the week. I have no idea what will happen today but I need to study.
HAVE A GREAT DAY AND WEEKEND!