The Consequence Of Sin

The consequences of Sin

Jeremiah chapter 19:1-19:13

Introduction-

This morning I would like for you to turn to Jeremiah chapter 19:1-19:13.

We are going to look at the prophet Jeremiah and what God told him to tell the people of Israel.

Jeremiah was a young prophet that watched as the chosen people of God continued to rebel against God, continued to do things that he knew would bring God’s judgment down upon them.

If you are familiar with the book of Jeremiah, in chapter 18 Jeremiah was told by God to go down to the potters house and watch him at the potter’s wheel create fine clay pots.

Jeremiah 18:2

“Go down to the potter’s house and there I will give you my message. So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot that he was shaping from the clay was marred in His hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then the word of the Lord came to me; O house of Israel, can I not do so with you as this potter does?”

Jeremiah had an assignment, it was a hard assignment-

Go to the people of Israel, remind them as people of God that God had the right to mold them and shape them as He saw fit, and that if they didn’t listen that judgment would come harshly to them.

I want you to see something, God is using Jeremiah to warn Israel, for their rebellion, and the consequence of judgment was coming.

Even though this is directly issued to Israel, we can apply the principal today that rebellion to God will being consequences to those that rebel.

Jeremiah chapter 19:1-19:13 read from Bible

There is something important I need you to grasp unto this morning.

This seems like a harsh, harsh way of communicating His words to the people of God.

You must take them in context to understand the harsh words, and to understand that there are some things that has not changed for us living today.

Context was that if Israel did not turn back to God that Judah and Jerusalem would be taken over by heathen nations.

He calls for the elders and leaders to hear Jeremiah warning and to listen and then repent.

He tells them that if they continue practices that are not of God , consequences will happen.

Foreign Gods, forsaking and forgetting God, idol worship, shedding of innocent blood, human sacrifices to Baal.

He even talks about eating the flesh of sons and daughters – That is harsh and unimaginable, but God is saying that the takeover of Jerusalem will be so hard and so bad that the Babylonians who had practiced cannibalism and the siege so severe that people will be doing the unimaginable.

Some say that I cannot imagine God doing such a thing or allowing such a thing to happen. God did not do it, God was warning and warning us even today that we need to repent and come back to Him.

There are 2 principals today that we need to take deep into our hearts.

One principal is that God loves you and God loves me.

There is nothing He would not do for us, it is why he sent Jesus to be our redeemer.

He loves us, He sent Jesus, by our rejection of Jesus does not mean He loves us any less, but by rejecting Jesus, we choose to move away from His love.

The nation of Israel had a choice to repent and turn back to God or face the consequences of not following God.

The second principal is that God is a Holy God-

Because He loves us, he provided away of salvation.

He offered to Israel his love as they moved toward him and consequences if they did not.

The Holiness of God is this- He cannot tolerate sin, a holy God cannot take a blind eye to sin and rebellion, it must be dealt with.

It is the character of God that does not change.

God’s love for us does not change.

God’s holiness does not change.

God cannot lie, but will do what He has said that He will do.

There is consequences for our disobedience and our actions.

We love to grasp the love of God, that He would not do anything to harm us., but we have a hard time grasping that His holiness and that sin can only be covered by Christ atonement on the cross.

I have sat with people where a loved one has died and they say that “so and so “ was not religious, did not go to church, their lives did not show any kind of relationship with God, yet…I have a peace that they are in heaven. “So and so” rejected God his/her whole life by choice, God will not force them to do something that they did not want to do.