THE COST OF UNFAITHFULNESS
Jeremiah 22:3
This is what the Lord says: "Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from his oppressor. Don’t exploit or brutalize the resident alien, the fatherless, or the widow. Don’t shed innocent blood in this place...(vs 5) But if you do not obey these words, then I swear by myself—this is the Lord’s declaration—that this house will become a ruin."
The Lord is with the person of faith, and their enemies will not prevail against them for his blessings are upon them. And the God of angel armies protects them, keeping safe for them the establishment of their salvation.
And in response?
They build up high places to idols, and to foreign gods. They destroy their unborn children as an offerings to their idols. They practice all sorts devilry's and rituals to make themselves feel better about themselves. They fill the places of worship with the semblance of holiness and they practice idolatry and unrighteousness in all their ways.
This is what the Lord says about that:
“Go, buy a potter’s clay jar...shatter the jar in the presence of the people...I will shatter these people and this city, like one shatters a potter’s jar that can never again be mended."
Jeremiah 19
It's the cost of unrighteousness. Destruction. A broken covenant, a broken promise, results in a broken heart. God's broken heart. And what follows is justice and judgement. The people could not resist temptation and so they turned and rebelled against their God. And they brought on his wrath.
In the world of today, in the venacular of this age people would say, these rebellious people "f'd around and found out". They ignored the prophets. They refused to listen to the gospel. They told themselves that God doesn't speak through people. They debated like politicians against the prophets, teachers and preachers. They rejected the witnesses testimonies, and the retelling guided by the work of the Holy Spirit throughout the ages. Instead they invented their own stories and their own theories, and built their own gods. And THIS is the unforgivable sin. In this rebellious era they have blasphemed the Holy Spirit.
WHAT'S TO BE DONE?
To enter into the world of righteousness you must encounter Jesus Christ. You must stand on His holy ground, and you must accept the work of His Holy Spirit. I say this because he said it.
John 3:5
Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
"whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty again. In fact, the water I will give him will become a well of water springing up in him for eternal life.”
John 4:14
John 7:37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him.)
And so the promise from God:
For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
Thats faithfulness.
Okay so now back to the story in Jeremiah and the broken jar. Does it make more sense now this shattering of the clay jar? The people were made from the Earth. This is what the good book says about the creation of man that they were made from the clay of the Earth. Just like that jar. And their lack of faith, their idolatry, their false gods, resulted in them being shattered, destroyed forever, unrepairable. Why...why was it unrepairable? Because their vessel could no longer hold the living water. They had blasphemed the Holy Spirit. They had shattered themselves, and can no longer hold the holy living water.
Hear the words of the prophets and of the Messiah. Listen to their words. Trust in their testimony. And love the Lord with all your heart, mind, spirit and strength. Do this so that you will not be shattered. Remain faithful in this, and you will have the gift of eternal life. Do this and become living water.