Our passage today has us looking at the uncompromising nature of God and His Word, and that of the foolish pride of man that refuses to bend to that reality.
Behind God’s uncompromising nature is God’s unchangeableness, what theologians refer to as His immutability. God cannot change who He is.
Scoffers will argue, “Why must we be the ones to bend and compromise. Is your God too proud to compromise? I thought the willingness and ability to compromise was supposed to be a virtue.”
But compromise has to do with opinions and preferences, not truth. And God is ultimate reality. He is true in all His ways. For God to compromise would make Him untrue. It would make God less than God which cannot happen.
Still, our pride insists that if there’s ever to be peace between us and God, God must be the One who compromises because we sure aren’t going to. In fact, the thing our flesh detest most about God is His immutability. Why? Because it automatically puts our desire to call all the shots, our desire for unbridled autonomy, in opposition to God Himself. And we despise those in opposition towards us. It makes us enemies! That’s what an enemy is.
We’ll work through this great dilemma as our series unfolds. Today, we’ll simply look at what God’s uncompromising nature does and does not mean.
Since God is uncompromising, then so is His Word. God’s Word is unchanging. All flesh will perish like grass, but the Word of the Lord… endures forever. Or as Jesus says, Heaven and earth will pass away, but … my words will not pass away.
From the very beginning, even before the Fall, God’s Word was, Trust Me. Heed My voice and you will live in My blessing. That blessing, which we covered over the past several weeks is communion… fellowship… Sabbath rest with our Creator. BUT! Fail to trust Me, disregard My Word, and you will surely die, being exiled from My very presence.
That was the Word before the Fall, and that’s the same Word post-Fall. O it takes various expressions based on where we find ourselves in history. But the meaning is the same. For example, on this side of the Fall, God’s Word is expressed in His calling us to repentance. But realize, it’s the same uncompromising Word that calls us to trust the Lord. Heed His voice and live OR continue in rebellion and perish.
But don’t take uncompromising to mean that there’s not an aspect of contingency in certain expressions of God’s Word, specifically God’s words of promise and His words of warning.
Notice the contingency in verse 3. It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.
Perhaps your heart has been hardened to the commands of God because they interfere with how you feel things ought to be or ought to have been. Let me just say, the one in error is you. God’s Word is given right now that you might listen and return to Him.
Also, notice what the Lord requires of Jeremiah. Verse 2. Speak all the words that I command you to speak. Do not hold back a single word. Why? Because it’s God’s full counsel that is designed to sway hearts.
So many are out there, whether in pulpits or in the breakroom, whether on your neighbor’s front lawn or online, who think they are sharing the gospel when they never get beyond the most palatable aspects of the gospel. And if your version of the gospel isn’t both bitter and sweet, offensive and hope-filled, you haven’t shared the gospel, because the gospel is indeed bitter and offensive to most! Why? Because they refuse to repent! But for those God has awakened by His Spirit, the gospel is the sweetest most hope-filled message that there is.
We don’t determine what part of the gospel is appropriate. We're to share the full message, the whole counsel of God, as Paul says. Don’t hold back a Word! Because it’s the entirety of the message that’s meant to bring about repentance.
If you know that your every breath is in God’s hands, that the number of your days depends not on what mere men might do to you, that the One who numbers the hairs on your head and that even should you be put to death by the sword, not a hair on your head shall ultimately perish, you can stand bold and secure on God’s Word. And you’ll find yourself far less likely to compromise in both Life or Word.
O there’ll be lapses of faith along the way. But that’s why we remind ourselves of these truths now, applying God’s uncompromising Word around the strategy board now, so that when we’re on the battlefield we’ll be prepared and able to recall our only line of defense, which is not fleeing from worldly fears, but fleeing to the refuge of God Himself.
Decide this day who you will serve… so that you find yourself tomorrow… an uncompromising servant of the Lord.
Негізгі бет Jeremiah 26 The Uncompromising Servant of the Lord
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