Jeremiah 11:4 - Obey God Abiding In Him And He Will Abide In You.
Jer.11:4: Obey God And He Will Abide In You and You In Him.
CONTENT; What's in the verse; Translations; Paraphrase; Word
Study:
Jeremiah 11:4 (NIV) the terms I commanded your forefathers when
I brought them out of Egypt, out of the iron-smelting furnace.' I
said, 'Obey me and do everything I command you, and you will be my
people, and I will be your God.
Jeremiah 11:4 (CWR) These are the same terms I gave to your
ancestors when I first brought them out of Egypt, the place that was like
an oven to them. I said, 'Obey and do the things I ask you to do,
and you will be my people and I will be your God.' And they agreed.
Iron furnace. Figure, denoting the harsh servitude of Israel in
Egypt, [SDA Commentary]
CONTEXT; What's around the verse; Overview; Topic:
Overview
Jeremiah announced Judah's punishment for breaking her covenant
with God (11:1-17). Jeremiah's life was threatened, and God responded
to the angry prophet's appeal (v. 18-12:17). Jeremiah delivered
five symbolic warnings (13:1-27) to a people who "greatly love to
wander" (14:1-15), and then graphically portrayed the coming disaster
(v. 16-15:9). But the prophet, who bore God's name, would be kept
safe (vv. 10-21). [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
SECTION HEADINGS
The Broken Covenant (11:1-23)
The Terms of This Covenant (11:1-14)
CROSS REFERENCES; What's in verses elsewhere.
Deut. 28:1 (KJV) And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt
hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to
do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the
Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:
1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV) And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of
the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken
than the fat of rams.
Isaiah 48:10 (KJV) Behold, I have refined thee, but not with
silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction.
Jeremiah 7:22-23 (KJV) For I spake not unto your fathers, nor
commanded them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt,
concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices: [23] But this thing commanded I
them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and ye shall be
my people: and walk ye in all the ways that I have commanded you,
that it may be well unto you.
Jeremiah 24:7 (KJV) And I will give them an heart to know me,
that I am the Lord: and they shall be my people, and I will be their
God: for they shall return unto me with their whole heart.
Jeremiah 31:31-33 (KJV) Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with
the house of Judah: [32] Not according to the covenant that I made
with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although
I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: [33] But this shall be
the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those
days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and
write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my
people.
Ezekiel 37:23 (KJV) Neither shall they defile themselves any
more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any
of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their
dwellingplaces, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they
be my people, and I will be their God.
Matthew 28:20 (KJV) Teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto
the end of the world. Amen.
Hebrews 5:9 (KJV) And being made perfect, he became the author
of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;
Hebrews 8:10 (KJV) For this is the covenant that I will make
with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put
my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will
be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
COMMENTARY / APPLICATION: Moving From The Head To The Heart
What is God teaching here? What does it teach about Jesus?
Most believe this sermon was delivered during the reign of
Josiah, just after the lost Law of the LORD had been rediscovered in the
temple. Despite Josiah's active efforts at reform, the Prophet Jeremiah
was called to remind Judah of the terms of her ancient covenant with
God. If the people obeyed wholeheartedly, God said, "I will fulfill
the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing
with milk and honey." But Jeremiah was also told to confront. God
knew that the house of Judah had "broken the covenant I made with
their forefathers," and that their towns were filled with pagan idols.
Because of the broken covenant the LORD had "decreed disaster for you."
[The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
God's covenant leaves people two choices--blessings or cursings
(Dt 27:12-28:68). To accept God's covenant is to commit oneself to
obey God. This does not represent a way of earning salvation through
good works. It represents the reality of spiritual life. God acted in
love and grace to make the covenant relationship possible (Ge 17; Ex
19-24; Jer 11:4-5). Accepting the covenant is not earning salvation. It
is committing oneself to God and His way of life, a way that leads
to blessing. Sin is a rebellion against the relationship, the
choice of another way of life, a way leading to curse. The passage
indicates the abiding nature of the covenant. God has not forgotten His
people or His covenant with them. God expects His people to obey the
commands of the covenant and to live in fellowship with Him. [Disciple
SB]
God is waiting to do wonderful things for those who simply trust
and obey him. When we decide to reject God's program, we
automatically choose the world's rules for life and the consequences that
accompany them. The world will always hand us disappointment in the long
run. God promises that wonderful things will be ours when we decide
to obey him. [Life Recovery SB]
God gave his people the terms for their restoration: he asked
for their obedience. We can see from this passage that God already
knew that they would refuse to repent. They had enjoyed their
father's sins and preferred idols to the true God. We may consider God's
price too high and the reward too delayed for giving up the pleasures
of our sin. When this is our attitude, we will reap a harvest of
suffering when the time is ripe. Keeping the long view in mind helps us to
choose God's way. [Life Recovery SB]
God would bring disaster on Israel if they did not repent; He
would refuse to hear their prayers and let foreigners invade who would
kill and exile many. God granted the Israelites an opportunity to
acknowledge their sin and repent.... God's demands are not unreasonable. He
does not destroy us every time we sin. He shows patience with our
human frailty, but he cannot tolerate repeated, rebellious sin.
[Inspirational SB]
Jeremiah was told, "Do not pray for this people" (v. 14). For
them it was too late. It's not too late for us. But our commitment
must be more than settling comfortably into some Sunday pew, and
putting our dollars in the offering plate. Only complete moral and
spiritual commitment are appropriate to our own covenant relationship with
God in Christ. [The 365-Day Devotional Commentary]
Moses, the servant of God, and Samuel, the first prophet in
Israel. What do these two great men of the Old Testament have in common?
The answer may shock and disturb you. God declared that their
combined prayers would not be sufficient to avert the disaster soon to
come upon rebellious Judah (15:1). [Your Daily Walk SB]
Prayer becomes useless for a people who forget they made a
covenant to obey God and who ignore the lessons of judgment from history.
Faithfulness to the one God is the first lesson of history. Judgment is the
only other option. [Disciple SB]
God sees, hears and knows everything - including our prayers.
Nothing escapes his attention. Why then did God say he would not listen
to the people's cries for help? There are several possible
reasons.
In this case, God did not respond because judgment was
unavoidable. Judah had disobeyed God's laws and ignored his pleas for so long
that judgment was, in effect, already on the way. Their cries were
too little, too late. God even told Jeremiah not to pray for the
people (11:14; 14:11-12) - that not even Moses and Samuel could have
persuaded him to offer further compassion to them (15:1).
It's also possible that people sometimes sabotage their own
prayers. The Bible mentions several attitudes and actions that can
short-circuit our prayers: sin (Deut. 1:45; Psalm 66:18; Isaiah 59:2; Jer.
14:10-12), disobedience (Prov. 28:9), hypocrisy and insincerity (Isaiah
29:13; Mal. 1:7-9), wrong motives (Matt. 6:5-6; Luke 18:11-14; James
4:3), lack of faith (Heb. 11:6; James 1:6) and even marital problems
(1 Peter 3:7).
Finally, what sometimes appears to be no answer to prayer may
actually be a delayed answer (Daniel 10:12-13). Other times God may deny
our request in order to give us something better than what we knew
to ask for. [Quest SB]
There is a time to pray ... to repent ... to come to God on your
knees. But there is coming a day when it will be too late to pray - for
yourself or another.
Today you have the freedom to seek God or to avoid Him, to
acknowledge your need or to sidestep the issue. Today many people may be
praying for you: your spouse, children, parents, friends, minister. And
you may choose to scoff at those prayers. But the alternative to
getting right with God is getting left - waking up to a day in which
even Moses and Samuel could not move God in prayer on your behalf.
Isaiah 55:6 states, "Seek ... the Lord while he may be found."
And when you obey that command, you'll find a wonderful promise
waiting for you in Hebrews 11:6! [Your Daily Walk SB]
Have I ever come to a place in my experience where I can say -
"I indeed - but He"? Until that moment does come, I will never know
what the baptism of the Holy Ghost means. I indeed am at an end, I
cannot do a thing: but He begins just there - He does the thing no one
else can ever do. Am I prepared for His coming?... It is just there
that He comes. Wherever I know I am unclean, He will put His feet:
Wherever I think I am clean, He will withdraw them.... When I repent, I
realize that I am utterly helpless; I know all through me that I am not
worthy even to bear His shoes. Have I repented like that? Or is there a
lingering suggestion of standing up for myself? The reason God cannot come
into my life is because I am not through into repentance. "He shall
baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire." John does not speak of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost as an experience, but as a work performed by
Jesus Christ. "He shall baptize you." (From My Utmost for His Highest
by Oswald Chambers) [Inspirational SB]
Think back over the last seven days and count up the number of
people you have talked to in that period of time: family members,
fellow employees, classmates, friends, neighbors, service people, shop
clerks. Don't forget those you spoke to by phone or letter, over a cup
of coffee or over the back fence.
Now subtract the number of those who are already Christians. How
many are left? Five, ten, twenty, or more? That represents the number
of opportunities you have each week to offer hope, encouragement,
and a word of witness to a lost world.
Jeremiah's "hiding" of the linen cloth quickly spoiled its
usefulness. In much the same way you may be "hiding" yourself and - like
Judah - are in danger of becoming spoiled and useless. Muscles that
are never used soon atrophy and weaken; the same is true for
spiritual muscles. The only known cure is exercise and plenty of it! Is it
time for you to "come out of hiding" and get some exercise in the
work of the Lord? Drop by your Christian bookstore and pick up a few
gospel tracts. Then look for - and seize - a few of these opportunities
to tell your world about God's Good News this week. [Daily Walk
Bible]
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