Assemble Yourselves!

 

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word:

 

As I trudge my way through the Scriptures chapter by chapter, I found myself in Jeremiah chapter 4 and I am led to share portions of it with you today. As a little backdrop, Jeremiah has been charged with giving warning to Judah for God’s impending judgment on them for their turning away from the Lord. One thing God consistently does in Scripture is warn of impending judgment! Let’s pick it up in Jeremiah 4:1:

 

Jer 4:1 "If you will return, O Israel," says the LORD, "Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, Then you shall not be moved. 2 And you shall swear, 'The LORD lives,' In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory."

 

In these first two verses He calls His people to repentance.

 

Then in verses 3 and 4, He says, “Let  My Word, plow deep into your heart! Let My Law break up the hardness of your heart and prepare it for the seed of the gospel! Do not sow among thorns.” In other words, come out of the world don’t let the cares and concerns of this world choke out my Word!

 

3 For thus says the LORD to the men of Judah and Jerusalem: "Break up your fallow ground, And do not sow among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts, You men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, Lest My fury come forth like fire, And burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings."

 

And finally, as HE warned His OT church then, He warns us now in similar fashion! He says:

 

 5 Declare in Judah and proclaim in Jerusalem, and say: "Blow the trumpet in the land; Cry, 'Gather together,' And say, 'Assemble yourselves, And let us go into the fortified cities.' 6 Set up the standard toward Zion. Take refuge! Do not delay! For I will bring disaster from the north, And great destruction."

 

This portion of Jeremiah, speaks directly to His church in Jeremiah’s day, it should remind us of God’s similar warning to the church today found in Heb 10:24,25!

 

Heb 10:24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works,  25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.

 

 

Friend, the Day is approaching, observe the cold-hearted acts of men we read of every day, and note what Jesus said about the last days: Mt 24:12 "And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.

 

This call to the assembly is not about attending a worship service…it’s more than that. It’s a faithful proclamation of the Law and Gospel in the assembly, and a continual call to come out of the ways of the world, and a challenge to spur one another on to acts of love and good works for one another.

 

Time is running out. There is a world of lawlessness out there. People are dying and hellbound and looking for answers. Let us show them the way with the faithful proclamation of the truth of the Scriptures, and a genuine love for each other. Jesus didn’t say the world will know we are His disciples by our church attendance, He said the world will know we are His disciples by our love for one another! (Joh 13:35)

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I’m Duane Matz and that’s Today’s Living Word.