ly, and hearkened not unto thy commandemtns, but sinned against thy judgements, (which if a man do, he shall live in them;) and with drew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear."In the midst of this confession is this verse. Before and after is the detailed account of their folly and sin. And testifiedst against them - the proclamation of the truth from God unto the people; The Lord bears His testimony unto the peopel. He does not lie, and His ways are marvellous. He declares what shall be, what is and what has been. And when God testifies against a people, they are found in sin and their sin will find them out. He speaks the word against them for their sin has provoked Him and He being just will answer. that thou mightest bring them again unto thy law - God's true desire is for restoration and righteousness; It is not the Lord's desire to destroy the people but to see them follow as obedient people. He makes and causes the way to open for His people to return with all their heart. The restoration plan is found within the Word of God. Here is the law laid out; we are in sin and need a Savior; we are disobedient and no good can come of it; we are helpless without the Helper; we find His promsies, "Seek Me with all your heart and ye shall find Me." Here is the law of the Lord, walk in it. Stay on the straight and narrow way that leads to eternal life in Him. The law is published, declared and proven. don't be a part of those that are lawbreakers. For when you break the law there is a price to pay, judgment, justice and punisment must come. 'Thy law was found and I did meditate in it, day and night'. Knows the Word of God and think upon these things in relationship to your life. See the hand of God leading and directing you to spiritaul things. All these things are found in the law of the Lord. Yet they dealt proudly - the confession of the sins of the people; When a soul or a people lift themselves up to be something, they will quicly and painfully learn they are nothing. Pride is at the root of so many others sins. We refuse to humble ourselves in His holy Presence. Pride comes before the fall; why must we always learn the lessons of life the hard way, when He has made a right way for us? The hardening of ourselves against His ways, thinking that we know better. HEre is found the sin of pride, rooted in self. Put away the pride and humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will honor such a heart. But if these people will not humble themselves then God will humble us. and hearkened not unto thy commandments - they turned their ear away from the truth and refused to listen; The old saying, 'Hearing is not listening'. They are vastly different; I believe that there are many in this land that have heard the Gospel, but they have not listened to the ways of salvation. The prophets, preachers and teachers declared the counsel fo God, but the choice is whether the people gave ear unto the things being declared. God will make sure His commands are spoken and declared. We are left with the choice of listening or disregarding. The sin of purposely turning a deaf ear to the commands of God is to chose evil or good; sin over salvation and asking for pain and sorrow. It is almost as if the people beg for punishment because of their intentional turning away from His commands. How foolish of man, and wisdom is no where to be found. When a people fall, when a soul sins, it is found in this one truth, 'they would not hearken unto His commands and chose their own way. God will answer such folly of any. But sinned against thy judgements - the disobedience of not hearkening unto His commands leads to sin in His ways; They chose to sin and disobey and His judgments they were perverted and refused. This is the consistent way of man throughout the generations. It is the progressive slide away from the Lord when they chose sin over holiness, disobedience to obedience. The judgements of the Lord are right and good, walk in them, know them and adhere to them. To those that chose to defy and disobey, know that their sin shall find them out. We have no ability within our own selves, sin is ever the destroyer of our soul and life. SEek His judgments and find the way of peace and wholeness in Him. (Which if a man do, he shall live in them;) - the verdict passed on to a man that what he chooses to do in his heart, his life will be a reflection of it; No man can say that 'he is good and produce evil fruit'. Neither can a person say, 'They are evil and prodcue good fruit. For with what fruite you produce that is your nature.' We are in this generaion messed up over simple logic. You cannot get an apple from an orange tree. They do not exist together. The man that sins in the judgements of God cannot be righteous and pure. Neither to him that chooses to do right, can he produce evil ways. You produce exactly what is in the core of your soul and heart. And out of that comes the fruit of our life. Jesus said, 'Out of the heart proceedeth the evil things'. If he chooses to do the judgements of the Lord, he will find goodness all his days. And the only way to do this is to abide in Christ and this is the way of his life. Your living your life, which way are you living it? what is proceeding from your heart? What are you doing with your days? and withdrew the shoulder, and hardened their neck, and would not hear - the heart that turns away and openly defies the Lord and will not listen to the Lord; Having ears to hear and cannot hear. Here we find the one that has hardened themselves against the Lord God Almighty. the fool hath said in his heart there is no God; this one that withdreew the shoulder is not far from foolishness. And both alike will find themselves in hell for such rebellion against God. This one that openly and unashamedly defies the Lord God's judgements and commands and choses his own way of life to settle into sin. What shall we say of this generation? Are they not far from this veryt verdict? Have we not seen the hardness, deaf hearing and pulling away from anything that might be good? And what shall we say of the church? Has she not fallen in like manner? How many have got out from us, who were not of us? They were of this make up and followed the piped pipers chorus into hell. They have sold their soul for a few moments of sensual pleasure and forgotten the one truth of all mankind, 'Eternity is coming'. this life may endure a short few years, but eternity is forever. Then what good does it do to withdraw the shoulder, harden their neck and close their ears from hearing. It leaves them wayward away from Him, the source of eternal life. They will cry out for all eternity, and lament, for that which might have been but never was. How horrible the plight of such fools as they are tortured forever for their own sinfulness and neglect of the Lord and His right ways.
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