A Message of Hope
Today's Three-minute Bible Study
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Title:
A Message of Hope ----------------------------- Date: 12/27/1999
Keywords:
"confess" "grace" "pray" "repent"
"restoration"
Welcome to eXXit, the web site designed to help you stand
strong in the face of sexual temptation.
Passage: Jeremiah 32:17-25*
17. "Ah, Sovereign Lord, you have made the heavens and the
earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you.
18. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the
fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose
name is the Lord Almighty,
19. great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are
open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds
deserve.
20. You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have
continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the
renown that is still yours.
21. You bought your people Israel out of Egypt with signs and
wonders, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror.
22. You gave them this land you had sworn to give their forefathers,
a land flowing with milk and honey.
23. They came in and took possession of it, but they did not obey
you or follow your law; they did not do what you commanded them to do. So you brought all
this disaster upon them.
24. "See how the siege ramps are built up to take the city.
Because of the sword, famine and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians
who are attacking it. What you said has happened, as you now see.
25. And thought the city will be handed over to the Babylonians, you
O Sovereign Lord, say to me, 'Buy the field with silver and have the transaction
witnessed.'"
Questions
1. If overcoming porn addiction seems too hard for you, is it also
too hard for God?
2. Are the punishments (consequences) for your sins only for you?
3. What is God's reward system based on?
4. Does God ever change in his ability to do great and miraculous
things?
5. Do God's rewards ever get taken away?
6. Why would God tell Jeremiah to buy a field when all Judah was
about to be swept away by the Babylonians?
Practical help
The end times are near. Whether that is literal, universal and
final, or individual, personal and maybe only temporary, be assured that nothing we see
today is forever. Judah's prosperity melted into captivity. Your comfort and contentment,
which allows you the luxury to indulge in frivolous diversions such as porn, is only for
awhile. The message for today is twofold: 1) whatever we consider a valuable possession
here on earth, whether physical stuff or intangible, will be taken away; 2) whatever will
be taken away will be replaced by things of infinitely greater value, such that the
temporary contentment we feel when we indulge ourselves now will become permanent and
pervasive in God. The field God told Jeremiah to buy was a symbol that God would restore
his people from their destruction. While that restoration is now a historical fact, it was
also temporary, and a permanent restoration still awaits us.
Why do these things happen? Why does God allow destruction, either of an individual, or of
an entire nation? It is because of our sin. We like to think that under grace through
Christ Jesus we are immune to such events, but it isn't so. God sees sin, and he by his
nature can't turn his back on it. Maybe in some instances it seems like he does, but he
ultimately has the last word, and his timing doesn't fit into our schedules and calendars.
The end times are near. The approaching millennial event is a reminder. The message of
hope is that God is unchanging in his might, his power to redeem and reclaim his people,
and his passionate desire to do so. And he has promised you a reward when you turn to him.
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*Scriptures are from The Holy Bible: New International Version © Copyright 1973,
1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. All rights reserved.