Check Your Direction - Jeremiah 30 - 34

The first eighteen years of my life were at home, on the bank of Raft Creek on the east side of a wilderness that was several miles wide and even longer; about 120 square miles where only one house and one old miser lived alone. Many times hunters would get lost and need help to find their way out of the woods. I was an avid hunter, and at an early age, when an experienced woodsman taught me how to find my direction while I was in the Raft Creek Bottoms. At the age of accountability, I became lost in the wilderness of sin and my Christian parents taught me how to find my way out. At age twenty-two, I finally used their advice, checked my direction, and found the way home, by way of the Cross. My compass that never fails was the Word of God. Have you CHECKED YOUR DIRECTION lately.

Under the Old Covenant, God sometimes appeared to man in a vision, dream, or even in a personal audible voice. He chose His leaders like Moses, Jeremiah, Nehemiah, and King David and sent them to His people to warn them of danger, to give them directions to live by, and even to lead them into the Promised Land. Some listened, obeyed and were blessed; but some refused to follow His leadership and suffered as did Judah in its Babylonian captivity. However, under the New Covenant, each individual has the responsibility of finding his own way. Our highway map is the Holly Bible and our counselor is the Holly Spirit. We were created with a soul; and an inner spirit that causes man to seek a higher power. There are many gods, but only one omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, and sovereign God—He is in three persons; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holly Spirit.

Man must personally choose his destination; it will be either Heaven or hell. The bible says there are two roads, one wide and one narrow. The road to hell is wide and well marked along the way with signs that are easy to read and many will travel this way. The road to heaven is narrow and the only signs you will have is the bible, and sadly, only a few will travel this road. We have the individual responsibility of finding our own way, and that is why we need to CHECK OUR DIRECTION.

For the past seventy years the Jewish people have been in bondage, and as God had promised they are now returning home. In chapter 31 he told them to: “Set up road signs; put up guideposts. Take note of the highway, the road that you take. Return, O Virgin Israel, return to your towns.” Then He asked them; “How long will you wander, O unfaithful daughter?” They needed to check their direction to make sure they all followed the right road back to Jerusalem.

In verse 27 God said: “The days are coming when I will plant the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the offspring of men and of animals. Just as I watched over them to uproot and tear down, and to overthrow, destroy and bring disaster, so I will watch over them to build and to plant.

Then in verse 31-34 the Lord declared: “The time is coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant though I was a husband to them.

This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time; I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. No longer will a man teach his neighbor, or a man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ because they will all know me, from the least to the greatest, for I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more.”

The people in the days of Jeremiah learned that there would be a new covenant, and the news traveled down through time until John The Baptist came preaching that there was One coming soon who would save man from his sin. The new covenant was born in a manger in Bethlehem.

From the first day of Christ’s ministry until his ascension back to Heaven, He dealt with the minds and hearts of the people. He explained who he was, and proclaimed his mission to seek and save the lost, and expected people to understand with their minds. He proved himself by his actions, his miracles, and caring nature and expected people to accept Him into their hearts as Savior and Lord. This transformation is possible only when each individual experiences a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and for this reason we are personally responsible and must CHECK OUR DIRECTION.

The word “sin” must be the ugliest word in Webster’s dictionary. We don’t like to hear about it and ministers don’t enjoy preaching about it. There are so many sins that it is impossible for us to name them here, but for those who have studied the Word—God has provided a red flag that pops up, like a road sign in our minds and hearts, as our warning. We all have sinned and come short of God’s glory, but he is faithful and just and will forgive all who will repent and call on Him for forgiveness. However, there is one sin that will not be forgiven and that is the sin of personally rejecting Jesus Christ as Lord. There is no neutral zone; you have either “accepted Him” or you are “rejecting” Him. What choice have you made?