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INTENTIONAL CHRISTIANITY
PROTECT LIFE

Jeremiah 19:3-6
“…and say, `Hear the word of the LORD, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Listen! I am going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle. For they have forsaken me and made this a place of foreign gods; they have burned sacrifices in it to gods that neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah ever knew, and they have filled this place with the blood of the innocent. They have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as offerings to Baal--something I did not command or mention, nor did it enter my mind. So beware, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when people will no longer call this place Topheth or the Valley of Ben Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.” (NIV)
1) Does anyone or any nation ever get away with sin? Read Job 9:15; Job 21:22; Psalms 9:8; Psalms 110:1-6.
2) List the specific sins that God's people were committing that would bring on such swift and terrible judgment.
3) List the moral equivalent of these sins in today's society.
4) God promises to turn the place called Topheth which means "fireplace" (this is the place where the Israelites became guilty of sacrificing their children to foreign gods--burning them alive) to the Valley of Slaughter--a place of worse judgment. The horror that Jeremiah predicted actually took place during two seizes--by the Babylonians, under rule of Nebuchadnezzar in 586 B.C. and by Titus in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed in Jerusalem (See Jesus' prediction in Matthew 24:1-2). During the seize of the Babylonians the people actually became cannibals, eating their own children because the food supply was so scarce. It seems that God judgment brought a worse sin upon their souls. You can be sure that this prophecy of God's judgment made "the ears ring of those who heard it!" Have you witnessed evidence of this same type of judgment taking place in the world today?
Jeremiah 33:6-9
“Nevertheless, I will bring health and healing to it; I will heal my people and will let them enjoy abundant peace and security. I will bring Judah and Israel back from captivity and will rebuild them as they were before. I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me. Then this city will bring me renown, joy, praise and honor before all nations on earth that hear of all the good things I do for it; and they will be in awe and will tremble at the abundant prosperity and peace I provide for it.” (NIV)
1) Above we see where God has rendered judgment. Yet, here, just a few chapters later, God promises to restore and forgive His people. What does this reveal to you of the heart of God? Is there any sin too great that God cannot forgive?
2) What part was required by Israel to receive this gift of God's grace. How does this encourage us today?
Romans 8:1-4
1) “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.”
1) No condemnation in Christ Jesus! Yeah! What was the requirement of the law of Moses and why could the law not save us?
2) When did God put into effect His plan to save us? (See Revelation 13:8).
3) Why do you suppose that while God forgives us of all our sins, He sometimes allows us to suffer the consequences of our sin?
Exodus 1:15-20
“The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?" The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive." So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.” (NIV)
1) What was Pharaoh's intent in trying to kill off the Hebrew boy babies? Read Genesis 3:15. This is God's promise to Adam and Eve of a coming Savior. With that in mind, who do you think was really behind Pharaoh's decision and for what purpose?
2) Although Pharaoh was very powerful and quite ruthless, who does Scripture clearly show that the midwives feared.
3) What is meant by the word "feared?"
4) How does our fear of the Almighty motivate us to stand against the evil in this world?
Jeremiah 1:4-8
“The word of the LORD came to me, saying, "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations." "Ah, Sovereign LORD," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the LORD said to me, "Do not say, `I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the LORD” (NIV)
1) God reveals to Jeremiah that He has always known him and that He has always had a plan for his life, even before he was born. Were these words meant just for Jeremiah or is God screaming these words out to all human life, including your own. How do you respond to the fact that God knows you? Oh, I pray that you realize how very precious you are in His sight!
2) What do these verses tell us about how God values human life?
3) Verse 8 gives us a precious promise. What is it? You will find this promise repeated over and over in Scripture. "I will never leave you nor forsake you!" How are these words meant to encourage us? Who do these words point us to and away from? Oh, remember Peter in Mathew 14:25-31!