Title: God Seeking People
Contents
♡♥♡ God is looking for people / Jeremiah 5:1-6
***Introduction
Many religions in the world take the form of ‘man seeking God’. In other words, it was created out of human needs. However, the Bible says that the ‘event of God’s search for man’ is the history of mankind. So, 'faith in God' means 'answering God's seeking' and 'answering God's questions'.
After Adam and Eve broke the covenant with God and ate the forbidden fruit, they hid themselves from God in fear. Then God called them. “Adam, where are you?” Adam responds, "I heard the voice of God in the garden, and I was afraid and hid because I was naked." In this way, faith consists of ‘God’s question and man’s answer’. God's questions are given through His Word, the Bible. And people's answers will appear as actions in our lives.
This happened when a man named ‘Brother Andrew’, widely known for his book ‘The Gospel Breaks Through the Iron Curtain’, was preaching at a university in Canada.
After Andrew spoke, he said, “If you have any questions, ask me.” As soon as the words fell, two young men from the back of the pulpit came out in front of the microphone. These bearded young men were arrogant as radicals. They introduced themselves as racists and imperialists, denounced Christians and extolled Maoism and Marxism. Andrew interrupted them and asked the other person to speak or ask a question. But none of the hundreds of Christian students got up. They were terrified. Four hundred Christians would have been teased by just two pagans. Just then, a black student and a white student came forward. The black student spoke first.
“I am from Nigeria. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Christians who came to Africa and preached Jesus Christ. If they hadn't come, I wouldn't have come to this college, and I would still remain a savage and a pagan. I was almost cast into sin forever. That is why we are so grateful to the missionaries who came to convert us to repentance.”
Said. And then a white student who had fled from Eastern Europe said:
“I couldn't stand the persecution of the Communists, so I fled my country. I am free to do everything in this Christian country that I could not do in my homeland. I am happy to live in a free society where all American citizens as well as Marxists can speak.”
Applause erupted as he finished speaking.
Two Marxists frightened four hundred Christians. Because they were weak Christians and the silent majority. The greatest enemy of the Christian faith is not worldly ideology or persecution, but indifference. You need someone who is willing to fight to win. God is looking for people who respond with courage like this.
Let's read verse 1 again. “Go to and fro in the streets of Jerusalem, look for them in the wide streets, and know. If you find even one man who does justice and seeks the truth, I will forgive this city.” God is looking for “one man” who seeks the truth by practicing justice in Jerusalem. Why would God seek one person?
The text is set in southern Judah around 615 BC. Israel in the north, made up of 10 tribes, was punished for disobeying God and was destroyed by Assyria in 721 BC, about 100 years ago. Now is the time when Judah, the South, also is on the road to destruction because of the sin of following God and following idols.
God mobilized prophets to warn that the southern people of Judah would return until the end. However, the people did not pretend to have heard; they burned incense to other gods and worshiped and worshiped what they had made with their own hands. Not only that, even the priests who were supposed to serve God did not seek God, and the prophets prophesied in the name of Baal. From the people to the officials, to the prophets, to the priests, to the leaders, everyone was corrupt.
In this situation, God was looking for the ‘righteous’, just as when the ‘Cities of Sodom and Gomorrah’ were destroyed. When Sodom was destroyed, it was destroyed because there were no 'ten righteous'. However, the southern Judah fell into ruin because there was no ‘one righteous man’. God has commanded us to quickly find at least one person who seeks the truth while practicing justice in the city of Jerusalem. He said that if he finds even one person, he will forgive the sins of Judah.
God's work is not caused by many people. It works and is accomplished through people who are worthy of God's will. When the sinful mankind was destroyed, only Noah and his family were left. He raised up the nation of Israel through Joseph, the 11th of 12 brothers, and through Moses, Joshua, the judges and prophets, and sincere Christians who risked their lives, the Lord's Church has come to this day.
There was a Moravian missionary named 'George Smith'. His goal in life was to become an African missionary. He always had a vision of the exaltation of Jesus Christ on the African continent.
After a long preparation, Missionary Smith headed to Africa. It was the moment when his lifelong dream came true. However, less than a few months after landing in Africa, he was expelled. All he had done was to convert an old woman to repentance until she was banished. He did not stop praying for Africa from the time he was expelled until his death.
One hundred years after the death of Missionary Smith, there were 13,000 Christians in Africa. Through the one old woman who was converted by Missionary Smith, the number of Christians was increased to 13,000.
What God does is beyond human thought. People think that people who are strong, capable, and wealthy will do many things. That's why many Christians decline, saying, 'I can't do the Lord's work because I don't have the ability and I don't have much material to give.' But read the Bible. There are very few people who have been used by God like that.
God uses people who obey the Word, people who are faithful without sparing their lives, and people who absolutely depend on God. If God wants to use it, even a dry stick can become a miraculous staff that divides the Red Sea and pours water out of the rock. It was God who made it possible for Samson to kill 1,000 strong Philistines with a single donkey jawbone. On Mount Carmel, 850 priests from Baal and Asherah and their strong guardians, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel, faced off against only one, Elijah, the prophet of the Lord. Do you know the result? All 850 people were buried, and after praying for three and a half years that it would not rain, there was a drought, and praying again, it rained.
This great prophet is said in James 5:17, “Elijah was a man like ours.” In other words, we are ordinary people who are no different from us. This means that if we are caught in God's hand, we will become people with the same power as Elijah. But just like the words I gave in the morning and the words of verse 1 of the main text, we must purify ourselves so that we can be used by God, and we must strive to obey and follow Him so that we can stay in the Lord.
In Scotland at the time of the world Reformation, John Knox was a pioneer of the Reformation. Queen Mary at the time was a zealous Catholic. The Queen issued such an order: ‘Kill all Protestants in Scotland.’ On the night the Queen gave the order, John Knox went into his study and prayed earnestly with a bloody heart. “God, give me Scotland. If not, please kill me.”
Shortly thereafter, Queen Mary, who was trying to kill the Christians, became seriously ill and died. Before her death, Queen Mary left a famous saying. “The prayer of one man, John Knox, is scarier than an army of a million.”
Even now, the Lord is looking for people who are sincere and faithful who can save families, churches, society, and the country. I pray that you and I who have heard the Lord's call now can become the people God is looking for.