“This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.”

Jeremiah 7:27 b

As I was working through Robert Murray McCheyne’s bible reading plan this verse really got my attention. What really got my attention was its immediate relevance and application for today.

In context, God is talking to his people who make up a nation. It would be easy to apply this verse immediately to our ‘nation’ i.e Scotland. However, this would actually be wrong. Scotland as a nation (or any other country for that matter) is not in covenant with God. In the Old Testament God made a covenant with a nation. In the New Covenant God has made one nation out of people from many nations. The church of Christ is now considered to be a nation according to scripture.

1 Peter 2:9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.

According to scripture God sees His people as a nation, a holy nation. The prophet Jeremiah was not speaking to the pagan nations who surrounded Israel. It would be true of those nations that ‘truth has perished’ but God did not send the prophet to them with this message. The surrounding nations worshipped Idols and God’s people had been set apart to worship God and be different from these other nations and not to follow in their ways. However time and time again God’s people followed the example of the pagan nations and fell into idolatry and sin. And it is to the people of God whom Jeremiah’s message comes.

 “This is the nation that has not obeyed the LORD its God or responded to correction. Truth has perished; it has vanished from their lips.”

 In the same way this message must first come to God’s people the church. The nation of whom this speaks are not the nations of the world instead it is the Holy nation, the church of Jesus Christ. The church is called to be ’salt and light’ in the world. The church is called to proclaim Christ to the nations who do not know God. However when the church takes on the values and practices of the world it loses its testimony.

For sure Scotland as a nation does not embrace truth, the philosophy of relativism is enthroned in our political policies. But the real impact of this is that the church within Scotland has also embodied this mindset of religious relativism. Relativism says ‘truth is a matter of personal opinion’. In any environment where this philosophy is embraced ’truth has perished, it has vanished from their lips’.

Jesus does not bow down to the philosophies of this world, the philosophies of this world and those who hold them will bow to Jesus. Those who are to be any use for the kingdom of God in this generation will be those who are aware that truth has perished, are grieved that truth has perished and who are groaning inwardly that truth will flourish within the church once again.

 ”Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.”

 John 17:17

Some Christians reading this might not really be aware of this trend within many churches. Are not all churches based upon scripture? Surely all Christians believe in Jesus? What is the problem?

In the Old Testament God’s people rarely outright rejected Him. The problem, more often than not, was syncretism. In other words Judaism was mixed with the other religions and practices of the pagans. This is the problem today. Most of us in the West have inherited a form of Christianity which is mixed with humanism, secularism, relativism, consumerism, individualism, escapism and many other philosophies which are incompatible with the word of God.

We have created a gospel which sits nicely with the secular values of this world but which has no power whatsoever. This gospel has created lukewarm Christians. It has dried up the blessings of God. It has deceived many into thinking they are saved when they are not. It has hardened sinners even further to the gospel. It has caused Christians to doubt, criticize and in many cases reject the authority of scripture.

If you are reading this and you are a Christian ask yourself these questions.

  • How much does does scripture influence your beliefs?
  • How much of Scripture influences your belief? (i.e do you only know some of the ‘nice’ verses of scripture?
  • How much time have you spent reading the Epistles?
  • How much time have you spent reading the Gospels?
  • How much time have you spent reading the Old Testament?
  • Do you know how to read scripture in context in order to understand it correctly? Or do you apply meanings to texts which are not even there?
  • When faced with a moral decision do you have a storehouse of scriptural treasure upon which you can draw in order to help you make a godly decision?

The more we read scripture prayerfully, with a desire to obey what we read, the more the Lord will give us insight and discernment.