Can the
Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good
who are accustomed to do evil. "Therefore I will scatter them like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness. This is your lot, The portion
of your measures from Me," says the LORD, "Because you have forgotten
Me And trusted in falsehood. Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your
face, That your shame may appear. I have seen your adulteries And your lustful
neighings, The lewdness of your harlotry, Your abominations on the hills in the
fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! Will you still not be made clean?" – Jeremiah 13v23-27
What a dreadful
picture Jeremiah paints here. Man is a sinner and nothing can change that. No sooner
can a man change the colour of his skin or a leopard change his spots than man
can change his proclivity to sin. God sees it. Man is like a horse in the
starting gate snorting and neighing and whinnying to get started. That is how
man goes after his lusts and nothing he can do is going to change it.
That is why I am
grateful that in the fullness of time God sent forth His Son to redeem us and
to adopt us as His children. Today is ‘Christmas.’ I don’t necessarily like
what that name implies. I wish we called today ‘Incarnation Day.’ But today is the
day that we celebrate the hope of deliverance from man’s lustful neighings that
came when the incarnate Christ appeared on earth in His deity as a babe in a
manger. Man can have freedom from his mad pursuit of sin.
I cannot express it
any better than Charles Wesley so I won’t even try. His marvellous hymn ‘Hark
the Herald Angels Sing’ expresses perfectly man’s hope for deliverance for the
dilemma posed in Jeremiah 13v23-27.
Hark the herald angels
sing
"Glory to the
newborn King!
Peace on earth and
mercy mild
God and sinners
reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations
rise
Join the triumph of
the skies
With the angelic host
proclaim:
"Christ is born
in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald
angels sing
"Glory to the
newborn King!"
Christ by highest
heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting
Lord!
Late in time behold
Him come
Offspring of a
Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the
Godhead see
Hail the incarnate
Deity
Pleased as man with
man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald
angels sing
"Glory to the
newborn King!"
Hail the heav'n-born
Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of
Righteousness!
Light and life to all
He brings
Ris'n with healing in
His wings
Mild He lays His glory
by
Born that man no more
may die
Born to raise the sons
of earth
Born to give them
second birth
Hark! The herald
angels sing
"Glory to the
newborn King!"
Praise God that the
newborn King was born that men may escape those lustful neighing and change those
wicked spots!
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