Jeremiah 17:1 The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars; Here is something of interest, or should be. God is describing the hold that sin has in our lives. The iron pen depicts how strong it is in our hearts and the diamond is now indelibly engraved upon us. The horns of the a^tar te^s us ^at we actually worr’hi P s*n’ desire it above all else. That should scare the stuff out of us! Many of mankind are described in Proverbs 2:13-14 “Who leave the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness; Who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the frowardness of the wicked;” God tells us that there are some that rejoices to do evil.. .sin is fun, enjoyable. They are carefree sinners, revelling in their desire to do evil. Let me define evil for you: Evil – morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life. Synonyms: nefarious, vile, base, corrupt, vicious, depraved, iniquitous, sinful.
And God tells us that man loves this kind of life! Thieves love to steal, liars love to lie, the perverted love their perversion, the wicked love to be wicked, the drunk loves his drunkenness. In all this they forget that there is going to be a “Payday – Someday”. R.G. Lee preached a sermon with that title. His text was in I Kings 21. Payday Someday starts off with an introduction to the major characters. Naboth, the devout Israelite. He calls Jezebel the “the evil genius of her dynasty and of her country.” And last but not least is Ahab, “the vile human toad who squatted upon the throne of his nation — the worst of Israel’s kings.”
Ahab wanted Naboth’s vineyard. Naboth refused to give to the king what God had given to his care for now and for generations to come. Jebebel, the wicked, had Naboth killed so that her husband could have the desire of his heart. Neither spoke of or cared The God of Heaven, the ultimate Judge over the lives of mankind. They did evil for it was written in their hearts to do it. It overcame all thoughts of righteousness or fairness. Their happiness was more important to them than anything else!
And to Ahab and Jezebel, payday came as certainly as night follows day, because sin carries in itself the seed of its own fatal penalty. On earth Ahab was killed in battle and Jezebel was thrown out of a tower and eaten by dogs, but that was not the end of their payday. Hell awaited for them and they are in torment even to this day. Their lives beg the question, was their wickedness and pleasure worth the eternal torment of their payday?
Hebrews 2:3 “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed unto us by them that heard him;” The only way I know for any man or woman on earth to escape the sinner’s Payday on earth and the sinner’s hell beyond is to make sure that you receive the Christian’s payday, instead of the sinner’s payday. The escape is through Christ Jesus, who took the sinner’s place on the cross, becoming for all sinners all that God must judge, that sinners through faith in Christ Jesus might become all that God cannot judge.
With Christ as our Savior there is something new written on our hearts. 2Corinthians 3:2-3 “Ye are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men: Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.”
There is hope in Christ and Christ only. He can change what is engraved on our hearts. He is stronger than the iron pen with the diamond point. It is within His power to remove the writing on our hearts. Romans 1:16 “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.”
One last word for you who are living this type of life. Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” John 14:6
