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<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">“<b>TWO
ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Jim
& Marie Watt</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Tel:
<a href="tel:253-517-9195" target="_blank">253-517-9195</a> - Email:
<a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com" target="_blank">jmbetter@gmail.com</a></b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Web:
<a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/" target="_blank">www.2rbetter.org</a></b></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">January 5, 2013</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
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</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>AUG
8 - JEREMIAH 40-42 - HYPOCRISY IN THE REMNANT</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>1.
40:4 (40:1-6, ESV) REMNANT: JEREMIAH LIBERATED. <font size="3">“Now,
behold, I release you today from the chains on your hands. If it
seems good to you to come with me to Babylon, come, and I will look
after you well, but if it seems wrong to you to come with me to
Babylon, do not come. See, the whole land is before you; go wherever
you think it good and right to go.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
You indeed reign over </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">all</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
the affairs of men! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Hallowed
be your :name!</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">2.
40:9 (40:7-12) REMNANT: REGATHERING OF THE JEWS. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Gedaliah
the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, swore to them and their men,
saying, ‘Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land
and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you.’”
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Yes
Father, You always foresee our need, and make provision ahead of time
for it! Before we call upon You, You have </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">already</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
answered. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Your
:kingdom come.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">3.
40:14 (40:13-16) REMNANT: PLOT AGAINST GEDALIAH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“And
Jonathan said to him, ‘Do you know that Baalis the king of the
Ammonites has sent Ishmael the son of Nethaniah to take your life?’
But Gedaliah the son of Ahikam would not believe them.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Forgive
us Father, for so often being naïve and unbelieving! You try to
spare us from pain and hardship, yet we blindly and stubbornly go our
own way! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Your
:will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">4.
41:2 (41:1-10) REM</span><span style="text-decoration:none">N</span><span style="text-decoration:none">ANT:
PLOT SUCCESSFUL. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Ishmael
the son of Nethaniah and the ten men with him rose up and struck down
Gedaliah the son of Ahikam, son of Shaphan, with the sword, and
killed him, whom the king of Babylon had appointed governor in the
land.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">O
what peace we often forfeit; O what </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">needless</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
pain we bear: All because we do not carry </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">everything</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
to God in prayer. Father, forgive our sin of unbelief and
stubbornness! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
:daily :bread Give us this day.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">5.
41:17-18a (41:11-18) REMNANT: JOHANAN BECOME</span><span style="text-decoration:none">S</span><span style="text-decoration:none">
LEADER. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“And
they went and stayed at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, intending to
go to Egypt </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">18a
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">because
of the Chaldeans.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">We
reap what we sow. Our troubles we bring upon ourselves. Then we blame
You for the the law of sowing and reaping. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">6.
42:4 (42:1-6) REMNANT: JEWS INQUIRE OF JEREMIAH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">Jeremiah
the prophet said to them, “I have heard you. Behold, I will pray to
the LORD your God according to your request, and whatever the LORD
answers you I will tell you. I will keep nothing back from you.”
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">How
You seek to help us Father, in our blind and foolish ways. We deserve
more chastisement tha</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">n</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
You in your mercy give us. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
bring us not into temptation.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">7.
42:7 (42:7-22). REMNANT: GOD’S MESSAGE TO THEM. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“At
the end of ten days the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah (in a
dream, 31:26; Numbers 12:6-9).” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">How
faithful You are, O great Jehovah Father! Lift us above the dr</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">e</span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">am
level, where like Moses, we speak to You face to face! We would go
above prayer to </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">meditation</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
on Your Word! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">But
deliver us from the evil </span></i><span style="text-decoration:none">one!</span></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><u><b>NOTE</b></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>:
42:20 (42:7-22) REM</b></span><b><span style="text-decoration:none">N</span><span style="text-decoration:none">ANT:
JEREMIAH REVEALS THEIR DECEPTION. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">For
you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to
the LORD your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the LORD our God, and
whatever the LORD our God says declare to us and we will do it.’”
</span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Nothing
is hidden from You, Father. We are </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">sure</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
that our sins will find us out! We cast ourselves upon You and Your
mercy!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">C.H.
Spurgeon Quotes: </span></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
God, by his Spirit, brings old truth home to the heart, gives new
light to our eyes, and causes the word to exercise new power over us;
but he reveals no new facts, and he utters no words in man’s ears
concerning his condition and state. We must be content with the old
revelation and with the life and power and force with which the Holy
Spirit brings it to the heart. Neither must any of us seek to have
any additional revelation, for that would imply that the Scriptures
are incomplete.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
Psalm for the day: 38:18 (38) DO NOT FORSAKE ME, O LORD. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“I
confess my iniquity; I am sorry for my sin.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
we honor You when we see ourselves as Your Word reveals us. We honor
You when we acknowledge that </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">no</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
good thing dwells in our flesh (Romans 7:18)! We </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">hallow
Your :Name</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
when we </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">justify</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
You in </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">all</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
You have said!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Title:
“A Psalm of David, to bring to remembrance.” David felt as if he
had been forgotten of his God, and, therefore, he recounted his
sorrows and cried mightily for help under them. The same title is
given to Psalm 70, where in like manner, the Psalmist pours out his
complaint before the Lord. It would be foolish to make a guess as to
the point in David’s history when this was written; it may be a
commemoration of his own sickness and endurance of cruelty; it may,
on the other hand, have been composed by him for the use of sick and
slandered saints without special reference to himself.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">Among
the things that David brought to his own remembrance, the first and
foremost were: (1) his past trials and his past deliverances. The
great point, however, in David’s Psalm is to bring to remembrance;
(2) the depravity of our nature. There is, perhaps, no Psalm which
more fully than this describes human nature as seen in the light
which God, the Holy Spirit, casts upon it in the time when He
convinces us of sin. I am persuaded that the description here
does not tally with any known disease of the body. It is very like
leprosy but it has about it certain features which cannot be found to
meet in any leprosy described either by ancient or moder writers.
The fact is, it is a spiritual leprosy, it is an inward disease which
is here described, and David paints it to the very life, and he would
have us to recollect this.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:1.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">O Lord,
rebuke me not in Your wrath. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Rebuked
I must be, for I am an erring child and You a careful Father, but
throw not too much anger into the tones of Your voice; deal gently
although I have sinned grievously. The anger of others I can bear,
but not Yours.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:5.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">My wounds
stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Conscience
lays on stripe after stripe till the swelling becomes a wound and
suppurates, and the corruption within grows offensive. What a
horrible creature man appears to be to his own consciousness when his
depravity and vileness are fully opened up by the law of God, applied
by the Holy Spirit! Even the </span></span><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">most
filthy diseases cannot be so foul as sin. No ulcers, cancers, or
putrifying sores, can match the unutterable vileness and pollution of
iniquity. Our own perceptions have made us feel this. We write what
we do know, and testify what we have seen; and even now we shudder to
think that so much of evil should lie festering deep within our
nature.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:8
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">I am feeble.
</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">The
original is “benumbed,” or frozen, such strange incongruities and
contradictions meet in a distracted mind and a sick body - it appears
to itself to be alternately parched with heat and pinched with cold.
Like souls in the popish-fabled purgatory, tossed from
burning furnaces into thick ice, so tormented hearts rush from one
extreme to the other, with equal torture in each. A heat of fear, a
chill of horror, a flaming desire, a horrible insensibility - by
these successive miseries a convinced sinner is brought to death’s
door.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:11.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">My lovers
and my friends stand aloof from my sore. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">It
is very hard when those who should be the first to come to the rescue
are the first to desert us. In times of deep soul trouble, even the
most affectionate friends cannot enter into the sufferer’s case.
Let them be as anxious as they may, the sores of a tender conscience
they cannot bind up. Oh, the loneliness of a soul passing under the
convincing power of the Holy Spirit!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:18.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">For I will
declare my iniquity. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
When sorrow leads to hearty and penitent acknowledgment of sin, it is
blessed sorrow, a thing to thank God for most devoutly.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">I will be
sorry for my sin. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">To
be sorry for sin is not atonement for it, but it is the right spirit
in which to repair to Jesus, Who is the reconciliation and the
Savior. A man is near to the end of his trouble when he comes to an
end with his sins. 38:19. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">But
my enemies are lively, and they are strong.</span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
However weak and dying the righteous man may be, the evils which
oppose him are sure to be lively enough. Neither the world, the
flesh, nor the devil are ever afflicted with debility of inertness;
this trinity of evils labor with mighty unremitting energy to
overthrow us. If the devil were sick, or our lust
feeble, or Madame Bubble infirm, we might slacken prayer; but with
such lively and vigorous enemies, we must not cease to cry mightily
unto our God.</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">38:20.
</span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Because I
follow the thing that is good. </span></i></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">If
men hate us for this reason, we may rejoice to bear it: their wrath
is the unconscious homage which vice renders to virtue. This verse is
not inconsistent with the writer’s previous confession; we may feel
equally guilty before God and yet be entirely innocent of any wrong
to our fellowmen. It is one thing to acknowledge the truth, quite
another thing to submit to be belied. The Lord may smite me justly,
and yet I may be able to say to my fellowman, “Why do you smite
me?”</span></span></font></font></p>
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</p>
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