Break up your fallow ground,

....    And do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, And take away the foreskins of your hearts .... Lest My fury come forth like fire, and burn so that no one can quench it, Because of the evil of your doings.” (Jeremiah 4:3b, 4). In the manner of Hebrew poetry, the first sentence and the second are essentially saying the same thing.  Fallow ground is that that which is left uncultivated and likely grown hard and unworkable. In the parable of the sower Jesus speaks of the Word of God sown among the thorns, and that the thorns choke it. There are those who receive the Word but have no depth and don't endure, others stumble because of tribulation or persecution, still others because of the  deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things (Mark 4:15-19).

 Paul takes up the second picture when he says “because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed” (Romans 2:5). Part of what we need to see from these Old and New Testament parallels,  is that though God operates differently in the age of Grace, He is the same God, He is still righteous and just, and justice still demands,  well justice! In particular hard and unrepentant hearts will still incur wrath on the day of judgement.  You might object “ but what about the love of God?” Well God is love, God is unchanging and of course in the gospel love and justice have kissed.

He paid the price for our redemption, for our salvation. It's a gift, it is paid for, we cannot in any way earn it (Ephesians 2:8,9).  However according to the writer to the Hebrews,  it is possible to neglect it and drift away (Hebrews 2:1-3).  In particular  “if we keep on sining willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries” (Hebrews 10:26). He does qualify us to be inheritors of the saints in light, but we can disqualify ourselves by hardened and unrepentant hearts.  Paul disciplined his body and brought it into subjection, in case when he had preached, he myself should become disqualified (1 Corinthians  9:27).

  

Father, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I want to thank You this morning Lord that You have qualified me to be an inheritor of the saints in light, and that I am confident of my place in heaven. But I cannot be presumptuous Lord. I fool myself if I think I can be saved and live for the Devil.  I fear for many in the body Lord who profess to know God, but in works they deny You, being abominable, disobedient, and disqualified for every good work (Titus 1:16).  Paul tells us that if we walk according to the flesh we will die. I thank You Lord there is a “but” here,  “but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live” (Romans 8:13). Help us to do our part in the cooperation implied here. We cannot do it without You Lord, but You will not do it without us. Thank You for the assurance of salvation that we have when we walk in the light as You are in the light (1 John 2:3, 5), in Jesus Name Amen