Will You Still not be Made Clean?

Jeremiah 13:15-27 

15 Hear and give ear:
Do not be proud,
For the LORD has spoken.

16 Give glory to the LORD your God
Before He causes darkness,
And before your feet stumble
On the dark mountains,
And while you are looking for light,
He turns it into the shadow of death
And makes it dense darkness.

17 But if you will not hear it,
My soul will weep in secret for your pride;
My eyes will weep bitterly
And run down with tears,
Because the LORD's flock has been taken captive.

18 Say to the king and to the queen mother,
"Humble yourselves;
Sit down,
For your rule shall collapse, the crown of your glory."

19 The cities of the South shall be shut up,
And no one shall open them;
Judah shall be carried away captive, all of it;
It shall be wholly carried away captive.

20 Lift up your eyes and see
Those who come from the north.
Where is the flock that was given to you,
Your beautiful sheep?

21 What will you say when He punishes you?
For you have taught them
To be chieftains, to be head over you.
Will not pangs seize you,
Like a woman in labor?

22 And if you say in your heart,
"Why have these things come upon me?"
For the greatness of your iniquity
Your skirts have been uncovered,
Your heels made bare.

23 Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots?
Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.
24 "Therefore I will scatter them like stubble
That passes away by the wind of the wilderness.

25 This is your lot,
The portion of your measures from Me," says the LORD,
"Because you have forgotten Me
And trusted in falsehood.
26 Therefore I will uncover your skirts over your face,
That your shame may appear.

27 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?"

Woes were proclaimed on Israel for their continued rejection of the LORD and rampant disregard to His call out of sin to follow Him.  Their pride was leading them back into captivity as if yearning for the bondage of Egypt all over again.  The call from God was to abandon their pride and give glory to God alone, a call which He still makes to all who are His true people in Christ (Romans 2:28-29, 9:6-8).  The warning of not giving God the glory was to find darkness of death instead of light, even when they were looking for light because they did not follow Him and glorify God over their own sinful pursuits.  The weeping prophet talked of his sorrow when they were warned and still refused to hear and turn.  He wept profusely for their pride and for their being taken captive by sin.  God cried out through him to them that the beautiful sheep of His pasture would instead humble themselves or face the consequences of being taken captive (Romans 7:23) by sin.  The question was put to them about what they would say to their LORD when they were then punished.  Would they be in great pain as a woman in labor or even dare to ask why those things were happening to them as they ignored the fact that the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23)?  God promised to expose their sin by exposing their hearts of evil desires, trusting in lies while disobeying His word and living in sexually immoral ad spiritually immoral ways before God and man.  The lingering question after these warnings and revealing of their iniquity was, “Will you still not be made clean?”  Did they have their deceit and sin revealed (Hebrews 3:13) to resulting repentance or would they harden their hearts further and fail to enter into His rest from sin and judgment (Hebrews 3:15, 18)?  That is the gospel question still for all to come to repentance though faith to Him in Christ.  And for those in Christ to put sin and its enslavement to death daily (Romans 8:13-15) that we may be transformed into the image of Christ (Romans 12:2, Ephesians 4:22-24) and give glory to God for His work in us to make this sanctifying change possible (Philippians 1:6, 2:12-13).  Do you still want to be made clean to be holy as He is in order to glorify God, or continue to compromise by willfully continuing to sin as if to garner more grace (Romans 6:1) in harmful self-deception?  May we all learn from these examples to be uncompromising and persistent God-pleasers (1 Corinthians 10:6-7, 11-13).