Jeremiah 13 - A Prophet's Courage And Crisis - Jeremiah19-20

[Music] but let's start here in verse 1 of chapter 19 thus says the Lord go and get a Potter's Earth and flask and take some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests and go out to the valley of the son of Hinnom which is by the entry of the potsherd gate and proclaimed there the words that I will tell you now in the previous chapter Jeremiah chapter 18 God told Jeremiah to go to a potter's shop the place where pottery was made and he spoke to Jeremiah through what the Potter was doing with the clay and basically what he was showing was that while the clay is malleable while the clay can be molded and shaped into different shapes the Potter can do whatever he wants with it if he wants to make it a plate he can make it a plate if he wants to make it a cup can make it a cup if he wants to make it a bowl he can make it a bowl if he wants to smash the whole thing up and start all over again he can do that he was demonstrating that the Potter is free to do whatever he wants to do with the clay while it is still soft but now now God tells Jeremiah to take a clay bottle it says here an earthen flask but what you should have in mind is a clay bottle and to use it as a spiritual illustration look at it there in verse 1 before some of the elders of the people and some of the elders of the priests now this earthen flask was probably a small clay bottle with a narrow neck it was easily broken and as is true especially for a bottle like this but just about anything that's made out of clay once it's broken it cannot be repaired once it's broken all you can do is smash it up and get rid of it now if you notice here centuries later the Apostle Paul would write something about these kind of earthen vessels or clay vessels he would write this but we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us that's in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 verse 7 Paul's point and 2nd Corinthians is simply this that the treasure of the glory of God is set aside in earthen vessels just like you and I in friends I got to use a lot of self-control here to not just go off and preach on second Corinthians right now because it's really a marvelous thing that Paul does with this figure of the earth and vessel he says you and I are like clay pots earthen vessels and God does something really outrageous God pours the wonders of his glory inside clay pots some people might even say crackpots but he does that he puts that in within us now the only reason I bring that up is to point out that Jeremiah's message is very different you see Jeremiah just came from the Potters house in Jeremiah chapter 18 and God showed him how the Potter could mold the clay into a new shape if the clay seems to be resistant to him here once the bottle is made the clay is hard the clay simply breaks it is baked hardened and breakable there is nothing as workable as wet clay there's nothing as fragile and breakable as dried clay so have that picture in mind now verse 2 go into the valley of the son of Hinnom by the way twice previously in the Book of Jeremiah into chapter 2 in chapter 7 Jeremiah made mention of this terrible place south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem the valley of hinnom was used in those days both as a garbage dump with continually smoldering fires think of you know the way it might be at an old garbage dump with with just fire smoldering all the time it was just both as a garbage dump and previously before that as a place of child sacrifice now I mentioned that and I got to say this currently there is no archaeological evidence for widespread human sacrifice or child sacrifice in the Valley of Hinnom they just haven't discovered any archaeological evidence of us now this may mean I believe it happened because the Bible says it happened but it may mean that the practice was Ray err and only performed in the most extreme circumstances but you shouldn't think that it was a widespread practice that there's a lot of archaeological evidence for in any regard this was called where God told Jeremiah to go the potsherd gate what's a potsherd a potsherd is a piece of broken pottery and when the pottery was cracked or damaged in some way you just threw it on the ground usually in a pile somewhere and it piled up in a great big pile of broken pottery it was something of a garbage dump and there was broken pottery everywhere around the potsherd gate now verse three and say hear the word of the Lord o kings of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring such a catastrophe on this place that whoever hears of it his ears will tingle ok can you picture Jeremiah at the potsherd gate there he is standing there there's the gate into the city there's the Valley of Hinnom there's a few people gathered now he gathered everybody tried to get everybody to come but listen honestly if you were an important person if you were an elder of the priest and see were elder of the people there would you waste your time listen to the crazy Jeremiah friends this isn't like a gathering of the Senate or the Sanhedrin listening to Jeremiah it's a few scattered people around people ok just send him he'll go and listen to him but Jeremiah has given the message everything he's got out there at the potsherd gate he's giving this dramatic message and notice what he says he says hear hear the word of the Lord o kings of Judah now by the way do you think there were any kings of Judah there to listen to him not a chance but again he's speaking to the kings even though they're not listening and then verse 3 he says I will bring such a catastrophe on this place that whoever hears it his ears will tingle that's how great the catastrophe is going to be now look at verse 4 because this is why judgment is coming because they have forsaken me and made this I'm sure he gestured out to the valley of hinnom and they made this an alien place because they have burned incense in it to other gods who need are they their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known and they have this place with the blood of the innocence they have built the high places above all to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal which I did not command or speak nor did it come into my mind ladies and gentlemen the Prophet Jeremiah called out the kings of Judah for practicing or at the very least allowing human sacrifice in the valley of you know it's a terrible thing to think about he says because you have forsaken me and made this an alien place and then verse 4 you have filled this place with the blood of innocence now either either the practice of child sacrifice was more widespread than is currently confirmed by modern archaeology which is entirely possible friends archaeologists don't discover everything that's possible or I think this is another distinct possibility God regarded even a little bit of this practice as such a monstrous evil that it was a stain upon the kingdom and I think either possibility is viable I notice what he says verse 5 to burn their sons with fire for burnt offerings to Baal a child sacrifice was normally associated with a Canaanite deity known as Moloch but at least on some occasions such offerings were made to Baal and this was so monstrous that look at what God says about it in verse 5 which I did not command or speak nor did it come into my mind this would I want you understand it was not strange to a person in the ancient world at that time to believe that their God wanted human sacrifice ladies and gentlemen if you look at the beasts job practices of people in that part of the world to this day would you not think that their God wants human sacrifice in any regard it was not a strange thing in the ancient world to think that their gods desired human sacrifice but Yahweh the Covenant God of Israel he says not only did I not see to do it he says it never even entered my mind now I know what some of you were saying you're saying no no David I remember that thing in Genesis chapter 22 where God commanded Abraham to offer Isaac friends you're missing the whole point of that story at least one of the big points of that story one of the big points of that story is that God said stop no way I don't want it do not offer your son to me I'll agree it was a very dramatic gesture both to test Abraham but also to proclaim this I am not like those Canaanite gods I do not not not I do not want human sacrifice that's not the kind of God I am so God was making a distinction there it totally went against his nature to accept such human sacrifice now verse 6 again picture Jeremiah he's crying out before a handful of people there therefore behold the days are coming says the Lord that this place shall no longer be called the called tuffet or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of slaughter and I will make void the Council of Judah and Jerusalem in this place and I will cause them to fall by the sword before their enemies and by the hand of those who seek their lives their corpses I will give as meat for the birds of the heavens and for the beasts of the earth I am astonished excuse me I will make this city desolate and a hissing and everyone who passes by it will be astonished and hiss because of its plagues and I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters and everyone shall eat the flesh of his friend in the siege and in the desperation with which their enemies and those who seek their lives shall drive them to in despair that's pretty heavy message don't you think notice how it begins in verse 6 it will no more be called tuffet Tophet or in some translate they add a h on the end Toph f it was another name for the Valley of Hinnom it was a name that was associated with pagan sacrifices and child sacrifice and TOFA probably comes from the Hebrew word for fireplace matter of fact a few months ago I was talking to a Hebrew or a Jewish I should just say a Jewish and Israeli tour guide about this I just happened to be having lunch with him and I asked him out this and you know what he said about that word topic he said that in modern Hebrew the word still has the association of fire if someone comes under gunfire and they all know because they're all trained soldiers so if somebody comes under gunfighter they might say I'm under Tophet I'm under fire the kinder also points out a commentator named Erik Whitner that the name towpath also rhymes with the name called bullsh F which means shame and the Hebrews love to make these word games TOFA 'the fire but also connected with shame and notice what he says here in verse 6 he says this place shall no more be called toe faith or the valley of the son of Hinnom but the valley of slaughter now God here is repeating a promise that was first given in Jeremiah chapter 7 that he would answer the idolatry of Judah and they're outrageous practice of human sacrifice even child sacrifice he would answer it with a devastating judgment that there was going to be a grotesque slaughter in that valley the dead corpses in that place would be so numerous that they would be disgraced by having no proper burial and they would become food for scavengers which by the way in the mind of an ancient Jewish person that was thought to be a fate worse than death they thought it was terrible for a person to die in battle or something but to have your corpse left out on the battlefield just to be eaten by birds or predators they thought that that was just a terrible fate it was an utter disgrace of the person's humanity God says that's what's going to happen and he's speaking prophetically of what would happen when the Babylonians came in to invade Jerusalem matter of fact he says in verse eight I will make this city desolate and a hissing everyone who passes by will be astonished and hiss because of all its plagues the catastrophe would be seen both in terms of the death of the people and in the destruction of the city and if it can get worse and friends I I Got News for you when it comes to humanity rejecting God and when it comes to the judgment that people deserve it can always get worse this is how worse it got in Jerusalem at that time or how it would get verse nine I will cause them to eat the flesh of their sons and the flesh of their daughters that's in verse nine the city would be reduced to cannibalism even as the city of Samaria the capital of the former Northern Kingdom was reduced under siege from the Assyrians to cannibalism in those final days and all of this would drive the people of Jerusalem as it says there in verse nine to despair okay so you picture Jeremiah how do you think people are reacting to this message hallelujah clapping their hands are you kidding the handful of people that are there they're revolted by it they're angry how dare you speak such things so look at Jeremiah he's gonna continue on the message now verse 10 then you shall break the flasks in the sight of the men who go with you and say to them thus says the Lord of Hosts even so I will break this people in this city as one breaks a Potter's vessel which cannot be made whole again and they shall bury them in tough it until there is no place to bury do you have the gesture Jeremiah doesn't have the dramatic moment he throws the clay bottle down and it breaks into twenty pieces and says God says God says that's how I'm gonna bring destruction upon Jerusalem and then he says verse eleven they shall bury them and toph it until there is no place to bury first let me just pause for a moment take it off my notes if I could just remember just ask a very simple question why why such a terrible message wouldn't you like to have a ministry like Jeremiah no thank you I'd much rather tell people about the good news in Jesus Christ wouldn't I friends don't you see that it is the Grace and the goodness of God that warns people of judgment before it happens don't blame God if nobody listens and by the way every announcement of coming judgement is a mercy of God because it invites the radical repentance of those who hear and if they refuse to repent the guilt is on their own head you see it's implied it's within every announcement of judgment if you truly turn back to me this may be averted at the very least it could be delayed so turn back to me but they didn't and it came upon them I don't want anybody to leave this room here tonight thinking that God said such things to Judah through the Prophet Jeremiah because he hated him or because they was mad at them no it's cuz he loved them this is the inevitable result that's happening it can go no other way unless you repent then I will relent from judgment or at the very least delay it but it was not to be so verse 12 this I will do to this place says the Lord and to its inhabitants and to make this city like TOFA and the houses of Jerusalem in the houses the kings of Judah shall be defiled like the place of tuffet because all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense of all the hosts of heaven and poured out drink offerings to other gods France what does toph it mean it has something to do with fire or burning God says I'm gonna make this whole city tough it in other words God didn't want anybody in Jerusalem or Judah to think yeah you know the problem is isolated just to this one Valley where they used to sacrifice children and set up altars to Baal and Asherah and Molech as if that was the only place God's us no matter of fact as I look out over the city of Jerusalem every housetop has been a place of idolatry burning incense other gods this whole city is going to burn it's essentially what he's saying versal 13 because of all the houses on whose roofs they have burned incense to all the hosts of heaven because the idolatry was spread throughout the city God would bring destruction upon the whole city now verse 14 then jeremiah came from tow FET where the Lord had sent him to prophesy and he stood in the court of the Lord's house and then he said to all the people okay stop right there do you get to change a venue here okay he was out sort of outside the gates of the city there's the Valley of Hinnom there's the broken pottery on the gown there's the potsherd gate okay after he's done it I honestly I think he did it to like about three people he gave this he goes man this stinks this was a good message I mean it was heavy but it was good did you see my little object lesson too I mean I had a prop and everything at a clay bottle so what does he say well under the direction of God I don't think he's making this up as he goes along but in the direction of God he says you know what I'm gonna go give this same message upon the Temple Mount there's people up there there's important people up there so he does he goes up to the Temple Mount now picking it up again he stood in the court of the Lord's house and he said to all the people thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel behold I will bring on this city in all her towns the doom that I have pronounced against it because they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear my words you know I imagine that very few people went to go listen to Jeremiah outside the city so he went to where the people were and he finds a place there on the Temple Mount nobody's listening to him they're going there wail it's crazy Jeremiah again but he stands up any place and he delivers this message and it seems because nobody was listening to me down there but I'm bringing it to you now because they have verse 15 they have stiffened their necks that they might not hear my words friends and once you understand the greatest sin of Israel and Judah was not their sin itself it wasn't the idolatry it wasn't the drunkenness it was the cruelty and the bribery and the injustice those things were not the worst sins themselves the worst sin was that when God spoke to him about it they stiffened their necks and would not reply look here we are right we're a bunch of weak people who need the strength of the Lord every day and without the strength of the Lord in our life we are liable to sin are we not the friends your sin is ultimately not going to be what trips you up what it's going to be is your refusal to listen to God's correction when you sit it's a day of grace God invites forgiveness and cleansing just like Nate preached this last Sunday whoever confesses hasn't God is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness but what is involved they're confessing your sin and coming to God it's not the sin itself that will destroy your life it's as almost as if God says if you would humble your heart for me and just confess openly honestly your sins easy for me to deal with but it's your pride the pride that makes it so important for you to communicate to everybody no man I got it everything's under control everything's good said honestly coming up with a broken heart and a tear-stained face and saying I am so messed up I need Jesus I'm tired of playing this Christian game I need Jesus I need to be forgiven my friend if you only knew how wide the door was open for you right there but again it just means being honest with God and listening to his correction that's what Judah would not do continuing on now verse 20 verse 1 now pasture the son of Emer the priest who is also the chief governor in the house of the Lord heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things then past years struck Jeremiah the Prophet punched him and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin which was by the house of Lord what happens here well Jeremiah is doing this thing on the Temple Mount hey everybody you know it's coming down it's gonna happen you know that the destructions gonna come well pasture the son of Emmer this leading priest apparently he didn't get the memo about what a great sermon this was down by the Valley of Hinnom he just he's a crazy guy crying out on the Temple Mount and what does he do well he didn't receive it he didn't respond I imagine posture and his fine suit listening there he's a chief priest he's dressed up in all the regalia he's an important man you know you don't trifle with important men like posh or and he's listening with a calm detachment to the warnings of Jeremiah it was no this will not do this will never do we can't have people like this bringing down the morale of the people come on we need to be strong I mean a concern we're winners and Judah we're not losing it's not a time to humble ourself it's time to be proud and Judah because so we're gonna make an example out of this man and what does he do did you see what it says right there it says that verse 2 pastor struck Jeremiah the Prophet and put him in the stocks first he beat him now there may be a technicality behind that phrase when says they struck him it may mean that he was beaten with lashes as in 40 lashes it may very well be or it could be that this roughed him up with some punches for friends first they struck him and secondly they put him in the stocks he was beaten and had to endure painful public disgrace he wasn't only regarded as a false prophet but also surely as a traitor you see at this time behind the scenes the kings and the politicians were trying to make deals with Egypt and one of Jeremiah's important messages was don't make deals with Egypt they're just gonna stab you in the back oh but the politicians didn't want to talk like that no no Egypt is gonna protect us against Babylon come on everybody let's make an alignment with Egypt no way Jeremiah said they thought that he was acting like a traitor he was bringing down Marah morale and friends they put him in the stocks now one commentator again a really excellent commentator on the Old Testament Derek Kidner he says that the Hebrew word that's translated stocks there it's formed from the verb to twist in other words he said you might translate the idea behind that Hebrew word as twist frame and so you think of a man in the stocks right at some colonial reenactment place France let me tell you something it was probably way worse than that you were probably contorted into some painful weird position and put in those stocks this was not just the inconvenience this was pain and notices verse 3 which was by the house of the Lord right there very public place it was not only meant to inflict pain upon Jeremiah but public humiliation now verse 3 and it happened on the next day the past year brought Jeremiah out of the stocks by the way remember there he'd been there a whole day overnight supposedly that cannot be pleasant anyway happened the next day that pastor brought Jeremiah out of the stocks then jeremiah said to him the lord has not called your name posher but mag or miss abib for thus says the lord behold I'll make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends and they shall fall by the sword of your enemies and your eye shall see it I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword moreover I will deliver all the wealth of this city all its produce and all its precious things all the treasures the king of Judah I will give into the hands of their enemies who will plunder them seize them and carry them to Babylon and you posher and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity you shall go to Babylon and there you shall die and be buried there you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies well nice to meet you Jeremiah this is what he says to the guy who led him out of the stocks now listen Jeremiah what a guy he's been beaten and twisted in some painful situation all through the night and fine pasture feeling in a good mood ah you know maybe I was too rough on that guy yesterday you know I feel kind of bad about this you know what let's let him out he goes I Jeremiah look you're free to go just look you just don't do it again you're free and as soon as Jeremiah's out what does he do verse 3 the Lord has not called your name pasture but mag or Missa beer well you didn't get that alright there's a little bit of confusion over this but the name pasture is sometimes given as meaning freedom but sometimes people think it means ease or peacefulness in other words it has a soft easy connotation freedom peacefulness something like that the name mag or miss abib means terror on every side yeah your name's not peaceable your new name is terror on every side because that's what your life's gonna be well this was cold this was a startling contrast between the two names and that's why God says in verse 4 I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends jeremiah was showing them playing to clear I do not intend to back off on my message one little bit I'm gonna boldly and plainly tell you Mr P priest you mr. governor and everybody else who's gonna hear that destruction is sure to come get ready for it matter of fact verse 4 I will give all of Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon Yahweh was not gonna deliver Judah nor would agent it's gonna fall was the message verse 6 and you pass or you shall go to Babylon and there you shall die and no doubt pasture was one of the ones preaching a reliance upon Egypt Egypt gonna solve our problems an alliance with Egypt that'll be the fix we got one world power to come along another world pair yeah it will counterbalance geopolitics balance of power I got it all figured out you don't have anything figured out basher not only you're gonna go to Babylon you are never coming back you're gonna die there now would you blame Jeremiah for saying Lord can I have another job in their Sunday School class somewhere that needs a teacher parking lot Lord Lord I just let me do the parking lot something like that look at verse 7 Oh Lord you induced me and I was persuaded you're stronger than I and have prevailed I am at derision daily everyone mocks me for when I spoke I cried out I shouted violence and blunder because of the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily you see Jeremiah is explaining that he was compelled to do his prophetic work in verse 70 says you're stronger than me Lord you you arm wrestled me about this business about being a prophet and you won I had to do it you compelled me to do it you induced me friends that word translated induced right there in verse 7 it's a strong word in other places in the Old Testament almost in other place in the Old Testament it means to seduce it has the flavor Jeremiah's pouring out his heart to God you tricked me God if I would have known it would be this bad I don't know if I would have signed up for it but you prevailed upon me to do this prophetic work he says in verse 7 I am in derision daily everyone mocks me of course he's speaking of his recent occasion where he was punched in the face and put in the stocks of all the mockery and the humiliation that he had to face but then he says verse 8 the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach in a derision daily I am a faithful messenger of the Lord and it's hard for me to endure the reproach it's hard for me to endure the derision that comes to me every day Lord every day I'm telling them about the judgment and the catastrophe that's gonna come along Judit no friends how long was Jeremiah's career as a prophet did you remember when I mentioned earlier 40 years did a little experiment me let's say and if I was a little better prepared I could tell you with certainty so I can't really tell you but let's say that this stuff happened approximately in the middle of his ministry okay in the middle let's say at the 20-year mark how much further wasn't until the judgment would actually come let's just say for the sake argument 20 more years but you're not thinking about problems that are gonna happen 20 years from now and so to you Jeremiah is just some blowhard who keeps saying it's all gonna crumble but things seem to go along pretty nice but it was gonna come they mistook God's forbearance for not caring about sin verse 9 then I said I will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones and I was weary of holding it back and I could not for I heard many mocking fear on every side report they said and we were reported all my acquaintances watched my stumbling saying perhaps he can be induced then we will prevail against him we will take our revenge upon him Jeremiah had to pay a very painful price to remain a faithful messenger unto the Lord and on many occasions he contemplated giving up or at least changing the message our old friend the Puritan commentator John trap he has a way of turning a phrase he says this says Latimer he's referring to an old English churchmen this said Latimer in a like case was a naughty very naughty resolution I don't know how naughty Jeremiah was being but friends he's telling God I'm done I want to quit now you see a lot of this in the Book of Jeremiah Lord the price I'm paying for faithfulness to you is just too much maybe I'm done with this you know what's wonderful about this is the best that we can tell from the Book of Jeremiah Jeremiah oké these doubts and these crushing disappointments to God but never to the public there's something beautiful about that isn't it but before the public he did what God called him to do okay Lord I'll tell him again and then when he was crushed or beaten or put in the stocks or whatever it was again when he was mocked and derided when he was made a reproach again and again he'd run back to guns god I don't think I could do this again not even one more time and what does God say yeah you can't I'll strengthen you you know it really is okay to pour out your heart like this before God he doesn't despise it matter of fact even as he's pouring out before God he's figuring it out look at there and verse 9 he says but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones it's like Jeremiah says God many times I wanted to quit but I couldn't I couldn't quit I couldn't because I'm dealing with your word this is your word and it needs a prophet to preach it and that word you have it lives in my heart your word has hid my heart and when your word in my heart burned in me like fire and there's something wonderful about that friends there's something about a man or a woman whose heart is burning with the fire of God's Word I forget who said it but some of the effective this goes listen have your heart burning with the word of God and then go up and preach and people will just love to watch me burn well that's what Jeremiah did he said I can't stop and then he said that word is pressing against my very being it's as if he's shut up in my bones and I don't have the energy to hold it back I want to stop but I can't I'm called it's what I'm meant to do Lord I must do this and that's why he says in verse 9 I could not what could he not do he could not not preach I know I'm using the double negative but that's how it's phrased I can't not not preach I have to do it I have to do what you've told me to do Oh Lord it cost me a lot of pain a lot of humiliation but I have to do it and I have to do it faithfully you know would have been easy for Jeremiah said okay Lord I'll preach but now let's just talk about love now listen I'm sure Jeremiah preached some messages and God's love I don't doubt it but that was not the main tenor of his message because that's not what the people of Judah needed to hear they probably had lots of preachers telling about love they need somebody tell them the truth and Jeremiah loved them enough to do it then he says verse 10 for I heard many mocking you see they mocked Jeremiah's message of fear in coming catastrophe they waited for him to stumble they waited to take revenge on him they called Jeremiah mag or miss abib fear on every side oh you call pastor or that no that's what you are Jeremiah then he says verse 12 look at this verse 11 I mean but the Lord is with me as a mighty awesome one therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail they will greatly be ashamed for they will not prosper their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten but Oh Lord of Hosts you test the righteous and see the mind of heart let me see your vengeance on them for aya pleaded my cause before you now he's getting filled up with faith again isn't he I don't know what it is but there's just something about it in France I don't know that I don't mean to compare myself to Jeremiah at all III couldn't I couldn't touch the hem of his garment but but I know what it's like to be so discouraged in the midst of the work to be so assaulted by condemnation sometimes deserve sometimes not to feel like you're just so sick of all of it I can't do this anymore this is it I'm member on one occasion not here a prior church that I passed her sitting in the front row and being so overwhelmed by a sense of shame and guilt and unworthiness before I'm going up to preach that you just say forget it man this is it I go this is it I can't do I cannot do this anymore I'm so unworthy I'm I just cannot do this okay god I get it okay I'm gonna stop this is it and I sit there and I'm thinking you know and it's it's like the last song before I go up and preach and I'm just sitting there thinking okay you know obviously I got something prepared this morning there's nobody else who's gonna preach the Lord this is the last one this is it I got to do this I mean I got to do this because there's nobody else here to preach I got to do this and then I quit that's it and you can't describe the darkness and the despondency because it's not logical that's spiritual that comes over you it's not logical just spiritual comes over you it's sitting there thinking okay this is it this is the last sermon now I know what it is it always seems it seems like it happened with Jeremiah here because you saw the change in the verses I just read it just seems to happen that often times in those situations Satan kind of over plays his hand he just lays it on a little too thick or the Lord just shoots in a little special grace so I remember very clearly I want to catch him just sitting there thinking think okay this is it this is the last time this is this last sermon I'm gonna preach I got to get out I can't do this anymore and then I think well if this is the last sermon I'm gonna preach then Lord make it a good one Lord I trust in you just I get up there and once you get up and begin it's like the darkness and the fog just clears away and it's like well let's let's spend some time in God's Word and there's just something about this that Jeremiah felt and when we see him burst out of it in these verses look at it verse 11 but the Lord is with me as a mighty awesome God yeah Lord I'm getting it now verse 11 therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail they said I would stumble no their gonna stumble and then we're stroke o you lord of hos you who tests the righteous and see the mind in the heart Lord I'm content to leave the matter to you Lord maybe I am a crazy man maybe I do have it all wrong but I'm gonna leave it up to you God you can judge your the righteous God I am content to do that and then look at verse 13 sing to the Lord praise the Lord for his delivered the life of the poor from the hand of the evildoers he's shouting this out the window no doubt I said what share my talking I've never heard Jeremiah that's happy before he says pump the gas god yes you're going I'm gonna sing to you you say what an amazing transformation has happened in this prophet he was ready to quit ready to give up I've had enough of this Lord I can't do it anymore and then somehow some way just in the way the Lord's done in your life at some time or another hasn't he so you doesn't have to be with a ministry like preaching although it could be in whatever way God's giving you to serve God some can be just going on in faithfulness to the Lord some just hanging in there and resisting temptation staying in that difficult circumstance whatever it is to just have by a miracle of God him and come and bring a new strength and new sweetness to it that's what Jeremiah experienced now I wish that the chapter ended at verse 13 but friends this is real life okay this is real okay it doesn't always then yes let's look at the rest of the chapter cursed be the day in which I was born let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me let the man who Kurt let the man be cursed who brought news to my father saying a male child has been born to you making him very glad and let that man be like the cities' which the Lord overthrew and did not relent he means Sodom and Gomorrah let that let me hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon because he did not kill me from the womb that my mother might have been my grave in her womb always enlarged with me why did I come forward through the womb to see labor and sorrow that my days should be consumed with shame in this real right friends I hope I'm not depressing buddy here tonight let me tell you something this life is gonna be a battle until the day you get to heaven it will and I don't doubt that in that battle along the way you are gonna have glorious successes tremendous victories you're gonna be like those verts Inge and prays to the Lord no doubt plenty of it I want more and more of it in your life and in mine the friends there's gonna be more battles to fight and sometimes we're gonna come back tail between our legs and say God fix this please you see it's that way by design to keep us utterly dependent upon you if God could somehow give you a shot and I mean like a literal injection tonight and that shot would within your whole life give you this whole thing where you're never gonna get down again and you're just gonna have an unbroken trail of victory from now til the day you go to heaven you'd say sign me up for that shot I would thank you this is exactly what I've been waiting for a church honestly if we got that shot how long until we lessen our vital dependence upon the Lord I don't need the Lord I got a shot something like that right no friends this this despair that Jeremiah has at the end it's painful it's it's really painful verse 18 why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow friends there's a purpose of God in setting the section of grief immediately after the section of faith and triumph it shows that trusting God doesn't just magically make it all easy the battle remains and the reliance upon God has to be constant it's interesting that Jeremiah thought his problem would be over if he was never born isn't that what he's saying listen Jeremiah I got some tough news for you God called you before you were ever conceived God was thinking before all that remember this before I formed you in the womb I knew you before you were born I sanctified you I ordained you as a prophet to the nation's that's in Jeremiah chapter 1 Jeremiah you think your troubles go back to the womb now I had a plan for your life before the womb I thought about this ahead of time God says that's why I called you before the room because I knew you'd be praying it's a silly prayer like this listen listen if you ever feel like you hit rock bottom and you're so despairing in your spiritual life that you feel like giving up I just want you to know this Jeremiah was there before you have we ever been as low as this I don't know probably not I'm not saying more I'm just saying at the very least it's a tie okay you tie for being the most despondent person on earth okay good Jeremiah was there before you and he saw God's faithfulness real in his life God is gonna work it real in your life father that's our prayer we come before you lord recognizing that now to the day we die it is a battle Lord and instead of getting angry about that or bitter about that Jesus we say would you please be the captain of our salvation and would you see us through to the end Lord we look forward to that day when it is easy we look forward to the day when it is an unbroken chain of victory when it is nothing but from glory to glory Lord we know that day is in heaven and we can't happen quickly enough for us Lord come quickly Lord Jesus but until that day we pray that you would help us to keep our eyes on you Jesus and to have rest and a comfort in that we love you we praise you here this evening in Jesus wonderful name you [Music]

Channel: David Guzik

Views: 3,801

Rating: 4.8032789 out of 5

Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, jeremiah, prophet jeremiah, jeremiah 19, jeremiah 20

Id: 9Kwm47iwboo

Length: 47min 33sec (2853 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 16 2019