Jeremiah 20 - I can not NOT

[Music] well thanks very much for the invitation and the opportunity to come and bring you something from god's word uh i will ask you i'm going to speak to you this morning from the book of jeremiah chapter 20. so if you would turn there as you're finding your way to that text uh i as the vice president mentioned we do have or i do have an online bible commentary and i can't pass up the opportunity to say that asking you to pray for that work especially the work of getting it translated into two strategic languages and i i don't want to pass it to say i'm looking for translators in either mandarin simplified characters or in arabic so if you or know somebody who can help with that translation work please let me know jeremiah chapter 20. now to set kind of the stage here if you're familiar with the book of jeremiah you know that in chapter 18 he has this remarkable experience at the potter's house where god really makes it plain to jeremiah about the freedom that god has as the potter to shape and to make things as he pleases and then god told jeremiah following that to go to the potsherd gate near the hinnom valley and take a clay bottle and use it as an object lesson this clay bottle would be something like we called a flask maybe the kind of thing that you would hold perfume in something like that and the idea in the sermon that jeremiah preached in jeremiah chapter 19 was to illustrate this idea that uh the clay once it hardens can be easily broken and that was really jeremiah's message that the people of god in jerusalem and in judah had become hardened and that they were actually very ripe for the judgment of god that fits in with the whole context of jeremiah's message but it's kind of an interesting thing as you see in jeremiah chapter 19 he's preaching this message at the pot shirt gate and apparently there wasn't enough of an audience there for him because he goes up to the temple courts and preaches the same sermon up there i mean i envision him having the the flask the the bottle of clay and dropping it to the ground maybe throwing it to the ground to illustrate this idea this dramatic representation once the clay hardens it can be easily broken once our hearts harden against god they can be easily broken and i don't know how much experience you may have had preaching and teaching ministry but it is kind of a strange feeling when you feel like you have an outstanding message and there aren't that many people there to hear it you've often wished for the opportunity i'm going to go somewhere else and preach this and that's exactly what jeremiah did went up to the temple courts the most kind of public busy area in the city and he preaches the same sermon up there the same dramatic application that's where we come to uh jeremiah chapter 20 verse one because what jeremiah did up there in the temple courts it didn't please a priest named pashur so here we come verse 1 jeremiah 20. now pasture the son of emmer the priest who was also the chief governor in the house of the lord heard that jeremiah prophesied these things then pashur struck jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of benjamin which was by the house of the lord now i often tell people that when you read the bible or when you preach the bible really it should be like a movie running in your head and i say that reverently i suppose that there are irreverent ways to use our imagination but nevertheless we recognize that these things really happened i mean there was a real man named jeremiah who stood on a real piece of real estate there the temple courts and over there was the uh the the great altar for sacrifice and over there was the house of the lord itself the temple proper and over there was the line uh delineating the court of the women to the the inner court and all the rest i mean this was a real place so jeremiah went up in this place he's preaching the message again because it was a message of judgment and judgment against the hardened hearts of the people of jerusalem and judea this man pashur didn't like it now you need to understand something of the dynamic and i know i'm just repeating what many of you already know but just just for the sake of doing this to remind ourselves that jeremiah was not the only prophet who spoke in the name of the lord to the people of jerusalem and judah of his day there were many other prophets the problem was was that jeremiah spoke what seemed to be an entirely contradictory message to what the other prophets who spoke in the name of the lord said you see the dominant message of the day that was being delivered by by priests and prophets who purported to speak in the name of the lord was this yes we see the babylonian threat out there yes we see this rising uh mighty power on the horizon yes they're conquering peoples all around us but don't be afraid god will deliver us that was the message and the people loved that message it was a very patriotic message it was a message that you could look back in israel's history and say look didn't god deliver us in the days of gideon didn't he deliver us in the days of joshua didn't he deliver us in the days of david well look he's delivered us in the past he'll do it again now jeremiah had a very different message jeremiah's message was no the lord is not going to give a spectacular deliverance god is not going to send the egyptians because we make an alliance with them to rescue us no we're under the judgment of god and the best thing we can do is submit to that judgment if we submit to god's judgment if we receive his chastening hand as a mark of his love and care for us that then we can receive the wonderful promises of restoration that god has on the other side of this season of judgment because of course the book of jeremiah is not only the announcement of judgment it also has many many other beautiful promises of restoration so men like pashur this priest who was something of the sergeant of arms or head of security for the temple courts he didn't like jeremiah's message jeremiah you're ruining the morale of all the people you're telling everybody to surrender when we want them to stand strong against the babylonians you're telling everybody we're going to lose when we want everybody to believe we're going to win but that was jeremiah's message and when he preached that message on the temple courts did you see what pastor had done to him it says there where is it in verse 2 i believe pashur struck jeremiah the prophet i don't know exactly how this looked you know if i want to get fancy in my imagination while jeremiah is preaching in a very dramatic way pastor directly or maybe indirectly through one of his you know soldiers or guards under him went up and just punched jeremiah in the face in the middle of his message that could be although the hebrew word that's translated there struck some people believe it has an association with the 39 stripes that they would give somebody under the mosaic law it may be that the sermon wasn't directly interrupted by a punch to the face i think of paul's message before the sanhedrin when he was struck in the midst of his message maybe it wasn't like that maybe whoa stop the proceedings take this man give him the the ritual 39 stripes it could very well be that but no it wasn't only that pastor struck jeremiah the prophet verse two now and put him in the stocks now what were the stocks i mean we kind of have this idea of the puritan idea of the stocks you don't think where your head is in like a wooden rack in your hands and well there was something to that you were exposed you were publicly humiliated but again the idea behind the hebrew word here for stocks comes from the idea to twist or to distort it may have not just been an unpleasant position it may have been something of a tortured position that jeremiah was in there was pain there was humiliation there was the the ceasing of the message that's what happened to jeremiah and it's a remarkable thing that he was so faithful to continue on in the work that he had it was publicly humiliating it happened at the high gate of benjamin verse 2 says near the temple and in a very public place now verse 3 tells us and it happened on the next day that pasture brought jeremiah out of the stocks okay let's stop right there wouldn't you be grateful if you were jeremiah there you were you were beaten i mean physically persecuted for your faith which is something we think of our dear brothers and sisters all around the world who do face physical persecution and and death and torture for the sake of jesus christ and we want to stand in real partnership and solidarity with them in the western world it's virtually unknown for us to suffer that but we can imagine it we can imagine the relief no longer are people walking by spitting at me throwing things at me mocking me making me an approach and a derision all of those things that's done he's letting me out of the stocks and you wonder if there's not just a little bit of a stockholm syndrome thing that could be happening here where jeremiah is just so grateful to pashur his captor for letting him out yes pastor you now you're my best friend well that's not how it happened at all let me look at verse three again it happened on the next day that pastor brought jeremiah out of the stocks then jeremiah said to him here's his response the lord has not called your name pashur but magor misabib again there's a little bit of a debate what this exactly means the name pashur is sometimes given to mean freedom ease or peacefulness again there's linguistic debate as to what exactly the name means but there's no doubt it has a pleasant connotation freedom ease peacefulness he says your name shall no longer be called pleasant pasture but look what it says there at the end of verse 3 he says but your new name will be magor misabib which means terror on every side no doubt making a connection with the siege that was soon to come upon jerusalem from the babylonian army where literally the city would be encircled and there would be terror on every side so look at the uh word of jeremiah now and i again i can't get away from picturing this scene you have been beaten maybe with 39 lashes on your back you've spent all night on the temple court and anybody who walked by you mocked you derided you used you as an excuse to give forth a little expression of cruelty finally the next day i mean you've been in this position twisted stuck in the stalks you've been in this position for hours upon hours 12 15 hours who knows exactly how long pastor brings you out and instead of responding with gratitude you say your name is no longer going to be pasture your name is going to be terror on every side and then jeremiah goes into this dramatic sermon and again knowing something of jeremiah throughout the book i can't imagine that he's like this stoic general kind of feeling you know i say to you i imagine this being done with a trembling lip and a tear-filled eye but he gives the message nevertheless look at it here verse 4 for thus says the lord i will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and your eyes shall see it i will give all judah into the land of the king of babylon and he 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 of the king of judah i will give into the hand of their enemies who will plunder them seize them and carry them to babylon and you pashur 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 in whom or to whom you have prophesied lies what a dramatic scene instead of backing off from the message in the slightest way you could say that jeremiah to use a phrase current in our own day he doubles down this is the message that god has given me and i know it stands in contradiction to the false message that you pastor and all your associates give but this is the truth we're gonna lose to the babylonians they will conquer us they will completely plunder us the city will be burned and you pasture you're gonna die in babylon you and your whole family and again i i can't think of jeremiah delivering this with this kind of cool detached you know gangster mentality again i can't imagine this was done in any other way than with a trembling lip and a tear-filled eye now all that i've said to you this far and i look at the clock to see where i'm at with them all this is introduction what i really want to get at is in the next verse because jeremiah speaks to the lord about his service to god in such a way that i think it's incredibly instructive for us it is for me and and i hope that what god has ministered to me from this passage maybe has some benefit for some of you after this outpouring of pain humiliation boldness faithfulness the whole package together look at jeremiah's reaction starting at verse 7. oh lord you induced me and i was persuaded you are stronger than i and have prevailed i am in derision daily everyone mocks me for when i spoke i cried out i shouted violence and plunder because the word of the lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily what a fascinating thing for jeremiah to pour out before god and by the way let's remind ourselves these were words not that he spoke on the temple courts publicly this is his prayer to god this is his personal outpouring of heart to yahweh himself and do you know what he does he i don't know if this is the right word so if it's not exactly the right word give me a little bit of grace on here he accuses yahweh of tricking him i mean i'm sure many of you have the esv in front of you this is how the esv renders that first line of verse seven oh lord you have deceived me and i was deceived and actually that word might even be a little more potent than we normally see because that word that's translated in the new king james version i'm reading to you where it says induced the word that translated deceived in the esv twice in the old testament i want to say this reverently believe me i'm not doing this for shock value but twice in the old testament that same word is used of sexual seduction now it certainly doesn't have that direct sense here but the sense of it is plain god you seduced me into the ministry you tricked me if i would have known it would be like this i don't think i ever would have gotten into it what are you doing with this god i'm not going to ask for anybody to raise their hand but it is a common thing for the servants of god from time to time to come to this exact place what's up god were you tricking me when you called me into ministry did you and again i mean this reverently did you seduce me with flowery words why didn't you tell me it would be like this now let me say a few things in jeremiah's defense here first of all jeremiah spoke this way to god and not to others i don't think that this is the kind of thing that would be appropriate for jeremiah to share with the congregation of israel but it was entirely appropriate for him to pour out his god his uh his heart before god in this way because you know what i think almost everybody who's ever served the lord in any real dedicated capacity has felt this from time to time god did you trick me into doing this that's what jeremiah felt i don't even doubt that moses felt that at times elijah you could go on many many other notable servants of god now we know from the revealed nature and character of god that god does not trick god does not deceive but i will say this he doesn't tell us more than we need to know at our present level of maturity i'm sort of fascinated by the thought that when moses has an encounter with god on the slopes of horeb or mount sinai uh at the burning bush and god calls him to ministry god told him what he was going to do you're going to deliver my people you're going to be my servant i'm also fascinated by what god didn't tell him he didn't tell him yeah 40 years in the wilderness with the rebellious and a stubborn people and you're never going to set foot in the promised land now was god deceiving moses no i don't think so but he didn't tell him more than he needed to know at his present moment of maturity we've all most of us at least have felt this from time to time and that's why he says he pours out his heart look at there in verse 7 i am in derision daily everyone mocks me he's just thinking of his most recent experience there in the temple courts and then he says in verse 8 the the word of the lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily you know as a faithful messenger of god it was difficult for jeremiah to endure the reproach that's the disgrace the derision that came to him now look at jeremiah's determination starting here in verse 9 ready then i said i will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name it's quite a resolution isn't it i mean take those first two lines of verse nine and what is it it's something that many of us in ministry are familiar with this is his resignation letter this is his i quit i can't do this anymore god i mean isn't that what it says i'll read it again to you then i said i will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name but look at how he continues here in the middle of verse 9. but his word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones i was weary of holding it back and i could not for i heard many mocking fear on every side report they say and we will report it all my acquaintances watch for my stumbling saying perhaps he can be induced then we'll prevail against him and we can take our revenge on him i love those two verses the two opening lines i quit i can't do this anymore then he says i can't not do this matter of fact i see the title of the message here on there and i i don't know if that's how i report it but that's not exactly how i would not title this message i could not now even though that's better grammar than the title i would use i i would use a very incorrect double negative here i would title this message i could not not i can't go on but i can't stop either matter of fact look at how he describes why he couldn't stop he says your word was in my heart lord i know this is your word and by the way every once in a while we just have to be refreshed with our understanding of revelation and our doctrine of revelation if this is the word of god then it is worth it for us to do what we do with it he understood it was god's word and he understood that god's word lived in his heart look his word was in my heart and it was in his heart like a burning fire and that very word pressed against his very being as if it was shut up in his bones and had to get out it's as if it required great energy for him to hold it in and he's in that place that's familiar to many of us who have served god for any amount of years i can't go on but i can't stop either i could not not well what an amazing place for jeremiah to be now i do believe that there are unique challenges and struggles that those who are in ministry uh those who serve god by the preaching or the teaching of his word and other wonderful valid aspects of ministry i do believe that there are unique struggles that we face i do believe that idea can be exaggerated i mean sometimes pastors and i suppose at times i've been guilty of this we we sort of stand before people and we act like we have the real problems and they you know don't and boy i tell you you try to sell that to your congregation and they'll give you short shrift and deservedly so i mean everybody has their own challenges serving god but we do those of us who serve the lord we have our unique challenges and difficulties and this is what jeremiah had to grapple with he had his own set of struggles and attacks for example he says i heard many mocking they were waiting for him to stumble there was fear on every side and after this just dramatic outpouring of god god i can't do this anymore but i can't not do it where does he come to look at verses 11 and 12. 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 and they will not prosper their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten but you o lord of hosts you who test the righteous and see the mind in the heart let me see your vengeance on them for i have pleaded my cause before you isn't that beautiful jeremiah lets it all out before god god i quit i can't take this anymore but but yet i can't stop either you've given me such a call such a burning with him i gotta do this but it's so hard and all of that was in a sense and i don't mean this just in a psychological sense but in a true spiritual sense it was cathartic he let it out and god in verses 11 and 12 fills jeremiah with a strength with an ability to go on i mean there's such a note of triumph here look at that in verse 11 but the lord is with me as a mighty awesome one it would seem that just a few verses before jeremiah did not have much active sense of god being with him but when he was honest before god about his own struggles when he brought it before the lord and laid it down before him then god drew near to him in a special way there there is a great difficulty in the church today of and i don't i don't think that it's anything new but it might be something uniquely powerful in california in our southern california culture you know in california um and in our whole hollywood southern california thing who you are is not important it's what you appear to be i mean that's that's just kind of woven throughout so much in our culture and i've kind of noticed this that that there is and again i don't think there's anything new maybe it's just a little bit worse than before but there is just a startling amount of phoniness in church people aren't real i mean it's so customary to almost be a cliche of the family that's practically screaming at each other as they pull into the church parking lot and as soon as they get on out of the car they put on the smiles and everything's fine i mean again it's practically cliche but it's a cliche for a reason this is what i like to say sometimes to people is that true life transformation comes when we bring well let me put it this way i'll put it in the u form because i think it's a little more direct when you bring the real you to the real jesus now it has to be the real jesus there's no doubt about it that there is you know sort of this idea this conception of the phony jesus out there but the jesus the messiah the jesus of nazareth that's revealed to us in this bible this is the real jesus so make no mistake about it it's got to be the real jesus and god bless you for your work in seminary and your theologicals you you have a con you want to get the real jesus as he's brought forth from scripture it's got to be the real jesus but you need to bring the real you to the real jesus i don't know if that phony you that's displayed at church i don't know if that phony was going to heaven i don't know if it's right with god does that phony you really even exist instead just as an image that's put out there there's something so powerful in the fact that jeremiah was real with god about where he was at and god poured out strength into him i noted for you before the note of triumph it sort of culminates right here in verse 13. look at how great this is sing to the lord praise the lord for he's delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers i want to just saying is when we experience this this sort of desperation that i quit i don't know if i can go on you need to pour out your heart honestly before god about it now when i say not quitting or going on or all that i do sometimes need to make the distinction here that it doesn't mean that in whatever present capacity you're serving god you're going to be doing that for the rest of your life i think there is a valid distinction to make that there's sort of a calling we have on our life that's for a lifetime but but god may use that calling in different places and different roles and different functions we kind of understand that but here jeremiah is saying no i received the strength to go on and by the time you get to verse 13 he is in some state of triumph and exhilaration and again i believe he brought the real jeremiah to the real god and the strength of god and the goodness of god was there to meet him to heal him to strengthen him to bless him and and it's like we read verse 13 and we're just ready to wipe our hands of it and work man this is amazing thank you lord for showing me this then we come to verse 14. and this i love this as well verse 14. cursed be the day in which i was born let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me 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 let him 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 and her womb always enlarged with me why did i come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow that my days should be consumed with shame now look we understand that there's some editorial arrangement here of the book of jeremiah i i don't know that jeremiah spoke the words of verse 13 and directly then spoke the words of verse 14. but there's some sense in which god wants us to think that way because of the arrangement of the text and i find this so refreshing that jeremiah is in the pits he's resigning i quit and then he comes to that i could not not experience it he comes to this i could not not experience you know just like peter the lord where else would i go you have the words of eternal life he's in that position and and he after pouring out his heart to god god refreshes him and then those verses you know 11 12 13 14 beautiful triumph before the lord and then you get to verse 14 what is it there's going to be another challenge along the way i i am grateful for transitions such as we see between verse 13 and 14 because it shows me something first of all there is real comfort and strength and encouragement in god there is we will confront similar seasons in life and in ministry just like jeremiah did and god will bring his blessed comfort and strength along the way we can be very grateful for that but if you are expecting to be lifted up to some state of perpetual glory where you are like a spiritual superman where the bullets of of discouragement and frustration harmlessly bounce off your chest and and never bother you anymore that is not going to happen on this side of eternity the struggle is real and if you're enjoying a wonderful sense of triumph and assurance from god today thank him for it but know somewhere down along the way it's going to be challenged again i'm very grateful for this arrangement and i'm grateful for how jeremiah phrased his complaint in those verses didn't you hear an echo of the book of job there i wish i'd never been born why didn't i die in my mother's womb that would have fixed everything would have fixed everything if i would have never existed so much preferred to the present difficulty and discouragement i face and you know what jeremiah's problem was jeremiah's problem was that he didn't realize he didn't remember maybe i should say well god spoke to him in the very first chapter jeremiah thought that it would have been fixed for him if he would have never made it out of the womb but what god said to him in jeremiah chapter 1 verse 5 is this before i formed you in the womb i knew you before you were born i sanctified you and i ordained you as a prophet to the nations and jeremiah see i had a grip on you before you were in your mother's womb i've got a first claim on that you think it would have been fixed with you never making it out of residual no you didn't go back far enough i have a calling i have a purpose i have ordination on your life that goes back to that very point or it goes back beyond i should say before previous to that very point this is really wonderful to think about at the end of it all and look i i know you guys are you're doing your thing here in seminary and maybe some of you have some kind of confidence and assurance about the call of god in your life maybe others of you you're still kind of searching it out to get a little greater sense of specificity what it is that actually god has called you to do but i'm here to tell you whether you're aware of it at this point or not god has a call and a purpose on your life and a way for you to actively participate in the furthering of his kingdom and that call certainly may not be exactly like jeremiah's call but i think i could say with confidence it pre-dates your birth and god has this plan this role for you and god helping you you'll live it out until the end it's going to be a struggle it will until the end we'll have these seasons of difficulty and maybe even sometimes despair in the midst of the discouragement we'll be honest before god we'll pour out our hearts he'll strengthen us he'll lift us up to these wonderful places that we saw in verses 11 12 and 13 and then you know what at some time around the bend there's going to be another great challenge for us to face and we'll keep meeting them god helping us all along the way until we graduate from this place we have let's say graduated from the zoo i'm in the seminary i mean until we have finished our race as paul would say we receive the crown that god has for us i know that jeremiah received his crown and um if you ever feel like you're hitting rock bottom know that god has servants like jeremiah who have been there before you and he strengthened them and he'll strengthen you as long as you bring the real you to the real jesus now father this is my prayer it's my prayer for myself lord lord you know myself there's some confusing things in my life right now and lord i i just simply ask that in the midst of the confusion and the uncertainty that you'd help me to just have a a perfect peace because my mind has stayed on you the lord i pray for everyone here i pray for everyone in this room i pray for those who are seeing this online now and those who will see it later lord we we don't um expect that our service to you will be this um unreserved unhindered glory we know there's going to be challenges and discouragements lord we just ask that you would help us to surrender every aspect of this to you to be honest before you with our doubts our fears or struggles and to by faith receive from you the strength that you so readily give not only to receive it for the moment to prepare us for the next challenge that may come our way we thank you and praise you for it all lord in jesus wonderful name amen [Music] you

Channel: David Guzik

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Keywords: david guzik, guzik, enduring word, Jeremiah 20, I can not NOT, prophet jeremiah, jeremiah, speak, preach, truth, word of god

Id: NNLA04dFTP8

Length: 36min 44sec (2204 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 20 2021