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Jeremiah 1, Jeremiah Series
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[00:00:00] Amen. Well, good morning and welcome both in present and those that are joining us on stream. So I'm going to have a stand this morning. I want to just read just a little bit of my text. Today we're going to be in the book of Jeremiah. Chapter one. Word of the Lord came to me, saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Chapter one, verse four, verse five. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Alas, sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak. I am too young. But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord. Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. And the word of the Lord came to me. Father, I pray today that's our cry. The word of the Lord will come to us, that we'll hear your voice speaking not only individually, but also collectively. And I believe today, Lord, you want to speak beyond our congregation. You want to speak into the hearts and lives of people who are listening across our nation, into the United States and many other nations. Lord, you want to speak words of transformation. You want to speak words of hope. Lord, you want to speak words that will help us to know your plan and purposes in the hour in which we are living. And help us, o God, not to live in confusion. Help us, Lord, not to be driven by fears and frustrations, o God, but help us to know your divine will and purposes in this time, Father, and we thank you for that. In Jesus name we pray. And God's people said, amen. You may be seated.
[00:02:10] Jeremiah, chapter one. Dr. William Morehead writes, at the end of the 19th century, so this is 1893.
[00:02:19] It was Jeremiah's lot to prophesy at a time when all things in Judah were rushing down to the final and mournful catastrophe, when political excitement was at its height, when the worst passion swayed the various parties and the most fatal councils prevailed, it was his to stand in the way over which his nation was rushing headlong to destruction and to make a heroic effort to arrest it and turn it back and to fail and be compelled to step to one side and see his own people, whom he loved with the tenderness of a woman plunge over the precipice into the wide, weltering rune.
[00:03:10] Can you imagine being Jeremiah told to go talk to a people that wouldn't listen? How many say that's a pretty difficult task? You ever felt like you were talking sometimes to people that aren't listening in your life, they're not hearing what you have to say? Well, Jeremiah understood it. As a matter of fact, it was an hour in which the people of God felt like they were serving God. But yet Jeremiah was saying something they didn't want to hear, and it was actually what God wanted them to know.
[00:03:43] But people were hardening their heart.
[00:03:46] It's easy to do that, isn't know. I was thinking of that text. In the psalms and Hebrews, it says, today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart. What's the temptation? When we hear God speak into our lives and then we don't do anything about it, that's hardening our hearts, isn't it?
[00:04:05] God also is going to speak through Jeremiah not only words of challenge, but also words of encouragement, words of hope, because he knew, as we know, sometimes when you're speaking into a situation, you know people aren't receiving it. There has to come a season of preparation before that word takes root. Isn't that true? And it's interesting, as the psalmist points out, and I think that we can all say this looking back in hindsight, especially when we're a young person and our parents are maybe giving us counsel, but we're not listening to what they have to say. And then we go through a season of difficulty, a season that tries our soul, and then all of a sudden, the words that we refused to listen to earlier are now sounding and resonating within our soul. Listen to what the psalmist says. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I obey your word. Isn't that interesting how many recognize that if you and I will not respond in the right way to what God is saying in our lives, if we don't respond in obedience and we just ignore what God's going to say, God will discipline our lives, not because he's a bully or mean, but because he loves us with an everlasting love. He's going to correct what's wrong in our lives so that you and I will not destroy ourselves. Aren't you glad for God's mercies? You know, I would even say that it's God's mercies and love that brings difficulties into our lives, to adjust some of our thinking and living and he'll do it. As a matter of fact, he goes on to say, you are good. I love that. God, you are good. I love it when we sing these beautiful songs. God, you are good. And your mercies endure forever. Don't you love singing that? How many really believe, deep in your innermost being, that God is good?
[00:05:59] You see, some of us, we struggle with even that thought. See, the very core, my being. I believe with all of my heart, God is so good.
[00:06:09] And what you do is good. It may not always be fun. Sometimes Eddie could be painful. But whatever he does is good. And then he prays this prayer. Teach me your decrees. How many here are saying, lord, I want to know your word.
[00:06:24] This morning I was up really early, abnormally early. And I was praying. And I spent a lot of time praying this morning. And as I was waiting on God, and I just said, lord, I want to know you even more than I've ever known you before. I want to get closer to you. I want to walk just with such a sensitivity to your voice.
[00:06:44] I want to know you as much as I can possibly know you. You're my ambition. You're my aim. You're my goal in life for me to live as Christ. Amen. Don't we want to get to know him more and more and more, this wonderful person? Or are we just caught up with a whole bunch of things in this life that one day will all fade away? And yet the thing that is eternal is this amazing relationship with almighty God.
[00:07:13] What does a nation look like when it's in decline? Let me go back to 1893. I think this is fascinating. Do you know why I think Jeremiah is so relevant and so important? And you know why I think God spoke to Jeremiah even though he knew his people at that moment wouldn't listen to him? Because there's always been seasons in people's lives, individually and seasons in nations where people have rejected God, not listened to God. But these words are so relevant that you and I need to hear them. Why do we need to hear them if we're willing to listen? Because most people around us are not listening.
[00:07:46] And we need to understand what in the world is going on.
[00:07:51] And so he goes on to say it this way. He said, it happens that when a state becomes involved in difficulties, how many say, we're kind of there, aren't we? When its affairs are entangled and rune threatens and people range themselves into contending in hostile parties.
[00:08:09] This was written in 1893, folks.
[00:08:13] This could have been written right now.
[00:08:15] Isn't that true? Absolutely.
[00:08:18] It says so it transpired in the closing days of the kingdom of Judah. Well, that goes way back. The closing days in the kingdom of Judah was five, what, 86 BC?
[00:08:33] How many get an idea that history just keeps repeating itself? Anybody catch that just keeps happening over and over and over again? It says much more. So was it in the last years of Jerusalem, in the first century of the christian air? Isn't that true? In 70 AD, you know what was going on there? The jewish people, the covenant people, God, were fighting with each other in the city of Jerusalem. Actually, I've done a study on that. And if the jewish people had been unified at that moment, they probably would have defeated the Romans. I know that sounds almost mind boggling, but Rome was so spread out trying to govern its empire, and they had a major kingdom right next to them called the Parthians, that if Israel would have been bound together, but they were actually literally fighting with each other in the city of Rome. Excuse me, in Jerusalem, when the city was besieged by the Romans, they were literally fighting with each other inside the city. How many think that's crazy?
[00:09:22] But isn't that amazing how we do that kind of stuff?
[00:09:26] It says the nations split into fierce factions, each denouncing the other as the chief cause of all of their woes.
[00:09:34] Mutual distrust broke up families, divided friends, made a man's enemies those of his own household. Everyone had to take heed to his neighbor and suspected his brother. This was true in Jeremiah's day. It was true in the first century. It's true right now. It's happening.
[00:09:53] We see that people or nations do get into these places, as history repeatedly warns us. The more critical question is, how do God's people get to a place where God is speaking, and yet we become unwilling to listen?
[00:10:08] See, I want to have an open heart. I want to have a tender heart. I want to have a hearing heart. I want to have an obedient heart to God.
[00:10:17] And I believe that you do as well.
[00:10:22] So if we don't listen to what God's saying, what happens is we end up in contention, we end up in disobedience, and God desires to be heard. Despite the many voices supposedly speaking in his name, confusion begins to reign. By the way, confusion is a work of the devil. Read the book of James.
[00:10:40] And one of the things we're going to learn from the book of Jeremiah is the authentication of God's voice through his sanctioned prophet. Another way of saying this is, how am I able to distinguish the voice of the true from the false? How many think that might be important. Know, somebody said to me the other day, pastor, I don't know what to believe anymore. I think there are things that are true and there are things that are false. How can I discern what's true?
[00:11:07] Here? In chapter one, we gain Jeremiah's reason for why we should listen to his message. So what was this man?
[00:11:16] So who was this man that many describe as the weeping prophet? Actually, when you read the New Testament, I don't know if we pick up on this, but one of the most flattering things is people said, who do you think I am? Jesus said, some said, we think you're Jeremiah. So all of a sudden, at the time when Jeremiah lived, he wasn't very highly esteemed, but later on, he became one of the great prophets in the land of Israel. People recognized he knew the voice of God. He was telling them exactly what God was saying, and yet they saw what happened when they didn't hear and heed the voice of God. So let's take a look at the background and context of which JERemiah is now fulfilling this ministry. And in chapter one, verse one, it says the words of JeReMiah, son of Hakaliah, one of the priests at Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin. Immediately we see that JeRemiah was from a priestly Family living in the southern kingdom of Judah, and therefore, by lineage, he was a part of the priesthood, because in the old TestamEnt, you had to be part of that genealogy. So Jeremiah was a priest.
[00:12:25] Davidson explains that Anathoth was a small village of no importance, a few miles northeast of Jerusalem, near enough for him to know what was going on in the big city. Actually, other scholars, when I was reading this, shared the distance was so negligible that you could actually look from anathoth and actually see Jerusalem. So it wasn't that far away.
[00:12:45] You could see the CommunIty from there. It seems that JeRemiah knew the Proper Role of priests. And yet in his writings, he begins to expose the corruption that had happened in the spiritual leadership in the land at that time. This was the very place where godliness and holiness was to be expected in practice. And yet it was a farce. It was a sham. There was so MUch corruption. In chapter one, Jeremiah explains to us that God had called him, and the message that he was now going to state was from God. Tremper Longman says, while authorship is not an important issue in much of biblical and ancient near eastern literature, it's significant for this genre, which is prophecy. In other words, prophets must be people who have had an encounter with God and have been commissioned by him for their tasks. This is not just. You don't pick this job. God picks you for the job. That's what he's saying.
[00:13:44] This identity and credentials of prophets are significant and often described in anticipation of their oracles. In other words, most of them. These prophets will introduce themselves by saying, this is how God called me, and then begin to explain what God said to them. That's exactly what JereMIAh is doing here. In verse two, it says, the word of the Lord came to him in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah, king of Ammon, king of Judah. Now, Josiah was a good king. If you study that, he was one of the few good kings. It was under Josiah that there was a reformation going on. Unfortunately, Josiah started reigning when he was eight years old. So in this 13th year, JoSiah was 21. He was killed in battle at the age of 39. And all of the reforming elements under his leadership came to an end and the kingdom reverted right back into its corruption, it says, and through the reigns of JeHOAkim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, down to the fifth month of the 11th year of ZEdddkiah, son of Josiah, king of Judah, when Jerusalem went into exile. So he's just giving us the length of his ministry now. Actually, he skips two kings in here. Both of them had very short lived reigns.
[00:14:57] Here we have the origin of the divine summons to ministry. The word of the Lord came to him. RObert Davidson gives us an insight into the making of a prophet, and he says this. There seems to be two basic ingredients in the making of a prophet in the Old Testament.
[00:15:12] The first, a situation of crisis in which the community has lost or is in danger of losing its way. Often it is a CriSiS whose meaning and challenge are not recognized either by the Religious Establishment or by the man in the street. In other words, people are not understanding what's really going on. You see, sometimes we get so caught up with what's happening in trees, we miss the bigger picture. What's really going on here? What's going on in the mind and heart of God? What is God trying to say to us in this moment? And secondly, a personal experience in which a man finds himself gripped by God and commissioned to proclaim to the community a message which speaks to this crisis situation. How many think it's important when you're in the middle of a crisis that we hear from God? Anybody think that might be important? How many want to know what God thinks? How many want to hear what God has to say at this moment of time? I do. I want to know God's heart at this moment, I want to understand what's really happening here. I don't want to just focus on what I'm observing. I want to understand what's God's take on what's occurring. And I believe that's what Jeremiah is going to do here. As we look at this book in chapter one, we gain an introduction both to the man, the call, and the message that God's entrusted to him. It's a call for us to listen carefully to what is about to be spoken. What can we learn in that hour of apostasy, which is very similar to the hour in which you and I are living in today?
[00:16:50] What can we learn on how to live in that moment? And how should we be responding? Do we have it right? Do we fully understand what God is doing in this moment of time? And so this morning, I want to look at three movements that reveal to us the nature of God's work in our world. And it's simply the first one is the call of God on our lives.
[00:17:12] How many know God works through people? That's his chosen avenue of how he's going to do things. And what we discover is that God creates each person for a purpose. And so I've entitled the sermon created for a purpose. Now, this isn't just true of Jeremiah. This is true of every single human being on the planet. God creates us for a purpose in mind. And when we start to look at our lives in that light, it changes everything about our lives. I think most of us look at our lives being determined by our circumstances, where we were born, how we grew up, and what has shaped our lives to this point. And we kind of focus in on that. And so our culture today seems to have a very humanistic approach to life. And we kind of look at, I was fortunate, or I wasn't fortunate.
[00:17:58] I had good parents or I had terrible parents, or I had this opportunity, or I didn't have this opportunity. And we kind of see ourselves as the few people who had it good and the rest of us who've had it bad. That's kind of the way we look at life. I want to shatter that this morning. Can I really shatter that in your thinking this morning? Can I just say this to you? That, to me, is so exciting that before you were even framed in your mother's womb, God had you in mind. And God, in his thinking, decided to create you uniquely, with all kinds of skills and ability and a special dna inside of you and put you in this time zone, because he had a very distinct purpose in mind for you. How many go? That totally changes the equation of my whole life. As a matter of fact, I was reading psalm 100 this morning, and it says, you are our maker. We are the sheep of your pasture. You see, when you and I see ourselves as just human beings, maybe randomly created in this world, rather than ultimately fashioned and designed by an eternal, loving God with an amazing purpose, it changes our whole thinking about our lives. And I believe that's critical. I believe it's critical that we understand that we are created by God with a specific purpose in mind. It changes the way I see myself and how I see everyone around me.
[00:19:26] Everybody is important.
[00:19:28] Everybody's designed by God. Everyone has a purpose. Wow. That changes the way I relate to one. We should be relating to one another.
[00:19:39] You see, the word of the Lord came to me, he says in verse four. And he said, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. I love that. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. For some reason, this skipped over, but that's verse five. God knows us before we're formed, though, all of us have come to faith, or hopefully all of us have come to faith in Christ, one of the things we realize, we go, well, then, if I'm created for this amazing purpose, what is it? I am to be his witness. I am to reveal God to the world around me. How many think that's pretty high? Calling you and I now, who have received Christ, have God living inside of us. You and I are reflecting the glory of God to a world in darkness. So you and I are actually the light in a darkened world. Does anybody think that might be important? How many have ever been in a place where there was no light? I remember one time we were traveling in know in Canada, we take a lot for granted. We have a lot of lights outside at nighttime, and the stars are out and the moon. But there was a night, for some reason, I didn't see the moon. Maybe it was an overcast night. There was no lights anywhere. Houses didn't have lights. And we were walking down the street, and I'm telling you, it wasn't nice paved street. It was like you're basically almost trying to crawl to make sure you didn't fall. I mean, it was a scary situation. Finally, we got to the place where I was going to go preach, and it was just a light bulb hanging from a string going across. It was a little building. They had too many believers, so they didn't fit in. The building. So we were outside next door to the building with a string across with a light bulb hanging down. How many think that's quite primitive? So I was a little primitive, and I'm preaching away and I have a translator going. And then after I finished preaching, I realized people were coming forward for prayer, and there were people that were sick. And I thought to myself, Lord, if you don't show up and start healing these people, I don't think they're going to get any help beyond this. And it just made me so motivated to really cry out to God for these people. I mean, that was it. This was it. This was their hope. Very powerful.
[00:21:59] One of the things we notice that when we're created with this understanding that we're light and we're bringing a message, there's moments in our lives that we're going to be opposed. How many recognize that this isn't about popularity, this isn't about pleasing people. As a matter of fact, Jeremiah had to look to God for vindication rather than popularity among his contemporaries. As a matter of fact, everyone went against him. It was a tough situation to be in. And like Jeremiah, we should not at all be surprised when there is a measure of opposition or a measure of persecution that comes into our lives. As a matter of fact, Jesus himself said these words, blessed are you when people insult you. How many go, yeah, I really like being insulted. I really feel blessed today. Right, but didn't Jesus say that, blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me?
[00:22:55] Then he says this line, rejoice and be glad. Do a happy dance. Right?
[00:23:00] Don't we all do a happy dance when that happens? Oh, I'm so excited. Yeah, I'm being persecuted.
[00:23:07] You guys are looking at me like, pastor, what are you on this morning? I'm on the Bible.
[00:23:13] It says, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. And I'd say Jeremiah fits in really nicely here because he's going to get a lot of opposition, because he's going to tell people a message they don't really want to hear. Right now, Andrew Dearborn brings out another profound application that we need to be reminded of in our time, when we've lost that sense that we're created beings by know we've lost a sense of that. We act as if our life is our life. Can I tell you something? You don't belong to you. You belong to him. He's your maker. Not only is God our maker, he's also, for many of us, our redeemer.
[00:24:01] I woke up this morning, I'm just thinking about Lord, I belong to you.
[00:24:06] I am not my own. I've been bought with the price. You own me. I am your doulos, your love slave. I am committed to doing your purposes.
[00:24:18] Notice that it says, before we were formed in our mother's womb, God knew us and set us apart for that purpose. He goes on to say the account of God's call of Jeremiah is also relevant to contemporary debates over abortion, euthanasia, assisted suicide and the value of human life. Because why? Because God's the one that creates and God's the one that brings to an end, not human beings.
[00:24:42] We don't have that say.
[00:24:44] He goes on to say, let's admit it, of course, that the account of Jeremiah's call is not intended initially as a polemic or an argument against abortion or euthanasia. Nor does the text answer all the complicated questions facing modern societies over these and related issues.
[00:25:00] What's he saying? He's saying the fact that this is the way Jeremiah communicates, it isn't so much that this is God's argument against these things. But the reality is, if you were designed by God and God has a purpose in your life, then for you and I to say, forget you, God, and not to fulfill God's purpose, we're accountable to that one who created us, and we will give an account for usurping authority over God. And I would argue that many people today are playing God, and that's the problem with their lives.
[00:25:40] When you and I decide, I'm going to do what I want to do, we're playing God.
[00:25:45] Have you ever figured that out? And there's a consequence to that. God says, fine, you want to be God, play it out.
[00:25:52] There's a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. And I look around myself and I see a lot of people moving in a state of death because they're living in disobedience to God. That's where it's going to end up. And death doesn't always mean physical death. It could mean the end of many relationships. It can lead to a lot of brokenness in our lives, it could lead to a lot of loss of peace or joy or hope in our lives. All of those things diminish in our lives when we live apart from God's design and purpose in our lives, what does it show us? It's not our life. To determine. That's what I'm trying to tell you today. You don't own you. God owns you, and you're accountable to him. So we better figure this out in a Hurry. It's okay. God, what are we up to? What are we doing? JEReMiah is known to God even before his conception, and his preparation for prophetic work begins before his birth. Isn't it amazing? God's laying it out for you. Thus, even in the Womb, Jeremiah is valued. How many? That's beautiful.
[00:26:56] I love it. Furthermore, the Account assumes that God is the author of JERemiah's Life and the one who shapes his historical destiny. In spite of his own reluctance, we're going to see that he's a little bit reluctant to do what God's asking them to do. These claims DO function as powerful confessions that human life is God's gift and subject to God's discretion. More particularly, that the WoMb is the Home of a person known to God. So I think we need to focus on this. God is your designer. God is your maker. God's my maker, and he has something in mind for you and I to walk in. Second thing I notice is God sets us apart.
[00:27:37] God revealed to Jeremiah that he was set apart for his purpose. God's purpose. That word, set apart, is an interesting word. It's actually the HebrEw word that we many times interpret as holiness. Okay, so God's calling us to be holy. God's calling us to belong to him. God's calling us to be set apart for his purpose. That hebrew word, kadosh holy, which lies here behind the verb, is a word that points to God's own nature, to that which makes him different from us. So God holy also means utterly different, then. Do you know, God is telling you and I to be utterly different than the majority of people in our society. How many know that's true? He's called. He says, come on, from among them. See, I'm hoping that in the weeks to come, what we're going to learn is that even though we live in Babylon, we're not Babylon. You see, jesus says, you know, or Paul says, you're in the World, but not of the World. You and I are different, and you and I should live with a different value system so that we're uniquely gods and we reflect something of that uniqueness to the culture around us. And we're not just jumping in and sounding the same stuff. We have to focus in on what God has to say.
[00:28:52] And so he has set us apart for his service.
[00:28:56] And Peter picks up on this by the way, in his letter, and he says, you're a chosen people. How many think it's neat God picked you? You're on my team. You're on my team. How many like being on God's team? I love it. I didn't deserve to be on your team.
[00:29:11] I remember when we were little kids and we were being picked for. I was living in a little town at the time. We were being picked for baseball. And when you're a little kid, nobody wants you on their team, because when you're playing baseball, you're probably an out.
[00:29:23] And if you're in the field, you're probably a run against, right? So they're not going to pick you. But isn't it awesome when the best player wants you on their team? And I want you to know that Jesus wants you on his team. He chose us. We're a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. How marvelous is this, that you and I have been taken out of darkness, out of confusion, out of despair, out of hopelessness, and brought into his kingdom, where you and I have been illuminated to understand what in the world is going on.
[00:30:06] There are two kingdoms at play here, folks, and they're spiritual kingdoms. There's the kingdom of God and the kingdom of the evil one.
[00:30:14] And we're in this major battle. It's the difference between what's true and what's not true.
[00:30:22] Do we fully grasp the significance that we were designed by him and for him with a purpose in mind? But let me move on to the second movement. While he says here, once you were not a people of God, once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. Let's move on to the second movement here, where in the nature of God's work is our response? How are we going to respond to this amazing call? How many think we have an amazing call? Anybody think we have an amazing call? I think it's glorious. So the question is, how will we respond to God's call?
[00:31:02] Will we feel overwhelmed?
[00:31:04] Will we struggle with feelings of inadequacy and insufficiency or know? It's interesting. Have you noticed these guys that are called by God? They're saying, God, could you pick somebody else, please? Right.
[00:31:19] Jeremiah is going to tell God, I'm not up for the job you've designed and created for me to be. He says, listen, God, this is a little bit too much for me. This is what he says to God. In verse six. Alas, sovereign Lord, I do not know how to speak and I'm too young. In other words, I'm inexperienced.
[00:31:39] And he said, I'm unable. I'm inadequate. I'm inexperienced and inadequate. Anybody ever feel inexperienced and inadequate? Anybody ever feel that way? Have God ever given you assignment? You go, this is just a little bit over my pay grade.
[00:31:55] I'm going to blow your minds. Everything God is going to ask you and me to do is beyond us.
[00:32:02] So if you're waiting to get to that level of competency, it's never going to happen.
[00:32:08] Don't wait to be like, I've got it all together before. You're going to enter into doing what God's asked you to do. We're going to feel that way. You know what Paul said about ministry? He said it this way. Who is equal to such a task? Another version says, who is sufficient for these things? How in the world can we do what you're asking us to do? God, it's way beyond us.
[00:32:28] It's so challenging. And then he goes on, he says, unlike so many, we do not peddle the word of God for profit. On the contrary, in Christ we speak before God with sincerity, as those sent from God. So Paul knew he was sent from God. As a matter of fact, Paul actually understood that before he was born, God had called him to do what he was doing, even though he was a rebel for a season. You see, it's the biblical understanding of who we are. Jeremiah gets this answer from God in verse seven. But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. What is God telling him? Listen, just tell them what I tell you. Keep it simple. Just tell them what I tell you. How many know? Sometimes it's hard to tell people what God's telling you. It's not always easy.
[00:33:16] Goes on to say here, do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord. So one of the things is we're dealing with fear, right? How many know that one of the reasons why we disobey God is because we're afraid? Anybody know that's one of the reasons? And what does the scripture say? Perfect love does what? Casts out fear. So we have to come back to God and say, hey, Lord, I have to admit I'm a little intimidated. I'm a little afraid. God says, just do what I'm asking you to do. I'll be with you. Let's take a look at this application from the context of the New Testament. I'm okay. I got it. It moved in. Matthew, chapter 28 and verse 18. Jesus came to them and he said, all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
[00:34:05] Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, son and of the Holy Spirit. That's actually the great commission. Right? The great command. By the way, who's responsible to do this?
[00:34:17] All of us. We're all commanded to do this. But you know why we have a hard time doing the command? Because we keep forgetting the promise. I believe if we get the promise inside of us, it'll help us to do the command. Here's the promise in verse 20. And teaching them to obey everything I've commanded you. And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age. So what is God saying? I'll go with you. See, I love Moses. Moses says, hey, if you don't go with us, I'm not going. God says, okay, I'll go. That's a great line in the story of Moses and God. They're talking about going into the promised land. Here's what we need to know. If God tells us to do something, just go do it. God says, I will go with you. I will help you. It'll happen. I'm there. I'll assist you. He's calling us to make disciples. Yet it's a difficult task. How many know it's difficult?
[00:35:12] It's like parenting. How many know parenting is a difficult task? Anybody been a parent? We know it's a difficult task. It's not easy. But God says, I'll help you.
[00:35:22] I'll go with you. I'll help you to do that same thing with making disciples.
[00:35:27] God's the one that actually equips us for the tasks that lies before us. In Jeremiah, chapter one and verse nine, it says, then the Lord reached out his hand, he touched my mouth, and he said to me, I've put my words in your mouth.
[00:35:46] Now I take a look at this story, and I say, wow, there's some similarities between someone else. That's a prophet. His name is Isaiah. Remember Isaiah had that amazing vision from God. And when he saw God high and lifted up, he said, woe was me. I'm undone. I'm a man of what? Unclean lips. And I live among a people of unclean lips. Okay, all of a sudden we got people with mouth issues.
[00:36:09] But let's be honest. How many know it's not our mouths.
[00:36:14] It's way more significant than that, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. So we have a heart issue, we've got a nature issue, we have a sin issue inside of us, and we're just blurting out. The sin that's inside of us just comes spewing right out. So what does God do? In the story of Isaiah, he sends an angel, and he says, this angel now comes to him in the next verse, verse six here of Isaiah six. And he says, then one of the seraphim flew to me with a live coal in his hands, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. And then he says, and when he touched my mouth and said, see, this has touched your lips, and your guilt is taken away and your sin is atoned for. So what's he saying here? He's saying, look, I'm going to fix your mouth problem.
[00:37:06] I'm going to change your heart.
[00:37:09] And when you have a change of heart, it changes your mouth. How many know that's the way it's got to work? And so Isaiah now is a transformed person. And so I believe that what's happening in Jeremiah is the same thing God's dealing with and enabling him to use his mouth for the glory of God. I think the most challenging area in our lives is our mouths. Anybody want to dispute that?
[00:37:32] No disputes, okay? Because James would have a whole lecture on the mouth. He says, the tongue is also a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one's life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell. How many go, wow. Anybody think that's kind of strong language? What's he saying? He says, man, your mouth is like a forest fire, right? He says, our mouths are like the pit of hell at times. We say all kinds of stuff. We say stuff that's so destructive, it's so painful, it's relationally devastating. We do it as a matter of fact. We have a hard time controlling our mouths. James goes on to say, no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil full of deadly poison. So who's the only person that's going to tame my mouth and your mouth?
[00:38:29] God does. He's going to be the one that changes that, right? He's the only one. So we need to come to God so he can transform our hearts and transform our language and transform our words and transform our actions and transform our attitudes and help us. Maybe James says, be what? Slow to speak, quick to listen and slow to get angry. James 119. You notice I have that memorized. Why do I have that memorized? Because I need that verse. Because I have a tendency. Those are things that are issues in my own soul when I was younger, and I get frustrated. I get upset, and I got angry. God was saying, you can't do that. You can't behave like that. That's inappropriate behavior.
[00:39:10] I want that to stop. Okay. I want you to listen more than you speak. I want you to hear what people are saying.
[00:39:17] How many are really happy? Sometimes you just kept your mouth shut. You might have thought one thing, but you kept your mouth shut. And people start explaining something to you, and you're saying to yourself, I had that totally wrong. I had that totally wrong in my thinking. I had a totally different judgment in my mind. But I'm so glad I kept my mouth shut, because if I'd have said something, I'd have been very devastating and damaging. Aren't those great moments? But how many know there's other moments when you opened your mouth and wish you hadn't, and it created a lot of heartache for not only yourself, but for the other person. This is what we're talking about here. So the final movement in the nature of God's work is understanding the vision and its meaning. I think there are general mandates that apply to all of us, right? You and I are called to make disciples, but then there are some things that are specific to us, some things that are I will call vocational. I think some of us, God calls us to care for children or teach or practice medicine or work in social justice or serve as an assistant to others. Whatever gifts and capacities God places within us, all of us, are designed by God to fulfill his will. But it's not just a vocational thing, but more importantly, how we live our lives.
[00:40:29] Jeremiah was a spokesperson, a prophet with a message that his generation and each succeeding generation needed and continues to need to respond to. Why? Because God knows that as human beings, we have a propensity towards rebellion. Anybody say that's true?
[00:40:49] How many here? You said, you know, my kid grew up. I taught him rebellion.
[00:40:55] What is with kids, you don't even have to teach them to do the wrong things. They just naturally gravitate toward that stuff. It's hard work to get them to do the right thing. How many say that's true? How many say you're having a problem doing the right thing? Anybody here want to admit that God's been working on you to do the right thing? Some of you say, I'm slow on the uptake. I have a problem doing the right thing. A lot of times I do the wrong thing. So it's not just kids, folks. Sometimes it's big kids that are doing the wrong stuff. Right.
[00:41:24] Notice what Jeremiah's message is. He's going to give us a little foretaste of it. In verse nine he says, I've put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations. It's not that he went around speaking to every nation, but what I love about Jeremiah is when God speaks, he's showing that he's the sovereign God over all the universe. He's God over every nation. He's not just the God of the jewish people or the israelite people or the nation of Israel and Judah. No, he's the God of every nation.
[00:41:56] We need to understand that. And then he said, I'm going to put my words in your mouth over these nations and I'm going to appoint you to say to them, to these kingdoms, to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to plant and to build. You know what God is? God's in the demo business.
[00:42:16] How many have ever been in demolition mode? Anybody do any renovations? Why would you do renovations? Because the old needs to come down. There's something wrong with it, needs to be torn out right. So you don't start on the project putting something new in. You got to tear out the old stuff. How many go? That's a kind of a tough job sometimes. And it's painful. Especially when God says, there's attitudes in your life I want to rip out of you.
[00:42:43] Isn't that true? Isn't that painful? Come on now. I want to put something new in your life.
[00:42:50] He says, I believe God wants to uproot the weeds in our lives, tear down that which we have built that is keeping us from God's plan and purposes in our lives. There's things in our life we have built there that are keeping us from doing what God wants. And God says, I want that to go. How many say, that's probably true?
[00:43:10] God wants to destroy in our lives what is destroying us and build into our lives what will build us up. Because if this is going to destroy me, it's going to destroy you. And if it's going to build me up, it's going to build you up. And God says, I want to do a work in you. So God wants to do a remodeling project. And everybody goes, remodeling is more expensive than you ever thought and more painful right? Come on, let's be honest. Anybody ever done any rentals?
[00:43:41] Okay. God says, I'm in the renovation business. I want to renovate you. And you go, yeah, but I've been a Christian for a long time, pastor, 30 years, 40 years. And God goes, yeah, and there's a lot of junk that you've accumulated in there that you think it's me, and it's got nothing to do with me. And it's now time to be taken out to the garbage. And I've got some stuff to put into your life that's going to bring about transformation inside of you. Some of you are going, oh, I don't know if I'm excited about this, pastor. Well, we ought to be, because that's really what God's interested know. Robert Davidson reminds us, the prophets have some sharply critical things to say, but they're not by nature pessimists, nor do they enjoy preaching hellfire and damnation. No, they're realists.
[00:44:29] They know that before Israel can be set free to fulfill their destiny as the people of God in the world, there has got to be a clearing away of the debris of a misleading understanding of God.
[00:44:40] And I'm going to just say this as nicely as I can. There's things in our lives that God wants to correct, that we think we're right and we're totally wrong. Dead wrong. You say, how do I know that? Because I've studied the Bible so long and I see it in every generation. The Pharisees thought they knew God. Jesus said, if you really knew God, you would serve me. These guys were the religious people of that day.
[00:45:06] Can I just say, know, we're so busy criticizing the world and we can't understand why the world isn't changing. And God's going, the real problem isn't the world.
[00:45:14] It begins with us. You see, judgment has to begin in the house of God. God has to change the church before the church can be the light that impacts the world.
[00:45:25] Because if you and I have a misunderstanding and a misleading concept of who God is, we're darkened in our soul, and there's no light coming from us. And we're a barrier for the unsaved world to come to God. And so God's saying, you know what? We're going to do house cleaning now. We're going to clean up stuff in all of our lives. I want to change things, is what God is saying to us. And you know what this takes, takes humility. We got to move away from our arrogance and say, God, search me and see what is in my life that needs to go right now. And I believe. Listen to me very carefully. We can pray for revival until the cows come home, but the day we say to God, okay, God, I'm serious about this. Whatever is impeding your work and purpose for me to be exactly what you designed for me to be, whatever that is, I want you to identify it, and I want you to help remove it from my life. I guarantee a transformation will come inside of you. We will have revival in this church. And when that happens, believe me, we will impact this community in a way we could have never impacted it. It starts with us, folks. We're the problem. See, we keep thinking everybody else is the problem. No, we're it. We've got to change.
[00:46:39] False securities need to be undermined before true faith can be nurtured. One of the things which marks off the true prophet from the false is that he never says all is well when all is not well. But he never destroys for the sake of destroying. He destroys in order to prepare the way for rebuilding.
[00:47:00] Let me just close with this.
[00:47:05] Yeah, I'm run out of time, but I'm going to just zip down here. I could have said a little bit more, but I want to go down to this verse here in closing. I'm going to have a stand.
[00:47:17] Let's stand.
[00:47:20] I'm trying to skip a few verses here down to verse 16.
[00:47:26] That's fine. We'll leave it there. He says, I'm going to pronounce my judgments on my people because of their wickedness and forsaking me in burning incense to other gods and in worshiping what their hands have made.
[00:47:40] What we need to understand was, in Jeremiah's day, the temple was still functioning, but they were so caught up in other stuff that it was just a sidebar in their lives. And God was going, you guys are totally missing the point.
[00:47:57] God is always gracious. He warns us and warns us and warns us like a good parent and says, you know, if you keep doing this, this is going to be the consequence.
[00:48:08] And he kept warning Israel for a long time that if they kept violating their covenant, he'd put them into exile.
[00:48:15] They never listened. They went into exile.
[00:48:19] Jeremiah doesn't just start by, he starts by warning them, but eventually, eventually they do get into exile. Jeremiah is telling them, oh, by the way, you will come back. So it's not just a message of, oh, I'm going to tear you apart. No, it's a message of, I'm going to remodel you. I'm going to tear out of your life what's wrong so I can put in your life what's right.
[00:48:44] And maybe you're like me, and I'm just saying, you know, lord, I want to be closer to you.
[00:48:52] Lord, I want your design from all of eternity to be completely fulfilled in my life. And if there be anything in my life that's hindering that from occurring, I want it eradicated from my life. I love the psalmist. Listen what he says. Set a guard over my mouth. Lord, keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers. Isn't that a great prayer? And I can't sit down and identify for each one of us, specifically individually, what are the things in your life that need to change? But I do believe we can pray this prayer. The psalmist prayed another prayer that he prayed was, search me, o God, and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me into the way everlasting.
[00:49:43] Are you up for a year of transformation in your life? How many say, you know what? I'm ready to be changed by God. I'm ready to let God be fully in control of my life. I'm prepared to let him examine my life and surrender completely to him so that he can use me at its highest level in whatever way that looks like through my life. Anybody here saying, you know what, pastor? I want to join you in God's remodeling process so that my life and your life will be changed and will impact the culture around us.
[00:50:23] So are you going to join me on the journey? How many say, I'm going to join you? I'm going to let God's spirit because God's gracious. And I'll tell you why I'm saying this in a good way. Let's let God destroy the things that are destroying us. Isn't that beautiful? Let's let him destroy the things that are destroying us and allow him to build the things into us that will not only build us, but it'll build people all around us. Are you up for that? I don't know what this is going to look like. I'm in the journey, too. This may at first be a little uncomfortable, but I'm going to pray that God would be gracious to us and help us walk through this uncomfortable journey together. But at the end of the day, how many know once the project's over, we look at it and go, wow, is this ever amazing you ever did in rentals? You just ripped everything apart, looks terrible. And then all of a sudden, you put it all back together and go, wow. I just could not foresee this kind of beauty coming out of this mess that we went through. And so, Lord, I just pray today, as we've opened our hearts to you and we're saying, Lord, we're inviting you into the mess of our lives so that you will do that renovation and destroy the things inside of us that need to be uprooted and torn apart, Lord, so that you can begin to put into our souls the things that will not only build us up, but build the lives of people around us. Lord, I'm praying for transformative change in my life and in the life of us as a congregation. Lord, use us in an amazing way, beyond anything that we could have ever thought or imagined, because from creation, from the very beginning, Lord, had this in mind for us. And you have an amazing purpose in mind for each of our lives. And I pray today that every one of us will experience the fulfillment of that. In Jesus name, amen. Amen. God bless you. As you leave this morning.
