"THE MAN JEREMIAH - OT SURVEY"
Notes
Transcript
What is the theme of Jeremiah?
Jeremiah is the autobiography of one of Judah’s greatest prophets during the nation’s darkest days. Apostasy, idolatry, perverted worship, moral decay—these were the conditions under which Jeremiah lived and ministered. An avalanche of judgment is coming, and Jeremiah is called to proclaim that message faithfully for forty years. In response to his sermons, the tender prophet of God experiences intense sorrows at the hands of his countrymen: opposition, beatings, isolation, imprisonment. But though rejected and persecuted, Jeremiah lives to see many of his prophecies come true. The Babylonian army arrives; vengeance falls; and God’s holiness and justice are vindicated, though it breaks the prophet’s heart. Wilkinson, B., & Boa, K. (1983). Talk thru the Bible (p. 197). T. Nelson.
Proposition - As we come to the Word of God this morning we will first, examine the Christians call and secondly, we will examine the Christians commitment to Christ.
Interrogative question - How are you doing with the task that Our Savior has given you?
1. The Christians Call –
1. The Christians Call –
Let us look at the example Jeremiah the prophet –
Jeremiah 1:4–19 (NASB95)
4 Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, And before you were born I consecrated you; I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then I said, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, Because I am a youth.”
7 But the Lord said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ Because everywhere I send you, you shall go, And all that I command you, you shall speak. 8 “Do not be afraid of them, For I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord. 9 Then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, “Behold, I have put My words in your mouth.
10 “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms, To pluck up and to break down, To destroy and to overthrow, To build and to plant.” 11 The word of the Lord came to me saying, “What do you see, Jeremiah?” And I said, “I see a rod of an almond tree.” 12 Then the Lord said to me, “You have seen well, for I am watching over My word to perform it.”
13 The word of the Lord came to me a second time saying, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a boiling pot, facing away from the north.” 14 Then the Lord said to me, “Out of the north the evil will break forth on all the inhabitants of the land. 15 “For, behold, I am calling all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” declares the Lord; “and they will come and they will set each one his throne at the entrance of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all its walls round about and against all the cities of Judah.
16 “I will pronounce My judgments on them concerning all their wickedness, whereby they have forsaken Me and have offered sacrifices to other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands. 17 “Now, gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, or I will dismay you before them.
18 “Now behold, I have made you today as a fortified city and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. 19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
Observations –
God says before I created you Jeremiah I knew you
I consecrated you – I set you apart for a specific task – that task is to be a prophet to the nations
Jeremiah comes ups with excuse why he should not be the prophet – he says
I don’t know how to speak
I am only a youth
God says no no Jeremiah you go where I send you, you tell them what I tell you
God says Jeremiah don’t be afraid of them, I (God) will deliver you
Vs. 9 the Lord put the words into his mouth
Vs. 16 God tells Jeremiah that he is going to proclaim judgment – can you imagine God giving you that job?
(Illustration God wants you to go and tell all the homeless people unless you get a job within the next month you will be killed. How do you feel about that?)
The end of vs 19 is key. They are going to fight against Jeremiah.
This is the call that for Jeremiah.
Just as God gave Jeremiah a specific call to proclaim judgment on Judah. He has given you and I as believers a specific call as well.
What has God called all believers to do?
Called Share the Gospel – Matthew 28:18, Mark 16:15
15 And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.
18 And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. 19 “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
Called to pursue Christ likeness – Col. 1:10, Phil. 3, Rom. 8:28-29
10 so that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God;
12 Not that I have already obtained it or have already become perfect, but I press on so that I may lay hold of that for which also I was laid hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
28 And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. 29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
Called to excel still more – 1 Thess 4:1
1 Finally then, brethren, we request and exhort you in the Lord Jesus, that as you received from us instruction as to how you ought to walk and please God (just as you actually do walk), that you excel still more.
Called to be obedient – Eph. 6:1
1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Called to love – Eph. 5, 1 Cor. 13
1 Corinthians 13 (NASB95)
1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away.
11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love.
Called to stand for Christ – Phil. 4:1
Philippians 4:1 (NASB95)
1 Therefore, my beloved brethren whom I long to see, my joy and crown, in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
Called to pray – 1 Thess. 5:17
17 pray without ceasing;
By no means is this an exhaustive list of the things that believers are called to do. But please grasp this. Just as Jeremiah was given a specific call to proclaim judgment you and I as believers are called to proclaim the message of Christ.
Let us transition and now look at the Christians commitment.
2. The Christians Commitment –
2. The Christians Commitment –
Let us specifically look at the commitment of Jeremiah. Let’s see how He committed to proclaim the call that God had given him no matter the cost.
19 “They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,” declares the Lord.
3 On the next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “Pashhur is not the name the Lord has called you, but rather Magor-missabib. 4 “For thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I am going to make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends; and while your eyes look on, they will fall by the sword of their enemies. So I will give over all Judah to the hand of the king of Babylon, and he will carry them away as exiles to Babylon and will slay them with the sword.
Jeremiah 26:9–16 (NASB95)
9 “Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord saying, ‘This house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered about Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. 10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and sat in the entrance of the New Gate of the Lord’s house.
11 Then the priests and the prophets spoke to the officials and to all the people, saying, “A death sentence for this man! For he has prophesied against this city as you have heard in your hearing.” 12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and to all the people, saying, “The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that you have heard.
13 “Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the Lord your God; and the Lord will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you. 14 “But as for me, behold, I am in your hands; do with me as is good and right in your sight.
15 “Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will bring innocent blood on yourselves, and on this city and on its inhabitants; for truly the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing.” 16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and to the prophets, “No death sentence for this man! For he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.”
The people did not like what Jeremiah was prophesying about. So there conclusion was to kill him. Jeremiah responds and says this is what God says. Go ahead and kill me but realize that if you do you are bringing innocent blood upon yourselves. The people finally get in vs. 16 they realize this is from God. Get this teens Jeremiah was committed to doing what God had called him to do.
Are you committed to do what Christ has called us to do?
Jeremiah 38:2–6 (NASB95)
2 “Thus says the Lord, ‘He who stays in this city will die by the sword and by famine and by pestilence, but he who goes out to the Chaldeans will live and have his own life as booty and stay alive.’ 3 “Thus says the Lord, ‘This city will certainly be given into the hand of the army of the king of Babylon and he will capture it.’ ”
4 Then the officials said to the king, “Now let this man be put to death, inasmuch as he is discouraging the men of war who are left in this city and all the people, by speaking such words to them; for this man is not seeking the well-being of this people but rather their harm.”
5 So King Zedekiah said, “Behold, he is in your hands; for the king can do nothing against you.” 6 Then they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchijah the king’s son, which was in the court of the guardhouse; and they let Jeremiah down with ropes. Now in the cistern there was no water but only mud, and Jeremiah sank into the mud.
Jeremiah is rescued from the mud pit –
Jeremiah 38:7–13 (NASB95)
7 But Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, a eunuch, while he was in the king’s palace, heard that they had put Jeremiah into the cistern. Now the king was sitting in the Gate of Benjamin; 8 and Ebed-melech went out from the king’s palace and spoke to the king, saying, 9 “My lord the king, these men have acted wickedly in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the cistern; and he will die right where he is because of the famine, for there is no more bread in the city.”
10 Then the king commanded Ebed-melech the Ethiopian, saying, “Take thirty men from here under your authority and bring up Jeremiah the prophet from the cistern before he dies.” 11 So Ebed-melech took the men under his authority and went into the king’s palace to a place beneath the storeroom and took from there worn-out clothes and worn-out rags and let them down by ropes into the cistern to Jeremiah.
12 Then Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said to Jeremiah, “Now put these worn-out clothes and rags under your armpits under the ropes”; and Jeremiah did so. 13 So they pulled Jeremiah up with the ropes and lifted him out of the cistern, and Jeremiah stayed in the court of the guardhouse.
Illustration –
There is a man who is a pastor in CA. God called this man to proclaim the Word of God week after week. He was committed to doing what the Lord had called him to do. There were certain people in the congregation who did not like him at all. In fact, they wanted him dead. So, one of them signed up to be baptized, he went through the process. The day came when the Pastor was going to baptize him, and he came into the water had a knife and was going to kill the pastor while he baptized him. The Lord worked on the man’s heart, and he did not kill the Pastor. In fact, this man is preaching the world faithfully to this day.
Guys and gals are you committed to the call that God has given us?
Jeremiah was a man called by God to do a specific task. He was also a man who was committed to carrying that task out no matter the cost.
If you are a Christian, you have been called by God to do specific things which we find throughout the Scriptures. As believers we are to be committed to the call with which Christ has called us!!
SO WHAT?
How are you doing with the task that Our Savior has given you?