Jeremiah 1:10

Introduction

We have seen the background of Jeremiah’s mission, and his call to the mission. This morning, we will see his mission objectives in Jeremiah 1:10:“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

As I introduce this sermon, I want us to see three points. The first point is without an objective, you cannot have a mission. Objectives provide fuel and energy to pursue a mission. Whenever we question a student’s poor conduct in the school, we ask one simple question that they struggle to answer; why did you do this? As adults, we know there is a reason why they behaved poorly. They had an objective in their mission to act inappropriately. For example, Eves objectives in eating the forbidden fruit were that she “saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise…” (Genesis 3:6).

Every thing we do has an objective. Doing the laundry’s objective is clean clothes; cooking dinner’s objective is satisfying taste buds and/or hunger; working’s objective is to make money; marriage’s objective is to share love and amplify grace; seeing a movie’s objective is to be entertained; years ago, I met a homeless person whose objective was to be free from responsibility. Therefore, it is important to know what your objectives in life are.

David’s objective in facing Goliath was to take “away the reproach of Israel” (1 Samuel 17:26). King Solomon’s objective in asking for wisdom above riches was so that he could justly rule his kingdom (1 Kings 3:9: “Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?”). Philips objective in telling Nathaniel to follow Jesus was that he was the Messiah (John 1:45: “Philip findeth Nathanael, and saith unto him, We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.”). Jesus’ objective in His incarnation was to glorify His Father’s name (John 12:27–28 “Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again”).

What are your objectives in life? Sometimes they are really hard to answer for the same reasons misbehaving students do not want to answer why they did their misdeed. First, they know what they did was wrong. It is better to live in denial or deflect than confess sinful motives. A few moments back, I mentioned Eve’s motive for eating the forbidden fruit. However, when she was questioned by God, she said the same thing that kids say today: “…The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat” (Genesis 3:13). The reason Satan deceived her was her affections shifted from being blessed by God to wanting to be like God.

Second, they want to justify their actions. A few weeks back, a student had to come to my office. He was not doing his work. As is often the case with students, he did not answer why he was not doing his work. It took him 15 minutes before saying that the reason he was not doing his work was it was too difficult. He was justifying his poor behavior. Proverbs 16:2 says: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But the Lord weigheth the spirits.”

We all have motives. Our motives drive us. We need to ask God for wisdom so that we can see whether our motives are pure or impure, true or lie, selfless or selfish, glorying God or glorifying man. This is a reason we need to be in God’s word. The writer of Hebrews declares in Hebrews 4:12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”

The second point is the reason it is urgent to understand your objectives is if your objective is flawed, your mission will be tainted. A day is coming when Christians will have to give an account for their missions in life. Paul writes of the Judgment Seat of Christ in 1 Corinthians 3:12–15: “Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.” There are two key words about the Judgment Seat of Christ that we should be aware of: manifest and revealed. “Manifest” means “to bring to the open” and “revealed” means “to take the cover off, to make something unhidden.” Paul’s focus is not just the work, which is known by others, but the motive behind the work, which is unknown to others. If our motive is sinful or flawed it taints or poisons the mission.

Jesus gives parables about His second coming in Matthew 25. One of the parables in known as the Parable of the Talents. The Lord gave five talents to the first servant, two talents to the second servant, and one talent to the third servant. When their Lord returned the first and second servants doubled their talents, but the third servant hid his talent. The third servants reason for not doing anything with the talent was he had heard how difficult it was to please his Lord. Jesus said if this was truly the case, then you would have put the talent in the bank so that it could gain interest. The part I want us to focus on is that Jesus highlighted the servant’s objective and not mission for failing Him. Jesus said of him in Matthew 25:26: “…Thou wicked and slothful servant.” The servant’s objective was laziness, which tainted his mission.

The third point is your mission paints a picture of your pursuit in life. The other day, I watched a documentary on John Elway. He is arguably one of the top five players in NFL history. John has been to five Super Bowls and winning two Super Bowl in his last two years of playing. He was the first player drafted in the 1983 NFL draft and viewed in the top three overall number one draft picks in NFL history. He was a first ballot Hall of Fame choice and he became the first person to win the Super Bowl as a player and General Manager. He is one of the greats in NFL history. In the documentary, he said that his mission was to win a Super Bowl, at the expense of his family. His mission painted a picture of a broken family.

Our mission paints the picture of what is most important. For some people success is most important; for other people, happiness is most important. In the mid 90’s, I worked with a person whose mission was pleasure. What is your mission for coming to church? Is it expectation or obligation, is it to check off a box, or is it to worship the King? The portrait that you are painting will tell the story. More than this, your portrait has the power to give hope or destroy hope. Often artist paint or sculpt to brith hope in others. The portrait of crossing the Red Sea has birth hope to many people trapped by circumstances. The portrait of Peter preaching the Gospel to Cornelius the Gentile has birthed hope to people groups trapped by culture. The portrait of the cross has birthed hope to millions of people trapped by sin. The portrait of the resurrection has birthed hope to Christians trapped by death. We can say as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 15:55–57: “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

I closed last weeks sermon with Jeremiah’s objective. HIs objective was to prophecy as God had commanded him to (Jeremiah 1:7: “But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.”) This morning, I want us to see his mission.

Relevancy of his mission

Even though Jeremiah lived 2600 or 2700 years ago, his mission is relevant for people of any generation or culture. The reason is regardless of time frame or culture “all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). As a result of sin, which ties all people from every generation and culture together, Philip Graham Ryken gives three specific areas of relevancy: People no longer think God matters for daily life; Public life has more pagan and natural ideas; People meet religious obligations out of duty and not devotion. Jeremiah’s primary audience had rebelled against God, which is no different than our time. We have rebelled against God with education (God is not welcomed in public education), medicine (abortion, and transitioning), judicial (God’s word is not longer the standard bearer of final authority), family (divorce, dilapidation in parenting, disintergration of marriage), and with our love (We no longer have an appetite for the golden rule of loving God and loving others; instead our love for God and others have grown cold because of our love for self).

America needs men and women within the respective career fields to proclaim truth when given the opportunity. In Ezekiel 3:17 God said to Ezekiel: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning from me.” A watchman was a person who watched over the city so that they can alert the people if enemy troops were coming. Ezekiel was to watch over Israel so that he could alert them when sin was coming.

In our nation’s history we have Paul Revere who on April 18, 1775 alerted several towns in Massachusetts that the British were coming. Jeremiah was one of several prophets God called during a tumultuous time frame in Judah’s history to alert them that sin, which is the enemy of righteousness is here. As Christians living in the 21st century, we have the same burden. People (Christians and non-Christians alike) do not know that sin is conquering our nation. America needs people to stand in the gap to protect their church, family, community, workplace, and friends.

On May 25, 1986, there was a nationwide event. The event organizers called it “Hands Across America.” Approximately 6.5 million people formed a human chain from coast to coast to fight homelessness and hunger. 34 million dollars was raised for this event, with 15-20 million going to local charities to feed the hungry and house the homeless. People from all walks of life stood in the gap for the pressing need.

We have a more pressing need today a hunger for God’s word. “People experiencing starvation or severe prolong malnutrition can lose the conscious sensation of hunger or fail to recognize its physical signals.” Similarly, a reason hunger for God’s word is more pressing today is people have had their spiritual sensitivity to hunger for truth seared. Instead of desiring the sincere milk of God’s word for growth (1 Peter 2:2–3 “As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.”), we see the pinnacle of God’s word, the Gospel as a foolish thought to fill our hunger (1 Corinthians 1:18 “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.”).

R. C. Sproul died in 2017. He said this before he died: “Our culture is embedded in proud mediocrity. That should be obvious to everyone…While there are still hard-working scholastic minds in science and technology and researchers doing hard and tedious labor in the fields, the culture has in general settled for what is quick and cheap: junk music, junk art, and junk thinking. Our culture is far too easily satisfied and entertained. Excellence, truth, and real beauty are the great triad of virtues that are now replaced by funny, cool, and cute…We get mediocrity because we want it. We actually crave it.” This age of mediocrity has paralyzed the Lord’s churches to inaction regarding the perilous times we are living in (2 Timothy 3:1: “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”).

We need Jeremiah’s that will passionately stand for truth over convenience; truth over activity (activity does not mean you are headed in the right direction. I was talking with a church member this week. I wanted to know if the company was busy. He said that the company has been busy lately, but this does not mean we are making money. He borrowed that line from a business owner he works for on the side. If we want our activity to be prosperous then we must submerge the activity in truth); truth over relationships; truth over comfort; truth over our sins!

Content of the mission

Jeremiah 1:10: “See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”

His mission is predominantly negative. Consider the first four verbs related to his mission: “root out…pull down…destroy…throw down.” Jeremiah’s mission does not sound positive, appealing, attractive, or newsworthy. His mission was saturated with aggressive action meant to destroy, before there could be a rebuild. The negative connotations attached to his mission was not popular with his audience and it is not popular today. People rarely want bad news; instead they want good and affirming news. Therefore, they view God’s truth as a hostile attack against their way of life. They do not see God’s word as a surgical knife removing sin (Hebrews 4:12), but weapon of war meant to destroy their lifestyle.

I recently read an article from the Center for Church Renewal regarding the impact of positive messaging. In this article, the author notes 7 positive messages connected with church growth:

POSITIVE MESSAGE 1: WE ARE FOR GRACE

Growing churches have this message, ‘No matter where you’ve made your bed…you are welcome here.’  Gospel saturated grace where forgiveness is abundant and new life is offered is incredibly compelling.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 2: WE ARE FOR JOYFUL CHRISTIANITY

Growing churches are less focused on the weight of faith’s responsibilities and more focused on the lightness of knowing we are loved unconditionally.  This joy is especially evident in worship and preaching.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 3: WE ARE FOR OUR GUESTS

In growing churches, first-time guests are the most important people on any given Sunday morning.  Guests receive the red-carpet treatment and are provided helpful information and sincere invitations.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 4: WE ARE FOR THE LOCAL COMMUNITY

Growing churches are churches without walls.  They keep a constant eye on neighborhood people and activities. They pray for neighbor-concerns, and they volunteer for neighborhood projects.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 5: WE ARE FOR THE YOUNGEST AMONG US

Growing churches have a love and constant focus on families and youth.  They love families of every type and children from every home.  Jesus’ love for children is seen in everything growing churches do.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 6: WE ARE FOR THE UNDERDOGS

Jesus said that a bruised reed he would not break (Matt. 12:20).  Jesus hung out in broken spaces and with broken people.  In the same way, growing churches first concern is for the least, the last and the lost.

POSITIVE MESSAGE 7: WE ARE FOR DIVERSITY

Growing churches celebrate a rich cultural tapestry.  They insist that leadership and worship teams include persons from multiple ethnic backgrounds.  Diversity includes the physically and mentally challenged.

I do not say this lightly, but Jeremiah and the other prophets of the Old Testament, along with the Apostles of the New Testament would not be favorite speakers today. It was not that they did not have a positive message; however, before the positive message of grace could be magnified, people needed to know why they need grace. Let us see several points regarding Jeremiah’s mission this morning.

First, before a person could be saved, they must know that they are unsaved. Before Israel could be rescued from certain destruction, Jeremiah needed to make them aware of their spiritual condition. Namely, how they had committed two great evils against God. There could be no mercy or grace without Judah recognizing and confessing their evil ways and repenting from them. God knew the only way for this to occur was for Jeremiah to “root out…pull down…destroy…throw down” their spiritual farms and palaces.

The first post ascension of Jesus recorded sermon is in Acts 2 with Peter’s preaching. In verses 16-21, Peter speaks of coming judgment and destruction before he gets to Acts 2:21: “And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Before someone will “call on the name of the Lord to be saved,” they must be convinced of their doom for their sin. A couple years back, I was preaching at the Albany City Rescue Mission. After the sermon was preached, the chapel leader encouraged anyone who was saved through he sermon to come forward after every one was released for dinner. One of the congregants came up to speak with the chapel leader. He said that he chose Christ becasue he tried other religions without any success; so why not give Jesus a try. This is how many people approach Jesus Christ, and this is the reason they are still unsaved. Jesus or grace is not a good luck charm. Jesus and grace are only for people who know that they are dead in their trespasses and sins against God and see Jesus as the divine gift to resuscitated them as a spiritual being (Romans 6:23).

Getting back to the 7 positive messages that enhance church growth. I will use positive message number 1 as an example to illustrate my point: “Growing churches have this message, ‘No matter where you’ve made your bed…you are welcome here.’  Gospel saturated grace where forgiveness is abundant and new life is offered is incredibly compelling.” A Gospel saturated grace that offers forgiveness is not offensive. I have never met a person who thought of themselves as perfect. Even in a very secular way, everyone needs forgiveness. However, grace does not simply offer forgiveness. There are preconditions for grace to be effectual in a person’s life. Paul writes in Romans 10:9–10: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” These are not two verses that stand in a vacuum by themselves. Before, we ever get to Romans 10:9-10, Paul gives us all the reasons we need to confess and believe:

Romans 1:18 “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;”

Romans 2:2 “But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things.”

Romans 2:5 “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;”

Romans 3:10–18 “As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways: And the way of peace have they not known: There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

Romans 5:5–8 “And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us. For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly. For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die. But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”

Today’s positive church bypasses these critical truths regarding our position before God. Paul writes in Ephesians 2:1: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins.” The person who the Holy Spirit made alive knew of their spiritual condition of being “dead in trespasses and sins.” It is a sad reality that we are bypassing the content and significance of the bad news so that we can get to the positive news. The tragic consequence is these churches are growing by leaps and bounds without the Holy Spirit changing people’s lives.

Why did Jeremiah have to spend so much of his prophetic ministry on tearing down, and why do we have to spend so much time focusing on sin? I will give three brief answers:

We suppress the truth in unrighteousness - Romans 1:18:“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness.” “Crusty old Harry Truman was the last holdout on Mount St. Helens and surely the first to die when the volcano erupted on May 18, 1980. The owner of a resort on Spirit Lake in the shadow of the mountain, Truman, 83, had refused to evacuate despite warnings of imminent disaster. Interviewed in March 1980, two months before the eruption, Truman vowed that he would never leave his home and business, and besides, he said, "the mountain will never hurt me.”

It is better to live in denial than reality - Proverbs 28:13: “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: But whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

We inherently think that we are good people - 1 Corinthians 1:18: “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” The reason people assert the cross as a foolish sermon is they do not need it: Proverbs 16:2: “All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; But the Lord weigheth the spirits;” Proverbs 21:2: “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: But the Lord pondereth the hearts.”

Second, before a person can be saved, they must know there is no hope. I was 18 years old, driving in Washington D. C. before GPS. My friends and me were visiting a friend of mine before leaving for the Air Force. We followed the map to get to Washington D.C. without any problems. The only time I encountered a problem was after getting off the exit. I could not find his street. Even though I knew I was lost and my younger brother begged me to ask someone on the street, I kept driving. Twenty or thirty minutes later, I finally gave up and asked someone if they knew where his street was. The reason I bring this story up is it was not until all hope was lost that I asked someone. People may know there is something not right about their lives. They may even know the problem is theirs and not anyone else. Instead of coming to the Lord for grace, they try to answer life’s problems on of their own. Yes…they are a mess, but there is still hope they can turn things around.

Jeremiah had to convince his audience that there was no hope before they would bend a knee to YWHY. This is why his mission was saturated with negativity. Whether it was Peter, Stephen, or Paul the reason they preached the way they did was to convince people their is no hope outside of Jesus Christ. In Acts 13, Paul is preaching in Antioch of Pisidia. He highlights Israel’s history culminating in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. He concludes his historical sermon with these words in Acts 13:38–41 “Be it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins: And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets; Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish: for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.” The Jews hope was in their ethnicity but in a piercing way, Paul crushed this hope of theirs.

Hope

The second part of Jeremiah 1:10 “….to build, and to plant” is hope and a positive message. However, rebuilding and replanting cannot occur until your farm has been rooted out and your palace has been pulled down. In ancient times when one kingdom defeated another kingdom, they would destroy the city and rebuild on top of the city. The purposes of ancient kingdoms destroying and rebuilding cities were “primarily to establish political dominance, erase rival histories, or upgrade infrastructure following disasters. Rebuilding on the same site allowed rulers to claim legitimacy by constructing new, superior structures (like temples or palaces) directly atop the ruins of defeated enemies.” In other words, they wanted to transform the city to resemble their brilliance. God wants to “root out (and) pull down” the sinful wretchedness of our lives so that He can replant and rebuild our lives to magnify His glory and grace.

The replant and rebuild transforms us completely:

We go from children of wrath (Ephesians 2:3: “Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”) to children of God (John 1:12: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:”).

We go from living in the darkness of our sin (Colossians 1:13: “Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:”) to living in the Light of His glory (Ephesians 5:8 “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light:”).

We go from blindness of salvation (2 Corinthians 4:4: “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.”) to seeing and praising our salvation as Simeon did when saw saw baby Jesus in the Temple (Luke 2:30–32 “For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.”)

We go from being dead in our trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1: “And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;”) to being alive in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:22: “For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.”).

We go from rags of unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:10: “And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”) to having the righteousness of Christ (1 Corinthians 1:30 “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:”).

We go from the old man, who is stale and corrupted by sin (Ephesians 4:22 “That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts;”) to the new man who has been refreshed and set apart for holiness (2 Corinthians 5:17 “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”).

We go from being recipients of divine condemnation (John 3:18 “He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”) to citizens of divine consecration (1 Corinthians 1:2 “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”).

The hope that God offers is a complete makeover! We go from being an unprofitable and useless servant, whose destination includes weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 25:30 “And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”) to having value and used of God for His purpose whose destination includes rejoicing and praising God (Revelation 7:12 “Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.”).

Conclusion

“Judson was raised in a Christian home, but when he went off to college at Brown University, he was lured away from the Christian faith by a fellow student and close friend, a young man named Jacob Eames. Eames was a philosopher who rejected all revealed religion, including the Bible. Eames ridiculed the God of the Bible, and under Eames’ assaults, Judson’s already fragile faith crumbled.

“He kept his loss of faith hidden from his parents until after his graduation, when on his 20th birthday—August 9, 1808—he announced that he was no longer a Christian. He had been valedictorian of Brown University, and left for New York, hoping to write for the theater there.

“While in New York, Judson found little fulfillment as a playwright, and grew quickly disillusioned. But God was beginning to work in his heart. One night, while traveling through a small village, he spent the night at a local inn. The only available room was next door to a man who was dying. All night the man groaned and cried out in desperation. Judson was so tormented by the despair in the man’s cries that he could not sleep.

“Judson began to wonder, ‘Is this man prepared for death? That’s really all that matters now. Am I?’ His philosophy taught him that death was nothing—a door into an empty pit—but that brought him little comfort now, listening to a man that was actually dying. At the same time, he could hear in the back of his mind the voice of his friend Jacob Eames, mocking him: ‘Really, Judson? You’re this weak? Are you really the valedictorian of Brown University? Spooked by a little superstitious religion?’

“Judson lay there, toggling between fear and shame for that fear.

“But still, those groans. . .

“The voice eventually stopped. The next morning, as sunlight filled Judson’s room, the sense of despair lifted and Judson felt ashamed for having given in to such weakness the night before. He got dressed, went downstairs, and asked at the front desk about the man in the adjoining room. ‘He is dead,’ was the simple reply.

“Judson politely asked, ‘Do you know who he was?’ ‘Oh yes. Young man from the college in Providence. Name was Eames, Jacob Eames.’

“Judson could hardly move. He didn’t leave the inn for hours. He later reflected on that moment:

“‘Lost. In death, Jacob Eames was lost—utterly, irrevocably lost. Lost to his friends, to the world, to the future. Lost as a puff of smoke is lost in the infinity of air. If Eames’ own views were true, neither his life nor his death had any meaning. . . . But suppose Eames had been mistaken? Suppose the Scriptures were literally true and a personal God real? . . . For that hell should open in that country inn and snatch Jacob Eames, [my] dearest friend and guide, from the next bed—this could not, simply could not, be coincidence.’[1]

“Judson would come shortly thereafter not only to believe the gospel, but also to pour the rest of his life out for it, suffering extraordinary things in the name of it. The gospel of Jesus was not a light thing for him; it was weighty in life and weighty in death. It demanded the utmost attention and the most fervent devotion. And it demands the same today.”

Judson’s worldview and his agnostic understanding of God collapsed under the weight of God’s judgment on his dear friend Jacob Eames. By faith, he ran to cross of Christ, where his sins have been paid for (1 Peter 2:24: “Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.”) and hope and new life was received (Galatians 2:20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.”)

Has the truth of God’s judgment turned your world upside down? Paul mentions how God’s law brings us to the cross in Galatians 3:24: “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” His point is God’s law convicts and condemns us, and in that emptiness and hopelessness there is Christ the Converter.