Untitled Sermon (52)

Jeremiah 19:1

Jeremiah 19:14–15 ESV

Then Jeremiah came from Topheth, where the Lord had sent him to prophesy, and he stood in the court of the Lord’s house and said to all the people: “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, behold, I am bringing upon this city and upon all its towns all the disaster that I have pronounced against it, because they have stiffened their neck, refusing to hear my words.”

Jeremiah just finished prophesying destruction.

Why:

Jeremiah 19:4–5 ESV

Because the people have forsaken me and have profaned this place by making offerings in it to other gods whom neither they nor their fathers nor the kings of Judah have known; and because they have filled this place with the blood of innocents, and have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, which I did not command or decree, nor did it come into my mind—

Jeremiah 19:4

Pressure From Within

Jeremiah 20:1–3 ESV

Now Pashhur the priest, the son of Immer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pashhur beat Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin Gate of the house of the Lord. The next day, when Pashhur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, “The Lord does not call your name Pashhur, but Terror on Every Side.

Jeremiah 20:1

Jeremiah 20:4–6 ESV

For thus says the Lord: Behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon, and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies, who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashhur, and all who dwell in your house, shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends, to whom you have prophesied falsely.”

I’m Caught In The Middle

Lament: a passionate expression of grief or sorrow.

Jeremiah 20:7–8 ESV

O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me. For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

Jeremiah didn’t have a crisis of faith, but a crisis of vocation.

Have you ever felt tricked into your calling?

Jeremiah said you are stronger than me, and you have prevailed…

I didn’t want to work but I have no choice!

Jeremiah said:

I’m a laughingstock

everyone mocks me

All I’m speaking is violence and destruction

The word of God has become For Me a disgrace and a mockery.

Jeremiah 20:9

Jeremiah 20:9 ESV

If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

“If I say” means he has said it!!!

“As it were a burning fire” - “Shut up in my bones”

(CSB Version says) “I become tired of holding it in, and I cannot prevail”

This means he tried to hold it

He suffers if he speaks the word of God and he suffers if he doesn’t, and the God who called him from the womb is ultimately responsible for both realities.

Jeremiah 20:10–13 ESV

For I hear many whispering. Terror is on every side! “Denounce him! Let us denounce him!” say all my close friends, watching for my fall. “Perhaps he will be deceived; then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.” But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble; they will not overcome me. They will be greatly shamed, for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten. O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have I committed my cause. Sing to the Lord; praise the Lord! For he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

Jeremiah 2

Praise does not produce purpose

Purpose should produce praise

Praise is not a quick fix

Praise doesn’t mean he’s going to fix the problem

What happens when Sundays praise break didn’t work?

Jeremiah 20:14–18 ESV

Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity; let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?

Jeremiah 20:

“God has called Jeremiah into a vocation wherein he feels trapped, caught in the middle, squeezed between two parties that have quite different ‘agendas’”

“God has called Jeremiah into a vocation wherein he feels trapped, caught in the middle, squeezed between two parties that have quite different ‘agendas’”

When you’re not focused - you will always become frustrated

Remember Chapter ONE - We all need a chapter one reminder