Seeking for the help of the Lord, I direct your prayer for attention to the Prophet Jeremiah, Jeremiah chapter 15 and verse 15. O Lord, Thou knowest. Remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering, Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Jeremiah 15 verse 15.

Especially upon my spirit is the first word. So Lord thou knowest. A source to the ungodly of unrest and terror even to think that God knows everything and knows about them. But for God's people, it is one of the most comforting words that they can have, to realize that the Lord Jehovah, that he knows everything. He knows every circumstance, every trial, every affliction, Everything that comes to pass does not take him by surprise. He knows the hearts of all men. And sometimes, like Jeremiah here, in the midst of trial and disappointment and sadness, to be able to say, O Lord, Thou knowest, I wonder how many of us here have been in such situations that almost it just comes from the heart. We don't know sometimes how to pray, what to think of a matter, how to judge of it, how to really reason it, but just to say, O Lord, Thou knowest, to lay it before the Lord as one that knows and has planned it all.

what changes Jeremiah had seen. He had begun his prophecy in the days of godly Josiah, and all of the reformation and the changes that were brought about for good during that godly king's reign. But then he was to see four other kings, Jehoias, Jehoiakim, Jeconiah, and then Zedekiah, with ungodliness, very little to encourage him. No doubt the words that were given him by the Lord and many beautiful prophecies of the Lord in his prophecy, but that which he saw outside, he was on his own. False prophets counted his words, said the opposite, cast into the dungeon, the Ethiopian lifting him out so he didn't die there. And the sorrows that he endured to see the destruction of the temple, to see Israel taken away, Judah taken away into bondage, to see how they even reacted then and rebelled against the king of Babylon to go down into Egypt. There was much that must have made him very, very sad. The Lord used him to prophesy of coming back from Babylon, buying the land, saying that land will be bought and sold again. Seventy years were to be accomplished, the desolations of Jerusalem. It's a real lesson to us. Some of the Lord's people have lived in great prosperity and encouragement. Others, like Jeremiah, has been cast in a lot of discouragement with many enemies, many adversaries, many things that they've had to contend with. And this word has then been a comfort to them. O Lord, thou knowest.

On to look, if the Lord help, three points this morning. Firstly, Jeremiah's comfort. In these words, O Lord, thou knowest. And then secondly, Jeremiah's prayer. There are four points he asks in prayer. Remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors, Take me not away in thy long-suffering. He prays these four things. And then thirdly, in whose service Jeremiah had suffered. He says, I have suffered for thy sake. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

But firstly, this word of comfort, Jeremiah's comfort, O Lord, Thou knowest, and may His comfort be also our comfort. This is not the only time that Jeremiah says this. If you were to turn to the 17th chapter Then we read in verse 16, as for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee, neither have I desired the woeful day thou knowest, thou knowest, that which came out of my lips was right before thee. So again, he's appealing to the knowledge of the Lord.

We have in the next chapter, the 18th chapter as well, verse 23, the last verse. Yet, Lord, Thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from Thy side, but let them be overthrown before Thee. Deal thus with them in the time of Thine anger. Jeremiah.

Having recourse to the Lord's knowledge of all things, we might ask, how does the Lord know? We know the Lord is omniscient. He is all-knowing. He is everywhere at the same time. And there is nothing that is hid from his sight. And he knoweth the hearts of the children of men. Solomon mentions that. in his prayer, thou only knowest the hearts of the children of men.

But in a way it is more than that, because not only does the Lord know all things, but he has planned all things as well and purposed all things. So the Lord's knowledge is going back to his purposes that are being unfolded and the reason why things are actually happening. So he doesn't just know. We might know something because it is happening at this present time. But we don't know the background. We don't know what God is going to use.

We think of Joseph. Joseph was given the dreams that it was very obvious God knew what he was going to do with Joseph. He knew And so he gave him the intimation through the dreams that there would come a time that his brethren would bow down themselves to him. But then there was the walking of it out. Very, very trying path to be dealt with, with his brethren cast into the pit and then sold, falsely accused by Potiphar's wife. cast into prison and then forgotten there for several years, a couple of years at least, and then brought to be next to Pharaoh. At last he is able to say that God sent me hither to preserve your lives by great deliverance.

But he had to walk that out. And the thing is that right from the start, God knew what he would do. Seldom does the Lord unfold to his people beforehand what he is going to do. Sometimes, like with Joseph, he had the dreams, but the details are not filled in. Before Abraham, he was given also The promise that thy seed shall be a stranger in a strange land, they shall afflict them for a hundred years, in the fourth generation that they shall come hither. But he didn't fill in with Abraham how they were going to go into Egypt, or how they were going to go out of Egypt. They had to walk that out.

But enough prophecy is given to be able to assure the people of God that the Lord knows. He knew, He planned it, He purposed it, and these things are coming about because of His plans. And so we're in the midst of something, like Jeremiah, thou knowest, then we can think of these other events that have gone on before. We can remember what is recorded. Jeremiah would have remembered about Joseph, about Abraham, he would have known where God had foretold things, and then they'd come to pass, and how they had come to pass. And we have too, we have all of the word of God to assure us that not only does the Lord know, but he knows because he has purposed it.

And who is he that saith, and it cometh to pass, when the Lord commandeth it not? These are the Lord's purposes and the Lord's plans. And it's very important for us to actually realize this. Paul felt so for the Ephesians as he writes to the Ephesians. And he says to them in the first chapter, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love, having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of his will. To the praise of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved."

He goes back to the purposes and plans of God. And so when these things come to pass, he knows because he has appointed it, They're part of his plan, and the Lord is working that plan out. And so it is a great comfort to be reminded in that, O Lord, Thou knowest.

But another way is in the gospel sense. As looking back, and we have the revelation of the coming of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has made flesh and dwells among us, It really struck me as we read the reading, quite a familiar passage, Psalm 139. And to read, my substance was not hid from thee when I was made in secret and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. And it so struck me, this is prophetic. This is speaking of great David's greatest son. the Lord Jesus Christ, the holy ghost overshadowed Mary, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, of course, he was fashioned in the womb. He grew in the womb the same as we did. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect, and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned. when as yet there was none of them.

And our Lord, right from the womb, you might say, he knew because he experienced it. He experienced what it was to be in the womb, to be born, and to grow up, and to breathe the air we breathe, to eat the food we eat, to bear the contradiction of sinners against himself. If Jeremiah is in the midst of Israel here, and he's having those speaking against him, going against him, contradicting his word, how much more, again, is he a time unlike what our Lord endured? Our Lord said, how long shall I bear with you? How long shall I be with you? He endured, and we're exhorted that, to remember him, endured the contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds."

The Lord, to be a sympathising high priest over the house of God, he actually had to endure, walk out, so that, not only knowing by his divinity, our Lord being truly God and truly man, but he knew by his manhood, by being a real man, he knew what it was to be weary, weary on the well, weary in the ship, to sleep, to have to walk a path of faith and prayer, to walk as the people of God have to walk as well. And so in these days, in these days when the gospel is preached, we can look back to our Lord and when we say with Jeremiah, thou knowest, then We know it means that the Lord Jesus Christ actually knew these things as well. That we are to think on Him and our thoughts, our affections are to be with Him that for our sakes and for His dear people, He went through these things, through this world. And what Jeremiah knew, what all of God's people knew, He Himself knew as well.

But we think of others that have also, not just Jeremiah, but others that have spoken a similar way. When David wanted to build the temple and was told by Nathan that he should not do so, but a son should be born him that would do so, David humbled himself before the Lord And this is one of the things that he said, O Lord, thou knowest. And thou knowest thy servant.

A great comfort to the Lord had revealed to him that he knew his life, and he knew the son that was to be born, and what was to be planned, and what was to be done.

We think of our dear Joe. in his great afflictions and path that he went, and he is able to say that he knoweth the way that I walk, the way that I went.

If I turn to that passage, it is in Job 23, and many sorrows that he went through in verse 10, But he knoweth the way. He says in the verses before, Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, though I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

What a comfort. On the one side, he cannot find the Lord. That might be you this morning. You cannot find the Lord. Go forward, go backward. Left hand, you can see the Lord's work, but you can't see Him. He hides Himself on the right hand. But to be able to say, but He knoweth the way that I take, to actually realise you're in the Lord's hand.

We know the end of the Lord, we're told the end of the Lord with Job, the latter end was better than his beginning.

We think of the Messianic Psalms, and of course we mentioned regarding Psalm 139, of course that whole Psalm speaks of the Lord's knowledge of all things, but Psalm 40, a psalm again that speaks of our Lord.

We read in verse 9, read from verse 7, because that is so clearly a prophecy of our Lord. Then said, I, though I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation, though I have not refrained my lips, O Lord, Thou knowest. I have not hid Thy righteousness within my heart."

This is one of those verses that were so blessed to me and had much to do with my exercise in preaching the Word. When I'd been very burdened with it and read these words, and I had preached righteousness in the great congregation, well, at that point I hadn't. And so it made the exercise to be very, very great upon me to preach righteousness, preach the Lord Jesus Christ, the only righteous man.

But this is speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ.

If we go further on to Psalm 69, again, a psalm so clearly speaking of the Lord's sufferings and death, how that it speaks of his crucifixion.

Verse 21, they gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. And previously, verse nine, the zeal of thine house, hath eaten me up, the reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me.

It's all speaking of our Lord Jesus Christ.

But in verse five, we read, O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my sins are not hid from thee. And we say, how can we apply that to our Lord Jesus Christ?

Well, our sins were made his. Our foolishness, the thought of foolishness is sin. How little we realise of what it is when we read, He was made sin for us.

And a lot of these psalms that speak of our Lord, they speak of it so much as if this is Him. And you say, how can this be the Lord? But it is when He is made sin for us, when He takes our sin It is he instead of us is seen when we approach to God. But when our Lord was on Calvary, it was our sins that were laid on him. The wrath of God upon the Lord was because of our sin. And he was made that sin. And so these prophecies, they speak of our Lord, the sufferings that he had, that which he went through, Calvary all appointed, all ordained, all done for the people of God.

Thou Lord, Thou knowest. We think of what was said with Ezekiel and the dry bones. He was shown a valley with many dry bones in it. And the question was asked, can these bones live? And very wisely, Ezekiel said, O Lord, Thou knowest. That was his answer. And then he was bid to prophesy. And the bones, they came together. Then they were clothed with flesh. Then he prophesied again. And spirit came into them. They stood up, exceeding great army. And it was said that this was a picture of Israel, an underpreaching, Under the blessing of the Lord, they would stand, they would rise up. What a picture of what is done under the preaching of the gospel.

Again, thou knowest. The Lord knows what he will do in Zion. What he will do, how he will use the ministry, how he will use the word. To our sight, like to dear Jeremiah, everything may be so bleak, just dried up bones. But the Lord says, no, no, you preach. You bring thy word. And with the spirit, those dry bones turn to flesh, turn to spirit. What an encouragement when we feel in our own soul so dry, so barren, so lifeless.

And you think, these are the illustrations that God has set forth. You know, the dead, they know nothing. They don't know that they're dead. Those that feel their lifelessness, that feel their need, to this, to these people, this word is their comfort, Thou knowest.

We think of the gospel according to John and in chapter 16. When our Lord was upon earth and he did many miracles, he spoke many things to his disciples. At the end of chapter 16, verse 29, we read, his disciples said unto him, though now speakest thou plainly, speakest no proverb. What did the Lord just say? He said, I came forth from the Father and am coming to the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. And so they said, now are we sure? that thou knowest all things. What a testimony to the divinity of our Lord Jesus Christ. And needest not that any man should ask thee. By this we believe that thou camest forth from God.

And then we think of dear Peter. When Peter was restored, this was his comfort, wasn't it? When the Lord asked him those three times, in John 21 verse 15, when they had dined, Jesus saith to Simon Peter, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me more than these? He saith unto him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. And the Lord asked this question. these three times and each time Peter was having recourse that the Lord knew. And at last he says, Lord thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, feed my sheep. Each time it was either feed my lambs or feed my sheep.

But this same word that was a comfort to Jeremiah was a comfort to Peter and he used it, Lord thou knowest. And we have a little glimpse in heaven as well. Those that were arrayed in white robes, whence came they, O Lord thou knowest. These are they that came out of great tribulation, have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore they stand before him day and night. Revelation chapter seven. And so this word is a short statement to the Lord, setting forth before the Lord that He knows, He knows.

Now we might say, well if the Lord knows everything, why do we have to pray? If the Lord has planned everything, why do we have to pray? Why does the Lord want to know our requests when he knows what we need? Why do we actually need to ask him?

Going back to Ezekiel in Ezekiel 36, the Lord says, oh, what do you do for his people? Giving them a new heart, cleansing them, washing them, sanctifying them. And then in the end, he says, I will for this being acquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.

The Lord wants to hear from his people and the Lord is honoured and glorified in being asked. This is his plan, that he joins together things that are done, things that are bestowed upon his people with their prayers. So they can say with Hannah, for this child I have prayed.

I wonder how many of us have been given prayer and the Lord's answered those prayers, so you do not say, that this has just happened because the Lord has planned it and known it. You say, the Lord gave me prayer for it. He answered prayer. He gave me those things. He performed for me these things.

And so that is the second point that I want to look at, because Jeremiah goes on to pray as well here. And there's four things we'll briefly go through.

The first one is that the Lord would remember him, remember me. You think, does the Lord ever forget his people? No, he doesn't forget. And yet sometimes, like we mentioned of Joseph, he does seem to forget. He's just left there. The butler forgot him, didn't mention him to Pharaoh. It seems like the Lord has forgotten. And so the prayer is, remember me.

Now when the Lord remembers a people, he is doing things for them. We speak in language of what we are used to here below. We know what it is like, Joseph, to have those that forget us. And we present our prayer in this way. And when the Lord does then appear for us and remember us, we know that again is an answer to prayer.

You know, the wicked, they would like the Lord really to forget them, not to think of them at all. But what a different thing. If the Lord has changed and turned our heart, so we want the Lord actually to remember us and to think upon us.

But not only that, he asks and visit me. You know, we might have a friend and we might phone them up and we might say, I remember you, but we never visit them. We never go and see them. And Jeremiah, he wants the Lord's visits. He wants those blessed times.

Maybe know what it is to have a visit from the Lord when he comes He draws near, He softens our hearts, He makes our heart burn within us like the two in the way to Emmaus. Or like the disciples in the upper room, they were fearful at first, but then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. And when they were blessed and when they were favoured, He opened their understanding.

Those visits, they are very precious. And perhaps through reading the Word of God, Suddenly you feel your heart softened and drawn to a particular verse, or you see what you had not seen in that verse before. And your heart that you felt so hard for weeks or months, it begins to soften. And you think of all what the Lord has done, all Lord's goodness to you. And as you think and meditate upon it, then you weep. You feel that love of the Lord, and yet feel your own sin. Do you know something about Peter? When the Lord turned and looked at Peter, and he went out and he wept bitterly. How often the joys of the people of God are mixed with sorrow when the Lord visits them. And then they feel their sin, but see it laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ.

Hymn writer speaks of mourning over our sins and after Him. and when we view what our sins have done to the Lord in being laid on Him. The Lord truly does visit and bless His people, and they are sacred times, sweet the moments rich in blessing which before the cross I spend. Those are lovely times in our lives when the Lord does that, lifts us up, makes a real difference, puts a spring in our step, It makes the burden that has been upon us to be lifted off. Change outward circumstances may not change at all, but the Lord changes it with a smile, with His blessing in the soul. And often they are for a purpose, they are for a reason.

I remember years ago, having just got back from Tasmania, back to Melbourne, when my mother had passed away, And the Lord visited and blessed me in my study in the evening. In the morning, I had a phone call that my father had had a heart attack and was taken into hospital. And my heart just sunk. I'd just lost my mum, and now it looked like dad wasn't. I was 250 miles away. And then I remembered the blessing of the night before. And it was like I just sunk onto that and rested on that. The Lord knew where I was. And that was such a help. And to think the Lord had given me that help and support before I heard about my father. And there's been other times like that where we read underneath of the everlasting alms and the comfort and support and strength that the Lord gives to us They are the Lord's visits.

No wonder Jeremiah asked, and visit me. But then he asked, and revenge me on my persecutors. Now, I want to make very clear that a Christian, in the gospel day, we do not seek revenge. We do not seek that those people, men, women, that may speak against us, do evil things to us. We're not to seek revenge. even to ask that the Lord would revenge them. We're told to pray for our enemies, to do good to them that despitefully use us.

In one sense, Jeremiah is asking to be vindicated, that he might see the Lord put his stamp, that the prophecies he was making in the name of the Lord, they were true, they would come to pass. and that those who have spoken against him, those who said he wasn't a true prophet, they would see by providence, they would see what happened, that truly he was the Lord's servant.

But we can bring it in another way, because each of us, we have our own sin, we have an old nature that constantly fights against us, We need that mortified. We have Satan that is a constant enemy. And so to ask the Lord to revenge us, to deliver us and save us from our sin, from Satan, from all evil, and deliver us from those that persecute us.

As soon as God begins a work in a sinner's heart, you can be sure that Satan will be very, very active And he'll try every way he can, and he will use men. Why, even our Lord, when he told of his forecoming sufferings, Peter, he really takes the part of Satan. He says, be not that unto thee, O Lord. He would have the Lord not suffer. Sometimes we might think we're being a kind friend. to someone who is walking a path of suffering, said, oh, be not that to thee. The Lord won't have you walk a path of sorrow or of disappointment or trial. But our Lord is very clear that the words that I speak unto you, they are life, and you shall have peace. But in the world, you shall have tribulation. And we are to expect that, the tribulation in the world, but the peace and the comfort in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so those adversaries, those that constantly go against us, we are to be very real in what a Christian has to expect.

Romans 7. The good that I would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that I do. A wretched man that I am. If I do that which I would not, is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Who shall deliver me from this body of death? You know, this is the groanings of a soul that has got an adversary and is struggling. O Lord, Thou knowest. And then the prayer, Revenge me, deliver me out of the hand of my persecutors. But then we have, Take me not away in thy long-suffering.

Of course, Jeremiah was, and then later on, you have the word in verse 20, of those that shall fight against him, and then verse 21, I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. Jeremiah had prophesied this, he knew what it was when the enemy overtook a city, and what they could do. to the captives. And he'd already suffered at the hands of his own people. And so he's looking for the long-suffering of the Lord. And the Lord did. He preserved him. He kept him. He delivered him. The Lord is a long-suffering God.

All of us, when we're asking for the Lord's help, we're mindful of our sin, of our iniquity. We're not deserving of the Lord's protection or the Lord's care at all. But the comfort is, the Lord is a long-suffering God, and in His long-suffering that He would not take us away in that. He would not leave us to our sin, to Satan, to the world, that the Lord would be long-suffering in that and maintain us and keep us to the end. Those that are looking to the Lord, those that are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation.

So Jeremiah has a prayer. We may ask, what is our prayer? Are we specific in our prayers? Sometimes we can just be very general, can't we? But Jeremiah here, he's got these points, these specific things that he's asking for. Those times with the Lord on earth when he stopped Those that were blind, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? He might say, well, Lord, isn't it obvious? They are blind. That's what they want. But he'd have it from their lips. He'd have them to ask, Lord, that I might receive my sight. A very specific prayer, and then to receive their sight. Or Hannah, as we mentioned, for this child I prayed. Very specific things. Lord, help us to be specific, those things that are presently troubling us or burdening us, to bring them to the Lord. Though we know the Lord knows all things, yet make those things the subject of our prayers.

I want to just then briefly notice the last point, and that is in whose service Jeremiah had suffered. At the end of our text, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. We read in Peter's epistles on those that suffer for righteousness sake, and a warning also for those that suffer because of their own sin, because of their own actions. But Jeremiah, he had comfort in this. that he had spoken the truth, he'd been a faithful prophet, and he had suffered rebuke. Again, it's a reminder to us that our faith and our trust is not an insurance policy. We don't say to the Lord, I believe in thee, thou art my God, and therefore I must have good health, a good job, a good home, and no persecutors, no troubles, no sorrows. I want a real smooth path through life. The Lord has said, they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. The Lord also said, I've given them thy word and the world hath hated them.

The only The cause that is needed for the world to hate the people of God is for them to keep to the word of God and obey the word of God. And he was able to have recourse to this, that he was suffering, rebuke for the Lord's sake. It's a blessed thing to have that badge. that which we have walked in a path, following the Lord, and yet found suffering and trial. Through the cross, behold the crown.

Again, we picture the Lord Jesus Christ, even in this very verse. For thy sake have I suffered rebuke. All what the Lord went through, he was doing his Father's bidding. For this cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness of the truth. And we could put this as spoken by the Lord to his people as well. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

And we look at all the rebukes of the Lord Jesus Christ, all that they said against him, and then the father hiding his face from him, And the Lord says, this is for the sake of my people. This is for thy sake. That's why, not for my sake, not for my good, but for thy sake, to redeem thy soul, to save thy soul, to bring thee to be with me at last.

The people of God to have fellowship with the Lord in his sufferings. And we find then in the scriptures, that which is the path of Jeremiah, the path of David, but also the path of the Lord. And when we see the Lord, that is to be the comfort and joy of the people of God, who suffered in our stead, who shed his blood, who redeemed us, who rose again from the dead.

They thought that sin had triumphed, the devil had triumphed, The Romans, the Jews, had triumphed, but the empty tomb, a risen Saviour. O Lord, Thou knowest the path of our Lord, delivered by the determinate counsel and full knowledge of God, here taken, and by wicked hands crucified and slain.

And Peter draws to this same truth, the Lord and you, the full knowledge of God. Well, may this word be a comfort, a help to you, help to me, help to each in affliction and in trial. And this be our prayer and what we say before the Lord.

O Lord, Thou knowest. Amen.