May I please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the book of the prophet Jeremiah, the first chapter,
and we'll read the last verse, verse 19. The book of the prophet
Jeremiah, chapter one, I'm reading verse 19. And they shall fight against
thee. But they shall not prevail against
thee, for I am with thee, saith the Lord to deliver thee. It's a great blessing to know
that we have an almighty God. And to realise that if we are
the children of God, without any doubt, God is on our side. And although we may come into
difficult situations, indeed we shall come into difficult
situations, to realise that God is with us, and God will go before
us, and God will make a way of escape, and God will help us,
and God will strengthen us. The Prophecy of Jeremiah is really
a very instructive book. It's not read very often. Parts
of it are quite difficult to understand. But the essence of
it is, really from beginning to end, that Jeremiah was a prophet
of the Lord. He was called to preach the gospel. He was called to speak against
that which was wrong. And he had to bear the consequences
of being faithful. And yet the Lord did not leave
him. The Lord did not forsake him.
The Lord was gracious to him. And in similar vein, we today,
so many years after, and not as eminent, of course, as Jeremiah
was, but yet to realize that we have the same God today. And there are so many cases in
the Word of God which are encouraging to us, both in our natural life
and also in our spiritual life. And what a wonderful blessing
it is therefore to have a God that we can rely upon. In an earlier verse in this chapter,
Jeremiah came and spoke to God and he said, Our Lord God, behold,
I cannot speak, for I am a child. He'd been given a commission
to go and speak and just felt his inadequacy. And he said,
I cannot speak, for I am a child. But the Lord said unto him, 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. Be not afraid of their faces,
for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. And God was faithful in the words
that he spoke to Jeremiah. If you read the book of Jeremiah,
you will find that he would have needed A word like this to be
confirmed to him. again and again, because of the
opposition that he found himself in. Sometimes in prison, sometimes
in the deep dungeon, left there for several days, but God came
and delivered him. And we should be very thankful
that we have, therefore, a record like that, so that in the day
and age in which we live, we come to that God who doesn't
change, and that God is able to deliver us. And therefore,
perhaps sometimes the Lord may speak to us and give us words
and directions. And we might think, well, that's
impossible. That can't come to pass. We might
feel very inadequate, just like Jeremiah did. Totally inadequate. And yet you see here, Jeremiah
was really reprimanded in one sense, because he began to make
an excuse. And we sometimes can almost make
excuses before God. We don't think we're able. Well,
we should realize that we have a God who is able to do far more
exceeding abundantly than we can ask or even think. We should
never limit the power and the ability of Almighty God. And
we should realize that we as individuals, the just poor, weak,
sinners of the earth, we only have to trace through the word
of God to see the Lord did choose those who were foolish and those
who were weak and he did so so that they couldn't glory in their
ability. How often that is so true. Left
to ourselves we would glory in our ability. We come to this
position where we only glory in what God has done. We only
glory in the help that the Lord gives. be only glory in the way
that the Lord delivers and in the way that the Lord directs
and guides. So these words should be an encouragement
to us as there will be those who fight against us as they
did in Jeremiah's day. Yes, they are against the truth
of God, against the things of God. And so he tells us, and
they shall fight against thee, We shall find we have opposition. We shall find there are those
who are against us. But, this is the wonderful encouragement,
they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee, saith
the Lord to deliver thee. Well, we should be very thankful
that we have words like that. And there are some gracious statements
in the word of God, which should encourage us people who had difficulties
and hard lives. And David was one example. We read about David and we perhaps
think of him on that wonderful occasion when he fought Goliath
and we may come back to that. But there were many times also
when he had a difficult path and in the 142nd Psalm we see
there a little of his spiritual evidence of the life of God in
his soul. He says, I cried unto the Lord with my voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. It's a wonderful thing that we
have a God who we can come to, exactly as we are. Because the
Lord knows all about us. The most intricate detail, the
deepest thoughts in our heart, he knows. Psalmist David goes
on to say, when my spirit was overwhelmed within me, we may
sometimes feel like that, overwhelmed, then the newest my path in the
way when I walked have they prevalently laid a snare for me. I looked
on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man that would
know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared
for my soul. We seem perhaps to be desolate,
lonely. No one else seemed to be able
to understand the way that the Lord is directing and the Lord
is leading us. But then we see how he comes
and he doesn't give up. And my friends, thankfully the
Lord doesn't allow us to give up. We read this, then in this
state, I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for
I am brought very low. And then he says, deliver me. from my persecutors, for they
are stronger than I. And my friends, left to ourselves,
the devil is a great persecutor, and he's stronger than us. But
here we have the wonderful testimony and example of David, the king
of Israel, who asked the Lord that he would attend to his cry.
And a cry, obviously, is that which emanates from our heart. It's not something you might
say a well-ordered prayer. It's a cry to God. And David
was able to tell the Lord his condition. For I am brought very
low. Sometimes we are brought very
low. And we're brought very low so
that the Lord will raise us up so that we come to that realisation
that we're not able to raise ourselves up. But when the Lord
does come and raise us up, it's then when he gets the wonderful
honour and glory for coming and delivering us. And so David cries
out, deliver me from my persecutors for they are stronger than I. And then he says, bring my soul
out of prison. You see, this was a personal
condition that David was in. Other people wouldn't be aware
of it, but he was able to tell the Lord where he was very low,
where he was in prison. And he says this, and it's worth
noting, bring my son out of prison. He tells us the reason, that
I may praise thy name. It's good, isn't it, for us today? If perhaps we may be in a similar
situation, to be able to come to the Lord with this desire,
that we might be able to praise the name of our God for the deliverance
which he brings. The righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. What do we see there? We see a humble confidence in
his God, that he would deliver him, that he would come and look
upon him, and that he would be able to praise his God. It's really a gracious anticipation. He prayed, he cried in faith,
believing the Lord would come. He had a good hope. It wasn't
a vain hope. It was a good hope. It was a
real hope. And we know the Lord did come
and the Lord did remember him and the Lord did deliver him. So let us not forget this simple
statement. He says, attend unto my cry. For I am brought very low. Deliver
me from my persecutors, for they are stronger than I. The blessing
is that today we have the same great, wonderful prayer hearing
and prayer answering God. And these accounts are there
in God's word to encourage us and to strengthen us that we
might truly be encouraged You remember, I'm sure, God's servant
Job, a man of God, but a man who was greatly tempted and had
many trials and difficulties. And he had three friends that
came and gave him advice. tried to correct him and weren't
really much encouragement. And then Elihu came and spoke
to him, and Elihu said some good words, encouraging words. And
in the 33rd chapter, of the book of Job, we read this from verse
22 perhaps. Yea, his soul draweth near unto
the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there be a messenger
with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto
man his uprightness. That's not his uprightness in
himself. Then he is gracious unto him
and saith, deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found
a ransom. That surely is a wonderful statement
and that ransom can be also described as an atonement. Yes, here is
Elihu speaking to Job to encourage him. Then is he gracious unto
him. Well, perhaps we may understand
something of Job's experience. Not perhaps in detail, because
Job had a very difficult path. But nonetheless, we may enter
into a little of it and come to this understanding that the
Lord is gracious Then is he gracious unto him and said, and this is
the great blessing, deliver him from going down to the pit. That's
where we deserve to go, to the pit, to hell itself, because
of our unbelief, because of the evil of our heart. And yet, you
see, this is the true desire and prayer. Deliver him from
going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Oh, my friends, what a great
blessing that is. If you and I have found someone who will
pay the price to redeem our soul. Elijah was directing Job to none
other than the glorious Saviour, Jesus Christ. And it would be
a good thing if the work of the Holy Spirit brings us to a position
like this, so that we may feel perhaps to be going down into
the pit yet to realise that we have these wonderful words. Yes, he, I have found a ransom. Moving on to the 28th verse in
this chapter, we read this positive statement. He will deliver his
soul from going down into the pit and his life shall see the
light. Well, we may fear perhaps, and
because of our sins we shall be found at last in that pit
of destruction with no hope. But what a mercy to realise here
we have this statement, he will deliver his soul from going into
the pit and his life shall see the light. And that of course
is the glorious light of the Gospel. which shines forth in
the face of Jesus Christ, our great and glorious Redeemer,
the one who gave his life, who shed his precious blood, that
you and I might be delivered from going down into the pit. A wonderful Saviour is Jesus
our Lord. And so I hope tonight that you
and I may have some encouragement as we realise that the Lord appeared
for Job and spoke these words. They weren't, of course, the
conclusion. Elihu spoke a lot more words,
and then the Lord himself then came and spoke to Job. And it
had a great and a wonderful effect upon Job, that Job didn't have
any high opinion of himself. The 40th chapter, he says, Behold,
I am vile. What shall I answer thee? I will
lay my hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken, but I will
not answer you twice, but I will proceed no further. Then answer
the Lord. Yes, Job had been brought to
that position to realize his condition. And if we go on to
the last chapter, 42, then Job answered the Lord and said, I
know that thou canst do everything. Okay, and that's a blessing to
be brought there. Confidence in our God. Jeremiah
had a confidence in his God. David had a confidence in his
God, and Job had a confidence in his God. And what a mercy
if you and I have a confidence in our God. I know that thou
canst do everything, and that no thought can be withholden
from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel
without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. And we have to be careful that
we don't say things that we don't understand. Here I beseech thee,
and I will speak, I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto
me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. That, of course,
is not the physical eye. That is the spiritual eye. The
Holy Spirit had come upon Job and brought him to this position. And as his eye saw the Lord by
faith, this is what he says, wherefore I abhor myself and
repent in dust and ashes. Well, Job came very low. just like David, very low. And sometimes we may come very
low, but it is to show us ourselves and to show us the wonderful
mercy and deliverance of Almighty God. And as we come towards the
end of this chapter, we read, and the Lord, no one else, turned
the captivity of Job when he prayed for his friends. Also,
the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. We can think
and realize the Lord God is a debtor to no man. Very humbling that
is to appreciate. We have a great, kind, and gracious
God. And so, Jeremiah, we read, they
shall fight against thee, Yes, the enemy of our souls and all
his minions will fight against us and try and deceive us and
try to make us turn against God, try and make us disbelieve the
Word of God, the truth of God. Boy, it's a great mercy when
you and I are able to turn to the Word of God and tell the
devil, the Lord hath said great truths wonderful truths, truths
which are so fitting to our situation. We all remember, I'm sure, the
Apostle Paul, a man of God, a man wonderfully blessed by God, and
yet a man wonderfully taught by God to understand his own
situation. And in the seventh of the book,
the Epistle of Paul to the Romans, We read something of his spiritual
experience. And he comes down towards the
end of the chapter. He tells us, for I know that in me, that
is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. That's a good lesson to
learn. It's a blessed lesson to learn.
It's not an easy lesson to learn. But it's that which God brings
into the life of his people. so that they may have a right
view of themselves and a right view of the Saviour. For I know
that in me that is in my flesh dwelling is no good thing. For
to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is
good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now, if I do
that I would not, it is no more I that do it, But sin that dwelleth
in me, I find in the law, that when I would do good, evil is
present with me. For I delight in the law of God
after the inward man. That means our new nature. That
means that which the Lord has given to us, that new life, the
inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin, which is in my members. Well, it's wonderful
to know that here was a man of God, a man with a wonderful conversion. You might think, well, fancy,
is this really the Apostle Paul speaking? Yes, it is. and the
Lord in his great mercy has this recorded for us today and he
comes then and tells us, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? It shows to us that he had no
ability himself to turn away from perhaps what we might term
besetting sins, but he knew where to look And this is the great
consolation. He tells us this, I thank God
through Jesus Christ, my Lord, who shall deliver me? This is
the answer. I thank God through Jesus Christ,
our Lord. So then with a mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with a flesh, the law of sin. So there's the conflict between
the spirit, the flesh and the spirit. And then we move on to
the eighth chapter. There is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. What a mercy, then, if the Lord
gives us strength and true desire to walk not after our flesh,
but after the Spirit. And understand, therefore, what
we read in this verse, and they shall fight against thee. The
flesh fighting against. the spirit, the battle, but thanks
be to God that giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we see this statement,
but they shall not prevail against thee. And he gives this glorious
reason. For I am with thee, saith the
Lord to deliver thee. Now may that statement tonight
be a wonderful encouragement to us and a strength and support
to us to know that what the Lord says, but they shall not prevail
against thee. The devil and all his minions
will not prevail. Sometimes we may think we're
losing the battle. But there's the answer, to look
to the Lord. Look unto me, look unto me, says
Isaiah. Oh, and also the Apostle Paul,
he wrote to the Hebrews, writes very similar words. We are to
look up to the great and glorious Saviour and not rely on our own
abilities. We need the strength of God.
And as Paul knew, he was able to then write and tell us I can
do all things through Christ that strengthens me. It's a great
blessing to have such a Saviour who does strengthen us and enables
us to resist the devil and he flees from us. They shall fight
against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. And
I believe the Lord allows this. the enemy to fight against us
so that we're able to come and to praise God for deliverance,
to praise God for his mercy, to praise God for his wonderful
love to such unworthy sinners. Yes, but they shall not provide
against thee. And it's good, you know, if you
and I can turn to the word of God when we're tempted and point
the truth of God to the devil who cannot gainsay it. Let us
always remember that Lord Jesus Christ, when he was on the earth,
after he'd been baptised, he was tempting the devil those
40 days and 40 nights. And in those times of temptation,
what did he do? He quoted the word of God. That is indeed a great place
of refuge And we're able to then come and say, on Christ, the
solid rock I stand or other ground is indeed sinking sand. And so it is. The Lord does come
and wonderfully and graciously delivers his people. Again, the Apostle Paul homes
in on this great and wonderful truth and what a wonderful blessing
it is to have a God who does come and a God who does deliver. And in the second epistle of
Paul to the Corinthians and the first chapter, we read this in
the 10th verse. Well, let's read the ninth verse.
But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should
not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raised the dead, who
delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver, in whom we
trust that he will yet deliver us. You see, Paul was able to
look back for times of deliverance. He was able to believe that he
would obtain deliverance then and he was able to look forward
and say that we trust that he will yet deliver us. This is
the God that we have, a sovereign, gracious, wonderful saviour. What a mercy then for us today
to realise that we have such a God, such a God who strengthens
us in our soul, in our spirit. But you know also, of course,
there's those natural things and we live in the real world.
And we need God, of course, to deliver us still today. And there's
some wonderful examples in the book of Daniel where there were
these glorious deliverances. And you may remember, there was
the occasion in the third chapter of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego,
and they were told to bow down and worship the golden image. And they wouldn't bow down. They
wouldn't bow down and worship this golden image. And Nebuchadnezzar
was very annoyed. And he asked them, is it true?
And they came and said, they said
this, if it be, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answer
the king and said, oh Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer
thee in this matter. And this is worth realising,
they were going to be thrown into the burning fiery furnace. No way of escape. But humble
confidence in God. If it be so, our God, who we
serve, is able to deliver us. Is able to deliver us from the
burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us. out of thine
hand, O King. But if not, be it known unto
thee, O King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up.' So they were thrown
into the burning, fiery furnace. And they fell down, bound in
the midst. And then we're told Nebuchadnezzar
the king was astonished and rose up in haste and spake and said
unto his counsellors, did not we cast three men bound into
the midst of the fire? He answered and said unto the
king, true O king, He answered and said, Lo, I see four men
loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt. And the form of the fourth is
like the Son of God. You see, in situations, we are
not alone. They were blessed with the presence
of the Saviour. God's people are blessed spiritually
with the presence of the Saviour to help and strengthen and support
them in every time of need. They had a confidence in God. What a mercy it is when we have
our confidence in God, because these three men, they came out,
and the princes, governors, and captains of the King's Council
have been gathered together, saw these men. upon whose bodies
the fire had no power, nor was a hair of their head singed,
neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed
on them. You see, when the Lord God brings
deliverance, it's a real deliverance, it's a complete deliverance.
There was absolutely no doubt that this was the work of Almighty
God. It couldn't be denied. There
wasn't even the smell of fire upon them. Well, I expect most
of you know if you have a bonfire, you don't need to get very near
to the bonfire, but the smell of smoke very quickly gets into
your clothes and the smell's there. But here they were actually
in the fire and there was no smell upon them. It was a time
of a wonderful deliverance. And we should be very thankful
to recognise that situation. And then also with Daniel himself,
when he was cast into the lion's den, you may remember again,
he wouldn't stop praying to his God. Yes, and he continued praying
to his God, and he was disobeying the law of the king. And as a
result, he was thrown into the lion's den. And then these men
assembled unto the king and said unto the king, O Noah king, that
the law of the Medes and Persians is that no decree nor statute
which the king establisheth may be changed. Then the king commanded,
and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. Now
the king spake and said unto Daniel, thy God, whom thou service
continually, he will deliver thee. What a wonderful statement
by the king. demonstrating he believed that
Daniel's God would indeed deliver him. And so the king had a restless
night and he got up very early in the morning. He came to the
den and he cried the lamentable voice unto Daniel. And the king
spake unto Daniel, O Daniel, servant of the living God, is
thy God, whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee from the
lions.' Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My
God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions' mouths.
that they have not hurt me for as much as before him innocence
he was found in me. Also before thee, O King, have
I done no hurt. So we see a wonderful deliverance,
don't we? A blessed deliverance. And you
know we could go back to David and when he came before the King
to fight Goliath, that was a wonderful occasion. And it's good the confidence
that David had and was able to speak humbly and yet with true
confidence that his God would indeed come and deliver him. And it's good for us today to
have these examples before us, to be encouraged by them, And
in the 17th chapter, David, before the king, says, Thy servant kept
his father's sheep and there came a lion and a bear and took
a lamb out of the flock and I went after him and smote him and delivered
it out of his mouth. And when he arose against me,
I caught him by his beard and smote him and slew him. Thy servant
slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine
shall be as one of them, seeing he hath defied the armies of
the living God. David said, moreover, the Lord
that delivered me out of the paw of the lion and out of the
paw of the bear, He will deliver me out of the hand of the Philistine. Now it's good just to take those
words in. The Lord that delivered me from
the lion and the bear. He didn't claim any ability himself.
No, his confidence was in God and he desired to acknowledge
what God had done. And it's good in our lives If
when the Lord helps us, it may be in exams at school, it may
be in the workplace. When God helps us, it's good
to acknowledge it. The Lord that delivered me. There was this great problem.
Didn't know how to get out of it. Didn't know what to do. The
Lord delivered me. What a mercy that is. And he
therefore, because of that, he's able to come and say he will. Deliver me out of the hand of
the Philistine and the sorcerer David. Go and the Lord be with
thee. Amazing, isn't it? From an ungodly
king to make such a statement as that. Well, you know, you
know the result. David slung that stone and it
went into the forehead of Goliath and he fell down. David cut off
his head. It was a wonderful victory. It
was the work of Almighty God. He prevailed through God. It wasn't his skill, it wasn't
his ability, it was what God did. And it's good for us today,
in our lives, in a natural way and in a spiritual way, to acknowledge
It's God that delivers us. And they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee,
saith the Lord, to deliver thee. It's a great statement, isn't
it? What a mercy it is if you and
I can enter into the fullness of it and have a confidence in
our God. that whatever the pathway, whatever
the difficulty, whatever the trial, whatever the opposition,
whatever Satan puts in our path, to have this humble confidence,
like Jeremiah, but they shall not prevail against thee. For
I am with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver thee. And if that's
so, in our lives, surely we can come and say, thanks be unto
God. Amen.