May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the prophecy of
Jeremiah in chapter 15 and we'll read verse 16. The prophecy of Jeremiah chapter
15 and reading verse 16. Thy words were found and I did
eat them And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine
heart. For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. Jeremiah was a prophet of God. Jeremiah was called at a difficult
time in the history of Israel to prophesy unpalatable truths
to them. And yet he was faithful in those
things that he spoke, notwithstanding how much opposition there was
and how he physically had to endure such things as being cast
into dungeon which was a really basically a big hole in the ground
and we know that in one case there was water and sludge and
slime in the bottom and he had a very difficult time but it's
wonderful therefore to be able to read a verse like this where
we see God blessed him and he was rejoicing indeed in what
God had done for him. And so we read, he says, thy
words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me
the joy and rejoicing of my heart. For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. One thing is clear, that Jeremiah
had been looking had been perhaps hunting for a word from God. What a good thing that is today.
In our lives, if we have a need of God to come and to speak to
us, we have a need and we seek that God will look upon us. We
may be searching, you may be praying, you may be crying, And
yet you see, perhaps it seems as though the Lord has not heard
or the Lord is not answering. Well, we must remember that very
often the Lord waits to be gracious. You see, the word tells us your
time is always, but my time is not yet. The Lord has a perfect
time, a good time, a right time, to bless us, a good time and
a right time to bless the Church of God and sometimes we become
a bit impatient. Well, we don't really read of
Jeremiah being impatient. Naturally, there would seem every
reason for him to be impatient. But now we are able to read such
a statement as this, thy words were found. Yes, he found them
the word of God which spoke to his heart and again it's very
relevant this the word spoke to his heart and it is our heart
our innermost being that we should desire receives the word of God
many things can perhaps attract our mind many things can we might
say tickle our fancy but you see the great blessing is when
the Word of God comes and touches our heart because then it is
that it does us real eternal good and we are dealing with
our eternal soul. We're not just dealing with a
natural body which will one day perish Although I know by God's
grace, if we are called by his name, it will be raised again
in the last day, incorruptible and undefiled. But nevertheless,
we do possess a body of sin and death. And therefore, how good
it is to read such words as this. Thy words were found. Now, not
only were they found, but they did him good. They were food
to his soul. That really is the vital, important
need that we have, is to find God's Word and that that Word
speaks to our soul And that word, therefore, feeds our soul. And that word comes and does
us good, as it did Jeremiah, when he was able to rejoice in
it. You see, he fed upon this word,
he fed upon it, and how necessary it is that you and I feed upon
the word of God, the truth of God, and more particularly, that
we feed upon none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And the Lord Jesus, he tells
us that very clearly when he was on the earth. And in the
sixth chapter of John we read, except we eat the flesh and drink
the blood of the Son of God, there is no life in us. And that means, spiritually,
we are to do just what Jeremiah did here. He rejoiced. He rejoiced in the Word of God. He rejoiced in the truth of God. What a mercy for us tonight.
If the Holy Spirit of God has directed us to the Lord Jesus
Christ, and the reality of the Lord Jesus Christ and the value
of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing of the Saviour's
life and the blessing of his death and the blessing of his
resurrection and the blessing of his intercession. All these
things are wonderful and true and they will be to the soul
that is spiritually alive, food and drink. So we will understand
something that Jeremiah understood on this occasion when he said
thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was unto
me joy and rejoicing. It's a good little test of the
reality of our religion. We have been seeking the Lord
and seeking the Lord because of our sinful condition, seeking
the Lord because we don't seem to be near the Lord. We don't seem to have understood
whether the Lord has indeed died for us or not. And we need the
application of his word to our souls. And we are in need and
our need gets greater. It doesn't disappear, sometimes
it gets less, but it will never disappear if you and I have a
real God-given need. And so what a mercy it is if
the Lord comes then and reveals himself to us as our Saviour. You know, we'll rejoice in that.
That'll be joy. It will indeed be really joy,
unspeakable. because it brings with it the
blessing of eternal blessings, because these things are there
forever. When God applies his word to
our hearts, it's because he has a favor toward us. It's because
we are indeed one of his children. It is indeed because He has a
work to do within us and that work is being worked out for
his honour and for his glory. Joy and rejoicing. What an evidence that is of the
life of God in our souls. This is not something which is
a frivolous joy. This is a solid joy because it
emanates from God himself. who has granted us this spiritual
food, and we rejoice then in all that Jesus Christ has done.
He won't then just be an historical figure. He will be an historical
figure, but also he will gloriously and wonderfully be that one who
has graciously and gloriously condescended to come into this
sinful world to save our souls, what a deliverance, what a blessing,
to be able to then look beyond the things of time, the things
which perish with the using, to that day when by His grace
we shall be found with the Saviour, with Him eternally, never to
part again. Thy words were found. And we found God's words. We
found God's words are so appropriate to our sinful condition. And we found the power of God's
words being applied to our heart. And if they are, the result will
be we will know we are a new creature. Because we have been
born again. by the Holy Spirit of God. This is really, of course, what
Jeremiah was speaking of as he comes to the end of this verse. He says, the joy and rejoicing
in mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord, God of hosts. He had the evidence that God
had called him by his name. He had the personal evidence.
It wasn't something which was just a figment of imagination. No, it was the blessed work of
the Holy Spirit within him, which had brought him to this position. Isaiah touches on this really
very beautifully in the first verse of the 43rd chapter of
Isaiah. And this is what he says. Isaiah
but now it's a good thing isn't it in our lives if we have a
but now but now but now thus saith the Lord that created thee
O Jacob and he that formed thee O Israel fear not for I have
redeemed thee I've called thee by thy name thou art mine there
was a personal word, an application by God to the position here when
he says he calls O Jacob, representing of course Israel. O Jacob and
he that formed thee, O Israel. It really has reference to the
whole church of God. And what a blessing tonight if
we have the evidence in our heart that the Lord has indeed called
us. There we were in darkness, in
the same condition in which we were born until the time came
when God, in his great mercy and love toward us, revealed
himself to us, called us, just like these words here. And he that Formly, O Israel,
fear not. You and I may have many fears
in our life, many fears perhaps. The Lord will not hear us when
we pray, when we pray, when we cry, when we call out to him,
a fear that he will pass us by. We may have fears, but you see
the word of God tells us very clearly, seek and ye shall find. nor can it shall be opened unto
you." We should not despair, we should not give up. It may
not be perhaps just when we want it and when we expect it, but
what we do know is that it will come because God has promised
and we're thankful we have the Word of God to confirm us in
these things. And so here we have this statement
to us tonight Fear not, for I have redeemed thee. And if we've been
redeemed, this word is true, I've called thee by thy name,
thou art mine. You know, in this same chapter
in Isaiah, he encourages Isaiah. What a mercy it is, because these
words are spoken, because they're spoken to Israel, the whole church
of God. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. For I am the Lord thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour. Now, the encouraging thing is
to recognize the Lord here, directs us to the truth that in this
life we will no doubt find opposition, persecution, tribulation, difficulty,
and that's why he speaks to us in such words and says, fear
not, when thou passest through them, we will pass through situations,
they will be varied, but there will be difficulties, there will
be trials. And it's in that situation to
be able to rejoice in this great and wonderful truth that the
Lord has redeemed us. He's paid the price to take away
all of our sins, not one remaining. He's blessed us with a wonderful
spirit of repentance. So we've come before God, repenting
of our sins, crying to him for mercy, He's looked upon us and
he's called us by our name and he's told us, thou art mine. Just the same really as we have
here in this statement addressed to us through Jeremiah. As the Lord spoke to him, know
that for thy sake, sorry, for I'm called by thy name, O Lord,
God of hosts, called to be a child of God. That surely is the wonderful
favour and the wonderful blessing. Isaiah is a very wonderful prophecy. Sometimes people refer to it
as the gospel of Isaiah, and how appropriate is such statement
as that but you know in another chapter in the 45th chapter of
Isaiah we read this in the in the fourth verse 45 Isaiah fourth
verse for Jacob my servant saved and Israel mine elect I've even
called thee by thy name I have surnamed me though thou hast
not known me I am the Lord and there is none else, there is
no God beside me, I girded thee, thou that hast not known me."
Those years, those days, those months in what we might term
our unregeneracy, unregeneracy, when we knew not the Lord, and
when we carried on in this sinful world, pleasing ourselves, trying
to find satisfaction in things of time. But then when the Lord
came, The Lord wonderfully called us like he did the Apostle Paul. The Apostle Paul tells us when
he wrote to the Galatians and in the first chapter of the Galatians,
he tells us again very beautifully, but when it pleased God, exactly
the same in our lives, but when it pleased God, who separated
me from my mother's womb and called me by his grace, called
us unmerited favor, just like Paul, to reveal his son to me. Revelation, you see. These things
are done by God. They're not something that you
and I can produce by avid learning. It's good to study the word of
God and it's good to have a natural understanding, but we need the
Holy Spirit to come in this way and to bless us with this revelation
of his Son, to reveal his Son to me. Have mercy for us tonight,
if the Lord has revealed himself to us. And you and I can say,
the Lord has revealed himself to me. Oh, bless God for that. And then we can understand, can
we not, what Jeremiah was saying when he said, I am called by
my name, O Lord God of hosts. And that gave him great cause
to joy and rejoice in this great and blessed work of God. Well,
if the Lord does these things for us, my friends, without any
doubt, you and I will joy and rejoice at the great and glorious
work of God. You know, Job knew the importance
of these things. Job had a hard life, didn't he?
If you read the book of Job, you'll know that Job had a difficult
life, but Job blessed him indeed. And through the difficulties,
he enabled him to testify and to say some glorious truths like,
I know that my Redeemer liveth. And in the 23rd, chapter of Job
and the twelfth verse, this is what we read. Neither have I
gone back from the commandments of his lips. I've esteemed the
words of his mouth more than my necessary food. I always think
it's very good to have this analogy brought before us. The analogy
of our natural food and the comparison with spiritual food. Natural
food we need for our natural body. Our natural body would
die and perish and it would have no need of any food. Our spiritual body, our spiritual
soul lives forever. We need spiritual food and God
therefore gives us that spiritual food like he did to Job, who
was able to say, I have esteemed the words of his mouth, the words
of the Lord. And God's people do hear God's
voice speaking to them. Sometimes, as we may be reading
the Bible, the Lord speaks to our hearts. And a word, a verse
perhaps, perhaps a passage, may speak to our hearts. we recognize
is the Lord speaking to us and revealing to us his wondrous
love for such unworthy sinners. And then we are shown, yea, I've
loved thee personally with everlasting love and therefore with loving
kindness have I drawn thee, drawn to the Saviour, drawn to pray
unto him, drawn to seek his face, We have to come, and we have
to say, it is all of grace. You know, the Psalmist David
well knew the blessing of the words of God. I've often referred
to the 119th Psalm, and I think it has word or words, something
about 40 times mentioned in that long chapter. And yet, one verse
perhaps stands out, the 103rd verse, the 119th psalm and this
is what it says how sweet are thy words unto my taste yea sweeter
than honey to my mouth gives a description the sweetness of
honey and the word of god is sweet to his soul again evidence
that god has called us when the word of god the truth of god
is sweet to our soul we rejoice in what the Lord Jesus Christ
has done. We go on our way rejoicing and we can be thankful that the
Lord has blessed us with his word, left it on record for our
encouragement and for the strengthening of our soul. The Lord Jesus himself,
when he prayed his father in that glorious high priestly prayer,
the 17th of John, he mentions the great truth of the word. And in the sixth verse of the
17th chapter of John, the Lord says, I have manifested thy name
unto the men, which thou gavest me out of the world. Thine they
were, and thou gavest them me. and they have kept thy word,
the word of God, the word which you and I rejoice to hear and
to meditate upon. The eighth verse tells us, For
I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they
have received them. The Lord gives us his words. We don't cavil at them. We don't
disagree with them. God gives us grace to receive
them. because they emanate from Almighty
God, and have known surely that I came out from thee, and they
have believed that thou didst send me." Yes, thy words, great
truth it is. As the prophet tells us, thy
words were found in Jesus said in that same high priestly prayer
in the 17th verse, thy word is. truth. Well, surely it is, and
it's a great blessing tonight, if you and I can rejoice in it,
just like Jeremiah, just like the saints of God. The Word of
God is the joy and rejoicing of my heart. It does us good. It does us eternal good. It's
that joy and rejoicing, which is not a time, it's a spiritual
blessing, and it leads us and draws us to the Saviour Himself
and to that which He has gone to repair for us in glory, so
that one day by His grace we shall be found with Him forever
and ever, praising Him, praising God, from whom all blessings
flow. Amen.