I please almighty God to bless
us together this morning as we consider his word. Let's turn
to the prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter 15, and reading verses
15 and 16. The prophecy of Jeremiah, chapter
15, and reading verses 15 and 16. 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. 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. So here we have a prayer of the
prophet Jeremiah. And we should be thankful that
we have many prayers recorded in the word of God by the saints
of God, which describe to us how they prayed and for what
they prayed. And as we are blessed to read
the word of God, to be encouraged that as we read such prayers,
we find an echo in our own heart, that we can go along with the
words which we read and acknowledge, well, that is really just how
I feel. and how I want to pray and how
I do pray and the result surely will be to know that we have
before us in the word of God those who have gone before and
it's been recorded their prayers for our encouragement. Well we
have really such a prayer before us this morning and the the prophet
he commences by addressing God O Lord And it's very clear that
he addressed Almighty God in this way, believing that he was
the Almighty God. He was the God that would hear
and answer prayer. He wasn't a God that was just
an idol of wood or stone or some other material which had no ability
to answer. But here was Jeremiah coming
to Almighty God with that living faith, believing that he was
addressing that one who heard, and that one who would answer
his prayer. And therefore he came in faith,
believing the truth of that, and praying earnestly that such
prayers might be answered. And so when we come to God, we
must always come in that right way, in, I might say, a very
true way, a very serious way. Prayer is a very serious thing. It's not just a mere form of
gabbling through a few words to justify or to try and pacify
our conscience. True prayer is that communion
between our souls and Almighty God. And let us realize how great
God is and how small we are to give us some understanding of
who we are approaching and therefore come down and come in this way,
and as it were, bow down, and come and say, O Lord, O Lord. Now, the Prophet says, Thou knowest. You might think, well, that's
a strange statement to make. Well, it's a very real statement,
because we should be really thankful that we have a God who knows
everything about us. He knows the path we're walking
in. He knows what is before us. He
knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning.
Isn't that a wonderful comfort? Isn't that a consolation? Isn't
it a glorious truth? To be able to come and say, O
Lord, Thou knowest. God knows everything. We're not
coming to a little God. We're coming to the great God.
The God that created the earth. The God that created you and
me. The God who has ordained our life. The God who has prepared
our life, prepared everything for us, thou knowest. And therefore, when we come into
times of difficulty, which we will, and times of trial, which
we will, and times of temptation, which we will, and times of opposition,
which we will, and times of affliction, which we will, to come and say,
Thou knowest. The Lord knows the reason for
these things. We don't. We'd like to know,
don't we? Sometimes the Lord does reveal
it to us. Sometimes he doesn't. But nonetheless, we should have
that confidence and belief that the Lord knows all about us. And he leads us in that right
way and that good way. Now, if we are amongst the children
of God, the Lord is leading us and directing us through this
world to bring us at last to that glorious abode in heaven. And the Lord knows. He knows
the way that we take. Nothing is unknown to our God. He knows the things that you
and I need. not the things that we think we need. It's a big
difference there. But He knows the things that
we need. He knows. And it's good to confess
this and to acknowledge the greatness of God, O Lord, Thou knowest. It's a comfort, is it not, in
times of difficulty and distress, to be able to come and say, Lord,
Thou knowest. I'm perplexed. I don't understand
the situation which has entered into my life, but thou knowest."
Now what does that mean? It really means this, that we
are committing our way unto the Lord. And the Word of God encourages
us, doesn't it? Commit thy way unto the Lord,
to come out unto his mighty hand. This is a great God. The great
God has a great hand. to control us, to encourage us,
to take hold of us. Remembering, and this is a good
consolation, remembering that you and I are not our own. We
tend to think sometimes, especially when we're younger, that we can
organise our life, that we set our plans out, what's going to
happen. But you see, the Lord has ordained
that right way for us. You're not your own. We need
to acknowledge it. We need to realise it. We need
to be blessed with the right understanding that no, why are
we not our own? What's the reason? The Word of
God tells us. Because we are bought with a
price. And that price, the price of
blood. The price of our salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ gave his
life that we might have life. That's the price. We're bought
with a price. And if the blessed Lord has given
himself for us in that great sacrifice of his
wonderful sin atoning death, I think therefore, yes, it should
be realised and we should acknowledge it and we should desire to walk
in it and to say, yes, I'm not my own. I can't go my own way. It's easier to plan our way. I think that would be a good
place there. That would be a good place there.
My friends, are we going in the Lord's way? Let's ask the question.
Israel, when did they move? When did they move? when the
cloud moved. A pit of cloud by day and a pit
of fire by night. They didn't just think, well,
I think I'll go off here and I'll go off there. When the cloud
moved they went. Otherwise they stayed still.
Lord thou knowest my path. We should be very aware to only
hear God's voice and God's word. You know, the Word of God speaks
to us, and I've mentioned it very often, and it's a very solemn
statement in Proverbs, and it occurs twice. I think it's in
the 14th and 18th chapters. There is a way that seemeth right
unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. And we
need to ponder that, consider it, ponder the path of our feet. Are we walking in God's way or
are we walking in our way? And there's a very big difference.
But to be able to come and say, like Jeremiah, O Lord, thou knowest. And that means, therefore, to
commit our way unto the Lord, however difficult it may seem,
however opposite to our nature, but to come like this and say,
O Lord, thou knowest. It's submitting ourselves unto
our God. My friends, we are as nothing.
And God is so great and powerful. And we want to have that will
to submit ourselves to the Lord's will. It's a very safe place. It's a very blessed place. And
it's a very humbling place to realize that Almighty God is
looking upon us and with us. Oh Lord, thou knowest. Well, that was his first consideration. And then he says, remember me. Remember me, personally. And our religion needs to come
down to this personal level, so that we come before this great
almighty God we bow down, and it may be we're trembling because
of his greatness and our smallness, we come in this way and we desire
that this great God will have compassion on us, compassion
upon me, look upon me and remember me. That was the great cry, wasn't
it, of that thief upon the cross, you know, just before he was
about to pass out of time into eternity. He said, Lord, remember
me when thou comest into thy kingdom. That was a real prayer,
wasn't it? Did the Lord turn a deaf ear?
Did he ignore the prayer? This day, shall thou be with
me in paradise? My friends, God hears and God
answers the prayers of his people. Here we have Jeremiah, and Jeremiah
needed this prayer, and he needed to pray this prayer, and he needed
this prayer to be answered. Remember me, Jeremiah had a really
tough life, didn't he? If you think your life's tough,
and we may do sometimes, we may think it's difficult, and it's
a lot of opposition. Well, just you read Jeremiah,
and you'll realize then that Jeremiah had a very difficult
and hard life. And, and this may not be true
with us, and Jeremiah was obeying the voice of the Lord. He was walking in that way that
God directed him in. And he was a willing servant. He didn't say, I'm not going
to do that. He obeyed the word of the Lord. And the word that
God gave him to preach sometimes was a very hard word. It was
a very dividing word, a very separating word. And it wasn't
a pleasant word and the people didn't like it. Jeremiah was
imprisoned and put in a dungeon, outcast for being faithful. And therefore we can understand,
can we not, such a statement as this, as he comes and says,
remember me. He wanted God to remember him. Well, I wonder whether we pray
that prayer. Have you ever prayed that prayer?
Have you ever come before God and said, Lord, remember me. I don't want to be passed by. I don't want to be forgotten. I don't want to be ignored. I
want God to remember me. And if he remembers us, it will
be that he looks upon us. and answers us. He did, didn't
he? That dying thief, he didn't ignore him. He gave him the most
blessed and glorious answer. Yes, there was that fulfilment
of that promise and he did of course come and he did of course
go and enter into paradise with the Saviour. What an amazing
change, wasn't there? In the life of that man in just
a few hours from being an atheist from being in opposition to God,
from cursing and swearing, the Spirit of God moved his heart
and convinced him of his condition. As he said to his fellow colleague,
we indeed justly because we receive the reward of our sins. But this
man hath done nothing amiss. It was a wonderful revelation. Now, my friends, it would be
a great blessing if God remembers us and blesses us with a similar
revelation which shows to us our condition before a holy God
and the beauty and the pureness and the wonder of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Remember me. says Jeremiah, well
this morning, do we pray that? Are we concerned that God should
remember us? Remember personally, remember
me. Do you pray that? Have you prayed
it? It's a good prayer. It's a prayer of God's servant,
Jeremiah. And it was heard and it was answered. Oh Lord, thou knowest, remember
me. And then you see, again, he didn't
want to be left alone. He didn't want to be ignored. And he said, therefore, in a
very direct way, visit me. Visit me. Again, we can perhaps
ask ourselves the questions, have we been visited by the Lord? Has the Lord visited your soul? Zacchaeus in his life. Did the
Lord visit him? The Lord came, didn't he? Just
where Zacchaeus was, up in that sycamore tree. God knew Zacchaeus
was there. And God knows where you and I
are. He knows where we live. He knows the road and the number
of the house and everything. He knows exactly where we live. And it's a wonderful thing. If,
like it was in the life of Zacchaeus, the Lord came where he was, he
looked up, there was Zacchaeus. Did he ignore him? He said, make
haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. What a wonderful visit that was,
wasn't it? What a blessing it was for Zacchaeus. What a blessing it is for you
and me, my friends. The Lord comes and visits us and looks
where we are. And Zacchaeus climbed up the
tree to get a good view. He wanted to see what Jesus was,
who he was. My friends, that day was a wonderful
day. It was a day that salvation had
come to his house. Oh, says Jeremiah, O Lord, visit
me. Word, he visited Zacchaeus. My friends, has the Lord visited
you and me? Has he come where we are? Has
he met with us? Has he directed his words to
our hearts, to our soul? Zacchaeus was in no doubt, was
it? The Lord was addressing him. There were no doubt many people
around, but the Lord came and addressed Zacchaeus. And my friends,
it's a wonderful thing when the Lord comes and addresses you
and me directly. The word of the Lord comes into
our heart and it has a real effect. Zacchaeus didn't ignore it, did
he? He came down, he made haste. My friends, that will be the
same effect when the Lord does really speak to our hearts. When
he visits us, it has an effect upon us. We don't just ignore
it, we don't cast it aside, because it's the Word of God. When the
Lord comes and visits, My friends, we're so small and insignificant,
we cannot ignore a visit from the Lord. And we would not want
to ignore a visit from the Lord, even perhaps if that visit may
cut across our life. I'm sure Zacchaeus' life was
never the same again. My friends, our lives are never
the same again when the Lord comes and visits us. But it's
a wonderful blessing to be able to come and be concerned the
Lord will come and visit. So we might say, well, I need
another visit. Yes, we do. We need the Lord
to visit us again and again. Why? Because we need the word
of the Lord to be confirmed in our hearts. We need to have the
confirmation that we are one of God's children. We can't just
wander aimlessly, hoping for the best. When the Spirit of
God works in our hearts, it will produce that prayer, that cry,
Oh Lord, visit me. I need a visit from the Lord. Is that true this morning? Do you need a visit from the
Lord? Or are you so enveloped with
the poor old world, you don't care about it? It's of no importance
to you. What it was to Jeremiah, And
my friends, it is the Church of God. It may not always be
with that urgency, but bless God if it is. As Jeremiah came
and said, Lord, O Lord, visit me. Because when the Lord visits
us, something is done. And we won't say, well, I don't
think I knew anything. When the Lord visits us, we will
know. because there will be effect
in our lives. The Lord has come and visited
us and it will be for our soul's eternal good. What a blessing
that is to think that we have a God who comes and visits us
and does that for us that we can't do for ourselves and meets
our needs and instructs us and directs us It's a visit from
the Lord. Oh Lord, visit me. Well, this, my friends, is the
prayer of a child of God. My friends, if you and I are
true believers, we will desire the Lord will come and visit
us. It may be like this. The Lord
will reveal himself unto us, as he does not unto the world.
And what is that? That revelation is to show that
he is our all-glorious Saviour, the only one that can redeem
our souls from hell, the only one whose blood atones for our
sins. Now then, a visit from the Lord
to direct us to these truths will be wonderful, and it will
do us good, and it will establish us, and we'll be thankful to
know That we have a God who hears our prayers and answers our prayers. Lord, oh Lord, visit me. The Lord has visited us and revealed
himself unto us as he does not unto the world. What a humbling
view that is. What a humbling situation to
consider this almighty God who made all things is so gracious
and kind to condescend, to come to us where we are. and to show
us himself. You know Thomas, unbelieving
Thomas, he said he wouldn't believe unless he could put his fingers
into the holes of the nails in his hands and thrust his hand
into the side. He wasn't going to believe. But
you see when the Lord came and spoke to Thomas, He didn't go
through with what he said he would. He just bowed down and
he said, my Lord and my God. What was that? The blessed work
of the Holy Spirit convincing him of the truth that this one
was the Lord Jesus Christ, his Saviour. That's why he said,
my Lord and my God. What a blessing it is. when the
Holy Spirit of God brings us to that position, as he visits
our soul and we bow down before the majesty of God, acknowledging
that he is the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, and to
be concerned that we may be a willing servant to do his will and to
follow him. O Lord thou knowest, remember
me and visit me, And then he says, and revenge me of my persecutors. There were many that persecuted
poor old Jeremiah, weren't there? Yes, he was dealt with very unjustly. And you and I may be dealt with
sometimes unjustly. We should expect really to be
dealt with unjustly, shouldn't we? And that's not a very comfortable
thing. to pass through when you and
I are not dealt with justly, but dealt with unjustly. And
we may be tempted to try and put things right ourselves. We
may be tempted to try and revenge ourselves. Well, Jeremiah, he
didn't do that. We're told, vengeance belongeth
unto me. I will replace the Lord. What
does that mean? It means this. The safe place
is to commit our way unto the Lord. Jeremiah didn't get up
and go around and try and avenge himself. He committed himself
to his God. And revenge me of my persecutors. The Lord can revenge. The Lord
can turn the tables. The Lord can do that which you
and I can't do. What a blessing it is then to
have, as Jeremiah did here, a confidence in his God. I wonder this morning if you
and I can concur, can agree, that we do have a humble confidence
in our God. And it may be like this. He that hath begun a good work
in us will accomplish it in the day of Jesus Christ. See that
is a resting in the work of God. That's a confidence this Lord
will hear and will answer our prayers. And indeed he, as Jeremiah
says here, and revenge me of my persecutors. The word of God
gives us wonderful direction and instruction. Now you see,
in a situation like this, what we learn is, if we try and take
revenge ourselves, and we think it's successful, we'd claim the
glory, wouldn't we? We think, well, we did that rather
well. And we made that person very
embarrassed or very ashamed. And it was all our doings. Well,
you see, when we commit it to the Lord, the Lord gets the honor
and glory because we don't have anything to do. God does it all. And it's a wonderful thing then
to be able to come with that humble confidence in our God,
to pray that he will undertake for us. Jeremiah says, and revenge
me of my persecutors. And of course, we know that the
Lord did. The Lord did hear Jeremiah's prayer. And so many occasions,
so many answers, wonderful deliverances Jeremiah had. But he did have
to face opposition. He did have to endure trouble.
He did have to endure persecution. It wasn't an easy ride for him.
But my friends, his confidence was in God. and revenge me of my persecutors."
Remember he's saying, O Lord. He's the one he's going to. He's
the one he's praying to. O Lord, revenge me of my persecutors
and take me not away in thy long-suffering. Yes, he wanted the Lord to be
with him and to go with him. Take me not away in thy long-suffering. No, for thy sake I have suffered
rebuke. for the Lord's sake. It's a great
blessing when you and I are favoured to suffer for the Lord's sake. And if you and I suffer for the
Lord's sake, we can believe that the Lord is with us. When we're
suffering for his sake, it's therefore to bring to him honour
and glory. And it's not easy. but there's
a great comfort in it. And that comfort is to know that
we're doing the Lord's will. It's a very comfortable place
to know that God is with us and he's given us grace to do his
will. The Word of God tells us, the
rebellious dwell in a dry land. And if you walk contrary to God,
He will walk contrary to you. You see, we don't deal with a
little God. We deal with a great God, a God who we cannot take
as one of us. He is high and lifted up. And therefore we are to walk
in this way. And as the Lord causes us to
suffer for his sake, we should count it a privilege and a blessing. And if we suffer for his sake,
it is a sign of sonship, of being a son or a daughter of the Most
High God. And remember, if we suffer with
him, we should also reign with him. So let us be encouraged,
therefore, in our spiritual life, as Jeremiah prays like this, Know that for thy sake I have
suffered rebuke. Yes, we sometimes suffer rebuke
for the Lord's sake. And it's to react in a right
way. The Word of God, you see, directs us so clearly in a way
that you and I should respond. And usually it's in opposition
to our nature. See, our nature goes in a very
different direction. because we want to claim the
glory ourselves. God's way is to give him the
glory. Know that for thy sake I have
suffered rebuke. And so here we have these words,
this prayer of Jeremiah. And then he comes on and he speaks
to us and he tells us, 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. Jeremiah found the words of the
Lord. Today, my friends, do we find
the words of the Lord and the word of the Lord in his word. As we might be in a difficult
situation, much opposition to find the words of the Lord, which
the Lord directs to our heart, directs to encourage us, to strengthen
us, to uphold us, to direct us to the path we're walking in,
and the path we are to walk in, and to show us in that path. We're not alone. We're walking
with the Lord Jesus Christ. So the prophet says, Thy words
were found. Well, in our lives, have we found
God's word? Have we found the word of God
so appropriate to our situation, so suitable to our need? It meets
our case. It comes where we are. It's that
which we have prayed for. And the Lord is visiting us through
His Word. His Word is speaking to our soul. It's directing us. Yes, thy words
were found. They were there. Perhaps we had
to search for them. We found them. God directed us
to them. In all labour there is profit.
Sometimes we have to search the Word of God for His Word, to
speak to our hearts. Search the Word of God. Thy words
were found. Do we search the Word of God? In our times of need, in our
times of direction, do we search the Word of God? And then can
we say, as Jeremiah did, Thy words were found. Did he cast
them aside? Do you think they were a little
worth? Not at all. He said, and I did eat them. He fed upon them. They fed his soul. They encouraged
him. They were a strength to him.
That's what he needed. It's wonderful when God's word,
we find it, and it's so suitable, and we feed upon it. It strengthens
us. Naturally, when we have food,
We're strengthened. We don't have any food, we become
weak. So it is spiritually. When the Word of God, when we
don't have it, there's no food. We become weak. When we receive
the Word of God, it puts strength into us. We rejoice in it. We're
encouraged by it. We feed upon it. Well, do you
know what it is? To feed upon the Word of God? Do you know what it is to feed
upon God's Word? It's true and it's soul strengthening. The Lord has given us His Word.
Blessed be God. Is it our real concern that it
feeds us? And it feeds us, you know, as
we are directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. All the Word of God directs
us to the Lord Jesus Christ. My friends, we need to find the
Saviour. As we read the Word of God, And
to find with the Saviour that union with Him. So that He comes
into our hearts and we rejoice in that union and that communion. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And what an effect it had. And
Thy word, remember, God's word, not man's word. Don't listen
to man, God's word, thy word, thy word is truth, thy word was
unto me. The joy and rejoicing of mine
heart. What a truth that is. Can we
look back in our lives and say yes, oh how I did rejoice and
joy in the word of God because it was so appropriate and so
suitable to me and it led me to the Lord Jesus Christ and
I bless God for it. This word, thy word, God's word,
was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart." Well, it's a
good thing to have a testimony, to have a spiritual evidence
in our lives that the word of God became alive. It wasn't a
dead word, it became alive and it spoke to our hearts and because
of that we rejoiced. in it. You see here he says,
the joy and rejoicing of my heart. His innermost being, it didn't
just penetrate into his mind, it went down into his heart,
it fed his soul, it strengthened him and encouraged him. And that's
what the Word of God does to the Church of God. It is strengthening
and encouraging and it's the joy and rejoicing of our heart. Well, my friends, I hope we know
what it is to rejoice in the Word of God, to joy in His Word. It comes to us, it speaks to
us, and we know it's His Word. Yes, well, as Jeremiah says,
thy words were found, It didn't just disappear, it had an effect. He fed upon them and it was unto
him the joy and rejoicing of his heart. And what did it prove
to him? For I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. It's the evidence that God is
dealing with our souls. The sons and daughters of the
Most High God. The wonderful evidence. For I
am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. The child of God.
One of the Lord's chosen ones. The evidence of it brought about
by this experience. As God gave Jeremiah the prayer,
as God answered that prayer, and enabled him to find the words
which were so suitable for him, that fed him and strengthened
him. And he was able to rejoice in
it and the evidence was to him that he indeed was called by
thy name, a child of God. Oh, my friends, a child of the
Most High. Yes, adopted into the family
of God, eternally safe. Eternity our home, the Church
of God, our best friends, and there to be with our Saviour
in glory forever and ever. Yes, for I am called by thy name. Now we do need to have the evidence
in our hearts as Jeremiah had. He was able to declare this great
truth, for I am called by thy name. He had the positive evidence
by the experience that God had given to him that his soul was
alive and that he was a living child of God. And he was able
to come and acknowledge it in this way and be able to testify,
I am called by thy name. God had called him. He'd called
him in the darkness into the marvellous light of the everlasting
gospel, called by his name. My friends, have we the evidence
today that God has come and God has called us by thy name and
that he finally says, O Lord God of hosts. Clearly he was
here worshipping almighty God and able to declare him to be
O Lord God of Hosts, the Almighty God, the Ruler of the Universe. And my friends, the effect will
be the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts will to confirm
to us that He is the God. Indeed, like that occasion in
Elijah's day when the fire came down and and destroyed or burnt
up with the sacrifice and the stones and all the water. And
what did all the people say? He is the God. He is the God. My friends, when the Lord comes
and blesses you and me with these positive evidences, and be very
clear, the Christian experience is a positive one. It's not a
vacuum. It's not an empty one. Something
must be known and felt. It is the work of the Spirit
of God, and it's blessed to know that work in our own souls, that's
able to come and confirm with the prophet here, for I am called
by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Amen.