Let us turn again to the Word
of God, to the chapters that we've read in the prophecy of
Jeremiah, and especially those words that you'll find in chapter
15 at verse 16. In Jeremiah chapter 15 and in
verse 16 where Jeremiah talks about the Word of God and what
it had been to him. 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. It's especially the first part
of this verse that has been on my mind to bring to you this
morning. Thy words were found, and I did eat them. And thy word
was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. Jeremiah had a very difficult
and disappointing life on the whole. His message was often
a message of great sadness. We call him the weeping prophet
because of the things that he saw and the things that he had
to prophesy about. And you see that very much in
the two chapters that we read. I don't know if it's the same
in your Bibles, but at the head of the page, when it summarises
the chapters here in my Bible, it summarises chapter 14 in this
way. It says, the utter rejection
of the Jews. The utter rejection of the Jews.
And that's a good summary, isn't it, of the things that we read
in chapter 14. God says to Jeremiah in verse
11, pray not for this people for their good. When they fast,
I will not hear their cry. And when they offer burnt offering
and an oblation, I will not accept them. They were a people who
had turned their backs upon the God of their fathers, and whilst
they were still worshipping to some extent in the traditional
way, and still offering, and still sacrificing, and still
fasting, God says there was a lie at the heart of it all, and their
worship was not real worship. And God says he will utterly
reject them, Of course, this book of Jeremiah is followed
by the book of Lamentations, which was written by the same
prophet. And that book of Lamentations,
as the name suggests, is perhaps the saddest book of the whole
Bible, and especially the last part of that book. At the end
of chapter five of that book of Lamentations, Jeremiah comes
with these words, Turn thou unto us, O Lord, and we shall be turned.
Renew our days as of old, but thou hast utterly rejected us.
Thou art very wrath against us. Jeremiah, he saw the anger and
the wrath of God against the sins of Judah. And he mourns
and he weeps over it. His life was Something of a rollercoaster,
wasn't it? If you think about the time that
he lived in, and you can read in the opening chapter of this
book of Jeremiah, that he began to prophesy during the reign
of that good King Josiah. If you look at chapter 1, verse
2, it says that the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the
13th year of the reign of Josiah. And if you turn back to the book
of Chronicles, the second book of Chronicles, chapter 34, really
the last three chapters of that second book of Chronicles, they
give us the whole history of Jeremiah and his prophecy. When he begins to prophesy during
the reign of Josiah, it was a time of great promise and a time of
great encouragement. And the things that he saw must
have been delightful to Jeremiah to see. You remember that good
King Josiah? He begins to reign as king when
he's only eight years old. He's a child, a young child,
after the death of his father Amon. And he reigns for 31 years. And we read of him that he walked
in the ways of David. King David, his ancestor, had
been a good king and Josiah followed in David's footsteps. And you
can read in that chapter some of the things that he did. In
the eighth year of his reign, so he would have been 16 then,
he began to seek after the God of David, his father. And in
the twelfth year of his reign, he would have been 20 then, he
began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places, all of
those idols. that had been put in Jerusalem
and around Judah, he begins to get rid of them. And he begins
to reform things in the land of Judah. Well, we read that
Jeremiah began to prophesy in the 13th year of that man. So he would have seen. He would
have seen Josiah doing some of these things. And no doubt he
would have been very encouraged by it. things were very dark in Judah
at that time. You get a hint of how dark they
were, because again, if you read in that chapter in 2 Chronicles
34, it says that in the 18th year of King Josiah's reign,
so he would have been 26 years old, he sends these men into
the house of God, the temple that Solomon had built, and they
take money and they begin to repair. that temple. It seems
the temple had been neglected and there were parts of it that
were beginning to look a bit worse for wear. And Josiah sends
this money so that the temple can be repaired. And you remember
what happened. As they're repairing the temple,
they find a book. And it's the book of the law
of the Lord given by Moses. Moses had received the law at
the hand of God, and it had been written down, and no doubt there
were copies made. But it seems things were so bad
in Judah that they had forgotten about the law of the Lord. And
when they find this book in the temple, it's almost as if they're
surprised by it. And the priest gives this book
that he's found to the servants of King Josiah. And the servants
of King Josiah take it back to Josiah and they read it before
the king. And when the king hears the words
of the law, he tears his clothes as a sign of grief. And he realises
that they have not kept the words of that book. That book had been
so much forgotten that when they find it, it's like it's a surprise,
isn't it? You can imagine a church. If
you heard of a church and they were doing some repair work and
they suddenly came across a Bible and said, well, we'd forgotten
all about this old book. It was almost as bad as that.
The Word of God had been put to one side and when they find
it, it's almost as if it's a surprise to them. Well, Jeremiah would
have seen that and he would have seen the things in the next chapter
back there in 2 Chronicles 35 when he, Josiah, he keeps a solemn
Passover, doesn't he? Having read the words of the
Law of Moses, he realises that they ought to keep the Passover,
and we read, don't we, that there was no Passover like to that
kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet. It was
such a momentous day. And again, Jeremiah would have
seen that, and no doubt he would have been encouraged by that.
And perhaps he thought, well, perhaps things are getting better. But then we have this great change,
don't we? In 2 Chronicles 35 verse 20,
the king of Egypt comes to fight with another nation. He's not
coming to fight with Josiah. But Josiah hears about his coming
and hears about his army. And for whatever reason, whether
he was right or wrong to do it, Josiah goes out to fight with
the king of Egypt. And the king of Egypt says to
him, I haven't come to fight with you. the king of Judah.
Don't meddle with me. I'm not fighting against you.
I've got no business fighting with you. Just let me pass and
don't get in my way. But Josiah, he, well, we read
he would not turn his face from him. And he goes to fight with
the king of Egypt. And what happens? Well, he's
shot by the archers. And they take him back to Jerusalem
in his chariot. And he died. And so suddenly,
all of that promise It's suddenly brought to an end, isn't it?
And Jeremiah would have lived to see that. In fact, we read
at the end of 2 Chronicles 35 that Jeremiah lamented for Josiah. And all the singing men and the
singing women spake of Josiah in their lamentations to this
day. Those lamentations that were
written by Jeremiah, it seems at least some of them were written
at that time, when Josiah is so suddenly snatched away from
them by death. And then what follows? Well, if you read the last chapter
in 2 Chronicles, you'll read about the kings that followed
Josiah. And there are a number of kings
described there in the last book of 2 Chronicles. And most of
them reigned for very short periods of time. And most of them were
bad kings. We read about Jehoahaz who was
the son of Josiah. He only reigned for three months.
And then he's taken away by the king of Egypt. And another son
of Josiah is made king in his place, a man called Eliakim. The king of Egypt puts him on
the throne and changes his name to Jehoiakim. And he reigns for
11 years. But then Nebuchadnezzar, the
king of Babylon, comes and carries him away to Babylon. And his
son Jehoiachin becomes king and he only reigns for three months
and ten days. And again he's a bad king and
King Nebuchadnezzar comes and attacks again and takes him to
Babylon. And another man called Zedekiah
is made king and he reigns for 11 years but at the end of his
reign, the king of the Chaldees comes again and the city is destroyed. And Jeremiah saw that. Again, if you read the opening
verses of his prophecy, he prophesied until the end of the 11th year
of Zedekiah. Well, it was at the end of the
11th year of Zedekiah that the city was destroyed. Jeremiah
was still alive then. He had seen those early days
of promise during the days of Josiah. He had seen things becoming
better and reformed, and no doubt he was encouraged by these things,
but then it so quickly comes to nothing. And so Jeremiah laments
over these things. And he sees, doesn't he? And
he has to prophesy of the way in which the king of Babylon
is going to come and take the nation into captivity. He writes about it in chapter
39. In the 11th year of Zedekiah, the city was broken up. And all
the princes of the king of Babylon came in. And the king of Zedekiah
is captured. They carry him to Babylon. They
put out his eyes and bind him with chains. They carry him to
Babylon and Jerusalem is destroyed. And, of course, you can read
how during the days of men like Ezra and Nehemiah, there are
those efforts made to rebuild the city. But Jeremiah, his life
is like a roller coaster, isn't it? There's this trajectory where
he seems to be on the upward and things seem to be getting
better. and then suddenly it all comes crashing down. Well,
when you think about the things that Jeremiah saw, no wonder
he's called the weeping prophet. Look at how he prays here in
chapter 14. He prays, doesn't he, that God
would come back and bless them again. He prays that God would heal
and restore. But the Lord gives him this terrible
answer at the beginning of this chapter 15. Look at what the
Lord says to him in the first verse of this chapter. He says,
though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could
not be toward this people. cast them out of my sight and
let them go forth. And some are going to die, some
are going to be killed by the sword, some are going to be killed
by the famine, some are going to be taken into captivity. And
Jeremiah's prayers, well, they seem to come to nothing, don't
they? His life was such a discouraging
life. Look at what he says about himself here at verse 10. Everyone
hates Jeremiah, don't they? Almost everyone is against him.
He says at the end of verse 10, every one of them doth curse
me. You can read about this later
on in this prophecy. You look at chapter 27. Jeremiah
is is speaking about the coming
captivity. That's chapter 29, how the priests,
they send this message to the king and they say to the king,
look, you need to do something about this man Jeremiah. He's
making everyone miserable with all his prophecies. Why haven't you done something
about him? Put him in prison. Put him in the stocks. He's saying that the captivity
is going to be long. Why haven't you reproved him?
Why haven't you done something about this man? And then again
later on in chapter 37, Jeremiah is there at the captivity
and the princes are angry with him and they put him in prison.
And you remember how he's there in the dungeon, and Ibed-Melech,
who seems to be one of his few friends, comes to draw him up
out of the prison. And then even later on in chapter
43, this is after the destruction of Jerusalem, and Jeremiah is
still there, and he's still prophesying to the people, he's still telling
them what they ought to do, but they're not listening. He's told them to stay in the
land and not to try and escape to Egypt. He says, if you flee
to Egypt, you won't escape the sword, it will follow you there. But the people he's speaking
to, look at what they reply. They say to Jeremiah, thou speakest
falsely. The Lord our God hath not sent
thee to say, go not into Egypt to sojourn there. But Barak,
the son of Neriah, setteth thee on against us." They say, Jeremiah,
we don't believe you. We don't trust you. They treat
him as their enemy and not as one who really was speaking the
truth. Well, it's not surprising, is it? Jeremiah wouldn't have
been surprised by it because God had warned him that that
would happen. Look at what he says to him right there in the
opening chapter. He says he's going to make him
speak against the kings of Judah, and against the princes of the
land, and against the priests thereof, and against the people
of the land, and they shall fight against thee, says the Lord.
He says to Jeremiah, you're going to have to prophesy to a people
who are not going to listen, and they're going to be your
enemies. What a hard life this man had. How did he ever carry
on well? The only way that he was able
to carry on was because of what the Lord says to him there in
chapter one. Be not afraid of their faces, says the Lord to
him, for I am with thee to deliver thee. I am with thee to deliver
thee. Be not dismayed at their faces.
God promises he's going to protect Jeremiah. He's going to strengthen
him, he's going to help him. That helped Jeremiah to continue. But there was something else
that helped Jeremiah to continue. And really that is what we read
about here in this verse. What's Jeremiah talking about
here in verse 16? Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my
heart. Well, he's talking about his own experience, isn't he?
He's talking about things that he had known and things that
he had felt. And God's word to him had been
a joyful word, a joyful word. This man Jeremiah, he was a man
of faith, wasn't he? He knew that the day was coming. when things
would be very different. And there's so much of the gospel,
isn't there, in this book of Jeremiah. I know it's a book
full of judgment and sadness and threatenings. But why is
God speaking like this to the children of Israel, to the people
of Judah? Why is God telling them about their sins and about
their backslidings? Why is God sending Jeremiah with
this message? He's sending Jeremiah with this
message because he has a desire for the good of this people. If you turn back to chapter three,
look what the Lord says through Jeremiah there in the opening
verse. He says, the people of Judah have been like a wife who
has gone off and committed adultery with another man. And the Lord
says, if a man put away his wife and she go from him and become
another man, shall he return unto her again? Shall not that
land be greatly polluted? But thou hast played the harlot
with many lovers, yet return again to me, saith the Lord.
And this is the message of God through Jeremiah. It's not just
judgment, is it? But it's this, return again to
me. Again, look at verse 22 in that
third chapter. Return, ye backsliding children,
and I will heal your backslidings. Turn, O backsliding children,
saith the Lord, for I am married unto you, and I will take you
one of a city and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.
Jeremiah, he knows that there is good news to come. He knows
that the words he's speaking, they are words of grace, really. But what he says in chapter 23,
verse 5, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise
unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign and prosper.
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.
And this is his name whereby he shall be called, the Lord
our righteousness. Jeremiah, he knew something about
the coming of Christ, didn't he? He knew something about the
coming of the Messiah. He writes about him there in
chapter 23 and again in chapter 31. He says, the Lord hath redeemed
Jacob and ransomed him from the hand of him that was stronger
than he. This is gospel language, isn't it? These are gospel promises,
gospel words. Behold, the days come, saith
the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel
and with the house of Judah. And you're familiar with those
words I expect in chapter 31. It says, I'm going to put my
law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts. And
I will be their God and they shall be my people. And I will
forgive their iniquity. And I will remember their sin
no more. Jeremiah, he knew that there was a Messiah to come. a Christ who was going to come
as a redeemer. And that's what kept him going. That's what enabled him to continue
with this message, this sad message and this difficult pathway. God's
word was food and drink for him. It was his joy and his rejoicing
because it spoke to him of Christ. And it spoke to him of a great
hope that was to come. This is why he keeps speaking.
because he knows that the message that he's coming with is a message
of hope. He knows that the children of
Israel are going the wrong way. My people, says the Lord in chapter
2, have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain
of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can hold no water. Israel is constantly turning
their back upon the true God and upon the living waters. And
Jeremiah is constantly saying, look, it's over there. You're
going the wrong way. Turn around and repent. His message was a message of
hope and he longs for the good of his people. Well, we come
to these words then, and just three things from this 16th verse,
and I know sometimes it's helpful if they all start with the same
letter, I couldn't quite manage that, but three points. First of all, God's words were
found, and then they were eaten, and then they were delighted
in. So, F-E-D, fed. The next best thing, perhaps.
First of all, God's words were found, thy words were found,
and then Jeremiah says, I did eat them, And then he says, thy
word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. In other
words, he delighted in the word of God. Found eaten and delighted
in. Well, this word found, interesting,
isn't it? There's various ways to find
something. You think of all the different
situations where we might use the word found. Sometimes we're
looking for something for a long time, aren't we? We've lost something,
we've put it down somewhere, we're not sure where it was,
and we have to search. We have to go from room to room
and look in one place and then another place and perhaps it's
hours or days or maybe even weeks. And then suddenly we come across
it and we say, at last, I found it. Sometimes we find things like
that, but other times we almost come upon things by accident,
don't we? We're not looking for something particularly, but we're
just going about our business and then suddenly we come across
something that we didn't expect and we say, well, I just found
this. There's various different ways to find things and we see
that reflected, don't we, in the experience of different Christians. If you were to take all the Christians
in the world and sit down with them and say, well, how did you
find the Lord Jesus. How did you come to salvation?
Some of them it's after a long time of seeking. And perhaps
for many months or even years they know they're looking for
something but they can't seem to find it. Others it seems to
happen almost we might say by accident. And they're just confronted
with the truth of the Lord Jesus and with his gospel and it's
as if they come to faith in a very short time. There's this diversity of experience
amongst Christians. It's a very dangerous thing to
lay down rules and to say, well, this is how God always works. God loves diversity, doesn't
he? I don't mean in the modern sense of the word. But when you
look at nature, you see no two leaves are alike, no two flowers
are alike, no two snowflakes are alike. We know there's a
tremendous diversity in nature. And it's just the same in grace.
That's why sometimes it's a dangerous thing to read Christian biographies. It's a good thing to do, but
we have to be careful, don't we? Because we can sometimes
make other people's experiences a standard. And we read about
these people who have had remarkable experiences and we say, well,
I'm not sure I've ever had anything quite like that. And it can be
a dangerous thing. Thy words were found, says Jeremiah.
He doesn't say how he found them. And I say there's this difference,
this diversity in experience. When you look at the experiences
of different Christians, but they do have this one thing in
common, they all find. They all find. One way or another,
some very quickly, some after many years. But they all find. Of course, when you think of
what Jeremiah goes on to say, he talks about eating the words.
We'll see what he means in a moment perhaps, but to eat something
you have to find it. If you're going to eat something,
you have to first of all find it, don't you? You have to get
it. You have to have it in front of you. And all Christians, one way or
another, are brought to find the Lord Jesus. To find Him in
the Word. Martin Luther, when he spoke
about the Word of God, he said the Scriptures are like the manger
in which Christ lies. The manger in which Christ lies,
we come to the Word of God. What is it that we want to see?
What is it that we want to find? Who is it that we want to find
as we come to the Word of God? Well, we're looking for the Lord
Jesus, aren't we? And this is where he lies. This
is the manger in which he lies. There's this finding. That's
the first thing. And if you look through the Old
Testament and the New Testament, This theme of finding and seeking
is a very common theme, isn't it? It was the promise of God
to the Jews in Deuteronomy. If from thence thou shalt seek
the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him. Thou shalt find him. Later on in this same book, in
chapter 29, what does the Lord say? Ye shall seek me and find
me when ye shall search for me with all your heart. And of course you can think of
the well-known words of the Lord Jesus. He spoke about finding,
didn't he? And he spoke about seeking. And
he says to his disciples, seek and ye shall find. Ask and it
shall be given you. Seek and ye shall find. Knock
and it shall be opened unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth.
And he that seeketh findeth. In other words, Jesus says, there's
no one that seeks who doesn't find. It's a universal rule. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall
be opened. His theme of seeking and finding is throughout the
whole Bible. My words were found. Well, have
you found the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ? Jeremiah found
him, didn't he? He found him in the Word of God,
in the prophecies that he spoke. And as you read through the experiences
of Christians down through the ages, as I say, you'll find a
lot of difference in how they found him. But if they're Christians,
one thing is certain, they have found him. We sang about it in our opening
hymn, didn't we? In vain the trembling conscience
seeks some solid ground to rest upon. With long despair, the
spirit breaks, till made to rest on Christ alone. On Christ alone. The hymn writer, he's found the
Lord Jesus, the Word. He is the Word of God, isn't
he? The Word made flesh. Have you found him? Are you seeking
him? You may say, well, I've been
seeking for a long time. I'm not sure I have found him. You
need to be careful that it is him that you're seeking. Very
easy to seek something which you think is Him, but perhaps
actually you're seeking a certain religious experience. Perhaps
you've read someone's experience and unconsciously what you're
really seeking is an experience like theirs. You don't need an
experience like theirs. You need to find the Christ that
they found. But you may not find Him in the same way. Are you
seeking him? Thy words were found, that's
the first thing, but then come on to the second point. Jeremiah
didn't just find the word, but he ate it. Of course, he doesn't
mean literally. We use that kind of expression
today, don't we? We're hearing some good news and we might say
to someone, well, I sat there and I just drank it in. We hear
some message and it's a message of joy and it's as if we're eating
it. This is the kind of thing that Jeremiah means. I did eat
them. There was not only a finding
of the word. It's good to find food, isn't
it, if you're hungry. But finding it is of no use if
you don't eat it. And it's good to find the Lord
Jesus in the Bible. But finding him is no good unless
there's a resting upon him, a feeding upon him. What did the apostle
Peter say? and he spoke about the sincere
milk of the word. He says, well, it's there so
that you may grow thereby. As newborn babes, he says, desire
the sincere milk of the word. Well, what do you give milk to
a baby for? It's to help them grow, isn't it? You don't just
show them the milk. You don't just say, well, look,
here's the milk, baby. You can stop crying now. They need to eat
it. They need to drink it. No point
seeing it. If they're not able to drink
it, there has to be digestion. I did eat them. This is common language, isn't
it? The Lord Jesus says, he talks about eating his flesh, drinking
his blood, doesn't he? He doesn't mean literally. He's talking about faith. It's
very good language in Hymn 236. The hymn writer says, to see
good bread and wine is not to eat and drink. We know that,
don't we? We can see good food, but if
we don't eat it, it doesn't do us any good. And he says, some
who hear the Word Divine do not believe, but think. They don't
believe, they only think. They look at the Word, but they
don't eat the Word. They look at Christ, but they don't feed
upon Christ. They look at the Lord Jesus, but they don't believe
in Him. But this man Jeremiah, he not only found Him, but he
ate Him. Again, the Lord Jesus said, didn't
he, after the feeding of the 5,000, it's no coincidence that
it's in the same chapter as that miracle. I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. And there are wonderful whosoever's
in that chapter, aren't they? Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life. And I will raise him up at the
last day. My words were found and I did eat them. This man
was a man of faith. Have you received the Lord Jesus? Not only found Him, but believed
into Him. Not only found Him, but in that
spiritual sense, eaten of Him. Eaten of Him. The hymn writer
could say, if asked, what of Jesus I think, I say, he's my
meat and my drink. My meat and my drink. And then we come on to the third
thing. He not only finds him, he not only eats, but there's
joy and there's rejoicing, isn't there? Thy word was unto me the
joy and rejoicing of my heart. You read through that hymn. It's
hymn 1149 in this book. John Newton is talking about
his attitude towards the Lord Jesus. You read that last verse. He says, if asked what of Jesus
I think, though still my best thoughts are but poor, I say
he's my meat and my drink, my life and my strength and my store.
my shepherd, my husband, my friend, my saviour from sin and from
thrall, my hope from beginning to end, my portion, my Lord and
my all. Something similar in John Newton
to what there is here in Jeremiah. Thy word was unto me the joy
and rejoicing of my heart, the Lord Jesus, the word made flesh. Well, Jeremiah, as he eats, he
rejoices. And notice it's his heart the
joy and rejoicing of mine heart. He's got something inside him.
He's got a joy that's deep within him. There's another hymn, isn't there,
that talks about something secret that sweetens all. That's the
kind of thing that Jeremiah is talking about. We call him the
weeping prophet. And I'm sure sometimes when you
would have looked at this man, you would have seen his face
covered with tears. But he finds the word of God
to be the joy and rejoicing of his heart. The joy and rejoicing
of his heart. Thy words were found and I did
eat them. And thy word was unto me the
joy and the rejoicing of my heart. Yes, the weeping prophet. He's
not unaffected by what he sees around him. It's not that he
doesn't care about what's happening in Jerusalem. And the Christian
knows this joy. That doesn't mean they don't
feel sorrow. It doesn't mean they don't care
about what other people are suffering or going through. But in the midst of it all, Jeremiah
knows that in the word of God there is a gospel. There is good
news. There is a hope there. There
is a Christ that is spoken of. A salvation which is set before
him. Good news in the Word of God.
Is it the Word of God that brings you this joy and rejoicing? When you're cast down perhaps
by some particular sin or something else that's troubling you, do
you find that coming to the Word of God? It's joy and rejoicing. We sometimes
sing that hymn which speaks about the Gospel as a message of peace. And the hymn writer says, through
various scenes of distress, perplexed with sin, guilt and fear, this
glorious message of grace has frequently yielded good cheer. Well, that was Jeremiah's experience,
wasn't it, in a nutshell. Various scenes of distress and
fear and difficulty. But he can still say things like
this. Thy words were found and I did eat them. And thy word
was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart. If that was true
of Jeremiah, and as much of Christ in his prophecy isn't there,
but it's nothing compared to what there is in the Bibles that
we can read. What a delight there is there.
Have you found him? Have you eaten? Can you say,
thy word was unto me, the joy and rejoicing of mine heart? This is the kind of thing that
the psalmist talks about, doesn't he? When he says in Psalm 37, delight
thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires
of thine heart. It's the kind of thing that Jeremiah is talking
about. Delight thyself also in the Lord.
Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart. And
this is the mark of the Christian, isn't it? You say to me, am I a Christian? I want to know. I want to be
sure. Well, look at the symptoms. When Paul wrote to the Thessalonians,
He could say, couldn't he, that he knew that they were real Christians. He knew that they were amongst
the people of God. How did he know? Well, he says,
our gospel came not unto you in word only. It wasn't just
that they saw Christ in the word. It wasn't just that they found
him in that sense, but there was this eating. Our gospel came
not unto you in word only, but also in power. and in the Holy
Ghost and in much assurance. And ye became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the Word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost." This is Jeremiah's experience, isn't
it? In summary, he'd received the Word in much affliction.
His life was a life of affliction. He was counted as an enemy by
so many of those that he prophesied to. Every one of them doth curse
me. He lived in a time of great difficulty,
of disappointment, of sorrow. But just like those Christians
in Thessalonica, he had received the Word in much affliction with
joy of the Holy Ghost. He had found Christ in the Word. This is the manger, said Martin
Luther, in which Christ lies. Have you found Him there? The joy and rejoicing of my heart,
how the psalmist We just close with these words from Psalm 119.
Psalm 119, verse 10, the psalmist, he comes to this, doesn't he? He can speak of the word of God
as his delight. He can say as he does in so many
of the psalms. He speaks of the word in this
way, more to be desired. than gold, yea, than much fine
gold, sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. The commandment
of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. The statutes of the
Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. The judgments of the Lord
are true and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than
gold, yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and the
honeycomb. Thy words were found Can you
come alongside Jeremiah here and say with him, the word of
God, I found it. The Lord Jesus, I found him.
And I did eat them. There was a receiving of him.
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. Well, may
God bless his word to us in this same way and feed our souls with
it as he fed Jeremiah. We're going to sing as our closing
hymn, hymn number 459.