Our text this morning is found
in the chapter that we read, the book of the Prophet Jeremiah
chapter 15 and the 16th verse. Jeremiah 15 and verse 16, My
words were found, and I did eat them, and My word was unto Me,
the joy and rejoicing of Mine heart. For I am called by thy
name, O Lord God of hosts. The theme then that we have set
before us is that of feeding upon the words of God. God's words has a very prominent
place in all worship. We do not worship the unknown
God. that we worship that God who has been pleased to reveal
Himself. He has revealed Himself in a
general way in all His works of creation. The heavens declare
the glory of God, says the psalmist, the firmament showeth thy handiwork
day unto day, uttereth voice, and night unto night showeth
knowledge. And so God's life, His revelation,
goes out into every part of His creation. But then besides that
power that is witnessed in the great work of creation, we also
see the faithfulness of the Creator in the manner of His government,
that by a sovereign providence He is accomplishing all His goodwill
and pleasure. and we are reminded at the end
of that 107th Psalm that do so is wise and will observe these
things that is the providences of God even they shall understand
the loving kindness of the Lord men are without any excuse if
they never hear anything of Holy Scripture they are still without
excuse if they are so foolish as to deny God the full says
in his heart there is no God. Men are culpable in their unbelieving
folly. But we have the favor of a special
revelation, this blessed book, the Scriptures. And it is this
Word of God that is being spoken of here. This man Jeremiah was
the Lord's prophet. He was one of those holy men
of God, that Peter speaks of, who were moved by the Spirit
of God, who spoke the words of God. And how did he come about?
Well, Jeremiah tells us, 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. Before ever he could pronounce,
proclaim, publish that Word of God. He must himself receive
the Word of God. And here we have then mention
of that feeding upon the Word of God. What is that Word to
us? None of us are prophets. We don't receive a Word immediately,
directly from God. We have the complete canon of
Holy Scripture. the finished Scriptures. God
has in these last days, Paul says to the Hebrews, spoken unto
us by His Son, that is the finality of the revelation of God that
we witness in the person and work of the Lord Jesus. We feed,
or we should desire to feed upon this blessed book, the Bible.
How it is all the Word of God, we speak of it as being Plenary
inspired. Plenary simply means it's inspired
in all its part, every part of it from Genesis right through
the Old Testament, right through the New Testament to the Book
of the Revelation. But we don't only use the word
plenary, we say it is also verbally inspired. We use that adverb
quite deliberately, it's verbally. inspired in other words, every
word. That is, every word in the Old
Testament Hebrew, every word in the New Testament Greek, is
the word of God. It's not just that the human
authors were inspired in their thinking and then expressed themselves
in their own words, no, they very were. by which they conveyed
the truth that God had given to them. The very words are the
words of God. And that is indicated in that
verse that I've already made some reference to, that word
in 2 Peter 1 and verse 21, those holy men of God, it says, spake
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. and the verb to move
literally means to to carry along to bear along and it's a very
strong verb the same verb is also used in Acts 27 and verses
15 and 17 in that chapter we read of the shipwreck that the
Apostle Paul was involved in as he was making that journey
from Jerusalem to Rome having appealed to Caesar And there
was a great storm, Eurocliton. Tremendous storm blows up. And
though there are experienced mariners on board ship, they
can do nothing. They have to straight sail and
they have to commit the vessel to the wind and to the waves. They have no control at all of
the ship. And in those verses, verses 15
and 17 of Acts 27, we read about how they simply let the vessel
drive, or it was driven. It's the same words as Peter
uses. Holy men of God spake. They spake as they were driven.
They were born along. They were not speaking their
own words. They were carried along all together by the Spirit
of God. Or in Scripture we have the very
breathings of God. All Scripture, Paul says, is
given by inspiration of God. And as we've said many times
previously, there in 2 Timothy 3.16, what we have as given by
inspiration of God is the translation of a single word, one of those
compound words. Literally it means all scripture
is breathed by God. It's breathed by God. It's God's
words that we have here. And this is that word that we
come together that we might feed upon. It's not enough for us
simply to be Bible Christians, not enough for us to know the
Scriptures, to be able to quote texts from the Word of God, because
we're so familiar with the content of the book, but we need to be
those who are spiritually digesting this blessed Word. And we have
examples of it. Here, in the Scriptures, in the
New Testament, right at the end there in the book of the Revelation
look at what he said with regards to the experience of John in
Revelation chapter 10 verse 9 he says I went unto the
angel and said unto him give me the little book and he said
unto me take it and eat it up And it shall make thy belly bitter,
but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey. And I took the
little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was
in my mouth sweet as honey. And as soon as I had eaten it,
my belly was bitter. And he said unto me, Thou must
prophesy again before many peoples and nations and tongues and kings.
He is receiving the Word, he is digesting the Word of God,
in order that he might speak the Word of God. There's the
example in the New Testament, but we have example also here
in the Old Testament, in the book that follows, Jeremiah,
in the prophecy of Ezekiel, and there, in the opening verses
of Ezekiel chapter 3. Very similar to what we read
concerning John. Moreover, he said unto me, Son
of man, eat that thou findest, eat this roll, and go speak unto
the house of Israel. So I opened my mouth, and he
caused me to eat that roll. And he said unto me, Son of man,
cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this roll that
I give thee. Then did I eat it, and it was
in my mouth as honey for sweetness." Again he is to is to feed upon
it, is to digest it. Before ever he can speak the
Word of God. And it is the same here in these
words that we've announced this morning as our text. Here in
Jeremiah 15, 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. First of all then, to say something
with regards to this consuming of the Word of God, what it is
to feed upon it, to eat the Words of God. Now before ever we can
partake, before ever we can feed, there must of course be that
finding, we must find the Word. There must be that spiritual
seeking after the Word. What is the book? It is a revelation
of God. It is God making himself known
and we are to come as those who would have an appetite, a desire
to know this God. He says later in chapter 29,
you shall seek me and find me when you shall search after me
with all your heart. Or there is to be some spiritual
desire towards God. some hungering, some thirsting
after God. It must therefore be that diligent
seeking of Him. Remember the language of the
Lord Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. He says, concerning the importance of
prayer and what that prayer is, Ask and it shall be given you,
seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you
for everyone that asketh receives. and he that seeketh findeth,
and to him that knocketh it shall be opened. All we are to be those
who are wholehearted as we come into God's house, into God's
earthly courts, as we come under the sound of His Word. We're
not just those who are merely going through the motions. It's
not just that we come to observe some external form. We want to
come as those who have a spiritual desire and an appetite. It is Christ Himself that we
desire to meet with. Think of the spirit of those
Grecians who came to the disciples and said, sirs, we would see
Jesus. And so as we come together today
into this place under the sound of God's Word, are we wanting
to see the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, we have this Word, the Scriptures,
the inscripturated Word we have, but we want really to behold
Him who is the Word incarnate. And remember what the Lord said
to the Jews himself. Search the Scriptures. Search
the Scriptures. In them you think that you have
eternal life and these are they that testify of mine. Or we want
to see the Lord Jesus Christ here in Holy Scripture. As Joseph Hart says, the Scriptures
and the Lord bear one tremendous name, the written and incarnate
Word. In all things are the same. But it's not enough that we see
the Lord Jesus, but we should be those who want to feed upon
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. What does Jeremiah say in the
text? Thy words were found and I did
eat them." There is to be that feeding there,
even a feeding upon the Lord Himself. John chapter 6, familiar
words we've often referred to the passage as the Lord speaks of eating
His flesh and drinking His blood, it's interesting there's no record
in John's Gospel of the institution of the Lord's Supper. We have
that record in the Synoptic Gospels, in Matthew, in Mark, and in Luke.
We're told how at his last Passover Christ instituted what we observe
now as that Holy Supper of the Lord. But no specific mention
of the institution in John, but we have that remarkable sixth
chapter. And remember the words of the
Lord here. In verse 53 He says, Verily, verily, He prefixes what
He is saying in a solemn manner with that double Amen. That's
what it is. It's the Amen in the Greek. Amen. Amen. So be it. So be it. Truly. Truly. and in our authorised version
the familiar, verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat
the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, ye have no life
in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last
day, for my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh
my blood dwelleth in me, and I in him. For here is that that
is meat and drink indeed. For here is food for the sinner's
soul. It's in the person, it's in the
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those words have nothing to do
with the Roman Catholic doctrine of transubstantiation. They might
appeal to those words at times, the Roman Catholics. You know,
their doctrine, or something of their doctrine of transubstantiation,
how they say that when the priest in the mass pronounces the words,
so the wafer is transubstantiated. Though it still has the appearance
of a wafer, in reality they say it is the body and blood, the
soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus. In the language of the Reformed
Church of England, in Article 31, it speaks out of masses as
blasphemous fables and dangerous deceit. as if it's possible in
some physical manner to be eating the very flesh of the Lord Jesus. Which is what they say in their
teaching of transubstantiation when the person receives that
wafer. They are literally feeding, in
that physical sense, upon the body of Christ and the blood
of Christ, the whole person of Christ. They don't need to take
the cup. They deny the cup, of course,
to the laity. Only the priest is permitted
to drink the cup. But they say, well, if you're
eating the body of Christ, that body will also contain his blood. But we're not we're not to be
troubled by such nonsense it is a fable it's a deceit in the
language of the 31st article of the Church of England all
we desire to come as those who would in a spiritual sense and
that real sense be feeding upon Christ, feeding upon the person
and feeding upon the work, the whole doctrine of Christ is what
we feed upon. It's not just we are receiving
some instruction intellectually, something into our mind, but
we want something to enter into our very souls. If we could change
the figure, we have that that is spoken at the end of James
chapter 1, where he speaks of the engrafted world. He says,
with meekness receive the engrafted which is able to save your soul. Now there the word engrafted
means that that is rooted, that that is implanted. It's something
inward. It's something that's taking
place inside the soul. It's a salvation of the soul.
We're to receive it with meekness, that engrafted word that is able
to save the soul. The great promise of the New
Covenant, of course, is that God will write His words, write
His law upon the hearts of the sinner, in chapter 31 here. And verse 31, Behold, the day has
come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the
house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according
to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that
I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt,
which my covenant they break, although I was a husband unto
them. But this shall be the covenant
that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith
the Lord. I will put my law in their inward
parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God,
and they shall be My people. And they shall teach no more
every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know
the Lord, for they shall all know Me, from the least of them
unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive
their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Now, all
of this is taken up in the New Testament. In Hebrews chapter 8, And there
at verse 7 following, particularly verse 10, we find Paul quoting
those words from Jeremiah 31 with regards to the Gospel. And
again in chapter 10 of Hebrews and verse 16. It is clear then
from the New Testament that what is being declared by Jeremiah
Here in this 31st chapter, that verse 31 following, has to do
with the gospel. This is the new covenant. And
what is the promise of that covenant? I will put my law in their inward
parts, he says, and write it in their hearts. Oh, there is that blessed application. How we see it in the ministry
of the apostles of the Lord Jesus when Paul preaches there at Thessalonica. And what was the result of his
preaching? Well, he reminds them. When he writes to that church
in 1 Thessalonians, he says, Our Gospel came not unto you
in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much
assurance. How it came, it wasn't just a
question of the Word, the Word that was said before them, the
Word that came into their understanding. No, it came with all the power
of the Holy Ghost. It was a blessed application.
As he says to the Corinthians, the Kingdom of God is not in
words, but in power. This is how we should desire
God's Word to come, as we gather together, Lord's Day by Lord's
Day. We know we sing the Word so often,
a form of words. Though air so sound can never
save us all, the Holy Ghost must give the wound and make the wounded
whole. Oh, what do we have there? in
that passage that we made some reference to just now in Ezekiel
chapter 3 where like Jeremiah as a prophet Ezekiel had to first
receive the Word of God before ever he could proclaim the Word
of God he had to receive it, he had to take hold of his very
being, he had to enter into his soul And there in Ezekiel 3,
verse 3, Cause thy belly to eat, it says, and fill thy bowels
with this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it. He had to
eat it. He had to feed upon it. And so
it is with us as we come together, if we would know Christ, we must
feed upon Him. It's Christ in you, the hope
of glory. It's Christ who is all It is
Christ who is in all. All there is to be that appetite
then, that pleading upon Him, that consuming of Him, all that
receiving Him, that glorious doctrine concerning the person
and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then, in the second
place this morning, to say something with regards to the way in which
we have to be caused to feed, caused to eat. What do we read here in our text? He says at the end, For I am
called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. Or as the Margin says,
the Hebrew is literally, For thy name is called upon me. O Lord God of hosts. And the interesting thing, the
interesting word is that little word for how was it that he came
to find God's Word? We said he has to seek after
the Word of God. He finds it, he feeds upon it,
but how was it that he found it and fed upon it? for, because,
as the force of the Word, I am called by thy name, O Lord God
of hosts. It's that work of God that is
effectual, it's that effectual call of God. And again, when
Paul writes to the Thessalonians, he reminds them that there was
an efficacious work, there was the irresistible grace of God
at work in their souls that caused them to receive the gospel. It says there in chapter 2 and
verse 13 of the first epistle, For this cause also thank we
God without ceasing, because when you receive the word of
God which he heard of us you received it not as the word of
men but as it is in truth the word of God which effectually
worketh also in you that belief it was an effectual word the
word itself had an effect upon them and so here he says for I am called by thy name,
O Lord God of hosts. Thy name is called upon mine. For he was truly God's servant,
he was God's prophet. And so he is reminded here at
verse 19, Therefore, thus saith the Lord, if thou return Then
will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me, and
if thou take forth the precious from the vial, thou shalt be
as my mouth. Let them return unto thee, but
return not thou unto them." Oh how he felt the burden of this
ministry, this discriminating ministry that he was to exercise.
He was to make a separation, bringing forth the precious from
the vial, That was the discrimination. There were those to whom his
word would come, not the savour of life, but the savour of death.
Just as Paul says to those Corinthians, how his gospel came to some the
savour of life, unto life, to others the savour of death, unto
death. Who is sufficient for these things? asks Paul. And
so too the Prophet here. He must be faithful in exercising
that ministry, that word that the Lord has put within him. And he feels it. He cries out
previously there at verse 10, Woe is me, my mother, that thou
hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the
whole earth, I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to
me on usury, yet every one of them does curse me. But the Lord
reassures him. In verse 11, Verily it shall
be well with thy remnant. Verily I will cause the enemy
to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. What is Jeremiah doing? So much
of his ministry is negative. He has to speak of that that's
going to befall them. They're going to go into captivity.
they're going to be overrun by the hordes of the Babylonians
on the Nebuchadnezzar Jerusalem falling, the people taken away
into exile those that are not killed in the battle and David's
ministry is so offensive and it's so different of course,
so different to that ministry of the false prophets Oh, there were many false prophets
who came and only spoke smooth things. And other people loved to hear
those false prophets. Here in verse 13 of the previous
chapter, he says then, said, I are Lord God. Behold, the prophets
say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have
famine. But I will give you assured peace
in this place. Then the Lord said unto me, The
prophets prophesy lies in my name. I sent them not, neither
have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy
unto you a false vision, and divination, and a thing of naught,
and the deceit of their heart. All his ministry was so different
to that ministry of those who were false prophets. and we needed
to know that it was indeed God's Word that was there in the very
depths of his soul. Go right back to the beginning
of the book. How God had told him so plainly. There in verse 8
of chapter 1, be not afraid of their facing for I am willing
to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand
and touched my mouth And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, and to
pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and
to plant. Oh yes, there's a positive aspect. He's to build, he's to plant.
But there's four negatives over against those two positives.
It says first he is to root out, to pull down, to destroy and
to throw down. All his ministry, his ministry,
it was from the Lord, he needed to know that. It was the same
with Ezekiel, it was God. It was God who caused him to eat. That role, as we see
there in those opening verses, of the third chapter in the prophecy
of Ezekiel. In verse 3, He said unto me,
Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with
this roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it. Then did I
eat it. In the second verse it says,
He caused me. to it. He calls me to it. Now it is God who is there. It's God who is in these things.
It's God who is empowering His own words. Again, the experience
of Ezekiel in the second chapter, the opening words of the second
chapter of his book. It says, I will speak unto thee
and then the Spirit entered into me when he spake unto me that
I heard him that spake unto me it's interesting to consider
in a careful manner the detail, the language God says I will
speak unto thee and then he says in the second verse of that second
chapter the Spirit entered into me when he spake unto me. And then it says that I heard
him that spake unto me. He would never hear the word,
let alone receive the word, except the Spirit was there. He must
be caused to receive the word. He cannot receive it simply of
himself. That's an impossibility. He must
be might effect you. You must be empowered. And that
is the work of the Spirit of God. As the preacher says in
Ecclesiastes chapter 8, where the word of a king is, there
is power. And who is that king? It is the
Lord God Himself. Oh, we have so many examples
of this. The Psalms. In Psalm 27 and verse 8, the
psalmist says, When thou seest, seek him thy face. My heart said,
thy face, O Lord, will I seek. When thou seest. God has to say
it. That's the word of a king, when
thou seest. Then my heart said, thy face,
O Lord, will I seek. The same with the Lord Jesus,
there at the tomb of Lazarus in John chapter 11. What does
Christ do? He pronounces, He says, Lazarus,
come forth. And he that was dead came forth.
The Word of Christ. Lazarus, come forth, says Christ. He comes forth. He's still bound
in his grave clothes and the Lord says, Loose him and let
him go. For there is the word of a king. There is the word of a king.
It's the empowering word of God. Here is the cause of that partaking,
that feeding. The mighty power of God. Now, with regards to the exhortations
that we find in scripture, How are we to understand them? We
have exhortations such as that that we find in Ezekiel 18.31. It says, make you a new heart
and a new spirit. And people say, ah look, there
is a word, there is a word of command, we are to do something. We are to make a new heart. We
are to make a new spirit. Surely we must have some ability
to do what God is requiring of us. Not so. Not so. God says that, but when God speaks
such a word it is in order to make us feel our complete and
utter impotence. We have no ability at all. We see that when we come to the
promise that is spoken later in Ezekiel, in chapter 36. the promise of the New Covenant
God says a new heart also will I give you and a new spirit will
I put within you and I will take away the stony heart out of your
flesh and I will give you a heart of flesh that's the language
of the New Covenant we're to understand, we're to interpret
what is said in Ezekiel 18.31 make you a new heart and a new spirit we are to understand
that in terms of what he said later in chapter 36 at verse
26 God's promise in the new covenant he will do that that men cannot
do for themselves it is God who empowers who enables so that
we are those who can truly feed upon his word or we find it,
we seek after Him. Thy words were found, says Jeremiah,
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." As God empowers. So it is God here who
also reveals. These things have to be revealed.
There's an inward revelation. As we're told there in 1 Corinthians
chapter 2, God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit. For the
Spirit seeketh all things, yea, the deep things of God. All they
have to be revealed by the Spirit. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness unto him,
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
As God empowers so that there is that true partaking, so God
is the one who also grants the revelation. And Paul knew it. He pleased God, he says. He pleased
God, who separated me from my mother's
womb and called me by His grace to reveal His Son in me. Oh, it was God's goodwill, God's
pleasure. as God was sovereign in his first
birth when he was separated from the womb of his mother he had
nothing to do with his conception and his birth and so too with
regards to that new birth wherein there was that inward revelation
of Christ in his soul. How is it that we come to partake
it's all the work of God for I am called by thy name thy name
is called upon me O Lord God of hosts and then finally this
morning what is the consequence? what is the consequence? what
is the outcome? well it says in the middle of
the verse thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart
Oh, it was so sweet. Why? It was the revelation of
the mind of God. It was the revelation of the
will of God. There in that passage in Ezekiel,
Ezekiel 3 and verse 3, it was in my mouth, he says, as honey
for sweetness. Oh, the sweetness of the Word
of God. We have those Psalms that very
much celebrate the whole doctrine of Scripture. You know that's
the case in the 19th and in the 119th Psalm. Particularly that
119th Psalm which is, as we've said before, an acrostic that's
built around all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. It's
a celebration of the very language that God has employed to give
his Word in the Old Testament. And in every verse, by just two
verses, there's some reference to the Scriptures under different
synonyms, statutes, and judgments, and commandments. It's a real celebration of the
truth of God's work. And what do we read there in
that 119th Psalm, verse 103? How sweet are thy words. how sweet are thine words now
psalm 19 also celebrates the word of God and there in verse
10 we read that it is sweeter than honey and the honeycomb
oh God's word how sweet it is when we are able to enter into
it because it has entered into us and taken possession not only
of our minds but taken possession of our wills and taken possession
of our hearts how it has entered into our very souls and it's
sweet it's sweet and it was sweet really to this man Jeremiah in
spite of all the opposition all the bitterness that was shown
towards him what does he what does he say here In verse 11, the Lord speaks
to him. The Lord said, Verily it shall
be well with thy remnant. Verily I will cause the enemy
to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. These things were coming. But
God is here giving him a promise. And how sweet that word of promise
was proved to be. Because we see it fulfilled in
this very book, later in chapter 39. Here is Nebuchadnezzar who
has come and overthrown Judah. But what now? What now of Jeremiah? There in verse 11 of chapter
39, Nebuchadrezzar, king of Babylon, had given gave charge concerning
Jeremiah to Nebuchadnezzar Adan, the captain of the guard, saying,
Take him, and look well to him, and do him no harm, but do unto
him even as he shall say unto him. Oh, he is told, Look well
to him, and do him no harm. It is the fulfillment of the
word that God had given, the promise that God had given. Verily
it shall be well with thy remnant. He was one of that remnant. Verily
I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well. This Gentile, monarch
who knew not God, and yet God's words is fulfilled even by Nebuchadnezzar. and Jeremiah is cared for. Oh God he is not a man that he
should lie nor the son of man that he should repent hath he
said it shall he not do it? hath he spoken it shall he not
make it good? Oh God's word, God's promise
how true it is how dependable it is all those promises of God
in the Lord Jesus our Lord Yahi and they're all Amen and so It is that that is real food
in the souls of his people. That was the case with Job. Job
says, I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary
food. Is that how we come to the Word
of God? The words of God's mouth. And that's what we have here
in Scripture. The words of the mouth of God, are they to us? and stay in more than our necessary
food. It's good when we have an appetite. It's a sign that we're in a healthy
condition and we look forward to a meal and we partake of a
meal and we enjoy the meal. What a blessing it is that God
should give us a physical appetite. Oh, what a greater blessing if
we have a spiritual appetite and we want to feed upon the
Word of God. But God's Word is not only sweet. We see also that God's Word is
sometimes bitter. If it was always sweet, how it
would apply. We don't want to be always eating
sweetmeats. There is the bitter, as well
as the sweet. There are those judgments. We
referred at the outset to the language that we find in the
Revelation. in John's experience there in Revelation 10 9 I went
unto the angel and said unto him give me the little book and
he said unto me take it and eat it up and it shall make thy belly
bitter but it shall be in thy mouth sweet as honey oh it is
it's bitter as well as sweet there are those bitter judgments
and there were those bitter things that this man Jeremiah had to
speak in his ministry as a prophet as we've said right at the beginning
of the book he's told what his ministry is to be I have set
thee over nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull
down and to destroy and to throw down bitter judgments against
the nations and there are bitter words that
God comes and speaks against us what a bitter thing it is
when we are convinced of our sins when God comes and touches
us in our conscience and we are made to feel the awful nature
of our sins and that sin that seems to always be clinging and
cleaving to our fallen nature. We feel to be such wretched creatures,
it's bitter. But how the bitterness of sin
makes the gospel so sweet, the forgiveness of sins. You remember
how the children of Israel when they came to eat the Passover
lamb, a wonderful type of Christ, even Christ our Passover His
sacrifice for us, says the Apostle. They were to eat the Passover
lamb with bitter herbs, with bitter herbs. And He gave such
relish to that sweet meat. And so when we feel the bitter
thing that sin is, oh then we will savour much more of the
sweetness of that Gospel, of the grace of God in the Lord
Jesus. Say that the whole have no need of a physician, says
Christ but they that are sick I came not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. It's sinners who want to know
what it is to be feeding upon Christ in his person and in his
work. The wise man tells us in the
book of Proverbs to the hungry souls every bitter thing is sweet. Oh, is that true of us? Are we
such souls as that hungering, thirsting, and bitter things
are sweet? Oh, that the Lord would come
and meet with us and feed us and feed us upon His Word and
feed us upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Thy words, says Jeremiah, 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. May the Lord today be pleased
to bless to us each his own word. Amen.