Okay, go back to Jeremiah 36
with me. I hope this will be a blessing
to you. It was to me. We go through books of the Bible,
and it's amazing how the Lord deals with things just as we
need them. They come up at just the right
time. But then there are times that
I'm reading for my own personal enjoyment, And a particular passage
really speaks to my heart, and I want to look at it with you. Jeremiah
36. Let's read verses 1-3. It came to pass in the fourth
year of Jehoram, son of Josiah, king of Judah, that this word
came unto Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Take thee a roll of the
book And right there in all the words that I have spoken unto
thee against Israel and against Judah and against all the nations,
from the day I speak unto thee, from the days of Josiah even
unto this day, it may be that the house of Judah will hear
all the evil which I purpose to do unto them, that they may
return every man from his evil way, that I may forgive their
iniquity. and their sin. And then verse
6 and 7, he said, Jeremiah said to Barak, Go thou and read in
the roll which thou hast written from my mouth the words of the
Lord in the ears of the people in the Lord's house upon the
fasting day, and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all
Judah that come out of their cities. It may be they will present
their supplication. before the Lord, call on the
Lord and return everyone from his evil way. For great is the
anger and the fury that the Lord has pronounced against his people."
You may remember us looking at Revelation 1 a few weeks back. Blessed is he that readeth the
words of this book and that heareth the words of this book and keepeth
how blessed we are to have this book. The Lord spoke to Jeremiah,
write this down for the people to read, for the people to hear.
And Jeremiah preached it in the temple, in chapter 7 and chapter
26. He preached it everywhere until
he was thrown in jail for preaching it. People didn't like what he
was saying. They put him in jail until he
was finally killed for it. Our Lord, remember, our Lord
said, which of the prophets have you not slain? Jeremiah was one
of them. He was put in prison, but that
didn't stop the Word of the Lord. And he sent Barak, his servant,
out and said, You go preach this Word. And he did. And he said,
Go read it, as I want to do tonight. If I don't do anything, I'm just
going to read God's Word to you, and hopefully he'll speak through
it. It may be. That's what struck me. Just maybe. And that's the title of this
message. Maybe someone will hear. Maybe somebody will turn. Maybe
someone will cry. Someone will come. Maybe someone
will. And if they do, the Lord said,
I'm going to forgive them. Isaiah said this, Who hath believed
thy report? To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? Isaiah was 100 years before Jeremiah. 100 years before the fall of
Jerusalem. And Jeremiah was 50 years before Jerusalem was destroyed. There were six prophets at the
same time that lived at the same time. Some of them I'm quite
sure knew each other well, maybe all of them. Zephaniah, Habakkuk,
Jeremiah. Daniel was in Babylon when Jeremiah
was there. Ezekiel over died. And they lived
at the same time. Scripture says, God at sundry
times and diverse manners spake unto the fathers by the prophets.
He spake through these prophets. And they all spoke the same words. They all said the same thing.
They all spake the same thing. Verse 2, the Lord said, all the
words that I have spoken against Israel and Judah and the nation,
against them. against their sins, against idolatry,
in judgment against their wickedness and filthiness of the flesh,
which idolatry is the cause of. Idolatry is what brings immorality
in a corrupt society. Idolatry, that's where it starts.
When the pulpit decays, when the Word of God is not preached,
The society or the nation corrupts. But our Lord said, you go preach,
you go read. Maybe. Maybe someone will hear. And if we do, if we have, if
we do, if we've called on the Lord, turned, if we've turned,
He's turned. If we call, He's called us. If
we hear, it's because He's given us ears to hear. The Lord gets
all the glory. The Lord is not saying that He
wishes that somebody will hear. No, no, no. It's a striking thing
to us. It's what it should be. Shouldn't
everybody hear this? This is a faithful saying worthy
of all acceptation. Shouldn't everyone hear this?
Yes, but they don't. Look at chapter 7 with me. Chapter
7. And what we need to be struck with is how blessed we are that
we do it. If you're hearing this tonight,
you're hearing this tonight, that the people of this world,
the preachers so-called, they're not going to say this. They're
not going to say these things to this generation. Look at chapter
7. The word of the Lord came to
Jeremiah from the Lord, saying, Stand in the gate of the Lord's
house and proclaim there this word and say, Hear the word of
the Lord, all ye of Judah. They enter in at these gates
to worship the Lord. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, amend your ways and your doings, and I will
cause you to dwell in this place. Trust ye not in lying words,
saying the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple
of the Lord. They trusted. Jeremiah was in the temple and
they trusted in that building. They trusted because they were
Jew, because they were members of the the circumcision in the
temple there. Does that sound familiar? Jeremiah said, You are lying
to yourself. Don't trust in the temple. The temple of the Lord
is these if you amend your ways, verse 5, and your doings. Look
down at verse 8. Behold, you trust in lying words
that cannot profit. Will you steal, murder, and commit
adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense unto Baal, and
walk after other gods whom you know not, and then come and stand
before me in this house which is called by my name, and say,
We are delivered, and we can do whatever we want to these
abominations? Verse 11, Is this house which
is called by my name become a den of robbers in your eye? Does
that sound familiar? That's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ said when He walked in the temple 600 years later. The Lord said, I've seen it. I've seen it, saith the Lord.
Now then, verse 13. Because you have done all these
works, saith the Lord, and I spake unto you, rising up early and
speaking, but you heard not. And I called you, but you answered
not. Verse 24. He said, They hearkened not,
nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in imaginations
of their evil heart, and went backward, not forward. Verse
25, Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of
Egypt unto this day, I have even sent unto you all My servants,
the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them. Lord,
in His goodness, in His mercy, in His grace, in His love to
Israel. not all, but some, sent his prophets,
it says, rising up early. He had these men get up early,
get up as soon as the sun's up and go out and proclaim this
message. First, a message of judgment, convict of sin, fear
of the Lord, and then a message of salvation. You know, the Lord
said this 11 times in Jeremiah, rising up early, rising up early,
sending them, rising up early. He said this eleven times. He
said, I sent my prophets rising up early. Eleven times. And then
do you know what it said about Christ who Moses says the Lord
will raise up in the last day? That prophet whom you shall hear. So he was the twelfth. And do
you know what it said about him? Rising up early. A great way
from time to time. What did he preach? What was
the first thing out of the Lord's mouth? Repent. Kingdom of heaven is His name.
But they would not hear. Would not. Truth is perished. Look at verse 26. They hearken
not unto me, nor incline their ear, but harden their neck. They
did worse than their fathers. Therefore, thou shalt speak all
these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee. Thou
shalt call on unto them, but they will not answer thee. Thou
shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the
voice of the Lord their God, nor receiveth correction. Truth
is perished, and is cut off from their mouth." That sounds familiar, doesn't
it? Isaiah said that in chapter 59. Truth is perished, judgment
is turned backward, they turn away their ears from the truth,
and not Jehoiakim, the evil king. And I'm not speaking evil of
our ruler, I'm just saying facts that the Word of God is literally
done away with in our day and by order of the King. Remember,
he cut it up. Cut it up. Jeremiah, the whole
book of Jeremiah, is one book of many, many prophets. The Lord
in great mercy had many prophets down through the years, true
prophets, men sent by God with the truth of God, And every single
one of the prophets, beginning with Moses, tell us who God is. That God is holy. Not one single prophet ever stood
up in a public meeting of people all over and said, God loves
you. Not one. They never said that. We're going to see in Jeremiah
23 that's what false prophets say. They stood up and declared
a holy and righteous God, a just God, a God who loveth righteousness
and hateth iniquity, a God who will by no means clear the gifted. And they stood up and told what
man really is, not what man wanted to hear, but what man really
is, what God says of man. Makes no difference what we think
we are, but what God says. Makes no difference what we think
God is, but what God says about Himself. And they all stood up
to a man. There were no women, but men
that stood up. And they declared that man, unlike
God, is unholy. Man is unrighteous. Man is unjust. Man is full of iniquity. Man
is evil. From the youth up. Isn't that
what David said? In sin my mother conceived me.
I was brought forth from the womb this way. That man is a
hater of the God of the Bible. By nature, he hates God. Isn't that what Romans 3 says? Isn't that what Romans 8 says? Carnal mind is enmity against
God. That's what all the books declare. Not just the Old Testament,
but the New. And that the wrath of God is
revealed from heaven. That's the New Testament. Wrath
of God. New Testament is a fearful thing
to fall into the hands of God. And they all to a man preached
salvation. That there is salvation with
the Lord. And it's in the Lord. It's not of man. It's in the
Lord. It's of the Lord's mercies that we're not concerned. It's
of the same Lord. Salvation comes from the same
One that we've sinned against. And that's the One you have to
go to. And that's the One that's going to have to do it for you.
We can't do it. He must do it for us. Go to Jeremiah
23. I was going to take you through
beginning with chapter 1, but being Wednesday night, we can't
take in too much. We are going to read a good bit,
but I believe you'll enjoy it. Jeremiah 23. But some of the
words, oh my. Let me sum up. What all the Lord
said leading up to chapter 36. The Lord said that Israel, Judah,
the world, nations all were so corrupt, were so evil, were so
defiled and perverted. That's what the Lord called them,
perverted and corrupt. Like in Noah's day. Remember,
right before the Lord sent the flood, He said the whole earth
is corrupt. They've corrupted my way. Full
of violence. And as in the days of Noah, it
was this way then, and it's now. And everything God called evil
at this time, everything God called evil, they were saying,
it's okay. They were calling good, evil. And they were calling evil, good. What God says was an abomination
to them, they said, no, no, this is normal. It's the new normal. It's okay. That's what they were
saying. And God sent these prophets to
warn them. And as I said earlier, the reason
for moral corruption in a nation, open wickedness and filthiness
of the flesh and perversion, is the truth has perished. God,
holy and righteous and just God, is no longer preached. The fear
of the Lord. There is no fear of God before
their eyes. That's why. If there's no sovereign, if there's
no king, if there's no just judge who by no means cleared the guilty,
whom we must answer to, who will punish sin, where is the God
of judgment? Malachi said. They're not preaching
that anymore. And when God is not preached
as He is, man will fall into all manner of sin and corruption. Idolatry will reign. And they will reject God's Word
and they believe lies and false prophets will rise up because
good money in it. Jeremiah 23. I just heard my
pastor preach from this. Verse 29, It is not my word like
a fire and a hammer. Oh my, it was a fire in my bones
and a hammer. The Word of God is supposed to
burn up. All the dross and all the garbage and burn in the heart
and the hammer break the hard heart. But verse 16, the Lord
said, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Hearken not unto the words
of the prophets that prophesy unto you. They make you vain.
They speak a vision of their own heart and not out of the
mouth of the Lord. Here's what they're saying. They
say still, that is, they keep saying unto them that despise
me, Those that hate the God of the Bible, they are saying the
Lord has said you shall have peace. God loves you. And they say unto everyone that
walketh at the imagination of his own heart, it doesn't matter
how evil they are, they say God loves you and has a wonderful
plan for your life and wants so much to help you and do you good.
No evil shall come upon you. There is no judgment. God loves
you as you are. Nothing is changing. Look at
verse 18. He says, Who stood in the counsel
of the Lord, and perceived and heard His word, and marked His
word, and heard? Who heard Him say that? Where in all of God's
Word did He say that? You won't find it anywhere. Look
at verse 19. Behold, a whirlwind of the Lord
is gone forth in fury, a grievous whirlwind. It shall fall grievously
upon the head of the wicked. Does that sound like the love
of God? No. The anger of the Lord, verse 20, shall not return.
until he hath executed to perform the thoughts of his day. And
the latter days you shall see it, consider it perfectly." I
didn't send these prophets, the Lord said. They ran. I have not
spoken to them. They prophesied. And he goes
on to say, verse 27, they think to cause my people to forget
my name, that is, the Holy One. That's his name, the Holy One
of Israel. By their dreams which they tell
every man to his neighbor as their fathers forgot my name
for Baal. The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream.
He that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What's
the chaff? What they're doing will accomplish
nothing to the wheat, but the wheat will. It will be sown,
saith the Lord. And he said in verse 32, the
last line, he said, These false prophets will not profit this
people at all. At all. Now, that was the wicked state
of Israel and the world back then in Jeremiah's day, and it's
the state of the world now because the truth has fallen. Very little
truth in it. They've turned away their ears
from the truth. The Word of God is not being preached much. It
is being preached. But here, little and very little.
And you'll have to run, like Hosea said, Amos said, there'll
be a famine. You'll have to run a far way
to find it because there's going to be a famine. You'll have to
go a long way to find it. Drive for hours, perhaps. But God, in His mercy, has a
remnant according to the election of Graham. That the purpose of
God according to the election might stand, He has a remnant. Back then, He had a remnant.
And he has it now in every generation. He has not left himself without
a witness or a people in every generation who hear his voice,
his word, who call, who repent, who come, whom he turns, and
whom he has mercy on. Okay, now here's the good news,
okay? Enough bad news. Go to Jeremiah 30. Right in the
middle of all these words against Israel, against Judea, against
the nations. Right here. Jeremiah 30. We're
going to stay right here. Jeremiah 30. Right in the middle
of all this judgment, there's mercy. God remembers mercy. Isn't
that what Habakkuk? You know that's how you pronounce
his name? Habakkuk? I heard an Irish preacher preaching
on the book of Habakkuk, and I thought, well, that's just
the way they pronounce it. I looked it up, and I found out we've
been saying it wrong. Not Habakkuk. It's Habakkuk. But Habakkuk. said, Lord, we
have heard your words, and we were afraid. He said, Wilt thou
not revive thy work in the midst of the year? In wrath will you
not remember mercy? Yes, he will. He has a people
out of every tribe, kindred, nation, and tongue, a remnant
according to his sovereign electing mercy and grace. You're going
to hear his word. Yes, hear words of judgment,
and they're going to be convicted, and they're going to repent.
Look at it. Let's just read it. This doesn't need much comment.
Let's just read it. The word that came to Jeremiah
from the Lord saying, Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel saying,
Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a
book. For lo, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will bring
again the captivity of my people Israel and Judah, saith the Lord."
My people, they are going to go into captivity. Captivity
to an evil king. He will bring them in bondage.
We were in bondage to the God of this world, weren't we? In captivity to ignorance. Read on. He said, I will bring
again the captivity of my people. He'll lead captivity. Israel
and Judah saith the Lord, I will cause them to return to the land
that I gave to their father, and they shall possess it. The
promised land. And these are the words that
the Lord spake concerning Israel and concerning Judah. Thus saith
the Lord. We have heard, who? Father, Son,
Holy Spirit has heard a voice of trembling, of fear and not
of peace. That's good. The Lord said, to
this man when I look, he that is poor and of a contrite heart
and trembleth at my word. He that trembleth, the Lord will
hear that man, that woman, when they hear this message of judgment
and convicted of their sin Because we're no different. We're no
better. You know what Romans 1 and 2
says? Here's what the evil world does
with sodomites and all that. And then chapter 2 says you're
Israel and you're religious and all that. And you do or think
the same thing. Are we better than they? No.
God has proved all under sin. I've heard the Lord said a voice
of trembling. It says, Ask ye now and see whether
a man doth prevail with child. A man going to give birth? That's
right. God manifesting at that. God
made of a woman, born of a woman, made under the law, prevailed
with children. That's what we've been looking
at, isn't it, in Genesis? The seed that came from Him. And
every man, he says, has his hand on his loins as a woman in travail,
and all faces are turned into paleness. What are we going to
do? Like at Pentecost. That's what they were doing.
What shall we do? We've sinned against them. Alas, for that
day is great. It's a great day. A great day
of trouble. A great day of salvation. There's
none like it. It's the time of Jacob's trouble.
Jacob's trouble. He shall be saved. It's a good
thing to get in trouble. to be in trouble. Man, this morn
of woman is a few days and full of trouble. Our Lord said, You
must through much tribulation enter the kingdom of heaven.
It's a good thing when we get in trouble with the Lord. And
the Lord shows us we're in trouble with Him. Would that God would
do that for all of us. Because if we realize we're in
trouble with the Lord, we're going to be saved. And it's a
day, there's none like it, the day that the Lord begins to work
on a sinner. There's nothing like it. It's a terrible day and it's
a wonderful day. Verse 8, And it come to pass in that day,
saith the Lord of hosts, I'll break the yoke off the neck,
burst the bonds. You're not going to serve strangers.
Verse 9, They're going to serve the Lord their God. And David
their king? David had been dead a long time
before then. Oh, he's talking about the son
of David. I'm going to take this yoke off their neck of the God
of this world. They're not going to serve the
people of this world. Live for them. And they're going to serve
me, the Lord their God. And David, the son of David,
the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ whom I will raise up,
whom He did raise up, is going to be their king. Not going to
serve the world, not going to serve sin, not going to serve
themselves, but going to serve the Lord. And he'll say, verse
10, Therefore fear thou not, O my servant Jacob, saith the
Lord, neither be this made, O Israel. This is where that song comes
from. Fear not, O be not dismayed, for I am thy God, and I will
still give thee aid. I'll strengthen thee. O Israel,
I will save thee from afar, and thy seed from the land of their
captivity. And Jacob shall return, shall
be in rest, and be quiet. Rest in the Lord, and be quiet. None shall make them afraid."
No matter what the world is saying, no matter what is going on in
the world, like David, who feared all evil, God is with them. I am with thee, saith the Lord,
to save thee, though I make a full end of all nations, whither I
have scattered thee, yet will I not make a full end of thee.
But I will correct thee, whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth.
If we be without chastisement, we are bastards, but whom the
Lord chasteneth a man as a son that he delighteth in him." I
will not leave thee altogether unpunished, for this is the reason."
The Lord says in verse 12, your bruise is incurable. Your wound
is grievous. You've got this loathsome disease
in you. As the brother said, there's nothing but the blood
of Christ can purge it. And there's none to plead your
cause, that thou mayest be bound up. That has no healing medicines. There's no one for you to turn
to in this world. There's nothing you can do to
get rid of it. This bruise, this wound, this
sin. All your lovers have forgotten
you. All your former friends, they seek thee not. They've left
you. I've wounded you with the wound of an enemy. You thought
that you were my enemy. With the chastisement of a cruel
one, Satan bombarded you, Satan attacked you. For the multitude
of thine iniquity, because thy sins were increased. Yes. And
he says, why are you crying for your affliction? Your sorrow
is incurable. For the multitude of thine iniquity,
because thy sins were increased. I have done these things unto
you. I did it. And here's why. Verse 16. All they that devoured thee shall
be devoured. All thine adversaries, every
one of them, shall go into captivity. They that spoil thee shall be
a spoil. All that pray upon thee will
I give for a prey. I will restore health unto thee.
I will heal thee of thy wounds. Who's going to do it? He's going
to do it. Salvations of the Lord. Sayeth the Lord. Because they
called thee an outcast, saying, This is Zion whom no man seeketh
after. But thus saith the Lord, Behold,
I will bring again the captivity of Jacob's tents, and have mercy
on his dwelling places. And the city shall be built upon
her own heap." I'm going to tear you down. I'm going to break
you down. I'm going to break your heart and build you right
back up again. I'm going to make a heap out of you.
that build you up. And the palace shall remain,
after the manner thereof, the heart that I have broken, I will
build it back." The palace of the King where He dwelled. And
out of them, out of these people, Jacob's tents, my people shall
proceed thanksgiving. And the voice of them that make
Mary. Oh, it was a great day of trouble, wasn't it? But now
it's a great day of joy. And I will multiply them, and
they shall not be a few. Oh, at any given time, there
are few, but all together, collectively, there are not a few, there are
many. As many as the stars in the sky and the sands of the
sea. And I will also glorify them to be my sons. They shall not be small. They
can be great, my children. Behold what manner of love. Their
children also shall be as aforetime. Their congregation shall be established
before me. I will punish all that oppress
them. And their nobles shall be of themselves. Apostles. Noble men. And their governor
shall proceed from the midst of them. Who's that? I've exalted
one chosen out from among the people. He's our governor, the
Lord Jesus Christ. I will cause him to draw near
unto me, and he shall approach unto me. Who is this that engages
the heart to approach unto me, saith the Lord? It's the King.
will open the gate, and ye shall be my people, and I will be your
God." Or he don't. Behold, the whirlwind of the
Lord goeth forth with fury, a continuing whirlwind. It shall fall with
pain on the head of the wicked. Don't let anybody tell you different. It's coming. A fierce anger of
the Lord shall not return till he have done it. until he performed
the intents of his heart. In the latter days, you shall
consider it." These are the latter days. The last day. Perilous times, aren't they? Don't stop, okay? Three more
verses. You're going to be glad we got to verse 3 of the next
chapter. At the same time, saith the Lord, will I be the God of
all the families of Israel? The true God. And they shall
be my people. That's how you know. They worship
the living and true God. They believe His Word. They tremble
at His Word. Thus saith the Lord, the people
which were left in the sword found grace. In the wilderness. We're in the wilderness, aren't
we? Oh, we found grace. Our oasis. Even Israel. When
I went to cause them to rest. The Lord at the period of old
unto me saying, Yea, I have loved thee Now, who's he talking to? He's talking to his people. He's
talking to all those he was just talking to and what all he was
going to do for them. Save his elect. Those that call upon him. Those that turn. Those that believe
him. Tremble. Say, Yea, I have loved
thee with an everlasting love. with loving kindness. I'm drunk. Okay. Alright. Stand with me. Our Lord, again, we thank You
for Your Word. We would be lost. We would be
dead. We would be in darkness without
it. This is Your voice, Your Word, Your power, the hammer,
the fire, milk, meat, water, bread, everything, Lord. It's our life. It's not a vain
thing. It's our life. Words of life.
How we thank You for it. Thank You for raising up men
like Jeremiah. Men who laid down their lives
for the truth, for proclaiming the truth. Isaiah and others,
Lord, how we thank You for these bold witnesses men who spoke
the truth. And, O Lord, we thank You more
than most of all for that great prophet, our Lord Jesus Christ,
whose voice we have indeed heard, who said that when the Word has
come through the Spirit, it will convince of sin, righteousness,
and judgment. O Lord, we believe we are of
Thy people, for we have heard the message of sin, righteousness,
judgment. And we call upon You and we repent
of our sins. Like Daniel of old, Lord, glory
and majesty and honor and power and strength and wisdom belongeth
unto Thee, but confusion of faces belongeth unto us. We have sinned
with our Father. Our brethren, kinsmen according
to the flesh, the United States of America and others are great
sinners against us. Our land is full of iniquity,
corruption. All flesh is corrupted thy way.
But, God, how we thank You for Your great mercy wherewith You
loved Your people and sent the truth to them, warning them to
flee from the wrath to come and showing them Christ as refuge
for sinners. Thank You, Lord. We believe we've
heard Your voice. We believe we've heard Your voice.
You've called us and we've called upon You. How we thank You. Continue
to cause us to call. Continue to cause us to repent.
Continue to make us hear Thy Word. The world has an allurement.
The world has a drawing power, Lord. The world, with all its
temptations, threatens to overcome us. But, O Lord, let us look
to Thee and call upon Thee. Thou art of very present help
in trouble. Do this work, Lord, of salvation upon others. We
pray for Your glory, for Your honor, for their salvation. And
we'll give You the praise and the glory and we'll rejoice.
We'll rejoice with them. In Christ's name we're met here
tonight. And do these things. Amen. You're dismissed.