Okay, let's look back at Jeremiah
chapter one. Tonight we're going to see the
calling and preparation of a prophet. The calling and the preparation
of a prophet. God's prophet. The prophet of
God. And speaking of Jeremiah, the
one whom God chose and called and equipped to prophesy in Judah
during the reign of the last five kings of Judah. Some of
them mentioned here in the first three verses. That name Zedekiah. Zedekiah was the last king of
Judah. He was king when Nebuchadnezzar
and the Babylonian army came down upon Jerusalem and destroyed
the temple. carried the people away from
Judah to Babylon in three segments of time, three waves of people.
And this is where Jeremiah prophesied when the nation of Judah was
at its lowest. As I said before, Jeremiah was
a prophet who preached the word of God without compromise, without
apology, to a nation watching his nation going down the tubes.
And that's why I believe this is so relevant for our day. Here
this nation that was supposed to be the people of God, the
chosen people of God under the old covenant, the law of Moses,
at its lowest consumed with idolatry, consumed with hypocrisy, false
religion, even false religion in the name of Jehovah. We saw
last time, as we read in the book of 2 Kings, how one of the
reforms of Josiah, this first king, where Jeremiah was called
to be a prophet and commissioned to be a prophet during the 13th
year of Josiah's reign. One of the reforms that Josiah
brought about was to clean out the temple. And one of the things
they brought out of the temple of God, the temple of Solomon
was the idols, the instruments of idolatry that were given over
to Baal worship. And then it was a time of great
immorality too. So it was a, it, this was a nation
on the brink of destruction. And Jeremiah prophesied in Judah
up to the time of that destruction, God's wrath against her sin.
And the instrument of destruction that God brought down on Judah
was the Babylonian empire, the Babylonian army. And this was
about some 500 to 600 years before the birth of Christ. Jeremiah's
message was one of God's wrath against their sin. But he also
spoke of Israel's future hope. And I think we need to remind
ourselves of this as we go through the book of Jeremiah. What is Israel's future hope? Well, it wasn't in herself. It
wasn't, listen, Israel's future hope in Jeremiah's day was not
in the nation itself. And it wasn't in geography or
real estate, not in a physical land. And it certainly wasn't
in her works because from the fall of man on it's been revealed
that salvation and hope for the future and eternal life and glory
is never at any time by the works or the wills of man. But Israel's
future hope is the same as any sinner's future hope if we have
a future hope and that is the grace of Almighty God through
the promised Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ and the establishment
of His kingdom in righteousness and in mercy to all of God's
people, all of God's elect Jew and Gentile, all who come to
faith in Him. As we began this book in verse
1, it says the words of Jeremiah, but here we're going to see that
the words that Jeremiah spoke were not his words as far as
being originated by Jeremiah, but they're the words of God.
Look at verse 4. Here we see the prophet is called
of God. It says in verse 4, Then the
word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee,
created thee in the belly, I knew thee in the womb. That's what
he's talking about. Jeremiah's birth, the formation
of this individual. Incidentally, I think that this
verse is one of the verses of the Bible among many that settles
the issue that unbelieving Depraved men and women won't argue about
today is that when does life begin? It doesn't begin when
I say it does or when you say it does. It begins when God says
it does. And he says, Jeremiah, before
I formed thee in the womb, in the belly, I knew thee. And before
thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. I set
you apart. I appointed you out and set you
apart. And I ordained. I gave you over. to be a prophet. I ordained thee
a prophet. I appointed thee a prophet unto
the nations. God chose and revealed himself
to Jeremiah here. And this is consistent with God's
workings in all his dealings with his people, even in our
salvation. You know, this is, this is the
origin. God is the originator of the salvation of his people
in the formation of his church by divine electing grace before
the foundation of the world. And it's the same in his appointment
of his ministers, even the prophets of the old Testament. Think about
it in terms of salvation. and within his church to put
his servants where he wants them and give them the gifts for the
work of the ministry that he's appointed them to. For example,
in salvation, think about this. In the salvation of a sinner,
for a sinner to be saved, number one, God must choose us. Now, why is that so? Well, look
over at John chapter six with me. Look at John chapter six. Somebody said, well, we've got
to choose God, but we won't choose God by nature. Man left to himself. What does Romans 3 tell us? It
says there's none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
doeth good. There's none that seeketh after
God. No, not one. But look at John chapter 6 and
verse 44. The Lord here speaking, he says,
no man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me
draw him. And that word draw is the same
word that Christ used in the parable of the drag net. Throwing
out the net and dragging the fishes in. So it takes the father
which sent Christ to draw him. He does so by the power of the
Spirit. And he said, I will raise him up again at the last day.
It is written in the prophets. You see, this is so in the Old
Testament too. He says, and they shall be all
taught of God. God must choose us. God must
draw us. And God must reveal himself to
us. That's what he's doing to Jeremiah
here. Every man therefore that hath heard, hear the word of
the Lord. and hath learned of the Father
as he's taught of God, if that's the case with you or with me,
what will happen? Cometh unto me. They'll come
to Christ. When God teaches, when God reveals
Himself to a sinner, that sinner comes to Christ. Well, you say,
well, for a sinner to be saved, God must choose us. When did
He choose us? He chose us before the foundation
of the world, the Scripture teaches. Well, does that relieve me of
my responsibility to seek the Lord? Well, the answer is no. Look over in John chapter 6.
Look at verse 63. I want you to see this. The Lord speaking here, he says,
it's the spirit that quickeneth. And I believe that's the Holy
Spirit there. It should be capitalized. The flesh profiteth nothing.
The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit. He's the spirit
of truth, and they are life. But there are some of you that
believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning
who they were that believed not and who should betray him. And
listen, when you read scriptures like it, don't ever imagine God
to be some sort of crystal ball gazer. God works all things after the
determinate counsel of his own will, the scripture says. And
we may not be able to understand all that and how it works and
how it jives with our way of thinking, but it's still so.
God's not a... He doesn't look down through
a telescope of time and learn. It says, He knew from the beginning.
It says in verse 65, And He said, Therefore said I unto you that
no man can come to Me, except it were given unto him of My
Father. Do you see that? No sinner is
going to come to Christ except it's a given. That's like faith
is the gift of God, this revelation of God. Now look at verse 66,
he says, from that time many of his disciples went back and
walked no more with him. Now I don't know exactly what
it is that caused them to leave him, but it may be the very thing
that causes people to reject God's sovereign electing grace
even today, when he made these statements here. But look what
he says, verse 67. Then said Jesus unto the twelfth,
will you also go away? And then Simon Peter answered
him, Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I've got no place else to go. You see, that's the issue. That's the accountability. That's
the responsibility. When did God choose his people?
As I said, look over Ephesians chapter one. Now keep this in
the context of Jeremiah being called to be a prophet. but it
applies to the salvation of God's people too he says in verse three
of Ephesians chapter one blessed be the God and father of our
Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ according as he hath chosen us
in him that is in Christ before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy and without blame before him in love having
predestinated us. Some people say that predestination
only refers to events and not people. Well, I know that verse
says having predestinated what? Events? No, he says predestinated
us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself According
to the good pleasure of his will to the praise of the glory of
his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved That's
the issue turn to 2nd Thessalonians Brother Ronnie Greg read this
in the study a while ago, but it applies here. Look at verse
13 2nd Thessalonians 2 He's speaking here of those who
perish because they receive not the love of the truth, the love
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and salvation by God's
grace. You see, here's the thing, if
we ever come to see our sinfulness and what it is that we've earned
and deserve, the words of God's grace in Christ will be pleasant
to our ears. He says in verse 13, but we are
bound to give thanks all the way to God for you, brethren,
beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen
you to salvation through sanctification of the spirit and belief of the
truth. Now that's the new birth. And he says, whereunto he called
you by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. And therefore, brethren, stand
fast and hold the traditions which you've been taught, whether
by word or our epistle. And now our Lord Jesus Christ
himself and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath
given us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace,
comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. You see it? For sinners to be
saved, God must choose us. For sinners to be saved, secondly,
God must redeem us. Why? Because the justice of God
against our sin has a claim on us. And this is the essence of
Jeremiah's message to fallen Judah, that God is going to send
a Redeemer. Job spoke of it. He talked about
a kinsman Redeemer. That message is all through the
Bible. It's the scarlet thread that
runs from Genesis to Revelation, that it's by the blood of the
chosen, appointed, qualified, willing Redeemer, the God-man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, that we are saved from our sins as He
pays our sin debt to God's law and justice. You see, God's justice
is against us, has a claim on us, and the sentence is death.
So what did Christ do when He came into the world? He redeemed
us from the curse of the law. So for a sinner to be saved,
God must redeem us. Thirdly, for a sinner to be saved,
God must reveal Himself to us. Why? Because by nature we're
dead in sins and we do not know God. Man in his lost state has
different various ideas and opinions about God. But God comes along
and He lets us know that He's not like we think He is. We reason
from ourselves out and from the ground up. God must reveal Himself
to us. And that's what He's doing. Look
back here at Jeremiah 1. It says in verse 4, The Word
of the Lord came unto me. God revealing Himself. Paul wrote
of his own salvation. He said, When it pleased the
Lord to reveal Himself in me. And this revelation of God is
not of man. Paul wrote in Romans 1 that he
preached the gospel of God. He said in Galatians 1, the gospel
that I preached to you, I didn't receive it of man, I received
it from God. Jeremiah didn't get his message
from man. He didn't get it from himself.
He didn't get it from his own heart. He got it directly from
God. The word of the Lord came unto
me. And he tells him here, look back
at verse five here. And this is applied to the gifts
and calling of God, the office of a prophet. He said, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. That word knew there. Don't
let it pass you by. It's more than just a recognition. You know, I can know who you
are, but really not know you. I can recognize your features
and your face and put a name to it most of the time. But I
can do that if I knew everybody's name in here, I still don't know
you. This word know here, knew here,
it implies, it defines an intimate relationship between God, the
knower, you might say, the one who knows all, and the one who
is known. This is a knowing of salvation. It's a knowing of grace. God
knows this man. And this knowledge is that love. In fact, we could even say it,
it means love. Before I formed thee in the belly,
I loved thee. It could go that way, easily.
And what it is, it's that knowledge that God has of his people that
ensures their salvation. It's that love that removes all
the obstacles and provides all the means for salvation. It's
that love that provides for the objects of that love, that knowledge,
that love that provides what God's law and justice demands
in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no love from God for
a sinner outside of Christ. Mark it down. Outside of Christ
for a sinner, there's nothing but wrath, even hatred. And I
know people don't want to think about God hating anybody, but
now listen to me. You've got to believe the Bible
now, not your own ideas and not what other people tell you. The
Bible says God hates the workers of iniquity. That hatred there
is not like mine and yours. It's not emotional. It's not
arbitrary. It's not selfish. That hatred
there is God's justice. That's what it is. It's God's
wrath against sin. Outside of Christ, there's nothing
but wrath from God. If you want to flee, if you want
to avoid the wrath of God, flee to Christ. He's the shelter from
the storm of God's wrath. He's the ark. that the wrath
of God beat upon on the cross when he was made sin and died
for his people. So God says here, before I formed
in the belly, I knew thee. This not only refers to Jeremiah's
call and equipping as a prophet, but it refers to his salvation.
He's a sinner saved by the grace of God. He says, before thou
camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee, I set you
apart, appointed you, ordained you to a prophet unto the nations. Now, Jeremiah is going to pronounce
God's wrath upon many nations. In fact, there's a couple of
chapters where he just lists them. But the word of God is
not limited to just one nation. Even the good news of God's word,
the gospel, is not limited to one nation. You know the angel
said to the shepherds in the field when the time that the
Lord was born in his humanity, he said, I bring you good tidings
of great joy which shall be to all people, not just to Israel,
but to any and every sinner who sees their need of God's grace
in Christ. Paul wrote in Romans 1.16, he
said, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, it's the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believeth, to the Jew first
in time, but to the Greek or the Gentile also, for therein
is the righteousness of God revealed. God has a people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue and nation. And we learn quite a bit from
this. Look at verse six. Now here's Jeremiah's response.
He says, then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for
I am a child. Most scholars believe that Jeremiah
was probably around 20 years old when this call came. And yet he still says, I'm a
youth. That's what that is, a youth. So Jeremiah points out two things.
He points out number one, his lack of experience. And number
two, his youth. Or his lack of experience, his
youth, and his inability. He said, I can't speak. I don't
have the ability. I'm not a great orator. And I'm
young. I'm inexperienced. And what's
being portrayed here in the issue of God's call and equipping a
prophet. And here's what he's saying.
It's the same thing. Look over at 2 Corinthians chapter 2. Same thing that Paul says over
here in 2 Corinthians chapter 2. He's talking about the seriousness
of the message of the gospel. The seriousness of it. It's serious
business. It's no light matter. And that's
why I tell people, you know, we're here to worship God. We're
here to study God's word. We're not here to be entertained.
You know, that's what people want. But we're here, this is,
listen, Jeremiah was not a comedian. And he was not a celebrity. He
was God's prophet for the nation. He's like a doctor that tells
you the disease and prescribes the cure. You don't want to hear
about it when you don't want to hear that you've got some
dreaded disease, but if you've got one, you need to hear it,
don't you? And you need to hear the cure. But listen to what
Paul says here in verse 14 of 2 Corinthians 2. He says, Now
thanks be unto God, which always calls us us to triumph in Christ,
and maketh manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every
place. For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ in them that
are saved and in them that perish. Think about that. Now, it's not
a sweet savor to them that perish, but it's a sweet savor to God.
Even in them that perish, God's justice is honored. And he says, to the one where
the savor of death unto death, to the other, the savor of life
unto life, and who is sufficient for these things? Now, that's
what Jeremiah is saying. I'm not sufficient. Now what's
the answer then? Verse 17, for we're not as many
which corrupt the word of God, but as of sincerity, but as of
God, in the sight of God, speak we in Christ. Let's preach Christ. That's what he's saying. I'm
insufficient for anything else but to stand up and tell dying
sinners where there's life. To tell condemned sinners where
there is righteousness. to tell hungry sinners where
there's bread, to tell thirsty sinners where there's water,
the water of life, to tell sick unto death sinners where there's
a healing. And that's what Paul's saying.
I'm going to stick to what I know. I'm insufficient for it. Over
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, he made this statement about the
ministry. In verse 5 of 2 Corinthians 3,
he said, Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything
as of ourselves. It's not about me, it's not about
ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God. And that's what Jeremiah
is appealing to. The offices and gifts of ministry
are not given out by God on the basis of human abilities. The
fact of the matter is that anybody glories in salvation or in ministry,
they're going to glory in the Lord. And that's it. Well, look
here, look back at Jeremiah 1, look at verse 7. Now here he says, he says, but
the Lord said unto me, say not I am a child, for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee, and listen to this, whatsoever
I command thee, thou shalt speak. You see, Jeremiah, it's not about
you. It's not about your power. It's not about your abilities.
This is all about the word of God. This is all about the power
of God. He says, Whatsoever I command
thee, thou shalt speak. Be not afraid, he says, of their
faces. Why does he say their faces?
Because that's pretty much when you can tell how they're receiving
what you say. Now, that's not always, in my
view of things, that's not always a good gauge of it, but God knows
what he's saying is here, the countenance Reflects the state
of the heart and when they frown upon you He says don't be afraid
of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee saith the
Lord. I'm gonna take care of you Jeremiah
You just do what God says, don't you worry about the results?
The results are in God's hand He's going to take care of that
Christ is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto
the Father by Him. Paul said, I'm persuaded that
He is able to keep that which I've committed unto Him against
that day. This is the issue. I can't save
you, I can't even save myself, but Christ is able. I can't make
you believe, love, or even like the message. Christ is able.
I can't change your heart, can't even change my own heart, but
God is able. And that's it. He said, I'm with
you to deliver you and to protect you. You're going to preach what
God commands. Now, this is a good reason why
every one of us should do what the Bible says. And that is test
the spirit. John first, John four, uh, speaks
of that test, the spirits, that's the preachers. That's those who
come claiming to speak by the spirit of God, test them. Put
them to the test. Don't just swallow everything
they say, hook, line, and sinker. Now, what is the standard of
testing? What is the gate? It's the Word of God. It's not
the opinion of men. It's not their popularity or
their lack thereof. It's not their mannerisms, their
way of dress. If that were the case, nobody
would have listened to John the Baptist. So test them by the
word of God. Isaiah 8.20, to the law and to
the testimony, if they speak not according to this word, there's
no light in. Are they preaching Christ? Is
it salvation by God's grace? 100% through Christ. Or is it
salvation some other way? Now beginning at verse 9, we
see the prophet is equipped. God's going to equip him now
to go out and preach. Look at verse 9. He says, 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. You see, this is what prophecy
is. Prophecy, in its essence, is not just foretelling the future,
even though the future can be involved. Jeremiah speaks of
the future. He speaks of the impending wrath
of God that is about to come down on the nation. And it's
coming. And so, prophecy is sometimes
telling the future. But prophecy in its essence is
just simply preaching God's Word. Whatever God says. He may speak
of the past. He may speak of the present.
He may speak of the future. But it's all prophecy. When we
preach Christ, we're speaking the words that God has put in
our mouth. That's what it is. By nature,
no man would do that. He says here that God's Word
and God's righteous judgment against sin and God's only way
of salvation by His grace in Christ for this and any other
who desire to hear it, it's the Word of God. He told them there,
he says, See, this day have I set thee over the nations and over
the kingdoms. Look here, verse 10. See, I have
this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms. Listen
to the tenor of his message now. to root out and to pull down
and to destroy and to throw down and to build and to plant. Now
he says, I've set thee over the nations, not as a ruler, not
as a Lord, but as a prophet who speaks as an ambassador for God.
We have the authority of the word of God. This is what God
says. And here's the nature of the message. It's to root out
and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build
and to plant. It's consistent with the meaning
of Jeremiah's name, to throw down. In other words, he says
you're going to preach the destruction of the nations and kingdoms that
oppose God. But God's ultimate purpose is
not just to destroy. It's to build and to plant his
kingdom in Christ. This is a good description of
the nature of true gospel preaching. Christ and Him crucified is a
message of life and death. What does God do when He brings
a sinner to hear that message of His grace? First thing He
does is He what? He roots up any hope of salvation
that we have. in ourselves or in our works. He brings us down off of our
self-righteous legalistic hopes, our pride. He brings us down
and puts us in the dust where we belong, the dust of sin and
depravity to where we take sides with God against ourselves and
saying, God, if you would mark iniquities, who would stand?
If you gave me what I deserve and what I've earned, it would
be eternal damnation. But he doesn't leave us there.
He builds us up by pointing us to his son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
for all salvation. The forgiveness of sins by his
blood. He didn't leave you in your dirt,
in the dirt of your sin. He washes you clean in the blood
of the Lamb. And he puts that robe of righteousness
in your conscience upon you. that Christ worked out in his
obedience unto death and gives you a clear conscience in the
court of God's justice based on the righteousness of Christ
imputed, charged, accounted to. I stand before God without sin
in Christ, not in myself. I'm still a sinner, but my sins
are not charged to me. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. Who
can condemn me? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father
ever living to make intercession for us. That's an establishment,
you see. That's a building up. That's
a planting. That's the gospel message. And
then look here. Look at verse 11. Now he shows
us here that the message from God is an urgent message. It's a serious, urgent message. And he shows it in two pictures
here, two visions, two symbols. Verse 11, Moreover the word of
the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? What
do you see, Jeremiah? Jeremiah said, I see a rod of
an almond tree. Well, what does that mean? What
does the almond tree symbolize? Well, here it tells you in verse
12. Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will
hasten my word, to perform it. This is coming soon. This is
not going to wait anymore. The day of God's long suffering
is over. Destruction is coming. This speaks
of the certainty and the nearness of God's judgment coming upon
Judah. He will hasten to perform it.
The name of the almond tree in the Hebrew could be translated
the hastening tree. And the reason it was called
that is because the almond tree in that land brought forth its
flowers and its leaves and its fruit very quickly. Sprung up
very quickly. And what he's saying here is
that this is an urgent message, this is an urgent matter that's
going to be worked out soon in God's providence. Judah is a
nation that's ripe for destruction right now. It's coming. Don't
wait. Now is the day of salvation. Some people say, well, I'll wait
till later. I'll wait till later. You may
not have a later. Now is the day of salvation. Repent. Seek the Lord while he
may be found. He may come again tonight. He
may not. You may go to meet him in judgment
tonight. You don't know. But now is the
day of salvation. Look over at the book of Habakkuk. See if you can find Habakkuk.
It's on page 1161. Oh, you don't have the same Bible
I do? It's after Nahum, which is after
Micah, which is after Joel, which is after Hosea, which is after
Daniel. There you go. The book of Habakkuk. We studied Habakkuk. He was a
contemporary of Jeremiah. The two prophets that prophesied
at the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry here with him was Habakkuk
and Zephaniah. And then later on I told you
Daniel came along. He was deported in the first
wave that Nebuchadnezzar Daniel was. Because he was one of the
noblemen. He was transported in the first
wave. And then Ezekiel came later. But you remember Habakkuk the
prophet. Look at verse 1 of chapter 1 of Habakkuk. The burden which Habakkuk the
prophet did see. He said, Oh Lord, how long shall
I cry? and thou wilt not hear. Even
cry out unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save. Why dost
thou show me iniquity, and cause me to behold grievance? For spoiling
and violence are before me, and there are that raise up, strife,
and contention. Therefore the law is slacked,
and judgment doth never go forth. for the wicked doth compass or
surround about the righteous and therefore wrong judgment
proceed." How long, O Lord? You see, Habakkuk, you remember,
he thought God had gone to sleep and he was letting this go. And
here God comes up, he raises up Jeremiah and he says, look,
what do you see, Jeremiah? And Jeremiah said, I see the
rod of an almond tree, the hastening tree. This is coming soon. Now,
hold your finger there at Habakkuk. and go back to Jeremiah 1. We're
going to come back to Habakkuk here. But you see, Habakkuk was
wrong. God's not asleep. His wrath will
be awakened like the hastening tree, the almond tree. I think
about 2 Peter chapter 3, where the skeptics, the unbelievers,
criticize the preachers of the gospel The purveyors of the wrath
of God against all sin by saying, where is the promise of his coming?
All things continue like they always were. That's what they
were saying, which is a lie. That's not the case. All things
are not continuing like they always were. God destroyed the
world in a flood. Remember, Peter brings that up. Remember, he said, the Lord is
not slack concerning his promise as some men counted. account
his slackness but he is faithful God is faithful to his promise
to his people and then Peter wrote that count that the long-suffering
of God is the salvation of his people you know somebody said
well why hasn't Christ come back already this world is so wicked
That's what Habakkuk is saying. This Judah is so wicked. Why
haven't you done something about it? And people today will say,
well, why hasn't the Lord come back? This world is so wicked.
I'll tell you exactly why he hasn't. Because he's still got
some people to bring into the kingdom. Some of his elect, some
of his sheep yet to be brought into the fold. And when that
last one's brought in, I believe that'll be the time that he comes
back. So count that the long-suffering
of God is not God asleep or God delaying, it's the salvation
of his people. Christ, this, God chose them,
Christ redeemed them, the Holy Spirit's gonna call them, he's
gonna regenerate and call them. They're gonna be brought into
the kingdom. But this is what's happening, this almond tree,
God's not asleep, his wrath will be awakened like the hastening
tree. The almond tree symbolized that God was awake, God's watching
what he, over what he said would happen to Judah if they departed
from him. You remember back in the book
of Deuteronomy, Moses told them, he said, God will bless you if
you keep his commands. But he said, God will curse you
if you disobey. Well, what nation on earth, including
Israel, has ever obeyed God? And the answer to that is none.
Read the Bible. Read history. Well, does any
nation at all obey God's commands? No, not any physical nation on
this earth. What does that mean? Isn't that
a message of doom and gloom? Well, for man in his own and
on his own and by his works, yes it is. But it's not a message
of doom and gloom if we understand the word of the Lord in showing
us that salvation is all of grace in Christ. Turn to Christ. That's your only hope of salvation
from your sins. Well, look back here. Look at
verse 13. Now, the first vision was the almond tree, the rod
of an almond tree. That's the hastening tree. God's
bringing His destruction. But here's the next vision. He
says in verse 13, And the word of the Lord came unto me the
second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething
pot. That's a boiling pot, a pot boiling
over. And he said, And the face thereof
is toward the north. And he says, Then the Lord said
unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all
the inhabitants of the land. For lo, I will call all the families
of the kingdoms of the north, saith the Lord, and they shall
come, and they shall set everyone his throne at the entering of
the gates of Jerusalem. That's where they're going to
come, to Jerusalem. And they're going to set themselves up in
Jerusalem like kings. They're going to take over, that's
what that means. They're going to conquer Jerusalem. And against
all the walls thereof round about and against all the cities of
Judah, and he says, he says, I will utter my judgments against
them touching all their wickedness who have forsaken me. That's
where it starts. That's where idolatry starts,
forsaking the living and true God. We could just as well say
it this way, forsaking Christ because He Himself is the revelation
of God, the revelation of the God of all grace who saves sinners
by His grace. And they burned incense unto
other gods, that's where it leads to. Forsaking God leads to...
Man's got to worship something. I don't care if you claim to
be an atheist, you worship... I'll tell you who an atheist
worships, he worships himself. Man's got to be a worshiper of
something. And when he forsakes the living
and true God, what does he do? He turns to idols in some form,
fashion, or other. And they burn incense unto other
gods. That's worshiping other gods. And listen to the last
line there. And worship the works of their
own hands. Now, many commentators say limit
that to fashioning idols out of stone and wood. And that certainly
is the works of men's hands. But I want to tell you something.
It goes further than that. It's worshiping your works. trying
to... Cain worshipped his works. He thought he was worshipping
God when he brought the works of his hands. He wasn't worshipping
God. He was worshipping his works.
Because any worship of God outside of Christ by the grace of God
and based on his blood and righteousness alone is worshipping the works
of your own hands. If you think or believe that
you can be saved based on your works that you can work out your
own righteousness before God. That's worshiping the works of
your hands. And that's what it is. And we'll
see that later on described in Jeremiah. You'll see that elaborated
on. You see, without Christ, what
are we? We're cursed. Without Christ, we're idolaters.
We may not even imagine going out and bowing down to a piece
of wood or a piece of stone or anything like that, but the idolatry
begins in the mind and in the heart. That's where it is. Those outward forms are just
outward manifestations of the depraved heart, isn't it? Spiritual
death, ruination. Why did Adam rebel against God? Because he thought more of himself
and his own works than he did of God. And that's the way it
is. Well, this boiling pot, what
is it? Well, look back at Habakkuk chapter 1, look at verse 5. And
Jeremiah elaborates on that too later on. But what it is, it's
Babylon. People of the north, that was
north of Israel. Look at Habakkuk chapter 1 verse
5. Behold you among the heathen
and regard and wonder marvelously for I will work a work in your
days which you will not believe though it be told you. For lo,
I raise up the Chaldeans. That's another name for the Babylonians.
It comes from a false religion, a priestly people that were false,
that were idolaters. That bitter and hasty nation
which shall march through the breadth of the land to possess
the dwelling places that are not theirs, they are terrible
and dreadful, their judgment and their dignity shall proceed
of themselves. Their horses also are swifter
than the leopards and are more fierce than the evening wolves.
That's the hungry wolves. And their horsemen shall spread
themselves, and their horsemen shall come from far, and they
shall fly as the eagle that hasten to eat. And you can read on in
that. That's what he's talking about.
It's Babylon. That's a pot boiling of Babylon. Babylon up there,
they were full of themselves. They were just chomping at the
bit, as it were, to get at Israel. to get at the nation Judah. And that's what this is about.
This is that seething pot, boiling over with a thirst for power.
And they were going to be, they were evil, but they were going
to be used as an instrument of God's judgment. Well, look at
these last three verses. Here's the prophet's power. Now,
this is a serious message. It's not going to be a popular
message. And it cannot be preached in the power and wisdom of men.
So here's what God says to Jeremiah. Here's his power. He says, thou
therefore gird up thy loins, that is, tie up your robes and
get ready to run. That's what he's saying. Not
run away now, but run with the message and arise and speak unto
them all that I command thee. Don't hold back anything, Jeremiah.
Don't you pick and choose. You preach the word of God. Be
not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
In other words, if you fear them and cave into them, then I'll
confound you. And I'll tell you what, that's
when preachers get confounded and confused. When they try to
hone their message to their hearers rather than just standing up
and preaching the word of God. People have itching ears. Oh,
I don't want to hear that. Don't tell me that. Tell me,
you know, somebody, I had a lady tell me down in Albany one time,
she says, you don't have anything good to say about anybody. I
said, well, I have a lot of good to say about Christ. And that's
what the people of God want to hear. But I don't want to be
confounded. He says in verse 18, For behold,
I have made thee this day a defense city, an iron pillar, brazen
walls against the whole. Nobody can touch you, Jeremiah,
unless I let them. He says, Against the kings of
Jews, the kings can't touch you. Against the princes, the nobles
thereof. Against the priests, even their religious leaders
can't touch you. And against the people of the
land. Jeremiah was under God's protection. And here's the key,
verse 19, they shall fight against thee, they're gonna come against
you, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I'm with thee,
there it is. Christ is with us, saith the
Lord, to deliver thee. Christ told his disciples, he
said, in the world you're gonna have tribulation. He said, marvel
not if the world hates you. It hated me before it hated you.
He said, in the world you're going to have trouble. He said,
but be of good cheer for I have overcome the world. Nobody can
touch you. Now listen, that doesn't just
apply to the preacher. It applies to all of God's children.
Nobody can touch you unless God allows it. That's right. You're under His protection.
And think about this. Satan cannot touch you. He can
accuse. But the arrows of his accusations
cannot stick because we're in Christ, washed in his blood and
clothed in his righteousness. We're indwelt with the Holy Spirit
who keeps us looking to him. All right.