Look this way. Projectile boy! Alright. Turn with me if you would this
morning to Jeremiah chapter 1. A passage of scripture that was
on my mind this morning. Actually there was another verse
that was on my mind at first. and started reading here this
morning in Jeremiah. I thought I might try to bring
forth some things that the Lord is pleased to give me evidence. Some thoughts here in these first
few verses of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 1. I'm going
to start reading verse 5. I'm going to Read down to verse 19 to the
end of the chapter. Let's bow before the Lord in
prayer. Lord, we come to you now and
we thank you for your mercy and for your grace. We thank you
for the Lord Jesus Christ. We thank you for salvation. We
thank you for your sovereignty of all things. We thank you for
your predestinated purpose, Lord, know that everything in this
life is not in a chaotic mess that is not happening opposite
of what you have planned and purposed that is going exactly
according to the way that you have designed father we come
to you this morning humbly asking that you might be with us today
as we come and gather to worship you, and we ask that you would
help us, Lord, that you would strengthen us in the inner man,
that you would teach us and prepare us for this worship, that you
might lift our hearts to you for the gospel of Jesus Christ,
and Lord, we might be glad in him, that we might, as we just
sang, rest in that man who has secured all things on our behalf,
And as we also just sang, Lord, the things of this world that
we perform, whether good or bad, does not avail us to you, but
in Christ alone does our faith find rest. And so we ask Lord
today that we might see Christ and that our faith that you have
given us through Christ Jesus would find its rest in you. As we see this morning, Christ
vividly portrayed. Lord, we thank you so much for
all that you have done for us. I ask Lord now that you would
continue to bless in this time, that you would give hearing ears,
that you would give me ability to speak, or that you would help
me in my infirmity, or that you might just bless your people. In Christ's name that we pray,
amen. Starting reading in Jeremiah
chapter 1, in verse 4, it says, Then the word of the Lord came
unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee.
And before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified
thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. And then said
I, O Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. But
the Lord said unto me, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee,
thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces,
for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Then the
Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and he 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. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said,
I see a rod of an almond tree. Then said the Lord unto me, thou
hast well seen, for I will hasten my word to perform it. The word
of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, what seest
thou? And I said, I see a seething
pot, and the face thereof is toward the north. Then the Lord
said unto me, Out of the north, and 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 every one his throne at the entering
of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof
round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will
utter my judgments against them, touching all their wickedness
who have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods,
and worship the works of their own hands. Thou, therefore, gird
up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command
thee. Be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before
them. For behold, I have made thee
this day a defense city and an iron pillar and brazen walls
against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the
princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against
the people of the land. And they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee,
saith the Lord, to deliver thee." Now, as we look at these verses
here, the first thing that comes to mind is this is the call of
Jeremiah. the prophet Jeremiah was one
of the major prophets of the Old Testament and We definitely
see in the physical This was Jeremiah's calling I don't doubt
any bit of what this is saying here that God had before Jeremiah
was even born Had sanctified him and ordained him to be a
prophet. It says there in verse 5 Before I formed thee in the
belly. I knew thee Before thou camest
forth out of the womb, I sanctify thee, and I ordain thee a prophet. Now, brethren, I want to look
at these verses here, not necessarily in the physical, and I've mentioned
this to you before. While we see in the Old Testament
a lot of physical things that definitely took place that were
realities that actually happened, not just allegories or stories,
but they were actual happenings. But again, we look past the physical
and we look and try to see the spiritual because the Bible says
that in the volume of the book, these things are written about
Christ. The Bible says that from Moses and the prophets, all the
things that are written are written about Christ. So the Old Testament
is all written about Jesus Christ. And whenever we look to God's
word, Especially in the Old Testament, if we're not looking to see Christ
in all of this, then we're missing the whole point. This was written
for the reason of revealing Christ Jesus. That's why the Word of
God is given to us, whether it be Old Testament or New Testament.
It is a written testimony, it is a preserved testimony of God's
revelation of Himself in the man Jesus Christ. and so when
we look at these things while we see the physical call of jeremiah
the prophet of god and all the things that jeremiah did an experience
in the people of israel and all the nations that have against
uh... jerusalem and then against uh... uh... the profits and against
the people of god when we look at all those things they have
spiritual connotations and we want to find jesus in there and
today i think we ought to look at this and see that while this
may be talking about Jeremiah being called as a prophet, I
believe if we look a little bit further, we see that this is
actually speaking and revealing to us about Jesus himself. This is the calling of Jesus
Christ, the anointed of God. That's what Christ is. Jesus,
his last name isn't Christ. Christ is a title that was given
to him Christ means the Anointed One. Christ means the Messiah,
the Deliverer, the Savior, Jesus Christ. That word is full of
meaning there. Well, the word Jeremiah just
so happens. God didn't willy-nilly put all
these things together in calling this prophet because we see here
in verse 5, before He even formed him in the belly and brought
him forth from the womb, He had already in God's eternal purpose
and plan sanctified and ordained Jeremiah at this point in time
to become a prophet for God. And the word Jeremiah means the
one who is appointed of God. Jesus Christ was the man who
was appointed of God to save his people. Jesus Christ was
the one who was appointed of God to take on flesh, for God
to take on flesh and to come and as man and God be the mediator
between God and man. Jesus was the appointed one to
come and to preach victory, to come and preach deliverance to
those who were held captive. He was come to be the victor
over the enemies of God's people, particularly sin and death, the
enemies of Satan and sin and death. And while we see there's
physical stuff here happening, if we go a little bit further
and look into the spiritual aspect of this, we see the work of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't think it's any a
chance that his name was Jeremiah because it is the one who was
appointed of God. It says, the word of the Lord
came unto me, Jeremiah, the one who was appointed of God. Before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest
forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and ordained thee a prophet
unto the nations. Is not Jesus Christ the one who
God had brought forth from eternity in his manhood to be the mediator,
to be the prophet to the nations, to be the preacher. Now I'm a
preacher, but I'm not the preacher. I am not the prophet. Jesus is
the prophet, priest, and king. He is the one who has come. It
is he who does the teaching in the heart. It is he who comes
and declares the things of God. The Bible says that Jesus is
the one who has declared God. What we know about God, we know
because of Jesus. And so it says here that the
word of the Lord came unto Jesus saying, before I formed thee,
before I brought thee forth, I set thee apart and ordained
thee for this appointed office as Christ, as the anointed one,
as the Messiah, as the Savior. He appointed him. God has covenanted
to be a Savior to His people, and Jesus is that person. I look
forward and I see that it says that, I have ordained thee a
prophet unto the nations. Jesus wasn't just to come. Now,
while He was here on earth, He came and preached specifically
to the people of Israel. But yet, that did not stop there. From the beginning of time, God
had purposed that it wasn't just going to be for Israel, but it
was going to be for the whole world. The preaching of the gospel
was to be sent into all the world. And so, therefore, Jesus would
become a prophet, not only to the nation of Israel, but to
all the nations of the world. The spread of the gospel, and
especially from the time of Jesus' resurrection forward, We see
that the nations now have the gospel being preached to. That
the gospel has went out into all the world. And I don't believe
there's a place that the gospel has not went. Now, is there places
that in little segments where people may not have happened
to hear the preaching of the gospel? There may be some, but
they went out to all the nations. We know that the gospel has been
preached to all the world, the Bible says so in Acts. That the
word went out to all the world. And so I trust that God knows
what he's saying whenever he told us that. Whether or not
all the missionary minded people want to say that that's not true,
it is true according to the scripture that God has given to us. But
Jesus has been appointed by God to be the prophet unto all the
nations. Now notice that it's he that
is the prophet unto all the nations. Whenever the prophets of the
Old Testament spoke, they spoke the words of God. They spoke
what God told them to speak. They were not thinking things
up on their own, coming up with their own ideas, with their own
learning or anything like that. The Word of the Lord came to
them and said, say this to the people. And we'll see this here
in a minute, but say this to the people. So they only spoke
the things that God had given them to speak. Well, it's not
Jesus the one, but the Bible says that I only speak the things
that I have seen and heard, that all that the Father has told
me, that's what I've spoken unto you. Jesus in his prayer in John
17, he said, all those things that you've given me to reveal
to them, I've revealed to them. I've given everything to my people. Whenever Jesus was talked about
in Philippians, he said that he humbled himself as a servant
and became obedient to God, meaning that everything that the Father
had given for him to accomplish as the appointed one, he accomplished. He heard it and he did it. And
this is where it says here that that he has been ordained a prophet. And in verse 9, look at verse
9, it 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. So Jesus only spoke the things
that he had seen and heard of the Father. Those things that
he has given to us. Jump back up to verse 6, it says,
Then said I, O Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a But
the Lord said unto me, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt
go to all that I shall send thee. See, Jesus only goes to those
whom the Lord has sent. Remember whenever Jesus was praying
in that 17th chapter of John, he was praying for his people. He said, I pray for them. I pray
not for the world, but I pray for them, the ones that thou
hast given me. Jesus prayed for those that God
had given him, and the message that God had given him was to
whom Jesus was taking that message to, the ones that he prayed for.
Matter of fact, Jesus had mentioned even before that, one time in
speaking of God, whenever God had revealed truth to his disciples,
he said, you know, he prayed, lifted his eyes up to heaven,
he said, I thank you, Father, that you have revealed These
things, that you've hidden these things from the wise and the
prudent, and that you've hidden them in their eyes. They can't see them, they can't
understand them, but you've revealed them unto babes. You've revealed
them unto my children. You've revealed them unto those
that you have given me. Of course, we talked a lot about
that only those who have been born from above, they're the
ones who know the things of God. The sheep are the only ones who
can hear God's words and know God's words because they are
His people. And Jesus was sent to speak to these people and
He said, I'm going to send you and you're going to speak to
whomever I send you to speak to. And that's exactly what Jesus
did. That's exactly what Jesus continues
to do. He continues to bring His word
to the people that God has chosen from before the foundation of
the world. Says in verse 7, But the Lord
said unto me, Say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that
I shall send thee. And you notice there it says
all that I shall send thee. It doesn't say unto some that
I shall send thee, but unto all that I shall send thee. See there isn't one child of
God that the word of gospel is not going to come to. they will
be taught, given faith and taught of God to know Christ Jesus. I don't believe that there are
people that are born into this world elect of God who have eternal
salvation that go through this life and then go out of this
life and never hear the gospel of Jesus Christ or have been
given faith and taught of God to know Christ and to come to
Him. And I know people like to say
that there's people with mental deficiencies that Can't ever
know that, that maybe, you know, what about people that are in
a coma? What about people that are in a state of, you know,
such a mental decapacity that they can't know anything? What
about babies? What about those in the womb
before they're ever born? You know? Brethren, I just take
what the Bible says. The Bible says that all that
the Father gives me shall come to me. He says that He is going
to teach all of His people. They will all know Me. So how
does He do that? He does that through the Spirit
of God within the soul. I don't know how He does that.
I don't know that we can't see all that. Just like we can't
see the wind blowing where it's going to go and where it's not.
We just see the effects of it. We may not see the effects of
some people until we go into glory. can't talk, can't speak,
never was born. We don't know those things, but
we know one thing. The Bible says that John the
Baptist, while he was in the womb, was filled with the Holy
Spirit of God. And whenever it was announced that Jesus was
going to be born, he leapt in the womb at the sound of that. So we know that God can work
and move and teach Christ to those who are even in the womb.
We know that Cornelius never heard the gospel preached, but
yet God had already taught him, and he had already knew things,
and was already praying, and God was hearing his prayer, and
his works come before God as righteous, and as he worshiped
God, he just worshiped him not rightly. He didn't know because
he didn't know the gospel. He didn't know the full story
of everything, but God had taught him who Christ was. that had
already quickened him. And whenever the gospel came,
he believed. And of course, we see here with
Jeremiah, and you can say the same thing with Paul, he says,
he called thee, he knew thee, and he called thee, sanctified
thee before he was even born. God sanctified or set him apart
for his purpose before he was even born. Well, if that's the
case, Jeremiah, before he was even born from the womb, before
he was even formed in the womb, God already had a relationship
with him and knew him. And so how does this come to
be? I don't know how it comes to
be to those in the womb, how it comes to be to those who don't
have cognitive abilities. All I know is the Bible says
that he will come to them and they will come to him. He says,
Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver
thee, saith the Lord. Now, I remember back, especially
in the Psalms, we find often in the Psalms where it talks
about the enemies coming against Christ. Christ talks about, you
know, I'm encompassed and surrounded by my enemies. They've come in
and they're against me. And we think about that. We think
about even us as Christians Whenever we preach and teach the gospel,
we hold to the things of Christ Jesus, that we have enemies from
without who wants to come against us. But we see here, Jesus is
being told, do not be afraid of your enemies that are going
to come against you, that the Lord will deliver him. Jesus
knew. Of course, being God, he knows
all things. But as far as his manhood, Jesus
knew that enemies were going to come, but God had promised
to deliver him. Though they come and they take
him by cruel hands and by wicked hands, and they beat him and
they torture him and they crucify him, that they will not prevail
that God would deliver him. We see that picture up on the
mountain whenever Abraham took Isaac up there, the child of
promise, Christ being the child of promise, being the one of
promise to come. Abraham took Isaac up on the
mountain to sacrifice Isaac and before Abraham did the deed of
slaying Isaac, what did God do? God provided a substitute. He
provided a ram. He provided something. He delivered
his people by this ram and we look and we see that when
Christ came and He died for us, He was our sacrifice. And even
though all these men came and railed against Him and thought
they killed Him, thought they had done away with Him, ended
His ministry, shut His mouth, shut down the gospel that He
was preaching, the Lord prevailed and delivered Him from those
enemies by raising Him from the dead. He delivered Him from the
enemies and he was victorious. Everything that Jesus came to
do, he accomplished. They didn't stop him whatsoever.
Matter of fact, the irony of everything is while they thought
they were putting Christ to death and silencing his message, their
very actions of doing that was what God had preordained before
the foundation of the world to be the victory over all of his
enemies. While the enemies thought they
were, what they thought, for evil, God meant for good. And so God tells Christ, be not
afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith
the Lord. The Lord Jesus often spoke in
the Psalms of the Lord delivering him. He knows that the Lord will
deliver me. I will not be left to myself. I will not be forgotten. The
Lord will not forget me. He will deliver me. He says in verse 9, 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 sent thee over the nations and over the kingdoms. The Bible
teaches us that it is not Christ, the One who is the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. He is above every king and every
kingdom. He is the One who is over all
things. The Bible says that He is I've been given power over
all flesh. That He is the head over all
things. And it says here, to root out
and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down and to build
and to plant. Jesus said Himself, He said, I didn't come to make
peace but a sword. He didn't come to bring peace
with the world, that is. He didn't come to, He came and
brought peace for his people. But he said, I did not come to
bring peace with my message. I came to bring a sword. I came
to divide. This is a dividing that's going
to happen. This gospel is not going to be
received by everybody. It's going to be a dividing thing.
It's going to divide those that are mine from those that are
not mine. The sheep from the goats is going
to divide the elect from the reprobate. And it's going to
come and it's going to tear down, it's going to pull down, it's
going to destroy all the wisdom of the wise. It's going to take
all the things of men and what they think that they have built
up. Listen, brethren, one of these days, whenever Christ comes
again and all things are put down and destroyed and the new
heavens and the new earth have come, the eternal time, the eternal
state comes and all is before God. The sheep are separated
from the goats. Judgment comes upon the goats,
and they're tossed into everlasting darkness. The Bible says that
at that time, all strongholds would be down. Listen, all those
kings that thought they were rivaling up against Jesus, this
country that thinks they can shake their fists in the face
of Jesus said, I don't care what you want to say, you know, how
you want to dictate to us, you know, what we should believe. Listen, every stronghold will
be brought down. There ain't gonna be one person
standing before the Lord. The Bible says, every knee shall
bow. They're all gonna recognize and see the sovereignty of God
right there before them. His eyes, the Bible says, that
is like fire. The sword of His word, when it
comes out, I mean, not literally, but whenever it comes out, it's
going to be piercing and dividing. It's going to be, it's going
to be, it's going to slay. And so whenever God comes or
whenever Christ comes and people of all these worlds that have
been against Christ, and even those who have professed Christ,
but have not submitted to his righteousness, they're going
to be put down and thrown down. The Bible says in verse 11 here,
moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Jeremiah,
or the one who is anointed of God, what seest thou? And I said,
I see a rod of almond tree, of an almond tree. Now think back,
I don't know, maybe some of y'all maybe not put this together or
anything, but maybe you have. Anybody else remember an almond,
a rod of almond? If you remember in the Ark of
the Covenant, when Moses and the people of Israel carried
around the Ark of the Covenant, they had in the Ark of the Covenant
the rod of Aaron that budded. It was an almond tree, a branch
of an almond tree. And it was a rod made from an
almond wood, from an almond tree. And that almond wood, it was
just, had been cut off from the tree, but yet it budded, it bore
fruit, it came alive. And this is a picture of our
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The almond tree is just dead,
don't even look like it has much on there, it's just plain, just
a plain piece of wood. And out of that plain piece of
wood came fruit. Remember the Bible says about
Jesus that he is calmly, that he has nothing there that anybody
would look at that they would desire him. or would want him
or anything that is flashy about him, that he'd come, as I said,
calmly, just naturally, just looks plain. There isn't nothing
flashy about him and everything. He came like an almond branch. But yet out of that rod, out
of that, and not to mention the Bible says that he is the rod
of David, He's the root out of dry ground. Okay? All these analogies pointing
to this very thing that Jesus didn't look like much, but yet
out of Him sprang all the fruit of His children. That it budded
and brought forth fruit. Whenever Christ came as the rod
and died on the tree, It brought forth much fruit. Jesus said,
unless a grain of wheat falls in the ground and dies, it brings
forth, it abides alone. But if it is put in and it dies,
it bears forth fruit. Christ Jesus, whenever he died,
he brought forth fruit. He died as a comely man. Nobody
thought they even railed at him. Look at this man. He claimed
to be the Messiah. He claimed to be God's son. He
claimed to be all this. And look at him. Here he is.
He can't even bring himself down on the tree. I mean, he just
looked like another thief on the cross, another person on
the crucifixion cross. But yet out of that very thing,
the Bible says, was all the victory over sin and death and the salvation
of his people. And there was fruit that came
from that. And he says, Jeremiah, what seeth thou? And he said,
I see a rod of an almond tree. Now look at this verse 12. Then
said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen, for I will hasten
my word to perform it." There is the promise of God that the
purpose of God is going to take place in Jesus. Look back at,
hold your place there, look at Isaiah chapter 53. I think it
kind of speaks to the same thing here. Verse 10, Isaiah 53, 10. Yet
it pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath put him to grief
when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin. He shall
see his seed, his fruit. You kids are the fruit of my
loins. You're the fruit or the seed. For he shall see his seed, he
shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper
in his hands. he shall see the travail of his
soul, and be satisfied by his knowledge, shall my righteous
servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquity. Therefore will I divide him a
portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoiled with
the strong, because he had poured out his soul unto death, and
he was numbered with the transgressors, and he bared the sin of many,
and made intercession for the intercessors. So that rod that
budded, that plain rod of almond, God promised that He would see
it flourish and it would be fruitful. What Christ would do in His coming,
in His taking on flesh, would be fruitful, that it wouldn't
be a failed job. 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 and the face thereof is toward
the north. 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, said the Lord, and they shall
come and they shall set everyone his throne at the entering of
the gates of Jerusalem and against all the walls thereof round about.
and against all the cities of Judah, and I will utter my judgments
against them, touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken
me and have burned incense unto other gods and worship the works
of their own hands." I'll just stop right there, and this illustration
that God gives here about the seething pots and those coming
from the northern, I'll be honest with this, I don't know fully
what that completely means. The Lord has yet to give me a
lot. on that, but I will say this as I look at this and try
to find Jesus in this. We know one thing that oftentimes
the Bible speaks of Jerusalem, speaking of the people of God
that's speaking of us as his people. And it says here that
all the families of the kingdoms of the north are all going to
come. They're going to set up their
thrones around these people. And they're going to rail against
him says they're going to they're going to be against the walls
there around about and they were and God says that he's going
to utter his judgments against him. I think about the people
of God and how They have been given the gospel as they stand
in the gospel and preach the gospel. And so many that are
around him, especially professing Christianity today, modern Christianity,
false Christianity today, sit at the gates of the people of
God and are bringing these accusations. But what does the Lord say here?
He said, I will utter judgments against them, touching all their
wickedness who have forsaken me. See, all the people that
have forsaken God, all of those who have, as it says here, burned
incense to other gods, we see a Christianity today that speak
the name Jesus, that speak the name salvation, that speak the
name God, they speak the name Christianity, but yet their gospel
is far from the biblical gospel. They speak to a Jesus that is
not the Jesus of the Bible, who came and actually saved every
person for whom he died, and therefore every one of those
people will be saved. They preached a Jesus who came
with a plan of salvation, who made salvation possible through
his death for everybody, but the offer of the gospel must
be accepted, and so that person must in turn receive, believe,
repent, do some sort of law keeping or whatever the case might be,
whatever condition they put on it, that gospel is a false gospel. That Jesus is a false Jesus.
It is another God. And so they have been burning
incense, so to speak, to other gods. They've been worshiping
other gods. Of course, we know this to be
true in Jeremiah's time, during the captivity in Babylon, and
there was many that were worshiping, had went away from from God,
Jehovah, and have been serving and worshiping Baal. But we look here at our time,
we look how we are experiencing this, that there are many who
have come against the people of God, and God says here, listen,
I see that, I know that, they're not gonna get away with that,
they're gonna come against my people, but in the end, I will
judge their wickedness. But notice it's not just the
ones who are Satanism, Satanists, the evil, evil pedophiles and
rapists and xenochromists and, you know, all these bad, bad,
bad people. It's also those religious people
who have come and have been burning incense thinking that they are
worshiping. Look what he says there at the
end of that verse 16, "...and worship the works of their own
hands." Does that not sound like every other denomination and
religion besides that of those who are Christ? Those who are
Christ, they realize that it is the work of Christ alone.
But everybody else, it's a works thing. It's a salvation of works.
And yes, there are people that preach sovereign grace who preach
a salvation of works. There are those who claim election. They claim predestination. They
claim God's sovereignty in all things, but yet they still preach
a gospel of yea and nay. They preach a gospel of yes or
no. Do you want this? Yes or no.
Or they preach a gospel of initial salvation is yes by God alone. But final salvation, you have
to keep up all these works or you will not get to heaven. I
made a post about that this week on my Facebook about the error
and the heresy of John Piper and how he believes that final
salvation or final justification comes through our obedience, becoming holy. And
he uses the verse, without holiness, no man will see God. Brethren,
the holiness that God requires is not a holiness that we could
ever perform in this lifetime. The holiness that God requires
and that that verse is talking about is the holiness of Christ
that has been imputed to them. Without that holiness, no man
will see God. But yet people like these that
God is talking about, that come and surround themselves around
the people of God, who either rail against the people of God
or are trying to deceive the people of God, who are pretending
to be the people of God, They're all going to be put down, no
matter what strike they are. And God will show that their
works of all the things that they were doing were the works
of their own hands. Remember in Matthew, is it Matthew
7 or Matthew 17? The Bible says that there will
be many on that day that say, Lord, Lord, did we not in your
name cast out demons and do all these mighty great works? He
said, depart from me, you workers of an where I never knew you."
See what he said up here? He said, I knew thee. He knew Christ. The Bible says
that He knows us, right? He knew us from the foundation
of the world. Those whom He has fore... All those whom God has
foreknew, He predestined. Those whom God foreknew, He knows
us, who are the elect of God. Those who are not the elect of
God, He does not know. Not that He doesn't have cognitive
knowledge of them. He has not set His love upon
them. He has not set a relationship
with them. They are not in union with Him. They are not His children.
See, you guys are mine. I know you. We have a family
relationship with each other. I know other people, but I don't
know them like I know you, right? I have a cognitive knowledge
of other people, but I don't have a familiar family relation
with them like I do with you guys. We are Christ's children. There is a relationship there
and a bond of union as father and children that is not there
for all those outside of Christ. And all these people that Jesus
will say, I never knew you, you were never mine. You weren't
given to me of God. Worship the works of their own
hands. I keep thinking about that over and over and over again.
How long I spent my time on this earth. In essence, I don't wanna,
I would never have admitted to it, and I sure am not proud of
it, and I probably was ignorant of it, which I was ignorant of
it, I'm sure of that, but how long on this earth have I spent
worshipping the works of my own hands? What I did, what I do,
It was, how long did you study your Bible today? How much time
in prayer did you spend? Did you go to church every time
the doors was open this week? Did you speak to that person?
Oh, you forgot, you came off the elevator and didn't speak
to that person while you're on the elevator. You didn't do that.
Did I do enough today? See, I'm worshiping the works
of my own hands because I think it's that that is making the
difference in my acceptance with Jesus or my keeping But brethren,
that is what everybody outside of Christ continues to do. Every
religion, I've mentioned this to you guys before, every religion
has everything, one thing in common across every denomination,
every religion, whether it's deemed Christian or non-Christian,
every denomination and every religion has one thing in common,
and that is the worship of the will. Man has free will to choose
and to not choose. Man has free will to obey or
not to obey. And people are worshiping the
works of their own hands, their own will, their own choices,
and they don't even know it because they're ignorant of it. But it
will be revealed. God is not going to let that
go by. He says, I will utter my judgments against them, touching
all their wickedness. Verse 17, thou therefore gird
up thy loins and arise and speak unto them all that I command
thee. There again he says, all that I command thee. All that
I command thee. You hearing that? I've preached
on this in the past and maybe you guys remember this. You guys
know what a quantifier is? A quantifier is something that
quantifies. Now, you see how intelligent
that was? How much I had to study to learn
that? It quantifies something. Let me say, let me say this. We, seven, eight of us in here,
okay? Eight of us met together for
worship today. What's the quantifier? Eight, right? Eight of us. The
quantity that was here is eight. Okay? So a quantifier is something
that delineates the amount or the specificity of who is being
talked about. The Bible says, for as many as
thou hast given me, I've given eternal life to. As many as is
the quantifier. As many as. Not everyone, but
as many as thou hast given me. So who is the one that God gave
eternal life to? As many as was given to Christ. That's the quantifier. Jesus
here is using a quantifier. God is using a quantifier here
in who Jesus the prophet is to speak to. to all I command thee." Now someone will say, well, that
word all means all, so Jesus spoke and commanded these things
to all, so the gospel is a command to all people. That's not what
this means. It's very clear. To all them
that I command thee. If God gives a quantifier, then that means because there is a
quantifier, There is of necessity, now follow me, don't check out,
there is of necessity a disqualifier. If God uses a quantifier to say
to these, it is in opposition to everyone else besides the
ones he quantified. If I said All eight of us came
for worship today. Does that all mean everybody
in the world came to worship? No. Who came to worship here?
The eight of us. To the exclusion of everybody
else. The people across the street,
the people down the road, the ones of our membership that are
not here. They are not here. So the quantifier
is the disqualifier of everybody that's not included in the quantification,
right? Therefore gird up thy loins,
arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee. Christ is given to speak and
to teach all that the Father has given Him. Look at verse
18, For behold, I have made thee this day a defense city, and
an iron pillar, and a brazen walls against the whole land,
against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, and against
the people of the land, and they shall fight against thee, but
they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee, saith
the Lord to deliver thee." Again, we see the faithfulness of God
in preserving not only Jesus, but his people. As Jerusalem,
The Bible talks about the city. And it talks about Jesus being
the corners, chief cornerstone. And we are lively stones that
are built up that make the walls of the city. Right? And so whenever it speaks of
that, it doesn't just speak of God's people, but it speaks of
Jesus who is the foundation, who is the chief cornerstone
that everything is built on. Jesus said, I will build my church. He's building it upon Him. Peter
said, thou art the, he said, who do men say that I am? And
he said, who are you saying that I am, Peter? And Peter said,
thou art Christ, son of the living God. Jesus said, on this rock,
not on Peter, but on this rock, I will build my church. What
rock? The chief cornerstone, Christ,
the son of God. That's who is being the foundation
of God's building. We, being His people, are those
lively stones that are being built up to construct this building. Not the walls of an actual building,
but a lively people building. And so Jesus, whenever He speaks
in Jerusalem, can never be spoken of without having Him at the
center and the foundation of it all. The only reason that
Jerusalem stands is because the chief cornerstone is there supporting
them. The only way that the people
of God, that the church of Jesus Christ stands is because Jesus
is the chief cornerstone. The only reason that the gates
of hell will never prevail against them is because Jesus is the
chief cornerstone. And that God has promised that
He will not see defeat. For behold, I have made thee
this day a defense city, an iron pillar, and brazen walls against
the whole land." We're not talking about a fort made out of wood,
okay? You made a fort. This is a really
bad example, but I think it shows it. Remember the story of the
three little pigs? Who's the little pig that was
kept safe? The one whose house was made
out of bricks, right? The ones that was made out of
straw and wood, nothing. Matter of fact, the Bible even
gives another illustration. Those whose house is built upon
sand, what happens? The rains came down and the floods
came up and the walls came down and down, however it goes. That
guy just makes two different songs. But anyway, but anyway, the point
is, is Jesus is the foundation of that city. But whenever it
speaks here, the promise that Jerusalem will not be defeated. Now, is it going to be attacked? Absolutely. It's going to be
attacked. They came to the outside of the walls and they attacked.
We will be attacked. Jesus said in this life, you'll
have much tribulation. You're going to be persecuted
for my namesake. You're going to be hated and scorned and put
to death for my name. But he said, but listen, that
city is not going to be destroyed. My people will not be destroyed.
My anointed one will not see defeat. He will not fail. He said, they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail. We look at this lifetime. Look,
everybody is raving against the gospel of Jesus, whether it's
from the true wicked ones that are really anti anything gospel
or the ones who have come as a messenger of light. Whether
it's Satan in his bare form in the midst of all these Satan
worshippers out there, these people that are in blatant open
wickedness with all this sin in the world and then the ones
that come as a how Satan comes as a messenger of life. It looks
like Christianity, but it's not the true gospel. Whether they
come, they are going to fight against us, but they are not
going to prevail. Why? For I am with thee, saith
the Lord, to deliver thee. So brethren, take heart this
morning that God has called Jeremiah. God is called the one
appointed of God. And he has formed him, he has
fashioned him, he has sanctified him, he has sent him as a prophet
to teach his people and to show them and to do for them and to
deliver them. And nothing in this lifetime,
nothing in this world can set itself up against that holy city,
his people. Nothing can set itself up against
that that is going to prevail. The Bible says, no weapon formed
against me shall prosper. That doesn't mean you're not
going to be attacked. That doesn't mean you're not going to see
failures. That doesn't mean that there's not going to be loss.
But in the end, we shall reap if we think not. And we won't
think because Christ has promised to keep us, right? So I pray
that we've seen Christ in this, not just Jeremiah, who was a
great prophet of the Lord, but we see Christ in here, the anointed,
the one appointed of God. Does anybody have any questions
this morning? Just some thoughts that I had on this passage today.
I didn't know if anybody had anything to add to that. All
right. Lord, we're once again grateful
for all that you've done. We're also grateful, Father,
for this word that you've given to us, revealing Christ Jesus. And Lord, we're so thankful.
Lord, I pray for the scatteredness of my mind and ask forgiveness,
Lord, for that. But Lord, all things are from
you. And we pray, Lord, that despite my infirmities again,
that you still teach your people and still can convey truth to
them. Lord, and I pray that you'd also keep them from error that
I might ever espouse in the wisdom of my flesh. Lord, I thank you
again for this time that we've met together, and I pray that
you'll be with us this coming week and that you might keep
us. And Lord, we just once again want to give praise and honor
to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It's in his name that
we pray. Amen.