I Am With Thee

Q: What does the Bible say about God's calling and choosing?

The Bible teaches that God knows and ordains individuals for specific purposes even before they are born, as seen in Jeremiah 1:5. In Jeremiah 1:5, the Lord declares to Jeremiah, '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.' This verse highlights God's sovereign choice and foreknowledge, demonstrating that He has specific plans for individuals even before their birth. This is consistent with the broader Reformed theological perspective which emphasizes that salvation and calling are not based on human merit or decision but solely on God's grace and divine purpose. In this light, every believer can take comfort in knowing that their paths are directed by God, who has a unique purpose for each life.

Q: How do we know God's presence is with us?

God assures His presence to His people, as stated in Jeremiah 1:8, 'Be not afraid... for I am with thee to deliver thee.' In Jeremiah 1:8, God directly reassures the prophet Jeremiah, 'Be not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.' This promise of God's presence is a source of comfort and courage, reminding us that God is always with His chosen people, especially in times of fear and uncertainty. The Reformed tradition emphasizes that God's covenant promises assure believers of His abiding presence throughout their lives. Whether facing opposition or personal trials, Christians can rely on this promise as found throughout Scripture, acknowledging that their strength and deliverance come from God alone. As believers today, this assurance propels us to live boldly for the Gospel despite the challenges we may face.

Q: Why is it important to root out sin before accepting the Gospel?

Rooting out sin is essential for receiving the Gospel, as the heart must be prepared to accept God's truth. The sermon illustrates that before one can accept the Gospel, there must be a groundwork of repentance and recognition of sin. As stated in the text, 'There are six actions... to root out and to pull down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant.' This sequence indicates that the reception of the Gospel message requires an acknowledgment of our sinful state and a divine work on the heart to enable belief. The Reformed perspective emphasizes that true understanding and acceptance of the Gospel come through the work of the Holy Spirit, who prepares the heart by first exposing sin and leading individuals to recognize their need for salvation. Without this preparatory work, the seed of the Gospel falls on hard soil and is unable to take root, leading to spiritual growth and fruitfulness.

Q: How does God use weakness for His purpose?

God often uses the weak and humble to fulfill His purposes, as demonstrated in the life of Jeremiah. Throughout Scripture, God chooses those who may appear weak or inadequate to accomplish His purposes, exemplified in Jeremiah's call. Jeremiah himself protests, saying, 'Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child.' Yet, God responds with assurance, stating that he will provide the words and strength needed for the task. This bears witness to the Reformed belief in God's sovereign grace; it is not human ability that qualifies a servant but God's calling and empowerment. God delights to demonstrate His strength in our weakness, showing that His purposes will prevail despite human limitations. In the same spirit, believers are encouraged to rely on God's strength rather than their own, affirming that all glory belongs to Him alone as He works through our frailties.

Q: What is the role of repentance in the Gospel?

Repentance is crucial in the Gospel message, preparing hearts to receive God's grace and salvation. The role of repentance within the framework of the Gospel is vital, as it prepares individuals to truly embrace God's grace. In the sermon, it's noted that Israel had turned to idols and away from God, resulting in their need for the prophetic call to repentance. Jeremiah’s mission involved declaring God’s judgment to lead them back to true worship and repentance. The Reformed tradition emphasizes that genuine repentance involves a turning away from sin and a turning toward God, enabling believers to experience the fullness of His salvation. It is not merely an act of contrition but a fundamental change of the heart, which allows the Gospel's transformative power to take root. This aligns with Paul’s teaching in Romans, where he articulates the necessity of acknowledging sin before experiencing the righteousness of God revealed in Christ.

In the prophecy of Jeremiah chapter
1 we read the following from verse 1. The words of Jeremiah
the son of Hilkiah of the priests that were in Anaphoth in the
land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the
days of Josiah the son of Ammon king of Judah in the 13th year
of his reign. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh
year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto the
carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. 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. Then said I, Ah, 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 the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee
over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull
down and to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant. Verse 8, Be not afraid of their
faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Jeremiah was a remarkable prophet,
chosen of God, sent of God unto a nation which was apostate. unto the nation of Israel which
had turned its back upon its God and his ways wholesale and
had gone off worshipping false gods and idols. They had utterly
turned from God and although they would have pretended to
serve God, their religion was utterly corrupt. And God sent forth this man,
Jeremiah, a young man, such that when God called him and sent
him forth, he cried out in protest, O Lord God, behold, I cannot
speak, for I am a child. Yet God said, 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. God sent this young man to this
apostate nation to preach unto them that God was angry with
them. that God's judgment would come
upon them that God would send them as a nation into captivity
and bring all the nations of the north down upon them as it
says later in chapter 1 God said 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 God would come upon this nation and would
send it into captivity. But ultimately, he would deliver
her again by grace and bring her back, that people amongst
her, bring that people back to Jerusalem, back to the temple
and back to him. Jeremiah's prophecy is a prophecy
of the gospel, of the coming of Christ, of his great salvation
and redemption of his people. But it's a prophecy that begins
with a rooting out and a pulling down, a destroying and a throwing
down. Before the church is built and
the gospel seed is planted. Now you can imagine the fear
in this young man's heart when God sent him unto this nation
to go into the streets, to go into the towns and to stand up
in the crowds and to cry out unto them what God would have
him say unto them. Imagine if you today were called
to go before wicked Britain, or corrupt America, or whichever
nation you might dwell in in this world today, which is in
rebellion against Almighty God. and to stand before the people
and to say boldly before them what God would do to them. That
the wrath of God burns against their unrighteousness. That there
is a day of reckoning coming. that this world will surely be
burnt up with fire and that every one of them must stand before
God and give himself an account before God of the good and the
bad that he has done, whatever works he has done. If you go
and stand before men and say such things You'll have their
anger and their fury and their derision and their scorn and
their mocking. Oh what a fool you are. Get rid
of him. He's mad. Well that's what Jeremiah faced. And you can imagine the fear,
the natural fear in his heart. And yet God comforts His servant
and says unto him, 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. And later in the chapter, He
says, verse 17, 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 defenced 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. What comfort and what assurance
and what boldness Jeremiah would have found in these words. Yes,
he was sent to do an awesome task. Yes, he was sent to stand
up before a people that could easily have put him to death,
who would have been furious with him, full of hatred and enmity
against him and his message and his God. And yet God gives him
the boldness to go forth and to stand and to preach as he's
been commanded because God says of him that I have made thee
this day a defense city. You're like an iron pillar Jeremiah
and you are like brazen walls against the whole land. They
will come unto you and they will fight against you. They will
hurl their accusations. They will scorn. They will mock
you. They will beat you. They will
put stripes upon your back. They will hound you from city
to town. From village to wilderness. They
will be full of fury. They will fight you. And yet
I have made you, Jeremiah, an iron pillar. They will fight,
but they shall not prevail. They will do nothing to slay
you. They will try, but you are mine. And I have sent you for a purpose,
and they will hear. I am with thee, saith the Lord,
to deliver thee. Now what wonderful hope that
was for Jeremiah and what boldness it would have put in his heart,
by faith, by grace, to be able to stand and to preach boldly
and powerfully the Gospel of Christ unto a nation whose ears
were shut in enmity against it. And what boldness and comfort
and joy the same words and the same promises would give to believers,
to you and I today. For we too are called to stand
and to testify of Christ our Saviour. And we too are called
in a day and in an hour in which the nations around us have rebelled
and have turned from Almighty God wholesale, and in which the
churches around us, though they profess like Israel of old Christ's
name, they have turned aside, turned to another gospel, turned
to their own ways and their own idols, of their own imagination,
they've set up their Jesus that they will worship according to
the fashioning of their own hands and they've turned against the
true Jesus Christ of the gospel and they're full of hatred and
fury against any who testify of him. That's the day in which
we live, that's the day in which we are called to stand and to
testify of Christ And if we stand up with the boldness with which
Jeremiah stood up, we will find that the people, all the people,
the people in the world, the people in the churches, the religious,
they shall all fight against us. And yet God says but they
shall not prevail against thee. For I am with thee, saith the
Lord, to deliver thee. When you speak of Christ, you
will have the opposition, you will know the persecution, you
will know the scorning and the mocking, but you are mine. You are like an iron pillar. You are like brazen walls against
the whole land. You're mine. Now Jeremiah here, as the servant
of God, as his preacher sent forth at such a time, is presented
to us as so often with the prophets as a figure, a type, a picture
of Christ himself. He's a picture of Christ and
so much in his character, so much in what he's sent to do
and so much of what is said of him is figurative of Christ and
his work and his message. In verse 4 we read that the word
of the Lord came unto him 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. You're my chosen,
you're my anointed, You're the one that I knew before you were
born a man upon this world. And I've set you apart, I've
sanctified thee, I've separated you unto this purpose, I have
ordained you as a prophet, a preacher unto the nations. Well what a
thing to be said of Jeremiah, but in reality this is a picture
of what is said of Christ. You are my prophet, the great
prophet sent unto the nations, set apart from the womb, known
of God, for he is God, the Son of God, who came into this world,
eternally the Son, but sent forth into this world, taking upon
himself the flesh of a man, that he should walk before men, that
he should go unto the nations to stand up and to declare his
salvation and his deliverance from condemnation. It's the picture
of Christ. And it's a picture of all Christ's
preachers and prophets throughout history. But what is true of
Him is true of them. To be sent to preach, to be given
that boldness which you must have to stand before an evil
people and to declare the Word of God unto them, which by nature
they will despise and hate, but under God's grace will bring
about their salvation. To declare that is not something
that you can do on a whim. It's not something that you can
take on board as a career choice at some point in your life. It's
not something you decide to do after having spent 20 years in
this career and finding it a bit of a chore, a bit of a bore and
now you're all taken up with religion, with the gospel and
you think you'll have a go at preaching and you do it for a
time until that becomes a weariness and then you move on to something
else. no preacher goes of his own choosing or his own sending. Preachers are not made by their
own decision, their own will, their own works, they're not
made in ministerial colleges as though you have a decision
to take on a certain career and you decide right then I want
to become a preacher I'll pick a college I'll go to this college
I'll learn up theology and having learned I'll go forth. No, preachers
are sent by God, and He knows them before they're ever born.
Before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee. He has a purpose
for them before they're ever born. there may be a point in
their life when he comes unto them when the word of the Lord
comes unto them declaring this and they have that those years
in their life that they have lived before this day comes but
when they discover God's purpose they realize that he had his
hand upon them throughout all the events of their life they
were being prepared and set apart for this work What a thing for Jeremiah to
hear. And how absolute and total this
is. The whole reason he existed,
the whole reason he was born, his whole reason for being was
because God would make him a prophet unto the nations. Was because
God would send him unto them and speak through him. even though
they hated his message God used him for their salvation in the
end. Yes Jeremiah needed to be chosen
for this work for no man would want to say what Jeremiah had
to say. No man in reality would want
to go before such a people and say what he had to say. Men send
themselves to the ministry but they send themselves into churches
where there are numbers in the churches where they can be supported
and financed and where the people are happy to hear what they have
to say. But no man by nature goes forth
with this message to such a people where there are none who will
happily receive him. Jeremiah didn't leave college
and go to a church of 200 people He went forth with nothing and
went out not to a church, not to a congregation, but to a people
who were opposed and hated. A people who did not want to hear.
A people who had no time for him. A people who had no room
for him. He went to doors which were slammed
in his face. He went to meeting halls which
were shut to him. He went to a people who did not
want to know. As with Christ at his birth,
Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem seeking a room for the night. And there was no room. Not one
inn in the town would open its doors. for the King of Kings
and the Lord of Lords to be born in that place. There was no room
for him, every door was shut. And what was true at his birth
remained true through his life. People's doors of their hearts
were shut to Christ by nature, they did not want to know. The man sent of God does not
have an easy ride. But Jeremiah was not a man who
chose to preach. He was God's ambassador, God's
mouthpiece, made bold by God's grace to declare his gospel. By himself, of himself, he had
no strength and no ability. When God sent him, he cries out,
O Lord God, behold, I cannot speak, for I am a child. I'm not strong. I'm not grown. I'm not wise. There are others
greater than me, others more capable. But God said, no, I
have chosen you, Jeremiah. 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 the lord put forth his hand and touch
my mouth jeremiah says and the lord said unto me behold i have
put my words in thy mouth my words in thy mouth yes jeremiah
was nothing but a child But he, but God did not require
capability in Jeremiah. For Jeremiah wasn't sent forth
with Jeremiah's words, with Jeremiah's eloquence, with Jeremiah's learning
and intellect. He wasn't sending forth Jeremiah
with the theology that Jeremiah might acquire, or with the theology
that Jeremiah might glean from other men. something that comes
with age and experience. But God sent forth Jeremiah as
it were as a child, as a young man, knowing nothing, being nothing
of himself, having no strength and ability in himself, but the
strength, the ability, the wisdom and the words all came from God. The Lord said unto me, Behold
I have put my words in thy mouth. This was not Jeremiah's message,
nor was it his ministry, nor his words. Sometimes people speak
of ministers and they speak of their ministry. This was not
Jeremiah's ministry, it was God's. God sent him. God gave him the
words and so it is with any true preacher sent by Christ. I have
put my words in thy mouth. Even Christ himself, the preacher
of preachers, the preacher, he came not to do of his own will,
he came not to speak of his own mind, but he came to do the Father's
bidding, he came preaching that which the Father sent him to
declare. His will, his desire, his life
even, was secondary. At 12 years old, in the temple,
found by his parents, he said unto them, I must be about my
father's business. He has sent me, he's put his
words in my mouth and I must preach them. I must preach them. What was Jeremiah sent to preach? What was he sent to do? He was
sent, as I've said, unto Israel to declare God's anger and wrath
against them, to declare unto them the message of their impending
captivity, of the impending onslaught from the nations of the north
and the captivity in Babylon into which they would soon enter.
God was furious with this people who took his name, who professed
to love him when their hearts were far from him. Jeremiah's
message was no easy message to declare. No easy message. And he did not have an easy audience
to stand before. But despite the judgment declared
in his message, they're followed on the grace, the mercy, the
salvation found in the Gospel of Christ. God must judge this
people first, he must undo that which they had done before they
would ever learn to return unto him. before their hearts would
ever be prepared to receive the seed of the Gospel within. There's
an order to the message of the Gospel, and there always is an
order. In Romans, Romans chapter 1,
when Paul says, I'm not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for
it is the power of God unto salvation, that glorious message of God's
free grace to sinners, of justification, of sanctification, of deliverance
from captivity. When he says he's not ashamed
of that gospel because it's the power of God under salvation
to everyone that believe, if to the Jew first and also to
the Greek, because in the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed. He goes on to expound it. But his exposition of the Gospel
does not begin with the cross, does not begin with the love
and mercy of God in Christ, but it begins with where we are. And where we are, by nature,
is lost in the captivity of sin. We are dead in trespasses and
sins. And the Gospel begins with this
call. The wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who
hold the truth in unrighteousness. because that which may be known
of God is manifest in them for God have showed it unto them
for the invisible things of him from the creation of the world
are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even
his eternal power and Godhead so that they are without excuse. because that when they knew God
they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became
vain in their imaginations and their foolish heart was darkened
professing themselves to be wise they became fools and changed
the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to
corruptible man and to birds and four-footed beasts and creeping
things man though he knows that God is there though the invisible
things of the world and the creation declare his Godhead and his power
so that all men everywhere are without excuse for their unbelief
and their rebellion against their maker Despite that and despite
the fact that man in his pride professes himself to be wise
and intelligent and knowing he has become a fool and he's taken
the glory of God and made it into images which he worships. rather than worshiping Almighty
God who is revealed in the creation. He has turned aside unto idols. Now that's what had happened
with Israel here. They knew they were without excuse. They not only had the witness
of the creation around about them and the witness of their
natural conscience within. but they had the oracles of God,
they had the history, they had the dealings of God with them,
they had the deliverance from Egypt, they had the worship given
unto them, the priesthood, the sacrifices, and yet they taken
even these things and turned aside unto idols. Idols. religious man today, though he
may speak of Jesus Christ, has turned aside and to idols. He
takes Christ's name, he takes Christ's message and he worships
and praises a Jesus, a corrupted Jesus of his own making. He makes God, Almighty God in
Jesus Christ to be like a man, like himself. effectively a sinful
man who thinks and reacts like he does. They want a Jesus who
is their servant. So they will choose when they
will be saved, they will choose when they will worship him, they
will choose what they will give him, they will choose when they
need his help. And he's there for them when
they click their fingers and when they don't want him, they
put him aside. They think of him on Sunday,
they forget about him in the week when they indulge in their
worldly ways. He's an idol. An image made like to a corruptible
man. That's where Israel was. when
Jeremiah was sent with the gospel. And that's why his gospel began
like Paul's with the wrath of God being revealed from heaven
against all the ungodliness and the unrighteousness of men who
hold or who hold back the truth in unrighteousness because that's
what Israel at his time did. Mark's gospel opens in the same
way. tells us that the gospel has
a beginning. The beginning of the gospel of
Jesus Christ the Son of God. The beginning of the gospel is
not the planting and the building of the church, is not the salvation
of Christ at the cross. The beginning of the gospel is,
it is written in the prophets Behold, I send my messenger before
thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee. The voice
of one crying in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make his path straight. The beginning
of the Gospel before Christ follows on is for one called John to
go before, to cry out unto a wicked Israel, repent and be baptised
and turn again from your sin and prepare yourself for the
coming of Christ. That's where we are. That's where
you and I are. In our sins. Lost in sins. in need of turning, in need of
hearts prepared to hear the gospel, to hear of Christ and his grace.
And this is why when God sends Jeremiah, he says under him,
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. There are six actions here, six
actions, six activities that Jeremiah is sent to do. Having
been said over the nations and over the kingdoms, look at the
scope of his ministry. God sends him as it were to all
because here is the figure of Christ. Christ comes to the world
and says unto the world that I must come unto you to first
root out and pull down, destroy and throw down before I may build
and I may plant. Six actions, four of which appear
in the negative sense before you get to the building and the
planting. six actions and so it must be
because our hearts are so entrenched in sin and we are so rebellious
and we are so far off from our God that if one tries to throw
the seed of the gospel into the ground of our heart it will never
grow because it falls on stony ground it falls amongst thorns
and thistles and should it take any root and should it grow up
it will soon be strangled by the cares of this world and the
deceitfulness of riches which is within us. As Christ makes
plain in his parable of the sower the seed of the gospel must be
sown on good ground and the grounds of our heart by nature are not
good ground. I can come and I can speak of
Christ and his death and you may hear but you will go away
again unaffected, unconcerned and apathetic because the ground
of your soul is not good ground and those messages bounce off
the hard-hearted surface of your heart you're unconcerned and
you're unaffected Until there is this preparation of the ground. Until the ground is dug up and
the soil is made good for that to fall within. there must be
this rooting out and this pulling down this destroying and this
throwing down because there is that rooted within your soul
which prevents any good seed taking root and there is that
which has grown up within your heart grown up of the world and
its wicked ways and its wicked deceptions all those things which
have grown up in your life and your desires which lock out any
thought of the word of God, any love for Christ and his gospel. There is that which you have
built. Those ambitions, those goals,
those desires, you've built them up. You steadily live through
your life and you've built up these things. You've set your
heart there and you've put your heart into this and into that.
And what you have built and what glory you have built and what
pride you take in the things you've built. Oh, you've made
a name for yourself. Oh, you've earned a bit of money.
Oh you've married this person or that person, oh how well others
think of you, oh how dedicated you are, how clever you are,
how intellectual you are, what great things you've built for
yourself and your own glory. Such that when you hear of Christ
and his glory he's of nothing worth to you. you despise and
you reject him. And though a preacher come, a
faithful, a true preacher, though a preacher should declare the
gospel so boldly to you, nothing takes root, nothing's built and
nothing's planted because there's all this in your heart already,
all these things grown up and rooted within, all this built
up upon the surface. And until a Jeremiah comes through
whom the Lord speaks in the power of his gospel by his Spirit in
such a way that there is a rooting out within your soul and a pulling
down of that which has grown up and a destroying and a throwing
down of all those things which you have built when that begins
to happen Then the soil is laid bare. Then there is a ploughing. Then there is soil into which
the gospel seed can take root. Well what's happened to you?
What is the surface of your heart like? What is the soil within
like? What have you got growing there?
What have you built up there? Have you felt anything of the
work of God within doing this preparation, churning up the
soil? Taking away your love of this
world, taking away your love of self. Have you felt something
of the worthlessness and the pointlessness of life in the
natural sense? Have you looked upon others and
looked upon your life and wondered what's the point? What's the
point of 70 years of working and toiling and doing this thing
and that thing when I die in the end? Where am I heading?
Have you seen the worthlessness of your works and your self-righteousness
in the things of God? You may be ever so religious. You may see the vanity of the
world and its ideals around you. You may see the need to come
before God and to be right with God. But is all of your religion
a building and a growing and a sowing and an establishing
by your strength? Have you built up this and built
up that? Have you studied this and studied
that? All to no avail. Do you know
much? Do you know much of the Word
of God when in reality you know, you know within that you know
nothing of the voice of Jesus Christ calling within your heart.
You know all about Him. You can recite the scriptures
from start to finish. You can teach other people. You
can get the doctrine right. You can speak of election. You
can speak of preservation. You can speak of justification
and sanctification. You can argue with others about
deliverance from the law and yet in reality in the closet
you know there's nothing within. Some may say oh that can't be.
If I knew of election, if I knew of salvation, if I knew of grace,
I'd be saved. How could I know those things
and not have the truth? I know those things. I must be
saved. I know them. Well, I tell you,
you may not be. I have known men. I have known men with whom I
have conversed, who have declared a love for sovereign grace. a
love for the gospel, who have argued and defended against others
who hated it and despised it, who have then in the end turned
away and said I've thrown it all away, I've thrown it away,
I've come to see it was nothing. and they reject that faith in
the end that they once preached because there was nothing truly
rooted in their hearts. There was too much of their own
self, there was too much of their own growing and their own building
that it was all taken on board in their head. They had this
great big building built up there on their surface of their heart
but they'd built it, not God. and in the end it came crumbling
down. Oh, when you stand on the gates
of heaven, when you come to stand before Almighty God and say,
Lord, Lord, I've done this in thy name, you be sure the reality
of his work is within. You go and stand before him knowing
that what you've done is because of what he's done to you and
for you, is because Christ washed you in his blood, is because
Christ delivered you from your sins, is because Christ delivered
you from the wrath and judgment of God. Stand before him knowing
that you are nothing. and that all that you have is
in Christ. For if you can't stand before
him like that, if there's one stride of your Lord, Lord before
him, that is a declaration of your own pride in your own growing
and your own building, then he will say unto you, depart from
me, ye worker of iniquity, I never knew you. You may know of him, but does
he know you? Well, of Jeremiah he could say,
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. I knew you, Jeremiah. Or will he say unto you, before
I formed thee in the belly, I knew that you were mine, I chose you,
you were elect, chosen unto salvation? Or will he say unto you on that
day, depart from me, I never knew thee, ye worker of iniquity? What is built in your heart?
Does it yet need to be pulled down, destroyed, thrown down,
rooted up? Does it? There's six actions
described here, six actions. We think of six in relation to
man and in the days of the week and the works of man. Jeremiah
was sent of God to work, to preach, and he's sent here with six actions.
Once those six are done, Once the end comes that the building
and the planting has commenced, then it's for God to give the
increase. Having done his six days of labor,
Jeremiah would rest and watch when God alone could give the
increase. As Paul tells us in Corinthians,
one preacher plants, another man waters. but it's God who
gives the increase. You can preach all you like,
you can root out and dig up and build and plant, but only God
can give the increase. Jeremiah laboured as God's servant,
but there's six days in which you work, and there's the seventh
in which you rest. When the seed has been planted
and takes root in the heart, the result is the salvation of
sinners with a certainty and a surety that they come on that
seventh day into an eternal rest. All their working is done. All their working is at an end
for their salvation owes nothing to anything that they might do. But God has planted a seed with
which he brings forth fruit. There's rest in the gospel. Rest. But it only comes when that ground
of your heart is prepared. God's work is not superficial. There's no rooting of the seed
of the gospel until all the rubbish in your soul is first rooted
up and destroyed. Good seed needs good soil. What is your soul like? What
is it like? And have you known this work
within? Oh, the heart needs a deep, deep
work. Why? Because as Jeremiah tells
us in chapter 17, the heart is deceitful above all things and
desperately wicked. Who can know it? Who can know
it? What do you know of your deceitful
and desperately wicked heart in reality? Well, when God sends
a preacher with the gospel to begin to root out and to pull
down and destroy and to throw down all that you've built upon
it then you'll discover something of it. Do you really know? Do you really know the depths
of your own heart what you're capable of? We look around us
at some of the atrocities which are committed by others and we
wonder how people can fall into such sin but it's within us all. It's within us all. We've heard
of these atrocities in the United States recently. People who kill
multiple murderers. And we think, how can they? But
it's in us all. And it needs to be dug up. Dug up. When you know this digging,
this churning up, then you'll know your heart. And then you'll
know the wonder and the glory of God's planting and building
in the gospel. Won't you? This work is personal. It's personal. It must be true
of us. It must come home to you and
I. We live in a wicked and an evil
nation. We can groan at the state of
our nation. We can speak of how dreadful
things are. We can speak of this and that.
But how often we speak of others. How often we bemoan the state
of others. How slow we are to speak and
complain of how bad we are. to own our own faults, to own
our own failings, to confess that we are nothing, to say it
was my fault. It was my fault, not his, not
hers, not theirs, not circumstance, but I'm the guilty one. We need it all dug up. all dug
up before the life will come in. In the Old Testament elsewhere
there were wells that were dug once, wells in which water could
be hewn out of Abraham's wells and the Philistines came and
filled these wells up and put rubbish within them. Well to
get the water again all that rubbish needed to be dug out
and cleared before they could drink that water. And in the
gospel there are wells, wells of salvation, wells from which
you may drink living water, everlasting life, water which when you drink
you will never thirst, but if the wells are blocked up you'll
never get there. God must unblock the well of
your heart. Where are you? Well Jeremiah's work didn't end
with destroying and throwing down, but it ended with the building
and the planting. And his prophecy is actually
a glorious and a wonderful prophecy and picture of Christ. So much
of Christ is seen in this gospel. He himself pictures him, he's
chosen by God. God's hand is upon him. He has
a fearlessness before men, not naturally, Naturally he'd have
been scared but God by grace gave him a boldness before man. He could stand no matter what
men would do unto him. Christ came rejected by all,
but He would not move. He stood true to all that His
Father sent Him to do. He would not turn from that purpose
for which He came. He came into this world to save
sinners. He headed for the cross and nothing
would turn Him from it. Jeremiah's sorrow over Israel,
over the state of it, is pictorial of Christ. His rejection by others
is pictorial of Christ. The fruit of his labor, the overcoming
of every enemy, and his strength in his God alone. All is a picture
of Christ, his union with his God. He walks with God, he's
in God, and God is in him. He's one with his God. And God
by grace makes him to be an iron pillar and brazen walls. Oh the gospel he comes with.
He comes declaring the salvation and the grace of God. So many
pictures we read in seven different respects, various places we read
of Christ. as the fountain of living waters. In Jeremiah 2 verse 13 there's
a mention of the fountain of waters. Well the fountain of
waters is Christ. We read of a physician, a picture
of the great physician in chapter 8 22. We read in chapter 31 and
chapter 23 of the shepherd of the flock, the great shepherd. We read in chapter 23 of the
righteous branch Christ. We read of David the king, the
king of kings, the Lord Jesus in chapter 30. We read of the
Redeemer and we read of the Lord our righteousness. Seven clear
aspects of Christ and his Gospel. The Saviour. The Saviour, this
is whom Jeremiah came to preach and this is whom you need to
hear if anything is to be built or planted within your heart.
Well have you heard of Him? Is Christ a fountain of living
waters to your soul? Has Christ come as a physician
to heal you of all your sicknesses? Is Christ the great shepherd
who leads you as a foolish sheep in the right path? Is Christ
your righteous branch upon which you grow and bring forth fruit? Is Christ your King? Is Christ
your Redeemer who has redeemed you from the captivity of your
sin, set you free? And is Christ, is Christ your
Lord, your righteousness? Is he the Lord our righteousness
unto you? For if he is, and only if he
is, then you will know what it is to have the Lord build and
plant within your heart, sowing a seed of the gospel in good
soil, bringing forth life everlasting within. Because as Paul says,
I am not ashamed. the gospel of Christ for it is
the power of God unto salvation for therein in the gospel is
the righteousness of God revealed the Lord our righteousness is
that within your heart if it is then you will know the comfort
and grace of hearing God's voice unto you, whatever your path,
whatever your trouble, whatever your circumstance, saying unto
you by grace, I am with thee. I am with thee to deliver thee. Amen.

I Am With Thee

What does the Bible say about God's calling and choosing?

How do we know God's presence is with us?

Why is it important to root out sin before accepting the Gospel?

How does God use weakness for His purpose?

What is the role of repentance in the Gospel?

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I Am With Thee

What does the Bible say about God's calling and choosing?

How do we know God's presence is with us?

Why is it important to root out sin before accepting the Gospel?

How does God use weakness for His purpose?

What is the role of repentance in the Gospel?

Sermon Transcript

About Ian Potts

Comments

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