God Has Everything Under Control

Transcript

GRM 1053
07/24/2011
God Has Everything under Control
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Gil Rugh


We're going to go to the book of Jeremiah in your Bibles. We're going to go back and look into Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah was one of the most outstanding and prominent prophets in Israel's history. His prophecy is the longest of any of the prophetic books, the three large prophetic books—Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. But Jeremiah is the longest. We sometimes refer to him as the weeping prophet. And he also wrote the Lamentations that we call the lamentations of Jeremiah that follow the prophecy of Jeremiah. And he is a unique prophet. We know more of Jeremiah personally and his life than we do of any of the other prophets. He reveals more of himself than you find with other writers. When he is discouraged he reveals it—I wish that I had never been born. Another time he'll say ministering the Word of God was so difficult I determined I'm not going to present the Word of God anymore. I'm done. Just revealing the struggles he had and so on. So we can appreciate Jeremiah as we learn more of him personally.

He ministers during a very difficult time in Israel's history, a time that we know more about than any other period in Old Testament history. During Jeremiah's ministry three different powers will dominate the land of Judah, Israel—Assyria, Egypt and finally Babylon. That tells you something of the turmoil of the times. That little land of Israel, particularly Judah. The northern ten tribes were carried into captivity in 722 B.C. And we're about 100 years later when we come to Jeremiah's ministry. When we're talking about Israel we're only talking about Judah in the south which is all that is left of Israel in the land at this time. As I said, Assyria will dominate, then Egypt, then Babylon during Jeremiah's ministry.

The first three verses of Jeremiah 1 give you the historical setting. So we can place him in a time framework very clearly. We're told in verse 1 that these are the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin. Anathoth is just northeast of Jerusalem about four miles. So he's just outside of Jerusalem for his home area. He is of the priestly family. There is no indication in the book of Jeremiah that he personally ever functioned in the priesthood, but he is in the priestly family.

We're told in verses 2-3 the time framework, which helps us greatly. He's the one to whom the Word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign. So this is when the Word of the Lord came and Jeremiah began to function as a prophet. The thirteenth year of Josiah's reign was 626 B.C. And he functioned through several kings, at the end of verse 3, until the exile of Jerusalem in the fifth month. The exile of Judah in the fifth month was under the Babylonians, and that was in 586 B.C. So from 626 to 586, forty years. A long ministry. And that won't be the end of it. That is the main time of his prophetic ministry, but even after the Babylonian captivity the book of Jeremiah unfolds more. Jeremiah was under the Babylonians for a brief time, then being taken down into Egypt by surviving Jews against his will. So his ministry will spill beyond that. But the Babylonian captivity is really the climax of his prophetic ministry and the main point toward which we are moving.

So a forty-plus year ministry of giving the prophetic word to Judah and to other nations, as we will see. Now right away when we talk about a prophet's ministry, we know what the setting is. It is a difficult time. Anytime in the Old Testament when you see a prophet come into the picture, it indicates that Israel is in a time of spiritual decline. They are living in rebellion against God and God sends them a prophet to address the situation. That means the prophet's ministry is going to be a difficult one because he is coming to rebuke the nation for their sin. And nobody wants to be rebuked for their sin, no one wants to be told that they are in rebellion against God and God is going to bring His judgment upon them unless there is a change. But that's the ministry Jeremiah faces, and he will carry on for forty years.

There is a reason we call him the weeping prophet. It is a difficult, trying ministry. A number of times it will bring him to the edge of death. On at least one occasion he is rescued, from the human perspective, by the intervention of a slave who intercedes with the king on his behalf and goes and rescues him. Spends time in the slime pits, time in prison, constantly rejected. His message is rejected by the people who should receive it. And the judgment that he announced will come upon the people. Even then their rebellion is not over. When the book ends and he tells them, God says you better stay in the land under the Babylonians. They rebel and end up going to Egypt where Jeremiah says they better not go, and they take Jeremiah as a captive with them. So it's a hard ministry, but we see something of the sovereign hand of God in all that is going on in Jeremiah's life and in the circumstances of Judah and the nations in those days.

Verses 4-10 talk about the call of Jeremiah, and that's what we're going to be talking about. And you see insight into the absolute sovereignty of God in everything that is taking place in Jeremiah's life, in the life of the Jews and in the nations. You see the absolute power, sovereignty and control of God. We often talk about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. But the emphasis in this section will be on the sovereignty of God and the responsibility that Jeremiah has to live in light of that sovereignty to be an instrument in carrying out the plan of God that was determined before Jeremiah had ever been born. Later we'll look at a passage from the Psalms where the psalmist says, such knowledge is too wonderful for me. It is overwhelming, I cannot comprehend it. We need to understand this as we begin, it will be beyond understanding. The absolute sovereign majesty of God and His involvement in every detail, His determination of every detail leaves you in awe.

I want you to note several things in these verses before we go through them that emphasize God's sovereign action. You may have them marked already in your Bibles, if not circle them, highlight them, underline them, however you mark your Bible. We'll talk about them then when we come back. In verse 5, I formed you; second statement in verse 5, I knew you; third statement in verse 5, I consecrated you; the fourth statement in verse 5, I have appointed you. You see that emphasis on God's sovereignty—I formed you, I knew you, I consecrated you, I appointed you. Come down to verse 7, the last two lines of verse 7—I send you, I command you. Again, the sovereignty of God in action here—I send you, I command you. The last line in verse 8, I am with you. The last line in verse 9, I have put My words in your mouth. Verse 10, I have appointed you. And then the chapter will end in verse 19 with that last line, I am with you. We see that emphasis—I, God says, I, I, I. Everything about Jeremiah from before he was conceived in the womb, throughout his ministry is a result of the sovereign action of God. And we'll see that's not only true of Jeremiah, that is true of the way that God works in all creation. He works with each one of us and as His people we live in that realm of the total confidence and security that God is in control of all that is in our lives.

Let's pick up in verse 4 with this call of Jeremiah and God's work in preparing him for the ministry of a prophet to Israel. Now the Word of the Lord came to me saying. And that would have been in the thirteenth year of Josiah's reign. And we'll see a passage in a moment, God will tell us about Josiah 300 years before Josiah was ever born. But in 626 Jeremiah would have been about 20 years of age. We're not told his exact age but most of those who deal with Jeremiah see him as a late teenager, 18 or 19 or into his early 20s, 21 or 22. He's going to have a ministry of forty-plus years and even at the end of the book he doesn't seem to be decrepit and aged and unable to get around. So he could have been about my age by the end of the book, somewhat decrepit but not totally gone. But we'll say he's about 20 years of age at the call of God. He's going to be referred to as a youth or youthful. The Word of the Lord came to me saying, that will be the beginning of his prophetic ministry. A prophet was one who received revelation from God and then spoke it out to the people. So his prophetic ministry begins when God begins to speak to him, to reveal Himself and give him a message.

And what does God say to him? Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; before you were born, I consecrated you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. Before I formed you in the womb, before you were born. Parallel statements here but you see the sovereignty of God in this. God's work in dealing with Jeremiah began before there was a Jeremiah, before conception in the womb had ever occurred, God had formulated a plan for Jeremiah's life. Before I formed you in the womb, before you were born, I knew you, I consecrated you.

Come back to Judges 13. And in Judges 13 the Angel of the Lord appears to the parents of Samson, and particularly addresses the woman who will be Samson's mother. She has been barren. The end of verse 2 we are told that Manoah, who was the husband, his wife was barren and had borne no children. Verse 3, then the Angel of the Lord appeared to the woman and said to her, behold, now, you are barren and have borne no children. But you shall conceive and give birth to a son. This is a message coming again from God, it's before conception occurs. Here's what's going to happen—you will conceive. You have never conceived before, but you will. And you will bear a child, not just a child but you will bear a son. Now therefore be careful not to drink wine or strong drink or eat any unclean thing, for behold you shall conceive and give birth to a son and no razor shall come upon his head, for the boy shall be a Nazirite to God from the womb. So even his mother is to govern what she will eat according to what a Nazirite is allowed to eat because from his eating in the womb he will be controlled by God's plan for him to function as a Nazirite. And then he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines. You see what God sets out here. Before conception here's what's going to happen, here is who is going to be born and here is what he will do. He will be a Nazirite and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the oppression of the Philistines. What if Samson decides he doesn't want to be a Nazirite? What if Samson decides he doesn't want to be a military man? This is what is going to take place, God has sovereignly determined it, this is what will happen.

Come over to 1 Kings 13. And this is the king that we saw in Jeremiah 1. Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry in the thirteenth year of Josiah. Well now in 1 Kings 13 we are 300 years before Josiah was born. The nation has divided and you have a worship center, the ten tribes in the northern kingdom and Judah and Benjamin in the south. For the northern kingdom they have established a worship center at Bethel so that the people from the northern ten tribes won't go to Jerusalem to worship and thus they get reunited perhaps as a kingdom. So the northern kingdom has established a worship center in conflict with the clear instructions of God that Jerusalem was to be the worship center for Israel. They have established a pagan high place, a worship cetner.

So 1 Kings 13 begins, now behold there came a man of God, a prophet, from Judah to Bethel by the word of the Lord while Jeroboam, who is the king of the northern kingdom, was standing by the altar to burn incense. He cried out against the altar by the Word of the Lord and said, oh altar, altar, thus says the Lord. Behold a son shall be born to the house of David, he will be a descendant of David, Josiah by name. This is 300 years before Josiah is conceived and born. And God says there is going to come a king in the line of David and his name is going to be Josiah. And on you he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you and human bones shall be burned on you. He tells exactly how Josiah in the reformation he is going to bring is going to destroy this altar and the priests associated with it. What if the parents of Josiah decided to name him Abraham XIII? We're not going to name him Josiah, I veto that. What if Josiah decides he's not going to kill the priests and destroy the altar? It's going to happen, it's going to happen by a king named Josiah in the line of David. And this is what he is going to do. How do you know? God said it. We're 300 years away from Josiah, but that doesn't matter. It's done. We're reading about what happened in Josiah's day when Jeremiah comes on the scene. In the history books we can read about Josiah's destruction of this altar. What we want to note is the sovereignty of God. This is what will take place.

Turn over to Isaiah 44. These great chapters on the sovereignty of God. Isaiah 44:6, thus says the Lord, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of hosts, I am the first and I am the last. There is no God besides me. The end of verse 8, is there any God besides Me? Any other rock? I know of none. And on it goes. Come down to verse 24, thus says the Lord you Redeemer, the One who formed you from the womb. I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, stretching out the heavens by Myself, spreading out the earth all alone. Come down to verse 28, it is I who says of Cyrus, he is My shepherd and he will perform all My desire. And he says of Jerusalem, she will be built, the temple, your foundation will be laid. Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand to subdue nations, to loose the loins of kings. So you understand we are 400 years away from Cyrus. You read this, if you were totally in the dark regarding the historical setting you would say, Cyrus. Is that somebody of the present time that he is My shepherd and I take him by the hand. It is 400 years before Cyrus comes on the scene. God calls him by name. He is going to be My shepherd, My servant. You understand Cyrus lived and died a total pagan, he never does become a believer in the God of Israel, from the historical records we have of him. But he is going to be used by God and in that sense he is a shepherd because He is going to use Cyrus and the policy of Cyrus and the Persians to have Israel be restored to the land and rebuild in the land Jerusalem, the temple. So what does God say? Isaiah 45:1, thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, I have taken him by the right hand. I mean, God has just taken him just like you would a child to lead him on. He's My servant, I have taken him and leading him. Why? He is going to do exactly what I want him to do. He is a pagan. So you bring him in because you see God is absolutely sovereign in everything, in everyone's life, believer and unbeliever. What if Cyrus doesn't want to let Israel go back? What if he decides the Jews will only be trouble. I'm not going to have a restoration. What if he didn't like the name Cyrus? You see who is sovereign here? I mean, we need to know our place. God is sovereign. Man likes to pretend. God is sovereign. That doesn't take away the responsibility of man, but God is sovereign.

Come to Galatians 1, this for one New Testament example, then we're coming back again to the Old Testament. The book of Galatians, the Apostle Paul is writing. Verse 15, Paul talking about something of his life. And he says, but when God, now note this, who had set me apart from my mother's womb and called me through His grace was pleased to reveal His Son in me. The Apostle Paul was an adult man leading a persecution of believers when God was pleased to reveal Jesus Christ to Paul. But Paul says that God had set me apart from my mother's womb. You see the sovereignty of God in it, Paul understands that. Sure it was on the Damascus Road when I was an adult man persecuting believers that Christ was revealed to me and the fullness of the light of the gospel broke into that sin-darkened life. But Paul said, you understand this is the plan of God from my mother's womb. He is sovereign in this, He had set me apart from my mother's womb.

Come back to Psalm 139, great psalm. And David acknowledges here that you cannot grasp the majesty of God, you cannot comprehend His power, His sovereignty over all. He starts out by saying, oh, Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up, you understand my thought from afar. Before David has a thought, the Lord knows it, you know. You scrutinize my path, my lying down. You are intimately acquainted in all my ways. Even before there is a word on my tongue, behold oh, Lord, you know it all. You want to talk about a miracle, we talk about computers and they store every e-mail. And I am boggled that they can store all that. You understand with billions of people in the world the Lord knows every thought that is going to be spoken before it is every spoken. I'm dumbfounded that they can collect the words that have already been spoken and they don't collect every one. The psalmist says, even before there is a word on my tongue, behold oh, Lord, you know it all. I'm not going to utter one word in the rest of my life that the Lord doesn't already know. And neither are you, and neither is any one of the multiplied billions of people on the face of this planet.

Is it any wonder he says in verse 6, such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it's too high, I cannot attain to it. How do you grasp that with these puny peanut minds? Marvelous as they are, and I am amazed at what God has done and enabled man to know, but you are talking about this kind of knowledge. It is still too wonderful for me, I cannot comprehend it. I cannot attain to it.

That's a good reminder when we talk about the sovereignty of God and the responsibility of man. We try to minimize the sovereignty of God to fit better with the responsibility of man. Just leave it where God leaves it. It is far beyond us. You can never fully grasp it. We only take it by faith. We are not fatalists. I don't just sit back and say, God has planned, God determined everything so whatever He has determined what has happened, I guess it doesn't matter what I do. Well the first part of that is right, whatever He has determined is going to happen. But it does matter what I do. Well than how do you put that together? I don't. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, it is beyond my mind. And you may be a lot more intelligent than I am, but it still is beyond your mind because it takes the mind of God to grasp that.

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there; if I dwell in the remotest parts of the sea. I mean, you can't escape God. You go hide in the darkness, verse 12, even the darkness is not dark to You. The night is as bright as the day. Darkness and light are alike to You. Take that as a comfort. You know how spooky the night is, it's not night to God. He knows where I am, I'm not lost in the darkness, I don't have to turn on the light so God knows where I am. The night and day, same to Him. I mean, what does it mean to belong to this God? He not only has this knowledge, but I belong to Him.

We came here for verse 13ff, you formed my inward parts, you wove me in my mother's womb. Some would say this is just prescientific understanding. Now we know there are natural processes that make it happen. Let me tell you, here is God telling you what the natural processes are—Him at work. This is the God inspiring His Word. You formed my inward parts, You wove me in my mother's womb. That's not prescientific understanding, that is true science understanding how it actually happens. There is what we view as a natural process at work because the hand of God is doing it. It is awesome. He forms that one in the womb. And we're going to see that means exactly as He intends them to be. Sometimes we have a baby that will be born with a deformity, with a physical problem. Well we say God forms because here is the process to have a perfect child, but the imperfections, that's . . . No, no, no. We'll look at a verse in a moment that says God makes both the blind eye and the seeing eye, the hearing ear and the deaf ear. That's God's plan. That doesn't mean I always understand why He did that, why that baby was born with this condition. But I don't have to understand that. The Maker knows what He is doing. I can have the security of knowing He is doing what He has purposed to do, what is right in this situation.

I formed you in the womb, I formed your inward parts. I will give thanks to you, the psalmist says, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works and my soul knows it very well. The unbelieving world does not know that. They think evolution is amazing. We know the hand of God is awesome and so we give Him praise.

Look at the next verse. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret, note this, skillfully wrought in the depths of the earth. Your eyes have seen my unformed substance, in your book were all written the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. Awesome. You see this. From before the creation to the end of life who is sovereign? God. He starts out by forming us in the womb and He ordains the last day of my life. I'm not walking on the treadmill to extend my life, in fact I may quit. No, I have a responsibility, I'll take care. But it's a comfort to know I won't accidentally get cancer because of this or that. There are no accidents in the plan of God. There are no premature deaths in the plan of God. Before He formed us in the womb He set out the number of days we will have. Period. May be a car accident, may be cancer, may be old age. Their body quit functioning.

Well Psalm 139:16, in Your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me when as yet there was not one of them. That's great confidence, isn't it, to know it's in the hands of God. Our children are in the hands of God, my grandchildren are in the hands of God, my parents. That doesn't make me a fatalist. Lord, I walk with You every day, I want to pour my life into doing what you say is my responsibility to do, but I live with the confidence that you are God. Everything is under control. What a blessing. You don't have to fear about this child that's born and they have this condition. It's all in the hands of God. Lord, I don't understand why, it's painful, it's difficult, but you are God. And that's my confidence, that's my joy, that's my peace.

Come back to Jeremiah. So God isn't saying anything new here with Jeremiah. He is reminding him about him and bringing it specifically to what God's plan for Jeremiah is and has been since before He formed him in the womb, before he was born. He says in verse 5, I knew you. The sovereignty of God in salvation, some people don't like it but there it is. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. You're familiar with the use of the verb to know used in this way throughout the Old Testament. Back in the book of Genesis, Adam knew his wife, Eve, and she conceived. Often used to denote intimacy, denote showing favor, even choosing. Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you.

Come back to Genesis 18, just a couple of examples. Verse 19, talking about Abraham and God's plan for Abraham. And He's going to make him a mighty nation, a great nation and nations will come from him. Remarkable. Then verse 19, for I have chosen him. You have a note in your margin as my Bible does, literally, known. For I have known him so that he may command. You see that word means to place your favor upon, to choose him for a relationship with yourself.

Come over to Exodus 2:25. Here is Israel in bondage and God hears their groaning. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Four hundred years have gone by. So verse 25, God saw the sons of Israel and God took notice of them, or literally as you have in the margin, knew them. You see He placed His favor upon them. They are His and He is going to act on their behalf.

Just jot down Amos 3:2. God says to Israel, you only have I known of all the nations of the earth. Well God is omniscient, He knows everything. He says you are the only nation I have known. What does that mean? They are the only nation, Israel, that He has chosen, that He has placed His grace and favor upon to belong to Him.

So back in Jeremiah, when God says to Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb I knew you, I chose you, I placed my favor upon you that you would belong to Me. It's the sovereignty of God in salvation that is consistent in the Old Testament, it's consistent in the New Testament. This use of the word know carries over into the New Testament where we have foreknow. We believers were foreknown by God, just the word knowledge with the word before on the front. That's what happened to Jeremiah, before he was known. The foreknowledge of God, it was before he was formed in the womb. Before he was born I consecrated you. The word that means to consecrate, to sanctify. King James version has sanctify. In the New Testament we have it translated equivalent to sanctify, to be a saint, to be holy. It means to be set apart, set apart from sin. God is completely sanctified or consecrated.

In Ezekiel 38:23 God says, I will sanctify Myself. What does it mean? He doesn't have to be cleansed from anything. He is set apart from all defilement, all sin and so now Jeremiah has been chosen by God and set apart by God for Himself. And to do the will of God, as every believer is. We have been chosen by God and sanctified, we become saints, we've been set apart by God to be holy, those who are set apart to now serve Him. And so He says, I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. The appointment or installation by God.

So you see from forming him in the womb, what he would be. I mean, what if something went wrong in the womb? Nothing goes wrong in the womb from God's perspective. We'll see this in a moment with Moses. I'm not saying that there aren't painful things when a baby is born with a particular physical problem. But you understand this is the sovereign plan of God. What confidence, what joy to know as painful as this is for me, Lord, there are no accidents in your plan. This is as you have planned it for this little one, for our family, for how they will be used of you. It's all in God's plan. That's the security that we have knowing this God. What more could we want? What a blessing it is.

I have appointed you a prophet to the nations. And so here is what you are going to do with your life, you're going to be a prophet to the nations. I take it the plan of God is unfolded for all of us. You are who you are by the grace of God, what you are, doing what you do by the appointment of God. That's sovereignty. He is to be a prophet, not just to the nation, Judah, Israel as it existed at this time, but to the nations. And the last part of his prophecy from Jeremiah 46-51 is going to be prophecies to the nations. Here are the nations listed: Egypt, Philistia, Tyre, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Babylon, in addition of course to the bulk of his ministry to Judah. He is not going to go to these nations and speak to them, but he is going to speak to them through his prophecies given in the context of Judah. Do you want to know about Babylon and its future? Where do you go? You go to the chapters in Jeremiah where God unfolds in such detail the future and ultimate destruction of Babylon, its sin and arrogance.

Well Jeremiah has to respond. What do you say when God gives such a statement, that this is His plan from before He formed him in the womb? That this is what He did, this is what you are going to do. You'll note God doesn't say to Jeremiah, I just wondered what you think of this plan. Is this all right with you, Jeremiah? You know the impact on Jeremiah, he's dumbfounded. Look at the first word out of his mouth—alas. Oh no, Lord God. And like so many of us something comes up and what's the first thing we think we have to do? Tell God what our situation really is. Alas, Lord God, behold I do not know how to speak because I am a youth. The word doesn't reveal age, we could use the word youthful. Relative word so we can't determine from this word, but he is young to be thrust into this. I mean, Jeremiah has to tell the Lord who has just told him, before I formed you in the womb I chose you, before you were born I set you aside, before you were formed or born I installed you or appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. And Jeremiah's first response is Lord, I don't know how to speak. Lord, I'm too young.

Come back to Exodus 4. This is the call of Moses in Exodus 4. God appears to him in the burning bush and then addresses him and tells him what he is going to do. He's going to go and address and Pharaoh and be used to bring about the deliverance of Israel from Egypt. Moses' first response, verse 10, then Moses said to the Lord, please, Lord. Like Jeremiah, alas, Lord. Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, never been good with words. Neither recently nor in time past. You know you not only have to tell God your condition, you want to fill Him in—this is what I have been like in the past, I never was good with words. And that hasn't changed recently, I've never been good with words. And even since you started talking to me, Lord, nothing has happened. I'm still not good with words. How the Lord must appreciate us telling him what we think he is not aware of. You don't know me, really, Lord, I'm not the right one. I am slow of tongue, slow of speech, the words don't come out. Some people, you know, are good with words, some people can just talk. Some people have a way of putting words together. That's not me, Lord, never has been, isn't today and even since the time you've been talking to me nothing is happening. I can't do it.

I love the response of the Lord, now I want you to pay attention. I've referred to this before. The Lord said to him, who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf? Now note that. Seeing or blind, is it not I? You see the Lord who formed us in the womb formed us according to His plan. What kind of God is it that intends to make a prophet and forgets to give him the ability to speak and makes him mute? Or so unable and incapable with speech to be able to communicate? But you see the sovereignty of God here. There are no accidents. God takes full responsibility, full credit. Don't tell me you can't speak. Who do you think gives the ability to speak? Or withholds the ability to speak? We sometimes like to look and say, well when things are all right and everything is going the way we think they should go, that's God at work. But when things don't go the way we think they should, well that's not God doing that. But you understand God takes full responsibility here for who makes the person with the inability to speak, the inability to hear, the inability to see. Is it not I, the Lord? The sovereignty of God, does that mean I understand it? No. Does that mean that you can't go and get a correction made? I got new glasses this week, now I can read without a magnifying glass. Before it took my glasses and a magnifying glass. Wonderful. Do I have to say if the Lord wanted me to see, He'd enable me to see better. So I take them off, and you do look better. No, but the plan of God. I realize the deterioration in my life is planned by God from the birth. A person is born this way, that way. Lord, why didn't you cause me to be born with a greater intellect? Think how much more service to you I could be if I had a superior intelligence. He's made me exactly the way He intends me to be to do what He intends me to do. Not what He intends someone else to do. To use me to bring glory to Himself, to use you to bring glory to Himself.

So you ought to, I have this highlighted and underlined in my Bible, I don't want to forget. He does it, it's in His hands. I can't necessarily explain why in this situation He did this, but I know He did and I walk by faith and not by sight. That's all I have—the promise and assurance of the Word of God.

Come back to Jeremiah. You know here is why it all works. Verse 7, it doesn't depend on Jeremiah ultimately, it doesn't depend on me, it doesn't depend on you. God uses us. Be careful, that doesn't mean we're not responsible. Jeremiah will be grinding it out in difficulty but the Lord said to me, do not say I am a youth because everywhere I send you, you shall go; all that I command you, you shall speak. Don't forget that. Even a little child, he doesn't have to be able to make the kind of decisions an adult does, but that's okay. You tell him, now you go there and when you go there, you say this. Sometimes we even give him a note. Here is what God is doing with Jeremiah, I will tell you where you are supposed to go to minister. You don't have to be old enough, mature enough to sort out, this is probably the best place for me to do this ministry. I'll send you where you are supposed to go. And furthermore, I'll command you all you are to speak. So your age becomes irrelevant. Just go where I tell you and say what I tell you to say. There it is. We live our lives in submission to the Word of God. We're not prophets and prophetesses, but we do the same thing. Right? We live in obedience to God, do what He says.

And what about the problems that come, and there will be a wealth of problems—forty years plus. You wouldn't want Jeremiah's life. Do not be afraid of them. Why? I am with you to deliver you, declares the Lord. That's it. Now note, He doesn't say, I am with you to spare you any trouble and difficulty, any pain and suffering. No. I am with you to deliver you. He's going to go through, he'll be in the slime pit, he'll be in prison, he'll be abused, he'll be kidnapped and carried away. Don't be afraid, I will be with you. Remember the promise in the New Testament, Jesus said, told His disciples on the last night before He was crucified—in the world you have tribulations. He didn't say in the world some will have tribulation. In the world you have tribulations. Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world. Or the promise we heard earlier, I will never leave you nor forsake you. What do we have to be afraid of? Lord, this is overwhelming; Lord, I can't face this; Lord, I can't go through this. Don't be afraid, I am with you. I will never leave you nor forsake you. I will be your strength. So there's ____________ Lord, I can't do it. That's all right to acknowledge that in my own strength. Lord, you know how afraid I am but I trust you and know you will see me through. He knows my frame that I am but dust. Sometimes I am afraid, sometimes I am overwhelmed. But I have to be careful here.

Look at the warning in verse 17. Now gird your loins and arise and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them or I will dismay you before them. What will happen if Jeremiah is dismayed before them? That will mean he stopped trusting the Lord. The consequence of that, that the Lord brings into a life is confusion. Do you know what happens when we stop walking by faith? Our life goes into confusion. I take my eyes off the Word of God and the promises God has given and the assurance that God has given. Pretty soon, what am I going to do in this situation? What will I do if this happens? How am I going to face this? I don't think I can go through that. And pretty soon my world is spinning. And how do I get stabilized again? There are times in my life I just have to go off by myself, close out the world, sit down, open up the Word of God and read it. That's it. I just have to get my life reordered, get my focus back where it belongs. Whatever else is going outside doesn't matter. This is what the Lord says, this is what He promised, this is His assurance. I don't know the outcome, but He said He will never leave me nor forsake me. He said He'll never let anything come into my life that will destroy me. I walk by faith, not by sight. You do, too. Once you take your eyes off the Lord and what He has said, all of a sudden life starts spinning. And now how do I get back? Sometimes we get going and things going around spinning and I don't know what to do. Now the confusion seems to multiply. Here's what God said, trust Me or you will be dismayed. Basically what He is saying.

Now behold I have made you today as a fortified city as a pillar of iron, as walls of bronze against the whole land, the kings of Judah, princes, priests and the people of the land. They will fight against you, they will not overcome you for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. What more do we need? What more does Jeremiah need? He is an impenetrable fortress, unassailable. You read the book of Jeremiah, you might not get that idea. But you know what? He survives. Look around, here you are today. Sometimes I'll say to Marilyn, you know what? Here we are today. We made it. You're going through, you think, I don't know if I can do this. I don't know if I can do it, I don't know if I'll make it, it's overwhelming. You know what? Here we are. Has God been faithful? Did He ever abandon you? And when all is said and done He'll take me to glory. So there is no loss. That's the assurance of His Word.

Let me just read these verses before we pray. Verse 9, then the Lord stretched out His hand and touched my mouth. The Lord said to me, behold, I have My words in your mouth. I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to pluck up, to break down, to destroy, to overthrow, to build and to plant. Mighty Assyria, powerful Egypt, dominating Babylon. You know the most powerful person on the earth? It's Jeremiah, little Jeremiah. He's going to be thrown into the slime pit but God says you have power and authority over the nations. Keep that in mind when you watch the news. I am a believer in Jesus Christ, I am an ambassador for Him. The world is in turmoil, I'm not. The powerful of the world are trying to make decisions to rescue the world and on and on. We have the Word of God. That's what we bring to the world. Here is what our God says, here is what my God says. It's not a message that they want to hear because you see what Jeremiah has to do. He has to pluck up and break down, destroy and overthrow, and then to build and plant. The bulk of Jeremiah's ministry will be negative, it will be judgment. Plucking up, breaking down, destroying and overthrowing. People don't want to hear that, about sin, about judgment. But with that there is a message of hope. This God is going to bring salvation to the nation when it is all said and done.

We come to a people and bring them a message of salvation. I have to tell you about your sin. You cannot know the living God unless you know something about your sin and guilt before you. Not something people want to know, want to hear, want to talk about, but that's where you have to start and then God can intervene by His grace in bringing this salvation through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The fullness of the revelation we have has increased, but the God that we served is the same that Jeremiah served. The responsibility we have before Him, there are different responsibilities. We are not prophets today, but each of us knows we have been prepared by God in eternity past for the service that He laid out for us and our responsibility is to be faithful in that. That will entail walking by faith in the most intimidating circumstances. But that's okay because He'll never leave us nor forsake us. We need no more security, no more protection than that.

Let's pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your Word. Thank you for its richness, thank you for its depth. Thank you for who you are, the God of this Word. And this Word is sure and eternal because you are the eternal God who watches over your Word, who assures its fulfillment in every detail. Lord, as overwhelming and awesome as it is, by your grace we belong to you, we are privileged to serve you. May we do it with confidence and courage and boldness because we are walking by faith, believing all that you have said will be true. We praise you for Christ. In His name we pray, amen.