God Proclaims His Sovereignty

Transcript

GRM 559
02/08/1998
God Proclaims His Sovereignty
Jeremiah 1:4-10
Gil Rugh

I want to look into the book of Jeremiah with you this evening, the first chapter, a section that we have looked at on other occasions. I was drawn to it in my thinking as I contemplated the sovereignty of God, and the taking of one of our numbers home to be with Himself this past week. And Jeremiah 1 is not dealing with the issue of death, but the dealing of the issue of the sovereignty of God over the lives of His people, His plan being settled for them before their conception. So, I find Jeremiah 1 a very encouraging section of the word of God. I find it amazing that unbelievers, I think, have lost the comfort and encouragement that comes from such a section as this, because they have developed the thinking and idea that sections like this are exceptions. They are not really revealing the way that God works in the lives of His people, that these are exceptional cases that involve the exceptional work of God in a unique way. There is no doubt that Jeremiah is an exceptional person. The ministry that God had called him to was an exceptional ministry. But I think that God’s work in the call and life of Jeremiah does reflect what the word of God says; is the pattern that he carries out in the lives of the people that He calls to Himself.

While the ministries that we are called to and appointed to will vary, the working of God before our conception is the same for all of us. There is a strong emphasis in the section on the sovereignty of God. We’re going to focus on verses 4-10. Throughout this section the emphasis is on what God has done, what God is doing, or will do. Just note these statements in verse 5 beginning, “I knew you,” before that in verse 5, “I formed you,” then “I knew you,” “I consecrated you,” “have appointed you.” You’ll note that God is declaring His action here. ‘I’ formed you, ‘I’ knew you, ‘I’ consecrated you, ‘I’ appointed you. Down in verse 7, “I send you,” in the middle of the verse, “because everywhere I send you, you shall go.” The next statement, “all that I command you, you shall speak.” ‘I’ send you, ‘I’ command you. Verse 8, “I am with you,” verse 9, “I have put My words in your mouth.” Again, ‘I’ have put My words in your mouth. Verse 10, “I have appointed you this day.”

That repeated emphasis through this section, God declaring here is what I have done, here is what I am doing. Jeremiah will play a role, but it is the result and a consequence of the action of God who is sovereign in the whole process. And you’ll note verse 5 says, “before I formed you in the womb, and before you were born.” So, God’s sovereign work before the birth of Jeremiah. God had sovereignly determined what He would do with the life of Jeremiah in accomplishing His purposes. Before you were born, before you were formed in the womb, I knew you, I appointed you. That emphasis that God is sovereign, this was God’s plan before Jeremiah was born. It’s hard for us to grasp and appreciate this. Even Jeremiah will struggle with this because he will resist what God says is His plan. Try to tell God He’s not the best one to do it. He lacks some of the necessary abilities to be effective in the doing of it. Stop and think about it, amazing, here’s the God who says that I acted in making this decision before I formed you in the womb and before you were born. Jeremiah responds, Lord, You don’t understand, I’m not the one for this job. I like the humanness, if you will of Jeremiah. And reminded that God knows what He is doing. His plan and purpose is always correct.

Back up to the book of Judges 13, just some other examples of God’s working. You see the pattern that is established. So again, the pattern does deal with people who have a particular and unique role. That’s because those are the ones that the scripture focuses on. Obviously the scripture can not cover every single person, or even just all the believers. Scripture pulls out those who have a unique role. But in their lives, they’ve reflected the way the sovereign God works in the lives of His people. So, in Judges 13:5, this has to do with the ministry of Sampson, one of the judges in Israel. Verse 5, an angel appears to the mother of Sampson, the woman who would be his mother. In verse 5, she is told, “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 Nazarite to God from the womb; and he shall begin to deliver Israel from the hands of the Philistines.” So, here we’re told something of the life and work of Sampson, and he hasn’t even been conceived yet. The angel says, you shall conceive, then you’ll give birth to a son, and this is what he’ll be like, and this is what he’ll do. God is sovereign from before conception.

Turn over to 1 Kings 13, and here you have a prophet declare a prophecy to Jeroboam regarding the destruction of the altar that Jeroboam had established as an idolatry center for the northern kingdom. In verse 2 of 1 Kings 13, “He cried against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said, ‘O altar, altar, thus says the Lord, “Behold, a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name.” ‘ “ Now, Josiah is not going to be born for 300 years. And here God not only prophesied his birth, but tells us what his name will be. And then He tells us what He’s going to do with this altar. “On you,” this altar, “he shall sacrifice the priests of the high places who burn incense on you, and human bones shall be burned on you.” Three hundred years before the birth of Josiah, God through the prophets, declares that he would be born. His name would be Josiah, in case you have any doubt. He will be Josiah by name, and here’s what he will do. Three hundred years later, Josiah comes on the scene and does exactly what has been prophesied. God is sovereign in His work in the lives of the people of this world. And we are particularly focusing on His work in the lives of those who are believers.

But turn over to Isaiah 44, just before the book of Jeremiah, the book of Isaiah, 44. You think the prophecy of Josiah 300 years in advance, here Isaiah speaks of the coming of Cyrus the Persian king 400 years before he comes on the scene. And Cyrus will not be a child of God. Verse 28 of Isaiah 44 says, “It is I who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’ And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’ ” Isaiah 45:1, “Thus says the Lord to Cyrus His anointed, whom I have taken by the right hand, to subdue nations before him and to loose the loins of kings; to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut,” and so on. Cyrus will be used in a special way of God; an ungodly king will become an instrument in the hands of God, to the accomplishing of His purposes. God unfolds it 400 years in advance.

Jump to the New Testament, one passage in the New Testament, Galatians 1, so you don’t think that God only did this in Old Testament times. Galatians 1:15, the apostle Paul’s testimony, “But when God, who had set me apart even from my mother’s womb and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son in me, so that I might preach Him among the Gentiles…” and so on. The apostle Paul said, God had set him apart from his mother’s womb. The apostle Paul did not come to salvation in Christ, as we’re well aware, until he was an adult traveling on the Damascus road in Acts 9. But Paul said, God has set me apart from my mother’s womb. His sovereign work in Paul’s life.

So, God is sovereign in the activities in work of human beings, saved and unsaved alike. We, as God’s people take special comfort in knowing that God’s purposes and plans for us have been established from before our creation, our conception.

Come back to Psalm 139, one more passage. We sometimes come to this verse in the context of the death of a loved one, to be reminded that God is sovereign. It is a fitting verse for that, a fitting section. In Psalm 139:13, “You did form my inward parts, You did weave me in my mother’s womb, I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are Your works, and my soul knows it very well.” And verse 16, “Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; and in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.” God is sovereign over the days of our life. And He has written down our days in His book before He formed us in the womb. How long are those days? Well, if you’re still here and breathing, you don’t know. But I take special comfort and encouragement in this passage, to know that my days are in His hands. The sovereign God had prepared me for His purposes before my birth and the days that He would have me to accomplish those purposes before He calls me to Himself and to glory.

So, come back to Jeremiah 1. Just walk through a little bit of what he says about Jeremiah here in Jeremiah 1:5. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Now, before he’s formed in the womb would be before his conception, God knew him. This is an example of the use of the word “knowledge” or “to know,” when used of God in the Old Testament, that forms the background for the use in the New Testament, of an expression like foreknowledge. This doesn’t mean that God knew about him before he was formed in the womb; I checked it out by looking down in time, and I knew you. The word carries the idea of intimacy, of knowing with favor, of choosing someone. For example, the intimacy, Adam knew his wife and she conceives, speaking of the intimacy of the sexual union. Here God has placed His favor upon Jeremiah, He chose him. Amos 3:2, just jot it down, Amos 3:2, God says concerning Israel, “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” The New American Standard Bible, especially the recent edition, probably says, “You only have I chosen.” You look at the marginal note, it’s the word for ‘to know’ there. “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.” Well, God who is omnipotent knows in the broad sense every nation of the earth. Don’t you think He knew about the Egyptians? Did He know about the Assyrians? Of course He did. Old Testament is filled with prophecies concerning those nations that God gave. But Israel was the only nation that God had chosen, that He had placed His favor upon, His unique love.

So, here when he says to Jeremiah, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.” Before I formed you in the womb I placed My love upon you. I chose you. Why the New American Standard Bible translates Amos 3:2, “You only have I chosen,” gives you the concept of the word here. To know with favor, to place your love upon, to chose someone. So, God’s work in election, if you will, in sovereign choice, “Before ‘conception’ I knew you.” “Before you were born, I consecrated you.” King James I believe has sanctified you. The word, to sanctify, consecrate, to set apart. Down in Jeremiah 2:3, “Israel was holy to the Lord.” That word translated “holy,” same basic word, same basic idea, set apart. “You were holy to the Lord,” you were set apart to the Lord. And so, what God is saying to Jeremiah is, before I formed you, I chose you. Before you were born, I consecrated you. I chose you, then I set you apart for Myself and My purposes.

Then thirdly, “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” So, God chose Jeremiah for Himself. He set Jeremiah apart, and then He appointed him to serve as a prophet. “I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.” You see the sovereignty of God from beginning to end, choosing him for salvation, setting him apart to belong to God, and appointing him to the task or realm of service that would be his, as the servant of God.

You know, I take comfort in… We’re in an area here that I alluded to, we talked about prayer in our study this morning, that I haven’t nicely resolved, finally fit together in my mind. But I know the truth that is expressed here is true. That God not only chooses us and calls us as a result of His choice to salvation and sets us apart, He also appoints us to the realm of service that He has for us as His people. That would fit with the New Testament development of when we are saved, we are placed into the body of Christ, and so gifted by God to serve in some way. That was part of God’s sovereign plan, that’s not something we have to figure out everyday, the mind of God. It was planned and ordained from the beginning. That boggles my mind. Well then, how do my choices fit in this? My choices fit in this as a responsible person and God uses them. And that does not cancel out His sovereignty. I accept it as true, because God has said it. And He unfolds it here as a comfort and an encouragement to Jeremiah. He’s to be a prophet to the nations. And Jeremiah 46-51 contain specific prophecies concerning different nations -- Egypt, Philistia, Tyre, Moab, Ammon, Edom, Babylon -- different nations that Jeremiah would address. Now you note, it’s easy to have this together as we look back at a prophet 2500 years ago in history and we see that his life unfolded just like God said it would. But you know, this would fit, and those things were written for our encouragement and admonition to appreciate the sovereign hand of God is upon your life and my life, in the same way that it was upon Jeremiah. That doesn’t mean he has appointed us to do the same exact things, in the same way. But it’s the same sovereign God working in the lives of people that He has called to Himself, for the accomplishing of His purposes. We are in the process of seeing it unfolded as God works according to His will.

Note what God has for Jeremiah to do. Verse 6, as God has unfolded His program, there is a response from Jeremiah. And we can appreciate the response from the human side, although it makes no sense when you stop and think about it. “Then I said, ‘Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I am a youth.’ ” Now, when I stop and reflect, I can see in my own life how I’ve done exactly what Jeremiah has done. Where I find myself telling God, I’m not the right one for this. This is not a good idea. You’ve put me in the wrong position. And on we go. And I’m sure all of us have done that at one time in our lives or another. We’re in a situation, we’re just sure this shouldn’t be. Which, what are we saying to God? You’ve made a mistake here. Lord, this is not right. This shouldn’t be happening to me. Well, I may say, Lord I don’t understand what’s happening to me. But if I really believe He’s sovereign and in control, I know that what is happening to me is within His plan. But for Jeremiah to say, “Alas, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, because I’m a youth,” now does he think he needs to tell God how old he is? Oh boy, Lord, have You made a mistake. I’m just a young man and I don’t know how to talk. There must be some mistake here. Now, he doesn’t say it quite that way, but is that not the result of what he said?

Reminds you of Moses, doesn’t he? We’ve got to turn back to Moses. Their reason is a little different. Exodus 4:10, God calls Moses, and He even gives Moses some signs that will demonstrate to the people that he is a prophet of God. You know, Moses puts his hand inside his garment, pulls it out, it’s leprous, puts it back in, it’s clean and pure again. Now, you know Moses not only has the word of God, he’s had some demonstration, God’s powerful here. What’s Moses say to God in verse 10 of Exodus 4? “Then Moses said to the Lord, ‘Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past.’ ” Now, you know, we chuckle because, you have to tell the Lord, Lord, I’ve never been eloquent, not recently nor even in my past history. It’s not in my line. “ ‘Nor since You have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ ” Lord, I don’t have the ability. Jeremiah claimed lack of experience, I’m too young. Moses just claims lack of ability because he is not young at this point. You know, I just don’t have the ability to speak, I’m slow of tongue.

The Lord answers so beautifully in verse 11, “The Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Who makes him dumb or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not even I, the Lord?” Moses crosses the line here. Verse 13, he’s still resistant, “Lord, send the message by whomever You will,” verse 13. In other words, Lord, get someone else. Verse 14, “Then the anger of the Lord burned against Moses.” What is Moses saying here? Moses is the meekest man on the face of the earth, God will testify later. But you cross the line from true meekness and humility to arrogance, when you start to tell God His business. Now, when you tell God that He’s made a mistake, when you tell God, get somebody else, then the anger of the Lord burns against Moses. And you appreciate the patience of the Lord.

Come back to Jeremiah, and God’s response to Jeremiah’s reaction is a little different than it was to Moses, the end result is similar. Verse 7, “the Lord said to me, ‘Do not say, “I am a youth.” Jeremiah’s ministry will not depend upon his age, his experience, his ability, it will depend upon God. A good reminder, God does not call us to service because we have such unique abilities, that we can really help Him out. He calls us because He chooses to use us. And He graciously gives us what is necessary to accomplish what He calls us to do. There’s nothing wrong with being overwhelmed, to realize this is beyond me. But I ought to follow through with that and say, but it’s not beyond God, He will be sufficient for me.

“Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak.” So, Jeremiah doesn’t have to worry, I’m too young, I won’t know where to go. Well, you’ll go where I send you. I won’t know what to say. “All that I command you, you shall speak.” So, Jeremiah’s youth, Jeremiah’s ability, Jeremiah’s lack of experience, they really aren’t pertinent issues here. Jeremiah, you’re just a servant, you go where I tell you, you say what I tell you. Can’t get much simpler than that, can you? In other words, God is saying I’m in charge and I will direct you.

Verse 8 is tremendously encouraging, “ ‘Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” It probably reflects something that Jeremiah is experiencing as he hears this call. The lives of the prophets in Israel have not been easy, never were. Remember, Jesus asks the question, which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? Jeremiah’s sense of foreboding would be understandable. We are on the verge of the Babylonian captivity, Israel has sunk to the depths. Judah, particularly here, the southern kingdom of Israel, God is about to bring the devastating Babylonian captivity on the nation. Naturally, Jeremiah would have a sense of foreboding and fear. He’s going to step forward, to be God’s representative to a godless people on the verge of experiencing God’s judgement. Yet, God says, “ ‘Do not be afraid,’ ” do not fear them, “ ‘for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.”

God has committed Himself to the preservation and protection of Jeremiah. Now that does not mean immunity from difficulty and opposition. There’s a reason Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet, the one who wrote Lamentations, the lamentations of Jeremiah, as well as the book that bears his name, the prophecies of Jeremiah. You read Jeremiah and you find out his life is one of difficulty and trial and opposition and hardship, but God is with him to deliver him. The mark of success is not the response, the mark of success of Jeremiah is the faithfulness with which he carries out the ministry, and God will be faithful to be with him to deliver him.

Look down in verse 19 of chapter 1, and “ ‘They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” You know, I try to put myself in Jeremiah’s position as I read this section. If God had said, I’m going to send you to Lincoln, Nebraska years ago, I’m going to send you to a rebellious people, I’m going to send you to a church I’m about to judge, I’m going to send you to a people who are going to fight against you, they are going to try to overcome you and destroy you, but don’t worry, I’ll deliver you -- I’d probably be looking for reasons to stay in Philadelphia. So, I can understand Jeremiah’s position that God makes clear that his ministry will not be an easy ministry, but it’s one that God will preserve and keep.

Verse 9, “Then the Lord stretched our His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me, ‘Behold I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdom, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.’ “ The ministry of Jeremiah, it will accomplish God’s purposes because God provides the enablement. You know, I just think it’s so important that we keep that in mind, whatever task God gives us, He gives the enablement to carry it out, be it little, be it large. God provides the sufficiency to do what He calls us to do. So, inability or inexperience or whatever our excuse might be, is never an acceptable excuse, because God never calls me to do what He does not provide the sufficiency for me to do. So, “I am with you to deliver you.” He put His hands on Jeremiah, his mouth, “I have put My words in your mouth.” And this symbolic action of touching his mouth indicates that My message is to be imparted to you, your mouth in effect will be God’s mouth. You will be speaking God’s words to these people.

Look over in chapter 5:14, some great sections on the word of God in Jeremiah. Jeremiah 5:14, “Therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of hosts, ‘Because you have spoken this word.” And the word of the false prophets and the people’s rejection of the truth of God as communicated through Jeremiah -- there were false teachers, false prophets, they denied that trouble was coming, that judgment was coming. “Because you have spoken this word, behold, I am making My word in your mouth fire. And this people, wood, and it will consume them.” You see, the words of God in the mouth of Jeremiah are going to be like a fire. And they will go forth bringing the destruction that God speaks through Jeremiah. The awesome power -- Jeremiah standing all but alone in this time does not change the effectiveness of the work of God through Jeremiah.

Chapter 15 of Jeremiah, look at the end of verse 15, “know that for your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Your name, O Lord God of hosts.” Down in verse 20, God says, “ ‘then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze, and though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you; for I am with you to save you and deliver you,’ declares the Lord.” The sovereign hand of God on Jeremiah as he is fed upon the word of God, reminds me of Ezekial 3, where God gives the scroll of His word to Ezekial, and Ezekial takes it in and devours it. And then he goes to give forth the message.

Over in Jeremiah 20, look at verse 7, “O Lord, You have deceived me and I was deceived; You have overcome me and prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.” Amazing! We look back now, we’re studying the prophecies of Jeremiah 2500 years later. You know what Jeremiah was? He was an object of ridicule in his day. He was the laughingstock of the people. Did they stand in awe and say, there’s the mighty prophet, Jeremiah? No, they made fun of him. They ridiculed him. These are the people of God, the Jews! They are not truly saved, but they are the nation God has called to Himself. “I have become a laughingstock all day long. Everyone mocks me. Each time I speak, I cry aloud; I proclaim violence and destruction. Because for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long.” Interesting statement, “for me the word of the Lord has resulted in reproach and derision all day long.” We sometimes bemoan the fact, you know, we try to be faithful and witness, and people have just mocked us, ridiculed us, turned against us. Jesus said, woe to you when all men speak well of you, because that’s what they did with the false prophets. Jeremiah is faithfully giving forth the word, and it’s just made him the object of ridicule. So, you know what? Jeremiah made up his mind, I’ll just keep my mouth shut. I’m sure not making any progress by what I say. “But if I say, ‘I will not remember Him or speak anymore in His name,’ then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I can not endure it.” Jeremiah says, I just can’t keep quiet. It’s like I’ve got this fire inside of me. I want to keep my mouth shut, I can’t! It’s raging to come out. But I know when it comes out, it’s just going to cause me trouble. And down in the middle of verse 10, “All my trusted friends, watching for my fall.” So, at least if you have trouble because of your testimony because you share the gospel, you’re in good company. And if all your trusted friends are just watching for you to trip up, watching for you to stumble, hoping for it to happen, these aren’t your enemies, I mean, how’d you like to have these friends? All my trusted friends watching for my fall, saying, “Perhaps he will be deceived, so that we may prevail against him and take our revenge on him.” Like verse 11, “But the Lord is with me like a dread champion; therefore my persecutors will stumble and not prevail.”

Turn over one more passage to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah 23:29, “ ‘Is not My word like fire?’ declares the Lord, ‘and like a hammer which shatters a rock.’ ” So, the power of the word of God, to accomplish God’s purposes, even as it goes forth among a people who despise it and hate it and don’t want to hear it. It’s like God’s fire, like God’s hammer. Like God said to the prophet Isaiah, His word would accomplish His purposes, it never returns empty. That does not mean we see positive response, it means it always accomplishes God’s purposes. We’ll see more of that.

Come back to Jeremiah 1 [verse 10], “See, I have appointed you this day over the nations and over the kingdoms.” I love that, here’s Jeremiah the despised prophet, the weeping prophet, you know what his position is as God sees him? He is over the nations, he is over the kingdoms. Jeremiah have any royalty associated with him on this earth? No. Jeremiah have the trappings of a king? No. From God’s perspective, he is over the nations, over the kingdoms. Praise God, Jeremiah didn’t seek becoming a politician, he maintained his role as a prophet, “to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” Jeremiah’s ministry is twofold, tear down and build up, tear down and build up. It’s interesting, the negative aspect of tearing down has four verbs to describe it, the positive has two verbs. The negative comes first, the positive comes second. Pluck up, break down, destroy, overthrow. And to build and to plant. I’m reminded of the ministry of elders in the New Testament in Titus 1 [verses 9, 11], “to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict,” to silence those who are upsetting whole families with their false teaching. Same ministry the word of God accomplishes, it attacks sin and then it brings life and builds up.

You know, characteristic of the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day was they skipped the negative part. Look over in chapter 8:11 before we look at one passage in the New Testament, and then we’re done. Chapter 8:11, from prophet to priest, “They heal the brokenness of the daughter of My people superficially, saying, ‘All is well, all is well, [peace, peace]’ but there is no peace.” Characteristic of the false prophets in Jeremiah’s day they wanted to tell the people, they wanted to tell God’s people, it’s not so bad, you’re doing well. And the people loved it. Look over in chapter 23 again, chapter 23 of Jeremiah, verse 16, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Do not listen to the word of the prophets who are prophesying to you. They are leading you into futility; they speak a vision of their own imagination. Not from the mouth of the Lord. They keep saying to those who despise Me, ‘The Lord has said, “You will have peace;” ’and as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart, they say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’ ” Interesting, that the doctrine of sin, the doctrine that the church no longer wants to proclaim, the doctrine of eternal punishment, coming calamity, the judgment of God and eternal destruction away from His presence, don’t want to hear that. You know, nothing has really changed. The false prophets are popular because they do what false prophets have always done, they say what the people want to hear. And this was true in Jeremiah’s day, the prophets prophesied out of their own thinking. God says his people love to have it so. We come to the New Testament, what? There will come a time where they will not put up with sound teaching, but having itching ears, they’ll heap to themselves teachers.

So, we see again these truths that continue, they are timeless. The sovereignty of God, His work among men, and the attitude of men toward the work that God is doing. Turn over to the New Testament, one more passage. 2 Corinthians 2:14, the apostle Paul is speaking, “thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.” The triumphant apostle, who wrote a number of the letters we have in the New Testament from imprisonment, who will ultimately die a martyr, he talks about always being lead in triumph in Christ. “We are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing.” God gives off, through us as His servants, the knowledge of Christ in every place. And that fragrance of Christ goes out “among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing; to the one an aroma from death to death, to the other an aroma from life to life.” Same thing Jeremiah experienced. Jeremiah’s situation, the overwhelming response was he was giving off an aroma from death to death. The people would not listen. But he was giving off a fragrance pleasing to God, because he was giving forth the word that God had given to him. So, we too are giving off the fragrance of Christ.

We must remember what the measure of the mark of the success of our life is -- faithfulness, not results. The results are in God’s hands. Jeremiah is an absolute failure to the very end. And we find him being carted off to Egypt against his will, as the people continue to reject his words from God. But there’s no question in our mind, as those who believe the scripture, he is one of the outstanding servants of God. Why? Because he got great results? No, because he was faithful. We need to have that impressed upon our minds in these days. I trust that it’s an encouragement to you in your life. You say, I don’t see a lot of results. Are you faithful? Do you give off the fragrance of Christ wherever you are?

We’re in a world of life to life and death to death. Things have not changed, have they? We tear down, we destroy, we build up. The word of God, the message of Christ never goes forth where it does not accomplish God’s purposes. We long and desire it will accomplish salvation, that’s not always the case.

The end of verse 16, “who is adequate for these things?” “Who is adequate for these things?” The answer for the adequacy is down in chapter 3:5, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of the new covenant.” We don’t have any adequacy in ourselves. God has made us adequate. He is our adequacy, our sufficiency. That helps us appreciate verse 17, when he says, “Who is adequate for these things?” The implied answer is, we are, and he’ll explain that. That we have the sufficiency of God Himself. But he says, “we are not like many, peddling the word of God.” You see the same issue as Jeremiah faced. There were those who took and mixed God’s word with men’s ideas to make it palatable to the people and acceptable. Paul says, we are not like those peddling the word of God. Notice that word “peddling,” to be a huckster, adulterating the word to make it saleable. May be used in a sales thing where people would corrupt what they were selling to make it saleable. They had a thing on television, I saw just part of it, on jewelry you buy. One of these jewelry stores and buying things, and you’re told, yes, you have an emerald, and they come home and it just had a green color painted on it. You pay thousands of dollars and the thing is worth just a few dollars, relatively speaking. They are hucksters, they are making a sale. Well, here there are those handling the word of God like that. Paul says, we are sufficient, we are adequate for this ministry of eternal consequence, eternal life and eternal death, because we are not like the many, the “hoi polloi,” peddling the word of God. But as from sincerity, as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God. So, we can say in verse 5, we are not adequate in ourselves, God is our adequacy. Why? We speak as from God. We have only one thing to offer, what God has said. That has not changed. God does not speak directly to us as he did the prophets in the Old Testament. We had a combination of the written word up till that time, and the additional word that God was giving. But we have the same fixed truth from God. And our sufficiency from what God has called us to do, is in our faithfulness in giving forth that word.

So, we have a God who is sovereign from before we were conceived in the womb, He had chosen us and called us, Ephesians 1, Revelation 13, Revelation 17, He set us apart for Himself. He appointed the task. We say, I just fell into this, whatever area are your service. However God is called you to invest your life in honoring Him. No, you’re there by divine plan, divine appointment. And you are there to represent, first and foremost, the living God. Not to earn a living, not to do this, but first and foremost that which has eternal importance and significance. Praise God, that we know in this ministry God is our sufficiency and adequacy. We fall back upon Him and the truth He has entrusted to us, and allow Him to do as He sees fit, with us, in us and through us. And when we carry that out, in that way, then God is honored. That’s what’s to be our desire for our lives, personally, and the life and ministry of this local church. May God help us

Let’s pray together. Thank You, Lord for Jeremiah. Lord, we gain greater appreciation of him, because we gain greater insights into Your sovereign work in his life. And Lord, we are in awe that You should be a God of such knowledge and such power that You should have set forth Your plan and purposes before You called us into existence. Lord, we take comfort and confidence in knowing that You are our God, and sovereign in every way. We are encouraged to know that our lives are instruments in Your hands, to the accomplishing of the purposes that You have determined. Lord, may we accept Your will for us, as You use us to honor Yourself in so many different ways. Lord, may we be faithful in giving forth the message of life in every circumstance and every situation, so that Your sufficiency might demonstrate itself in the accomplishing of your purposes. Lord, may we accept from Your hand, what You choose to give, whether it is to tear down or to build up. May Your work be done for Your honor and glory through our lives as Your people and the life of this church. We ask in Christ’s name. Amen.