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Jeremiah chapter number one verse number one the Bible reads the words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah of the priests that were in Anathoth 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 11th year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah under the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month now tonight as we start a brand new book Jeremiah and our Bible study and we go through this whole entire book verse by verse Let's start out just by noticing that in the first three verses here God explains to us the time frame that Jeremiah is preaching and this is always very important when you're understanding These books God didn't just put this at the beginning just to fill up a couple of verses He's actually telling us important information about the context here now the last bunch of Wednesday nights We've been going through Zechariah That was at the end of the Babylonian captivity the 70 year Captivity of the children of Judah had ended and in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah when they're coming back to Israel That's when Zechariah was preaching. Well Jeremiah on the other hand is on the other side of that Jeremiah is preaching in the days leading up to the captivity in the days of Josiah Jehoiakim and Zedekiah These are the final kings of Judah before they go captive into Babylon So this is a time when the children of Judah are in a lot of disobedience Against the Lord God's very angry with them to the point where he's going to destroy their entire nation He's gonna allow the temple to be destroyed and he's gonna cause them to be carried away captive into Babylon because of this Jeremiah's preaching is very negative It's a very negative book of the Bible because he's talking to a rebellious house of Israel That's going to be punished severely and he's warning of that punishment He's trying to preach to them that they need to repent and turn back to God and so forth So that's why that information is important there in verses 1 through 3 now in verse number 4 the Bible reads then the Word of the Lord came unto me saying before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and Before thou came us forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet under the nations now notice here When God talks about choosing Jeremiah before he was even born To perform this function where he's going to be a prophet to the nation and where he's going to bring a lot of negative Preaching to the children of Judah to the Jews at that time Notice that he says I knew thee and I ordained thee Okay, so the reason that's important is because God often chooses people To do certain things or to perform great tasks and obviously a man like Jeremiah had a very important role Because not only is he a prophet to the nations for that generation But also his words were going to be recorded in the book of Jeremiah and he was going to be one of the holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and he's going to be writing a book of the Bible I mean we have this book of Jeremiah today and it's based around the life and preaching of this man Jeremiah So this is an extremely important man Especially in light of the fact that the book of Jeremiah is pretty much the longest book in the Bible with Psalms They're both right about the same length when you look at how many words are in them Because even though Jeremiah only has 52 chapters those chapters are very long chapters So this is a very serious biblical book and God is telling Jeremiah I already ordained you to be a prophet I already had this path for you chosen before you were even formed in the belly Before you even were conceived in your mother's womb He says to that in verse 6 then said I our Lord God behold I I cannot speak for I am a child But the Lord said to 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 now If you would flip over to 1st Peter chapter 1 in the New Testament Go to the very end of the Bible and just a few books before Revelation. You'll find 1st Peter chapter number 1 and The reason I bring this up is because the Bible talks a lot about God for ordaining things and God Choosing people before they're even born or making plans about what people are going to do before they're born and there's a word that the Bible uses that's predestination and There's a lot of controversy around the word predestination because there's a false doctrine that has sprung up around this word that Basically teaches that God chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell that God would basically Just choose a person for absolutely no reason and Just say this person's going to hell because it's my will and there's nothing they or anybody else can do about it and then this person over here I've chosen to go to heaven and This doctrine is known as Calvinism But some people will just call it predestination and they mean basically That God is the one that already decided who's going to be saved and a lot of times these people will laugh at or scoff At you when you go out and you and you try to really make a difference and You try to go out and reach people with the gospel and save them with fear and pulling them out of the fire and all They'll say well, you know God's got to draw them and you know, it's it's God that's gonna do it because he's already chosen He's already for ordained it and they'll make a lot of statements like well, you know, if you don't do it Somebody else will do it somebody else will do it if you don't do it because it's if it's God's will it's gonna happen type of thing and Even people who haven't gone all the way into this doctrine Sometimes they have a tendency toward this doctrine this attitude of well if you don't do it someone else will Well, I don't believe that for one second, you know The Bible teaches that if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost They're the ones who suffer, you know to whom the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not So when the Bible talks about God Predestinating us or God Electing us or choosing us. I want to show you that when you look up these scriptures It's not what this false doctrine of Calvinism teaches that God is choosing which ones go to heaven and which ones go to hell See that election according the Bible is based upon the foreknowledge of God now What does election mean election just simply means choosing for example, this is an election year What does that mean people are going to be choosing a president they're gonna be choosing senators and congressman So election means choosing but God's choosing is based upon his foreknowledge. It's not based upon Just the mysteries of his will and randomness. No, actually there is a method to it. See he chose Jeremiah Because he foreknew Jeremiah it's not that God just picked a random guy and Just say well I'm just gonna make you a prophet to the nations because if he would have picked a lot of people they would have screwed up That job I mean Jeremiah had to do a lot of really hard things and preach a lot of really hard sermons and a lot of people Would have failed but he picked a guy that he foreknew Would do the job the way that he wanted it to do So he said I knew you before you were formed and I ordained you now look at first Peter chapter 1 verse 2 We can even just start in verse 1 Peter an apostle of Jesus Christ to the stranger scattered throughout Pontus Galatia Cappadocia Aza and Bithynia Elect right what's elect mean chosen elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father Through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ grace unto you and peace Be multiplied flip over to Romans chapter 8 Romans chapter 8 is probably the most famous scripture that mentions predestination or Election according to the foreknowledge of God so it's not that God Chooses who goes to heaven and who goes to hell because actually if that were the case God would choose for everybody to go to heaven Because the Bible says that God's not willing that any should perish But that also come to repentance the Bible says that he will have all men to be saved and to come unto the knowledge of The truth he gave himself a ransom for all John 3 16 is not just a cruel joke When he said that God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish But have everlasting life. Oh, just kidding. It was only for certain people No, he said he gave himself for the whole world, but the whole world is not saved It's whosoever believeth it shall be saved But he gave himself for the whole world the grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared unto all men the Bible says and so Salvation is available to all Jesus Christ died for all and the Bible says Whosoever will and whosoever will in our mind of an acro means whosoever wants to whosoever will let him take the water of life freely Jesus said to the Pharisees, but you will not come to me that you might have life He said you don't want to you don't want to come to me Because it's the man who has to make the decision to accept The offer of eternal salvation the free gift of eternal life Look what the Bible says in Romans chapter 8 verse 28 and we know that all things work together for good To them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose For whom he did for know He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn Among many brethren now the Bible is telling us here that the people that are predestinated are those which he foreknew Meaning that God knows the end from the beginning and before this world was ever even created He already knew who would be saved and who would not be saved He already knew that there would be people who would believe on Jesus Christ and people who would not believe on Jesus Christ He knew that there would be people like Jeremiah that he could use Greatly to do powerful works for God and then he knew that there were other people That would be losers that he wouldn't pick people like that for such an important job as to be a prophet to the nations He knows all these things. It's all part of his four nodes So the Bible says here if you look carefully in verse 29 for whom he did for know he also did Predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son so what this verse is actually saying is that God foreknew which people would be saved which people would believe on Christ and those people He predestinated them that they would be conformed to the image of his son So he looks into the future and he says, okay Steven Anderson is gonna believe on Jesus Christ as a six-year-old boy. I For know that he's gonna be a believer His destiny is to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ And he looked and saw you the same thing and he said I know this person is going to be saved So he predestined all those that believe that they would be conformed to the image of his son That's their destiny to be conformed to the image of Christ because in the resurrection We shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and the Bible says here That he might be the firstborn among many brethren verse 30 Moreover whom he did predestinate Then he also called and whom he called then he also justified and whom he justified then he also glorified Now, what does this all go back to though God's foreknowledge? Because it's whosoever believeth in him That has access to these blessings and these promises of being conformed to the image of a son being glorified The Bible says that it's by faith. It's by grace that we have access By faith we have access to this grace wherein we stand the Bible says go over if you would Ephesians chapter 1 This is also scripture that people will turn to Talking about this subject of predestination or election God's choosing and you know Whether we're talking about God choosing People to do works for him like he chose 12 disciples, for example, or he chose Jeremiah to be a prophet but by the way, God doesn't always just choose people just It went let me start over when it says that God chose someone it's not always talking about the fact that they're saved For example, he said of the disciples have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil You know, he chose them for a job. He chose them for that specific task According to his foreknowledge it was his will that there would be one who was a devil Because he would be betrayed by him that the scriptures might be fulfilled So that's all part of his will to make that choice But God does not choose people to go to heaven and choose people to go to hell and then create this illusion that we have The ability to just believe on him and be saved that would be ridiculous doesn't make any sense and it's contrary to the Bible but it says here in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings and heavenly places in Christ According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world That we should be holy and without blame before him and love now read that verse very carefully. This verse does not say God has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world and nuts to everybody else He chose that we would be in the group and others wouldn't know he's saying he chose us That we should be holy and without blame before So God chose he looked forward in the future and said I'm gonna take a people That believe on me and I'm gonna purify unto myself a peculiar people zealous of good works I'm gonna take people that believe in me and I'm gonna save them and I'm going to Predestinate them look at verse 5 Having predestinated us under the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself according to the good pleasure of His will to the play praise of his of the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us Accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace So let's go back to Jeremiah 1 But I just wanted to show you that God's choice is based on his foreknowledge And so in Ephesians chapter 1 he's not choosing which people will be saved and which people will not be saved He's choosing that the people which are saved will walk blameless before him He's choosing that they'll be conformed to the image of his son. He's choosing that they'll be adopted. He's choosing that they'll be glorified He's choosing that someday they'll inherit all things. That's the choice that he made He chose that all believers would have these blessings so you can see how people twist scripture though and say oh God Chooses which one will be saved and which one will not be saved and again one of the biggest problems with that doctrine Despite what people will say is that it leads to people being Laxagesical or apathetic and not really feeling like what they do matters because they feel oh It's all foreordained and they don't have the urgency of wow People are going to hell and we need to go out and get him saved We need to go out and preach the gospel We need to pull these people out of the fire if our gospel be hid it's hid to them that are lost It's more like no. No God's got it all under control. Just sit back relax And if people really want to be saved they'll be saved if God, you know If you don't do it somebody else would it it's not so and and here's what they'll say Well, but what about these great soul winners and evangelists of the past that were Calvinist, but here's what's funny about that The exception proves the rule you can point me they pointed me they said well Here's two people in Phoenix, Arizona who are zealous soul winners and they're Calvinists Somebody pointed this out to me and I'm thinking to myself. Okay, so you're pointing to me to two people, right? but I will say this there are a whole bunch of Presbyterian churches all over this city and a whole bunch of Calvinist Baptist churches a bunch of Reformed Baptists, right? And then there are a bunch of independent fundamental Baptist churches that are not Calvinist Let me ask you something who's knocking the doors in this city. Is it the Presbyterians? When was the last time the Presbyterians came to your door? When was the last time the Reformed Baptist came to your door? When was the last time somebody from James White's church came to your door? It's not gonna happen Okay, so they can point out oh this guy 200 years ago, he was real zealous about souls, okay What about your average independent fundamental Baptist? Church sends out scores of people every week knocking doors. And by the way, our church is not the only soul winning Church Thank God we do a lot of soul winning here But you know what? There are a lot of other independent Baptist churches all over America that knock Thousands and thousands and thousands of doors and they're not Calvinist and the churches I've been in there were Calvinists were dead as a doornail and the exception proves the rule But the vast majority of anybody who gives a rip about where people go when they die it happens to be people that aren't Calvinists and Most of the Calvinists are these go down deep stay down long come up dry sit in their ivory tower with their commentaries and their church fathers and all their Theological mumbo-jumbo and you know, that's the truth and it's the it's the ones who say Whosoever will may come that are actually doing the real soul winning and that's a fact That's that's what we see but it'd be that as it may it's what the Bible teaches anyway But anyway, we see this about Jeremiah that he's chosen to be a prophet unto the nations Another thing I want to point out about that verse in verse 5 is that Jeremiah was not called to only preach unto The children of Judah that was not his only ministry Sometimes people get a very strange view that God only cared about the chosen nation of Israel in the Old Testament and it was sort of just To hell with everybody else. That's pretty much what they think and then they think open in the New Testament He opened it up beyond that but if you stop and think about it Obviously in the Old Testament the nation of Israel were a chosen people a chosen nation They were set apart and holy unto God, but they were actually designed to be a light unto the Gentiles They weren't designed to just be this isolated group of people That God would love them and deal with them and save them and just not care about anyone else No, God actually loved people in the Old Testament tube that were not of the chosen ones He still loved the world at that time as well And so when we see here that Jeremiah is called to be a prophet unto the nations as we read the book of Jeremiah You're gonna see various instances where he preaches to foreign countries where God sends him on tour literally Around the world where God sends him to all nations and where the Bible literally lists Nation after nation after nation where Jeremiah traveled and preached the Word of God you go to the book of Isaiah You're gonna find the same thing You're gonna find God sending Isaiah to all nations of the earth all of them and then through the ministry of Daniel Shadrach Meshach and Abednego we see God's Word going out to all tongues all Kindreds all nations in the book of Esther we see the Word of God going out to a hundred and twenty-seven provinces all the way from Ethiopia to India So God's plan has always included all men upon the earth. He's the God of the whole earth Is he the God of the Jews only is he not also the Gentiles? Yes of the Gentiles also and even in the Old Testament God Had a plan and cared about all the people of the world Did the nation of Israel have a special purpose in the Old Testament where they had chosen people? Did they bring forth the Lord Jesus Christ where the oracles of God committed unto them? Of course But God also wanted other people to hear the preaching to think about all the great stories in the Old Testament About non Jews receiving salvation from the Lord think about people like Nahum in the Syrian You know any and by the way, Jesus talked about this when he was in his ministry He said in Matthew chapter 8 When a man you don't have to turn there, but when a man Came to him with great faith He said unto this man. This man was not a Jew. He said verily I say unto you I have not found so great faith No not in Israel and I say unto you The many shall come from the east and west and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven But the children of the kingdom meaning the kingdom of Israel shall be cast out into outer darkness There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when Jesus was almost pushed off a cliff you remember when they tried to push Jesus off a cliff in Luke chapter 4 he goes and preaches as his hometown. In fact, let's quickly turn there Luke chapter number 4. That's a great story Jesus goes back to preach to his hometown. And of course the Bible says a prophet is not without honor Save in his own country and in his own house, but Jesus actually points back to Old Testament stories showing that even in the Old Testament God cared about people of other nations And he wasn't just specific to the Jews only Look what it says in verse number 24 of chapter 4 and he said verily I say unto you No prophet is accepted in his own country But I tell you of a truth many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias When the heaven was shut up three years and six months when great famine was throughout all the land But under none of them was Elias sent save unto Sarepta a city of Zidon unto a woman that was a widow and many lepers were in Israel in the time of Alyssius the prophet and None of them was cleansed saving Naaman the Syrian and all they in the synagogue when they heard these things were filled with wrath And you know even this preaching today could create wrath in people When you start saying hey guess what? God loves people that aren't just the Jews but also the Gentiles only and that there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek and that God has Salvation for all and he's the god of the whole earth and his house is a house of prayer for all nations You know they get angry about that and here the Bible says that they were angry at Jesus for pointing out It looked some of the greatest works in the Old Testament were done toward foreigners He said there were a lot of other widows that he could have helped out But he helped out a foreigner a lot of guys could have been healed of leprosy But it was a foreigner that was helped out and by the way we need to get past this attitude That a lot of people have today. That's an anti foreigner attitude. It's not biblical What is it some kind of a liberal or do you hippie but hold on a second I thought the Bible is our final authority here not talk radio Okay, so what does the Bible say about the stranger it says treat the stranger well Says treat him as one born in the land Okay, it doesn't say to hate foreigners and to end to get this Tribalistic where you know hey white people and look there are people out there today that are white supremacist and There are people out there that are black supremacists. You know what about these black Hebrew Israelites? and They talk about how blacks are the chosen people and everything like that It's huge movement And then there are all kinds of white people that are the same way and there are Hispanics and Indians and everybody else that feels the same way, but wait a minute God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ That's what the glory and being white or brown or black or yellow. It doesn't matter It's meaningless in the eyes of God avoid genealogies. He said avoid genealogies who cares But yet people today get this attitude that one nation is better than another When really God has made all kindreds of the earth of one blood, and he's not a respecter of persons And you know it's it's to the Jew first and also to the Greek and there's no difference between the two He's made us both one in Christ Jesus in Christ There is neither male nor female Jew nor Greek bond nor free Scythian Parthian. It doesn't matter So we need to understand that Jeremiah was ordained a prophet to the nations Let's look at this in Jeremiah chapter 1 verse 6 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 This is a great scripture for children right here, and I hope every child who's here today would Listen to what this scripture is saying don't say I cannot speak for I'm a child You know children can be used by God to win souls unto Jesus Christ. They can be used to preach God's Word You know I remember the story of my grandpa Who got saved because of the testimony of a five-year-old boy literally God used a five-year-old boy? to win my grandfather the Lord Okay, and you know what what Baptist pastors had failed to do in the past this five-year-old boy accomplished there was a kid who lived on his street and this five-year-old boy came to him and Quoted the Romans road to him and preached the gospel, and he didn't get saved right then and there But he said wow I I got to go to the church that this kid is from I'm gonna go check that church out He was so impressed that this five-year-old boy came up and started witnessing to him and preaching to God five five years old Preach to him the Romans Road He went to church that Sunday, and then the Tuesday night thereafter The pastor and a deacon dr. Roland Rasmussen and and one of the deacons there from faith Baptist Church in Canoga Park Came to his house and won him and my dad to the Lord the same day my grandfather and my dad the same day Why because of a five-year-old boy? You know God can use children to preach the Word of God and You know I thank God for the fact that I you know my children in the neighborhood have won some kids unto the Lord in The neighborhood you know when they run into kids on the street or at the park So if you're a child you're listening to me don't say oh well. I'm a child. I'm just I can't speak I'm a child you know what if you have friends in the neighborhood that you play with Maybe you go to school, or maybe you're part of a homeschool group Why don't you open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel? And you know I've often thought about all the kids that I knew when I was in elementary school junior high and high school And I've often thought about the fact that I bet you I could have won some of them to the Lord if I would have If I would have tried you ever think about that I think about kids that I knew and I think about wow I bet you I could have won them unto the Lord But I just didn't do it nobody taught me to do solely. I didn't learn soul-winning until I was like 17 years old But God wants to use Children he wants to use man woman boy and girl To to win people to Christ and to preach the gospel So don't say I'm a child because if you start when you're a child be like Timothy who from a child knew the holy scriptures Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus And you can be used by God even as a child the Bible says out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou has perfected praise You know suffer the children to come unto me from such as the kingdom of God Verily I say to you whosoever shall not be converted and become as a little child He said shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven you have to become as a little child and have the faith of a child That's why children are easy to win the Lord and you know who's good at winning children of the Lord other children Children winning children to the Lord Otherwise what are you even doing playing with all these neighborhood kids and everything if you're not gonna win them to Christ You know that's why we're on this earth to Preach the gospel and the younger you start doing that the better. I wish I would have started younger I wish I would have used all those opportunities I had when I was a kid and and I really wanted to but I just didn't know what I was doing But if you grow up in this church you have no excuse because there's an abundance of opportunity to learn Then said I all Lord God behold I cannot speak for I am a child but the Lord said to 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 the verse that comes to mind is when Paul tells Timothy let no man despise thy youth but be thou an example of the believers in word in conversation and charity in spirit and faith and purity The Bible says in verse 8 be not afraid of their faces for I am with thee to deliver these sayeth the Lord Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth and the Lord said unto me behold I've put my words in thy mouth see I've set thee this day over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out and to pull down and to destroy and Throw down to build and to plant so here Jeremiah is being commissioned to go out and preach a hard message And so he's told don't be afraid of their faces He's saying people are going to give you dirty looks You know people are going to confront you and be an enemy unto you, and you can't be afraid of them I'm going to deliver you because I'm sending you to root out I'm sending you to pull down to destroy now most people don't think of a preacher as a destroyer do they? You know nobody prays before the sermon Lord I pray that you would just help pastor Anderson. Just destroy what he needs to destroy tonight Lord just help him to destroy it You know what what do you think about that pastor that you know he's destructive? And I mean that in the best possible way But what but I mean, this is part of the ministry Some things that need to be destroyed and notice when you look at his ministry He says root out pull down destroy and throw down Those are four negatives, and then he says to build and to plan that's two positives it's a two-thirds negative message and and and one-third positive that Jeremiah is going to be preaching and So many preachers today are a hundred percent positive and zero percent negative or ninety nine percent Positive and one percent negative, and you know some people are too negative. I agree, but we need a balance We need a tearing down type of a sermon you say well I you know I want to be built up yeah, but sometimes you need to be torn down Sometimes you need a swift kick in the pants more than you need a pat on the back and So the Bible says in verse number 11 moreover the word of the Lord came unto me saying Jeremiah What seest thou and I said I see a rod of an almond tree Then said the Lord unto me thou is well seen for I will hasten my word To perform it and The word of the Lord came unto me the second time saying what seest thou and I said I see a seething pot in the Face thereof is toward the north Then the Lord said unto me out of the north and evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land For lo I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north saith the Lord and they shall come and they shall Set everyone is thrown at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem and against all the walls thereof roundabout and against all the cities of Judah and I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness Who have forsaken me and have burned incense unto other gods and worship the works of their own hands So God is pronouncing judgment upon the children of Judah for being wicked and worshiping other gods He says I'm gonna bring evil upon them I'm gonna bring these nations against them to destroy them and to fight against them now This is not a very positive message when you preach to your country. Oh, by the way, there's an enemy coming and you're gonna lose and they're gonna win because it's like whoa, you're not patriotic and Even later in the book of Jeremiah, he's gonna be accused of treason You've fallen under the Chaldeans you're being paid by the Chaldeans and he says well, it's a lie But he's still thrown in prison why because he was accused of being in the payment of the Chaldeans because he's ruining their morale You know by saying that they're gonna lose and he's telling just surrender to the Chaldeans You're gonna lose anyway. It's like whoa. What are you doing, buddy? We're at war all the talk radio was saying, you know, this guy's a traitor We're at war this this hippie and what an anti-war or whatever But he was preaching the Word of God. He had to preach what God said now The first thing he shows him is a rod of an almond tree, you know I believe he's probably just showing him there a rod that he's gonna whoop him with You know because the rods like spare the rods spoil the child right a rod is something that you Beat somebody with to discipline them and he's bringing discipline and punishment upon the children of Judah and He says there's a seething pot like a boiling pot that represents the enemy that's gonna come and destroy them He says in verse 17 there 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 now God is not only Commanding him not to be dismayed at their faces not only to fear them But he's actually telling him that he's gonna punish him if he is dismayed at their faces If you're dismayed at their faces, I'll confound you before them. I Will cause you to fail you will look as a fool before them if you are dismayed at them But he's basically telling him, you know, if you do what's right if you preach what's right? I'll defend you He said in verse 18 for behold I have made thee this day a defensive city and an iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole land against the kings of Judah Against the princes thereof against the priests thereof and against the people of the land and they shall fight against thee But they shall not prevail against thee for I am with thee saith the Lord to deliver thee now, let me submit to you this there's nothing new under the Sun and If we were to take an honest look at the United States of America today It is similar to the land of Judah at this time in the sense that we've committed great wickedness and abominations and we know that God's anger is like a seething pot ready to boil over and we know that God's got the rod of the Almond tree ready and we know that bad things are gonna happen to us as a result of our wickedness we're in the same boat here and Preachers today if they preach the truth if they cry aloud and spare not and show God's people their sins If they get up and preach the word in season out of season and they reprove rebuke and exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine they will end up being against the kings of the land and Against the princes of the land against the priests of the land and against the people of the land Look there are people that we need to preach against there are priests and preachers that need to be preached against there are rulers and leaders that need to be preached against and it's no different today than it was then and God says if you will not fear if you will be a fearless preacher He says I'll make you like a defense city I'll make you like an iron pillar and brazen walls against the whole land and against etc against the kings of Judah see The word that keeps coming up in this passage is against There are times when we preach about something and then there are times when we need to preach against something There are times we need to stand for something and times when we need to stand Against something and that's what the Bible is teaching here now Let me just point out the obvious truth of this chapter that a lot of people don't want to face and that Is this that when the children of Judah Disobeyed the Lord and forsook him and worshipped other gods the Bible says that God was against them and The Bible says that God gathered nations against them and that he brought enemies against them and that he set preachers against them Did he say to Jeremiah you're gonna be for the kings of Judah because they're the chosen people period So you got to be forum because you got a blood if you don't bless them God won't bless you Whoa, buddy, you better bless the king of Jude. No. No, he said no you you're against the cities of Judah I'm not look is everybody reads every have a Bible here tonight is everybody looking at the same chapter I'm looking at because they you're against the cities of Judah. You're against the kings of Judah. You're against Jerusalem I'm bringing armies against us and but yet today the preachers just want to be for Jerusalem and for Judah no matter what no matter what false God they worship and let me tell you something. There's only one God and He has a name Jesus and it's the name that's above any other name Neither is there salvation in any other for there is none other name under heaven Given among men whereby we must be saved and the Bible says that if you don't if you don't have the son You don't have the father Whosoever denyeth the son the same hath not the father, but he that acknowledges the son hath the father also Who is a liar but he that denyeth that Jesus is the Christ? He's anti Christ that denied the father and the son the Bible says whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ Hath not God Just let that sink in whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God Whosoever abideth in the doctrine of Christ. He hath both the father and the son But hold on a second. Why is it that there is a doctrine today that says these people who do not believe in Christ have God Is that biblical how do you say they have God Okay, here we go again whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God Whosoever denyeth the son the same hath not the father but busy Oh in Israel, they have the same God that we have Really? How does that work? Because the Bible says that no man cometh unto the Father but by Jesus So therefore they don't have the same God so but do they have a God I mean you talk about God I mean who I mean the praying to somebody at that wall. I Mean who are they but they're praying to somebody Okay, but you say oh they're praying to the Father really because that's not what the Bible says the Bible says they don't have God And the Bible says that by Christ we have access To the Father by Christ we we may come boldly before the throne of grace Jesus the Son of God is our priest We have one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus And so it's important to keep that in mind and so as we continue on in the book of Jeremiah We need to realize what's going on in the book. We got to get the context what's going on in the book We've got a wicked nation Which is similar to where we find ourselves the United States a nation that in time past was righteous Just as the United States in time past has been a godly god-fearing nation That's how Judah was in the past. Yeah, they had been a Godly nation really in recent history with Josiah they had been but then they went off into wickedness once again and so we're in the same boat today and They had judgment coming we have judgment coming. They had a preacher that was sent unto them We have lots of preachers that God has sent unto us in America There are lots of preachers that God has ordained and God will continue to ordain many more preachers in the next Several years and God willing there would be a whole army of Jeremiah type preachers That would start churches all over America and that would be like an iron pillar There would be like a brazen wall There would be a defensive city that would not be afraid of the faces of man But that God's Word would be in their mouth and they would stand up and boldly Preach the Word of God and yes, they would build and plant but they wouldn't be afraid to tear down to destroy That which impedes God's work you can't build something until you first clear the ground and Demolish that which was there Beforehand and So as we read the book of Jeremiah, there's a lot that we could apply unto ourselves all the scriptures That God gave in the Old Testament are written for our admonition Upon whom the ends of the world are come and all scripture is given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine and so as we go through Jeremiah, there will be many lessons for preacher and parishioner alike and there will be many lessons for our nation and there will be many lessons about You know what God wants us to do in the year 2016. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father We thank you so much Lord for this powerful book of Jeremiah It's really a giant book Lord and it's one that has a lot of difficult things Lord But I pray that through the power of the Holy Spirit as our teacher We would understand this book over the next 51 weeks that we study the rest of this book Lord open our eyes and and let us behold wondrous things out of your law and Lord, please just give us an understanding heart. Give us wisdom and skill as you gave to Daniel and in Jesus name we pray. Amen