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All right, so we're there in Luke chapter six So we started off this series and we talked about the calling of Jeremiah then we talked about the message of Jeremiah Tonight what I want to preach to you tonight about is the heart of Jeremiah and you say well Why in the world will we start off a sermon about Jeremiah and Luke? My this morning my my dad asked me the chapter and I said Luke six and he's like, you know You're preaching on Jeremiah, right? But what I want to we're talking about the heart of Jeremiah So what I want to do is I want to show you the importance of the heart. Why does the heart matter? I want to make a point about it before we get started here. You're there Luke 6 look at verse 45 Luke 6 45 there the Bible says this a good man out of the good treasure of his heart Bringeth forth that which is good So he's saying a good man is good because his heart is good and it says like likewise and an evil man out of the evil Treasure of his heart bring it forth that which is evil and so an evil person is evil because their heart is evil from the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh and you'll have to Turn there, but Matthew 12 34 says a generation of vipers How can ye being evil speak good things from the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh? So the idea is this what's in your heart is going to be Manifested obviously only God can see the heart obviously only God knows truly what's in someone's heart But as far as we as people how we can tell what's in someone's heart is by their actions what they do What they don't do how they portray themselves Go ahead and turn to Jeremiah chapter 1 Now we mainly apply this to bad people right whether it's a bad person in our life or maybe someone who comes into church we apply it to bad people right like What's in your heart will eventually come out of your mouth, and that's definitely true, and we apply that a lot to bad people But remember it also said a good man or the good treasure of his heart bring it forth out which is good So this goes both ways It's not just applied to bad people so good or bad People's hearts are going to be we can see what's in someone's heart by what they did and by their Action so real quickly tonight the sermon is three attributes or three windows We have into Jeremiah's heart that show us the type of heart He had the three three things that we can see by his life And how he lived his life and the things he did and said and didn't do And we can see the type of heart that he had and he say well. How are we going to do that? Same way we tell if someone's bad by looking at their actions by the way that they portray themselves and the things that result of the things in their heart So there in Jeremiah 1 let's just go ahead and start reading in verse number one for context Verse number one the words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah the priests that were at Anathoth in the band land of Benjamin so Jeremiah was not a Benjaminite. He was a Levite He just lived in this area 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 unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month then the word of the Lord came unto me saying Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations then said I Here am I Lord send me That's not what he said. He said ah Lord God behold. I cannot speak for I am a child Jeremiah says I can't do that turn to Exodus chapter 3 So did Jeremiah want to be a prophet initially when God came to him and and said hey, I have this plan and You're gonna be a prophet and you're gonna do you're gonna speak before all these kings Jeremiah did not want to do it and There's not everybody is like Elisha or Isaiah where they just instantly stood up and wanted to serve God Not everyone initially had that in them. They're there in Exodus chapter 3 Start reading verse 1 says now Moses we're talking about Moses here Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian and he led the flock to the backside of the desert And came to the mountain of God even to Horeb and the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire and the bush was not consumed and Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight Why the bush is not burnt and when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see God called unto him out of the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses and he said here am I And he said draw not and I hither put off thy shoes from off thy feet for the place where on thou standest is holy ground Moreover, he said I am the God of thy father the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God and the Lord said I have surely seen the affliction to my people Which are in Egypt and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows and I've come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good land in a large unto a land flowing with milk and honey unto the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites Now therefore behold the cry of the children of Israel has come unto me and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians Oppressed them come now there therefore and I will send thee unto Pharaoh that thou mayest bring forth my people The children of Israel out of Egypt so God appears to Moses here And keep in mind the Bible says that Moses was more meek than anyone on the face of the earth and God comes to Moses Here and he says I have this plan. It's this great plan. I'm gonna bring the children of Israel out of Egypt They've been in bondage for a long time and guess what Moses you are gonna be the one to do it Verse number 11 and Moses said unto God who am I? That I should go unto Pharaoh and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt now We're not gonna read the whole thing for sake of time But as this story goes on we just see Moses going back and forth with God over this and all the excuses why he can't And he doesn't want to Go ahead and skip to Exodus 4 10. We're just gonna skip a little skip ahead a little bit in this conversation Exodus 4 10 and Moses said unto the Lord Oh Lord I am not eloquent neither heretofore nor since nor since thou has spoken unto thy servant But I am slow of speech and have a slow tongue and the Lord said unto him who hath made man's mouth or who maketh the dumb or deaf or the seeing or the blind Have not I the Lord now therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach thee what thou shalt say So Moses did not want to go either and notice he comes up with this excuse I'm not saying Moses didn't have a speaking problem or this wasn't a real thing, but Moses says to God He said I'm not eloquent. I can't speak. I maybe stumble over his words or whatever it was and God didn't say to him. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that we find someone else God God Oh God almost laughs to him you can see and says now therefore go he's like I'm the one who made your mouth I'm the one who made the deaf and the in the blind Jesus Christ God in the flesh would later come and heal the blind heal the deaf and heal those who couldn't speak Then God's God says go Because here's the point a lot of people don't want to serve God or a lot of people when they see something in the Bible They don't want to do that and that's just human nature And like I said, I'm not saying it's not harder for some people. But here's the thing I hate to break it to you, but God doesn't care about the reasons That you can't do what he wants you to do now God does care about you and God promises to give you what you need But he doesn't keep when God says when God commands something in the Bible. He doesn't care When we're living this this life down here and God comes and says hey change of plans I want you to do this. God doesn't care about how that's gonna mess up our little thing. We got going down here, right? Turn to Ezekiel 3 Ezekiel 3 10 because look God already promises to give you what you need So why would he care about messing up your little plan for everything I did in addition to that He's blessed you with right God promises to give you food and shelter Everything about else above that is just what he has allowed you to have Ezekiel 3 10 This is obviously God Talking to Ezekiel. He says moreover He said unto me son of man all my words that I shall speak unto thee receive in thine heart and hear with thine ears and go get thee to them of the captivity and to the children of thy people and Speak unto them and tell them thus saith the Lord God whether they will hear or whether they will Forbear so God tells Ezekiel here He what I said I want you to go speak to my people the words that I'm going to tell you and he puts this little thing at the End he says oh and by the way whether they listen or not Whether it even works or not whether they hear or listen or not that has nothing to do with it You're just supposed to go anyway Very something that we can compare to ourselves is soul winning for example Right when we go soul winning if we were in an unreceptive area That doesn't mean that we're just supposed to not go there Right, or if we go and we feel like it's just not receptive enough for us. We're supposed to go anyway Right it has nothing to do God This is not the only time God said this to a prophet where he says whether they will hear whether they will from air Almost like he knows what mankind is inclined to do when it gets hard man. What do we want to do? We just want to quit God says no no no it has nothing to do with whether they list or not That's between me and then you're supposed to go anyway This is God's command to Ezekiel and to anyone he tells to do anything If you could just turn me down a little bit Thank you verse number 12 Then the spirit took me up and I heard behind me a voice of a great rushing saying Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place I heard also the noise of the wings of the living creatures that touch one another and the noise of the wheels over against them And a noise of a great rushing so the spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in joy That what it says it says I went in bitterness and the heat of my spirit put the hand of the Lord was strong upon me turn to Jeremiah chapter 7 Ezekiel didn't want to go either because here's the thing your heart's character isn't whether or not you want to Do what God says because that's just human nature when God we don't want to do the commandments, right? Mankind is inclined towards sin and in in there is nothing to do with good So your heart's character isn't dependent on whether or not you want to serve God. It's whether or not you actually do All right, you're there in Jeremiah chapter number seven look at verse 29 Verse 27 Jeremiah 7 27 Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them, but they will not hearken to thee Therefore thou should also call unto them, but they will not answer thee so God just straight up tells Jeremiah Oh by the way, it's not gonna work. I Want you to dedicate your life Jeremiah to this message and nobody's gonna listen to you Just just just so you know right now God God is still expected him to go Didn't matter what the results were God expected him to do what he told him to do verse 28 But thou shalt say unto them This is the nation that obeyeth not the voice of the Lord their God no receiveth correction Truth is perished and is cut off from their mouth cut off find Harold Jerusalem They cast it away and take up a lamentation on high places for the Lord hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath Jeremiah's life was dedicated obviously He spoke about different things and he prophesied to the Gentiles and to the the captives that were two different types of people but mainly Jeremiah's life was dedicated to this one message of The destruction that was going to come to Judah. This is what he prophesied This is his main message that he spent his whole life Prophesying and here God is telling him in Jeremiah 7 I believe we're in the reign of Josiah the book of Jeremiah is definitely not in chronological order But he tells him he's like I'm going I want you to Dedicate your life to this horrible message that everyone's going to hate you for but they're not even going to listen to you He's still expecting him to do it. You don't have to turn there but Hebrews 11 chapter 8. This is Hebrews 11. We're talking about The all the people and all the faith of Old Testament believers that they had and the great things they did Verse 8 the Bible says by faith Abraham when he was called to go out into a place But she should after receive for an inheritance obeyed and he went out not knowing whether he went Here it says in Hebrews 11 8 that Abraham obeyed God and he didn't even know where he was going God just said go that way and he's like we're going this way and that's how we need to be when God tells us We don't got God doesn't need to give us a reason God's right and everything. He does He doesn't need to say okay. Here's my plan. Here's how it's all gonna work out for you. Don't worry It doesn't matter if we know where we're going or not. If God says to go somewhere. That's what we're supposed to do Turn to Luke 22 Turn to Luke 22 39 And There Luke 22 39 We're talking about the Lord Jesus Christ here in the Garden of Gethsemane Says in verse 39 and he came out and went as he was want to the Mount of Olives and his disciples Also followed him and when he was at the place He said unto them pray the enter not into temptation verse 41 and he was withdrawn from them about his stones cast And kneel down and prayed saying father if thou be willing remove this cup from me nevertheless not my will but thine Be done and there appeared an angel unto him from heaven strengthening him knows verse 44 and being in agony He prayed more earnestly and his sweat were as it were great drops of blood Falling to the ground here. Jesus Christ is asking God the Father He's do you think Jesus Christ wanted to pay for man sin? Think about it. God creates man on this earth and man messes up and man becomes wicked and evil So evil that at one point God had to destroy the entire earth because of man's sin and because how wicked they got And man is but yet God loves for God So loved the world right God didn't want to see because you see God is God is just Judgement and God is a holy God and in and God has to be a just judge But God as we heard this morning God is also love so God went and he paid for the sins of the world But do you think he wanted to go be crucified for man's sin? Do you think he wanted to die and go to hell for three days to pay? For man's sin because they just messed up because they turned against God because there is none that doeth good He didn't want to do it, but you know what he did anyway notice verse 42 He said father if thou be willing remove this cup from me He says God whatever you want to do if it's your will please please let this please let me not go through this But notice this nevertheless not my will but thine be done The reason that we're not the reason everyone in this room is not going to die and go straight to hell is Because there was someone who obeyed God's will even when he didn't want to and that's Jesus Christ So if you think this isn't important or this is just some minor thing, it's not All right, it doesn't matter what God says to do if God commands us to do something He expects it to be done and we're just supposed to obey now There's nothing wrong with as Jesus Christ did here praying and you know God if it's your will Maybe I pray something else would work out or but if God clearly says to do something weird to do it I'll say it one more time your heart's character. You say Jeremiah is not looking very good so far Well, here's why this actually shows how great Jeremiah's heart was because your heart's character Has nothing to do with whether or not you want to go your heart's character is whether or not you actually do turn to mark for mark 416 So first tonight, I said Jeremiah was faithful with God's will Second tonight Jeremiah was fervent with his mission Jeremiah was fervent with his mission mission there in mark chapter 4. We'll start reading verse 16 So Jesus Christ here is explaining the parable the soul where he's explaining what? Everything is in that parable He says verse 16 and these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground who and they have heard the word immediately receive it with gladness and Have no root in themselves and so endure but for a time afterward when affliction or persecution arises for the word's sake Immediately, they are offended and these are they which are sown among thorns such as hear the word and the cares of this world And the deceitfulness of riches and the lusts of other things entering in choke the word and it becometh unfruitful Turn to Jeremiah chapter 18 Jeremiah chapter 18. So we have two different categories here. We have the stony ground and we have the thorns One is something that others do to you right one's persecution. It's things that people do to you how people attack you and The thorns is different. That's something you do to yourself things you allow you allow yourself to be attracted by The cares of this world or the deceitfulness of riches or the lusts of other things entering in But here's what's similar about these two things Is there both things that are going to stop you from serving God? Whether it's persecution that that is coming at you from other people or whether it's just you know ways You let yourself go they're both things you that will stop you from serving God And that's why the devil uses these things to to do that there in Jeremiah 18. Look at verse 18 Jeremiah 18 18 then said they Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah for the law shall not perish from the priests nor counsel from the wise Nor the word from the prophet Come and let us smite him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his word So again, I believe this is I believe chapters 1 through 20 are all during the reign of Josiah It may change throughout there, but we're in what might be the beginning of Jeremiah's ministry and People are already slandering him and not only are they slandering him, but this is how it often goes They're also trying to turn others against him. They're trying to turn people against him turn people away from him It's not they themselves that are attacking him. They're trying to get everybody to turn against him turn to Jeremiah 11 Jeremiah chapter 11 Jeremiah 11 beginning of verse 19 the Bible says But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter and I knew not that they devised Devices against me this is Jeremiah speaking to God Saying let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof and let us cut him off From the land of the living that his name may be no more remembered They wanted to kill him even in the beginning of his ministry people already Wanted to kill him because if you remember during the reign of Josiah, Josiah was a great King Probably you can make the argument one of the great greatest kings in Judah that ever lived But God made it clear that even during the reign of Josiah God's judgment was still coming now He told Josiah that it would not come in his time But it was still coming this message was still being preached during the reign of a good King Verse 20, but O Lord of hosts that judges righteously that tries the reins in the heart Let me see thy vengeance on them front of thee have I revealed my cause Therefore thus saith the Lord of the men of Anathoth that seek thy life Saying prophesy not in the name of the Lord that thou died not by your hand therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts behold I will punish them the young men shall die by the sword their sons and their daughters shall die by famine and there shall be No remnant of them for I will bring evil upon the men of Anathoth even the year of their visitation So just imagine this if there were people Who hated you so much that they wanted to kill you if we're trying to get other people to do The same exact thing turn to Jeremiah 20 Jeremiah 20 Jeremiah 20 in verse 1 says now pasture the son of Amor the priest so in the later in the book of Jeremiah like in chapter 21 in later chapters you hear about pasture. This is a different pasture. This is pasture the son of Amor This is not the pasture you hear about in other places in Jeremiah Now pasture the son of Amor the priest who is chief governor in the house of the Lord Heard the Jeremiah prophesied these things and then pasture smoked Jeremiah the prophets and put him in the stocks that were in the high Gate of Benjamin which was by the house of the Lord so pasture here is the governor of the house of the Lord He's in charge of the house of the Lord and you would think that if anybody would be on Jeremiah's side It would be someone like him someone with a spiritual role someone who? Was was in charge of something like the temple Verse 3 and it came to pass on the morrow that pasture brought forth Jeremiah out of the stock so in the morning He he brings him out of prison And he and you would think that Jeremiah if Jeremiah was anything like any preachers that are out there today He would be like I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I didn't mean to condemn anybody I didn't even even if he did believe it. Maybe he'd say I I didn't mean it that way Well, let's see what Jeremiah said then said Jeremiah unto him the Lord has not called thy name pasture, but Magher Mishebeb verse 4 for thus saith the Lord behold I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends And they shall fall by the sword of their enemies and thine eyes shall behold it And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon He shall carry them captive into Babylon and shall slay them with the sword Moreover I will deliver all the strength of this city and all the labors thereof and all the precious things There of and all the treasures of the kings of Judah I will give into the hand of their enemies which shall spoil them and take them and carry them to Babylon So he basically tells this guy who had just thrown him in prison and prison and beat him Oh, guess what? All your friends are going to die and your whole country is going to be taken captive and but he's not done Verse 6 and thou pasture in all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity and thou shall come to Babylon and there thou Shall die and be buried there thou and all thy friends to whom thou has prophesied lies So we have the just the perfect response to persecution here. So you say how was Jeremiah fervent in his mission? Jeremiah was fervent in his mission that every time he is persecuted and every time someone threatened his life He just his response was always thus saith the Lord God thus saith the Lord God he never stopped He kept going and going and going Even to the point where he's brought out of prison and the first thing he says is you're gonna die and all your friends are Gonna die and you're all gonna die He doesn't even shut up until he's released from prison and then keep preaching the Word of God It's just his response was always thus saith the Lord God turn to Jeremiah chapter 36 Jeremiah chapter 36 So the context here is we're not we're no longer in the reign of Josiah We're fast-forwarding to the reign of Jehoiachin. So the book of Jeremiah doesn't mention We don't see anything that that took place in the reign of Jehoahaz or Jehoiachin Probably because they only reign they both only reign for three months But this is so after Josiah, Josiah reign for 31 years He died, Jehoahaz reign for three months and then Jehoiakim who has a lot of who's mentioned a lot in the book of Jeremiah Then reigns and this is taking place during the reign of Jehoiakim obviously a horrible king They were every king after Josiah was a horrible King verse 23. So I just I just preached on this story So I'm not gonna We're not gonna read the whole thing but basically God tells Jeremiah to Write all the words that he's spoken to him in a book and go into the temple and to read all the words of the Judgments and so they bring it before the king some people tell the king about this Verse 23 and it came to pass that when Jehudah had read three or four leaves So they're reading this before the king He, King Jehoiakim, cut it with a penknife and cast into the fire that was on the hearth until all the roll was Consumed in the fire that was on the hearth So they literally take the Word of God and they throw it and they burn it in the fire You say why would they do that yet? They were not afraid That's why they did not fear the Word of God They didn't fear God which is why they ultimately went to captivity Nor rent their garments neither the king nor any of his servants that heard all these words. So let's go ahead and skip to verse 27 so the king sends people to go try to take Jeremiah probably to kill him Story of his life verse 27 then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah after that the king had burned the roll in the words which Jeremiah which Barak wrote at the mouth of Jeremiah saying Take thee again Another roll and write in it all the former words that were in the first roll which Jehoiakim, King of Judah, hath burned So he says just do it all over again. Don't stop. Keep going. Skip to verse 32 Then took Jeremiah another roll and gave it to Barak the scribe the son of Neriah Who wrote therein from the mouth of Jeremiah all the words of the book which Jehoiakim, King of Judah, had burned in the fire And they were added besides unto them many like words. So again, what made Jeremiah fervent with his message? It's the fact that he always kept going. Turn to Jeremiah 26 Jeremiah 26 I mean the man just never stopped. He is thus saith the Lord God thus saith the Lord God thus saith the Lord God We're there in Jeremiah chapter 26. We're still in the reign of Jehoiakim verse number 7 Jeremiah 26 verse 7 The Bible says this so the priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord Now came to pass when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people That the priests and all the prophets and all the people took him saying thou shalt surely die Why is thou prophesied in the name of the Lord saying this house shall be like Shiloh and this city shall be desolate without Inhabitant and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord when the princes of Judah heard these things then they came up from the king's house into the house of the Lord and sat down in The entry of the new gate of the Lord's house Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes and to all the people saying this man is worthy to die For he hath prophesied against this city as ye have heard with your ears Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes and unto all the people saying I'm sorry. It was just a big mistake The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city all the words that he have heard no apology from Jeremiah verse 13 now therefore amend your ways and your doings and obey the voice of the Lord your God and the Lord will repent him of The evil that he hath pronounced against you as for me behold I am in your hand do with me as seemeth good and meet unto you But know ye for certain that if you put me to death He shall surely bring bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon the inhabitants thereof for all the truth The Lord has sent me unto you to speak all these words in your ears here again He's on the he could be seconds away from dying and what could be his last words He's saying no God told me to say this and I'm gonna say it you can do whatever you want to me Thus saith the Lord God thus saith the Lord God. This was Jeremiah in verse 24 Nevertheless the hand of a high Kim the son of Shaphan was with Jeremiah that they should not give him into the hand of the People to put him to death and of course God takes care of Jeremiah and this isn't what I'm preaching on but This name right here high Kim the son of Shaphan. I just noticed this when I was writing the sermon It's a good reminder on when you're reading through random names in the Bible. You should pay attention to them You should look into it a little more because there's there's a lot there can be a lot more than just another random name For example, this man a high Kim the son of Shaphan years and years and years and years before during the reign of Josiah He was actually one of the priests that was helping Josiah carry out his revival in later in Jeremiah We hear about get a lie of the governor who the king of Babylon set up to rule after the captivity Get a lie, it was actually a high Kim son, so it's just interesting Random names in the Bible actually a lot of them have a lot of significance. But anyway, God takes care of Jeremiah He but but the idea is that he never stopped Jeremiah turn to Jeremiah 37 Jeremiah chapter 37 So now in Jeremiah chapter 37 We're during the reign of Zedekiah so Jehoiachin reign for 11 years then the first Babylonian invasion happened Jehoiachin reign for three months the second Babylonian invasion happened and now we're talking about Zedekiah who reigned for 11 years again before the final invasion happened verse 37 So this is this is when the last and final invasion is beginning to happen. It's starting to happen Things are building up Jeremiah 37 verse 12 Then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem to go into the land of Benjamin to separate himself thence in the midst of the people So he's just trying to get away from all the mess verse 13 and when he was in the gate of Benjamin the captain of the ward was there whose name was Erijah the son of Shelomiah the son of Hananiah and he took Jeremiah the prophet saying thou falls away to the Chaldeans. He's saying you're a spy They said Jeremiah it is false. I fall not away to the Chaldeans, but he hearkened not to him So Erijah took Jeremiah and brought him to the princes Wherefore the princes were wroth with Jeremiah and smote him and put him in the prison in the house of Jonathan the scribe They had made that the prison so Jeremiah is just trying to get away the poor guy Just trying to take a break go back to where he lives for a while and someone sees him and they think that he is A spy and he's gonna go to the Babylonians and tell them Be a spy and so he's falsely accused and they take him because they're just looking for him for for dirt on Jeremiah I'm sure they're looking for a reason to throw him in prison Verse 17 then Zedekiah the king sent so Zedekiah was never really against Jeremiah personally He he didn't like everything he said, but he was just a weak leader and he kind of just bent anything Anyone asked him to do Then Zedekiah the king said and took him out and the king asked him secretly in his house and said is there any word from The Lord and Jeremiah said there is for said he thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon so even when he's brought out of the prison by the king and and someone who's not even really against Jeremiah and you would think this is his chance to try to Appeal to to to kings at a kayah and and hey, can you get me out of here? But the first thing he says is thus saith the Lord God, you're gonna you're gonna be delivered You're gonna lose just just letting you know verse 18 moreover Jeremiah said unto kings at a kayah What have I offended against thee or against thy servants or against this people that you've put me in prison? Where now your prophets which prophesied unto you saying the king of Babylon shall not come against you nor against this land So he's kind of saying I told you so Verse 20 and now here therefore here now I pray thee O Lord, O Lord the king let my supplication I pray thee be accepted before thee that thou caused me not to return to the house of Jonathan the scribe lest I die there Then zedekiah the king commanded they should commit Jeremiah into the court of the prison and that they should give him Daily a piece of bread out of the Baker Street until all the bread in the city were spent Lest Jeremiah remained in the court of the prison. So he's brought out of prison again, and he's still preaching go to look at verse chapter 38 chapter 38 verse number 1 the story goes on then shefa shefa taya the son of matan and get a lie of the son of pasture and Jew call the son of Shem aliyah and pasture the son of Malachi again These are different pastures heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto the people saying they'll sayeth the Lord he that remaineth in this city Shall die by the sword by the famine and the pestilence But he they go forth to the fourth to the Chaldeans shall live for you shall have his life for a pray and shall live therefore Thus thus saith the Lord this city shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's army Which shall take it therefore the princes said unto the king we beseech thee let this man be put to death for thus he weakened at the hands of the men of war that remain in the city and the hands of all the people in Speaking such words unto them for this man seeketh not the welfare of this people But the herd and by the way just as a note isn't that what people want to say of us? We when we have hard preaching and we preach what the Bible says about sin and how to how to how to get right in Your life. What do people say? Oh, you just you just hate people You just you just you want you just like to just hate people and just just preach destruction and this horrible message upon people But here's the thing if someone truly loves if brother Jared truly loves this congregation and wants to tell you the truth he's gonna he's gonna tell you everything that's in the Word of God the Joel Osteen's out there and and the False preachers of our day. They're just gonna say what they have to say to keep people in the church, right? If someone loves you, they're going to tell you what you need to hear what they know just like God is telling these people What they need to hear God knows they didn't want to hear this But God told them because he was trying to give them another chance even when the judgment was already coming Verse number five then Zedekiah the king said behold he is in your hand for the king is not he that can do anything against Do whatever you want Then took they Jeremiah and cast him into the dungeon of Malchiah the son of Hamilac That was in the court of the prison and they let down Jeremiah with cords and in the dungeon There was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire. So he's in this dungeon where there's no food There's no water. He's accused again Zedekiah betrays him and he's in this horrible place Jeremiah chapter 38 verse number 7 now when Amalek the Ethiopian one of the eunuchs Which was in the king's house heard that they put Jeremiah in the dungeon the king then sitting in the in the gate of Benjamin Ebed-melech went forth out of the king's house and spake unto the king saying my lord the king These men have done evil and all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet whom they have cast into the dungeon and he is Like to die for a hunger in the place where he is for there is no more bread in the city Then the king commanded at Ebed-melech the Ethiopian saying take from thence thirty men with thee and take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon Before he dies, so he's like, okay, whatever do whatever you want See it seems like a real strong leader here verse number 11 So Ebed-melech took the men with him and went into the house of the king under the Treasury and took thence old cast Clouts and rotten rags and let them down by cords into the dungeon to Jeremiah. So this man is Is interceding for Jeremiah and he goes to the king and he's saying Jeremiah's gonna die He hasn't done anything wrong and he he intercedes for Jeremiah to the king and the king says, all right You can let him out verse 12 and Ebed-melech the Ethiopian said unto Jeremiah put now these old cast clouds and rotten rags under that arm holes under the cords Jeremiah did so and they drew up Jeremiah with cords and took him up out of the dungeon and Jeremiah Remained in the court of the prison Then Zedekiah the king sent and took Jeremiah the prophet unto him into the third entry that is in the house of the Lord And the king said unto Jeremiah, I will ask thee a thing hide nothing from me So he just betrayed the man to the point where he almost starved to death This is like this. This is the second time that Jeremiah's almost died because of King Zedekiah And now while he someone else brings Convincing the king to bring him out and he's like, hey, I want your help. He has the gall to ask this guy for help Then Jeremiah said unto Zedekiah if I declared unto thee wilt thou not surely put me to death And if I give thee counsel wilt thou not hearken unto me So Zedekiah the king swears secretly unto Jeremiah saying as the Lord liveth that made us this soul I will not put thee to death neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life Verse 17 then said Jeremiah unto Zedekiah thus saith the Lord the God of hosts. He just doesn't stop It's as he keeps going and going and going if he to the point where on numerous occasions He almost dies and with what could be his last words. It's here's what God says. Here's what God says. Here's what God said to Jeremiah 42 Jeremiah 42 so Jeremiah stays here until the final invasion happens until the judgment that he has been preaching about his whole life happens and Then basically what happens is the king of the captain of the guard of the king of Babylon takes Jeremiah and he says all right, you know, it's you can go wherever you want you can go into Judah or you can come to Babylon will take care of you and he shows Jeremiah a lot of mercy and Jeremiah has the choice of going into Judah or just living, you know retiring from his horrible life in in Babylon, but still he decides to go back with his people into into Judah and then we have the story of Of the governor and that's a whole other story but verse 42 So there's a remnant left in Judah the king of Babylon took everybody out But God left a remnant verse number one Jeremiah 42 one then all the captains of the forces and Johanne in the son of care Rhea and jesaniah the son of Hoshia and all the people from the least even unto the greatest came near and said unto Jeremiah the prophets Let we beseech thee our supplication be accepted before thee and pray for for us unto the Lord thy God Even for all this remnants for we are left but a few of many as thine eyes do behold us that the Lord thy God may show us the way where and we may Walk in the thing that we may do so they come before him They're all humble and they're like God just God brought this judgment upon us Just just ask God what he wants us to do and we'll do it Just go and pray to God and we'll just tell us what God wants from us at this point Verse 4 the Jeremiah the prophet said unto them. I've heard you behold I will pray unto the Lord your God According to your words and it shall come to pass and whatsoever thing the Lord shall answer you I will declare it unto you I will keep nothing back from you. I mean can you imagine how excited Jeremiah must have been his whole life Decades and decades of his life people just were trying to kill him or after him and and finally they're coming to him and they're Like just tell us just just like shooting fish in a barrel Just tell us what God wants us to do and we will do it Then they said to Jeremiah the Lord be a true and faithful witness between us if we do not even if we do not even According to all things for which the Lord thy God shall send thee to us whether it be good or whether it be evil We will obey the voice of the Lord our God to whom we send thee that it may be well with us when we obey the voice of the Lord our God So they tell they ask him to ask God what he wants them to do and we're not gonna read the whole thing But basically the one thing that God tells this remnant. It's a very clear message. Don't go into Egypt He says stay here and I'll take care of you Don't go into Egypt because these people were going to go into Egypt and God told them don't go into Egypt Look at verse Jeremiah 42 19 So here's Jeremiah kind of wrapping up this message to them The Lord hath said concerning you or you remnant of Judah go ye not into Egypt know certainly that I have Ammonish to you this day for you dissembled in your hearts when he sent me into the Lord your God saying Pray for us unto the Lord our God and according to all that the Lord our God shall say So declare unto us and we will do it and now I have this day declared it unto you We have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God nor anything for the which he has sent me unto you He's like I've been preaching to you for 30 40 years and you haven't listened to anything Here, but he tells them here's this one thing God wants you to do don't go into Egypt now therefore No certainly that you shall die by the sword and by the famine and by the pestilence in the place whether ye desire to go so Jordan and let's see their response and it came to pass and Jeremiah 43 one and it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end speaking unto all the people all the words of the Lord their God for the which the Lord their God has sent on him unto them even all these words Then speak Azariah the son of Hoshia and Johanna in the son of Korea and all the proud men. That's not a good sign Saying unto Jeremiah thou speakest falsely the Lord our God has not sent thee to say go not into Egypt to sojourn there It's like facepalm Like are you kidding me they finally you think this would be the most the most humble point they were ever at and they come To Jeremiah and they say whether it's good or bad. We're gonna we're harken unto you What does God wants to do and he's like just don't go into Egypt. Just stay here and they're like now You're not you're lying first five but Johanna in the son of Korea and all the captains of the forces Took all the remnants of Judah that were returned from all nations whether they had been to dwell in the land of Judah So he's telling it so they went into Egypt and He took all the remnant with him they took all the people left with him and here's who they took even men and women and children and the king's daughters and every person that never Nebazar Aiden the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah the son of Ahicham the son of Shaphan and Jeremiah the prophets and Barak the son of Neriah, so they kidnapped Jeremiah and they take him to Egypt with them and And then we're You say what what what happens next we're seven So they came into the land of Egypt for they avoid obey not the voice of the Lord They came thus came they even to taphany so they go into Egypt kidnapped Jeremiah and take him with them Can you imagine how devastating the man's life has been, you know, Jeremiah's life never had that Inspirational they shall mount up on his wings as eagles moment He never had that you know, obviously Jeremiah is going to have some amazing rewards in heaven But his life on this earth just it was it was just it was a he had a really had just had a horrible life On this earth. It was just a horrible disastrous life on this earth. So what does he do? For Jeremiah 43 8 then came the word of the Lord unto Jeremiah and taphany saying so skip to Jeremiah 44 1 Jeremiah 44 verse 1 the word that came to Jeremiah Concerning all the Jews which dwell in the land of Egypt which dwell to Migdal and the taphanies and enough in the country of Pathos saying thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel He just didn't stop. He just kept going Unto the very end of his life and now we have this message here is because remember the books not in chronological order This message here is the last recorded message we ever hear from Jeremiah That's it. We don't know how his life ended up or I mean as far as we're concerned Or as far as we know he just died in Egypt Because of these horrible people that he was sent to preach to he never stopped And you know you read it and it turned to Jeremiah 20 20 verse 7 you read it It almost sounds like he's some sort of superhuman like how in the world could you do that? How in the world could you get through a life like that and still go? Jeremiah 20 verse 7 Oh Lord Jeremiah 20 verse 7 Oh Lord that was deceive me And I was deceived if I were stronger than I and has prevailed I am in derision daily everyone mocketh me For since I spake I cried out I cried violence and spoil Because the word of the Lord is made a reproach unto me in a derision daily Jeremiah kept going, but it was he it's he didn't ever have doubts, and he didn't ever I mean this just shows how horrible his life was just these words that we see in Jeremiah And here in verse 9 we have the answer to why he kept going and how he did it It's Jeremiah 29 is my favorite verse in the whole Bible, then I said I Will not make mention of him nor speak any more in his name. He said I'm done. It's too hard. I can't do it I I can't get through this There's too much persecution, but his word was in mine heart as a burning fire Shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing and I could not stay He's like I couldn't stop even if I wanted to It was Jeremiah's love for the Word of God that got him through his life. He loved the Word of God So I mean would we be able to say that that we love the Word of God so much that no matter what happened We just we couldn't stop even if we wanted to even if our flesh wanted us to quit and want us to stop We just we couldn't you know at the turn there But Jeremiah 15 16 says thy words were found and I did eat them and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing Of mine heart for I'm called by thy name O Lord God of hosts Jeremiah loved the Word of God so much. It was the joy of his heart It was what gave it was what gave him the most happiness remember this morning We talked about not just temporary happiness, but that joy that peace that passed the law understanding It was this peace that he had and his love for the Word of God that he had that got him through this Horrible life that he had to go through Turn the lamentations to 11 So first tonight we said Jeremiah was faithful with God's will second we said Jeremiah was fervent with his mission. He never stopped third tonight Jeremiah was forbearing with his people I Think this is really the greatest window we have into Jeremiah's heart because You're there Jeremiah to lamentations to 11. Sorry Lamentations to 11 the Bible says this this is Jeremiah speaking mine eyes do fail with tears My bowels are troubled. My liver is poured upon the earth Why you say because of your sufferings because of your horrible life and your trials and what you went through Jeremiah? No for the destruction of the daughter of my people Because the children and the suckling swoon in the streets of the city Let's rewind to that story about that when the people came to him and asked him Tell us what God's will is and we'll do it and he said don't go into Egypt Obviously, that's an amazing story that really just it's just another story that shows that he never stopped and he ends what we know of His life with thus saith the Lord God thus saith the Lord God, but you know what else that shows I don't know about you But if I dedicated my whole life to preaching if I was just this this lone prophet preaching to this wicked nation This judgment and they try to kill me and they try over and over and over and I I almost died on numerous occasions And I had a life like this like this was this isn't just stuff that happened occasionally. This was my life I lived if the judgment happened. I think you want to think a lot of us would be doing is we'd be like I told you so Burn that city down. I told you so I told you You get what I told you it happened But we have in the book of Lamentations If you're just wondering in a sentence what the book of Lamentations is it is Jeremiah Mourning for those people as if it happened to him he wasn't gloating in it and Even with this story where they came to him even He's still when they come to him for help that last time he's still even though it didn't even end up listening He's still it's like, okay. I'll ask God I'll preach the Word of God to you still He never gave up on those people. He was always forbearing with them even to the end. He knew the judgment was coming He knew they deserved it You could kind of apply that to today, right? We know what judgments coming to America, right? You'd be a fool to say it's not we know God's judgments coming and we know We know it's going to happen and we preach it and we warn people But if it when judgment happens on America, do you think a lot of people would be mourning with America? Do you think we would be mourning with America? You think we'd be mourning with these people of Fresno? He's new. I think a lot of people just want it to happen. And so they're waiting just to say I told you so Go to hell all of you this wasn't Jeremiah Jeremiah knew they deserved it and he knew it was coming but when it happened He was heartbroken He was mourning think about the Lord Jesus Christ The Bible says when he came to this earth and he looked at all these unsaved, you know miserable people He knew they deserve hell. He knew they were going there, but he had compassion on them. That's why you're saved tonight That's why I am saved tonight because someone was able to look past what we deserved and what's coming and had compassion on us You know, a lot of people like to call out the judgment of God Oh, this is the judgment of God and this is the judgment of God. It doesn't matter you say what it doesn't matter What's the judgment of God or not? You say why doesn't it matter because if something happens whether it's the judgment of God or not all response doesn't change We're supposed to still have compassion Doesn't matter whether it's God's judgment or not or comes or not. Our response does not change You'll have to turn there Jeremiah 9 1 you turn to Jeremiah 12 Turn to Jeremiah 12 Jeremiah 9 1 says this Oh that my head were waters and mine eyes a fountain of tears That I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people Jeremiah was heartbroken when the judgment happened. He wasn't gloating in it He Didn't want it to come That's why he that's why he that's why God warned It's the same reason God warns us about hell is he doesn't want us to go there He doesn't want us to go to hell in Jeremiah had compassion on them. You're there in Jeremiah 12. Look at verse 10 Many pastors have destroyed my vineyard and have trodden my portion underfoot. They have made my pleasant portion a desolate wilderness They had made a desolate and being desolate it mourneth unto me the whole land is made desolate why Because no man layeth it to heart He just got done saying the the pastors have destroyed my vineyard and all these people their wickedness They've destroyed this nation because their wickedness but when it comes down to it Why is the land made desolate because no one layeth to heart. No one no one cares No one cares No one cares enough to get right and the people who have gotten right don't care enough to do anything about it turn to Lamentations chapter 1 You don't have to turn there Lamentations 3 48 says mine eye runneth down with rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people There are Lamentations 1 will end here The adversary is of course Jeremiah speaking The adversary has spread out his hand upon her pleasant things You know you would think that when Jeremiah was set free by the king of Babylon even when he went back into Judah you think That he would just be relieved like it's over. It happened. God told me to warn him and it happened I'm done my work here is done. I have finished my course I've done what God has told me to do, but where was Jeremiah at when the captivity happened? Let's keep reading for she hath seen the hurt that he had then entered into her sanctuary Whom thou didst command that they should not enter into thy congregation all her people sigh They seek bread they have given their pleasant things for me to relieve the soul see O Lord and consider for I am become vile Is it nothing to you all ye that pass by? Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of this fierce anchor nobody cared and That's why the land was destroyed look judgment's coming to America is it not? But maybe if God looked down and instead of seeing a bunch of people who were just waiting for it to come and wanted to come and want everyone just to go To hell and for the whole nation just to burn down. We're just waiting for that Like Jonah when when Jonah just wanted Nineveh to be destroyed. There's a lot of people like that today. We just want America to be destroyed. Does America deserve the coming judgment? Yes But should we be mourning with them? Should we just want it to happen? No, we should be doing what we can to try to get God to intercede and say you know what? Maybe I'll just wait a little bit. Let these people get some more people saved. Let them try to turn more people back to God Maybe maybe maybe I'll just maybe I'll just let them try to to prolong it just a little honor If you remember it Josiah Josiah's reign he followed to the some of the worst kings That had ever rained and God told Josiah. He said the judgments coming either way it is coming But because of what you've done I'm going to prolong it a little longer It won't happen in your life. It's still coming but because of your actions I'm going to prolong it a little longer And like I said, that's the book of Lamentations. It's a prophet who lived a miserable life And and yet his heart was he never ever gave up on those people Who who were really the reason for that horrible life and I wonder what happened in in America today Obviously the judgments coming either way. Don't get me wrong. I wonder what happened in Fresno here if we cared enough To instead of just throwing up our hands and say it's coming Anyway, the whole whole country the whole city can go to hell, California can just go to hell I wonder if God would prolong it just a little longer if we actually had a little bit of compassion You know if God prolonging the judgment of America one day That's more souls that would be saved. We should be we should be on our knees begging God Just God just wait just a little longer just a little longer just a little longer Just another Saturday to go out waiting more people to Christ just another Saturday You know, we hear a sermon like this and having compassion and maybe for the next Saturday or two We were like, yeah, we need to have compassion need to have compassion On people but you know, Jeremiah kept that mentality his whole life And that's what we need to do if we want God to to allow us just to Fulfill our mission of winning more people to Christ and lead more people to Christ just a little longer We need to be like Jeremiah. We're faithful with his will where we're fervent with our mission whatever happens and Where we are forbearing with these people, even though we know the judgment is coming Let's go ahead and bow our heads and have a word of prayer You