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So we're there in Jeremiah chapter 15 and as I've been telling you and as you've been knowing over the last several weeks that Jeremiah is a very negative book. In fact the first half of this chapter is very negative, very graphic actually if you pay attention to what's being said. And I told you wherever I find something positive, I'm going to pause and focus on that positive just to shine some light in a very dark book of the Bible. But look at the verse number 11, Jeremiah 15 verse 11, it says, The Lord said, verily it shall be well with thy remnant. So the title for the sermon this afternoon is, It Shall Be Well. Alright, oh man good, because there's so much judgment, so much death, so much suffering in this book so far. But God promises it will be well for some, for some which is thy remnant there that's mentioned there. And I like that title, you know one of my favorite hymns is, It Is Well With My Soul. And so the idea of that hymn that even when you're going through turmoil and difficulties and challenges, you always remember that within yourself, within your soul, because you're a child of God, because you have God as a Father that you can turn to for support and strength, that it's going to be well with your soul. Well God is reminding Jeremiah, even in the face of my judgment, even though you will be affected because it's your nation that's going down, but I'm still going to make sure that it goes well with you Jeremiah. Okay, but before we can get to the good stuff, the place of it being well, we've got to get through the first 10 verses here, which is very negative. Alright, so let's start there in verse number one. Then said the Lord unto me, though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this place, cast them out of my sight and let them go forth. You may recall last week as I was preaching for Jeremiah 14, we ended with Jeremiah trying to pray on behalf of the people, even though God was telling him, don't pray for this people. And Jeremiah just trying to intercede, trying to turn the heart of God for the nation, and this is how God responds. He says, look Jeremiah, you're trying to intercede, but even if Moses was here, even if Samuel was here, even if we had these great men of God interceding right now, he says, look, yet my mind could not be toward this people. I can't think well of these people, they've gone too far, cast them out of my sight, let them go forth. God had enough of the people of Judah. Okay, and so let's keep going there. Verse number two, and it shall come to pass if they say unto thee, whither shall we go forth? He says, look, if you're preaching against them, you're preaching the judgment of God and they ask you, what's going to happen Jeremiah, what does the future hold? Then thou shalt tell them, thus saith the Lord, look at this, such as are for death to death, and such as are for the sword to the sword, and such as are for the famine to the famine, and such as are for the captivity to the captivity. They're saying Jeremiah, all this stuff that you're preaching, what's going to be the end result? Well there are four places that the people of Judah are going to end up. Okay, some will die the death, the death to death. Now one of the things that was mentioned, that's not mentioned so much in this chapter, but in the previous chapter is the pestilence, and that's what I believe it's referring to. That some people are just going to die from sicknesses, from viruses, and they're just going to, that's their portion. That's their judgment from God, they're going to suffer that death. And then there are others, there's another portion of the people of Judah that are going to die by the sword, they're going to go into battle, they're going to try to defend themselves, they're going to try to have victory over the Babylonians, but the Babylonians are going to be the ones that kill them in battle. Does this sound very promising to you? Very positive? No, this is a very negative outcome. And then, and such as are for the famine, to the famine, you may recall in the previous chapter, there was a great dearth in the land, there was a lack of rain, but for some people, their portion, their judgment from God will be to die from hunger, to die from famine, they can't eat. And then, there's a final group of people there, and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity, so that's the Babylonian captivity that we're familiar with, where the remaining people, those that survive, that live through this terrible judgment of God, will be taken into captivity by the Babylonians for 70 years, many would even die, even through the captivity process, to the next generations that would come back out of that captivity and re-establish themselves on the land. So you can see here, this is terrible. This is a terrible judgment. I mean, which one of those would you prefer? You say, maybe the captivity. It wasn't good for the people in captivity either. I mean, you had to be really special to have done well during the captivity process, but look, all of those things are places that we don't want to end up. Now, God may very well send His judgments to this extent on Australia, and we just need to be aware of this. We know it's definitely going to happen when we read the book of Revelation on the day of the Lord, when God pulls out His wrath, it's going to be even worse than what we're reading about in Judah. But if there are any believers, and of course, for us, we're going to be raptured, we're going to be taken out of here, before God pulls out His wrath, but for those that get saved during that period, you know what? God tells them that it should be well with them as well. You know, God is able to protect His people, even though they'll be suffering, but God will be able to protect His people through difficulties. So just keep this in mind, brethren. You're definitely not facing this right now, but you may be going through some trial, you may be going through some hardships, it might be your body that's suffering, it might be financial difficulties, it might be broken relationships, there could be so many things that are heavy on your mind, but you know, be reminded that even in a situation like this, people like Jeremiah, it will end up well with them. Look at verse number 3. So we've already seen that, that some people are just going to die in the battle. But look at this. So some people are going to be injured, I suppose, in the battle, not die, but they're struggling, and there's going to be wild dogs that are going to tear them apart. Man, I didn't know this was in the Bible. Well, this is why you've got to read the Bible cover to cover. Become familiar with our God, our great and terrible, our terrible God, the Bible says. There ought to be some terror, there ought to be some fear when you think about God that you'd send wild dogs to tear apart your people. I've never heard this preached before in a Baptist church, but it's there. And the fowls of the heavens, so there are going to be some dead bodies that just lay there, and the birds of prey are going to just eat up those bodies. And the beasts of the earth to devour and destroy. So very graphic ways, you know, that people are going to perish, or their bodies are going to be eaten up by these wild animals. Verse number 4. For that which he did in Jerusalem. So God is saying, look, because of what King Manasseh did, this is why this judgment is going to fall. They say, what, one king? God, listen, this is not just one event. You know, King Manasseh is the straw that broke the camel's back. They were continually turning against the Lord, continuing doing evil things, continuing to worship idols, and it got to a point where it's just enough, you know? That straw that broke the camel's back, you've got to remember this, brethren, you could be far from God, you could be doing sinful things and wicked things, and not following after God's ways, and for a period, for a time, it seems like God's doing nothing. There comes a time when that straw breaks the camel's back and God's judgment is going to fall, and if you haven't gotten yourself right with God before that, brethren, it's going to be a terrible judgment upon you. And just remember, these are God's people. This is God's nation. God is a God of justice, of wrath, of anger, as much as He is of love, okay? Keep these things in mind. Now, let's have a look at what King Manasseh did, so keep your finger there, and let's go to 2 Kings 21. This will give us an idea, at least, of things that we could potentially get into, and you need to understand how much God hates this, okay? That He will not change His mind anymore. Even if Moses and Samuel and Jeremiah all stood before God, God, give these people another chance, God says, no, I'm done, it's enough. They've gone too far. You know what, if you do some of these sins, brethren, you've gone too far. You've gone too far with the Lord. 2 Kings 21 verse 1, Manasseh was 12 years old and he began to reign, 50 and 5 years in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Hepzibah, and he did that, look at this, which was evil in the sight of the Lord after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. So he does the same thing, so when Israel came into the Promised Land, you had the Canaanites, you had the people on that land, they were doing wicked things, God drove them out of the land, God says, well, Manasseh was doing the same thing, that the people of the land of Canaan were doing before. Let's keep going. Verse number 3, For he built up again the high places which Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he rid up altars for Baal, and made a grove, as did Ahab king of Israel, and worshipped all the hosts of heaven, and served them. So what is it that was this straw that broke the camel's back? Again, the worship of false gods, setting these things up, look, his father had done the right thing, his father had torn down the statues, and the altars, and the false gods, and he brought them back. He brought them back into the land. And children, you need to remember this, that your fathers, you're in church today because your parents love you, they want you to know the true God, yet they've probably come from false churches and false religion, and they've had to learn to tear down these idols, tear down this false religion, tear down these false descriptions of God, tear down this other Jesus, they want to know the Jesus of the Bible, you be careful. It's not an easy decision for your parents to have gone from their false religions and the false churches to come to a good church where God's what is being preached, don't you then grow up and go, well, maybe I need to set those things back up. Maybe you've come from a Catholic background, I need to go back and set up those statues once again. No, okay? That is extremely wicked. Drop down to verse number 6. 2 Kings 21 verse 6. Look at this. And he made his son to pass through the fire. King Manasseh sacrificed his own son. He burnt his son in fire. He aborted his children. This is abortion. It's even worse what we do. We can't even give these babies an opportunity to come out of the mother's womb and take a breath of air. They're killed within the mother's womb. Okay? God hates these things. God's judgment is going to come next when we just allow these things to continue. And he made his son pass through the fire and observe times. Look at this. And used enchantments. That's magic. He got himself into magic, right? He got himself into these wicked things, wizards and all these things, enchantments. What else is there? And dealt with familiar spirits and wizards so that they speak to, you know, the ghosts, things like that. Well, they're not ghosts, they're demons. They're devils that they're speaking to. He's going to the wizards. He wrought much wickedness in the sight of the Lord to provoke him to anger. You understand why God's angry? Drop down to verse number 9. But they harken not. And Manasseh suggests them to do more evil than did the nations whom the Lord destroyed before the children of Israel. You know that the children of Israel had many enemies and God would lead them to war and they would destroy the wicked. And, you know, that was God's plan for Israel to be a light for him, to be a nation that served God. God is saying under Manasseh it was even more evil in the land of Israel than it was in the other nations. So if God sought to destroy these wicked nations, you know it's time for Judah to suffer the same fate now. They got an even worse under this king. Back to Jeremiah 15, please, verse number 5. Jeremiah 15, verse number 5. God says, For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? In other words, nobody's going to have pity on you. Or who shall bemoan thee? Or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest? Thou hast forsaken me, saith the Lord. Thou art gone backward. Therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee and destroy thee. Look at this. I am weary with repenting. Has God repented in the past for Israel and for Judah? Yeah. He's seen them do wrong things. He's wanted to step in and destroy them. Then you have Moses stand up, all right, and say, Lord, don't do it. And God says, all right, I'm going to repent. All right, another time, and we'll have a look at these examples. Another time, Samuel gets there on behalf of the nation, and God was angry at the nation, and Samuel steps in and intercedes on behalf of the nation. God says, all right, I'll repent. God, now it comes to Jeremiah time. He says, I'm weary of repenting. I'm done. It's enough. I'm not going to repent this time. My judgment's going to fall on this southern kingdom. If you can please keep your finger there. Let's go to Exodus 32. Exodus 32. Let's go to these stories and just have a look at this and, you know, add further flesh to what we're reading here in Jeremiah about the times that Moses and Samuel did stand before God. All right, Exodus 32, verse number 7. Exodus 32 and verse number 7. So this has to do with, of course, Moses going, getting the Ten Commandments. He comes back. He's gone for 40 days. You guys know the story, I think, pretty well. Aaron ends up, you know, making a big mistake. He's a poor leader. He puts together a golden calf and they worship that golden calf in the reputation of the god that delivered them out of Egypt. Okay. And so they're picturing God as this golden calf and then they're doing all kinds of wicked things around it. And this is straight after the Exodus. It's not that much more after God's done amazing miracles, delivered this nation out of Egypt. He's done great things for them. And that's how they return and try to, you know, worship God, but it's the wrong way, right? Exodus 32, verse 7. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go get thee down, for thy people which thou broughtest out of the land of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made them a molten calf and have worshiped it and have sacrificed thereunto and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Now the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Look, that was stiff-necked from the very beginning. All right. Verse number 10. Now therefore let me alone, God says, look, leave me alone, let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them and I will make of thee a great nation. God says, look, Moses, stand aside. I don't want to get to get hurt. I'm going to destroy these people that we just delivered out of Egypt and out of you, Moses, we're going to create a new nation, a great nation. I'm going to start again. I'm going to press the reset button. I'm done with this nation. We're going to start again with you, Moses. Wow. You know, I remember a pastor once preaching this saying, God didn't mean what he was saying. He was just testing Moses because they're God's chosen people and God wouldn't destroy his chosen people. Are you kidding me? God's just bluffing? Are you serious? I mean, just read all of the Old Testament. Is he constantly bluffing? Is he bluffing again with Jeremiah? No. All right. God was serious. He was going to destroy them. He wanted to start again with Moses. Verse number 11. And Moses besought the Lord his God and said, Lord, why doth thy wrath wax hot against thy people, which thou had brought forth out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? So Moses steps in. He tries to intercede. God, why are you going to do this? Verse number 12. Wherefore should the Egyptians speak and say, for mischief did he bring them out, to slay them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Turn from thy fierce wrath and repent of this evil against thy people. So Moses says, look, God, don't kill them. Don't destroy them. The Egyptians are going to laugh at us. You know, you delivered us out of Egypt and just to die in the wilderness, you know? And Moses is saying, look, just, man, what are people going to say about us? What are people going to say about you, Lord? Verse number 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, thy servants, to whom thou swearest by thine own self and saidst unto them, I will multiply your seed as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have spoken of will I give unto your seed, and they shall inherit it forever. So that's what Moses does. He says, Lord, remember you said this. You know, let's just keep that plan going, Lord. Here's the thing, though. If the Lord did hypothetically wipe them out, the promise is still true because Moses is a descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, right? So, you know, God just had another plan in place, right? To start another nation because this nation had already angered God from the very beginning, from the time that it was delivered out of Egypt. But I just want to show you out there that, you know, sorry, verse number 14. And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. Does God repent? Yes. When we read the word repent in the Bible, does it mean repent of your sins, turn from your sins? No, it cannot be, unless God is a sinner. Is that what you're saying? No. God repented. He was going to destroy them. It would not have been a sin to destroy them. Okay? It would have been the right thing to do. But God, what do we learn from God? He's long suffering. Okay? God is also a God of love. You know, and God is also a God that answers prayer. Moses is praying. God says, all right, Moses, I'll listen to you. You know, we can turn the heart of God. We can cause him to repent from one thing to another if we're just faithful to God like Moses. If we just stand before the Lord and pray before the Lord, we can cause him to move his hand in a different way than what originally was planned. You know, it's amazing, you know, that God will listen to us and listen to our desires and take them into consideration and answer prayer. It's amazing. Let's learn about Samuel now. Go to 1 Samuel 7, please. 1 Samuel 7 and verse number 7. 1 Samuel 7 and verse number 7. And I won't give you all the context, but just very quickly, again, Israel's doing what they normally do. They've rejected God. They're worshipping idols, okay? Nothing new under the sun. They keep doing the same thing. Hey, guess what the Jews are doing today? Praying toward a wall, okay? There's nothing new under the sun, okay? 1 Samuel 7, 7. 1 Samuel 7, 7. It says that when the Philistines, remember the Philistines were an enemy to Israel, and when the Philistines heard that the children of Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against Israel, and when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines. Look at verse number 8. And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry unto the Lord our God for us, that He will save us out of the hand of the Philistines. The children of Israel, they don't go to God and pray to God. They don't say, God, deliver us out of the hands of the Philistines. You know why? Because they had turned against the Lord. They were worshiping false gods. What do they do? They go to the man of God. They go to one of the few faithful that remain in the land, Samuel. Samuel, you pray to God, right? So, you know, the Lord was going to allow the Philistines to come and wipe them out, okay? What does Samuel do? Verse number 9. And Samuel took a sucking lamb and offered it for a burnt offering wholly unto the Lord. And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel and the Lord heard him. What an amazing God we have. You know, that we just humble ourselves. We just pray to the Lord, cry unto Him for help. The Lord will hear us. The Lord heard Samuel. Verse number 10. And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, look at this, the Philistines drew near to battle against Israel. But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines and discomfited them and they were smitten before Israel. So God gives them a great victory against the Philistines here. God steps in, defeats the enemies, and all it required was for Samuel to just humble himself, offer his sacrifices of praise to God, cry out to the Lord, pray, and he turned God's heart once again. He did not allow the Philistines to destroy Israel. How powerful is prayer? And how often do we not pray? How often do we go day after day not praying to the Lord? Man, look at the power of prayer. Okay? So, you know what? Our nation is wicked. You know, is wicked. But we should be praying. We should be praying. You know, we are the people of God. There's not many of us. There's not many good churches. There's not many faithful people. We need to be the ones, brethren, that are praying to God, asking Him, right, to help during these difficult times. He's going to listen to us. He's going to be listening to us. And you need to understand, you know, hopefully, you know, Australia hasn't gotten to the point just yet where God is done with it. Okay? So hopefully we can still be like Moses and Samuel. We can turn God's heart. We don't want to be like Jeremiah where it's too late. Okay? But even if it's too late, God told Jeremiah it's going to be well with you. Okay? So let's keep that in mind. Let's go back to Jeremiah, chapter 15, verse number 7. He says, I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land. I will bereave them of children. I will destroy my people since they return not from their ways. So God's given them the opportunity to turn from their ways. That's why Jeremiah is preaching. Jeremiah could. You know, he's preaching the right things, and he's given them opportunities to turn, but God says they're not turning. Therefore, I'm going to fan them with a fan. Therefore, I'm going to fan them with a fan. The idea there is, you know, when you're, you know, in Israel or in Judah here, one of their cool jobs was agriculture, you know, harvesting grain and these kinds of things. The idea there is when you've got your harvest and you take, you know, once you reap the harvest, you need to separate the grain from the chaff. Okay? And that process is known as win-or-win, I believe. And so you're, you know, you allow, maybe you have some fans, and the fans will blow the chaff off the grain, and so you're left with what you can actually eat. The chaff is worthless. It's useless. It's no longer important. You know, you can't cook it. You can't eat the chaff. You just need the grain. And so that process of fanning with a fan, God is saying, look, I'm going to use the fan, and all these wicked of Judah is going to be like that chaff that just blows away. They're worthless. It's useless. Okay? All that's going to remain, of course, is the grain, that which is profitable. And then it says, I will breathe. I will destroy my people. You know, children are going to lose their lives during this judgment of God. Look at verse number eight. Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas. I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday. I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly and tear us upon the city. She that hath borne seven languisheth. She hath given up the ghost. Her son is gone down while it was yet day. She hath been ashamed and confounded, and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the Lord. So not only are the men going to be punished by God's judgment, the women are going to suffer as well. We saw in verse number eight, the widows are going to be increased. Okay? Women are going to lose their husbands in this time of warfare against the Babylonians, right? Not only will widows lose their husbands, it says, I have brought upon them in verse number eight against the mother of the young men, a spoiler at noonday. Mothers are going to lose their children. Okay? Women are going to lose their husbands. Mothers are going to lose their children. Verse number nine makes me sad. She that hath borne seven languisheth. A woman that's given birth to seven, she's going to lose them all. She's going to lose them all. Okay? And she hath given up the ghost. So I don't know if you want to take this literally or figuratively, but, you know, to give up the ghost is to die. So, you know, losing all her family, losing all her children, you know, maybe literally will cause her just to die out of sorrow and out of grief or just, you know, spiritually or, you know, internally, mentally just die. Like, just give up on life. I've lost everything that was important to me. I've lost my family. And so there's that shame and confusion. Confoundment means confusion there in verse number nine. Okay? And the residue, the leftover will deliver to the sword before their enemies. They're going to be put to death. So, I mean, this is full on. This is a full on judgment of God. Okay? It's hard for me to read that, even to preach that, you know? It's sadder than my heart because we've got eight boys and three girls. Could you imagine losing them all? You know? It's tough. In fact, it's too much for Jeremiah again. You know, as God's revealing this to Jeremiah, we've already seen through some chapters, it's just too much for Jeremiah, you know? He starts to weep and he starts, it's just too heavy upon him. And you see there in verse number 10, it's too much. God's told him and it's just, again, once again, it's just too much for Jeremiah. Jeremiah says, woe is me, in verse number 10. Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me, a man of strife and a man of contention, to the whole earth. I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury, yet every one of them doth curse me. Jeremiah says, look, woe is me. I'm the preacher of God's word. God has given me this judgment, this sermon to preach, this word to preach, and it's so horrible to preach. So he says, woe is me. It's like, you know, why would God do this to me? Right? To preach. He said, look, I'm a man of strife and contention. Everyone that I preach to, everyone that I come across, they hate me. I keep getting into arguments and fights. They don't like this message that I preach. Jeremiah, he's not getting into arguments with people because he's a wicked man, because he says, look, he says in verse number 10, I have neither lent on usury. On usury, that's basically lending money and making someone pay back with interest. Jeremiah says, look, when I've lent, I've never tried to take advantage of people. I've never tried to ask them more than what I've given them. He's never tried to do that. He's never tried to do that, and he's never, nor men, have lent to me on usury. I've never tried to be a burden to other people and gone to other people and, you know, tried to take what is someone else's. Jeremiah said, look, I've tried to be a self-made man. I've tried to get along with the people. I've tried to live a clean life, and yet every one of them doth curse me. They all hate me. So it's too much for him. The judgment, but also preaching this, you know, everyone hates me. Now, brethren, listen. You have to learn this about the Christian life. People will hate you, okay? Now, don't let it be that people hate you just because you're a terrible person, that you're just a rough, angry, hating kind of person for no reason, just your personality, and people don't get along with you. That ought to be you. You ought to be a Christian where you're easygoing and that you're friendly and people don't mind your company and you can be a blessing to people when it comes to just you interacting with the world. That's how we ought to be, but if people ever hate you, it ought to be because you love God's word and you preach God's word, and it's not because of your bad behavior but because of God's true word that causes people to hate you. That's a legitimate reason for people to hate you because you love God's word because you preach God's word, okay? And again, you're preaching God's word. Yeah, people are going to hate you. I'm sure people already hate this church, okay? And sometimes you might have that sorrow and grief and woe is me. God, you've given me this message. I've gone soul winning. I love this person. I've had to tell them they're heading to hell because they don't believe the gospel and they've hated me for telling them that they're going to hell. But brethren, that's okay if they hate you for that because all you're doing is acting out of obedience, preaching God's word. The title for the sermon was, It Shall Be Well. So we've gone through the negative parts of it. Let's get to the good part of it. Verse number 11. The Lord said, Verily, it shall be well with thy remnants. Verily, so verily means truly. Verily, I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction. So God, you know, it was too much for Jeremiah and now he's trying to comfort Jeremiah. So look Jeremiah, yes, you know, things are going to be bad. Things are going to end up really bad here. But with you, it's going to be well. And it's not going to be just well with you but also with thy remnants, thy remnant. Now, there are probably different thoughts on what thy remnant is and some people might say that it's, you know, maybe his family that he went well with. In previous chapters, we've seen that, you know, it appears anyway that Jeremiah is going to lose his children as well with this, you know, this judgment. But, you know, if you just did a word study for the word remnant, especially in the New Testament, specifically in the New Testament, but even some places in the Old Testament, the remnant refers to believers, to believers. And if you want, you can turn there. It's Romans 11, verse 5. I'll just read it to you though. Romans 11, 5, it says, Even so then at this present time, also there is a remnant. What is this remnant? According to the election of grace. So if you have received the grace of God, for by grace are you saved through faith, then that makes up the remnant. Now, when we look at Romans chapter 11, it's talking about the ungodly Christ rejecting Jews, but Paul is saying that there is a remnant of Jews that actually did receive the grace of God. They did believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and that is the remnant according to the election of grace. And then it says, And if by grace, then it is no more of works, otherwise grace is no more grace, but if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work. So that's about salvation. Salvation is by grace, it's not by work, right? And so those that are saved through this process of grace through faith make up that remnant. And so I believe, the Lord is referring to here, It shall be well with thy remnant, referring to the other believers that are still on the land, meaning that most, again, most of the God's people at this point in time were unsaved, you know, unbelievers, and again, extremely, extremely wicked, all right? Don't get confused. When we read the Bible and we see the people of God, that doesn't mean they're automatically saved. Don't forget, they are the people of God because that nation had a covenant with God, okay? Now, the people of God in the New Testament, they are all saved because the only way you enter into that new covenant with God is by being saved, okay? So you've got to just keep those two things in mind so you don't get confused, all right? Look at verse number 12. Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel? Now, again, I'll just give you my opinion here. The northern iron, quite often when we talk about the Babylonians coming, you know, in the book of Jeremiah, kept saying they're coming from the north, the north, the north. So I believe it's saying that, you know, if Judah tries to fight, you know, if Judah tries to be like iron, is it going to break the northern iron? And still, no, it's going to lose, okay? It's not as strong as the northern iron, so any efforts to try to defeat the Babylonians, it's not going to work. Verse number 13. So, sorry, so before we read verse 13 and 14, remember, keep in mind sometimes it's a bit confusing, you know, who's it been referred to? Is it Jeremiah? Is it the Lord? Is it Judah? You know, obviously, if we keep reading verse number 13 and 14, again, Jeremiah is preaching to the southern kingdom of Judah here, all right? He says, look, do you think you're going to break northern iron? Do you think you're going to defeat them? It's not going to happen. Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders, and I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not, for a fire is kindled in mine anger which shall burn upon you. So God here, telling Judah, I'm going to burn you with fire. You'll be getting wiped out, right? Now, as we saw, this is the good part of it, right? We know God's judgment's coming. Now, Jeremiah turns and seeks God's help here. He says in verse number 15, O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors. Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. So, again, too much for Jeremiah to process. He knows judgment's coming, and he says to the Lord, Look, when judgment comes, Lord, remember me. Hey, what did the thief on the cross say? Remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. Okay? The thief on the cross, he's dying. He's not getting out of that situation, okay? He's dying, but he just remembers, Lord, just remember me. You know, Jeremiah, he's already saved, of course, Jeremiah, but he's going through this difficult time. He just says, Lord, can you just remember me? When he says remember, he's saying, Lord, don't forget me. You know, when your anger is destroying this land, when you're given the ability to the Babylonians to destroy us, and people are dying from famine and by sword and by all these horrible things, and mothers are losing their husbands and mothers are losing their children, Lord, don't forget me in that time. Okay? And that's exactly what we need to be telling God, you know? Especially in these days of restrictions, you know? And, you know, the whole nation is being affected with different types of issues. Look, I hate talking about COVID-19 all the time, but it's just where we are. It's the situation we're in. But at the same time, you know, we complain and whine about COVID-19. Could you imagine if we were facing this judgment? I mean, you know, going through COVID-19 really, you know, is as difficult as what Judah's going to face. It's not. Let's be realistic. You know, things are still good, okay? Let's not whine and complain now, okay? If we're going to whine and complain with how things are now, boy, when God's judgment really does fall on this nation, you're, you know, I don't know how you're going to cope. I don't know how you're going to cope, right? But Jeremiah says, look, remember me. You're going to keep me in mind. Don't forget me. I forgot my, I've missed my spot there. Oh, yeah. And, you know, he says, and visit me. You know, be close to me. I need your presence in verse number 15. And so God's people, what we learn here, are to find refuge in the Lord in the midst of difficulties, okay? Even if God is destroying the nation of Australia, say, God, please remember me. I need to find refuge in you. You need to keep me safe, okay? Look at verse number 16. Now, again, God is telling Jeremiah, it's going to be well with you, all right? Now, I want you to notice what Jeremiah says. In order for things to be well with him, in order for Jeremiah to be remembered by God during difficult times, Jeremiah says that he does a couple of things that should be, you know, the minimum, at least the minimum of what we ought to be doing to be remembered by God in a time of difficulty where he will make sure things go well with us. Look at verse number 16. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. So Jeremiah says, look, look, remember me, help me in this time of your judgment because I've eaten up your words. He says, look, I read my Bible, Lord. Not only do I read my Bible, I find joy and rejoicing in my heart for your word. So you want things to go well with you, brethren? You know what you need to do? You pick up your Bible. You read your Bible. You eat God's word. Jesus says in Luke 4, 4, And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man should not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. If you have a healthy diet, you're eating God's word, you're consuming God's word, you're reading it, you're thinking about it, brethren, and not just doing that out of being forced to do it, but actually having joy in it. And listen, brethren, the more you read your Bible, the more you learn God's word, you're going to find joy. When you discover things on your own, say, wow, I didn't say that before. God, you've helped me understand this passage. I promise you, you're going to find joy in the new man. The flesh doesn't like it. The flesh doesn't want to pick up the Bible. The flesh wants to do everything else but read the Bible. But the new man loves it. So Jeremiah is saying, look, Lord, look after me because I read your word. That's a good place to start, right? You want things to be well with you? Just show God that you love his word, that you eat it, that you consume it, that you think upon his words. Verse number 17. What else has Jeremiah done? He says, I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced. I sat alone because of thy hand, for thou has filled me with indignation. So what else did Jeremiah do? He kept away from the wicked and from their sins. He says, Lord, the wicked have done terrible things. They've mocked you. They've sinned against you, Lord, and I've kept myself out of that. I've not done the same wickedness as them. I've not done the same sins as them. I've not mocked you, Lord, the way they've mocked you. So what else did we learn there? If we want things to be well with us, look, you may very well have wicked friends. You may have friends that just mock God. Brethren, if you want things to go well with you, you've got to say, look, ideally, you try to give them the gospel and get them saved, but if they're just wicked, they're just haters of God, you need to separate yourself from those people. Separation is not an easy doctrine to teach because we want to just get along with everybody, don't we? We don't want to be friends with everybody, but there are some people we need to keep ourselves away from because if God's judgment falls upon them and we're mixed in with them, well, don't be surprised if you're affected by the judgment of God, by being mixed in with them. You need to separate yourself from God's judgment. So you see that Jeremiah tried to keep himself pure from the wicked. Look at verse 18. So Jeremiah's saying, look, I'm wounded. Not physically, he's wounded by the message that he's preaching, the revelation that God has given him of this judgment, it's taken a toll on Jeremiah. It's a huge burden upon Jeremiah and even the people hating him for preaching God's word, it's just becoming too much for him. And he says, look, it seems like I'm just going to have this pain forever, perpetual, it's never going to end, my wounds never going to be cured. Am I ever going to be healed, God? It seems like just this moment Jeremiah is lacking faith because he says, will thou be altogether unto me a liar? You told me it's going to be well with me, but it's not going well with me, Lord, at the moment. Have you lied to me, Lord? And as waters that fail, I've gone for water, I've gone to seek refuge and safety in you, Lord, has it failed? I can't find the waters, I can't find healing. You see that Jeremiah's lacking some faith here, he's in a lot of pain, he's in turmoil. How does the Lord respond to that? Verse number 19. If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me. God says, look, Jeremiah, you're lacking some faith right now, you're in pain right now, but if you return, if you get yourself full of faith once again, you decide to come and preach for me once again, you come along and say, if thou return, I will bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me. So just like Moses was able to stand before God and be an influence to God, just like Samuel was able to stand before God, he says, look, Jeremiah, you'll be able to stand before me, and then he says, and if thou take forth the precious from the vial, thou shalt be as my mouth. What does that mean? If thou shalt take forth the precious from the vial. What's vial? Does anyone know what the word vial means? Abominable. Sorry? Abominable. Who is it? Abominable? Disgusting? Is that what you were going to say, brother? Yeah, things that are disgusting. So look, go to St. Jeremiah. Look, things aren't going good for Jerusalem and for Judah. It's going to be vial. He says, look, but if you take forth the precious from the vial, he says, look, if you have a positive outlook, even when things are hard, if you take what is positive out of that, thou shalt be as my mouth. Let them return unto thee, but return not thou unto them. He says, look, let them return unto thee. Let the people that you're preaching against come to you and ask you further questions. Let them return to you as a preacher of God's word. You be a godly influence upon them, but then he says, but return not thou unto them. Don't let them be a bad influence upon you. Kind of like what I covered on Thursday about parallel distractions. Don't allow those to influence you to get off God's agenda, God's track. You ought to be bringing people onto God's agenda. You've got to be the godly, the good influence. And you can be that way. You can be as my mouth. I can use you to speak against these people of Judah if you just take what is positive out of this negative situation. And brethren, just again, COVID. Let's not whine and complain and murmur. Look, just take what is positive. You've got life. You've got food. You've still got blessing of Baptist Church. Am I going to whine and complain that we haven't sung? Or am I just going to praise God that it's opened up an opportunity to be praying for the things that we need to bring before the Lord? We take the positives out of this, brethren, okay? And we return back to the Lord. We stay faithful to the Lord, and He will allow us to stand before Him. Look at verse number 20. And I will make thee unto this people a fenced, brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee. They'll fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the Lord. Brethren, I want to be a fenced, brazen wall. If people hate me for God's word or they hate our church for God's word, we don't back down. We're strong. We're mighty. We continue to serve God. Well, that's as long as you keep faithful to the Lord, okay? That you don't focus on the negatives. You don't get overwhelmed with the negatives. You focus on the positives. You just keep marching on for God. No matter what difficulties you're going to go through, God's going to make sure that you're a fenced, brazen wall. They're not going to be able to take you down, the end is, okay? So God's encouraging Jeremiah, you know, trying to strengthen him once again. And we need to be strengthened from time to time. We do. You know, because life is not always easy. Life can be challenging. We can get down. We can, you know, see Jeremiah. Jeremiah's a great man of God. Does he get down? He gets down. He gets down. There's nothing wrong with getting upset and worried. But then you need to make a decision, all right, I've gone through that part now. Now I've got to get back on the program. I've got to get back serving God. I've got to get back thinking positively. I've got to get back just being on God's agenda. Verse number 21, And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. So we won't look at this now, but, you know, when the Babylonians did come, it did go well with Jeremiah. He was taken care of, okay. We'll leave that for another time, but, you know, God promised Jeremiah, meaning that Jeremiah did stay faithful to God. Jeremiah still continued reading his Bible. Jeremiah stayed away from the wicked. Jeremiah continued preaching God's word even in the face of these difficulties, all right. So in summary, brethren, if we want God's hand of protection, if we want things to go well with us, number one, read your Bible. Okay, number two, stay away from the influence of the wicked. And number three, serve God with your life, and it shall be well with you. Okay, let's pray. Heavenly Father, Lord,