WWUTT 2439 My Persecutors Will Stumble (Jeremiah 20:1-18)

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Jeremiah did what God told him to do. He warned the people of the destruction that was coming upon them because of their sin and they hated him for it.

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We're going to get that kind of reaction from people around us, even today, when we understand the text.

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This is When We Understand The Text, a daily study in the Word of Christ, for the sake of the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth, which accords with godliness.

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Find all our videos and other ministry resources at www .utt .com.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky, and greetings, everyone. We are back after a nice long break and jumping back into our study right where we left off.

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Our Thursday study in the Old Testament. We've been in the book of Jeremiah and today I'm in chapter 20.

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If you want to open up a Bible and join with me there. Now just to kind of recap, because it's been a while and also because we left things off in the middle of an ongoing narrative.

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Back in chapter 18, God told Jeremiah to go to the potter's house and it was there that he was going to deliver a message of judgment that would soon come upon Israel because of their rebellion against God, because they had worshiped false gods and even gone after the ways of the pagans around them.

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In chapter 19, even there at the potter's house, Jeremiah had a potter's earthenware flask and he was going to break it and that was going to symbolize how

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God was going to break Israel and turn them over to the hands of their enemies.

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Now Jeremiah has made this prophecy. He has rebuked Israel, really even brought condemnation upon them because of the wickedness that they had done.

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And if you remember the wickedness specifically that Jeremiah had called out there with the earthenware flask, when he was in the presence of the elders and the priests, these people had gone into the valley of Hinnom and they had sacrificed even their sons and their daughters to false gods, to the

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God Moloch, which in Hebrew translates as the God of shameful sacrifice. This was probably under another name among the pagans, but this was the name that the

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Hebrews gave this particular God because of the abominable sacrifices that would be lifted up to it.

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And again, that included even burning infant children as sacrifices to this false

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God. So because of this evil, this wickedness, this is what Jeremiah is calling out.

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This is why God is not going to lift his hand, but he is going to bring judgment upon this people and what will the people's response be to this rebuke, this chastisement that Jeremiah brings, speaking the very word of the

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Lord. I'm sure you can probably imagine what the people's reaction is. They respond with anger.

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And that's what we read about here in chapter 20. Jeremiah is even going to be persecuted because he did what the

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Lord told him to do. And as we've seen previously in the book of Jeremiah, we've seen occasions where this prophet will raise a protest before God, even saying in some manner of words, it's not fair.

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And Jeremiah is going to bring that kind of protest before the Lord even here as well. So we're going to look at all of chapter 20 today, just 18 verses.

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But I'm going to start by reading verses one through six. This is out of the

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English Standard Version. Hear the word of the Lord. Now Pasher the priest, the son of Emmer, who was chief officer in the house of the

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Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesying these things. Then Pasher beat

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Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin gate of the house of the

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Lord. The next day, when Pasher released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, the

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Lord does not call your name Pasher, but terror on every side.

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For thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends.

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They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all

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Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall strike them down with the sword.

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Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, and all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon.

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And you, Pasher, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity.

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To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die. And there you shall be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely.

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And so here we get an idea of the reaction of the people. None of the people protest to the way that Pasher treats

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Jeremiah. They're just fine with it because how dare this guy tell us that the ways that we have been living are out of favor with Yahweh and that we would be destroyed by the hands of the

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Babylonians? Are you kidding me? Did God not say in his law that he would be an enemy to our enemies?

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Remember that the people believe that since the temple was among them, there's no way that any enemy could come against them.

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We have God. We have the temple of the Lord. And remember what Jeremiah had said to them, do not say the temple of the

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Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, as though this were a good luck charm to them.

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No enemy would ever be able to come against us because God is in our midst. Yahweh is with us.

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And they believe that they could live any way that they wanted to live, going after the passions of their flesh.

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And yet Yahweh would not abandon them. He would continue to give them power and security and strength and prosperity in the land.

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But what we're going to see in the book of Ezekiel, we get to this later, Ezekiel actually sees, spiritually sees,

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God lift his presence from the temple and go out from Jerusalem. Actually sees

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God depart from the people. And it's God's departure, lifting his presence from the people, that then allows the

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Babylonians to come in and conquer them. God's not even with them. As much as they pridefully think that they'll be able to do whatever they want and no nation will be able to come against them.

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You know, this isn't too different than the attitude of Jews today. I saw a video just recently online and I'm talking, when

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I'm talking about Jews, I'm not talking about messianic Jews, I'm not even talking about the ethnicity, but the people who pridefully consider themselves

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Jews and believe that God is on their side. There are many of them that are like that. Ben Shapiro is one of them, by the way, a very well -known outspoken

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Jew, well -known for, you know, being the conservative side of news.

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I know a lot of people that actually listen to Ben Shapiro, but he's just one example that I would give, doesn't believe in Jesus Christ, doesn't even really believe that some of the miraculous things that happen in the

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Bible are true. If you've listened to some of those interviews with him, he will say that there's some sort of physical or scientific explanation behind those miracles.

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But it wasn't really a miraculous hand of God that was enacting something like parting the Red Sea on behalf of the people.

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But Jews today are still very prideful in believing that God is on their side, as much as Shapiro, even somebody like Shapiro doesn't believe those miracles are actual.

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Yet he believes that God is on the side of the Jews. There was a video not long ago that was on social media.

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I think it was even shared through the What Channel on X. But it was a man who was being interviewed by his daughter, an older man.

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And his adult daughter is asking him, what's the benefit of being a Jew? And he's smoking a cigar and he just pridefully rattles off a bunch of things that this is why it's so great to be a

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Jew. And one of those things was God's on our side. We are the chosen people of God.

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So ultimately, we win in the end. But not if they don't know

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Jesus. There is no way to eternal life. There is no way into that heavenly promised land.

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There is no way to escape the wrath and judgment of God that will come upon his enemies.

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But by faith in Jesus Christ and even many Jews, ethnic Jews will perish under the judgment of God on that day when

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Christ returns with his angels and flaming fire is talked about in Thessalonians, chapter one. Jesus told the

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Jews that challenged him that you are of your father, the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires.

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They were not really children of Abraham. They were not really in God's favor because they rejected the son of God.

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Because they refused to believe that Jesus Christ was sent from God to fulfill that which was prophesied in the law and the prophets to die on the cross for our sins, to rise again from the dead so that whoever believes in him by faith will not perish but have everlasting life.

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Most Jews reject that message today. But, you know, it's not just Jews. There are also many professing

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Christians. There are people who will claim to be Christian simply because they're

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American or Texan or because they vote Republican or they claim to be conservative or otherwise.

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Lots of people call themselves Christian because, hey, I say in God we trust and I give pledge of allegiance to the flag and I say one nation under God and I believe that Christ is king.

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They may even make proclamations like that, but their life does not exhibit in any way evidence of being a follower of the

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Savior. They may say it, they acknowledge God with their lips, but their heart is far from him just as Isaiah prophesied, just as Jesus said of the

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Pharisees. Well, did Isaiah speak of you? These people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.

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There are many professing Christians that are like that as well. They think they have safety and security.

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They may think that God is on their side simply because they're American. They may think that God is on our side because America defends

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Israel. I've encountered a lot of people who think that way, that the reason why

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God is blessing the United States is because it defends the nation of Israel as it exists geographically on a map on the globe.

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God's favor is toward those who believe in Jesus Christ. That's who's saved.

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That's who are his children. They are his children. Those who believe in Jesus have been adopted into the family of God and he is our father.

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It doesn't matter how much ethnic Jews practicing religious

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Jews. It doesn't matter how much they believe that that they are the people of God.

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They can believe that till they're blue in the face. If they do not believe Jesus Christ is the son of God, they will perish in judgment along with the rest of the world.

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And the Bible is absolutely clear about that. But again, we also need to consider that there are many people out there who claim to be

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Christian and are not. And they think that just because they make certain professions or do certain things or wear certain colors or go to church occasionally or have three

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Bibles in their home, there are many number of things that a lot of Americans in particular will do wherever I have listeners, wherever you are in the world.

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But America in particular, Americans will believe themselves to be in God's favor simply because they do certain things or own certain items or say certain words as if being a

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Christian is a magic spell. As long as I say these things, then I have my get out of hell free card.

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But the only way one is saved, the only way one will have eternal life with God forever in heaven is to believe on the

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Lord Jesus Christ and to trust in him for the forgiveness of our sins, that he took our sins upon himself when he died on the cross and the judgment, the wrath of God that we deserve because of our sin was poured out on Christ as he died in our place.

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He rose again from the dead, the father showing that he received the son's sacrifice by raising him from the dead,

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Jesus showing that he had authority even over death by rising from the dead so that all who believe in him, we will not perish under the judgment of God, but we likewise will rise from the dead and dwell forever with him.

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We have fellowship with God now, and we have the promise of eternal fellowship with him in glory.

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And it's only by faith in Jesus Christ and no other way.

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You know, John 14, 6, I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but by me,

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Jesus said. There are people even today who will think of certain

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Christian ask or Christian Christian ask things they do or Christian ease things they say.

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They will believe that that is enough and I have eternal life and God is on my side because I do these things, just like the

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Jews thought at this time when Jeremiah warned them of the judgment that was to come. And you tell a people even today who think that they are righteous because they say and do these things.

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You tell them that they do not really have the favor of God, that he's not really for them, but against them because they don't believe in Jesus Christ.

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They don't trust in him. They don't follow him. They have not turned from their sin. They're still going about in the same evils that the rest of the world is doing.

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You rebuke them for that and you tell them that God's judgment is upon you unless you repent and turn to Christ, they'll hate you, too.

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And even though here in the US we have the freedom to worship, the freedom of religion is guaranteed by the first article of the

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Constitution. There are still people that will hate you and abuse you and persecute you if you try to call out their sin and tell them to repent and turn to Christ.

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Now, Jeremiah's reaction to this persecution that he undergoes is to complain before God.

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Now, he has a good sense about himself not to accuse God of wrongdoing.

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And you'll notice that Jeremiah even humbles himself in the midst of his rebuke. It's OK for us to take complaints before God.

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In fact, as first Peter, chapter five, tells us to cast our cares upon him because he cares for us.

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Some of those cares, anxieties, concerns, they may come out sounding like complaints sometimes.

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But let us not get too ahead of ourselves. Let us not think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think. But we humble ourselves before God and still knowing that his way is perfect and nothing is happening outside of his sovereign will.

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So Jeremiah raises this complaint before God in verse seven here saying, oh, Lord, you have deceived me and I was deceived.

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Now, that's quite a charge. To say of God that he was being deceptive now, just because Jeremiah says it, that doesn't mean that his words are pure.

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He should not be saying these things, nor should we say such a thing before God. But it's likely that what

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Jeremiah was feeling in his heart was you told me to go and do this, to say this to these people, but you did not protect me from the persecution that they brought against me.

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You are stronger than I, Jeremiah said, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day.

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Everyone mocks me. So it's not just the physical persecution that he endured, but even the words that they continue to hurl at him.

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For whenever I speak, I cry out, Jeremiah says. I shout violence and destruction for the word of the

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Lord has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.

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So Jeremiah delights in the word of God. But when he speaks it to this people and they react this way, the word now has become derision.

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It has not become his joy, but it's become the the reason why he gets persecuted and he shouts violence and destruction.

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So Jeremiah has called out the violence of the people and he has warned them of the destruction that is coming because of the judgment that God is going to bring against them at the hands of the

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Chaldeans. Even though Jeremiah has raised this complaint before God, I've done what you asked me to.

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I gave them the message that you told me to give them. Yet his words will still turn to praise.

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And that's what we have next in verses nine to 13. So let me start here in verse nine. If I say

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I will not mention him or speak any more in his name, there is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with holding it in and I cannot.

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So see how quickly Jeremiah turns in raising these things before God. Verses seven and eight.

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It's just it's just pure complaint. He's raising a complaint before God and even charging

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God wrongly with wrong, like you've deceived me. You told me to do one thing and I got a different result, as it was wrong of Jeremiah to expect a different result.

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He should not be surprised at the fact that he was indeed persecuted and derided because of this word that he brought against an evil people.

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And that's going to come to Jeremiah as well. It's going to come to his awareness. This is not

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God doing wrong to me. These people are wicked and they don't love God's word.

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But Jeremiah does. So so it's like a sudden self -awareness.

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OK, am I raising a complaint against God's word like this? People are protesting against God's word.

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Well, may that never be. That should not be the attitude of my heart. Am I going to say I'm not going to speak any more in his name?

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Well, what is Jeremiah goes on to say? What does he go on to say? There is in my heart, as it were, a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with holding it in and I cannot.

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So to avoid persecution, I could say I'm not going to speak anymore, I'm not going to say anything else that God tells me to say.

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But Jeremiah, in fact, does have such a love for God and his word.

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That he cannot help but speak it, I cannot say that that has been my attitude, my entire pastoral ministry, but I can say for a great deal of it, especially in the very beginning when

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I when I felt called to do this. It's like if I'm not speaking the word of God, if I'm not teaching people

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God's word, then who is doing it? And I saw just how horrible the teaching was in the very community in which

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I lived. And there needed to be good, solid Bible teachers, and God called me to that, put me in the place to do that.

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And I've had that passion for God's word even long before I became a pastor, somebody who would preach the word of God to the people of God.

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I can't imagine myself doing anything else because it is in me a burning fire shut up in my bones and I would be weary with holding it in.

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And so Jeremiah goes on to say, verse 10, for I hear many whispering, terror is on every side, denounce him, let us denounce him, say all my close friends watching for my fall.

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Perhaps he will be deceived. Then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him.

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So Jeremiah is recognizing here that if I'm raising these complaints against God, I'm making myself vulnerable.

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These people are looking for a weakness and an opportunity to come against me so they can justify themselves in the evil that they are doing.

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But the Lord is with me as a dread warrior,

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Jeremiah says, therefore, my persecutors will stumble. They will not overcome me.

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They will be greatly shamed for they will not succeed. Their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten.

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And again, sudden change of heart on Jeremiah's part. He's raising these complaints, but realizing if I come against God's word,

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I would perish right along with them. If I am for God, he is for me.

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I speak his word, I keep his word, then he's with me. And he becomes an enemy to my enemies, they will perish, but Jeremiah will flourish.

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That's something we all need to remember. Even if you do not see in your lifetime, justice of God come against those who would do wrong against you.

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Yet, you know, in the very end, God's justice will prevail ultimately, and we trust in the

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Lord for that. Verse 12, O Lord of hosts who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you have

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I committed my cause. So why did God allow this persecution to come against Jeremiah?

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The answer is here, because God tests the righteous. Jeremiah looked like he wasn't doing real well with that test for a few words, but quickly came to himself and understood that God is the one in the right, and only with God can a person survive his enemies.

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Verse 13, sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for he has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers.

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And next here is we have these last few words, verses 14 to 18, Jeremiah comes again to an awareness of the danger he faces as a herald of God's righteousness.

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Verse 14, cursed be the day on which I was born, the day when my mother bore me let it not be blessed.

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Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, a son is born to you, making him very glad.

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Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon, because he did not kill me in the womb, so my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever great.

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Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame?

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Now, the source of Jeremiah's angst here is not just that he would be persecuted for speaking the word of God, but that he would witness the destruction of his own people because they would not turn back from their sin back to the

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Lord. They would continue to pursue these wicked things. And he was about to witness the hand of a wicked people come against Israel and put them to destruction, but all by the hand of God, because Israel disobeyed

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God and went after false gods and had sinned greatly. So, my friends, we need to remember and we need to recognize.

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That our God is a God of vengeance and he will punish his enemies and those who did wickedly in the earth, those who went after the passions of the flesh, those who lived and behaved as the world behaves, those who speak words like the world speaks, those who have eyes that desire the things that the world desires.

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God is going to bring judgment against these things. So may we turn from this to Jesus Christ, understanding what the apostle

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Paul said in Colossians chapter three, seek the things that are above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.

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And in seeking those things, we turn from sin. We live in righteousness. We desire to please our father in heaven who will deliver us, who is with us.

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The Lord is with me. As a dread warrior, our persecutors will stumble, but we will endure and live forever with God and glory.

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Praise God for that. May the word of God stir in your heart and be as a fire in you.

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As you desire to see his will done on the earth as in heaven. Heavenly father, we thank you for what we have read.

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And I pray that again, that that would be the case. Just as what Jeremiah said here, there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones and I am weary with holding it in and I cannot, we can't keep ourselves from praising you.

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We must praise, we must pray. We must seek God. We must love your word.

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We must share it with others, whether that's encouraging someone who needs the encouragement, rebuking someone who needs the rebuke or sharing the gospel with somebody who needs to hear the gospel.

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The good news that Jesus died for our sins and rose again from the dead. And by faith in him, we will not perish, but have everlasting life.

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Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray in his name. Amen. This has been when we understand the text of pastor

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Gabriel Hughes for all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more. Visit our website at www .utt

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.com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email when we understand the text at gmail .com

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and let your friends know about our ministry. Join us again tomorrow as we grow together in the study of God's word.