Jeremiah 20 | The Fire Within | 10.20.1996

[music] chapter 20 and we're going to be looking at really the heart of a of a prophet. We're going to be seeing the heart of Jeremiah opened up to us and it's one of the most revealing pictures of a minister's heart of a prophet's heart that you find in scripture. This is probably one of the more powerful portions of scripture that you're going to be um reading for some time. To be honest with you, some of the commentators that I use saying that this is probably the most powerful portion of scripture in the Old Testament, especially as it relates to uh the heart of a prophet because you see Jeremiah speaking forth his heart in this passage as he speaks to the Lord. As we conclude this chapter, especially with verses 14- 18, those of you who have read through the book of Job or perhaps who were with me in our study are going to recognize uh some of this because it echoes something that Job said in chapter 3 of his book. But let's begin reading together here in chapter 20 of the book of Jeremiah. I'll read the first six verses and we'll get into our study beginning at verse one. Jeremiah chapter 20. Now, Pashure, the son of Immer, the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Then Pashure struck Jeremiah the prophet, and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. And it happened on the next day that Passure brought Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then Jeremiah said to him, "The Lord has not called your name Pashure, but Morisib, for thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon, and slay them with the sword. Moreover, I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, and all its precious things. All the treasures of the kings of Judah, I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon. And you, Pashur, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon and there you shall die and be buried there. You and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies. Now remember what was taking place in chapter 19 in verses 14 and 15. Jeremiah had returned from Tophed and had gone into the court of the temple and there he began to prophesy impending judgment, the impending judgment of God on the city and the surrounding towns. And he told us why this was going to take place in verse 15. Because he said, "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. Behold, I will bring on this city and on all her towns all the doom that I have pronounced against it." Because he says, they've stiffened their necks that they might not hear my words. In other words, they have obstinately refused to repent. They have obstinately refused to hear what the Lord was saying to them. Even though Jeremiah had been speaking to them and speaking in a serious tone and had been speaking to them concerning the judgment that was coming, they continually hardened their hearts and stiffened their necks to the things that the Lord was saying. It is very possible to hear the Lord's word. It's possible to listen to it as it's spoken to us and to reject it. It's possible to hear the things that are being said with the ear, but not with a heart. And as these people were listening, they had already made a determination that even as they heard what he was saying, they would reject it. And you know how they had said that they would slander him and refuse to obey anyway. And so the Lord had spoken to Jeremiah and Jeremiah went there to speak to them and said to them, "This is what the Lord's going to do. He's going to bring doom upon you. And the reason he's going to is because you hear what he says and you refuse to do it." Now there's a man as we are introduced in chapter 20. There's a man by the name of Pasure and he's listening to the word of Jeremiah as Jeremiah is speaking. Now he's referred to here in verse one as being the chief governor in the house of the Lord. The chief governor was an officer of the temple. He was the chief deputy and his his responsibility was to maintain order in the temple and he was the one who basically commanded what was called the temple police and his duty was to make sure that no maniacs came into the temple and created any problems. You can see this later on in the book of Jeremiah if you'd like to turn to chapter 29 for just a moment. You can see a description of the duties of the of the man who was holding that particular office. Jeremiah 29:es 25 and 26. Give to us the duties of this man. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. You sent letters in your own name to all the people in Jerusalem to Zephaniah son of Mahasia the priest and to all the other priests. You said to Zephaniah, "The Lord has appointed you priest in place of Jehoeda to be in charge of the house of the Lord." And he goes on to say, you should put any madman who acts like a prophet into the stocks and neck irons. And so back in chapter 20, the responsibilities of Pashure who was holding the office at that time in chapter 20 was to take any man or any person who came into the temple area and began to prophesy. It was his responsibility to make sure that they didn't get away with that. And so that's exactly what he was doing there. But he thought that Jeremiah was a false prophet. And so he's treating him as one. In verse two, it says, "Pastor struck Jeremiah the prophet, and he put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord." And uh as he was listening to what Jeremiah was saying, his heart was obstinate and was refusing what God said also. And out of uh out of his hardness of heart, his stiffness of neck, hearing what the Lord was saying through this prophet, he simply treated him like a madman. And so he took him and he put him in what are called the stocks. Now the word stocks there in the original language actually has two two connotations. And you might find this interesting because both of those connotations speak about a very uncomfortable position to be put in. One, the stocks could be what we what we perceive today to be stocks where your feet, your hands are fastened and you're bent over in a very uncomfortable position. And we've heard of the stocks before. But the word also speaks of a prison house. And the prison house that would be referred to here wouldn't be something like a 10x10 jail cell so much as a cramped space. And Jeremiah was taken and placed into either a prison house which would be a cramped space maybe just to give you an idea maybe 5t by 3 feet so that he was bent over or he was placed in the stocks and placed in the most uncomfortable position that was possible for him to be placed into and he was left there overnight. So when we read this and we see that struck Jeremiah the prophet what it means is with an open palm he came and smashed him. He hit him. And when he hit him, he took him and placed him in some form of custody. Either by putting him in the stocks where his feet and his hands and his body was twisted and he was held that way for a day, or he placed him in some very small cell where he still had to suffer for all that time, bent over, and it was a form really of torture. Now, as I was studying this passage, I began to think about something. I began to think, but wait a minute, Lord, you had given him a promise. You had said you were going to be with him. As you remember in chapter 1 when the Lord was speaking to him all the way when the Lord was calling him in chapter 1:es 18 and 19, remember what the Lord had said to Jeremiah in chapter 1 18 and 19. The Lord had said to him, "Today I have made you a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall to stand against the whole land against the kings of Judah, its officials, its priests, and the people of the land." The Lord had said to him when he called them, "They will fight against you, but will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord." Now, if the Lord was saying that to me, I don't think that I'd be thinking about being in the stocks overnight. I'd be thinking a little bit differently. Chapter 15 gives us the same kind of idea. Verses 20 and 21. In chapter 15, the Lord was speaking to him again. He said, "I will make you a wall to this people, a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but will not overcome you." He said,"For I am with you to rescue and save you, declares the Lord. I will save you from the hands of the wicked and redeem you from the grasp of the cruel." Well, you would think that that meant he wouldn't be ever put in a position of any pain or persecution. And yet, what have we seen throughout his ministry if not pain and persecution? Very interesting as I was reading that because the Lord speaks to him and says to him, "I'll be with you." But that doesn't mean he's not going to suffer as the Lord is there with him. Now in verses three of four, three and four in chapter 20, the scripture says the next day after enduring this discomfort, in other words, for a day he's released and he begins by changing Pure's name. It says it happened on the next day that Pure brought Jeremiah out of the STS and Jeremiah said to him, the Lord has not called your name Pasure, but Morisib. Now, pasture, the name pasture has an origin that is pretty much clouded. But one of the commentators I used said that the name pasture root is more than likely the word freedom. But magorisib is a word that is repeated a variety of times in the book of Jeremiah. This particular word is used in chapter 6. It's used here in chapter 20:3 and also again in verse 10. It's used in chapter 46 at verse 5 and chapter 49 29. And that word we know we know what it means because Moris of Eve means fear. It means terror on every side. Literally you are going to be changed from freedom to fear. Your name Pashure is being changed right now. No longer will you be called freedom, but you will know what terror is on every side. That's what he's saying. He's pronouncing on him a judgment of the Lord. You have known freedom, but soon you will know fear on every side is what he's saying to him. Because in verse four, he says, "Thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a terror to yourself and to all your friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and your eyes shall see it. I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall carry them captive to Babylon and slay them with the sword." You are going to know terror on every side. Right now, you're in control. Right now, you're on top of the world. But you're going to know defeat. You're going to know terror because you aren't God. Oh, you can bluster and you can bully. You can throw Jeremiah in the stocks overnight, but you will not have the final victory. I believe that the Lord very often allows people in their pride to get to a position of great humiliation sometimes. Recently I was watching different interviews on television. For example, there's a young man who is a ferocious fighter by the name of Mike Tyson. [clears throat] And every time I heard the interview, he was basically prophesying destruction. He was going to destroy a certain man by the name of Holofield. But Holyfield was saying, "Nope." He's saying, "I'm not afraid." And he was saying things like, "Mike hasn't been hit like I'm going to hit him." Now, I found something out. Some of you probably already know. I found out that years ago when Mike Tyson was coming up and was a very feared young fighter, he had gone into a gym and had been basically beating up people in the gym. But there was a young fighter in there by the name of Holiffield. And somebody had said to Holyfield, "Boy, this young guy is pretty tough. Nobody wants to fight him." And Holyfield said, "I'll go fight him." and Holyfield went over there and and beat up Mike Tyson pretty good. And as I was listening to Holyfield's trainer, he said, "I don't think Mike ever forgot that beating." He said, "I know that Holyfield never did." And so when they went into the ring, there was a decided sense that victory was already won on the part of Holoffield. And I find it interesting, you know, not to use this great big violent thing here as great wonderful spiritual illustration, but let's face it, it's the only one I can think of right now. I think that the Lord has a way of humbling people. I believe he really has a way of humbling people. The pasture is a man who had the power to put Jeremiah in the stocks. Probably thought he had ultimate power. Probably thought himself to be causing terror to Jeremiah because he had basically his life in his hands. Jeremiah says, "No, your name is pasture, but your name shall be fear on every side." You may think, in other words, right now that you have authority and power and control in my life. But the fact of the matter is is you don't. There's somebody greater than you and he's given me a word for you. You need to change your name because instead of freedom, you're going to know fear. And that's exactly what takes place. And you'll see that. And in the prophecy, he says in verse 5, I will deliver all the wealth of this city, all its produce, all its precious things, all the treasures of the kings of Judah. I will give into the hand of their enemies, who will plunder them, seize them, and carry them to Babylon. And you pasture, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity. You shall go to Babylon. There you shall die and be buried there. you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied lies. So, you're going to go to Babylon and you're going to die there. Not only are you going to die there, your friends and your family will be exiled there and they too will die. It reminds me of something Jesus says in Matthew 18:6. In that particular portion of scripture, Jesus is speaking concerning those who believe in him and how they should be treated. And in Matthew 18:6, Jesus said this. Jesus said, "But whoever shall offend one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for him if a millstone were hanged about his neck and he and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea." If you cause one who who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ to stumble, it would be better for you to have a 500B rock tied around your neck and that you were dropped in a place where you'd never be found again. And so the Lord has a way of taking care of those who are his own. And so Jeremiah speaks here to Passure and says, "Though you may have authority right now, and though you have exercised it, and you've exercised it wrongly, you're a false prophet and I'm a true prophet." Jeremiah is saying and seeing that you have exercised your authority. You placed me in stocks. You placed me overnight there thinking that you have some kind of power in my life. You don't have any because the Lord ultimately will judge you and you'll be taken from this land that was given to the nation as a as a promise and an inheritance and you shall die in captivity in Babylon. Not just you alone but your family and your friends, every one of you. Now he moves on into verse 7. in in verses 7-10. This is probably one of the most powerful portions of scripture that you find. These verses here have become very very dear to me in a very personal way. I have to be very careful that I don't personalize them too much. But I need to share with you that these verses have become very very important to me in my ministry life. And I can understand to a very very very small degree some of the things that that Jeremiah is saying here. And let's look at these verses now in some detail. verses 7-10 Jeremiah chapter 20 Jeremiah says, "Oh Lord, you induced me and I was persuaded. You were stronger than I and have prevailed. I am in derision daily. Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out. I shouted violence and plunder because the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily." Then I said, 'I will not make mention of him, nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire, shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back, and I could not, for I heard many mocking, fear on every side. Report, they say, and we will report it. All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, "Perhaps he can be induced. Then we will prevail against him and we will take our revenge, not him." This is the heart of a prophet. This is a very personal glimpse into the heart of a man of God. I want you to notice something. I want you to notice how he begins when he says in verse 7, "Oh Lord, you induced me and I was persuaded." That word induced is a very strong word in the original language. King James, I believe, uses the word deceived. The word speaks of seduction. It could literally be said, "You seduced me." The word is used in the Old Testament in reference to a virgin being seduced by a man. So it's a very very strong word when he says, "Oh Lord, you induced me. Oh Lord, you deceived me. Oh Lord, you seduced me." We need to look at that for just a moment. Because Jeremiah is saying this literally. He is saying, "You have spoken to me words that I could not resist and with the persuasiveness that only you could speak with. You have caused me to leave everything that was important to me just to cling to you. You have overcome me. You have prevailed against me. You have induced me to follow you. When he's speaking this, this is not blasphemy. It's an agony. It's an agony of soul because he's speaking of the divine impulse that was imprinted on him by God. He's basically saying, "You called me, but originally I really didn't want to go, but you've over persuaded me." Initially, do you remember when he was called? How he said to the Lord, "I'm too young. I'm too inexperienced. I'm too afraid." And yet, what did the Lord do? The Lord convinced him anyway. said, "I've known you and I've called you and I've set you up to be a prophet to the nations. I'll be with you and I'll protect you." Is what the Lord said to him. And you see, when he's resisting the Lord in the initial call, he's saying, "I'm too young. I'm but a youth. I don't know how to speak. I haven't lived long enough to have experienced things that give to me wisdom. And in my society, which values the experience of an aged man, I'm a young man. They won't listen to me. They're not going to hear me when I speak. But the Lord said, "No, I'll be with you." And so that's what he's complaining about right now. He's saying to the Lord, you gave me promises. You promised to protect me and I believed you, but look what's taken place in my life. I've been abandoned to shame. Look what's taken place in my life. My own family doesn't want anything to do with me. Look what's taken place in my life. The city I grew up in has rejected me. People are deriding me. They're mocking me. The message that I speak, the things that I say when I prophesied against uh Pashure and I called him a fear on every side, that's what they're saying to me now. They're mocking me and holding me in derision. You've prevailed. Now, when he says to the Lord, "You have prevailed," it reveals to us something. It it reveals to us that the message of Jeremiah wasn't a message he created. It was something from God himself. Had Jeremiah been a false prophet, he'd have been saying things that people wanted to hear like the other false prophets were doing at that time. But he wasn't a false prophet. And thus, he was given a message by God, a vision from God to do the things of God. And as he went forth, he went as a man who was called by God, a man who who had been prevailed upon by the Lord, a man who had resisted initially and said, "I don't want to do this. I I I'm afraid to do this. I'm I'm afraid to be left out there on my own. What if you abandoned me out there in the middle of of nowhere and and and I I can't do this. But the Lord had given him a a holy calling and it was one that he couldn't escape. His intense love for God and his broken heart for the people was mocked. That's what takes place, I think, today. One of the reasons I think that many believers just hold their faith to themselves and don't share is because they're simply not willing to pay the price that comes for doing something like that. A lot of believers would just as soon stand on the sidelines and point to somebody else who's doing the work and cheer for them instead of getting into the battle themselves. A lot of parents are afraid to raise their children to be warriors for the king because they don't want their children to be bothered at school. And so they don't train them up in the ways of the Lord. They think that perhaps when the children are older that somehow mystically, miraculously, the child will become a warrior. And it doesn't happen that way normally. Normally our faith is imparted to our children and our example trains them in the way that they're to exercise it. And if we give to our children a sheltered life, if we encourage our children and say to them, "Oh, you need to be very popular. So remain silent, don't cause problems in class and not while we have a tendency of sheltering our children to the point where our children are afraid to even speak about the Lord." I remember one of my children when he was in elementary schools, my Joseph. Joseph is very dear to me. Very, very dear to me. Joseph is one of these little guys who would go into the bookstore and he wanted to buy Christian witness wear. And this one day he bought a or I bought really a t-shirt. He had a picture of a a monkey and the words our father and he wore that to school and I thought, "Oh boy, he wears these t-shirts, you know, and somebody sometime is going to say something to hurt this sensitive little boy's heart." And I used to bite my tongue because Joseph had several of these little t-shirts. And then he he went to school this one day with this ape face and said our father on it. And then he came home and Joseph's one of these very quiet types. He doesn't really tell you, but you know something's happening. And he came home and and I saw him and he was real quiet. So I approached him and I said, "How you doing, buddy?" "Okay." I said, "What happened today?" The kids made fun of me. I said, "Really?" "And why?" Well, because they were pointing at the picture on my chest and they said, "That may be your father, but it sure isn't ours." I said, "Oh, really?" So, it worked. And he goes, "What worked?" I said, "Well, your witness wear worked today, didn't it?" "What do you mean, Dad?" I said, "What are you trying to communicate with that t-shirt, son? I'm trying to say that God is our father and monkeys aren't." I said, "And when the kids said that monkeyy's your father, what were they saying? Well, they Hey, you're right, Dad. You're right. But I have to tell you something. I'm a father. I love my children. I don't want them hurt. I want them to get up, go to school, and come home safe. I don't want anybody bothering them on campus. I don't want anybody giving them problems for their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And yet, it's inevitable, isn't it? It most certainly is. It's price. It's a price that we pay. It's a price that we're all going to pay if we're going to be honest to the Lord. If we're going to be honorable. It's a price that very few people are willing to pay. When we're looking at Jeremiah right now, we're seeing the heart of a man of God. His complaint is open. Notice with me, he's not saying this to people. He's not praying this necessarily in front of people. This is something that's recorded for us. It's almost like glimpsing into his diary. He's saying, "Lord, you have seduced me. You induced me. You have prevailed upon me because you are stronger than I. You promised to be with me. You said you would be there with me. I just spent a night in the stocks." Not only that, people have been rejecting me every step of the way. I go out and I speak and I cry out and I say, "Violence and plunder. What a message. I don't like saying that." You know, there have been many times in my ministry that I'll read the passage and I'll look through the passage and I go over that passage over and over again and I say, "Oh Lord, oh Lord, help me find grace in this because frankly, this is a judgment passage. This is a judgment passage. Father, if I go out and preach judgment all the time, am I going to hurt the church?" But you want to know something? You just have to teach what God gives to you to teach. because it's a message that God has given to the people. And yet I understand to a degree what it means to go out there and say violence and plunder. I would just assume say, "Hey, every day is a good day. Just have a wonderful happy eternity. Praise the Lord. Amen." But you want to know something? Sometimes the word of the Lord isn't saying that. Sometimes the word of the Lord is saying violence and plunder. Sometimes the word of the Lord is saying get right. You need to get right and you need to get right today. And a lot of people will listen and then they deride the message. No, they don't necessarily walk up after the services. No, they just leave, go someplace else, and complain to other people. All they ever get is one exhortation after another. Where's the grace? Where's the love? Where's the freedom? Where's the conviction? Where's the heart to live for Jesus Christ? Where's the hunger to share with your friends? Where's the awareness that your friends are going to hell? Where's the agony of heart over that one simple fact? The reality of the fact that if your mama doesn't know Jesus, she's going to perish. Where's the brokenness of spirit? You see, the Lord when he speaks this message, he speaks to us and he says to us, "This is what is necessary." Jeremiah saying, "I don't really want to do that. I I spoke, he said, I cried out. I shouted because he said, the word of the Lord was made to me a reproach and a derision daily. Notice what happens in verse 9. I said, I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name. He had gotten to the point that he considered the easiest remedy to simply become silent and abandon that message. But it wasn't possible because he was a called man and he must honor the calling of the Lord. He says, "His word was in my heart like a burning fire shut up in my bones. I was weary of holding it back." Have you ever been in the position where you knew you were going to have to talk and you didn't want to? How many times you've been on the job just eating your sandwich, drinking some orange juice, maybe you were reading your Bible, there's a conversation off on the side there and people are talking about God in church and they're saying things that aren't really true and you're listening and you're not ashamed of yourself, but you are listening. And as you're listening, you're thinking, "That's wrong. That's not the way church is. That's not the way Jesus is." And all of a sudden, something starts burning inside of you. You get holy heartburn. Have you ever done that? And you're saying, "Oh Lord, it isn't there somebody else that you could bring right now? Isn't there a single person, another one, Lord, in Jesus' name? I I I I claim this in the Lord's name. Bring somebody else. I'm tired of this. I don't want to say something. Lord, I just want to eat my sandwich. I just want to enjoy this time with you. But you hear this conversation going there and there's a divine impulse. You know, God is speaking to you. You know, you have to say something. I have had that happen so many times. And I have fought and I have fought and I have fought to keep my mouth shut. My mom can tell you she has seen my body actually vibrating. She's been there when she has act and I'm serious. My body actually begins to shake and I and I and this is exactly what I do. I'll just kind of sit there like this because and I bite my I bite my lip. I don't want to talk. I just don't want in my life. The desire to see people saved so intense that it burns within me. It really does. I'm very guarded in telling you this because I don't want to pretend to be some Superman or something. Today's my anniversary. I'm here because I want to talk about Jesus. I go on vacation. I come back into the office because I want to be around people who love the Lord. There's a burning in your heart for the Lord. Jeremiah had it. Jeremiah said, "Oh, I didn't want to talk. I'm tired of talking because every time I say something, somebody rips me for it, and I'm tired of it. Every time I say something, it's misunderstood or rejected, and I'm tired of it, and I just want to be left alone. I just want to be one of the people. Just for me, it would be like saying, "Father, I just want to go to church and get fed. I just want to step outside and visit with people and just enjoy your presence like everybody else." But you don't allow me to do that. I go to other churches and I go to church there on vacation and I actually will call the pastor of that church and I'll say, "Hey, let's have some lunch." In reality, I'm saying, "Invite me to preach. I want to take your pulpit. Give me your Sunday." Sometimes they do because there's a burning in your heart to talk about Jesus, how good he is. When I got saved 26 years ago, and not everybody understands this, some of you probably think, "Oh, how corny, but when I got saved 26 years ago, my life was so radically touched by the Lord that I could never imagine doing anything other than worshiping him and loving him and talking about you. Have I been faithful all these years? No. Have I failed? Oh, many, many times horribly. Has that love and passion ever left me? There have been times when the flame has flickered very dimly. There have been times when I've said, "I could do something else." Just before this church began, I quit the ministry. I was asked to resign my position, and I quit the ministry. And I thought I'll move to St. Louis Abyspo, drive a bread truck. I have a friend of mine who's the manager of French bread bakery and I could have gotten a job driving. I'd have still been delivering the bread. It just wouldn't have been the bread of life. But my wife Marie prevailed and she said, "You know that God hasn't called us to San Lucabispo. You know that. And if we leave, you're running from the call." Do I understand what Jeremiah is saying? No. I've never been in the stocks. I've never been treated like he has. But is it possible to get to the point where you say, 'Lord, I feel like I got a bad end of the deal. Absolutely. Have you ever felt that? If you've been walking with the Lord more than a day, I'm sure. I'm sure you have. You prevailed on me. I went through a severe depression as a Christian. Lasted for some time. I cried that out to him. I've left everything. I don't have a friend anymore. Nobody wants to be around me because I became a Christian. And all of my buddies that I used to hang with, either they got saved or they rejected me a long time ago. And I can remember crying out to the Lord and I can remember saying, "Lord, you owe me. I teach three Bible studies a week. I'm going to college. I'm trying to be trained up to be a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ. I've left everything. Never had anything, but I left the little I had. And I cried out and I said, you owe me, Lord. You prevailed against me. So I said for a while, I will not speak about him, only when I have to. But his word burned like a fire in my heart. And I had to speak. I couldn't hold it in. I had to share. There's only one answer and that's Jesus. There's only one savior and that's Jesus. There's only one person who loves you, really loves you, and that's Jesus. No religion, no philosophy, no man centered quest for truth. Just Jesus and his word. It's a passion. Some people say, "Well, you're passionate because you're a Mexican." No, I'm passionate. They do. You don't think so? They do. That's why you're cho. And that's the reason why you are so passionate because Latinos are that way. That's true in a lot of ways. But I know a lot of men who are not passionate. My father is very composed, very quiet. When he shares his faith in the Lord, it's very gentle. No, there's something different. It's not that you have a culture. It's that you have a savior that you have a a message that burns in your heart that has to come out. It has to be spoken. And in my case, it will always be with passion because the things that matter the most are the things you speak most passionately about. And for me, it's the gospel. And I understand to a degree, and some of you do, too. At one point, Jeremiah is saying, "I've made a choice that I won't speak anymore of him. Tired of the response I'm getting, the rejection, misunderstanding, the pain I'm going through. I'm tired of being a laughingstock. I'm tired of people cutting me with their tongues and breaking my heart and mocking me for my love for them. Can you imagine that? Jeremiah loved these people. And in response to the love that he had for them, all they did was reject him. You've had that. You tell your mama. You tell your dad, your husband, your wife, your children. You tell them there's a way. You tell them, "I have found the Lord." Or rather, "He found me. Changed my life." My older brother says, "Another fad. I've seen David all his life, and I know him as well as anybody can know him. Another fad. You give him some time, it'll wear off." 26 years ago he was saying that it never wore off. It got worse. 26 years it's gotten worse. It got so bad that my brother got saved. He doesn't say that anymore. Now he just tells me how grateful he is that the Lord got me into this fat. Jeremiah, the message was from God. wasn't from him. God prevailed on him and God gave him me a message he didn't want to give. He gave him a message of judgment and he cried it out. He shouted it out. He said it. He was faithful to it. The result derision mockery. He says in lamenta lamentations 3:14 he says, "I was a derision to all my people and their song all the day." The psalmist in Psalm 35:15-16, "When I stumbled, they gathered in glee. attackers gathered against me when I was unaware. They slandered me without ceasing. Like the ungodly, they maliciously mocked. They nashed their teeth at me. That happens to this day to gospel preachers. There are people who are just dying to see me fall. There are people who are waiting to see RE fall. There are people who are waiting to see Chuck Smith fall. There are people who are waiting to see Greg Lori fall. They're waiting. Well, see, Greg Lori goes out and does these harvest crusades and all. You know, these preachers, they're all making big bucks off these stupid sheep. They're just looking for us to fall. I guarantee you. And I know that. But the Lord holds us up and he keeps us in his mighty grasp and he strengthens us as we pursue him. We didn't invent the message. We simply gave it. So don't shoot the messenger. Just look to the one who gave the message. So people were mocking him. He was laughed at. The psalmist in Psalm 69:9 said this, "Zeal of your house has eaten me up. The reproaches of those who reproached you are fallen on me. I'm taking what is being directed towards you upon myself. Well, he had made a choice at one point. I will not make mention of him nor speak anymore in his name. But his word was in my heart like a burning fire shot up in my bones and I was weary of holding it back and I could not. In verse 10, for I heard many mocking, fear on every side. Report, they said, and we will report it. All my acquaintances watched for my stumbling, saying, perhaps he can be induced. Then we will prevail against him. We'll take our revenge on him. And so the people were waiting to see him to see him fall. When they said report in verse 10, they say, "And we will report it." Denounce is the word that they're using there. Denounce him. We will turn him in. But notice what happens in verse 11. In spite of all of this agony that he's going through and the things that he's hearing, he says in verse 11, "The Lord is with me as a mighty awesome one. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail. They will be greatly ashamed for they will not prosper. Their everlasting confusion will never be forgotten. But oh Lord of hosts, you who test the righteous and see the mind and heart, let me see your vengeance on them. For I have pleaded my cause before you. The Lord is with me. He says, he's a mighty awesome one. Therefore, my persecutors will stumble. Though Jeremiah is being rejected by men, God has taken his case and God protects him. God is portrayed in this verse here as a mighty warrior king and he's saying, "You are the one who is protecting me." The psalmist in Psalm 24:7 says this. The psalmist said, "Lift up your heads, oh you gates, be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. In his time of crisis, Jeremiah is finding comfort in the Lord. And he finds strength in the faithfulness of God. But I want you to notice when he says in verse 12, "Oh Lord of hosts, you who test the righteous and see the mind and heart, let me see your vengeance on them, for I have pleaded my cause before you." Jeremiah is aware of the Lord and how he tests those who are righteous. He has a way of of checking to see if what quality their lives really are. And that's what tests are, aren't they? That's what trials are, aren't they? They give to us an opportunity to simply open up and show what's inside. Tests have a tendency of just revealing the character of the person and the faith of that person. When you go through trials, don't be surprised. The Lord has a way of testing us and refining and purifying us. And that's just part of being a Christian. There is no guarantee. There is no protection against this. This is something God does. He assays us is what it is. A metallurgist has a tendency of doing that. They check the quality of the metal. They want to see the impurities in it. They want to see if how it is, what quality of metal that is. And that's what the Lord does to our hearts. So he says, "Test me and see what's inside of me because it's my desire, Lord, to be just used by you." The psalmist in Psalm 26:es 2 and 3 said, "Examine me, oh Lord, and prove me. Try my reigns in my heart, for your loving kindness is before my eyes, and I have walked in your truth. In Psalm 139:23, search me, oh God, and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts. Ransack me completely and look in every area. And those things that are not pleasing to you, Father, in Jesus name, remove them so that our lives might have a quality that brings glory to you. He says, "Let me see your vengeance on them, for I have pleaded my cause before you." In other words, acquit me in my innocence. They have been mocking and they have been ridiculing and indeed they have maligned me. But Lord, you are the one who prevails. And so you have a way of bringing me through. Notice verse 13. Sing to the Lord. Praise the Lord. For he has delivered the life of the poor from the hand of evildoers. There seems to be a glimpse of hope for just a moment. Anybody who's ever gone through a spiritual trial knows that it's possible to flip-flop. On the one hand, you might be crying out to the Lord saying, "God, I just as soon just go home with you right now. I just want out of this. I can't take it anymore. Lord, one more day of agony with this man or one more day of agony with this woman or these children. Father, you know, I ain't going to take it anymore. Just take me home. I can't take it." or the bill collectors or whatever it was. You know, every day you seem to have this pressure and then you might just cry out to the Lord. You finally get to the point where you say, "I really can't take it anymore." And then yet, what do you do? I've done this. I'll say, "But you know, Lord, I know you're in control. And you know what, Lord? I I know your word says that we're going to get through this. I know your word says that. And and I just want right now to bless you and praise you for it. But I was sharing just this last week, cast your care on him for he cares for you, right? 1 Peter chapter 5. And I was sharing about the anxiety of the heart and how things can sometimes come up in your life and and and you can you know you know what to do. You know what God says to do, but it's so difficult to do it. and I was sharing on Sunday. Then on Monday, my son Dave goes to a Bible study and he's he's he's he's just learning. He's just he just got his license, so he's just learning and experiencing driving in fog and things. Now, I don't know about you, how many of you like fog? I don't like fog. Now, I don't mind fog when I'm walking in it, but I don't like to drive in it. and my little David drove to Calvary Chapel, Golden Springs. And so it it started getting foggy and you know what I did? He was supposed to be home at a certain time. I forget what time, 10:30, 10:45, something like that. I got in the car and I went looking for him and I prayed for him and I had my son Joseph with me and as I'm driving and I'm looking for my son because I thought, you know what, I'll just find him and I'll just pull in front of him and just lead him on home. You know, like the daddy leads the sheep. That's what I was going to do. And I get emotional. I actually do. Not all the time. I get more emotional in this pulpit than I do most any other place. It's true. But I I get a little emotional and there I'm driving and I'm praying out loud. My son Joseph sitting next to me and I got to this place where it was pitch black and even my lights didn't seem to be of any effect. And immediately I think, gosh, if my little David were here, I wonder if he's afraid. He got home 15 minutes before I did. [laughter] I got lost. Then he had to lead me home. [clears throat] But I'm talking to Joey, my son Joseph, and I said, "Son," I said, "I just preached on casting your cares on him, for he cares for you. I know what I'm supposed to do right now, but this is a father's love, and a father loves his son." I get home and my son finds out I went looking for him. Immediately, dad, I, you know, he's got this, I don't know where he gets this passion from. [laughter] Must be because he's Mexican. I know what I'm supposed to do. The will is with me. The ability to perform that which I will. Sometimes it's not. Just like you. Yes, you cast your care on him. And yes, I cast my care on him and I knew the Lord would take care of my son. that even if David were not to have made it home, he'd have gone home. And I know that, too. He's going home one day. Whether it's my house or whether it's his real house, he's going home one day. And I know that. And I know that about my family, and I know that about my friends, and I know that about my parents. But I have to learn, just like everybody else, to cast my care on him because he cares for me. He cares for you. And there are times that you can be going through some pretty heavy things and then in the midst of it, you begin to praise the Lord and say, "Lord, but I know you're in charge. I know you're going to take care of it. Oh Lord, I just give you praise." Now Jeremiah does that, but notice what happens in verse 14 after saying, "Oh, praise the Lord." Cursed be the day in which I was born. He's almost a nut, huh? You, oh, [laughter] I don't think I could hang with this guy too long. I wouldn't know if he's hot or cold. Cursed be the day in which I was born. Let the day not be blessed in which my mother bore me. Let the man be cursed who brought news to my father, saying, "A male child has been born to you, making him very glad." And let that man be like the cities which the Lord overthrew and did not relent. Let him hear the cry in the morning and the shouting at noon because he did not kill me from the womb that my mother might have been my grave and her womb always enlarged with me. Why did I come forth from the womb to see labor and sorrow that my day should be consumed with shame? Now wait a minute. You just said sing to the Lord. Praise the Lord. What happened to you? Let me give you something in ministry that you really need to hear. It is very possible one for you to go through that. Don't think yourself crazy. Don't think yourself crazy. I have been there. I have been there. On the one hand, I'm saying, Father, I'm I just don't think I can take this anymore. But, Father, you have said in your word, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And I rejoice in that. And yet, Lord, I wish I was never born. That's what he's doing. >> Just kidding, Lauren. He said, "Shut up, son. That's just his way." [laughter] Usually it's Marie. But Have you ever been there? Have you ever been there? You're in love with the Lord. You're hurt. You complain, you rejoice, you complain. What does the Lord do? He takes you out. He takes you out. Let me close with a thought. There's nothing I can complain to the Lord about that is weighing me down that is too heavy for him to carry. He can handle my honesty. He can handle my complaint. He can handle my hurt. It's just simply the task of me handing that to him. He's able. He's able. He's able. He can handle anything. He can handle anything. He can change your life and he can change the circumstances around it. He's able. I don't know if anybody here right now is going through anything heavy to the point where you're complaining to the Lord, but let me give you an encouragement. Cast your cares on him because he does care for you. He loves you more. He loves you more. He loves you more than you can imagine. And he wants you to hand him whatever it is that's hurting you. And he wants you to do that tonight. Don't take it home with you. Leave it with you.