Do Not Say, "I Am A Youth!”

I would like to begin our message with a short account concerning a great evangelist in recent church history. “Dwight L. Moody was once asked, ‘How many converts did you have last night?’ Moody answered, ‘Two and one half.’ The other person said, ‘Two adults and a child?’ ‘No,’ Moody replied. ‘Two children and one adult.’ A child converted is an entire life converted.”(1) Moody had a deep respect for youth. He realized that they are the future, and that they will carry throughout their entire lives what they learn while they are still young.

In his book Generation Next, George Barna says, “About three-quarters of all people who have consciously, intentionally and personally chosen to embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior did so before their eighteenth birthday.”(2) People are best reached for Jesus in their younger years, and they are best taught Christian morals and values while young, as youth are not yet completely set in their ways, and as they are still moldable and shapeable.

If we try to talk about Christ to an adult who is already set in his or her ways, that person is more likely to reject what we have to say. If the adult individual does accept the message of salvation in Christ, he or she is still likely to regress to their former habits. But if we reach a young person with the gospel they will more readily accept it, and be more apt to hang on to their beliefs throughout the rest of their life.

Ecclesiastes 12:1 expresses this viewpoint when it says, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’.” It is very important that we come to know the Lord in our youth, before we encounter the difficulties of life. If you are a young person, you might have already endured some hard things; but the truth is that life only gets harder, not easier; but if you will take the Lord with you, then you can endure what lies ahead. If you don’t then you will likely say, “I have no pleasure in life.”

“A man came rushing up to a ferry [boat], breathless after running at an [extremely fast] pace, but he got there just as the gateman shut the door in his face. A bystander remarked, ‘You didn’t run fast enough.’ The disappointed man answered, ‘I ran fast enough, but I didn’t start on time.’ [The point is this]: To try to accomplish the most for God in a lifetime, you must start early – ‘in the days of your youth’.”(3)

We must not only come to know the Lord in our youth, but we must begin to serve Him in our young age as well. This morning we are going to look at a “youth” who was called to serve the Lord. This youth was named Jeremiah. As we look at Jeremiah, let’s keep our eyes open to how he responded to God’s call in his life. I believe we will come to realize that he was like any other youth, and that he was no different than young people today; but the Lord was able to use him in an amazing way!

Ah, Lord God! (vv. 4-8)

4 Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations.” 6 Then said I: “Ah, Lord God! Behold, I cannot speak, for I am a youth.” 7 But the Lord said to me: “Do not say, ‘I am a youth,’ for you shall go to all to whom I send you, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. 8Do not be afraid of their faces, for I am with you to deliver you,” says the Lord.

Look at verse 5. Commentator Warren Wiersbe says, “Each of the phrases in Jeremiah 1:5 is important. To begin with, God knew Jeremiah, which refers to His sovereign election of His servant. God chose Jeremiah even before he was conceived or formed in his mother’s womb. Then God formed Jeremiah and gave him the genetic structure He wanted him to possess . . . God [also] sanctified Jeremiah even before he was born. This means Jeremiah was set apart by the Lord and for the Lord even before he knew the Lord in a personal way . . . The Lord then ordained Jeremiah to be His prophet to the nations. God’s concern from the beginning is that all nations of the earth know His salvation . . . As God’s children; we are chosen and set apart by Him and for Him. This truth ought to give us great courage as we confront an evil world and seek to serve the Lord.”(4)