Our Lord Puts His Words In Your Mouth

THE LORD PUTS HIS WORD IN YOUR MOUTH

January 29, 2006 - Epiphany 4 - JEREMIAH 1:4-10

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Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Today you are special. You may not feel special, but everyday you as believers are very special. In fact is if you look at what Scripture tells us, you come to realize you are very, very special. You are not just another person, another number in the millions of the humanity, of mankind. Instead the Lord reminds us today, as he speaks to Jeremiah and as he speaks to us, that we are special because he knows us. God knows each one of us individually. God knows each one of us by name. God knows each one of us and knows our needs in this life and the next. We know longer sit in darkness, but we sit in the light of the knowledge of salvation. No longer are we destined to spend eternity in hell, but the Lord has chosen us to be with Him someday in heaven. Isaiah chapter 43 says: "But now, this is what the LORD says--he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you, I have summoned you by name; you are mine" (Isaiah 43:1). The Lord calls each one of us by name and we are his. That makes us special. Today, that special choice of God is upon each and every believer whether here today or anywhere else in the world. For each believer, each Christian, there is something more special when the Lord says, "I put my word in your mouth." It is true that we sometimes speak the words of men, but the Lord also says, "I put my word in your mouth." Our text reveals to us that

THE LORD PUTS HIS WORD IN YOUR MOUTH. We also learn: I. The Lord knows those he calls and,

II. The Lord sends out his believers.

I. THE LORD KNOWS THOSE HE CALLS

The Prophet Jeremiah is one of the Old Testament prophets whom God called to direct God’s people. They needed these prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah to get them back on the right track, because during this time in their history, they had chosen for themselves kings to be their leaders. The sad part was that most of their kings were not very good leaders. Their kings would follow false gods and worship them. Because they did that, the people would follow the kings. So the prophets came to remind them that there is only one true God--the Lord God. It was not an easy task. Yet, we see in this call the Prophet Jeremiah had the Lord on His side.

Verse 4 says: "The word of the LORD came to me, saying." Thirty times in Jeremiah that same phrase is used--"The Word of the Lord came to me or the Lord said." The Lord spoke all the time to remind Jeremiah and the people and reminding us that these are not the words of men. The words that Jeremiah was going to speak were not the words of men, but the Word of God himself. Now the comfort and assurance that Jeremiah receives: "The word of the LORD came to me, saying, ’Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born, I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.’" The Lord knew Jeremiah even before Jeremiah was aware of his own being. "Before you was formed in the womb," God says, I knew you." God says at that moment of conception the miracle of life began, and the Lord knew Jeremiah. The Lord knew that this very beginning of life was going to be the leader and his prophet. The Lord says, "I knew you then at the moment and miracle when life began."

Then God goes on to say, "Before you were born, I set you apart." So Jeremiah was set apart. He happened to be a son of a priest. Yet, that didn’t make him special; but what made him special was that the Lord set him apart. The Lord set him apart from the nations, first of all, so that he would be a believer. That is why Jeremiah was special. Believers are special in the eyes of God. Then God says, "Now, I will appoint you as a prophet to the nations." His calling was not just to be a believer, but he was to be a prophet, a proclaimer of God’s message, whether it would be judgment or a promise. That is quite a responsibility, isn’t it? The Lord comes and says, "I knew you and I appointed you, made you special, and now you are going to be a prophet."