Feel like Quitting?
Jeremiah 20:7-18
Introduction: Have you ever felt like quitting? Ready to just throw in the towel? You seek to live for the Lord and to serve Him but it seems like everything just goes the opposite of the way you hoped. You’ve become discouraged and wish you could just run away. You’re not alone. In fact many great people of the Bible experienced lives fraught with discouragement. Jeremiah was one such person. Jeremiah was perplexed. He had labored diligently before God’s people with no apparent success. The wicked seemed to prosper; those that lived unfaithfully were at ease; with their mouths they spoke of God, but He was far from their hearts. He became so discouraged that in Jeremiah 9:2 he says, “Oh that I had in the wilderness a lodging place for travelers; that I might leave my people, and go from them!” Later in chapter twenty, Jeremiah tells us that there were times he was ready to just quit. He said he told himself at times, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak anymore in His name.” (verse 9) By looking at Jeremiah’s life we see not only the causes of discouragement but also how we can have victory over discouragement
I. The Causes of Discouragement
A. Discouragement can take many forms and be caused by many things.
B. The Brick Wall of Dull Minds.
1. Sometime ago in the "Peanuts" comic strip as Lucy, Linus, and Charlie Brown looked up to the sky, Lucy said, "You can see lots of things in the clouds." Then turning to her companions, she asked "What do you see, Linus?" "Well," he said, "those clouds up there look to me like the map of Belize, the little nation in the Caribbean." Glancing in a different direction, "That cloud looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor. And that cloud formation over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Steven; why I can see Saul of Tarsus standing to one side." "Uh huh," gasped Lucy, "That's good." "And, what do you see Charlie Brown?" Clearing his throat, "Oh, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I've changed my mind." – copied
2. Jeremiah 5:21 “Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not.”
3. There are many who have not exercised their spiritual lives to point of being able to see spiritual truths that God wants them to see.
4. Jeremiah 10:14 “Everyone is dull-hearted, without knowledge”
5. I’ve heard people say, “I don’t get it – they just don’t get it!” You become discouraged when you try to show someone something but they totally misunderstand what your saying.
6. "A sharp tongue and a dull mind are usually found in the same head." - Dr. Stan Toler, Pastor's Little Instruction Book.
C. The Barrier of Closed Minds.
1. There are those who neither try to nor want to understand. They want to have things their way.
2. Jeremiah 5:4-6 “Then I said, “But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the Lord. They don’t understand God’s laws. So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the Lord and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.”
3. 2 Timothy 4:3-4 “For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.”
4. Those who attend church are so often preoccupied with preconceived thinking that they listen to the Gospel with closed minds. They are not willing to be corrected by the Lord. They have made up their mind, and they know the truths they want to know and how they want to govern their lives and actions.
D. The Storm of Opposed Minds.
1. Jeremiah 20:1-2 “Now Pashhur the son of Immer, the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the LORD, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. 2 Then Pashhur 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.”
2. “Any kind of opposition is discouraging but when opposition seems to triumph, real conviction and genuine dedication are needed to stand against it.”
3. A Baptist minister asked a Methodist minister, "How many of your members are ACTIVE in the church?" "All of them," said the Methodist minister. The Baptist minister was impressed. "That's an outstanding achievement!" he said. "I wouldn't be too sure of that," said the Methodist minister. "Half of them actively SUPPORT me, and the other half actively OPPOSES me!" – copied
4. It is sad to say that more often than opposition from the world we face opposition from within the family of God. Vance Havner once said, “The temple of truth has never suffered so from woodpeckers on the outside as from the termites on the inside.”
5. 1 Timothy 6:20 “O Timothy! Guard what was committed to your trust, avoiding the profane and idle babblings and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge.”
E. The Disappearance of Undedicated Minds
1. When interest is high and commitment is made we relish with delight. But when interest fades and commitments are broken we become disheartened and discouraged.
2. Jeremiah 15:17 “I did not sit in the assembly of the mockers, nor did I rejoice; I sat alone because of Your hand.”
3. In one survey, pastors and other church leaders were asked what they felt was the most discouraging aspect of the ministry. The number one answer was disappointment with other Christians. Their lack of commitment, misplaced priorities, self-centered attitudes, and refusal to serve within the church community were very discouraging to those who answered my questions.
4. 2 Timothy 4:9-11 “Be diligent to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world, and has departed for Thessalonica-Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is with me...”
II. The Cure for Discouragement
A. Don’t Listen to Negative People, Trust God
1. Jeremiah 20:10 “I have heard the many rumors (gossip) about me. They call me “The Man Who Lives in Terror.” They threaten, “If you say anything, we will report it.” Even my old friends are watching me, waiting for a fatal slip…”
2. When others say negative things to us, God has a positive reply for us...
They say: "It's impossible" but God says: All things are possible. (Luke 18:27)
They say: "There’s no way you can do it" but God says: You can do all things through Christ. (Phil. 4:13)
They say: "You’re not able" but God says: I am able (II Corinthians 9:8)
They say: "It's not worth it" but God says: It will be worth it (Roman 8:28)
They say: "How will you ever manage?" but God says: I will supply all your needs (Philippians 4:19)
They say: “Aren’t you afraid?” but God says: I have not given you a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7)
They say: “You’re not smart enough” but God says: I give you wisdom (I Corinthians 1:30) -adapted
3. Someone in a congregation pointed out several faults of a pastor and his preaching. Instead of retaliating, or trying to defend himself, he looked at the woman and said, "If what you say is true, would you mind praying for me?"
4. Don't write or say anything that you won't sign your name to. If you receive a negative, anonymous note, ignore it! If they're not willing to sign their name, it's not worth reading don't take heed to it. Like the pastor who received an anonymous note with nothing but the word "FOOL!" written on it. The next morning he got in church and said, "I've gotten many notes without signatures before but this is the first time I got one where someone forgot to write the note and just signed his name!" - copied
B. Hide God’s Word deep within your Heart
1. Jeremiah 20:9 “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.”
2. Psalm 119:11 “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!”
3. Scripture encourages us to walk in the confidence that God wants the best for His children.
4. Psalm 23:6 (NLT) “Surely your goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever.”
5. The Bible encourages Christians to walk confidently in Him every day of life, with our hope fixed on spending eternity with Him. We can be absolutely 100% confident be that the Lord will never ever let us down.
C. Remember the Presence of the Lord
1. Jeremiah 20:11 “But 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.”
2. A child of God may get lonely, but a child of God is never alone.
3. Hebrews 13:5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
4. There are disasters to be faced by the one who is in real fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ. God has never promised to keep us immune from trouble. He says, "I will be with him in trouble," which is a very different thing. – Oswald Chambers (1874-1917)
D. Praise God at All Times
1. Jeremiah 20:13 “Sing to the Lord! Praise the Lord! For He has delivered the life of the poor From the hand of evildoers.”
2. Corrie Ten Boon went through the Holocaust and you know all the suffering that she and her sister Betsy went through. Betsy finally died in that prison camp. She wrote this is what praise will do. It did it for me and it will do it for you:
Praise will sweeten and hallow all that it touches
Praise will kindle a new faith
Praise will fan the sparks of a smoldering love into a flame of love for God
Praise will start the joy bell ringing in your soul
Praise will pierce through the darkness
Praise will dynamite away long-standing obstruction
Praise will strike terror in the heart of Satan. Amen.
E. Don’t quit doing what God called you to do.
1. Jeremiah 20:9 “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.”
2. Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”
3. You may have a can of WD-40 around the house. Do you know what the WD stands for? It stands for “water displacement.” Do you know what the 40 refers to? That’s how many times they tried to develop an effective formula. They failed 39 times but succeeded on the 40th try. The message is: don’t give up. Don’t quit when you are tired. Don’t quit when you fail. Don’t quit when you meet obstacles. - Preaching Today Citation: Ted De Hass, Bedford, Iowa.
4. 1 Corinthians 9:24 “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it.
5. Sometimes we stop short of God’s best. We become discouraged because it doesn’t seem like anything is happening, so we quit. Nothing seems to improve, so you slack off. Don’t! You need to keep doing what God told you to do.
