Jeremiah.... Never, Never Give Up
(The Kingdom Falls)
The Story Chapter 17
Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. - Gal 6:9
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. – 1 Corinthians 15:58
QUESTION – have you ever felt like giving up? Have you ever felt like quitting, like throwing up your hands and tossing in the towel and saying; “I can’t do this anymore, I’m done, I quit – it’s over…?
You’re working ON; a project, a relationship, a ministry – you’re working on a life… AND – you’ve had just about all that you can take. I MEAN - you’re making little if any progress, you’re spinning your wheels, you’re not getting anywhere… You’re tired, worn out, weary and frustrated…
NOW - I don’t know about you BUT – I’ve been there and done that.. a time or 2 or 3 or…
Good morning Dad it’s 4 am and I am at such a bad place. I need you. Doubt, fear, insecurity…etc are racing to consume me. I feel like I am nothing right now… Dad if I were you I would forget me. I am such a failure… fear, doubt and blowing it, are just how I do!
I am tired of rejection
I am tired of waiting
I am afraid for my family
If I should leave the ministry now, just let me know
I don’t like things right now! At all!!!
When will this end.
HELP!
Because the Sovereign LORD helps me, I will not be dismayed. Therefore, I have set my face like stone, determined to do His will. And I know I will triumph… See the Sovereign LORD is on my side… Trust in the LORD and rely on your God. – Is 50:7-10
Thanks DAD I so need your perspective on this thing… Yes one day will be the day, that I will rise from these ashes and become who I am supposed to be. And it could actually be today… If I make that choice.
OKAY...
THIS MORNING – as we continue our message series, ‘The Story’ – we are going meet an Old Testament guy, named Jeremiah… (The prophet not the bullfrog)… A guy who never gave up.
NOW - Jeremiah has been one of my mentors for years in my faith journey… I MEAN – there has been a bunch of times over the years (when life was really) THAT - I would grab; my pen, my bible, my journal…and crack open words written by this prophet of God over 2,500 years ago.
AND – each time God has used Jeremiah to speak straight to my heart. Though I have never met him, I really love the guy and I can’t wait to invite Him over, throw some steaks on the grill, grab some sweet tea and chill out with him in heaven…
NOW - my goal this morning is two-fold… FIRST & FOREMOST - to lift up our awesome and mighty God… AND SECOND – it is my hope that something I share today (a word, a thought, a phrase… whatever) will help someone out there who feels like quitting.
OKAY… let’s do this.
BUT… let’s pray first.
Prayer
NOW JEREMIAH – comes onto the scene in the middle of Chapter 17 of The Story. Let’s do a quick recap of where we are in the Story
The nation of Israel—remember?—split into two kingdoms: Northern Kingdom (being Israel), Southern Kingdom (called Judah). And over a two-hundred-year period history, you had God sending nine different prophets. We’ve looked at Elijah, Isaiah, and now this week Jeremiah.
But there were nine different prophets that He sent to warn the people, “Look, judgment is coming, and if you don’t do some things differently, if you don’t turn around, if you don’t go a different direction, you’re going to experience some really severe consequences because you have rejected Me to follow these false gods, these other idols.”
For two hundred years God warns His people, “It’s coming! It’s coming! Judgment is coming!” Finally it comes.
AND - as we saw last week the Assyrian army comes into the Northern Kingdom and they just destroy the Northern Kingdom. One hundred and eighty-five thousand Assyrian soldiers knock out the Northern Kingdom. The Southern Kingdom is next.
But the Assyrians come to attack the Southern Kingdom, but the Southern Kingdom has this X-factor. It’s King Hezekiah that we studied last week, who was a man of prayer, a man of purity, a man of humility. And the Bible says that during his lifetime God withheld His judgment from His people. Instead of judging His people and bringing this discipline upon them, He brings salvation because of Hezekiah, and He rescues the people from the Assyrian army.
But then we keep reading. And after Hezekiah dies his son Manasseh takes the throne, and Manasseh was an evil king who did not follow in his father’s footsteps. Manasseh rejected his spiritual heritage. So he comes in and he starts putting up these false gods of Baal again. You remember them from when we studied Elijah. And Manasseh went so far as to sacrifice his son to an idol by burning his son alive.
So Manasseh is an evil king and God has had enough of this. He’s had enough of it. So God allows Nebuchadnezzar, King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army, to come in and they attack Israel. There are three different sieges that we read about upon Israel—the Southern Kingdom and the City of Jerusalem.
And then in 586 BC the Babylonians come in, and they take Jerusalem and the temple and they destroy it. Total and complete devastation.
Jeremiah began his prophetic ministry about 40 years before the Fall of Jerusalem... UNDERSTAND – it was during this time – when God’s people are doing really bad, living totally against God that Jeremiah is born and had his ministry… (and by the way, his dad was a priest so Jeremiah was a PK – he grew in a town 3 miles north of Jerusalem.).
AND – needless to say, it was a tough ministry and Jeremiah had many reasons to quit – many reasons to give up and throw in the towel… LET ME – quickly share a few with you…
I. Jeremiah Had Many Reasons For Giving Up
A) The first reason would be…The People
NOW – you would hope that they Southern Kingdom (Judah) learned from watching what happened to her sister kingdom in the north, that it’s not a good idea to turn away from God and worship idols, BUT – they didn’t… CHECKOUT – what God says to Judah;
Her sister, the kingdom of Judah, saw what happened, but she wasn't worried in the least, and I watched her become unfaithful like her sister. 9The kingdom of Judah wasn't sorry for being a prostitute, and she didn't care that she had made both herself and the land unclean by worshiping idols of stone and wood. 10And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. 11Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend. – Jeremiah 3:8-10 (CEV)
NO – these guys didn’t learn a thing… IN FACT – they kept on ‘two-timing’ Him to the max. They worshipped false idols and committed immorality on every hill in Jerusalem, they even sacrifice their own sons and daughters to the flames of their pagan idols…
And worst of all, the people of Judah pretended to come back to me. Even the people of Israel were honest enough not to pretend. Jeremiah 3:10,11
The people of Judah pretended to come back to God. They came to the services, sang the songs, lifted their hands – they even filled in Jeremiah’s sermon outlines… BUT – it wasn’t real.
9Do you really think you can steal, murder, commit adultery, lie, and worship Baal and all those other new gods of yours, 10and then come here and stand before me in my Temple and chant, "We are safe!"--only to go right back to all those evils again? 11Do you think this Temple, which honors my name, is a den of thieves? I see all the evil going on there, says the LORD. Jer 7:9-11 (NLT)
People made Jeremiah want to give up.
ANOTHER REASON – for wanting to throw in the towel was…
B) The Mission God Called Him To
YEAH - Jeremiah had a tough mission – to preach a message that wasn’t fun – and that no one wanted to hear it.
QUESTION – do you know what the message was? THAT - God was angry at the nation and that their only hope was to surrender to their enemy the Babylonians. IF - they did things would go reasonably well…
BUT – if they refused to surrender things would be terrible… They city & temple would be burned to the ground… and many people would die from the sword and from famine. IT – was a 40+ year sermon series called, ‘Captivity and Death.’
AND – as you might have guessed, this message wore Jeremiah out… Listen to these words from Jeremiah 23:9
My heart is broken… and I tremble uncontrollably. I stagger like a drunkard, like someone overcome by wine, because of the holy words the LORD has spoken against them. – Jer 23:9
YEAH – being the prophet of (doom & gloom) AND (death and destruction) was enough to make Jeremiah want to quit.
NEXT – comes…
C) The Rejection
Jeremiah preached his heart out for 40+ ears and no one ever listened (he made no impact, he changed no lives, … CHECKOUT – this passage…. Jeremiah is talking to God’s people;
This is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. But you said, 'We will not walk in it…We will not listen.' - Jer 6:16,17
CIRCLE - 'We will not walk in it… 'We will not listen.'
AND – because of that refusal they would never find rest for their souls.
AND – not only did the people reject him… BUT – God rejected his prayers… YOU SEE – Jeremiah loved his people, he didn’t want to see them suffer.. SO – he constantly prayed for them… AND – more than once God has to tell Jeremiah…
Pray no more for these people, Jeremiah. Do not weep or pray for them, for I will not listen to them when they cry out to me in distress. - Jeremiah 11:14
UNDERSTAND - rejection is enough to make even the strongest person want to quit… AND – then there was the loneliness…
D) The Loneliness
LISTEN - if ever a man needed a sympathetic spouse. This prophet surely did. YET – God ordered Jeremiah not to marry (16:2). YOU SEE – his lifestyle must match his message. AND FOR – Jeremiah to marry and have children would be inconsistent with his announcement that Jerusalem would soon be destroyed by the Babylonians…
AND – for this very same reason Jeremiah was not even allowed to attend parties and social gathering because there was nothing to celebrate…
OKAY – do you see the picture? FOR – 40+ years Jeremiah was all alone preaching a message no one wanted to hear to a people who would not listen…
E) The Hardships
AND IF – all that wasn’t bad enough (let’s throw some abuse and hardships into this boiling pot of discouragement) …
• Men from his hometown plotted against him… (11:9ff)
• He was put on trail for his life (26:11)
• His first draft of God’s word was burned by the king (36:23)
• He was flogged and put in public stocks for people to mock (20:1)
• He was attacked by the false prophets who spoke another message (28:1-17)
• He was arrested and accused of treason (37:11)
• He was dragged from his prison cell lowered by ropes into an empty well in the prison yard… there was no water in it – but there was a thick layer of mud and Jeremiah sunk down deep into it (38:6)
I don’t know about you… BUT – I think Jeremiah had a lot of reasons for; quitting, giving up, for throwing in the towel… Jeremiah is often referred to as the weeping prophet…
LISTEN – to these words from a tired and worn out man of God…
Oh, that my head were a spring of water and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night - Jeremiah 9:1
YES – Jeremiah had many reasons for quitting…
People, the mission, God called him to, rejection, loneliness, hardships…
AND…
Sometimes Jeremiah Wanted To Quit
NOT – all the time…
BUT - there were moments when he had enough. Moments – when he cried out to God…in great frustration and said ‘I can’t take it anymore…’ Have you ever had any of those moments?
Jeremiah did… (let me share just a few…)
“LORD, you know what’s happening to me.
Please step in and help me…
Please give me time; don’t let me die young.
It’s for your sake that I am suffering.
16 When I discovered your words, I devoured them.
They are my joy and my heart’s delight,
for I bear your name,
O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies.
17 I never joined the people in their merry feasts.
I sat alone because your hand was on me.
I was filled with indignation at their sins.
18 Why then does my suffering continue?
Why is my wound so incurable?
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
like a spring that has gone dry.”
- Jeremiah 15:15-18
WOE… That’s some serious stuff… Can you feel his pain? Jeremiah is hurting big time. AND – you have what I’ve loved most about Jeremiah, is that he puts it all out on the table (the good, bad and ugly). HE – doesn’t come to God pretending…
“GOD – you led me down this road, I’m always alone, and you were never there for me… you deceived me…
Your help seems as uncertain as a seasonal brook,
like a spring that has gone dry.
ONE MORE…. Moment from chapter 20;
I curse the day I was born!
May no one celebrate the day of my birth.
15 I curse the messenger who told my father,
“Good news—you have a son!”
16 Let him be destroyed like the cities of old
that the LORD overthrew without mercy.
Terrify him all day long with battle shouts,
17 because he did not kill me at birth.
Oh, that I had died in my mother’s womb,
that her body had been my grave!
18 Why was I ever born?
My entire life has been filled
with trouble, sorrow, and shame.
- Jeremiah 20:14-19
LISTEN – those are not the words of a man all pumped up and ready to charge a hill or land on the beach… RATHER – they are words of a man ready to cash in his chips and go home…. I MEAN – the towel is in his hand… his arm is drawn back and he’s ready to throw it…
Rejection, hostility, pain, suffering loneliness and an unpopular message for 40+ years… Jeremiah had so many reasons to give up &
quit…
YET – Jeremiah hangs tough for all of those years… SURE – he had made moments when he felt like quitting… BUT – he never did…
II. Why Jeremiah Didn’t Quit…
AS - I thought about my man Jeremiah and how he hung in there. I asked myself over and over again… How did he do it? How was Jeremiah able to hang in there and not give up…? What kept him going?
AND – I think I found part of the answer…. AND IN – our time remaining I want to talk about 3 keys, 3 things that you & I must have if we are going to keep going when we feel like quitting…
A) Jeremiah Had A Purpose To Live For…
In the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren writes…
“Nothing matters more than knowing God’s purposes for your life, and nothing can compensate for not knowing them – not success, wealth, fame or pleasure. Without a purpose, life is motion without meaning, activity without direction and events without reason. Without a purpose life is trivial, petty and pointless…
We were made to have meaning. This is why people try dubious methods, like astrology or psychics, to discover it. When Life has meaning you can bear almost anything; without meaning, nothing is bearable.
Without meaning? nothing is bearable.
UNDERSTAND – Jeremiah’s life had meaning, he had a purpose to live for… AND – we see that purpose in the very first chapter of his book;
The LORD gave me a message. He said, 5"I knew you before I formed you in your mother's womb. Before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as my spokesman to the world." 6"O Sovereign LORD," I said, "I can't speak for you! I'm too young!" 7"Don't say that," the LORD replied, "for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you. - Jeremiah 1:4-7
Jeremiah knew his purpose – to speak the words of God….
AND – that purpose helped him to keep going even when he felt like quitting… CHECKOUT – these words…
I am always taking about the message I received from the Lord, but this only brings me insults. The people make fun of me all day long. Sometimes I say to myself, ‘I will forget the Lord. I will not speak anymore in his name.’ But then his message becomes like a burning fire inside me, deep within my bones. I get tired of holding it inside of me and finally, I cannot hold it in. – Jer 20:7-9 (NCV)
YEAH – knowing that God had a purpose for his life… burned like a fire in Jeremiah’s bones… and empowered him to not give up.
NEXT …
B) Jeremiah Had A Hope To Anchor To…
LET – me give 2 quick stories that illustrate the power of hope…
A number of years ago researchers performed an experiment to see the effect hope has on those undergoing hardship. Two sets of laboratory rats were placed in separate tubs of water. The researchers left one set in the water and found that within an hour they had all drowned. The other rats were periodically lifted out of the water and then returned.
When that happened, the second set of rats swam for over 24 hours. Why? Not because they were given a rest, but because they suddenly had hope! YOU SEE - those animals believed that if they could stay afloat just a little longer, someone would reach down and rescue them.
UNDERSTAND - Jeremiah had hope because like our little ‘just keep swimming’ rodent friends he was confident that someone (that God) would one day come and rescue him…
LISTEN - not only did Jeremiah speak the following words from God, he believed them… and it gave him an unsinkable hope.
For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future… I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, - Jeremiah 29:11,14
Jeremiah knew that battles, war, death, famine, sin & destruction were NOT God’s ultimate plan for his people…
LISTEN – even in the midst of their sin, idolatry and rebellion… God’s plan for His people was still to prosper them (not harm them) and to give them a hope and a future.
NOW – I want you to circle 3 powerful words that are in Jeremiah 29:14.
I will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you," declares the LORD, - Jeremiah 29:11,14
CIRCLE - bring you back…
God does not punish us or allow bad things to happen to us in order to PAY us back, but to BRING us back!
AND LISTEN – because Jeremiah had this hope. A hope anchored to the plan and purposes of God. BECAUSE – Jeremiah knew that God’s desire was not to pay them back but to win them back…
He was able to write these words as he left Jerusalem… with the city and the temple in rubble burning in his rearview mirror.
The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words. I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.
YET I still dare to hope when I remember this: The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning. I say to myself, “The LORD is my inheritance; therefore, I will hope in him!” The LORD is good to those who depend on him, to those who search for him.
So it is good to wait quietly for salvation from the LORD. - Lamentations 3:19-26
As all of us know a devastating tornado rocked Oklahoma this past week… AND – in the midst of the devastation we have seen some incredible testimonies of faith.
C) Jeremiah Had A ‘Mighty’ God To Trust In…
I just want to read 1 passages here…
"O Sovereign LORD! You have made the heavens and earth by your great power. Nothing is too hard for you!... O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours. - Jer 32:17-20
God, everything you ever wanted to do – you did (you made the heavens & earth…you delivered your people… AND - everything you ever said would happen – has or will happened… Nothing is too hard for you! I put my trust ‘completely’ in you and you alone.. FOR – you are trustworthily..”
• A purpose to live for….
• A hope to anchor to
• A mighty God to trust in
KEPT – Jeremiah going when he wanted to quit.
MAPLE GROVE
We have those same 3 things…
We do
WE HAVE A…
Purpose to live for….
“For everything, absolutely everything, above and below, visible and invisible, rank after rank after rank of angels--everything got started in him and finds its purpose in him.” Col 1:16 (Msg)
For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. – Ephesians 2:10
We have a purpose to live for… a purpose so much bigger than our little story
• To know God
• To bring Him pleasure
• To be a part of His family
• To become like Christ and reflect him to this world
• To DO that thing God has uniquely shaped you for
• To bring more & more people to the love of the Father
• To help re-direct the eternity of men & woman..
AND – we have a;
Hope to anchor to….
We have run to God for safety. Now his promises should greatly encourage us to take hold of the hope that is right in front of us. 19This hope is like a firm and steady anchor for our souls. In fact, hope reaches behind the curtain and into the most holy place. 20Jesus has gone there ahead of us, and he is our high priest forever,
- Heb 6:18-20
LISTEN - Jesus Christ has gone a head of us… He is preparing a place for us… One day he will come and rescue us and take us home – so “keep swimming…”
SOON – the heavens will be ripped open and the new heaven (our perfect eternal home) will come down from the sky.
LISTEN… - can you hear the sounds of that distant hammer in the hands of the Master Carpenter, preparing a place for you right now, a place;
• Where he will wipe every tear from our eyes
• With no pain or sorrow
• Where will see Him as He really is
And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making all things new!" And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." - Rev 21:5
AND – we have;
A mighty God to trust in…
Paul in was is in prison he was there for preaching the gospel… AND - he knew that at any moment the guards would come and lead him down a dark narrow corridor to his death at the edge of an axe… So he pens some final words to his good friend Timothy… Paul is letting Timothy know that he has no regrets… he says;
I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. - 2 Tim 1:12
AND – he wrote in… First Thessalonians
The One who called you is completely dependable. If he said it, he'll do it! - 1 Thessalonians 5:24
“If he said it” “he’ll do it”
a purpose to live for,
a hope to anchor to
and a mighty God to trust in…
ARE - the keys to you & I… hanging in there and not giving up…
BUT – how and where do we actually get those things…?
Through a relationship with Christ
By seeking God as Jeremiah said in Jeremiah 29:13,14 with all our heart…
You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the LORD…" - Jeremiah 29:13,14
By looking to God not other things for life…
My people have done two evils: They have turned from me, the spring of living water. And they have dug their own wells, which are broken wells that cannot hold water. - Jeremiah 2:13 (NCV)
AND LISTEN – digging those wells… NOT ONLY – leaves us still thirsty but it leaves our heart divided and we can’t find God….
MAN – I can just see Jeremiah with tears in his eyes expressing the heart of God to His sons and daughters. “Please, just come on home. Just turn back. Just repent of these things. Have nothing to do with those cisterns. Find what you’re looking for in Me.”
And if you just read through the Old Testament, you know, again and again people turn back to their idols. They turn away from God, and they turn back to their cisterns. And finally in the New Testament Jesus comes on the scene, and here is how He introduces Himself. He introduces Himself as “the Living Water.”
That that is His name: He is Living Water. He is the Well. He is the Source. He is the Spring. He introduces Himself that way in John 4 to a woman who had been married five times and is living with a man who is not her husband.
She had dug six different cisterns, hoping with each one to find some satisfaction to quench her thirst in the relationship, in the arms of a man, and each one disappointed. Each one sprung a leak. Each one the water emptied out. And she started to dig another one and then one day she’s at the well and she meets Jesus.
And Jesus says to her in John 4:13,
“Anyone who drinks this water (the water of this world) will soon become thirsty again, but those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again, because it becomes a fresh bubbling spring in them giving them eternal life.”
He says, “I’m it. I am the living water. I am right here. My arms are open.”
In the last chapter of his box ‘gods @ war’ Kyle Idleman talks about meeting a lady who reminded him of the woman at the well..
I was visiting with a lady who shared with me how difficult life had been for her in recent years. She had gone through a divorce after being married 17 years. Because of the divorce she lost all the money that she had and had to declare bankruptcy.
She had always put a lot of emphasis, she said, on staying in good shape, on being healthy. She had run a marathon a couple years back, and now she has a health problem that leaves her in a lot of pain because of arthritis.
So much loss. But as she talked I was struck by her tone. She did not sound like a woman who was defeated and in despair. She went on to tell me how through all of this had discovered a life in Jesus she never knew before. She had spent countless hours digging cisterns.
She kept digging at the cistern of money, the cistern of health and fitness, hoping for a little satisfaction. None of them held water.
And then, right when she felt she might die of thirst, she turned around to find right next to her a spring of living water. Here’s how she explained it.
“I didn’t realize Jesus was what I really wanted until Jesus was all I had.”
LOOK UP
What Jesus says to the woman in John 4 he says to you and me…
The water I give… will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life. – John 4:14
The key to never giving up…
is seeking with all of our hearts,
is holding on to the one we can never loose.
