God: 'Jerry, you've got a dirty job to do'

Jeremiah 1: [6] Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.

"You see Jeremiah kind of shrink back but that's not real unusual," explains Richard Jordan. "Moses did that: 'I can't talk, Lord.' Isaiah says, 'Woe is me for I am undone, a man of unclean lips.' Paul said, 'Unto me least of all saints is this grace given.' That's where Jeremiah starts. God often uses people who start out this way. In fact, here's a verse you ought to circle:

Jeremiah 45:5: [5] And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.

"Paul said it this way: 'Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.'

Jeremiah 1: [7] But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
[9] Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
[10] See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.

"That's quite a commission. 'Don't be afraid; I've put my words in your mouth. Just go speak whatever I command you; don't be afraid of their faces.' God says the same thing to Ezekiel. Have you ever had people look at you harsh?

Verses 17-18: [17] Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.

[18] For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.

"When he says 'gird up,' you ever see the TV show 'Dirty Jobs'? In John 13, when Jesus is going to wash their feet, He girded Himself.

"He's saying, 'Jeremiah, you got a dirty job to do.' His dirty job was he was going to deliver a message that said to Israel, 'Judgment's coming and there's no way to stop it. It's on the way.'

"Now, He told him in verse 19: [19] And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

"God said, 'I'm going to take care of you, Jerry. Just go do my work.'

"If you come over to chapter 7:16, how would you like to have these instructions? [16] Therefore pray not thou for this people, neither lift up cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me: for I will not hear thee.

"That's a great prayer promise, isn't it? You know, when people go to the Bible to get prayer promises, why doesn't anybody ever go get that one?

"You ever read that verse in chapter 29, where people love to quote: [11] For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

"People love to quote that. I heard a guy on Moody just the other day say, 'Oh, I love that verse.'

"You ever read the end of Jeremiah where God says, 'I know my thoughts toward you; I'm going to destroy you, clean your plow and wipe you out.'

"Why don't people quote that one? People quote that verse in Samuel that says, 'God forbid that I should sin against God by not praying for you.' Here's one in Jeremiah.

"You see, you can't just go to the Bible and pull a verse out just because you like it. That's the 'Judas hung himself' kind of thing.

"Pull that verse out, go hang yourself. You say, 'Well, I didn't like that one.' Look up another one: 'Go do likewise.' Don't like that one. Get the one that says, 'What thou doest, do with haste.'

"You see, if you don't rightly divide the Scripture and put things where they fit . . . How would you like to go out and tell people, 'God said don't pray for you. The judgment's coming and you can't stop it.'

Jeremiah 7: [27] Therefore thou shalt speak all these words unto them; but they will not hearken to thee: thou shalt also call unto them; but they will not answer thee.

[28] But thou shalt say unto them, This is a nation that obeyeth not the voice of the LORD their God, nor receiveth correction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
[29] Cut off thine hair, O Jerusalem, and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on high places; for the LORD hath rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
[30] For the children of Judah have done evil in my sight, saith the LORD: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to pollute it.

"God: 'Jerry, don't pray for them but keep preaching.' You get that? That's Jeremiah's life and he does that for four decades. That's how he got to where chapter 20 is. He didn't just walk into chapter 20 because he went down to Wal-Mart and couldn't buy something because his credit card was overdrawn.

"He got to chapter 20 because he's preaching a message that nobody wanted to hear. If you look at Jeremiah 19: [14] Then came Jeremiah from Tophet, whither the LORD had sent him to prophesy; and he stood in the court of the LORD's house; and said to all the people,

[15] Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring upon this city and upon all her towns all the evil that I have pronounced against it, because they have hardened their necks, that they might not hear my words.

Jeremiah 20:2: [2] Then Pashur smote 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.

"He didn't just put him in jail, he did what Paul and Silas had done to them in Acts 16. You put someone in stocks to hold them, restrain them, but also to torture them. This is the first real taste of physical violence that Jeremiah has experienced.

"He's been preaching and people have been mocking him, laughing at him, throwing eggs at him, calling him names, but now you have an official from the government take him and throw him in jail and torture him. Things have escalated. By the way, Jeremiah ends up in jail five times."

(to be continued. new post tomorrow)