At this time, shall we turn in our
Bibles to the book of Jeremiah.
About 60 years after Isaiah died, God called
Jeremiah to what I feel must have been
the hardest task any minister has ever been
called upon to perform for the Lord.
Jeremiah had to oversee the death of the
nation.
He had to watch it as it was
in its final death throes, as it went
into convulsions and died and was carried away
captive to Babylon.
His ministry was destined from the beginning for
failure.
That is, the people were not going to
hearken, the people were not going to change.
They had set their course and their destiny
was determined.
And yet, because God is so faithful, God
continued His witness to them until they were
carried away captive to Babylon.
And He didn't really stop then.
He had Daniel and Ezekiel there in Babylon
continuing to witness to them even after their
captivity.
But Jeremiah's ministry wasn't to be successful as
far as really bringing these people back to
a spiritual relationship with God.
They were on the way downhill, there was
no recovery at this point.
And he had to sadly watch these people
as they disregarded his warnings and as they
went on into captivity.
So the book of Jeremiah begins with the
words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of
the priests that were at Anathoth in the
land of Benjamin.
Now you will find that there is another
priest, Hilkiah, who was the high priest that
is not the father of Jeremiah.
Though Jeremiah was a priest, the fact that
he was from Anathoth indicates that he was
of the Kohathites.
And the Kohathites had been removed, that particular
branch of the Levites had been removed from
the high priesthood.
And so this Hilkiah, the father of Jeremiah,
was not synonymous with the Hilkiah, the high
priest.
To whom the word of the Lord came
in the days of Josiah, the son of
Ammon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year
of his reign.
Now Josiah was basically a good king.
He was eight years old when he began
to reign.
So naturally, being just a child, eight years
old, he was just a puppet for the
beginning of his reign upon the throne.
As other men had good influences upon Josiah,
and he instituted spiritual reforms in the beginning
of the fifth year of his reign.
And by the time the word of the
Lord came to Jeremiah, the spiritual reforms of
Josiah had been pretty effective in that they
had gotten rid of most of the altars
unto Baal and the groves and the high
places where they had worshipped the false gods.
Where the people of Israel had worshipped these
false gods, and yet it was still in
their hearts.
Though that outwardly there was a spiritual reform,
inwardly they had not turned with all their
hearts to God.
So it was a time of outward spiritual
revival because the king was a godly king.
But as soon as Josiah died, the nation
lapsed right back into its idolatry, which indicates
that it wasn't really a move towards God
from their hearts, but only a surface thing
in seeking to please the king.
They went along with the spiritual reforms.
So because it was only surface and not
down in the heart of the nation, even
during the reign of Josiah, Jeremiah cried out
against the things that were going on.
During the reign of Josiah, they reinstituted the
worship in the temple, but God said, go
down to the temple and cry to the
people as they go in.
Trust not in lying vanity, saying the temple
of the Lord, the temple of the Lord
are these.
God said, I've forsaken them.
And so while Josiah was king though, Jeremiah
did not face really persecution.
But once Josiah died and Jehoiakim came onto
the throne, then Jehoiakim began to persecute Jeremiah.
There were several endeavors to kill him.
He was placed in the dungeon and the
same was true through the reign of Zedekiah.
Jeremiah spent most of the time in prison.
And so he lists these three kings.
It came also in the days of Jehoiakim,
the son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto
the 11th year of Zedekiah, who was the
last of the kings.
The son of Josiah, king of Judah, unto
the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the
fifth month.
Now, there were two other kings who reigned
during this same period.
But their reigns were both of them short
-lived.
Jehoiahaz and Jehoiachin both had a three-month
reign during this same period that Jeremiah was
prophesying.
But because they reigned for such a short
period, Jeremiah does not list them as the
kings that were reigning.
And it could be that the Lord didn't
speak to Jeremiah during those particular periods that
Jehoiahaz and Jehoiachin were reigning.
So, the three major kings.
Actually, Josiah reigned for 31 years.
And then Jehoiakim reigned for 11 years.
And Zedekiah reigned for 11 years until he
was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar.
His eyes were put out and he was
carried away to captivity in Babylon.
Now, Jeremiah continued to live there.
Nebuchadnezzar gave Jeremiah the choice of staying there
or coming to Babylon.
Because Jeremiah was actually accused of treason during
a part of his prophesying because he was
telling the people, look, surrender to the Babylonians.
They're going to take you.
And so, it's better to surrender than to
be devastated.
And so, he was accused of treasonry and
imprisoned as a result of it.
They thought that he was in conspiracy with
the Babylonians.
But Nebuchadnezzar, in honoring Jeremiah because of his
true prophecies, offered him to come and to
have a place there in Babylon.
But being the true patriot that he was,
he chose to remain there in Jerusalem under
the vassal reign of Gedaliah until he was
put to death by those evil men.
And then he was more or less kidnapped
and taken to Egypt.
He still wanted to stay, but the people
were afraid that as a result of their
rebellion against the vassal king that Nebuchadnezzar had
set up, Gedaliah, that Nebuchadnezzar was going to
come and really destroy them.
And so, they fled to Egypt and they
took Jeremiah with them.
And at this point, there are legends and
rumors and stories of what happened to Jeremiah.
One very common of the rumors is that
Jeremiah took the Ark of the Covenant and
hid it.
And there are some references in some of
the books of the Apographa to the place
where Jeremiah hid the Ark of the Covenant.
Other stories are that he took one of
the young princes and ferreted him off to
Egypt.
And then according to some of the legends
that are especially promulgated by the people who
are called British Israelites, those who seek to
identify the Anglo-Saxon races with the tribes
of Israel, they say that Jeremiah spirited the
prince to England where he became the king.
And that the present Queen of England and
Prince Charles are direct descendants of the Davidic
line.
So, God has kept his promise that from
the seat of David there would not lack
being one on the throne.
And so, that is the only place where
there is still a monarchy and they are
direct descendants.
And they go into a long rigmarole of
trying to prove their point of this ethnic
relationship between the Anglo-Saxon races and the
British and Scottish and Danish and so forth.
They say Dane, you see, that's Dan, Dan
-ish.
And the word ish in Hebrew is man,
so it's Dan's man.
The tribe of Dan, the Danish are the
tribe of Dan.
The British, you see the ish on the
end, proves that they are the lost tribes
of Israel.
They seem to ignore foolish, but that there
is not, surely not enough solid evidence to
prove their claims.
It has to be stated that the claims
are based much more upon fantasy and hopefulness
than on actual reality from historical records.
But those are just part of the stories
that surround Jeremiah.
It is thought that actually he was put
to death finally there on one of the
banks of the Nile, one of the tributaries
to the Nile River.
But the Bible is silent, so we must
be, it's only guesswork after the Bible ceases
its record.
Verse 4, Then the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee
in the belly, I knew thee.
And before you came forth out of the
womb, I set thee apart, and I ordained
thee a prophet unto the nations.
Now, there is a lot of question today
as to when life begins as we deal
with this area of abortion.
But I think that it is significant that
God declares to Jeremiah, Before the fetus was
ever formed, I knew you.
Before you ever came forth out of the
womb, I had already set you apart.
God's purposes for our lives were not established
after we were born.
God's purposes for our lives have been established
from the beginning, from the beginning of time.
What God said to Jeremiah, He could very
well say to each one of you, Before
you were ever in a fetal state, I
knew you.
Before you ever came forth out of the
womb, I had set you apart for the
purpose and the plan that I have for
your lives.
The thing is, for me to discover and
to come into harmony with that plan that
God has for me.
That's the important thing for me.
My destiny has already been determined.
The Bible says, We are His workmanship, created
together in Christ Jesus unto the good works
that God has before ordained that we should
walk in them.
God has already before ordained that which He
has planned for your life.
Now in the meantime, He is working in
your life to prepare you for those works.
Thus, we are His workmanship.
God is working in us tonight.
Paul the Apostle speaks about having been separated
from his mother's womb.
God's hand was on my life from the
beginning.
The recognition of that.
And I'm certain that each of us can
look back and we can see how God's
hand has been upon our life from the
beginning.
And the experiences and all that we've gone
through as God is preparing us for His
work.
So, God speaks to Jeremiah and speaks about
his prenatal state.
Then said I, that is, Jeremiah responded to
God, Oh, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak,
I am but a child.
Now, as you figure the years that Jeremiah
prophesied, and the fact that he was still
alive after the captivity and went to Egypt
and all, Jeremiah was probably somewhere between 17
and 25 years old when the call of
God came to him.
And that's where the estimates usually range, between
17 and 25.
Now, can you imagine a 17-year-old
boy and God saying, I knew you before
you were ever in a fetal state.
And I set you apart.
You're to go talk to President Reagan.
And you're to tell him, thus saith the
Lord.
I'm sure that you'd have the same problem
that Jeremiah had.
Who am I, Lord?
I'm just a young man.
And that's what the Hebrew word is there.
I'm just a young man.
Usually indicated a teenager.
But the Lord said unto me, say not
I'm a young man.
For you shall go to all that I
send you.
And whatsoever I command you, you shall speak.
So often it seems that when God called
a person for a particular service, they were
aware of their inabilities to fulfill that service
for God.
God called Moses.
Oh God, I can't speak.
I haven't been able to speak.
And I can't even speak now.
So many times people are trying to excuse
themselves because of the recognition of their own
abilities.
But in reality, God isn't looking for talented,
abled people.
He's just looking for willing people.
That we would not go forth in our
abilities, in our genius, but we would trust
in the Lord and go forth in the
power of the Spirit.
So God said, don't say.
Now don't say that.
Don't say you can't do it.
Don't say you're but a child.
Gideon said, oh Lord, you can't mean me.
My father is a nobody and I'm the
least in my father's family.
You can't mean me.
Saul, when Samuel said, God has called you
to be the king over Israel.
Oh no, no.
Made a mistake here somewhere.
And many times when God lays upon our
hearts, the things that he has in mind,
we say, Lord, there's a mistake here somewhere.
The angel's got the wrong address.
He's delivering the message to the wrong person,
Lord.
That's not me.
But the very consciousness of our ability is
the very thing that qualifies us for that
which God wants to do.
Because God said, not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.
So it isn't my ability that God is
really seeking for.
It's just a channel, an instrument through which
he can do his work.
And if I feel like I can't do
it, then that makes me a more yielded
vessel unto God.
If I feel, alright Lord, you bet, just
been waiting for you, you know, I'll do
it right away.
Then it takes a while before God beats
me down to nothing, so then he can
go ahead and do what he's been wanting
to do through me.
In every service to which God calls us,
there is that feeling of I'm ill-equipped.
Oh Lord, who am I?
Now God said, don't be afraid of their
faces.
Here's a young fellow going out and saying
these things that are going to get people
mad, and they're going to start glaring at
him and gritting their teeth and scowling and
making all kinds of fierce faces at him
because he's saying things they don't like.
So God said, don't be afraid of their
faces.
For I am with thee to deliver thee,
saith the Lord.
So God's personal message of comfort to the
prophet.
Now don't be afraid, the way they look
at you, because I am with you to
deliver you.
Then the Lord put forth his hand and
he touched my mouth.
And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I
have put my words in thy mouth.
See, I have set thee this day over
the nations.
Now imagine God saying this to just a
young fellow, 17, 18 years old.
Today, now look, I've touched you and I've
set you over the nations.
Me?
And over the kingdoms.
And this was his ministry.
To root out, to pull down, and to
destroy.
Oh, what a ministry.
Years ago when I was just a child
and started in the ministry, our second pastorate
was in Tucson, Arizona.
And I have not always been the most
tactful person in the world, nor am I
yet.
I'm not quite as blunt as Romaine, but
I'm still not always graceful and tactful.
And I do have the capacity of just
speaking what I feel to be the truth.
And I think that it's important that the
truth be spoken even though it does cut
or hurt.
I've always believed in the proverb, faithful are
the wounds of a friend, but the kisses
of an enemy are deceitful.
And so, when we were pastoring in Tucson,
in the first part of our pastoring there,
we did a very excellent job in sort
of emptying the church.
And I received my first, not the last,
but my first anonymous letter.
I get them all the time now, but
I received my first anonymous letter.
I read the first, I don't read them
anymore.
But it said, when Jesus was a boy
and was a carpenter in his father's shop,
we never read of him using a wrecking
bar.
And they spelled it R-E-C-K
-I-N-G.
And I think that the intimation was that
I was wrecking the church or something.
But it was, it seems that God called
me as he did Jeremiah to root out,
to pull down and to destroy.
You see, often times the system becomes so
corrupt that there's nothing to build on.
Now, God's purpose is always that of building,
but he cannot always start out building.
Many times he has to tear down what
is there.
Now, in a lot of this redevelopment, downtown
stuff, they have to go in with bulldozers
and just level the buildings.
Tear them out and haul them away.
And then they start the new building projects
and the high rises and so forth.
Because the stuff is so old, it's so
decrepit, it's so corrupt that you wouldn't dare
try to build on it.
The nation Israel had come to the place
where it was beyond recovery.
It was necessary now that God just pull
down, root out, tear out what was left
in order that he might start his new
work of planting and of building.
So, Jeremiah's ministry was first of all to
root out, pull down, destroy and to throw
down and then to build and to plant
as God starts then his new work.
God never tears down in our lives except
to the end that he might begin his
true work of building up and planting that
new work in us.
So, you may be in that stage right
now where God is still rooting out and
you say, Oh Lord, you know, you're bringing
me to nothing.
Yes, that's what he wants to do.
In order that he might start his building
and his planting in your life.
So, that ministry to which God called Jeremiah
is a very common type calling as God
must get rid of the present corrupt system
in order that he might establish his new
work.
That is why I feel that very rarely
do you ever see real revival come within
the framework of a denomination.
That God seems to always go outside and
start a new work.
He doesn't try to bring recovery to the
old systems.
He doesn't try to pour the new wine
in the old skins.
He doesn't sew the new piece of cloth
on the old garment.
But he usually goes outside and starts a
whole new building process.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto
me saying, Jeremiah, what do you see?
And he said, I see a rod of
an awakening tree.
Now, the almond tree in Hebrew is an
awakening tree.
Because the almond tree is the first tree
that awakes in the spring.
In fact, the almond trees begin to blossom
in January.
They're the first trees to come out of
the winter season there in the Holy Land.
They start to blossom in January and by
March they have their almonds and all on
them.
So, it's called an awakening tree because it's
the first tree to awaken after the winter
season.
Then the Lord said unto me, you've seen
correctly.
For I will watch over or awake over
my word to perform it.
What do you see?
I see an awakening tree.
That's right.
You've seen good.
Because I'm going to be awake over my
word to perform it.
I'm going to watch over my word to
perform it.
And the word of the Lord came unto
me the second time saying, what do you
see?
And I said, I see a boiling pot.
And the face of it is towards the
north.
Then the Lord said unto me, out of
the north an evil shall break forth upon
all the inhabitants of the land.
Now, Babylon was actually east.
But in order to attack, they had to
come to the north and come down from
the north rather than coming across the desert
area there.
And so it is a reference to Babylon
and the coming invasion.
For lo, I will call all the families
of the kingdoms of the north, saith the
Lord, and they shall come and they shall
set everyone his throne at the entering in
of the gates of Jerusalem and against all
the walls thereof round about and against the
cities of Judah.
And I will utter my judgments against them,
touching all their wickedness who have forsaken me
and have burned incense unto other gods and
worship the works of their own hands.
So, God is going to bring judgment upon
his people because of their wickedness.
Because they have forsaken God and they have
turned to other gods and are burning incense
to these other gods and worshiping these little
idols that they have made with their own
hands.
Now, some of the latest archaeological diggings in
the city of Jerusalem are in the area
of the old city of David, Ophel, that
is down below the Temple Mount area.
The city of David was actually down below
that Temple Mount area.
The Temple was put up there on Mount
Moriah by David's son Solomon, but that was
sort of the outskirts of the city in
a westerly direction.
And the city of David is on that
hill of Ophel, coming up from the Pool
of Siloam and the Gihon Springs.
That mound that comes up was the original
city of Jerusalem and the city of David.
And they are now doing quite a bit
of archaeological diggings on the side of the
hill there and they are uncovering houses that
date back to the time of Jeremiah.
The little houses that they are uncovering were
broken down by Nebuchadnezzar during the time that
Jeremiah was alive.
So the archaeologist's spade is going right back
to the time of Jeremiah.
And as they are pulling the rubble and
the rocks off of these dwelling places, for
when they came back from the Babylonian captivity,
rather than rebuilding the houses, they just covered
them over with dirt and built on top
of them.
And so they've dug down and they found
these houses, but the interesting thing in the
rubble of the houses there, they are discovering
multitudes of little idols that the people had
made and were worshiping.
A confirmation to the word of the Lord
here to Jeremiah, where he said they've worshipped
the works of their own hands.
In each one of the houses, multitudes of
these little idols.
They are getting a collection of little idols
like you can't believe.
So God says, My judgment is coming.
Therefore, gird up thy loins.
Now, the guys wore these long skirts and
they're alright for walking around.
But if you're going to go to work,
you've got to pull the things up and
tie your sash so that your legs have
free movement.
If you're going to run, you've got to
gird up your loins.
You gird up the skirts, you pull them
on up, tie your sash so that you
can really get to work.
You can't work with that long robe down
to the ground.
So that term, gird up your loins, is
always in reference to pulling up the long
skirt that the men wore and tying the
sash around to hold the thing up so
that you can get to work.
So it's sort of a phrase that says,
now get to work.
Get busy.
And arise, speak unto them all that I
command you.
Don't be dismayed at their faces.
Now, the second time the Lord said that,
because they're going to be looking at you
with some real angry looks.
Lest I confound thee before them.
Now, it's an interesting thing.
A lot of times it's best when you've
got a message you've got not even to
look at the people, if it's a harsh
message, because their faces might, you know, you
lose your thought and you get confounded because,
you know, you're reacting to the response of
the people to the message.
So He said, don't look at your faces,
lest you get confounded.
Just go out and speak the word that
I put in your mouth.
And it's going to have a negative effect
upon them, so just don't look at their
faces.
Lest I confound you before them.
For behold, I have made thee this day
a defense city, an iron pillar, a brass
wall against the whole land, against the kings
of Judah, against the princes, against the priests,
and against the people.
Man, you're going to stand against them all,
Jeremiah.
You're going to be standing against the kings,
the priests, the princes, and all the people.
You're going to be almost alone in this
thing.
But I've made you a defense city, I'm
going to defend you, I'm going to put
a wall around you.
And they shall fight against thee, but they
will not prevail against thee, for I am
with thee, saith the Lord, to deliver you.
Now, here is His commission, here is His
calling, and it is interesting to me that
in His calling, God doesn't lay out a
nice rosy picture.
Jeremiah, I'm going to call you now to
a wonderful job, and, you know, you're going
to minister for me, and because you're a
minister, I want you to drive a Cadillac
and live on Lido Island and enjoy the
best now, because after all, you know, you're
my child and you deserve the best.
No, God laid out the truth of what's
going to happen to you, Jeremiah.
It's not going to be easy.
You better not look at their faces, it'll
scare you.
I've set you against the king, the princes,
the priests, the people, the whole cabal, you're
going to be there by yourself, and they're
going to turn against you.
But don't worry, I'm going to be with
you, and I'm going to deliver you.
When the Lord called Paul the Apostle on
the road to Damascus, and brought that dramatic
change in his life, as Paul was there
and the Lord was saying to Paul, now,
Paul, I'm calling you to go to the
Gentiles, and the Lord laid out for Paul
the whole ministry that he had for him.
When Paul came to the city of Damascus
still blind, and of course, I'm certain in
his mind, total mental confusion.
Here he was on the road to Damascus,
breathing out threats against this new sect of
Christianity.
Actually, the word is breathing out murders against
them.
He was so uptight against this sect that
would dare to declare that Jesus was the
Messiah, and to go against the teaching of
the Pharisees, and breathing out murders against them
with papers to imprison those that called upon
the name of the Lord there in Damascus.
There on the road, a life-changing experience,
as he's lying on the ground and someone
is saying to him, why are you kicking
against the pricks?
Who are you, Lord, that I might serve
you?
I'm Jesus, whom you persecute.
What would you have me to do, Lord?
And the Lord told him what he had
him to do.
For when Paul was in Damascus, and still
going over these things in his mind, after
three days, the Lord spoke to a man
by the name of Ananias, and he said,
Ananias, go over and lay your hands upon
Paul, or Saul, that he might receive his
sight.
And he said, oh, Lord, you're kidding, aren't
you?
I'm on his hit list.
I've heard about this guy.
Oh, he's been just wrecking havoc in the
church in Jerusalem.
This guy's fierce.
The Lord said, no, don't worry.
You go and do what I told you
to do.
For he is a chosen vessel unto me,
and I have shown him all of the
things that he's going to have to suffer
for my sake.
The Lord said, Paul, here's what I want
you to do.
I want you to go to the Gentiles,
but it's not going to be easy.
You're going to be stoned.
They're going to drag you out of the
city thinking you're dead.
They're going to whip you.
They're going to be beating you.
But I want you to go for me.
Paul said, all right, let's go for it.
But I think that that's very commendable on
Paul's part that even having heard all the
things he was going to suffer, he still
made that commitment.
Now, sometimes ministers like to lay out a
rosy path for you.
Just receive Jesus, and life is going to
be so beautiful.
You'll have no more problems because it's just
a nice bed of roses.
And just get on the air mattress and
float into heaven, you know.
No way.
And Jesus didn't say that.
He said, look, if they didn't receive me,
they're not going to receive you.
If they persecuted me, they're going to persecute
you because the servant isn't greater than his
Lord.
Take up your cross and follow me.
He didn't paint a rosy picture.
He told them the truth, and I think
it's important that we tell people the truth.
It isn't easy to follow the Lord.
It isn't easy to serve the Lord.
You're going to be going against the tide.
But as the Lord said to Jeremiah, I
will put a wall around you.
I will be your defense.
And you will have experiences with God that
will be invaluable as you see God's hand
upon you and God's defense around you and
the work of God.
It's beautiful.
Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto
me, saying, Go and cry in the ears
of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord.
Now this is the first message that he
has to deliver.
As God is calling to His people, and
it's really a very pathetic thing.
It's filled with pathos.
As God is calling the people, much as
Jesus did in His message to the church
of Ephesus.
Oh, you've got your works.
You've got your organizations.
You've got your committees.
You know, you're functioning.
But oh, I've got this against you.
You've left your first love.
Now remember from whence you have fallen.
And God is actually calling the people to
the very same thing, to remember the first
love that they had for God.
God said, I can remember that first love
that you had.
That excitement that you had in Me.
Where all you could think about all day
long was Me.
You were singing the praises unto Me.
Your life was just filled with joy and
ecstasy as you were walking with Me.
You were writing little notes to Me.
You were singing praises unto Me.
You were making up love songs to Me.
I remember those days, God said.
The days of your first love.
And God is recalling it to Jerusalem.
Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee and
the kindness of thy youth.
The love of that engagement when you went
after Me in the wilderness in a land
that was not sown.
When you were willing to follow Me wherever
I would lead you.
When you were so dedicated and committed that
nothing was held back as far as your
commitment.
Where do you want Me to go, Lord?
What do you want Me to do?
Lord, I'm for it.
Let's go.
God said, I remember those days when you
were so devoted, so committed.
The love that you had for Me then.
Israel was holiness unto the Lord.
And the first fruits of His increase.
And all that devour Him shall offend.
Evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.
Hear the word of the Lord, O house
of Jacob.
All the families of the house of Israel.
Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity did you
find or did your fathers find in Me
that they have gone far from Me and
walked after emptiness and become empty?
What have I done?
What did I do?
And the messages are perennial.
There's always a certain group to whom the
message still applies.
And I feel that God is speaking to
many of you tonight, even as He spoke
to Israel.
Even as Jesus spoke to the church of
Ephesus.
He said, hey, what did I do that
you would turn away from Me?
I remember the love, the devotion, the commitment
that you used to have.
What did I do?
How did I offend you?
Where did you get turned off?
How is it that you've turned your heart
away from Me?
How is it that you don't have that
same devotion and dedication anymore?
What iniquities did your fathers find in Me
that they would turn and follow after these
emptinesses until they themselves became empty?
They no longer say, where is the Lord
that brought us up out of Egypt?
That led us through the wilderness, through the
land of the deserts and the pits, through
a land of drought and the shadow of
death, through the land that no man passed
through and where no man lived.
And I brought you into a plentiful country
to eat the fruit of it and the
goodness thereof.
But when you entered, you defiled My land
and you made My heritage an abomination.
The priests weren't saying, where is the Lord?
And they that handle the law did not
know Me.
The pastors also transgressed against Me and the
prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after the
things that do not profit.
Now, of course, when the priests, the pastors
become corrupted, then what can you expect?
There are so many men today who are
so completely liberal in their theology that they
no longer really rank as Christians.
But still, they occupy pulpits and preach their
messages to the attended throngs on Sunday morning.
But it is no longer the Gospel that
they preach.
It is no longer the power of Jesus
Christ to save a man from sin.
And the blood of Jesus Christ that redeemed
us from our lost estate.
But they are flowery speeches of it's nice
to be nice.
So go out and be nice this week.
And just platitudes.
Think right.
You are what you think.
You become what you think.
And so correct your thinking.
The whole problem of the world is the
way men are thinking.
Get rid of your negative thoughts.
Only think in positive terms and all.
And there is no more a preaching of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
And this is tragic.
The same condition that God was crying about
in Israel.
John Hilton, I was with him this week
back in Maryland, Middletown, Maryland.
And John met the pastor in Middletown of
the United Church of Christ, Disciples of Christ.
Now you that know John can appreciate it.
John was in his cut-offs.
He introduced himself as the new pastor of
Calvary Chapel there in Middletown.
And he thought, you know, well this fellow
is the pastor of the United Church of
Christ.
He said, well, you know, it's great to
meet you.
I imagine you've been a pastor there for
35 years.
He said, I imagine it's a real thrill
to share Jesus Christ with people for 35
years.
He said, I was just trying to make
conversation.
And this guy turned on him and said,
young man, you don't know a thing about
the Gospel.
Talking about Jesus Christ.
Just started berating, yelling at John, getting livid
with him.
And John said, I didn't know what I
said, you know.
I just tried to talk to the man
about, you know, the joy of the Lord
and loving Jesus.
Well, what can you expect from the people
that are sitting under that man's ministry week
after week?
Of a real devotion to God or a
love for God or a commitment of their
lives to Him.
It's all programmed.
It's all a formal relationship with God.
So God speaks out against them.
The priest who handled the law, they don't
even know me.
The pastors have transgressed against me.
The prophets are prophesying by bell.
Wherefore, I will yet plead with you, saith
the Lord, and with your children's children will
I plead.
Even so, I'm still going to plead with
you, God said.
For Passover, the isles of Cyprus.
In other words, go to the west.
And Cyprus was considered the door to the
whole western part of the world.
Chittim, Cyprus.
And send them to Kedar.
Now Kedar was the gateway to the east.
So go to the west, go to the
east and consider diligently and see if such
a thing has ever happened before.
Such a thing exists.
Has a nation changed their gods, which are
yet no gods?
People don't do that.
Their whole religious system is so deeply involved
in their cultural aspects that people just don't
change their gods, even those that worship false
gods.
But God said, but my people have changed
their glory.
That is their fellowship with me for that
which does not profit.
Be astonished, oh ye heavens.
The angels looking down with astonishment.
And I'm sure that they do that on
us many times.
The angels on church are just shocked when
they see us starting to do something.
Oh no, look at that.
Watch that now, you know.
And they see us in our stupid moves.
I'm sure they decide, oh no, I can't
look.
And they know the disaster that we're going
to fall into, you know, because of our
own follies.
Be astonished, oh ye heavens, at this.
And be horribly afraid.
Be very desolate, saith the Lord.
For my people have committed two evils.
First, they have forsaken Me, the fountain of
living water.
So many times, water is used as a
symbol of life because water is so essential
for life.
And the Lord so often takes it from
the physical on into the spiritual.
And He said, I am the water of
life.
If any man drinks of Me, he will
never thirst again.
Jesus cried to the assembled multitude at the
Feast of Tabernacles, If any man thirsts, let
him come unto Me and drink.
And he that drinks of the water that
I give out of his belly, there will
flow rivers of living water.
And the last chapter of the Bible, the
last invitation in the Bible, And he that
is a thirst, let him come and drink
of the water of life freely.
The last invitation to the Gospel.
For thirsty man to come and to drink
of the water of life freely.
Now God said, they have forsaken Me, the
fountain of living water, the source, the spring
from which life comes.
And instead, they have hewed out cisterns.
Now that land being an arid land and
not really receiving that much rain, it is
necessary over there that they set up exotic
type of water systems.
The Essenes were able to exist in the
very dry, barren area down near the Dead
Sea where you get maybe an inch of
water a year, an inch and a half,
two inches at the most a year.
But the way they were able to survive
down there was by building these great cisterns.
And then when it would rain up in
the highlands and these washes and gullies would
become full of water, they had their dams
and they diverted the flow of the water
on into these cisterns that they had carved
out of this limestone.
If you go to Masada, you'll find that
all the way around the side of the
hill there on Masada are these huge cisterns
that they've carved out, as well as the
cisterns up on the top of Masada.
These huge caverns that have been carved out
of the sandstone.
And again they had a dam in the
river and you can see the little ledges
that they've carved where they would bring the
water along the ledges and dump into these
cisterns.
And thus they would gather just the sparsest
amount of rain, but they would gather the
water that would run off and they would
preserve it in these cisterns.
But cisterns were not a source of water
except that they were a reservoir.
In other words, they weren't springs.
They had no source within them.
They had to gather the runoff water.
And so at best, a cistern could hold
only water that would get stagnant.
And God said, Marvel ye heavens!
Be astonished!
Look at that!
They have forsaken Me, the spring, the fountain
of living water, in order that they might
hew out these cisterns.
But then He said, they are broken cisterns.
They can't hold water.
Now carrying it over to the spiritual aspects
of it, man basically, instinctively is religious.
He's got to believe in something.
And when men forsake God, they establish a
system of thought, a philosophy, concepts, or whatever,
that they commit themselves to.
They become devoted to and they have to
believe in it.
And it requires faith.
A creed to be believed, a standard of
life, a philosophy of life, or whatever.
So men create their own philosophies, their own
rationales for life, their own cisterns.
But the thing is, all of these systems,
they can't hold water.
They leave you thirsty.
They will not satisfy you.
The end result is emptiness.
Is Israel a servant?
Is he a home-born slave?
Why is he spoiled?
The young lions roared upon him and yelled,
and they made his land waste.
His cities are burned without inhabitants.
Also the children of Noth and Tehippenes, actually
cities of Egypt, have broken the crown of
thy head.
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself?
Haven't you brought all of this upon yourself,
God said, in that you have forsaken the
Lord your God?
Looking at the calamities that have happened, we
bring them upon ourselves.
If we had only been serving the Lord,
these things wouldn't have happened.
Why does it take calamity many times to
wake us up?
And now, what have you to do with
the way of Egypt?
They were, of course, looking to an alliance
with Egypt to save them from the Babylonians
and an alliance with Assyria, but Assyria was
soon to fall to the Babylonians.
So an alliance with Syria wasn't going to
be any good.
Egypt itself would be taken.
Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy
backsliding shall reprove thee.
Know therefore and see that it is an
evil thing and bitter that you have forsaken
the Lord thy God and that my fear
is not in thee, saith the Lord God
of hosts.
For of all time I have broken thy
yoke and burst thy bands, and thou saidest,
I will not transgress when upon every high
hill and under every green tree you are
wandering, playing the harlot.
So the high hills were the places of
worship.
Under the groves that they planted, the green
trees, again the places of worship as they
had turned from God and were committing spiritual
adultery or playing the harlot in a spiritual
sense.
Yet when I created, when I planted you,
I planted you a noble vine.
It was good seed, Abraham.
How then art thou turned into the degenerate
plant of a strange vine unto me?
Again, the figure as Isaiah so graphically illustrates
in the fifth chapter of the vine that
became wild.
For though thou wash thee with niter, now
that isn't the saltpeter that we know today,
potassium nitrate, but it is a residue that
is on the bottom of the lakes when
the lakes dry up that they would boil
and use in making soap and use it
for cleaning.
And take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity
is marked before me, saith the Lord God.
You may try to wash yourself outwardly, but
it's an inward problem.
How can you say I'm not polluted?
I've not gone after Balaam.
See thy way in the valley.
Know what you have done, for you are
as a swift camel traversing her ways.
You're like a wild donkey that is used
to the wilderness that snuffs up the wind
at her pleasure.
Now, this figure of the wild donkey that
God uses is interesting.
It's a wild donkey that is in heat.
A female donkey in heat.
And she's sniffing the wind trying to find
out where the male donkeys are in order
that she might go.
And she doesn't care what the male donkey
is.
She just wants a male donkey.
And God uses this as a figure here
of Israel who is just turned away from
God and just will take anything, will worship
anything.
It's so susceptible to worship anything.
Like the wild donkey snuffing the wind at
her pleasure.
And in her occasion, that is during the
time of her season, who can take her
away?
All they that seek her will not weary
themselves.
In her heat, they will find her.
Withhold thy foot from being unchod.
In other words, you're running after these things
until you wear your feet out.
And thy throat from thirst, but you have
said, there is no hope, no.
For I have loved strangers and after them
will I go.
As a thief is ashamed when he is
found, so is the house of Israel ashamed.
They, their kings, their princes and priests and
their prophets, saying to the stock, that is
to a piece of wood that they've carved
into an idol, you are my father.
Or to the stone that they've carved out
a little figure, you are the one that
created me.
You brought me forth.
For they have turned their back unto me
and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble, they
will say, Arise, O God, and save us.
But where are your gods that you have
made?
Let them arise if they can save you
in the time of trouble.
For according to the number of thy cities
are thy gods, O Judah.
So each city had its own local pagan
deity.
And as many cities as they had, they
had gods.
And the tragic thing was that God said,
Hey, look, you've turned away from me, you've
turned to these other gods, but in trouble,
you'll be calling.
When your calamity comes, you'll be saying, Arise,
God, save us.
He said, But don't bother calling.
Go ahead and call unto these gods that
you have been worshiping, you've been serving.
It is a tragic thing when God turns
a deaf ear to man.
When God said to Jeremiah, Ephraim is given
over to her idols, let her alone.
Don't pray anymore for their good, for if
you do, I'm not going to listen.
That's a sad day.
When God turns a deaf ear to man.
And God said, That day is coming.
If you persist in following after strange flesh,
strange gods, and the worship of these strange
gods, there will come a day of trouble,
and you will call upon God.
But he said, I won't hear.
I won't answer.
Many will come in that day, Jesus said,
saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us.
You'll say, Nope.
I never knew you.
Those are heavy words that we need to
consider seriously.
Wherefore will you plead with me?
You've all transgressed against me.
Why are you going to plead?
You've been transgressing against me.
In vain have I smitten your children.
They received no correction.
Your own sword hath devoured your prophets like
a destroying lion.
God said, I've dealt with you in vain.
Your children are so stubborn and rebellious.
And with your own sword, you've killed my
prophets that I sent to you.
O generation, see the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?
A land of darkness?
Why do my people say, We are lords.
We will come no more unto thee.
Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a
bride her gown?
Yet my people have forgotten me days without
number.
Now one thing we've never had, and that
is a bride that forgot her gown for
her wedding.
You just don't forget some things.
And yet God said, You've forgotten me so
many days that you can't number them.
Why do you trim your way to seek
love?
Therefore, you've taught the wicked ones your ways.
Also in your skirts is found the blood
of the souls of the poor innocents.
I have not found it by secret search,
but upon all of these.
You know, you're open with it.
Yet you say, Because I am innocent, surely
His anger shall turn from me.
Behold, I will plead with thee because you
say I have not sinned.
You say, well, it's not wrong.
It doesn't matter.
God doesn't care.
It's not really sin.
And God speaks out against that.
He said, Why gaddest thou about so much
to change thy way?
Thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt as
you were ashamed of Assyria.
Yea, thou shalt go forth from him and
thine hands upon thine head, for the Lord
hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not
prosper in them.
No wonder God said to Jeremiah, Now don't
look at their faces.
Don't be afraid of their faces.
Boy, he had a heavy, heavy message to
lay on these people.
I mean, he was really laying it on
them and not sparing.