In Jeremiah 5, have a look at verse number 1.
God says to Jeremiah,
Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
and see now, and know, and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man, if there be any that execute of judgments,
that seeketh the truth, and I will pardon it.
Of course, Jeremiah was used by God to preach against the southern kingdom of Judah,
and that Babylon would be the judgment of God upon that nation.
And so, Jeremiah is trying to understand,
Lord, why would you wipe out this entire nation?
Why would you allow us to go into captivity?
And God says, well, hey, go and find anyone that executes judgment,
anyone that has a place of authority,
a king or religious leader or someone, a judge or someone who has a prominent position.
See if you find anyone that executes judgment and seeketh the truth.
And he goes, if you find at least one person,
I will pardon the entire nation.
I will pardon Jerusalem.
And so, of course, Jeremiah has a hard time finding this individual person.
And look at verse number 5, drop down to verse number 5.
Jeremiah says to himself,
I will get me unto the great men.
Now by great here, he's talking again, people of authority.
He goes, I'm going to go look for some great men,
and we'll speak unto them.
He goes like, surely I can find someone, okay, who holds to the truth.
It says here, for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God.
So surely I'm going to find someone, right?
One of these great men that knows the way of the Lord
and the judgment of their God.
But when he does, he comes to this conclusion.
But these have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
So Jeremiah goes, yeah, I can't find anybody.
I can't find any great men.
And so the sermon this afternoon is becoming a great person,
becoming a great person.
And I want you to notice, you know,
I know great there means someone of authority and all that,
but I want you to notice Jeremiah's thought,
if I'm going to find a great man,
he's got to have these characteristics about himself.
He has to know the way of the Lord.
He has to accept or understand the judgment of God.
Yes, there be someone that has not broken the yoke.
Yes, and be someone that is happy to be in bondage, be bound,
you know, by certain bounds that God puts in our lives.
These are full qualities that I believe we can work toward
so we can become a great person in the eyes of our Lord God.
Now, if you can, we are going to come back to Jeremiah 5
right at the end of the sermon, but come with me to Genesis 18.
One of the great men that we read about in the Bible is Abraham, isn't he?
Genesis 18 verse number 17.
I want you to notice what God says about Abraham.
In Genesis 18 verse number 17, Genesis 18, 17.
And the Lord said, shall I hide from Abraham the thing which I do?
Look at this, seeing that Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation
and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him.
So Abraham will be great because he'll be a father of many nations.
What makes Abraham great in the eyes of God?
Verse number 19, for I know him that he will command his children
and his household after him, look at this, and they shall keep the way of the Lord.
What was Jeremiah looking for when he was looking for a great person?
He was looking, hey, surely they know the way of the Lord.
Well, Abraham did.
What else was Jeremiah looking for?
Someone that knows the judgment of God.
Well, what does it say about Abraham here?
To do justice and judgment.
Does Abraham know the judgment of God?
He knows the way of the Lord, justice and judgment that the Lord may bring
upon Abraham that which you have spoken of him.
We all know that Abraham in the Bible is considered a great man of God.
And I want you to notice that he's got the same qualities that Jeremiah was seeking for,
you know, in the great men that should have been found in the nation of Judah.
So I've got those four points for you to cover.
You know, for us to be great people, great men or great women,
we must know the way of the Lord.
We must accept the judgment of God.
We must be able to carry the yoke that God has given us.
And we must accept the bonds.
And so I want to elaborate on those points today.
If you can come with me to Matthew, actually come with me to Proverbs chapter 10.
Come with me to Proverbs chapter 10, please.
Proverbs chapter 10 and verse number 29.
Proverbs chapter 10 verse number 29.
I want you to be a great person.
I want you to be a great man, a great woman, a great teenager,
a great father, great children.
Well, first of all, you need to know the way of the Lord.
In Proverbs 10, 29, the Bible says,
the way of the Lord is strength to the upright,
but destruction shall be to the workers of iniquity.
What is strength to the upright?
The way of the Lord.
Lord, if you show us your way, I can be strong.
I can have your strength, Lord.
Come with me to Acts 18.
Well, you're turning to Acts 18.
I want to read to you from Matthew chapter 3 and verse number 1.
Matthew chapter 3 verse number 1.
What's the way of the Lord?
The way the Lord wants us to walk, obviously.
The way that God wants us to pursue and follow after in our lives.
You know, Matthew chapter 3 verse number 1.
You guys know this.
In those days came John the Baptist preaching in the wilderness of Judea
and saying, repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
You know, John the Baptist was pointing people to who?
To Jesus Christ.
Amen.
He was getting people saved, getting them ready to receive the Messiah.
And then it says in verse number 3,
for this is he that was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah saying,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness,
prepare ye the way of the Lord.
Make his paths straight.
What was John the Baptist doing?
Pointing people to Jesus.
Why?
Because Jesus Christ says in John 14 6,
I am the way, the truth and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
When John the Baptist was preparing people for the way of the Lord,
the way is Jesus Christ.
Brethren, for us to be great in the eyes of the Lord,
we must know the way of the Lord.
We must point people to the way of the Lord.
We must point people to Jesus Christ.
We must be sole winners.
We must be preaching the gospel.
This makes you great in the eyes of the Lord.
You're there in Acts 18.
Acts 18 verse number 24.
And a certain Jude named Apollos,
born in Alexandria, an eloquent man,
and mighty in the scriptures came to Ephesus.
But notice what it says in verse 25.
This man was instructed in the way of the Lord.
What did we learn about Apollos?
We saw earlier, he's an eloquent man,
but notice this, mighty in the scriptures.
And because he's mighty, the Bible says
that he was instructed in the way of the Lord.
You see, not just getting saved and preaching the gospel,
that makes you great, but being mighty,
knowing the scriptures, reading the scriptures,
understanding the scriptures.
This is also what makes you great
in the eyes of the Lord.
I love it when a brother is able to open the Bible
and just, hey, the Bible says this,
and I stand here, and I think that's great.
I think it's wonderful.
Why?
Because when I see that, I see that you're mighty.
You know what the scriptures contain,
or at least you know why you're building your faith
on a certain doctrine or a certain thought, you know?
You can show, you can open the scriptures.
It's really sad when someone makes an argument
and they can't show you in scriptures,
or they tell you you're wrong,
but they can't show you in the scriptures why that is.
No, no, we want to be great.
And in order for us to be great,
we need to be mighty in the scriptures.
But notice that even though he knows the way of the Lord
and he's mighty in scriptures, it says here,
it says here, been fervent in the spirit.
He spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord.
So everything that he knew,
he was able to teach others.
He taught it diligently.
But then it says this, knowing only the baptism of John.
So we'll soon see that
Apollos did not have the full understanding
or full realization that Christ had actually
come to this earth, okay?
And that he had done his ministry.
Apollos may be someone that was, you know,
not working, not operating in Judea,
but everything that he knows,
he was even familiar with the preaching
and the teaching of John the Baptist.
Everything that he knew, he was grabbing the scriptures,
he had built his fundamentals,
and he was able to teach those well.
But it says in verse number 26,
and he began to speak boldly in the synagogue,
whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard,
they took him unto him and expanded unto him
the way of God more perfectly.
So did he know the way of the Lord? Yes.
But could he still grow?
Yeah. Okay.
Priscilla and Aquila took him under their wing,
and they were to ever expound upon him
the way of God even more perfectly.
They were able to tell him about Jesus, right?
They were able to tell him about the work of the Messiah.
And I believe Apollos obviously was already saved.
He just must have missed that point, right?
He got up to John the Baptist.
All right, the Messiah has come in
and just missed the Messiah for whatever reason, okay?
Whatever his daily life led him.
But I want you to notice that you can be mighty in the scriptures.
That doesn't mean that you need to know everything.
Apollos did not know everything, okay?
We continue to learn, we continue to grow,
we continue to understand the way of God more perfectly.
But you know what?
Being grounded in the scriptures makes you great in the eyes of the Lord.
Knowing the way of the Lord.
It is our strength as God's people.
So brethren, know the way of the Lord.
Know your Bibles.
Know what the Bible teaches, okay?
Ground yourself what you believe.
You know, hope you have a Bible verse for what you believe.
You know, early in my life, in my Christian life,
when I was trying to understand doctrines,
when I was trying to wrap my head around certain things,
I was trying to build my fundamentals,
I had a notebook and I would write all the Bible references
that confirmed a certain doctrine for me.
So that way, if someone ever challenged me and said,
why do you believe that?
Well, here's one verse why.
Or here's two verses why, you know?
And I think most of, I mean,
I think hopefully everything that I preached to you
I'm showing you from the scriptures why I'm teaching that,
why I believe that, why I'm grounded with that.
And once you ground yourself in the scriptures,
you are mighty, you are great,
and you're not going to be tossed to and fro
with every wind of doctrine.
The second thing that Jeremiah was looking for,
for what great men should have been,
was that they understood or accepted the judgment of God.
Can you come with me to Proverbs chapter two?
Proverbs chapter two, please.
Accept the judgment of God.
What does judgment mean?
Just some dictionary definitions.
Judgment is the ability to make the right decision,
to use good sense in forming an opinion.
Again, sometimes we're going to have different opinions.
And even if I may not agree with your opinion,
if I can see some good sense,
why you've come to that conclusion,
I think you're a wise man.
I may not say I to I with you,
but I just think, you know what?
You're actually someone who judges.
You got your reasons why you believe what you believe.
But sometimes we have opinions that are built on nothing.
We haven't really passed correct judgment or anything,
but Proverbs chapter two, please.
Proverbs chapter two in verse number six.
Because one thing in life,
look, life can be easy and life can be very difficult.
One thing I had to come to realize in my Christian life
is that actually living a life that pleases God
is not that difficult.
What I mean by that is living the life can be difficult,
but knowing to live that life,
knowing what is right and wrong is actually not difficult.
Because God's word is so deep, it's so clear,
where God is not really this God of a gray area.
God's very clear about what is right
and what is wrong.
God is very clear about what is holy and what is unholy.
God is very clear about what is grace
and what is works.
You know, God does not operate in this gray area.
And sometimes in life,
you know, when we go about life
and sometimes if we feel there is a gray area,
we may need to go off our conscience.
But even if we go off our conscience,
we want to be able to make a correct judgment.
You know, a judgment that lines up
or is consistent with what we see in the scriptures.
Look at Proverbs chapter 2 verse number 6.
It says,
For the Lord giveth wisdom.
So the Lord is one that gives us this.
He gives wisdom.
Out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.
He layeth up sand wisdom for the righteous.
He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He keepeth the paths of judgment.
Pastor, what do I decide?
How do I decide this or that?
God's probably already told you in the scriptures.
Here's the one that lays it up.
He keeps the paths of judgment.
Here's the one that gives wisdom.
You know, if you need wisdom, Pastor,
I don't know what to do.
Do I do scenario A or do I do scenario B?
Trust me, I am nowhere near God's wisdom.
I'm just a human being doing the best I can
to understand his word.
I'll try my best to show you God's word.
But brethren, you need to go to God and say,
God, help me pass correct judgments.
Help me make the best decision that I can in my life.
You give me wisdom, Lord.
What I'm trying to say to you is if we're going to be people,
wise people, great people, knowing the judgment of God,
we must know again his word.
We must understand what God has laid out in his word.
And then look at verse number nine.
Then shalt thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity.
Yay, every good path.
Man, you want to make the right decision or a good decision every time?
You need to know God's judgment.
You need to know his wisdom.
You go to God, God tell me, open the Bible, Lord, where is it?
Help me find something.
Help me find your word where you have literally told me
this is the right path to walk.
You know, when your opinion or your judgment differs from God,
you got to come to the point of realizing God, you are always right.
And if I disagree with you, Lord, I'm wrong.
I'm wrong, right?
The other thing that you need to come to realize when you're, you know,
growing in the Lord and you want to become this great person in the eyes of God
is if you say, Lord, I don't understand it.
I don't understand it, Lord, but I accept it.
I accept your judgment.
You know, some people, not this church,
but some people have a hard time accepting that God put a death penalty on certain crimes,
on adultery, okay, on rape, on kidnapping, on homosexuality.
God's laid down his judgment.
The correct judgment, the correct penalty for these crimes
is the death penalty according to God.
A lot of people have a hard time, like believers.
And to me it's like, yeah, okay, it might feel a little bit wrong right now
where you are spiritually, but can't you realize,
can't you just come to the understand and say,
Lord, I don't fully understand it, but I'm going to accept that's your judgment.
And I'm just going to rest on that.
If someone says to me, what should we do with these homosexuals?
You know, what should the, not we as a church,
but what should the Lord do?
Well, yeah, put them to death.
That's what God's prescription is for such a crime.
So to adultery, so to kidnapping, okay, so to murder, the death penalty.
You know, do I have to logically explain it to you?
Do I have to make you feel right and feel like that's just the best way to,
you know, the most humane and best way?
I'm not going to, that's what God's word says, I accept it.
And you know what, when you accept it,
that's why it says in Proverbs 2, 6, it says,
then shall thou understand righteousness and judgment and equity.
Yeah, every good path.
Look, once you just see God's word and God's judgment,
go, yeah, Lord, you're right.
Even if I don't fully understand it.
Even if I don't really feel like you're right,
I'm just going to accept that's right and I'm wrong.
I'm telling you, in time, you will fully understand God's judgment.
You'll accept God's judgment.
I know God's judgment can be difficult.
You know, thinking of loved ones, family, friends that I love today
that might burn for all eternity in hell fire.
That's hard.
I don't really think about it, pastor.
Why do you have to remind me?
Yeah, but it's God's judgment and God's always right and I'm wrong.
God knows.
You know, and what's going to make you great?
A great person in the eyes of God is just to say,
Lord, you are right, your judgment.
And I'm going to go by what you say.
I'm going to do what you say, Lord.
Because when I can pass good judgment,
then I know I'm going to be able to walk in every good path.
Every decision I make will be a good one that lines up with your word.
Can you come with me to Psalms, please?
Come with me to Psalm 25.
Psalm 25 in verse number 8.
Psalm 25 and verse number 8.
You know, we have a problem with pride in our flesh.
I do.
I know.
I feel that pride sometimes creep in into my heart.
And the way for you to accept and understand God's judgment
is for you to take down that.
You've got to take down the pride.
You've got to say, God, I am really nothing in comparison to your wisdom and knowledge.
And I just have to accept it.
Because in Psalm 25 verse number 8, it says,
good and upright is the Lord.
Is that true?
Good and upright is the Lord?
Of course.
Therefore, he will teach sinners in the way.
We saw that.
We need to know the way of the Lord.
Yeah, you know what, God, you're good and upright.
I'm a sinner.
That's me.
And I want you to teach me.
I want you to teach me.
But how is God going to be able to teach me?
Verse number 9.
The meek.
He will guide in judgment.
And the meek will he teach his way.
And I preached on meekness just on last Sunday, was it?
I can't remember now.
Or was it Wednesday?
But just a reminder, look, we need to be meek.
You want to know God's judgment?
You need to lower yourself and say, God, you're above all things.
You know it all, Lord.
I'm really, I'm just a sinner.
Lord, can you teach me your way?
Can you teach me your judgment?
Lord, everything that I've thought and incorrectly thought and been brainwashed by the world
and by society, I'm going to lay that aside, Lord, and I'm going to come to your
word and accept wholeheartedly what you have to teach me because you're good and
you're upright, Lord.
You want to teach me the right ways.
You want me better to judge my life and judge my decisions according to your word.
Come with me to Psalm 9, please.
Psalm 9, verse number 16.
I love this verse.
I love this verse so much.
Because, you know, some people don't want to know God's judgment.
Like some believers don't want to read the Old Testament because they feel God is way too angry.
You guys know that to be true, right?
Like some people really, they just can't stomach the Old Testament.
They can't stomach God sending the Israelites to wipe out the Canaanites.
Go, how would God do such a thing?
Look at Psalm 9, 16.
The Lord is known by the judgment which he executed.
Do you want to know God more?
Do you want to know our Lord God?
I want to know him.
I want to know him more and more and more.
Well, in order for me to know him, I need to know his judgment, which he executes.
Even if I think it's hellfire for all eternity, for those that reject your son,
I can't stomach that.
No, no, no.
If you can't stomach that, you're never going to know him properly.
I want to know my Lord and the way I know him is by his judgments.
What he says is righteous.
What he says is unholy.
I need to know exactly where you stand, God.
On this issue, on that doctrine, on that thought, on this way of living.
And Lord, the more I understand and accept your judgment,
the more I'm going to know who you are.
Can you come with me to Matthew 11?
Matthew 11.
So to be great in the eyes of God, you need to know the way of the Lord, number one.
Number two, you need to accept the judgment of God.
Even if it doesn't make full sense to you, just accept it.
God is good and upright.
You know, you walk in his judgment and God's going to take care of you.
He's going to bless you.
He's going to make sure your paths are the right paths,
good paths, profitable paths for you to walk in life.
The third one, the third point that Jeremiah was talking about.
Hey, he's looking for a man that knows the way of the Lord.
He's looking for a man that knows the judgment of God.
But then when he finds the great man, the men of authority finds that they've broken the yoke.
They have altogether broken the yoke.
Now a yoke, if you don't know, is used on animals, you know, for farming.
And you know, you might get two ox and then to combine the two ox to work together
as you plow the ground, you might get a piece of wood.
It's a yoke that you connect that ox to that ox so they can push together.
They can pull together.
That's what a yoke is.
Okay, it's a device for work.
Now there is a yoke that God has placed upon us, all of us.
It's in Matthew 11.
And I think, you know, as we keep going for these things,
you're going to find just a constant parallel in what makes someone great.
It says in Matthew 11, verse number 28, Jesus Christ says these words.
Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.
Look, God gives us rest.
Salvation is not laboring, working.
No, salvation, the salvation that Christ offers us is rest.
You rest in Christ.
Christ, you did all the work.
I'm going to rest in that.
I'm not going to have to labor for my salvation.
But once you are saved, what does Christ want for you to do in verse number 29?
He says, take my yoke upon you.
Hey, we ought to be willing to carry this yoke.
Now look, if a yoke puts two oxen together so they can work together,
two are stronger than one, two are better than one.
Well, this yoke is like Jesus and me working together.
I mean, Jesus, it's not like he's just putting a yoke on you for you to work.
He's like, I'll work with you.
Take my yoke upon you.
And what is this yoke?
What is this work that he wants us to do now that we're saved?
And learn of me.
Learn of me.
God, that's actually not that hard.
You're in church today.
You've put the yoke on.
I want to learn about Jesus today.
So he said, I'm coming to church.
Now it requires some effort.
It's a wet day.
It's a cloudy day.
A few of my kids are sick.
Some of them are up there.
Hopefully when I get too sick, keep us in prayer.
And a few of my sons are home because they weren't feeling too great.
Yeah.
Getting ready for church, having breakfast earlier than usual, getting dressed, all right.
And all the little accidents that happen along the way, on the way to church.
You know, it's a bit of an effort, but it's a light yoke.
Wouldn't you say?
Like, is it really that hard?
Okay, get ready in the morning and sit down in church and let's learn of Jesus.
It's a light yoke.
Jesus wants us to learn of him.
You picking up your Bible every day, reading a few chapters.
Whatever it is that your plan is, is it really that hard?
Like, honestly, 15 minutes.
Let's say 15 minutes.
You've got 24 hours in a day.
Can you not put a little bit of that yoke and learn of Jesus?
Open the Bible for 15 minutes and learn of him.
Learn of Jesus.
Look, this yoke is easy.
The burden is light.
And look, in verse 29, take my yoke upon you and learn of me.
Look at this.
For I am meek.
There's the meekness again.
Maybe we need to learn about meekness.
I don't know why God put that on my heart.
I am meek.
You want to learn about Jesus?
I need to learn that he's meek and lowly in heart.
And you shall find rest unto your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.
So the more we learn about Jesus, oh, he's meek.
He's lowly.
Oh man, if I'm in a yoke with Jesus and he's meek and lowly, I need to be meek and lowly.
Okay, I need to be like Christ.
You know what?
It's not my effort alone.
Jesus is working with me.
We've got the yoke.
We're working together to be meek and lowly.
I just want to learn about you, Jesus.
Which way do you push?
I'll go with you.
You got the yoke?
You tell me.
You push that way?
We work that way, Jesus.
You want to go this way, Jesus?
I'll go with you this way, Jesus.
But his yoke is easy and his burden is light.
You want to be great in the eyes of God?
Carry the yoke.
Learn of Jesus.
Be meek.
Be lowly in heart and you'll find rest, peace, calmness.
Okay, you're not going to get irritated every time something happens, offended,
you know, full of pride and the ego eats you up and you know,
this annoys you and that annoys you.
Look, you'll be at peace.
You'll have rest to your souls if you just walk in accordance to the way
that Christ wants you to walk.
If you carry the yoke that is placed upon your heart.
Can you turn with me to Jeremiah 27?
Jeremiah 27.
The other problem that these so-called great men,
that they didn't, they messed up is that they burst the bonds.
Now, usually in the Bible, bonds is obviously something negative,
like being bound, you know, taken in bonds and thrown into prison.
We often read about the Apostle Paul speaking of his bonds,
his bonds of the gospel.
You know, he was arrested several times, thrown into prison, things like that.
And so it does carry a negative connotation.
But we did start with Jeremiah chapter five,
and we did see that these great men, they burst the bonds.
They were given bonds and we don't want it.
Okay, they burst those bonds.
Let's look at Jeremiah and let's understand
what God is speaking about in terms of the bonds.
And in Jeremiah 27, for example, in verse number two,
Jeremiah 27 verse number two,
Thus saith the Lord to me, make thee bonds and yokes,
and put them upon thy neck.
Now, I'll just give you the context very quickly.
One way that God instructed Jeremiah to teach the nation
is by like a practical lesson.
So Jeremiah got one of those yokes of the animals
and he put it on his own head and his own shoulders.
And he went out preaching like that with this piece of wood
up on his neck and shoulders, right?
That would have captured people's attention, right?
And of course, this yoke and this bond that God was put in
was essentially that was the Babylonian empire.
The yoke, the bond was Babylonian empire.
If you drop down to verse number six, it just clarifies it.
Jeremiah 27 verse number six, it says,
So the bonds and even this yoke, but the bonds there
is about serving Nebuchadnezzar, serving Babylon.
Verse number seven,
And all nations shall serve him and his son
and his son's son until the very time of his land come.
And then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
So by looking at Jeremiah comparing, you know,
what is it that these rulers, they burst the bonds.
They didn't want the bonds.
The bonds represented the Babylonian empire
and they were called by God, God's judgment upon that nation
was that they would serve Nebuchadnezzar
and they were taken into captivity for 70 years.
They served the foreign wicked power,
but God calls Nebuchadnezzar his servant.
So what are bonds in the context
of what Jeremiah is looking at?
It's servitude, servitude.
Look, we need to accept the bonds that God has placed on our lives.
We're all a servant of someone, okay?
If you can come with me to Mark chapter nine, please.
Come with me to Mark chapter nine, Mark chapter nine, please.
Mark chapter nine and verse number 33.
Look, I feel this is a message that I really want to get out.
And what gives me confidence that this is a message
that needs to be heard and gets out is the book of Jeremiah.
Because Jeremiah, you know, he was a very unpopular preacher.
His nation didn't like him.
You know why?
Because it told the nation, guys, surrender to Nebuchadnezzar.
Serve him.
This is God's judgment.
You want things to go well with you?
Just surrender.
If you fight back, you're still going to be taken into captivity,
but you're going to lose your lives.
Your kids are going to be killed.
You know, you're going to live a horrible life in Babylon.
The message that Jeremiah was preaching to the southern kingdom,
just surrender, just get taken into captivity.
And then later when they're in Babylon, he sends them a letter.
It says, guys, relax.
Don't fight back.
You're going to be here for 70 years.
He says, build your houses, let your children get married.
Get on with life.
This is your life for now.
Okay.
And that was really unpopular teaching in the time of Judah.
And the false prophets, what do they, you know what they did?
They got the yokes and the bonds that Jeremiah created.
One false prophet breaks it.
And he goes, I've got a message from the Lord.
Just like I've broken these bonds and this yoke.
You know, God's going to break the bonds of Babylon off us.
And we're going to be delivered from Babylon.
And the people in Judah, woo hoo, yeah.
We love that preaching.
We're not going to come under servitude of Nebuchadnezzar.
That's our hearts.
We don't like to serve.
You know why?
Sometimes in marriages, husbands and wives don't get along.
It's because the wife just refuses to serve her husband.
There's a reason sometimes why people can't, you know, just hold down a job.
It's like they work a job for three months, they're gone.
They work here, six months, they're gone.
Five months, they're gone.
Four months, they're gone.
They can't serve.
They struggle to put themselves under a master, under authority.
You know, our bonds are good for us.
It teaches servitude.
It teaches us humility, meekness, loneliness.
Mark chapter 9, verse number 33.
And he came to Capernaum and being in the house, he asked them,
what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way?
Jesus goes to the disciples, I heard you guys arguing.
What was it?
What are you guys arguing about?
You guys were disputing.
What was that about?
But they held their peace.
They're embarrassed.
Okay.
But by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest?
I guess that's embarrassing.
Yeah.
I was saying that I should be the greatest out of all that.
It's a bit embarrassing to say, no, Jesus knows their hearts.
Jesus knows exactly what they're talking about, right?
But they're embarrassed to answer.
And then verse number 35.
And he sat down and called the twelve and saith unto them,
if any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all.
Look at this, and servant of all.
Reverend, this is a bond that God puts upon us as his people.
We need to make ourselves last.
I know I covered a meekness.
Again, it's all the same thing, but we need to learn to accept our bonds.
You know, God's put us under different areas of authority,
whether it's our governments even.
It's a wicked government.
Yes, so was the Babylonian empire.
So was the Roman empire.
Like you're not living in some strange time
where God's not giving you direction.
We have bonds and just accept it.
Instead of fighting back and pursuing,
I know some Christians have pursued the, what's it called?
The sovereign persons, where they just refuse to put themselves
under any authority, any government, you know?
And I don't know, sovereign persons, I think that's the right term, you know?
And they're like, I can drive a car without a license
and without number plates and it's my right as a human being.
And I see in those people and some of those, I love them.
Some of those brothers, I've known them for years and I just,
they're trying to just, I don't want the bonds.
I want to break free.
Why don't you just accept the bonds?
That's what makes you great in the eyes of God.
Again, that's unpopular preaching because we don't like being found.
Wives, sometimes, you know, your thoughts are going to be different to your husband.
But God said the husband is the head of the wife.
That's not your husband's decision.
God made the decision.
That's his judgment.
You wouldn't be a great woman in the eyes of God,
except that your husband is your head and you're under his authority.
That's a bond that God's put on you.
And it's your husband's job to work hard, to labor, to sweat, to provide.
To take care, to love his wife, to put the needs of his family first.
That's his bond.
We all have bonds.
I'm supposed to be a pastor, a minister.
This is my bond, right?
Like it's, sometimes I don't feel well.
My kids can't be at church, some of them, because they're not feeling well.
It's not really like that as a pastor.
There are times I don't feel well, you know.
There are times I'm not spiritually up to it.
But I've got to preach a sermon.
I've got to go to church and say, Lord, this is my bond.
I'll do what you asked me to do.
This is what I must do.
Lord, put away the old man.
Help me walk in the new man.
Help me to feed God's people.
They can be nourished.
They can walk away and say, yes, Lord, I know a little bit more about you.
Yes, Lord, I love you a little bit more than I did before.
We all have bonds.
Employees, your bosses.
That's your bond.
You got to work.
Boss, you know, unless your boss is asking you to sin, do wickedly, of course, leave that.
I can break that bond, right?
But generally speaking, if it's just for the best of the business to be profitable
and what have you, you know, just yes, I'll do it, boss.
You know, I'll work hard.
I'll labor hard.
I'm not going to waste time.
I'm not going to look at Facebook.
I'm not going to go on social media.
These are the hours that I've signed out in my contract that I'm putting toward my boss
for these hours, this pay, that's my bond.
That's what I'm going to do.
You accept those bonds that God has put in your life.
You're going to be great.
Great.
A great man, a great woman in the eyes of the Lord.
Children, you got bonds.
Education, chores, the things your parents ask you to do.
Children, obey your parents in all things.
The Bible says that's your bond.
You want to reject it?
I don't know.
Be great in the eyes of God.
Accept that God has put you under different levels of authority.
It's for your good.
It's to teach you humility.
It's to teach you meekness.
Okay, you're learning from Jesus.
Jesus was obedient unto death and God's not asking you to die like that.
To die for the sins of the whole world upon yourself.
So it's a yoke.
Jesus is guiding us.
He's helping us.
He's teaching us.
He was meek.
He was lowly.
No doubt Jesus Christ was a great man.
Please come with me to Ephesians 6.
Ephesians 6 and verse number 5.
I'll read it quickly because I feel like I've covered this recently.
Servants, servants, be obedient to them that are your masters.
According to the flesh with fear and trembling.
In singleness of your heart as unto Christ.
Not with eye service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ.
Look, if you find it hard to put yourself under servitude of a man,
just remind yourself, I'm going to make myself.
If it's going to help you, help me.
I'm going to make myself a servant to Christ.
You know, that helped me in my workplace.
I struggled in a dead-end job.
God, I don't want to do this.
I mean, I did the best I could with the hours and my heart wasn't in it until I said,
God, Jesus Christ, you gave me this job to provide for my family.
I'm doing it for you.
All of a sudden, I'm like the best employee because I made myself a servant to Christ,
not to man.
Doing the will of God from the heart with good will doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man do of the same shall he receive of the Lord,
whether he be bond or free.
Bond, work, that's your bond.
But you do it for Jesus.
You say, yes, boss, I'll do what you've asked me to do.
And you pretend in your heart and your mind, Jesus just asked me to do it.
And you'll be amazing.
You'll be an amazing employee.
You perform beyond what you thought possible because you're putting the same yoke that
Jesus Christ has given you.
You're working with him.
You're doing it for him.
You're being led by him.
Last verse, Jeremiah chapter five, please.
We started with Jeremiah chapter five, and let's look at verse number five again.
Jeremiah five, five.
I will get me unto the great men, for Jeremiah was expecting, and will speak unto
them, for they have known the way of the Lord and the judgment of their God, but
they have altogether broken the yoke and burst the bonds.
Poor Jeremiah, he was expecting to find someone.
There's no one here.
My God's judgment is right.
This place needs to be annihilated, but look at verse number four, because brethren,
you got a choice, either you're great or you're something else.
It says in Jeremiah five verse four, therefore I said, surely these are poor.
They are foolish for they know not the way of the Lord nor the judgment of their God.
You've got a choice.
Lord, I want to be great, or you can be poor and foolish.
The poor and the foolish, they don't know the way of the Lord.
They don't know the judgment of God.
Which one do you want to be today?
Foolish or great?
Title for the sermon, becoming a great person.
Becoming a great person.
Okay, just those four things very quickly.
Number one, know the way of the Lord.
Number two, accept the judgment of God.
Number three, carry the yoke.
It's easy.
It's light.
Number four, accept the bonds.
Lower yourself, serve.
Don't be prideful, arrogant.
Okay, this is what makes you great in the eyes of God.
Let's pray.