Hello everybody, it's ministertol23 back with another video.
So the word of God is sometimes compared to a burning fire.
And one example of this is in the book of Jeremiah, chapter 20, verses 7 to 9.
It says, O Lord, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived.
Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed. I am in derision daily,
everyone mocketh me, for since I spake I cried out. I cried violence
and spoil, because the word of the Lord was made of reproach unto me,
and a derision daily. Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak
any more in his name. But his word was in my heart as a burning fire
shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay.
So Jeremiah, who is a prophet of God, is speaking in the first
person here, presenting a dilemma that he has. Because he speaks
the word of God with boldness, because he preaches as God has commanded him to do
against the wickedness of Judah, he is constantly mocked and derided by
the people. He cries out, and yet what he preaches daily creates
derision. And we see this throughout the book of Jeremiah, through the context
that the people rather listen to false prophets and false promises
rather than heed to the warnings of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah.
Jeremiah was threatened with death, he was put into prison,
and he was constantly persecuted for that which he preached.
And here in chapter 20, Jeremiah says in verse 9, Then I
said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name.
So he came to a point where he had given up, where he doubted, where he
lacked faith and had a disobedient heart, he no longer wanted to preach the word of
God. He knew what he was supposed to preach, he knew what the word
was that he spake, and that he knew that it was of the Lord, he knew that he was
speaking the word of God, and yet he decided at this point that he would give up
his preaching because of the reaction of the people.
He said he would not mention the Lord nor speak any more in his name,
and why? Because of the persecution, because of the derision, because
the Jews, the inhabitants of Jerusalem would not listen to the preaching of God's
word. And yet even though he decided within his heart that he would
not speak of the Lord anymore, he continued saying, But
his word was in my heart as a burning fire showed up within
my bones. Even though he had temporarily lacked faith and decided
that he would no longer preach, the word of God within him, the word
which God had given him to preach, he describes as being like a burning fire.
And I'll go back to that in a moment. So he continues in verses
10-11 where he says, For I heard the defaming of many, fear on
every side. Reports say they, and we will report it. All my familiars
watched for my halting, saying, Peradventure, he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against
him, and we shall take our revenge on him. But the Lord is with
me as a mighty, terrible one. Therefore my persecutors shall
stumble, and they shall not prevail. They shall be greatly ashamed, for they shall not
prosper. Their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten.
So here Jeremiah recognizes that even with the mockery and the derision
and the persecution from all sides, that the Lord will cause those
persecutors to stumble. He will show his wrath against them, and
they shall eventually be ashamed. And that's the truth. Whenever somebody
attacks the preacher of God's word, the Lord shall cause them to stumble
and cause them to be ashamed. He shall repay them according to that which they
have done to the man of God. And therefore Jeremiah repents,
realizing who it is that he serves. But I want to focus
again on the statement in verse 9 where he says that his word is as a
burning fire shut up within my bones. Now what does that mean?
Well later in the book of Jeremiah, it again says in Jeremiah chapter 23
verse 29, Is not my word like as a fire, saith
the Lord, and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
So again, the word of God is compared to being like a fire and also
like a hammer. In the book of Luke, after Jesus appears to the two
disciples on the road to Emmaus, and he opens up to them the scriptures to teach
them about the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ, and then he sits down
and he blesses and breaks bread with them, it is written in Luke 24 verses 31
to 32, and their eyes were open and they knew him, and he
vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us while he talked with us by the way and while he opened to us
the scripture? So these disciples say something that's very similar
to what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah chapter 20, that within their
heart there was this burning, but only when Christ had opened up the scriptures
unto them, only when he had showed and preached unto them the word of God.
The same reaction happened with them to the word of God that they had received
as that had happened with Jeremiah. They had this burning
within them. But what does that mean? What is this burning referring to?
Well I believe that this is referring to this strong desire within Jeremiah
to preach God's word. But that only makes sense within the context
because he had given up the word to preach, and then he later repents. So he
knew the word, he knew what the word of God said, but because he suffered
from derision and persecution because of it, he had stopped preaching it.
The only reason why he began to preach again is because the word
was like a burning fire shut up within his bones. He says, but
meaning even though I just said this, even though
I said I will not make mention of him anymore nor speak in his name
but even despite that, the word was
within my heart a burning fire shut up within my bones.
So he could feel a sensation, a burning sensation within him
as part of the word to preach the word. Now the Bible uses the word
burn a few times to refer to a strong desire. Now obviously we're not
talking about a literal burning. It's not saying that Jeremiah's soul was literally on fire.
It's not saying that his bones were literally on fire since
Jeremiah 20 uses the word as, showing that it's a simile, meaning it's
figurative language. So he compares the desire to preach with a
burning fire and what that is like. Now when the word burn is used
in the Bible, it's often used in a negative context, referring to a
sinful desire like lust, like in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 verse
9 where it says, but if they cannot contain, let them marry for it
is better to marry than to burn. And so in this verse, Paul writes about
men who cannot contain themselves. He says that they should marry because some
can naturally resist the lust of the flesh while others struggle
and would easily fall into fornication if they're not married. So Paul says
let them marry because that's better than to burn, meaning burn in their lust.
Or in other words, it's better to marry than to have that burning
that strong desire within you to commit fornication.
Now like I said, that's a sinful connotation of the word, obviously.
And of course there's nothing sinful whatsoever about preaching the word of God.
Preaching is not a lust of the flesh. However, it could still be called
a desire. We have a desire as Christians oftentimes to
preach what God says and to teach what the Bible says. It's a strong desire that
eats within you as like a fire that burns within you.
So because Jeremiah had the word of God in his heart, which is a
powerful word according to Hebrews 4.12, and because he had temporarily
refused to preach it, that word within his heart began to move
his spirit in a way that it felt like a fire was eating up within him
and that he couldn't but preach the word. So the word
is so powerful that it affects us within, in this way, like no
other book. And I'm sure many other Christians can testify that they felt a very
similar thing. That the more we learn about the Bible and the more we grow
and the more we study, the more we know about what's right and we see
the wickedness in this world, the more of a desire we have to talk about the things
of God. The more of a desire we have to preach his word.
Otherwise, if we don't, it's like a burning fire, a strong desire
within us that needs to be breathed out. Oftentimes
you may have heard the phrase fire breathing preaching, or fire and brimstone
preaching. Now technically that phrase comes from the style of preaching
which emphasizes not just the positive, but also the negative in the Bible.
The wrath of God, that of Hell and the lake of fire and judgment and destruction
and things like that. Not like the weak preachers of today who say nothing
about that, even though the Bible mentions it constantly, but the bold
spirit-filled preachers who stand up and speak the whole counsel of God, who don't just
focus on the positive, but also preach the wrath of God. However
even just the phrase of fire and brimstone preaching has some scriptural
sense to it in the fact that those preachers of the past and the present
who have preached the word of God have done so through the fullness of the Holy Ghost.
Now do you recall that when John spake of the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, talking about Jesus who would come after him.
He baptized with water, but he prophesied that Jesus will come
and he says also that there is a baptism with fire. In Luke chapter 3
verse 16, it says, John answered, saying unto them all,
I indeed baptize you with water, but one mightier than I cometh. The latchet
of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose. He shall baptize you with the
Holy Ghost and with fire. So John the Baptist
is telling of the coming of Christ, saying that he shall
baptize them not with water, but with the Holy Ghost and with fire.
This does not take place until the book of Acts, and when the spirit
rests upon the believers, what happens? What do we see in the book of Acts
as the result of being filled with the Holy Ghost? Now
the Pentecostals and the Charismatics think that that means that you roll around on the floor
and speak gibberish, but that's not what happened. In the Bible we see that they preach
the word of God. In Acts chapter 2, what they did was they preached the word of God.
They spake of the wonderful works of God, it says I think in verse 11 of that chapter.
Then it says in Acts chapter 4 verse 31, and when they had
prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they were
all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word of God with boldness.
So when these members of the church of Jerusalem were filled with the Holy Ghost,
the result was that they spake the word of God with boldness.
The baptism of the Holy Ghost and with fire leads one to
speak the word of God with boldness. Again, another interesting connection between
preaching the word of God and fire. Did not
it say in Jeremiah that the word of God is like as a fire and as a burning
fire within us? Why? Because when the power of God's
spirit rests upon a preacher of God's word, not only do they have
that strong desire within them to preach, but they are given the boldness
to stand up and to speak the fiery word of God. That's fire-breathing
preaching, breathing the fire that is God's word. First,
there starts with that burning desire within us, and we let it out through the
fullness of the Holy Ghost, and we speak it in boldness. Then that same
word, which is as a fire, will also one day judge the wicked.
Remember that the Bible says in John chapter 1 verse 1 that the word
was God, and that it says in Hebrews 1227 that our God
is a consuming fire. The word which we preach has the power to
consume and fire in a figurative sense. As Jesus said in John chapter 12
verse 48, He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words,
hath one that judgeth him. The word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him
in the last day. Christ teaches that it is the
word which he has spoken that shall judge the damned in the last day.
When the sinners who have not received Christ stand before the throne of God,
it is the books which are open before the great white throne
in Revelation chapter 20, and they are judged out of those things which are written in the books
according to their works. Okay, that's the word of God. That is what will judge
them in the last day according to Jesus, and that judgment is
when they are condemned to the lake of fire because of the judgment of the word, because
they have disobeyed God's word, and they have not gotten saved by trusting Jesus
Christ. So the word has power, and the word being the statement
of who God is and His will is a fire
in three different senses, in that it burns within us as a strong desire
to preach, and if we withhold that, if we stop preaching
it will continue to burn within our bones, as Jeremiah said.
That we speak it with boldness through the baptism with fire,
and that it has the power to judge the wicked and also condemn them to the lake of
fire. So those are some interesting things that the Bible says
about the word of God. I just want to share that with you today.
I really like Jeremiah chapter 20 verses 7 and 9. It's a verse that
was on my mind a few weeks ago, and that led me to decide to talk about
this today. But yeah, it's a very interesting subject to study.
So thank you everybody for watching. That's it for today, and goodbye.