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We're there in Jeremiah chapter 1, and we are continuing our study through the prophets. So last week we did Isaiah, and I kind of just did one sermon on that. One big reason, obviously I wanted to hit all the prophets, but I had just, we're going through Isaiah right now, so we're going chapter by chapter through the book of Isaiah, and so I didn't want to belabor that. Obviously if you've been here through that, I didn't want to just hit all those points. So Jeremiah, I have a bigger sermon tonight, and I'm not going to get through it all, meaning that this is going to be at least a two-parter. The book of Jeremiah actually has a lot of stories as far as Jeremiah and what he's gone through and just different things about him, whereas Isaiah is more just prophecy, right? He's just preaching. There are some stories as far as where Isaiah is involved, but Jeremiah, a lot of this is just him going back and forth with the kings and doing all this stuff, and obviously I'm not going to hit every line. We're not going through the whole book of Jeremiah, but I do want to kind of hit some points here. So first of all, Jeremiah 1 and verse 1, it says, the words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, 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. It came also in the days of Jehoiakim, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah, the son of Josiah, king of Judah, until the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month. So we see that when was Jeremiah preaching? In Josiah's day, in his son's day, and Zedekiah is also his son, but if you know how this works, Jehoiakim reigns for eleven years, then he's taken out, right? And then Jeconiah is taken captive, and Zedekiah is set up to reign. He reigns for another eleven years, and then during the captivity, but then they rebel, and then that's when the city is burned, okay? The temple is destroyed, everything is burned, right? And so he's there for that whole time, preaching during that time, prophesying during that time. And Josiah reigns for thirty-one years, so it says that he was preaching, or the word of the Lord came to him in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah, so we're basically in the midst of Josiah's reign is when Jeremiah comes into place, okay? So when you're reading through 2 Kings, you're really coming through the very end of 2 Kings, where you get into Josiah, his sons, and then the carrying away into Babylon, and that's where Jeremiah's at, okay? So go to 2 Kings chapter 22, 2 Kings chapter 22, and the first thing you see about Jeremiah is he's the son of Hilkiah, the son of Hilkiah, and we'll actually see Jeremiah's father, and he's actually a significant character in the Bible, okay? So in 2 Kings chapter 22 and verse 3, it says, And it came to pass in the eighteenth year of King Josiah, that the king sent Shaphan, the son of Azaliah, the son of Meshulam, the scribe to the house of the Lord, saying, Go up to Hilkiah the high priest. So Hilkiah is the high priest, okay? Notice that this is in the eighteenth year of Josiah, and the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah in the thirteenth year, so Jeremiah's already preaching at this time, but Hilkiah, his father is the high priest, which it even said in Jeremiah 1 that he's the son of Hilkiah of the priests, okay? So just to give you an idea, and you say, what's the significance of Hilkiah? Well, keep reading there. It says that he may sum the silver which is brought into the house of the Lord, which the keepers of the door have gathered of the people, and let them deliver it into the hand of the doers of the work, and have the oversight of the house of the Lord, and let them give it to the doers of the work, which is in the house of the Lord, to repair the breaches of the house. Josiah is sending to Hilkiah and all of them to basically fix the house of God, you know, fix the breaches, whatever's been torn down, take care of that, right? Notice what it says in verse 8 there. Verse 8, it says, And Hilkiah the high priest said unto Shaphan the scribe, I have found the book of the law in the house of the Lord. So Hilkiah, Jeremiah's dad, is the one that found the book of the law, okay? We're talking about, I'm pretty sure we're talking about the first five books of Moses at least, okay, that we're dealing with here, that he found in the house of God. Now that's interesting, first of all, in the fact that, what do you mean you just found it? Right? Weren't you using it? Weren't you actually, like, you're supposed to be the priests, you're supposed to be doing the ministry of the priest, who had, you know, Levitical priesthood, you don't have the book of Leviticus in front of you. This really shows you the spiritual state of Judah at that time, right? Because in Isaiah we're dealing with Hezekiah, Hezekiah obviously had this revival where he fixed up the house of God, and, you know, they had the Passover that hadn't been done that way since David or Samuel's day, and then we see that, okay, well in Josiah's day, who was Josiah's dad? Ammon, and who was Ammon's dad? Manasseh, okay, Manasseh reigned for a long time, he reigned for like 51, 52 years, and he was wicked, remember? Then he, like, humbled himself at the end. But you can obviously see that the state of Judah at that time was not in a good place, and Hezekiah found the book of the law, and notice in verse 10 it says, And Shaphan the scribe showed the king, saying, Hezekiah the priest had delivered me a book, and Shaphan read it before the king. And it came to pass, when the king had heard the words of the book of the law, that he rent his clothes. Now, this isn't a sermon about Josiah, but this is where Josiah obviously humbles himself before the Lord, gets right with God, and God is prospering Judah until he gets to his sons. So his sons drop the ball, that's where you get Jehoiachim, Zedekiah, and all that. So just to give you a background, Hilkiah is Jeremiah's dad, and Jeremiah's dad is the one that found the book of the law for Josiah, okay? So go back to Jeremiah chapter 1, Jeremiah chapter 1, and verse 4. The point of these sermons, when it comes to this prophet series, is so you understand who the prophets are, right? Because a lot of people know Isaiah, well, I say that, but maybe not a lot of people know who Isaiah is, right? They probably hear of Elijah, right, Elijah, you know, calling fire down from heaven, or being caught up into the chariot, right? And you can probably think of, oh, okay, I know who Elijah is. Maybe you don't know who Isaiah is, but same thing with Jeremiah, like, okay, I know there is a prophet named Jeremiah, but who is he, what did he do, you know, what kind of person was he? And so the point of this sermon is to kind of really dive into that as far as who is Jeremiah the prophet, okay? And I think sometimes, if not all the times, people have no idea who these prophets are, they have no idea what kind of people they were, whether good or bad, or, you know, at least, you know, TV has told them differently, okay? You know, when you think a lot of these guys, you see them on TV, and it's like, that's not what's in the Bible, you know, that's not what it says. Verse 4 here, so Jeremiah 1, verse 4, it says, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee. So the first thing we see here is that God knew who Jeremiah was before he was even born, okay? Now, we know this to be true because the Bible says, whom the Lord foreknew, it says, whom the Lord foreknew, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son, and it says, the Lord knoweth them that trust in him. See, God knows from the foundation of the world whether you're going to put your faith in him. He doesn't force you to believe in him, but you can't blame God for knowing that you're going to hear the gospel and believe it, okay? And he's basically stating that, I knew you, Jeremiah, before you were in the womb, why? Because he's God. He knows the end from the beginning, he knew from the foundation of the world that Jeremiah was going to get saved, and he had ordained him from before he was even born to say, this is what you're going to do. So here's what it says here in verse 5. It says, I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Okay? If you don't mind underlining in your Bible, underline nations, okay? And this is a big thing to understand here is that Jeremiah was not just a prophet to Judah. You say, what about Israel? Israel was destroyed before this, okay? The northern kingdom of Israel was destroyed, sometimes it will use that language of Israel because obviously there's more than just a tribe of Judah down there, but he was not just a prophet to Jerusalem. It says that he ordained him to be a prophet of the nations, and you know what's interesting about that? Isaiah was preaching to the nations too. This idea that in the Old Testament, God only cared about Israel or cared about Jews, no, he cared about everybody, and he was preaching to everybody. He wanted everybody to get saved. That's never changed, never will change. God's not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He doesn't have all men to be saved, it comes to the knowledge of the truth. And he was preaching to these nations back then, okay? Keep reading there, it says, then said I, ah, Lord God, behold, I cannot speak for I am a child. But the Lord said unto me, say not I am a child, for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee, thou shalt speak. Be ye not afraid of their faces, for I am with thee to deliver thee, said the Lord. Then the Lord put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said unto me, behold, I have put my words in thy mouth, see, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms to root out, to pull down, to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant. So tell me again that God, in the Old Testament, only cared about Israel. Who's he talking about? The nations, the kingdoms. And he says, I have made thee a prophet over the nations. So what? To root out, to pull down, to destroy, to throw down, to build, and to plant. You know what's interesting is that when you look at Jeremiah, you kind of get to the end of the story of Jeremiah in chapter 45. Chapter 46 through 41, those are all addressed to different nations, Egypt, Moab, Edom, all these different nations that he's addressing to. We're going through Isaiah and how many times have we seen Moab, Edom, just different, Babylon, Assyria, like all these nations he's addressing. And so God was wanting them to hear the word and go to Jeremiah chapter 28 just to show you that again, that it wasn't just Jeremiah. So what are you trying to get at? This dispensational garbage that says that God only cares about one group of people. Like the Jews are God's chosen people and that's all he cares about, just because of who you were born to. No, that's never been the case. Now he used the nation of Israel when they were under the old covenant to bring in the law, to bring in the promises, and ultimately Christ came through the seed of Abraham and through the seed of David as he promised. But throughout the Old Testament, we see that people are getting saved, name in the Syrian, you know, the woman of Zarepta, like other people are getting saved in other countries. By the way, Abraham wasn't always an Israelite. By the way, he gave birth to them, right? He wasn't in that line anyway. So notice what it says in Jeremiah 28 verse 7, it says, Now, you know, I know we haven't got there, but we're going to be getting to Jonah. The whole book of Jonah is him preaching to Nineveh, which is the capital city of Assyria. The whole book of Nahum is the burden of Nineveh, right? So the point I'm trying to get across here is that God has made up one blood all nations and he's not willing to an end and should perish. You don't believe me, go to Isaiah 45, Isaiah 45 verse 22. And I just think it's interesting that Jeremiah, the very first chapter, the whole point he's trying to get across here is I've made you a prophet to the nations. He didn't say I made you a prophet to Jerusalem or to Judah, though obviously that's in the nations, right? That would be encompassed in that and we obviously see him preaching there. But this also shows you that even in the New Testament, you say, well, you should just stay in your group. You shouldn't be preaching to anybody else as far as, you know, why do you put your stuff online to where people can see it across the world? Because God's word should be preached to all nations. You know what's the marker of a cult when it's only inclusive to one group of people? No, it should be to everybody. You know, the idea that only a certain group of people can get saved or this is true, these people are higher than others, God is not a respecter of persons. And notice what it says in Isaiah 45 verse 22, Isaiah 45 verse 22, it says, look unto me and be ye saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else. That's Isaiah 45. That's not the New Testament. That's Isaiah 45, that God wants the whole earth to look unto him and be saved, okay? Now Israel was supposed to be the light to the world. They were supposed to be the watchmen. They were supposed to be the ones preaching the gospel, bringing glad tidings of good things. They failed. Ultimately they failed. He found fault with them and he took away the Old Testament and established the New Testament. And in the New Testament, obviously it's better. Jesus is the high priest at the order of Melchizedek. We don't need to do burnt offerings or sacrifices. We just come unto him boldly and we preach the gospel to every creature. Now we don't have to go to the temple of God that's in Jerusalem. Now every local church is the house of God. So it's obviously better in the New Testament, it's easier to get out to the rest of the world because you're not having like this central location where you've got to come out from that. Obviously back then too, there wasn't a lot of people outside of that realm, right? Things have obviously expanded since the day of Christ to where it would really be a lot harder nowadays, you know, with how, you know, just America in general. Even if you're just thinking about America to get out here from Jerusalem, right? Now go back to Jeremiah chapter 13 and I'm really just trying to give you a look of who Jeremiah was. Jeremiah was a preacher to the nations, okay? He didn't just preach to Judah, although that was a place he was preaching to, okay? He was preaching to Jerusalem, he was preaching through the king there, but he was also preaching to other nations, okay? Jeremiah, you may have heard this, is known as the weeping prophet. Have you ever heard that before? I've always heard that and, you know, I can definitely see where they're coming from. Jeremiah 13 and verse 15, it says, So if you know a lot about what he's preaching, you know, a lot of the synopsis is that he's telling his people, he's like, you need to get right, you need to stop what you're doing, stop worshipping these idols, you need to get back to God because God's going to destroy this nation, he's going to take you captive, and if you don't hear this word, and obviously we know the end of the story, they don't hear it and they don't listen to him, and then God takes them captive, but notice his heart, the heart of Jeremiah, okay? The heart of Jeremiah is compassion. He says, My soul shall weep in secret places for your pride, and mine eye shall weep sore and run down with tears because the Lord's flock is carried away captive. There's a whole book called Lamentations, and in Lamentations, it says this in chapter 1 verse 16, it says, For these things I weep, mine eye, mine eye running down with water, because the comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me. My children are desolate because the enemy prevailed. The whole book of Lamentations is, what is a Lamentation? If you lament, what do you do in your mourning, okay? So when you think of Jeremiah the prophet, it's not only, I don't think I mentioned this, it's the longest book in the Bible, and you know what, I was actually wrong about something, I thought Psalms was the second longest, but it's actually Genesis, okay? Genesis is the second, then Psalms, okay, they're really close, they're really close, but Jeremiah doesn't have the most chapters, but it's the longest book because it's obviously longer chapters, longer verses, stuff like that, but on top of that, he has another book called Lamentations right after that, it's five other chapters, right? So you're dealing with 57 chapters of Jeremiah, and so this is a very prominent book in the Bible, as far as just the length of it, to know that hey, this is an important book that we should be looking at. Other places in the Bible where it talks about him weeping, Jeremiah 9, verse 1, it says, oh, that my head were waters in mine eyes, a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people, okay, so I don't want to belabor that because you could go into all these places where it's talking about him weeping, mourning for his people, and the thing I want you to get out here is that he has compassion for his people, right? And this is something we need to have as Christians, we need to have compassion, okay? Go to Psalm 126, Psalm 126 and verse 5. You know as soul winners, we can have that planned down pat as far as what it takes to get to heaven and how we're going to show people that salvation is by grace through faith, that you cannot lose your salvation, it's eternal life, and we can have that down pat, but you've got to have compassion in there, you've got to care for that person, and you can't fake that. Listen, people are smart, okay, smarter than you think, meaning they can read your body language, they can read your face, they can know whether you're just going through the motions or if you don't care, okay? Notice what it says in Psalm 126 and verse 5, Psalm 126 and verse 5 says, they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him. And obviously we know that we're talking about being born again, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever, and the idea of bearing precious seed, but notice that that's coupled with weeping, okay? I'm not saying that you've got to go up to the door and you're just crying, okay? People are going to be like, what is wrong with you, okay? The idea though is obviously compassion, but it could come to that. Listen, there's been many people that we've talked to that get emotional when you talk to them about that, and it's hard sometimes to hold back tears when you see that person that is just like really broken down by it and just thankful that you're there, thankful that you came, and all that, okay? But the thing is that you need to have compassion when you're going out soul-wanting. You need to have compassion when you're preaching, okay? Even when I preach hard, and I think this morning was probably a hard sermon in some cases, but I didn't preach it because I just, I need to get that off my chest, okay? It's because I care, meaning I care about you, I care about the people of this country, and I care, and that's why, you know, the reason you preach hard, or the reason that we go out and preach the gospel. But in Jude, in verse 22, very familiar verse, obviously we use this a lot for soul-wanting, but just coupled with that of Psalm 126, in Jude in verse 22, it says, and of some, have compassion making a difference, and others, saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. You know, Jesus looked at the multitude, and he had compassion on him, and you'll see that a lot of times. Even the rich man that came to him, the rich young ruler, he said, you know, he was basically the rich young ruler, he was like, I've done everything, I've kept all the commandments, you know, what lack I yet, right? And Jesus, it says, and Jesus had compassion on him, okay? So even someone that had pride, didn't want to admit that they had done wrong, didn't want to admit that they were a sinner, Jesus had compassion on them, and we need to have that. And you know what, Jeremiah's a hard preacher, okay? I don't know if I'm going to get to it today, but there's a passage in here, you're going to be like, that, whoa. If I were to say that, what it says in Jeremiah, and I just, that's what I said, you know how many people would say I'm the most hateful preacher in the world, right? So it's interesting because you build up to the fact that Jeremiah has all this compassion, he cares, he wants people to get right, he doesn't want people to be destroyed, and then he says something else over here, and you're like, how can both those things be right? Jeremiah's, listen, you can't love somebody unless you hate those that will destroy them, okay? I can't love my children unless I hate those that would hurt them, okay? And this is something that's just out the window today, and the idea that the Bible says, you know, do I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? Am I not greed with them that rise up against thee? I hate them with a perfect hatred. And this idea of like, we should never hate anything, it's like, that's ridiculous. We're supposed to love the good and hate the evil, what do you mean you shouldn't hate anything? But the idea that I would love somebody that would hurt my child, you're out to lunch. And it's not biblical, okay? It's just not what the Bible teaches. So you have to see that Jeremiah is a very compassionate person and very, you know, just down the level, cares for people, but there's a certain line where people can draw where you're like, there's no more compassion for you. Now go to Jeremiah chapter 9, Jeremiah chapter 9 and verse 23. I want to show you this one because, you know, there's definitely quotations in the Bible in Jeremiah. I don't know if I'll get to all of them, you know, as far as what's brought up. And sometimes in the Bible it doesn't say as written by Jeremiah the prophet, but it will just say as it is written and it's backed from Jeremiah and this is one of those, okay? It says this in Jeremiah 9, 23, it says, Thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches. But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord, which exercised lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth, for in these things I delight, saith the Lord. So this is a quotation or this is being quoted actually in the New Testament both in 1 Corinthians and 2 Corinthians and it's quoted as this, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. So and it's talking about wisdom of this world and all that and having riches or being, you know, in a higher position of power compared to being a base and it's basically saying you shouldn't glory in anything but in the Lord, okay? That goes for salvation, obviously you shouldn't be boasting about your salvation because it's not by anything you do, it's by what He did, but even in this life if I'm going to glory about something it's going to be about the fact that I know God, right? I know His word, I know I'm going to glory in that and be like that's something to glory about. I have knowledge from God's word and we need to hold on to that, okay? Now go to Revelation chapter 3 actually and what I want to get to right here is when you think of Jeremiah and if you've ever read through the book of Jeremiah you understand that he goes through some hard times, okay? They try to kill him a couple times, they put him in the stocks, they put him into a pit, thank the Lord there was no water in it, right? But he sunk into the mire and you look at Jeremiah like man, that's not a fun time but Jeremiah is a good case of where if you live for the Lord, yea all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution, that's a promise, okay? In me you shall have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation, okay? We're going to have trouble, persecutions, tribulations, all of that in the world but Jeremiah is a good case of if you just keep going for the Lord, you keep preaching hard, you keep doing what you should be doing, God will take care of you. And I want to show you this promise here in Revelation chapter 3 to really show you that I believe Jeremiah is a great example of this because Jeremiah doesn't die. He's not martyred, at least in the Bible that we see, right? But he's not martyred, actually in the end he ends up on top, he ends up being a landowner and out of all that stuff that he went through, in the end everybody else that was against him got destroyed and he ended up coming out clean, coming out on top and you know what? That's the type of stuff that we need to look at especially if we're going to be dealing with the great tribulation coming up or even if we don't deal with the great tribulation, you deal with persecutions and trials and tribulations in your life, notice what it says in Revelation chapter 3 and verse 7. Obviously this was to a specific church back then in Philadelphia, it says to the angel of the church in Philadelphia, these things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth and no man shutteth and shutteth and no man openeth. Know thy works, behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name, behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie, behold I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee. Notice in verse 10, because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which thou cometh upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Now this is obviously talking to believers, this is not talking about getting saved or having eternal life or losing yourself or anything like that, this is talking about believers that keep God's word during tribulation, okay, meaning this is that I believe this promise and I think we were talking about this last week and some of you were coming up to me and asked me about it, is the fact that I believe that God promises that if you're going through tribulation, let's say we're in the last days and we're going into that great tribulation, that yeah, they're coming after us, they're going to try to kill us Christians, they're going to be trying to stop everything that we say, I believe that if you just keep pressing forward, keep preaching God's word and not be afraid, that God will bring you through that and God will deliver you through that. Now, we talked about earlier last week that, well, in Hebrews chapter 11 it says that some did not accept deliverance, right, we were talking about how God stopped the mouths of lions and quenched the fire and all this stuff, but it says some did not accept deliverance that they might receive a better resurrection, right? So there's some people like Stephen in the Bible who was stoned and you know what, he didn't say, Lord, you know, save me, he said, Lord, lay not the sin to their charge. And then he gave up the ghost. And I believe Stephen didn't accept deliverance, he could have, he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of the Father, you don't think that Jesus could have saved him from that if he wanted him to? Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they knew that God was able and guess what, Jesus himself came and saved them out of that burning fiery furnace. You don't think that could happen today? You don't think that that could still happen today? And listen, I believe it's a promise from God that if you're not afraid and you're bold and you preach the word of God boldly in the last days or, yay, just before the last days, that the idea is that God will keep you from that hour of temptation like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when he said, in the hour that you don't bow down and worship this image, I will cast you alive into a burning fiery furnace. That's the hour of temptation, okay? Does that mean that if they would have bowed down they would have lost their salvation? No, because it's eternal life. You know there's Jews that believed on Jesus but they would not confess him openly for fear of the Jews, they still believed. But they're not going to have a better resurrection and they're not going to have the crown. It says, behold I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast that no man take thy crown. Not talking about salvation, it's talking about rewards, okay? But I do believe that if you're fearful and you're afraid at that time, then that promise is off the books. Not saying you're losing your salvation, not saying that you wouldn't go, obviously you're going to go to heaven, but the promise that God's going to keep you safe during that time if you're afraid of him, if you're ashamed of him, if you're not going to preach his word, if you're not going to do what you should be doing, that promise is off the books, okay? That's what I believe about this. Now, that's why it says in Matthew chapter 24, verse 12, and I'm giving you this preface of the New Testament dealing with end times, dealing with if we were to go through the great tribulation, if we were going to be here in that time, and you know it could be our day, but you never know, it could be another hundred years from now. It definitely is possible to be in our day, I can at least say that, right? It's possible that they could set up the one world government, they could, you know, do a whole currency online, you know, all that stuff could definitely happen, you know, so it's not like, well, how are they going to do it? Obviously, I know how they can do it, and notice what it says in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 12, it says, and because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. And this is a verse that really hits, when you think about what's going on in the world today, and just how there's, and listen, like I said, there's a time to hate, there's a lot of time to love and time to hate, but just how people are so callous towards each other, you know? As far as just they don't want to talk about anything, they don't want to just, let's just talk about it, you know, and just no dialogue wants to take place when it comes to anything that's going on, and it says that because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold, and I believe that will only get worse as you get to the end, but it says this in verse 13, but he that shall endure unto the end the same shall be saved, and this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come. That's why I don't believe in this dispensational church age stuff where we're in the Laodicean age, and we're the Laodicean church, and we're, you know, we're the ones that are lukewarm. Speak for yourself. You know that four people got saved today, out-soulening. Four people got saved, I wouldn't call that lukewarm, and the thing is that that's ridiculous when you think about this. In the end times, the gospel is going to be preached to all nations. How are you going to do that in a lukewarm generation? No, the Bible says that God's people, which do know their God, are going to do great exploits for God. That's quite a stark contrast to what these people are saying about that being the case. Now are there churches out there that are lukewarm? Sure there are. There's plenty of those. You know, look up the phone book and find out Baptist Church will probably find a lot of lukewarm ones on there that don't preach hard, don't go out soul-winning, don't do what they're supposed to be doing, think they know everything, think they got everything, think they don't need to learn anything. You know, that stuff is going on today, but it says, he that endure, he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. Now people usually use this verse and say, well you have to endure to the end to be saved from hell. Okay? Look at the context of this passage. Is it hell? Or is it talking about great tribulation and people dying physically? Look at verse 21, verse 21. So let's get context. It says in Matthew 24 and verse 21, it says, for then shall be great tribulation such as the world was, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, notice this, there should know what? But for the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. Now it's talking about the saved, it's talking about those that believe on Christ, it's saying that Jesus shortens those days, right? And if you know end times prophecy, you have the first three and a half years of the beginning of sorrows, you know, that's kind of going on the whole world, you have the abomination desolation that happens in the midst of that, then great tribulation such as the world is never seen. Technically we're supposed to be in that for another three and a half years, okay, because the beast, the antichrist is given three and a half years, 42 months, to have power of the earth, and he does, but God shortens those days, meaning that he comes back and saves us out of that, okay? And he's basically saying that if he wouldn't have, if we were to be here for three and a half years of great tribulation, no one would be saved, everybody would die. That's what he's stating. But since he shortened the days, you know, we will be saved, and here's the thing, what I believe this promises is that if you endure unto the end, you say, what does that mean? Well, if you think of the parable of the sower, it says that those that were, the seed that fell on the sony ground, it says they deareth for a while, right? But when persecutions and tribulations arise, as by and by they are offended, what are we talking about here? I think we're talking about tribulations, persecutions, right? Does that mean that they were unsaved? No. They said they believed, they received the word, they're saved, but they were offended. They didn't endure, okay? And I believe this is saying, listen, you endure. I don't think he's just making a blanket statement, if you make it through, you'll be saved, right? That's kind of like pointing out the obvious, right? Like, well, if you make it through and don't die, you won't die. It's like, I don't think that's what he's saying, okay? I think he's stating that you endure, you're not offended, and you keep, and you live godly and you keep my word, I will keep you from the hour of temptation and you will be saved and you will be lifting up your head and looking up for your redemption draweth nigh, when Jesus comes in the clouds, okay? Now, go back to Jeremiah chapter 15, or Jeremiah 15, you're like, I thought we were in Jeremiah, okay, I'm getting there, okay? The point that, I want to preface that with the fact that these are promises that God is giving us that, hey, you know, the world's going to hate you. Jesus said, marvel not if the world hates you, they hated me before they hated you. So if the world hates you because you're preaching the truth, you're saying the truth, you're preaching the Bible, there's nothing new under the sun, that's the way it's always been, always will be, because the world hates the light. They hate truth because their deeds are evil, okay? Now, that being said, Jeremiah's a great example of someone that was going through great persecutions, getting death threats, but comes out on top. Notice in Jeremiah chapter 15 and verse 15, it says, O Lord, thou knowest, remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors, take me not away in thy longsuffering, know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke. Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart, for I am called by thy name, O Lord God of hosts. So notice Jeremiah's heart, he's saying, you know, I took your words, I ate them, they were joy and rejoicing to my heart, and it's for thy sake that I'm suffering these things, right? He's pointing out, and you know, Jesus points that out that, hey, you're going to be persecuted, and blessed are those that are persecuted for my sake, okay? Now go to Jeremiah chapter 15 and verse 20, notice what the response is, okay? Verse 20, it says, and I will make thee unto this people a fenced, brazen wall, and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee, for I am with thee to save thee, to deliver thee, saith the Lord. I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible. And he does, okay, spoiler alert, he does. Now go to Jeremiah chapter 18, Jeremiah chapter 18, just to show you this, and like I said, Jeremiah's got a lot of stories in it, so I kind of just want to go through that and, you know, we'll just get to what we can tonight. I don't want to just quickly go through this because there's certain books that I read and I'm like, I feel like I don't know them as well as I should, and even if you've read through them scores of times, sometimes you just got to sit down and kind of look at it, think about it, right? And Jeremiah's one of those books, why? Because it's huge, okay? It's the biggest book in the Bible, so it's a big book, there's a lot of stuff in it, and I just want to kind of point out some stuff about Jeremiah here. Jeremiah 18 and verse 18, I know this is kind of a Bible study, that is kind of what this is actually, this whole series is a Bible study on the prophets, but it says in verse 18, Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah. For the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words. Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me. Shall evil be recompensed for good? For they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them. So he's basically stating, he's talking about what they are doing, they're trying to hurt him, they're trying to cause devices to come against him, and he's saying, Lord, contend for me, right? Because I'm doing this for their good, I'm trying to help them. It reminds me of Paul when Paul said, The more I love you, the less I be loved. He's like, I'm doing this because I care about you, the more I care about you, the more you hate me. Verse 21, it says, Therefore deliver up their children. This is the verse, okay? I knew it was coming. If you know, I don't really have any, I should probably put some more headlines on here, I just put verses on here, and hope that I remember what I'm going to be preaching on. I'm joking, kind of. No, but honestly, it's going to the top. Remember I said that Jeremiah was the weeping prophet, very compassionate, right? I want you to think about if I said this, I wasn't just reading this from Jeremiah, but I want you to think about if I just said this as a preacher, okay? Notice what he says here, verse 21. Therefore deliver up their children to the famine, and pour out their blood by the force of the sword. And let their wives be bereaved of their children and be widows. And let their men be put to death. Let their young men be slain by the sword in battle. Let a cry be heard from their houses, when thou shalt bring a troop suddenly upon them, for they have digged a pit to take me and hide snares for my feet, or hid snares for my feet. Yet, Lord, thou knowest all their counsel against me to slay me. Forgive not their iniquity, neither blot out their sin from thy sight, but let them be overthrown before thee, deal dust with them in the time of thine anger. You getting a picture of Jeremiah? Isn't that a little different than what you see today? When you think of preachers. Now who's he talking about? Is he talking about the little old lady across the street that doesn't want to hear the gospel? That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about people that hate God. We're talking about there is a group of people out there that are haters of God, that are ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. There are people out there that literally can't sleep until they do evil. This isn't in my notes, but I want you to see this. Go to Proverbs chapter 4. Proverbs chapter 4. This isn't the majority of people, okay? This is the minority of people that are like this, but there are people out there that literally can't sleep unless they do evil. I got to find it first. I know it's in chapter 4. 16. Thanks. I knew it was, yeah. Verse 16 there. It says, look back at verse 14 to get some context there, yeah. Verse 14, it says, enter not into the path of the wicked and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it. Pass not by it. Turn from it and pass away, for they sleep not except they have done mischief and their sleep is taken away unless they cause some to fall. That's true. Now, that's not a fun thought to think about, okay? But there are people that literally cannot sleep unless they hurt somebody. That is their modus operandi. They just are not happy unless they hurt somebody. And those people are out there. And what you're seeing here in Jeremiah 18 is what we would call an imprecatory prayer or to put it on another level, a curse, right? Jeremiah is cursing them. David does it many times in the book of Psalms that he's cursing people. Jesus cursed people. He said, you shall receive the greater damnation. Woe unto you, scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. There's a whole chapter of him doing that. And what I'm trying to get across here is when you read through Jeremiah, okay, and I was reading through this last week, obviously the study for this, you're just like, how do people think that the prophets were just these pansies that didn't preach hard or, you know, you see them on TV and they're just like, they're just like God men. They're not man of God. They're just like, they elevate above everybody else. They don't like do anything wrong or they don't say anything that's crass or anything like that. But when you read through here, you're like, how in the world can people think that God's men were just these milk-toast, limp-wristed, you know, type of preachers? I mean, think of John the Baptist. He literally went around in camel's hair in a leather girdle eating locust and wild honey and baptizing in the wilderness. I mean, this guy was a rough guy. But also all these prophets were pretty rough, you know, when it comes down to this. But does that mean that Jeremiah didn't care? He's known as the weeping prophet. But if I said this, if I said this, I would be on the news for being the most hateful preacher that you'd ever run into. But that's what Jeremiah said. Do I need to read what David said, the sweet psalmist of Israel, when he said, break their teeth, O God, in their mouth? I mean, I think some people just need to get into the Bible and see what it actually says. But David, a man after God's own heart, the sweet psalmist of Israel, David is the model of loving your enemy. I mean, to the point of a fault, right, when he loved his enemy so much that his friends were like, you need to stop, you're going too far, you're not going to have any friends left you're loving your enemy so much, right? And so you've got to have balance, you've got to know when to love, when to hate, and Jeremiah is one of those that knows that very well. Now, I don't know how many I want to go through here. Go to Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 1, Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 1, Jeremiah chapter 20 and verse 1, it says, Now Pashur, the son of Imra the priest, who was also chief governor in the house of the Lord, heard that Jeremiah prophesied these things. Now what is he talking about? This whole book is basically stating that Jerusalem is going to be taken captive, it's going to be for 70 years, the king of Babylon is coming, you know, unless you guys get right with God, this is going to happen. And people didn't like that. Verse 2, it says, Then Pashur smote Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the high gate of Benjamin, which was by the house of the Lord. And it came to pass on the morrow that Pashur brought forth Jeremiah out of the stocks. Then said Jeremiah unto him, The Lord hath not called thy name Pashur, but Magor-Mesebib. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will make thee a terror to thyself and to all thy friends, and they shall fall by the sword of their enemies, and thine eyes shall behold it. So this is the punishment that's coming upon Pashur is that he's going to see all his friends die by the sword. And then you get down to verse 6 and it says, Now Pashur, and all that dwell in thine house shall go into captivity. And it says, And thou shalt come to Babylon, there thou shalt die, and shalt be buried there, thou and all thy friends, to whom thou hast prophesied lies. So notice that Jeremiah is being put into the stocks here, but this prophet that's speaking lies, Pashur, is being judged for that. Go to Jeremiah chapter 26 and verse 8. Jeremiah chapter 26 and verse 8. I mean eventually we're going to do an expository preaching through Jeremiah one of these days. That's not going to be after Isaiah. I think that's a little much. Right? We can do Isaiah. I think we need a little break from the longer books and then we'll go back and we'll go into Jeremiah. So obviously there's all kinds of cool stuff we'd be looking at in these chapters, but Jeremiah 26 and verse 8 says, Now it came to pass that when Jeremiah had made an end of speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people, that the priests and the prophets and all the people took him, saying, Thou shalt surely die. Now what I want you to see here is that he's speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak unto all the people. So Jeremiah's not in the wrong, he's not saying something he shouldn't be saying. He is saying exactly what God told him to say. What do they want him to do? They want him to die. And listen, it's hard to be a preacher to this day and not get death threats, because you do. I mean this church has only been three and a half years long, but in the first year I got death threats for preaching sermons. And you know what, it is what it is. But look what Jeremiah, the story, how it goes on here, and what's the end game of that. It says in verse 9, it says, Why hast thou prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant, and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah in the house of the Lord. So he's basically saying this is why we want you to die, you're speaking against this place. It says, When the princes of Judah heard these things, then they came up from the king's house unto the house of the Lord, and sat down in the entry of the new gate of the Lord's house. Then spake the priests and the prophets unto the princes, and to all the people, saying, This man is worthy to die, for he hath prophesied against this city, as ye have heard with your ears. Then spake Jeremiah unto all the princes, and to all the people, saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against this city, all the words that ye have heard. Therefore now amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will repent from the evil that he hath pronounced against you. As for me, behold, I am in your hand, to do with me as seemeth good, and meet unto you. Now I want to ask you a question. Did Jeremiah say, I didn't mean it, guys? I'm sorry. Did he say that? Or did he double down and say, God sent me to say this? And then he repeated it. That's the type of preachers you need today. Listen, the preachers today will preach about Leviticus 20, 13 that says that if a man lie with mankind as he does with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination, they should surely be put to death, their blood shall be upon them. And then in the New Testament it says, they that do such things, you know, not only do the same, but have pleasure than to do them, that are worthy of death. That's not a popular saying, but that's what the Bible says. You know what? That's why I get death threats. That's why the news comes after me. That's why, you know, in all the churches that you've been to, that preach the Word of God, they don't like that, but you know what? You know what they want you to do? They want you to ask for forgiveness. They want you to say, oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. But you know what? We just need to double down on it. Because it's not me that said it. Did I write Leviticus? Did I write Romans 1? Did I write 2 Peter 2? Did I write Jude? Did I write Genesis 19, Judges 19? Did I write those passages or am I just repeating it and preaching the Word of God? I didn't write it, God did, by the way, I agree with it. And the thing is, is that, what did Jeremiah do? He doubled down on it. He wasn't afraid. Verse 15. But know ye for certain that if ye put me to death, ye shall surely bring innocent blood upon yourselves, and upon the city, and upon the inhabitants thereof, for of a truth the Lord hath sent me unto you, to speak all these words in your ears. Now what do you think is going to happen? Now in your logic you would think, well, they're going to stone them with stones. They're going to kill them. He just doubled down on what he said. That's the logic of humanism. They're like, I better do this, they're going to take away my job, they're going to do this, they're going to come after me, they're going to come after my family. No, you just need to trust in the Lord. Remember what God said, that He's with you in times of tribulations, that He will save you, He will help you. The question is, do you have faith that He will do it? Notice what it says in verse 16. Then said the princes and all the people unto the priests and to the prophets, this man is not worthy to die, for he hath spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God. Interesting, isn't it? How'd they go from this guy has to die to he's not worthy to die, he's speaking the words of God. You would think that he'd have to change what he said. No, he said, he sent me to say this. Do what you want. If you kill me, you're going to bring an innocent blood, but God's the one who sent me to say this. Jeremiah is a preacher that led to chips falling where they may. He said, God told me to say this, you can take it how you want, you kill me, you kill an innocent person, and good luck with that. That was his attitude. Now let's look at another man in the same chapter. Now I'll end with this one, notice what it says in verse 20. So Jeremiah chapter 26 and verse 20, it says, and there was also a man that prophesied in the name of the Lord, Urijah, the son of Shemaiah, of Kirjeth-jearim, who prophesied against the city and against this land according to all the words of Jeremiah. So what you have is this other prophet that's doing the same thing Jeremiah's doing, okay? He's not like preaching anything different, he's just like, he's preaching against the city, saying all this is going to happen just like Jeremiah is, verse 21. And when Jehoiakim, the king, with all his mighty men and all the princes heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. Sound familiar? They were trying to put Jeremiah to death. But notice this right here, but when Urijah heard it, he was afraid and fled and went into Egypt. There's a different response. He was afraid and he fled. What did Jeremiah do? He said, yeah, I said it. God told me to say it. And if you kill me, you're going to bring innocent blood on you. He didn't say, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that. I mean, can you imagine, just think about that for a second. If you preach the word of God and you say, thus saith the Lord, he said this, and then you say, I'm sorry. Are you apologizing for God? Or are you just apologizing that you believe the word of God? Are you apologizing that you're a Christian? What are you apologizing for? It's not my words, it's his words. I just happen to repeat it. I happen to love it. I happen to actually agree with it. Because you know when the reporter asked me, they said, he kept wanting me to say, what do you think about that? I'm like, I think what the Bible thinks about that. Well, you're just hiding behind the Bible. What do you think? I don't know how else to say this to you. I believe the Bible. I love the Bible. The Bible says it. I agree with it. Now, did I always agree with that? No, because the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolish as unto him, neither can he know them, because he is spiritually discerned. Another thing, there is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but at the end thereof are the ways of death. But you know what? I had the mind of Christ because I had the Bible, and you know what? I agree with that. When the Bible says something that I used to think, or I thought it was this way, and the Bible says it that way, guess what? The Bible's right, I'm wrong. Now, let's read what happens to Urijah. It says in verse 22, it says, And Jehoiakim the king sent men into Egypt, namely El-Nathan, the son of Achbor, and certain men with him into Egypt. And they fetched forth Urijah out of Egypt, and brought him unto Jehoiakim the king, who slew him with the sword, and cast his body into the graves of the common people. Nevertheless, the hand of Ahicham, the son of Shaphan, was with Jeremiah, that he should not give him into the hand of the people to put him to death. So this takes faith, okay? It takes faith that you say, no, I'm just going to stick up, I'm going to stick to my guns. I'm going to stick to my guns and say, listen, if you're right, stick to your guns. If you're just saying what the Bible says, stick to your guns and double down on it. Now, if you say something wrong, I'm not saying to just stick to your guns, whatever you say, you know? We all make mistakes, and there's been times that I've said things, I'm like, that wasn't right, you know, where I'll apologize, and be like, I said something a little, you know, that was a little too much, or I said that, that was wrong, you know, we all make mistakes. But when it comes to God's Word, when it comes to just verses in the Bible, I'm not sorry for those. I'm not sorry for those, and you know what, I happen to love it. I love it all. I love every word that's in Jeremiah. I love every word that's in Genesis. Are there times it steps on my toes? Sure. But that'd be like me saying, I don't love my parents because they chastened me when I was a kid, when they loved me and chastened me, right? The idea is that sometimes you need it, even if it doesn't feel good, even if it hurts because you're just like, ah, that hurts my pride, or hey, that hurts, man, I was wrong about that. You know what? The kisses of an enemy are deceitful. The wounds of a friend are faithful. You know, rebuke a wise man and he will be yet wiser. And the idea is that we need to have a humble heart when it comes to God's Word, and you know what, we live in a day where everything is just PC, everything is, you know, you can't, you got to tiptoe around everything that you say, but you know, when it comes to God's Word, you should never tiptoe around that. You know, if at all possible to live peacefully with all men, I'm not saying to just go out and just try to be contentious with everybody, that's not what we do. And I don't preach sermons just to be contentious, you know, just to get a rile out of people. But certain things do need to be preached because people keep shoving it down our throats and trying to say the things that are wicked are actually good. And you know what, it's not going to happen here. And we're not the only ones. But I think that Jeremiah is a great prophet to look to in these times, a prophet that cared, had compassion. It's possible to have compassion, be a hard preacher, and stick to your guns. You don't have to choose and be like, all right, if I need to be compassionate, he'd be like this limp-wristed punk over here that wears skinny jeans and has the purple lights behind him, you know. You don't need to choose between that. You can just say, you know what, I'm a man, I preach the Word of God, you know, no questions asked, you know, and I'm not going to apologize for God's Word. But Jeremiah is a great book on that, and I don't know how far we got through the stuff that I wrote on here. But like I said, it's a big book, and there's a lot of stuff in there, other things I want to get to with Jeremiah. But for now, why did that pass? So let's end with a word prayer. The only Father we thank you for today, thank you for your Word, thank you for the souls that were saved out today, and just thank you for the Book of Jeremiah, and just help us to know it. And Lord, ultimately, that we can apply it to our lives, and that we can be more like Jeremiah and even all the other prophets and, you know, David and just others in the Bible that we can learn from them, especially in times of trouble, times of tribulation. And Lord, just pray to be with us throughout the rest of this week. Give us health, give us safety, and Lord, just pray to heal any of those that aren't feeling well in our church, and just pray to be blessed there. And Lord, we love you and pray also in Jesus Christ's name, amen. Amen.