The message today is going to start out probably what sounds like a little depressing, but I don't mean it to be. I trust that as I've cited this passage many times, you'll realize what God is saying through this passage in your Bible. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. If you want the darkest passage in scripture, Certainly, Jesus dying on the cross is one of those, but this one is also one of the darkest passages in Scripture as well, because you can start out in this passage and look at the anguish of a faithful man, the anguish of heart that comes to a faithful man. Of the men in the Bible that were faithful, and the Bible speaks highly of all the prophets, but, you know, Jeremiah stands out as the weeping prophet, and he's a wonderful example of a burden that just does not leave you, and that's what we need. We have a world out there that's messed up and doesn't even know they're messed up. We have a world out there that doesn't know where the answers come from and so many times believers don't even give them an idea that there is a different way to live. That you can live walking with the Lord Jesus Christ. But in Lamentations chapter 3, I want to look at one verse and then that will set the stage for the rest of it. Look at chapter 3 and verse 18 it says, and I said my strength And my hope is perished from the Lord. Now I have no doubt that if you've served the Lord very long there have been times when you felt at least like heaven was shut up to you. That God wasn't hearing you. You felt like God was neglecting you. You have felt like Something wasn't what it should be. God's promised to answer our prayers and He hasn't answered your prayers. And there's a silence in heaven that you're not accustomed to. And the anguish builds up in your souls. And be certain of this. You're not the first one that's experienced that. You're not going to be the last one. And if you're going through it today, the Bible still tells us in Psalm 23 that God leads us through on the mountaintop and through the valleys and all these things. You wait and things will get better and it might just get worse after that as well. But regardless of all those things, here is a choice servant of God saying, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord when your hope is gone. Probably you're soon to be gathered to your father's. Probably your life is going to be shortened then because your hope is gone. That's what keeps us going, if you will. That's the electricity that runs through our bodies. But this is a faithful man, and he's come to this place in his life where his hope seems to be gone. And I hope you've not come to that place. I hope you never come to the place where you think it's not worth it. And that happens all over your Bible. In the book of Malachi, they say it's not worth it to serve the Lord. And you might have wondered that same thing. Why would that be? Because the circumstances of life get on top of you instead of the promises of God. The circumstances come upon you, and life is not always easy, is it? In the Old Testament, God made a nation out of Israel, gave them land absolutely free of charge, gave them homes they didn't build, and vineyards that they got to enjoy the fruit of, but they never actually planted them. And what did they do? They went into rebellion, just like Lamentations is addressing. Now think about the New Testament. In the New Testament, God gives us full salvation, free of charge, and eternally secure from the day you trust Christ as Savior. Think about that. I've had eternal life in me since 1967, and that's getting to where it's been quite a long time. Okay? I'm saved. I'm born again. I'm going to heaven when I die. And God gives us full salvation, free of charge, He saves sinners, he gives us an inheritance, calls us sons, adopts us as fathers, and gives us the peace that comes on the inside that the world can't give us. And what happens to the church in the last of this age? The church goes into rebellion, and frankly the church is barely a shadow of its former self. Now, I'm glad that there are churches around that stand up faithfully and preach the gospel, but a lot of the churches that preached the gospel when I was a kid don't preach the gospel anymore. Whole bunches of them. Whole bunches of churches are empty today, and they've been turned into a business establishment or something else. They're not preaching the gospel, and I've read the statistics before. Literally hundreds, I think it's thousands of preachers quit preaching every year. Why? Because discouragement comes upon you. And you know what happens to members in that church? The members in the church, they undergo things, even if the preacher's not undergoing some things, and they keep it private. And yes, maybe their hope is gone. Maybe it's hard for them to be cheerful and all of that. And they would say the same things that Jeremiah is saying here. And I've got news for you. Jeremiah went through this, but he had some answers for it, too, didn't he? He had some answers that are precious to me, and I hope they're precious to you. They will be by the end of the day. Well, a faithful servant here finds very little reception amongst the people he's told to go and preach to. This is a famous passage because of darkness, because he speaks of no hope. He speaks of being led into darkness. He speaks of all these things. If you read the whole chapter, you'll see that. But in chapter 16 of Jeremiah, God told Jeremiah not to marry and not to have children. He was called to preach to the children of Israel, and God told him, don't get married, because you'll be bringing them into a very bad situation. They're going into captivity. So when he went home at night, there was no wife to greet him. There were no children to bounce on his knees. None of those things happened to him. Because God told him, now I warn you, don't get married. I don't think God's telling us today not to get married. Do you understand there are lots of people today still preach the gospel, and even right outside Washington, D.C., an evangelist we're familiar with is still preaching the gospel. There has been for years. It's all over this country, all over the world, really. But you know, Jeremiah had to undergo all that he went through with no family. He had no converts. God told him, you're not going to have any converts. In chapter 7, you're not going to have any converts. And if you look at encouragement to him, where was the encouragement? You know what's going to happen? You're going to be compelled, and this is one of the best blessings that comes from this, and it just occurred to me. You're going to be compelled to do the same thing that David did. If you look at 1 Samuel chapter number 30, I think it is, 1 Samuel chapter number 30, it says, of his town was taken, his family was taken. The Bible says in verse 4, Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, till they had no more power to weep. Have you wept until there's no more tears? Yeah, you probably have. They had no more power to weep. And David's two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. Notice this, David was greatly distressed, for the people spake of stoning him. because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters, but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. Now, we can look at them and say, hey, David was your champion, your leader. He defeated Goliath, and now you turn your ire against him. You want to kill David as if that's going to bring your family back? He's led you before. They wanted someone to blame, and you know, when everyone was against David, he found out that he still had the Lord to encourage himself in. And maybe that's the message of this passage, that the world can be very dark and discouraging, but you still have the Lord to bring you encouragement when it seems like nothing else will. These are things spoken to the Lord. We don't have an evidence of Jeremiah going around telling everyone else how miserable he was. We don't have evidence of Jeremiah telling people all this, and everyone was against him. After all, who would he speak to? Would you share your burdens with the lost and make it look like there's no reason to get saved? You wouldn't want to do that, would you? Someone shared the gospel with you and you grabbed that, got saved, and nothing's been the same since. Would you blame someone that is at least friendly toward you? And there were some that pulled him up out of the prison. There were some that were a little more friendly than others, but would you attack them and blame them because you're down and discouraged? And that's exactly what we do. You can be a burden to the people that love you. I've been, you've been burdened for the people that love them, love you. But there's a lot to be learned from this passage and a lot to remind you of so that it's a passage you turn to when your heart's heavy. That's what we want. Let's pray. Lord, bless this time. You put a burden on my heart, Lord, and it was very obvious you did so. I pray that you give me liberty of thought and speech and speak through me, Lord. May your spirit touch each and every heart here today, and let us examine our lives in light of your word, not in the light of our environment, Lord. Just bless us and train us in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, start reading in verse 1, and you're going to see this, the weakness of your flesh. The weakness of your flesh, this is a theme throughout your Bible. How do I know that? Paul says in Romans 7, my flesh dwells no good thing. And he's a born-again believer. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 9, he doesn't want to be put on the shelf, so he keeps under his body and brings in a subjection because your body is a big obstacle to you doing right. Your body is the immediate contact with this world, isn't it? My body hasn't been to heaven. My body doesn't really respond to the blessings of heaven. It's my soul and spirit that do. And I'm just speaking that off the top of my head. Look at verse 1. I am the man that has seen affliction by the rod of his wrath. A lot of these things, I would argue, are what he experiences, but they're probably not entirely true. Okay, let me say that, okay? I'm not denying the words of God, but I don't think God's afflicting him with the rod of his wrath. But it sure seems like it sometimes, doesn't it? Sure seems like it. He hath led me and brought me into darkness. I can assure you of this, God does not lead you into darkness. He doesn't lead his choices of servants into darkness, not into light. No, if David could encourage himself in the Lord his God, the world and the devil threw all these things at him, and his whole family was taken captive, but he still found the light of his walk with the Lord, and he encouraged himself there. Surely against me as he turned, he turneth his hand against me all the day. I don't believe that God turned his hand against Jeremiah, do you? I have every reason to believe that it seemed like it. These people will not listen. These people. He's not saying that to God, but this is the reality. These people will not listen. These people are rebelling. These people will not repent. They're heading for judgment and it's going to happen. We know all that. But God didn't turn against Jeremiah. The people turned against him. The people turned against him. My flesh and my skin, if he made old, he has broken my bones. On a very personal note, I look at my arms and I think, man, they look a lot like my dad's arms, only he was old. They get these little wrinkles in them. I'm not familiar with those, but I'm getting more familiar all the time. And Jeremiah is saying this, my flesh and my skin that he made old. There's an evidence of skin becoming old, flesh becoming old. He's grown old in serving the Lord, hasn't he? And I'll tell you, my hat's off to those who've grown old serving the Lord. Isn't yours? We ask Brother Bemis to come here and preach from time to time. Don't you enjoy that? Don't you enjoy a man that's walked, he's preached on the street for 45 years. Don't you enjoy a man that comes and speaks the word of God that he's experienced for the last 50 or 60 years? Don't you enjoy that? Well, Jeremiah was one of those men who was faithful all those times, except that he didn't have any converts. You know what thrills you and keeps you going? Knowing that, well, your child got saved, or your grandchild got saved. He had no wife and no children. He had no one to go home to except his walk with the Lord, didn't he? He hath builded against me, encompassed me with gall and travail. Well, I know that he was surrounded by travail, wasn't he? But that's not God's fault. That's the curse of this world, isn't it? People will say this, I can't believe in a God that would allow this to happen. I saw a post on that. I know the person that said that. I can't believe that a God in heaven would allow this to happen to my little child. Never darkens the door of a church. Was trained the way you're supposed to go when they were young. Was a student of mine many, fifty years ago. But now blaming God because nothing's going quite the way they want it to go. You're not seeing Jeremiah doing that. You're seeing Jeremiah saying, God, it seems like you're becoming an adversary to me. And God did not become an adversary to him. And just like the people of David's camp wanted to turn against him, we have a natural tendency to blame God when things don't go our way. God called me to preach so everyone should listen. Well, no, they're not probably going to listen. God called me to preach. I'm faithful to preach the gospel to people and they're going to get saved. Well, not all of them get saved. Some do. That's more than could be said for Jeremiah. He has set me in dark places as they that be dead of old. In other words, He's set me in tombs. My habitation is a graveyard. He hath hedged me about that I cannot get out. He hath made my chain heavy. My burdens are extreme. My burdens are heavy. All the way through this you see a man speaking from the weariness of his flesh. Don't you get tired sometimes? Don't you get tired? You know, I had a seizure and that made me slow down for quite a while. And as far as I can tell, I'm fine. I'm still see that doctor in a couple of weeks and he'll say, oh, that's nice. And we'll keep going just the way we are. You don't plan for those things. I'm glad I haven't had another one. I'm glad I haven't. I've had cancer scares and I've had these things because I'm getting older. But you know, I still feel pretty much like a young man and inside my head saying you're an idiot, but I still feel in many respects young, don't you? But when you grow old in the ministry, you can't do what you once did. And when you have to slow down for medical reasons, the aging process, this is just my take on it, the aging process speeds up, doesn't it? Hey, you could be in bed flat on your back for a week when you're 19, and you jump up and you might be slow for a few hours, but everything's fine after that. It's not the same when you're older. I have no doubt that Jeremiah has grown older and older and older in the ministry, and the harder that he worked, the more the age seemed to set upon him. So you can see the weakness of his flesh, and I don't want to go any more into that. And why would it be? The stubbornness of Judah. You know, when you start getting weary, when you start getting weary, it's easy for us to quit or to blame someone else or something like that. And that's normal, unfortunately, for everyone to be tempted that way. But if you look at Jeremiah chapter one, it says verse two, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Ammon, king of Judah. In other words, Jeremiah is ministering to the people of Judah, the southern kingdom. It's because Israel's already taken captive. Now, can you imagine how dumb these people are? This is how stupid rebellion and immunity the word of God makes you. Israel and Judah were one nation, they were divided, they were separated under Rehoboam, the son of Solomon. The northern kingdom has prophets come and tell them that if they don't repent, they're going to be taken captive and sure enough, well they didn't repent, sure enough Assyria came and carried them captive. And so now the prophet Jeremiah comes to the southern kingdom and says, if you don't repent, you're gonna be going into captivity. Look at your sister Israel. Israel went into captivity, and I think that's chapter number three, actually chapter three, verse six, it says, the Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king, hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel had done? She's gone up upon every high mountain and every green tree, and there hath played the harlot. And I said, after she had done all these things, turn thou unto me, but she returned not, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. In other words, they have witnessed the rebellion of Israel and ultimately the captivity of Israel, and all it did was make Judah get worse. Do you understand why Jeremiah would say, you've led me into darkness? He's got an answer for the people that's from God. He's got a message from God to these people. If they will listen, if just one would listen, wouldn't that have doubled his effectiveness? No one would listen. And they watched as Israel was taken captive by the Assyrians. Now, if you know your Bible, you know the Assyrians were the same people of Nineveh that Jonah didn't want to go and witness to. They were evil enough, he didn't want to see them repent. And they did repent. So Judah was stubborn. Maybe they were convinced, Judah was convinced of her own goodness, that they didn't really need to repent. Everything was going along. Everything was fine. They were still bearing children, grandchildren, and they still were able to eat and all these things. Well, yeah, the Babylonians were coming closer and closer and closer, but hey, that can't happen to us. After all, we're God's chosen people. Well, so was Israel at one time. I don't mean they ceased, but they were divided, weren't they? And those ten tribes to the north are going to be represented in the 144,000. God's not finished with them. Babylon encroached more and more. Their loss is mounted, but still no repentance. No repentance. Now that's a whole nation. I don't know how many people were in that nation. When they came out of Egypt, there were probably a couple of million anyway. At this time in history, in lamentations, there's probably that many or more. And no one listened. No one listened. And just as judgment came upon the northern kingdom, judgment came upon the southern kingdom. And there's this voice crying in the wilderness, Jeremiah saying, repent. And God assured them, if you read through that, God assured them, if you'll turn to me, I'll turn to you. They could have repented right up to the end. They just didn't do it. And then you have to ask yourself about our country. And I'm not talking just about the wicked people of our country that don't know the Lord. I'm talking about the people that know the Lord and they've put him on the back burner. Isn't it sad that people will let circumstances discourage them from serving? You know, the one that can't where you work is the boss. He has to be there. The company falls. You know who can't here? It's the Sunday school teacher, the pastor, the people that take classes. They can't quit. because everyone depends on him. Jeremiah couldn't quit. He's the only prophet speaking the truth to these people. Judah did worse than Israel, their neighbor. They were headed for judgment. They were rebels. All the defeats that came their way didn't change their stubborn, wicked hearts in the least. That's where our country's heading, isn't it? Now, for a moment, I don't believe that God is finished, that there couldn't be revival. I'd sure like to see revival all the way across our country again. I hope that I'm wrong. I don't really expect it, but I'm gonna keep going like it could happen. I want it to happen, don't you? And if it doesn't happen in general, it can sure happen in one person. Think of that Ethiopian eunuch, one person. God caught Philip up to speak to this guy that's just reading in Isaiah 53, and that man was transformed by the grace of God and went back to Ethiopia where he could witness to other people. I'd take that, wouldn't you? Wouldn't you? I want revival in this country. I still think God's in the soul-saving business. If he weren't, we'd be home in heaven with him. Okay? The people were blind. And that's the condition of Israel. Can't be argued. But you know what? It made God's servant weary. Made God's servant weary. Why? Name some area that he could look to for encouragement. Well, he could look to God. It seems like God's silent in heaven. He could look to God. Yeah, but it seems like God's not hearing his prayers, and God's not close to him, and it seems like every step he takes in confidence God's directing him seems to be in darkness. That's what it looks like in the passage, isn't it? He's not getting his encouragement from God, it seems. It seems. And yes, we can say his eyes are too low, they should be up higher, and he'll figure that out, but your flesh is weak enough that you can get really discouraged in serving the Lord. Do you think that I like to see four people in the whole front section of this church, and the rest of the chairs are empty? That's hard. Now, I'm not going to just look at the four in the front. I'm glad the four are in here. But if I take my eyes off the Lord, there's lots to be discouraging. And that's what's going to happen to you. His servant got weary. He was alone. In fact, they made fun of him. In verse 14, I was their derision daily. Hey, it's bad enough no one listens, but look at verse 14. I was a derision to all my people in their song all the day. They not only made fun of him, they sang songs about how stupid Jeremiah was. Hey, they're not singing songs about how wonderful and faithful Jeremiah is. They're making fun of him. Same thing happened to Job, and we know for a fact that both of these men were walking with God. I was their derision. I was their derision. They accused him of colluding with the enemy because he said, hey, you go into captivity and you'll live. You won't repent. You're going to go and pay for 70 years. This is what's going to happen. You're going to be persecuted. and they wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen. Do you thank God for your wife? He didn't have a wife. What I see more and more is people don't treat their wife the way they want their wife to treat them. Do you thank God for your wife? Do you thank God for your children? Do you thank God for those people? Jeremiah had none of those things. None of those things. So when he went home to whatever house or tent he went to, it was silent, dark, and alone. We don't have that, do we, for the most part? We don't have that. And he, by the way, doesn't have memories of that because it never happened to him, of having someone at home. So it seemed to him like the people were blind and he was completely absent fellowship. And we have fellowship all the time if we want it, if we want it. But when he says darkness, He leads me into darkness. That's almost a picture of judgment, isn't it? But that's when the way is really hard. Hey, that darkness can settle into your heart, and great preachers have experienced that. Spurgeon experienced that. Darkness can settle into your heart. Why do you suppose so many preachers quit today? Because the way gets hard? And if people don't want to listen, why? I mean, look at what you can appreciate about Jeremiah. God told him no one's going to listen. And he went on preaching, and it says even that he said, OK, fine. I'm not going to speak. You don't want to hear my words? I'm not even going to speak. And God's word was in his heart like a fire, and he couldn't stop. And no one listened. You can come to a place where it seems darkness, the way is hard. And you know what I find? Look at verse 3. Surely against me as he turned. You know what he was doing? He was not blaming his circumstance, environment. He just assumed there's something wrong with him. Surely against me is turn. Maybe I'm the reason for all this. You know, when you walk with the Lord, you're not busy blaming other people because you make decisions for your own life. You're wanting God, what are you trying to teach me? What are you trying to instruct me? And how am I, what am I supposed to respond with? He blamed himself. Who is it that you put the blame on? Who is it that you put the blame on? And we could go there too. Verse 12, it says, he has bent his bow and set me as a mark for the arrow. He's saying God's used me as his target. Now, I don't believe that's true, but that's how you can feel when it's discouragement after discouragement and no encouragement, and ultimately you take counsel of your own darkness. You don't want to do that. There really doesn't seem to be a good sign in verse 18. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished from the Lord. My strength and my hope is perished. In other words, he doesn't have the strength to keep on and he doesn't even have the motivation to keep on. Think about that. Think about that. It's hard. It's hard. Well, darkness is setting in, isn't it? And he has spirit problems. Spirit problems that makes him say things that aren't true, most likely. I mean, I don't think God let him into darkness. But then that introduces us to another subject, that is, how God's ways are higher than our ways. God's ways are higher than our ways. You know what happens when you witness to someone who doesn't receive your witness and they die in their sins? They don't have an excuse. They heard a gospel message and though they didn't receive it, you speak faithfully the words of life to them. And I wonder how long in eternity they'll be thinking, I should have listened. Remember the rich man in hell, he lifted up his eyes, saw Lazarus and he expected Lazarus to serve him. He knew who Lazarus was. He knew Lazarus by his poverty and he stood at his gate all the time. I wonder how much the lost in hell remember that time they refused to listen. The ways of God, look at verse 20. My soul hath them still in remembrance. That is the misery, the wormwood and gall, all the affliction he had. In verse 20, my soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. You know where the basis for God's blessings is, our humbled heart. The basis for God's using us is a humbled heart. The basis for fruitfulness is a humbled heart. How do I know that? 2 Peter 1 says, if these things are in you, that is the growth that's evidenced by growing in grace, then you'll be fruitful. If they're not, you've forgotten where you came from. You know where we came from? I came from the trash heap of history. If I'd have died, I would have gone to hell and deserved it. And by the way, Refusing Jesus, I have no doubt, but to believe this, if every knee's going to bow and proclaim Him Lord, that's lost people bowing and proclaiming Lord. One day, even the lost will bow and say, you're the only Savior and I neglected you. That's a sad thing, man. Humility is the greatest thing that can happen to God's servant, isn't it? 1 Peter 5, 8. The Bible says God resists the proud, gives grace to the lowly. Here's a man that's not proud. He's lowly, isn't he? But he's going through a fit. Proverbs 15, 18 and 22 all speak about pride coming before a fall and how God exalts the humble. The first thing you need to know about this is God is using some situations to make Jeremiah more humble and more willing to listen to him. And I don't think pride was a problem with Jeremiah before this. But face it, as nothing but rank sinners, we all need to be humbled at times, don't we? If you're not careful, pride will swell up in you. And if you look at Paul's example, he begs God to take away that thorn in the flesh. And God said, no, I left that for you. In fact, I sent that to you. It's the messenger of Satan. I turned Satan loose on you just a little bit. Why? To keep him humble. And the only way that's necessary is if you're such a threat to the devil, he's going to try to stir up your pride. Probably no one you've ever met was that much of a threat to the devil. We hope to be. We hope to be. I think that's the way we should be. God said, no, I just, I just gave you that to keep you humble. Just to keep you humble. Not just humbling the servant, it's molding the heart. The rebellion of the people. still brought about his compassion. You know, you cannot lose your heart for the people around you. As dumb as people's behavior is, as dumb as it is, can you imagine encouraging six year olds to change gender? I don't think, I think there's no Bible for this. There's probably a hot place in hell for that. Okay. That is so vile and vicious and wicked. That's going on. They don't know any different. You say, well, their conscience is seared and all that. I have no doubt there have been people whose conscience was seared, but the gospel presented to them by someone who cares for their soul makes a difference. You don't know who they are. You just know that everyone you see needs Jesus. If they don't have him, they need him desperately. The rebellion of the people, Jeremiah is known as the weeping prophet. All that he endured, he still wept for those people. Have you shed tears for America? Well, yeah, because our political leaders are taking us the wrong direction. Yeah, I know. But there are people out there that inflation, excuse me, inflation, the uncertainty of the world, and I could give you a list of other things. robs them of their hope and any possible joy that they might have. That's what they think. But I'll tell you this, I don't have to have a home in this life when I know I have a mansion in heaven. But if I have a, I don't know what you'd call it, not an apartment in hell, but if I have nothing but a ledge on the bottomless pit in hell, that's not encouraging. It's no wonder people are depressed today. No wonder. You see, the rebellion of people brought about compassion. Where would you be without the grace of God? Paul says in Galatians 1, I am by the grace of God what I am. That's what we are. Truth demands telling. Rebels need the truth. And Ezekiel 2, it tells us, tells us that even if they don't listen to you, Ezekiel, you'll know that there is a prophet among you. You've told the truth. They can't say ignorance. They've heard the truth. And he has blessings to others. You know how I know that? Two or three books later, Lamentations, Ezekiel, and then Daniel. Daniel's sitting there reading Jeremiah in the book of Daniel, chapter nine. And he understood from Jeremiah's writings that 70 years were were was in entailed their captivity. So he knew that they were about ready to come home. You know all that Jeremiah went through was a blessing to Daniel another captive in Babylon. He was a blessing to others was the work of the spirit. Now this is where it gets enjoyable. And if you've experienced discouragement or depression, I would encourage you to turn your eyes upon Jesus. Because this message is not dark. It's to take you from where you're dark and give you something to hope for. Because it says, he remembers his affliction in verse 19. Verse 20, My soul hath him in remembrance. Verse 21, This I recall in my mind, therefore I have a hope. He had no hope before. And why was it? Because he'd forgotten to hope. This I recall to mind. There's something that he brings back to his memory, and I think that's the work of the Spirit. It is of the Lord's mercies that we're not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning, great is thy faithfulness. He says, I have been without hope, but it's because I've forgotten something, that every morning his mercies are new. Every morning you wake up and your feet hit the ground, you know what? This promise says that God's mercies are new that day. He's given you another day to live. Isn't that a thrill? Isn't that a thrill? Every time I have Air Force questions, I ask Steve. There's probably others to ask. And if your ears were ringing, I said something about you to someone else. I don't know who it was yesterday. You know what you do when you go to church? You find people of like minds. You have people that the same things are important to, and you enjoy their company. The work of the Spirit reminds you of some things. Every day, He gives you that chance to fellowship with someone else in the same boat. Every day he gives you a chance to witness to someone else whether they listen or not. Every day he gives you the same chance to walk with God and maybe record things as Jeremiah did that'll be a blessing to Daniel and then down the line for the next thousands of years. For the next thousands of years, his faithfulness counts. If you look at people that are faithful, Jeremiah comes to mind, doesn't he? And then he reveals some things. God is his portion, it's not this world. If your hope is in this world, you're of all men most miserable. If your joy is in this world, that's just entertainment or pleasure. That's not what's going to make you happy. Faith. Look at verse 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him to the soul that seeketh him. That's faith. The Bible tells us what is not easy. That is wait upon the Lord. I read a really great thing. If it weren't for George Mueller, If it weren't for George Mueller, it would be true, but it has a special significance from him. Maybe you saw it. He said this, he said, when heaven seems to be silent and you don't get the answers to your prayers, you keep on praying and you keep on praying because the devil is pleased if you cease. And you will pray and God will ultimately answer your prayer. And the whole process will be a blessing to you and others. And I'm paraphrasing. We're not to cease praying. We know that. But here's a man that sold all of his possessions twice to take care of orphans that had nothing to eat. And God blessed him. When he says something about prayer, you better listen. That's experience. God is our portion. Faith isn't waiting. You know what the wonder of service is and we're done? You examine yourself. If you're in a dark place, examine yourself. You don't blame other people. You don't blame other people. You put your request before God. You don't find some man to pin the blame on. You don't find some man to pin the blame on. And by the way, if all of us do that, you know what's going to happen? We're not going to wait for someone else to do something. We're going to jump out and do something ourselves. And that's what God wants from us. We saw in Sunday school class that eternal life is knowing the Father and knowing His Son, Jesus Christ. That's all you need the rest of your days is to know the Father and the Son, get to know Him better. You maintain a love for the people. I'm afraid. This is my pet peeve. I stopped at the stoplight by the old Kmart and I'm getting ready to go. There's a big truck next to me. I'm not in a hurry. and I saw my light turn green. What happens when a light turns green? Another car goes in front of you. Now, if they had entered the thing when it was yellow, I mean, that's legal. Another car went across. The guy next to me wasn't moving. Another car went by. The guy was still not moving. And then after a long period of time, another car went by. I thought, man, if I were a police officer, I'd go and arrest those guys. I think you idiots. It's not the way we respond. I do. I'm confessing. You know what's wrong with people? Yeah, they're probably idiots as I have a corner on that myself. They need Jesus. I can't stop them and arrest them and say, oh, by the way, here's a tract to read. I don't mean that. We get impatient and get impatient with people when we could better serve the Lord by having a burden for those same people, for all people. Verse 32, it says, But though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercies. And if you get nothing else from this, the times you're going through, dark times, realize this. God has promised compassion according to his mercies, and we're called upon to wait on him. I don't mean wait by doing nothing. You serve him, pray, walk with him, and wait on him. And he promises compassion. You see through all of this the patience of God, the patience of God. Jeremiah had a remarkable ministry. God doesn't afflict us willingly, but in so many ways you find Jeremiah's books a blessing to you, don't you? Very much a blessing. Are you resisting the change that the Bible requires of you? The Bible makes some things very plain to you. You should not cease praying. It says that. You should not cease witnessing. You should not blame other people for the situation you're in. You should let God have his way in your life. Are you blaming others and resisting the change that inevitably should come to us? Maybe you lost your vision. Your eyes are off the Lord. Get them back on the Lord. Maybe, maybe, You lost your heart for other people. You lost your heart for other people. That's easy to happen. You lose your heart for other people. And you can see that by the fact that you don't pray for them any longer. You don't witness to them any longer. You don't expect anything. What we have to get back to is you invite enough people to church that you come early to expect them to come. If they don't come, they had the invitation. But you're excited about something and come. It's not just sneaking in at the last minute and putting in your time. Jeremiah loved those people and wept for them. He went through dark times and God blesses us through the experiences that he had. The dark times you might go through can be turned to a blessing to others. My beloved ones, family, friends, neighbors, make sure you're faithful. Let's pray.