Let us turn in the book of Jeremiah to the passage we read from chapter 11 verse 18 to chapter 12 verse 6. Chapter 11 verse 18 begins a new section in the prophecy and its subject is the rejection of God's messenger. The rejection of God's messenger, Jeremiah himself, is going to be rejected by his own people. In this passage, Jeremiah is discouraged. In fact, he is frightened. And he has every reason to be frightened because the people from his own village are planning to kill him. We see that in verse 21. of chapter 11. The men of Anathoth, that's Jeremiah's hometown, the men of Anathoth are seeking your life and saying, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord or you will die by our hands. Shut up or die. That's their message. His preaching has made people very angry. We don't know when these events took place. The book of Jeremiah isn't arranged in chronological order. But we do know that his hometown, Anathoth, was a little village three miles from Jerusalem. And it was the city where most of the priests and the Levites lived. Then they would travel in each day to work at the temple. And these men were furiously angry. Perhaps it was the reforms brought in by good King Josiah. Josiah had abolished the heathen worship which had spread in the land. Some of these priests were undoubtedly making money from this heathen worship, and now their income had dried up. More likely, I think, it was Jeremiah's own preaching that annoyed them. In these early chapters, he denounces the idolatry, the heathen worship of the people, their compromise with false gods, their corruption. And the priests were largely to blame for this. They wanted to silence this troublesome prophet. This was news to Jeremiah. He hadn't realized how much these people hated him. Look at what he says in verse 19. I did not realize that they had plotted against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree and its fruit. Let us cut him off from the land of the living. They wanted to murder him. And this was no idle threat. For another true prophet was murdered in these years, a man called Uriah. He too preached the truth. He was so frightened that he ran away to Egypt to hide. But King Jehoiakim had him brought back and put to death. You can read about it in chapter 26 from verse 20 onwards. So Jeremiah is in real danger. And he does what he always did. He takes all his worries and his anxieties to the Lord. That's what we should always do when we're troubled. You see it in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 12. Here's what's worrying him, what's concerning him rather. I would speak with you about your justice. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease? You have planted them. They've taken root. This is language which is taken from the Psalms, from Psalm 73 and many others. And this is the first of Jeremiah's complaints, as they're called. There are a number of these complaints in these chapters. The thing that strikes us about this man is how breathtakingly honest and open he is with God. He doesn't pretend. He doesn't hide anything. He tells God exactly what is bothering him, what is troubling him. He lays it all out before God. He says, this is what is vexing me and disturbing me and causing me great anxiety of mind. That seems a very reasonable thing. And in our text today, we have God's answer. And our text is found in chapter 12 Here is God's answer to his troubled, anxious servant. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in safe country, how will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? How can you compete with horses? Some commentators say this is a military metaphor, as if God is saying, Jeremiah, you've been fighting against the infantry, now you're going to have to fight against the cavalry. I think it's much more likely to be an athletic metaphor. Jeremiah, you've been running races against your fellow athletes, and now you're exhausted. But I have news for you. Your next race is going to be with horses. And if the athletes have tired you out, how are you going to cope with the horses? The second metaphor is a contrast between walking along in a beautiful, open meadow, safe, open country. And God says, if you fall when you're walking through a beautiful meadow, how are you going to manage when you have to make your way through the dense jungle on the banks of the Jordan River. This was notorious as the home of lions. Many references in scripture to the lions who lived in the jungle, in the thickets on the banks of the Jordan. I think the traditional translation, the King James has the swelling of Jordan, The New King James has the flood plain of Jordan is not so likely to be correct. I think a better translation is this term, thickets. This is God's answer to Jeremiah. It seems very unsympathetic, doesn't it? God says to Jeremiah, Jeremiah, you think things are bad. Now, what are you going to do when they get far worse? Is that really the message we want to hear from God? Why does God answer that way? Jeremiah goes to him and he says, God, I'm troubled. I'm exhausted. I'm discouraged. I'm downhearted. God says, Jeremiah, things are going to get far harder. Why does God say that? Is it because Jeremiah is displaying a lack of faith? I don't think we can say that. I don't think we can blame Jeremiah for being honest with God, being candid and open, telling God about his doubts and his fears. We all have them. We should take them to God and tell Him about them. Why does God answer so brusquely, so almost roughly and discouragingly. How will you compete with horses? What sort of answer is that? I want to try to show you three reasons why this is, in fact, a wise answer, a loving answer, and an answer that is going to empower and strengthen Jeremiah. If you have run with men and they have wearied you, how can you compete with horses? First of all, it's a warning about future troubles. It's a warning about future troubles. God is simply telling his servant the truth. God is being realistic. He's saying, Jeremiah, The fact is, and I want to tell you, I'm not going to hide it from you, things are going to get far worse. And in fact, it's worse than you think. It's not just your own townspeople against you. Look at verse 6. Your brothers, your own family, even they have betrayed you. I suppose this is what would be called in mainland Britain today an honour killing. What a horrible term. Many of the people who have come as immigrants to settle in Britain come from a different culture and ethos from ourselves and we're reading in our newspapers how if they think, for example, some girl is disgracing the family by not marrying the husband they have chosen for her, there have been cases where the girl has been murdered. by her father and brothers. She has brought shame on their family, and it's what is called, in a grotesque inversion of the truth, an honor killing. Here, Jeremiah's relatives feel disgraced by his preaching. He's let them down, and they're going to kill him. Things are going to get worse, God says. The hatred that he's facing is going to get worse. When we read the book of Jeremiah, he's going to be slandered. He's going to be beaten up. He's going to be put in the stocks. He's going to be put in prison on several occasions. People are going to try to kill him. The king himself is going to be hostile. We'll see in a later study that Jeremiah is the most unpopular man in the whole land. Everybody hates them. Things are going to get worse. The apostasy of the people is going to get worse. They're going to go further away from God. The land itself is going to be invaded by a superpower. Cruel armies from Babylon are going to come. They're going to bring horror and terror to the land. They're going to destroy it. They're going to rape the women. They're going to slaughter the men. They're going to take people away in slavery and exile. It's going to be dreadful. If Jeremiah thinks that it's hard to be a preacher for God now, let him realize what he's going to face before too long. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses. God is being loving in telling Jeremiah this, in bringing him this warning. Yes, it's hard, but it's far kinder in the long run to tell him the truth. Not to let him live in a fool's paradise. Not to pat him on the head and say, cheer up, Jeremiah, things are going to get better. when they're not going to get better. This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did. When people came to Him and wanted to follow Him, He said, are you ready to deny yourself? To take up the cross? To face persecution and suffering? Count the cost. Be prepared for what is to come. This is a loving, honest warning about future troubles. If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? And it may well be God's warning to you and me today. We've seen how relevant Jeremiah is to the world we live in. Could it be that God is saying to us, you think things are bad in society now? They're going to get far worse. You think the nation is turned away from God now? They're going to turn away far more. You think evil and perversion and wrongdoing are being encouraged now? They're going to spread. They're going to get worse. You think it's hard to witness for God now? It's going to get a lot harder. If you have raced with men and they have wearied you, how can you compete with horses? What about our own lives? You think your life is hard now? You may have things to face in the future. It will be far more difficult. God says to us, some of you are going to face serious illness. Most of you are going to be bereaved. You're going to lose somebody and you can hardly imagine living without them. They're going to be taken away from you someday. You're going to have to manage without them. You're going to get lots of disappointments in your life. People are going to let you down, break your heart. If you live long enough, You'll have old age to face with all the disadvantages and the weaknesses, the disabilities of that. God says, if you fall to pieces now, how are you going to cope? If you think things are difficult when they're comparatively easy, how are you going to manage when the real testing comes? So God's saying to us, pull yourselves together. Brace yourselves. Take courage. Be strong. Be prepared. Be men. Be women. Stand tall. Be brave and firm. This is no time for a pity party. I'm warning you. There are things coming in the future that are far harder to cope with than anything you've experienced so far. Let us be thankful for an honest father who loves us enough to tell us the truth. And isn't there a special challenge here to anyone here who is still outside of Christ, who is not yet converted? Sometimes your conscience troubles you. at present, doesn't it? What's it going to be like when you stand before God? You don't like to think of death and of passing through this world and meeting God. What's it going to be like when you actually do die, when the hour comes for you to leave this earth, if you've never trusted in Christ, if you've never made peace with God, if you're not right with God and you realize that your last chance is gone and you're going to judgment. What will you do when you stand before God on the day of judgment? What will you do when you're cast forever into hell? If you have competed with men on foot and they have worn you out, How can you compete with horses if you stumble in safe country? How will you manage in the thickets by the Jordan? The message is clear, to run to Christ while you have opportunity. A warning about future troubles. But secondly, we have here a challenge to greater tasks. a challenge to greater tasks. How can you compete with horses? And the exciting thing is, that is exactly what God intends Jeremiah to do. That's part of God's plan for Jeremiah, to compete with horses. Jeremiah has a great destiny. God means for him to stand tall, to be a heroic figure, to hold the line for God's truth and God's glory, so that as we look back over two and a half thousand years, we're amazed at this man, how brave he was, how faithful he was, how persevering he was, one of the greatest and noblest man in the history of the world. He's going to compete with horses. He's going to face lions in the thickets by the Jordan. He's going to do these great things. God is saying, Jeremiah, what you're experiencing now is part of your preparation for these great tasks, for future usefulness. Your racing with men is going to equip you to compete with horses. And if you fail here, you're going to miss out on the supreme challenges of life. If you can't pass your entrance exams, I hope this isn't a painful illustration to some of the young people. If you can't pass your entrance exams, what are you going to do when finals come? These words are not intended to discourage Jeremiah. They're intended to awaken his spirit, to raise his horizons, to give him a new vision and a new ambition to be more for God than he's ever been before. To do more for God than he's ever done before. How can you compete with horses? Jeremiah's not meant to say, oh, dear, I'll never cope. He's meant to say, Lord, is that what you want me to do? Is that what you have in mind for me? To run with the horses? I'd love to do that. That's what I want to do with my life. It's a challenge, you see, to greater tasks, And that's what God says to you and me this morning, my friends. Maybe you're disheartened or discouraged. Perhaps people are giving you a bad time. It may be that you're finding the Christian life too hard. Perhaps some of us are feeling or we feel sometimes like giving up, just like Jeremiah. Listen to what God is saying. He says to you, let me tell you something. I love you too much to let you quit. I've invested too much in you. I think too much of you to let you settle for second best, to let you collapse. God says, I have great things for you to do. Hard things. Big tasks to undertake. Far more than you think you're capable of. I have work for you to do in my kingdom that is greater and wider than you've ever imagined. That's why I'm being hard with you. That's why I'm challenging you. It's like a sports teacher, games master. looks at a fellow or a girl with absolutely no talent whatever, and they'll be kind to them and like them, but they're never going to do anything. If that teacher sees a fellow or a girl with talent, with real talent, the teacher's going to be harder on them, more demanding. Set higher standards. Why? Not because the teacher dislikes that pupil or is a nasty teacher, but because they see the potential. They see what they could become. It's honor. It's a compliment. It's a privilege. Jeremiah says, O Lord, I don't know if I can go on. I don't know if I can run in the interprovincials. God says, I intend for you to run in the Olympics. You say you're tired of running a foot race with men. My purpose, my plan is that you'll compete with horses. And that's a very positive way to look at our testings and our temptations. They're preparations. for greater tasks. If you and I are not faithful in a few things, is God ever going to give us many things? If you're half-hearted about prayer, what happens when you really need to pray? When your life falls in all around you? If you've never prayed to them, Paul puts the same principle in 1 Timothy 3, 5. If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God's church? God has high expectations of you and me. That's quite scary. Sometimes we wish he hadn't. But it's also exhilarating. Do you not feel your heart rising to the challenge? God's saying to you, I want to do something significant through you, through your life, to make your life really count for eternity. Is that not what each of us deeply, really wants? That our lives will matter. That they'll count for God. That we leave a mark on history in God's kingdom. that people will say the world is different forever because so and so lived and walked on this earth. And we should look at our present testings in this light. God must be preparing me for something really special to do for him. And that's a very positive way of looking at things when you're having a hard time. Whatever the circumstances may be, things are in upon you. You're being tested and stretched. You feel like collapsing. But try to understand, God is saying to you, I have something down the line, in the future, that's really important. And you've got to pass these tests to be ready. A warning about future troubles. A challenge to greater tasks. And thirdly and lastly, we have in these words an encouragement to deeper trust. Because there is one fact that so far we have overlooked. Our text says how Can you compete with horses? What's the answer to that question? It's not a difficult answer. We can't compete with horses. The whole idea is ridiculous. If somebody took you out to a piece of grass and say, here's the derby winner and you're going to run a race, And we'll see who wins. You wouldn't even start running. It's just absurd. There is no way you can beat a horse in a race. It's impossible. There's no way somebody can walk through a lion-infested jungle and come out alive. It's impossible. So are we just fooling ourselves here? Are the hard times that we're going to face going to destroy us in spite of God's warnings? Are we going to collapse miserably when the challenges come? How can you compete with horses? And I've said, that's great. God wants you to compete with horses. We should, yes, I want to compete with horses. Get real. We can't compete with horses. but we're forgetting one vital reality. You remember God's original promise to Jeremiah in chapter 1, verse 19. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you and will rescue you, declares the Lord. Of course, Jeremiah can't cope with these dangers. on his own. Of course, Jeremiah can't compete with horses on his own. But he's not on his own. How can you compete with horses, God asks? Jeremiah answers, by myself, Lord, I can't compete with horses. But I'm not by myself, am I? And of course, he wasn't. And God was with him. And God did rescue him. And God did help him. And for over 40 years, Jeremiah did run with the horses. And for over 40 years, he traveled safely through the thickets by the Jordan. So that really this text is an invitation to go to God for strength and keeping. It's not just a warning, though it is that. It's not just a challenge, though it is that. It's God saying, Luke, you come to me and I'll help you. So that Jeremiah realizes that he can't cope That the future is too hard. And he is forced to go for help to the one who could cope. God is trying to remove from us our deadly, destructive self-confidence. The feeling that I can manage. I can hack it. I can cope. You can't. You can't cope. You can't cope with what life's going to bring, my friends. Not properly. You can't handle it. We can't cope with opposition and bereavement and sickness and old age and death. You can endure them. You can grit your teeth and get through them. But you can't live through them in a way that's glorifying to God and beautiful and helpful and joyful. You can't compete. You can't cope. And if all God was giving to you and me this morning was a warning and a challenge, how cold would that be? How remote would that be? If God were to come in here and say, my children, things are going to get worse and I want you to cope. Goodbye. Who would that be like? But in fact, our Father is saying, my beloved child, yes, it's going to be hard. It's going to be hard. It's meant to be hard to bring out the best in you. But I want you to remember this. I'll help you. I'll help you." So that we will go to Him and stay close to Him and call on Him and trust Him for everything. And He will never fail us. God says, if you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, How can you cope with horses? The answer is that, in the words of another prophet, even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will run and not grow weary. They will run and not grow weary. Isaiah 40, 29. How can you compete with horses? By waiting on the Lord. Trusting in the Lord. If you do that, God says, you'll not grow weary. Do you remember the old man in prison? Facing the executioner's sword. Chained to a Roman soldier. He lifts his head. He says, I can do everything through him who gives me strength. A warning about future troubles. Thank God for His honesty. A challenge to greater tasks. Let us rise up to meet them. And an encouragement to deeper trust. This above all. Amen. Let us bow in prayer.