00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
the younger ones to go with Mrs. Schwartz to the creche. 6, 5,
4, 3, 2, and 1. All right? You can go to the
creche. And the rest of us, open up our Bibles, please, to Jeremiah
chapter 38 and 39. Or if you have a church Bible,
it's page 833. Jessica, we're glad you're here
today. Welcome. And so good to have you visiting
with us. But great to see everybody. Again, thank you. for all the
hard work that went into the last three weeks. It hasn't been
busy. June's been very busy, but I thank God for what God's
helped us to get done. Have you ever put your trust
in something you really shouldn't have? Something that you were
relying on and it just didn't happen? When I think about that
and I think about my youth, my kids might be able to guess where
I'm going when I talk about a little girl that was a neighbor girl
that lived not that far away and she promised me that she
would give me a radio-controlled airplane. And I dreamed about
it. I just knew little girls don't lie. And so I was going
to get this really nice radio controlled airplane. And the
fact that I'm 42 and almost 43, and I still remember that, shows
that I set my heart upon it and I shouldn't have. Because it
failed. There's a lot of things in life
that we can set our faith in. A lot of people trust their finances.
But markets go sour. The market can be good at times,
and then all of a sudden it crashes. It's unexpected. People that
are trusting in that, they don't know what to do. They can't cope
because their life has just fallen on the rocks because the financial
world has fallen. Some people trust in their health.
But then sickness comes, or injury. We had a broken thumb in our
family this past week. The unexpected happens. It might
be a car accident that just changes somebody's life, or a diagnosis
that really changes somebody's life. It happens, and if we're
trusting our health, then us and our world has fallen. Family. Trusting our family. Sadly, we've
known some young people recently that their life is really hurting
because their mom and dad have gotten a divorce, or there's
been heartache in their family, or it could just be a breakdown
of a relationship that you thought was a really strong relationship,
and not even maybe family oriented, but you're trusting in that,
and that could be misplaced trust. Government. We've got right now
Brexit or no Brexit or Brexit or Brexit referendum take two. We don't know exactly what's
going to take place there and who's going to be the prime minister.
We're down to two candidates and how long is that going to
last? Will there be a snap election and how's it going to play out?
Indyref too. Is that going to happen? Is Scotland
going to get a second opportunity to go for independence? And so
if we're trusting in government, it's a little bit shaky as well. But in our text this morning,
We've already read a phrase in chapter 39, verse 18, where God
says to Ibn Malik, He says, Because thou hast put thy trust in Me. God's going to do something for
Ibn Malik because Ibn Malik trusts in God. And if I could just give
you the summary of what I want to preach on this morning, it's
this. Put thy trust in Me. Put thy trust in Me. God will
never let somebody down. It doesn't matter who you are
today or what your life's at age-wise or anything about your
life. If you'll trust in God, that is well-placed trust, and
God's going to answer that trust. There's going to be a reward
for that trust in God. So let's pray. We're going to
look at three audiences today with putting their trust in God.
We're going to look at the world. First of all, the world ought
to trust God. We're going to look at the servants of God.
Certainly they should trust God, but they might be going through
it for God, and they've got to trust God as they go through it. And
the last one I want to look at this morning is new converts. New converts need to put their
trust in God as well. So we'll get to that after we
pray, and we'll see what the Lord does here. Let's pray. Father,
we thank you for the grace that you give. And Father, we're thankful
that we can trust in you. And Father, as a church, it's
a blessing to trust in God. As an individual, it's a blessing
to trust in God. As a family, it's wonderful to
trust in God. And Father, as we come before
you just now, that is our dependence. Lord, I pray that the Spirit
of God would take control of this service in every way. Father,
that it not be anything that man says or man does, but the
Spirit of God speaking. And Father, we love our families.
We're thankful for our children. Thank you for each one that's
here. Lord, we commit that, if there's noise today, we commit
that to you. That's fine. Lord, that happens. But I pray
that the Spirit of God would give us grace to attend upon
the Word of God without distraction as far as our soul's connection
with God. And Father, I pray that there would be in the heart
of every person a sense that God is speaking to me today.
And Father, certainly what we're going to talk about applies to
everybody. And Father, it's what we need. I can't speak without
your help. Father, I ask that the Spirit
of God would loosen my tongue and my heart and my mind to follow
your leading. And Father, I pray that what
is preached would be preached with the authority of God. with
the grace of God and the love of God, and Father, you see fit
to do good work. It's in Christ's name we pray.
Amen. Alright, put thy trust in me. And so we're going to
start with the world. The world should put its trust in God. But you
know what? Our world is prone to unbelief. And I can almost
sympathize with them. When I stop and think about the
average person that is coming past us in life and just is out
there, maybe with even animosity towards God or animosity towards
the things of God, I can almost be sympathetic to their situation
of unbelief. That it's so hard for them to
believe today. Why? Because there's a lot of things
that are false. There's a lot of false information that is
being put out. And so we have things today like
fake news. It's hard to know. We all understand
there's media bias and you see it. If you get on any media news
entity, you get a sense of do they lean to the left? Do they
lean to the right? And so there's these different
things taking place. This past week, the U.S. and Britain have said that Iran
put mines on the tankers in the Gulf of Oman. If you follow that
and the conflict that's potentially boiling up there in Iran with
the nuclear ambition that they have. and U.S. pulling out of
the treaty and posturing that's taking place. And so the U.S. and Britain very clearly said
this was the work of Iran as they did this, these shifts.
But Jeremy Corbyn, opposition leader and the labor leader,
comes out and says Britain should act to ease tensions in the Gulf,
not fuel a military escalation that began with the U.S. withdrawal.
from the Iran nuclear agreement without credible evidence about
the tanker attacks. The government's rhetoric will
only increase the threat of war. And so we've got the credible
military intelligence, US and Britain, saying one thing. On
the other side, we've got the labor leader saying, no, that's
not the case. And so people are confused. And
there is kind of a sense of, who do we believe? Who do we
believe? Who's right? There's fake science
that's out there. And it all starts with millions
and millions of years ago. Go to the National Museum and
walk through those halls. It's a great place, beautiful
place, incredible what's there. But as you walk through, it's
millions and millions of years. Millions and millions of years.
Millions and millions of years. And that idea that life does
not come from God has affected this idea that young people have. And I talked to teenagers and
I was shocked to hear them say, life does not begin until birth. I'm like, wow. Life doesn't begin
until birth, but you have a preemie that was just born that was like
22 weeks old or something like that. I forget what the size
was. It was incredibly small. And that child lived. So that
was a child as a preemie at 23 weeks, but another baby is not
a baby until they're born. And so you have these things
being promoted and put out there, and people are believing these
things. They say, you know, the Bible,
by the way, says life begins at conception. Before I formed
thee in the belly, I knew thee, and I ordained thee a prophet,
the Bible says. And David said, I am fearfully
and wonderfully made, marvellous are thy works. In thy book all
my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned,
when as yet there was none of them. Saying, the blueprints
for my life, the DNA for my life, was there before I ever was born. We've got people today being
told, there's no such thing as a boy or girl. It's confusing
our children to think that this idea that there is no gender
and that you can choose your gender. And there's that confusion
that makes in the heart of that child about their identity and
accepting their identity. Am I what God made me to be or
not? There is no God, they say, because
we're the product of science. I had a guy, praise God, got
saved six years ago, but he's disillusioned about God because
of what he's heard. And he said this to me this past
week as I saw him again. He said, how can I believe in
God when the Bible is so proven wrong, is what he said. And I
could have argued with them, the Bible's not proven wrong.
Yes, you're right. What is being touted as science
and put into our schools as fact is a fiction and it's made up
by men and their idea to try to understand life without God. And you're right, it totally
contradicts what the Word of God says, in the beginning God
created. But I can understand why somebody
struggles with faith when we've got these things out there. There's
false religion. tainting men's view of God. I've
got people that say religion causes all the problems in the
world. And they're thinking about Islam and what's taking place
with suicide bombers and things, and that's religion. And they
look at the Catholic Church and the scandal that's taken place,
and they view that as a true church, and so they think that
that has to do with God. They see on the telly guys ripping
people off and stealing their money for faith healing and making
money and merchandise and flying big planes and having big houses.
And they look at that and say, why would somebody want that?
Charlatans. And so again, you can understand
that. There's going to be a difficulty for somebody to come to faith
in God. But on top of all that falsehood that's out there and
all those things, there is also in the heart of that person,
whether they acknowledge it or not, there is a heart that is
against God. There's a heart that has rejected
Him. We've got scientists, I read
this past week, that have these huge listening devices. Have
you seen them? And they're trained on space. And they're zeroing
in on these distant stars, and they're listening, and they're
listening, and they're listening. Here's a quote from the article.
The article said this. The band said, It's really quiet
out there. That's a quote. Yeah. It's quiet out there. Why? Because
God created here. We could see 14 billion light
years away. But it's got to be there. It's
got to be there. How can they have such a strong conviction,
based on what they can see, that there has to be life somewhere
else, but based on what they can see of a design on this planet,
and a design in the universe. They reject the idea that there
is God. How can that be? How can young people in our schools
be taught that explosions make things? That life comes from
this plasma and all this? How can they believe that without an explanation that man's
heart at its core is a heart that's against God. That's going
to take the grace of God to help somebody like that, or anybody
in that case, come to faith in God. And so as we look at Jeremiah
and his burden is for his world, his people to accept God, and
listen, they had been the people of God, they believed in God,
but they were still in disobedience to God. What can he do? It was a hard
generation. Jeremiah chapter 9, Verse 2 and
3, God says, O that I had in the
wilderness a lodging place of wayfaring men, that I might leave
my people and go from them. For they be all adulterers, an
assembly of treacherous men. They were wicked, and they bend
their tongue like their bow for lies. Their tongues were just
given to lies. And again, our society is so
corrupted by lies. But they are not valiant for
the truth upon the earth. For they proceed from evil to
evil, and they know not me, saith the Lord." Jeremiah was valiant
for the truth. God in heaven is angry. God is
upset. Judgment is coming on Jerusalem. The king of Babylon is going
to come in, and he is God's judge upon this city. And if you'll
surrender to him, it's going to be okay. But if you refuse
to surrender, as you'll see in our text, you're going to be
destroyed. Why? Because they have rebelled against
God. They turned their back on God. So you think about this
generation, I've said to some that don't believe in God, they
kind of think, what's the big deal? It's kind of like this,
you go to the National Gallery, and say I had a painting that
was in the National Gallery, and a lecturer comes in, and
the students come in, and I'm standing there, and I'm looking
at my gorgeous creation, and the lecturer goes, this happened
when there was an explosion in a paint factory. And I'm offended. Because not only did I do that,
but thinking about God creating everything, God also took his
son and crucified him to pay for the sins of the world. And
men have rejected him. So we can understand today that
God has a right to be angry. God has a right to stand as judge
over this world. And so, what should Jeremiah
say to his world? What would we say, as it were,
to our world? To encourage our world to faith
in God? Because that's what they need. First of all, put your trust
in me, Jehovah, because I am Jehovah. Jehovah. Put your trust in me. I'm Jehovah.
Jehovah is the great God. Verse 1, Shephetiah
the son of Matan and Gedariah, this is I think chapter 38, the
son of Pasher and Juchel, the son of Shalmiah, and Pasher the
son of Melchiah, heard the words that Jeremiah had spoken unto
all the people, saying, Thus saith the Lord." As Jeremiah
came to preach, Jeremiah didn't come and say, hey, I've got a
good liturgy for you today, or I've got a good moralization
for you, I've got a good current event. He came to his people,
the world, in his day. He said, I've just got to tell
you, I've got a message from God. I've got a message from
the Lord, capital L-O-R-D, and that is Jehovah. That is the
I Am, the eternal, self-existent God. That is the one who came
to Moses at the burning bush, and as Moses was there, he's
called of God to go lead Israel out of Egypt. He says to God,
why would people follow what I say? Who am I? Who should I
say sent me? And so the story is in Exodus
3, verse 11, Moses said unto God, Who am I that I should go
unto Pharaoh, that I should bring forth the children of Israel
out of Egypt? And he said, Certainly I will be with thee, and this
shall be a token unto thee that I have sent thee, when thou hast
brought forth the people out of Egypt. Ye shall serve God
upon this mountain. And Moses said unto God, Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, I shall say unto them,
The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you, And they shall
say to me, what is his name? What shall I say unto them? And
God said unto Moses, I am that I am. And he said, thus shalt
thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto
you. And God said moreover unto Moses,
thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, the Lord
God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac,
and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you. This is my name
forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations. Go and
gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The Lord God
of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, of Jacob, appeared
unto me, saying..." He says to Moses, you're going to go unto
Pharaoh? You're going to go unto the people? Say, God sent me.
God sent me. Why should the world listen to
a message that is being preached at Free Baptist Church or a message
that is being given by somebody from Free Baptist Church? They
should listen because the message is from God. It's from Jehovah. That's why
you go into a church like this and a preacher can preach with
authority. Why? Because thus saith the Lord. Thus saith the
Lord. Man needs to soften their heart
towards God. Why? Because he is God. He is
God. And see, the thing about that
today is that God has a right to say what I can and cannot
do. And as God, He will judge me for what I do or do not do. So when we're speaking to the
world and we're talking to somebody about God, why should they listen? Because the message is from God.
The message is from God. Then secondly, put your trust
in me, world, because my word is sure. It says in verse 2,
He that remaineth in this city shall die by the sword, by the
famine, by the pestilence. But he that goeth forth to the
Chaldeans shall live, for he shall have his life for a prey,
and shall live. Thus saith the Lord, this city
shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon's
army, which shall take it. Now, as Jeremiah came with that
message, did the people listen to that message? Did they accept
it and say, hey, I get it, what Jeremiah is saying is true, so
I accept it. Did they accept it? No. But God said, hey, I'm
telling you this, I said it, it shall surely happen. You know what? The king, Zedekiah,
is not going to believe God. And he's going to try to get
away with it. He's going to try to flee the city and not submit
to the king of Babylon like he should. So he runs out of the
city, they take him, they take his sons, and they kill them
in front of his eyes, and then they put his eyes out. But it
would have been well if he had obeyed God. And so the thing
is, somebody could think today, hey, I don't believe in God.
Doesn't matter. Doesn't matter. I don't care about God. It doesn't
matter. It doesn't matter. Why? Because it shall surely
come to pass. See, here's what the Word of
God says about God's judgment in our day. Revelation 20 verse
15 says, And whosoever was not found written in the book of
life was cast into the lake of fire. That's what God says. And I could
go today and I could plead with people at their door and say,
look, the Bible says this, and they could say, I don't believe
in hell, I don't believe in eternal judgment for sin, I don't believe,
but it doesn't matter. Why? Because God said it, and
His word is sure. Now understand this with regard
to hell, and I want to make this clear. Jesus Christ died to keep
people from going to hell. So people that want to say, well
God isn't loving because God has hell. Well listen, He took
His only begotten Son, the innocent Lamb of God, and He died on the
cross for the sin of the world so that anybody that wants to
get saved can get saved. But what do they need to do?
They need to trust God. So when we're talking to the
world, our burden is, world, you need to trust God. Why? God's word is sure. I witnessed
a man this past week in the posh area of Grace Mountain. Very
nice area. He had kind of a jean open shirt and jeans on. He looked quite the guy. He just
looked like a classy guy. I'd like to know the guy. He
was standing out in his garden and I went to give him a flyer
and he just wouldn't take it. And I said to him, He said, I
didn't believe in God. And I said, well, where do atheists
go when they die? See, hell doesn't disappear just because somebody
doesn't believe in it. And with a smirking smile, he
said, I guess I'm going to go to hell then. And I said to him,
to go there, you have to step over the dead body of the Lord
Jesus Christ. See, and that's the thing. Somebody that says,
well, God is mean because he has hell. No, listen, his son
died so that somebody doesn't have to go there. And so we plead
with the world, just trust in God. His word is sure. And then secondly, God's servants
should trust in Him. God's servants should trust in
Him. Is it warm in here? Are you hot? I'm going to open
this. I hope this doesn't blind you,
but it might let some air flow in. Pardon the disruption there. God's servants should trust in
Him. So we dealt with the world, but now what about Jeremiah?
Jeremiah is the prophet, he's the preacher. What about him?
And God would say to him, put your trust in me, Jeremiah. I
know what they are saying. I know what they're saying. Verse
4 says, Therefore the princes said unto the king, We beseech
thee, let this man be put to death, for thus he weakeneth
the hands of the men of war that remain in the city, and the hands
of all the people in speaking such words unto them. For this
man seeketh not the welfare of this people, but the hurt. They
said, King, he's not interested in what's good. Now listen, he
was saying to them, God said it, God's word is sure. And they
said, we don't like it. And so they said to the king,
let's take care of this guy. You know, Jeremiah's message
was not too different from ours. It was a hated message. Let this
man be put to death. Let him be put to death. Have
you ever noticed that As you speak to people about God, they
don't laugh and they didn't laugh at Jeremiah and say, you know,
get out of here with your fairy tales. That's funny. That's funny.
They don't laugh at it because there's an aspect of the Word
of God that hits the heart of man and there's a seriousness
and a soberness about it. And so the reaction is not one
of laughter. It might be a mocking response
that we receive. But it's a hated message. It's
despised. They say here, He weakened at
the hands of the men, the hands of all the people, in speaking
such words unto them. He's saying He's hurting their
feelings. Listen, today, as we talk to
people about God, and we talk about what the Word of God says
about marriage, and what the Word of God says about creation, and what
the Word of God says about sin, what the Word of God says about
hell, there are people today that go, that's hate speech. I'm offended. Why? Because again, it's a message
that impacts their heart, impacts their life, confronts their life
and says, that's not right. It's not right. But you know
what? A society that offends the Holy
God is not right, are they? See, in our society it's like,
whoa, you can't offend somebody. You can't say something contrary.
They're sensitive, you can't hurt their feelings. But listen,
isn't it going to hurt any man's feelings when he comes up with
the reality of, I have offended a holy God? That's painful. But that is true. and for them
to be saved, and to understand that Jesus died to pay the price
for their sin, and that through the blood of Christ they can
be forgiven. They've got to first understand that they have offended
God, but it's not an easy message to give. Make sense? And so Jeremiah
is going through it. He's stood up for God, and he
is hated, he is despised, he is impugned by what they say. For this man seeketh not the
welfare of his people, but the hurt. And so the world looks
at it and goes, hey, you don't love us. You don't care about
us. But you know, the Bible says about Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter
9 verse 1, he said, Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes
a fountain of tears, that I may weep day and night for the slain
of the daughter of my people. If you want to see the Prophet
Jeremiah, picture him in the prison that he gets put into,
or the place that he gets put into, on his hands and knees,
with his hands in his face, weeping and pleading with God, saying,
God, be merciful to these people. I know your judgment is coming.
God, they deserve it. They've rejected the message, but oh
God, save them. He loved them. And people are
going to say, well preacher, I've heard you today and you
don't love people. Well, if I don't love people,
why did I move my family from the United States to another
country that we didn't grow up in to bring a message about God's
ability to forgive men and to save them from their sin? Why
would I sit down on the bench by a homosexual and explain to
them in a loving way that God loves them, God cares about them,
that there is victory, it's in Christ? Why would I take the
time to talk to somebody that's an atheist and they don't want
anything to do with God? And you know, listen, I don't
personally love beating my head against a brick wall. Why would
I take the time to do that? Because I care about them and
I want to see them get saved. Why do I want to see this church
packed out with people? It's not for the glory of this
preacher. I want to see this for God's glory because Jesus
Christ died so that men could be saved. They can be forgiven
as much as they like their sin, they like the pub, they like
their cigarettes, they like their adultery and fornication and
lifestyle. As much as they like that and
they die without Christ, they'll spend eternity in hell. And I
don't want them to. And if we're like God in that,
we're burdened about it. But the world's not going to
see it that way. And they're going to see it like they did
in Jeremiah's day. And so the Bible says in Matthew
5 verse 11, Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and persecute
you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
my sake. And so God would say to us, put
your trust in me. I know what they're saying. If we get offended,
oh, but pastor, people are saying things about me, I can't stand
up for God. Well listen, put your trust in
God like Jeremiah did. People talked about him too. And it
was lies, but obey God. And so the servant of God has
to maintain that trust in Jehovah as well. Put your trust in me.
I know what they're saying. Put your trust in me. I'll be
with you. Verse 5. Then Zedekiah the king said,
Behold, he's in your hand. These guys came and said, we
want to take care of this guy. He's got a message that is affecting
people and it's not affecting them in our eyes well. So we
want to take care of him. And so the king goes, he's in
your hand. For the king is not he that can do anything against
you. Then took they Jeremiah, and cast him into the dungeon
of Melchiah, the son of Hamilech. that was in the court of the
prison. And they let down Jeremiah with cords. And in the dungeon
there was no water but mire. So Jeremiah sunk in the mire.
He's put down into a pit prison. That's what it is. You get lured
down into it. He gets down into it and he just seeks in the muck.
Have you kids ever stepped in the muck? In a swampy area? We took Duchess over to... Our
family went on a walk at Linlithgow Palace and Duchess was with us.
We didn't really go for her. It was more for us. But we're
walking around Limlico Palace, and on the back side, my wife
says, why don't we let her off lead for a little bit? And I
thought, well, all right. I mean, she's done pretty well
with me off lead, so pop her off lead. And she takes off running.
She runs up by the kids, and I see her go, gets to the kids,
and goes down the bank to the water. I think, no problem, water,
she'll dry. But the problem was that it was
swamp muck, and it smelled awful, and it colded her. from the belly
down, a dark brown. Well, Dutchess is basically white.
So dark brown slash black and white. And a man said as we passed
him going to try to wash her off, it looks like she had socks
on. Covered in muck. That is gross stuff. I mean,
if you ever got down in it, you know it. So Jeremiah is being
lowered into a prison. It is awful. It stinks. He's
in the mire. This time he can't sit down.
It looks like he's going to die. Jeremiah, has God forgotten about
you? Has he left you there? Jehovah
would encourage him. Let him know, hey, I'm with you.
I just read Nate Sane's biography, The Jungle Pilot. He's a man
that went to a tribe in Ecuador to a group of people called the
Aka Indians. It wasn't a big group. He wasn't
primarily there for them. They were a tribal group that
was there. They were a fierce tribe. They'd kill everybody. Nobody
had contact with this tribe, not even government, anything
like that, because they'd be speared. There are other tribes
that he's serving. He's a pilot, and he's flying
missionaries to different areas of Ecuador. But they get burdened
about this tribe. And he and four other men, so we've got
Nate Saint, Ed McCauley, Jim Elliott, Pete Fleming, and Roger
Udarian. And they decide, we're going
to contact this tribe. So they start dropping gifts. And Nate had
come up this way with his airplane, where if he went in a circle,
the force of the plane would draw a line that they lowered
down 2,000 feet. It would draw it into the center
of that circle, and they could lower a bucket. It's a bucket
drop, and he is the one that came up with it. Going in circles,
and they could exchange gifts with this tribe. And so they
did that. And they thought, oh, that's going well. And so we're
going to move forward in our plans to contact this tribe.
And they're working on it. And he said this, as we weigh
the future and seek the will of God, does it seem right that
we should hazard our lives for just a few savages? As we ask
ourselves the question, we realize that it's not the call of needy
thousands, rather it's the simple intimation of the prophetic word
that there should be some from every tribe in his presence in
the last day. And in our hearts we feel that
it's pleasing to Him that we should interest ourselves in
making an opening into the Akka prison for Christ. He's saying
we want to break in because the Bible says in the last days somebody
from every tribe is going to be in heaven. And so we want
to do this. And as we have a high old time
this Christmas, it's Christmas time, may we know Christ Here's
the cry of the damned as they hurtle headlong into the Christless
night without ever a chance. May we be moved with compassion
as our Lord was. May we shed tears of repentance
for those whom we have failed to bring out of darkness. Beyond
the smiling scenes of Bethlehem, may we see the crushing agony
of Golgotha. May God give us a new vision
of his will concerning the lost and our responsibility. And they
said, we're burdened about that. But listen, they were risking
their life. And they knew they were risking their life. But
as they went out that morning to begin this project at Palm
Beach, they had a landing strip there. They sang, we rest on
thee, our shield and our defender. We go not forth alone against
the foe. Strong in thy strength, safe
in thy keeping tender, we rest on thee. And in thy name we go. And it's this, as they're serving
God, they're saying, we're not going out alone to serve God.
God is with us. The Bible has said this, for
I will never leave thee nor forsake thee, so that we may boldly say,
the Lord is my helper. I will not fear what men shall
do unto me. So we know, as we trust God, that God is with us. Then third, put your trust in
me, Jeremiah. I am in control. Verse 7, I am in control. Now when Ebed-Melech the Ethiopian,
one of the eunuchs, which was in the king's house, heard that
they had put Jeremiah in the dungeon, the king then sitting
in the gate of Benjamin, Ebed-Melech went forth out of the king's
house and spake to the king saying, my lord the king, these men have
done evil in all that they have done to Jeremiah the prophet,
whom they have cast into the dungeon. And he is like to die
for hunger in the place where he is, for there is no bread
in the city. Then the king commanded Ebed-Melech
the Ethiopian, saying, Take from hence thirty men with thee, and
take up Jeremiah the prophet out of the dungeon before he
die. And so Jeremiah's been abandoned there. He could think, I'm all
alone. But God was still in control. There's a man, Ebed-Melech, he's
an Ethiopian. He's in the king's court. He
has the courage to go to the king and say, King, this isn't
right. King, he needs to be set free. He's going to die there.
He intercedes with the king, the king says okay, and he goes
and he's going to effect the release of Jeremiah. Just when
it seemed like no one cared, just when it seemed like no one
believed his message, that no one would have the courage to
stand up with him, God gave him a convert. Why? Because God was
in control all along. See, there's times, and we're
going to feel like this sometimes in life, it's just not working
out. But God hasn't lost control.
God's still involved in it. God's still taking care of that.
Nate Saint, again, he was pilot for the group. And where they
lived, their base was a place called Shalmara. And he kept
contact with radio to Shalmara. And the story says Nate had said
he would call at 1230. Ruth Keenan in the house tuned
in. Right on the appointed time,
Nate's voice came booming through the interference into the loudspeaker
at Shell Mirror. He was airborne when he called.
He had just flown over Terminal City and was about to land at
Palm Beach. He said, I have just cited a
commission of 10. It seems like they'll be here for the early
afternoon service. Pray for us. This is the day
we'll contact you next at 4.30. And what it is, they had contacted
the group already, a man and two women, an older woman and
a younger woman. They'd already tried to speak with them and
entertain them. Now a second group was coming
of 10, and they thought, oh, this is the great opportunity
that we've been burdened about and been praying about. At 312,
Nate's wristwatch was suddenly smashed against a stone and the
hand stopped as the muddy waters of the Curray River seeped into
the broken case. They had been speared to death.
And so that contact never comes. The whole world gets involved
and everyone, it seems like it's out of control, this situation. But the world saw something in
the lives of these men that impacted them. Because these ladies were
not hysterical. They didn't need sedatives. They
served meals to everyone. All these men were married. Their
wives are there at the main house. When they told them that they'd
been killed, the story says Marge and the other wives and Rachel,
that's the sister of Nate, accepted the final news that all five
were dead in the same spirit they had shown through the interminable
days of waiting. They gathered that evening with
the children in the living room. while some of the older men present
opened the Bible and read various passages about heaven. Military
officers and others in the house sat listening. The women were
thankful that their men had been faithful to the Lord. Mary Lou
went to the piano and began to play the song that the men had
sung the morning they left for Palm Beach. Then Betty's clear
soprano voice, that's Jim Elliott's wife, took up the words. She sang, we go in faith. our own great weakness feeling,
and needing more each day thy grace to know. Yet from our hearts
a song of triumph pealing, we rest on thee, and in thy name
we go." What do we see in that story? It's God had not lost
control. It seemed like so rough. I mean,
the five men had died trying to take the gospel to these people.
Had God lost control? No. God showed in the strength
that those women had that He was in control even yet. So,
servant of God today, are you trusting him? He knows what they're
saying. He's with us. He's in control.
That's the world. That's the servant of God you
need to trust. One last one, okay? One last one. And that's a new
convert. A new convert. Needs to trust
God. You know, Uber right now is making
a pilotless drone copter. Have you seen this? To fly out
of New York City to JFK and I guess for a couple hundred dollars
you can get on this thing. And I'm looking at this thinking,
it's pilotless and it flies. I don't know about you, but I'm
not keen on taking the first flight, the second flight, the
tenth flight, the hundredth flight. I'm going to be way down the list,
alright? I drive a car because millions
of people have driven cars. But I imagine it was like this
at the beginning. People thought anything over 15 miles an hour,
what's going to happen? Time warp or something? And so
there's trust that is learned. And we already talked about how
hard it would be for the world to trust, but I'm 42 years old
and I got saved at five and I've learned in my life by the grace
of God that I can trust God. And I've seen that again and
again and again and again. But when somebody is just getting
ready to trust God, They don't have that experience. So they
can't draw on experience and go, oh, I can trust God. They've
got to learn by experience to trust God. And so there is a
new convert in this story that I'm going to speak about. But
the first illustration, and I want to use it as an illustration,
is about Jeremiah. Where's Jeremiah right now in
our story, kids? He's in the? Prison. He's stuck in the mire. He can't get out. But Ibn Malik
has gotten permission from the king to go get him out. And so,
in our story, verse 11, Ibn Malik took the men with him and went
into the house of the king under the treasury and took fence,
old cast clouts and old rotten rakes. These are cast-offs, rotten
rakes. He let them down by cords into
the dungeon to Jeremiah. And Ebed Melech, the Ethiopian,
said unto Jeremiah, put now these old cast clouts and rotten rags
under thine armpits, as we say, under the cords. And Jeremiah
did so. So they drew up Jeremiah with cords and took him up out
of the dungeon. And Jeremiah remained in the
court of the prison. OK, here's Jeremiah in prison.
The old cast clouts are coming down. They smell, they stink,
but they're necessary because the rope that they're lowering
down would hurt him. And so he's got to have those
to pad that and to get in that and to be pulled up to safety.
Now, I don't want to speak about Jeremiah as the prophet. I want
to just think about it like this. Calvary is God lowering down
a rope to mankind. Mankind's in the mire of their
sin and they don't realize it, maybe, but they're in terrible
danger. It's going to kill them. It's going to destroy them. They
need help. Help is up. They can't affect their own release.
There's no way for them to do it. The Bible says, by the works
of law, there shall no flesh be justified in sight. That means
this. I can't do anything to please God to get myself out
of God's judgment. But God lowered down through
Calvary bloody rags, as it were, that a lot of people are ashamed
of. They go, oh man, that smells.
I don't like that idea of the blood and the cross. I don't
like the idea of a God crucifying his son. I don't like that idea.
And they're like, man, I don't want that. But it's the only
way of salvation. And see, somebody has to be humble
enough to take that blood-stained garment, as it were, of the Lord
Jesus Christ and let it go around them so that they can get pulled
up to safety. Because that's the only way.
See, the only way somebody can be saved today is the way of
the cross. It's the way of Calvary. It's
what Jesus did. Jesus said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. It's not in religion. It's not in Scientology. It's not in atheism. It's not
in denying God. It's in accepting what Jesus
Christ did and saying, God, I don't understand why you love me so
much, but I'm going to let you take me up out of the pit. I'm
going to put my faith in you. That's a new convert. I know
that's a picture, not the story here. That's Jeremiah. But what
a picture. And I think the hymn writer was
writing about that when he wrote these words. I found a friend,
oh such a friend. He loved me ere I knew him. He
drew me with the cords of love, and thus he bound me to him.
and round my heart still closely twine those ties which not can
sever, for I am His and He is mine forever and forever." Is
He yours today? Has there ever been a time where
you've let God take you up out of the pit of your sin and the
destruction of that and the judgment of that? Someday as you stand
before Holy God, let Him take away your sin through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. See, Jeremiah came up out of
that prison at a point in time. Everybody has to get saved at
a point in time. There needs to be a time where
God did that in my life. And then we'll end with this
this morning. Let's put your trust in me, Ibn Malik as the
convert, because I don't forget those who fear me. Why would
I say he's a convert? I mean, the Bible doesn't say
that in the story, like, hey, here's a new convert, Ibn Malik.
Why do I think he's a convert? Because he was in the house of
the king with all those that rejected the message. But he stood up and said, I believe
the prophet. I believe what he's saying. I
believe what God has told us through the prophet. And king,
you made a mistake putting him down there. He was willing to
suffer for God, if need be, to take a stand for God. See, I
would know today, if you've converted to God and Jesus Christ, when
you take a stand for Him. And say, I don't care what people
say, I don't care what people think. My family may be all against
it, but it doesn't matter. My friends may all be against
it, but it doesn't matter, because I'm going to put my trust in
Him, because I need that. I need to come out of that pit, like
we talked about. And when you do that, God's going to rescue you, as
he said to Ibn Malik. Thus saith the Lord of Hosts,
the God of Israel, Behold, I bring my words upon this city for evil
and not for good. They shall be accomplished in
that day before thee, but I will deliver thee in that day, saith
the Lord. See, hell doesn't go away when somebody gets saved.
It's just they won't go to hell. Make sense? God's judgment is
still coming, but that person is safe. Is that you today? Have
you put your trust in Jesus? That's what the world needs,
isn't it? They can say, well, I don't care
about the authority of God. I don't care that it's Jehovah.
I don't care that it's a book that always comes to pass. I
don't care. Well, it doesn't matter. They
ought to trust God. Because it's true. It's going
to happen. And as believers, we stand up for God against a
world like that. They're going to say things, and they're going
to despise us. We might get put into a prison, as it were, but
even there, God wants us to know, hey, I'm in control. And He wants
to encourage those that need to come to faith in Him, to just
trust in Him and put their faith in Him. Let's bow our heads,
please, and pray and commit this message to the Lord. Father,
I pray that the Holy Spirit would have His way in every heart today.
As believers, we know that the world doesn't want the message
of the Bible. But Father, they need it. And
I pray that we just keep taking it to them and say, you know,
thus saith the Lord, it shall surely happen. And Father, as
we take a stand, persecution might come and people might say
things. Lord, thankfully we have a lot of religious liberty here
in Scotland. But it's being taken away with hate speech legislation
and you can't offend anybody these days and tell them in a
loving way that there's a God in heaven that's upset with their
sin. Well Father, I pray the Spirit of God will give us grace
just to continue with the message, because they need it. And Father,
it might be today, maybe somebody is a new convert type thing,
where they've never put their faith in Jesus, they've never
taken Calvary to themselves. But Lord, maybe today they make
that decision to trust Christ. And so if you just keep your
heads bowed, nice closed for a second, I'd just like to ask a question.
And the question is this, Are you somebody that needs to take
Jesus Christ as your Savior? If you were to think about it,
you've never put your trust in Jesus, what He did on the cross,
when He died for you. You've never asked Him to forgive
you of your sin and save you. If that's you today, you'd like
to indicate by upraised hand, Pastor, I acknowledge that, I
need that, I don't have that, and I just want you to pray for
me. My prayer for you won't save you. But I'd like to pray and
ask God to help you know how to get saved. And I'd like to,
after church is over, take a Bible and show you how to be saved.
But if that's you today and you'd like to acknowledge that with
just raising your hand, would you do that just now? Just raise
your hand. Nobody's looking around. I'm the only one with my eyes
open. If that's you today and you'd like to accept Christ,
praise God. I see that hand. Amen. Anybody
else? Praise God. And with uplifted
hand, those of you that know for sure that you are saved,
that you've accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you've done that
in the past, you're rejoicing that, you know for sure if you
died you'd go to heaven, would you raise your hand? Praise God. Alright, you can put your hands
down and let's pray. Father, I praise you for the
grace that you give. Lord, thank you for speaking to hearts today.
Lord, it's warm. For some reason it's a sleepy
day. I know that. I felt it myself. We've been busy as a church.
But I appreciate the attention that's been given to the Word
of God. Father, for this one that raised their hand indicating
a desire to be saved. Father, we pray that today would
be the day of their salvation, that they'd leave this place
absolutely convinced, because of the Word of God, that they
have accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior, and that they're
willing to take that embarrassment, as it were, of the cross, and
that identifying with the shame of Jesus as He died for their
sin, that they're willing to take that stand for Him because
He loved them that much. And so, Spirit of God, would
you bless and guide that one to Christ? Would you encourage us
and our trust in you? And Father, have your way. It's
in Christ's name we pray. Amen. Amen. Let's stand, please.
We'll sing, He leadeth me, 4-6-0. A hymn of invitation, 4-6-0. He leadeth me, O blessed thought.
Trust In Me
The world ought to trust in God. God's servants should trust in God. New Converts need to trust in God. God won't let those down who trust in Him!
| Sermon ID | 623191234126591 |
| Duration | 49:24 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Jeremiah 38 |
| Language | English |