Jeremiah 12 and Adversity

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good afternoon everyone. It is Saturday, December the seventh, twenty twenty four. It is currently two twenty nine pm Central Time, and I'm coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. Well. In the last Lie broadcast, we talked about motivations, right, what are your motivations? What is your motive and a particular action in a particular situation, What is your motive in that situation? What are your motives and a general sense. We talked about that, and we looked at first Samuel chapter twenty six, where everyone seems to just assign pure and godly and wonderful motives for David's decision not to kill Saul. And I called that into question based off history, context, the text itself.

1:11 I think I put forth at least a decent argument. I called it a hypothesis. But in that discussion I acknowledged something to everyone, right, I said that my motivation, my motive for doing that broadcast wasn't godly, wasn't righteous, wasn't holy, wasn't because I desired to minister to people. My motive was to try to do a broad a good broadcast, one that I was pleased with, because the two prior I was very unhappy with. I was very just irritated with, did not like. So then I'm like, okay, I'm going to do a third one, right, and this third one, this is going to be the home run.

1:54 The first two were strikeouts. This is going to be the home run. I'm going to make up for it. This one is going to be so oh good. I'm gonna get emails and people are gonna be like, oh wow, I've never considered you know, David's motivations there that way. That was challenging, that was interesting, that was thought provoking, that was wonderful, that was great. Well I finished it. Another strikeout. I've got three strikeouts, ladies and gentlemen. At this point, I'm gonna be kicked out off the team, right. The team's gonna come to You're like, look, you can't hit. You just need to go find a new profession, right all right, Yeah, I'm gonna take this illustration and run it into the ground. All right. So I'm back, ladies and gentlemen, I'm back now. I have again being fully transparent.

2:39 There's a football game beginning in about thirty minutes, Texas versus Georgia. I'm right here in Texas. It's mandatory that I watched the game or they're gonna come revoke my Texas citizenship, all right, So I don't want to be kicked out of this country and have to go live in a you know, one of those states that people talk about. No, so I have to watch the game. So my motive is get this done as fast as possible so that I can go and see it. See, none of my motives here are very pure or right. And why am I doing another one? Because I want to make up for the last three, And probably when this one is done, then I'll be like, well maybe tomorrow during the first maybe maybe I'll make it up then. Because you're always, at least for me, broadcasting, you're always chasing it, right, You're always chasing that elusive perfect broadcast, because if you could have that one broadcast where you don't mispronounce anything, you have subject verb agreement, everything is in the proper tense, you do everything correctly. Well, man, at that point, then you just stay that's it. That's it.

3:37 This is it? This is it? This is the one, and then that's it. You just retire at that moment and you just you're done, and you delete everything else except that one broadcast, and you pay sixty dollars a month just to keep that one broadcast there. Okay, that's seems somewhat kind of ridiculous, isn't it. I know that is it is ridiculous, but it's the way it works. So motive to be pure. Now, there is some possible good motives here, right I do, and I mean this, I do want to bring our series, our Sermon's two point zero app Sermon Challenge series, to some kind of dramatic conclusion. I don't know exactly what that looks like, but I know this, I'm going to continue to review sermons.

4:20 So we've been in First Samuel twenty six and twenty seven for hours. In fact, I could have done more work on First Samuel twenty six and twenty seven. I really could. But if I'm looking at the numbers again, wrong motives, right See, I'm gonna I think I'm in this entire broadcast. I'm just gonna keep referencing the last broadcast. But that's the wrong motive. Right, But I've been looking. I'm like, Okay, I think I've I've done what I can't I still think we should be talking about it. I mean, personally, what we've done with First Samuel, twenty six and twenty seven is one of those things that I think makes this podcast unique, and I think it justifies why we exis because we're doing things nobody else is going to do. Nobody's going to have these discussions.

5:05 So I kind of want to go back to it. But at the same time, I want to keep reviewing sermons right, review review, review, review, review, so that we can end to end this year at least doing what we can with this series. And again, I just still don't know what I'm going to do in twenty twenty five. Some may say, never review another sermon. I don't know. I some people say the reviewing the sermon is kind of such a it's kind of a it's kind of a you know, I'm not really putting in the work, right, But I would argue that for every sermon review, look at all the other things we do. We basically reviewed like fifteen minutes of a sermon and turned into hours and hours and hours of other of very important conversations and discussions, and we created a completely different interpretation. We did the same thing with James. So some people may say, well the sermon reviews, stop those, but just think of all the content that has flown from like that has arisen out of a fifteen or twenty minute review of a sermon, All of the PSAW eighty three, all of this work on Isaiah forty through fifty five, that entire new interpretation of James W One nineteen through twenty seven, the work I mean, some of the work in Hebrews all because of sermon reviews. So sermon reviews really lead to a lot of I think, interesting discussions. So what we're gonna do today is we're going to talk about adversity. Adversity. Now, adversity is defined as difficulties or misfortune now in your life,

6:37 in my life, we face adversity. Right. Sometimes the adversity is small, sometimes it is gigantic. Sometimes it is like it's really really really bad and anyone seeing it going, man, I don't know how you're handling that adversity. Now, A lot of people believe when we face adversity, we can open our Bible and we will be get we have a kind of a guideline, a lesson plan and how to handle adversity. Now, this goes back to how we handle the text. When we open up the Bible, do we see guidelines how to handle adversity? And if we do, where did we find those guidelines or do we find those guidelines in maybe a historical narrative?

7:23 Now that once again, is the historical narrative prescriptive? Is it descriptive? Is it there to teach you? Let are we you know, what are we going to do? Now? I don't know if what this sermon is going to do, but the sermon is entitled Facing Adversity. It was uploaded maybe fifteen minutes ago. I was just sitting there watching the new sermons, saw a knew one. I'm like, you know what, let's get this done before before. I mean, because you know, the governor of Texas is probably monitoring this broadcast. And if I don't, if I don't stop right in time for kickoff, you know, the Texas Rangers are going to kick in the door and Chuck Norris is going to drag Okay, right now now, I'm just taking the illustration. I'm going ridiculous with it. But the point is, I am guessing that a sermon called facing Adversity based off Jeremiah Chapter twelve is going to take Jeremiah chapter twelve, and it's one going to make it about you and going to make it about me, because that's what all sermons do. And then it may turn this into some kind of a blueprint and how to handle adversity. Now, maybe that's the right way to handle it.

8:26 Maybe it's the wrong way. We know we're not going to be able to finish this entire obviously thing. I picked it. Another reason I picked it's only twenty six minutes long, so it means really the sermon itself, probably you get the introduction and you get the summary at the end, probably you know more than about fifteen minutes of actual teaching. So I don't know how in the world you handle James or James Jeremiah twelve basically verses one through seven, and about twenty minutes to fifteen minutes. I don't know how you pull that off, but I definitely am interested. So let's jump in and see what we can find before Chuck Norris kicks my front door in and as watch the football game. All right, here, we go. Are you ready? Let's do this.

9:06 When I plead with you, you let me talk with you about your judgments. Okay, what happened there is that just where the audio begins. Let's back that up. Let's try that. Let's try that again. Let's take our Bibles and turn to the Book of Jeremiah, and we want to read the first six verses of Jeremiah Chapter twelve. Righteous are you, o Lord? When I plead with you, you let me talk with you about your judgments? Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal treacherously? You have planted them, Yes they have taken root, they grow, Yes they bear fruit, And you are near in their mouth, but far from their mind. But you, oh Lord, know me. You have seen me, and you have tested my heart towards you.

9:55 Pull them out like sheep for the slaughter, Prepare them for the day of slaughter. How long will the land morn and the herbs of every field wither? The beasts and birds are consumed for the wickedness of those who dwell there, because they said, he will not see our final end. If you have run with the footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? And if in the land of peace in which you trusted they wearied you, then how will you do in the floodplain of the Jordan. For even your brothers, the house of your father, even they have dealt treacherously with you. Yes, they have called a multitude after you. Do not believe them, even though they speak smooth words to you. Perhaps something you might remember an account I shared a few years back about a couple of a group of British soldiers from the first Parachute Brigade. This is during World War Two, and they were hunkered down in Holland, somewhere near arnham Bridge, and they were hiding out in some of the basements and cellars of a row of houses in that town, and they were taking a lot of German fire. And one of the army chaplains, a man by the name of Chaplain Egan, was moving from place to place to try and check on the men. Into one home and he went down into the cellar and there was Sergeant Jack Spratt there with a group of his men, and so he asked him how they were doing so which Sergeant Spratt replied, it's tough, Sir, they're throwing everything at us, but the kitchen stove. And just as he said that, there was an enormous explosion as the house took a direct hit. The ceiling caved in. And then after all the dust had settled and the men looked up, sure

11:26 enough there was the kitchen stove. Sometimes in life it can be a bit like that. Things seem so bad, it just doesn't seem like it can possibly get any worse, and then all of a sudden it does. All right, So here we go, hopefully in the recording, I realized I had the mic. One of the MIC's still lying when I was playing that IDEO. Probably if you're listening on the summon's two point oh apper Church one app you did not hear the echo, so I have to see maybe I'll have to use the recording from that. So I apologize if you were hearing the echo of the hearing the audio twice. But notice what he did. He read Jeremiah twelve one through six. I said, one through seven. I apologize Jeremiah twelve one through six, and then immediately goes into an illustration about World War two, and then it becomes about us difficulties, adversity all right, So we have been brought into this relatively quick, right, we're in Jeremiah twelve. But we have found ourselves in it really really really fast. Now I'm not saying it's wrong, not saying it's right. I'm saying that we have to pay close attention to see what happens to the original recipients and do we push them out? Are we gonna claim anything here? What's getting ready to happen? Let's find out.

12:51 It's the kind of situation the prophet Jeremiah was facing here in the twelve chapter of his prophecy. Things were bad at this time. Many people in the country hated him somewhat, even plotting on how they could get rid of him. The situation was looking very bleak. It was a very tough spot they was in, and so Jeremiah, in the midst of it, only cries out to the Lord. He pulls out his complaints before the Lord in these opening verses here of chapter twelve, to which the Lord then replies to him in response here and says, actually, it's going to get worse. They're throwing everything at you. Bar the kitchen stove, well, look out, kitchen stove on the way. Okay, so he went when Jeremiah went to World War two, went to us, back to Jeremiah. Okay, that's interesting. He takes the text, then says some things that maybe we can relate to, and then brings that back to Jeremiah. Okay, no, no, no issues with this, all right, this is kind of pulling us in. All right. Hey, we know about when you know, life throws everything at us, including the kitchen sink, the kitchen stove, whatever, whatever phrase you want to utilize.

13:57 We all can understand when life do I say, Okay, Jeremiah is going through a similar situation. He cries out to God, and God's like, hey, it's going to get worse. Oh that's okay. There's a lot we could talk about. Okay, all right, so so far this is interesting. Let's see where it goes. That's essentially what the Lord says to him in these verses. He tells him things are about to get worse, not to crush him, though, not to leave him feeling totally overwhelmed, but in order that he might remember in the midst of it all that the Lord himself is his ultimate source of help and strength, and with his help then he can faithfully and successfully face whatever may come.

14:41 Okay, Now, in jeremiah situation, God is his help. Do we can we take from that? Then in whatever adversity you face, God is going to help you. Now when you say, well, God is going to help you as well? Help you in what way? Jeremiah has been given a specific task, a specific mission, with specific promises. We cannot take the help God gives to Jeremiah and then extract from that that God's going to help you in anything that he would even look similar, because that's not necessarily well, it's not even not necessarily the case. It's not the case.

15:22 It's the same thing when we look at what God does for Israel and we extract from that that God's going to do similar for us, it's not the case. They are they have Covenant promises to them. Jeremiah has specific promises to them. We can't say, well, now, God, hey you're going through this difficult time. God's going to help you. Okay, How is God going to help me? Is He going to make the situation get better? Well, you can't tell anyone that. Is it going to give you some strength? Is it something measurable? Is it just a feeling? Is it a feeling now, is that a feeling that God is actually giving me or is it just a feeling that I'm feeling based off my mind saying well, God is there to help me. But there's nothing. Actually, there's nothing transactionally happening. It's just my mind saying, oh, I feel better because I know God is there. But it doesn't mean God is actually doing anything. Now, I'm not saying he's trying to extract from that, but there seems to be an implication here. There seems to be an implication. Let's see if the implication is just implied or it becomes explicitly stated.

16:26 That is basically the message in these verses that we've read, especially verse five. That's what we want to zoom the lens in on this evening. We're going to take that as a sort of a window text to cast lights on the whole section here, and we're going to look at this verse here, with God's help, We're going to see three things, warning, a challenge, and an assurance. A warning first of all, a warning about the prospects of adversity. If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, then how can you contend with horses. Now, before we even come to that, let's just back up into chapter eleven and to verse eighteen, which is the beginning of a new set in the book there, and one that deals with the reaction of the people here in Judah to Jeremiah as a prophet. He was a young prophet at that time, if you remember, raised up by God to bring prophetic rebuke to the people of Judah from the Lord, to warn them of coming judgments because they're idolatry, they're turning away from Him, the one true Living God.

17:20 If you can remember this from a few weeks back, how they wanted to be like the other nations around them. They were intrigued, They were enticed by the exotic idols of the nations around them. They wanted to worship those idols themselves. And so Jeremiah has raised up by the Lord to rebuke them for that and to warn them of judgment, a coming judgment in the form of an enemy invasion on the way. Didn't make him popular for doing so, though the people. They hated him for that. Some even wanted to kill him for that. Let us destroy the tree and its fruits, they said. This is verse nineteen, let us cut off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more. So they wanted him gone. They wanted to kill him.

18:00 Verse twenty one says, in fact, so badly did they want him gone, they wanted to remove all trace of him. Let us destroy the tree and its fruit, they said, meaning let's get rid of him before he gets married. So he doesn't have any family either, so he doesn't leave any kids behind. That's what that means. That's how much they hated him. Now, who was this? Who were these people who really had it in for Jeremiah. Verse twenty one says they were the men of Anathoth, So that's his hometown. These were the people of his own hometown, his neighbors, friends of the family. Some of them were even members of his own family. Verse six that we read says, your brothers, your own family, even they have betrayed you. They've raised a loud cry against you. This is how unpopular Jeremiah was in those days.

18:50 Why why was that? What's the reason why is there so many of these people want him gone? The answer is his preaching. They didn't like the message that he he proclaimed. Look at chapter eleven, Verse twenty one. Therefore, this is what the Lord says about the men of Anathot who are seeking your life and saying, so this is what they were saying, do not prophesy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by our hands. That was a pretty tough crowd he had to preach to if he didn't like what he had to say. We're talking here about some of the things that we've read earlier on in the chapters. His rebuke of the religious men for their corruption, along with warnings against idolatry and heathen worship that came with it. All of these things made him hugely unpopular with the religious establishment and with the ordinary people as well.

19:37 And so Jeremiah, he's in danger. Jeremi is a man with a target on his back. Now, maybe one of the principles here that would be possibly applicable is how truth, speaking truth can put you at odds with the religious establishment. That speaking truth can actually put you at odds with the religious leaders, right, I know, I know people people tend to take this. Preachers tend to take See, when we preach to the world, they're going to hate us. This is the religious people who hate him. This is not the world. This is the religious people. Because the religious people did not like his message. They had a perceived idea of the way it should be and how God should operate and how God will work. Even maybe claiming that God had spoken to them took them because there's a condemnation of these false prophets going out saying God sent us and God showed us. No, you didn't see you didn't hear from God.

20:40 But he's speaking against the religious people. Maybe the lesson is is when you speak against religious people, they will try to kill you. Okay, maybe that's the message here, but let's see what he does with it. He started to make enemies now amongst some very influential and powerful people. His life is in dangers, life is on the line, and so what does he do well, Jeremiah does what he always did, what we should all do when we're facing troubles or fears of any any kind. He brings it to the Lord. He cast his burden on the Lord. Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere we should never be discouraged? Take it to the Lord in prayer. That's what Jeremiah does at the beginning of chapter twelve. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are those happy who deal so treacherously?

21:28 He's a bit like asap here, isn't. In Psalm seventy three, Jeremiah wants to know why do evil do us prosper? Why is it that good things seem to happen to bad people? Verse two. You have planted them, Yes, they've taken route. They grow, Yes, they bear fruit. They're well watered and flourishing. They bear fruit in their season. And worse of all, some of them even profess to be believer us. God is on their lips, he says, but far from their hearts and minds. So to me the two lasses, if we want to try to draw some application and still stay true to the tags, is that speaking truth can put you at odds with the religious leadership, with the with the religious world, with the religious institution. However you would like to phrase it, speaking truth will put you at odds sometimes with those who claim to be Christians, profess Christianity within Christianity itself, within God's people. And second, what are we to do with it? Well? I do agree with this. We are to be open and honest with God. He says, take it to God in prayer. This is not just taking it to God to prayer. This is taking your complaint and speaking plainly righteous. Are you a Lord when I plead with you? Yet? Let me talk with you about your judgments. Why does the way of the wicked prosper?

22:48 Why are those happy who deal so treacherously? You have planted them, They have taken root, they grow, Yes, they bear fruit. But you are near their mouth, but far from their minds. He is being very blunt about his complaint, very blunt about his frustration, which means speaking bluntly and truthfully to God's people or to the religious leadership or to the religious may get you in trouble, but you can speak open and honest with God God, and we should. There's no use we have to come to God and pretend that everything is wonderful and everything is great, and we can come to God and just say, I don't get it. What are you doing? You're supposed to be righteous, but yet look at these See none of this makes any sense. Your Christianity if it's going, I think the if your Christianity's going to be meaningful in any meaningful way, you have to be blunt and honest with God with what you are feeling, even if it comes across as Christians would get uncomfortable and say, you shouldn't think that way, you shouldn't speak that way. Don't listen to them. Speak open and honestly with God, with what you feel and what you are and what you desire, no matter how ugly it may come across, because then you're being been in honest with God. All right, So there's some lessons here.

24:12 Verse two. They got a form of religion, but they deny the power there off, and this causes Jeremiah then to be perplexed. You can't quite reconcile at this point the success of the wicked with his belief in the goodness and the sovereign power of God. How long, he says, will the land mourn and the herbs of every field wither? He's saying, Lord, don't you see what's happening here? Don't you see the effects of all of this? The land, the whole land is languishing because of this evil and the evil doers that prevail. So that is, in essence what Jeremiah is doing in this section. He pours out his complaints before the Lord in the opening verses of chapter twelve, to which the Lord then replies in verse five when he says, this is the text we're going to think about. If you have run with footmen and they have wearied you, how can you contend with horses?

25:02 Now? There are different understandings of this. Somethink that's a military metaphor that he's using, that God is saying here to Jeremiah, you've been fighting with the infantrymen so far and you're struggling, So how do you think you're going to get on against the cavalry. Others think this is more an athletics metaphor in as much as they say, Jeremiah, you've been in a foot race against the sprinters and you're tired. How are you going to get on when you have to run against horses? Slightly different understandings, but if you think about it either way, it's really the same point that's being made. Things are going to get harder, things are going to get more difficult. You think things are bad now, the Lord says to me, you're pouring out your lament. Now, how's it going to be when things get even worse? That's the warning he's giving to him here.

25:46 It's a warning about what's to come, adversity, future adversity for him individually as a prophet. People are going to turn against him, as we mentioned, not just the people of his own hometown of Anathoth, they will, oh for sure, and even members of own family, but many others as well. He's going to be hated, He'll be attacked, he's going to be thrown into prison. At one point, he'll be thrown into the stocks. All of these things he's going to have to face as an individual, but also them as a nation as well. Things are going to get worse. There's an enemy on the way, an enemy superpower. The Babylonians are cruel and savage people that can come sweeping through. They're going to destroy the land. They'll attack the people, they'll take captive many of these people, they'll take them off into exile for many years to come.

26:33 Now, if we want to try to build lessons from this, I think the first lesson I think we can somewhat. I think I think is applicable to some level, because it's always been true. When you speak truth, desire truth, willing to look at the truth, you find you'll find yourself at times, literally at odds with the supposed religious leaders, the religious institution. You will. I think, I think history proves that many people in the church, many religious leaders, they just want a form of religion. They just want to play along. They don't want hard questions, they don't want difficult they don't want difficult discussions. They just like the idea of spirituality, Jesus, God, pot luck's fellowships, get along with people, friends, community, you know, hold hands, sing kumbaya, all of that stuff. They don't really want anything. They don't want anything to really mess that up. And you come speaking the truth. That may be unpleasant. You gots to go all right, they don't like it. All right, So we can relate to Jeremiah's dilemma on why he's facing.

27:31 I mean, people don't want him, people don't like him, and people want him dead. And okay, that's some pretty strong that's a pretty strong situation. Well how does that make you feel? Well, you get ticked off, you get irritated by that. Now you can either pretend that everything is good, or you can go to God and say, God, I don't get it, I don't understand. I'm ticked off, And you have to do that. Now, here's the problem. God's response to Jeremiah is things are gonna get worse. Now. We got to be very careful here, right, because we can't just immediately extract from this something for us. Because we've got to be careful. This fits within a historical setting. Things are gonna get worse because God has already told them the Babylonian captivity is coming. So this is very specific to their historical situation. So I won't say that when we talk to God in prayer. What do we do if God says things are gonna get worse? Because God only talks to us through his word. He doesn't speak to us any other way. Unless you want to destroy the concept of solo scripture, we won't go we won't get into that. But what do you do when you go to God? Now, now we can bring this into kind of somewhat of a hypothetical, and I think this can be somewhat accurate. I think what do you do as an individual when you go to God and cry out your frustration, cry out your irritation, cry out how bothered you are about a situation, not saying God is going to tell you it's gonna get worse because God here is speaking directly to people outside of scripture. Okay, we understand all of that. God spoken different ways at different times now day, well it's through his word. Okay.

29:02 But what if you cry out to God all your frustrations, all your irritations, all your pain, all your confusion, and not that God says it, but the situation actually gets worse. Now that's a very real possibility. That's a very real probability. Now can we learn anything from this? Are we taking a lesson and making it prescriptive when it's simply descriptive. Let's see what he does. So, Jeremiah, you think it's hard being a prophet? Now do you think it's tough? Now? You haven't seen anything yet.

29:47 You've run with athletes on foot in it's hard. How's it gonna be when you have to start running with horses. That's the kind of message that he's giving to him here. It's a message to time to get ready, debrace yourself, tough talk. Times are coming. It's not an easy path that he's on. He needs to be ready for it. Jesus did the same thing, didn't he When the people came to him and they wanted to follow him and be a disciple of his. Jesus said a similar thing. Okay, yeah, sure, sure thing, do that, but you know, get ready, make sure that you know what you're in for. Make sure you count the cost first of all, make sure you know what's involved. If any man would come after me, let him take up his cross. Oh it's a hard path.

30:29 There's pain and suffering, there's conflict involved in all of this. So be ready, be prepared for that. Brace yourself for that, he said. And do you remember some of the people heard that, and they said, this is a hard saying. Who can receive it? And they turned and they followed him. No more, that wasn't what they wanted to hear. That was a difficult thing to hear. Even Peter, remember, he balked at that when Jesus. We looked at this. In Mike's Gospel some months back, Jesus first reveals to the disciples the nature of his mission. What is that he himself must do. How he has to go to Jerusalem, and he's going to suffer at the hands of wicked men, and he will be killed. And Peter's almost jumped out of his skin when he heard that, and he took Jesus to one side and began to rebuke him for that. No, no, no, Lord, something like that must never happened suffering for Jesus and for his disciples. So his mind, at least, that isn't part of the plan. But eventually, of course he came to see it, and he came to understand that, and then the need to be ready and be prepared for it.

31:31 And so many years later he says the same thing, doesn't he When he's writing his first letter to those believers in Asia Minor and they're about to go through some extreme suffering. The persecution is going to start getting ramped up for them, and so he writes them, he says, to be ready, don't get caught out, be prepared. Persecutions about to get intense, don't be surprised by the fiery trial, which is to try you. Wants them to be prepared, wants them to be ready so they can be strong, so they can stand when the testing time comes. And as God's people, we need that, don't we. We need that kind of resilience and endurance so that when testing times come for us, we too, we can keep going, We can keep pressing on. I remember reading a biography about John Marshall. Hear me mention him from time to time.

32:18 He was a minister in England many years ago. It's gone to be with the Lord now. But this was a ban of biography about him, and he was a young man. He ministered in hemel Hempstead for many years and the church he went to begin with it was quite a liberal church, and so he had a number of people who were quite opposed him when he first came there. And there was one particular church meeting that they had was a very difficult meeting for him, and one member of the church brutally criticized him during this particular meeting. And at the close of this meeting he felt like he'd taken a bit of a battery. And as he was on his way out, he was handed a note by an elderly lady called Queenie now Queen He was the daughter of the previous minister, and she was a staunch lover of the gospel. She really supported John Marshall. She would try and encourage him as much as she could, and she passed this little note to him, and so he grabbed it and he took it away feeling sure that this was another encouraging gem from Queene, and he got it home and he opened it up and he read the words of Proverbs twenty four, verse ten.

33:18 If thou faints in the day of adversity, thy strength is small. His biographer said, although it's not what he anticipated, John took the timely words to heart, and in a way, it's what God is doing for Jeremiah. Here he's saying to him, gird yourself up, be strong, don't faint. If you're fainting. Now, what are you going to be like when real trouble comes? Now, you know, let's think about that. How can he do that? Well? How can we do that when challenges come to us, or as we try to prepare ourselves for possible difficulties that may lie ahead in the future, How can we do that? That's going to be our second point here. That was the warning the prospect of adversity. Secondly, consider of the challenge here and the use of a sporting analogy.

34:04 And here we want to drill down a bit into this comparison the Lord gives him. If you've run with the footman and they've wearied you, how can you contend with horses. It's as if the Lord is taking Jeremiah down to the racetrack the local athletics stadium here, and he's got Jeremiah to run a few races. Maybe he does one hundred meters, then he does the two hundred, and then after that the four by one hundred relay as well, and after that, Jeremiah is whipped. He's totally exhausted. You imagine he's on the side of the track, he's heaving, he's gulping down the gatorade, trying to get his strength back. And then it's as if the Lord says to him, okay, now for the horses. Are you ready for that? Ready to compete against them? You've run against some athletes. Now I want you to run against some thoroughbreds. Let's put you up against a secretariat. You might say, in this country, red Rum, we'd say, in my country, you know, the elites, the thoroughbred race horses. Let's see how you get on with them. Now, horses in those days, they weren't as strong and powerful as they are today, but they'd still be more than enough to outstrip Jeremiah easily. And that's the point here. You're worn out running against men? What are you going to be like when you try and run against a horse? That's one analogy. And then if you look in verse five B, he develops that and he says, if in the land of peace in which you trusted, they wearied you, how will you do in the flood plain of the Jordan? Some translations, how it may be in your version it says the thickets by the Jordan. So again it's a contrast here between the land of peace that was a reference to the open flat country around Jeremiah's home village of Anathoth near Jerusalem,

35:35 contrasted with the flood plains or the thickets of Jordan, which the experts say refers to this thick, jungle like region near the Jordan River, which was known to have lions roaming around in it. And so again there's a contrast here, Jeremiah, if you struggle on the easy, open meadow land around your own town, how can you possibly hope to cope with the thick, line infested jungle surrounding the Jordan. Today? You might say, if a man stumbles as he's walking through Central Park, how is he possibly gonna make it across the rocky mountains. It's that sort of thing preparing him. You know, how are you gonna cope when trouble comes again? The immediate reference is to the coming of the Babylonians. If he thinks things are bad and he's feeling sorry for himself, now just wait until the Babylonians start moving in. How are you gonna fare then when life starts to get really hard.

36:29 Now he's doing a great job painting this picture. I mean, I love it. I love it. I like the way he preaches, I like the way he teaches. This is good stuff. Now my concern is he wants to say that what how can we make it? How? How can Jeremiah make it? The text does not be does not seem to be providing any answers. God is just basically saying, look, if you can't, if you can't make it in this, how are you gonna make it here? How are you gonna make it here? He he doesn't seem to be providing any answers any way, shape or form. So where is he going to pull the answers from now? Either he's going to pull the answers from somewhere else and apply him to us. But shouldn't the question be what solution does God give Jeremiah. Jeremiah is like, look, man, what is going on? And God's response is it's going to get worse. And if you can't handle this, how are you going to handle it when it gets worse? Well, then what's the solution for Jeremiah? Now? Is this sermon going to give us the solution God gives Jeremiah and then apply it to us, or is he going to forget Jeremiah go to other verses and then apply that to us.

37:33 Let's find out that's the analogy here for Jeremiah and for us as well. When we face trials and troubles in our lives, the think about the smaller ones, the minor irritations, the less aggrievances. How do we react? Then? Do we get irritable and all bent out of shape over relatively minor things that happen in our lives? Because if that's the case, what are you going to be like when the really big situation comes along? If you like that running with the footman, to use Jeremiah's analogy, what will you be like when you're running with horses? What kind of state will you be in when the really big trial comes, which is why, just by way of a practical application here, we need to we need to train ourselves for those situations by the way that we respond to lesser trials, so that when they come along, you know, the minor annoyances, the minor irritations I'm talking about here, everyday aggravations, the setbacks that we can encounter.

38:32 Instead of getting really worked up by those things, getting really irritated, blowing a fuse, flying off the handle at that situation or even at people around us, what we need to do instead in that situation, with God's help is learn to cope. Okay, now this gets a little confusing. Okay, Natty, Now this goes to typical preaching, and this is why I have so many issues with preaching. So wait a minute. So the lesson is is, hey, if you can't handle this, how you to handle the hard things? So then what we're supposed to take from that is we have to train ourselves. We have to train ourselves by handling the small irritant irritant irritations so that when big adversity comes we will be prepared to handle it. So the lesson from this is train yourself when you face small things, handle it, so you'll be able to handle big adversity.

39:24 But with God's help. Now, this is where it gets confusing. So God's gonna help me do it? What does God? Just? What does God do? Does he help me by removing this? Or is it just a feeling? I get? See? This is such? This is so vague. So the lesson is what is God telling Jeremiah, Hey, figure out how to handle this so that you'll be ready to handle that. If you learn how to handle and is there? And again we could really are We could really argue, is there truth? If I learn to handle minor adversity, I'll be better prepared to handle big adversity. Can anything really prepare you to handle big adversity? Oh? The power went out and I missed my favorite TV show? Oh okay, well, okay, I'm gonna handle this calmly, okay, good, good good? And then six months later your loved one dies because because some horrible tragedy. Did the handling the TV prepare you for this? I don't know if that really works that way?

40:34 Is that the lesson? Here? Is the lesson, Jeremiah, figure out how to handle this, and then you'll be prepared to handle that. I don't know if that's the. Lesson, pray and cope with the situation. Take yourself in hand, say to yourself, this is nothing. Really, Why am I getting so wked up? This is only a very small thing in the big scheme of things. This is only a little thing. It's only a mine annoyance, not a big deal. Let's tallt yourself in that way. And what you'll be doing at the same time is you're training yourself. Then you're preparing yourself to cope with much bigger trials when they come along. I know he mentioned God's help, but if you really listen it is this is all about self help improvement.

41:20 Train yourself to handle adversity. How do you face adversity by training yourself to handle averse adversity? So the Christian secret to handling adversity is training yourself to handle adversity. And how do you train yourself by handling small adversity so you'll be better you'll be better equipped to handle big adversity. Is that the Christian message is that the message from Jeremiah. I'm just presenting it to you. You can tell me if you think this works. Which is often why if you think it. That's often why trials and troubles come along in the first place.

42:03 They're part of that training process that we go through. It's God putting us into the gym, as it were putting us through our paces, giving us a workout spiritually in order to build strength, to build endurance, so that when eventually later on the big challenge comes, then we're ready for that. We're prepared by the lesser trials we've been through. We're ready when the bigger one comes. Maybe an illustration will help. Think about Winston Churchill. You know in this regard he wasn't a Christian man as far as I know, but just as an example of how someone is providentially prepared by lesser trials for a bigger one. He became Prime Minister on tenth of May nineteen forty. Prior to that, he'd served as a British soldier and had taken fire in many situations. He'd held various high level positions in government, including First Lord of the Admiralty during World War One, numerous trials and crises that he'd been through, and so when he's eventually appointed as minister in nineteen forty, he walks across the courtyard to Buckingham Palace to receive the invitation from the King, and as he does so, this thought is going through his mind.

43:08 He recalls this later on, He says, I felt I was walking with destiny, and that all my past life had been but a preparation for this hour and for this trial. Past troubles and trials had prepared him for that greatest of all tests. Or you know, a biblical example. Think about Daniel when he arrived as a young man in Nebucenza's court, being subject to that Babylonian indoctrination program. That was a severe test, wasn't it? And yet he remained steadfast faithful through her. He refused to defile himself with the portion of the king's meat. He wouldn't faithfully devoted to the Lord in that challenge. So that in years to come, when Darius came to power and passed that decree that no one was to pray to anyone except to him, what would Daniel do in that situation?

43:56 Would he remain faithful to the Lord there as well? You know, his life life is on the line. What would Daniel do? Went back up to his room, I open the windows, towards Rusom, go down on his knees and prayed three times, just as he had done before. It says he was dead foss on waving, totally faithful to the Lord. How did he do that? How did he remain so strong even though his life is on the line. Now he gonna be thrown to the lines. He was thrown to the lines. The reason is he been prepared. What's interesting is he's going other places to find the supposed answer for how Jeremiah should handle the adversity. The question should be Jeremiah's facing adversity. He's upset. God says it's going to get worse, and if you can't handle this, how are you going to handle what's to come? The question should be does God provide Jeremiah any answer and how to handle the adversity? Does he provide any So that's really the question. I almost want to leave it there.

44:54 He's almost done. I may let him go just a couple of more minutes. But while we were listening, I did ask Ai, hey, did God provide Jeremiah answer and how to handle the adversity? Ai said, God does not provide a direct, step by step answer for how Jeremiah should handle adversity. Instead, God gives a challenge and a revelation that reframes Jeremiah's perspective on a situation. Right, So God's response in Jeremiah twelve five to six is a challenge to preserve or to persevere. I should say God asked rhetorical questions, which we've now discussed. These questions essentially tell Jeremiah that the current challenges are preparation for even greater difficulties ahead. God's answer is not one of comfort, but of calling Jeremiah a greater endurance and trust in God amidst escalating trials. Now, some will say AI does say that this was preparation for even greater difficulties. So AI seems to go with the direction. Maybe this pastor is going, hey, hey, if you can't handle this, then how are you going to be able to handle this?

46:03 So this is preparing you for that? But is it? I don't know if that's what the text is saying. I don't even know if I agree with AI on this, I don't know. And if it says that this is saying, if it says have greater endurance and trust in God, well trust in God God is the one seeing that things are coming. I do to trust God to do what like, I don't know. Then there's a revelation of deeper adversity. Verse six reveals that Jeremiah's own family has betrayed him, even plotting against him. This adds layer of personal adversity to the external challenge, so so there's no real answer. God just basically is like, Hey, if you think it's bad, now, it's gonna get worse. I don't know how that is really there to say, I'm preparing you for the worst. I don't know. I don't know about that. AI does say God's response to does not provide a solution in the traditional sense, such as a plan to alleviate Jeremiah is suffering or eliminate his enemies, and said his response serves to reframe Jeremiah's perspective. God directs Jeremiah's focus from the immediate injustice to the necessity of enduring greater challenges. It says, if God is saying you face small battles, prepare yourself for larger ones, I'm I don't know. So maybe this pastor is handling it the way everybody else should handle I just don't know.

47:35 I don't. I have a hard time seeing that. Hey, prepare yourself for worse. So basically the Christian answer to adversity is what prepare yourself? Come on, come on, embrace it, handle it, and then you can do it. There seems to be no grace there. There doesn't seem to be any I know, even Ai throws it in a little bit in the past. Well God will help you. Well, then I don't need to if God is God just doing the helping or then it gets confusing, all right now, Ai says, impliciting God's words is a call for Jeremiah to deepen his reliance on God. While God doesn't remove the adversity, he reminds Jeremiah that he is being prepared for a higher purpose. By telling Jeremiah about his family's betrayal, God gives him clarity about the depth of the adversity he faces. This knowledge would help Jeremiah navigate his circumstances with greater awareness. I don't maybe this text was never designed to offer any help. Maybe the point to me, maybe the correct way to handle this text is sometimes when we face diversity and we cry out to God, we're not going to get an answer. We're not going to get an answer that, oh, this is what you need to do, or I'm gonna make it better. He doesn't promise to make it better. He tells him it's going to get worse. Sometimes we face adversity and we don't have any answer in how to handle it, and we have no promise that it's going to get better.

49:08 Let's see what the pastor just wraps this. Up providentially prepared by that testing he went through in Nebukneza's court. That was the providential gym workout, you could say, to strengthen him and preparing for an even greater trial that he would face in Darius's court. And so this helps us, then, doesn't It shows us the way that we too should process, We should view all the trials that we go through. Maybe I don't know, maybe you're going through a very intense one right now, and perhaps you're vexed and you're perplexed. Why am I having to go through this right now? What is going on here? What's this all about? What's the purpose in all of this?

49:48 It could be spiritually speaking, the Lord has you in the gym that he's got you on a spiritual workout on the treadmill as it were, on the weights machine, because he wants to put some strength and power and endure us into you, maybe with an eye to the future, for an even greater work that he has for you to do then. And so don't don't duck out, don't don't run away from it, but prayerfully trust the Lord for all that he's doing, and pray, Lord, make me to be the man or woman you would have me to be ready in time for whatever it may be, even a greater challenge you may have for me in the future. That is. I'm having a hard time with this, all right, So so I'm gonna I'm now again, this is a historical narrative. So I think we're already doing possible damage by trying to take this and make this applicable to us.

50:39 But if we're gonna make it applicable to us, the lesson that I'm getting is this. Hey, you remember in that October when you were standing in the Buffalo Gap cemetery and they were burying your mother and you were young. Hey, I was just God preparing you for greater tragedy to come. Oh, remember when you stood in the graveside outside of Buffalo Gap when your father died of cancer. Oh, he was just preparing you for more tragedy to come. Aren't you so glad that God prepares you for tragedy by allowing you to endure tragedy? See, I lost both parents? How was that preparing me for greater tragedy? Oh? You remember those years of a physical abuse? Hey? Aren't you glad he was prepared? Like I don't even see. Hey, hey, I know you your loved one died, But hey, you know he was just prepared. That's a weird. See, all tragedy and all adversity is simply preparing you for more adversity.

51:43 Oh man, this is bad. Hey, it's gonna get worse. So just see, this is preparing I that I don't know about this. I don't know about this. That's what we have here in these verses in jeremih Chapter twelve, warning the prospect of adversity, the challenge of the sporting analogy. Finally, think about the encouragement here, the promise of sufficiency. Just going back to that question there verse five, how can you contend with horses? What's the answer to that? Or the answer is we can't. We can't compete with horses. Actually, in the UK there is a race every year man be Horse. They have it in Wales. It's been going off for about fifty years now, and I think it's a twenty kilometer race or something like that, where a man does run against a horse and the man hardly ever wins. I think it maybe three or four times in fifty years that a man has won. Man isn't strong enough to run faster than a horse. Same with a line infested jungle. Who can walk through a line infested jungle and come out alive?

52:46 It's impossible. We can't do these things, run against horses, walk through line infested jungles. We can't do that on our own. But that, you see, is the point here. Jeremiah isn't to do these things on his own. The Lord will help him. Oh now, okay, now I do agree. Now you could look at this as hey, you can't handle it. You can't. Now in Jeremiah's situation, God is going to step in, preserve him, protect him, because he gives him all these promises. If you go all the way back to Jeremiah one. Okay, but I can't extrapolate from that the God's now going to step in and help me. Right that God, What can I say God is specifically going to do for me? Now?

53:29 What I can say is when I face adversity in my life is falling apart, in many cases, I cannot handle it. But I can trust in one who died for me, who then guarantees me eternal salvation, and then he guarantees me a time that will come there'll be no more pain, no more suffering, and no more death. Now that I can trust in that God will ultimately help. We got to be very careful here because if we extrapolate from Jeremiah, God going to help him, and he's going to help us in a similar way. I cannot do that. There are specific promises to Jeremiah that are not given to us. So maybe it's best to say I can't do these things right. We can't. It's not that it's preparing us too. We can't. We can't truly handle I think maybe is that a better way of looking at it.

54:26 The Lord will uphold him, The Lord will be with him to enable him to do all these things. That was the promise the Lord gave to Jeremy at the beginning. Of the book, Chapter one, verse nineteen. They will fight against you, but they will not overcome you. For I am with you, and I will rescue you, says the Lord. He can't do it on his own. There's no way he could face all these challenges on his own. But he wasn't going to be on his own. The Lord would be with him and help him, which he did from a forty years. He sustained him and upheld him throughout. Okay, he acknowledged Jeremiah received specific promises. Those are not for us, not being carried out, and these are very tangible, specific materialistic, physical preservation, protection and promises that we do not have.

55:20 And so that's the message he's communicating here. Yes, it's a warning of coming adversity, but there's the promise, there's the assurance here of divine sufficiency. That's what God is saying to Jeremiah and to us. Yes, there are challenges ahead, maybe trials, maybe difficult ones that we have to face and left to ourselves. You know who could do it? No one, We couldn't. It'd be like running against a thoroughbred race source. It would be like wandering through a line infested jungle. No, hope, no chance. But that's the way it's meant to be, to break us away from our confidence in ourselves, to make us recognize as the Lord.

56:00 He alone, He alone is the source of my strength. He is my sufficiency. With his help, Sami says, I can run against the troop with his help Isaiah faulty. We can run and not grow weary. We can walk and not faint. Oh no, Now he's taking isaiah promises and making them about us. It was about them. Oh man, okay, Oh this is the stuff that always drives me crazy. These are promises given to specific people in specific historical context. When you say God's gonna step in and do this for me, or do this for me, or do this for me, you've got to then it's just vague. It's just it's meaningless. It's it's vanity of vanities. God's gonna help how well, I'm not gonna tell you God's gonna step in and sustain you. I'm not gonna tell you how.

56:48 I'm not gonna tell you what it looks like. Is it tangible, is it physical? Is it material? Or Because I know plenty of Christians throughout church history who died, God obviously did not protect they this happen, and then this happened, and this happened, and this happened, and this happened. Where was It wasn't physical, it wasn't material, So where is it going to happen? Oh, you man? Alexander MacLaren, in his sermon on this text, he says, think of the power that will fit us for all crises. With the power of Jesus in our spirits, we shall never have to attempt a duty for which we are not strengthened, nor to affront a danger from and in which He will not defend us with his life in us, we shall be ready.

57:35 Well, that's great that you quoted a sermon. There's no danger that God won't protect us from. That's just ridiculous. If we truly believe that, then why do churches have security? And we shouldn't be worried about any God's gonna protect me. God's gonna protect me. God's gonna protect me. And this leads to the very mind Today. On the Christian Post website, there's an article about a gun men who went to a Seventh Day Adventist school and shot two kindergarteners. The first comment posted under that article on the Christian Post, a Christian website, was well, the school needs to ask itself why this happened and why God did not protect these kids, as if it was the school's fault that they had done something spiritually, because of course God's going to protect a Christian school. Of course God's going to protect Christian kids. It doesn't work that way.

58:38 That's just ah okay. You see, he's saying, with his help, we can face whatever challenges may come to us in life, even the fascest of them all nice death. There's a Scottish preacher some years back in the early nineteen hundreds. His name was Arthur Gossip, and his wife died when they were both in middle years, and as you can imagine, he was devastated by that. He then had to preach the following Sunday. I mean, guess his wife dies, but Guid helps him preach. Why wouldn't Gud just help I don't know his wife not die?

59:22 And so he got up, he stood in the paul pit like this one, and his first sentence to the congregation was when life tumbles in what then? And then he began to preach from these words. Jamy twelve, verse five. If you have run with the footmen and they've wearied you, then how can you contend with horses? If in the land of peace in which you trusted they wearied you, how will you do in the swelling flood of the Jordan? And Gossip said this, You don't need to be afraid. Our hearts are very frail, and there are places where the road is very steep and very lonely. But we have a wonderful God, And as Paul puts it, who can separate us from his love? Not death? No, not death for st And in the roaring of the Jordan, cold with its dreadful chill, and very conscious of the terror of its rushing, I too, like hopeful in Pilgrim's progress, can call back to you, who, one day in your term will have to cross it. Be a good cheer, my brother, my sister, for I feel the bottom and it is sound he's saying, in that worst of all trials, as Jeremiah could say, the presence of the Lord is enough.

1:00:25 We don't need to be afraid. Having Him with us is enough. And that's the sermon. There you have it. I don't know what you do with that. I mean, he speaks really well, articulate, great, makes some great points. Hey, he definitely stayed with the text. There's much I love about it, but man alive, it leaves me with Okay, so God's gonna help me? Well okay, wait, so the God who did nothing to save your and now that God you're gonna turn to for help. Under the Christian Post article, I think there was some comments like, oh, I hope these people, you know, pray that God will give them comfort?

1:01:12 How about God stopping the shooter from shooting their kindergarteners? Like like, I know I'm never supposed to ask these questions, but these are the like Christians just say weird things about comfort and God being there. Hey, hey, I know, I know fifteen people just died, but pray. Oh I'm gonna pray for them. Pray for whom the dead people, pray for the life. Pray We're gonna pray to the God who didn't stop the fifteen people from dying. Like do we ever think about what we say and what it means? And Jeremiah's case, God is basically basically like, Hey, you think it's bad, It's gonna get worse. He doesn't give them, actually any any any tangible hope. Now, Jeremiah may be reminded we would have to go through the rest of the chapter, but he doesn't seem to give him any specific answers. Now, what Jeremiah has is God's promises given specifically to him. Now, do we have any promises?

1:02:09 We have promises, right, we have promises of forgiveness of sins. We have promises of imputed righteousness. We have promise of nothing can separate us from the love of God. We have promise of eternal life. We have promise that in glory, no more pain, no more suffering, no more death, glorified body. Yes, we have some promises, but so many times we want to take promises, try to bring them over into the physical, which, well, that leads to major problems, so that you can do what you want. Now, I'm going to have a problem because any minute I'm going to hear this at my front door. Texas Rangers. Texas Rangers open up and they're going to come in and they're gonna have their guns drawn, and they're going like, why are you not watching the Texas football game? You know that the Constitution of the Country of Texas says you must watch the Texas Longhorns.

1:03:01 It is in the law. What are you doing? And I'm going I'm going to probably end up in prison an adversity, and I guess you can send me a note with Jeremiah twelve in it. Okay, all right, a little bit of humor there, but I am missing the game, and I did want to hear the game. But all right, there's another sermon review for our sermon's two point oh sermon app challenge. So you can write that sermon down. You've just heard the entire thing, and then you can think about how you does Jeremiah twelve tell us how to face adversity? And if we go with the theory that God God gives us or allows us to go through adversity because it's preparing us for greater adversity, is that really the I mean, I don't do you find comfort in that?

1:03:49 Man? I'm so glad when I was young my mother died because it prepared me for well, my father dying. Well, I'm glad my father died because that prepared me. Well. I mean, I don't know how that. I don't even know how that works. I'm glad I was abused because then that prepared me for my mother to die. Then that prepared me for my father to die. What I like, I don't, I don't. I don't really know how that actually works. I I but hey, you you you can tell me, all right. Thanks for listening. Everyone, have a great day. Now it's football time and I'm probably gonna go now turn it on and face great adversities. A little bit of a joke. Thanks for listening.

1:04:32 God bless