1 00:00:00,000 –> 00:00:04,200 I invite you to open your Bibles at Jeremiah in chapter twenty, as we come 2 00:00:04,200 –> 00:00:09,640 today to what I believe is really the most common source of all the varieties 3 00:00:09,640 –> 00:00:11,180 of doubt that we will consider. 4 00:00:11,900 –> 00:00:15,840 We’ve looked together at some doubts that have their root in the mind, and 5 00:00:15,840 –> 00:00:19,340 we’ve discovered that they’re most effectively addressed by the discipline 6 00:00:19,340 –> 00:00:19,879 of study. 7 00:00:20,639 –> 00:00:24,760 We’ve seen that other doubts have their origin in the will and that the really 8 00:00:24,760 –> 00:00:29,860 important thing there is to come to a clear and a decisive commitment to Jesus 9 00:00:29,900 –> 00:00:30,660 Christ. 10 00:00:31,280 –> 00:00:34,740 But there are other doubts that we’re going to consider today that arise from 11 00:00:34,779 –> 00:00:40,000 the heart, and you can’t resolve them by taking a class, nor by making a 12 00:00:40,000 –> 00:00:40,860 commitment. 13 00:00:41,500 –> 00:00:46,259 I’m talking about the kind of doubts that come from disappointed hopes and 14 00:00:46,259 –> 00:00:47,419 shattered dreams. 15 00:00:48,340 –> 00:00:53,639 The deep inner pain of a person who expected many things, and yet found that 16 00:00:53,639 –> 00:00:58,880 their life turned out to be neither what they wanted nor what they had 17 00:00:59,000 –> 00:01:00,000 anticipated. 18 00:01:00,880 –> 00:01:04,120 And I spent some time earlier this week just reflecting on some of the 19 00:01:04,120 –> 00:01:07,120 disappointments in lives of people that I know well. 20 00:01:07,620 –> 00:01:10,059 It wasn’t difficult to think of examples. 21 00:01:10,680 –> 00:01:13,320 You think, for example, of the area of parenting. 22 00:01:13,500 –> 00:01:17,919 I have a friend who has three grown children, all of whom are married and 23 00:01:17,919 –> 00:01:22,440 they have their own families, doing very well in business and so forth, but none 24 00:01:22,440 –> 00:01:23,440 of them love the Lord. 25 00:01:24,040 –> 00:01:26,199 And I had a meal with him recently. 26 00:01:27,199 –> 00:01:32,639 He said, you know, as I get older, the question I ask of myself most often is, 27 00:01:32,839 –> 00:01:35,500 was I a good father? 28 00:01:37,279 –> 00:01:42,279 They’re all successful, he said of his children, but none of them has the one 29 00:01:42,279 –> 00:01:44,239 thing that matters. 30 00:01:46,099 –> 00:01:47,180 They think about loneliness. 31 00:01:47,180 –> 00:01:51,099 I think of a man who longs to be married but has just never met that special 32 00:01:51,099 –> 00:01:51,680 person. 33 00:01:51,860 –> 00:01:56,660 His deepest pain, he says, is that he wants to be known. 34 00:01:56,660 –> 00:02:01,940 I have many friends, he says, but I’m not the most important person in anybody’s 35 00:02:01,940 –> 00:02:04,540 life. 36 00:02:04,540 –> 00:02:07,919 I heard this week about a colleague who lives in England. 37 00:02:07,919 –> 00:02:12,339 He has served as pastor all of his life and lived on a modest income. 38 00:02:12,339 –> 00:02:16,460 He and his wife had a savings policy for their retirement, but the company holding 39 00:02:16,460 –> 00:02:18,839 the fund has collapsed. 40 00:02:18,899 –> 00:02:25,220 The result is that he will retire next year and the income will be one-tenth of the modest 41 00:02:25,220 –> 00:02:29,139 income that he had expected. 42 00:02:29,139 –> 00:02:34,020 If you think of other and even deeper areas of loss, I think about a couple who have longed 43 00:02:34,020 –> 00:02:40,419 for a child, rejoiced when others received that gift, but have felt great pain that it 44 00:02:40,419 –> 00:02:43,699 never happened for them. 45 00:02:43,699 –> 00:02:48,779 Another couple who had the gift of a child and then a child was taken from them in illness 46 00:02:49,000 –> 00:02:52,059 tragedy. 47 00:02:52,059 –> 00:02:56,220 Think of others who have looked forward to retirement years as a couple together and 48 00:02:56,220 –> 00:03:00,720 then found that everything was changed as one was suddenly taken. 49 00:03:00,720 –> 00:03:07,220 But I think of a high school student who feels that she just does not fit. 50 00:03:07,220 –> 00:03:10,380 She’s an outsider to the group at high school. 51 00:03:10,380 –> 00:03:16,199 She’s become the constant target for the gibes, and jokes, and insults of other people. 52 00:03:16,199 –> 00:03:17,259 She feels foolish. 53 00:03:17,259 –> 00:03:23,020 She dreads walking through the halls, and every day at high school has become a nightmare 54 00:03:23,020 –> 00:03:24,559 for her. 55 00:03:24,559 –> 00:03:31,779 Or I think about a pastor who retired this year after 25 years of ministry in London. 56 00:03:31,779 –> 00:03:40,619 He said to me on one occasion, Collin, I would push a peanut across London with my nose if 57 00:03:40,619 –> 00:03:43,220 it would bring revival. 58 00:03:43,220 –> 00:03:48,419 And many good things have happened in his ministry in 25 years, but the revival that 59 00:03:48,419 –> 00:03:54,300 he has longed for has not come. 60 00:03:54,300 –> 00:03:59,220 Think about another friend, whose wife suffers from a condition that means their marriage 61 00:03:59,220 –> 00:04:04,619 will never be what either of them hoped that it will be. 62 00:04:04,619 –> 00:04:11,380 He does what he can but the marriage has settled into a pattern that is deeply, deeply disappointing. 63 00:04:12,380 –> 00:04:13,500 And you could multiply examples. 64 00:04:13,500 –> 00:04:19,500 You could add your own situations in which people have been rolling down, as it were, 65 00:04:19,500 –> 00:04:25,380 the highway of life and then there was a bend in the road and you found yourself in a completely 66 00:04:25,380 –> 00:04:29,079 unexpected and undesirable situation. 67 00:04:29,079 –> 00:04:34,779 When you find yourself plunged into the deep end of personal pain, you may find yourself 68 00:04:34,779 –> 00:04:40,700 asking questions that you never thought would go through your mind before. 69 00:04:40,700 –> 00:04:46,660 And if that should happen to you and perhaps even when that happens to you, I want you 70 00:04:46,660 –> 00:04:52,059 to know that some of the greatest men and women of faith who have ever lived have been 71 00:04:52,059 –> 00:04:53,739 there before you. 72 00:04:53,739 –> 00:04:57,959 And that’s why we’re turning to Jeremiah and chapter 20 this morning. 73 00:04:57,959 –> 00:05:05,760 I want you to understand first the experience that gave rise to Jeremiah’s deep, personal 74 00:05:05,760 –> 00:05:06,760 pain. 75 00:05:06,760 –> 00:05:10,040 He had been called to be a prophet of God. 76 00:05:10,480 –> 00:05:15,959 It was an awesome calling really because a prophet was one who heard the word of God 77 00:05:15,959 –> 00:05:17,540 directly. 78 00:05:17,540 –> 00:05:23,540 God actually spoke almost as if it was a hotline giving words that were immediately received 79 00:05:23,540 –> 00:05:28,119 that then were to be spoken to others in the name of God, Himself. 80 00:05:28,119 –> 00:05:31,200 This is how God worked in the Old Testament period. 81 00:05:31,200 –> 00:05:36,880 Can you imagine what that would be like for God to say to you, I am going to make you 82 00:05:36,880 –> 00:05:39,220 my mouthpiece to the nation. 83 00:05:39,459 –> 00:05:41,859 I am going to tell you my exact words. 84 00:05:41,859 –> 00:05:45,980 I am going to tell you what is going to happen in the next five years, and you will be the 85 00:05:45,980 –> 00:05:48,799 person that will announce it what I will do. 86 00:05:48,799 –> 00:05:53,459 Can’t imagine a greater privilege than that. 87 00:05:53,459 –> 00:05:56,579 But the problem for Jeremiah lay in the message. 88 00:05:56,579 –> 00:06:03,000 Because he lived in the years immediately before the collapse of the city of Jerusalem. 89 00:06:03,000 –> 00:06:08,200 And the message that God gave him to announce, the reality that ensued within a few years 90 00:06:08,359 –> 00:06:15,380 that followed was this extremely unpopular message of the fact that the time of judgement 91 00:06:15,380 –> 00:06:17,760 had come upon the whole nation. 92 00:06:17,760 –> 00:06:23,339 In fact in Jeremiah 19, you’ll find there at the beginning, if you just look back a 93 00:06:23,339 –> 00:06:30,339 chapter, that God tells Jeremiah to take a kind of tour of the local leaders, the village 94 00:06:30,559 –> 00:06:35,359 board, if you like, the elders of the city, he used to take them out to a place called 95 00:06:35,359 –> 00:06:36,779 Benhammon. 96 00:06:36,779 –> 00:06:43,779 It was a dump, a garbage tip, a landfill site with smoldering fires, it was a place of unmarked 97 00:06:45,679 –> 00:06:52,579 graves, of an awful stench, a hideous place, so bad that there was a Jewish tradition that 98 00:06:52,579 –> 00:06:56,420 the mouth of hell was in this valley. 99 00:06:56,420 –> 00:06:59,859 And God said to Jeremy, I want you to take these leaders of the community, the elders 100 00:06:59,920 –> 00:07:06,920 of the town out to this valley, and I want you to take a pot with you, a clay pot, and 101 00:07:07,320 –> 00:07:12,200 as you explain to them the words that I have given to you about what will happen to this 102 00:07:12,200 –> 00:07:17,959 city, I want you to take the pot and I want you to smash it in the valley. 103 00:07:17,959 –> 00:07:23,359 A bit of a dramatic sermon illustration, don’t you think? What was the pastor on about this 104 00:07:23,359 –> 00:07:28,859 morning? He was smashing pots on the platform. This is what Jeremiah did. 105 00:07:28,859 –> 00:07:32,000 You can read about it in chapter 19 and verse 10, see God says, 106 00:07:32,000 –> 00:07:37,040 Break the jar while those who go with you are watching and say to them, 107 00:07:37,040 –> 00:07:44,040 This is what the Lord says, I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter’s jar is smashed 108 00:07:44,640 –> 00:07:46,359 and cannot be repaired. 109 00:07:46,359 –> 00:07:50,839 Well, at this point, of course, Jeremiah must have been wishing that there was another prophet 110 00:07:50,839 –> 00:07:55,579 who had this particular calling. But he did what God said. 111 00:07:55,579 –> 00:08:00,859 Then he came back, chapter 19 and verse 14, into the temple area and he began to tell 112 00:08:00,859 –> 00:08:05,500 the people, the larger crowds, what he had just told their leaders in the dump outside. 113 00:08:06,079 –> 00:08:10,000 Verse 15, This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, 114 00:08:10,000 –> 00:08:14,519 I am going to bring on this city and all the villages every disaster that I pronounced 115 00:08:14,519 –> 00:08:19,239 against them because they were stiff-necked and they would not listen to my words. 116 00:08:19,720 –> 00:08:23,839 Well, of course, when Jeremiah began to say these things in the temple, 117 00:08:24,100 –> 00:08:27,299 it wasn’t long before this was reported to the authorities. 118 00:08:27,660 –> 00:08:30,820 After all, you can’t have this kind of negative talk in the temple, can you? 119 00:08:30,820 –> 00:08:33,500 My goodness! People come to church for a word of encouragement. 120 00:08:33,500 –> 00:08:36,440 They’re not going to come back if they don’t get something that they like. 121 00:08:36,440 –> 00:08:39,039 So it’s reported to the temple authorities. 122 00:08:39,039 –> 00:08:43,700 We can’t have this fellow saying this kind of thing at a time of national emergency. 123 00:08:43,700 –> 00:08:47,840 And so sure enough, at the beginning of chapter 20, a man by the name of Pasher, 124 00:08:47,840 –> 00:08:50,239 who seems to be in charge of temple security, 125 00:08:50,380 –> 00:08:57,140 has Jeremiah arrested, beaten and then placed in stocks, 126 00:08:57,679 –> 00:09:04,719 his ankles manacled by the entrance, one of the gates that comes into the temple area. 127 00:09:05,359 –> 00:09:11,700 So for the next 24 hours, Jeremiah goes through this painful experience 128 00:09:12,200 –> 00:09:17,140 in which being shackled by the gate of the temple along no doubt 129 00:09:17,419 –> 00:09:21,739 with other subversive and undesirable characters who had been placed there, 130 00:09:22,700 –> 00:09:25,219 crowds of people would come through the gate 131 00:09:25,919 –> 00:09:31,280 and they would hurl their abuse at these individuals of whom Jeremiah was now one, 132 00:09:31,640 –> 00:09:35,919 spit on him, throw rotten vegetables at him, few eggs and whatever, 133 00:09:36,500 –> 00:09:42,340 and shower their insults on this person who was really the scum of the community. 134 00:09:43,179 –> 00:09:47,020 Now you have to admire Jeremiah, he was a man of immense courage 135 00:09:47,020 –> 00:09:49,940 he knew that what he was being told was the word of God 136 00:09:49,940 –> 00:09:53,659 and that whether the people liked it or not, it was actually what was going to happen. 137 00:09:53,659 –> 00:09:55,419 He knew he was speaking the truth. 138 00:09:55,739 –> 00:09:58,219 and he spoke it with immense courage. 139 00:09:58,919 –> 00:10:01,719 Even when it meant him enduring a beating 140 00:10:01,719 –> 00:10:05,619 and when it meant him sitting and enduring the insults of the people 141 00:10:05,960 –> 00:10:07,719 being thrown towards him. 142 00:10:08,000 –> 00:10:11,799 In all of that, he was like a man of extraordinary courage 143 00:10:11,900 –> 00:10:14,700 like a concrete wall, like an iron pillar. 144 00:10:15,460 –> 00:10:19,539 But when it was all over and when he was released from the stocks 145 00:10:19,539 –> 00:10:22,260 the trauma of the experience seemed to get to him. 146 00:10:23,039 –> 00:10:25,359 he went home, went into his bedroom 147 00:10:25,880 –> 00:10:30,280 and somehow his whole emotional life seemed to collapse inwards 148 00:10:30,280 –> 00:10:35,219 and that’s when he wrote these words we have read from Jeremiah in chapter 20 149 00:10:36,119 –> 00:10:39,039 He pours out his complaints to God 150 00:10:39,719 –> 00:10:41,700 in a bitter grief 151 00:10:44,500 –> 00:10:49,020 that gives rise to a fountain of pain from the depth of his soul 152 00:10:49,460 –> 00:10:51,460 Now you may have noticed this 153 00:10:51,520 –> 00:10:54,559 Sometimes when a great crisis comes 154 00:10:55,380 –> 00:10:58,979 a person is very, very strong right through the crisis 155 00:10:58,979 –> 00:11:04,080 but you come to the other side of it and somehow there’s an inner collapse 156 00:11:04,260 –> 00:11:06,260 emotional implosion 157 00:11:06,799 –> 00:11:09,280 and all the pain and all the 158 00:11:09,840 –> 00:11:13,559 questions begin to surface and it all comes out 159 00:11:14,440 –> 00:11:16,440 in the loneliness of others 160 00:11:17,619 –> 00:11:19,979 Look with me at Jeremiah’s complaint in 161 00:11:20,440 –> 00:11:22,659 chapter 20 in verse 8 162 00:11:22,659 –> 00:11:25,320 having gone through this experience he tells God quite openly 163 00:11:25,340 –> 00:11:27,340 I don’t like this message 164 00:11:27,719 –> 00:11:33,280 The Word of the Lord verse 8 has brought me insult and reproach all day long 165 00:11:34,280 –> 00:11:37,419 Lord if You had told me to give the people affirmation 166 00:11:38,039 –> 00:11:42,320 You told me to preach ten keys for a happy life. It would all be fine being a prophet 167 00:11:43,479 –> 00:11:45,479 But you’ve told me to bring a message 168 00:11:46,960 –> 00:11:54,000 That is deeply unpopular and that the people will not receive. Have you ever felt like that about the gospel? 169 00:11:55,340 –> 00:11:59,119 But why have you given us the message is about sin and 170 00:12:00,099 –> 00:12:02,099 involves an eternal separation 171 00:12:02,799 –> 00:12:04,799 and 172 00:12:05,219 –> 00:12:07,219 Focus is on only one 173 00:12:07,219 –> 00:12:11,299 person who can make the difference between heaven and hell. Don’t you realize God that if 174 00:12:11,700 –> 00:12:18,979 That’s the message that I’m to proclaim that it flies in the face of just about every fundamental value that this culture holds 175 00:12:21,559 –> 00:12:29,299 Tell someone the gospel is best I can at work and they say to me you can’t possibly believe that do you? 176 00:12:32,099 –> 00:12:34,500 I don’t like the message jeremiah says 177 00:12:36,020 –> 00:12:38,020 What’s more I want to quit 178 00:12:38,419 –> 00:12:40,260 verse nine 179 00:12:40,260 –> 00:12:45,460 I will not mention him or speak any more in his name. Here’s what i’ll do lord 180 00:12:46,340 –> 00:12:53,640 Spoken your word for a while i’ll move out of public life. Now. I will give up the ministry. I will go into early retirement 181 00:12:54,979 –> 00:12:56,979 But then when he thought about that 182 00:12:57,299 –> 00:12:58,820 Giving up his ministry 183 00:12:58,820 –> 00:13:04,260 He realized he couldn’t do that either because god had placed such a burden upon him that while he found it 184 00:13:04,719 –> 00:13:09,700 Indescribably painful to give this message. He also found it impossible to withhold it 185 00:13:10,659 –> 00:13:16,419 Verse nine the word is like a fire in my heart a fire shut up in my bones. I’m weary of holding it in indeed 186 00:13:16,500 –> 00:13:18,179 I cannot 187 00:13:18,179 –> 00:13:21,859 But this is ridiculous. I can’t live with what you’ve called me to do 188 00:13:21,940 –> 00:13:25,700 I can’t live without what you’ve called me to do you’ve put me in this situation 189 00:13:26,099 –> 00:13:33,700 That’s why he says verse 70 lord. You’ve deceived me and I was deceived you overpowered me and you prevail you’ve taken advantage of me 190 00:13:33,700 –> 00:13:37,400 You called me to be a prophet. You’ve now put me in an impossible position 191 00:13:40,739 –> 00:13:44,020 Not only that i’m not achieving anything lord 192 00:13:45,940 –> 00:13:52,020 You see the biggest problem for jemiah was that people simply would not take him seriously I mean this man is trying to talk about 193 00:13:52,400 –> 00:13:54,400 eternal realities 194 00:13:55,700 –> 00:13:58,840 And he’s talking to a crowd of people who are really not that interested 195 00:14:00,739 –> 00:14:02,739 In fact verse 10 196 00:14:03,380 –> 00:14:05,940 They make a bit of a joke of what he’s trying to do 197 00:14:07,460 –> 00:14:11,140 I hear people whispering terror on every side 198 00:14:12,020 –> 00:14:17,080 Now it’s almost certain that that phrase hides a nickname in hebrew that they gave to jeremiah 199 00:14:17,539 –> 00:14:24,820 Because he used the word terror a lot and there’s a word in hebrew that simply translated means terror all around or universal target 200 00:14:25,700 –> 00:14:30,580 And it seems that that’s the nickname that they gave him when they saw him in the stalks. They said oh my goodness. There he is 201 00:14:31,780 –> 00:14:33,780 terror all around 202 00:14:33,940 –> 00:14:35,940 I wonder what he’s got to say to us today 203 00:14:38,900 –> 00:14:45,539 Who felt like this with the small group you were given responsibility for with the people you’re trying to witness to 204 00:14:47,140 –> 00:14:50,200 Lord i’m getting absolutely nowhere 205 00:14:50,200 –> 00:14:52,200 I 206 00:14:52,200 –> 00:14:58,679 Pour everything that I have into this ministry that you’ve given to me, but the people you have trusted to me 207 00:14:59,559 –> 00:15:04,359 Don’t believe your word nor take it. Seriously. What you’ve called me to do is 208 00:15:04,820 –> 00:15:08,520 Increasingly feeling like a complete and utter waste of time 209 00:15:12,679 –> 00:15:18,840 Anyone who has gone into one of the mission fields of the world and seen the resistance of a community that 210 00:15:19,760 –> 00:15:25,340 Is difficult to penetrate with the gospel, will know this frustration. Lord, I long for a breakthrough 211 00:15:26,280 –> 00:15:32,440 With all my heart and I can’t describe the pain of the fact that 10 20 years down the line 212 00:15:32,440 –> 00:15:34,520 I have not yet seen it. 213 00:15:36,440 –> 00:15:38,440 I actually think the Beatles 214 00:15:38,500 –> 00:15:43,739 Caught the flavor of this feeling of Jeremiah’s in their song Eleanor Rigby. Remember that one? 215 00:15:45,000 –> 00:15:46,900 Eleanor Rigby 216 00:15:46,900 –> 00:15:51,059 Died in the church and was buried along with her name. Nobody came 217 00:15:52,340 –> 00:15:54,419 Father Mackenzie 218 00:15:54,760 –> 00:15:58,559 Wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave 219 00:15:59,880 –> 00:16:06,179 No one was saved. Look at all the lonely people. Where do they all come from? 220 00:16:06,659 –> 00:16:09,940 Look at all the lonely people. Where do they all 221 00:16:10,900 –> 00:16:12,780 belong and 222 00:16:12,780 –> 00:16:14,780 the deep disappointment of his 223 00:16:15,000 –> 00:16:22,619 Experience that he had not made a breakthrough in his ministry gives rise to these deep questions that are like waves 224 00:16:23,799 –> 00:16:25,799 That are pouring over his soul 225 00:16:27,340 –> 00:16:32,840 So finally he comes verses 14 to 18 to say that he wished that he had never been born 226 00:16:33,559 –> 00:16:39,039 Cursed be the day. I was born. May the day my mother bore me not be blessed 227 00:16:39,280 –> 00:16:40,859 Blessed 228 00:16:40,859 –> 00:16:42,840 So no point in singing 229 00:16:42,840 –> 00:16:46,940 Happy birthday, Jeremiah, happy birthday to you! Happy birthday dear, Jeremiah 230 00:16:46,940 –> 00:16:52,200 Happy birthday to you because he would simply say to you there’s no such thing as a happy birthday for me 231 00:16:52,200 –> 00:16:56,539 I wish I’d never been born my birthday was a disaster 232 00:16:58,419 –> 00:17:02,599 In fact he says verse 17 that he wishes that he had been aborted 233 00:17:02,599 –> 00:17:05,500 It would have been better for me not 234 00:17:05,500 –> 00:17:12,040 To have lived if I was to know that life was as painful and as sorrowful as this 235 00:17:12,599 –> 00:17:13,500 verse 18 236 00:17:21,520 –> 00:17:25,079 And that is where the chapter ends 237 00:17:28,400 –> 00:17:32,040 Now of course there is a glimpse of triumph in verses 11 to 13 238 00:17:32,300 –> 00:17:36,280 Did you see that there, sing to the Lord, give praise to the Lord 239 00:17:36,280 –> 00:17:39,180 He rescues the life of the needy from the hand of the wicked and so forth 240 00:17:39,800 –> 00:17:43,959 And it would be kind of nice if that bit came at the end, wouldn’t it? 241 00:17:43,959 –> 00:17:45,680 That would be a nicer ending 242 00:17:45,959 –> 00:17:51,479 And there are some Liberal commentators who say, well you know, this part of the text 243 00:17:51,479 –> 00:17:54,439 must have been displaced, you know perhaps some editor dropped 244 00:17:54,439 –> 00:17:57,079 it on the floor and put it in a wrong place 245 00:17:57,079 –> 00:17:59,979 And didn’t realize that really you should have the happy bit at the end 246 00:18:00,599 –> 00:18:03,959 But thank God, this is the word of God and it speaks 247 00:18:04,420 –> 00:18:05,400 to life as it is 248 00:18:06,959 –> 00:18:12,239 And anyone who has been in the depth of sorrow knows that this battle is not a 249 00:18:12,239 –> 00:18:13,420 one-off fight 250 00:18:13,420 –> 00:18:16,079 It is a recurring kind of battle and experience 251 00:18:18,739 –> 00:18:22,819 What happens is that you face some of these deep, deep questions 252 00:18:22,819 –> 00:18:27,180 Then you feel you’ve come to a point where you’ve seen some light 253 00:18:27,260 –> 00:18:29,500 and you’ve gained some resolution 254 00:18:29,500 –> 00:18:33,640 but then a few weeks later you find that you’re torturing through the whole thing again 255 00:18:36,920 –> 00:18:42,000 That’s how it was for Jeremy and anyone who’s been into the darkness of this kind of valley 256 00:18:43,599 –> 00:18:47,680 knows that God is speaking precisely to what it’s like today 257 00:18:50,040 –> 00:18:54,180 Now I’m so grateful that the Scriptures raised these issues 258 00:18:54,180 –> 00:18:56,520 That they speak to us in the deep pains 259 00:18:57,280 –> 00:18:59,280 of disappointed hopes 260 00:19:00,339 –> 00:19:03,880 And there’s a wonderful thing that God intentionally therefore raises the question 261 00:19:03,880 –> 00:19:08,380 What are we to do when you are disappointed with God? 262 00:19:08,380 –> 00:19:10,479 How are you to respond to that? 263 00:19:10,479 –> 00:19:14,979 Because that is the issue that is being raised here in the scripture 264 00:19:15,439 –> 00:19:21,300 The great questions that arise out of the experience of disappointment in life 265 00:19:21,300 –> 00:19:23,439 wherever that may have come for you 266 00:19:24,140 –> 00:19:26,560 I want to suggest three things from the Scripture this morning 267 00:19:26,560 –> 00:19:27,920 The first is simply tell him 268 00:19:28,800 –> 00:19:33,880 For the best thing that you can do with a broken heart is to pour it out in the presence of God 269 00:19:34,680 –> 00:19:38,359 Jeremiah gives us a wonderful wonderful model of this 270 00:19:39,319 –> 00:19:45,800 each week we have had a prescription that is designed to help with each of the particular 271 00:19:46,520 –> 00:19:48,640 varieties of doubt that we may experience 272 00:19:49,020 –> 00:19:55,819 And our spiritual discipline that is a prescription for today is the spiritual discipline of honest? 273 00:19:56,280 –> 00:19:57,739 confession of 274 00:19:57,739 –> 00:19:59,739 Pouring out before God 275 00:20:01,000 –> 00:20:03,140 what it is that you feel 276 00:20:03,959 –> 00:20:05,959 the questions that are unresolved 277 00:20:06,800 –> 00:20:10,479 the frustrations and the pain that you are struggling with 278 00:20:11,119 –> 00:20:15,760 Bring it out into the open before him. That is what we are learning from this passage 279 00:20:15,959 –> 00:20:21,239 You see you know that in any relationship when it comes under strain 280 00:20:22,199 –> 00:20:27,260 The only way to strengthen or relationship is to deal with that person directly 281 00:20:28,160 –> 00:20:33,219 If I have a relationship with someone under strain I have to deal with them directly 282 00:20:34,719 –> 00:20:38,599 Now if my relationship with God comes under strain what am I to do? 283 00:20:39,439 –> 00:20:43,479 Go speak to a pastor go speak to a counselor. Well these may be good things to do 284 00:20:44,459 –> 00:20:51,520 But at some point. I have to speak to God about it directly if that relationship is to be strengthened 285 00:20:51,520 –> 00:20:54,219 And that’s precisely what Jeremiah does 286 00:20:55,439 –> 00:20:57,540 He says some terrible things 287 00:20:58,800 –> 00:21:03,719 but at least he says them to God and he says them to God because he has a 288 00:21:04,119 –> 00:21:09,239 Relationship with God a relationship that is under strain yes, but a relationship 289 00:21:09,760 –> 00:21:11,760 nonetheless 290 00:21:12,680 –> 00:21:20,140 Michael Wechsler reminded us of the importance of this subject in the summer when he preached a sermon here on the book of Psalms 291 00:21:21,260 –> 00:21:23,439 entitled the privilege of 292 00:21:24,459 –> 00:21:26,459 honest complaint 293 00:21:26,599 –> 00:21:31,459 And the Psalms are full of these honest questions of disappointed hopes 294 00:21:31,479 –> 00:21:38,780 And they’re brought out into the open in the presence of God. What do you do when you’re struggling like this? 295 00:21:39,479 –> 00:21:41,479 tell him 296 00:21:42,160 –> 00:21:44,160 Tell him 297 00:21:44,800 –> 00:21:46,959 But not only that believe him 298 00:21:47,479 –> 00:21:48,839 believe him 299 00:21:48,839 –> 00:21:51,180 See when your feelings or your experience? 300 00:21:52,180 –> 00:21:56,579 Contradicts your faith you need to decide which one to believe 301 00:21:57,880 –> 00:22:00,359 when what I have trusted 302 00:22:00,680 –> 00:22:07,020 in the Word of God and my experience of life seem to be in contradiction together I 303 00:22:07,739 –> 00:22:10,760 Need to decide which one speaks truth 304 00:22:10,819 –> 00:22:13,560 And which one is prone to error? 305 00:22:15,300 –> 00:22:17,300 Now consider two statements 306 00:22:18,479 –> 00:22:21,760 That we may put alongside each other number-one 307 00:22:22,859 –> 00:22:24,859 God is there 308 00:22:25,939 –> 00:22:31,680 Number two I do not experience. God as being there 309 00:22:33,199 –> 00:22:36,219 Now there are some people who look at these two statements and think well 310 00:22:36,219 –> 00:22:37,579 There’s a complete contradiction there 311 00:22:37,839 –> 00:22:42,760 If I don’t experience God as being there that means that God is therefore not there 312 00:22:44,219 –> 00:22:50,420 But I want to suggest to you this morning that there is no contradiction between these two statements both can be true at the same time 313 00:22:51,219 –> 00:22:55,380 The statement God is there is a statement about God 314 00:22:56,319 –> 00:23:01,119 The statement I do not experience God as being there is a statement about me 315 00:23:01,979 –> 00:23:09,040 And the Bible reminds us that there are often times when we may for different reasons not be able to feel or to 316 00:23:09,839 –> 00:23:15,040 Experience God’s presence when he hides his face from us 317 00:23:16,439 –> 00:23:19,079 that does not mean that he is not there, but 318 00:23:20,280 –> 00:23:22,280 Simply that for a time 319 00:23:23,219 –> 00:23:25,339 He is hidden from my view. I 320 00:23:26,359 –> 00:23:28,359 do not feel or 321 00:23:28,880 –> 00:23:31,739 Experience him as at other times I 322 00:23:32,880 –> 00:23:38,520 Was greatly helped at this point by the experience of Jeffrey Bull. Some of you may know that name 323 00:23:38,520 –> 00:23:42,959 He was a great Christian missionary and leader of a previous generation 324 00:23:44,040 –> 00:23:46,739 Jeffrey Bull was imprisoned for his faith in China 325 00:23:47,680 –> 00:23:51,000 He was tortured. He was horribly abused 326 00:23:52,400 –> 00:23:54,400 when he was finally released 327 00:23:55,060 –> 00:24:01,680 Rather like Jeremiah. He went into a deep personal struggle over the questions of his faith 328 00:24:02,439 –> 00:24:04,420 He said at one point 329 00:24:04,420 –> 00:24:11,040 He almost despaired because he could not even say the words of the Lord’s Prayer with meaning 330 00:24:11,400 –> 00:24:12,760 and 331 00:24:12,760 –> 00:24:13,520 By the way 332 00:24:13,520 –> 00:24:16,319 I’ve spoken with a number of folks who after 333 00:24:17,000 –> 00:24:21,599 Bereavement or some great trauma has come into your life. You said you know I come to church 334 00:24:22,140 –> 00:24:24,180 But I find it difficult to connect now 335 00:24:24,180 –> 00:24:27,959 I I find it difficult to put meaning into the words it seems 336 00:24:28,560 –> 00:24:35,119 Distant from me well that was the kind of thing that Jeffrey Bull was experiencing very very deeply indeed 337 00:24:35,959 –> 00:24:42,300 Of course at first he began to wonder does does this mean that my faith is just a sham that God is actually not? 338 00:24:42,300 –> 00:24:47,040 There at all that he does not exist that it was merely a delusion that I was living it 339 00:24:48,939 –> 00:24:50,939 But over time he came to 340 00:24:51,520 –> 00:24:53,520 understand the reason 341 00:24:54,619 –> 00:24:58,420 For his not experiencing God to be there 342 00:24:59,479 –> 00:25:01,479 They put it like this 343 00:25:02,400 –> 00:25:07,219 You know who if you go through a door, and you bang your funny bone 344 00:25:08,219 –> 00:25:11,839 You lose sensation in your arm for a time 345 00:25:12,439 –> 00:25:16,459 Or if someone bangs you it kicks you in the side of the thigh 346 00:25:17,420 –> 00:25:20,859 You lose feeling in your leg for a time 347 00:25:22,319 –> 00:25:24,319 well, so Geoffrey Bull 348 00:25:24,640 –> 00:25:29,780 He began to understand that this was what had happened to him the trauma of 349 00:25:30,319 –> 00:25:33,520 What it hit his mind and his body 350 00:25:34,339 –> 00:25:40,599 Had brought a kind of numbing for a time to the senses of his soul 351 00:25:41,359 –> 00:25:47,640 Which meant that even when he tried to worship the whole thing for a time seemed to be somewhat distant 352 00:25:48,459 –> 00:25:51,780 The problem was not that God was not there 353 00:25:52,599 –> 00:25:54,339 God was there 354 00:25:54,339 –> 00:25:59,880 The problem was that the capacities of his own mind and his own frame 355 00:26:00,560 –> 00:26:06,319 Had been impaired temporarily so that he did not experience God as 356 00:26:07,079 –> 00:26:09,079 being there 357 00:26:09,119 –> 00:26:13,319 He held to what he believed from the Word of God and found 358 00:26:14,560 –> 00:26:17,640 That with time there was a healing within his soul 359 00:26:18,800 –> 00:26:25,780 he began again to be able to perceive and to feel the presence and the comfort of a God who had 360 00:26:25,920 –> 00:26:27,920 Been there all 361 00:26:28,599 –> 00:26:30,599 along 362 00:26:30,819 –> 00:26:33,400 Now Jeremiah gives us a wonderful example of this 363 00:26:34,000 –> 00:26:36,079 He’s going through enormous pain 364 00:26:36,479 –> 00:26:39,359 That’s pouring like a fountain out of his soul 365 00:26:40,339 –> 00:26:42,819 He brings it all into the presence of God 366 00:26:44,079 –> 00:26:48,500 But with all of that he does not cease to believe the Word of God 367 00:26:49,699 –> 00:26:51,699 That has been given to him 368 00:26:53,060 –> 00:26:58,599 If I could give an example that comes from much closer to home for Covenant and myself 369 00:26:59,719 –> 00:27:01,640 Just over a year ago 370 00:27:01,640 –> 00:27:05,020 we were back with Karn’s family in England and 371 00:27:05,599 –> 00:27:11,380 All the talk was about her youngest sister’s baby that was due to be born within a few days 372 00:27:12,739 –> 00:27:18,439 We were gathered on the beach one afternoon and a phone call came saying that Kathy was in great pain 373 00:27:19,579 –> 00:27:26,160 It turned out that the placenta had split and Kathy was rushed into hospital for an emergency 374 00:27:26,939 –> 00:27:28,939 delivery of the baby 375 00:27:29,500 –> 00:27:32,479 Megan was born and was immediately placed on a ventilator 376 00:27:32,599 –> 00:27:34,800 after two weeks 377 00:27:34,800 –> 00:27:40,599 She was making little or no progress and she was special airlifted to a unit in South Hampton 378 00:27:40,979 –> 00:27:44,540 the specialist unit where she received open-heart surgery 379 00:27:45,819 –> 00:27:52,300 Two months later. She had a further procedure to open the aorta tube that enters the heart the process failed 380 00:27:52,300 –> 00:27:57,060 They did it again. It failed again. She then had to have further heart surgery 381 00:27:57,060 –> 00:27:58,180 Dr. Sepulveda 382 00:27:59,180 –> 00:28:00,579 One of the greatest 383 00:28:00,579 –> 00:28:06,859 anxieties over these weeks when she was at early dependent on a ventilator and then the months that followed 384 00:28:07,719 –> 00:28:09,979 Was that Megan gained very very little weight 385 00:28:12,800 –> 00:28:18,979 She has come through a year of trauma backwards and forwards to the Hospital but at this point 386 00:28:20,219 –> 00:28:22,079 nobody knows 387 00:28:22,079 –> 00:28:26,400 For sure the damage that may have been done to her development 388 00:28:27,560 –> 00:28:32,560 When she reached her first birthday this year, she was unable to sit and 389 00:28:33,599 –> 00:28:37,319 when Wayne and Kathy asked the specialist about his 390 00:28:38,579 –> 00:28:42,500 Prognosis for the future and particularly said will she be able to walk 391 00:28:44,260 –> 00:28:46,619 The specialist declined to answer the question 392 00:28:49,400 –> 00:28:51,400 After a year of 393 00:28:51,520 –> 00:28:55,160 Trauma and all kinds of unresolved questions my 394 00:28:56,160 –> 00:29:02,180 youngest sister-in-law and brother-in-law had decided that they wanted to have a special service of dedication and 395 00:29:02,439 –> 00:29:08,540 That it should coincide with Meghan’s first birthday and be a celebration of her surviving that year 396 00:29:09,819 –> 00:29:11,459 they’re part of a very small 397 00:29:11,459 –> 00:29:15,979 Congregation in the southwest of England who really have reached out to them in love and prayer and support 398 00:29:16,819 –> 00:29:20,339 And the whole service on a Sunday morning this summer 399 00:29:20,880 –> 00:29:26,300 Was dedicated to that celebration and that expression of faith 400 00:29:26,859 –> 00:29:30,339 It was like a kind of invasion Karen is one of six 401 00:29:31,079 –> 00:29:32,979 Children in her generation of the family 402 00:29:32,979 –> 00:29:38,780 So when you multiply that across the generations it becomes a lot of people to invade a small church on a Sunday morning 403 00:29:38,780 –> 00:29:47,000 They well more than doubled their usual congregation. Not only with an invasion of family but many many friends of Wayne and Cathie’s 404 00:29:47,719 –> 00:29:54,839 colleagues, who were not believers from Wayne’s school, neighbors, one man who’s writing a book commending atheism 405 00:29:54,839 –> 00:29:56,839 And they were all there 406 00:29:57,239 –> 00:30:02,459 Karn’s father played she read her sister sang I had been asked to preach 407 00:30:04,199 –> 00:30:07,380 The highlight of the service was when Wayne and Kathie spoke 408 00:30:09,560 –> 00:30:16,079 Kathie spoke about their most difficult year in life, and how their faith had been tested 409 00:30:17,599 –> 00:30:20,939 Then Wayne got up as a young Christian 410 00:30:22,579 –> 00:30:24,660 And thanked everyone who had supported them 411 00:30:26,479 –> 00:30:31,199 Right now he said we don’t know what the future holds for Megan 412 00:30:33,119 –> 00:30:38,520 I Have all kinds of unanswered questions about life right now. He said 413 00:30:41,140 –> 00:30:44,479 And I still have some desperately low points 414 00:30:44,939 –> 00:30:46,939 But 415 00:30:47,260 –> 00:30:49,979 I want you to know that I believe in God and 416 00:30:51,640 –> 00:30:55,579 I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and 417 00:30:56,780 –> 00:30:58,780 That he died for me 418 00:31:00,260 –> 00:31:02,260 And then he sat down 419 00:31:03,400 –> 00:31:08,260 It was one of the finest confessions of faith I have ever heard 420 00:31:08,260 –> 00:31:10,260 for 421 00:31:10,800 –> 00:31:16,819 Sometimes we confess that Jesus is Lord with raised hands and with joyful hearts 422 00:31:18,599 –> 00:31:24,160 But other times we confess that Jesus is Lord through gritted teeth and 423 00:31:24,760 –> 00:31:26,760 with tear-stained faces and 424 00:31:27,920 –> 00:31:35,520 In the course of a lifetime God may give you the opportunity to glorify him both ways 425 00:31:38,859 –> 00:31:40,859 Telling 426 00:31:44,479 –> 00:31:47,260 Believing in the pain 427 00:31:51,020 –> 00:31:53,420 Here’s the last thing very briefly obey him 428 00:31:55,739 –> 00:32:01,439 Notice that as we come to the end of chapter 20 there is no resolution to the pain n this chapter 429 00:32:02,660 –> 00:32:05,359 There is a sense in which Jeremiah lives 430 00:32:05,359 –> 00:32:11,699 Lives with the pain of seeing the culture advance towards its destruction 431 00:32:14,680 –> 00:32:16,680 But I want you to notice what follows 432 00:32:17,239 –> 00:32:19,199 at the beginning of chapter 21 433 00:32:19,199 –> 00:32:26,839 We’re told about a day shortly after when enemy armies advanced against Jerusalem, and the king did not know what to do 434 00:32:27,400 –> 00:32:32,780 It was a time of National crisis, and so he called two of his emissaries 435 00:32:33,140 –> 00:32:35,680 And he sent them to whom? 436 00:32:37,939 –> 00:32:39,939 Jeremiah 437 00:32:40,439 –> 00:32:42,439 Why? 438 00:32:43,040 –> 00:32:47,079 Because even though Jeremiah was a man with a broken heart 439 00:32:48,839 –> 00:32:56,020 He was also and still a man with the Word of God who did the will of God and 440 00:32:56,579 –> 00:32:58,819 the king, knew that and 441 00:32:59,020 –> 00:33:06,459 And when a time of crisis came, he said to his attendants. We’d better go and ask the Word of the Lord 442 00:33:08,219 –> 00:33:10,219 from Jeremiah 443 00:33:11,760 –> 00:33:13,760 Jeremiah’s questions were never answered 444 00:33:14,760 –> 00:33:19,800 There’s a sense in which his fundamental disappointment was never resolved 445 00:33:21,160 –> 00:33:23,160 but through all his pain 446 00:33:23,920 –> 00:33:29,260 He stands as a man of God with the Word of God doing the will of God 447 00:33:29,260 –> 00:33:35,079 And that is just about the highest worship of God that anyone can ever offer 448 00:33:36,619 –> 00:33:38,160 And when I think of him 449 00:33:38,160 –> 00:33:43,900 I cannot but think of Jesus, who when he came to his greatest agony of body and of soul 450 00:33:44,079 –> 00:33:47,359 What did he do? He told the father 451 00:33:48,199 –> 00:33:55,459 My God my God, why have you forsaken me and there was no answer to that question 452 00:33:58,459 –> 00:34:05,819 But he believed the father and he obeyed the father father into your hands I commit my spirit and 453 00:34:07,180 –> 00:34:10,800 that splintered the gates of hell and 454 00:34:11,800 –> 00:34:18,620 And it may very well be that the greatest impact of your life in heaven and in hell 455 00:34:19,879 –> 00:34:26,439 May not be so much to do with any particular piece of service that you’ve done through the years of your life, but maybe 456 00:34:27,719 –> 00:34:32,620 that when you faced disappointed hopes and shattered dreams 457 00:34:33,879 –> 00:34:38,060 you loved him still and 458 00:34:38,520 –> 00:34:40,040 And 459 00:34:40,040 –> 00:34:42,879 that just as you believed in him in your pleasure 460 00:34:44,340 –> 00:34:47,679 So you do not cease to believe in him in your pain 461 00:34:48,959 –> 00:34:54,939 Just as you loved him when he gave you do not cease to love him when he took away 462 00:34:56,959 –> 00:35:03,060 Just as you obeyed him in your joy, so now you will obey him still in your disappointment 463 00:35:03,060 –> 00:35:11,840 And you become a man or a woman of God who even in great pain 464 00:35:14,360 –> 00:35:16,360 Holds the Word of God and 465 00:35:17,719 –> 00:35:20,639 Does the will of God 466 00:35:22,080 –> 00:35:25,120 You hold your questions for another day 467 00:35:25,919 –> 00:35:27,120 But 468 00:35:27,120 –> 00:35:34,580 Until that day when faith is turned to sight and all your questions will be answered and then all your pain will be healed 469 00:35:36,560 –> 00:35:39,679 You remain God’s man God’s woman with God’s Word 470 00:35:40,840 –> 00:35:42,840 doing God’s will and 471 00:35:43,919 –> 00:35:45,919 That splinters 472 00:35:46,560 –> 00:35:48,719 the gates of hell 473 00:35:51,479 –> 00:35:53,479 So we pray together 474 00:35:56,000 –> 00:35:59,060 Father only, you know the pain 475 00:36:00,280 –> 00:36:04,899 That is felt in many hearts in this congregation right now 476 00:36:07,239 –> 00:36:12,439 But we thank you that you do know and that we do not need to keep any of it hidden from you 477 00:36:14,959 –> 00:36:18,639 We want that grace to trust your word more than our feelings 478 00:36:20,760 –> 00:36:24,379 To hold to your word even in the midst of pain and 479 00:36:25,100 –> 00:36:27,100 disappointment 480 00:36:27,600 –> 00:36:29,600 To do your will 481 00:36:31,159 –> 00:36:36,179 When it has become the hardest thing in the world for us to do as much as we did it when it was the 482 00:36:36,179 –> 00:36:38,179 easiest and the best 483 00:36:40,060 –> 00:36:43,159 We want to live authentically to glorify you 484 00:36:45,040 –> 00:36:51,199 Daring to believe that that has reverberations in heaven above and in hell below 485 00:36:54,439 –> 00:36:57,179 To stand even if it be in pain 486 00:36:58,300 –> 00:37:01,139 In obedience to you and in faith before you 487 00:37:01,899 –> 00:37:05,500 Is the greatest worship that we can offer? 488 00:37:06,780 –> 00:37:08,780 In all of our lives 489 00:37:10,379 –> 00:37:13,780 So help us now even as we confess our faith before you 490 00:37:15,399 –> 00:37:21,219 If it be through gritted teeth and if it be through tears stained faces 491 00:37:22,139 –> 00:37:25,760 Grant that it be to your glory nonetheless 492 00:37:27,860 –> 00:37:31,820 For these things we ask in Jesus name 493 00:37:33,899 –> 00:37:35,899 Amen