Views: 4<\/p>
[Note: <\/strong>This MS is available in larger font on our Manuscripts<\/strong> page.]<\/span><\/p>\n Introduction<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Few Old Testament characters equal and none surpass the prophet Jeremiah\u2019s devotion to Jehovah God (McClish, 41\u201360). His refusal to compromise the message God commissioned him to preach to Jerusalem\u2019s stiff-necked apostates in the face of brutal and terrifying persecution is worthy of the grandest admiration and emulation. However, the need for a Jeremiah to prophesy to Judah begins well before his time.<\/span><\/p>\n Almost fifteen centuries before the birth of our Lord, Jehovah warned Israel through Moses in the following unvarnished terms:<\/span><\/p>\n But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day, that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee…. Jehovah will bring a nation against thee from far, from the end of the earth, as the eagle flieth; a nation whose tongue thou shalt not understand; a nation of fierce countenance, that shall not regard the person of the old, nor show favor to the young, and shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; that also shall not leave thee grain, new wine, or oil, the increase of thy cattle, or the young of thy flock, until they have caused thee to perish. And they shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and fortified walls come down, wherein thou trustedst, throughout all thy land; and they shall besiege thee in all thy gates throughout all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee. And thou shalt eat the fruit of thine own body, the flesh of thy sons and of thy daughters, whom Jehovah thy God hath given thee, in the siege and in the distress wherewith thine enemies shall distress thee (Deu. 28:15, 49\u201353 [ASV used throughout unless otherwise indicated]).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n Move now some nine centuries later. The once united nation of God\u2019s elect people had been divided. Israel, Judah\u2019s sister nation to the north, had already paid her terrible price for rejecting Jehovah, having been destroyed by Assyria a century before. Although she witnessed the national suicide Israel committed through her corruption, Judah seemed to have learned nothing from that tragedy. God would make one last desperate attempt to effect repentance in Judah to avert having to pour out His wrath on His beloved people. If they would not renounce her evils upon this appeal, His forbearance would be exhausted. The instrument through whom He would appeal to them would be a prophet\u2014the stubborn, adamant-willed, unshushable, unbreakable Jeremiah.<\/span><\/p>\n Ironically, Jeremiah, the priest of Anathoth, received his call of God in the thirteenth year of the reign of Josiah (cir. 627 B.C.), the most righteous of all the kings of Judah, including David himself (2 Kin. 23:25). In his reformatory zeal, this young king had already made great progress in destroying idolatry in both Judah and Israel by the time God commissioned Jeremiah for his work (2 Chr. 34:3\u20137). To the casual observer, it might have appeared that the reforms of Josiah had utterly reformed God\u2019s people. Where, then, was the need for Jeremiah\u2019s clarion voice to cry out against idolatry and apostasy? Had not Josiah driven it from their borders? Yes, perhaps from the borders of their land, but God knew that it had not been driven from their hearts.<\/span><\/p>\n The wickedness that consumed the people had a long history and involved every stratum of Hebrew society. Reaching back for several generations to the early judges not long after Joshua, it prevailed in kings, princes, and priests, and filtered all the way down to the lowliest citizen. Only a few righteous kings were exceptions in Judah. There were exceptions among the kings of Israel. Nations do not escape such long-standing thought and behavioral patterns easily or quickly, if at all. Not merely the hands, but more basically, the hearts of Judah had to be converted. Josiah\u2019s restoration effort was well underway by the time of Jeremiah\u2019s call. Josiah exorcised Judah and the remnant of Israel of all the outward trappings of idolatry. It would be Jeremiah\u2019s task to eliminate it from the hearts of the people, for without this accomplishment, the former would be very short-lived, which history reveals was the case.<\/span><\/p>\n To learn the essence of God\u2019s definition of faithful preachers and preaching we need to return repeatedly to the prophets as our models. No better model among them exists than Jeremiah, both in that which God commissioned him to do and in the way he responded to it. In God\u2019s commission to him one can see both the significance of the work to which God called him and the great responsibility which God placed upon him. When one reads Jeremiah\u2019s two books, one is struck with the degree to which he comprehended both of these elements of his work. Perhaps it is not too much to say that no mere man ever surpassed his faithfulness in discharging his assigned task and none ever did so under greater duress, opposition, and suffering. We discover the key to the incomparable work and life of Jeremiah in God\u2019s charge to him and his response to it.<\/span><\/p>\n Exegesis of The Text Now the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,<\/strong> Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jeremiah makes it clear from the beginning that he will not be speaking independently from henceforth. The \u201cword of Jehovah\u201d would hereafter direct and instruct him concerning his words and his works. Note now the elements of God\u2019s employment of Jeremiah:<\/span><\/p>\n The When of It <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In his foreknowledge, God \u201cknew\u201d Jeremiah before he was formed in his mother\u2019s womb. Before Jeremiah came forth in birth God had \u201csanctified\u201d him. We do not pretend to understand all the mysteries of the deep subject of God\u2019s foreknowledge. However, the Bible unmistakably teaches that God foresees the future, not just in general, but even as it pertains to individuals. What God said to Jeremiah about knowing and selecting him, the Bible also says of David (Psa. 139:13\u201316), Isaiah (Isa. 49:1, 5), John the Baptizer (Luke 1:15), and Paul (Gal. 1:15).<\/span><\/p>\n Whatever is involved in God\u2019s election of certain individuals to serve Him in special ways, such predestination does not interfere with the exercise of their own free will, nor does it determine their eternal destiny (Mat. 11:28\u201330; John 3:16; Rev. 22:7; etc.) Despite Paul\u2019s selection \u201cfrom his mother\u2019s womb,\u201d he persecuted the Lord by persecuting His church in the early part of his life. Had he never turned from this rebellion against God, he would have been lost eternally despite God\u2019s selection of him. Jeremiah could have utterly rebelled against God\u2019s call, although God desired him to be His spokesman to Judah and to other nations. It was not force beyond his ability to resist, but humility and reverence toward God, that caused Jeremiah to respond to His commission.<\/span><\/p>\n The What of It <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n God first told Jeremiah he \u201cknew\u201d him before he was formed. This term is likely intended to convey to Jeremiah that God had chosen, selected, or approved him for the task to which he was being called. God also told Jeremiah He had \u201csanctified\u201d him before he was born. This means God had dedicated Jeremiah or set him apart for the holy commission He was now announcing. Furthermore, God had \u201cappointed\u201d Jeremiah to be His spokesman to the nations. The prophetic work of Jeremiah was not assumed by self-appointment. Indeed, we shall shortly see that he shrank from it in his feeling of inadequacy (v. 6). He had a mandate from God, and this must have given strength and courage to the prophet when he had to stand alone as he executed his Divine commission.<\/span><\/p>\n Jeremiah Responds to God\u2014Verse 6<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Then said I, Ah, Lord Jehovah! behold, I know not how to speak; for I am a child. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Understandably, Jeremiah initially appears to be overwhelmed with the task God has laid upon him. He seems to be both alarmed and amazed that God would call such a one as himself for the staggering task of being His mouthpiece, not only to Judah, but to the nations. He protests that he does not have the necessary communication skills. I understand him to mean that he does not have the training or native capacity to stand before princes and multitudes and speak with the fluency God\u2019s message deserves. Moses\u2018great reserve and similar excuse when God called him from the burning bush at Sinai immediately comes to mind (Exo. 3:10\u20134:12).<\/span><\/p>\n The reason Jeremiah gives for his inability to speak well is that he is but \u201ca child.\u201d This, some suppose, means that he is still a very young man. His long prophetic career (over forty years) would certainly harmonize with his beginning at a young age. However, he may mean that, compared to the task and the abilities he knew the work would require, he saw himself as no more qualified than a child.<\/span><\/p>\n God Answers Jeremiah\u2014Verses 7\u20138<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n But Jehovah said unto me, Say not, I am a child; for to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak.<\/strong> Be not afraid because of them; for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith Jehovah.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n God Refuses Jeremiah\u2019s Excuse <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n When God told Jeremiah what to do, no excuse was acceptable to avoid the task. What if he were but young and inexperienced? Was this or any other imagined handicap a problem to the Creator of man and His universe? Yet, God does not severely rebuke the fledgling prophet. Perhaps this indicates that God understood that Jeremiah\u2019s excuse did not arise from faithlessness, but from meekness, modesty, and understandable fear. What if he were but a \u201cchild\u201d? God would still send him to whoever needed to hear him and with whatever message He would give him. He would not have to be concerned about the words, for God would supply them.<\/span><\/p>\n A century before Jeremiah, Isaiah described the digression of the leaders of God\u2019s people and its terrible consequences: \u201cFor they that lead this people cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed\u201d (Isa 9:16). The attitude of the people in general was one of defiance that would not tolerate God\u2019s faithful message and messengers:<\/span><\/p>\n For it is a rebellious people, lying children, children that will not hear the law of Jehovah; that say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits, get you out of the way, turn aside out of the path, cause the Holy One of Israel to cease from before us (Isa. 30:9\u201311).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n In his explanation of why Jerusalem and Judah had to be destroyed, the inspired writer of 2 Chronicles described their determination to walk in their own obstinate ways despite God\u2019s longsuffering attempts to alert them to their peril:<\/span><\/p>\n Moreover, all the chiefs of the priests, and the people, trespassed very greatly after all the abominations of the nations; and they polluted the house of Jehovah which he had hallowed in Jerusalem. And Jehovah, the God of their fathers, sent to them by his messengers, rising up early and sending, because he had compassion on his people, and on his dwelling-place: but they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and scoffed at his prophets, until the wrath of Jehovah arose against his people, till there was no remedy (2 Chr. 36:14-16).<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It was because of this very human proclivity that God sent Jeremiah to Judah, as the last in a long line of prophets, in a final attempt to rescue her from national suicide. The religious leaders of God\u2019s people contemporary with Jeremiah were corrupt, and the people rejoiced in their corruption: \u201cThe prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests bear rule by their means; and my people love to have it so: and what will ye do in the end thereof?\u201d (Jer. 5:31).<\/span><\/p>\n God Reassures Jeremiah <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n God\u2019s promise to deliver Jeremiah implies that he would meet severe opposition. Part of Jeremiah\u2019s reluctance may have sprung from his contemplation of the awful treatment to which he would likely be subjected if he preached what Judah and the nations needed to hear. He had every reason to be fearful for his life, even before God gave him his specific message. God encouraged him by telling him not to fear, for He would be with him and deliver him. Jeremiah must have relied upon God\u2019s promised protection often as he faced cruel and shameful treatment repeatedly because of his message. God gave an almost identical message of assurance to Paul about six and one-half centuries later when he faced difficult and discouraging circumstances in Corinth (Acts 18:9\u201310) and again in Jerusalem (23:11). God\u2019s words of encouragement were His way of removing every excuse from Jeremiah\u2019s mind. It was not for Jeremiah to question his qualifications or his ability to stand before great men with a message they would not appreciate; it was his place to obey and let God take care of the details.<\/span><\/p>\n God Equips Jeremiah\u2014Verse 9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Then Jehovah put forth his hand, and touched my mouth; and Jehovah said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth: <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n God had already told Jeremiah that he was to speak whatever He would command him to speak (v. 7). Now He endows Jeremiah with the very words which he is to proclaim.<\/span><\/p>\n Jeremiah\u2019s first reaction to God\u2019s commission was, \u201cI know not how to speak\u201d (v. 6). When Moses offered a similar excuse, God gave him his brother Aaron as his spokesman (Exo. 3:14\u201316). To help Jeremiah, God said, \u201cBehold I have put my words in thy mouth.\u201d A century before Jeremiah, God spoke to Isaiah in almost identical terms: \u201cAnd I have put my words in thy mouth…\u201d (Isa. 51:16). God would later do the same with Jeremiah\u2019s younger contemporary, Ezekiel. God set a scroll before him which contained the message he was to speak (Eze. 2:8\u201310). God then commanded the prophet of the Exile to eat the scroll and to \u201c…go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto them\u201d (Ezek. 3:1\u20134).<\/span><\/p>\n In Jeremiah we see an instance of that to which the Hebrews writer referred: \u201cGod, having of old time spoken unto the fathers in the prophets by divers portions and in divers manners\u201d (Heb. 1:1). Peter declared the same truth: \u201cFor no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Spirit\u201d (2 Pet. 1:21). The Old Testament prophets of God did not speak their own message, but the words God gave them. Thus, when they spoke, God was speaking to the people. By this means, God also gave us the Old Testament in written form.<\/span><\/p>\n God Enables Jeremiah\u2014Verse 10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n [S]ee, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Jeremiah\u2019s Authority <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n While God sent Jeremiah primarily to Judah and Jerusalem and he did almost all his prophetic work there, his prophecies would relate to other kingdoms and nations as well. In fact, he delivered God\u2019s message of doom to at least ten other nations (Jer. 43\u2013 51). God said He had set Jeremiah over nations and kingdoms, but this humble priest of Anathoth would not rule by the power of crown, throne, or sword. Rather, he would be \u201cover\u201d the nations to which he would address his prophecies by the power of the Word of God. He would have advance knowledge of their respective fates and futures. This knowledge would be a form of great power and authority, which even the kings of those nations did not possess.<\/span><\/p>\n Jeremiah\u2019s Authority Implemented <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n In executing his commission and exercising his authority, his initial work would be that of demolition. This is expressed in four terms: \u201cto pluck up and to break down and to destroy and to overthrow.\u201d We are not to understand this to be literal or physical destruction, although God was well-pleased with just such behavior in the righteous King Josiah relative to idolatry and all of its evil trappings (2 Kin. 22\u201323; 2 Chr. 34\u201335). The demolition to be wrought by Jeremiah was to be through his delivering the message of God\u2018s judgment against all wickedness. It would be a bold exposure of the evil and thoroughly corrupt practices of rebellious Jews and Gentiles as well. The Word God gave Jeremiah was like fire, and \u201c…like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces\u201d (Jer. 23:29). Jeremiah was to do his best to level the bastions and strongholds of idolatry, immorality, and every form of apostasy by speaking the words God had placed in his mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n However, his work of destruction was not an end in itself. It was rather preparatory work for the next stage of his assignment\u2014to build and to plant. However, before virtue can take root, evil must be rooted out. The land on which one would plant crops or build a house has to be cleared of trees, stumps, rocks, and other undesirable items before the works of planting or building can be accomplished. The rebuke of wickedness in the absence of repentance was to be followed by the promise of mercy and blessing if the people turned back to God.<\/span><\/p>\n Application of The Text<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Verses 4\u20135 <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n God, not some man, called and commissioned Jeremiah and sent him forth with His message to the people. The various men (such as Jeremiah) whom God commissioned spoke and wrote words that could not have come from men. They often foretold events in detail that could be known only by One who can see the future as easily and as certainly as if it were the past. There is no explanation for this ability apart from God. The Bible was written by men to whom God gave His message. Therefore, it is \u201c…not…the word of men, but…in truth, the word of God…\u201d (1 The. 2:13).<\/span><\/p>\n God no longer miraculously calls or commissions men to serve Him, notwithstanding the claims of some. However, He does call us through His Word to serve according to our abilities (Mat. 25:14\u201330; 1 Cor. 4:1\u20132; 2 Cor. 5:10; Gal. 6:5\u201310; 1 Pet. 1:17; et al.). We have the same responsibility and accountability to use our God-given and personally cultivated abilities (in harmony with God\u2019s restrictions) as did those who were called in a miraculous way.<\/span><\/p>\n The least observant reader cannot miss the implications of God\u2019s statements about Jeremiah before he was formed and born in relation to the unspeakable tragedy of abortion. Perhaps the favorite ploy of the pro-death advocates is to confuse the issue by arguing that one cannot know when life begins in the gestation period. They adamantly argue that it does not begin until sometime after conception. Thereby they attempt to rationalize their bloody work and escape responsibility for their campaign of infanticide. For the Bible-believer, there can be neither question nor equivocation. It is clear from His statements to Jeremiah that in the mind of God Jeremiah existed in his mother\u2019s womb from the time of conception\u2014before his body began to take its form!<\/span><\/p>\n We should all do all within our power (in keeping with Christian principles) to oppose this incredible barbarism. We should especially take care to use the power of the ballot box to turn those in favor of this indescribable catastrophe out of office and replace them with representatives who will work to ban it. The voices of the more than 40 million innocent and defenseless offspring of U.S. citizens who have been butchered since Roe v. Wade was enacted in 1973, though silenced by the heartless abortionists\u2019 vacuum machines, scream at us to rise in their defense. If there were no other evidence to advertise the malignancy of the religion of evolution, the fact that, among other malignant effects, it has brought a once civilized and generally God-fearing nation to the point of mercilessly slaying its own young almost altogether out of sheer convenience should be sufficient!<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 6 <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n Some have criticized Jeremiah for his reluctance. Rather than censuring him for his hesitation, ought we not to praise him for his humility and modesty? He was not so much trying to avoid doing what God commanded, as he was wondering aloud how, knowing his own limitations, he would ever be able to accomplish it.<\/span><\/p>\n There is hardly any character trait that so becomes the personality as humility. This is especially so in preachers. Paul tells us that there were self-centered, ego-manic preachers in the first century (Phi. 1:15) and unfortunately, they have not become extinct. Pride is a temptation of special severity to preachers because people often rely upon them for answers to their questions, seek their counsel, and publicly praise them. If he does not take care, a preacher can begin to believe all those nice things people may write or say about him. (Of course, there seem always to be those whose mission in life is to keep him \u201cin his place.\u201d)<\/span><\/p>\n Few things are more disgusting to right-thinking people than to see a preacher who is puffed up with his own ability, education, influence, or importance. I am convinced that pride is what has led some to abandon the Truth and adopt the liberal slop of theological pluralism. I am also convinced that some have adopted and continue to propagate strange, quirky heresies to feed a bloated ego that craves extra attention. Some who have attained advanced degrees (many of whom are on the faculties of our schools) look down their \u201civory tower\u201d noses at the \u201cunscholarly\u201d fellows who have no more sense than to study and preach the Bible. These self-proclaimed \u201cscholars\u201d are for the most part the leaders in the determined effort to cast the church of our Lord in the denominational mold. In their pride they cannot stand for their denominational academic fellows to accuse them of being \u201cnarrow\u201d in their concepts of the inspiration of the Bible, fellowship, the conditions of pardon, the identity of the church, worship, and like subjects.<\/span><\/p>\n However, one does not have to be a doctrinal fruitcake, a theological liberal, or someone educated beyond his intelligence (and\/or his convictions) to fall prey to pride. Those who are sticklers for sound doctrine can also succumb to this deadly sin. It seems that some preachers are not content to let \u201ccream rise to the top.\u201d Some allow perverse ambition and jealousy to drive them as they openly seek position and prominence that have come to others only through decades of faithful and difficult work. Such behavior is akin to that of a twelve-year old fledgling song leader who tries to lead \u201cThe New Song\u201d or of a new convert wanting to begin immediately a study of Revelation before he has dried off from the baptistery. Solomon\u2019s advice is valuable for all, but especially for all who preach: \u201cLet another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; A stranger, and not thine own lips\u201d (Pro. 27:2).<\/span><\/p>\n A few years ago, a preacher I know reportedly asked some fellow preachers how one went about getting an invitation to speak on \u201cone of those lectureships,\u201d for he would surely like to be on one. As a lectureship director for more than two decades, several men over the years approached me, recommending themselves and offering their services as speakers or writers. I habitually thanked them politely and did not invite them. I have never felt comfortable asking congregations to invite me to preach in Gospel meetings. I have always thought that if they want me to come, they will call me.<\/span><\/p>\n Though they may not have a string of degrees after their names or be the greatest orators, those men who preach God\u2019s Truth in humility and at great sacrifice (because they would rather die than compromise it) are nonetheless great in the eyes of God: \u201cAnd whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted\u201d (Mat. 23:12). Jeremiah was just such a man. The proud man asks, when charged with great responsibility, \u201cI thought you would never call.\u201d The humble servant, as Jeremiah, asks, \u201cHow can one of such mean ability possibly be equal to the task?\u201d No suit of clothes ever looked better on a Gospel preacher than the suit of humility! Let us cultivate the beautiful and commendable trait Paul enjoined: \u201cFor I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but so to think as to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to each man a measure of faith\u201d (Rom. 12:3).<\/span><\/p>\n An unknown poet wrote:<\/span><\/p>\n How ready is the man to go,<\/span><\/p>\n Whom God hath never sent!<\/span><\/p>\n How timorous, diffident, and slow,<\/span><\/p>\n God\u2019s chosen instrument!<\/span><\/p>\n Verses 7\u20138 <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n The essence of God\u2019s commission to His uninspired preachers of the Gospel is found in His words to Jeremiah: \u201cFor to whomsoever I shall send thee thou shalt go, and whatsoever I shall command thee thou shalt speak\u201d (Jer. 1:7). God\u2019s spokesmen must go wherever and to whomever He sends us. Since the Savior did His redemptive work and ascended to His heavenly throne, He has sent His devotees to make disciples of all the nations and to take the saving Gospel into all the world and to the whole creation (Mat. 28:19; Mark 16:15). This commission will not cease as long as the world stands (Mat. 28:20). We must never flag in our zeal to go with the Gospel.<\/span><\/p>\n The prophet of God (whether inspired or uninspired) will speak only and all that God commands (authorizes) him to speak. If he does not, he is not God\u2019s spokesman, whatever he may claim. Men have never been content very long to speak the message of God even as the people have not been willing to hear it.<\/span><\/p>\n We see much of the same condition among the people of God now that existed in Jeremiah\u2019s time. God\u2019s spiritual Israel is cursed with its prophets who prophesy falsely. What began as a whisper over forty years ago from certain radical voices who began labeling the Lord\u2019s people as merely another denomination has now grown into a great shout from men of vast influence. These liberal, fellowship-everyone (except those who are set for the defense of the Gospel), denominationally minded men can be found all over the world. Some of them occupy seats on the boards, fill offices in the administration, and stand behind lecterns in the classrooms of our schools. They have already poisoned a couple of generations of young people entrusted to them by ignorant, overly trusting, and sometimes naive parents. They occupy editorial chairs and staffs of such papers as Restoration Quarterly<\/em>,New Wineskins, <\/em>and The Christian Chronicle<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n These religious seditionists serve as elders and occupy the pulpits of some of the largest congregations. In fact, there are few congregations with two hundred or more members that do not have this kind of elders and preachers. (It is doubtful that any of these congregations can be turned back from their apostasy.) They are the planners of, and speakers on the largest annual gatherings of brethren such as the misnamed Tulsa International Soul-Winning Workshop, Winterfest, and most of the university lectureships. Some of these same men have produced a veritable flood of books over the past ten years, all promoting approximately the same cultic mantra:<\/span><\/p>\n One of the greatest tragedies that those of us who have made overseas preaching trips have observed is that these unscrupulous servants of Satan have not hesitated to export their heresies to faraway places with strange-sounding names. Their effects can be seen in Jamaica, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, Russia, Europe, and likely everywhere the Gospel has gone.<\/span><\/p>\n While there have always been some who were not content with speaking what the Lord commanded, such men could not have come to places of prominence and power in the church but for two factors.<\/span><\/p>\n First, at the initial signs of such foolishness, God\u2019s people in general did not rise up in righteous indignation but sat idly by and allowed this tragedy to happen. This apathy has been partly due to widespread ignorance of God\u2019s Word. As it was with Israel, so it has been with God\u2019s spiritual Israel of our day: \u201cMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…\u201d (Hos. 4:6). Many have not recognized even the most grievous errors because they knew so little of the Truth with which to contrast it. (If one knows not the Truth, he is hardly able to detect error!) This apathy has also sprung from the almost hypnotic influence of the godless humanistic philosophies that brethren have absorbed, urging tolerance toward almost every doctrine and\/or practice, whether in morals or religion. Brethren have lost the power and the will to make judgments and to criticize, expose, oppose, and\/or refute based on correct judgments. Some can hardly bring themselves to label anything as \u201csin\u201d or \u201cerror.\u201d Even now, when God\u2019s faithful ones raise the cry of alarm, such cannot be moved. As Jeremiah asked his people concerning the tragedy that had befallen old Jerusalem, we ask our brethren who are even yet nonchalant and unconcerned about the siege of the liberals against the new Jerusalem, \u201cIs it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?\u201d (Lam. 1:12). Of course, some in the pews have been more than merely apathetic toward liberal teaching and practice; they have recognized, embraced, and encouraged it. They have delighted in having someone twist the Scriptures to justify their worldly and immoral lives and their desire to see the church flow into the polluted stream of denominationalism.<\/span><\/p>\n Second, the very men God has charged to spiritually feed, oversee, and protect each flock, respectively\u2014its shepherds, pastors, elders\u2014have failed on a grand scale. Both as an elder and as a local preacher I worked intimately with elders for almost forty years. I appreciate the fact that no group of men on earth has a weightier responsibility than do these men who must account to the Judge of all men for the souls under their care (Heb. 13:17). When preachers, professors, and publications began spouting an ever-increasing flow of liberalism several years ago, these men, more than any others, were in a position to put a stop to it. Some were equal to the task, and every faithful saint admires them. But unfortunately, many were not.<\/span><\/p>\n Instead of protecting the flock from the ravening wolves, they have opened the door and protected the wolves while they fed on the flock. They have provided platforms for the promotion of error and bread for the tables of propagators of apostasy. In some cases, elders were and are eager promoters of liberalism. In other cases, elders have been so ignorant they did not recognize it in their very midst until the church had been stolen from them. In yet other cases, elders recognized the error, but were too spineless to deal with it in the face of threats from congregational bullies. The result has been the same, regardless of the reason\u2014hundreds of churches have been so corrupted that there is no hope for them.<\/span><\/p>\n Elders could still isolate and stamp out much of the liberalism that has reached overwhelming proportions in the church. I suggest the following beginning points:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n The suggestions listed above will sound almost as radical to liberal elders and preachers as Jeremiah\u2019s message did to the ungodly priests and false prophets of Judah. Alas, I will not hold my breath until elderships begin following this advice (any more than Jeremiah did till Judah repented). Admittedly, to do such would result in a furor in any congregation that has been sliding down the slimy slope of error for some time. Those who have for so long rejoiced over the comfort they have been made to feel in their liberalism and error would register extreme displeasure. No doubt, it would cause church splits all over the land, but they would be divisions that not only would please the Lord, but that He demanded (Luke 12:51\u201353).<\/span><\/p>\n Those in today\u2019s very permissive and irrational climate who dare to speak what God commands are not going to win any popularity contests, even as Jeremiah did not. They are going to be mistreated by the very ones who should be upholding their hands and encouraging them, even as Jeremiah was. However, even when sin and error have temporarily triumphed, true servants of God will not compromise the message of God to avoid persecution, even as Jeremiah did not.<\/span><\/p>\n Verse 9 <\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n While God spoke to His people in previous ages by the voices of His prophets, \u201c…when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son\u201d (Ga. 4:4). God sent the Eternal Word in the person of Jesus of Nazareth as His last messenger to mankind: God \u201c…hath at the end of these days spoken unto us in his Son\u201d (Heb. 1:2). As with Jeremiah, Jesus\u2019 message was not His own, but that which the Father sent Him to declare: \u201cFor I spake not from myself; but the Father that sent me, he hath given me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak\u201d (John 12:49; cf. 7:16; 8:26; 14:24). Christ chose, endowed, and sent out His apostles to declare His Gospel to all mankind (Mark 16:15\u201316; Luke 24:47\u201349; John 14:26; 15:26\u201327; 16:12\u201315; Acts 1:4\u20138; 2:1\u20134). Thus, when they spoke and wrote, it was by Christ\u2019s authority (John 13:20) and by Heaven\u2019s mandate (Mat. 18:18). It is by this means that \u201call <\/strong>scripture [NT as well as OT (1 Cor. 2:13; 1 Tim. 5:18; 2 Pet. 3:15\u201316)] is given by inspiration of God\u201d (2 Tim. 3:16; emph. DM). The Holy Scriptures are not the words of men, but the Word of God!<\/span><\/p>\n The measure of the message God gave Jeremiah was not in mere broad thoughts or themes: God put His words <\/strong>in the prophet\u2019s mouth. This passage powerfully sets forth verbal inspiration. The New Testament echoes this Truth loudly: Among other things the Lord promised His apostles was that when they were arrested, they would not have to be \u201c…anxious how or what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you\u201d (Mat. 10:19\u201320). Paul claimed, \u201cWe speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Spirit teacheth\u201d (1 Cor. 2:13). I am not moved (except to indignation!) by the calumny of the critics, skeptics, modernists, and liberals who say that the doctrine of verbal inspiration constitutes \u201cmechanical dictation\u201d by which the inspired men are rendered mere \u201cstenographers.\u201d Let them call it what they may, the Bible teaches that God gave to the inspired men the very words <\/strong>He wanted them to speak and write. This is the only way the Scriptures can claim plenary (full, complete in every part) inspiration, which they do (Psa. 119:160; 139:17; John 17:17; 2 Tim. 3:16\u201317; et al.). The only way men can fully and faithfully receive and deliver the message of God is to do it in His own words.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Every saint needs to be aware that for quite some time there have been some among us who have snuggled up to the most sneering and blasphemous modernists in their open rejection of the Bible doctrine of verbal inspiration. I cite the following examples, among others:<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe are assuming that it [the Bible] is the inspired word of God, though this certainly is also an area in which we should be open to whatever facts are pertinent. Any observer of religion is aware that our problem is a legitimate one\u201d (7).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\nGod Appoints Jeremiah\u2014Verses 4\u20135<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n\n
\n
\n
\n
\n