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Bibleline Bibleline, here God’s Word on Bibleline, everywhere, every time. Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us at 813-884-4328, or you can donate on the homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org. We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, and that today’s message will be a blessing to you and your family.

Now, once you take your Bible, Turn it over to the book of Jeremiah, the book of Jeremiah. This is a simple little title. Why Jeremiah was called a weeping prophet. He’s called a weeping prophet. Why? Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem. He said, how often I would have gathered you together as I hadn’t gathered your chicks together. He said, but you would not. He didn’t say you could not, he said you would not. Jeremiah had the same kind of a ministry that Ezekiel had, but Ezekiel, well he was told, be not afraid of their faces and because you’re going to preach to a rebellious people.

See most times God’s children, even though they may trust Christ as Savior, have eternal life, they’ll rebel just to the Lord. As you see, all we light sheep have gone astray you. And just because you trust the Lord doesn’t mean you’re going to start walking the straight and narrow path. You still go astray. You still want to go your own way. Well that’s what’s found in the book of Jeremiah. I want you to look there in the first paragraph at the top of the page.

Jeremiah weeping over Israel is a perfect picture of Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. is called the weeping prophet because this is what he says in Jeremiah 8 and verse 18, he says, when I would comfort myself against sorrow. Now we may think that if we serve the Lord, we’re not going to have the down times. We’re not going to go through the valley, that everything’s going to work out for good for us because all things work together for good to them that know the Lord, that are called according to His purpose.

Well, we believe that. But the good is not only in this life. The good can be something that coming down the road in the next life. I would say that Jesus did everything right. How did it end? Well, because he did the will of God, he ended in total success. You study the apostle Paul and see what Paul went through in 2 Corinthians in chapter 11 and chapter 12. When you see all that he went through. Paul was a success, but look what he had to go through and suffer.

And finally, God had to tell him in one situation, I’m not going to let them hurt you as bad. I’m not going to let them hurt you as bad. You’re going to go to Rome. And so when he went to Rome, he got there all right. But how did he end up? Anybody remember how he ended up? Nobody remembers what happened. Huh? He died. How did he die? How did he die? How did Paul die? He chopped his head off.

See there he doesn’t have any more problems. God solved all of his problems. He has no more aches and pains. He didn’t have to worry about anything anymore. You see, one of the God’s way of answering your prayers when you start complaining too much, he could just take you on out of here. You better watch it. Don’t complain too much, baby. But look at the next statement. Jeremiah 9, 1, says, all that in my head were waters in my eyes, a fountain of tears that I meet my wink day and night for the slain of the daughters of my people, that my eyes was a fountain of tears.

Jeremiah We’re going to whip over Israel, especially Jerusalem. Because it was in his day that Nebuchadnezzar was coming. And he prophesied and told him what was going to happen. Well, there were some false prophets there that told the king that what he’s doing is he’s killing the will of the people to fight. And so they blame Jeremiah and they wanted him dead. They wanted him dead. And they listened to the false prophets. Because they said, never can Israel’s not going to come and he’s not going to do this not in the other.

Everything to contradict everything that Jeremiah told him. Look at the next verse. Jeremiah 13 17 says, but if you will not hear it, my soul shall weep in secret places for your bride. Now you know we cry because of the body and the emotions and tears in our eyes. But you know you can cry also without shedding a tear. Crying in your soul. And the Bible talks about me and my soul cried out unto God. In other words, you that are inside of this body, like you can pray without moving your lips or without somebody hearing you pray, but you can still pray.

And you can grieve without anybody seeing what’s going on on the inside of you and you can cry about a lot of things and you can weep and it can break your heart because of what you see. Now here’s a man like Jeremiah and he talks about as a pastor then he talks about the people of sheep and he talks about how that you want so much for the sheep but it breaks your heart when they go astray and hurt you when you see God’s people doing things that bring hurt up on themselves.

I want you to look in your Bible to Jeremiah chapter 14. Jeremiah in chapter 14, Jeremiah 14 and look there in verse 10. In verse 10, these two verses 10 and 11. In verse 10 says, thus saith the Lord unto this people. Now this is found on page 787 in a church Bible. He says, thus have they loved to wonder. They have not refrained their feet. Therefore the Lord does not accept them. He will now remember their iniquity and visit their sins.

They love to wonder. They love to go their own way, do their own thing. And it breaks God’s heart because He had warned them. Even Moses had warned them in the book of Deuteronomy that when you get into the land. You’re going to have choices to make. And if you will serve the Lord, He will protect you and provide in all this, and you’ll have security in the land. But if you forsake the Lord, He’s going to bring in another nation that’s going to whoop you and take you out of your nation.

And He’s going to destroy you as a nation. He’d already told them all of this. And they knew all of this. Even when Joshua had taken the children of Israel into the land, the next generation who had not fought any battles, they hadn’t been in the wilderness. They were raised right there in the Promised Land. You see, they didn’t get to see all of these things that God had done. So the next generation was a little bit softer on sin.

But as long as Joshua’s alive, he says, for me and my house, we’re going to serve the Lord. He said, but choose you this day. Whoever is God, serve God. Whoever is God. And so God, Jehovah, He is God. Therefore serve the Lord. But they didn’t. Then you studied the book of Judges and how they went in cycles and rebelled over and over again against the Lord. Now looking for she 11th, then said the Lord unto me, pray not for this people for their good.

Pray not for this people for their good because God says I’ve had enough. Here’s a nation in God says I’ve had enough. Up to hear God says I’m not going to bless them. I’m not going to deliver them. I’m not going to save them from the chasing hand that enemies come in and this is what they’re going to do and it’s over. And they’re going to captivity for 70 years. Now they went into captivity for 70 years. Jeremiah was used by God to tell them all these things.

Now look in verse 13. In verse 13, this that I, Lord God, behold those prophets say unto them, you shall not see the sword, neither shall you have famine, but I will give you assured peace in this place. Well, that’s what the false prophets were saying. Contrary to what God told Jeremiah, so they wanted preachers that would tell them what they wanted to hear instead of what What is the truth? What God had to say? And so he says to verse 14, then the Lord said to me, the prophets prophesied lies in my name.

I sent them not. Neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them. They prophesy unto you a false vision and divination and a thing of not and the deceit of their heart. In other words, you believe in that lie instead of believing the truth. Well, they got very mad with Jeremiah. And so Jeremiah was going to have to suffer the consequences of the people believing a lie. Now look there in verse 17. Verse 17 says, therefore thou shalt say this word unto them, let mine eye run down with tears night and day and let them not cease for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach for a very grievous blow.

If I go forth into the field then behold the slain with the sword and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine. Yay, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not. Has thou utterly rejected Judah? Has thy soul loath Zion? Has thou smitten us and there is no healing for us? We look for peace and there is no good and for the time of healing and behold, trouble.

No end to it. In other words, they have gone past that point of return, where God says, I’m going to chasten you. The enemy is at your doors, and this is what’s going to take place. And Jeremiah was not called to do a very nice job. I want you to look at some of the things that I have here. You see there in a little bold and frightened two thirds of the page He’s done. Here are seven great things about Jeremiah that every servant of the Lord needs to learn.

You see, if you and I, if we wanna serve the Lord, there’s some things that we need to understand because this can happen to us. God doesn’t tell us in advance everything He wants us to do. He doesn’t wanna tell us all the course that we have to run. All the obstacles are gonna be in our way. All the testings that we’re going to have. All the trial. He doesn’t tell us all of those things. All he says is, I’ll not forsake you and I will not leave you.

I will be with you and I’ll walk you through it. And we don’t know how bad it’s gonna be. We don’t know how long we’re going to live. And so he did these things for Jeremiah. But look at number one. Sometimes we are called to do the lowest job without consent. In other words, you don’t get sometimes to pick what you wanna do. You’re supposed to just give yourself to the Lord let God place you wherever he wants to.

And if some people, God may put you on a pinnacle, and others he may give you a low job that we would consider a low job. It doesn’t matter if it’s just cleaning the tallest or sweeping the floor or doing whatever job. Whatever the job may be. Do you think you’re too high and mighty for that low job? Is it pride that will exalt you? think, Lord, don’t you know who I am? And Lord says, yes, I do. And he may put you where he wants you, but it may not be with your consent.

Your consent was simply that Lord, I want you to use me. That is up to God to put us in the use of however he wants. Because sometimes you can’t determine how God’s going to use you or where he’s going to use you. I want you look at number two, we have time we’ll go back with some of these sub points. Number two, sometimes we’re called upon to serve without earthly profit. In other words, in this life you’ll be seen as a failure.

You threw your life away. What did you gain? What do you have to show? Maybe you can serve the Lord for all these years and you have nothing at the end of it. But you see, God’s not through with us yet. Look at that statement underneath number two. It appears that Jeremiah had no good results, no revivals, no converts, no success. He tells him in Jeremiah 5 and verse 1, look at the scripture there, run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem and see now and know and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find a man.

If there be any, any that executed judgment, that seek if the truth and I’ll pardon In other words, they couldn’t find any righteous people. Anybody that wanted to do what God wanted to do. Jeremiah was a weeping prophet because he had an impossible task of winning people to the truth because God already said, don’t even pray for these people. I warned them, keep telling them what I told you to tell them. Jeremiah, after a while, he broke. He broke.

I don’t know if he had any emotional breakdown, nervous breakdown, whatever you want to call it. But he says, I tried to shut my mouth. I’m not going to say anymore. I’m not doing any more. I’ve had it because they wanted to kill him. And all the bad things that the people did to him and all he wanted to do was he was in love with his people. And he He was trying to warn them and they wouldn’t listen, they wouldn’t care.

Look down at the last bowl on page one, the handwriting was on the wall for Israel’s defeat. When you know the end result, or you’re going to have, and here’s two phrases that I put here and I want you to circle them, one is called the spirit of resolution. The other one is the spirit of resignation. You see, you’re either going to be a resolved. I am going to finish what God wants me to do with my life, or I resigned to doing whatever is my own will and not God’s.

You see, if you know and you can look and see the end result, would you be tempted just to quit and give up? It’s too hard. God’s asking too much. Now, in the book of Luke in chapter 14, it gives a whole chapter on discipleship. And he says, many people start, he said, but they don’t finish. And he says, they didn’t finish because they didn’t count the cost. They didn’t count the cost. They were not willing to forsake all that they had.

He says, you cannot be my disciple. There’s people who play around with it, pitiful here and there. But I’m talking about a person sold out to the Lord. Lord, whatever you want to do with my life, you’re free to do it. You can take it. You can leave me here. You can do anything that you want. Bring anything in my life you want. If it’s for your honor and your glory, I’m for it. And you hold nothing back to the Lord.

And if it turns sour and everything seems to go wrong, are you with the spirit of resignation or resolve? He’s like a man who’s set his face like a flint and nothing’s going to stop him or change him. He’s made up his mind. I’m going to serve the Lord. And like David says, though he slay me, though he slay me. Yeah, well I trust him. Look at page two. The top of the page where Jeremiah 25 10 says, moreover, I will take from them the voice of of myrrh and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, the voice of the bride and the sounds of the millstones and the light of the candle.

In other words, God said, I am going to strip you of all that you love. I’m going to take away and your husband’s are going to be killed, the women are going to be raped. They say your kids are going to be killed, they’re going to starve to death. There’s going to be a great famine. All these things. Your love, your joy, your peace, everything that you want, you’re gonna lose it all.

It’s not the way God wanted and it broke Jeremiah’s heart to see that the people were willing to run that risk. I grieve myself when I see some of God’s people who throw away God’s best for them and then take whatever crumbs are left. It said, I want the best God has for me and I will in the to pay whatever price there is to pay, but I want it. Look at number three there in your notes. See the verse right before the Jeremiah 25 and verse 11 where he talks about you’ll be in Babylon 70 years.

We see there’s some things that happen that cause this to take place. So number three, sometimes we’re a cursed without a cause. You’ll live a life and people will curse you to seem like everything is against you without a cause. It’s not because you did something wrong and you deserve it. It’s because you did something right and people made wrong decisions and they wish not who you are. They wish not what you’re doing. They don’t appreciate where respect, the stand that you take and understand where you’re coming from and you’ll face all these things all alone.

Jeremiah didn’t have a close buddy buddy. He was forsaken. Look at the next statement. Under number three there, Jeremiah loved them, but they took their hatred out on him. He did them good, but they wronged him. This is what they did. And many of the statements that you’ll see that they did to Jeremiah, when you read Isaiah 53, you’ll see a lot of these same statements that are made. Talking about the Messiah. Christ, look there in Jeremiah 11, 19, right there in your note.

But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter. You ever heard something like that before? And I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living. That statement is also used in the book of Daniel in chapter 9 when he talked about the Messiah. will be cut off out of the land of the living.

Look at the next verse, chapter 11 verse 20, but O Lord of hosts that judge us righteously, that triath the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them, for under thee have I revealed my cause. In other words, Jeremiah poured out his heart to the Lord. And he knew all these things that the people had done to Jeremiah and knowing that he says later, he says, God, you deceived me. You didn’t tell me it was going to be this bad.

It wasn’t supposed to be this bad. And he says, Lord, what did I do? It wasn’t like he got up and he just decided one day, I think I’m going to serve the Lord. No God called him from the womb. You read Jeremiah chapter 1 and verses 4 through verse 7. and you’ll talk and see how God had a purpose for his life. And he didn’t ask Jeremiah, he just told him this is what you’re supposed to do. This is what I want.

I ordained you for this. Jeremiah had a choice. He could have been a rebellious prophet, not done what God wanted him to do. But he says, you put your reins on me and you guided me and you led me and I wanted to stop. I wanted to quit. But inside Jeremiah, he says, I couldn’t quit. He says, your word was in me like a fire. Like it was in my bones. And I said, I’m not going to say anything.

But the burden of the Word of God was so strong in Jeremiah’s life, he couldn’t quit. He had to go on. Look at the next statement. Jeremiah was persecuted, rejected, beaten, and imprisoned, and slandered. Jeremiah 18 verse 18, right there in your note, then said they come, let us devise devices against Jeremiah, for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come and let us might him with the tongue and let us not give heed to any of his words.

They agreed together we’re not gonna listen to anything Jeremiah has to say. Sometimes I wonder if people come to church And I don’t care what that preacher says today, I will not. I will not. He’s not going to get me to do anything. Now, I know none of y’all did that, but you want to come back tonight. But there’s chances are people who have already made up their mind. I’m not going to move. I don’t care what he says.

I’m not going to do it. After all, I don’t need him telling me what to do. And you think it’s a personal thing between you and me? No. If I tell you what God’s word says, it’s between you and God, not between you and me. That’s why when I talk to somebody about the Lord, I say, this is what God says. No, here’s you. Look what God says. And I tell them what God said. Now, it’s not between you and me, between you and him.

But there’s times when you will have people turning you. As I know of, I don’t know one person I have purposely ever set out to try to hurt in all my ministry. I want to help everyone I can. I want to teach everyone that I possibly can. I want to tell you the truth. I don’t like to play a little game where I come in the side door of the back door. Like I like to tell you straight up front, right between the eyes.

You know where I’m coming from. No hope in your guessing, knowing where I stand on just about every issue. If you ever go to our YouTube channel and you’ll find out that I try to hit every issue I can think of. Cause I know that I’m running out of time. And I want people to know where I stand of what the Bible says about hell. And that’s why I preached that this morning. I want people to know what I think about Jeremiah.

That’s where I’m teaching about Jeremiah. But I don’t cover my whole book. I give you a little snippets of highlights, an overview. You can go back through and you can read all the things in between, but it’s very important to do so. Now, where he makes a statement, in Jeremiah 15 verse 15, look what we have here at number four. Jeremiah suffered without quitting. He suffered without quitting. Now this same thing you’ll find in second Corinthians in chapter four, when the apostle Paul having stated that having this ministry, we faint not means we don’t quit.

He says, and we were perplexed, but we didn’t quit. Cast down, but we didn’t quit. And all the things he said, but we didn’t quit. We didn’t quit. and quit. Because if we quit, who else is there? Who else is there going to do this if we quit? And you have to believe that you are necessary. You are important. I had people tell me a long time ago, Yankee. God doesn’t need you. God doesn’t need you. And I thought, man, that just takes and rings it right out of you.

I’m not needed. I’m not needed. He doesn’t need me for anything. I mean, God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth, He doesn’t need me. Then why did He make me? He made me and he saved me and he left me here. Therefore I believe he has something for me to do.” And I believe that. Looked in your notes again. Jeremiah 15, 15 says, Oh Lord, thou knowest, remember me and visit me and revenge me of my persecutors.

Take me not away in thy long suffering. Know that, get this. And this is why he’s pouring out his heart to the Lord. For thy sake, I have suffered rebuke. In other words, you serve the Lord, you’re doing right, but you’ve been rebuked every time you turn around. People are knocking and cutting and criticizing you. But he says, Lord, I did all of that. And I suffered all of this for your sake, for your cause, for your name. Lord, I want you to get him.

God did. He committed him to the Lord. Jeremiah took no vengeance on anybody, but he sure committed them to the Lord, somebody who can do something about it. But look at the next statement. And verse 18 of Jeremiah 15 says, why is my pain, and you’re not on the line these two words, pain perpetual? Have you ever gone through some sickness and illness, and it seemed like it never ends? You’re wondering when is it going to be over all one day?

One day, just be patient, wait. days coming for all of us and it’s going to be over. One of these days just think about this, Larry’s going to be good looking. Isn’t that something to be thankful for? We’re going to have a healthy body. We’re going to look good. Whatever good looking means, whatever that means. My brother will not be suffering from a stroke and leave patterns, suffering from heart problems and breathing problems. He’s had cancer. He’s gone through everything.

poor guy, but Lord has kept walking him through it. And he kept thinking he’s going to die. He’s going to die, but he keeps telling to live and God ain’t taking them yet. But we know that one day he will and he’ll be delivered from all of this pain. But right now it’s like a perpetual pain. Look at the next two words in here. Wound and that word incurable. It’s like the nation of Israel is it was in the eyes of a perpetual paying the Lord, read Isaiah chapter one, the first chapter, gives you an idea from the soul of his foot to the top of their head and he says, you’re sick.

The whole nation, you’re sick, what God says. And your wound is incurable. At that time he says, coming to me and let us reasonably gather to sayeth the Lord. He said, there was a time when something could have been not about it, but they wouldn’t do it. And now it’s too late. It’s too late. Chase the hand of God is coming. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold.

We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing 813-884-4328. That’s 813-884-4328. To listen to today’s message again, or to obtain a free download of any of our Bibleline programs, just go to our homepage at BibleLineMinistries.org and click on the Radio Broadcast link. If you’re in the area, we welcome you to visit us.

The address for Calvary Community Church 4811 George Road, Tampa, Florida, 33634. Our Sunday morning services begin at 1030, and at 6 o’clock on Sunday evening. Live broadcasts of our services may be seen by clicking the Calvary Community Church link at BibleLineMinistries.org. And now, a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friend, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound, and we will be changed. caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon and just keep looking up.