JEREMIAH 112009 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 11

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2009.

Well, this evening we're in Jeremiah chapter 11, we're continuing our study in the book of Jeremiah and continuing to see this message by, we label him often as the weeping prophet because he accurately represents the heart of God and that his heart is broken. He is weeping over the state of the nation of Judah.

The nation of Judah has been in hardcore rebellion against God. They've been running from God, rebelling against Him, and yet at the same time still going through the motions as if they were right with God, but in their lives and in their homes and in their cities and in their leisure times, they were worshipping other gods and they were devoting themselves to other gods and not to the Lord of Lords and King of Kings entirely.

God has one rightful place in our life. It's not, you know, high on the top ten list. It's not second place. It's not fifth place. There's one rightful place for God in our lives. And that is the first place. The place of preeminence.

He requires, He desires, the only place that God belongs in your life is first and foremost, that He be the most important person in our life. That He be the most important piece of our lives. That our relationship with Him comes before everything else and nothing else.

comes in between us and that relationship. That's the place that He belongs. He is to be our number one passion. That there's nothing that we're more excited about than the God that we love and serve. He's to be our number one priority. There's nothing more important. There's nothing more urgent. There's nothing more pressing than that we continue to walk with our Lord and Savior. This is the place that God requires us

This is the place that we need to put Him in our lives. And this is what the nation of Judah was not doing. They were going to the temple. They were going through the motions. They were offering the sacrifices. They were on the outward fulfilling the law, the old covenant that God had set in place.

But beyond that, beyond the temple, then they were filling their lives with other idols and other gods and worshipping these gods and serving them and bowing down to them, committing to them and serving them. And they, by doing so, had betrayed God and broken the covenant that He had made with them.

And so Jeremiah here in chapter 11 is dealing with this. God is speaking to Jeremiah. You see this dialogue that goes back and forth between the Lord and Jeremiah about the people and what God is instructing Jeremiah to share with the nation of Judah who is in this wretched state. Jeremiah chapter 11 says,

The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,

Verse 1.

And I answered and said, so be it, Lord. Here God is giving some instruction to Jeremiah. He says, Jeremiah, here's what I want you to do. Go to the men of Judah. Go to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. I have a message that I want you to proclaim. I have a message that I want you to speak to the inhabitants of the nation of Judah, to those who are in this state.

And right away, we see some really good and encouraging news. God does not quickly give up on us.

The nation of Judah did not just wake up this day that Jeremiah was hearing from the Lord and all of a sudden they just stumbled a little bit or they decided, well, we're going to serve these other gods. This had been a long time rebellion against God. Several hundred years of turning farther and farther away from God. The nation was going farther and farther into idolatry.

and getting worse and worse in their sin and rebellion against God. And yet God is still sending Jeremiah to deliver this message. God does not give up on us quickly.

He is patient with us. He is incredibly patient with us. He is so patient with us that even when we rebel against Him, even when we turn, even when we stumble, even when we fall, He does not give up. But He continues to send His messengers to us. And He continues to reach out to us and give us opportunities to repent. And so here Jeremiah is sent to the nation of Judah.

God says, I want you to go and deliver this message. What's the message? What is it that God wants to speak to the nation of Judah and to those who are in rebellion against Him? Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant. God sends Jeremiah to deliver a message about the covenant. Now the covenant that God had made with the nation of Israel was back then

In the days of their forefathers. God had made a covenant with them as they were heading into the land. You can read about it in Deuteronomy chapter 27 through 30. Moses recounts it for us. As they're heading into the land, God says, listen, if you will obey me, if you'll listen to me, if you'll walk with me,

I'm going to give you this land. It's going to be a land flowing with milk and honey. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to meet your needs. I'm going to be your God and you're going to be my people. It was a covenant that God made with his people. Now, a covenant is a solemn agreement that is binding on all parties. This is what we would call it like a contract agreement.

Perhaps agreement, but it's a very formal or not a loose agreement that, well, yeah, if you don't hold up your end, then that's okay, not a big deal. This is something that is serious. This covenant is binding. And each side is going to fulfill their end or else.

Now covenants, contracts, agreements, they're subject to the terms of the one who has the resources. So if you are going to be looking to purchase a vehicle, you're going to probably enter into a covenant. You're going to enter into a contract.

And the contract is going to be on the terms of the one who's giving you the money in order to purchase the vehicle. The contract you enter into is because they have the resources, they've got the money, and you say, "Okay, I'm going to get this money from you and they'll give you the terms. Okay, we'll give you this money, but here's what you're going to do. You're going to pay this interest rate and you're going to pay every month and you're going to pay it for this long, this duration."

And then in that agreement, in that covenant is also outlined, if you do not pay, if you fail to pay, well, here are the consequences for that. You're familiar with that idea or that type of concept with a contract or covenant or agreement.

When you sign up for a cell phone, you're wanting to use their resources, their wireless network. You're wanting to use the resources that they have established, the network that they have set up. And so you enter into a contract for the most part, unless you can find the ones that are not based on contract. But you enter and you say, okay, I'm going to use your resource, your network, and I'm

They say, okay, great, you're going to use our network and then you're going to pay us this amount and you're going to be down to this for the next two years and so on and so forth. And there's these things that each side needs to fulfill and it's basically up to the person who is providing the resource to set whatever terms they want. And so they can set the price, they can set the interest rate, they can set the duration, they can set everything because they're the one with the resources.

So here we have God. He has infinite resources. He's the creator of the universe. He is the one who can give us eternal life. He is the one who can give us and grant to us relationship with Him. The contract that He establishes, well, it's on His terms. We don't get to negotiate it. We don't get to say, well...

I think it should be done this way. He's the one with the resources. And so God says, I'm going to be your God. You're going to be my people. This is a big deal. I'm going to be with you. I'm going to protect you. I'm going to provide for you. I'm going to have relationship with you. I'm going to give you a land that's flowing with milk and honey, nation of Israel. And this is the covenant I'm giving to you. Now your side of the covenant is that you would obey me, that you would follow my voice, that you'll keep my commands, that you'll walk with me.

In the same way with you and I, we live under the new covenant, but it's the same concept. God is the one who is able to give eternal life. He is the one who is able to give us a new heart, to transform us into a new creation. He's the one who's able to invite us into His presence, and we can find really what we're searching for and what our heart is longing for in a relationship with Him. He has all the cards, so He sets the terms.

The covenant that we are under, the new covenant, is not based upon keeping laws and things like that, but it's based upon faith, believing in Jesus Christ. Now, as we talked about a couple of weeks ago on Easter Sunday, believing is not simply, you know, an intellectual understanding, but it's making Jesus Christ our Lord and our God, our Master and our God, the one that we worship. This is

is putting Him in His rightful place in our life. That's our end of the bargain. We put Jesus in His rightful place in our life as Master and God. And He grants to us, to as many as believed in Him, to them He gave the power to be called sons of God or children of God. He grants to us eternal life. He grants to us entrance into the family of God, relationship with Him.

Everything that we need, everything that we're searching for, it's found in this covenant. Well, God had made a covenant with the nation of Judah. And God says to Jeremiah, here's what I want you to do. Go to the people. Go to the nation of Judah. Go to Jerusalem and remind them of this covenant. Remind them of their part in the covenant to obey me, to hear my voice, to walk with me. Remind them of the blessings of the covenant. I'll be their God. They'll be my people.

I'll provide for them this land. And Jeremiah, remind them of the consequences of breaking this covenant. Cursed is the man who does not obey the words of this covenant. Going on in verse 6, it says, Then the Lord said to me, Proclaim all these words in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem, saying, Hear the words of this covenant and do them.

Verse 8. Verse 8.

So we find now the nation of Judah, well, they're in breach of contract. They've broken the covenant. God tells Jeremiah, go to the cities, go to the streets, tell people about their situation. Tell them to hear the words of the covenant and do them. Again, God is giving them opportunity to turn. He's giving them opportunity once again because of his infinite patience.

Because he's not quick to give up on us, he's giving them another opportunity. Jeremiah, go tell them. Remind them of this covenant. He says in verse 7, I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them out of the land of Egypt. Rising early and exhorting, saying, obey my voice. God says, look, go let them know. Remind them. God has been earnestly exhorting. He is very serious about his covenant.

Again, this is a solemn agreement. This is something that is serious. He has everything that we need and everything that we're looking for. He sets the terms and it's important that we keep those terms. He wants us to keep those terms, to believe in Him, for Him to have the rightful place in our life, that He be our Lord and our God. He earnestly exhorts us. He says, listen, this is what's best for you.

He sends prophets like Jeremiah to remind us, you need to put me in my rightful place in your life. This is what's best for you. This is what God desires. And yet we find in verse 8, they did not obey. It says they did not incline their ear. They didn't kind of perk up and say, huh, what, what? They said, eh, doesn't matter. They followed the dictates of their own evil hearts.

They said, we don't really care what you have to say or what you want to say or what you want. God, we want to do what we want to do. We're going to follow our own hearts. This is what I think is right. This is the way that I want to live my life. And this is what makes me feel good. And so God says, because they did this,

This is the way that they responded. I earnestly exhorted them. I told them from the beginning. I reminded them. I sent them late notices. Hey, you're really way past due. Okay, 60 days past due. 90 days past due now. You're really falling behind and you're not keeping your end. And they continued to follow the dictates of their own heart. They continued to say, we're going to do what we want to do. And so God says, I'm going to bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, which they have not done.

God is saying, the things that I said would happen if they turned against me, I'm going to bring all those things upon them. The curses of the law, they're in Deuteronomy 27-30. The curses that God promised. Listen, if you follow me, God says, you're going to be blessed. You're going to be blessed in the field. You're going to be blessed in your homes. You're going to be blessed in the cities and the country. You're going to be blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed, blessed. You're going to be blessed, God says, if you follow me. If you turn from me,

He reverses it. You're going to be cursed. You're not going to be blessed. And so God says, listen, you've not done the words of the covenant. So I am going to do the words of the covenant. I am going to apply the penalties for breach of contract. Verse 9.

And the Lord said to me, A conspiracy has been found among the men of Judah and among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. They have turned back to the iniquities of their forefathers who refused to hear my words, and they have gone after other gods to serve them. The house of Israel and the house of Judah have broken my covenant, which I made with their fathers. Again, we see that the nation of Judah is in breach of contract. They've broken the covenant. And God says, Look, this covenant,

is a conspiracy. It's not a conspiracy theory, but it's a conspiracy. The word literally means treason. This is a treason. This is a betrayal. This is disloyalty. They have betrayed God by serving other gods. They've betrayed God, much like Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. They've turned. It's treason. It's treason.

To turn from God and to worship other gods, it's a betrayal, it's a treason. God says it's conspiracy. They've gone and they've served other gods. They've continued in their iniquities. They've worshipped these other gods and have broken this covenant that I made with their fathers. For you and I, the covenant that we are under, the covenant that we have with God, it's the new covenant. Our part is to believe.

In Jesus Christ. To make him our Lord and our God. For him to be our master. Our object of worship. The one that we're devoted to. And it's treason. It's not some light, you know, oh, not a big deal. You know, you can have kind of other devotions in your life. Other little gods. And it's not that it's a little thing and not that big of a deal. It's treason. It's treacherous treason.

When Jesus is not your master and your God. When he does not have absolute authority in your life, it's treason. When you are not fully submitted to him, it's treason. When you refuse to surrender certain areas or parts of your life, it's treason. When Jesus is not your master and God, it's treason for us to betray God, to turn from him and to remove him from his rightful place in our hearts and in our lives.

Verse 11, Therefore, thus says the Lord, Behold, I will surely bring calamity on them, which they will not be able to escape, and though they cry out to me, I will not listen to them. Then the cities of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem will go and cry out to the gods to whom they offer incense, but they will not save them at all from the time of their trouble. For according to the number of your cities were your gods, O Judah.

And according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem, you have set up altars to that shameful thing, altars to burn incense to Baal. So do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them, for I will not hear them in that time or in the time that they cry out to me because of their trouble.

So in the beginning we saw God is speaking to Jeremiah. He says, Jeremiah, go and proclaim this to the nation. Proclaim this to the people. He's giving them an opportunity. God does not give up on us quickly. But we also need to know they are coming to the point where God says, I'm going to bring calamity and then they're going to cry out to me, but I am not going to listen.

Again, when we're talking about a covenant, we're talking about serious business. This is not just playing around. This is not just, well, it'll all work out wonderfully in the end. We need to take this seriously. The covenants that God makes, He keeps. You know, we like to remember that God keeps His promises.

And that is awesome. And there's some incredibly wonderful promises that we don't deserve that God has made and we can rest our hope in them. We can rest assured they're going to come to pass. He's going to fulfill them. There's wonderful promises that we have. But don't forget to include the other side of the coin, which means also the promises that God makes when it comes to

are breaking a relationship with Him, or running from Him, or living in a sinful condition, or turning from Him, those promises are just as reliable, just as faithful, just as true, and you can count on them. They will be fulfilled. God's promises are true. His covenant will be kept. Which side will you be on is really the question. He's already done His part, and His part will be fulfilled.

But here the nation of Judah has come to the point that God says, Jeremiah, you're going. In essence, this is their last chance. Because I'm going to bring upon them calamity. Why? Well, because that's what God said when He made the covenant with them. If you obey me, you're going to be blessed. You're going to be blessed, Israel. Things are going to be taken care of for you. And you're going to have an abundant crop and

Your enemies are going to flee from you when it's just one of you chasing them. There's incredible promises that God had given to the nation of Israel if they would obey Him, if they would put Him in His rightful place in their life. In the same way, there's incredible promises that God has given to us. And if we will put Him in His rightful place in our life, if we will believe in Jesus Christ, make Him our Lord and our Master, make Him our God, there's incredible promises.

One that we often remind each other of is that all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. There's the Master and God portion of it. For those who believe in Jesus Christ, for those who have Him as their Master and their God, there's this incredible promise that all things work together for good, that nothing is in vain, that nothing is for evil, that everything will be beneficial in the end. Everything. Everything.

will be beneficial in the end to those who love God and are called according to His purpose. That's an incredible promise. There's many more promises under this new covenant that God has given for us, that God has established for us. But at the same time, we need to understand the other side of the covenant is just as true. And God says, calamity, I'm bringing calamity upon them because they have broken my covenant. They're in breach of contract. They've refused to put me in my rightful place.

And instead what they've done is they've begun to serve many, many gods. And so God says in that day of calamity, I'm not going to hear, I'm not going to listen, they're going to cry out, I'm not going to pay attention. I'm going to tell them, go to those gods that you've been serving and let them save you. Let them save you. You've been worshipping them. You've been devoting yourself to them. You've been serving them. Let them take care of you.

They were devoted to many, many gods. He says, as the number of the cities in the nation of Judah. It wasn't just, you know, one or two, but there was a multitude of gods that they were worshipping and were devoted to. As many as the streets that were in Jerusalem. Now, when we talk about idolatry, we often, you know, fast forward it to today and we say today, you know, idolatry, we don't typically bow before idols.

statues or things like that, but we relate then idolatry as anything that takes God's rightful place in our life. And that is absolutely true. An idol can be anything that takes the place of God in our life. Anything that we're devoted to above God, anything that we're passionate about more than God, anything that takes that place where God belongs in our heart. But you know, it doesn't have to be one thing.

The nation of Judah was worshiping many, many gods. And collectively, these many, many gods took the rightful place of God. It doesn't have to be... You might think and look at your life and say, well, there's not just one dominant thing that is more important than God. But I think it's an interesting challenge. Is there a lot of little gods that add up to one great rebellion against God? It might not just be

your work or your career but perhaps it's your career and as well as your family as well as football as well as the TV shows that you devoted to and and collectively all those things are are in that place that belongs to God they take the place of your primary passion your wholehearted devotion where he ceases to be your master your Lord and your God the nation of Judah they they would go to the temple

And so we can't immediately disqualify ourselves and say, well, no, of course, I'm right with God and He's in the rightful place because I go to church. Well, the nation of Judah was going to church. And we might say, well, there's not one big thing. You can look at my life and there's all these different things. There's not one big thing that really takes the place of God. Well, the nation of Judah was the same way. It wasn't just one God that they turned from God and they were devoted to one other God. But there was many gods.

And they would worship a little bit here and a little bit there and a little bit there and go down the street into the neighbor's house and worship there. And this street, you know, well, we're going to worship on this street today and a couple streets over tomorrow. And they were worshiping all of these different places, all of these different gods. And it turned against God and rebelled against God. And so God tells them, calamity is coming and you're going to cry out, but I'm not going to respond. Let your God save you.

And so there comes a point where we insist for so long, these are going to be our gods. And these are going to be in this important place of our lives. And these are going to be what matters to us. And these are going to be what we're passionate about and devoted to. That God lets us have those gods so that we can see that they're deficient, that they are not able to save, that they're completely bankrupt. But it takes calamity. God tells Jeremiah, don't even pray for them.

I'm not going to hear the prayer. The only way that they'll learn that these are not gods is by this calamity that will come upon them. God is keeping His end of the covenant, the contract. But they've broken the contract. They're in breach of contract. They've refused to put God in His rightful place. And so God says, here comes the calamity that they would learn that they're gods, that they're worshipping, that they insist on being devoted to, cannot save them and cannot help them.

But what a hard way to learn. Does God have his rightful place in your life? Are you keeping the covenant? The new covenant? The covenant of faith? The covenant where the work is completed. Jesus took care of it at the cross. It's not about works, but it's about making him your Lord and your God. Does he have this rightful place? Is there full surrender in your life to him? Are you completely submitted to him?

Not that we're perfect. Not that we're meant to be perfect. But that even when we blow it, then we're submitted to Him. And we confess it to Him. We agree with Him. We deal with it. We continue to walk with Him. Is He your Lord? Is He your Master? Does what God says go in your life? Lord, whatever you say, that's what I do. What you tell me, what you instruct me, that's what I follow. What you command me to stay away from, that's what I stay away from. What you say in your word, that's what I live.

Is He your Master? Is He your God? Your passion, your priority? Do you praise Him? Do you worship Him? Are you in love with Him? Are you devoted to Him? Do you live your life as an offering to Him? Lord, let this activity that I'm doing, let this event that I'm participating in, let this decision that I'm making bring glory to your name. Is your life devoted to Him? That's God's rightful place in your life.

It's God's rightful place in my life. It's where He belongs. And the nation of Judah had abandoned their part of the covenant. They've removed God. They've included God in their life, but not in His rightful place. And that is a severe crime. It's treason. We can't pat ourselves on the back and say, well, you know, hey, at least you're still going to church. Or at least you're still reading your Bible. Or at least I'm still praying. We can't congratulate ourselves on, you know,

Having these other gods, but still worshiping the true and living God. No, it's treason. It's treacherous. It's severe. And we must take it seriously. Look at what God says in verse 15. What has my beloved to do in my house? Having done lewd deeds with many. And the holy flesh has passed from you. When you do evil, then you rejoice. The Lord called your name, green olive tree, lovely and of good fruit.

with the noise of a great tumult. He has kindled fire on it, and its branches are broken. For the Lord of hosts who planted you has pronounced doom against you for the evil of the house of Israel and for the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger and offering incense to Baal. Notice what he says there at the beginning of verse 15. He says, What has my beloved to do in my house? First of all,

What does God call them? My beloved. In all of this, God has not ceased to love the nation of Judah. Even though they're in rebellion against Him, even though they're turning from Him and worshipping these other gods, even though they've given that rightful place to other things in their life, they're still His beloved. He still loves them dearly and passionately. But He says, what do they have to do in My house? What right do they have in My house? He says, look, they've done lewd deeds with many people.

They filled themselves with iniquity. Holiness, that's a thing of the past. He says it's passed from you. And it's when you do evil that you rejoice. No longer do you rejoice to worship me and to be obedient to me. No longer inscribed upon you, you know, is it holiness unto the Lord? Instead, you rejoice over evil. You rejoice in doing evil and walking in what I've commanded you not to. At one time,

You were named, you know, a green olive tree. You were lovely and you had good fruit. But now with a great noise, God has kindled a fire. The branches are broken. God has pronounced doom upon this nation. Calamity. He still loves them. They're still his beloved. That hasn't changed. But they've refused. They've refused to obey him and hear his voice.

And notice what he says there at the end of verse 17. The reason why he's pronouncing doom, he says, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves. They've done it against themselves. Sin is destructive. Rebellion against God, ignoring God's word, ignoring God's commands. It's destructive. It destroys your life. It's against yourself.

that this destruction takes place. We destroy our lives with sin, and in our rebellion, we bring upon ourselves the judgment of God. It's twofold against us. He says, look, it's because of these things that you've done against yourselves to provoke me to anger. God gets angry. It provokes Him to wrath when we destroy ourselves because we're His beloved. Have you ever been in a situation where you've had to watch someone that you love dearly

hurt themselves and harm themselves and destroy areas or all of their life. You know what that's like? That's what it's like for God to watch us destroy our lives in rebellion against Him. It provokes Him to wrath. He wants us to be blessed. He wants us to experience the abundant life that He promised. I'm not talking material things, but I'm talking about the torrents of living water that will quench our thirst.

The one who will give us peace and joy. The one who will satisfy our souls. Not even to mention the rest for the rest of eternity. That's what He desires for us. That's what He wants for us. We're His beloved. He loves us dearly. He wants what's best for us. And so He's told us, this is what you need to do. This is so that you will experience my best. You'll experience the fullness of what I have for you and want to do in your life.

Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Make Him your Master and your God. Make Him your passion. More than anything else, devote yourself to Him more than anything else. Be completely sold out for Him. Obedient to Him. Submitted and surrendered to Him because this is what's best for you. And to turn from that, to disregard that, to do anything otherwise, it provokes God to wrath because He can see clearly

As He's watching us destroy our very lives and throw away many blessings that He has intended for us, that we bring upon ourselves the judgment of God because we refuse to give Him His rightful place in our life. It provokes Him to wrath. Oh, it angers God. Again, this is a serious covenant. This is not some light, fluffy thing, you know, we kind of...

handshake on it and if you fall short a little bit or if I fall short a little bit, you know, it'll all wash out in the end. It'll be okay. This is serious. His part of the covenant is already kept. What he has promised for us, it's done. It's accomplished. He completed the work. The nation of Judah, they disregarded the covenant of God. Yeah, it wasn't so important to them that they keep their end of the bargain.

Not such a big deal for them if they give God the rightful place in their lives. It was okay. As long as they still went to church, as long as they still kept Him as a part of their life, well, then He didn't have to be all-consuming in their life. It just had to be a part of their life. And then they could also go on and practice these other things and do these other things. And it was okay with them. Yeah, it's okay. We still love God. People say that all the time. Oh, I love God.

But you know, I just have to do this and I have to do that and I have to live this way. I know God's real and I love Him, but I'm going to follow the dictates of my own heart. This is what I think is right. I need to do what I feel, people say. And we may take it lightly, but God takes it seriously. And His covenant will be fulfilled, both sides. Those who believe, everlasting life, abundant life, incredible, joyful, wonderful life. Those who do not believe, they experience the judgment of God.

This is serious. This is the covenant that God has made. This is the covenant. He holds all the cards. The terms are His. We don't get a choice in the matter. We don't get to negotiate. We don't get to say, well, God, what if I just give you like 50% instead of 100%? How about 75, Lord? That's a pretty good... I mean, most of my life is devoted to You. Mostly I'm submitted to You. Mostly I'm obedient to You. That's way better than this person next to me even. I think I'm doing pretty well.

God says, I require it all. You need to die to yourself. Deny yourself. Take up your cross and you follow me with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. That's how we're to love God. That's how we're to follow God. That's his rightful place. He requires nothing less. He will receive nothing less. Nothing less is sufficient. We need to be fully surrendered to the Lord. He needs to be our God. As we go on through the rest of the chapter, now Jeremiah changes subjects a little bit.

Verse 18, it says, Now the Lord gave me knowledge of it, and I know it, for you showed me their doings. But I was like a docile lamb brought to the slaughter, and I did not know that they had devised schemes against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be remembered no more. Here Jeremiah begins now as...

He and God are talking back and forth and God's given him instruction to go and deliver this message. But it's not going to be well received. The people are not going to be excited about it. In fact, the people are plotting. Jeremiah says, I didn't know, but God showed me. God gave me the warning. He gave me the heads up. And they're planning to put me to death. He says, I was like a lamb brought to the slaughter. I didn't even know that they had these plans and these schemes against me saying, hey, let's put him to death. Let's kill him.

But God showed me. I didn't know. It wasn't, you know, I cleverly found out or my spies told me, but the Lord just, he showed me. He gave me the insight. Jeremiah here, he's like, look, I was naive and innocent, but God was protecting me. He gave me the warning. And then in verse 20, but O Lord of hosts, you who judge righteously, testing the mind and the heart, let me see your vengeance on them. For to you, I have revealed my cause.

God says...

Jeremiah, these guys, they're out to get you. They're plotting, they're scheming, they're planning. They're telling you, don't prophesy in the name of the Lord. Stop proclaiming the word of God. Stop proclaiming what God has said. Stop telling us about judgment. Stop warning us about Babylon. Stop telling us that we're in breach of contract. Stop telling us, Jeremiah. If you keep telling us, we're going to put you to death. Jeremiah says, Lord,

I'm doing what you said. I'm in your hands. You're the one who showed me this. You're the one who's told me this. So, Lord, you take care of it. You deal with this. And God says, okay, I'm going to take care of it. You see an incredible contrast here in the life of Jeremiah and the nation of Judah. God's bringing great calamity on Judah because they refused to give him his rightful place. God's protecting Jeremiah from calamity.

Because he's given God his rightful place. God protects his children. He protects his followers. He takes care of us. Jesus told us in Matthew chapter 6 not to worry. Not to worry about what? Don't worry about what you're going to eat. Don't worry about what you're going to wear. Don't worry about how you're going to live or how you're going to survive. God knows you need all those things. What do you need to do? Seek first the kingdom of God. What do you need to do? Put God in his rightful place in your life. You don't have to worry about those things.

You do not have to worry about those things. I don't know if you've ever been in a situation where you've had to worry about those things. Maybe you're in a situation right now. You know the burden that that is. The burden of, what am I going to eat? How am I going to eat? What am I going to do? What am I going to wear? Where am I going to stay? How am I going to survive? The burden of trying to provide for yourself and meet all those things. It is overwhelming. The release of that burden.

seeking first the kingdom of God, His righteousness, and all those other things will be added unto you. That's huge. It's like having all of creation taken off your shoulders. It's huge. God says, I will take care of you. You put me in my rightful place in your life. I'll take care of you. I'll meet your needs. I'll satisfy you. I'll fill you. I'll overflow you. I'll bless you with eternity.

And that's a whole other topic. That's a whole other series of... Well, it's going to take us the rest of eternity to figure out all that God has in store for us. But even in the meantime, God says, I'm going to take care of you. I'm going to protect you. Just like you protected Jeremiah. All things are going to work together for good. You can cast all your cares upon Him because He cares for you. Listen, when you give God His rightful place in your life...

The benefits are mind-blowing. They're out of this world. And you can believe Him and trust Him because His covenant is fulfilled. He will not fail. His promises will be completed. They will come to pass. It is going to happen. It is guaranteed. The advantages of putting God in His rightful place in your life are even more than we're able to comprehend. And that's why God says, give me that position. Make me your Lord and your God.

Because I want you to experience those blessings. And I want you to experience that my yoke is easy and my burden is light so that you're not crushed by the overwhelming burdens of this life. I want you to be filled with the Spirit and I want torrents of living water to burst forth from you that I'm doing such a work in your life that you cannot even contain it and that everybody else around you sees that I'm doing a work and is touched and touched

experience the splashes of living water that just come because it's gushing out of your life. I want other people, it's going to gush forth front. Not only are you going to be overwhelmed, but they're going to be drowned in it. They're going to be overwhelmed by the work of God. God says, look, I want to do such a good work in you, you wouldn't even believe it if I told you. That's why He wants us to give Him a rightful place. See, we get all twisted and we let the enemy mess us up and the world convince us, you know,

If you really devote yourself to God, if you really surrender to Him, man, you're missing out. And the world holds before us shiny lights and these things to try to seduce us, to convince us that God's out to rip us off. And God says, I'm not out to rip you off. I'm going to take care of you. Seek first the kingdom of God. I'll keep my end of the bargain. I'll do what I said. I'll do what I promised. It's going to happen. Put me in my rightful place in your life.

And he also says, but if you don't, if you refuse, you can't be half-hearted about it. I don't accept, you know, 80% or 90% or even 99%. You need to be fully surrendered to me. If you're not fully surrendered to me, it's treason. It's betrayal. It's treachery. And it puts us in a very dangerous position. The other side of the agreement, the other side of the covenant is also true and it's guaranteed. When Moses...

Standing before the people and he presented to them the covenant that God presented. The one that Jeremiah is referencing here in Deuteronomy. Moses says, I've set before you life and death. Choose life that you may live. That's what God has set before us in this covenant. That's what God is reminding us of this evening. He set before us life and death. It's not, well, maybe one's better than the other. It's quite clear. Choose life. Give God your all.

Commit yourself to Him. Surrender fully to Him. Turn from sin. Flee from it. Run from it with all your heart. Give God your whole passion, your whole devotion. Seek first the kingdom of God. The worship team is going to come up and lead us in some worship. And as they do, take this time. If there's areas of your life that are out of sync with what God has said, get them right. Right now. Don't wait. Don't delay. Now's the time.

You want to experience the fullness of what God has for you? Give Him His rightful place. Let's take this time to make Him our Lord and our God. To worship Him, to obey Him, to surrender to Him, to be submitted to Him. Let's choose life and experience the fullness, the abundant, overwhelming life that God has in store for us. Amen? Let's worship the Lord together.

We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.