Fortified (Jeremiah 15:20)

Introduction

And the song Wait on the Lord actually would be a perfect message for the person who is the subject of our lesson tonight. And that really was the message to the prophet, who is often styled the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, who was bearing the burden of God’s message to a quite obstinate people who are right for judgment. I think of all the passages we could turn to in Jeremiah that demonstrate the rigors that he had to undergo as God’s prophet. Some of the verses that stand out to me are Jeremiah chapter 15, verses 15 through 21. We’re going to read these few verses together and then come back and make some observations. You who know, O Lord, remember me. Take notice of me. Take vengeance for me on my persecutors.

Do not, in view of your patience, take me away. Know that for your sake I endure reproach. Your words were found, and I ate them. And your words became for me a joy, and the delight of my heart. For I have been called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merry makers, nor did I exult. Because of your hand upon me, I sat alone, for you did fill me with indignation. Why has my pain been perpetual and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed. Will you indeed be to me like a deceptive stream with water that is unreliable?

Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, then I will restore you. Before me, you will stand. And if you extract the precious from the worthless, you will become my spokesman. They, for their part, may turn to you. But as for you must not turn to them. Then I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze. And though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. So I will deliver you from the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem you from the grasp of the violent. There are several things in this text about Jeremiah’s calling and his work that stand out to me. He asked for God to assess the difficulties of his circumstances.

1. Jeremiah's Desperate Appeal

And I don’t know about you in verses 15 through 18. I see a lot of difficulties and a lot of complaints about the things that he is enduring. He calls upon God to avenge those who have persecuted him.

And so this is Jeremiah’s desperate appeal. Those who have mistreated him, the reason for this appeal is because they are enemies of God. They are enemies of righteousness. Remember the cries of the century earlier. You do know the circumstances of Jeremiah, right? This is right before Judah, the last vestige of the nation of Israel. Israel has already been punished by the Assyrians and sent to the four winds. Only Judah is left, but they are about to be destroyed by the Babylonians, and it’s at this time to this completely rebellious people, that Jeremiah gets to be the prophet calling for the people’s hearts to change. And so he is met with a lot of rejection, persecution. We read about some of that in the book. I remember the occasion when he’s thrown into the pit, only to be tended to by Ebon Melech.

If you’ll remember that story. And this is just a little taste of the kind of persecution that he endured. But remember, nearly a century earlier. Even in the days of Isaiah the prophet, a prophet to Israel. He said, Woe to those who call evil good and good evil. Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness, who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. I mean, this was at least a generation or two ago that these problems were surfacing among God’s people. The desire to manipulate God’s standards and call evil good. Later in Isaiah chapter 30. And it’s almost like when you read these verses, it’s like you can’t get any worse than this. Woe to those who call evil good in verse 9 of Isaiah 30.

This is a rebellious people. False sons. They claim to be my offspring, my children, but they are false sons who refuse to listen to the instruction of the Lord. And here’s what they say to the seers these are God’s messengers. You must not see visions. And to the prophets, they say, you must not prophesy to us what is right. We don’t care about God’s standard. And I’ve said often about this passage, I don’t really know that these were the words coming out of their mouths. That they were actually saying, and if they were, then that is really awful. If they were actually saying, now we don’t want to hear what’s right, you know. Please, anything but that. But I think this was the sentiment of their hearts, if not their actual words.

They say, speak to us pleasant words. We don’t want to hear any talk of judgment or God being dissatisfied with us in any way. Speak to us things that make us feel good. Speak to us pleasant words. Prophesy illusion. You know, paint some picture that’s rosy and wonderful and feel good. Get out of the way. You know, there are people that still say that. Remember this morning, Jesus is the way. There are people that are still saying, anything but that. Let’s manufacture a different kind of way that can incorporate the desires that I want to fulfill in my life. Get out of the way, turn aside from the path. Let us hear no more about the holy one of Israel. Perhaps not that they didn’t want to hear anything about God, but a holy God.

2. Your Words Became a Joy; I Sat Alone

They did not want to hear about it. And so I read passages like Isaiah 5 and Isaiah 30, and I’m going, that was before he brought the boom with the Babylonian destruction in the days of Jeremiah. We’ve got this with a turbocharge in the days of Jeremiah. And so he calls for vengeance upon not just his adversaries, but God’s adversaries. But he says this in regard to his calling that I find quite intriguing. He said, But I ate thy words, and they were a joy and a delight to me. How could something that would end up being the source of such tremendous pain in Jeremiah’s circumstances in life? How could he imbibe of those words, eat them, and then him say about them, they are a joy and delight while he is in so much pain.

So I thought about that for a bit. I’ll tell you what God’s word does for us regardless of our circumstances. God’s truth is an anchor for every storm of life.

It was Jeremiah’s anchor. Even though it got him into all kinds of trouble, the covenant people of God are not listening to him, they’re tuning him out. But it was a source of comfort still. It is always, even in the midst of the rejection by the masses, it is the source of deliverance.

It is the message of superior aims and hopes. God has called us into a holy service.

With exalted purposes. Whether men understand or appreciate it or not, but we need to understand that when we embrace this message for our lives and walk in these things and walk in the light as he is in the light, our lives are blessed. Even though our circumstances may not always be ideal, even though others may be little, the moral choices that we make and live by, they are surprised that you do not run to the same excess of riot. Peter says in 1 Peter chapter 4. And they malign you. Have you ever been maligned because of your righteous stance? If you haven’t, you will be. People will make fun of you for not partaking in what they think are the delights of life. But this message, following it in our lives brings us to fellowship with God, and that always trumps everything.

And every lie that the devil is feeding us on a regular basis. Jeremiah affirms his genuine commitment. After he speaks about the delight of God’s words, he says, I have been called by your name, O Lord God of hosts. I did not sit in the circle of merrymakers, nor did I exult because of your hand upon me I sat alone. God doesn’t want us to have fun. Is that what Jeremiah is saying? You know, where there was laughter and happiness, I didn’t go there. I didn’t sit in the circle of the merrymaker. Oh, so if I sign on to serve the Lord and follow his words, there’s never going to be a moment of joy. That’s not consistent with the experience of every Christian and righteous person that has ever lived.

Jesus talked about his joy being made full in the disciples. That’s not the point at all. But if you think about the times that Jeremiah lived in, how could you sit around telling jokes around the fire? When your whole city is about to be set on fire? When the countless mass of people who are your brethren are going to be killed and others are going to be taken off into captivity for 70 years. How can you sit in the circle of merry makers knowing that is coming imminently? Blessed are they who mourn. For they shall be comforted. That’s why it is sometimes better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting, because it is sobering. And we can take it to heart.

While he is true to his commitment, his calling, his holy calling by Jehovah, he is very much alone. There are a few who understand. And then I thought about this statement that he makes about being alone. How often it has been expressed in Scripture. David felt alone. At one occasion in his life, he said, No one cares for my soul. Psalm 142. Might be some hyperbole. I bet he probably had a few family members who still cared for him. But seemingly everything was against him. Everything was working counter to his well being, or so he thought. And then there was Elijah who’s in the cave. I alone am left. Well, that wasn’t true. There were still 7,000 that have not bowed the knee to Baal, but he felt seemingly all alone.

Do you think Jesus felt alone on the cross? When he quoted David, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Another occasion in David’s life where he fell alone sometimes. Human companionship is little solace in our pain. Yes, we are to bear one another’s burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ, but human compassion can only go so far in our hurt and in our pain. And that’s what I take from Jeremiah’s words here. He said, My pain has been perpetual, and my wound incurable, refusing to be healed. You know, this goes on day after day and week after week and month after month, and I am in constant pain. It’s interesting that this phrase, incurable wound, he would apply later to the nation as a whole.

3. If You Return, Then I Will Restore You

Later in Jeremiah chapter 30, the Lord would say to Judah, your wound is incurable, and your injury is serious. Micah would say the same earlier in Micah chapter 1 and verse 9. So this is his circumstance. Take notice of me. But the next three points issue from verse 19 of Jeremiah 15. Therefore, thus says the Lord, you know, after he makes the complaint, you know, are you an unreliable source of water? God responds. Finally, God responds and says, If you return, then I will restore you. The words spoken to Jeremiah are the words of deliverance spoken to everyone who needs to return. Sometimes, like Jeremiah, we find ourselves a little out of kilter spiritually. You ever feel like that? Jeremiah’s a little out of kilter. I sort of get it.

I’ve never, though preaching sometimes can fall on deaf ears, and you can be trying to do your best, and everybody tunes out and is half asleep. You know, and the kids, they seem to have it perfected. I must have just a voice that kids love to sleep through. It’s amazing how many babies go to sleep while I preach. I’ll never forget the mother in Baytown who actually played my sermon tapes when it was time for her kids to get up. That’s not funny. And while it’s not fun to be tuned out on occasion, that’s not anything like what Jeremiah is experiencing here.

Sometimes each of us loses our way a bit. Am I just speaking from personal experience only? Or does that describe you? I think sometimes when we feel that way, when we get, as I mentioned, out of kilter, I like that expression. You know, everything’s just not quite right with us spiritually. My thoughts aren’t as focused as they need to be. I just don’t feel strong spiritually. Perhaps I’m not praying as I was. My zeal for the Lord wanes a bit. I’m really spiritually tired. Perhaps I’m struggling with pain. Distracted by desires. My vision is averted from the goal. But we need to be concerned about one thing. The downtrodden need to be concerned not about the assessments of others, but about returning to the source of restoration.

If you return to me, then I will restore you. And two things flow out of that are extraordinary statements in this message, trying to get Jeremiah back on board. Full bore. He says, if you return, then I will restore you. Before me you will stand. And that’s just an important point to make that it’s not others’ assessment of you that really matters. It’s God’s assessment that ultimately is going to matter, and you need to make certain that you are standing before Him. And then He says, you must extract the precious from the worthless. I think about that word extract makes me think of mining.

4. Extract the Precious From the Worthless

You watch television? Minds explode, people die. It’s what happens in minds. So, I’ve never been one to go into the mines. A little splunking’s not bad. But I didn’t go in there to extract anything. But the idea of taking something like ore out of the earth or oil out of the earth and extracting it. You know, that’s a process. Have you ever extract this sort of a process? And sometimes it’s a very involved process. It’s going to involve some diligence, some work. It’s not just, you know, outflowed oil, and now I’m a millionaire. Well, that’s Beverly Hill Billy. You know, that’s rarely does that happen. I’ve been waiting over there where I live for oil to just boil up to the surface in my backyard. It’s not happened yet.

You know, that doesn’t generally, it happens on the Beverly Hillbillies, but that doesn’t happen generally to most people. Instant millionaire. I mean, you’ve got to do some work. You’ve got to do some things to extract. Do you get where I’m going with this? I mean, extract the precious from the worthless. I will tell you this. This is my concern for our times. 21st century Christians. Our value system is under attack constantly.

One of the things I believe the devil is doing to us is encouraging us to value things that are far less valuable in the whole scheme of things and to devalue those things which are infinitely more valuable. And so we have no interest in or awaiting interest or not sufficient interest in spiritual things. Because we have not learned to extract the precious from the worthless. It’s not that everything that is not precious has no value or benefit. We just need to see the surpassing value of God’s things. Jeremiah in his suffering was struggling to see all that. All he could see was the fact that he was hurting because of his message that he was delivering. Jeremiah, you need to see a bigger picture. We need to see a bigger picture.

In regard to all the things that tantalize and allure us away from what is precious. And I can’t preach something like this without talking about Mary and Martha. In Luke chapter 10, I mean serving, that was urgent. I mean, you know, we have guests, and hospitality meant service, and Mary’s not helping me, Lord. And I get it. Somebody, you know, Jesus could be dying of thirst, and Mary’s doing nothing about it. Sometimes when we have people over to our house, you know, we’re I’m married to Mary. You could perish at our house.

But Mary chose the good part. Serving has its place. Common acts of hospitality are important. But in this particular case, Mary was sitting at the feet of Jesus and soaking it in. She was able to extract the precious from the worthless. Mary has chosen the good part. And that shall not be taken away from her. And when you extract the precious from the worthless, you choose the good part, which will ultimately not be taken away from you. Be aware of that value system that you were taught by religious teachers who taught you the truth of God’s word. Don’t ever manipulate or change or try to alter that system. Respect what God has said. And you will be extracting the precious from the worthless. And the second thing that he says is also interesting.

5. You Must Not Turn to Them

He said it’s not necessarily hopeless. He said, some may turn to you. Now, we’ve got to be careful judging the evangelistic efforts of others. I mean, you can look at Jeremiah’s work. You can go back even further and judge Noah’s work, the preacher of righteousness, and say to them, they didn’t get very good results. And they didn’t convince a lot of people. But that’s not our role in evangelism. God doesn’t charge you or me with conversion. Well, we’re not bringing a lot of people to the Lord. We need to fire the preacher. Well, maybe he does need to be fired. I don’t know. Send him on his way, but I’ve never seen a case where the members were fired. You ever seen one of those? I mean, the members are responsible for evangelism, too.

But then again, what guarantees do we have that we’re going to be successful as we spread the message. We may or may not bring people in unless they have the hearts that are ready to accept the message. We need to do our work. But let’s not be real judgmental about the quality of work that others are doing or the nature of the example that they’re setting or the life that they’re shining. Let’s just be about doing the best that we can to proclaim this great message. They may turn to you, but you must not turn to them. Now, if God is going to say that, he’s not saying these words to the nation as a whole because most of them already done turn. He’s talking to Jeremiah.

And he says, You must not turn to them. I don’t care how strong you are. Or what place you occupy in a local church. The influence of peers is a powerful thing.

6. A Fortified Wall of Bronze

The influence of friends, their value system, can often sway us, especially when we are down, when we are discouraged, when we’re wondering about the choices that we’ve made to serve the Lord. And he tells Jeremiah, you must not turn to them. What a relevant message to all of us. And then this, finally getting to the title of our lesson tonight, he says, if you will extract the precious from the worthless. If you’ll return to me, if you will not turn to them, I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze. And guess what? There ain’t no man that can overcome that. Nobody can defeat my wall of bronze. Boy, now that reminds me of something. Does that not remind you of something that we studied recently in the book of Revelation?

That holy city described in Revelation chapter 21, whose walls were impenetrable. I want to tell you that Jeremiah 15 and verse 20 is saying exactly the same thing that God was saying in Revelation chapter 21 about the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with him, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. And if that’s the case, then nothing’s going to touch it. You’re safe with me. And though they fight against you, they will not prevail over you, for I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. Don’t ever lose sight of the power of a right relationship with God, despite any threat, any adversary, any persecution, any pain that you may experience.

Allow nothing. This is the message. To discourage, to dissuade, to disrupt, to derail, or deter. Is that enough deeds to get it done? Allow nothing to keep you from being his fortified wall.

Conclusion

My message tonight is designed to do what it was designed to do for Jeremiah. To revitalize. Remember, I talked about the fact that we sometimes get a little out of kilter. One of the things that I think sermons ought always to do every Sunday is to aim at revitalization. It doesn’t take a whole week to get out of kilter. Sometimes we walk in these doors and we’re all feeling a little less spiritually than we felt when we left last Sunday night. Or even Wednesday night. One of the reasons why we need these occasions and need messages from God’s Word, like Jeremiah 15, is we need revitalization.

In the midst of our pain, in the midst of our weariness.

She had left that morning because we thought she was working on Thursday, but it didn’t work out that way. But I’m finishing up the meeting on Wednesday night, and they’ve been telling me about this guy who had been coming. He’s an older gentleman. I don’t know exactly how old he is. I would guess, if not in his 80s, he is very close. And they told me in the week, he said, you know, he was coming during Gary Sandusky’s meeting, and Gary would go up to him, Gary Sandusky from Madison and put his arm around him and say, hey, I’m talking to you tonight. I’m talking to you. You know, he sort of struck a relationship with Gary in the last gospel meeting. Well, he was coming every night.

And they said, okay, now he’s he’s coming every night. So that’s a good sign. And so during the invitation on Wednesday night, here he came.

And it was the neatest discussion between me and Walter Simpson. And then one of the elders, Dwight Banta, came down, who’s known Walter a long time and had spiritual discussions with him. And we’re all three standing there in the middle of the aisle having a good discussion during the invitation song. And he’s ready to obey the gospel. And while he was getting ready, another one of the elders, Wayne Kirkendall, called Gary Sandusky on the phone and had Gary talk to him about the decision that he had made. But I just got to tell you, Walter Simpson. Here’s a guy who’s nearing the end of his life who decided I need to rectify my situation.

I need to be saved. And I want to tell you, talk about energizing a church. They were fired up. I was getting text from Wayne after the assembly about how wonderful it was for everybody. As long as there’s life, as long as there’s breath, there’s hope. Is there someone here tonight who needs to be like Walter Simpson?

Who needs to have the courage. He didn’t have the courage the night before, he said. Who needs to have the courage to come to the front of this auditorium tonight and say, I need to serve the Lord. I need to have my sins forgiven by the blood of Christ. I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God and that he died for my sins. Perhaps you’ve done that in the past, but you’re in real need of revitalization. Perhaps I’ve said something tonight that sparks a need in you to appeal to your brothers and sisters for encouragement and strength and help. Let’s stand.