Jeremiah 17:15 ESV
“Behold, they say to me,
‘Where is the word of the Lord?
Let it come!’”
Jeremiah was a prophet of God. He spoke the very words of
God to the people. As followers of Jesus Christ, we are to speak the words of
the Lord to the people from the Scriptures, and we are also to give out
messages in practical application of the word of the Lord to our lives, and to our
situations, and to our world today – messages which are of the Spirit of God.
And they should be doctrinally sound messages, too, if of the Spirit of God.
For example, we should be aware of what is being taught in
the church at large in our communities, and in our nations, and in the world – messages
which are being given in the name of Jesus and in the name of the Word of God. And
we should be calling out false teaching, and exposing the fruitless deeds of
darkness, for many people are being captivated by liars and their lies
(deceptions, manipulations, twisting of truth, and half-truth gospels).
And we should be sharing with people the truth of God’s word
in contrast to these lies, because those who follow the lies are not going to
end up in heaven. Many are going to end up in hell on the promise of heaven when
they die, though. So, we are all called of God to be the salt of the earth and
the light of the world and to proclaim the excellencies of God/Jesus who called
us out of the darkness of sin into his light of truth and righteousness.
But when we do share the truth of God’s Word and the truth
of the gospel of our salvation (the whole counsel of God), we should be prepared
to be mocked, to be made fun of, to be attacked verbally, to be called all
sorts of names, to be falsely accused, to be betrayed by those closest to us,
to be rejected, ostracized, ignored, mistreated, “defriended,” “unfollowed,”
and slandered, too. For many people are following the lies and not the truth.
[Rom 12:1-8; 1 Co 12:1-31; Eph 4:1-16; Eph 5:11-21; Col
3:16; Heb 3:13; 1 Pet 2:9; Matt 5:13-16; Matt 28:18-20;
Acts 1:8; Acts 26:18; Jn 15:18-20]
Jeremiah 17:16-17 ESV
“I have not run away from being your shepherd,
nor have I desired the day of sickness.
You know what came out of my lips;
it was before your face.
Be not a terror to me;
you are my refuge in the day of disaster.”
If you read through the books of Prophecy in the Old
Testament, and the four Gospels, and the book of Acts, which tell us about the
apostles’ experiences, and the writings of Paul, you get a pretty good picture
of what the saints who went before us had to endure for their walks of faith in
Jesus Christ/God and for their testimonies for the truth of God’s Word in
speaking the messages of God often to people who did not want to hear them and
who opposed them strongly. And this is what we should expect, too.
We are not popular people. We are largely misunderstood
people who are falsely accused of what we do not do and of what we do not say.
Especially now with the “cheap grace gospel” permeating the church, at least
here in America, those of us who are still holding true to the Scriptures and
to the truth of the gospel are being demonized. And the many who are following
the lies are not happy with us. They largely don’t like us, and they don’t want
to be around us, because they feel judged by us.
But we are to remain true to the word of God and to the
truth of the gospel, and we are to be faithful to the callings we have received
from the Lord, and we are to continue in what God has called us to do in
speaking the truths of his Word to the people, and in exposing the lies so that
those who are being taken captive by the lies might know the truth that can set
them free. And we are to keep doing this no matter how hard it gets or how much
opposition we face or how much we are mocked and/or ignored.
And we are to trust the Lord with our lives, even through
the tears, and even through the loneliness and the isolation, and even through
the rejection and the false accusations against us. And we are to make the Lord
our refuge and our strength in times of trouble. And we must absolutely forgive
everyone who has injured us, who has spoken evil to us or against us, and all
who oppose us and who betray us, etc. We cannot hold on to the hurt. We have to
let it go, and then keep moving forward in God’s strength.
Jeremiah 17:19-20 ESV
“Thus said the Lord to me: ‘Go and stand in the People's Gate, by which the kings of Judah enter and by which they go out, and in all the gates of Jerusalem, and say: “Hear the word of the Lord, you kings of Judah, and all Judah, and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, who enter by these gates.”’”
Do you recall reading about how Jesus was treated by the
rulers in the Temple of God and by the teachers of the Scriptures? And do you
recall how Jesus kept going despite how he was treated? And do you recall how
Paul was often mistreated, and misjudged, and falsely accused, and falsely
imprisoned, and beaten, and left for dead, etc.? And what did he do? He
continued. Sometimes he went right back to where they had nearly killed him and
he kept speaking the truth. John and Peter did, too.
And that is what we must do, too. We can’t run away,
although that may be what we want to do. We can’t escape into a fantasy world
or go another direction and ignore God’s calling on our lives just because it
is not popular, and it is not well accepted, and because we are going to be
hated and mistreated in return. Running away is never the answer! I know! I
tried it before. Not a good idea! Yes, it is painful to be rejected! Yes, it
hurts! Especially when it comes from people close to us. But we must
persevere!!
And people aren’t going to understand. Many won’t get us.
They won’t understand what we are doing and why we are doing it. And they may
come up with all kinds of notions as to why we do what we do. But we have to
stay the course! We have to keep on speaking and not be silent because so many,
many people are listening to and believing the lies and they need to hear the
truth, and be shown the lies for what they are, because their eternity depends
on them knowing and believing and following the truth.
He
Touched My Mouth
An Original Work / June 13, 2012
Based
off Isaiah 6:1-8; Jeremiah 1:4-9
Oh, I saw the Lord seated on His throne,
High and lifted up; Holy is the Lord!
The earth is full of His glory.
“Woe to me,” I cried,
“I’m of unclean lips.”
My Lord touched my mouth
With His cleansing pow’r;
Removed all my guilt, paid for by His blood.
He asked, “Whom shall I send;
Who will go for us?”
I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
Before I was born, God set me apart;
He appointed me to His servant be.
I said, “I don’t know how to speak.
I am but a child.” Then, the Lord replied:
“Do not say to me, ‘I am but a child.’
You must go to all, and do what I say.
Do not fear them, for I’m with you.”
My Lord touched my mouth;
Gave me words to say.
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