Jeremiah 15:10-21 “God is in Control Despite Disappointment”

1:12How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long? Shall my enemy be exalted over me? Although Jeremiah 15, which part of which Cody, Pastor Cody, just read, is sometimes referred to as a confession, it's really, that's a misnomer, since it's neither a confession of sin nor a confession of praise. Instead, Jeremiah 15 resembles a lament psalm like Psalm 13. Lament psalms typically contain elements of a cry to God, a description of suffering, questions to God, a condemnation of enemies, a petition for deliverance, a confession of trust, and a divine response.

2:19While all of Jeremiah's laments do not exactly match this form, there are enough similarities for readers to recognize that the laments of Jeremiah resemble Israel's common liturgical speech of lament. This significance of this shared genre between a lament psalm and Jacob's quote-unquote Jeremiah's quote-unquote confessions can't be more important. First, the prophetic response to suffering, which is raw, honest, intimate lament. Is deemed acceptable worship to God. Second, the prophetic response to evil and injustice is to worship God, even if all you can do is cry and complain.

3:22In this morning's passage, the prophet initiates a dialogue by announcing a complaint in verse 10, to which the Lord responds in verses 11 through 14. Jeremiah approaches God a second time in verses 15 through 18, after which the Lord recalls him to his duty and repeats the promises given to Jeremiah at his original installation, verses 19 through 21. So we're going to divide our text in these four sections: Jeremiah's complaint, God's response, Jeremiah's second complaint, and God's second response.

4:06The central point of our sermon this morning is God is in control and working out his purposes despite his apparent slowness in answering our rejection, loneliness, failure, suffering, and abandonment. Let us look first at Jeremiah's complaint. His complaint centers around his rejection and subsequent dejection. Look at verse 10. Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me, a man of strife and contention to the whole land. I have not lent, nor have I borrowed, yet all of them curse me.

4:59Jeremiah complains to God that his work as a prophet was filled with strife and contention, and it seemed that the whole land was set against him. Jeremiah kind of considered it remarkable that he should be cursed at all by them when he had neither defrauded them by either borrowing or lending to them dishonestly. So, what is Jeremiah thinking here? Jeremiah is trying to work out just what purpose his life is serving in bringing God's word to a people who are neither prepared to respond to it and for whom he's not even allowed to intercede. Remember verses we read before: Jeremiah 7: As for you, do not pray for this people or lift up a cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with me, for I will not hear. You. Jeremiah 11, therefore do not pray for this people, or lift up a cry or a prayer on their behalf, for I will not listen when they call to me in the time of their trouble.

6:14In effect, in this complaint, like Job, Jeremiah is saying, it would have been better had I not even been born. Woe is me, my mother, that you bore me. This complaint is one of Jeremiah's most moving laments. He personally felt the bitterness of rejection when the people failed to respond adequately to what Jeremiah declared to them. He complains of loneliness. Everyone, the whole land, curses him. In effect, he feels like a failure. Jeremiah's rejection, loneliness, and sense of failure results in a feeling of utter dejection.

7:12Brothers and sisters, have you experienced rejection? Have you experienced real loneliness? Have you experienced repetitive failure? Have you taken these complaints to God in prayer like Jeremiah? If you have not, I beg you to do so now. Psalm 34, 18 promises us when we do that that the Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit. Psalm 25, 16, turn to me and be gracious to me, for I am lonely and afflicted. The troubles of my heart are enlarged. Bring me out of my distresses. Consider my affliction and my trouble.

8:17Brothers and sisters, God loves you and wants you to take your struggles, like Jeremiah, directly to him. That's Jeremiah's complaint. God's response to Jeremiah's complaint centers around a reminder and God's intervention. God reminds Jeremiah that he's going to punish, the reminder, punish Judah in verse 12. Can one break iron, iron from the north and bronze? The finest quality iron in the 7th century BC came from the Black Sea region. And it's a reminder that the armaments of Judah would be insufficient to repel the Babylonian armies.

9:08More specifically, the hostility of Jeremiah's opponents would be incapable of frustrating the judgment of God, which has been announced through Jeremiah. Look at verse 13: Your wealth, Judah, and your treasures I will give as spoil without price for all of your sins throughout all of your territory. And as a result, verse 14, I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. And because of God's anger about their sins, for in my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever.

9:50So, in addition to this reminder from God to Jeremiah, God promises Jeremiah that he will intervene on Jeremiah's behalf. In verse 11A, God promised Jeremiah both personally, you, and as a representative of his people, there, that they would not be utterly forsaken in their exile. Have I not set you free for their good? For their good is not specific. It might refer to the outworking of God's overall. Purpose, or it may refer to comfort for Jeremiah personally. But in either case, this statement by God assures the prophet that what is happening in his life is not without meaning. The Lord is in control and working out his purposes for their good.

10:56God also promises Jeremiah that he would intervene on Jeremiah's behalf with the enemy. Look at verse 11b: Have I not pleaded for you before the enemy? This was literally fulfilled when Nebuchadnezzar gave strict instructions to Nebuchar Aden, commander-in-chief, to look after Jeremiah, to do Jeremiah no harm, and to grant Jeremiah any privileges that he asked for when the city was destroyed. And we see that in Jeremiah chapter 39. We'll cover that later in the book. Brothers and sisters, do not miss how God responds to Jeremiah.

11:46God does not chastise Jeremiah. Rather, he promises that he will yet intervene on Jeremiah's behalf. So, what does it mean to you? When you take your experiences of rejection, loneliness, and failure to God, know this from Paul: the Spirit helps in our weakness, for we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. Romans 8:26-27.

12:39God responds to Jeremiah's complaint with a reminder and promises of intervention to Jeremiah's first complaint. Unfortunately, unfortunately, God's response does not prove to be satisfactory to Jeremiah. In Jeremiah's mind, the Lord's reply has given no hint of vindication, nor has it provided any comfort for Jeremiah in his immediate distress. So Jeremiah takes up his complaint again, but he does so in very personal terms. While he accepts the Lord's word of judgment coming upon the impenitent nation, in the meantime, I want to know about my situation.

13:31Now, the second complaint takes the form of a lament. It contains three elements: the petition in verse 15, his argument for deliverance in 16 and 17, and his actual complaint in verse 18. Let's look at the petition in verse 15. O Lord, you know, remember me and visit me, and take vengeance for me on my persecutors. In your forbearance, take me not away. Know that for your sake, I bear reproach. Jeremiah's plea to remember me is not simply to recall who Jeremiah is, but to do so with a view to action. Visit me and take vengeance for me on my persecutors.

14:25And more importantly, Jeremiah wants that action now, immediately. In your forbearance, take me not away. The message is clear. Jeremiah pleads with God to act immediately and decisively on his behalf. Jeremiah justifies this request because of his connection to the Lord. Hey, know that for your sake, I bear reproach. That is the petition. In verses 16 and 17, he puts forth. His argument for the prophet's deliverance. First, Jeremiah declares his great love for God's word. Young people, listen to this verse. I'm going to ask you some questions here in a second. Verse 16: Your words were found, and I ate them, and your words became to me a joy and the delight of my heart. Young people, let me explain verse 16 to you. It is four o'clock on a school day. You have not eaten since lunch. Someone is kind enough to put one of your favorite snacks in front of you: a Snickers, popcorn, a bowl of fruit.

15:49That is, your favorite snack is found. Do you admire it? No. You don't admire it. Do you neglect it? You just leave it there and walk this way. No. What do you do? You eat it. You take it in as food and nourishment. And having eaten it, you go, man, that tasted good. You do. You would want another one. There's joy and delight, adults. The eating of God's word is no different in verse 16. It illustrates that Jeremiah did not only serve as a reliable messenger of God's word, he embodied them. Jeremiah found God's word. He doesn't admire it, he does not neglect it, rather, he eats it. That is, he takes it in as food for the soul, he receives it as refreshment, and it results in Jeremiah, God's Word does, as the joy and delight of his heart.

17:10In the sermon on this passage, Charles Haddon Spurgeon noted that a love of the word of God implies an eager study. You can't have too much of it. He notes that the love of the Word of God implies a cheerful reception. You are so in love with God's Word that you don't merely hold it or rejoice only in it or embrace it, but you receive it into your inner self. He also noted that a love of the Word of God implies an intense belief. You don't say, well, maybe it's true. Maybe it might work out. No, you make practical use of it at once. He also noted that a love of the Word of God implies the diligence. Treasuring up of the truth. When you find God's truth, you delight to meditate upon it, contemplate it, and allow it to work on your life.

18:11This is only Jeremiah's first argument. In verse 16b, Jeremiah secondly argues that he acted in accordance with his commission. For I am called by your name, O Lord, God of hosts. Third, Jeremiah argues that he separated himself from those who did not value or love God's word. Look at verse 17a. I did not sit in the company of revelers, nor did I rejoice. And then fourth, he argues that his separation from the mockers meant that there were times when the prophet sat alone out of obedience, integrity to God's word. Look at verse 17b. I sat alone because your hand was upon me, for you had filled me with indignation.

19:05Whereas Jeremiah approached service to God with an attitude of delight, verse 16. He has only received indignation, anger, and bitterness in return, verse 17. So based on these four arguments, Jeremiah makes his actual complaint in verse 18. Why is my pain unceasing? My wound incurable, refusing to be healed. Will you be like a deceitful brook, like waters that fail? In his complaint, Jeremiah accuses God of unceasing pain and deceit. The prophet assumed that God would support him, that should Jeremiah obey the call to ministry, yet he has experienced nothing but abandonment.

20:05This is a challenge to Jeremiah's faith in God's goodness and power. In his depression and in his self-pity, Jeremiah is wondering if in his own personal crisis, the Lord was no better than the gods of all the nations surrounding him that he so often, Jeremiah so often denounced. Thompson writes, There was a time when Jeremiah thought Yahweh as a fountain of living water in Jeremiah 2:13. But now in chapter 15, God seems to be like waters that have failed. Like a brook that has run dry, so too the promise of God's blessing has come up empty.

20:56How relevant is Jeremiah's second complaint to many of you today? You take your complaints of rejection, loneliness, failure, pain, and abandonment to God, and all you get are promises of future intervention. Like Jeremiah, you find this response totally unsatisfactory. You don't care about the trying of your faith. You don't care about the humbling of your pride. You don't care that God might be glorified in your suffering. You want relief, you want an answer, and you want a fix now.

21:44Listen carefully to God's second response to Jeremiah's second complaint. And this response centers around repentance and recommissioning. Brothers and sisters, as often as the case in Scripture, God answers the prayers of his people with a response that they don't want to hear. The Lord reacts to the prophet's second complaint not with compassion and the assurance of his presence, as might be expected in a lament, but with two words of correction. Look at verse 19a. Therefore, thus says the Lord, if you return, I will restore you. And you shall stand before me.

22:33Jeremiah's accusations and questioning of God's faithfulness was just as wrong as the people of Judah were in their attitude to the Lord. So God, like Judah, is called to repent. If you, Judah, if you return, I will restore you. Jeremiah's ability to fulfill his prophetic office has been compromised by his attitude. And the Lord promises to restore him, bring him back, if he repents. That's the first word of correction. The second word of correction is in verse 19b. God promises Jeremiah that if he utters what is precious and not what is worthless, Jeremiah could continue to be a spokesman for God.

23:31It was important for Jeremiah to remain as the unmovable prophet for God. The people of God could not turn back to God, but Jeremiah must not move from, I mean, the people of God could turn back to God, but Jeremiah must not move from his place to accommodate them. That is, Jeremiah's perseverance is the very vehicle by which the people. Might be won over to repentance. These two words of correction remind Jeremiah not to crumble in the face of adversity, but rather redouble his commitment to his prophetic vocation.

24:19This call to repentance is paired with Jeremiah's recommissioning. Look at verse 20. And I will make you to this people a fortified wall of bronze. They will fight against you, but they shall not prevail over you. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, declares the Lord. If Jeremiah remained steadfast in his position as God's prophet, God would make him strong and unconquerable. God would fulfill his promise, verse 21, to deliver him from the hand of the wicked and to redeem him from the grasp of the ruthless.

25:04God offers Jeremiah no relief from the task of standing steadfast against the sinfulness of the people. Opposition is guaranteed, but so also is the Lord's presence as deliverer. Surrounded as he was by strife and contention, the pressure had become too much for Jeremiah, and he gave way to dejection and spoke. In a manner that was out of line with his commission and office. But challenged by God, he turns back, knowing protection and blessing. And indeed, Jeremiah was recommissioned for the ministry that the Lord had allotted him.

25:51Brothers and sisters, God's response to Jeremiah's second complaint is instructive to us. God had accepted Jeremiah's first complaint, but Jeremiah's subsequent accusation that God was unfaithful, even deceitful, demanded correction. God desires that we take our heartfelt complaints to Him. Just remember that when He chooses not to bring immediate relief to our suffering, we cannot accuse Him of unfaithfulness or deceit. God is in control in working out His purposes despite His apparent slowness in addressing our rejection, loneliness, failure, suffering, and abandonment.

26:50In closing, allow me to answer two questions in the minds of some in this room. There are some in this audience. Who do not know Christ. You understand Jeremiah's complaints, but you're utterly befuddled by God's unwillingness to eliminate Jeremiah's suffering. You have this question in your mind: why would I worship a God who intentionally chooses not to care for his worshipers? Let me give you two short answers to this question. First, this world is not our home. Paul writes in Romans 8, for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. Second, for those who don't know Christ, whatever suffering we endure cannot compare to the suffering Jesus Christ endured for us.

27:55The apostles of the New Testament, believers, listen to this also, never ask why they're being asked to repeatedly suffer. For example, Paul received 39 lashes five times, was beaten by rods three times, pummeled with stones once and shipwrecked three times. But Paul never asked why. And the reason Paul did not ask why is because he knew that Jesus Christ, to those who don't know Christ, Paul knew that Jesus Christ, a man without sin, Was unjustly crucified in order that Paul's sins, our sins, would be paid.

28:40How could Paul compare the why he was suffering to the suffering endured by Jesus when he was separated from his father for our sins? As such, to those who don't know Christ, I would call on you to embrace the gospel. Romans 10:13 states, Whoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. Recognize that you're a sinner, repent of your sin to turn to him in faith. Place your trust in Christ's perfect work on the cross and acknowledge that he is the only way you can ever know God. God wants you to know him. Come to him now.

29:30For those in the audience who profess to be believers, you might be asking a similar question to those who don't know Christ. You're asking the question, Why is God not answering my prayers and relieving me of my current suffering? Tim Keller tells the story of an elder who wrote him a letter. In this letter, the elder state. That he has been an elder for 10 years, a Sunday school teacher for 15 years, a faithful member of the church, 20 years. He states he's been a good husband, a good father, and a good person. He then asks Keller, why is God not answering my prayers?

30:21Keller wrote back to the elder and tells the elder that he, the elder, was approaching God in his own name and not in the name of Jesus. In effect, the elder is stating all of the reasons why God should be listening to the elder. According to Keller, to pray in Jesus' name is to know that God will listen to us as he would his own son. To pray in Jesus' name is to know that God does not see us, but he sees Jesus and regards us as he regards his son. That should give us great confidence when we go to him. But to pray in Jesus' name is also to know that we are like a child. Young children go after what they want, when they want, and how they want. But like a parent who takes a toddler and moves them in a location to protect them, or says, we're going to put a fence in the middle of the morning Or close this door because we know that toddlers want to do what? Run.

31:36Well, the toddler doesn't know any different. The toddler wants to run. But we know, as parents, know something differently. Let me state this differently: to pray in Jesus' name is to know that God will give us whatever we ask if we knew everything that God knows. That should give us great patience. Why is God not answering my prayers and relieving me of my current suffering? We need to confidently pray in Jesus' name, knowing that God loves us as He did Jesus, and patiently pray in Jesus' name, knowing that God will give us whatever we ask if we knew everything that God knows.

32:25Let me close with one final story. This story, young people and old, listen. Horatio Spafford knew something about disappointment. He was a successful attorney and real estate investor who lost a fortune in the great Chicago fire of 1871. At the same time, his beloved four-year-old son dies of scarlet fever. Thinking a vacation would do some good, he sends his wife and four daughters on a ship to England, planning to join them after he finishes some business.

33:15However, while crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship was involved in a terrible collision and sank. While his wife survived, more than 200 people died, including all of Horatio Spafford's four daughters. Instead of rejecting God due to his massive losses, as he jumped the ship to go join his wife in England, and as they passed the location of where the first ship had sunk, he crafted words which he have turned into a hymn that we often sing. And join me. When peace like a river attend, when sorrows like singles roll, whatever my love thou hast taught me to say it is well.

34:31Is well with my soul. Spafford did not say to himself, if God loved me, none of this would have happened. Rather, Spafford knew two things about God's love. First, Spafford looked at the cross and knew that God loved him because Jesus Christ died for him and that on the cross, Jesus Christ was treated the way we were deserved. God made Jesus to be sin who know no sin. But second, Spafford also knew that the Father loved him because God knew what it looked like to lose a child.

35:26Young and old, God is in control and working out his purposes despite his apparent slowness in addressing our rejection, loneliness, failure, suffering, and abandonment. Let us pray. Father, this message. Is so pertinent to so many in this audience. From those who don't know Christ to those who have been walking with Christ for decades. Yet, as great as you are in your sovereignty, and as great as you are in your love and in your faithfulness, we become impatient.

36:32We want relief now. And worse, at times, we challenge and question you whether you really are faithful, whether you really love us, whether you really will fulfill your promises. We thank you that we have the example of Jeremiah. We thank you that we have the example of the apostles who suffered but never asked why. We thank you for believers like Horatio Spafford who were willing to share their pain but to continue to worship you. I pray for every single person in this room who is suffering from rejection, every person in this room who is lonely, who has suffered failure.

37:30Who senses that they have been abandoned. May they embrace the truths that were set forth this morning. That you are in charge. That you love us. That you will intervene. But you may intervene on your timetable and in your choice of manner because you know so much more than we do. We thank you that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for our sins. We thank you that you loved us enough to allow your son, who committed no sin, to be separated from you for our sake.

38:27And we pray this in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to the sermon audio from New Life Baptist Church in College Station, Texas. For more information or to support our ministry, visit us online at newlifecs.net.