Text: Jeremiah 26:8-15

Have you ever compared yourself to the prophet Jeremiah? Perhaps not since he is a prophet called directly God and we are simply Christians called to faith through our baptisms and the Word of God. And yet, there are similarities between us. We might not be threatened with death for proclaiming God’s Word like Jeremiah was but we still face opposition. We are made to feel like outcasts when we speak about ways that God’s Word disagrees with mainstream society. We are made to feel dumb if God’s Word disagrees with our teachers and professors. Jeremiah was nervous about sharing God’s Word. There were even times that he was upset with God because of the opposition he was facing. We too have those same kinds of feelings when it comes to sharing God’s Word. As we look at Jeremiah today, I encourage you to Be Like Jeremiah. Just like him, don’t be afraid to speak God’s truth. Also, be strengthened by the gospel to have a fearless attitude.

Part 1: Don’t be afraid to speak God’s truth

The prophet Jeremiah was used to facing opposition. God had told him at the beginning of his ministry that he was going to be proclaiming a message of judgment. God even encouraged him to not be afraid of those who would oppose him. God would be his strength and his salvation. Even though Jeremiah spoke the message that was directly from God, he was giving the people a message that they did not want to hear. They did not like being told that they were unrepentant sinners who were going to be judged by God for their disobedience. They would rather listen to the false prophets who were telling them exactly what they wanted to hear.

The false prophets were saying that everything was fine and the God was a loving God who would not punish them for their actions. They were contradicting the message that Jeremiah was proclaiming. In chapter 23, God told Jeremiah to say this, “I am against the prophets who wag their own tongues and yet declare, ‘The Lord declares’” (Jeremiah 23:31). Those false prophets claimed that their message was from God but really they were just giving their own ideas. These prophets had deceived the people but God knew the motives of their hearts. No one can escape from God. Jeremiah 23:24 says, “‘Can anyone hide in secret places so that I cannot see him?’ declares the Lord. ‘Do not I fill heaven and earth?’ declares the Lord.”

The people at the temple thought that they were serving God but God knew that they were actually unrepentant sinners who needed to hear the message of judgment. Listen again to the response of the prophets, priests and people who were at the temple. They said, “You must die! Why do you prophesy in the Lord’s name that this house will be like Shiloh and this city will be desolate and deserted?” (Jeremiah 26:8-9). These false prophets and priests did not want to hear it. Essentially they said, “How dare you tell us that we are sinful and that this temple will be destroyed? Who do you think you are to judge us?” Think about how ridiculous it is to question a true prophet of God.

Jeremiah was just the messenger. He wasn’t the judge. God is the judge and he is completely justified in dealing with sin by punishing the sinners. These people had a problem not with Jeremiah but rather with God. But since they could not do anything to God, they wanted to kill Jeremiah. When the officials arrived, the priests, prophets and people said, “This man should be sentenced to death because he has prophesied against this city. You have heard it with your own ears!” (Jeremiah 26:11). They were so angry about the truth of God’s Word that they wanted to kill Jeremiah.

In spite of the opposition he was facing, Jeremiah knew how important it was to stick to the truth of God’s Word. Jeremiah knew that he could have lived a comfortable life by telling people exactly what they wanted to hear. However, he also knew that God would know if Jeremiah was preaching something other than the truth. God expects faithfulness from those who have been entrusted with his Word. Jeremiah recorded this message from God, “Let the one who has my word speak it faithfully” (Jeremiah 23:28). Jeremiah continued to speak the Word faithfully even though his life was threatened many times.

Speaking God’s truth means that we are going to have to tell people what they don’t want to hear. When we look at the events of scripture and even other people in history, we see that those who faithfully share God’s Word are often met with persecution. Think about Jesus. He was put to death because the Jewish religious leaders hated the fact that Jesus condemned their false teaching and their hypocritical actions. The same thing happened to the Apostle Paul. He was imprisoned because he spoke the truth. Even think about Martin Luther. His life was one struggle after another simply because he wanted to take the church back to the truths of the Gospel.

We need to be willing to share the truth even if it means that we are going to face persecution from the people we are speaking with. Do we let fear control us? Do we give in to that temptation to remain silent rather than speak the truth? Or worse yet, do we act like the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day and tell people that everything is fine even when they are living in sin? The devil tries to manipulate us into remaining silent about the truths of God’s commands. It is taking the easy road when we purposely avoid talking to others about their sin. However it is also the road which shows a lack of concern about that person’s eternal salvation.

Also think about how you react when someone confronts you about your sin. A fellow Christian who cares about us speaks to us about a sin and what is the knee jerk reaction. “How dare you? How dare you bring that up? Who are you to speak to me about this?” Is that really how a repentant heart should react? Are we trying to defend our sin? If you think about it, an unrepentant heart is one that would get angry and refuse to be corrected for sin. Does our sinful pride and arrogance lead us to cling to our sins and lash out at someone who tries to correct us? If we have sinned, we ought to accept that with all humility and seek to reform our ways.

We have to admit that there have been those times that we have been afraid to speak the truths of God’s Word. There have even been those times in which our sinful pride and arrogance prevented us from wanting to listen to the law. For those times in which sin got the best of us, we need our Lord’s gospel of forgiveness. Only with that gospel in our hearts can we truly have a fearless attitude.

Part 2: The Gospel gives us a fearless attitude

Look at Jeremiah’s response to the anger of the crowd. He says, “As for me, I am in your hands; do with me whatever you think is good and right. Be assured, however, that if you put me to death, you will bring the guilt of innocent blood on yourselves and on this city and on those who live in it, for in truth the Lord has sent me to you to speak all these words in your hearing” (Jeremiah 26:14-15) Jeremiah is ready to accept whatever they want to do to him. He knows that he is speaking the truth. He knows it because he has the message of forgiveness.

He talked about the attitude faith in verse 13. There it says, “Now reform your ways and your actions and obey the Lord your God. Then the Lord will relent and not bring the disaster he has pronounced against you.” The heart of faith wants to turn from wicked ways and actions. The heart of faith wants to obey the Lord even though it knows that it will still sin at times. If the people had truly trusted in God, they would have repented of their sins and listened to God. Then God would have turned from that plan to punish them with the Babylonian captivity.

Jeremiah knew what it meant to be forgiven. In the midst of his prophecies about destruction, he also prophesied about the coming Messiah. Jeremiah talked about how the Savior would deliver his people and would give them righteousness. Jeremiah reveals how amazing that forgiveness will be. He wrote this message from God, “For I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more” (Jeremiah 31:34). It is amazing that when God forgives us through Christ, he doesn’t remember our sins any more. The God who knows all things, forgets about our sins. That is incredible.

Talk about forgiving and forgetting. That is something that only our God can do. Wouldn’t it be nice if we really could forget about the ways that people have sinned against us? Our sinful nature usually won’t let us truly forget. Once someone sins against us, we put our guard up and find it difficult to trust again. But God forgets our sins in Christ. God sees us as perfect because of Christ. Because of the cross he remembers our sins no more. That is the kind of forgiveness that Jeremiah understood and that is why he was able to fearlessly speak to his people about their sins.

When we are strengthened by that forgiveness, we are able to go out and speak to others about sin. First of all, we listen to the rebuke of God’s law when it comes to our own sins. The heart of faith doesn’t get defensive but rather it humbly listens to what the law says. If someone accuses us falsely, we calmly and respectfully correct them. If someone accurately points out our sin, we accept their rebuke and ask for their forgiveness. In sorrow we turn to the cross and see what Christ has done for us.

Trusting in our forgiveness, we do rebuke others. We do so because we are concerned about them. We don’t want them to perish. We want them to repent and trust in Christ. It is all about love. Jeremiah put up with a lot of difficulty because he truly did love his fellow Israelites. We understand that some people may be upset with us for speaking the truth. Regardless, we keep on speaking that truth. With Christ’s forgiveness in our hearts, we speak the message fearlessly.

Conclusion

Jeremiah is a very interesting prophet. His ministry was very similar to our lives today. He was speaking before a time of judgment and today we are speaking before Judgment Day. Jeremiah had a sense of urgency because he knew that the people could perish in battle or in captivity. We too have a sense of urgency as we live in this time before the last day. Go out and speak the truth. Have an attitude like Jeremiah. Take those fears you might have and submit them to the cross. Through the forgiveness of the cross, we are able to share our faith. Help others to see the joy of forgiveness.