Coachlight Bible Study

The Greatest Faith Builder Is God’s Word – Romans 10:17

Safe Haven

James 1:2 ¶ My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;

James 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

James 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

James 1:5 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

James 1:6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

James 1:7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

James 1:8 A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.

James 1:9 Let the brother of low degree rejoice in that he is exalted:

James 1:10 But the rich, in that he is made low: because as the flower of the grass he shall pass away.

James 1:11 For the sun is no sooner risen with a burning heat, but it withereth the grass, and the flower thereof falleth, and the grace of the fashion of it perisheth: so also shall the rich man fade away in his ways.

James 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

Jeremiah Chapter 17 – Jeremiah Lacked Wisdom For The Trial

A close study of the book of Jeremiah will show beyond any doubt, not only the righteousness of God, but unrighteousness of man’s “wisdom”. Two of the most obvious observations I see in this study is:

(1) God always sends His Word first before He takes any action, and

(2) If a man will esteem the Words of the Righteous God over any other “wisdom” out there, “conventional wisdom or not”, God will provide a safe haven for that individual.

Before God sent Nebuchadnezzar to impose final judgment on Judah, God set up the situation in which God’s Word was available to all concerned. God first sent His servant Daniel into Nebuchadnezzar’s court and the leader of the world empire had his dreams interpreted and came to a saving knowledge of God. God then lifted many inhabitants of Judah into the land of Babylon along with God’s mouthpiece, Ezekiel.

Meanwhile, back in the nation of Judah, God set up a good king, Josiah, This good king sought after God, causing a great reformation by destroying the high places where the people had for many years participated in immorality and the worship of powerless idols. Josiah also took an offering from the people and remodeled the neglected temple where God used to tabernacle with the people. During the remodel, the lost book of the Law was found, As Josiah heard these Words, the good king’s life was changed. He then made a covenant with God and the people, and reinstated the temple worship. An outward revival broke out, but the people’s lives were not inwardly changed. Therefore, when Josiah died, the people backslid farther and farther from God. Four evil kings reigned in Judah, and came against God’s Word until the nation was destroyed completely.

II Chronicles 35: 16 So all the service of the LORD was prepared the same day, to keep the passover, and to offer burnt offerings upon the altar of the LORD, according to the commandment of king Josiah.

II Chronicles 35: 17 And the children of Israel that were present kept the passover at that time, and the feast of unleavened bread seven days.

II Chronicles 35: 18 And there was no passover like to that kept in Israel from the days of Samuel the prophet; neither did all the kings of Israel keep such a passover as Josiah

God is not happy with an outward acknowledgement of Him and empty praise. This caused Jeremiah to say:

Jeremiah 12:2 …. thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins.

In other words, the people were going to the temple and worshipping

God on the Sabbath, but worshipping their idols and conducting their lives according to the dictates of their evil heart during the rest of the week. Does this sound familiar? This is religion, but far from the covenant God gave the Israelites.

During this time and on through the destruction of Jerusalem, God had His mouthpiece, Jeremiah. Jeremiah proclaimed God’s Words coming against the “conventional wisdom” of the day. As judgment day approached, Jeremiah became depressed because of the stiffnecked people. God will answer, but Jeremiah is not capable at this point to formulate the right question to God. The Righteous God will lead His servant, Jeremiah, in situations in which Jeremiah will ask the right question.

Judah’s problem was that they took allegiance to the conventional wisdom of the day, thus rejecting the Word of God.

Judah’s conventional wisdom came from three main voices:

1.) Voice of the False Prophets: Ezekiel 13:3, 10; Jeremiah 27:15

False Prophets deny God’s Word with their message: Jerusalem will not be destroyed

This we would call today a “positive message” But God’s Word stated that Jerusalem would be destroyed, unless the people “returned” to God. (Repentance or agreeing with God’s Word.)

2.) Voice of Contemporary Psychology: Jeremiah 29:29-30; Ezekiel 18:10

Excuses - “Fathers have eaten sour grapes and their children’s teeth are set on edge” – In other words, “Our fathers were idolaters, and that is the reason we practice idolatry.” Today, it is also a denial of individual responsibility. (Example: Blame it on parents, culture, Christians, etc.)

3.) Voice of the Danger of Idolatry – Attribute God’s Power and Majesty to idols. In Judah’s time they tried to appease the moon god, etc., thinking they would have peace. Today, it is appeasing the “living and breathing mother earth.” Evolution is the demonstration of attributing God’s power in Creation to the elements of earth. Somehow it created itself, and eventually evolved into living things. There is no real scientific proof that any Biblical “kind” ever changed into another “kind”; so they just allow millions of years for the impossible to occur. The result, is the denying of God’s Word.

In addition to God’s Word warning the people of Judah against their excuses stemming from their own teaching of popular psychology, and the lying words of the own false prophets, God sent a severe drought. (Jeremiah 14:1-6) Jeremiah did not understand the suffering of his people. Jeremiah’s response was to go to God.

I. Jeremiah’s First Intercession: – What Will Gentiles Think?

Jeremiah 14:7 O LORD, though our iniquities testify against us, do thou it for thy name’s sake: for our backslidings are many; we have sinned against thee.

Jeremiah 14:8 O the hope of Israel, the saviour thereof in time of trouble, why shouldest thou be as a stranger in the land, and as a wayfaring man that turneth aside to tarry for a night?

Jeremiah 14:9 Why shouldest thou be as a man astonied, as a mighty man that cannot save? yet thou, O LORD, art in the midst of us, and we are called by thy name; leave us not.

II. God’s First Response – Judgment because they rejected God’s Word

Jeremiah 14:10 ¶ Thus saith the LORD unto this people, Thus have they loved to wander, they have not refrained their feet, therefore the LORD doth not accept them; he will now remember their iniquity, and visit their sins.

Jeremiah 14:11 Then said the LORD unto me, Pray not for this people for their good.

Jeremiah 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

III. Jeremiah’s 2nd Intercession – It is the fault of the false prophets

Jeremiah 14:13 Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, the prophets say unto them, Ye shall not see the sword, neither shall ye have famine; but I will give you assured peace in this place.

IV. God’s 2^nd Response – I did not send the false prophets

Jeremiah 14:14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false vision and divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.

Jeremiah 14:15 Therefore thus saith the LORD concerning the prophets that prophesy in my name, and I sent them not, yet they say, Sword and famine shall not be in this land; By sword and famine shall those prophets be consumed.

Jeremiah 14:16 And the people to whom they prophesy shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem because of the famine and the sword; and they shall have none to bury them, them, their wives, nor their sons, nor their daughters: for I will pour their wickedness upon them.

V. God’s Message To The People – The heart of the Righteous Judge

Jeremiah 14:17 ¶ Therefore thou shalt say this word unto them; Let mine eyes run down with tears night and day, and let them not cease: for the virgin daughter of my people is broken with a great breach, with a very grievous blow.

Jeremiah 14:18 If I go forth into the field, then behold the slain with the sword! and if I enter into the city, then behold them that are sick with famine! yea, both the prophet and the priest go about into a land that they know not.

VI. Jeremiah’s 3^rd Intercession – Remember Your Covenant

A. Remember Your Covenant

Jeremiah 14:19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!

Jeremiah 14:20 We acknowledge, O LORD, our wickedness, and the iniquity of our fathers: for we have sinned against thee.

Jeremiah 14:21 Do not abhor us, for thy name’s sake, do not disgrace the throne of thy glory: remember, break not thy covenant with us.

B. Acknowledgement that the Creator has complete Power

Jeremiah 14:22 Are there any among the vanities of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heavens give showers? art not thou he, O LORD our God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast made all these things.

VII. God’s 3^rd Response

Jeremiah 15:1 ¶ Then said the LORD unto me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before me, yet my mind could not be toward this people: cast them out of my sight, and let them go forth.

VIII. God’s Word to the Rebellious People

Jeremiah 15:2 And it shall come to pass, if they say unto thee, Whither shall we go forth? then thou shalt tell them, Thus saith the LORD; Such as are for death, to death; and such as are for the sword, to the sword; and such as are for the famine, to the famine; and such as are for the captivity, to the captivity.

Jeremiah 15:3 And I will appoint over them four kinds, saith the LORD: the sword to slay, and the dogs to tear, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the earth, to devour and destroy.

Jeremiah 15:4 And I will cause them to be removed into all kingdoms of the earth, because of Manasseh the son of Hezekiah king of Judah, for that which he did in Jerusalem.

Jeremiah 15:5 For who shall have pity upon thee, O Jerusalem? or who shall bemoan thee? or who shall go aside to ask how thou doest?

Jeremiah 15:6 Thou hast forsaken me, saith the LORD, thou art gone backward: therefore will I stretch out my hand against thee, and destroy thee; I am weary with repenting.

Jeremiah 15:7 And I will fan them with a fan in the gates of the land; I will bereave them of children, I will destroy my people, since they return not from their ways.

Jeremiah 15:8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

Jeremiah 15:9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.

X. Jeremiah Is Depressed – Why Was I Born

Jeremiah 15:10 ¶ Woe is me, my mother, that thou hast borne me a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole earth! I have neither lent on usury, nor men have lent to me on usury; yet every one of them doth curse me.

XI. God’s Encouragement Of Jeremiah

A. Assurance That God Will Shield Jeremiah

Jeremiah 15:11 The LORD said, Verily it shall be well with thy remnant; verily I will cause the enemy to entreat thee well in the time of evil and in the time of affliction.

Jeremiah 15:12 Shall iron break the northern iron and the steel?

B. Notice God’s Use Of The Word “Thy” and “Your”

Jeremiah 15:13 Thy substance and thy treasures will I give to the spoil without price, and that for all thy sins, even in all thy borders.

Jeremiah 15:14 And I will make thee to pass with thine enemies into a land which thou knowest not: for a fire is kindled in mine anger, which shall burn upon you.

XII. Jeremiah Does Not Completely Understand God’s Righteousness

Jeremiah 15:15 ¶ O LORD, thou knowest: remember me, and visit me, and revenge me of my persecutors; take me not away in thy longsuffering: know that for thy sake I have suffered rebuke.

Jeremiah 15:16 Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart: for I am called by thy name, O LORD God of hosts.

Jeremiah 15:17 I sat not in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand: for thou hast filled me with indignation.

Jeremiah 15:18 Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?

XIII. God’s Response– Understand My Righteousness – No More Confusion

A. If You Speak My Word I Will Give You Assurance

Jeremiah 15:19 Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them.

B. If You Speak My Word I Will Protect You

Jeremiah 15:20 And I will make thee unto this people a fenced brasen wall: and they shall fight against thee, but they shall not prevail against thee: for I am with thee to save thee and to deliver thee, saith the LORD.

Jeremiah 15:21 And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.

C. Do Not Have A Family

Jeremiah 16:1 ¶ The word of the LORD came also unto me, saying,

Jeremiah 16:2 Thou shalt not take thee a wife, neither shalt thou have sons or daughters in this place.

Jeremiah 16:3 For thus saith the LORD concerning the sons and concerning the daughters that are born in this place, and concerning their mothers that bare them, and concerning their fathers that begat them in this land;

Jeremiah 16:4 They shall die of grievous deaths; they shall not be lamented; neither shall they be buried; but they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth: and they shall be consumed by the sword, and by famine; and their carcases shall be meat for the fowls of heaven, and for the beasts of the earth.

D. Do Not Mourn For These People

Jeremiah 16:5 For thus saith the LORD, Enter not into the house of mourning, neither go to lament nor bemoan them: for I have taken away my peace from this people, saith the LORD, even lovingkindness and mercies.

Jeremiah 16:6 Both the great and the small shall die in this land: they shall not be buried, neither shall men lament for them, nor cut themselves, nor make themselves bald for them:

Jeremiah 16:7 Neither shall men tear themselves for them in mourning, to comfort them for the dead; neither shall men give them the cup of consolation to drink for their father or for their mother.

E. Do Not Feast With These People

Jeremiah 16:8 Thou shalt not also go into the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat and to drink.

Jeremiah 16:9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will cause to cease out of this place in your eyes, and in your days, the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride.

F. The Question They Will Ask You

Jeremiah 16:10 ¶ And it shall come to pass, when thou shalt shew this people all these words, and they shall say unto thee, Wherefore hath the LORD pronounced all this great evil against us? or what is our iniquity? or what is our sin that we have committed against the LORD our God?

G. God’s Words To Answer Them

1. Because Your Forefathers Reject God

Jeremiah 16:11 Then shalt thou say unto them, Because your fathers have forsaken me, saith the LORD, and have walked after other gods, and have served them, and have worshipped them, and have forsaken me, and have not kept my law;

2. You Have Done Worse

Jeremiah 16:12 And ye have done worse than your fathers; for, behold, ye walk every one after the imagination of his evil heart, that they may not hearken unto me:

3. Therefore Consider Yourself Scattered Over The Earth

Jeremiah 16:13 Therefore will I cast you out of this land into a land that ye know not, neither ye nor your fathers; and there shall ye serve other gods day and night; where I will not shew you favour.

XIV. Understanding Righteousness Brings The Answer

A. No Longer People Teach Deliverance From Egypt

Jeremiah 16:14 ¶ Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that it shall no more be said, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;

B. People Will Celebrate God Bringing Them Back To The Land

Jeremiah 16:15 But, The LORD liveth, that brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north, and from all the lands whither he had driven them: and I will bring them again into their land that I gave unto their fathers.

C. I Will Fish And Hunt Them Out

Jeremiah 16:16 Behold, I will send for many fishers, saith the LORD, and they shall fish them; and after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.

D. The Righteous Judge Sees All

Jeremiah 16:17 For mine eyes are upon all their ways: they are not hid from my face, neither is their iniquity hid from mine eyes.

Jeremiah 16:18 And first I will recompense their iniquity and their sin double; because they have defiled my land, they have filled mine inheritance with the carcases of their detestable and abominable things.

E. Jeremiah Has A Better Understanding Of God’s Righteousness

Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength, and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the Gentiles shall come unto thee from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things wherein there is no profit.

Jeremiah 16:20 Shall a man make gods unto himself, and they are no gods?

F. Reason For Judgment - Judah Will Understand Who God Is

Jeremiah 16:21Therefore, behold, I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know mine hand and my might; and they shall know that my name is The LORD.

XV. Future Generations Will Recall Judah’s Sin

A. Judah’s Sin Indelibly Inscribed In The Heart

Jeremiah 17:1 ¶ The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, and with the point of a diamond: it is graven upon the table of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars;

B. Children Will Remember

Jeremiah 17:2 Whilst their children remember their altars and their groves by the green trees upon the high hills.

C. Judah Scattered

Jeremiah 17:3 O my mountain in the field, I will give thy substance and all thy treasures to the spoil, and thy high places for sin, throughout all thy borders.

Jeremiah 17:4 And thou, even thyself, shalt discontinue from thine heritage that I gave thee; and I will cause thee to serve thine enemies in the land which thou knowest not: for ye have kindled a fire in mine anger, which shall burn for ever.

XVI. Who Is Cursed

Jeremiah 17:5 ¶ Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:6 For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

XVII. Who Is Blessed

Jeremiah 17:7 Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD, and whose hope the LORD is.

Jeremiah 17:8 For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green; and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

XVIII. Your Heart Will Deceive You

Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

XIV. God Tries The Reigns Of The Heart

Jeremiah 17:10 I the LORD search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings.

XV. Though Now The Wicked Prosper NowBut Is Foolish – Jeremiah’s Answer with Ancient Animal Illustration.

Jeremiah 17:11 As the partridge sitteth on eggs, and hatcheth them not; so he that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in the midst of his days, and at his end shall be a fool.

A “partrige”, as it is translated, is from the Hebrew, korea, and from a root, "to call," alluding to its cry”. This name is still applied to this bird by the Arabs. The nest of the “partridge” is constantly in danger, because it is always built on the ground. Often it is stepped on by larger animals or and often robbed.

The translation, "sitteth on eggs which it has not laid, " alludes to the ancient belief that she stole the eggs of other birds and hatched them as her own; and that the young birds when grown left her for the true mother.

XVI. But There Is An Eternal Sactuary For God’s People

Jeremiah 17:12 ¶ A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary.

XVII. Now Jeremiah Understands

Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.

XVIII. No More Confusion – Complete Agreement With God’s Word

Jeremiah 17:14 Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for thou art my praise.

Jeremiah 17:15 Behold, they say unto me, Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.

Jeremiah 17:16 As for me, I have not hastened from being a pastor to follow thee: neither have I desired the woeful day; thou knowest: that which came out of my lips was right before thee.

Jeremiah 17:17 Be not a terror unto me: thou art my hope in the day of evil.

Jeremiah 17:18 Let them be confounded that persecute me, but let not me be confounded: let them be dismayed, but let not me be dismayed: bring upon them the day of evil, and destroy them with double destruction.

Notice that Jeremiah believed God and his emotional attachment to his own people was clowding his mind. What Jeremiah needed was more knowledge of God’s Righteousness.

Notice also that God took time out of His busy schedule as thye Righteous Judge to try Jeremiah leading him down the path that would take away the confusion and realize who God is.

God will do the same for us. God will try us until we understand. A crown will be the reward. Like Jeremiah did, we need to seek God, stay in His Word, and go to Him when we do not understand. We all need a greater knowledge of the Righteous Judge. Just like Jeremiah, we will get it if we aknowledge Him and His Word