Thus saith the LORD; “Go down to the house of the king of Judah, and speak there this word, and say, ‘Hear the word of the LORD, O king of Judah, that sittest upon the throne of David, thou, and thy servants, and thy people that enter in by these gates.’ ” Thus saith the LORD; “Execute ye judgment and righteousness, and deliver the spoiled out of the hand of the oppressor: and do no wrong, do no violence to the stranger, the fatherless, nor the widow, neither shed innocent blood in this place. For if ye do this thing indeed, then shall there enter in by the gates of this house kings sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and on horses, he, and his servants, and his people. But if ye will not hear these words, I swear by Myself,” saith the LORD, “that this house shall become a desolation.”
Jeremiah 22:1-5
Jeremiah
A Burning Fire
O LORD, Thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived: Thou art stronger than I, and hast prevailed: I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me. For since I spake, I cried out, I cried “Violence and spoil;” because the word of the LORD was made a reproach unto me, and a derision, daily. Then I said, “I will not make mention of Him, nor speak any more in His name.” But His word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. “Report, and we will report it.” All my familiars watched for my halting, saying, “Peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him, and we shall take our revenge on him.” But the LORD is with me as a mighty terrible one: therefore my persecutors shall stumble, and they shall not prevail: they shall be greatly ashamed; for they shall not prosper: their everlasting confusion shall never be forgotten. But, O LORD of hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, let me see Thy vengeance on them: for unto Thee have I opened my cause.
Sing unto the LORD, praise ye the LORD: for He hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.
Jeremiah 20:7-13
My Hope In The Day Of Evil
Heal me, O LORD, and I shall be healed; save me, and I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise. Behold, they say unto me, “Where is the word of the LORD? let it come now.” 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. Be not a terror unto me: Thou art my hope in the day of evil. 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.
Jeremiah 17:14-18
Repentance and Return
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. 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, “and I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
Jeremiah 15:19-21
I Sent Them Not
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.’ ” 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. 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. 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.”
Jeremiah 14:13-16
Learn Not The Way Of The Heathen
Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel: Thus saith the LORD, “Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them. For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe. They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not. They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.”
Jeremiah 10:1-5
A Grieving Prophet
When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? Is not her king in her?
“Why have they provoked Me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?”
The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt; I am black; astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead; is there no physician there? Why then is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?…
Jeremiah 8:18-22
God’s Warning Of Judgment On His People
O ye children of Benjamin, gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem, and blow the trumpet in Tekoa, and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem: for evil appeareth out of the north, and great destruction. I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman. The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her; they shall pitch their tents against her round about; they shall feed every one in his place. Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! For the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out. Arise, and let us go by night, and let us destroy her palaces.
Jeremiah 6:1-5
Hope In The Midst Of Judgment
“Turn, O backsliding children,” saith the LORD; “for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days,” saith the LORD, “they shall say no more, ‘The ark of the covenant of the LORD:’ neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.”
Jeremiah 3:14-18
…And They Shall Come
Then the LORD said unto me, “Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land. For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north,” saith the LORD; “and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem, and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah. And I will utter My judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken Me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands…”
Jeremiah 1:14-16
God called a prophet out of the priesthood to warn Judah of God’s coming wrath upon them. The people of Judah; the prophets, priests, kings, and the people had turned their backs to God, and not their face.
Woe be to the people and nation, who call themselves the people of God, and turn their backs to God, and not their face.
Our Righteousness
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and He shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our Righteousness.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
The One Who Made All That Is
He hath made the earth by His power, He hath established the world by His wisdom, and hath stretched out the heaven by His understanding.
When He uttereth His voice, there is a multitude of waters in the heavens; and He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth: He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures.
Every man is brutish by his knowledge; every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. They are vanity, the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.
The Portion of Jacob is not like them; for He is the former of all things: and Israel is the rod of His inheritance: the LORD of hosts is His name.
Jeremiah 51:15-19
The Way Of Man Is Not In Himself
O LORD, I know that the way of man is not in himself: it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing. Pour out Thy fury upon the heathen that know Thee not, and upon the families that call not on Thy name: for they have eaten up Jacob, and devoured him, and consumed him, and have made his habitation desolate.
Jeremiah 10:23-25
Be Ready and Speak All the Commands of God
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them. For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
Jeremiah 1:17-18
…The LORD is good to them that wait for Him…
The LORD is good unto them that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD. It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
He sitteth alone and keepeth silence, because he hath borne it upon him. He putteth his mouth in the dust; if so be there may be hope. He giveth his cheek to him that smiteth him: he is filled full with reproach.
For the Lord will not cast off for ever: but though He cause grief, yet will He have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies. For He doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.
To crush under His feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the right of a man before the face of the Most High, to subvert a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not.
Lamentations 3:25-36
…And they shall not be found…
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will punish the king of Babylon and his land, as I have punished the king of Assyria. And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, and in that time, saith the LORD, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve.
Jeremiah 50:18-20
Fear Not… And Be Not Dismayed
But fear not thou, O My servant Jacob, and be not dismayed, O Israel: for, behold, I will save thee from afar off, and thy seed from the land of their captivity; and Jacob shall return, and be in rest and at ease, and none shall make him afraid.
Fear thou not, O Jacob My servant, saith the LORD: for I am with thee; for I will make a full end of all the nations whither I have driven thee: but I will not make a full end of thee, but correct thee in measure; yet will I not leave thee wholly unpunished.
Jeremiah 46:27-28
…Because you have put your trust in Me…
Now the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah, while he was shut up in the court of the prison, saying,
“Go and speak to Ebedmelech the Ethiopian, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will bring My words upon this city for evil, and not for good; and they shall be accomplished in that day before thee. But I will deliver thee in that day,” saith the LORD: “and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the men of whom thou art afraid. For I will surely deliver thee, and thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey unto thee: because thou hast put thy trust in Me, saith the LORD.”
Jeremiah 39:15-18
The Branch of Righteousness
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah.
In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our Righteousness.
Jeremiah 33:14-16
In Peace You Shall Have Peace
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, unto all that are carried away captives, whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem unto Babylon; Build ye houses, and dwell in them; and plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them; take ye wives, and beget sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that ye may be increased there, and not diminished. And seek the peace of the city whither I have caused you to be carried away captives, and pray unto the LORD for it: for in the peace thereof shall ye have peace.
For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Let not your prophets and your diviners, that be in the midst of you, deceive you, neither hearken to your dreams which ye cause to be dreamed. For they prophesy falsely unto you in My name: I have not sent them, saith the LORD.
Jeremiah 29:4-9
The LORD Shall Roar…
Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them,
“The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter His voice from His holy habitation; He shall mightily roar upon His habitation; He shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword,” saith the LORD.
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, “Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth.”
Jeremiah 25:30-32
Return Now
Now therefore go to, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, “Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return ye now every one from his evil way, and make your ways and your doings good.” And they said, “There is no hope: but we will walk after our own devices, and we will every one do the imagination of his evil heart.”
Jeremiah 18:11-12
A Fenced Brazen Wall
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. 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. And I will deliver thee out of the hand of the wicked, and I will redeem thee out of the hand of the terrible.”
Jeremiah 15:19-21
Turn, O backsliding children…
Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: and I will give you pastors according to Mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding. And it shall come to pass, when ye be multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, saith the LORD, they shall say no more, “The ark of the covenant of the LORD:” neither shall it come to mind: neither shall they remember it; neither shall they visit it; neither shall that be done any more. At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel, and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.
Jeremiah 3:14-18
Can You Hear Me Now?
“Then Zedekiah the king sent, and took him out: and the king asked him secretly in his house, and said, ‘Is there any word from the LORD?’ And Jeremiah said, ‘There is: for, said He, thou shalt be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon.’ ” Jeremiah 37:17
In a day when we should have all kinds of time to hear God we have less time. I guess we feel we always have to be doing something; something other than listening to God. There are many voices to hear – the psychiatrist, the psychologist, stock brokers, advice columnist, medical doctors, senators, congressmen, governors, and you could go on. People listen to all these voices, and fail to hear what God says. We fail to hear because our hearts are not tuned in to God, but are tuned in to the things and goings on of our own ways. Jesus said, “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”, and, “If any man have ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9, 23). He also said, “My mother and my brethren are these which hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21). A lot of people may ask, “Is there a word from God?”, and may have just heard God’s voice the night before through a man of God proclaiming the gospel of Jesus Christ. What do they do with it? They sense a presence, but put it off as just emotions, or their mind playing tricks on them. They hear God’s word, but will not do it.
We are not part of the body of Christ unless we have begun to do the Word, and not just hear it. Zedekiah heard, but did not do. If you will read Jeremiah 38 and 39 you will see the result of his not doing. God’s desire for us is that we hear His Word and do it. If God has at one time spoken to us and we have not did it; He will not speak to us something new until we carry out that Word which has not been done.
God desires for us to live or abide in His Word, but when we get out of His Word we begin to doubt, and fear begins to control our lives. Jesus said, “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32). God always has our best at heart. When we are out of His word we are out of His will, and therefore often we reap what we have sown.
Often people do not understand a message and it is partly because they do not hear. They hear words, but they are not tuned in to what is being said. Jesus said, “Why do ye not understand my speech? Even because ye cannot hear my word”, and in another verse He says, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:43, 47). It is evident that when Jesus used the word “Hear” in these verses He meant to hear was to put into action what He had said.
Is God still speaking today? Do we need to ask? There are people being saved. There are backsliden Christians rededicating their lives to Christ. YES! God is still speaking. We can look in our nation, and the gross immorality, and in it God is saying, “Repent and come back to Me”. We can look at natures pollution and God says, “I left man to care for this planet, but the sin of lust, greed, and godlessness has destroyed her created beauty”. On a more individual level God says, “Do you know why I am not blessing you? Because you did not ‘Go’ as I commissioned you”. “Do you know why you are suffering financially? Because you have not been a good steward with what I have entrusted to your care”. He speaks to all of us through His Spirit whom He sent to be our Comforter, Guide, by His Word. Jesus said of Him, “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak ; and He will show you things to come” (John 16:13). God’s Word is truth. The Holy Spirit guides us, and teaches us God’s Word. He convicts of sin, righteousness, and judgment (See v.8).
In the book of the Revelation our Savior speaks seven times of the Holy Spirit speaking. He said, “He that hath an ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.” The Spirit guiding into truth, and glorifying Jesus Christ.
“Is there a word from the LORD? There is…”. His Word is not bad. It is always for the well being of His children. We may not always understand, but God’s Word never fails. God never breaks a promise. How is God speaking in our day? He speaks first of all through the written Word guiding by His Spirit; secondly, He speaks by the Spirit impressing upon our hearts something we ought to do; thirdly He speaks through circumstances; and finally He speaks through other people, a friend, relative, or even an enemy or stranger. God does have a word for us today. Do you have an ear to hear? WELL LISTEN!
If you are not hearing God speak you need ears to hear Him. You get those ears by His grace. You hear Him as You read the only message He has given to us and that is the Bible.
READ PSALM 81:8-14
The Fire and Hammer 