Aug 17-23-08 I Must Go Tell Someone

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!

We are going to spend time with Jeremiah this morning. We will learn from him and

others how God’s Word, in our case, The Gospel, compels us

to spread the Word.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!Jeremiah 5:14 NET Because of that, the Lord, the God who rules over all, said to me, "Because these people have spoken like this, I will make the words that I put in your mouth like fire. And I will make this

people like wood which the fiery judgments you speak will burn up."


Jeremiah will also bring back memories of other Godly men; Job, Peter, John,

Paul and the other Apostles. What effect did God’s word have on them?

How did others treat them in respect to God’s Word?

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!Jeremiah 20:1 NET

Now Pashhur son of Immer heard Jeremiah prophesy

these things. He was the priest who was chief of security in

the LORD's temple.


2 When he heard Jeremiah's prophecy, he had the prophet

flogged. Then he put him in the stocks which were at the

Upper Gate of Benjamin in the LORD's temple.


3 But the next day Pashhur released Jeremiah from the

stocks. When he did, Jeremiah said to him, "The LORD's

name for you is not 'Pashhur' but 'Terror is Everywhere.'


4 For the LORD says, 'I will make both you and your friends terrified of what will happen to you. You will see all of

them die by the swords of their enemies. I will hand all the people of Judah over to the king of Babylon.


He will carry some of them away into exile in Babylon and he will kill others of them with

the sword. 5 I will hand over all the wealth of this city to their

enemies.


I will hand over to them all the fruits of the labor of the people of this city and all their prized possessions, as well as all the treasures of the kings of Judah.

Their enemies will seize it all as plunder and carry it off to Babylon.


6 You, Pashhur, and all your household will go into exile in Babylon. You will

die there and you will be buried there. The same thing will happen to all your friends to whom you have prophesied

lies.' "


Jeremiah shifts gears between the 6 & 7th verses. He throws himself a grand old “Self-Pity

Party.” In verse 9 he shifts gears again. Let’s see how it

turns out.


7 LORD, you coerced me into being a prophet, and I allowed you to do it. You overcame my resistance and

prevailed over me. Now I have become a constant laughingstock.

Everyone ridicules me.


8 For whenever I prophesy, I must cry out, "Violence and destruction are coming!"

This message from the LORD has made me an object of

continual insults and derision.


9 Sometimes I think, “I will make no mention of his message. I will not

speak as his messenger any more.” But then his message becomes like a fire locked up inside of me, burning in

my heart and soul. I grow weary of trying to hold it in; I cannot contain it.


God’s Word turns the “Self-Pity Party” into a burning desire to broadcast the message. He can’t hold

back, he must tell it!

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!The prophet was in the pits. Literally. Like Poe's fanciful character, he was "sick, sick

unto death." Swamped with disillusionment and drowning in despair,

he cursed the day he was born and wondered why an abortion wasn't

performed, killing him prior to his birth....


An exaggeration? Not hardly. Read the record for yourself. Jeremiah's journal

holds nothing back. Jeremiah 20:14 NET Cursed be the day I was born! May that day not be blessed

when my mother gave birth to me.


15 Cursed be the man who made my father very glad when he brought him the news that a baby boy had been born to him! 16 May that man be like the cities that the LORD destroyed

without showing any mercy.


May he hear a cry of distress in the morning and a battle cry at noon. 17 For he did not kill me before I came from the womb, making my pregnant mother's

womb my grave forever.


18 Why did I ever come forth from my mother's womb? All I experience is

trouble and grief, and I spend my days in shame.

In chapter 20 the chief officer in the temple had him beaten (forty lashes),

then placed in stocks.


That means his feet, hands, and neck were secured in a

torturous device that caused the body to be bent almost

double. That happened after he was beaten!


Why? Had he committed some crime? No. He had simply declared the truth. He had

done what was right—and this is what he got in return. It hurt

him deeply.


On top of all that, sarcastic whisperings swirled about. His once-trusted friends tagged him with a nickname meaning "terror on every side." That also hurt.

He must have felt like a limp rag doll in the mouth of a snarling Doberman....


The man is in anguish. Prophet or not, he is struggling with God's justice, His strange treatment. Deep down he is questioning His presence. "Where is He? Why has Jehovah vanished at a time when I need Him the most?"...


What desperate feelings!And one need not be...doubled over

in stocks and beaten with rods. No, sometimes they come in the

dark, long tunnel of suffering when pain won't go away.


Or when a marriage partner who promised to stay "for better or worse"

breaks that vow. Or when a long-sought-after dream goes up in smoke. Or when we kiss a loved one goodbye

for the last time.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!Not always ... but sometimes (usually

unmuttered and hidden away in the secret vaults of our minds) we question

Jehovah's justice. We ask, "Is He absent today?" ...

At those times I'm tempted to say what the prophet said: I will not remember Him or

speak anymore in His name ...


"That's it! I'm tossing in my collar. No more sermons or devotionals

for this preacher. Secular job here I come!" But right about the time I

start to jump I experience what Jeremiah admitted:


... Then in my heart it becomes like a burning fire shut up in my bones; and I am weary of holding it in, and I cannot endure it.


Directly sent from God is this surge of hope, this cleansing

fire of confidence, this renewed sense of

determination swelling up within me.


And the disillusionment is quietly replaced with His

reassurance as He reminds me of that glorious climax to the hymn I often sing back to

Him in full volume:

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!"All is well, all is well!"

Thank God, it is. Recently, I doubted that—like Jeremiah. But not today. Reassurance

has returned. Divine perspective has provided a fresh breeze of hope in the

pits. I have determined that disillusionment must go. Now... not later.

(From Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life by Charles Swindoll)


Do you ever get so excited about something you’ve just got to go tell

someone, probably a friend, all about it? We have the greatest gift to ever be offered, salvation provided by God

the Father through Jesus, God the Son.


The gift of eternal life is so great we must not, cannot turn our backs on it and walk away.

John 6:67 NET So Jesus said to the twelve, "You don't want to

go away too, do you?"


68 Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal

life. 69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!"


I am always reminded of Isaiah’s stand and willingness to go.

Isaiah 6:8 NET I heard the voice of the sovereign master say, "Whom will I send? Who will go on our behalf?" I answered, "Here I am, send me!"


Peter and John were so excited about the Good News of Jesus it was impossible for them to stop telling others what they

had seen and heard.


Acts 4:17 NET But to keep this matter from spreading any further among the

people, let us warn them to speak no more to anyone in this name.“18 And they called them in and ordered them

not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.


19 But Peter and John replied, "Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you

decide, 20 for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we

have seen and heard."


Read with me the stand and position Peter and the Apostles took in Acts 5.

Acts 5:25 NET But someone came and reported to them, "Look! The men you put in prison are standing in the temple

courts and teaching the people!"


26 Then the commander of the temple guard went with the

officers and brought the apostles without the use of

force (for they were afraid of being stoned by the people).


27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, and the high priest questioned them, 28 saying,

"We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name.


Look, you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's

blood on us!" 29 But Peter and the apostles replied, "We must obey God rather than people.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!The Apostle Paul’s statement in his first letter to the Church in Corinth cuts right to

the point.1 Corinthians 9:16 NET For if I preach the

gospel, I have no reason for boasting, because I am compelled to do this. Woe

to me if I do not preach the gospel!


Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel! I should be miserable and wretched if I

did not preach. My preaching, therefore, in itself considered, cannot be a subject of glorying. I am shut up to it. I am urged to it in every way.


I should be wretched were I not to do it, and were I to seek any other calling. My conscience would reproach me.

My judgment would condemn me. My heart would pain me. I should have no comfort in any other calling; and God

would frown upon me. (Barnes)


In the case of Job the young man Elihu makes a

statement similar to those we’ve read before. Let’s

take a look.


Job 32:17 NET I too will answer my part, I too will explain

what I know. 18 For I am full of words, and the spirit

within me constrains me.


19 Inside I am like wine which has no outlet, like new

wineskins ready to burst! 20 I will speak, so that I may find relief; I will open my lips, so

that I may answer.


The three friends of Job had been silenced. They had not one word more to say. Elihu

says that the reverse was true of him. He was full of words,

and felt constrained to speak.


It was not because he forced himself to do it, nor because he

did it as a mere matter of duty, but he was so impressed with the

subject that it would be a relief for him to give utterance to his views.


The spirit within me - Referring, probably, to the conviction that it was the divine Spirit which urged

him to speak; (Barnes)


How similar to the words of St. Paul! The love of Christ constraineth us. Elihu considered himself under the influence of that Spirit of God which

gives understanding, and felt anxiously concerned for the welfare both of Job

and his friends. (Clarke)


As we wind up this lesson let us spend time with the

Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Church at Corinth.


2 Corinthians 5:11 NET Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we are well known to God,

and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.


12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who take pride in outward

appearance and not in what is in the heart.


13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you. 14 For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have

died.


15 And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for

themselves but for him who died for them and was raised. 16 So then from now on we acknowledge no one from

an outward human point of view.


Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we

do not know him in that way any longer. 17 So then, if anyone is in

Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away — look, what is

new has come!


18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation. 19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,


not counting people's trespasses against them, and he has given us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us.


We plead with you on Christ's behalf, "Be reconciled to God!" 21

God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that

in him we would become the righteousness of God.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!Therefore, because we know - We who are

apostles, and who are appointed to preach the gospel, having the fullest assurance of the terrors of the day of judgment, and of the wrath of God, endeavor to persuade people to be

prepared to meet Him, and to give up their account.


the fear of the Lord - This is, of the Lord Jesus, who will be

seated on the throne of judgment, and who will decide

the destiny of all people,


2 Corinthians 5:10 NET For we must all appear before the judgment seat

of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he

has done while in the body, whether good or evil.


The sense is, knowing how much the Lord is to be feared; what an object of terror and alarm it will be to stand at the judgment-seat; how fearful and

awful will be the consequences of the trial of that day.


The Lord Jesus will be an object of terror and alarm, or it will be a subject inspiring terror and alarm to stand there on that

day, because:

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!(1) He has all power, and is appointed to

execute judgment;(2) Because all must there give a strict

and impartial account of all that they have done;

(3) Because the wrath of God will be shown in the condemnation of the guilty.


It will be a day of awful wailing and alarm when all the living and the dead

shall be arraigned on trial with reference to their eternal destiny; and when countless hosts of the guilty and impenitent shall be thrust down to an

eternal hell.


Who can describe the amazing terror of the scene? Who can fancy the horrors

of the hosts of the guilty and the wretched who shall then hear that their doom is to be fixed forever in a world

of unspeakable woe?


The influence of the knowledge of the terror of

the Lord on the mind of the apostle seems to have been

two-fold;


first, an apprehension of it as a personal concern, and a desire to escape it,

which led him to constant self-denial and toil; secondly, a desire to save

others from being overwhelmed in the wrath of that dreadful day.


we try to persuade people - We endeavor to persuade them to flee

from the wrath to come; to be prepared to stand before the

judgment-seat, and to be suited to enter into heaven. Observe here the

uniqueness of the statement.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!It is not, we drive people; or we endeavor to

alarm people; or we frighten people; or we appeal merely to their fears, but it is, we persuade people, we endeavor to induce

them by all the arts of persuasion and argument to flee from the wrath to come.


The future judgment, and the scenes of future woe, are not proper topics for

mere declamation. To declaim constantly on hell-fire and perdition; to appeal merely to the fears of people, is

not the way in which Paul and the Saviour preached the gospel.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!The knowledge that there would be a judgment, and that the wicked would be sent to hell, was a powerful motive for

Paul to endeavor to “persuade” people to escape from wrath, and was a motive for the Saviour to weep over Jerusalem, and

to lament its folly, and its doom;


But they who fill their sermons with the denunciations of wrath; who

dwell on the words “hell” and “damnation,” for the purpose of

rhetoric or declamation, to round a period, or merely to excite alarm;

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!and who “deal damnation around the land”

as if they rejoiced that people were to be condemned, and in a tone and manner as

if they would be pleased to execute it, have yet to learn the true nature of the

way to win people to God, and the proper effect of those awful truths on the mind.


The true effect is, to produce tenderness, deep feeling, and love; to prompt to the language of persuasion and of tender entreaty; to lead people to weep over dying sinners rather than

to denounce them;


to pray to God to have mercy on them rather than to use the language of severity, or to

assume tones as if they would be pleased to execute the

awful wrath of God.


we are well known to God - The meaning of this is, probably, that God sees that we are

sincere and upright in our aims and purposes. He is

acquainted with our hearts.

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!All our motives are known to him, and he

sees that it is our aim to promote his glory, and to save the souls of people. This is probably said to counteract the charge which might have been brought

against him by some of the disaffected in Corinth, that he was influenced by

improper motives and aims.


To meet this, Paul says, that God knew that he was endeavoring to

save souls, and that he was driven by a sincere desire to

rescue them from the impending terrors of the day of judgment.


I hope… - And I trust also you are convinced of our

integrity and uprightness of aim. The same sentiment is expressed in other words;


2 Corinthians 4:2 NET But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not

behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend

ourselves to everyone's conscience before God.


It is an appeal which he makes to them, and the expression of

an earnest and confident assurance that they knew and felt that his aim was upright,

and his purpose sincere. (Barnes)

Are we excited about the eternal life provided through Jesus, our Lord? Can you hold it in or do you have to

tell someone?



Can you imagine the urgency felt by those who saw Jesus in the flesh? Don’t you know they wanted to start telling people the Good News as soon as

Jesus said His parting words?

I Must Go Tell Someone!I Must Go Tell Someone!Matthew 28:19 NET Therefore go and make

disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the

end of the age."


Are we just Sunday morning Christians? Being a Christian is a minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, year by year,

LIFETIME way of living. We are on the job 24/7!

Aug 17-23-08 I Must Go Tell Someone

Spiritual

Transcript of Aug 17-23-08 I Must Go Tell Someone