We live in a day and age that worships success. Everybody wants to be successful. I'm no different. In fact, yesterday I was browsing YouTube and I listened to a good 10 minutes of a Jim Rohn seminar on how to be successful at work. So I'm not throwing stones here.
This extends to the ministry too. Most pastors want to have a successful ministry. Most churches want to be a successful church.
But what if God called you to something that no human would look at and call a success? What if your entire ministry was to give bad news to people that didn't want to hear it and hated you for saying it? That's exactly what God called the prophet Jeremiah to.
Jeremiah is who we're going to be talking about for the next several weeks as we continue in our stories of the Bible.
Jeremiah was not a success from an earthly standpoint. He didn't pastor a large church. He didn't have a large following. People weren't lining up to buy his books. But he was successful in that he obeyed God, and God honored him, and God vindicated his message.
Look with me at Jeremiah chapter 1. We're going to sample the high points tonight — not every verse. The goal is just to get an overview of what's going on in this man's life. We'll go into more detail in the weeks to come.
Here's where we're headed. Five things about Jeremiah:
- His call — how God put him into this work
- His times — the collapsing world he preached into
- His message — the soft clay and the smashed pot
- His pain — what that kind of ministry cost him
- His vindication — how God proved him right, and the hope on the other side
1. Jeremiah's Call
Look at verses 4 through 10:
[4] Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,
[5] Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
[6] Then said I, Ah, Lord God! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
[7] But the Lord said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
[8] Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.
[9] Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
[10] See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Jeremiah 1:4-10 (KJV)
And then God gives him a picture of his message — verses 13 and 14:
[13] And the word of the Lord came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
[14] Then the Lord said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
Jeremiah 1:13-14 (KJV)
Jeremiah is a really young man when God calls him. He's probably 16, 17, maybe in his early 20s. His father was a priest from Anathoth. He was from a priestly family, called during the days of Josiah — the same season as the reforms. Godly background, upper crust of Judean society, bright future — until the Lord appeared to him with this call.
Notice a couple things about his call.
First: God called him before he was even born. Verse 5 — before he was formed in the belly, God knew him, set him apart, and ordained him a prophet. God has a plan for people's lives before the foundation of the world. The greatest thing we can do is find God's purpose for us and do it.
Second: it was a reluctant calling. Jeremiah didn't want this. He said he couldn't speak well. And God brushed that aside: No — this is what I've called you to do. Folks, if God calls you to something, don't make excuses. He can equip you for it.
Third: it wasn't a positive call. No sweet, soothing message. God shows him a seething pot — a giant boiling cauldron, mouth toward the north, about to pour out. Judgment from the north. Babylon. Coming to destroy Judah, take the people captive for seventy years. Imagine being a young man told by God that terrible things are about to happen to your country — and it's your job to tell people that, and no one wants to hear it. That's Jeremiah's call.
2. Jeremiah's Times
Jeremiah was born during the reign of Josiah — a high point for Judah, a high point of revival. But it's going to go downhill very, very quickly.
Here's the big picture, and I'm not going to bury you in names. About a hundred years earlier, Assyria had wiped out the northern kingdom. By Jeremiah's day, Assyria is fading and Babylon is rising. Egypt marches north to prop up Assyria. Josiah goes out to stop the Egyptians — and it costs him his life.
After Josiah dies, the country falls apart. His sons undo the good he did almost overnight. One lasts three months before Pharaoh drags him off and installs a puppet king — even renames him. That king, Jehoiakim, is a disaster. Then Babylon shows up, hits Judah hard, and hauls off the best and brightest — including Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. Kings come and go in a blur. Nebuchadnezzar puts another son of Josiah on the throne and renames him too: Zedekiah. Another puppet with a new name.
Think about how humiliating that is. Hey, I'm Ryan. No you're not. Your name is Silly Head. Two foreign kings do that to two sons of Josiah. Judah is not in a strong spot.
And all of this is Jeremiah's lifetime. He starts under Josiah, in revival. He has to watch it all come undone — from revival, to Egypt's puppet, to Babylon's chokehold. That was the world he had to preach into.
3. Jeremiah's Message
Turn with me to Jeremiah 18. This is kind of the central message of Jeremiah. Verses 1 through 8:
[1] The word which came to Jeremiah from the Lord, saying,
[2] Arise, and go down to the potter's house, and there I will cause thee to hear my words.
[3] Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought a work on the wheels.
[4] And the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter: so he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
[5] Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying,
[6] O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the Lord. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.
[7] At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, and to pull down, and to destroy it;
[8] If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them.
Jeremiah 18:1-8 (KJV)
Jeremiah watches a potter on the wheel. Wet clay. Spinning. Shaped into a cup or a bowl. Sometimes the potter messes up — easy to do — and he takes that clay, throws it down, and starts over.
That's the message of chapter 18: God is the potter. Israel is the clay. As long as the clay is soft on the wheel, the potter can remake it. God can pluck up and destroy — or build and plant. And there's hope: if a nation turns from its evil, God will relent. Soft clay can still be reshaped. There's still a chance to start over.
But look at chapter 19. Just the heart of it — verses 1 and 2, then 10 and 11:
[1] Thus saith the Lord, Go and get a potter's earthen bottle, and take of the ancients of the people, and of the ancients of the priests;
[2] And go forth unto the valley of the son of Hinnom, which is by the entry of the east gate, and proclaim there the words that I shall tell thee,
Jeremiah 19:1-2 (KJV)
[10] Then shalt thou break the bottle in the sight of the men that go with thee,
[11] And shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Even so will I break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again: and they shall bury them in Tophet, till there be no place to bury.
Jeremiah 19:10-11 (KJV)
Notice the difference. Chapter 18: soft clay on the wheel — still workable, still able to be remade. Chapter 19: an earthen bottle. That's not soft clay. That's a finished pot. Already fired. Hard. And when you smash a fired pot, you don't start over. It cannot be made whole again.
God sends him to Tophet — the old place of child sacrifice outside the city — to smash that pot in front of the leaders and say: this is what God is going to do to Jerusalem. You've hardened your necks. You won't listen.
Chapter 18 still had an open door: turn, and God will relent. Chapter 19 is past that. It's too late to start over. The pot is hard. The judgment is set. Smash.
So that's the central message. God's bringing judgment, and you deserve it. Not "God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life." You're going to be like this broken pot — and you deserve it. And of course nobody wanted to hear that. After he breaks the pot, a priest puts him in the stocks. People wanted to shut him up.
4. Jeremiah's Pain
After he breaks the pot outside Jerusalem, a temple official named Pashur arrests him and puts him in the stocks outside the gate. You know the wooden frame — head and arms stuck, can't move. That's what they did to Jeremiah for preaching God's word. And when Pashur lets him out the next day, Jeremiah tells him God has renamed him Magor-missabib — terror on every side. His life is going to be a terror from here on out.
But I want you to feel what this ministry cost Jeremiah on the inside. Look at chapter 20 starting in verse 7:
[7] 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.
[8] 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.
[9] 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.
[10] For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side. Report, say they, 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.
Jeremiah 20:7-10 (KJV)
Here's what I want you to understand about Jeremiah's ministry. This was not easy for him. This was not enjoyable for him. He's crying to God here, and he's like, "God, you tricked me. You overpowered me. Why are you making me do this? I'm not going to preach for you anymore."
And then he says, "But God's word is like a fire in my bones." He tried to shut up. He couldn't. He was weary with holding it in — and he had to speak.
And look at verse 10. As he's preaching, people are hoping he falls. Even people who know him — "familiars" — watching for him to slip so they can take their revenge. Just a terrible heavy burden to bear.
It gets even darker. Look at verses 14 and 15:
[14] Cursed be the day wherein I was born: let not the day wherein my mother bare me be blessed.
[15] Cursed be the man who brought tidings to my father, saying, A man child is born unto thee; making him very glad.
Jeremiah 20:14-15 (KJV)
That is really dark. Really dark stuff. This is a man who was faithful — and it almost crushed him.
5. Jeremiah's vindication
Jeremiah was this extremely unpopular preacher. Message no one wanted to hear. Not a success by any earthly metric — but a success by this heavenly metric: he was faithful to God.
Do you know why we are reading Jeremiah tonight? Because he was vindicated. Everything he said was going to happen happened. Every warning the Judeans ignored came true. On the other side of exile, in Babylon, people had to say: that Jeremiah guy was speaking for God.
And just like he said, a king named Cyrus — of the kingdom after Babylon — let the Judeans come back and rebuild Jerusalem.
And do you know what else Jeremiah said would come true? Look at chapter 31:
[31] Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
[33] But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
[34] And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Jeremiah 31:31, 33-34 (KJV)
It wasn't all bad news. Jeremiah had to say God would break them like a pot. Hard hearts end in a smash. But God also let him look past the broken pot — a new covenant. Written on the heart. "I will remember their sin no more."
That's a picture of Christ. Jesus institutes that new covenant: "This cup is the new testament in my blood." The hope on the other side of the smash is not that judgment was a joke. The hope is that God still rebuilds — through Jesus.
And Jeremiah was given the greatest honor anyone could ask for. When people saw Christ — how he wept over Jerusalem, how he carried a hard word to a hard people — do you know who they compared Jesus to? Jeremiah. Matthew 16: some said John the Baptist, some Elijah, and some Jeremiah. The weeping prophet. The faithful prophet. The man who told the truth when nobody wanted it. That is a high honor.
So let me bring this home.
We started talking about success. Jeremiah fails every earthly definition. Hard message. Stocks. Mockery. Days he wished he'd never been born. And yet he is the one God used. History proved him right. His hope still points to Christ.
Two things I want you to take with you.
First: faithfulness is success. If God has given you a hard assignment, don't measure it by applause. Measure it by obedience. Jeremiah was not popular. He was faithful. And God vindicated him.
Second: stay soft clay. Judah got to the fired pot that can only be smashed. You don't have to. As long as the clay is soft, the Potter can remake you. Don't harden your neck. If the Spirit is pressing on you tonight — turn while the clay is still soft. And if you feel broken — not hard and proud, but broken — bring that to Jesus. He is the mediator of the new covenant Jeremiah saw from a distance. He forgives. He remakes.
Jeremiah's story is dark. But it is not hopeless. The pot was smashed. And still, God said: Behold, the days come… I will make a new covenant. Those days have come. They came in Christ. And that is very good news.
