LESSON 1- A PLACE IN HIS PLAN (JEREMIAH 1 AND 2)

INTRODUCTION: THIS WEEK WE BEGIN A NEW QUARTER AND THE STUDY OF TWO NEW BOOKS: FIRST JEREMIAH AND LATER LAMENTATIONS. LET ME TELL GIVE YOU A LITTLE BACKGROUND TO THIS BOOK AND THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. DURING THE YEARS OF KING DAVID AND SOLOMON, ISRAEL WAS AT ITS ZENITH.

I. TIME PERIOD:

1. AFTER SOLOMON'S DEATH, ISRAEL SPLIT INTO THE NORTHERN KINGDOM (ISRAEL) AND THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM (JUDAH)

2. ISRAEL CONTINUED TO EXIST FOR ABOUT ANOTHER 200 YEARS WHEN IT FELL TO THE ASSYRIANS.

3. THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM OF JUDAH EXISTED FOR ANOTHER 450 YEARS UNTIL IT FELL TO THE BABYLONIANS. AND SOLOMON'S TEMPLE WAS DESTROYED.

4. THIS IS WHERE OUR NEW FRIEND JEREMIAH COMES IN. JEREMIAH PROPHECIED DURING THE LAST 40 YEARS OF JUDAH: THE TIME BEFORE AND JUST AFTER THE FALL.

5. YOU REMEMBER THAT TWO QUARTERS AGO WE STUDIED EZRA, NEHEMIAH AND ZERUBBABEL? AFTER 70 YEARS OF CAPTIVITY FOR MOST OF THE LEADING CITIZENS, MANY OF THE JEWS RETURNED TO JUDAH AND REBUILT THE TEMPLE AND THE CITY WALL UNDER GREAT DIFFICULTIES. AND THAT WAS WHAT WE STUDIED THEN. THAT TEMPLE EXISTED UNTIL THE TIME OF JESUS. AND WAS DESTROYED AFTER HIS DEATH BY THE ROMANS AND NEVER AGAIN REBUILT.

6. SO THE TIME WE ARE LOOKING AT IS JUST BEFORE THE FIRST CAPTIVITY OF JUDAH AND THE FIRST DESTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE.

II. MENTAL ATTITUDE

A. YOU REMEMBER JUST BEFORE AND DURING THE IRAQI WAR PEOPLE WERE SAYING THAT WE SHOULDN'T FIGHT IRAQ, AND THAT WE COULDN'T WIN AND THAT IT WOULD BE LIKE VIETNAM?

1. WHAT IF SOMEONE SAID WE SHOULD JUST SURRENDER TO IRAQ?

B. WHAT DID YOU THINK ABOUT PEOPLE LIKE THAT? (DISLOYAL, UNPATRIOTIC)

C. THAT ATTITUDE GIVES YOU A GOOD IDEA OF WHAT THE PEOPLE OF JUDAH THOUGHT ABOUT JEREMIAH. HE WAS SAYING THAT OUR NATION IS GOING TO GET STOMPED, WE SHOULD YIELD TO BABYLON AND THE PEOPLE THOUGHT HE WAS UNPATRIOTIC. HE WAS HATED, BEATEN, PUT IN STOCKS, IMPRISONED AND CHARGED WITH BEING A TRAITOR.

D. AFTER JER WAS PROVEN RIGHT, AND JUDAH DID FALL TO THE BABYLONIANS, HE WAS NOT AMONG THE LEADING CITIZENS TAKEN BACK TO BABYLON (LIKE DANIEL AND HIS FRIENDS). INSTEAD, NEBUCHADNEZZAR LET HIM CHOSE (JER 39:11-12) AND HE STAYED HOME. THE GROUP WHO WERE LEFT HOME DECIDED TO FLEE TO EGYPT, AND JER PROPHECIED AGAINST THAT. THEY DID IT ANYWAY AND DRAGGED HIM ALONG WITH THEM. TRADITION SAYS THAT GOOD OLD JER WAS STONED BY THOSE WHO DRAGGED HIM TO EGYPT.

III. JEREMIAH AND JOSIAH

A. READ JER 1: 1-3.

B. HILKIAH WAS THE FAMOUS HIGH PRIEST WHO FOUND THE BOOK OF THE LAW DURING THE TIME OF JOSIAH. LOOKING AT v.1, DO YOU THINK THAT IT WAS THIS HIGH PRIEST WHO WAS JER'S FATHER? (THE LESSON SAYS, "NO." IF HE WERE THE SON OF THE HIGH PRIEST, IT WOULD SAY THAT INSTEAD OF "ONE OF THE PRIESTS AT ANATHOTH." AND IT WOULD NOT SAY ANATHOTH (ABOUT 3 MILES OUTSIDE JERUSALEM) IT WOULD SAY JERUSALEM)

C. DO YOU REMEMBER HOW OLD JOSIAH WAS WHEN HE BECAME KING? (8 YRS.)

1. SO JOSIAH WAS ABOUT 20 YEARS OLD AT THIS TIME AND SO WAS JEREMIAH. MY BET IS THIS WAS PROBABLY THE BEST TIME OF HIS LIFE.

D. VERSE THREE INDICATES THAT THOSE DAYS CAME TO AN END WHEN JOSIAH DIED.

E. READ 1:4-5. WHEN DOES MAN'S RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD BEGIN?

1. WHAT IS GOD SAYING WHEN HE SAYS TO JER "I SET YOU APART" "BEFORE YOU WERE BORN?"

2. IF GOD KNOWS US BEFORE WE ARE BORN, IF HE APPOINTS US TO A SPECIAL WORK BEFORE WE ARE BORN, IN WHAT LIGHT DOES THAT PLACE ABORTION?

3. I ONCE HAD A VERY HIGH LEVEL LEADER IN OUR CHURCH TELL ME THAT HE AGREED THAT LIFE BEGAN AT CONCEPTION, BUT THAT MEANINGFUL LIFE BEGAN SOMEWHERE AFTER CONCEPTION AND BEFORE BIRTH. AND HE THOUGHT ABORTION WAS OK BEFORE THE MEANINGFUL LIFE.

a. THIS VERSE SAYS LIFE IS MEANINGFUL TO GOD BEFORE WE ARE EVEN CONCIEVED! WHAT AN AMAZING IDEA!

F. OK. JER HAS HIS MARCHING ORDERS, HE IS TO BE GOD'S PROPHET TO THE NATIONS. LETS READ v. 6.

1. WHAT IS JER'S EXCUSE? (HE IS TOO YOUNG.)

2. IS YOUTH A DEFENSE AGAINST BEING A SPOKESMAN FOR GOD? CAN GOD USE A YOUNG PERSON JUST AS WELL AS AN OLDER PERSON?

3. DOES AGE MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? (INTERESTING THAT BOTH JER AND JOSIAH WERE VERY YOUNG.)

4. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT JER'S ATTITUDE HERE: IS IT GOOD OR BAD? (I THINK THAT IS THE KIND OF PERSON THE LORD IS LOOKING FOR AS OPPOSED TO THE SELF-RELIANT MAN. GOD SOARS WHEN WE ARE WEAK.)

G. LETS READ GOD'S RESPONSE: vv.7-8, 18-19. DOES GOD ACCEPT AGE AS AN EXCUSE? (NO. GOD SAYS THAT IT IS GOING TO BE A TOUGH JOB, THAT HE WILL MAKE JEREMIAH A TANK. HE WILL GIVE HIM THE POWER)

H. READ vv. 9-10. LETS ASSUME THAT JER IS TALKING TO US TODAY. DO WE WANT HIM TO UPROOT AND TEAR DOWN, TO DESTROY AND OTHERTHROW AND THEN TO BUILD AND PLANT?

1. IF WE LIKE EVERYTHING THAT WE HEAR PREACHED FROM THE BIBLE MAYBE WE SHOULD BE WORRIED. OUR SINFUL LIVES WILL NOT CHANGE UNTIL THE OLD GETS UPROOTED, TORN DOWN AND DESTROYED. AND THE NEW IS THEN BUILT.

IV. TWO VISIONS

A. READ JER 1: 11-12. THE ALMOND TREE WAS THE FIRST TO BUD AND BLOOM IN THE SPRING. WITH THAT HINT, WHAT DO YOU THINK GOD IS SAYING TO JER? (WHEN I SEE THE FLOWER BLOOMING -- AS MINE ARE! -- I KNOW THAT SPRING AND SUMMER ARE JUST AROUND THE CORNER. SO I THINK THAT GOD IS SAYING THAT GOD WILL BRING TO PASS WHAT JER PROPHECIES FOR GOD. OR MAYBE GOD IS SAYING THAT JER IS THE ONE TO SAY WE NEED TO HAVE CHANGE HERE.)

B. READ JER 1: 13-16. LETS PICTURE THIS. IF A BOILING POT IS TILTING AWAY FROM THE NORTH, WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE SOUTH? (IT IS GETTING BOILING WATER POURED ON IT!)

1. WHICH KINGDOM IS JUDAH? (THE SOUTHERN KINGDOM. ALTHOUGH BABYLON WAS NOT EXACTLY NORTH, WE HAVE DISCUSSED BEFORE THAT "NORTH" IN OT PROPHECIES WOULD BE A SYMBOL FOR DARK POWERS. WE KNOW NOW THAT BABYLON WAS THE POWER TO WHICH JER WAS REFERRING.)

V. THE PROBLEM

A. READ JER 1:16; 2:11-13

B. WHAT ARE THE TWO FUNDAMENTAL SINS OF THE PEOPLE? (THEY FORSOOK THE SPRING OF LIVING WATER. AND THEY CREATED THEIR OWN WHICH COULD NOT HOLD WATER.)

1. LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT THE PARALLELS. THE BEST THING FOR A FARMER WAS TO HAVE A SPRING ON HIS PROPERTY. IN THE ABSENCE OF THAT, HE WOULD DIG A CISTERN INTO THE LIMESTONE HILLS AND THEN PLASTER THE BOTTOM SO IT WOULD HOLD RAIN WATER WHEN IT RAINED. THE PROBLEM WITH THESE PLASTER CISTERNS WAS THAT THEY WOULD LEAK AND THE WATER SEEP OUT.)

2. WHAT IS THE LIVING WATER THAT GOD PROMISED? (ETERNAL LIFE THROUGH JESUS.)

3.WHAT IS DIGGING OUR OWN CISTERNS? (DEPENDING ON SELF. THIS IS A WORTHLESS SUBSTITUTE.)

a. NOTICE THAT GOD SAYS THAT THESE ARE TWO PROBLEMS. DO WE HAVE THESE TWO PROBLEMS TODAY, STILL? (YOU BET.)

VI. NEXT WEEK: YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LOOK AT YOUR LESSON. WE ARE JUMPING AROUND IN THIS LESSON.