God Calls, God Prepares, God Defends

Text: Jeremiah 1:4-10

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Jeremiah 1:4-10

Jonah Albrecht

February 2^nd, 2025

Jeremiah 1:4-10

God Calls, God Prepares, God Defends

Grace to You and Peace in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

INJ Whose death and resurrection has prepared you for the work in His kingdom DFR:

In the eleventh century, King Henry III of Bavaria grew tired of court life and the pressures of being a monarch. He made application to Prior Richard at a local monastery, asking to be accepted as a contemplative and spend the rest of his life in the monastery. “Your Majesty,” said Prior Richard, “do you understand that the pledge here is one of obedience? That will be hard because you have been a king.”

“I understand,” said Henry. “The rest of my life I will be obedient to you, as Christ leads you.”

“Then I will tell you what to do,” said Prior Richard. “Go back to your throne and serve faithfully in the place where God has put you.” When King Henry died, a statement was written: “The King learned to rule by being obedient.” When we tire of our roles and responsibilities, it helps to remember God has planted us in a certain place and told us to be a good accountant or teacher or mother or father. Christ expects us to be faithful where he puts us, and when he returns, we’ll rule together with him.

Jeremiah found himself learning a similar lesson to King Henry. When the Lord calls him to be His prophet, Jeremiah is a priest, just like his father and grandfather before him. Being a priest was a comfortable job when compared to that of a prophet.

Priests – duties were predictable. {everything was written down in the Law.} They just had to follow directions. • Prophets – duties were unpredictable. • Priests – duty was to conserve the Past. • Prophets – labored to change the Future. • Priests – dealt with the externals. (determining ritual cleanness) • Prophets – The prophet tried to reach & change the heart. • Priests – usually ministered to individuals. Prophets – usually to nations. (& usually, they didn’t like the message!) • Priests – belonged to a special tribe that was respected & had authority! • Prophets – came from any tribe & had to prove his call! • Priests – had a guaranteed income. • Prophets – no guaranteed income.

Jeremiah’s role would be an exceedingly difficult one. He was born during the reign of Manasseh. It was a period of great evil and rebellion against the Lord. Manasseh led the people in the worship of false gods, often using witchcraft, sorcery, and engaging in the sacrifice of children. While he began his role as a prophet during King Josiah, who led a brief reformation in the land, it wouldn’t last and many of the people still spat in the face of God’s prophets.

When you consider all this, it is no wonder Jeremiah’s first reaction to God’s call was an objection. As a priest, he knew the wickedness of the people. He saw the work before him, the wickedness around him and knew the weaknesses he had in himself. It was a mountain too large for him to climb.

Have you ever been doubtful about the ministry God has called you to? Whether it be that of a father or mother, son or daughter, student, worker, or just a Christian living in a sinful world? Remember the first time you became a parent; did you expect all the ups and downs that came in the first year; or were you up for every single challenge that came with a toddler, teenager, or adult?

Your own weaknesses become more obvious when you enter a calling into new things because you just don’t know everything. You will make mistakes and you hope that your mistakes aren’t too big to fix. Each of you have gone through different paths in life and different callings. What made you feel most like Jeremiah?

The most common way among us all might be our calling to be Christians living in this sin-darkened world. To be, as the Lord has called us, the light of the world, or the salt of the earth. To be ready in season and out of season to give a reason for the hope that is in us. It is really the same ministry that Jeremiah was called into. He was called to bring people to repentance and reassure them of God’s forgiveness – the same way that we are, For we are the aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing (2 Cor. 2:15).

Jeremiah preached God’s judgment over sin, but also that God will relent by His grace. We preach the judgment that will come on the last day, but how God’s grace through Jesus delivers from that judgment. Nothing has changed in terms of the message, but so also nothing has changed with the results of that preaching. Jeremiah was mocked, threatened, imprisoned, and even physically assaulted by those who opposed him. He bore an emotional burden of a people who ruthlessly rejected him and God. He described his call as a “burning fire shut up in my bones.”

You might not face the same persecution, but isolation is a powerful emotion that can settle in our hearts. A feeling of inadequacy might make you think you don’t deserve to be called a Christian, or to be in the vocation God has called you into.

Jeremiah felt like he was not worthy or ready to be God’s prophet. He felt that God made a mistake in choosing him. Did God make a mistake in choosing you? I’m sure you could come up with enough reasons to make that answer be yes. But consider this: When is the last time God made a mistake? Was it a mistake to lead His people out of Egypt and into the land of Canaan – the place He not only promised to Abraham, but also the place from which Jesus would be born? Did He make a mistake when He raised Babylon to a world power and had them take Judah into captivity – something that He used to call many to repentance. Surely it was a mistake when He let the Romans run rampant with all their idolatry and cruelty – the same empire that would crucify the Savior of the world in the exact way God predicted a thousand years prior; or the same empire that built the roads that the Apostles would use to bring the message of the Gospel to the ends of the earth?

The God who called Jeremiah and the God who calls you is the same God who controls the entire world. It is God who executes judgment, putting one [nation] down and raising another. Every single time He acted, it was done for the benefit of His people and the fulfillment of His promises. And that has not changed even now. Our God is not one who acted in the past, but now has washed His hands cleans of this world. He is active in calling you, preparing you, and defending you for His divine purpose.

God gave Jeremiah 3 assurances to calm his fears of entering the ministry as a prophet. “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” The divine foreknowledge reminded Jeremiah that God had this purpose for him before he was even born. God knew what He would call Jeremiah to do, what he would face, and what he would need to be successful. Knowing all that beforehand, God could prepare Jeremiah and the world for his work.

God formed you, He knew you, He consecrated you and appointed you to His calling. He didn’t do this because He saw how perfect you would be. He did it because He loves you and His grace chose you to be His.

God’s second assurance was His eternal presence: But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a youth’; for to all to whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, declares the LORD.”

There is nothing Jeremiah needed more than to know that the everlasting Lord would be with him every step of the way. He knew the truth that Paul would later write: If God be for us, who can stand against us?

There is no greater enemy that you will face than your own sin, Satan, and death. Each of these, your God has overcome. Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, He has broken Satan’s power, paid the price for every single sin, and taken away the sting of death.

God’s third assurance to Jeremiah was His Effective Word: Then the LORD put out his hand and touched my mouth. And the LORD said to me, “Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. ¹⁰ See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.”

Jeremiah’s mouth was touched by the hand of the Lord. He was given the power and authority of God to accomplish the work God sent him to do. He could go to the nations with boldness knowing that his prophecy did not come from his own heart, but the very mouth of God. Jeremiah’s work was lengthy and burdensome. He had to break down and destroy before he could plant and build. He had to tear down the illusion that his fellow Jews were acceptable in the eyes of God and it didn’t matter what they did. Then he could shower them with the forgiveness God offered. Ultimately, Jeremiah knew he only had to preach the Word, and let God do the rest.

You too, have been touched by the LORD. You are given the same power and authority of God to accomplish the work He has given you to do. Peter reminds us that we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your. The Word of God recorded for you in the pages of Holy Scripture is the power of God for salvation. With it you are able to tear down false doctrine, but also build each other up with the communion of being of one confession in doctrine. You can plant the seed of salvation through the message of forgiveness through Jesus Christ. You preach the Word, then let God do the rest.

God calmed every fear or uncertainty that weaved its way into Jeremiah’s heart. He did so to the extent that even when Jeremiah mourned greatly, struggled under the burden of his call, he did not waver. He continued to do what God called him to do because he knew: God called him and God doesn’t make mistakes. God prepared him with the power of His Word. And God will always defend him – even if it costs him his earthly life.

God offers you the same calming presence in your calling. Though you may struggle and falter under a burden that is on your shoulders, God’s assurances are also for you. God called you into His family by grace, you did not have to earn your place. He didn’t make a mistake with you. God prepares you for your life as a Christian through His Word. Every day He reminds you of what Jesus did on the cross to earn you the right to be called a child of God. Every day since He made you His own, He has defended you.

Though you might not be the next great prophet of the Lord, take heart. The same God will prepare you for every call He sends your way. Amen.