Well, tonight I thought we would take a break from the Romans series since we have been in a very heavy section of Romans 10 and 11 for some months now. And I wanted to capitalize and look at the moment here with Romans 10 on gospel ministry and look at it from a different angle. We've been looking at the Lord sending preachers and the responsibility to hear and believe. I don't know that, and it's a tougher message for the pastor to give to talk a little bit about what the pastor faces and what he goes through. So you learn the pastorate, so you understand the pastor more, and the Lord gives us a lot of insight into that in his word. So tonight we're turning to Jeremiah chapter 20. Jeremiah chapter 20. He's known as the weeping prophet. And what I say tonight, and what we're looking at in Jeremiah 20, is not to be overly downcast, even though Jeremiah tends at times to be that way, but it gives us a good picture of the hope that he had and to understand the struggle of the ministry. And so this is on page 822 in your pew Bibles. Let's give attention to the word of the Lord. Now Pashur the priest, the son of Emmer, who was chief officer in the house of the Lord, heard Jeremiah prophesy these things. Then Pashur beat Jeremiah the prophet and put him in the stocks that were in the upper Benjamin gate of the house of the Lord. The next day when Pashur released Jeremiah from the stocks, Jeremiah said to him, The Lord does not call your name, Pashur, but terror on every side. For thus says the Lord, behold, I will make you a tear to yourself and to all your friends. They shall fall by the sword of their enemies while you look on. And I will give all Judah into the hand of the king of Babylon. He shall carry them captive to Babylon and shall strike them down with the sword. Moreover, I will give all the wealth of the city, all its gains, all its prized belongings, all the treasures of the kings of Judah into the hand of their enemies who shall plunder them and seize them and carry them to Babylon. And you, Peshore, and all who dwell in your house shall go into captivity. To Babylon you shall go, and there you shall die, and there you shall be buried, you and all your friends to whom you have prophesied falsely. O Lord, you have deceived me, and I was deceived. You are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day everyone mocks me for whenever I speak I cry out I shout violence and destruction for the word of the Lord has become for me a reproach and a derision all day long if I say I will not mention him or speak anymore in his name there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones and I'm weary with holding it in and I cannot for I hear many whispering terror on every side denounce him let us denounce him say all my close friends watching for my fall perhaps he will be deceived then we can overcome him and take our revenge on him but the lord is with me as a dread warrior therefore my persecutors will stumble they will not overcome me they will be greatly shamed for they will not succeed their eternal dishonor will never be forgotten O Lord of hosts, who tests the righteous, who sees the heart and the mind, let me see your vengeance upon them, for to you I have committed my cause. Sing to the Lord, praise the Lord, for He has delivered the life of the needy from the hand of evildoers. Cursed be the day on which I was born, the day in which my mother bore me. Let it not be blessed. Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father. A son is born to you, making him very glad. Let that man be like the cities that the Lord overthrew without pity. Let him hear a cry in the morning and an alarm at noon because he did not kill me in the womb. So my mother would have been my grave and her womb forever great. Why did I come out of the womb to see toil and sorrow and spend my days in shame? May the Lord bless the hearing of his word. We have been considering from Romans the necessity of gospel preaching. We've been looking at Romans 10 for a few weeks now and why this is so important for you, why this is so important for you to be under a gospel-centered ministry and a preaching of the word ministry, a Christian pastor who is expositing and preaching the word of God Because the truth is that without it, we pine away. We're like a drug addict who starts on drugs and after five years of being on drugs, not realizing what has happened to him, one day he walks in the mirror and the hard effects of drug use on the body, he realizes that he has totally wasted away. Similarly, when a believer, without realizing it, when he's not under the Word, when he's not sitting under the Word of God proclaimed to him, when he's not receiving that in the demonstration of the Spirit and the power, he pines away into spiritual starvation. I've seen it, and I know many brothers and sisters right now going through it. Think of what Romans 10 has been saying. How will they hear without a preacher? So the necessity is if you are going to hear, which is then going to take root in the heart, and then it's going to come out of the mouth to call, God has to send a preacher and the preacher has to preach. Do you ever stop and think about how faithful God has been throughout history to do this? Have you ever stopped and pondered that? But even more so, do you ever stop and think about how great God's power is put on display when the Word is delivered faithfully? Do you ever think about it? There was a lot of work that went on ahead of time, and that continues to have to go on on the part of the Lord to continue this. Why do I say that? any pastor knows that the very first work that has to occur before this all to happen is a work on his own heart and upon his own will. Because naturally, the pressures and the weight of speaking the Word of God, everyone would run from it. Everyone would abandon it. The servant of God bears a great burden. And I thought it's important tonight, after Romans 10, to pause and to give you a picture of the Christian ministry from the pulpit. To give you a picture of the Christian ministry from the experience of the pastor that you would have and understand the importance of it. Because as I said, most people just generally don't understand it. They don't know what the pastors go through. They don't know the sleepless nights, the burdens. And I'm not asking for a pity party tonight, okay? Don't do that. They don't understand that the pastor himself struggles with the Lord. They don't know that. They don't think that. They don't realize that. And I want you tonight to understand Romans 10 verse 14, which says, how shall they preach unless they are sent? and just how powerful and gracious God is to do that and to overcome very weak men to bring this to you. And I mean that, weak men. We got it all backwards when we look at the pastor. There's always been one figure in the Old Testament that has interested me more in terms of the prophets than any other. I've always loved this figure. I think he's an interesting figure. And his name is Jeremiah. There's no place better to go than to understand a pastor's heart than to look at Pastor Jeremiah. And tonight, I want to look at his ministry. I want to look at his inner turmoil and the burden that was placed upon him that preserved him through all of the struggle so that you would walk out praising God and understand and appreciate what really has to happen for this even to be in place tonight. In chapter 1 of the book of Jeremiah, I wish I would have read this, but if you turn back to chapter 1, Jeremiah describes his calling. And what we find are some of the most encouraging words from the Lord that was ever given in the call. It's a beautiful section in chapter 1, and I want you to notice that right at the beginning. Notice the language there. Now the word of the Lord, verse 4, came to me saying, 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. Then I said, ah, Lord God, behold, I don't know how to speak, for I'm only a youth. But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm only a youth, for to all to whom I send you, Romans 10, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord. 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. See, I have set you this day over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to break down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant. Jeremiah really struggles with his calling. Struggles up front by saying, I can't even speak. I'm a little youth. And the Lord encouraged him. He said, well, that doesn't matter. I'm sending you. I'm commanding your mouth. And everything that you go through, you don't have to be afraid. You don't have to fear. I'm with you. And then the Lord takes his hand and he touches the mouth of Jeremiah, which is symbolic that we would understand. This was a man called by the Lord that received the word of the Lord. I have put my words in your mouth. I have set you this day, now listen to this language, over nations and kingdoms to root up and pull down, to destroy and throw down, to build and to plant. What a calling. You're going out to the nation. You're going to tear down and build up. Let me tell you, when the call comes upon a young man who's thinking about the ministry, and when that calling of God is given, it's really exciting. And it's always exciting to me to look at seminary students who are really excited to go out and preach. They want a pulpit. They want to preach. Who put that there? There's nothing more fulfilling. It's a wonderful calling. God had raised up Jeremiah and God was sending him. Well, as this book transpires and as this book goes on, what we find is God is immediately indicting Israel. He's indicting Israel for their idolatry and Judah. So by the time we come to chapter 20, nothing of what the Lord says seems to be happening. what we have in chapter 20 is a description of this calling and how it's going how does it all going you plan for ministry you go out you want to preach you get trained the word of the lord comes to you he touches your lips here's halfway how's the ministry going for jeremiah well chapter 20 is a description of what ministry is like for him listen to verse 1 now pashor the son of emmer the priest who was also chief governor in the house of the lord heard that jeremiah prophesied these things what things well in the previous chapter jeremiah goes out and stands by the dung gate and all of the elders in front of all the elders now think of this he's a youth in front of all the elders he takes a giant clay pot and he smashes it right in front of them and says thus says the lord even so i will break this people and this city just as you saw this vessel break and then he goes and he stands out in front of the court of the lord and he says to all the people thus says the lord i will bring doom on this city god announced through his servant he's going to come and smash the temple in Jerusalem to smithereens. Well, when you come to chapter 20, Tashur was the priest in charge of the prophecies and security at the temple. And what we read in verse 2 is that he takes Jeremiah, he strikes him, and he puts him in stocks. And this was not just standing there like this in stocks. He was taken. The word means that his body was twisted and they clamped his wrists and they twisted his body in an awful form of persecution. Well, the next day he's back out. Did you catch that? The next day he's back out and he prophesies again now against the priest, Pashur, which name meant fruit on every side and he changes his name prophetically. Terror on every side, thus says the Lord. That's who you are, Pashur, and then he identifies what's going to happen. They are going to be hauled off to Babylon. So for the first time, this is now announced. Pashur, you and your children are going to die and be buried outside the land. Now, you know, to be buried outside the land was cursed. I can't imagine that kind of ministry. What do you think that was like for Jeremiah? What I love about this text is that we get insight tonight into what's happening to him on the inside. What would you think of a man like this? Powerful. Bold. And this is where the passage, I believe, really helps us to understand pastors. What does a pastor go through? I don't know if there's any passage that opens up more what he looks like and it shows it in a shocking way. In verse 7, I believe after Jeremiah was beat and prophesied God's judgment, he's completely overwhelmed. And some of the old translations seem to me to be scared to give it what it should be. In other words, some of the old translations say, you know, the word means, you, O Lord, induced me. Or, you enticed me. And I believe the ESV gets it absolutely correct. You deceived me. You deceived me about the ministry. And I was persuaded because of that deception. And we stand back and say, whoa. I'm in derision daily. Everyone mocks me. For when I spoke, I cried out. I shouted violence and plunder. I did what you said. I spoke your words. And then what happened? Everyone derides me. Everyone mocks me. What good is this? Feel it? Do you remember the calling? I'm sending you to the nations. You're going to build up. You're going to build up. Where is he? He's in the temple. and he's preaching in the temple i don't see how this calling is being fulfilled and then in chapter 26 i mean imagine this scene thus says the lord stand this is to jeremiah stand in the court of the lord's house and speak to all the cities of judah which come to worship at the lord's house this is worship time this is sabbath gathering and notice what happens you speak all the words that i command you to speak do not diminish a word perhaps everyone will listen and turn from his evil way that i may relent concerning the calamity which i purpose to bring on them because of their evil doings and you shall say to them thus says the lord if you will not listen to me to walk in my law which i have set before you to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom i sent to you both rising up early and sending them but you've not heeded then i will make this house like shiloh and will make this city a curse to the nations of the earth so the priests and the prophets and all the people heard jeremiah speaking the words in the house of the lord now it happened when jeremiah made an end of speaking all that the lord commanded him to speak to all the people then the priests and the prophets and the people seized him saying you're a dead man why have you prophesied in the name of the lord saying this house will be like shiloh and this city shall be desolate without an inhabitant and all the people were gathered against Jeremiah. I'm still thinking about the calling. You're going to build up. You're going to the nations. There's no building going on. I don't see building going on. You deceived me as to what this calling would be. You know how uncomfortable I am in the pulpit saying that? I never thought, says Jeremiah, it would be like this. All I've done is say what you told me. I don't see fruit. Where's the fruit? I'm called to bring people back to you. When I shout out violence and I expose sin, you see, it enrages everyone. What good is that? Remember when Isaiah was called and the first thing you get is Isaiah says, Lord, here I am. Send me. Go, but hearing they will not hear. Seeing they will not see. We have a general expectation that people will respond. That they'll repent. I have been extremely blessed to be in churches and to witness that. To witness the Lord open hearts to the Word. But I'm not special. I have wept over many brothers in the ministry with them. Faithful preachers and effective preachers who have seen little of that. And there just wasn't a response. And they worked hard in tiny churches and there was nothing but endless conflict and people leaving all of the time and it weighs heavy on you when down the street the megachurch is rocking out and it's packed. I don't get this. And the greater dilemma is, listen, if I'm preaching this way and I'm calling people to repentance and they're not coming, that's just priming the pump for wrath. Is that not making matters worse? I'm just giving weapons for you remember ezekiel as for you son of man the children of people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses they speak to one another everyone saying to his brother please come and hear what the word that is that comes from the lord so they come to you as people they sit before you as my people they hear your works but they do not do them for with my their mouth they show much love but their hearts pursue their own gain indeed you are to them is a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument boy those sermons are powerful Ezekiel for they hear your words but they don't do them and when this comes to pass surely it will come then they will know that a prophet has been among them you're saying wow what a dark view of ministry Jeremiah thought so too so guess what he says i'm done i'm done that is the emphasis in verse 9 i will not mention him or speak anymore in his name i'm done i quit i will not do this and here's i think we need to pause and think about tonight what the lord is showing us what do you see in jeremiah there's a torture going on inside i don't want to be out condemning people when there's no repentance what does the lord put in the heart of a pastor he puts in the heart of a pastor a deep desire to see people saved i didn't sign i i didn't want this and so i i think this is something to consider tonight because when you go into ministry you have expectations and when they're not met and i'll show you new covenant ministry in a minute we'll contrast it the pastor does face something that's hard for us to understand god takes you now where into the pastor's prayer closet that's why i love this passage look at the struggle i speak boldly but i can't handle this so the curtain is pulled back and jeremiah says i i feel the pressure to give up what are you seeing here in jeremiah you're seeing a real person aren't you you're seeing a real man a sinner who is deeply wrestling with god even accusing him because he doesn't see how the calling that he has is being fulfilled listen to calvin i love this the life of the christian it is true is a perpetual warfare for whoever gives himself to the service of god will have no truths from satan at any time but will be harassed with incessant disquietude it becomes however ministers of the word and pastors to be standard bearers going before others and certainly there are none that Satan harasses more, that are more severely assaulted, or that sustain more numerous or more dreadful onsets. That man, therefore, is mistaken, who girds himself for the discharge of his office and is not at the same time furnished with courage and bravery for contending. It shows you that deep in the pastor's heart, he is wrestling because he is weak. and he's human, and he's not as strong or bold or as uncaring as most people make the domini out to be. The old hard domini hitting hard on the preck stool was a facade. That's not really him, or it shouldn't be. It takes so much wisdom to do this, and in Jeremiah's case, he couldn't be soft. Why do I say that? Why couldn't Jeremiah be soft? Things were so bad in Judah that he had to be bold because God, and notice this, God was about to judge this nation. It's not always like this, of course, and there are times, you know this, that the pastor has to be very comforting and very consoling, and that balance is a hard balance to strike. When we go lopsided, we mess everything up. But I think Calvin is right again when he says we have to consider what the state of the church requires. If we're always crying out when there's no need, we're behaving like a crazy man. But when we see Satan reigning, that requires open war. We can't always beat the same drum. If we're always striking the high note, we lose effect. That's so much wisdom. to take isn't it jeremiah was called to beat the drum at a very dark time in history and what's killing him is where's the fruit where's the fruit you know the number one reason pastors leave the ministry is burnout they're just constantly going and going and going and they never disengage and they say now i don't know if that's right you got a million statistics on it, but they say that 50% is the burnout rate for pastors. Jeremiah quits for one verse. And that's why I love the passage. He quits for a verse. And now you're getting to the heart of a servant. Let me show you why. It's the best part of Jeremiah 20. What does a false pastor do? The prevailing problem in Jeremiah's day was all the false prophets saying, peace, peace, when there was no peace. So everything's great. Everything's wonderful. Under pressure, they knew and said only what they knew the people wanted to hear. In chapter 7, Jeremiah said, the prophets prophesy lies, the priests speak falsely, and my people love it. In the very next sentence, after he says, I'm done, the Lord wants to show you how strong He is for you. The Lord wants to show you tonight how strong He is for you. This is Romans 10. How will they hear without a preacher and how will they preach unless they're sent? This is all the Lord. After explaining the mammoth struggle in the prayer closet with God that you don't get to see, after saying, I'm done, in the next breath, He says this, But your word is in my heart like a burning fire. Shut up in my bones. I am weary of holding it back. There is something, you, oh Lord, shut up within me. And when you touch my lips, and when you ordained me, I can't stop. Think about this for a minute. I want you to ponder this just for a minute. The strongest desire of his flesh, after being beaten, put in stalks, stretched with his body, didn't hold a candle to the power of God that had ignited a fire in his heart with the Word of God so that he will say, you prevailed, I got to go do it. I love that. The single great qualification of a pastor, the word of God has so been ignited in you that it shatters every other desire of your flesh to keep your mouth closed and do something else and it bursts. You've got to go. You've got to do it. And if I try to hold back that word, i'm weary i can't i talked with a professor not too long ago who's been teaching preaching for years and i asked him what are you seeing that is the greatest lack in students training for ministry today what do you think he said fire i add there's no sense that i see today when a man comes that he's bringing a burden from the lord that he's bringing and delivering god's word with the goal of pulling you out of the fire, the goal of saving. We're not lecturing. We're not up here parsing verbs. We're not up here making everything so didactic so that you would yawn and go to sleep. Reformed preaching needs that more than ever. It needs fire. And we don't think of the ministry this way, but when we look at the veil of a pastor's heart, you look at his struggle, you've looked at the power within his bones of the pastor that the Lord is telling you, that's where you know, that's where his word is. He's a man after his own heart. It's burning. It's the fabric of who he is. That's what he's called to do. And so listen to what Jeremiah says in chapter 23. He says this, who has stood in the counsel of the Lord and perceived and heard His Word. Who has marked His Word and heard it? The prophet who has a dream, let him tell a dream. You want to be into that? Be into that. He who has my Word, let him speak it faithfully. Is not my Word like a fire, says the Lord, like a hammer that breaks rocks and pieces? He who has my Word, says the Lord, loves enough to say it through all of the pain and all of the hardship so that you would drink living water. It's interesting what people think a pastor should be. And I'm still learning. I don't have this mastered. I don't, by, anyway, tonight, I've been in this 10 years and I don't have it mastered. But I know this. It is not, a pastor is not marked by how well he pets the sheep. That's one pastor. It's not seen in how physically strong he is. It's not in how small in stature he is. It's seen in his willingness to speak and preach the word and the gospel when he has prayerfully reflected and been led by the Spirit to discern what the state of the church requires. If it requires tender, still, small words and a small voice or the thundering words of wrath, he'll give it. Because he's so burdened that every last one of you are in glory. You realize that? That's the burden he puts on his servant. That every last one of you are in glory. And he can't help to say what God has commanded him to say if for no other reason than the Spirit has made it overflow and that he has to believe and trust that those words are the words of life. Give us Jeremiah. You know, Jeremiah, I'm going to close with this tonight. Jeremiah looked for a more glorious ministry. Don't you find it fascinating that of all people, we would have the new covenant ministry outlined from him? And in Jeremiah 31, that's what we get. The days are coming, says the Lord. It would be a ministry of who? The Holy Spirit. Poured out to the nations. When the Apostle Paul was so thankful of this, I want you to think about now, as a New Covenant minister, when Paul went out preaching and he came to the churches, think about what he said of the church in Thessalonica in light of what we heard about Jeremiah's struggle. For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing because when you received the Word of God, which you heard from us, what did you do with it? You welcomed it. Not as the Word of men, but as it is in truth, the Word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe. The challenges are still the same. There are those who are still handling the Word of God deceitfully. There are those who are still peddling the Word of God. There are those who are still walking craftily with it. They're doing the same thing that the Old Testament false prophets did. But the goal's never changed. The goal was always from the beginning to preach Christ and Him crucified. The reason we confront sin, the reason we show the need of the church today is to the end that people would be brought to Christ and that they would know Him, as Paul said, in the power of its resurrection. And when the Spirit was poured out, this is what happened. That's why we call it a ministry of gospel. Good news. There's something glorious about the time in which you sit and you sit right now in history and listen to this because the Spirit has said, now is the day. This is the day, the day of salvation that all the prophets were looking for when it wouldn't go like it did in Israel. Whoa. It's a ministry of the Spirit. And this is why Paul said to Timothy, listen, Timothy, preach the word in season, out of season. Here's what's at stake. Think of the consequence. Don't neglect the gift that's in you. Don't let the fire that's been shut up in your bones, don't hold it back. Why? Listen to this. Listen to the reason why that Paul told Timothy. And this should all encourage us. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Do not neglect the gift that is in you, which was given to you by prophecy with the laying on of hands of the eldership. Meditate on these things. Give yourselves entirely to them that your progress may be evident to all. Take heed to yourself and to the doctrine. Here it is. Continue in them for in doing this, you will save both yourself and those who hear you. See the connection? You give yourself to this because this is how the Lord brings salvation and it will occur. God will always have a people who hear. And I'm thankful to live in this day. No matter the trials we go through as pastors and pray for your pastors, we bear all things for the sake of God's elect. We bear the trials for the ultimate goal that every single one of you would be presented, Colossians 1, perfect in Christ. And so I challenge you to pray to the Lord of the harvest and value what is most important that we would value the raising up of men for gospel ministry. Sometimes I think we're supporting anything and everything but. Men who have and the Lord has touched and given this fire. That's the greatest gift God's given to you and your children because He is preserving a gospel ministry this way to announce to you His Son and His righteousness so that you would have everything you need. And what a reason to thank him tonight that his power prevails. Let's pray. Oh Lord our God, we are grateful for your powerful word. And we need to have sometimes a reminder of what this really is and what this is all about because we forget just what is at stake and what needs to happen. And so tonight, we give all praise and glory to you for the ministry of righteousness. That you have prevailed and that you are stronger than our hard hearts. And that when you call a man, you give him what he needs. And that you will prevail to send preachers to the ends of the earth. Oh Lord, then we pray. Raise up. Raise up preachers who have this fire. who communicate effectively. And as one of your servants said years ago, that preaching is to be preferred that shows men their hearts than give us preachers that dissect and show us the heart and the need for a Savior. Thank you tonight for this wonderful word and for encouraging us and giving us hope even in the midst of darkness. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.