What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops (Part 1)
What you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops the rooftops • Sermon • Submitted
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13 “You shall not murder.
21 “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ 22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.
7 There are those who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.
1 But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. 2 And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed.
3 And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
Matthew 10:5 (ESV)
5 These twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them,...
14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, shake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.
16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.
26 “So have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 27 What I tell you in the dark, say in the light, and what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
40 “Whoever receives you receives me, and whoever receives me receives him who sent me.
May the Lord add His blessing to those who read, believe, and act on His Word.
Before I start preaching…I want you to understand a few things that God has laid on my heart to say before the sermon starts. (Very important things).
The first thing God laid on my heart to say to everyone today is this: we are all in the same boat here. There is no “us” verse “them.” We are all collectively “THEM.”
God told Moses, “Thou shall not murder” but Jesus goes beyond the surface and shows us that if anyone is, “angry with his brother” we have murderous hearts. All of us are complicit. All of us are guilty. All of us are in the same boat here today.
The second thing that God indicated to me that must be shared is this truth: “God can use any of our intentional evil for good.” At the very center of the person of God is a thirst for redemption.
If we could put a stethoscope up to God’s chest to listen to the thump thump of His beating heart…what we might hear is this… “redeem, redeem, redeem”
Lutrow, Lutrow, Lutrow” - Greek
Pedooth, Pedooth, Pedooth. - Heb.
Our God spared no cost whatsoever in order to bring about redemption.
17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.
God can make beauty rise from ashes. Some of you might hear this message and feel like you are standing in the center of a the burned down structure of your life and when you look down you notice that you are still holding the lit match that started it and you feel guilt and shame. For some of you it wasn’t a lit match, it was a flame thrower and your reckless decisions in a moment brought about swift destruction.
In either case, and everywhere in between, hear this, “God can use our intentional evil for good. Please, please hear this word from the Lord today. God is unsurpassed in His ability to make beauty rise from the ashes. Just ask the crucified then, resurrected Messiah. Thump thump, lutrow, pedooth, redeem.
Listen to a song of Ascent of the Psalmist...
1 Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord! 2 O Lord, hear my voice! Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my pleas for mercy!
3 If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? 4 But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared.
7 O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.
This day is referred to as “Sanctity of Life” Sunday. This is a day that highlights the sacred and holy, and precious nature of being a living being. Today we remind ourselves once again of the nobility that is given to each living embodied soul.
Today we want to tune our ears to hear His truth. We want to tether ourselves to what He has revealed in His word about life. Today we want to do what Abraham Lincoln once said,
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
Be sure you put your feet in the right place, then stand firm.
There is no other righter place in all of the universe than right here in the contents of this living and active book. This sermon was intended to be preached as one sermon in one setting, but because of how lengthy it was getting I decided to preach one sermon over the course of two weeks.
Today and next week God is going to remind us of the unalterable, since the beginning of time itself truth, that...
Life is lived from womb to tomb as either male or female.
Life is lived from womb to tomb as either male or female.
This is some heavy stuff to think about.
Now…today, God will speak authoritatively, but not in an insensitive way.
Some of you have past mistakes that are clouding your mind right now.
Some of you have current dilemmas that you are facing that has made the wheels of your mind spin out of control and you are mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually exhausted.
Some of you feel dirty, or guilty or full of shame.
Some of you might feel unknown, isolated and lonely.
Some of you might have a skeleton in your closet that you hope never sees the light of day…but it keeps putting its boney shoulder into the door and you are exhausted trying to keep it shut.
We need God to speak today and we trust that God will speak today, but He will not speak in an insensitive way. He knows your frame and that you are but dust. What all of us need to hear today before we go any further in this message is the truth of what God has said of Himself.
God is the God of all grace. God is the God of all comfort. God is the God of all mercy. He is rich in all of those wonderful qualities. And He is also extremely benevolent. He is not hoarding it up for Himself…He wants to lavish you with them. Know this.
Let’s Pray: God we need you to speak today and to speak clearly and authoritatively and sensitively. So first of all, let’s notice that...
Life is lived from womb to tomb.
Life is lived from womb to tomb.
We need God’s perspective on what it means to be a living embodied soul. Thankfully, we have multiple places in His recorded word that we can turn to in order to understand it. He is not silent on the issue. He has spoken plainly that there are specific, unique, purposed lives in the womb of a woman who is pregnant.
From Ismael to Isaac, from Esau to Jacob.
From Bezalel, to Oholiab to every craftsman in whom the Lord had put skill and intelligence to know how to do the work of construction in the sanctuary of God.
From John the Baptist (the forerunner), to Jesus (the runner).
Each person has dignity and value before they arrive at their birthplace.
Today we will only consider one account in the bible. In fact we are just going to look at 1 verse today. Today let’s look at Jeremiah. God says of His little image bearing creature in Hilkiah’s wifes womb...
5 “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.”
Jeremiah had personhood and purpose and being in his mothers womb. He was known by God and was fashioned by Him. Look at what it clearly says,
“I formed you.” “I knew you.” “I consecrated you.” “I appointed you.”
You, You, You, You. (4 times)
Jeremiahs personhood is undeniably legit even while inside His mother.
God forms us. (Jer. 1:5)
God forms us. (Jer. 1:5)
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
5 “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.”
This conjures up images of another Psalm where we get a better depiction of what it means to “form” a human in a womb. This forming process is described in Psalm 139:13-14
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.
These are wonderful words used here to describe the “forming” process. The Psalmist likens God to a talented tailor.
God was knitting David together. Confession: I have never knitted. No one would ever want me to knit anything for them. The reason why is because the one thing I know about knitting is it a very intensely meticulous process of using needles to interlink knots and series of loops made by one lone continuous thread. It takes skill, time, creativity and dedication. A few weeks back I popped some popcorn and grabbed a needle and fishing line and tried to string some popcorn for the tree. By boys thought that this was an awesome idea and they were excited for me. My wife knows me better she just kind of rolled her eyes knowing that it wouldn’t be long before I was either bleeding or giving up. But I was determined. I was determined for all of 7 minutes until poked my finger and started bleeding out! I gave up…I gave up having successfully made enough garland to zig zag across the front of one of those dollar store trees about 12 inches high that was in my boys room.
My efforts were so unlike God who for 9 months actively works on each one of His special image bearing creatures when they are intricately woven in secret while hidden in the frame of their mother. God formed each one of us. God’s part in growing a human baby in their mothers womb is likened to the very intensely meticulous process of using needles to interlocking knots and series of loops in order to make a masterpiece. That is what each baby is and they are a masterpiece even before they are put out on the show room floor of the world.
God knows us (Jer. 1:5)
God knows us (Jer. 1:5)
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
5 “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.”
God also knew us when we were in there. The Hebrew word for “know” is one of the most intimate words there is in all of Scripture. It is the Hebrew word “YaDa.” It’s root form is used 944 times in the text of Scripture and has an array of meanings associated with knowledge. So as we journey through Scripture.
God had a special unique knowledge of Moses. The text tells us that God yada’d Moses because He spoke to him face to face.
We read in Psalm 139: 1 that God yada’d the Psalmist. He knew the Psalmist. He was acquainted with all his way…every moment he sat and every moment he rose up.
This is also the word used for the most intimate form of “knowledge” experienced between husband and wife.
Gen. 4:1 and “Adam knew his wife Eve.” This isn’t just an editorial comment of Moses… “O by the way reader of Genesis, Adam was aware of Eve’s existence!” No…because the next thing you find in the text is, “Eve conceived and bore Cain.” She conceived Cain because she “yada’d” Adam!
This is the word God says to Jeremiah. I knew you before your were born.
For all of us in this room we can take great comfort in such knowledge even if it is to wonderful for us to take in…to lofty for us to attain.
This same concept is carried over into the NT as Jesus shows up on the scene and says things like:
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
and things like,
6 Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
God knows each of us right now in this very moment, and He knew you before you were even born.
God consecrates us. (Jer. 1:5)
God consecrates us. (Jer. 1:5)
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
5 “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.”
God also, consecrates each of His image bearing creations.
Every human life is a gift, and not just a gift to the mother and father. That human life is a gift from God to all the inhabitant of God’s world.
The Almighty Creator is the one who opens and closes the wombs of women. Just consider all the barren woman in the bible. (Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Manoah, Hannah, Elizabeth). Each of these women had no children. All that had was a barren womb and promise from God and then God opens there wombs and out comes a little consecrated creations of His. Each of these offspring were set apart to accomplish His purposes!
And think on this, there is no more barren womb in the world than the womb of a virgin…and praise God, He opened the womb of a virgin 2000 years ago to give birth to Jesus Christ, the Savior of all mankind.
God sets each little baby apart for a unique specific purpose that God Himself chooses and that leads us to our last point.
God appoints us (Jer. 1:5)
God appoints us (Jer. 1:5)
Jeremiah 1:5 (ESV)
5 “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.”
Jeremiah as “appointed.” The word that is used here means to “give, or bestow.” To “employ or entrust.” What is clear here is that there is a reason for Jeremiah’s existence.
Jeremiah just so happened to be set apart to be a “prophet” to the nations. Jeremiah was going to function as a mouthpiece of the Lord to a people who seemingly wanted nothing to do with God.
Sounds fun right? No...He had a hard call. His message was hard to hear and very easy to persecute and he went through persecution. You could say that he was miserable all of his life because of being consecrated and appointed…but never-the-less He was serving the purposes of the One who had knitted him together in utero.
Sometimes we are tempted to believe the lie that having a baby will bring about to many unnecessary hardships in a woman or a mans life and so they think that murder is an acceptable solution.
Now it is true, when a baby is born, troubles and hardship will certainly enter into the mother and the father’s lives. There is responsibility and toilsome days ahead…but not just for them but for their child as well. But that is not a reason to eliminate the child.
1 “Man who is born of a woman is few of days and full of trouble.
Job 5:7 (ESV)
7 ...man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
But that reality does endow us with the power of assigning who is worthy of life and death. That only belongs to God Almighty.
6 The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
Just because life will be hard for all involved does not mean kill the baby.
Let’s consider Jeremiah’s take on his own life that was certainly full of hardships. He says...
14 Cursed be the day on which I was born! The day when my mother bore me, let it not be blessed! 15 Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, “A son is born to you,” making him very glad. 16 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,
17 because he did not kill me in the womb; so my mother would have been my grave, and her womb forever great. 18 Why did I come out from the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?
Jeremiah had a hard call, but look closely what he says in verse 17. “He did not kill me in the womb.” It is safe to assume…that to kill Jeremiah in the womb, means that he was alive in the womb. Look at what he says,
“He did not kill ME in the womb.” There wasn’t just a lump of tissue in Jeremiah’s mothers womb…it was Jeremiah.
Jeremiah says, Why did “I” come out of the womb. He didn’t say…why did this clump of cells come out…
He was a person before he arrived at his birthdate and birth place.
And his life was extremely hard. He is nicknamed the weeping prophet. But his life served a great purpose in the unfolding of redemption history. His words have been recorded for us. Words that are some of the most cherished and hope filled words ever recorded. So I want to invite Jeremiah to speak to you from beyond the grave today. He will tell you how hard his life was…but then he will ask you to call to mind (something that will give value to his life and your life and my life. Every life in the womb and out of the womb matters. Listen to Jeremiah in His own words.
1 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; 2 he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light;
3 surely against me he turns his hand again and again the whole day long. 4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away; he has broken my bones;
5 he has besieged and enveloped me with bitterness and tribulation; 6 he has made me dwell in darkness like the dead of long ago.
7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape; he has made my chains heavy; 8 though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones; he has made my paths crooked. 10 He is a bear lying in wait for me, a lion in hiding;
11 he turned aside my steps and tore me to pieces; he has made me desolate; 12 he bent his bow and set me as a target for his arrow.
13 He drove into my kidneys the arrows of his quiver; 14 I have become the laughingstock of all peoples, the object of their taunts all day long.
15 He has filled me with bitterness; he has sated me with wormwood. 16 He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes;
17 my soul is bereft of peace; I have forgotten what happiness is; 18 so I say, “My endurance has perished; so has my hope from the Lord.”
19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! 20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me.
Wow…thanks Jeremiah. Way to depress us. Sounds like a hard life to me. Sounds pretty bleak. As you listen to his words you are thinking one of two things:
1. Dude you crushed it Jeremiah, I thought my life was bad, but in light of what you went through my life it isn’t that bad…so your words are a source of encouragement to me.
2. Dude Jeremiah, you just summed up my experience exactly…we are in the same boat. I hate my existence. Your words to me are a source of discouragement. Some times I too think that my life isn’t worth living…I wish I had been killed in the womb.
But hold on…he isn’t through speaking yet.
21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: 22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;
23 they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. 24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.”
25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. 26 It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.
Know this, a baby is a ladies honor, not her headache.
I remember hearing a story about an unwed teenage girl who was pregnant, but her fiancee was not the baby’s father. Now her fiancee could have seized his right to abort what some would simply call a fetus. But if He did, He would would have slaughtered the Lord Jesus Christ prematurely.
That baby was formed, known, consecrated and appointed to be The Prophet that would speak God’s truth to us. The Priest who would represent us. The King who would reign over us, but in order for Him to do that He had to arrive at His birthdate. And once He emerged from the womb, He lived a trial filled and yet perfect life. And He did so on our behalf. And then also died a horrific death and He was placed in a tomb.
His live was lived from womb to tomb and He accomplished all that His Father sent Him out of the womb to do!
Now some of you in here the whole time have been thinking about how right this message seems and how this message needs to be heard by everyone that is not here in these 4 walls. If you think that, you have heard the message all wrong. This message has been spoken to you. You needed to hear this message.
God has formed you, he knows you, he has consecrated each of us and appoints us to do that which only we were uniquely and purposefully created and made to do by GOD!
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Walk in the good works that God has prepared beforehand for you to walk in. Tell of His excellent greatness. Like the old hymns says,
You have been blest to be a blessing. It is a privileged to care for people in despair. Yes there is a need that is apparent everywhere and that is a challenge but we can see those needs and see where the world is wanting and vacant and we can be the mean through which the Lord may reveal His grace.
15 Thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift!
Communion
There is a tension that exists in Scripture that is on display in the following passages. The phase that is often thrown around reads as follows, “Christians are to be in the world, but not off it.”
How can we practically live this reality out in the normal day to day happenings of life? Read the following passages and then participate in a lively discussion with a few of your friends!!!
14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one.
17 Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you,
11 And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”
23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; to others show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.