05.07. Quitting is not an Option- Jeremaih
Quitting is Not an Option- Jeremiah
Former heavy-weight boxer James (Quick) Tillis is a cowboy from Oklahoma who fought out of Chicago in the early 1980s. He still remembers his first day in the Windy City after his arrival from Tulsa. "I got off the bus with two cardboard suitcases under by arms in downtown Chicago and stopped in front of the Sears Tower. I put my suitcases down, and I looked up at the Tower and I said to myself, ’I’m going to conquer Chicago.’ "When I looked down, the suitcases were gone."Today in the Word, September 10, 1992. In 1858 the Illinois legislature--using an obscure statute--sent Stephen A. Douglas to the U.S. Senate instead of Abraham Lincoln, although Lincoln had won the popular vote. When a sympathetic friend asked Lincoln how he felt, he said, "Like the boy who stubbed his toe: I am too big to cry and too badly hurt to laugh." Jeremiah was a man who lived most of his life in a discouraging situation. Most of us have our ups and downs in life. Today our hero will teach us that quitting is not an option.
I- Jeremiah’s Story:
The time frame we are in the history of Israel is at the very end of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. Israel has been taken into captivity and Judah will be during the life of Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a young man when God called him to be a prophet. God told him to go and preach but no one was going to listen. He promised him that people and life would be unfair to him. Jeremiah wanted to quit but discovered that quitting was not an option in the plan of God.
Jeremiah 20:7-9 "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. 8For 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. 9Then 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."
Jeremiah gives us these verse that should inspire us to continue on when things around us seem to be falling apart. As it has been said, when life throws us a curve ball.
II-Never Starting: Jeremiah 1:4-7
We often hear about a pitcher who was scratched from his start due to something. He could not compete because he never started. Horses are scratched from the race. Many times we quit by not starting. Jeremiah 1:4-7 "Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 5Before 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. 6Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child. 7But 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." Our hero had the excuse of to young. David Ring is an evangelist. His opening line often is "I have cerebral palsy, what’s your excuse."
If you never engage in the work of God then you have no chance of success in serving Him.
III- Blame God When Things Go Wrong:
Next is a classic illustration. Jeremiah blamed God for all things wrong. Was Jeremiah Deceived. He accused God of deception. "O LORD, thou hast deceived me, and I was deceived..."
Notice what God told Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:19 And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.
Oswald Smith - The year was 1920. The scene was the examining board for selecting missionaries. Standing before the board was a young man named Oswald Smith. One dream dominated his heart. He wanted to be a missionary. Over and over again, he prayed, "Lord, I want to go as a missionary for you. Open a door of service for me." Now, at last, his prayer would be answered. When the examination was over, the board turned Oswald Smith down. He did not meet their qualifications. He failed the test. Oswald Smith had set his direction, but now life gave him a detour. What would he do? As Oswald Smith prayed, God planted another idea in his heart. If he could not go as a missionary, he would build a church which could send out missionaries. And that is what he did. Oswald Smith pastored The People’s Church in Toronto, Canada, which sent out more missionaries than any other church at that time. Oswald Smith brought God into the situation, and God transformed his detour into a main thoroughfare of service. Brian L. Harbour, Rising Above the Crowd.
How many times can we find an excuse that was not our fault to quit? Most of the time. I remind us that the Bible says in 2 Timothy 3:12 "Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
We have not been promised life would be a bed of roses as we often hear. By the way have you ever slept in the rose bushes, probably not? It may smell sweet but it is full of thorns.
So who do we blame? Many times no one in particular is to blame. It is just a fallen creature, us, living in a fallen world.
IV- Feeling like a failure- "I am in derision daily, every one mocketh me."
How many of us have felt like a failure? May I say that most of us have? Jeremiah felt like everyone around him was making fun of him.
Notice what some famous people felt.
Famous People
Alexander the Great conquered Persia, but broke down and wept because his troops were too exhausted to push on to India.
Hugo Grotius, the father of modern international law, said at the last, "I have accomplished nothing worthwhile in my life."
John Quincy Adams, sixth President of the U.S.—not a Lincoln, perhaps, but a decent leader—wrote in his diary: "My life has been spent in vain and idle aspirations, and in ceaseless rejected prayers that something would be the result of my existence beneficial to my species."
Robert Louis Stevenson wrote words that continue to delight and enrich our lives, and yet what did he write for his epitaph? "Here lies one who meant well, who tried a little, and failed much."
Christianity Today, September 6, 1985, Donald McCullough, V- Remember the Past Successes:
Count your blessings name them one by one we sing. Most of us focus only on the bad and not the good. Jeremiah, if anyone could be allowed to not do this it would have been him. Not a single convert in all his preaching. Most of us have had more success. When you get in a pity party funk, set down and list the good things that you can look back on. The American painter, John Sargent, once painted a panel of roses that was highly praised by critics. It was a small picture, but it approached perfection. Although offered a high price for it on many occasions, Sargent refused to sell it. He considered it his best work and was very proud of it. Whenever he was deeply discouraged and doubtful of his abilities as an artist, he would look at it and remind himself, "I painted that." Then his confidence and ability would come back to him.Bits & Pieces, September 19, 1991, p. 9.
VI- Remember the Faithfulness of God:
Jeremiah was the man who wrote the book we know as Lamentations. The book was written as he watched the city of Jerusalem being overtaken by the Babylonians. In the midst of the book we find a great statement. This is especially striking when we realize the hard life he had lived.
Notice the last thing we need to learn about never giving us and that quitting is not an option. Remember the faithfulness of God and His promises being true. Lamentations 3:20-24 "My soul hath them still in remembrance, and is humbled in me. 21This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. 22It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. 23They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness. 24The LORD is my portion, saith my soul; therefore will I hope in him."