Jeremiah 42:11
Do not be afraid of the king of Babylon, whom you now fear; do not be afraid of him, declares the LORD, for I am with you to save you and deliver you from him.
Sermons
Divine Comforts for Those in Doubt and FearD. Young Jeremiah 42:7-12
Man's Utter Dependence Upon GodS. Conway Jeremiah 42:7-18














These verses plainly show this much forgotten but never failing truth. They tell how the land of Judah, desolate, unprotected, and oppressed, could be and should be made a happy land for them. Whilst Egypt, the land they hoped so much from, should bring on them all the sorrows which they thought by going there to escape. Thus we are taught that it is according to God's favour our lives are blessed or unblessed, bright or dark. Mere circumstances are unable to ensure either the one or the other, but the presence or absence of God's favour alone. Now -

I. MEN DO NOT THINK THIS. See their frantic endeavours to make their circumstances pleasant. And how they struggle against adversity, as if all evil were contained in that! Their opinion is very clear.

II. BUT YET IT MUST BE. For:

1. Our happiness or unhappiness depends entirely on the way in which we regard these circumstances. That is to say, it depends upon our mind, upon that which is within us rather than that which is without. Hence what gives great pleasure to one yields none or even the reverse of pleasure to others. The merry laugh of children, e.g,, to one in deep sadness, or irritable, or discontented. And vice versa. But:

2. God has constant access to the minds of us all, and he has made their satisfaction to depend upon him. "Nostrum cor inquietum est donec requiescat in te" (Augustine). He can flood them with joy in the darkest hour - Paul and Silas in the dungeon at Philippi; and he can make the most favourable circumtances powerless to render a man happy - Haman because of Mordecai; the conscience stricken, those from whom for any cause he hides his face, are illustrations. And abundant facts prove the powerlessness of mere circumstance over the minds of men.

III. THE INFLUENCE THAT THESE CONSIDERATIONS OUGHT TO HAVE UPON US.

1. Not to lead us to despise circumstances, and so to be careless as to the outward lot of either ourselves or others. For though they have not all power over the mind, God has given them very much power - a power that they lose only when he pleases.

2. But to estimate them rightly. This we can only do as we bring into view the unseen and the eternal, which can only be as we live in view of it by the habit of prayer, thought, and practical regard to God's will as expressed in conscience and his Word. So shall our balances be adjusted, and we shall rightly judge. There is a machine employed at the Mint of such perfect accuracy and finish that, when a number of sovereigns are tested by it, it will automatically and instantly and infallibly reject every one that fails in the least degree to come up to the proper standard of weight. So if we thus bring into view the unseen and eternal, all the crowd of facts and events that come before us day by day will each one spontaneously, promptly, and infallibly be judged, and we shall neither under nor over estimate them but as we ought.

3. To seek above all things the favour of God; for "in his favour is life, and his loving kindness is better than life itself." - C.

All the people... came near, and said unto Jeremiah the prophet.
I. PRAYERFULNESS. "Pray for us." The prophet was implored to intercede with God on behalf of his countrymen. That which prosperity had failed to teach, was quickly learned in the day of adversity. God is honoured when His people cast themselves on His all-sufficiency; and He will repay their confidence by revelations of enlarged, and ever-enlarging, favour.

II. TEACHABLENESS. "That the Lord thy God may show," &c. Matthew Henry well says, "In every difficult and doubtful case our eye must be up to God for direction: we cannot be guided by a spirit of prophecy, which has ceased; but we may pray to be guided in our movements by a spirit of wisdom, and the hints of providence."

1. A teachable spirit is not a credulous spirit. It does not believe, except on evidence; as the preacher is to persuade men, so is he ever to re-echo the first words God addresses to His rebellious creatures, "Come, now, and let us reason together."

2. A teachable spirit is not a captious spirit.

3. A teachable spirit is not a reluctant spirit.

(W. G. Barrett.)

The Lord shall answer you, I will declare it unto you.
Homilist.
I. THE TRUE PREACHER SEEKS HIS MESSAGE FOR THE PEOPLE FROM HEAVEN. "I will pray," &c. There are preachers who seek their message from the theories of philosophy, from the works of literature, from the conclusions of their own reasoning. But a true teacher looks to Heaven. In his studies his great question is, "What saith the Lord"; in his ministration his language is, "Thus saith the Lord." We cannot render the spiritual service to humanity, of which it is in urgent need, by endeavouring to instruct it with human ideas, even though they come from the highest intellects of the world. The ideas of God can alone renovate, spiritually enlighten, purify, ennoble, and save the human soul.

II. The true preacher DELIVERS HIS MESSAGE TO THE PEOPLE FULL AND FAITHFULLY. "I will keep nothing back from you."

(1)Though it strike against your prejudices.

(2)Though it enkindle your indignation.

(Homilist.)

People
Hoshaiah, Jeremiah, Jezaniah, Johanan, Kareah
Places
Babylon, Egypt, Jerusalem
Topics
Affirmation, Afraid, Babylon, Declares, Deliver, Fear, Fearing, Hands, Safe, Salvation, Save, Says
Outline
1. Johanan desires Jeremiah to enquire of God, promising obedience to his will.
7. Jeremiah assures him of safety in Judea;
13. and destruction in Egypt.
19. He reproves their hypocrisy.

Dictionary of Bible Themes
Jeremiah 42:11

     8754   fear

Library
Jeremiah, a Lesson for the Disappointed.
"Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord."--Jeremiah i. 8. The Prophets were ever ungratefully treated by the Israelites, they were resisted, their warnings neglected, their good services forgotten. But there was this difference between the earlier and the later Prophets; the earlier lived and died in honour among their people,--in outward honour; though hated and thwarted by the wicked, they were exalted to high places, and ruled in the congregation.
John Henry Newman—Parochial and Plain Sermons, Vol. VIII

"The Carnal Mind is Enmity against God for it is not Subject to the Law of God, Neither Indeed Can Be. So Then they that Are
Rom. viii. s 7, 8.--"The carnal mind is enmity against God for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God." It is not the least of man's evils, that he knows not how evil he is, therefore the Searcher of the heart of man gives the most perfect account of it, Jer. xvii. 12. "The heart is deceitful above all things," as well as "desperately wicked," two things superlative and excessive in it, bordering upon an infiniteness, such
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Jeremiah
The interest of the book of Jeremiah is unique. On the one hand, it is our most reliable and elaborate source for the long period of history which it covers; on the other, it presents us with prophecy in its most intensely human phase, manifesting itself through a strangely attractive personality that was subject to like doubts and passions with ourselves. At his call, in 626 B.C., he was young and inexperienced, i. 6, so that he cannot have been born earlier than 650. The political and religious
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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