Peter Barnes | Jeremiah 45
SERMON NOTES
SEEK NOT GREAT THINGS FOR YOURSELF
Jeremiah 45; Matthew 20:20-28
– Baruch was Jeremiah’s secretary and suffered with him (cf. 36:17-19; 43:1-3)
1. Faithfulness means more than success.
– 45:1-3; this is worse than Jeremiah’s laments in 15:18; 20:14-18
– Robert Morrison laboured in China from 1807 to 1834 with only ten baptized converts.
– 1 Cor.4:1-2
2. Give up our small ambitions.
– 45:5a; Ps.131:1
– Paul’s coveting was surely ambition (Gal.1:14; Rom.7:7); see Gal.6:14; Matt.20:25-27
Pascal: Self will can never be satisfied, even if it were to secure everything it wanted; but we are satisfied the moment we give it up.
3. God delivers His people.
– 45:4-5; see 1:10; also Ebed-melech in 38:7-13; 39:15-18