Dear Christian friends:

When a mother or father corrects their son or daughter, often the son or daughter is displeased with that. People, because they are proud and self-righteous, do not like to get corrected. So also when God corrects man about his sin, man often becomes angry and displeased.

Church members become angry against the pastor because he warns them about their sin and urges them to be sorry and accept forgiveness through Jesus' blood.

So also did the people of Judah against Jeremiah when he preached God's good Word unto them they got angry against him and said,

What do these words show? They show man's opposition to God's good, kind Word. You maybe think anyone ought to gladly hear God's Word, but that isn't true. Our old sinful heart and mind always rebels against the truth of God's Word.

Let us look at the case of Jeremiah. God sent Jeremiah to preach in the temple court and warn the Jews about their sin and evil deeds, that they repent and receive His mercy and forgiveness. Now God didn't send Jeremiah to warn them because He hated them; No! If He hated them He would of said nothing and only destroyed them. God loved these people and thought only of their salvation and good.

So also Jeremiah felt love for them. He did not warn them for anger and hatred: No! He knew if they didn't stop and change they would get punished and lost from God.

We see this love of Jeremiah for the people in verses 12-15 after they threatened to kill him, he was not afraid or worried about losing his own life. He continued to show them God's Word and argued that God had sent him. Then he says, "I am in your hands: do with me as you wish, but remember, that if you kill me, you will bring innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and upon all the people living here."

Jeremiah was not worried about losing his own life, he worried about the people bringing more and more curse and destruction upon themselves. So he risks his life to preach to them and warn them.

So also every true minister of God does. He preaches God's word exactly, even, if that hurts and shames people. He knows that is for their good, so they wake up and are sorry and change their ways trusting God's mercy in Jesus. The true minister doesn't worry about his own job or life. He risks his job and life that the people may hear and believe.

But a false minister will often be quiet about sins of the people and not correct them because he is afraid that the people may expel him or not pay him enough money, so he shuts up about people's wrongs and leaves them in their sins.

But God wants his preachers to tell the truth to people that they may become sorry and change and believe in Jesus' blood.

Some people believe, but many do not and become stubborn and angry and seek to hurt the preacher. The Jews said that to Jeremiah, "Thou shalt surely die." Eight hundred years later they said the same of Jesus: "He is guilty of death and they forced Pilate to crucify Him!" Now we know that Jesus loved the people and always preached the truth. But, "they loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." (John 3:19)

Today also, church members often become stubborn and angry when the minister preaches and warns about their sins. Let the minister preach about money and tithing and stewardship and see how cross and angry many members become. They love their money and comforts and pleasures more than God and His will and work.

If he preaches that we are no good worthless sinners before God and can be saved only by faith in Jesus' blood, many are offended and not interested. They think they are some good and can please God by their own deeds, without Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That's why they do not feel eager to hear God's Word every Sunday or read it every day.

Let us be warned by this opposition of sinners against God's Word. See how tricky it is and give it up by humbly confessing our sins and unworthiness before God. And then trust in His mercy for pardon and peace through Jesus crucified. If we don't, then God's punishment will surely come upon us as it came upon the Jews.

They mocked God's truth and mercy and later killed Jeremiah, stoning him to death. This God will not suffer. He let the enemy King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon come with his army and destroy Jerusalem and the beautiful temple. And all the people were bound and led away to Babylon to serve as slaves for seventy years.

This happened again to the Jews after they crucified Jesus. The Romans came again and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple. Today the Jews are scattered all over the world, without God's mercy in Jesus, for most still reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

This punishment of God has fallen on other countries too. Russia, Germany, Italy, France were once strong Christian nations, but now are chiefly unbelievers or communists.

This punishment has also fallen on many persons in our country. They once believed Jesus, but they they became proud and stubborn against God's Word. I know of many deaf who once believed but now care not for Jesus and His true Word. Perhaps you can think of some who once believed in Jesus, but then became displeased because the pastor warned him about a certain sin, which he loved and didn't want to give up.

Let this be a good warning to us that we may humbly hear God's Word and accept His warning and correction, trusting in His mercy through Jesus' blood.

Amen.