Irrevocable Judgment

Transcript

GR 452
7/11/1982
Irrevocable Judgment
Jeremiah 6:1-16
Gil Rugh

Chapter 6 summarizes what Jeremiah has said up to this point. It reiterates the fact of judgment and explains its reasons. Also woven in is an exhortation to Israel to change their ways, to come to Jehovah as their Savior, to place their faith in Him for salvation, and thus to be spared from judgment. There is no possibility that Israel will respond to that cry; the people are set in their sinful ways. They are committed to their own patterns of worship. Their faith is in their ceremonies and religious activities rather than in God Himself, and they are unwilling to consider a change.

This chapter begins with an exhortation to flee. Judgment is already on the way, so the thing to do now is to try to run and hide, but that is a very limited option. Destruction will be so complete that it will overtake those who attempt to hide or flee.

Jeremiah 6:1 begins, “Flee for safety, O sons of Benjamin, from the midst of Jerusalem! Now blow a trumpet in Tekoa and raise a signal over Beth-haccerem.” Tekoa and Beth-haccerem are cities south of Jerusalem. The invader will come from the north, so the exhortation is to flee to the south from Jerusalem. It is another way of telling them that Jerusalem will not save them. The Jews had come to put almost a superstitious or magical identification on Jerusalem. It was God’s city and He would not let anything happen to that city. Their security was tied to their being Jews and belonging to Jerusalem. Jeremiah is saying they had better get out of Jerusalem and run, because there is no safety there.

People are the same way today. Their religious activity almost becomes a superstitious thing. They feel that if they go through certain motions, go to certain places and do certain things, that assures them of the favor of God. Not so.

There is a play on words in verse 1 that we do not pick up in English, “Blow a trumpet in Tekoa.” Tekoa, which means to blow, is being identified with a trumpet. Tekoa is well known because there was a herdsman from Tekoa whom God called to be a prophet--Amos. Verse 1 continues, “For evil looks down from the north, and a great destruction.” The evil is coming from the north, so they should flee to the south. Keep in mind that Jeremiah is not giving a provision on how to escape judgment, but he is emphasizing to them that judgment is coming, and there is no safety in Jerusalem. So they had better try to run and hide in the more sparsely populated and barren regions to the south.

“The comely and dainty one, the daughter of Zion, I will cut off.” verse 2. There is pathos there, that the beautiful daughter of Zion, so attractive and delicate, is to suffer destruction. The lovely people of God who had been taken as His bride and dealt with so bountifully are now going to realize the harshness of judgment. “Shepherds and their flocks will come to her, they will pitch their tents around her, they will pasture each in his place.” verse 3. The shepherds and the flocks represent the armies of the Babylonians, and they are going to graze on Jerusalem.

Jeremiah continues his warning in verses 4-6, “Prepare war against her; arise, and let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the day declines, for the shadows of the evening lengthen! Arise, and let us attack by night and destroy her palaces! For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege against Jerusalem. This is the city to be punished, in whose midst there is only oppression.’” The Jews had looked to God to be the Savior and Protector of Jerusalem, and He was as long as Jerusalem was characterized by faith. The people identified with this city, who had their faith in Jehovah, were thus His people.

You should note in verse 6 that even the destruction of Jerusalem is at the command of God. “For thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Cut down her trees, and cast up a siege against Jerusalem.’” God is totally in control of the situation, but He has determined judgment and punishment upon the disobedient. Cutting down the trees to build the siege work against the city indicates that the land is being made progressively more barren.

Verse 7 describes a problem and gives an exhortation to change, “As a well keeps its waters fresh, so she keeps fresh her wickedness. Violence and destruction are heard in her; sickness and wounds are ever before Me. Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.” A spring replenishes the waters of a well with fresh, cold water. In the same way, Jerusalem has kept its wickedness fresh by constantly infusing a fresh supply of sin into the city. The people are constantly indulging in sin.

But there is a warning in verse 8, “Be warned, O Jerusalem, lest I be alienated from you; lest I make you a desolation, a land not inhabited.” The major emphasis is judgment, but within judgment the exhortation to change is repeated. Whom could the Jews blame for the terrible destruction that will come upon them but themselves? God warned them again and again. He told them He would be alienated and would bring destruction, but they will not take heed.

The warning continues in verse 9, “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘They will thoroughly glean as the vine the remnant of Israel; pass your hand again like a grape gatherer over the branches.’” Pulling all the grapes off the vine indicates that Israel is going to be devastated, all the blessings they have enjoyed are going to be removed.

How would you like to be Jerusalem? We need to keep in mind that these prophets were human beings just like us. He had the same difficulty in his ministry that we experience in ours--speaking to people about judgment for sin who do not want to hear it. They are confident and complacent in their own religious activity. “I am fine,” they say. “My conscience is clear. I am sure I am all right before God.”

They are not open to hear about judgment, so Jeremiah says in verse 10, “To whom shall I speak and give warning, that they may hear? Behold, their ears are closed (literally, uncircumcised), and they cannot listen. Behold, the word of the Lord has become a reproach to them; they have no delight in it.” What an awesome statement. Here are the people of God to whom the Scriptures were addressed, and Jeremiah says, “To whom am I going to give this word of judgment? These people have no ability to hear the Word of God. They have uncircumcised ears.”

We have already seen uncircumcised hearts in Jeremiah. That indicates they are not open to the Word of God. Only one other time is that expression “uncircumcised” used this way in Scripture. It is used in the New Testament by Stephen on the occasion of his stoning in Acts 7:51 where he addressed them, “You men who are stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit; you are doing just as your fathers did.” There is no change. Jeremiah and, centuries later, Stephen are addressing the people of God--people who are very religious. They are not true believers, but people who claim to belong to God. They are very meticulous in their religious practices. Both men say the people have no ability to hear or understand the Word of God.

Jeremiah is frustrated. “To whom am I going to talk? Everyone I share this truth with will not listen. They do not understand.” That is significant. They cannot listen with understanding. In 1 Corinthians 2:14 we are told that the natural man cannot understand the things of the Spirit of God. The person who is an unbeliever does not have the ability to grasp the significance of the truth of God. It takes a special supernatural work of the Spirit to do that. Why? Because of our stubborn sinfulness. We do not want to hear about sin or judgment. We do not want to hear about the need for a Savior. We do not mind hearing about religion or good works, but we do not want to hear about judgment and sin. We do not want to hear that there is only one way of salvation which is through faith in the death and resurrection of the Son of God. Such people have no delight in the Word of God.

Later on, we are going to read Jeremiah’s statement, “Thy words were found and I ate them, and Thy words became for me a joy and the delight of my heart; for I have been called by Thy name, O Lord God of hosts.” Jeremiah 15:16. Note the difference. For the child of God who has believed in Him, the Word of God causes joy and rejoicing. For the unbeliever, there is no delight or enjoyment in the Word of God.

But what is Jeremiah to do? In verse 11 of Jeremiah 6 he says, “But I am full of the wrath of the Lord: I am weary with holding it in.” Jeremiah is in a dilemma. He cannot find anyone who will listen to him, and yet he is so full of the message of God and its wrath. The message that Jeremiah has is a message of wrath and he says, “I cannot contain it. I have got to tell somebody.” So he goes ahead and tells the people who will not listen, because whether they listen or not is not primarily Jeremiah’s concern. That is God’s concern. Jeremiah’s concern is to present the message. That takes a lot of pressure off him--and me. If I do not have to sit down and analyze whether the people will listen or not, that gives me much more freedom in just dumping the message. So who is he going to tell?

God answers in verse 11 and 12, “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gathering of young men together; for both husband and wife shall be taken, the aged and the very old. And their houses shall be turned over to others, their fields and their wives together; for I will stretch out My hand against the inhabitants of the land.” God says Jeremiah is to pour it out on everyone. Why? Because everyone is going to experience the judgment. So who should you tell about sin and hell? Everyone! Why? Because it affects everyone. Not only those who hear and respond to God’s message of salvation by believing in God’s Son Jesus Christ. He says tell it to the young and the old alike. God is no respecter of persons. The message of judgment affects the young and old, the husbands and wives, everyone! So, Jeremiah’s dilemma is resolved. He cannot find anyone who will listen to the Word of God, but that does not change his responsibility. He still has to dump it out-- “Pour it out on the children in the street, and on the gathering of the young men. . .and the very old” verse 11. There is tragedy in that statement that all are going to be consumed--the young and old alike and everyone in between. When we speak about judgment, we include everyone.

We have seen earlier in Jeremiah that judgment does not have anything to do with the greatness of a person or the lack of greatness, with wealth or lack of wealth. It has nothing to do with the age of a person. Rather, it is an issue of sin. So when God says all have sinned and the wages of sin is death, that encompasses everyone. So to whom do we carry that message? Everyone! But they do not want to hear it. That is no different than in Jeremiah’s day, right? It is always enjoyable to proclaim the truth of God to a responsive people. But when we carry a message of wrath and judgment, we carry it by and large to a people who are not listening.

Verse 13 introduces another problem. The people are religious for the wrong reasons. “For from the least of them even to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for gain, and from the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.” We think of materialism as a current phenomenon, but it is nothing new. Jeremiah said that in his day the people were preoccupied with acquisition. They were greedy for gain, and that became a barrier to their considering sin and salvation. We say we live in a materialistic society. That is another way of saying that we live in the world, and 1 John says the whole world lies under the power of the evil one. This society has always been materialistic. Sometimes it manifests itself more clearly than at others, but Jeremiah with a message from God says it is true “from the least of them even to the greatest.” verse 13. It does not have anything to do with whether you are important or unimportant, rich or poor. We have the same motivation. “Everyone is greedy for gain.” verse 13. It also includes the religious leaders. “From the prophet even to the priest everyone deals falsely.” verse 13. So, the leadership is also in the same situation. They are functioning primarily for what they can get, for what it will mean to them.

There is a subtle beginning of this that happens to Christians when we approach our whole Christian life and our dealings with other believers from the standpoint of what we get out of it. The root of that is selfishness. We are greedy for gain at perhaps the beginning levels. We evaluate everything on what is in it for me. That church does not do anything for me, you think. They are not meeting my needs. They are not doing this for me. That ought to be a red light flashing that something is wrong. Instead of looking to see how God could use me to meet the needs of these people, I am thinking, in what way could God use these people to meet my needs? When that begins to happen, you have started down that road to being greedy for gain. Soon you are discontent because these people never do what you need; then one thing leads to another. It is because we are all greedy for gain.

Note in verse 14 what they preach, “And they have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace.” They preach a message that you are okay, and I am okay. “God loves you and so do I. Something good is going to happen to you,” and on and on it goes. The message is always, “You are great. You are okay. Everything is all right between you and God, and He wants to do marvelous things in your life.” But where is the message of wrath and judgment? Here comes Jeremiah plodding into the city having to tell them that they are sinners under condemnation. The wrath of God is coming. He has to compete with this jokester on the corner who is telling them, “God loves you just as you are, and He would never allow any tragedy. He certainly would not allow destruction upon His people.” Is it any wonder the people liked the false prophets and did not like Jeremiah? What would you rather hear? People telling you that you are a sinner or people telling you how good and wonderful you are? That God loves you like you are, and everything is okay? That is the message of the false prophet. That ought to be something that causes us to perk up our ears. When you hear somebody always saying good things, is he really teaching the Word of God? False prophets say, “Peace, peace,” but the problem is that there is no peace.

“They have healed the brokenness of My people superficially.” (v. 14). This is going to be more fully developed later in Jeremiah’s messages, particularly in chapter 8 where condemnation is poured out on people who say, “peace, peace,” when there is no peace. God says it is a serious matter, that the people are sinners under condemnation, but the false prophets are telling them everything is okay. Something is wrong.

Look at a couple of passages in the New Testament. Second Peter 2:1 shows something of the motivation and the message of these men, “But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will also be false teachers among you.” 2 Peter 2:1. Just as in Jeremiah’s day in the Old Testament, there will be false teachers among you. Peter is writing to believers to tell them that false teachers will arise “who will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves.” 2 Peter 2:1. That is amazing. Just like there were false prophets in Israel, there will be false teachers who will claim to be the people of God. In subtle ways they will secretly introduce destructive heresies that lead ultimately to even the denial of the finished work of Jesus Christ.

When you tell sinful, fallen beings that they are all right, you are in effect denying the necessity of the finished work of Jesus Christ. They are not all right. They are under condemnation and are destined for hell. Unless they believe in the provision that God made in His Son, Jesus Christ, they will spend eternity in hell. Any other message is a denial of the Master who bought them.

Peter continues, “And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of the truth will be maligned; and in their greed,” there is the word we are talking about--their greed for gain-- “they will exploit you with false words.” 2 Peter 2:2-3. The King James Version says, “make merchandise for you.” They are trafficking among believers. It grieves me how many Christians support these hucksters who are proclaiming a message that is not true, who are greedy for gain. And gullible Christians send money to them to enable them to continue a ministry of deception. There is no excuse for it. God has been clear. They secretly introduce destructive heresies, so you must be very discerning and very careful. What are they in it for? Greed.

Paul wrote to Timothy about such men. “If any one advocates a different doctrine, and does not agree with sound words, those of our Lord Jesus Christ, and with the doctrine conforming to godliness, he is conceited and understands nothing; but he has a morbid interest in controversial questions and disputes about words, out of which arise envy, strife, abusive language, evil suspicions, and constant friction between men of depraved mind and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a means of gain.” 1 Timothy 6:3-5. These are men who have given their lives to doctrines they do not know and do not understand. Why? They suppose this is a good way to make money. Some of them make quite a good living doing it. Things have not changed in the centuries between Jeremiah and Paul and Peter, and in the centuries down to today the same thing goes on.

Jeremiah said, “And they have healed the brokenness of My people superficially, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ but there is no peace” Jeremiah 6:14. Isaiah wrote, “‘There is no peace for the wicked,’ says the Lord.” Isaiah 48:22. Jeremiah says that God’s observation is that the Jews are keeping their wickedness fresh just like a well. And at the same time the false prophets are saying, “Peace, peace.” But God says there is no peace for the wicked. How do you reconcile those messages? One is from God and one is from the devil. You would expect that they would contradict one another and clash.

Isaiah goes on, “But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up refuse and mud. ‘There is no peace,’ says my God, ‘for the wicked.’” Isaiah 57:20-21. This speaks to the basic problem within individuals today. We have so much emphasis on people learning to accept themselves and to be at peace with themselves, but they are churning on the inside. They are driven on and on, but there is no peace.

Ezekiel wrote, “Thus says the Lord God, ‘Woe to the foolish prophets who are following their own spirit and have seen nothing ... ’ Therefore, thus says the Lord God, ‘Because you have spoken falsehood and seen a lie, therefore behold, I am against you.’” (Ezekiel 13:3, 8. We believers had better be against what God is against. People sometimes get upset when I speak about certain teachers that have made themselves prominent through the media. But we had better be discerning. When God says, “I am against them,” we had better be lined up behind Him, not looking for some reason to make them acceptable. God says He is against those who proclaim a message that is not from Him. Some people say, “Well, I could learn something from them. They do have some good points.” It is rubbish! It is worse than that. It is poison! Some Christians delight in sifting around in the garbage can to see if something good has been left.

God continued His warning through Ezekiel, “So My hand will be against the prophets who see false visions and utter lying divinations. They will have no place in the council of My people, nor will they be written down in the register of the house of Israel, nor will they enter the land of Israel, that you may know that I am the Lord God. It is definitely because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace. And when anyone builds a wall, behold, they plaster it over with whitewash.” Ezekiel 13:9-10. This is an apt description. They want to plaster over the wall with whitewash to make it look good even though the wall is going to crumble down. There is so much of that among religions today--to make people feel good, to lure them on to believe they are okay before God. But God says His hand will be against them. He says it is “because they have misled My people by saying, ‘Peace!’ when there is no peace.” verse 10. The prophets have not told them about sin and judgment, so God is against them. They have delivered a lying message because there is no peace for the wicked. Peace comes only as a result of personal faith in Jesus Christ. “Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,” Paul wrote in Romans 5:1. That is foundational. Any other message is false. God is against it, and He is against that messenger. So, we had better be too.

It is amazing how sin works. It makes us callous and insensitive. Was Israel ashamed of their condition? Did they blush when confronted with their own sinfulness? Did they shrink back and say, “Oh, this is too convicting!”? Not at all. God asks, “Were they ashamed because of the abomination they have done? They were not even ashamed at all; they did not even know how to blush.” Jeremiah 6:15. You could not embarrass them. This speaks so clearly of how people get with their sin. People are not ashamed; they cannot even blush. To them, it is no big deal. It’s amazing how sin takes hold. That can happen in our lives as well. Sin that is tolerated creates calluses, and we become insensitive.

We all know the pattern. The first time you indulge in sin, it is so convicting that you are miserable, and you do not sleep. But if you persist in that sin over a period of time, pretty soon it does not bother you at all. Your conscience does not say anything. Some people say, “I am comfortable. I really believe it is all right between God and me.” In fact, I have actually sat and talked with people involved in blatant immorality and heard them say they have prayed about it, and their conscience is clear before God. And all I can say is that they have such a filthy conscience that they cannot see through it. Your conscience may be clear before you because it has become so callused and indifferent that it no longer functions.

You can speak to people about sin. What do you mean, sin? Who says that is sin? They do not blush; they deny its reality and are not ashamed. They can even be open about it. You sometimes hear about suits on the news--somebody wants palimony. (All the words we come up with for sin are amazing!) Because they lived together, she thinks he owes her something, and nobody is blushing about it. They do not care that it is on the front page of the papers. Besides, they might make a few bucks on it. Who says there is anything wrong with it? Nobody looks down their noses.

Christians had better be careful as well. Sin tolerated in our lives operates the same way. It makes us callused and indifferent, no longer sensitive to the Word of God. That is the danger of harboring sin. We can sit under the Word week after week and build a barrier so that the Word of God does not penetrate, thus not allowing the Spirit to carry on His convicting ministry. After a period of time, we can sit and listen to the Word and it makes no impact. What a tragedy!

God gives the results of such insensitivity. “‘Therefore, they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be cast down,’ says the LORD” Jeremiah 6:15. The fact that people do not have any sense of wrong, that they are not personally convicted by the guilt or convinced of the wrong does not change reality. It is still true that sin brings judgment. And it does not matter how comfortable you are. God says He will bring the judgment. So, we must come to the Word and say, “If that is what God says, then it is true.” Then we need to function accordingly.

Notice God’s exhortation in verse 16, “Thus says the LORD, ‘Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is, and walk in it; and you shall find rest for your souls. But they said, “We will not walk in it.”’” This is not substantiating the validity of tradition. The thing some people cling to most in their religious worship is the way it has always been done. “Our church has tradition,” they brag. “It has heritage.” They do not know enough about the Bible to know whether it is biblical or not. They have placed their total faith in the traditions of the church, and they are just like unbelieving Israel. That is going to be clear in Jeremiah’s next section. They have put complete faith in their traditions and their heritage. But that is not what God is talking about.

When He says, “Stand by the ways and see and ask for the ancient paths,” He is talking about the revelation He has given in His Word. He is referring to the way that men like Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moses had followed in faith, believing the Word of God. Israel was continuing with the traditions and religious ceremony and going to great expense to do it. Jeremiah will deal with that. But the problem is that they have left the ancient ways. They had left the heart of the whole system which was faith in God and the revelation He had given of Himself. And they are continuing these hollow, external forms and trusting their eternal salvation to external religious ceremony.

Things have not changed a bit. People are doing the same today, doing it because Martin Luther did it, because John Calvin did it, or because John Wesley did it. They continue a lot of the ceremonies and ritual, but what they have lost is the faith these men had in Jesus Christ. They are not believing in the Savior that God had provided nor proclaiming the truth of His Word. But they have continued the hollow traditions, the forms and the ceremonies. That is the difference. They need to be exhorted to return to the ancient ways. If the Presbyterians today had the faith of John Calvin, the Presbyterian church would be totally different. If the Methodists had the faith of John Wesley, the Methodist church would be totally different. If the Lutherans had the faith of Martin Luther, we would have another reformation. But what has happened? We have all these ceremonies chugging along with people placing their eternal salvation in the ceremony, ritual and form.

I am not saying that there are no Presbyterians, Methodists, or Lutherans who are saved. I believe Lutherans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists and others can be saved, but only by recognizing their sin and believing Jesus Christ the Son of God died for them personally and was raised from the dead because He had accomplished salvation. That is the means of salvation, not going through certain rituals, routines or ceremonies. People at this church have to be saved the same way, not by coming here and going through the ritual or routine, but by believing the message concerning the Savior, Jesus Christ.

That is the exhortation here--return to the ancient ways, what God intended when He gave that revelation to and through Moses to the people. He told them to return to that faith.

God tells them what will happen if they do return, “And you shall find rest for your souls” Jeremiah 6:16. Matthew 11 tells how to find rest for your soul, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and you shall find rest for your souls.” Matthew 11:28-29. Jesus is quoting from the statement in Jeremiah 6, “You shall find rest for your souls.” True peace and rest for the soul is found only in a personal relationship with the Savior God provided, Jesus Christ. Only by coming to Him, resting upon Him, trusting Him as the Savior, can you find rest for your souls. The false prophets were proclaiming a message, “Peace, peace!” which was true in part. The problem is that they were preaching it to a people who had no relationship with God and who did not have peace. That is the tragedy.

There are people today who will not preach to the wicked that there is no peace. They are preaching, “Peace, peace,” but they are not telling how to have that peace. There is peace and rest, but it is only for those who believe in Jesus Christ. That is the difference. Be careful. Do you see how subtly these secretly destructive heresies are introduced? They take something that is true and inject it in the context of error, and gullible Christians devour it. Amazing!

God told the people how they could find rest for their souls. “But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’” Jeremiah 6:16. Is it not amazing? In a conversation between God and the wicked, God says, “Here is the way of salvation, peace and forgiveness.” What did the people say? “We will not walk in it.” It is another way of saying, “We will not heed what you say.” God says, “Walk in the path that I have established. Believe in Me and My message.” And they say, “We will not.”

Several centuries later Jesus offered Israel forgiveness, but they rejected it then also. “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling.” Matthew 23:37. Note where the responsibility is placed. God has offered them salvation. He has presented deliverance to them, but they are unwilling.

Is it just, right and fair that God would bring judgment and destruction upon sinful people? That sinful people would be condemned to an eternity in hell? The question comes again, what else could God do? He invites them to believe His Word, to experience His salvation, to know the rest and peace that He gives as a result of faith in the death and resurrection of His own Son. But people are unwilling to walk in His way. “I have my religion,” they say. “I have my church. I have my beliefs.” These are all ways of saying, “We are unwilling.” Do you know what? Judgment still comes. The reality does not change. And thus, they become recipients of judgment rather than of salvation.

Where are you in your relationship to God? Maybe you come to church week in and week out. That is just part of your religious tradition, and you are sure you are on your way to heaven because you come to church every week. Besides, you were baptized here and take communion here, you teach Sunday school here, and on and on. It has nothing to do with your salvation. Salvation is a result of personal faith in Jesus Christ, and all the religious forms and traditions in the world cannot bring one single person into a right relationship with God. The only way you can have a right relationship with Him is to recognize your own personal sinfulness, recognize that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid the penalty of your sin by dying in your place, and put your faith in Him. In that instant of time, salvation occurs.

Let me encourage you if you are a believer. Jeremiah had a message to proclaim that no one wanted to hear, but he had to go and pour it out on them anyway. May God give us the boldness to not be intimidated by people. We have a message of sin, judgment and salvation that must be proclaimed to the people. Praise God, I do not have to be overly burdened, because it is not my job to save them. I have a burden for them, but my responsibility is clear. Tell them the truth and allow the Spirit of God to use the truth in their heart as He determines.