David Miller: Now, would you find the Old Testament book of Jeremiah chapter one. I’m going to abbreviate my sermon because of the time constraints. The title of the sermon is Jeremiah’s Support System.

The most scathing castigation against our fraternity is, annually, hundreds, hundreds of Baptist preachers quit the ministry. Perhaps a reminder of Jeremiah’s call, commission, and care could help to alleviate this dilemma. Let’s begin at chapter one and verse four:

“Then the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Before 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. Then said I, Ah, Lord God! I cannot speak: for I am a child. But 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 shalt thou speak. And be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the Lord.

“Then the Lord put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the Lord said unto me, Behold, I have put my word in thy mouth. See. I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, to destroy, and to throw down, to build and to plant.”

Notice three things about Jeremiah’s call. First, the sovereign prerogative: I sanctified thee. I ordained thee. It wasn’t Jeremiah’s engaging personality, his cleverness or his ability as a public speaker that got him into the ministry. It was the sovereign prerogative of God. God called him to the ministry.

In this day, when churches often require four years from the university, three to ten more from the seminary of a prospective pastor, we would do well to remember that education never caused a man to succeed, nor has the lack thereof caused him to fail. But there’s one thing that will cause you to fail, and that is to not have a rock-solid calling from God to preach. When men do not have a settled conviction that they have been anointed and appointed by God for this business, three things will occur.

One: they will disgrace God. Two: they will disappoint the people. And three: they will be disgusted in their own soul. Be careful. Make your calling and election sure. Number two, I would point out the sovereign, sure predestination by God of Jeremiah. Listen to it: “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee.”

Now, I don’t know where you are in your theology. I do know where you ought to be. And I can’t answer all of the questions about predestination, but I know this: in those times when I’ve been awake at night, asking questions for which I could find no answer, why was I born with my right arm only partially developed? Why, when I was 16 years old, did I contract an unusual and rare form of muscular atrophy?

Progressive. Why today, when more demands are made upon my time and energies, do I have less strength and vitality? Sometimes I have been like Job. I have cried out, “Oh God, I would that I could see you face to face. I would lay my case out before you and demand that you answer my questions.” Have you ever been there?

It is in those seasons of life that the Spirit of God exercises His office. He comes to me with sweet assurance, “David, before you were ever born, in eternity past God singled you out. God appointed the circumstances and the eventualities that bear upon your existence, and God sanctified you to be a preacher of the gospel.”

May I tell you, that restores my soul. That gets me to the place where I think I could face the lions’ den. And if I were ever thrown into the fiery furnace, that I wouldn’t even have the smell of smoke on my garments. Have you settled this matter of being called? Let me add a third item: the sovereign power of God. “I formed thee in the belly.” Jeremiah wasn’t born because of Planned Parenthood. He wasn’t born simply because his parents engaged in conjugal rights. Human conception is contingent upon the sovereignty of God.

I was asked to serve on the trustee board of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in the late 1980s. Being a rookie trustee, they invited me to give a three minute testimony. I told Glenda what I intended to say. She suggested I rethink my statement. But with tongue in cheek, I said, “Thou speakest as one of the foolish women.” You want to be smiling if you say that.

Here’s how I began my testimony. I said, “Brethren, I had a very lowly beginning in life. I was not only a depraved fellow, I was also a deformed fetus. Consequently, I get unusually nervous around Baptist ethics professors who are pro-life— or rather pro-choice on abortion. If you think I have an agenda as I come to serve on this trustee board, I commend you for your discernment.”

I’m glad to tell you we routed out, we threw down that ungodly, abominable idea that Baptists would pay the salaries of professors in their oldest flagship seminary who held the view that abortion was alright, when God is involved and is sovereign over human conception and fetal development. I believe when a man has considered the sovereign prerogative, the sure predestination, and the sovereign power of God in his being and in his calling, he’s got a good, firm foundation upon which to build a ministry. But there’s a second item in the lesson. It has to do with his commission. Two things: “Thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee.” Now, I know a lot of preachers who do a lot of going, but most of the time it’s upward to better benefits, to more social amenities commensurate with their academic credentials. Are you listening?

But a person who’s not willing to go everywhere God might send him probably is not fit to go anywhere. If you have to go 60 miles in a log truck to Snowball, Arkansas, I’d rather go there with the blessing and the benediction of the almighty upon my soul than to go to any other venue without it.

Number two: “Not only shall you go where I send you, but whatsoever I command thee shalt thou speak.” And there’s a negative and a positive. Throw down, destroy. That’s preaching against sin.

If there’s anything that stirs my ire today, it’s a preacher that won’t preach against sin. You’re not worth your salt. Muster the courage. Churches are dying for lack of preaching. Much of the reason for the moral melee that our culture is in in America today lies at the feet of the preachers. There was a time when at every crossroads, in every village and hamlet and town and city across this great nation, pulpits were ablaze with preachers preaching the word of God, calling sin by its name. I pray we shall return.

But if that’s all you do, you will never fulfill your calling. You can condemn everybody to Hell and back, but if that’s all you do, you’re not preaching the whole counsel. You must build, and you must plant. That’s why we’ve had a 22nd annual expository preaching conference. The best way to build and to plant is to preach the word of God verse by verse, clause by clause. That edifies. That gives the saints a balanced diet. That will mature Christians.

But now I want to close my sermon by speaking of Jeremiah’s care. “Be not afraid of their faces.” Have you seen their faces? Jeremiah did not have Guidestones. He didn’t have social security. He didn’t have someone in the Baptist building with a background in counseling to whom he could turn if things got rough. I’m glad I’ve got all three.

What Jeremiah had is a promise from an immutable God. “I will be with thee to deliver thee, sayeth the Lord.” And he commenced his ministry, but ere long, the men of Anathoth conspired against him to kill him. He was in the dungeon for awhile. He showed up at last at the Director of Missions office and handed in his written resignation, and he gave the reasons for it.

He said, “My colleagues watch for my downfall.” But even as he gave the reasons, he began to be revived. For he said, “I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay. I could not keep from speaking, because the word of God was like a fire burning in my bones.” There’s a difference in being in the ministry and the ministry being in you.

“‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus. Just to take Him at His word. Just to rest upon His promise and to know thus sayeth the Lord. Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him, how I’ve proved Him o’er and o’er. Jesus, Jesus, oh, for grace to trust Him more.”