"Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judah: not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt: which My covenant they brake, although I was a husband unto them, saith the Lord:

But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put My Law in their inward parts, and in their hearts I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people: and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and everyman his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34, AV).

Of all the prophets, I think Jeremiah was one of the saddest, because his burden was so heavy. The people would not listen to him, and even some of his own townspeople and relatives opposed him and tried to kill him. He had periods of intense depression over his failure. He did not want to be a prophet in the first place, but the urgency of his message was like a fire raging within him, and he could not contain it. Jeremiah, therefore, stands as an example of total faithfulness to God, regardless of personal desires or circumstances.

I personally feel a great identity with Jeremiah sometimes, especially in his loneliness. He was, above all, a sensitive man, even hyper-sensitive. And God has a very special ministry for sensitive souls if they will listen to and follow Him. He calls them to be preachers and witnesses. It is a fact that you cannot do anything with people unless you are sensitive. Pity the patient who finds himself in a hospital tended by a nurse who isn't sensitive. Pity the school that has for a headmaster a man whose nature is thick and wooden. Pity the audience listening to a pianist skilled in technique but lacking in soul. Sensitivity is the key to all great artistry, sensitiveness of soul.

But some people are thick. And it was the destiny of Jeremiah to be called to preach at a time when most people were thick. Their passions burst from them like fat boys bursting their seams. They sniffed like dogs, and neighed like horses, quivering to gratify their lusts. And the women turned harlot lay sprawling in every dark corner. And amidst all this sweating heap of brutish humanity God called hyper-sensitive Jeremiah to witness of Himself.

To give you some idea of just how low humanity had sunk in Jeremiah's day we are given a graphic portrayal of Israel in the second chapter of his book. For we read how God looked longingly back to the period of Israel's wandering in the wilderness, as if it were a honeymoon with His bride. What a contrast! Israel was bad enough in the deserts of the Sinai under Moses, constantly murmuring and rebelling and even stooping to the idolatrous sin of worshipping a golden calf. Yet by comparison with Jeremiah's time, that had been a golden age!

Little more than a century earlier a similar comparison was made with the northern 10 tribes of Israel who had also been God's bride (Hosea 2:15). In the third chapter of Jeremiah's book, the prophet depicts Israel and Judah as sisters, both of them married polygamously to the Lord. Israel had played the harlot and God divorced her and now Judah's guilt was worse than hers (Jeremiah 3:6-11).

During the French revolution a Roman Catholic priest was called for the first time in his life to act as chaplain to a marquise condemned to be beheaded in the Place de Grève. How could he do it? How could he kneel there, holding her hand before that vulgar, staring mob, reciting in Latin the Salve as the sword fell by the headsman's hand? But he did it. There is courage of a kind not always counted. It is the courage of the sensitive who do not shrink from facing lewdness.

And such was Jeremiah. Indeed, I do not think in all the scriptures there is a man to be compared with him for such quality of courage -- unless it be our Lord Himself walking to His crucifixion. But this is the measure of Jeremiah's greatness, that he never abandoned the people he served. They guffawed at him; they belched at him; they imprisoned him; they tried to drown him in a pit in which was only slime to suck him under; but still he never ran away.

This Covenant -- the New Covenant -- is calling latter-day Jeremiahs, sensitive, courageous souls who are willing to suffer every indignity from the people they are to serve. It is a measure of their love and dedication of the Lord to stand firm, despite their sensitivity and revulsion at the coarseness and vulgarity of those they have come to serve. The New Covenant Church of God is a school of prophets whom God is calling to be willing to suffer every kind of indignity for His sake in order to reach those that others will not try to reach.

Sensitivity and courage are perhaps two of the greatest hallmarks of true New Covenant Christians, and there are few who have them. For not only are we called to bear the stripes of God's just chastisement of us, but we must be willing to bear the unjust chastisements of men and women. As disciples of Christ we do not have the luxury of taking offense when we are unjustly accused, of withdrawing in indignation or hurt; we cannot strike back or withdraw from the ministry. That is for unbelievers. But we, like Jeremiah, and every other witness of God, must be willing to go amongst the vileness of the worst of humanity, like the Catholic priest, and suffer reproach, insult, and every degradation to minister for others who cannot understand or cope, for the sake of the One who died on Calvary for us. Anything else is simply not Christian discipleship.

I had quite a shock a few days ago as I was reading through the Book of Revelation. I am sure you are all familiar with the kinds of people whom the Lord says are bound for hell, or the second death, those who won't make it unless they repent and radically reform their lives: "..the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars" (Revelation 21:8, NIV). But there are two other categories of person who are awaiting a similar fate, and they are "the cowardly, (and) the unbelieving". Or, as the Authorised King James Version puts it, the "fearful and unbelieving". And who are the cowards? The cowards are those who, having come to a conviction of the truth, are fearful to do anything about it. These are they who are aware of things that need doing in their lives but refuse to do anything about them. They are the souls who are offended in their hearts but who will not come to peace with God. Such are doomed to hell because they are already in it because they refuse to overcome difficulties (Revelation 21:6).

I said that I identified with Jeremiah. I say that because I often get discouraged and because I am also a sensitive person by nature. When people hurt, I hurt too. I just can't help myself. The vulgar and the tawdry repulse me. The crude and the coarse I hate and my instinct is to withdraw and hide. But a higher power compels me to resist that tendency, because I know to do so would be to fail my God and my fellow man, especially those for whom I feel a special closeness in the Gospel. My natural impulses would, furthermore, tend to constrain me not to reveal these deep feelings, yet I know that in order to remain in Christ and to be a blessing to others I must allow those feelings to manifest themselves at the risk of being walked all over.

As New Covenant Christians, we must not hide away our feelings and our thoughts, though we must, of course, be circumspect and bashful when it comes to non-believers, not casting our pearls to be trampled upon. One of the most beautiful aspects of this New Covenant is the obligations we enter into in the Holy Order to be courageous enough to cultivate and utilize this open sensitivity towards each other. Such, of course, comes only when people are really committed to each other in Christ and are willing to lay their spiritual and (if necessary) their physical life on the altar of sacrifice.

Courage and sensitivity have many spin-offs, many blessings, because pre-eminently they allow you to understand people. The cold and insensitive have little understanding of human nature and usually have no idea how a person is inside. They can neither read the signs nor respond positively and supportively to the people. Jeremiah's secret was that he understood the human heart. If you were shy, or silly, or stupid, or serious, Jeremiah would know all about you and would tell you just as much in words, until you would in consternation, like Nathaniel asked of Jesus, ask: "How do you know me?" (John 1:48, NIV). Nathaniel, though, was an honest man, and though surprised at Jesus' ability, did not resent the Saviour that knowledge.

Most others do, though, for they dislike being stripped naked and having their weaknesses exposed. Even more, they dislike to be in the power of others, for knowledge about human nature is power. When a man's weakness is known by another, and that other makes it plain that he knows, such can be very discomforting to the proud, whose reaction is typically hostile. But Jeremiah, like all true prophets, did not use that knowledge for evil ends but to persuade men and women to repent and receive salvation. Nathaniel was humble. He was shocked that Jesus could read him like a book but was sufficiently honest and meek to turn that revelation to his benefit by declaring: "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel!" (John 27:49, NIV). Not so the wicked and proud who resent such knowledge and invariably respond with varying degrees of bitterness.

A sensitive man like Jeremiah would not have enjoyed exposing the wicked as he did. A sensitive man takes no pleasure in being the instrument of causing a wicked man to turn his venom on himself. The wicked and proud, the vain and arrogant, prefer to conceal one another's weaknesses and sins so that the status quo is not upset. The world is indeed a case of "dog eat dog", of "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours." It is the unwritten law of the carnal, fallen man, and is, alas, all too prevalent in the Christian churches in all kinds of guises. Such a luxury, if we can call it that, is, as you all know, not to be found in this Church, for we cannot live in guile and deceit. Such is painful for us but absolutely necessary, and there is no Church quite like us.

Sensitivity is a gift of God. It is a revelatory device all on its own. It is imparted to many quite a part from any divine vocation. Shakespeare was like Jeremiah, as was Dostoyevsky, and all the creative artists of the world's greatest literature. They give you entrance to a murderer's heart, a coward's heart, a glutton's heart, a hero's heart, a faithful mother's heart, till you cry aloud in wonder: "How can he know all this?" Could he perchance have been a murderer, coward, glutton, hero, mother, father, child, and son? How does he know, how can he know what it feels to be such characters as these? Does he have to be a supernaturally imbued prophet like Moses? And the answer is, he knows because of SENSITIVITY.

Sensitivity is a prophetic gift that we are either born with or acquire through life's circumstances (often tragedy) or which we cultivate. Such can be used for self interest or for God. When it is used for God, you have the makings of a prophet or a prophetess. Extreme sensitiveness, which is essential to enter into the Church's Priesthood, is a burden to be borne. In many ways it makes life harder. It sharpens pain, it deepens depression, it wearies the body, it tires the nerves. Sensitive people are shy, they retire from the crowd; fears loom up, even unfounded fears, and all this makes the body thin. For the comfortable life -- better be a gourmand, better be coarse; but know this, that all the creative work in reading people stems from sensitiveness which is costly in strength.

And there you have the key to Jeremiah, the key to his shyness -- "Oh Lord, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child!" (Jeremiah 1:6, NIV); the key to his anguish -- "I am a laughing stock all the day; everyone mocks me!" These are the words of Jeremiah. They are similar to what Moses said too (Exodus 3:11). Do you fear people laugh at you? If you do, take courage, for it means you are sensitive. If you are afraid, God will turn your fear into courage if you will trust in Him and He will use you for a great work.

There was a time I wouldn't speak to a soul! There was a time when I would hide myself away. But I put my hand into the Hand of the Lord and He has led me thus far. No, brethren and sisters, if you are sensitive and are afraid when people mock or taunt you, be of good cheer, for God will bless you if you will come to Him in faith. Perhaps we can understand better now why Jeremiah shrank from his call to minister at a time when morals had sunk into decaying putrefaction. But remember, Jeremiah never left these people -- he never ran away. Such was the courage of Jeremiah, and such was his greatness.

Every one of you here today is different. Some of you are sensitive and fearful. Others are a little thicker but have courage. And yet others may be both thick and fearful. Whatever, God is calling you to place yourself upon the anvil of the Gospel so that He can supernaturally remake you. He is calling you to pass through the rigours and discipline of the spiritual training given to the prophets and prophetesses, which is one of the callings of this Church. Everyone who has received a testimony of this work is called, for God has enrolled you in the school of the prophets to be made anew. My job is to put you through your paces and to see that you complete the course. It is not one I particularly enjoy, as I have told you many times, and my heart has already been broken many, many times as I have watched beloved brethren and sisters turn away because of cowardice, pride, stubbornness and cold-heartedness.

We are particularly blessed to have had the Lord give us so many keys of understanding in the revelations so that we are forced to confront the truth or run away. Just after the 1989 General Conference in the old Church the Lord gave this Word to us:

Thus saith the Lord: all things that increase order, beauty and sensitivity are good and are of Me, whether they be inward or outward, and should be eagerly sought after. Those who are sanctified by My Spirit will be seeking more order or discipline, more beauty and more sensitivity until every aspect of their lives becometh harmonious and balanced, like a finely tuned and coordinated orchestra playing a celestial melody. It is the tendency of this world to disorganize, and the disposition of most men and women to organise themselves to a certain degree and then stop. But the sanctified disciple will press onwards, turning his science into art, and his art into pure worship, recreating the Garden of Eden around him, and not being satisfied until his temple, body and home, is a perfect reflection of the mansions above. Therefore seek to beautify and order all that ye are and all that ye do, remembering to seek a balance in all things, that the outer outpaceth not the inner to make sterility of action, and that the inner outpaceth not the outer to make chaos and indiscipline. It is important that ye teach your children these things from an early age, saith the Lord, ingraining them with good habits that will form the groundwork pattern for their spiritual house upon which ye can build as they grow up. For ye must not only give them the freedom to express themselves, that their energy may move to and fro, cleansing their souls, but ye must also discipline them, balancing independence of action with structure and order. Such things as...increase (of) sensitivity, beauty and discipline...are profitable, for if ye are not sensitive to others and the things about you, ye will be unable to develop a selfless, Christ-like love. And if ye seek not after beauty ye will never understand the House of the Messiah, whose Name is Beauty, and will not be able to enter therein. And if ye have not discipline ye will be unable to climb out of fallen matter and into purer spiritual realms, but must of necessity wade in coarseness and twilight like a sow wallowing in the mire. Ye have all been called to be creators, to reverse the decay in that portion of this estate that hath been given unto you, to transform ugliness into beauty, chaos into order, and coarseness into sensitivity. And if ye do not these things ye will never be able to build a Firstborn Community. I shall reveal more of these things in the Temple. Amen (NC&C 138).

Because Jeremiah was such an expert in reading the human heart, it was in the heart that he sought all true religion. There was a majority opinion in his day that a man could only be in touch with God if he stood on Israel's soil. In our day, the equivalent would be to say that it is only possible to be special friends with God in a particular Church. There was also a majority opinion that a man could only be in touch with God in the presence of the appropriate ceremony. And there came a king, by the name of Josiah, who put his trust in ecclesiastical reform. There is, of course, truth in all these views. We need to be in touch with sacred places, such as in the Temple; we need ordinances in order to focus our minds and hearts on the kernel of the Gospel. But Jeremiah shouted from the housetops that none of these is the heart of true religion. None of these things -- Temple, ordinances, priesthoods, etc., saves a man from himself, they do not give courage to the coward, nor confidence to the sinner. Only when the heart of man is reached, only when the heart of man is touched by the Word of the Living God, touched by fire, touched by love, burnt and refined and remade, only then is religion in its stride; and because Jeremiah could minister this, a religion of the heart which touched the heart, Jeremiah has remained the father of all the world's great preachers whom congregations want to hear again. Listen to him:

"The time is coming when I will make a New Covenant with the House of Israel and with the House of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke My Covenant, though I was a husband to them, declares the Lord....I will put My law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be My people. No longer will a man teach his neighbour, or a man his brother, saying, "Know the Lord", because they will all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest...I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more" (Jeremiah 31:31-34, NIV).

This is the true New Covenant Christian. Not a man with the gift of the gab. Not an expert theologian nor a skilled administrator. He might be these, but first he is a sensitive man who has himself found God in the secret place of his own soul, meeting his own need, speaking to his own condition. This is the man who speaks to others, that is the man through whom God speaks. And this is what he says:

There is no situation in which a man finds himself where God cannot come to meet his need. God can meet him in Babylon, as Jeremiah said, or in Oslo, in London, in Moscow, or in New York; in depression or in elation; in fear, in repose; in hot sunshine or in the darkness; in church, in the theatre; in company, alone; because the place where God is only really met is the secret place of a man's own soul, and that he takes about with him wherever he may go. That is the comfort of the Gospel, there is no place a man can be where God with His succour cannot also be. But we must let Him in, we have the key. And no small part of my task, no small part of every minister's task, is to bid you turn that key. Then God comes in, comes into your situation. And then the room is changed -- the old furniture is there, the old problems are there, but they look different. And when you accept them in His presence you find you can go on. God's strength is made perfect in our weakness. That is what the prophet Jeremiah found alone inside his heart, and so can everyone of us...And that is the real Gospel.

And when we have come to that realisation, that awareness that God is near and directing, can we overcome our lack of sensitivity and our fear. Then we can come together as a Body according to the commandment and build Zion. To that cause I have set my hand, my life. Will you join with me?

May the Lord God of Israel bless you and keep you as you seek for Him and are true to yourself, is my prayer, in the Name of His Son, Jesus Christ, Amen.

From a series of three sermons given in the Bergen local Colony, 15 April 1992, to celebrate the inauguration of the New Covenant Christian Fellowships

This page was created on 12 May 1998 Last updated on 12 May 1998

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