“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”“Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I have appointed you a prophet to the nations.”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.Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee, and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee; I have appointed thee a prophet unto the nations.
8 sermons cite this verse
… watch what he says to God. Jeremiah chapter one, it says, the word of the Lord came to me saying, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Can you stop there real fast? This is why we believe in Zoe, in the sanctity of life. That life does not begin when someone is born. Life begins in the mother's womb. The Bible says, I was fearfully and wonderfully created when I was in my mother's womb. He says, I knew you before you were born, and I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you as a prophet to the nations. Alas, sovereign Lord, I said, I do not know how to speak. I am too young. But the Lord said to me, do not say I'm too young. You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you to say. Do not be afraid of them for I am with you and I will rescue you, declares the Lord. What is God showing us? You are anointed before you are appointed. …
… our God from our mother's womb. Luke 1, 15 makes clear John the Baptist filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. God tells Jeremiah, Jeremiah 1, 5, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I set you apart. You hear that? God knows us before the womb. And just in case you're not convinced yet, the very word that the Bible uses for a child in the womb, yaled, is the same word used for an infant or a toddler outside of the womb. In other words, God's Word makes no distinction between a child inside a womb or outside a womb. And it's not just God's Word that makes this clear. The more science reveals what's happening in the womb, the more even abortion advocates realize this is no glob of cells, but a living being. It's undeniable, and we must proclaim the value of this living being, this image bearer being intricately woven by God himself with conviction and without compromise. And this is one of the places where I think we see, most see the danger of what happens when pastors and Christians abdicate the voice for the value of life in the womb to politicians and crowds. …
… For me, it's this. It's Jeremiah chapter 1, verses 4 through 9. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, by the way, I didn't make this up myself. Some men at Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, back in the, I think 1980 it was, I didn't even know they were going to do this. They got up, they walked over in the prayer meeting, and they laid hands on me. It startled me. It actually scared me. I was the youngest guy in the room. Everybody in there is 70, 80, 90 years old. And there's only 15 guys in there. And they got up. And I never prayed out loud in those prayer meetings because I stuttered so bad. But I went to those Saturday night prayer meetings. And this is what happened. One guy by the name of Phil Anderson got up and he put his hands on me and then the rest of the guys followed him and he quotes this. Let me tell you, listen. …
… he knows them Jeremiah 1.5 before I formed you in the womb I knew you he relates to them Psalm 22 verse 10 says oh I love this the psalmist says from my mother's womb you have been my God isn't that beautiful from my mother's womb you have been my you have related to me as my God he calls them Galatians 1 15 it pleased God Paul says who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through his grace he names them Isaiah 49 1 the Lord called me from the womb from the body of my mother he named my name and anoints them this is John the Baptist in Luke chapter 1 verse 15 says he will be great in the sight of the Lord he will also be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother's womb. Anointed with the Spirit even from his mother's womb. The converse of that, I didn't put this verse in there. It's kind of bad news, but Psalm chapter 51, verse 5, says that we are sinful from the moment our mother conceives us. …
… He calls to us as the very one who made us and knows us by name. Jeremiah 1.5, such a beloved verse. The Lord tells Jeremiah, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. That's hard to wrap your mind around tonight, good. It's supposed to be. Before you were born, I sanctified you. I ordained you a prophet to the nations. God's intimate knowledge of Jeremiah goes back to the womb. And that's hard to wrap our minds around. But this is important, that his knowledge of us, it proceeds and it comes before his using of us. We are his sons and daughters and then his servants. He loves you not because of what you can do for him. he loves you because he loves you. He loves you because he's made you and you're his. And so nonetheless, Moses hears his name from the midst of the inflamed bush and Moses has no other words other than, here I am. now as we'll see later this wasn't necessarily Moses expressing this extreme willingness to go and do what God was calling him to do Moses would be very hesitant and even resistant once God gave him his marching orders this was not a here I am like what Isaiah told the Lord in Isaiah 6 8 when God says whom shall I send who's going to go for us and Isaiah says pick me. Here I am. I'm right here. Send me, God. Moses' here I am is not quite like that. …
… that's how amazing we are. And if you think about a text like Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, before I formed you in the womb, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. That's what our great God says. If you look at Genesis chapter four, you will read the first homicide ever recorded you have Cain and Abel. Cain and Abel got crossways over a offering. Is that funny? Well, it's not funny because it led to the first homicide. So Cain gets all of this anger in his heart. Say heart with me. That's where it starts. It starts in the heart. You're going to find out today. Murder starts in the where? Okay. And mob style murder starts in the heart, goes to the head and moves through the hands. Cain was, was, was, was on tilt. He was angry at Abel, envious, jealous. God steps in and, and warns him, Hey Cain, chill. Cain, calm down. Cain. And he, Cain, treaded over God, our sovereign God, treaded over him and killed his brother, Abel. I mean, put yourself in Adam and Eve's sandals for a second. …
… of their readiness I need to say that better let me just give you an example Jeremiah 1 we love Jeremiah 1 where God tells Jeremiah before I formed you in the belly I knew you and I ordained you and I sanctified you and I set you apart and we think that that Jeremiah hears that word Dr. Jill and then automatically says yes and he moves no no no no no Jeremiah immediately follows up with saying uh-uh behold I cannot speak study when you get a chance he says behold I cannot speak I am a child this lets us know that God's timing versus our timings are oftentimes very different and Jeremiah was not the only one with that issue Gideon had the same mission it was time it was time for the children of God to begin to conquer and dominate their enemies and take back what the enemy had stolen so he raises up Gideon he says Gideon now let me tell you something Gideon you are a mighty man of valor this is who you are this is how I see you I made you I formed you before I put you in your mother's womb I know you better than you know you Gideon, you mighty man of valor, is what God says. …
… formed you before your future began. Because the prophet Isaiah said, and excuse me, the prophet Jeremiah, his buddy said in Jeremiah chapter one, verse five, before you were born, I formed you. In my mother's womb, I was knit together because he was formed. And so all of my days, he has been faithful. All my life, he has been so, so good. That's the consistency of God. He is a consistent friend. He doesn't duck out when it's a liability to know your name or your number. He's a consistent friend. He's a friend that sticks closer than a brother. He knows how to celebrate your wins with you because he's consistent. He's not intimidated like some of your friends when you're doing good and they only want to come around when you're doing bad because misery loves company. He's consistent. He'll step into your good moment, and he can be proud of you past the point where other people can because he has no insecurities. He's consistent. He has no insufficiencies. He's consistent. He doesn't run out of energy. He doesn't get tired of carrying you. He doesn't say, could you pray to me tomorrow? It's kind of late right now and I'm not really a night person. He's consistent. He's not waiting for you to get the eye boogers out of your eyes. …