Thank you, John. You got a busy morning back
there, haven't you? Playing in the orchestra
and singing for us, thank you very much. We humans
cannot escape the reality that our view of ourselves
and our world is forged at its most essential
level by our understanding of God. we cannot
escape God even if we don't believe in God. Whether
one denies God's existence or believes that God
is an it, some impersonal force, or that God
is everything and in everyone, or if one believes
that God is the personal and infinite sovereign
which the Bible reveals to us, What one accepts
as true about God will inevitably shape one's
thinking and actions more than any other single
factor in his life. We interpret life's circumstances
by what we think about God. Our view of God becomes
like lenses, like glasses. Our view of God either
helps us see what's happening in our lives correctly,
or that view will distort and confuse us. This
morning, if we put all of the glasses that are
being worn in this auditorium up here on the
stage, and then each of us just picked one out
and put them on our eyes, it wouldn't help us
a whole lot, would it? Because we know how sensitive
our eyes are to these corrective lenses. Likewise,
Likewise, our view of God is like a lens over
our minds. And how we see life, how we see our
circumstances, depends upon whether those lenses
are properly fitted to us or not. Therefore,
it's important that we develop a biblical view
of God, and that's going to be part of our undertaking
this summer as we study in Jeremiah chapter 32
this conversation between God and this prophet,
Jeremiah. The circumstances of Jeremiah's life
were anything but pleasant. For the most part,
they were pretty miserable. The nation of Judah
in which he lived was collapsing under the weight
of its sin and the pressure of the judgment of
God against that nation. Jeremiah was the son
of a priest whose name was Hilkiah, and he grew
up in a little village just two miles north of
Jerusalem called Anathoth. He was called as a
prophet in the year 627 B .C. He was a very young
man at that point. In his lifetime, Jeremiah
witnessed the death of Josiah. who was the last
of the godly and good kings of Judah. Josiah
died in 609 BC through a terrible mistake that
he made, really, in going out against Pharaoh
Niko of Egypt, who was moving north with his
troops across Palestine to try to counter Babylon,
which was moving in from the east. This was a
time when world powers were grappling for who
was going to be the strongest. And Palestine,
as is often the case, was caught as part of the
crossroads there of these great powers. And as
Pharaoh Nicco came north with his troops, Josiah,
against the word of the Lord, went out against
him and was killed in battle. Following him,
there was a succession of godless kings. Josiah's
descendants, tragically, who ruled over the nation
of Judah. And they persecuted Jeremiah the prophet
because his messages from God were against them.
He told them the Babylon, which was becoming
great and moving from the east and the north,
would invade and conquer their nation. He advised
the people of Judah to cooperate with the Babylonians.
It would be easier for them to cooperate than
to resist what God had purposed. But that very
word from God seemed to be against the national
interest. It was treasonous. And because of that
message from God, Jeremiah was scorned. and persecuted
by the leaders of the nation. His life was one
of conflict. He lived in the midst of terrifying
turmoil. He lived in a time of political and
national upheaval as the nation of Judah in particular
went into captivity to Babylon. Because of the
tears that he shed, he is sometimes called the
weeping prophet. Jeremiah was threatened in his
hometown. He was tried for his life by the religious
leaders in Jerusalem. He was put in stocks. He
was forced to flee from King Jehoiakim. He was
publicly humiliated by a false prophet whose
name was Hananiah. and then was confined for
a period of time in a cistern. His life circumstances
were anything but pleasant. And this morning,
as we talk about Jeremiah, there's going to be
some of us who will be able to identify with
the misery of this man. We may not have spent
last night in the cistern, but we spent last
night in the doghouse of one kind or another.
and you're facing suffering and misery in your
life and you don't really understand it all and
you don't deserve it all as was true of Jeremiah.
What I hope to help you with today and then through
the summer is to check your glasses, to check
your lenses, to check your view of God so that
then you can know that God is all you need truly.
in the midst of your miserable circumstances
at present. I want you to know that His grace
is able to sustain you and to keep you and encourage
you in the center of His will. You can entrust
yourself to Him. Now, as I've said, the focus
of our study through the summer is going to be
Jeremiah chapter 32. where we have Jeremiah's
prayer along with God's response to Jeremiah.
Now for most of us, Jeremiah 32 is just another
chapter in a big book, so let's think about the
context of Jeremiah for a moment. The book of
Jeremiah covers a period of almost 50 years.
As I've said, Jeremiah was called to be a prophet
in 627 B .C. And about the last thing recorded
in his book happened about 580. That's almost
50 years period of time. The book of Jeremiah
is not a chronological account of his life. It
is rather a record of his prophecies. And along
with those prophecies, some narrative as it fits
in with his life. But it's not chronologically
arranged. It's more thematically arranged. Let
me suggest to you an outline for the book. If
you don't have one in a study Bible that you
carry, maybe you ought to jot this down in the
side of your page. Chapter one of Jeremiah is
his call to ministry. Beginning in chapter two
and then through verse, or rather chapter 25,
chapter two through verse chapter 25, we have
Jeremiah's prophecies to Judah, focusing primarily
upon the nation where he lived to whom he was
called primarily to minister. In chapters 26
to 29, we have Jeremiah's conflicts, some of
the troubles that came to him. In chapter 30
through 33, we have the promise of restoration.
In the midst of God saying He's going to send
judgment upon His people, He also promises that
one day He will restore them. And so we have
a few chapters dedicated to that, chapter 30
through 33. Chapters 34 through 45 deal with
the fall of Jerusalem. When Babylon finally did
come and destroyed the nation, took off captives,
to Babylon. It tells us how Jeremiah was able
to escape that. Then in chapters 46 to 51 we
have Jeremiah's prophecies against the surrounding
nations. We have a lot of chapters devoted to
Judah, but now at the end of the book we have
his prophecies to the surrounding nations. And
then in chapter 52 there's a closing with an
historical epilogue. Just telling us about some
of the things that happened right there at the
end of Jeremiah's lifetime. Now chapter 32 obviously
fits into those few chapters in the middle of
the book that deal with the restoration that
God has promised to his people. And in chapter
32 what we really have is an illustration of
what God is going to do in restoring his people.
What God is about to do in restoring them is
a complete act of grace on His part. It is not
something they deserve. It is something that
He does out of His faithfulness to them and out
of His desire to be kind to His people. In chapter
32 in verses 1 through 15 we have an illustration
of God's grace. Jeremiah tells us about Jerusalem
being under siege by Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian
army. Jeremiah himself is under arrest by the
king. So he's not free to move about. The king
of Judah has arrested him, but the city is also
under arrest, in a sense, in that Nebuchadnezzar
and his army have surrounded the city, it's under
siege. It is about to fall. And in the midst
of this, God told Jeremiah to redeem a piece
of property belonging to his uncle. Let's read
a little bit about this in Jeremiah 32. Let's
begin in verse 3. Zedekiah king of Judah had
shut him up, that is Jeremiah, saying, Why do
you prophesy, saying, Thus says the Lord, Behold,
I am about to give this city into the hand of
the king of Babylon, and he will take it. And
Zedekiah king of Judah shall not escape out of
the hand of the Chaldeans, but he shall surely
be given into the hand of the king of Babylon.
And he shall speak with him face to face, and
see him eye to eye, and he shall take Zedekiah
to Babylon, he shall be there until I visit him,
declares the Lord. If you fight against the Chaldeans,
you shall not succeed." Do you see what Zedekiah
is doing? He's quoting the sermon that he had
heard from Jeremiah. He says, why do you say
this? Why do you preach this message? And so
he put him into prison. Down to verse 6, Jeremiah
said, The word of the Lord came to me. This is
what God said to him. You need to be a little
familiar with the Old Testament law regarding
redemption. If a person in a family got into
financial trouble and his land was under obligation
because of that. The debt was due. There was
a provision made that that person could sell
his property to someone else from the family
and then take that money and pay off the obligation.
The purpose of this was so that the land would
stay in families and would not eventually parceled
out to people who had gotten it through bad loans.
And so here we have Jeremiah's uncle who apparently
owed a great deal of money on this land. So Jeremiah
is given the right of redemption. He says, you
can buy this land. Now notice where it's at.
It's in Anathoth. Anathoth is two miles north
of Jerusalem. Guess what is between Jerusalem
and Anathoth? A whole army of Babylonians. They've
already taken Anathoth. And now Jeremiah has
the opportunity to buy some real estate there.
This is not the time for real estate deals. And
yet the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah, buy
the property. So why is that? Well, he buys it
so it can stay in the family. That's part of
it. But there's also an illustration here. God
wanted Jeremiah to buy the land so that there
would be an illustration to the people that someday
land was going to be valuable again to them.
And there would again be the buying and the selling
of land. That the land was going to be restored
someday. Jeremiah goes through the process of
buying it, and there's the signing and the sealing
of deeds, and so on. And then Jeremiah has the
deeds sealed up in a clay jar. See, that doesn't
sound very secure. Well, that was about the best
they had then. They didn't have these Kmart things
you can get that are fireproof, you know. So
they put them in clay jars. In fact, there are
still documents being discovered today that are
preserved after 2 ,000 years in clay jars. And
so it was preserved for the future. God was about
to punish the nation for its sin against Him.
And yet He would act to keep His promises. Act
in grace. You see the illustration here? God
is going to keep His promises even though the
people don't deserve it. And so He illustrates
His grace by having Jeremiah buy this land that
was really worthless. because someday God was
going to make it worth something again. And so
in verse 16 it says, and I had given the deed
of purchase to Baruch the son of Neriah. Remember
that Sunday that I brought the magazine with
the fingerprint on the seal? This is that Baruch,
whose fingerprint is probably on that seal that
I showed you. It's a clay seal. It had been sealed
up and Baruch, who was the secretary or the assistant
for Jeremiah, took the deeds. And then Jeremiah
says, I prayed to the Lord, saying, Ah, Lord
God, behold, thou hast made the heavens and the
earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched
arm. Nothing is too difficult for thee. who show
us loving kindness to thousands. Now we're going
to stop at that point in the prayer this morning,
but that covers the theme we want to talk about,
which is the greatness of God's grace. We have
seen God's grace illustrated. Now we're going
to see in this prayer God's grace proclaimed
by Jeremiah in the prayer. The God of Judah is
here identified as the creator of the universe.
We have a little insight here into Jeremiah's
theology. In fact, his prayer is a marvelous
statement of theology. But he begins at the beginning.
He begins at Genesis by saying, you have made
the heavens and the earth. Which is a way of
saying, God, you have made the universe. Everything
that is, you have formed it. You have fashioned
it. Now that was an important statement. I want
you to go back to chapter 10 of Jeremiah where
a similar statement is made. Where Jeremiah again
calls God the Creator. In Jeremiah 10, Jeremiah
is attacking the false gods that God's people
had followed. They had gone after the idols of
the nations. And so Jeremiah is showing how weak
these gods are. He says in verse 5, for example,
like a scarecrow in a cucumber field, are they?
You ever seen a scarecrow out in a pumpkin field?
A corn field? Just standing there, stark, unmoving?
See, that's what their gods are like. Like scarecrows.
They cannot speak, they must be carried, because
they cannot walk. You see, he's mocking them.
He says, do not fear them. They can do no harm,
nor can they do any good for that matter. They're
meaningless. And then he says, there is none
like thee, O Lord. Thou art great, and a great
is thy name in might. Who would not fear thee,
O King of the nations? And he goes on to praise
God. Then in verse 11, thus you shall say to
them, The gods that did not make the heavens
and the earth shall perish from the earth and
from under the heavens. It is He who made the
earth by His power, who established the world
by His wisdom, and by His understanding He has
stretched out the heavens. So Jeremiah is in
this book contrasting the God of Judah who made
the universe. to the pitiful gods of the nations.
And the sad, tragic thing is that God's own people
had turned from the God who had made the universe
to follow these gods who were like scarecrows
in a cucumber field. Now before we condemn them
too quickly, we have to look at our own lives
and see what scarecrows we might have today that
we follow and that we worship. instead of the
Maker of the heavens and the earth. Jeremiah
reminds the people of God that it is their God
who made the heavens and the earth. And he mocks
the false idols. And he says regarding their
God that nothing, Lord, is too difficult for
you. We'll sing a chorus about this text, don't
we? Nothing is too difficult for thee." The word
difficult here means too wonderful. The idea
is nothing is beyond the bounds for you. Nothing
is too extraordinary. He's saying you can imagine
as far as you can and then there's God beyond
that. What do you think God can do? Whatever
you think God can do, He can do more than that.
In your wildest imagination, what can you imagine
God doing? Well, God can do more than that. Paul
joins with this in Ephesians chapter 3. He is
able to do exceeding, abundantly beyond all that
we ask or even think. He's able. Nothing is too
difficult for God. Nothing. the very first time
this phrase is used in the Bibles in Genesis
chapter 18, where the Lord said to Abraham, why
did Sarah laugh, saying, shall I indeed bear
a child when I am so old? Is anything too difficult
for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return
to you, at this time next year, and Sarah shall
have a son. God can even cause a womb that has
been closed to be opened in the old age to bear
a son. Nothing is too difficult for God. Not
even the expression of grace to people who do
not deserve it. Notice how that ties together
in Jeremiah's prayer. loving kindness to thousands.
God is even able to express kindness toward those
who are undeserving of His kindness. This word
loving kindness is not easy to translate into
the English. It's used plenty of times in the
Old Testament, in fact 250 times. And Jeremiah
uses it five times. But it's not easy to translate
into the English because of its meaning. Probably
this word loving kindness is about as close as
you can get to it. But it means also faithful
love that acts in the best interests of the one
that's loved. Even if that one that's loved is
pitiful and unworthy and undeserving, it acts
in the best interests. This word loving kindness
is closely associated with the covenants of God.
Turn back to Exodus chapter 20 for a moment and
notice how it's used when the Ten Commandments
are given to Israel. Exodus chapter 20 verse
5. God says you shall not make yourself an idol
and in verse 5 He says you shall not worship
them or serve them. For I the Lord your God am
a jealous God visiting the iniquity of the fathers
on the children on the third and fourth generations
of those who hate me but showing loving kindness
to thousands Notice that same phrase in Jeremiah
Jeremiah may well have brought that phrase from
Exodus 20 into his prayer in Jeremiah chapter
32 It means that God shows his loving kindness
to thousands of generations of those that love
Him. To those who are related to Him in covenant,
God is loving kind. And so it's understood by
some that this word loving kindness means loyal
love that's based upon a relationship. The relationship
exists. Therefore, I will be loving and loyal
to this one with whom I'm in relationship. However,
there are other places where this same word is
used in the context of God's everlasting loving
-kindness, not in relation to covenant only.
And probably it's better to understand it here
in that sense. Yes, God was going to be faithful
to his people because of the covenant that he
had made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and
with David, but his loving kindness preceded
the covenant. That's the point. It is better
here to see this faithful love as that which
preceded the covenant and made room for the covenant
that God made with his people. God acts in love
and in grace toward us not merely because He
has a covenant with us based on the cross, but
because God is, by His eternal nature, loving
and kind. You say, well what does all of this
have to do with the circumstances of my life
today? There are two things I want to say to
you. God is the maker of heaven and earth. That
means that God in His sovereignty is able to
oversee the circumstances of your life this morning.
Now like Israel, you may have gotten into your
circumstances because of disobedience. And so
we don't say that God created the circumstances
in that sense. It's perhaps been you that have
created the circumstances. But never are our
circumstances outside of God's superintendents.
He is always overseeing our circumstances, even
in our disobedience, as with the people of Israel
here. He had told them what would happen if they
disobeyed. They disobeyed. It came upon them.
But God is overseeing Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon
coming against His people. And though it will
be a harsh discipline, and we'll get into that
next week about God's discipline, God has been
loving kind and He is going to restore His people.
This morning you need to understand and believe
that your circumstances too, however miserable
you may be, however difficult they are, however
chafing against you, that your circumstances...
are shepherded by sovereign hands, a God who
made heaven and earth and who is not going to
fail in shaping the circumstances of your life
too, for your good and for his glory. The second
thing I want you to see is that just as God's
faithful love and grace was all that Jeremiah
needed to keep him going in the midst of his
distress, it's also enough for you. God is loving
kind. God is faithful in His loyal love to you.
And all that you need in the midst of your circumstances
is Him. I hope that you will believe that this
morning and that you will turn from the anxiety
that may be eating away at your joy, or the guilt
that is eroding your peace. or the doubts and
self -condemnation that are destroying that walk
with God that you have known. I hope that you
will believe what I am saying this morning and
receive from God's loving kindness what you need
in the midst of your circumstances. But the cross
represented back here on our wall this morning,
at that cross that Jesus died on, God demonstrated
that the entire debt of your failures, of your
sins, was paid for forever by what Jesus did.
He proved His love and His kindness toward you.
And He is not going to drop you now. wherever
this day finds you in the pilgrimage of your
life, God is going to be faithful, because He
is a faithful God. If we believe not, yet He
abides faithful, for He cannot deny who He is.
He cannot deny Himself. This last week we had
a lot of work to do around our house, and I was
trying to be helpful to my wife. Sometimes sincerity
is not enough. I went down to the basement, and
I noticed that a string had come off of one of
our lights. We have the old -fashioned kind of
light. You pull on the string and it comes on,
you know? And the string had come loose, and
so I thought, well, I'm going to replace that
string. She hasn't even asked me to do it. I'm
going to show her how godly I am. I'm going to
build before she asks. And so I got a five -gallon
bucket that I used for these purposes. And I
turned it upside down. And I stood up on that
bucket. And I replaced that string. And then
I put my foot back to get off the bucket. Freeze
that frame for just a moment. I wish I could.
We had an open house yesterday and as part of
the open house my wife had a lot of food to prepare.
And one of the things she did was to get about
four or five pounds of grapes. And she had washed
these grapes and prepared them for yesterday.
She put them in plastic bags in the basement
where they would be cool. She had them sitting
in a pan that was on a laundry basket. That was
right beside my five gallon bucket. Now we'll
go back to the action. My foot comes down, hits
the laundry basket, slips the grapes up into
the air, and between my foot hitting the basket
and hitting the floor, somehow those grapes got
underneath my foot. And I saw myself dancing
on four pounds of grapes. Have you ever seen
that I Love Lucy where she's in Italy? I tell
you that's the first thing that came to my mind
when I looked down and saw my foot on those grapes.
I was devastated. My wife was working hard and
here I had destroyed these grapes. And so I take
the grapes upstairs. And I present my work to
her. This wasn't what she had in mind by preparing
the grapes. And you know what? She was loving
kind. She didn't even yell at me. She didn't
say an unkind thing to me. It was almost like,
oh well, we can get more grapes. I felt terrible.
My joy was gone. Believe me. My peace had disappeared.
My marriage was on the rocks. And yet, my wife
is so wonderful that she was loving kind to me.
Now, she wasn't loving kind to me because there's
a marriage license that I have. I didn't have
to pull down and say, honey, see this? You have
to forgive me. No. It wasn't because of the covenant
that she forgave me. We have a covenant. But
what preceded the covenant was love. And what
has preceded God's covenant with you and me is
love. Oh yes, God's faithful to us because of
the covenant. And the promises he's made to us
because of the cross. And that provides the foundation
for it all. But God's love supersedes all of
that. It surrounds all of that. God is loving
kind. This morning some of you are beating yourselves
to death because you have stepped on the grapes.
You have made a mess of things and the peace
and the joy of God, and you're wondering how
God can ever love you. Friends, God never stopped
loving you. God never stopped loving you. He
is full of loving kindness. Great is His grace
toward us. So this morning my plea with you is
to take your grapes to Him and show Him the mess
you've made. And don't be afraid to do that.
Don't be afraid of God. God will restore you.
God will reach out and embrace you. Because He
loves you. And so stop beating yourself over
the head. And don't allow Satan anymore to rob
you of the joy you ought to have by producing
false guilt in your life. Satanic guilt. To receive
the forgiveness that God has for you. and let
him restore you out of the rich, deep love that
he has in his heart for you always because of
Jesus. Let's pray. I don't know where this message
finds you this morning, but if you're like me
and you've had that kind of a week, perhaps you
need to come this morning to the cross and just
there bow and... Show the Lord the mess. And
thank him that in his loving kindness he delights
to forgive and to restore you. And let him do
that for you at this moment, will you? Oh Father,
I pray that you embrace that one or those several
who are here this morning deeply in need of this
message. Help them to see that in the midst of
the circumstances that are so raw and so heavy
that you are present and you're great in your
loving kindness. May they experience that loving
kindness and let that Lord be enough for them
to go on in their circumstances. and to know
that you're going to bring them through the circumstances
in a way that will help them grow, which will
honor you. Let's stand together with our heads
bowed and sing to the Lord this morning. That
saved a wretch like me, I once was lost, but
now am found, Was blind, but now I see. God's
grace that is greater than all. Lord, we stand
amazed in the presence of a God who loves us
and a God who receives us and a God who restores
us in such grace. And this morning we give our
hearts to you afresh. And we commit ourselves
anew to walk in this grace in which we stand
in Jesus Christ. And Lord, may we not only experience
it ourselves, but share it with others and be
gracious people because we are filled with a
God whose loving kind to thousands. In Jesus'
name, Amen.