Text: Jeremiah 32:1-25 Title: By Faith When is the last time you obeyed the Word of God or a prompting of the Holy Spirit and stepped out on faith not knowing what the outcome would be? Maybe you responded to God s prompting to take time off from your job to go on a mission trip. Maybe God stirred you to give money to a need you discovered, even though you knew it would make things tight for you financially. Maybe you felt the leadership of the Lord to volunteer to work with kids on Sunday mornings even though it meant leaving a class full of your friends. Maybe you made a decision to surrender to God s call to ministry and you packed up and moved to seminary to prepare for that calling. You see, this is what the people of God do this is how we roll we live by faith. The Bible says that apart from living by faith it s impossible to please God. So people whose chief aim in life is to please God are always stepping out on faith. And that includes our friend Jeremiah the Prophet. Open your Bibles again today to Jeremiah 32. Jeremiah s message from God to His people was not a popular one. The people had turned their backs to God, worshipping idols and false gods. As a result God disciplines His people by allowing them to be conquered and carried away into captivity. Jeremiah s message was that they shouldn t resist them but simply submit to the Lord s discipline. Now the king at that point was a man named Zedekiah and he s furious that Jeremiah keeps preaching this alarming message, so he has Jeremiah put jail. And in jail the Lord speaks to Jeremiah about a step of faith that he is to take. Read Jeremiah 32:6-9. So in prison Jeremiah receives an unusual visitor with a strange offer. His cousin Hanamel comes to Jeremiah to say, Do I have a deal for you. I m going to let you buy the family farm. I need to get rid of it, and you re the next of kin. It would be great if it stayed in the family. It s even located in our family s hometown of Anathoth. There s just one problem with this piece of real estate. Remember that the Babylonians have surrounded Jerusalem and they re just about to destroy the city. Anathoth is actually behind enemy lines. It has already been captured by the Babylonians. It would be like someone coming to you to sell you a house in Houston. There s only one problem; it s been under water. But he ll make you a good deal. Well this is the deal that Hanamel offers to Jeremiah to buy a farm in a town that is in enemy territory. He would likely never even see the field he s buying. Jeremiah thinks about it for moment and then says, Deal! I ll take it.
On the surface this looks like a foolish move for Jeremiah. It s totally illogical doesn t make sense. Why in the world would Jeremiah do such a ridiculous thing? The answer is that God is up to something. Read Jeremiah 32:13-15. ILLUSTRATION - It would be like us finding out that Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, had been quietly buying up land all around this part of the city. What would Jerry Jones want with a bunch of land in south Fort Worth? Then we learn that Jerry has plans to move the Dallas Cowboys to Fort Worth and he will build a brand new stadium for them in south Fort Worth. (Remember you heard it here first!) You see, God has disciplined His people by allowing their land to be conquered and their enemies to carry them into exile. But God isn t finished with His people or with the land He gave them as their inheritance. God promised they would return to their homeland in seventy years, rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple, and restore their worship of Almighty God. There s only one reason it would make sense for Jeremiah to buy some land in enemy territory God intends for that land to once again come into the hands of His people. And the fact that Jeremiah bought the farm sent a signal to the exiles to say, God hasn t forgotten you. He has your future in His hands. God asked Jeremiah to obey Him by faith and He will ask us to do the same. We learn from Jeremiah what that looks like. 1. IT ALL STARTS WITH GOD S REVELATION. Jeremiah 32:6 - The word of the LORD came to me: God told Jeremiah that his cousin would come to him with the deal to buy the farm. And it happened just as the Lord said it would. And when it was all said and done in v.8 Jeremiah said, I knew that this was the word of the Lord. He told his secretary Baruch in vv.14-15 that the Lord told him to do this. It all starts with God s written revelation of Himself to us. Now OT prophets didn t have the full Bible that we have. They had the Law and they knew what it said. But they were the ones God used to give us a huge part of the rest of the Bible the writings of Prophets. So we re reading the written Word that started with God s direct revelation to the prophet Jeremiah.
The main way we hear from God is from His written Word. That s why you need to seriously read, study, hear, memorize and meditate on Scripture. It s the primary way God communicates with us and makes His will known to us. And when we encounter God in His Word our response must be to trust and obey. Faith isn t faith until it moves you to act. James 2:17 - Faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. I ve given you this definition of faith before: Faith is choosing to live in the assurance that God s Word is true, regardless of circumstances, emotions or cultural trends. Regardless of circumstances like Jeremiah buying the farm that is in enemy territory. Regardless of emotions I sure don t feel like forking over that much money for a farm. Regardless of cultural trends (what others think) Everyone will think I m crazy for doing this. Here s how this usually works. I m reading along in God s Word and I come to a passage like Matthew 22:39 that says, Love your neighbor as yourself. I know that s God s Word and His will. But then the Holy Spirit starts filling in the blanks. Mike, I want you to go to Orange and help your neighbors down there get the mud out of their houses. So how do I know if this is just a good idea or if it a God idea? Well, for one thing, the impression just won t go away. And if my life is saturated with God s revelation of Himself in Scripture and with the Holy Spirit through prayer, then I can more easily trust my impressions. But then I look for confirmation from the Lord. That s what Jeremiah did. When Hannamel showed up at the prison and everything lined up the way the Lord said it would happen, Jeremiah knew that this was from the Lord, and he bought the farm. That leads to the next lesson we learn from Jeremiah about living by faith. 2. REVELATION LEADS TO IMMEDIATE OBEDIENCE. The instant Jeremiah knew this was God s will he obeyed. Jeremiah 32:9 - so I bought the field at Anathoth from my cousin Hanamel We take God at His Word and obey Him even when what He asks us to do may not make sense at least as far as we can see. There s no greater demonstration of faith than obedience. You see, one of the most important things God is after in our lives is the strengthening of our faith. You see it all the way through the Bible from Abraham
to Moses to Job to David to Jeremiah and to each of us. Faith is the operating system for our lives as the people of God. If our faith isn t strong, nothing else works. So our faith has to be continuously strengthened. And the way it is strengthened is through testing and trials. James 1:3 - You know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 1 Peter 1:7 - These (trials) have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. You see, Jeremiah has been preaching to the people that they should not give up hope in their exile. God will bring them back to their homeland and reestablished them as His people in the land God had given them. It s like the Lord is saying, Now Jeremiah, do you really believe what you ve been preaching to others? If so, buy the farm. Obey. Put your money where your mouth is. Be sensitive to the voice of God and obey when you sense Him telling you to do something. Sometimes you don t see how God is orchestrating it all until you look back. ILLUSTRATION - I saw this with our team working in Victoria last week. Michele Smith sent me a message that one of her co-workers had a sister in Victoria named Sharon. He was very concerned that she had been without power for over a week and was getting pretty discouraged about it. Could we check on her? So I had an address for Sharon and I had planned to go see her in the afternoon with the pastor we re working with in Victoria. But that morning I picked up some of our guys who finished up a project early to take them to another location. But then Sharon came to mind and I looked up her address and found that she lived just a few blocks from where I picked up our guys. We went to her house but no one was home. But a man who lived across the street saw us on her porch and he came over to tell us that Sharon had spent the night with a lady down the street whose power had been restored. We stopped for a moment and visited with Bobby and learned his story. He had also been without power for nine days. We paused and prayed with him that the power would be restored soon. When we finished praying I noticed that tears had welled up in his eyes. We went down the street and found Sharon. When I told her why we were there she was really touched. I asked her if there was anything we could do. She mentioned that there had been some wind damage to her carport. I said, We ll take care of it. So we
rounded up the supplies and the team started to work on her carport. Well Bobby shows back up asking if he can help with any tools. He had a generator and some tools we didn t have so we said, Sure. While we were working on the carport Bobby s wife shouted at him from across the street. She was pointing to the light on their front porch which was now lit. Their electricity had been restored. Bobby turned to us and said something like, Wow, you guys have some connections! Bobby, who is probably not a believer, hung around with us that afternoon. I saw that this wasn t just about Sharon; it was also about Bobby. If I had stuck with the plan to go later in the day, the team would not have been with me to do the job. We might have missed connecting with Bobby and Sharon. When God prompts us to action by His Word and by His Spirit our faith will move us to obey promptly. But there s something else we learn from Jeremiah. When we live by faith 3. OBEDIENCE IS OFTEN FOLLOWED BY DOUBTS. Now I m so glad this next part is included in the Scriptures. When we think of people like Jeremiah and other great men and women of the faith, we think they probably never struggled with doubts. Well, apparently, that isn t the case for Jeremiah. After he obeyed God, sealed the deed and gave it to Baruch to file, Jeremiah is all alone in prison. With a huge sigh he prays Jeremiah 32:17 - Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. Then in the following verse Jeremiah recounts all the ways that God has been faithful to His people down through the ages. Go home this afternoon and read this prayer slowly. God miraculously delivered Israel from Egypt and gave them the beautiful and fruitful Promised Land where they had lived for centuries. But the people have turned their backs to God and He is disciplining them by bringing this disaster upon them. So you begin to see that really what s happening here is that Jeremiah is pumping himself up. I know all this is true but did I get it right. Read Jeremiah 32:24-25. Jeremiah is having what they call buyer s remorse. He bought the farm, but did he do the right thing? Sometimes when you step out on faith and you haven t yet seen the evidence that you did the right thing it s easy to have doubts. I sense that Jeremiah is praying, Lord, I know you told me to do this. I believe you told me to do this. I think you told me to do this. Did you tell me to do this?
If everything was clear, start to finish, there would be no need for faith. Remember that faith is choosing to live in the assurance that God s Word is true, regardless of circumstances, emotions or what others think or say goes against it. The Gospel writers tell us about an incident where a man came to Jesus begging Him to deliver his boy who had been tormented by demons all of his life. The dad said, Jesus, if you can do anything take pity on us and help us. Jesus said Mark 9:23 - Everything is possible for him who believes. And the dad replied with words I m glad the Lord put in the Bible. Mark 9:24 - I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief! That s where most of us live, isn t it. Lord, I believe, but sometimes my doubts overwhelm me and I lose sight of your promise and your power to perform amazing things. Help me when my faith isn t as strong as it needs to be. Sometimes our obedience to God is followed by doubts but (and here s the next lesson) 4. DOUBTS ARE OVERCOME BY GOD S REASSURANCE. After he obeyed and prayed God moves to reassure Jeremiah, again, by His Word. Read Jeremiah 32:26-27. The Lord said, Jeremiah, is anything too hard for Me? Jeremiah knew the answer to that question. He said back in v.17, Lord, nothing is too hard for You. Years ago I heard someone wisely say, Don t doubt in the dark what God has shown you in the light. Read Jeremiah 32:42-44. The Lord reassured Jeremiah, You can t imagine the future I have in store for My people, but Jeremiah by your faith you ve invested in My future for My people. Psalm 22:5 - They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed. Example: One of my favorite stories in the Gospels comes from the night that Jesus s disciples were in a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee when a furious storm
arose. Suddenly off in the distance the disciples see a figure walking on the water and it terrified them. As the figure came closer they recognized that it was Jesus walking on the water to them. And He spoke to them, Take courage! It is I. Don t be afraid. Peter takes Jesus at His Word and he shouts, If it s You, Lord, command me to walk to you on the water. Peter knew that in a storm the safest place to be is close to Jesus. Jesus said, Come on. And Peter climbs over the side of the boat and starts walking to Jesus on top of the water. Amazing! But then Peter starts looking around. He feels the fierce wind and the spray of the water on this face. His doubts took over and he became afraid and started to sink. But Jesus reached down and caught Peter as he was going under. He said, Peter, I ve got this. But why did you doubt? Jesus helped Peter back to the boat and they all worshipped Jesus. God will not call you out of the boat to walk on the water then let you sink. When you step out on faith He will come through, so hang on. The first and most important step of faith anyone takes is to surrender your life to Jesus Christ, trusting Him to save you. Do you need to do that today? That s the first of countless steps of faith God will call you to take. Is there something God is asking you to do but you ve hesitated? Go on. Get out of the boat.