October 17, 2019October 15, 2021
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October 20th, 2019

Jeremiah 32:1-44 {6-15, 26-44}

“Future Investment”

Aux. Text: Matthew 6:19-21

Call to Worship: Psa 46

 

Service Orientation: If we truly trust God we will invest in His future promises, no matter how impossible they may appear to be.  If we fully understand that nothing is impossible with God and that God loves us dearly, then fear, worry and discouragement should no long be disrupting our lives.

 

Bible Memory Verse for the Week:   For nothing is impossible with God. — Luke 1:37

                                                                                                   

Background Information:

  • These events took place in 587 B.C., the year “the army of the king of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem” (v. 2a). (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 478)
  • According to 39:1 the siege of Jerusalem began in the ninth year of Zedekiah’s reign. It was raised for a short period when Egyptian forces approached Jerusalem (37:5) but was imposed once more when the Egyptians decided against battle.  When Jeremiah was going to Anathoth from Jerusalem to attend to the purchase of the family property he was thought to be defecting to the enemy, and so was arrested (37:11-14).  He was kept in close confinement, but was later given greater freedom (37:21).  (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 141)
  • The siege which had begun in the ninth year of Zedekiah (589 B.C.) Had been under way now for some time (32:1, “in the tenth year of Zedekiah”). Meanwhile the king and the prophet had been in touch with each other repeatedly.  Four times Jeremiah had delivered the word of the Lord to Zedekiah (21:1-7; 34:1-7; 37:16-21; 38:14-28).  The weak king seems to have been hoping secretly for some miraculous deliverance.  Jeremiah, plainly and boldly, had told the king that he would not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans (32:4).  (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 98)
  • (v. 2) The tenth year of Zedekiah was 587 B.C., the second year of the final siege of Jerusalem (cf. 2 Kgs 25:8). The siege of Jerusalem was at an advanced state.  The outlook was dark, the situation desperate.  Verse 2 tells of Jeremiah’s imprisonment; vv. 3-5 give the reason for this.  Chapter 37 shows us that Jeremiah had not yet been imprisoned during the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians and the raising of that siege by the approach of the Egyptian army (cf. 37:4-12).  During the temporary raising of the Babylonian siege, when he tried to leave the city to go to the land of Benjamin, Jeremiah was taken and thrown into a dungeon on the pretense that he was defecting to the Babylonians (37:11, 16).  He remained there a good while until Zedekiah ordered him to appear before him to be questioned about the outcome of the war.  Then he told Zedekiah that he would be captured by imprisonment (37:20) and begged not to be put back into the dungeon.  So Zedekiah ordered him (37:21) to be moved to the “courtyard of the guard” (v. 2), where he stayed until the city fell (38:13, 28; 39:14).  He was shut up at the request of the officials (38:4-6) and at Zedekiah’s command.  The courtyard of the guard, probably a stockade (cf. Neh 3:25), was the part of the palace area set apart for prisoners.  (Friends could visit them there.)  The soldiers who guarded the palace were quartered there.  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 580)
  • (v. 3) Zedekiah’s question “Why do you prophesy as you do?” reveals a fundamental misunderstanding of who Jeremiah is. It is not as if Jeremiah has a choice.  As a divine spokesperson, he must speak the words God has given him.  (Tremper Longman III, Understanding the Bible: Jeremiah, 215)
  • (v. 7) According to the Law of Moses (Lv 25:25-34), the Promised Land was a sacred inheritance. Property was not to leave the family.  God did not want his people to go outside their bloodline to get help.  If they fell into debt, one of their own kin was supposed to redeem their property.  Hanamel was asking Jeremiah to be his kinsman-redeemer or goel (cf. Ruth 4:1-12).  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 479)
  • (v. 8) Babylon has besieged Jerusalem for a second time, and Jeremiah is confined in the city by a royal guard. Apparently the Babylonians began the siege late in the year 588.  Subsequently an Egyptian force began a march toward Palestine and caused a temporary easing of the siege (cf. Jer 37:5).  It is plausible that at this time (spring 587?) Jeremiah is visited by his cousin Hanamel, and they carry out the transaction narrated at the chapter’s beginning.  (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 295)
  • (v. 9) Seventeen shekels of silver weighed approximately seven ounces. (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1044)
  • (vss. 10-14) Following the practice of the day, Jeremiah had a scribe, in this case his personal secretary Baruch, write up two deeds of purchase. One was a working copy (sealed).  Both parties signed and sealed the deeds in the presence of witnesses, closing the deal.  Jeremiah also commanded Baruch to place both copies into a clay jar and seal it.  This practice was followed to preserve the documents for a long period of time.  The famous Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered in the 1950’s, had been preserved intact in clay jars in Palestine for two thousand years.  (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 212)
  • (v. 12) Verse 12 contains the first mention of Baruch, the amanuensis of Jeremiah who was responsible for preparing the documents. (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 141-2)
  • (v. 12) Baruch assists Jeremiah in carrying out the purchase and the preparation of the necessary records. He is a scribe (36:32); that is, the preparation, reading, and preservation of documents are skills of his profession.  Baruch will assist Jeremiah in the preparing of a scroll of prophecies in chapter 36.  (J. Andrew Dearman, The NIV Application Commentary: Jeremiah, 296-7)
  • (vss. 16ff) Jeremiah’s humanity is apparent here. Like many another person since, he began to have second thoughts about the wisdom of his action once he had purchased the property.  In some distress he prayed to God and was reassured concerning the future.  He tries to quell his rising anxieties by thinking that there is nothing too difficult for the God who created the cosmos to achieve in  human life.  (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 142)
  • (v. 17) The Hebrew word translated “hard” really means “wonderful.” It is used in Isaiah as an attribute of deity (38:29; see also 29:14; 9:6) and in the Psalms to refer to his works (40:5).  God is said to act in accordance with his nature, consequently his actions are declared to be “wonderful.”  (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 100-01)
  • (v. 17) There are four parts to Jeremiah’s prayer. The first is the groan.  “Ah!” says Jeremiah (v. 17a), or “Alas!”  He began his prayer with a cry from the soul.

     Jeremiah often did this when he was in distress.  Four of his prayers begin not with a word, but with an “Ah!”  When God called him to the ministry, Jeremiah prayed, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, I do not know how to speak; I am only a child” 1:6).  When the Lord announced that Jerusalem would be invaded, Jeremiah said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, how completely you have deceived this people and Jerusalem by saying, ‘You will have peace,’ when the sword is at our throats” (4:10).  He prayed the same way when the other clergy were speaking against him.  I said, “Ah, Sovereign LORD, the prophets keep telling them, ‘You will not see the sword or suffer famine.  Indeed, I will give you lasting peace in this place’” (14:13).  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 482)

  • (v. 17) It is appropriate to begin some prayers with a groan. When the only thing that comes out is “Arrgh!” God knows what you mean.  The Holy Spirit articulates the cries of the soul.  He turns frustration into intercession.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 483)
  • (v. 17) Naturalism thus denies God his proper place of rule over the universe. It denies him the worship and the praise that rightfully belong to him as the Creator of all that is.  When God is praised for his mighty acts of creation, he is restored to his proper place.  And his worshipers put themselves back in their proper place as well.  God is the Creator; we are creatures God made by his “great power and outstretched arm” (v. 17).  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 483)
  • (v. 25) What was the point of Jeremiah’s prayer? He did not actually make a request.  He did not ask God for anything.  He simply told God what God already knew–namely, that the Babylonian siege engines were at the gates and that he had just made the worst financial decision of his life.

     Jeremiah’s prayer sounds like a complaint.  The word “though” is not in the Hebrew text, but it properly captures the reproach in Jeremiah’s voice: “And you, you tell me, ‘Buy the field!’” (v. 25).  Jeremiah called attention to the fact that God told him to buy property even though it did not take a military genius to figure out that Jerusalem was on the verge of ruin.  The prophet was perplexed by the whole thing, even flabbergasted.  He did not understand what God was doing.  So his prayer ends with a question mark.  “You’re really telling me to invest in real estate, Lord?  Seriously?”

     Or perhaps Jeremiah did not even make it to the question mark.  It sounds as if he ran out of prayer before he figured out what to pray, which is the way bewildered prayers often end.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 485)

  • (v. 27) Skeptics often have some questions for God. They think they have questions about his mercy and justice that he would be hard-pressed to answer.  But the truth is that God has a few questions of his own, questions to silence every objection and shut every mouth.  Sooner or later people who question the ways of God will have to answer some questions they will be too terrified to answer.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 488-9)
  • (v. 27) This method of questioning the person to be instructed is known to teachers as the Socratic method. Socrates was wont, not so much to state a fact, as to ask a question and draw out thoughts from those whom he taught.  His method had long before been used by a far greater teacher.  Putting questions is Jehovah’s frequent method of instruction.  Questions from the Lord are very often the strongest affirmations.  He would have us perceive their absolute certainty.  They are put in this particular form because He would have us think over His great thought, and confirm it by our own reflections.  The Lord shines upon us in the question, and our answer to it is the reflection of His light.  (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, Vol. 9, 155)
  • (v. 36) The Hebrew of verse 36 begins with the words “Now therefore.” The word “therefore” is omitted from most English versions because translators cannot bring themselves to keep it in the text.  That is because the “therefore” does not appear to make any sense.  It does not add up.  It is a non sequitur.  “Verse 36 does not follow in any way from the argument of vv. 28-35.  Indeed, in v. 36 the text makes an enormous leap away from vv. 28-35 to God’s second impossibility.”  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 492)
  • (vss. 40-41) The reference to inner disposition and outward expression again points to the new covenant with its promise of a new heart. Unity always characterizes the Messianic Era (cf. Zeph 3:9; 37:26).  Moreover, the promise of restoration–“assuredly plant them” (v. 41)–is just as certain as the predictions of punishment.  Whatever God foretells, he makes good (v. 42).  (Frank E. Gæbelein, Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 587)

 

The question to be answered is . . . What important lessons does God want us to learn through Jeremiah 32?

 

Answer: That nothing is impossible for God.  We show we truly believe this by investing in God’s impossible promises.  What is truly impossible is to comprehend the extent of God’s grace and love; and, for God to lie.

 

The Word for the Day is . . . Possible

 

What important lessons does God want us to learn through Jeremiah 32?:

I-  Nothing is impossible for God.  (Jer 32:17, 27; see also: Gn 18:13-14; Mt 19:26; Mk 10:27; Lk 1:37; 18:27)

 

This is the doctrine of divine omnipotence.  Is anything too hard for God?  No, nothing is too hard for God.  Jesus said, “With God all things are possible” (Mt 19:26).  There is no limit to God’s ability to make or to do.  He is infinite and eternal in his power.  He is able to perform all his holy will.  The Dutch theologian Herman Bavinck put it like this: “He possesses absolute power in regard to everything.”  (Herman Bavinck, The Doctrine of God, 242)  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 489)

 

Do not doubt the power of God in your own life.  You may doubt that your marriage can be saved, or that you can have victory over a particular sin, or that a family member will ever get saved, or that God will ever bless your work.  As long as you try to solve your own problems, things will continue to be impossible.  But not when you entrust them to the Lord, the God of all mankind.  Is anything too hard for him?  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 495)

 

II-  We show we truly believe this by investing in God’s impossible promises.  (Jer 32:6-9; see also: Mt 6:19-24; 19:21)

 

This act on the part of the prophet was no mere investment; it had unusual symbolic significance.  It dramatized eloquently Jeremiah’s confidence in the future of his people and in their sure return to their homeland.  (Howard Tillman Kuist, Layman’s Bible Commentary: Jeremiah, 100)

 

During the last days before the fall of Jerusalem, the bottom fell out of the housing market.  Things got so bad that entire houses and palaces were torn down in a desperate attempt to shore up the city walls (33:4).  It hardly seemed like the time to buy.  Imagine trying to persuade a bank to give you a loan when your city is surrounded by the most powerful army on earth!  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 478)

 

In short, it was positively the worst time for Jeremiah to buy.  The city was under siege, the prophet under arrest.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 478)

 

Jesus is not against investment.  He is against bad investment—namely, setting your heart on the comforts and securities that money can afford in this world.  Money is to be invested for eternal yields in heaven—“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven!”  (John Piper; Desiring God, 165)

 

The redemption of the field at Anathoth became symbolic of the Lord’s redemption of Israel.  Not merely was the purchase of the field an evidence of his own ultimate optimism and faith in the future of his people, but it was also his belief that Yahweh would again plant his people and build them in the land.  (George Arthur Buttrick, Interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 5, 1044-5)

 

Despite the war, the siege, the destruction the Babylonians were about to wreak on Jerusalem, and the seventy long years of captivity that would ensue, it was a buyer’s market for those who trusted God’s promise.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 480)

 

To buy land overrun by the world’s conqueror, and then to take elaborate care of the title-deeds (9-15) was a striking affirmation, as solid as the silver that paid for it, that God would bring his people back to their inheritance (15).  (Derek Kidner, The Bible Speaks Today:  Jeremiah, 112)

 

According to the principle of anticipation, property value may be affected by expectation of a future event. . . Real estate has historically proved to be a generally appreciating asset. . . However, anticipation may also lower value if property rights are expected to be restricted or if the property somehow becomes less appealing to prospective buyers.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 477)

 

Whatever you are into right now, if it won’t matter 100 years from now, stop it.  It is not worthy of your time and investment or resources. —Keith Porter paraphrase of Steve Brown

 

In fact, our checkbooks tell us more about our priorities than does anything else.

     That’s why Jesus talked so much about money.  Sixteen of the 38 parables were concerned with how to handle money and possessions.  Indeed, Jesus Christ said more about money than about almost any other subject.  The Bible offers 500 verses on prayer, fewer than 500 verses on faith, but more than 2,350 verses on money and possessions.  (Howard Dayton, Your Money Counts, 8)

 

There is nothing in heaven that can rob you of your investment.

 

Our material possessions are “unrighteous” in the sense of not having any spiritual value in themselves.  But if we invest them in the welfare of human souls, the people who are saved or otherwise blessed because of them will someday greet us in heaven with thanksgiving.  (John MacArthur, The MacArthur NT Commentary: Matthew 1-7, 413)

                   

The secularists of Jesus’ day summed up their philosophy like this:  “Eat, drink, and be merry.  For tomorrow you die.”  Contrast that with Jesus’ words: “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.”  Think in terms of eternity.  Think of the long-range implications.  This touches us most directly, not simply in how we handle our bank accounts, but at the level of how we invest our lives.  Life is an investment and the question that modern man has to answer is, “Am I going to invest my life for short-term benefits or for long-term gains?  (R.C. Sproul; Lifeviews, 37)

 

You cannot serve God and money, but you can serve God with money.  (Douglas Sean O’Donnell, Preaching the Word: Matthew, 177)

 

We cannot but serve our treasures.  We labor all day for them and think about them all night.  They fill our dreams.  (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 207)

 

Love to God will expel love to the world; love to the world will deaden the soul’s love to God.  “No man can serve two masters”:  it is impossible to love God and the world, to serve him and mammon.  Here is a most fertile cause of declension in Divine love; guard against it as you would fortify yourself against your greatest foe.  It is a vortex that has engulfed millions of souls; multitudes of professing Christians have been drawn into its eddy, and have gone down into its gulf.  (Octavius Winslow, Personal Declension and Revival of Religion in the Soul, 56)

 

Almost certainly many of the citizens had become overjoyed at the temporary lifting of the siege (cf. Chap. 34); this was to prove to be a quite illusory hope.  The pain of disillusionment was to prove all the more destructive of courage and faith in the future.  All the more significant therefore was Jeremiah’s concern to ground hope on a deeper and more lasting foundation.  Hope was no longer the short-lived possibility of averting or postponing disaster, but rather a discovery that there was no disaster that could take away a hope founded on God.  (R.E. Clements, Interpretation: Jeremiah, 195)

 

It is not hard to understand Zedekiah’s anger.  Jeremiah prophesied that the king would be defeated and humiliated.  At best, his words were demoralizing; at worst, they were treason (cf. 37-38).  Thus Jeremiah’s life was in Zedekiah’s hands.  And buying a farm becomes less appealing when there is a good chance of buying the farm.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 478)

 

Don’t limit investing to the financial world.  Invest something of yourself, and you will be richly rewarded.  —Charles R. Schwab

 

Jeremiah never expected to get possession of that estate personally.  He himself spoke of seventy years as the period of the captivity, and he did not therefore expect that he should ever be put in possession of the little piece of land, the reversion to which he had purchased.  Faith does not bind its expectations to the present; it does not limit them to a man’s own life here; it looks beyond.  And the faith of a Christian looks farther still than Jeremiah’s.  It does not look merely to a deliverance at the end of seventy years, and a possession by some of our descendants or representatives at that time of a little spot in the earthly Canaan.  It looks to the close of this mortal life, to the day of resurrection, and to glory with the risen Savior throughout eternity.  (Joseph S. Exell, The Biblical Illustrator, Vol. 9, 142)

 

III-  What is truly impossible is to comprehend the extent of God’s grace.  (Jer 32:36-41, 43; see also: Isa 64:4; Jn 3:16; Rom 8:17; 1 Cor 2:9; 2 Cor 4:15; Gal 4:7; Eph 2:13-22; 3:20-21; 1 Tm 6:17-19)

 

God’s syllogism goes like this:  “You are despicable sinners and I am going to destroy you in my wrath; therefore, I will never stop doing good to you.”  But what does God mean by “therefore”?  How does it follow?  Where is the logic in it?  “How could a people guilty of offering incense, libations, and even their own children to other gods become the LORD’s people again?”  Impossible!

     Impossible?  Well, is anything too hard for God?  The “therefore” of Jer 32:36 is a reminder that there is something totally unexpected, almost illogical, about the grace of God for sinners.  But not impossible.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 492)

 

The great Bible teacher Donald Grey Barnhouse once said that Hell was the only logical doctrine in the Bible.  Barnhouse was exaggerating, of course, but he was making an important point about the justice of God. The power of God in the punishment of sin makes perfect sense.  What else could sinners who live in rebellion against God possibly deserve except to be banished from God’s sight?  It is perfectly logical for God to reject anyone who rejects the gift of eternal life he has offered through his son Jesus Christ. 

     But what is logical about the grace of God?  Where is the logic in the free grace of the gospel for guilty sinners?  Where is the logic in God sending his Son to die on the cross, or in adopting his bitter enemies as his own sons and daughters?  Such grace seems illogical, almost impossible.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 492)

 

Jeremiah’s response to God’s judgment seemed to be the logical one.  As far as he could tell, there was no hope for Jerusalem.  “By the sword, famine and plague,” he said, “it will be handed over to the king of Babylon” (v. 36a). 

     But then God changed the subject by saying something totally surprising and completely unexpected.  Whereas verses 28-35 showed the power of God in the judgment of sin, verses 36 to 44 go on to show the power of God in the salvation of sinners.  God moves from sin to salvation so quickly it is hard to keep up.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 491-2)

 

 

This new heart for God is something all God’s people share.  They become single-hearted.  Literally, they will have “one heart and one way.”  This promise is fulfilled in the unity of the church, like the first church in Jerusalem, where “all the believers were one in heart and mind” (Acts 4:32).  Wherever the hearts of God’s people beat as one, and wherever they walk in the same direction, they experience the communion of the saints.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 493)

 

The unity between God and the nation will never again be disrupted, since the returned exiles will be renewed in will and spirit.  Such a revival will be a perpetual covenant (40) (cf. Isa 55:3; Ezk 16:60; 37:26).  God will pour out blessings upon a chastened and repentant people (cf. Jer 31:28; Dt 30:9; Isa 62:5).  Following Jeremiah’s example land will again be bought and sold (43), the fields of verse 44 being “country estates,” and again the procedures adopted presuppose a stable economy, flourishing under God’s provision.  (R.K. Harrison, Tyndale OT Commentaries: Jeremiah, 143)

 

Some Christians move into the city.  On purpose.  Some Christians feed the homeless or tutor the ignorant.  Others reach across ethnic and economic barriers to form friendships.  Still others give up one night a week to study the Bible and pray in small groups.  Some Christians even give away 10 percent of their income–or more–for the work of the church.  (Philip Graham Ryken, Preaching the Word: Jeremiah, 481)

 

IV-  What is impossible . . . is for God to lie — that any of His promises would not come true.  (Jer 32:42, 44c; see also: Num 23:19; Ti 1:2; Heb 6:18)

 

No one in the universe is greater than God.  And the reason He cannot lie is that He invented truth.  He is truth.  By definition, whatever He says is true.  By the very nature of His person, He cannot lie.  He has no capacity to lie.  His promises, then, are first of all secured by His Person.  Whatever He does has to be right and whatever He says has to be true.  If God makes a promise, therefore, He not only will keep it, He must keep it.  (John MacArthur Jr., The MacArthur NT Commentary: Hebrews, 162)

 

I think that is what one of my old teachers meant when he said, if I remember rightly his words, that God is the most obligated being that there is.  He is obligated by His own nature.  He is infinite in His wisdom; therefore He can never do anything that is unwise.  He is infinite in His justice; therefore He can never do anything that is unjust.  He is infinite in His goodness; therefore He can never do anything that is not good.  He is infinite in His truth; therefore it is impossible that He should lie.  (J. Gresham Machen, The Christian View of Man, 26)

 

Powerful encouragement indeed is here if we will address ourselves to the marrow of this text {Heb 6:18} because the “two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie” are his word of promise and his oath.  His promise to Abraham, and to us, can do nothing other than come true because God’s “word is truth” (Jn 17:17) and because God “does not lie” (Ti 1:2).  He is the author of truth, the essence of truth.  His oath, though unnecessary, is the double assurance that he cannot lie.  Truth has sworn by itself that its truth shall truly be fulfilled.  There is no more possibility of God’s promises failing us than of God falling out of Heaven!  His Word is eternally sealed with the double surety of promise and oath.  (R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the Word: Hebrews, 177)

 

 

This is the sheet anchor of the Christians’ conviction.  He knows his assurance depends not on the stability or strength of his own faith, but on the absolute trustworthiness of God’s word.  (Donald Guthrie, Tyndale NT Commentaries: Hebrews, 152)

 

Worship Point: Worship will be in spirit and in truth when you begin to see God as the god of the impossible.

 

Gospel Application: For sinful, unholy, unrighteous, depraved, selfish and corrupt man to be reconciled to a pure, holy, righteous, and loving God is impossible for man.  But, with God, through Jesus, all things are possible.  (Mt 19:26; Mk 10:27; Lk 18:27; Heb 10:4)

 

God created the universe in a moment with a word.  God forgave Mankind His sin which took over 4,000 years of redemptive history and the death of His Son for God to accomplish this. — Pastor Keith

 

The true way to Christianity is this, that a man first acknowledges himself by the law to be a sinner, and that it is impossible for him to do any good work.  For the law says: You are an evil tree, and therefore all that you think, speak, or do, is against God.  You cannot therefore deserve grace by your works: which if you go about to do, you double your offense; for since you are an evil tree, you cannot but bring forth evil fruits, that is to say, sins.  “For whatsoever is not of faith, is sin” (Rom 14:23).  So he who would merit grace by works going before faith, goes about to please God with sins, which is nothing else but to heap sin upon sin, to mock God, and to provoke His wrath.  When a man is thus taught and instructed by the law, then is he terrified and humbled, then he sees indeed the greatness of his sin, and cannot find in himself one spark of love of God; therefore he justifies God in His Word, and confesses that he is guilty of death and eternal damnation.  The first part then of Christianity is the preaching of repentance and the knowledge of ourselves.”  (Martin Luther; Galatians, 92)

 

For such a wretch as thou art to attempt repentance is to attempt a thing impossible.  It is impossible that thou, that in all thy life couldst never conquer on sin, shouldst master such a numberless number of sins; which are so near, so dear, so necessary, and so profitable to thee, that have so long bedded companions with thee.  Hast thou not often purposed, promised, vowed, and resolved to enter upon the practice of repentance, but to this day couldst never attain it?  Surely it is in vain to strive against the stream, where it is so impossible to overcome; thou art lost and cast for ever; to hell thou must, to hell thou shalt.  Ah, souls! He that now tempts you to sin, by suggesting to you the easiness of repentance, will at last work you to despair, and present repentance as the hardest work in all the world, and a work as far above man as heaven is above hell, as light is above darkness.  Oh that you were wise, to break off your sins by timely repentance. (Thomas Brooks; Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, 65)

 

Spiritual Challenge:  Pray to see God as the god of the impossible:  All things are possible for God.  God proves Himself most convincingly when circumstances are (from a human perspective) impossible.

 

There are no set of circumstances when a believer should feel hopeless.  Even in the face of death, we know that God does His best work.  For in death are discovered God’s greatest promises.  —Pastor Keith

 

All things are possible.  Let that be the answer to any doubts you may have.  (David M. Gosdeck, The Peoples Bible: Jeremiah, 216)

 

It is a fine example of the way to pray in a desperate situation: concentrating first on the creative power (17) and perfect fidelity and justice (18-19) of God; remembering next his great redemptive acts (20-23a; to which the Christian can now add the greatest of them all)–and then with this background, laying before God the guilt of the past (23b), the hard facts of the present (24) and the riddle of the future (25).  (Derek Kidner, The Bible Speaks Today:  Jeremiah, 112-3)

 

The saint is hilarious when he is crushed with difficulties because the thing is so ludicrously impossible to anyone but God. — Oswald Chambers

 

We are all faced with great opportunities brilliantly disguised as impossible situations.  — Chuck Swindoll         

 

Some situations are hopeless in human terms, but we can remain under and endure them because our hope lies elsewhere.  Instead of despairing over such situations, we find our Hilarity in that which really matters.  This is a victory of a different sort.  We don’t overcome the situations, but we overcome ourselves and learn to rest in God’s grace, which is sufficient to carry us through the tribulations that don’t ultimately matter.  In the things that do, our hope is sure to give us Joy.  (Marva J. Dawn, Truly the Community:  Romans 12, 197)

 

Spiritual Challenge Questions:

  1. Why do we find it hard to invest in the eternal Kingdom of God rather than in this life when it clearly goes against Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 6:19-24?
  2. What would life be like if we, as children of God, understood the promises of God and the fact that He is all-powerful and is incapable of lying? Why do we fail to live this way?
  3. What is the best way for us to discover the true source of our heart’s affections and hope? How does Jesus’ statement in Matthew 6:21 help us to discern the true source of our heart’s affections and hope?

 

So What?: Never forget that with God nothing is impossible.  If you understand that He loves you dearly and wants your best; then there should never be a time when you worry, fear or feel unloved because there is no possible set of circumstances where God cannot make good on His promises.  Recognize that your investments will confirm where your heart is in believing this.

 

We often speak of people not living up to their faith.  But the cases in which we say this are not really cases of people behaving otherwise than they believe.  They are cases in which genuine belief are made obvious by what people do.  We always live up to our beliefs–or down to them, as the case may be.  Nothing else is possible.  It is the nature of belief.  And the reason why clergy and others have to invest so much effort into getting people to do things is that they are working against the actual beliefs of the people they are trying to lead.  (Dallas Willard, The Divine Conspiracy, 307-08)

 

Where your pleasure is, there is your treasure; where your treasure is, there is your heart; where your heart is, there is your happiness.  — Augustine.

 

Jesus says that the root of anxiety is inadequate faith in our Father’s future grace.  As unbelief gets the upper hand in our hearts, one of the effects is anxiety.  The root cause of anxiety is a failure to trust all that God has promised to be for us in Jesus.  (John Piper, Future Grace, 54)

 

Faith does not operate in the realm of the possible. There is no glory for God in that which is humanly possible.  Faith begins where man’s power ends.  —George Muller

 

No matter what our problems are, God is greater; and the more we see His greatness, the less threatening our problems will become.  (Warren Wiersbe, Be Decisive, 154)

 

Hudson Taylor asks us to consider:  “How often do we attempt work for God to the limit of our incompetence, rather than the limit of God’s omnipotence?”

     I am challenged by that today.  What is the limit–my incompetence or God’s omnipotence?  If all things are possible for God, then impossible situations become wonderful opportunities to point people to him.  As Tozer said, “God has called us to do the impossible.  What a pity we settle for what we can do ourselves.”  (Simon Guillebaud, Choose Life, 365 Readings for Radical Disciples, 6/9)

 

Anxiety is the natural result when our hopes are centered on anything short of God and His will for us.  —Dr. Billy Graham  

 

God never promises that our lives will be free of obstacles, problems, crises, and adversities.  He promises something better.  He will use every obstacle in your life to bring to fulfillment the very purposes He has planned for your life.  Every problem, every crisis, every adversity, every setback, and every sorrow will be turned around to bring breakthrough, blessing, and triumph.  And in God, every mountain, every obstacle that has hindered God’s purposes in your life, will, in the end, be turned around and become a capstone to bring about the completion of those very purposes.  (Jonathan Cahn, The Book of Mysteries, Day 313)

 

David was fully aware that God empowered him to protect his flock and rescue the young lamb from the mouth of the predator. He knew it would be no different with that ridiculous giant. The Israelite army was measuring the giant’s threats against their own strength and power. David was measuring against his omnipotent God of all creation. (Jentezen Franklin, The Spirit of Python, 134)

 

JESUS:

CAN DO THE

IMPOSSIBLE