Faith and Hope in God's Future Restoration

In this sermon, Reagan shares a personal story about his family's land in West Texas and uses it to draw a parallel with Jeremiah 32 from the Bible. He discusses the biblical story where God instructs Jeremiah to buy back family land during a time of great turmoil, as a symbol of faith in future restoration. Reagan emphasizes the importance of having faith in God's promises, even in seemingly hopeless situations. He also underscores the significance of enduring through suffering, having hope beyond current circumstances and death, and living with a perspective that seeks God's restoration. He closes by encouraging the audience to turn to Jesus and to embrace the hope of being a child of God.

00:00 Introduction: Family Land in West Texas
01:01 Imagining a Scenario: Government Seizure
02:12 Jeremiah's Faith in God's Restoration
03:12 Jeremiah's Purchase of Family Land
05:45 Jeremiah's Imprisonment and God's Command
07:52 The Deed and God's Promise
12:04 Jeremiah's Perspective: Hope Beyond Circumstances
24:25 Jeremiah's Perspective: Hope Beyond Death
27:33 Jeremiah's Perspective: Hope Beyond Self
31:45 Conclusion: Emulating Jeremiah and Jesus

Transcript

As many of you know, my family has over 500 acres in West Texas. This is a picture of my granddad on a tractor. In the eighties, I guess it would've been 'cause we were still raising cotton and all this field. That's the home place right over there. And all this field was our land is still our land.

Even that shadowy part over there, that's all ours. As far as the, I can see and I say my family, and that's true, but with the death of my grandfather, it passed on to my uncle and it'll pass on down to my cousin. But in the will it was written into the will that if my uncle or my cousins ever decide to sell that my sister and I have the first right to buy the land back and, and, and get it, keep it in the, as it were.

And so I want you to imagine for just a moment, a, a scenario with me. Let's, let's imagine that the US government decides that land in West Texas is really important to them. And so they're gonna use imminent domain to claim all that land. I dunno what it'd be a spaceport. It's gonna be a spaceport, right?

We're gonna send brackets into the air, whatever the case might be. And for the sake of the illustration, they're not gonna pay my uncle or cousins anything for the land. They're just gonna come in and seize it. Now, my cousins wouldn't do this because they love me and I love them. But just for the illustration, let's imagine my cousins come to me and they say, Reagan, we want to sell you the land.

And I know the government's about to take it from 'em and not pay 'em anything, and they know the government's about to take it from 'em and not pay them anything. What is the only way that it would make any sense for me to go ahead and buy that land back from my cousins? Only if I believed and hoped and knew that someday in the future that land would be returned.

To my family. And may I suggest that that is very similar to what we see in Jeremiah 32. Very much like the situation Jeremiah finds himself in only to a much more extreme degree. So let's talk this morning for a few minutes about faith in God's future restoration. And we're gonna use the vivid image, the illustration, the perspective of hope.

That is found with Jeremiah and his buying back his family land at the command of God. So if you have your Bible with you, would you turn to Jeremiah 32 and we're gonna use this illustration to talk about the perspective and hope that all who believe the promises of God. Should have. If you're here this morning and you're visiting with us, we're really grateful for your presence.

I see several who are visiting including some good friends from Tennessee. We're glad that you're here as well. And if you turn to Jeremiah 32 and make the effort to turn there in the Old Testament. That's where we're gonna take our points for the lesson this morning. Jeremiah and his family land that we find there in Jeremiah 32 in the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah, Jeremiah is instructed by God to buy back family land at the worst possible time.

So consider this chapter with me and its ramifications for our faith and for our hope as well. Start reading there in verse one of Jeremiah 32. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the 10th year of Zedekiah King of Judah, which was the 18th year of Nebuchadnezzar for them, the king of Babylon's army, besieged Jerusalem and Jeremiah, the prophet was shut up in the court of the prison, which was in the King of Judah's house for Zeek.

King of Judah had shut him up saying. Why do you prophesy and say thus says the Lord. Behold, I will give this city unto the hand of the king of Babylon and he shall take it. And Zeek kayak, king of Judah, shall not escape from the hand of the Chaldeans, but shall surely be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon and shall speak with him face to face and see Him eye to eye.

Then he shall lead Z Coyote Babylon. And there he shall be until I visit him, says the Lord. Though you fight with the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed. Why are you saying this, Jeremiah? This is bad business to say this to the people when we're in the midst of a war. So we see that this is sometime shortly before the fall of Jerusalem.

Perhaps if we're trying to date the dates of the King of Judah and Babylon, perhaps 5 88 or 5 87 bc, if that means something to you, this is hope. The very darkest of days that God is trying to give to Jeremiah, not for a miraculous turning of fortunes, like the days of Hezekiah or Elisha, but a hope for a return in the future for future restoration.

Zia asks the question, why do you prophesy this way as if Jeremiah had a choice in what he said? He was just repeating what God told him to say. Some people ask us the same silly question that the king asked Jeremiah, why do you do what you do? Why do you say what you say? Why do you live how you live?

And may our response be the same as Jeremiah, because God commanded me. It's the word of the Lord, and it is because of that faithfulness that Jeremiah finds himself. Think about this. He is imprisoned. A city that is imprisoned and if the citizens of that city are starving as we know they are. How do you think the prisoners, especially political prisoners of the king are being treated?

How, how do you think they are fairing in the prison inside the city. That's a prison. So in those circumstances, what does God ask Jeremiah to do? Well, that's where things get a little bit weird. Let's read verses six through 15 together and then we'll come back and make the applications from it. And Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came to me saying, behold Hael, the son of Shallum, your uncle will come to you saying, by my field, which is in Anth.

For the right of redemption is yours, buy it. Then Hannah mail, my uncle's son came to me in the court of the prison, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, please buy my field that is in, in Anau, which they couldn't even get to without being killed, which is in the country of Benjamin. For the right of inheritance is yours and the redemption yours, buy it for yourself.

Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. Why? Because it happened just like the, the Lord said it was going to. So I bought the field from Hannah Mel, the son of my uncle, who was in Anau and weighed out to him the money 17 shekels of silver. That's a significant sum of money at this time. And consider this one shut in the prison.

I mean, getting food during a siege was difficult enough for somebody in prison. You're gonna have to be paying a premium, and yet he's using that silver, the money that he has to buy this land. And I signed the deed and sealed it, took witnesses and weighed the money on the scales. So I took the purchase deed both that was, which was sealed according to the law and custom.

And that which was open, and I gave the purchase deed to Baruch, the son of Nariah, son of Macea, in the presence of H Mail my uncle's son, and in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison. Then I charged Baruch before them saying, thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel, take these deeds, both this purchase deed, which is sealed, and this deed, which is open.

And put them in an earthen vessel that they may last many days. I was talking into the foyer with a brother about stuff that they found in the deserts over there. And the reason why, because it lasts many days if you put it in a jar and you bury it, and that's the case here. He wants it to last many days.

So it might be found in the future. For thus, says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel houses and fields and vineyards. Shall be possessed again in this land. So walk through the text with me here in Jeremiah 32 and his family land. We see this right of redemption and they follow the law that's found in Leviticus 25, 25 and 47 through 50.

They follow it exactly. The best other illustration of that is in Ruth chapter four verses one through 12 where Boaz redeems Ruth. But you remember, he also redeems the land of Aek and Naomi's family. When land was sold under Jewish law, the law of Moses to pay a debt, the closest relative could then go and buy that land back.

And that's what Jeremiah does here. Now what's interesting is there's some details that we don't know. Was Jeremiah actually the closest kin, or as I kind of suspect, were there other closer Kinmen Kinsmen. And they kept turning this guy down saying, no, I'm not gonna buy the land. Do you not see what's going on?

And Jeremiah's just the next name on the list, we don't know. But what we do know is that it makes no economic physical sense. To use your money to buy this land that you cannot use and you're probably never gonna see again. While the city is under siege for Babylon, especially not for Jeremiah, because he believed the word of the Lord that they were gonna go into Babylonian captivity.

Kidner in his commentary, asked the question, was there ever a more insensitive prison visitor? Hey man, cousin, sorry, you're in prison. By the way, can you buy this worthless family land off me? I really need the money right now. But Jeremiah does it because God commanded him to do so verses 16 and 17. Now, when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch, the son of Niah, I prayed to the Lord saying, ah Lord God, behold you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power, an outstretched arm.

There is nothing too hard for you. And again in verse 25 and you have said to me, oh Lord God, buy the field for money and take witnesses. If the city has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans, he says, I did what you asked me to do, but you remember, we're going into captivity, right? I think a lot of times Jeremiah's simple example is important for us.

We don't have to see the sense. God's commands to follow them. What we have to see is his power and his goodness. Now, don't misunderstand me. A lot of times we can and do see the sense the the why. It makes sense for God to command what he does. But even in those moments where we don't like Jeremiah here, what we need to see is God's power and God's goodness.

And if that, those two things are true, we should obey whatever it is. And for Jeremiah, God's command would've been enough for his obedience, but, but ultimately that obedience was grounded in the faith that God could restore the fortunes of Israel, that there was hope to be found if one had a perspective beyond the moment beyond.

Prison beyond those city walls, beyond that army that surrounded Jerusalem. If you could see beyond all of that, beyond that time and place, then you could see what it was that God was doing. Jeremiah is hesitant in the moment. The question that God asks is a reminder of what God can do. In verse 26, God speaks again to Jeremiah.

Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah saying, behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is there anything too hard for me? Before we go any further, we should probably all answer that question. Is there anything too hard for God? Of course not. And we know that. We believe that, and though we know it to be true, Jeremiah acknowledged it in verse 17, but then God reminds him of it in verse 27.

Sometimes we know something to be true, but we need to be reminded that God's way is best, that God knows best, that God's commands are for our good always, and that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him. Sometimes we need to be reminded in the form of a question, what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole world and lose his own soul?

Do you know the answer to that? Of course we do. As Christians, we know these things, but we need to be reminded and we need to be reminded of what God can and does do for his people. God ask, is anything too hard for me? And then he tells Jeremiah and the people what he is going to do for them. Let's read how this story kind of concludes beginning there in verse 36.

Jeremiah 32 in verse 36. Now, therefore, thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, it shall be delivered into the hand of the king of Babylon, by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence, behold. I will gather them out of all the countries where I have driven them in my anger, in my fury, and in great wrath, I will bring them back to this place and I will cause them to dwell safely.

They shall be my people and I will be their God. Then I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever for the good of them and their children after them, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them. That I will not turn away from doing them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts so that they do not depart from me.

Yes, I will rejoice over them to do good, and I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and with all my soul. For thus says the Lord. Just as I brought out all this great calamity on this people, so I will bring on them all the good that I have. Promise them and the fields will be bought.

In this land of which you say it is desolate without man or beast, it has been given into the hand of the Chaldeans. Men will buy fields for money, sign deeds, and seal them and take witnesses in the land of Benjamin and the places around Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and the cities of the mountains, and the cities of the low land and the cities of the south.

For I will cause their captives to return, says the Lord. Jeremiah's actions by buying the land were intended by God to be a, a vivid illustration, a reminder of what God was going to do in restoring. And how sure was this Look again there at verse 41. I will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart.

And with all my soul, God says, God often calls on us as people to serve him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength. But here this expression is used of God. And it's weird to think about the heart and soul of God, isn't it? But the anthropomorphic point is that God is wholly devoted to fulfilling his.

His word of hope. God gives himself these human characteristics to show I'm all in, God will do it. And whatever things look like now, he can be sure he will fulfill his promises in the future. And, and maybe to this point in the lesson, you say, okay, that's great. I don't have land in West Texas or Israel.

What does this have to do with me? Well, may I ask, are we living our lives in such a way that we too hope for God's restoration, not for the physical land of Israel, but as his chosen people, as the remnant of God's people? Are we living our lives in such a way that we say, yes, I hope for and expect God's restoration?

That is what I would call the Jeremiah perspective. That he hopes beyond three things for God's restoration and blessings, that that Jeremiah hopes beyond circumstances. He hopes beyond death and he hopes beyond himself. And for us as Christians, those are the same things that we need to hope beyond as well.

The Jeremiah perspective by way of application hopes beyond circumstances. Jeremiah was one of the most abused and rejected of all the prophets. There is a reason why Jeremiah is called the weeping prophet. God warned him when he called him. You're gonna go and preach to these people and nobody's gonna listen to you.

And he was called while he was very young. And he didn't marry and he didn't have children, and he was thrown into prison, and then he was thrown into the stocks and then he was thrown into the pit. He was rejected and contradicted. He was asked to prophesy and then they rejected his prophecy. He was asked not to prophesy, and they rejected his prophecy, and then he was dragged off to Egypt against his will.

And here he buys the land even when the prison and the city are under siege. But for Jeremiah, the weeping prophet, those circumstances of weeping meant nothing. In comparison to God's promises, and if we have the Jeremiah perspective, where we hope beyond the, the physical circumstances of our life, that's gonna cause some things to take place in us.

We're gonna have some characteristics that we see in the prophet Jeremiah. I, I think my three favorite things about Jeremiah, my three, three favorite characteristics that I admire, that are emphasized about him and that we should emulate flow from his perspective. Number one. I admire his great endurance and righteous suffering.

You know, maybe job suffered more than Jeremiah, but maybe only because Job had more to lose than Jeremiah did, and Jeremiah never got the kind of restoration at the end that job did, and yet he endures through all of this suffering. And it was because he has this unbelievable capacity for hope and trust in God.

He just keeps on obeying. He just keeps on preaching. He just keeps on doing God's will. I was asked this week, do you ever get weary of doing the right thing? And I said, no, never. I always, I do. Sometimes you're just like somebody else to do the right thing first, every once in a while, right? And it's weary as a Christian sometimes being the one who's always doing the right thing.

Jeremiah grew weary too. Read the book and you can hear his weariness in some of these chapters. But in that weariness, he didn't lose heart and neither can we. We have to have a Jeremiah perspective, and I think that same perspective is seen in the New Testament. Mark your spot there in Jeremiah and turn, if you would, to the book of Galatians.

Galatians chapter six, the Churches of Galatia. So this is a region of some of the first churches that Paul established on his journeys. And in Galatians chapter six, so think about this. These are the first Christians outside of Judea and Samaria in that area right there around Jerusalem and the Jews.

We've got some Gentile Christians in these churches. And notice what he says to them in Galatians chapter six, beginning in verse seven. Do not be deceived. God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows that he will also reap for he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh, reap corruption that he who sows to the spirit will of the spirit reap everlasting life and let us not grow weary while doing good for induce season.

We shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith. That's us. We keep trying to do what's right even through difficult circumstances, even when things don't go the way we want them to. This is a picture of I think 6-year-old Reagan, maybe five or 6-year-old Reagan on a Shetland pony right there.

Talking with Connie and Runny Hunt this week, they've talked a lot about horses and getting bucked off of horses. And the only time I was truly terrified on a horse was on the Shetland Pony when I was that age 'cause that horse tried to kill me. I mean, that's not even a preacher story. I mean, he really tried to kill me.

I mean, he was bucking. I was doing what my granddad told me to do, and he literally got all four feet off the air and like some wrestler tried to slam me into the ground and so I was thrown off, thankfully, jumped off. Well, that's what everybody says when they're throwing off a horse. I jumped off that one.

Yeah, I jumped off and I remember my granddad running and. Seeing me there on the ground and picking me up and dusting me off and I'm ready to go to the house. And he said, Reagan, I love you, but there's one more thing we gotta do before we leave. What Gotta get back on the horse? Because he knew if I didn't, I might not ever get back on him again.

And that's not just. West Texas Wisdom, that's biblical. Proverbs 24 and verse 16, for though the righteous fall seven times, they rise again. But the wicked stumble when calamity strikes. Why? 'cause we have hope beyond our circumstances. And so we don't give up. And we don't give in and we. We get weary sometimes, but we don't lose heart because we know in due season we shall reap according to the promises of God.

And so we make the effort and we get up and we try again, and we practice righteousness, and that applies to everything in our Christian walk, Bible study and prayer and good works, and overcoming temptation and relationships and influence and evangelism. Whether circumstances are good and bad or bad.

One day at a time. We give our very best while living in the grace of God when we fall short, focusing on spiritual things to walk according to the spirit because the devil knows and loved ones we should all know. The only way the devil can win our souls back from Jesus is if we give up. And so he'll throw circumstances at us to try and weary us.

Take the example from Jeremiah and his perspective. He had hope beyond those circumstances and so to should we? Whatever season of life you find yourself in one of plenty or one of what, don't give up because God will fulfill his promises. The Jeremiah perspective also hopes beyond death. Are we living and working in anticipation of a future eternal hope for Jeremiah?

All of the promises of God that, that he prophesied about? Have you ever thought about that? Those promises were for long after his death, including a chapter earlier in Jeremiah 31 where he, he talks about us and he talks about this new covenant that was going to take place in Jeremiah 31, starting in verse 31.

Behold the days are coming, says the Lord. When I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and 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 lead them out of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke though I was a husband to them, says the Lord.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after these days, says the Lord, I will put my law in their minds. Write it on their hearts, and I will be their God and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man, his brother saying, no, the Lord. But they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the Lord.

For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin. I will remember no more. Jeremiah was talking about the new covenant in which we find ourselves as the writer of Hebrews reminds us. He's talking about us long beyond his death. And it is God who takes the initiative in this relationship at least six times.

God affirms I will do this. And Jeremiah believed God's promises. His perspective was one, though these things happen after my death. I have hope for what God is going to do for his people. And all of this provides an emphasis on the spiritual eternal reality, not just the physical one. If all Jeremiah had was the physical reality ending, his forced exile and death in a foreign land in Egypt, that's the way his life ends.

It would've been a sad book deed. Now, Jeremiah can be pretty dark and sorrowful, but it would be a sad book deed without that. The hope that Jeremiah had beyond his death to a future restoration, both of physical Israel that would come back after the course of 70 years, but also spiritual Israel in the Messiah, Jesus Christ, may we have that same Jeremiah perspective, that death is not the end and what matters.

What matters in this life truly are those things that will matter after death. The things that have eternal significance and our relationship with God that causes us to make different decisions than other people around us. Maybe not to buy land, but to invest in those things that will have value even after I'm dead and gone.

And a lot of times what those things beyond our death that have value are, are other people. The Jeremiah perspective hopes beyond self to others. It's sad that Jeremiah would never personally see this physical restoration. It would be his descendants 70 years or so in the future. Who would benefit from him buying this land?

Can you imagine? Grandpa Jeremiah, great-grandpa, Jeremiah, whatever it was. He bought this land when Jerusalem was under siege and now we have it, and now we work it, and now it's ours again. And even in that. I think there is a point to be made for us and our hope. May I ask you, are you only working for the eternal reward that you are going to receive?

It's good to work for that reward, but, but in many ways, that's an immature view of what it is that God promises. May we be also just as devoted, not just working for our reward. But just as devoted to making the sacrifices necessary to share that hope with others. Jeremiah's entire ministry was for others, it was his love for the people, his love for God, that made him continue to proclaim the word of the Lord to people who would not listen.

And, and I think, I think maybe in some ways the best example of this Willie, will you knock on the window back? No, don't do it. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Mothers, we, we've had some crying babies in here this morning. Music to my ears, mothers, you are doing great work, eternal work, kingdom, work beyond yourself to the next generation.

You are the front line of evangelism for the people of God, as we all seek to bring up our children in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. Our hope. Our hope is parents is not just for our salvation. Is it not just as equally for the salvation of our children and how much more for all of us to try and have that kind of perspective for all the people with whom we have influence.

You know, Jeremiah was treated about as badly as a prophet could be treated. Yet. The third characteristic that blows me away when I read this book is his love for Jerusalem. Those are his people. That is his city and his desire for the salvation of its people, the very people who are persecuting him, those are the people he wants to be saved.

He is not gonna give up on them. He continues to preach the message. And it reminds me so much of Jesus and his attitude toward Jerusalem. In Luke chapter 13, Jesus has warned about the coming judgment that's gonna come upon Jerusalem in, in 70 a a d, and it's promised that few will be saved even in the final judgment, but Jesus is not happy about those things.

It's the truth of the situation, but he desires just the opposite. And so he pries out in love and frustration in Luke chapter 13 and verse 34, oh Jerusalem. Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones, those who are sent to her. I am so glad to reign my wrath upon you. Now, how often. I wanted to gather your children together as a hen, gathers her brooded under his wings, but you were not willing.

I've heard that Harold's class on Wednesday nights off to a good start. We talked to this past week and, and Brent Bonne, wherever he is, we talked some about this too, the difference between love and like and, and those sorts of things. It's a reminder that sometimes we justify ourselves in loving people because they're unlovable.

They're not likable, right? And yet we are called as Christians like Jeremiah, to love people and to desire their salvation. That's the Jeremiah perspective. But may I suggest that these things are the Jesus perspective, that Jesus. Desire and expectation. That's what hope is. Desire and expectation beyond the circumstances that he found himself in, in his betrayal, his arrest, his crucifixion, he had hope beyond those things and hope beyond his death for salvation, not for himself.

He lived perfectly. Salvation for us. His hope, his desire and expectation was for us. And may we imitate Jeremiah as Jeremiah was a foreshadowing of Jesus It is. No wonder when Jesus asked his apostles, who do men say that I am? What is one of the names that was mentioned, Jeremiah? Because Jeremiah and his perspective was the same perspective that Jesus would have some 500 and something years later.

Jesus overcame rejection, crucifixion, sin, satan, and death for us. And like Jesus, we should see the glory that is set before us. Despising the shame and desire to share it with anyone who is willing to listen, believe and obey. Well be careful. Anyone who's willing to listen, believe and obey. Who are those people?

We don't know? We can't read hearts. And so we share that with all. If you're not yet a Christian, I don't have land to sell you in West Texas or in Antioch, in the region of Benjamin. But I am here to tell you this morning that Jesus has gone to prepare a place for his people, and he is calling you to come to him to have that inheritance.

If you are hesitant for any reason to come to Jesus and to put Christ on in baptism, to know the hope of being a child of God, if there's some hesitancy in your life because of sin you've committed, or circumstances you're worried about, or whatever the case might be, I ask you the simple question. Is anything too hard for God?

Whatever it is, he can fix it. He can make it right. He can save you. If you're willing to come now and we encourage you to do so, as together we stand and as we sing,

I'm here.