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For some months now, we have
been studying the book of the prophet Jeremiah. And we come
this morning to chapter 32, looking at verses 1 to 27, and taking
as our theme text words found in verse 9. I bought the field. I bought the field. I want to begin by saying something
about a remarkable woman. Her name was Mary Moffat, and
she was the wife of Robert Moffat and the mother-in-law of David
Livingstone. Robert and Mary Moffat were missionaries
in South Africa in in Bethuana land for 45 years,
from 1825 to 1870. The early years of their work
were extremely difficult. No one seemed to be listening
to their preaching. They hadn't a single convert
to show. And after some years, a friend
wrote from England to Mary Moffat asking what was there useful
that this friend could send out to them. The missionary's wife
wrote, send us a set of communion vessels. This at the time when
there wasn't another believer apart from themselves. is real faith. She was looking
forward to the time when there would be believers. And so convinced
was she that she asked for the communion vessels to be sent
out. That's the sort of faith that
Jeremiah was called to show here. In what has been called the worst
property deal in the history of the Near East. And yet, he
is acting in believing response to God. And what he is doing
is full of rich meaning. And as we study it this morning,
I believe that we will find ourselves challenged to buy fields. to similar costly obedience. I want to think first, and this
will be the major part of our study this morning, of the rashness
of faith. The rashness of faith. Jeremiah is approached by his
cousin, Hanamel, who lives in the home village a few miles
from Jerusalem. And Hanamel comes with a business
proposal, verse 8, by my field at Anathoth in the territory
of Benjamin, since it is your right to redeem it and possess
it by it for yourself. We find ourselves at once back
in the world of Ruth, which you remember we studied earlier this
year, where the kinsman-redeemer has the obligation to buy the
land of any member of his family who is in need. Jeremiah's cousin
is selling this piece of land. We don't know why. Perhaps he's
in debt. Perhaps there are darker reasons
that we'll come to in a moment. But he comes to Jeremiah's relation. He says, you're a member of the
family. We don't want the land to go out of the family. Why
don't you buy this field? And this deal was reinforced
by prophecy. Because Jeremiah tells us in
verse 6 that the word of the Lord had come to him saying that
this was going to happen. Your cousin's going to come.
He's going to suggest you buy this piece of ground. And it's
further reinforced by a very clear, specific command from
God recorded in verse 25. God says to the prophet, buy
the field with silver. and have the transaction witnessed. Now, what could be clearer or
more simple than that? His cousin comes, asks him to
buy the field. Jeremiah is a relation. He has
the right to buy this field at a good price. God has told him
this is going to happen, and God has said, when he comes,
you buy the field with silver. And yet, in commercial terms,
this made absolutely no sense at all. For at this time, Jeremiah
was in prison. We are told in verse 2 that he
was confined in the courtyard of the guard in the royal palace
of Judah. He was accused of treason. He
had been preaching that the city of Jerusalem was going to fall
to the Babylonian army, that there was no point in fighting
with the Babylonians, that the best thing that the people could
do would be to give up and make peace with the Babylonians. And
for this treasonable activity, he was imprisoned. So if he bought
this field, there is no way he would be able to visit it, or
work it, or have anything to do with it. He would be paying
money out for a property that he couldn't even see. Far worse
than that, we're told in verse 2 again, that the army of the
King of Babylon was then besieging Jerusalem. They were at the city
gates. The year was 587 B.C. The city was about to fall. And
the rest of the country, the whole of the country, including
this field, was already in the hands of the enemy. The people
had been defeated. The war was over to all intents
and purposes, and they had lost. They lost the land. Jeremiah
knew this better than anyone. He had said in verse 5, if you
fight against the Babylonians, you will not succeed. It's interesting
to look at the significance of the dating at the beginning of
the chapter. Because there's a subtle phrase
there which shows us where the real power now lay. We're told that it happened in
the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah. And then the phrase
is added, which was the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. Because it's Nebuchadnezzar who
counts. So here's this man in prison.
and he's asked to pay out good money for a field which he can
never visit and which the enemy have already captured and own. I quote now from a textbook which
is given to estate agents and architects. The title of the
book is The Fundamentals of Real Estate Appraisal. I quote, According
to the principle of anticipation, property value may be affected
by the expectation of a future event. Property value may be
affected by the expectation of a future event. So if you were
going to buy a piece of land and you suddenly found out that
they were going to build a sewage plant on one side of it and a
pig farm on the other, you might suddenly decide that you didn't
want to pay as much money for that land. In fact, you might
not want it at all. Property value may be affected
by the expectation of a future event. Now, in light of the principle
of anticipation, and you didn't need to be a genius to work it
out, this piece of land was worthless. It wasn't worth one shekel, never
mind seventeen shekels. It wasn't worth anything. The
enemy had captured it. Calvin says, the prophet must
have appeared to have been beside himself when he bought a field
in the possession of his enemies. And Hanamel, must have been laughing
all the way to the bank with his seventeen shekels. I didn't
think Jeremiah would have been such a mug as to pay me good
money for a useless piece of property like this. Yet Jeremiah
says, I bought the field. I bought the field. And moreover,
he had the transaction guaranteed in law with a double set of documents. Verse 14. Take these documents,
both sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and
put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. I
bought the field. Why did he buy it? Is it a case of a fool and his
money being soon parted? Not at all. This is an acted
prophecy. This is a magnificent affirmation
of faith. Not just on his own behalf, but
on behalf of the whole nation. He gives us the answer in verse
15. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. Houses, fields, and vineyards
will again be bought in this land. By buying the field, Jeremiah
was saying, I believe the Babylonian captivity will end. I believe
a better day is coming. I believe that the people of
God will come back to this land and take possession of this land
I believe that life as normal will begin again. I don't see
it. I don't understand how it will
happen. It doesn't look as if it will
happen. It looks as if God's promises have failed. But I know
they haven't failed, and I'm prepared to put out good money
in the faith that in God's time, My grand-nephews and grand-nieces
will come back and take possession of this land." He's obeying at
cost, in faith. He's going against what he can
see in the present, what he knows in the present. He's taking the
long view. He's living in light of the future.
He's staking his money on the truth of the promises and purposes
of God. This is a magnificent act of
faith. Amid the laughter of the world,
Jeremiah buys the field. A crazy man. No, he says, I believe
God's promises. God says, we're coming back and
I'm prepared to put my money where my mouth is. This was Mary Moffat's communion
vessels. And friends, this is precisely
what we are called to do in our own day. As Christians, to act
in a way that seems to the world foolish. To lay down deposits for the
future. to live now in the light of eternity,
when we have nothing but the Word of God to show that they
will ever come about. It's our calling to claim for
God what is now held by the soldiers of Babylon. I am moved often by the event
which takes place every time we meet for worship. I don't
know if you believe it is a part of worship. I say it is, and
I mean it. Let us worship God with our tithes
and offerings. And as I sit and watch our deacons
and elders, I'm seeing you buying the field. Here are people who
are giving away their money. Nobody makes you give it away.
Why would you do it? Why would you hand over, some
of you, a considerable sacrifice, your hard-earned money that you
could spend on many other things? Because you have a different
perspective. You have a different viewpoint. You are living in
the light of spiritual values, of kingdom values. of eternity. You're investing in the future. The world doesn't understand
that. What are you getting for your
money? You're getting a sermon. Well, I hope you're getting an awful
lot more than that. And you are getting an awful lot more than that. Christian people who do
without so that they can give more to the cause of Christ. The time we spend in worship.
Setting aside one day in the week exclusively for the worship
of God. A seventh of our time. Setting
aside time every day. Meeting in homes during the week.
Meeting in a Lord's Day evening here to pray. Why do we do that?
Why do we spend our time in that way? Because we're living in
the light of God's promises. Raising and training our children. The world wants to have them.
The world wants to influence them and make them like itself,
but we buy the field. We spend hours and hours teaching
them the Scriptures. talking to them, praying for
them, loving them, spending time with them. Why? Because we're
looking to the future. And we're saying we believe that
we're looking at future believers. Servants of God who will be giants
in the earth, who will be pillars of the church after we're dead
and gone. And we're willing, we're willing
to make any sacrifice to bring that about. Nothing is too much
time, too much trouble, too much expense for the due training
of our children. Those of us who are parents,
that's the great task of our lives. When we resist temptation, when
we serve Christ, when we witness in a hostile world, when a young
man offers himself as a minister of the gospel, when a young woman
offers herself as a missionary, when someone takes a lower paid
job than they could otherwise get for the sake of Christian
service. Callum Webster, in his work for
the Christian Institute, is spending his whole life buying fields.
He's going out into areas of society that the Babylonians
now hold. Their armies are encamped there.
Columns saying, we want this for Christ and we're claiming
it for Christ. And I'm putting my life and my
effort and all of us who are praying and working for the betterment
of society. I bought the field. My friends,
are you giving yourself for this? Or are you living for this world
and its values? and its rewards? Do you live with a light of heavenly
values, of eternal realities? Are you looking, as Jeremiah
did, to the long term? Are you sure, as he was, amid
the laughter of the world, that houses and fields and vineyards
will again be bought in this land? The rashness of faith. But let's come, secondly, to
the reaction of fear. The reaction of fear. I really
love the realism of Scripture and the humanity of this man,
Jeremiah. Think about this. He acts here
obediently. Believingly, in costly faith. He takes a counter-cultural stance. And that's what we are to be.
This is a great moment in his life. I bought the field. What happens next? Is Jeremiah exhilarated? Is he
happy? Is he flooded with a sense of
God's love? What happens to him immediately
after he takes this great step of faith? He says, oh, what have
I done? What have I done? He's depressed. He's worried. He's asking himself,
have I made a stupid mistake? Have I done a silly thing? After I had given the deed of
purchase to Baruch, I prayed to the Lord, Ah, Sovereign Lord. Then look how in verses 24 and
25 he lays his problem before God. See how the siege ramps
are built up to take the city. Because of the sword, famine
and plague, the city will be handed over to the Babylonians
who are attacking it What you said has happened. I think this
is a humorous phrase. As you now see. As you now see. There was a wee man my father
used to know in East Belfast who preached in a mission hall.
A very godly little man, but a strange way of putting things.
And often he would say in his prayer, Lord, you've read in
last night's telly that so and so happened. He seemed to have
a vision of God Almighty getting the telegraph delivered to him
every Saturday evening. So Jeremiah says here, Lord,
what you said has happened as you now see. And though the city
will be handed over to the Babylonians, you, O Sovereign Lord, say to
me, buy the field with silver. Does that not ring true to your
experience? How many times in your life have
you done something that was right, that was brave, that was hard,
and instead of feeling wonderful afterwards, you felt miserable? You've said, should I have done
that? I'm committed now. You take a step of faith, and
as soon as the step has taken fears and doubts and uncertainties
come rushing in. After the excitement of obedience,
often we say, what have I done? At least Jeremiah does the right
thing with his doubts and his anxieties. He says, I prayed
to the Lord. Calvin comments, by this we are
taught that whenever thoughts creep into our minds, which toss
us here and there, we ought to flee to prayer. And in this prayer
of Jeremiah's, verses 17 to 25, we have a very fine example of
how to pray in desperate circumstances. Let me note very briefly four
aspects of this prayer It begins with an honest acknowledgement
of where He is. It begins with a cry of distress,
with a groan of anguish. Ah, Sovereign Lord! Don't pass over those words.
Jeremiah is telling God that he's upset. He's worried. He's bewildered. Why, God, have
you asked me to do something which seems so stupid? Why have
you asked me, why have I had to make a fool of myself? Have
you ever wondered that? Perhaps you've come out at work
strongly for Christ. You've taken hits for it. In
some other way, you've done something, and then you think, Lord, did
I have to make a fool of myself? Jeremiah says this often. Chapter
1, verse 6. Chapter 4, verse 10. Chapter
14, verse 13. Ah, the sovereign Lord. Whenever He's bewildered and
fearful and troubled, God wants you to be real when you come
to Him. You don't have to be a phony. You don't have to pretend. You
don't have to put on a front. It doesn't work anyway. You've
got to come to God in your real humanity. If you're angry, tell
Him you're angry. If you're angry with Him, tell
Him you're angry with Him. If you're angry with somebody
else, tell Him you're angry with somebody else. If you don't believe
His Word, tell Him you don't believe it. Be absolutely honest and transparent
with God. Say, Lord, I'm coming to You
as I am in my messy, awkward life situation where I don't
see blacks and whites anymore. I just see greys. That is very, very eloquent praying. That may be what Paul's talking
about in Romans 8.26. We do not know what we ought
to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us, how? With
groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts
knows the mind of the Spirit. He begins with a groan. He begins
with honesty, with realism. He then praises God. He praises
Him for two things. for His creation. Verse 17, You
have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and
outstretched hand. And He praises Him for redemption. Verse 21, You brought Your people
out of Egypt. We are to praise God as our Creator
and our Redeemer. And we have a greater redemption
to thank Him for than the exodus. Then thirdly, he worships God. He describes Him as all-powerful,
verse 17. Nothing is too hard for you. He describes Him as loving, verse
18. You show love to thousands. He describes Him as all-knowing,
verse 19. Your eyes are open to all the
ways of men. He describes him as just, also
in verse 19. You reward everyone according
to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. So he begins with an
honest acknowledgement of where he is and who he is. He praises
God. He worships God. And it's only
at the end that he comes to his problem. Note the proportion
of the prayer. One commentator says, in Jeremiah's
prayer there are seven parts of praise to one part of puzzlement. We tend to bring our problem,
to begin with our problem and focus on our problem. But before
Jeremiah does that, he begins certainly with honesty, but then
he moves into worship and praise and adoration and thanksgiving. Friends, that's a pattern for
us. When our faith wavers, when our doubts arise about the value
of our obedience, about the call of God, Derek Kidner says, in
such a crisis, approach God with a proper sense of His power,
love, justice, and knowledge. And you will find faith to trust
Him, even if He tells you to fork over 17 shekels to cousin
Hanomel. So Jeremiah, in his doubts and
fear and need for reassurance, comes into the presence of God. He's honest with God. And then
he praises God and he worships God and he reflects on who God
is, and he stays himself on God. And only then does he lay before
God. And he doesn't even then ask
God for anything. He just says, God, I don't understand
this. I don't understand what you're
asking of me. It doesn't make sense. Why have I to buy a field
that's owned by the Babylonians? the rashness of faith, the reaction
of fear which is believing prayer, and lastly and briefly, the reassurance
for the future. The reassurance for the future. Jeremiah had begun his prayer
superbly. Nothing, he says to God, is too
hard for you. He believed that. He believed it in general. And he believed it for other
people. But when it came to himself,
he wasn't sure if he did believe it. Does that ring any bells? In 38 years as a minister, I've
lost count of the number of Christian people who cannot believe that
God has forgiven their sins. And when you say to them, do
you believe that God forgives sins? Oh, yes. Yes. Do you believe
that God is kind and generous and compassionate? Yes. Do you
believe that if you ask for forgiveness from Christ, God will give it
to you? Yes. But then when you get to
their sins, somehow, well, no, I'm the exception. Tremendous
struggle. We believe that God is all-powerful
until I'm confronted with a difficulty. Then suddenly God isn't all-powerful.
But we do this all the time. We believe that God is patient.
But then I'm not sure that he's patient with me. And this is
what's happening here with Jeremiah. And so at the end, the Lord very
graciously and gently and compassionately reminds Jeremiah of what Jeremiah
himself said. Verse 26, I am the Lord, the God of all
mankind. Is anything too hard for me? What did you say, Jeremiah? Did
I hear you saying, nothing is too hard for you, Lord? Are you forgetting that? Jeremiah, you have the right
God. You have the right beliefs. What
you need to do is to hold on for yourself what you believe
for others. And then later on in the chapter,
we hadn't time to read it, but he reassures Jeremiah. Look at
verse 42 following. As I have brought all this great
calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity
I have promised them. Fields will be bought for silver,
and deeds will be signed, sealed, and witnessed in the territory
of Benjamin, in the villages around Jerusalem. God reassures
Jeremiah, the promise will come true. I will keep it. Your faith will be rewarded.
You will see the sense of what you have done. You will see the
fruit. Mary Moffat's communion vessels
took one year to come to South Africa from England. They arrived the day before the
first communion service for a group of new converts. were bought and sold again in
the villages around Jerusalem. This was the best deal Jeremiah
ever made. He got a bargain. Friends, the day is coming when
you and I will be able to say, as Joshua said, you know that
not one Not one of the good promises the Lord your God gave you has
failed. Every promise has been fulfilled. For no matter how many promises
God has made, they are yes in Christ. And on that day, when
all God's promises are seen to be fulfilled, You and I will
be glad for all the fields we bought on this earth. Amen.
Jer#11 - I Bought the Field
Series Jeremiah
| Sermon ID | 1260693435 |
| Duration | 35:52 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday - AM |
| Bible Text | Jeremiah 32 |
| Language | English |
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