The Discipline of God - Part 3

Well if you have your Bible this morning we're going to turn to Jeremiah chapter 13. Initially we looked on Monday morning at the state of the nation when Jeremiah began his ministry. There was the appearance of a spiritual renewal taking place but it was superficial as far as the people were concerned. We looked yesterday at Jeremiah's own personal circumstances and the struggles and conflicts that he endured and the disappointments that he lived through. He was very much a voice in the wilderness. But this morning I want to talk under the theme the discipline of God in the lives of the people of God. I want to look with you at four parables that were either enacted by Jeremiah or watched by Jeremiah that illustrate this message. They say a picture is worth a thousand words so we'll save four thousand words this morning and look at four different pictures, four different parables that are given in this book. If ever you want biblical grounds for the effective use of drama, by the way, you needn't go any further than the prophets. And some of the most effective messages they conveyed were conveyed dramatically. Poor old Ezekiel had on one occasion to lie on his side for 390 days, that's about 13 months, having drawn a picture of Jerusalem on a clay brick and then built a ramp up to it, set up a few sort of toy camps around it, a few little battering rams, and then with an iron pan between him and his little model he had to lie on the ground for 390 days. And after 390 days, to the amazement of everybody in Jerusalem, he got up, turned around, they thought what a relief, and then he lay down on the other side for 40 days, depicting of course the 390 years that the northern kingdom of Israel will be in exile, and then the 40 years the southern kingdom. And once he had to shave off his beard and his hair of his head and divide them into three equal parts on a scale and burn one third and scatter the other third to the wind and then put some of the remaining third in his garment and then throw the rest away. And they had to one day eat a scroll in front of everybody and tell them how nicely it tasted, like honey in my mouth, he said, to show what the Word of God should be. Isaiah would probably have never been invited to come to speak at the Keser Convention. For three years he had to walk around in bare feet and with bare buttocks and to show the humiliation of those who trusted in Egypt. Hosea, you remember, had to marry a woman who was an adulteress. Then God gave them three children. These three children had names, all of which described or explained the message that Hosea's life was to the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom. And there are many others, Elisha, Zechariah, Jeremiah, on one occasion, not in the past, we look at this morning, had to put a wooden yoke around his neck and say, this is what's going to happen to the people of Judah. And a man called Hanumel, who was a false prophet, came and got hold of Jeremiah and smashed this wooden yoke and said, this is lies, Jeremiah. And Jeremiah went home and thought, that feels better, I'm glad he smashed it. And God said, make another one, this time make it of iron and walk around with an iron yoke around your neck. Well, there's plenty of drama in these Old Testament prophets. And I want to look at these four occasions with you this morning and see them as a progressive message which God is giving to the nation about the nation. The first is in chapter 13. And I don't know if you've done your homework before coming this morning, you may have read these already. For those who have, you will have read some of the details we haven't time to read this morning. But let me read from verse 1, there are three stages to this first enactment. This is what the Lord said to me, go and buy a linen belt and put it around your waist. But do not let it touch water. So I bought a belt, as the Lord directed, and put it around my waist. Well, that's very simple, buy a linen belt, said God. It needs to be new, don't wash it, and put it around your waist where it's supposed to be worn. It was probably an undergarment of some kind, worn against the skin, because that is what the picture is going to refer to in due course. We don't know how long he wore it. But then in verse 3, then the word of the Lord came to me a second time. Take the belt you bought and are wearing around your waist, and go now to Perith, and hide it there in a crevice in the rocks. So I went and hid it at Perith, as the Lord told me. Now some debate the exact location of Perith, the authorized version says the Euphrates, that's probably where it was, that's certainly one of the possibilities. That would be a 700 mile round-trip journey. Take this belt, go 350 miles to Perith, and there he says, hide it in a crevice in the rocks. Well, he did that, came home again. Verse 6, many days later the Lord said to me, go now to Perith, and get the belt I told you to hide there. So I went to Perith, and dug up the belt, and took it from the place where I'd hidden it, but now it was ruined, and completely useless. So he got home again, and God said, now go back, all the way back the 700 mile round-trip, and dig up the belt that I told you to hide and bury there. Well, he did that, and it wasn't a surprise to him, it was ruined it says, it was completely useless. Well, what is all that about? Well, fortunately he tells us in verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to me, this is what the Lord says, in the same way I will ruin the pride of Judah, and the great pride of Jerusalem. These wicked people who refuse to listen to my words, who follow the stubbornness of their own hearts, and go after other gods to serve and worship them, will be like this belt, completely useless. For as a belt is bound around a man's waist, so I bound the whole house of Israel, and the whole house of Judah to me, declares the Lord, to be my people for my renown, and praise, and honor, but they have not listened. These people said, God have a purpose, and a function, and that function is to be as close to me, as that belt Jeremiah was close to you, around your waist. You see the first reason God called Israel to himself, was not to give them a function, his first reason was to enjoy fellowship with them. They had a function, but that grew out of the relationship of fellowship that he was to enjoy with them. And 52 times in this prophecy of Jeremiah, God refers to Judah as my people. It's a warm intimate term, and he speaks of Israel as being like a bride to him. Back in chapter 2 he says, I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me, and followed me through a desert, through a land not sown. Later in chapter 2 he says, does a maiden forget her jewelry, or a bride her wedding ornaments, yet my people have forgotten me days without number. And God is saying there, my covenant with Israel is not simply a legal covenant I've made with them, it's a romance, it's a marriage, it is an intimate fellowship, where I says God love you, and you love me. The first terms of the covenant were love the Lord your God with all your heart, and soul and strength. But as he says through this book, they have committed adultery. Worse than that he says in chapter 3, you lived like a prostitute with many lovers. In other words says God, you have violated the terms and purpose of my relationship. It's not simply that you in the world have a special role as the people of God, but that you're on intimate terms with me in a love relationship. And over 50 times in this prophecy, his invitation is return, return, return, come back to where you belong, in other words. And of course you don't need me to spend time explaining this, but this is exactly the terms of the relationship of the church of Jesus Christ with the Lord Jesus Christ. He didn't come into the world simply to rescue us from hell, and as long as you're going to get into heaven by the skin of your teeth, mission complete. He came into the world to find a bride. Those with whom he enjoys that intimacy of fellowship and communion. The Christian life is union with Christ. The first invitation of Jesus is come to me. The second invitation of Jesus is abide in me. And within those two invitations is encompassed the whole of the Christian life. Come to me and abide in me. But Judah has violated this purpose. My people says God will be like this belt. Away from the intimacy of their relationship with God, they are still legally God's people. But as he describes them, they are ruined. They are useless for the purpose for which he called them. Well, this is a pretty negative message, isn't it? It's a very true one. It's a very accurate diagnosis, not only of Judah, but we recognize its accuracy in the church of Jesus Christ in our own hearts. But I want you to move now to chapter 18 because there is a second parable, the story of the potter at work in his potter's house molding clay. One of the best-known incidents in Jeremiah, probably. Though the four chapters, if we have time to look at these in detail, which we don't, I'll just very quickly summarize them. But chapter 14, 15, 16, and 17, which then lead into chapter 18, go on to explain the implications of that first parable, the linen garment buried up in the Euphrates. And this prepares for the second parable, the potter and the clay. Because in chapter 14, there's a lament. Don't turn back to this. I just summarize it very quickly. During a drought, when this drought comes to the nation and God doesn't respond to their cries for mercy and tells Jeremiah in that chapter, don't even pray for these people. Even if Moses and Samuel were to come, I wouldn't intercede. There's a growing sense of alienation. God says in those chapters 15, I'm going to send four kinds of destroyers, the sword that will kill, the dogs that will drag you away, and the beasts of the field and the birds of the air who are going to come and devour you. And Jeremiah, don't you give any hope. Don't you marry, was what he said then in chapter 16, because as we looked at yesterday, if you have children, you're given the idea there's a future. Don't go to funerals. Don't mourn. I've taken my sympathy from these people. And all of this is designed to explain the linen cloth perishing, useless, out of the purpose which it was created. And then in chapter 17, he speaks of the deceitfulness of the heart and the curse that comes from depending on man. But then in verse 12, there's a climax here in chapter 17, and it prepares the way for chapter 18. Let me read verse 12, where he suddenly says, a glorious throne exalted from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Now he says, despite all that he's spoken of in the preceding few chapters of the destruction that is coming and the alienation of the people from God, he says, but there's a place of sanctuary. There's a place to which you can run. And he says, it's a glorious throne. But what does that mean? Well, he says to Jeremiah, go to the house of the potter, and you'll understand what that means. And so in chapter 18, Jeremiah doesn't enact this parable. He's an observer of it. He stands, watches the potter at work. And it says, verse one, this is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord, go down to the potter's house, and there I'll give you my message. So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands. So the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. Then, verse five and six, here's the key. Then the word of the Lord came to me, O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does, declares the Lord, like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. And he goes on to explain how he's going to mold the people like clay. You see, the clay in the hands of the potter is the nation of Israel. It's marred. Something's gone wrong. The potter says Jeremiah is the sovereign God. The one who occupies that glorious throne that is the place of our sanctuary. And the shaping of the clay are the pressures, the pressures of life that God in his kindness and his sovereignty brings into our circumstances. You see, the government of God in your life and mine is not expressed in his willingness to manipulate circumstances to make life easy for us. So much of our praying is along those lines. When we ask for prayer requests, so many prayer requests are saying, I have a problem, would you please ask God to move it out of the way for me. That isn't the evidence of the sovereignty of God. But the sovereignty of God as depicted here is the potter bringing pressure into our lives to mold us. And the potter's wheel in this picture against which his hand molds are the circumstances of life. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 3, Paul says there, we rejoice in our sufferings because we know that suffering produces perseverance, perseverance produces character, character produces hope, etc. I've underlined in my Bible those two words, suffering produces. That doesn't mean that we or God himself is impartial to our sufferings. As we said yesterday morning, he keeps our tears in his bottle. But he keeps our tears in his bottle because he knows this is investment. Suffering produces. Hebrews chapter 12 and verse 7 says, endure hardship as discipline. Why? Because God somehow has neglected you? No, but because God in his sovereignty is bringing into your life situations you would never have chosen, and they're molding you. And of course the discipline of God is not only corrective, remedial, it's not only a discipline because things are wrong, but he's refining what is right so that the Lord Jesus Christ himself was subject to the discipline of his father. It says in Hebrews 5, though he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. That's speaking of the son. And the father brought into the life of his own son, suffering which he learned from. And in your life and mine, although the events themselves that seem to come into your life may be satanic in origin, remember Job of course. It was Satan who attacked Job. It was Satan who brought about the destruction of his livestock, and his workforce, and his family, and then the sickness to his own body. It was with God's permission of course. And as far as Job was concerned, there was no evidence of God. I look east, west, north, south, I don't see God. At the end of the book he said, my ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. Something's happened. I've seen God, said Job. Now it was Satan who attacked him of course, but you know when your life is in the hands of God, let me say it this way and hope you understand it, even the devil will do you good. Because the end result of Job's life was, I've seen God. By the way, he'd seen God, my ears have heard you, now my eyes have seen, not because they've been to some great convention, or had some great spiritual experience. He said, I've seen God because he's been under satanic attack and endured, and I've counted them, 38 chapters of suffering and violence. But he says, I've seen God, because although the devil was active behind the scenes giving him permission and laying down the boundaries for him, was a sovereign God. And you see, our sanctuary, says Jeremiah, our hiding place, our security, is not in the fact that God gives us everything we want. He's not our sugar daddy, but in the discipline he brings into our lives. Getting, not getting what you want, is actually good for character. Last week I was at the school sports day, where two of my children are at school, and I was sitting between my wife on my left and another mother on my right, and as certain children ran and won the race, this lady on my right frequently said, that'll be good for their confidence. Next one, that'll be good for their confidence, winning the race. And I was feeling a bit frustrated by her repeated comments, but my wife, who is wiser than I am and braver than I am, leaned over, she said, winning may be good for their confidence, but learning to lose will be good for their character. Well, learning to lose well is good for character. And you know, God sometimes lets you lose. As far as the recognition of the world at large, through the Scriptures, God repeatedly lets his people lose, to all apparent appearances. When Paul complained about that thorn in his flesh, do you remember that in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, he said there, don't turn to it, but I'll just read it quickly, he says, to keep me from becoming conceited, in verse 7, because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Now, he's unambiguous about its origin, this is from Satan. He doesn't tell us what the thorn in the flesh is, of course, because he knew the Bible students, scholars, would need something to do, and they need to work it out. But it sounds to me as though it's something physical, we know he had poor eyesight, because he talks about that at one stage. Others think, well, maybe it's something else, some have said, I heard somebody suggest, maybe it's because he wasn't married, maybe this was a thorn in his flesh. I heard somebody else say, maybe it's evidence that he was married, because there is some possibility that he was. Whatever it was, he says, there's a thorn in my flesh. It was uncomfortable, it was painful, and I recognized its origin. It was from Satan. So, he did the obvious, logical thing that you and I would do, and he did. He says, I pleaded with the Lord to take it away. In fact, three times I did that, I don't think he means that he prayed three prayers about it, I think on three periods of time, he prayed about this and interceded about it. But God said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness. God said, Paul, I have a vested interest in keeping you weak, because in your weakness, that provides the opportunity for the demonstration of my strength. And so, Paul says in verse, when he follows that in verse, where is it, verse 10, therefore, or the middle of verse nine, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardship, in persecutions, in difficulties. When I'm weak, then am I strong. And the very thing he says, God, take it away, he ends up saying, I rejoice in the very thing I saw as my enemy. And sometimes the things you and I regard as our biggest enemies are actually our biggest friends. Because their role in our lives, like the hand of the potter in the clay, molds us for that which is God's interest in us, which is usually different to our own interest. As Hebrews 12, verse 10 says, our fathers disciplined us for a little while, as they thought best, but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. That's God's agenda, you see. God's agenda is not our happiness, it's our holiness, and don't confuse the two. A holy man is a happy man, a holy woman is a happy woman, a holy home is a happy home. I'm sure, I've never been to one. But happiness is the consequence. Elizabeth Elliot, and I'm paraphrasing what she wrote, and if I've got it wrong, I ask her apology. But I read this in one of her books, and from memory, basically she said this. She said, it used to be the parents wanted their children to be good, and they taught them to be good, and as a result, most children, as they learned to be good, were happy and secure. Now, she said parents want their children to be happy. And usually, in the short term, being happy doesn't mean being good. I think there's some very real wisdom there. You see, God's agenda is our holiness. Oh, house of Israel, he says there in verse 6 of chapter 18, can I not do with you as this potter does, declares the Lord, like clay in the hand of the potter, so you're in my hand, oh house of Israel. And I'm going to mold you, I'm going to even hurt you, in order to bring in you the holy character of God. And in God's dealings with you and with me, that statement in verse 4, I think, is very significant. It says in verse 4, but the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands. He doesn't tell us about the marring, but let's just take it from that earlier parable. Things are wrong, that's the point. So, the potter formed it into another pot. Shaping it as seemed best to him. I think that's a very important statement, because you see, the sovereignty of God is there in making it into another pot. Don't think of the sovereignty of God as some fixed, predetermined blueprint of everything that's going to happen, and if you blow it, you have blown it. You see, God's plan changes with the realities of the situation. And God remolds the clay. Remember in the Garden of Eden, God said to Adam and Eve, do whatever you like, except one thing, don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And the day they ate of that tree, they became embarrassed, they became aware of their nakedness, and God came walking in the garden, called them, where are you? He knew where they were, of course. He wanted them to acknowledge where they were. And he said, who told you you were naked? Because they said, we were embarrassed because we're naked. Who told you you were naked, said God? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat? And of course they had. And then it says this, the Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. God clothed them. Is that God's purpose? No. But he remolded the clay. He didn't write them off and say, you disobey what I commanded you, therefore, pow, zap them on the spot and start again. He remolded the clay. When the nation of Israel wanted the king to be like every other nation around them, God said to Samuel, who was the prophet and judge at that time, it's not you they've rejected, Samuel, it's me they have rejected. This is a rejection of God. But, said God, I will remold the clay. I'll tell you what king to give them. Saul, he was a disaster, of course, and then David. And do you know how Jesus is introduced in the New Testament? The genealogy of Jesus Christ, it says the son of David. The throne of David should never have been in the ultimate purpose and sovereignty of God. That was not what his will. But he remolds the clay. You see, this is the marvelous thing. Failure is never final. Never final. Never ever write anyone off. We can go wrong, they can go wrong, but a glorious throne exalted from the beginning is the place of sanctuary and on that throne is a potter and he brings his hand against the clay and he remolds it. Something different because there's some things that you can never go back on. You can do things and you can never undo them. You will live forever with the consequences, but he remolded the clay. Isn't that wonderful? See remolding you today? Well, if that's chapter 18, go to chapter 19 for the third of these parables. And this is a very sobering and a very frightening parable, but it follows on from what we've just been saying. We haven't time to read it all, but let me read the first, let me read a few selective verses. Verse one, this is what the Lord says, go and buy a clay jar from a potter, take along some of the elders of the people and of the priests and go out to the valley of Ben Hinnom near the entrance of the potsherd gate. There proclaim the words I tell you and say, hear the word of the Lord, O kings of Judah and people of Jerusalem. This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says, listen, I'm going to bring a disaster on this place that will make the ears of everyone who hears it tingle. Now what Jeremiah does there? God says, go and buy a clay jar from a potter. This is now the finished product, a clay jar, same image, but this one now is on the shelf, finished. Get the people together and tell them, I'm going to do something which is going to make your ears tingle and frighten you. Let me read verse 10. Having got the people together, then break the jar while those who go with you are watching and say to them, this is what the Lord Almighty says, I will smash this nation and this city just as this potter's jar is smashed and cannot be repaired. They will bury the dead in Topheth until there is no more room. This is what I will do to this place and to those who live here, declares the Lord. I'll make this city like Topheth. The houses in Jerusalem and those in the kings of Judah will be defiled like this place, Topheth. All the houses where they burned incense on the roofs to all the starry hosts and poured out drink offerings to other gods. Jeremiah then returned from Topheth where the Lord had sent him to prophesy and stood in the court of the Lord's temple and said to all the people, this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel says. Listen, I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words. This is a sobering and a frightening picture. He says, Jeremiah go back to the potter's house, get a pot. In the potter's house it was soft and pliable and reworkable but now it's hardened. Can it be remolded now? And I want you, Jeremiah, to go and in front of the people smash the jar on the ground. In chapter 18, Jeremiah watches the potter. I saw him at work at the wheel. The focus is the potter. We see him at work, his interest, his purpose, his power, his actions, his molding of the clay. In chapter 19, the focus is on the clay jar. Buy the clay jar. Then with the people watching, he says, smash it in such a way that it cannot be repaired. There's a helplessness in this picture. The pot is unable to resist the action against it as it's hurled to the ground and smashed. There's a finality about this. You see, the sovereignty of God is ultimately irresistible. The end of the story, the pot lies in a thousand pieces on the ground. What is the meaning of this for Judah? Well, God says there's going to be a destruction of this nation. Jerusalem and Judah are going to be invaded by the Babylonian army of that pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, though God calls him my servant, Nebuchadnezzar. This was unbelievable news if you read the rest. When Jeremiah had smashed this clay, the priest, Pasha, was so angry he had Jeremiah put in the stocks and they beat him and flogged him. Jeremiah himself was confused by this because in chapter 20 he says, oh Lord, you deceived me and I was deceived. Surely, surely God, you don't smash the people to pieces. But he does. You see, the judgment of God is a frightening thing. It's a very real thing. We don't hear much about the judgment of God these days. It's not what we're into. Of course, there will come a judgment day one day in the future. Second Corinthians 510 says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. There's going to come a judgment day which none of us will be exempt from. But at the same time, Paul says to the Romans, the wrath of God is being, present tense, revealed from heaven against the godlessness and wickedness of man. What is the wrath of God, the judgment of God in the present tense? How does God show his wrath? How do we see his judgment? Well, I don't think we see it through train crashes and earthquakes and drought and sickness. We're forever hearing, this is the judgment of God. But actually, the Bible would teach us the judgment of God is far more subtle than that and far more devastating, in fact, than that. It was Romans 1, I quoted, where it says, the wrath of God is being revealed against all wickedness. Let me just turn to Romans 1 for a moment because I think this is very important that we understand this. Romans 1 and verse 24, having begun to speak of the wrath of God in the present tense being revealed from heaven, from verse 18. In verse 24, he says, therefore God gave them over in the simple desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. In verse 26, he says, because of this God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones in the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed indecent acts with other men. Verse 28, furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind to do what ought not to be done. Then he gives a list in the following verses of wickedness, evil, greed, depravity, envy, murder, strife, deceit, etc. You can read it. Do you know how God expresses his wrath? He lets us go our own way. He gives them over. He allows you to go to the logical conclusion of your own choices. There will come a judgment day, of course, when the secrets of all men will be made known. But in the meantime, God isn't going to open heaven and zap us. God's judgment is, if you want to go that way, he'll let you go. That's what he says. He gives them over. He talks about a sexual impurity. He talks in particular about homosexual behavior and every kind of wickedness, he says, and evil and depravity. And Romans 1 indicates, by the way, that widespread acceptance of homosexual behavior is not going to bring the wrath of God, it is the evidence of the wrath of God. And when even, tragically, the church itself begins to discuss the legitimacy of homosexual behavior amongst its members and leaders, God isn't going to send thunderbolts to strike their churches, their bishops' palaces. He'll let them go. Go ahead. It's like in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, when that man who is spoken of as being in a sexual relationship with his father's wife, and he's in the church in Corinth. What does Paul say? He says in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, he says, hand this man over to Satan. It's the same language. He gave them over. Hand this man over. Do you know something? You can choose to sin as a Christian, and God won't zap you. He'll let you go. Is there somebody here this morning, and you're involved in an illegitimate relationship? God won't strike you down. He won't make your car crash on the way to your secret rendezvous. He'll let you go. Not only that, but if your conscience hurts you the first time, he won't keep bugging you with it. He'll stop talking. First time you lie awake at night filled with fear and remorse. Maybe the sky will cave in. Second time it's not so bad. Third time it gets easier. In due course you're getting away with it. I spent some time with a man a while ago who got involved in all kinds of sin, although in Christian ministry, and he said to me when it first happened, I expected not only the blessing of God to be removed from my life because he was a preacher and people coming to Christ, but he said to my utter amazement, people still were saved. And my conscience, which had been violated, stopped bugging me as much. And in due course, immorality became a lifestyle. And to know that was the judgment of God. God gives us over. Now this is difficult, isn't it? It was difficult for Jeremiah to get hold of this, but it's true. As I understand what it says here, both in Jeremiah and what happened to the nation. You see the wrath of God, if God were to zap us, if God were to discipline us in some way that drove us back, it would be so much easier. But he says, if that's the way you want to go, I'll hand you over. You see, there's a major difference between the kingdom of God and the rule of the devil in your life. The kingdom of God demands submission. But the rule of the devil says, do what you want, anything you please. And God says to Jeremiah, you're out of fellowship with me, the belt has been ruined. But there's hope. There's the potter, a glorious throne where the sovereign God, he'll mold you. But if you don't respond, and the clay jar becomes hardened, he'll hand you over and smash it. No wonder Jeremiah went into deep depression in the following chapter, which he did. We haven't time to look at that. But there's a fourth parable. In the light of all of this, it's a very, very wonderful parable. There's an amazing word in chapter 32 that came to Jeremiah. Things have moved on. Although the book isn't set chronologically, things have moved on at this point. Zedekiah is on the throne, we're told, the beginning of chapter 32, and he was the last king before the destruction. And let me read in verse 6, as Babylon at this point is breaking down the door. They held an 18-month siege of the city. Nobody went in and nobody came out. Starved them to submission eventually. During that time, it says in verse 6, Jeremiah said, the word of the Lord came to me, Hanumel, son of Shalem, your uncle is going to come to you and say, buy my field of Anathoth, because as nearest relative, it is your right and duty to buy it. Then just as the Lord had said, my cousin Hanumel came to me in the courtyard of the garden and said, buy my field of Anathoth in the territory of Benjamin, since it's your right to redeem it and possess it. Buy it for yourself. I knew this was the word of the Lord, so I bought the field of Anathoth, my cousin Hanumel, and weighed out for him 17 shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed, had it witnessed, and weighed out the silver on the scales. I took the deed of purchase and sealed copy containing the terms and conditions as well as the unsealed copy, and I gave this deed to Barak, son of Neriah, the son of Massiah, in the presence of my cousin Hanumel and of the witnesses who had signed the deed and all the Jews sitting in the courtyard of the garden. In their presence, I gave Barak these instructions. This is what the Lord Almighty says. The God of Israel, take these documents, both the sealed and unsealed copies of the deed of purchase, and put them in a clay jar so that they will last a long time. For this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says. Houses, fields, and vineyards will again be bought in this land. Now, do you get the message there? Your cousin Hanumel says, God is going to come to you, Jeremiah, or your uncle Hanumel, going to offer you this field. In Anathoth, Jeremiah's hometown. In other words, Hanumel is cutting his losses. Babylon is breathing down their necks, breaking down the door. All is to be lost. There is no future. There is no hope. And Hanumel says, let me get what I can for this piece of land. It's going to be utterly worthless when the Babylonians have overrun us and every bit of land becomes theirs. I'll try to sell it. So, I'll come to Jeremiah. There's a law which says he has the right, first right of option, right of refusal. And when he comes to offer it, Jeremiah buys it for 17 shekels of silver. And having bought it, he puts the documents, the legal documents, in a clay jar where they'll last a long time, he says. Why? He says, a day is going to come when once again there'll be houses on this land, fields, vineyards will again be bought. You see, at the end of chapter 19, you've got a thousand pieces of broken clay on the floor. This is what I will do, says God. I will smash you. I'll allow you to go your own way. But then he whispers in Jeremiah's ear, Jeremiah, your cousin's going to offer you the field. Buy it. Do you know the most exciting thing about being a Christian? We have a God of resurrection. You see, against all the odds, against all the odds, we never, never exhaust the incredible mercy of God. I have loved you, he told him in chapter 31, with an everlasting love. Yes, the due consequences of your sin is going to come to its logical conclusion and you're going to be smashed, taken out of Judah, taken off into exile, humiliated, hurt. But the day will come, says God to Jeremiah, when even then I'll bring you back. See, it says in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 7, we have this treasure in jars of clay. Interesting, these jars of clay. You see, he put the scroll in a jar of clay. It was a jar of clay he'd smashed. Now, says Paul, we have this treasure in jars of clay to show this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but we're not crushed, perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck down, but not destroyed. Yes, these jars of clay are hard pressed, they are perplexed, they are persecuted, they are struck down. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be revealed in our bodies. We who are alive are always being given of the death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal bodies. And Paul is saying that yes, these jars of clay, they're hard pressed, they're pressured. He's not speaking of the destruction that Jeremiah speaks of in that parable in chapter 19, but the precious, but he says in this jar of clay, we have the resurrection life of Jesus. I don't know where you are this morning. I don't know how God the Holy Spirit has taken his word and made it relevant and personal to you this morning, but in a crowd such as this, there's some of us, and you know behind secret doors you're living in sin. We never sin less, of course, but they're things we've chosen. This is my pet sin. This is the one I'm going to keep, and your conscience is less troubled by it with every enactment of it. And the wrath of God says you can go and you will be destroyed. He's not speaking of eternal destruction, but in this life, your life will become utterly useless is how it was described of that linen cloth, utterly worthless. But despite all that has taken place, as God said in chapter 32, is anything too hard for me, Jeremiah, by the field. You see, that's still true today. There is a way back to God from the dark paths of sin. There's a door that is open and you may go in. Calvary's cross is where you begin when you come as a sinner to Jesus. I'm talking about Christians. These were the people of God. You had a fellowship with Jesus Christ today, a linen belt. Worthless. Maybe some of you here today, you have a family. Your children are far from God this morning. They wouldn't be in this place. This isn't their interest. But I'll tell you this, against all the odds, by the field in Anathos, there's hope. Things in your life you think have gone and they've gone forever. It's not the end of the story. There's a field in Anathos. Is anything too hard, says God, by the field. Put the deeds in a clay jar. And you may have to wait a long time. But one day there'll be houses and vineyards and crops on the field. The fact that God's love is inexhaustible is not something that says, well, relax. Let's take advantage of this. Take advantage of the fact that God will never leave us. We are secure eternally. So I can live as I please. What an answer. Maybe this morning some of us need to come home. You know the easiest place to backslide? It's in Christian work. I'm in Christian work. We have a staff at Cape Moraine of over 40 folks. We know it's the easiest place to backslide, because you've got all the façade in place. I've sat with folks on the mission field in tears, who said, my heart is empty and I'm a mess. But there's a front. There's a façade. You can sit in a Catholic convention. You can be a regular visitor. And there's a façade that the Spirit of God goes right through to the heart. Come to me was the invitation. Abide in me was the invitation. But you've strayed. Yes, in his kindness he'll mold you. But maybe we don't listen. And the clay gets hard and he has to smash it. But there's a field in Anathos. They'll be back, says God. You pay the down payment. Maybe there's some down payment you need to pay this morning. Repentance. It's just the beginning. Confession. Confession. Allow God once again to restore and rebuild. And produce in you his holiness. That's his agenda. Let's pray together. In just a moment of silence. Have you been looking into a mirror this morning? Have you seen yourself exposed, stripped bare before him with whom we have to do? Maybe it's been a long time since you heard the voice of God, because the conscience has been sealed. But God has spoken again. The word of the Lord has come a second time, a third time. He hasn't come to condemn you. He comes to call you home. Will you come this morning in your own heart and say, Lord Jesus, forgive me. We thank you, our Father, for your incredible patience. We thank you that you never, never, never let us go. You'll give us over, and we'll reap the consequence, and we'll live with the misery of it. But thank you, there's always a way back. And I pray that in this place this morning and through this week, they may go back to homes and back to churches and back to streets and villages and back to places of work, men and women, renewed in the Holy Spirit. Where the folks at home say, what happened to you at Keswick? Not because of an atmosphere in this place, but because you met with God and allowed him to do the surgery that only he can do to make us again what you want us to be. Take your word to our hearts. Thank you for its honesty. Help us to live in response to it. In Jesus' name. Amen.