Hebrews 13:7-13 "On the Occasion of the Induction of our new Vocational Pastor: Frans Brits"

Our new vocational  pastor : Frans  Brits 

Dear congregation,

We are met together in the Name of God the Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the church,  and the Holy Spirit to induct  Frans Brits  into the vocational ministry of the Eastside Baptist Church, which is  a part of the body of Christ here on earth. God’s design  for the church  is  that she,  under the  leadership of the Lord Jesus Christ her Great Shepherd, should be led by  under-shepherds, alternatively called pastors, elders or overseers.     

The calling  to be a  pastor is both of God and the church, and in that order.  The inward call from God  comes first to the individual by the Holy Spirit, and  thereafter  the call is confirmed by the church as she recognizes the gifts  and calling.  Abraham,  Moses, Jacob, Joseph, Samuel  David  etc. were all called by God  and they were recognized  as such in Israel. The 12 disciples  were personally called by Jesus to be apostles, and the apostle  Paul was personally  called to the apostolic  ministry  at a later time (Acts 9)  and by and by the church recognized that calling with the help of a kind brother called Barnabas.(Acts 9:27-30). 

God gives  leadership gifts  to the church (Eph. 4:11). We believe that Frans Brits  has been called of God  to the pastoral ministry. He has previously  testified to the inward call from God  to this service. Prior to his ordination as an elder in 2014, He  went  through a two year internship period as an apprentice elder. Following this,  God  has opened up a door for  him by granting his family permanent residence in our country! Now he was free to pursue  the  work and burden that has been laid upon him  by the Lord. Whilst he was working as an acoustic technician, it was consistently clear to his employers that this would be a temporary  arrangement.   Frans Brits  was trained as  a theologian at the University of Pretoria. Now  he is being trained  in the work of a pastor  in the context of the local church. Somebody  once asked an old pastor: “How long does it take to train a pastor?” He said, “A life-time”! 

Frans has a good working knowledge of Scripture, and as an ordained elder  he has consistently shown a heart hunger  and thirst  after  God. He has  thus been  duly examined  over a sustained period.  In  October 2016  you, the church,  were  asked to confirm  his  calling to the vocational or  fulltime  pastoral ministry of our church.  Having done  all this we are now ready to present  him to you once again  for  that  purpose.   

Since he has been previously ordained as an elder in 2014, we  shall not  go through  the set  procedure of elder ordination  again.  Today we shall simply confirm that, which  we have  said already in 2014 when  the other elders had  laid their  hands  on him on your behalf.  

We have  two duties this morning :

(i)       To instruct  and remind the church  concerning how  we ought to  relate  to our new pastor,accepting  him  and his ministry with  all our heart. In this we are called to pray for ourselves as we take on this responsibility to support him  and his family in prayer and  materially, and  in  helping him to  do  the work of a pastor, by  adding our spiritual gifts to his pastoral   leadership gift.  

(ii)         To  instruct and remind   our new vocational  pastor   concerning  the    biblical  mandate,  as required by  God of being a faithful shepherd  to our souls. To that end we will ask him two questions, which he will   have to respond to.

With all that in mind  we would  like to consider these words from Hebrews  13:7-17  as  we think of our  responsibilities  to our  pastor, and  his corresponding  responsibility to us:

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. 17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

1.   Our duty  to  Pastor Brits 

Since this text relates  primarily to  the  congregation that receives the ministry from  their pastor, we shall start there:

(i)       Remember that he is one of your leaders,  called and appointed  by Christ.

(ii)      Consider  that  if he is  truly called of God, and if  his life is  an example to  you, then  consider him as a mentor -  imitate  him.

(iii)    Remember that one of his  duties is to speak the Word of God to you. Listen to him, and weigh his words carefully,   when he  speaks God’s Word to you.   In obeying him you obey Christ. At the heart of this passage, and sandwiched between verses 7 and 17 is a reminder  of the centrality of Christ. The primary  ministry responsibility that your pastor has is to  preach  the Word of the  unchanging  Christ (v.8) to you. In this world you will always be tempted by  strange and diverse teachings. You will always be  tempted to let your hearts not be strengthened by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, but by  thinking that you can inherit  the kingdom of God  by a system of works and  a system of self –righteousness, thinking that you are a Christian by what you do and don’t do, rather than  living your life completely by  an obedient faith and trust in the Lord Jesus alone . A true shepherd will always lead you to Jesus!

(iv)     Remember that he is  appointed by God to watch over your souls. He must give an account to God  for your soul. Help him to be a faithful shepherd. Allow him to speak to you in the Name of Jesus.

(v)      Don’t make life difficult  for him. His  calling will  bring enough challenges. You will gain nothing from  an elder whom you  always resist. “…Be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” [1 Peter 5:5]  If you disagree with him, and  if you believe  that he is wrong,  act in the spirit of  Matthew 18:15ff.  

2.    Pastor Brits’ corresponding  duty to us

This same passage, although it speaks directly to church members  about their relationship with their pastor, also implies the pastor’s corresponding duties to his flock.

(i)           He must lead  us  after  the example of our Great Shepherd, the Lord Jesus  Christ.

(ii)         His life must be of such a nature that we want to  imitate him, even as he imitates Christ. It is not sinful to imitate someone, provided that  this person  himself or herself imitates  Christ. [1 Cor. 4:16; 11:1; Phil.3:17; 1 Thess. 1:6]. I thank God for the  faithful pastors, Don Watson and Peter Radmanovich that took hold of me in my  early Christian pilgrimage  at the Walvis Bay Baptist church. They  showed me the love of  Jesus, and I gladly submitted to  them and followed them  at that time. 

(iii)       He must  be a true and faithful messenger of  the Word of God to us. One of his chief duties is to   speak the Word of God to us [13:7].  This means that he must  possess the Word of God in his own heart. In this regard,listen  to Martin Luther’s advice to preachers:

"At night always carry in your heart something from Holy Scriptures to bed with you, meditate upon it like a ruminant animal, and go softly to sleep; but this must not be too much, rather a little that may be well pondered and understood, that you may find a remnant of it in your mind when you rise in the morning. And in all study of the Holy Scriptures one must always despair of one's own ability and labors but only pray God with fear and humility for understanding. Therefore, when you approach the Bible,

 a. You must lift up your eyes and heart to Christ in heaven and in a brief supplication implore his grace;

 b. You must do this often during your reading in order that you may think and say: Lord, grant that I may rightly understand this, but even more that I may perform it.

 c. You must, above all things, guard against desiring to study the Scriptures only in order to know and understand them …for I believe that you are not such stupid scholars as to seek honor, gain, or glory thereby, nor even to be able to teach others.

d. You must seek absolutely nothing but the glory of God, in such spirit that your one thought is: Behold, dearest Lord Jesus, if this study be not to thy glory, let me not understand a syllable of it; but grant unto me, a poor sinner, as much as in thy sight shall be to thy glory."

As one reflects upon what Luther says, we can only conclude, it is no wonder that God  used men like that.

(iv)        He  must be a shepherd of our souls.  He must remember  the words of Peter in the Bible: “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but  being an example to the flock” [2 Pet. 5:2,3].  Pastor, love your congregation with the love of Jesus, not only in word, but in deed.  That love is not soppy- sentimental, but in the spirit  of 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

(v)          He must lead us in such a way  that we  will easily submit to his leadership. He must lead us  by his  joy,  which he derives from his relationship  with the Lord  Jesus.  His ministry  must not be characterized  by groaning. That  would be of no advantage to us.

   

The presiding elder  shall then say to the  elder candidate :

Forasmuch as  we believe  that you are acting in obedience to the call of God, it may seem  needless my brother, to ask for any further assurance of your faith  and sincerity of purpose, but in order that you  may yourself better realize the solemn  trust you have undertaken, and that this congregation may better understand your mind and will, we ask you now to answer the questions which in the Name of Christ  and His church, we address  to you:

1.     Do you believe in one God – the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and do you confess anew Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord?

Answer:  I do!

2.     Do you promise to execute your charge with all faithfulness; to preach and teach the word of God from the Holy Scriptures; to lead the congregation in worship and to administer the ordinances; to tend the flock of  Christ and to do the work of an evangelist ?

Answer:  This I will endeavor to do, the Lord being my helper.

The presiding  elder shall then say to the congregation  :

Do you, the members of this church acknowledge and receive Frans Brits  as a pastor  of this church, promising him all  due honour and support in the Lord?  

Will  you  please signify this by standing ?

Prayer of induction  with all  the other elders laying on  their hands.

Induction formula

Frans Brits,  as you have  been called  by the Holy Spirit to this ministry, and as the Holy Spirit  has  spoken to us  and has said: “Set him apart  for the ministry  to which I have called him “ (Acts 13:2)

I declare you now  to be duly inducted and appointed as a pastor   of this church.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn His face towards you and give you peace. Amen.” (Numbers 6:24) 

Great Promises from the Prophecy of Jeremiah #4 : Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

This is yet another  well loved, oft quoted  verse, and a great promise  from the prophecy of Jeremiah,  to guide our thoughts  into  the coming year.  

With this text I am bringing our January meditations  from  Jeremiah  to an end. 

THE  CONTEXT  OF CHAPTER 33

The scope of this chapter is very much in keeping with the preceding chapters which we have already considered.  Israel is destined to go to exile in Babylon, and Jerusalem will fall into the hands of the Babylonians. The land will be restored to the Jews in about 70 years. The relevance of this text for us today  is that,  like Jeremiah,   faithful people of God in an age  that is  so  filled with spiritual deception  and  spiritual devastation, may  suffer the  results of living in a society  that has abandoned the true God and   which in turn has been handed over to its own desires.  Our country  seeks solutions  in every sphere  but God’s solutions.  We, like Jeremiah need to persevere in clinging to God against all the odds, and we need to  continue to be committed to hear the Word of the Lord as Jeremiah did.  We need  to  know that there will  come a time, when we shall inherit the kingdom of God in all its glory, when Jesus  comes again. The heavenly Jerusalem will be our city, and the dwelling place of God will be with man. He will dwell with us, and we will be His people, and God Himself will be our God. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away [Rev. 21:3,4].

The particular promises  of chapter 33  are  that 

(i) the city shall be rebuilt and re-established. Health and prosperity  and security will be restored (vv. 1-8) 

(ii)  God will be glorified  as His people  rejoice in Him and praise His name  (vv. 9-14). 

(iii)  An announcement is made that  a righteous Branch (a Messianic term)  will rule, in keeping with  God’s promise made to David. Jesus is the Son of David. He is the   Mediator of the New Covenant  by which  we are  kept securely,   forever and ever (vv.  15-26).   Thus we see that chapter 33   goes far beyond the restoration of  the Jewish kingdom. 

Our focus  will  be  on the  first three verses  of this chapter, containing a very great promise  in 33:1: “The Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah a second time, while he  was still shut up in the court of the guard.”  

We have read of Jeremiah’s imprisonment before in  32:2.  A Word of hope  comes to  Jeremiah and  thus to the nation of Israel  in the midst of her darkest of political times, as the Babylonians are preparing siege ramps to  sack  Jerusalem.  The Word of hope comes as Jeremiah is kept under guard   and imprisoned by king Zedekiah, who still believes that Jeremiah the prophet is undermining his kingly authority, believing the word of the false prophets more than the word of the true prophet. The Word of the Lord comes as a word of hope in the most hopeless of times. No imprisonment can deprive God’s people of His presence. No locks or chains can keep God from visiting and speaking to His people in prison. In fact, God has,   on numerous times visited His people in prison in an extra ordinary way. 

Think of Joseph in an Egyptian prison. Genesis 39:21 says: “But the LORD was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”  

Think of Daniel in the lion’s den. The Bible says: “No harm was found on him, because he had trusted in his God.” [Dan. 6:23]. 

Paul and Silas were in prison, “having had  many blows inflicted upon them”,  and yet they were able  to pray and sing hymns to God in the night  [Acts 16:23-25]. The presence of God was clearly with them.  

Some of Paul’s   epistles were written from prison[1], and these letters provide us today with so much comfort and encouragement.    

God has used the lives and words of His  suffering people  in  very great ways.  The letters of Samuel Rutherford [c. 1600 – 29 March 1661] are currently on our bedside table. Rutherford was a Scottish Presbyterian pastor, theologian and author.  In his  first years as a pastor in his parish church  at Anwoth in Scotland, he experienced  great sadness. His wife was ill for a year and a month, before she died in their new home. Two of his children also died during this period.  Samuel Rutherford was a faithful pastor. He was always praying, always preaching, always visiting the sick, always teaching his people, always writing and studying. He preached  a God centred doctrine and  He insisted that  Christian profession should be matched by  godly living. Because of this he was  banished by the authorities  from his church at Anwoth to Aberdeen. At this  time  God used him, particularly in terms of  his pastoral  letters  which he sent to his  church members, particularly  those that were suffering in his parish. Charles Haddon Spurgeon, that great Baptist preacher  described Rutherford's letters  “the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men”. [2] 

In preparing this sermon,  I  read  a sermon  of  Spurgeon on Jeremiah 33:3[3], entitled “The Golden Chain of Prayer”  and I   saw  that he quoted  Rutherford.  He said :

"Rutherford had a  quaint saying that when he was cast into the cellars of affliction, he remembered that the great king always kept his wine there, and he began to seek at once for the wine bottles, and to drink of the “wines on the lees well refined.”  What Rutherford wasn’t saying that his  adverse circumstances  were  an opportunity to get drunk! What he was saying is,   that even in the  darkest times  God has an encouragement  for you in the dark cellars of life.  When God is at the end  of your story, it matters very little what men may do to you.  

Many years ago I read the  biography of  John Paton (1824-1907), another Scotsman  who became  a missionary  to what was once known as the “New  Hebrides”, named after a chain of Scottish Islands. This  group of islands  is found in the  South Pacific Ocean, and it  is now  the nation of Vanuatu. John G. Paton  arrived there  in 1858.  His  decision to go there  was subject to severe criticism  by a respected elder of the church. The elder, Mr. Dickson said,  "You will be eaten by cannibals!"  John Paton responded,  “Mr. Dickson, you are advanced in  years now, and your own prospect is soon to be laid in the grave, there to be eaten by worms; I confess to you, that if I can but live and die serving and honouring the Lord Jesus, it will make no difference to me whether I am eaten by cannibals or by worms; and in the Great Day my Resurrection body will rise as fair as yours in the likeness of our risen redeemer”.  The knowledge  of the presence of God in our trials  is our greatest comfort, and again  we  say, that it matters very little  where we are, as long as God  is with us. 

And so, the  Word of the Lord came to Jeremiah while he was imprisoned, and it came a second time to Jeremiah, as a re-assurance.

33:2  “Thus  says the  LORD who  made the earth, the LORD who  formed it   to establish it – the LORD is his name…”.  The  One who gives this promise and the One that  invites us to call  to Him  is no one less  than  the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  This is an important  assurance in the midst of  chaos and confusion, when our world  lies upside down  and  when truth lies slain in the streets, and when the true  church, the  city of God on earth is hardly visible in the community, because her members are  dispersed  and exiled….  This is an assurance by His own Word,  that God has not forgotten  the people of His covenant, the  true children of Abraham,  comprised of  both, the Jews and the  Gentiles. The firmness  and the  certainty of God’s covenant   is expressed in  33: 19-26, and again, it comes in  in two separate   statements, emphasising and re-emphasising the covenantal faithfulness of God. 

33:3  Now,  all  this  forms the basis  of this great invitation  for prayer : “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” Now you may remember  that  Jeremiah  has been found praying   concerning  this in 32:16-25.  And now he must call upon God again!  I remind you that  prayer is an ongoing work.  We have prayed for our own city and its people many times,  and  we  must continue to pray for her.    We  must pray again and again. That is the meaning of Luke 11:1-13  and Luke 18: 1-8,  Jesus’s teaching about prayer and perseverance in prayer.  God has promised a certain restoration  of all things,  and we must always pray “Your kingdom come”, but until that happens  we must  also pray for our daily bread (physical needs), we must continue  to pray for  the forgiveness of our sins even  as we forgive  others, and we must pray  continually that we may not be led into temptation.    The people  of Israel  thought that they had the kingdom for good, but they forgot that  they needed  to maintain  its purity and devotion to God. But they forgot their God and  went in search of other schemes, and now look  where it got them!  Oh how merciful and gracious God is to them  and to us, despite their  and our hardheartedness. He invites us by His Word: “Call to me and I will answer you, and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.”

1.       Call to me

In the midst of your life, with all its complexities and uncertainties  in the face of political  and economic instability, and in the midst of  poor commitments to  Christ  and  His Word, and therefore poor commitments to  His church, God still says “Call to me”.  This is at the heart of our prayer week. Prayer week is not  simply there  to  give you an opportunity to pray one hour per night for 5 days and then to be  done for the year . Prayer week is meant to stimulate you to see the value of calling persistently upon the  God who sees and hears, and who commands us to pray without ceasing!   

2.                   I will answer you: God promises Jeremiah that persistent prayer  will  find an answer.  My  own experience concurs with Spurgeon:  “ If there is anything I know, anything that I am quite assured of beyond all question, it is that praying breath is never spent in vain. If no other man here can say it, I dare to say it, and I know that I can prove it. My own conversion is the result of prayer—long, affectionate, earnest, persistent. Parents prayed for me; God heard their cries, and here I am to preach the gospel. Since then, I have adventured upon some things that were far beyond my capacity, as I thought; but I have never failed, because I have cast myself upon the Lord. You know as a church that I have not scrupled to indulge large ideas of what we might do for God; and we have accomplished all that we purposed. I have sought God’s aid, and assistance, and help in all my manifold undertakings, and though I cannot tell here the story of my private life in God’s work, yet if it were written, it would be a standing proof that there is a God who answers prayer!”  

3.                   … and will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known… Spurgeon’s  comments here are worth repeating. In fact, I will close with them.

“All believers see Christ, but all believers do not put their fingers into the prints of the nails, nor thrust their hand into His side. We have not the high privilege of John to lean upon Jesus’ bosom, nor of Paul to be caught up into the third heaven. In the ark of salvation, we find a lower, second, and third story; all are in the ark, but all are not on the same story. Most Christians, as to the river of experience, are only up to their ankles; some others have waded till the stream is up to their knees; a few find it chest high; and but a few—oh, how few!—find it a river to swim in, the bottom of which they cannot touch. My brethren, there are heights in experiential knowledge of the things of God which the eagle’s eyes of sharpness and philosophical thought have never seen;… God alone can bear us there; but the chariot in which He takes us up, and the fiery steeds with which that chariot is dragged, are prevailing PRAYERS. ….If you would reach to something higher than ordinary groveling experience, look to the Rock that is higher than you, and look with the eye of faith through the windows of persistent prayer. To grow in experience then, there must be much prayer. 

Dear friends, I pray you take this text—God Himself speaks it to you—“Call unto Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.” Take God at His Word. Get home, go into your chamber and shut the door, and try Him. Young man, I say, try the Lord! Young woman, prove Him—see whether He is true or not! If God is true, you cannot seek mercy at His hands through Jesus Christ, and get a negative reply. He must—for His own promise and character bind him to open mercy’s gate to you who knock with all your heart! God help you, believing in Christ Jesus, to cry aloud unto God, and His answer of peace is already on the way to meet you! You shall hear Him say, “Your sins, which are many, are all forgiven.” The Lord bless you for His love’s sake. Amen.  

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[1] The prison epistles—Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon—written by the apostle Paul during his incarceration in Rome.

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Rutherford

[3] Spurgeon has actually very little to say about the context of  Jer 33:3. He  simply takes the text  and  turns it into a sermon on prayer, dividing  it  into three points : First, prayer commanded—“Call unto Me.” Secondly, an answer promised—“And I will answer you.” Thirdly, faith encouraged—“And show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.”   

Great Promises from the Prophecy of Jeremiah #3 : Jeremiah 32: 36-44 - “I will make with them an Everlasting Covenant

The human heart instinctively yearns for paradise, for  a place of peace  and tranquility.  We were made for peace and tranquility, but we don’t seem to get it on this earth. And so we spend  money  to  get away  to places where we  hope to  get away from the  great rat race. On a far  larger scale,  and for  thousands of years,  mankind has  migrated  and separated  to get  away from each other.  Abraham and Lot separated. Listen to these words: “Then Abram said to Lot, “let there be  no strife between you and me, and between your herdsmen and my herdsmen…. Is not the whole land  before you? Separate yourself from me…” [Gen. 13:8,9].

The history of  the world is the history of a people on the move. People  are  forever seeking  to escape political,  religious, social and economic   conflicts. People are forever  in search for  a place  where they can build their idealistic futures. This is the origin of the American dream and I suppose everyone else’s dream.   But there is  no safe place on the face of this earth. As long as  there is a devil  and  as long as  there are sinners on the face of this earth this will not happen.   Peace and tranquility  will continue  to  elude us.   

I have always been fascinated by the story of the  mutiny  on  the  Royal Navy vessel HMS Bounty which  occurred in the south Pacific on 28 April 1789. Led by Acting Lieutenant Fletcher Christian, disaffected crewmen seized control of the ship from their captain, Lieutenant William Bligh, and set him and 18 loyalists adrift in the ship's rowing boat. Some of the mutineers settled on Tahiti and others on Pitcairn Island, one of the most  isolated islands in the South Pacific. Bligh  completed a voyage of more than 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km) in the  little boat to reach safety, and began the process of bringing the mutineers to justice.  Fletcher  Christian's group,  undiscovered on Pitcairn until 1808, could have carved out  a life of bliss  for themselves, far away from  that civilization from which they came, where there was always war.  When they were  eventually found, only one mutineer, John Adams, had  remained alive. All his fellow mutineers, including  Fletcher Christian, had been killed, either by each other or by their Polynesian companions.  

The human  race is  simply not able to live in peace  with one another – nowhere!  Our  manner is like that  of Cain,   who not only murdered his brother, but who  became a fugitive and a restless wanderer upon the earth (Gen. 4:12). Only the  Prince of peace  by His word, the gospel of peace,  can bring about peace with God and with one another.  When He is not at the centre we are ready to murder one another.

And so it was in Israel. Though Israel  was endowed  with  the unique  favour  of  the God of all Creation,  and although she was   so  favoured with  God’s presence and God’s  good law  to govern her  society, her people   could not manage to live  under God and in submission to one another. As soon as they forgot the law of God within a generation  Israelite   society   was inundated   with murder, intrigue, idolatry  and idol worship, lawlessness, poor relationships  and the like in all levels of society.   

Now the nature of the God of all creation  is holy and just and loving. In  this spirit He entered into a covenant   relationship with  Abraham and  then with Israel. But,  the people of the covenant weren’t always committed to  the terms of the Covenant. And so God, being holy and  righteous and loving and merciful needed  to be what He is.  As a holy  and righteous God, He  needed to  punish   the sin  of His people. But as a loving and merciful  covenant keeping God, He  needed  to  preserve them. And so, at this time of Israel’s history  in about 589 BC, He did both. He handed them  and their city over to  be  destroyed by   their enemies, and  He preserved  a good portion of them from destruction by taking them  out of  Jerusalem  and into Babylon  for their own good (!) promising to bring them back from there in 70 years. 

And so, as we pick up at v.36  we read: "Now therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning this city of which you say, 'It is given into the hand of the king of Babylon by sword, by famine, and by pestilence'.  

Notice the emphasis  in v. 36 .. “you say…” PERIOD!  Although it is all true, that  Jerusalem will be sacked, and true that  Israel  must go into captivity, because she has violated God’s covenant   they  and we  must remember that this is not the end of the story.  In His wrath  towards His sinning  people   God does not forget to  exercise mercy. Often,  when we experience  the  chastising hand of our Good Father in Heaven,  we only tend to see the dark side of things  and not the end of  things. In reality it  is  never  “You say…”, but “God says”, and He isn’t finished yet. 

Listen to the next verse, vv. 37,38: “Behold, I will gather them from all the countries to which I drove them in my anger and my wrath and in great indignation. I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And they shall be my people and I will be their God.”   The bad news suddenly  turns into good news.   

That is the essence of the gospel in Isaiah 9:2  [quoted in Matt 4:16] a Messianic text : “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined.” After many years of spiritual darkness  and the  absence of the Word of the Lord, the messenger has suddenly come to His temple [Mal 3:1]. That will be true of the second coming at the end of all times. Suddenly, the Lord Jesus will be here. [Matt. 24,25 ; 1 Thess. 5: 1-6; 2 Pet. 3:10].

A recent article published by Christianity Today  says that  “for the third year in a row, the modern  persecution of Christians  worldwide has hit another record high in 2016." [Research from Open Doors].   So, yes, Syrian  and Iraqi  Christians  have been driven from their land , but yes, the present fate  of   the Christian people in Syria  and Iraq  is not the last word. God has the last word. And in this context,  it is a word of grace.

So, yes,  God  has driven  His people  into these foreign lands, but yes, that is not the final  word on the matter.  God  sent His people into Babylon for a while  to  preserve them  there. The same has happened when God sent His people to Egypt for a little while. The Lord Jesus and His parents needed to hide there for a little while from the wrath of Herod, so that the Scripture says, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son.” [Matt.2:15]  Suddenly,  the LORD  brings His people back. God promises here  that He  will gather them and bring them back to their land and to Himself.  In a moment we shall see that this promise is connected to an eternal covenant, and applicable to us.

And so, by way of application I want to ask a question:  If God is a God of eternal holiness and justice,  who can  hand  sinning Israel  over to the Babylonians  and  also  send them into  exile, far away from home, then  how do we  know that this will not happen to God's chosen people today - the church, the bride of Christ, the true  sons  and daughters of  Abraham?   And  following that question  comes the next question. Can  God  see us through  our sinful neglect  of Him? Can He bring us   into a place of peace and tranquility?  The answer is  a resounding  “yes!”, and that is what the rest of the text is essentially  about - the  amazing  grace of God  to undeserving  sinners.  This grace is our  only sure confidence for the future. You and I,  are utterly  unreliable. If we were left to our own powers to keep the faith and to  be holy  and to  persevere, we wouldn’t  make it. Grace is all of God. “Grace  has led me safe thus far, and  grace will lead me home”  wrote John Newton.  Another hymn, “Come Thou Fount of every Blessing”,    written  by a 22  year old  pastor,   Robert Robinson in  1758  confesses the same truth :

O to grace how great a debtor, daily  I'm constrained to be!

Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee:

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart, O, take and seal it; seal it for thy courts above.

Now the  gracious promise of God  towards  His true people  rests on the foundation of His covenant:  

"And I will make  with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me into their hearts, that they may not turn from me. I will rejoice in doing them good, and I will plant them in this land in  faithfulness, with all my heart and all my soul.”

This is one of several Old Testament promises of the new covenant that Jesus said He sealed with his own blood for all who are in him. This promise is not just for the believing  Jews, but for those who are true Jews, true sons and daughters of Abraham  by virtue of union with Jesus,  who is  the seed of Abraham (Gal.3:7,16).

Four Promises  For Faithful  Believers  As They Negotiate Difficult Times

1. God Will Be Our God :  V. 38: "And they shall be my people and I will be their God. ”God is for us, even  when we have to experience calamity.   God sees to it that we remain His  people. All that He  is  as God, He  exerts for  their good.

2. God Promises to Change Our Hearts :  V. 39 &  40b  "I will give them one heart and one way that they may fear me forever … that they may not  turn from me… (v. 40b) .  Under the everlasting covenant sealed in the blood of Jesus, God will not simply stand by to see if we, by our own powers, will fear him. No ! He  will sovereignly and  mercifully give us the heart that we need to have, by which we will  be led safely home to heaven.

3. God Promises   to give us the ability to remain faithful to Him : V. 40: "I will make an everlasting covenant with them…”.  This is what is different about the new covenant, when compared with the Old  Covenant.   The New covenant  promises  that  God’s people  will  be given the ability, the power,  to trust God , fear God  by the indwelling Spirit  through Jesus  Christ our Lord, who has kept the law of the Old Covenant,  that we could never keep.  Under the New Covenant we are enabled by sovereign Grace.  

4. God Promises to Do This with  All His heart and Soul:  V. 41   Although  the eternal , infinite God is not a man like us, He has attributes  of personality, just like us, and here  He is saying through Jeremiah that He intensely desires   our good with His entire heart and soul. And oh, how infinitely big  God’s heart and souls is… not like mine and yours.

God will keep His  promises as  surely  as He will exercise  His wrath.  That is what we are called to learn today, and that is how Chapter 32 ends.  As He has brought disaster   upon His people, so will He  bring  all the good  that He has promised.     He will do this  notwithstanding their present despair (v. 42).

The true church of the Lord Jesus Christ in these very difficult days almost appears to be obscure. She is  persecuted  from without and within. The enemy is not only out there, but He is in here, and sometimes I think that the latter is the more insidious problem  that we have. But this we may know:  The church  shall have rest after these  days of adversity.  We may look forward to it. In history  and from  time to time God has given us revivals,  short periods of respite  just so that we would not grow unduly discouraged . But a time is coming  when God  will restore  peace in the earth … when metaphorically  speaking houses and lands and fields shall be bought.  This is the fulfillment  of a promise made to Jeremiah by God  in the earlier part of Chapter 32.  All this points forward  to our heavenly Canaan, reserved for all those who have God's fear in their hearts and do not depart from him.  Keep  the eternal city  in sight as you  continue your pilgrimage. 

Heaven is our ultimate  goal!

GREAT PROMISES FROM THE PROPHET JEREMIAH # 2 : Jeremiah 32:17 " Nothing is too hard for you!"

“Ah Lord God! It is you  who have made the heavens and the earth by your great  power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”  [Jer. 32:17]

OUTLINE OF  CHAPTER 32:

1.            Vv. 1-5: Jeremiah is imprisoned for prophesying  the destruction of Jerusalem and the captivity of king Zedekiah. 

2.               Vv. 6-15:   In these desperate times Jeremiah, by divine  command,  buys  land. God assures him that although times  will  be presently  tough for Israel, he will remain in charge of Israel’s future and therefore Jeremiah may buy this land with confidence. 

3.                  Vv. 16-25:  Jeremiah’s response in prayer, which includes   our text: “Ah Lord God! It is you  who have made the heavens and the earth by your great  power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.”  [v.17]. It  is a great affirmation of faith  despite  the fact that things in Israel  do not look good .

4.                  Vv. 26- 44:  The  Word from God  through Jeremiah:

(i)                  32:26-35: Prophesying  the  destruction of Judah and Jerusalem for their sins.

(ii)           32:36-44: At the same time he must assure them that, although the destruction was total, it  will  not be final. God will restore  His people to their land.  With this in mind, we now   consider the historical situation.

 THE HISTORICAL  SITUATION :

Vv. 1-5 : The predicted  fall of Jerusalem is now imminent.   The events that led  to the fall  of  Jerusalem were initiated by  Nebuchadnezzar II,  king of Babylon. In 605 BC  he  defeated the Egyptian  Pharaoh Necho at the Battle of Carchemish. The Egyptians had been in an alliance with  Israel at that point, and  so the defeat of the Egyptians  opened up  the way for Babylonia to  attack  Jerusalem. The first  siege  of Jerusalem happened  in 597 BC.  Following that  siege Nebuchadnezzar installed Zedekiah as  a  vassal  king.  However, in time  Zedekiah revolted against Babylon, and entered into an alliance with Pharaoh Hophra, the king of Egypt. Nebuchadnezzar responded  again  by invading Judah  and began  the second  siege of Jerusalem in December 589 BC, and  which lasted  until 586 BC.  In 586 BC, the 11^th  year of Zedekiah's reign, Nebuchadnezzar broke through Jerusalem's walls, conquering the city. Zedekiah and his followers attempted to escape but were captured on the plains of Jericho and taken to Riblah. There, after seeing his sons killed, Zedekiah was blinded, bound, and taken captive to Babylon, where he remained a prisoner until his death. Thereafter,   the  Babylonian general, Nebuzaraddan, was sent to complete  the  destruction of  Jerusalem. The city  was plundered, and Solomon's Temple was destroyed. Most of the Jewish  elite were taken into captivity in Babylon. The city was razed to the ground. Only a few people were permitted to remain  in the  land.  Gedaliah was made governor of the remnant of  the people  under the watchful eye  of a  Babylonian garrison  stationed at Mizpah. On hearing this news, the Jews who were in  exile in the territories  of Moab, Ammon, Edom, and in other countries returned to Judah. Gedaliah was assassinated two months later, and the population that had remained and those who had returned then fled to Egypt[1] for safety,  taking  Jeremiah with them  against his will.[2]  

According to our text we  find ourselves  in  589 BC, at the beginning of the second siege.   The Jews  under king Zedekiah stubbornly offered resistance  against the counsel  of God by his true prophet. The siege   took a long time (11 years).  God's judgment came gradually upon them,  and whilst  the reality of the siege  was unfolding, the Jews   refused  to listen to the true prophet of God. They did not repent. Zedekiah would not listen. In fact he was highly offended   by   Jeremiah– so much that he  has him put into prison for telling the truth. 

Zedekiah chose  to  believe  the  false prophets  (see Chapter 28; 29:24-32) who were in the majority. A majority is not always right.   It takes  intimacy with God to hear His voice above the  popular opinion  and  the noise of the world.  True   believers need to be familiar with the God of the Word, and the Word of God in order to  discern  their times.  The prophet Isaiah   who prophesied  under similar  circumstances   to the northern kingdom,  approximately 150 years earlier, saw   that his people were  abandoning the counsel of their God, seeking the counsel of  occultic mediums and  necromancers, and he   said:  “To the teaching and to the testimony! If they  will not speak according to This Word, it is  because  they have no dawn”  (Isa.  8:19,20).

Vv. 6-15.   And now, whilst  in prison, an extraordinary thing happens.  God commands  Jeremiah  to buy  a piece of ground  from a  cousin  named  Hanamel  in Anathoth, Jeremiah’s home town. Imagine  this. You know  that your country is going to be overrun  by an enemy , and  yet  you buy real estate! Is this insane,  or  what?  What moved him to do this? God moved him, although humanly speaking this seemed to be an irrational move.   

A word of explanation is needed  here. Property  in those days was not  available  on the open market.  Property had to stay in the family.  In passing, please note how the transactions  were done in (vv  9-14)  with deed of purchase and  placing the deed of sale in an earthenware vessel  to last a long time! In 70 years (which is a lifetime) things would look very different, and the property would still be in the hands of the “Jeremiah Anathoth” family. A good man always makes sure that there  is  an inheritance  for his children.  The time would come when houses, and fields, and vineyards should be again possessed in this land,  and the family would have  the title deeds (32:15). And so we read  that his  cousin, a  kinsman came to offer it to him. It was not  that Jeremiah had wanted it. It came to him. It may have been a good  bargain, but the point is that he was a family member, and therefore entitled to this purchase.  The right of redemption [3] belonged to him (32:8), and if he refused,  the next family member might be approached. But, being a prophet  there was more to the story than meets the eye.  In this context, purchasing land in  desperate times  was  a statement of faith and  a vote of confidence in the sovereignty  and trustworthiness of God. “Ah Lord God… nothing is too hard for you.”

And so,  Jeremiah leads the way in word and in deed. He leads in faith and by example. In this he exemplifies the nature of the Christian ministry.  

Matthew Henry  comments: “ It concerns ministers to make it to appear in their whole conversation that they do themselves believe that which they preach to others and… impress it the more deeply upon their hearers, they must many a time deny themselves, as Jeremiah did in both these instances. God having promised that this land should again come into the possession of his people, Jeremiah will, on behalf of his heirs, put in for a share. Note, It is good to manage even our worldly affairs in faith, and to do common business with an eye to the providence and promise of God.”

Vv. 16-25 Jeremiah's Prayer. This  brings us to this remarkable prayer  of Jeremiah to God. He knows what God is about to do in the short term and the long term. He knows God. And so, after putting the deed  of purchase into safekeeping with  Baruch, he prays.  In this prayer, he begins with:

1.Vv.17-19 - Worship: He  gives God the glory due to his name as the Creator and Sustainer  of the earth.    Here is a great lesson for us. When faced with difficult times and situations, we  do not  look for worldly solutions. We look to Almighty God, and we remind ourselves of who He is. He is   the fountain of all being. He has made the heaven and the earth with his outstretched arm and therefore who can control him? Who can contend with him?  Furthermore, we remind ourselves   that with God nothing is impossible. Nothing is too hard for Him.  He is always in charge. Moreover we remind ourselves that He is   the God who knows how to be merciful. “You show steadfast love to thousands…” (v.18a) but we also remember  that He is also  the God  of absolute holiness and righteousness, and therefore of  inflexible  justice He consistently hates  sin, and He will not  gloss over un-atoned sin. Every generation  that refuses to come to God for  free pardon  must bear the full fury of His wrath (v.18b). “His eyes are open to all the  ways of the children of man…”.  Nothing escapes Him.  Such  a God as this is not to be trifled with and  argued with. He is to be worshipped… He is to be bowed down. You will not conquer Him.He will conquer you!

2. Vv. 20-23: Remembering   the Past Works of the Lord  - His faithfulness.  He remembers how God had brought His people out of Egypt with signs and wonders – with an outreached arm.  He gave them this land, which they now stand to lose,  because of their rebellion.  It is good for us often to reflect upon the great things that God  has done for us  in the past, lest we  forget to be thankful in the present.

3. Vv. 24-25 Understanding the Present:  History provides us with and understanding of the present. God has previously redeemed His people against all human odds. He has previously handed His people over when they had rebelled against Him, as it is now…  “The siege mounds have come up to the city….the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans… what you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it”. Please   note that Jeremiah does not argue with God nor prescribe to God what He should do.  He knows God. He understands that  God  has an ultimate  plan  for good and not for evil (see  29:11). He understands that even in this situation, as challenging as it is,  nothing is too hard for God  (vv.  17,27).

Whatever trouble you are in, personally  as individuals or  corporately as families or as a  nation, know this:  God sees  and  knows how to bring everything towards a good end.  And so ends  the prayer: “ Yet you , oh Lord GOD have said to me, Buy the field for money and get  witnesses- though the city is given into the hands of the  Chaldeans .”  God says, “trust me in this, Jeremiah“.  

The rest of the chapter, from v.36ff  shows us how God intends to do it, but we will keep that for next  week … “ I will bring them back to this place, and I will make them dwell in safety. And  they shall be my people, and I will be their God.” [ 32:37,38]

APPLICATION

1.      The immediate application is  the historical situation in 589 BC and the  return approximately  70  years  later  in  520 BC under  men like leaders  like  Nehemiah  and Ezra  and prophets like  Haggai and Zechariah.

2.      The application with respect to ourselves are the timeless principles  found  here.  If  the local  church  becomes  faithless,  God  removes her  lampstand (Rev 2:5), but He does not remove the church. “I will build my church , and the gates of hell  will not prevail against it”  (Matt 16:18). Many local churches have come and gone over  the last 2000 years. Many a modern church  no longer holds on to the Word, as false prophets  have  taken the true Word of God  away from the people.  That church will die!  But there is always a remnant of faithful people and they find themselves displaced, as if in exile. But God never ultimately  leaves His people.  He remains the God of mercy and  wrath.  In time He restores His church, but He is not mocked.

God is patient.  We must be patient. God calls us to trust  Him  when things  look less than ideal. We must continue to invest in the kingdom although things look bleak. We must  continue to build biblical churches in  times of unfaithfulness, even  though they are small.

3.      But, in a greater sense Scripture always points towards  an ultimate fulfilLment.   There will come a time  when all the sin of the   earth will be subdued, when Christ comes again, and  when the  kingdom will be the Lord’s. This is what we aim to focus on next week.  Amen!

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[1] 2 Ki. 25:25

[2]  Jer. 43

[3] See the book of Ruth