Disclaimer:
Due to the large amount of sermons and topics that appear on this site I feel it is necessary to post this disclaimer on all sermons posted. These sermons are original to the author and the leading of the Holy Spirit. While ideas and illustrations are often gleaned from many sources including those at Sermoncentral.com, any similarities and wording including sermon title, that may appear to be the same as any other sermon are purely coincidental. In instances where other minister’s wording is used, due recognition will be given. These sermons are not copyrighted and may be used or preached freely. May God richly bless you as you read these words. It is my sincere desire that all who read them may be enriched. All scriptures quoted in these sermons are copied and quoted from the Authorized King James Version of the Holy Bible.
Pastor James May
Invest in God’s Promises
Jeremiah 32:6 And Jeremiah said, the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Jeremiah 32:7 Behold, Hanameel the son of Shallum thine uncle shall come unto thee, saying, Buy thee my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is thine to buy it.
Jeremiah 32:8 So Hanameel mine uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the LORD, and said unto me, Buy my field, I pray thee, that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin: for the right of inheritance is thine, and the redemption is thine; buy it for thyself. Then I knew that this was the word of the LORD.
Jeremiah 32:9 And I bought the field of Hanameel my uncle’s son, that was in Anathoth, and weighed him the money, even seventeen shekels of silver.
Jeremiah 32:13 And I charged Baruch before them, saying,
Jeremiah 32:14 Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Take these evidences, this evidence of the purchase, both which is sealed, and this evidence which is open; and put them in an earthen vessel, that they may continue many days.
Jeremiah 32:15 For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.
Jeremiah 32:16 Now when I had delivered the evidence of the purchase unto Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed unto the LORD, saying,
Jeremiah 32:17 Ah Lord GOD! behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee:
Throughout the Word of God, He has promised us so many blessings. A few weeks ago we examined the fact that most, if not all, of God’s promises are ours if we meet the condition that God requires for each one. Now I want to take the examination of God’s promises one step further.
In the previous chapters of Jeremiah, God is dealing with Jeremiah on behalf of the nation of Israel, especially the Southern Kingdom known as Judah. The people of Israel had provoked God to wrath and brought judgment upon their own heads in the form of an army of Chaldeans commanded by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon.
Jeremiah came preaching to Zedekiah, King of Judah, that judgment was coming quickly but Zedekiah didn’t want to hear about judgment so he had Jeremiah cast into the palace prison. Zedekiah preferred to listen to the lying prophets instead of God’s words from Jeremiah.
Zedekiah was going to lose his kingdom. The Chaldeans would defeat Israel and many of the people of Judah would be killed or led into captivity in Babylon.
This was the future of Judah. Jeremiah knew it and there was nothing that he could do about it because the people wouldn’t hear his messages and here he was, in prison for preaching the truth.
At this moment, a most discouraging and inopportune time for Jeremiah, God spoke to him to buy some real estate. Hannameel, Jeremiah’s nephew, came to Jeremiah requesting for Jeremiah to redeem the field in Anathoth. Jeremiah was the nearest kinsman to the debtor and therefore had the right to redeem the field if he was willing and had the price to pay. Jeremiah agreed to the redemption of the field and paid seventeen shekels of silver as a price of its redemption.
We can all appreciate the predicament of Jeremiah but I must give honor to him for his great faith in adversity. I don’t think that I would be willing to purchase some real estate and pay a great price for it if I was convinced that the property I was buying would not belong to me for very long. Jeremiah knew that the Chaldeans were coming.
I know that many of us have felt as helpless to change the circumstances of our life and the environment in which we raise our families.
While I do appreciate those of you who are faithful in our local congregation and those who are in the true Body of Christ, I often feel as though the message of the second Coming of Christ just isn’t being heard by many in the church and even fewer of the worlds crowd.
Quite often, we try to reach our families, leaders, and friends with the message that God has revealed to us concerning His soon return but they turn a deaf ear. It is as though the words fell to the ground and never entered their ears. Like Zedekiah, those who will not listen or hear the gospel, relegate those who preach the gospel to the ranks of the ignorant and unenlightened.
Just as the message of Jeremiah went unheeded to the very end, I often think of how far our children, families and friends will go from God before they come face to face with the reality of Jesus Coming and the end of things.
Paul said in Galatians 4:16, "Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?" Our attempts to preach the truth of the Coming of the Lord simply fall upon deaf ears and blinded eyes. It’s not that I am held in prison like Jeremiah, but my words and message may as well be locked away in the palace prison for no one hears, no one cares, no one understands how important the message of His Coming really is!
Zedekiah didn’t want to hear the truth. He preferred the lies of his prophets of Baal from the valley of Hinnom where their temples were built. Because Zedekiah had rejected the truth, he was deceived into believing lies and of allowing the daughters of Judah to pass through the fire unto the god of Molech. (Canaanite god of fire to whom children were offered in sacrifice; he is also known as an Assyrian god. He had a sanctuary at Tophet, in the valley of Hinnom south of Jerusalem.)
I wonder how many of our children will be spending eternity in the fires of hell because their parents rejected God and taught their children to serve the devil? I know that every man must answer for his own decision concerning Christ but how many will never hear the name of Jesus? 2 Thessalonians 2:11-12 says "… And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
What is the cause of so many who will pass through the fire unto Satan’s hell? They enjoyed their unrighteous living and would not give up the pleasures of sin but allowed Satan to deceive them.
Like Zedekiah, the world doesn’t want to hear the message of repentance, of salvation and of impending doom upon those who will not repent. So, they decided to stop the message from going forth in one way or another.
Zedekiah put the prophet of God into the lowest parts of the Palace Prison to shut Jeremiah up but in our world, the powers of darkness are doing their best to legislate God out of existence. We kick Him out of our public schools, our public buildings and out of every place where the message can be stifled. We attempt to close the churches, take the gospel off of radio and TV and then pass laws to keep anyone from witnessing to a stranger of the saving Grace of God.
No wonder our nation is in such turmoil!
I like the prayer that was prayed before the Kansas State Legislature by Pastor Joe Wright.
When he was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual politically correct generalities, but what they heard instead was a stirring prayer, passionately calling our country to repentance and righteousness.
The response was immediate. A number of legislators walked out during the prayer in protest. In six short weeks, the Central Christian Church had logged more than 5,000 phone calls with only 47 of those calls responding negatively. The church is now receiving international requests for copies of the prayer from India, Africa and Korea.
Commentator PAUL HARVEY aired the prayer on ’The Rest of the Story’ on the radio and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired!
THE PRAYER
Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask Your forgiveness and to seek Your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe on those who call evil good," but that’s exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
We confess that:
We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it pluralism.
We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
We have neglected the needy and called it self-preservation.
We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
We have killed our unborn children and called it a choice.
We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
We have abused power and called it political savvy.
We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, O God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Guide and bless these men and women who have been sent to direct us to the center of Your will. I ask it in the name of Your Son, the living Savior, Jesus Christ.
Amen.
(illustration used is from www.sermonillustrations.com)
Has America heeded the warnings? Have you seen very many who fell down on their knees and cried out to God for forgiveness and mercy? I think not! Oh yes, there is trouble in our land, trouble in our homes, trouble in our schools and trouble in our government, and its only beginning.
But there is hope! There is hope for a better tomorrow, a time of righteousness and freedom from satanic tyranny. That hope is very real.
Don’t ever forget the promises of God. He is still in control and He is called Faithful and True.
Jeremiah had also received the Word of the Lord promising that Israel would be restored from their captivity in Babylon. God had told him to buy for yourself my field that is in Anathoth: for the right of redemption is yours to buy it. Also in Jeremiah 32:15 God spoke to Jeremiah these words; "For thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land."
God has promised His children that we shall inherit the earth. He has promised us that we shall reign with Him in the earth for 1000 years. He has promised a Kingdom that shall never end and a new heaven and new earth where we will dwell in peace and righteousness.
Jeremiah had to make an investment in the real estate of Judah that he knew would not be his to claim under Nebuchadnezzar and yet Jeremiah trusted God and bought the land. He believed in God’s promised to bring Judah home again and to bring Israel into right relationship with God.
We have to make our investments in God’s promises too. When it seems that our ministry is accomplishing nothing, keep on ministering. When no one will listen to our warnings of the Lord’s soon return, we must keep on preaching it. When the world laughs and scoffs at the prophecies of the Bible, keep on teaching them. It won’t be long until your efforts are justified.
Much of your investment in time, energy, and work may not see fruit in this life but we never know what is happening in the heart of those who are objects of our ministry.
Just as God promised Jeremiah that his land would return “after many days”, so is God’s promise to you of redemption. In God’s own time, in His eternal plan, the reward and possession of the land that He has promised you is established and true.
God had to bring Judah through the fiery trials of captivity. Sadly, many of the people of Judah never again saw their homes because they died in captivity. Just as Judah had to face retribution for their sin against God, so must those who rebel against God today.
But Judah was going to be redeemed. God would redeem Israel from the land of captivity just as Jeremiah had redeemed the land from the hold of the debt.
Has God told you to hold on the horns of the altar for your children?
Has God told you to labor in the Kingdom of God?
Has God promised you that you would overcome the world?
God’s promises are true and amen. He is faithful and just! He has never failed on a single promise to His children and He won’t fail you.
God has promised a restoration to all who will believe in Him and trust in Him. Stay on your knees before God. Seek his face in intercessory prayer for your children, your home, your family, your nation and all that Satan is trying to destroy.
In our final verse for this sermon there is the answer to every dilemma of life:
Ah Lord GOD! Behold, thou hast made the heaven and the earth by thy great power and stretched out arm, and there is nothing too hard for thee
Truly there is nothing too hard for God. He will do what He has promised! Put your time and energy into God’s work! That’s the greatest and safest investment you can make for its value is never diminished and its return is eternally rewarding.
Ecclesiastes 11:1, "Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days."
Joel 2:23-27, "Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month. And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the fats shall overflow with wine and oil. And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you. And ye shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God that hath dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed. And ye shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed."
Put your investments into God’s promises. God will bring you a return that is pressed down shaken together and running over.
There is still hope for your children to be saved for God desires that all men would be saved.
God still loves your kids because God is Love and He never stops loving.
God still promises to heal the land of those who will turn back to Him in repentance.
Where are you investing now? What is more important than your prayer life? What is more important than being in church every time the doors are open? What is more important than the salvation of your soul?
Whatever we believe is important that’s what we will invest in! Make sure you invest in the things that are eternal.
