13 Jeremiah 32:1-15 Is hope for real?

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to today's Wednesday in the Word podcast. I'm Krisan Marotta. Ahead on today's podcast, we'll be covering Jeremiah chapter 32, verses 1 through 15. This is the 13th talk in our series on the book of Jeremiah. For lecture notes and links to things mentioned in the talk, please go to our website, which is wednesdayintheword.com slash Jeremiah 13. Well, I have a confession to make. I like to watch Hallmark Christmas movies. And last year they started playing the Christmas movies like the week of Thanksgiving. And they had one two or three every day, all the way through December 31st. And yes, I know they absolutely follow a formula. They're incredibly predictable, and if you've seen one, you've seen them all. But they are really enjoyable. And part of the reason I like them is because not only does the heroine always find love, usually there's one character in the story who has lost all hope and finds their hope again. And I like watching stories about someone who has lost hope and finds it, even if it comes from a mystical Santa in a red suit. Now, the men in my family will only watch Hallmark movies, the Hallmark Christmas movies, on the condition that they are allowed to mock them during the movie. So as they watch it, they are allowed to make fun. Because they're skeptics. And they're skeptical about Christmas stories because, well, they're stories. I mean, that they're about a mythical figure in a red suit who doesn't exist. And many people today see no difference between Jesus Christ and Santa Claus. They think that spiritual hope is a fairy tale. They don't buy it. It's just something religion came up with to make it easier for people to believe, and hope just doesn't seem real. And that's the question we're going to talk about today is hope for real. And think about the as the last few weeks we've been looking at the hopeful passages in Jeremiah. And we've talked about all these promises that come from the gospel, and they seem too good to be true at some level to some people. So the gospel promises us a redeemer who will come and step in and make everything right. It promises that all my sins will be forgiven because of the blood of Christ. The penalty that should fall on my shoulders has been paid, and I will be forgiven. It promises that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord and that sufferings and trials have a great and glorious purpose. And a lot of people look at those promises and say, well, that's just too good to be true. Is hope for real? And isn't hope and God just a fairy tale? Don't you eventually kind of grow up and realize there's nothing to it? So that's the question we're going to answer. How do we know hope is for real? And I think the people of in Jerusalem that Jeremiah preached to were asking the same question because they were living in a place that was about to be destroyed. So Jeremiah preached in the years after the northern kingdom was taken into exile by the Assyrians, but before the Babylonians came and conquered the southern kingdom, and as you know, Jeremiah was warning the people of Judah that Babylon was about to come, he was going to conquer Jerusalem, or he, the nation, the army, and it and they would be taken into exile and made slaves again. And you can imagine, with the Babylonian army threatening their borders, you're not going to have a lot of hope. That in even though the other half of Jeremiah's message was to say, the exile will end, I will bring you back to the land, there will be redemption and restoration. You have to look and go, hmm, disaster now? Restoration after 70 years as a slave. Hmm. Not much of a promise. What kind of hope is that? In the face of this immediate disaster, hope just seemed too far off. So to teach his people that hope is real, and what we're going to see in our section today is God asked Jeremiah to do something crazy. And it's perhaps the most ridiculous thing anyone could do unless, except if hope is real, it's not. So we're looking at Jeremiah chapter 32, verses 1 through 15. And first we're going to look at the setting for the story. Then we're going to discuss the action God instructs Jeremiah to take and see how that teaches hope. And then we're going to look at what kind of sign has God given us today that makes our hope real. So let's start by looking at the first five verses, Jeremiah 32, 1 through 5. The word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord in the tenth year of Zedekiah, king of Judah, which was in the eighteenth year of Nebuchadnezzar. At that time the army of the king of Babylon was besieging Jerusalem, and Jeremiah the prophet was shut up in the court of the guard that was in the palace of the king of Judah. For Zedekiah king of Judah had imprisoned him, saying, and then it's interesting that Zedekiah can actually quote word for word what Jeremiah has been saying. Zedekiah King of Judah shall not escape out of the hand of the Chaldeans. Chaldeans is another name for Babylon, by the way. But surely, but shall surely be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and shall speak him speak with him face to face and see him eye to eye. And he shall take Zedekiah to Babylon, and there he shall remain until I visit him, declares the Lord. Though you fight against the Chaldeans, you shall not succeed. So this scene starts as most of the ones in Jeremiah began with a word from the Lord. But this time we're given the exact time frame that this particular word came. So it says it's the tenth year of Zedekiah, which is 587 BC, or the year before Jerusalem will be destroyed, because that event will happen about 588. So this is just before a major catastrophe. In fact, the major catastrophe that most of the book has been predicting and moving towards. So it's like setting a story today, starting a story and saying, our story begins in Hawaii on December 1st, 1941. We'd all go, oh, disaster is about to happen. And any student of American history would know immediately the attack of Pearl Harbor is just days away, and that's going to impact the story. So similarly, this story is placed in the shadow of the fall of Jerusalem. Any Jew reading this years later would know immediately, oh, the tenth year of King Zedekiah, that the exile is about to happen, Babylonians about to conquer them. So in verse 2, we learn that the army of Babylon is sieging Jerusalem, and this was a devastating military strategy. They would surround the city and cut off all access to it so no one could go out and no one could come in, which would mean there were no supplies coming in, no people going out, and the people would die of starvation and thirst. And there are terrible stories of throughout history of sieges and people resorting to eating their children because of starvation and just awful things happening. So this is the situation in Jerusalem. The Babylon Babylonian army is sieging them. Things have to look bleak. You'd have to think in that situation, what kind of hope is there with the army on your doorstep and people beginning to starve and die of thirst. So nationally things look bad. Jeremiah is also not in a good place. He's in prison. And verses 2 through 5 explain how he came to be in prison. Chronologically, most people think this chapter belongs with the events recorded in 37 and 38. So in we learn from those chapters that the Babylonians were sieging Jerusalem and they temporarily withdrew because the Egyptian army started approaching and massing the threat. And you'll remember Egypt was kind of vying with Babylon to see who would be the next superpower. So they have to turn their attention away from Jerusalem for a while to go deal with the Egyptians. So the siege is momentarily lifted, and when it lifts, Jeremiah attempts to leave the city, and a guard accuses him of desertion. They say, Oh, you're leaving the city because you're going to go join the Babylonian army. So they accuse him of desertion and place him in prison. And while he's in prison, King Zedekiah sends for him saying, Tell me everything's going to be alright. Jeremiah says, Not going to be alright. And so the king keeps him in prison. The text says he was shut up in the court of the guard, which basically means he was under house arrest in the guard house of the palace, which is not the worst place to be, but it's not a it's a pretty bleak situation. So we have this situation where the story begins: Jerusalem's under siege, Jeremiah's in prison for preaching the message that God's given him to preach. Life is really bad, and it's going to get worse. And you have to imagine that the people were saying, what is there to be hopeful about? As I was studying this, lack of hope took center stage in our political discussions. You may remember this. Last December, the former First Lady Michelle Obama told Oprah Winfrey that she had no hope. She said, quote, see, now we're feeling what not having hope feels like, you know. Hope is necessary. It's a necessary concept. And Barack didn't just talk about hope because he thought it was a nice slogan to get votes. I mean, he and I and so many believe that if, well, what else do you have if you don't have hope? And though Mrs. Obama did not mention President then President-elect Trump by name, the implication was clear that we've lost hope because we have this new president. So Trump responded, quote, I assume she was talking about the past, not the future, because I'm telling you, we have tremendous hope, and we have tremendous promise and tremendous potential. So I was studying this passage when the news hit of that story, and it got me thinking, half the nation's feeling hopeless while the other half is feeling hopeful. And if the election had been reversed, we'd still probably have that situation. Only the other half would be hopeless, and the other half would be hopeful. Now, obviously, conflicting political viewpoints will lead to conflicting emotions over who wins and who loses. But it got me thinking, why should that be the basis for our hope? And it I think most people today are hoping in the wrong things. Because the real problem is not who is and who isn't in the White House. The problem is we put our hope in the occupant of the White House. And we think a new president may solve the problems, but who is really in control? It's not just politics, though, we can misplace our hope in other areas. We can think, oh, if we've got enlightened religious views, then that's going to solve all international tension. Or if we get the right social justice and racial reconciliation programs, that will wipe out sin and selfishness. Or if we just have all these accountability structures, that will prevent the economy from collapsing again, or something like that. And essentially, we're thinking humanity is capable of solving our problems by ourselves without divine guidance or intervention. And that is misplaced hope. And that is exactly what the king of Judah was doing. He had the same problem. He was putting his hope in the wrong thing. He hoped that he would be able to defeat Babylon because he was forming a political alliance with Egypt. And he thought, well, we'll come out alright. He wanted to believe what the false prophets were telling him, which was exactly what he wanted to hear. And Jeremiah is preaching against that hope, saying, no, if you fight the Babylonians, you're not going to succeed. So it seems to me at least part of the problem is not that we've lost all hope. The problem is we're hoping in the wrong things. And those things will disappoint us. So when we put our hope in the wrong thing, then we ask, is hope for real when it disappoints us? So God's giving Jeremiah a message to say, to address, I think, this misplaced hope. But this message is not one in words, this one is actions. He tells Jeremiah to do something. Okay, so look at 6 through 8. And Jeremiah said, The word of the Lord came to me saying, Behold, Hanamel the son of Shalom, your uncle, is coming to you, saying, Buy for yourself my field which is in Anathoth, for you have the right of redemption to buy it. Then Hanamel, my uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard, according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, Buy my field, please, that is in Anathoth, which is in the land of Benjamin, for you have the right of possession, and redemption is yours, buy it for yourself. Then I knew that this was a word from the Lord. So God tells Jeremiah, Look, your cousin's gonna come, he's gonna approach you and ask you to buy his field, which is in your hometown of Anathoth, and God wants him to buy it. Now, in this culture, what Hanumel is doing is kind of like declaring bankruptcy. He's saying, I've lost all hope, I've given up, I'm gonna sell out, and when you were about to go into poverty or go bankrupt, you sold your property to the nearest relative as a way of staying afloat, with the idea that when you got back on your feet, you could buy it back from your relative. So apparently Hanemel's lost all hope. He's selling out and trying to leave. Well, right away this is absurd because everybody's in the same boat. This the city of Jerusalem is under siege. People are starving. The enemy is camped around Jerusalem. They might even be on that very field. And everyone in the city is in the midst of this financial and national crisis. So this would be like saying, oh, buy my property in Vienna with Hitler's troops massed on the border. It's like, well, that's kind of crazy. Or today, you know, trying to sell a piece of property in downtown Aleppo or Mosul, and it's like, why would anybody want to buy that? Those cities are facing months and months of continued warfare and devastation. So for Hanemel to come to Jeremiah and say, Can you buy my field is ridiculous. Nobody would want to do that. The field is worthless, it's undersieged, they may never own it again, it may all fall to the Babylonians. And his situation is no different than anyone else's. Everyone else is in the same boat. So the field he's selling is not worth anything, and it's a ridiculous offer. But just as the Lord predictor Hanna predicted, Hanamel comes to Jeremiah, asks him to purchase the field because he's the next nearest male relative and has the right to buy it. So, by the way, Deuteronomy 18 says there's a simple rule for determining whether a prophet's really from God. If what he prophesies is comes true, he's authentic. If it doesn't, he's a false prophet. And I just notice you have God announcing this guy's going to come, and then he comes. So it's just one little event that highlights that Jeremiah is in fact a real prophet. So what we see here is God instructing Jeremiah to do something. Now, most of the time he tells his prophets to say something, but here he gives them something to do, and it's a real action, but it has symbolic meaning. He wants to teach something through this action. And this is actually fairly common in the Old Testament. You may remember these examples. God asks Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman to symbolize God's marriage to unfaithful Israel. He asks Ezekiel to pack up his belongings as if he's going into exile. He asks Isaiah to walk around basically in his underwear and barefoot for three years to symbolize what the king of Assyria will do to Egypt. And then we see in the New Testament Jesus causing a fig tree to wither to demonstrate the unfaithfulness of Israel. So you have these symbolic acts that are kind of common throughout Scripture, where God just doesn't tell someone something. He says, I want you to do something to teach this message. So Jeremiah does what God asks him to do. And as we continue the passage, we see him purchasing the field and then and then what it means. So let's look at 9 through 15. I bought the field which was in Anathoth from Hanamel, my uncle's son. I weighed out the silver for him, seventeen shekels of silver. I signed and sealed the deed and called in witnesses and weighed out the silver on the scales. Then I took the deeds of purchase, both the sealed copy containing the terms and conditions, and the open copy, and I gave the deed of purchase to Barak, the son of Nariah, the son of however you pronounce that, Messiah, in the sight of Hanamel, my uncle's son, and in the sight of the witnesses who signed the deed of purchase before all the Jews who were sitting in the court of the guard. And I commanded Baruch in their presence, saying, Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, take these deeds, the sealed deed of purchase, and this open deed, and put them in an earthenware jar, that they may last a long time. For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, houses and fields and vineyards will again be bought in this land. So Jeremiah follows through on the plan God asked him to do. He does something that can only be described as idiotic. He buys the field when an enemy army is about to destroy Jerusalem and conquer the nation. And he makes it very public. He wants everyone to see it. Now, when you're watching a film and something really important happens, they often will go into slow motion to slow it down to make sure you get every bit of the action and know this is important. Well, you can't do that when you're reading, but one of the ways that Hebrew authors would demonstrate this is really significant is they slow down the pace of the action. And that's what we see here. You'll notice every detail of the purchase is described. We hear all the there's a certain legal procedure of the day, and they follow that procedure, and we see every step. We see them weighing out the silver, we see them signing and sealing the deed. And every step is described in kind of excruciating detail, I think, to slow down and make you see, this is important. Don't miss this. Now the practice of the day was to write a contract on a papyrus or some other material, usually papyrus, and then they'd fold it over several times and seal it, and that sealed copy was the official record. And then they would make a second copy, and they would attach that open copy or unsealed copy to the top so you could read the open copy, and then the sealed copy was the kind of the permanent one, and they called these tie deeds, and that's what we see here. There's a sealed copy and an unsealed copy. They're given to Baruch in the presence of all these witnesses, and the copies are placed in an earthenware jar, which was basically like putting them in a time capsule. That was the way to preserve them for a very long time. Which, by the way, this is how the Dead Sea Scrolls were kept in these earthenware jars in a cave, and they were kept for safekeeping and long-term preservation. So this is a crazy thing to do unless hope is real. If what God has said is true, Israel will be restored, the land will belong to her again, it will be valuable again, then this makes perfect sense. He's making a bet that seems crazy unless God has told him what's going to happen and God's word is true. He knows the long-term plan. God is going to restore Israel. One day there will be normal economic activity again. The documents would be significant as to who owns the field, because one day that field is going to be valuable again. It will belong to Israel. So even as the Babylonian army is camped on their doorstep, poised for the final assault, one day Israel is going to be restored, and Jeremiah is acting on that hope. He's acting on that restoration. So I think God is reminding people here yes, Israel, uh Judah is about to be destroyed, but this is not total destruction. This is part of the plan. I am remaking you. There's going to be this new covenant, the end of this, which we talked about last week. And I want you to see that this hope is for real. So hope seemed distant and far off, and God has Jeremiah do something that would be crazy, except hope is real. R.C. Sproul wants to find hope as faith looking forward. And I think that's what Jeremiah is doing. He's got faith and trust in the promises of God. He's looking forward to the day when they will be fully revealed. Now, this act was symbolic, but it was also real. It cost Jeremiah. It's, you know, and this is true across the board. It's not as if God asked Hosea to pretend to marry an unfaithful woman. He did marry an unfaithful woman. He didn't ask Jeremiah to just act like he was going to buy a field. He did buy a field that was under enemy attack. So he had to do something, take an action. It wasn't just an illustration. It actually happened, it affected his lives, and it cost him something. He had to weigh out those 17 shekels of silver. Hosea had to marry a prostitute for the rest of his life. Isaiah spent three years walking around barefooted. So those acts are costly. They're real things people do because they're acting on their hope. And they don't make sense to the world. They look crazy unless your hope is real. And I think that's something we can relate to because sometimes hope in the gospel appears crazy today. Many folks today think faith in Jesus is a fairy tale, and all these, you know, religious traditions, they're just delusions, and it's nice if you want to waste your time on it, but don't share it or teach it. And yet the hope of the gospel is God's in control, he acts in history, he will redeem his people through the blood of Jesus Christ, and he is coming back. So in the meantime, when we live like that's true, we do things that don't make sense, like give our money away, or handle our marriages differently, or handle our sexuality differently, or maybe we don't put ourselves first all the time or demand our rights, or we turn the other cheek, and climbing the career ladder isn't the most important thing. We may leave the office at 5 p.m. or give up a career to mother our children, and all those things can look crazy to the world because it's like, why would you do that? That, you know, you gotta look out for number one, go for the gusto, you know, live live now. And it's crazy and it can be costly and it looks crazy, but if it's our hope is real, then it's absolutely the right thing to do. So that's something to think about. What a crazy thing have you done because you trust in God? You know, maybe it's little things like uh staying home with your kids, or uh not yelling at someone who has yelled at you, or not uh uh reviling when being reviled, something like that. It may be a big thing like buy a worthless field, or it may just be, well, I speak differently, or I don't laugh at the same jokes, or I value things differently than the people in the office. So, is hope for real? Yes, absolutely, and we are called to live it out. Peter addresses the same issue in his first letter, and he talks about he has just described the hope we have in the gospel, and then he gives this encouragement to hang on to it. This is 1 Peter 1.13. Therefore, preparing your minds for action and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So he's just said, we have this hope of an inheritance that's more valuable than you can ever imagine. And what should you do in response? Basically, he says, get serious, prepare your minds for action. Stop messing around. You want to be like a warrior who's preparing for battle. You're going into this, you want to be, you know how what athletes like they get in this mental zone to get ready for a competition? It's that kind of idea. A warrior would tuck their tunic up into their belt so their legs would be freed for uh running in action, and that's this um preparing your minds. He's using that military term of girding your loins, is what he's literally saying. And he's basically saying free your mind from distractions, desires, things that would entangle and encumber you, and focus on the hope that is coming. Free yourself so you can do what you really need to do. So be sober-minded. The person who gets drunk is fogging their mind with drink and distraction. He's saying, metaphorically, I want you to be clear-minded, focused on what's at stake, recognize what's really important. And what are you focusing on? The hope that is that on the set your hope completely on the grace that is coming. So place your hope firmly and squarely on the promises of the gospel. He's like, lean into it. So if I see clearly what I'm hoping for, then I'm hoping for the right thing. I'm pursuing something truly worth having. If I set my hope on something temporal, that's foolishness. But if I set my hope on something that will last, that is the best thing I can do. And as Peter says, what Jesus is bringing is an inheritance that is worth having, it's reliable, it's valuable, it will not disappoint you, it won't burn, it won't get corrupted, it won't be destroyed, it is completely worth everything you're giving up for it. So his response to this is that's what you want to count on, that's where you want to put your hope. Don't put your hope in programs of the day or who's in the White House or fame or fortune or beauty or education or career success. Put your hope in the gospel. If it seems irrelevant, sometimes I think, you know, people talk about the hope of the gospel and they go, yeah, right, but what about today? You know, I've got problems today. The gospel just doesn't seem relevant. Then I think we've got our values misplaced. We don't understand what our real problem is, and we need to get back in perspective. So imagine a person who's lost their life work, like they've gone bankrupt, their life savings is lost, they've hit rock bottom, and you say, Persevere and I'll take you to Disney World. Well, that might be fun, but it doesn't speak to my real need. You know, what if I've just gone bankrupt and I've lost everything, what I need is is uh work and prosperity, and I need to find some sort of success and to build a business. And Disney World might speak to a need for rest and relaxation, but it's not the fundamental true need that I have. And I think for a lot of us, the hope of the gospel seems like going to Disney World. You say, well, that sounds great, but it's not really where I'm at right now. It's not really what I'm struggling with. And if that's the case, I would say you've lost sight of what the real problem is. So we think that we know what's going to solve our problems financial security, the current hardship coming to an end, um, health, beauty, romance, good grades, career success, whatever. We think all of that, if I just had that, if I just had $10,000 more dollars, then everything would be all right. But the New Testament says that's not your problem. The real problem, to quote Jonathan Edwards, is you're a sinner in the hands of an angry God. There is a fire coming which nothing in this world will survive. It is all gonna burn and you're gonna be asked to walk right into the midst of it. So there's this problem of sin and guilt, and that is the biggest problem that must be solved. And the only way to solve that is through genuine faith in Jesus Christ. So I'd say if hope seems irrelevant, think about what the real problem is, not what the current circumstances are, but what's the real problem? The other thing I think that may solve the issue of hope seeming irrelevant is realizing that where are you gonna find fulfillment? And the gospel promises that all human desires will find their fulfillment in the promised kingdom of God. So we're not gonna find it in the things of this world, the financial success, the health, the beauty, romance, marriage, good kids, career success, whatever, that is ultimately not gonna fulfill us. What's gonna fulfill us is being children of God in the kingdom of God. Because freedom from sin, which is the promise of the kingdom of God, means freedom from everything that robs us of fulfillment now. So if you want love, you're gonna be loved and loved deeply in the kingdom of God. If you want security, we will be unshakably secure in the kingdom of God. Meaning and purpose. We will have lives of great meaning and purpose. We will know rest, contentment, uh, peace of mind. That's all part of the hope that is promised us. Because and the inheritance in the kingdom of God is where that hope will be found. So that's why setting our hope on the coming kingdom of God brings clarity to our minds, because if you know that's my real problem and this is where I'm going to find the solution, then you know what you should be focused on. The problem is we get distracted by the things of this world and we don't get it, so we lose sight of that. But God in his mercy has started the promise, the process, the ball is rolling, it will complete its course, his word will be proved true, and the reality of everything he set in motion will come to pass. Sometimes we're just too foolish to see it. Okay, so what about us? So Jeremiah's people got a sign that Jeremiah was to buy this totally worthless field to prove that one day that field would be worthless again and the people would be back in the land. And there's a sense in which you could say, well, that's a great story, but what about me? How do I know my hope is real today? And we too have a sign. In fact, the Apostle Paul answers this very question in Romans 5 and talks about it. We're going to look there for a minute. So in the first four chapters of the book of Romans, he lays out his case for justification by faith and faith alone. So he talks about why we know that's true, and then in chapter 5, he starts answering the question, so what? So we're justified by faith and faith alone. What difference does it make? And he says in chapter 5, 2 through 5, that we have a hope in the glory of God, and that our hope will not disappoint us. And then he says this this is Romans 5, 6 through 10. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person, though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die. But God shows his love for us, and that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since therefore we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Basically, Paul is saying, if God loved enough to loved us enough to die for us while we were his enemies, now that you're his child, don't you think he loves you enough to get you the rest of the way there? That's basically his argument. He says, if it takes this amount of love, this huge amount of love to love your enemy, whom you hate, and you do them a great kindness, then how much love does it take to love your child, who you, you know, your your own child? Well, it only takes this much love. And if God has demonstrated this huge amount of love, loved us this much while we were his enemies, now that we're his children, what do you think he's gonna do? You think he's gonna abandon you? No, he will get you the rest of the way. So how many of you would hesitate to run out in front of a car to snatch your toddler out of the way? Like if you were at, say, a picnic or something and you saw your toddler wandering into the street with a car coming, even if the odds were 10,000 to one, you'd go for it. I'm sure every one of you would run out there in that split second where you said, I have a chance, you would go for it because that's your child whom you love, and of course, you would lay down your life for them. But now what if the person in front of the car is that crazy neighbor who drives you nuts, makes your life miserable? Or maybe, you know, you might go, maybe not, maybe, but what if the person was Hitler or Saddam Hussein or one of the 9-11 terrorists? And now they're in front of the car. Are you gonna go run out and try to save them? I'd probably be rooting for the car. And that's Paul's argument. He says, which takes more love? What's the greater demonstration of love? To die for your child or to die for your enemy? Well, of course it takes greater love to die for your enemy. But imagine you muster up the courage to die for your enemy, and your enemy stands there laughing at you and mocking you and jeering you and telling you you're crazy and your sacrifice is worthless. Wouldn't that take greater love still? And Paul's argument is that's what Jesus did for us. We were we're the terrorists in front of the car. We're the enemies of God. We were under his wrath. We should have commanded no more love and respect from God than, say, a Jew would give Hitler. Right at the point when we were his enemies, estranged from him, hating him, mocking him, jeering him, as he hung dying on the cross, he died for us. So which takes more love? He's saying, you want to sign your hope is real? You've seen it. You've seen Christ dying on the cross for you. He died for you while you were his enemy. Now you're his child, adopted into his family. Don't you think he loves you enough to finish the plan, to get you the rest of the way? Because now he's switched you from the terrorist in front of the car to the toddler in front of the car. Do you think he's going to hesitate to scoop you up in his arms and get you the rest of the way? So I would say we too have a sign that hope is real. The action that proved hope to the people of Jeremiah's day was Jeremiah buying this worthless field that was about to be destroyed to prove that God would again redeem and destroy. But the action today that proves our hope is real is Jesus' death on the cross. Because if God loved us enough to send his son to die for us while we were his enemies, now that we're his children, he's already demonstrated that amount of love. Of course, he's gonna finish the deal. He's gonna love us enough to fulfill our hope now that we're his children. Let's pray. Father, thank you that you are a God who loved us, that you did what you didn't have to do and did what we could never do for ourselves, that you took our place on the cross, that you took the punishment we deserved so that you could offer us forgiveness and make us your children once again. Now we just pray that on those days when hope seems futile or hope seems too far in the future or lost, that you would remind us of what's truly important, where life is taking us, where the trials are taking us, the struggles, the temptations, the hardships and the tragedies, that they all have a purpose and a plan, and they're moving us toward your kingdom, toward being more people of faith, people who love you and are conformed to the image of your son. We just pray that you would write that hope on our hearts so that it is not just the theological idea we hold, but it's the reality that we live by the thing we turn to in times of stress and trials, and that we would rest in your incredible demonstrations of your love in Jesus' name. Amen.