Title: Not Too Hard For God
Bible Book: Jeremiah 32 : 16-17
Author: Johnny L. Sanders
Subject: God, Almighty
Objective:
INTRODUCTION
Finally! Finally, after more than thirty chapters, Jeremiah makes the declarative statement, “Nothing is too hard for You” (Jer. 32:17b). Jeremiah is praying when he makes this statement. When the Lord answers His called uniquely called prophet, He asks, “Is anything too hard for Me?” The Holman HCB renders it, “Then the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah: “Look, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer 32:26-27).
That is a good question. It is an appropriate question. The Lord has made some strong statements about what He intended to do. The question is, could He pull it off. I have heard a few people make some bold statements that caused some raised eyebrow. When my father was in basic training during World War II, the sergeant in charge of the training that day pointed out a machine gun nest and asked a new man who had just arrived on base how he would propose to take it. The man answered that he would charge it with a grenade. The sergeant subjected him to ridicule and some of the men laughed at him. Then they learned that he had been sent there to observe training, after having been decorated for doing exactly what he had said he would do.
Perhaps you have heard the expression, “It ain’t bragging if you can do it.” I am not overly impressed with that statement because I have heard people brag about things they had done until people began avoiding them. Some popular athletes engage in “trash talk”, and it seems that some fans and some sports writers and broadcasters find it amusing. Self-confidence is very important, and much more admirable that trash talk, but regardless of how confident one is, he is often disappointed.
I love to hear our troops and officers express their confidence. I seldom hear the brag of phenomenal exploits, but I appreciate a “can do” attitude. Today, I would like for us to take a close look at what God says He will do, and then see if we are convinced He can accomplish it.
I. FIRST, LET’S LOOK AT WHAT GOD PROPOSES.
A. First, He Details What He Has Done in the Past.
1) He said He would created the heavens and the earth, and He did it.
2) He said He would destroy the world when it became evil, and He sent the Flood.
3) He promised Abraham a land, a son, and a Seed, and he fulfilled His promises.
4) He promised to deliver the Children of Israel from Egypt, and He did it.
5) He promised to return the Israelites to Canaan, and He did it.
6) He promised to give David incredible victories over his enemies, and He did it.
B. God Claims to Control Nations and Empires.
1) He used Egypt to provide an incubation place for a promising nation.
2) He used surrounding nations to judge Israel during the Period of the Judges.
3) He promised to raise up the Assyrian Empire to destroy unfaithful Israel, and He did it.
4) He promised to raise up Babylon to take treacherous Judah into captivity, and He did it.
5) He promised to raise up Persia to return a remnant to Jerusalem, but could He do it?
6) He promised to raise up Greece to prepare for the coming Messiah , but could He do it?
7) He promised to raise up Rome to welcome the Messiah, but could He do it?
8) He promised David a Son who would establish an eternal kingdom, but could He do it?
9) He promised to provide salvation for all who believe in Him, but could He do that?
10) He promised to send His Son for His church, but can He, will He do that?
If God was able to fulfill all His promises of the past, that would encourage us to believe that He will be able to do all those things He has promised in the future. According to His claims, He raised up all those great empires, but can we take His word for that. Let’s face it, a lot of people credit God with things they assume, or wish to be so. How do we know that did not happen with those empires? There is a good answer to that. The Founding Fathers were convinced that God had given America the victory in the Revolutionary War. Could they prove that? After all, there were Christians praying on both sides. At the end of the Second World war, Christians declared that God gave us the victory. I agree, but that is my conclusion. How can you prove that?
What sets God’s claims apart from what we may surmise is that God promised all these things long before these empires were empires! God was inspiring His prophets to write history six, seven, and eight hundred years before the things transpired. Of course, there were promises that go back a long time before that, but we are looking at the way God moved great empires as one moves pieces on a chessboard.
B. In Jeremiah, the Lord offers a way of life or a way of death.
1) God offers a diagnosis of Judah’s spiritual condition. Please remember that this is not the opinion of the prophet. It is the word of God (beginning in 2:5):
“Here is what the Lord says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves?
(6) They stopped asking: Where is the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?
7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable. (8) The priests quit asking: Where is the Lord? The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal
and followed useless idols.
(11) Has a nation [ever] exchanged its gods? (but they were not gods!) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols. (12) Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. [This is] the Lord’s declaration.
(13) For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water” (Jer 2:5-13).
2) Judah, like Israel, the Northern Kingdom, continually rejected God and turned to idols.
“For long ago I broke your yoke; I tore off your fetters. You insisted: I will not serve! On every high hill and under every leafy tree you lie down [like] a prostitute. (21) I planted you, a choice vine from the very best seed. How then could you turn into a degenerate, foreign vine?
(22) “Even if you wash with lye and use a great amount of soap, the stain of your guilt is still in front of Me. [This is] the Lord God’s declaration” (Jer 2:20-22).
3) Israel, the Northern Kingdom, had been destroyed and Judah was guilty of greater sins.
(3:6) “In the days of King Josiah the Lord asked me, “Have you seen what unfaithful Israel has done? She has ascended every high hill and gone under every green tree to prostitute herself there. (7) I thought: After she has done all these things, she will return to Me. But she didn’t return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. (8) I observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself. (9) Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and tree. (10) Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart—only in pretense. [This is] the Lord’s declaration.
(11) “The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah” (Jer 3:6-11).
During what has been called the Golden Age of Prophecy, the Eighth Century B. C., God had sent Amos and Hosea to preach His word in Israel, and Isaiah and Micah in Judah. These people could not plead ignorance. That which brought down the wrath of God upon their heads was not ignorance but iniquity. As my Old Testament professor used to say over and over, they sinned with their eyes wide open. Isaiah had warned that God would use Assyria to judge Judah if they did not repent and obey the Lord. If they still did not repent and return to Him, He would destroy Assyria and raise up Babylon, not to destroy Judah completely, but take them into captivity for seventy years. It may well be that God set the punishment at seventy years because they had refused to observe seventy Sabbath Years. Now, the land would lie fallow for seventy consecutive years. Our Lord has a long memory, and His arm has never been shortened.
4) The Lord continues to hold out hope for the people.
The Lord urges the to return to Him and avoid judgment: “Return, you faithless children. I will heal your unfaithfulness” (Jer. 2:22a.). However, they lie to Him and pretend to return: ““Here we are, coming to You, for You are the Lord our God” (Jer 3:22b).
The Lord pleads with them to return to Him:
“If you return, Israel—[this is] the Lord’s declaration—[if] you return to Me, if you remove your detestable idols from My presence and do not waver, 2 if you swear, As the Lord lives, in truth, in justice, and in righteousness, then the nations will be blessed by Him and will pride themselves in Him” (Jer 4:1-2).
C. In Jeremiah, God Makes Some Bold Promises.
1) The vision of the pot boiling over from the north at the beginning of Jeremiah’s prophetic ministry was an announcement that judgment was coming from the north, the route Babylon would take.
2) God sent Jeremiah to the potter’s house where he observed the potter start a vessel, which soon became flawed. He then marred the clay and then made a new vessel that was useful. The object lesson of the potter and the clay was a promise that God would knead a worthless vessel and then remold the clay into a useful vessel. He would sent Judah into captivity, but after seventy years He would return them to Jerusalem.
The Lord promised that He would send Judah into captivity for seventy years because they refused to obey Him. He showed Jeremiah two baskets of figs, one very good and one very bad. The good figs represented those who had been taken into captivity in 597 B. C. He promised to bless them:
“I will keep My eyes on them for their good and will return them to this land. I will build them up and not demolish them; I will plant them and not uproot them. I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the Lord. They will be My people, and I will be their God because they will return to Me with all their heart.
The bad figs represented those who remained in Judah after others had been taken to Babylon, insisting that the exiles would be returned and that they would prosper in Jerusalem. The Lord made a promise to them:
“But as for the bad figs, so bad they are inedible, this is what the Lord says: in this way I will deal with Zedekiah king of Judah, his officials, and the remnant of Jerusalem—those remaining in this land and those living in the land of Egypt. I will make them an object of horror and disaster to all the kingdoms of the earth, a disgrace, an object of scorn, ridicule, and cursing, wherever I have banished them. I will send the sword, famine, and plague against them until they have perished from the land I gave to them and their ancestors” (Jer 24:6-10).
We could look at numerous promises throughout the Book of Jeremiah, but I chose these because in these verse God says over and over, “I will”, “I will”, “I will.” He said I will bless those who obey Me and punish those who disobey Me. I will! I will! I will!”
II. THERE IS STILL NOTHING TOO HARD FOR THE LORD.
A. We Must Appeal to America to Look to God.
1) He is the Creator. Throughout the Old Testament, He reminded His Chosen People that He is the Creator. He told Jeremiah to remind them that the One who speaking to them was their Creator: “The Lord who made the earth, the Lord who forms it to establish it, the Lord is His name, says this: Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wondrous things you do not know” (Jer 33:2-3). Ancient Judah had forgotten to remember their Creator. If there is an area in which the issue is not in doubt, to me it is in the fact that America has also forgotten our Creator.
When Job questioned God, the Lord did not even deal with the questions. He simple asked him who he was to be questioning his Creator! Listen to a few questions the Lord asked Job (in chapter 38, beginning with verse 4):
4) “Where were you when I established the earth? Tell Me , if you have understanding.
5) “Who fixed its dimensions? Certainly you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6) “What supports its foundations? Or who laid its cornerstone...
7) “while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8) “Who enclosed the sea behind doors when it burst from the womb,
9) “when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its blanket,
10) “when I determined its boundaries and put [its] bars and doors in place,
11) “when I declared: “You may come this far, but no farther; your proud waves stop here”?
12) “Have you ever in your life commanded the morning or assigned the dawn its place,
13) “so it may seize the edges of the earth and shake the wicked out of it?
14) “The earth is changed as clay is by a seal; [its hills] stand out like [the folds of] a garment.
15) “Light is withheld from the wicked, and the arm raised [in violence] is broken.
16) “Have you traveled to the sources of the sea or walked in the depths of the oceans?
17) “Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Have you seen the gates of death’s shadow?”
Job 38:4-22 (HCSB)
Eighty years ago, there was a trial in Dayton, TN, that was used to change America. The so-called Monkey Trial, the Scopes Trial, was an effort to force schools to teach evolution as an alternate theory to special creation. Withing ten years, thanks to the media, schools of “higher learning”, and the entertainment industry, creation was being forced out of our schools. Within another 20 years, evolution ruled the classroom. Within another 20 years, creation had become a joke. Francis Shaeffer believed America entered the post-Christian period in her history in 1935. I used to argue that in the Bible Belt it was after the Second World War. Whatever the case, it was the rejection of God as Creator and the acceptance of the satanic gospel of evolution, the gospel of humanism, that launched her into the post-Christian era. We are moving deeper and deeper in the post-Christians period of our history every day.
I am not a scientist, just a layman who has spent years reading material on creation science, some of which I understood (just a little, anyway). The late Dr. Jan Mercer, a creation scientist who was personally acquainted with Creation scientists like Dr. Henry Morris, Dr. DeWayne Gish, Dr. Gary Parker, and many others, guided my studies and answered questions for me. This lady went to the the river to see personally the footprint of a human and a dinosaur - side by side in the same layer. She was convinced that leading creationists should have publicized this find more than they did. Dr. Jimmy Draper and I have spoken often about the brilliance of Dr. Mercer. He told me that when he wrote a sermon on creation he took it to her and asked her to read it to be sure he had his facts straight. That speaks volumes for both of them! What have I concluded from my studies, from the Bible, and from friends? I am convinced that if you don’t have a Creator, you don’t need a Redeemer because there can be no Judge at the end.
Sadly, pastors compromised as the battle raged, looking for a compromise position that showed Christians they believed the Bible, and at the same time showing the evolutionists that they were not ignorant right-wing fanatics. We must not compromise by embracing the Day/Age theory or the Gap theory. Stay with the Word of God. Trust Him to see that His Word will not return unto Him void. In Genesis One, God did not begin the most important book in the world by trying to prove He exists, He simply proclaimed his existence by laying out His creative works for all to read.
Now, let me just touch on the legacy of evolution. Let me stress, that there are well meaning people who have accepted some aspects of evolution who have not embraced the things I am about to mention. Let me stress again, I am not accusing all evolutionists of the views I am about to mention. Okay, here we go: If you want to sell a society on abortion, euthanasia, acceptance of lower moral standards, homosexuality, and a host of similar things, sell them first on evolution. Of course all evolutionists do not condone all of those things, in part because there is still a memory of God and His Scripture in our culture. But think about it. If there is no God at the beginning, there can be no God at the end. If there is no Creator, there is no need for a Redeemer, and there can be no Judge at the end. Now, if you think I am naive, let me suggest something. Go down to the district attorney’s office and ask to speak to the juvenile prosecutor. If he will meet with you, ask him to simply tell you what he knows about what is going on in your community that you may not know. You may know your children, but how well do you know your neighbors’ children? I have just a little insight because I have talked with teacher and my son John who is an experienced juvenile prosecutor. Don’t think you know what is going on out there because you worked with youth ten years ago. There is a different world out there today.
Americans have slaughtered 47 million unborn, and partially born babies since Roe v. Wade, and now liberals everywhere are in a state of panic because they fear President George Bush appointees on the Supreme Court will be able to overturn Roe v. Wade. South Dakota has just passed a bill that would ban practically all abortions. Now get this: The representative who introduced the bill in South Dakota is a Democrat and a woman. The majority of women in both parties voted for the bill.
Mississippi is looking at a similar bill, and other states may follow suit.
Homosexuality is gaining acceptance in our society today. The news media and entertainment industry freaked-out over a movie about homosexual “cowboys” who were, in fact, sheep herders!
Someone in a position of authority confided that we would be surprised if we knew scope of the Bill Clinton legacy and its impact on practices among children in out society today. I could only assume he meant oral sex. This is scary. You don’t get that from the Bible, you get that when people choose to turn their back on God and embrace a theory with the breath Satan on every line. You want to call me narrow? You don’t know the half of it! I am going to the dentist this week and I want a very narrow minded dentist. When I had by-pass surgery, I wanted to be sure I had a very narrow minded surgeon. If I fly on an airplane, I want an narrow minded pilot. I don’t want one who may land in the vicinity of the landing strip, I want him dead center on it.
Sadly, America has rejected God as Creator and we are paying a price. Talking heads on the networks pass judgment on God. Liberal lawyers go before more liberal judges and get a display of the Ten Commandments removed from a courtroom or other public site. Teachers teach evolution. Doctors kill a baby that is more than 90% born. Preachers who just want people to feel good, but never preach on sin and its consequences, can fill giant auditoriums, but we are becoming more “secular” every day.
2) He is the Redeemer. I can hardly believe it when I hear someone declare that there are many ways to God, or many paths to heaven. I am shocked when I hear a profession Christian say they believe there are many paths to heaven. What really blows my mind is when I hear some pastor make that kind of statement. The pastor of Riverside Church in New York was asked by a reporter if he thought only Christian would go to heaven. He replied that when the Lord starts passing out rewards he expects Him to be giving out rewards to people from other camps. The Bible is very clear on this subject: “There is no other name known among men whereby you must be saved” (other than Jesus).
In a March 7, 2006 Baptist Press release, Bob Reccord, President of the North American Mission Baord, share the disturbing news that:
“The United States has gone from being a Christian nation to a mission field,” he said. “The U.S. is now the 13th largest country receiving missionaries from other countries. Some 224 million people in North America claim no relationship to Jesus Christ.”
Reccord also said that the world "is coming to our doorstep."
"On average, our Anglo churches are not growing, but Asian and Hispanic churches in the U.S. are growing by double digits," he said.
“One out of 10 in the United States today is foreign-born. One out of five kids has a parent who is foreign-born. America is becoming more diverse all the time.”
Did you hear what Bob Reccord said about 224 million people in North America who claim no relationship to Jesus Christ? We are losing a war that we should be winning, and would be if only believers would become effective witnesses for our Savior.
America is becoming more diverse, and more pagan all the time. We must share the Gospel with lost people. We are publishing Bibles and Christian literature, but we must have messengers who will get the Scripture into the hands of lost people. We need Christians who are trained to share the Word of God with lost people. We must have Christians who will share their own experience of salvation with neighbors. And we need Christians who think like Christians, look like Christians, sound like Christians, and act like Christians. I thank the Lord that many are doing just that. I talked with a cousin who lost his house and everything in it in Bay St. Louis when Katrina hit. He mentioned more than once all the things churches have done in south Mississippi since Katrina hit. I thank the Lord that everyone on the gulf coast is not looking to government and gambling to solve their problems. Some are looking the God.
B. We Must Urge all Americans to Return to the Lord.
Just as America’s character is mirrored in the Book of Jeremiah, so is the solution to her condition. The Lord told Jeremiah what to say to His people: infrastructure
“The Lord announced to me, “Unfaithful Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. Go, proclaim these words to the north, and say: Return, unfaithful Israel. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will not look on you with anger, for I am unfailing in My love. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will not be angry forever. Only acknowledge your guilt—you have rebelled against the Lord your God. You have scattered your favors to strangers under every green tree and have not obeyed My voice. This is the Lord’s declaration. Return, you faithless children” (Jer 3:11-14).
Today, America needs desperately to return to the Lord and pray for another Great Awakening. The devil will fight against you all the way, using every asset as his disposal, teacher, lawyers, local, state, and national politicians, and yes, even preachers. Ancient Judah was filled with false prophets and I hear some strange things coming for the tongues of some preachers today.
I am all for denominational distinctives, but we had better not lose sight of the real enemy. He is not the Methodist, Presbyterian, or Lutheran down the street. When will we understand that all of God’s people must stand together against the all out effort on the part of liberal groups to convert America into a totally secular society? Take a look at France and see a secular society that is on the brink of becoming “religious” again. By religious, I do not mean Christian! Muslims rioted in France late in 2005 and they did serious damage to the infrastructure. Violence spilled over into Germany. Both countries have been so paralyzed by radical Muslims that they would not help in the war in Iraq. Some reports tell us that Muslim leaders are convinced that they will take over Europe and then look toward America. Sadly, a lot of politicians are providing all the motivational film clips they need to keep their dream alive.
I stress, America must return to the Lord - or else! Or else, we will move deeper and deeper into the post-Christian era and in so doing we may be forfeiting the protection of the mighty arm of the Lord.
I say return because America, though never a theocracy, was once led by people with a deep commitment to Jesus Christ.
Modern history books focus on the Signers of the Declaration of Independence who were not professing Christians, but they fail to tell us that almost all of the Signers were professing and practicing Christians. Do you know what the motto of the Signers was? “Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.”
On the aluminum cap atop the Washington Monument in Washington DC are two words: Laus Deo. No one can see these words. In fact, most visitors to the monument have no idea they are even there... But there they are, 555 feet, 5.125 inches high, perched atop the monument to the father of our nation. Laus Deo! And what might those two words ... "Praise be to God!"
Let me quote a man of deep faith: “I prefer the Bible to any other book. There is enough in that to satisfy the most ardent thirst for knowledge; to open the way to true wisdom; and to teach the only road to salvation and eternal happiness.” -- General Robert E. Lee
I thank God that President George W. Bush professes faith in Jesus Christ and the Word of God. He is a man of prayer, who when he is convinced he had the leadership of the Holy Spirit does not waste time second guessing himself. There are a lot of Christians in positions of leadership in America, and that is one reason to believe it is not too late for America to return to the Lord.
III. WE CAN TRUST GOD WITH OUR FUTURE.
A. Nothing Is too Hard for Him.
What God has promised in the past, God has done. What He has proposed, He has accomplished. God said, “Let there be light, and it was so.” He was determined to create the universe and he did it. God promised to create man in His own image, and he did that. Can anything be too hard for God? Look at the heavens at night. God created all that, and sustains it so that all those heavenly bodies do not crash into each other, or worse, into earth. Is any thing too hard for God? I am convinced! Nothing is too hard for Him.
B. What He Promises He Will Perform.
1) He promised to send a Savior, and He did it. Jesus came and suffered and bled and died for your sins and for mine.
2) He promised to send the Holy Spirit to indwell believers. He did that on the day of Pentecost.
3) He promises to sanctify believers by conforming them to the image of His Son, and He is doing it. He promised Sanctification for believers and He is producing it.
4) He promises glorification to all whom He saves and sanctifies, and He will do it.
CONCLUSION
Do you agree with Jeremiah, who said, “Nothing is too difficult for You”? Have you answered God’s question: “Look, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too difficult for Me?” (Jer 32:26-27). Do you agree that whatever God proposes, God provides; whatever God promises, God supplies; whatever god prophesies, God fulfills. Any time God says, “I will”, we can add, “He can.” Nothing is too hard for Him.
God is able to save the lost. “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart” (Jer 29:13). He is able to save to the uttermost all who come to Him. Jesus promises, “Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out.” God promises to save the lost from sin and the eternal consequences, and I am here to tell you that I believe Him. I have entrusted my soul and spirit to Him for eternity. With Paul, I can say, “But I am not ashamed, because I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to guard what has been entrusted to me until that day” (2 Tim 1:12).
If you are a born again Christian, I would like to read one more promise God has made to you and ask you, “Is anything too hard for God?” Listen to this promise, “Call to Me and I will answer you and tell you great and wondrous things you do not know” (Jer 33:3).
