Jentezen Franklin - Better Is Coming - Part 2
Jeremiah 32:6, «And Jeremiah said, 'The word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you saying, 'Buy my field which is in Anathoth, for the right of redemption is yours to buy it.'» And no sooner had God spoken that word to him, «Then Hanamel my uncle’s son came to me in the court of the prison according to the word of the Lord, and said to me, 'Please buy my field that is in Anathoth, which is in the country of Benjamin; for the right of inheritance is yours, the redemption yours; buy it for yourself.' Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord. So I bought the field from Hanamel, my uncle, and I gave him the money seventeen shekels of silver».
Verse 10, «I signed the deed, I sealed it, I took witnesses, I weighed the money on scales. I took the purchase deed, according to the law and the custom, and the purchase deed was taken». And listen to verse 12. And he said, «I did this in the presence of the witnesses who signed the purchase deed, before all the Jews who sat in the court of the prison». Verse 15, «For thus says the Lord,» now all of that’s done, it seems strange, it seems weird, what in the world does that got to do with anything? But here’s what it’s connected to.
Verse 15, «For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: 'Houses and fields, vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.' Now when I had delivered the purchase deed to Baruch the son of Neriah, I prayed to the Lord, saying,» everybody read verse 17 out loud please. «'Ah, Lord God! Behold, You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.'» I wanna talk to you, and I’ve got a three-word sermon title that is more than a word. It is a prophetic proclamation. It is something I want to get lodged into your mind, and into your spirit, in your mentality, and in your heart. Three words, «Better is Coming».
Would you say that with me? Better is coming. I want you to turn to somebody beside you and shake 'em a little bit and say, «I’m telling you, better is coming». It’s coming, it’s coming, it’s coming. Death, and disease, and disaster was at the door. Nebuchadnezzar had invaded Israel, he had leveled and decimated their armies of resistance, and now they had completely surrounded and besieged the city of Jerusalem. All hope was gone. They were about to be taken into 70 years of captivity. Jeremiah, the prophet, went to the king before it ever happened and warned him that if he didn’t turn back to God, the nation would be devastated and destroyed. And instead of receiving the prophecy, he rejected it, and for pastor appreciation threw Jeremiah into a pit, the Bible called it mire.
The scripture said that they took clothing, cloths, tied them together, imagine this, lowered him down by his arms into this deep, deep pit that was full of mire, full of waste, full of the sewage from the palace. And God says to him in the lowest, most unbelievable conditions, «Buy into the fact that better is coming in the place that looks like nothing but bad is happening. Your conditions are going to change. And they don’t know it, but I want you to do this in front of all the prisoners who are in the same condition you’re in. I wanna teach people what they are to do when it looks like everything is gone and they’re in the lowest place they’ve ever been in their life». That’s when you don’t buy in to the bad, you buy in to brighter days are ahead.
This is what faith does. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Notice when grace comes, it never comes with pity. Grace and God’s word will never come to you and say in your lowest moments, «You ought to feel sorry for yourself. Yes, I agree with you. You ought to quit. Yes, as a matter of fact, if I were you, I would just check out and end it all». Grace never does that. Grace always comes with hope. Grace always comes and says, «Better is coming». You hold on, God’s not through, God’s not finished. God’s not done with your family and all of its dysfunction, with your business and all of its struggle, with your marriage and all of its trouble. God says, «I am the one who… and is anything too hard for me»?
That scripture is connected to this. And you think your problem is severe, how severe was this man’s problem and God said, «Don’t back off now, buy into it». Buy into better days and brighter days, they’re on the way. You can’t do anything to change the present circumstances, but I want you to build houses, and plant gardens, and get married, and have children where you are. I wrote this down between services and I wanna say it and I wanna say it bold. It just came to me in between services. This is what the Lord said, He said, «I have a little addendum to your little sermon». Said, «Tell the people the conditions are not permanent that they are in presently».
Secondly, He said, «Proverbs 23:23, 'Buy the truth, and sell it not.'» Don’t sell out on truth, stand for truth. Number three, He said, «There will be times when it looks like nothing is happening». That’s when you have the mentality that you have put the promise of God in your mind and you say, «Better is coming». Don’t lease it, don’t rent it for a little while, buy it. The difference between leasing, and renting, and buying. Buy when everybody else is selling, and buy what everybody else is selling out on. Everybody else is selling out on this old book, the Ten Commandments, salvation, no other name but the name of Jesus whereby men must be saved. He said, «The more you buy into that when other people are selling it out,» He made them male and female.
I’m not mad at anybody, I’m buying into what this book says, I’m buying into marriage. The marriage bed is undefiled. Buy into it. Buy into your family. I don’t care how dysfunctional they are, keep loving them, keep preaching to 'em, keep reaching for 'em, keep helping 'em, keep loving 'em, keep forgiving 'em. Don’t buy into bad, don’t buy into bitter, don’t buy into broken, don’t buy into depression, don’t buy into addiction, don’t buy into curses, buy into the promises of God, which are blessings. I’m done. I’m done. Build some houses, get married, and have babies, and be the church, and get involved, and do good things with your life. Don’t you buy into bad, don’t you believe that there’s no reason to dream and go to college or anything else.
The Apostle Paul put it like this. He said, «Three times I asked God to take my problem away and God would not take my problem away». And then He made this statement. He said, «Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities». The word «Rather» is interesting. The word «Rather» means I have an option. When you’re in a problem and the problem won’t go away for a long time, you have a rather. You can either buy into how terrible, and awful, and bad, and negative, and death, and destruction, and pain and, «Oh, life has lost all of its joy for me because of all that has happened to me». You can do that, but Paul said, «I’ve got a problem and I’ve asked God three times to fix it».
So, what was the thorn? We’re not told what the thorn was. Somebody said it was his mother-in-law. I don’t know what it was. That wasn’t my mother-in-law, but I don’t know what it was. I’m glad He didn’t say what it was. That means it could be whatever your problem is that will not go away. He said, «I will gladly therefore rather,» means I got a choice. It’s not going anywhere. So, I could either whine and talk about how bad it is, or I can turn it into, «I will gladly therefore rather glory in my infirmity, in my problem that won’t go away. I’ll turn it into something that I realize because I reckon, it goes on to say that this present problem is not worthy to be compared to the better that is coming out of it when God gets through with it».
Clap like you believe all things are working together. All things are working together, all things are working together for the good to them. Even prison. You got a rather. Make sure your rather is right. I’ll just glory in where I am right now in what I’m going through right now. I would never choose it, but since I’m here and I can’t do nothing about it, nothing’s too hard for God. He’s allowed me to be here. I mean, I wanted you to, I purposely drew that picture up in your minds of Jeremiah with the cloths, and the mud, and the muck, the molded… I wanted you to see who in the world ever told you if you live for Jesus you’ll just have a beautiful, beautiful perfect life.
What a joke. What He does tell you is there is better coming. The trumpet’s gonna sound. Until then, I’ll give you grace. Grace will just keep coming to your dungeon. I’ll send Him with answers every time, and I’ll need you to shove another jar in your brain every once in a while, 'cause you’ll need to get your thinking right. But when it’s all said and done for the believer, we’re gonna dance on streets of gold. No more sorrow, no more pain, no more death, no more tears, no more sorrow, sickness. Better is coming. And that’s not just in the hereafter, although that is great, but the Lord said, «I want people today who hear this message to know it is a prophetic declaration into their future. It’s the jar buried with the promise in earthen vessels that I will bring you back to the very spot that Satan thought you would crumble and break, and you will see I am a good God».
Stand to your feet please, all over the building. Very reverent for just a few more moments. And I just feel like I ought to open the altar this morning for everybody in the room who would say, «Pastor Jentezen, man, this message is for me». This one’s hit, like I said, it’s hitting me different. You know, I hear you preach, this one hits different. This is mine. This is my contract with God, this is my sealed jar that I need to bury in my heart, in my mind, my mentality.
I don’t know what you’re facing, what you’re going through in your marriage, your family, your business, your health, your future. It’s all about your future. Give up on your future. That’s what the enemy’s whispering, «Give up on your future». But if you know this is a message for you and you know God is speaking to you, slip out of your seat and walk down here as quick as you can get down here because this is what it’s all about now. Come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on, come on. Will you sing that verse before you sing the chorus?