(1.) There was clearly obedience, simple obedience in direct opposition to human calculation. You may see this very clearly in the concluding words of his prayer. It is clear from ver. 24 that all human calculation was against him, and he knew it to be so, for he said, ‘Behold the mounts, they are come unto the city to take it; and the city is given into the hand of the Chaldeans that fight against it, because of the sword, and of the famine, and of the pestilence; and what thou hast spoken is come to pass; and, behold, thou seest it.’ But the Lord had commanded him to buy the field, for he adds, ver. 25, ‘And thou hast said unto me, O Lord God, Buy thee the field for money, and take witnesses: for’ (or rather ‘though,’ according to the margin) ‘the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.’ God told him to buy it, _though_ the city was given up to the Chaldeans. He was not, therefore, to be guided by what he saw, but by what he knew to be the will of God. If he were to lose all his money, and never come into possession of the field, it was his clear duty to obey. And so it is ours, when once we are convinced of the will of God. (2.) But as believers in the Lord Jesus we are not called to obey without hope, for where there is no hope you will never find power. The Christian’s obedience, therefore, is full of hope, because it is all founded on faith, and so was the obedience of Jeremiah. He acted in faith, firmly trusting the promises of God. You see this very clearly in his words to Baruch when he handed him the deeds, as recorded ver. 15: ‘For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, Houses and fields and vineyards shall be possessed again in this land.’ He looked, therefore, beyond the present distress, and, more than that, beyond what I may term the first future. He foresaw the overthrow, but he looked beyond it to the recovery. He himself predicted desolation, but he was so sure of the restoration that on the strength of that assurance he redeemed the land. Though he saw the army of the Chaldeans around the city, though he was at that very time in prison for prophesying, ‘Thus saith the Lord, Behold I will give this city into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall take it,’ yet he was so sure of the truth of God’s promise to restore it, that he acted on the promise, and purchased the property. He looked beyond the captivity to the recovery, and confidently acted on God’s promise. That he fully realised the difficulty is clear from the words of his prayer, in which he said, ver. 17, ‘There is nothing too hard for thee,’ and from God’s reply to these words in ver. 27, ‘Is there anything too hard for me?’ But he was, like Abraham, fully persuaded that what God had promised ‘He was able also to perform,’ and therefore he acted on the promise? and paid down his money in the certainty that God would fulfil His word. Dear brethren, is there