This morning for our Bible study,
I would encourage you to get your Bible and let's turn to
Jeremiah chapter 17 at verse 5. Jeremiah chapter 17 verse
5. We have some very practical instruction
from the Word of God and it declares unto us who is a cursed person
and who is a blessed person. Let's read these verses together.
Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, that maketh flesh His
arm, or His power, His refuge, whose hearts departed from the
Lord. He shall be as a heath in the desert. Now that heath
is a small, worthless shrub, and shall not see when good cometh,
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in
a salt land not inhabited. Now here's the flip side. Who
is a cursed man and who is a blessed man? Verse 7 of Jeremiah 17 says,
Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. and whose hope the
Lord is. The Lord is our hope for he shall
be as a tree. You see the opposite from a shrub
to a tree, a tree planted by waters that spread out her roots
by the river and shall not see when the heat come, but her leaf
shall remain green and shall not be careful or anxious in
the year of drought. Neither shall cease from yielding
fruit. Now, here's some very plain talk
in the word of God. Who then is this cursed man? Well, the scripture says here,
the cursed, miserable, condemned man are those who trust themselves
and those who look to themselves for salvation. Cursed be the
man that trusteth in man. Now, I don't want to seek refuge
in a place where God condemns, not in the law. Not in the law
of God. We read in Scripture, cursed
is everyone that continues not in all things which are written
in the book of the law to do them. Not in the law, nor in
ourselves. In ourselves. Our Lord spoke
a parable to certain, those Pharisees that trusted in themselves, that
they were righteous and despised others. And in that parable,
those who trusted in themselves were condemned. Nor do I want
to look to earthly wisdom or the philosophy of men. The world
by wisdom does not know God. Cursed be that man, that person,
that looks to himself for salvation. And then he says, cursed be that
person that would make flesh his arm. Now often when you see
that word arm in scripture, it indicates means, power, strength,
or confidence. Now man is called in scripture
flesh. as the grass. Man is called flesh
to show us how feeble we are. All flesh is grass. Not only
weak and feeble and frail, but also sinful. Cursed be that person
that would make the weak place of the flesh his confidence,
his hope, and his strength. And then thirdly it said, cursed
be that person whose heart is departed from the Lord. Our Lord
said to those Pharisees, you draw nigh unto me with your mouth
and honor me with your lips, but your heart is far from me. Every act of confidence in man
is distrust and unbelief and departing from the Lord. Cursed
be that person that would look to themselves for salvation and
righteousness. Cursed be that person that would
make flesh his power, his strength, his confidence. Cursed is that
person whose heart is departed from the Lord by unbelief, unbelieving
God. And then we read in the next
verse the fatal consequences. and the deadly consequences of
those who trust themselves for salvation. He's mentioned three
things. He said, you'll be like a heath,
a shrub, a sorry shrub, the product of a barren ground that's useless
and worthless and bears no fruit. Such are those that trust themselves
for salvation. A sorry, worthless shrub. Our Lord said to those Self-righteous
Pharisees, you are they which justify yourselves before men.
But God knows your heart. That which is highly esteemed
among men, God says, is worthless. It's abomination. It's wickedness
before God. And then secondly, shall not
see when good comes. Goodness did come. Goodness personified
came. God incarnate, God manifest in
the flesh, the glory of God. He made His goodness to pass
before men. And they said, away with Him.
Crucify Him. We have no king but Caesar. You
see, they were so busy looking to themselves, the law, and to
their ceremonies. When goodness was personified,
goodness came among them, they said, we have no king but Caesar.
Away with Him. Crucify Him. He came into his
own, his own received him not. Those that trust in self will
not be blessed. They shall be like parts places. They'll inhabit a wilderness,
a salt land. Those that trust their own righteousness,
their own morality, their good works, their ceremony, their
tradition, their feelings, who think they can do well enough
without the merit of Christ, who think they can do well enough
without the blood atonement of Christ are fatally mistaken and
totally deceived. Their soul shall not prosper.
Their sin shall stand against them in that day of judgment. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified and their end shall be eternal condemnation. That's the description of the
cursed man. Now, who from reading this scripture
is the blessed man? Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." Those that trust find
their confidence, their hope, their strength, their power in
Christ. Those who believe and put all
their confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ. In who? In Him. Blessed is that man that trusteth
in the Lord. Now let me read you some Psalms.
From Psalm 2 we read, in Psalm 2, 12, Kiss the Son, lest he
be angry, and you perish from the way when his wrath is kindled
but a little. Blessed are all they that put
their trust in Him. Let me read you another Psalm.
Psalm 9, verse 10, They that know thy name will put their
trust in thee, for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek
thee, that trust thee. Who do we believe? We believe
Him. God Almighty, God our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
do we trust Him? Well, the psalmist said in Psalm
62 verse 8, Trust in Him at all times, ye people. Pour out your
heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. And whom do we trust? We trust
in Him. When? At all times. His person
for our acceptance. We're accepted in the Beloved.
We have confidence only in Christ. Paul, when he wrote to those
Philippians in chapter 3, verse 3, he describes the true believer
as those who worship God, those who rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and those who have no confidence in the flesh. We trust His person
for acceptance. We trust His righteousness for
our justification. The only ground for our justification
before God is the very imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In this same book, Jeremiah 23,
verse 6, he is called the Lord, our righteousness. We trust His
person. We trust His righteousness. We
trust His blood for pardon. In whom we have redemption through
His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches of
His grace, Ephesians 1, 7. We look to His fullness for our
supply. in Christ, in Him dwells all
the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and believers stand complete
only in Christ." Colossians 2, 9 and 10. His power is our protection. We're kept by the power of God.
That's the blessed man. The blessed man that would put
their trust in the Lord, His God, whose hope the Lord is. The Lord is our hope, our only
hope of pardoning. Our only hope of righteousness
is Christ. In Psalm 146, verse 5, David
wrote this, Happy is the man that hath the God of Jacob for
his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. He is our hope. Christ in you
is the hope of glory, we read in Colossians 1, 27. Christ is
our hope. When Paul wrote to those Thessalonians,
he said this, we have an everlasting consolation and a good hope through
grace, a good hope in Christ and a good hope not only in Christ
but through the grace of God. And then he gives us some blessed
consequences of the blessed man, the happy man, those who are
trusting the Lord. He describes them as trees. Now, remember, the cursed man
was described as a worthless shrub, fruitless, worthless. But he describes the believer,
the blessed man, as a tree, as a tree, tall and strong and planted
by the waters. Now, believers often are described
in scriptures as trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, Isaiah
61.3. Trees that are planted by Christ. He said, every tree
that's not planted by my heavenly Father shall be rooted up. These
believers have been planted in Christ, rooted in Him, chosen
in Him. Paul put it this way, he said,
of Him are you in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom,
righteousness, sanctification, and our redemption. Trees and
believers have been put in Christ. by God's eternal election, put
in Christ by God's decree, put in Christ by God-given faith. And they spread out their roots,
you see that? They spread out their roots by
the river. In Scripture we read that we're rooted and grounded
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And we shall not see when the
heat comes, that is, when trial and persecution and heartache
come. The believer that's rooted and
grounded in Christ, who's drinking of the water of life, the fountains
of living water in Christ, shall not fail and shall not fear. You see, we have all our confidence
and hope, not in the arm of the flesh, but in the power of God,
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's another consequence.
He says her leaf shall remain green. Our life in Christ shall
remain fresh and flourishing. Jeremiah said in Lamentation
3, it's of the Lord's mercies that were not consumed because
his mercies are new every morning. It's not by works of righteousness,
which we have done, but according to God's mercy that he saved
us. Her leaf shall be green. You see that? shall not see when
the heat comes, shall not be anxious or careful or fearful
in the drought or in lean times. We read this promise of scripture,
the Lord shall provide. He shall provide all our need
according to his riches in glory through Christ Jesus. And then
lastly, here's the consequence of the blessed man. Neither shall
cease from yielding fruit. Now the fruit of the Spirit is
what? Love, joy, peace, Long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance. These things shall not cease
from yielding. Christ in you, the hope of glory
does yield fruit. Now let me leave you this morning
by reading Psalm 92. It talks about the blessed man
as a tree. Psalm 92, verse 12. The righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. That's
a blessed man, isn't it? They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing
to show that the Lord is upright, that the Lord is my rock, and
our salvation is in Him.