I'd like for you, if you will,
to open your Bibles tonight to the book of Jeremiah chapter
17. I believe that it is true that
the verse in this chapter that we all are probably the most
familiar with hearing is verse 9. The heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? The Lord Jesus
said this about the heart, that all of us receive the heart that
all of us come into this world with. We inherited it from our
father Adam, and the Lord Jesus said this, for out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts,
false witness, and blasphemies. One of the new covenant promises
is, a new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I
put within you. And I will take away the stony
heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. In the new birth, we receive
a new heart. It is likened to a heart of flesh
upon which the Lord writes his law. As I said, I believe that
that verse, verse 9, is the one that most all of us are the most
familiar with of all of the verses in this chapter. But I want to
speak to us tonight on the four verses which precede verse 9,
verses 5 through 8. Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be
the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and
whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like the
heath in the desert, that's a bush, and shall not see when good cometh.
but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness in a
salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a
tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots
by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaves
shall be green. and shall not be careful in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." I
would like for us this evening to look at these verses as applicable
to three different groups. These verses that we've just
read are applicable to three different groups. They are applicable
or were applicable to the nation of Israel in the days of Jeremiah. In the days in which Jeremiah
lived, these words were especially applicable to the nation of Israel. Remember this about Jeremiah.
He was a prophet that God called and raised up to prophesy to
the nation of Judah. And he was a prophet in the last
days of Judah before they were carried into Babylon for 70 years'
captivity. When he first began his prophecy,
you can read this in chapter 2 later, but when he first began
his prophecy, God charged Israel with two evils. Number one, they
forsook the Lord, the fountain of living waters. That was their
first evil, the nation of Israel. They forsook the fountain of
living waters. Can you imagine that? A fountain
just bubbling up with clear, crystal, cool water. Forsaking that and turning over
to a cistern with polluted, foul, stale water. And that's what
God charged them with, two evils. First of all, they forsook the
Lord, the fountain of living waters, and they worshiped and
served idols. They hewed out cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold no water. It's so easy, isn't it, to see
the sin of the nation of Israel, and yet we're many times blind
to our own sin. We too forsake. the fountain
of living waters, and turn to the things of this world, which
can give us no help and no peace and no happiness. Now was this
sin, their sin, the sin of the nation of Israel which provoked
the Lord God of heaven to chasten them and to raise up the Babylonians,
Nebuchadnezzar the king, to come. And three times he came and fought
against Jerusalem. Each time he won the battle and
he carried some captive. He carried some captive a second
time. The third time he burned the
city. He did his best to completely
destroy the city of Jerusalem. Now was there sins which had
provoked God's wrath to be carried or to be brought upon them. When
the Babylonians, I said this text is applicable to the nation
of Israel. When the Babylonians were to
come, Isaiah prophesied of it, Jeremiah had prophesied of it,
but when they were to come and take them into captivity, they
did in effect trust in man and made flesh their arm or their
power. What did they do? They hired
the Egyptians. Rather than turn to God in repentance
and faith and call upon God to help them and deliver them, what
did they do? They trusted in man. They hired
the Egyptians, Pharaoh, and his armies to defend them. Well,
how did that work out? Look with me, if you will, in
Jeremiah 37. Keep your place here, but turn
over to Jeremiah 37, verse 5. Then Pharaoh's army was come
forth out of Egypt, and when the Chaldeans that besieged Jerusalem
heard tidings of them, they departed from Jerusalem. Then came the
word of the Lord unto the prophet Jeremiah saying. Now, the Babylonians
at this time, they had the city of Jerusalem in siege, and they
hear that these Egyptians, the army of Pharaoh that they had
hired, was coming, coming to their defense, the defense of
the house of Judah. And so they left Jerusalem. But
then the word of the Lord came by the prophet Jeremiah, saying,
Thus saith the Lord, the God of Israel, thus shall you say
to the king of Judah that sent you unto me to inquire of me.
Behold, Pharaoh's army, which has come forth to help you, shall
return to Egypt into their own land. The Chaldeans did leave
Jerusalem for a time to go take care of the Egyptians. And after
they had destroyed them, then they came back. Thus saith the
Lord, Deceive not yourself, saying, and the Chaldeans shall come
again, and fight against this city, and take it, and burn it
with fire. Thus saith the Lord, Deceive
not yourself, saying, and the Chaldeans shall surely depart
from us, for they shall not depart. Now listen to what God says.
For though you had smitten the whole army of the Chaldeans that
fight against you, and there remained but wounded men among
them, yet should they rise up, every man in his tent, and burn
this city with fire. And it came to pass that when
the army of the Chaldeans was broken up from Jerusalem for
fear of Pharaoh's army, then Jeremiah went forth out of Jerusalem
to go into the land of Benjamin. The Babylonian army, they did
depart, and they defeated the army of Egypt, and then they
returned to defeat Judah burned the city of Jerusalem and carried
them into Babylon for 70 years. But the point I'm making is this
text that we are looking at tonight, God said, Cursed be the man that
trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. That's exactly what the nation
of Judah did. They trusted in man. They trusted
in the army of Pharaoh of Egypt. to defend them. But God said
it would not stand. The Chaldeans would overthrow
Judah, and they did. Now they brought this curse upon
themselves. And the nation, think about this,
when I think about Jerusalem. I read through the book of Lamentations
the other day. How sad. It is truly Lamentations,
isn't it? The city, the beautiful city
of God, Jerusalem, that had been a pearl among all the nations,
but because of their sin, they were destroyed. They were destroyed. They trusted in man rather than
in the fountain of living waters, the Lord God Almighty. And that
beautiful city and that nation that had been so great among
the nations when David was king and Solomon was king became like
a bramble bush. When I read this word heath,
I think of a tumbleweed. You've seen those tumbleweeds
look like you could strike a match to them and it'd be gone. That's
the way Judah became. And it was all because they took
their eyes off the Lord and set them upon these false gods. So this word is applicable, or
was applicable, first of all to the nation of Judah, but now
second These words, they are applicable to all men throughout
time. They are applicable to all men
throughout time. As so many times in the Scriptures,
so many times in the Scriptures we are all confronted with two
alternatives. I don't know how many times we
see this in the Word of God, but two alternatives, two ways. One way is broad and one way
is narrow. Two religions, one is of works
and the other is of grace. Two ends, eternal death and eternal
life. And here, in this case, two places
of trust, man and the Lord. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord. All men, all men born of Adam's
race, that includes everyone, doesn't it? We come into this
world and because we have a heart as we saw just a moment ago that
is We naturally trust in man, even though the scripture says,
God says, curse the man that trusts in man. We all naturally
trust in man, usually in ourselves. I want you to keep your place
here, but look back to Psalm 146. Naturally, the natural man, we
just have that propensity. always to trust in man rather
than to trust in the Lord. In Psalm 146, verses 3 and 4,
the psalmist said, put not your trust in princes, that is in
the kings, no trust in the kings, nor in the Son of Man, in men,
in whom there is no help. Now notice this, his breath,
his soul, Goeth forth, he returneth to his earth, and in that day
his thoughts perish. Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man. Here's a man, when I think about
someone's thoughts, I always think about Naaman the Syrian,
the leper. Remember him? The girl that had been captured
from Israel was taken into Assyria, and she landed in the house of
Naaman, who was a servant to his wife. The providence of God. The providence of God. And that
little maid told her mistress, she said, you know, if my master
was in the land of Israel, he would be recovered of his leprosy. His wife told him, and he told
the king, and the king just loaded up chariots with gold and silver
and clothes and everything, you know, and sent him off to buy,
to buy his healing. And the king of Israel, he, when
Naaman got there and he found out why he'd come, the king said,
he's picking a fight with me. Nobody can be healed of leprosy. Nobody can be cleansed of leprosy. He sent his servant here telling
me to cleanse him of this leprosy. He's just trying to pick a battle,
a war with me. And Elisha, the prophet of God,
heard about it and sent word to the king and said, send him
down to my house. Let him know there's a God in
Israel. And you know, Naaman, He was
a five-star general in the army, wasn't he? I mean, when people
saw his chariot come by, they saluted him. He was somebody. And he got out in front of Elisha's
house, and Elisha sent a servant out there
and told him, go wash in Jordan seven times, and you'll come
out clean. like most men, proud, haughty,
goes away in a huff, and what he said was, I thought. I thought. Everyone has their thoughts.
The scripture says there's a way which seemeth right unto men,
but the end thereof are the ways of death. I thought. I thought this is the way it
should be. Really, what is important is what God says. Man's thoughts,
as that verse tells us, in the day of his death, his thoughts
are gone. They've evaporated, whatever
they were, they're gone. But the word of the Lord abideth
forever. Well, you know the story. Someone
told him, said, Naaman, if the prophet had said some hard thing,
if he had told you to walk on your knees over broken glass
on a pilgrimage and you'll be healed, you would do that. He's
told you something relatively easy. Just go down and dip in
the Jordan River. But that river is so dirty, not
near as clear and clean as the rivers in Syria. That may be
true, but that's the river you've got to go dip in. And don't you
know that leprosy, leprosy is an awful disease. And I'm sure
he had his body covered up the best he could so nobody could
see. When he gets down to the Jordan,
he has to take off those robes. And he's exposed. He's exposed
for what he was, a leper, a sinner. God brings us down, doesn't he?
When he intends to save someone, he brings us down. He brought
Saul of Tarsus off that horse down in the dust. He brings men down. before he
lifts us up. He kills before he makes alive. That's what the scripture says. There's a way which seemeth right
unto man, but the end thereof is death. You know, it seems
right. Now listen to me. It seems right
to trust in my decision. I made a decision. I can still
remember I made a decision. I walked down that aisle, and
I shook the preacher's hand, and I went through a Bible class
and catechism class, whatever. It just seems right. It just
seems right to trust in my decision. Someone else says, well, you
know, it just seems right to trust in my experience. Boy, I had such an experience,
the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. And I saw all kinds
of things. It just seems right to trust
in our decision, our experiences, my religious affiliation. You
know, I've been a Baptist all my life. Or I've been a Roman
Catholic all my life. And our church, we have these
ceremonies and these rites that we are so engaged in. It just seems right to trust
in these things. Another one says, well, you know,
it just seems right that we've got to obey the Ten Commandments.
We've got to keep the law. And that's a way not to be cursed. Someone else says, no, it's by
our good works. We've got to do good works. That's a way. It just seems right.
All of these ways that I've just mentioned, think about it. All
of these ways which seem right are doing exactly what this text
forbids. Cursed is the man that trusteth
in man. And whether it's ourself we're
trusting in or some other man, the scripture says here, God
said, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh
his arm. In other words, his power, his
ability. But look at the blessing. Look
at the blessing pronounced on a man that trusteth in the Lord
and whose hope the Lord is. And I must point this out to
us this evening about the one that men trust in and are blessed. Anyone who denies the deity of
Jesus Christ are cursed even though they say they're trusting
in Christ. If they do not trust in him as
God, they're trusting in man. No, blessed is the man who trusts
in the Lord. The Lord, he who is both God
and man. You know, when Peter was preaching
on the day of Pentecost to those Jews who had actually, many of
them were there at the cross, they had cried out. They were
in Jerusalem crucifying, crucifying. Oh, God is so merciful, isn't
he? He's so merciful. Here's a bunch of people who
crucified. I mean, we all did it, but they
were the ones who cried for his blood. They were the ones who
said, Aha! Aha! He trusted in God? Let him come down from the cross,
and we'll believe in him. And to those very men, the gospel
was sent. And many of them were saved.
Three thousand on that day. God is so merciful to sinners. Oh my. But Peter said this at
the conclusion of that message. He said, Therefore, let all the
house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus, that is, that same man, Jesus, whom you crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, he's man, but he's
also God. He's the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't like to hear people always
refer to him as Jesus, do you? He's the Lord Jesus Christ. I
know Jesus is one of His names, and I know we do that, but people
that seem to have so little respect and reverence for who He is,
He's both Lord and Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed are all those who trust
in the Lord, trust in Him, and in His blood to remove my sins. Trust in him and his righteousness
to grant me justification. Trust in his name as the only
name given among men, whereby we must be saved. The one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. Blessed are all
who trust in the Lord. Trust in him to keep us from
falling. Trust in him to provide all our
needs on our way to the Father's house. Blessed are all whose
hope is the Lord. The word hope, of course, means
expectation, and he is all our hope. I heard a preacher say
this one time. He said, Christ is enough. if he's all you have. Think about
that. He's enough if he's all you have. But if you have Christ and? No. He's enough if he's all you have. Blessed is the man who trusts
in the Lord, in him alone, for all our salvation Isn't that
what Paul said at the end of his life? He said, For I know
whom I have believed, and I am persuaded that he is able to
keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I've
committed my soul to him. I've committed the saving of
my soul to him, and I'm confident that I know him, and he's able. We thought about King Darius
this afternoon, my wife and I. He put Daniel down in that lion's
den, came running out there the next morning and said, Oh, Daniel,
is your God able? Yeah, he's able. He's able to
save all of them that come unto God by him. He's able. Now, third,
these words, they are applicable to those who know Christ as their
Lord and Savior. As believers, as Christians,
we still, all of us realize this, we still have a part of us that
the scriptures refer to as the old man. The old man. We have a new man, that's true.
We're exhorted to put off the old man and put on the new man.
But as long as we are in this world, we have that part of us
which is called the old man, and it's always prone to trust
in man and to make flesh his arm, his strength. And so I say
unto us tonight that when we confide and rely in our power
and our strength to live for Christ, we are in effect departing
from the Lord, just like this verse tells us. Let's read it
again. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree
planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the
river. and shall not see when heat cometh,
but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." When
we confide and rely on our own strength, our own power to live
for Christ, we are in effect departing from the Lord. And
this will make us to be like that shrub, like that tumbleweed. a bush in the desert, never bringing
forth fruit, dry and barren. We are not going to bring forth
fruit unless we do, as this verse says, trust in the Lord. The lesson for us is to realize
that we must trust in the Lord and make Him all our expectation
for our spiritual strength day by day. The heat will come, even for
the man who trusts in the Lord. The heat will come. That's what
this verse says, isn't it? The heat will come. But being
like a tree planted by a river, his leaf remains green, because
the roots of that tree, they spread out into the river, and
there's always liquid, they're always being watered and nourished
by the river. And there will be times of spiritual
drought as well, just like this verse says. But he trusts in
the Lord, he shall not cease from bearing fruit. Have you
ever considered, I want you to turn to 2 Corinthians with me
just a moment. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. Christians, most believers, would
agree that Paul was a believer who was head and shoulders above
most believers. He said himself that he labored
more abundantly than they all, speaking of the other apostles.
But he was quick to say, yet not I. Yet not I. But have you ever looked at this
statement here in 2 Corinthians 3 and verse 5, where he says,
not that we are sufficient. Now we, he's speaking about himself,
isn't he? Not that we are sufficient of
ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency
is of God. He confesses in this text that
nothing he had done. Nothing he had suffered for Christ
was to be ascribed or credited to any natural power or strength
in himself. He confesses that in himself
he could not have even thought a good thing that might have
been good for himself and good to himself or good to others. My sufficiency, he says, is God. It appears to me that as God's
children, every day we have two options. Are we going to trust
in man, in ourselves, for the strength we need to serve and
honor Christ? Or are we going to trust in the
Lord for the grace and strength to serve him? When someone wrongs
us, shall we trust in the Lord to give us strength to turn the
other cheek? When we see something that will
only lead us to have unclean thoughts, shall we trust in the
Lord to give us strength to turn away from such a thing? When
we hear something that we should not repeat but we're tempted
to do so, shall we trust in the Lord to give us strength to keep
our mouth Every day we are confronted with
these two alternatives, to trust in ourselves, our own strength,
our own power, and when we do that, we are cursed. We are doomed
to failure. Our trust in the Lord to give
us strength and give us grace to serve and to honor him as
we are taught in the word of God. I pray the Lord would help
me each day to trust in the Lord for the strength that I need
for that day. And I pray the same for you.
And I pray tonight that these words have been a blessing and
a help to all of us here. We'll sing a hymn before we're
dismissed.