Healthy Independence-11

HEALTHY INDEPENDENCE-XI—Jeremiah 17:1-14

Attention:

Wants & Needs:

The President visits a remote western Native-American reservation. A cameraman documents the trip. The President asks the Chief if there was anything that they need.

"Well," says the Chief, "We have three very important needs. First, we have a medical clinic but no doctor to man it.”

The President whips out his mobile phone, dials a number, ‘talks’ to somebody for two minutes & then hangs up. He replies smugly, “I’ve pulled some strings. Your doctor will arrive in a few days. Now what was the second problem?”

The Chief explains, “We have no way to get clean water. The local mining operation has poisoned the water that our people have been drinking for thousands of years. We've been flying bottled water in, & it's terribly expensive.”

Once again, the President dials a number, ‘talks’ to his ‘right-hand-man at the white house’ & then hangs up. He confidently says, “The mine has been shut down, & the owners are being billed for setting up a new purification plant for your people.”

“Now what was that third problem?”

The Chief looks at him, cocks his eyebrow, perceptively stares the President down, & says, “We have no infrastructure for mobile phone service up here!”

•The President’s ‘unhealthy independence’ from reality—via his fake phone calls—was found out by the Chief!

*Unhealthy Independence from God must be dealt with, so that a Healthy Independence from sin, the world, & the devil prevails!

Jn. 17:15-16—Jesus prayed for His disciples:—“I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.”

God’s people must exhibit a ‘Healthy’ independence from the world in which they live.

?Are you walking/living INDEPENDENTLY from what can destroy you spiritually?

The prophet Jeremiah contrasted two major aspects of Independence—Independence from God versus independence from the world.

*Dependence upon YHWH brings independence from worldly influence.

What can be gleaned by contrasting healthy & unhealthy independence?

*How can I be independent of worldly influence?

So far we’ve found that A Healthy Independence Engages(deals with/handles/manages)...

1. A RESIDENT REBELLION(:1)

2. An ABERRANT EDUCATION(:2)

3. BLINDLY SIGHTED BENEFITS(:3-4)

4. An ANGERING LIFESTYLE(:4e)

5. MISPLACED/Aberrant TRUSTS(:5)

6. The ‘CURSE’ Of MISPLACED/Aberrant TRUST(:6)

7. A CORRECTED TRUST(:7)

8. A TELLING PLANTING(:8)

9. INTERNAL DECEITFULNESS(:9)

10. A THOROUGH & DECISIVE SEARCH(:10)

11. BROKEN ENDEAVORS(:11)

12A. The ENTIRE SCOPE Of TIME(:12)(:12-13)

Today we’ll continue looking at the fact that,

(CONT...)12B—A Healthy Independence Engages...

The ENTIRE SCOPE Of TIME(:13a-c)(:12-13)

:13—“O LORD, the hope of Israel,

All who forsake You shall be ashamed.

Those who depart from Me

Shall be written in the earth,

Because they have forsaken the LORD,

The fountain of living waters.”

“O LORD, the hope of Israel,”—

“O”

Expresses a cry of the heart. It expresses a yearning of the soul.

“LORD,”

*This word, “LORD,”—in all capital letters—is one of two English translations of a Hebrew word. It can also be pronounced, ‘Jehovah.’ The Hebrew, is pronounced as ‘YaHuhWeH.’ YHWH is rooted in the Hebrew verb hyh—pronounced ‘HahYah.’ hyh is the common verb—‘To Be.” So ‘YHWH’, or ‘Jehovah’, or “LORD,” is a very descriptive word which carries the meaning of: ‘the One Who Is’ or the one Who ‘exists’ continually.

“The hope of Israel,”

•In order to be free from the influence of the world, a person will recognize YHWH as “the hope of Israel”...That is, they will recognize the fact that YHWH is the basis & source of every aspect of “hope” across the board.

•Here, it is important for us to recognize that Not all who are “Israel” are actually “Israel”!(Rom. 9:6)...

Rom. 9:1-8—the apostle Paul tells us:—“I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow & continual grief in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, & the promises; of whom are the fathers & from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed.”

*The ‘brand’ or source of “hope” that most people rely on in the world, has & will continue to be decisively shown to be utterly useless for life in eternity. And because of that, the world’s “hope” is no “hope” at all! Likewise, trust in flesh is no “hope” at all!