Healthy Independence-8

HEALTHY INDEPENDENCE-VIII—Jeremiah 17:10(:1-14)

Attention:

Graduation Speech Notes:

When a young man was graduating from high school, he had to give a speech. He began by reading from his prepared text. “I want to talk about my mother & the wonderful influence she has had on my life,” he told the audience. “She is a shining example of parenthood, & I love her more than words could ever do justice.”

At this point he seemed to struggle for words. After a pause he looked up at his audience with an embarrassed grin & said, “It's really hard to read my mom's handwriting.”

The young man needed a Healthy Independence from his mother’s influence.

In a similar way, you & I need a Healthy Independence from the influence of the world...From that which has potential to destroy you/us? Are you inviting & encouraging your own spiritual demise?

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 Healthy Independence Engages(deals with/handles/manages)...

A THOROUGH & DECISIVE SEARCH(:10)

Explanation:(:10)

:10—“I, the LORD, search the heart,

I test the mind,

Even to give every man according to his ways,

According to the fruit of his doings.”

Verse 10 answers the question 9c poses—“Who can know it?” The answer is heavily implied in the contrast between :5-6 & :7-8—

“I the LORD, search the heart,”

YHWH Himself let’s us know that He is ever in the process of “searching”(active participle) the human “heart.” Thus YHWH is the only one who can can properly know man’s “heart”(:9). Thereby, if man is to have any kind of discerning ability restored to himself, then he/she must go to the eternal God.

I have no power/ability to ‘naturally’ discern due to the internal deceitfulness(:9) of my flesh. However, “the LORD” Himself IS able to discern, & actively involves Himself in “searching” the very motives(“heart”) which are so baffling to you & me! Therefore I must approach Almighty God directly in order to know & act on my own heart’s leading!

?Is your heart being led by God or by the flesh?

1Cor. 2:9-16—“But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.”

“I test the mind,”

YHWH not only “searches the heart”, but also, in a related act, thoroughly “tests”(examine) the personally emotional attachment(“mind”/reigns) which a person has to YHWH Himself. The King James Version translates “test the mind” as, “Try the Reigns”—it’s not a direct translation but is a good picture of what is involved in His testing. Consider what it might be like for you to “try the reigns” of a horse on which you are riding or which is pulling a vehicle.

•The Hebrew word translated in English as “mind” actually more properly concerns the ‘kidneys.’ And was considered by the Hebrews to be ‘the seat of emotion & affection.’ Consider what a person does when they receive a sudden fright—they might ‘pee their pants’(kidneys involved)!...

*It describes the Eternal God fully comprehending the ‘motivations’ behind one’s true passions.

My INABILITY in the flesh(:9) is made ABILITY in Christ! And only in Christ, do I possess/have “the mind of Christ”(Php. 2:5; 1Cor. 2:14-16). So only the actions driven by the motivations of those given to “the mind of Christ’ can survive the fire of God’s testing(1Cor. 3:11-15; Lk. 3:16(Mat. 3:11)). Every other action is false & from flesh & the devil, either intentionally or unintentionally.