Living at the Wrong Address?
Jeremiah 17:5-6
Introduction:
If I were to ask you where you live, I may get a variety of answers. Some may look at the big picture and say “I live in America.” Others may be looking at the big picture but not quite as big and say “I live in Louisiana.” Others may have more of a local mind set and say “I live in St. Landry parish, I live in (your city). Others may give a specific address like (your address).
Whichever way you answer the question, it is obvious that you know where you live. Most likely no one in this room today, found themselves going home after a day at work or whatever and got a little confused and accidentally entered the wrong house thinking it was their home. So we all know where we live physically.
But do we all know where we live spiritually? The Bible tells us that there are only two addresses and they are so different you can easily tell them apart. But it seems strange to me that sometimes although you can easily tell them apart, God’s people end up living at the wrong address. So today we need to remind ourselves what the wrong address looks like.
Read Scriptures: Jeremiah 17:5-6.
I. If I am living at the wrong address, I am more concerned about what others think what than God thinks.
Vs 5 “Cursed is the one who trusts in man.”
During our times of invitation, I know in my heart on some Sunday mornings that there are people who need to come up to the altar and pray to God, but can’t because people might see them and what will they say. “Did you see so and so go to the altar today, they must have a problem.” People who live at the wrong address worry about such things.
A family member might invite you to lunch on Sunday for let’s say 12 noon. They say, “Be here by 12 noon sharp because we like to eat on time.” Instead of telling them we have to go to church and we will be there right after church, we say ok. People who live at the wrong address can’t let spiritual matters get in the way of family.
And there are those preachers who can’t preach about “those subjects” because it will get the church people angry and he might be packing.
In each one of those cases you are more concerned about man than God.
II. If I live at the wrong address, God is only called upon as a last resort measure.
Vs 5 “who depends on flesh for his strength and whose heart turns away from God.”
There are people who think that they can fix every problem that comes across their path on their own. I am here to tell you this morning, you can’t. And if you don’t start trusting your problems to God, you are going to learn by the school of hard knocks that you can’t fix everything.
I am sure that if an airplane starts having mechanical problems in mid air and there are a bunch of atheists on board they will be howling like everyone else, “O God, help us.”
At the wrong address, you only call upon God when everything else has failed you.
III. If you live at the wrong address, you end up in the wrong places.
Vs 6 “He will be like a bush in the wastelands.”
Talk about being in the wrong place- a bush in the wastelands.
I don’t know how many times in my ministry have I heard people tell me “Bro Chad, I know I shouldn’t have gone or I know I should not have been there.”
If you are not married and are dating, whether young or old the pressure to have sex is so strong it is difficult to resist but you must. In the ministry here, including the youth ministry, there are young girls who turn up pregnant and there comment is always the same “I shouldn’t have gone there.”
When you live at the wrong address, you go to the wrong places.
IV. If I live at the wrong address, I can’t see what is really important.
Vs 6 “he will not see prosperity when it comes.”
Living at the wrong address blinds us to what is really important in this life.
There is nothing more important than our soul. Jesus said it this way, “what good is it to gain the whole world and lose their soul.” And yet people spend their whole lives trying to gain the world and complain about an hour or so of church on Sunday morning.
There are people who can’t find a single reason to say that they have been blessed by God. God has indeed blessed them but they can’t see it. You know these people they always have something negative about everything and everyone.
If you live at the wrong address, you can’t see what is really important.
V. If you live at the wrong address, you will never be satisfied.
Vs. 6 “He will dwell in the parched places of the desert.”
How thirsty are you in parched places? Very thirsty! You never really satisfy that your thirst. As soon as drink the water, you are thirsty again.
And people, who live at the wrong address, never seem to be satisfied in their life. They always got to do more, to get more, to have more. And yet, it never satisfied them to this point and never will but they keep trying.
VI. If I live at the wrong address, I go through life feeling all alone.
Vs 6 “in a salt land where no one lives.”
To me one of the worst feelings in life is to go to a restaurant like Ruby Tuesday’s or a place similar to that and get a table for one. It is one of the loneliest feelings in the world. You know people are looking at you and thinking that he could not find somebody to eat with him that poor soul.
There are people who go through that feeling their whole live. But people who live at the wrong address, feel all alone. I don’t miss anything about my life when I was lost, but I especially don’t miss the feeling of loneliness. I know now that I have a savior who is always with me, and I am more fulfilled spiritually now than I have ever been. At the wrong address you feel all alone.
Conclusion
There is a spiritual address that is the wrong place for Christians to be living. If some of these descriptions fit you today, you need to ask yourself if you are living in the wrong place. God is will to meet you at the altar this morning and give you directions as to where you should be living. Will you let Him?
