Bunbury
Sun pm
14/08/2011
“Twins called trust”
Intro: I was reading some information about twins that people had posted on a blog site.
One question was – can identical twins have the same fingerprints?
Well unless your name is Molly & you are a cloned sheep – no!
Another question that made me smile – can identical twins be different gender?
Well duh! I don’t think so! You know – identical!!!
The answer - The short answer is No!
*** The terms identical and fraternal don't describe what the twins look like, but actually how they form. Identical (monozygotic) twins are always of the same gender because they form from a single zygote that contains either male (XY) or female (XX) sex chromosomes. Therefore, boy/girl twins are always fraternal or (dizygotic).
There are very rare exceptions (about 10 only known to have occurred) in which one of the Y chromosomes is dropped which results in Turner’s Syndrome.
Contrary to the posting & rantings of a few people who still insist that different gender twins can still be identical the fact is that they cannot!
So here’s the issue – twins can actually look alike w/o being identical!
It’s an interesting thought – similar in appearance but different in nature.
We have examples in the W of God of twins whose natures were completely different.
Esau & Jacob were twins but that’s as far as the similarity went w/ them.
One was a son of the flesh, the other was a son of faith.
The W of God gives us the same thought about twins in the Bible called – trust!
That’s right – twins called ‘Trust’.
They share the same name but that’s where the similarity ends.
They certainly don’t share the same father!
And they certainly produce very different kinds of fruit in our lives.
So let’s think about these ‘Twins called trust’.
Text: Jeremiah 17:5-8 ( NKJV ) 5Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
# 1. Outcomes from the outset.
A. If there is one thing we can say about God’s Word its this – God wants you to be informed!
a. The Bible is God’s manual which tells us how to get the best out of life.
i. God doesn’t want / never intended us to live life like a lottery.
ii. The idea that all our decisions would come down to chance is not God’s idea.
iii. God wants us to be informed about the direction about the direction your life will lead you in & the ultimate destination you’ll arrive at – b/4 you begin the journey!
b. The great power behind God’s word is that it is revelatory.
i. In other words it shines light into the darkness & it reveals things that we can’t see by ourselves.
Psalms 119:105 ( NKJV ) 105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
*** Ever tried making your way through a dark room b/4 you hit the light switch?
What happens when the light is switched on?
The first thing that happens is the orientation of the room – in other words where everything else is in the room in relation to where you are!
Furniture / obstacles / doorways / hallways.
But the really impt thing that comes to light is your direction.
Once the light is on you can see clearly whether or not you were heading in the right direction.
ii. That’s what God’s Word does – it shines the light on the direction of our lives!
iii. Our text is one of those occasions where the light is being turned on in the midst of the darkness.
iv. God’s Word switches the light on!
v. It shows us here in our text the two possibilities in which we can invest our trust & the outcome of where we choose to place our trust.
B. The wonderful thing about the Bible is that it gives us a window into the future.
a. In other words the Bible allows us to see the future b/4 we arrive there.
i. Keep that thought in mind as we think about the subject of our text – trust.
ii. Now remember in our text we can see these twins called ‘Trust’ – twins but they are very different in nature & they lead us to two different destinations.
iii. What’s clear from our text is that one kind of trust is a dependence upon God …… while the other is a departure from God.
Vs 5. ……Whose heart departs from the Lord.
b. But here’s the amazing thing – God has made a way for us to be informed b/4 you arrive at your destination.
i. We don’t have to wait until we are shipwrecked on the rocks of bad decisions b/4 he reveals to us where we went wrong – He sets up a light house in His word so we can ster clear now!
ii. In other words we don’t have to wait until we arrive at the end of the pathway we’ve chosen God shines the light of His Word forward so we can see at the beginning.
*** Torch & paper signs on the back wall. I am standing at the very beginning of the pathways of decision. I am holding God’s word – the torch in my hand & by using the Word of God I can see where my decisions will lead me. As I shine the word of God along one pathway I can see at the destination that it is going to lead me to a curse!
As I shine the Word of God along another pathway to the ultimate destination I can see that the other pathway is going to lead to the blessing!
But here’s the powerful truth – I’m still at the beginning of the pathway but the Word of God allows me to see what my destination will be.
iii. Here’s the wonderful power of God’s Word – it doesn’t shine just into tomorrow, it shines into the years that lay b/4 us.
iv. It is able to shed light on the paths we choose when we are yet at the beginning.
Proverbs 14:12 ( NKJV ) 12 There is a way that seems right to a man, But its end is the way of death.
v. God was speaking to His people about trusting Him when he said in …..
Deuteronomy 7:14 ( NKJV ) 14You shall be blessed above all peoples; there shall not be a male or female barren among you or among your livestock.
c. So think about this – the two destinations we can arrive at are the blessing or the curse.
i. And which destination you arrive at depends on where you place your trust.
Vs 5. 5…. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.
Vs 7. 7 “Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, And whose hope is the Lord.
ii. Thank God for the wisdom of His Word which is able to shine light years ahead into future times / phases of our lives & show us where we’ll finally arrive at.
iii. He is effectively saying – trusting in the ability of the flesh – what you can do by yourself leads to the curse – trusting in the ability of God leads to the blessing!
iv. As we have seen here in our text he shows us the outcomes of our decisions at the outset.
# 2. Choosing the planting place of your trust.
A. One thing we need to u/s – trust must be directed at something.
** Alexander Maclaren “The direction of a man’s trust determines the whole cast of his life, b/c it determines as it were, the soil in which he grows.”
a. Every one of us has trust but what separates us is what our trust is directed to.
i. Directing your trust into wrong things – as our text says – has disastrous effects.
ii. Jeremiah tells us where the man who directs his trust into the flesh finds him/s.
Vs 6. ( NLT ) They are like stunted shrubs in the desert with no hope for the future.
Vs 5. ( NLT ) Cursed are those who put their trust in mere humans.
*** Buying the Ford from a young lady – it needed a bit of cleaning up but it was basically OK. One question I asked her – was it paid off?
Yes! I have the final receipt here but the only problem is I never viewed it!
A couple of days later I thought I had better check & sure enough it still had money owing on it …. In fact a little more than I paid for it!
Fortunately she agreed to go to the bank w/ me & hand the cheque over to pay it out.
iii. Now I u/s you can’t go through life w/o trusting anyone but the point is – where is your trust going to lead you?
Psalms 20:7 ( NKJV ) 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
b. Now think about what’s happening here – the Bible says where we plant our trust determines where we end up.
i. Look at the contrast of the two planting places of this trust ….
Vs 6. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, In a salt land which is not inhabited.
ii. Sure sounds like this guy took a major wrong turn at some stage….. not green, not flourishing & certainly not fruitful!
iii. It’s the pict of a man who has put his trust in the wrong things & now he is paying the harsh penalty, in a harsh environment & just managing not to die.
c. Planting our trust in God however leads us into a very different environment.
Vs 8. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought, Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
i. Here’s the pict – a source of provision & sustaining power flows into the life of the one who has planted their trust in God.
ii. Think about Elijah – living in a land where famine has overcome the land & why? B/c the people had trusted in the flesh rather than trusting in God.
iii. But Elijah has who has planted his trust in God is living by the brook Cherith which continues to flow & ravens feed him b/c he is trusting God.
iv. When the brook finally dries up God leads him to another sustaining flow – the widow of Zeraphath & b/c she trusted God the flow of provision flows into her life also.
1 Kings 17:15-16 ( NKJV ) 15So she went away and did according to the word of Elijah; and she and he and her household ate for many days. 16The bin of flour was not used up, nor did the jar of oil run dry, according to the word of the Lord which He spoke by Elijah.
B. Where we plant our trust also determines how well we cope when the heat comes.
a. Make no mistake about the fact that the heat will come to our lives.
i. How well you cope is going to be determined by the planting place of your trust.
Psalms 20:7 ( NKJV ) 7 Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; But we will remember the name of the Lord our God.
** O.M.S. ‘We are built for God.’
ii. What this means is that when we put our trust in man it doesn’t work well for us.
iii. Like I’ve already said ….. one thing is certain – the heat will come to our lives but as the Bible says the man who trusts in God ….
Vs 8 ….. And [he] will not fear when heat comes;…..
b. Think about this – if you are having trouble surviving your climate maybe its b/c of the things you have chosen to trust in.
i. What happens to your confidence when the heat is turned up?
ii. You can plant a water lily in the sands of the Sahara but it won’t do well there …. You can plant a coconut tree in the Swiss Alps but it will struggle to survive.
iii. Likewise your heart was designed by God to be planted in the soil of trust directed towards God.
iv. It’s in this soil that you will thrive when the heat comes & in the seasons of drought.
Vs 8. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
v. The reason he survives the heat is b/c ….. when we plant our trust in God we are ….
8 ….. like a tree planted by the waters, …..
*** How many of you remember the big tree growing near the river at Honeymoon Pool? Remember how green, healthy & strong it was? All of that had everything to do w/ where it was panted.
# 3. The fruit of trust.
A. Trust is either going to be poorly founded or well founded.
*** I had an experience as a kid where my trust was poorly founded. I trusted another kid who I foolishly trusted. He got me to hold something that he set on fire while I was holding it!!!
My trust was not well founded & I got my fingers burnt – literally!
a. If you plant your trust in the wrong thing you’ll end up getting more than your fingers burnt, you’ll get your whole life burnt!
i. Consider what happens to the person who trusts in the flesh.
Vs 5. 5…. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength, Whose heart departs from the Lord.
Vs 6. 6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, And shall not see when good comes, ….
ii. Listen to how the TMSG puts this verse ….
Vs 6. 6He’s like a tumbleweed on the prairie, out of touch with the good earth. He lives rootless and aimless in a land where nothing grows.
iii. Here’s the point ….. the things you put your trust in are going to one day produce fruit in our lives – the question – what is the fruit of your trust going to be?
Vs 5. 5…. “Cursed is the man who trusts in man And makes flesh his strength,
b. Which one of these twin brothers have you planted your confidence in?
i. One of these twins of trust has the power to bring your life to a place of hardship / ruin / despair / barrenness.
ii. Putting / founding your trust & confidence in God will bring your life to a place where it is brimming w/ promise / fruitfulness & blessing.
Vs 8. 8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, Which spreads out its roots by the river, And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
iii. Think about this – trust will either clothe you in rags or it will clothe you in riches!
iv. One kind of trust – trust in the flesh will lead you to barrenness – the other kind of trust – trust in God will lead you to a life of beauty.
v. Which twin are you going to place your confidence in?
