GUARD YOUR HEART
Text: Jeremiah 17:5 - 10
Jeremiah 17: 5 - 10 Thus says the LORD: Cursed are those who trust in mere mortals and make mere flesh their strength, whose hearts turn away from the LORD. (6) They shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when relief comes. They shall live in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. (7) Blessed are those who trust in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. (8) They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green; in the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit. (9) The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? (10) I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. (11) Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools (NRSV).
It was the old country preacher, Vance Havner, who once said, “If God dealt with people today as He did in the days of Ananias and Sapphira, every church would need a morgue in the basement.” (Charles Swindoll. The Quest for Character. Chicago:Moody Press, 1987, p. 39). . Just imagine for a moment that were true. How many sinners would be sent to the morgue! Soon, there would be nobody left because we are all sinners! God is a merciful God precisely because He does not deal with us as we deserve because if God did deal with us as we truly deserve we would not be able to stand (Psalm 130:3 NRSV!) “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9 NRSV).
Jeremiah 17: 5 reminds us of the foolish trust that too often people will put in “mere mortals”. We did not create ourselves and we cannot prepare for eternity by ourselves! Judahs’ sins were engraved on the tablets of their hearts (Jeremiah 17:1). What sins would be engraved on our hearts? Their sin was idolatrous because they were putting faith in mere mortals rather than God. How are we any different today?
How many of us have put our trust in “mere mortals” when we should have put our trust in God? Tell me if these sound familiar? “Follow the science”. “You don’t need a mask.” “You need a mask.” “You need a shot and then you can take off the mask”. “Even if you have had the shot you now need two masks”. “It’s a mostly peaceful protest”. These are the kinds of examples of the things of “mere mortals”. Leaders, celebrities, entertainers, politicians and even we ourselves have gone astray. How many of us have put our faith in “mere mortals” when we should have been putting our faith in God?
Today we will talk about the heart and the two different trusts.
THE HEART
What about the heart? Jeremiah 17:9: The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? (10) I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings (NRSV).
1) The fool’s heart: Psalm 14: 1 says that “ The fool says in his heart that there is no God” (NIV). Without God this world would not exist! God made the world and everything in it and saw that it was good (Genesis 1:31). It was only within the sixth chapter of Genesis that God decided to start over because of the sinfulness of humanity. What did they learn? Sin left unchecked that can cause a hardened heart.
2) The rebellious heart: Unfortunately, God’s creation sinned again when they sought to build the tower of Babel, so God scattered the people all over the world and confused their language to keep them putting any energy in their building plans (Genesis 11:8- 9). There has been sin in every generation.
3) The heart of every sinner: Psalm 14:3 says, “They have all gone astray, they are all alike perverse; there is no one who does good, no, not one (NRSV). “All have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). What have we learned?
4) The deceived heart: (9) The heart is devious above all else; it is perverse—who can understand it? (10) I the LORD test the mind and search the heart, to give to all according to their ways, according to the fruit of their doings. Is our generation behaving more wickedly than the generation before us (Jeremiah 16:12)? What does the Lord see in us when He tests our hearts and minds? Does God see us calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20)?
5) The hardened heart: What causes a hardened heart? Could it be from being disobedient and having things our own way? That is exactly what happened to them. Jeremiah 11:8 says, “Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone walked in the stubbornness of his evil heart. Therefore I brought upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but they did not” (ESV). Jeremiah 16:12 tells us that that generation was more evil than than their fathers (Jeremiah 16:12).
There is a danger in having things our own way and Pharoah’s life is a good example of this (See Exodus 7 - 11). There were ten plagues and because of his disobedience and it ultimately lead to the death of Pharoah’s own son. Didn’t Satan try to have things his own way also?
What causes sin? Or, should we ask who? Satan has been involved in leading others astray since the Garden of Eden. As it has been said, “Sin will take you further than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay”. (Dr. Robert Jeffress. Courageous. Grand Rapoids: Baker Books, 2020, p. 64). So how many people are running with the devil rather than walking with the Lord? Why does the devil want us to run with him instead of walking with God? Does he want us to believe that we can have it our way without any problems?
How did it go for Satan when he tried to have things his own way? That might work at Burger King but it doesn’t work in our spiritual lives! Obviously, the devil wants us to rush to disaster without thinking about it.
Satan wants us to put our trust in “mere mortals” but where have they have led us? We are misled, financially broke, morally bankrupt and losing our country to “mere mortals” who are nothing more than false prophets!!! They removed prayer from schools, they endorse abortion, they have made a mockery of marriage, and most recently they encourage recreational drug abuse centers for addicts. Do you hear echoes of Sodom and Gomorrah (see Genesis 19)? Is our generation more evil than the one before us? Satan is the father of lies, a thief and a murderer who wants to kill, steal and destroy people in every generation (John 8:44 and John 10:10).
TRUSTS
Which are we blessed or cursed? We are cursed if we trust in others---- “mere mortals”s rather than trusting in God!
1) Obey or die?: “Mere mortals” tell us “Abide by our rules or else”! If you use your freedom of speech to tell the truth, then you might get censored or canceled. If you don’t obey then they---the “mere mortals” will make you pay. They may ever use force if you don’t obey!
Years ago I had a church member who was in EMS. He disobeyed jurisdictional guidelines set by the county because the patient he was working with could have experienced major problems and maybe even died if he had followed the rules. He was on the side of the border between where the county’s jurisdiction started, though he was operating from the town’s jurisdiction. His patient would have experienced complications without his intervention. He might have disobeyed jurisdictional guidelines, but he followed God's way rather than the way of "mere" jurisdictional "mortals".
2) Trust: “A man went out to a river for a time of quiet meditation one morning. During his meditation he noticed that the river was rising as well as a scorpion that was trapped in the roots of a tree. He tried to release the scorpion and with every attempt it drew back its tail ready to strike. An observer watching this man said, “ Don’t you know that its is the scorpion’s nature to sting?” The holy man responded, “Indeed it may be his nature to sting, but it is my nature to save. Must I change my nature because the scorpion does not change his?” (Herb Miller. Actions Speak Louder Than Verbs. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1989, p. 72). It is a sad day when we cannot trust someone any more than we can trust a scorpion.
3) Cursed: To be cursed is no better than to dwell in parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives (Jeremiah 17:6). The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates that same verse like this: “He will be like a juniper in the Arabah; he cannot see when good comes but dwells in the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land where no one lives” (Jeremiah 17:6 HCSB).
4) Juniper tree: It has been said that … The juniper tree is a place of our own understanding, our own rationalizing, our own wisdom, our own imaginations. We arrive here when we take our eyes of the Lord. Peter began to sink when he saw the boisterous waves. He took his eyes of the Lord and began to sink. We need to keep our eyes on the Lord Jesus Christ. https://kjvbibletruth.com/2016/01/18/dont-stay-under-the-juniper-tree Not completely trusting the Lord is bad enough for an individual but what about when leaders of a nation have denied God to become their own god?
How can anyone other than God prepare us for heaven?
1) In whom do we trust? Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and cursed are those who trust in mere mortals. How much simpler could the message of Jeremiah 17: 5 -10 be?
2) Repentance: Consider Jeremiah 18:7 - 8: “At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, (8) but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it” (NRSV). Does this not echo II Chronicles 7:14?
3) A future and a hope: Without repentance there is no future or hope! Consider Jeremiah 29:11: “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the LORD, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. (12) Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. (13) When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart” (NRSV). Jesus Christ is the way , the truth and the life and without Him there is no future , no abundant life and no salvation (John 14:6 NRSV).
4) The Calvary tree: Being cursed is a choice. Being saved is also a choice. Galatians 3:13 says, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree" (NRSV). Jesus paid it all ---the price for our sin on the cross at cavalry. Are you washed in the blood of the lamb Jesus Christ who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29)?
In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
