WEBVTT 00:00:00.320 --> 00:00:01.439 Well good morning. 00:00:01.840 --> 00:00:07.360 Uh thank you for allowing uh to part with your beautiful senior pastor this morning. 00:00:07.440 --> 00:00:09.359 You definitely got the short end of that deal. 00:00:09.599 --> 00:00:13.199 And uh you know I've known Pastor Mike for a long time. 00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:15.839 I sat beside him uh in Bible college. 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:20.480 We played on the same hockey team together, and and I can vouch that that he is a changed man. 00:00:20.640 --> 00:00:29.120 And uh he is a good he is a good senior pastor, and so bear with me this morning, and and thank goodness we're here to open the Lord's word and and not hear from me. 00:00:29.280 --> 00:00:37.759 So if you have your Bibles, Jeremiah 17 uh is where we're gonna be camping out this morning, and we're gonna be talking about a subject that's that's near and dear to my heart. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:40.640 It's something that if I'm honest with you, I I wrestle with. 00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:44.560 It's something that I uh was wrestling with on the drive here this morning. 00:00:44.640 --> 00:00:53.520 And uh and it's this whole idea of primarily idolatry, uh, but more specifically, as we'll see what Jeremiah tells us, uh specifically the fear of man. 00:00:53.679 --> 00:01:08.400 And this idea, and this is so prevalent in our culture, and it's something that gets swept under the rug so easily, even in our churches, uh, where we uh hold people in higher esteem than we ought to, and we subsequently minimize God and his role in our lives. 00:01:08.560 --> 00:01:20.879 And uh and we give way too much power to people, what they think, what they feel about us, how they will respond to our actions and our decisions, uh, and and and we kind of fall into these vicious cycles where we can be held hostage by what other people think and do. 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:27.519 And this is something that our culture kind of propagates if you want to get ahead in your workplace, if you want to uh find a good spouse. 00:01:27.599 --> 00:01:36.239 Uh the whole dating scene, you know, it's it's just how do you posture yourself, how do you present yourself, and it can become just such a damaging thing for us as Christians. 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:52.959 And so this morning, my hope is that as we look at at Jeremiah 17, uh, we will have the opportunity uh to hear, number one, what God says about idolatry, what God says about the fear of man, but then also have a chance to evaluate our own hearts and evaluate where we kind of land in this area. 00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:59.920 And uh and so I was reflecting this kind of this past week and um was reflecting in my junior high years. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:08.560 And some of you might have kids in junior high, some of you might just have parents of boys, and and you know that as they grow up, uh what junior high boys do together is really two things. 00:02:08.639 --> 00:02:11.360 When we hang out, we make fun of each other and we punch each other. 00:02:11.520 --> 00:02:13.759 That's more or less what junior hires do. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:21.120 And uh, you know, it's all about how we kind of socialize, it's how we establish our hierarchy, who's kind of the cool one and who's not. 00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:24.879 And uh and I remember uh coming back from a hockey game. 00:02:25.039 --> 00:02:38.960 Uh I like I said, I play hockey, I played hockey with your beloved pastor, and uh came back late from a hockey game, and on Halloween, our youth group at the time uh was doing an all-nighter um paradise for a junior high boy. 00:02:39.039 --> 00:02:41.280 Uh no parents, and you can stay up all night. 00:02:41.439 --> 00:02:51.919 It was the highlight of our of our year in terms of our youth group kind of events, and so we uh hustled to this event, and uh and junior high is kind of an insecure time. 00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:53.439 You know, there's a lot happening. 00:02:53.599 --> 00:02:55.599 You're some for some students they're changing schools. 00:02:55.680 --> 00:02:59.199 Almost all students kind of leave Sunday school and they move into youth group. 00:02:59.280 --> 00:03:04.719 Uh emotionally, hormonally, there's an awful lot happening, junior high boys and girls. 00:03:04.800 --> 00:03:07.599 And so it's a it's a kind of a volatile, kind of fragile time. 00:03:07.680 --> 00:03:11.039 And so uh coming to this youth event, there was a little bit of anxiety. 00:03:11.120 --> 00:03:13.039 There was a little bit of, you know, who's gonna be there? 00:03:13.199 --> 00:03:14.400 Are my friends gonna be there? 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.680 You know, you know, did I miss anything because I was playing hockey? 00:03:17.919 --> 00:03:24.879 And uh and so I got there and I met up with my friends, and we were doing what junior boy junior high boys do, making fun of each other and punching each other. 00:03:25.120 --> 00:03:29.759 And we were standing in front of the church and we were kind of laughing and having fun with one another. 00:03:29.919 --> 00:03:35.439 And uh and then out of the church doors uh came a guy named Adam. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:44.000 And Adam was a grade 12 student in our youth group, and and quite frankly, he was he was the best thing that came out of our youth group. 00:03:44.080 --> 00:03:49.120 Uh he he was a great musician, he was athletic, uh good-looking dude. 00:03:49.199 --> 00:03:52.000 Uh if you were friends with Adam, you had it made. 00:03:52.159 --> 00:04:26.160 And and Adam was uh was a really nice guy, and so he was coming towards us, and uh and so we kind of stood out of attention, kind of gave him a wide berth, you know, kind of let him come into our little group, and and he's talking to us, and uh, and all of a sudden, as we are talking and we're laughing and we're having fun and we're just kind of getting into this all-nighter, a white, and I'll remember it clear as day, a white Dodge caravan comes flying up in front of the church, sliding door opens, four guys in ski masks get out, grab Adam, throw him in the van, and drive away. 00:04:27.680 --> 00:04:29.120 I should time out. 00:04:29.199 --> 00:04:30.639 Um, the story ends well. 00:04:30.959 --> 00:04:35.680 So I all of a sudden I saw the oxygen just kind of leave the room. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:37.839 Hang with me, it it ends well, okay? 00:04:37.920 --> 00:04:40.800 Uh but for all intents and purposes, Adam is kidnapped. 00:04:40.879 --> 00:04:48.560 And and so I'm standing there in shock, uh, and just thinking, like, did I actually just witness what I think I just saw? 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:58.079 I just saw four guys grab the most beautiful specimen in our youth group, throw him into a van, and he's gone. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:02.399 And uh, and so you know responses varied. 00:05:02.480 --> 00:05:08.560 Uh girls kind of huddled up and kind of started kind of getting anxious and started talking with each other. 00:05:08.720 --> 00:05:10.959 Uh I just burst into tears. 00:05:11.199 --> 00:05:14.560 You know, not a good move when you're trying to be cool at youth group. 00:05:14.800 --> 00:05:20.560 Uh I remember just bawling on the curb, thinking, like, where's where's Adam? 00:05:20.720 --> 00:05:23.199 You know, what's the point of coming to youth group if there's no Adam? 00:05:23.360 --> 00:05:23.759 You know? 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:34.879 And uh and so we all kind of go inside, the youth pastor sits us down, the police are called, and uh, and this whole kind of Durham region uh manhunt kind of begins for Adam. 00:05:35.120 --> 00:05:45.279 And uh and so we're sitting there and the hours are going by, uh, the all-nighters just tanking, the music's off, the games have stopped, students are pulling their homework out, like it's it's a disaster. 00:05:45.519 --> 00:06:00.319 And uh and after a couple hours, the phone rings, the youth pastor picks it up, and turns out that our sister church, uh Forestbrook, Bible chapel, uh, too, was having an all-nighter that week. 00:06:00.480 --> 00:06:09.680 And as a Halloween prank, some students who had just got their licenses thought it would be funny to kidnap one of our people and take them to their youth event. 00:06:10.079 --> 00:06:14.319 And uh needless to say, they were no longer our sister church anymore. 00:06:14.399 --> 00:06:16.959 Uh they were excommunicated from that day forward. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:21.839 But uh Adam had showed up at their youth event, the youth pastor figured out what happened, and he was returned to us. 00:06:22.000 --> 00:06:25.199 But now there's a lot of collateral damage for me socially. 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:31.279 Uh I'm standing there with my same friends, and they're kind of looking at me and they're like, Mark, I'm pretty sure I saw you crying. 00:06:31.519 --> 00:06:37.920 And I was like, No, allergies, you know, it's it's October, you know. 00:06:38.160 --> 00:06:44.399 And uh they're like, no, Mark, I'm pretty sure you were on a chair balling your eyes out right in front of the office. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:46.240 And and what are you left with? 00:06:46.399 --> 00:06:56.399 I I'm lying, um, I'm trying to protect my ego, I'm I'm demonstrating pride, I'm doing all these things to kind of mitigate the collateral damage that's happening with my reputation. 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:07.120 That uh this tough hockey player who was kind of looked at by other, uh certainly my peer group is kind of the athletic, kind of the sporty one, uh, is now kind of this little wimp that cries. 00:07:07.360 --> 00:07:10.560 And uh and that that followed me for a good long while. 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:16.480 Even when Adam came back to our to our event, the first thing everyone said is you need to go talk to Mark, he's a real mess. 00:07:16.639 --> 00:07:19.839 You know, like, you know, social collateral damage. 00:07:19.920 --> 00:07:21.199 This this is the fear of man. 00:07:21.279 --> 00:07:34.959 This is what the heart of what our passage deals with today is when we uh allow ourselves to be held hostage by what other people think and feel towards us, and we end up sacrificing godly behavior as a result. 00:07:35.120 --> 00:07:41.120 And so what Jeremiah is going to talk to us here this morning is exactly what we've already heard in the Ten Commandments in Exodus chapter 20. 00:07:41.199 --> 00:07:45.120 You know, verse 3 and 4, it says, You shall have no other gods before me. 00:07:45.439 --> 00:07:52.959 And quite honestly, we're we're fairly good at recalling that verse, and but we but we limit the definition of what gods means. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:56.480 For us, it and certainly in that context, it meant physical things. 00:07:56.560 --> 00:08:07.920 There will be no golden calves, there will be no video game systems, there will be no, you know, you fill in the possession that you may want or struggle or idolicize. 00:08:08.720 --> 00:08:15.759 You know, we we don't think of attitudes and emotions and social things as idols. 00:08:16.000 --> 00:08:16.959 And they can be. 00:08:17.120 --> 00:08:23.120 We don't we think of idols purely as man-made things rather than not just man itself having power over us. 00:08:23.439 --> 00:08:31.519 And and so when we kind of hit Exodus chapter 20, and Jeremiah is gonna expound on this, and we know from Jeremiah chapter 11 that they've returned to false gods. 00:08:31.680 --> 00:08:36.000 And we're gonna see the consequences of that, certainly by the time we hit Jeremiah 17. 00:08:36.080 --> 00:08:42.960 But by the time we get there, Jeremiah expounds even further, saying, not only are you worshiping false gods, you're you're beginning to worship each other. 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:45.120 And there are consequences from that. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:50.720 There are logical consequences that come when we hold other people in higher esteem than we ought to. 00:08:50.960 --> 00:08:55.360 Ed Welch writes a great book called When God is Small and People Are Big. 00:08:55.519 --> 00:08:58.799 And it's exactly a profound definition of what the fear of man is. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:03.360 It's when people are bigger to us than they ought to be, and God subsequently becomes smaller. 00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:15.919 So if you have your Bibles, Jeremiah chapter 17, we're gonna go through it kind of piecemeal into kind of three sections, and we're gonna kind of look at the context and then look at the consequences of idolatry and what we can do about it. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:17.360 But will you join with me in prayer? 00:09:17.519 --> 00:09:23.200 Will you pray for me specifically as well as we uh look at God's word this morning and what it has for us? 00:09:23.360 --> 00:09:25.600 Uh bow your heads, let's pray together. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:27.519 Father, thank you for today. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:31.440 Lord, thank you for the privilege it is to open your word. 00:09:32.159 --> 00:09:39.759 Uh God, I admit that uh I had to really check myself driving in this morning to make sure that I wouldn't be standing up here a hypocrite. 00:09:39.919 --> 00:09:51.039 Uh, Lord, forgive me for when I allow people to have too much influence over me, when I stray from doing godly things uh out of fear of what other people may say and do? 00:09:51.919 --> 00:09:59.279 God, would you help uh Harvest Bible Chapel Newmarket to be a people characterized as worshiping God and God alone? 00:09:59.759 --> 00:10:03.519 Would they not be concerned at what other people may think? 00:10:03.679 --> 00:10:13.039 Would we not uh be uh lights under bowls, as it were, not allowing the gospel to go forward because of uh the fear of the consequences? 00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:17.679 God, would we be unashamed in our faith and would we hold firm to you? 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:22.080 Help us to see your word and see for what it is. 00:10:22.399 --> 00:10:24.320 Help it to teach and instruct us this morning. 00:10:24.399 --> 00:10:32.879 And Father, if anything comes out of my mouth that isn't in agreement uh or conducive to your word going forward, would it be done with and forgotten with? 00:10:33.279 --> 00:10:35.200 We pray these things in your name. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:36.159 Amen. 00:10:36.960 --> 00:10:39.120 Jeremiah 17, we'll start in verse one. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:42.720 Here's the overarching principle for us here this morning if you're taking notes. 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:49.679 Uh Judah's sin is undeniable, its punishment uh unavoidable. 00:10:49.919 --> 00:10:53.440 Judah's sin is undeniable, its punishment unavoidable. 00:10:53.519 --> 00:10:54.480 And here's how we know that. 00:10:54.559 --> 00:10:56.720 If we look, we'll look at the first four verses together. 00:10:56.799 --> 00:11:06.799 It says, The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron, with a point of diamond, it is engraved on the tablet of their heart, and on the horns of their altars. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:22.960 While their children remember their altars in their ashram, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country, your wealth and all your treasures I will give for spoil as the price of your high places for sin throughout all your territory. 00:11:23.200 --> 00:11:33.440 You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know, for my anger a fire is kindled that shall burn forever. 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:38.639 And so here's what we know first and foremost there are there are logical consequences to sin. 00:11:38.720 --> 00:11:54.799 And it's amazing how we forget this, that uh a lot of us we kind of have these come to Jesus moments and we kind of repent of our sin and we kind of get uh caught or convicted and we repent of it, and then we kind of expect kind of the collateral damage to kind of just subside, and and that's just not true. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:01.759 Uh thank the Lord that the eternal punishment, the debt that we owe because of our sin has been forgiven. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:03.120 Praise the Lord for that. 00:12:03.200 --> 00:12:07.360 But this side of heaven, there are consequences of our actions. 00:12:07.679 --> 00:12:11.279 I remember sitting down not that long ago with a young girl in our church. 00:12:11.440 --> 00:12:15.519 Um, as was already mentioned, I do uh biblical counseling at our church. 00:12:15.600 --> 00:12:25.120 And I remember sitting down with this young girl who is now pregnant, and and I don't know what she was expecting, but after she kind of confessed and repented, she she still had the child. 00:12:25.279 --> 00:12:28.399 We still had to talk about how are we gonna handle this baby. 00:12:28.559 --> 00:12:36.720 Uh, for the the guy who sits in my office and who's gambled away everything he owns, there's still on the other side of a prayer, there's you're still broke. 00:12:36.879 --> 00:12:48.080 You know, there are logical consequences to our sin, and this is what Jeremiah is pointing out is that your sin is so obvious that there are obvious consequences that come when we minimize God in our lives. 00:12:48.159 --> 00:12:52.399 And we know this, we know it's undeniable, first and foremost, by the state of their heart. 00:12:52.799 --> 00:12:57.600 In verse 1, we're told that their hearts are mimic tablets, stones. 00:12:57.840 --> 00:13:02.240 Their hearts are so hard that they are not what Jeremiah 33 tells us. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:05.039 You know, I will take your heart of stone, I will give you a heart of flesh. 00:13:05.120 --> 00:13:06.000 That hasn't happened yet. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.159 They're still living with a heart of stone. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:17.679 And that heart is so hard that the two most toughest, durable instruments available at that time are what were needed to characterize and etch those hearts. 00:13:18.000 --> 00:13:27.919 A pen of iron and a diamond sharpened and placed at the end of it was what was needed to adequately convey and characterize and describe the hardness of their hearts. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:31.440 And this is not an overnight thing. 00:13:31.679 --> 00:13:36.000 You know, when we allow sin to go unchecked in our lives, this is what we can expect. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:41.360 This is the consequence that we can expect that our hearts become harder and harder and harder and harder. 00:13:41.679 --> 00:13:45.279 The second reason we know it's undeniable is because it was generational. 00:13:45.679 --> 00:13:55.519 If you look at the beginning of verse 2, it says, while their children remember their altars and their ashram, this tells us that it's long-standing, it's systemic idolatry that is happening here. 00:13:55.759 --> 00:14:08.399 This isn't a few weeks, this isn't spring break, this is months and months and years and years of idolatry that has happened that has subsequently led to hard hearts, so much so that children, generations, are recalling it. 00:14:08.799 --> 00:14:15.679 There's another reason why children would have been very well aware of the idolatry in that land is because they were often the subjects of it. 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:31.919 We're told specifically in this passage that uh the ashram poles, you see it in the end of verse 2 there, beside every green tree and on the high hills, on the mountains in the open country, everywhere you look, there would have been physical monuments, uh, shrines for the god Asherah. 00:14:32.159 --> 00:14:42.320 The other god that's not specifically mentioned in here, but we know it was typical of Babylon and other surrounding areas that would have held the nation of Judah captive was Moloch. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:48.559 And the way you worship Moloch was through sacrificing, sacrificing your children. 00:14:49.200 --> 00:14:52.159 This is this is deep, serious stuff that's happening here. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.840 This isn't just a casual fling with an object or with an attitude. 00:14:55.919 --> 00:15:02.000 This is a long-standing systemic thing where lives are being lost because of hard hearts and idolatry. 00:15:02.240 --> 00:15:07.039 Its sin is undeniable, and we know that its judgment is unavoidable. 00:15:07.360 --> 00:15:13.679 God tells them uh four things your wealth and your treasures I will give for spoil. 00:15:14.080 --> 00:15:16.000 Second thing, you will loosen your heritage. 00:15:16.159 --> 00:15:18.960 This is massive and a huge thing we can remember this morning. 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:23.600 Remember, we're talking about the Jewish people, the chosen people, the people of God. 00:15:24.799 --> 00:15:31.519 For them to lose sense of their heritage was to lose sense of who God was and what he had promised them. 00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:34.639 Isn't that true of idolatry? 00:15:35.360 --> 00:15:43.120 The more we fall into idolatry, the more we fall into those places where our hearts become harder and harder, the more distant we become from the Lord. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:45.200 I see it all the time. 00:15:45.279 --> 00:15:46.639 I see it in my own life. 00:15:47.039 --> 00:15:58.639 I see how if I'm not vigilant, if I'm not careful to root out sin as often and as quickly as possible, how hard my heart can become and how loose my grip becomes on the presence of my Savior. 00:15:59.360 --> 00:16:00.879 We're told they're gonna lose everything. 00:16:01.039 --> 00:16:03.919 We're they're gonna be told that they're gonna forget where they came from. 00:16:04.240 --> 00:16:08.320 Next thing we see, I will give you over to your enemies. 00:16:08.480 --> 00:16:12.240 We know that Babylon would come and conquer them just a few years later. 00:16:12.480 --> 00:16:18.639 And the fourth thing, and perhaps the most dangerous, God is angry. 00:16:19.120 --> 00:16:20.799 We serve a jealous God. 00:16:21.440 --> 00:16:28.720 We serve a God who is not okay with us putting him on the bench and us seeking and pursuing other things. 00:16:29.679 --> 00:16:31.759 It's not okay in God's books. 00:16:32.559 --> 00:16:39.440 Idolatry uh it wrecks our hearts, it can wreck our families, it can wreck generations. 00:16:40.000 --> 00:16:57.919 There's a family that I deal with in our church where it's been amazing as I've been walking with this family, you can see how one single decision uh with a grandfather has changed the dynamics of this family and has changed the theology and has changed the heart and the posture before the Lord. 00:16:58.720 --> 00:17:01.600 Damage can be done when we don't guard our hearts. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:09.599 Judah's sin is undeniable, its judgment is unavoidable. 00:17:10.559 --> 00:17:13.039 And I would argue the same is true for us. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:18.240 There are logical consequences that come as a result of our idolatry. 00:17:18.960 --> 00:17:20.720 And so, what does Jeremiah leave us with? 00:17:20.880 --> 00:17:25.119 I believe he postures one question for us, and it's the one that we need to answer this morning. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:29.920 And it's uh it's a real powerful one, and it's simply this whom do I fear? 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:38.880 This is where Jeremiah pivots and he moves away from the idolatry that's kind of seen throughout the land, and he now moves specifically to the fear of man. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:42.400 He moves specifically to how people have become way too prominent. 00:17:42.480 --> 00:17:45.519 And he asks us this question: Who are you gonna fear? 00:17:45.759 --> 00:17:47.839 Who is more important in your life? 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.880 God or man? 00:17:51.359 --> 00:17:53.279 And so let's let's look at the next chunk. 00:17:53.359 --> 00:17:56.640 We're gonna read uh two types of people, I believe, in the room this morning. 00:17:56.720 --> 00:17:58.880 You are either you are blessed or you are cursed. 00:17:59.039 --> 00:18:01.680 That's what Scripture tells us here this morning. 00:18:01.839 --> 00:18:04.880 Uh verse five, you know, when we ask ourselves, who do we fear? 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:06.960 Here's the description of the cursed man. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:16.319 Thus says the Lord cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 00:18:16.559 --> 00:18:20.319 He is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. 00:18:21.119 --> 00:18:26.799 He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness in an uninhabited salt land. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:37.440 So the first thing we need to note here is that Jeremiah makes the important distinction that if you're a cursed individual here this morning, uh, you cannot have split allegiances. 00:18:37.759 --> 00:18:40.000 Your heart cannot be divided. 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:42.960 Uh, some of you, you don't have to put up your hands, I'll volunteer. 00:18:43.119 --> 00:18:49.599 Some of us, like Seinfeld, don't put up your hand, but in your hearts you know who you are. 00:18:49.759 --> 00:18:57.839 And uh, you know, there's a fantastic episode in Seinfeld where relationship George and independent George kind of come into conflict. 00:18:58.079 --> 00:19:08.720 Some of you know the episode, it's where George's girlfriend begins to mingle with his friends, and now all of a sudden his relationship world and the world where he has no cares and responsibilities kind of collide. 00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:15.279 And at the climax of this huge rant that he goes on, he says, a George divided amongst itself cannot stand. 00:19:16.000 --> 00:19:19.039 And it's so true for us in a spiritual sense. 00:19:19.279 --> 00:19:21.200 Our hearts cannot be divided. 00:19:21.440 --> 00:19:26.559 Our relationship with the Lord and our relationship with others, one is going to take priority. 00:19:26.720 --> 00:19:28.319 We they cannot be equal. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:36.960 Cursed is the man who makes man his strength, who makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. 00:19:37.039 --> 00:19:37.839 It's one or the other. 00:19:38.000 --> 00:19:40.400 Your heart is facing the Lord or it's not. 00:19:41.519 --> 00:19:44.400 And then he gives us three characteristics for us here this morning. 00:19:44.559 --> 00:19:48.880 Three characteristics of the cursed man. 00:19:49.200 --> 00:19:52.000 The first one is this you'll be fruitless. 00:19:52.799 --> 00:19:59.519 You see that at the beginning of uh verse six, he is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come. 00:20:00.160 --> 00:20:04.799 Remember, this is the person who James 1.8 characterizes as a double-minded man. 00:20:05.279 --> 00:20:12.400 The context there is James is saying, the person who verbally ascends to the Lord but then physically takes control of his own life. 00:20:12.559 --> 00:20:15.759 That person's double-minded, shouldn't expect anything from the Lord. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.039 This is the person that Jeremiah is referring to. 00:20:19.200 --> 00:20:23.519 Whenever there's a difference between what we say and what we do, there is always a need for repentance. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:30.400 And the first uh symptom of that is when we see the fruit, the one thing that kind of shows people what you're made of. 00:20:30.559 --> 00:20:34.960 When that leaves, uh you could have an idol in your life. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:36.400 You're fruitless. 00:20:36.799 --> 00:20:44.720 John chapter 15 talks specifically about, you know, I am the vine, you are the branches, abide in me, and you will bear fruit. 00:20:45.039 --> 00:20:50.799 When we remove ourselves from the Lord, we become fruitless, and we're characterized by a shrub. 00:20:51.039 --> 00:20:54.960 You know, you consider what a shrub is in a desert of all places. 00:20:55.119 --> 00:20:56.640 Of course, you're not gonna bear fruit. 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:02.240 There's no, there's no nourishment, there's no water, there's nothing there that's gonna help you grow. 00:21:02.799 --> 00:21:05.200 This is what fear of man does. 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:13.599 It puts us in this vicious cycle where we move constantly searching for more and more and more, but we don't actually have our needs met. 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.680 We don't actually get what we want. 00:21:16.240 --> 00:21:21.759 We become fruitless and we become prideful and we move further and further away from the Lord. 00:21:22.480 --> 00:21:23.440 Here's the second thing. 00:21:23.599 --> 00:21:27.519 Not only are we fruitless, we're told we're gonna be thirsty. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:29.440 We see that in the next verse. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:33.599 He will dwell in the perched places of the wilderness. 00:21:34.640 --> 00:21:36.079 You're gonna be thirsty. 00:21:36.799 --> 00:21:41.359 Again, the more you engage in the fear of man, only the more you're gonna need it. 00:21:41.839 --> 00:21:45.359 This is true of any addiction, this is true of any idol in our life. 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:55.440 It's always the pursuit that gets the adrenaline up, but when you finally have it what it is you want, it always lets you down, and you need a next, more stronger response the next time. 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:06.160 I've seen it when people become addicted to substances, I've seen it when People become addicted to pornography, there always needs to be a stronger and stronger response. 00:22:06.319 --> 00:22:10.160 The joy is in the pursuit, it never actually quenches your thirst. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:23.839 So maybe if you're here this morning and you feel like you're feeling fruitless and you're yearning, you're needing more of something, and you don't quite know what, you know, maybe you fear man. 00:22:24.880 --> 00:22:30.480 The last thing he tells us is not only will you be fruitless, not only will you be thirsty, you'll die. 00:22:31.279 --> 00:22:36.880 See in the very last line of verse 7 there it says, in an uninhabited salt land. 00:22:37.839 --> 00:22:40.240 Salt has some good purposes. 00:22:40.319 --> 00:22:46.799 It can preserve, it can flavor, it can season, but in too much quantities it becomes lethal to us. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:51.119 There was a World War II veteran named Louis Zamperini. 00:22:51.839 --> 00:22:55.680 You can read about him in Laura Hillebrand's book called Unbroken. 00:22:56.079 --> 00:22:57.519 There was a movie made about it. 00:22:57.680 --> 00:22:58.640 Don't watch the movie. 00:22:58.799 --> 00:23:00.240 It's not at all like the book. 00:23:00.400 --> 00:23:01.359 The book is fantastic. 00:23:01.519 --> 00:23:02.640 Go read the book. 00:23:03.119 --> 00:23:06.160 Louis Zamperini is a World War II fighter pilot. 00:23:06.799 --> 00:23:11.759 Got shot down, floated in the Pacific Ocean for weeks and weeks, floated ashore. 00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:16.559 What he found out then was Japan, and he was put in concentration camps and he was beaten. 00:23:16.640 --> 00:23:18.960 He was tortured for the remainder of the war. 00:23:19.359 --> 00:23:23.359 Came home when the war ended and through a Billy Graham crusade, met Jesus. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:24.960 Fantastic story. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:30.160 He actually had the chance to go back to Japan and find the very people who beat the tar out of him. 00:23:30.319 --> 00:23:33.680 And there were these beautiful moments of forgiveness that are recorded in this book. 00:23:34.079 --> 00:23:35.839 It's an unbelievable book. 00:23:36.240 --> 00:23:43.279 But what stood out to me as I was reading is as he's talking about floating in the Pacific Ocean for weeks, if not months. 00:23:43.519 --> 00:23:46.400 His friends are literally being eaten by sharks. 00:23:46.880 --> 00:23:53.119 Their rations have run out, their water is run out, and the only liquid around him is seawater. 00:23:53.680 --> 00:24:04.000 And yet he knew from his training that seawater doesn't actually quench your thirst, and in appropriate big, large amounts, it becomes lethal. 00:24:04.079 --> 00:24:05.279 You can't drink it. 00:24:05.440 --> 00:24:14.880 And so he talks about this constant tension about not leaning over the side of his raft to drink the seawater, even knowing that it could kill him. 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:18.079 This is the problem with idolatry. 00:24:18.319 --> 00:24:19.920 We've all had fair warning. 00:24:20.000 --> 00:24:26.799 We all know what the consequences can be, but the decision lies in are you gonna reach over and are you gonna drink from it? 00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:33.680 Understand, you will be fruitless, you will be thirsty, and it will ultimately kill you. 00:24:36.160 --> 00:24:39.359 Strong words for the cursed person here this morning. 00:24:39.839 --> 00:24:41.519 Praise the Lord, there are answers. 00:24:41.759 --> 00:24:46.559 Praise the Lord for Romans 8:1, which says, In him there is now no condemnation. 00:24:46.799 --> 00:24:51.279 We serve a God who is gracious, who is forgiving, who is long suffering. 00:24:51.599 --> 00:24:55.920 Psalm 103 talks about, and I thank the Lord for this every single day. 00:24:56.160 --> 00:25:01.680 Lord, thank you that you don't treat me as I really deserve, that you are slow to anger and abounding in love. 00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:05.599 There is a solution, there is hope for us here this morning. 00:25:05.759 --> 00:25:06.880 And so let's look at that. 00:25:07.039 --> 00:25:09.119 Let's look at the uh the blessed man. 00:25:09.200 --> 00:25:10.240 We've looked at the cursed man. 00:25:10.319 --> 00:25:13.200 Now here's the alternative uh in verse eight. 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:29.039 He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit. 00:25:29.359 --> 00:25:30.720 Right away we see the difference. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:32.319 We're not a shrub anymore. 00:25:32.400 --> 00:25:40.880 When our heart is for the Lord, when we have an undivided heart that is soft and focused on the Lord, we're no longer a shrub, we are a tree. 00:25:41.279 --> 00:25:48.000 And we are a tree with roots beside a stream where there is a constant flow of water. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:50.079 We're blessed. 00:25:50.319 --> 00:25:55.680 There are inherent blessings that come from a heart that is turned towards the Lord. 00:25:56.079 --> 00:25:57.759 And they're the exact opposite. 00:25:57.920 --> 00:25:59.519 It's amazing what Jeremiah does. 00:25:59.920 --> 00:26:05.279 He flips the curses around and he shows that the opposite is true in the Lord. 00:26:05.440 --> 00:26:07.920 The first thing he tells us is that we become fruitful. 00:26:08.160 --> 00:26:10.240 Look at the very last line of verse eight. 00:26:10.400 --> 00:26:13.279 For it does not cease to bear fruit. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:26.559 Colossians chapter 2, verses 6 say, Therefore, as you receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving. 00:26:27.119 --> 00:26:36.400 Paul was wise enough to add verse 8, which tells us this see to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition. 00:26:37.039 --> 00:26:38.559 You see, Paul knew the risk. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:42.960 He knows that we are like sheep are prone to going astray. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:45.279 We like to follow people. 00:26:45.519 --> 00:26:49.359 We aspire to be leaders, but we find comfort in following people. 00:26:49.519 --> 00:26:56.559 And that is a dangerous, slippery slope for us here this morning when we consider where our hearts are postured and pointed towards. 00:26:56.960 --> 00:27:06.960 Paul says, be rooted, grow, utilize that stream to bear fruit for the Lord. 00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:08.559 It's amazing. 00:27:08.640 --> 00:27:21.920 I I was sitting down in my office uh a couple weeks ago, a fantastic young lady who uh I've had the privilege of meeting and working with, and uh, and she came in really wrestling with anxiety, really wrestling. 00:27:22.240 --> 00:27:29.759 She had made some choices, but again, some some things just life happened and things didn't break her way, and she was really struggling with this. 00:27:30.000 --> 00:27:52.160 And it was amazing how in the course of our meetings, you could see between the sessions, you could see almost overnight throughout the course of that week, uh, her demeanor, her attitude, and her joy increased when she made the decision to not focus on how she had been wronged and focused rather on bearing fruit, on being obedient. 00:27:52.559 --> 00:28:01.519 It was amazing the transformation in her when she became thankful, when she sought peace and joy, and she sought to do the right thing even though it was hard. 00:28:01.680 --> 00:28:06.799 It was amazing the transformation that happened in her over the course of a week. 00:28:07.119 --> 00:28:14.559 This is what fruitful people do, as we're gonna see in just a moment, even when the heat gets turned up, even when drought comes. 00:28:15.359 --> 00:28:21.519 God-fearing people do the right things and they remain faithful, they bear fruit even in difficulty. 00:28:22.000 --> 00:28:23.519 So we're told that they are fruitful. 00:28:23.680 --> 00:28:25.200 Here's the second thing that we're told. 00:28:25.359 --> 00:28:28.480 Not only are they gonna be fruitful, they're gonna be unafraid. 00:28:28.720 --> 00:28:30.319 We see that in verse 8. 00:28:30.559 --> 00:28:33.119 It does not have fear when the heat comes. 00:28:33.279 --> 00:28:38.000 You know, notice the objective here is not to remove ourselves from any heat. 00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:44.319 It's not to avoid conflict, it's not to avoid issues, it's how we respond in the midst of them. 00:28:44.559 --> 00:28:50.079 James 1, 1 Peter 1 talk about the fact that challenges, suffering is coming. 00:28:50.400 --> 00:28:53.039 But we are unafraid in the midst of those. 00:28:53.279 --> 00:28:56.400 We bear fruit in that heat, we are unafraid in that heat. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.720 We're even told that we're not going to be anxious in that year of drought. 00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:08.880 Philippians chapter 2, verse 6 and 7 says, Be anxious for nothing but prayers of supplications and thanksgiving. 00:29:09.119 --> 00:29:17.119 Make your requests known to God, and the peace of God that transcends your understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:25.039 See, the reality here is not that we're trying to avoid confrontation or problems or sin in our life. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:27.119 We're not trying to avoid that. 00:29:27.839 --> 00:29:30.400 But we're changing the source of our strength. 00:29:30.559 --> 00:29:36.240 We're not double-minded people that proclaim to believe in Jesus but then are doing our own thing. 00:29:37.279 --> 00:29:44.319 We're fruitful people that are unafraid to do the hard things to remain faithful to the Lord even when things become difficult. 00:29:45.039 --> 00:29:52.480 I had a great uh pastor growing up who properly explained to me the meaning of Psalm 23. 00:29:52.960 --> 00:29:54.079 Some of you know it, right? 00:29:54.240 --> 00:29:58.160 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:29:58.480 --> 00:30:05.920 You know, as a teenager, I interpreted that as the Lord is my shepherd, I'm not gonna need everything because he's gonna give it all to me. 00:30:06.880 --> 00:30:13.920 That's how I interpreted Psalm 23 until a very godly man kicked me in the back of the head and said, No, no, no, no, no. 00:30:14.319 --> 00:30:19.920 The point of Psalm 23, one is the Lord is my shepherd, he is all I need. 00:30:20.400 --> 00:30:22.640 That's the point of Psalm 23. 00:30:22.880 --> 00:30:33.839 Verse 1 sets the trajectory for the rest of the Psalm that it's not that he's gonna give us what we want to help us be obedient, it's that he is all we need to be obedient. 00:30:34.559 --> 00:30:38.160 This is what people who fear the Lord are made of. 00:30:38.319 --> 00:30:39.920 They're fruitful people. 00:30:40.400 --> 00:30:43.599 They're not afraid because Christ is enough. 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:52.400 And so if you're here this morning and you feel like you're thirsty, you feel like you're you're dying inside, you gotta ask yourself some tough questions this morning. 00:30:52.559 --> 00:30:54.720 You know, is Jesus enough for you? 00:30:55.119 --> 00:30:56.400 Do you know enough of him? 00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:58.160 Is he a part of you? 00:30:58.480 --> 00:31:00.000 Do you pursue him? 00:31:03.519 --> 00:31:05.440 Do you fear the Lord? 00:31:05.920 --> 00:31:12.720 See, the alternative is as 1 Peter tells us, that the devil prowls around like a lion seeking to devour and destroy. 00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:17.759 I really do believe that this is a key issue in our churches and in our society today. 00:31:18.079 --> 00:31:28.799 Idolatry and specifically the fear of man, I believe, is a is a very poignant strategy that Satan uses to bring division and uh and weakness into the hearts of believers. 00:31:29.839 --> 00:31:37.519 And I think until we become more acutely aware of how we can be prone to doing these things, we're gonna be vulnerable. 00:31:37.839 --> 00:31:39.920 We have to make sure our hearts are soft. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:45.680 We have to make sure they're attached to that vine, that we are being fruitful, that we were unafraid. 00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:46.960 And here's the last thing. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:51.599 Not only are we going to be fruitful, not only are we gonna be unafraid, we're gonna be unceasing. 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:58.559 You see, we at the verse eight, at the end of verse eight, we're told that we do not cease to bear fruit. 00:31:59.200 --> 00:32:07.759 I had another godly man tell me that the mark of a Christian is not what he does at his peaks, it's the trajectory over his spiritual life. 00:32:08.000 --> 00:32:11.519 All of us have peaks and valleys, but are we trending the right way? 00:32:11.680 --> 00:32:13.440 That is the mark of maturity. 00:32:13.680 --> 00:32:15.279 That we don't cease. 00:32:16.000 --> 00:32:20.079 We don't give up, we don't bow out. 00:32:22.799 --> 00:32:28.640 I remember going through a particularly low point in my Bible college career. 00:32:29.200 --> 00:32:33.759 Um, ironically, with Pastor Mike sitting beside me. 00:32:34.000 --> 00:32:51.440 A relationship had ended, a relative had died, a lot had packed into about a two and a half week span, and I remember sitting beside Pastor Mike on a Monday evening class in the book of Romans, and I remember concluding at the back of that classroom there's no way God can be everything he says he is. 00:32:52.640 --> 00:32:56.480 And thank the Lord he does not give up on me like I gave up on him. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:32:58.880 It's amazing what he taught me. 00:32:58.960 --> 00:33:06.799 It's amazing what he can show and what he can demonstrate and how he can bring healing to our hearts when we remain faithful to him. 00:33:07.279 --> 00:33:11.759 When we don't give up, when we remain faithful, we don't cease. 00:33:12.799 --> 00:33:25.359 Psalm 103, sorry, Psalm 1, verses 123 tell us this blessed is the one who does not walk and step with the wicked, or stand in the way that sinners take, or sit in the company of mockers. 00:33:25.599 --> 00:33:32.319 Here it is, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. 00:33:32.799 --> 00:33:42.000 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wiver, wither, whatever they do prospers. 00:33:43.440 --> 00:33:45.839 The word of the Lord will stand, church. 00:33:46.160 --> 00:33:47.279 Are you in it? 00:33:48.480 --> 00:33:53.599 Are you faithfully following Jesus even when it doesn't make sense or even when it seems difficult? 00:33:55.759 --> 00:34:01.279 The blessed person unceases in their devotion and in their faithfulness to the Lord. 00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:03.200 Is that you here this morning? 00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:05.200 Whom do you fear? 00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:15.920 And so Jeremiah closes and you know it ends kind of on a, you know, you think about the general context, it's probably the most depressing passage that Jeremiah writes. 00:34:16.079 --> 00:34:19.039 He says, Look, nation, as a whole, you're toast. 00:34:19.599 --> 00:34:23.199 You know, but praise the Lord, there's a solution he does leave for us. 00:34:23.440 --> 00:34:29.519 We look at verses 9 and 10, it says, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. 00:34:29.599 --> 00:34:31.119 Who can understand it? 00:34:31.360 --> 00:34:33.199 It's not getting better yet. 00:34:33.519 --> 00:34:41.599 Verse 10 says, I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, and give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. 00:34:41.920 --> 00:34:46.639 Again, it's not sounding any more hopeful, but thank the Lord for verse 14. 00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:49.920 It says, Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed. 00:34:50.239 --> 00:34:54.079 Save me and I shall be saved, for you are my praise. 00:34:55.199 --> 00:34:59.760 There is hope and there is healing and there is salvation for us here this morning. 00:35:00.639 --> 00:35:04.559 When we consider the so what, what do we do with this? 00:35:05.679 --> 00:35:07.840 What do we do with all this information? 00:35:08.239 --> 00:35:13.280 A couple things I would say for you is if you're the blessed person here this morning, God bless you. 00:35:13.440 --> 00:35:16.239 Uh please come talk to me and tell me how you do it. 00:35:16.719 --> 00:35:18.480 I'd love to learn from you. 00:35:18.639 --> 00:35:22.239 Uh, and thank you for the example you're setting and your faithfulness. 00:35:22.400 --> 00:35:24.159 Uh our churches need that. 00:35:24.320 --> 00:35:30.960 We need faithful, fruitful, unafraid, committed, and unceasing members in our churches. 00:35:31.280 --> 00:35:32.480 Uh, come talk to me. 00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:33.920 I'd love to pray for you. 00:35:34.239 --> 00:35:43.280 But if you're here this morning and you're feeling kind of fruitless, you're feeling kind of thirsty, and you feel like you're just kind of on a hamster wheel, kind of running yourself into the ground. 00:35:43.679 --> 00:35:46.800 There is hope, there is healing here this morning. 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:48.159 There is repentance. 00:35:48.320 --> 00:35:54.480 Please do not leave today without first standing before the Lord and writing your heart. 00:35:54.719 --> 00:35:57.440 We know the promise comes later in Jeremiah. 00:35:57.599 --> 00:36:01.199 I will take that heart of stone and I will give you a heart of flesh. 00:36:01.440 --> 00:36:03.199 Save me, O Lord, and I will be saved. 00:36:03.360 --> 00:36:04.880 Heal me and I will be healed. 00:36:05.039 --> 00:36:06.480