WWUTT 2419 The Heart is Desperately Sick (Jeremiah 17:1-18)

One of the culture's most popular mantras is to follow your heart, or believe in yourself. But the Bible says if you believe in yourself, you believe in a fool, and following your heart will lead to your destruction.

Introduction to Jeremiah 17 and Judah’s Coming Judgment

When We Understand the Text.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in the Word. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we feature New Testament Study, an Old Testament book on Thursday, and our Q &A on Friday.

Now here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the book of Jeremiah, we are on to Chapter 17. There's a couple of famous Jeremiah verses in this chapter. You might notice them when we come to them. God has promised that he is going to judge Judah, because they've rebelled against God, they've worshipped false gods, and they've gone after the ways of the pagans around them.

There have been several addresses to Judah. I think we're coming up on like the sixth or seventh address in this particular chapter. We finish one and start another. That transition happens around verse 18, is where one address ends, and then 19 is where the next one begins.

So over and over again, God has promised destruction upon Judah. But occasionally we get these glimmers of hope, especially at the end of Chapter 16. God said that he would not absolutely annihilate them, completely wiping them off the earth, but they would come back to the land, and their deliverance from exile back into the land from which they were driven will be greater than the day that they came out of Egypt.

So the return from the exile is going to be more incredible, and it will be more spoken of than when even the Jews came out of slavery in Egypt. Now as we come into Chapter 17, though we've had this promise of deliverance that's been at the end of Chapter 16, God is once again going to issue these curses upon Judah, and Jeremiah will pray for their deliverance.

The Curse of Trusting in Man and the Blessing of Trusting in the Lord

Let me begin reading here in verse 1. I'll go through about verse 10. Here are the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord. Cursed is the man who trusts in man, and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord.

He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

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.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick. Who can understand it? I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

Now, you've surely heard it said, a popular phrase within our culture is to follow your heart. Trust your heart. Just about every Disney movie, this is the lesson or the moral of the story. Trust in yourself.

Believe in yourself. Follow your heart. Even a film like Braveheart, which is supposed to be an action guys movie, there's a line toward the beginning of the film where it says, your heart is free. Have the courage to follow it.

But what do we have here in Jeremiah 17, verse five, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. And verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Who can understand it? Judah has found themselves in the place that they're in because they were following their heart. Because they believed in themselves instead of believing in God. That is only going to lead to your destruction.

There's a verse in Proverbs also that says, whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool. But he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. I believe that's it's somewhere in Proverbs chapter 28. You're surely familiar with Proverbs three verses five and six.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart. Lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Acknowledge him and he will make your paths straight. Judah has taken their eyes off God. They've put their eyes on these false gods.

They have loved the sins that the pagans indulge in. And so they go after gods that will let them have those sins. Sometimes the worship of those false gods involved participating in these abominable sins that God has promised that he will judge.

And so we have right here at the start of the chapter, God saying to Judah, 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.

On the horns of their altars to reference. This is their worship. This is what they worship. It's what they go after, whom they sacrifice to these false gods. Verse two, while their children remember their altars and their Asherim beside every green tree and on the high hills, the Asherim was a pole of some kind.

Some of the things that I've read on the Asherim pole are a little bit mysterious. We don't know exactly what it looked like. We have a pretty good idea based on certain artifacts, certain archeological digs that have been unearthed, but the pole was likely made of wood.

It wasn't made of stone or iron, so it would have been a lot harder to preserve that pole. So it's mostly in like engravings and writings that we have an understanding of what the Asherim pole may have looked like.

But because it was wood, it's a lot harder to keep something that's wood preserved to unearth in an archeological dig. Usually you're unearthing metal or stone or pots or something like that. But an Asherim pole was to represent a tree and it also represented fertility and Asherim was considered to be the wife of God.

So the mother God to a certain extent. And I've compared the Roman Catholic worship of Mary to Israel worshiping the Asherim. They thought of the Asherim as being the wife of God. Well, who is Mary? Mary is the mother of God.

That's what they call her. Of course, that language is used in the Chalcedonian Creed. But at the time that that creed was written, those men couldn't possibly have imagined what the Mary cult would become, what it is today.

Now in Roman Catholicism, if you even deny that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven or that she was born without sin, if you deny those things, those are central dogmas to the Roman Catholic faith. And you would be declared anathema for denying them.

The Bible says no such thing regarding this. But this is how far the Roman Catholics have taken it. They pray to her. They ask her to save them. They worship Mary as Israel had worshiped the Asherim. And it says your children, while your children remember their altars and their Asherim.

So this is showing how far the idolatry corruption has gone. It's gone all the way down, even into your children. There is not anyone in Judah that does not know this sin. This sin has been written with a pen of iron.

It's on their hearts. They're not going to turn from it. They will continue in this sin to their destruction. But also to say that it's written with a pen of iron and with a point of diamond is also to say that in the registry of heaven in which these things are recorded, they are written down permanently.

And it's not like Judah could appear before God one day and say, I didn't do any of those things. They're written down as though they cannot be erased. And even that last verse that we read, verse 10, I, the Lord searched the heart and test the mind to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.

So that first statement about the permanence of the sins that they have done being written in the record against them. And God knowing what is on their hearts to do that, which is in rebellion against God, what is contrary to God, and they will be judged for that.

Verse three 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. So this is the promise of whatever wealth you have will become the possession of your enemies.

You shall loosen your hand from your heritage that I gave to you, and I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. For in my anger, a fire is kindled that shall burn forever. And that further stating the permanence of God's judgment against these sins.

There are those who are going to repent and God will forgive them. But those who do not repent, the judgment that will be upon them will last forever. That's a statement about hell, that the wrath of God that pours out on those who have been cast into hell is eternal.

It cannot be quenched or put out. May that cause us to fear and tremble knowing that God does know all of our thoughts and and all of the inclinations of our hearts so that we would turn from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be forgiven and live.

The heritage that belonged to Judah will be torn from them. I will make you serve your enemies in a land that you do not know. Similar thing that was said in chapter 16, you will be driven into a land to worship their gods because that's what they want to do anyway.

The Jews have been worshiping false gods. And so it would be a horrifying thing to hear God say, I'm going to drive you into that land to worship their gods, because if that's what you want, then that's the land that you're going to go to and you will become their slaves.

Worshiping false gods was a sign that God was not with them. And so to hear God say, I'm going to put you in a land where you're going to worship those gods is to hear the is for the Jews to hear God say, I'm not going to be with you anymore because you were not devoted to me.

Verse five, once again, thus says the Lord cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. Can you trust yourself? Can you believe in yourself?

No.

You know, I've heard it many, many times. I've even said this before in the past, but I've heard it many times from others also who who I have confronted in sin and have heard them say, I can turn away from this whenever I want to.

I know I need to stop, but, you know, I'll get there. Or somebody will tell me, I can't come to church right now because I'm already in all this sin and probably won't say it like that, but something to that degree.

And I need to take care of things first. I need to do something about this before I come back to church. And my response to them is always the same. You don't fix yourself. You come to Christ and he will fix you.

If you're going to be out here trying to fix yourself before you feel like you're worthy to come before Christ and be a part of his people again, you're never going to get there because you'll never be worthy enough.

It is Christ who makes you worthy. And like I said, I've said this in the past. I've been indulging in sin that I thought I can quit whenever I want or or I've been tempted by this sin a few times. Then I get tempted by it again.

And I think to myself, well, I was able to put it off before. However, I can indulge in it a little bit here and I'll be able to put it off again. But as I've said regarding this, how do you know that?

How do you know that you will actually be able to turn from this sin back to the Lord? How do you know that you're continuing after this sin? This this continued pattern is just demonstrating that you are not really of Christ.

And it will finally get to the point, as said in Romans one, that God gives you over to a debased mind to do what ought to be done. He will give you over to your sin that you you are now stuck in that pattern.

And that's the judgment that God has for you. You want to worship those false gods? You want to go after those pagan ways?

Fine.

And he puts you over to that and removes his favor from you entirely. It's one of the reasons why David prayed in Psalm 51, take not your Holy Spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of your salvation.

Renew a right spirit within me. Is that your cry unto God when you turn from sin to the Lord Jesus Christ? Don't take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Don't continue to flirt with sin, thinking that you are strong-willed enough to stop whenever you want, because again, you don't know that this will be the time that God just turns you over to it and says, you clearly love this more than me.

So have at it. And that would be that would be a judgment upon you. That would be God turning you over to the passions of your flesh. Such a man is like a shrub in the desert and shall not see any good come.

He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness in an uninhabited salt land. In a salt land, nothing can grow. It's just wasted ground. But then look at verse seven. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord.

He's not trusting in himself. He's trusting in the Lord. He's not following his own heart. He's after God's heart. 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.

Very similar to Psalm one. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

This is the person, the person who is like a tree planted by streams of water is the man who delights in the law of the Lord. And on his law, he meditates day and night. Judah has gone away from the word of God.

They've gone after the mute words, the non words of the false gods. Why is it that they go after those false gods? Because they're following their heart. And those false gods will say whatever their heart says.

So verse nine, the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? All kinds of mental health experts out there claim to know the heart. They know how your heart works.

They know how the mind ticks and you need to go get professional psychological help. In fact, I'll hear this even from from Christians who are giving advice and counsel to people who have recovered from trauma, which is such a loose word anymore.

I mean, it used to describe a person that's actually been through something traumatic. But everybody is such a wimp these days just because somebody said a bad word to you. Suddenly you have a trauma.

Somebody made a comment about your hair that you took the wrong way and now you have a trauma. And that's such an offense to people who really deal with actual traumatic situations. But anyway, you'll have some Christian teachers out there will say that if you have a trauma, you need actual professional help.

Somebody who has been through psychological classes, has been through psychiatric training, has got their degree from an accredited university so that they can properly diagnose your mental health problems.

The problem is this person probably is not a Christian, does not fear God, does not have a biblical understanding of anthropology or sin. It does not know that the only solution to your problem is Christ.

They're just going to have you chasing your tail, running around in circles, trusting in your own heart, believing your own mind. But the heart is desperately sick. Who can understand it? Not these quote unquote experts.

But verse 10, I, the Lord, search the heart and test the mind to give to every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds. The kinds of things we do, our actions, the choices that we make.

These things exhibit what's truly in our heart. As Jesus said in Matthew 12, out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks. And what we say and do is going to be that outward demonstration of what is truly the attitude of our hearts.

The Foolishness of Riches Without Justice and the Hope of Israel

Let me see if I can finish the rest here down to verse 18. And this will finish this section anyway. And we can pick up in chapter 17, verse 19 next week. So verse 11, like the partridge that gathers a brood that she did not hatch, so is he who gets riches, but not by justice.

In the midst of his days, they will leave him. And at his end, he will be a fool. So right after God has said that he's going to give to every person the fruit of his deeds. And now he's demonstrating here the fruit of the deeds of Judah, that they are not according to God's word.

They're following their own hearts. Verse 12, a glorious throne set on high from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary. Oh Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame. Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.

They'll be written in the earth. They will go down into the earth. Their remains will be on the earth. And so Jeremiah prays for deliverance, and this is verses 14 to 18. Heal me, oh Lord, and I shall be healed.

Save me and I shall be saved for you are my praise. Behold, they say to me, where is the word of the Lord? Let it come. I have not run away from being your shepherd, nor have I desired the day of sickness.

You know what came out of my lips. It was before your face. Be not a terror to me. You are my refuge in the day of disaster. Let those be put to shame who persecute me, but let me not be put to shame.

Let them be dismayed, but let me not be dismayed. Bring upon them the day of disaster. Destroy them with double destruction. And so is our prayer unto God that he would deliver us from these times. I remember writing a song a number of years ago.

This was over 20 years ago now I wrote this song. The verse goes, another day, still the same. Sodom's going up in flames and I can't get out. Read the words, say a prayer, hoping that you'll meet me there despite all my doubts.

Shabby and lazy. All I do is complain. I'm going crazy just trying to stay sane. There's no way that we can sustain ourselves. There's no way that we can lift ourselves up. We must trust in God. He is our only hope to deliver us from the craziness of this world.

The wickedness of our culture. We can't change it. You cannot change the culture as much as you want to, no matter how right you think your heart is. You cannot go out there and make the world a better place.

If this culture's hearts are going to turn to God, that's God's doing. That will be because God has decided to have mercy on this people and turn them back to himself. But it takes the preaching of the gospel.

If we're not out there preaching the gospel, telling people to turn from sin because the wrath of God is coming, and to turn to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. He who died on the cross for us, who rose again from the dead, and all who believe in him will not perish but have everlasting life.

If we're not out there preaching the gospel, there's no change in this culture that's going to happen. We might be able to improve the situation, but it's just giving everybody a comfortable seat on their way to hell.

You can have a beautiful culture where everybody is going to church, the streets are even clean, there's no foul language on television, but they're going to churches where the gospel is not preached?

That's still a fallen and depraved culture that God has given over to destruction. We must be preaching the gospel. It is the only way to see that change. But my friends, if you, in reading this today, have been convicted over your sin, then I pray you would turn from it to Christ and don't go back to it.

Come to Christ and don't take your eyes off him. As said in Hebrews 12, let us put off sin and every weight that so easily entangles and run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the author and the perfecter of our faith.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for what we have read, and I pray that indeed it would be your will that we would see the gospel go forth and many would turn from their sin to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.

This culture is so worthy of judgment and destruction, as worthy, if not more, than what Judah deserved in this section that we are reading. And so, Lord, I pray that we would have courage in these days to share the gospel of Christ so that people will hear it and live and convict our hearts that we may turn from sin to the Lord Christ and be cleansed.

It's in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

This has been When We Understand the Text with Pastor Gabriel Hughes. For all of our podcasts, episodes, videos, books, and more, visit our website at www .utt .com. If you'd like to submit a question to this broadcast or just send us a comment, email whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com.

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