Funeral service illustration: “My Way” – the well-known Frank Sinatra song is the most popular song at the end of funeral services in this country. It says everything that is wrong with us!
The Bible is not a quaint book of ancient dusty writings which has nothing to say to us this morning or has nothing to say about this nation.
The Prophet Jeremiah was called by God as a youngster – and for 40 years no one listened to a word he said. His was the ministry of failure (humanly speaking) but he kept going, even when God warned him his words would fall on deaf ears. He was persecuted for speaking, he was abandoned by his friends (unable to marry); he often questioned God: ‘what on earth am I doing?!’ And tried to give up - but found he could not – his burning bones would not allow him to (Jer 20:9) – and some of his greatest ever words were spoken (literally) when he was deep in a slimy pit (Jer 18:20)…
Jeremiah is the last prophet to Judah before these ‘people of God’ are taken into captivity by the fierce Babylonians. Here is a nation that, as we say, is ‘going to hell in a handcart!’ The prophet warned them in one way or another: there are hard times coming (judgment). Why?
‘Because you have not taken God seriously – you don’t listen, you are disobedient; you run after (worship) the ‘gods’ of the nations all around you.’
Jeremiah (like any preacher) said, ‘well, here are the 2 choices that face us: turn back to God or go your own way (x 100!). The choice you make will have lasting consequences…’
If you want to understand the troubling days in which we live, or trace the movement of God in the past, we have to appreciate what God now says to Jeremiah:
1“Judah’s sin is engraved with an iron tool, inscribed with a flint point, on the tablets of their hearts and on the horns of their altars. 2 Even their children remember their altars and Asherah poles beside the spreading trees and on the high hills.
3 My mountain in the land and your wealth and all your treasures I will give away as plunder, together with your high places, because of sin throughout your country.
4 Through your own fault you will lose the inheritance I gave you. I will enslave you to your enemies in a land you do not know, for you have kindled my anger, and it will burn forever.” (Jeremiah 17:1-4)
Chapter 17 is at the very heart of this whole prophecy and God begins to open this young man's eyes to the plain, unvarnished (and universal) truth. Here God teaches Jeremiah the most important lesson any person can ever learn. In essence there are two ways by which people can live.
1 Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, 2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. (Psalm 1)
12 There is a way that appears to be right (to man) but in the end it leads to death. (Proverbs 14: 22; 16: 25)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. (Matthew 7)
There are only two ways, never both, but one or the other…
5 This is what the Lord says: “Cursed is the one who trusts in man, who draw strength from mere flesh and whose heart turns away from the Lord. 6 That person will be like a bush in the wastelands; they will not see prosperity when it comes. They will dwell in the parched places of the desert, in a salt land where no one lives.
Here is the person who trusts in man (in human wisdom), who says that man is the ultimate solution to his own problems, who says that it lies in man to be the captain of the soul, to work out all the difficulties of his life, and to save himself. Here is the person who, in the final analysis sings, ‘I did it my way!’
God says "Cursed is that man," - everything he does ultimately will be brought to nothing. All that money you have accumulated, your possessions, your great success, your high view of your achievements; the office you hold - these will amount to ‘a hill of beans’ if you have trusted in these to secure your eternal future; if you have said, ‘My confidence lies in my own goodness to see me through. I’ll do it my way!”
You see, that is what a curse does - it takes away the profit, the worth, the value of anything. The symbol for that man is striking but simple. So great is his need for these things, he cannot see God when he comes; he cannot hear God when God speaks to him God says:
"You are like a shrub in the desert, and you won’t see any good come. You will dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land…
Walk in the desert and look at the plants there. Notice how dry they are, how pathetic and stunted. There is great possibility in them, as you can find out by removing them and giving them enough water; then they will grow tremendously. And that’s the good news!
But in the desert plants are limited, shrunken, shriveled. That is a stark picture of a life which trusts in man, either in himself or anybody else. Unfortunately this is also a picture of many Christians today who are like stunted, shrunken plants. They were planted but they never grew. In contrast to that you have the other way of life, Verses 7-8:
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord." (Jeremiah 17:7 RSV). That is, God himself sustains this man's trust as well as sustaining the man. The Lord keeps his trust alive.
"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." (Jeremiah 17:8 RSV)
The tree planted here by the river is close to the Lord (the fountain of living water) source of life – it’s close to the unseen water.
We have the towering truths of the Gospel to cling to – to trust…
John 14 – Jesus said to his disciples, “you trust God, (then) trust in me also - I am the way, the truth and the life…”
You can choose another way, BUT: …if you want to know who God is and you want to come to Him you must come through me – if you want heaven then trust me; if you want to know forgiveness then don’t be anxious - trust what I have done for you… in forgiveness… on the cross; if you want to face tomorrow with peace and security then trust me and only me, lean on me. If you are worried about anything - illness or death, don’t – simply place your trust in me…
These are just some of the promises of the One who is faithful and true. When men lie and cheat (disappoint) because their hearts are deceitful, there is one who does not lie or cheat – because he is God. We have an anchor for the soul, Jesus Christ – someone who will secure your life – your life may drag but this anchor never will.
In John 15 – Jesus says to his disciples, “Abide in me” - stay close to me, close to the source of life. Jesus asks his followers to remain in the Vine – only by abiding in (near) the vine can you (the branches) have the life of the vine – like the tree standing nearby the water-side…
So who can we trust - our politicians, the banks, the press, the stock-markets, the police or the priests or pundits, the medics - ourselves? Eventually (surely) we will discover these things are a vain hope indeed, that they don’t save us – that we can’t trust them…
“It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man; it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes…” (Psalm 118:8). Here is the scripture that is pretty much at the very centre of the Word of God. It is the great secret to happiness.
You have a choice – the same choice that Jeremiah placed before the people of Judah years ago: trust God or worry about your life or be anxious for tomorrow; simply trust God… or gamble… by seeking your assurance elsewhere…If you have fallen away, then come back today… if you are discouraged, if you are consumed by worries - then hear God’s word to Jeremiah:
"If you return, I will restore you, and you shall stand before me. For I am with you to save you and deliver you, says the Lord. I will deliver you out of the hand of the wicked, and redeem you from the grasp of the ruthless…” (Jer 15)
There are 2 ways. Today may be your last chance to find the right way, the only way…
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