Sermon Info:

Responsive Reading: Jeremiah 17:1-14
Key Verse: Jeremiah 17:5, 7
Background Scripture: Proverbs 2

Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Fooled by Our Own Wisdom
– Tricked by the heart
3. Lesson of the Young Ruler
4. Cursed are the Wise of the World
– The pathway to destruction
– A Shrub in the Wilderness
5. How to Get Aligned With God
– Trust in the wisdom of God
– The Reward of Being Aligned With God

Watch & Listen

Introduction

As we have seen over the past couple of weeks, the Lord desires for you to know who you are – that you are a child of His. Something I shared with all of you at the beginning of this year is that God created you, made you in His image and likeness, because He desires to dwell with you. God wants you to know who you truly are because sin has distorted your identity. So, in order for us to take on our true identity – I tell you today that you must get yourself aligned with God.

Fooled by Our Own Wisdom

Again, I ask you, do you know who you are?  Do you know that you’re supposed to be a child of God?

Tricked by the heart

There are many that balk at the notion of turning to the Lord to understand and know who they are which is very confusing because God made us and the Maker would certainly know His creation completely (Is. 29:16). So, why do some balk at the idea of needing to turn to God to help them understand who they are?

Well, there are many that believe that nobody, not even God, can know them better than they know themselves.  You see, there are many “wise” people in the world that truly believe they know everything there is to know.  Now, to believe you know everything, even more than God, is truly the mindset of a fool.

As we, the sincere believers know, God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts, and His ways are not like our ways; His ways are higher than our ways and His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Is. 55:8-9). As Paul said when it comes to our “wisdom”, God puts to shame worldly wisdom with the foolish things of the world (1 Cor. 1:27).

Those of worldly wisdom believe they know more than the Lord because they fail to understand God’s logic. Yet, the harsh truth about life is that no matter how much we think we know, we don’t know everything there is to know, not even about ourselves. As I said last week, to even come to such an understanding takes introspection. You see, with introspection, you will be asked just as Israel was once asked by God, “can I not do with you as [the potter does with clay] (Jer. 18:6)?”

God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent – who are you? Can you admit that you don’t know everything, and all powerful, or are you blinded by your wisdom and pride? As the Lord said through the prophet Jeremiah, “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; Who can know it (Jer. 17:9)?” Sadly, many of us have been tricked by our own heart and have been led into sin.

Lesson of the Young Ruler

There was once a young man that believed he knew everything and he came to Jesus to confirm that he knew everything; this young man was being deceived by his heart.

The rich young ruler is the young man who I am speaking of; he came to Jesus saying that he kept all the commandments, he was flawless — he knew everything (Luke 18:18-21). You see, in his mind, the young ruler felt like the heavenly kingdom was already his. So, the reason he came to Jesus was for him to ask what more could he possibly do to go to heaven since heaven already belonged to him — he was confident in his wisdom.

He was confident in his wisdom up to the point when Jesus challenged what the young ruler knew and it left the man being sorrowful (Luke 18:22-23). Why was he sorrowful? Because reality had hit the young ruler; he did not know everything. Jesus showed the young ruler that he needed to look within himself — that he needed to get himself aligned with God.

I wonder, how many of us would be met with sorrow if we came to the Lord with the same mindset of the young ruler?  Many of us would see that we aren’t aligned with God because our heart has deceived us into believing we are wise, and both holy and righteous – perfect – when we are not.  Again, I ask, do you know who you are?  Or are you a fool being deceived by your heart?

Cursed are the Wise of the World

Do you know what comes to those who are not aligned with God? In the first of my key verses, we will see that when you trust in man and make the flesh your strength, the Lord said that you are cursed. Let us understand that when you believe that you are omniscient (all knowing), you put yourself on the pathway of a fool.

The pathway to destruction

In Proverbs, we are told that the way of a fool is right in his own eyes as a fool despises wisdom and instruction; this mindset is one that leads to destruction (Prov. 1:5, 7, 32; 12:15). Yet, the proverbs also tells us that those who truly are wise can admit they know nothing and will diligently seek to gain more understanding by seeking wise counsel.

You see, destruction is the curse that falls upon the foolish in heart because they are not aligned with God.  Some genuinely believe that they can enjoy success (be blessed) even if their heart is not aligned with God.  

So, is there even any truth to such a thought?  If you are of a worldly mindset, then you would certainly think this is true because your idea of being blessed drastically differs from the divine truth of what it means to be blessed.  The world determines that you are blessed if you possess much.  Whereas, if you lack possessions, then the world will say you aren’t blessed.

Now, the Lord does not think this way when it comes to what makes you blessed; you can be in poverty, according to the world, but be rich in God’s eyes (Rev. 2:9). You see, to be blessed means that you have gained peace and contentment in your heart — you are satisfied in your soul and are in want for nothing.

Now, the world cannot satisfy your soul in such a manner. The only one that can bring such peace and contentment to your soul is the Lord. Again, we saw this last week, as the Lord is the one that takes away our burdens, faults, and flaws through His grace. For by grace we are saved, by faith in Christ, and we overcome all obstacles and have peace (Eph. 2:8).

So, in order for one to enjoy such contentment, they must be aligned with God in their hearts. As the question was asked in Amos 3:3, can two walk together, unless they are agreed? This was a question that was asked at a time when Israel was too busy striving against God and were not aligned with Him in their heart. Israel, the northern kingdom, eventually fell to the Assyrians because they lived in disobedience.

No, the one that is not aligned with the Lord will not find success (be blessed).  I suppose if you’re happy with temporary happiness, then maybe you will enjoy being out of alignment with God.  However, in no way can you ever receive the blessing of everlasting contentment from the Lord when you are not aligned with Him.

A Shrub in the Wilderness

The identity of one that is not aligned with God is shown to us throughout scripture and the identity of that one is not a pretty picture.

In Jeremiah 17, God identified those that strive against Him as one like a shrub in the desert which does not see when good comes. God said that they shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited (Jer. 17:6). Is this who you are? Is this who you desire to be? Do you desire to merely be a shrub in a parched (deprived) place?

Take a guess at who desires for the deprived desert shrub to be your identity?  As I have said over the past couple of weeks, the devil does not want you to grow and transform in your true essence.  You see, in your true form – your true identity – you are far more powerful than he will ever be!  The devil does not want you to become that righteous tree of God that I preached about earlier this year.

The devil takes great pleasure when he can sow tares, deceive, and corrupt the hearts of God’s children as he diligently puts forth the effort in doing so. Let us remember the lengths Satan went through to corrupt Job and try to get him to turn from God. As I mentioned last week, I certainly believed the devil pushed Jonah’s anger which led him to try to run and hide from the Lord and His assignment. The devil wanted Job and Jonah, as he does with the rest of us, to be like a shrub in a parched place.

How to Get Aligned With God

So, who do you desire to be?  You and I should certainly not desire to be the shrub in a parched place!  You and I should desire to grow into the true essence that God has intended for us.  So, how do we grow into our true essence?

Trust in the wisdom of God

To grow into your true essence you must enter into fellowship with the Lord.  In order for you to enter into fellowship with the Lord, you realize that you actually need to have a relationship with Him.  Do you understand that you need to be in fellowship (aligned) with the Lord? It is so hard for someone to enter into fellowship with God when they think they already know everything and have no need for Him.

As I said last week, this is the importance of introspection: we have to look at and recognize our flaws – our imperfections – because we aren’t perfect! When we recognize our imperfections, we will realize that we need to consult someone who can actually fix the imperfections of our heart (soul). As Peter said, we need to adorn the hidden person of our heart in beauty and we can’t do that by ourselves (1 Pet. 3:4).

So, in order for us to truly clean up and adorn our hearts in beauty, we must go to God and be aligned with Him; as the Proverb says, we must not lean on our own understanding (Prov. 3:5). This means that you must let go of your own pride and ego of what you think you know. Are you capable of letting go of your pride? I certainly hope so.

As we know, with pride comes a great fall (Prov. 16:18). Those that continue in their pride, in total disregard of the inevitable fall, are truly of a foolish mindset! Listen and understand: Should you try to lean on your own understanding and adorn your heart in what you think is beautiful, you are cursing your heart (soul) to fail, just as Satan fell from heaven (Is. 14:12-14; Luke 10:18).

Proverbs 2:2-6, tells us that, again, we should desire and seek God’s wisdom and understanding as if it was like silver or hidden treasures. You and I must stop putting our trust in the wisdom of others who are of the world, and worldly doctrines, if we truly desire to be aligned with God and grow into our true form!

For Israel, putting their trust in the wisdom and power of man was a major issue as shown in the book of Isaiah. Israel, during the days of Moses, had made a covenant with the Lord to trust and to serve only Him. Yet, during the days of Isaiah, Israel broke that covenant as they desired to put their trust in Egypt for help; they trusted Egypt’s chariots and horsemen because they were many and strong rather than turn to God (Is. 31:1).

God was aware of what was in Israel’s heart and said to them through Isaiah, “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help … the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses are flesh, and not spirits (Is. 31:1, 3).” God said to them that He would stretch out His hand against Egypt and Israel and both would perish together (Is. 31:3).

To some of us, this will sound rather harsh but the Lord has made it clear to all of His children that He only wants us to trust in Him and His power! God, again, desires to be aligned with you and when He sees you align with another, He gets jealous (2 Cor. 11:2)!

The reason why the Lord is a jealous God is because He loves you and He knows what awaits those that go in the way that is foolish. As Proverbs 13:20 makes clear, whoever walks with wise men will be wise, but the companion of fools will be destroyed. Israel’s trust, just like your trust, should be in God and nobody else. So, in order for us to be aligned with God, we must let go of our pride and put our complete trust in the Lord!

The Reward of Being Aligned With God

In the second of my key verses, we will see that the Lord said to those who trust in Him, “Blessed (happy) is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord (Jer. 17:7).” Those that trust in the Lord are blessed because they have aligned themselves with Him.

We will see that Jeremiah desired to be brought into further alignment with God, and he also desired this for his brothers and sisters of Judah as well. So, Jeremiah prayed for deliverance from the identity of wickedness when he cried out, “Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed; Save me, and I shall be saved, for You are my praise (Jer. 17:14).”

Do you understand how many of us need to pray for this today?  This is the prayer of one that desires to be free from sin!  This is the prayer of one that desires to walk with God!

There truly is great value in being aligned with God. In Proverbs 2, we are told that those who are aligned with God, are able to receive His wisdom and understanding in their hearts (Prov. 2:10). The same proverb tells us that when we are aligned with God, in our identity, God’s knowledge is pleasant to our soul!

We are further told that when we are aligned with God, in our identity, discretion will preserve us and God’s understanding will both keep and deliver us; we will be delivered from the way of evil (Prov. 2:12), from those who speak corrupt things (Prov. 2:12), from those who leave the path of righteousness (Prov. 2:13), and form those who rejoice in doing evil (Prov. 2:14).

When you get yourself aligned with God, and are no longer aligned with sin, Proverbs 2 concludes that you will walk in the way of goodness and keep to the path of righteousness (Prov. 2:20). You see, when you walk down this path, you can complete your transformation into your true form of holiness and righteousness!

God does not want you to be conformed into the image of sin. No, the Lord wants you to be conformed into His image. As Paul wrote, the Lord has predestined for all of us who choose to live in obedience to His word to be conformed to His glory (Rom. 8:29)! This is your true form – your true identity – holiness and glory. Flee from the deceptions of the world, do some introspection, lean on the Lord, and transform into holiness and righteousness.