A blessed man as a tree planted by God. (ii) (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] With the Lord's help, I will direct your attention to the prophecy of Jeremiah, the 17th chapter, verses 7 and 8.

[0:10] The prophecy of Jeremiah, the 17th chapter, verses 7 and 8. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is.

[0:31] For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

[0:55] Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit.

[1:25] Very often in the scripture, close together, we find the marks of contrast.

[1:40] The two previous verses to our text set before us such a contrast. Thus saith the Lord, curseth be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.

[2:06] And then we have a description of the outcome. For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabit it.

[2:29] A very solemn contrast is this to the description given in our text today of the man that is blessed.

[2:44] There is a vast distinction between those that are blessed of God, and upon those that are cursed of God.

[2:56] There are men that have trembled at the curse of a man. How solemn for us to be in a place to be cursed of God.

[3:13] Blessed is the man that trusted in the Lord. We cannot trust in the Lord without knowing the Lord. We cannot hope in God without having had some experience of God.

[3:31] This does not mean to say that our knowledge must be deep, or our experience long. The Lord suddenly appears and comes to his temple, and suddenly shines upon the truth concerning himself.

[3:53] And whenever that takes place, however slight our knowledge, and however small our experience, yet, because the grace of God is in it, it will be sufficient to cause a person to trust in the Lord and to hope in God.

[4:19] Much of Christian experience is contained in the words here of trusting in the Lord and also manifesting this truth whose hope the Lord is.

[4:44] This is to be separated in its meaning from hoping in the Lord or hoping in the word of the Lord.

[5:02] Hope is not something that reposes in the abstract. In the scriptures, hope is in Christ himself. He is the hope of his people.

[5:16] Now the word here says, blessed, is the man that trusted in the Lord. He is blessed because he has a background. And that background is such about which he knew nothing.

[5:32] prior to the Lord coming to him although that background existed. You know, sometimes people may speak about their background.

[5:51] it may bring fear into their hearts sometimes if their background is far from good.

[6:03] On the other hand, it may encourage them to hope if they may venture to say that their background has been good. now every one of God's people will eventually be able to look back on a good background.

[6:21] background. And that background will take them to a time before they were born. This is the background of the people of God which enables them to trust in the Lord early in their Christian life and also to see so clearly and yet more clearly as they go along that their hope is the Lord himself.

[6:56] We therefore will look just a little at this background. It is a sure background. It is a good background.

[7:09] It is an eternal background. It is a background which God has authorised and which God has established by an oath.

[7:25] By two immutable things in which it was impossible for God to lie. When he could swear by no greater he swore by himself.

[7:37] In blessing I will bless thee and in multiplying I will multiply thee. the background of the people of God will eventually be shown to them.

[7:53] If we take the natural counterpart our parents may well have had to show us as we grew old enough to understand what had been the background what had been the situation that preceded our birth what had been the preparation that had been made for our birth what had been the provision that had sustained us even until now.

[8:26] But to look at the background of the people of God that when they realise it will find as it were the upspringing of that faith to trust in the Lord and to recognise whose hope the Lord is will be wonderful.

[8:48] Now the background of the people of God stands in this and stems from this elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.

[9:03] It is a background the election hath obtained it and the rest are blinded. The natural mind will perhaps kick against such things does do.

[9:21] The suggestions of Satan will bring their thoughts along these lines that if that is so I haven't any chance at all and therefore it's not fair.

[9:35] I haven't a choice of my home. The teaching of the Holy Spirit will show us what the choice of our own is and must be apart from this remarkable background.

[9:55] The electing love of God the Father. If we are called by grace we shall ever bless God for this background because had it not have been for this then we could not have obtained salvation.

[10:13] We would never have sought for salvation. We have never come to trust in the Lord as Jeremiah was brought to trust in the Lord. It is because of this aspect of the background of the people of God that in due time they trust in the Lord.

[10:33] Oh the background. And then there is the background of the covenant of grace which was arranged between God the Father and God the Son and witnessed by the Holy Ghost in the interest of everyone who is chosen unto salvation.

[11:01] What a background we have then if we are called by grace. You know sometimes we can fall into the trap of paying a great deal of attention to our call by grace.

[11:19] Indeed we can understand it because it is a memorable time in our life but let us go beyond that to the background that brought about our call by grace.

[11:34] The covenant of grace. Oh that is the background of the church of the living God and because of that background they will come to trust in the Lord and to rejoice in this truth whose hope the Lord is and therefore the people of God are blessed what is contained in this covenant of grace.

[12:10] Are we not reminded from the scriptures of truth and this is the covenant that I will make with them they shall all know me from the least of them unto the greatest of them and what is contained in this covenant about a clear provision they shall want no good thing and provision is made we do not always think of our background whoever we are when we are born into this world it is a background of provision a background of preparation not done by ourselves and we come into the world helpless we come into the world dependent we come into the world having to rely upon the kindness of others equally so the background of the people of

[13:14] God will rejoice when they know it when they think about it will rejoice in God's election and God's provision in the covenant of grace everything was made was prepared every provision was made when you come to think of your first feelings when you were born again of the spirit can you remember them were they the first feelings they may not have been so because we do not always realize what's happening when the first feelings come but what a provision has been made if those feelings have made you wonder about the strange light that has come into your life the new things that are observable is this is it true that we understand these things

[14:28] God has made provision God sending forth his own son made in the likeness of man made unto the law a provision for sinners a refuge for sinners the gospel makes known it is found in the merits of Jesus alone now this is the background of everyone that is born of God they have an eternal background based in eternal love they're based upon eternal favor having all the assurances of continual provision none of the people of God will ever want they will never want grace the

[15:28] Lord has declared my grace is sufficient for them they will never want strength though they may seem to come to the end of their strength sometimes only because of the background of their father and his remarkable provision for all his family can we pause at this point to ask ourselves whether we are conscious of such a background whether we can reflect sometimes upon the reason of our being called by grace as to the reason as to why we were separated from an ungodly world now God instructs his children in this glorious background it is this background you know that will eventually produce the effect we may refer sometimes to those well known words of

[16:48] John Kent where he says there is a period known to God when all his sheep redeemed by blood shall leave the hateful ways of sin turn to the fold and enter him and it's all because of the background at peace with hell with God at war in sin's dark maze they wander far indulge their lust and still go on as far from God as sheep can run maybe some of us have known that some more deeply than others but nevertheless it's been true now what holds it it's all been because of the background of God's electing love and of the covenant of grace of his predestinating work and purposes to be developed at the appointed time in the lives of everyone whose names are written in heaven and this background so to speak of the love of God is maintained and manifested in the next verse but see how heaven's indulgent care attends their wanderings here and there still hard of heal where they stray with pricking thorns to hedge the way now if we can read into our lives something of that kind of thing when we were greatly rebellious because

[18:17] God had begun to do something or perhaps we had been quite rebellious and were determined not to know anything about the ways of God but there was the background and this is that which has made all the difference in the lives of every one of God's children it's not their background because they're brought up in a godly family valuable as that is but it is the background that their names are written in heaven it is the background of their father's love being upon them it is the background of their being under the blood in that covenant sealed with the blood of Jesus Christ it is with the background of these wonderful blessings which God has reserved for them that love him hence the appointed time rolls on a pace not to propose but call by grace to change the heart renew the will and turn the feet to Zion's hill so the people that trust in the

[19:33] Lord are blessed before they trust in him and hence they come to this clear conclusion that they're not blessed because they trust in him that would be putting our trust on a wrong foundation we can easily be deluded into thinking so but our trust our being blessed does not depend upon our trust as much as it depends upon this background which belongs to every one of the people of God chosen of God how clearly does top ladies set it forth when he says chosen of God ere time began I choose thee in return that's the reason oh that is the reason that the person is blessed blessed is the man that trusteth in the

[20:40] Lord so we see in Christian experience a development of the covenant being worked out maybe we do not think enough about the blessings and glories of the covenant but it is good you know for us sometimes at least to see in our Christian experience in our call by grace in the tender mercies of the Lord over us in the promises of God which are continually being set before us if not applied in particular words yet they're being experienced in our souls day by day this should be recognized and observed and thought upon in the light of God's covenant now this will be a good meditation meditation it will be a good meditation to think upon our lives in the covenant of grace it will enable us to trust in the

[21:49] Lord when we observe that the Lord is the Lord of that covenant the covenant contains his will the covenant contains his purposes the covenant discovers to us his love reveals to us his tenderness assures us of his mercy so to be able to trust in the Lord as a result of our beholding the blessedness of covenant grace to see our lives as it were surrounded by the covenant but see our heavens indulgent care as we refer to it well what is that but the hand of the covenant going out so we cannot go farther than the Lord will allow us to go preserved in Jesus

[22:50] Christ and called we find the scriptures declaring why why are the people of God preserved in Jesus Christ and called it is all the result of the covenant this was written before time began the engagements were considered that which was required was well weighed before time began before man was born and so the man that is blessed may be said to be blessed with all the blessings of an everlasting and eternal covenant oh then blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord in this particular instance the trusting in the

[23:51] Lord is the trusting in God the Father God the Son and God the Eternal Spirit we cannot begin to explain this great mystery of the Trinity in unity that is three persons but one God the covenant will cause us to know the three persons the covenant will cause us also to know this that even though there are three persons there is but one God if we worship God then our worship must be directed toward the Father toward the Son and toward the Holy Ghost Christ can we look at a moment for a moment as our trusting in the

[24:51] Lord because it is important for us to weigh the matter up individually if we are the man the woman the child that trusts in the Lord then do we trust in in this great God of Israel the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost I believe that we shall we shall and certainly will do this being emphasized at times because our circumstances will sometimes seem to direct us to one more than the other and yet it is not so you know if we worship God then we worship the

[25:52] Father the Son and the Holy Ghost if we should come to the Lord and say perhaps in the words of the hymn come Holy Spirit come reveal the things of God oh make to our salvation known and witness with the blood if you have had that prayer in your soul as I venture to believe that some of you certainly have then can you reflect upon it did you forget the Father and the Son when you prayed to the Holy Spirit or if we should take another aspect of it when we conclude our petitions for Jesus Christ sake the prevalence of the name of Jesus yet did you forget the Spirit and did you forget the Father was that can you not trace in your own soul that there was a worshipping of God even though you may plead the name of

[26:57] Jesus yet there was a worshipping of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and if on another occasion you should pray as the Lord taught his disciples to pray our Father which art in heaven I say are you forgetting the Holy Ghost and are you forgetting Jesus Christ I believe spiritual experience will confirm that the whole soul worships the three one God and even though you may mention at times one of those persons specifically yet it is not to the exclusion of the others blessed is the man that trusted in the Lord we shall be taught by the Spirit of God that our trust in the Lord is a trust in the complete agreement of the trinity of persons let us relate it to our salvation it is not always remembered that the

[28:16] God the Father was so to speak the motivating force in the salvation of the church whilst we would not put one above the other yet the scripture will bring this to our attention that God that is the Father so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son without any giving there would have been no start to salvation so to speak the fact that there was a complete agreement is and must surely be recognized and this fact must also be recognized that the agreement concerning the salvation of the church was in eternity now eternity has no dimensions we think of matters so often bearing a relation to time so that we cannot imagine anything a person being at being at one and the same being in agreement one and the same time but it is so when we recognize the counsels of

[29:47] God being eternal this is what is so stumbling to those people who say well the father must have been before the son we look at it in the light of eternity where there is no before or after that is a great mystery now blessed is the man that trusted in the Lord it brings us to a great truth that the Lord is the eternal God eternity sits a stride of time it was before it runs alongside with it and will continue when time is finished and yet eternity is above time is not in any way affected by time now it is the eternal

[30:49] God that is the refuge of his people we may be greatly bothered much trouble by the things that are taking place in the earth we may see men rising up riots breaking out savagery taking place is God disturbed wonderful are the words of Dr.

[31:18] Watts when he says concerning the Lord Jesus Christ who has all things or rather the eternal God who has all things in his hand their lives through various scenes are drawn and vexed with trifling cares whilst thy eternal thoughts moves on thy undisturbed affairs there are many troublous things come into our lives in the nation in the church in the family in our own hearts but can we look above these things and see that our eternity overrides time and it is the eternal God that overrides everything blessed is the man that trusted in this Lord revealed oh revealed and in the hymn that we've just sung concerning the church's safety and triumph

[32:29] God is the refuge of his saints when storms of sharp distress invade ere we can offer our complaints behold him present with his aid have we not found this to be true and is this not therefore the inspiration of our trusting in the Lord blessed with a blessed view of what God is and this the man that trusts in him especially enjoys we shall never trust in the Lord unless we have some knowledge of what he is and therefore it is necessary that we should see him no not with our mortal lives but we should see him with the working of faith in the soul great mystery is this it cannot be understood or entered into until the life of

[33:31] God is given but when it is oh then what we see in the Lord he rules and he over rules as we have it in the book of Daniel he rules in the armies of heaven amongst the inhabitants of the earth and none can stay his hand or say unto him what doest thou now we do not have to go outside of ourselves to prove this truth there are certainly there have certainly been times surely when you have had a determination about a certain thing you have said I'm going to do it sometimes you have not been able to perform that which you said you were going to do and if your eyes were open under those circumstances then maybe you fell down and worshipped

[34:36] God because you proved that God ruled over all who is it that saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord command it not now don't look at everybody else and forget yourself who is it saith and it cometh to pass when the Lord command it not you see have we not said this is what we will do have we not said this is the course we will pursue we find concerning pharaoh he said I will overtake I will overtake I will overtake and I will overthrow but the Lord's mind was different and with all the chariots of pharaoh they sank in the red sea so people may become very determined and what they speak sometimes is but a fragment of what they thought but here is the consolation of the saints of

[35:43] God here is that which when their eyes are open to see it will bring them to trust in the Lord who sits on no precarious throne nor burrows leave to be he is over all the Lord restrains and he also constraints and then again we may regard the working of the power of God which brings us to trust in the Lord by what we've experienced when we consider the case of the man that had two sons and he said to one go my son go work today in my vineyard and he said I will not go and that's what the son said and he wouldn't be the first son that said that

[36:43] I don't suppose but we read and afterward he repented and went why we don't read that the father did anything but God worked worked in that young man's heart and he was made willing in the day of God's power and how many in their various ways would be able to speak about God's sovereignty and overruling power over them we should never be able to speak much about overruling power unless we have known it in our own souls we can look outside indeed we can sometimes we can say well look how God has dealt with that person maybe we may we have reached a completely wrong conclusion except that

[37:50] God may have dealt with us in the same way well now is there any distinction surely it's obvious that we can see if God has dealt with another person if we haven't got the experience ourselves we shall be unaware of how God deals with people now God deals with people in his mercy he does not deal with them according as their sins deserve so can you look into the heart of another when you're observing God's wonderful work and come to some thought as to the manner of God's mercy God will deal with his people mercifully God will ever deal with his people tenderly has the Lord ever really got the whip out to you if you've been his child surely it has been under the most severe circumstances if that has been necessary but for the most part the spirit of

[39:05] Christ is the gentleness of Christ now if you were able to find a person with a gentleness of spirit and to live with them for a time it may well be that the gentleness of the spirit of that person would have an effect upon you even though your spirit was just the reverse that of hastiness this is a poor illustration compared with the spirit of Christ oh the spirit of Christ is the spirit of gentleness and the psalmist says thy gentleness has made me great and therefore he was great in trusting in the Lord the emphasis is to be laid upon his trust in the Lord by the fact that he goes on to say that this man has a hope and that this hope is the

[40:19] Lord and whose hope the Lord is we do hope in people sometimes it has sometimes said and has been said it is not what you know it is who you know but if the children of God are followed along that line rise improper and lawful as it may be in worldly circles yet God will remind them cursed is the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm and whose heart departeth from the Lord this is not a searching word when we put our trust in man when we perhaps ungodly say oh if I could only get to know him he would do me some good we are departing the

[41:20] Lord but God is merciful and gracious the children of God you know they have the same nature as the children of wrath we are the children of wrath even as others this would therefore find us sometimes trusting in an arm of flesh oh that man that woman a knowledge a link with that person could do us so much good well under the teaching of God maybe God has brought that very arm to wither and God can soon make an arm of flesh wither on the other hand if it is his will he can make a withered arm to be a strong arm in your interest but why does the arm of flesh wither sometimes it is all in order that we may stop and ponder and be brought to this whose hope the

[42:36] Lord is now this is a good hope and any other hopes of necessity must be restricted because they are of the earth and they cannot rise above the earth and they can only exercise themselves in a very limited circle but the Lord oh the Lord God there is no limit to the work of his operations do we not find this in our lives in a small circle even if we should know the most influential man he can only work in a small circle but God has the length and breadth of the earth to draw his servants from and there are many certain men and certain women thus is the expression in the scripture that have been used to put

[43:47] God's people in a certain path that has led that person to rejoice in God and to observe the wonderful blessing bestowed upon him because he trusts in the Lord and not only so but reposes hope in the Lord now this hope is in the nature of the Lord it is not in his word though that is wonderful we find that the word of man can falter it becomes a rarer and rarer commodity in these days my word is my bond but it would be true of God my word is my bond but then you've got to look at the person why can we repose such confidence when the man might say my word is my bond we've observed his life we've observed the fear of

[45:01] God we've observed his concern to be honorable in those things that he has desired to engage in but we can say this without any reservation concerning the almighty God he speaks and it is done he has bound himself by an oath to save his people from their sins to deliver them from their enemies affliction to save them in the time of trouble to raise them up from affliction and finally to deliver them from affliction when he will take them out of this earthly scene into the heavenless now if we are to consider this in relation to our internal God bond my word is my bond then we may trust in the person because we know the words that he speaks will be fulfilled what

[46:12] Christ has said must be fulfilled on this firm rock believers build when this is related to the matter of your salvation the matter of your eternal destiny how important it is to have confidence in a person that can be relied upon for that which he speaks so it is when the Lord speaks it is the truth and and and