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Sermon #5298

The Christian Life

A Sermon on Jeremiah 17:5-8

Originally preached May 15, 1955

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Scripture

Jeremiah 17:5-8 ESV KJV
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 …

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Sermon Description

How can sinful people be blessed by a Holy God? How can sinners come before the throne of God and claim God’s blessings as their own? To the natural person, this is impossible. Sinful people do not believe in a grace that can reconcile God and humanity, so they say one has to work to earn God’s favor. In this sermon on Jeremiah 17:5–8 titled “The Christian Life,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones preaches on the great truth that blessings come by God’s grace. The ways of God and humanity are wholly opposed so that the Christian life stands in stark contrast to the life of the world. The Christian life is a life of favor with God because of God’s grace, while the life of the world is a life of always striving to earn God’s favor through works, but never attaining it. The gospel calls each and every one to repent of their sins and believe in Jesus for salvation. God’s grace is the only hope in this life because all have broken God’s commandment and sinned against Him, but God’s grace is more powerful than sin. The most amazing truth in the world is that God gives grace freely in Jesus Christ, and this is the gospel.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The passage under consideration is Jeremiah 17:5-8 which contrasts the cursed man and the blessed man.
  2. The cursed man trusts in man and flesh, and departs from God. He is like a shrub in the desert that bears no fruit.
  3. The blessed man trusts in the Lord and makes the Lord his hope. He is like a tree planted by water that bears fruit.
  4. To understand the blessed life, we must understand how to possess it. There is a "manward" aspect and a "Godward" aspect.
  5. The manward aspect involves realizing you are a sinner, trusting in Christ alone for salvation, and hoping in Him. You must come to the end of yourself.
  6. The Godward aspect involves God miraculously saving us by His Spirit. He translates us from darkness to light. He plants us in Christ.
  7. As Christians, we are new creations with new natures, desires, and lives. We are in union with Christ, receiving His life.
  8. To have this blessed life, come to the end of yourself, trust in Christ alone, and receive new life from Him. Ask Him for this life. Wait on Him.

Sermon Q&A

What Does Jeremiah 17:5-8 Teach About the Cursed and Blessed Man?

Based on Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon, Jeremiah 17:5-8 presents a stark contrast between the cursed man who trusts in human strength and the blessed man who trusts in the Lord. This passage serves as a powerful summary of biblical truth.

What are the two contrasting pictures in Jeremiah 17:5-8?

According to Dr. Lloyd-Jones, this passage presents two vivid pictures:

  1. The cursed man: "Like the heath in the desert" - barren, fruitless, living in parched places, unable to thrive even when good comes.

  2. The blessed man: "Like a tree planted by the waters" - well-rooted, fruitful, green, untroubled by heat or drought, and continuously bearing fruit.

These images represent two fundamentally different ways of living - one apart from God and one in relationship with Him.

Why do people not listen to God's message according to Lloyd-Jones?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones identifies two primary reasons:

  1. "Men and women don't listen to this message of God because they've never really seen what that godless life is like." They fail to recognize the emptiness and barrenness of life without God.

  2. "Men and women are not Christian because they don't see the other side." They don't understand the beauty, wonder, and radical difference of the Christian life.

As Lloyd-Jones puts it: "The Christian life is absolutely different from the godless life. It is a complete change."

What leads to the blessed life according to this sermon?

The blessed life comes through:

  1. The manward aspect: "Trusting in the Lord and whose hope the Lord is." This means:
  2. Recognizing one's sin and inability to save oneself
  3. Ceasing to trust in oneself, one's efforts, or human ability
  4. Placing complete trust in Christ alone for forgiveness and salvation

  5. Believing God forgives because of Christ's death

  6. The godward aspect: Being "planted by the waters." This means:

  7. Being transplanted by God from barrenness to richness
  8. Receiving a new nature and new life
  9. Being united with Christ ("rooted and grounded in him")
  10. Becoming "a partaker of the divine nature"

As Lloyd-Jones explains: "A Christian is not only a man whose sins have been forgiven, he's a new man. He's as unlike what he was as the tree is unlike the shrub, the heath in the desert."

How does Dr. Lloyd-Jones describe the transformation that occurs in salvation?

Lloyd-Jones describes the transformation using several key images:

  1. As transplantation: "God with his almighty hand by the Holy Spirit takes hold upon you and he lifts you up and he moves you" from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of God's Son.

  2. As new planting: Being "placed in a new soil" with "a new source of life and a new life and a new vitality."

  3. As rebirth: "A New principle of life is put into you. You're born of the spirit... The Lord God himself imparts something of his own life to you."

  4. As union with Christ: "The roots of your life are in Christ, so that the life of Christ works its way up through the roots into you and governs you and transforms you."

This transformation is supernatural and creates an entirely new person with new interests, understanding, and abilities.

Old Testament

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones

Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-1981) was a Welsh evangelical minister who preached and taught in the Reformed tradition. His principal ministry was at Westminster Chapel, in central London, from 1939-1968, where he delivered multi-year expositions on books of the bible such as Romans, Ephesians and the Gospel of John. In addition to the MLJ Trust’s collection of 1,600 of these sermons in audio format, most of these great sermon series are available in book form (including a 14 volume collection of the Romans sermons), as are other series such as "Spiritual Depression", "Studies in the Sermon on the Mount" and "Great Biblical Doctrines". He is considered by many evangelical leaders today to be an authority on biblical truth and the sufficiency of Scripture.