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Sermon #5297

The Nature of Man

A Sermon on Jeremiah 17:5-8

Originally preached May 8, 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

What does it take to change sinful people? This is a question that everyone must ask at one point or another in their life because all live in a world of sin. Why is the world and humankind the way that they are? The Bible not only tells why people are sinners, but it also tells how they can change. In this sermon on Jeremiah 17:5–8 titled “The Nature of Man,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones looks to the prophet Jeremiah to see what God says about sinful people. Humanity is set in its own ways and does not submit to God’s rule. In this state, people are unable to seek God and love Him rightly. How then can they be saved? The answer is found in the person and work of Jesus Christ who came into the world to save sinners. Jesus died in the place of sinners that they might be justified in God’s sight. Jesus moves His people out of the kingdom of darkness and into the kingdom of righteousness. While sinful people are evil and wicked, Jesus alone has the power to give them a new heart that not only loves God but seeks to serve Him.

Sermon Breakdown

  1. The sermon begins by establishing that the words being discussed are from Jeremiah 17:5-8. These verses contrast the life of one who trusts in man with one who trusts in God.
  2. The historical context is that Israel had turned from God and was facing judgment from Babylon. God sent prophets to warn them, including Jeremiah.
  3. Jeremiah's message is that Israel must turn back to God or face curse and destruction. This message applies to all mankind.
  4. The two ways of life presented are absolutely opposed with no middle ground. One either trusts in God or in man.
  5. Those who trust in man are cursed because man's nature is fallen and sinful since the Fall. Man is born in sin and naturally goes against God.
  6. The sinful life is natural, wild, and uncultivated like a shrub in the desert. It grows on its own without planting or pruning.
  7. The desert soil and environment determine the shrub's stunted growth. Similarly, man's sinful nature determines his stunted moral and spiritual growth.
  8. Shrubs are unattractive, lacking in form and symmetry. So sinful man lacks godly character and holiness, becoming a "monstrosity."
  9. Shrubs bear no fruit. Likewise, the sinful life bears no lasting good fruit for oneself or others. It is useless and wasteful.
  10. Shrubs cannot benefit even from good things like rain and sun. Similarly, sinful man cannot benefit from God's good providence or word.
  11. Worst of all, sinful man cannot benefit from the greatest good of Christ's atoning work. He is blind to the gospel.
  12. The sinful life ultimately shrivels and dies under God's curse. There is no hope apart from new life in Christ.
  13. One must be born again, given a new heart and nature, to become fruitful like a tree planted by waters.

Sermon Q&A

What Does Jeremiah Teach About the Contrast Between Those Who Trust in Man and Those Who Trust in God?

According to Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones' sermon on Jeremiah 17:5-8, the passage presents a stark contrast between the cursed life of those who trust in man and the blessed life of those who trust in God.

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

In this passage, God uses two vivid images to contrast those who trust in man versus those who trust in God:

  1. The one who trusts in man is "like the heath in the desert" - a stunted shrub in parched, salt land
  2. The one who trusts in God is "like a tree planted by the waters" - flourishing even in times of drought

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains: "What a perfect pictures. How plain, how simple, how direct... They are as different as cursing and blessing."

Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones say the natural human condition is like a shrub in the desert?

According to Lloyd-Jones, the natural human condition without God resembles a shrub in the desert because:

  1. It's a "wild kind of life" - unlike the tree that is "planted," this shrub grows naturally without cultivation
  2. It grows from poor soil - "in the desert...in a salt land and not inhabited"
  3. It's stunted and underdeveloped - "neither one thing nor another"
  4. It lacks proper form - "There is an element about it of a monstrosity"
  5. It produces no fruit - "This shrub was excluded from religious uses because it had neither fruit nor seed"

He states: "Man as the result of sin is indeed like the shrub in the Desert. He's not developed. He's stunted. He hasn't become what he's meant to be."

What does it mean that the person who doesn't trust God "shall not see when good cometh"?

Dr. Lloyd-Jones explains this as perhaps the greatest tragedy of the godless life. It means that:

  1. The person cannot benefit from good things even when they come
  2. They lack the capacity to receive blessing
  3. They cannot appreciate God's daily providential gifts
  4. They cannot understand or benefit from God's Word
  5. Most tragically, they cannot recognize or receive the salvation offered in Christ

In Lloyd-Jones' words: "The trouble with this shrub is that it shall not see when good cometh. And the final tragedy of the man who doesn't trust God...is that he derives no benefit at all from the greatest thing that even God has done."

Why does Dr. Lloyd-Jones emphasize the need for rebirth or regeneration?

Lloyd-Jones emphasizes regeneration because:

  1. The contrast between godly and ungodly life is absolute - "There is no middle position"
  2. The problem is in our very nature - "Our very natures are wrong"
  3. The soil of our lives must be changed - "The very soil of our life that's wrong"
  4. No amount of self-improvement can transform a desert shrub into a riverside tree
  5. Only a completely new nature can enable us to bear fruit

He concludes: "That there's only one hope for men and that is that he be given a new life and a new nature. A new start and a new beginning. And that is the message of the christian faith."

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.