A Tree Planted By The Waters

"A Tree Planted By The Waters" – Jeremiah 17:7-8 "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." The study walks through the figure phrase by phrase and then follows it across Scripture: the planted tree of Psalm 1, the palm and the cedar of Psalm 92 —where the promise of bearing fruit even in old age appears— and the tree of life of Revelation 22, which closes what Eden had lost. The theme is stability: what decides a firm and fruitful life is not the circumstance, but where the roots are.

I. Human instability and the stability of Scripture

A. On earth everyone may think as they please, but the believer has enough in the knowledge of the Scriptures: having them, he cannot be deceived.

B. The Holy Scriptures exist so that the people of God will not be confused nor carried about from here to there.

C. If there is one thing wrong with the human being, it is that he is not stable: he comes and goes; if he wants to he goes, if he does not he stays; and if he went, he never arrived.

D. With the years one comes to know the Scripture better, and to know better what the Church really is; there are things only time lets you understand.

E. As human beings we are a little doubtful: we grow restless, we give our opinion about the Gospel, and we would rather drag our feet than walk in contentment.

F. It is like the child who wakes up crying because he is hungry: if you wake up with a problem, you live the whole day crying it, even if no tears show.

II. A promise of stability for the one who trusts

A. The passage describes the person who trusts in God and stands firm in Him: it is a promise of stability.

B. There is no reason to doubt; what must be learned is to wait patiently. Wait on God.

C. We want everything to go as we think it should, and we forget that we must pass through different processes in order to mature. When the harder subject comes, we hide and look for whatever is easier.

D. Whoever knows the promises has spiritual stability; the one who stays in the flesh gets nowhere, and worse, only does damage.

E. Droughts come to everyone, but the one whose root is wholly in God does not dry up.

F. If the roots are dry, the tree withers, the leaves fall, and there is no fruit left to gather.

G. Neither life nor the life of the righteous is made of problems and circumstances: each circumstance is how you take it.

H. If all your energy goes to the problem —"and tomorrow, what will happen?"— you live in that maze and in that complaint, instead of giving your attention to being formed into the image of the Lord, which is the believer's obligation.

I. A believer cannot stand between two terms: those are the lukewarm, and the lukewarm do not go to heaven; not because she has gone to heaven to check the list, but because the Scripture records it.

III. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the LORD"

A. God sustains the life, renews the strength —it does not come from you, it is from God— and lets you keep bearing fruit even in the hardest moments of your history.

B. Bearing fruit is not staying with "in such a year I went through that tragedy," still in the lament ten years later.

C. Speak of whomever you wish, but do not speak against God; do not rebel against God, for it is better never to have been born than to go against Him.

D. We think what we say goes no further than the room, and there are angels who write down everything of your day.

E. The one who trusts in the LORD is blessed; and if he is blessed, God favors him in everything: in his going out and his coming in, in the day of affliction.

F. The messages exist to educate our lives spiritually; a child who is not taught — you already know what there is, and the whole neighborhood knows it too.

IV. "And whose hope the LORD is"

A. What is your trust? It is not the politician, not the husband, not the wife, not the neighbor, not the mother, not the grandmother: it is no one.

B. You wear yourself out when you place your trust in your spouse: the husband who places it wholly in his wife, and the wife who places it in her husband.

V. "Planted by the waters" — near the source

A. Planted by the waters means living near the source that gives life; for the believer that source is God and His word.

B. That is why the Bible is read at home. The church is a classroom: it is where one learns. The teacher's problem is the student who could not care less.

VI. "Spreadeth out her roots by the river" — constant communion

A. To put down roots is to have a deep relationship with God, and no one can take that relationship away.

B. That relationship does not depend on circumstances, but on constant communion with Him.

C. "I get out of work late" is not an excuse that reaches heaven; you can blame the company, the institution, the government, but men and women always find a way, because it is a necessity.

D. Prayer is a necessity: to go alone with God and tell Him what you can tell no one else. No mortal can heal a distressed soul.

E. The one who does not pray grows used to accepting the flesh in others, and goes on dragged along in satisfying the flesh. And the flesh smothers and dries up, because there is no water and the root cannot go down that deep.

VII. "Shall not see when heat cometh" — the trial is not to destroy

A. The heat stands for difficulties: one bends under the pressure that comes over one's life, and the affliction keeps smothering and pulling down.

B. That is why you will not speak, because you do not want anyone to find out; why you will not fight, nor pray, nor read the Bible; and if you come, you come with a bored face.

C. Trials come, and if one is not alert there are many that destroy; but the trial is not there to destroy.

D. The soul is where the attack falls hardest, because the soul is vulnerable: suddenly it suffocates you, suddenly you cannot, suddenly you do not want to speak. It is not that one does not want

to: it is that one cannot.

E. If you go down to those depths no oxygen comes in, and without oxygen there is no way to breathe; there begin the difficulties, the afflictions and the times of pressure: depression.

F. The one who prepares that bombardment is the devil.

G. So we cannot live in vain: we must be warriors. The best soldiers go to the front, and those with the most scarred bodies are the ones at the front, defending a people.

H. Being in the Gospel is not comfortable: it is to show that we love God with all our strength, and that is all.

I. "This is not: today I like the church and tomorrow I do not." We are soldiers.

VIII. "But her leaf shall be green"

A. The one who fights, in spite of everything, always has a smile. Not a loud laugh: a faint smile. It looks as if it were not there, but it is.

B. Spiritual vigor is kept, and hope, and peace even in hard times, when all one can say is: "May God help me."

C. Do not say "I am always fine," say "may God help us." That is why one must go in prayer to the LORD every day, early in the morning.

D. The word produces faith, and faith gives courage to go forward, and draws out a smile, and awakens in the whole heart the certainty that God is with us and never abandons us.

IX. "Shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit"

A. There is a year of drought, and it is real; though there be scarcity or suffering, God keeps sustaining and never lets go of His hand.

B. "Neither shall cease from yielding fruit": it keeps producing a godly character — not bitter, not quarrelsome, not complaining, not rebelling against God.

C. Faces are not made of complaints nor of "all the problems I carry," but of good works and a faithful testimony.

D. We are soldiers of the Gospel, soldiers who love one another and who must fight for one another.

E. "I do not meddle in anyone's life" — nor is that the point — but we can help others who need it. We are one body, and we must bear one another's burdens.

X. Psalm 1:1-3 — the consequence of living near God

A. "Like a tree planted by the rivers of water": that is how we are planted. The nearer you live to God, the better and calmer you will be, because the peace of God goes with you.

B. That confidence is what God reveals when you read the word, when you come to church, when you sing the choruses: a happiness that comes only from the Father.

C. The illustration of the yellow-flowering trees along the road: one bears in one season and another in the next. "That is what we are: trees."

D. The oak in front of the church building stands where the ground is rock and the whole area was a quarry: the One who provided was the LORD, because good soil is not the issue.

E. The planted tree is firm, stable and with a solid foundation: no one carries you from one side to the other, nor gives you their opinion and makes you cry without daring to answer.

F. "By the rivers of water": God always provides, even in the worst situation, in an illness, in a problem at home. We all live afflictions, and there is where we hold fastest to love.

G. "That bringeth forth his fruit in his season": it produces the fruit God expects at the right moment. Spiritual growth requires patience and letting the Holy Spirit lead.

H. When one turns carnal, ask forgiveness; when one rebels, ask forgiveness. The Holy Spirit does not have to put up with our rudeness.

I. "His leaf also shall not wither": it stays vigorous, strong, with energy, even when the hard times come — and they come free of charge.

J. "And whatsoever he doeth shall prosper": it is success from God's perspective. He blesses and makes fruitful what is in harmony with His will, though it does not always mean material prosperity.

K. You can tell anyone anything and they will answer "how nice," because it means nothing to them; what should concern you is whether heaven agrees with you.

L. What decides a firm and fruitful life is not the circumstance, but where the roots of the righteous are: in the flesh, in what you claim, in what you demand? Be careful where your roots are.

M. Whoever departs from sin, delights in the word and trusts in God will be like a tree that never stops receiving water. No water reaches the cold to refresh the spirit: he survives on what he hears, and then forgets it.

N. And if the spiritual life dries up, the tree dies and there is no fruit.

XI. Psalm 92:12-14 — the palm, the cedar, and a fruitful old age

A. The righteous is compared to two trees that were well known in Israel.

B. "The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree": a symbol of endurance, firmness and fruit; it bears heat, drought and strong winds without ceasing to grow.

C. So the believer who trusts in God stands firm in the midst of trials and keeps bearing spiritual fruit; the more years given, the more spiritual we ought to be.

D. "He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon": the cedar of Lebanon was famous for its strength, its height and its long life; its deep roots gave it stability.

E. The righteous develops a solid and constant faith because he is rooted in God.

F. "Those that be planted in the house of the LORD": the reason for his strength is not in himself, but in being planted in the presence of God.

G. The courts stand for the place of worship and communion with God; those who remain near Him experience spiritual growth and a life that reflects His grace.

H. One cannot drag along the old creature, nor one's own opinions about how things ought to be. And the grace you have — have you multiplied it?

I. "They shall still bring forth fruit in old age": a promise of great hope. God keeps using His children all their lives; age does not prevent serving, teaching, praying, counseling or bearing witness, and spiritual maturity usually yields more abundant fruit.

J. "They shall be fat and flourishing": this is not "look over there," it is for oneself. Green, not rotten; it is the ripe mango that gets the worm.

K. Though the body grows old, God can keep the heart full of life, of hope and of joy: a spiritual life fresh and sustained by the Lord.

L. The central message: whoever remains rooted, the one who lives wholly holding on to God, flourishes throughout his life.

XII. Revelation 22:2 — the tree of life

A. The verse belongs to the vision of the new Jerusalem, where God shows the eternal destiny of the redeemed.

B. The preceding verse mentions the river of water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb; by that river stands the tree of life.

C. The tree of life appears for the first time in Genesis 2, in the garden of Eden; after sin, the human being lost access to it (Genesis 3:22-24).

D. At the end of the Bible the tree appears again, showing that God has fully restored communion with His people through Jesus Christ.

E. "Which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month": twelve fruits and twelve months. Twelve is fullness; God's provision never runs out and the blessing is constant and uninterrupted.

F. "And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations" does not mean there will still be sickness in eternity: the Bible affirms there will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor pain, nor curse (Revelation 21:4; 22:3).

G. The expression indicates that God's restoration will be complete and perfect: everything sin damaged will be fully renewed, and there will be peace, harmony and eternal life in His presence.

H. In what atmosphere or what place of the universe it will be, we do not know: the Bible does not record it, because all will be new, and God can create.

I. And for whom will God create? For the righteous who kept faithful to the end: in bad days, in good days, in days of circumstance and in days of temptation.

J. The Bible begins with the tree of life in Eden and ends with the tree of life in the New Jerusalem: what was lost through sin was restored by the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.

XIII. Conclusion: the purpose of our existence

A. What is to be learned from this message: that in old age one still bears much fruit. That is the purpose of our existence on earth.

B. It is not "I have problems," nor "there are circumstances," nor "the day was hard," nor "I am troubled." That is not it.

C. What she has learned: to serve. The pain in her legs, which she has carried since childhood, has not interrupted what she is to do in life.

D. Do you live beaten down by the same problem? Do you hold on to any resentment? There is a work that belongs to us, and our tree stands by the waters.

E. We are chosen and we are called; and it is not that one can prepare oneself: it is God who prepares. No ability comes from us.

F. Do not waste time and do not become lukewarm: lukewarmness makes one lose the church of Christ.