Skip to content The Perils of Abandoning God for Broken Cisterns - Jeremiah 2 Jan 28 · 13 min ...more
The Perils of Abandoning God for Broken Cisterns - Jeremiah 2
January 28, 2025 · 13 min
An analysis of Jeremiah chapter 2 where Israel forsakes God for idols, illustrating the consequences of replacing the divine with the unworthy.
Series Stand on the Word - Video On Demand January 28, 2025 · 13 min · Stand on the Word - Video On Demand
An analysis of Jeremiah chapter 2 where Israel forsakes God for idols, illustrating the consequences of replacing the divine with the unworthy. ...more Show the full description Show less An analysis of Jeremiah chapter 2 where Israel forsakes God for idols, illustrating the consequences of replacing the divine with the unworthy.
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Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters 0:10 Good morning. Welcome to Stand on the Word. Today, we are in Jeremiah chapter 2 verse 13. For my people have committed 2 evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and have hewn themselves0:21 cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. So today, we have Jeremiah's first message or sermon after he was called and ordained by god as a prophet. Now he began his public ministry in the0:33 thirteenth year of the king Josiah. That meant Josiah was 21 years old, and Jeremiah was approximately the same age. He was about 20. Right. This is a strong message. He pulls0:45 no punches as he exposes the foolishness and the wickedness of the idolatry they were engaged in. They showed ingratitude toward god for his love, his provision, and his protection.0:57 Let's jump right into this verse 1, chapter 2. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem. Now that meant he was probably gonna go right there to the gate going into the,1:09 temple where people would gather. He would declare this message saying, thus says the lord, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal when you went after me in the1:21 wilderness in a land not sown. Israel was holiness to the lord, the first fruits of his increase. All that devoured him will offend. Disaster will come1:32 come upon them, says the lord. Now the relationship that the lord uses here here to illustrate god's love, his provision, and protection is that of a spouse of marriage. Now further down the1:44 chapter, Jeremiah spends considerable time illustrating their unfaithfulness as he said, quote, you lay down playing the harlot. And this term holiness unto the lord, that was what was1:55 inscribed on the high priest on his, garments as he would go into the holy of holies. And and so look at this as all that devour him will offend. Disaster will come upon them. God was their protection.2:08 He provided for them, and and anyone who messed with them, well, they had to mess with god. God would mess with them. Verse 4, hear the word of the lord, oh house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.2:19 Thus says the lord, what injustice have your fathers found in me? That they have gone far from me, have followed idols, and become idolaters. What what have I done, god says? What have I done that your2:30 fathers have left me? What have I done to be unfaithful to them? Neither did they say, where is the lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness,2:42 through a land of desert and pits, through a land of drought and shadow of death, through a land that no 1 crossed and where no 1 dwelt. A little sarcasm there in god's2:54 questioning. I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled my land and made my3:06 heritage an abomination. The priest did not say, where is the lord? And those who handled the law did not know me. The rulers also transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal3:18 and walked after things that that do not profit. Therefore, I will bring charges against you, says the lord, and against your children's children, I will bring charges.3:30 When they were in need and they were struggling, well, they walked close to the lord. But once they entered into the promised land and they experienced the blessings of god, guess what? They forgot god. Sounds familiar.3:43 Now notice who is leading the way in this move, this departure from god. The priest, the judges, the rulers, and the prophets, the very people who should have been leading the people to walk with the3:54 lord by both instruction and example, we're doing the opposite. Verse 11. Has a nation changed its gods, which are not gods? He's saying, though those nations that4:06 follow idols that have these demonic storefronts, these idols, Have they changed their gods? No. They haven't. They keep they even though they can't do anything for them, they hold on to them. But my people have changed4:18 their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, oh heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the lord, for my people have committed 2 evils. They have forsaken me,4:30 the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Now here's he says there are 2 evils. They have forgotten god, and they have embraced a knockoff4:42 over the real deal, trading living water for a cracked cistern. Right? See, the the other nations that even though they had false gods, they held on to4:53 them. Here, they had the living god who was involved in their lives providing for them, protecting them, leading them into this promised land, but yet they traded that5:05 for these false idols. You know, when I was young and growing up, we lived in a, a rural area, and we didn't have city water. We had a we actually had a cistern. It was a very involved5:17 process to catch rainwater coming in off the roof when it would rain. So you'd have to go outside about 5, 10 minutes after the the roof had kind of been washed off for the first part of the rain and turn the valves on5:29 each of the catch on the downspouts. They would be valves that would direct the water into the cistern. That was my job as the oldest to go out in the rain and and turn those. Well, we water was5:41 very valuable. And in the summertime, we would often run out. At 1 time, we actually had a, we we ended up with a crack in our cistern, and we began leaking all of our water. And so we were without water for a while, and5:52 it took a whole ordeal to fix that. But I've never seen anybody switching from city water to a cistern saying, I'd rather that cistern. No. It's that that fresh6:04 water that's coming in that you don't have to do anything to get it. It's just coming. God says, look. I'm a I'm a fountain of living water, and they're trading that for broken cistern cisterns that can't hold6:16 water. Well, when you look at the consequences of this choice, look at verse 19. Your own wickedness will correct you, and your backslidings, and that's a word we see here kinda uniquely in6:27 Jeremiah. We'll see it again, will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the lord your god and the fear of me is6:39 not in you, says the lord god of host. Now we've discussed this before, but within sin is its punishment. Right? Within the sin itself6:51 comes the punishment. He now turns to their spiritual and their physical immorality as their demonic idol worship included sexual immorality. Verse 20. For7:03 of old, I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds, and you said, I will not transgress when on every high hill and every under every green tree, you lay down playing the harley. He says, you know, I7:15 I set you free. I brought freedom to you, and now you're enslaving yourself to this demonic activity. Yet I have planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality. I've done the7:27 very best for you. How then have you turned before me into the degenerate plant of an alien vine? Wow. Verse 22. For though you wash yourself with lye and use much7:39 soap, yet your iniquity is marked before me, says the lord. You can't get this off. How can you say, I am not polluted? I have not gone after the Baal. Seeing your way in the valley7:51 knowing what you have done. You are a swift, domer dare, dromedary, a breaking loose her ways. A wild donkey used8:03 used to the wilderness that sniffs at the wind in her desire, in her time of mating, who can turn her away, all those who seek her will not weary themselves in her month, they will find8:15 her. Withhold your foot from being unshod and your throat from thirst, but you said there is no hope. No, for I have loved the aliens and will go after them. So he's saying you're like a female8:27 camel in heat. You know, 1 idol did not satisfy, so they added more and more and more. Verse 26, as the thief is ashamed when he has found out, so is the house of8:38 Israel ashamed. They and their kings and their princes and their priests and their prophets saying to a tree, you are my father, and to a stone, you gave me birth, for they have turned their back to me and not their8:49 face. But in the time of their trouble, they say, arise and save us. You see, when the good times stopped rolling, then they wanted to turn back to god for help. But look what he says. Look at verse9:01 28. But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble. For according to the number of your cities are your gods, oh, Judas. See,9:13 idolatry just multiplies because it it doesn't satisfy. It's not enough. So you'll seek other things. Once you once you depart from god's plan, it becomes this rapid9:25 cascading of sinful behavior to try to meet the need that only god can meet. Why will you plead with me? You all have transgressed against me, says the9:37 lord. Now there is more to their idolatry. Look at verse 34. Also, your skirts on your skirts has found blood of the lives of the poor innocents. I have not found9:49 it by secret search, but plainly on all these things. But you say, because I'm am innocent, surely his anger shall turn for me. Behold, I will plead my case against you because you say I have not sinned.10:01 Their sin was not even hidden. Their idolatry, as we've talked about before, included the sacrificing of children, the equivalent of today's abortion. But it didn't stop there. They were also10:13 guilty of the blood of the prophets who confronted them with the word of the lord, and they didn't wanna hear it. And we'll see this with Jeremiah. The the cancel culture was alive and well in his day. So how did all10:25 this happen? I mean, a nation created by god, given an identity in him, provided an established land with supernatural blessing and prosperity. What would lead such a blessed10:36 people to trade the truth for a lie. Look back at verses 7 and 8. I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its10:48 fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priest did not say, where is the lord? And those who handled the law did not know me. The rulers also10:59 transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and walked after things that do not profit. Spiritual complacency aided by a contempt for11:10 truth, fuels political corruption, which brings moral and cultural chaos. That's how they got there. The people were spiritually complacent because they had become intoxicated with the blessings of god, so11:22 they forgot god himself. The keepers of the law, the elite of that day, then ran with their contempt for god and his truth crying, where's god? Where's god? The civil11:34 rulers then paid no attention to god, and they abused their authority and their power. And the preachers and the prophets, well, they gave a very popular ear tickling word, a word people11:46 wanted to hear that made them feel good rather than challenging them to be good. This is how a nation trades the truth for a lie. What America needs right now11:59 are preachers and Christian leaders that will proclaim not their opinions and their ideas, but the truth of the word of God. Father, we thank you for your word,12:11 and we thank you for it. May it challenge us may it challenge may it challenge us to change. Lord, may we not try to change your word, but may we change our lives to come in alignment with your word. May we not shrink12:22 back from declaring your word. I pray for the pulpits of America that pastors would be emboldened to preach your word because it is your word that will not return unto you void. So, father, I pray you would stir in the12:33 hearts of the church today, believers, followers of Christ, to to return to your word and live out your word. May we have leaders that would do the same in our churches, in our communities, in our homes.12:46 And we pray and ask this in Jesus' name. Amen. Alright. Thanks for joining me this morning, tomorrow, Jeremiah chapter 3. Until then, keep standing on the word.12:58 Today's study comes from the Stand on the Word Bible Reading Plan available for free at frc dot org slash bible. By following along in just a few minutes a day, you13:10 can read through the entire Bible in just 2 years. Learn more and request the free reading guide at frc dot org slash bible.In this video 0:10 Forsaking the Fountain of Living Waters16:48
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