God's Eternal Energy
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· 4 viewsOur sustaining power does not come from a bottle or even from a person, but only through Jesus Christ.
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
Good evening and welcome back!
Tonight’s message is fairly short and to the point.
Tonight we are going to be looking into some of the writings of the prophet Jeremiah.
And our scripture focus in Jeremiah 2 picks up in the middle of a prophesy of Jeremiah to the Israelite people.
And remember that Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet."
This was because Jeremiah's message was of judgment, captivity, and condemnation of Israel for her sin against God.
The idea for this message actually came to me a few years ago as I was walking through good old Walmart.
I saw something that caught my eye in one of the isles.
It was this little product called "Eternal Energy" or "EE" for short.
On the bottle it reads "Wake Up, Feel Great, Live Healthy."
I don’t even know if they still sell it now.
But it got me thinking about that title "Eternal Energy," and what that really means.
It's sad that we have gotten to the place where we are looking for eternal energy in a 1.93oz bottle.
Why is that though?
Have we gotten to the place where God's people have no "Eternal Energy?"
How did we get there?
And more importantly how do we correct this?
So, tonight we are going to try and answer some of these questions by looking at one of Jeremiah's prophesies to the nation of Israel that will address the subject of "God's Eternal Energy."
So, Jeremiah 2, starting in verse 9, the prophet writes . . .
Scripture Focus
Scripture Focus
“Therefore I bring charges against you again,” declares the Lord. “And I will bring charges against your children’s children. Cross over to the coasts of Kittim and look, send to Kedar and observe closely; see if there has ever been anything like this: Has a nation ever changed its gods? (Yet they are not gods at all.) But my people have exchanged their Glory for worthless idols. Be appalled at this, O heavens, and shudder with great horror,” declares the Lord. “My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
What They Did Wrong (Forsaking the Living Water)
What They Did Wrong (Forsaking the Living Water)
Now, again in verse 13 there, Jeremiah plainly tells them exactly what they had done to end up in their current situation.
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
So, they have committed two sins:
They have forsaken God, the spring of living water.
They have dug their own cisterns, that ended up broken and unable to hold water.
So, lets talk about the first one, this fountain of Living Water.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus talks about this living water. First in chapter 4 . . .
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?” Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
So, in this account we are learning about Jesus' encounter with the Samaritan woman at the well.
We learn how the Holy Spirit led Jesus through Samaria and to this woman at the well.
And the purpose was to (1) deliver this woman's soul, and (2) teach his disciples a lesson about God's power.
However, Jesus has this exchange here with this woman at the well and look what He tells her.
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.”
This peaks her curiosity.
She doesn't know what this "living water" is, thinking that Jesus is talking about a stream to draw from instead of this deep well.
She's thinking "less physical labor!"
So she wants to know where this "living water" is located because this well has been around since Jacob.
Jesus' answer both puzzled and astonished her . . .
Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
She's thinking in terms of the physical but Jesus is talking Spiritual!
If you drink of the physical water, you will thirst again and have to come back.
However, you start to drink of Jesus' Eternal Living Water, it is like a well that springs up forever into everlasting life!
We don't need a little $0.98 bottle of caffeine juice to get through the day.
Jesus will get us through just fine!
The second example out of John comes from chapter 7 . . .
On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
Notice again, Jesus says if you thirst, don't go to Walmart, don't go to the world, GO TO HIM.
We got to him because:
Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him.”
What is the Living Water (How Do I Get It)
What is the Living Water (How Do I Get It)
So now that we know that Jesus is the source of this living water, but what is it, exactly?
For that answer we have to keep reading in John 7 . . .
By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified.
This is where we get into trouble and this is where the Israelites got into trouble in Jeremiah's time.
They had forsaken the source of the living water.
They had forsaken and forgotten the Holy Spirit.
God's leading, guiding, directing Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the source of all power and authority that we could ever hope to have.
And they had forgotten about Him and left Him along on the road somewhere.
They no longer were submitting to God's Will.
They were no longer hearing God's voice.
Actually, look at what it says a little later on in that same passage from Jeremiah . . .
Your wickedness will punish you; your backsliding will rebuke you. Consider then and realize how evil and bitter it is for you when you forsake the Lord your God and have no awe of me,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
They had become a wicked people.
A backslidden people.
They had forsaken their God and turned their backs on Him.
Because of it, they were dead and dried up.
No life, no power, no deliverance.
But it was not always like that for them though . . .
The word of the Lord came to me: “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: “ ‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, through a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest; all who devoured her were held guilty, and disaster overtook them,’ ” declares the Lord.
In their youth or the early days they were obedient to God.
They loved and sought after God.
They were His Holy People.
They were His First fruits (or God's best).
Any enemy that came against them would be destroyed.
What Caused Their Backsliding
What Caused Their Backsliding
What happened though?
What caused their backsliding on God?
“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
In addition to forsaking God, they had dug their own cisterns—broken cisterns that cannot hold water.
Instead of trusting God as the source of their Living Water, they began to build their own cisterns to collect and retain water.
God's water is living, it is ever flowing, never stopping.
It's like a river.
A river never really ends does it?
It either flows into another river or water source.
Can you measure how much water a river holds?
What about a cistern though?
It will only hold so much, won't it.
Also, it is dependent on other factors.
There has to be rain for the cistern to fill doesn't there?
What if there is no rain?
What happens if that water just sits there for a while?
It becomes stagnant.
That is what has happened to the Children of Israel.
They had become like stagnant old water that has sat in the bottom of a cistern.
They had abandoned God and left Him somewhere along the path and tried to make their own way and build their own source of power.
Instead of a true source of power, they ended up building old broken cisterns that couldn't even hold water.
The same holds true for today's "post-modern" church & "post-modern" Christian.
Those who prescribe to that mentality have left God somewhere along the path and tried to build their own cistern.
Instead of being filled with God's living water (the Holy Spirit), they have tried to invent their own power source.
They will mask their brokenness and feebleness with fancy speakers, exciting concerts, expensive and polished programs.
But they still lack power.
They get their "Eternal Energy" from a 1.93 oz bottle of Grape "go go juice" instead of from God.
It is a broken, shallow, way of life that breaks to pieces the first time trouble comes.
The first time adversity comes their way, they crack under pressure and that is the end of it.
There is no deeper life, deeper walk with God.
Altar/Challenge
Altar/Challenge
What about us though?
What is the source of our Eternal Energy?
Are we worn out and don't know why?
Are we looking for the things of the world to sustain us?
Or are we allowing the Living Water of God to flow freely through us?
It's either the world's substitute or God. You choose which you want.