Sermon for 8/28/22 "Consequences" 19 Minutes

Jeremiah 2:4-13

This morning I'll be reading Jeremiah chapter 2 verses 4 through 13. And I'll be reading from the Holman Christian Standard Bible. Jeremiah 2:4-13 Jeremiah is introduced as God's prophet in chapter 1 and now God is ready for Jeremiah to pronounce His judgment on Israel,,, which we will see that he does as we look at these verses. Jeremiah 2:4–13 (HCSB) 4 Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel. 5 This is what the Lord says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? 6 They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?” 7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable. 8 The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?” The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols. 9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children. 10 Cross over to Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods! ) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols. 12 Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the Lord’s declaration. 13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water. God bless the reading and the hearing of your word this morning. Let us pray: Dear Lord,,, as we begin this morning,,, with everyone here today and all that are listening and watching by video,,, we ask that you open our ears to hear and our hearts and minds to receive the message that you have for us today,,, In Jesus' name I pray,,, Amen. ----------------------------------------------------------- Last Sunday we looked at Hebrews 12:18-29 and from those verses we understand that we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,,, but,,, we must remember that the God we are dealing with,,, is a God that is a consuming fire.

.

And once we accept Christ as our Savior,,, there must be a change,,, we don’t stay the same!

We can’t,,, because we were living a life without Christ and living the way of the world,,, but now,,, we follow Christ,,, not through our own power,,, but through the relationship we have with God that is available because of the life,,, death,,, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,,, all with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit!

But if we listen and obey God the way that we should,,, as we’ve seen through these verses,,, we will receive the “Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken”,,, the eternal prize that awaits all of us,,, to share with our Savior forever,,, all because,,, of God’s love for us!

This morning we will look at these verses and see how they will help us in our walk with God this week.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 4 says: 4 Hear the word of the Lord, house of Jacob and all families of the house of Israel.

Jeremiah is chosen by God as a prophet while he was a young boy,,, we know that he thought that he was too young to handle this job.

He didn’t understand,,, like many of us,,, that God intended to help him along the way by giving him the words to say and staying beside him at all times,,, giving him everything that he needed as the days went on.

We can be guilty of that in so many ways.

But Jeremiah did listen to God,,, and he was obedient to God’s call.

In this verse he is telling them to hear the word of the Lord.

The problem we have today is similar to the way it was during Jeremiahs time.

We don’t have anyone in our leadership positions that seem to listen to the word of the Lord anymore.

And Jeremiah is beginning to tell the Israelites what God says in response to the way that He has been treated in the past,,, and the present time,,, and he wants them all to hear Gods word.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 5 through 8 say: 5 This is what the Lord says: What fault did your fathers find in Me that they went so far from Me, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves? 6 They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived?” 7 I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable. 8 The priests quit asking, “Where is the Lord?” The experts in the law no longer knew Me, and the rulers rebelled against Me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and followed useless idols.

The Israelites were so focused on their selfish desires and wants,,, that they had forgotten all of the miraculous things that God had done for them in the past.

Notice that Jeremiah uses the words,,, they went so far from Me,,, God never left,,, but they had turned their backs on God,,, followed worthless idols, and became worthless themselves

That’s what happens when we turn our backs to God,,, we end up in terrible shape at times while we are here on earth,,, and it will definitely be bad for us if our time comes to soon,,, before we turn back to God.

And,,, we lose that relationship that we have with God when we turn our backs on God,,, and,,, like the Israelites,,, as it says,,, They stopped asking, “Where is the Lord ,,, so do we.

Like the Israelites,,, we forget everything that God has done for us,,, we begin to spend our time looking for other worldly things to fill that void left by forsaking God,,, but it will never be filled,,, not without turning back to God.

The Israelites have forgotten the Lord who brought us from the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and ravines, through a land of drought and darkness, a land no one traveled through and where no one lived,,, they have been living a life without God long enough that they have forgotten all that God had done for them,,, and because of that,,, they were led astray.

God said,,, “I brought you to a fertile land to eat its fruit and bounty, but after you entered, you defiled My land; you made My inheritance detestable.”

God had given them everything that they needed,,, but they turned their backs on Him anyway.

Jeremiah singled out the three groups charged with leading the nation and exposed their lack of obedience (v. 8).

The priests who were to instruct the people in the ways of God did not know God,,, that is,,, they themselves did not an have an intimate relationship with the One about whom they were teaching.

The leaders,,, or “shepherds”,,, that included the experts in the law and the rulers,,, were the political and civil leaders appointed by God to guide and protect the nation.

In the early history of Israel this function was fulfilled by judges,,, but later the duty was assigned to kings.

Ironically the ones who were to lead Israel were themselves in need of correction.

They rebelled against the One,,, who had appointed them to their task.

The prophets were the third group charged with leading the nation.

But instead of declaring God’s words of rebuke and correction,,, they prophesied by Baal and urged the people to follow worthless idols.

Baal was a Canaanite god of fertility whose worship was a constant thorn in Israel’s side,,, because they had failed to remove all traces of this type of worship when they were given the land by God,,, as He had commanded them to do.

Because of these repeated failures of the Israelites,,, Jeremiah will give them Gods pronounced judgement in the next few verses.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verses 9 through 12 say: 9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again. This is the Lord’s declaration. I will bring a case against your children’s children. 10 Cross over to Cyprus and take a look. Send someone to Kedar and consider carefully; see if there has ever been anything like this: 11 Has a nation ever exchanged its gods? (But they were not gods! ) Yet My people have exchanged their Glory for useless idols. 12 Be horrified at this, heavens; be shocked and utterly appalled. This is the Lord’s declaration.

Having clearly shown the faithlessness of the people,,, Jeremiah used the image of a court case to focus on the seriousness of Israel’s sin,,, that’s why it says in the beginning of this verse,,, 9 Therefore, I will bring a case against you again.

God would bring charges against them,,, and their children’s children.

Then Jeremiah,,, basically asked the people,,, to go on a “field trip” to observe the faithfulness of the Gentiles around them.

But whether they went to the coasts of Kittim,,, (Cyprus) in the west,,, or to Kedar,,, (north Arabian desert tribes) in the east,,, the results would always be the same: no pagan society had ever changed its gods.

The idolatrous nations surrounding Israel were more faithful to their false gods than Israel had been to the true God of the universe,,, and because of this,,, they should be shocked and utterly appalled.

----------------------------------------------------------- Verse 13 says: 13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

Israel had committed two sins.

The first,,, was one of omission,,, she had forsaken her God.

Her second sin,,, was one of commission,,, she had replaced her true God with false idols.

Then,,, using imagery that those in Judah would understand,,, Jeremiah compared the nation’s actions to someone abandoning a spring of living,,, or running water for broken cisterns.

The most reliable and refreshing sources of water in Israel were her natural springs.

This water was dependable; and its clear,,, cool consistency was satisfying.

In contrast,,, the most unreliable source of water was cisterns.

Cisterns were large pits dug into the rock and covered with plaster.

These pits were used to gather rainwater.

This water was brackish; and if the rains were below normal,,, it could run out.

Worse yet,,, if a cistern developed a crack it would not hold the water.

To turn from a dependable,,, pure stream of running water to a broken,,, brackish cistern was very foolish.

Yet that is what Israel did when she turned from God to idols.

----------------------------------------------------------- So we can see that the Israelites actions were very foolish,,, and because of them,,, they must face the “Consequences”.

We are tempted today to think how foolish of them for acting this way when God has done so much for them!

And yet,,, are we any different today?

God has blessed this nation that we live in,,, but we,,, the people of the church,,, have allowed sin after sin,,, a little bit here,,, and a little bit there,,, until it is everywhere!

That’s similar to what happened with the Israelites.

A little here and a little there,,, until God was intent on punishing them.

We are about to find out what happens to our nation,,, and our church as well,,, if things don’t change.

And the answer begins,,, with the church.

We must present ourselves as a living example of Christ,,, by loving one another,,, even while we disagree at times,,, so that we can show the world how Christians are supposed to act.

This attitude can save our nation,,, but it must begin with us,,, each one of us can do our part by learning to disagree without hatred,,, talking without fighting needlessly,,, and tearing each other down.

The battle that is playing out within our denomination today just shows us how far from God that we are.

We have turned our backs on God,,, and if we aren’t careful,,, like the Israelites,,, we will face consequences for our mistakes.

That’s why that it’s critical today that we all understand that it begins with those of us that come to church each Sunday,,, so that we can be the example that Christ intended us to be.

And we do that by obeying Jesus’ command in John 13:34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you must also love one another.”

Because if we can’t love one another,,, how can we love anyone outside the church,,, so we had better wise up and quit making foolish choices!

Or,,, we can continue making mistakes,,, and like the Israelites,,, face the “Consequences” for our failures,,, as well!

----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- ----------------------------------------------------------- Hymn: 337 - Oakdale Hymn: 337 - Seminary Benediction -----------------------------------------------------------