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We turn the sacred scriptures
this evening to Jeremiah, chapter two. Jeremiah, chapter two. We read the first 30 verses. Moreover, the word of the Lord
came unto me, saying, Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem,
saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness
of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest
after me in the wilderness in a land that was not sown. Israel
was holiness unto the Lord and the first fruits of his increase.
All that devour him shall offend. Evil shall come upon them, saith
the Lord. Hear ye the word of the Lord,
O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel,
thus saith the Lord. What iniquity have your fathers
found in me that they are gone far from me and have walked after
vanity and are become vain? Neither said they, where is the
Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt? That led us
through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits,
through a land of droughts and of the shadow of death, through
a land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt. And I
brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof
and the goodness thereof. But when he entered, he defiled
my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests said
not, where is the Lord? And they that handle the law
knew me not. The pastors also transgressed
against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked
after things that do not profit. Wherefore, I will yet plead with
you, saith the Lord, and with your children's children will
I plead. For pass over the aisles of Kittim
and see, and send unto Keter and consider diligently and see
if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their
glory for that which doth not profit. Be astonished, O ye heavens,
at this, and be horribly afraid. Be ye very desolate, saith the
Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. Is Israel a servant? Is he a home-born slave? Why
is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him
and yelled, and they made his land waste. His cities are burned
without inhabitant. Also, the children of Nath And
to happen these have broken the crown of thine head. Hast thou
not procured this unto thyself, and that thou hast forsaken the
Lord thy God when he led thee by the way? And now, what hast
thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihur?
Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria to drink the waters
of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct
thee. And thy backsliding shall reprove thee. Know therefore,
and see, that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken
the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the
Lord God of hosts. For of old time I have broken
thy yoke, and burst thy bands, and thou saidst, I will not transgress. When upon every high hill and
under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot, Yet I had
planted thee a noble vine, holy, a right seed. How then art thou
turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me? For
though thou wash thee with niter and take thee much soap, yet
thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. How canst
thou say, I am not polluted? I have not gone after Balaam. See thy way in the valley? Know
what thou hast done? Thou art a swift dromedary traversing
her ways. A wild ass, used to the wilderness,
that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure. In her occasion,
who can turn her away? All they that seek her will not
weary themselves. In her month, they shall find
her. Withhold thy foot from being
unshod, and thy throat from thirst. But thou saidst, there is no
hope, no, for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As
the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of
Israel ashamed. They, their kings, their princes,
and their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stock,
thou art my father, and to a stone, thou hast brought me forth. For
they have turned their back unto me and not their face. But in
the time of their trouble they will say, Arise and save us.
But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise.
They can save thee in the time of thy trouble. For according
to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah. Wherefore
will ye plead with me? Ye all have transgressed against
me, saith the Lord. In vain have I smitten your children.
They receive no correction. Your own sword have devoured
your prophets like a destroying lion. We read thus far God's
divinely inspired and infallible word. The text for the sermon tonight
is the 13th verse. For my people have committed
two evils. They have forsaken me the fountain
of living waters and Hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can hold no water. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,
the kingdom of Judah from Rehoboam, now remember, David, then Solomon,
then the division of the kingdom, Jeroboam, the first king of Israel,
the ten northern tribes. Jeroboam. Rehoboam, the first
king of Judah after the division. In Judah, from Rehoboam all the
way to the Babylonian captivity, there was a period of about 330
or so years. Jeremiah prophesied to Judah
during the last 40 or so years of Judah's existence, up to and
even past the Babylonian captivity. That is, he prophesied in Judah
at a time in which her rebellion against God was so wicked that
God could no longer forbear, but he had to cast them off into
captivity in Babylon. Those were the conditions in
which he prophesied. We have already noted in connection
with chapter 1, that God came to Jeremiah one day and told
him, before you came out of the womb, I ordained you a prophet.
So now Jeremiah knows he's been called to be a prophet. And then
we've also considered the Word of God to Jeremiah. How he had
to encourage him because Jeremiah's response to his calling was,
Ah, behold, Lord God, I cannot speak. I am a child. I don't
have the experience. And evidently, he was also afraid
of the possible faces that he would receive from the people.
So, the Lord encouraged him. He strengthened him. He gave
him his charge. Go and speak My Word. Speak all
that I command thee. And so, Jeremiah was called a
prophet. He was commissioned. He was given
his charge. And now God sends him out into
Jerusalem among the people of Judah to speak His Word. Chapter 2 begins with these words,
The word of the Lord came to me, saying..." And now here comes
the word of the Lord to Jeremiah. Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem. This is urgent. Go. Cry. "...Thus saith the Lord." Verse
2. And the Lord begins His first
word to the people from and through the mouth of Jeremiah by calling
them to remember the good days. Remember the days of your youth?
The love of thine espousals? Remember when we were engaged
and everything was well? And you loved Me? And you were
excited? And you were holiness unto the
Lord? You were devoted unto Me? Remember
those days? What happened? What changed? The Lord God, through Jeremiah,
gives His own assessment in verse 13, the text. This is what happened.
My people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. The text, that is God's
own assessment of what happened in Judah, is a description of
apostasy. Apostasy is the sin of forsaking
God as He is revealed in the truth of Jesus. Apostasy was
the sin for which Judah was guilty when Jeremiah came to speak to
her. The value of the text tonight
is that it teaches us something very important about apostasy. Namely, apostasy is evil. And in the second place, apostasy
always includes not one, but two evils. Whatever person, nation,
church, or denomination apostatizes, they will necessarily be guilty
of two evils. The word is a warning tonight
to every true church of Jesus Christ of what she needs to know
and of what she needs to guard against. In the battle to remain
a true church of Jesus Christ. Let's consider this 13th verse
now under the theme apostasy's two evils. First, identified
second manifested Third, experienced. The two evils of apostasy. What
are they? How are they manifested? And
what is the experience of these two evils? The text tonight is
a description of apostasy. Apostasy is the sin of forsaking
God as He is revealed in the truth of Jesus by those who worshipped
God and maintained the truth of Jesus in some outward sense. Apostasy is a biblical word.
It is found in 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 3, where the Apostle
Paul warns about the coming day of the Lord and says, let no
man deceive you by any means, for that day shall not come except
there come a falling away first. And that man of sin be revealed,
the son of perdition. Except there come a falling away
first. That phrase is a translation
of the Greek word apostasia. Literally, except there come
an apostasy first. That same word, in its Hebrew
form, is used in the Old Testament only a couple of times. Interestingly,
one of the appearances is in the chapter, Jeremiah 2, verse
19. Thine own wickedness shall correct
thee. Literally, thine own apostasy
shall correct thee. The text tonight treats the subject
of apostasy. That the topic of the text is
apostasy is indicated by this phrase in the text. They have
forsaken me. That's apostasy. That is the
very definition of apostasy. That is the idea of apostasy. To forsake God. The text treats
the subject of apostasy. But not only the text, the whole
chapter. In fact, the whole book. But
explicitly, the whole chapter deals with apostasy. Verse 2
Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord,
I remember thee the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine
espousals, when thou wentest after me, but you no longer go
after me." That's apostasy. Verse 5, Thus saith the Lord,
what iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone
far from me? Apostasy. Verse 17, Hast thou not procured this unto
thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God?" Apostasy. Verse 19, Thine own, literally,
apostasy shall correct thee. And then to the end of the verse,
that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God. Apostasy. The whole chapter, including
the text, treats the subject of forsaking God. That is apostasy. We ought to know that the sin
of apostasy only takes place in the sphere of the church,
as is implied in the aforementioned definition of apostasy. Old Testament
Egypt will not be judged by God for the sin of apostasy. Old
Testament Assyria will not be judged by God for the sin of
apostasy. For the sin takes place in the
sphere of the church where God is revealed in the truth of Jesus. Where one has an opportunity
to forsake the truth of Jesus. Apostasy takes place in the sphere
of the church. That is, in the Old Testament,
in the nation of Israel, in Judah, and nowhere else in the Old Testament. Apostasy is an important biblical
subject. It is important, first of all,
because the entire history of the church indicates that apostasy
is always a threat. Secondly, The circumstances and
conditions of the church world today indicate that apostasy
is still a grave threat. Thirdly, Jesus Himself prophesied
that one of the outstanding signs marking the nearness of His return
is apostasy. In fact, the aforementioned 2
Thessalonians 2 verse 3 stated that Jesus cannot come. He will
not come. Except first, there be a great
falling away. Apostasy is an important biblical
subject. And anyone who has even a basic
knowledge of biblical and church history knows that apostasy is
always a threat. We know something of apostasy
in our own history, the mother from which we came. In the year
of our Lord, 2012, does not look like she did when she cast this
out in 1924. And certainly does not look like
she did in 1857 when she herself had to leave the Reformed Church
in America because of its apostasy. Anyone with a basic knowledge
of church history knows the continual threat of apostasy. It has always been present. It
is present today. It will always be present until
Jesus Christ returns. The value of the text tonight
is that it teaches us a fundamental lesson about apostasy. This lesson, apostasy, is always
characterized by two evils. The first evil of apostasy is
the forsaking of God. The forsaking of God as revealed
in the truth of Jesus. God uses a figure in the text
in order to teach this. The figure of a fountain. He
says, for my people have committed two evils. Now this is evil number
one. They have forsaken me. The fountain
of living waters. God uses a figure that was common
to all of the people of Israel. The inhabitants of Jerusalem.
A fountain. Down below the surface of the
ground is a spring. And that spring causes water
to shoot forth through and out of the ground into the air. A
fountain of living water so that animals and people come to the
fountain to have water coming out of the ground. A fountain
of water that is refreshing and cool and pleasant and satisfying
to those who drink of it. An unending fountain because
it arises out of a natural spring that was not made by man. And
so the fountain runs continually. A fountain of living water. That's a picture of God. For My people have forsaken Me. The fountain of living waters. That fountain is a picture of
God in four respects. Number one, God is the fountain
of life in Himself. No one made God. God was not
created. An idol has to be made, but God
in Himself is a God of life, just like a fountain out of the
ground, a God of life. In the second place, He is life-giving. Creatures come to Him to receive
life. His own people come to Him to
receive salvation. The living waters of salvation
He gives life. Idols don't. God does. In the
third place, He is refreshing and satisfying. All those who
come to God and receive His salvation of everlasting life are refreshed
and satisfied. And in the fourth place, He is
unending. His fountain of salvation and
life never dries up. It never stops running. God is
the fountain of living water. But even the Israelites knew
that the fountain ultimately was referring to the Messiah
Jesus Christ. That was made plain even in the
Old Testament. For example, Zechariah the prophet
said in Zechariah 13 verse 1, in that day, not now, but there's
a day coming, In that day, there shall be a fountain open to the
house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for
uncleanness." And he's referring to the coming Messiah, Jesus
Christ. He will be the fountain. And
then, of course, when the Messiah comes and He begins His earthly
ministry, He passes right through Samaria and He stops by the well
and He talks to the Samaritan woman and says, as recorded in
John 4, verse 14, "...but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst. But the water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting
life." The fountain of living water is Jesus Christ Himself. He has all life. He was born,
He died, and He arose again on the third day with all life in
Himself. New Resurrection life. Jesus
Christ is life giving. Come to Him and receive the salvation
and forgiveness and eternal life that He gives. Life giving. Jesus Christ is refreshing and
satisfying to the soul as no one and nothing else in His salvation. It is delightful to taste of
Him. And He's unending. His fountain of living waters
never runs dry. Never into all eternity. Jesus
Christ is the fountain of living waters. Now, the way of salvation,
the way of blessedness in the covenant, The way of God's favor
in Old Testament Israel and in the church today is to thirst
after Jesus, the fountain of living waters, and to receive
Him and have your soul satisfied by Him. And so we sing. Psalter 114,
stanza 1, as thirsts the heart for water brooks, So thirst my
soul, O God, for Thee, as Thou art revealed in the truth of
Jesus Christ." That's life in the covenant the people of God
thirst for and receive the satisfaction of the living waters, Jesus Christ. The first evil of apostasy is that, one, who in some sense
had contact with the fountain of life, who was associated in
some sense with the fountain of life, who had an intellectual
knowledge of the truth of the fountain of life, turns and walks
away from the fountain of life. That's the first evil of apostasy. That doesn't happen overnight.
It never does. It's always a process. Slowly
but surely, gradually, one turns from the fountain that is God
revealed in the truth of Jesus and goes another way. They have
forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters. That is the first
evil of apostasy. That's universally true. That
is always the case in apostasy. It is a forsaking of God as He's
revealed in the truth of Jesus. It doesn't matter if the one
who apostatizes is an individual, a church, or a denomination,
or Old Testament Judah. A forsaking of the fountain of
life. However, it's not as if one is by the
fountain of life and deliberately chooses to turn his back on the
fountain and now spends the rest of his life meandering through
the wilderness with nothing that never happens. Never happens in apostasy. That
one forsakes the fountain and then meanders. The text tells
us. The second evil of apostasy is
that the one who forsakes the living waters will then go, as
Judah did, and hew them out cisterns. Broken cisterns that can't hold
no water. That is, apostasy is never characterized
by one evil. There is always a second accompanying
evil, whether it be an individual, a church or a denomination. The
second evil of apostasy is embracing man-made idols. That, embracing man-made idols. The text says, for my people
have committed not one, but two evils. They have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns, that can have no water. A cistern today is
a big tank, perhaps made out of concrete. You can store water
in the tank. In Old Testament Israel, a cistern
was a big pit that was hewn out of the rock ordinarily. Out of
the rock, and now a big pit. You can store water in the pit.
And God uses that figure to describe the second evil of apostasy. Everyone who apostatizes is going
to leave the fountain and he's going to go dig a cistern. Embrace idols. Know about the
cistern. Number one, a cistern has to
be made. Someone has to dig it. No one
makes God, but you have to make an idol. A cistern must be made. Number two, A cistern is not
alive and life-giving like the fountain. It's just a dry pit.
There's no life in a cistern. The same thing is true of an
idol. There is no life in an idol. There is in God, but not
in an idol. The worshipper has to ascribe properties to his
idol. He has to give his idol life,
for it has no life in itself. Number three, cisterns do not
provide pure, clean, refreshing water, but the water in a cistern
is standing water. There it says. It's not moving. It's standing water and often
contaminated. It's not pure. An idle God does
not provide pure, refreshing waters, but bitter waters. And number four, a cistern is
not a never-ending fount. In fact, the text explicitly
says that they hew out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold
no water. What water the cistern may hold,
well, it has cracks and holes and all the water is gone. God's
fountain never runs dry. What little bit of water an idle
God may have, that is, what little bit of pleasure you may get from
an idle God, it only lasts a season. And then it's gone. It drains
away. And it's even artificial pleasure. Man is thirsty. Every man is
thirsty. Every man is religious. Every
human being is spiritual. Every man worships. Every man
in his soul thirsts. for something. The child of God
thirsts for the living waters and his soul is satisfied. But
in apostasy, a man, a church, a denomination is not satisfied
with God as revealed in the truth of Jesus, but thirsts after and
will find some satisfaction in the cistern he has hewed out
for himself. Idle gods. These are the two
evils of apostasy. Forsaking God as He's revealed
in the truth of Jesus, and always embracing man-made idols. That's the identification of
the two evils of apostasy. However, before we move on and
consider their manifestation, we ought not go any farther until
we underscore what the text is teaching us tonight. Namely,
the two evils of apostasy are evil. The text uses that word. These are not merely the two
characteristics of apostasy. They are the two evils of apostasy. Something is evil if it is that
which God hates and does not bring glory to God. Apostasy
is evil. And we could come up with many
reasons for why apostasy is so evil. The context presents at
least two of them to us. Number one, apostasy in its two
characteristics is so evil because you will not even find this kind
of wickedness in the world. God says, verses 10 and 11, pass
over the aisles of Kittim and see, and send unto Keter and consider
diligently and see if there be any such thing. Look over the
aisles of Kittim That refers to all of the land touching the
Mediterranean Sea. Where Judah was, to the west,
there were cities along the Mediterranean Sea. And then further west, the
islands like Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea. And then go farther west,
there's Macedonia and what we know as Greece and Rome. All
of those lands, the Isles of Kittim, everything touching the
Mediterranean. Look at all of that to the west
and the north. And then go look at Keter. Keter
refers to the desert land, the wasteland of the Arabians where
the nomads and the Bedouins travel. Go look at Keter, the deserts,
to the east and to the south. Look everywhere around you in
Kittim and in Keter. And see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods? Look at the heathen ungodly.
Look at the pagans. And you will not even find among
them what I now see in Judah and what's found in the Christian
church. Isn't that interesting? The wicked never change their
gods. When the wicked take an idol
god, they never forsake him. And they never change and go
to another idol. Look! Go to Kiddom. Go to Teter. Look among the Canaanites in
Canaan who have never forsaken Baal. Go to Mecca and see the
Muslims who have never forsaken Allah. Go to Greece and see the
Grecians who have never forsaken Zeus. And go to Hollywood and
see the worshippers of sex and drugs and alcohol and debauchery
and riotous living. They have never forsaken their
God. They are faithful to their gods.
They are no gods. Verse 11, have the nation changed
their gods, which are yet no gods. They're not really gods. They're just idols. But they
don't change their gods. They faithfully maintain their
gods and are devoted to their gods. And now look at my people. who have changed their glory.
That's me, the glorious Jehovah. They have changed their glory
for that which doth not profit. So evil is the sin of apostasy
that one will not even find it in the wicked world. The ungodly pagans will be judged
for one fundamental sin. Breaking the first commandment.
Idolatry. The ungodly will be judged for
one fundamental sin. Apostate Christianity and apostate
Christians will be judged, not for one, but for two sins. So great a wickedness is not
even found in the wicked world. And that's why God says in verse
12, Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid
Be very desolate, saith the Lord." It's almost as if the heavenly
bodies, the sun and the moon and all of the stars that you
see at night are looking down upon the world. And God now says
to them, He commands them, be astonished, be appalled. and
be horribly afraid. That is, shudder and shake in
terror at what you see. Not at what you see in the world. Not at what happens in Canaanite
groves, and Muslim mosques, and Grecian temples, and Assyrian
palaces, and the White House of the United States, and in
the immoral scenes of Hollywood. Don't shudder at that. but be
astonished at what you see in Judah and in the Christian church
today. That's what God says to the heavens.
And it's almost as if, figuratively speaking, when you see the stars
blinking, they're shuddering, because they have to look down
upon this world. And in the world, they see the
Christian church forsaking God and turning to man-made idols.
And the very stars of the heavens, they shake in horror. So great an evil is not even
found in the world, the evil of forsaking God, Christ. In the second place, we can say
tonight that apostasy is so evil because it is a revelation of
hatred for and ingratitude to God. Certainly, to forsake God is
hatred and ingratitude. But to forsake, to use the language
of verse 11, glory for that which doth not profit. That's even
worse. That's even greater hatred and ingratitude. Now, to use
God's own figure in verse two. Remember our engagement, the
love of our youth. To forsake us false is hatred. and ingratitude. But there's
something worse. There's greater hatred and ingratitude,
and that's to forsake a spouse for someone else. For a career. For the pleasure of earthly life.
That's even worse. And so it was in Judah, they
not only forsook God, the God of all glory, That's hatred enough
for God to leave him. But they turn to hew out their
own sisters. That's even greater hatred and
ingratitude. Interesting, the text literally
reads, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters
and not and not and. Although that's part of the idea.
And here comes the second evil. But, they have forsaken me the
fountain of living waters in order to hew. That's purpose. In order to hew. It's not simply
the result that they hewed out cisterns. Some were at the fountain
of living waters, and over the course of time, now they went
over to hew out cisterns. That's the result. They hewed
out cisterns. That's not merely the result.
It was the very purpose in their mind, while they were at the
fountain with the living God, they purposed in their heart
that they would go hew out cisterns of living water, rather of bitter
water. While they were with Him, they
already had their eyes on the idols. They forsook Him with
this purpose, that they might go and hew out cisterns. broken cisterns which can hold
no water. Hatred for and in gratitude to
God and thus the text says, for my people have committed two
evils, evils. Those are the two evils of apostasy. They come to manifestation. They
did in Judah. Judah forsook God. That's the
first evil of apostasy. And that was manifested in Judah.
They forsook God as he was revealed in the truth of Jesus God, the
God of all glory and salvation in the temple. He revealed himself
to Judah there in the most holy place where there was the Ark
of the Covenant. and fellowship with God. He revealed
Himself in His grace and mercy and lovingkindness as all that
blood was flowing from the altars, and it was pointing ahead to
Jesus Christ and the forgiveness in Jesus. He showed Himself to
Judah and the prophet and the priest and the king, who were
always pointing ahead to the great office bearer, Jesus Christ.
He showed Himself in the book of the Law of Moses as they opened
it up, and it recorded the history of how God brought their fathers
out of Egypt and into the promised land of Canaan, the very land
on which they were now standing in Jerusalem. God in the temple
revealed in Jesus Christ was the fountain of living water
and salvation, and Israel and Judah forsook Him. That is, they
left the temple and the proper worship of Jehovah in the temple. They went out of the temple.
They forsook Jehovah revealed in Jesus. That was the manifestation
of their first evil. And then they went to Baal, to
Ashtoreth, to the groves of the Canaanites,
where all the pagan practices took place. Now, instead of blood
and mercy and reverence and awe, according to the book of the
law, there was drunkenness and riotous living and partying,
which always accompanies the worship of the Canaanite gods. Now, instead of offering incense
to Jehovah, they were offering incense, as chapter 1 taught
us, to Baal. Come, let me show you, said the
priests, this is how you worship Baal. And up went the incense
to Baal. Instead of worshiping God, they
had their hunks of wood and their carvings and their stones and
their stumps and they said, these are our gods. And then came the
lawless living that always accompanies idolatry because the idols don't
have a law. Verse 18, And now what hast thou
to do in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor? That's
a branch of the Nile. You're drinking the Nile. Why
are you drinking the Nile? And you go off to Assyria to
drink the waters of the river, the Euphrates. That is, they
went to Egypt and said, we need help with our enemies. Will you
help us? And then they went to Assyria and said, we've got all
these enemies. We want to make an alliance with
you. Will you help us? They put their trust in the wicked
nations of the world. And that was the manifestation
of their second evil of apostasy. They forsook God revealed in
Christ. And then they embraced all these
man-made idols. The Word of God tonight must
expose the rampant apostasy in the church world in which we
live. But the Word of God may not make us smug or arrogant. It must humble us tonight. Because
the two evils of apostasy can be manifested in our own personal
lives. Note well. An elect child of
God can never apostatize and fall from grace. Judas Iscariot
did, but he was not an elect child of God. An elect child
of God will never apostatize and fall from grace. But that's
not to say that we, as God's children, do not struggle. We
do. Isn't this the great struggle of life? Day after day? Week after week, year after year,
we have God. The fountain of living water
revealed in Jesus Christ. We have the Word of Christ, the
truth of Christ, the forgiveness that God gives us in Christ as
we ask for it and confess our sins every day. The fountain
of living water, but so often we drift. And we drift. And we want to turn with our
affections and desires toward the things of the world. That will satisfy us. That's
the great struggle of every child of God. Every day he faces that. The temptation by the wicked
nature to drift away from God and the water of life and to
find something in the world. Thanks be to God that Jesus died
to forgive. of that sin in us. And that the
Spirit of Jesus is powerful to quicken in us a turning so that
God always turns us back to Himself. But these two evils can be found
even in our own personal lives because of our wicked nature.
The truth of the passage may not in any way make us smug or
arrogant, but the text must expose The rampant apostasy in the church
world today. God is speaking not to an individual
in the text. He's speaking to the nation of
Judah, most of whom in their impenitence will be destroyed
in the judgment of the Babylonian captivity. But God is speaking
to them and to even to the elect remnant. To turn them. And he will redeem
them in judgment. God is speaking to Judah. And
the word of God tonight exposes apostasy in churches today in
the Christian church. There's this evil forsaking God. The truth of Jesus Christ, even
as it is set forth systematically in the orthodox confessions of
the Reformed creeds, having the fountain of living water in the
truth of Jesus, and so many today now are turning away from the
truth of Jesus. But that's only the first evil
of apostasy. There is the second evil turning
to hew out cisterns embracing idol gods. Many in
the church world today have forsaken the God of awe and majesty and
holiness and glory and reverence, who demands that we worship Him
with reverence and in awe, in spirit and in truth. Now, that's
evil enough to forsake that God. But man today has embraced the
idol god who wants the worshippers to be happy and emotionally charged,
and who comes down to relate to man on his own level. That's
the God in many churches. He's on man's level. And He gives
to man what He wants and allows irreverent self-worship and man-centered
activities and dances. And how the pagans must smile.
Yesterday, you worshipped the majestic God. Today, you worship
a God just like ours. An idol of frivolity. And how
the heavens must shudder. And how Christ must be displeased. Many today in the church world
have forsaken the righteous God of strict justice. That's evil
enough. But have now hewn out the new
cistern. A new idol God whose heart is
so large that He finds it in Himself. to take everyone to
heaven. How the pagans must smile, for
yesterday you worshipped a God of strict justice who required
the atonement of Jesus Christ to pay for the sins of the elect. And now today you worship a God
whose heart is so large that He will welcome everyone into
heaven. Come as you are. God will fellowship with you.
And how the heavens must shudder And Christ, who made that atonement
to satisfy the strict justice of God, must be displeased. Many in the church have forsaken
the God of power and glory, who by the almighty power of His
Word created the whole world out of nothing in six literal,
successive, 24-hour days. That's evil enough to forsake
that great God of glory. But now man bows before the idol
God. In Christian churches, bows before
the idol God of evolution. and theistic evolution. That
idle God who had something to do with the creation in the beginning,
but then let it go and over millions of years, things developed in
the creation. And how the pagans must smile. And in the universities, yesterday
you said your God created everything in the beginning by His power.
And now you, Professor, today are teaching In this Christian
college, you're teaching the God of evolution. That idle God
of evolution and blind chance. How the heavens created by God
on the fourth day must shudder at what happens in Christianity. And how Jesus Christ, who was
there in the beginning creating, must be displeased. Many in the church world today
reject the God of sovereign double predestination who saves all
those and only those for whom Christ died, namely the elect,
and who by the irresistible power of His grace takes a dead heart
and makes it alive. which is evil enough to forsake
that sovereign God of salvation. But now a man hews out the cistern
again, the old cistern of Pelagianism and Arminianism and worships
an idle God who loves everyone and gave Jesus Christ to die
for everyone and now pleads with everyone, won't you open up your
heart and exercise your free will and accept Jesus into your
heart? That's an idle God. He's weak. Man is sovereign and how
the pagans must laugh. We've always worshiped gods who
are weak and we are sovereign and we determine things. And
now, alas, you and the Christian church are worshiping again,
like us, a weak god and how the heavens must shudder and how
the sovereign savior must be displeased. Many today in Christianity have
forsaken the God who instituted marriage between one man and
one woman for life, which is serious enough. But now bow down
before the idol God who wants you happy in marriage. If that
means you divorce and remarry, and divorce again and remarry,
then you keep on remarrying. If that means you want to get
married to one of the same sex, Is that what will make you happy?
to have a male-male relationship, that's what you want, then you
have that. And so mainline Protestant denominations today sanction
homosexual relationships and how the pagans must smile. We've
worshipped this idol god of homosexuality all the way back in Sodom. And
you had your god of marriage. Alas, you and the Christian church
are bowing before our idol god and how the heavens must shudder
And Jesus Christ, the faithful groom, must be displeased. Many have forsaken the God of
the Ten Commandments. And hew out new cisterns now. New cisterns. You can cut the
fourth commandment right out of the law. God wants you to
be happy. If you want to golf and go to
the beach and work and do whatever you want to do on Sunday, then
you do that. You don't have to worship me.
You do what makes you happy. Now man bows before the idol
God, who has no commandments. Or only some commandments. And how the pagans must smile.
Away goes the law. How the heavens must shudder.
And now Christ who died for law-breaking sinners must be displeased. And finally, we could say tonight
that many are forsaking the God who inspired the Bible. That's
evil enough. But now they are turning to the
idolatry of confessing that the Bible is authored by man, and
is fallible, and has mistakes, and is not trustworthy, and how
the pagans must smile, and the ungodly professors must smirk
in the Christian colleges or in the public universities, how
they must smirk. We've always said, this book
is an ordinary book. We've always said that. It's
fallible. It's not trustworthy. And now
we have Christian professors in Christian universities teaching
the young people, this book is not infallible. Alas! You hew out our cistern and you
bow down before our idol God and how the heavens must shudder
and the Word incarnate must be displeased." The two evils of
apostasy. Forsaking the truth of Jesus
and then turning to man-made idols. Evil in experience. The experience of apostasy is
evil The experience of faithfulness to God is satisfying. Drinking of the fountain of living
water. Is there anything so delightful as wandering through a waste,
howling wilderness of sin and souls that are parched because
of sin and wickedness and rebellion, only to come to the fountain
of living waters, Jesus Christ, and to receive His salvation
and be satisfied? That experience is delightful. That's not the case. with drinking
from the broken cisterns which hold no water or contaminated
water. As the picture itself indicates
to us, the experience of apostasy is evil. First of all, the experience
is that one is not satisfied. One is never satisfied. Now,
God might use that to bring one who has apostatized back. That's
always our hope. That one who apostatizes and
leaves and walks away from the fountain may say in his soul,
I'm never satisfied. I need to go back to the fountain.
But that's true then. There's no satisfaction in bowing
before the idol god of Arminianism. Well, it gives some pleasure
to know that I have to do something to be saved, and I can boast
of my works. It never brings true satisfaction
like relying exclusively upon Jesus. bowing down before the
idol god of homosexuality. That doesn't bring pleasure.
The homosexual is not satisfied. He's miserable. She's miserable. There's no satisfaction. That's
dirty, contaminated water. No satisfaction in apostasy. Ho! Everyone that thirsteth in
apostatizing churches, come to the living waters of Jesus Christ
in a true church and drink. Salvation for your soul. There is satisfaction. It would take the Babylonian captivity
for God to draw the elect remnant back to Himself as the fountain. But He would. And they would
come. And ultimately, the experience
of apostasy is death. Under the judgment of God, death. There may be believers in apostate
churches. There are believers in apostate
churches. They will survive. They will
go to heaven. But they don't flourish and they
don't have the satisfaction they could have. But most importantly,
there are children and grandchildren. And in the generations, there
will be death of soul in the judgment of God. And now what
parent will give his child a glass of cold, crystal clear drinking
water, but will stay in an apostate
or apostatizing church while the little child's soul wilts? There's no water there. Oh, everyone
that thirsteth, come and may God give a true thirst to such
and bring them out to the living waters of Jesus Christ. Our experience
tonight, humble gratitude. That ought
to be what resonates in our soul because you know your nature
and I know my nature. We always struggle because by
nature we want to turn away from God. And how in the world could
there ever be a true church with all kinds of sinners that are
faithful to God? It's mercy. It's God's mercy
in us. It's the power of Jesus Christ,
the only reason we are faithful and drink of the living waters
and are satisfied. God's faithfulness and mercy
in the covenant so that our experience tonight is humble gratitude to
God. And in conclusion, Our experience
tonight must be refreshing satisfaction. We know Jesus. The Jesus of truth. We drink of Him. The fountain
of living waters. Doesn't that taste good to your
soul? That's our experience tonight.
Drinking of Jesus. We are at the fountain. This
is our prayer now. God, in our generations, keep
us here. Keep us at the fountain of living
water, lest we turn away and hew out our own cisterns. God
is faithful. May God keep us at the fountain
with our children. Amen. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank Thee
for life and continue to work life in us. A life that shows
itself in love for Thee. Love for Thee with all of our
hearts. And may that be our life, that
we love Thee and say, Lord God, we will never leave Thee. Help
us in our weakness. Strengthen us and our children
to remain faithful to Thee. For Jesus' sake, Amen.
Apostasy's Two Evils
Series Jeremiah
| Sermon ID | 1119121324145 |
| Duration | 1:00:30 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Bible Text | Jeremiah 2:13 |
| Language | English |
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