Alright, let's look at Jeremiah
chapter 2. Now our text begins in verse
14 of this chapter. The title of the message is Images
of Sin and Depravity. Images of Sin and Depravity. And what's going on here is Jeremiah,
the prophet who's been called and equipped of God, the prophet
who's been instructed by God, The prophet who's been commissioned
by God is now preaching his messages in Jerusalem, in Judah. And in
preaching his messages, he's bringing charges. He's listing
the charges that God has against this people. Charges of their
sin. The charges that God has against
his people have been summarized in verse 13 under two sins. And as I told you in the message
on this, it says, for my people have committed two evils. Now
that's not just two sins, that is the two greatest of all sins
have their roots in unbelief, which is covers all sin. And
he says, they forsaken me the fountain of living waters and
hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
The way we would state that today for people, and I want you to
understand as we look at these images of sin and depravity,
that what Jeremiah is describing there is all of us by nature. It's not just a certain class
of sinners who are worse than other sinners. But He's describing
all of us by nature much in the same way that the Apostle Paul
did in Romans chapter 3 and verses 9 when he said, The Scripture
hath concluded all under sin. And there's none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that doeth good, none that seeketh after
God. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And
that shows us that the only hope that any of us have, the only
hope for these people that Jeremiah is preaching to, the only hope
for you and the only hope for me, is the grace of God in Christ
Jesus. And to forsake the fountain of
living waters, the way we would state it today, is to reject
Christ. He is the fountain of living waters. And that's the,
that's, listen, I'm telling you, if you have not latched hold
of, by God-given faith, the Lord Jesus Christ, trusting Him for
all salvation, for all righteousness, for all forgiveness, for all
glory. I mean, if He's not your all
and in all, 100%, you have forsaken the fountain of living waters.
And if you're looking anywhere else for salvation, for relief,
for hope, for forgiveness, for righteousness, then you're hewing
out a cistern, a broken cistern that will not hold water. Salvation
by works and that's the that's kind of like an umbrella of all
that covers all sin everything that's happening here now He
gives us eight images here of sin and depravity and the first
image he gives in verse 14 is Judah is like a slave in bondage
who's been plundered they're a plundered slave and he starts
out this way look at it is Israel a servant a Verse 14, is Israel
a servant? Is he a home-born slave, a valued
servant, born into a family with a place and a position? That's
what a home-born slave... This is much like a bond slave,
you might say, a bond servant. One who has a permanent abiding
position in the household of his master. That's what it's
like. One who's there because he's
been born into that family. He doesn't owe a debt. That's
what he's talking about. He doesn't have to earn his position. And he says, but why is he spoiled? Why is he fodder for the enemy? He's like prey. Isn't Israel
a full-fledged member of the household and family of God?
Is he a servant? If so, then why is he spoiled?
Why is he prey? How did he end up as prey for
the enemy? Now, God had redeemed them from
Egypt years and years before this, and he gave them freedom
in Canaan, but now they've gone back into the bondage of slavery. That's what they've done. They've
forsaken God. They've forsaken the one who's
been so good to them, who's protected them, and who gave them everything
that they have, not because of their goodness, not because of
their cooperation, but because of His goodness. And now they've
gone back into the bondage of Egypt, so to speak, because of
its idolatry. In fact, they were trying to
make alliances with Egypt It's kind of like he's going
to talk to them here in a minute about going back and forth. One week they might be trying
to make an alliance with Egypt, and then the next week they're
trying to make an alliance with Assyria, two idolatrous, godless
nations. God had told Israel, you're not
to make alliances with the heathen. You're to trust God. You don't
band up with the unregenerate, with the unbelievers. You trust
God. You see, that's what he tells
the church today. You don't form alliances, ecumenical movements,
so to speak, with false religion that comes in the name of Christ
but denies the doctrine of Christ because you want to have safety
in numbers. And that's what he's telling
Israel. Under the old covenant, they were to be a unique, separated
people, and they were not to make alliances. Now, why would
they make an alliance with Egypt or with Assyria? Because they
were afraid of Babylon. Well, who was going to, if anybody
was going to protect them from Babylon, who was going to do
it? God. Not Egypt. Not the gods of Egypt. Assyria. No, not them. Not the gods of
Assyria. So now they're making alliances.
Now one thing we see in this, and see, what it shows here is
that Israel's actual position before God under the Old Covenant
was not as a willing, loving, bond-servant of Christ, but as
an indebted slave. An unwilling, indebted slave. And you see something very important
here. I mentioned this earlier in another message, I think in
the introduction. And I think it's something we
really need to take heart because it helps you to understand the
Old Testament and its distinction and its difference with the New
Covenant the New Testament the New Covenant and that's this
is really important. It's the nature of the old covenant
It was not a covenant of grace It was not a covenant of salvation
Now if you disagree with that don't ever say again that salvation
is not at Sinai because if you believe it was a covenant of
grace and salvation you'd have to say salvation can be found
at Sinai and it can't and There's no salvation in Sinai. There's
no salvation in the law. The law was given to show them
their sin. And that's why the Holy Spirit
uses the law of God to convict us of sin now. There's no salvation
for a sinner under the law. There's only condemnation. And
that was the nature of that old covenant. It was not a covenant
of grace. It was conditioned, now they're
being delivered from Egypt and they're being formed as a nation
was not conditioned on them, but their continuation in that
land, that land that was given to them, and their prosperity
in that land was conditioned on their obedience and they failed.
Their sin, they are sinful, the scripture says, just like all
of us by nature. Their sinful and spoiled condition
cannot be due to any breach of the covenant on God's part, you
see, or to the failure of the blessings of national adoption
bestowed on them, but to their own sin. A sinful nation. Isaiah said it in Isaiah chapter
1. He said, ah, sinful nation. And that's a picture of all of
us by nature, isn't it? Ah, sinful people. Listen, if
we weren't a sinful people, we wouldn't need salvation. If we
weren't a sinful people, we wouldn't need salvation by grace. You
see their continuance in this covenant and its blessings was,
uh, was all conditioned on their obedience. Just, and Paul states
it in Romans chapter nine. He says they had every advantage,
but what happened? They failed. They failed. And so what is going on here
as it applies to us? What can we learn from this as
we look at this nation? Jeremiah says, are they a servant
of God? Are they a home-born slave? Then
why are they spoiled? If that's the case, then why
are they spoiled? Why are they prey for the enemy? What can we learn from them?
Well, we're a much better people than they were. Is that what
we learn from them? Well, if that's what you think
you've learned, you've missed the lesson. You've missed the
lesson. No. Here's the lesson. That any time salvation or a
relationship with God is conditioned on the sinner, it's a failure.
And that's what God teaches us through that old covenant. By
deeds of law, no flesh shall be justified in God's sight.
It's a testimony to the failure of all men, not just Israel,
but you and me too. If salvation or any part of it
is conditioned on us, then we're doomed. There's no hope for us. Now the New Covenant is entirely
different. And Jeremiah is going to state
that in chapter 31. We read it here in the introduction. The New Covenant is different
in this sense. It's conditioned not on the sinner,
but on the sinner's substitute. It's conditioned on Christ, the
God-man, Emmanuel, God with us. His name shall be called Jesus
for He, what? Shall save His people from their
sins. How's He going to do it? He's
going to do it by His death on the cross. And in His death,
in His obedience unto death, you know what He's going to do?
He's going to meet every condition and requirement of the salvation
of His people. And in His death, By the righteousness
that he established, he secures the salvation to the point that
God says, I'm going to redeem them, I'm going to wash them
clean, and I'm going to send my spirit to give them a new
heart, a new spirit, and I'm going to bring them to me. I'm
going to forgive their sin. I'll remember their iniquity
no more. Not because they're better people than Jeremiah's
audience, but because God said it and promised it. and it was
good in his sight. You see, the new covenant which
is the establishment in time of the everlasting covenant of
grace cannot be broken by you or by me. It can't be broken. Why? Because it's in Christ.
We're blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ. And all the blessings of the
new covenant are in Christ and cannot fail. because they're
in Christ it's based on his blood and his righteousness and it
cannot fail so that we're not made under the new covenant unwilling
indebted slaves we're made willing loving bond slaves of Christ
our debts paid Our debts paid. Christ paid it all. Conditioned
on Him, see? Our sins were charged to Him.
He was made sin in the sense that He was made guilty by imputation. And He took on the responsibility
of our debt and He paid the debt in full and gave us a righteousness
charged to us that answers the demands of all of God's law and
justice. And as a result of that, the
Holy Spirit comes. And we're born again. And he
indwells us. And we're made willing, loving
bond slaves of Christ. Remember, I talked to you about
this, how God, in chapter three, you'll see this. And chapter
three is a call for repentance to Judah. But in chapter three,
he'll talk about how he separated himself from Judah, how he'd
done it from Israel, the northern kingdom, and how he will do it
from Judah. He divorced himself, issued a bill of divorcement,
And it was because of their sin. But under the new covenant, God
will never separate himself from his people. He said, I'll never
leave you nor forsake you. Did he say that? There's no reason
for him to. We who are in him have a permanent
abiding position in the household and family of God. If the Son
therefore make you free, you shall be free indeed. John chapter
8. Now, Israel had been made free,
but it was a national freedom. It was a temporary freedom. It
was a temporal, physical freedom. But they didn't live forever.
They didn't live in it, did they? They squandered it. They took
that freedom and they turned it into idolatry. But all who
are in Christ by the grace and power of God are servants of
righteousness. That's what the scripture says,
isn't that right? Romans chapter 6, we're servants of righteousness,
not our own, but His. Willing, loving, bond servants
of Christ, chosen of God, justified in Christ, adopted into the family,
permanently by the way, redeemed by His blood, and born into His
family, and we cannot be divorced from Him. Now that's the good
news, isn't it? Well, look at verse 15. Here
he begins to give the reasons for their destruction. He says,
the young lions roared upon him. Now that's the enemy. Everyone
who come against him and they yelled, he says, they made his
land waste. His cities are burned without
inhabitant. This is referring to the destructions,
not only that they've gone through, but what they're about to go
through. Also the children of Naphth and Tehapanes. Now those
are two cities of Egypt. That's what he's talking about.
They've broken the crown of thine head. They beat you down. That's
what he's saying. And he says here in verse 17,
Hast thou not procured this unto thyself? This is your own doing,
God saying. In that thou hast forsaken the
Lord thy God when he led thee by the way. Forsaken God, forsaken
the fountain of living waters. Instead of drinking from the
pure river the Lord gave them, the fountain of living waters,
they go to the polluted Nile River and the Euphrates. Look
at verse 18. Now why did they do that? Well, now what hast
thou to do in the way of Egypt and to drink the waters of Sihor,
that's the Nile, another name for the Nile, Or what hast thou
to do in the way of Assyria to drink the waters of the river?
Well, what was the issue there? Well, they expected relief. They
were afraid of Babylon. They were afraid of that northern
kingdom that was mustering its troops. And they knew it was
going to come down. And so they expected relief from
Egypt and from Assyria and from their gods. You see, you didn't
make alliances with these people without speaking peace where
there was no peace. And giving some recognition to
their religion. They expected safety and protection
by making alliances with these countries. Look at verse 19,
it says, Thine own wickedness shall correct thee. Now what
he's talking about in correction there, he's talking about punishment.
And it's in the form of chastisement in this sense. Now we know that
God chastises his children. Throughout the 1500 year period
that God had united himself, wed himself as it were to this
nation under that temporary covenant, he did chastise them with these
punishments. He wasn't through with this nation
yet. Even in the destruction that's coming later, I think
it's through the first 39 chapters of Jeremiah, you see Jeremiah
preaching to the people during the the reign of Josiah, the
king who brought about the reforms. And then after that, you see
the last kings and the coming destruction of Jerusalem. Well, see, even in that destruction,
God wasn't through with them. He still had more to do in his
providence with this nation. You see that in the rebuilding
of the nation later on. We studied that during some of
the minor prophets. Nehemiah and Ezra and those like
that. They're going to rebuild. And
then as the country began to waste away, he still wasn't through
with them because it was like somewhere around 400 and some
years after that, that it was still in existence and that's
when the Messiah come in. He wasn't through with them until
Calvary. Until Calvary. So he says, thine
own wickedness shall correct thee. You're being punished for
your own sins. And thy backslidings shall reprove
thee. Now, Josiah is bringing about
reforms, but it's not going to last. And that's what he's talking
about, the backslidings 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. They didn't
fear God, they didn't worship God, they didn't serve God, saith
the Lord God of hosts. So that emphasizes the reason
for their punishment. They're just reaping what they've
sown, as we all do. That's why I say understand that
scripture. That's in Galatians 6, you know.
Whatsoever you sow, so shall you reap. What do you sow? Well,
we sow the grace of God. We look to Christ. We rest in
Him, see? And that's why we reap life everlasting. Because we're sowing the grace
of God. Well, here's the next image. Verse 20. And it's the
image of a harlot. Judah had played the harlot look
at it verse 20 for of old time I have broken thy yoke and burst
thy bands now that's referring to when he liberated them out
of Egypt he broke that yoke he broke those bands those things
which tied him down to Egypt and thou says I will not transgress
Israel said we'll serve the Lord we'll worship God went upon every
high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing
the harlot." Now that's indicative of idolatry, spiritual harlotry. Judah is a harlot. That's the
second image of sin and depravity. Every sinner who forsakes the
Lord and goes up on every high hill and every green tree, those
are symbols of idolatry in that day, Remember, Jeremiah later,
he talks about the prophets of the groves. Elijah spoke of them. And that's idolatry. Wandering around, away from God,
seeking other gods. That's spiritual adultery. And
it goes back to their beginnings when God delivered them from
the bondage of Egypt. They were free to serve God and
they promised to serve God. They promised not to serve idols.
But what happened? They forsook God. The grace, the gracious counterpart
to that bad news, the good news is this. Under the grace of God,
spiritual Israel is described in the Bible as a faithful bride,
not a harlot. Now we're all by nature just
like this now, understand that. This is all men and women by
nature, that's us too by nature. But under the grace of God, God
has delivered us from that harlotry and made us His faithful bride,
His loving, pure wife, wearing that wedding garment of His righteousness. Revelation 21.2 speaks of it. The holy city, New Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, a spiritual city, see, not a
physical, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. We read
about it in Isaiah 61. We'll look at that in just a
moment. About how she wears the ornaments. The bride wears the
ornaments of grace. The robe of righteousness. That
Christ, the bridegroom has wrought out for us, you see. But under
this image here, Judah is a harlot. That's what we need to be delivered
from in salvation. From our own natural spiritual
whoredom. to being a faithful, faithful
bride, husband, or wife of the Lord Jesus Christ, our husband.
And then verse 21 gives us the next image of sin and depravity. It's the image of a degenerated,
rotten vine. He says, Yet I had planted thee
a noble vine, holy, a right seed, that is a true seed, How then
art thou turned into the degenerate rotten plant of a strange vine
unto me? I thought about this and I thought
about our beginning in Adam. How noble, how righteous it was. But Adam fell and we fell in
him and we became a rotten degenerated vine, didn't we? Dead, that's
what it is, a dead vine, spiritually dead. Israel in the Old Testament
is sometimes referred to as God's vineyard. And they were for a
while, but then they, they, uh, forsook God. He says, how, how
has this happened? What he's doing, he's pointing
out to them, their sin and the heinousness of it. Look at what
God has done for this nation. And yet, yet you've turned into
the degenerate plant of a strange vine. That's a charge that sticks
here. And that's what we all are by
nature. That's what we need to be delivered from by the grace
of God. And by the grace of God, what does He do? Look back there
at Isaiah chapter 61. Christ says He is sent of the
Father to bring salvation. And he describes it under many
headings here, under many images here. I love these images. I
know these images that Jeremiah is bringing forth, they fit me
to a T by nature. But my friend, my standing in
Christ, here's the images I love to think about, look upon. Look
at verse 3, he says, to a point unto them that mourn in Zion,
to give unto them beauty for ashes. my ashes for his beauty,
the oil of joy for my mourning for his joy, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, my heaviness for his praise,
that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting
of the Lord, that he might be glorified. What is the church
called in the New Testament? You could say it's called God's
vineyard because Christ is the vine and we are the branches
and the fruit is produced from the vine, John chapter 15. That's
what we need. Look back at Jeremiah 2. Look
at verse 22. Here's the next image. Verse
22. A body stained deep with sin. And boy, doesn't that describe
us all by nature. Listen to what he says. For though
thou wash thee with niter, that was like a stone used to scrub
with, and take thee much soap, the most powerful soap you can
buy, Yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquity, who would stand? Sin goes much deeper than any
man can wash away. It's not just a problem of our
acts. It's a problem of our hearts.
It's not just what we do, it's what we are. And we cannot wash
it away. Religion will not wash it away.
Works will not wash it away. Baptism will never wash it away. Nothing can wash it away. Tears
of remorse, repentance cannot wash it away. What can wash away
my sin? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
And that's what he's telling Judah here. You try to wash it
away, but it won't work. You try your best in your ceremonies
and your religion. The blood of animals can't do
it. The blood of bulls and goats can never take away sin. The
righteousness of the law is much higher than any man can attain.
That's why my hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood
and righteousness. Under grace, you see, Under grace,
and here's the good news, this image fits us by nature, but
under the grace of God in Christ, do you know something? We're
cleansed from all our sins by His blood. Did you hear what
Jesus said to me? They're all taken away. Your
sins are pardoned and you're free. They're all taken away.
cleared of all guilt. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, we wouldn't stand. But thank God He doesn't mark
iniquities in our place. He says, Who shall lay anything
to your charge? It's God that justified you.
Who can condemn you? It's Christ that died. Christ
was marked with our charge. Our sin was imputed to Him. And
He put it away. His righteousness is imputed
to us and we receive it by faith. And so though we're still sinners
and still plagued with the remaining contamination of it and influence
of it, we're cleared of all guilt. We're justified in Him. His cross,
His cross work put them away forever and ever and ever. And
they cannot be brought. God said, I'll remember them
no more. But here, he's remembering their sin. Your iniquity is marked
before me, saith the Lord God. And that's whom we have to do
before God. Look at verse 23. Here's the
next image. This is one of those passages
where we learn that the Bible does not take in mind our sensitive
ears. He gives an image here of a wild
animal in heat. That's what it is. Listen to
it. Verse 23, How canst thou say
I am not polluted? I have not gone after Balaam.
See thy way in the valley. And that's almost like saying
I see your footprints going through the valley. Know what thou hast
done. I've seen what you've done. Thou
art a swift dromedary, that's a camel, traversing her ways,
a wild ass, a donkey, used to the wilderness that snuffeth
up at the wind at her pleasure, looking for a mate, while she's
in season, and in her occasion, who can turn her away? You can't
stop her. She's got a passion built up
within her, and it's a natural passion. And all they that seek
her will not weary themselves. In her month, they shall find
her. Nothing to stop. You see, what he's saying here
is this. There's no use denying your sin.
There's no use denying your depravity. That only aggravates it. We cannot
deny. We've left our tracks. We have
a passion for sin by nature. Paul the Apostle described it
in Romans chapter 7. He said, when we were in the
flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, that word motions
is passions. We were passionate about sin.
It could have been in a religious way, but it was still sin. It
could have been in an immoral way. A lot of commentators point
to sexual immorality here, and that could have been in that
way. Either way, if it falls short of the righteousness of
God in Christ, it's sin, whatever your passion is. There are some
people who have a passion for religion. And they go about zealously
doing their dead-level best to establish a righteousness of
their own. There's some people who have a passion for money
and they're going to make all they can make. There's some who
have a passion for land. There's some who have a passion
for any self-pleasure. But whatever that passion is,
if it's not a passion for the glory of God, it's sin. And that's us by nature until
God imparts and implants that passion within our hearts by
the Holy Spirit and gives us a heart to glorify God in Christ. That's what He's saying. You're
like a donkey in heat. That's what He's saying. And
you can't deny your sin. You've got a passion for it,
he's saying. It's not just a casual thing. It's not just a mistake.
You know, you hear these psychologists, well, you just made some mistakes.
No, we haven't made a mistake. We have a passion for sin without
Christ. On fire for it, you might say.
Whatever form it takes now. And you may think that because
you're religious, well, that's better. Oh, no. The Pharisees,
they had a passion to gain converts. What did the Lord say of them
in Matthew 23? I think it's verse 15. You go out to make one convert
and what you'd end up doing is you make that convert two-fold
more the child of hell than you are. Look at verse 25. He says, withhold
thy foot from being unshod and thy throat from thirst. But thou
sayest, there's no hope, no, for I have loved strangers, and
after them will I go. You know, these images are so
appropriate. The issue here, what he's talking about, of withhold
thy foot from being unshod, he's talking about running after false
gods and false refuges until they wear their shoes out. You remember, you recall that
in the Passover they were commanded to eat it with their loins girded
and shoes on their feet. And the reason he said that is
because you're going to be running away from idolatry. Running away
from Egypt. You're going to get out of Egypt.
That's a good reason to have your feet shod. To run away from
sin. To run away from idolatry. Ready
to run from that. And we're told to have our feet
shod with the gospel of peace, ready to preach, ready to witness
the gospel. But here, their feet were shod
for one purpose, because they did not believe God. That's what
it means here. There is no hope. No. There's
no hope for them. Why? They're not looking to the
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. They're not looking to
Christ. So what are we going to do? Well, I've loved strangers.
After them will I go. I'm going to go after Egypt,
Assyria. No hope here. You see, they don't see any hope
in God. They don't believe God. You know, the only hope we have
is God. The only hope we have is Christ.
And if you look for hope anywhere else, no matter how hard you
run, you're just wearing your shoes out for nothing. Under the gospel, we're to have
our feet shot to run to Christ. Thirst, he mentions here. By
nature, men thirst. They lust after the flesh and
idolatry. Remember what he said, you've
forsaken the fountain of living waters. Why'd they do that? Well, they said there's no hope.
They didn't believe God. They didn't trust God. They were
like Israel. You remember at the edge of the Red Sea? They saw the Red Sea before them
and they looked back and they saw Pharaoh's army and what did
they say? There's no hope. Why did you
bring us here Moses? Why did you make us leave Egypt?
We were comfortable back then, which was a lie. But that's the
way men will deceive themselves. That's the way we'll deceive
ourselves if God lets us. Remember what Moses said, Exodus
14, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. Stand still. Look at verse 22. 6, here's the
next image, a disgraced thief, verse 26, he says, as the thief
is ashamed when he's found, when he gets caught, so is the house
of Israel ashamed? They, their kings, their princes,
their priests, and their prophets, saying to a stalk, that's a tree,
thou art my father, that's the image of idolatry, bowing down
to a tree, or a wooden idol, you're my father, And to a stone
thou hast brought me forth, you're the one who created me. For they've
turned their back unto me and not their face, but in the time
of their trouble, they will say, arise and save us. You see, they're
worshiping the creature rather than the creator. And here God
exposes, they're like a thief when he gets caught. They're
ashamed, but only because they got caught. Has nothing to do
with the glory of God or the blessings that God had given.
And verse 20, he says, but where are thy gods that thou hast made
thee? Let them arise. See, when they
get in trouble, they forsook God, but when they get in trouble,
they turn to God. Arise and save us. And God says
in verse 20, he says, but where are thy gods that thou hast made
thee? Let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of
thy trouble, for according to the number of thy cities are
thy gods, O Jew." You've got as many gods as you've got cities
now. Let them save you. You're praying to a God that
cannot save. And he says in verse 29, wherefore will you plead
with me? You know what that means. That
means they're trying to accuse God, literally. You all have
transgressed against me, saith the Lord. And so then he brings
forth another image, rebellious children. You see, under grace,
instead of being a disgraced thief, God brings us into his
family, makes us his children, and we become a welcome friend.
But look at verse 30. Here's the next image, rebellious
children. He said, in vain have I smitten
your children. They receive no correction. Your
own sword hath devoured your prophets like a destroying lion. It's not that God had failed
them, but it proves that man by nature will not repent of
his own will. In fact, he'll grow worse. Instead
of repenting, what did they do? They devoured the prophets like
a destroying lion. They killed the prophets. Remember
Christ said that, so have they treated the prophets before you.
And so what do they do? Verse 31, old generation, see
ye the word of the Lord? Have I been a wilderness unto
Israel, a land of darkness? Wherefore say my people, we are
lords. That is, we are the rulers. We
will come no more unto thee. In other words, they're declaring
their independence from God. That's what man does. That's
what Adam did. That's what we did in Adam. We've got a better
way. Verse 32, Can a maid forget her
ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten
me days without number. They didn't like to retain God
in their knowledge. You consider them, their ornaments
and all that. They tried to forget God, forget
His blessings, But he says, can a maid forget her ornaments,
a bride her attire? That's just natural. I mean,
that's what she's got her mind on. But my people have forgotten
me days without number. Day upon day. Consider the ornaments
and attire of a true child of God. The ornaments of grace,
the righteousness of Christ. And then he says in verse 33,
why trimest thou thy way to seek love? Therefore hast thou also
taught the wicked ones thy ways. They were careful and zealous
to prepare themselves for their idolatry, even to the point of
teaching the wicked new ways of sin and depravity, adding
false religion. And their sin was so obvious
that they couldn't hide it from God. Well, let me close there
and we'll pick up, because it goes right on into chapter 3,
where he calls for repentance. These images of sin and depravity,
don't they fit all of us by nature? before the grace of God saves
us out of sin, saves us out of depravity, and brings us to a
saving knowledge of Christ our Lord and Savior, where we have
no hope but that which is in Him. All right.