Let's open our Bibles to the
book of Jeremiah, chapter 2. Jeremiah, chapter 2. My text for this message is verse
13 of Jeremiah, chapter 2, where the Lord, through the prophet
Jeremiah, brings a complaint against Israel or specifically
Judah, the southern kingdom of Judah. And he says, for my people,
that's his covenant people under the law, the old covenant. It
refers to national Israel during that 1,500 year period of time,
which is known as the old covenant. And that old covenant that was
abolished by the coming of Christ and the establishment of all
that, all righteousness for his people. And he says, for my people
have committed two evils, two evils. Now the title of this
message is Two Great Evils. When you read that, that's kind
of strange, isn't it? Two evils? Could you imagine
coming before God at judgment and Him looking at you and saying,
well, you committed two sins. especially in light of what the
scripture teaches us about the reality of sin and what we are
by nature. Sinners in need of salvation
by grace. Sinners who have no hope in ourselves
that not only have we committed two sins, we've committed sin
after sin after sin, a multitude of sin. For all have sinned and
come short of the glory of God. The Bible says in Romans chapter
5 and verse 20, where sin abounded. And literally, that's the picture
there, is like a person drowning in a sea or in a flood. And that's
the reality of sin for us by nature, that we're drowning in
a sea of sin. And then in John chapter 16 and
verse, I think it's verse nine, he talks about the Holy Spirit's
convicting work. He said, he will convict us of
sin. That's the first three things you mentioned is there of sin
of righteousness and of judgment. And he says, I will convict you
of, he will convict us of sin because we believe not on Christ.
And some people say, well, that's talking about the sin of unbelief.
Well, it is, but it's talking about more than that. What it's
saying, literally, is that without Christ, I'm nothing but sin. That's the situation. Everything
about me is sin, even my best. The Bible says in Psalms, I think
39, I'm not sure if I got the reference right, it says man
at his best state is altogether vanity, worthless. So even man
without Christ, man at his best without Christ, man at his most
moral, dedicated, and religious without Christ is what? S-I-N. So when you read this,
he says, for my people have committed two evils. What's the context? What's he talking about? Well,
these two evils, these two great evils, encompasses all evil. That's what he's saying. It's
not that they've just committed two sins. They've committed a
multitude of sins. We've committed a multitude of
sins. There's no way we can count such
things. And without Christ, the only
one who keeps account of it is God. But as we stand in Christ,
we who know him, who are washed in his blood, clothed in his
righteousness. There is no accounting of sin,
for who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? That's what the scripture says.
But he says, for my people have committed two sins, two evils,
two great evils. Well, what have they done? Here
they are in verse 13. They've forsaken me, the fountain of
living waters. They've forsaken the Lord. They've forsaken Jehovah, God,
our salvation. They've forsaken Christ. For
that whole law was given for that purpose, to lead them to
Christ, Galatians chapter three tells us. That's why the law
was given, to expose their sinfulness and to show them their need of
salvation by grace. through the Lord Jesus Christ,
who they saw as the promised Messiah. Well, they forsaken
the fountain of living waters. And then secondly, here's the
second, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold
no water. Now, what is that? Well, that's
anything that men and women hope in, trust in, or thinks recommends
them unto God other than Christ. other than His blood and righteousness.
For whatever you take comfort in, as far as your salvation,
other than Christ and Him crucified, let me tell you something, it's
a broken cistern that cannot hold water. Period. Now that's what they did. And
those two evils encompass every, for without Christ, everything
about me and in me and by me is sin. And without Christ, anything
I trust in, anything I take pride in, anything I take peace in,
is totally a broken cistern that cannot hold water. Look back
up at verse 8. He says here, the priest, now
the priest were the spiritual leaders of that nation. Really, if you think about it,
as they go through the old covenant, the way it was set up and established,
the king, he was to be the spiritual leader of the nation, but usually
those kings failed. Remember, when the kingdom was
divided, the northern kingdom, in their existence, they had
kings, but they did not have one godly king who led them in
the ways of the Lord. They were all idolatrous, evil
kings in the northern kingdom. By this time, Jeremiah, this
is 600 years before Christ. And by this time, all the northern
kingdom was gone. It was already destroyed and
carried away. In the southern kingdom, you had a few godly
kings. You can obviously think of David,
King David. He was a sinner saved by the
grace of God, but he's listed as a godly king. You had Solomon. Again, a sinner saved by the
grace of God. But then after that, in the southern
kingdom of Judah, you had very few who were godly kings. In fact, before Jeremiah, there
was Manasseh. He was one of the most wicked
kings of Judah. He reigned 55 years. He brought
idolatry into the land. Then his son, Ammon, began to
reign. He only reigned two years because he got assassinated.
And then Josiah come along and he tried to bring reforms into
the land. He was a godly king, but his
work only went so far. And after he died, then it went
right back to where he's talking about here. So you had the king
who was supposed to be the spiritual aid, but they failed. You had
the prophets. Of course, Jeremiah was a prophet
during this time. And then you had the priest.
Jeremiah was a prophet and a priest. But listen to what he says in
verse eight. He says, the priest said not, where is the Lord? Where is Jehovah? God's covenant
name. God's name that identifies and
distinguishes him as the God of grace. That's what the Lord
is here. You see, calling upon the name
of the Lord. Well, what is his name? What is he like? I think it's Brother Shepard
who preached that message here, calling upon the name of the
Lord. That's a great message because he showed there that
God established way back in Genesis what it is to call upon the name
of the Lord. It's not just looking up into
the sky and saying, Lord. It's not just repeating a prayer. It's calling upon him by sacrifice. Because you remember when God
established sacrifice there in Genesis 3, when he removed those
fig leaf aprons from Adam and Eve, which represented the works
of man trying to cover his own nakedness, his own shamedness,
and he slew an animal. I believe it was a lamb. Because
without the shedding of blood, there's no remission of sins.
Justice must be satisfied. Righteousness must be established,
or sin cannot be forgiven. He killed an animal, shed blood,
and he made them coats of skin, which is an emblem of the imputed
righteousness of Christ. So what is it to call upon the
name? How did Abel call upon him? He brought a lamb of sacrifice.
How did Noah worship the Lord? When he got off the ark, he built
an altar. What's the altar for? For sacrifice. How did Abraham call upon the
name of the Lord? By sacrifice. How do we call
upon the name of the Lord? By sacrifice through the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. You see? But the
priest here, he said, they said, not where is the Lord. They weren't
looking for the Lord, the God who justifies the ungodly. They
that handled the law knew me not. You see that? They handled
the law. They were the masters of the
law. But they didn't know God. The
pastors also transgressed against me. And the prophets prophesied
by Baal and walked after things that do not profit, do not save. They imagined they were law keepers.
They weren't. Why was the law given? To show
them their sin. Romans chapter 5 and verse 20,
Galatians chapter 3. That the transgression may be
obvious. So that they would understand
that no sinner can be justified before God, can be forgiven,
pardoned, made righteous before God by their law keeping. In the days of our Lord, the
unbelieving Jews boasted in basically three things that they thought
recommended them unto God. Number one was their physical
connection with Abraham. We're Abraham's children. Christ
told him, he said, if you were Abraham's spiritual children,
you'd do the works of Abraham. What did Abraham do? He believed
God. He believed the Lord here. He believed salvation by grace.
He looked forward to the coming Messiah. John chapter 8, he said,
Abraham rejoiced to see my day. He saw it and he was glad. Number
two, their circumcision. The circumcision of the males
was emblematic of the whole family, and they boasted in that. But
he said, Paul wrote in Galatians chapter 3, God forbid that I
should glory save in the what? The cross, the finished work
of Christ, the righteousness of Christ, the blood of Christ.
by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
For in Christ neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision."
It means nothing. That's what he said. But a new
creation. What's that new creation? That's
the sinner saved by the grace of God in Christ. So that didn't
get it. And the third thing they boasted
in is their law keeping. We keep the law. Turn over to
John chapter 5 with me. Now in all of that, what's happening
when an unbeliever boasts or takes comfort or assurance in
their physical connection with Abraham or their circumcision
or their law keeping? What are they doing? They're
committing two great evils. They're forsaking Christ, the
fountain of living waters, and they're hewing out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. Look at John chapter
5 and verse 39. Christ speaking to the Pharisees
here, he says, Search the scriptures, for in them you think you have
eternal life. For they are they which testify
of me. What scriptures do you think he's talking about? He's
talking about the Old Testament scriptures, the law, the prophets,
the Psalms. That's what he told his disciples
in the book of Luke when he sat them down and taught them out
of Moses and the prophets and the Psalms, the things concerning
himself. And he says in verse 40, you
will not come to me that you might have life. I receive not
honor from men, but I know you that you have not the love of
God in you. I'm come in my Father's name, and you receive me not.
If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
How can you believe which receive honor one of another, and seek
not the honor that cometh from God only? Now, that honor that
comes from God only, how does that honor come? It comes through
Christ. This is my beloved Son in whom
I'm well pleased. It doesn't come in the other
way. If you're seeking honor from God because you think you
keep the law, You'll get no honor from God there. Because you fall
short, I fall short. Now you may receive honor from
men. Men will look at you and they'll
applaud you, but not God. Look at what he says in verse
45. How do you know that? Look at verse 45. Do not think
that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one that accuseth
you, even Moses, in whom you trust. Now they didn't trust
in the person of Moses, they trusted in the law of Moses,
their law keeping, that's what he's saying. He says, for had
you believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote
of me. Moses didn't teach you to keep the law in order to be
saved, or in order to be recommended unto God. He wrote of Christ. But if you believe not his writings,
how shall you believe my words? Now back here in Jeremiah 2,
that's what he's saying. These priests, they didn't say,
where's the Lord? Those that handled the law knew
me not. They don't know what the law
was for. The law wasn't for salvation, never was. God didn't give Israel
the law to be saved by its precepts. It was given to expose their
sin and to drive them to Christ, the fountain of the living waters.
It's what Christ said to the woman at the well, you remember? He said, if you knew the gift
of God, do you remember that? Turn over to John chapter four,
look at that just a moment. And you know, this is the problem.
This is the problem with man by nature. Here's what we don't
know. I wanna parallel this with another
passage, but look at John chapter four. Remember, he's talking
to the woman at the well. And he asked for a drink. In verse 10, look at John 4 in
verse 10, it says, Jesus answered and said unto her, if thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me the
drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given
thee living water. Now the key there is if you knew
the gift of God. What is the gift of God? You
know there in 1 Corinthians chapter 2, you don't have to turn there,
it talks about the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they're spiritually
discerned. Well, back up in verse 12 of
1 Corinthians 2, it says this, it talks about we receive the
things of the Spirit, we know the things that are freely given
of God. See, that's man by nature. He
doesn't know the gift of God. We don't know the gift of God.
We think salvation in some way is conditioned on ourselves.
We don't see all of salvation as a free gift. That's why false
gospels, even today, they have to interject the works, the law-keeping
of man somewhere into the mix in order to attain or maintain
salvation. Why? Because by nature, we don't
know the gift of God. What is the gift of God? Well,
the scripture speaks of the gift of Christ himself. He's the gift
of God. In fact, in Romans chapter 8
says, if God gave us his son, how shall he not with him freely
give us all things? In Christ, we have all things.
In Christ, we have all salvation. In Christ, we have all righteousness. Now see, righteousness doesn't
come by my keeping the law, it comes by his keeping the law.
In Christ we have all eternal life and glory. In Christ. He's the fountain of living water.
And he says here, look at verse 13 of John 4, he says, Jesus
answered and said unto her, whosoever drinketh of this water shall
never thirst again. You drink of the water of man's
works, you'll thirst again. You'll have to do it, you have
to keep going, keep on, keep on, you know. 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 unto everlasting life. That's the issue. The law was
given to drive them to Christ. But in Jeremiah, he said, they've
committed two great evils. They've forsaken the fountain
of living waters and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns
that can have no water. Now, we could spend a lot of
time going through the Old Testament, but let me turn to a scripture
that summarizes the whole thing. Turn to Romans chapter nine. Romans chapter nine. And look at verse 31. And that's what I'm saying. Now,
those two evils, they encompass all evils. Because my friend,
if we don't have Christ as our substitute, as our righteousness,
as our forgiveness, if we don't stand before God, Washed in the
blood of Christ, we're nothing but sin. Everything we've done,
it's sin upon sin upon sin. Look at verse 30, or verse 31. He's talking about Israel here,
who followed after the law of righteousness. There is a righteousness revealed
in the law. That's what he's saying. It's
a perfection that we don't have by nature. and cannot gain by
our works. But he says, Israel followed
after, they were zealous, trying to be righteous by the law. He says, they hath not attained
to the law of righteousness. They didn't make it, they fell
short. Verse 32, why? That's what wherefore means,
why? Why didn't they make it? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. Now what is
it to seek it by faith? Well, listen to what he says.
He goes back to the Old Testament. He goes back to the book of Isaiah
and he brings forth a prophecy that Isaiah made by the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. He says, Look at it again, "...because
they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of
the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone..." What
is that stumbling stone? "...as it is written, Behold,
I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, and whosoever
believeth on him..." That stumbling stone is a him, it's a person.
Shall not be ashamed. Who's that talking about? It's
talking about the Lord Jesus Christ. Now read verse one of chapter
10. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel
is that they might be saved. Now what he's talking about here
is matters of salvation. Israel's not saved. He's talking
about the majority and unbelieving. He's not talking about every
individual Israelite here. Paul himself was an Israelite
and he was a believer. But he says, my heart's desire
and prayer for Israel is that they might be saved. They're
lost. He said, I bear them record that they have a zeal of God.
They're zealous in religion and seeking God as they see it, but
not according to knowledge. They were ignorant. Now that's
what Jeremiah is saying over there in Jeremiah chapter 2.
When he talks about the priest. The priest, remember he said,
In chapter 2 and verse 8, he said, the priest did not say,
where is the Lord? For they that handle the law
knew me not. They were ignorant. Now, what
were they ignorant of? Well, look at Romans 10 and verse
3. Now, what are they ignorant?
He says, for they being ignorant of God's righteousness. God's
requirement, God's judgment, justice, and going about to establish
their own righteousness. Now there's the key. That's another
way of saying hewing out cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold
water, trying to establish a righteousness of their own, have not submitted
themselves unto the righteousness of God. Now, the key to salvation
here is submitting to the righteousness of God. What is that? Well, for different people, it's
different things, isn't it? For some people, it's being baptized. For some people, it's doing this,
that, or the other. Some people, it's keeping a day.
It's doing whatever. Some people say, well, it's submitting
to Christ, but something else. Christ plus. Well, listen to
what he says in verse four. For Christ is the end. That word end there is a real
interesting word. It's the same word that the Lord
used on the cross in John 19 and verse 30 when he said, it
is finished. It's translated finished there.
Christ is the finishing of something here. Well, you remember when
he was on the cross and he said it's finished and when he gave
up the ghost, you remember what happened? Well, there was a lot
of things that happened around that event, didn't it? That's
the crux of redemptive history right there, Christ on the cross. But you remember one specific
thing that happened is in the temple. That curtain, that veil
that separated the holy place from the holiest of all was torn
in two from top to bottom, signifying that the way into the holiest
of all, the very presence of God, was now made nigh by the
blood of Christ. And that's what this is talking
about, for Christ is the finishing. It means the completion, the
perfection, the end of the law for righteousness to everyone
that believe. Everyone that rests in him and
lays hold of him and believes in him. Matthew chapter five
and verse six says, blessed are they that hunger and thirst after
righteousness, they'll be filled. What he's talking about is sinners
looking to Christ. And one more, let's turn to Hebrews
chapter 10. You see, submitting to the righteousness
of God is resting in Christ for all salvation, for all forgiveness,
for all life, for all glory. Look at Hebrews chapter 10, look
at verse one. Remember what he said back in
Jeremiah 2. He said the priest, they don't
say where's the Lord. They weren't seeking the Lord.
They were seeking something else, someone else. And then those
that handled the law, they do not the Lord. Look here, he says
in verse 1 of Hebrews 10, he says, for the law having a shadow
of good things to come. Now that's a good description
of the law, the law of Moses. It was a shadow of good things
to come. In fact, you could say it this
way in the context of Hebrews, it was a shadow of better things
to come. The law was. And not the very
image of the things. The law itself, there had no
salvation in the law itself. That's not why it was given.
And he says, can never with those sacrifices, that law was built
around that priesthood and those sacrifices, which they offered
year by year continually, make the comers thereunto perfect. Now that word perfect is basically
the same word end in Romans 10, for Christ is the end of the
law. Well, the old covenant law couldn't
do that. It couldn't make those who came
through its physical sacrifices complete and perfect and righteous. He says, for then would they
not have ceased to be offered. In other words, if those sacrifices
could have make the worshiper perfect, they wouldn't have had
to continually be offered. Because that the worshipers once
purged, once cleansed, should have no more conscience of sins.
That's no more guilt. When it says no more conscience
of sins, that doesn't mean that they wouldn't remember that they're
sinners. or they wouldn't be aware of sinners. That's not
the word conscious, it's conscience. See it there? And what it's talking
about is the convicting of the conscious. You see, in Christ,
I stand before God, complete and perfect in Him. Not in myself,
but in Christ. I have His righteousness imputed,
charged, accounted to me. And God will not charge me with
my sins. Why? Because Christ is my substitute. And somebody said, well, how
far can you take it? Well, in God's sight, legally,
there is no sin charged to his people. And somebody, of course,
you know what unbelievers do with that. They say, well, if
that's the case, then I'll just go sin as much as I want. No,
you don't know Christ. The grace of God. in the heart
of a sinner looking to Christ. And so he said they'd have no
more consciences, no more guilt, legal guilt. It's been satisfied,
the debt's been paid. Verse three, but in those sacrifices
there's a remembrance again made of sins every year. Those were
a continual reminder of the guilt of sins. For it is not possible
that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Wherefore, when he cometh, when Christ cometh into the world,
he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, those animal
sacrifices God wouldn't have them as far as salvation is concerned,
but a body hast thou prepared me, that's the humanity of Christ,
which he united with his deity, he is God-man, And he says, In
burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure,
no satisfaction. Then said I, Lo, I come in the
volume of the book it is written to me. That volume, that's that
book, that's that seven-sealed book that Revelation speaks of. That's the book of God's purposes,
the book of God's will. And this is God's will from the
very beginning, to send Christ into the world to save His people
from their sin. He says, it's written of me to
do thy will, O God, above when he says sacrifice and offering
and burn offerings and offering for sin, thou wouldest not, those
animal sacrifices, see, neither has pleasure therein which are
offered by the law. And then said he, lo, I come
to do thy will, O God, he taketh away the first, that's the old
covenant law, that's taken away, that he may establish the second,
that's the new covenant, brought in by the death of Christ. He
says in verse 10, by the which will we are sanctified, set apart
through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once. for all theirs added by the translators. It wasn't in the original. What
he's talking about here is that all those animal blood sacrifices
over a whole, all that time in the Old Testament could never
take away sin, could never bring in righteousness, could never
make the sinner perfect before God. But the one sacrifice of
Christ was enough to accomplish it all. for everyone whom he
represented on the cross. And without him, all we are is
a broken cistern. You can patch it up, paint it
up, try to fill it up with religion, whatever you think will make
you acceptable before God, but it will hold no water. No water at all. So we need something
that'll hold water. We need someone who'll hold water.
We need He who is the water of life. Look down at verse 18. Or look at verse 17 of Hebrews
10. And right there, the verses I
didn't read there, he's talking about how that salvation of a
sinner not in that law, but in what Christ accomplished in bringing
in the new covenant. And he says in verse 17, and
their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. What's he
talking about? He's talking about he won't hold
them against us. That's what that means. God will
not hold our sins against us if we have Christ as our hope. If we Look to Him alone and rest in
Him alone. He is our righteousness. He is
our forgiveness. He is our Sabbath. He is all
things to a believer. And he says in verse 18, now
where remission of these is, there's no more offering for
sin. Where Christ has put it away, there's nothing else to
offer for sin. Oh, we offer unto God the thanksgiving. The sacrifices of thanksgiving,
and obedience, and gratitude, and love, and worship, and praise. But that's not to put away sin.
That's not to make us righteous before God. Because where remission
of those sins are, there is no more offering. So verse 19, having
therefore, brethren, boldness. That word boldness means liberty,
freedom, free access. It means confidence to enter
into the holiest. Remember the high priest went
into the holiest once a year with the blood of the Lamb? Well,
that was a picture. That was a shadow of something
better to come. Everything about that law was
a shadow of something better to come. All of its sacrifices,
the priesthood, the tabernacle, the Sabbath days, all of those
were shadows of something better to come. so that we enter the
holiest, how? Not by the blood of animals,
but by the blood of Jesus. Jehovah, our Savior, by a new
and living way, not an old and dead way, which he hath consecrated,
which Christ hath accomplished. See, this is a way that you and
I have nothing to do with accomplishing. Christ accomplished it. for us
as our substitute and sin-bearer through the veil, remember that
veil wren in two, torn from top to bottom, that is to say his
flesh by the sacrifice of himself, and having a high priest over
the house of God, that's the church of God, God's elect out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, let us draw near
with a true heart, that true heart there is an honest heart.
The true heart is a sincere heart. The true heart is a heart broken,
convicted over sin. Knowing, it's the heart of a
person who knows that he has no right to come into the holiest
by anything but the blood of Christ. In full assurance of
faith. What is full assurance of faith?
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. having
our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, a legal, guilty
conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water, cleansed with
the blood of Christ. Let us hold fast the profession
of our faith without wavering, for He is faithful, that promise."
Now all that is just a commentary on what the prophet Jeremiah
wrote back here in Jeremiah chapter 2, 600 years before Christ. My people have committed two
evils, he said. What have they done? They've
forsaken the God of all grace. They've forsaken his Messiah,
his way of salvation, his way of cleansing, his way of forgiveness,
his way of righteousness, and they've hewed out cisterns, broken
cisterns that can hold no water. Their works, their ways, their
thoughts, it won't do. My friend, our only hope is to
rest in this one who finished that great work and drink from
the fountains of living waters, Christ and Him crucified.