I've titled this message, Two
Greatest Evils. Two Greatest Evils. Look at Jeremiah
chapter 2 and verse 13. God speaking to Judah, the southern
kingdom, through the prophet Jeremiah. And he says, for my
people have committed two evils. He says, they have forsaken me,
the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. Here's the two great
evils. I've entitled it the two greatest
evils. Now you can, you can, I'm sure
that your minds are probably thinking just like me in this
as we go through this, that when the prophet says they have forsaken
me, the fountain of living waters, you think of Christ, the living
water of life. Think about what he said to the
woman at the well in John chapter four. He says, if you drink of
this water, you'll never thirst again. He's speaking of himself
and the salvation that he accomplished, or would at that time accomplish
and provide through all that he would do on Calvary, on the
cross, to put away our sins by the shedding of his blood and
to establish righteousness whereby God would be just and justify
the ungodly. And that's the fountain of living
waters. They've rejected Jehovah. which is God our Savior, the
God, the covenant God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who
justifies the ungodly, who saves sinners, not because of any merit
in the sinner, not because we've earned it or deserve it, but
because out of his free, sovereign mercy, he saved us. And then
they've hewed out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
And that's just an Old Testament way of showing how men who reject
Christ And his blood and righteousness, his work on the cross, is the
only way of salvation. How they will inevitably seek
salvation in other ways by their works. And that's a broken cistern. That's death. Now let's go back
and read through Jeremiah chapter 2. This took place about 600
years before the birth of Christ. And the nation Judah was in real
difficult times. The northern kingdom of Israel,
remember, at this time had been totally destroyed. They'd been
totally taken into captivity and dispersed throughout. And
here in the southern kingdom, Manasseh and his son Amnon had
been rulers, and Manasseh was one of the most wicked kings
of Judah. You know, throughout the history
of Israel, if you look at it, the northern kingdom had no kings
that were, you could say, were godly, believing kings they were
all idolaters they were all in it for sale Judah the southern
kingdom had a few godly kings usually they didn't they didn't
even continue in that godliness but most of the kings of Judah
were wicked kings also but Manasseh was one of the worst and he led
the nation into idolatry And that's where Jeremiah comes in. Josiah took over his son and
grandson of these kings. He struggled to do what was right.
But in the 13th year of Josiah's reign, God called this young
man Jeremiah. He was a priest. He was of the
tribe of Levi. And he called him to be his prophet.
And that's in Jeremiah chapter 1. He was a young man about 20
years old. And he was really hesitant to
speak because he knew that That the nation was in rebellion.
The nation was in idolatry. But God wouldn't take any excuses.
He commissioned his prophet. He filled him with the spirit
of Christ. And there are times, if you read
the book of Jeremiah, you know he's called the prophet of tears,
the lamenting prophet. The book of Lamentations was
written, not personally by Jeremiah, but by his scribe, Baruch, and
he dictated it to him. He's the weeping prophet. Many
times when he spoke to a nation that wouldn't hear him, you know,
we get frustrated because we know we have the gospel of Christ
and there's not, there's just not many people hearing us, you
know? And yet, you know, you look at your map over there and
the gospel is going out, isn't it? I mean, we thank God for
it. It just seems like, you know, in our immediate areas, you know,
that it just doesn't seem to be fruitful in that way. But
we do know that the gospel is always the savor of life and
the life or death unto death. And we do this because God's
commanded us to. We believe God. We may not feel
like it on a given day. You may come in and be ready
to give up. Well, Jeremiah was that way, too. In fact, he got,
you know, they persecuted him. They made fun of him. And he
was preaching. He was pointing sinners to Christ
who was to come. He was preaching the same gospel
that we're preaching today. The difference was that he looked
forward. He preached it in prophecy in
the sense of looking forward to the time of the Messiah. And
he preached the law, the old covenant law, not as a way of
salvation by works, but as a schoolmaster to lead sinners to Christ. And
he spoke of Christ. He spoke of of Jehovah Sid Canoe
in chapter 23, the Lord our righteousness. One day God's going to send his
Messiah and he's going to establish his kingdom with judgment and
justice. That's the work of Christ on
the cross, to establish his kingdom by the redemptive work that he
would accomplish in the shedding of his blood and establishing
of his righteousness. He was made sin. That's what
Jeremiah is talking about now. Over in Jeremiah 33, he showed
the union of the church with Christ, because in that segment,
I think it's verse 16, 15, 16 of Jeremiah 33, he says, she
shall be called the Lord, our righteousness talking about the
church. It's like when a, when a man and a woman are married,
she takes his name because he becomes responsible for her.
They're united in marriage. And that's the marriage union
between Christ and his church. And Jeremiah spoke of these things,
but very few people listen to in fact, One of the old scholars
said that they threw him down in a well one time, and that
was his pulpit, the bottom of a well. Could you imagine preaching
the gospel from the bottom of a well? You know, that'd be discouraging,
wouldn't it? And Jeremiah, one time, he said,
I'm going to quit. I'm going to give up. He said,
nobody's going to hear me. But he said he couldn't quit
because the word of God burned within him like a fire. And that's
the way it is when God convinces us of the glory of Christ in
light of our sinfulness. We know what people need to hear.
We know what we need to hear. And though they don't hear us,
you see, God's people are going to hear us someday. They will
hear us. But though the majority don't hear us, you know, we don't
quit. But Jeremiah was commissioned, and God wouldn't take any excuses,
and he sent Jeremiah with a message. And look at verse 1 of chapter
2. Jeremiah, he recalled, God's
past faithfulness and kindness to Israel. He said, Moreover,
the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the
ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee,
or literally, for thy sake. You might have that in your concordance.
The kindness of thy youth. Now, he's mainly speaking of
his kindness towards them, not their kindness towards him. Because
in their youth, where was Israel in their youth? They were in
Egypt in bondage. They weren't looking for the
Lord. But God sent them a prophet, Moses. A redeemer, Moses. And brought them out. And he's
saying, the love of thine espouses. What he's talking about is his
temporal, covenantal marriage union with Israel in a temporal
sense, not a spiritual sense now. God joined himself to the
nation Israel under a covenant that was temporary. It was a
physical covenant. It was an earthly covenant. That's
why Paul called the earthly elements, you know, that tabernacle, that
priesthood, the sacrifices, and that was all temple. Now it pictured
something higher, something spiritual and eternal. It all pictured
the marriage union between Christ and his church, eternally and
spiritually. God's elect out of every tribe,
kindred, tongue, and nation that he would redeem with the blood
of Christ. But now he joined himself to that nation for a
time. And he did that for his purposes.
The main purpose was to bring the Messiah through that nation.
He was born of the seed of Abraham, you see, specifically through
the tribe of Judah. That's why Judah, during that
1500 year period that they were under that covenant, that's why
Judah was never destroyed like the Northern Kingdom. The Northern
Kingdom is gone. But he says, the love of thine
espousals. And you remember when Paul, when
he's talking to the church at Corinth, he said, I've espoused
you to one husband. Talking about our relationship
with Christ. Christ is our Savior. Christ
is our Lord, our Redeemer. Christ is our righteousness.
Not anything else. Not anyone else. And he says,
when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that
was not sown. Now, Israel, when he says you
went after me, it wasn't like Israel was in that wilderness
panting after God. Because, you know, in the book
of Hebrews it said that the majority of those in the wilderness did
what? They perished in unbelief. They were rebellious people.
But what he's talking about is how God did not remove his hand
from them. He did not let them go completely. Because God kept them together.
And it was providential, and it was powerful. And he says
in verse 3, Israel was holiness unto the Lord and the firstfruits
of his increase. Now, holiness there is not talking
about any moral quality of character within Israel. They were not
holy in the sense of being perfectly sinless. But they were separated. That's what holiness means. They
were separated unto God. God chose them. God picked them
out. Not because of any merit or quality
in them. They didn't deserve it. They
didn't earn it. In fact, he said in Deuteronomy chapter 7, you're
the least of all these nations. In other words, if God had gone
around and said, I'm going to pick the best nation and the most
obedient, it wouldn't have been Israel. And see, they weren't
even a people when God chose them. The only reason they were
a people was because of as a nation is because God chose Abraham
and called him out of idolatry in the Ur of the Chaldeans. God. And how did God justify Abraham?
He justified the ungodly based upon the imputed righteousness
of Christ given to him as promise to come. And it was given to
him. So they were separated for God's
purpose. And he says the first fruits
of the increase, they were the first nation, the first one.
And he says all that devour him shall offend. That is all that
would come against Israel, commit a great offense, evil shall come
upon them save the Lord you know back during that time when a
nation came against Israel they were defeated they were defeated
eventually not not necessarily immediately who was the first
nation that attacked Israel wasn't the Ammonites is that who it
was remember when they held Moses' arms up the Amalekites that's
right well you know God placed a curse on the Amalekites and
much later on the Amalekites were totally destroyed you say
what the media you know they were defeated there because when
they have most of the arms of you know and when most of his
arms got tired you know when it went down it will be defeated
when they held them up you say that uh... uh... israel one but
the amalekites and then others the philistines you see these
nations were uh... totally obliterated eventually
so he says in verse four chapter two hear ye the word of the lord
oh house of jacob always enjoy reading about jacob Because we're
so identified with Jacob, aren't we? And I'm always thinking about
Malachi 3, 6. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore you sons
of Jacob are not consumed. Who was Jacob? He was a scoundrel. That's what he was. He was a
mama's boy. He was a cheat. He was one who
certainly had nothing to recommend him unto God. And that's what
we are by nature. Sinners. Jacob is a sinner saved
by grace. His name was changed to Israel,
Prince of God. And how are we changed from Jacob's
to Israel? Through the blood of Christ.
And that's it. That's it. Through his righteousness
alone. And he said, Oh, house of Jacob and all the families
of the house of Israel. He says in verse five, thus saith
the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers found in me that
they are gone far from me and have walked after vanity, worthlessness
and become vain, become worthless themselves. God has never, has
never proved himself in any way but perfect and faithful and
holy and right and just. And also merciful and compassionate
towards those who seek him through his son. And so there's no reason
for Israel to forsake him. You say, well, you know, things
don't look good to me in this country and all that. Well, that's
probably true. And this, you know, listen, There's
nothing in this world that man puts his hand to. It's going
to last forever, you see. The eternal things are of God.
And he says in verse 6, neither said they, where is the Lord
that brought us up out of the land of Egypt and led us through
the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through
a land of drought and of the shadow of death, through the
land that no man passed through and where no man dwelt. God,
look what God brought them through. Look at what God made them under
King David. They were probably at that time
in their glory. And now look at where they've
come to after David. And here in this time, you know,
Jeremiah in his time, you know, he was a prophet during the time
of when Nebuchadnezzar came into Judah and destroyed the temple
altogether and dispersed the people. They took the people
to Babylon in three different ways. And they were in captivity
for 70 years. And so now he says in verse 7,
And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof
and the goodness thereof. But when you entered, you defiled
my land and made my heritage an abomination. What a great
description of all life by nature, isn't it? Think about what God
has given us. You may hear me say this quite
often. I probably said it when I was here in the 18 years, you
know, I always tell people to take that next breath. God just,
he gave that to you and he could take it away just like that.
Everything we have, it really is not ours. I mean, our name
may be on a deed or on a title or something like that, but when
you die, who's got it then? It's not yours. It's all temporary,
see? But what God has given us, is
an amazing thing. Now, what are we going to do
with it? Are we going to glorify him and worship him and serve
him and thank him? Or are we going to just go out
and live for self, you see? And that's what happens here.
And so he says in verse 8, now look here, he says, the priests
said not where is the Lord, even their leaders, even the priests
who were types, the high priest was a type of Christ. The other
priests were types of believers, sinners saved by grace. He said
even they didn't say where's the Lord. And they that handle
the law knew me not. What did the law say? The law
said love God perfectly, love your neighbor as yourself, but
more than that, the law was given to show them their sinfulness
and drive them to Christ for salvation, for righteousness,
for glory. And they turned it into a self-righteous
system of works. And it says the pastors also
transgressed against me. They're leaders, they're shepherds.
didn't lead them in the ways of grace, the ways of mercy,
the ways of the Lord. And the prophets prophesied by
Baal and walked after things that did not, that do not profit.
Vanity of vanities. So he says in verse nine, wherefore
I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, and with your children's
children will I plead. Here's the long suffering of
God towards the lost. He says, for Passover, the isles
of Chittim and sea, and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently,
and see if there be such a thing all the areas of Israel. Hath a nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods? But my people have changed their
glory for that which doth not profit. Now, what was their glory?
Well, what is our glory? I always think about Galatians
6.14. What does it say? God forbid that I should glory
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is our glory. We have no glory but him. We
have no worth but him. Worthy is the lamb that was slain.
Israel forgot that. They looked upon their possession.
They looked upon their works as their glory. And so he says,
here's what happened. He says in verse 12, he says,
He said they changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
Verse 12, 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've forsaken me, the fountain
of living water. They've forsaken salvation. They've
forsaken the truth, the only God who can and will save by
his grace through Christ. And hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns that can hold no water. Look at John Chapter
4 with me. Let's conclude with two New Testament
passages that portray this. These two greatest evils. In
John Chapter 4, as you know, this is where the Lord goes through
Samaria. And he meets a woman at the well,
a Samaritan woman, an adulterous woman. And I've said this often,
I always love how John Chapter 4, you know the Bible wasn't
written in chapter and verses, I know that. I always love how
these two episodes in our Lord's earthly ministry are put together. Here in John chapter three, you
remember you have a religious man, one of the highest religious
men of his day coming to Christ, Nicodemus. And what does the
Lord tell him? Salvation by grace. And he tells
him, you must be born again, Nicodemus. And he goes on that
the new birth, he tells Nicodemus the new birth is the result of
Christ dying on the cross. He said, he talked about as Moses
was lifted, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness,
even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. He must die on the
cross. Over in John 12, he says, except
a corn or seed of wheat fall into the ground and die, it won't
bear fruit. But if it dies, if it's planted
in the ground and dies, it'll bear much fruit. And over in
John 12, it tells you, he's talking about his death. His death is
our life. His death is our hope. His death
is our righteousness, isn't it? Christ died. He was made sin. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Our sins laid
on Him to His charge. And He became fully responsible
for all of the debt that we owed in Adam. And He drank damnation
dry. And he arose again the third
day. He was buried, just like that corn of wheat that's buried
in the ground. But he didn't stay dead. The fruit came up.
And that's his resurrection. And he's called the first fruits
of his people. And so we live because he died.
So here's Nicodemus in his high religion. Nicodemus had no righteousness
of his own, though he thought he did. He was like Israel. He had rejected the Messiah and
his work on the cross. And he was hewing out cisterns
with cracks, like a big barrel with cracks all over it. The
water's pouring out. And so he needed salvation by
grace. And then we come to another example
in John chapter 4, this Samaritan adulterous woman. Now here's
a person who nobody who was in Israel who could see things religiously
would ever think that she had anything to recommend her to
God. And they were right. She was a sinner. But you know
what? So were they. So are we. That's
what Romans 2 deals with here. It talks about those who judge
people lost because they're sinners. You realize that if you ever
judge anybody lost because they're a sinner, you know what you've
just done? You've just condemned yourself. You know why? Because you're
a sinner too. I'm a sinner too. And that's
it. And there are only two types.
You know that. Sinners and sinners saved by grace. That's it. So
here's this adulterous woman. Christ comes upon her and she's
getting water out of the well. And he says, look at verse 9
of John 4. He says, Then saith the woman
of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest
drink of me? He asked her for a drink. Which
am a woman of Samaria, for the Jews have no dealings with the
Samaritans. They wouldn't associate with such people. He comes up
and asks her for a drink of water and she's just taking a bite.
You're a Jew. Why are you even doing that? And Jesus answered,
verse 10, and said unto her, if thou knewest the gift of God,
if you knew the grace of God, that's what that's about. How
are you going to know the grace of God? when he shows us our
sinfulness and shows us the glory of Christ in him crucified. And
he says, And who it is that saith that he give me to drink, thou
wouldst have asked of him, and he would have given thee living
water, not the broken cisterns of false religion and works religion. For by grace are you saved through
faith. That's not of yourself. It's
the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast. For
we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto, not because
of, unto good works which God hath before ordained that we
should walk in them. You see, work salvation is like a sister,
a broken sister, of poisoned water, and it will not last.
And he says, The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing
to draw with, and the well is deep from whence then hast thou
that living water, and thou Are thou greater than our father
Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and
his children and his cattle? And Jesus answered and said,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall never thirst. Water shall
thirst again. Talking about the well water.
He says, 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. Matthew 5, blessed are they that
hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled. You
see, if you have Christ, you don't need anything more or anyone
more for salvation, for justification before God. You don't, you know,
the Galatian false prophets came in and said, all right, we have
Christ, but we need more to be justified before God. Oh no,
Paul said, that's a false gospel. That's a broken system. If you
have Christ, you have all the righteousness you need to stand
complete before God. You're not yet perfect in yourself,
but one day you will be. But you already have all you
need if you have Christ. And then one more passage. Look
at Romans chapter 9. This is one very familiar to
you all. Romans 9. Here's Israel and the
broken cisterns. Verse 31 of Romans 9. He said, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, had not attained to the law of
righteousness. Why? Because that's a broken
cistern. Verse 32. Why? Wherefore? Because they
sought it not by faith. They didn't seek it in Christ.
They sought righteousness, but not where righteousness is. It's
like digging for gold in a parking lot out here. You're not going
to find it. It's not there. And he says,
but as it were, by the works of the law, there's the broken
cistern. That's the same thing that Israel was doing back in
Jeremiah's day. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. When
Jeremiah came along to preach Christ, and that's who that is,
as it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion, that's the church, 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. There's the living waters. So
he says in verse 1 of chapter 10, Brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
I bear them record. They have a zeal of God, but
not according to knowledge, for they being ignorant of God's
righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness.
That's the broken sister. You see, going about to establish
their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto
the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believe it. There's the
living water. You say the same message, same hope, same way
of salvation.