The Folly of Forsaking the Lord

June 9, 2024

Preached by Ron Smith

Scripture Reading

Jeremiah 2:1-37

1 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 2 “Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem, Thus says the Lord,

“I remember the devotion of your youth,
    your love as a bride,
how you followed me in the wilderness,
    in a land not sown.
3 Israel was holy to the Lord,
    the firstfruits of his harvest.
All who ate of it incurred guilt;
    disaster came upon them,
declares the Lord.”

4 Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the Lord:

“What wrong did your fathers find in me
    that they went far from me,
and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
6 They did not say, ‘Where is the Lord
    who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,
    in a land of deserts and pits,
in a land of drought and deep darkness,
    in a land that none passes through,
    where no man dwells?’
7 And I brought you into a plentiful land
    to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land
    and made my heritage an abomination.
8 The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’
    Those who handle the law did not know me;
the shepherds transgressed against me;
    the prophets prophesied by Baal
    and went after things that do not profit.

9 “Therefore I still contend with you,
declares the Lord,
    and with your children's children I will contend.
10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
    or send to Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this;
    be shocked, be utterly desolate,
declares the Lord,
13 for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.

14 “Is Israel a slave? Is he a homeborn servant?
    Why then has he become a prey?
15 The lions have roared against him;
    they have roared loudly.
They have made his land a waste;
    his cities are in ruins, without inhabitant.
16 Moreover, the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
    have shaved the crown of your head.
17 Have you not brought this upon yourself
    by forsaking the Lord your God,
    when he led you in the way?
18 And now what do you gain by going to Egypt
    to drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what do you gain by going to Assyria
    to drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19 Your evil will chastise you,
    and your apostasy will reprove you.
Know and see that it is evil and bitter
    for you to forsake the Lord your God;
    the fear of me is not in you,
declares the Lord God of hosts.

20 “For long ago I broke your yoke
    and burst your bonds;
    but you said, ‘I will not serve.’
Yes, on every high hill
    and under every green tree
    you bowed down like a whore.
21 Yet I planted you a choice vine,
    wholly of pure seed.
How then have you turned degenerate
    and become a wild vine?
22 Though you wash yourself with lye
    and use much soap,
    the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.
23 How can you say, ‘I am not unclean,
    I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley;
    know what you have done—
a restless young camel running here and there,
24     a wild donkey used to the wilderness,
in her heat sniffing the wind!
    Who can restrain her lust?
None who seek her need weary themselves;
    in her month they will find her.
25 Keep your feet from going unshod
    and your throat from thirst.
But you said, ‘It is hopeless,
    for I have loved foreigners,
    and after them I will go.’

26 “As a thief is shamed when caught,
    so the house of Israel shall be shamed:
they, their kings, their officials,
    their priests, and their prophets,
27 who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
    and to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to me,
    and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble they say,
    ‘Arise and save us!’
28 But where are your gods
    that you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you,
    in your time of trouble;
for as many as your cities
    are your gods, O Judah.

29 “Why do you contend with me?
    You have all transgressed against me,
declares the Lord.
30 In vain have I struck your children;
    they took no correction;
your own sword devoured your prophets
    like a ravening lion.
31 And you, O generation, behold the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
    or a land of thick darkness?
Why then do my people say, ‘We are free,
    we will come no more to you’?
32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
    or a bride her attire?
Yet my people have forgotten me
    days without number.

33 “How well you direct your course
    to seek love!
So that even to wicked women
    you have taught your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
    the lifeblood of the guiltless poor;
you did not find them breaking in.
    Yet in spite of all these things
35 you say, ‘I am innocent;
    surely his anger has turned from me.’
Behold, I will bring you to judgment
    for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’
36 How much you go about,
    changing your way!
You shall be put to shame by Egypt
    as you were put to shame by Assyria.
37 From it too you will come away
    with your hands on your head,
for the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
    and you will not prosper by them.


for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water. 2:13

God describes himself as the fountain of living water. And of course we are not talking about physical water, but it is simply a metaphor designed to uncover where our hearts are looking to find satisfaction.  So right out of the gate, ask yourself, am I drinking from the fountain of living water? Or am I seeking out my own water in cisterns that I dig out, that I create? See, those are the only two choices we have. Fresh living water from a fountain that never ends or man-made tanks of water that can never satisfy our hearts longing. Just for a moment imagine what it would mean if we drank freely from the streams of living water that flow from him. What would our relationships look like? What would our marriages look like? What would our jobs look like? What would school look like? It is an understatement to say that it would be life transforming!

This verse reveals something beautiful. That is God has something for us that is far better than we could ever imagine. He calls us to something that is infinitely more satisfying that this world or anything we can manufacture ourselves could ever offer.  What we see in Jeremiah, and in particular here in chapter 2, is that the people of God have rejected him, and have preferred to try it themselves with their own efforts and build cisterns. But they are broken. They are empty. Why would they do this? Can’t they see that God is so much better?

Are we any different?

It strikes me that there is something about the heart of man that just for some reason wanders away from God’s utter goodness that he extends to us. We think we can do better. And yet, after we go away, we find our hearts still longing for what he offers and for what he alone can provide.  Why do we do this?

As we step back and take a broad view of chapter 2, what we find is a courtroom scene. Vs 9, Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your children's children I will contend. The word contend is what alerts us to this courtroom scene. It is a legal term that indicates that God is laying out his case against his people. He is spelling out the legal charges he has found them guilty of. They have been unfaithful and have not upheld their part of the covenant.

As he lays out his case, he reminds them of their past faithfulness and how they used to follow him, he reminds them of his faithfulness to them – bringing them to the land, setting them free from slavery, protecting them, and even mentioning how he sought to discipline them so that it would not come to this (30). We see that God calls the heavens to be his witness that his charges are true. And of course he lays out the specific charge, their wrongdoing that has brought them to this point.

As we read chapter 2, we are essentially reading the indictment that God is bringing against his people. But what are the specific charges? Let’s take a step closer to the passage and start getting into some details.

The charge against Israel is laid out in clear terms. Look again at verses 10 and 11.

For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see,
    or send to Kedar and examine with care;
    see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods,
    even though they are no gods?
But my people have changed their glory
    for that which does not profit.

The charge simply stated is that his people have exchanged him for other gods. This is as God says, appalling. Notice how God turns our attention to other nations to show how shocking this is. He mentions the island of Cyprus which to the West of Israel and Kedar which would have been to the East. In both cases, those people have not and will not change their gods. In the case of Cyprus, one of the main gods would have been Aphrodite. She is the goddess of love said to have been born from a rock just off the shore of the island. Be that as it may, Cyprus was a bastion of Greek mythology. And God states what should already be clear in the minds of his people: those gods of those other nations are not even gods. They are phantoms, figments of their own imagination. The false gods are feeble unprofitable attempts to make sense of the world.

We today look at that kind of thing and think, “that’s so silly. How could people be so dumb?” But are we really that different? While we might not look to a stone or a tree as a god, we still do come up with things that effectively become idols. They are things that control our life rather than God. What might those idols be in our own lives?

To help us consider how we might answer that question, God shows that there are really two evils, or 2 acts of evil, that are behind this exchanging the one true God for gods that false gods. Here we come to verse 13. The first evil act is forsaking the Lord who is the fountain of living waters. And the second evil act is digging cisterns for themselves, which are really broken cisterns that can’t even hold water. To put these two acts in different words, there is a turning away from God and turning to other gods. It’s reverse repentance. His people were forsaking God (turning away from him) and turning to and walking towards other gods.  

Let’s consider for a moment why did they forsake the Lord? Why did they abandon him? As we read through the whole indictment that we find in chapter 2 we find little clues. Let me just mention a couple that I think will be helpful for us as we consider how these things might be present in our own lives.

  1. They forgot about God. Vs 6-8, They did not say‘Where is the Lord who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells?’; And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, ‘Where is the Lord?’ Those who handle the law did not know me.” God gave them their heart’s desire and they did not even seek him out. He brought them to a plentiful land. They lived off the fat of the land wrapped up in their own self-seeking pleasures with no regard for the One who gave them all their prosperity. Don’t think for a minute that if God blesses you financially or causes you to prosper in any way, that you will automatically be so grateful that you will put him fist in your life and serve him alone for the rest of your life. As God is blessing you, the fiery darts of temptation come raining down. Don’t we experience this daily? Think what you want about America and the direction it is headed, but we are blessed. It is a prosperous nation. It is extremely easy for us as Christians to get so caught up with the “stuff” all around us that we forget about God. Busyness. All the things we have these days to “unwind” – Netflix, The YouTube. Forgetting God is a little too easy for us to do.  

  2. Another reason they were forsaking the Lord is because they were deceived – they thought what they were doing was even better. They were carried away by their sinfulness convinced that what they were doing was right. They were utterly blind to their sinfulness. They were so deceived that they eventually accuse God of wrongdoing. Verse 29. “Why do you contend with me? You have all transgressed against me, declares the Lord. They were contending with the Lord, that is, they were indicting and bringing charges against the Lord as if he were the one who was unfaithful. That is deep deception!  And in Vs 35 we see how God responds to being accused of wrongdoing: you say, ‘I am innocent; surely his anger has turned from me.’ Behold, I will bring you to judgment for saying, ‘I have not sinned.’ God will bring judgement for their sin. And, their blindness to their sin is no excuse. It is always easy for us to point the finger at the Israelites when we read verses in the OT like these. How could they be so foolish?  But we are no different. Don’t we do it too? We question God when things don’t go the way we think they should go. How could God allow this to happen? How could God do this to us? We subtly accuse God of wrongdoing when we don’t get what we think is fair. We just don’t realize how blind we are to our sin. But God in his grace does not remain silent. He warns his people. As the blinders come over their eyes, he seeks them out to remove those blinders. He sent his prophets, he gave his law, there was always a remnant calling the people back to covenant faithfulness. He doesn’t remain silent with us either. May we heed his attempts to uncover our blindness to our sin. Perhaps through the preaching of his word, through good friends pointing out our folly, or perhaps its living the consequences to our sinful actions. God is so good to us!

There are more ways we see the people forsaking the Lord in this chapter, but let these two, forgetting God and being blind to sin, stand as warning to us.

Here’s the problem - forsaking God leaves a hole that needs to be filled.  The second act of evil, digging out our own cisterns, is all the attempts we make in filling that hole with anything and everything that is not designed to fill that hole. Or to put it another way, we seek the satisfaction that only God can provide somewhere else, and we are left unsatisfied.

To drive this home, the Lord uses an image that is powerful, but perhaps a little lost on us in the modern times we live in. It is the simple image of water. God says that he is the fountain of living water. That is, he is the endless supply of fresh water. Living water is just another way of saying fresh water. It is water that is moving, like water from a mountain stream.  Fresh, cold mountain water that never ends.

However, we need to understand that the environment of Israel was not a nice lush green mountain, but arid dry wilderness. There was not much rain fall during the year. So, what they had learned to do was to capture the rainwater. And of course, if you are going to do that, you need some kind of holding tank that can hold hundreds of gallons. This they did by digging cisterns in the ground where they could route the rainwater by using a network of trenches. Now all of this was dug out in rock. This is no easy task. Not only that, but the type of rock they were digging into made it extremely difficult to have a cistern that did not leak. But at least they were securing drinking water for the entire year. The only problem is that what you are left with is rainwater that is collected in trenches and as the water moves through the trenches on its way to the cistern, it picks up all the impurities and dirt and mud along the way. Then it sits in the cistern for months at a time allowing algae, and bacteria to grow, and you end up with a bunch of sludge building up. And on top of that, apparently the cisterns could even be breeding grounds for mosquitos. Doesn’t that make you thirsty? Dirty muddy rainwater infested with mosquito larva.  With this understanding, let’s reread verse 13:

for my people have committed two evils:
they have forsaken me,
    the fountain of living waters,
and hewed out cisterns for themselves,
    broken cisterns that can hold no water.

They have forsaken God, the source of an endless supply of fresh water, of goodness, of blessing, of prosperity, to collect muddy rainwater in containers that can’t even hold water. If it is dumb to give up fresh water for rainwater when you don’t need to, it is even dumber to give up fresh water for a broken cistern that cannot even hold the rainwater.

Any time we seek what only God can give in other places and in other people, that’s what it is like. And you would think that after we realize the cistern is broken, that this thing cannot satisfy me, we would return to God. But the stubbornness of the heart simply leads to other broken cisterns.

Think with me a minute what these broken cisterns are that people dig out.

False religions. That’s what these idols ultimately represent. But it continues to this day. People try and say all religions are pretty much the same thing – they all lead to god. But other religions don’t hold water.

Most of us here may not turn to false religions, but it could be adding things to Christianity.  We elevate our traditions, above what God says. We end up with a bunch of things we need to do in order to be satisfied and find hope. But we can never do enough. I remember a well-meaning person told me that we if we really wanted a deep relationship with the Lord we needed to pray for an hour every day and that hour needs to be the morning. But these additions to Christianity are broken empty cisterns.

Broken cisterns could really be anything that we turn to besides God to find satisfaction – things we look to give us a sense of our lives. We just finished a series where we saw that we can make empty cisterns in how we think about race, or gender or even the family. Family is a good thing. But it is so easy to think that if my family just did this or looked like this or just met the FaceBook photo standard of what a family is supposed to be, then I’ll be satisfied. Broken cistern. 

And of course a broken cistern might also simply be wrong sinful passions. The Bible says that sin is pleasurable for a season. That sense of pleasure can numb us to the evil that it is or trick us into thinking that the sin is not sin at all. Sin can easily trap and entangle us causing us to think, “now we will find what our heart longs for.” But it is just another broken cistern.

Where does this leave us? We find an indication in verse 25, Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is hopeless, for I have loved foreigners, and after them I will go.’ 

Hopelessness. That is where forsaking the Lord the fountain of living water and digging out broken cisterns that hold no water leads. Hopelessness. What they don’t see is that with the Lord there is always hope. There is hope for those who surrender.  

We see this beautifully illustrated in the life of Christ. And specifically in the encounters he had with people who found themselves in hopeless situations. One such story is the story of Jesus asking a Samaritan woman for water at a well. John 4. She was lady who trusted in broken cisterns that did not satisfy. The cistern of sinful pleasure as she had had 5 husbands and was with another man who wasn’t even her husband. She trusted in her broken cistern of false religion as she was not a true worshiper of the Father. She trusted in the broken cisterns of cultural norms as she sought to uphold the separation of Jews and Samaritans.  

And into all of this, Jesus shows up in her life and asks her for a drink of water. And as she begins to protest, Jesus tells her that in reality she should have asked him, and he would have given her living water. And as he patiently reveals all the broken cisterns in her life, she eventually comes to the point where she drinks from the fountain of living water that Jesus, God in the flesh, was offering. Her life was transformed! No more broken cisterns for her, she was satisfied in the living water.  What would our lives look like if we drank freely from the streams of living water that flow from God?

There is hope for those who surrender. There is hope for those who forsake their broken cisterns and come and drink from the never-ending supply of living water that only God gives in his son Jesus Christ. Don’t stop drinking.


Sermon Discussion Questions

  1. Another reason for forsaking the Lord is that there was no fear of the Lord in them. Verse 19. Why is the fear of the Lord important for keeping us from forsaking him?

  2. We see that the people were blind to their sin. How do you open blind eyes to help them see their sin? Most people get pretty defensive or dismissive when confronted about their sin how do you respond to their defensiveness?

  3. Why do you think the people say they will not serve the Lord in verse 20?

  4. What are other cisterns that people seek out instead of God?

  5. What are the cisterns in your life that you need to abandon?

  6. What would our lives look like if we truly drank from the streams of living water that flow from God?

  7. We see how Jesus identifies himself as the fountain of living water, can you think of other ways the Gospel is revealed in this chapter?

  8. How else is this chapter instructive for us today?

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Hope for Those Who Surrender