JEREMIAH 2 GODS REMINDERS TO BACKSLIDERS2016 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Jeremiah 2 Gods Reminders To Backsliders

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2016. Well, as we look at Jeremiah chapter 2 this morning, continuing our journey through the Bible in three years, we're now in the book of Jeremiah.

and looking at the message that God brought through Jeremiah to the nation of Judah. And as we look at chapter 2, it's really a good reference to the whole book of Jeremiah and the message that God had sent Jeremiah to proclaim to the nation of Judah. The title of the message this morning is God's Reminders to Backsliders.

As Jeremiah is sent to minister to the nation of Judah, he is doing so at a time where Judah has been in great rebellion against God for a very long time. And so here God's going to reflect on some of the things that used to happen in

in their relationship with God and really stress the severity of their condition in this backslidden state. He'll describe it and help us to, you know, really kind of catch a glimpse of how serious it is to be backslidden as we look at Jeremiah chapter 2. Now, as we begin to talk about this, I'd like to remind you of something I shared when we started going through the book of Isaiah.

And that is that God is never more merciful than when he announces judgment. When God announces judgment, like he is to the nation of Judah through the prophet Jeremiah, it is an announcement of judgment. And as we read through it, sometimes we can kind of be overwhelmed by it. And it seems so severe. And yet I would suggest to you, it's a demonstration of the ultimate merciful nature of God in that even when his people are

absolutely deserve the worst judgment imaginable, God announces the judgment so that they have opportunity to repent. It's another extension of mercy, another opportunity for them to turn and get right the

with God. If you'll consider the timeline for just a moment with me, there's handouts on the table in the back if you want to grab those later to get a better look. But the nation of Israel under King David, you know, reached the height of its glory and under Solomon as well. But then the nation began to fall apart and run away from God after Solomon died. And the kingdom was then split in two. The northern kingdom kept the name Israel and they never from the beginning were

followed after God. They started worshiping false gods immediately. And so God brought an end to the northern kingdom, the nation of Israel, by the nation of Assyria that came and conquered them.

The southern kingdom, where Jerusalem was, they lasted a little bit longer, but they were not faithful to the Lord either. And we just finished going through the prophet Isaiah, and you can see Isaiah prophesied, you know, right around the end of the nation of Israel. He was calling out to the people of Judah, saying, look what's happening to Israel. It's going to happen to you unless you repent and turn and get right with God.

But as the timeline continues, you see that the nation continues to rebel against God. And so now we come to Jeremiah. And Jeremiah prophesies essentially at the end of the nation of Judah, where God has had enough. They have not repented. They have continued to insist on rebelling against God. And Jeremiah is the last call of repentance.

It's a demonstration, again, of the grace of God. After hundreds of years of rebellion, God sends the prophet Jeremiah for one last call up until the very end when Babylon comes and conquers Jerusalem and takes all the people away captive. And they're held captive out of the land for 70 years.

Now this happens, Jeremiah's ministry begins about 125 years after Isaiah the prophet had been calling them to repentance. And still they have not repented, they have not turned, but God is giving them this last opportunity. And so his people are certainly in a backslidden state.

And I'm not going to get into the details this morning, but the judgment of Babylon was a severe judgment. It wasn't just, you know, a different...

Yeah.

But God here is giving them this opportunity. He's calling out to his backslidden children and giving them a chance to turn and repent. Now, this isn't just, well, a long time ago, these things were relevant to, you know, the people of God in that day. But as we look at these things, it's relevant for us today as well, because it's so easy for us to find ourselves in a similar condition, to find ourselves in a backslidden state.

I always like to share this quote from Pastor Chuck Smith. And so if you've been around, you've heard me share it before, but it's worth repeating. Here's what Pastor Chuck says. He says, He goes on to say, It's a challenging statement that he offers here.

If there's ever been a time in your life where your relationship with God was more rich and full and blessed than it is right now, then you've slid in backwards. You're not where you ought to be. You're not where you should be because, well, as we continue to walk with God, our relationship with God should be growing and should be improving and should be blessed and full and rich right now more than ever before.

And so it's appropriate for us to consider this call and these reminders to backsliders because, well, we can very easily find ourselves in that condition of being backslidden, that we're not where we ought to be in our relationship with God. And so it's a call for those who are backslidden to come back, to get right with God. It's a merciful announcement that, hey, there's danger ahead if you continue down that path.

Now, maybe you're here and you think, well, I'm not backslidden. I mean, maybe the people in first service, they're backslidden, but you know, I think we're pretty faithful here. Look, we're all here and it's great. So we're not backslidden, but it's also a good reminder for us. It's good insight for us as well to be faithful and diligent to be faithful. So if you would say, well, for certain, I'm not backslidden. I'm right with the Lord. Well, that's great.

And so let this be an encouragement, an exhortation to remind you to be faithful to the Lord because relationships take work. And there's a constant battle that we have to not backslide. The natural progression for us.

If we don't do anything about it, it is to draw away from the Lord. And we need to continually incline our hearts to God in a similar way. You know, things fall apart. Things don't fall together. I wish things fell together. That would make putting together furniture much more easy, right? You just kind of dump out the box and mix it up a little bit, and there you go, a bookshelf. And it doesn't work that way. But things fall apart. That's the nature of things. And

And the same is true in our relationship with God. If we don't continue to work to progress, we will regress and backslide. And these warnings will then apply even more to us.

And so we're going to look at these reminders to backsliders here in Jeremiah chapter 2. And there's six points that we'll work through as we go kind of jumping through a few different verses here in this chapter. The first point we'll find is in verses 1 through 3. And here we see the point, you used to love God. Here what God begins with the nation of Judah to say is,

I remember the good old days when you and I had a good relationship. Check out verse 1 and 2 again. It says, Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says the Lord, I remember you.

God wants Jeremiah to go to his people, to go to the people of Judah who went by the name of God, who worshiped at the temple, but were far from God. And God tells Jeremiah to go and say, I remember you. Now, on the one hand, that could be very comforting for someone who is distant from God, for someone who has been running from God, for someone who has been, you know, hiding from God. It can be very comforting to know, even when I've long forgotten God, I

God remembers me. And that was definitely the case of the nation of Judah. And God says, I want you to know I remember you. But it's also a little bit of a warning that it's a dangerous place to be when your connection to God is past tense. When it has to be a memory that is discussed when you talk about a relationship with God.

when you have to look back in order to talk about your relationship with God, well, that is a backslidden state. And that's something that we need to pay attention to and watch out for. Now, I do want to just kind of go on a little side tangent here and just address this a little bit because I think even with the quote I shared from Pastor Chuck and the idea of not being backslidden and that kind of thing, that in our minds, we often relate to

to busyness or activity to good relationship with God. And I want you to understand, that's not what God is addressing here. He's not talking about how busy they are or how active they are. It's kind of like when he spoke to the church of Ephesus in Revelation. He says, look, you guys are real busy, but you've left your first love. It's the heart that is the matter. It's the heart that is the issue. And that's what God is concerned about.

You got to understand as you look back on your life, I'm sure that you can see great variety in your life, in your relationship to God over the years. And that is absolutely normal. It's normal for relationships to change.

for those of you who are married, if you think about your relationship with your spouse, you know, as you first began to get to know each other and your dating phase and your engagement phase, your honeymoon phase, you know, and the years of your marriage phase, that relationship changes over the years and that's appropriate. That's normal and that's right. That is the way that it is supposed to work, that you are growing together and things are not always the same in your relationship. And that's true,

in our relationship with God as well. Just like there are seasons of life in our relationships with one another, there are seasons of life and there's maturity that happens in our relationship with God. Serving the Lord and walking with God while you're married is in many ways way different than serving the Lord and walking with God while you're single.

Paul the Apostle addresses that in 1 Corinthians 7. There's a difference. And it's valid. It's right. It's not a backsliding. It's just a change that takes place with the seasons of life. And so things change. Time and availability changes with seasons.

Sometimes the way that we approach this, you know, if you follow it to the logical conclusion, you'll end up not making sense because you think, well, okay, when I first was believer, I read the Bible 15 minutes a day. Now,

Now I've been a believer for 25 years, so I should be reading the Bible 17 hours a day. It doesn't work that way. No, it's not that you have to read more and more and more and more and more and more until that's all you do all day long every day. No, that's not what God wants for you. That's not part of God's plan for you. But that you continue to maintain that connection to God through his word is important.

But the time might change throughout the years and it might take different forms and shapes throughout the years. And that's appropriate. Again, these things change with the season of life. But we need to still have that connection and that heart for God and with God is really the point. And sometimes we try to combat backsliding with activity.

As if saying, as if the saying went like this, if there was ever a time where you were more busy at church, then you're in a backslidden state right now. But that's not, that's not what the saying is. That's not what Pastor Chuck meant. That's not what God means.

Notice in verse 2 and 3, God highlights some things that are important as he remembers this past relationship with his people. Notice the things that he points out and says, these are the important things as I look back. Again, looking at verse 2, he says, go and cry in the hearing of Jerusalem saying, thus says the Lord, I remember you, the kindness of your youth, the love of your betrothal.

I would like to highlight four things here that the Lord says, this is what I remember.

These were the good old days, as far as I'm concerned, God says. Here's what I remember about when we used to have a good relationship. I remember your kindness, your love, how you followed me, and that you were set apart, you were holiness to the Lord. This is what God values. And so as we talk about being in a backslidden state, we're not talking about necessarily activity or busyness, but we're talking about these things that are of the heart.

God says, I remember the kindness of your youth. This word kindness, it means an act of kindness. It's an action that is taking place. But the kind of action, the quality of this kindness is usually reserved for close friends and family. And so there are some forms of kindness that you would show to absolute strangers that you've never met before.

But then also there's those forms of kindness, those acts that you would do for only close friends and family. Because you care for them, because you have that relationship with them, you're willing to do much more in kindness than we would for the common stranger that we've never met before. And so God says, look, there used to be this kindness in your heart where you would do acts, you would do service, you would do things

Because you just wanted to be nice to God. You would do things just to be pleasing. I just want to do something good for God. I just want to be a blessing to God. I just want to please God. And God says, remember when you used to do those things just because you wanted to do something nice for me? I would ask you to consider what kindness are you showing to God today?

What are you doing? Just over and beyond, you know, the normal, beyond what you would, any normal person would just do. What are you doing for God that's just a great act of kindness for him? Showing your love and appreciation for him. The kindness of your youth. God says, I remember that. And he says, I remember the love of your betrothal.

This word love, it speaks of our devotion. It speaks of our passion. It also speaks a lot about our priorities. He says the love of your betrothal. Now, that betrothal is that engagement period. And again, you know, love shows up in different forms and fashions over the years of a relationship. But that betrothal period, there's a singular focus, that engagement. There's a, you know, there's that passion. There's that devotion. There's that priority, right?

that takes place in that betrothal period and the love that is expressed. And God says, remember that betrothal period where you loved me singularly, where I was a priority and a passion of your life and of your heart? I wasn't one of many things that you love, but I was the one that you loved. He says, when you went after me in the wilderness, in a land not sown. Remember those days when you followed me, the Lord says? I remember those days.

He says, you followed me into the wilderness, into a land that was not sown. Now, he's referring back to when the children of Israel were in Egypt in captivity, and God led them out through Moses from Egypt into the wilderness, and they spent time in the wilderness with God. And as they followed God in this time, it was a following of obedience, and it was also a following of faith, because they were going into the wilderness.

Now the wilderness was not, he says, in a land that was sown. In other words, you didn't, you weren't led out into a land that had grocery stores on every corner and markets and jack-in-the-box and there was going to be abundant resources. You were going into the wilderness. That is, everywhere you looked, there was nothing. It was a step of faith. You followed in faith and you let me provide for you in the wilderness. Now the wilderness was not

really a comfortable time for the children of Israel because, well, they couldn't get settled. They were always packing up and moving on. God would lead them, and there was great privileges and benefits as God's presence was manifested there, and he would lead them by day in a cloud and with a pillar of fire by night. But it wasn't comfortable. It wasn't stable. They didn't have abundant resources, but what they had is God's promises and

And that God said he would meet their needs. The wilderness had challenges, but God met every need that they had. And so God looks back to that time. He says, remember when you went after me in the wilderness? Remember when you used to follow me and you would follow my lead? You would follow my instruction and you would rely upon me and I would provide for you every day? Remember those days back in those times when you used to follow me? And then in verse three, he says, Israel was holiness to the Lord.

This was a phrase, holiness to the Lord, that they would take on, that they would, you know, write on things, that they would pronounce to each other. If they had bumper stickers, it would say, holiness to the Lord, that it was a declaration that they would make. I'm set apart to God and we're set apart, we're consecrated, we're devoted to the things of God. That was the heart. That was the expression that was used back in those days. And so God says to his people, I remember you.

I remember those good old days back when you, well, you used to show me kindness. You used to do things just because you wanted to be nice to me, just because you wanted to please me, just because you wanted to honor me. And your love for me, it was a priority. It was a passion. It was a devotion. There was an intensity about your love for me in those days. And you followed me even when there wasn't certainty and I wasn't going to be comfortable. But

You would follow me. You would trust me. You would walk with me, and you would do the things that I instructed you to do, and you were holiness to the Lord. You were set apart, devoted to me. I remember those days. You used to love God. Again, as we look at these things and God's remembrance for the nation of Judah, it's a challenge for us to consider. What does your kindness to God look like today, and your love for God, and are you following God even today?

If where he's leading is not comfortable or is not, you know, abundant in provision, but it's abundant in his promises. Are you set apart for God and devoted to the things of God? When you have to look back, when you talk about your relationship with God and these things, if you have to look back to a different time, to a prior time, then that is what God would refer to as a backslidden state. Because these are the things that matter.

And you might be just as busy today as you were back then, but if these things have changed in your heart, God says, hey, you need to repent. You've lost your first love. You need to come back and get right with me in these things. These are the things that matter, your kindness, your love, following me and being set apart to the Lord.

God also remembers, as he's remembering this relationship that they had, he says, also, when we had this relationship before, I protected you. There at the end of verse three, he says, all that devour him will offend. Disaster will come upon them, says the Lord.

So as you were walking with me in this way and we had this relationship together, those who opposed you, like the nation of Egypt when they tried to come back and take you captive once again, I took care of them. And when other nations tried to attack you, I enabled you and gave you the strength to conquer them. I protected you. We had this relationship together back in the beginning, but again, it's all past tense.

It's in the past. And that is not the state of their relationship at this time. And I would ask you to consider, is it the state of your relationship this morning? Well, as we go on in these next few points, God is going to be highlighting for the people the severity of this situation.

We could easily look at, you know, well, yeah, I used to love the Lord. I used to, and I could be closer to God. I guess I could spend more time with him. I could spend more. And it's not that big of a deal. You know, it's not that big of a thing. But God will now go and tell his people how serious their backsliding really is.

And again, let it be a little bit of a warning, a little bit of a wake-up call. If you are in a backslidden state, if you're out of line in these areas, you need to get right with God. And if you are walking with God, you need to make sure that you continue to persist and be faithful in walking with God because it's a serious thing to not have right relationship with God. The second point we'll look at is in verses five through seven. And here we see that you misuse God's blessings. Here's a reminder that

to those who are backslidden. When you're in a backslidden state, you are misusing God's blessings. It's an offense to him when you're in a backslidden state because you are taking what he's given to you and using it in a way that dishonors him. Let's look at verses five through seven. Here's what it says. Thus says the Lord, what injustice have your fathers found in me that they have gone far from me having followed idols and have become idolaters?

Neither did they say, where is the Lord who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, who led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no one crossed and where no one dwelt. Verse 7, I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruits and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. Verse 8,

God is looking back and saying, I remember the good old days, but you're not there now. And so he asked the question in verse five, what injustice have I done that have caused you guys to run away from me? How have I failed you that you have turned to something else, that you have trusted in someone else, that you have turned your hearts to these false gods and become idolaters? How have I failed? How have I fell short or lacked that has caused you to do this?

And of course, the answer is God hasn't failed. But God says, let me remind you about what I did for you. In verse seven, he says, I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness. Let me just remind you about what I did, God says. We were there in the wilderness. We had this awesome relationship. I led you into the promised land and

And in the promised land, if you remember in Numbers chapter 13, the spies go throughout the promised land and they bring back some of the fruit of the land so the people can see what God is providing for them. And so a couple of the spies pick off a cluster of grapes. Now this was not a cluster of grapes like you've ever seen before. This cluster of grapes was so abundant, so large, so fruitful that

that it had to be carried between two guys on a large stick. So they had a cluster of grapes. Now, I don't know how this went. It could be that there was just an abundance of tiny little grapes that was just, you know, overflowing. And so it's so heavy, they couldn't hold it. They had to carry it between two of them.

or the way I envision it in my head, it's like grapes like watermelons, and they're just like, you know, just like taking bites out of it. Like, I like that visual a little bit better. But either way, there's such abundance here. They had to carry it between two guys. I mean, this was an incredible place that God brought them into. Abundance that God blessed them with. He says, I brought you into a bountiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness.

I provided you this incredible blessing as I brought you into this promised land. But there was a difference that happened there because while in the wilderness, they had to rely upon God every day. And God supernaturally provided manna every day for them. They were dependent upon God every day for their food. But now they've come into this land that has this abundance.

The grocery stores are all open and everything's free. Just go ahead, take whatever you need. They didn't have to rely upon God every day for food like they used to. And so they took that blessing that God had provided for them. And then verse seven, it continues. He says, but when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. I provided you this awesome land, but once you got in there, you defiled it.

You used all that abundance that I gave to you for wicked and vile things. And you turned that land that was such a great blessing at one time, you turned it into an abomination. You've taken what I've given to you and you've used it in opposition to me, as an offense to me. You misuse God's blessings. And this is always the case when we are backslidden.

When we are not right in our relationship with God, it's always the case that we are using God's resources, the things that he's blessed us with, for things that are offensive to him. Perhaps you could think about it this way. If Richard suddenly fell into hard times and was desolate and Janine kicked him out and he was on the streets and hungry and lonely and he called me up and said, Jerry, I just, I got nothing. I got, I'm just out of it. Can I stay at your house for a little bit?

And if I said, sure, Richard, come on in. Yes, here, have a room and here's some food and here's everything that you need. Here's a key to the house and yeah, let's get you back on your feet. I'm not speaking prophetically, by the way. But if I opened up my home and then I come home one day and I find that Richard has cleaned out my house and taken everything I have and sold it and taken the money and ran off to do whatever he wants, you could understand that would be

highly offensive. That would be a great insult for me who opened up my home to him and gave him what he needed and gave him access and opportunity and then he turned it around and used it against me. Now it would be bad if I didn't open up my home and he just broke in and took everything and left. That would be bad. To take the grace, to take the generosity and to turn it around and then use it and use it as an offense against

That it's another level of offense. It's another level of wickedness. In a similar way, here's what we need to understand about being backslidden and using our resources for things that are not of God. We're taking what God has given to us and using them as an offense to him. Think about what you have. I mean, if you want to just start with the very basic, every breath that you have is a gift from God. And so there's nothing that you can do

I mean, you can hold your breath only for so long, but everything that you do while you're breathing is God's gift to you. It's God's time that he gives you. It's God's energy that he gives you. It's God's life that he gives to you. And to take that life, to take that breath, to take that and to use it in things that are dishonoring to God is an offense to God. You misuse God's blessing, the resources, the finances that you have. Those are God's.

You might think, well, I paid all the bills. I even paid my tithe. I got $20 left. I can spend that however I want. That's mine. God would say, actually, it's still mine. I gave it to you. And if you take that $20 and you'll use it on something that's offensive to me, that's a misuse of my blessings. That's a misuse of my provision. If you'll take your strength, your abilities, your energy, the home that God has provided for you, the car that God has provided for you,

and so on and so forth. Everything that we have, even our own selves, we belong to God. And so the only way to rebel against God is to use his resources to turn and rebel against him. That's offensive. You misuse God's blessings. And if you have to look back to talk about your relationship with God, you need to understand you are misusing God's blessings. And that's offensive. It's a serious violation.

When we turn from God and are not right in our relationship with God. God wants us to remember that. Well, moving on to verses 11 through 13, we have point number three. God's reminders to backsliders is that you choose worthless things. When you find yourself in a backslidden state, you find yourself in a place where you have chosen worthless things. Check out verses 11 through 13. It says, has a nation changed its gods, which are not God's?

But my people have changed their glory for what does not profit. Be astonished, O heavens, at this and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, says the Lord. For my people have committed two evils. They have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. God first asked the question, has a nation changed its gods, which are not God's?

He challenges the people to look around. And as you would look around the nation surrounding the nation of Judah, there were all kinds of nations that worshiped all kinds of different false gods. And every nation had their own gods, but every nation was loyal to their own gods. Even though their gods were false, even though their gods were fake, even though their gods could not help them, could not save them, could not provide for them, and had not provided any blessings like the God of Israel had provided to his people.

And yet those nations are loyal to their gods. But here's Israel and they worship the true and the living God, but they had turned from him. God says, this is astonishing. They've exchanged glory for worthlessness. I mean, that's not a good exchange to change glory for what does not profit, for something that is worthless. It doesn't make sense. And so God says in verse 12, "'Be astonished, O heavens, at this,'

He calls out to the heavens. Look, guys, this is shocking. Creation itself is shocked as God's people trade glory for worthlessness. And God says in verse 13, my people have committed two evils in doing this. Evil number one, they've forsaken God. Evil number two, they've chosen worthless things. Two evils that are committed as we read.

fall back in our relationship with God. Here's the thing. The only way to forsake God is to choose worthless things. There's nothing equal to God. There's nothing comparable to God. So you can't forsake God to choose something similar to God that's worthwhile. Then maybe it would only be one evil in backsliding against God. But it's two evils because the only way that you can backslide and turn from God and forsake God is

is to choose something in his place that is worth it, that does not profit, and that does not save. And so God paints a picture for us. He gives the picture of a fountain of living waters. He says, they've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and what have they replaced that with? They've hewn themselves cisterns. Now, if you think about a fountain...

The fountain of living water. You get the picture. You get the idea. God's talking about a constant supply of fresh water. The fountain of living water is the source of fresh, vibrant life water. It's a good picture. But then you talk about cisterns. Now what they would do in that region is they would carve out these massive holes in the limestone, in the rock that is underneath Jerusalem. And

And they would make these ditches that would funnel water. So when it would rain, the water would gather into this big hole that they've dug in the rock. It was a cistern. And then they would survive off of that because it didn't rain all that often, all the time. And so they would use that water to water their vegetables and all of that. They would use that water to drink and to wash and to cook. And that was their store of water that would hold them over until the next rain. Wow.

Now that's a pretty clear contrast, right? Here you have the source, the fountain of living waters, a constant supply of fresh water, and then you have a store of, well, even at its best, cistern water is stale water. It's water that's been gathered and collected there and has been sitting there since the last rain. And that's quite a contrast.

If, you know, you have the choice and you're there with your water bottle and you're going to fill up, do you choose the stale cistern water or do you choose the constant supply of fresh water, the fountain of living waters? Well, I choose the fresh water. That's what I want to drink, not the water that's been sitting there for weeks or months.

God says, they've forsaken me. I'm the fountain of living waters. And they've hewn themselves cisterns. But he goes on to say, these cisterns are broken and can't hold water. So they've said, look, we don't need that fresh water anymore, God. We've got these cisterns. But then when they put the water in them, they actually, the water leaks out and they don't have the water that they need. So they're thirsty. Calls to mind the things that Jesus said. Remember what he told the woman at the well? Hey, if you drink from this well, you're going to get

you're gonna thirst again. But if you drink the water that I give you, well, the fountain of living water, you'll never thirst again. Jesus says, I am the living water. In John chapter seven, he says, if anyone's thirsty, let him come to me and drink and the fountains of living water will burst forth from you. He spoke of the Holy Spirit when he said that. There's a great contrast here between choosing God and choosing worthless things. And if you have to look back to talk about your relationship with God,

Understand that you've chosen worthless things. You've exchanged glory for worthlessness. The fountain of living waters for broken cisterns. And broken cisterns leave you perpetually dissatisfied, constantly unfulfilled. But the fountain of living waters, well, that's an abundant source of life for anyone who's thirsty. Moving on to verses 17 through 19.

God reminds us about backsliding and he says, your own backsliding will rebuke you. So continuing down the line, he's letting us know the severity of a disconnect in our relationship with God in that, well, it causes us to misuse God's blessings and we choose worthless things instead of God. And then God says, you know, the end result is your own backsliding is going to rebuke you.

In other words, God doesn't have to go out of his way to design some supernatural catastrophe to deal with your backsliding, but you set yourself up for destruction with your backsliding. Verse 17 says, "'Have you not brought this on yourself, in that you have forsaken the Lord your God when he led you in the way? And now why take the road to Egypt to drink the waters of Syhor, or why take the road to Assyria to drink the waters of the river?'

Your own wickedness will correct you and your backslidings will rebuke you. Know therefore and see that it is an evil and bitter thing that you have forsaken the Lord your God. And the fear of me is not in you, says the Lord God of hosts. God asks them another question. He loves to ask questions to get us to think. He says, have you not brought this on yourself and that you have forsaken the Lord your God when he led you in the way? At this time, Judah has already experienced great destruction.

The nation largely has been conquered. There's only a few cities that are left. The city of Jerusalem, of course, is their capital. There's a few other strongholds. But the nation of Assyria has dealt severe damage to the nation of Judah. And as they look around at this, God says, have you not brought this on yourself? There's more judgment coming. This is the product. This is the result of your rebellion against God. And you need to know this is your doing.

We love to blame God and we love to say, you know, it's God's fault, but there are serious consequences to abandoning your relationship with God. In verse 19, he says, your own wickedness will correct you and your backslidings will rebuke you. Your own wickedness. It's your own doings. It's your own behavior that has put yourself in this place. Again, God doesn't have to go out of his way to design some, you know, crazy scenario to deal with it. Consequences to sin are the natural result of sin.

That's the way that sin works. We often think about sin as if, you know, sin is this thing that God has forbidden. Now on its own, it could be really good, but God has forbidden it, so I guess we're not supposed to do it. And if we do it, then God will thump us. But no, we need to have a better understanding of sin. Sin is God saying, look, these are the things that destroy you. So I'm calling it sin and I'm telling you not to do it. In other words, if I tell you, hey, don't run out into the streets and you disregard that,

Do I have to go out of my way, maybe hire an Uber driver or something and say, okay, look, I told this person not to run out in the street, but they're probably going to run out in the street. So what I want you to do is sit over there and be ready. And as soon as you see them heading for the street, then you rev it up and just give them a good scare. Do I have to set up something? If I say, don't run out into the street? No, I don't have to set up something because cars are already driving through the street. And so if you run out into the street, you're going to have a close call or you're going to get hit. I don't have to set anything up. That's just the way that it is.

that's a good picture of sin. God says, look, these things will destroy you. So I'm going to call it sin and I'm going to tell you not to do it. I'm going to tell you what to do because I know what's good for you and to not do what I tell you to do, that is destructive to you. So when God commands us to love him with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, he gives us that command because it's the best thing for us.

Because it is destructive to us to not love God this way. And to not love God that way has serious consequences. Not because God has to go out of his way to thump us, but because that's what's best for us already. That's what we need the most already. And so God says your own wickedness will correct you. Because that's just the consequences of doing things that are destructive. You experience destruction. And God allows this.

Notice in verse 19, he says, He allows this to help us to know therefore, to learn the lesson of

Sin brings destruction. The wages of sin is death. Here's a reminder that God wants to give to everyone who's not right with God. Your own backsliding will rebuke you. And when you have to look back to talk about your relationship with God, you are backslidden and you will receive the consequences of that. Well, then in verses 26 through 29, we have point number five. Here, God will honor your choices. Here's a reminder to think about.

When you make a choice to not follow God, to not walk with God in the way that he's called you to, God will honor that choice. Verse 26, he says, "'As the thief is ashamed when he is found out, "'so is the house of Israel ashamed. "'They and all their kings and their princes "'and their priests and their prophets, "'saying to a tree, you are my father, "'and to a stone, you gave birth to me, "'for they have turned their back to me and not their face.'"

But in the time of their trouble, they will say, arise and save us. He talks about the people. He says, the house of Israel is ashamed. They're experiencing their shame right now as they experience the consequences, the repercussions of their backsliding, of their sinfulness. And they've looked at these other gods. They've pursued these other things, these worthless things. But in the time of trouble...

They will look to God and say, God, arise and save us. And so God says in verse 28, but where are your gods that you have made for yourselves? Let them arise if they can save you in the time of your trouble, for according to the number of your cities are your gods, O Judah. Verse 29, why will you plead with me? You all have transgressed against me, says the Lord. Why are you calling out to me, God says?

When you have been running and pursuing after other gods. Where are those gods? You've invested your life. You've spent time investing in and pursuing and chasing after those things. I'm going to give them a shot to save you first. I'm going to let them deliver you. I'm not going to step in. God will honor your choice. You've decided you want to have those things as the priority and the passion and devotion of your life. So I'm going to let you see how that works out.

Now, this isn't God, again, just trying to make things worse for you and see, you know, I'm bitter about how you've treated me, and so I'm going to make you suffer. This is God, for our own good, letting us see, letting us become aware that the things that we have chosen cannot save us so that we don't make that mistake again, so that we learn the lesson and turn to God. Again, it's God's mercy reaching out to us. When he announces judgment, when he allows judgment, it's God's mercy reaching

Opening our eyes to the reality of what we've chosen. And that's why he is going through these things in this chapter to call us, to give us an opportunity to have an awareness of where our hearts are and how bad it is. And so if you've decided, well, this is going to be my life and this is going to be my passion and this is going to be my pursuit, understand that God will honor that choice. And when destruction happens and you call out to your bank account and it can't save you,

you will learn a lesson that that is not something that you can trust in. And when your car doesn't go fast enough to save you, you will learn a lesson that Ferrari is not something that you can trust in. I don't know anybody who has a Ferrari, but just in case. When you trust in that relationship and it fails you, you will learn that will not save you. You've traded glory for worthlessness and God will honor your choice. He'll let things fall apart. He'll let things fail.

Now, that doesn't mean we should not call out to God, because God is merciful. And many times, as we call out to him and turn back, we'll talk about that in just a moment, he does reach in and save. But let me put it this way. God reserves the right to refuse service to the unfaithful. If you haven't been faithful to him, he reserves the right to say, I'm just going to let you see how that goes. Not because he hates you, not because he's, you know, trying to destroy you, but because he

We need to have our eyes open to the reality that we choose destructive things and we need to let God make our choices for us. When you have to look back to talk about your relationship with God, you've chosen something else and God will honor that. You're gonna experience difficulty in life. You're gonna experience the consequences for sins and what's gonna happen when you call out to those things that you've trusted in and relied upon instead of God. He will honor that choice.

Well, finally, point number six is found in verses 35 through 37. And the point is, you will be ashamed. The end result of backsliding is shame. Verse 35. Yet you say, because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead my case against you because you say I have not sinned. Notice, Judah here is still convinced. They're insisting, no, no, we're innocent. We're innocent.

We don't deserve this judgment. We don't deserve this destruction. They're completely delusional. And that's what sin does to us. It deceives us so that when we experience the consequences for sins, we say, hey, I don't deserve this. God, why? And we get angry with God. God, why did you allow this? Why did you do this?

At this time, Judah would still go to the temple, even though they're offering their children as sacrifices, even though they're doing abominable things that God has forbidden, they would still then go to the temple and offer their sacrifices and celebrate the feast. And so then they would say, well, hey, we're innocent. God shouldn't treat us this way. They're going to be ashamed of their behavior. They were very religious, but their hearts were far from God. Verse 36, why do you gad about so much to change your way?

Also, you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria. You're talking so much and you're going back and forth on how to resolve these situations that you're in. You trusted in Assyria and you were ashamed. They didn't save you. They didn't help you. Then you trusted in Egypt and you know what? They're not going to save you either.

And the end result is in verse 37, you'll go forth from him, that's Egypt, with your hands on your head for the Lord has rejected your trusted allies and you will not prosper by them. You thought, well, if I make this deal with Egypt, we'll be safe from Babylon and we won't have to worry about the destruction. We'll be set, we'll be okay. And God says, you're gonna go out of Egypt with your hands on your head. This is the picture of captivity. What you thought was gonna save you is going to enslave you.

And you're going to go out from there in shame as a prisoner with your hands on your head. You will be ashamed. That is the end result of not having a right relationship with God. You will be ashamed. When you have to look back to talk about your relationship with God, understand that's your end result. That's the end of the road that you're on. Shame, destruction, great hurt because you have wandered in your relationship with God. Again, God is never...

more merciful than when he announces judgment. And so although all of these things, it's kind of dark, I understand that. You probably didn't want that or expect that for a Sunday morning. But God shares all of these things with us to give us the opportunity to have a right relationship with him, to not end up there, to not end up in shame. He gives us the insight in how to do that. They were saying, because I'm innocent, surely this isn't gonna happen to me. But what they needed to do was confess their sins.

to repent and get back to a right relationship with God. In the next chapter, in Jeremiah 3, verse 22, God says, return you backsliding children and I will heal your backslidings. You see, he announces, he brings this awareness of your backslidden condition so that you have the opportunity to return and that he can heal your backslidings. And so that's the exhortation for us this morning. Return to the Lord.

And that doesn't mean more religious activity. That doesn't mean if you're reading 15 minutes a day, now you need to read 45 minutes a day. That's not what it means. It means you return to your relationship with God, return to kindness, return to love, return to following him, and return to holiness, being set apart to the Lord. Return your heart to the Lord. And he may direct you to change up some things in your life and in your religious activity, but don't do that and think that fixes it.

Return your heart to the Lord. Come back to a real dependence, reliance, trust, and love for God. And he will heal your backslidings. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for the opportunity this morning that even though, Lord, Lord, we do fall short, we slide backwards, it's the natural progression, and we begin to trust other things and pursue other things and seek other things. Lord, I thank you, God, for the opportunity to be warned, Lord,

to be aware of the danger, the severity, Lord, of going down those paths. And I pray that you would help us this morning to return, to continue to walk with you with a right heart. Lord, that our hearts would genuinely be devoted to you. Lord, that we wouldn't just try to go through outward motions and try to be religious or try to compensate for our sin, but Lord, that we would surrender ourselves to you.

Lord, that we would live out kindness to you because we love you, because just we want to please you. We want to honor you. We want to glorify you. Help us, Lord, to love you, to make you the devotion, the passion, the priority of our hearts and lives. And God, I pray that you would help us to follow you. And sometimes, Lord, you're going to call us into the wilderness. And I wonder if I had the choice between a grocery store or the wilderness with you.

Which would I choose? Lord, I pray that you would help us to choose you, to trust you, to know. Lord, you will provide and that we need to follow you because we have your promises. We have your provision. Even if we can't see it on the shelf, God, I pray that you would help us to return to holiness. Lord, that we would be dedicated, consecrated, set apart for you, for your glory. Lord, that our lives would be lived, not for our desires, not for our will, but

but for your will to be done, Lord, that we would say holiness to the Lord. Thank you, Lord, for the reminder. Help us to take heed. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.