9/1/24 Jeremiah 2:4-13 “Filthy Water!”

29 Aug 9/1/24 Jeremiah 2:4-13 “Filthy Water!”

9/1/24      Jeremiah 2:4-13      “Filthy Water!”

I think that I have mentioned this several times before that I think that we sure are lucky to have definite seasons in this area.  We are probably best known for our winters because they can be quite harsh.  If you go and talk to someone about winter that lives 500 miles south of here, you may find that they really don’t know what tough winters are all about.  Then comes spring which is always messy but beautiful as the snow melts and the seeds begin to sprout.  There is young wildlife everywhere and things are just so pretty after a long winter.  Then we come to summer when we finally get a little heat.  Things are growing and we get to take part in many outdoor activities.  As the growing season winds down, we finally come to fall.  This is also a pretty time of year as leaves turn color along with the corn.  It is a time of harvest.  It is also a time when plants are dying or going dormant and animals are getting ready for winter.  Many of our ponds and small lakes form a scum which is quite distracting.  The water seems quite filthy.  In today’s reading from Jeremiah, we find the ancients had a tough time finding good water.  Let’s see if God is presenting these people with living water long before Jesus came to be with us.  By the way, this living water is for us also.

I think in our modern world we get caught up a little with trying to buy generic brands.  In medicine, this can save us a lot of money.  Drugs are closely watched so there shouldn’t be much danger.  Instead of buying Kellogg’s cereal we may now buy Essential for instance.  Or instead of Kraft mac and cheese, we might get the store brand.  There really shouldn’t be much difference.  But it hasn’t always been like this.  According to Jeff Strite, centuries ago when food production moved from the homes to manufacturing plants, many merchants took shortcuts to increase profits.  Cash hungry bakers would get more dough from stretching their dough with alum and sulfur of copper.  Dairy people sold cream thickened with flour, watered down milk and often added chalk or plaster of paris to get the color right for milk that came from sick cows.  Sand was added to sugar.  Butter was horrible.  They would mix up calcium, gypsum, gelatin, fat and mashed potatoes and sell it as butter.  Oleomargarine was worse as it was made from distilled hog fat, bleach and other unsavory substances.  Even as late as 1969 a man in England sold phony Parmesan cheese that he had made from ground up umbrella handles.  We have to be careful about whether or not we get the real deal.  Even today we get tricked into getting taking false living water versus the real stuff.

Today’s reading is the Lord talking through the prophet Jeremiah.  This was a time of great turmoil and disobedience in Judah which was the southern kingdom.  Israel, the northern kingdom, doesn’t exist anymore.  It is a wonder that they lasted as long as they did because, and you can read about it, they never had a king who followed the Lord.  At least Judah had a king once in a while who followed the ways of God.  Someone asked me once if these books of the major prophets made good Bible studies.  My answer is that they make excellent Bible studies but you should know before you start that there will be much talk about doom.  That is because God’s people stray from Him.  He loves them so much that they can do what they want.  And that they did as they worshipped false idols and every other false god that came along.  They forgot about the real, one and only God.

God is basically telling them that the jig is up.  They have exchanged glory for worthless idols.  He reminds them of all the things He has done for them.  He has given and given and given to these people and they still don’t get it.  Even after the northern kingdom falls, they still don’t get it.

I think that is one of the things that we have to worry about also.  How long will God put up with our disobedience?  When I was going to seminary, I had to read a lot of books on many subjects.  One of the things that one our main textbooks pushed is the postmodern viewpoint of theology.  I was lucky to pass that class because I could not agree with anyone who twists the words of the Bible so it fits our modern-day dilemma.  That is what they are teaching in seminary.  They teach that we are to change the Scriptures so that everyone is right.  Everyone gets to heaven.

I wish it were like that but that is not what I read in the Bible.  Unfortunately, these fringe ideas have been taught for several years and many present day pastors subscribe to them.  This means that many churches are getting false religion.  Sometimes I just want to shake people up a little.  We are doing the same thing that the people of Judah were doing.  It took them hundreds of years to change like this and it is taking us a long time also.  In the end, we will be overrun like Judah simply because God will have completely withdrawn from us.

That is the first part of this reading.  I want us to look more closely at the reference to the cisterns that he makes in verse 13.  Jeremiah is trying to explain so the people will understand.  Even in the Old Testament, God will try to simplify things so the people understand.

Now I don’t know how many of you have used cisterns so I’m going to explain them just a bit.  I came from a place where we hauled water and put it into cisterns on the farm.  The ground water was salt, alkali and was not drinkable.  In Israel, water is a precious commodity and must be saved when it rains in the winter so that they will have water in the dry summer.  A long time before the time of Jesus, these people were ingenious enough to dig pits to hold water.  They would channel water off the roof into these pits.  The pits, cisterns were lined with rock and then plastered together so that they would hold the water.  We also had two cisterns like this on our farm, rain water cisterns.  If it was good enough for these ancients, I guess it was good enough for us.

Our other two cisterns were filled with fresh water that we used for drinking and other things.  They were kept fresh because we used them rather quickly.  I remember that when they ran dry, we would have to go down and clean the cistern so the next water would stay fresh.  We would also clean out the rain water cisterns but they were much dirtier because of the shingles and other things that might make rain water filthier.

Well it was the same way with the ancients only worse.  Their cisterns were a lot bigger and held a lot more water.  The water would have to be in these cisterns for months before they were used up if they were used up.  I cannot even begin to imagine the mess there was at the bottom of these cisterns after 9 months or so.  Even in our fresh water cisterns, there would be night crawlers and other kinds of dirt on the bottom.  The water from these ancient cisterns had to be very stale and quite dirty.  That is the reference that Jeremiah is making.

Then he makes reference to the living water.  This is not a term that was first used by Jesus.  This has always been a term denoting God.  God wants to know why we keep turning our backs on the living water.  Why do we insist on using water from the cisterns that we dig where the water is stale and the cisterns leak?  Even on the farm where I was raised and we kept a couple of the cisterns fresh, this freshness still paled in comparison to the living water of Jesus Christ.  When we drink the living water we will never be thirsty again.

Another question that comes up is why is this wonderful water so important?  It is important because we are all thirsty.  Have you ever noticed how the world of non-believers is always searching for some sort of truth?  They see a crystal in its entire splendor.  They figure that it is mystical and they start to worship the crystal.  Pyramids are the same way.  Or how about when people tell us that we can do whatever we want if we just try hard enough.  Then we begin to worship ourselves.  Or how about when we have music stars that seem to have lyrics that just speak to us deeply.  Then we begin to worship the music stars or movie stars or television stars.  The list goes on and on.  Why is everyone looking for something?

The answer lies in the fact that we were made that way by God.  Every person in the world has a place in their heart for God.  John makes reference to this in 14:23.  If we don’t have Jesus in this place in our hearts, then we feel unfulfilled and empty.  There is something missing in life.  We are always searching for that better deal on the other side of the hill.  If we fill this place in our hearts with Jesus, then we are satisfied with whatever Jesus is telling us to do.  We find fulfillment and contentment for the first time in our lives.

The same thing happens with countries.  I would be hard pressed to be able to name a single Christian country that now exists in the world.  There might be some out there that I don’t know about and that would be great.  Countries look at their leader who are very charismatic and personable and they worship the leader.  Countries look at the power of other countries and plot to overthrow them.  Power becomes addictive and soon the whole country worships aggressiveness.  Countries put such a prize on freedom that soon the country worships freedom even when they don’t really have it.  Sounds like the United States today!

This is strictly a hypothetical case, but what would happen if a country were to worship God?  It can’t happen in this country right now because we have barred God from our government, our schools, and just about everywhere else!  Incidentally, this is good for those in power because then they don’t have to compete with the real power of God.  I think that great things would happen for the people if the government were run on Godly principles.  You see, I believe that God belongs everywhere and we will have to pay the price when we exclude Him.  Look how peaceful King Solomon had it when he ran Israel on Godly principles.  It was when he turned from God that there was trouble.  Countries need God more than they need taxes!  If we were a Godly country, we would have no need for welfare and many other social programs but I’m not going down that rabbit trail today.

So we have individuals and countries that refuse the living water and we also have churches.  The church of Jeremiah’s day was not a Godly church.  They had turned to Baal and false idols.  They would worship just about anything that moved as long as it wasn’t God.  This sounds familiar, doesn’t it?

The church of today has to be very careful.  Our eyes need to look at the Gospel message and not the social message.  I read an article once about where they talked about making the Bible gender neutral and if I’m not mistaken, they have published one like this.  If this change is considered because of social pressure, then we had better make sure it is also Biblical.  If it is not, we might want to unchange the change.  This goes for all sorts of church activities.  If they are not Biblical, if they are not serving to further the word of God then we should probably rethink it.  Today we have churches who bow to social pressure because they might get sued.  Jesus wouldn’t bow to social pressure and the ruling bodies didn’t sue Him.  They crucified Him.  They killed Him.  They slaughtered Him.

So what do we do in a world that refuses the living water?  The answer is quite simple but it may be hard to implement.  The answer is to clean out your own cistern.  Confess your sins.  Even if you have been a Christian for years, you need to clean out your sins through confession unless, of course, you have found a way not to sin.  If you have we should probably have a little chat.  Then fill you cistern with the living water of Jesus Christ.  Go to Jesus before you do anything.  Go to him anytime and all the time.  There is nothing too big or too small for Jesus.

Several years ago, during Desert Storm, Franklin Graham, president of Samaritan’s Purse, decided to give Bible tracts to churches to send our troops in and around Saudi Arabia.  He got into trouble because the Arabs couldn’t allow this to happen.  They wanted our troops to spill their blood for them but they couldn’t talk or read about Jesus in their country.  Graham was called on the carpet and told not to do this anymore.  This is the short version of what he told the military chaplain who reported to General Schwartzkopf.  Franklin boldly proclaimed to the Colonel what I just said which was followed by a hush.  Then the Colonel finally replied: “I understand what you’re trying to do. I’m an evangelical as well. But I’m under orders…”  Graham interrupted with these words: “So am I, sir – orders from the King of kings and Lord of lords – to go into all the world and preach the gospel and make disciples of every nation.”

This is what we are to do under any and all circumstances.  If we learn to stand firm in our belief in Jesus, then great things will happen.  Who knows?  Maybe one day we will see revival like there has never been before.  I think the time is just about ripe for this.

Before and when this happens, remember this.  Jesus loves you as He cares for you in your everyday needs.  He loves us so much that He has provided ways for you to get food, water and clothing.  He helps you in your friendships and family relations.  He helps you in your churches, schools and governments.  He helps you always.  Because He does so much for you and He is so powerful and knowledgeable, you should be always bowing down to Him first before anything else.  You should be drinking the living water.

Jesus came and started a movement.  He started a new lifestyle.  He wants to help you make your life bearable.  Remember this love today and always because it is the best deal, the most satisfying life that you will ever find.  It doesn’t get any better than life with Jesus and that is a fact, Jack!  And thank you, Jesus, for first loving us.  Let’s pray.