Two In One

Text:

Jeremiah 2:9-13:

9 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.

10 For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing.

11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.

13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

 

Theme:

Two In One

 

Introduction:

• The text was drawn from the book of Jeremiah, the 2^nd of the books of the books of major prophecy in the Old Testament.
  • The writer was the prophecy Jeremiah who was appointed by God to be a prophet at an early age as it says in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.”
  • Jeremiah was also known as the weeping prophet for his lamenting two calamities seen in his life:
    • One, the death of King Josiah, a respected and revered King of his time
    • Two, the sins of the Hebrew children of God, for which God would judge and punish
• The text specifically relays Jeremiah’s lamenting over the sins of the Hebrew children.
  • “Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children’s children will I plead.”
    • God is using Jeremiah to plead with the people to come back to God and to cease from their wicked ways.
    • God will restore His Chosen People.
      • 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
  • “Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD”
    • Even though God has made a way for us to be restored unto Him, two things tend to stand in the way.
      • Seeing your SELF
        • We must BE REAL — Isaiah 64:6, “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”
        • We must FESS UP — Mark 8:34, “…Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.”
      • Seeing God
        • We can see God — Isaiah 6:1, “In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.”
        • For us to see God, He has to see US!
          • James 4:8, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded.”
        • PROBLEM: We don’t want to see ourselves and therefore not God either.
  • “For my people have committed two evils;”
    • We deceive ourselves to think that we have done one thing when we have done two!
    • We commit two sins in one action
    • Sin is actually a Two in One deal

 

Body:

Jeremiah explicates this theory in the later half of the 13^th verse of our text:

“they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.”

• “they have forsaken me”
  • The first sin is their forsaking God
    • Psalms 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”
  • Jesus explained the basic principle
    • Matthew 4:10, “Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.”
  • Forsaking God has negative consequences
    • Joshua 24:20, “If ye forsake the LORD, and serve strange gods, then he will turn and do you hurt, and consume you, after that he hath done you good.”
    • 1Chronicles 28:9, “And thou, Solomon my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind: for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts: if thou seek him, he will be found of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for ever.”
• “hewed them out cisterns”
  • cistern
    • a receptacle for water, either conducted from an external spring or proceeding from rain-fall.
    • the rendering of a Hebrew word bor, which means a receptacle for water conveyed to it; distinguished from beer (well), which denotes a place where water rises on the spot.
    • Characteristics of the “cistern”:
      • Man-made
        • We use things, situations and people to dig out own holes:)
      • Only externally filled…no inert source of water
        • A well has water rising out of it. A cistern has to have water put into it.
        • The child of God has a well
          • John 7:38, “He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”
        • The unbeliever has a cistern
          • Revelation 3:17, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
        • Used in times of a drought
          • We rely on ourselves when things aren’t going our way
            • Judges 21:25, “In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.”
  • There are many who have “hewn them out cisterns”
    • Matthew 7:13, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:”
  • .“broken cisterns, that can hold no water”
    • Don’t think that our own “cisterns” (our own way) can uphold us
      • Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
    • Our “cisterns” are “broken” because of SIN
      • James 1:14-15, “But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.”
    • Our earthly “cisterns” are worthless because they hold no “water” –> NO GOD INSIDE
      • Isaiah 44:10, “Who hath formed a god, or molten a graven image that is profitable for nothing?”
    • Romans 10:1-3 explains the two sins very well, “Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and 2)going about to establish their own righteousness, 1)have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.”
    • You see, it translates to our lives

In our seeking personal glory…

1► We don’t give God the glory.

• 1 Corinthians 6:20, “For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.”

2► We get consumed in pride.

• Psalms 10:4, “The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.”

In our storing treasures in the things of this world…

1► We deny the gifts that God has already provided us.

• Psalms 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.”

2► We are disappointed to find that things of this world are temporary.

• Matthew 6:19, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:”
• Matthew 24:35, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.”

In our not loving others…

1► We do not love God.

• 1 John 4:8, “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

2► We deny ourselves eternal life

• 1John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.”

In our not believing and trusting in God…

1► We crucify Him all over again.

• Mark 15:13, “And they cried out again, Crucify him.”

2► We make ourselves a slave to sinful, temporal flesh.

• 1 Peter 4:2, “That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”

 

Conclusion:

• We need God to cleanse us of our sin!
  • Romans 3:23, “We all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”
  • Psalms 51:2-3, “Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.”
• Through His love, God has provided a way for us to be saved!
  • John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
• We just need to respond to His Word, Will, and Way!!
  • We can escape the condemnation of the “Two in One” by eliminating the ONE!!!
    • Galatians 5:24, “And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.”
  • Choose the Way of Salvation!!
    • Choose God’s love
    • Choose God’s mercy
    • Choose God’s grace
    • Choose God’s redemption
    • Choose God’s reconciliation
    • Choose God’s restoration
    • Choose God’s relationship
    • Choose God’s REST!!!
    • REST … not in “Two in One”
      • REST in THREE in ONE
        • Father
        • Son
        • Holy Spirit
      • REST!!!

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