Jeremiah 2:11-13 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.

The Serpent Entices Us To Trade Value For Vanity

Illustrate: Before the service, make up some slips of paper with $100 on it. When starting the service, use these slips to make the sermon point: “Do you remember that old game show ‘Let’s Make A Deal’. During the original show Monty Hall would entice people, giving them something to start, and then tempting them to switch what they had – the thing with obvious value – for something hidden under a box or behind a curtain. Do you remember? Well, let’s play ‘Let’s Make A Deal’. Does anyone have a $10 bill? If you do, hold it up. Now, I hold in my hand what I “believe” to be a hundred dollar bill. I “feel” that it’s a hundred dollar bill. I “identify” this as a hundred dollar bill. Who would like to make a little money today? If you’ll give me that ten dollar bill, I’ll give you this note that I “believe – feel – identify” to be a hundred dollars. That’s a deal! Let’s make a deal!”

Only the foolish would exchange their real money for this slip of paper I have in my hand. And yet, this is what humans have done from the beginning of creation. When God put Adam in the Garden of Eden,

God gave Adam a garden that needed no weeding, a wife that needed no clothing, and an animal kingdom that was under his direction. God gave Adam the greatest thing of all. Adam had a personal relationship with his Creator.

But God told Adam:

Genesis 2:16-17 And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: 17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Adam had everything. Most especially, Adam was God’s Child by creation. Adam represented God on the earth. If God is King (and He is), Adam was the Prince. Adam named the animals (Genesis 2:19-20), and Adam and Eve were told:

Genesis 1:28-29 … Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

Adam and Eve were given rule over all the earth. “They were both naked … and were not ashamed” (Genesis 2:25). They were stewards of all creation in God’s stead. What happened? The Serpent (a picture of Satan – see Revelation 12:9 & 20:2) came into Eden and, like Monty Hall, offered Adam something in place of what he already had. Adam took the bait. He switched a ten dollar bill for a figment of his imagination hundred dollar bill. Adam didn’t just lose Eden. Adam didn’t just lose the world. Adam lost his relationship with God. Adam traded his relationship with God for something worthless.

We repeat this pattern over and over.

In the Book of Jeremiah, the Prophet is speaking to a nation (Israel), warning them that destruction is coming. Last time we were in this Book, we were in chapter one. There God gave Jeremiah two visions. He had the vision of:

Jeremiah 1:11 … a rod of an almond tree

This symbolized that God was watching His people, and would “hasten My Word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12). What God promises, He does. When Adam ate that which was forbidden, Adam immediately died – that is – lost his relationship with his Creator. This was what God promised. This is what God would do. God will bring a rod to His people if they will not repent. The second vision God gives Jeremiah is:

Jeremiah 1:13 … a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.

A whistling tea kettle is pointing northward. God will use the nations of Babylon and Assyria to punish His people for refusing to repent. God said that – using these nations:

Jeremiah 1:16 I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshiped the works of their own hands.

Punishment will come to God’s people. God is not speaking to the lost. God is not warning the lost. God is warning His people. God is not addressing the lost. He said:

Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

He is comparing His nation, His people to the other nations of the world. The other nations, the nations filled with lost people, do not change their gods, though their gods are but idols, the creation of their hands.

The lost have always created gods to follow after.

The lost followers of Moloch and Baal do not trade in their gods, but sacrifice to them. The lost followers of the gods of evolution, abortion {so called “women’s reproductive rights”}, of wokeness will not change their gods. An article by Michael Vlahos published in Humanitas (volume XXXIV Nos 1-2 2021) states:

“What does it mean to be woke? First and foremost, “woke” is a religious signal that you have heard the Good News and Seen the Light. Awakening means both witnessing revealed truth and experiencing spiritual transformation. Today this has taken the form of a collective enunciation: Of a new national church, reformed and transformed, to replace the original American sect, which is wicked and corrupted. … In simple, practical terms, the Church of Woke is pledged to the destruction of Racism, Patriarchy, and Heteronormativity.”

This darkness has crept into churches all across America. Certainly as believers in Christ we do not affirm racism. We believe that “God is love” (1 John 4:7-8) does not just apply to one race, but to all peoples regardless of color. Jesus said:

John 3:16-17 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. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.

Jesus came and gave His life to us regardless as to race. Racism is a direct contradiction to the Gospel. But what of what wokeism calls “Patriarchy, and Heteronormativity”? The Bible is clearly patriarchal.

God is called Father, not Mother.
The first created & commanded was Adam, not Eve.
Sin entered the world because of Adam’s disobedience – not Eve’s.
Romans 5:12 .. by one MAN sin entered the world, and death by sin
The FATHER of faith is a MAN (Romans 4:11-12, 16)
Sin’s solution was that one Man had to die for the sinner.
Romans 5:19 .. by the obedience of JESUS shall many be made right
The MAN is to lead in the marriage (Ephesians 5:22-24)
The MAN is to lead in the Church (1 Timothy 3:2, 12)

The Bible is not only patriarchal, but it is Heteronormative. The Church’s Founder Jesus Christ affirmed proper sexuality by quoting the Bible (Genesis 1:27):

Matthew 19:4-6 {Jesus} answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, 5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? 6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

What was God’s design in creation? What does the Scripture – and Jesus – say? God made them “male and female”. God designed humanity from this template. There are but TWO GENDERS according to Scripture. The “man … shall cleave to his wife”. The male has the pronoun “his”. The sexuality is Heteronormative. The god of wokism says this is not true – but God in His Word affirms it to be true.

Unbelievers will not leave their false gods. They stick to the darkness. But God says:

Jeremiah 2:11 … but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.

God’s people are facing destruction in Jeremiah’s day because they have “changed their glory for that which doth not profit”. What is the “glory” of the Kingdom of God? It is God Himself. God never allowed His Old Testament people to make a statue or an idol to bow down to. He commanded His people:

Exodus 20:2-5 I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

The lost world could make idols to bow down to, man made things to worship, but not God’s people. God was the glory of His people. God did direct His Old Covenant people to make something called “The Ark of the Covenant”. This “Ark” was a box that held the Ten Commandments, some Manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded” (Hebrews 9:4). These three things symbolize the truth that God’s people are given – because of God – His Word, His Sustenance, and His Life. The Ark, a box made of acacia wood overlaid with gold, had for it’s lid a “Mercy Seat”, an altar where blood was sprinkled once a year to cover the sins of God’s people. This Mercy Seat was the only place in the world where sin could be covered or atoned for in the sight of God (see Leviticus 16).

The Ark of the Covenant represented the person of God. Specifically, the Ark of the Covenant represented the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who came to save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).

The Prophet Simeon said of Jesus:

Luke 2:30-32 mine eyes have seen thy salvation, 31 Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; 32 A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

Jesus is the “glory” of God’s people. God became Man …

John 1:14 … and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

C.H. Spurgeon preached:

“Now, the true Israel, which are spiritually the church of Christ, are said, according to the text, to be the Lord’s people. “The glory of thy people Israel.” Briefly let me remind you, my fellow believers, of the ties which make us the Lord’s. Are we not his tonight by his eternal choice? “You only have I known of all the nations of the earth.” The eternal Father has selected us from amongst the ruins of the fall, and given us into the hands of Christ that we may be his portion, his bride, his jewels, “according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” We are Christ’s next by redemption. He has redeemed us from among men by a special and particular redemption which is peculiar to ourselves. A price has been paid for us, an effectual price, which will not permit for a moment that the objects so purchased shall ever be lost. “Ye are not your own, ye are bought with a price.” The saints are redeemed from among men. Thus are you Christ’s by double bonds — the gift of the Father, the purchase of his own blood. The Father gave you to Jesus, and none shall pluck you out of his almighty hands. You are his, too, this night by conquest. You admit it. He has struggled with your sins and overcome them. The Spirit of the living God has taken you, as it were, like a lamb from the jaws of the lion. You were led captives by the devil, but Christ met the devil and overcame him in terrific duel, and you, the once willing captives of the powers of darkness, are now Christ’s portion made free and blessed. You are now the possession of your Conqueror, for he took you out of the hand of the enemy with his sword and with his bow. You belong to Christ as the spoil which he has won from death and hell.”

Jesus Christ is the glory of God’s Kingdom.
Jesus Christ is the Glory of His people.

As the Ark had the Ten Commandments, we who are in God’s Kingdom through Christ have His Commandments.

• We have the Bible that Jesus affirmed. Jesus frequently referred to the Old Testament Scriptures by saying “It is WRITTEN” (Matthew 4:4, 6-7, 10; Matthew 21:13; Matthew 26:24, 31; Mark 7:6; 9:12-13; 14:21; Luke 7:27; 19:46; et al.)
• We have the writings of the Apostles that Jesus APPOINTED. Of the Church we are told:

Ephesians 2:19-22 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20 And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21 In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22 In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.

The foundation that the Kingdom of God is built upon is not man made doctrines, but the writings of the Apostles and Prophets, with Jesus Christ Himself the Chief Cornerstone. We obey His command. Jesus said:

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

What are Christ’s commandments? They are in this Book. One of His Chief Commandments is:

John 15:12-14 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. 13 Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. 14 Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.

We are commanded of God to love God FIRST and FOREMOST, but to love one another SACRIFICIALLY as Jesus SACRIFICIALLY loved us.

As the Ark had Aaron’s Rod that budded, we who are Christ’s by faith have eternal life. Those who possess eternal life are to keep God’s commandments (Matthew 19:18-21) while following Jesus. We are to walk with God. Period.

Heaven Shudders At The Evil We Lightly Pursue

Jeremiah 2:12-13 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.

God will bring judgment on His people – His Kingdom – if they walk away from a RIGHT relationship with Him. Israel did this in the Old Testament. The Church throughout America is doing this in the New Testament.

We are to do everything we do FOR GOD.
We are to do everything we do FOR JESUS.
We are to do everything we do in THE SPIRIT’S POWER.
We are to do all that we do FOR GOD’S GLORY.

Israel forgot this. To those who are saved,

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.

Christians, we do not belong to ourselves. We belong to God. Everything we visibly do should be for the intent of glorifying our Owner. God told Pharaoh:

Exodus 5:1 … Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness.

Exodus 7:16 (& Exodus 8:1) … Let my people go, that they may serve me in the wilderness

That which God has purchased is to glorify God. We live to serve God, not ourselves. If we wish to be blessed, we are to seek to serve God FIRST. What did Jesus say?

Matthew 6:33 … seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Seek FIRST God’s Kingdom. Seek FIRST His glory. Seek first to DO what God has said to do. Seek FIRST to “hear Jesus’ sayings, and DO them” (Matthew 7:24-25). This is where the blessing is.

When we turn away from God’s Word, from what He has said and recorded for our benefit, we commit “two evils”. By our actions we say that God’s Word is not true to us, and by our actions we believe we can make a better way than God has. This is arrogant. God says that our efforts apart from His Word are, “broken cisterns, that can hold no water”. A “cistern” is a man made hole put in the ground or in the rock meant to catch rainwater run off. It may satisfy for a moment – but in time it drains out, and you are thirsty once more.

What does God promise the believer in Christ? He promises righteousness and peace. The Psalmist said:

Psalm 85:7-10 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. 8 I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly. 9 Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. 10 Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other.

Righteousness – true righteousness – is a gift from God. Your righteousness is imputed or credited to your spiritual account because of what God did for you on Calvary. Once you grasp and rest in this salvation, you are freed from the world just as Israel was freed from Egypt. You are not freed to satisfy yourself, but you are free to love God, and love one another as Christ has loved us. We live to please our Lord.

Romans 5:1 … being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ

We live our lives FOR JESUS. Jesus said:

Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

We are – those of us who have received Jesus as Savior – UNDER CHRIST’S COMMAND. We are under His YOKE. We do as Jesus directs. We follow Jesus. We love Jesus. We TEACH OUR CHILDREN TO LOVE JESUS.

Illustrate: A little girl was on her lunch break, and reading her Bible. One of her friends came up. “What are you reading?” her friend asked. “My Bible”. Her friend asked, “Why are you reading the Bible? Isn’t that boring?” The little girl said, “I’ve loved reading the Bible since I found my name in it”. Her friend said, “You found your name in it? Where?” The little girl read:

1 Timothy 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners …

She said, “There’s my name – ‘sinners’. If you are not ‘sinners’, I certainly am! And Jesus came to save me!”

We are all born flawed, broken. But God came into the world to redeem whosoever would heed His call. Once we heed His call, we cling to Jesus day and night. We do not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1), but hold on to Jesus as He holds on to us. We do not trade the gift of God – His Person – for our temporal pleasures and for our selfishness. Salvation is a process.

You are SAVED when you call upon the name of Jesus.
You are DAILY SAVED as you continue to seek Christ’s face.
You are ULTIMATELY SAVED if your faith overcomes in Him.

Revelation 3:5 He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

Do you belong to God? Do you belong to Christ’s Kingdom? If not, today is the day of salvation. Call upon Jesus Christ, believing He gave Himself for you, and you shall be saved. “For whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Acts 2:21). May God touch your hearts with His Word. Amen and Amen.