We thank God for the suffering, death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we ought to exalt to be our personal Lord, Christ, King and Saviour. Today, we shall continue to meditate on God's Word from Jeremiah chapter 2, reminding us not to forsake the LORD, the Fountain of living waters.
Due to human sinful, deceitful, rebellious, wicked nature, unbelievers publicly and openly forsake the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. However, many profess that they believe, love, worship and serve the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, whereas they are forsaking Him as their Fountain of living waters unawares! They do not think that they publicly and openly deny the Lord nor forsake Him, nor do any evil before His sight. However, God's Word says, "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" (Jeremiah 2:13). What about us? We may be on the way of backsliding unawares!
1. Forsaking the First Love for the Lord (like the church in Ephesus – Rev 2:4)
Jeremiah 2:2 Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown... 5 Thus saith the LORD, What iniquity have your fathers found in me, that they are gone far from me, and have walked after vanity, and are become vain?... 31 O generation, see ye the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness unto Israel? a land of darkness? wherefore say my people, We are lords; we will come no more unto thee? 32 Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
Here we see that the LORD still remembers the first love and kindness that His people had for Him when He used Moses to bring them out of the house of bondage in Egypt. Then went after Him through His guidance with the pillar of the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night in the wilderness. God loved them, took care of them, guided them, and protected them. However, they gradually lost their first love unawares. They were gone far from the Lord and walked after vanity, even idolatry. They did not want of come unto the Lord anymore. The Lord was not in their heart and mind. A bride cannot forget her wedding ornaments or wedding attire, but they forgot their Lord days without number! What about us? The days when we were saved and delivered from the bondage of sins, worldliness and Satan to walk after the Lord with our first love and zeal, but gradually we may leave our first love for the Lord unawares like the church in Ephesus, "Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love" (Rev 2:4)!
2. Forsaking Holiness and Separation unto the Lord (like the churches in Pergamos and Thyatira – Rev 2:14, 20)
Jeremiah 2:3 Israel was holiness unto the LORD, and the firstfruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them, saith the LORD...22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD. 23 How canst thou say, I am not polluted, I have not gone after Baalim? see thy way in the valley, know what thou hast done: thou art a swift dromedary traversing her ways;...29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
The Lord our God is holy, and He called His people out of the world to belong to Him alone. They ought to be holy, separated, dedicated and sanctified unto Him alone. He first called Abraham and then He gave them the increase from Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve sons, the twelve tribes to a mighty kingdom under king David and king Solomon! They were like "the firstfruits of His increase". God protected them from their enemies around. Sadly, in his old age, king Solomon was backsliding due to heathen wives and their idolatry, provoking the holy Lord to anger. Then the kingdom split into two. The northern kingdom Israel totally turned to idolatry and was taken in captivity to Assyria. The southern kingdom Judah did not learn the lesson from God's righteous chastisement upon Israel, but they also turned to idolatry despite the efforts of some good kings like Hezekiel and Josiah. The Lord has called His Church out of the world, so that they belong to Him alone. Sadly, many churches are compromising and unholy like the churches in Pergamos and Thyatira (Rev 2:14, 20). What about us? Are we still separated, dedicated and sanctified unto the Lord?
3. Forsaking God's Word
Jeremiah 2:4 Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel:
Jeremiah 7: 24 But they hearkened not, nor inclined their ear, but walked in the counsels and in the imagination of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
Proverbs 4:2 For I give you good doctrine, forsake ye not my law.
God sent His prophets to warn, rebuke, comfort, and call His people back in repentance, but they forsook God's Word through true prophets. They hardened their hearts, listened to false prophets, and went backward in sins and idolatry. What about us? God looks to "him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word" (Isaiah 66:2).
4. Forsaking Gratitude to the Lord
Jeremiah 2:6 Neither said they, Where is the LORD that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed through, and where no man dwelt? 7 And I brought you into a plentiful country, to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof; but when ye entered, ye defiled my land, and made mine heritage an abomination.
God delivered His people from their slavery in Egypt, appeared to them on Mount Sinai with His oral commandments and then given them His written commandments on two stone tablets. For 40 years, He took good care of them, provided all their needs, delivered them from the enemies in the wilderness, etc. Then He brought them into the Promised Land of milk and honey. However, they forgot what God had done unto them and blessed them, and defiled the Land with their sins and idolatry! What about us? Do we always remember and give thanks to God for what God has done for us in Christ to save us, guide us, take care of us, provide all our needs, protect us from harm and danger, and so forth?
5. Forsaking the True Worship without the Fear of God
Jeremiah 2:11 Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their gloryfor that which doth not profit... 19 Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee: know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord GOD of hosts.
Sometimes we can see some individuals of Moslem, Hindu, or Buddhist countries are converted to other religions, even to Christianity by God's election of grace, but we have never seen the whole nation change their gods, who are not the living and true gods! However, God said, "my people have changed their glory." They did not acknowledge that Jehovah their God is their living and true God and their Glory, so they forsook the LORD (Jehovah) their God without God's fear in them! When we highly value and love someone or something above God, that person or that thing becomes an idol! Many professing Christian churches nowadays have changed their "Glory" unawares for that which do not profit. They are willing to sacrifice God's holy presence and Truth for the sake of the church growth in size and number. They are compromising and do not care about whether God is pleased with their ungodly lives, worldly worship with idolatry, contemporary music, fake gifts of speaking in tongues and healing, unbiblical doctrines, and so forth! They have forsaken the true worship when "true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" (John 4:23). Many others set their self-will, self-love, self-image, self-glory, personal career and interest, materialism, entertainments, hobbies, and worldly pleasures above God and His Truth! What about us?
6. Forsaking God's Chastisement – without Repentance
Jeremiah 2:30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion.
Jeremiah 5:3 O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
Out of love God chastises His people so that they may return to Him in repentance. However, here the people of Judah refused to receive correction and refused to return to Him! We are living in the end times, natural disasters and pestilences are God's chastisements and judgements upon this sinful and ungodly world, but they do not see God's chastisement and correction, but blame for "the climate change" without repentance! What about us?
7. Forsaking the LORD, the Triune God, the Fountain of Living Waters, to Be Independent from the LORD
Jeremiah 2:8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit...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...17 Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way? 18 And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?
The LORD, the Triune God, the Creator, is the Fountain of living waters, the true and eternal Source of life, Truth, holiness, righteousness, glory, love, grace, salvation, deliverance, victory, power, strength, wisdom, peace, joy, happiness, and many blessings. When God the Father gave mankind His only begotten Son Jesus Christ, He has given all in His Son, "He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" (Romans 8:32). God does not grant us spiritual life and blessings as separate gifts, "And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. 12 He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life " (1 John 5:11-12). God's Fountain of living waters is the Holy Spirit, "He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)" (John 7:38-39). After the Lord Jesus was glorified through His resurrection and ascension, "and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear" (Acts 2:33). Thus, to enjoy the Fountain of living waters, we must be attached to the Lord Jesus as the branches to the Vine, and then the Fountain of living waters from the Vine will flow to the branches to produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Gal 5:22-23). That is a constant reliance on the Lord Jesus Christ. Sadly, many are not humble enough to rely on the Lord Jesus, so they "hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." They will be disappointed and ashamed when their life does not produce the fruit of the Holy Spirit but strange and evil works of the flesh, "...Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, 20 Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, 21 Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings..." (Gal 5:19-21) like the leaders of Judah (the priests, scribes, pastors, false prophets):
Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, wholly a right seed: how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?
Seeing the increasing power and conquer of the Babylonian Empire, Judah did not humbly and wisely trust in their LORD of hosts, the Fountain of living waters, but "hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water." They turned to worldly powers and resources (to drink water of Sihoh, a branch of the Nile River in Egypt and other rivers in Assyria), and they were disappointed and ashamed because God destroyed their confidence (Jeremiah 2:36-37).
May God transform us to be like our Saviour Jesus Christ, who always honours, loves, obeys, trusts in and relies on His Father (John 5:19, 30; 15:5; Phil 2:8). May the Lord help us know more about Him, highly value and appreciate Him and His Word above all, constantly trust in and rely on Him as the branches on the Vine as without Him we have no Fountain of living waters to bear good fruit of the Holy Spirit (John 15:5; Gal 5:22-23). May God graciously help us! Amen. HN.
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