The following teaching is the second of five in the series on the book of Jeremiah, presented by the Reverend John W. Howe. The title is, My People Have Committed Two Evils. I want to give you a bit more in the way of a general introduction or overview of the book of Jeremiah today, and then in the following three weeks I want to pick up some of the sub-themes and look at them a bit more closely. One of the problems that we have in dealing with the book of Jeremiah is that it's not in chronological order. You may have noticed as we looked at the first chapter last time that he very specifically dates that message.

Virtually the whole of that chapter ties into the time of his call. And when he gives the message about the boiling pot or the boiling cauldron in verse 13, That's within the context, really, of Jeremiah's call to be a prophet, and he says very specifically in the opening verses that that took place in the 13th year of the reign of Josiah, king of Judah. There are other places throughout the book where he identifies the time and the circumstances of the message.

He specifically mentions another instance in the reign of Josiah, Six different times he dates messages in the time of Jehoiakim's reign, 12 times in Zedekiah's reign, and twice in Egypt. Now the problem is that they're all intermixed with each other. They do not come in any chronological order.

And many other passages are not dated at all. Many other messages are not dated at all. And I suspect that what was going on is something like this.

Jeremiah preached these messages for a very long time, and probably some of them over and over and over. Basically the same message kind of called out to a people whose heart was hardened, and maybe that went on for years, and then Jeremiah began to write them down in a book. The problem is a book.

It's a parchment. It's a scroll. It's a huge sheet of writing material made out of the skin of a sheep or a goat and wrapped around a stick.

And so he starts writing, records a message, and maybe in recording this particular message, he thinks of another one that was similar to it, maybe given at a distance of several years. And he writes that one. And then he leaves off writing.

And when he comes back and starts to write again, it may be at a very different point in the unfolding history, but he has to pick up where he left off in terms of the parchment. You see, this was before word processors. You understand that?

I want you to look at chapter 36 with me. As if all of that weren't bad enough, I want to take a close look at a particular episode. This is 23 years after his call.

We can tell because this is one of the dated passages. In the fourth year of Jehoiakim, son of Josiah, king of Judah, the word came to Jeremiah from the Lord. Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations.

Now this may be the first time. This may be the beginning of the writing, 23 years after he began ministry. or it may be simply in addition to what was previously done.

Verse 4, And Jeremiah called Baruch the son of Neriah, and Baruch wrote upon a scroll at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the Lord which he had spoken to him. And Jeremiah ordered Baruch, saying, I am debarred from going to the house of the Lord. He was excluded.

At this point in the story, that's how totally opposed the authority was to the ministry of Jeremiah. He says, I'm debarred. I can't go and deliver this message in person, so you are to go, and on a fast day, in the hearing of all the people in the Lord's house, you shall read the words of the Lord from the scroll which you have written at my dictation.

You shall read them also in the hearing of all the men of Judah who come out of their cities. It may be that their supplication will come before the Lord, and that everyone will turn from his evil way. For great is the anger and wrath that the Lord has pronounced against the people.

so Baruch went about doing that and let me drop down to verse 14 the middle of the verse the princes sent Jehudi to say to Baruch take in your hand the scroll that you read in the hearing of the people and come so Baruch the son of Neriah took the scroll in his hand and came to them and they said to him sit down and read it Baruch read it when they heard all the words they turned one to another in fear? And they said to Baruch, we must report all these words to the king. And they asked Baruch, tell us, how did you write all these words? What is it at his dictation?

And he says, yes. The people have an initial response of real anxiety. Is it fear of the Lord, or is it fear of the authorities, or is it both?

Probably all. All of those different kinds of emotions. Verse 20, So they went into the court of the king, having put the scroll in the chamber of Elisham, the secretary, and they reported all the words to the king.

The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll, and he took it from the chamber of Elisham, the secretary, and Jehudi read it to the king and all the princes who stood beside the king. It was the ninth month, and that tells you how long it took to write this thing. Better part of a year.

And the king was sitting in the winter house, and there was a fire burning in the brazier before him. As Jehudi read three or four columns, the king would cut them off with a pen knife and throw them into the fire in the brazier. Can you get the picture of this thing?

The people, at least there's an element of fear, of I trust holy, righteous fear of an angry God when they hear all of these prophecies that have been preached now for over two decades being put together and read straight out. The people are very deeply concerned about what might come down upon them. They take it to the king, and the king sits there and, read on, read on.

Oh, that's enough. And he cuts it off and throws it in the fire. Mocking the word of God, mocking the prophet of God, mocking the anger of God.

It says, yet neither the king nor any of his servants who heard all these words was afraid, nor did they rend their garments. Some of them came and urged the king not to burn the scroll, and he wouldn't listen to them. And the king commanded Jeremiel, the king's son, and Saraiah, the son of Azrael, and so on, so on, to send to get Jeremiah and seize them, but the Lord hid them.

Well, you go on, read the rest of the chapter, and you'll see the Lord then tells Jeremiah to do the whole job all over again. And he writes the whole thing all over again and expands it. end of the chapter, Jeremiah took another scroll, gave it to Baruch the scribe, the son of Neriah, who wrote on it at the dictation of Jeremiah all the words of the scroll which Jehoiakim, king of Judah, had burned in the fire, and many similar words were added to them.

So in this little incident, you have both a picture of the hardness of heart of the king and the people around him, absolutely no repentance as they hear 23 years worth of prophecy summed up in a reading they just sit there and and virtually laugh at it you also see something of the difficulty in sorting it all out it is not written in any kind of chronological order and that's a problem we have I don't want to belabor the point I just want to call it to your attention as you as you read through the book I'm reminded of a story a very different story it sort of is the other way around A friend of mine told me a story about a school for the blind in Africa that asked that they be sent learning materials, books and so on, that could be translated, well, yes, translated, but also put into Braille. And among all the other things that were sent to them were some books of very liberal theology, you know, that denied God, that virtually mocked God, mocked the God of miracles and mock the word of God and so on. And they received these books and somebody said, well, let's burn them, let's get rid of those.

And the head of the school said, oh no, we can use those. And he took those books of mocking theology and they used those as workbooks for the blind students to punch their Braille into. So here you have things like Honest to God being punched holes in as people were studying the word of God, which in many ways he was setting himself against.

That's sort of the other way around. Here the word of God is having holes punched in it, being torn off and thrown into the fire. There's another thing that I want to call to your attention also can be confusing.

Sometimes Jeremiah uses the word Israel to refer to the whole of God's people, Israel and Judah, as I explained last time. Other times it's used just in reference to the northern kingdom. So you need to sort that out.

Look at chapter 2. When this oracle is given, verse 4, Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel, thus says the Lord. All the families of the house of Israel.

Now it's being directed primarily into the Jews who are living in Jerusalem at this time. The northern kingdom has long since departed the scene, but he's still speaking all the families of the house of Israel. But over in chapter 3, verse 6, the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, have you seen what she did, that faithless one, Israel, how she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the harlot.

And I thought after she had done all this, she will return to me, but she did not return, and her false sister Judah saw it. Now here he's using Israel to mean the northern kingdom and Judah to mean the southern, and in fact, notice what he does with that. Judah saw it.

She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one, Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce, yet her false sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the harlot. because harlotry was so light to her she polluted the land committing adultery with stone and tree yet for all this her false sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart but in pretense says the Lord and the Lord said to me faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah what a pronouncement as bad as it was in Israel for which I allowed the Assyrians to come and absolutely pillage the land, destroy the better part of the people and those who survived carried off or driven out really, driven out to intermingle with the other nations. Faithless Israel has shown herself less guilty than false Judah, partly because Judah had the example, you see.

Somebody said those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it. I had a professor in college who amended that. He said, those who cannot learn from history are doomed.

And that was the case. You can't learn from the example of what happened over your northern border. It's going to be even worse with you.

I want to call to your attention what we've just seen, the prevalent use of sexual imagery. And the reason for that is that the Lord describes his relationship with his people as that of a bridegroom to a bride and you need to keep that in mind again back in chapter two the word of the Lord came to me saying go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem thus says the Lord I remember the devotion of your youth your love as a bride how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown because the Lord describes his love for his people as that of a bridegroom toward a bride, and the people's initial response as that of a bride to the bridegroom, because that is so, then going after false gods is like committing adultery spiritually. Verse 20, chapter 2, verse 20, long ago you broke your yoke and your bonds, And you said, I will not serve, yea, and upon every high hill and under every green tree you bowed down as a harlot.

I planted you as a choice vine, holy of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine? Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, says the Lord God.

How can you say I am not defiled, I have not gone after the bales? Look at your way in the valley. Know what you have done like a restive young camel interlacing her tracks, a wild ass used to the wilderness in her heat, sniffing the wind.

Who can restrain her lust? None who seek her need weary themselves. In her month they will find her.

Keep your feet from going unshod and your throat from thirst. But you said, it is hopeless for I have loved strangers and after them I will go. I mean, not only a harlot like a wild beast, just sniffing around for any partner.

very strong imagery and I want to just comment on this the imagery of fornication of adultery and of harlotry runs all the way through this book for at least three related reasons number one faithlessness to the Lord who is our husband is therefore adultery secondly False gods, as I commented last time, involved literal physical relationships with cult prostitutes of both sexes. And thirdly, in such an atmosphere, sexual immorality ran rampant generally. I mean, you didn't even have to go down to your friendly neighborhood temple and find a prostitute.

You just went after your neighbor's wife or husband. And chapter 5, verse 7. How can I pardon you?

Your children have forsaken me and have sworn by those who are no gods. When I fed them to the full, they committed adultery, literally, see, and trooped to the houses of harlots. They were well-fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for his neighbor's wife.

Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this? That's not a pleasant theme, but I would just make the comment that I think we ought to bear that in mind as the various discussions, even within the church, come and go about what is and what is not appropriate for Christian sexual relationships.

Bear in mind that behind all of the human discussion of that subject, there is the reality in both the Old Testament and the New of God embracing his people, and he uses the terminology of sexual physical love. God is the bridegroom of Israel. Jesus is the bridegroom of the church.

And the sanctity of our human sexuality is in large part because it's a reflection, A very poor, dim, broken reflection, but nevertheless a reflection literally made in the image of God of the relationship between God and his people. So as we get into these very difficult discussions of changing mores in society, bear in mind what's behind it. And because God has related himself to his people as a bridegroom to a bride, that makes a claim upon all of our sexual relations.

Faithlessness to the Lord is a kind of an adultery. The worship of false gods involved literal adultery, and in such an atmosphere, sexual immorality ran rampant. I don't know if you see any relevance there, but I think it's with us today.

In chapter 2, verse 13, I want to just kind of draw our attention to this phrase. If I were giving a title to today's talk, it would be this. My people have committed two evils.

Two evils. Number one, they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. and number two they have hewed out cisterns for themselves what's a cistern?

yeah, a big barrel it holds water it's not living water it's not moving water it's not running water it's just dead water it just sits there in the cistern it's a holding bucket but these are broken cisterns they don't even hold the water my people have committed two evils forsaken me and I am a fountain of living water interesting that Jesus picks up that very same phrase and and uses it of himself doesn't he says to the woman at the well if you knew who it was that you were speaking to you would have asked of him and he would have given you living water so that you'd never thirst again and then three chapters later he says in a more general way if anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. As the scripture has said, he who believes in me out of his heart or innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. Belief in Jesus puts new life inside of us and it becomes a source, a fountain of living water. My people have forsaken that, says God.

They've forsaken me. And in place of me, they have hewed out for themselves their own cisterns, their own little holding pots, the Baals, the Molochs, the Asherah, the Ashtaroth, the various deities. Only they're not only dead, they're broken.

Two evils. Forsaking the Lord is one thing. Bad enough.

Turning to other gods is a yet deeper grievance. And when he speaks of his people seeking to drink from the Nile, later in the chapter, verse 18, what do you gain by going down to Egypt to drink the waters of the Nile? What do you gain by going to Assyria to drink the waters of the Euphrates?

That same imagery is there. I think he's speaking both in terms of the gods of Egypt and the gods of Assyria, as well as the alliances that they were making. The Lord had said repeatedly, trust me, trust me, and I will protect you.

Now they're increasingly reaching out in political and military alliances as well as incorporating into their own life the worship of the gods of these other nations. Let's take a quick look at chapter five. Just some highlights.

This is a very rich chapter and And most of the major themes of the book are here in passing. Chapter 5, verse 1. Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem.

Look and take notes. Search your squares to see if you can find one man who does justice and seeks truth that I may pardon her. Remember Abraham's argument with God over Sodom and Gomorrah?

Interesting argument, you know. If I find 50 righteous men, will you spare the city? Sure.

How about 40? Sure. 30, 20, 10.

For 10 righteous people, I would spare the city. He can't find even 10. Finds Lot and his wife and their daughters.

They're kind of questionable. God says, run to and fro and see if you can find one. Can't find one.

Look at verse 4. Then I said, These are only the poor. They have no sense.

They do not know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. I will go to the great and will speak to them, for they know the way of the Lord, the law of their God. But they all alike had broken the yoke.

They had burst the bonds. Neither the common people nor their leaders. I already looked with you at verses 7 and 8, this general sexual promiscuity and immorality even among the married.

Verse 12, they have spoken falsely of the Lord and have said, He will do nothing, no evil will come upon us, nor shall we see sword or famine. Scoffing at the call to repentance, a kind of a blind trust that nothing could happen to them. Verses 26 to 28, for wicked men are found among my people.

They lurk like fowlers lying in wait. They set the trap. They catch men.

Like a basket full of birds, their houses are full of treachery. Therefore they have become great and rich. They have grown fat and sleek.

They know no bounds and deeds of wickedness. They judge not with justice. The cause of the fatherless to make it prosper.

And they do not defend the rights of the needy. Shall I not punish them for these things, says the Lord? Shall I not avenge myself on a nation such as this?

There's not only wholesale corruption at every level, but there evidently is complete satisfaction with it. And God says, I must deal with it. And in the midst of all this, Jeremiah is this lonely voice, one voice speaking out, and he is surrounded by other voices to the contrary, false prophets.

Let me skip over to chapter 23 and just pick up a representative passage. chapter 23 it's very much worth reading the whole chapter but let me start with verse 9 concerning the prophets my heart is broken within me all my bones shake I'm like a drunken man like a man overcome by wine because of the Lord and because of his holy words for the land is full of adulterers because of the curse the land mourns the pastures of the wilderness are dried up their course is evil and their might is not right both the prophet and priest are ungodly even in my house I have found their wickedness says the Lord even in my temple in other words even right there in the temple of God are prophets and priests who are speaking exactly the opposite of the mind of of the Lord therefore their way shall be to them like slippery paths in the darkness into which they shall be driven and fall for I will bring evil upon them in the year of their of their punishment, says the Lord. And drop down to verse 18.

Well, let's take verse 16. Thus says the Lord of hosts, do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord.

They say continually to those who despise the word of the Lord, it shall be well with you. And to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, no evil shall come upon you. For who among them has stood in the counsel of the Lord to perceive and to hear his word?

Or who has given heed to his word and listened? Behold the storm of the Lord. Wrath has gone forth, a whirling tempest.

It will burst upon the head of the wicked. The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he has executed and accomplished the intents of his mind. In the latter days, you will understand it clearly.

I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied. If they had stood in my counsel, then they would have proclaimed my words to my people, and they would have turned them from their evil way and from the evil of their doings.

I've run out of time. I've got two more pages to go. Let me show you one more thing, and then we'll quit.

Chapter 8. The sorrow of Jeremiah. I said to you last time, he takes no pleasure in announcing this message of wrath.

In chapter 8, verse 18, my grief is beyond healing. my heart is sick within me hark the cry of the daughter of my people from the length and breadth of the land is the Lord not in Zion is her king not in her why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images and with their foreign idols the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved for the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded I mourn and dismay has taken hold on me is there no bomb in Gilead is there no physician there why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored oh that my head were waters and my eyes a fountain of tears that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people oh that I had in the desert a wayfarer's lodging place that I might leave my people and go away from them for they all are adulterers a company of treacherous men they bend their tongue like a bow falsehood and not truth has grown strong in the land for they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not know me, says the Lord. The sadness of God himself is shared and reflected in the broken heart of Jeremiah.

And he goes on with that all the way through. He weeps, he laments, and he pleads, he implores the people, he threatens them, and it's in vain. And that continues all the way to the end of the book and to the fulfillment of these prophecies.

I've got to do one more thing. Chapter 13. I'll just skip over this real quickly.

The Lord tells him to go and buy a linen, sort of like a skirt, a waist cloth, and wear it for a while, and then he tells him to put it away, Verse 4, hide it in a cleft of the rock, and he leaves it there for a period, and then God tells him to go and get it out again. Verse 7, I went to the Euphrates, I dug, I took the waste cloth from the place where I had hidden it, and behold, the waste cloth was spoiled. It was good for nothing.

Then the word of the Lord came to me, thus says the Lord, even so will I spoil the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. Verse 11, for as the waste cloth clings to the loins of a man, and so I made the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah cling to me, says the Lord, that they might be for me a people, a name, a praise, and a glory. But they would not listen.

This is one of many instances in the book where Jeremiah is not only to speak the message, but in essence to act it out, to become a living parable. And he takes this waist cloth and allows it to become rotten. It's ragged and dirty and filthy and rotten, and now he's got to wear it.

as a symbol that the Lord himself, who was wearing as a glorious covering, his people, Israel, Judah, is now covered with shame, as they too have become spoiled. He hides it in a cleft of the rock. It's probably a cave, which has come to be known as Jeremiah's grotto.

And just a little footnote on that, Jeremiah's grotto is in a place that some believe is right beneath the site of the crucifixion of Jesus. The traditional site, of course, is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But a British general named Gordon proposed this other site, a cliff that looks from some angles like a skull, and he said, that's the place of the skull.

If he's right. If he's right. then one of the places where Jeremiah went to retreat into his grotto, into this cave, to weep and lament over Jerusalem was just beneath the place where another who wept over Jerusalem died for his people, for you and me.

Let's pray together. Lord, these are hard words, a sad and an ugly and a disturbing picture. And we can see some parallels to our own day and our own situation, and we pray, Lord, that those words which you speak to us from the Scripture and as you anoint prophets in this our generation, that you will give us hearts eager to respond, quick to seek your face, ready to repent, eager to obey.

We ask you, Lord, to turn our hearts again and spare us for your namesake. Amen. Amen.