By Rev. Richard Jones
“National Stupidity”
Jeremiah 2:4-13
Jeremiah 2:4-13 English Standard Version (ESV)
4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 5 Thus says the LORD:“What wrong did your fathers find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthlessness, and became worthless?
6 They did not say, ”˜Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt,
who led us in the wilderness,in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that none passes through,where no man dwells?”™
7 And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things.
But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.8 The priests did not say, ”˜Where is the LORD?”™ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
9“Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children’s children I will contend. 10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
I. IGNORANT LEADERSHIP Vs. 8
The priests did not say, ”˜Where is the LORD?”™ Those who handle the law did not know me; the shepherds transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.
Hosea 4:6 English Standard Version (ESV)
6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children.
II. INDICTING QUESTION Vs. 9-11
9“Therefore I still contend with you, declares the LORD, and with your children’s children I will contend. 10 For cross to the coasts of Cyprus and see, or send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has been such a thing.
11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.
III. IRRESPONSIBLE DEPENDENCE Vs. 12-13
12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD, 13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.
Psalm 36:7-9 English Standard Version (ESV)
7 How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. 8 They feast on the abundance of your house,
and you give them drink from the river of your delights.9 For with you is the fountain of life; in your light do we see light.
IV. INEVITABLE CONCLUSIONS
Jeremiah 5:30-31 English Standard Version (ESV)
30 An appalling and horrible thing has happened in the land:
31 the prophets prophesy falsely, and the priests rule at their direction;
my people love to have it so, but what will you do when the end comes?
Proverbs 14:12 English Standard Version (ESV)
12 There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.
V. IMMORAL AMERICA
Leviticus 18:22-25 English Standard Version (ESV)
22 You shall not lie with a male as with a woman; it is an abomination. 23 And you shall not lie with any animal and so make yourself unclean with it, neither shall any woman give herself to an animal to lie with it: it is perversion.
24 “Do not make yourselves unclean by any of these things, for by all these the nations I am driving out before you have become unclean, 25 and the land became unclean, so that I punished its iniquity, and the land vomited out its inhabitants.
Jeremiah 1:4-5 English Standard Version (ESV)
4 Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying,
5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”
Psalm 139:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
13 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. 15 My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my unformed substance;in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.
Matthew 19:4-6 English Standard Version (ESV)
4 He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, 5 and said, ”˜Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh”™? 6 So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 English Standard Version (ESV)
14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
Psalm 111:10 English Standard Version (ESV)
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
all those who practice it have a good understanding.
His praise endures forever!