Jeremiah Two

Written and Preached in 2003.

The Book of the Prophet
Jeremiah
Chapter 2
See what God does with a nation that
rejects His words!

Boy, I am so slow to get this study up online. We are up to chapter 12 in my office, but to get that stuff typed and online just isn't happening. We are learning so much about the condition of our nation, the whys, the whyfores, the what if's, what's gonna happens, etc. etc. etc. Well let's just get going on this chapter. (Remember, these are just quick commentaries - some of which would make great bunny trails and sermons, but that will be up to you to do in your own time - or else come and sit in on our Bible studies!)

Verse 1
Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, See, there ya are again - the WORD of the LORD came to me, said Jeremiah. We are in the same position as Jeremiah - we have the WORD of the LORD in the King James Bible. It is not some 'thought' we receive - it is not some 'feeling' - it is not some 'voice' that we hear in our imagination - it is not some audible voice or visual aparition that we receive the word of the LORD - it is in the inspired and preserved King James Bible!

Verse 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.
In America's early years, this country sought after God and God's ways. Our constitution was designed after the Bible - our liberty is based on the Liberty in Christ - our laws are all designed after God's laws. America has always had it's enemies, but it's friends were true and were for righteousness as well. When America was a wilderness, the circuit riders were out there and this country wanted to hear from God.

Today? Not at all. They have gotten so far from God, that they don't even know He is gone from them.

Has this happened to you personally, as well. In your early days of salvation - were you longing to hear preaching and read that Book? Have you let the cares and riches of this world choke your Bible reading and study? Have you also faded from seeking God's ways? When you sought God in the wilderness and He brought you out, have you forgotten Him, as did the Israelites? Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel: Psalm 106:12,13

Verses 3-5 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. Hear ye the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel: 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?
Why is it that we turn away from God and His words? What did He do to us? What did He do to America that would cause them to turn their eyes and ears away from God?

Verse 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?
Do some American history and see what God brought America through to be the country it got to be! Our history is a marvelous thing to read about. I don't mean some standard public school textbooks, I mean some truthful history written by folks who don't want to 'change' our history! Beka and BJU have some good history books for young folks.

Verse 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.
Yup - America got to be a plentiful country - but it has now become an abomination to Him. Read Romans 1:21-32; II Timothy 3:1-7; 4:1-5; I Timothy 4:1-3, etc.

Verse 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.
Can it be said any better than this? America's pastors and preachers today are telling people that the Bible is NOT the Word of God; it is NOT the words of God. "Where then is His word?", they are asked? It is in the Greek, they say - the Hebrew - the hundreds of manuscripts and pieces out there. "Listen to me..." they say, "I have my degree in Bible School - I, and only I can tell you what God means to say!" According to Jeremiah, LYING WORDS that they put their people to trust in is what does not profit. Jeremiah 7:8 as well as throughout the rest of the entire book of Jeremiah!

Verses 9-11 Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the LORD, and with your children's children will I plead. For pass over the isles of Chittim, and see; and send unto Kedar, and consider diligently, and see if there be such a thing. Hath a nation changed their gods, which are yet no gods? but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit.
That is America! We are claiming our own American "GOODNESS" instead of "GODLINESS".
We have become our own god! America's glory has gone from God to good!

Verse 12,13 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD. 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. Here we are - a great object lesson.
Fountain of living waters - the word of God - the living word, etc.
Broken cisterns - new modern bible versions. They can hold no water!

What can happen to a backslider, etc.? Reject the living words of God and put their trust in these new versions that are lies, that are of the devil - and can hold NO WATER!

Verses 14-18 Is Israel a servant? is he a homeborn slave? why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him, and yelled, and they made his land waste: his cities are burned without inhabitant. Also the children of Noph and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou not procured this unto thyself, in that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God, when he led thee by the way? 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?
We have gone to Egypt for our Alexandrian bibles, we have gone to Egypt for our jungle music, we have gone to Egypt for our sports stars, we have gone to Egypt for our styles and lingo, etc., we have turned our government over to the demands of Egypt. And now, Assyria has taken center stage!

Oh, it goes on and on!

Verse 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.
We will see that America's own wicked ways will destroy America! We can see that our own ways as Christians can destroy our own local church family. We see that our own wicked ways can even destroy ourselves, amen! Thank God for His mercies, grace, faithfulness and longsuffering, amen!!!

Verse 20 For of old time I have broken thy yoke, and burst thy bands; and thou saidst, I will not transgress; when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest, playing the harlot.
Ooh, now that hurts. Called a harlot! But the truth does hurt!

Verse 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?
Again, we are reminded how this country started and what it has turned into now. God sees this nation as a degenerate plant of a strange vine!

Verse 22 For though thou wash thee with nitre, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord GOD.
We can not clean up our country. We must allow God to do it! 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. II Chronicles 7:14, but it can never happen - that isn't written to us today, contrary to what the Reconstructionists think - we have perverted, rejected and destroyed the word of God in this country! We have allowed the Catholics to overtake this country. If this country were to be saved, it would take Jeremiah 1:10 to be the base of our preaching. But THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN. Folks won't even do that in their own homes and personal lives, let alone a country deciding to do that!

Verse 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;
Yet when you talk to people, they think we are crazy with what we say. How can they not see it? Easy - they are staying out of God's Book - THAT is where we see things the way God sees them!

Verse 24 A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
What a description!! This can also be applied to so many Christians today - hey, in fact, if one were to read my study on the woman being compared to a horse in Song of Solomon 1:9, you would even see how the woman today has turned herself into that wild ass that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure. Yes, they have come a long way, baby!

Verses 25-28 Withhold thy foot from being unshod, and thy throat from thirst: but thou saidst, There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go. As the thief is ashamed when he is found, so is the house of Israel ashamed; they, their kings, their princes, and their priests, and their prophets, Saying to a stock, Thou art my father; and to a stone, Thou hast brought me forth: for they have turned their back unto me, and not their face: but in the time of their trouble they will say, Arise, and save us. But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? let them arise, if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble: for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods, O Judah.
There will come a time that many Americans - and those who thought they were Christians - they will turn to seek God. But according to Amos 8:11-13, there will be a famine. God will NOT be there to hear their cry. They will have to have faith, walk the law and not take the mark! In fact, according to Proverbs 1, God will actually laugh at their derision.

Verse 29 Wherefore will ye plead with me? ye all have transgressed against me, saith the LORD.
They will plead. Read Psalms and hear their pleas!

Verse 30 In vain have I smitten your children; they received no correction: Just like the children today, they can't even be corrected properly. It doesn't do any good anymore. your own sword hath devoured your prophets, like a destroying lion. We have actually devoured our 'leaders' & pastors with our own words! We have replaced the words of God with the words of man! America is committing suicide and Christians are doing the same.

Verses 31,32 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? Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number.
Yup -amen - Christians are redesigning Christianity today. They think they are fine - they are lords, yet the whole ecumenical thing has turned America into a land of darkness.

Verse 33 Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love? therefore hast thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.
Now there is a question to ask yourself as well as others. Why is it that we don't contend for the faith anymore? To seek love? To not lose our friends and family? Do pastors 'hold back' so that they will have enough people to come to church to pay his salary? Etc. Etc. Why do we trim our ways to seek love, anyway? This is theeeeee verse on compromise!

Verses 34,35 Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents: I have not found it by secret search, but upon all these. Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.
Boy, can't we be stubborn in our blindness. If you stay out of that KJV, you will actually begin to think you have not sinned!

Verses 36,37 Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way? thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt, as thou wast ashamed of Assyria. Yea, thou shalt go forth from him, and thine hands upon thine head: for the LORD hath rejected thy confidences, and thou shalt not prosper in them.
Our days of prosperity are going to wind down like an unwound clock! God is no longer winding us up! Pretty soon, the alarm should sound, but it won't have the strength to ring! And if it did, nobody would listen to it, anyway!
Ezekiel 33:9 Nevertheless, if thou warn the wicked of his way to turn from it; if he do not turn from his way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy soul.
Jeremiah 6:17 Also I set watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will not hearken.