Ron Dunn Podcast - The Sin That Shocks Heaven

Episode Date: July 22, 2020

Ron Dunn brings a message on Sin

Open your Bibles tonight to the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, the book of Jeremiah chapter 2, and I want to read verses 9 through 13. Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 9 through 13. 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 Kedom and see, 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. Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Literally he's saying, let your hair stand on end and be struck dumb at the sight of this. Be you very desolate, saith the Lord, for because 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. Now, will everybody agree with me tonight that I'm holding in my hand a book. It's not the Bible, but it's a book. Everybody agree with that? I'm holding in my hand a book. Now, let me carry that a little further. I'm holding in my hand one of the best books ever written. Everybody agree with that?

Oh, what, what, what, what, what? Well, now you agreed with my first statement. Why are you not agreeing with the second one? Don't know what the book is. Haven't read it yet, have you? It's interesting. If I were to say to you, here's a preacher, and you heard him preach, or you saw that he preached, you'd say, you, here's a preacher, and you heard him preach, or you saw that he preached,

you'd say, yes, that's a preacher. But if I were to say he's one of the greatest preachers that ever lived, I don'tous about it. The more important an issue becomes, the more difficult is the decision to embrace it. Now, what Jeremiah is doing in this passage that we've read tonight is a very interesting thing. He is contrasting the faithfulness of the heathen to their gods, which are not really gods. He's contrasting their faithfulness to that which is no God, to the unfaithfulness of Israel, to the true God. And of course, the question is, why is this? Why are the

heathen more faithful to their gods than Israel has been to the true God? Why is it that the world seems to be more faithful to its worldliness than most of us are faithful to our godliness? There are very few church members that are as faithful to the church and to the Lord as the world is faithful to its principles and its values. Why is that? Well, the less important the issue, the easier it is to adhere to it. Now, let me illustrate it another way. I've been watching the presidential primaries. Haven't they been interesting?

I love it when these political pundits have to eat their words. Anyway, it's interesting. Why in the world they're running for president I don't have any idea I think a man who wants to be president deserves it I mean what do these guys need they need a job they ought to work I wouldn't put my life under that scrutiny, would you? A man of fame and renown has a harder time living in this world than an obscure person. A man with convictions has a harder time in this world than a person who doesn't have any convictions. See that?

So here comes a heathen, and he's got his God, which is not really a God because it's the fancy of his imagination, and if there's something about that God he doesn't like, well, he can just reshape it. And it's a God made in his own image. Easy to be faithful to that kind of God. Oh, it's a God, you know, we give him a name, but we don't know what he means or who he is or what he wants of us or anything. You know, we just, you know. But if I come to you and tell you that there is only one God and a true God and he must be worshipped in spirit and in truth

and demands your absolute submission and surrender and obedience to his commands, you're not going to jump on that one as quickly as you are on the other one. You see, the very simple reason that the heathen are more faithful to their non-gods than the people were to their own true God is because the issue is far more important when it comes to the true God. We've got a greater decision to make when it comes to the true God. Easier to be a heathen. You don't have to believe anything actually. You don't have to commit yourself to anything. But when you call for a commitment to the true God, to worship Him as He demands to be worshiped, and to live in holiness and consecration before him, that's another matter altogether, you see, which brings me to my subject, and I'm sure you're glad I'm

getting there. He says, Has a nation changed their gods, which are no gods, but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. Be astonished, O you heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be you very desolate, saith the Lord, for my people have committed two evils. They, unlike the heathen,

have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters. And the second thing they have done, they have hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. You know what startles heaven? You know what amazes heaven? Is that we who know God will reject Him and forsake Him and go after different idols, different gods, which are no gods. He's the fountain of living waters, and here I am living in an arid desert, and so there's this fountain of living water spewing up all of this fresh spring, life-giving water, and I'm over here, and it was usually limestone, I'm over here with a pick trying to hew out a bucket or hew out a cistern out of this hard rock. And I'm going to wait for some rain.

Well, I've got to plaster that because limestone has a tendency to crack, so I've got to make sure I plaster that so that when it does rain, it'll hold water. Oops, that's come loose again. Get some more plaster. Come loose again. Go through a drought.

Man, I'm thirsty. I'm dying. And I run to my cistern, and it's all leaked out. And over here is a springing fountain of water. And somebody says, what in the world are you doing? I mean, right over here, you've got a fountain of living water springing up. It doesn't require any work or any effort. All you have to do is go over there and stick your face in it and open your mouth

and you'll have all you want. And you're over here hewing out, digging out of rock some cistern, hoping that it'll rain and hold so that you can get water on a thirsty day. Now, why in the world has anybody ever seen anything like that? I want you to consider with me tonight two things. Number one, I want you to consider with me the singular sinfulness of rejecting God. I use the word singular purposely because he's saying it's never been done. He says, you go as far east as you can go, and you go as far as west as you can go, and that's the idea behind the two places, Chetum and Kedar. You go as far to the west as you can go, you go as far as to the east you can go,

and you examine all the heathen nations, and have you ever seen such a thing, that a heathen nation, that a people will forsake their God? Well, there's never been anything like this. This is unbelievable. Well, when the heavens see it, its hair stands on end, and it's struck dumb. It just can't speak. It's unbelievable. It's a singular sin. What has happened? What has come over my people that they have forsaken me, the living waters,

the fountain of living waters, and have hewed out cisterns out of stone? The singular sinfulness of rejecting God. And the sinfulness is seen in two things. Number one, because it's so unreasonable. I mean, absolutely unreasonable. Oh, let me show you something. I wonder if you caught this.

He says in verse 11, Hath a nation changed their gods, which are not yet gods, but my people have changed their god for that which doth not profit? If you're following along, I read that wrong, didn't I? He doesn't say they've changed their gods and you've changed your god. He says they've changed their gods and you've changed your God. He says they've changed their gods and you've changed your glory. The word really is exchanged. Your glory for that which amounts to nothing. Here are a people who have glory. Their glory is their God. The only glory they have and the only worth they have

and the magnificence that they have is in the fact they possess the true and living God. And they've done an unreasonable thing. Here is something that is not worth anything at all. It's a God, but it's not a God. It's not worth anything. And these people have come, and they've taken the most valuable possession of their life, their glory, that which weighs and values most in their

life, and they have exchanged it for that which is nothing at all. You know, when I was a young boy, little boy, I never knew how to make friends, and I'm really still not too good at it. And I, like a lot of people, I had all sorts of insecurities. And I wanted people to like me. And you know what I used to do? I used to gather up my thing, I mean toys and things like baseball glove and baseball bat and balls and things like that. I'd gather them up and I'd have a sale in my backyard for all my friends. Now, you know what the price was for those things? Bottle caps.

It's bottle caps. Pop bottle caps. Pepsi. I see. Vess. Upper 10. Remember any of those? You know, I think about it on that, how stupid I was.

I mean, I was giving away good stuff, folks, for that which was worth absolutely nothing. That's stupid. As a kid, didn't know any better. And he's saying, this is exactly what my people have done. They've done the most unreasonable thing you can ever imagine. They've taken that which is of great glory, that which is of great value, that which is of great weight in their lives, and they have exchanged it for that for a bottle cap. Worth nothing. I want you to go back to verse 6, and he makes an illuminating statement. Or verse 5, he says,

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. Literally, they have walked after nothingness, and they have become nothing. They have walked after emptiness,

and they have become empty. And most sociologists and psychologists will tell you today that the problem of so many young people and young adults is because of the emptiness that they feel in their lives. That all is vanity. There's just a longing and annoying emptiness in their life. Well, friend, when you walk after emptiness, you're going to be empty.

And so when you're walking after all of these gods, whatever god it is, a god of amusement, the god of sex, or the god of gambling, whatever god it is, it's a worthless god. It's an empty god. No wonder you end up empty with a feeling of worthlessness. It's unreasonable. But it's unreasonable also because he is the fountain of living waters. Jesus said to the woman at the well, I'll tell you something, whoever takes a drink of this water will thirst again and again. But I say to you, whoever takes a drink of the water that I give, shall not, and he uses a double negative here in the Greek, bad grammar, but great theology, shall not never thirst again.

All right, now you tell me what's the most reasonable course of action there. Do you want to see the insanity of sinfulness? It is that here is a fountain. Now, the idea behind this fountain, the word, the Hebrew word, is something that is always springing up in season and out of season. Rainy seasons and drought, it's always there.

And it's fresh underground spring water. It is the source of all satisfaction and the source of all joy, and it is the source of fullness. And you have this all the time. You have this all the time. Why in the world would a person turn his back on that and come over here and try to lick a drop of water out of a clay cistern? It is unreasonable, but it is also a sin of ungratefulness.

Let's go back to verse 5. He says, Thus saith the Lord, What iniquity have your fathers found in me that they are gone far from me? That's a plaintive cry. He said, Well, what wrong? What iniquity? What wrong have your fathers found in me? Charge me if you can. Give me a good reason for the way you're behaving. Verse 6, he says, neither said they, where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt that led us through the wilderness, through the land of deserts and of pits, through a land of droughts and a land of shadow of death, through a land that no man passes through and where no man dwelt. And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof.

But when you entered, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination. The priests said not, where is the Lord? And they that handled 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. He's saying, listen, I've done all of this for you. I brought you out of that land. I brought you out through that wilderness where there was no water and where it was desert. And I brought you into a land, plenty of a plentiful country. And he said, and when you got in there, what did you do with it? When I gave you my salvation, what did you do with it? When I gave you my salvation, what did you do with it? When I gave you my blessings, what did you do with it? When I showered blessing after blessing upon

you as a nation, what did you do with it? You turned it into abomination. You've taken the land that I gave you, and you have turned it into abomination. And you forgot to say, where is the Lord in all of this? And even the priests did not call upon the Lord, and the pastors did not call upon the Lord. How could you be so ungrateful after I've given you all that I have, and you take it and turn it into an abomination? So I want you to consider first the singular sinfulness of rejecting God. Secondly, I want you to consider the staggering stupidity of trying to replace Him. And I use those words carefully. They are chosen. I didn't choose these because they all started with the same

letter. Folks, it's stupid to try to replace God. I mean, it's downright stupid. You know why? Because there's nothing to replace him with. There's nothing to replace him with. why? Because there's nothing to replace Him with. There's nothing to replace Him with. Why? Because, as He said, these others are not gods. They are not gods at all. When a man worships anything but the true God, he is in effect worshiping only himself. He's just worshiping himself.

And he's nothing because he's been chasing after nothingness, and so he's nothing. And my goodness, the stupidity of a man trying to say, I'm going to take the high and holy living God creator of heaven and earth, fountain of living waters, and I'm going to replace him. Let's see. What is there to replace him with? Looking around here trying to find. Hmm. Well, I'll just have to. Well, there's nothing to replace him with. So if I reject him, then I've got nothing. I have nothing. Stupid. The stupidity of this sin. Because there is nothing to replace him with. Another thing that, of course, strikes you here

is they've committed two evils. You know, it's one thing for a man to forsake God, the fountain of living waters, but it's another thing for him, and this is just as evil. This is the second hand living waters, but it's another thing for him. And this is just as evil. This is the second hand of it, the other side of the coin, to go over here and say he's going to dig a cistern out of a rock to replace the fountain of living waters. First of all, just two quick things. Number one, it's hard labor. Number two, it's wasted effort.

Now, I've never tried to hew a cistern out of rock anybody here ever done that well you dug wells or had somebody else get that divining rod and say there's water there you know and so you drill

I try not to work any harder than I have to. I'm doing a good job of it, sir. I'm fairly well successful there. But can you imagine the labor of a man? Here he is out in the desert where it's hot and dry anyway, and he's out in that desert, and the sweat is pouring off his body, and he's chipping away, chipping away, chipping away. That hard labor, when all he'd have to do is just come over here and

open his mouth and have all the water that he wanted. So he's over here chipping away, chipping away, and that's what we do, friends. I mean, we're going out here in the world and in other things, and we're trying to find in the world what we can only find in God. You know, the problem with most of us is we're trying to squeeze more out of the world than is in it. There's not that much in this world. Squeeze all you want to, but you're not going to squeeze enough out of it. So here he is. First of all, it's hard labor, and then secondly, it's wasted effort. Why?

Well, first of all, because that thing's going to crack. Now, they had to keep replastering these things, you see. They had to keep replastering these things, you see. They had to keep replastering them because that limestone had a tendency to crack. And so here comes the time of drought, and here this old boy has labored and labored and labored, and so he rushes out to his cistern. Last time he looked, there was, you know, a little bit of water in that.

It got a little rusty looking in that limestone, by the way, and it got a little bit stagnant, you know, and dead bugs began to float on the top, you know. But if, you know, anyway, a man stupid enough forsake the fountain, he stupid enough drank dead bugs. And so he goes over there. Oh, that plaster didn't hold. All the water has leaked out.

All my labor, all my work, all my energy. And I have nothing to show for it. Oh, that's the story of many a person in this life. I've spent all my time hewing out cisterns, and in the end, there's nothing to show for it. Oh, but do you know, do you know what is the most stupid thing about this? I did this just to amaze me.

I love this guy, whoever he is. He makes me feel smart. Friends, even if you hew out your own sister, the water still has to come to God. prior written consent. It is managed and operated by Sherwood Baptist Church. If you would like to listen to additional Ron Dunn messages, visit sherwoodbaptist.net slash bookstore and search Ron Dunn. For more Ron Dunn materials, including sermon outlines, devotions, and scanned pages from a study Bible, please visit rondunn.com.