Teaching Text

jeremiah 2:1-13

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. Israel was holy to the Lord, the firstfruits of his harvest. All who ate of it incurred guilt; disaster came upon them, declares the Lord.” Hear the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the clans of the house of Israel. 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?

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?’ 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. 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. “Therefore I still contend with you, declares the Lord, and with your children's children I will contend. 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. 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. Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 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.

Sermon Recap

This week, Pastor Ralph Castillo continued the FREED sermon series with a teaching on freedom from idolatry. In the words of Pastor Tim Keller, “an idol is anything more important to you than God, anything that absorbs your heart and imagination more than God, anything you seek to give you what only God can give.” Pastor Ralph began by encouraging us to do an idol audit, particularly for the deep idols: power, approval, comfort, and control idolatry.

In Jeremiah 2:1-13, God is speaking to His people from the posture of conventional devotion through His chosen prophet Jeremiah. In this passage, God is heartbroken that His people separated from Him in favor of lesser idols. Jeremiah 2:2-3 reminds us that in wrath, God remembers mercy. God is essentially asking, “what happened between us?” He uses relational terms such as “devotion of youth” and “love as a bride,” allowing us to realize idolatry is adulterous—a relational fracture, a conventional breach. Similarly, in Jeremiah 2:4-5, God is in essence asking two key questions: “what wrong did you find in me?” and “what are you forgetting about our relationship that you should be remembering?” Through God’s words, we learn that forgetfulness is the quickest route to the yoke of idolatry. Later in the passage, Jeremiah 2:12 invites us to respond to idolatry as God does—appalled, shocked, stunned, utterly desolate, horrified, devastated, aghast. May we have a similar posture in the face of idolatry. May we weep over the idolatry in our hearts, homes, and churches. Finally, in Jeremiah 2:13, we are reminded of how utterly incapable our idols are of satisfying us. While God is the fountain of living water, our idols are like cracked cisterns that can barely hold any water.

God’s invitation to us is to return to relationship with Him. Time and time again, in His wrath, He remembers mercy. As the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15 recounts, when we draw near to God, He draws near to us. The Father won’t let us walk the whole distance alone. He’ll run to us and kiss and embrace us. And when we truly see Him for who He is, our idols fade and lose their luster."