Sunday Sermon--That Holds No Water

That Holds No Water
Notes by Charley Buntin
Reading: Jer 2:1-13
Text: Jer 2:9-13

A Ugandan Christian told me that once, Ugandans assumed that Westerners were Godly, they were called “Godly people.” Not now. Now, Ugandans refer to white people from the US as “Abaseaga,” which means “homosexual!”

1. Context of the text—the lawsuit: Jehovah v. Israel—2:9-11, the effect will continue for generations!

a. First, the charges are laid—God will specify their offense against Him

b. Then, a thought from God, how stupid could these folks be—even the pagans from Cyprus in the far west of their known world to Kedar in the eastern desert, had never heard of even the pagan nations changing their Gods!


c. Israel’s glory had been Jehovah—Ps 106:20

(1) Israel was exalted by having been given God’s Word.
(2) Israel was exalted because she had the way of salvation revealed to her.
(3) God Himself was Her Glory, and He had revealed His Glory to Israel.

d. Israel had mixed the worship of Jehovah with paganism, and they had practiced the perversions of the pagan religions

(1) Molech and Baal demanded infant sacrifice
(2) Baal worshippers practiced every kind of perverted sex
(3) Some of the kings had even rearranged the house of God and imitated the worship of the pagans—2 Ki 16:9-18
(4) The preachers of the day went along with and cooperated in these abominations

e. Why Was Glory Rejected in Favor of Lies?

(1) The unread book – Judah declined and fell into ruin because of rejecting God and His Word—Josiah’s discovery (2 Kings 22:1-13) shows how the Word had been forgotten
(2) The Unpreached Truth—There were few men of God in the land
(3) The Path Without Profit— Judah had followed the counsel and the way, and sat in the seat of the pagans around them—see Ps 1:1


2. The shock and Awe of the Crimes—2:12

a. God calls the Heavens themselves to witness

b. He uses three very powerful verbs here—“Be astonished, Be Appalled, Be Devastated”

c. The crimes of Judah were so wicked that the Heavens themselves are called to be completely torn apart because of the crimes


3. God’s Illustration—A Fountain vs. a cistern

a. God is a Fountain

Psa 36:9 "For with You is the fountain of life; In Your light we see light."

Prov 14:27 "The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, To turn one away from the snares of death."

John 4:14 ""but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.""

John 7:38 ""He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.""

Rev 21:6 "And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."


b. Our ways are cisterns

(1) Manmade cisterns at that
(2) Broken cisterns at that
(3) Their way held NO water!
(4) “At best, cisterns often yielded stagnant water, at worst, they cracked and allowed the water to seep out. Dead Gods cannot impart life.” Charles L. Feinberg, Expositor’s Commentary


c. Doctrine: If a man or woman, a church, a state, or a nation reject God’s ways for their own, they are foolish and set to be destroyed, as Judah was.

3. Application to America—we in this land have been blessed with God’s Word from the beginning.

b. The Glory of America was found in her faith— Our nation was founded by God-fearing people who loved the Bible

c. Our nation and our laws were established upon Godly principles from the Word. “…Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other. ----John Adams


d. Providence demonstrated the reason for God’s bounty to us by the modern missionary movement—Godly men and women gave until it hurt to establish schools of the prophets to produce Godly preachers and missionaries

e. The Schools of America were founded for Godly Purposes

(1) Harvard University—The declared purpose of the college was: to train a literate clergy.
(2) The Rules and Precepts observed at Harvard, September 26, 1642, stated: Let every Student be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life, John 17:3 …as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and Learning.
(3) The founders of Harvard believed that: All knowledge without Christ was vain.
(4) Princeton University’s official motto was: Under God’s Power She Flourishes.
(5) The first president of Princeton University, the Rev. Jonathan Dickinson, stated: Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of Christ.
f. Our nation became an example to the world in our schools, our churches, our mission organizations—But, except for a Godly remnant, our nation has rejected its very foundations

(1) Our nation and our laws have been perverted from the Godly principles of our establishment

(2) We have perverted our riches and diverted the money to become the most pleasure-seeking society in the history of the human race.

(3) The schools established for the purpose of producing holy prophets of God have been turned into centers of pagan learning and anti-Christian philosophy

(4) Like Israel, we have imitated the beliefs and lifestyles of the pagan world. Israel committed infant sacrifice, and so do we. They sacrificed their babies in the fires of an altar to a pagan God, we murder ours at the altar of “The Right To Choose.”

(5) Our nation is the home of the pornography industry, and behavior that used to be a shame to mention even in private is now carried out publicly—

(6) Too many Bible-believing Christians are satisfied to sit in their padded pews and hope the rapture comes before it gets too bad.

4. We need to seek the fountain of living Waters, and we need to shout aloud that some things are broken cisterns that hold no water—

a. When they say that Religion is to be banned from the public square, THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

b. If they say the cross around my wife’s neck may offend someone; my lapel pin or tie tack with the symbol of the fish may shock some poor soul; your little girl’s student Bible may psychologically injure some unsuspecting student; THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

c. When they tell us that our pledge containing the words “One nation under God” may make someone feel excluded; THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

d. If the champions of all that is indecent say that “In God we trust” may injure the pride of someone with no trust in anything; THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

e. If we are told that The ten commandments, which are posted on the walls of the Supreme Court, might hurt the feelings of someone who recognizes no law nor any restraint, so the 10 must go—THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

f. The sovereignty of this nation is to be surrendered to the shaky foundation of a world body— THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

g. If they say that the “rights of women” mean that the murder of the innocents is to continue without hindrance— THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

h. If the law tells us that Men are to marry men, women are to marry women, and for that matter, any possible combination will be accepted— THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

i. Does anyone think it will stop here? What unnamed perversion will be the next “taboo” to fall? Do you think that they will stop at this? THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

j. They want to reduce the armed citizens of a free republic to the status of unarmed subjects of a nation ruled by liberal, unelected judges— THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

k. And if these things continue, I say to you that the free expression of opposition to perversion, sin, degradation, atheism, and every other evil—that free expression which is the blood-bought right of every free American—that expression is to be termed “hate speech” and banned from the public forum—if they tell you that they don’t want that—they are lying! THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!
l. Even now the pulpits are being warned to be silent on the great moral issues of the day, or the thought police of the Anti Christian Lawyers Union will report them to the IRS! THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!!


5. The Cure—This is no natural crisis, it is a supernatural, spiritual conflict between the forces of darkness and the forces of Truth.

a. We need an Awakening, a Reformation, a shaking to the core of our churches and our nation

b. We need an army of sold-out, young, fearless, fiery, obstinate, well-grounded and taught prophets of God! We need preachers, not socializers—proclaimers, not apologizers—teachers, not questioners—straight-talking men, not entertainers.

c. We need men of the Word and prayer, not errand boys, And we need churches that will find ‘em, call ‘em, love ‘em, protect ‘em, get behind ‘em, and take care of them.

d. And, as a nation, we need to repent and return to the fountain! America, turn from the broken cisterns of perversion, sin, and secularist lies, and return to the fountain of Living waters! Jeremiah 3:22 “…Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings….”