Committing Adultery against God

Introduction

Good morning. We’re going to have our morning mic adjustment down a little bit, please. If you open your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter 3. In Jeremiah chapter 3, and the first several verses, we’re going to find something pretty awful. I’m just going to be plain with you. It’s going to be bad. You’re going to see it and you’re going to think, wow, this is in the Bible, or if you’ve seen it before, you’re going to say, I know what you’re talking about. In Jeremiah chapter 3, beginning in verse 1, if a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whore with many lovers. And would you return to me?

declares the Lord. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see. Where have you not been ravished? By the waysides you have sat awaiting lovers, like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. Therefore the showers have been withheld, and the spring rain has not come. Yet you have the forehead of a whore. You refuse to be ashamed. Have you not now just now called to me? My father, you are the friend of my youth. Will he be angry forever? Will he be indignant to the end? Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could. Some of the strong language aside, if you note the second part of verse 5, that’s a pretty stunning thing to say.

Behold, you have spoken, but you have done all the evil that you could. Put a pin in that thought for a moment. I think one of the easiest things to do in this life, of all the things that there are, whether it’s sitting in your lazy boy, turning on the television, I don’t think finding the remote’s always easy. But being on your computer, surfing the internet, one of the most common and easy things that we can do as human beings is find fault in others. Isn’t it? You pretty much just need to see someone, whether it’s through the magic of our televisions or outside in the public, and you can say, boy, I’m glad I’m not like that. Or maybe even someone you know, you say, Well, I I would never behave in that way.

I would never think like they do. And yet, of course, generally, when we’re looking at the speck and others, we’re ignoring the log that is on our own. Something Jesus warns us to do not. In Matthew chapter 7 and verse 3. But the truth is it happens. And in the Bible story in particular, I’m struck because frankly, I have that thought a lot. Do you? Have you ever thought about the nation of Israel and thought, what is your problem, people? Find God. He delivered you from Egyptian bondage. He has provided for you in every way imaginable. Your life, your food. He is your God. You have seen his mighty works. And yet, what do we find throughout almost the entirety of the Old Testament? People of Israel worshiping God, things are great.

People of Israel turn their backs on God. Things are not great. But then the people return to God and things are great. And then they turn away from God. Things are not great. And then we see the cycle over and over and over again. And if you’re like me, you think, why can’t they see God and just obey him? How did it come to the time of Jeremiah to where the people of Israel have been taken captive by the Assyrians, and the people of Judah are going to follow into a captivity of their own because of a disobedience to God? How does that happen? These people should have known God. And we’re going to look at the people of Judah today in particular and some of their advantages.

But part of what I’m concerned with this morning is could that happen here? Could we be accused of being spiritual adulteresses this morning? Am I a spiritual adulterer? Am I a spiritual adulteress to God? We understand this concept pretty plainly in our marriages. When you say your vows and you are married, we understand as Christians that is for life. That is it. Now, you may be as lucky as I was to find someone who didn’t know you quite well enough to marry you despite all your flaws. I found a beautiful, wonderful woman named Kashka. Many of you know her. Perhaps if we had dated longer, that might not have happened. And we know that as Christians, this is for life. Of course, we understand that there is an exception that Jesus gives in Matthew chapter 19, but we would do well in our lives and in our marriages to keep in mind that that is an exception.

It was not meant to be for everyone to just be using. It’s not an excuse to get out of marriage. The marriage is for life. It is a commitment to one another. And we understand that when someone transgresses that commitment, what they have done and what those implications are, it is a broken promise. And when we think about our life with God, have we not made promises to him? Have we not committed our lives to him? And if we have not, how can we even say that we are any better for not submitting our lives to the Almighty Heavenly Father? Look with me in Jeremiah chapter 2. Let’s look a little bit more about the situation facing the people here in this time and see then how that applies to us.

1. Israel Was Holy to the Lord

And can it happen here? I think a first point to get from the first six verses we’ll go ahead and read of Jeremiah chapter 2 is that these people really were gods. The word of the Lord came to me saying, Go and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem. Thus says the Lord. What does he say here? I remember the devotion of your youth, your love as a bride. How you followed me in the wilderness and a land not sown. Israel was holy to the Lord. The first fruits of his harvest, all who ate of it incurred guilt. Disaster came upon them, declares the Lord. And you have this picture here in the first three verses of what this commitment to God, what this covenant relationship was like, and what it could have been.

It talks about how they followed him into the wilderness in a land not sown. Can you imagine a people? Can you imagine us being called, what he says in verse 3, being holy to the Lord? What a privilege. These people had a front row seat to the majesty and the mighty power of God and all who came in their way. God destroyed, didn’t he? When the people of Israel were invading the land of Canaan, they were given victory when they were with God, when they trusted God, when they put all their faith in their hearts with God. And you see, this is a beautiful picture, and yet in verse 4, unfortunately, that picture is but a snapshot. 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 keep darkness, in a land that none passes through, where no man dwells. And verse 7 even, 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 handled the law did not know me. The shepherds transgressed against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal and went after things that do not profit.

And in the first several verses, you see, Jeremiah was to proclaim this in the city of Jerusalem. And here in verse 4 and moving on now, we see this is to all the house of Jacob and all the clans of the house of Israel. And what’s he saying is, and what he is saying is, you saw this, and you left. No one questioned where is our God? No one worshipped me as the God that I am and that I was for you. And to take it further in verse 7, but when you came in, you defiled my land and my hair made my heritage an abomination. And again, one of the easiest things to do is to judge a people, and we’re going to come to our application shortly.

2. They Had Left God

But consider these people and think, how could this happen? How could these people of God have disintegrated so far in every way that they were on the brink of captivity? And frankly, the people of Israel had already been subject to captivity. We see that in chapter 3, as the verses we had already read, they had left God. Look again with me in chapter 3. Again, please note the power of this text. If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? You have played the whole played the whore with many lovers. And would you return to me? declares the Lord. Lift up your eyes to the bare heights and see, where have you not been ravished?

By the wayside, you have sat awaiting lovers like an Arab in the wilderness. You have polluted the land with your vile whoredom. This is not a good picture, folks. This is awful. Can you imagine the words of the Lord coming to us and saying that? Whoa. Oh, what were the people doing? Here’s a quick snapshot of some of the things they were doing: serving idols, weighting of injustice, greed, and most importantly, a lack of service to God. Can you imagine having an almighty God and trying to spend some time on the side worshiping idols? Praying to God, but also taking care of Baal and your other godly requirements, treating him as just another God. And he’s like, what were they thinking? And yet, as we press on, we understand that that is a valid question.

3. Judah Had No Excuse

Because Judah in particular had no excuse. Please look with me at these verses. This will kind of be the primary application for us that we will make from. And in verse 6, the Lord said to me in the days of King Josiah, have you seen what she did? That faithless one, Israel? How she went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and there played the whore. And I thought after she has done all this, she will return to me. But she did not return. And her treacherous sister Judah saw it. She saw that for all the adulteries of that faithless one Israel, I had sent her away with a decree of divorce. Yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear, but she too went and played the whore.

Because she took her whorem lightly, she polluted the land, committing adultery with stone and tree. Yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to me with her whole heart. But in pretense, declares the Lord. When you consider the story of the people of Israel in the southern kingdom of Judah, what we see is that the people of Judah in particular had absolutely, positively no reason to turn from God. Not that the northern kingdom of Israel did, or that any child of God has a reason to turn from him, but you think of all people, the people of Judah would understand this. Well, why? Well, we find in verse in verse 6 have you seen what she did, that faithless one Israel? And then you say we see in verse 7, and I thought after she has done all this, she will return to me.

But she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. They saw it. They watched Israel rebel against God. They watched the wicked kings of Israel. They saw how God treated them. They saw how they were taken into captivity in Assyria. And you think, boy, if you’re watching these people just continually get themselves knocked down into the ground, turning away from the Lord, their fortunes are being eliminated. You think these people are going to get it. If for no other reason than they have seen it happen themselves and say, I don’t want to be a part of that. It’s kind of like the story of a brother and sister. And what they do is mimic each other. But of course, if you know the real story, the older brother is always mimicked by his younger sister.

And the younger brother, excuse me, the older brother is commenting to his parents, and he’s saying something he should not say. In fact, he is lying to his parents. And his parents are very upset with the boy for lying. And they say, son, why have you lied? He said, Because I wanted to.

The 14-year-old son says, I wanted to, and I thought I would get away with it.

And the parents ground the son for six months. They say, You are not even sorry that you have done this. You’re not even showing any signs of remorse. You’re just upset that you got caught. All the while. The 10-year-old sister in the while in the backseat watches. Two weeks later. Lamp breaks in the house. Only one girl was left home. Kind of reminds me of the story that Bill Cosby tells about when you only have one child, you know who did it at home. And they come home and they say, daughter, why is the lamp broken? I don’t know. You don’t know what happened? It’s in your room.

Uh I think Jeffrey broke it. Jeffrey’s not home. She burst into tears and she’s been caught lying. And the parents say, why did you not know any better? You saw what would happen. Why would you lie to us? I didn’t think it would happen to me. I didn’t think I would get caught. And you wonder sometimes, do we really think that God doesn’t see? That God doesn’t know? Because when you think about the people in the nation of Judah, you consider what would their reason be other than sheer arrogance. Unlike perhaps the innocence of a 10-year-old youth, Judah would have known. Their shepherds were leading their people astray. It was corrupt leadership. It was corrupt society in every way. And there is no getting around. They saw the punishment.

They knew it. They should have known and learned from it. And yet they brazenly tried the same thing. And no, just like the parents who know who’s guilty when there’s one person in a room. God knows all things. And there is no mistaking whether you come to God in pretense, like Judah tried to do in verse 10, he knows lip service from true, wholehearted worship. And we consider that Judah had no excuse, but consider a little bit more broadly why the nation of Judah would have no excuse besides just seeing Israel. Do you know where Jerusalem was? That was in Judah. You know who had the priesthood? That would be Judah. Do you not remember the story of Jeroboam? He didn’t like people going into Judah.

So he set up the golden calves at two different locations to avoid the people worshiping God in the right way and leaving his kingdom to do it. The nation of Judah had all these advantages. They knew God. They had seen God. They knew what God how God punished the Israelites. They knew what was expected of them in an everyday type of way. And yet they still transgressed the law. As we come through the remainder of the chapter, we see they would be punished for that. In verse 11, and the Lord said to me, Faithless Israel has shown herself more righteous than treacherous Judah. That’s right, people. The nation of Israel is more righteous than the people of Judah. How does that happen? Complete abandonment for our relationship with God.

4. God Is Willing to Forgive

But because of that, we see how God looks at Israel and He says, Go and proclaim these words toward the north and say, Return, faithless Israel, declares the Lord. I will not look on you in anger, for I am merciful, declares the Lord. I will not be angry forever, only acknowledge your guilt that you rebelled against the Lord your God and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree, and that you have not obeyed my voice, declares the Lord. Return, O faithless children, declares the Lord, for I am your master. I will take you, one from a city, and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion, and I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Despite all that Israel had done, despite what people do. God is willing to forgive. I think when you consider the language of chapter 3 and verse 1, excuse me. I’m going to read that again. If a man divorces his wife and she goes from him and becomes another man’s wife, will he return to her? Would not that land be greatly polluted? These are the sins of the people described as you have played the whore with many lovers. And would you return to me, declares the Lord. Those sins that those people committed. The complete abandonment of God. And God would forgive them anyway. Can you imagine if someone were to wrong you in the harshest way imaginable? And they did it day after day after day. They violated your trust.

They hurt you. They physically perhaps even robbed you of whether strength or finances or any such thing. And they did it over and over again. They were unapologetic. They left you. And they came back to your door. You know what everyone would want to do? The human flesh says, slam the door in their face. But God is a God of grace and mercy. It didn’t matter that they had been bowing down and praying to other gods. It didn’t matter that they had left him. He was willing to take them back if they would repent. We serve a mighty God, amen. We serve a merciful and powerful God who can forgive us of all our sin if we will just find him. It’s not about pretense, as Judah tried.

5. God’s People Absolutely Can Reject Him Today

It’s about serving God with your whole heart, recognizing that He is the I am, and that without Him we are nothing. And that means without true service to Him, we are lost because we do not truly have God. And so what we see then, and considering could this happen here, is that God’s people absolutely can reject Him today. Perhaps you know Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24. No one can serve two masters. Why? Well, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. And we say, well, I know that. I am a child of God. Can I tell you who else was a nation of gods?

6. We Must Avoid Spiritual Adultery

It was the people of Israel and Judah. We are not out in the in the shield to where we cannot fall away. We have a mighty God. If we stick with him, we will never be moved. But when we leave God, we’ve left everything. And what we need to see then is that we must avoid spiritual adultery. How perhaps are we torn away from our God today? Look at me in James chapter 4. We don’t see a lot of Baals around anymore, at least I don’t, and if you do, you may want to get out of that friend circle of yours. In James chapter 4, note with me beginning in verse 3. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions.

Well, what passions, James? Let’s look back at verse 1. What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? Tell me if verse 2 doesn’t remind you of the story of the people of Israel and Judah. You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. In verse 4, you adulterous people, do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? You adulterous people. Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Verse 5, or do you dispose it is to no purpose that the scripture says he yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us, but he gives more grace.

Therefore it says, God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you. And here’s our wonderful gracious God. Draw near to God and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. Perhaps no reason can be found absolutely for why, as Adam mentioned at the 9 o’clock hour, we don’t seem to have the joy that the Christians at the time of Pentecost did in Acts chapter 2. But can I say that at least one leading cause might just be we’re spoiled with luxuries?

It’s where we think we don’t need God anymore. We have no excuse. We know that it’s the words of Christ that will judge us in that last day. In this nation, though, don’t we have perhaps the most richest of blessings available? I want you to consider what we have as Christians. Think with me about the joy that God has provided. He has forgiven us of our sins, and not just that, not just our salvation, if you can say such a thing. We in this country have a freedom of religion, and you know what we do with it? We bury it in shame and embarrassment. We can study the word of God and find what he knows, what he wants us to do. We can read about the Israels and the Judahs.

We can see how God dwelt with his people, and you know what we do with it? We leave it in our cars and on the bookshelf collecting dust at home. We have the opportunity to speak to the Almighty Heavenly Father in prayer, to praise him, to thank him, to ask for his help, and we arrogantly either have nothing to thank him for, or think we can do it on our own. And I think, how have we polluted this land? And my relationship with God, where am I? The people of Judah had no excuse. And you know why that is? They had a precedent, they knew their God, and they had all the advantages that they could possibly ask for. And I tell you, we may be better off than they were in some ways.

And we are crushed with convenience. We are lulled to sleep by the devil in our luxury. He is pulling us away by putting our heads on a pillow.

How can we let this happen? Friendship with the world is enmity with God. You adulterous people, we need to consider it’s not about this life. It’s not about this world. And when we dress like the world, we talk like the world, we live in our homes like the world, then we stop ourselves and we ask, how did we get like this? And you think, because we left God. As Christians, the minute our day-to-day lives consume our souls, rather than our souls directing our lives, we have lost. Because we have left our God.

Conclusion

That is a vicious and atrocious designation that God was having Jeremiah designate the people of Israel and Judah with. It is not in the least bit kind, refreshing, or happy. Because without God, there is no joy. No happiness. Nothing good. Just death. Choose life this morning. Consider that we can be God’s people. And we think to ourselves, I fall short. I leave my Bible on the shelf. I don’t pray as I should. I don’t take advantage of the freedoms that I have. Then make it right this morning. Despite all of that, despite where you’ve been, it’s about where you’re going, and most importantly, the God who can get you there with him. God is still willing to forgive us. You consider what I think is one of the most stunning aspects of Jeremiah chapter 3 in that old Testament ups and downs that the people of Israel and Judah had.

It’s that God kept taking them back. They kept turning away from Him, doing perhaps the most wretched and unfaithful things that they can think to do against God, and you could fill a whole sermon with just listing things they did. And God took them back anyway. Let us never be tempted to think God can’t take me the way I am. God will forgive us of our sins if we repent, if we turn to him. But we’ve got to have God on our side to go and be with God. It sounds basic and it is. There was a relationship with God that the people of Israel and Judah had. And many of us here this morning have a relationship with God. The question is, how do we grow in it?

How do I press on and give every last ounce of this physical body that it’s containing my spiritual soul? What God expects from it. Let us stop burying our heads in the sand and start teaching the good news of Christ. Let us stop forgetting to pray and start remembering our Almighty Creator. Let us not pollute the land, but spread the good news of salvation to everyone, to all nations, to anyone we can find who will listen. The good news of God is that we can be saved. In Romans chapter 5 and verse 8, God says, Well, Paul writes that God says, but God demonstrates his own love towards us, and that while we are still sinners, Christ died for us. That means Christ died for me, he died for you while we were still sinners.

We are striving for perfection, of course, but God’s plan shows us that not all of us were going to reach that. Because we need the blood of Christ to cleanse us from all our unrighteousness. Choose God today, whether you’ve chosen him before and have left him, or you have never received the benefits of being with God. Take advantage of that opportunity this morning. You don’t know how many you’re going to get. Don’t pollute the land. Turn to God. Achieve the salvation that He wishes you to have this very morning. Come forward in any way that we can help you as we stand and as we sing.