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Jeremiah 2:13

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.

            It is amazing how self-defeating is our sinful search for satisfaction apart from God.  We try all sorts of things to fill our empty souls.  Some try success, others pleasures, still others fame or fortune or strange substances.  When will we learn that such things, while they offer pleasure for a moment, will not satisfy?

            What a glorious thing God has said to us in Jeremiah 2:13.  He describes how his people have turned their backs on him to seek their satisfaction in other things.  In context, he is telling Judah how faithless they have been and how they have, by their continual sinfulness and idolatry, turned away from God toward destruction. 

            But in another sense, this passage has a great deal of hope for us if we will see it.  Not only is God saying that some have turned from him toward what will not satisfy, but God is also saying that, if we will serve him, we will find satisfaction in him. 

            The imagery that God uses is of a clean pool of sweet water in comparison to muddy, brackish, stinky water in a broken cistern.  We have far too often turned to the mud puddle for a drink.  This is sad.  But there is good news.  There is a fountain of living water.  There is a bubbling pool of the sweetest, coldest, clearest water for us to drink.  The message is not that we must choose between muddy water and no water.  No, the choice is between muddy and poisonous water and the wonderful, joyous, soul-satisfying water of God.

            Don’t miss the point.  There is joy to be had.  Turn from this world.  Turn from your sin.  Turn from the things that this crazy life tempts you with.  Turn to Christ.  Find that in the Lord are all the joys and pleasures that your soul has ever truly desired.  God is a fountain of life, a river of joy.  When we truly behold him in his majesty and glory, when we are truly part of bringing him glory, we will find him to be the great Satisfier of our souls.  We will find him to be the water for which we have thirsted all our lives.

Jeremiah 1:17

But you, dress yourself for work; arise, and say to them everything that I command you. Do not be dismayed by them, lest I dismay you before them.

                There is a fear that eats at the hearts of ministers of the gospel around the world.  Whether he is in a large church or a small one, whether his people are wealthy or poor, whether the setting is urban or rural, the same fear is present.  Can we truly teach the word of God to the people of God without compromise?

                You might think that this is an easy question with an easy answer.  Of course pastors are supposed to preach the word without compromise.  But, you know what, it’s not happening.  Look around.  Visit a grand variety of churches.  Seldom is the pulpit ringing with the words of the Lord from the Scripture.  Seldom do you hear the word taught without gimmick or apology.  Seldom do you hear the word applied as it makes its points itself.  Seldom do you hear the gospel of God’s holiness, man’s utter helplessness, God’s wrath, man’s rebellion, Christ’s atonement, man’s surrender, and God’s faithfulness. 

                If you look around, what you will often see is churches that take the word of God, and tinker with it.  Men stand in pulpits (if the churches still have pulpits) and offer counsel from their own minds that they back up with contextually disconnected and topically-driven points.  Churches often see their numbers of attendees increase, not because the word is taught, but because the church has put together an entertaining program, a sparkling children’s recreation time, or a fantastic support-group system.

                But then we look back at words like God’s to Jeremiah.  God told Jeremiah to stand before a rebellious people and to proclaim his word to them without fear.  This is what is missing from so many pulpits today.  Where are the men who will, without fear of man but with great fear of God, stand erect and proclaim to the people the full counsel of the word of God?  Where are the men who will call sin what it is?  Where are the men who will call the people of God to holiness?  Where are the men who will call the lost to fall on the mercy of Christ, not walk through a 4-step process?  Where are the men who will speak truth, even when truth does not add to the budget? 

                Not all churches which preach the word will find themselves in a battle between the word and the people.  There are those which will experience the grace of God in wonderful growth.  There are those which will hold aloft the light of God’s word, and they will experience the nations being drawn to it.  There are those which will preach the word to the people and then marvel as the people stand up, stride into the community, and share the true gospel with the lost.

                Know this, regardless of what kind of church you are in: your pastor is under pressure to compromise.  There are business models and methodologies that will tickle the ears of the world and draw crowds to hear a watered-down and socially-sanitized version of the gospel.  Your pastor is under pressure to bring more people into the pews and more pennies into the plates.  There are church members and management gurus who would tell your pastor to preach differently, to tone down the Scripture, and to make the message more like the kind of truth that the local culture wants to hear.

                But also know this: the Lord commands the man of God to tell the people what he, their Creator, has said.  The pastor’s job is to proclaim the word with faithfulness and boldness.  The pastor’s job is to fear God more than the world.  The pastor’s job is to not be dismayed by the people, but to fear the Lord first and foremost.  The pastor’s job is to pray for, to feed, and to lead his people into greater holiness.  You, if you want to know God more, want a pastor who will proclaim the word of God to you without compromise and without fear of man.

Guard against man-centered philosophies and false religion by acknowledging the believers union with Christ.

Colossians 2:11-12

11 In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, 12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead.

            One trick of a man-made and man-centered philosophy is to add some sort of religious work to what Christ did in order for a person to be saved.  In the early first century, for example, Jewish believers tried to force gentile believers to follow their traditions.  They tried to impose on the gentiles dietary laws, rules about holidays, and even the practice of circumcision.  In many of Paul’s letters, we see him have to fight tooth and nail against the notion that, for a person to be saved, they have to have something physically done to their body.

            Paul here takes away any notion of salvation having to do with something we physically do.  Speaking to a gentile church, a group of mainly uncircumcised people, Paul says that they were spiritually circumcised by Christ.  This means that Christ spiritually marked them as his own and cut away from their souls the worthless works of the dead flesh.  When did Christ do this?  He did this at the moment of their salvation.

            Paul shows that there is some similarity between circumcision and baptism.  What is baptism displaying?  Baptism is the act of obedience in which a believer publicly declares that he has been united with or identified with Christ.  When a person is lowered into the waters of baptism, it displays the spiritual truth that God counts us as having died on the cross with Christ so that our sin can be completely paid for.  When a person is raised from the waters of baptism, it displays that Christ is risen from the dead and we too are raised with him to live new lives.

            Putting all this together, then, we see that Paul is using the work of Christ and baptism to help protect us from false teachers.  Baptism depicts union with Christ.  If you are saved, you are united with Jesus.  If you are saved, God looks at you with the love he has for his own Son.

            Picture it this way.  Imagine that there are two files side-by-side.  One file is the list of all of the perfections of Jesus.  The other is the list of your failures.  If you are united with Christ, God no longer looks at the record of your failures when he looks at you.  Instead, God looks at the file of Jesus’ perfections, and he counts that as yours.

            How does this protect against false and worldly philosophies?  Every false religion in the world tells you that you have to do some kind of spiritual work to maintain your salvation.  Every type of false philosophy tells you that you can lose your standing with God if you do not keep up the good work.  Only Christianity, genuine Christianity, tells you that, if you have faith in the risen Son of God, you are counted as one with him.  You can never be lost.  You will never be lost.  You will live differently, there is no doubt of that; but that different living is not what saves you.  You are saved by grace alone through faith alone.  Guard against man-centered philosophies and false religion by acknowledging the believers union with Christ.

Guard against man-centered philosophies and false religion by acknowledging the deity and supremacy of Christ

Colossians 2:9-10

9 For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have been filled in him, who is the head of all rule and authority.

            How do you battle against false religion?  Apparently, the first key is to have a proper grasp of the person of Jesus Christ.  If you are going to properly grasp salvation, you had better first properly understand who is the Savior. 

            While it may seem like we have made this point a thousand times, we have to start where the Scripture starts.  Verse 9 declares for you and me to understand that Jesus is God.  That is what Paul means when he says that in Jesus is all the fullness of deity.  Jesus Christ is fully God.  Jesus is not a lower deity, a lesser emanation of the true God.  No, Jesus is God in flesh.  Jesus is not a creation of a greater deity, Jesus is God.

            In Jesus, the fullness of deity dwells bodily.  Jesus is God in a human body.  Jesus is simultaneously perfectly God and totally man.  He is not a pretend human.  Jesus is not a man who gained deity at some point in his life experience.  Jesus is God the Son, part of the trinity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit revealed in Scripture.

            Everything in our faith rides on the truth of the fact that Jesus is God and not less.  Were Jesus not God, Jesus could not have lived with absolute, God-satisfying perfection.  Were Jesus not God, the price he paid for our sins when shedding his blood could never have been enough to pay for the sins of all who will trust in him.  Were Jesus not God, his acceptance of worship would have been sinful and evil.  Because Jesus is God, he is the head of all rulers and all authorities in the universe, be they spirits or people.  Jesus is God, and thus he has all authority.

            Jesus also fills his followers.  That word for fills has to do with completeness.  Jesus saves completely all who trust in him.  Do you want to know that, if you trust Christ, you will be saved forever?  Know then that Christ, God the Son, completely saves as only God can.  When Christ Jesus saves, no one can unsave the saved, because no one in all the universe can defeat God the Son.

            Man-made and worldly philosophies do not focus on Jesus as God.  They try to deny or lessen Jesus’ deity.  Such claims are soul-destroying.  Whether someone claims Jesus to be just slightly less than the one true God, or whether they claim him to be a mere man who was a good teacher, all who miss that Jesus is truly God miss out on the truth of Christianity  If you miss who Jesus is, you miss that he is the God who can fully, completely, totally rescue you from your sin and make you right with God forever.  Guard against man-centered philosophies and false religion by acknowledging the deity and supremacy of Christ

Luke 23:38-43 (ESV)

38 There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

39 One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” 40 But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” 42 And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” 43 And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”

Matthew 27:44 (ESV)

And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.

            To watch the salvation of the thief on the cross next to Jesus is to see, in a very brief moment, the plan of salvation at work.  We see the thief believe what he must believe in order to be saved.  In watching, we can see what all must believe in order to be saved.

            Look first at the thief who will be saved in his response to the other thief.  He acknowledges both Christ’s innocence and the thief’s own sinfulness.  Jesus does not deserve the cross upon which he is hanged.  No, but the thief, he has committed crimes that are clearly punishable by death.

            The first parts of the gospel are here.  God is holy, and we are sinful.  God is perfect.  Christ, God in flesh, is perfect.  We have sinned against God and we deserve his wrath.  This is where the gospel begins.

            When the thief turns to Jesus, he references Jesus’ coming kingdom.  While the thief knows that Jesus is about to die on the cross, he somehow has the faith to foresee that Jesus will reign as King.  God has opened the thief’s eyes to see that Jesus is more than a man on the cross next to him.  IN fact, Jesus is the Messiah, the promised King of kings.  Jesus will rise from the dead.  Somehow, we cannot say how fully, the thief understands that the cross will not defeat Jesus.

            All who will be saved must recognize that Jesus died on the cross to do things only God can do.  All who will be saved must also recognize that Jesus did not remain in the grave.  Jesus died to pay for the sins of all of God’s children.  Jesus rose from the grave to complete the work of redemption.  Jesus will return, and he will reign forever as King.  All who will be saved must have faith in the death, burial, resurrection, and return of Christ.

            The thief asks Jesus to remember him.  This is a clear cry for grace.  The thief knows that he can do nothing to earn his way into God’s kingdom.  The thief is a condemned criminal.  He simply cries out to Jesus and asks for mercy.

            All who will be saved must cry to Jesus for mercy.  We are sinners.  We are condemned.  We are under God’s wrath.  However, if we will trust Jesus and ask him for grace, he will grant that grace.  God will save our souls by grace through faith in Christ.

            The only thing we do not get to see in the thief in this passage is a long-term changed life.  That is because he will die soon after his conversion.  Yet, we know he has been changed.  There is repentance.  Matthew’s account of the crucifixion declares that the robbers (plural) near Jesus hurled insults at him.  Apparently this man who has faith in Christ, saving faith, was previously one of those who was insulting Jesus.  Thus, we also see in this man a turning from sin in order to place his faith in Jesus.

            We see in the thief everything we need for saving faith in Christ.  Believe in Jesus.  Believe in Christ’s perfect work that is the only payment for your sins.  Believe in the resurrection of Jesus and his coming kingdom.  Turn from your sins and cry out to Jesus for mercy.  All who have genuine faith in Jesus will be saved.  This is the gospel, and it is marvelous.

Hebrews 10:12-14

12 But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 waiting from that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

     For years, the ground in the tabernacle or in the temple ran with the blood of sacrifices.  Daily offerings, regular sin offerings, even the special Day of Atonement, always new offerings were required.  This of course makes sense; we sin so regularly, so easily.  It is hard to be remotely good.  It is impossible to be as good as God.  Yet God’s standard is perfection.  So, from day to day to day, victim after victim bled for the sins of the people of God.

     When one remembers that this system was put in place in the time of Moses, and that a millennium-and-a-half had passed in which that system was perfected, one might think that, truly, the sacrifice of animals, day after day, was the only way for people to be made right with God.  What could ever put an end to this cycle of sin, confess, sacrifice, sin, confess, sacrifice?

     We have to see the establishment of the sacrificial system with clarity in order to see the amazing, joyous, unbelievable words of Hebrews 10:12-14.  Jesus Christ, with one sacrifice, he made an end of this system.  With one offering, the offering of himself, Jesus perfects all who will be perfected.  Jesus cleanses all who will be cleansed before God.  Jesus, with one perfect and infinitely-glorious sacrifice, cries out to the world that all who will come to him and trust in his sacrifice will be saved. You need not be Jewish.  You need not be a man.  You need not be wealthy.  All who will come to Jesus and trust in him will be saved.  No other sacrifices are required.  In fact, no other sacrifices will avail you at all.  Only one sacrifice now exists for the sins of humanity, the perfect sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.

     Christians, perhaps we do not stand in awe enough of this once-for-all sacrifice.  Perhaps we have become too accustomed to the message of the gospel.  Perhaps we have failed to remember the glory.  We have committed a lifetime’s worth of sin.  We have infinitely offended an infinitely holy God.  We have earned his judgment.  We have earned hell.  Yet God, for the sake of his glory and out of his love, has made a way for us to be reconciled to him.  This reconciliation is not something we buy with a life of religious obedience.  No, God bought our reconciliation with him through the precious blood of his own Son.  Jesus came and willingly laid down his life to save us, once and for all.

     Let this thought lead you to praise Jesus.  Let it lead you to remember that your good deeds do not add to your salvation.  Let it cause you to thank Christ and to live for him out of gratitude and out of joy.  Let it cause you to vigorously share your faith, because there is only one sacrifice for the sins of the world.  Let the gospel lead you to love Jesus more as you consider the grandeur of the single sacrifice for sins.