Where Is Our Source of Life? - Zack Morgan - Jesus Our Source of Life

Lesson Transcript

God is a source of living water, and obeying Him is drinking from that source. Good morning. It's very good to be here. I, uh, I really appreciate how welcome, uh, you all make us feel when we come. That's a really good trait for a church to have. Um, I'd also like to wish the mothers Happy Mother's Day.

So when Daniel asked me to, to share, I, I told him I'd be willing to share, and he sent me a message back, and he said, he says, "Yeah, and when you preach, I want you to preach the best message you've ever preached." So I was like, "Okay, I'll, I'll give him my best." Um, I appreciate that attitude, though. I really appreciate the attitude of striving for excellence. And I will say I'm very excited to, uh, share, share with you today.

Um, just the Bible has, has become very real to me, and just I've kind of reached a point in my life where I've realized that the Bible isn't all these stories, um, just individual stories, but there's all these parallels, there's all these, um, they all link together, and they all point to Jesus Christ. And to me, that is very inspiring, and it's, it's, it's caused me to be a little more humble with, um, my Bible knowledge. It's, it's, there's so much more to learn that I'm discovering.

So I'd like to share with you things that I've discovered, and, uh, hopefully we can all learn from there. Um, like Brother David mentioned, the title of my message is "Where's Our Source of Life," and we'll be reading out of Jeremiah chapter 2, verses 1 through 22. This section of the book of Jeremiah, um, I believe, and most scholars agree, it came very early.

The book of Jeremiah was, or as we read the book of Jeremiah, it's not all set in chronological order, but scholars generally agree that chapter 2 came very early on. Chapter 1, it says that the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah, the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the 13th year of his reign. So that's kind of, that's kind of where we're at. We're, we're at, um, we're in the 13th year of King Josiah's reign. This is when God revealed His message to Jeremiah.

Before we read out of, uh, Jeremiah, I'd like to look at a little bit of history and read 2 Chronicles 34:1 through 7, just to give us a little bit, just of the setting. Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and walked in the ways of David his father, and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left.

For in the eighth year of his reign, while he was yet young, he began to seek after the God of David his father. And in the twelfth year, he began to purge Judah and Jerusalem from the high places and the groves and the carved images and the molten images. And they broke down the altars of Balaam in his presence, and the images that were on high above them he cut down.

And the groves and the carved images and the molten images he broke in pieces and made dust of them, and strutted upon the grays of them that had sacrificed unto them. And he burnt the bones of the priests upon their altars and cleansed Judah and Jerusalem. And so did he in the cities of Manasseh and Ephraim and Simeon, even unto Naphtali with Armatics round about.

And when he had broken down the altars and the groves and had beaten the graven images into powder and cut down all the idols throughout the land of Israel, he returned to Jerusalem. And as we'll see in Jeremiah, this, this message from God came to the people in Jerusalem. And if you notice in 2 Chronicles, King Josiah started tearing down all the idols and all the altars in the twelfth year. And this message came in the thirteenth year. Okay, so I have a short article to read from the History Channel.

This is, this is on the surrender of Japan that ended World War II. That voice was the emperor's. On August 15th, that voice, heard over the radio airwaves for the very first time, confessed that Japan's enemy has begun to employ a most cruel bomb. The power to do damage is indeed incalculable, taking the toll of many innocent lives. This was the reason given for Japan's surrender.

Hirohito's oral memoirs, published and translated after the war, evidence the emperor's fear at the, at the time that the Japanese race will be destroyed if the war continues. A sticking point in the Japanese surrender terms had been Hirohito's status as emperor. Tokyo wanted the emperor's status protected. The allies wanted no preconditions. There was a compromise. The emperor retained his title. General Douglas MacArthur believed his ceremonial presence would be a stabilizing influence in post-war Japan.

But Hirohito was forced to disclaim his divine status. Japan lost more than a war. It lost a God. And that's the end of the article. Um, following the end of World War II, there was what's been known as a Christian boom in Japan. Many, many, um, many missionaries went to Japan, and there was a huge response to the gospel. Um, and the people, the, what people had trusted in before the war had disintegrated, and they're, they're open to, uh, what missionaries had to share.

The people in Jerusalem who heard Jeremiah's message, I believe, were in the same boat as the Japanese after World War II. The year before King Josiah began to destroy the idols and tear down the idols, and I realized that he probably wasn't able to get all of it done at once.

But there were people's idols that had been destroyed, and, uh, and there was being, there was, uh, the climate, the political climate was being changed at that time for the people, for what they, what they had known was being, was, was being destroyed. Much like post-war Japan, I say Jerusalem was entering a spiritual vacuum. And I say this to say that this was a well-timed message.

This was a well-timed message on God's part, and this is what, this is the God I know, is the times where I need, in my life, God speaks in a well-timed way. And that's what I, I want to do. I want to be able to speak into other people's lives as well. You know, looking out at the, um, our society. Where, what people are facing, um, we're really in an unsettled time. A lot of people are unsettled where we're going, what, what things are happening.

And I think we need to capitalize on the spiritual vacuum, if I can say, that is happening. What people have trusted in is, is disintegrating. And so as we look in this, the study of Jeremiah, it's not just God randomly jumping on His people for doing what wrong. It's God in a well-timed way speaking to His people, um, to bring about repentance. It's God's faithfulness. All right, let's read the first seven verses of Jeremiah chapter 2. You have to bear with me.

I read out, read out of the King James version, as you've, as you see. Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me saying, "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, 'Thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine spouses, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord, and the firstfruits of his increase. All that devour him shall offend, evil shall come upon them, saith the Lord.

Hear ye the word of the Lord, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

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?' Neither said they, 'Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought and the shadow of death, through a land that no man passed 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 ye entered, when ye entered, ye defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.'" Like I shared with you before, um, part of my, part of an area, uh, where I'm growing in my, uh, spiritual life is seeing the parallels, um, that the Bible has, um, with, with especially the Genesis account.

And I see, I see several parallels in this message with Genesis, and, um, several, several of them are Adam walked with God in the garden, Israel walked with God in the wilderness. God created a good world and placed Adam in it. God brought Israel into a plentiful country to eat the fruit and the goodness. Because of Adam's sin, the ground was cursed with thorns and thistles. Because of Israel's sin, the land was defiled. And we'll see, we'll see later on how they defiled the land.

And because of disobedience, Adam and Israel were both exiled. They were exiled from that good place where they were planted. All right, let's continue on with verse 8 and reading to, uh, verse 13. The priests said not, "Where is the Lord?" And they that handle 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. 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 Kittim and see, and send unto Kadar, and consider diligently, and see if 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 ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid. Be very desolate, saith the Lord. And here's the famous verse. For 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. Okay, so the two evils were, it was forsaking God, and then the second evil was making broken cisterns. And, and I believe he's using this as a metaphor to talk about idols and idolatry that was prevalent, um, among the Israelites. And they tried to use these idols to replace God.

Now you could take this, you could take this verse and make a nice little, a little analogy and say that this verse is talking about salvation by good works. You know, the idols are the works of your own hands. Uh, you're trying to save yourself by your own works, and the fountain of living waters could mean that all you have to do is go to God and drink. There's no work involved. There's nothing on your part. Um, that's not what this verse is talking about.

And at one point in my life, that's, that's, I looked at that verse and thought, wow, that, that, that's, that's really neat. But it's, it's not what it's talking about. Why? The book of Jeremiah is a book of repentance to the Israelites. God is calling His people back to repentance. So there was no good works involved. They weren't doing good works. The message, this message was God was calling them back from worshiping idols to obedience to Him. That's what this message is all about.

God is a source of living water, and obeying Him is drinking from that source. And you know, and God uses this, this metaphor to really drive home His point. These idols, these cisterns are worthless. And remember, a cistern, a cistern is just made to hold water. There's no, there's no source coming into the cistern. But not only are these cisterns, there's no source, but these cisterns are broken. So the life that's being put into the cistern is just draining away.

They're, they're completely counterproductive to what, what you're trying to, what you're trying to do. Spiritualizing physical things that God has not instituted will suck the life out of you. And it, and it diminishes, it diminishes God's authority. Spiritualizing physical things that God has not instituted will take life away. All right, verse 14 to verse 19. Is Israel a servant? Is he a homeborn slave? Why is he spoiled? The young lions roared upon him and yelled, and they made his land waste.

His cities are burned without inhabitant. Also, the children of Naph and Tehaphanes have broken the crown of thy head. Hast thou procured this unto thyself, in that, in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God when he led thee by the way? And now, what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? Or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backsliding shall reprove thee.

Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God, and that my fear is not in thee, saith the Lord, God of hosts. In the 21st century, that we, we don't appreciate this imagery as much as these people would have of water being their source of life. You know, obviously, water is just as vital for us today as it was for them.

But living in Jerusalem on the edge of the Judean wilderness, they would have been able to, um, they would have been able to see, and without plumbing and all that, they would have been able to just really connect more with this imagery of water, how, how necessary water is to live. And, uh, as we know, the Middle East has vast amounts of deserts.

And if you would take, at that time, if you would high, take a map and you'd highlight the rivers, the main, three main rivers in the region, um, that's where most of the people would have lived. Their lives were, their lives were centered around water. You know, and God brings in Egypt and Assyria, and I realize, I, I know there's some history to that, and I'm not sure exactly what historical significance he's referring to there, but they were Israel's enemies.

And, uh, God is saying, you cannot look to your enemies for life. You cannot look to your, the world for life and protection. And, uh, just jumping ahead to verse 28, God says, "But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee? Let them arise if they can save thee in time of trouble.

For according to the number of thy cities are thy gods of Judah." You know, you, I, if you, if you read that verse and you read that Josiah started bashing up the idols in the 12th year and realize this message came in the 13th year, where, where are those your gods? They're in dust, they're, they're scattered over the ground. And you can, you just hear that sarcasm. Let them arise, if let them arise if they can save you. And, uh, growing up in Japan, I've, I've seen idolatry, a lot of idolatry.

Um, there's one, there was one specific shelter by the side of the road that I remember, um, and it had maybe four or five little stone idols. And, and it, like I said, it was a shelter, so there was a roof over top of the idols. And when it got cold, they would put little red hats and little jackets on these, these idols. And I remember as like a five-year-old thinking, "That's so bizarre." Like, but that's, that's, that's, that's how ironic this is.

The same thing that's supposed to save you, these idols are supposed to save you, but you're, you have to take care of them. Let them arise if they can save you. All right, let's move on to verse, verses 20, uh, 21 and 22. For of old time, I have broken thy yoke and burst thy bands. And thou sayest, "I will not transgress when upon every high hill and under every green tree thou wanderest playing the harlot. Yet I had planted thee a noble vine, holy, a right seed.

How then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange, a wild vine unto me? For though thou wash thee with nitre, with lye, and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." Um, I'm going to, I'd like to skim read an article from the University of Alabama. It's about an invasive non-native plant to the U.S. known as kudzu. Most of you know what this is? Yep, everybody from the South probably does. So I found this really, I found this article really interesting.

I'm just, like I said, I'm just going to skip, skip across, um, skip across some things. Um, kudzu is an aggressive vine familiar to most people across the southeastern United States. It's a classic example of a plant that was introduced with good intentions, but that has resulted in many bad outcomes. Landowners know all too well that kudzu can stifle agricultural production as well as timber growth.

It often becomes a weed in non-cropland areas such as right-of-ways, old fields, vacant lots, or yards of abandoned or little-used buildings. Kudzu is also a serious weed of urban forests, and homeowners often struggle to effectively control its aggressive growth. Kudzu can quickly overtake any type of vegetation and suppress or kill it by heavy shading. Given the problems it causes, many people often question how such an invasive plant could have been purposefully introduced.

This publication provides a short history of kudzu in the Southeast and explains the reasons behind the problem it has become. And this is a little, um, I'm going to skip the description. Uh, and this is a little bit of the history of kudzu. Approximately 15 species of kudzu are known throughout the world, all native to China, Taiwan, Japan, and India. For more than 2,000 years, Asian cultures have found great value in kudzu.

Chinese records tell of kudzu roots being dried and diced for medicinal purposes as early as 1578. Kudzu fiber from vines and stems was used to make grass cloth and paper in by 1665. During the 1700s, kudzu was imported into Japan where the roots were ground into flour. Kudzu flour is still imported to the United States and sold in many Asian and Asian grocery and health food stores. Um, skipping the, when it was introduced to the U.S., we're going to jump right into the 1930s.

In the 1930s, kudzu reached the height of its prominence. The Soil Erosion Service was charged to reduce soil erosion caused by poor farming practices in the South. About 85 million kudzu plants were given to southern landowners by the Soil Erosion Service for land revitalization and to reduce soil erosion and add nitrogen to the soil. The Civilian Conservation Corps also planted kudzu throughout the South. The government offered up to $8 per acre as an incentive incentive for farmers to plant their land in kudzu.

About 3 million acres of kudzu had been planted on farms by 1946. Ironically, due to difficulties in establishment, many of these initial plantings did not survive. By the early 1950s, kudzu had largely become a nuisance. It had spread rapidly throughout the South because of the long growing season, warm climate, plentiful rainfall, and lack of disease and insect enemies. Abandonment of farmland during this time contributed to the uncontrolled spread of kudzu.

In 1953, the USDA removed kudzu from the list of cover plants permissible under the Agricultural Conservation Program. In 1962, the Soil Conservation Service limited its recommendation of kudzu to areas far removed from developed areas. Finally, in 1970, the USDA listed kudzu as a common weed in the South. Um, Congress voted to place kudzu on the noxious weed list, and it's still, uh, listed as a weed in 13 states. And that's the end of the article.

So today, it is estimated that kudzu covers an approximately 7.4 million acres in the South. Now, I've never seen kudzu, but I've seen pictures, and it, when it comes in, it completely takes over. It takes over trees. And, uh, that 3 million acres that was planted, that was, that was cultivated acres. This is 7.4 million unintentional acres of kudzu. Not surprisingly, kudzu has become known as the vine that ate the South. So here was a plant. It was promoted because of its many good qualities.

Um, many years ago, like, like we read, there was, there was used for medicinal purposes and all that. But for the South, they were planting it to control with erosion. And also, it was a great forage, added nitrogen to the soil, and it grew very quickly. Um, and not only was it used in agricultural purposes, but it was used as an ornamental flower. Um, it grew quickly, provided shade over the southern porches and homes. So it's kind of like a miracle, miracle plant.

But in the end, it ended up taking over the South, and it's become a weed. All right, going back to our verse, God planted a noble choice vine of pure seed. God planted a good thing. And that vine, that same vine that he planted, became wild and out of control. And he's, he's talking about Israel. You know, God started with this good thing, and it didn't change into a thorn bush. It didn't change into something else, but it barely resembled what it initially was supposed to be.

The good thing that God had planted became corrupt and turned into something wild and out of control. Throughout these verses, God keeps referring to Israel's rebellion. Their disobedience turned them into a wild vine. Their disobedience turned them into a weed. Okay, I'd like to flip to, and keep your finger in Jeremiah. And I'd like to read John 15:1. Jesus says, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. My Father is the vine dresser. My Father is the vineyard keeper.

God has planted another vine, and he is the true vine." Jesus is the true vine. John 15:2 through 14. "Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh away. And every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now ye are cleaned through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you. As a branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches.

He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit. For without me, ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit. So shall ye be, my disciples. As a Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends if ye do whatever I command you." Jesus is our source of life, and keeping his commandments is receiving life.

As God is calling us, the Israel to drink from his fountain, Jesus is calling us to keep his commandments, to abide in the vine, and to receive life. John 15:10. How do we abide in Jesus? "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." We abide in Christ. We stay connected with Christ by keeping his commandments. Flipping back to Jeremiah 2, verse 22, God is talking about, "You have become a wild weed.

You are, you are, you are not what you originally were supposed to be." And then he says in verse 22, "For though thou wash thee with lye and take thee much soap, yet thine iniquity is marked before me, saith the Lord God." God's saying, "You can't clean yourself up. You can't clean yourself up." Jesus says, "I am the vine. You are the branches.

You are a part of me." And then Jesus goes on in verse 3, he says, "Now ye are cleaned through the word which I have spoken unto you." What's the word that Christ spoke to us? I don't know what he's, he's like, I don't know what exactly he means by that. But what I do know is that I am clean because of Jesus, and I'm clean because of Christ alone. And as I'm talking about obedience being our source of life, obedience is where we receive strength from Christ.

I hope nobody misunderstands me in that it's our, it's our choice whether we obey God or not. It's our choice whether we receive life from Christ. But Jesus is the only one that can make us clean. Jesus is the only one that can make me clean. No amount of soap and disinfectant will take my sins away. We cannot wash our own iniquity away. Okay, and then John, going back to John 15, verse 8, Jesus says, "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.

So shall ye be my disciples." Um, and I'm not going to delve into this too much because I, I know that all of you, um, understand this concept of why, why God placed humans here on this earth. Um, God placed humans on this earth to, to represent his image and to show his glory, uh, on this earth. And we look back, we look back on Adam. Adam was placed in the garden to care for God's, God's creation. But because of disobedience, because of Adam's disobedience, the ground was cursed with thorns and thistles.

Adam was supposed to be a blessing. God later chose Israel to represent him to the world. But that vine, that nation that God chose to be a blessing to the world became a curse instead. You know, and, and looking on later on in Jeremiah, God even calls Israel, he calls them Babylon. Basically, you've, you've embraced everything of the world. He calls them Babylon. They barely resembled what they were supposed to be. That blessing to the world, they did not resemble that. Adam failed. Israel has failed.

But God has raised up King Jesus and his nation. And when we are a part of Jesus, by obedience and through his strength, we bring forth fruit. The world around us will look at us and say, "What a great God they serve." And any church or any group of people that is not rooted in obedience to Jesus Christ is a curse to the world. They, they have become that wild vine. They have become that weed.

And last of all, if you remember what we read in the beginning of, uh, Jeremiah, God is hearkening back to the intimacy that he used to have with Israel. And he's the, the former intimacy that he had when, when he walked with Israel in the wilderness. And I find that ironic because they, it seemed like they weren't, um, they disobeyed many times. But God, God is looking back and saying, "When you walked with me," and, and it's, it's almost like he's referring, it's like their honeymoon period.

But, um, but they don't have that anymore. Verses 14 and 15, I'm going to read again in John 15. Jesus says, "You are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth, I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." Through obedience to Jesus Christ, that, that intimate relationship with God is once again open.