Things That Hold No Water

Things That Hold No Water
Notes by Charley Buntin
Readings: Jer 2:1-13, Romans 1:26-32
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—Israel Ignored Jehovah and chased Idols

a. The background—Jer 2:5 Thus says the LORD: "What injustice have your fathers found in Me, That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters? 6 Neither did they say, 'Where is the LORD, Who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, Who led us through the wilderness, Through a land of deserts and pits, Through a land of drought and the shadow of death, Through a land that no one crossed And where no one dwelt?' 7 I brought you into a bountiful country, To eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land And made My heritage an abomination.

b. The lawsuit: Jehovah v. Israel—2:9-11, the effect will continue for generations!

(1) First, the charges are laid—God will specify their offense against Him

(2) Then, a thought from God, how stupid could these folks be to leave Jehovah

(3) The far West of Jeremiah’s known world was Cyprus, a pagan, idol-worshipping nation

(4) The Far East of their world was Kedar in the eastern desert, another pagan nation.

(5) These idol-worshipping nations had no REAL God, because there is only one true and living God, and they did not worship Him.

(6) But even among the pagan nations of Jeremiah’s day, he had never encountered a nation that changed its gods, however false and vain they might be.


c. Israel’s glory had been Jehovah—(Psa 106:20) "Thus they changed their glory Into the image of an ox that eats grass."

(1) Israel was exalted as God’s Chosen

(2) Israel was exalted by having been given God’s Word.

(3) Israel was exalted because she had the way of salvation revealed to her.

(4) 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 only a few men of God in the land

(a) Oh, there was preaching, of a sort, to tickle the ears of those who rejected Jehovah.

(b) But from the least to the greatest, with a very few exceptions, even the supposed men of God conducted a ministry based on lies and deception.

2:8 The priests did not say, 'Where is the LORD?' And those who handle the law did not know Me; The rulers also transgressed against Me; The prophets prophesied by Baal, And walked after things that do not profit.

(c) Because of lies and deception taking the place of Truth, there was a famine of the Word.

(Amos 8:11-12) ""Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. 12 They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it."

(3) The Path Without Profit—Judah had chosen worthless things instead of the riches of God.

(4) A False Peace When There Is No Peace—Judah had followed the counsel and the way, and sat in the seat of the pagans around them—THEY HAD IGNORED THE COMMAND OF THE Psalmist (Psa 1:1-2) "Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night."

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

a. God calls the Heavens themselves to witness

(1) To the principalities and powers in the heavenlies, God says: LOOK AT THIS UNBELIEVABLE THING

Ver. 12. Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, etc.] Meaning either the angels in heaven, or the heavens themselves, by a personification:
and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the Lord; all which may be signified by storms and tempests, by thunder and lightning, and by the sun’s withdrawing its light. This is said to aggravate the wickedness committed, as if the heavens blushed and were ashamed, and were confounded and amazed at it; and as if, on account of it, the Jews deserved not the benefit of the heavens, and the orbs in them. (Gill)

b. He uses three very powerful verbs here— shamem, (shaw-mame'), sawar , chawrab

(1) “shamem,” to Be astonished, to be horrified, absolutely appalled. An example was the devastating destruction of Egypt as it was conquered by the Assyrians. (Ezek 32:10) "'Yes, I will make many peoples astonished at you, and their kings shall be horribly afraid of you when I brandish My sword before them; and they shall tremble every moment, every man for his own life, in the day of your fall.'"

(2) tremble—(sawar) As if you were facing a violent storm

(3) Be Devastated—(chawrab) like in a desert, be absolutely dried up and blown away by what Jeremiah is about to say.

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


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

(1) God is a Fountain of life.

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

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

(c) 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.""

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

(e) 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."

(2) Our ways are cisterns—in ancient Israel, the shepherds would attempt to build cisterns which would hold water from the few rains in the dry scrubland. Usually, these cisterns either yielded stagnant water, or, because of a crack or imperfection in these man-made cisterns, the water flowed out.

(3) Manmade cisterns—man’s works are nothing. Man’s abilities are nothing, man’s plans are nothing.


(4) Broken cisterns—even that which man imagines he has done successfully, will usually be buried with him, and often breaks long before he is taken away.

(5) Their way held NO water!

(6) “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

e. Doctrine: If a man or woman, a church, a state, or a nation rejects 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.

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

b. 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


c. 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

d. 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.

e. 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) Many of the schools established for the purpose of producing holy prophets of God have been turned into centers of pagan learning and anti-Christian philosophy

(a) The wife of our pastor in New Jersey attended Temple University, which was, only two generations ago, founded by a fundamentalist Baptist church. Her professors laughed her to scorn for being a born-again Christian.

(4) Like Israel, we have imitated the beliefs and lifestyles of the pagan world. Israel committed infant sacrifice, and so do we.
(5) 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.”

(6) Behavior that used to be a shame to mention even in private is now carried out publicly

(7) An Arab officer in the Kuwaiti Air Force once asked me how America, which he knew from his visits to the US to be full of churches, could also be the home of the pornography industry.

(8) We are so messed up now that it has become a political issue as to what the definition of marriage is!

(9) Too many Bible-believing Christians are satisfied to sit in their padded pews and hope the rapture comes before it gets too bad. Or worse, they go along with this Christ-denying, God-hating culture and think that by making peace with evil that they can somehow build the church—that is deranged, insane, mad, crazy!

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 we should keep our faith at home and in private, THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

(1) The Lord and His Apostles took the faith to the streets—read the Gospels and the book of Acts, or better yet, hear this COMMAND from our Savior Himself

(Mat 5:13-16) ""You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 "Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. 16 "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven."

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 reveals the broken cisterns of our society, because That HOLDS NO WATER!!!

c. When a teen aged Kentucky boy in Owen County, KY, has to go to the Federal Court of Appeals to get the right to say in his high school classroom that homosexuality is a sin against God and man, something is wrong—THAT HOLDS NO WATER.

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

e. 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!!!

f. 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!!!

g. If they say that the “rights of women” mean that the murder, the GENOCIDE of the innocents THAT HAS CONSUMED 50 MILLION UNBORN INFANTS is to continue without hindrance— THAT HOLDS NO WATER!!!

h. The politically correct tell us that we must allow Men to marry men and women 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. 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!!!

k. 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 don’t need help with our issues, we need an Awakening, a Reformation, a shaking to the core of our churches and our nation!

b. We need the thunder in the pulpit and the fire in the pews that flowed from the Wesleys, Whitefield, and Jonathan Edwards

c. We need an army of sold-out, young, fearless, fiery, obstinate, well-grounded and well-taught prophets of God! We need preachers, not socializers—proclaimers, not apologizers—authoritative teachers, not questioners—straight-talking men, not entertainers, WE NEED MEN WHO WILL RELEASE THE PENT UP POWER OF GOD’S HOLY WORD AND UNLEASH THE WORD OF GOD!

d. We need men of the Word and prayer, not errand boys!

e. We need men, who if you cut them, they will bleed Bible!

f. We need Christ-loving, man-ignoring faithful and true preachers that will warn multitudes of the wrath to come if they do not turn from their sins and to Christ for salvation!

g. And we need churches that will find true men of god and call ‘em, love ‘em, protect ‘em, get behind ‘em, and stand side by side with them in this war against the dark and evil forces of Satan!

h. And, as believers in a nation that has lost its foundations, we must realize that this is all OUR fault! If America falls, it won’t be the politicians who let it fall.

i. If America falls, it won’t be the fault of the drug dealers, perverts, or thugs.

j. If America falls, it won’t be the fault of Hollywood!

k. If America falls, the blame would fall at the doorstep of the churches of this land.

l. We need to repent and return to the fountain of life!

(1) Let judgment begin at the house of God.

(2) American Christians, turn from the broken cisterns of perversion, sin, and secularist lies!

(3) American Christians, turn from the perverted “gospels” of prosperity and ease!

(4) American Christians, defend again the faith once delivered to the saints.

(5) Lost American church members, hear the words of the Lord Jesus Himself—Repent and believe in the Gospel!

(6) Turn away from the unread Bible, the unbowed head, the unteared eye, and the unbended knee!

m. Leave the manmade cisterns that hold no water and return to the fountain of Living waters! Jeremiah 3:22 “…Return, ye backsliding children, and I will heal your backslidings….”

n. (2 Chr 7:14) ""if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."