God confronts
My people have changed their glory for that which does not profit. 12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the Lord, 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.
Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, when he led you in the way? 19 Your evil will chastise you, and your apostasy will reprove you. Know and see that it is evil and bitter for you to forsake the Lord your God; the fear of me is not in you, declares the Lord God of hosts.
The prophet Jeremiah declares that we have committed evil or sin. The essence of this evil is this: forsaking the life giving, joyful and refreshing fountain of water that God is and seeking after other ‘water’ [read god’s].
This evil will chastise us because in seeking for other water we will find that 1) there is no other source or fountain of water other than Jesus Christ 2) we will find ourselves alone and in a scorching desert of emptiness. Let us heed the words of Jesus today as we confess our sins:
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”… “For the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. 24 God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Church confesses
-Where have I gone for satisfaction and refreshment? (the woman that Jesus was talking to went to men) what is it for you?
-Have I truly been drinking and enjoy the fountain of living water?
-Have I rejoiced that the Father sought me as His worshipper?
God’s covenant
But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Forgiveness and Reconcilation
God’s covenant was sealed by the blood of Jesus. It is through the death of Jesus that you may again drink and be satisfied. It is through his death that God may declare to you, “Your sins are forgiven!”
Congregation: PRAISE BE TO GOD!!