Jeremiah 2:1-3:5: God’s view of sin

Outline

• The nature of sin
• The deceitfulness of sin

Introduction

How would you feel if your husband or your wife committed adultery against you? This is probably one of the most difficult betrayals to come to terms with. That thought as painful as it is, helps us prepare to understand the nature of our betrayal against God, except we are worse. In our sins against God we have not merely committed adultery, we have gone off and become prostitutes not merely adulterers. This is the message of Jeremiah’s first sermon to Israel in Jer. 2:1-3:5. 3:1, ‘…you have played the whore with many lovers….’ 3:2, ‘…you have polluted the land with your vile whoredom.’ 3:3, ‘…you have the forehead of a whore yet you refuse to be ashamed.’ The message I want to look at today was written to God’s OT people, a people who were believers and unbelievers, that means that the message is relevant for both groups today. We have grown cold to the reality of sin. We use it to entertain ourselves, it is psychologised away as nature or nurture, and it is defined as only criminal acts or things done against other people. The portion we have before us is one of the most powerful explanations of the nature of sin. The early chapters of Jeremiah are written during the reign of Josiah. We know that he had a rather prosperous reign, and some might even look on it as a golden era. The time of Josiah was good because the king was godly; however, his influence on the nation was from the top down. In other words, although it appeared for all intents and purposes like the nation was doing well spiritually; but it was from the top down it was not a bottom up revival. He rediscovered the bible and reinstated various aspect of the temple worship. However, there was a deep spiritual rot that external changes did not affect. It is this deeper rot that Jeremiah is preaching against in his first sermon.

Jeremiah employs a very emotional picture of serial adultery to highlight the nature of our sin, and the lies we tell ourselves in our sin. These will be our two points to consider. Firstly, we will look at the nature of sin, and then the deceitfulness of sin.