A. If you have your Bible, please turn to Jeremiah 3. We are in the midst of a series of messages entitled Behind Closed Doors: The Truth about Sexual sin.
1. We are spending some time in the early chapters of Jeremiah and are discovering God’s perspective on this incredibly relevant issue of sexual sin.
2. For three weeks now, we have seen in Jeremiah 2 God vividly describing the emptiness, the devastation, the shame, the enslavement that accompany the sexual sins in which we engage.
3. Whether it’s internet porn, or premarital sexual involvement, or adultery or being obsessed with our own sexual attractiveness, or any number of other expressions of sexuality beyond God’s life giving design.
B. For those of you who have hung in there for these three weeks, I applaud you. It is not an easy subject to look at, but it is so critically important that we do. The stakes are incredibly high in terms of our spiritual, emotional and relational health.
1. But it’s been tough. Over the past few weeks, I think most all of us have experienced a heightened sense of the seriousness of this issue in our lives--but that heightened sense sometimes brings with it a sense of despair or hopelessness.
2. Yea, Pastor Alan, I know this is a problem. I know this is wreaking havoc in my life. I can see the issue. But what do I do now? I feel ashamed. I feel discouraged. I feel enslaved. Where do I go from here?
C. Can I ever break free from these things in my past? Can I ever be free from these things that seem to hold me in chains?
1. The answer is absolutely. Thankfully, we have a God who isn’t simply interested in diagnosing the problem, but who also is eager to help us experience the life He desires us to experience.
2. After talking very frankly to us in Jeremiah 2 about the sexual sin in our lives, God then presents to us in chapter 3 a way out. A way out of the shame we feel. A way out of the emptiness and the enslavement. And a way into real freedom, real life change.
3. So what exactly is this way out? There is a very important word used over and over again, not only in this chapter but in the entire book of Jeremiah that lays out for us a critical part of this way out.
4. In fact, there is no other book in the entire Bible that uses this word more often than Jeremiah does. What is it? It’s the word "return". It is also can be translated repent. Over and over again in this book, God says to His sinning people, Return to me. Repent.
D. This is what God wants us to do. This is the pathway out of these sexual sins that pull at us and seek to destroy us. This is the pathway into His incredible mercy.
1. Return to Me. Repent. It’s a word that speaks of a radical change in orientation. But there is a lot of confusion about this word.
2. You see, part of our problem is that when we hear this word, we tend to think of a one-time action. ’I’ve returned, so I’m here now. I’m done returning.’ Or I’ve repented. I can move on.
3. But in a spiritual sense the word return isn’t like that. It is not a one-time thing. It is a way of life. In 1517 AD, the fire of the Protestant reformation was ignited when Martin Luther nailed his 95 truths to the church door in Wittenberg, Germany.
4. The first thesis of those 95 was this: "Our Lord and Master Jesus Christ willed the entire life of believers to be one of repentance."
2. So in Jeremiah 3, we see that God is inviting us into a different way of living. A continual posture of the heart that enables us to experience the transforming power of mercy.
F. Which is great, but we need to understand something. This lifestyle, this experience of returning or repentance is not easily embraced by us followers of Christ. There is a very subtle and yet significant barrier that can keep us from genuine repentance. And all of us are vulnerable to it.
1. It is something God addresses very directly in the first part of chapter 3 and is embodied by the nation of Judah. Now before I read this passage, I need to give a little history lesson.
2. The whole nation of Israel was initially one nation under King David and under King Solomon. But when Solomon died, his son Rehoboam was kind of jerk and ticked off most of the tribes of Israel, so he fled south to Jerusalem and became king over the southern tribes, which became known as Judah. So Israel was the northern kingdom. Judah was the southern kingdom. Jeremiah lived in Judah.
3. This is important because in the passage we’re about to read, God addresses Israel and Judah separately and what we’re going to see is that these two nations, while both involved in sexual sin, are at very different places spiritually speaking.
G. Let’s look at this beginning in vs 6 "During the reign of King Josiah, the LORD said to me, "have you seen what faithless Israel has done? She has gone up on every high hill and under every spreading tree and has committed adultery there. I thought after she had done all this she would return to me but she did not, and her unfaithful sister Judah saw it. I gave faithless Israel her certificate of divorce and sent her away because of all her adulteries. Yet I saw that her unfaithful sister Judah had no fear; she also went out and committed adultery. Because Israel’s immorality mattered so little to her, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stone and wood. In spite of all this, her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense," declares the Lord.
The Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah." This is God’s Word.
H. This is a very interesting passage. Both Judah and Israel are caught up in sexual sin, but God deals with each very differently. As we are going to see next week, His message to rebellious Israel in this chapter is to return to Him--which is what we mentioned earlier.
1. Three times in the later verses in this chapter God says to Israel, Return to me. We’ll talk about that next week--what repentance looks like and why it’s so powerful.
2. But interestingly enough, that’s not His message to Judah. They actually have another problem that has become a barrier to them returning to God.
3. What is their problem? Religion. You heard me right. The thing that is keeping Judah from experiencing God’s transforming mercy is not their sexual sin. It’s religion.
4. What do I mean by religion? Religion is a basic approach to God that says, "I can make myself acceptable to God by my own effort. I can reform myself. Through trying hard and self effort, I can be holy."
I. Now every world religion, other than Christianity, is based upon this idea. If I do enough good things in this life, God will accept me. That’s religion.
1. But what this passage and other passages in Scripture indicate is that all of us, including us believers in Christ, are vulnerable to this as well.
2. When needing to deal with areas of sin in our lives, like sexual sin, we can easily drift into an approach that is rooted in self effort. That’s rooted in trying harder.
3. We make promises to God, ’I’m never going to do this again. I promise. I’m going clean up my life. I’m going to do better. I’m serious about this stuff this time.’
4. Now it’s not that we aren’t sincere, but the problem is, this doesn’t work. It is rooted in religion--I can make myself acceptable if I just work at it hard enough.
5. And what’s so dangerous about religion is that it actually keeps us from experiencing the one thing that can truly transform us--the mercy of God. It actually keeps us from repentance.
J. Now how does it do that? How could trying hard to be good keep us from repentance? There are a couple ways.
I. One is that religion (or trying harder) tends to make us focus on external behavior--which was actually Judah’s problem as well.
A. Look again at vs 10. "In spite of all this (ie seeing the nation of Israel sin), her unfaithful sister Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense."
1. This is an interesting verse because it says that Judah actually did try to return to the Lord--it wasn’t like she was running off the deep end like Israel.
2. No, she was trying to return to the Lord, but the way she returned to the Lord didn’t work. Why? God tells us here. She didn’t return with all her heart. She returned to the Lord only in pretense, the text says.
3. Now when did this attempt at returning happen? There is an important clue in vs 6 which tells us that God spoke these words to Judah during the reign of Josiah.
4. Now that’s very important because during King Josiah’s reign, there was this ’revival’ that occurred, where Josiah stood before the people of Judah and read to them the newly discovered Law of God that had been lost. And he urged them to keep God’s commands.
5. So we read in 2 Chronicles 34:32 "Then he had everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin pledge themselves to it; the people of Jerusalem did this in accordance with the covenant of God, the God of their fathers."
B. Notice what happens here. The people return to God--sort of. Externally at least, the people promise that they are going to obey God and there is this big Passover celebration, since they hadn’t celebrated it for a long time.
1. But as you read the next chapter in 2 Chronicles, it becomes evident that nothing significant really happened as a result. The people promise to do better. They start obeying the Passover regulations, but it doesn’t last. It doesn’t bring any real transformation. Any lasting change.
2. Why is that? Again, God tells us in Jeremiah 3:10 "Judah did not return to me with all her heart, but only in pretense."
3. In other words, it was strictly an external returning. I’m sure the people were sincere: Oh yes. We will follow. We promise to do better. But it didn’t touch their heart--the core of their being.
C. In Scripture, the heart is at the core of who we are. It is the location of our passions, our longings, our decisions. Which is why when the Bible talks about us experiencing any real transformation, it always focuses on the heart.
1. Jesus continually railed against the Pharisees, the religious leaders of that day, not because they weren’t trying hard to be good. No. He railed against them because they were so focused on external behavior that they missed the heart.
2. Matthew 23:27 "woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees you hypocrites! You are like white washed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean."
3. To Jesus, the heart was critical to experiencing real change. When he talked about money in Matthew 6:21, Jesus said, "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
D. When the heart changes, behavior changes. Authentic transformation is always from the inside out. But what religion does is subtly encourage us to try to go the other direction.
1. Outside in. Just change your external behavior. A religious response to sexual sin is basically, "Just stop doing that. Stop looking at porn. Stop sleeping around." Which may alter behavior for a week or two, but it never lasts because it never addresses the heart.
2. After hearing a sermon on sexual sin, a woman may decide to stop sleeping around, so she promises God she’ll stop. She is serious about her commitment to purity.
3. But a month later, she’s sleeping around again. Why? It wasn’t that she wasn’t sincere when she said she would stop. The problem is, she never really dealt with this issue at a heart level.
4. Anytime we are dealing with sexual sin in our lives, one of the most important questions to ask is, why. Why am I being pulled toward this? Why do I want this?
E. As we talked about a few weeks ago, there is almost always a soul craving beneath our sexual sin. The woman that keeps sleeping around, even when she knows it’s wrong and spiritually unhealthy, is probably being driven, not by a sexual need but by a heart need.
1. She longs to feel loved. And she is choosing to try and find that in sexual engagement rather than in God, who loves her more than she can ever imagine.
2. Often our pull toward sexual images or sexual fantasies on the internet is rooted in a longing for affirmation or a desire to deal with our loneliness or insecurity.
3. Porn makes us feel wanted, attractive, in control. At that moment, it becomes our god, the focus of our worship. Now we aren’t consciously thinking of that when we feel drawn to that, but that’s often what is driving the urge. It’s not simply sexual release we’re after. It’s a heart yearning that is driving us.
4. Which means that if we want to break free from these areas of sexual sin in our lives, we’re going need something deeper than motivating lectures and sincere promises to do better.
5. But our tendency is to not want to go there. We just want a quick fix. Just give me a list of 3 things I can do to break free from this. 4 steps to overcoming sexual sin.
5. This is our natural tendency. Give me a list. I’ll do it. So many books and magazine articles we read feed this in us--three steps for this. Four ways to get better.
F. Now I’m not saying that a list of things to do can never be helpful. Obviously some steps and ideas can help us at times. But often our desperate desire for a ’to do’ list is an indicator of our tendency to focus on external behavior without looking at the heart.
1. Because let’s be honest--when trying to get rid of some sin in our lives, a list of things to do is a whole lot easier than honestly looking at our heart, at our motives, at our longings. A list of external behaviors is so much easier--but it will never bring about real transformation unless the heart is engaged.
2. So that’s one way that trying hard to do better actually keeps us from repentance. It keeps us focused on external behaviors rather than the heart.
II. But there is another way that this religious, trying hard approach keeps us from real transformation. It tends to blind us to the depth of our need. It blinds us to the depth of our sin.
A. When we get so focused on keeping our list of external behaviors, something very interesting begins happening to our good behavior list. It shrinks. We focus on the things we are doing well and we conveniently ignore the areas of sin we struggle with.
1. This seems to be exactly what was happening to the nation of Judah. Look at Jeremiah 2:33 God is speaking to his people and He says, "How skilled you are at pursuing love! Even the worst of women can learn from your ways. On your clothes men find the lifeblood of the innocent poor though you did not catch them breaking in. Yet in spite of all this you say, ’I am innocent; he is not angry with me."
2. Notice what is happening here. God is pointing out their sexual sin as well as their neglect of the poor. And what is the people’s response? I am innocent. God is not angry with me."
3. How could someone get to that place of claiming innocence when there is sin in their life? It’s very easy. Just focus on the areas in which you are following God pretty well. Focus on the sins that you are easily avoiding. And conveniently ignore the ones you struggle with. That way we feel better about ourselves. We feel like we are doing pretty well.
B. Several years ago a friend of mine and I decided to hold each other accountable in regard to an area of sin with which we both struggled: sexual lust.
1. After awhile we realized our accountability really had no ’sting’ in it if one of us fell into this sin. There was no real negative consequence, so we decided to up the ante a bit: twenty dollars given to the other person for every sinful lapse.
2. It worked for several weeks as neither of gave in to lustful thoughts. It was surely a definitive spiritual victory, right? We certainly avoided the top sin on our list...or did we?
3. In the midst of our battle for purity, I came to a troubling realization: the main reason we were avoiding lust was because of our greed--neither of us wanted to lose twenty bucks!
4. Our one deadly sin had simply been overtaken by another. I had just switched sins--from lust to greed. But I felt so much better about myself.
5. Look at how I’m walking in holiness. I’m keeping my list. I’m avoiding lust. (never mind that greed was fully active in my life). This is the problem with list driven holiness. It blinds us to our own sin.
C. As long as we keep our list, we feel good about ourselves. But how complete is our list, anyway? How many sins are we conveniently leaving off our list? There is all sorts of rationalization that goes on, especially with sexual sin.
1. Have any of us ever had these kinds of thoughts: I may take a peek or two at some internet porn a couple times a week but at least I’m not out committing adultery or anything. I’ve never been to strip club.
2. Or, I know we’re not married but we love each other. At least I’m not just sleeping around with anyone and everyone. I’m no tramp.
3. Do you see how this works? We justify our sin by focusing on some other sin that we’re doing okay with. At least I’m not doing THAT.
4. Our heart is becoming hardened. We don’t see our sin the way God does. We have justified why our sin is not really sin at all. So that we end up right where Judah ended up: "I am innocent." There is nothing wrong with what I am doing.
D. Now let me tell you something that is probably going to be very hard to believe. This condition I just described--this externally based, selective approach to holiness--is in the eyes of God an extremely dangerous place to be.
1. In fact, it is more dangerous than the sexual sin we struggle with. Now what do I mean by that? How could trying hard to do better be worse than not trying at all?
2. Look with me again at vs 11 in Jeremiah 3. We read this earlier but didn’t look at it carefully. After comparing Israel and Judah in vss 6-10, we then read this in Vs 11 "The Lord said to me, "Faithless Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah."
3. Let that sink in for a moment. Faithless, sexually immoral, rebellious Israel is more righteous than unfaithful Judah. How can that be?
E. God has just been talking about how awful Israel’s sin was. At least Judah tried to turn back to the Lord, right? How could Israel be more righteous than Judah?
1. It’s very simple. Religion will always keep us farther from God’s mercy than our sin ever will. Let me say that again. Religion will always keep us farther from God’s mercy than our sin ever will.
2. How can that be? Think about this: A wayward, rebellious, wild living sinner is actually just one step from God’s mercy, right? If they repent of their sin, they can experience His mercy.
F. But a religious person--a person who is focused on external behavior and is convinced that they are innocent because they are keeping their list--that person is actually farther away from experiencing God’s mercy.
1. Because they don’t even know they need it. They don’t even think they are that bad of a sinner. Having cancer in your body is a really bad thing...but there is actually something far worse. Not knowing you have cancer in your body.
2. If you don’t know you have cancer, you can’t treat it. This is why religion is so dangerous. It keeps us from experiencing God’s mercy because we don’t think we have a problem that we can’t handle ourselves. We are actually farther removed from God’s mercy than the most rebellious sinner.
3. Think about it this way. When Jesus was on earth, who was most attracted to Him? What kinds of people were drawn to him and liked to hang out with him? Sinners. Corrupt tax collectors, prostitutes, adulterers. They were drawn to Him.
G. And who was it that was most offended by Jesus? Who was it that hated Him and wanted Him killed? The religious leaders. The Pharisees who were trying so hard to keep the rules.
1. In fact, they were doing pretty well keeping their list of external behaviors, but tragically they were completely oblivious to the cancer of sin wreaking havoc in their body.
2. Their religious efforts actually distanced them from experiencing God’s mercy, from experiencing the one thing that could bring about real transformation in their lives.
3. Folks we are all vulnerable to this--To this Pharisee approach to our sin--focusing on our external behaviors, especially the ones we do well, and conveniently ignoring and minimizing the sexual sins that we are allowing into our lives.
4. And its an extremely dangerous place to be, spiritually speaking, because we are actually distancing ourselves from the one thing that can bring us freedom and life--God’s mercy.
5. So what do we do if we find ourselves in this place? What can we do to start dealing with this religious tendency in our lives? God shows us in at the end of this passage. He doesn’t give us a list of behaviors. What He does is give us a couple images of what this pathway looks like.
H. After spending the rest of chapter 3 speaking to rebellious Israel and inviting them to repent and return to Him (which we’ll look at next week), God then in chapter 4:3 begins speaking to religious Judah.
1. And his invitation to her is different. He doesn’t say, ’return to Me’ because again a religious person doesn’t even see their need to return. So what does He say?
2. Vs 3 "This is what the Lord says to the men of Judah and to Jerusalem: "Break up your unplowed ground and do not sow among thorns. Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, circumcise your hearts, you men of Judah and people of Jerusalem."
I. God gives two very powerful images here, both of which reveal what a religious person desperately needs. We need a radical reorientation of our hearts, our inner being.
1. One image God uses is circumcision. Look again at Vs 4 God says, ’Circumcise yourselves to the Lord.’
3. Every Jewish man hearing these words would immediately think, I’ve already done that. I’ve already been circumcised. But notice what God says next: "Circumcise your hearts."
4. God isn’t talking about some external procedure we can do. No. He is talking about this significant work at the core of our being. In our hearts--where our old religious nature can be cut away so that we can experience new life.
J. Now here’s the cool thing about this for us NT believers. If you are in Christ, this has already happened to you. Colossians 2:11 In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ."
1. In Jesus, we have been given a new heart, a cleansed heart, a heart that in its deepest places longs for God, yearns for His life and mercy and holiness to flow.
2. In this new, circumcised heart, the very Presence of Jesus dwells through His Spirit. So if you have placed your faith in Jesus, this is absolutely true of you.
3. But what often happens is that over time, we start to ignore that new, good, cleansed heart. Our flesh will try and pull us to live the old way, the religious way--minimizing our sin, focusing on external behavior.
4. We start to segment certain areas of our lives from the Spirit of God who lives in us. And over time, something very disturbing happens to our hearts--which is described by the other image God gives. "Break up your unplowed ground."
J. This image of unplowed ground is such a vivid picture--a field of unplowed ground--it’s cold, hard, no life bursting forth. God says, ’That’s exactly what religion will do to our hearts. Over time, our hearts become cold and hardened."
1. Just like the Pharisees, we become blind to our own sin. We justify our sexual sin--it’s not that bad, everybody does it, no one is getting hurt. As least I’m not doing THAT.
2. And we close off that particular area to the Lord. Our heart begins to harden. We used to feel guilty but we don’t anymore. Our heart is like unplowed ground. Seeds of God’s transforming life can’t burst forth, and we don’t even realize there is a problem.
4. This is a very dangerous place to be. So what are we to do? God says, break up your unplowed ground. How do we do that? WE can’t, but the Spirit of God in us can.
K. As I just said a moment ago, at the deepest part of our being, we have the very Spirit of God living in us. He can do what we cannot do. He can begin roto-tilling our inner world.
1. Breaking those hardened places, softening the soil so that God’s life can burst forth. Opening our eyes to see the depth of our blindness and self sufficiency.
2. That’s what the Spirit of God does best--bringing God’s life into these hardened places of our lives. But here’s the deal. God’s Spirit never forces His way into these religious places where He has not been welcome.
3. We have to want Him to work in these places. We have to ask Him to do what we cannot do. And then we must be willing to let Him break us. "Break up our unplowed ground, Lord."
4. Are you willing to open your life to the Spirit of God in this way? Every area--including those sins you have concluded are no big deal. Every area and say, Holy Spirit, soften my hardened heart. Break me of my self sufficiency and pride?
5. Now this is not a one time thing. This is not a quick fix. Many of us have spent years living religious lives, so the change won’t come over night. But it will happen as we continually ask the Holy Spirit to do this in us.
L. Don’t settle for a list-driven, spiritually cold, unplowed r’ship with God. Let the Spirit of God do in you what He does best--breaking up unplowed ground so that life can burst forth.
*****
Alan Kraft is lead pastor of Christ Community Church in Greeley, CO and author of Good News for Those Trying Harder. He is a graduate of Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. To find out more about Alan’s ministry to the spiritually exhausted, check out his website at www.alankraft.net. For free MP3 downloads of sermons by Alan Kraft, visit www.cccgreeley.org. For Alan’s blog, visit www.stoptryingharder.com
