How does our sin relate to God?

I.       Intro:

a. Genesis 6:6

b. Our sin impacts God. It is not just some random action we commit, and it is not harmful to just us. Instead it is an affront to God. It hurts him and causes Him to grieve among other things. The point of this lesson is to look at Jeremiah 1:1-5 and see how their sin hurt God, and what applications we can derive from this.

II.    Body:

a. God feels cheated and unappreciated. (Jeremiah 2:1-12, 17, 30-31)

                i.       Look at how much he gave His people, how much love He showed them.

                ii.      Why could they not love Him back? Why did they not show gratitude? was he really asking too much?

b. God feels like a spouse who has been cheated on (2:23-24, 3:20-21, 3:1-10)

                i.      Particular emphasize on 3:1-10

                ii.      God has treated them like a spouse. He loved them, and He made them His. He committed Himself to them. How do they respond? They go after other gods.

                iii.      Meditate on the pain caused in adultery. How would you feel if your spouse did that to you? How must God feel when we sin against Him and go to another (money, lust, pride, Satan, etc.)

                iv.      3:10- God knows our true motives. When we return to Him, is it only for the blessings that He brings us? Or is it because of our love for Him? He knows, and the deception hurts Him too.

c. God reaches out to them (3:20-21, 5:3-5)

                i.      How do we respond when someone we do not care about leaves or ignores us? Not a big deal. But if it hurts us and we love them, we reach out to them, hoping to make amends, hoping to be able to restore the relationship.

                ii.      God does that here for them.

d. God will avenge Himself. (5:29)

                 i.      God looks at what all they do. He wants to stay in a relationship with them, but after He sees all the sin they commit, He is left with only one choice.

                ii.      God feels wronged. It is of course a righteous anger. But in that righteous anger, He knows that what they have done is worthy of judgment. They are worthy of ending the relationship. He is hurt to the degree that He can and will (and even must) avenge Himself.

                iii.      Most dangerous of all. Without that relationship, all of their blessings vanish, as they are about to see. Even more serious when considering spiritual blessings.

III. Conclusion:

a. We can see, from the above four points, that our sin deeply hurts God. Despite His great love for us, He will have to reach a point in the relationship where He must end it. At that point, He says:

b. Jeremiah 5:29

A.    Intro:

a.  Part of a series on building a closer relationship with God.

b.  Intentionally set before study, so that way when we study we see more of the need to study.

c. Meditate:

             i.  to focus one’s thoughts on : reflect on or ponder over  

             ii.  to plan or project in the mind : intend, purpose

d.  Both definitions are appropriate here. Sometimes we focus our thoughts on the scriptures for deeper insight. At others we may use meditation to take what we have learned from the word of God and plan or project how we will use it in our day to day lives.

B.     Body

a.  Meditation in scriptures:

            i.  Psalm 1:2 – The blessed man meditates on the word of God day and night. It is not an occasional once a month hobby, but something he devotes himself to continually.

            ii.  Psalm 77:12 – The Psalmist here proclaims that he will meditate on the deeds of God. He will meditate on all the things that God has done, and meditate on what He has done and why He has done it.

            iii.  Psalm 119:15 – Here the Psalmist says that he will meditate on the precepts of God. We need to spend time meditating on what God has commanded us to do.

            iv.  Psalm 143:5 – We see again that He meditates on what God has done. He will also spend time contemplating the work of His hands. It is good for us to meditate on creation and to see the great and glorious things that God has done. It teaches us about His wisdom when we see how wisely He created the earth and all the creatures on it. We see His glory in the beauty of the sunset.

b. How and why to meditate:

           i.  On God’s gifts: James 1:17

              1.      We need to take time to think about all that God has given us. Sometimes it is easy to be upset for God because of everything He hasn’t done for us, when we should focus instead on what He has done. Every good thing in our life has come from Him. As we spend more time thinking about all the good things Jesus has given to us, we might even get to a point where we ask, “What have I done to deserve this?” about the blessings in our life rather than the lack thereof.

              2.      It’s also important to understand that God has done so much for us and that we should have an attitude of thanksgiving. We always appreciate it when people do good things for us, why would we expect God to be any different.

            ii.  On the crucifixion: Luke 23:33

                 1. The crucifixion has many lessons, but we will focus on only two:

                        a.  Jesus love for us: When we encounter suffering, we may ask the question, “How      could God let this happen to me? Does He not love me?” Theologians have pondered this question and have come up with many intellectual reasons for suffering. However,in the midst of a crisis, they are exactly that, intellectual. They do not help our heart. However, if we meditate on the crucifixion, and all the pain and agony Jesus went through, it helps give us perspective. He went through that pain FOR ME. Even if I don’t understand what’s going on in my life right now, I can see clearly that Jesus going through that pain means that He does love me and care for me. I just have to trust that this will all work itself out, and if I serve Him heaven will have been whatever I have gone through here.

                        b.      On the same token, when we see and contemplate how much Jesus gave up for us, it should help us see our own selfishness when we continue in sin. “Jesus went through THAT for me? Surely I can give up ____ for Him!”

             iii.  On not lying: Ephesians 4:25,

                    1. Paul commands us not to lie. We can contemplate a few things from this command:

                        a.   How am I going to avoid lying in the future? What situations might I want to lie in? How do I avoid that? We also can resolve ourselves and role-play in our mind certain situations so that we are prepared to deal with them.

                        b.   We can ponder the meaning behind God given us this command. Granted, understanding is not necessary for obedience, but it seems like God expected the Jews to contemplate the Law in the Sermon on the Mount (i.e Matt. 5:27-28). He expected that they would know from the fact that God commanded them not to commit adultery they should not lust after other women. What was the point of the commandment? To preserve the sanctity of marriage? Does the lusting after another woman hurt the sanctity of marriage? YES! So they should have understood that was not correct. By pondering why God wants us to speak the truth to one another (i.e. trust is the cornerstone of all relationships) we can come to a better understanding about whether or not lies of omission or white lies are acceptable to God.

          iv.  The nature of Jesus: Hebrews 4:15

                    1.  We see that Jesus was like us but without sin. What does that mean?

                    2.  One example (of many) is that when Jesus talked to people, He never sinned. Not once did He say the wrong thing. That means that we can go back and meditate on how he talked to people and know that His discussions are an example for how we should have conversations.

C.     Conclusion:

a.       Meditation is a vital aspect of the Christian walk. We need to spend time daily meditating on the word of God, on His deeds, and on His creation. In doing so we grow closer to Him.

b.      Psalm 1:1-2 Blessed is the man who does this!

I. Introduction:

a.   What is the greatest event since the creation of the world? Some historians might argue that it had to do with a great battle that changed the tide of history. Others might discuss something like Alexander the Great’s drive to unify mankind. Others might say it was some great invention like the computer, steel, or frozen pizza.

b.   All such answers would be incorrect. The greatest event in history is the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This miracle is the cornerstone to the entire Gospel Message. All the apostles now read and understood previous prophesy through the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All of His claims that He was God and had the power to forgive sins were proven by the very fact that He was risen from the dead just as he claimed to be.

II.  Body:

a.   Predictions: The predictions are an important part of the story. It is remarkable that Jesus was raised from the dead. However, other people had been raised from the dead too. This did not make them the savior. The fact that Jesus predicted that He would die and then three days later rose again makes His resurrection even more impressive. We would mock anyone who claimed that after he died he would be alive again. Yet Jesus claimed exactly that, even pinpointing the date, to the point that even His enemies were aware of the claims. These verses show His predictions:

                i.       Matthew 12:40

                ii.      Matthew 26:61

                iii.      Matthew 27:40

                iv.       Matthew 27:63

                v.         Mark 8:31

                vi.      Mark 9:31

                vii.      Mark 10:34

                viii.      John 2:20

b.   Event: In reading the passage we see a recollection of the resurrection account. We see the original disbelief by many of the apostles and the lack of understanding by almost all. Even though they heard the predictions they did not believe that He was raised from the dead. It took Jesus appearing many times to many people and even partaking of meals to prove that He was back not just as a spirit, but as flesh. Luke chronicles the great day of the resurrection.

               i.      Luke 24:1-53

               ii.      (Preacher’s Note: I read through this by each account of people seeing Jesus. Then I noted the different attitudes and the difficulty in believing presented by most of the people. And finally show the importance of the overwhelming accounts and evidence that Jesus was resurrected and what He had prophesied earlier had come true)

c.  Response:

                i.      John 20:24-29

                ii.   Thomas refused to believe until actually being able to touch Jesus. Upon doing so he proclaimed Jesus as both Lord and God.

                iii.  When we see the account of the resurrection and when we believe that Jesus was risen from the dead, we too must say, “My Lord and My God!”

III.   Conclusion

      a. The Resurrection is not just a date in history for us to memorize in forget.

      b. Instead it should be an event that happened that proves to us that Jesus was indeed God.

      c.  Based off of that realization we should commit ourselves to him with due reverence and love.

The Sins of the People

I. Intro

    A. First part of a series. Jeremiah 1-5 interchangeably talks about three phases: The Sins of the People, God’s Reaction to that Sin, and The Impending Judgment.

    B. This first lesson will talk about the Sins of the People.

    C. On a practical level, we can compare our lives with those of the people of Judah. Do we commit the same sins? If so, we can expect similar reactions and judgment.

II. Body:

A.      2:5 – The people left God and walked after emptiness.  Even after everything God had done for them, they walked away from God.

B.      2:8 – They did not know the Lord. Even the priests were negligent in trying to find Him. The first step in leaving God is to no longer seek Him. Once they stopped seeking Him and His law, they were left to their own judgment. It is no surprise that their judgment was flawed and led them to sin. Only by continually seeking God and His laws do we stay on the correct path. It is amazing to me that it doesn’t have to be an act of rebelliousness that leads us astray, but just an act of indifference.

C.      2:13 – The people of God left the true waters, and the cistern that could hold them for false and broken cisterns. In verse 18 we see that these broken cisterns were the other nations that they would rely on. They would rely on the strength and power of others to protect them, rather than the strength of God. We can have any number of broken cisterns. We may rely on money, nations, relationships, talents, etc. to save us and give our lives meaning. In the end though, they are broken and fail to do the job.

D.      2:26-27 – They went after other gods. Much like the cisterns above, they went to other gods hoping that those gods could watch over and protect them. The irony of course is that those gods were made out of stone and wood and had no power to protect. If we set anything up before God today, we commit this same sin.

E.       2:35 – They proclaim innocence in spite of obvious guilt. God has tried repeatedly to show these people their sins. They insist on maintaining their innocence. If only they would confess and repent of their sins God would forgive them. But since they maintain that their unrighteousness is righteousness, God must bring them into judgment. We need to be wary of proclaiming false innocence before the Lord. We never fool him, but we must guard against fooling ourselves.

F.       3:10 – They refused to learn their lesson from others. They saw the consequence of sin but did not change their own behavior. We can do the same today. The Lord also condemns them for using their relationship with Him as only a way to benefit. They returned, but with deception hoping to avoid punishment. They never truly cared about the Lord, only what He could give them. He was not fooled.

G.     5:1 – There was no one there who was able willing to seek truth and do justice. Above all we must continually search for the truth (cf. 2:8) lest we lose sight of it. Also we must do justice, righteousness. We need to act according to the truth that we find.

H.      5:7-8 – They have committed sexual sin. God will not tolerate this.

I.        5:24 – They refuse to acknowledge and fear God. Of all the people that should understand the power of God (Gen. 1-2) the Jews were held most accountable. Of course love should be our main motivation for serving the Lord. But even if our love goes week, we should be wary of offending the Creator of the universe!

J.        5:28 – They excel in the deeds of wickedness. On top of that they take advantage of the poor and the orphans. They use the discomfort of other people for their gain.

K.      5:31 – They desire false teaching. It helps their conscience. They want to be taught that the Lord will not bring judgment and that their adulterous ways are approved by the Lord. False teaching is not something they stand up against, but instead fully support, thus furthering themselves from the true knowledge of God.

III. Conclusion:

A.      The people of Judah committed many sins. Those sins were not just prevalent in their own time. They abound today, even among those in the church. We must carefully examine and guard ourselves to make sure that no such sin enters into our own life.