Jeremiah 1-5

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