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JEREMIAH 2:13

Intro: Jeremiah was called by God to the difficult task of watching the death of a nation. He
       was to see it in its final convulsions as it died.

I. THE DEADLY MALADY, "THEY HAVE FORSAKEN ME, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATER."
        A. The nation was brought to birth by God. 
                1. He brought them out of Egypt.
                2. He established the basis for their relationship giving them the law.
        B. God was at the center of their national life.
                1. They were in love with God and followed Him. vs. 2.
                2. He was the center of their national life.
                3. Because of this they were dynamic and strong.
        C. They in their prosperity turned from their trust in God.
                1. Easier to trust in God when you are weak than when you are strong.
                2. When you are poor than when you are rich.
        D. "Fountain of living water."
                1. Water essential for life.
                2. Early cities always built around water supply.
                        a. Where the highway crossed a river.
                        b. Where there was an adequate spring.
                3. Living water was running water.

II. "HEWED-OUT CISTERNS."
        A. As Jerusalem grew, it eventually became too large for its water supply - the Gihon
           spring.
                1. Large cisterns carved out of rock all over the city.
                        a. These were reservoirs to hold the run-off water from the rain.
                        b. The water in them would become stale.
                                1. Moss and algae would build up.
                                2. Used for irrigation mainly.
        B. "Broken cisterns that could hold no water."
                1. Sometimes after months or years of labor hewing out of solid stone these
                   huge caverns, when the rains came, great disappointment.
                        a. A fracture in the rock.
                        b. It won't hold water.
                2. At this point, it usually became a tomb.

III. WHAT DOES IT MEAN WHEN A MAN FORSAKES GOD AND BEGINS TO CHIP OUT A CISTERN?
        A. Every man has to worship something.
                1. If he refuses to worship God, he will worship his car, job, home.
        B. Every man has a God, even the avowed atheist. 
                1. Your God is that master passion of your life.
                2. That motivating drive.
                3. That principle, ideal or philosophy that controls your life.
        C. Sad to see men forsake God, because his philosophies can't hold water.
                1. Today the philosophy of existentialism  that has become the God of our
                   secular educational system is proving to be a broken cistern.
                        a. Brought man to despair.
                        b. Destroyed any true universal base.
                        c. Made each man a little deserted island all to himself.