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JEREMIAH 2:13

"TWO EVILS"

I. "FORSAKEN ME, THE FOUNTAIN OF LIVING WATER."
        A. Nations do not change their gods.
                1. Man holds fanaticaIly to weird concepts.
                2. Traditional beliefs hard to change, even when out-moded and
                        out-dated.
        B. How totally inconceivable that those who worshipped to only true
                God would change.
                1. Nations would not go from false to true.
                2. Yet Israel went from true to false.
                3. To be forsaken by God would be horrible.
                4. To know, then forsake God - infinitely worse.
        C. Fountain of living water.
                1. These people living so close to nature more conscious of value of water.
                        a. Their primary concern.
                        b. The first priority when looking for a place to settle. 
                2. Water was a life-giving force.
                        a. Our salvation likened unto water. "Let him that is athirst 
                           drink..." ,"If any man thirst, let him..."
                3. So we see God as our life-giving source.

II. "HEWED THEM OUT CISTERNS."
        A. In areas where water supplies were not sufficient or consistent.
                1. Carve out of the rock these cisterns to catch the run-off rain water.
                2. They served as a reservoir.
                3. At best the water stale, sometimes stagnant.
        B. Taking it from the figure of speech to reality.
                1. Every man must have some philosophy for life - some basis for
                        his behavior - some concept by which he lives.
                        a. If you do not want to believe in the eternal personal God
                                you must believe in something.
                        b. We see men carving out systems of belief.

Ill. BROKEN CISTERNS THAT CAN HOLD NO WATER.
        A. A man may spend years carving out a cistern.
                1. When the time finally comes to depend on it, it doesn't hold water.
        B. The same may be said for the religions of man, or his philosophies.
                1. They can't give life.
                2. You may trust and believe in them but they won't sustain you.
        C. The use for a broken cistern - they became tombs.
                1. Men were buried in them.