I remember many times during our days at Seminary in Fort Worth how we used to marvel at God's provision. One of the most common ways we experienced this was in the matter of gasoline in our cars. It always seemed like we were running on empty. Many times coasting down the off ramp onto the driveway of the filling station.

Have you ever felt like you were running on empty and just couldn't see a way out or go any farther? Sometimes God must intervene in our lives to get us back on track. In our second image of God's reaction to Israel we get the feeling that the Israelites had been running on empty for a long time, and apparently God had had enough.

In the first image of God's reaction to His chosen people in Jeremiah 2 -4 we saw that:

I. God Expresses Fond Remembrance

In the second place we see that:

II. God Expresses Feelings of Rejection.

Jeremiah 2:5-7

This is what the LORD says:

"What fault did your fathers find in me,

that they strayed so far from me?

They followed empty idols

and became empty themselves.

[6] They did not ask, 'Where is the LORD,

who brought us up out of Egypt

and led us through the barren wilderness,

through a land of deserts and rifts,

a land of drought and darkness,

a land where no one travels and no one lives?'

[7] I brought you into a fertile land

to eat its fruit and rich produce.

But you came and defiled my land

and made my inheritance detestable.

By the time that Jeremiah had come onto the scene, Israel had become completely apostate.

A. The Nature of the Rejection.

There were several areas which revealed the state that they were in. Firstly they rejected God through:
1. Idolatry. "They had turned towards other gods. They followed empty idols and became empty themselves."

The parallel with the church in America is striking. There are many idols that we tend to worship not even realizing that we have turned our back on the true God.
a) There is a sense in which even doing church today is a form of idol worship. Richard Ganz writes in his book, "Sold Out!" writes, "Churches want to hear nice, optimistic messages, free of mention of sin or a call for repentance. Churches want nice, lean programs, directed at nice, clean families, leading to growth without sacrifice. They want their organization to become bigger and bigger, even as their God becomes smaller and smaller."-

Nothing that we do must take the place of the worship of God. Even the very act of worship can become an idol when we worship worship.

b. We worship at the alter of pleasure. Whatever feels good.

How many well meaning Christian families this Christmas morning will find themselves caught up in the tradition of the season, inadvertently worshipping the Golden Calf of seasonal pleasure at the price of being absent from the Kings house on His birthday. How tragic that His very own birthday. The day named for Him, could easily become the excuse we use to commit spiritual adultery. You say what do you mean? That's a strong accusation. Church, anything that we give to someone else which rightfully belongs to the Lord, is an act of spiritual adultery. That was the second area in which the Israelites had turned from God. The second area of rejection was because of their spiritual:
2. Adultery. vs:24
Some worship the world. With all it's appeals. Running after it at every opportunity.

The pleasures of the world do not have to come knocking at our door these days. We go after it. We seek it out. And when we seek after it long enough and compromise with it long enough, it will lead to Apostasy. It seems that this is an endless cycle. Because the Israelites have followed empty, worthless Idols they themselves have become empty. So they must seek to fill that emptiness. And the more they seek, the emptier they become. Because there is nothing that can fill the emptiness of a heart that is far from God.

We turn to whatever is available at the time to meet the thirst. Lottery. Government entitlements. So we become a slave to those things, all the while rejecting the spring of living water that flows from the fountain of God. And this is the most dangerous place to be because it leads ultimately to a final stage of rejection of God, and that is the stage of :

3. Apathy :32-35
The Israelites had come to a point where they no longer even acknowledged that they were in sin. The reason was that their thinking had begun to slip to agree with their action. This is how Christians become apathetic. Thinking slips to agree with action, or action slips to agree with an error of mind. We begin to rely on our feelings in order to determine right from wrong. There is only one reliable guide for moral decisions, and that is the Word of God. It is never the way we feel. It is never the law of the land. It is always the standard of God. "For me to know right but to do wrong will result in either repentance or backsliding." One way or another, I will find a state of escape from conscience. It may come through compromise and a decision to live with sin. It may come through adjusting either my thinking or behavior to bring it in line with God's Word. Two routes to inner peace; two very different results.

The Israelites took the wrong route. We could easily do the same. And if we did it would be as absurd as Jeremiah thought it was for the Israelites. Look at how he describes the:

B. The Absurdity of the Rejection.
:10-13 The first image of the absurdity is the comparison with the world. At least the world is faithful to it's god's. The second image is just as absurd, yet more profound.

:13 is easily the most memorable of all that Jeremiah has written. It contains one of the few names of God that Jeremiah has formed. - the fountain of living waters. He gives us a picture of a springing fountain, filled with water, cool and abundant. Forever being fed secretly from the highland springs. Thus is the river that flows from the fountain of God, refreshing always any who would come to Him.

The image is a refreshing one to us. Can you imagine how much more so to a people who lived in a semi arid land. Water was prized and thirst was common. They knew what it was like to go for long periods of time without fresh water. How incredible and absurd then it would be for those people to reject that fresh spring and hew for themselves a leaky and ineffective pool out of the arid earth. Water collected from the rains would have to be carried for long distances, becoming hot and stagnant in the process. And then the cisterns which they had dug out would leak, and all their efforts would be in vain.

That is how absurd it is to reject God through idolatry, adultery, apostasy and apathy.

Our cisterns are ineffective. Our logic and reasoning becomes absurd. We have given up the only hope and exchanged it for a momentary dream. For a mirage that never materializes into anything permanent. And all would be hopeless if it were not for a merciful heavenly Father who reaches out in the midst of the rebellion of our hearts and He offers us a formula for return.

III. God Instructs on A Formulae For Return.

The formula begins in 2:21 reminding them of the futility of trying to cleanse ourselves.

3:11. If you repent. This is not always as simple as it sounds. It is not simply a matter of "deciding" to repent. Many times the Israelites "decided" in and of themselves to enter into the act of repentance and were repulsive to God.

Numbers 14:39-45. They were not sorrowful for their sins. They were sorrowful for the consequence. God rejected their attempts and we see the same thing in Hosea 6.

Their intentions may have been perfectly good. But God is not looking for good intentions. God is looking for broken hearts. Look at what He thought about good intentions in Mt. 15:7-9 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:

[8] " 'These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.

[9] They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men." Sorrow for sin must never be confused with repentance. Sorrow for sin seeks deliverance from judgment. From the consequences. Repentance seeks deliverance from sin. When we have a rebellious spirit it is not as easy as simply repenting from our sin because of guilt or reprimand. Confession is not repentance. Remorse must not be mistaken for repentance. Regret must not be mistaken for repentance. Repentance may or may not be the result of these actions. But true repentance is impossible outside of the sovereign grace of a loving God who calls us to repentance. it is a gift of mercy. We do not have it within ourselves. Acts 5:31 God exalted him to his own right hand as Prince and Savior that he might give repentance and forgiveness of sins to Israel. Acts 11:18 When they heard this, they had no further objections and praised God, saying, "So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life." 2 Tim. 2:25 Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, Romans 2:4 Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God's kindness leads you toward repentance? Repentance is a gift of God given to a heart that is broken and contrite.

It is out of this godly sorrow that true repentance will come.
The very word repentance means to think again, and to think differently. It is to see things as they really are.
1. To see sin as it is and turn from it.
2. To see ourselves as we are - helpless, hopeless apart from the grace of God.
3. Seeing God as He is and turning to Him.
This is the process in Isaiah 6.

How does this happen? When the Spirit of God pricks our hearts to respond with godly sorrow. 2 Cor. 7:9-10 yet now I am happy, not because you were made sorry, but because your sorrow led you to repentance. For you became sorrowful as God intended and so were not harmed in any way by us. 10Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.
It is not to say "tomorrow" another day. I may respond then. I may change my mind then. At a more opportune moment. If I give someone a gift and they reject that gift, I will be reluctant to give again. God offers the gift of repentance. How long will we reject that gift before He offers it no more.
Another question regarding repentance is, "What should our attitude and posture be as we approach God--repentance or celebration? Jeremiah tells us that those who come into God's presence will do so with tambourines and dancing (31:4), but notice what Jeremiah says next: They shall come up to Zion with weeping and supplication(31:9). The fact is, as we approach God's awesome presence, we need a great capacity to do both: to leap with unspeakable joy, and to weep in agonizing prayers of supplication and repentance."

As we expose ourselves to God's holiness, we will experience an awful sense of guilt and coming judgment. When this fear of God comes upon us, we cease to regard sin with indifference. In our brokenness, we eagerly accept any offer of mercy. Conviction of sin, though, must lead to repentance--a true turning from our evil ways--in order for revival to come. Anything that is inconsistent with God's holiness must be confessed and forsaken. "God can use a small vessel, but He will not use a dirty one."

"Where God's conditions are met, we can be confident that revival will come. The responsibility for revival rests with us."

It is not enough for Christians to sing about the cross on which our Savior died. We must take up that cross ourselves