The reason people forget about God and live miserable lives (Jeremiah 2-3:5)

key verses: 

"...Why then do my people say, ‘At last we are free from God! We don’t need him anymore!’... for years on end my people have forgotten me." Jeremiah 2:31-32

AIM: Every calamity's root is forgetting the God that made you and rescued you to be holy.

A) Leaders stopped asking 'Where is the LORD?' and turned to idols ruining their future (1-13)

1-3) another message to Jerusalem, "remember eagerness as young bride follows, Israel holy first child protected"

 - Interesting "holy first child" is not Isaac 

4-6) Listen LORD, "worship worthless idols, become worthless. Didn't ask 'where is the LORD who saved/led out of Egypt'

• God's desire for us is salvation in relationship with him (Hosea 13-14)

7-9) fruitful land, you defiled/corrupted. Priests didn't ask 'where is the LORD?' teachers ignored Him, prophets name of Baal (Numbers 25 sex plague, 1 Kings 18:21 tested,  Romans 11 explains) - worthless idol. Children's children charged.

• Similar message from Zephaniah 1:2-3) everything on earth, all mankind will be destroyed, Zephaniah 1:4-6) hand against Judah, Baal worship, idolatrous priests, astrologers, apostate believers
• 1 Kings 16:29-34) Omri, evil, worse than others, married Jezebel, worshiped Baal, setup Asherah pole, Jericho rebuilt costing life of oldest and youngest sons.

10-13) sent searching elsewhere exchanging glorious God for worthless idol, abandoned fountain of living water, dug cracked cisterns 

• Rescued, kept.. so now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light (Psalm 56:13 Coram Deo))

Application: Getting off course starts with wicked leaders. Yet the Lord is interceding on your behalf, giving you a thirst for his righteousness. Your broken cisterns can't hold this holy water. We are lost. Pray the Father draws us to himself. Give us the gift of faith - let us repent of ignorance, help me to release my grip on worthless idols. Awake my soul. 

B) God delivered us from slavery, yet we've used our freedom to leave him (14-22)

14-17) "why Israel enslaved, tormented, destroyed? you rebelled against God, though he leading you"

18-19) "what gained from wicked world? punishment, shame - see evil bitterness = fearlessly abandon LORD."

20-22) "freed from slavery, yet said 'I won't serve God' - prostituted instead, stained guilty

Application:   I need to stop rebelling against God and let him led me in the fear of the LORD.

C) We claim to be right with God, yet we are living apart from him, living a lie (23-3:5)

23-25) "you deny worshiping images of Baal, yet lust is obvious, panting after other gods 'I can't stop'

26-27) "thief, shame only when caught, leaders bring idols, turned backs to LORD, in trouble cry out 'come and save us!'

28-30) you don't call on idols because you know the are lifeless, your rebellion punishes children, they don't respond to LORD discipline - because you killed your prophets

31-32) listen to the words of the LORD, why MY people claim freedom from God, forgetting him:

• 33-34) plot, scheme, win lovers, clothes stained with blood of innocent/poor
• 35) you say, 'I've done nothing wrong, God's not angry with me!' - claim you've not sinned
• 36-37) flit from ally to ally for help, Egypt/Assyria let you down, despair/exile - LORD rejected nations you trust
• 3:1) Divorce is final, you prostituted yourself, why are you trying to come back?
• 2-5) Look, shrines of defilement, adultery to other gods, polluted land with brazen prostitution/wickedness, spring rain fails - shameless fake repentance, fake obedience, "you keep on doing all the evil you can."

Application: People claim freedom from God because we don't live as we claim to believe. Lord, I've sinned against you in every way. I've surrounded myself with idols and have grown callous to your discipline. I've lived a life 'I can't stop' - a lie. I don't want to live a lie, but to live in Spirit and Truth. 

Thank you Father, Lord - you're mercy is made new everyday. Help me follow where you lead, the way you lead. Amen. Thank you for conviction of sin, righteousness, and judgement. Revelation 22:15

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Rescued, kept.. so now I can walk in your presence, O God, in your life-giving light (Psalm 56:13 Coram Deo))

I found Psalm 56:13 while thinking about what coram deo means. In my study of People of Promise part 2 kingdom divided, I'm seeing how kings did evil in the sight of the Lord. 

• The Lord is omnipresent and perceives our every action and thought (Psalm 139:1–4, 7–10)
• The purpose of God's people: created and formed by God for his glory (Isaiah 43:7), not to us but to your name be the glory (Psalm 115:1). 
• God is who we live for; not for others (Galatians 1:10) because God alone is the One who redeemed us from our sin, He alone deserves all the glory and praise (Acts 4:12; Titus 3:5)

God's purpose in rescuing people is eternal life after death

• to bring back his soul from the Pit, that he may be enlightened with the light of life. (Job 33:30)
• to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:19)
• But God will redeem my life from Sheol, for He will surely take me to Himself. Selah....(while unrighteous) will join the generation of his fathers, who will never see the light of day. (Psalm 49:15,19)
• Our God is a God of deliverance; the Lord GOD is our rescuer from death. (Psalm 68:20)
• For great is Your loving devotion to me; You have delivered me from the depths of Sheol. (Psalm 86:13)
• He sent forth His word and healed them; He rescued them from the Pit. (Psalm 107:20)

What's it like to not live in God's purpose?

• Making idols of any kind (Deut 4:25)
• Serve other gods or worship the sun, the moon, or any of the stars—the forces of heaven (Deut 17:3), deserves the death penalty to purge evil among you. 
• Application: purge evil among you in a modern sense is to throw away your American Idols. Tear down pillars of Baal (2 Kings 3:2)
• Served the images of Baal...They abandoned the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt. They went after other gods, worshiping the gods of the people around them (Judges 2:11-12) - result Lord fought against them, and people were in great distress (Judges 2:15), hand them over to oppressors (Judges 13:1)
• Forgot about the Lord their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles (Judges 3:7)

Baal, god worshipped in many ancient Middle Eastern communities, especially among the Canaanites, who apparently considered him a fertility deity and one of the most important gods in the pantheon. As a Semitic common noun baal (Hebrew baʿal) meant “owner” or “lord,” although it could be used more generally; for example, a baal of wings was a winged creature, and, in the plural, baalim of arrows indicated archers.Aug 24, 2022 - britannica.com/topic/Baal-ancient-deity

Looking at Baal in the Bible I came across Baal of Peor. Got Questions had this interesting insight: Balaam...could not curse Israel, he found another way to fulfill the wishes of Balaak, who was paying him. Balaam knew if the Israelite men could be seduced into idol worship, God Himself would curse them.

• This is the evil of pornography in our day. We are "worse than our ancestors" (1 Kings 14:22), leading a whole nation into sin (1 Kings 22:52)
• Application: don't refuse to turn from the sins handed down to us. Live as foreigners in reverent fear, the blood of Christ redeemed us from the empty way of life we inherited (1 Peter 1:17-19). It's through Jesus we believe in God who raised him from the dead, glorified Him so our faith and hope are in God. 
• I'm cleansed from my sins when I obeyed the truth, able to show sincere love to others, born again through the living and enduring word of God (1 Peter 1:20-23)
• Trinity: according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance. (1 Peter 1:2)

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Empty sinfulness leads to Judgement only Jesus can save us from (Hosea 10)

 Hosea 10 looks like the American dream. I've discovered the only way to abide in the Lord (John 15) is to pray continually (1 Thes 5:16-18)

Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

A) Riches breeds promiscuous idol worship (10:1-6)

B) Results in desire to be expunged, hidden from God's wrath (10:7-10)

C) Jesus provides God's mercy, a changed life (10:11-15) 

10:1-2) More luxurious, rich, bountiful we are the more pagan/promiscuous the worship, squandered, guilty - Lord will break altars down

3-4) "no king, we didn't fear LORD, useless", empty words, covenants without intension, injustice

5-6) People's idols invoke fear, mourning, but resulting in ridicule and shame because people have trusted in idol

 - Thinking of the Statue of Liberty

7-8) Samaria is history place of sin crumble, beg mountains "bury us, plead with hills fall on us"

 - Jesus repeats this in Luke 23:30 and later in Rev 6:16...Isaiah 2:19... "if men do these things while the tree is green, what will happen when it is dry?" - Luke 23:31

 - Desire to hide is in our nature Gen 3:8) "they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God"

 - And, "If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?" 1 Peter 4:18

9-10) Only sin and more sin, no progress, wicked men: Be punished for multiplied sins

11) Israel trained heifer, loves easy work, Judah pulls plow, break up the hard ground

 - Jesus from the line of Judah, learn from him (Matthew 11:28-30)

12) plant the good seeds of righteousness, harvest crop of love, plow hard ground of your hearts, seek the Lord shower righteousness upon you

 - Knowledge of SIN cultivates a conscience and heart for God

13) see ourselves: cultivated wickedness, harvested thriving crop of sins, eaten fruit of lies. trusting military, believing great armies

 - Walking in light involves progressive humility and honesty (1 John 1:5-2:6)

14-15) see the day of judgment dawns

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Knowing God yet living in sin leads to destruction (Hosea 8-9)

 Hosea 8-10

A) The problem with "knowing God" yet living in sin (Hosea 8)

8:1-3) Alarm! enemy against God's people, covenant-breakers, defied revelation, rejecting goodness

 - Faith is more than crying out to God in trouble saying "My God! We know you!"

 - Faith is shown in a covenant life, guided by God, cultivating goodness.

4-10) Deciding without asking Lord, idols, planted wind/harvest whirlwind, liars, whores

Key verses: “They have planted the wind and will harvest the whirlwind. Hosea 8:7

 - Faith is more than words, it's the seed of God planted in our souls, reaping righteousness.

11-13) Altars of sin, unacceptable. God's word is clear, pretend can't read, held accountable, punished/slavery forgotten Maker to build themselves greatness to burn

14a) Forgotten Maker: God's creative Spirit and Word prepares us for eternity (Genesis 1:1-5, Hebrews 11:1-3, 2 Cor 5:5-21)

14b) build themselves: Cain builds his name, Seth brings repentance to God's name (Gen 4)

B) wasted life ends in destruction (Hosea 9)

9:1-6) Wasted life (rejoicing in): unfaithfulness, orgies, parties, whoring, bankrupt, disillusioned, refugees, defiled, unclean, conquered, invaded, ruined

 - MSG: Souls polluted by the spirit-dirty air. You’ll be starved for God... homesick

Unfaithfulness: The angry, stay at home brother of the prodigal (Luke 15)

Application: 3 Steps to Victory available to everyone

7-9) Dooms day/Payday for the wages of sin: hostile to God and his prophets, depravity

 - Sin is our default occupation until we understand our vocation.

10-14) First fresh grapes in desert, then deserted God idolatrous heathens: barren, unfit parents

15-17) Evil exposed, kicked out, not loved, struck dry barren, rejected, didn't listen or obey, homeless

 - Jesus brings clarity: Discovering the Light of listening and being Salt (Luke 8-14)

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Idolatry inflates something to function as a substitute for God

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34 (NIV)

An idol is something within creation that is inflated to function as a substitute for God. It may be an object, a person, an activity, a sport, a role you play, an institution or organization, an idea, a pleasure, a hero, your family, your work, even your work for the Lord – anything that can become a substitute for God. It does not have to be a full-sized replacement for God; it may be only a part of your life. Idolatry is not necessarily a denial of God or His existence. An idol may even be made out of something that is a good thing in its own right. As soon as loyalty to anything or anyone leads us to disobey God, we are in danger of making it an idol. (See Exodus 20:4; Colossians 3:5.) - BsfInternational.org

Starts within our heart, what you treasure

• For from within the hearts of men come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, Mark 7:21
• For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34

We give our heart and life to God and he makes us righteous

• Do not present the parts of your body to sin as instruments of wickedness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life; and present the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness. Romans 6:13
• For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. Romans 8:13

Our new nature convicts us to repent from sin that was once natural for us

• Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who submit to or perform homosexual acts, 1 Corinthians 6:9
• And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. 1 Corinthians 6:11
• Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 1 Corinthians 6:18

Our desires change and we long for purity, living impure lives brings shame and guilt

• I am afraid that when I come again, my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of their acts of impurity, sexual immorality, and debauchery. 2 Corinthians 12:21
• The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, and debauchery; Galatians 5:19
• Having lost all sense of shame, they have given themselves over to sensuality for the practice of every kind of impurity, with a craving for more. Ephesians 4:19

Only Jesus can change our heart, removing the sin

• But among you, as is proper among the saints, there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed. Ephesians 5:3
• For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure, or greedy person (that is, an idolater), has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Ephesians 5:5
• In Him you were also circumcised in the putting off of your sinful nature, with the circumcision performed by Christ and not by human hands. Colossians 2:11

God is pure treasure, relationship with him satisfies completely

• For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. By craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. 1 Timothy 6:10
• Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for God has said: "Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you." Hebrews 13:5

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Idolatry is reducing God to something to be used or controled (1 Cor 10:14)

Idolatry is a direct and personal insult against Christ... betrayal to the extreme.

Defined as getting security, status
- loving the representation (picture) more than who it represents.

In the New Testament the term idolatry is used to designate covetousness ( Matthew 6:24 ; Luke 16:13 ;Colossians 3:5 ; Ephesians 5:5 ).
https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/idolatry/

Therefore, my dear friends, flee from idolatry.
1 Corinthians 10:14 NIV

So, my very dear friends, when you see people reducing God to something they can use or control, get out of their company as fast as you can.
1 Corinthians 10:14 MSG

Therefore, my beloved, run [keep far, far away] from [any sort of] idolatry [and that includes loving anything more than God, or participating in anything that leads to sin and enslaves the soul].
1 CORINTHIANS 10:14 AMP

Why, idolatry is hypocritical, demonic, and offensive...

...We don’t reduce Christ to what we are; he raises us to what he is. That’s basically what happened even in old Israel—those who ate the sacrifices offered on God’s altar entered into God’s action at the altar.
1 Corinthians 10:15‭-‬18

Idolatry is offensive to God

Do we [really] provoke the Lord to jealousy [when we eat food sacrificed to handmade “gods” at pagan feasts]? Are we [spiritually] stronger than He? [Certainly not! He knows that the idols are nothing. But we deeply offend Him.]
1 CORINTHIANS 10:22 AMP

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Saul commits suicide and David with God restores hope (1 Samuel 28-31)

1 Samuel 28-30; Psalm 36;1 Samuel 31;1 Chronicles 10;
AIM: Without God, we can do nothing, with God everything is possible.

Saul secretly consulted a medium for help and condemnation is revealed (28)
1-2) Philistines to fight Israel, David serves Achish
3-7) Saul in fear of man, seeks God, without an answer in Sauls way (dream, Urim, prophets)
8-14) Saul seeks Medium to talk with Samuel, medium see a divine being coming up out of the earth
15-19) Samuel says what he said before, Lord "has torn" kingdom out of your hand
 - Prophecy of the future in it's done already speech.
20-25) Saul faints from starvation, woman urges him to eat and he does.

29:1-11) David was released from fighting against Israel.

David and his men defeated the Amalekites and shared the plunder.  (30 with Psalm 36)
30:1-6) David's men see their city destroyed, woman/children taken, want to stone David
 - But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God (v6)
7-10) David consults Lord, goes after them
11-15) 3 days of riding find an Egyptian who tells everything, agrees to bring David to Amalekite
16-20) David 24 hours of slaughter and recovered wives and all their stuff
21-25) David rejects "this is mine" takes a "this is ours" approach
 - Psalm 36:1-4, the sinfulness of wicked, no fear of God, flatter themselves plot evil
26-31)David gives some of the spoil to all the elders and friends
 - Psalm 36:5-12) extend the lovingkindness of God to those around you

Saul took his own life. (31 with 1 Chronicles 10)
31:1-6) Israel falls on Mount Gilboa to Philistines killed Saul's sons: Jonathan, Abinadab, Malchi-shua, Saul falls on his sword, armor bearer does the same
7) the rest of Israel fled, Philistines lived in their cities
8-13) Philistines cut off Saul's head and stripped his weapons - carried "good news" to idols and people, good men found the bodies and buried them.

Chronicles f10:13-14
13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against the Lord, because of the word of the Lord which he did not keep; and also because he asked counsel of a medium, making inquiry of it, 14 and did not inquire of the Lord. Therefore He killed him and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

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Diagnostics of a depraved psychology and consequences (Romans 1:18-32)

Romans 1:18-32
Aim: knowing the problem points to the solution

A) God's wrath against the suppressing wickedness of people
18) Wrath of God against godlessness, wickedness of people, suppress the truth by wickedness

 - Sons of disobedience/unbelief, Deuteronomy 28:15, Eph 2:2 - they forsook the Lord and did not serve him (Judges 10:6)

 - Killing innocent people (Exodus 23:7), deceiving empty words (Eph 5:6)

 - We all partake in wickedness (Romans 3:9)

 - But good news is justification by His blood, saved from wrath through Him (Romans 5:9)

19-20) truth about God is obvious in God's creation, see the earth and sky, invisible qualities, eternal power, divine nature, no excuse for not knowing God

21) knew God, but didn't worship, glorify, give thanks, futile thinking, dark hearts

 - NLT helps with "they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like" - see the top 10 popular songs for example, in the lyrics you'll see theology. Application: Take a critical look at what you're feeding your mind.

 - So what does worship look like? I remember footage of the "British invasion", girls screaming and crying, throwing themselves on their heroes. Stadium shows and super bowls. How powerful is song and harmony within the human hearts? I love praising God with the Teen Challenge Choir, the first time I saw and heard them I stood and sang with them, my heart filled with gratitude at what God did in my life, what he was doing in theirs.

 - Principle: Worship and thanksgiving to God makes our thinking useful and brightens our hearts

B) God's judgement visible in depraved people
22-23) claim wisdom, instead, fools - instead of immortal God, created things

 - exchanged glory for images (present with believers in church, watching T.V.), the glory of being with your wife versus seeing another

24-25) God gave them over; sinful desires of their heart

 - degrading (demean, cheapen, devalue, treat with contempt, disrespect) one another. Cheapening the marriage relationship

 - exchanged truth for a lie (marriage love versus "one-night stand")

 - Out of a mans heart come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within (Mark 7:20-23)

 - Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me (Psalm 51:5)

26-27) God gave them over; shameful lust, abandoned natural sex for unnatural 

 - Not just homosexuals

 - abandoned, renounced, reckless

28-29) retaining knowledge of God wasn't worthwhile; God gave them over; depraved mind

 - doing wrong, filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed, depravity. full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice...gossips, slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant, boastful

 - 30) invent ways of doing evil, disobeying parents

 - 31) no understanding of fidelity, no love, no mercy

C) God's righteous decree
 - 32) know God's righteous decree - "all those who do these things deserve death" - they continue and approve of others doing them too

 - Anyone feeling convicted? Deuteronomy 8:3 says, "He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD"

 - Jesus said to the devil, man doesn't live of bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God

 - God breathed life into the man and he became a living being (Gen 2:7), The first man became a living being, the last Adam a life-giving spirit (1 Cor 15:45), the first man was of the dust of the earth, the second man from heaven (1 Cor 15:47). Thus says the Lord GOD to these bones, 'Behold, I will cause breath to enter you that you may come to life. (Ezekiel 37:5) 

Application: a new heart is available a heart of flesh, but first you must give God your spirit, soul, and body. Accepting his promised Holy Spirit to teach and guide you. Do it every day, commit this time to the Lord and see where he'll take you. Experience new life in Christ and see the glory of God in every facet around you.

Principle: Retaining the knowledge of God is as daily as eating and drinking.

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