Sin Will Find You Out

Jeremiah 2:20-37

20 "For of old I have broken your yoke and burst your bonds;
And you said, 'I will not transgress,'
When on every high hill and under every green tree
You lay down, playing the harlot.

21 Yet I had planted you a noble vine, a seed of highest quality.
How then have you turned before Me
Into the degenerate plant of an alien vine?
22 For though you wash yourself with lye, and use much soap,
Yet your iniquity is marked before Me," says the Lord GOD.

23 "How can you say, 'I am not polluted,
I have not gone after the Baals'?
See your way in the valley;
Know what you have done:
You are a swift dromedary breaking loose in her ways,
24 A wild donkey used to the wilderness,
That sniffs at the wind in her desire;
In her time of mating, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;
In her month they will find her.

25 Withhold your foot from being unshod, and your throat from thirst.
But you said, There is no hope.
No! For I have loved aliens, and after them I will go.'

26 "As the thief is ashamed when he is found out,
So is the house of Israel ashamed;
They and their kings and their princes, and their priests and their prophets,
27 Saying to a tree, 'You are my father,'
And to a stone, 'You gave birth to me.'
For they have turned their back to Me, and not their face.
But in the time of their trouble
They will say, 'Arise and save us.'

28 But where are your gods that you have made for yourselves?
Let them arise,
If they can save you in the time of your trouble;
For according to the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.

29 "Why will you plead with Me?
You all have transgressed against Me," says the LORD.
30 "In vain I have chastened your children;
They received no correction.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.

31 "O generation, see the word of the LORD!
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a land of darkness?
Why do My people say, 'We are lords;
We will come no more to You'?

32 Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me days without number.

33 "Why do you beautify your way to seek love?
Therefore you have also taught
The wicked women your ways.
34 Also on your skirts is found
The blood of the lives of the poor innocents.
I have not found it by secret search,
But plainly on all these things.

35 Yet you say, 'Because I am innocent,
Surely His anger shall turn from me.'
Behold, I will plead My case against you,
Because you say, 'I have not sinned.'

36 Why do you gad about so much to change your way?
Also you shall be ashamed of Egypt as you were ashamed of Assyria.
37 Indeed you will go forth from him
With your hands on your head;
For the LORD has rejected your trusted allies,
And you will not prosper by them.

Israel was told by the prophets that sin would find them out, yet they still made out as if they were looking towards God while they committed idolatrous adultery against Him.  They repeatedly told Him they would not sin as they went to worship other lifeless gods who could promise them nothing since they had no life in themselves.  It is a good thing we do not do this today!  No amount of washing can remove our sin, only the Lord of life can do such a thing to cleanse us from our sin (Acts 22:16, Ephesians 5:26, Ezekiel 36:25-27).  Israel’s behavior is a warning example to us all not to be aroused with desire to pursue any other false god or religion as if pursuing an animal in heat, a very vivid visual word picture to understand the banality of such misdirected worship and desire.  Israel’s shame was being exposed as a thief of God’s due worship and glory as they called a carved tree their father and hewn idol rocks as their birth mother, not unlike the nature and earth worshiping we see today.  There is no other God.  Worship Him only.  That is the first commandment.  It is not done away with.  In times of trouble you can cry out for help to carved idols or other manmade objects of worship, but they are utterly powerless to deliver anyone as the LORD reminded Israel through Jeremiah here.  May we not follow headlong off a cliff as God’s people did in the past, disregarding His correction as we continue in sin while expecting Him to bless us in our worldly pursuits and unchecked desires.  God is not a wilderness nor darkness, but a kingdom of promise and light of His countenance (2 Corinthians 4:6).  As a bride, God’s people did not depress for the part in disrespect and disregard for the God who called them to Himself; may we never imitate this gross sin in forgetting who we are in Christ, holy and beloved (Colossians 3:12) as His bride.  Israel claimed to not have sinned, covering it instead of confessing.  That way only led their nation into captivity as a picture of bondage to sin and resulting lack of prospering.  Sin will find you out.  May we learn not to do the same thing, but heed His word of life because of the life He has given in forgiveness and grace to us in Christ.